001board meeting uh to order for um Tuesday, April 15th. And we will be led by in the pledge by Miss Wagner and Miss Gillyard will give us the invocation. So, please stand. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let us pray. Father, it's in the name of your son Jesus that we have assembled, God, realizing that we can do nothing without you and we need your divine guidance. Father, help us to understand so that we can make sound decisions. Decisions, God, that will move this district forward. We pray, oh God, that we will handle everything with decency and with respect one for the other. God, just open our hearts and minds
002that we will bring forth and vote for on things, God, that will enhance the educational system so that our students will be better prepared to meet the challenges of life. Many are concerned about financial uh support, God, but we know that it's going to work out uh for the good, and we just pray that you will continue to lead us in the path that we must travel. Bless the board members. Bless our staff, God. Bless all that are concerned in every stakeholder in this county. Father, we ask all this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. So, we will move to presentations and uh Miss Whitehurst, you are recognized for retiree recognition. Good afternoon board. Good afternoon. It's always one of the the highlights when we get to celebrate our employees and
003today we are here to honor Miss Jackie Traxler who is retiring. May 30th is her last day. So um we want to say congratulations and Miss Traxler if you'll come on up. She has um been with the district for 24 years. One of her daughters is one of our school I want to say school psychologist but I can't remember psychologist. I think she got has six more years in her don't you to make 30. I'm the only one stupid enough to go that far. Jackie, you want to say a few words? Yeah. My husband has to keep working. All right. There you go. He's going to be totally lost with I know. I would like to say that it's been amazing. I love these children. That's been my life. That's been my calling. and I
004wouldn't know how to talk to you guys wouldn't let a child come up and I could talk to that child. So, but I appreciate all everything you've done for our children and I'm going to miss Qi. I'm going to miss miss everybody. But thank you. Thank you, Jack. I don't know. Our next presentation is uh Cambridge top in USA award. Mr. Hanky and Mr. M R recognized. Good afternoon, Cherry, Cherry Liry, and members of the board. At this time, I'm inviting Anaheil Lugo and her travel and tourism teacher Oscar and uh assistant principal Belinda to come to us uh join us at the front of the room. Last year, 21 students at Crescent City and Qi Roberts Junior Senior High Schools earned Cambridge Learner Awards for their efforts on the June 2024 Cambridge exams. These
005awards recognize the talent, dedication, and commitment of both students and staff in our district. This afternoon we are celebrating Anahili Lugo from Crescent City Junior Senior who earned the top in the USA learner award for receiving the highest standard mark in the country on her Cambridge international as level travel and tourism exam. Anahi is currently in her senior year. She was excited to take the Cambridge travel and tourism course her junior year because she has always enjoyed traveling with her family. Her teacher, Oscar Himenez, used a number of in-depth case studies as part of the coursework. This provided Anahei opportunities to learn about international landmarks and how tourism impacts countries around the world. As part of the course, Anahi and her classmates organized events and visited various tourist attractions in Northeast and Central Florida. Anahei
006will be attending Amherst College this fall. We know the combination of hardworking students and dedicated staff lead to excellence. This afternoon, we are proud to present this top in the USA learner award to Anahi Lugo and honor her teacher Oscar Himez for exemplifying academic excellence in our district. Wow. Awesome. [Applause] Gee. Wow. Your own present too. I remember him coming through. Y [Applause] that's something. All right, we move uh any Okay, so we have uh one card for public comment. Let me just uh specify that um please make all your comments to me directly as the chair. Uh the board won't necessarily respond to anything. And so um we will now uh Miss Shana Sheffield, please come forward. You're recognized right here. Yes, ma'am. And I know it says something about having It's just something
007so I'm not nervous. I'm so sorry about that. So, um, good afternoon. My name is Shannon Sheffield and I came here just to say a few things. I'm a mother of teenage boys at Qi Roberts. I'm a great neighbor. I'm a volunteer on um at on a regular basis at the rec center and um I volunteer also with the Palaka track uh Palaka Junior Senior High Track Team. And that's all I'm here to talk about. Um, I'm just, you know, since I've been there volunteering and I'm sorry I'm so nervous. So, since I've been there volunteering, I, you know, these kids are coming there and they're doing excellent. I know they're not, some of them not the best academically or economically, but athletically, these these kids are phenomenal. They're winning regionals. They're winning state championships
008and district championships. So my question to the school board is allocation of funds for this track. The track is ate up. It is horrible the track. So I mean and I travel to all the different schools and I'm not saying we have to be like these other schools but it's like if I have pictures of the track where they start the 100 meter and it's it's just horrible. And I know that we, you know, um just passed some rule, um assessments and stuff and our all our taxes went up. However, and I know that we're building new schools and I just feel in my opinion that every school should have had a touch of that and they may have, I just don't know, had a touch of these funds that came through because Palaka High
009School, these kids need that money. they need um even though like I said academically they may not rise but there are a lot of scholarships for the they're it does the same thing to me but as far as academic scholarships these kids um definitely are winners they win they have been winning and I've been only here for not even four years and they've been going they've been winning all of these meets every time. So, I'm just asking and I will be asking other questions and, you know, throughout the, you know, the this the rest of this year, next year to see what we can do to help these kids so they can be as best they can and to achieve the, you know, the best they can also. And that's all I have. Thank you.
010Thank you, Miss Sheffield. Okay. I don't know if it's going to work or not. We'll move to the public hearing. Um item D1, adoption of the amended policies. Um chair will entertain a motion. I'll make a motion that we adopt the policies. Can we do them all? Mhm. 2421 2431.06 06 26 23 8420 per NEOLA update. I'll second that. Just for record purposes, would you entertain a motion if somebody wants to remove any of those from the blanket motion for approval, Mr. Chair? Yes. Any anybody want to remove any of these for discussion or from the uh motion inclus all inclusive motion. All right. Any any questions? No sir. Any comments? All right. Um councelor would you call the role please? Certainly. All in favor signify by saying I. District one I. District two I.
011District three I. District four I. District five I. Okay. Motion carries unanimously. We will move to the consent agenda. So, I will start with you, Miss Pickkins. See if you have anything you'd like to pull. Um, well, I don't really have I I'd just like it would to it for it to be clarified to the public. So, H14 and 15 just so we know exactly what buildings. All right, Mr. Buckles. I'm good. One second. Page 14. Oh, Miss Miss Gillyard. Okay, sir. Call as well. Miss Wagner. Um, what I wanted to pled has already been mentioned. So, okay. And I will pull G4 just for general comments. Um, and See the um I'd like to pull the two out contracts for the uh age 16 and 17. Yeah, age 16 and 17. All right. Chair
012will entertain a motion for the balance of the uh consent agenda. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we approve the consent agenda minus what was the first one you said on H what? 144 15. Well, H minus H 14 15 and 16 and 17. G4 and G4 and G4. G4. I'll second. Okay. Motion and seconded. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Post like sign carries unanimously. All right. So we will move to G4. And Jonathan, can you come up just just um if you wouldn't mind just give a just a brief 30,000 level overview of you know where we are and kind of the time frame. Jonathan, we also have Laura here. Laura there. Oh, okay. Good. Laura. Yes. I'm Jonathan ODM as you all are aware. Uh we do have Laura
013How here from PFM if any further questions are needed. Um this is the general obligation bond second issuance. Um in your package you'll see that it's it says 100 million but that is approximate right now. It can still be changed to the 99.5 we've discussed. Um the time frame I believe was bumping back to the 21st of June. June, the 20th of June because uh the 19th was a holiday and that's where I believe we were originally aiming for. So, um as far as your approval today, that'll kind of get the ball rolling on their side to go ahead and continue. We've been back and forth the last couple weeks um constantly modifying this document uh with edits here and there, but um what you're looking at the uh resolution at the top of it
014is what you're approving today. Um and that will allow us to advance further. Okay. Thank thanks, Jonathan. And the two main um construction items that this bond will be primarily covering is the the new school at Kelly Smith Elementary and Melrose new construction and renovation. Correct. And those are also the items y'all pulled. Right. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Uh chair will entertain a motion on G4. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have a question? Yes, ma'am. So, you said we could go down. I just remember 99 was better for us than 100. Correct. And correct. And my understanding is that um today you're just approving the the resolution to go out for it and that that is still subject to uh change afterwards. Isn't that within the I don't know if
015you want to. You're recognized. Good afternoon. and um Laura how with PFM financial advisors. So the not to exceed amount is 100 million. So the the actual par amount will not be greater than that. Um what Jonathan is referencing is sometimes the fees for the rating agencies. Um but they have been willing to negotiate but they cap them. Oftent times there's like the brackets of ranges. Um so to keep the expenses down was the thought that we might do 95 million instead of or um 99 yes instead of 100. Um, so that was the difference. But if the fees if they can stay within the lower bracket, then we would go ahead and issue for the full hundred. If the fees would stay in the same bracket, we would go for 100. Yeah. And and
016so are we approving it just not to exceed. Right. Correct. Okay. In the resolution. And so the the bonds will be rated prior to going out. Correct. Yes. So after this um if if approved today, we'll reach out to the rating agencies, coordinate with them to get the calls, the ratings. Um we plan to have the competitive sale on June 3rd and then we'll be funded on June 20th. Okay. Based on and this is kind of an ancillary question, based on the stock market, do you expect to be a competitive bid I mean for the bonds? I mean I would think that that that would people would be more interested in that than they would be stocks. Yes. So last week was really rough in the municipal market as well. Um we were seeing fluctuations
017pretty extreme from 3% to the worst in a day. So that's a a pretty significant move in the municipal market um to a positive of.5%. It ended up moving higher about 6% last week. Um it has settled out today. Um, but we do think that there'll be a lot more funds flowing into the market for supply when we come in June. But that's something we'll monitor and if we need to adjust for any reason, we would do so. But suggest going ahead with board approval so that we're in a position to execute. Um, but if there is any uncertainty, almost every deal we were doing last week was pulled from the market. So, what you need in this motion is somebody to say uh not to exceed 99.5. That's not keep it at 100 cuz
018if if if the pricing is the same, if they can get it the same, they're going to go ahead and do 100. Okay. I wanted to point out what she was holding. This has been sent out to you guys in the past, but if you need another copy of it, just let us know and we can get it to you. This is the actual dates of everything that's going to happen all the way up to uh your actual closing. Uh the actual closing that's going to happen on the 20th. Would you resend it? I would like to. you send send that to the board. That'd be great. All right. Thank you. That was very very helpful. Thank you both. Um the chair supports this um uh item and I will entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman,
019I make a motion we uh approve uh consent agenda item G uh HG uh HG14 G4 is what I was thinking it was. And am I correct on that? Yes. G4. Correct. We approve it. I'll second. All right. I have a motion and a second for the approval of general obligation school bonds for the series 2025. Um, so any questions on it? Any comments? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Like sign carries unanimously. All right. We'll now move to uh H14 and I believe that was that was mine. I had talked to Mr. Bowling and I just wanted because I didn't know what building was what number and I feel like a lot of people might not know that. So, I just wanted him to explain that. Okay. So, um I'm going
020to get started. If I uh stumble on building numbers or the date something was built, um I'm going to reach out to Travis Woods, but I also have Greg Kelly from CRA. And then, um I have David Martin and Eric Casper from Casper Architects. Um so, when we move down to some of the other items, they may be um called in as well. So, let's talk about Kelly Smith since it's right here in Palaca first. Um, every building in Kelly Smith, I believe, um, except for building, is it 12? Building 12, um, is the special needs shelter. It's the sixth grade wing. It's the furthest wing south. Um, where Kelly Smith, if you know anything about the campus, um, that's the building that we intend to keep in service. everything else uh is planned to
021go on that particular site. So it would call for the demolition of all of the buildings on that campus. And as far as Melrose is concerned, the buildings that would stay are 14, 15, and 16, which are classroom wings. Um they house the majority of the students on the campus minus how many Greg? Maybe 150. Yeah. Um but the majority of the classroom stations are those three wings. There are three newer wings. Um and then also building eight which is the gymnasium. Um everything else would go and that includes um you know the front office cafeteria and all the other buildings that weren't mentioned um right there. So if you have any questions about either one of those, we'll go ahead and take those now before we move on. Any questions board Linda? Yes, please.
022Um, and just again for for the public if nothing else because I was when I was speaking to you, I was quite surprised to know that our administration building, if they call it that, the front office, um, was one of them, but can you tell me because it's relatively new. Um, I'm presuming that had to do with, um, just the overall design of the the new build. Well, it probably had a combination of location and the age of the building. Greg, you want to help me out on that? That's it. Which school are we talking about? Rose front office. Yes, it's had some work done, but it it's relatively new, but it was able to custody out. So, so it was old enough to it was able to what? I'm custody. Once it's hits a
023certain age, you are able to take it out of service. So, it was old enough to pass all the requirements to be taken out. But was but was there any other reasons or I mean designwise or anything like that? Go up to the mic if you Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Just just wanting to make sure you know the money's being spent in the most I mean is it is it really necessary to take that building out when I I and I toured Melrose not terribly long ago and really spoke with the administration about you know why this is being replaced and and the different things and I and I I got quite an education on that and I do understand um I think a lot of people don't realize um that some of this was in
024the plan. So, I'm just wanting to step by step it a little bit, but I I was I understand most of what's being replaced is the classrooms um for the most part, but I just didn't understand the administration. Correct. Let me start. Greg Kelly, CRA Architects. Uh yes. And what we perform is what's called a custodia report. And it's a it's a report you go through and you fill out how old it is and you look at the different systems and some of the issues with that particular building are the systems on it. You know, it's relatively new in the schema the the rest of the campus around it, but some of the systems are are still 25 years plus 30 years old and and th those are timing out. So that's what we looked
025at there. Now, just because you custody something doesn't mean you have to necessarily take it out, but we wanted to custody everything that could be custody and go and get DOE's blessing on everything. So, does that answer and it's So, you're saying that building is 25 years old. Is that what you just said? It's older than that. That building Well, and which So, there's there's an old administrative. We remodeled some of the old administration back in the years when I was school superintendent. And fortunately, we had a classroom of kids we had taken out of the old building and the roof fell through and would have killed 10 or 20 kids if we hadn't have had them in the other room, but it just Well, I just I want to make sure I'm we're talking
026about the same building because there's Travis has got front office right now. Well, there Okay. Yeah, that's the one because the it you the front office used to be the building closer to the the Circle Drive and it has the one with the little stage, the little auditorium. Yeah. Where the front office is now with a media center behind it. That was that the front office is an old that was an old building. Don't know exactly what it was. It was added on to renovated and the media center was built behind it. Okay. So that's in the early 2000s is when that happened. That's historically was part of the old road high school. So it is 20 to 25 years. Actually DOE still has it. I think it's the 1940s is when that shell of
027the building was was built. Mailroad High School. Yeah. the front office is now offer this up and it may do more harm than good, but um you've got or what we run into quite often is a very large contingency of people who say, "I thought we were getting a brand new school. Now you're saying you're just renovating and what are you going to keep and what are you going to renovate?" And we were promised a new school. So, you know, we're trying to get them as close as we can to, you know, a new school for all intents and purposes. There are some buildings at Melrose that DOE simply won't let us take out of service, and that's the classroom buildings that we're keeping. Um, the gym, we wouldn't get get rid of that if
028we if we had to. So, we would if we had to, but but buildings, the classroom buildings will be renovated, new flooring, mechanical, case work. I mean, they're going to be like brand new buildings. Awesome. Yeah, that's all I have. Okay. Um, so we're Did superintendent, you got any? Okay. Yeah. Good job, guys. Um, so can we combine 14 and 15? Everybody happy with those and I'll entertain. I'll make a motion that we um adopt um item 14 and 15. Second. All right. I have a motion and second. Uh any questions or comments? All right. Uh, all in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Lock sign. Passes unanimously. Okay. And and we can take 16 and 17. My questions were and I apologize. I had the worst flu I think I've ever had last
029week from about Thursday through Sunday. And so I'm still and then Monday I was recovering from all the medication I took. So, um I just wanted Don, uh because we talked briefly before the meeting that you had reviewed these. I did not review in depth the contracts because I didn't um see see it on the agenda until today because I the last time I looked at it was probably Saturday. So, could you just give me a and the public a just a 30,000 level, you know? Sure. Um actually I did and as to one of the contracts I actually sent a memorandum to u the superintendent and assistant superintendent which basically states and I'll pull it up if you don't mind real quick here please um that there's standard u contracts let me try to
030get this back up for When I say standard contracts, I mean it's a standard construction contract. And what I had done was I had u highlighted some certain things that I thought that might they might want to look at. Um because when I review a contract like this, I wasn't um party to the negotiations. So part of what I'm doing is simply pointing out some terms and stating if this was part of what you had uh contemplated, then you know, no problem. If not, or if you're not aware of it, then you might want to pay attention. And that primarily on both contracts had to do with the numbers. Um the number, there's a basic compensation number in both contracts. And then if you'll look further, it indicates that that basic compensation number covers, which
031I think was 5.5% of the of the total cost of work. that doesn't include supplemental services and the supplemental services are are basically itemized. Some of those supplemental services have uh costs attributed to them, some don't. Uh and that's in both of the of the contracts. I did see that. I'm sorry. I did see that. And then in addition, uh there's a reimburseable expenses and the reimburseable expenses have to do with cost they incur. there's a premium uh included on those of 10% over the actual cost of the reimburseable expenses. So I simply pointed out the fact that uh the number you know the if you look at just the 5.5% that's not a full picture of the total fees that are being paid. There are additional fees and expenses that are being paid and
032I don't know if you can totally right now calculate what that total expense is but as I indicated in my memo saying there's anything wrong with it. I wasn't part of the negotiation. If that was all contemplated, then the contract there. I did not find any hidden meanings, any trick clauses or anything like that. It's a it's a form document for architectural services, but all form documents, almost all form documents have room for tailor making or or tailored provisions and also fill in the blanks type things. And this one is a form document with some blanks filled in. So that was my those were my comments. So you know assuming that all of those were contemplated in the negotiations I didn't find anything wrong with them. If that's if any of those are a surprise
033then I wanted to call it to the attention of the administration so they could inquire further. So was were all those contemplated Mr. Bowling? Yes sir. And the first thing we looked at is the or look at is the cost of work. Um what's what's the guide that we use to DMS curve? Okay. Say that again. DMSB curb while he's coming. It's a document that basically spells out what an architect um can use or or charge for supplemental services uh and what's just standard in the work. And then it also gives a guide of the overall cost of work based on complexity. And wherever your particular project falls in that continuum, it will suggest the price. Um the price for schools was I think 6.3% and we negotiated it down to 5.5. Um everything on
034else on that list were in the allowables that you know they're allowed to charge supplemental services for. Um, but again, Greg Kelly, CRA Architects. It's Department of Management fee curve, Department of Management Services, I'm sorry, DMS fee fee curve. If you go to the website, look up DMS fee curve or DMS calculator, you'll pull it up, you plug in the amount of construction there, it'll go over just like Thomas said and give you fees and you pick which column is accurate. And I think D is what we typ typically do for K12 work. And I think ours was 5.77 and we said 5.5. So, and then down below it'll have what the uh additional services are. Okay. Is that is is there a representative from from the other architecture right there? Is that Did y'all
035do the same thing? Yes, sir. State of Florida Department services. Gotcha. And anybody can go to that website, right? Okay. Or do you have any any questions? No, I'm just over the years dealing with construction management. Uh, I mean that's why you you have construction management firms to do these things for you. And it doesn't hurt to ask questions, but I don't remember if over the years I don't remember many attorneys attending the the construction management meetings. So, it wouldn't necessarily be something Mr. Holmes would be invited to, but I mean, you got to you got to go with who you've got and then if you find you've got a problem, then you do something about it. But I, you know, it's just to let people know this is pretty well standard operating procedure in
036the state of Florida. probably being critical of the fact that I wasn't privy to the negotiations. I'm given a multi-page contract with a lot of fine print in it as to review it. I review it first to see if I think there's any hidden clauses in there or trick phrases. Not likely to have one in a A1A uh construction document. That's correct. But as I said, since I master review it, I simply call out some features that make sure everybody's aware of them. Such as the fact that, you know, the price is is it's a tiered price. Basic services, supplemental services, reimbursables. Everybody is walks into that with a good understanding. Most of the contract disputes I see, most of them have to do with people not really understanding all the terms when they enter
037into the contract and then getting surprised. I was just simply trying to avoid that. Tom, believe me, we're very appreciative of everything. Very appreciative. All right, Miss Wagner, you have a question. I had a a question actually for our attorney, and this is a very, very small thing, but I just I noticed that in the event of a dispute and mediation does not handle it, it just says the resolution shall be litigation in a court of competent jurisdiction. Is that in your opinion is that standard or does it because I I know one of these companies is from Jacksonville and if anything were to be litigated later on. I'm just wondering if that's normal or Well, of course, the alternative would have been it does require mediation first of all, as you said, and then
038the alternative would have been arbitration. As somebody that spent a lot more time in a courtroom than I have in an arbitration chamber, I kind of I don't I don't object to the litigation side of it, if you know what I mean. Sure. And as far as venue, as you know, venue occurs normally where the breach occurs, which I would suggest is Pton County is where the breach would occur. But it never hurts to add a venue clause in there if you wanted to do that and state that, you know, in the event of disputes, uh, uh, litigation shall the the location of litigation shall be in the courts of Putham County. if if they uh if parties were amanable. I always like to fight on home to home home. That's that's and if it's
039uh if it's pretty common to do that because and it's uh nothing that you've had a concern with, I'm fine. I just was curious on that. Actually, the arbitration clauses concern me more these days than the litigation clauses, just to be honest about it. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but personally, u you know, I I would just assume take my chances with the judge as an arbitrator. All right, board. Any any other questions? Any comments? All right. Um, I'm going to do the same thing. I'll take I'll entertain a motion on on H 16 and 17. I'll second. Oh, I'll I'll make a motion that we accept item H 16 and 17. I'll second it. All right. We have a motion and a second for the architectural agreements for Kelly Smith Primary
040School with CRA and the Melrose Elementary School with Casper. Been motioned and seconded. All in favor signify by saying I opposed like sign passes unanimously. All right, we are now moving to agenda right here. All right, we are going to go do emergency uh session briefly to uh do a retirement resolution. So I will adjourn the regular meeting and call the the emergency meeting to order. And this will be done by who on the staff? the retirement resolution we did on the track. Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. All right. So, no, we're good. Okay. All right. So, I'll call the regular meeting back to order and we will Oh, we do. We do need to Okay, let's go back to the emergency meeting and I'll entertain a motion on uh L1. Mr. Chairman, I make
041a motion that we approve L1, retirement resolution, justification, explanation, timesensitive. Second. All right, I have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Pass unanimously. All right. Now, we are in new business. Um, we will have the district safety and compliance audit by Mr. Weaver. If you'll come forward, you're recognized. Thank you. Um, I'm here to give the third quarter update for DOE's Office of Safe Schools compliance inspection audit. So, we had during the third quarter, we only had one school that was audited, which represents just under 7% of our total schools, and we had zero deficiencies. Good news, St. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. That was short. So, do we need to adopt that? Do we need to do any adoption or
042any take any action on in in one? I do not believe so. It's just required that we that it I report it to you. So, Okay. All right. Well, thank you very much. All right. Well, good. Well, then we will move to our board reports. And Miss Wagner, we will start with you. I um I did want to say I enjoyed uh traveling down to the far end of the county recently. Um we had a a good time representing at the catfish festival. Correct. Um and what a good turnout um that it was down there. It's just really good to be out in the community and see the support. Um, and it always amazes me how many people um, Holly and Sandy know you can't take them anywhere. They're famous. It was a good a
043good time being had there and I'm uh looking forward to a couple more visits coming up to schools within the district. Um, I'm doing I I travel around and do lunches at each school. And just as a reminder, I'm I'm there as a school board member and um encourage anyone that wants to come and brag about their students or their administration or their school buildings or anything at all. Um or if you want to come complain, I'm I don't bring notes and I'm just simply there to talk. So, um I've been having a really good time reaching out to teachers and staff in the schools. Um and they give me some great ideas that I can bring back to the board. And also looking forward to the FSBA conference coming up this u this June.
044We always learn a lot and have a some some additional uh ideas to bring back to the board from that hopefully this year. So, very good. That's all I got. Miss Gillyard. Yes, sir. Just uh ditto to what um Mrs. Wagner said regarding the catfish festival and um I think they call it dollars for scholars. Yes. and and pretty much every booth that you went to, they would make sure that you understood that that's what they were doing, raising monies to give scholarships to deserving students. I thought that was great. So, I did partake of some things that were there. Not the swamp cabbage. Didn't do that. All right. Uh and just uh thumbs up to uh Mrs. Ally Anderson from uh Jenkins Elementary receiving the $50,000 STEM grant. It was a great time. All
045of us were there uh in support of this young lady and her efforts. And what really stood out to me was the fact that they had students there because that's what it's all about. That's that's why the monies uh were raised and and and it's just great. Uh the superintendent did have uh an engagement session on Thursday. I attempted to get on uh via Zoom. It sent me to Facebook, I mean YouTube, and YouTube sent me to everything except your meeting. So I'll make sure the communications people here by then. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It had me everywhere. So I just finally gave up after 6:30. I just I gave up on it. But anyway, everything else is going great. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Buckles, uh, baseball, softball, track, whatever. You take your choice. I'm
046I'll be heading to baseball games when this is over. And, uh, I just wanted to I I'm kind of disappointed. I'm not kind of disappointed. I'm very disappointed in a letter that I see that was arbitrarily sent to the state of Florida. And I've sent letters to the governor and people, but I've never tried to put a light back on people here to do things. It was only a suggestion maybe to add Americanism versus communism to curriculum and stuff. And earlier uh maybe in the last year or two, we had another board member that brought something of extreme emotion before the board for a a roll call vote for to demonstrate where you stood. and and I I love you guys, but you just this is not how you you do things, but uh it
047u you know, I look at what's going on in the state of Florida and you look at everybody on the Florida Game and Fish Commission is a is a has tied to a developer or development. Everybody I look at, you know, that that handles workforce development boards, they've got a I've got my own tales I could tell of that about that that uh you know of of dealing with them over the years. And even after dealing with them, they wound up making it where school superintendents were no longer invited to workforce development boards because you might do a public records request of of who owned the property they were renting from and who was renting it. that kind of stuff or you know department of transportation you know somebody's got a interstate clover leaf going
048somewhere what's going on AI has a lot of potential to do a lot of things throughout the state of Florida I wish the state of Florida would would do their stuff first but I I'm just wanted to say I I see some kind of contact here that's been made on behalf of the board and I just I'm very disappointed that it wasn't something that we could discuss first. But with that, u I've got baseball games tonight and life will go on. I I've spent enough years in FTE audits and I've been spent enough years in federal government audits uh and sitting in rooms in Tallahassee and and auditors. we make room for them in the buildings that you know I'd like to see the state of Florida audit themselves before they they start going on
049some kind of tangent but I did recently hear the county commission was interested in something like this and you know I don't know you you know find out what you find out you know uh but we'll see where it leads pick that's it um thank you uh I would like to say thank you to all the board members um for coming to Catfish and participating in the parade. Mr. Buckles um drove us in a in a beautiful truck. Uh it was all electric. Mr. Liry had to have instructions on how to operate it. And um but we rode in style and my granddaughter um entertained Mr. buckles while she drove and uh so she participated in her first u parade and I saw her just waving her hand and asking me for more candy. So
050um she might be become a staple down at at the catfish festival. Um I did partake of the swamp cabbage and it was really delicious this year. Really delicious. I'll take you. It was and and Isabella had a taste and she said she liked it, which is probably a good thing since she's a pickins. Um I would also like to congratulate all of our top scholars. The banquet was amazing. It was, you know, it was first class. And um congratulations to the Robert Webb winner, um Miss Hodgej, Magdalina, Maggie Hodgej. um and I went to the superintendent's engagement um uh speech at at Crescent City Junior Senior High School and um it verified that we at least in our end are in sore need of a a room that can have that many people in
051it and you can actually hear what speakers are saying. Um, so I, you know, I I cannot wait till, um, the new schools get built that'll have something that it that are, especially, you know, our older people and our Hispanic people um, be able to understand. Um, but the the presentations were excellent. Um, then Friday, that was Thursday night. Friday night I went to the JR OC um awards banquet and Master Sergeant Pelahhatch is retiring after 19 years and he has done just an amazing job with every cadet that's come through there and they recognized him and and he was very touched but he I don't maybe he realizes but just the discipline and the way they hold themselves uh after they've been in JR OTC they it's just amazing and so um I wish
052him the best. He raised two beautiful girls that graduated from Qi. Um and then yesterday I got to tour the school with the superintendent and some other district staff and at at the I call it Middleton Bernie Elementary School new. Um what a just amazing facility. It is so beautiful and you know it's just a shell. It there's so many people working. They're constantly you know they they didn't really even pay any attention to us. They were putting raptors up and it's just it's so big and there's so much I'm always talking about fields. I mean James made sure that I knew that this was a covered playground. This was you know a area that soccer could be played on. And then the gymnasium is just unbelievable. Um, and then when I left there, I
053was actually going to the high school to mentor and I saw um, Mr. Adams coming by in the golf cart and he said, "Hey, we're going to do a tour." So, I hopped in and I got to go to the new um, high school and walk through the new seventh and eighth grade building. And I mean, again, so roomy. And I know that there are points during a build build where it looks really big. Um, and then there's points where you go, gosh, this is all but it's just very roomy. It's it's going to be amazing. Now, there is, you know, it's been tough this year. Parking for graduation, that's going to be tough. There's things that are going to be tough, but I think you just have to keep your eye on the the
054picture, the big picture. And then lastly, um I believe in Nahi was in sixth grade when I first had her on my wreck volleyball team, maybe fifth grade. And you you meet children and you know that they're very special. And Anahi is definitely one of those. Um she's an extremely talented volleyball player. Just a you can see how humble and she's just a great student. The kind of student that that's why we got got up happy in the morning to go back and work. Um I taught her father, her mother. Um she's just an amazing young lady. She was in the Thrive program and that's how she's going to Amherst. So that's a little bit that we can see the money we've put into programs and the the effect that programs have. She's from Crescent
055City, Florida. She's going to Amherst. And um and then Oscar, he's you know, he I taught him, too. And what a what a testament to the we grow our own. And um you know, so I'm just I'm really proud of my little area this time. Um, and um, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. Uh, the spring band musical is at Crescent City Junior Senior High School, six o'clock in the gym. Thank you. Okay. I'll address Mr. Buckle's comments at the end, but I do also want to say that um, how proud I was of Miss Anderson uh, receiving the FPL grant, one of only five uh, teachers in the state, the $50,000 grant. I mean, that is phenomenal. And as I, you know, had said to uh the reporter at the Black Daily News, I
056think it's also a testament to the quality of the teachers that we have in Putnham County and what an exceptional um job that is being done to provide the best education for all of them. So, that was great. Uh the parade was fun. I didn't get any catfish or any swamp cabbage because I wasn't going to stand in line for an hour. uh the top scholars again never ceases to amaze me the accomplishments of these kids and and what they're doing and and and really where they're going and uh so that was um very very humbling for me to see and Mattie Hodgej who I know her grandfather and father very well uh she will do exceptional things as the top scholar on Mr. Buckle's comments. Um, let me first say as a board member
057or board chair, I would never uh insinuate to any government official or private sector person or anybody that I speak on for the board without first taking an issue or a concern or a request to the board. Um, I was encouraged to call and I was also interested in where in the process school districts will be uh audited or have a review by the Doge um group or committee out of the office executive office of the governor. And so again having a flu I made a call just to inquire. And uh three calls later, you know, uh this the the individual that I was talking to was very knowledgeable and very nice said um you know, we're we're looking uh for uh you know, agencies, government agencies, local, state, um uh that we'll be all
058auditing over a certain period of time, but if they'd like to volunteer or if they'd like to step up and and be recognized as wanting to participate earlier in the process, um we certainly you know would would accept that. Well, I just said well I tell you what I will uh talk about it. I'll take it to the board under my report and discuss it with them. Uh the next thing you know I get this email which had this letter and the attachment to it which I was you know quite surprised at to be honest with you. um and um you know not not feeling that well. I just you know uh was was wondering exactly you know what how it got to this point after only you know two phone calls. But at any
059rate I just wanted to make the board aware of what they're doing and and what they're looking for. Uh the county did uh do a letter after uh also uh you know being one of the first counties in the state to volunteer to be to go through the process. Um and as I was talking to our our board counselor earlier today, I think the process is a duplicative in some areas and I think you know unnecessary. We als we already are audited um for both financial and other things by the auditor general. I thought this was just basically a review that would confirm, you know, to people that um in the community and taxpayers that hey, yeah, you know, they're they're following and we don't find any any waste or or anything. Um, so, you
060know, I'm I'm at a loss as to, you know, what specifically um, you know, we should do. I mean, I think that, you know, some type of response similar to what the county did is, hey, we recognize that and we, you know, we'd certainly be open to it. Um, al although with some parameters, you know, outlining what we're already audited on, um, you know, included in a letter back to them. But, you know, we're about to start our financial audit and um we certainly don't have the staff or the time to to to provide the things that they're asking for in this letter. So, I just want to make the board aware of it and um you know, at this point in time, you know, maybe uh the superintendent and the board counsel and I
061could, you know, talk about, you know, what direction uh we we may want to go or we we may want to respond to them. I do think and I will tell you this um that um the governor is very uh this is one of his top priorities uh every agency governmental agency in the state that receives state funding or that you know or regulated by any state agency is going to go through this process at some point in time within the next year and a half to two years. uh they're currently doing working on state universities now. I think they'll just drop down and and and you know uh go from there. But it's uh it's a it's a huge effort. Um they're also you know the legislaturator is looking at department of management services
062and doing audits and trying to figure out things. And you know I'm all for complete openness as far as our budget process. We have our budget online. Um, I'm I'm also open to anybody u within reason that wants to look at our budget and ask questions or maybe point things out which have been done in the past. Um and so at this point in time um you know I would offer to you that you know instead of you know we obviously are not going to take any action but I I just want you to understand uh that what what has what transpired what what started off with just a inquiry phone inquiring phone call about the process and where school districts would fall in that. So, um, and I'll be happy to answer any questions.
063Phil, don't you think it would be better if you'd have discussed it openly with the board at first? Seriously. I mean, I and I'm I understand calling the government for for help on something, but we've got auditors in rooms auditing our auditors. Not that I'm trying to fight this, but why don't we let it play out? But I I wasn't actually calling them for any help or anything other than just to inquire where the school districts fall in the process. All right. Well, buddy, I I love you. I I hate it. I mean, you feel compelled to do this, but Well, I just felt like um I was curious when the county with with what they've done and the discussion that occurred uh during the rural days up there about other counties and school districts
064uh looking to participate or what the time frame was going to be. I was curious. I mean I you know but um my understanding was that wouldn't be a duplication of what the auditor general is already auditing us on. It would essentially be you know reviewing uh you know looking at efficiency and effectiveness and financial responsibility with potentially reducing you know unnecessary and inappropriate spending. I don't think we we you know necessarily have any of that. But wouldn't it be great for the Doge committee and the executive office of the governor to basically b make that known? Um I think it would especially with all of the things we have going and I no way, you know, in fact I reiterated to the individual several times. I don't speak for the board until the board
065takes action and and decides to do something. I'm just trying to find out, you know, what the process is and where we would fit in it. Chair, can I can I mention something real quick? I I did speak to our council about it because this was uh very concerning because there was some kind of due date and there was some things that were calling on the administration to do to provide some information by next week or or two weeks from now, whenever it is. And to me that I want I need some guidance here because the last thing I want to do is not abide by some type of directive from the governor's office. And I don't know. I just need I need our council to weigh in on this and provide some guidance. So
066are you saying the ball is already in motion? The chairman of the board. I need I need our council to respond to that because there's some there's some information here that before Don Miss Wagner and and and this would go along with that. my reading of this letter, it's a very generic letter. It's and it's not a letter to Phil in any way. It says, "Dear school board member, um I don't think there's any requirements whatsoever. It's just uh and and I'm curious as to his opinion, too, but it's suggested. It says um you are encouraged to do this and it would be most useful to they're trying to make it sound like a deadline, but I don't think there's I mean, the way I read it is there's no requirement at all. The last
067thing I want to do is create is to ignore it or not do something and create a appearance of something like, you know, just try to protect the district here. So, Mr. Council, could you uh provide some guidance on this? I'll I'll try. Um, the letter is uh interesting and I agree with I didn't see the letter until we got to the meeting today. But u I will note that the letter does appear to be somewhat generic in that in the third paragraph it states as you know from our March 18, 2025 letter. So of course the question I asked you immediately was we cannot find any any kind of reference and Susan checked too. We don't have any letter. So and it and as it was noted uh it's directed to dear school board
068member. It doesn't identify our district or any particular school board member. Um which but it does state you are encouraged to provide the responses as soon as possible most useful by Friday May 2nd. If you follow the news or and that's all my and that's the only source I have for information. It it is pretty apparent that the Doge inquiries are are are meaningful meaningful meaning I I'm not sure that you're safe in just ignoring the letter. Um this letter is different from those that have been sent to the municipalities. Uh we represent my firm does a couple of m municipalities and we received a letter and uh and um as a matter of fact I was provided copy of one for reference right now and it it is from the same uh Doge uh
069committee office of governor and it cites the same uh executive order but the kinds of things requested as and specifically requested of Putnham County for instance and by the way that letter is a March 18th letter. Um the letter that I'm looking at is a March 18th letter, and it it also is not um is not specific, but it does say, "Dear county official." So, I have to believe that the March 18th reference was probably to a generic letter or to a letter that went out to all county officials. But in that letter, they asked for such things as uh examples of failure to pay short-term loans or obligations when due, failure to make debt service payments, failure to timely pay uncontested claims, failure to transfer taxes, any an unreserved or total fund balance deficit.
070you know, fairly those are fairly unique and finite responses that you could make in the letter that that that we have or that that that is before us right now. It's a much broader letter i.e. budget and spending reports at a line item level of detail for each department. Position descriptions and salaries or salary ranges for each employee, names and other personal personally identifiable information can be withheld. All contracts, note it doesn't state what time frame. All contracts with total costs, deliverables, spending amounts, and whether the contract was awarded competitively or non-competitively. All grants made to each recipient and subreients were applicable with descriptions and purposes, and hours worked by any department not responsible for directly teaching students and projects and tasks completed. Someone may correct me, but to me at first blush that was
071like a monumental task to respond or it would appear to be that it would be extremely timeconsuming and um and a very require a very intensive effort and you just finished your financial offer. I think your operation a excuse me I think your operational audit is about to start. That's correct. So, I'm at a loss as to how physically, not fiscally, but physically you you'd be able to make a meaningful response to this in terms of substantively. So, um I mean my thought is and again I just I'm just uh here for advice and comments. it ultimately be with your decision to make. But my thought would be perhaps the responses due to them or we might make a response to them that makes it very clear we're not in any way openly defying their
072their request. I don't think you want to, as I've put it, stand on top of a mountain top and wave your arms in a thunderstorm. Not at all. That's a good way to get struck by lightning. But I think it might be a help to write make a response and indicate that the amount and and type of information they're requesting is extremely voluminous. It's going to require a lot of time. And I guess at first asking whether or not it's possible that we could maybe uh narrow it down some. And then I mean something like what they've sent to municipalities is this is apples and oranges compared to that. and then whatever um you know explaining that there just I don't maybe you can correct me Mr. Superintendent I don't know how you are able
073to respond to this in kind I mean with a with a real substantive response in the time that's allotted uh and I and I've already talked to our CFO and and um this would be a monumental task to do in in that amount of time and um and I have I did uh email the individual that sent the letter and I have not had a response yet. Well, it is well intended. I I'm sure, but it's going to be So, we got auditors in this building that audits our auditors from time to time. I just I I don't know. It's Well, I I know it's well intended, but I I just Well, it was a surprise to me. I mean, honestly, you know, I had two telephone conversations. I I you know, he the the
074individual um wanted some kind of what did he he wanted? not necessarily a commitment, but and I said, "We I can't even I couldn't give you a commitment if I wanted to." And I said, "All I'm trying to find out is what the process is. I can talk to bring it to the board for a discussion, just a general discussion like we're having today." I don't think that we don't have, you know, I I do think we should respond, but I think this is such a generic letter. This goes to any school district or any, you know, school board member. And I never, you know, gave them any inclination that we would do anything. And I would be opposed to duplication of what we're already being audited on. If there are other things like, you
075know, that are outside the scope of what we're already being audited on, I don't I mean, that's that's fine, but it need it's got to be in a time frame that would work for our staff and, you know, allow us to to be able to respond to them. and that's not now. So, um I do think that there is some benefit in uh you know like the county did in in in being one of the first to be to be included in the process for review and audit uh irregardless of what those parameters are. uh in that, you know, when the governor goes to look at the budget that he has in front of him and our appropriations are in there either currently or next year and he recognizes staff says, "Well, they were one
076of the first school districts in the state to to, you know, go through the process and we found X, Y, and Z, everything was fine." Uh, I think it would help us from a political standpoint with when with with that in mind. And I also think it would um be uh very beneficial for us to be able to say, you know, hey, we've got a $400 million budget, but you know, we've not only had the auditor general's audit on these segments, we've also been through the process by Doge and we came and everything's fine, too. I think there's a lot of benefit to that. But just so you know, I did not in any way, form or fashion indicate that I was speaking for the board or, you know, I got this, you know, and
077I was still very sick and I just thought, you know, so I actually emailed it to u to our administrative assistant and asked her to send it to the board um so that we could discuss, you know, you'd have it and be prepared and I was just doing it as a discussion item under my report. That's it. Period. I'm not asking you to do it or anything else. Can I follow up on that with the attorney? There is something mentioned about um a resolution. Um that's a resolution of in what in what context should the board pass a resolution before we take action or no? Or I just need some guidance on that. So, um, yeah, it says, um, this is in the letter that the cover letter, so to speak, I guess that you'd
078call it. So, this is the email and, um, that Miss Michael, uh, passed out. And the cover letter does state basically, it's very short. Thank you for your support of the governor's Doge initiative. As we begin our collaboration to stop government waste, we've attached a request for information which will help us understand the challenges and opportunities in each county. Again, they're referencing county, not school district. You're encouraged to provide your responses to the request as soon as possible, and it will have the most usefulness to us if we receive it by May 2nd. We appreciate your support and collaboration thus far. And if you have not already done so, we encourage you to propose a resolution at your next schoolboard meeting to commit to collaborating with the Doge office and the executive office of the
079governor. So, you know, the the reference to the resolution is in that last paragraph. It's where it states, we we encourage you to propose a resolution at your next schoolboard meeting to commit to collaborating with the Doge office and the executive office of the governor. So, if the if the school board passes a resolution, that tells me that they're in informing or instructing the administration to respond to this. I I believe so. But if they did not pass a resolution or the resolution failed, then what would be our course of action? Well, the whole thing is just to put us where we are right now with you haggling with the attorney like we've done something crazy. And it just it boggles my mind that we'd put ourselves in that position. But you know, by the
080time Jonathan gets through with the auditors, auditing our auditors, you know, we can always hear somebody else say, you know, do a reduction in force, throw those some people off, do something, you know, whatever. Something that's coming anyway. I mean, yeah. I mean, what the do thing? Yeah. I have not had any communication from the governor's office whatsoever. So, this is the first time I've seen it. I did not get a March 18th letter. Yeah. This is this has totally caught me off guard today. So, and I'm I'm just I want to make sure we do not put ourselves in a negative light. At the very least, I hope they will pair down the request because I don't I mean, can you imagine the time it would take to provide I I assume they'd have
081to give you a time frame, but all contracts, you've got schools being built right now and the numbers of contracts that are out there. uh in addition to just your normal everyday uh contracts are are huge but budget and spending reports at a line item level of detail for each department hours worked by any department not responsible for directly teaching students I don't even know if you keep track of that do you do people punch a clock u sheets time sheets okay you have time sheets there do you agree that there's no and I'm just trying to read it as an attorney myself but do you agree there's no require requirements. The language in there is very specific. I'm afraid to say what a requirement is in these days when you talk about I'm just
082saying they're not what I'm saying. I I and I don't disagree. I just But when I read it, I was like, "Oh, they're asking you to volunteer. It seems entirely it does when I first read it, I didn't take it as a a demand. I It was more of a suggestion." Paul's got a question. Oh, that's Yeah, Mr. I just have a question. When Mr. Holmes read that letter. He said school district and I maybe I'm missing it. I just don't see it in the letter that it's in the cover letter in the last paragraph of the letter. There's only two paragraphs. Oh, okay. Okay. Second paragraph. It specifically states proposing resolution at your next school board meeting. So, at that point, I think that was it was, you know, they were referencing the school
083board. Uh, but I'm not so sure that the March 18 letter didn't refer to the letter that went to we got one at or the Crescent City. I know the Crescent City government got one because I was asked to respond to it and it was the same basic letter as what you had given to the county and it was March 18th. Um, so I think probably a letter went out to municipalities and and counties on that date. But as again the types of things they were asking for is different far different. We responded to that letter fairly easily because you know obviously failure to pay short-term loans or obligations when due as a result of lack of funds. Most counties and cities hopefully don't have that problem. So we were simply able to say none.
084D the fact that Linda Linda pointed out I think there is no specific reference to our our school district. Don't even not even address. I mean it's a generic letter. I just but the letter went to Phil Liry, AICP chairman, Putham County School Board and and the reason was because I had called and asked questions just about the process and and it just leapfrogged to that, you know, and I was very clear with them what the process was and as I said, I do support what they're doing, but I would not there's no need to do a resolution. All I all I think needs to be done is just respond back to them and it can come from me or the superintendent or all or and I did I I actually responded yesterday by email
085and said why didn't I get this and you know what are we supposed to do and I mean yeah that's what first time I saw this I was like man I got to talk to somebody about this and I just got it before the board meeting I have not had any response yet but we will do whatever you recommend because I want to make sure that well we protect this district and this board. So just a letter of clarification back to them, you know, stating, you know, here's where we're already audited, so these would not pertain to us, these issues. Um, you know, if if it's going to be done uh in the near future anyway, you know, I don't know why we would be not support them doing a a review or an audit.
086Um, but under the time frame that's convenient or, you know, to the district and to our staff. I mean, I would be really interested in knowing if they're going to direct this same request to every other school district. That that was what I was told. But I I I was on the call today with DOE and no other school district received has received it. No. Because if they're going to ask this of every school district, I would imagine there'll be quite an outcry of the amount of time and money that's being spent trying to respond to this request. I mean, it it's probably going to happen at some point anyway because of the popularity of Doge. You know, we may get a decree out of Tallahassee right now. They're wanting or or Yeah. with Governor
087Mansion. But, you know, it's it's just going to be very very mind-boggling for Jonathan and the finance department to have to this is when we've got state auditors for to ask Jonathan's department. We got state auditors in the building most of the time auditing the auditors or whether they're federal. Uh I just I'm concerned and I I however well intended it just opens a door like well they're fussing about it so they're they've done something wrong so they need to do this. you know, it's just what would you think about a letter in response that basically states, you know, that you've received their the letter um and that you certainly want to cooperate in any way, shape, or form that's reasonably possible, but you're really concerned about the breadth of their their request and the
088amount of time and money it cost to respond, especially if you have the audits you already have and asking them perhaps if this is going to be something that's sent to every school district and and just kind of one of those things that doesn't in any way reflect defiance or that you're not going to cooperate. Right. I I'd love to see you compose us a letter as our attorney, but I can do it for Rick's I can do it for Rick's signature. You can do it for Rick's signature. Yeah. And I I don't I'm happy to sign off and I'm Hey, I've had Ronda Sanders in town and he's great guy. I mean, not a problem. I think it ought to be signed by Yeah. all three of us, you know, from the standpoint of
089since, you know, I mean, it kind of escalated from a simple phone call, but I I do think that uh you know, the way I read the letter and what I see of the, you know, if you go on the the state website to the Doge um you know that that they're still trying to figure out what they're going to do and you know, it's a can you imagine just the state universities going through and auditing and reviewing them what it's going to be. There won't volunteer cities, the counties and the school districts because there's not a school district in the state that loc within a county that their budget isn't significantly higher. I mean, you know, five, six, seven, 10 times more than what the county's budget is. So, you know that I mean
090there it's it's going to happen. What's the biggest school district in the state? Day. Can you imagine how many people it would take if Dade got this very same request? Can you imagine how much time and money it would cost? Well, they're looking for people in some of these small counties to volunteer. Like, you know, it's popular, I guess, but whatever. Well, let's do this. Let's do this so we don't um let's have I don't think we can vote, but let's do a consensus that um the board attorney will draft a letter for signature by the superintendent, myself, and him uh to whoever to Mr. Soskin and that just outlining what we've discussed today. I mean, I think that's that's a reasonable, you know, response because it's if if they do enter into this field,
091it'll have to be Jonathan will have to work. I mean, it's going to be so time consuming for finance. I don't know how they're going to get through it. But I agree. I you know, and u but I I agree with you. Let's a consensus maybe. Let's do that. Okay. So, do we have consensus from the board? Miss Pickkins, Mr. Buckle? I do. Miss Gillyard, Miss Wagner. Okay, we're good. All right. Okay. Uh, Mr. Attorney, you have any reports? Nothing to report, Mr. Superintendent? Yeah, just a couple things. Uh, me get my notes here. Softball and baseball game tonight. Yeah, baseball game, baseball um district uh district tournament tonight. And, uh, Mr. Buckles is going to tell you about softball. Yep. Uh just a few things coming up. This is the time of year where
092all the awards season's going to be all the awards programs are taking place. Susan says she's going to send you kind of like a spreadsheet with all the dates and all that and location. So we'll get that to you. Uh do have a Kuana's all lunchon coming up on May the 6. Can you include that on there too? And we already had top scholars. We mentioned the engagement session. We did have the superintendent student advisory meeting in here the other day and uh it went great as usual. A lot of good information in this same room today. We had data conversations with all of our administrators, school administrators or principles actually and they actually had came up with a specific 30day plan till the end of the year. And we're really trying to use every
093single day of instruction to make sure um you know we get the best outcomes. Uh yesterday, as Miss Pickin said, we toured our Crescent City area schools. Our executive team went out there and at some point in time, we'll schedule a time where board members can go out there as well. We'll have to advertise that, of course. Right. Please. And uh April 22nd, we have our career fair coming up. So that's the one Paka High School. No, excuse me. Um CEO CEO. Thank you. So we we started that last year, I believe. 4 p.m. 4 pm. Thank you. 4 to 6. 4 to 6. All right. And um also I just want to say two things. First of all, you remember that we um we actually did the EKG test on I forget how many
094several hundred of our kids across the district. This is a great story. Don't tell me there's nobody up there. Right. But there's a we had a number of kids tested and most of them came back perfect. I mean, they're fine. Some of them, mine had been retested. I think there was two that had two they call in the red. They had to have immediate medical attention. And one of those is my grandson. And he actually went in for a heart procedure yesterday and came out fine. And um they did not have to do the ablation. I'm saying all this publicly because it's actually posted on Facebook. So right um I normally would not say that but um anyway I just want to thank our district Sarah Jean's impetus behind that and she made sure that
095we did this and um hey if we can save one life great news great but uh it hit me personally he's doing great he can actually start participating again in athletics so anyway are we going to do this annually uh is that what our plan is ser sports. So they will have another chance towards the end of this year to add that to opt in to that is good. So will it be required for a sports physical or you can opt in? Not required. It's an opt at this point. That may be something that we but don't they have to have a physical but not necessarily this but at least they have the option of take of having this done. Who wouldn't want to? I'm telling and I want to say publicly again and I
096think uh Phil or somebody mentioned it earlier but I'm very concerned about the legislative some of the legislative action and on on the funding or the lack thereof uh on you know cutting the funding for CTE and our acceleration programs. Um very concerning about that. I mean, that's that's been the strong part of our district and I'm very troubled by the fact that uh they're not going to continue to fund that and that's going to have a direct impact on what we are doing for our kids. Second of all, um I went to a superintendent meeting this past week in Orlando and we got a lot of doom and gloom about the BSA and about how the funding from that is going to be detrimentally affected by, you know, the uh the cost of covering
097FRS and some other things. So again, I'm saying if you know of if I can put the word out there, parents, call your legislative, and y'all call them too, your your legislator that um our district needs to be continue to be funding at the current or higher levels because everything we've been doing that's been very positive is at risk right now. So just want to put that out there for at least a 50% reduction, right, which would be huge, be deter detrimental. on this is this is a statewide thing and other districts are you know crying out about it too but u you know the the the rural renaissance is great but that has not totally passed yet either and I'm afraid that may be that could be whittleled down as well as part of
098the bargaining so there's nothing for sure yet but right now the educational system across Florida is at risk and I I just urge everybody call your legislator okay that's all I have Mr. Sure. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. All right. Any other comments by the board? Okay.