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[music] [music] Good evening and welcome to the August 11th, 2026 meeting of the Maring County School Board. This meeting is now called to order. Miring and modeling the way our students begin each day. I ask that we observe a moment of silence at this

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time. Please join me. I will now read the board commitment statement. We are the Marian County School District Leadership Team. When we come together to work, we are efficient, effective, and productive. Our three most important characteristics are dedicated, transparent, and individually

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responsible. To work well together, we must demonstrate respect, confront reality, and be accountable. We will always put students first, and we will leave a legacy of success. For the courtesy of those listening to the meeting, I'm requesting everyone in the audience to please turn off their

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electronic devices or put them on vibrate. Public comment will now be accepted during two portions of each meeting for up to 30 minutes for each portion. The first will take place prior to the board vote and will be specific to the night's agenda. The second will be for items on which the school board

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customarily takes action and will occur after the board completes the business portion of the meeting. Anyone wanting to speak regarding an agenda item must complete a blue form. Anyone wanting to speak regarding a non-aggenda item must complete a yellow form. Both forms are

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available before each meeting and on the district website. Forms are due to the board clerk by 5:40 p.m. and can be submitted via email or in person. Public speakers will have three minutes to complete their comments and [clears throat] no more than 10 speakers will be scheduled in either public

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comment portion unless the board votes otherwise. Miss Martinez Young, can you please call the role? >> Dr. Allison Campbell, District 1, >> here. >> Mrs. Lorie Conrad, District 2, >> here. >> Reverend Dr. Eric Cummings, District Three, >> here. Mrs. Nancy Thrower, District 4, >> here.

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>> Dr. Sarah James, District 5, >> here. >> Attorney Jeremy Power, school board attorney, >> here. >> Dr. Danielle Brewer, superintendent >> here. >> And we will have our two new student board members representing us um after the inspiration and pledge. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Well, Dr. Brewer, speaking of inspiration and pledge,

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could you kick us off? >> Yes. Good evening. This evening, Mrs. Connor, our executive director of K12 academics, will introduce our new student board representatives. Yes. But before that, I do want to bring two of them up here with me now. Kayla

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Blakeley from North Marian and Michaela White from Forest High School will lead us in the inspiration and pledge. >> Good evening and welcome ladies. >> Good evening parents in Marian County Public School Board faculty. I'm honored

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to be here this afternoon with the chance to share my experience being a student within this county. My name is Caleb Blakey. I'm a current student at North Marian High School here along with representatives from Forest, Denellan, Belleview, Lake Weir, South Marian, and

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Westport in Spirit. I'm a member of the Cambridge Ace program offered at our school, the secretary of our National Junior Honor Society, and captain of our track and field team. I don't believe my normal day differs from any other high school student, waking up at 7 every morning, maybe earlier for meetings and

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pestering my brothers so we are not late for first period. It is a lucky break the off chance that I leave school right at the 3 p.m. bell and head home to relax. But for myself and many others, my school or not, the day is not over at 3. To name a few, Nadesha has cheer,

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Michaela has the cross, Katherine does FFA showing lambs, and Sophia is part of HOSA. And many of these reps have work on top of their schedules as well. This year may have only just started, but it could be as special as any other. As fate would have it, your student

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representatives all have positive minds and involve themselves both within their campuses as well as outside of volunteer opportunities around the county. But these mindsets weren't just curated from nothing. It was brought forth from their schools. In many cases, a home

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away from home. Most say that seven hours in the same environment is stiffling, but I would say otherwise. North Marian has provided a place for me to connect with others my age and see other perspectives I would have never dreamt of on my own. The teachers

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themselves put forward an atmosphere fitting of young adults looking for impactful futures. Take our global perspectives teacher, Miss Broen, for chance. Merely interacting with her sets many students day forward. Whether this be her praising a recent accomplishment

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or simply making small talk through how the day has been, no student feels left out. The teachers make campus home and the students family. This atmosphere results in students more involving themselves in their environment and Marian County is no exception to that.

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Daily interactions with faculty and similar have led me to strive for better, putting myself out of my own comfort zone and being rewarded for it. Allow me to say that the success that comes from these current students can be attributed to the countless teachers and administrators of MCPS that have served

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as the cornerstone for our limitless potential. Furthermore, the perseverance in our minds to make it through this stepping stone on our path, whether it be employment and list or enrollment have been made much more possible by the dedication that you have for your students. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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

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justice for all. >> Please be seated. >> Thank you. and we're going to come down in just a few minutes to take a picture. Um, but what a great way to kick off the 2026 2027 school year student representatives. That was wonderful. >> All right, but there's more because

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we're going to introduce each of them now and give them their name plates and then um they know to sit and wait for a picture afterwards. So, first off, Kayla Blakeley, she introduced herself. A senior A student at North Marian High School with a 4.65 weighted GPA. Athletics, student government,

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organizations. She forgot to mention her volunteer work at the Humane Society of Marian County and the city of Ocala. She brings a well-rounded perspective and passion for representing the experience for all North Marian students. >> Wonderful.

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Next up is Abigail Emerich. Abigail is a high achieving a senior at Belleview High School with a 4.8 8 weighted GPA, vice president of the BHS book club, an active ACE ambassador, and has held numerous leadership roles in FFA. As co uh co- captain of the girls

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weightlifting team, a volunteer with Fort McCoy Elementary and Interact Club projects, she exemplifies service and leadership. As a student board rep, she aims to highlight the many pathways that help students discover and achieve their goals.

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[applause] Katherine or Kate Vivivero is a senior this year at South Marian High School. Her experiences in leadership, career preparation, and service has shaped her commitment for student advocacy. A longtime member of FFA and 4, she served

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as a chapter officer participating in the Marian County Teen Council and earned industry certifications as well. Katherine's excited to share their perspectives and students attending Marian County's newest high school, South Marian. [applause]

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Michaela White. Michaela White is from Forest High School and she serves on several different leadership and opportunity teams throughout her school. She hopes that she can be an advocate for the voice across Forest High School.

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Reese Cartwright. Ree is an IB senior at Vanguard High School with a 5.0 weighted GPA. Her leadership spans numerous organizations including French Club, FBLA, Key Club, Model United Nations, Student

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Government, and the IB Ambassador Program. She's had service projects through the Public Education Foundation, Camp Kowanas, Treehouse Ministries, and Dance Marathon. She hopes to bring informed student- centered insight to board discussions to help advance

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opportunities. And we have Sophia Cruz Calderon. Sophia is a senior in the ACE program at Lakewear High School with a 4.69 weighted GPA. She's the reporter for her school's HOSA chapter. She's combined her academic excellence with leadership

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and service, volunteering at churches, animal rescue organizations, youth camps, and school events. Reflecting her dedication to helping others, she hopes to build connections among students and ensure their perspectives are heard and valued.

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[applause] Two of our student board representatives couldn't be here tonight, one for a volleyball game and one for oral surgery on the second day of school. Aubrey Smith from Denellan High School and Ada Hernandez from Westport will be introduced at their upcoming board meetings, but this is your 2026 2027

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student board reps. >> Awesome. [applause] >> Well, thank you ladies for being here. Take a seat and we are going to come down and take a picture with you in just a few minutes. Thank you, Miss Connor. I think we have some recognitions too this evening, right, Dr. Burr?

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>> Yes, ma'am. So, at this time, Mr. White House will come introduce um our special guests and we have members of the C with us as well. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Good evening, chair, board members. As you recall from our presentation in the spring, Marian County Public Schools

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partnered with the chamber and economic partnership uh for a program called Classroom to Careers this summer. And I would like to welcome Miss Beth McCall from the C to share the experiences from the summer and introduce our special recognition for this evening. Good evening, Miss McCall.

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>> I think I actually get to start. >> All right. >> I know I'm not near as good as Beth McCall as we all know. Uh but my name is Matt McCormack, president of the C. Uh thank you for having us. Thank you for the partnership. Uh I believe I got to speak to this body I think on like day eight. Yes. Uh whenever I started here

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and I had that privilege. So, what I spoke about then was something that holds true today and speaks to this, which is the belief that the community with the best schools win. And we got the opportunity to work on that and to partner together on

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a great program. And I want to say a big thank you to Dr. Brewer, uh to Dr. White House to everybody that was involved uh with this for not only saying yes but also uh wrapping their brains around this idea and then wrapping their arms around this idea of classrooms to careers. This is a two-prong process,

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right? It's a talent development program and it's something that we get the opportunity to work with not only our students, which is where a lot of talent development starts, right? We usually start with our students first. This is the first step where we actually start with our support structure first and

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that's going to be our teachers and our counselors and our administrators so that they know and they understand what it means to have a career in Ocala and Marian County and what exists out there and how to become a part of these these careers. And so we had the opportunity

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to launch this brand new program with a lot of support from the school district. We had every I'm gonna try to get this right. We had every eighth grade history teacher, uh, counselor, one counselor from each campus, and administrator from each campus. >> CT, >> sorry, sorry, CTE teacher. Thank you.

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Uh, CTE teacher that went through this program and spent a week not just learning about careers, but actually putting their hands in. It's immersive. It's not a sit and get. You're going to see a video here in a moment that we're so very proud of. And you're going to get to see our teachers and our

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counselors and our CTE professionals going through and actually understanding what it means to have a career in these jobs. And the great thing is this launches us into part two hopefully which will happen next year at the end of next year, next fall of 27, which is worlds of work, which is then where we do focus on our students and our

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students get to have an immersive process into what does it mean to have a career here and what goes into that. It's a great program. Uh we do want to say a big thank you to our title sponsor of this. We can't do these programs without our sponsors. We could not have put this on without our sponsors, but E1

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stepped up and said yes. We went and sat down with E1 and said, "We've got this idea uh and we want you to be a part of it because manufacturing is a big part of what we do here." And they jumped on board right away and said yes. So our teachers uh and such got to spend time spend a day in healthc care, spend a day

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in construction, manufacturing, and then equin and equin and agriculture. Was that all the days? I think I got them all. >> Not construction, manufacturing. Sorry, manufacturing. I'll get it right. Uh we're working the next year's construction. We already planning on next year. Uh so they got to spend their

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time in these uh we even had them all mucking stalls out at uh out at a horse farm. So it was a lot of fun. So, with that, we've got a quick video that we want to show you. So, we're going to launch this video and then we're going to turn it over to Beth uh to go over a couple of the things, the outcomes that

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we've seen, and then the fun part is we get to present a check to one of our to our winning schools. So, with that, uh can we roll the video? Classroom to careers was designed to get our middle school teachers involved.

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[music] Work on that. >> Classroom to careers was designed to get our middle school teachers involved in really an immersion of industry sectors in our community. >> [music]

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>> Classroom to careers was designed to get our middle school teachers involved in really an immersion of industry sectors in our community. We chose manufacturing, healthc care [music]

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and agriculture equin for our first classroom to careers pilot. [music] I am so excited to say that our first classroom to careers [music] was a tremendous success. Uh comments from the teachers and then the survey that

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[music] they did said yes, this was a hit out of the ballpark. [music] >> I didn't know it was so many careers. as a careers teacher. Um, I've only been in the classroom for uh about three years now, but I just didn't know that it was so many different [music] careers out there. Even though we do a lot of

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research in school, but just to go um outside of the classroom into, [music] you know, the job places and see, hey, we have so many different careers. And so, um, my what I want to do is just imple [music] just let them know, hey, you have all kind of choices. There are

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so many jobs out there. There's so many opportunities and I think that's where I'm going to start off from. >> I think what I'll bring most to them is experiences with job areas that I hadn't previously [music] considered. Having some experience now walking through some of these assembly lines or even in the

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hospital. The fact that the hospital is willing to help pay for degrees or for training and you can just get your foot in the door, get to know people, you know, those are opportunities that I wish I had have known, you know, 20 years ago. So this immersion was not a

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sit and get. This immersion was tours of facilities. This immersion was making little circuits at E [music] at E1 uh like they put into the fire trucks. Uh going up on the ladder truck as high as

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they could in the bucket. [music] At healthcare, they got to go into the lab. They got to see how all of that worked. They got to hear from experts in all of these fields. agricultural equin. You know, everybody knows that agriculture

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and equin industry is a very big part of Marian County, [music] but these teachers were immersed in what does that look like? They were all wonderful. I was trying to think about that today. [music] Uh, but I think my favorite part was going to E1 and seeing all the just diverse [music] jobs that

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they have available, but also Cardinal Glass. I mean, we didn't even know that they were [music] um had so many employees and had such a wide variety of of jobs that people could [music] do >> and how Cardinal Glass and Pella, they kind of work [music] side by side

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because it leaves Cardinal and goes to Pella and the growth that they have, the tuition [music] reimbursement that they offer. I didn't know some of that stuff. But that's another thing that students ask is, I don't think I can afford to go to

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college, but there's these places that do have those opportunities [music] to grow. >> It's so important because I have a lot of students that say, "Miss Sweden, I don't want to go to college." Um, a lot of them say, "I would rather just um graduate, go on a job, or I have a lot

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to say that they like hands on, you know, hands-on stuff." I >> I think a lot of it's about exposure. when when you're growing up, you only know the jobs that you are exposed [music] to. And so if you think about the manufacturing and you just think factory, maybe you're thinking back to,

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you know, in high school class, one of your social studies showed you the I love Lucy clip where they're in the chocolate factory and like, oh, that's what a factory is like. It's different than when you actually go to a factory where they are producing [music] glass or making windows or making fire trucks,

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right? And for teachers when they see it, they can then communicate to students [music] these types of opportunities exist. If you don't know they exist, you can't help guide students that direction or even present that as an opportunity. After this three-day total immersion,

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they came back together and as their school teams, most of them had three per team, some [music] had two, they came up with a plan, which we call a pitch on how are they going to implement this into their school. Now,

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our judges were judges from these industry [music] sectors and they had a hard time deciding what the winning was. But Lakewear Middle School pitch was about interview [music] skills and taking all

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of the students and doing practical interview skills with them. And that rang loud and clear with our judges. So, Lake Middle School won and they got $2,000 for their school. [music] I'm very excited about how this turned out. We will grow it next year. We will

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add more sectors in [music] uh to the program. We will add more teachers, possibly split [music] and have two different classroom to careers going at the same time. I think we do have that fundamental base of families that are born and raised here in generations and

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giving them an opportunity to know that [music] you don't have to do college. you can stay here and you can have a company uh pick you up and and work with them [music] and know that they can stay here with their family and uh not have to move around. >> One of our goals at the C should always

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be to concentrate on helping our workforce build that future pipeline. Am I on? I think that you can see that it was very wellreceived. The surveys that were taken, 81% of our teachers

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rated it excellent. They had some very good ideas for next year. The pitch contest was amazing and those interview skills um really caught our judges. And at the C, we hear that a lot from our

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businesses that they want kids coming out of school that know how to interview. So, it was wonderful. We look forward to it next year as well. Um, I need to thank uh Cardinal Glass, Pella Windendo, E1 for our manufacturing day,

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Advent Health for our healthc care day, and Stone Street um training center, and Vintage Farm for our A and Ecoin day. They went out of their way to host us, and the teachers really learned. So before we do this check presentation, are there any questions from you?

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>> Uh well, I'm on behalf of the board, I'll say we're grateful for this partnership and giving um opportunity for our teachers to learn beyond what happens in their classroom and learn how it can impact the community. What I wrote down was um a saying that is from one of the nonprofits that works in this

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community that says exposure leads to access, which somebody mentioned in their interview. And so for many of our students, they just don't know what they don't know. And so our teachers getting a firsthand awareness of what's available in our community then allows them to show our students what's

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available and creates future opportunities. So >> outstanding. Excellent. >> Anyone else have anything to say right now or we'll save it for comments later. Okay. >> Okay. We're good. So, at this time, we would like to call up Lakewear Middle School. Principal Brian Green and

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William Tenny and Joseph Bergman were actually uh two of the teachers. Uh Starcott could not be with us tonight, but we want to present them for their wonderful pitch uh on this process um with the $2,000 check. So, come on up.

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>> Awesome. Yes. Well, we're grateful and we're going to come down and shake your hands and everything. So, if you'll hang out, we'll come down and take a picture with you all in just a minute. We just have one more um proclamation to do and then we'll hang out. But we're just grateful that you guys were willing to do it. At the end of a long school year, you were

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willing to spend another week learning and growing. We are grateful for that. >> Yes. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> I do want to say, and we can't iterate enough, uh, this doesn't happen and is not successful without Dr. Brewer saying yes from the beginning, but then our

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principles getting on board with this and then getting everybody that you saw here on board with this. It's the only way it's successful. And so a big thank you from us, but a big thank you from our businesses. We've heard businesses that weren't even a part of this say, "Hey, what's this? Classrooms to careers. We're hearing about this. We

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want to be a part of this in the future." Um, so thank y'all from the bottom of our hearts. We appreciate y'all being on board with this and work in that direction. >> Absolutely. Thank you. One another big round of applause. >> And then I'm gonna hand it over to Mr. Christian who present

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>> I'm going to introduce um Mr. White House will come up um before the proclamation. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Good evening again. We do have members of the Johnson family here. We'd like to ask them to come up as we read the proclamation and we'll share this proclamation with them.

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>> Conrad, can you hear? But Kevin's got my >> Good evening everyone. Stand up. >> Good evening to each of you. This proclamation reads, "Hold on, Kev. Hold on, Kev. You got

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some behind you. >> Maybe I should look behind. Are there more? Okay, [laughter] this proclamation reads, "Whereas Lloyd W. Johnson, Senior, devoted his life to serving the citizens of Marian County as a successful farmer, entrepreneur,

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craftsman, church leader, and community builder whose contributions helped strengthen North Central Florida. Whereas Lloyd W. Johnson Senior achieved an historic milestone as one of North Marian County's first African-American

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school bus drivers and faithfully served Marian County students from 1944 to 1970, breaking barriers and paving the way for future generations through his professionalism dedication courage and commitment to the safe

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transportation of students. Whereas through his service with student transportation, Lloyd W. Johnson, Senior, provided a vital connection between students and educational opportunities, serving as a trusted role model and demonstrating the important

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role transportation professionals play in the success of public education. Whereas the pioneering contributions of Lloyd W. Johnson senior represent an important chapter in the history of Marian County Public Schools and reflect

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the values of perseverance, service, and excellence that continue to inspire students, employees, and community members today. And whereas the unveiling of an historical marker in honor of Lloyd W. Johnson senior provides an

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opportunity to recognize his lasting legacy and ensures future generations may honor his contributions to Marian County, the Evston community, and Marian County public schools. Now, therefore, it be it proclaimed the school board of Marian County, Florida, hereby

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recognizes and honors the life, service, and historic contributions of Lloyd W. Johnson, Senior, and commends his pioneering service as North Marian County's first African-American school bus driver, whose dedication and leadership helped advanced educational

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opportunities that even today continue impacting the history of Marian County Public Schools. Be it further proclaimed, the school board of Marian County, Florida, extends its appreciation to the Johnson family and holds those responsible for preserving

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and celebrating this important legacy through the dedication of the historical marker. It's dated this this 11th day of August, 2026, and signed by each of our board members and our school superintendent. So, congratulations to each of you. I'm certain our board and

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superintendent want to comment. So, if you'll just rotate around and let them say their comments to you. >> And we're going to come down and take a picture. We're grateful that you all are here and we look forward to celebrating with you on Saturday as well and being a part of the celebration on Saturday. Um

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this is a monumental moment for your family as well as for us to be able to recognize the legacy. So, we're incredibly grateful. Um big round of applause. Yes, we're so grateful. [applause] >> Dr. Brewer, did you have anything you wanted to say? Yes, I I want to thank um

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Mr. Stan Jacobs, Mr. White House, and Elena Martinez Young. This week and the last couple weeks have been exciting digging into the archives and the employment files for verification. So, I want to thank the three of them for the work to lead us to to today. And I look

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forward to coming on Saturday to the um unveiling of the road. So, I will be there with you on Saturday. >> Wonderful. Well, stay right there. We're going to come take a picture. board members. All right. Yes sir.

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Careful. Careful. And the news is here. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, that was an exciting kickoff to the meeting. I want to start with some recognitions of donations. We have $2,000 to Lake Middle School from

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the Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership to be utilized to help with the implementation of other possible CTE activities as we saw just a few minutes ago and $10,10 to mental health and wellness from the community foundation of Okala Maring County to be used to

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provide clothing, shoes, school supplies, hygiene items, holiday gifts, graduation support, and other resources for homeless and needy students and families. Thank you, chair. I recommend approval of the agenda for the August 11th, 2026

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school board meeting. >> May I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> A motion by uh Reverend Cummings and a second by board member Conrad on the superintendent's recommendation. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes. 5-0. We will move into

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the business portion of the meeting. Miss Martinez Jean, can you please provide the proof of publication for tonight's meeting? The notice for the August 11th, 2026 schoolboard meeting was placed on the district website on August 4th, 2026. Proof of notification has been placed under proof of publication in board docs.

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>> Thank you and welcome to this evening's meeting. May I have a motion to approve the minutes for the July 9th, 2026 administrative briefing and work session? >> So move. >> Second. >> A motion by board member Cummings and a second by board member Thrower. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes?

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>> Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes 5-0. May I have a motion to approve the minutes for the July 14th, 2026 school board meeting? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> A motion by board member Conrad and a second by Dr. Campbell. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes?

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Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes. 5-0. Bear with me. I have a whole lot to read now. Uh we have a decent amount of information only items this evening. So, the school district uses a construction management delivery method, including a guaranteed

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maximum price, GNP, to perform construction work on projects. The superintendent or designate has signed and approved the following change orders. Per board policy 6345, the superintendent or designate is authorized to approve and execute any construction change order that will

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increase the construction contract by 25,000 or less or that will decrease the construction contract amount provided the approval shall be in his or her judgment in the best interest of the board. Such change order shall be binding upon execution by the superintendent. The superintendent shall

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report each change order that he or she approved to the board at the board meeting that follows his or her approval. The superintendent's approval of the change orders will be entered into the official minutes of the board meeting. We'll begin with deductive change orders. There was a reconciliation made to the following project resulting in a reduction of

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overall project costs. Item 9.1, amendment number one to the construction manager contract guaranteed maximum price GMP for labor and materials related to construction of new 16 classroom addition at Liberty Middle School. Change order number six,

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amendment number one, project 24-103. Deductive change order is $24,16.79. There were unused funds on the following projects. And since these projects were delivered using a construction management delivery with a GMP format, unused dollars, regardless of the item,

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are returned to the owner. The unspent monies will be returned to the owner via change orders, which will close the financial books on these projects. 9.2 Two. Amendment number one to the construction manager contract guaranteed maximum price GMP for labor and materials related to the construction of

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the new 16 classroom edition at Liberty Middle School. Change order number seven, amendment number one, project 24-103, deductive change order is $17,672.31. Item 9.3, downspout washouts at central warehouse. Change order number one, work

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authorization number one, project 20-102, deductive change order is $7,627.25. Item 9.4, guaranteed maximum price GMP for the Fort McCoy School well site replacement change order number four, work authorization number one, project 25-104,

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deductive change order of $45,394.14. Item 9.5, guaranteed maximum price GMP for the Horizon Academy at Maran Oak Security Fencing. Change order number one, work authorization number two, project 23-131. Deductive change order is $37,542.61

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and 9.6. Uh for information purposes, the district will schedule a public hearing for the September 8th, 2026 school board meeting for the purposes of approving revised board policy 7250 uh commemoration of school facilities. Uh moving on to item 10.1, Miss

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Martinez, do we have any speakers this evening? >> Yes, Madam Chair, we have 11 speakers. >> Okay. Board with 11 speakers. Based on board policy, that will be two minutes per speaker. Um Miss Martinez Young, um thank you for that. And attorney Powers, would you be able to read the rules? governing persons who wish to address

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the school board this evening. >> Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Thank you. >> In compliance with section 286.0114 Florida statutes, the school board has adopted uniform procedures for public speakers who wish to speak at this

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evening's meeting, either regarding one of today's agenda items or a matter related to the operations of the school district. These procedures will ensure the public has a reasonable opportunity to be heard on schoolboard and school district matters. A written summary of

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these procedures is available from the table in [clears throat] the lobby. Public speaker forms are also located on the same table. The completed forms were due to the school board's clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. This evening's agenda item speakers will

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be called prior to the business portion of the school board's meeting in the order received by the school board clerk. For items not listed on the agenda, speakers will be called at the end of the business meeting. Before you begin speaking, please state your full name for the record and spell

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your last name. Each speaker will have two minutes. When the speaker has one minute remaining, the speaker will receive a visual notice right here to complete his or her comments. Speakers may not yield their time to other people. Speakers and meeting attendees

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are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner. Therefore, verbal attacks and profanity are strictly prohibited. The board is here to listen to your comments only. You may be directed to an administrative staff member following the conclusion of your comments or further assistance to address your

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concerns. If there are matters dealing with student discipline, including expulsions, those will be scheduled at the conclusion of the televised portion of this meeting. Parents may address the board regarding a disciplinary matter at that time.

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To ensure student privacy, only a parent or guardian may use a student's first or last name. Identifying references to or other uh to other students is also prohibited. Uh speaker speech does not reflect endorsement, sponsorship,

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position, or expression of the school district. Thank you for your attention to the board's requirements. And madam chair, that concludes my explanatory remarks. Thank you. >> Thank Thank you, Attorney Powers. And just to confirm, Miss Martinez Young, all 11 are for attached to an agenda item. >> That is correct.

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>> Okay. Wonderful. Well, we will, Miss Martinez Young will call the speakers in the order that they were presented. Um, and so please listen for your name and you'll have two minutes. >> Sheila and Sheil. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. Will you pull the mic down

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for me? Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Shelley Sheiel. S C H E L. Six years ago, I walked in to Wyom Park brand new to teaching and brand new to Florida. At that time, Wyomina was just

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like any other school I had been in. Kids came in, they learned, and they left. Today, however, when I walk into Wyoming each day, I walk into a place that is vastly different. Wyomina is not just a building where students learn

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each day. It is a home. It is a safe space. It is a place where they feel seen and cared for. It is a place where students take chances and try new things because they feel safe and supported. It is a place where students know they are

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loved by all who work there. I am the daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter of three generations of teachers. I grew up in public schools. Wyomina is unlike any school that I have ever experienced. I am also the parent of three students that have

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all loved Wyomina and I could not imagine them going anywhere else. Each day, our teachers, admin, and staff not only work to educate the students, but we also do everything we can to ensure that our students feel safe and cared and loved for. [snorts]

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Each time Wyomina is visited by the district, state staff, and visitors consistently comment on how you can feel the care and passion the staff has for our students. Our school is a low-income school. Many kids who go to Wyomina suffer from economic and domestic impacts that are

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not prevalent in other schools. Our admin staff stay for hours long each night because they choose to spend their contract time each day in the classrooms and everywhere on campus. >> 10 seconds.

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>> Staff at Wyomino work hard to ensure that students are fed, clean, and clothed. Some even go so far as to take their free time to teach older students how to read recipes and cook because they know that the student is the one responsible for feeding their family.

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>> Your time is expired. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Keith Gilchrist. Good evening. >> How you doing? >> Good. Please make sure you just talk close to the mic. >> My name is Keith Gilchrist. Last name G

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I L C R. >> You'll just have to talk up a little bit. It's just harder for us. >> Speak up and get close to that mic. It needs to be like six inches from you. >> Keith Gilchrist. >> There you go. >> G I L C R I S T. >> Okay.

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>> My My two boys attend Wamina Park. And this year I was blessed the opportunity to join the staff as a physical education teacher. When I walk through the school, I don't just see it as a school. I see it I see the children. I see the teachers who care. I see the

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families who believe in their children. And I see our schools working hard to become better. Wyoming Park has three principles that we teach our teach that we teach our students every day. Do your best. Do what's right. Treat others better than you want to be treated.

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Tonight, I ask that we apply those same principles to the future of Wimina Park. Do your best. Our students and staff have been doing exactly that. Wina Park went from a D to a C. That may just be a letter on a report, but to the people who worked hard for it, it represents

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progress, perseverance, and hope. When a school is improving, I believe the question shouldn't be why keep trying. It should be how can we keep them moving forward and getting better. Do what's right. I understand the board

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has difficult decisions to make. There are enrollment numbers, budgets, facilities, trans transportations, and many other factors that can to be considered. But behind every number is a child. Behind every number is a family. And and behind every number is a teacher

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or staff member who has dedicated themselves to these students. I respectfully ask that you consider Wy mean park progress potential and the people who make it the school special. And finally, treat others the way you want it to be treated. If this were your

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child, wouldn't you want someone to fight for your for their school? Wouldn't you want someone to recognize their progress? Wouldn't you want them to be given every reasonable opportunity to succeed? That is all we are asking tonight. Don't ignore the challenges.

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Help us overcome them. Give our students the opportunity to keep climbing. Give our teachers the opportunity to keep building. And give Wyoming Wyoming Park the opportunity to show what it can become. >> Wyoming isn't just a building.

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>> It's our children. It's our teachers and it's our community. Thank you. >> Sarah Lynn Raymond. And attorney powers is going to give a 30 second warning just so you know that your time is coming up. Okay.

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>> Good evening. >> Hi, my name is Sarah Raymond. R A Y M O N D. >> I'd like to start by saying that this meeting's existence is like the antithesis of what we teach our children. >> Yeah. Here. I can't Okay.

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>> Okay. This meeting's existence is the antithesis of what we teach our children. You made a decision to rid the county of an educational landmark, and you thought that it would be easier to ask forgiveness instead of permission, and you were wrong. Schools such as Reic and Spar were given the opportunity to

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decide the fate of their schools, something we were purposefully denied. My front door is two blocks from Wamita's front door. We can see the crossing guard from where we live. My son attended Yamina Park VPK through fifth grade. We now have twins and we

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fully intended on them following that same educational path during COVID, during all of the any any of those red uh alarms, whatever. Um, we had so much support. Those are terrifying things to see as a parent. It's terrifying to

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think that your child's walking to school and maybe nobody's looking for them, but I can see that. I can feel that love from that school. During COVID, we had meal support. the teachers called and checked on us. That's something I've never seen before from any other school. My friends don't say

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anything like that about the schools that they were that their kids were at. I just ask that instead of taking away this educational landmark that you seriously consider the impact that it will have on our children and their education. Thank you. >> Thank you,

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[applause] >> Danielle Godwin Goodwin. Excuse me. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Danielle Goodwin. My last name is Goodwin. G O O D W I N. Can you hear me completely fine? >> Just lean right into the mic. Thank you.

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That's perfect. >> Okay. So, Yamita Park starts with three B's. That's how they're greeted every morning. Three Bs are being respectful, being responsible, and being safe. Those

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are the three Bs. Why amunable school? If the if the parent can't see the child walking from the the home, there's still community advocates as myself around the neighborhood that looks out for all of these lowincome

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school children. I want to preach or speak upon the max capacity on the two schools other than Wamea. There is Wameita in the middle. You have H Street up at the top and you

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have Shady Hill down at the bottom. Wame is in the middle. Those two other schools are at their mass capacity. H Street is overund 104% max capacity and then Shady Hill is

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about 96% max capacity. These teachers that I see every day that I bring my three daughters to every day. My daughter is 10 years old. She's been in the school since she was in kindergarten. I have a

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new kindergarten in the school and I have a second grader. You have 30 seconds remaining. >> This school is the community. We have faith in this school and it still needs to be there like it has been

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there since 1940. So I thank you for your time and the community that it does bring because if one mom is not watching another, another mom is watching another. And when the teachers are done for the day, the mothers and the parents step in to help

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with the community. And that's what this Wamina Elementary School is. >> God bless. >> Karen Thurman. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Karen Thurman. It's t hur

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r-an. I am a former school teacher in Marian County. I am a former legislator and a former congresswoman. I have been spending my time over the last several weeks and months and years at Wyomina to support them. But I'm going to talk from a

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specific part of what I think transparency is. I looked up in March of this year, you all held three meetings with SPAR, reic and whatever other one

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and you had a chance, that community had a chance to speak. You all don't understand. I know some of you have been to Berkeley. Some of you have even said, "I don't even know how this is. I didn't even know this would be the way kids are taught." These kids go to school with no

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food. They have a pantry at the school to make sure the teachers are out there. They have clothing. They have everything. But the issue really is is the ability for people in this community to readress their government. When you have a meeting at 9:45 and that's the

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first time you hear about it. And tonight there was no the only reason we knew was because somebody came by the school and said they're having a meeting tonight. So I think you should table this. I'm asking for a specific recommendation. you should table this. You should have some hearings. You

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should listen to these te these parents and the what it means to their community. And if you can't do that, then you probably ought not to be sitting here making decisions about things you don't know. Thank you, [applause] Carol Colbert. Good evening.

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>> Good evening everyone. My name is Carol Colbert. C O L B R T. I'm here today on behalf of not just my daughter Immani White, my son Willard James, Jalisa White, and Darien James. They all went

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to Wamita Park. I lived in Spring Manor for 13 years and I walked many a days to Wamina Park to get my children to and from school as well as getting them on the bus. And I must say that Wamina Park has been not

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only a home and a place for my kids to go and be safe. Um, but it's created an education for them to go to school to become more than what they can ever be. Uh my son, he went to North Carolina and

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got a career as a marine. And my um sons right now are going to school to aviation school working on planes. They're fixing on engines. My son right now is working at the Ocala airport working on engines. Immani White

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went to college central Florida for community act community cfcc and got a a degree in college. She also went to FAMU was going to become a law but she decided to become a school teacher so

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that she can teach the children teach one preach one teach one. My daughter Jalisa was a sheriff. She working at the sheriff department and she decided to become a post. >> You have 30 seconds remaining. >> I understand. But God's love,

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look at yourselves and understand that we all are a community and we need to come together and make sure that the kids because they are the reason for our future. So please take it in consideration God's love

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and do all you can for the kids because we do need to be together in Jesus name. Amen. >> Thank you Lara White. Hello. >> Good evening. >> My name is Imani White. Whiti T. Have

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you ever had the rug pulled out from under your feet? That is exactly how I felt on July 20th when we learned that White Mina Park could be closing. How do we tell our students the children who calls our names, give us hugs, and look for us throughout the day?

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These aren't just students on the roster. They are our children. And this fight is deeply personal for me because I am not only a teacher at Wina Park. I am a former Wina Park student. I once walked those same hallways. I once sat in those classrooms. And now I have the

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honor of coming back as a teacher to serve the community that helped shape me. So when I hear that Wina Park may close, I don't just hear that a building is closing. I hear that a piece of my childhood and a piece of our community is being taken away. Wina Park is more

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than a school. It is a relationship. It is belonging. It is a place where our children are known, loved, and supported. Our community has faced hardships from every direction and still rose from concrete. Please listen to our families. Listen to

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our teachers. Listen to our former students, but most importantly, listen to our children. They may not understand numbers or statistics, but they understand one thing. Wita Park is home. I know what this school gave me. Please give our children the opportunity to

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experience the same love, belonging, and hope. Save Wina Park. Thank you, [applause] >> Lorraine Fuller. >> Good evening. >> Hi, my name is Lorraine Fuller. Fu Ler.

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I've been a teacher at Wimina Park. I'm starting my 26th year. Last February, February 24th. Um the school board approved our year out year- round cal for two years this year and next year.

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Just last month we got a new pre prek playground which my children benefit from immensely. Many of you along with um Superintendent Brewer visited our campus for our back to school bash and you witnessed the excitement, the energy, the love, the

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community that we have at Wimina Park. And yet we're here listening and finding out that our school might be closing and our students resoned so that an alternative school, Bridgeway, may move on our campus.

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The I think it was July 20th. She said the Thursday we were all excited. We had a faculty meeting and Mrs. Hunt comes in, our principal comes in and says the school board's having a meeting to discuss possibly closing Wina Park two

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days before our back to school bash. So anyways, unlike other schools in Marian County, Madison Street, um Spar, the Northern Schools, we didn't have a town hall meeting. We didn't hear about the plan for our school, our students, teachers, staff. We only heard that

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Wimina Park may be closing and it's what's the plan? We are truly a neighborhood school with walkers and bike riders nestled in a lovely neighborhood. We have a special relationship with our students and families. And as has as it been said, we

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have a clothing closet. We hand out detergent. We go and play games with our neighborhood families. Wita Park was built in 1949. It's a historic pre-K through fifth grade and it is more than a school. It

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is a community and we are a family. Thank you, >> Liberty Thurman. >> Good evening. >> Evening. My name is Liberty Thurman. t h ur m- an privilege of working at Wimina Park

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Elementary for 23 years. And in those 23 years, I have seen the good, the bad, and everything in between. I have seen challenges that have tested us, but I have also seen resilience, determination, and a school community that refuses to give up on our students. That is why I am here tonight to ask you, please do not close elementary. For

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years, our school has faced obstacles. We know our struggles better than anyone. But what concerns me the most is a proposal that it comes at a time when we are finally seeing real measurable progress. We are not a school in decline. We are a school on the rise. Our attendance rates have improved so significantly that we have received the

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award for most improved chronic absenteeism attendance in the district. That did not happen by accident. It happened because our staff worked tirelessly to connect with families, remove barriers, and to help students understand the importance of being in school every day. We have also implemented strategies to reduce student

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referrals and improve school culture. The results have been remarkable. We are currently in our fourth week of school and this year we have only had eight referrals. Last year at the same point we had 28 referrals. This year before that we had 17 referrals and before that by the end of the third week by the third week of school we had 56

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referrals. Those numbers tell a story. They tell us that the systems we have put into place are working. They tell us that the students are responding positively. They tell us that good things are happening at Wamina Park Elementary. We are not asking for special treatment. We are simply asking for a chance to survive long enough to

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see the fruit of our work that has already taken place. If the year-round school model is not producing the results you hope for, then have that conversation. Cancel year-round education if necessary, but please do not punish a school community that is making progress by closing our doors. I also want to speak on behalf of our teachers and staff. This is frustrating

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and concern because many of their questions remain unanswered. Their lives, careers, and families are being impacted by the decisions that feels rushed and incomp incomplete. So tonight, I'm asking that the disc this discussion be tabled until staff and families have the questions answered until the board has adequate time to fully consider the long-term impact of

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this decision. A school is more than a building. It is more than enrollment numbers and budget lines. It's a relationships, tradition, stability, and hope. Wina Park Elementary. Thank you for your time. Ethan Sap. >> Good evening.

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>> Hey, good evening. My name is Ethan Sap, SAP. Uh thank you school board and thank you superintendent Dr. Brewer for letting us speak. Uh Wam you know as far as I know was established in 1949. Um it's more than a building. It has

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spirit. Our students are warriors with warrior spirit. I've heard Miss Hunt say that we're one tribe and we have one vibe. Um, under our steadfast leadership of Miss Hunt and Miss Brower, um, our school has definitely shown great

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improvement and risen and I've been there for, I believe, eight years and, uh, the growth I've seen in all areas is just out of this world. Um, at the end of every day, Miss Hunt tells our kids that if no one's told you,

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she'll tell them that she loves her loves them. And all of us do here at Wy mean. and she's telling the truth every day when she says that. Uh we got a lot of intangibles there at the school and I think two of them are are love and and security and our schools turned the

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corner. Simply put, uh this decision could have unintended consequences, you know, to the mental health, the social well-being of our children. I'd like to bring attention to the work done with community that they've spoken to earlier about feeding, clothing, the visits uh they do on the

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weekend that the teachers here do on their own time. And I'd like to to borrow from the student that spoke earlier. Uh whyina is as she said is home sweet home. It's a home away from home. Excuse me. She said it was a home away from home. We

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appreciate your mission statement which includes putting students first. I believe keeping my current state falls in step with the direction of the respected board. Um we teach writing at the school. We teach reading and and we teach that stories involve problems and solutions

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and we try and wrap it up with a good ending and I I think this story here well I know the story here is a children's story so a happy ending would be fitting and we just appreciate your time and hope you'll consider decided in

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our favor. Thank you. Thank you, >> Stephanie Isaac. Can you hear me? Okay. My name is Stephanie Isaac. Last name is spelled I S A A C. Wyoming serves more than 80% of students that are economically disadvantaged. The

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needs are vast from academics to social. Some just appreciate being seen. The government shutdown is one example that served as a testament to where the school stood with the community. If you only knew how staff and donors stood to make sure families were fed and children

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didn't go hungry. As we all know, your decision has consequences. The decision this is this this decision will have ripple effects the ones that affect the community community at a much larger capacity than you can currently see. Did you really care to take into account the

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economic impact of this relocation of the families affected? You may see one school but I see a I see community impact and child development. What do you see? Think and serve accordingly. You all are going to stand in front of

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the creator one day and he's going to ask you, did you truly serve the people? That is a that is the true legacy of success. >> Thank you. >> That concludes all speakers. >> Okay. Thank you. Well, on behalf of the

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board, I want to thank you all for taking your time and energy to come out this evening. And we'll be discussing this item a little later in the agenda. Um, but I wanted to acknowledge your participation um, tonight in our meeting. So, thank you for being here. We're going to move into our consent agenda.

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May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items? >> So, move. >> Second. >> A motion by board member Cummings and a second by board member Conrad. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes. 5-0. Moving on to student disciplinary matters,

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expulsions, and agreements. may have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD26-131 and JD26-132 with services for the remainder of the 2025 2026 school year and the first, second, and third quarters of the 2026

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2027 school year. >> Motion to approve. >> Second >> motion by board member Conrad and a second by board member Campbell. All those in favor say I. >> I. Motion passes 5-0. Moving on to discussion, regular agenda items D19.1.

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May I have a motion to approve the future focused operations plan. >> Motion to approve. >> A motion by board member Conrad. >> Second for the purpose of discussion. >> Second by Dr. Campbell. Dr. Brewer. Um would you like to provide some information?

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>> Yes, ma'am. This plan addresses aging infrastructure, deferred maintenance, enrollment shifts, operational efficiencies, and educational opportunities through a phased approach to facility replacement, modernization, consolidation, and program expansion. As

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you're aware, we've had seven work session discussions concerning the these items starting back on October 16, 2025. So, we're available if you have any questions at this point. >> Thank you, Dr. Brewer. uh board. Uh any

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comments, questions, or discussion on this item? Dr. Campbell. >> Thank you. Um I will start the discussion and I'm I certainly would love to hear from um my peers on the board here. So, Dr. Brewer and I have

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already had this conversation because I certainly believe that it's not going to be shocking whenever a board member comes with a vote that's going to be opposed to what the superintendent is proposing. So, there's a lot of things about this future focus plan that I appreciate and a lot of things that we

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were able to negotiate through the conversation we've had previously inclusive of Belleview High School turf field being moved up and and some other things like that having the now the astrices saying okay this is contingent on actually having funding so there there's a lot of things that we were

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able to work out and negotiate um but board yesterday so here's here's the unique position that that I am in so The proposal as it stands right now would reszone students from Wyoming Park Elementary for the purpose of Bridgeway

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Academy to move on to that campus. As we now have gone back to our original assignments, those are two schools that I represent in district 1. So, I had the opportunity yesterday to be on both campuses and watching myself in the cafeteria see

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a student ask Miss Hunt, "Is my school going away? next year. Honestly, I was just about brought to tears myself and it was the first time I had the opportunity to see that. And she said, "It happens all the time, every day."

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and that the staff this this is Allison speaking now I don't see the fairness by any stretch of the imagination that the second day of school for the traditional school year we know they've been in school since July but for the

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traditional school year the second day of school for us to be voting on something that essentially will have a black cloud over a school for the entire school year I do not see that being fair I can't even fathom what that looks like or the turmoil that that has put this

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group under. A couple of other thoughts on that. I also had conversation with Mr. Jones because I understand Bridgeway needs a home. So that this is one of those catchy things as the board member that represents both locations. I completely understand that they need a

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home that looks different than what their current situation is. However, if we move them onto the campus that is Yamina Park Elementary, the underutilization of the campus is

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one of the excuses or reasons that we're using to justify the move to combine Yamina and Oakrest together because Wameina is underutilized. At no time at no time has Bridgeway come

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anywhere near the 400 plus students that Wameina Park has right now ever. And so if we think underutilization is part of the argument, I think it's negated because Bridgeway on its highest enrollment probably has

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about 350 students. So that argument kind of has to be taken off the table. My opinion and still where I stand is that because we know that Belleview Elementary new school will be built this

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entire year and we are combining Belleview Santos and Belleview Elementary together. We know that I personally believe that this full year needs to be a part of getting all of that reszoned and both of those student bodies go to Lakewear Middle School next

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year and they're already together. It's already a combo school and then they go together to their new site at Belleview Elementary which then will free up the Belleview Santos location and would give Bridgeway a home in that spot. That's

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where I I >> we please let's withhold any applause or anything like that. We let it go a little bit while there was public speaking but not while board members are speaking. Okay. >> Thank you. So at this point I mean certainly there's another argument to be

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made if we want to move it to north side. We're having conversation about what that combo would look like as well, but we already know it's already on the plan that this those two schools will be combined and it would free up a campus for Bridgeway and still move forward with the rest of this plan. But as it

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stands, that one item of Wamina Park being reszoned to Oakrest Elementary and moving Bridgeway to that campus, I am unable to vote for this as it stands this evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Campbell for your thoughts. Does anyone else have thoughts

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they'd like to share? >> I'll go. >> Okay. Um I'm in support of the plan. Uh since I've been on the board, we've been having district discussions

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um about making sure our campuses are at capacity. And this conversation is important because if you're watching the news or reading the new p newspaper, you're also hearing about teachers needing raises. You're also hearing

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about an increase in insurance. All of these conversations are connected. You can't have one conversation, make one decision, and it not affect the entire system. And so I say that and I'll say what I

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say every time we're talking about um a change in facilities is even when I personally feel change is good or it's the right decision. It's not easy um it's uncomfortable but our community has changed. When you

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drive around town you can see how our community has grown and how it has changed. My mother-in-law retired from teaching at Wyomina Park School. My husband went to Wyomina Park School.

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I have an attachment to that school. I visit your school and I see the great work not just when I'm there in person, but I I see it online. um your team and I know that most of this board is is a

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teeny tiny part of the work that you do at your school because we believe in it. The difference is I don't believe that that work is limited to that building. When I look out here and I see red and black shirts and I meet people at your

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school, I meet them on campus. You are the change. the people in the audience right here and on your school campus. You all are what have the positive effect on those children. The building is historic, but you make

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the change in the lives of the students that you interact with every day. And I see that great work following you to the next campus as you take the pantry and

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the clothing closet and the visits home. All of those things travel with you um to your campus at Orest. So, I say that all to say, um, I'm in support of this program, of this, uh,

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facility move, um, of this facility plan um knowing that it's hard, that it's difficult, and that that space is what you consider home. Um, and so I hope that you'll be open-minded. You'll see

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this is one of many changes that need to be made so that we can move this district into um a forward focus so we can continue to do great things because not only is your school improving, but we had many

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schools that are improving. And so this is one piece of that huge puzzle. So thank you, chair. That's all I have. [clears throat] >> Thank you, board member Conrad. Is there anything else from the board? >> Gentlemen, first ladies are always first.

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>> I tried. [gasps] All right. I'm thinking about the changes that I've witnessed in this community in a very short amount of time. after a very long amount of time

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and it has put us in a position as a board to have to do things that this community is not used to. Um there's a lot of other counties that have been growing fast for

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a long time now and they're used to yearly reszoning and building schools and then reszoning again the next year and everything seems to be in constant movement. Well, we're not used to that.

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And because we're not used to that and because it's new and because change is hard, it becomes our task as a board and along with our superintendent to

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make those adjustments ourselves because it's new. It's even more new to the community. You know, we have these conversations. It's on the daily. We talk about different things. It's our it's our work.

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But I understand how the the community and the schools, you know, feels blindside on this one. And I and I think that we had a similar situation, you know, with the North End conversation. And it wasn't until we

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back up backed up and woed and had the community meetings and really shared what was going on that we started to get some good feedback and

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um landed on a a plan that seems to cover the bases as best as possible after people truly feeling that they were being heard. Um, I like the idea of

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thinking about um the Belleview location. I don't know um or have enough information yet about that particular viability, but it sounds like the board member that represents

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the two schools has had some conversation already in advance of this. Um the timing, I agree, it's pretty harsh. Um, coming off of the feeling of success

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of raising a letter grade to be have this shared, it's harsh. Um, as we continue to move into this season of great change in our community and

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therefore great change that has to occur uh in our school district, I think that we just really need to focus on the the communication piece and being more community-minded.

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Again, you know, they don't live this stuff every day. So, we feel like, you know, we've done this, we've talked about it five times, but it really hasn't filtered down. And and so that's some of my concern. Um the other piece of my concern is

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that, you know, Oakrest is in play here and another uh proud school with great traditions that has struggled mightily for a long time like you guys. So to just when they've, you know, pulled it

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out of the bag and are getting some good momentum, you know, we're talking probably eight or nine00 students here. That's a big shift. So, I guess there's a couple things that

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I want to put on there for the rest of the board to consider as we be begin to talk about taking this vote. Um, one thing I'm proud of is that the district really has given the year-

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round uh, you know, the not year- round schedule, that's just what we call it. um a good try, but it's carried its own challenges with attendance for sure. You know, when you have larger families and

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all the other kids are not on a on the same calendar, it it affects attendance. It affects, you know, when school starts, how many kids show up. It's it's kind of confusing. And it was designed to be a pilot program. We were the only ones in the

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state that was were selected. And I think we're the only one in the state that's still doing it. Is that correct, Dr. Brewer? >> There's there's another school in Bvard County. >> Yeah, there's one more. Breard County. [clears throat and cough] So, in terms of increasing the success of Wyomina and supporting the momentum

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that you guys have created in this historic space, um I would like to hear more about opportunities to that will help continue to accelerate that. Um because the name

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of the game is we we have to get our schools uh full enough to where they're not going to be targets for takeover um and colllocation and shared use and all of that. And some of that might be

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new information to to citizens. But uh basically if a school stays under utilized for too long now there's some state rules in place where a charter school can come in and colllocate the other half of your school and we have to pay for it. So uh there there's some

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real conversations that I'm not sure that the community has had a chance to absorb. Um, we know as a board that there's a lot of things that are really important to decide on and get done and move forward with. Um, but if I'm

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reading the room correctly and hearing from the board member that represents this school that there may be some less impactful but still getting what needs to be done done and

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accomplishing what needs to be done. I I think it's worth the conversation. I also agree that it's we learned from the north end that once you get people's attention,

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they want to give feedback and once it's on their radar, they want to talk about it and they want to know why and they need to understand some of the deeper details of the challenges that we face up here as we try to make these decisions and then also get some input and feedback

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from the folks that's affecting the most because that really makes a big difference and can help us adjust what has to be inevitable. And I'm thinking of channeling Mr. White House here is that change is inevitable. It is here. We are not sleepy slowca anymore.

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You know, whether we like it or not, and I'm one of the ones sitting up here that doesn't like it. But but we have to confront reality. So, I would not be opposed to tableabling this conversation for tonight, tableabling the vote, um,

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giving the community a chance to weigh in with a community, you know, meeting, a morning one, an evening one, however it gets designed. I think those I know we all know they were very wellreceived and and the viability after speaking with the principles of of Bridgeway and

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um Wyomina of of what can be done to if we're going to if Wyom is going to stay, what can be done to accelerate the success and whether or not the Santos location really is viable for Bridgeway, which draws from from all over the county. Um,

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and also, you know, should we really continue with the year- round program? Another thing that comes to mind is that our busing is only halfway paid for from the state. So, we need to make sure that every student that rides a bus is

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actually part of the allocation that we receive. And we really wanted and continue to want to be successful if it's going to stay open. And that means the kids have, you know, they've just got to come to

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school on time every day. Um, and it's a partnership and we need to continue to grow, support, and accelerate the success if if that's where this ends up landing. So, I'll stop my comments with that. I wanted to give some some depth

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and texture to the conversation. Um, I I hope that I have accomplished that and I hope that everyone here has felt heard. That concludes my feedback. >> Thank you, board member Thor. >> So, um,

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let me start by saying um, it's not always what you do, but it's how you do it. Um, the one of the biggest concerns that I've had concerning Wame Park and this this plan has been communication to the

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community, conversations with the community that uh we got stakeholder input. That was been one of my biggest um uh sticking points that the community has to have conversations. We have to

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have those communications with um the stakeholders, the parents, the teachers, uh even the students and the businesses in that area. That has been one of my biggest um sticking points. Um having

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some um some personal relationships with Wameina Park. I have a my youngest son attended Wamina Park. My granddaughter attended Wameina Park. both have graduated from high school now. Um, so there are some

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connections to why I mean the park. Um, we've heard and let me say this. Thank you to all of you that thought and not Robert to come out and speak tonight about your concerns. Um, we want to hear your concerns. I think we need to hear your concerns and I think uh, board member Campbell has presented some

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another option. And I think um hearing hearing that we we need to have those conversations. Um before I could ever give a vote on any of this, we would have to hear what the parents are saying. So I'm definitely in favor of uh

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tableabling this until we can get community input. And then once we have that community input, we have to realize that we still have to make some tough decisions uh with resoning with um we can we can have all the community

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input and it still turn out to be the same thing, but at least you had the opportunity and we had the opportunity to try to discuss other options and other possibilities. Um just because we have these conversations doesn't mean that that um we're going

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one way or the other. But but I do believe that your voice need to be heard more so than in the in a meeting like this. Uh this is this is this doesn't solve the um the problem. So um and I I think I've already shared with um my uh

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with the board clerk I would have been recusing myself anyway tonight from this vote due to certain things. So um you heard what I've had to say. That's where I'm at. >> Thank you all for sharing. I um I want to provide a little bit of

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context and offer a suggestion. Um and so this plan in Wimina Park, which it's a three-way connection. It's a forom expansion, Wamina Park moving to now live at Oakrest and Bridgeway. So it's a

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three-part solution is one component of a very large operational plan that's before us. And those three pieces are interconnected. And so I would like to offer to the board that

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we offer an amended motion to eliminate those three components for the purposes of tonight's vote and move forward with a vote on this plan as presented without those three components. There is an

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extreme amount of anticipation in other parts of our community waiting for us to formally cross over so that they can start moving forward in their planning as a community, not just in the north end. And so there has been a lot of

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angst and anticipation leading into they're ready. They're ready to move forward as board member Thor even shared. You know, we've had those conversations which is why they aren't here tonight, right? And so they are anxiously awaiting us to make this decision so that they can Spar Baptist

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Church is one of them is ready to lead the charge in the communication between all three schools and and and having those community conversations. So, um, it it I hear from at least two or three board members that there is barriers

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with the Wyoming Park Bridgeway and Forom connection. And so I would offer that we offer an >> Oakris Oak. >> Well, yes, Oakrest is absorbing students. Yes. But I meant the people

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who are affecting the the move the most. So, I apologize. But when we look at the plan as presented in the 2627 school year, we have the plan Wina Park resoning and middle school bal um middle school balancing. So I would offer we

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strike the plan Yamina Park resoning and I would offer that in the 2728 we strike the third bullet which is complete Yamina Park resoning and re um relocate Bridgeway and then expand forom to include a 35 magnet program for the purposes of tonight's vote so that we

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can get this forward focused plan across the finish line for the hundreds of families that are anxiously awaiting us to make that decision and then in a immediate future we begin and revisit this because typically resoning would have conversations would have already

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occurred um ahead of next school year. And so to make our families as timely aware as possible if the district were going to entertain other options um as one board member presented this evening, we need to provide the community as much time as possible to prepare for that

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reasonzoning. And so I would like if we were to move forward tonight that we then have very timely conversations with the community uh about all of it. Madam Chair, I got I just have one more um thing I need to state on this because

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I wanted to be very clear that um this decision or these um us saying or this this recommendation to uh close Wyoming Park. I [clears throat] don't want the community to think because I kind of heard it a little bit

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that they're only doing this to move Bridgeway over there. That's not that's not the case. that has not been the case. Um, Wamina was not considered just because of Bridgeway. Bridgeway needed a place and that was just a a outcome that came

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out of the talks, but it wasn't. I don't want anybody think that it's just because of Bridgeway that Wyoming and Park is being considered. >> Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Um, so board, I would offer I would look for feedback on the recommendation I offered. Dr. Campbell. >> Sure. I I appreciate the recommendation.

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Honestly, I believe that the bullet that you re referenced about Wimina Park in 2026 as well as the 2027 2028 school years, I agree completely with taking those out. However, while the comment was made that they are related to the

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Forom expansion, I would dare say that form expansion needs to occur regardless of what the conversation is about Wyina Park. We have to have a magnet location for the forom families to go. And so I'm content with leaving that as an option

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there still. >> Well, there's respectfully there's nowhere for them to go though. So there's forom is landlocked and unless the district office comes this is why they're all connected. Unless the district office comes off of form's campus, there is no place for form to

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expand into. And so that's why it is a three-part conversation that it it's impossible. Am I wrong, Dr. Burr? That that is correct. We have our mental health and wellness um staff members on the forom campus at this

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time. >> So fine I have a clarifying question which we're a little past in this conversation. Um since we did have seven work sessions discussing um facilities um over the last I don't know year year

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and a half um the district team who many of are sitting here spent a lot of time working out this plan. I'm just I'm interested Dr. Brew if you're able to comment or Mr. White House if if the solution that Dr. Campbell suggested was

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discussed or considered and if so what were the reasons because um we so much time has gone into putting this plan into place and it wasn't just a flippant decision like Reverend

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Cummings stated. We just didn't say oh let's move this school to do this. No it it's if we have 54 schools we have 7,000 employees. We have 46,000 students. It is a major operation. And so I'd like to

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know if that was discussed and what were the reasonings if pos if possible. >> Sure. I can I can begin and then Mr. White House can add. Um, one consideration with the Belleview Santos property and the reason we are moving students off of that campus to the Belleview Elementary site would be the

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amount the millions of dollars that would that is needed to build the walls and doors on that site. Um, another important factor is when we look at our alternative programs, we try to find a centrallylo space in our large county

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because of the transportation cost. And so moving the students to the north end, I mean to the south end of Belleview would be extra transportation expenses for our students in the north end. Um, and one other important factor I just

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want to remind the community, we were able to use our general fund to um, cover expenses to transport students that are attending Yamina Park right now that we do not receive transportation allocation for because they are within

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the two-m radius. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Mr. White House, if you can add expand on anything, please. >> Yes, I think you hit most of the points there. The the cost is the really big um factor for us. The the cost for us to

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retrofit Wyomina Park to be able to accommodate Bridgeway is very insignificant. The cost for us to continue operating Belleview Santos as a school would be quite expensive. Uh we left them out of the sales tax plan with with putting new doors and walls on campuses and investing money because we knew we were building a whole new

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facility. Um I also want to point out when we >> Can you pull your mic up? >> Are you able to hear? >> Sounds like he's in a barrel. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. I also wanted to point out when we talked about um how we can utilize the space at Yamina for alternative learning. It's not just the behavioral

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alternative learning for Bridgeway, we also have the potential for an academic alternative learning site to include which currently we have 250 to 300 students a year that attend academic alternative learning that would be combined at that site with the behavior um which would allow us to then um

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eliminate some of the contracted services that we're using right now that are costing us millions of dollars. We also have the ability to move all of our adult general education programs from Maran Technical College that are eating up 20 portables at the MTC site and move those over to that campus as well. So we could have one hub for alternative

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learning sites for our community. Um that would free up a lot of space, free up a lot of funding for our school district. >> Thank you, Mr. White House. I appreciate you um coming up and sharing and and Dr. Brewer, thank you. Um, I knew there was a lot of thought that went into this and off the top of my head, I knew transportation was going to be a big

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piece of that, but there were other things that I was unaware of. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you, board member. >> Um, thank you, chair. And I I do like your proposal. It was something that crossed my mind, too, as I was making my

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comments. Um, I know I mentioned tableabling, but what you shared an amended motion would accomplish um the same purpose. Um, Wamina does not need to remain on, you know, pins and needles and in limbo, you know, wondering what's

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going to be going on. Um, but for them to have the opportunity to hear what you just shared, you know, Mr. White House in terms of that Wamina as as the school it is now would be changing. That is true. But it's not like it's going to be

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boarded up and forgotten about. It would be repurposed into a a space. >> It would be repurposed into a space that would meet continue to meet a lot of people's needs just like it always has met a lot of people's needs. Um

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we can't do anything about the timing. you know, the cat's already out of the bag and and I continue to say that you have my sympathy because that was a harsh way to find out about it. But to have the opportunity to hear what the

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larger plan is is important um because I don't want to throw throw the whole plan away either. We we we have to get moving and I don't know if there's enough space of forom to to at least

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begin to phase in something. I mean that's a whole another conversation but to try to keep it a little briefer I would be willing to entertain an amended motion. >> Okay. Um well then I would be prepared to offer an amended motion.

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So um is there any other discussion before I offer an amended motion? Let's let's be clear what this amended motion >> I will be clear >> and and and with this amended motion >> you have doubt Reverend Cummings you have any doubt >> I just want to make sure that we you

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have our our community here they need to know that we're going to have uh conversations with them um sooner rather than later and they shouldn't hear about certain things um in the wind they should be able to hear about it from us through these community meetings and

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they being part of the conversation that needs to be a part of what we're doing as we're moving forward. >> Sheriff, if I may, one one part of the part of the reasonzoning process is the community meeting um process that takes place and that is when um and you're not

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voting on a resoning right now that what we were asking for is the vote for the um consolidation of the campuses. the actual vote for the resoning will take place um close to December after the multiple community meetings do take

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place and that's when the bigger plan is shared and then we receive input from the community member th >> thank you Dr. Brewer that was one of the points that I did write down is that yes you know we have that as part of reasonzoning and Mr. is great at that and does a really good job. But again,

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in the spirit of the fast things that need to happen in this community that the community is still trying to play catchup on and and wrap their heads around, I just think it's a good roadmap for the future when we have conversations like this before it gets

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announced two days after school starts or whatever that that it gets brought to them first to say, "Hey, you know, this is not going to be the best timing, but here's what we're really looking at and why." Get the feedback. It all just happened really fast. So I I I would like to propose that in the future

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because this is stuff is going to continue to have to happen. It just is because of what's happening in our community that we get a very clear process um and and stick to it so the community doesn't feel blindsided and left out.

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>> Yes. And so, um, I'm prepared to offer an amended motion and then, um, I think it would be timely to be able to have some community meetings in the next four weeks and come before the board in early September in a workshop to present us some feedback and let us have further

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conversations so that if we proceed in this fashion, we're able to have um, maintain our timeline as close as possible because the reasoning efforts for this this portion of the plan include like six different schools um, I think between the auxiliary zones that

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would come back to forom as well as Oakrest and Wamina Park. And so um it's important that we we get started on that to make sure that we're giving families timely notice if that's in fact the direction we go >> and ensure that Oakrest is included as well if I may because that will hugely

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affect their campus and and their community. >> Yes ma'am they are. >> Okay. So I would like to offer may I have a motion to I want to offer an amended motion to approve the future focused operations plan excluding bullet five from the 202627 school year which

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is a plan plan Yamina Park resoning excluding bullet three from the 2728 which is complete Wamina Park resoning and relocate bridgeway and excluding bullet four from 2728 which is expand forom to include a 35 magnet program.

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Do I have a motion on that? >> So move. >> Uh second. >> Thank you. You knew what I meant. A motion by board member Cummings and a second by board member Conrad. Is there any further discussion? Right. Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I.

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>> I. Any nay? Okay. Sorry, I wasn't sure if I heard you, Dr. Campbell. Motion passes 5. Thank you to the community for coming out and being present tonight and we look forward to joining you in your community soon for meetings to discuss

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this further. Moving on to D19.2. May I have a motion to approve bid 4182JL audio and video equipment? >> So move. >> Second. >> A motion by board member Cummings and a second by board member Conrad. Dr. Brewer, you have something to share? >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. This is a request

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to approve the award for bid 4182JL audio and video equipment. We have used this company in the past. You might remember when we first started smartboard installations, we used them. So they they won this bid again. Um and

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it is in um the amount of I missed it. Oh, it's the they won the bid. So that's what we'll be able to use them now for. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Burr. Any further comments or discussion from the board hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I.

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>> I. Motion passes. 50-0. D19.3. May I have a motion to approve the furniture purchase for the new technology and information systems? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> A motion by board member Conrad and a second by board member Thrower. Dr. Bird, do you have further information? >> This is the one I wanted to give you a dollar amount for. This is um for

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furniture purchase for the new technology and information systems office. This is um furniture in the amount of $900,000 and it will be using capital projects um fund. >> Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Um any discussions on this item?

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>> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes 5-0. Discussion pulled agenda items D 20.1. May I have a motion to approve revi revised job description for supervisor of Marian virtual school and home education 1.28. >> Motion to approve the revised job

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description. Motion by board member Campbell. >> Second. >> Second by board member Thrower. Miss Conrad, you pulled the item for further discussion. >> I did. Thank you, chair. Um I just wanted to say um just because an item is pulled doesn't mean that um not in support of it, but as I went through um this item at the bottom, there is a a uh

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an increase of about $13,000. So, um I know in the past um we don't always put that there's a financial impact uh on our job descriptions, but I I wanted to see how the board felt because I think we should. Um we're counting every penny. We're keeping a tabulation as we

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add staff each year, you know, as the year goes on so we can keep up with um how many we're adding to our staffing plan. Uh we've got increase in insurance. We're talking about teacher raises. I just think that we can be do

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better in our transparency um with the increase um in the salary for this position. I I just wanted to make everybody aware. So that's all I have. Thank you, board member Conrad. >> And Madam Chair, I I did ask that same question. I didn't get the amount. I I asked how much of a pay increase is this

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going to be for this position. I got a bunch of answers about some other questions, but I never got that amount. >> Chair, I need to make a clarification. When I looked at the salary schedule, I did look at the just because I didn't know I didn't know who the person was. It I was looking at as a position. And

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so that is the 13,000 is if you go in as a step one administrator. So, I need to clarify that's where that amount came from. >> You looked at the salary script. >> Yes. >> Any further comment or question, >> chair? >> Yes. >> I'll add um just for the community, this

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position was already approved on the actual staffing plan and we did budget for it in that in our budget um approval request. >> And I I appreciate that, Dr. Brewer, but I still think it's very confusing when it comes in at the beginning of August

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for the community to see and and there's such a big difference, you know, in the salary. I I just think it's good for us to to share. And >> I have to I have to agree with Miss Conrad on that because here it is. We've had conversations about other things and we just raised insurance and all those

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type of things. It's a bad look. It's a bad look how that came out. So, >> Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. I I just would like some clarification from Dr. Brewer. So I I know a part of our budget workshop and budget conversation we had just last week was talking about the increase in

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those students use utilizing the family empowerment scholarship. And so those that are receiving home education and receiving the scholarship also fall under this specific employee if I'm not mistaken. And so while we've seen the increase in those receiving that

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scholarship out of our district, thousands potentially have been also added to the home education department. if they're utilizing Marian virtual school or Florida virtual school, they are not receiving they're having to pay for the fam using family empowerment

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scholarship. But overall, we do have many and that's why we increase that position because we have so many students taking part being dual enrolled in our public schools and our Marian utilizing Marian virtual school or Florida virtual school. >> So the home education element to this is

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only Marian virtual school. >> Yes ma'am. So if they are home but if they are home education they're not and they're not using family um Marian virtual they are not um they are receiving family empowerment does that make sense >> and they don't have to register through

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Marian County public schools at all >> they register as home education students but if they are taking Marion virtual that's where the confusion comes he is responsible for home education which in which includes Marian virtual school Florida virtual as the model

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does That makes sense. >> I think Mr. White House would like to clarify. Go ahead. >> So, you are correct, N Campbell. Any of our students that are traditional home education, meaning that they are providing whatever curriculum they want at their at their house to their family or through a network of families, they

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register through our home education office, which is run through that this position. Um, and they must submit an annual plan to the home education office that shows what those students are doing and how they're meeting their academic needs on on an annual basis. Thank you. And then also if they are taking tests

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that also is scheduled through that home education department. So all of those students that come back to our schools. So again board I understand the increase in salary but I think we've also been talking about significantly the numbers of families that have taken the family empowerment scholarship to receive home

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education that now also funnel through this department and through this position. And it's it's we haven't talked about virtual school in quite a while because it's just been kind of a normal thing for us. Um but if you recall when we first started the Marian virtual franchise, the students who were

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signing up for Florida Virtual, we were losing that FTE. So that money was going to Florida Virtual School, one sixth or more of our FTE depending on how many courses they took were going to Florida Virtual. So by offering our own version of that and keeping those students, recruiting those students to stay with

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our teachers with Mary Virtual, we retain the FTE for that instead of losing that to Florida virtual schools. So it's actually bringing money back into the district for hundreds of students. >> Thank you. >> Right. Any further comments or questions on this item

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hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 5-0. Do we have any speakers related to the work of the school district, Miss Martinez Jang? >> No, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Thank you. And do we have any speakers um for off your discipline? >> No, Madam Chair.

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>> Okay. Wonderful. Um well, then we'll move into meeting reminders. There is a special administrative briefing and work session um on budget and all other funds uh only scheduled for August 13, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. And then we have an administrative briefing and work session

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on August 20th, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. and a school board meeting on August 25th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. Moving into board committee reports. I'm going to start with Miss Martinez Young's office. >> Nothing, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Thank you, Attorney Powers. Uh,

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thank you for not attempting to table a motion tonight because as I've explained before, there's a lot of rules that go along with tableabling and a motion would die at the end of the next meeting. You can if you table it. So, we'll get into parliamentary procedure ifever you want to, but that's that's a

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it's a wise choice not to do that. >> Thank you. I think we're good on the parliamentary procedure for the evening. I'd appreciate that. Um, we'll start with our student board representative. So, um, and sorry, I haven't memorized your names yet. So, let me go back to my script so I know your name.

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Well, yes. Okay. Uh, Kayla, we'll start with Kayla. Go ahead, Kayla. Floor is yours. Make sure you speak close into the mic. Um, North Marin has no promise tonight other than besides us starting a new school year. Um, we welcomed about 300 new freshmen, so we're pretty good.

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We also have a senior class of also nearly 300. So, we have our school spirit going this year. We're feeling a little bit crowded, but we'll get through it. You know, the first week is usually chaos. So, we're filling out a lot of schedules and of course our ACE teachers are of course overburdened, but that can all be changed based on

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decisions that will happen later in the year. That'll probably be brought up uh that with the counselor and our ACE Cambridge coordinator, Miss Spencer. I'll talk to them more on that. But besides that, North Mary has no further comment. >> Okay. Well, thank you for being here and we're looking forward to working with you this school year. And then Kayla.

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>> Um, so Belleby High School, we just welcomed our new freshman at our annual freshman preview and it was very successful and we're looking forward to our next couple of weeks where we hold club rush where we showcase all of our clubs that Belleview offers for our

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students. And I would just like to say thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you >> and thank you for being here. We um the student voice matters and having you here to provide insight as well as be a representation for the board on your campuses is very important. So we are grateful you're here. Dr. Brewer.

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>> Yes. Thank you Abigail and Kayla. Yes. I have quite a bit to share and some of that includes exciting Cambridge data. So both of you will be the first to hear it. So I want to start off by saying we welcomed um 40,000 students yesterday in our doors. And we know we have one more

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day of kindergarten staggered start. So they will come in tomorrow. Um but we had I just want to give you a couple numbers. I know Mr. Christian sent his every his annual what went right press release yesterday and so I won't read all those numbers but I do want to

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highlight a couple important um factors. We had 251 buses that um traveled that took about 25,000 students to and from school yesterday. We had 400 cafeteria workers that served over 35,000 meals um to our

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students. Um during the summer, as you know, we've highlighted before, but our custodial staff worked very hard to prepare our schools and um just to include the mowing, they mowed over,700 acres of school grounds. That's a lot of

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acreage. Um and so and over the um yesterday we welcomed between our teachers, our principles and instructional support staff, we had about 3,300 that actually directly um spoke to students, but that's just a half of the amount of employees that

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made yesterday such a success. So I want to highlight all of those great um successes. And then today we celebrate we received our Cambridge scores. And so to the second day of school is always an exciting day. Um so I want to share some numbers. Mr. Christian will send out a

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press release with details later. But I do want to take this um opportunity to celebrate the hard work of our Cambridge students teachers coordinators school leaders, and families. These examinations require students to think critically, communicate effectively, and demonstrate knowledge at an

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internationally recognized standard. So, we are especially encouraged by our ACE diploma results. And for the community, this means that if you have an ACE diploma and you have your community service hours, you are given the

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academic bright future scholarship and that's a gamecher to our community. Um, and so this is why we highlight this number so much. This year, 157 of our 235 candidates earned the diploma. a

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three-year high success rate of nearly 67% and more than twice the number of diplomas that were earned two years ago. And we um we also saw notable strengths in subjects including global perspectives history mathematics

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media studies, and Spanish along with strong performances in several of our other school programs. I also like to recognize this summer Emily Cook from Forest High School and Mike Lasto from Belleview High School. They were selected by Cambridge to attend the

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United Kingdom Cambridge Schools Conference and to speak on our behalf about the work they did but with piloting digital assessments. Um, access has expanded significantly across our district. And I'm not going to share all

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the passing numbers, but you can get with your schools. But Belleview High School and Lakewware High School led the way for ACE diploma pathway schools with 61% at 61% and 58% overall AS level pass

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rates, while Belleview and North Marian led the way with Alevel results. So, we're incredibly proud of all of our teachers and students and all of our parents that support our efforts in advanced curriculum board. I do have a request for you this evening. We would

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like to add the resolutions for the Duke utility easement for the Lake Rare Middle site to the September 8th schoolboard meeting. To do so, we will need to schedule a leasing board of directors meeting immediately before the regularly scheduled board meeting at

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5:00 pm. So, I'm asking if pi 5:00 pm would work for the board. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. I will let Miss Terry Brown know. >> Just important to note we have a shade that day. >> Yes, you do. >> So, we'll just have to conclude the

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shade more timely than normal. >> Yes. >> That's for the next school board meeting. No, two meet two meetings from now. >> We need time to advertise it um appropriately. >> Great. >> Okay. Chair, that are you are you good,

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Reverend Cummings? No. So, if we don't have it that date, we um three members. You got enough for the vote, though. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. September the 8th, we will add a 5:00 PM um leasing board of directors meeting before the regularly scheduled

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board meeting. Chair, that's all my comments this evening. >> All right. Thank you, board member Thor. >> Thank you. And um I'll start by saying I want to thank Kevin as well for the what went right because so much did and it was really a fun opening to the to the

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school year and I'm grateful that that you put all those just really important details about what it takes to run our little city of a school system and get things headed in the right direction on on the first day. And it was

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great in so many ways. I I started the morning at Fort King Middle School and look the campus just looks great and there were so many great compliments about the outdoor dining and just the cleanliness and that is just a testament

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to all the behind the scenes work that gets done by so many people to open the doors with bright smiling faces. There was staff and faculty everywhere at Fort King welcoming students, making sure they were headed in the right direction, really keeping an eye out for the sixth

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graders that of course were kind of nervous because they had gone from fifth grade kings and queens to being in sixth grade in middle school. Um, and and it's just fun to observe the transformation in kids' faces when they're like, "Oh, okay. I think I'm going to survive this and I think it's going to be all right."

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So, that was a lot of fun to be a part of. Uh then I headed over to Vanguard and just as I was heading out of my car, here comes Principal Wade over the over the system with a really uplifting welcoming message that you could hear clearly all over the campus. Again,

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there was staff everywhere welcoming students, making sure they were headed in the right direction, ensuring that they were getting to the right classes. It was just a total team effort. And then uh prior to that

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on Sunday, the day before school started, pretty much our whole district got covered in prayer by by believers and people that wanted to share good vibes and encouragement for not just a great start to the school year, but for

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a great year all the way through. And that outpouring of community support just continues to grow. I want to thank um board member Conrad and and Church of Hope for being the inspiration for that. And more and more people are joining in

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and and teachers that worked hard all last week to get ready. We had more teachers than I remember even showing up um on a Sunday uh just to give that one final bit of uh positive to get everything started in the right

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direction. Uh, so that was just really great to to witness and and be part of. And I want to thank again Wamina for coming out and in force tonight. Uh, Miss Brower, I think it's you that does a lot of the social media posts and I

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see them all the time and it really makes a difference. You know, when when all of our schools, I think, have taken it to the next level in terms of showcasing uh the good things that are happening because we all know if it bleeds, it leads. And that captures

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everyone's attention for about well 3 seconds if you're doing faster facts and maybe two days if you're on social media and then it just moves on to the next, you know, bleeding bad news. So, thank you uh for sharing all of the good things that are happening and um just

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want you to know that that it's noticed. And I'll end with saying that, you know, as hard as the work can be and and and how difficult it can be to make sure everyone's heard and make decisions and stay on schedules, I can't think of a more rewarding career. So, if anyone's

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interested in thinking about coming to work for Marian County Public Schools, I'm pretty sure we still have at least a few select great positions left. So, come on down. We need you. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Bar Member Thorough. Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. And uh I'll start by also

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thanking the the folks from Wina Park for coming this evening and advocating strongly for the position. And also thank you to the board for the willingness to remove that from the conversation at least for this evening. So uh that we can have those community meetings that we afforded many other

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communities to have. So I'm grateful for that. Thank you. Uh board and superintendent. I too was in we'll see I think 15 total schools in the last two days and it everything that I heard was exactly what what Kevin's everything went right that

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certainly there were things that were hiccups along the way but many many of the positive comments that you put in the press release smoothest start we've had this is wonderful you know we we we got out of all of our buses were here just 10 minutes after the first bell

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like it was that I had lots lots and lots of positive comments all all throughout the district. Uh certainly the afternoon buses were a little different, but the morning buses were were great yesterday. But I appreciate also to the community

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members who have been patient and heeded our recommendations and advice for understanding the first week of school we have some kinks to work out and we always do. Never is it ever going to change. There will always be kinks to work out. There will always be a massive line of cars down 36th Avenue in

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Belleview. There will always be all of this hiccup. As soon as things level out, people realize what time they need to leave, all of that. It's it's going to work out. And so, uh, I appreciate the patience. We haven't had too many uh folks coming to us just yet with all the

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challenges. But I also wanted to say thank you to all of the district team and the leadership that is in the schools right now because kind of what we call the central office staff are all over schools right now as well providing that extra support and lots of problem

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solving has already been occurring. So, thank you to all of those folks who are helping to to navigate some of those uh problems that have needed to be solved. Uh, a couple of the things that I wanted to reference that I know that the board

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will need to go ahead and start having conversations about the 8th Street Oyola start times. while they are separate, in order for us to truly operate that in a way that will be the most efficient, I'm looking forward to additional board conversation on how those times can get

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even closer together so that there really can be some shared resources between the two campuses. And so, uh, that that will be a a welcome conversation as we continue. Also grateful that, um, Dr. Brewer put in her update to us that school choice

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applications ahead of the window opening that we will be at least looking at attendance and discipline for what that looks like in the future for school choice. uh so that those families that have those challenges might not get the first placement because if you're

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already experiencing challenges in your base school, going to a new choice program where you have to provide your own transportation may not be the best option for you. So, I'm I'm interested in seeing how that will continue to work

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out. I'm also interested in seeing some of our numbers on our five-day count to really see where we are. I I it's unfortunate, but it looks based on where I was today that Ross Prairie may have portables sooner rather than later. And

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that is um unfortunate, but I think it also would lend itself to having additional conversations about what that looks like and maybe even reszoning the whole Marian Oaks area yet again. uh because it it's possible that we'll have we'll have 1100 students at Marian Oaks

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Elementary and we'll have more than a thousand at Ross Prairie as well and uh so we there's there's a lot again problems to be solved but we're here in the business to do that. Uh I am also welcoming to the student board representatives. Glad that we had them

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all here. That was a wonderful introduction to all of them this evening. So, thank you for having their first meeting be where we could see at least most of all of them and board. We will have a general session at the Florida School Boards Association December conference specifically about

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student board representation. And so, we'll have a superintendent and a student board rep and some other folks that are going to be talking about that in a general session for everyone to see and hear uh how that's being done and and how it can be effective in in districts. Um, Dr. Thank you for the

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reminder of Cambridge scores because like I said, I was in 15 schools and I totally forgot. I got to look at my own kids and see how he did. So hopeful that that will be good. And finally, board, I I think I've already expressed to you uh the possibility, but Thursday's work session on the budget, I will be

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participating telephonically. So looking forward to having the conversations about the capital budget on Thursday. And that concludes my comments. >> Thank you, Dr. Campbell, Reverend Cummings. >> Good evening once again, everyone. Um, thank you for I thought I think tonight's meeting was um very

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productive. I think um the community having an opportunity to be able to address their concerns and um was necessary and needed. I do want to say welcome to Abigail and Kayla, our student board members. Um

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it's going to be interesting. It's going to be interesting this year. Um the all all of the student representative were were young ladies. Um boys, y'all better step it up, guys. Y'all I don't know where y'all at, but y'all slacking. So um and and and and they're very

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articulate and smart young ladies. So it's going to be an interesting year. Um it's only a little bit of testosterone up here on this board. So I'm waiting to see what happens. Um >> girls,

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>> exactly. So, um, but, um, yesterday I I again, thank you, Kevin, for and everybody's already said that you got off to a, um, you put the information out there. We got off to a very strong strong start on yesterday and today. Um,

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I I do want to say this to um, families, we are, and as that Dr. Campbell just said, we are there's always going to be hiccups. There's always going to be little kinks in the in the chain. However, um I I appreciate that at the schools that I were at, the parents that

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that were dealing with those hiccups and the staff that were dealing with those little kinks in the chain were patient, were had the right spirit, had the right attitude, and um sometimes things could be frustrating when it's not going as as

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fast as you want to go, but but um I just appreciate the the spirit that people want to get it right. They want they want to um help these these families. Um I was at a school today that um no was it yesterday? Yesterday

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or today where um parents please so many schools is getting to me. Um we got to make sure that we are are doing some good things with our kids and and communicating and there's a language barrier. Um we we we we often talk about

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Spanish and other things but now we dealing with some other languages. Creole. That's that's very prevalent in our school system right now. So, um we got some Creole paras or whatever. We going to need to hire them as well.

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That's that's it's there. You can't say that it's coming. It's it's already here. Um but we really um are off to a good strong start. Um the one thing that I and I as I go around I'm checking um our transportation department is doing a

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a good job, but they're going to get better. It's going to get better because oftent times um folk are saying, "Well, the bus was late." Well, it's the first week of school and we're trying to work those kinks out. Mr. Jacobs, our transportation director, is is working

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it out. Um and we're not going to leave We're not going to leave, let me say this. They're not going to leave a kid at the bus stop. We will not leave a kid at the bus stop and and they haven't. They've been picking them up. However, um they they may have to have their parents come pick them up from school

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because we got to make sure we do transportation right and we got to make sure we get them on the right buses. We got to make sure things are done the right way. So, I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing. I do my my shout out um is to today is to um to the supporting

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staff because as I went to the schools as we've gone to schools uh the past few weeks and and even yesterday and today um the schools are in in great shape aesthetically because um it was prepared

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it was right for the right environment for people to walk into and say I'm at a school and um our custodial department um Mr. Cook and all of his his directors and his custodians to the people that are making sure that the landscaping is

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correct. Those are the ones that we talk about the administrators, we talk about the teachers, uh we talk about the paras and the people that's just in the classroom, but it takes all those other people to do their job to make sure that those people can do their job. And so,

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um at my church this this this past week and I was here I prayed at MTI this week. I'm sorry, Bridgeway. Um, I I called up all my kids. I called up all my kids first and then I called up all the uh the teachers um that's in that's

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in the church or the people that work with the kids. I called them up behind them, but then I called all the people that in my church that are support staff and I had them surround them to to build a wall around them because they're the ones that hold up our district and they're the ones that never that hardly

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ever get the the accolades because if you did not have clean schools or safe schools or you didn't have right uh landscaping, then what what would what would they be going to? So I I did it in such a way that I want to let them know that that we appreciate them and every

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piece of that chain makes a difference. Everybody is important. Um they may not make as much money as others in in that in that that group. However, every piece is important. So congrat I I thank you guys for what you're doing and um congratulations to all those for this

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great start that we had on yesterday and today. >> Thank you Reverend Cummings. Bo member Conrad. Thank you chair. Um, and I have just a few uh brief thank yous. I want to say I'm going to piggyback on River Cummings and the rest of the board is um just really got a lot of great feedback

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on transportation and as we all know that's one of our biggest challenges is um our buses travel over 30,000 miles a day um to deliver half of our students um to school. And so it's quite a quite a big job. But um as I visited schools,

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I got so many compliments um that I passed along um to Mr. Jacobs yesterday evening. It was late when he had the opportunity to call me back and he was just bless his heart. He was exhausted. So, um I just wanted to say publicly

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thank you um to Mr. Jacobs and his team. Um it it's a big ship to get um turned around and delivered especially with the first couple of days with the kindergarteners and the littles and all the all the things. So um just want to give a shout out um as he's working

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tirelessly. And along those lines, um this weekend we had several back to school events. I I think at least six that that I was aware of. Um and Mr. McFaden was there, Mr. Jacobs, um our superintendent, board members were

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there. And um I just want to say that the week before school starts, teachers are teachers are showing up and the week that school starts and all of our students, everybody's working morning till night. And so even on the weekend, our district team and our district leaders um were showing up to give

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community support um at different events throughout Marian County. So I just wanted to give give a shout out to them for that. Um board, I wanted to say thank you to you uh for showing up for 3G Sunday. Um just a few things. I don't know if there's another school board in

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the state of Florida where you can say every single board member showed up to a faith-based activity on a Sunday um to pray over uh the schools and their students and their staff. And so I just want to say thank you. I know we were

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all in different places and we didn't see each other during that event, but just want to say thank you very much to all of you for your commitment to participating that in each each year. Um, and I also wanted to say um through social media, I saw that there were quite a few other churches that were

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involved this year. And so I don't have that list, but if you were are part of a a faith-based um church, you know, and you participated, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for joining joining in and praying over our students because it as I shared at the beginning of my

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statements, it's a great great big district, a lot of schools to cover and so we are thankful for each and every partnership. Um I want to thank Miss Hunt and Miss Brower. They're sitting back there still. They've hung with us the whole evening. Um, and I just want

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to say even though um my vote would is a little different than the rest of the boards, I value both of you so much and the work that you are doing and you're such such a value to this district and to your students and to your staff. And so I just wanted to say that publicly. I

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hope that you uh I hope that you can feel that when I step onto your campus. And I'm sorry these conversations are so hard and so public, but I do appreciate you both so very much in the work. I know uh you work tirelessly for the students that come through your door each and every day. So, I want to say

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thank you to both of you for leading your teams. Um and last but not least, um I just want to acknowledge one of Marian County's biggest cheerleaders, Mr. Philip Hyde. Um if you are on the board or superintendent or uh other

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district leader, you may receive um have received emails from him. He passed away uh last Wednesday. Um it was a hard loss for me as a board member. Mr. Har Mr. Hyde started calling me the first year I ran and didn't get elected and then he's

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been calling was calling ever since. And so as a board member um probably as a district leader too. You don't get too many positive phone calls um throughout the week. Uh most of them are complaints [laughter] but Mr. Hyde called um at the end of each meeting um throughout the week with

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research or information that he found that he thought just might help Marian County uh move in a positive direction. Uh, and so his loss uh, hit heavy for me and I just wanted to acknowledge that I

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appreciate the effort and time that he took every day to lift up Marian County Public Schools to make it a better place because not too many people do that anymore. So anyway, thank you very much board chair. That's all I have. >> Well, thank you and the rest of my board

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members have done a great job recapping kind of what the last week or two has been like. Um I was in I've been in schools the last two days. We were um have lots of Jesus on Sunday uh praying over schools and and having Sunday back

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to school service. And I have to share in between my events on Sunday, I I ran to Chipotle and I saw one of our principles um eating and he said um I'm working all day. I'm just here to get a quick Chipotle lunch and then I'm going

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back. Because contrary to what many may believe, um even when I was at North Marian praying, um the one of the teachers there, AJ, she was dressed to work because she was spending the whole day in her classroom. And so our the weekend before school starts is not ever

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a relaxing weekend for people who work in public education because they are so committed to making sure that that first day of school feels incredibly special. And so that level of commitment doesn't go unnoticed. And um I'm always so grateful for it.

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board. I want to say I appreciate your willingness to adopt an amended motion tonight so that we can move forward with a plan that is encompassing a lot of variables and I can appreciate the remarks to have further community conversation.

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I have um been a board member while I don't have a personal connection to Wina from family or or relatives. Um I've spent a lot of time with Miss Brower personally giving of my um time, talent,

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and treasure to Wyina Park. and um the the conversations that that this board has continued to have since I was elected and we will continue to have regardless of of any of our presence here because Maring County has changed and it is changing and it's not going to

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stop changing. Um and so we have to be responsive to that. Um those conversations are hard uh and they require change and the change is uncomfortable. Um, I am going to remain a board member who believes that the

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magic that the 11 different individuals tonight shared about Wyoming Park is not confined to the halls of Wamina Park. Um and that magic is contained in the people and um of the the people who teach and the people who lead and the people who support that school um and in

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the magic of the students and and often I find when we when we remove the adult feeling from the conversation, the kids just want to be loved and that love comes from all of you uh in the

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community and um that love will go wherever you go. And so I look forward to conversations in the community in the next month where we can have further conversation and really um dig into this and then make some conversations and and

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decisions that that will impact a variety of schools. So uh I am grateful for you all being here and um I am a partner through and through regardless of of where those walls are. So you have my support always. Um, with that I am

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going to move us into a close. So, in there being no further business, may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> A motion by board member Conrad and a second by board member Cummings. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes 5-0. We will adjourn at

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7:52. Thank you. >> So, what do you think?