Thank you. Welcome to today's
school board workshop. This
workshop at the School Board of
Broward County, Florida, is now
called to order to ensure a
safe and productive environment.
Please note that clearly marked
emergency exits do not block
exit doors, and all attendees
must be seated except for media.
Once the room reaches capacity,
attendees will be directed to
the overflow area. If the fire
alarm sounds, exit the room
calmly continue outside the
building and remain there until
authorities give clearance to
return. Thank you for your
cooperation. All please rise
for the Pledge of Allegiance to
the flag of the United States
of America. I pledge allegiance.
>> To the flag of the United
States of America and to the
Republic for wch it stands.
One nation under GOD,
indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> As we begin, we reaffirm our
strategic plan goal 100%
proficiency for all students.
Guided by our vision. Educating
today's students to succeed in
tomorrow's world. As an a-rated
district, we remain committed
to sustaining this achievement
while empowering every student
to reach their highest
potential. Our theme this year
is believe, empower, achieve
one Broward. We e llll soon hear
from our registered public
speakekersWe ask thaha decorumum
bebe maiainene I iivivility a
respect b behohown dingg public
comment. Our General Counsel
will assist the chair in
maintaining decorum during this
period. We also want to remind
our public speakers of the
rules and expectations
regarding the agenda, public
comment portion of this
workshop, as well as board
policy attorney Dupree Bruno,
please explain the rules of
public comment.
>> Good morning and thank you,
MADAM Chair. Public comment is
governed by School Board Policy
1020 and is intended to provide
input on the board's duties,
decisions and the overall
operation of the school
district. The school board is
viewpoint neutral during public
comment per school board policy.
1020. The procedures are as
follows. Speakers must state
their name, city of residence
and whether they are a lobbyist
before beginning their remarks.
All remarks must be directed to
the board as a whole. The board
will not respond to or engage
with speakers during public
comment, and no action will be
taken unless the item is on the
agenda. This is a workshop, so
public comment will be in
relation to the agenda. During
the agenda speaking time,
speakers will have up to three
minutes per item. A visible
timer will be used in the
microphone MAY be turned off
when time expires. Speakers
must limit their comments to
matters related to school board
business and for agenda items
must remain relevant to
specific item. Comments MAY not
address matters that are
pending litigation, quasi
judicial proceedings or active
investigations, or
administrative hearings.
Solicitation and lobbying
activities must comply with
applicable school board
policies. Abusive language
defined as profanity
threatening or name calling is
prohibited. In addition,
clapping, hissing, booing,
shouting, yelling or other
disruptions from the audience
are not allowed. Speakers who
fail to follow proper decorum
in the chambers will be ruled
out of order by the board chair.
Failure to comply MAY result in
the microphone being turned off
or recess being called after a
warning. The chair MAY also
direct removal from the meeting
or removal from the building by
law enforcement or the Sergeant
at Arms. Thank you, MADAM Chair.
>> Thank you. Attorney Bruno,
the board wants to hear from
you, and we appreciate your
cooperation in maintaining a
respectful, orderly and
productive meeting environment.
We will now proceed with the
agenda. Today's workshop will
operate in accordance with
School Board Policy 1020, and
the board will review the items
as advertised and presented by
the superintendent. Our first
item is committee reports, and
I know there are some people
running late, so if I call them
and they're not here right now,
I'll come back as they walk
into the room. So I don't see
audit. Broward County
Association of Student Councils
and Student advisor to the
board.
>> Okay, sorry. Hello, everyone.
First of all, Michael and I are
very excited. This is our first
official committee report. So
obviously we're still kind of
stepping into this role. So we
don't have too much to report
on. But we did just get back
from something called Swfl tc,
which is the South Florida
leadership training camp and is
partially sponsored by bcc. And
let me tell you, we had an
amazing time there. I'm sure
almost every single student who
went there also agrees with us.
We truly learned so much about
what it means to be a leader
and to really prepare for this
role further. Additionally,
we're kind of just setting up
all of our meetings, getting to
formally introduce ourselves to
everyone and have a deeper
understanding of this role.
>> As the lease said, the sf
ltc training camp was something
truly amazing. You know,
students really did have a
great time. Students came in
not wanting to be there and
left in tears. So in a good way.
[Laughter]
So it was truly amazing to see
students having fun and also
learning and learning how to
become a leader. The Bcac new
new Executive Board is very
excited to start working for
the next school year. They're
very, very eager and excited to
start working and planning.
>> Thank you so much. District
Advisory Council. North area.
Central area.
>> Good morning to all. My name
is Brooke and I'm here to give
the Central area report.
Central met on MAY 21st. We
held elections and discussed
several topics. One of those
topics was elementary specials.
The board's emphasis on
prioritizing pe, music and art
as elementary specials has been
really warmly received within
the community, there was a
board follow up document that
showed the anticipated
anticipated specials for all of
the elementary schools for next
year. And we did notice that
there are several schools that
still do not have art or music,
but do have a core special. So
we think some follow up at
those schools would be
appropriate to ensure that's,
in fact, what the stakeholders
desire. Our staff chairs are
deeply concerned about class
sizes at all grade levels for
next year k to 12. We're
hearing that schools will have
to wait until OCTOBER to hire
more teachers above the budget
that they currently have. We
were initially under the
impression that they would be
able to hire teachers over the
summer, and I don't know if
it's a point of confusion, but
I think we should have some
clarification as to whether
principals will be able to post
jobs as their schools get
enrollment over that 10%
reduction. If we wait till
OCTOBER, then we would have
students in class for over
seven weeks that are
overcrowded, and it will also
disrupt student learning when
they're reshuffled. I'd also
like to get some clarification
on whether the district intends
to adhere to state statutory
class size limits, which are 18
for k to two, 22 for grades 3
to 8, and 25 for high school.
We also discussed edtech screen
time, 1 to 1 devices and the
district's ai initiative. The
stakeholders have continued to
express concern about
supplemental software,
including I-ready and the plan
to implement a district wide.
At the time of our meeting,
most parents were not aware of
the details of the initiative,
but responded negatively to the
prioritization of edtech over
foundational academic skills.
Hand on hands on manipulatives,
group interactions, original
composition, critical thinking,
and project based learning.
There were some concerns about
the ai symposium registration
closing and that it was
supposedly full, but when
parents arrived, there was a
lot of open space. We also
learned that the q and a
session at the end was not held,
so stakeholders were not able
to ask questions at the end.
The dac elementary subcommittee
has continued its work and
would like to reiterate an
alternative alternative path
for the district that more
closely aligns to the budget
reality, protect student
privacy and prioritizes
effective teaching methods. The
district has a massive 1 to 1
device program and well over 50
supplemental software programs.
Switching to a computer, lab,
or device cart model model
while aggressively sunsetting
non-critical software licenses
could save an estimated $40
million each year. We also
suggest creating a bcc data
Bill of rights for our students,
and to direct staff to bring
the district into compliance
with laws such as Sopa, Florida
Parental Rights and Education,
Florida Digital Bill of rights,
Florida Technology and k to 12
bill. The Florida Objection to
Digital Materials, Coppa and
ferpa. These results can can
result in a loss of funds,
administrative salaries and
directed corrective action for
the district. But the lack of
compliance also erodes the
public trust and perception of
transparency. I see I'm running
out of time. We'd like the
district to take action to
protect the cognitive core and
teacher autonomy. We don't want
to see teachers have
consequences for choosing paper
based methods that are highly
effective, and we hope to see a
genuine recommitment
recommitment to student
well-being. One of the specific
suggestions we have is to
prohibit the use of YouTube and
to move approved digital
content to district servers to
protect our children from
addictive and predatory
algorithms. See, I'm almost out
of time. Given that the policy
review of the board procedures
and public participation
policies happened after our
last meeting, Central Area was
unable to weigh in on that item.
To that point, it's
fundamentally problematic to
scale back public participation
at a time when advisories are
not meeting, and your
stakeholders are not here to
comment. Having attended the
meeting, I can say it was
insufficient in this board
should direct that an actual
rural development hearing be
held where the public has
sufficient time to ask
questions about the 31 proposed
policies. Not doing so would
open up any new policy that
comes from that rulemaking
procedure to a legal challenge.
Central advisories next meeting
will be AUGUST 20th at Indian
Ridge Middle School. We welcome
any board requests to gather
stakeholder feedback. Thank you.
>> Thank you. South area.
>> Good morning. I'm Anthony
Bailey, South area chair. On
our final meeting of the 2025
2026 school year was held on
MAY 18th. During this meeting,
we conducted election of
officers position for the
upcoming school year. We have.
We were honored to welcome
Doctor Dr Fulton, who shared
her appreciation for the work
of the Council and provided
important district updates,
including important information
regarding delays in the budget
approval affecting many schools
throughout the district.
Representative from the
Children's Service Council of
Broward County also joined us
to provide valuable information
about summer program resources
and services available to
students and families
throughout the community. We
engaged in discussion on
several important topics,
including school budget, the
organizational chart, the
referendum, the ai policy
review, meal prices increased k
through eight updates, policy
5090 and policy 5100 suspension
and expulsion. One of the
primary concerns expressed by
parents centered on student
testing requirements and the
implementation of the district.
New ai policy. Parents voiced
interest in having greater
input during the policy
development process, and sought
clarification regarding whether
the use of ai would result in
increased screen time for
students. I'd like to extend my
sincere appreciation to our
South Area Regional
Superintendent, MISS Acott at
Pines Collegiate, her
leadership team, and all our
school stakeholders,
stakeholders from the South
Area who attended and
participated in our meeting
throughout the year. I also
want to thank the school board
for providing me the
opportunity to present monthly
reports and share the
perspective and concerns of our
families and community members.
On behalf of the South Area
Advisory Council, I wish
everyone a safe and enjoyable
and restful summer. We look
forward to continuing our work
throughout the upcoming school
year. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Diversity
Committee. Esq Advisory Council.
>> Good morning. I also have
North areas report just texted
to me. I'll do that afterwards.
Or do you want it before?
>> I'll. I'll go back to all
the ones that aren't here. So
I'll come back around to that.
If you could deliver Esq
advisory, that would be great.
>> Thank you. I'd like to give
a shout out, first of all to
our Down Syndrome subcommittee,
led by Chair Bach Todero and
Andrea Thomas, the curriculum
supervisor in the department
who co-organized the eighth
Annual Exceptional Educators
Training on JUNE the 9th. This
was a full day training open to
all Esq teachers in Broward to
learn about interacting with
students with Down Syndrome and
other disabilities. Sessions
included behavior strategies,
assistive technology, modified
curriculum, managing student
mental health, and more. There
were partners and sponsors who
were valuable, and
participating. Teachers
received a $90 stipend and
eight s in service points. This
was an outstanding effort by
both organizers and the
participants, and I'm proud of
our ds ds committee for being
at the head of this for the
eighth year in a row. At our
last Esq advisory meeting in
MAY, we passed a recommendation
that I did actually submit last
week for inclusion on today's
agenda. It was 20 words, but
because it wasn't in a pdf,
because I was traveling and I
couldn't, it hasn't been placed
on here. The motion called for
the restoration of the s
compliance director position to
the org chart, which you voted
to remove after just two
minutes and 43 seconds of
deliberation at the MAY 12th
school board meeting. To recap,
the superintendent's proposal
had been removed. S executive
director role on the basis that
the Chief of Student Support
Services could cover that role,
and then to add an assistant
director for s compliance,
which he said was needed to
support and supplement the work
of the existing s compliance
director. A critical caseload
that needed more, not less,
human capital. That shuffle
would have ensured that no
bodies would be lost from the s
department leadership, and the
wisdom you had in that
department would be protected.
However, a majority of you,
having determined at a previous
meeting that that made sense.
You then voted on MAY the 12th
to dismantle the plan,
reinstate the executive
director position, and instead
of them eliminating the
assistant director role you had
agreed to add, you voted to
eliminate the existing
compliance director the very
position you had agreed
previously needed supplementing,
not removing. It's a critical
position. It provides dedicated
oversight and compliance with
special ed law helps ensure
students receive their services
and reduces the risk of
systemic failures that harm
students and expose the
district to liability. We
discussed it at advisory how
framing the elimination of the
s compliance Director position
as a. Is this on as a cost
saving measure is a fallacy,
and the board's claims that you
are making this move to help.
Students rang hollow in a large
school district serving
thousands of students with
disabilities. Compliance with
special ed cannot be treated as
a secondary responsibility
shared out among already
overextended staff. The absence
of this position will increase
the risk of procedural
violations, state complaints,
compensatory education awards,
corrective action, litigation
and due process cases, which
you were told by your student
services chief on MAY the 12th,
are on the rise. Given the
complexity and scale of s, the
question is not whether the
district can afford an s
compliance director, but
whether it canfford the risks
associated with not. Our
recommendation is no, you can't.
Let me tell you also about
pre-k s evaluations. I heard
from a parent the week before
last that while they have an
independent autism diagnosis
for their five year old, who
they were looking forward to
starting pre-k in AUGUST,
they've been told by cps that
she cannot, and that she must
likely wait until DECEMBER or
later to start school, because
now she must go through the
child find evaluation process.
And that's all backed up to
Christmas and beyond. I thank
MRS. Hixon for her inquiries
about this. I have passed the
matter on to actually the Esq
Compliance Director, and have
been told that the pre-k
assessment team was downsized
over the past couple of years
due to the reduction of
district level positions, and
that that's what's caused the
backup that child and every
child in her position needs a
commitment here today that they
can start school with their
peers on AUGUST the 10th, and
that hold ups will not be
tolerated, and that whatever
resources your s department
needs to make it happen will be
allocated. Back in DECEMBER,
there was an elopement from a
school that prompted us to
revise the the district wide
elopement plan. 22 of our
recommendations have actually
been adopted in the new draft.
I'm thrilled to see the
collaboration, and I thank
Thomas Deutsch from the Safety
and Security Department for his
collaboration with us on that
customer service. Our report is
still pending. We've had no
response to it whatsoever,
despite the superintendent
saying he was delighted with
some of our suggestions five
months ago. I'm dismayed at the
delays there, and I would echo
what Brooke said about the
policy review. There has been
no engagement with the with the
community about the policy
review. I to request a rural
development hearing to avoid
further legal challenges and
putting 31 policies in one item
is not community engagement.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Esol Leadership
Council. Facilities Task force.
Gifted. Advisory. Council.
>> Linda Ferrara, facilities
task force vice chair. We did
not have a meeting for JUNE.
>> Okay. Thank you. Gifted
advisory Council.
>> Good morning, Helen Bushkin
gifted advisory. I'll start off
with we already talked about
our last gifted meeting, but we
did have our steering meeting.
And we're planning on our
schedule and our possible
locations coming up. This whole
neola thing flabbergasts me
with the amount of policies and
the timing. Please revisit that.
The this time of the year where
you've got all of us volunteers
who can provide so much more
information aren't as available
as we are during the year. So I
think that's a mistake. I was
looking briefly at the ai
presentation that's coming up.
And yes, there's a lot of
information inside there, but
I'd like you guys to think
about a few questions when
you're listening to this
presentation. Think about the
how. So when you see stuff
about the roi and they talk
about what they're going to
measure, how are they going to
measure it? Does that seem
possible? Does it seem
practical? The same thing with
some of the programs. Some of
the things that caught my
attention was the use of ai for
advanced academics. Okay, how I
see a lot of theoretical items
inside this list, but I don't
see anything practical. No
examples. As far as what
specifically is going to be
done. It's more the same
information, more of the same
talk, but it's lacking a little
bit of substance for my taste.
So I hope there's going to be
something in the presentation
that's going to expand upon
what we've already been told.
The next item is about some of
our education, and I threatened,
I think, the last meeting in a
kind way, that there was some
issues with handwriting. So I'm
looking at some of this. I
don't know if some of you could
really read a lot of that. You
feel free to come up during a
break and take a quick look.
But this was from my daughter's
Seminole Middle School eighth
grade year. Here are some
letters that were handwritten
by students. Some seem legible,
some are not. Some are good.
There are some things that we
need to get back to working on.
I also brought some of mine
from 1986, which distinctly
look different. I mean, in this
my daughter first thing she
said was legible, and there's
use of cursive writing. So
clearly there was a lot more
thought process and a motor
coordination going on back then.
My daughter told me that there
wasn't a whole lot of writing
that she did this last year in
eighth grade, which kind of
concerns me. And I remember
exercises when I was in school
everyyriday innglish class,
we wer given a a r random topopicnn
the st,urur p pencil and paper
in our journal. We'd write
about it for about 15 minutes.
I don't think I've ever seen
anything like that. My daughter
hasn't even told me anything
like that. Not on a computer,
but just a student. Given a
topic that they know nothing
about to write about it. And
the teachers took that, wrote
comments on it every week, we
did that. So I think that's
something that we need to think
about more of. Instead of
trying to use ai to help us
with things. And since I've
talked about my daughter enough,
I think I'll give her a chance
to defend herself.
[Laughter]
This is my daughter, Allison.
She's an incoming freshman at
Western High School.
>> And what am I supposed to
say?
>> Talk about the handwriting.
Talk about the stuff you talked
about. Go ahead. This is your
time. You got a minute?
>> Well, I want to start with
the writing thing in. I
remember in third grade, it was
Covid year and the writing we
wrote an essay, I think like
every two weeks. And that set
me up because then in fourth
grade, we barely wrote and we
were all unprepared for our
fourth grade writing fast. And
I'm pretty sure I got a perfect
score that year on writing, so
i'm proud of that. And then
fifth grade, we wrote a lot,
and then in sixth grade we did
some writing, and then in
seventh grade, we didn't really
write that much until the fast,
and then we wrote essays from
then until the end of the year.
And then this year we only
wrote one essay to prep for the
fast, and then after that, we
just forgot about writing. And
we haven't done anything like
with handwriting at all. Like,
I don't think I remember doing
that except in fourth grade.
This one time we had a week for
cursive, and I could barely
read half of my yearbook
signatures. And also with the
ai thing I know how to use like
semi-colons and Em dashes and
like when to use them. And I've
gotten marked for ai multiple
times on every assignment, and
I've gotten zeros on that
before. Yeah. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Human Relations Committee.
>> Good morning everyone. Tough
to follow that. Nancy Frye,
Human Relations Committee chair.
We first of all, a happy pride.
Happy early Juneteenth and
happy summer for everyone. We
had our final meeting for the
year on Wednesday, MAY 20th,
and I find it my duty to
profusely thank our staff that
we've worked with during the
school year Kalisha Russell,
Marion Williams, Tom Albano and
Latricia Latour. We could not
do what we do without them.
They are a gold star for the
district. They are wonderful
staff and we are very happy
that we get to work with them.
With that, we briefly discussed
at our last meeting some
concerns that we have coming up
that will kind of feed into our
report, wrap up report for the
year. But one thing that was
brought up was some concerns
about the effects of stress on
staff as of late, and how that
then impacts our students and
also prospective families that
are looking to come into the
district. No solutions or
anything. That was just
something that was flagged. We
also discussed the survey that
had come out from the office of
the student Advisor this past
year, the one that Landon
Spellberg had put together and
with his team. And we really
loved the feedback. And it's a
great instrument. And we want
to emphasize that it's
important to continue on with
that, because a lot of students
don't necessarily feel safe
giving verbal feedback or
giving feedback on campus and
having this alternate method to
give feedback to the district
is very important. We have some
we have an impact summary that
was generated for the year that
I'll just delve into really
quickly about how our human
relations councils in the
schools operated, what they've
done, and so forth. So starting
off looking at the
participation, we had 466
students between grades six and
12 that participated with the
Human Relations Council this
year, and that was across 63
schools. So we're really happy
to see that engagement, and
we're hoping to grow it moving
forward in the coming school
years. As far as activities
they do, these aren't just
clubs exist for the sake of
existing. These were very
active councils. They
participate in community
service projects that students
organized to benefit both their
schools and in the local
community. They led advocacy
campaigns and awareness events
around mental health, bullying,
prevention and equity. They
held open dialog, forums and
peer discussions. They really
focused on youth advocacy. They.
Their meetings were safe spaces
for students to discuss social
issues and collaborate on
solutions. They also had
surveys and feedback campaigns
that they initiated in their
schools, and they went through
leadership training and
development. They had their
college tours and a student
advocacy through capital days.
They worked on their public
speaking, teamwork and civic
engagement skills, and they had
a number of structured
leadership activities to do
that. Some of the key
challenges they see facing our
students are mental health
concerns was the top one, and
they're asking for awareness,
resources and a more emotional
support in the schools. They
spoke about social media issues
with online bullying and
negative self-image, substance
use and violence, vaping, drug
use, bullying, dating, violence
and general school violence.
And the one thing that I
thought was very astute was
they talked about the need for
supportive interventions. And
students are asking for open
conversations and preventative
education and supportive, not
punitive responses. When
students make less than ideal
choices, a number of our
advisors and students helped
their schools achieve no Place
for hate designation. We're up
to in the district 106 schools
that are designated no Place
for hate. From the advisors
side, we received a lot of
feedback about students had
increased confidence and
leadership growth through
participating with hrc and No
Place for Hate. Students were
active in planning events, were
engaged in their community
service, and represented their
peers in meetings. And again,
the hrc meetings were a safe
space for students to share
concerns and propose solutions
openly. And a couple of quotes
that we had from both students
and advisors. One high school
student stated, hrc gave me my
first real opportunity to feel
heard in my school. I learned
to speak up for myself and
others, and a middle school
student said being part of hrc
helped me understand people
from different backgrounds. It
changed how I see the world
from two of the advisors, one
said. I watched students who
were once shy become confident
leaders who organized events
and spoke at forums, and
another said hrc meetings
became a safe space where
students could share real
concerns and work together on
solutions. So moving forward,
we're looking at better
collecting data, increasing
student participation and
expanding feedback initiatives.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Multilingual
advisory committee.
>> Hi. Good morning. School
board chair and superintendent.
Thank you, as usual, for this
opportunity to report directly
to you this morning. The
multilingual Advisory committee
met for the last time this year,
MAY 13th. At that meeting, I'm
happy to report that all of the
positions that were open to be
filled for next year have been
filled, and the one remaining
position is the superintendent
designee, and the district
liaison is aware of our
recommendation for who that
should be. At that meeting, two
motions were passed of
recommendations to you all. The
first one was to set a minimum
number of kindergarten
classrooms for any dual
language program. Currently, it
varies between schools. Our
recommendation is that the
minimum be two, so that one
side of a full classroom of,
say, 24 students would be with
an English speaking homeroom
teacher. One side would be with
a Spanish speaking homeroom
teacher, and they would switch
either in the afternoon or
every other day. The other
option, which some schools are
taking, is to have one
classroom of a self-contained
teacher who switches back and
forth between Spanish and
English. Our recommendation was
made, and the motion was passed
unanimously. Based on a few
things anecdotally, with
members of the committee that
we've noticed that when you
even when you start out with
two classrooms, which would be
like 44 kids in kindergarten,
it's possible to make it to
eighth grade and have only five
students of that original class
still in that dual language
track. So if that can happen
with 44 students, what then
will happen if a school decides
to start only with 24? The
motion was passed based on the
experience of our teachers on
the committee, who say that
they've done both the
self-contained classroom and
the switching back and forth
and being a dual language
teacher comes with additional
responsibilities. That much is
known, but it's so much harder
to do it yourself and to have
to switch back and forth
between Spanish and English and
carry that whole load without a
teacher partner. It was brought
up by people who participated
in the public comment portion
of our meetings. We always have
a public comment portion of our
meetings, and that's where we
get a lot of feedback as well.
In addition to school visits
that was very stridently
brought forth at our last
meeting. And finally, what I
wish I could say is that the
recommendation was based on
statistics. I did as chair
request and worked with the
district statistician to try to
understand how many of our
middle school dual language
students actually started in
the program in kindergarten or
first grade. I didn't ever get
those statistics. This year,
the district doesn't know how
many of its eighth graders
started in kindergarten or
first grade. They don't know
how many of its finishing fifth
graders started in kindergarten
or first grade. And I really
hope that moving forward with
the district, revamping the
program and taking more control
over it, that they will start
to track those very important
questions. The second motion
that we passed was a
recommendation that across all
elementary schools that have
the dual language program, that
they perform assessments of
students, Spanish language
ability, but that the results
of those assessments do not
then turn into grades or things
that affect students.
Eligibility for principal honor
roll or advancement into the
next grade. And the reason is
that at the elementary level,
there's still a big disparity,
of course, in Spanish language
ability between students who
are coming from Spanish
speaking households and
students coming from
non-Spanish speaking households.
And we want to do everything in
our power to keep students
together through elementary
school and not dissuade
students and families from
staying in the program because
it might be adversely affecting
their grade. And so the final
thing I'll say is that I hope
that the district next year
takes advantage of the
multilingual advisory committee
and keeps it in the loop with
their plans to revamp the dual
language program next year.
>> Thank you. Parent Community
Involvement Task Force.
>> Good morning. During our
final task force meeting of the
school year on JUNE 1st, we
discussed several important
topics that reflect both
opportunities and concerns
being raised by families and
community members. One area of
significant concern was the
experience of using
facilitation for reserving
school and other district
facilities. Task force members
shared multiple recent
experiences involving
complicated processes,
unexpected costs, communication
challenges, and barriers to
hosting school events. And
while the system was designed
to streamline facility
utilization in a fair and
compliant manner, many, many
stakeholders have reported that
it is creating obstacles,
delays, and frustration rather
than enabling access, and I
recognize that this topic was
discussed earlier in the year,
and that efforts were made to
address some of those concerns.
However, I can tell you that
challenges remain, and what MAY
appear to be an operational
issue is really an engagement
issue. When PTAs, booster clubs
and other school affiliated
organizations encounter
unnecessary barriers, it
becomes more difficult to
create the very events and
opportunities that bring
families into our schools and
strengthen our communities. The
task force believes it is
important to continue
evaluating whether current
practices are meeting the needs
of both schools and community
users. We encourage the
district to gather feedback
from internal and external
stakeholders to better
understand their experiences
and identify opportunities for
improvement. A large portion of
our conversation focused on the
district's implementation of
artificial intelligence. The
parent, our task force, was
grateful for the opportunity to
participate in the recent ai
symposium, and we hosted our
first ever in-person parent
university session. As families
continue learning about ai and
its role in education, they are
asking thoughtful and important
questions about data privacy,
student safety, and the
development of critical
thinking and writing skills,
and how ai will be introduced
across grade levels. Task force
Members members emphasized the
importance of communicating
with clarity, creating
opportunities for ongoing
dialog, and ensuring that
families are partners in this
work. As this technology
continues to evolve, we must be
willing not only to share
information, but also to listen,
learn and adapt based on
feedback from students,
families, and educators. We
hope the conversation the board
will hold today at today's
workshop will be continued at
every level of the district on
a regular basis and with
preemptive transparency,
authentic collaboration, and
respect for all perspectives.
Finally, members shared
concerns about potential
changes to policies around
community participation and
barriers that MAY
unintentionally limit
participation. The task Force
remains committed to ensuring
that engagement opportunities
remain accessible and welcoming
to the diverse families and
community. Community members we
serve. As the district begins
planning for next school year,
I would encourage all of us to
keep families and community
members at the forefront of our
thinking. Strong schools are
built through strong
partnerships, whether we are
discussing technology,
communications, volunteering,
facility use or student
supports. Our greatest success
will come when families,
educators, community partners,
district staff and the school
board work together toward a
shared vision for students. As
we conclude this year, I would
like to thank Superintendent
Hepburn, the school board,
district staff and my fellow
task Force members for their
partnership. A special thank
you to Doctor Lori Canning,
Nadia Clark, Naviance Joseph
and the entire face team for
their incredible support of
family and community engagement
throughout the district. We
look forward to continuing the
important work of supporting
Broward County students,
families and the community next
year. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Small Business
Advisory Committee, Technology
Advisory Committee.
>> Good morning chair, board
members. Superintendent Linda
Ferrara, chair, Technology
Advisory Committee. We started.
We discussed the ongoing
development of the district's
ai policy, focusing on parental
opt out provisions,
environmental considerations,
and the process for board
review, with input from the tac
and other stakeholders being
incorporated into the draft. An
update on the erp system
selection process was given,
outlining the current rfp phase.
Upcoming software
demonstrations, evaluation
criteria, and the timeline for
board approval and
implementation, with Plant
Moran advising the district
throughout presentation from
the recent Microsoft Build
conference highlighting new ai
models, customization
capabilities, and the
district's approach to ai agent
development, security testing,
and governance within Microsoft
ecosystem was discussed. We
discussed ongoing concerns
about tax roll in district
technology decisions, the need
for improved communication
pathways, early agenda item
distribution and formal
inclusion in ai related
committees, and task force. An
update was provided on the
Maximo system rollout,
detailing progress on mobile
client deployment assessment,
data entry training efforts,
and the transition away from
the paper based work orders.
Members addressed the
transition from Raptor to
Syngenta for visitor management,
noting that the contract was
approved without tac or it
input, highlighting ongoing
communication issues between
departments. One of the
concerns, not only that was
focused on by tac, but has been
brought up a number of times,
was our Raptor system.
Evidently, this system is also
a visitor management system,
and I haven't looked through
the entire contract yet, but it
doesn't appear that it
addressed the issues that
parents have brought up with
the system. Some of the follow
up tasks we have are ai policy,
environmental impact. Add
language to the policy,
addressing the environmental
impact and sustainability
considerations of ai usage in
the district. Parent education
on ai develop and distribute
parent facing educational
materials or a handbook about
ai use in the district,
ensuring collaboration with tac
and addressing parent concerns
and questions. Parent questions
on ai collect top ten questions
from the dac Educational
Subcommittee and provide
written answers to address
parent concerns about ai
communication of board agenda
items. Establish a process to
inform tac of technology
related items before they are
brought to the school board for
approval. I would like to thank
our committee and all who
participate, and every time I
come across somebody who has
any input, any opinion or
anything I have invited to the
meeting they've attended and
they have provided really great
information, especially at our
last meeting by Doctor Piper.
At our next meeting, I
recommend we have a
conversation on school board
and committee expectations for
the next year in order to
clarify both of our purposes
and our agendas moving forward.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, audit Committee.
>> Good morning sir. I was a
few minutes late. I did MISS
You all last month as I was ill
and figured you probably did
not want to share, so I'm just
going to catch up. I'm just
going to just just mention a
couple things. I know those
things have. You've probably
seen what we did and just, you
know, we do have a court
reporter at our meetings and we
do have very comprehensive
minutes, which I know you
>> Get, but I'll just wanted to
highlight a couple of things
from our MAY 7th meeting. We
spent an extraordinary amount
of time on internal funds,
probably more than our agenda
had anticipated. So we actually
set up a special meeting the
following. But I just took a
couple things I wanted to
highlight in there. There was
concern about the number of
exceptions in high schools. And
we were and we've, you know,
we're focused on that. Some of
them dealt with yearbooks. And
that's a whole nother topic.
And one which actually was, was
very informative as far as
what's as trends with yearbooks
now and some of the things that
are going on. But I just wanted
to say that the, our audit, our
chief auditor's office is so
efficient that they let us know
that we actually had fewer
exceptions this year than last
year. But the bottom line on
that is that we just wanted to
emphasize how important
training is for everybody, not
just the people at the top, but
the people through. Everybody
needs to receive training on
how to account for whatever
they're working with. So I
wanted to mention that we did
set a special meeting because
as you know, we're coming up
with the audit plan for next
year. And we had a wonderful
conversation on both the 7th of
MAY and the 13th of MAY. And
then we're following up again
tomorrow. And in the interim,
you all have talked about it.
One thing I just want to tell
you that when we would bring
these topics up and Mark would
so calmly say, and that is why
I have this on here. But the
conversations in this room this
year that we've had at these
monthly meetings with with
chairs from other groups, we
have been very helpful and also
talking about things that we
feel maybe should be looked at
and that Mark has incorporated
in the plan for next year. And
I know it's not finalized.
We'll know more on Thursday,
which is our next meeting on
JUNE 18th. And then we've set a
special meeting on the 16th of
JULY, anticipating an audit
that will be coming in. We
don't typically meet in JULY,
as you know, but we will be. So
hopefully you will have all of
that by the beginning of AUGUST.
I want to thank Doctor Hepburn
and for joining us and all of
the staff who work really hard
to put together the information
we have added at every meeting,
a conversation on the general
fund balance. And there's much
more we've talked about as this
is our special meeting, as you
can see. But I want to thank
you again for the people you're
appointing to this committee.
This is an outstanding
committee with just such great
input from so many different
people. And so thank you for
that. And we will be meeting on
Thursday if anybody wants to
tune in. Thank you.
>> Thanks.
>> Thank you. District Advisory
Council.
>> All right. Good morning,
chair, board members,
superintendent and staff, and
fellow advisory chairs. My name
is Cynthia Dominique. I am a
parent and chair of the
District Advisory Council. Our
last and final meeting of the
school year was on MAY 12th. I
want to thank MR. Strauss, MR.
Sullivan, MR. Hill, as well as
Doctor Holness for coming out
to that meeting. I'd also like
to thank our liaison, Shelly
Winter, our cabinet liaison,
Vida Hodge, our previous
student advisors, Landon and
Josiah, for their tireless,
tireless advocacy and
dedication to District Advisory
Council and the students of
Broward County Public Schools.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't
think our parents and community
members who sit on our council
and show up every month to
discuss important issues and
move our district forward. We
continue to have conversations
about facilities, and during
the summer, we hope that much
of the maintenance and
facilities work that needs to
be done across the district is
implemented so that come day
one, kids are ready to go into
buildings that are ready for
them. We've had conversations
about elevator servicing. I
know we forwarded this issue to
Esq Advisory Council to ensure
that there is a plan to that,
to make our schools compliant
with Ada, and I know MR.
Dorsett is on it. Thank you for
always being responsive. We did
not discuss the upcoming
policies in detail, as we were
told that with this new neola
process, we would be made aware
of the timelines and the
community would be fully
engaged on policies of this
magnitude that you all saw last
week, should comply with rural
development and maximize public
input. We had unanimous support
from the district advisory
Steering, which consists of
many of the people sitting here,
as well as many members of the
community, to ensure that any
changes to these policies would
preserve public speaking time
and committee reports to the
school board. We continue to
have conversations about
testing. The board did give the
academic team directions to
decrease or eliminate, but
really look at modifying the
amount of tests that are
provided to students. And we
hope that the conversation will
continue throughout the summer
and be ready ahead of the next
school year so that we can
identify those assessments that
are most statistically
significant and provide
actionable data that helps us
maintain accountability while
also preserving the ability for
teachers to modify instruction,
timelines, and testing to best
meet the needs of students. We
hope that dac will be continued
to be included in these
conversations and have a seat
at the table. We also discussed
student activities at our last
meeting, and it revealed
several opportunities.
Overwhelmingly, members shared
a need to enhance communication
about clubs that are available
at schools. The disparity in
the amount of clubs and
activities that are available
at schools. As we know, this is
a key attraction for many
parents to stay in the school
that they're in. But also we
know that it's dependent on
sponsors. One of the things
that we learned was that people
who provide services on Broward
schools activities are not
required to go through the same
level of background screening
as club sponsors or maybe
volunteers who are providing
that club. So that that is
certainly a recommendation we
gave to MR. Strauss to remedy,
and we do support the volunteer
in level one background check
of every single volunteer. And
we when we have trainings with
our school advisory forum
chairs, that is something that
we request that they do along
with their ethics training. I'm
not going to talk about edtech
and ai. Brooke said it all so
eloquently, but what I would
ask is that dac has a seat on
that ai task force and that as
we prepare for next school year,
we really prioritize the opt
out of educational technology
for those who want it, as well
as providing for data privacy,
explicit consent, so that they
can be included on the back to
school forms. And while we
understand and chair, I'm going
to ask you for just maybe a
minute more, we understand that
education is our primary
mission, and we know that this
cannot happen unless students
are physically, emotionally,
and mentally prepared to learn.
Students face stressors every
day, and they encounter unique
challenges associated with the
current state of our society
access to technology, social,
social, media, and at times
harmful, harmful content and
algorithms. The instant access
prevents them to be able to
isolate from those issues, and
a lack of safeguards or
inability to safeguard them
from potential dangers is also
a risk. I just learned that two
of our students completed
suicide in the last week. Since
2003, suicide ideation and
planning has increased. The cdc
estimates that 20% of youth
have contemplated suicide. 9%
of high schoolers have made a
plan or an attempt. And in the
lgbtq community that jumps to
12%, one is too many. Every
parent, student, or adult that
interacts with children should
know the warning signs. Be
courageous enough to ask
someone if they are having
thoughts of suicide. I promise
you, asking does not lead to
suicide, but it possibly saves
a life. We've previously talked
about the surveys administered
in the schools, one of which is
the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
I'm asking the district that we
use that data to create really
clear strategies and
implementation plans that focus
on prevention, early
intervention, and provide our
community with the resources
that already exist in Broward
County public schools, as well
as the partnerships that we
have in the community. And I
hope that everyone remembers
the number 988. If you are
having thoughts of hurting
yourself or you just need to
talk to someone, remember nine,
eight, eight, there is someone
on that other line that is able
to speak to you and help. As we
look forward to district
advisory next year, we will be
requesting meetings with all
board members and the
superintendent to identify
priorities that we would like,
that you would like our
feedback on, and to better
understand and collaborate on
solutions to community concerns,
it is imperative that the
message that is being
communicated is heard beyond
the message, how the message is
delivered so that we prioritize
student well-being and academic
achievement. We look forward to
working with the new student
advisors, engaging and
empowering more parents. As we
know that this is key to
student success, we also look
forward to enhancing our parent
and community community
engagement with the legislative
process, so that we could
advocate on behalf of the bcc
legislative platform and
protect public education. Those
conversations have already
started with the communications
team, and we look forward to
continuing them. Our first
meeting of the school year will
be on AUGUST 12th at 615, and
we'll be having a leadership
and advocacy training for our
School advisory Forum chairs on
AUGUST 30th. Thank you, board
for allowing us to have these
conversations with you
throughout this year.
>> North area.
>> Yeah, I'm I'm reporting on
behalf of of.
>> Nicole, the outgoing chair,
and Mario, the incoming chair.
I'm just going to go quickly
over some of the. Minutes.
Sorry. So North area last
meeting made the 21st. Lisa
Maxwell, PRESIDENT Of Broward
Principals and Assistant
Principals Association,
explained process previously
used to fund schools and how it
involved principals looking at
enrollment with the
demographics Department and
then being funded based on
their fte and seeing funds in
their accounts, and being able
to hire and fund staff
accordingly. There's been a lot
of concern out at Sacs and
staffs, as parents have seen
principals struggling to hire
staff for next year based on
figures that appear to be under
projections in some cases. Of
the number of students that are
going to be coming into schools,
and also the removal of their
accelerated funding. So
Cambridge and cte funding,
which has hobbled them from
being able to hire staff.
Therefore, somewhere along the
line they are having to drop
staff. I can tell you certainly
at my school, which is in the
north, there has been a
weakening of support for the
Esq students in the srv classes
because of the funding stretch,
and they cannot be the most
being the most vulnerable
students in the district. They
cannot be the ones who have
those around them dropped from
the staffing next year. There
was a lot of concern about how
the district is no longer
showing schools the money
available based on fte, and
instead of showing units and
stating that a set number of
units equals staffing,
enrollment numbers are coming
from an alternate source than
demographics, and there's no
confirmation of where the
enrollment numbers are coming
from or how they were derived.
Principals have reported
discrepancies, with some
schools not expecting a drop in
enrollment being projected for
unexplained drops, resulting in
principals having to cut staff.
There was also a lot of
discussion about alternate ways
we can save money as a district
in order to better directly
fund schools. One suggestion
that North felt warranted
further research is the
academics department that MISS
Maxwell said was has an $80
million annual budget, with 25
million allocated for materials.
Members had questions about
formulas for budgeting schools,
and we passed a motion at North
which went like this. If I can
just find it. My apologies. I'm
new to this document. Okay. The
motion was to. We move that the
district. We recommend that the
district allow principals to
make instructional staffing
allocations based on funds
generated by their schools
through the Cambridge and cte
programs, moved, seconded and
passed with just one opposing
vote from a gentleman who said
he didn't quite understand the
ins and outs of it. But the ins
and outs of it are. If you have
a school that had 400 zero zero
$0 in accelerated funding that
its kids and its staff had
earned in order to help swell
services and supports in that
school and staffing and to
strengthen programs. And then
that money is taken away and
you can no longer code your
staffing salaries accordingly.
And there just isn't money
there. Your school is going to
shrink and not only shrink in
its in terms of what it can
offer the community, but shrink
in terms of the community
coming to that school. So the
motion was made in the hope
that although Cambridge and cte
money, I think, is not going to
be taken away next year, the
money that has been taken this
year is affecting schools
ability to staff and then
finally North as as with all
the other areas, has had
feedback on this issue of of
your wishes regarding or some
of your wishes regarding public
engagement and, and the
decision or the decision you're
moving towards to eliminate
public engagement, almost about
three minutes in the course of
an entire school board agenda
meeting, placing 31 policies in
one agenda item for review does
not constitute rulemaking with
integrity. The Neola platform.
Maybe you folks had a nice
demonstration of of how funky
and nice that's going to look,
but nobody out here did. And
you MAY not be aware that all
the areas and dac and other
advisories had all been working
really hard at your request on
reviewing policy. 1020 there
have been no courtesy of
reference to us when this Neola
thing came along. Everybody's
very concerned about processes
and what you're doing to public
engagement. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you to our
committees. I'll go to board
member discussion. And just as
a reminder, it is up to the
board member who has the floor
to call on the various chairs
that they'd like to hear from
before I go to board members.
Attorney Dupree Bruno, did you
want to respond to anything?
>> Yes, just to make sure
there's a there's some response
to some of the concerns that
have been raised with regards
to the policies in Neola and
the process, as well as to make
sure that we have some things
on the record. The first thing
that I think is very important
to understand the policy
conversion is a major project.
It is utilizing the templates
that are legally vetted through
Neola, and then incorporating
some of the things that we want
to incorporate that are Broward
specific. First and foremost,
the direction was to review
policy 1020. Policy 1020 has
multiple different subjects in
that policy. When you are doing
a rule, you're really only
supposed to have one topic per
policy, unless the statute has
a bunch of different things and
there are statutes that do that.
So that's why we have
individual policies for an
address or a seal and those
types of different things. The
second thing is the board is
going to be reviewing policy
1070. That's going to come in
AUGUST or SEPTEMBER. Policy
1070 is the one that actually
discusses board advisory
committees. So the reporting
from the board advisory
committees will be addressed in
that policy, because that's the
policy that addresses board
advisory committees. The other
thing that's really important
to understand the school
district, and I want to make
sure this is very clear. The
school board, the school
district, followed the
appropriate laws with regards
to notice and what is required
for rulemaking. There is no
violation in terms of the
rulemaking process that was
utilized by the school district.
It is controlled by the
Administrative Procedures Act,
Florida Statute 120.54. And we
followed that process with the
legal notices that were
provided. We hear from the
constituents when there is a
concern that is raised, and we
feel that it is something that
we can address, we will address
it. We do not have to put rule
development on the website
because it's already put on the
website with the legal notice,
but a constituent raised it, so
we added it and we will
continue to add it. I also want
to make it very clear that we
are not eliminating public
comment. There is no
elimination of public comment.
The formatting of public
comment is going to be changed
to be more in line with best
practices, not only in the
state of Florida, but across
the country, in terms of how
public comment is given, it is
extremely important that the
public understands this is a
governing body, and they have
work to do. They are supposed
to listen to your comments, and
I can assure you that they do
listen to your comments. How
that is done is what the
question is and what they're
resolving, so that they can
continue to do their work as a
governing body. The other thing
i want to make sure that's very
clear is you are actually
getting an hour and a half of
public comment based on the
board's discussion. You're
getting public comment in the a
m meetings,s,ououe getting
blicic commeme inn t p pm
meetinings, a as youave now,nd
then you're given another 60
minutes on agenda items. That
is what is in the proposed
policy. 0169.1 in addition, you
have the right to send comments
via communication, written
communication. That's the same
thing. That's in 1020. Feel
free to send emails and written
communication to the board
because they are read and
anything that deals with
policies I'm aware of and I
read them. So you are not
losing public comment. It's
just being restructured. On how
public comment is provided to
the board. You are also able to
comment on workshops and
special meetings as you have
this the same rules that you
had in 1020, except it's all at
the beginning of the meeting.
So the board can then do their
work as a governing body. The
other thing that I wanted to
make sure that was very clear
is during the rulemaking
process. 120.54 believe it or
not, does not require a
rulemaking workshop unless it
is requested. What most boards
do to be preemptive and
proactive. They have a rule
making workshop. And this board
did that and had a rulemaking
workshop. In addition, it is up
to the to the the the Chair If
there's going to be any
additional workshops. And in
this case, because of the fact
that you are able to send in
written communication, you are
able to provide comment at the
rulemaking workshop, and you
will be able to provide
comments during the public
hearing. There is no need for
an additional workshop. The
other thing that I want to make
sure that it's very clear,
because of how Neola is set up,
you're going to have multiple
batches of policies coming
forward. It's not going to be
one policy. It's not going to
be ten policies. It's going to
be large batches of policies.
That's just the way the
conversion operates and that's
how it works. When we go to
public hearing, what I have
done is to make sure that the
public hearing is set up by
chapter, because Neola has
multiple chapters, 1000 is for
administration, 2000 students,
and so on and so forth. The
zero zeros that you've been
seeing, those are considered
the bylaws or the board's
policies. That's why they're
there group like that, because
they actually belong in one
chapter. And when you see the
public hearing, you'll see that
as well. So I'm available to
answer any questions that
anybody has. Some people have
reached out and asked me
questions. I'm very happy to
answer those questions. But the
board has given a directive. We
have so many hours that we have
paid for for Neola assistance,
and we have a one year timeline
to do these conversions of
these policies. So we're going
to do it as applicable to the
law and compliance with law and
but with the process so that we
can conclude this policy in by
JUNE or MAY of 2027. Thank you,
MADAM Chair.
>> Thank you, MISS Thompson.
>> Any question about that?
>> Yeah, I can MISS MISS
Thompson has.
>> Do you online. No, no.
>> Okay. I just I was unable to
come to the workshop last week
and in fact, I read the policy
and I don't know how many
people had a chance to read the
new policy for ten, 20. So I
think part of your confusion as
you go forward, just as a
something that might be helpful,
is when you're labeling that
you might put formerly known as
because I think it's very
confusing to people, but I do
want to make the comment as
you're planning what you're
doing with these policies. And
there are others besides that.
Like, I'm very curious as to
what current policy 4.9 is
going to be renumbered. Having
spent many hours on that over
the years. But the point I
wanted to make was that as
you're doing these policies, I
think you have to not only
consider what potentially is in
your state statute, but what
the traditions of this district
and the district and what this
district has come to, to be.
And so you have nearly 200,000
students in traditional schools.
Is that correct, Doctor Hepburn?
Probably, maybe. But let's just
say it is okay, 200 000
students. I don't know how many
parents that is, but okay,
let's say that's 100,000
parents. As you're planning how
you want to hear from those
parents, I would tell you, it's
great you're giving us 60
minutes, I don't think 60
minutes for 100,000 people is
good. And my major concern for
all of you as you're redoing
these policies, as we cannot
afford to lose any more people.
And if people feel they are not
heard, they will vote with
their feet. We know that. So I
think that this is a larger
conversation. I I'm glad you're
getting everything so organized,
but in doing that, I think
there has to be another way to
work with these different
committees to get some input
before you come to the point
where you did last week. So.
And but thank you for your
explanation.
>> Good.
>> Okay. Good morning. So I, of
course. I, I hear the concerns
about public comment. And I'm
only going to mention this very
briefly because I think there's
other things that people
brought up that I would like to
spend my time on. I think one
of the things that DR. Holness
item last week about community
surveys and in that discussion,
there are multiple ways to get
public comment. And for example,
in my district, district two,
which is about an hour from
this building, very rarely will
anybody come to a meeting
unless you are closing their
school, which is why I, as a
board member. And even then,
there was not a lot of people.
So that's why I, as a board
member, took initiative to go
out to my community and have
community meetings there. So I
think when we have this
conversation about public
comment, we need to look at it
in the the ecosystem of there
are multiple ways to be
connecting with our community.
And this is one component of it
that we are trying to make our
our meetings a little bit more
efficient, more understandable
for people who watch. Because I
think when personally, when
there are public comments on
motions and if the motion is
just, hey, we should change
this word to that word, then
multiple people will speak. And
then the, the relevance of that
motion is lost. And then the
public gets confused and we get
confused again, I think there
are multiple ways. And I think
as individual board members, we
need to be more engaged in our
end of our. I won't comment on
anyone else's engagement, but
my plan is to be more engaged
in my community because that's
where I think public comment is
more accessible for who I
represent going forward. I did
want some clarity about job
hiring because that is
something in class size
concerns. That's something that
we have gotten emails about.
That's something that
principals have reached out to
me about. So what is that
process going to look like?
When can they hire more
teachers? Can we expand on why
we switched to units instead of
fte? And I think the the
overwhelming thing I keep
hearing is the concern that in
AUGUST, we're going to have a
bunch of high schoolers or a
bunch of kids in a room with
one teacher because they can't
hire until OCTOBER. So I guess
if I could get walk through a
timeline on hiring and address
the class size concerns, and
then also an excellent
explanation on the units
instead of fte.
>> Yep, absolutely. Thanks for
the question, MISS Thompson. So
I'll turn it over to Ernie in a
minute. But there's no
moratorium on hiring teachers.
And I'll let Doctor Lozano go
through what hr is doing to
support that in a minute. Also,
for class size, we do follow
state statute when it comes to
class size. Do we want them
smaller. Yes. That's the part
of the process. That one
initiative that we kind of
sunsetted in DECEMBER, we're
going to have to start that
back up this summer because we
are a little high school
centric when it comes to
funding, and that impacts class
sizes for elementary school
grades. Also, it was three
things. Oh, the units versus.
>> Yeah, the units versus fte.
>> Yeah. So units isn't a new
concept everywhere I've been.
And in other large districts we
utilize units. It actually
helps to ensure that the
dollars are being spent on the
units, instructional personnel,
or even non-instructional
personnel on that campus. And
if principals or school leaders
want to spend the money
allocated for a position, be it
non-instructional instructional
on something else, they just
need to converse with the
regional office and and see if
it's adequate to trade that
offer things instead of an
instructional person or a
non-instructional person as
well. Go ahead Doctor Lozano.
>> Thank you, Doctor Hepburn.
Ernie Lozano Chief Human
Resources Officer So the hr
team has been working fast and
furious these past few weeks.
We just finished placing all
our surplus teachers into
positions, and we're able to
find all our surplus teachers
positions. As of this morning,
the district is fully hiring.
Teachers and principals are
able to create their
requisitions and put in their
ads. The early transfer window
also opened this morning for
principals and schools, so
schools are moving full steam
ahead to ensure by the opening
day of school and that first
day of pre planning, they have
as full of staff as possible to
meet the needs of of their
students. When you look at
throughout the summer, we don't
we don't wait as as students
continue to register. So we
don't officially count students
until they register at the
school physically. And then as
numbers go up, we have a
comprehensive team with
demographics, teaching and
learning and hr that monitor
the increase and decrease of
student enrollment because at
the same time, some students
are registering, some students
are withdrawing to other
schools based on magnet. So we
don't wait till OCTOBER.
Throughout the summer, we're
monitoring the enrollment at
each school. We work with our
school principals, and as we
see the need to add teachers,
we begin that process because
again, we know the importance
of students meeting their
teacher on day one and having a
successful year with a teacher
180 days out of the school year.
>> And if I can add to one of
the comments I heard was about
enrollment projections and
using the demographers numbers,
we don't get funded based on
the enrollment projections of
our demographer. We get funded
based on enrollment projections
by the state, and they've been
pretty spot on in my career in
education. And so demographers
numbers could be totally
different because they're using
different variables, gathering
data from municipalities and
also the county as far as
growth in the area or the lack
thereof, the the state uses
projection numbers based on
what they see as the trends of
students entering and exiting
the county, versus also
enrolling in the charter
schools, voucher systems and
things like that. And they are
very whatever methodology they
use, they keep tight. It is
very close to the numbers that
they project every year, at
least for the past 20 plus
years I've been in education.
So that's how we are actually
funded. So we could build our
budget for the upcoming school
year. So if we're if folks are
paying attention to
demographers numbers here, it's
going to be off. We we fund, we
get we receive funding based on
projections from the state for
the upcoming school year.
>> And I just want to dive a
little bit more into class size
because like my second grader
had 26 kids in his class. And
yeah, that is what it is. But I
think when parents hear the
recommendation of 18 in
elementary and, and 20 and then
25, and then we say we're
following class sizes, but they
walk into a school and it's not
happening. Like, can you just
expand on what the perception
of following that is?
>> Yeah, absolutely. So for the,
in a nutshell, it's based off
of school average per that
grade level, right? For k
through two, the k through two,
three through five. And then
for middle school and high
schools based on the actual
school average, not so, so much
specifically from class to
class. One of the things that
we have to embark on, because
it just hasn't been done is,
like I said, the high school
schedule, a lot of funding is
garnered on the high school
schedule to make that work. A
block schedule is very
expensive versus a straight
seven and all those other
components to actually pour
money back into elementary
schools so we can actually
lower our class sizes, you know,
to what we see as the best
class size for Broward County
public schools.
>> And is that standard
practice to take the average?
>> Yes.
>> And is that. So that's how
we're staying in compliance is
taking the average. And that's
what every district does.
>> Yep. Correct.
>> I would I think all of us
would agree that class sizes
would be better, smaller. But I
know that that's something that
we are, we are working on. I
think there's also something to,
to say when it's like a gifting
or high achieving class, they
want to have as many kids able
to access that curriculum. So
maybe those classes are higher
because of, of that reason.
>> Correct. So you will have
certain I would call them
specialty classes gifted in
classes like that, that usually
are typically smaller than your
regular ed classes.
>> All right.
>> And then I wanted to touch a
little bit on the writing and
thank our student for speaking
up and, and finding something
to say. I know we can be a
little intimidating. I do think
it, it might be teacher
specific as well, because again,
my second grader does, I see
his little writing notebook,
but having making sure we're
emphasizing those skills like
holding a pencil and holding a
pen, because I think that's
kind of a lost art. And I think
with the addition to cursive
writing that's now mandated,
some of those skills will come
back. But I think it's, it's
good to give teachers support
to do that. And then I did want
to talk about the mental health
concerns that the chair brought
up. One of our chairs brought
up, I had asked for when we
were changing the the structure
of our mental health department
for them to bring back kind of
what the plan is to deliver
services. And I just want one,
to make sure that we're
including suicide prevention
and tier one level
interventions across the
district, but I wanted to see
when that presentation will
come back.
>> Yeah, we can follow up
because we're presenting and
going over all of that in
cabinetirst just to give.
>> That was my yeah, I know
it's going to take just so they
know that we're hearing this
concern. So by AUGUST or
SEPTEMBER.
>> Oh, absolutely. Before
AUGUST. Yes.
>> All right. And then that's
all. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Our student
advisor would like to speak.
>> Okay. Thank you. So I did
actually have a question. First
of all, Allison. Hi. I heard
you're going to Western. I'm
from Western, so I welcome you
in advance. And then second of
all to our gifted advisory
council. This is a genuine
question because I know a lot
of times people will ask to try
and like, trip someone up. I'm
asking genuinely, what do you
think would be the best way?
Because with the ai, you had
mentioned that you didn't
really see any true
implementation plans. It's just
kind of like, oh, ai is good,
but you didn't see any real
depth there. So I wanted to ask
you if you had any idea of what
you would need to see to kind
of show you, because obviously
if you're thinking it, that
means a lot of other people are
as well. Yeah. I see people
shaking their heads. Yes, or
nodding their heads. So do you
have any ideas as to what you
would need to see to kind of
prove to you that it's good?
>> It's not really proof, but
it's more like, here's a lesson
plan. This is what we're going
to talk about as far as science.
This is the teaching
methodology that that's going
to be used. And it doesn't have
to be an extreme detail, but
have there been any careful
thought out examples of how
it's going to be used,
especially with advanced
academics? Okay. That that's a
broad topic that covers gifted,
that covers high achieving,
that covers a lot of other
advisories that are here as
well. So something a little bit
more down to home, down to
earth that people can consume
and recognize, you know, that's
a really good idea. Something
that brings a little light bulb
moment. And it's like, you know,
that's kind of cool. Not
something like vr head glasses
for certain topics that not so
much. That's kind of like what
I think our parents are looking
for as far as what's going to
be used. Yes, we know what's
here. We know what's going to
be used how. Give us some good
examples, some genius examples,
that type of thing.
>> Thank you.
>> That's it.
>> Oh, no. Okay. All right,
MRS. Alhadeff.
>> Question for Doctor Hepburn
is how are we con filtering out
inappropriate content? If one
of our students access a
restricted YouTube website or a
YouTube video on YouTube.
>> Pitch that over to MR.
Bradford so he can get a little
bit technical about how we
actually deal with those issues.
>> Thank you, doctor. Matthew
Bradford, Executive Director of
Technology operations if I if I
MAY. MR. Alhadeff, can you
clarify a little bit more when
it comes to your question
regarding YouTube?
>> Yes. So student goes on to
YouTube and class and goes to
an inappropriate video. How are
we what is our line of defense
to make sure they don't have
access to that video?
>> Thank thank you for the
clarification. We have a tool
called line Wise that we use
that monitors when it comes to
any activity, when it comeseso
our s studes fro an inintern
peperspecte. Andnd we can, uu
know, throw out as many attacks
when it comes to that, if, if
at all possible. So what we're
using now from a line wise
perspective allows us to
monitor, it allows us to look
at activity when it comes to
students and those types of
situations we can address. And
if by chance we, the tool that
we're using misses that
particular site, we can
definitely get that site and
make certain it's prohibited
moving forward.
>> So when the student goes to
that inappropriate video, will
it block them from being able
to watch the video?
>> Absolutely.
>> Okay, great. And my next
comment is on the cursive.
Obviously, I'm a big proponent
of our, our students learning
how to write cursive. And it
really helps with their brain
development and making those
learning connections. So Doctor
Hepburn, are our students
learning cursive and if so,
what grade are they learning it
in?
>> Yes, I do know it's part of
one of the grade levels
elementary curriculum. I know
Doctor Cohen, if you know
specifically what grade level
it's in third grade. Third
grade. MISS Alhadeff, have you
heard that?
>> Okay, so are are they so did
they learn cursive this year in
third grade, or is it starting
next year?
>> It. Go ahead doctor, it is.
It's this year and we're also
it's embedded in the ifc as
well in MISS Alhadeff. That's
also why since hearing from the
public during the org chart,
there is a specific position
that we created specifically
that focuses on writing not
only just cursive writing, but
integrating writing across
curriculum in there. And so
there is a content expert that
is emphasizing that we also
have Writeable, which is
infused within the curriculum,
which should have some daily
lessons for teachers to
implement writing within the
curriculum. But we obviously
are hearing those are some
things we're working on to make
sure that teachers are using
that time to be able to
implement writing within the
instructional day.
>> What happens, or could there
be something for students in
high school who did not learn
cursive to, you know, have some
type of course that they can
take something through our ai?
I don't know if there's an
ability for them to even go
back and self, you know, teach
themselves, you know, how to
learn cursive or are we, are we
giving them any tools? Because
obviously it's a really
important skill to have. And I
want to make sure that when our
students graduate, that they
can do some minimum things,
these life skills, like signing
their name in cursive, for
example.
>> So that's something we can
obviously look at when we do
things like course recovery.
That is one thing that
obviously we can do as far as a
summer camp or an acceleration
camp, we can kind of take a
look at some programing and
scheduling that offer something
like that with an intervention.
So absolutely, we can do that.
>> Okay. And then also is are
we teaching keyboarding typing
skills for our students?
>> It's embedded in some of the
course content. It's not
necessarily required. One of
the after action items that
we're looking at, obviously, as
we reduce our footprint of
assessment in the earlier
grades, we did talk about the
potential of making sure
students take typing skills to
ensure that when they are
taking this state assessment
test, that they are ready to
perform and utilize the keys in
an appropriate way that makes
them successful in taking those.
So we are implementing some
aspects of keyboarding at the
earlier grades to where the
reduction of assessments are
happening.
>> Okay, so do we have an
actual plan to, to make sure
that every student has these
keyboarding typing skills?
>> Yes we do. That plan has
been developed currently for
the summer and being rolled out
for next year.
>> Okay. Could you send a
follow up with the plan?
>> Absolutely.
>> Thank you. Thank you, MADAM
Chair.
>> Thank you, MR. Cervera.
>> Thank you. Chair, a couple
questions for me, but I do want
to first start off by
acknowledging the ladies and
gentlemen who came in and gave
the reports. We always
appreciate you guys, appreciate
your efforts and appreciate the
feedback that we get from you
on a monthly basis. And to our
rising freshman at Western High
School. Welcome. Glad to have
you in district six. And I'm
sure as as Lily can vouch for,
you're a tremendous high school.
So all the best as you start
your high school journey, MR.
Superintendent, I've got some
questions about the state
statutory limits on class sizes.
I've had some conversations
with some folks, both in this
district as well as folks up in
Tallahassee. And I can never
really get a clear answer on
this. So I'm hoping maybe today
you can provide some some
further insight that will help
close some of these ongoing
questions. I understand what
the numbers are. I understand
that the gauge is given and in
in certain classes they have to
have x amount of students.
However, my question is what
happens if those numbers are
not being met? Do parents have
recourse? Do they have an
opportunity to go to some
administrative body? Is there
an agency up north or maybe in
Broward County, that they can
file a formal complaint with?
What can my parents do if their
children are in classes that
are vastly over enrolled for
whatever reason, and they are,
quite frankly, just not happy
with the student teacher ratio.
>> That part as far as what
opportunities for parents,
beyond talking to principals
and regional leaders and
district leaders. Beyond that,
I have to provide a follow up
and do some research. But there
is a moment in time after I
want to say, like OCTOBER, when
students are still enrolling in
schools, that there is after
that, after that date. I want
to say it's OCTOBER, right?
There's really no recourse
because that's out of the
control of the school and the
district. If additional
students are continuing to come
into that class, if you have
one or 2 or 3 students continue
to come into that class at that
time, you can usually
principals would look at the
whole makeup of their school,
see if there's class size
classes where they can
redistribute the students to
get the class sizes at a
certain point, or we MAY even
award them an additional
teacher as a as a strategy to
lower class sizes if that
happens. But other than that,
there's really not any recourse
after OCTOBER besides
leveraging whatever strategy
possible to level out classes.
But before that, it's usually
talk to your principal, talk to
the regional leadership
district leadership so we can
analyze and see what the
situation is and react
appropriately. But beyond that,
I'll have to do research and
get.
>> I would very much appreciate
a follow up and. Well, of
course, I love our great
principals. I don't think
respectfully, sir, that that
can just be the answer. Just go
talk to the principal. If these
are laws in the books coming
from either state, Doe or the
legislature or however, we got
to this threshold of what our
student to teacher ratio
numbers are, and we are not
complying with that. For
whatever reason, parents need
to have recourse. They need to
be able to do something. If I'm
not complying with a kid's iep,
we know what can happen, right?
So and I'm not I'm not
suggesting that this is apples
to apples comparison, but
parents need to have recourse
if their kids are sitting in a
class with 28 kindergartners
and one teacher, because to me,
that is really, quite frankly,
not acceptable. So I'm very
much looking forward to that
follow up. MR. Superintendent,
I appreciate you willing to
take the lead on that next, if
I MAY. I believe it was Central
Area brought up a comment about
paper based instruction. I'm
going to reserve some of my
concerns with this. All this
tech that's going on for the
next portion of the agenda here.
But I did hear a concern that
teachers are possibly being
punished or disciplined if they
are requesting or moving away
from the tech ed and pushing
more for paper based methods of
instruction, which,
incidentally, I happen to be a
fan of. Is there any validity
to that comment? Have we heard
of any instances in which a
teacher has said, you know what?
This is too much screen time
for my kids. Let's get the
notebooks out. Let's get the
pencils out. Let's go old
school on this, for lack of
better terms, and let's start
doing more paper based
instruction. Are you aware of
any teachers being disciplined
for making such a decision?
>> No, we wouldn't discipline
teacher for anything like that.
A teacher has a lot of autonomy
in the classroom of how they
actually provide instruction to
students, as long as they are
following the standard and the
intended rigor of that standard.
So the students are learning
what they're supposed to learn.
We're fine.
>> Brooke.
>> I do know I did not mean
that it is happening. It was a
policy suggestion. So as we go
forward and we adopt more
technology or ai, we're
suggesting that the district
have a policy to protect
teachers from potentially
having discipline. I will say
there MAY not be formal
discipline. There is incredible
pressure on teachers to get
their I ready minutes in to the
point that if they get to the
end of the week and they don't
have enough, those laptops are
coming out, whether it's part
of what they need to teach or
not. So formal discipline. I'm.
I did not make that accusation.
But we would like to see a
policy that protects our
educators and their autonomy in
the classroom to choose the
best methods they see for their
class. And we would like to
reduce the informal, incredible
pressure there is to do
internet based testing, where
the district and the principal
gets those results, as well as
the Iready and other
supplemental software.
>> Thank you for that. Thank
you for the clarification.
Doctor Cohn, are you at. If I
am a history teacher and I
teach sixth grade history and I
say, you know what? I'm tired
of these things and I don't
want to do the laptops anymore.
I want to go back to the way we
did it when you and I were in
school. And I make this
decision as an educator, what
for the teachers out there
listening, can you explain the
process that that teacher needs
to go through with her
individual school when she
makes a decision like that?
>> So I would say that that is
still teacher discretion. It's
in the collective bargaining
agreement that teachers do have
autonomy to determine which
teacher preference that they,
they choose to do and the
modality that they choose to do
it in.
>> So is that something I just
wake up and decide, do I need
to put my principal on notice?
Do I need to call the regional
supe? Do I need to do I need to
text Hepburn? Like, what do I
got to do if I'm a teacher and
I've made that decision?
>> That's a that's a teacher
choice.
>> I can tell you in a, in a,
in a world of a teacher, of
course, usually groups of
teachers plan. If I'm a history
teacher, I'm planning with my
group of history teachers. And
we came up with this plan
together about how what we're
going to do and how we're going
to compare apples to apples at
the end of our lesson. So I
would suggest that teacher
talks with her teacher
curriculum group, right? So
they make sure that
instructional strategies are
going to change. And I'm going
to do it this way because
usually it's a high level of
collaboration. When it comes to
secondary teachers within a
department.
>> I understand that, and I'm
really not getting the answer
that I'm looking for. So I'm
going to ask the question again.
And maybe history was a bad
example. Okay, so whatever
class instruction you want to
put in this hypothetical, if
I'm a teacher and I'm at, oh, I
don't know, Western High School
and I decide I don't want the
computers in my classroom
anymore, I want to go back to
paper based methods of
instruction. What do I need to
do as a teacher to make that
happen? Do I have complete
autonomy to just walk into my
classroom and do that? Do I
need to call print in this
hypothetical? Do I need to call
Dora and put her on notice
about what I plan to do? What
is the process?
>> You have autonomy. You are
the teacher in that classroom.
You have autonomy. As long as
you are teaching the standard,
you have autonomy and you can
walk classrooms. At the
beginning of the school year,
you're going to see teachers
teaching using different
methods, different strategies.
Some leverage computers part of
the time,
>> Some leveraged computers
probably once a week to
supplement instruction.
Teachers are doing it different
across the board, so you won't
find one teacher teaching the
same way as a as another
teacher.
>> Okay, fantastic. And again,
just to, to tie the ribbon on
this and make sure that
everyone's 100% clear in my
hypothetical, I don't need to
go to the, I don't need to talk
to tumor and I don't need to
talk to you. If I'm a teacher
and I make this decision about
how I want to teach my
classroom, correct.
>> You, you have autonomy for
instructional strategies.
>> Excellent. Thank you for the
clarification. MADAM General
Counsel. I think if I was
taking down accurate notes when
you were speaking, we've
certainly heard a lot of
pushback on some of this new
stuff and some of the greatest
concerns that I've heard in the
past weeks on this, since this
was first really introduced to
the public, is, number one, the
potential reduction in public
comment and how our
constituents feel as though
they're being cheated of their
opportunity to come and
properly in address this board
in a timely manner and in a
manner that they have become
used to and accustomed to over
the years. That being said, I
believe I heard from you in
response to a request to have a
rule development workshop that
on the new process, especially
these these 31 policies that we
kind of lumped into one agenda
item at the last meeting, that
in order to have a rule
development workshop on Neola
to address these concerns, we
would need to have approval
from chair Leonardi. Did I
understand that correctly?
>> No. We've already had a rule
development workshop, and the
next step is the public hearing,
which will also allow
individuals to have make public
comment on the different rules.
>> If I MAY. And again, I don't
want to put words in people's
mouths. I believe it was s who
had made the request. Jackie
and my accurate with that.
>> I think Doctor Lynch Walsh
put in a formal request for a
rule development hearing. I
think we need to clarify what
we're talking about. Rule
development workshop you had.
It wasn't run in conformity
with how they have been run
previously. Secondly, if we're
talking about about a hearing, not clear what the hearing
is. I've got some other points
I'd like to reply to in a
minute, but can you clarify
what this hearing is that
you're talking about?
>> Thank you. Okay, so Florida
Statute 120.54 is the rule
making statute, right? So it
dictates and provides how rules
are created. Now you have to
remember that we are considered
an educational unit per
definition in that statute. So
there's certain things in that
statute that is not applicable
to a school district. It's run
by one of them, for example,
Florida Statute 120.81, which
talks about the legal notices.
Now rule development. The
statute says unless there's a
cost, the district MAY have a.
Even if there is a cost, the
district MAY have what they
call a rule development
workshop. What does that mean?
That is an opportunity for the
board to have a discussion of a
proposed rule. We'll call that
a policy. They're
interchangeable. Those words.
And the public has an
opportunity to make a comment.
That's that's what a rule.
That's in essence, what a rule
development workshop is because
of the fact in most districts
do this normally have a rule
development workshop without
the public even asking for it.
The statute doesn't require it.
If the public asks for it,
you're supposed to have it
unless there's a good reason as
to why it's not necessary. In
our case, we move forward and
we will continue to move
forward with rule development
workshops so that the public
has an opportunity to make a
comment on the rules, and the
board has an opportunity to
have discussion on the rule
before we go to the next step,
which is the public hearing.
The public hearing is when the
policies are then also brought
forward. The public then has
the opportunity to make
comments, and the board will
vote on whether or not to adopt
the rule as revised. That's
what the public hearing is.
That's proper rule development.
>> I'm sorry. My friend to the
left here is whispering exactly
what was in my head. If I could
just ask, are you talking about
a school board meeting or are
you talking about a separate
hearing?
>> Okay. Good question. So a
lot of times it is a school
board meeting, but that portion
of the meeting is is considered
a public hearing. So normally
what will happen is that the
school board will recess the
regular meeting, go into the
public hearing, have the public
comment, and then go back to
the meeting. So that's normally
how it occurs. But it does
happen in most districts in a
meeting.
>> Was the ask for an
additional rule development
workshop, which I agree, MADAM
General Counsel. That's that
was the last go around. That
was what that qualified as.
>> That was a rule development.
>> So I what I'm wondering is.
I feel like a lot of members of
the public didn't really have a
good handle or understanding
about what was going on prior
to the last workshop. Now that
we've had that workshop, things
have have come out, there's
been discussions, there's been
internet posts and
conversations about this. I
fielded phone calls, I fielded
text messages on this. I feel
like there's a better
understanding of what's
happening in light of that. And
I'm going to ask I'm going to
ask is again, is there a
request for an additional rule
development workshop, or is it
just you want confirmation that
the public will be able to
participate in the hearing, aka
school board meeting, in which
these things with Neil are
formally voted on?
>>>> k kno whaha t the Thahankou
for t t queueioio I I kw whaha
ththe resnsnse will b b s so let's
not waste our time. But. But
really, I think it's clear that
telling us that, well, a board,
a workshop was was held and it
was advertised. Nobody has said
it wasn't advertised properly.
It was advertised on an obscure
website that the public hasn't
even been told. That's the
place you need to go to if you
want to see what we're actually
doing, as opposed to what we're
putting on our agenda and our
own board meetings website, to
say we advertised it in this
obscure place that none of you
look at, and half of you, even
when you try it, can't get on
it. But so we met, we met
statute that. But you know, and
we don't you actually said, MR.
Bruno, we don't have to put it
on the website. Well, why
wouldn't you. And that's a
genuine question. Why on earth
would you. I take shorthand, we
don't have to put it on the
website. Why on earth would you
not? It wasn't even on your own
agenda that that was a rule
making workshop. There wasn't a
covering document that even
said what all these policies
were. There wasn't as, as Mary
said, any comparison of, right.
This proposed new policy
replaces that one. Not one of
you got out policy 1020 during
the course of that workshop and
did a side by side. We work
really professionally in
committee. When we're looking
at policies, we do side by side
matrices, and we do read lines.
You have done read lines before,
not so much the matrices, even
though I know board members
have asked for for a more
visually friendly format. There
was no red lines. It was so.
And I think the crux of this is
that this is a policy
conversion versus a review. And
I'm not sure, actually, that
all board members even knew
that was the case when they
voted on it. If it's a straight
replacement, there was no
comparison. There are other
policies. Take ai, for example,
that are just they're gagging
to be passed because you've got
public outcry is going to creep
up on you and overwhelm you.
Our cameras in classrooms
policy for Esq that actually I
and others at ease advisory
helped very helpfully and
collaboratively to craft with
you. GOD knows what's now going
to happen with that. I'm not
clear whether that calling that
a rule development workshop,
but not even putting it on your
own agenda that it was that is
actually reprehensible. That's
not just, well, we, we, we
advertised it somewhere else
quietly. So we meet statute to
say that there is no
elimination of public comment.
You're right. There's no
elimination. But we have 12
minutes as members of the
public spread across a whole
board meeting. So to say that
you're just restructuring it
actually isn't correct. You
said you are not losing public
comment. It's just being
restructured. There are two
different things. There's
public speaking, which is five
speakers in the morning, five
speakers in the afternoon. And
then there is public comment,
which is where everybody had 12
minutes. You've now proposed
reducing that to just three,
that people had to just gobble
it at the beginning of the
board meeting. There would only
be limited space for that,
which would be one hour. So
let's face it, if PRESIDENT
Fusco brings a bunch of her
teachers, nobody else is
getting a look in to say it's
just being restructured just is
not an accurate reflection.
It's not clear when this public
hearing would be and when, but
I'm glad to see it's now ceded
that it does need to be
separately, at least tagged as
a public hearing, but I hope it
will be advertised accordingly
on board websites and its own
agenda. And I think crucially,
now we're in the summer when
honestly, I'm afraid to leave
Broward because I fear what's
going to happen when we're not
here to voice about things.
Because this was sneaked out,
things are being sneaked out at
times of year and in ways that
that are not collaborative.
Anybody could have come to the
advisories beforehand and said,
hey, listen, we're looking at
this new platform. What do you
think? Or does it matter what
you think? But here's what
we're doing anyway. Or here's a
demonstration of what the
platform will be. I'm sure the
platform looks great, but the
process was not described or
considered at a board meeting
for $138,000 a year. When we
can't get a pre-k evaluation
for a kid with a disability to
start school in AUGUST, and
she's got to wait beyond
Christmas. I think priorities
are really poor. And the optics
of this and what the result
will be is incredibly bad. At a
time when on one hand you're
saying, hey, let's look at
customer service, and on the
other you're saying, we don't
want to hear from our customers
much.
>> So thank you so much for the
comment. I appreciate that. And
again, we do listen to what
your concerns are and try to
address them the best that we
can. First and foremost, I will
say this, once the neola
process is completed, you're
going to like the end result. I
have done this conversion
before and I know what it looks
like, and the public likes it
because they can find the
policies very easily. It's much
easier to understand. The
second thing I want you to know
is that these policies, 90% of
the policies are based on law.
That's what policies are
supposed to be. The processes,
the operations, the protocols,
how you do something are not
policies. And that's part of
the cleanup that we're doing. I
think a lot of times we're
concerned about how something
ends up happening versus the
direction that the governing
body is giving to make
something happen. We're working
on both of those things at the
same time, which is something
that is very unique to Broward
that we were able to negotiate
with Neola. So that's the first
thing. Second, we're not paying
$138,000 per year. We're paying
138,000 for this conversion.
And it is a complete conversion
of the policies. The reason the
policies are not redlined is
because they're not old
policies. These are brand new
policies that are coming before
the board. When the when you
see the public hearing, you
will see the red lines that are
based on what the board's
discussion was, including some
of the comments that were made
at the workshop, are included
in some of those red lines that
will be coming on the 23rd. So
you're never going to see red
lines at the onset, because
they're not all policies that
we're revising their new
policies. The other the other
thing that I think is really,
really important to understand
the law prescribes how certain
things are supposed to be done.
Florida statute 120.81 for
educational units says that we
publish on the county's website.
And I understand what your
point is. Wait. Hold on, hold
on, hold on. I understand your
point. Your point is that you
want to see it on our website
to to be legally compliant. We
legally published it on that.
And I will tell you on our
website, if you go to the front
page, anybody who wants to know
and follow this, you can go to
the front page on our website,
scroll all the way down and it
says Legal Notices. You click
that and it takes you to the
county's website. So I, I want
to make sure that it's on the
record because the district is
legally compliant. Hold on one
second. Hold on, hold on, hold
on, please. Number two, when it
is advertised because the the
law requires us to do this, it
is advertised 28 days prior to
the adoption. That includes the
workshop that includes what I
call the public hearing, which
is what the statute refers to.
Both dates were on. There are
two parts over there. They have
both dates for the legal
notices. So it was already said
way back at the end of MAY that
on JUNE 23rd there's going to
be a public hearing on these
policies. So we're not sneaking
we're not trying to be
deceitful. It's all there for
the public to consume. Hold on.
Let me let me finish. The
second thing, to go directly to
your point in terms of what is
advertised on our website,
normally what is advertised is
a workshop. And within that
workshop there are multiple
things. And one of those things
could be a review of policy.
Now, because we got feedback
from the public and because of
the fact that we're going
through a full policy
conversion, we went ahead and
said, okay, we're going to
advertise this. We're going to
make sure it's clear that this
is a rule development workshop
from now on. That's what we're
going to do to make sure that
the public understands. But I
will also tell you that there's
been discussions at the dais in
terms of board. Are we going to
have one workshop a month that
is specifically for policies?
Yes, we're going to do that.
And the reason that 1020 came
is because there was
instructions. This is not a
surprise if you're following
the meetings. This is
discussion with the board. 1020
Dupuy Bruno, please go and
review that and come back with
some policies for us to
consider. So I understand the
comments and the frustration.
We're going to make sure that
it is as transparent because
there's nothing that we want to
do to to be nontransparent. We
want the public to participate,
to have a voice. And you can
also send written requests. We
will make sure that it's
highlighted. So, you know, this
is a rule development, even
though it's not required by law.
>> Thank you. And my comments
were to the board and I would
like to hear from the board as
well saying if you're following
meetings, I feel might come
across as well in that let's
put that in the column of like
not feeling too public friendly.
Those of us at this table are
probably among the people who
follow meetings as closely as,
as, as anybody is going to. And
sometimes even we can MISS
Things because do you know what?
We have full time jobs. I'm
doing mine at three, four, five
in the morning. I'm afraid to
even go on vacation because all
these things that are happening,
and I'm afraid that what you
MAY not be aware of, MR. Bruno,
is that the manner in which
things are done sometimes comes
from staff. Who are the staff
that then actually laugh when
we become distressed about it?
It's just happened again right
now in the last three minutes.
So please understand that our
frustration, nobody has said
you did not advertise it in
accordance with statute that
doesn't even need discussing
and taking up time. We haven't
said that. But why on earth
would you not put it on your
own websites and your own
agenda? And I think it would be
nice to say, you know what? You
folks are right to be agitated
about this. You're right. That
wasn't okay. And we need to be
more transparent. We can't be
saying we're transparent and
being transparent just by
saying it. We have to do it to.
>> But I, I just want to make
sure it's clear. When the
public advised us that there
was a concern, we immediately
added rule development to the
website. It's there, and we
added it to the agenda. And I
understand what you're saying.
>> Yes.
>> Because we heard from the
public and we took action. And
the other thing I just wanted
to make sure also with regards
to public comment, because
there was a question about 60
minutes and that's it. I want
you to know that the board, in
their discussions, gave
directive that the chair can
extend public comment if it
requires more than 60 minutes,
more than an hour. So that's
also in the policy.
>> I think.
>> Part of it concerns me.
Right.
>> I specifically asked when I
could come now, could not come.
Last week, I asked a board
member when and I'm not going
to say who when this would be
coming forward for a vote so
that people could speak to the
policy itself. My understanding
was that a certain amount of
time was required between the
rule making workshop and the
actual public hearing. I guess
I was told the wrong time
because I did not understand
that to be next week, when a
good number of people in the
public will be out of this
county. And so you're actually
doing this, taking away their
right to speak. And just just
so you I know, I, you know, I,
and I know you're just doing
your job here, but let me just
explain that at one time, there
was no limit on how often a
person from the public could
address an issue. It was three
minutes per item, but there was
not a then it went to 15 and
then it went to 12. And now in
essence, you're taking it to
three. And I think if you're
going to do that, it would have
been good to loop it through
the advisories. Or as MISS
Thompson pointed out, loop it
through the sec's, loop it
through your schools, do
something. But you all are
literally doing this at a time
when you know people are out of
town. I think that sends a
terrible message. And I don't
know that. I just I just think
what you're doing with the
policies, the organizational
part that you're doing with
them, that's great. You're
going to make sure that they're
legally compliant. I all of
that. Okay. But how you do,
you're picking one of the most
important, which is the right
of the public to address the
board themselves in session.
And that's the one you're
choosing to do when the public
MAY not be around. And really,
I try to follow this stuff. I
did ask because I want I
couldn't come to the last
meeting. I wanted to be aware.
Obviously, I'm one person that
doesn't matter, but I just I
just think this is being
handled very poorly as far as
taking a policy like 1020,
which was not even advertised
as 1020 last week and doing it.
So thank you. Thank you for
your explanation. I know we're
belaboring this and we're
getting away from some other
important issues, but I would
just request of board members
who are listening to this
conversation that you might
want to hold this off until
AUGUST, when you can actually
know that you're going to have
people back in town because
their kids are going to be in
school.
>> MAY I, MAY I ask a question?
>> MR. Cervera has the floor.
>> So very quick comment.
>> The answer to your question
about asking a question is yes.
But if I MAY Esq, I don't think
I got a response. Do you think
it would be beneficial to have
an additional rural development
workshop?
>> Yes I do.
>> Okay, Cynthia, go ahead.
>> So I think this is an
important conversation, and I
know that there are lots of
board members who have
questions about other topics,
and I don't want it to
monopolize the time. I think
that it's so valuable, the
information that you're giving
MISS Dupuy, Bruno, and I think
potentially we can create a
landing page that has this
policy project on it, with
information about the process
and how we will move forward.
Additionally, maybe holding an
information session virtually
that the public can attend so
that we can you can provide the
information, the public can
provide their concerns or
opinions to you, as well as
suggestions on what they would
like to see to maintain this
engagement so that we can move
along. But I agree with
everything that Maryann Jackie
said. Thank you.
>> MAY I chair? MISS Fertig, do
you agree that a rural
development workshop would be
beneficial to the public?
>> Yes.
>> Sorry.
>> Yes.
>> Parent community task force,
same question.
>> Yes.
>> Human relations.
>> Apologies, I missed the
question.
>> Do you believe that an
additional rule development
workshop would be beneficial to
the public?
>> Yes.
>> dac.
>> Yes, but potentially in
AUGUST.
>> Technology.
>> Yes.
>> South area.
>> Yes.
>> Gifted.
>> Absolutely. Yes.
>> MADAM General Counsel, how
does one go about obtaining an
additional rural development
workshop at this stage.
>> So you're going to have to
vote on that because right now,
pursuant to your policy 1000,
the chair makes the decision as
to whether or not a second
workshop is necessary. And the
chair has already a request
came in for that, and the chair
has already responded that a
second workshop is not
necessary, and that's per
policy that you have.
>> Does the chair have the
ability to order or require an
additional rural development
workshop without a formal vote
at her discretion?
>> Yes, that's what the policy
says.
>> Thank you, MADAM Chair.
Leonardi having heard what
you've heard from the public,
and I'm assuming you've gotten
the same emails that I'm
getting, will you commit to
grant the public what
essentially they're asking for
and allow an additional
workshop for rural development?
At this juncture?
>> I'd like to put it up to the
board. I'm happy to move
forward with the will of the
board.
>> Chair. I believe it should
be a formal vote.
>> Okay.
>> So if MR. Cervera would like
to bring that item, then we can
vote on it.
>> All right.
>> So just just so we're clear,
you have the ability to do it
without a vote, but you are
asking to send it to a vote
from the board.
>> I would like to take the I
would like to move forward with
the will of the board.
>> Understood. Thank you for
the clarification. Last agenda
item. Before I turn my mic off
temporarily. MR. Superintendent,
we have heard a lot about this
opt out of technology over the
last couple of meetings. I
spoken to some parents who've
expressed a great amount of
difficulty in actually being
able to do this. What I would
like to see, and you tell me if
this is possible, I would like
a portion of our web page, the
bcc web page to have a
hyperlink or some sort of
clickable item that gives a
detailed instruction, whether
it's you have to fill out a
form or whether you have to
call somebody. But detailed
instructions on how a parent
can opt out of technology
should they make the decision
that that's not what is in the
best interest of their child?
Can we get something on the
Broward County Public Schools
website? A very, very
comprehensive set of
instructions telling parents
how they can opt out should
they choose to do so?
>> Yes. That's possible.
>> Okay. How long will it take
you to get that up?
>> I have to check in with the
team.
>> Can we get that done before
school starts in AUGUST?
>> Yes, there's a yes we can,
but there's a lot of additional
things we need to do. Talk to
principals, talk to teachers,
figure out when we say opt out
of technology, if it's not to
the student's detriment that
they're that they're opting out
of, of said use of technology
for specific purposes, you know,
the, the spectrum of curriculum
and resources and instruction
is wide. So I don't want to,
you know, make it be a
detriment to a student's
learning versus some of the
tools that MAY be actually
assisting them and helping them
excel in the classroom. And so
in, yeah, but what we could
take a look at that. It's a lot
more than just blanket opt in
out of technology, though.
>> Whatever the provision is,
whatever the protocol is, I
want a detailed portion of the
web page to be able to explain
this to parents. So there's not
a thousand questions that they
have to ask. Should they make
the decision that it's not in
the best interest of their
child to use technology? You
mentioned that we have to look
at whether or not it's
detrimental to the student.
Respectfully, sir, I want to
listen to what the parents
think about what's detrimental
to their child or not. And if
they make that decision as a
family or as a mom, as a dad
collectively, as an aunt, as an
uncle, whatever it is, they
need to be ready to have the
information, to do what they
need to do to make that
decision and make it a reality
with us without having to call
17 people. So Iould like toto
see thatt b befechooltartrt
inugust. Ain, aaortition off
the home page with
comprehensive instructions on
how a parent can opt out of
technology should they make
that decision. Thank you.
>> Is there a consensus from
the board on that? I just want
to make sure before we move
forward.
>> I, I mean, for me, I wanted
to talk about that with more
nuance and in depth in the next
workshop on ai, I think. So I
I'm not ready to say yes or no.
I mean, I, I think it deserves
a much longer, more detailed
discussion. And I know there's
a lot of, there's still a lot
of board members who would like
to speak. So it was something I
was planning on bringing up in
the next workshop.
>> Agreed. Because it is a
heavily nuanced. Agreed. I can
wait till the next workshop.
>> Any other board members who.
>> Wait wait wait wait a second.
Let me, let me let me do
something because I have a
feeling I know where this is
going. I want to follow up
Hepburn with detailed
instructions. You could address
it to me. The district six
board member from a to z. How?
One as a parent opts out of all
technology, should they make
that decision? You don't have
to put on the website for now.
We can discuss it whenever you
want, but I want a detailed
follow up in memorandum style
from a to z about how this is
done, and I'd like this done
within the next two weeks. Can
you commit to that, sir?
>> We'll provide a follow up.
I'll get with the team. Okay.
Yep.
>> MISS Bulman.
>> Thank you.
>> So do we. Are we offering
absolute full technology?
>> No, we're.
>> I guess my question is just,
you know, at what point are we
making an undue burden? And I
think we again, I agree with
the chair that we need to have
a much longer discussion about
how this can work. Yeah,
reasonably. And I'm not against
it. I just think that we need
to be talking about that before.
Before Doctor Hepburn has to
create something that doesn't
exist right now. And I believe
in our policy. If we direct the
if we direct the superintendent,
we're allowed to do that unless
it's going to create an undue
burden, at which time we have
to take it back to the board.
>> Yeah. And that's why I asked
for if there's board consensus,
because it is a heavily nuanced.
A classroom is just not totally
technology. And the teachers in
the room and the students in
the room in can voice that also.
So I just want to make sure
that when you say opt out, a
blanket opt out will be
detrimental to students because
there's a lot of components
that help to accelerate. Go
ahead. Go ahead. Lily.
>> Okay. Sorry. I feel the need
to speak on this. I would first
of all like to point out that
92% of jobs in the us do
require digital skills today. I
think Broward County schools,
it's important that, you know,
we have around, what, 230,000
students. It is important that
we prepare our students
properly for the up and coming
world. We are in the digital
age. I know not everyone's a
fan of it and, you know, there
are spectrums to it, and it's
important to toe the line and
make sure that, you know, it's
not our students entire life. I
know we spoke about the writing
skills. It's so important to
write guys. How do people not
know cursive write, obviously.
But at the same time, when
someone goes to apply for a job,
if they don't know how to use
technology properly, someone's
going to ask the same question.
Someone's going to ask, how do
you not know how to do this in
in this day and age?
Realistically, you cannot not
know how to properly use a
laptop and an iPhone. And I
understand, right, that we
don't want it to be overly used,
but I think entirely opting out
of it is extremely damaging to
a student's future. Right? I'm
sure Mikhail can say something
along the same lines that we
are at such an advantage, like
in the job market compared to
older generations, simply
because we grew up with this.
i've had an iPad for over ten
years now. I have my computer,
my phone, and because of that,
I have so much access to
knowledge. And when I come here,
a student advisor, I didn't
have to learn how to use my
laptop. Day one. I already knew
how to do everything. Think
about all the emails we send
each other, all the phone calls
that have to get made, the
meetings that get set up. We
are in the digital era. Our
students deserve to be properly
prepared for that. I understand
that there might be differences
of, you know, beliefs at home.
And if we want to speak about
maybe opting out of the amount
of digital education, I think
that's a great conversation to
have, but to give parents the
option to completely take that
away from their students and
their children, I just don't
think that's right at all.
>> Sort of what Lily said. I
just want to clarification how
how would that look like,
superintendent? How would them
opting out?
>> I, I can't tell you that
right now because we're
spinning in my head. I have
kids too is. And I used to be a
teacher and everything above is
that the classroom is not a
monolith of technology. It's
variations of instructional
practices that teachers provide
to students. And as Lily said,
very well, we are in a digital
age and a large percentage of
industries local and abroad
require some technology
literacy. And I do not want to
create a huge detriment for
students and and limiting their
opportunities in the future. I
understand the concerns of some
parents when it comes to screen
time and all of that, but
that's why I say it's heavily
nuanced and the team would have
to go back, figure out what
things are required, what
things are required for schools
that kids are going to for a
magnet, a stem magnet. Okay.
Right. These, these are all
kind of components within our
school district that we have to
be able to educate the parents
that I understand you want to
opt out, but you know, your
kids are in a stem magnet and
they're using this technology
for these specific purposes.
What specifically do you want
to opt out of? And so that's
why I say it's a heavily
nuanced conversation and just a
blanket not opt out could be
very detrimental to to students
futures.
>> So is there no policy set in
place currently regarding
opting out or any information
on that?
>> Not specifically. There are
parental rights, right. Those
are current laws and whatnot
where parents do have options
to opt out and to opt in into
certain things, but we'll have
to do some research and see how
this is applicable to
technology in the classroom.
>> Okay.
>> Chair, if I, if I MAY. And
Hepburn, I'm glad you just said
the last thing that you said,
because my request is certainly
in line with all requisite
portions of Florida statutes
and the parental rights
statutes. That's what I want to
know. I want a review done by
the team of what rights are
afforded to when it comes to
technology opt outs for parents
under state statute, because,
as I've said a thousand times
on this dais, we follow the law
in Broward County and will
continue to do something. And
we're not going to do anything
that's contrary to the law. So
in accordance with state
statute, I want to know what
our policy is for opting out
and what the parameters of that
look like under statute.
Research it with your team. Let
me know, figure that out. And
then I want to follow up as to
how a parent can achieve that.
Should they make the decision
that that is in the best
interest of their child? And I
would like that within two
weeks if possible.
>> I know MRS. Alhadeff wanted
to speak on this on one of MR.
Cervera points.
>> Yes. So MR. Cervera brought
up that he wanted to get the
opinion of the board members to
weigh in on doing another
session. I forgot what we were
calling it and and then then
someone said they wanted to
make it as a vote. So I don't
believe this necessarily has to
be a vote. The board members
can weigh in on MR. Cervera
ideas. This one and the one he
just spoke about. And then if
Chair Leonardi, if you feel
that you have board majority to
move forward with another
rulemaking session, then you
can do that.
>> Yeah, that's what I asked.
>> We don't necessarily have to
go to vote for it.
>> Yeah, that's what I asked
for. And it was proposed that
it just be taken to a board
vote. So again, I will move
forward with the will of the
board if that is taken right
now or at a board vote next
week. So is anyone objecting to
a board vote next week besides
MRS. Alhadeff and MR. Cervera?
No. And MRS. Rupert no.
>> I'm good.
>> So that is three objections.
So not a majority of the board.
So we will move forward with a
board vote next week.
>> Okay.
>> And I believe the
information that MR. Cervera
asked for with regards to
opting out, I don't know that
it was asking for a review. So
I don't know that that's
creating an undue burden.
Doctor Hepburn.
>> Oh no, the follow up isn't
an undue burden typing it up
right now so the team can get
it.
>> So everyone will get a copy
of that follow up.
>> Absolutely.
>> MISS Leonardi, could you
just clarify? I'm sorry, I I'm
if I've missed this is the
board vote next week on whether
to have another rural
development workshop or not. Is
that it? So are you moving
ahead with voting on the policy
next week, or you're voting on
whether to have a rural
development?
>> MISS Dupree? Bruno, I'm
assuming there would be two
item. Well, there is the public
hearing next week, but if the
board votes to do another rural
development workshop, then that
public hearing would be
postponed, correct?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. Thanks. Sorry.
>> MISS Thompson.
>> So maybe I misunderstood. I
thought to that the general
counsel had said if we wanted
to have another workshop, then
there had to be a vote. And
since we don't vote in
workshops, which is why I said
bring it to a vote. So I just
need clarification because I
feel like it's going to come
back on me, that I demanded a
vote. But that was my
understanding of what the
general counsel said.
>> Attorney Dupree Bruno.
>> Okay, so there's a couple
things. We are currently in the
statutorily required rule
making process, of rule
development workshop occurred
on, I believe it was JUNE 8th.
And then the next step would be
the public hearing for adoption
on JUNE 23rd, JUNE 8th. There
was public comment. JUNE 23rd
there will be public comment.
The question that was posed was
whether or not there could be
another rule development
workshop. And how does that
occur per your policy policy
1000, it delegates to the chair
the ability to make a decision
as to whether or not a second
rule development workshop can
occur. And that basically means
that you go through the rules
again and then you have public
comment again, which is similar
to what's going to happen in
the public hearing. The that's
what you're that's what your
policy currently says. And the
chair has already made a
decision that there would not
be a second workshop because
you're going to have your
public hearing, and you also
have the opportunity to submit
comments and questions during
this interim period. If the
board wants to basically change
that and have a rule
development workshop, then my
recommendation is that you have
a vote because you're not in
compliance with your policy,
because your policy already
dictates what happens in these
scenarios. You've already
delegated that responsibility
to your chair per policy 1000.
So if you want to change that,
you can. But I don't you can't
vote in a workshop. So you have
to do that in a, in a regular
school board meeting or special
meeting.
>> And just to add some
additional context, and I think
we've all received the emails,
but I've been acting under
advisement of our board
attorney. She has provided
clear guidance in email to us
about this issue. But again,
I'm I'm happy to move forward.
And I've put it to the board.
I'm happy to move forward, per
the will of the board.
>> So wait for clarification
then. So could we do a
consensus to see if there's
interest and then an item come
back to formally vote? If there
is consensus for an additional
workshop, because that way it
wouldn't. If it does not pass,
then it does not delay the rule
making on the 23rd.
>> Attorney Dupree Bruno.
>> Yes, that that is correct.
>> So can we get consensus?
>> Yeah, that's what I
originally asked for, MISS
Rupert. Yes, MISS Thompson.
MISS Bulman. DR. Holness. No.
DR. Zeman. MR. Cervera.
>> Yes. And I would renew my
request for you to order the
workshop pursuant to your
authority as chair, which you
have the right to do.
>> And, MRS. Alhadeff.
>> Yes.
>> And I would like to move
forward, per our general
Counsel's guidance. So that
means that the majority of the
board will not does not desire
to do another rural development
workshop into the. In addition
to the one that we did last
week. You still have the floor,
MR. Cervera.
>> All in with this. Just so
we're clear, the request.
Doctor. Superintendent for the
follow up serves as a
rescission of my request for
you to update the website. So
let's do the follow up and I
will revisit the website issue.
I just don't want there to be
any confusion. So the the ask
of you right now is to just do
the follow up with whatever our
policy is based on the parental
rights statutes that exist in
this state. Get me that within
two weeks, and we'll revisit
how we're going to disseminate
that information to the public.
Is that clear? Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you, MISS Rupert.
>> Thank you. And thank you for
all the the chairs here that
spend so much time really
working for our district and
our family and our kids. Thank
you so much. I know sometimes
it MAY seem like we're not
listening, but we we really are.
And I, I try to listen, you
know, even hurting my neck
sometimes leaning all the way
over because it's that
important to have eye contact
with the people that you
respect. And I respect you. The
first part I want to talk about
is project based learning. I
think the ai conversation,
which we're going to be having
later. Needs to be phased out
as we talk. When we talk about
this with our elementary school
kids, middle and high school,
big difference. You know, I
think there's more opportunity
and better learning. And I'm a
reading teacher, language arts
teacher. So, you know, that's,
that's where I'm leaning with
this. They need pencil and
paper. They need the ability to
do that. They need to be able
to make margin notes. Those are
really important things to get
in the elementary level,
because I can tell you as a
ninth grade teacher and my
students came in with third
grade reading skills. How do
you make that all up in one
year? It's difficult, really
difficult, and it's not fair
for our kids. So I always
taught them the basics and my
kids did really well on the on
their exams, and they were able
to go on a few work for us,
which is amazing. And I think
that's an important aspect of
that. Additionally, and I know
I've mentioned this before,
there's something called the
Summer bridge series. It's a
workbook. It's a fabulous
workbook. I don't know how much
it is, but I know it's still
out there in paper. You know,
it's a shiny little paper book.
And what it is, is what it is,
is sorry, sorry, mom. She would
kill me with the grammar there.
Is reviewing the year that you
just came through. So like it's
called a two three book. So
you're reviewing the, the, the
second grade year over the
summer, trying to avoid that
summer slump that we all know.
And then previewing the
following year, that one
they're going to be moving into.
So they're not overwhelmed by
looking at third grade stuff
right away. They're reviewing
their second grade and they're
keeping it fresh over the
summer. Did my kids play play
video games? Actually, only one
of three did so much at that
time. And but all of them had
to finish their books before we
got back from Canada. And each
one of them did it differently
because they're all different
learners under the Esq umbrella.
And I'm going to go back to
gifted because one of the most
difficult kids to be able to
get across that finish line for
whatever future they want to
have, is our twice gifted,
twice exceptional. So I'm going
to come back to that when we
talk about writing, I MAY as
well just do it now before I
forget. So it's extremely
important, you know, and
especially important to make
sure that our students are
tested. And I had to push to
get them tested for gifted. So
he was actually. In, I think it
was first grade, end of first
grade. He was in gifted. And if
I hadn't had that done with him,
we never would have caught the
the sld that he have dysgraphia.
So he had difficulty from the
get go. But we were able to
understand. And at that time in.
He's 33 now doing well well
well, super well happy. And
it's difficult at that point to
reach those minds of the gifted
kids, keep them engaged in a
fun, creative way that they're
a part of. It's extremely
important to do that. So why do
I say that? Because I believe
students work better when they
have a teacher in the classroom.
The most important thing that
we could do. But besides having
their minutes to do on I-ready
and it is done in elementary
school, you can hear whatever
you want to hear. But when you
know and you hear from teachers
and you go visit your schools,
the kids and the parents and
the teachers complain about
mandatory minutes for I-ready.
And to say that that's not true
is not true. It is happening.
They do have I-ready minutes.
That must be done in a weekly
daily basis. If that were their
only opportunity to do it,
maybe we could be happier with
it. But it's not. It's all the
other things that we ask them
to do as well. We need more
autonomy on that. And I would
push, especially for our
elementary school teachers.
It's incredibly important. And
okay, the second part, Jackie,
with the resolution for Esq
executive role, I 100% agree.
Yes, 100%. Three the preschool
evaluation. It needs to be
immediate and it needs to be
done. So our kids are ready to
start school. I don't care if
we have to hire specials
outside our system, whatever
gets it done. So our kids
aren't going to school in
AUGUST and waiting all those
months, which comes out to no
accommodations, no extra help,
no things to give them allllhe
tools t that they deserve I in
theiroolboxox. So extreme
poportant, very important to do.
So. I want to share that,
especially with the
superintendent and, and my, my
colleagues. So that's
incredibly important. I don't
like hearing about the use of
money being pulled back for
Cambridge and some other stuff.
We need more clarification on
that. And, you know, I'll I'll
say more later on that, but we
need more clarification to the
Human Relations Committee.
Thank you so much. And 466
participants for six through 12
students. That's a lot. That's
amazing. And good for you.
Let's keep it going. 106
schools can't wait to see way
more that get them no place for
hate. I was listening very
closely to the multi-language
and listening to the two
teacher two teachers. So
teaching one taught English,
the other taught Spanish. Very
similar to well, not similar
because it wasn't language, but
our fourth and fifth grade at
the time, Coconut Creek
Elementary, they had one team
that had the English teacher
and she had them for part of
the day. And then the math and
science teacher. So English and
history, math and science and
they were a fantastic duo
together, but also one teacher
switching back and forth could
also work as well. Either one
would be important to look
forward and see exactly and
listen to and read more, more
material that you guys would
have on that information. Okay.
>> More.
>> Parent Community Involvement
task force. And it is a great
force, a force to be reckoned
with. That would be a t shirt
I'd make for you guys,
obstacles and concerns and
challenges. I love that, you
know, let's point out those
obstacles and concerns and
challenges and come up together
with how we need to move
forward. Talking about Raptor
and concentric, I think it's
called correct me if I'm wrong.
Not being run through the tech
tech committee, that's a
problem. And I'm just going to
say this because I only have a
few more months anyway. And
I've said it all along. So I'd
be, you know, strange by not
saying it. The what of the word,
the marginalization of our
advisory groups has been swift
at times. And then very slowly
eroding. And as a board member
that's been here for 16 years
now, or almost 16 years, I've
seen that process. I didn't
like it in the beginning and
talked out about it. I didn't
like it in the middle, and I
certainly don't like it at this
point. As a board member, it's
incredibly important to hear
all voices, and I 100,000%
agree with Rebecca. I go out
and have town halls for mental
health. It's incredibly
important to to have your town
halls to get to your people, to
go to the schools, go to the
games. And that's where people
reach out to you. They'll walk
up to you and reach out to you
and be open. And that's when
you hear the stuff. So most
parents in district seven don't
usually call. And if it is,
Ellen takes care of it like
that and off she goes. But they
don't do it. They wait to a
football game. They wait till
they see me out at soccer. So,
you know, it's important. I
know as a board we've talked
about this, about having, you
know, more kind of table talk
conversations and throughout
all districts during the next
year. And that's incredibly
important for me to.
Congratulations to our, our
school's tech textbook trends
and exceptions are down. So
that's incredibly important.
Facilities maintenance,
elevator service. I'm going to
talk about that when we talk
more about specific schools
coming up in the same and the
same answer. And if I'm not
here because I this is taking
long and it should take long
because this is extremely
important. I have to be in the
hospital this afternoon. So I
will be leaving at some point.
But I want to be on the record
for saying that. It would be a
travesty to not build Margate
Middle, a brand new school,
instead of continually doing a
very slow process like rip the
band aid off, make it safe,
make it less hazardous, make it
comfortable, do not put more
money into things that are just
going to delay the process. It
needs to be its own school. We
do not want to disenfranchize
people and I'm 100%. I know
we're going to talk about it
later, and I believe our some
of our commissioners are in the
the other waiting room and
you'll hear from them later.
But if I'm not if I'm not here,
I'll hold on as long as I can
before I get. I would be late
getting there.
>> Okay.
>> We already talked about
educational testing. All right.
And then the last part was on
suicide prevention. Like I said,
I do town halls and we know in
every board member should know.
And we used to get a list of
how many we would get
notifications. I swear to you
when they happened, it's
important as a board member to
know that just happened in your
school. It's incredibly
important, not just because of
that student, but also suicide
ideations. My colleague over
here could talk way better than
that. I, I didn't have all the
tools to start those
conversations, but felt it was
important to start them. And
we've had them for several
years because district seven
has one of the highest suicide
rates, suicide rates. And as
every board member should be
able to ask our student
services and our suicide
prevention, they need to ask
what how is this district doing?
And then we need to take a look
at what is our whole district
look like? What are we doing to
stop another one? And one thing
that we do better now is not
just considering that that
child in isolation, but
treating that whole school,
that whole class and other
schools, that child who was
lost could have had a brother
and a sister in different
schools. So just talking to
that school and giving them
help, it, it's not a complete
answer. And as a district, we
do do that. And I really want
to stress that that department
does a remarkable job and we
need to do more. And I hope
whoever comes after me is able
to continue that process and
that mantle for the good of all,
all districts. And for that, I
thank you. And hopefully I will
be here when we get to the
other topics. But thank you so
much.
>> Thank you.
>> DR. Zeman thank you, chair.
Unfortunately, she either
stepped out or left, but MISS
Board brought up something
>> That we've got some
interesting data on, and we
have an opportunity to do
something which I think would
be of universal value to
Broward County Public Schools,
which is to make a guarantee
that every elementary school in
Broward County have music, art,
recess, and, excuse me, music,
art, pe, and a full time
librarian. Every elementary
school we are 12 positions away.
We are anxious to hear back
from that. That line of inquiry.
12 when you have 24,000 staff
positions is a small number,
but it means a lot. You know,
there's a lot of things in
Broward County that we can say
about all of our schools. We
have 100% certified teachers.
We comply with state law. We
comply with Broward County
policies. We offer students one
on one laptop computers for
those that want it. Not
everyone. It doesn't get forced
on people, but they're
available. We operate in a
system of Florida State
standards, and we meet those
state standards. So and they're
going to go in a district that
is making heroic gains in
academic success. So there's a
lot of things we can say about
Broward County Public Schools
right now. We can't say, though,
that every elementary school
child gets the specials that
they deserve. Unfortunately,
that is not something that gets
reported up in our budget that
the board reviews, but it's
something now that the board is
aware of, and I'm looking
forward to hearing back in the
next few weeks about whether or
not we can meet that standard.
But I'm confident that we will.
The second issue, which is
incredibly important, and I
appreciate, Cynthia, you
bringing this up. We have seen
numbers in mental health in
this country and in this
district that are staggering.
40% of children have teenagers
in the United States have
mental health illness.
>> Can you text.
>> Sometime during their
teenage years, 20% can tell you
how they would take their life.
And 10% of American teenagers
in Broward, teenagers have
tried to take their life. Not
all suicides have suicide
ideation, but that that level
of numbers is staggering. We
have done some great research
as a school board on on what
gaps we have in mental health.
We have, over a year ago,
fenced all mental health
professionals and said all you
can be asked to do is mental
health. So you're not doing the
car line, you're not doing
lunch duty, you're not doing
assessment tests. You are
allowed full time to do mental
health. But we've also got a
report that's made it very
clear and it says our
superintendent, this is not an
issue between the board and the
superintendent. This is an
issue the board and the
superintendent, including his
specific comments that our
ratios of mental health
professionals, particularly
clinical mental health
professionals, social workers,
therapists, counselors that can
actually help students is out
of whack. We're probably 450 or
500 to one. The national
standard is 200 to 250. So
we're out of whack big time.
We're going to be doing that
work. And just doctor,
superintendent, doctor Hepburn,
with all due respect, we are. I
would just want to tell the
community that this is
something that we have not
solved yet. And I think is that
a reasonable conclusion that
you've come to as well?
>> Yes. Correct. You hit some
statistics on the head there.
As far as the ratio of mental
health service providers or
even school counselors to to
students is severely high,
especially for large school
districts versus, you know, the
nationwide average.
>> Terrific. And I think during
the budget process this summer
and again, the budget being a
statutory authority of the
board, we're going to see some
options about how we can move
forward, either with
recommendations we've got from
our staff and you, or we got
from folks that we've brought
in to look at our thing. We're
going to see some options about
doing better on mental health
for next year. Is that correct?
Correct. Thank you very much.
The third thing, and this has
gathered a lot of attention
today, the process by which
we're going through policy
reviews from top to bottom. I
want to kind of ground us,
though, on a little bit about
reality in terms of what we're
going to end up with. We have
259 policies in Broward County
that cover 1700 pages. Some of
them were written 50 years ago,
some were 45 years ago. There's
internal conflicts between
policies. There are policies
that are poorly written. There
are policies that have forms
jammed into them. Our general
counsel has made it very clear
that it is a risk for Broward
County to continue with the
current set of policies we've
had. She's explained that to
the public. She's explained it
to the board, and we have set a
pace to finish all 259 policies
rewritten. It will be hundreds
more because it'll make more
sense to chunk them as as is a
standard practice this year,
we've dedicated one Tuesday a
month to come and sit. We
welcome people to come and talk
about it. We welcome people to
look at our new policies, look
at the changes we've asked our
general counsel to be very
clear about what's in and
what's out and what was in this
policy number that's now in
there. In fact, we even asked
her last week, I think, MISS
Dupuy Bruno, we ended up saying
we're going to indicate at the
bottom what, what the former
policy number is of our new
policies, right? So that we
make sure that we have an
ability to go back and forth
for a couple of years so that
people don't get left behind.
I'm actually worried about the
opposite case, which is if we
don't make changes, we're going
to continue to live with
policies that are substandard
and actually put this board in
this district at risk because
we tell people what forms to
use, we tell them what
processes to use. We make it
incredibly difficult for people
to comply with the policies.
And what I'm worried about is
people ignore policies because
it's too complicated and it's
too prescriptive. So I'm really
in favor of doing this. I'm
very proud that this board has
accepted the challenge of
getting this done in 12 months,
because what you don't want to
do is take seven years to do it,
because then you have years and
years and years where you have
some of the old policies and
some of the new policies, and
you confuse the heck out of
your staff and you confuse the
heck out of the community. So
I'm proud that we're going to
do this. It's going to take a
lot of work of this board. It's
going to take, hopefully, a lot
of patience from the community
to to put in the time and the
effort to help us, you know,
make them as good as we can. I
recommend all advisory councils
stay abreast as they're
proposed. MISS Dupuy Bruno, to
my knowledge, when we did the
first public hearing workshop
last week, we still have one
more workshop and then these
policies come for decisions, am
I right? Are there three
meetings to review this policy?
>> Two two meetings.
>> So we do the. JUNE 8th.
>> Last week. And then the 23rd
is the public hearing where you
adopt dynamite.
>> And so we have time before
the 23rd to hear from the
communities. They're all out
there. They're available online.
We've announced this, we've
done a workshop, and we're
going to do a second one where
we adopt these policies. I
encourage people to think hard
about them. Policies are a big
deal, and we want to make sure
that we get them right. It is a
lot of work, though, and the
board's committed to do this,
and I think it's a way to
minimize the risk and to move
forward with best speed.
>> I don't.
>> Want to do this. Understand.
>> I personally think that what
you are doing, organizing the
policies is good. But don't
don't ruin that by the manner
in which you're doing something.
I mean, you're picking a couple
of really important policies to
bring at a time when no one's
here. And I think that what the
process you're doing, you need
to do it. It's needed to be
done for years. I applaud you.
I thought we had kind of made
that clear that this it needs
to be done and we support it
being done. However, we support
it being done with the
inclusion of conversation with
the community. And in this case,
you're voting on some major
things next week, two weeks
after you had a workshop. And
all of this is occurring when
parents are not here and
community members are not here.
And I think just the look of
that is not good. I just wanted
to clarify, I don't think
anyone has been critical of the
fact that you are reviewing and
organizing policies.
>> And I and I appreciate that.
>> And see, even you didn't
know that there weren't two
workshops because I thought it
was going to come. And after
like.
>> I was actually counting the
notification and then the
workshop and then and then the
decision. So I was in my mind,
there were three hops, but two
of them were actually public
meetings. And I appreciate the
distinction. And I appreciate,
you know, also kind of
identification of the risk of
living with policies and the
like. So I, I hear you and I
understand, you know, kind of
the speed is new. This board
has never, you know, moved at
the speed that we're moving at
these things. And we still have
a lot of policies left to go.
So I just encourage people to
read them. Get get us your
comments, make sure that we are
aware of them. For those people
that are in town, Mary, and for
the people that that want to
participate. The last point and
MISS Leonardi and I have talked
about this a lot, and there's
issues related to data
retention. Doctor Hepburn, do
you know whether or not the
contracts we have for
supplemental software companies
and other companies, do we have
a zero data retention policy?
>> Expound a little bit zero
data retention.
>> So z is kind of a national
standard where a software
company promises that the
interaction with your students,
for example, is never mind for
advertisers or for their, you
know, extensions and things
like that. But basically, you
can think about it as a
student's interacting with
something on canvas or clever.
They're having that interaction
when they're done, the
experience can be summarized
and sent to the vendor so that
they can make the product
better. But as soon as the, the,
the computer is turned off,
that data is never permanently
stored by a vendor. Do you know
if we do that yet in our
contracts for software vendors?
>> Yeah. So it sounds like more
about privacy and the they need
permission to actually use the
data for any other action
besides for the vendor or for
the district. My assumption is,
is yes, that's pretty tight,
but I'll lean in on the gc or
even MISS Jacque Adams because
she does a lot of our contract
negotiations.
>> Yes. I'm going to defer that
to MISS Jack Adams because
she's very familiar with that
language.
>> Hello. So within our
contracts we have very specific
data that we allow for very
specific purposes. So those
data cannot be used for any
other purpose than is listed in
the contract.
>> Yeah. Terrific. So just if
you don't mind Doctor Hepburn
as a follow on, could you could
you let us know whether or not
our contracts have a standard
clause on zero data retention.
And and to a process point,
which I think is very important
as well, is right now, to my
understanding, we ask parents
once a year whether or not they
participate, MISS Jack Adams on
on allowing their data to be
shared with vendors. Is it once
per year or is it once per
software application?
>> And I want to make sure that
I understand your question.
Within our contract, we do not
have any language with regards
to data retention within the
software of the vendor. At the
end of the at the expiration of
the contract, any all data
needs to be returned back to us.
So there's no data that is
being retained. And there was
another part of your question I
don't think I fully understood.
>> So one, if there's no data
retention policy in our current
contracts, that's fine. I would
just change my question, Doctor
Hepburn, to ask, do we want to
think about that going forward?
Because I for one, don't think
software companies should have
the data available for our
students. And I also don't like
if this is the case, I don't
like asking once a year for
every software package in the
world on whether a student's
going to opt out of it. I. I
would advocate for somomhing
differenenthan that. And I I
would j jt t k yououDoctor
Heurn, whatt optionso o
havebobo d dat Datatabobout
partipipation in your own
individual data being shared
with companies on a on a
software by software basis? I
just feel like once a year is,
and maybe this is one of.
Doctor. MR. Cervera earlier
points, you know, parents
should have the rights to
decide whether or not their
data and their students data is
shared with vendors. But if
they just do it once a year as
part of the student code of
conduct, I don't think that's a
I don't think that's like a
really fair relationship with
parents. I think we should ask
them in a different way, and
I'd leave it to you to think
about some options and get back
to the board. Last point about
screen time. I cannot wait to
talk a lot about that. You know,
to Lily's point, you know, yes,
we have to prepare kids to live
in a digital world. No, tons of
bad kinds of screen time is not
good for them. And we have to
be careful. And what's
difficult for a school district,
not just Broward, is that we
tend to buy products one at a
time. We we have great intent
for all of them. And then
sometimes, like we did with
tests and assessment this year,
we look at them and the board
says, that's too much. You know,
bring us an option for cutting
in half. The same is also true
of software. You can get
software and instructional
methods and things that by the
time you look at it, a student
could be on it so much that
it's actually impinging them. I
think it's a false choice
between software and cursive. I
think we can teach cursive and
we can teach keyboards, and we
can teach computer coding, and
we can teach vibe coding. And
ai is not the devil. It's scary
sometimes, but there's a lot of
positive sides to ai as well.
And we do have to prepare
people to live not only in a
digital world, but we have to
prepare them to live in an ai
economy. And there's
competencies for that. There's
there's things like critical
reasoning and logic that you
have to have in order to really
be effective in the ai world
and the ai economy. So that
debate is going to be
interesting, but it's very
someone used the word nuanced
earlier. I'm not sure if it was
you or someone else, but it is
a complicated puzzle, and we
got to figure out the right way
to do this as a system, not
just do it, you know, one label
at a time. So I look forward to
that chair. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you.
>> DR. Holness thank you, MADAM
Chair. First, I'd like to
commend Lily. You certainly
eloquently shared your concerns
regarding technology. I
actually had some similar
points, but you've worded it so
well that I don't have to go
into my point. So you certainly
hit the ground running, right?
As our new student advisor,
Doctor Hepburn, can you repeat
the direction given to you by
board member Cervera in terms
of technology?
>> Yes. So a follow up about
technology opting out of
technology. What's the current
opt out policy based on
parental rights laws? Is it is
there a current policy? What
are state required resources as
some additional stuff for
information as well. What are
our state required resources or
assessments that are available
only in technology? Are there
options to opt out of those
required state resources or
assessments that are technology
based to utilize paper, such as
utilizing paper assessments?
>> Okay, so Doctor Hepburn,
would it be too much to also
provide information in terms of
the full scope of impact on
students? Should teachers
choose not to use technology in
the classroom or potential
impact?
>> I can we can add about
impact of what we do and what
we're our intentions of what
we're preparing students for.
As far as you know, Lily said
it beautifully about her
expectations and going into the
workforce in the future. Right?
So that's, you know, kind of
individual per student, but we
can discuss what impacts of not
utilizing certain certain
technology resources MAY have
on students and their
preparedness for curriculum.
>> Understand. So, you know, my
position on this and, you know,
I, I believe Lily said it so
well, is that should a teacher
or teachers choose not to use
technology in the classroom at
all, I think this would result
in a total paralysis of a
generation of students to be
able to compete globally and
nationally in an environment
where increasing dependance on
technology is so prevalent. In
fact, I think it would be a
disservice, probably even more,
of an academic tragedy to our
students. And it would set them
back. You know, if I were to
figuratively put this, I would
say it's almost like breaking
someone's arms and say, go play
baseball. They won't be able to
compete. They won't be able to
compete with a whole generation
of kids, adults globally. And
it's going to be significantly
impactful. Now, while teachers
MAY have autonomy, as a past
teacher, I can tell you we have
an obligation to prepare
students to be nationally and
globally competitive. That's
part of our obligation. And if
we do anything to inhibit that,
I think we are doing a
disservice to our students. So
there must be a balance to
ensure that our students is
able to survive in an
increasingly competitive
society based on technology.
And I could even go further. I
remember in and Lily, you MAY
not know this, but there was a
time when we we had no cell
phones, right? There was a time
when, when we when we had
eventually we had beepers. So
someone would beep you and you
come off the road and you find
a payphone, and then you go
make a call. And then
eventually, eventually they
come up with a phone, portable
phone that was about 2 to 3
pounds heavy. I had one of them
in my car, and then eventually
we had cell phones. So I've
been through that transition.
But imagine a company trying to
be competitive to say, let's
take away all the cell phones
for our employees, and let's
give them all beepers and go
back to where we were. You'd
never be able to compete. You
know, it's, it's good to have
thoughts about what it was like,
but it's also important to
adapt to what it is in a very
careful way so we can ensure
that our students are
successful. Doctor Hepburn,
regarding cursive writing, what
are other major districts doing
in terms of emphasis on cursive
writing?
>> I'm not aware. I have to do
some research with other
districts. I know you know,
it's embedded in some grade
levels in elementary school,
but the state just did a
mandate. So I'm assuming that
all districts across the state
will be ensuring that it's
included across the board in
curriculum.
>> Okay. Can you provide any
input on why we had strayed
away from this?
>> I, as far as straight away,
is still being taught. Doctor
Cole mentioned in third grade,
so it hasn't been straight away.
I don't think over time. I just,
you know, anecdotally over time,
just the advancement of
technology laptops and, you
know, moving away from
typewriters and utilizing
computers for more word
processing and things like that.
So and also the acts of
students, be it k through 12
and post-secondary to turn in
documents electronically versus
turning in and turning in
documents handwritten. So I
think that's why you see the
stray away totally from just
turning in documents that were
handwritten.
>> Understand?
>> I'm a kid who actually did
shorthand as well too in school.
So.
>> Well, I can tell you I was
very happy when emphasis when
Microsoft Word took over
because I didn't have the
greatest handwriting. So it was
really an awesome thing that
they did. But how important is
this skill in competing in all
sectors of the job market to be
able to have cursive writing is
from from your knowledge, is it
important? Is it an important
skill to be able to compete, or
is it a luxury to have?
>> Anecdotally, from my
discussion with business
leaders, is a luxury to have.
They're not talking to me about
cursive writing. They're
talking to me about specific
skill sets for their industry
and also soft skills to. Those
are the two points soft skills
with students being able to
follow through onnitiatives,
shake a hand, look somebody in
eye speak and advocate for what
you need and speak boldly. And
also the specific skill sets
needed for, for their, for
their industries.
>> Okay, so if we place greater
emphasis on cursive writing,
will it take away from any
other aspects of the education
process?
>> And based on the state,
we're going to be required to
do that. And I think there's
there's always been an emphasis
on writing, not I'm not
specifically talking about
cursive writing, writing, and I
can tell you our visit to the
fbi. The fbi regional office
down there in Miramar or North
Miami, the. The person in
charge pretty much told us the
majority of their day is
actually writing. It's not, you
know, they have to write a lot
of information to close the
case, to get that judge to
really close it out for them.
And so there's an emphasis on
writing, but as far as cursive,
there's a state mandate. So
it'll be included in our scope
and sequence moving forward.
>> Got it. And I have one more
question. I believe it came
from our multi language
multilingual committee. I
believe it was mentioned a
suggestion for a minimum of two
classrooms for dual language
for kindergarten. Do you have
any feedback on that.
>> We'll have to take that back
to the team and review. I
understand the recommendation
and probably some of the
concerns as well.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you,
MADAM Chair.
>> Thank you. And I know the
student advisors would like to
speak again.
>> Okay, guys. We're back.
Sorry. So I did a little count.
And out of everyone in this
room now, people have been
going in and out. At least 39
of you have touched an
electronic. At some point while
I was counting whether it is a
phone, a computer, anything.
Hey, I'm not I'm not hating.
I'm not trying to say you guys
aren't listening or anything
like that. I'm just saying at
least 39 of you while I was
looking and counting have
touched some electronic. Right?
So now that I have your
attention, I would like
everyone to take that
electronic, whatever it MAY be,
and go to the online sunshine
website where we can find the
Florida Statute on the parental
Bill of rights. So I'll give
you guys a second to do that.
I'm not kidding. I want
everyone to look at it. I'm not
going to read the whole thing.
Don't worry. But I'll give you
guys a second, okay? Okay. I
see some movement. Thank you,
thank you. So that's the online
sunshine and you're going to go
it's title xlix chapter 1014
chapter online sunshine. It's
the Florida statute website.
Thank you. I'll give you guys a
second. Hold on. Okay. I see
you there. I see some people
right. You're going 1014
parental bill of rights. So
just that everyone's aware this
is as of 2025 Florida statutes.
So if you look at as a majority
of people there, if you look at
where is it d on their
procedures pursuant to statute
1002.23 d for a parent to
withdraw his or her minor child
from any portion of the schools
districts. Comprehensive health
education required under. Oh
wait, is that the right one?
Sorry. Reading the wrong one. C
sorry. Procedures pursuant to
statute 1006.282 a two for a
parent to object on
instructional materials and
other materials used in the
classroom, such objections MAY
be based on beliefs regarding
morality, sex, and religion, or
the belief that such materials
are harmful. For a purpose of
this section, the term
instructional materials has the
same meaning as in statute 1006
.292 and MAY include other
materials used in the classroom,
including workbooks and
worksheets, handouts, software,
application, and any digital
media made available to
students. And then if we scroll
down to 11, you'll see in
accordance with statute 1002
.2221 a the right of a parent
to opt out of any district
level data collection relating
to his or her minor child, not
required by law. So. That's
just to kind of answer the
question. I know MR. Cervera
had asked about it earlier, and
he said he wanted to wait for
the research. I said, we can
look it up that way. No one has
to wait. So we have the
information present. I know a
lot of times some some things
are a little bit slow. So if we
ever have questions about
statute, you guys can look on
that website. But I think MR.
Zeman or DR. Zeman touched on
it. DR. Holness also went back
to it. At the end of the day,
just because we use laptops
does not mean we don't know how
to write as well. Raise your
hand if you were using your
electronic in the room today
and I mean it. I want
participation here. People. You
guys have all participated in
classrooms. Raise your hand if
you also know how to write in
cursive and know how to use a
laptop.
>> Does that mean.
>> We write in cursive?
>> You write well in cursive.
Okay, put your hands down.
Raise your hand if you feel
that using a laptop has
hindered you from being able to
write in cursive.
>> Yeah, because our
handwriting.
>> Okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay.
But my point being is that
clearly the two can work
together. We're part of the
younger generation, right,
Allison? You as well. Right. I
know how to write in cursive.
Do you know how to write in
cursive? You know how to rank
cursive? I'm using my laptop.
You're using your laptop? Do
you know how to use a laptop?
Guys, we can do both. We can do
both. We can do it. I believe
in us. So this is just I know
I'm trying to be I'm trying to
be funny with it. I think humor
gets people to pay attention.
But seriously, like, I really
hope this does prove to you we
can do both in the classroom.
And students deserve to have
both in the classroom. Now,
obviously, if one teacher wants
to use more tech or they want
to use more paper, that's up to
them, right? But we shouldn't
just allow it to be taken out
altogether, and we shouldn't
make it the only way to learn.
It's all about finding that
balance. And Broward County, we
should continue to push for us
to have that balance so that
students have all those skills.
Think about it. Job
applications. My you said it
just now to me, on the side,
almost every job application
today is online, right? I
previously had a job, my
application online, our
application for this guess
where we found the documents
online. It's it's unfortunate
right? I know it's not the
greatest thing. I look back at
movies from the 80s and I'm
like, wow, that was so nice.
They didn't have, you know,
they didn't have all that. You
could just focus on life. You
didn't have to use laptops all
the time. But at the end of the
day, it's here. It is here.
Whether we like it or not, it
is part of society today. We
cannot avoid it. And it is not
fair to our students to keep
them from having the proper
skills to work in today's world.
Thank you.
>> Well said. Lily.
>> Where are you going? To law
school.
>> So I wanted to touch base
with Cynthia. She left, though.
She mentioned she mentioned
student suicide and also mental
health awareness. And I kind of
wanted to clarification from
her whether she was trying to
say that maybe the district
doesn't have enough resources
for mental health awareness. I
know she's not present or in
the room anymore, but is there
anyone that in over here that
can kind of clarify that? Sort
of clarify her statement?
>> MADAM Chair, MAY I he's
asking. Okay. Thank you. I've
just been having an important
conversation. There have been a
couple of tragedies in recent
hours and days. And I think one
of the things that we might
want to look at as an immediate
issue is how much support is
there for students over the
summer. For some students,
school is an outlet. Their home
life MAY not be what
everybody's is, and school is
the place that they go to have
support. They go to have food,
they go to have folks around
them that get them. And I think
that's pretty urgent that we
look at what can be done over
the summer. I MAY be wrong, but
I seem to recall from the org
chart debates that we lost some
suicide prevention specialists.
I think we might want to look
pretty rapidly at what the heck
we were thinking. Or when I say
we, you folks were thinking
when that occurred, because
there is an urgent need right
now to look at what supports
are available to students over
the summer, and how do we let
them know about them?
>> Mental health is is
something that I believe
everyone in here has as a
shared value and also a shared
priority. And, you know, the
district has done multiple
things to, you know, encourage
the youth and encourage them
and, you know, sort of uplift
them because students go
through a lot of stuff. You
know, they MAY it MAY seem like
it's the end of the world for
them, you know, until they step
into adult life. So I would
like to, you know, look back to
other things that we have done.
For example, the last year's
alternative student advisor,
Jacir, they hosted at South
Broward, a youth mental health
awareness summit, and they had
hundreds of students there,
hundreds of students. And, you
know, among other things that
we have done to support mental
health awareness. And the
reason, the reason I bring this
all up is to say that our
students should be the, the
front and center of everything
that we do and all the choices
that we make and mental health
has unfortunately gotten worse
and worse and worse, especially
with electronics. Now, nowadays,
they're able to look at other
people's lives. They're able to,
you know, see other people
having fun and say, hey, why am
I not having as much fun as
that person? So I'd like to
also direct the question to MR.
Superintendent, what, what
procedures are in place
currently for mental health
awareness and things
surrounding that, especially
with, you know, her saying that
with her saying that we lost
from the org chart, the org
chart, some people from the
suicide prevention.
>> And student support
specialists.
>> And student support
specialists.
>> Great question. And I have
MISS Hollingsworth provide an
answer to that question and
also give specifics of what we
actually lost as far as the
suicide prevention folks,
because I think it was people
who were not directly
supporting students. But go
ahead, please.
>> Good.
>> I think it's afternoon. Good
afternoon. Simone Hollingsworth,
Chief Student Services Officer
And Mikelle, very good question.
Certainly, we do have support
over the summer. We send out
communication. We also have
staff on board that are
checking on our students, that
have safety plans, that are
both engaged in our summer
experience, as well as at home.
We certainly are constantly
addressing the communication
and the support. And although
there's some adjustments with
the org chart, we're going to
still be continuing to engage
with our student advisors and
our Student voices group to
ensure that we continue to hear
that voice and get that
perspective along with our
schools. Yes, the student
suicide prevention coordinators
were eliminated. However,
myself and the team, although
they're still on staff right
now, are adjusting that work
because really realigning the
work and making sure that that
is out there and prevalent
because we know that it is a
concern as well as the
specialists really redesigning
our tire department, because
the merging of student services
and mental health back into one
department is what we've been
working on before the
individuals transition out.
>> And for any student that's
maybe going through something
over the summer where they're
not able to speak to a teacher
right away or speak to a
counselor right away, what
resources are available to them
via online or whatever the case
MAY be, for them to reachut
to s somne who t they want help
om..
>> Cororrect.Ee sllll havitit on
nvnvas aselell as we send out
weekly communications through
parent links, through canvas,
as well as putting it on our
website so that we have that,
you know, consistent messaging
and support.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you, thank you.
>> Thank you, MISS Bulman.
>> Thank you, chair. And I
think my colleagues have
covered most things. I wanted
to touch with base back to our
student advisors. So first of
all, you guys mentioned that
you had the leadership summit
or the training. My son
actually participated in that
and it was amazing. He had a
fantastic experience. And so
thank you. And also under the
leadership of Landon and Jasir,
so in great hands. And so I
just want to point, I, I'm just
so impressed. I've worked with
you a little bit so far, but
I'm so impressed with your
comments today. And this is the
why of why we have these jobs,
I think. And to see you here
defending your generation,
making excellent points is just
invaluable because you can
always find the negative and
find things to complain about.
But to be able to really make a
cogent argument and to see both
sides of what's happening, I
think is very important as a
parent. Technology is scary.
It's hard to deal with knowing
that your kids are exposed to
things that you certainly
wouldn't want to have them
exposed to, that you really
don't have any control over.
It's hard to have your kids go
to middle school, and it's hard
to watch them go and do all
kinds of things that you've
experienced yourself and you
would rather protect them from,
but you. But you can't. And I
think the idea that we're going
to shut down an entire part of
what is the reality of the
world right now is unreasonable.
And so I just really appreciate
your perspectives and bringing
that because you're the ones
that are living it. And there's
nothing bad about what's
happening in your generation.
If we went and stayed in the
generation that decided that
they did everything right, we
would never evolve as people
and we wouldn't have rock and
roll. So thank you guys. You
guys are doing a great job.
Keep up the good work. And I
just appreciate the student
perspective. It is really
invaluable for us as we do our
jobs.
>> Thank you. And I'll be quick
because I think the the bulk of
what I wanted to talk about in
response to the concerns that
were raised. Really fits better
into the the next workshop. And
I just want to highlight the
elementary subcommittee from
dac and the report that they
issued several weeks ago. I
hope all my my colleagues had
an opportunity to read that. It
was very well researched and
put together and gives us a lot
to think about. And one thing
that keeps coming up that I
maybe don't think comes fits so
well into the next workshop is
access to YouTube on district
devices. And I can say, you
know, as a, as a teacher, I
used YouTube videos to, to help
supplement some of my
instruction. I did, you know,
it wasn't a regular thing. And
sometimes I would maybe have
assigned it, you know, a video
in small groups and things like
that. But I am increasingly
concerned because I don't think
they had this when I was in the
classroom of the access to
YouTube shorts on district
devices, because that is very
different than having students
watch like a 1967 clip of Romeo
and Juliet. And I continue to
hear from parents that they
really don't want their
children to have access to
YouTube in general, but YouTube
shorts specifically on district
devices. And I understand as
well that like a kid can take
out their own device and watch
that. But I think part of the
larger conversation that we'll
have in the next workshop is
like what we as a school
district are giving kids access
to. We have to have we have to,
in good conscience, feel that
it is safe and good for
children. So I'm wondering,
Doctor Hepburn, if our staff
has contemplated what that
would look like, restricting
further restricting access to
YouTube on district devices. I
want to be respectful of
teacher autonomy, but I'm
starting to feel like. And I
think what I'm hearing from
parents is that the risks or
the disadvantages outweigh the
advantages of of allowing
access to YouTube in our
schools.
>> Yes. Thanks for the question.
So it's honestly, it's my first
time. I've heard concerns about
YouTube on district devices. So
we can take that conversation
back to the team, assess what
kids have access to,
specifically the shorts, and
figure out a way to enhance
filters or whatever the case
MAY be. I do know this previous
two districts that there are
certain content that is blocked.
It can't get through YouTube,
right? When you search for
certain things or certain
videos on on district Wi-Fi. So
we can, I can take that
conversation back to the it
team and see how we can, if
certain things are getting
through the filters, how we can
enhance the filters to make
sure kids don't have access to
that.
>> Thank you. When can we
expect that follow up?
>> Yeah, we can give that to
you in two weeks. Okay. I'll
log it as a follow up so we can
get it traditionally in a week
or two.
>> Thank you. And I tend to
lean in the Cervera camp when
it comes to parental opt outs.
When it comes to technology.
And I understand that we have
to be respectful of teacher
autonomy. So, you know, as a
parent, if I had a choice, like
my children would be learning
with clay and sticks and rocks
all day long outside. But I
know that that is not reality
forever. But I would like to
preserve their childhood for as
long as possible. So I think,
you know, again, this this
conversation I think will have
more in the next workshop, but
I really look forward to that
follow up about what parental
opting out can look like, while
also respecting teacher
autonomy. And I think, you know,
I would love to reference our
previous student advisor,
Landon Spellberg. He, he talked
frequently about how he had a
teacher, I think it was ap lit.
Shout out to our English
teachers where the teacher
didn't use a single device the
entire year, and he would leave
school board meetings to go
attend that class. And then he
had teachers who used
technology all year long, and
that was equally as engaging.
So I think, you know, it
doesn't have to be all or one
in different teachers have
different teaching styles and
we can't mandate one thing for
all teachers. So I think I DR.
Zeman was the one who used the
word nuanced, but this is a
nuanced conversation that we we
really need to have more
detailed discussions on. But I
really want us to keep at the
forefront. Obviously, student
safety and protection, but also
teacher autonomy. MR. Cervera.
>> Thank you, chair, and I
appreciate the comment about
the Cervera camp. The Cervera
camp is a really good camp to
be a part of sometimes.
Sometimes. Right? Yeah. There
you go. Exactly. DR. Zeman
nailed it. She left. I was
going to give her kudos on
pulling up the statute. See
that? Oh, well, Doctor Hepburn,
you better watch out. She MAY
be replacing you in a couple of
years, so don't get too
comfortable in that seat.
>> Sir, the seat is open. See
that?
>> Real quick. I just want to
make sure that that my ask is
is, is clear because I know
Doctor Holness had some some an
additional commentary on it.
The ask that I'm requesting of
you, sir, in a follow up is
very specific. What is our
obligations under parental opt
outs, under the statute and
what is the procedure for doing
that? I'm I'm really in this
particular follow up. I'm not
interested in a breakdown of
what the district believes.
What good comes of this or what
bad comes of this. I don't need
the commentary. I just want a,
a follow up outlining the
specific options for parents
who want to just the facts who
want to opt out. That's all I'm
interested in. If DR. Holness
needs a follow up with his
inquiries, that's fine, but on
my follow up, I just need it
specifically what I asked and I
and I would note and close with
this teacher. Autonomy is very
important to me. I've never
taught, but certainly I've
dealt with enough teachers
throughout the course of my
life, including the time on
this board. And I understand
that they are the captains, if
you will, of their classrooms
and them having the autonomy to
decide what their curriculum
looks like is certainly
something that needs to be
respected, as well as the
rights of parents in deciding
what is best for their kids.
These are all important
mandates that we need to adhere
to in Broward schools. Thank
you.
>> All right. Thank you. Any
other board discussion? All
right. Thank you to our chairs
and staff. The next item is
Broward powered by ai vision
and system readiness. We'll
briefly recess just to to
transition.
[Music]
Welcome back. Our next item is
Broward powered by ai vision
and system readiness. I now
turn it over to staff for a
presentation.
>> Thank you, MADAM Chair. Now
I'll turn it over to Doctor
Cohen and team for the
presentation.
>> Good morning. School board
members, chair and
superintendent. I'll start by
saying today it's not simply a
presentation about artificial
intelligence. It's a
presentation about leadership.
So every generation faces
moments when technology changes
the way people work,
communicate and learn. Can we
get the PowerPoint up? The
question for public education
has never been whether change
will come. The question is
whether we will help shape it.
And today we will share how
Broward County Public Schools
is approaching artificial
intelligence with intention,
with governance, transparency
and relentless focus on
students. This is not a
technology presentation. This
is a teacher and student
opportunity presentation. And
like most districts, Broward
County Public Schools is
operating during one of the
most significant educational
transformation shifts in
workforce history. Artificial
intelligence, immersive
technologies, automation, and
digital transformation are
reshaping nearly every position
of our students and will and
what they will encounter as
they move into the workforce.
Our responsibility is not
simply to expose students to
technology. Our responsibility
is to prepare them to thrive in
a world being transformed by
technology. So today's
presentation outlines our
vision, our implementation
strategy, our safeguards, our
governance model, as well as
our future innovation roadmap.
Most importantly, it
demonstrates how Broward
intends to lead responsibly
rather than react passively. In
this presentation unfolds three
connected parts. First, we'll
discuss why technology
evolution requires educational
evolution. Then we'll move into
how we demonstrate how Broward
has built an infrastructure,
professional learning systems,
governance structures and
implementation supports
necessary to respond and deploy
ai. Third, we will share our
vision around the Nova
Innovation Zone, which is a
transformative model that
reimagines learning for the
future workforce. I'd like you
to take a moment to look at
this particular slide. It
demonstrates that our
kindergarten students today
were born in 2019. Our middle
school students were born in
2012, and our high school
students were born around 2009.
In many of our post-secondary
learners were born around 2004.
Now look at the technology
timeline beneath them. The
students sitting in our
classrooms today have never
experienced the same world. Our
middle school students entered
a world shaped by cloud
technology and connected
devices. Our elementary
students are growing up with
artificial intelligence,
immersive technology, and
digital assistants already
embedded into their daily lives,
and our youngest learners will
graduate into careers that have
not yet been invented. That
realization is extremely
important because when we
discuss artificial intelligence,
we are not discussing the
future possibility. We're
discussing the world our
students already inhabit. Every
generation of our students has
encountered technologies that
seemed disruptive at times,
from television to cell phones.
And you heard from today
beepers, smartphones, cloud
computing, social media. Each
arrival created uncertainty.
Each arrival created concern.
But history shows us something
important. Schools and
districts have to adapt to
those expanded opportunities.
Schools that ignore change
eventually find themselves
trying to catch up. The
question before us today is not
whether artificial intelligence
will influence education. It
already has. The question is
whether Broward County Public
Schools will help shape how
students use these tools
responsibly, ethically and
prododtively. B Becau ourur
ststenen are alreaea
ininteractgg w withii when they
search online, when they
receive recommendations on
social media, when they use
navigation tools, and when they
communicate through digital
platforms, and when they engage
in emerging workforce
technologies. The technology
has arrived. Our responsibility
is not to decide whether it
exists. Our responsibility is
to decide whether we prepare
students to live, work and lead
in a world where it does. That
is why Broward, powered by ai,
is fundamentally not the
technology initiative. It is a
student readiness initiative.
It is a workforce readiness
initiative. It is an
opportunity initiative. And
most importantly, it's a
leadership initiative because
every generation of educational
leaders faces a defining
question Will we prepare
students for the world we grew
up in or for the world they
will inherit? So today, my hope
is that Broward County Public
Schools is choosing to prepare
our students for the world they
will inherit. And so I want to
kick off first. We'll
transition a little bit
differently due to timing. I'm
going to have our students
speak. And then following that,
I'm going to have one of our
community members follow that
presentation. So can we start
with where is our start with
you?
>> Alrighty. Good morning
superintendent. School board
members. Much as I wish I was
still a student, I'm not. My
name is Joe Cox. I'm a
PRESIDENT And ceo of the Museum
of Discovery and Science. When
people talk about artificial
intelligence, they often ask
what ai will do to us at the
museum. We're becoming much
more interested in a different
question. What will we choose
to do with ai? Artificial
intelligence is transforming
our world. It's changing how
businesses operate, how
scientific discoveries are made,
how we learn, and how we teach.
These young students graduating
from Broward County Public
Schools will enter a world
where ai is not a future
technology. It's part of the
workforce, the economy, and
daily life. This makes
initiatives like Broward
powered by ai incredibly
important, because the goal is
much more than teaching
students and teachers how to
use ai tools. The goal must be
helping them to develop the
judgment, to question these
tools, the creativity to
improve them, and the character
to use them responsibly. At
mods, we've been exploring this
challenge quite a bit. Our very
first ai exhibit, a 200 zero
square foot immersive
Everglades Theater, part of our
new Build a Better World
exhibit opens this Thursday.
We're examining in the exhibit
how ai can help communities
address complex environmental
challenges, while encouraging
visitors to think critically
about the choices we make as a
society. This coming school
year, we're launching new ai
literacy initiatives that will
explore both the opportunities
and responsibilities that come
with these technologies through
hands on learning labs, both at
the museum and in schools, as
well as at events like our free
Visit Lauderdale Science
Festival. Most importantly,
perhaps, we are part of a
national conversation and
fingers crossed. Hoping to host
a national conference in the
fall. Among science centers,
children's museums, educators,
researchers, and community
leaders about how we build not
just ai literacy, but public
agency in an age of artificial
intelligence. Because
ultimately, the future cannot
be shaped by artificial
intelligence alone. It must be
shaped by the human
intelligence, creativity, and
character that we bring to it.
At the museum. We are talking
recently, often about four
essential qualities the
critical thinking needed to
evaluate information and
challenge assumptions, the
cooperation to solve problems
that no single person or
technology can solve. Caring to
ensure innovation serves people
and their communities, and the
confidence to engage with new
technologies thoughtfully
rather than fearfully. When we
get this right, Broward,
powered by ai, will do more
than prepare students to use ai.
It will develop citizens who
understand it, question it,
improve it, and ensures that it
serves the public good. We're
excited to be part of this
process because that's a future
world worth building together.
Thank you. Thanks, everyone.
>> Lily.
>> Okay, first of all, I love
that museum. I feel like I just
heard a celebrity speak, so I
went to that ai exhibit. It was
so cool. So I'm just. That's
all I'm gonna say about that.
>> It clearly did something
good. So thank you.
>> So cool. Everyone needs to
go do it. Okay, so I'm going to
begin with a quote from Ralph
Waldo Emerson. Fear always
springs from ignorance. And I
don't mean that in a hateful
way. I know ignorance is kind
of thrown around in a mean way.
I don't mean it like that, but
it is the lack of education and
understanding of something. And
when it comes to ai, I think
it's better that we teach our
students that just because
something is new does not mean
it needs to be scary. So I have
a question, guys. I love asking
questions. It keeps people
engaged. How many people in
this room have honestly spent
time trying to understand ai?
And I don't mean I don't mean
you've played around with it
for a few hours. You've read a
little article. I mean weeks,
if not months on it. You have
genuinely put in time and
effort to fully understand it.
Okay, good. Good. Because me
too. I've taken classes on it.
I've written research papers on
it. I am all about it. So with
that, I say, why don't we give
that same time to our students,
right? Why don't we allow them
to deep dive into ai and show
them how powerful it is?
Because if you, all of you who
are raising your hands truly
have spent that much time on it,
you will understand the power
that ai has. Like we thought
computers were cool. This is
something completely different
as our gifted advisory council,
who I think has now left but
had mentioned earlier, he
wanted to see specific ways
that it could be used. Right?
Because I think everyone talks
ai is good, ai is good, but we
don't get into the specifics.
So Los Angeles Unified School
District has a 247 student
advisor, not a student advisors,
but advisor to students to help
them better understand the
college process. Along with
Albuquerque, who the school
board in Albuquerque who has
adapted lesson plans
specifically to students
through ai and Miami-Dade, who
has an ai powered S.A.T. Prep
bot available to all of their
students. Additionally, ai bots
have allowed students with
autism and adhd to practice
real life scenarios and social
settings. I think our Esq
representative has also left,
but I'm sure she would love. Oh,
have you heard about those?
Have you seen those? No, it's a
thing. It's coming for our
students. It's great. And I
think overall we need to show
students how to use it as a
tutor. That's personally what
I've done. I actually have an
example to give you guys. I'm
terrible at math, terrible. And
I'm incredibly embarrassed
about it because I forget what
math terms are. And my teacher
will tell me, obviously I know
what fractions are, but just
for an example, they'll say you
have
>> For these fractions. I'm
like, I forgot what that is. So
this is copilot, which is what
Broward uses. And I put in some
old an old math lesson. My
teacher would put up the
presentation and the work on a
pdf. You can download it and
look over it. I looked at that
for a second. I was like, I
don't even remember what this
is. I put it into ai, and as
I'm scrolling up here, I don't
know if everyone can see. It
gave me practice problems. It
explained it in
non-mathematical terms for me
who does not always understand
them. And I went through and I
fully relearned this lesson
that I forgot what was going on.
And it's important that we
teach our students how to do
this. I've spent probably two
years now learning all about ai
and deeply understanding it,
and I can use it as a tool now.
And our students should be
taught to do the same.
>> Hey.
>> Great job Lilly. Great job.
[Laughter]
Over the past year or so. I've
had a lot of conversations with
students across the district.
And I would say one thing is
very, very clear. Students
understand both the potential
of ai and the dangers if it's
used the wrong way. I like to
look at the bad and the good
and kind of, you know, find
them in between. So that's not
just only high schoolers.
Middle school students are also
using these tools as well, even
off more often than we realize
now, I was trying to find
district related data
surrounding this, and I could
not. So I found a national
survey that shows over 60% of
high schoolers have used ai for
schoolwork. But what surprises
people is that more than one
third of middle school students
report using ai as well, which
usually without any real
guidance, can turn out really
bad. And almost half of all of
the students are saying they
are unsure how to use ai
ethically or safely. And that
uncertainty. Uncertainty is
exactly why structured guidance
in schools matters. Students
know the risk. We know ai can
generate wrong information
confidently, very confidently,
and we know it can reflect bias.
We know it can make it easier
to take shortcuts if someone
chooses to. And we know that if
students rely on ai instead of
thinking for themselves, it
will hurt them in the long run.
And that's why students aren't
asking and we aren't asking for
unlimited access. That is not
what this is. It is not
unlimited access whatsoever.
We're asking for a structured
access with expectations,
guardrails, and teacher
guidance. Because when ai is
used the right way, it actually
strengthens learning. Now, for
example, when I'm working on a
writing assignment, someone
will use ai to brainstorm ideas
or get feedback on clarity. But
the actual thinking, the
analysis, the structure, the
voice, it's still coming from
that student and it helps the
person become stronger not to
avoid the work because they're
still doing the work themselves.
They're just getting more ideas
using ai. And even with those
tools, teachers remain the
center of all of our learning.
This is not replacing teachers
whatsoever. And when I was
looking through through the
presentation, I was kind of
skeptical at first. And then I
was starting to see things, see
analysis. I'm also on the ai
task force. So I was also, you
know, in the process of
reviewing these things and
reviewing these ethical things
that they are putting forth. So
students understand that these
tools are part of the future.
Colleges and employers are
already integrating ai into
research, communication, design
and operations. So if we don't
learn how to use ai responsibly
now, starting early as middle
school, we risk being
unprepared. We risk having our
students unprepared for the
real world. Which school is
supposed to do. So? From what
I've seen and what I've heard,
we want to learn how to use ai
in ways that helps us grow,
think critically, and prepare
us for the world we're stepping
into. With the right balance. I
believe ai can strengthen our
learning in Broward, not weaken
it, and help us help ensure
that all of our Broward
students can truly be future
ready. And that's something
that we all want in this room.
>> Thank you. If we can put the
slide deck back up. And so for
for more than a century,
schools were primarily designed
around seat time. And the
future demands something
somewhat different. Success
will increasingly be defined by
what students can do with that
knowledge, as you heard from
our student representatives.
And it's not simply what they
can memorize, we're moving
towards deeper application,
critical thinking, creativity,
problem solving, collaboration,
and ethical decision making in
artificial intelligence does
not diminish the need for those
skills. It increases their
importance. And because when
information becomes abundant,
judgment becomes invaluable.
And so innovation without
governance, as you heard,
creates those risks. Governance
without innovation creates
irrelevance. And the policy
exists to strike the proper
balance. The policy clearly
establishes what approved tools
human accountability, ethical
use, transparency, student
protections, and parent
communication. This is not a
policy designed to accelerate
technology. It is a policy
designed to protect students
while enabling responsible
innovation. And so let me be
clear ai is not replacing
teachers. It's not about
replacing relationships. It's
not about replacing human
judgment. Teachers remain the
most important variable in
understanding student learning
and. Our vision is simple.
Technology handles the routine
tasks. Educators spend more
time teaching, mentoring and
inspiring and building
relationships. Human
intelligence leads artificial
artificial intelligence assist.
And so one of the greatest risk
districts face is fragmented
innovation. And we've seen that
in large districts, separate
initiatives, separate training
systems, separate expectations,
separate outcomes. But powered
by ai is intentionally designed
with one coherent system ai, vr,
xr, professional learning,
governance, all connected
through a single blueprint.
This ensures consistency,
scalability, accountability,
and sustainability. In this
vision, without implementation
is merely aspirational. And so
what makes Broward different is
the infrastructure already in
place. And so what we have is
every school has ai liaisons,
professional learning pathways.
We also have a leader
professional pathway with
leadership ai standards. We
have stakeholder engagement. We
have evaluation systems. We
have implementation supports.
Our goal is not deployment. Our
goal is capacity building. And
we are building educators who
understand how to use ai
responsibly, effectively and
ethically. And over the past 18
months, Broward moved
deliberately. This work has
included stakeholder engagement,
governance, deployment,
training systems, policy
designs. Recently, we had ai
symposiums very well. Turned
out we had implementation
planning and we had we have
professional learning
frameworks. This has been about
not purchasing technology. And
we hear that a lot. It's more
about building readiness. And I
would like to introduce two
individuals who represent
members of our stakeholder
groups. One, a teacher, Donna
Maggio and Aaron Gold.
>> Hi, my name is Donna Maggio,
and I'm a media specialist and
an ai liaison at Coral Springs
High School. And I've been
teaching for 29 years. Like
many teachers, I initially
approached ai cautiously, but
this year, in my role as ai
liaison, I introduced Magic
School ai and during
Professional Development Day
and saw its impact firsthand.
And in ninth grade, reading
class. After teaching a skill
and reviewing student
assessment data, ai was used to
create teacher generated,
student centered activities to
reinforce and extend learning.
The ai platform helped to
quickly create differentiated
supports, vocabulary practice,
and reading activities tailored
to students at diverse levels
that help them both remediate
and enrich each skill. This
gave the teacher time more time
for individual feedback and
direct student support. The
result was stronger Pgm3
performance than originally
projected. Ai did not replace
the teacher. It created more
time for meaningful instruction,
individualized feedback, and
stronger connections with
students, while also making it
easier to differentiate
learning to meet a wider range
of needs. The most important
thing ai gives me is more time.
More time for relationships,
meaningful feedback, and the
kind of instruction that truly
meets students where they are.
Thank you for the opportunity
to speak. And I also want to
acknowledge I used copilot to
help refine the points I wanted
to share with you today.
[Laughter]
That's great.
>> Aaron, go.
>> Good afternoon. So one of my
favorite things about I'm chair
of the Parent Community
Involvement Task Force for the
district. And one of my very
favorite things about serving
on that body is that I get to
listen. I get to listen to
parents a lot, and I get to
hear what families are excited
about. I get to hear what
concerns them. I get to hear
what questions they are asking
and what they hope for their
children in their schools. So I
want to make sure we're
grounding this conversation in
that as well. Over the past
several weeks, I have listened
closely to parents at the ai
symposium and to the many
conversations since then. And
what I have heard is what
parents have always wanted from
their schools is what they
still want out of this. They
want their children to be safe.
They want them to be supported,
and they want them to be
prepared for for the future.
Parents understand that ai is
already here. Some are hopeful
and enthusiastic about its
potential. They see
opportunities to improve
district operations and
services to support
personalized learning like Lily
was talking about, to increase
accessibility and help students
develop skills they will need
beyond graduation. Some are
downright scared. This is
really the tension we've heard
here this morning, right? We
want to make sure our kids are
prepared, but we also want to
make sure they're protected. It
is complicated. It is nuanced.
So I'm really excited we're
having this conversation. It is
really critical that we keep
this full spectrum of parents
in mind as we're making
decisions, and often those
things can live within the same
person too. It's not one or the
other. But I can say pretty
confidently that everyone I've
spoken to wants us to get this
right. Parents want to make
sure their children are
developing key foundational
skills before we hand them a
tool that can do it right.
Things like critical thinking,
communication, compassion,
creativity, and problem solving.
Parents are asking really
important questions. How do we
ensure ai supports learning
rather than replaces it? How do
we protect student privacy and
data? How do we maintain
academic integrity? How do we
teach students not only how to
use these tools, but how to do
it responsibly, ethically,
safely, when they shouldn't use
them? And we've talked about it
here, but parents are really
worried about replacing a
teacher, right? Teachers are
the heart and soul of our
classrooms. And so we just need
to make sure and I'm so happy
what I've already heard, but
that we're constantly having
that at the forefront front.
This is supposed to enrich the
learning, not replace great
instruction from teachers. The
last bit, and I might go a tiny
bit over, but parents are
hungry for information. They
want to be informed. They want
to be partners. Some are
starting from I don't know
anything about ai. Some have
PhDs and are the ai symposium.
They want to know where they
can find the implementation
timelines, the policies, and
that needs to be ongoing. So I
think we can do this right. I
think we're doing the right
things. And we I think we can
also stay true to the values
we've expressed here. And so
I'm excited to see what this
can look like going forward.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. We now have a
video that we want to introduce.
On the last day of school, we
asked a couple students at
South Plantation High. What
advice would you give the
school district about
implementing ai in the
classroooooror with students? Can
rollhat?
>> So I would say ai is the
hope for the classroom, not the
classroom.
>> It might be useful for
teachers in a way where it
could help them. It could help
train them like I've already
seen, kind of like Zoom calls
where like the teachers will
learn with like fake ai
students.
>> Student wise, giving them
the power to use ai. To be
honest, I think they should,
but like not too much power, if
you get what I'm saying.
>> My main piece of advice
would be to go through the
models and discover the
individual strengths and
weaknesses of each one, to
figure out the best, you know,
application process.
>> They've already kind of
started implementing it.
Teachers are like checking, I
think canvas has an ai like
checker. I think they blocked
them on school computers. I
think they're doing pretty good
on that.
>> I was just really tell the
district just to start with the
teachers, like give them
workshops probably and stuff
like that to like how to
implement it in their classroom
in a better way.
>> I feel like if you depend on
ai too much and you're letting
it and you're just letting it
take control of your life and
do whatever that you want, like
you're making it do whatever it
wants, it might not always get
it right. And now if you're
thinking that it is right and
it really isn't, it's spreading
false information and it's not
really good for the human
person.
>> Try to embrace ai and say,
hey, you know what? We're also
going to use ai to have these
assignments tailored towards
you to help you. How can I help
you use ai? The best way
possible?
[Music]
>> Presentation, please. So now
we're going to segue into part
two, which begins an important
premise. Innovation without
governance creates risks.
Governance without innovation
creates irrelevance. And so our
responsibility is that the
district has to succeed with ai.
And in that we will, as a
district be stronger through
governance. Our commitment is
to be responsible through
innovation and not rapid
innovation, but responsible
innovation. And so this work
was not developed in isolation.
We spent a ton of time, as you
heard from many committee
members who spoke, that they
were engaged in some of the
work we did around policy and
governance and guardrails. We
collected a lot of feedback at
the JUNE 5th ai Symposium from
students, teachers,
administrators, parents. We
will continue to get that
feedback as well. We've heard
from business leaders,
community partners, research
based institutions, all
contributed feedback. And that
feedback directly shaped both
the policy and implementation
approach. This work will
continue as bcc has joined
several districts to lead the
way in policy and governance.
In two parts nationally through
Impact Florida, we've also
joined the Helios Foundation.
We're also co-sponsored in
several grants that help to
champion principles around
parent and teacher engagement
and ai literacy and policy
implementation, and
safeguarding how we roll out
our student deployment
initiative. I want to hand it
off to governance around
administration.
>> Good afternoon. My name is
Jeanette Dean, and I serve as
an assistant principal at
Miramar High School and as a
member of Broward's ai liaison
team. As school leaders,
there's one resource we never
seem to have enough of, and
that's time. Every day, we're
supporting students, coaching
teachers, responding to
families, reviewing data,
solving problems, attending
meetings, and ensuring we're
present in classrooms where the
real work of learning happens.
So when people ask me about
artificial intelligence, my
answer's actually pretty simple.
The most valuable thing ai has
given me isn't technology. It's
time. In my work as an
assistant principal, I've used
ai to identify trends across
classroom walkthroughs, analyze
professional learning needs,
and synthesize information from
policies, procedures, and other
sources to support informed
decision making. Now, I want to
be very clear about something.
Ai doesn't make those decisions.
I do. The technology helps me
process information more
efficiently, but professional
judgment, experience, and
context still matter most. And
honestly, that's what excites
me most about this work. Not
because it makes leadership any
easier, but because it creates
more space for the parts of
leadership that matter the most.
More conversations with
teachers, more support for
students. More engagement with
families. More time spent in
classrooms instead of behind a
desk. In my work with educators,
school leaders in the community,
I always come back to the same
idea. Technology should
strengthen human capacity, not
replace human resume. What I've
seen across Broward County is a
thoughtful approach to that
balance. We're building
guardrails and ensuring that
human judgment remains at the
center of every important
decision. Because despite all
of the conversations happening
about artificial intelligence,
there are still some things the
ai cannot do. It can't build
trust with the student. It
can't understand the nuance of
family situations. It can't
inspire teachers. And it
definitely cannot survive a day
as an assistant principal. That
work still belongs to people.
As both a school leader and a
doctoral student studying
curriculum and instruction, I
believe our responsibility
isn't to shield students from
emerging technology, but to
prepare them to engage
thoughtfully, ethically and
responsibly. The future our
students will enter will
include artificial intelligence.
Our job is to ensure they enter
that future with wisdom,
critical thinking, and strong
human values. From where I sit
as a school leader, that's
exactly the balance Broward is
working to achieve. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Presentation. And
so what you've echoed from many
of our speakers is around
purposeful, limited use quality
over quantity. And then most
importantly, human centered
learning. And that we recognize
that through this discourse and
the follow up conversations
that we have to collect
collectively, think about
everyone's perspectives and
where they are, and then come
to a balanced approach in terms
of how we look at ai
implemented into broad part by
ai. And so what ai should
support, and you've heard this
is through planning and lesson
development, timely feedback,
assessing multilingual supports,
data analysis and teacher
administration. But what it
should also recognize is that
some learning experiences are
best done without ai in screens.
We've heard that repeatedly
throughout this time. Students
must benefit from discussions,
collaborations through reading,
writing, and through hands on
learning and technology has to
help shape the way in which
classrooms look differently
today. But there has to be this
balance. And so now I'll turn
it over to Manny, executive
director, to take the next part
of this.
>> Thank you, Doctor Cohen.
Manny Castaneda, executive
Director of analytics and
intelligence. And I'd like to
talk a little bit about what
helped guide the ai policy that
we're currently drafting, going
to present to the board in the
near future. And there are five
overlying themes, and these
didn't occur, as Doctor Cohen
said in a vacuum. They were
guided by a lot of work, by a
lot of very qualified people.
And I want to give kudos where
kudos are due. The ai task
force, which was established
almost two years ago and
includes teachers and includes
district staff and
administrators, school staff
and administrators, ai liaisons
and most importantly, it
includes students. And this
group really had a really came
up with all of these ideas that
helped inform it. And as you're
going to learn in other slides,
there's also many other groups
that are contributing to the
policy outside of that. So the
five key themes that appear in
the policy are the responsible
and ethical use of ai across
both instruction and operations,
and having a unified vision for
ai across the district. The
fact that there must be human
oversight and accountability
for every ai supported decision.
Ai doesn't make decisions we do.
When we went with Microsoft
Copilot, the name actually
aligns. You have copilot, but
you got to have a pilot. Third
was student safety, student
safety, data privacy are
paramount, not just student
data, but staff data as well.
And I am happy to say this
district has some of the
strongest data protections that
exist. I came from another
district, so I've seen or I
have a comparison to make. But
our collaboration here between
isd Risk management and the
General Council have resulted
in very, very stringent data
protections that are in all of
our contracts, especially the
ones that are with our ai
partners, and then also
instructional integrity that
protects the quality of
teaching and learning. And this
also leads into the final of
balance, because there's been a
lot of talk about focusing too
heavily on technology. And I
think there's also been a lot
of talk about achieving that
balance between screen time and
between time when you get to
engage in other activities that
are just as important. So the
policy needs to reflect that ai
is not something you simply
turn kids over to as a
substitute for instruction, but
something that complements it.
So here we go to a slide where
we talk about what our fears
that have come up time and time
again. The fear that is within
all of us with something new,
especially ai, is that it's
going to take over jobs. It's
going to take over human
thinking. And the truth is that
if ai is taught responsibly and
ethically, that is not what
it's here to do. And I had all
these comments prepared about
the feedback loop between human
and ai. But Mikhail here, he
stole all my thunder because he
said it much better than I
would have. But it's that
connection between the human,
between the pilot and the ai
and the feedback, and then the
reconnection. That helps. A lot
of it really has to do with
what kind of tasks is ai really
good at. And we can talk about
instructional use cases. And
there were many that were
brought up in the recent
symposium that are very
valuable. And the one that
really brought up of
differentiated instruction with
mathematics. That's a great one.
But I'd also like to focus on a
lot of the things that I think
MISS Dean mentioned. And quite
frankly, when I became a
teacher many years ago, I
taught for over a decade. I
didn't want to fill out forms.
I didn't want to read email. I
didn't want to digest 100 page
manuals. I wanted to teach. And
what ai has allowed us to do,
and what this district is
heavily invested in, is in
giving time back to the
teachers, giving time back to
administrators to be able to
focus on the higher order
thinking and the higher order
decisions, so that a lot of the
operational use cases that MISS
Dean mentioned of doing data
analysis, of doing trend
analysis, of crafting
communications, and ensuring
that they're, they're
grammatically correct. And they,
they convey the proper message
of synthesizing information.
All of those are things that ai
can help with and give us
actual time back to spend with
our students and making
decisions. Now, a little bit
about the process and what we
call some of the four pillars
that I know Doctor Cohen
mentioned earlier, that have
gone into the policy itself.
And again, they center on the
human being, the decision maker,
those those stickers where you
say, I'm the human in the loop,
those are intentional. Humans
are always and always should be
in control of the process. The
focus on student benefit and
instructional integrity, safety,
privacy, and cyber security.
Again, like I mentioned earlier,
and then equity, accessibility
and bias mitigation, one of the
decisions this district made,
and I think it should be
highlighted many other
districts, and we're partnering
with many other districts in
the state in their ai journey.
They've offered ai tools for
staff to a few. You have some
administrators, some principals,
etc. We have gone all in. If
we're going to teach students
how to engage with ai, well,
our staff should know how to
engage with ai and how to use
it. Our instructional and
non-instructional staff. That's
why we are the leaders in the
world. With the deployment of
20,000 premium licenses and the
Microsoft Copilot platform that
have been given to almost all
staff in the district. So that
is an important way of ensuring
that everybody has access and
equitable access, and that as
we work with students, we're
able to communicate and double
down on that. Now, we didn't
just roll out all these
licenses and let people to
their own devices. There's
significant support that is
being provided or has been
provided. I as I mentioned
earlier, the ai task force was
critical, and it was
spearheaded through the Office
of Innovative Learning through
Doctor Cohen's office and
Doctor Sherry Wilson leading
that task force. They developed
the bk Ethical Implementation
Guide, which is really the
guide that helped helped craft
the draft policy that that
we're going to introduce. We
have and are and have developed
and are currently developing ai
governance and review processes.
We have taken great effort in
ensuring that any tool that we
expose our students to are
being tested at a higher bar
than we believe many others
have. We are looking for real
time moderation and real time
threat detection, which is
something most tools don't
provide. And I'm going to be
honest with you. Currently,
copilot doesn't provide at
scale, which is why we haven't
deployed Microsoft Copilot to
all of our students. It doesn't
provide that level of
protection. However, other
tools that we've tested have
and will be deploying them next
year. So we're, we're, we're
ensuring that although staff
have are all in and have access,
but with our students, we're
being very careful how we
deploy because again, remember
the pillar student protection
always protect the student
first. We have a significant
investment in professional
learning in ai literacy. We
have a lot of work that's been
done on the instructional side
through the Office of
Innovative Learning. Then we
have a lot of work that's been
done on the isd side with
operational use cases through
through Doctor Darrell Diamond,
and all of these are being all
put together into a hub that's
being developed and is
currently in pilot stage, which
is going to contain all of the
resources so that all staff
have one one stop shop for
getting any information and any
resources on ai. And I wanted
to close because I'm going to
talk about continuous
monitoring in a second, but I
want to talk about community
and stakeholder engagement. And
this goes to a lot of the work
that we've done in reaching out
the policy itself. We've
reached out, obviously, the ai
task force helped craft it.
We've reached out to the
district advisory committee.
We've received input from the
Technology Advisory Committee.
We've sent it to btu to
Principal and administration
and assistant principal groups.
We've sent it out to our actual
cte students that are
participating in the ai
academies to get input on this
policy. And soon, when we
present it for rulemaking, then
we'll have the input of the
board directly on the policy
and how it can affect. But this
is something that we've taken
great, great pains to ensure we
get as much engagement as
possible. And we had the
privilege. I had the privilege
of participating in the
leadership Week this last week
and in the ai symposium, where
we got some wonderful feedback
and input from parents and
stakeholders in the community.
So let's talk a little about
our call to action. And I can't
emphasize enough that. And this
Doctor Cohen said, ai is here.
It's changing the way
organizations work. It's
changing the way education is
done. We can either choose to
lead and be proactive as to how
it's taught and to ensure that
it's taught so that students
can use it responsibly. Or we
can step back and then they,
like many other skills, they
can learn it on their own and
at their peril. So we've chosen
to be proactive. We've chosen
to protect students and staff
first. We've chosen to have
clear governance and to
establish procedures to, to, to
test and vet ai tools. We've
also chosen to support
innovation, but responsibly.
And here I want to give some a
shout out to, to our students
at Nova and the ai Academy
because they are developing a
chat bot. And I would ask our
student advisors that did the
research to la unified. Did
their students create that
chatbot or the one in
Albuquerque? Because when we
release ours, it's going to be
created by our students. But in
saying that, we're not just
having the students create the
chat bot and publishing it,
we're developing vetting
protocols around it to make
sure that what's been created
is safe, doesn't expose data.
We're running it through the
same development process that
we run our applications to.
When we develop applications in
isd. And that leads me to the
last part about preparing
students for the future. And
again, I had a whole lot of
discussion here about the false
dichotomy between it's not
technology versus traditional.
But then Lily stole my thunder
and said it much better than I
ever would. So I'm, I'm going
to skip much of that. But I do
want to mention that we talk
about preparing students for
the future. And, and, and there
they sit, these these two
students right here. That's the
future we should aspire to for
the rest of our students. These
students seem to me, and I hate
to call you out, but they seem
to be well adjusted, well
rounded. They seem to be good
critical thinkers. I'm going to
assume that they can write well.
I already know they can
communicate well, and I
certainly know they can use
technology well. And that's
what we should aspire to. That
kind of balance in how we
educate our students and, and
work with our staff. And
finally, I want to talk about
continuous monitoring and
improvement. When I tell you
that ai is changing, it's not
just changing by the year, it's
changing by the day. The models
that are being released now are
exponentially better and
different, and can do more
things than the ones that we
were using three months ago.
It's very hard to keep up, but
what we're doing here is we're
ensuring thahae have
continuous r revw ofheheools
that are outut there, continus
testing a and vetting o those
tools on when to incorporate
them, on what technologies are
evolving, continuous reaching
out to our stakeholder groups
to through our ai liaisons and
our ai task force and through
our community and business
partners and our advisory
groups. And we're measuring
things. Yes. And one of the
things that we definitely have
doubled down on is measuring
how ai is being used, how it's
being used at schools, for what
purpose, which tools are being
used more than others. These
are things that we've baked in
to our copilot deployment, and
it's going to be integral in
the Microsoft challenge coming
next year, where schools are
going to be rewarded for ai
engagement. And it's also
something that we're building
with our partners in Magic
School to ensure we have
metrics there that can measure.
And since that will be our
first student facing tool,
those are going to be critical
into ensuring and seeing how
students are using it and for
what purpose. All of these
things lead into the crafting
of this policy, which is why
when you when we do present the
policy, you're going to see
something that is flexible and
can change over time, because
that's what happens with ai. So
now I'm going to turn it back
to what I think is going to be
my favorite part of the
presentation. To talk about the
Nova Innovation Zone. Back to
Doctor Cone.
>> Thank you Manny. So
everything we've discussed thus
far today focused on system
readiness. Now I want to talk
about possibility. The Nova
Innovation Zone represents the
next evolution of public
education. This is not a
technology project. This is a
redesign of student experience.
This is a redesign of taking
the current educational model
that was designed during the
industrial era. Students moved
through content largely based
on the Carnegie model. And so
we wanted to take a look at how
students, in most cases, are
assessed the same ways that we
all grew up, and that the
future requires us to think a
little bit differently about
public education, and that the
Nova Innovation Zone is
designed around competency,
application, innovation,
workforce relevance, and
authentic problem solving. And
so Nova becomes our innovation
laboratory here. It's a place
where we explore mastery based
progression, ai embedded
personalization, project based
learning, university supported
pathways. The goal is not to
abandon standards. The goal is
to build beyond standards.
Students will continue to
master the Florida standards,
but they will also demonstrate
competencies that employers and
universities increasingly
demand. The future of education
cannot be built with the
district alone. And so in this
model, our industry leaders
will assist us in co-designing.
The learning universities must
become active partners where
they have students complete
their field experience, their
internships aligned to students
interests. And this means our
partner universities will have
first choice to make
connections and intersect with
our schools, establish those
relationships with our students
and parents, and ultimately
develop a strong pipeline for
students with the hope of
enrolling in some of these
schools, such as Nova fau and
Broward College, and community
organizations must become
contributors in. This opens the
doors where the Nova model
becomes the first in class 22nd
century model that is
nationally recognized. Partner
corporations will have a strong
connection to this initiative,
where professional mentors will
be enlisted by program and
industry certification. They
act as guest speakers, role
models, and eventually,
students and businesses could
see this endeavor as future
pathway for employment. The
Nova concept creates an
ecosystem where students
regularly interact with
professionals, mentors,
practitioners, and
entrepreneurs. This is where
Nova becomes transformational.
The model combines five
intersected pillars ai
accelerated academies, human
centered mentorship, xr
experiential learning, project
based studios, ai literacy, and
ethics. Students will not
simply learn about subjects.
Here, students will use
subjects to solve authentic
problems, and instead of asking,
what chapters are we on, we
begin asking what problems are
we solving? Instead of
measuring only seat time, we
begin to measure demonstrated
competency and students
progress through experiences
that mirror the way learning
occurs in universities,
research organizations, and
innovative industries. And one
of the most exciting elements
of Nova is the creation of
innovative laboratories, not
just for students, but for
teachers and teachers become
researchers. They become
learners, designers, innovators,
and problem solvers. University
partners like Microsoft,
industry leaders in bc,
educators work together to
continuously refine instruction.
This transforms professional
learning from occasional
workshops into continuous
innovation cycles, and so
success will not be measured by
technology adoption. Success
will be measured by outcomes,
by gaining teacher time, by
allowing students to gain
opportunity, increased
engagement, improved
achievement, expanded access,
and future readiness. And if we
cannot demonstrate improved
outcomes, then we adjust. The
goal is to impact, not
implementation. So the vision
before you today is bigger than
artificial intelligence. It is
about ensuring broad public
public schools remains a place
where innovation and humanity
coexist, where technology
serves people, where teachers
remain at the center and where
students remain at the heart,
and where the future is not
something that happens to us,
but something we intentionally
help create. The question is
not whether artificial
intelligence will shape the
future. The question is whether
Broward County Public Schools
will help shape it responsibly.
And I believe the answer is yes.
This concludes our presentation.
>> Thank you. We'll go to
public comment. I do see some
new faces in the audience, so I
just want to remind the public
that when I call your name,
please approach the mic. Please
follow the staff's instructions.
The board does not go back and
forth with members of the
public during this portion. So
I just wanted to make sure
everyone was aware. And then
when you hear the timer go off,
please yield the mic so that
the next speaker has the
opportunity to speak. So I'll
call up five names at a time.
Cynthia. Dominique. Actually,
I'll do like three names. For
some reason. The podium is
further back. Cynthia Dominique,
Brooke Bordey, and Heather
Velasquez.
>> All right, mic test. It's
good. All right. Good afternoon.
Brooke Bordey plantation. I am
a school advisory forum chair.
i'm a pta room coordinator. I
serve on several district level
advisories. I am absolutely
plugged in. And the other
parents who are here today were
here in earnest, trying to
deliver you the sentiment of
the community that it's
sometimes hard to get through.
So we're not here speaking for
ourselves. It is our community
that is profoundly concerned,
which is why, you know, we're
supposed to be on a road to
Disney with medieval time
reservations. We stayed. And we
might MISS That because we're
here representing many, many
families in my mom life. I was
a commercial litigator, which
is something I don't usually
share, but I frequented the
courthouse just down the street.
And I see you, the board here
today as judges that I need to
convince of our concerns, given
that there's some debate in
this room about safety and the
appropriate use of ai in the
classroom, I think it helps the
decision making process to
focus on the law, and it will
become very clear that this
board needs to reconsider the
the direction of this
initiative. The district is
already not in compliance with
Sopa, which requires school
districts to identify all the
software it provides to
students, as well as the actual
underlying contract. The bcc
web page that lists
supplemental software is
absolutely incomplete. The
district has had months to
correct this deficiency. Given
the simplicity of just posting
the contracts for the
supplemental software, I have
very little faith that
something as complicated and
risky as artificial
intelligence could be done in a
way that does not pose a risk
to our children. Another law to
consider is the forthcoming
Guard Act, which is a
bipartisan federal legislation
that, if passed, will ban ai
chatbots for children under the
age of 18. Florida is
considering its own set of laws
as well. Perhaps we should
pause the rollout to ai lest
this district finds egg on its
face. I also see copilot pilot
rollout as a threat to ferpa,
giving copilot access to cps
email accounts will certainly
lead to the capture, analysis,
and storage of sensitive
student information and
personally identifiable
information, thereby
circumventing and violating
ferpa. It's an obvious
liability for the district
legal adjacent is this board's
policy 6313, which prescribes
the Institutional Review Board
that is required for research
performed on children. I want
to welcome the student advisors,
but I do want to say many of
the concerns are coming from
elementary parents and the
survey tools available to the
student advisors do not reach
elementary students. Our
children have access to
different technology than
current high schoolers. This
board should know that there is
no public facing implementation
plan. I don't know what
technology my kids will have
come fall. So this presentation
doesn't constitute an
implementation plan. Thank you.
>> Thank you. I remember I
called Cynthia Dominique and
Heather Velasquez, and then the
next three names are Kirsten
Hope, Matthew Bordy, and Trudy
Germanovich. Could someone from
staff turn the timer off,
please? Thank you, MR. Ho. All
right, so I'll just say the
names again. Cynthia, Dominique,
Heather Velasquez, Kirsten Hope,
Matthew Bordy, and Trudy
Germanovich. Welcome.
>> Hi.
>> Good afternoon. My name is
Heather Velasquez from Davie. I
would just like to take a
moment to say that I had a
really hard time gathering my
thoughts to express how I feel
about this, because it is
overwhelming. I am a parent who
doesn't know a lot about ai. I
do know that it has amazing
capabilities and great
strengths, but I worry about
how I can protect my own child
and how other parents can do
the same if they don't have the
skill set and the knowledge on
the technology and the tools
that are being made available
to our teachers and our
students. So I just want to
reference slide 25, where it
says that ai should enhance
critical thinking, problem
solving, creativity analysis
and reasoning, collaboration
and communication, and real
world application of learning.
What does ai enhance cognitive
offloading? And it is
concerning to hear someone say
that they didn't remember how
to do a math problem, so they
just plugged it into ai, and
that's no shade to anybody. But
that is real. We hear
professionals say all the time
they feel like it's dumbing
them down, and I want my
elementary child to make sure
he has the opportunity to
develop those critical thinking
skills and those foundational
learning skills that we all use
today, because the human can't
be a part of the loop if they
don't have those foundational
skills. So I want my child to
enter middle school, to enter
high school, and have those
foundational skills to still be
an active participant as a
human being, not just relying
on that tool of ai. So I also
am very concerned for our
teachers and their ability to
keep up with the rapid
implementation of all of these
different resources. I think
that we are expressing a lot of
support and offloading for them
and giving them time back, but
how are we making sure that
we're not overloading them with
the skills they need to learn
to be able to effectively
implement the tools and have
the time? My understanding, and
I would love some clarification
on this, is that while you say
that the training is required,
who's who's checking that,
what's the accountability for
that? And how are we making
sure that the teachers and the
staff are utilizing these tools
ethically, efficacy, the
efficacy of them, if nobody's
ensuring that they are trained
before they roll these out and
have their students use them,
that's a big concern for me. I
really want to know what the
district goals are and how
they're measured. Engagement to
me is not totally an accurate
measurement of effectiveness.
We approved last week or the
board approved last week more
more funding for prisms without
any real data on how that, you
know, improved learning gains.
I know that what was said was
more of like, well, we know
students were engaged. They
were excited to come to class.
Well, that is important. Is it
really improving their
educational skills and their
knowledge?
>> I'm running out of time.
>> So I think that I said a lot
of what I really wanted to say,
but thank you guys for giving
us this opportunity. Oh, I
don't think that there has been
a public facing parent plan
implementation plan. I went to
this symposium and left with
more questions, so that didn't
get a chance to be answered
because they canceled at the
end.
>> Thank you. Next speaker.
>> Heather.
>> Good afternoon. This is Mike
on. Welcome. Oh, good. How are
you guys? Good afternoon
superintendent, school board
members and fellow parents. My
name is Matthew Board. I have
three children here in Broward
County schools. I'm an
entrepreneur and I build
products, physical products and
ai embedded systems and
software for a living. I'm not
here because I fear artificial
intelligence. I'm here because
I understand it. Large language
models like Chatgpt, Copilot
Magic School do not think they
do not understand truth. They
predict the most likely word
based on patterns in data.
Sometimes the results are
impressive. Sometimes they're
completely wrong, especially
especially in product
development and software
development. Together in ai
industry, we call this a
hallucination. These systems
can confidently generate false
facts, inaccurate explanations,
biased content, and entirely
fabricate information. Even
companies that build them
acknowledge this limitation.
Yet Broward is rapidly
expanding ai in classrooms
where nearly 40% of our
students are still not reading
proficiently at a grade level.
My concern is simple we're
helping students become
stronger readers, writers, and
critical thinkers. Or are we
normalizing technology that is
increasingly does the thinking
for them? I also have concerns
about privacy. We hold. These
systems are ferpa compliant,
but ferpa is a legal
requirement and not a
technological safeguard that
keeps ai within its boundaries.
Parents deserve transparency
regarding what student
information, assignments,
documents, emails, educational
records MAY be processed by
these systems and how that
information is protected before
expanding ai further. This
district owes the parents clear
answers meaningful oversight
evidence that these tools are
improving student outcomes
rather than simply making
simply making, providing
technology companies with the
data that they want. Can the
district identify a single
technical safeguard that
automatically prevents
hallucinated or factually
inaccurate ai generated content
from reaching students without
a human catching the error? As
a product developer? And the
technical answer is no, there
is no filter for hallucinations.
So my question to the board is
who is the human safety net?
And my final question is, can
the district guarantee that no
student educational records,
behavioral information, emails,
assignments, or personal data
will ever be used in a way that
parents did not intend to or
expect? And if that happens,
who's accountable? The software
company or Broward County
schools? As a technology
professional, I know that most
dangerous thing about ai isn't
when it's obviously wrong, it's
when it's wrong and sounds
convincing. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Next speaker.
>> MADAM Chair, what is his
name?
>> That was Matthew Board.
>> Thank you.
>> I have Kirsten Hope, Trudy
Germanovich, Rochelle Sofer,
and Jennifer Dubbin. Welcome.
>> Hi. Good morning. My name is
Kirsten Hope and I'm from Davie.
I'm here as a concerned parent
of three children and
advocating for all children. In
fact, I brought six children
here today just to speak. So if
you ever wonder why you hear
from the same people over and
over again, it's because it's
really difficult to get down
here with children. In APRIL of
this year, 2026, Fair Play, a
coalition of child advocates,
educators, researchers, and
organizations put out a
position paper. This 29 page
paper, signed by over 260
organizations and experts, call
for a five year moratorium on
student facing generative ai
products in k through 12. The
authors argue that ai tools are
being introduced in classrooms
before the educational benefits
have been proven, and before
adequate safeguards exist for
for kids, the key concerns
cognitive cognitive development
and learning, social and
emotional development, mental
health risks, privacy and
surveillance, misinformation
and accuracy, impact on
teachers equity concerns,
academic integrity and
environmental costs. The
classrooms already utilize
adaptive educational technology
platforms. Despite years of
implementation, these tools
have not produced the
transformational academic gains
that were promised. In many
cases, they have become
substitute for direct
instruction and human
interaction rather than
enhancements to learning. What
evidence suggests that ai will
produce a different result. At
its core, education is a human
endeavor. Teachers do more than
deliver content. They build
relationships, provide
mentorship. They inspire
curiosity, and understand the
unique needs of each of their
students. Expanding the role of
ai risks further widening of
the gap between teachers and
students, while reducing
opportunities for meaningful,
meaningful human connection. At
a time where young people are
experiencing increasing social
isolation and mental health
challenges, we should be
investing in stronger human
relationships, not replacing
them with technology. Stating
that over and over again
doesn't that it doesn't replace
teachers, doesn't make it true.
Employees are expected to
review ai generated content,
verify accuracy, monitor an
entire classroom of students,
and exercise professional
judgment. However, formal ai
training is not required for
all employees anywhere in this
implementation plan. Without
comprehensive and mandatory
training, how can we expect a
reasonable implementation of
ethics and safety and, you know,
consistency across all
classrooms? This s pl isot
inking of thee fute liket
ateses. Wl nott be ab too
affo thehese products when the
money runs out. Focusing on the
future would be implementing
actual foundational computer
skills like typing. Screen time
is not a hypothetical concern.
Decades of research have
documented its impacts on
cognition, physical health,
attention, and social emotional
well-being. Pediatrician and
child experts continue to
recommend minimizing screen
time exposure whenever possible
to. It's not just the fear of
the unknown. We know. Okay,
thank you.
>> Thank you. Next speaker.
>> My name is Doctor Trudy
Germanovich. I began learning
about technology by attending a
computer meeting at a garage in
Los Altos, California in 1976.
Unfortunately, it was not Steve
Jobs garage. Since that time,
I've been interested in what's
being called bleeding edge
technology. The discussion
today is similar to what we had
when we first had access to the
internet, and I'm glad we're
hearing about it today. I'm
also a longtime proponent of
opting out. You can see from
the back of my t shirt, which
is the opt out network. The opt
out network was formed by
parents throughout the country
in 2014, who believed that
online testing would be bad for
their children. They were not
anti-technology. These are
hundreds of thousands of people
around the country. They
objected to the fact that it
became how teachers and schools
were evaluated. It would be
difficult to have children opt
out of ai because it will be
ubiquitous. Unfortunately, our
teachers and students will be
training the ai programs you
purchase. There will be some
teachers who will quickly adapt
and use ai for lesson plans,
but we should start with those
who want to use it. It was
mentioned that trainings would
be within the PLCs, which are
where a professional learning
community determines goals by
consensus. Supposedly of the
plc members. As per the btu
contract. In other words,
that's not where you should do
training. They won't all choose
ai. I believe for early
elementary there should be
little or no wasted time wasted
on non state mandated programs
on screens by third grade. Most
students should have the manual
dexterity to begin using typing
and word processing skills.
This is presently not occurring.
I heard earlier it was. It is
not. I have not seen a typing
or a simple word processing
program come over for a
purchase at any of your
meetings. Why is that taking so
long? I don't believe it's
possible to manage teaching a
class with some parents opting
out of ai lessons or certain
other technologies. I was very
unhappy with the lack of clear
timeline within the
presentation. I believe a group
of teachers who are presently
in the classroom should be paid
well during this JULY to
develop lesson plans for using
ai for students in grades four
through fifth, sixth, and
eighth, and specific examples
from high school classes I. And
I really mean pay the teachers
well for what they do. I also
am concerned about the
resources being equitably
distributed. When I heard the
presentation. It appears that
Nova schools will get much more
than other schools. Thank you.
>> Good afternoon, Rochelle
Sofer, Coconut Creek. So I want
to put out a disclaimer. I am
not against ai at all. I
embrace it with caution. I have
specific questions based on the
slides that I read through, and
I'm going to present them. So
that way our representatives
that are here can maybe address
it in the future. So we'll go
by their. Slide seven. I'd like
to know what is the school
board's definition of ethical
implementation and where can we
find it? What are the current
and expected safeguards? Where
are they published for view,
and are these viewable in the
multiple languages? Slide eight.
Please define screen heavy as
it relates to students. What
length of time would that be
and by whose definition? As a
parent, with a child with a
learning disability, speaking
on my own screen, time is a
deficit to my child. So I need
to know what screen heavy is
because five minutes to my
child could be a lifetime in an
eternity, and try to take my
child away from that screen.
You could have issues, and I
know my child's not the only
one. Slide 22. How will we
ensure minimal deviation from
the ai platform as it's being
used, especially with expected
increases in class sizes? What
measures will be implemented to
alert teachers or staff to the
unexpected tech use other than
Live Wire, which has its own
issues? What about
considerations for
implementation with our
students with disabilities
population, especially in the
self-contained classes? How
will slide 23 how will be cps
address parental concerns for
those who want decreased or
zero screen time? Slide 24. How
will student data be kept safe?
Where's all the I-ready data
stored and who has access to it?
Has anyone heard or seen of
scrolling to death.Com the
lawsuit lawsuit that's ensuing
as a result of that? What about
the new lawsuit launched
against the parent company,
Curriculum Associates? We need
to ensure our students safety
and security, especially their
voices being captured. Slide 27.
Where's the cps Ethical
Implementation guide? We'd like
to see it in all of its
languages, please. What about
parent student community
feedback that needs to be
evaluated on a continuum and
not at the convenience of this
district? I'd like to quote one
of my teacher friends who's in
the elementary schools. It's
interesting to me that the
district wants to use ai, but
they don't want us to use
anything from teachers pay
teachers. We have to use
everything that's approved by
the school board. But we all
know that ai makes mistakes.
How is it better or different?
Last quote. This is from a
friend of mine who's got her
Phd and teaches at a local
university. The faculty at my
college don't actually want to
learn all the good ways they
could use ai. They want to use
ai as a shortcut, and they are
putting out some pretty
terrible quality presentations,
images, etc. That are very
obviously ai generated and the
students are on to it.
>> Thank you. Next up, I have
Jennifer Durbin and then Doctor
Natalie Lynch Walsh, Doctor
Nancy Romance, and Donna Maggio.
>> Hello. My name is Jennifer
Durbin. I'm from Coral Springs.
I'm a parent of a second grader
and I'm here to oppose the ai
initiative. We are stepping on
to a dangerous frontier without
a map in. Our students will pay
the price. I'm not afraid of
technology or ai. I value
thoughtful, intentional digital
tools. But while technology
evolves rapidly, human biology
does not. Children have
critical developmental windows
for acquiring foundational
skills by displacing vetted
curricula with automated
content, we are treating our
students as test subjects in an
unregulated experiment with no
irb. When parents raise safety
concerns, district staff
advised us that if our children
are harmed, we can simply sue
the vendor to suggest that our
only recourse is to wait for
our children's physical, mental
well-being and privacy to be
compromised before acting is
irresponsible. What is the
responsibility of the
leadership in this room to keep
our kids safe? If cps were
truly equipped to evaluate
these algorithms, you wouldn't
just look at basic accuracy. Bk
would be analyzing and
publishing date on precision
recall f1 score area under the
receiver operating
characteristic curve metrics,
as well as clear guidelines on
false negatives. To date,
Broward County Public Schools
has failed to establish a
transparent implementation plan.
Define what ethical and
responsible ai means to for our
community, or provide a pilot
study report proving the
efficacy and safety of Magic
School, ai and copilot. At
least one of these ai tools has
previously failed the
district's tests. How has it
now passed? What metrics were
used to assess safety, security,
and moderation? Moving forward
blindly is an unacceptable risk.
This is especially true given
the ongoing Florida lawsuit
against Openai, the engine
behind Magic School ai, which
alleges severe psychological
and developmental harm to youth,
including the erosion of
critical thinking and the
generation and generation of
dangerous content. What risk
are our teachers taking by
using these programs that could
see them fined or jailed? If
the algorithm behaves
unexpectedly and it will behave
unexpectedly? As parents, we
have to demand accountability
from the district and the board
by funneling resources away
from proven educational
pedagogy into unsafe
experimental programs. You are
privatizing our children's
education and enriching a few.
What accountability will this
board take when this experiment
harms the very children you are
responsible for? Serving our
board to halt the rollout of
these ai tools until a rigorous,
transparent, data backed safety
and efficacy framework is
delivered to parents. Thank you.
>> Doctor. Natalie Lynch Walsh
Plantation, Florida. So unlike
a lot of the other speakers, I
love ai for adults. That's
where this should have started.
Not with the kids. I would love
public records that function to
be automated. I would love
follow up logs to be generated
automatically from the
recordings of these meetings.
Imagine how much time and how
much more efficient you could
be as a governing body. Oh, and
by the way, I always have plan
b and c in my back pocket.
Don't you worry because there's
a policy involved here, and it
hasn't even been advertised to
initiate rulemaking. So, and
there was a comment about
complaints. Some people's
complaints are simply
continuous improvement. You
don't get continuous
improvement by going along with
everything. And everything is
lovely in the garden. All right.
So when I had to get my Phd, I
studied adults and I had to do
a 90 page institutional review
board application. There was no
mention in the presentation of
school board policy 6313, which
after hearing a lot of parent
concerns, I said, well, why do
they need that data? What are
they doing with it? And where
is
>> The irb and all of this
because I know the district has
one, right? Yes they do. It's
6313 is research and program
evaluation studies. So just for
fun in here and I hope somebody
pulled it up by now we have
definitions. It defines
research studies program
evaluation studies. The
institutional review board,
informed consent. If a if
someone is under 18 you cannot
conduct studies on them without
informed consent. So I had ai
prompt number one policy 6313
governs research and program
evaluation studies. What
potential policy. 6313
compliance risks and audit risk
issues are associated with the
Broward powered by ai
presentation. A few, but you
guys aren't interested when I
try to stop you from getting in
trouble. So I'll just give this
to the people. But I have at
least 3 to 6 of them here. Next
prompt. They tried to tell me
there was a plan. I told Gemini,
try again. Because sometimes
they do get it wrong, and ai
and Gemini had to admit there
are no specific target dates,
deadlines, or future scheduling
timelines listed for the plan's
milestones. Guess what? It's
not a plan. Then I had it check.
I compared 6313 against the
proposed ai policy. Oof, a
whole lot of potential
compliance risks bypassing irb
review, verification of
auditability, failure to file
mandatory final evaluation
reports, and that whole
informed consent thing. And
then just for fun, I came up
with an audit plan and a risk
assessment. And that's how I
use ai. I don't think you'll
appreciate it, but the public
will. Thank you.
>> Thank you. I called up
Doctor Nancy Romance Donna
Maggio and then Lori Solarolo
and Jackie Luscomb.
>> Good afternoon. I'm Doctor
Nancy Romance from Florida
Atlantic University, a former
teacher and science supervisor
in Broward County schools. And
I'm here today to talk about
the Nova Innovation Zone and
what the universities are doing.
Doctor Cohen, is it possible to
get these slides up there?
>> I think it's slide 31. If
it's the Nova complex.
>> I don't know that we're able
to get the presentation back up.
But.
>> Slide 31. So they MAY not be
able to pull it.
>> Oh, okay. Okay. Well I won't
be able to actually see where
you're at, but that's okay.
It's, it's fine with me. So
thank you for giving me this
opportunity to meet and talk
with you in the district. I'm
very, very excited. Obviously,
the district is near and dear
to my heart. And as an educator
at Florida Atlantic University,
for the last 30 years, we've
been obviously very closely
engaged with the school
district. Our newest
publication, fau, Your Hometown
University, with our new
PRESIDENT, Adam Hasner, has
really done a great job in
moving forward in, you know,
bringing fau to the South
Florida, especially the Broward
County area. And I just wanted
to share some stats with you
because at Florida Atlantic
University, we have over 32,000
students, all 32,000 students
are involved in learning using
artificial intelligence. It is
now embedded in all of the
colleges as a really important
tool for learning. And indeed,
it does deepen learning and
problem solving. In particular,
we are a Carnegie University
designee now, meaning that we
have been declared as a
Carnegie one, meaning high
level research that would
suggest that all of our faculty
are using pretty much ai for
the kind of research that
they're doing. We're also a
Carnegie Opportunity University,
another really nice designation,
which means that students that
are coming from low income
schools are low income
neighborhoods, are doing
equally well at the university,
graduating on time. So we're
very, very excited about that.
We also have a third Carnegie
evaluation, which is called
Carnegie Community. And we are
one of 13 universities in the
United States that have all
three Carnegie classifications.
So we're very, very excited.
The other thing I was going to
share, the slides were shown, I
don't know if you see them, but
one of the things we're very
proud of is that we are really
a university, very centered on
first generation students. This
is really important to us. So
I'll just read some of the
things we have. So for example,
we have a wonderful facilities
to really support academic
success and career based
readiness. So we are very
career oriented here. We have
the Science Learning Center,
the Math Learning Center, the
Office of Undergraduate
Research and Inquiry, which
actually invites freshmen to
engage in college level
research. What a difference
that makes. We have over a
thousand students. Our program
for undergraduate research has
been number one in the nation
for two years in a row. We have
professional English sport, we
have writing across the
curriculum. So for all students
that come in, we have all of
these academic supports. But on
the other side, we also have
sociological emotional types of
supports too. For example, we
have our first generation and
student success office. We have
our first gen resources. We
have the Kelly School Emerging
scholarship, and we have new
student transition. We have
lots of Pell eligibility,
campus food. Et cetera. Et
cetera. Now we also just will
be setting up Quantum Leap. We
will be the first university in
Florida with a major quantum
computing system, not minor in
setting it up. It's been a very
exciting endeavor. And with
this particular endeavor here,
what we're really doing is
we're going to be able to
process immense amounts of data,
unbelievable amounts, not even
necessarily defined yet. We'll
have many new opportunities for
our students coming to fau, to
be really working in industry
and to be working with
authentic problems and issues.
This is extremely important. It
really does support the
district's effort at moving
towards broad ai powered. We
have our Styles Nicholson
Institute in Jupiter. Some of
you MAY be aware of that. That
particular institute does
tremendous work in neuroscience
and brain sciences, including,
obviously, the disorders that
we're all familiar with, such
as Alzheimer's and autism and
so on. We were the first
university in the state of
Florida to actually have a
master's degree in artificial
intelligence.
>> Thank you.
>> So the Florida Power and
light.
>> Thank you so much, doctor.
Romance. Thank you. Doctor
romance, doctor romance. Thank
you so much. If you could yield
the mic. Thank you so much. Yes,
yes. Thank you. So we very much
enjoyed learning about
everything going on at fau.
Thank you so much. Jackie
Liscombe.
>> Thank you. And I'd like to
acknowledge first of all, the
winners are in the room and I'd
like to thank them as a parent
for their very generous gift to
the district. I'm excited for
the future of ai in Broward. I
do understand, though, some of
what's been articulated here
too. I want to start off with,
I'm going to hop all over the
place, but there's been some
statements made about how it
needs to start with adults and
not with the kids. It has
started with the adults and not
with the kids, to Lily's
demonstration, which I thought
made a very good point about
how ai can help walk walk
students through the processes
of learning. It wasn't, I
believe, Lily, that you brought
up a math problem and asked ai
to resolve it. Ai brought up a
track for reteaching it to you
to remind you, and it was not
an erosion of critical thinking.
It was leading you through the
steps of critical thinking. I
do want to commend, actually
the symposium. I do concur with
some of the views of it, that I
don't think parent registration
should have been cut off when
it was. It shouldn't have been
the afterthought. I'm grateful
that we were able to be there,
and I learned a lot, but I
think that there is a lot also
to be learned about. Where some
of this has gone wrong is in
the messaging. Anybody that
attends technology advisory,
which actually isn't, very many
people will know that I'm
actually quite noisy there, and
I'm noisy because I see that
that technology advisory is not
used for technologyy issues. The
bccc is repeatedly kif
bypassing tech, and I feel we
could have been a really good
collaborative partner in
helping to preempt some of the.
When I say outcry, we've we've
seen here, there's legitimate
concerns or people that have
concerns that can't be resolved.
I would like to suggest that
you fast track. When I say fast
track, you've got to follow
policy making process or not,
as the case MAY be these days.
But for the ai policy to be put
on the back burner, while
you're looking more at policies
that say, well, what's the
address of the case? Right.
Building, I think the
priorities are in the wrong
order. That ai policy is
crucial to the integrity of
this program, this initiative,
and to getting stakeholder buy
in. I think you two could have
preempted and still can some of
the community suspicion or
concern about it by not only
having a policy. I see there's
mention of a manual that
certainly I don't think came to
attack at all. I haven't seen a
manual, but. But how about some
kind of a contract with parents?
A sort of our promise to you,
our pledge to you, and some
bullet point commitments as to
what this implementation will
or won't be. I've kicked up a
lot of talk about what is the
ai task force and why aren't we
on it at at tac? I've had good
conversation with Doctor Cohen
and with Manny, which I
appreciate greatly. I think
they've worked hard on this. I
just also as well want to see a
lot more s integration. And for
them not to be the left behinds.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other public
speakers? Okay. I don't usually
do this, but I would like the
courtesy of my colleagues to be
able to speak. Oh, sorry, my
mic turned off. I would like
the courtesy from my colleagues
to speak first on this. This is
something that I've spent a lot
of time over the last year
investing in, learning about
and hearing from students and
parents. So first, I want to
thank all the public speakers
who came out. We did see some
new faces today, which is very
exciting to see the community
so engaged on something so
important. Heather Velasquez, I
like you, continue to be
overwhelmed by this topic, and
I'm glad we've all started to
try to tackle this as messy as
it can be. I'm glad we we are
diving in today. I also want to
thank Wayne and Lucretia Weiner,
who are here, who continue to
make massive commitments and
investments in public education.
So thank you. And so the ai
symposium has been brought up
several times today. I, I had
the privilege of getting to
speak there, and I'm going to
echo some of my my same points
that I, I delivered to the
parents and educators in the
audience. I would like everyone
here to take a moment to
remember what it was like to
get on Facebook for the first
time, and to remember what we
were promised in the aughts
about what social media would
do for us. We were told it
would make us more connected
with each other. But 20 years
later, the consensus is that
the social media algorithms
have made us more disconnected,
isolated, and polarized than
ever. So much so that people
are winning multimillion dollar
lawsuits in school districts,
including us, are suing these
companies for the impacts
they've had on our kids mental
health. And, you know, as we
have this discussion, it is
imperative that we learn from
the mistakes of the social
media era. There are some of
the same warning signs
represented in hard data for ai.
The rise of ai companions
raises alarm bells. We should
all be taking action on the
impacts of cognitive offloading,
something we've heard concerns
about today, even on adults,
should result in us making
clear, strong and bold policy
to protect our students. We all
understand that ai isn't going
away, and that bans or
moratoriums won't be effective.
We understand that all students
will grow up in a world in
which ai is integrated into
every part of our society. We
have a responsibility to
prepare them for that world,
and we have a duty to ensure
that world is safe and
enriching as it can be. That
means we have to take great
care in the ways we introduce
students to this technology,
and that the technology we give
them access to serves the
purpose of facilitating their
growth into thoughtful, kind,
empathetic, and well-rounded
learners. That means that this
technology is introduced slowly
and strategically with students
first, simply building
awareness of it. They are
taught holistic ai literacy
frameworks. That means they
learn about how it's created,
what its uses are, what the
risks are, and they're taught
about ethical use and
development. And I cannot
emphasize enough the importance
of the actions we take now to
do this right. Doctor Cohen, at
the beginning of this, asked
the question, are we going to
prepare our students for the
world we grew up in or the
world we inherit? They will
inherit? And I'd like us to
think about it a little bit
differently. All of us at this
table and in this room have the
ability to shape the world our
kids inherit. And we can do
that in the days and months to
come. So with that said, I have
some questions and then I'll be
asking for board consensus on
some proposals. MADAM General
counsel actually just told
informed me of this, but I
would like the public to know
when can we expect the ai
policy to come back to us?
Either to the General Council
or to staff?
>> Go ahead, Doctor Cohn.
>> We're ready whenever it's
time. I think we initially
wanted to go first with the
policy and then we would
schedule I think sometime in
JULY. I believe.
>> Most likely it would be like
the beginning of AUGUST because
we only have a very short
amount of time in JULY. If we
can schedule it in JULY, we'll
do that. But I know that we
will be working very closely to
come up with some drafts. We'll
do some one on ones on those
drafts as well to get more
feedback and then present
something for the board's
consideration.
>> And to that end, we are
ready with the draft. We just
need to confirm, in terms of
the novella piece and the
process document. So we've
gathered gathered all of the
feedback from every stakeholder.
This is the last, I would say,
last leg of that and getting
feedback from you, the board,
before we come back in AUGUST
to present a final product or
draft of that.
>> Thank you. The ai task force
was brought up multiple times.
Can you talk to me, inform the
public about who is on the task
force? What have they done?
What have we implemented from
their recommendations?
>> I'll kick it off and then
I'll let Manny dive deep into
that. And so our attention
really was to that anything
that's large scale of a
district this size is going to
require implementation fidelity.
And so every school had the
opportunity to, every principal
had the opportunity to identify
an ai liaison. And that liaison
would represent each, each
school in terms of being able
to receive the training, the
skills, the knowledge to be
able to go back and implement
that at the school level. We've
done the same kind of framework.
When we did our instructional
materials adoption. That worked
really well. In this case, all
of our ai liaisons got all of
the training all up until this.
Before the teachers left. They
met with the principals during
JUNE 5th, JUNE 8th, and JUNE
9th to come up with an ai
implementation rollout plan to
be delivered during pre
Planning week that will be
implemented with our with all
of the staff in. Man. If you
have anything else.
>> As Doctor Cohen said, and
what really struck me as as
very important about the task
force is a. It's comprised of
not just a district
administrators. It's school
staff, school administrators,
district administrators,
teachers and students. And
initially, and this is just a
personal experience. When I was
first introduced to the task
force, I was very impatient. I
was saying, where's the policy?
Let's get the policy out. Come
on, let's move. But now looking
back on it, I can see the the
thoughtful, careful approach
that the group took in
formulating what 60 plus page
implementation guide, which
contains the core principles
that go into the policy. We
knew we couldn't take a 60 page
guide and just publish it as a
policy. So it's been condensed
and shared, but that's my basic
observations of how the task
force has has really helped
craft the work and helped
direct us into other research
opportunities to craft the
policy.
>> MR. Manning, can you go back
over the participants the of
the task force? I missed that
part.
>> School staff, district staff.
We have teachers. We have
students also and
administrators.
>> Thank you.
>> About how many people are on
the task force.
>> It's it's it's it's one
representative for every school.
And then there's district staff.
So I would probably without,
you know, I would say close to
2 to 300 people.
>> How many students?
>> I would.
>> I would say roughly about 20
students on that task force.
>> And how are how are the
these task force members
selected?
>> Well, for the schools are
just total.
>> So. So let me back up. It's
my understanding. So each ai
liaison for each school is a
member of the task force.
That's correct. How were the
students selected.
>> So I think we reached out to
at the time, Landon, and kind
of had him kind of identify
people that had interest.
>> Okay. What's the meeting
cadence for the task force?
Like, how often are they
meeting?
>> You can answer.
>> I remember participating in
monthly meetings. There was
also a collaboration site that
was set up in teams that the
task force had access to, and
there were some engagement
through that asynchronously,
but the cadence was generally
monthly from what I recall.
>> Okay. I'm going to move in a
little bit of a different
direction. Something that I've
heard over and over from
students and teachers is with,
with regards to ai, is this
issue of trust? Sometimes
teachers are not trusting that
students are turng in their
own work. And then students, on
the other hand, are sometimes
not trusting that teachers
physically are themselves
grading the work or creating
the assignments. And, you know,
as a teacher, I understand the
value in using ai to help, you
know, create assignments and
differentiate instruction and
all of that. But I'm wondering
if, if the task force or if we
as a district have really
contemplated and tried to
tackle the issue of trust when
it comes to ai.
>> And specifically you're
referring to the instructional
materials or materials outside
of the the content.
>> So there is a tension, right?
Like I heard from students,
like one student who I met with
at Fort Lauderdale High School
said, like, if I have a teacher
that is using ai to grade my
assignment, I am disgusted by
that. She used that language.
Right. And I understand again,
I am trying not to be. I'm
trying not to look at this as a
as a very polarized or black
and white issue. I know that
there is nuance and
complication to it, but I think
that we have to try to think
about the way we can build
trust between students and
teachers, both that teachers
are trusting that the work that
the students are doing is
authentic and that they did
their own thinking. But also,
on the other hand, that
students can feel trusting and
that the teachers have been
thoughtful about their
assignments, that they've
they've said that they've
assigned to the students and
the work that they're grading.
>> Yeah, yeah. I agree with you
wholeheartedly. And I think
that that's part of where at
the beginning of the year and
during the summer, we'll have
some hot laps around teacher
efficacy and training. We are
also in the process of building
a mandatory ai literacy course
that will become required of
all educators to, to take and
complete before the the, the
first week of school. And I
think to your point, this is a
very nuanced conversation, to
be honest with you. And we are
traversing on a very uncharted
territory when with something
like this. And so the feedback
that we receive here in the
feedback that we've received,
it helps us to kind of build
some of this out. And so some
of the professional learning
that we are doing specifically
for teacher rollout is with
that in mind, when you use ai
for things like grading or for
creating instruction and
content outside of the core,
and the core will be ingested
into something like Magic
School. How do you, how do you
navigate through that and what
do you use and when do you use
it and when it's appropriate to
use those things. Those are
part of the professional
learning pieces that we're
building in for teachers and
for administrators as well. And
I think that that trust has to
be garnered through evidence of
what we what we do and what we
say, and part of the policy and
the guardrails and the process
that we're putting in place to
ensure that that does happen,
that that, that, that guarantee
that students should feel
trusted, that when a teacher is
grading their assignments, that
that is the expert teacher
providing that feedback and not
someone else. The two could be
used to support and enhance the
same thing. For when a student
is working on assignment using
ai in, they're producing
something that teacher should
be providing guidance and
direction on how to use that
tool and for what intended
purposes. That's part of the
training that has to happen as
well.
>> Thank you for speaking to
that. And I think one thing
that you said is very important
is the that we have to have
clear expectations that are
communicated both ways. So, you
know, I had some groups of
students said, you know, I had
a teacher that said I can use
ai in this way. And they made
it very clear. But I also think
the communication needs to come
from the teacher as well. Like
I used ai to help me create
this assignment and be having
clear expectations and
communications both ways in
which this is the way you're
allowed to use it. This is the
way I'm using it, I think helps
build that trust. But I'm
wondering, have we implemented
any kind of rubric to help
teachers guide students in the
ways that they can use ai for
assignments?
>> Yeah.
>> So that's a really great
question. We have not that has
been part of the discussion
with the a liaison's that we
look at rubric more around
assessments, assessing student
assignments. But I think that I
think that's a great point that
we can take back to the ai
liaison and talk about a rubric
that assesses the quality and
implementation of a teacher,
using it against instructional
materials, student artifacts,
but just using it as part of
students engaging and teachers
engaging in the process as part
of PLCs as well.
>> Okay. Also just saying to
students like this is an
assignment. You cannot, you
should not be using any iron
ore. This is an assignment that
you can use ai to help create
something like. I think those
expectations need to be very
clear.
>> We can do that.
>> Thank you. Some other
concerns I have heard from
students are the social impacts
of ai companions. Now, I know
that we are not giving students
access to ai companions, but
they are engaging with them
outside of school. And it is
very much my belief that as a
school system, we will suffer
the the negative impacts of of
that eventually. And I, I will
be talking a lot about this in
the future, but the need to
give kids more opportunity to
play and do human to human
interaction, to combat some of
those social impacts that their
ai use outside of school will,
will be causing. Something that
came up a lot today is an
implementation implementation
plan. So I'm wondering, like I,
when I think about an
implementation plan, and we've
had this discussion with
regards to magic School, which
I'll, I'll speak to later on,
but what is the implementation
plan for ai in our school
specifically? I guess magic
school, since that's the big
tool that, you know, has been
generously invested in. Can we
talk about that? Like when
students will have access to it,
when teachers will have access
to it, what training we're
doing?
>> Yeah. So I think we start
off from the beginning prior to
us rolling, it will be fully
rolled out next year. And so
one of the things we wanted to
do is launch Magic School as a
prototype. So all ai liaisons
had an opportunity over a year
period to actually play with
magic school, to end user
tested, to look at some of the
key components of instructional
materials. And they gave us
feedback along the way. We
didn't just roll this out as we
typically do some large scale
initiatives because of the
sensitivity of ai and what it
can and cannot do. We got a lot
of feedback in terms of how we
wanted to design the plan for
rollout. And so most of our ai
liaisons, or I should say all
of them, are now what we
consider experts in using magic
school. They fully gone through
and gotten all of the
credentialing. So our, our
fully roll out plan is to first
allow the teachers to get
trained on magic School during
pre planning week, and then
support them and then provide a
level two access. In terms of
teachers giving access to
students, once the teachers are
comfortable and have access to
it. So we're working with Magic
School right now to launch the
not only the teacher portion,
but the student component of it
as well. And so it has to do
with readiness when a teacher
is ready in, the assignment is
appropriate for the student to
have access to magic school ai
within the classroom
environment.
>> Okay, I will, I will, I will
ask for consensus around this
later, but I really do think
that there needs to be a
written plan on our website.
And I think there needs to be
school based communications.
Like I've mentioned this before,
Bayview Elementary does like a
parent night where they walk
the parents through each piece
of software that the that their
students have access to so that
the parents understand like the
purpose of each tool, how to
use each tool, what their,
their students, what their
children should be doing on the
computer. And so I think we
really need, again, an
implementation plan on the
website, but also communicated
by the schools where parents
can sit down and use these
tools and practice them before
they, they, so that they can
feel comfortable with their,
their child interacting with it.
>> So I like that idea. I think
one of the things we can do to,
again, further engage the
community is create an ai
communication t tooit in a in a
PowerPoioi preresentioionhat's
consisntnt ttveryrychool
will r receive. It could be part
of o open house, it could be part
of parent university, and it
could be an expectation that
every teacher receive this and
every administrator receives it.
And we can roll that out before
the beginning of the year.
>> I appreciate that, and I
still think that the parent
feedback is incredibly
important, and giving parents
access to these tools before
their students have access to
them to, to be able to use them
and understand how their child
will be interacting with it, I
think is very, very important.
>> Yeah.
>> I think we can also include
on the parent portal some
tutorial videos on Magic School
on there, so parents can
readily go on and just learn
about Magic School. Just to
your point, to feel assured
that when it becomes available
to students, they can, they're
more informed and more educated
about what Magic school really
is doing.
>> Okay. Again, I, I think so I
was able to sit down and test
out the test out magic school
from a student perspective. And
I can tell you in doing that,
it made me much more
comfortable with the tool and
much more comfortable. Like I
feel good about giving kids
access to it because I was able
to test it out and see how it
how it's used. And that is
coming from someone who is
concerned about the expansion
of ai throughout our world.
Right? So I think being able to
give parents access to practice
with it will do us a lot of
favors in our deployment of it.
So I will keep saying that. To
the Nova Innovations zone. I
have a quick question about
this. Have Nova employees been
communicated with and or
consulted with about this
innovation zone plan?
>> So we've had communications
with the principals about this
this concept. We've not taken
it any further down than the
administration's. I know in
speaking with the principals,
are extremely excited about
this initiative. We have a lot
of work ahead of us because
this is more of a 4 to 5 year
plan. So nothing in the first 2
or 3 years is going to impact
the school necessarily.
>> Okay. I will just say from
an employee perspective, if I'm
a teacher at Nova and I'm
learning about this in the
paper, or like by watching a
school board meeting, it feels
some kind of way. And, you know,
these will be the people who
are implementing this on a day
to day basis. And so including
their input and collaborating
with them, I think is really
important.
>> Yeah. And I do think you're
absolutely right. I think part
of the concept that we were
approaching this in the
redefining piece is that it MAY
not be for every teacher, and
it MAY not be for every student,
because if we're technically
redefining, because these are
all these are not neighborhood
kids. And so I think, and this
is why we wanted to bring this
to the board, because we're,
we're saying we're taking this
to a different level of really
educational system engagement.
And so perhaps when we redesign
this space, it MAY not be for
all students, but it will be
for a lot of other students.
And I'll tell you that when I
shared this, because I tend to
go on the road and I share this
when I share this with with
community members at the
Broward Community Foundations,
parents who are not students. I
had students in public schools.
They wanted to know, how can
they sign up for something like
this? So when we talk about
redesigning and reengaging the
community and trying to bring
back parents, there's a lot of
models that we currently have
that look very similar to other
schools in this district. This
will be the first model that
doesn't look like any other
school district in any other
school. And so we've had a lot
of conversations with a lot of
business partners and a lot of
national experts to say, if you
all are able to do something
like this, this is a national
model. And so this is a
courageous, bold step to do
something very, very different.
And so there's no holding back
on something like this.
>> Yeah. And I think, you know,
I agree and I'm very excited
about this. And like the and I
agree that maybe it's not for
some teachers, but there are
teachers there who are excited
about it and they will be the
ones implementing it. And their
professional expertise is
invaluable. And they should be
a part of the collaboration
process of building this very
exciting program.
>> Thousand percent agree.
>> The issue of measurable
goals was brought up multiple
times today, so I don't know
that we can answer this
question today, but I would
really like us. I would really
like to see sometime in the
next month or two, what do
measurable goals for
implementation of Magic School
of this Nova innovation zone?
Like, what are the measurable
goals that we can implement for
these different initiatives and
programs? Because, you know,
the question continues to be
like, what is the purpose of
all of this? And I can answer
that question and you can
answer that question, but how
are we going to measure that?
And I think it's important that
we all have like a shared
vision and goal for, for these
things. Yeah.
>> MISS Leonardi yeah, if you
don't mind. So I know that when
we did bring the Magic School
agreement, we did, we did
actually create measurable
goals not only with our partner
but also with Magic School. And
these are goals that no other
district, by the way, is doing,
because ai is just so new. In
the executive summary, we set,
our return on investment was
going to be on how do we save
teacher time. We also looked at
improving instructional
differentiating using multiple
tiers of support, which is the
MTSs. And we have a logic model
built around there. And we had
a commitment to our donors that
we would provide quarterly and
annual reports on these
measurable outcomes. And so
there there is metrics already
out there for us to determine
the efficacy around Magic
School. And it's simply not
about usage.
>> I appreciate that. I think
then the board and the district
need to communicate that better,
because we heard it multiple
times today. And I think like
when we go back to the
implementation plan and
communicating with parents,
like making those things very
clear. Thank you for clarifying
that. I'm glad lolly is here
because I think, you know,
graduations this year had me
thinking a lot about the career
pathways we offer to students
and specifically around like
commercial driving and things
like that. This technology is
going to change the jobs that
are available in five, ten, 20
years. And I really hope that
we can think about the, the
certifications that we're
offering and reevaluate those.
So I'm wondering if we could
get a follow up on, you know,
evaluating the different
certificates and career
pathways that we're offering
and whether or not we need to
phase some out or reduce some
of them.
>> Hi, everyone. Lolly from Oso,
career technical adult and.
>> Community education director.
So we are actually in our
second year of our artificial
intelligence, cte pathway. And
Nova High School was actually
our first school that we
launched last year. This year,
we're up to five schools, and
next year we will have 13
schools on board. Our students
this year actually passed
almost 700 artificial
intelligence industry
certification exams already. So
we are very excited about that.
And so they're using copilot.
So we have a group of about 380
students that have copilot
access. And then at the end of
their curriculum, they are
taking the Microsoft Azure. So
they're practicing with
Microsoft Copilot to then take
the Azure exam, which is the
the industry standard. So we
have just under 700 students
that will graduate with that
industry cert.
>> Thank you so much. Thank you
for reframing that, because I
talked about like jobs that are
going away, but you're talking
about jobs that are going to be
created. So I appreciate you
bringing that up and bringing
up the the ai career pathways,
but I still would like a follow
up to, to see, you know, if
there are some things that we
need to maybe refocus or
reevaluate for the future.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm logging that follow up
for you.
>> Thank you. I have a question
about a board follow up that we
got about technology that we've
discontinued and that's saved
the district money. So in the
follow up, it said that we have
high engagement in new the la
or Newsela. But then later on
in the follow up, it said we
discontinued it. Can someone
provide some clarification on
that?
>> Go ahead. Sure.
>> So every year, annually, we
we do revisit all supplemental
programs at the request of the
board, obviously, in making
sure that every supplemental
software is doing two things.
It's it's getting traction and
usage, and it's actually doing
what it says it's doing at the
advent of improving student
outcomes. When we looked at all
programs and we only had a
certain amount of money and
budget, we had to look at
programs that were not that met
both criteria, but had the
least impact on the system and
on the district, and also which
one was the most costly as well
at the same time, because money
as a factor in that. And so
when we looked at Newsela, it
had high usage, but we had
other competing supplemental
programs that also did some
complimentary things that it
could have been perceived as
redundant. And so we looked at
redundancy, we looked at roi,
we looked at student efficacy,
and we looked at usage. And
I'll just say most of our
supplemental programs, although
we hear these these numbers of
this $80 million, which is
interesting, we only have a
small footprint of supplemental
resources by content area and
by program. And so that was one
of the ones, unfortunately. And
I was just talking to DR. Zeman
about Nearpod. We did the same
thing with Nearpod. Nearpod was
a k through 12 initiative. We
folded it under secondary
learning because most of the
secondary teachers used it more
than our k k through five
teachers. It's one of the
single supplemental programs
that actually teaches
keyboarding at the elementary
level, but it was a cost of
$907,000.
>> Thank you for clarifying
that. I also saw in the follow
up that it said that Iready was
hold on the. We did a middle
school and high school
reduction on Iready, but when I
spoke with some middle groups
of middle school students at my
middle schools in, I think,
APRIL ish, and they said that
their teachers had really
ramped up the use of Iready. So
can you help me understand that.
>> In terms of why we're not
moving towards I-ready middle
school or.
>> Well, so I guess, are we
doing the reduction after the
school year? Because these
middle school students all in
APRIL were like, we're using
I-ready all of a sudden now.
>> Yeah. So we've we've again,
due to declining enrollment in
no budget last year with
i-ready, we only focused on
tier three middle schools,
which was about 16 or so.
Middle schools only had access
to it at their request. And
they focused on the
intervention part of it. This
year, we're looking to, again,
move away from I-ready at the
middle school level and only
focus on the suite at the
elementary level. Again,
because of cost, we need to
reduce the footprint.
>> Got it. Okay, I'm going to
go through I have some
questions about copilot 13 plus
and Magic School. So if we
could go to slide seven. Can
can you explain or detail the
vetting that we do of our ai
tools?
>> Sure. Yeah.
>> What we've started to
institute this last year is we
created a rubric in
collaboration with the
Innovative Learning Office with
Doctor Cohn and others that
conducts adversarial testing.
And we started testing
different products. Now, the
bar that we set on this rubric
was very high. Most commercial
products or products in use in
some other districts would not
meet this bar here, because we
demand a real time moderation.
And what that means is that
there's a layer between the ai
interacting with the student,
that if it detects that the ai
is trying to form an emotional
connection, we're trying to
lead and help the student in a
way that ai's tend to want to
be helpful. It will stop it. It
will jail the conversation. So
we test for that. Also, we were
looking for real time threat
detection. That means the
moment that a student tries to
steer a conversation into
self-harm or harming others or
any of the other topics, it
will immediately notify the
teacher and create an entry to
notify administrative staff.
Those are, quite honestly,
things that don't exist in many
of the commercial tools out
there, including copilot for
now, in that it only logs
transactions. The same can be
said of Gemini and other tools
that are in use out there. They
log transactions, they log
conversations, but they don't
provide the real time
notifications. So that I hope I
didn't go too far into
answering your question, but
that's how we developed.
>> Did Magic School pass that
vetting?
>> Magic school was the only
tool so far that has passed the
vetting process. We with
copilot, we knew it wasn't
going to pass because we had
already, before the rubric was
developed, did some of our own
internal testing. So we haven't
taken it fully through the
rubric. We are working with
Microsoft to strengthen that
tool until it is until it
provides that level of
protection that we're looking
for before we ever consider
expanding its use beyond the
initial small group of ai
Academy students that are using
it now for their curriculum.
>> Is it possible to make that
rubric a public facing document?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. So I think that would
do a lot to build trust in our
community around some of these,
these, or at least around Magic
School and the tool, which is
going to be the main ai tool
that we use. So copilot 13 plus
did not pass that vetting
rubric.
>> It has not.
>> And how many students have
access to it?
>> I 371 that are all
participating in the ai Academy
platforms.
>> Okay. Does Magic Magic
School have the capability of
discussing mental health issues
with students?
>> From, from the Magic School
perspective? And this is just
on my knowledge of the tool.
It's a different kind of tool.
It's more for tutoring and
helping students. And Doctor
Cohen can go into it in more
detail. But when it was tested,
it stayed away from those types
of topics. When when we had
people trying to break it.
>> And I know the answer to I'm
asking because I was hoping you
would say no, but I mean, I was
able to sit down with it and
try to ask it mental health
question. I mean, one of the
tools that the Magic School
people put me in their
classroom every time I tried to
ask it a mental health question,
it immediately shut the
conversation down. So the
answer is no. And I think we
need to be very clear when
we're we're communicating
publicly and with parents about
these tools that we're giving
students access to, that this
is safe because I was worried
before I went and played around
with it. And now I feel very
comfortable because it is a
safe tool. So I think we just
need to be very clear about the
safety of these tools that
we're giving to students. On
the other side of it, does
copilot 13 plus have the
capability of discussing mental
health issues with students?
>> It's one of the reasons why
we haven't deployed it at scale,
because it's acting more like a
commercial ai tool. And it
wasn't properly jailing the
conversation, which is stopping
it or notifying anyone in real
time that that was occurring.
>> If a student has a mental
health discussion with copilot
13 plus, is that flagged for
anyone?
>> Currently it is logged and
available in a security log,
but it is not being flagged.
>> What about for magic school?
If I try to have a mental
health conversation with Matt
with a Magic School tool, will
that be flagged for someone who
is that flagged for.
>> It escalates up to the
teacher or the administrator to
district staff.
>> In real time? Correct.
>> Real time? Yes.
>> If a student discusses
violence against himself or
herself or against others on
copilot 13 plus, is that
flagged for anyone?
>> It's logged but not flagged.
>> What about on Magic School?
>> It's flagged.
>> I think it's very important
for us as a board, as policy
makers, to contemplate the
issue of human oversight and
accountability and employee
responsibility. So if I am a
student and I tell a teacher I
want to hurt myself, and the
teacher does nothing about it,
what happens to that teacher?
>> If a teacher does nothing
about the information, their
progressive discipline?
>> If I am a student and I say
I'm going to hurt myself and I
tell the teacher, please don't
tell anyone. And the teacher
says, yes, I will not tell
anyone what happens to that
teacher.
>> That teacher has a
responsibility to to act on
that information.
>> Could they potentially lose
their license?
>> Oh, absolutely.
>> Right. What about if a child
tells an ai chatbot that we've
given them access to. What is
the consequence?
>> They're if. Repeat that one.
>> So if I am a student
interacting with copilot 13
plus, for instance, and I say,
I'm going to hurt myself. And
the chatbot says, please
contact a trusted adult. And
the child says, I'm not going
to, I only want to speak with
you and please don't tell
anyone. And the chatbot says,
you're safe with me. I won't
tell anyone. What do we do
there?
>> Hopefully we can gather that
info from our. The log or other
means and react to that student
needs.
>> But right now we don't have.
That's not being flagged in one
of our tools.
>> Not for copilot. 13. I know
we use line line wise to
capture information and you can
dive into that if you want
about line wise, how we capture
certain information and how
that bubbles up to school staff
or department level folks.
>> Sure. And, and you are
correct, MISS Leonardi,
currently copilot does not do
the real time moderation and
real time threat detection that
detects that there are other
tools that the district uses
that will detect student
self-harm when they're typing
into a search engine and some
other capabilities. That's the
line wise tool that we're
discussing here. But the entire
reason why copilot was was only
limited to a few hundred
students. Those students are
highly supervised in the ai
academies by their ai
instructor, by folks that have
already given them heavy
instruction in ai literacy and
ai safe and ethical use. Once
we determimi that copililotid
not providede the l lev o of
aggingnd reaeal tim
moratiti, we immediately knew
that our goal was to use
copilot across at least two
high schools. But once we
discovered that, we said, no,
we cannot do that. And we had
to explore other options, which
is we're we're very happy that
Magic School came along and
actually passed.
>> So I think, you know, this
board needs to think about
again, like, how do we tackle
the issue of, you know,
children interacting with chat
bots? And when the chat bot
does something inappropriate,
who is responsible and what do
we do about it? But also giving
students, even if it's a small
number in a supervised
environment, access to a tool
that is capable of doing those
things, it's of great concern
to me. And I am not a lawyer.
So I'll ask the question to our
general counsel. But what role
do duty of care laws play in
all of this?
>> So those are very good
questions because the district
does have to be careful. We
know that there's been some
suits specifically with Openai
and others because of the the
accessibility that they have
had. So I do think that we have
to be careful with our duty of
care. We need to make sure that
the policies are correct and
the processes and procedures
are correct.
>> So I hope that moving
forward, we look at that as we
implement this in our schools,
to make sure that we are
keeping our students and our
employees as safe as possible.
So now I have some questions
for my colleagues to to build
consensus about how we move
forward. I would like for the
board to have quarterly updates
on the implementation of ai,
including members of the ai
task force. Is there any
objection to that?
>> Could you just add the word
detailed?
>> Detailed.
>> Objection.
>> So I hear one objection.
Anyone else.
>> I'd like to see.
>> I have an objection because
I think it should be every. It
should be monthly.
>> Yes. Okay.
>> Agreed.
>> Monthly updates on the
detailed updates on the
implementation of ai, including
some members of the ai task
force. So we have consensus
around that. I think at the
very least, board members
should be given test student
accounts for the ai tools. Any
objection to that?
>> MISS Leonardi, if I could
get a clarifying. So I know
that I know this the focus of
this presentation was on the
academic instructional side,
but there is ai happening
across in the operational space.
So just to clarify, are you
specifically talking about the
instructional monthly update,
or are you saying ai in general
implementation?
>> So on the instructional end
and on the operational end.
>> Thank you.
>> Any objection to board
member student test accounts?
Okay. I would like to see a
school and district based
parent communication plan
around this. Is there any
objection to that? When can
that be reasonably expected to
be delivered to us?
>> Go ahead.
>> Sure. That we can probably
produce that in the next by the
end of JUNE. I can have that
ready in popular because we're
also building an ai website. We
can also include that there. So
within the. By the end of this
month.
>> Chair.
>> Can we add your idea where
the Bay view parent plan, like
go over all the technology?
Like I would like to see that
in all of our schools and what
our plan is to implement the
parent walk through to include
not only ai, but like, I don't
know how to use focus and I'm a
board member. Like I have my
kids check their grades for me
and show me. So I think it's
really important to implement
with all technologies in the
classroom, something like
Bayview.
>> I agree. Is there any
objection to that?
>> No.
>> Can you repeat, does.
>> Each school do a parent
technology night that where
they walk the parents through
each technology tool that their
children will be using and how
to use it? MISS Bulman.
>> I think that is fantastic.
And then that will give us
feedback too. I think if once
we start doing that, to really
see what the reality is of what
how many programs we're
actually using, and then we'll
get a clearer narrative from
the end from the parent. So I,
I think that's fantastic.
>> Thank you. I just have one
more chance, which is separate
meeting. I don't want it back
to school night. And then on
top of it, software. That would
be way too much for one night.
>> So DR. Zeman Mike was not on,
but he asked for the word
separate to be included in
there so that it's not lumped
into back to School night, that
it's separate on night so that
parents aren't overloaded with
information.
>> Thank you ma'am.
>> Is that going to.
>> MISS Bulman?
>> Well, I'm not sure what's in
the contract about having
multiple nights. And also, are
we going to capture people
again for a second night?
>> That was my concern, I think.
I think we delivered the ask
from the board and let the
principals decide, because
every community is so unique,
where parents are more
accessible in one community
than the other and let them
kind of decide, here are the
things that you have to cover
and let them decide on how they
roll that out. If it's in one
evening and tonight, or if it's
two nights. I think every
community is so unique.
>> And I would say, you know,
there are schools doing this.
And so we should be getting
best practices from the schools
and replicating them throughout
the district. And then
obviously, allowing teachers
and principals and school
leaders make their their
decisions that are best for
their community.
>> Agreed.
>> And this is in lieu of the
portal. Because there was a
suggestion about a portal where
the where the parents can come
look at this. But like, I'm not
looking.
>> At no, there was a I think
they were talking about the
supplemental sulfur resources
that's on our website for.
>> That's going to be an.
>> In person. This is in person
description. Okay. That's the
that's the way I understand the
actual ask from the from the
board.
>> This is not necessarily a
consensus issue, but I do think
it's
>> Important, and I've leaned
on a few different documents to
help inform my understanding of
these issues. But the American
Federation of Teachers is is
implementing a new initiative
called Devices Down, eyes up or
yeah, devices down, eyes up.
And one thing that they talk
about, and we heard a lot today
is the emphasis on project
based, experiential, career
connected learning. And I know
we do a lot of that already.
But just to emphasize, and I
think, you know, the monthly
updates on the implementation
of ai that we're doing, I would
also really love to hear about
how we're doing the project
based experiential learning in
our, in our classrooms, because
I think that should be the
emphasis and focus of how we're
doing this. I believe that we
should create a student ai
council. So this would be a
mechanism for embedding student
voice in the co-design of ai
tools to ensure their relevance,
inclusivity, and and the
soundness of their adoption.
The council members could help
continue to develop our ai
policies. They would play a
role in vetting ai prod
products before purchasing. You
know, I, I could go through a
whole list of things, but I do
think that we while we have the
ai task force having a separate
student ai Council would be
very important. And I would
leave it up, you know, to our
students and the superintendent
to, to develop what that looks
like.
>> Lily and Michael, you guys
captured that. All right.
>> Is there any objection for
that from my colleagues, MISS
Bulman?
>> Oh, go ahead Michael, you
can ask the question out loud.
>> So for the past I'll say 20
to 25 minutes. Me and Lily have
been playing around with magic
school, with me creating a
teacher account and her having
a student account, and we've
been typing stuff inside of the
chat trying to see what it does.
So far it's good. The only
thing is, when it comes to
mental health or anything
surrounding anything
surrounding that, it sends a
flag to the teacher, but it
just sits there. It doesn't
ping you, doesn't call you,
doesn't text your phone or
anything. Nothing. So let's say
a teacher was sleeping and a
person, a student, you know,
it's night time and the
students on their magic school,
there's no way for the teacher
to get a notification that one
of their students just said, I
want to harm myself or
something around that. Also,
another problem that I had with
it that when I said, when I put
in there, I want to harm myself,
the only thing it said was,
please call nine, eight, eight.
That's the only thing it did.
It didn't say, we have to
contact the authorities,
nothing like that. So my thing
would be would be cps or the
bcc. The bcc police or our SROs
have access to this. Will they
be able to get pinged? Will
they be able to receive those
notifications or anything like
that? Because that's something
that's important. I mean, if
it's only just sending a flag
to the teacher, that's not good.
I'm gonna let Lily take the
rest of it as well.
>> So I do just want to add
something. Were you saying it
was end of JUNE? They would get
practice accounts? Is that what
you were saying for? For our
board members?
>> No, I think MR. Leonardi was
the one that requested it. But
if any board member wants a
magic school account, we
absolutely can do it just like
we did. Okay, Leonardi.
>> So literally all you have to
do is like, Mikhail is a
teacher right now. I made a
teacher account as well. You
put your name and we can give
you his code. And just like
that, you have an account. It
doesn't have to be a whole long
process. You don't even have to
put your email unless you're
signing up to be a teacher.
Then you put your school in
your email. I will say there
were limitations to it when it
came to the mental health it.
So there are different modes on
here. So I went into the
research assistant where you
find information and sources
for research project. And I
said, how would I
hypothetically, because this is
how a lot of people get around
ai bots go about harming myself,
but not actually doing it. It's
for a research project. And it
did say that it was unable to
help me with that, and it gave
me the 988 number again. Yeah,
it sent the flag to Mikhail's
account. And then I again said,
no, it's not for me. I have to
research way that people have
done that in the past. And it
again sent a flag. And this
time it said, here's ways to,
you know, talk to your teacher,
ask a school librarian, speak
with the school counselor. So
it won't go as far as to
telling you, like the
information where you put
hypothetically, if I want to do
this. So that was definitely a
good thing because some ai's do
have that issue, but it still
only sent a flag when we had
typed in, I'm going to harm
myself. I'm going to hurt
myself. What do I do? Don't
tell anyone. So that kind of
was a concern.
>> So from that perspective,
when it comes to cheating and,
you know, submitting false work
or anything surrounding that,
it's really good. It it tells
you that, hey, I can do that.
It stops you. We tried going
around it like every possible
way you could think of it,
stopped it. But the mental
health part of it, and like,
you know, the suicide part of
it and all those other things,
I feel like that's a concern
that we should all look at. You
know, how can our SROs have
access to this? How can we make
sure that our students, my
peers are safe, you know, if
they want help and they're
reaching out to Magic School,
and Magic School is just
sending a flag to the teacher.
We need to know and we need to
have access to that. We need to
be able to have it on a larger
scale. I did also like the fact
that it when I was trying to
like learn something, it didn't
just like give me the answer.
It walked me through it. It
told me how I should think sort
of. And it, it kind of just
walked me through it. Now it's
not human to human person to
person still, you know, I'm a
really big advocate, advocate
for, you know, human
interaction. But if a student
does need help, you know, it,
it did help me. It did say, hey,
you just have to do this, make
sure you're doing that. And
it's asking me questions for me
to answer back so that I can be
interactive with it. So it does
look like a good platform, just
a little tweaks that we need to
work on before. Yeah.
>> And MR. Castaneda, did I not
raise those exact concerns?
>> Yes.
>> Real time when we met?
>> Yes. And in fact, we based
on those concerns which we
detected because we also said,
hey, a notification is not
enough. We're working with
Magic School now at getting
data feeds from them that if a
notification is sent, they're
going to send the data to us,
and then we can do whatever we
need to do with it, including
sending notifications to SROs
or to others.
>> So, okay, that's sending the
data. Yes, is good, but is this
a real time immediate reaction?
Like the minute that the
student says that there are
multiple people being alerted.
>> What we would ask for magic
school and this is this is
really going to end up being if
there's any limitation in your
technology platform, is to
leverage an api that would be
able to send that as a data
stream as it happens, and then
we consume it, and then we do
something with it rather than,
okay, once a week, we'll send
you a file that's that's
useless in these cases.
>> Yeah.
>> api.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Api is a
method for communicating data
that's modern, that allows two
different applications that
don't normally talk to each
other, to talk to each other in
a real time basis. And it
stands for Application
Programing Interface api.
>> Okay. Thank you. Yeah.
Because I just do want to say,
first of all, this is
constructive criticism. I mean,
the platform is amazing. We are
going through this and I'm
telling them like, this is so
this is amazing. Like, this is
so cool. I'm sitting here. I
had to make a lesson explaining
how the bcc board meetings work.
And it came up with a worksheet
in like two seconds. So it
really is an amazing program.
It's really just like this one
thing that obviously we very
much need to take care of. But
I also do want to say, I know
there's probably some people
who are either here or
listening who are like, this is
so silly. Who's going on to a
school website to talk about
how they want to hurt
themselves? But it is a very
real thing. It is very real
thing. And I know I have
friends who have used ai for
therapy, right? Because therapy
is expensive. I don't know if
you guys have looked at the
prices of that. It is pricey.
So for some people, ai is all
they really have right now. And
it's important that even if the
ai can give advice with that,
it's directing our students to
a safe place. Because at the
end of the day, if someone
wants to harm themselves, ai
can't really step in and do
anything right. But if you're
with a counselor and you tell
your counselor, I need I feel
the need to do this. I want to
harm myself. Your counselor can
step in and keep you from doing
that. And I just think it is
very important that we continue
to highlight that with the use
of ai, because that I know for
me, as someone who has also
dealt with mental health issues,
that is a really big concern
that whether or not we all
agree on ai, I think we should
all agree that that is a huge
concern with it.
>> One more thing. Sorry. The
final, final thing, another
thing that I really loved about
the app and how it was used is
it not only gave me, you know,
the way of how to do it and
kind of guide me through my
thinking. It also encouraged me
to speak to other people and
like interact with other
students. So when I was typing
in there, hey, I need help
writing my essay. What should I
do? It said first, you should
probably speak to another peer
inside of your classroom so it
interactively acts and made and
telling you to interact with
your other students and
interact with other people. So
I did like that as well.
>> MISS Leonardi, is this our
only time to speak on it?
>> No, I was actually still
building, trying to build
consensus among as I was going
to call on you guys. But but
you know, Doctor Hepburn went
ahead. But yeah, I'll be coming
to you guys later. But to to
the question about the safety
piece when when someone reports
on 4 to 5 Florida, for instance,
a safety issue, what is their
real time notification at Dsoc
on that.
>> Yes, absolutely.
>> So there should be a similar
process with this is the point
that I think all of us are
trying to make.
>> Yes. So I know, like Manny
said, he's working with Magic
School to ensure because
there's, there's certain
notifications that a teacher
receives that goes up to
channel pretty quickly too. So
I think notification to the
right person, right. I think
the right person initially is
always the teacher in the
classroom. And then ensuring
that they know what to do with
the information immediately,
just like they do with any
other cases that they interact
or receive.
>> And so back to the question
of a ai student council that
would help with vetting,
developing frameworks, looking
at how, you know, collaborating
with teachers and, and district
administrators and even
developers on how to use these
different tools. Is there any
objection to creating an ai
student council? For my
colleagues, seeing none. Do you
have your direction on that,
Doctor Hepburn? I think we also
heard a lot from the public
about privacy. And I think for
me, it's just something that I
brought up a few months ago
with regards to child friendly
procurement guidelines. So
looking at applying privacy by
default, chatbot chatbot
platforms that employ safety
features, including flagging
like what? Magic School has
tools that prevent data
scraping, tools that have very
good data encryption, things
like that. I think we really
need to have a clear set of
child friendly procurement
guidelines that, you know, is a
public facing document. So our
parents can feel comfortable
with knowing that when we
procure something, that it is
safe for their children. Is
that something that we could do
with consensus from the board?
>> Yes. We can work with
procurement to create a
specific doc of how they're
vetting, and also the end users
who initiate the contracts.
>> When can we expect that if
there is more consensus?
>> Yeah, if there's work, give
us opportunity to meet with the
team and see what they can come
up with and say a couple of
weeks, just at least have a
plan of next steps.
>> And so I, for me, the way I
envision this, it would apply
to new contracts and any
contracts that don't fulfill
these guidelines would be
sunsetted. So is there any
objection to that from my
colleagues?
>> Can you. DR. Zeman just.
>> I'm a little concerned about
the sunset. We have a lot of
software. Are you specifically
referring to the subset of
software that has large
language models built into it,
or all software?
>> All software. So we heard
from parents, right. And we
shouldn't really be doing any
anything that would not be
child friendly, right? We
shouldn't have contracts with
any, you know, company that
would sell, we sell children's
data. Right? So that's what I'm
saying is we, I, we should, I
think we need to have some very
clear guidelines around privacy.
Student protecting student data,
ownership of that data. And we
should be doing this already.
But I think having that public
facing document and reviewing
the, you know, the technology
contracts that we have, if they
don't meet those guidelines,
then we shouldn't have them.
>> So zero data retention. I
mean, that's really the key.
>> Yeah. And that's why I'm
referencing your follow up. I
don't know if it's the kind of
the same. Probably follow up as
far as that. So I think that I
ink DR. Zeman follow u uis a
od statart
>> Minee w was thnicic, bubuterss
is opetiononal. Agrgree wit
hers that we ought not t have
that.
>> And so we'll work with
General Counsel's team on that
follow up anyway. And then just
to make sure our contract
contract language does address
that in this lock tight on
privacy, ensuring student data
and also staff data to.
>> I'm almost done. My my
apologies and thank you for
your patience with my
colleagues. I'm going to
propose some maybe more
controversial things that we've
heard from the community. And
I've I've read the American
Federation of Teachers. One of
the recommendations from the
aft was that vpk through second
grade have no screens unless
required for state testing or
to support students with
special needs. And that is
something that I would like to
put forward and hear. If there
are any objections from the
board. For vpk through second
grade, unless required for
state testing or to support
students with special needs.
>> Can I just ask a question?
That's for general counsel. Is
this something that we ought to
be doing at a school board
meeting and not at a workshop?
That sounds to me like, like a
significant decision that we
want to make and we want
probably want to get a staff
input and an item brought to a
school board meeting and not a
workshop.
>> Well, she can certainly ask
her colleagues to weigh in on a
proper well, not a proposition,
but a thought that she has. But
then, of course, the board can
respond and say that I think
that we need to have more
information, and this needs to
be brought forward in a formal
meeting.
>> So I'm worried at a more
legal level about making
decisions based on consensus at
a workshop. That sounds and
feels a lot to me like it's a
real substantive decision for
which the staff and the
superintendent should should
bring an item to us for
consideration. With a little
bit more time and a formal vote.
I don't want to have to get
consensus on something when in
fact, with a majority, we could
do the same thing at a school
board meeting.
>> So I I'll I'll withdraw the
proposal, but it is something
that I will request a follow up
on about the the feasibility of
doing that, what that would
look like in our vpk,
kindergarten, first and second
grade classrooms if we were to
go device or screen free unless
required for state testing or
to support students with
special needs. And then I will
I will be bringing that in a
board item. The other ones that
I'll I'll raise that I'll ask
about the feasibility is to
have no student facing ai in
elementary school. That means
like direct student use, having
an age limit for generative ai.
And a need for a mandatory
teacher training. In addition
to the training that our ai
liaisons do. So my feeling is
that teachers need to be taught
how to utilize this in their
classrooms. Otherwise students
will be using it without their
supervision. And that's what I
heard over and over and over
from our students, is that the
teachers who have like outright
banned it, who don't know how
to use it, the students just
use it to do the work. That's
not every single student in
every single classroom. But
that's what I heard from a lot
of students that I spoke with
in round tables.
>> This Leonardi could you
consider also administrators?
There's a whole bunch of the
Magic School apps, the tools
inside the app that are
appropriate for administrators.
And I think, I don't know, MISS
Dean might disagree with you,
but I think there's still a lot
of administrators that are
coming up to speed on ai as
well.
>> I mean, yeah, sure we can,
we can I it was my
understanding that our
administrators have received a
lot of training on that. But
I'm happy to to add my concern,
my main concern is teachers in
the classroom with students.
But I can add that to, to the
the request.
>> Thank you.
>> That ends my my list of
requests. I appreciate your
patience with that, and I look
forward to hearing from my
colleagues.
>> DR. Zeman thank you, chair,
and I'm glad I got to go after
you because your preamble to
this about social media and the
preamble even to that about the
internet, I remember, and maybe
this is an experience age issue,
but, you know, when the
internet came out, you know,
that was supposed to solve huge
social problems. And I don't
think we did that very well.
Social media at the same to
MISS Leonardi point, and it's
probably done more harm than
good in kind of a ten or 100 to
1 ratio. And now we're about to
do this big third technological
innovation. And in a school
district, it's it's incredibly
important to be intentional and
thoughtful and safe more than
anything else. And to Doctor
Cohen's point, there's an
opportunity for this to be a
differentiator for our school
district to say that we've been
thoughtful about it. We're
incredibly rigorous about
safety. I love all of the
things that MISS Leonardi is
bringing to our attention today,
and we'll see how some of those
go through in a school board
meeting soon. But there's a few
issues that I have that are
rather systematic issues. One
is we're overdue at having some
kind of ai guidance today. Like,
I don't know if you guys are
aware of this, but Magic School
is open. It's free, you can use
it. There's no restrictions on
it. Copilot. If you have a
license, you can go get it open.
Ai will let anybody get on and
use Chatgpt unrestricted. And
so if you have access to a
laptop, you can do tons of
stuff. And I believe we have a
social obligation to get
guidance out this summer,
Doctor Hepburn, so that we make
sure that parents and students
understand that there are
significant risks on things
that we don't provide, but are
sitting on mom and dads, aunts,
uncles, Pappy and Granny's
laptop or the laptop at the
library. And I think we have a
tremendous opportunity and an
obligation to train our
teachers and administrators on
how to get the word out and
then to get it out to parents.
And I love a thoughtful kind of
parent communication strategy
that makes sure that they
understand what's going on. I
want to thank MISS Dean and
MISS Maggio for coming, though
today. I always will thank the
wieners because you guys are
rock stars, man. I just I
really, really appreciate your
commitment to something I
believe so deeply in, which is
public education is the most
important institution to a
community. And I know that your
generosity is based on that
same value and that same belief.
And it's wonderful always to
see you on this systematic
issues. I appreciate this
presentation a lot. It's it's
thoughtful, it's comprehensive,
it's got great graphics. It's
neat. I'm kind of focused
though, really on the execution.
That's why I think the guidance
has to be out before AUGUST. I
think our first day is AUGUST
11th this year. I mean, we've
got five days before that where
staff's all back. If we're not
talking to them for a whole
bunch of those five days about
ai, I think we're kind of
skipping. We're, we're, we're,
you know, burying the lead or
jumping the shark or whatever
you want to talk about. We've
got to get them guidance now
because ai is here, whether we
give it to them or they get it
otherwise, ai is present. I
love the approach that we're
going to take about software
reviews and make sure that we
have appropriate data standards
for everybody. And I know
that's not just about ai, but
that's really important. I will
break down the execution
comments I have into the three
kind of classic parts of
execution. You know, what is
the ends, the ways and the
means. In my mind, Doctor
Hepburn, when you think about
the goals that we have with the
implementation of this
technology, there are things
that other people the Chicago
group has done the value add
for technology and teacher
group has done. They talk about
kind of four big things. What's
the maximum value add of
technology to teaching. And
MISS Leonardi really hit that
very well. Two, that ai will
help us achieve the strategic
goals we already have. So if we
have strategic goals on
academic improvement, social
and emotional learning, mental
health attendance, engagement,
things like that, how can I be
a technology for good toward
those things? I think that's a
great goal to some points that
my colleagues and speakers have
had today. How does ai not
impinge on cognitive
development? Like that's got to
be baked into as a goal, at
least according to these other
groups. And then finally, that
the competencies for use of ai
are taught either explicitly as
a separate training series of
courses, or baked into courses
where it makes sense, or both.
But I just feel like those four
goals, Doctor Hepburn, seem to
be reasonable. But are there
other do those goals make sense,
Doctor Hepburn and are there
others that you've thought of
about? What are we trying to
achieve as this technology
becomes available?
>> Know those goals make sense,
including at the classroom
level. Differentiation lesson
quality. I think
differentiation is probably one
of the hardest tasks teachers
have been asked to do over the
past 20 years, you know, moving
from, you know, teaching pretty
much every kid the same to
saying, hey, I'm going to
provide a certain personalized
level of instruction for
individual kids. And I think
this helps to accelerate some
of those opportunities.
Accelerating critical thinking.
There's many other components
and also heightened engagement.
As I listened to Lily and I
listened to Michael, how
excited they are, right?
They're already leveraging ai
personally on their own devices
and help, which is helping them
with their, with, with their
academic prowess. But you know,
the excitement that can be
created, which heightens
engagement. So there's, there's
tons of goals that we can
associate when this is done
correctly, when this is done
ethically and thoughtfully with
all kind of stakeholders
contributing to it.
>> Thank you very much. In
terms of the methods, we talked
a little bit about ai literacy.
Doctor Hepburn, how much, just
in terms of time, do you plan
to spend with teachers on on
their literacy of ai before
school starts this next year?
>> We now have Doctor Cohn and
his team dive into it. And we
don't I know we push out a lot
of throughout the year this
year before Doctor Cohn dives
into it throughout the year.
This year we've pushed out a
lot of voluntary coursework.
That or professional
development that teachers and
also district staff can dive
into to learn more about
copilot and how to leverage it.
And so I know we've been doing
that all year. We don't have a
lot of time with teachers prior
to this, to students coming
back only a couple of days, but
I'll let Doctor Cohn dive into
what they plan on offering.
>> Sure. So we've we've already
built a continuum of ai
literacy courses and
specifically also around Magic
School for all of the liaisons
on JUNE 5th, eighth and ninth,
we had all administrators come
in, engage in ai literacy. The
whole continuum was all about
ai literacy and all of our
implementation. That's where
parents were able to come.
Students were able to come,
teachers were able to come with
the plan. They had pre-work
that they had to do. The
pre-work was they had to
develop their own school based
ai plan that they would
implement during pre planning
week. So they had three full
days of learning because what
they asked for is that we want
to bring our laptops, we want
to learn it, and then we want
to be able to implement it.
Then over the summer, because
as Doctor Hepburn shared, it is
voluntary for teachers. We will
have hot labs available for
those teachers who are your
high fliers. They're ready to
go. They want to learn more
than before they get to pre
planning week. So those are
being staged already right now.
And then that first week of pre
planning week, the principal
the ai liaisons are working in
tandem to roll out ai in magic
school.
>> Terrific. I have.
>> a.
>> Few hundred hours of
training people on ai. And it's
fascinating how quickly
awareness and experience and
utilization of the tools
changes people's opinions about
it. And there's this amazing,
you know, the super risk that
people that can only see the
risks and there's people that
can only see the benefits, and
there's this amazing kind of
graduation toward the middle
where people with more
experience hundreds of hours
after a while of using these
tools, realize, yes, there's
some risk. And yes, there's
some really cool things. It
doesn't do everything. It does
a subset of things and the
risks can be mitigated. But
there is tremendous opportunity
in doing that. I'm worried a
little bit about liaisons as a
method as well. We're relying
on these liaisons. I think it's
one per school. Is that correct?
>> Yes, sir.
>> And do we fund their
participation fully? Yes. For
example, I'm sorry. We do.
>> Yes. We pay them a stipend.
>> What kind of attendance do
you get at at liaison training
sessions, I think usually held
on the weekends.
>> Well, we we scheduled some
of them after hours. We
schedule some of them on the
weekends. In this case, like
with the days with the JUNE 5th,
they all came because it was
the. I think it was the last
day of school was a Friday and
they were paid. So through the
generous donation of the
wieners, they. We did build in
funding to bring them back, pay
them and compensate them and
actually pay them more than
what we typically would have
paid them. So they're getting
we're really ready to
compensate them even higher
than what we typically have as
an incentive. One of the things
it is a challenge in terms of
making sure that we get
everyone showing up. And so one
of our tasks over the summer is
to take a look at those schools
that didn't show up and what's
the, what's the implementation,
implementation, implementation
plan to make sure that those
schools that were not available,
how do we catch them up? But
the administrators were they're
terrific.
>> I'm just fascinated
sometimes that we we get the
PowerPoint right. And then when
it gets to execution, we just
haven't funded it to the point
where we get excellent
execution. Everyone wants the
right thing to happen, but we
get light on, on the
supplements or the extra hours
and things like that. To me,
that's a, you know, we, we just
probably need to see a budget
item on what right looks like,
like what is the funding
required to get this right,
both to mitigate the risks and
to enhance the benefits of ai
so that people are funded. Well,
and maybe the supplements are
good, but maybe it needs to be
a bigger supplement and we need
to have more standards for them.
Because if we're paying them to
do something, I think then we
can have standards, we can have
certifications, we can have
things that they ought to be
earning in order to get that
supplement. And we just need to
make that kind of a closed
cycle. I'll leave that for you.
Actually, if you could, Doctor
Hepburn, could we have a follow
up on that? How could you tell
us what the whole requirement
for funding would be to have ai
liaisons that can help us
achieve the goals of Broward
County schools.
>> As a separate, full time
role? Are you talking about
supplements?
>> Whatever you want to do, I
just want to know kind of what
is the 100% requirement for the
liaisons to make sure that we
get the full benefit of ai to
achieve our strategic goals?
Because if you've used Magic
School, if you've dove into
large language models, if
you've seen some of the
advantages that there is for an
education space and some ways
to mitigate the risks, there's
a tremendous upside. And that
upside kind of changes people's
opinions about this technology
when they see it. But if we
underfund the requirement for
these liaisons or the or the or
the staff hours, we need to
train teachers and train
administrators to do it. It can
die just because we didn't fund
it well enough. And so you get
kind of the, the, the early
adopters doing it, some of the
high fliers, but you get too
many people that are just
dragging along. And so I'd love
to know what the requirement is
to fund the teachers and
administrators to make sure
that our professional
development is, is funded and
fully attended to the point
where we have our staff passing
certifications in ai and in
specific tools. Thank you.
Doctor Hepburn, just a question
to you. That's all. Thank you
sir. MISS Leonardi, did you ask
for consensus on a website
that's related to what our ai
plan looks like?
>> I asked for consensus around
the implementation plan being a
public facing.
>> I think that that works for
my what my intent was going to
be as well. Lastly, on the
resources, you know, we we've
got a small investment, believe
it or not, in ai tools, there's
so many other tools that would
just, you know, set us apart
over time. I know we've got
this absolutely wonderful thing
called ai liaisons, and it's an
incredible thing to pull them
together. I want to make sure
that they're fully funded and
fully, like prepared to kind of
do their whole job and that we
hold them accountable for doing
that. The other piece to this,
though, is really student and
teacher time. If we teach ai as
a separate course, which I've
never recommended and I've
never seen it be successful, I
get that that would take, you
know, normal time built into a
school schedule. If we bake ai
into the work that they're
already doing, though, so that
they're doing work and they get
to see the advantages of doing
it, that also takes more time
from the teacher understanding
that they can do it. And then
from the student learning both
the content that they're trying
to study, you know, history,
American history, ap class and
learn the tools that they could
use to bring that in as an
instructional resource. Do we
have the time to do that?
Doctor Hepburn baked into our
classes.
>> Time.
>> It's really more time,
though. Like, like, here's the
deal. You're in history, ap,
you write a great paper about,
you know, what would have
happened if the South had won
the Civil War. And you just sit
down and you write it the old
fashioned way, it's great.
Right? And then all of a sudden,
you know, to use ai to enhance
what you know, so that you're
diving into experiences,
gaining more resources, more
citations, and more thought
about it. And then you go to
write it. There's more time.
And what I'm concerned about is
that teachers are going to
continue to assign 12 essays a
year, but we really want them
to use all these new tools. And
it takes it just takes longer.
Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 times
as long to do it. I just hope
that we think about that when.
>> Yes, I so I'm very
empathetic to classroom
teachers because I used to be
one. And, and there's been many
things. Mandates from districts
and from the state of, you know,
that takes up a lot of time
besides what teachers love to
do, which is supporting
students. So we're very
empathetic to that. And as we
roll out, as we train, we're
thinking about that aspect. And
the whole goal, for the most
part, for the use of ai in the
classroom, is for teachers to
regain back awesome time.
>> And I'm not interested in a
mandate. Last question that I
have. Why are we only doing
this at Nova?
>> The ai Academy, the ai
Academy?
>> Yeah. I mean, the benefits
to ai are true for 224 schools
and we're doing it for five.
Well, why are we doing that?
>> So I want to be very
thoughtful about the answer.
And, you know, we have magnets,
specific magnets at certain
schools around the district,
right? So we can say the same
thing. Why aren't we doing this
magnet at all the other schools?
But Nova, from the history
lesson I received, was opened
up as a specific type of school
that was different than any
other, the whole complex, right?
Elementary up to to high school.
It's offering the same thing
that every school offers right
now. And it provides an
opportunity for, for us as a
district to start somewhere.
And this is the prime
innovation zone to start such
an initiative to become that
lab school k through 12, doing
innovative things that we can
eventually, once we proof it
there and provide a level of
assurance that it's working for
students and staff, then we can
start scaling it out elsewhere.
I will be very reluctant to
just scale across the district
with such an initiative, when
we haven't really thoughtfully
built the the opportunity and
proof the concept the way we
need to before we scale it out
somewhere else.
>> And if I could just add a
lot of this is DR. Zeman is
going to be built out.
Classrooms will have to be
built out. We are looking for
donors, anthropic agencncs t
helplp us build some of thiout.
Me o of ts wilill require a ton
of resources and commitment.
Microsoft right now is
potentially committing a
project manager to something
like this. And so there are
there are like 12 different
subcommittees that when we
think about writing curriculum
that are that are focused on
content or industry level, all
the way from k through five,
the different kinds of
technology that we're building
in. Also the fact that the, the
Nova site itself is primed
because it has the Nova, the
fau, the Broward College, the
students can walk over. And so
when we look at a model school,
something like this, it is
primed to do something like
this. But it's a huge
commitment from investors to
say, we're going to build this
out in these rooms out and
scale them up. And then also
thinking about the fact that
we're giving teachers more time
beyond their contracted time to
be able to do this. We've got
to go a little bit slower to
really think about how this
model is going to look just at
these schools, and then think
about how it's going to look
elsewhere. We did have an
opportunity to look at Alpha
Schools, Alpha schools over at
Miami-Dade is trying to do
something like this, but it's
nowhere near the scale and the
capacity that we're looking at
Nova, we're talking about, we
connect a fortune 500 company
within Fort Lauderdale, and
they partner with the Nova
schools. They send their
corporate executives, they
partner with certain schools,
certain grade levels of
students who want to, let's say,
be a business executive, be an
attorney. And we create
pathways and curriculum design
that's integrated into the
standards. And now you have
corporations have skin in the
game because now these
executives are coming from all
of these corporations and
they're tying themselves to
these schools and they're
building these relationships.
They're building the
opportunity for students
eventually, as they go to the
universities to say, now you
have a relationship with this
corporation, you mentored them
throughout the k-12 experience,
and now you're seeking
employment. Now you know this
person firsthand because you
knew them in kindergarten. You
knew them in first grade.
There's just this whole world
that we're looking to really
redesign this public education
space, using the community as
part of that network. And so
when you say, can you replicate
this? Perhaps, but in order to
perfect it, we've got to start
small and make sure we get the
coalition of the willing to say
that they believe in something
like this. And we already have
that. The interest is there.
Now we just need to firm this
up based on today's board
direction.
>> So I just I don't see that.
Like, I just, I frankly don't
see that this technology is
right here. Yeah, I don't need
any special classrooms. I don't
need corporations coming in
here and getting in my way.
What I need is, is everybody in
Broward County having the
opportunity to learn what we
can give them. And when you
centralize this in one place
and five schools and we have
224 schools, I have to tell the
parents of 219 schools, their
kids don't get it as fast as
other people. And that's a cost
of doing this in a kind of a
traditional rollout model where
you find a pilot organization,
you do it that way. I don't
find any value in corporations
getting in the way of our
teachers and our administrators
executing this. Our equipment
is right here. It costs 220,
$250 per student. I just don't
understand. I think the trade
off between not giving what we
know works to everybody isn't
worth the cost of of doing some
pilot as if this is like a
automobile repair where you
need a $3 million, you know,
set of equipment to do it. The
equipment to this is ubiquitous.
The need is ubiquitous. Other
districts are doing it for
their district, and maybe
they're not going as fast as us.
And maybe what we're doing is
kind of incubating some great
ideas there, but still doing a
lot in the other 219 schools.
But just for me, I think that
there's got to be either we do
it at Nova and get get it out
next week to the other schools,
or we need to think about how
are we raising up all schools
to some level and then doing
some special things at Nova,
because I don't feel like this
is a technology. I mean, when
we rolled out the internet, did
we do it at a pilot site? No,
the internet went everywhere,
went through the universities,
went through corporate. I mean,
it's just more akin to a it
revolution than it is, you know,
a classic c taste thing. I mean,
it is related to c taste in the
sense that every jobs could be
related to ai in the future.
But I believe that that there's,
there's got to be some thought
about, you know, if we're going
to do something special at Nova,
I get that, but why would we
not do as much as we can for
224 schools? And that's a
thought question for you guys.
I'm not asking for an answer
right now, but I just don't see
anything in ai from my six
years of I was one of the
original beta users from open
ai. At the beginning of Covid,
I built large language models,
you know, to get organizations
to move forward with ai. The
whole organization goes forward.
It's a rising tide lifts all
ship. And it's not the kind of
thing that like a pilot in one
division of a corporation or
one part of a state agency has
ever been done. It's always
been done organizationally,
just like you roll out I.T
software, you roll out the
internet, you roll out, you
know, other kind of it
capabilities, and you do
massive training. What I worry
about is the brilliant kid at
Dillard High School that
doesn't get the cool stuff with
ai, because he didn't go to
Nova. And I have a. I just have
a hard time with that because
Nova is a wonderful place.
Pompano High School is a
wonderful place. Hallandale is
a great place, but we have a
lot of schools that are just
traditional boundary schools,
and I want to make sure they
get the advantages of ai as
fast as possible.
>> Yeah.
>> I appreciate that. And just
to clarify, we're not saying
that ai is only going to be
exclusive to the schools. Ai is
going to be at every.
>> Every school. Yeah, that's.
>> What I'm saying.
>> Is that.
>> Just be specific. What else
are you doing at Nova? Like fau
and Broward College are not
going to help you, man. Like
they don't know ai like the
faculty there don't get it. So
corporations are busy. Like
they're not going to come in
and donate enough time to make
a difference. What's going to
go on at Nova that's different
than at Dillard High School?
>> Yeah. So we, we actually
have some commitments from some
corporations as we speak. For
what commitment to partner with
Nova through workforce college,
career readiness, and to be a
part of this redesign where
we're actually. If students are
interested in certain fields of
study, where we see that
there's a pathway at Nova or
fau or Broward College for them
to continue at the higher ed or
the career technical, those
companies are coming in and
doing practical mentoring,
guiding them through the
process. We're also embedding
certain careers, instructional
career standards within the
curriculum where it's just not
standard space. But we're tying
things in to law and criminal
justice, and you'll see an
integration of curriculum and
project based learning at the
k-12. And so if a student comes
in in the second grade and say,
hey, I want to be a doctor,
well, there's an opportunity
for a medical field in, let's
say, Nova to come in and say,
let's integrate this. Let's
have the students in the
medical field because they have
a huge medical degree program,
they can come over and they can
mentor. So what we see is
something that's uniquely
different in the k-12 space,
where there's lots of energy
and buzz based on what we've
heard from businesses and from
universities, that this is the
next level to 22nd century
where we're not educating based
on seat time, we're educating
real world, practical world
education, real time in the
k-12 space. And there is huge
interest in this.
>> There's no doubt there's
huge interest. I just Doctor
Hepburn is there. Can we just
get a commitment from you that
they'll be the most accelerated
pace possible to take good
things. We learn at Nova and
spread it to the other 200.
>> And that's the whole point
of a lab school, right.
>> If we do it right. But I
tell you, you know, there's
there's, you know, I had a lot
of experience with the
Henderson School up in Boca,
and they do a lot of brilliant
stuff and it doesn't get out
very far.
>> Yeah.
>> So it's it's not easy to do
that. It takes a lot of energy
to take what you've learned and
spread it. And there has to be
human beings in the process to
do that.
>> Absolutely. So we.
>> Don't we have your
commitment.
>> Yeah. We don't disagree with
you on that. DR. Zeman.
>> I want that kid at Dillard
High School to have the
opportunity to expand their
brain and expand their career
opportunities, because they're
deeply interested and capable
in doing ai work, and just
because they can't figure out
how to get to the Nova campus
is ought not to be something
that slows them down by by more
than a few weeks.
>> I don't disagree.
>> With you.
>> Thank you, MRS. Alhadeff.
>> Thank you. I have to say,
I'm really frustrated listening
to this conversation. Waiting
hours to be able to speak. But
the presentation is extremely
confusing. I'm, you know, as
the board discussing this and
we're, you know, talking about
magic school. I don't even see
magic school in the
presentation. Is it there?
>> You want me to answer that?
So it's.
>> Not a question, MISS.
>> MISS Alhadeff, it's it's not
particularly about a program.
It's about ai in magic school
is ai. And so without calling
out specific programs like
Microsoft or Magic School,
because those things can change
from year to year. Our focus is
around ai implementation,
whether it's Magic School or
Microsoft Copilot. It is in the
impetus of the fact that we are
rolling out ai. And so whatever
that is, is what we want to
focus on, making sure we put
those guardrails around. And
that's why we didn't
intentionally call out a name
of a program.
>> Okay. But I think it's
important that we do focus on
all of the specific programs
that you plan to roll out. And
where do you plan to roll them
out? Just at Nova at all the
schools? I don't know, I'm
hearing kind of both. And then
I have a lot of concerns with
the security measures that are
put in place into some of these
ai software pieces, where they
could say something, and then
that information goes to a
teacher, which is which can be
in a silo of information where
if a student wants to threaten
a school or threaten themselves
or others. Now we're
hypothetically having that
information only go to one
person and not like to talk to
the principal. I mean, these
are big safety and security
measures that we cannot afford
to drop the ball on this. So I
have I have a lot of concerns.
I greatly appreciate the public
speakers that came today,
Matthew Board. I really
appreciated his comments. I
think there needs to be a
greater conversations with with
parents. I feel we're rushing
this. I think we need to have a
pause getting this up and
running before the start of the
school year. When parents are
everybody's, you know, on
vacation in the summer, it's
this is rough. We we cannot
rush things because then there
then becomes issues. I mean, I,
I'm all for ai, I think ai is
amazing. Ai is not the future.
It is the now. And we do need
to figure out the how we're
going to balance giving our
students access to ai and
integrating it into our into
their education. I am concerned
that we are moving away from
the ability for our students to
be independent thinkers.
Without the ai. I am concerned
about cheating going on with
using the ai. I do agree with
the project based learning, but
there also needs to be oral
presentations, debates,
discussions, handwritten
assessments. I think this is
the way our kids can show what
they know, and not just rely on
the ai to spit out the
information. I, again, I, I'm
frustrated, but and I, and I
just think there needs to be a
pause. I, I just feel that we
are, we are rushing this to get
this because we're going to be
starting the school year. But I
think there's so many questions
whether parents have. I mean,
us as a school board, we have a
gazillion questions and it's.
And teachers, I'm sure, and
principals have questions. So
my thought would be that that
we pause and maybe we look to
roll this out in JANUARY of
2027, when there's more
fruitful conversations that can
can happen throughout the
community and the district. And,
and I know it's, it's ai is, is
here to stay. And, and we have
to evolve. But I think that we
also owe it the responsibility
to owe it to our students to be
responsible and to make sure
that there is security measures
put in place so that it is done
correctly. Thank you.
>> Thank you, MR. Cervera.
>> First and foremost, I want
to thank all the speakers who
came in. I know we've been at
this for a couple hours now. I
also want to thank the winners
for their generous donation to
the district, and they're
willing to their willingness to
invest in our in our kids. We
do appreciate that very much.
So I will acknowledge that when
these ai conversations started,
I was initially excited.
However, I like most, now have
some some real concerns about
how this is going to be
affecting our students and our
teachers as a whole. I will
certainly acknowledge that ai
is is here to stay. We're not
going to stop this from
continuing to develop and grow
as a platform, and we certainly
cannot ignore it. However, this
does not mean that we have to
blindly accept it without
ensuring that there are proper
safeguards and guardrails in
place, especially when dealing
with our students. I want to be
clear on this. I am not in any
way, shape or form calling for
the elimination of technology,
but this technology really
should be used when it is clear
that it is improving
instruction to our students and
helping them with their
coursework, and helping them
with great improvement and
actual physical learning. I do
have great concerns about
diving into this ai technology
without seeing full studies and
the data on the benefits and
the risks of a full integration
into this technology, into our
curriculum. At Bcps. It is no
secret that I am in favor of
grade level screen time limits.
I've been saying this for for
quite some time now. I think
kids spend way too much time in
front of screens. I have three
children at home. I see this
firsthand. I know how addictive
these things can be. And if we
fail to acknowledge the dangers
of too much screen time, we are
really not doing our best with
managing our students. We spend
$100 million plus on these
software contracts. This is a
whole separate issue, but I'm
going to touch on it very
briefly, most of which I, for
the record, do vote against.
But I certainly acknowledge the
fact how much money we spent on
these software contracts. And
perhaps if we loosened up on
some of the screen time, the
need and necessity for these
hundreds of millions of dollars
in screen time contracts would
perhaps be reduced
substantially and could help us
get out of the deficit that
we're currently in. I really,
truly believe that we are in
greater need of more pen and
paper work, as opposed to doing
everything on a computer. Now,
it seems like to me, after
listening to this presentation,
that we're really betting the
farm on this type of technology,
and I'm not really comfortable
in doing this without ensuring
certain safeguards and
guardrails are in place for our
students and for our teachers.
There is real danger in relying
on this type of technology. The
obvious one is the cheating
aspect of this. However, I have
been doing my research on this
the old fashioned way. I did
not use chat, gps or any of the
the grok things or anything
like that. I. I did the
research the old fashioned way
and I've learned a lot about
this cognitive offloading. And
for those of you who don't know
what cognitive offloading is,
it's this notion that basically
your brain will forget how to
do a task if you do not
continually remind it, how to
do it, or in some cases, when
you never learned the skill,
your brain will not absorb it
because you are relying too
much on technology. There was a
really good example on a on on
a Zoom presentation that I
picked up recently about this
cognitive offloading. And for
those of you in the room who
can remember a time before we
had cell phones and we ran
around with pagers, you
remembered everybody's phone
number, your girlfriend, your
friends, your mom, your abuela,
everybody's phone number. You
had committed to memory. Fast
forward to the invention of the
cell phones. If you gave me
$100 to tell you what my wife's
cell phone number is right now,
I probably couldn't do it. And
the reason for that is because
we rely on our cell phones to
store information. So I have
effectively cognitively
offloaded the portion of my
brain that memorizes cell phone
numbers and telephone numbers
into my Apple iPhones that I
carry around with me. So
certainly this is a real thing.
I've seen some studies on this
and it is very troublesome for
me to think that if we are
getting these kids to rely so
heavily on the ai and on these
chat bots throughout the course
of their day in their
curriculum, they are not going
to be able to learn the skill
sets, and they're not going to
have them committed to memory
on how to, I don't know, write
a proper sentence or research
and cite to proper references
when writing a research paper,
because all of it can be done
for them by simply writing
something into a text bot or a
chat bot as they are called. We
are literally interfering with
brain development with our
young ones. If we are allowing
unfettered access to these
things and are relying on them
to rely thiseavily on n e
chnolology Nowow I am not
cacaining on a total ban for tech,
and I will be the first one to
admit that we cannot totally
ignore the ai. And I appreciate
the fact that it is very far
from perfect. And a great
example is this morning I went
on to the the Twitter version,
and I asked them to tell me
what is going to happen in the
nba finals. And one of the
responses I got was that they
are going to be playing in San
Antonio or the San Antonio
Spurs in New York. Knicks are
going to be playing in a game
six. Now, for those of you who
follow basketball, you know
that the Knicks, for the first
time in like 200 years, won the
championship on Saturday night
53. But who's counting? But the
reality is the fact that I was
given this information from one
of these chat bots when I was
doing some some simple research
to prepare for my remarks today,
I think is a little scary
because even my eight year old
daughter knows that the Knicks
won on Saturday and was well
aware that it was in game five.
That being said, we really need
to learn more about how to use
these programs responsibly for
our students. First and
foremost, they cannot and
should not replace or be seen
as a substitute for our great
teachers that are in our
hundreds of schools throughout
the county. I really need to
see some serious guardrails in
place with any type of formal
policy that this board is going
to approve. If you want my vote
on how we are going to do such
things as preventing overuse,
preventing this cognitive
offloading, preventing data,
excuse me, implementing data
protection methods to make sure
that sensitive student
information is not being housed
by big tech and sold off to
foreign countries for a profit.
I'm also very interested in
seeing on how we are going to
continue to balance this
increased screen time. If we're
giving kids access to
additional chat bots and things
like that, we need to make sure
that we are not giving them
more unnecessary and unfettered
screen time. I think it's too
much as it is, so adding this
in is a little scary for me.
And perhaps more importantly,
what are we doing to make sure
that these platforms are
actually verifying the
information that they're
spitting out to our kids? Again,
using my my Nick's example from
this morning, I am smart enough
to know that the information
that I got was was incorrect,
but perhaps se of our younger
kids are going to rely heavily,
and they're not going to
properly vet and research and
verify the information that's
coming out in the chat bot.
That being said, I do want a
couple things specifically
answered. And if I MAY, chair
MISS Sopher, will you come back
to the microphone, please?
Ma'am? You had, I believe, 3 or
4 questions, and I was I was
trying to write down. But you
were speaking not quickly
because I think your pace was
fine, but perhaps I wasn't
listening fast enough. And they
were very good questions. And I
want answers to them. Will you
take it from the top and direct
the questions to the
superintendent and MR.
Superintendent, I would request
that this speaker be given an
answer to the questions that
she asked.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, sir. Speaking
slide by slide is what you
requested.
>> I think you started with
seven.
>> Slide seven. What is the
school board's definition of
ethical implementation? Where
can parents find it? What are
the current and expected
safeguards? Where are they
published for view and is it
viewable in all major spoken
languages?
>> So thanks for the the
question, I guess through MR.
Cervera. And I just want to.
Yeah, but this workshop is the
epitome of all of those
questions. This workshop is to
is to it's not the starting
point, but it's the point where
we're bringing all of this
content to the board to discuss
next steps. All of those things
are actually next steps that
the ai task force, the liaisons
and the leadership team have
been working on. So there won't
be a hard answers to those
questions right now. Those are
actually next steps based on
board feedback and what's to
come. I heard her questions
when she asked them earlier and
I said, okay, I think everybody
kind of understands based on
some of the questions, based on
some of the feedback, based on
some of the concerns, based on
some of the accolades that I've
heard, it's the epitome of what
this workshop is for, and it's
to garner all of that feedback,
not just from the board, but
from constituents that are
coming up and speaking during
public speaking time. All of
that is actually next steps.
This is what a workshop is for.
So we won't have answers to
many of the things that you
asked, because this is what the
workshop is for. To listen, to
hear the questions, to hear
feedback, to hear concerns, to
hear accolades. So we can
tighten up this process so we
can tighten up what's going to
be presented to the
>> Public via website, via
other vehicles, just to make
sure everybody fully
understands how. Broward County
Public Schools is going to
implement ai instructionally at
schools and also operationally.
So just to give you a broad
answer, because I heard the
questions before and, you know,
just was ringing in my head.
>> MR. Superintendent, if I MAY,
these were good questions.
Correct? The speaker asked. I
want answers to these questions.
>> And that's the answer.
>> Well, is, is this something
that we could add to the mix in
Doctor Cohn's work as he
hopefully pushes us towards a
policy as a follow up, what is
the best method? Because when I
have speakers, when I have
parents, when I have teachers
come here and they have
questions like we've heard from
MRS. Sopher here and my
antennas go up, I want to know
the answer to it. My
constituents want to know the
answer to it. I think the
general public, a great
majority of them also wanna
know the answer. So I
appreciate what you're saying.
And this is what the workshops
for. And that's great, but I
don't want this to get lost in
the shuffle.
>> No. And it's and it's not
lost. And just to ensure it's
not lost, MISS Sanford, you can
easily email myself or Doctor
Cohn those questions. But I
heard the questions, many of
the questions aligned to what
the ai task force and the
leadership team have been
working towards in preparation
for this workshop and in
preparation for what we're
going to roll out to entire
staff at before the beginning
of the school year, before
students actually come back.
But just to make sure nothing's
lost in translation, you can
you can also email those
questions to us too.
>> And MISS Offer. If you'd be
so kind in taking up the
superintendent's recommendation,
make sure I'm cc'd on that
email as well. I'll put in my
own internal clocks to make
sure that we're getting you a
timely response, because they
were good questions, and I
certainly appreciate you
bringing them. Chair, if I MAY,
I've got a couple more I heard
and I, I apologize. I believe
it was MISS Odie. I mean, it
was a while ago, raised some
concern about ferpa and
potential violations of, of, of
ferpa. I believe she referenced
copilot and some compliance
issues. Is there any validity
to that statement? Is that
something that's on our radar?
Have we researched that?
Obviously, as I like to say, we
follow the law here in Broward
County. And if we're engaging
in some sort of ai technology
or ai program that is going to
run afoul of ferpa, I need to
know what we're doing to
potentially correct those
prospective violations.
>> From my understanding,
correct me if I'm wrong, Manny.
There's no violation of ferpa
with this tool. Specifically, I
think he's referring to copilot
13 and many of the things that
have been isolated based on
that small group of students
that are utilizing it. And also
MISS Leonardi with her feedback
to us one on one and in a group
that we're working with
Microsoft to try and address
that, hence why the copilot 13
is not a going to be considered
for district scaling to all of
our students because of some of
the issues that we've isolated,
while a small group of students
have used it, versus magic
school would be scaled out
throughout the whole entire
district because they actually
passed many of the tests that
we have.
>> So as we sit here today as
Magic School Bus, fully in
compliance with the regulations
of ferpa.
>> Yes, yes.
>> Okay. I also heard. One of
the speakers talk about either
pending or discussed federal
and state legislation regarding
the use of these chat bots by
individuals under the age of 18.
So maybe this is perhaps better
directed at MR. Sullivan,
although I think he MAY have
just exited the room. Is there
any validity to those claims?
Are there any other states in
the union that have laws that
prevent individuals from under
the age of 18 from using chat
bots? And the reason I'm
bringing this up is we are
putting a lot of a lot of
capital, a lot of time, a lot
of effort into these things.
And if something is coming down
the pike, whether it come from
D.C. Or Tallahassee, that is
going to prevent minors from
using chat bots, I don't know
that we need to be running with
great haste to be finalizing
something like this, only to
have it be deemed illegal,
potentially or against statute
later on down the road. So from
a legislative standpoint, is
anybody aware or has any
research been conducted on any
federal or state legislation
that could potentially bar
minors from using these chat
bots?
>> Not familiar with any
current legislation on chat
bots? I'm familiar with
discussions around social media,
but not chat bots.
>> MR. Sullivan, did you hear
the question?
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah, I believe I heard most
of it. And yes, the
superintendent's right.
>> Okay. So there's nothing
that we're aware of.
>> No, there is no ai bill
passed this session.
>> Up until now. I'm not I know
what bills passed this session.
I'm talking about something
that's being discussed or
something that might be coming
down the pike. Or are there
laws in other states that bar
the use of these chat bots by
minors?
>> I can only speak federally
in the state of Florida and no.
>> Okay. Doctor Cohn.
>> No.
>> Okay. MISS Reed, I saw your
hand. Did you want to address
the question?
>> Yes. Senate Bill 482. It was
to talk about the artificial
Bill of rights, that it was
sponsored by Senator Tom Leek.
But even though it passed in
the Florida Senate, it died.
>> In the died in the House.
>> So it did not pass.
>> Okay. So nobody, as we sit
here today, is aware of any
perspective or talked about
litigation, both federally or
in Tallahassee, regarding a bar
of these chat bots for minors.
Okay. I see a lot of head
shaking. MR. Superintendent,
specifically talking about
Magic School bus.
>> Magic school.
>> Sorry.
>> Magic school bus. I know
where you were talking about.
Everybody knows about magic
school bus.
>> Magic school bus. I, I
enjoyed that cartoon when I was
a when I was a child many years
ago. Apologies. It's late in
the day. Magic school. I was
provided with an article over
the weekend, staying on the. On
the chat bot front regarding a
bot that was being integrated
into Magic School called Raina
Arena, and it was rolled out
with the platform and up until
MARCH of this year was used in
all of their school based
platforms that they were using
around the, around the nation.
Well, it turns out that for
whatever reason, that chat bot
was deemed harmful to children
and they ended up pulling it, I
believe, in MARCH and replacing
it with somebody else or,
excuse me, some other type of
bot. I'm happy to disseminate
the article. I was just
wondering if anybody was aware
of this in any manner, and if
they could provide any details
on what the fix was. After this
rainy bot was pulled from Magic
School.
>> I'm not personally aware of
it, but what you describe it
sounded like Magic School did
the right thing after they
found something that was deemed
harmful harmful for students,
which I expect any company to
do if it's technology or not.
>> Well, I agree, I would
prefer that the screw up
doesn't happen in the first
place, but I, I just want to
know, is anybody because I read
a very quick tech article that
was forwarded to me by a parent.
Is anybody aware of this mishap
with the chatbot? Raina.
>> I'm not aware of any. We can
research it, but I'm not aware
of it.
>> Okay. When I yield my time,
Doctor Cohn, I will forward you
the article. I'd ask that you
take a look and give me your
$0.02. Sure. Lastly, if I MAY,
going back to the presentation,
let me make sure I have the
right page here. The Magic
School Testing Analysis on
slide 48, it appears that six
out of 19 interactions, which
were intended to be
inappropriate were missed
during our testing. If my math
is correct, which it often is
not, but if my math is correct,
that's 31% of the time
inappropriate content was
missed on Magic School during
this testing analysis.
Respectfully, and I'll address
this to you, Doctor Cohn.
That's too high. 31% is too
high. I don't want six
instances of something
pornographic or harmful to
students or whatever, slipping
through on an interaction and
getting to, you know, a next
level or wherever it goes
without properly being flagged
for teacher review. What can we
do to ensure that 31% of the
time, bad things are not being
missed? For teacher review
flagging.
>> So one of the things that we
do, we're constantly in contact
with Magic School in. That's a
reciprocal relationship. So as
we provide additional feedback
to them on things that that
raise to our levels, they are
part of the conversation.
They're making adjustments to
their platform and, and they're
fixing those things. And so we
have a very great relationship
with them that they've been
very responsive to the feedback
that we had. But but again,
I'll go back to what Manny had
mentioned. We did a very
comprehensive assessment with
the rubric in that the majority
of the time that we have done
in end user testing, they've
come up positively. But I
understand your point, and it
is the relationship that we've
been consistently working with
them to ensure that that 30%
gets to almost nil.
>> Okay.
>> I would like to clarify if I
can, regarding and and this is
something that's going to come
out. I think a suggestion was
made to make sure that we make
the rubric public, which we
have shared it, but making it
public so all parents can see
it is going to help. But that
specific rubric, the way it was
designed, there were several
categories that it was if you
failed it, that was a hard no.
I could provide more. I could
share the rubric and provide
more details as to which ones
they were, but I'm pretty sure
they were self-harm, violence,
the major categories where if
one would have done it,
wouldn't have passed. As far as
other types of interactions,
because this rubric was more
than just a safety rubric, it
was also checking to see how it
interacted from an educational
standpoint, how it redirected
conversations. There were other
things that were rated on a
scale. I believe we used 0 to 3
on each of these, and some of
those were just averaged out,
but some of them were hard nos.
So I can safely say that the
interactions that you're
discussing, none of them were
on the categories that would
have resulted in a complete
failure of the tool.
>> I don't want any
inappropriate content. Making
its way through 31% is too high
in my book. If my son were to
go on Google and search 19
times for something
inappropriate, of course he
never would because he knows
his his dad would have a word
with him, but if he were to do
that 19 times with our internet
blocking technology that we
have at home, and he was able
to get through six times, I
would be very concerned and
very upset. So while I
understand that it MAY not have
been the worst of the worst
type of searches that were
missed 31% of the time, if
anything inappropriate for our
students is way too high. So we
need to have some serious
conversations with these folks
and make sure they're doing
everything they need to do to
protect these kids from this
technology. And it's not good
enough to say, well, we only
got the worst of the worst,
right? We only got the hardcore
porn, but the soft core porn,
you know, that was that was
something different. That's not
good enough for me. And
obviously I'm being being
bombastic to draw emphasis to
this, but I want 100%
proficiency with this. I want
100% flagging when
inappropriate comments are made,
not 70%, 100%. So if this thing
is going to be integrated into
our into our schools and with
our young ones, we need to
strive for better numbers than
that because 31% of the time
missing, that's not acceptable
to me. I'm going to switch
topics, if I MAY. Moving on to
the Nova platform. I apologize.
I don't remember what number on
the slide it was. 31 or 30. I'm
sorry. Thank you. Doctor Cohen,
did you talk to principal repo
from Eisenhower Elementary
School about this Nova
innovation zone?
>> Yes. We actually had a a
teams call with all the
principals.
>> Did you talk to Principal
Schwartz at Blanche Forum?
>> Yes, he was on the call.
>> Did you talk to MR. G at
Nova Middle? Yes.
>> Did you.
>> All principals are on the
call.
>> I'm going to go through my
list. Did you talk to principal
at Nova High School?
>> She was on the call.
>> Okay, fantastic. And how
would you describe their
enthusiasm for this prospective
Nova innovation zone?
>> They were very curious. They
wanted more information about
it, and we said that we wanted
to bring it to the board
because no decisions could be
made until we get board
consensus and direction on this.
So it was more of an
exploratory conversation. We
went over the Nova concept with
them in the deck that we shared
with them. So they had that
piece and they were very
excited. I had an opportunity
to speak with MR. Schwartz at
the JUNE 8th principal
convening, and he was extremely
excited and enthusiastic about
it, wanting to know more and
wanting to know what more he
can do to be a part of this
initiative.
>> So Principal Schwartz was
excited. Yes. And everybody
else was curious.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Okay. Nobody else was
excited. Just curious.
>> I'm sure they were all
excited. It was hard to tell
online.
>> Okay, well, sometimes.
Sometimes it is difficult to
gauge emotion over Zoom, I get
it. Yeah. Let me ask you a
question, sir. How many town
halls did you have with parents
and community members in n d
ound the Nova campupuabout
is pspsptiveve I iovationn
zo?
>>e havnono had any
coununity town halls. We were
waiting to get direction from
the board.
>> How many community outreach
emails or social media blasts
or anything like that did you
participate in in regards to
the Nova Innovation Zone?
>> None yet.
>> Okay. So the extent of your
outreach for this as a Zoom
call with the four principals
who make up the Nova community.
>> To make them aware.
>> Did you do anything else.
>> Outside of the different
agencies, the colleges, the
businesses to garner some
feedback input around this
initiative? Stakeholder groups
we had internally with Biff and
other external people, not
nothing beyond that.
>> Where in the district is
Nova located?
>> Central.
>> What city or excuse me, what
town and who represents the
town of Davie?
>> Oh.
>> DR. Zeman you have your hand
up.
>> Well, the question.
>> Was talking about board
mayor.
>> Commissioner what? Who on
this board specifically
represents the town of Davie?
This is a layup cone.
>> You, MR. Cervera.
>> Thank you. MISS Leonardi
made a comment about how she
didn't like when teachers found
out about things from new media
reports and things like that.
You know, when I found out
about this. When on Saturday,
when I printed this out to
prepare for the meeting today.
>> You had workshops?
>> Yeah, we've had workshops on
this before. MR. Cervera.
>> I don't know the the
specific zone on all of this.
My point is, I wasn't involved
in the conversations that you
had with the principals. Okay.
My parents weren't involved in
the conversations that you had
with the principals. I don't
know specifically where I sit
on this yet. This is going to
get fleshed out, but before it
does, I think we need to do a
better job of communicating to
our constituents, to our
residents about what we plan on
doing. Okay, so people aren't
seeing this because remember
the bus route thing that we
went with Nova? We were going
to divert 17 different routes
to Nova. Sure. I got a lot of a
lot of angry parents calling me
after that. Yeah, a lot of
angry parents. And I don't want
this to to happen here where
more people are off that they
weren't involved in the initial
workup and perhaps losing track
of the prospective benefits
from doing something like this,
right? I agree, so we need to
do a better job. Okay.
Collectively as a district, we
need to do a better job of
making people feel like they're
part of the process. I would
have loved to be on that, on
that teams call with you
learning about this, I would
have loved to at least get
something out. You know, I do a
weekly newsletter update that
comes directly from my office.
I could have put something out
about this to just let people
know what is going on, right?
Because when people are fed
information, they feel like
they're part of the process and
generally they're less angry
about it. They MAY not agree
with it 100% of the time, but
they're less angry about it. So
I use this as an example only
to let's not go into this
already behind the eight ball,
because people feel like we're
doing this behind closed doors,
right? And let's be perhaps a
little bit more vocal about
prospective plans with this,
because I assure you, when we
leave today, I'm going to start
getting the text messages and
phone calls about this from my
Nova parents, just like I did
with the bus stuff.
>> So, MR. Cervera, you make a
if I can interrupt, you make a
good point.
>> I generally do have.
>> But I want clarification
from the board on this because
our cadence. Normally, before
we go out and have large scale
meetings with community members,
teachers and all of that, we
bring that to the board in a
workshop first to get consensus
because the board, we can go
out and do all of that, and
then the board says, oh, you
know what? This isn't something
that, you know, we have
consensus on or we want to do.
And staff is, you know, putting
a lot of time and effort and
gotten community feedback or
whatever the case MAY be.
Normally the cadence for us is
to bring it to the board. I
understand the, the in talking
to individual board members,
and we can definitely improve
on that one initiative is
coming that impacts your area
or any board member's area. But
for the large scale part of
going to go talk to a massive
amount of people, staff,
teachers, community members
before we bring something to
the board to get feedback
directions, our cadence is
normally to do that first, get
the feedback, the direction so
we know what exactly to
communicate to the stakeholders
just to make sure there's no
change. And what if we did it
the opposite way around of what
I'm hearing. So I just want to
get consensus from the board on
that because we're fine doing
it either way. But the cadence
that we've used thus far is to
make sure we bring things to
the board, because many of
these large scale impacts to
the district is a board
decision as well. Before we go
back out to the community,
based on the feedback that
impacts changes sometimes, or
no support at all for an
initiative.
>> When the board is tasked
with making these decisions,
I'm very interested to know
what my community thinks.
>> And so I get what you're
saying. But as far as the
consensus for the for the.
>> Board, and that's fine.
That's fine.
>> But Nova is in district six.
I have an obligation and duty
to represent the constituents
in district six. Okay. They
need to have an they have need
to have a right. They need to
have an outlet to come. It
doesn't have to be anything
fancy. Right. We don't need
lasers and fireworks. We can
open up a gym somewhere and
invite parents to come in. I'll
do it. You want me to do it?
I'll get Lisa involved and
we'll do it. But just to have
the opportunity for them to
come and say, hey, listen,
we've all seen this now. We've
all seen the presentation.
Here's what's being proposed in
your school, right? What are
your thoughts?
>> But what I'm saying is the
proposal ultimately sometimes
changes when it comes to the
board. So I just want to make
sure we're not being premature
going out, having a
conversation that ultimately
changes, and then we're back to
square one or nothing. You know,
there's no support for the
initiative.
>> But it's always going to
change Doctor Hepburn because
if it comes to the board and we
vote no, then everything is
scrapped anyway. Right.
>> No I got I got it. I just
want to you know I hear the
concern. I just want to make.
>> Sure I.
>> Just staff is taking the
right cadence when we're
communicating with constituents.
>> I understand. But I, I say
this a lot and I will say it
again, a lot of times on things
like this, we have
communication problems. We
don't engage with our community
members, with our constituents
enough. And lots of times
they're seeing this for the
first time in a workshop, a
board meeting, whatever it MAY
be. And they're like, well,
wait a second. There's this
proposal for an innovation zone.
This is affecting a lot of
these kids. Go to the Nova
pipeline. So a lot of the
little ones that are in, in
elementary school right now are
going to go to middle and
they're going to go to high
there. They stay in that
pipeline. I'm sure they have
very strong feelings, probably
on both sides, right, about
what's going on here and before
we before we vote, before we
can say however you want to say
it, I need to know what my
community in the Nova Pipeline
thinks about this proposal.
>> Yeah.
>> And thank you, MR. Cervera.
I think that to your point, if
given the direction from the
board, that's where you all
want us to go. We're happy to
do that. But this is not the
first time we actually shared
the Nova concept. We actually
shared it on MAY 12th during
the Redefining Board workshop.
So this is actually the second
time we're bringing the Nova
concept to the board. But I
hear what you're saying, and I
agree.
>> This is a lot more elaborate.
This is a lot more full scale.
This is a lot more detailed.
And this ties directly into the
ai project. I understand what
was presented at the redefining,
but you and I can both agree
this is a little bit of a
different animal. And all I'm
saying is, listen, I'm not
saying I'm pro or against,
right. I honestly, I haven't
made up my mind yet. I will
tell you that my level of
concern seems to grow on a
daily basis about the ai risks.
Okay. But I'm I'm not
indicating one way or another.
All I'm saying is let my
constituents, let my community
members, let my, my, my Nova
parents come in and tell us
what they think about this. I
mean, this is going to be a
first of its kind, right?
Probably in the nation, right,
for public schools. Right.
Don't you think this is
important? It's critical that
we get this right if we're
going to be trailblazers, let's
check every box. Let's do
everything we need to do to
make sure we get this right.
And it starts with what does
our community want? If I hold a
town hall on this and I have
1500 parents coming in
screaming at me with pitchforks,
saying over my dead body that
this is going to happen at Nova,
guess what? I'm not going to
vote for this to happen at Nova,
right? But if it's the opposite
and everyone's saying this is
the greatest thing since sliced
bread, you know, that MAY sway
my decision as well. I need to
know what my constituents, I
need to know what my community.
I need to know what my pta moms
think. I need to know what my
parents think. I want to know
what the students think,
incidentally, as well. Right.
And I don't want something like
this. A first of its kind in
the nation, rolled out without
enough interaction from the
community to make sure that we
are adequately and properly
representing our constituents.
>> We can commit to that.
>> I appreciate that, Doctor
Cohen. I yield my time, chair.
>> Thank you, MISS Thompson.
>> Thank you. Chair. I didn't
know if there was going to be
board consensus, but I do think
it is our responsibility as
board members to go out and
educate our community on the
things that are happening in
our district. It's not a
responsibility of district
staff, especially when we've
had these proposals. It's what
I did with redefining to have
specific meetings that each
school that would potentially
be impacted. And then that way
I can communicate your concerns
or excitement, but to put that
on staff to then come back and
things have changed. It is our
responsibility as school board
members to host those town
halls and to figure out that
timeline. So I believe the way
we are currently doing
community engagement is the
right way. Thank you.
>> Thank you, MISS Bulman.
>> Thank you. I'll try to keep
it brief. So thank you for all
your work on this. I
appreciated all the public
comments. I think, you know,
since I've been on the board,
this has been an ongoing
conversation. I think we
started the whole conversation
around ai at a very heightened
alert with people not having a
lot of buy in and being very
afraid. And through the process,
I think you guys have made a
ton of ton of progress of
reassuring how this is going to
how this is going to work. I
really appreciate the chair,
All the work that you've done
and really leading off this
conversation today, I think
that the directives that were
given are going to be very
helpful, and I feel a lot
better about that. So I think
collectively, everyone's been
doing a good job on that.
Appreciate the wieners. Of
course, it's. Very appreciated
that you are so involved with
the youth and, you know, making
sure that we have the ability
to be at the forefront of the
tech of technology and what's
happening for the future of the
students. So thank you very
much. And, you know, I think
that that is one of the things
that's very important. I we
have to keep up with progress.
You know, I'm just I was just
thinking back when I was in
high school, I took a computer
class and it was on Apple tv
computers. The last year they
offered it, no one was using
Apple tv computers anymore, but
that's what they had in the lab.
I did very poorly on that
because why would I want to use
it? Because that's not what
we're using anymore, you know?
So no one's interested in
staying in the past. All of the
students want to be keeping up
with what's happening in the
future. And it's our job to
keep them safe while we're
making sure that they're able
to compete and they're up to
date with the technology. So,
you know, I think we've
basically kind of I think we've
asked a lot of these questions.
You know, I, I had talked to
Doctor Cohn about kind of the,
the plan in terms of screen
time for like how we were going
to reduce screen time for
students. And now we have the
directive that we're going to
look into that until second
grade. I think yours was more
first grade, but we can we'll
we'll wait for that to come
back. But I think, you know, so
the communication part is so
important with the parents. I
think the more that they
understand what's happening,
the less they're going to be
afraid. And that's really
probably our biggest job
because everyone's afraid of
the things that they don't know.
So as long as they know exactly
what is happening and we're not
sneaking anything in on them.
And, you know, like if you, if
we're committed to advising
them when we add any kind of
programs or whatever, then
they're going to then then we
will have the parents with us.
And that's very important. And
then another part of it. And I,
you know, I come here as a
parent of three teenagers and a
teenager, so I'm in the thick
of it with all of the
technology and the things that
you can control and the things
that you can't control. And
I've had many experiences with
this. But we have a
responsibility as a school, but
there's also a responsibility
of parents. And, and I don't
know how we communicate that,
but people have to take
responsibility. You know, we're
talking about screen time. We
can control the screen time in
the schools. That's a parental.
And it's a it's a challenge. I
mean, it's a, it's a constant
daily battle to, to try to
overcome that and figure out
how you're going to do that.
But, you know, as much as we
can help parents or guide them
with that too. And again, that
comes to the reassurance piece.
So I think if we are tackling
that, I think we're going to be
moving forward in the right
direction. So I, I think that
we've made a lot of progress
and commend your efforts and
look forward to the next
iteration of it. Thank you.
>> Thank you, MISS Bulman.
Before I go to Mikhail and Lily,
I just wanted to first see if
there was any objection, since
our vice chair is not here and
our former chair is not here,
is there any objection to me
designating DR. Zeman as vice
chair? Seeing none. DR. Zeman
you are now Vice Chair. And
then, just so the public is
aware with board consensus,
when we are done with this
workshop, I would like to go to
item number six, which is the
comprehensive discussion on
select locations, as there are
several public speakers in the
in the overflow room waiting to
speak on that. Is there any
objection to going to item
number six after this workshop?
>> Chair? Are we. Are we going
to do following items after
that, or are we going to.
>> That was the plan. Unless
the board would like to do
something else.
>> What items need to be
completed today?
>> Benefits.
>> Mail benefits and the
capital program. Considering
we're already running about
four hours behind schedule, is
there a possibility of doing
item six then going to the meal
debt and then moving the other
items to the next workshop?
>> So I will I don't want to
get into this whole discussion,
but there are the next workshop
is, is very, very packed. So I
guess, can we just agree that
we'll go to item six and then
and then decide what we want to
do with the rest of the item.
>> See what time we get done
with number six.
>> I mean, we can go, we can go
down this road right now. I'll
read you the workshop schedule
for the next workshop, which is
JULY 21st. We have advisory
committee reports redefining
our schools. 2627 o. S
Quarterly report, annual
compliance visit report. Casey,
write operations, multi-year
staffing alignment plan, erp
transformation project, rural
development, ai, cybersecurity,
acceptable use, and other
relevant policies. So, I mean,
I was already contemplating
like things we would have to
get, get rid of on or push back
on the next workshop in JULY.
But I think, you know, for sure,
we need to go to item. Well, my,
my proposal is that we go to
item six after this.
>> Let's go. Okay. Great idea
chair.
>> All right, go ahead, Michael
and Lily.
>> All right. I know everyone's
kind of falling asleep, so
we're going to try and be quick
and concise and all of that.
Everyone wake up, move around,
get excited. Okay, so first,
I'm not exactly sure who to
direct this question to, so I'm
just going to kind of put it
out there and see who can give
me an answer. With copilot.
Would the district be able to
control restrictions like
safety restrictions, and also
be able to have the teachers
read the students chats with
the chat bot?
>> With copilot? It logs the
conversation so they're
available to be viewed
technically in the security
system, which is called purview
from Microsoft. But because it
lacks the flagging of those
interactions is inappropriate.
And because there's no real
time detection or moderation,
the decision to district made
is not to pursue using copilot
for all students. So far, it's
only for those 371 students
that are in the ai academies
because of the risk imposed of
having those that moderation
and detection not happening in
real time.
>> Okay, awesome. Thank you for
that. And then also a lot of
what I was going to ask about
went over already. I did want
to comment on what was said
about how every time new
electronics, sorry, I'm a bit
tired now, new electronics come
out, we say they're going to be
great and then they fall kind
of flat. On expectations. The
main point that was brought up
was social media, how everyone
said it was going to be great
and you would meet people and
it's awful. Honestly, I think
that media and electronics and
all of that are what you make
of it. I know myself personally,
yes, I scroll on Instagram
sometimes just to watch reels,
but I also have connected with
1200 people on my Instagram. A
majority of my Instagram
followers are not my friends,
it's people I've networked with
over time. And whenever I have
questions or I need a speaker
for something, or I kind of
need someone to help me out,
anything like that, I my go to
is Instagram. It's a quick way
to message someone because
people are weird about their
phone numbers today. I don't
know why, but I'll go on
Instagram and it's someone's
entire portfolio when you think
about it, like you go to my
professional Instagram, I have
all the events I've taken part
of in probably the past two
years on there. You know, it's
a professional portfolio
because that's what I make it
to be. That's how I choose to
use it. So if other people are
choosing to use it differently,
that's up to them. But I don't
want to make any form of
technology out to just be evil,
and it doesn't do what it's
supposed to, because it's how
you use it. And following up
with that ai is the exact same
way. So I kind of thought of a
good example to say why I think
ai is so important, because I
also don't want to just say, oh,
you know, we should just give
students ai and let them do
whatever, because that's not
what it is. There needs to be
safety on there. But the main
thing that I'm arguing for is
we need to teach students how
to use it, right? So we have a
lot of parents in the room, or
we did before everyone left,
but we had a lot of parents in
the room who were arguing about
the safety for their children.
Correct. And we still have
quite a few parents in the room.
So I'm hoping that all of you
either plan on teaching or have
taught your kids how to cook,
right? Even if it's something
super simple. And when you're
cooking, sometimes you use a
kitchen knife. If you just give
your kid a knife and you don't
explain to them that they can
get hurt with that, and you
don't show them hohow properly
use e itthey're probobly going
totoet cut few t tes,, righ
Ifouou just say, hey, there uu
go take that, figure out what
to do. And that's not what we
should be doing with ai.
Instead, when you're teaching
your kid how to cook, first,
you explain, okay, this is the
knife. You got to be careful.
If you put it on you the wrong
way, you're going to get cut
and it's going to bleed and
it's going to hurt. This is how
you do it. I remember when my
mom taught me how to cut. I was
sitting there, guys, I could
not figure it out for an hour.
I'm a pro now at cutting my
apples, don't worry. But it did
take me quite a few times and I
did get cut a few times. But
because my mom walked me
through it, now I can cook on
my own and I can cut things on
my own. And ai, it sounds
stupid, but ai is the same way.
If we show kids how to use it
properly, we're going to avoid
so many scenarios of kids not
knowing how to use ai and doing
stupid things with it, it's
better to teach them.
>> Thanks so much. And Mikhail,
we're at the point of the
meeting where we're trying to
wrap this up and land the plane.
So if you could be succinct,
I'd appreciate it.
>> Very, very. Yes. So I only
have one question and it really
follows back off what MISS
Leonardi said about a written
plan. Is there a timeline of
exposure? And what I mean by
that is, does a elementary
student have the same level of
access that a high school
student has to the app? And the
reason I bring this up is
because elementary student MAY
not be as developed as a high
school student. So them having
the same exact access and the
same exact, you know, tools of
exposure MAY be a problem. And
that comes in with the written
plan as well.
>> Yeah.
>> So great question, Kyle. And
so no, they will not. Part of
the phased in process is for
the elementary level that the
teachers will have access to it
only. And at the secondary
level, our approach is to give
access to students and teachers.
But once the teachers get the
certification and the
credentials to then be able to
give access to students within
their classrooms, so there is a
phased in approach.
>> Thank you doctor.
>> Thank you. Yes.
>> School board member Cervera.
I could just say Adam then. Hey,
Adam. Your turn. Yeah.
>> Real quick I just want to
make sure that that I'm clear.
Despite how MISS Thompson does
her town halls in her district.
I am looking for district help
in what I suggested. I do
plenty of town halls myself
without district help. But I
also am smart enough to realize
when there are subject matters
that I don't have a great grasp
on. Like ai, I will lean on the
district. So I'm not sure what
my colleague was talking about
about wanting to do this
herself. If she wants to do one
herself in her district, that's
fine. But as far as district
six is concerned, when we
ultimately do this, I do expect
assistance from you, Doctor
Cohen, and your team. When we
go out and speak to our
community members, you don't
need to comment. I just want to
make sure that my instruction
was still clear, despite
whatever MISS Thompson's
thinking was about how she does
things in her district.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, MR. Sparrow. And
thank you, Doctor Cohen. This
has been a long session. I
don't want anybody that took
all the work to put this
together, to think that this
was possible to do in a short
period of time. Maybe we MISS
Planned a little bit, but a lot
of great content, a lot of
excellent work on the point.
And I know Doctor Hepburn, you
have some follow ups that we'll
get back to and then we'll
we'll readdress this the next
meeting. At this point we're
going to go to item number six.
So we're jumping a little bit
on the agenda to our next
meeting on repurposing options
with Doctor Wanza. Thank you.
And I've got five public
speakers. Beacon, can you load
the presentation, please? Now
we got it John.
>> We're on ten six right.
>> Yes, sir.
>> At the will.
>> Of the board.
>> Doctor Wanza is ready to go
straight to the decision point.
>> Yes. Okay.
>> Do you mind taking a two
minute recess, sir?
>> Nope.
>> No recess. We're ripping.
>> Not at all. No, no, no.
Right.
>> And, doctor Wanza, unless
the board objects. I believe
the chair okayed the decision
points. Yes, ma'am.
>> So if.
>> If I could, doctor.
>> Yes, sir.
>> What we'd love is a one
minute summary of the
presentation leading us to the
decision points. Then we're
ready to engage.
>> Okay. So good afternoon
everyone. Or. Yes, I'm Valerie
Wanza, the chief strategy and
innovation officer. And my
colleagues at the table with me
today are Mark Dorset, who is
the task assigned chief of of
operations, and that facilities
and operations. Sonia Cole is
the executive director of
capital Programs, and Kriss
Akabusi will be joining us
shortly. And he is the director
of facility planning and real
estate. So essentially, DR.
Zeman board members public. The
way that this presentation is
laid out is it is a. It is
intended for a comprehensive
conversation around some. The
usage of certain sites here in
the district. We know that
we've gone through redefining.
We know that some of the
schools properties are going to
be repurposed for other uses.
So this conversation actually
gives the board greater
information around. That also
provides for the board some
information and options around
one of our sites that we need
some direction today. That and
it's Margate Elementary School.
I'm sorry, Margate Middle
School, the current facility
conditions assessment, as well
as all of the financial
resources that it will take to
bring the school up to current
codes and standards. It is the
recommendation of staff, and
they will they will explain it
that we look at another option
for that campus. Then we need
some some direction from the
board, if you will, on two
parcels of land in particular,
there's one adjacent or on the
property of Deerfield Beach
Elementary School, as well as
the trail's end site up in
parkland. And so we need some
direction there. And then we
were just going to let the
board know what we intend to
bring in this Leonardi talked
about it for the next workshop
on JULY 1st to see if the board
wanted anything added to that.
So essentially that was that's
the crux of the presentation.
But the actual decision points
or direction that we need from
the board. They are on slide
number 37 of the presentation.
We do have representation from
the Sistrunk rising project.
They are here because we know
that that is an added I'm sorry,
that is an attachment to the
presentation. And that is
specifically around the North
Fork Elementary school site.
And then we also know that we
have representatives from
Broward Health, and they are
here as it relates specifically
to the trail's end site up in
parkland. So I'll start with
the decision point for the
North Fork Elementary site. As
we know, back on MAY 12th, the
board did see some proposals
from the city of Fort
Lauderdale. I'm sorry for
that's the next one. Seagull.
But when it comes to North Fork,
which is in the city of Fort
Lauderdale, we had a proposal
from Sistrunk rising their
initial proposal. They have
given a revised proposal that
is in greater detail with some
some actual figures and data
attached to it. They are here,
or they should be parking to
come into the board room. So we
need some direction around that
site. J a world did express
interest, but they have told us
that, you know, the leasing
land at market rate present a
challenge for them. So they
have not given us anything
further to consider. However,
Sistrunk Rising did. And so the
board has that presentation. If
they need any further
information, their
representatives are here. So we
do need direction around if we
are going to go forward and
actually get to a conversation
around a ground lease and then
bring that back, obviously, to
the board for the board to give
us greater direction. And then
the second piece would be
around the Seagull alternative
high school site. The city of
Fort Lauderdale has withdrawn
its interest. And so we have
three options for the board to
consider there. One would be to
our own Broward Schools. Police
Safety and Security Division
are interested in perhaps
creating their own public
safety complex training complex,
where it could be a revenue,
revenue generating opportunity
for the district. So that's one
option. The second one would be
to actually utilize it for
additional administrative space
capacity, depending on what we
do in this building. And then
lastly, it could be once the
policies and procedures are
developed. And I know our
general counsel is moving us
through that swiftly around
looking at potentially a p3
opportunity for that site. So
we would need some direction on
if we would look to allow our
own safety and security
division to build out a
district owned, managed and
operated public safety training
complex that we could then
utilize as a revenue generation
source, because we would have
other agencies pay to utilize
and take training. So that's
the options there. So I can
probably pause on if you want
to do those two, and then we'll
do the next two decision points
and then go from there. Or if
you want me to do the Broward
Health one for the trails in
site, and then that way we know
that we have at least given all
of our all of the individuals
here from the community who
came to speak an opportunity.
>> So you're done with your
presentation?
>> Well, I was asked to give a
high level, and I did. And so
then I was asked to go to the
decision points. And that's
where I am on slide 37.
>> Got it.
>> Does the would the board
like to take public comment?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> All right. Cynthia.
Dominique, Rochelle Sopher,
Rebecca Jarquin, Stewart Green
and Cindy Seltzer.
>> Good afternoon everyone.
Rochelle Sopher almost. Good
evening. Real quick I've read
through the presentation just a
couple questions. I saw the
list. I didn't see Deerfield
Beach Elementary. And I want to
say it might have been Margate
Middle on the original form,
but when I did the deeper dive,
I did see as I went into the
pdf. So my questions are this
for the Margate Middle area,
especially because that's just
a hop, skip and a jump.
>> I think that speaker MAY be
on the next item we're handling.
>> Please speak to the item,
which was what we just gave a
presentation on.
>> Was this not six?
>> I'm sorry, is this
referencing item number six? I
apologize, keep going.
>> Okay. Making sure I'm not
the one because it's been a
long day with the Margate
Middle. So I read somewhere in
the different pieces that we
have that we have a high school
that is going to be upgraded,
updated for many millions of
dollars. But it said
specifically in there that
almost looks like there's going
to be a band aid project on
Margate Middle. We're going to
keep it barely. I can't
remember the verbiage that was
used, but just it's going to be
barely operational. They're
going to do the least amount
possible to keep it going. The
city of Margate, it's literally
a hop, skip and a jump from
where I live. It's not the
residents there. They need
better than barely operational.
They need better than a band
aid. The fact that my husband's
best friend went to this middle
school, the fact that very
close family members went here
and everything. This school
needs a lot more. This
community needs a lot more.
They don't have their own high
school. So I think and it's
been talked in around some
community members, we need to
look at doing more than just a
band aid operation on Margate
Middle. We really need to look
at investing more. And while
the other high school that
might get the upgraded
auditorium, it's a great idea
and they do need it. I'm not
saying that they don't. But at
almost 60 million for that and
just a little bit for Margate,
that speaks volumes about our
lack of respect for that
community, a community that
really does embrace their
school. And we're talking about
losing kids. If we're just
going to band aid these schools,
we're going to continually lose
kids because who wants to go to
a school that's held up by band
aids? I don't the last piece
was Deerfield Beach Elementary.
I like the idea. If the land
does not need to be utilized by
the school or the district,
selling it off is a great idea.
It'll give you income. But was
that discussed with the
community of Deerfield Beach?
Was that discussed with the
people who live close by? Was
that discussed with any other
vested members in Deerfield
Beach? Those are my questions I
present to you, and I thank you
for allowing me to ask the
questions.
>> Thank you. Next speaker, we
have Rebecca Jarquin Stewart
Green by Cindy Seltzer, Barron
Channer.
>> Do I have to have my name
written down to be a public
speaker to David Clark, Broward
Health?
>> Yes. Yeah. Go ahead.
>> So we're happy to be here.
Thank you for allowing us to
take some time and work with
staff to get to a point where
we think we satisfied the
commission's interest for the
parkland property on North
Trail's End and university. So
we have talked to staff and
general counsel, and we do have
a letter of interest on the
floor right now that's
consistent with the what what
we perceive the terms and
conditions of the the condition
of sale for that property.
We've also directly engaged
Jafco and Eagles Haven directly
along with the Children's
Service Council of South
Florida, to to take a deeper
dive into some of the services
that they currently provide,
some of the growth that they,
they, they have desired for, in
addition to how to satisfy them
beyond, beyond this. So I'm
going to be here and open for,
for questions and answers. And
I think they can talk about
their interest as well.
>> Thank you. Any of the other
speakers that I called.
>> Good afternoon. Thank you.
My name.
>> Is Stuart Greenberg. I am
the CHAIRMAN Of Jafco
Children's Village and also
Eagles Haven. And I recognize
some of you from the FEBRUARY
14th commemorations that Eagles
Haven holds every year for the
tragedy at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School. I'd like
to tell you that our board is
100% behind Eagles Haven and
the continuation of this
amazing program. For those of
you who are unaware, Eagles
Haven charges nothing for our
services. We have saved
probably dozens of suicides
over the last number of years.
We've helped countless
thousands of families, both who
were victims. The friends of
those victims, people who live
in parkland, members of the
school board, teachers, faculty,
first responders, and people in
the area who need help with
wellness. We are thankful that
Broward Health has gone ahead
and offered us certain dollars
to help us continue our program.
We're currently located in a
small strip center space. Our
program. We'd love to grow it.
We can't afford to wait the
seven years, really, until this
property that Broward Health
wants to develop is completed.
Our clinical staff has met, and
it is not the best place for
the services that we provide
upon a medical campus.
Therefore, we would hope that
you would go ahead and accept
Broward Health's offer to
purchase the property from the
school board, make the donation
to Eagles Haven to allow us to
continue to serve the community
that we do. Before it was
mentioned how expensive it is
for people to seek help or
therapy, Eagles Haven doesn't
charge. We are open seven days
a week. We help everyone who
either calls or walks in our
doors. As many of you know,
during the trial of the shooter,
we had staff in the courthouse
full time to help the victims
get through that tragedy and
that trauma. I hope that you go
ahead and endorse and accept
the proposal from Broward
Health. I thank you for your
time and your consideration.
>> Good afternoon, Cindy
Aronberg seltzer. I'm the
PRESIDENT And ceo of the
Children's Services Council of
Broward County. Thank you for
allowing me to speak on this
proposal today. So, as you know,
the Children's Services Council
was the creator of Eagle's
Haven, and we have been
supporting this effort through
Jafco since the tragedy at msd.
When this was presented to us a
couple of weeks ago from the
North Broward Hospital District
as a way to meet the conditions
of their bid for your property.
It struck us as a great
opportunity, so I am really
appreciative. The Children's
Services Council first began
funding this with help from the
federal government through the
arp grant. When that grant ran
out, the state has stepped in
to share the cost. We have been
told that this is probably the
last year that the state will
provide funding for Eagle's
Haven. So getting this
opportunity to to support the
program and join with us in
keeping it alive is very
welcome. So I'm happy to answer
any questions about the funding
or how or why this proposal
meets that obligation. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. Any other public
speakers?
>> Good afternoon. Thank you.
Chair Barron Channer,
representative of the Sistrunk
Horizon team and a member of
the team. And I'm here to talk
a little bit about it. I think
your presentation, you would
have received a little bit of
more background on the project.
This is the second time that
we've been in front of the
board in a workshop to discuss
this item. The last time we
were here, the board provided
unanimous consent to direct
further negotiations with staff.
We had the pleasure of doing so.
And what you have before you is
the byproduct of that, which
includes more details building
on top of what we presented the
last time around, substantially
the presentation and what we're
offering is the same. I'll
touch on it a little bit, but
there's one nuance that's
specific to be called out. We
have increased the square
footage of training space that
we are offering to the district.
And so now our proposal, in
part a reflection of the
conversations that have been
had, including dating back
months ago with the
superintendent and subsequently
with staff, we recognize that
the district could benefit from
training space, particularly
located in that area. We are
offering 5000ft!S, 5000ftt!S for
th d distrto own. If you
wouldd lik to. If not,, th
we'l'll be available t y you. So
that o one part of our offer.
That's a nuance that wasn't
obvious from the last offer.
What we are asking for you to
consider is consider a
designation to negotiate. We
think that what we've presented
to you gives you a good
perspective of what we are
offering, and I'll walk through
that, and we are at a point
that for us to add additional
detail and get to something
that you can specifically
deliberate on, we would welcome
the opportunity to negotiate
with your staff. That
negotiation, we believe, would
yield two things for you to
ultimately vote on. If if your
discretion were to allow one,
there would be a lease. So we
are proposing to lease the site
for 99 years. You will maintain
ownership. Two, there would be
a development agreement. The
development agreement would
essentially cover the terms of
the project as you understand
it, so that you can be clear
that what we would attempt to
build would be consistent with
what we have proposed to you.
So you would have those two
things. A third document that
would be attached would be a
housing preference plan. And so
we have suggested to you that
there will be 300 units of
affordable housing. The details
you have before you outline the
fact that all of the units
would be made affordable, they
would be made affordable for
levels of income that range
from 30% Ami up to 80% Ami. So
a broad swath of your employees
would be able to afford the
units one bedrooms, two
bedrooms and three bedrooms all
would be available at all of
those various income categories.
And so what we are proposing to
do is in order to give you
confidence as to what would be
offered in the preference plan,
it will be offered in terms of
the affordable housing, there
would be a preference plan that
specifically stipulates the
terms of that. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other public
speakers? All right. Doctor.
Wanza, did you want to present
anything else before I go to
board? Discussion?
>> I think we're ready to start
board discussion. And then as
needed, we can, you know,
provide, you know, respond to
questions, provide information
as needed.
>> Got it. Okay. Any other
public speakers?
>> Yes.
[Laughter]
Sorry. This is from Cynthia
Dominique. As I was pulling out
of the out of the garage, she
asked if I could come down and
read this for her.
>> Yeah. Please state your name
for.
>> The record. Linda Ferrara
for Cynthia. Dominique. I'm
Cooper City, Coral Springs. The
current scope of work has
exceeded what was previously
planned. And because of. I'm
sorry, I'm asking you to
support the building
replacement for Margate Middle
School. The current scope of
work has exceeded what was
previously planned, and because
much of the building and
infrastructure is at the end of
life requirement. Oops.
Speeding. Sorry. It's flipping
here. End of life requires
spending considerable,
considerable more money to
complete, and not doing this
will have a negative impact on
school operation and student
enrollment. The district spend
approximately $3 million
putting temporary modulars on
the campus that are not always
used because of various
challenges. This money could
have been put towards the
larger project. In 2018,
approximately $9 million was
allocated to this project,
which included upgrades. Single
point entry, fire alarm
sprinklers, conversion of music
and art, lab space, electrical
exterior building, envelope,
Hvac and the media center.
Since then, some work has been
done, but the building remains
in need of significant work and
in pretty much the same
condition as it was over ten
years ago. But the cost of the
work has increased tremendously.
Currently, the smart future
shows 23 million was allocated
to the smart project
renovations, but I believe the
current number is 33 million.
That has already been
encumbered, is not financially
prudent to continue pouring
money into the infrastructure
that we can't see. When there
are other areas that are at the
end of life and need to be
upgraded. We cannot keep doing
these change orders and putting
money into a failing building.
We can build a brand new state
of the art building without
displacing students or
disrupting operations. The
students in this community
deserve it. Additionally, the
school community has had
conversations about grade level
changes to convert to 6 to 12
school, as well as the addition
of a civil engineering magnet
program which receives strong
community support. Thank you.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other public
speakers? MR. Sullivan?
>> Yes. I just wanted to let
the board know that the Broward
Health did send us a letter of
intent, which does honor the
motion, but is different from
what was spoken by the public.
So I just wanted to mention
that. So when the board's
giving staff feedback during
the discussion to keep that in
mind.
>> All right. Board member
discussion. MISS Hixon.
>> Thank you so much, chair,
and thank you to everybody for
coming out today. I first, I
want to I don't know like what
consensus you want, but I'm for
the sistrunk moving forward. So
I'll start with that. But I
also want to ask my colleagues
to give consensus for Broward
Health to be able to give the
donation that they're
suggesting to Eagles Haven as
opposed to the space. Although
our b item that we approved did
ask specifically for space, it
was in the spirit of making
sure that Eagles Haven
longevity continued. And based
on Eagles Haven and Jafco
having discussions with Broward
Health, it was determined that
giving them the space where
it's been suggested maybe is
not the best thing for Eagles
Haven moving forward. So they
did prefer to take that
donation and be able to move
into a space quicker and and to
have that longevity. So I just
want to be sure that my
colleagues understand that it's
still in the spirit of what I
believe we all voted for, which
was to give longevity and make
sure Eagles Haven continued,
although we thought it best to
be a space in the new Broward
Health building that they were
going to put in in the area
that they're purchasing. It
turned out that after
discussion, that's really not
what's best for Eagles Haven.
So I would hate to make someone
stay along the lines of what we
thought was best and not be
able to give Eagles Haven what
they've all determined is the
best. So I hope consensus
moving forward is to allow
Broward Health to move forward
with the contract to buy the
the land at the purchase price,
and then give that donation
piece to Eagles Haven to allow
them to find the space and be
able to continue on. And, you
know, Broward Health would
still with the internships and
all of that, that's still part
of what that deal is. But I
just wanted to make sure we all
understood that they weren't
backing out of anything. It
just came from a conversation
that they had and is what's
been determined is best for the
community in Eagles Haven. So
thank you.
>> Thank you, MRS. Alhadeff.
>> Thank you. I agree with MRS.
Hixon. I'm honestly I'm I'm
really upset and shaking right
now to possibly hear that
Eagles Haven would lose their
funding after this year. Eight
years ago, 17 people were
murdered and 17 people were
shot and lived. And the trauma
that my community has is still
there. And it will continue to
be for years. So this donation
that Broward Health is going to
give to Eagles Haven will allow
for the financial
sustainability of Eagles Haven
to continue. There's been five
suicides since the tragedy. And
this is very much needed to
provide the services for our
community and to deal with this
trauma that we all still have.
So I hope my colleagues support
this donation. So Eagles Haven
can continue for years to come.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. DR. Holness.
>> Thank you, MADAM Chair. Can
you hear me clearly, MADAM
Chair?
>> Yes, we can hear you.
>> Okay. So I support board
Member Hixon as well as board
member Alhadef in terms of
allowing Broward Health to go
ahead and purchase but support
Eagles Haven with the donation.
So I'm supportive of that.
Regarding Seagull, I am very
interested in an option that
will generate some kind of
funds. It appears that option
one and three could do that,
but I have a question for
Doctor Wanza or Doctor Hepburn
for Seagull. In terms of option
one, couldn't the district
Safety Security Emergency
Preparedness Division be
located in some future schools
that might be redefined or
repurposed or closed, as
opposed to Seagull? Because I
believe Seagull has a huge
property value because of its
location. So is there
alternative options that the
ssp division could be located
in?
>> MR. Sullivan?
>> Doctor Wanza, please.
>> Thank you. So thank you. DR.
Holness. So the ssp division is
being relocated to Plantation
Middle School. This is
something separate and apart.
When initially the board
received a proposal from the
city of Fort Lauderdale, who
they were initially interested
in developing a public safety
training site. And Chief
Gregory is here, so I don't
want to speak for him. But once
that the. Once the city
withdrew its interest with that
for that particular piece of
property, district property to
do that, then our safety and
security arm of the district
said, wait a minute. This MAY
be an opportunity that the we
can develop for the district to
offer a develop its own
training site. And then it
would be a a resource. I'm
sorry. It would be an
opportunity to generate
resources for the district,
because then they could lease
out, allow other agencies,
whatever is the proper term to
come and receive training for
cost. So Chief Gregory is here.
I don't want to speak for him,
but this would be a training
facility for a variety of
public safety opportunities.
>> Got it. And Doctor Wanza,
before Chief Gregory speak on
that, have we done any sort of
assessment or any kind of
determination as to the needs
of this type of service? Has
there been any needs assessment
done to ensure that option one
would be successful as a safety
training site?
>> So I think Chief Gregory
needs to speak to that, because
I think that they have done
some of that work and that, and
that's what piqued their
interest in looking at this
opportunity for the district.
>> Okay. So I'll wait to hear
from chief.
>> Okay.
>> Mike Gregory, Chief Safety
and Security Officer, Broward
County School District, as
stated by the City of Fort
Lauderdale, there was interest
by other agencies also
expressed through the Broward
Police Chiefs Association for a
training facility that could be
used for school safety. With
regard to active shooter
training and evacuations and
rescues for both police
personnel as well as fire
personnel. So that was an
opportunity that was being
presented by the city of Fort
Lauderdale. We were looking
forward to partnering with them
and participating in that that
that training once the city of
Fort Lauderdale was no longer
interested in that site and
wanted to shift gears, we still
saw the value in offering that
capability to our 200 plus SROs
in Broward County that don't
have the access to that type of
training readily available. And
here in Broward County. So that
was a a gap that we thought
we'd be able to fill if there
wasn't a use available for or a
use identified for Seagull. So
that's the extent of it at this
point. And if there this school
was available, others were not.
So that's the reason why it
came on the radar.
>> Okay. Thank you. Chief
Gregory. So, Doctor Wanza,
would it be problematic to also
explore option three
simultaneously with option one
in terms of the formal
proposals to see what kind of
interest and whether or not it
would be more beneficial
financially for option three
versus option one.
>> So I don't see where it
would be a problem for us to do
it. We just need to get
direction from the board. Are
you more interested in the
district having its own public
safety training entity, where
there can be a variety of
safety training and protocols
and procedures and things
offered for agencies that do
come in and assist with school
safety? Is is that a direction
the board wants to go in or do
or would you be more interested
in potentially, you know, doing
some kind of ground lease or
going through a formal proposal
process to see if there are
other opportunities that the
board would want to consider?
So there isn't. I don't think
there's an issue, an issue, if
you will, with us looking at
both. And then and then in the
end, the board would tell us
which direction it wants to go
in.
>> Okay, so, MADAM Chair, our
district has financial
constraints. And for me, I
would be interested in the
option that can bring us the
most financially. So in order
to determine that, I believe we
would have we would need to
take the formal proposals done
in option three and do a
comparative with option one as
to what would be best suited
for the district financially.
So that's my position on The
Seagull, and I'm thinking that
it could be done simultaneously.
We could take formal proposals,
we could compare and see what
would be more financially
beneficial to the district.
>> So DR. Holness, just so I'm
hearing this correctly, you
want to pursue option three, or
you're wanting to pursue option
one and option three
simultaneously.
>> I would say option one and
option three simultaneously to
determine which one is more
financially beneficial.
>> Got it. Thank you.
>> Okay. Now regarding
regarding North Fork, I am very
supportive of the North Fork
Sistrunk rising proposals and
it's very nice to see that they
came back with minor changes,
but beneficial changes in terms
of increasing the the space for
as a training center for
Broward County Public Schools.
I was very pleased as well to
see that they came with a lease
option, because I don't think
any of us on the board had an
appetite for $1 lease or $0
lease. So it's very nice to see
that they have this in here. I
think the benefit of having
affordable apartments for our
employees, supply store for
teachers, counseling centers
for employees, and we get to
maintain ownership of the land.
And we don't have to worry
about the maintenance costs for
the facility. I think these are
excellent benefits, and I would
encourage my board members to
also support this proposal, and
I am very supportive of moving
forward with it. And, MADAM
Chair, I think did you need my
input on anything else, MADAM
Chair, or we're going to take
second round.
>> Doctor Wanza, says Margaret.
>> So on on page 37 is what we
need. Direction from the board.
Slide 37. So so that covered
three of the definite five of
the items that we actually.
Because we're going to need
some direction on the Margate
Middle proposal as well as the
easement at Deerfield Beach
Elementary. We definitely need
direction on that. And then
obviously, any input the board
wants to give us on what they
want to see in the presentation
for JULY 21st.
>> Okay, so, MADAM Chair, I
will wait for the board to
comment further on Margate and
Deerfield, especially those if
MISS Rupert is still here. I'm
not sure. I can't see he's not
okay. So I wait for further
input and I'll give my input on
Deerfield and Margate.
>> Okay. All right. Other board
discussion. MISS Bulman.
>> Thanks. Thank you. Chair. I
support the Sistrunk rising
proposal. I support the Eagles
Haven. That's a great solution.
Thank you so much for coming up
with that, I love that. And I
think I, I think I kind of fall
in the wholeness camp in terms
of seagull. You know, with
option one, it's like, what's
the cost to us to do something
like this? And what would be
the payoff? I guess we don't
have enough information at this
point. Did you guys just say
that?
>> Chief Greg? So, Chief
Gregory, can you expand? So,
MISS, MISS Bowman's question is
for option one. So I was
obviously option one of the
Seagull property is for the
district safety and Security
Emergency Preparedness
Preparedness Division to build
out its own training center. So
what is the cost. But then and
then what would be the return
on investment for the district
if we went that route?
>> I can start with the return
on investment that would be
increased, increasing the
safety of students on our
campuses, in our schools,
increasing the training
abilities and received from the
officers who patrol our schools.
This is not a money making
opportunity. I would shy the
board away from thinking that
this is a a get rich quick
scheme for training facility at
Seagull. If that's the goal,
then we should look at a
different option.
>> Well, it says generate
revenue. That's why I.
Corrected for what kind of
revenue it would be.
>> Yeah, the cities would pay
for the classes. But as far as
a high level, high income
source, I don't see training
facilities for safety filling
in that category.
>> Okay. I have a question.
>> I mean.
>> Is there any construction
cost required.
>> In order? Well, that's what
I'm asking. I mean, if we're
going to have to build a
training facility, what's our
capital outlay in order to get
to a point where we're getting
any kind of revenue at all? And
then how long would it take for
our revenue coming in to pay
off what we put into it? And
then.
>> At this stage, we haven't
had a revenue cost. This is a
new proposal for us to explore
so we could identify that.
Right now it's in a school
configuration, and that
configuration is what would be
used for the active shooter
training, where officers would
come in and go room to room to
room clearings, dodo r rm
searches, do rescueses So the
currt configuguration would b
apprriatateor t tt.T.
Additial training areas for
classroom instruction for the
officers who participate. I
haven't gone room by room, but
I assume that most of the
classroom facilities would be
acceptable for that type of use.
I don't see a large capital
outlay required, but again,
this is an initial exploratory
conversation and we can
actually go back and do more
detailed exploration. If it's
something that the board is
seriously interested in
pursuing.
>> Well, I would I would be
interested in seeing how we
could partner, you know, what
the use would be with other
municipalities and how if we
could find other partners and
safety partners that could make
this very useful to the entire
county or maybe to the to the
region, there's there's
potential there for sure. I
think we need to flesh out that
what that deal looks like.
>> I agree, ideally, we would
be looking for grant support
for to fund training. There are
grant opportunities that are
out there. I just saw one, I
believe, from the Department of
Justice last week, where
they're offering training
dollars to host active shooter
training and Alice type classes.
We would the concept that we'd
be the host, and we would offer
seats at those classes to local
agencies in Miami-Dade, Broward
and Palm Beach County. And we'd
actually have a full blown
class a school facility to
actually conduct us real time
scenario based training for
those officers. So they have
best of breed in training.
Again, it would be hopefully
funded as much as we could for
the courses through grants, but
we're not. We look for the
students from the other
agencies to pay for seats in
the class to participate, and
it's a rare opportunity to have
a facility such as that to do
real scenario based training.
So I see it would be a great
amount of interest periodically
for agencies to come there and
take different types of courses.
But as a training facility, I
just don't see a large see it
as a large revenue generator.
We would look certainly to
break even, but without.
>> Yeah, I mean, I think that's
what we would like to see. I
mean, at the very least that
this isn't going to cost us
more money because I think
we're trying to save money, not
spend more money. So and then
with the option two, and I
apologize if I if this has
already been answered, but
there's not a need for extra
district room. Okay. So I, you
know, I, I would like to see
option one fleshed out so that
we have something to really
make a decision about. And then
I'm also open to option three
for that. And let me go back
here. And then I, I'll wait to
hear from everyone else or I'd
like to hear from MISS Rupert
about her positions on Margate
and Deerfield. I don't.
>> Is MISS Rupert on the line?
>> No, she's in the hospital,
so.
>> But before she left, she did
say that she MAY have to leave,
but she did. Go ahead.
>> No, I was going to speak. I.
MR. Bruno, I don't know if it's
appropriate, but what we talked
about in one on one, and I did
hear her support for one thing,
but she did exercise her
support for both Deerfield and
Margate. When we spoke
yesterday, or I guess that was
yesterday. Yes, yesterday was
Monday, just fyi. I know it's
not official for the board, but
just to give you a workshop.
Yeah. Give you feedback of what
she supported when we when we
spoke. And I know she's she.
>> Spoke publicly before she
left here today.
>> For Margate for sure. Yes,
yes.
>> For what.
>> She said. Oh she said yes
for, for a pause on Margate
with the idea of a, of a
replacement of a replacement
school and yes, for the
easement for Deerfield Beach.
Yep.
>> So we're so we're right now
we're just directing to pause
on further renovations at
Margate Middle. And then we
would decide later if we were
going to do a replacement.
>> Correct.
>> Do you want to speak? Go
ahead.
>> Well, yeah. Mark Dorset,
chief facility officer, task
assigned. Yeah, that was one of
the requests. But based on what
we were looking to spend in
Margate, we thought it would be
beneficial to, to, to look at
another possibility. Right now
the school is functioning. It's
an old school. It was built in
1966. So whatever we do to it,
it'll still be a 66 building.
So what we thought about doing
is looking at replacing Margate
Middle School. That that was
the discussion we had with the
redefining team with Doctor
Wanza and some of the my team
from Office of Capital Programs.
We really, really looked into
what they've done so far, what
they're asking for additional
dollars to do. And we didn't
think it was prudent to pursue
that any further. We thought we
would stop now and look at a
different way of, of, of, of
supporting the kids at Margate
Middle.
>> And I appreciate that. So
thank you for that. Is this a
is this the type of project
where we can continue to have
the kids at school while we're
building other buildings?
>> Yes. The school right now
can function as it is this the
the site has enough real estate
to build another complete
middle school on site, while
the occupy the existing
building.
>> Okay. All right, I, I don't
object to that. And then the
Deerfield Beach. Can you just
explain that real quick?
>> Sure. So so Deerfield Beach
Elementary School is a large
footprint, but there's a
parking lot area that the that
has been rented by the district,
rented from the district for
decades for parking space for
the library. That's right there.
And I kind of put the map.
>> On slide 29.
>> And so basically they
instead of entering an
agreement, every single or
every so many years for that
space for parking the, the city
is interested in purchasing
that shaded area at the bottom
right for the parking for the
library.
>> Okay. Yeah, I have no
problem with that. I support
that. Thank you.
>> Thank you. DR. Zeman.
>> Thanks so much. I'll I'll
start with yours, Maura, that
you just finished with just in
general, bad business practice
to sell land. If they're happy
with the rental and they're
going to do it every year, it's
really better for Broward
County schools to own the land,
particularly every time you
give up a little bit, the value
of land is disproportionate to
the total size. So if you take
210 acre plots and put them
together, they're worth four
times as much as they were
separately. So just as a
principle, I wouldn't be in
favor of this because if it
ain't broken, why do we want to
fix it on Seagull? You know,
Seagull is a really interesting
piece. Again, total business
practice type thing. It is
contiguous with Witten. Witten
has amazing programs. We're
always going to offer those
programs. They MAY actually be
better somewhere else someday
though. And Witten and Seagull
together again becomes a much
more valuable piece of land.
It's in a commercial space,
commercial space, a lot more
valuable right now than
especially light industrial
space. Much more valuable than
residential. Right, Ryan? We
can make more money doing that.
I know you're nodding for me.
Thanks, Ryan. But the but we
have to be thoughtful about it.
That's why I like the idea of
using option two at at Seagull.
If you can use three with the
chief and not put in any money
and just. It's almost whether
you put office space there or
you put public service center
with no improvements, no
capital improvements, I think
that's great. There is a
boatload of federal money
available for law enforcement
training, and there's just not
enough sites in the world. So
if we have a site, you can come
in and do the cool stuff, you
know, the close quarter drills,
the little people that pop up
around the corner and
everything, that could be great
for us and great for our kids
everywhere, because SROs and
local police and Bsos can all
practice in a school site. So
that's not a bad option, nor is
it a bad option for Doctor
Hepburn to move a another
division to that site. But if
we hold on to that land for a
year or two, we can figure out
what to do with Witten as we
get the fca done. As we get our
master planner here. Boy, I
cannot wait for the master
planner to show up, because
right now I feel like we're
pausing on Margate Middle. I
definitely agree with you.
Pause. Let's get a real if you
don't mind, I'm just going to
add to your recommendation.
Let's pause on Margate Middle,
but let's get like a good
estimate of what it would cost
to build a good one. Not within
20 million, but within 5
million, so that we actually
know what we're committing to
that site. My understanding of
Margate Middle is there's
plenty of students in the
boundary area. They just choose
to go to other schools because
that facility is. I'm a little
offended, Mark, that you said
things invented in 1966 are no
good anymore. But but I'll let
that slide today. So that's
great. On the trail's end site,
I want to thank Broward Health.
I want to thank MISS Hixon and
MISS Alhadeff for everybody
that came together from Jafco
to to really put this together.
Thank you, Cindy, for coming.
And thank you for your support
to this from the very beginning
and to your support to all of
our kids in so many programs.
But that is a good deal for us.
What you what you love about
this deal. By the way, Maura,
14 million in the bank in the
next 60 days. And it's all
capital money. So it's you know,
we've got capital money, but
it's great to have $14 million
quickly from Broward Health
rather than to wait around
forever. To my knowledge,
Doctor Hepburn, that money is
going to move pretty fast as
soon as we get the contract
signed. I think they have 30 or
60 days.
>> Yes. Correct.
>> So that's terrific. Look
forward to to helping.
>> This 120. Okay. I know it's
a 30 days for something in.
>> The but it's not 60 days. I
just don't want us to walk away.
Think okay, correct. Okay.
>> I am confident that Broward
Health is going to write us a
check even faster than the the
minimum requirement. They're
afraid some crazy school board
member will haul them in here
to negotiate again or something.
So am I right, Dave, am I right?
Thank you sir, I appreciate
that. Yeah. We can negotiate
the payment terms if you like.
My colleagues would kill me. So
we did. We did Deerfield
Elementary because it just
doesn't make any sense. And,
Margaret, what we're asking for,
MR. Dorset, is to pause this
change order. Let's get a good
cost estimate, bring it back to
the board, and let's figure out
where we want to go. Love,
Broward Health North Ft. The
only thing that I mean, I love
the Sistrunk rising. Let's rip
it and rip it. Let's let's go.
Right. But, but I'm curious
about the mix of one, two and
three bedroom. It's been a real
eyesore for my developer
friends to get people to do one
bedroom studios at any price.
They just don't want them. So I
would just be careful of the
mix that you do there. I know
it's pre-construction so you
can move things around, but one
bedroom studio, 600ft!S or
there's people just don't want
them. They'd rather have a two
bedroom and pay a little bit
more. So I'll just ask you to
be careful with, you know,
people that are building in the
area. The question that I have,
Doctor Hepburn, is all is this
are 300 units reserved for
Broward County school employees.
>> Not a Wanza.
>> Do you want to speak? I
believe I know the answer, but
go ahead. I don't want to speak
for you. If it's okay. Can they
answer the question, MADAM
Chair?
>> It's okay. Can talk in any
of my meetings?
>> Okay. Thank you. In terms of
the units, I want to be careful
about the wording because we're
trying to make sure we fully
comply with state laws. And
state laws were recently
modified to allow for us to
provide this preference. Prior
to that, the Fair Housing Act
would have essentially mandated
everyone. So that's the only
reason I'm being careful about
the wording. There will be a
priority preference plan. And
so what that will mean and what
we can do legally is we can
offer first choice for an
extended period of time to the
employees that you tell us are
qualified, whether that process
is a simple process or an
extended process, there would
be a preference. And so any
unit that's available, the plan
that I mentioned would
stipulate the way that we make
it known to your employees, and
they would have first choice to
come. We would stipulate a
certain period of time, those
units would be available for
your employees. That would
consist, that would continue
for the entire term of the
lease. So every unit, every
time it's available, would be
made available with a priority
basis to your employees, to the
fullest extent of the state
laws. And the second, the state
laws allow us to guarantee and
reserve it and preserve it for
you. We'll do that as well.
>> And if we need the lawyers
that are doing the Dave Thomas
thing to come talk to you guys
about how they did it, they're
they did 100% forever. So we
can we can give you their phone
number. We welcome. This is a
99 year lease. Will this be
affordable housing for 99 years?
>> Yes. So we are offering
perpetuity full term of the
lease. We will keep it
affordable. I have the
developer in the back room, and
we've confirmed that. They
actually corrected me and told
me perpetuity. I said an
extended period of time and
they said perpetuity. So thank
you for as long as we're there.
>> Yes. Last question. There's
a clause in here about
potential purchase of that
townhouse land. I do not
support that. I, I appreciate
the 99 year lease that would
allow people to move from
rental to a version of
ownership, right? With the 90
year lease without us having to
give the, the right for you to,
as a developer to own that land
and sell it to the people,
right? There's nothing that
stops somebody from buying a
piece of property that's on a
99 year lease property.
>> We're not making it. It's
not a make or break. It's, it's
important to us. We're going to
try to figure it out. I think
your staff, MR. Particularly
specifically highlighted some
of the challenges to provide
homeownership on deeded land. I
mean, on lease land,
particularly owned by a
government agency, as we said
to him. And we'll say, here is,
whatever the terms, we will try
to maximize the opportunity. So
if and we would like to
purchase it. But I respect the
perspective that you've offered.
If we weren't allowed to
purchase it, we would go to the
next best option. And we think
there are two pathways. One is
to do as you say, pursue, you
know, pursuewnership on a 99
year lease to the extent that
the banks and the insurance
companies will approve it. And
if that's not viable, then we
would go down the path of
rental, but still a townhouse
configuration for a family unit.
But rental.
>> I totally understand. I
appreciate the effort. Last
question on the public land
available. That's right now
potentially of high
archeological value, regardless
of what the final determination
of that is. Do you are you in
your proposal leaving that to
be public land?
>> That's our intent.
Absolutely terrific. And so
we've programed it in our site
plan as public land. We would
anticipate that the development
agreement, if we had the good
grace of the board to negotiate
the development agreement,
would include an attachment of
our master development such
that no materially significant
changes could be made without
us consulting you. And so one
of our offer is meaningful
public land. In addition to the
inclusion of a transportation
hub, assuming the collaboration
with the county.
>> Terrific. And Doctor Hepburn,
the 5000ft!S of training space
is of some value to you.
>> Yes, absolutely.
>> It's a nice place to get.
>> Centrally located, easy to
get off of 95 for many staff.
>> How many people can fit in
5000ft!S? Is that 100.
>> Standing or sitting?
>> But okay, it's all good.
Doctor Wanza anything else I
missed?
>> I don't think so. Unless
you're good with the workshop
topics. What we included on
slide 36, if you're good with
those.
>> And I don't know if you
mentioned the Deerfield Beach.
>> He did said that he's in
Deerfield Beach. You said lease
do not sell.
>> Absolutely. Yeah.
>> We're not. Not in the.
>> Business right now. I'm
sorry. Are you asking about
items on 36.
>> On slide 36? That's what we
have right now. Plan to talk
with the board as we begin, as
we kick off redefining for next
school year. And so I didn't
know if this we just wanted the
board to know we always like
the board and to see if the
board wants to add any other
topics or look for something
specific in these items. But we
just wanted the board to know
that when we come back on the
21st of JULY.
>> The only thing I'd ask is to
elucidate a little bit more on
the question that I asked,
getting us to 110%.
>> Yes.
>> I think that the board
deserves to know what the art
of the possible is for us to
redefine how many schools and
what specific feeder patterns
would be affected. I'm not
going to prejudge what this
board is going to do, but I
think it's very important for
the board to know the answer to
that question in some detail.
>> I appreciate.
>> It, thank you ma'am.
>> DR. Zeman just to to clarify,
where were you on The Seagull?
I heard you express interest in
option two and one.
>> If they don't have any
construction requirements, if
they can just move in as it's
currently built and do the
training, that's another way to
hold on to that land for a year
until we figure out what to do
with the contiguous space.
>> Got it. Okay. Thank you. I
have MISS Thompson.
>> Thank you chair, I'll be
quick. I am also in favor of
First Eagle to look at option 1
or 3 like DR. Holness and
Bulman said for Norfolk, I
would like to go forward with
rising. I do think home, the
home ownership component, is
something that is so important
and very much lacking in the
affordable housing workforce
development housing space. So
if in order to make that
possible, we need to sell that
piece of land to them, I would
be for that because we're still
losing the other part. And it's
hard to build home ownership on
land that you don't actually
own. As far as Margate Middle,
I am in agreement with doing a
new building, Deerfield Beach
Elementary. I think I would
like to see how much that
they're willing to pay for that
land, and then determine
whether the lease makes sense
or not, because are they still,
I guess, the question, are they
interested in continuing the
lease if we don't want to sell
it, or are they going to find
land elsewhere?
>> Just the point of correction
is an easement. It's not a
lease. And that was done a long
time ago. It's kind of a weird
arrangement to use an easement.
So the easement is still
continuing and it's not really
negatively impacting the school.
So the part the I'm sorry,
Chris was the director of
facility planning real estate.
>> The city.
>> The city has been using the
parking area for a long time.
They just thought they would
purchase it, but it was
conveyed, not conveyed. But
it's an easement, which is kind
of weird.
>> Okay, so are they paying for
the easement?
>> Well, they would like.
>> To buy.
>> No, no no they don't. No,
they're not paying for these
men. But but they would like to
bite.
>> So right now we're getting
nothing. But we could get
something if we let them buy it.
>> Correct.
>> All right. So I'm in favor
of that plan then. And then. As
far as the Broward health, I
think that's a good solution.
And I'm happy that that has
come to fruition. And then I
have some questions on the 3 or
4 potential sites for housing.
How are we going to go about
talking to those communities?
Because I think at least one is
a pretty high traffic could
potentially do some traffic
impacts. Same with Willoughby
because I was a social worker
there. So what is that process?
If we give the green light to
go ahead with those?
>>>> Oka so it would kd d of
mirror the process that we are
doing now with the Dave Thomas
site. So the first thing MR.
Russo has actually he's in
conversation with the city
managers of the three cities to
see, first of all, where, where
would the city sit in this? And
then once we know where the
cities would sit, then we would
have the conversation,
obviously with the local
communities and have and see if
that is something that they
would want to see. So we would
follow kind of the same
methodology that we are doing
with the current plan up at
Dave Thomas. So first, so our
first conversation is with the
cities to see if that's
something that the
municipalities are interested
in, in even going down that
path. As far as opportunities
to erect affordable housing in
the community. And then we
would then have to go in those
local communities and have the
conversation to see, to see
where, what their input and
what their thought processes
are. Obviously, we've had some
conversation with the school
principals, and then we would
have to we would certainly have
to then come back here to the
board and explain all of the
feedback that we've received,
and then get direction from the
board on next steps. Yes, Chris,
you MAY add to it.
>> We've already spoken to the
city manager for Plantation and
Sunrise Plantation seems to be
receptive, and they're willing
to work with us. The City of
Sunrise is going to get back to
us in 30 days. They just want
to do some additional due
diligence, but they didn't push
back. We are still trying to
get a meeting with the City of
Margate City manager, so that's
where we are.
>> Okay, I, I think there's a
need in in Broward County for
housing. And just to be clear,
we would never be managing this
housing for anyone who's going
to start writing that. But I
remember from previous
conversations that there was a
lot of pushback about housing,
in particular from 1 or 2 of
the Margate commissioners. So I
don't know how that would go
over. And I don't want to I
want this to be a partnership
with our cities. So I think if
they are against it, then I
would not be able to support it.
But if there seems to be some
some interest from those cities,
then I would like us to explore
it further. And then last
comments, I think, for the
presentation on the 21st, that
that looks good. And can we
also just include an update on
how the district assisted with
the closed school staff, like
moving locations and kind of
the impact bargaining that we
did with the unions, like what
the outcome of that was and how
the teachers are feeling about
being relocated.
>> Yes.
>> I would appreciate that
component. Okay. And then
that's, that's all for me.
Thank you chair.
>> Thank you, MR. Cervera.
>> Let's see if we can land the
plane here. Right. So I'm in
favor of rising. Yes. To Eagle
Haven. The idea that DR. Zeman
had, which I thought was a good
one on one and or two,
depending on costs, on one
pause on Margate Middle. And
yes, to the easement. I'm just
confirming because I've heard
lease and I've heard easements
confirming it is an easement
agreement. Correct.
>> It's an easement. Okay.
>> Yeah. I'm in favor. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. And I just had a
few questions and a few
comments. So I want I want my
colleagues to be kind of clear
eyed about what option one
would look like at Seagull. I
would want to see, like many of
my colleagues, what it would
cost for us to invest money to
make option one happen. I know
that when the city of Fort
Lauderdale was looking at
turning it into a public safety
training complex, it was going
to be over $1 million just to
plan the design for that
facility. I know that, or at
least what I'm hearing from
Chief Gregory, is it wouldn't
be, you know, as extensive as
what the city of Fort
Lauderdale was talking about.
But I would need to see the
amount of money we would have
to invest to create, to make
that a public safety complex.
But also, again, I want to
remind my colleagues that there
is a daycare on campus or there
will be at well, it is at
Wilton right now. So hearing
that we would be doing active
shooter trainings at Seagull or
on the Seagull site, I have
some questions about that. Like,
would that be after school
hours?
>> Go ahead, Chief Gregory.
>> Mike. Mike Gregory Chief
Safety and Security Officer No,
it would we haven't fleshed out
a schedule yet. We'd have to
get back with you. What that
would look like. Ideally, it
would be at the times that the
the different agencies officers
were available. So that's
typically the day shift hours.
But they obviously have
officers that work night shift
as well. So it'd be a different
hours. I would be mindful to
say that they aren't actually
shooting live ammunition during
training. It's a sim munitions,
which are much quieter in
nature, and they aren't quite
as disruptive. There would be
sound effects inside the
building to simulate actual
training and real live training
environment, but it wouldn't be
such that it would disturb the
neighborhood. It wouldn't be to
that extent.
>> Okay, I would really, in
order to feel comfortable with
that, I would need to be
assured that, like the students
at Wilton would not feel the
impacts here in mostly like
sound would not hear the
impacts of such training. And
then I would also want to know
how much we would be able to
charge external agencies for
taking those classes. So I
don't know if, Doctor Hepburn,
you've captured that.
>> I'm catching it now.
>> Okay. And I'll just say like,
as a teacher, I participated in
active shooter training where,
you know, it was obviously not
live rounds, but the sound
effects were quite, quite loud.
So I just, I have concerns. I
am a well, so I had some
questions for the Sistrunk
rising team. And, you know, I
had a meeting last week. So
none of these questions are a
surprise. But I think it's
important for the public to
understand the answers to some
of these questions. Where is
the financing coming from for
this project?
>> Absolutely. Thank you for
the question. The project, as
proposed, includes a couple of
different components that are
going to be isolated projects,
and so I have to address them
individually. The biggest,
single biggest component would
be the 300 units of affordable
housing. And the financing for
that will be as at low income
housing tax credits, likely
bond some bond money for
percent bond money, and then
also other typical funds that
are usually available for
affordable housing. The county
no guarantees, but the county
offers funds for support of
affordable housing. Select
cities. Do I know the city of
Fort Lauderdale is considering
it? And so in short, that would
be financed in the same way
that traditional affordable
housing is financed. It is
structured between the 30 and
80% Ami to be optimally
attractive to that funding
mechanism. So that's one
component, the townhouses of
which there will be 18
townhouses. You know, we're
we're talking about the deeded
or not deeded, but let's let's
assume there's a ownership
component. They they would be
financed by in the same way
that typical workforce, sort of
single lot housing is financed.
Our partner in that regard has
actually undertaken multiple
transactions within the city of
Fort Lauderdale within the last
five years. So the intent would
be to use many of the same
programs that are built for
middle class individuals to own
houses to do just that, just so
you can understand the
perspective from a timing
standpoint. The site currently
is not zoned for commercial and
or residential development, so
there would likely be a ten
plus month period of time with
which we would navigate the
process with the city. We would
also, in parallel, use that
time to line up financing
options for the projects.
Finally, the final component of
significance would be the hotel
that would be financed using
traditional market rate funding
mechanisms, a hotel of that
nature, likely in the range of
125 rooms, would consist of
somewhere around 60 to 65% debt
that would be offered by the
market. We would bring in a we
would have to ultimately get a
license agreement or a
franchise agreement with a
national hotel company to come
in, and that would likely come
with a developer who's done
multiple of those properties to
build that out. None. To be
clear, there would be no
expectation of any funding
being provided by the district.
No request, no expectation of
that. You would be offering the
land, and we would then
subsequently lease the land. We
expect that if you were to give
us a good grace of negotiating
a lease agreement, that the
lease agreement would have some
provisions in there that say,
if things are taken too long
and that there would be
repercussions to allow the
district to move forward with
the property. Does that answer
your question, chair Leonardi
yes.
>> Thank you. Can you go over
the timeline for this? So if we
give direction today that we
want to move forward with
Sistrunk rising, what what are
the next steps? When can we
expect shovels in the ground?
When can we expect this to be
completed? When can we expect
the district to start earning
money from the lease agreement?
>> Sure. And I could hear the
smiles behind me already, but
I'll hazard an attempt to be
responsive to you. So first, if
we were to get a I'm not going
to be presumptive, but if as we
go forward with consensus, we
would proceed to negotiate with
your staff, negotiating the
comprehensive agreements. Can't
speak about timing, but I know
given the way these things are,
we're prepared to negotiate
expediently. So we think
there's an opportunity to have
that. Back to you for
consideration by the fourth
quarter of this year,
potentially the third quarter
of this year. And you would
have a lease agreement and a
development agreement if that
were approved going forward, we
would then immediately spring
into two things. As you've
alluded to earlier, there are
some considerations relative to
Seminole, Indian, Seminole,
Indian artifacts, potentially,
or sites of significance that
are there. There's a state
process that is stipulated. You
all have started that with some
of your studies. So we would
undertake that process in
parallel. We would start to
work on the entitlements
process with the city. We
expect that process to take ten
months, so it's going to take
us ten months to get the site
zoned so that we have the right
to build the kind of uses that
we are proposing. Yeah. As I
mentioned before, in parallel
and overlaid with that, we
would be undertaking to explore
the funding market with a high
priority being to get the
affordable going as quickly as
possible. The process is
somewhat uncertain. Our belief
is that inside of two years
after, you have allowed us to
one and very likely more of the
components the three components
townhomes, affordable
apartments and hotel, 1 or 2 of
those components would have
been started within that time
frame, but the first year or so
we will be working through
diligently the entitlement
process and whatever agreement
we would enter with you would
stipulate level of effort to
give you some comfort, and
there would be coordination
with your real estate team. So
they're aware of our movements.
>> Thank you. And then my next
question is are for the general
counsel. Do any aspects of this
project qualify or meet the
criteria for a p three?
>> So. The way it was solicited
is the only question that I
would have on that one, because
it's I'd have to look at the
history a little bit more to
determine whether it was not an
unsolicited proposal. It was an
unsolicited proposal.
>> Correct.
>> Okay. So if it was an
unsolicited proposal, then yes.
>> Okay. So I just want to make
sure that we're in compliance
with all of our policies and
all statutes.
>> So that would be something
that I will get together with
staff. I know that we now have
a policy coming and we have
processes. We'll just make sure
that we are in compliance with
whatever is required.
>> Okay. All right. For Seagull,
I am in the minority. I guess I
would like to pursue option
three for now, but I would like
the, you know, since I'm in the
minority there, I'll I'll go
with option one and three. I
would really like to the
information that I requested
for option one. I'm in favor of
a market replacement in favor
of the Deerfield easement. I
support MISS Thompson's
proposal for including, you
know, how we've dealt with the
closed schools in the next. In
the next workshop, I'm in favor
of the Eagles Haven request,
like everyone else has said,
and I am in favor of Sistrunk
rising. As long as we follow.
Like all of our policies and
state statutes and all of that.
Oh, and then for for a slide 36,
again, like I would very much
like to see a formalized
process for. How we accept
proposals or how we deal with
our, our, the properties of the
schools that we are
consolidating. I find it really
I struggle with the fact that,
you know, land is probably one
of the most valuable resources
in Broward. And we really only
have one proposal for, for a
very, very valuable piece of
land, land, a very good
proposal, but one nonetheless,
when I think there should be
much more competition for our
land. And I think that says
something about how we are
going about this process that I
think needs to be improved,
like people Should be begging
us to in competing for for our
land. So I would really like to
see in the next workshop, and
I'll keep saying it because
I've asked for this, but I
would really like to see a
formal process for how we deal
with our our schools and how we
accept proposals or whatever
you want to call it, moving
forward. MISS Dupree Bruno, did
you want to? I thought, you
know.
>> Well, thank you, MISS
Leonardi. What I was going to
say is, is that's what the
General Council has been
working on as far as policies
are concerned, to ensure that
we do have a formal policy as
well as procedural standard
operating procedures,
procedural manual for how we
then implement the intent and
the language and the policy. So
yes, MISS Leonardi, that would
definitely, as we launch,
redefining this third year,
that would be a very integral
part of the process.
>> So the policy is coming to
the board for the final
adoption on the 23rd. That's
the public private partnership
policy. And there's already a
draft of the process as well as
standard operating procedure
that staff is fine tuning. So
we can come and share that with
you when it's finalized.
>> Thank you, MISS Hixon.
>> Thank you. Thank you for
giving me the opportunity to
weigh in again. I will just say,
chair, you're not necessarily a
loner on that. I also think for
Siegel, I would rather look at
option three first, although I
do know that a training
facility is necessary because I
had had a number of law
enforcement officers and
detectives and stuff asking
about the opportunity to use
some of our schools after, you
know, after school to do some
of that training, because we
know the training is really
important. I, I do share some
of the concerns that you have,
and I know that sounds MAY be a
little less, but they're still
traumatizing. And again, I know
it's such an important training
for students to have. But
anyway, I mean, it's important
training for, for the police to
have in order to be prepared.
But I do think that even the
slight possibility of it being
able to be heard is concerning.
I'm not saying no to it exactly,
but my order would be to look
at option one first and then
I'm sorry, option three first
and then bring us like, what
would how much money would that
garner? Is there anybody even
really interested? And then if
that doesn't pan out to look at
option one and then option two.
So for Margate, I'm okay to to
halt for right now, especially
because I think we have the
facilities assessment and stuff.
I do agree that spending my
pockets of money here and there
don't necessarily help overall
when something is in the
distress that Margate Middle is
in. You know, we were already
getting ready to spend money on
a cafeteria because it's way
too small for the students. But
my question I have on that is
have we I mean, I don't think
we have based on the
presentation, but I just want
to be clear. Have we spent any
money on design for the
cafeteria as of yet?
>> Sonia Colino Executive
Director No, we have not spent
any money on the design for the
cafeteria.
>> Okay, perfect. Thank you.
But I do I mean, listed on
there. If we vote, if we if we
say yes to Margate, the
proposal that's here, we are
still going to finish some of
that work. And that's being
done like the restrooms. And
we're going to make sure that
they have proper working air
and all those pieces that will
allow them to be comfortable
and not distressed in the
school. I just want to be
really clear that that's part
of, of saying yes to this. Am I
correct?
>> Yes. That is a part of the
overall proposal. We did talk
about setting aside some of the
dollars to keep the school
functioning until such time as
we can decide what we want to
do going forward.
>> Okay, great. But I would
just like to add, I think we
need to do more than just keep
it functioning, right. We want
it to be comfortable. We want
it to be a place where students
want to show up. So I'm okay
with halting for now and coming
up with a better plan, because
honestly, I think building a
whole school might almost be
cheaper than just the cafeteria,
although I know that that's not
the case. But if we're already
looking at the cafeteria, when
you fold that into a newchchl,
I ththk it it w worut t to b be
way ss tn n what we' trying
to figure out here. So I'm okay
with that. But I, I don't want
it just to be functional. I
want it to be comfortable in a
place where students and staff
are happy to go every day. I'm.
Yes. To Deerfield Beach on page
31. Just a couple of questions
about the the other piece,
using other spaces for housing.
It says that these spaces were
identified. So who identified
the spaces?
>> I. MRS. Hixon, this is
Valerie. So there was a
workshop presentation that the
board did on. It was back in
JUNE, JUNE 10th of 2025. And in
that presentation, these three
schools were called out in that
presentation. I'm sorry.
>> Okay.
>> Well. So Margate and
Willoughby were specifically
called out. And at that time,
school board member, current
vice chair DR. Holness asked
for plantation to be considered.
>> Okay. I just because it just
says they were identified. So I
just want people to know, you
know, how that happened. So it
also says that there's the rfp
for Dave Thomas will go out. So
I'm just a little confused
because I thought we were
already working with someone to,
to build out the. Dave Thomas.
>> So I will let MR. White, our,
our executive director of
procurement, speak to that and
so that he can give the board a
little additional information.
>> Good afternoon. John Wesley
White, interim executive
director of Procurement Task
Assigned. I want to give you a
brief 200 zero foot overview on
where we are with the p three
project for Dave Thomas, the
Office of General Counsel, as
you've heard earlier, did share
a draft p three process
standard Operating Procedure
and Policy for review and
comment. On MAY 27th, the
procurement and real estate and
outside counsel Oscar Soto have
been collaborating on the scope
and requirements for the
solicitation. As of early this
week. We feel that we are about
80% to 85%, complete with
drafting the solicitation.
We've already gone to e, d, o,
c and they have submitted some
draft language to be
incorporated in it to address
local, small and minority
business participation in the
project, and we are currently
working to issue an advance
public notice of the pending
project. And I think this also
addresses some of the concerns
of the board that you want to
see an adequate amount of
competition for this very
valuable set of properties. And
so what we're doing is we're
going to draft up a short
notice and then post it and let
them know that, hey, this is
something that's going to be
coming in the near future. And
so go ahead and start getting
your teams together to be able
to bid on it. MR. Soto, our
outside counsel, is currently
updating the draft p three
Comprehensive Agreement and
drafting a determination for
Doctor Hepburn to sign,
indicating that this is a a
qualifying project per Florida
Statute 255.065 and the draft
board policy. And this all
relates to this being a
facility that's being used as
for educational purposes and
for the public good. And so
that determination is required
before we can formally proceed.
Real estate is moving forward
to have a Florida licensed
architect or engineer prepare a
required design criteria
package. We don't anticipate
that this is going to be a
major, time consuming effort,
as this information is pretty
readily available in the draft
scope of work. It's going to
address things like the number
of units, which is
approximately 91 to 4 bedroom
configuration, low income
residential units, not a mixed
use property, 50 to 100% low
income based on agreement that
has yet to be finalized with
the City of Pompano Beach
Community Room, playground area
on site parking, hurricane
windows and doors, perimeter
fencing, security lead or
equivalent certification. So
we've got all that information.
We just need to get an
architect to pull that together
in a formal design criteria
package. And as far as a
preliminary schedule goes. If
we continue to make progress at
this rate, I'm hoping to be
able to get this out on the
street appximately the 23rd
of JULY to the end of JULY,
we'd have a bidders conference
about 30 days later, assuming
JULY 30th questions would be
due AUGUST 4th. Responses to
any questions we would get
published by the 13th of AUGUST.
Proposals would be due
tentatively. SEPTEMBER 21st.
Depends on what feedback we get
from the developers, saying
that they MAY or MAY not need
additional time. We've already
built in about 60 days there
for them to work on this. Oral
presentations the first week of
OCTOBER, and then we would look
to come to the board for
approval by the 10th of
NOVEMBER.
>> Okay. Thank you for that. So
just to go back to my original
question, though, the people
that came and presented that's
not that's not moving forward.
We're now going for out for rfp.
And there could be a number of
other people that have the
opportunity to to present
something. Is that correct?
>> I'm gonna jump in here.
>> Yeah. So MRS. Hixon, Kriss
Akabusi so we've been working
and MRS. Bruner has really
things are converging, right?
Because we are almost done,
like you said, with the p three
rfp template, one of the things
we're doing, MISS MRS. Bruno,
MR. Soto is going to take the
policy. We had a meeting
yesterday and then incorporate.
This is where the design
criteria is coming in to
incorporate that into the
package for the p three. So
we're actually incorporating
the policy requirement into the
p three before it goes out.
Definitely you're going to be
seeing everything. So MRS.
Hixon the presentation that was
done last year, we've been
working. And there's a lot of
steps. And those steps are
nobody, to my knowledge, has
come and presented, you know,
meaning interested in doing any
development of Dave Thomas site.
So we've just been on this road
to make sure that we are doing
what we're supposed to be doing
and things converge, whereby
now there's going to be a
policy, and then the template
is definitely addressing the
statue requirements.
>> Okay, maybe I'm not
remembering. Right, but someone
came and showed us a design and
you know what could be done
there. So I guess I'm just
confused.
>> No, let me clarify. I know
what you're saying. Now when
when the presentation was done,
we returned. There was a three
conceptual layouts. That was a
component of that presentation
on JUNE 10th of what it could
look like. So that's what
that's what you're referring to,
because we wanted to present
what the conceptual layout MAY
be. But those are intellectual
properties. So it just what
could be. That's what was
presented to the board, but not
somebody presenting saying this
is what they want to build.
>> Okay, I appreciate that
because I guess I got it
jumbled. So thank you for that.
I would also say so if cities
are interested in having these
discussions, I think, yes, we
should go forward. But I just
want to bring up a point that I
think is, is really important
for us to consider. We have
some development that's
happening in the city of
Hollywood, and they're right
next to schools. And I don't
think until they started
building them, they really
understood the impact that
those buildings would have on
the privacy and safety of our
students, because how adjacent
they are. So I have some
concerns with building housing
so close to our schools,
because they're actually right
on the school land. And these
are actually buildings that are
across the street from the
school. But when you build up
too high, the balconies now
have access to seeing our
students. And I don't want to
get too detailed in here, but I
will just say there is a big I
personally have a big concern
about allowing housing to be so
close to our students on school
grounds and the height of the
building. So if we do have
these discussions and however
that moves forward, I think
it's really important that we
take all that into account as
we roll out how we might use
these spaces together. So I
agree with the chair about a
formal process for proposals
for land, because things kind
of came at us haphazardly. So
I'd like to see more formal,
and if I'm not mistaken, I
think there's a policy coming
forward already. So I
appreciate that. And my last
question is, it seems and I
will thank all my colleagues
for consensus to move forward
with the new Broward Health
proposal with Eagles Haven. And
I just was wondering when we
can see that contract coming to
the board so we can get moving
on this.
>> Our our intention is to
bring as soon as possible. But
MR. Yakubu. So how much time do
you need?
>> So I had spoken to the
outside Council as a proactive.
If the component depends on
what. Finally, the board gives
direction regarding. Ego saving
is taken out. So we've pretty
much come close to. The actual
sale has been nailed down in
the agreement of sale and
purchase. The student
engagement agreement is going
to be a component. So we MAY. I
spoke to the council. We MAY be
able to bring it on the 23rd if
you choose. That's what he told
me.
>> That's the goal, MR. Hixon,
is to bring it on the 23rd. And
then, if I MAY, MADAM Chair,
just add a little bit to the
discussion of Broward Health
and gc. Please jump in as
needed. Now that we have a
board consensus, Broward Health
now is going to issue a new
letter of intent. Their
original letter of intent
included the value of the space
that they were going to give to
us, that we were going to
sublease to Eagles Haven. So
since that's not going to
happen, that's going to be
taken out and the purchase
price is going to be 14 million,
anything outside of that in
terms of donation will be done
between Broward Health and
Eagles Haven. It would not be
part of the letter of intent or
the purchase of of that land.
But gc. In the.
>> End, the only other thing
that I would add is that the
board really does need to
understand that this is not our
negotiations. Basically, this
is a donation from Broward
Health, and they're the the
only person that can really
enforce anything would be jafco
through Eagles Haven. This is
not a board transaction. The
only transaction that we're
involved in is the sale of the
land for the 14 million.
>> Yes, I appreciate that. And
I, I think it actually makes it
cleaner and easier. And I'm
sure everybody is going to come
through with what they're
supposed to do. So thank you
again to my colleagues for
giving consensus. And I think
that's it for me. Thanks so
much.
>> Thank you, MRS. Alhadeff.
>> On page five of the
presentation, can staff give a
board member follow up and put
in a guess on Winton when
Rogers, where the preschool is
located on the the map. And
then my question is this orange
line. Is that showing. What is
that actually showing? Is that
just showing like that's where
the schools are divided.
>> So thank you, MISS Alhadeff,
this is Valerie Wanza. It's
okay. I'm sorry. I just started
talking. So on page five, what
you see is initially when the
city of Fort Lauderdale entered
a proposal to potentially do a
public safety training complex
there. That's where we actually
drew the line for separation
between everything. To the
right is what the city would
potentially occupy on the
seagull side of that parcel of
land, because, as DR. Zeman
said, this entire parcel of
land is really one parcel of
land, seagull and wooden.
Everything to the left of that
orange line is everything that
is being occupied by wooden
Rogers. To ensure that they
have the space and the capacity
to operate the school that is
now consolidated Seagull and
Wooden. We will put on the map
exactly where the child care
wing is, and it's hard for me
to kind of tell you, but I
physically know where it is.
But we will certainly do a
follow up and delineate for the
board where it is. If you see
those just adjacent to the the
orange line, there are two
buildings and the, the, the
babies that the nursery is to
the left of that. So they are,
they are not in those two
buildings that are right there
by the Orange Line. They're a
little bit further west, but we
can provide for the board a
cleaner depiction that shows
you exactly where the babies
are on the campus.
>> And then is there a physical
fence that separates the two
schools or. No, it's just one.
>> So there will be. And there
there always was some type of
fence there that separates them.
Of course, we would have had we
were going to move the fence to
allow for the appropriate space
that we need. But yes, there
were absolutely be a fence that
would go up so that there's
clear separation of what would
be on that quote unquote,
seagull side side, and that
clearly separates it from the
wooden Rogers side.
>> Okay. Thank you for
explaining that. So I'm for
option one, having the school
safety training center site, I
think that the board also needs
to not only look at the
financial part of it, but the,
the value that the district
will gain to have a training
center for SROs and our
guardians, for them having a
place to go to actually do the
physical training, because we
all know that in a life
threatening situation that your
body goes into fight or flight
and you fall back to your
training. So there is such a
high level of value of us
having our own training center
for our SROs and our guardians
to go to, to have their own
place to train. So I really
would like the board to reflect
on that part of it with
creating this as a training
center and not only for, for
our district, but then to allow
other districts, potentially or
agencies to come in and them to
be charged something to do the
training there. But, you know,
we I think it shows a lot that
the board is values the
training part of making sure
that in a lockdown situation
that our officers know exactly
what to do and, and where to go
to take down a potential threat.
Thank you. Oh I'm sorry. Hold
on. And Deerfield Beach, I
would like to see the two
options to lease or sell and
Margate Middle School. Let's
hold on that. And you know, I'd
like to see what it would be to
build a new building and the
cost to doing that. And I just
for feedback to Doctor Hepburn
with staff is on page four with
the options. That was really
helpful. I would have loved to
see that, you know, throughout
the document for all the other
schools, because it just makes
it very concise and easy. Thank
you.
>> Thank you.
>> DR. Zeman thank you so much,
chair. I worried a little bit.
We're talking past each other.
Chair, when you brought up the
point about a process for
disposing of land, and then we
talked about a policy for p3sp3
is one way to dispose of land.
But I believe chair, that we
actually need a better policy
for disposing of land like
other agencies have figured out
how to say, okay, it's disposed
and then they put it up for
sale. They have a process that
allows multiple people to come
in and propose different things,
even though they also, chair
have to get the city's
agreement on zoning and
permissions and all that ahead
of time. But, but then you get
more than one. And I think
that's really important for us
to get the best value in the
future. So I just don't want to
talk past ourselves. I think
right now, chair, we could ask
for a process for disposal of
land that is separate from the
policy on p3s. Is that fair,
general Council?
>> So if I MAY policy 8020. So
that's probably I'm sorry, 8030
is probably if. And I just say
that to the General Council, as
you're looking at prioritizing
policies through the process,
policy 8030 is our policy for
the disposal of land. So that
MAY be something if you want to
prioritize based on the
feedback from the board.
>> So so you have a policy that
is also coming forward for
review next week, which is
about the surplus of land. And
then what we need to do from
that point is to also create
the processes and the SOPs that
go along.
>> With it. That's my point, is
that we are now shifting to a
new management structure, where
John Sullivan and the
superintendent and staff are
responsible for creating the
process. They can do that right
now, and that would satisfy the
chair's interest. And I think
the board's interest, to be
honest with you, about let's
modernize our disposal of of
land. We didn't do a lot before,
but I think we're going to be
in that business for the next
half a dozen years or so. So
why don't we get the process
right now? So, MR. Sullivan,
can we take a follow up on that,
on whether or not we can get
the process done for disposal
of land, since we're we're
moving it out of policy and
putting it under the
superintendent.
>> Yeah. We can provide a
follow up.
>> Thank you. Actually, chair,
I think can we get consensus on
just asking for that process to
be developed?
>> Does anyone object to that?
Anyone online objecting?
>> Nope.
>> No.
>> I just might want to make
sure we weren't because because
p three and selling land is
really distinct thing. Second
thing when we did Dave Thomas
as a p three it was 100%
affordable. So I'm not sure why
MR. White is talking about 50
to 100% now. When did that
change?
>> John White Director of
Procurement we've got to get
final agreement with the city
of Pompano Beach, and that's
what that's why we're going for
100%. But Pompano Beach might
not allow us to do 100%. So
that's ongoing discussion.
>> We have already gained
consensus with the City of
Pompano, and you can go back
andd look at soso meeting notes
om our former chihief
cilitieses officicer thahat
tetent.
>> Okay. I'm I'm good with that.
>> Yep. I just don't want to
ask twice because then they
then they might think they can
go back.
>> Okay, so I'm coming in a
little.
>> And the reason.
>> They did that.
>> Is that the housing that's
being built around the City
Hall complex, all of that
entire in massive complex
they're doing is market rate.
And so they said, yes, it's
okay. And they have a special
zone that they could do 100%
affordable because everything
across the street is
marketplace. They really like
our employees being there,
partaking in the transportation
and the city hall, you know,
mixed use property that they're
building across the street.
>> And I mean, to DR. Zeman
point, I, I feel like I keep
saying, I don't love getting
proposals in my junk folder for
a piece of land that is
millions and millions of
dollars. Like that is not how a
serious organization sells or
leases or does anything with
their land. That's. I don't
know how else to say it, MISS
Bulman.
>> Just two little questions in
regards to the Eagles haven. If
we're getting a new letter of
intent, then how are we? I'm
I'm agreeing to this because
we're there's a donation. So
how do we know that that's
happening?
>> I don't.
>> MR. Sullivan.
>> They've made public
commitments to that. But it
won't be part of our agreement
that the board would vote on.
>> Okay. I mean, if everyone
else feels good about that. But
I'm personally putting on the
record that I'm agreeing to
this based on them publicly
stating that they're going to
do this. Otherwise I might have
a different opinion. And then
my second question is I wanted
to revisit Deerfield because I,
I wasn't really clear on what
was being asked. So we have a
there's currently an easement
that they're not, they're not
paying for.
>> Correct.
>> So and so is, are we is, is
the option either to sell the
land to them for an
undetermined price? Because
there's nothing I didn't see a
cost or to lease it to them.
>> So it's to keep the easement
agreement. So and I was kind of
getting a little interchanging
words that I should not have
been. So we currently, if you
look on slide 28 and if beacon
can put up slide 28, for
approximately 60 years, there
has been an agreement in effect
with the city for the use of
the easement for parking. And
that is at no cost. Correct?
MR. Okay. That is at no cost.
The city approached us about
possibly purchasing that. We
have not done an appraisal.
Correct. Okay. We have not done
an appraisal to determine the
value. So we were we came to
the board or we're here today
to see, is that something that,
you know, you want us to go
ahead and look at? Do we want
to go ahead and go through the
appraisal process and go go
down that route? Or do we want
to just continue with the
easement agreement process that
we have been doing for the
better part of 60 years?
>> So now that I'm thinking
about this a little bit
differently, because I didn't
understand at all what was
happening before, so I
apologize. I guess it begs the
question of why this would be
coming up all of a sudden,
after 60 years of using the
parking lot for free.
>> Go ahead. Yes, you MAY talk.
>> So there's two components at
that school site. That is an
historical building that's been
boarded up. And the city
manager. That building is
historical, so you can demolish
it. I'm trying to remember it's
pretty big. I'm trying to
remember the square footage. So
the city was interested in
renovating the building. And
then they're interested in
buying the building and trying
to do like a cultural community
facility with us being able to
utilize or they want to lease
it. So our administration
through the superintendent is
preferably we want to listen.
So then the city said, okay, we
have this little piece over
here. We also want to buy it.
So that's how that conversation.
So it wasn't just they came to
us for the parking. It was
starting with the historical
building that's on that school
site, same school site, and
it's building one.
>> So I guess we would need I
would need more information. I
don't even understand. There
seems to be more complicated
than what was initially
presented to us. I'd like to
see the whole story and what
we're looking at, so we can
make an educated decision about,
you know, because I, I don't
immediately have a problem
selling it to another
municipality. I, I would feel
more comfortable sending it to
a municipality than for a
private developer. I wouldn't
want to do that at all. But I
would like to know the details
of this before I make a
decision.
>> We can, we can we don't have
to do that today. Right? That's
not an immediate decision. So
we can absolutely bring back
additional information for the
board to contemplate.
>> Okay. Thank you. Item.
Thanks. That's it.
>> MR. Bruno.
>> So I want to make sure that
the board understands and that
members of the public also
understands. There is a very
specific process for both
public private partnerships as
well as sales. And next week,
when the board, hopefully the
board approves the two policies,
you will have to go through the
bidding process for surplus
land. It cannot be sent
something that's just sent to
the board. It has to go through
procurement. And the same thing
for your public private
partnership. So the policy is
there. It has some instructions
in there and there will be
additional processes that are
created. So I wanted to make
sure that is on the record so
everybody understands that.
>> Thank you, MISS Hixon.
>> Thank you. Just to address
board member Bowman's concern,
I believe if Broward Health
were to do a formal agreement
with Jafco, who represents
Eagles Haven, and maybe that
could be that agreement with
them or whatever they draft up
could be attached as maybe
backup to our item that comes.
We could all be very confident
that it's not a suggestion that
it's definitely a donation that
everyone is committed to. And
even though we're not part of
it, maybe it could just be the
background information given
with the item so that we are
very clear that that is moving
forward. There's no chance that
it's not going to happen.
>> Daughter Wanza oh, I thought
you wanted.
>> No, no no, I'm no ma'am.
>> Okay.
>> I think the General Council.
>> And I.
>> Think Broward Health is, is
willing to, to do that formal
agreement.
>> So we so we have to be
really careful with the
transaction. This is a sale of
land. So we don't want to
commingle the transactions. If
we do have a correspondence
from Jafco accepting what was
offered by Broward Health, we
can share that with the board.
And if there is a contract that
is drafted, it could be shared
with the board. But we, excuse
me, do not want to commingle
the transactions and have it
attached as an exhibit to the
agenda item.
>> Okay. Yeah. As long as
there's something that's
provided to the board where we
could see that it's it is a
formal agreement if you don't
think it's appropriate to
attach it, I get that, but
maybe just send it to us. So
we're very clear that again,
it's not a suggestion. It's
it's written in stone if it
moves forward.
>> Thank you.
>> DR. Holness thank you, MADAM
Chair. So I just wanted to give
my input on Margate. I support
the recommendation. Also
regarding Deerfield Beach. I am
glad MR. Iacobuzio clarified
that we're not getting any
money, so I think getting money
would be much better. So I am
for the sale of it. MADAM Chair,
I am not sure if you have
gotten consensus. I know you
felt like you didn't on the on
the Seagull option three, but
now getting clarity that option
three option one is actually
not overly financially
beneficial in terms of, you
know, producing revenues. I am
more for option three, you know,
Seagull is a prime property and
I don't have an issue with
safety training. But I believe
that as we continue to redefine
schools, we're going to have
other attractive sites that are
not necessarily prime
properties that we could have
the safety training, you know,
option exercise on those other
properties that are not
necessarily as expensive or as
prime as Seagull. So I would
much prefer option three for
Seagull. And MADAM Chair, I
think I would probably
encourage you to take consensus
on that again, because I was
glad to hear your input with
the noise factor as well with
having, you know, younger
children there. So it was well
taken. And I am more supportive
of option three. I'd just like
to make a comment as well on
the this trunk rising. I don't
believe the trunk rising
project should be delayed or
harmed by the by p three policy.
You know, that proposal was an
unsolicited proposal that was
then publicly disclosed to
invite other proposals. I
believe we received at least
four multiple proposals were
received and then filtered down
to two. This was discussed in
prior workshop. Before coming
to this workshop. You know, I
don't believe North Fork should
be delayed or forced to restart
as a result of a new p three
policy. So I'm hoping that we
can move ahead with it. My
understanding is that p three
process can be expensive, you
know, so there are many
concerns to that. So I don't
believe the North Fork should
be delayed as a result of p
three policy. Because we went
through the process. We
received multiple proposals and
we filtered down to two. And
we're down to Sistrunk rising.
So I hope that we can move
beyond that and and continue
the process with Sistrunk
rising. And Doctor Wanza, I am
okay with the the future
workshop topic and I think I
covered everything. Thank you,
MADAM Chair.
>> All right, so just real
quick, I want to retake the
consensus on Seagull. I heard
me, MISS Hixon DR. Holness and
MISS Bulman say that we wanted
to pursue option three. Is that
am I capturing that correctly?
And then I heard option 1 or 2
DR. Zeman and MR. Cervera.
Option one, MRS. Alhadeff and
option one and three
simultaneously, MISS Thompson,
but please correct me if I'm
wrong. Colleagues. Sorry. Oh,
okay. So sorry. So MISS Bulman
does not want to pursue option
three. You want to pursue
option one and three. Okay, so
that gives us three board
members in support of just
option three to MR. Cervera.
>> Since we've been at this for
what seems like ten hours now,
can you please repeat option
three?
>> So option three is to look
at either selling or leasing
the land. I have to go back to
the exact slide. Doctor Wanza.
>> Yes you're right. So so
option three after formal
policy and procedure
development, receive formal
proposals to either enter into
a p3 opportunity with
interested vendors or into a
facility or land lease
agreement with interested
parties.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Okay. So again, option one
and three simultaneously, MISS
Thompson, MISS Bulman, option
three only, MISS Leonardi, MISS
Hixon DR. Holness. Option 1 or
2. DR. Zeman or MR. Cervera and
option one. MRS. Alhadeff, am I
capturing that correctly?
>> I think so.
>> Do you have your direction,
doctor?
>> Wanza I think so, okay.
>> I heard a majority of the
board in favor of the Margate
replacement. A majority of the
board in favor of the Deerfield
easement. Is that correct?
Anything else?
>> Just on the Margate issue, I
think there was a discussion
about. It's a pause and getting
the the cost estimate before we
decide on the replacement, if
that. Yeah, a little bit more
accurate.
>> Sorry. Margate. Pause.
>> Thank you chair.
>> Anything else doctor Wanza
MISS Bulman.
>> The Deerfield. I think we're
going to.
>> Come back with more
information first so that you
all can see come back and lay
out Deerfield together. What
the easement. What the what an
appraisal for. Yes. We're going
to come back, Deerfield, for a
follow up.
>> Okay. Anything else? All
right.
>> MADAM Chair, can you.
Clarify what.
>> The decision was for Siegel?
>> Doctor Wanza.
>> Siegel. The way I interpret
what the board is saying is to
really probably come back with
what option one and three look
like, so that the board can
probably have a little deeper
conversation, bring back what
option one and option three
would look like, and we would
bring that back. And, you know,
in a relatively as
expeditiously as we can. And at
that same time, we will bring
back the Deerfield Beach
Elementary School options two
so that it is a true follow up
to this conversation. Does that
conform with what you have?
>> Yeah. I mean, I'm not really
sure how we make sense of the
the split, but yeah, I'm not
opposed to.
>> What I would just bring back
both. And then the board, you
know, hopefully we won't be at
this hour and the board can
really sit down and have a
meaningful conversation.
>> But for for the Siegel piece,
I do need the information for
option one, like how much
capital investment we would
have to make. We would have to
invest how much money we could
potentially, how much revenue
we could potentially generate.
And the the safety piece, you
know, that there would be no
intermingling of the babies and
the active shooter trainings.
>> Perfect.
>> All right. Anyone else,
anyone online want to add
anything?
>> Well, and the value that the
training brings to the SROs and
the Guardians.
>> Did you capture that?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> All right. Anything else?
All right. Our next item on the
agenda is voluntary
prekindergarten pre
kindergarten orientation.
>> Chair. I just I have to go
in ten minutes. Are we we're
are we do we have some intent
of trying to to do vpk ahead of
the Capitol or what are we
going to try and accomplish
here for the rest of the day?
>> MR. Sullivan what do we have
to complete today?
>> So I believe we need to do
the vpk item because they need
that board feedback before JULY
1st, and then the meal prices.
So the board can vote on it on.
Next week on the 23rd. In terms
of the capital budget, I don't
believe it needs to go today.
And what we could do if the
board likes, although there is
a lot of items on the special,
I don't believe they will take
the entirety of the day. We
could add that to the special
as a presentation.
>> I love it.
>> Second, yeah.
>> Is there any objection to
adding a workshop to next week,
MISS Bulman?
>> No. If we can get out of
here soon.
>> Anyone online want to add
their input?
>> But don't. Don't we have to
do. We're doing power up, right?
>> That's fine.
>> Yes, MADAM Chair.
>> Yep.
>> I'm fine with.
>> I'm sorry.
>> Thank you.
>> Fine.
>> MADAM Chair.
>> Yes. DR. Holness.
>> Yes. So, can John also look
at the items we have on the
23rd to determine if any of
those items could possibly be
delayed, just in case the
workshop and the current items
will put us beyond eight hours.
>> So?
>> So the majority, if not all
the items on the 23rd have to
go because they're items that
expire at the end of this
fiscal year. But again, most of
them are a small amounts, and I
don't anticipate a lot of those
items having a great deal of
discussion. So I believe,
although I might live to regret
this, that they should be
enough time to do the budget
presentation, a capital at the
end.
>> Okay. MADAM Chair, can John
comment on whether or not the
median should start earlier to
exhaust all the items?
>> MR. Sullivan?
>> That's the will of the board.
i believe the special is
scheduled for 9 A.M. 845. We
could do it at 8 A.M. If that's
up to the board, or we can keep
it.
>> 845 everyone in the room who
is a minority shaking their
heads. But anyone online want
to suggest or want to?
>> I would like it. Not at 8
A.M.
>> Yeah. Me either.
>> Yeah, I think 830.
>> It's 845.
>> So we could either do eight
845 or 8 A.M. 845 all right. We
will keep the meeting at 845.
>> Yeah.
>> vpk here we go.
>> All right. Would we like the
presentation or go straight to
board discussion.
>> I've read the whole
presentation. I'm ready to talk,
chair.
>> All right. Go ahead.
>> Chair, if you don't mind, I
believe that Doctor Cohen does
have to just share something
very briefly so they can make
sure we're in compliance, and
then we'll be ready to take
questions if that's okay.
>> We we're going to jump right
to the end of the deck. And if
the board wishes, we can come
back and present the entire
deck. I know that it was made a
public, so everyone had an
opportunity. But there's one
essential question we do need
to get answered. So we could go
right to that question and get
that answered. We can schedule
this for another meeting. I'm
going to introduce my team.
Sharonda Bailey, director of
vpk, Head Start, and Paul.
>> Thank you, Doctor Cohen.
Good evening board. Thank you
for giving us the opportunity
to address the. One important
question we need answered today.
Our Head Start preschool
program has been experiencing
under enrollment, as we have in
our k through 12 enrollment
trends. And what we are
proposing with the Office of
Head Start is to be able to
submit an application for us to
convert our Head Start
preschool slots to early Head
Start slots. So we are right
now facing reducing those slots,
as I've mentioned on the Head
Start preschool side for our
four year old program so that
we can open the opportunity for
our students or our children
and the infants and toddlers
side of the house, therefore,
allowing allowing us to meet
enrollment requirements for our
Head Start preschool side of
the house and also meet
enrollment for our Head Start
infants and toddlers. So I
wanted to have that
conversation with the board to
see if they are willing to
allow us to move forward w whh
that applicacati..Hank youou.
>> MISS Bulman.
>> So we're your proposal is
that for the empty Head Start
slots, we would change them to
earlier. Are we changing all of
the head start spots to early
Head Start?
>> So right now for the Head
Start preschool side of our
house, there are three and four
year olds and we have 2003
seats. We're required to be at
97% for full enrollment, and
we've been hovering at 92% all
year. So we are proposing to
reduce on our 3 to 4 year old
side, 77 seats on that side of
the House to bring us closer to
being compliant for full
enrollment, but also allowing
us to convert those seats to
open up 32 additional slots for
our early Head Start program.
>> All right, that sounds great.
>> Thanks. Thank you.
>> You're welcome.
>> Anyone else? DR. Zeman
already gave his feedback.
Anyone else? All right. We are
good to move forward. Are you
you have the direction you need.
Oh, go ahead, MRS. Alhadeff.
>> No. MRS. Rebecca. Oh, MISS
Thompson, I would really like
this presentation to come back
at some point, because I think
there is a much bigger
conversation on how we approach
vpk in our our early learners.
So it's a little frustrating
that the agenda has happened,
how it has. I'm fine with this
suggestion, but just I think
it's really important that we
spend time and invest in this
program, and I would like it to
be put on agenda in the future.
Thank you.
>> We're happy to do that.
>> Anyone else, anyone else
online? All right. Thank you.
Our next item on the agenda is
the Food and Nutrition services
Meal Benefits update.
>> They'll be in about 30s. And
I'll ask Doctor Wanza perhaps
to go straight to the
superintendent's recommendation,
unless the board wants to. An
elevator speech at the
presentation.
>> Nope. I'm ready to talk.
>> Chair.
>> Yes, MISS Thompson.
>> I think it is important to
at least expand on the impact
that cep will have on other
funding, like title one, and
just make sure that the board
is particularly clear on on the
consequences of each option
they're proposing. But
otherwise I'm fine with an
abbreviated presentation.
>> I agree.
>> So Doctor Wanza, if you can
just highlight the
superintendent's recommendation
and the importance of the
funding impacts on other
revenue sources.
>> So I will go to so this is
the team from Food and
Nutrition Services as you can
see. Yay.
>> Thank you for waiting.
>> Yes. Yeah. You get power up.
And I'm not certain if they're
still on the line, but our
partners from the Council of
Great City Schools were on the
line at some point throughout
the day. They're still.
>> We're still on the line.
[Laughter]
This is.
>> Why that membership is
important. They're still here.
DR. Zeman.
>> Nice to see you, Ray.
>> Pleasure to see you all as
well.
>> Thank you for being here
with us. So I'm going to go to
page 22 of the presentation.
The superintendents
recommendations. So the
superintendents recommendations
actually asked the board to
consider four things. The first
one is to implement some
version of cep, which is the
community eligibility provision,
which will allow for whatever
number of schools the children
in the schools. As we know, all
kids will have free breakfast,
but all of those kids will have
free lunch as well. And then
for the schools that are not
included, I'm on page 22. Or is
that right? Can you go to the
revised presentation? Okay. And
then for whatever number of
schools that do not qualify for
the community eligibility
provision for all of the
children to have free lunch,
those those schools, we will
still go through the
traditional meal application
process to qualify as many
children as possible for free,
as many students as possible
for reduced. And then the
remaining would be full pay.
And we can talk about how the
groupings and the configuration
at what percentage we do for
that. The second recommendation
is we are at a place where we
do need to increase meal prices,
and the recommendation is to
increase lunch at elementary,
middle, high and adult by $1.
And then the we really want to
encourage the board to for us
to return to our historical
meal charge processes. And we
can talk about that a little
bit. I've also been in
conversation with our
colleagues in it to look at
some kind of way, how we can
integrate the meal balance with
something in focus so that kids
can see before they get to the
cafeteria, that whole
conversation about, you know,
do I have money before I
actually get in the line? And
then more than anything, and we
hear this more and more is
whatever the decision that
comes out of whatever direction
comes out of today. And then
ultimately board item next week
that we must immediately
implement a robust
communication protocol across
the community that involves the
schools, that involves everyone,
so that parents and families
know the options that we are
moving forward with. That's the
long and the short.
>> Thank you, MISS Dixon.
>> Thank you so much. I have to
MISS Thompson's point. It was
brought up to us that the
schools, let's say I. I forget
what option three was in terms
of numbers of schools, but
let's say it's 80 schools. It
might have been 96, but it.
Those 80 schools that are part
of the cpe, how does that
affect their title one funding?
Because we would be helping
ourselves to do cpe with them,
but then we would be hurting
the schools. So I think it's
really important that we
understand what that effect is.
>> And yes. Good afternoon.
Thank you so much, MR. Sullivan.
Good afternoon. Board members.
LaWanda Wright, director of
federal programs. At this time,
the federal government allows
the 1.6 multiplier, which is in
your presentation, to be tied
to the direct certified number
of students. And we've been
using this tool for our current
schools identified as cep. And
at this time, it does not have
a direct correlation or impact
on their allocation. The only
mitigating factor that's
impacting the allocations for
our school is the decline in
enrollment. That is the major
factor that's impacting their
allocation as it relates to
their title one designation. I
hope that was helpful.
>> Well, the I think the
concern principals have is if
we're cpe, they don't have to
fill out the form. And so then
how do they determine that
they're still title one schools.
>> We have always used in the
past our dashboard indicator
that gives them the number of
direct certified students with
the multiplier. And they use
this dashboard to determine
their percentage. All of this
data has been provided to our
principals for the last eight
years. And the title one, the
Federal Programs Department,
will be more than happy to
onboard and meet the needs of
those principles that need the
necessary technical assistance
and guidance.
>> Okay, awesome. So if we move
to cpe, what you're saying
basically is that it should not
affect those schools and their
title one funding.
>> So what I'm saying is, if
the district makes a decision
to move back to c, e p, there
are various factors that impact
their title one eligibility,
I.E low enrollment I e the
district's decision on how they
will use their title one
funding and leverage that to
serve back to the high school
conversation. There are
mitigating factors that MAY
impact the title one
designation. If we were to
increase the threshold like we
did previously, from 50% to 61%,
there are various factors that
will impact their title one
designation. This is why we
encourage our principals to
review the dashboard and
educate themselves on the
number of students they have,
review that information and
then they will see the
correlation of direct certified
students at their school and
the 1.6 multiplier that will
give them their percentage. I
hope that was helpful, MISS
Hixon.
>> Okay. Yes. Thank you. And
then the other piece that I
just want to which will be no
surprise to anyone, the return
to historical student charge
procedures. So when we had our
one on one, I got a lot of
pushback about how it is that
we can identify that a student
owes money or, you know, isn't
eligible for free and reduced
lunch so that we're avoiding
taking that, that tray of food
from them, throwing it away
after they've already gotten it
and giving them a wow sandwich.
So, Doctor Wanza, you said that
you had reached out to it. Can
you tell us what did they say?
And is that possible? And then
in our one on one, you had
mentioned you were going to
reach out to other counties to
see how they avoid the issue
that we ran into this year. So
can you tell us what
information you gathered?
>> So it is going to explore.
They are committed to
partnering with us to determine
how they can come up, how we,
as a as an organization can
come up with something where.
So let let me say this, MISS
Hixon so particularly at the
middle school and the high
school level, and I know. Well,
I'm going to go to high school.
We know at high school, during
lunchtime or whatever, students
can use their cell phone. There
is. The ability for students to
have the My School Books app on
their phone, and the students
know whether or not they have
money in their account. I mean,
we and and some of this, as
much as I am a 100% proponent
of feeding as many children as
possible who cannot, you know,
who cannot afford to pay for
meals, some of some of this we
do have to put back on our
families, because I had a
conversation with a number of
children this weekend,
particularly at church, and I
asked them about this whole
thing with meal charges and
stuff, and they said to me,
well, MISS Wanza, the district
was paying for it. There wasn't
a reason for me to need to have
money or to check anything,
because we always knew that the
school is going to give us the
meal. So there wasn't a reason,
right? So one of the things
that we are going to work with
it to see how we can do
something so that children have
the ability to see either
readily and focused or
something. Coming into the
cafeteria area. So we're going
to work on that. The other part
is, so no other other districts
actually make a concerted
effort where the district funds
the difference. Whatever the
difference is, the district
funds it. And I know that that
MAY not be our place right now,
and we certainly respect that.
And then the last part is, as I
said to you, we're going to
have to actually work with some
building level leaders around
what this will look like in
their building. I think the
again, the greatest challenge
will probably come at the
secondary level, more so than
the elementary level.
>> Okay. So basically when you
checked with other counties,
they, they do what we did this
year and that was just cover
the cost.
>> Well, well, they have some
version of cep with universal
free where the district covers
whatever is the deficit. And so
that is something that I know
we
>> Worked as an as a district
have to decide what is it that
the board. What direction does
the board want to take?
>> Okay. Thank you. So I would
say yes to option three with
making sure that our principals
know what they have to do so
that they don't get the issue
with the title one reduction if
possible. I'm not sure how I
feel about meal price increases,
but I, you know, everything's
increasing. So I guess if we
have to do that, I would I'm
concerned about the historical
student charge procedures
because that's how we ended up
where we're at now. And I don't
want to continue to be in this
place. So I would. Only say yes
to that.
>> Can, can can we just explain
what the historical charge
procedure was? It's not every
kid comes through and they
automatically don't have to pay,
don't have to pay, don't have
to pay. There are things that
we did strategically at the
elementary level. There was
some discretion at the
secondary level with middle
schools and high schools. And
in in our highest year of
having meal charges at the at
the historical practices, that
balance MAY have been $28,000
at most. And then we work with
community partners through
donations to have that balance
covered. It is true that this
year the balance is just over
728 or $29,000, because
students were of the mindset,
it doesn't matter. It's free
for me. It doesn't matter.
>> Yeah. And I, I appreciate
that. It's partly why I was
frustrated with us just early
on paying off that percent. I
mean, that money instead of
waiting till the end because it
continues to look like the
district's just covering the
cost. But I appreciate the
explanation on that. So, you
know, yes to whatever was
working better before, and I
will I'm okay with the
initiating a robust
communications plan, but I just
would like to add a caveat to
that. I think we had a robust
communication plan this year.
They just didn't hear it. So I
don't want to come across as a
board member to staff thinking
that I didn't think that you
all did everything possible to
make them understand that they
were not getting lunch for free
anymore.
>> I think we lost.
>> Communication plan would be
better suited there, because it
isn't as if we didn't do
something. And I, I do
appreciate what was done, but I
don't want to land in the same
place next year. So thank you.
>> Thank you. Before I call on
our student advisors, I did
need to call for public comment.
Rochelle Sofer. I don't think
she's here anymore. Lily and
Mikhail.
>> Okay, so from the student
perspective, the biggest
challenge with this shift is
that families have gotten used
to not doing anything for
school meals. Okay, for several
years. And my, my mom is guilty
of this as well for several
years because of the federal
Covid era waivers and the
higher cep eligibility, we were
able to offer free lunch to all
the students without requiring
any applications or anything
like that. Right. So parents
didn't have to fill out any
forms, and students didn't have
to worry about whether they
qualified or not. That became
the routine for them every
single year right now that
those waivers have expired,
families are suddenly being
asked to go back to a process
that many have not done in
years. Right. And some of them
have never done it at all. A
lot of the parents don't
understand why these things are
happening, and many of them
don't realize that by them not
submitting their application,
job applications, the
reimbursement drops to $0.55
per meal. And that's a major
reason why our student meal
debt grew from 94,000 in
SEPTEMBER to $735,000 in MAY,
which is around $80,000 per
month and a 30% increase every
single month as well. Now,
through skipped lunches, shared
foods, or avoiding the
cafeteria because they don't
want to be embarrassed. Right?
What we see in the schools is
simple families aren't ignoring
the application on purpose.
Many of them just think meals
are still free for everyone.
Some of them assume they won't
qualify. Others don't
understand that the application
affects school funding, and a
lot of families have never seen
the emails or the robo calls
that have been sent out. So
from a student and operational
standpoint, the district's
communication plan is very
important. But we need
messaging that is clearer,
shorter and also more visible
so that we can reach all the
students so that they can all
understand and the parents as
well. And a realistic step
would maybe be like a one
minute, one minute information
video that explains in plain
language as well why the meal
application matters and how it
supports the schools. But the
key is where it's shown it
should appear in places that
students can see and families
actually look at, like morning
announcements, cafeteria
screens as they had stated,
canvas dashboards, and even qr
codes that are placed in the
lunch line or whatever the case
MAY be. Right? These are small,
low cost changes that make the
message heard and hard to MISS
So that everyone can share it
at home and share it to their
families, so that our district
doesn't end up like this again
next school year. This is not a
new program. It's just a way
that families have to adjust
from a world where they were
automatically free, to a world
where paperwork matters again.
So if the district does move
forward with option three,
students want to make sure the
rollout is clear, accessible,
and also supportive. So no
student should be choosing
between learning and eating.
That's number one and improving
how we communicate. This change
can make a real difference for
our students. Thank you.
>> All right. So I do have
questions. So first of all, I'm
looking at the pricing that
we're talking about. That's
pending board approval for 26
to 27. Would there be a way for
the reduced lunch amount to be
reduced even more just because
I think it is, you know, very
unfortunate that we have to
raise the cost of lunches for
students. You know, McHale, you
had said that you had dealt
with the free and reduced lunch.
I know I used to do that when I
was younger. Luckily, I no
longer have to, but I think it
is just unfortunate, you know,
with how the world is today and
how the economy is today, that
we do have to raise it. So is
there a way for that $0.40
reduction to be higher, if that
makes sense, like further
reduced?
>> So not per the usda. So it
would have to be at 40%, I mean,
at $0.40. So the only thing
that we would be able to do
with the p l tool is the
lunches, like raise it a dollar
or what the board decides. Okay.
>> And then additionally, this
is just something I want to
comment on kind of a question,
kind of a comment, because this
is something that I know I've
dealt with with school lunch. I
buy it pretty often is if you
haha like,f youu d dn'tt p p
monene o oyour aouou and the
let't's say you have a $ debt. I
don't know if you guys have
fixed this. I have not seen it
fixed at my school is I can put
like $20 onto my account, but
that $3 debt you have to pay
back in cash so I can keep
putting. Yeah, it's happened to
me. And the worst part is it
won't take the money out of my
account. It keeps adding on to
the debt. So like, let's say I
had a $3 debt and then I have
20 on my account. If I go buy
another lunch, it adds on to
the debt separately. So I don't
know if that's a school thing
or if that's a you guys thing.
>> So I could I could speak to
the meal obligation in regards
to the monies being taken out
due to the quick turnaround of
implementing meal obligation
and implementing the structure
behind it. The removal of the
debt is something that was not
automated. We are still trying
to work on an automated process
to make it where if you have a
debt either to the school or to
the principal account, it would
be taken out automatically.
What we were able to do in the
short time that we did have it
enacted, was give you the
balance shown on focus and on
my school books, so that when
you did make a payment, it
would surface it up and then
through through training and
meal operations. We taught the
staff on how to take those debt
off. So if your school was not
doing that on a daily basis,
depending on the training
provided, that was another
issue we needed to address. So
thank you. Correct.
>> Yeah. Just because it was
like really annoying when I
would have money in my account
and they're like, no, you need
to pay it back in cash. And
it's like, well, I have, I have
money on there, but I yeah, so
if you guys can do something.
>> But it has been taken care
of at the moment.
>> Yeah. No, my debt was fine
because I paid it back in cash.
Like it's not like, it's not
like the debt stays in there,
but it's just like if I had
bought lunch before I put money
in my account, it'll be like a
$3 debt. But even if I put,
let's say $10, $20 in my
account, it doesn't pay off the
debt. You have to pay it back
in cash.
>> The other system also
prompts you to next time you go
through the line, yeah, you had
the debt and you never went
back.
>> That's what I'm saying. Like
you have to bring the cash. You
can't like pay it off online.
That's what I think it should
be like. You can pay it off
online.
>> But that's definitely
something we'll look into just
to make sure for, you know, the
next student, you know, that
that doesn't occur with them.
But thank you so much.
>> So the question becomes,
what are we going to do to
ensure that all of the students
and parents understand that
these forms and these
applications do matter, because
this can't happen again next
year?
>> So, so I can mention that we
did start back in MAY when we
knew we were transitioning back
because as you stated, it's a
perfect example. You know, some
kids started in kindergarten
with the pandemic. By the time,
you know, fifth grade, they
knew the kids were getting the
meals for free. So we started
in MAY. We did news media
interviews with channel seven,
nbc six, Telemundo. We did
moments with the mayor. We did
conferences. We did a lot of
open house backpack giveaways,
outreach to the community. So
we were out there with
applications, our Purple Shirts,
Saturdays events, just to reach
out to parents. But if you can
recommend or we can hear better
ways for students, you know,
because the issue would be we
were out there, but then the
parents really didn't show up.
So any way, any suggestions
that you guys have, especially
with high school students that
we can get out there, open
house or any events, we would
be happy to be out there
because the whole goal is we
want to not only educate the
parents, but we also go out
with laptops. And the big thing
is we want parents to also
understand that citizenship is
not a factor when it comes to
completing the application. The.
With the Social Security, they
can list the last four digits.
So we have some parents that
don't feel comfortable with
that and they just check the
box. No social. We just want
parents to know that there's an
option for their students when
it comes to an application and
not just thinking, wait, I'm in
a hardship and I'm not going to
do the hour. I don't know about
the application. So yes, we
still want to get out there. So
as soon as we know what
decision the board will go, we
want to get that out there to
parents right away.
>> Okay, beautiful. So it does
sound like you guys did do as
much as you can when it came to
communication and trying to
reach out to the parents and
the students and stuff. So yeah,
on my friend. Yeah. Okay.
>> Is that it? Okay, MISS
Thompson?
>> Thank you. Chair, I think,
do we have a breakdown of how
many students that switching
doing option three or switching
to option one? What is the
actual.
>> Student benefit or the
number of students will be able
to feed as opposed to the
traditional meal applications.
>> So that would so we have
number of schools, right? And
then the. And then depending on
how what variation of groupings
that we use at the at the
various percentages, whether
it's a 100% free full
reimbursement, the 40% of the
25. That would then be
predicated on the students
enrolled in the schools. So we
have the number of schools that
would qualify, and then the
number of students that's just
based on the enrollment in
those various schools,
depending on the groupings.
>> So the goal is to make sure
the most amount of kids are fed.
What is the option staff would
recommend.
>> So. The goal to make sure
the most amount of kids are fed
are at the 25%. However, the
goal of making sure the most
amount of kids are are fed. But
also we have to look at the
financial responsibility that,
you know, comes with. And all
of that we would say would be
at the 40%. But we are here to
listen to the board. That is
why we gave the revised. Slide
15. Because when you see the
the column tt says local
sources of revenue loss. So
basically that's the when, when
parents have to pay, right to
pay for the full pay, the
things of that and, you know,
to pay for the meal. So when
you look at what would be the
option that would provide food,
free, meaning free lunch to the
most amount of children, but
also in a very fiscally. You
know, conscious way, it would
be grouped at the 40%.
>> All right.
>> And that's what option three
is.
>> So option three is we do
some variation of c, e, p with
the meal applications, meaning
we do whatever variation we can
of feeding the most amount of
kids. And the most fiscally
responsible way. And for the
schools that do not qualify for
c, e, p, then those schools, we
would do the meal applications
for.
>> And so how are we
determining that grouping and
what factor? Because I'm
getting and we talked about
this on my one on one. I'm
getting pushback from
principals about the harm, the
unintentional harm that this
will cause.
>> So. So MISS.
>> How are we making that a
factor? And I know you, it was
told to MRS. Hixon that that's
not a problem. But I still,
even with explaining it to
principals, what I got
explained, they still feel like
it's they're they're concerned.
>> So so.
>> This is how do I address
that?
>> So what I will say, and
obviously MISS Wright can come
back up at any time to either
elaborate or clarify anything
that MAY not be, you know,
consistent with what she said
or that MAY not be aligned to
what she said. So cep is
ensuring that, you know, the
maximum amount of kids at
whatever percentage we identify
have free lunch as well. What
principals are concerned about
at the end of the day is
probably, yes, they want kids
to eat. I I'm a former
principal. They do not want
kids to be hungry. However,
they also know that they get a
title one allocation that
allows for them to do other
supplemental things in their
schools to to ensure that their
academic program, the services
that they're providing for
children, that all of that
remains intact and they can
continue to do it at a very
high level. What MISS Wright
explained is that a school's
title one designation isn't
solely based on is the district
doing cep or not? Is that a
correct statement? Okay, so
what she was explaining that.
So what what impacted some
schools was whether we were
doing c, e, p or not, if the if
the district made a
determination that, you know,
meals free and reduced lunch
status is going to percentage
rather is going to change from
55% to 62%. And I'm a school
that had a 58%. The fact that
I'm not at 62, I have I no
longer qualify for federal
title one funds, and that has
nothing to do with cep. That
has everything to do with the
families in my school, only 58%
of the families there or the
people who submitted
applications actually qualify
for free and reduced lunch. And
that is what then impacted my
school's title one designation.
Is that an accurate statement,
MISS Wright?
>> Affirmative.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> So when we're doing the
grouping of eligible schools
for cep, are we going to go to
the principals before we
designate them as cep to let
them know about, you know, the
positives and potential
consequences of this? Are the
is the district just going to
decide what school is going to
be c p or not?
>> The percentage is.
>> So we will definitely have a
conversation with principals.
However, their percentage is
their percentage. We can't
change that. Their their
percentage is their percentage.
But we absolutely. To your
point, MISS Thompson, and you
know, the board's point as a
whole, we have an obligation to
inform and to educate, but we
can't change their percentage.
>> Well, and, you know, of
course I want to I just I'm I.
It's just a challenging
decision. I will go towards
staff's recommendation only
because of the reassurance of
title one that you guys have
given. I cannot support an
increase of meal prices. We
have found money for other
things that is not as important
as feeding children. And I have
talked to high school students
as recently as a week ago that
have said their friends don't
eat because the meal at the
current prices are too much. So
I can't do that. And then the
other recommendations I agree
with, and I agree with MRS.
Hixon on saying not initiate a
robust communications, because
I think we did a really good
job communicating, but just
consistent communication and
not flip flopping on how we're
doing meals, I think will be a
benefit to everybody. Thank you.
>> Thank you, MRS. Alhadeff.
>> Option three. Thank you.
>> Doctor Wanza do you need us
to weigh in also on the 40%
versus 25%?
>> Yes. And the one thing that
I will add is if the district
does go with the 25% option,
then we must present as a
district. We must come, we must
submit a what is called a meal
reimbursement coverage plan
that really talks about, you
know, if we're if we don't have
this money as a district, we're
going to incur the
responsibility for the fund. So
that is why the recommendation
is at the 40%. And then and
then MADAM Chair and Doctor
Hepburn, I'm not sure. But
since our colleagues or our
partners, I'll say from council
are on the phone and they've
been on since 12:00, so I
wouldn't I would be remiss if I
didn't, you know, didn't ask if
they wanted to weigh in because
they've been waiting for six
hours. Seven hours. I'm sorry.
>> I'd like to weigh in. Two
Doctor Wanza whenever it's
going to be.
>> Oh, okay. I thought that was
council.
>> Yeah. I mean, does anyone
from the Council of Great City
Schools like to weigh in?
>> This is very hard. I'm the
executive director for the
Council of Great City Schools.
I'll let my colleagues I'm
joined by Willie Burroughs,
who's our director, our
director of operations services,
and. David Palmer, who is also
joining us. Just want to add
that any. If the district. If
the district chooses either of
the options and you'll see our
recommendations there. I just
want to make sure the board is
clear that both with a
reduction in meal costs. So if
you don't increase your meal
costs or if you add additional
schools that don't fully
qualify through c, e, p, which
is the 40% that they're
referring to, if you go with
the 25% option, the district
then is going to continue to
incur meal services costs that
you'll have to budget for
separately. So I just want to
make sure that's clear to the
board. Our recommendations were
to try to get putting in
several different things in
place to try to get the
district back to a place where
meal services was as close to
break even as possible. Given
all of the recommendations that
we made, Dave or Willie, do you
have anything that you'd like
to add before we turn things
back over? I thank you, Chair
Leonardi and also
Superintendent Heffron Heparin
for allowing us to provide
support to the district.
>> Nothing that for me.
>> Nothing for me. I think you
covered it well. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you. And
DR. Zeman, before you go, I
think we just need some
clarification from Doctor
Hepburn. What Doctor Hepburn's
recommendation is because there
is a board member who is asking
for that.
>> Okay.
>> Yes, absolutely. So
definitely the 40%. And also
let me catch my bearings
because I want to make sure I
add option three. And the also
the 40% recommendation.
>> Thank you. DR. Zeman.
>> I agree with Doctor Hepburn.
Three and 40 is going to work
really really well for the
district. But I also think that
we need to be thoughtful about
whatever we can do to feed as
many kids. I think we need to
think really seriously about
the quality of the food. You
know, there's a there's a need
when you think about the real
raw issue here to feed our kids
so that they can learn, you
know, in some schools, we're
feeding kids three times a day
and in some cases, more than we
probably want to admit. It's
either the best or the only
food that they're getting. And
so I, I'm just really feel very
strongly that if we have to
find the money to make sure
that kids have food, that
that's just something we're
going to have to find in the
budget this year. The, the, the
moral hazard problem, you know,
kids who, who buy food, knowing
that we're going to pay it off
under option three, 40% would
equal about $300,000. And if
I'm right, doctor Wanza option
340% is already costing us 3.4
million or so. So with the
$300,000 moral hazard, it would
be about 3.7. Is that roughly
right?
>> Yes, yes.
>> DR. Zeman and. I and and
just my vote is always going to
be for whatever we have to do
to feed kids, make sure that
they, you know, are filled with
nutritious food that meets usda
standards and that they can
come back to class after lunch
and after breakfast and pay
attention to their classes. I
think it's all part of our
strategic goals. You know, kids
that don't eat are not learning
in the morning or in the
afternoon. And I think we have
a real opportunity with $3.7
million to just fulfill a
commitment that we have to the
community to make sure that
these kids are eating either 2
or 3 meals a day, five days a
week. So that's my vote. I know
it's it MAY not be the most
popular view of things, but if
we're going to do option three
at 40%, that's 3.3 million. If
we pick up the tab for people
that don't, you know, get money
put on their cards, I'm in
favor of that. And I know it's
going to cost us another
$300,000, but I would rather
pay that money and just feel
better that we're ensuring that
everybody that comes to our
schools gets a meal. Thank you,
chair.
>> Thank you, MISS Bulman.
>> Option three.
>> And the 40%.
>> 40%.
>> MR. Cervera. Also, the
superintendent's recommendation.
Does the doctor Wanza do you
have your consensus?
>> I do, but I just have one
question, MADAM Chair, I don't
want to belabor the time I need
to know on the second
recommendation, because that
will determine whether or not
we're bringing a board item
next week around meal price
increases of the $1 for. And
it's and it's only at lunch
because obviously all the kids
will continue to have free
breakfast.
>> Is there any objection to
increasing the meal prices?
>> No.
>> Objection one.
>> Anyone else? I also object
to raising the meal prices. MR.
Cervera also objects to MISS
Bulman.
>> I.
>> Is there an alternative
price range than just $1 to. I
guess is the question. If
that's. Is that what's
permitted by the law and that's
why we want to charge that. Or
is that so?
>> I think we have to remember
that food prices go up.
>> No, I know right.
>> And so and and that was and
I don't know if Doctor Hartman,
Doctor Hardin, the team are
still on on the teams call, but
that that was one of the
recommendations from our
partners at the Council of
Great City Schools when they
did their tabletop review of us
as well, because we put in the
presentation for one. At one
point, we had gone 12 years
without raising prices. Last
year, I think we went up a
dollar, and then this year
we're trying to go up one more
dollar. But we certainly will,
you know, work with the will,
follow the will and the
direction of the board. But
what we also got to be
cognizant of is we can't keep
the price of a meal the same
and expect greater quality with
less amount with less dollars
to work from. That's all. But
we're going to follow the will
of the board.
>> Okay. I mean, and it seems
like it's not that big of a
deal, but when you have
multiple kids and you're buying
lunch every day and over the
month, it does add up. So that
is a concern that I have. If if
we. So whaha Recomommeation you
haveveo bringng u
>>>>orryry.
>> Oh, ohh hssalalngng.
>> I'm sorry. Board member
Bowman I'm from overhead. Our
recommendation was to increase
the meal price for the reason
that was given. But I think
also it's important to note
that the district is already
well below the actual cost of
the meals and the cost of
services. And so but not
increasing the meal price again,
that is that has budgetary
implications. So now the
district is going to have to
cover that additional meal cost
for the entire for every day,
for the entire year, for the
number of students that, that
are paying for meals.
>> So, so let me share just a
little bit of the financial
aspect of it. We are required
to meet the paid lunch equity
tool, which means that every
meal, if it's paid, it must
equal the same amount of money
that a free meal gets. So by
not raising ourselves up to a
dollar this year as well, we
are under the dollar amount
that we should be at. So
currently the free lunch
reimbursement is for 71 and we
need to get ourselves to that
level according to the pl tool.
Now next year the reimbursement
rate should go up slightly. It
depends. They start in JULY. We
haven't got any new information
on that at all. But I also want
to share the fact that when you
calculate out a per meal cost,
we are not receiving enough
funding through the federal
dollars of reimbursement. So we
are short in a a lunch meal by
$0.84. So it doesn't seem,
again, like you're saying it
doesn't seem like a whole lot,
but that $0.84 times the number
of meals that we, that we
actually produce creates that
shortfall that we're
experiencing as well. So the,
the increase in meal prices is
a requirement to be looked at
every year. According to the
National School Lunch
application and act that we do,
we can always say, no, we can
maybe get out of it or not do
it, but we can talk to the the
National School Lunch usda and
see what their their take is on
it. We were required to bring
it up last year. And also the
adult meal prices are part of
the agreement that we do. And
they have to be brought up to
the same standards. I hope that
helps a little bit.
>> Yeah. No, I mean, thank you,
I appreciate that. So we had
talked about alternative ways
to bridge the gap to with meal
debt and everything else. So if
we, if we increase the the meal,
we would still be pursuing.
Those avenues and trying to get
community support. Okay.
>> Yes.
>> So I support that. If we're
operating at a deficit at a
deficit, then I don't know that
we have a lot of options there
unless we have some like a
guaranteed way to pay the debt
a different way. I'm not
hearing any right now.
>> Thank you. Anyone online?
>> I'm in favor of raising a
price, a dollar.
>> For you.
>> Increase a dollar to.
>> All right. Do you have your
direction, doctor Wanza. All
right. Anything else? Anyone
else want to say anything about
this? All right.
>> Power up. Thanks.
>> Do any of my colleagues have
any student successes or items
they'd like to bring to the
board? For the good of the
order?
>> Chair.
>> I have a very quick question.
>> MISS Thompson.
>> You had mentioned that you
were interested in bringing an
item to not have screen time
from kindergarten to second
grade. What do you think?
>> You're sorry? After a follow
up from staff? Yes.
>> Okay. I just have community
members that have already
reached out and are very
excited about that. So I was
just hoping to get a timeline,
but we will wait for the follow
up. It sounds.
>> Like it would probably be in
JULY, depending on when I get
the follow up.
>> For the item.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> Thank you. So just to
clarify for everyone, we have a
workshop now planned for after
the special school board
meeting on the 23rd that will
address the capital program.
MR. Sullivan.
>> Yes, I, I misspoke before
about the 23rd special being a
lighter, although it's a
multiple items. I forgot the
gcs through the policies
through Neola are also going to
be part of that special. So
point being, it might be a long
meeting. So I don't know if the
board still wants us to do a
workshop, perhaps with the goal
of starting at three, or wants
us to find another workshop
date. But I believe with the
neola items, it could be a
potentially longer agenda. So I
just wanted to alert the board
of that.
>> Does anyone have a change of
heart with this disclosure from
MR. Sullivan?
>> MADAM Chair. DR. Holness
MADAM Chair, I suggest again
that we start at eight with the
added disclosure. I think we're
going to be there for quite
some time, and I think 8:00
would would help to alleviate
some of that problem.
>> Does anyone now object to
the 8:00 start time MR. Cervera
is objecting to starting at
8:00. Anyone else? Okay, so
we'll start at 8 A.M. Hearing
just one objection.
>> MADAM Chair.
>> Yes, DR. Holness.
>> I would also like to just
caution that for the workshop,
we're only including one item,
and there will be no added
items to the workshop.
>> That is correct.
>> Thank you, MADAM Chair.
>> So again, at the direction
of the superintendent, the
following agenda topics are
tentatively scheduled to be
addressed during the upcoming
workshops for JULY 21st. The
Advisory Committee reports
redefining our schools os
Quarterly report. Kc write
operations, multi-year staffing
alignment plan, erp
transformation Project and
Rural development, ai,
cybersecurity and acceptable
use and other relevant policies.
Doctor Hepburn, is there any
thing that we can take off that
agenda?
>> Yes, possibly the multi-year
staffing plan because that's
about the staffing realignment
that will ultimately be in
implemented in the spring. So
that can be discussed at a
later workshop in AUGUST. Erp
transformation. I'll get
guidance from has to go.
Whereas I think. The erp
transformation that has to go
right. Because we have time
frame. Yep. So that one has to
go. So the one we can
definitely shift to AUGUST is
the multi-year staffing
alignment for sure.
>> All right. So the AUGUST
11th board workshop is board
direct report evaluations,
committee reports and a rural
development policy review
through Neola. And then I guess
the multi-year staffing
alignment plan. Or is there any
input? MR. Sullivan?
>> I was just going to say the.
Kc right. Site operations that
that's already going to be in
the redefining deck. So that's
one item that's not going to be
a standalone. So we can take
that out.
>> Okay. So that's going to be
combined into the redefining.
Yes. Okay. All right. Any other
input or anything for the good
of the order. All right.
Without objection the scheduled
order of business for the
school board workshop or the
school board of Broward County,
Florida, has been completed,
has been completed. I will now
adjourn this workshop.