[0:08] Okay. This is the budget workshop for the 2627 budget. This is the presentation that we went through

[0:17] last time.

[0:22] Can everybody still hear me good? Can you hear me now?

[0:27] Okay. Same topics. Nothing has changed on this page. The main thing that I would like to show you

[0:32] here is what we changed. What we have discussed and talked about through the budget process and

[0:38] show you the change. But if you have any questions on any of the pages, please let me know.

[0:44] We are now at our budget workshop. The next meeting will be our final budget hearing at

[0:48] the September 8th meeting.

[0:53] We did the advertisements. Everybody had their newspapers and

[0:56] got to see actually what we presented in the newspaper.

[1:00] Property taxes. The main part here is

[1:03] that they could only increase the 2.7% because of our cyber homes. It compares to CPI index

[1:09] and the cyborhomes percentage and the cyborhomes was the lowest percentage this time.

[1:18] This slide is showing that our history of the milled rates, we are the lowest that we've

[1:24] been in the past 15 years.

[1:31] Slide is just demonstrating the increase in property taxes but the slow decline in milled rates,

[1:38] which is controlled by the state.

[1:42] This is showing this year that our, as compared to last year, last year was 2.947, 2.947,

[1:52] this year it's 2.817 down 4.4%.

[1:57] This is where I had a couple of changes.

[2:01] Thanks to Dr. Waltowski.

[2:03] I also put in here that the change was due to a change in the funding formula as well.

[2:09] the state moved us from 90 to 85, 15, and then I had, I think in the slide, I had 2.9% here,

[2:17] so I have updated that to 2.7%, which is consistent with the slide before.

[2:26] One of our difference. Showing that our rollback rate, and this is why we did not have to

[2:31] advertise for an increase in taxes, we just had to advertise for budget hearing because the rollback

[2:37] rate exceeded what the millage rate was for this year.

[2:46] Budget highlights, thank goodness we've

[2:49] balance budget. We had a good many discussions on the increase in the fund balance. I share

[2:56] with you some fund balance information that you've got, the history of what we have added

[3:01] or decreased to the fund balance. Special revenue funds. We are still waiting one of you had

[3:07] a question about the titles that was in the tentative budget. We still do not have all final

[3:13] information, but whatever information we have is what will be in that final budget book on the

[3:17] social revenue section.

[3:21] That service went down, we paid off three cops series, so our debt is much lower, and

[3:27] then we were able to keep a $10 million hurricane, or our last year was $9.6 million.

[3:36] This slide is basically showing how much comes from local and how much comes from state,

[3:43] class size and adjusted net state FFP, or these two numbers here.

[3:51] in the budget book.

[3:55] Local sources look blue and yet it's green in the

[3:59] way.

[4:00] It does.

[4:00] It should be green.

[4:04] You got it because this is yellow gray.

[4:07] This should be green.

[4:08] You're exactly right.

[4:10] Yes sir.

[4:13] The colors.

[4:14] The color.

[4:15] When you look down here, it's blue.

[4:17] It's blue and I'm looking for blue and I don't see blue

[4:20] and the green.

[4:24] You make it just for him now for the rest of us.

[4:28] It's all right.

[4:31] It's a nice brown suit.

[4:33] Yeah, they're it.

[4:38] I said, you're like my doc doc, my daddy.

[4:40] We've just kind of won.

[4:41] It's all that's I know.

[4:44] Mr. John had a really good question about.

[4:47] I tried to explain here FES and that we increase our revenues and expenditures to agree with budget.

[4:55] I am researching some information here.

[4:58] I have already.

[5:00] We reached out to Lake County and several schools because of the dollar amount, and just like

[5:04] it does here, they are putting the net numbers in the budget related to FES, really do light the

[5:12] process for this year, but do know looking into that. And if that's, I've also talked to

[5:17] the Finance Council sir, and we usually all go together and change it all at one time, and they

[5:22] did not let us know that. So definitely looking into that for the future. It'll make it much

[5:26] more clear.

[5:30] Here's your safety and security as well. We will keep monitoring these dollars.

[5:36] We are using more than the millage this year, so we're using the balance from our prior

[5:40] year, while it's safety and security as well.

[5:53] That's the, sorry, that's the.

[5:55] Oh, is there anybody here to ask any questions, no?

[5:58] Well, they're not, but cannot, can I just, I know we need to, I do have something, unless

[6:05] I don't have questions. I'll just move on. Go ahead.

[6:09] Oh, sorry.

[6:10] I just have a couple questions. You mentioned our hurricane reserve.

[6:13] The $9 million, $9.6 million.

[6:16] What does how many months does that cover us?

[6:18] In the event of the nine point sex?

[6:20] Yes, the nine point six million.

[6:23] The hurricane reserve has 10 million. How many months does that cover us?

[6:27] Well, we know we'd cost a $6 million to run the district.

[6:29] I mean, that hurricane fund is to get us through those.

[6:32] That's in capital.

[6:33] That is that that reserve is totally in the capital part of the budget. So it's not in the operating part of the operating side of it. Okay

[6:41] And I have another question. I know if this is a right time basket. I remember last year when we were here at in December we talked about the legal contract and it

[6:49] It was it was up a little bit more than an originally budgeted. I just wondered if it was possible to get that contract now so that we can figure where we stand with it regarding this budget

[6:58] I know we've watched our pennies and asked people to cut back and I just wanted to make sure

[7:02] that whatever that contract was fit within the budget that you have.

[7:07] Right.

[7:07] For what I have reviewed so far with legal expenditures, we are right on for the $550,000

[7:13] what is the current contract dollars.

[7:16] Probably what we need to do is set up a budget meeting with legal as well.

[7:20] I just want to know what the contract looks like.

[7:22] There's an increase to our contract.

[7:24] I would need to defer to legal.

[7:26] Okay.

[7:29] We'll take it, huh?

[7:31] Thank you.

[7:32] I was ready to use it by app.

[7:34] There you go.

[7:35] Okay.

[7:35] Obviously, I'll get with Charlotte.

[7:41] I'll get with you, Charlotte.

[7:42] I don't think I'm not going to have a rate increase.

[7:45] Retainer may need to be adjusted, but that's a smaller figure.

[7:49] So that's my game plan.

[7:50] But again, this across eight or nine different governments.

[7:53] So I have to be consistent.

[7:54] Right.

[7:55] And I know your budget cycle is different from ours.

[7:58] What I need to do is include that in a budget meeting.

[8:01] So we can prepare and talk when we're preparing the entire

[8:03] budget include you in that budget.

[8:04] I'd love to be there.

[8:06] Thank you.

[8:08] Any other questions?

[8:16] Okay.

[8:17] Well, Louise here now, so we can start the regular meeting, right?

[8:22] So, it only says time of parchment for the meeting,

[8:33] since we have public input, we

[8:43] don't want

[8:43] to get caught and I try to catch on, I appreciate it.

[8:46] I'm trying to help you guys out.

[8:47] Thank you, Tom.

[8:48] Do young work.

[8:50] We have

[9:00] lengthy reports.

[9:04] Very lengthy?

[9:05] Okay.

[9:05] I'll take some.

[9:10] All right.

[9:11] Well, then I'm going to open up the board meeting anyway.

[9:14] We can do that.

[9:15] We can do the opening and go to reports.

[9:20] All right.

[9:20] You guys ready?

[9:21] Still ready?

[9:23] All right.

[9:26] All right.

[9:26] I'm opening up the school board meeting and I understand that Mr. Gonzalez is going to lead us in the pledge.

[9:32] Why behind you, Louis?

[9:34] I'm going to work.

[9:38] It's easy to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

[9:44] One nation under God,

[9:46] indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[9:57] Well, well, we did go through the...

[10:01] Item in the beginning of the adopting the agenda and what not.

[10:10] Well, I think we have to adopt the agenda. Don't we.

[10:13] Probably should do that.

[10:18] I recommend the board adopt the agenda as presented.

[10:21] So moved.

[10:22] Second, I am maybe I want to amend it to say that we'll have the reports and we won't start public comment until five o'clock.

[10:33] Is that okay?

[10:34] Okay, include that.

[10:44] We don't want to forget the...

[10:46] Then I think we can just move straight to the report.

[10:49] And we can do the other part if we need...

[10:52] We have to come back and...

[10:54] Move the consent agenda.

[10:56] We'll do that later.

[10:57] So let's go to reports, folks report.

[11:02] We're going to cover the academic data from last year

[11:06] and then we're going to touch on some scheduling

[11:07] and the direction that we're going to address the concerns.

[11:10] So we're going to talk through last year's academic data.

[11:12] There was a lot of, there was good news.

[11:14] We're going to cover that.

[11:15] The positives that we're going to continue working on that.

[11:17] And there were some soft spots that we are not going to hide from.

[11:20] And we'll talk through what they are and how we're going to address those moving forward.

[11:30] So one of our greatest successes was in our English language,

[11:34] arts across the grade levels.

[11:36] You see that student achievement went up our in grade three.

[11:42] And then across all grade levels three through 10.

[11:45] We also saw an increase of 2% of points in our English language arts learning gains, and

[11:52] Just as impressive is the 2% gain in our lowest 25% so looking at this we see that all four areas

[12:03] Had an increase, and there was a heavy focus on literacy from our youngest learners all the way through so we see this here

[12:11] May I ask a question yes

[12:14] I know we probably can't figure this out, but we also lost a bunch of English language learners and so that would take, you would presumably take people off of the bottom and raise our 25th percentile to be something that was a little more higher performing.

[12:36] I mean, really proud of the games that were made, but, you know, we're going to need to know

[12:45] how much of that is a population change and how much of that is.

[12:52] Yeah, so that's an questionably true that what complicates that more is then who's taking

[12:58] the scholarships and then how does that affect it as enrollment goes down.

[13:01] So we kind of try to look at determining that, but it is very hard to figure out who

[13:06] would have been here and how they would have probably tested, so we've looked at it, but it's

[13:12] difficult with a number of different populations leaving at the same time to have a mathematical

[13:16] computation.

[13:19] But aren't the first two years of not counted in that show?

[13:29] Yes, and so most of a lot of these students, and we do, I don't have the numbers in front of

[13:35] but we did look at the number of students who had been in less than two years and were not.

[13:42] And what we found is a larger percentage of students that had been here.

[13:47] And now their test scores count in our test scores were in this denominator.

[13:57] My question, which is kind of something I ask annually, is often we have cohorts that do better

[14:05] and cohorts that do worse. So is this one of our better cohorts? Is now moving to third grade or

[14:15] you know what I'm saying? Yes. And I think that with the early, I think it's more so

[14:22] that the early learning literacy work that we've been doing, the U-fly work, and that transition

[14:27] is enabling our third grade students to be proficient. And when we go school by school, we see

[14:33] there may be differences school by school and we are taking those as opportunities to increase.

[14:39] But overall I don't think it was as much of a cohort when you look across the district in ELA as

[14:47] a whole. The other thing is our curriculum remained steady, our people are comfortable with it.

[14:53] I think all of that comes together to help us continue to build and grow in that ELA.

[15:01] And

[15:04] then we move to our social studies achievement in middle school acceleration. And again, as a district to be very proud that we are starting above a 70% which is very high in terms of performance for last year. So and our social studies achievement and that is our civics and our U.S. history.

[15:23] we gain 2 percentage points and then our middle school acceleration we gain 3 and that is

[15:31] offering the opportunities not just the opportunities for students to earn acceleration

[15:36] through CTEs or higher level classes but that they are achieving those things so again those

[15:45] So, on increase compared to the previous year,

[15:54] another area where we seen an increase and this really jumps out at you because of how much it is is our college and career acceleration rate and what that is basically saying is that our high school students are taking our advance placement and dual enrollment opportunities.

[16:13] And this coming year they'll have an additional one with ACE that our CTE programs again,

[16:19] not that we're just not developing them, but we are increasing the proficiency of students

[16:24] who are earning certificates in those programs.

[16:28] And again, that's another big focus.

[16:30] We wanted them to get in the programs, but now they are achieving an earning those certificates.

[16:35] So from 58 to 64 percent, and there's a nice six percentage point gain.

[16:40] And of course, we're super proud of the graduation rate.

[16:44] Again, moving up 5 percentage points, 93% is really for a one-year jump is just a tremendous effort.

[16:55] I think across the board and all of the things leading up that you saw, the acceleration,

[17:04] the opportunities, and again, I think the other thing on that graduation rate is we are still

[17:10] going to increase that because through the superintendents initiatives and the hard work of our staff getting out there

[17:17] We're giving kids more opportunities to meet their graduation requirements. So I think that will just continue to grow with those opportunities

[17:25] These numbers are amazing so congratulations to everybody

[17:31] Do we ever look at how many certificates are gained in a CTE class in order to decide whether

[17:40] keep it or not keep it? Yes. In fact, we did a very in-depth dive this year and when we met with our

[17:49] CTE teachers at the beginning of the year, they all received their numbers, so to speak. And as we

[17:57] have, you know, talked to them and we've moved toward this opportunity for acceleration and giving

[18:04] more kids the opportunity not just in high advanced classes but in our programs we look at how

[18:10] productive it is whether the students are signing up and doing it and we also look at our

[18:15] articulation for some where we're bringing some of them to middle school and you know high school.

[18:22] So we've done a lot of work in the last year and it is another focus for this year but we do use

[18:27] data to make a determination on whether a program stays, how productive it is, where we need

[18:34] to put our resources so that we can continue to, again, improve our percentage points,

[18:40] but more importantly, give more students opportunities without acceleration.

[18:45] And then typically, the teachers of our CTE class are not teachers.

[18:50] they're people teaching the career. So if a teacher is struggling with teaching students,

[18:59] their particular CTE, do we have somebody that actually helps them the way we help our teachers

[19:07] sort of learn how to depart that information to the kids? Yes, we have twofold. If they're new to

[19:14] teaching, they get a peer mentor teacher, which may not have their like area, but they

[19:21] will discuss things like classroom management, how to plan of what lesson well and basic

[19:26] teacher skills.

[19:27] But then we have our CTE coordinator, who's very active going in and meeting with them, for

[19:33] example, with here today in the uppercase meeting with some of the new teachers in particular.

[19:38] And when there are similar classes, they'll line them up across the district, going to,

[19:43] that's one avenue.

[19:45] The other thing is finding those more

[19:48] tenure to career and technical to help mentor them.

[19:52] So even though I'm teaching Autumn Mechanics,

[19:56] the teacher who's teaching robotics

[19:57] and has been doing it now for years.

[20:00] We can still help to outline that. And the CTE teacher does come in and visit frequently, as kind of a second layer of a mentor. So those are steps that we take.

[20:11] Can I ask a question about the CTE? Kind of piggybacking with what Mrs. Conja said. You talked about having teachers that come in and support the CTE teachers.

[20:21] But what about the students?

[20:23] Are they like the high-flying students that do well?

[20:27] And then they're getting their certifications.

[20:30] And not necessarily all of the children are receiving them.

[20:34] I mean, is there support for those kids as well?

[20:37] Because these teachers are just teaching in their area of expertise

[20:40] and not to really teach or do they have that support system as well built in

[20:43] so that all kids have the opportunity to receive their certifications?

[20:47] That actually is the goal that we put forth superintendent put forth when we met with all the

[20:53] CTE teachers this year was to ensure that students are across the board if they go into

[20:59] a program that they achieve that level and some of the changes we're making this year are the

[21:05] ways, particularly in some of the newer areas of certification, the method in which we are

[21:12] administering tests, doing a practice session and

[21:16] administering the test, giving them another opportunity so that we can increase

[21:20] not just the numbers overall, but across the board.

[21:25] And when they're going in there, the idea is, and as we

[21:28] challenge the teachers, when they come out that they have something to show

[21:32] to say, I did. And sometimes it's not the first year. You have to go,

[21:36] you know, depends on the program. But that you're walking away with something

[21:39] that reflects what you did. So yes, in answer to your question, I think we are also stepping

[21:45] up the support and resources to the students as well as the teachers to help them be successful.

[21:52] Wonderful. Thank you.

[21:55] Board was at our welcome back for the teachers meeting in Marathon. It was well received

[22:00] and it was the conference style meeting. And one of the most well received and powerful sessions

[22:06] was with the CTE years to talk about how we support them and how they track the students

[22:10] throughout this semester and year on their learning and then how they're when they're ready

[22:15] to test because they can decide when they test it's not like the fast-test when that window

[22:19] is set.

[22:20] So how they determine that and then wait the 30 days and then test again.

[22:23] So we worked a lot with the CTE teachers on basically teaching the same ways and English

[22:29] a math teacher due to make sure they get it and then to when they're ready to have them

[22:33] test that with enough time to retest one necessary.

[22:35] And then with the students the question, you know, it's nice when one student passes five

[22:39] But it's nicer when 50 passed one and that one still passes five so we're working

[22:44] But the scheduling with the support and with the teachers to try to cast on that wide land student had in that opportunity and the success of those classes

[22:50] That will continue to be a focus this year

[22:53] So we went over the the high spots of ELA and moving all four components of ELA as a district is is no easy task

[23:00] And that you know a lot of credit to the teachers and the staff members who put into that because to run the table on the essays

[23:05] E, L, A is impressive.

[23:08] Math was a soft last year, and we will work on that.

[23:12] So the minus one for the high standards,

[23:15] that's three and above for proficient students

[23:17] is a district minus four for learning gains

[23:19] and minus five for low 25 learning gains.

[23:22] When we lost the proficiency point,

[23:24] that also factors into the learning gain point,

[23:26] because that proficiency, that two to three,

[23:29] is a learning gain and a proficiency,

[23:30] So we saw in that mid student level a soft spot that we're addressing and then you can see the low 25 is the bottom quartile of math students and that was an area for us to focus on as well

[23:42] So those numbers are what they are and then the question is what are we going to do to improve outcomes this year and we've done a lot of work on that over the summer and we'll continue this year

[23:50] A new initiative this year is PLCs where we will after schools and no one's missing class have some of our best teachers in the district via zoom

[23:58] Collaborate with other teachers of the same grade levels and math to plan together best practices in a degree on how they're going to present some of that more complicated material

[24:08] When we don't have the teacher at the grade level to do that, they will do that at the school level after school once again to make sure that we are planning together and good PLC is accelerate instruction and accelerate planning time

[24:19] So teachers will find that one that's done well that they saved time by doing that.

[24:23] We rearrange some of the standards throughout the scope and sequence, and that is generally

[24:27] how you tweak a math curriculum, so the teachers and schools that did particularly well

[24:33] in our system, we looked at the area, or the order that they presented those standards, and

[24:38] we flip some of them, and then the time allocated as well, and then we have coaching cycles

[24:44] throughout all the schools in the district, even the ones without math coaches to get

[24:47] through support, the teachers, support administration, as we go in and support students

[24:51] in math this year.

[24:54] To the state, go ahead, go ahead, come.

[24:57] To the state, go down in these areas.

[25:00] Okay, so then it really is a problem.

[25:02] It's a problem, correct?

[25:05] Did it vary by like grade level elementary middle high?

[25:10] Yeah, it was, it varied. We were, we were not great at any, any grade level. Elementary took a hit in

[25:16] elementary math, and then, you know, worse, all high schools are seeing a challenge because

[25:21] middle schools are testing, you know, all the proficient kids in algebra, so by definition,

[25:25] oftentimes, you know, the ones getting through struggle, some with math, but even as we

[25:31] compare it to other districts, our deficiency there was bigger than other districts, so

[25:35] there is a soft spot there on the scheduling instruction. Science down too, and this is the

[25:41] second year science is down in a row, so that, you know, that caught our eye and we've kind of

[25:45] looked at our curriculum over the summer on how we're going to adjust that, and we are going

[25:49] to focus to make sure that we're on these standards throughout the year and not we're going

[25:54] still do the STEM fair and the other fairs that are so important to instruction, but we're

[25:58] not going to take the eye off the instruction in the classroom as we do those others.

[26:01] So we will juggle responsibilities to make sure we're honoring both.

[26:05] And then again, we looked at the standards there where we did poorly and allocate more time,

[26:09] and then we are going to dedicate ourselves to doing as many hands-on activities as we can for

[26:13] these students.

[26:14] Because the benefits of being a science teacher is you can have students have fun in those classrooms

[26:18] by doing experiments.

[26:19] So it was in a classroom today for an eighth grade who was doing hands-on activity with

[26:23] kids were all fully engaged. So for science we're going to look at digging into the

[26:29] standards where we didn't do as well and then incorporating hands-on activities as much as we can.

[26:34] Quick couple questions. The first is the math losses. Did we break down looking at which schools

[26:42] have coaches and which schools don't and figuring out whether those coaches have been successful or

[26:49] are unsuccessful because if we're paying somebody to be a math coach and that particular

[26:54] school, their numbers are down and when without a math coach is up it seems like paying

[27:01] a math coach is and then the other thing about science is the kids that struggle in science

[27:11] have to spend a lot of time on that science project for STEM fair and so that also is a

[27:18] concerning to me. I love the STEM fair. I want to be able to have kids go national like they

[27:25] have in the past, but I wonder if some of the time spent on that project with the lower kids

[27:31] could be better spent doing. I appreciate both of those questions. I want to start with the STEM

[27:36] fairs that's you to send. I'm 100% supportive of it. I went to it last year and love it. I think it's

[27:41] tremendously beneficial. So we're not going to be any less dedicated to it this year than last year,

[27:44] but I want to make sure that as we are supporting the students and teachers who are pursuing

[27:49] excellence in that STEM fair, we're also making sure we're handling instruction in the classroom.

[27:54] So, it is not one or the other, but it's make sure that we particularly at the district level

[27:57] are dividing our attention equitably and not choosing one or the other.

[28:03] On the coach, you know, and I should have mentioned, so I appreciate you bringing it up.

[28:06] You know, I agree on the coaching that you're going to have to bring value or else that

[28:09] in the question is, is that the best use of the person?

[28:11] have repurposed some people within a district, you know, a great coach of marathon high school

[28:16] is now teaching three sections, so she is agreed to win that classroom and, you know,

[28:19] all the, all the interventions that we do, there's nothing more, nothing more effective

[28:24] in getting great teacher in front of kids. So that is an example of a coach moving into the classroom

[28:28] to support with three. We have a legendary teacher here, Ms. Wishbiner, who is a APK teacher,

[28:34] we all know, who is now going to teach some triometry so that the underclassmen have the benefit

[28:38] some of the best teachers in this district, as well as the upper level kids. So we are shifting

[28:42] some people around when we think it's going to be more beneficial in front of students than coaching

[28:47] as well. And what about in Key West and Lower Keys? Key West, the coach has a geometry section

[28:56] last I looked and then will have a schedule working with students who are need additional help or

[29:02] small group throughout the day. And is this her first year coaching or did she coach last year?

[29:08] She coached last year. The person that we are asking to do something to do.

[29:12] And did those numbers go up in that school?

[29:15] I don't want to quote numbers. Key West High, I do not believe when up in math.

[29:19] But to go from memory on all the schools, I'm going to be hesitant to do.

[29:21] Thanks.

[29:23] I ask.

[29:24] So the other concern is that with science,

[29:28] is that science is really just one test in fifth grade and one test in eighth grade,

[29:33] but really we want to robust science program for all the kids.

[29:37] and so how do we ensure that that happens when there's really only pressure on two other

[29:43] grades?

[29:44] So the science, you know, and I tried to stress how supportive I am with the Stanford

[29:48] and all other things, because I do think that engaging learning is as important as the

[29:54] test scores that ultimately are going to be up on that screen.

[29:56] So you have fifth grade, the eighth grade, and then the biology scores contribute to that number.

[30:00] Any elementary principle in any fifth grade science would teacher would tell you that if you're not teaching a good science program in third grade and fourth grade, it's going to be a very tough road to teach these kids three years of science and fifth grade.

[30:13] So they are supportive of having a strong science program because the best science fifth grade scores that we have are in the schools, not only with the great fifth grade teachers, but with the third grade teachers and the fourth grade teachers who teach science every day and make the kids love it and learn it.

[30:26] So that feeder pattern by grade level is critically important.

[30:32] I have a good model of science and a good steam and stem fair and good science fair

[30:36] and also good scores in this container.

[30:46] I never mentioned that one.

[30:47] Yeah, I forgot about the points.

[30:49] So this is the district points overall.

[30:51] It's last year with 763 and then this year 774.

[30:55] So that's the increase and then you were called a state last year and a grade

[30:59] for the state was 64%.

[31:00] year was 65% of that increase in points, kept us in the A range, which of course, were

[31:05] placed with.

[31:07] I'm going to talk about high school acceleration.

[31:09] You saw the increase by six points of high school acceleration from last year that it continues

[31:13] to be a focus, the graduation, and the scheduling as we matriculate students through the system.

[31:18] So we're going to continue to focus on that acceleration.

[31:21] The ACE program and the lower right is new this year.

[31:24] So last year we had the AP and the dual enrollment, we're adding an ACE program that's

[31:28] of Cambridge, it's similar to AP, it's an automatic bright future's qualifier for students who

[31:33] earn an ace diploma, which can be a real financial windfall for any family, particularly

[31:38] who for families who need that. So two of the three schools added ace this year, Key West

[31:42] High, and Marathon, and that is one more opportunity we've given students this year to accelerate.

[31:49] And you know, it obvious question is, which one is the best one? There is no best one.

[31:52] Depending on where the kids want to go, there is going to be a path for them, but there is not

[31:56] The best one, but the more options that we can give students the better off.

[32:01] And this is somewhat busy slide, but this is how we are going to track our students enrolled

[32:06] in advanced coursework moving forward.

[32:08] So the right most bar graph is the district, and that's plus 3% right there, 47% to 50%

[32:16] and then you see the three high schools and left-coral-shores, QSTI and Marathon moving left

[32:21] to right.

[32:21] So that is the additions or subtractions by school

[32:24] and feeding it to the district.

[32:27] Do you think the lack of the East Program

[32:29] at Croll Shore's High School is one of the reasons

[32:32] it's lower than the other two schools?

[32:34] We looked into this and then we reached out and made sure

[32:38] that they know, because if you're principal here,

[32:39] you don't necessarily know that until we run the data.

[32:42] And that's the role of the district

[32:43] as support schools and do the things

[32:44] that they don't have time to do.

[32:45] So we make sure that the school sees that

[32:47] and you comfortable with it and I'm not going to tell anyone

[32:50] how to schedule what we're going to put the data

[32:51] in front and then they can make those decisions.

[32:54] He was, or a Coral Shore's lost, I think, 22 students.

[32:58] So they were down over 20 students.

[33:01] And I think those were the students who were in the advanced course

[33:03] work was there wasn't any other.

[33:05] They didn't lose a teacher.

[33:06] They didn't shut down a section.

[33:07] So I think it was just kind of a swing with enrollment coincided

[33:10] with a slight swing in advanced course enrollment.

[33:13] I don't think it was anything more than that.

[33:17] One of the things they do here at Coral Shore is,

[33:24] They have AP Human, geography, and freshman year, but at the curricular showcase,

[33:38] they told

[33:38] kids right up front that they only needed three years of social studies, and so they didn't

[33:44] need to take social studies their first year.

[33:48] I wonder, when I see stuff like that, I wonder if the numbers in AP Human, there's a great

[33:53] class, but if kids are in a place where you have to take one class or the other, some kids

[33:59] would take the higher one, maybe, or when they find out they don't have to take any, maybe

[34:08] they're not going to take the higher one.

[34:10] So I think the messaging should be that, I think that's a full-team messaging, I think.

[34:16] And I don't know if they do it at the other schools, it's just just the one that I was.

[34:20] Yeah, I think messaging is usually important and the minimum you need to earn a high school diploma and the diploma in GPA and HPA and level of effort

[34:29] You're showing on your resume to get into college or job in the military or two very different things

[34:34] So we talked a little bit this summer about on the messaging on don't you know not about the minimum if you pursue excellence at everything you ever do

[34:41] You're not going to succeed every time but you're going to be a lot better shape

[34:44] So we're going to continue to work on that messaging around scheduling and that really does start at a much younger level by the time they're

[34:50] You know, by the time their teenagers, they're kind of setting how they're going to approach that, but the more effectively we start in, you know, as early as 3rd and 4th grade for accelerated math, and then, and...

[35:00] The middle school to talk about the pathways that advance course work and get you and how divergent they are, the better. So messaging is something that we're continuing to work on.

[35:11] This is a busy slide and we're not going to go over each side, but this is just an example of the level of specificity that we're going to track, because percentages are helpful because they allow us to determine how well students are being enrolled or succeeding in a class.

[35:25] And though that percent represents children, right?

[35:28] So that's just an easy way to quantify that.

[35:31] The danger of percent is one group doing particularly well

[35:33] can mask the lack of a successive sets of another group.

[35:36] So it those bar graphs are easier to digest for a large meeting like this,

[35:40] but the level of specificity that we will use by school by subgroup is our

[35:45] percent is up.

[35:46] That's great.

[35:47] The white kids doing, the Hispanic kids doing the black kids doing the ELL kids doing the ESC kid doing

[35:51] are we, is our overall success masking the lack there of of any other groups.

[35:56] So again, we're not going to go through each one here, but there's a level of

[35:59] specificity that we're tracking it by.

[36:01] Based on this slide, it looks like it's pretty obvious why Coral Shore's

[36:05] numbers went down.

[36:07] Seems like an immigration thing.

[36:09] Yeah, it may well be.

[36:11] That's another factor.

[36:12] And that's the enrollment I think is that when we talk to the school.

[36:20] So our advanced placement students were going to share how they did

[36:25] this this past year. So Core Shore is high school and again the last graph that you saw the

[36:33] number of students enrolled in an acceleration opportunity was by one student, one student,

[36:40] but they could be enrolled in multiple AP courses. And so here is where you kind of see a little bit

[36:46] difference in the numbers. The total number of AP students was 384. However, they took a total of

[36:55] So you can see they are doubling at the minimum and some students take several AP classes with a very impressive 75% scoring three or higher and that was was this year.

[37:10] And if you see there three, four and five, you can see how impressive that number is and for the number of tests that they're taking.

[37:21] Now, for a five-year picture, 384 students, 76% of those students gore three or above, which is an increase of 15.7 points.

[37:34] So, they have students, they're taking several exams, and they're continuing to

[37:40] achieve proficiency and, in most cases, higher to the level of adding 15.7 points.

[37:49] So, that is Core Shores 5-year trend. Key West High School, they have 355 students in the AP courses.

[37:57] They took a total of 659 exams and their exam proficiency was 64%.

[38:05] So again, they're three, four pretty level and then the five, but their students are taking

[38:12] multiple tests.

[38:14] Now for their five year, you can see that they have a five year percentage of 68% but

[38:21] that is up 8.2 points.

[38:24] So again, they have students taking multiple tests and their percentage rate continues to grow as you can see by that graph.

[38:34] At Marathon High School, they had 179 students taking 241 exams.

[38:40] Their proficiency rate was 35% for this current year.

[38:45] When you look at the five-year trend, you see that they actually are pushing the proficiency

[38:52] of their AP students. They had 41% over a five-year trend and up 10.7 points. So marathon

[39:01] high is increasing their proficiency in that AP area and the students, again, are achieving

[39:09] and excelling in those AP programs and new this year.

[39:18] And then we'll just Cambridge that's the ACE program that started this year very big in Florida.

[39:22] So we're starting this year this year and you see Key West High and Marathon started and these are the kind of enrollments across the courses.

[39:32] So they were, you know, we offered to help them start and pay for that and then link them up with counties who have been doing it for a while in order to have the teachers have a peer

[39:40] teacher to try to accelerate that planning process and then these are the classes by school

[39:45] being offered.

[39:46] So, as general papers was generally the intro class, as lang is the next iteration

[39:51] of English class for those students who are going to move on with it, and then environmental

[39:55] management, as history, as marine, as psychology, and as thinking skills.

[40:00] Our first year, and I appreciate the principles being open to trying something new, and then we are going to support those teachers as much as we can. Recognizing it normally takes about three years to learn how to take an advance course. So we will, you know, we will temper expectations continue to support and look for success for students in one other opportunity for them to have.

[40:19] or this year is simply because this is the first year of the program.

[40:24] No, not everybody, not everyone chose the same classes.

[40:27] So for Ace History, Key West Science 25s in there,

[40:31] Lamarathon is not offering that.

[40:33] Okay, and then is it different enough from AP or what makes Ace a great program?

[40:41] Yeah, it's very different, and some people would call it more student-friendly.

[40:46] So for AP's psych, AP's psych, they might give you 500 definitions and say, learn these.

[40:52] You could be tested on any one of them.

[40:54] A psychology is more of a process to work through where the student demonstrates an understanding

[40:59] that material, but doesn't have that memorization requirement.

[41:03] So that's kind of a simplistic answer, but many people would say, ACE is a little more student-friendly.

[41:08] Which is great if we're trying to increase the number of students taking higher level classes.

[41:16] is it sounds like A should be a very welcome addition.

[41:20] Aces a great program, you know, but as is a paid, which is why I started, there is not

[41:23] a best program. So coral shores where we are right now, they're going to stick with

[41:28] a pay and I think they're wise to do that. You saw the percent of kids in classes taking

[41:32] multiple classes that success they're having. I think they wisely said we're good right now

[41:36] and, you know, the doors always open if they choose to go that route and the other two

[41:40] high schools chose to do that and I think that was wise as well. So it really depends

[41:44] on where a student wants to go, that is the best determining

[41:49] facture, and she should try to get an ace to ploma, or an APKF

[41:52] stone to ploma, or dual enrollment.

[41:54] And who's explaining that to the students?

[41:57] The teachers have mentioned that, message that through the

[42:01] principles and we've worked with that.

[42:02] So we have trainers with ace that are helping us implement that

[42:05] program, have come out a number of times, and then we had a number

[42:08] of people go here to another county that's been doing it for years, and

[42:12] those teachers now have cohorts in another county to

[42:14] help them plan and the principals have cohorts or principals have been doing it.

[42:18] I'm just thinking that guidance needs to be able to understand it well enough to say

[42:24] to a kid. You're really smart, but I think for you, you might be better off in an

[42:30] ACE program than an AP program. Are they also familiar enough with ACE to give a kid a

[42:38] direction? Yeah, that's a great question. So the guidance component is a critical

[42:42] important one and they're understanding of that now to give advice, you know, we've worked

[42:46] with them, we've had trainings with them and they can speak to either one of those programs.

[42:50] You know, we've had conversations that can be fierce and I have as well.

[42:53] I sit in my office over the summer when I have some time and I pick kids and I look at

[42:56] their schedules and I think it's this the right schedule or not and if it's something in

[43:00] the ballpark, I'm good with it and if it's egregiously off then I purious why and I try to dig

[43:06] into the school on why the student schedule that way.

[43:08] So the messaging is critically important and first what I found is high school students

[43:11] are very savvy. So after a year or two, when they figure out the benefits of passing

[43:16] seven-eighths classes with a 70% passing rate, leading to an autobratic, bright future

[43:21] scholarship, not having to get that SAT score. You know, I told the principal, you

[43:25] can be able to walk through that courtyard without kids running you down, mess I need

[43:28] a psych, mess I need this class, because they are going to figure it out quick. And that messaging

[43:33] will kind of be less important because they will have a deep understanding of the classes

[43:36] they need to get where they want to go.

[43:38] If we don't already, can we put some information on our website about the ACE program since this is the first year?

[43:47] Absolutely.

[43:53] And that is our last slide, so any other questions or feedback of any part of the presentation?

[44:00] Let's go back to the order of the agenda and right now we're up to the minute.

[44:16] I recommend the board to prove the minutes from the July 21st, 2026 school board meeting and the July 28th, 2026 school board meeting.

[44:22] It's so...so moved.

[44:26] Any discussion?

[44:28] Hearing none of the minutes or a prompt.

[44:35] We did.

[44:36] Yeah, we did.

[44:38] Yeah, we did that.

[44:55] At this time, I would like to call up our Jen nominees, along with...

[45:00] Our Board Chair and Superintendent.

[45:22] So at this time, it gives me a lot of pride to call up Kielargo School Principal

[45:28] Darren Pace. Come around this way, so everyone in TV Land can see you.

[45:35] We are proud this evening to recognize Pam Caputo,

[45:39] Jose Tsupeda, Madeline Rikome, and Eva Brown for their outstanding dedication and tireless efforts to fostering environmental stewardship among the students of Key Largo School.

[45:53] Through their leadership passion and commitment to environmental education, Key Largo School has earned prestigious recognition.

[46:01] As an ocean guardian school, a guy Harvey conservation school, and a six-time Everglades

[46:08] champion gold medal school.

[46:11] Their work has inspired students to become responsible stewards of the environment while

[46:15] deepening their understanding of the unique ecosystem that surrounds their school.

[46:22] This summer, these exceptional educators represent a key logo at the ninth annual Everglades

[46:28] teacher symposium hosted by the Everglades Foundation Literacy Program.

[46:32] It brought together more than 200 K-12 educators from across Florida for professional learning

[46:39] and integrating Everglades science, water conservation, and environmental stewardship into

[46:45] classroom instruction.

[46:47] Key Largo School remains committed to providing authentic environmental learning experiences

[46:52] that connects students to the unique ecosystem they call home.

[46:56] The Knowledge Resources and Instructional Practices game through the Symposium they attended will further

[47:02] strengthen that mission, bringing meaningful, real world conservation lessons into the classroom

[47:07] and enriching learning opportunities for all students.

[47:11] So to Ms. Caputo, Mr. Zapata, Ms. Raquel May, and Ms. Brown, we want to say thank you for

[47:19] your own wavering commitment to empowering students to make a positive impact and for creating

[47:24] such great educational moments for our students and for our community.

[47:29] Congratulations.

[47:50] Thank you all and you all are going to stay up here because we now would like to call up

[47:55] for a special presentation.

[48:03] At this time, I'd like all of the board members to come up for this recognition.

[48:07] It is truly an honor.

[48:13] Hi, good evening.

[48:15] Vice Chair Con, Chair Con, Vice Chair Hernandez of the Monroe County School Board, Superintendent

[48:19] Thank you so much for this opportunity.

[48:22] A little repetitive because your speech was so amazing and really covered so much of the

[48:27] amazing work that Keyloros Hole is doing.

[48:30] I'm the Vice President of Education for the Everglades Foundation.

[48:32] We're an environmental profit here to protect America's Everglades.

[48:36] I'm so important in the space that we're at and the mission is especially meaningful

[48:39] here on the Florida Keys as the health of Florida Bay relies on the restoration

[48:43] of our Everglades ecosystem and the livelihood of which the Keys gets to experience

[48:48] every day in and out. It's because of that understanding that we're proud to recognize

[48:52] Key Largo School as a recipient of our five-year milestone award, the John Elm Mills award

[48:58] in the Everland Champions Schools Program. Now this award is not given out lightly five years

[49:04] and a Champions Schools Program is quite tremendous. The amount of work that this school does to

[49:09] make sure that environmental education is intertwined to the culture of the school has been so

[49:14] And I may add that we are a free program for all teachers and standards aligned by the

[49:20] BIC Poms.

[49:21] And so really helping to make sure that those science standards, English and Maths and

[49:25] Maths and Maths are all addressed in the work that they're doing every day.

[49:29] It's for the fast five years.

[49:30] Hilarious school has done and exactly through their dedication and student learning

[49:34] community involvement in environmental awareness.

[49:36] The school has helped generations of students understand that the future of the

[49:44] years, Pilargo School has gone above and beyond to create meaningful learning experiences that

[49:49] connects students with the natural world around them. Students have explored manual

[49:52] ecosystems. Learned about core, we've explored a partner with other environmental organizations

[49:57] to protect the wildlife and place we.

[50:00] Call home every single day. This achievement reflects the outstanding leadership of principal

[50:04] pace. Thank you for your leadership. Our lead teachers, Ms. Pam Caputa,

[50:09] Camputo, Eva Brown, and the entire staff at Kilaro School, your dedication, vision, and enthusiasm

[50:15] to help cultivate a school culture where environmental education is woven into the fabric

[50:20] of everyday learning through their efforts. Students have been empowered to explore, ask questions,

[50:25] and engage deeply with their community and their environment.

[50:30] Again, on behalf of the Agileates Foundation, our Everland Literacy Program, our Champions

[50:33] Schools Program, it is my privilege to congratulate Kiilago School on earning their five-year

[50:39] milestone, John El Mills, this recognition celebrates not only five years, but also countless

[50:43] students, educators, families, and community partners who have helped build a school culture

[50:48] rooted in curiosity. Congratulations, Principal Pays, Pam Caputo, the entire Kiilago

[50:52] community and well-deserved honor.

[50:58] Oh, I died.

[51:00] The five year milestone word is a Macstone photograph.

[51:04] If you're familiar with Macstone, he is a legend, wonderful environment to advocate,

[51:09] Nat Geo Explorer and photographer, and we're happy to hang that in Kiela Roscoe.

[51:14] Thank you.

[51:28] Thank you.

[51:31] We have a special token.

[51:33] It's an art contest.

[51:34] It's called the Challenge Coin.

[51:35] And you're familiar with the challenge coins.

[51:36] We give them out in the military, give them out in the environment.

[51:40] For a school to achieve and for the teachers to feel supported, it takes strong leadership.

[51:45] I'm a superintendent to the school board and I just wanted to leave it to your all champions.

[51:49] And I do and I leave a challenge going for each one of our school board members.

[51:53] Superintendent Tender, we really appreciate your support and I'm going.

[51:56] Yeah absolutely.

[51:56] Thank you.

[51:58] Thank you.

[52:03] Thank you.

[53:02] All right.

[53:03] At this time, we're up to Citizens Input.

[53:05] Presentations to the Board.

[53:06] to three minutes for each individual speaker and five minutes for the representative of a

[53:11] designated group transfer of time between individuals and all groups is not permitted

[53:15] to let us submit it to each board member and all the board secretary prior to a board meeting

[53:20] will not additionally be read into the record at the meeting or statements must be directed

[53:24] towards the board. No person may address or question board members individually and board members

[53:29] will not engage in a dialogue with persons making public comment. Furthermore, all speakers are

[53:34] to abide by the code of conduct for citizen input, school board policy 0169.1, and we'll begin

[53:41] this presentation by stating their full name and the city or town of residents for the

[53:46] record.

[53:46] Do we have anybody here to speak?

[53:48] Good evening, we currently have one speaker, Ms. Shaman Shah,

[53:55] right there, requesting three

[53:57] minutes.

[54:02] Good afternoon, congratulations, I'm Shaman Shah, key larga florida, congratulations to

[54:08] school board members. I am still available to come and sit on behalf of the parents and the students

[54:15] and the taxpayers that can't be here because they're working. I'll be still becoming to the meetings

[54:21] and asking about budgetary items and things like that is opportunities to rise. But again, congratulations,

[54:30] And we'll look forward to our great next couple of years for you guys.

[54:35] Well, I guess it's going to be four, but anyway, congratulations.

[54:39] Thank you.

[54:41] At this time, we will go back to the consent agenda.

[54:48] All items listed as consent agenda items are considered routine in noncontroversial

[54:51] by the school board and will be approved by a single motion.

[54:54] There will be no separate discussion of these items.

[54:56] Prior to this meeting, board members have had the opportunity to review each of these.

[55:00] These items may request that any item be moved to an action item for individual consideration.

[55:05] I recommend the Board approve the consent agenda as presented.

[55:08] So moved? Second.

[55:27] We have any of the other reports?

[55:30] No, sir, that's it.

[55:32] Okay. So now we'll go on to legal.

[55:37] Thank you, Chairman. Not much to report other than we are obviously done with the baseball license,

[55:44] and we are obviously done with the lawsuit involving the Rex Weech field.

[55:50] So those two legal things are behind us now, which is great.

[55:54] We have a couple of updates coming to this week regarding some pending litigation that

[56:00] you have all received reports on in the past, and this will provide you with updates on

[56:05] two separate matters.

[56:08] Other than that, as always, I consult with each one of you before the meeting to determine

[56:13] there are legal questions and fortunately there weren't any, so that's my report.

[56:23] Mr. Cheney?

[56:25] So we're a couple weeks back into the school year ready and time is flying by like it always does and I just want to acknowledge and thank everyone that went into helping us have a near perfect opening.

[56:36] So the schools did a very, very nice job of maintaining contact with students and parents over the summer.

[56:41] We had record turnout for welcome back, meet the teachers, and I really think that carried over to the quality of the opening we had.

[56:48] As you're aware, we started a relationship with the class of 2039 in April of last year,

[56:52] maintained that over the summer with videos that we sent out every week.

[56:56] We had over 20,000 views of those videos now, so the class of 2039 is off to a great start.

[57:02] We did increase kindergarten enrollment by eight students as of today from last year,

[57:06] so I think those interventions support and relationship help.

[57:09] And we will check in a garden readiness because that was another metric when that is done and tested.

[57:15] We made significant changes to the bus routes over the summer and I think the first day we had one bus that was ten minutes late

[57:20] So that's really remarkably professional of our transportation professionals.

[57:24] I want to thank them because I have such a difficult job and it went off so well and I was through the first day of school of the cafeteria

[57:30] And the students all reported that the chicken nuggets a wise choice for first day of school were excellent

[57:35] So, to everyone that went at such a great start, I do want to thank and particularly the

[57:40] in addition to the school boards that I enjoyed so much visiting school with and I

[57:44] don't ever want to appreciate you being out there as well. So, in my compliments to a great

[57:48] start and my sincere hope and confidence that we will continue that momentum. That concludes my

[57:53] comments. Can I actually ask you a quick question? When we all met with the Village Council

[58:00] regarding founders. It was told us that the signature on permits were just waiting on the

[58:10] village council passing it, but it's my understanding that we still don't have permits

[58:15] to start work.

[58:18] That's correct. I talked to Mr. Saunders today who was checking is going to either call

[58:22] today or tomorrow. So we spoke today and we'll follow up at this point tomorrow to figure

[58:28] what what if anything is the hold up and keep moving forward? I know he's

[58:31] interested in moving forward as we are. Thank you.

[58:35] Okay, I think this time we'll

[58:37] start at your end.

[58:40] No, I just want to echo what Mr. Tierney said. Many of us

[58:43] were on hand on first day of school and it was truly amazing to see how

[58:48] well things went. Teachers, staff, admin, and families. That's cool. After a

[58:54] wonderful start, the kids all look so happy and so pleased to go into school and

[58:57] school year is always extremely exciting. So a congratulations to everyone for that. And I just wanted to add that today I had a pleasure of coming up a little early and visiting with

[59:08] Keylorical School Plantation School and Core Shores High School. And I just continue to be impressed by these upper key schools and how well that they do.

[59:16] The classrooms every child I ran across today is engaged. The teachers are outstanding. I've never met so many pleasant and well-manored students. It was just an exceptional day.

[59:26] So I just want Mr. Tierney and I toward the schools and it was just an outstanding day.

[59:31] So just my compliments to all of the principals and staff here in the upper key schools,

[59:35] they are just exceptional.

[59:36] So thank you for being so hospitable.

[59:43] It was very exciting to see first day of school and how well things have been going.

[59:49] I do want to thank you, Mr. Tierney, for inviting us to the teacher gathering and marathon

[59:54] high school.

[59:55] um you are the first superintendent to ever invite us to

[1:00:00] And it was wonderful to see everybody to be able to speak to everybody before they began. So thank you so much for that. Greatly appreciated. And it seemed to go so well that teachers were excited about the new format with the shorter learning. So kudos to you and the staff for putting on such a great event.

[1:00:29] Yeah, it was a really a great start to the school year, so I'm not going to repeat all of that.

[1:00:34] But the other thing that happened this weekend was our Monarch County Special Olympics hosted the first state competition ever.

[1:00:44] It was at Founders Park, and it was a stand up paddle board event, and it was really great to get to go there and meet a lot of these athletes that had come from around the state.

[1:00:56] We met one young woman in particular who is considering her third try of a paddleboard race that goes from

[1:01:07] Bimini to Boca. The first year, she says she leaves at midnight and the first year, you know, it's dark

[1:01:17] and they don't count on the moon or anything for that and she had six foot waves and she made it

[1:01:23] Or did you make it 20 miles a first year and 30 miles the next year?

[1:01:29] So these are some real serious athletes and the other thing I learned that I did not know

[1:01:36] before is the health benefits, the health program that is associated with special Olympics.

[1:01:45] Every time kids go to these events, they have a medical tent where kids can go in and get

[1:01:51] different kinds of screening, and so they might, if they need glasses, they can get their

[1:01:56] ice cream, they can get coupons to get glasses, they were doing dental checks, and they

[1:02:02] would refer kids out to, if they needed things, they do hearing aids, and one of the athletes

[1:02:10] who, well, she's our most famous athlete, Jennifer Averatt.

[1:02:15] She told me that when you're a kid in school, you can get these things all the time, but

[1:02:21] when you're in adult, the only way you can get these screenings

[1:02:24] is if you continue to participate in special Olympics.

[1:02:28] So I had no idea the reach that it had,

[1:02:31] and it was really a good day.

[1:02:41] I was going to speak for an hour and a half.

[1:02:44] But I won't now that I'm getting broke over here.

[1:02:51] But we're going to speak about Mr. Tierney's evaluation and afterwards, I will speak up about his contract.

[1:02:59] So just let you know I'm going to do that.

[1:03:03] And so at this point.

[1:03:05] So can I say thank you.

[1:03:07] Thank you.

[1:03:08] Thank you.

[1:03:10] Thank you.

[1:03:11] Thank you.

[1:03:12] I would actually like to thank the voters for giving me a shot to finish my term out.

[1:03:18] It's not lost on me that this is a significant role, and I appreciate everyone for their constant support.

[1:03:25] I'm doing a post-mortem.

[1:03:27] We always look at the precincts and try to decipher why we did better in some and worse than others.

[1:03:33] And my team is going to do a deep dive into why I did not do as well up the keys.

[1:03:37] And I will adjust accordingly.

[1:03:38] You will start seeing me more up here to make sure that I earn your trust and your respect and your vote.

[1:03:45] and I will spend more time up here.

[1:03:48] Thank you.

[1:03:50] I thought you didn't want to speak,

[1:03:53] which is why I went over there.

[1:03:55] You just could leave for God, I was here, John.

[1:03:56] You, I looked at you and then you looked the suit.

[1:03:59] You passed it on.

[1:04:00] Because it's different, I was like this.

[1:04:03] No, no, we're going over here.

[1:04:04] You shouldn't have that chocolate part.

[1:04:06] No, no, no.

[1:04:07] You added peanuts.

[1:04:09] You put peanuts and chocolate together.

[1:04:11] It's not a combination I like.

[1:04:13] So therefore, most schools.

[1:04:15] We're not going to make the time schedule now if you watch out.

[1:04:19] All right.

[1:04:19] We're going to say what I'm going to say.

[1:04:22] I'm going to recess the main hearing and open up a public hearing on policies.

[1:04:32] These are the two finance policies in the job description that we spoke about last

[1:04:35] board meeting.

[1:04:37] That's the second reading.

[1:04:39] So do we have anybody here to speak to this policies?

[1:04:41] Any of the policies?

[1:04:46] Since the roll second reading, I don't know is anybody have anything that they want to

[1:04:50] Okay, well, then we're going to close this policy hearing and reopen the regularly hearing.

[1:04:57] We're up to action. I have number one.

[1:05:00] I recommend the Board approve Superintendent Tirene's evaluation for the 2025-2026 school year.

[1:05:06] So, second, let's have a discussion.

[1:05:13] Can I start?

[1:05:14] You may start.

[1:05:16] I want to say that your evaluation was impressive.

[1:05:21] It was an incredible first year incredibly excited for the second year.

[1:05:28] There were a few things that I know I hinted that I would like to see worked on.

[1:05:35] It was not a failure on your part. It's just some things.

[1:05:38] We can't do everything all at once and I get it.

[1:05:42] So it was more just like maybe we can look at this next year type of a thing for my evaluation.

[1:05:48] But overall, I don't think I've ever seen anybody in their first year getting an evaluation like this

[1:05:54] and I hope you stay with us for a long time to come.

[1:05:59] So most boards harp on transparency, and I'm telling you from day one, he's been the most transparent person you can ever imagine.

[1:06:08] He fills us in sometimes more than we need to know.

[1:06:12] But he's always available to the community.

[1:06:16] How his stamina is second to none.

[1:06:19] And you look up transparency in the future, you will see a picture of Ed Tierney.

[1:06:29] Well, I'm not sure he's all that great.

[1:06:33] I do think as a board, we should reconsider our evaluation form. It seems quite cumbersome,

[1:06:43] and it really doesn't allow a superintendent the flexibility to really focus on a single big project.

[1:06:51] There were things that the biggest things that were done didn't fit any of the categories that we really had.

[1:06:58] And so I don't know if that means like redoing a strategic plan or maybe making alterations

[1:07:06] to how we do the evaluation and it's great to have hard data on everything, but there is

[1:07:14] no data really for transparency and there is no data for the amount of respect that is provided

[1:07:23] from the community and all of those things. So, you know, I'm not sure that our evaluation.

[1:07:30] I mean, is the greatest tool for us as a board to direct the district forward in ways that

[1:07:45] Mr. Tierney wants to take us. So, I'm just putting that out there, but yeah, really great first year.

[1:07:56] areas where you don't have numbers to quantify it. We seem to all be well in agreement.

[1:08:03] So I mean, we all witnessed the same thing. It wasn't a wide disparity on any of those areas.

[1:08:15] Yeah, I put plenty of comments in there.

[1:08:19] You're done? No. I'm not having to agree. It was an excellent first year.

[1:08:23] It's been an absolute pleasure working with you. I think you've done a wonderful job making yourself

[1:08:28] as a newcomer to Monroe County, making yourself known,

[1:08:32] not only in the school district, but in the community.

[1:08:35] And I think everyone really appreciates that

[1:08:37] because so many people have had the opportunity

[1:08:39] to get to know you and feel like they know you well,

[1:08:41] after just one short year, you've done an exceptional job

[1:08:44] and we're really pleased with that.

[1:08:46] But I will agree with Dr. Waltansky

[1:08:48] and I think that the way in which we evaluate

[1:08:52] is, it's not really the best tool.

[1:08:56] A lot of it refers to a strategic plan

[1:08:58] that's no longer valid, one that you never committed to.

[1:09:03] It was hard to judge some of the areas based on the question,

[1:09:07] because we didn't have the right tools to evaluate with.

[1:09:13] So I would like to see a little change in how we evaluate.

[1:09:15] I think it was a little subjective.

[1:09:17] It wasn't directed a lot of specifics.

[1:09:20] It was sort of broad in some respect.

[1:09:24] But I guess we all came to an agreement,

[1:09:25] because I knew it was the scores are all very similar.

[1:09:27] So I guess we found a way to justify the questions.

[1:09:31] But anyway, congratulations on an excellent first year.

[1:09:33] I look forward to working with you in the coming year.

[1:09:40] Thank you.

[1:09:42] I don't think I have to say much more to go forward

[1:09:47] than what I want to do.

[1:09:48] I would like to request that the attorney

[1:09:51] drove up a new contract with the superintendent.

[1:09:54] I'd like to see if we can extend another year on to it.

[1:09:58] and also you know

[1:10:00] When we first gave the original contract, I felt that Mr. Tini was definitely coming here no matter what, and that I told our attorney to squeeze them. Don't give them anything that, and keep it as minimum as possible. And he scores.

[1:10:19] So this time I'll tell you what, on squeeze or on squirrels a little bit, but not too much.

[1:10:30] And what I would recommend is, is each board member call the attorney with what they feel is proper.

[1:10:39] And I would like to see a new contract for the superintendent at the next board meeting.

[1:10:52] Well, so I'm just going to, I'm going to respond to that. I appreciate the kind words

[1:10:56] in that offer, and I was coming here to matter what, and being here has been better than

[1:11:00] I thought it would be, and what lower it thought it would be, and it's been more than

[1:11:05] I'd even hoped, and I had high hopes. So we're both thrilled to be here and hope to be here

[1:11:08] for a long time. As far as the kind words, our profession has always been, it will always

[1:11:13] be based on teachers. So the great work happening in this system, a credit them,

[1:11:18] and thank them for their hard work,

[1:11:19] is it a very difficult job?

[1:11:21] And they do it so well every day,

[1:11:22] and I'm looking at two great principles in the staff here.

[1:11:25] So the great things are happening

[1:11:26] because the people who are here and have been here

[1:11:29] and all of the shortcomings of things to be working on,

[1:11:31] I will own and try to do better this coming year.

[1:11:33] So thank you.

[1:11:34] Do you call them 20%, recommend a board to prove

[1:11:40] the revisions to board policies for finance

[1:11:42] and performance?

[1:11:44] Some of the second.

[1:11:50] are there any further discussion? Are there any no votes? Hearing none, the revisions

[1:11:56] are approved.

[1:11:58] I recommend the Board approve the Student Support Services Policy.

[1:12:03] So move.

[1:12:08] Second.

[1:12:10] Discussion. Hearing none, the motion is approved.

[1:12:14] I recommend the Board approve Job Description 61231 Disabilities Manager and Mental Health

[1:12:19] Manager.

[1:12:20] So moved.

[1:12:23] Discussion?

[1:12:25] Hearing none of the motion is approved.

[1:12:28] Now I can bang the beating.

[1:12:30] The beating is closed.

School Board Meeting @ CSH 08-25-2026 @ 4:15 pm

Agenda

Transcript