Fiscal Accountability and Government Relations Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay, good morning and welcome to the Fiscal Accountability and Government Relations Committee meeting for Wednesday, May 6th, 2026. I'm now going to call this meeting to order. Can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Board Member Danny Espino.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please remain standing for a moment of silence. You may be seated. Before we get started, I'd like to state the committee membership. You have myself, Roberto Alonso as chair. We have Danny Espino as vice chair, Luisa Santos as a member, Joseph Geller as a member, and Dr. Dorothy Bendos-Mendigo as an alternate member. Our first order of business is to approve the minutes of the Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Fiscal Accountability and Government Relations Committee meeting. Are there any questions from any board members? Seeing none, we have a motion to move. We have a second. All in favor?

Aye.

All right, next order of business is to move our E items to the floor. Can I get a motion?

Move it. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Okay, our first item is E1, and this is yours, Mr. Steiger. E1 is the monthly financial report.

Excuse me, sir. Prior to going, may I say a few? Absolutely. Just a simple announcement. I have been apprised by some of my colleagues. They will not be present today. So we have Dr. Bendros-Meningo. We also have Dr. Steve Gallon III, and we have Board Member Blanco, who will not be in attendance. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, Mr. Steiger. E1 is the monthly financial report for the period ending March 2026. Okay, do we have any comments from any board members? Okay, E14. Yeah, Mr. Chair, E14 through E20 are the second resolutions by fund. I'm happy to take them all at once if you'd like. Any questions on them? Absolutely. Yes, you're recognized, Board Member Santos.

Thank you so much, and thank you, Mr. Steiger, for your thorough briefing. On E14 for our general fund, there's a couple of things I want to call out. Number one, I think this is the first ever budget resolution where I see a decrease in energy compared to budgeted, so that is... always a great thing, and so I wanna, I know some of that is due to using our rebates, electricity, EV charging stations, and making sure that all of those investments that have been made and efficiencies are actually being realized, so thank you for highlighting that. Secondly, can you tell us, according to this budget resolution, where we would land in relation to our reserve percentage?

Yeah, sure, so as you can see, the assigned fund balance is increasing by just under $50 million, which is very positive. It's a reflection of the steps the district's taken over the last several months. Where we end with fund balance will be dependent on what our tax collection shortfall is, what the fourth calculation of the FEFP shows. But if I gave a projection right now, we would end just above 2% on our unassigned fund balance, which is great. It is above the minimum requirement from the state, not yet at 3%, which is the actual requirement. It's above the minimum, but we would still have to tell the commissioner what our plan is to get to 3% if we fall below 3%. So we're going to continue to push hard and hopefully by year end, we will have hit that 3% without the legislature's assistance. But I know Madam Board Chair, the superintendent are going to Tallahassee in the coming week to continue to see if we can get assistance in that area to make sure that we do get to that 3%.

Thank you. And Mr. Steiger, throughout the state, I know I've been reading headlines about counties that have fallen below. Can you just give us an update on what the statewide picture looks like?

Yes. As far as Mr. Chair, Ms. Santos, as far as I know, Glades County and Union County are finished last fiscal year below zero. So they have now... The commissioner has now appointed a fiscal oversight board to oversee them. I have since heard that Highlands County, which is another, certainly bigger than Glades and Union, but still a small county in the middle of the state, they finished last year below 3%. They wrote a letter to the commissioner saying their plan this year is to finish below 3% as well. And they hope to finish at above 3% in June 30, 2027. And the commissioner wrote back stating that they're going to monitor it. And, you know, if anything, if any drop is if they don't reach that, then they're going to put in a fiscal oversight board.

Thank you. And so through the chair, I'll just say, you know, I'm as hard as these decisions have been. And I know I've been at school sites over the last few weeks and certainly there are challenges. I'm grateful that we are making the hard decisions needed to keep us away from a situation like what we're seeing across the state. And I certainly know that my colleagues and I will do our part to get the state to to alleviate wherever possible the situation and really thank you for your team and all the hard work and frankly every department because it's really hitting every single corner of this district and everyone has done their part to get us closer and this 50 million reflects getting much, much closer to where we need to be. So thank you for that.

Thank you so much. I now have Board Chair Rojas.

Thank you very much, sir. And first and foremost, thank you to the superintendent and Mr. Steiger, all the members of the team that have been working arduously on trying to make sure that we do reach the 3% and above mark. But proactively addressing the issue of the 2%, if we don't reach the 3% mark, which that is what we are hopeful to receive, but we have to be ready if not. And so I had requested to get a picture of what we have done thus far. You touched upon it a little bit. But I do want to state for the record that in the budget plan for step one, and that was from July 25 through January 26, The reduced student-generated school positions were done to match enrollment, which was at the end of the fourth week of school. I also have the hiring freeze of all non-essential full-time and part-time employees at non-school site locations and strict budget spending procedures of general fund non-essential positions and travel. Is that correct, sir, through the chair?

Yeah, Mr. Chair, Ms. Rojas, those were all done even prior to the start of school.

Yes, correct. And again, we saved over $20 million net to allow for the estimated positive, again, unassigned fund balance. So once we looked at everything which was the projected unassigned fund balance of over $5 million that required 3%, unassigned fund balance of over 87 million and the necessary increase for the 3% where we had the 81 million plus. So you did give me budget step number two. This one took place from February through June and that was building reserve back to 2% at that point. We have the shutdown. Of non-school budgets completely for all non-existing contracts, that was about $4 million, is that correct, sir? Yes. Eliminating all non-school hourly and OT except for contractual mandates through the chair, is that correct, sir?

Yes.

All right, shutdown of all P-cards district-wide and all Buddy Central shopping carts, that totaled to about 18 million, is that correct, sir?

That is the hope by the end of this year.

Okay. The reduction of school hourly and sub expenditures. This would be in May and June. By the end of the year, we have a projection of about $7 million. Is that correct, sir?

Yeah, Mr. Chairman, we're all living through this right now.

Okay, and that's been a tough one for the school sites very difficult Even though it's for a limited period of time and this board as you know all of us said we didn't Wanted the schools to be the very last ones to be touched if at all we didn't want them to be touched but we understand the situation that we have to be in it's difficult decisions and At this point it's only for a very limited number of weeks is my understanding. Is that correct through the chair, sir? I

Yeah, Mr. Alonso, Ms. Rojas, it is through June 4th, but to minimize the impact on schools, we have people from central office, including my staff, not necessarily classroom experience, they are acting as subs as well.

Okay, thank you. And pursuing the legal grant flexibility, that one should be about 15 million, is that correct, sir, through the chair?

Yes, yeah, and that one, you can see a lot of it reflected in E14 today, yeah. All right.

So the total estimate more or less would be the $60 million and the shortage to get to the 3%. would be 21 million, is that correct, sir, through the chair?

Yeah, Mr. Chair, Ms. Ross, that is correct. Obviously, we haven't gotten the 60 million all yet. We're still working towards it, but we're 50 million of the way there, and I hope actually to, in the end, to even go above the 60.

Okay, thank you. So if I look at the recommend action on E14, a number one. Can you just go over again, mainly for the listening public, the amount of over $36 million that you reached I KNOW YOU'VE OUTLINED, AGAIN, ALL THE INCREASES AND THE DECREASES ON THE AGENDA, AND YOU ALSO DETAILED VERY MUCH SO A SUMMARY OF REVENUES AND OTHER SOURCES THAT I READ IN PAGE 6 THROUGH 11. BUT IN A VERY SIMPLE WAY FOR THE LISTENING PUBLIC, AS I'M ASSUMING, THAT THE RESERVE IS BEING INCREASED BY MORE THAN $36 MILLION. IS THAT CORRECT, SIR, THROUGH THE CHAIR?

Oh, Madam Chair, Mr. Chair, Mr. Ross, our reserves going up by nearly $50 million. What the recommend is showing isn't an increase in the reserves, it's an increase in the overall budget, right? So we have revenue that comes in, different appropriations, like things that are, that let's say school recognition came in in this quarter. So that's a big number. It comes in both on the revenue side and the expenditure side, right? So they offset. But in the end, In the end, the only thing that really matters in these items is page 11, because it is required by statute that we amend our budget by function, right? And that is, so that recommend two shows page 11. It is the required action that we take to amend our budget. We will do it again in September to adjust to actuals. But we provide the narrative of everything that happens so the board and the community can understand exactly what's happening in our budget. Because if they just looked at page 11, it wouldn't mean anything on its face. But yeah, so overall, the budget did increase. That's expected. Budgets will go up and down throughout the year. But in terms of where we sit financially, yes, being able to increase the fund balance by $50 million is the most relevant piece.

Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have for now. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Any other further questions or comments? Mr. Steiger, just a quick question. We heard a lot of cuts going on and we're definitely hearing them from the schools as we go out there and visiting them. What are we doing at the three regional offices as well as the central office in looking at our costs? I know that they don't have huge budgets, but there is a lot of personnel out there. Are those personnels also going into the schools and assisting with some of these shortages and Yeah, so Mr.

Chair, a few things. First, the regions, we include the regions as part of what we'll call central office, right? It's non-school sites, non-school locations excluding IT, police, food service. So the regions are part of this group. So they've seen reductions on the non-salary side starting at the beginning of the year. All the same restrictions that we put on central office have been in place on the regions. from the beginning of the year. And then, yeah, Ms. Baglos came to sit next to me because she's the deployment expert, but yes, trust me, before they put people in the Treasury Department out, they went first to the regions and to academics and to HR and to other areas that were a bit more qualified to do it. So, yeah, absolutely, there have been deployments all across the district. Thank you.

Through the chair, yes. We've deployed, as of today, almost 150 curriculum support specialists and almost 100 managerial exempt personnel to help fill vacancies and just help support schools in their day-to-day operations. And they are out every single day, and we continue to deploy. This is a time of year where we have folks who take leaves heading into summer. We have a very committed workforce, and they will time things closer to summer so that they can return back to the beginning of school. We have daily requests coming in, and we continue to deploy daily in order to support our schools.

Okay, follow up on that. I know that we're looking at ways to reduce the number of substitute teachers that we're requesting through our services to try to cut down on costs, but that also then creates additional stress on the schools, right? When somebody calls out sick or when somebody's there, what are we doing to make sure that we're deploying quick enough and that classes are not left empty while we're waiting for somebody from the central office to be deployed there? Because we know that Kelly Service has done an incredible job with their app, and it was something that worked smoothly, but we've got to make adjustments, especially now towards the end of the year. How is that being dealt with, and how are we making sure that the principals are receiving the support that they need to be able to fill those vacancies when they're found?

Sure.

Through the chair, great question. What we do when we deploy managerial exempt, we actually deploy two weeks at a time. So we're being proactive. We're not waiting for the school to request. We're just sending you somebody to be there every single day to support you. And we've been doing that in collaboration with regions. They know their schools very well, and if there's a school that they think needs more support, those requests come in and we deploy additional staff. But we're doing it in a proactive measure, not waiting for the school to say, I have somebody out, please send me somebody.

I appreciate we're being proactive, and obviously we're following up with principals and the regions. Is everybody feeling okay with the process? I mean, obviously it's a change, nobody likes change, but are we being able to fulfill the needs of the schools based on your department's sort of view into what's happening?

Through the chair, I think when you first start something new, you always get a couple hiccups. We definitely have been hiring those out over the last day and a half. We continue, like I said earlier, we continue to receive additional requests and we continue to deploy. We get emails directly from principals and we're communicating directly with principals to meet their needs.

Is there a way that, being that we're such a great partner, that we can work with Kelly Services to have the same app that's being used currently that everybody was used to to kind of help us just with strategy for this short term? Because, I mean, we want to continue being good partners. And I'm just thinking for a quicker deployment, if we had several staff members that were on call and were ready to get those requests from the online system, just to alleviate and help get things resolved quickly, especially in the last couple weeks of school.

I'm happy to have conversations with our Kelly partner. They are a great partner. I feel confident about the proactive measure and having somebody already at the site. I think at this time of the year, giving principals that flexibility to have somebody always there at the ready to use in the way that they feel is necessary is a benefit at this time of the year. But I'm I'm happy to have a conversation with our Kelly folks to see if there's a way to bring them into the alignment.

Okay. Yeah, I think it's important not just for the schools but also for the staff that's being deployed all over the county to go fill those vacancies that we have a process in place that is done in a timely fashion, similar to the way that we do our standards, current fulfillment of substitute teachers in those classrooms. So if we can follow up and then maybe provide the board with an update on that, Because it's important. I mean, our parents expect somebody to be inside the classrooms, and we expect that, right? And we don't want to put principals in those positions. So thank you.

Mr. Chair, I do have one more follow-up, please.

Yes, sure, you're recognized.

Thank you very much, sir. This would be to Dr. Lewis through the chair. It's imperative that our workforce at the school sites understand clearly what is happening and why it's happening and for the length of time that it is happening, for example, that only for the last four weeks was there going to be a reduction in paraprofessionals. I've had to answer a lot of questions to many of those that I represent who are concerned that there are going to be certain cuts that are going to be made that are permanent. So how are we communicating to the workforce exactly what is going to be occurring? For example, the interventionist scenario. that uh was being looked at at possibly no longer being available yet other subs would be able to remain in place can you tell me how we are communicating via the regions and and the word getting out to those classroom teachers that are the ones that are dealing with these issues day in and day out those principles that are dealing with the issues day in and day out through the chair sir through the chair ms rojas let me just say great question and really just to piggyback on the question that board member lonzo is asking

To, of course, Ms. Baglows, Dr. Baglows, just be mindful that a lot of the conversations that are taking place and actions that are taking place, they're not taking place in silos. So I'm also part of that conversation. It was actually a team that sat together and really take a deep look at people that we have available. But even beyond that, making sure that we had people on the ready just in case that an emergency do arrive, that we're able to deploy those individuals. So it's really been a team effort. But going back to your specific question, Ms. Rojas, let me just say that notification and communication. And so when it comes down, when it came down to those interventionists, school sites, principals were notified in a timely manner that they had XYZ date to make sure that they notified those hourly employees that, hey, at a certain set date, unfortunately, their service is no longer going to be, I'm not going to say needed, but unfortunately, it had to come to an end because of the budgetary crisis that we're somewhat dealing with. So through communication, and that communication is ongoing, every region, as you know, has a budget director. That communication with that budget director happens in Dr. Baglow's office. And let me also say that Mr. Steiger is also part of that as well. So it's just really creating that communication chain and making sure that everyone is aware and making sure that whatever actions that are required, it's going out in a timely manner, so therefore people are not being inconvenienced in a way that is negatively impacting them.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have.

Thank you. And just a follow-up, you know, and the information is going to be provided to the board. If we can get some statistics as to how many, you know, substitute teachers we're filling, how many staff members from central office are being deployed out, what departments are being impacted, Just general information, I think it'll be good for the board to have, just so that we kind of have an understanding and an eye into exactly where it's at. So when questions do arise in the community and we're asked what's happening, we can easily answer them. Thank you. Any further questions from the board? Okay, we now move to E35.

E35 is the annual approval of our tax anticipation notes. Okay, Ms. Santos, you're recognized.

Thank you. Through the chair, this question was on E17, the food service resolution.

E35.

Okay.

Thank you. Through the chair, I've learned recently that we may not meet universal criteria, objective criteria to continue providing free breakfast and lunch at every single school in the upcoming year. And I know that when we did meet the criteria and were able to start doing that, our meals served did go up, if I remember correctly, between 10 and 15%. Now that that won't be a universal option, how do you expect that to affect our food service fund?

Sure, I can start it and then Mr. Diaz behind me can take it. So yeah, the CEP wasn't when we started. giving free lunch and breakfast that was with the pandemic right so there was during the pandemic it was it was definitely a a a huge transition right from where we were before to after um it kind of changed food service uh so when the pandemic provisions ended uh we decided to continue free lunch and breakfast with cep um knowing that even if it wasn't in perpetuity, it provided a continuation of what was happening. So I don't know if the goal even back then was to do it forever. I think that food service has taken steps this year to make sure that they and schools understand that the revenue and expense model need to change. And they've taken great steps. to prepare for what's next. Obviously, there's gonna be a whole world now where kids pay, so it's not that revenue's gonna fall off the earth, it's just that there'll be a different model in place. So we hope that the current spending model works, but if Mr. Diaz wants to take the question further.

Mr. Diaz, you're recognized.

To the chair, Mr. Alonzo. So, Ms. Santos, yeah, I think Mr. Steiger more or less what the landscape looks. So, as you know, obviously for the last four years we've had free breakfast and lunch. Forecast for the future doesn't look like that will be something that we're able to do based off of direct cert and the percentage that we'll have. Something that we'll step into, and we're still landing it right now, we're almost there, is more or less what we call a hybrid model, right? So we're basically able to identify schools, individual schools as well as grouping of schools in certain general areas that we believe they will not have to worry about the lunch application process. They will be automatically direct just because of the percentage of students in that building. or in the general area. And it's a heavy number. I don't want to go specific yet, but it's a large amount, much larger than we thought. So that impact will be a lot less than would have been in the past where everyone had to do the application. And just to remind everyone, regardless if a school is not free for breakfast or lunch, if that child in that school is direct certified, they're automatically going to get free breakfast and lunch. It's just those other students that need to do an application because whatever reason it might be that maybe their paperwork where the government is not at a correct status, they have the opportunity to do that. There has been a lot of work on the back end because this is something new, right? If you notice, most counties in the state, if not all, that were actually in the CEP process are all basically having to go through this scenario right now. And we've been working in collaboration with a lot of these counties that kind of gather best practices, particularly those that are in close proximity to us or those that are large capacity of students such as we have, And on the back end, as Mr. Steiger spoke of, obviously everything that we're doing in this district right now is looking forward to reducing costs. There has been a lot of work already, and I have to commend Angie and her food and nutrition team for really minimizing hourly positions at schools, cutting down on purchases when it comes to food product, just basically trying to be more – diligent when it comes to professional development with the orders of the managers. It's not easy. There's 300 plus of them out there. However, there's been a lot of proactive effort to try to make sure everyone's on the same accord and really a lot of monitoring from the district level on orders being placed because obviously the food orders are the high costs when it comes to food and nutrition. So Those are the plans that have been placed. But soon enough, I believe that we'll be able to provide the board a definite count of exactly the hybrid model, the schools that will be free across the board and those that will have to have a lunch application process as we did in the past when I was a principal and making sure that the principals at every single one of these schools understand the necessity of making sure that every kid completes this application, not just because of the free breakfast and lunch, because of the impact of Title I, because of the impact of Title I. So... Trust me, we're on it.

Thank you so much for that thorough explanation. And through the chair, I know up to the year before the pandemic, that free and reduced lunch form had not changed much since I was even in school. It looked pretty much the same. What are our plans for the schools that will have to collect these forms to make it a very user-friendly 21st century system for our families and students?

through the chair so obviously there's two ways right there's a paper process but really the online the online focus is the main is the main one not everyone has that opportunity misantos but there is a lot of reminding taking place as as you even through um school leadership and performance as we move towards the next year even though we're closing one year we're moving towards the next a lot of conversations already taking place at the region level referencing this is forthcoming um we will be more specific very soon i think we have end of month but um At that point in time, we've already met as a small group in the sense of district level in a sense of ways in which we can more or less categorize best practices that schools have done in the past when it comes to making sure that everybody that's involved, every stakeholder that's involved with the lunch application process utilizes these best practices across the board, for instance. Perfect example. The application itself, it is what it is, and there's a way in which we can provide that information to the parents and all that. But the reality is, particularly at secondary levels, the first couple weeks of school, there really needs to be a checkoff process from the administration at the school. Meaning, I'm just going back to things that I can tell you I did personally. Those first couple weeks of school, I had individuals go to each of the classrooms every day, every morning. to more or less check off students and make sure number one if they're already direct certified and they did not need to bother but if they were not direct certified promoting pushing and ensuring that the application was on file some way online and or through paper hopefully online minimizing the waste of paper and making sure that that two-week process that's a best practice that we're trying to make for universal across the district for all those schools that will have to go through this online process or this paper process which we're trying to minimize for those schools that have to complete an application. So little things like that are in the works, and we will knock it all down before the year begins.

Thank you so much and final point through the chair. As we, I know everyone is working very hard to solidify our rollout of the new student information system, ensuring that it's integrated and so that all of our systems are speaking to each other and they live in the same place I think will be really important. So thank you so much for the work done and I echo your sentiment. I have seen tremendous efficiencies built in through the Food and Nutrition Department and we're really grateful for it.

Thank you. With no further questions, you want to finish E35, Mr. Steiger, or were you done? I'm presenting it.

Yeah, so E35 is just the annual approval of the tax anticipation notes for this year.

Seeing no questions, E66?

E66 is the comprehensive fidelity bonds and related programs that we are required to have for this year.

Any questions or comments from the board members?

Seeing none, E67?

E67?

E67 is a good news item. It's a renewal of the district's property insurance program at a $2.4 million savings, so happy about that.

E67?

So E141 starts the procurement items. The first one is the award of an ITB for fire alarm services.

Questions or comments? Yes, you're recognized, Ms. Hunt.

Thank you so much. Through the chair, obviously safety is our number one priority, so I even hesitate to ask, but we did spend 2.4 million this year, and the request is going up to almost double, and so I'm trying to understand, even with the merging of some sites, closure of some sites, how we land here through the chair.

Through the chair, Mr. Alonzo. So Ms. Santos, yes. So even though the buildings are, just to your latter comment, buildings being closed or mortgages, we still are responsible for fire system and inspections. That's just a requirement by statute. Four times a year, fire systems have to be checked by approved vendors, as well as many times the state will come in. So the main difference between this and the one that came in 2021 is based off of these visits, we have required replacement of fire systems that we did not have to do five years ago just because of tenure. So these systems are outdated. It's a major, major cost. We always can reference the word inflation, which is just but the reality is that the switch out, basically the complete replacement, not repair, is causing the up-to cost. And I know we know what the up-to, I know we referenced that, but the up-to cost, and that is the projection of why. We hope to not get to that point, but that is the true reality of where we're at based off of statute and visitations.

Thank you so much for that explanation.

As a follow-up to that one, Is there no way to obtain a waiver from the state in any way as we are consolidating these sites? Because the goal of consolidating these sites and bringing our service together is to save money. And if we're still having to spend money on maintaining these properties on systems that are not needed, because you need an active certified fire system if there's people in the building. If there's not going to be anybody in the building, is that something we can look at and see if there's any waivers? you know, and having a basic system versus a full-out system in the school. Through the chair, I have to look into that, but that's a great point, but I'll definitely look into that. Any further questions or comments? None? E142?

E142 is award of an ITN for a ground lease opportunity at JW Johnson.

Any questions or comments? No. On this one, this does fall within my district. just want to make sure that where I know there's been conversations between the superintendent and the city, and we always want to work with our municipal partners. So if we can just make sure that they're updated by our staff, um, last time we had a presentation, the city, um, it wasn't our fault. We had kind of left it on the developer or the proposers to communicate with the city. And I guess that hadn't occurred. So I think the district needs to be a little bit more proactive and I'm happy to join them in updating them on this process, especially before it goes to a vote next Wednesday.

Okay.

Thank you. Any other questions on 142? That was 144.

E144 is a debarment of creative solutions companion care service. Any questions or comments? Okay, E146. E146 is award of an RFP for our external independent auditing services. Question or comments? Yes, Ms. Santos, you're recognized.

Thank you so much. Through the chair. I know here in this item we're presented with two finalists, let's say, and now we enter contract negotiations. I do see significant price differences and I understand we've got our processes to respect, but I really want to put on the record that as we finalize those contract negotiations for for our auditing services moving forward. It's gonna be really important as we have been discussing at Nauseam through these e-items that we are very fiscally conservative and do the right thing by the times that we're facing in our budget. And so I just wanted to put that on the record because I do see some significant price differences that I'm sure the teams will do thorough negotiations on as we finalize contracts.

Any other questions or comments? All right, thanks so much. And thank you, Mr. Steiger, and to our auditor for your briefings and for answering all my questions. I, too, had some concerns on this. We're having very active conversations here on cost savings and to the point that our schools can't even purchase a lot of the supplies that they need. And there is a difference of $196,500 here between both contracts. I'd like to know through our legal counsel what negotiating powers do we have at this point and can we request that staff go back and say to the number one vendor that came through committee to match that price. If not, we go to option two just because we know that the financial status of this district and situation we're in is not one in which we should just be overpaying for contracts, especially when in my briefing, I was told that both companies are fully capable. These are accounting practices that are pretty standard in the industry. And it's not that there's one major, you know, difference in the actual way in which the process would occur that we would have to pick a more expensive one per se. So, Mr. Harvey.

Yes, through the chair. Great question. Yes, that's possible. That's included in the terms of the RFP, as well as the, I'm sorry, ITN, as well as the actual item. So it gives the board the authority to negotiate with firm number one if they're unable to reach terms, and they can go to firm number two. And I think the direction from the board is very clear with regard to cost savings, so yes, that could be definitely negotiated. If they can't match it, then the board can go to the second highest, second ranked firm.

Thank you, Mr. Harvey. Do we need to amend this item in any way then to give directive to staff to do that or just through this conversation, they kind of have an understanding?

Yes, through the chair. Yes, the item's fine as written. If you want to provide more direction, you can, but I think the item provides plenty of direction.

Yeah, no, Mr. Chair, we understand, and John Goodman technically isn't part of the superintendent's administration, but I've spoken to him before, and I think we both understand the message, which is that we will ask the primary here, Forrest Mazars, the first awardee, the highest-ranked proposer, to come down... substantially to cherry beckert's price and if they are unwilling then we will enter into negotiations with the second highest ranked proposer cherry becker okay thank you is there any way that we can have an update on this before next week's board meeting oh well mr chair we don't enter into negotiations until after the board uh awards but we will certainly notify the board upon conclusion of the negotiations the the impact so we will not we won't We won't sign the, before we sign the final contract, we will notify the board of the process on negotiations.

Okay, thank you. I'll go over language and I'll speak to Mr. Harvey and if I feel that, actually I'll bring in a suggestion to the board at the board meeting if we need to add any additional language here just to secure that. Thank you. All right, any other further questions or comments on E146? All right, E147.

E-147 is award of an ITB for audiovisual equipment and the rest. Any questions or comments? Okay, E-148. E-148 is award of an ITB for milk and dairy products. Yes, sir. We're going to ask Mr. Spino.

Thank you so much. Colleagues, first of all, I want to thank you, Mr. Chair and Board Member Santos, for the action items you have on nutrition in the past. I can tell you from my experience with my own kids as well as the feedback I get when I visit schools that one of the critical factors of how the kids perceive the school is the food that they eat. And so while our food service is a great job and we're doing a great job especially under the circumstances, at what point do we take a look at some of these items that are ITBs and provide the lowest cost and look at the offerings? Because I don't know how we get from where we are right now in terms of what is being perceived. I will tell you that there are some of our district managed charters are going away from our food services and procuring on their own because of the complaints of the quality or the diversity. And so I just want to try and figure out, especially when we're having to figure these austerity, navigate these austerity measures, how we go from maximized savings to making a dent and improving upon at least the flavor profile, not the nutrition perhaps, but at least the flavor profile. And I put that out for food for thought I talked to the team a little bit about it, and these are ITBs, we go with the lowest ones, don't know if it's adjusting our standards a little bit when we go out to bid, but if we just keep on moving the price, I don't think that this, the climate survey that I reported, I think only 35%, 35 to 40% of kids finding their food is good, we're gonna make a dent in it. And so, food for thought, I don't know that I expect a comment, but I wanted to put that out there. Any other further questions? Yes, Ms. Santos.

Thank you so much for that comment, Board Member Espino, because certainly, as you know, that was the premise of the item that I brought, that we need to increase that percentage, and I know there's been tremendous work between the food show and the new offerings, moving away from some of those, I know Board Member Alonso was very adamant, and I agreed on removing the plastic, reheating, and so I have seen some concrete improvements, I think there are also new things that will be rolling out, even, for example, related to this item, milk and dairy in bulk, and really moving into something that feels more, to me, like a college cafeteria, a nicer experience, less institutionalized, let's say, and, of course, moving more into scratch cooking, fresh produce. And so I agree with you that sometimes our hands are so tied with the way we procure in food and nutrition that I am all game for revisiting how as a board we give direction on the procurement of these products so our food and nutrition department has more flexibility. I know nutrition-wise they are absolutely meeting and exceeding every requirement set by the federal government. government and that feels great, but that's not enough to get from 35% to ideally 100% of satisfaction. I know a big challenge for us as we see in the food and nutrition fund is we basically, for the most part, are able to pay for these costs through the reimbursement of each meal from the federal government through the food and nutrition program. And if staff could put on the record how much more or less that average reimbursement is per meal, that would be, I think, enlightening too. It can be a range, Chair.

Anybody want to?

THANK YOU. THROUGH THE CHAIR, HAVING RUN A FOOD BUSINESS, I CAN TELL YOU TO EVEN BRING MY COST DOWN TO THAT FOR HIGH QUALITY THREE ICE CREAM SCOOP.

was incredibly difficult. And so we are going to maybe at some point hit a threshold where we're going to have to decide we might need to invest a little here. And I'm all open to that conversation, Board Member Espino. Thank you for bringing it up.

Any other questions or comments? You both make great points, and thank you, Board Member Espino, for bringing that up. I hear it all the time. And I know that our food and nutrition team has been working as hard as they can with the restrictions that have been put in place on them from the federal government going down to the state on how we can do things. If it were to me, I would sign a contract with Badia and Goya and Magic and just distribute Sazon Completa to every single school and we could fix the problem very quickly. But Angie has told me that that's not possible because of our federal guidelines. But I think we definitely need to look into this further and see ways that we can provide flexibility. to our staff, have any of the federal guidelines changed? I know that I've seen a lot of news reports on RFK and some of his movements on the food pyramid and I know this is right up Angie's alley and she loves to talk about this and we talk about it all the time. So I think that'll be insightful to the board to understand what restrictions we're currently under, the ones that were in place and some flexibility we might be seeing in the near future to help us with these conditions.

Thank you, through the chair. Right at this moment, the Child Nutrition Program is not being affected directly with the new dietary guidelines. They still are trying to determine what that looks like for our program directly. The only thing that they have passed, the whole milk, don't remember the exact bill off the top of my head, but allowing schools to offer whole milk as an option as it has not been in the recent past. There really hasn't been any guidance for us yet. as we spoke earlier or in the past about the dietary guidelines, the emphasis is on protein and less on carbohydrates. So we can anticipate maybe seeing something that shift coming down the pike. So we have to kind of wait and see.

Okay. And just a follow-up. I know that in our current world of feeding so many students, right, we cook at volume sometimes and have certain limitations. With the changes that we might be seeing next year of now not every child gets a lunch and we're gonna be a little bit more focused on those students that really need it, is that gonna give us an opportunity to maybe become a little bit more focused on the scratch kitchen and being able to not have to cook at such a large volume? And because I know our staff is restricted, right? They have to cook at a high volume. So you look at things that are a little bit easier they can do. If the numbers reduce, does that give us the ability then to kind of elevate and be a little bit more focused?

Well, to answer your question, we have increased a lot of our recipes to be more scratch cooking. We do still have a lot of speed scratch, to your point. You know, if we have a lot of students that we have to serve through, especially one meal service, it tends to be a little challenging, especially in our senior highs. But we have implemented more recipes, and that's kind of what we're doing in the summer, working on how we can implement different things. We have the student nutrition ambassador group that have been super insightful in what they would like to see in the schools, so we're working with them to kind of see what is it that we can help provide. To say that we're not gonna have as many students coming through the lines, that's quite possible. I don't know if it's gonna be a shift in allowing more flexibility and more time, like that much more time, to really make such a huge impact. But we are working towards more scratch items.

Okay, thank you so much, and thank you for all the hard work you guys do. Thank you. Yes, Ms. Rojas, you're recognized, and then we'll have Ms. Colucci.

Okay, if you want to go first, is there, okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to my colleagues, first of all, for all the comments. This is something that we've been dealing with for years and years since the day I was in the classroom, and that was many years ago. It's always trying to improve so that the students can be happy about the lunches and the breakfast that we feed them on a regular basis, and I know from from the days even when Penny Parham was here. We went through a lot of this. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the committee. You have a committee that meets on a regular and ongoing basis. I've had representation at that committee. And they address all of these issues in depth over there. They take it very, very seriously. And I know, I believe you're still having those meetings through the chair, is that correct? Through the chair of the wellness committees, yes. They are on a monthly basis. Correct. Okay. So I know at that committee a lot has come up regarding the milk, regarding the water, and all kinds of different scenarios that have been addressed. So any issues that we have for recommendations, we can still take it through the committee that is in existence and active right now. Through the chair, is that correct? Through the chair, absolutely. Okay, thank you, I appreciate that. And I know also we are, we have to abide by the federal government requirements that we have to abide by. There can be no other option, but we can certainly enhance what we offer our students, which again, when you look at climate surveys going back, not just when I'm a teacher, but when I was a principal and throughout the years, that's been one of the weakest areas always is is the issue of the food that is being served. So we can certainly enhance that, I'm sure. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Board Member Colucci, you're recognized.

Thank you, and I appreciate this conversation. And one thing, I know we've discussed it in the past, and I want to thank our food department services for the outstanding job they do. One of the things we have to look at a lot is the waste that students just throw out food. And I know it's been an ongoing problem, but we have to come together and think of creative ways to solve this problem because it's a lot of money. But not only that, for me it's morally wrong to just take perfectly good food and throw it in the garbage. And the kids, sometimes they just take it and they don't know. And I know we have implemented shared tables, and I know we've implemented different programs, but we have to start thinking of creative ways to reduce the amount of waste. First of all, to prevent just wasting food, and second, for cost savings. So I just wanted to put that on the record. Thank you.

Thank you so much. With no further questions, we'll now move to E149.

E149 is the award of an ITB for fresh produce distribution services. Questions or comments?

Yes, we recognize Ms. Santos.

Don't go too far, we're continuing the conversation. But on fresh produce, thank you again, Board Member Alonso for bringing your item on this. If Food and Nutrition could give us a quick update on our work with our Miami-Dade County Agricultural Manager. I know this item, my team looked and obviously has some products that aren't grown locally because we have to offer them. But can you talk about how we're going to incorporate that fresh local produce moving forward?

I'll start it off. So through the chair, I know many of you are very aware we've had numerous meetings with Charles LaPrade. He's basically a lead here in Dade County when it comes to making sure that local produce is part of part of our daily meal process. I've been very, very encouraged by the conversations for twofold. Number one, obviously, we want to support local produce, right, local vendors here in Dade County. But number two, just the whole aspect of ensuring that produce that comes to our schools are from entities that are within here, as well as the proximity. There's a whole energy level. There's a whole sustainability factor, all of this. From this, and Angie can speak a little bit more in depth about, number one is we definitely are going to promote a major vendor, what do you call it, like a vendor fair. Okay, we're working with Dr. Linda Ambika-Roberts' team to do a vendor fair to make sure that all of our local entities here understand the opportunities that are here within Miami-Dade County. We definitely need to make sure that it's geographically located in scenarios and ways those vendors can get to. that number one. Number two, because of this ITV here that we have in front of us, we really want to make sure that there's different product, possibly products that we might not have had in the past that we've learned of, at least I have learned of, that we actually have locally that could be part of the diet. We've actually started to sample some of this in our scratch kitchen utilizing food and nutrition and the chefs, I guess, that we would call them in food and nutrition that more or less try different type of side products, side dishes with the products, and push further. So I am very encouraged that when it comes to local produce, and just because of relationships we built, and I have to commend the board as well as the superintendent in pushing these avenues, that we will see, because of this ITB, a very high, high increase of local participation that we've had in the past ever before. And I'm very encouraged about this. I'm not sure if there's anything else, Angie, that you want to speak of, but... Um, I'm not sure if that answers your question totality.

Sure. Just to add, um, you know, our fresh fruit and vegetable program grant that we've had this year was focused on our local produce. So we made sure that we've already incorporated for years. We've been doing local produce. We're just expanding on it. And now that we've connected with Charles LaPrade, we're able to kind of, um, kick it a step forward. Um, and this is where this is the first time we're actually having specifically a session. for local farmers, local vendors, once you all approve the produce distributor so they could connect directly with that vendor so that we can get it in all our schools. We'll just have to communicate with them what our needs are, what they have to offer, because they may have things that we never even thought to include. And those are the conversations we're having with Mr. LaPrade. So we're very excited to expand on that opportunity within our schools.

Any further questions or comments? I want to thank the team. You guys have been incredible. I enjoyed a very delicious lunch with Charles LaPrate and the Miami-Dade Farm Bureau at our cafeteria food services office. And I know you guys have been working really, really diligently to build that partnership. And I also want to thank Charles and the Farm Bureau for also coming together and saying, how can we work together? So I think it's an incredible partnership. not just to give our kids healthier, better options that are local, but to also fuel the local economy, which is something that we want to do. We want to protect farming here in Miami-Dade County, and by purchasing from them, we're doing that. So thank you all.

E150? Yeah, Mr. Chair, I actually confused E150 and E149 last time. So E149, which we can go back to, is the award of an ITB for juice products.

Okay. Questions or comments? Okay, E152?

E152 is award of an ITB for the demolition of portable classrooms and site restoration. Okay, Ms. Santos, you're recognized.

Thank you. Through the Chair, Mr. Steiger, will we see a revised item that includes the current spend?

Yes, Ms. Santos, we can get, I think the safest for us will be to, just to ensure that we have the most, the correct numbers, I think it's probably safest if we take an average of the last few years. because there is some question as to exactly how much we spent this year. But if we take the average, then I probably feel more comfortable with it.

That's totally fine, as long as it's included before our board meeting. Thank you.

Yes, your recognized, Ms. Rawls.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And first of all, how many portables? I know I had a school that we had to wait for a long time to address the issue of the portable. How many do we still have pending at this time to be demolished? Through the chair? If you don't have the answer now, you can give it to me later.

Through the chair, Mr. Alonso, Madam Chair, if you could give us a little bit of time, we'll give you that.

Mr. Perez is here.

Good morning, everyone. We have approximately 105 portables remaining.

Thank you. Through the chair, do we have a priority list as to which ones, in what order are they going to be addressed?

We have a list of, of course, where these portables are. And my colleague, Mr. Niccolo, is systematically, once I guess this contract gets approved, will systematically continue the process of demolishing them. the actual schedule of the schools. Maybe he can share that later with you.

Through the chair, I believe Mr. Niccolo is here. Could he just very briefly address that for me? That's an important question for me. Through the chair.

Mr. Niccolo, you're recognized, sir. Thank you for all your dedication and service to our district.

Thank you, sir.

I appreciate that.

Good morning, sir. Through the chair, Mr. Perez is actually correct. Once the board approves this item, we will be reaching out through the regions to prioritize which unit should go first. And so at this point, we'll have to work with the regions to identify the needs and in what areas and to what extent. So we could get that scheduled. Once we have it finalized, we can transmit it to the board.

All right, a top potato, Dr. Lewis.

Let me try to chime in. Through the chair, Mr. Alonzo, what has taken place already is the fact that we've already surveyed through our regions all of our schools. And going back to your question, the priority is going to be those portables that's not servicing our students right now. Unfortunately, we still have a few portables that students are still being serviced in. The follow-up question actually was in those schools that are servicing students in our portables, how many of those can actually be absorbed inside the main building? So we're looking at that. Um, that information, I do have it. It was already transmitted. Um, but we will definitely share with Mr Niccolo and hopefully as a result of that, he can prioritize which one that I actually able to go first.

Through the Chair, thank you very much, sir, for that response. Also, I know for a fact that some schools have no storage space. And I know schools that I represent that are using those portables for storage. So once we remove those, then what are we gonna do with the storage situation? Some simply have no place to put them in. Through the Chair?

Through the Chair, Madam Chair, We will have to look at each and one of those schools because of the fact that some of those portables are eyesores for both the school and the community. So we would have to see if we can perhaps fix them up a little by the outside. But our intention from the very beginning with the GOB was to eliminate all portables. So our goal is to eliminate them. We can work definitely with the schools, and what we can also provide the schools with assistance are maybe not necessarily portables, but those containers, storage containers, that they can definitely paint and make them look nice from the outside, and in the inside it would be a storage for them that they can use.

Thank you. So lastly, through the chair, and this would be, again, through Dr. Lewis's office, via the region, that our principals know that if they have the situation that I've just described, and I can name schools right now, which I won't, but I will tell you privately, that don't have the space, the capacity, and do need something, whether it's the portable or what you've just addressed, sir, but they need somewhere to put all the equipment that they have that they have nowhere to place. Okay? So through the regents, I would hope that that's the way we identify those that are in greatest need.

Through the chair, 100%, Ms. Rojas, and the other piece that we discovered, It's not just used for storage. There are other events taking place inside those portables, and that was gained through the survey itself. So we'll definitely continue to prioritize, and we'll work collaboratively with maintenance and facilities to identify which one rides to the top level as far as priority-wise.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. That's all I have.

Thank you. Any further questions or comments? Okay, E201.

E201 is the monthly grants and donations.

Questions or comments? Seeing none, all the e-items have now been discussed. Can we take a motion to move the e-items to the board? All in favor? Aye. Okay, the next item that we have to discuss is contract expansions by Ms. Mumford. I think that was all distributed to board members. Does anybody have any questions for her? Seeing none, we now move to our legislative update. It was a real busy week last week in Tallahassee. Being sarcastic. Mr. Olivares, any updates? I know that we are preparing for budget that's coming up now.

Yes, good morning, through the chair. Really, what was submitted under memo is the last update that we have. We are preparing for budget to open on Tuesday of next week.

Any questions or comments from board members? Okay, best of luck. All right, any new business from any board members? Ms. Santos, you're recognized.

Thank you so much. I have a quick clarification question to staff on the publishing deadlines for staff follow ups. I know our agenda and our items obviously we get on Fridays, but staff follow ups over time have seemed to come later and later, some of them Monday, Tuesday. What is the accurate or needed timeline for publishing of staff follow ups that are on the agenda for a committee through the chair?

Through the chair, that would be on Monday, ma'am. The ultimate timeline would be Monday at 11 o'clock.

Through the chair, so 48 hours before our meeting.

Through the chair, yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you. You're definitely meeting that timeline, but would really appreciate if you could include them with the agendas on Friday so that we are not rushing to ask you questions an hour later at our committee briefing. Through the chair, thanks.

Okay. With no further questions or comments, I close our meeting. All in favor?

Aye.

All right.