Facilities and Construction Committee - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Facilities and Construction Committee meeting for Wednesday, July 15, 2026. And I call this meeting to order. What happened to the clock? I don't know.

I think Carl took it earlier.

I don't blame him.

Budget cuts? Oh, budget cuts. Budget cuts.

Okay, I think it's about five, ten after five, I think. Okay. Yes. Committee membership.

Madam Chair, is your mic on? Is it on?

Yes. Mr. Danny Espino, Chair. Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mendengal, Vice Chair. Ms. Luisa Santos, Member. Mr. Joseph Geller, Member. Mr. Roberto Alonso, alternate member. Ms. Mary Terry, school board chair, ex-officio member. Ms. Monica Colucci, vice chair, ex-officio member. And Mrs. Mary Blanco, non-voting member. First order of business is to approve the June 10th, 2026 facilities and construction committee meeting minutes.

Move it.

No questions, no concerns? Seeing none, you did the motion. Did I get a second? Thank you. The minutes are approved. All in favor? Aye. So now the minutes are approved. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Let's move the F items to the floor. May I have a motion? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Good. Mr. Raul F. Perez will present F1, F2. Let me do it this way. If you don't have questions, I'll just let him go through the F items. But if you have questions, raise your hand. You do? Okay. Well, let's do it the way we usually do it. Okay, Mr. Perez will present F-1.

Good afternoon, Madam Chairs and Board Members. F-1 is authorization to finalize negotiations and execute a lease agreement with Greater Love Full Gospel Baptist Church, Inc. for the operation of an early childhood education program at Myrtle Grove Elementary School.

Questions? Okay. Move on. Okay. Move on to F2.

F2 is authorization to finalize negotiations and execute a lease agreement with Kayleen's Learning Center Corporation for the operation of an early childhood education program at Sunset Park Elementary School.

There you are. Thank you. Board Member Blanco, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I had extensive conversations during briefing yesterday, and I just, first of all, thank you, and I got your follow up, so thank you for that information. You know, this is a new arena that we're moving into in leasing our space, and wholeheartedly support the item, right? I think this is a great idea, get these early childhood centers here. They're paying money. There's a proportionate share of money in addition to the leasing, and the idea would be hopefully that these children come to our buildings, and then when it comes time for VPK and kindergarten, they stay with us. My bigger question, and it's partly because this is so new, we don't have policy in place, right, is what's going to happen to that lease money that's coming in? And the first response was, well, most likely general fund, and then, well, but we'll have some conversations, and it'll be up to leadership, superintendent. for the school to get a portion of it, correct? Which makes sense, but again, with no policy in place, there's no specific amounts, and I don't know that we need a policy in the sense that if we tie a specific percentage or something, that may not work either, right? We may have to look at each agreement or whatever school it's in and take it as a case by case. Sunset Park happens to be my school. I can tell you, from walking into that school very much still looks like the time when it was built in the 1970s. It's a pod school. About a year ago, I brought up some concerns and I know Mr. Munoz was part of it in updating some of the layout of that school to ensure that it met the safety requirements that we need to follow. The marquee, needs to be replaced. The GOB bond sign that's out there is so faded you can't read it. I don't know if it's because there's still items pending on their GOB or it's just sitting there as an eyesore. Their bathrooms are extremely outdated, right? We know that we're doing this because we need an influx of money coming into the general fund. I'm all in agreement with it, but despite the proportionate share, there's still somewhat of a strain that's on the school, right, to host this. And if the idea is that we're gonna get these younger children in there and that they stay there, we want the parents to feel like it's already a home, but we want it to be a nice-looking home because what we don't want is that they go in and say, wow, but these buildings aren't great, and then they don't come. because now they've been in there and they're seeing what we have. So my bigger concern, and really this applies to F12, Myrtle Grove doesn't happen to be my school, but I think these are conversations that we need to have as a board, because I'm in agreement, I wanna have some assurances that the needs of the school that is hosting this, that some of those needs will be met, will be accelerated because they are providing the space for the funding. And I get it, it's almost like there's the mothership, the district, right, but there's also the little school. And the strain is being put on them, and yes, there's proportionate share money that'll come in, but it's still their custodial staff, or our custodial staff, it's still our security monitors, it's still our resource officers, it's still our administrators that are ensuring that that space is appropriately being used, that the separation, all of those things, there's still a strain being put on that school, and to say 5% goes back to the school, or is it 10, or is it gonna be 20 on this school, and 30 for that school, Again, I don't know that we need to have policy, but I think these are things that we have to discuss. And for me, with this being my school and knowing the needs of that school, it had a huge issue with an iguana situation that we had to take care of. There's been talk about adding some concrete so that those iguanas do not come near to the school and the children. And so is that something where we could use some of the funding for? I mean, I just think there's, there's a need to have conversations with the region and the school. and understand the needs of that school and if they're entering into the agreement and they're all for it, they want the students, right? But we need to make sure that we're providing a building and a space that's attractive to those families that they will want to stay there because aside from the money coming in, that's our other goal, right? So I'm in agreement with the item. I don't want anything to hold up, but I think there needs to be some real conversations about moving forward, how are we going to decide a percentage that goes to the school and how much input will the school and the region and the board member have on those discussions?

Through the chair, Ms. Blanco, excellent points. And we've been thinking about, I've been thinking about it as well since our conversation. You also want the flexibility. So I know we mentioned sometimes policy puts us in a box. But I think what we can do is going forward on these types of projects, when we bring an item forward, we would have looked at deficiencies at that particular school, and maybe what this revenue will address as those deficiencies. We had one that came last month, but that was a school that was built only a few years ago. So it's going to be like on a case-by-case basis, but I do believe we can identify if there's a deficient marquee, we can include this revenue. We'll go towards a marquee. We'll go towards renovating additional spaces, painting, bathroom upgrades, and things like that so that you have that already built in and we've already established what the revenue is going to be addressing. Thank you.

Okay, so I would, and again, it's not because of the board item, because the board item is fine, but I would appreciate having updates on the conversations that take place and the looking at the grounds, at the facilities, at what is needed and what we can do for the school. They're the ones providing the space. And so again, like I said, if the idea is to attract these families to stay with us, we want it to be an attractive place for them to be.

Through the chair, Ms. Blanco, I will revise the item to identify some of those renovations before we go to the board for your school.

Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. I have Member Geller, and then Alonso, and then Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. And I also want to indicate that I joined my colleague, Member Blanco in saying that I support this item. I think it's a great item. I think it's exactly the kind of item that we need to be moving forward with. And I'm also very pleased to see this happening. We have some excess space if we can use it and offset some revenue. I think Board Member Blanco's right saying we should have a policy I'm not so concerned with what the policy says, frankly. I mean, you know, I think that's very much a function of what the superintendent wants to do and how resources need to be deployed in these difficult times. And I'm not likely to complain too much about the policy, but I think that the point that board member Blanco made is we should have some policy is probably a good idea. I'm really commenting really to underscore one thing though my constituents are all over me about something that this board has virtually no say about at all and that's co-location my constituents want me to stand here every meeting or sit here as the case may be and say co-location bad I don't like it. And I think the law is poorly drawn and this board on a couple of occasions, once a little more recently when I brought something to instruct our lobbyists, but Madam Chair had something that was among our priorities prior to that. And we said, we don't like it. There is this little inconvenient thing that as my dear sister would know from also serving in Tallahassee, When they pass something and the governor signs it, they call it a law. And those laws, whether we like them or not, we are bound to obey them. So I'm not above agitating about it and saying we think, well, certainly I do, but I think there was certainly some support among our board for saying, I mean, Board Member Alonso went up there and actually helped get some changes in the rule that implements that law that did some good. It's still not a good law. The fact is, though, although it is a law, and I said we couldn't do much about it, that doesn't mean nothing. And one of the things that we can do is exactly what you're doing here Mr. Perez and Mr. Superintendent and Mr. Chief of Staff. I mean, yes, you're filling up some of that excess space that's so attractive to some of these institutions that want to come in more or less for free. A little bit of relief on that. Again, thank you, Board Member Alonso, for working on that and Madam Chair. But if we fill that space, It's not unused space. Plus, we get money. I like that. That's a twofer. That's great. So I don't just support this item. Do this all day every day. Do more of this. Be aggressive on this. Find more people who want to lease our space, not just because Board Member Blanco correctly points out that it could be a pipeline. But it also, it's one of the very few things we can do to fend off some of the intrusive co-location. And when I say that we're going to try and do that, I tell you there are people in my district who are sitting there going, yeah, do that. And we get the money? Well, to me, they call that a no-brainer. More of that. More of that. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you. Should hear from Member Alonso.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to speak. And Board Member Blanco, I'm completely with you. I have one of these new centers at one of my schools that is opening up right now in August. And they're great partners. I think this is one of the greatest programs that we're doing in our schools because it's not only generating revenue, it's bringing students into our schools early on. And more importantly, it's providing families a safe and secure place where students, their young children can be at Nothing against our friends that own shopping centers, but sometimes our shopping centers are not the safest place to have these early learning centers. So it's critically important that we do this, and it's putting our use of space for educational purposes, which is what our priority should also be. But I do share the concern with you, and I've asked of the lease that we have in Country Club Middle School with South Florida Autism, as well as others, as to how do we best allocate that. And I agree with Mr. Perez on the fact that policy sometimes ties us up, but there's also a reason for policy to help us and guide us so that that way there's always a structured approach. And to do it as a one-off every time we have one of these items come before us, I find it that then it becomes very difficult to manage and make fair and equitable across, right? So I almost feel like as a board, we do need to come up with a formula. that maybe does offer some flexibility to the superintendent based on the needs of the school, but that at least offers a baseline minimum. This is what the baseline minimum needs to be. If we feel that other needs need to be addressed, we can work on it. So unless any other board member wants to bring it up, I may be working on something in the coming months that we can bring to the board. And staff can work with us. I mean, it's not saying, I just think that we do need the structure because this is just the beginning. And I hope to see one of these early learning centers at every single one of our elementary schools, because it's going to be an amazing program that I think we should have a lot of pride in, but there's also going to be revenue. And like you said, those principals, are now being inconvenienced in many ways. We're adding additional work to those schools, and there needs to make sure that we can now support them with saying, here, this is what your school is getting in return. At the end of the day, it's not going to the principal, It's going to the students and the families that we serve there. But it gives that principal that opportunity to say, you know what, this is worth our effort because our kids get this in return. So kudos to staff on continuing to move this program forward. Let's continue to refine it and put some policy in place to make sure that the dollars go to where they need to be and in a way that the entire board feels comfortable with it and is consistent across all these deals so that that way it's not a one-off sort of event that I do appreciate Mr. President, he was gonna change the item for next week, but I think we should look at a more holistic view on this. Thank you.

Madam Chair? Yes, ma'am, but I believe the superintendent wanted to follow up first, so that's fine.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. And, you know, Ms. Alonzo, when we thought about this, we knew that the first one that would have to benefit would be the principal, that it would be something to incentivize the principal because it is their school. I like the, you know, and policy doesn't have to be completely restrictive. We can maybe prioritize or create a... a cascade of what to look at first, what to look at second. And so I think we're open to that. But we always thought that the principal, that school site, needed to benefit from these leases. Just like auditorium use, whatever else, we need to really create this business side, discretionary portion for the school. Because it becomes an incentive for them. And trust me, it's just like when I had my principal operated after school. Once they hear that, other principals will chime in and will be very open and receptive to do it in their school sites as well. So thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. yeah yes thank you madam chair thank you um and uh i have in my district uh like many others but in mine i have many many many schools that are quite old and they need a lot of love a lot of attention and a lot a lot of additional dollars to be able to get them to where they need to be nowadays, to be competitive in any way, shape, or form with anyone else, whether it's charter, whether it's parochial, whether it's homeschooling, whatever the case may be. Those old schools, which I have many, need a lot a lot of assistance. So when all these were coming in, I also have had the same concerns. I'm the last one speaking, same thing. I think all of us are in the same scenario. Obviously, some schools have a need to upgrade their bathrooms, others have to upgrade the front facility altogether, because it hasn't been painted in a long time. Others have even some structural integrity issues, which is why I brought the board item in reference to structural integrity of our schools and our locations, because to me that's the most important. If we have an issue with the structural integrity, we got a real big problem. But if we're going to house anyone in our facility, those principals have to be able to be involved. And thank you for saying that, Mr. Superintendent, that you acknowledge that because, and Mr. Perez, because yes, they are the ones that should have the greatest say. Not us, not us sitting on the board, I'm sorry. Those principals should be the first ones. and the most important ones to say to everyone else, this is what I need. This is what has to be addressed immediately. They're the ones that have the knowledge and should be the ones to have the greatest say. So yes, this is something that definitely needs to be looked at. I for one agree with my colleagues though, I believe in policy. I've always believed in policy. I think it's imperative that we have policy in place, but I think it should be something that, you know, is prepared and jointly, you know, we come up with whatever is in the best interest of all those that we represent. and I think it'll avoid a lot of issues, because all of us, all nine of us, well, eight of us now, nine soon to be, we all have similar needs, and we're the advocates for the schools we represent to the one that, and I know you wanna speak, Mr. Superintendent, but to the one at Sunset Park. I did my internship there. You're absolutely right. That's a very old school that needs a lot of love. And so they should be able to get that. And there is one part, the custodial part and everything else, the funding for that. Who is responsible for that funding? The school, right? So these are things that have to be looked at, for sure, without a doubt. Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe the superintendent wants this. Sure, Mr. Superintendent.

Yes, thank you. That's part of the lease and the funding that we'll get. But, you know, as a principal, you know, you bring an entity into your building like one or two classrooms. And guess what? You may have an additional need at your end.

Yes.

That maybe is not provided through the lease. But, you know, I mean, I go back. Sometimes you want to add extra pieces for either security or support. And. portions of this lease that the school site keeps can attend to that. So it's a reality. I'm glad we're having this conversation, and absolutely we need it. And thank you very much for igniting the process, Ms. Blanco. Thank you all.

Thank you very much. And I'm going to just add a little bit to what we're talking about, and not because I spoke of her today, Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek, Of course, we have a school named in her honor. And the family has me on speed dial. Honorable, have you seen Mama's school? Yeah. So I just want you all to complete the conversation. But it sounds like what you're saying. And we all have the same issue. So we are doing a bit more. but it's the funding that you're talking about. We need that to take care of the issues at our schools, okay? All right, someone? Yes, go right ahead.

I'm sorry, I'm talking a lot today, but these are important points. But I also, I go back and I have to say it, right? We started the conversation this morning, our board chair, Ms. Rojas mentioned it, the importance of the principal. the importance of the principle. And so as we take these new approaches, they're center stage. So thank you, Ms. Rojas, again, because that is the point of entry into a lot of our initiatives that we're doing at the school sites. Just wanted to mention that, because we had a lot of conversation this morning about the role of the principal and how we support the principal and the funding of the schools, et cetera. This provides an additional source of funding as well for the particular school site. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, that was F2. F3.

F3 is authorization to finalize negotiations and execute a lease agreement between the school board and Temple Beth Shalom Temple, a Florida not-for-profit corporation for use by the Temple of the parking lot at North Beach Elementary School.

Amen. Okay, F4.

Well, Madam Chair, on F3, I just want to express support for it. It's in my district. It's a very helpful thing. It helps the temple and, you know, certainly is good for the school as well. Gets a little attention to it. So definitely in support of that item. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. Now maybe move to F4.

F4 is recommend approval to Miami-Dade County of a request from Hialeah Housing Authority for exemption from educational facilities impact fees in connection with a housing project for the elderly.

Okay, no, all right. F5.

F5 is recommend approval to Miami-Dade County of a request from Hialeah Housing Authority for exemption from educational facilities impact fees in connection with a housing project for the elderly.

Nothing. Sure, Madam Chair.

Yes, thank you very much. Mr. Perez, could you please elaborate on this one? Again, it's a housing project for the elderly And as it's stated on here, and on the others too, it says 55 years of age and older.

Through the chair, yes, Madam Chair, so correct. These developments are developments specifically targeted to elderly. So no one under the age of 55 will be living in these developments. They are not our developments. These are developments by private entities. However, in lieu of paying facilities impact fees, Since they're an elderly development, they're not generating any children. The ordinance, the county ordinance allows for exemption from having to pay for the educational impact fees. In order to do that, there are deed restrictions that are included in these developments, restricting them only to that age group. If in the future they want to change that, then they would have to come back to the school board for approval, and in lieu of that, they would have to pay the exemption that they're getting today. So in particular, for F5, the exemption value is 53,000 and change. So if they were to change that in the future, they would have to come to the school board to remove that deed restriction, and they would have to pay $54,000 to the school district.

So through the chair, they would definitely have to come back to the school board.

Yes, in order for us to grant the exemption, we require that there's a deed restriction included.

So very similar to F6. Again, that's the one in Coral Gables. I just wondered, does this mean that if you're 55 years of age, you're considered elderly? Well, it's on there. That is the first thing on there. I get that a lot.

We discussed that at Agenda Prep today extensively. Yes.

So, and where does this come from? Who made this determination? At 55, you're like a baby in pampers.

Through the chair. It's in the ordinance, unfortunately. I blame AARP.

Oh my goodness. Okay, thank you very much. Madam Chair, you broke up the meeting. I think so. You did, you did. Okay, that was F5, F6.

F6, Madam Chair, is recommend approval to Miami-Dade County of a request from BVBPOCGLLC for an exemption from educational facilities impact fees in connection with a housing project for the elderly located in Coral Gables, Florida.

Thank you, and Madam Chair, that's the same, it applies the same as.

Sure, but I have a question then. Yes. I remember a time when, I used to be a community school assistant principal also, yes. We provided classes and everything. Do they still do that, you know, in these centers for the elderly?

Oh, yes. You remember? Yes.

Sure, Mr. Perez. Mr.

Superintendent, okay.

Yes, they do. They do. The municipalities can sponsor it. They're grant funded. Our adult education division department provides them as well off-site. So it's a host of activities that they do for the elderly.

I like that. Thank you very much. That's F7 now.

F7 is approval of the master development agreement and 99-year ground lease with Pinnacle Withers LLC for the redevelopment of the Isaac Withers site located in South Dade.

Okay, questions, comments? No. Okay, let's move to F26. And hold on, please. I'm going to... Madam Chair, you might have to do this. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Yes, I'm going to have comments. So F26?

I do.

I do. Because I'm going to... F26 is the termination of agreement without cost with Silva Architects LLC as architect engineer of record for Lenora Brennan Smith Elementary School phase two renovations and partial replacement project number 02297800. At this time, I'm opening it up for questions. First, Mr. Perez, would you like to address it and then we'll open it up to my colleagues?

Sure, through the chair, Madam Chair. So Lenora Brandon-Smith had a phase two renovation project. However, the facility itself. However, through the ABC process that recently came to this board, that school's now been closed. So the facility itself at this point, we no longer want to move forward with the renovation. Being that it's no longer a school, they've combined themselves into Georgia Jones Heirs. There are dollars that are being redirected to Georgia Jones Ayers to renovate some of the facilities there. But the facility itself at Lenora B. Smith, the steering team is looking at what recommendations they're going to bring forward for that particular site.

All right, thank you. I'm going to open up. Dr. Bendros-Mendingo.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I'll give you a little back story on Lenora Brennan Smith. elementary school, it would take a long time if I told you the whole story, but I'm gonna give you a little, and how the name became what it is. There's a place out there that's called Railroad Shop Colored Addition. There was a good time ago, a movement that recall gentrification that moved 37 families out of housing from 36th Street to 54th Street, 12th Avenue to 17th Avenue. All of the families were moved. My family was one of them. How do I remember that it was raining? I was a little I had short legs at that time. And so, Lenora Brannon Smith's family was one of the families. And you know her family. Her nephew is Oscar Brannon. Yeah, that's his aunt. We called her Aunt Lee, or Lenora. So at one time, we were able to name schools as we were talking about today. and rename the school for her family. And then, it's a long story, but I have a few comments I want to make. It's so important, so I have to make these comments. I understand the administration's recommendation to terminate the agreement with Silva Architects without cause. My primary concern is ensuring that this action does not delay the project or negatively impact our students. You said, Mr. Peters, that the school is closed. I don't quite understand if you could, through the chair, you could share with us what needs to be shared. Mr. Perez, you recognize?

Sure, Madam Chair. So Lenora Brandon Smith Elementary was one of the schools that was recommended by the region to be closed through the ABC process. It went through the ABC process. I believe it came to the board, I want to say last month, all the recommendations from the ABC. And so that particular school is no longer going to be opening this coming August. So the current renovation project that we had at that particular school has now been pretty much canceled. That's why we're terminating the agreement with the architect. without cause, it will not affect the architect's score or work going forward, availability of applying for work going forward. But at this point, those particular dollars, some of the dollars are being redirected to Georgia Jones Heirs, which is right next door, which has been converted, I believe, to a K-8. and the students from Lenora will be going to that facility, so some of the dollars are going to renovate that particular facility, but the actual facility of Lenora B. Smith is going to be looked at by the steering team to determine what happens there, either a redevelopment project, a lease project, all these new innovative approaches that we're bringing forward.

Well, thank you very, through the chair, thank you very much. The item indicates that the construction documents have been completed, as you said, and approved, and that all obligations between the district and the architect have been resolved. If this recommendation allows the district to move the project forward more efficiently and without legal complications, then I do support it. And has that happened? No legal complications.

There are no legal complications through the chair, Dr. Bender-Smendengold, but the project will not be moving forward. That is why we're bringing this termination. There is no need to invest or renovate into a facility that is not a school anymore.

Follow-up, Madam Chair? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I respectfully ask the administration to keep this board... informed throughout the transition. I've been in that school so many times because remember, it holds a great deal of respect to 37 families, my family being one. And Georgia Jones Ayers, her family was one also. I've got to make sure that everything that you do in that space, because remember now, our families were booted out And what happened, I have to tell this little piece, we were moved so they could build schools. Not for the people who were living there, but for others. And Georgia Jones Ayers came down to the school board one day, and she talked about the little girl sitting on the desk who was not on the school board. That was me, you remember. So you can see how this affects me in terms of what we're doing there. I have a lot of concerns and issues that I want to speak on, but the bottom line is whatever is done there, we have to be apprised as a board and as a community. Probably one of the oldest citizens in Dade County is Nancy Dawkins. on 50th Street, and that's where everything happened, on 50th Street. Please understand that I'm one for progress, but when you try to erase an entire community, that doesn't rest well. So I'm expecting that what you need to do for me and others, keep me apprised, and invite me, as I said to Dr. Diaz, to some of the meetings as you move forward with this project. It's important, and I don't know if you ever met her family. We called her Aunt Lee again, Lenora Brennan Smith's family. Maybe I can put you in touch with them so they can find out or know what's happening with that school. and that space, okay? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Through the Chair, absolutely, Dr. Bendres-Mendigo, and you will be included as part of the process of moving forward what happens at that particular site.

Yes, I have two board members I would like to speak. Board Member Alonso and Board Member Geller now also asked. Board Member Alonso.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and thank you, Dr. Dorothy Bendres-Mendigo, for bringing that point up. And I think it's important that history never be erased. in any of these sites and I think it's important that the district really take an initiative that anything that happens in any of these redevelopment sites, that the name is never erased. Whatever's gonna go into any of these sites, that name stays with the site and whether we're leasing it or redeveloping it, whoever we're gonna partner with needs to understand that there's a history to that site and that the name and the history around it has to be preserved some way there. We were just talking about that with Hialeah High. As we go to build a brand new school, the Alumni Association said we want our history to always stay here. We're okay with it being redeveloped. We're okay with a new look. We know it's not gonna be, Like some of our friends at Miami High, they get to keep their classic buildings, right? Hialeah High will not be able to save its history, but its history will always be alive because the name will be there and there'll be the key stake and there'll be something there. So I think it's important as we look at all these, to Dr. Bendel's point, there's a lot of history behind these schools. And it's not just so much the building, it's the history of the name and the individual and the family. that was there, so let's just make an effort to make sure that when we do these things, we're thoughtful about that as well.

Thank you. Board Member Geller, sir, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I'll be very brief. I just, again, want to... associate myself with the remarks of my dear sister about Georgia Jones Ayers. I knew Ms. Ayers. I was at her house for meetings. She had that big room in the back that was built, that big rectangular room where you could sit around and organize. And I was in that room when organizing was happening. So she was a great lady. She was a leader in this community. And I just want to agree that whatever's gonna be done needs to honor her legacy. I knew her, and boy, she was impressive, so thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else? All right. Seeing that no one else has any further comments, on F26, we're gonna proceed to F27. F27. It's a termination of agreement without cause with Silva Architects, LLC, as architect engineer of record for the new early childhood center. I thought I saw someone wanting to speak. Pre-K through first grade project for Aventura Waterways K-8 Center, project number 02685500. I'm opening up now to Mr. Perez to make presentation, and if anyone wants to comment, let me know. Mr. Perez, sir? Yes, I will call you, sir. Go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So similar to the previous item, we're terminating this agreement without cause with the architect of record for the new early childhood building that was going to be built offsite at Aventura Waterways K8. After conversations and feedback with the school and with the region, it was decided that with the current enrollment trend, the way it's moving, that the early childhood can remain within the main campus and we would not have to construct this facility, which would be a separate campus altogether. So similar in nature, we're bringing this contract forward for termination for convenience since there's no need to build the early childhood center.

Thank you very much. Board Member Geller, sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand that I mean, this is without cause. It's not a fault on the part of the architect or anything. This is simply we don't need an extra building is my understanding.

Through the chair, Mr. Geller, you're absolutely correct. This is a termination without cause, so it does not affect the architect. It does not affect their current score. It does not affect them from applying for additional work. It's just that we do not need the building.

Follow-up, Madam Chair? Yes, sir. So that's perfectly fine. I mean, that's my district, and that's a great school. My daughter went to that school. But I just, if you could briefly, the hour is late, but if you could just briefly say what the plan is in view of what you said, the enrollment trends, et cetera, what the plan is for the program for the Early Childhood Center and how that will be moving forward. Just briefly, we don't need all the details, but I would like to hear just a little bit so I can assure my constituents up there that that program is still happening, even if it's not happening in a separate building.

Mr. Pettis, sir?

Through the chair, yes, absolutely, Mr. Geller. The program is currently housed at the main campus. We were going to build and move them out of the main campus, which there was, I will tell you, there was some concern from parents, seeing that they now had to drive pretty much to the other side of I-95 where this facility was gonna be built to drop off the little children and some of the parents had concerns because their siblings were at the main campus. So the early childhood will remain at the main campus and there won't be any effect to that program at all at this point.

Mr. Geller, sir, would you like to say anything else?

Sorry, Madam Chair, I'm satisfied with that. As long as that program's going forward, I have no further follow-up. I appreciate your asking.

Thank you.

But, you know, hearing that it's ongoing and will still be there, that's enough for me. Thank you, ma'am.

Yes, thank you, sir. Do I have anyone else for F27? All righty. Seeing none, we're going to go ahead and move to F50. F50 is the roofing term bid award, and it is for the micro business enterprise sheltered market, small business enterprise sheltered market, and open market. At this time, again, Mr. Perez, or Mr. Niccolo, this is actually Mr. Niccolo. You have the floor, sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Through the Chair, this solicitation allows us to continue the roof repair and replacements throughout the district. We have three tiers, micro, small, and open market, allowing small vendors to participate in projects up to 200,000, micro up to 200,000, small up to 500,000, and the open market up to $4 million projects.

Thank you very much. Do I have any colleagues? Yes. Board Member Alonso, sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Very briefly, I've spoken both to Mr. Niccolo as well as Mr. Perez, and Mr. Bueno was with me at a meeting. As we look at these roofing projects, there's new materials that are out there that I think it's important we explore. We're spending a lot of money on re-roofing and repairs sometimes. And what I refer to is the spraying of the – it's a new sort of – polyurethane, thank you, Mr. Moret, who's become an expert now in roofing, where the district could save substantial amount of money, and it comes with very large warranties. Many of the commercial buildings and industrial buildings throughout Miami-Dade County are using that right now, and it allows for an easier, quicker, cheaper fix that I think can make our dollars go a lot farther. So I know that Mr. Niccolo, as well as Mr. Perez, we're gonna reevaluate it, because I think it was evaluated several years ago, and the technology has advanced, So I just think it's important that we put that on the record, that we do that, and that we do it with our current roofers, because I'm pretty sure all of our current roofing contractors probably provide that service, and we can look at ways that we can save dollars through it. So thank you.

Thank you, and I just learned something new. The roofing is not in my arenas of expertise. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. You're recognized.

I agree with a member, and the roofs are prettier. They are just prettier to me. I'm with you. I don't need one now. Hopefully I won't. Too expensive. But if I do, I'll call. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.

Do I have anyone else who wants to comment? Okay, seeing none, we're going to proceed to F80. Okay. F80 is the authorization to approve the prequalification of contractors for educational facilities construction. Mr. Bates, sir?

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is the monthly item, F80, that comes to the board with the list of prequalified contractors that are being approved.

Do I have any board members that would like to speak on this item? All righty, seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the F items? Move it. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay? Seeing none, motion passes. May I have a motion to move the H items to the floor? Move it. All right, do I have a second? Second. All right, all in favor? Aye. Thank you. We have H7. H7 is substance, oh, this is your item, yes. Dr. Bendrels-Meningo, this is your item, so I will let you present it then, ma'am.

Okay, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Yes, ma'am.

Good afternoon, colleagues. This is a very important item to all of us, as we keep saying, so let's just make sure that we do what we must do for all children. It's about reaffirming the education, that education must remain the driving force behind every redevelopment decision involving district-owned property in District 2. We're going to stay there for a second. As our neighborhoods continue to grow and to change, our responsibility is to ensure our students and families benefit from that growth through modern, high-quality public schools. The board has consistently supported the redevelopment of downtown properties, which is where we are now, with the understanding that I Preparatory School Academy and Phyllis Wheatley Elementary School are top priorities. And just for a second, when you mentioned Phyllis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, That means a lot to a lot of people. So you've had great comments about preserving history. So just keep that in mind as we discuss this item. Today's item does not stop redevelopment. Instead, it ensures redevelopment remains aligned with the board's educational mission and previous commitments. The redevelopment framework should place students first, educational facilities first, community engagement first, commercial development second. I-PREP Academy has waited for several years for a permanent modern facility. Parents, students, and staff have advocated consistently for this project. Previous board actions envisioned relocating I-PREP to Biscayne Park with expanded student capacity and enhanced educational opportunities. Any alternative location should provide equal or greater educational value, not less. Families deserve to be informed and include it before major decisions are made. The parent teacher, as Madam Chair said earlier today, student association should receive regular updates and have meaningful opportunity to provide input. Transparency builds trust. Major redevelopment decisions involving district-owned properties should always return to the board for approval. School board members representing impacted districts should be engaged early in discussions, not after decisions have already been shaped. This strengthens accountability and ensures community priorities remain at the forefront. Workforce and affordable housing are important initiatives. However, they should complement not replace the district's primary responsibility of providing outstanding educational facilities. Our students must remain the highest priority. This redevelopment represents a once in a lifetime, let's say generation, opportunity. We can modernize educational facilities, improve infrastructure, support our employees with workforce housing, and strengthen our downtown communities simultaneously. We should maximize every district asset to benefit future generations of students. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's the bill. The item.

The item. Thank you very much. First, I'll open it up to my colleagues first. Okay. Board Member Geller, sir.

I want to co-sponsor. Is it appropriate for motion for co-sponsorship?

Let me see. Yes, we'll do it in a moment. Let me see if anyone else wants to make a comment. I will before we move for co-sponsorships. I just want to first and foremost take this opportunity to thank our colleague, Dr. Bendros-Meningo. I can personally attest to the fact that you have been advocating for this for so many, so many years, not only here at the school board meetings, but also in front of the Miami-Dade County Commission. You have gone there with parents, members of the community, you have spoken, and you have really done your job as an advocate for those that you represent. With that said, I know that we have been waiting for a very long time for those families who have children attending I-PREP to be able to finally move on as originally had been discussed on many, many occasions and was supposed to have moved forward. I'm not going back to the history of what occurred and all the different issues that we had to deal with, but we are where we are right now, and I support your item fully. I think it's imperative as stated by my colleague that every step of the way that takes place is shared with the board so that meaningful decisions can be made as we move forward. We've had a lot of discussions in the past and this item right now truly is very timely and I think that it is now time for not just talking the talk, but for action to take place. So as our collective commitment to meeting the needs of every child in all of our schools, it's imperative that this item move forth. So now, Board Member Geller, sir, you wanted to make, I needed a motion for co-sponsorships.

I'd like to move for co-sponsorship to this. All right. Second.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay. Seeing none, and now I need a motion to pass the item as amended. So moved. Do I have a second? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay. Seeing none, motion passes.

And I'd like to be recorded among the co-sponsors. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

He wants to do what? He wants to be recorded as his motion. Oh.

Thank you.

All righty.

So with that, we are now going to proceed to facilities and maintenance comprehensive updates. Mr. Bredeser and Mr. Niccolo.

I had a new business item.

Yes, I'm going to get to it in a moment.

Okay.

Oh, forgive me. I didn't have my glasses. You're absolutely correct. New business comes first, and that's why I need to wear my glasses.

No worries. It'll be very brief, and it's more for just informational purposes. During my briefing, I asked Mr. Buen on the facilities team to provide me with a list of the schools that were under 200 students, so I wanted to provide one to each board member, just so everybody had it. And it goes to our conversations earlier this morning, right, on the cost of running some of these schools. And I was just running... general estimates, and it's important for us to realize this, and I'm hoping maybe staff can continue to help us in educating us through this process, but in using simple tools, and I used a little bit of AI for my fellow board members, and ran some national numbers as well as local numbers on what it costs to educate a kid when you're at a school under 200 students. You're looking at over $20,000 to educate one student at a school under 200 students. versus a school with 500 plus students goes drastically down to about $8,000 to $9,000 a student. But more importantly than that, it's the actual education the students are getting. When we have these small schools, I've experienced it in some of my small schools, example being Country Club Middle, they would have a visiting art teacher that would come by. They would have a visiting ESC teacher that would come by. There wasn't a full-time staff member there to support these critical programs that our students need. So as a board, as we were talking about earlier about phasing and moving swiftly, we really have to move quickly, not so much even from a financial perspective, but from the perspective of the services that our students are receiving and making sure that they receive top quality education at each one of these schools It concerns me when I look at this list and we have so many schools under 200. And if we look at 250, I know the list is probably even larger, but I wanted to start with somewhere, right? And I thought the 200 and under was a viable number to start at. It's concerning when we look at these schools and what the services they might be receiving. When you look at a Laurel Park Elementary, 129 students. That's under six teachers there. Are they really getting the art programs, the music programs, all the other programs that we know are important? And can we even afford to provide them in a school that size? But if we consolidated some of these and brought them together, how much more would those families be receiving and those students when they come together? So I just wanted to provide it as information that I received. I know this board is gonna continue having conversations and I'm sure through ABC we'll be able to even review these more, but it's critically important that we look at these numbers and have them in front of us and look at the impact that it has on our students, even beyond the financial implications. So just wanted to share that. You're a new business. I'll continue to review it and work with staff and we'll see. where we can all go together on this. But I thought it was important to share. Thank you.

Yes, thank you very much. And very significant numbers to see all of them. I'm sure we will be working very collaboratively with the superintendent and the team to see what we can do to either enhance and raise the numbers that are shown on the student count or look at other options where we may need to make some tough decisions as we move forward. So now we go to facilities and maintenance comprehensive update, and I have Mr. Niccolo and Mr. Perez both on this one.

Madam Chair, so the facilities comprehensive and maintenance update on our facilities was provided with the agenda packet. If there are any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them.

Do any of my colleagues have questions related to this? No one? Okay, thank you. We'll move forward. And now we have the Office of Community Partnership, Education, and Business Access, Dr. Linda Amica-Roberts.

Good afternoon, or good evening. Through the Chair, the report was transmitted, and if there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Okay, do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments? All right, well, you are very lucky being the last one. Is the game still on? Who won? Oh, okay, interesting. All right, well, can some... Can someone move for this meeting to be adjourned? Do I have a second?