Personnel, Student, School, and Community Support Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, I'd like to call to order the Personnel, Student, School, and Community Support Committee meeting.

Where's your attorney?

He's right there. Oh, okay. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes?

Move it.

Second. All in favor?

Aye.

All right, Dr. Bagelos, D-19 through D-23, please.

Through the chair, D-19 is a presentation of the quarterly school.

Oh, that's silver, I'm sorry.

No, it'll work. D-19, the presentation of the quarterly school safety compliance report to the school board of Miami-Dade County.

Yes. Oh, let her go first. That's okay. Sorry, you just weren't looking this way, so I wanted to make sure I got your attention. Yeah, through the chair and through no fault of our own, I haven't been able to have an official briefing on some of the items, and this question I sometimes am able to ask during the briefing, but I didn't have that opportunity. I mention this whenever we get one of these D19s, and I look at the percentage of schools that had... You know, with no deficiencies, we're looking at 54%. Just kind of, I've been asking every time this comes up, a breakdown. What was it, right? And a lot of times it's something minor, but this just doesn't look good. So if I could get a breakdown of what it is, I don't know that you have that information in front of you. I don't want to just know my district, but I want to know our entire district. Where are those deficiencies? And I know sometimes it's, they didn't have this paper, right? But just to have a sense of what it is, and then the other thing that, when I have been bringing this up, okay, even if it's something minor, we can't just hang our hat on that. What are we doing to fix it so that this number increases where we can reach as close to 100% as possible that during these inspections, and I know there's surprise visits, right, but it needs to be higher. So that's my question. I don't know if you have the information or if you'd be able to provide it through the chair.

Through the chair, I'll be more than happy to provide it for you. This is security, confidential stuff. I could send it to you online. I mean, via email. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. But I could give you the breakdown exactly of everything.

Thank you. Madam Chair?

Yes, thank you very much. And that's exactly what I was going to ask because when I looked at it and I saw the number, it really jumped at me when I looked and saw that the percentage of inspected schools with no school safety requirement deficiencies compared it to the ones that did have deficiencies. As well, the number is still way too high. So I wanted to ask, you know, what is it, what is happening, and what do we need to do to remediate that? And also, I believe that this is something that at the safety committee meetings that I go to on a regular basis with you, that we address this very issue and how we're going to be able to enhance these numbers to levels that are more acceptable, because it's... Safety and security is the number one issue for this school board, and that number is a bit alarming for me. So if we could address that at the safety meeting, I would really appreciate it. And if we could get something in writing as well, I think that all of us would definitely like to be able to look at that and then address further issues if the need be after that.

Richard wouldn't be a problem. I'll go ahead and anyway send you a breakdown to all the board members that way you have and you can see what's happening in their area specifically.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. Dr. Bagelos, D20 through D23.

Through the chair, D20, request approval of personnel action listing 1202. D22 requests authorization to submit the following documents to the Department of Education, the updated ESOL matrix, the addition of communication and understanding component to the professional learning catalog, the continuation of the ESOL endorsement, the renewal of the driver's education endorsement, and the annual continuation of the entire professional learning catalog.

Okay. Madam Chair?

Yes, thank you very much.

Dr. Baglos, I know that we have the Florida Department of Education specifically addressing the issue of the ESOL changes that are taking place. Could you please briefly address with the board the assistance from the state that has been provided for us and in a generalized term with the key area because we have in Miami-Dade County Public Schools a very significant number of students that are in the fall in the easel population, and the changes there are pretty significant. Through the chair, if you could go ahead and address it, that would be great.

Through the chair, yes ma'am. One moment, please. So the recent program, I'm gonna go through a couple pieces with the board's indulgence. So educators have to complete 300 in-service hours across five standards. It's equivalent to 15 college credit hours. The course domains now include the methods of teaching ESOL, testing and evaluation of ESOL, applied linguistics, ESOL curriculum and materials development, and the newest one, communication and understanding for English language learners. The 2025 ESOL standards reflect modernized research-based framework aligned to the current best practices in language acquisition and academic language. The revised standards include 23 clearly defined performance indicators, strengthening accountability, and enabling measurable teacher outcomes and program effectiveness. The addition of the fifth component, communication and understanding strand, expands instruction to include academic discourse, family engagement, and civic responsibility, supporting real world application and student engagement. For these courses, we use a combination of methods to deliver. There's Beacon Online, there's hybrid, there's face-to-face sessions. I'm happy to announce that as important to this board and Madam Chair, you've asked me in previous years about Teachers Beyond Timeline and folks on waivers. I'm happy to report that the number of teachers beyond timeline has dropped significantly in the partnership between professional learning and career development and the certification department. We're down to only about 400 individuals out of our over 17,000 teachers. We are actively working to upskill that remaining number to make sure that all of our teachers are in full compliance. The team in professional learning has received a tremendous amount of support from the representative of the Department of Education to make sure that our matrices and all of our components are within the scope as expected by the DOE.

Through the chair, thank you so much for that update. Now, we did have someone from the state to come down and assist in that process of the informational portion. Is that individual going to be coming back at our request to help throughout this upcoming year? Through the chair?

Through the chair. In the professional learning team, Iselo Rodriguez, Dr. Iselo Rodriguez partners directly with Mr. Hernandez, with whom you are speaking, about whom you are speaking.

Correct.

And he's always available to answer questions and come support us if asked.

Okay, great. I'm happy that we are also dealing through the chair with the beacon because that's helpful to many teachers to have that availability. The teachers that are not within timeline that we talked about the past, first of all, congratulations on reducing the significant number that we had before. However, through the chair, do we still have the same practice that we had in the past that if a teacher does not have the certification and she has an ESOL child placed in that classroom or several ESOL students placed in the classroom, Do those children have to be transferred to another teacher that does have the certification as it was in the past through the chair?

Through the chair, there's a little bit of flexibility around that allowed now. However, principals do yeoman's effort of trying to make sure that everyone who has ESOL students has all of the qualifications necessary. There are some difficulties in small populations where you have smaller schools where they may not have multiple teachers with whom students can be moved. I will continue to work with the academics team and make sure that the remaining 400 folks meet the eligibility requirements.

So through the chair, just for my clear understanding, I know I heard you say there's a little flexibility in that arena, but before there was zero flexibility. So can you address what the zero, because I thought it was a requirement that We had no options. We had no opportunity to be flexible. If you did not have the certification, you could not have those ESOL students in your class. They would have to go to another teacher's classroom, right? Am I understanding that now there's flexibility to do that?

Through the chair, one of the last conversations I had with the certification team had to do with that was an internal rule that we had created within our own school system. and that my team, sorry, the team was texting about Mr. Hernandez still providing support and that he will continue to be available. All right, sorry about that. And that we move as great as we can. The issue comes in, as I was trying to explain in more detail, with small schools where we may have an ESOL student where that grade level may not have a teacher with the endorsement and we don't have another option. But where we can, yes, students are moved with teachers who have ESOL endorsement on their teaching certificate.

Thank you. So my last question through the chair. You're saying it's an internal, so does that mean we have policy in place that we created to state that that had to be that way? Because I thought it was coming from the state, that if you did not have certification, you could not have those children in your classroom, that they would have to go to another teacher who did have certification, because you're given X number of years to be able to get the certification completed. And if you don't have it by that period, then you would even be told that you cannot continue teaching. And so the children had to be moved out of classes where teachers did not have that certification or they would have an issue. So I'm understanding now, based on your statement, that this is something internal, meaning policy that we have placed? If not, who made that rule and have we addressed it? Because I know I've been addressing this for several years now.

Through the chair, if I may, I will circle, if I may come back with additional information because they are placed on waivers. They're placed on waivers so that they can teach students. Right, and as long as they take the one course within the first five years, they are eligible to teach the students even if they haven't completed the entire endorsement.

So through the chair, yes, I'll wait for you to get back, but it's my understanding that it's not just taking one course. You're placed on a waiver and you have to complete it by a specific timeline. But that's okay. Go ahead and bring it back to me. I don't expect you to give me the answer now. But this is something I've been very, very interested in for years. And I've been addressing it for years at all different levels because I want to be sure that we have, we're in compliance because we have so many ELL students here in Miami-Dade County Public Schools more than anywhere else. So I just want to know. where we stand, where we are, and is it policy, or is it the state requirement, or is it something that the bilingual department decided to initiate? I don't know. I thought it was state required, and I could be wrong, so that's why I'm asking the question, and I'll wait for you to respond accordingly later. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Dr. Bagelos, that was it? You did your D23, sir? D23, yes.

Through the chair, D23 is the ratification of the 25-26 and 26-27 tentative agreement for the Fraternal Order of Police in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Thank you. Madam Chair, please.

Yes, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say I'm very, very pleased to see that we have here the 270 votes and four 100% and zero against. And I think that we owe that to a combination of Al Palacio, your team, the superintendent, everyone working collaboratively together because our law enforcement department plays such a critical role in all of our lives. And so I'm glad to see that we did come to an agreement and congrats to everyone involved in the process. Thank you. Thank you.

That's all, sir.

Okay. Ms. Pauline.

Through the chair, D65 is a request school board approval of one School of Hope performance-based agreement amendment, 16 charter school contract renewals, three charter school contract amendments, and two charter school consolidations. And I'd just like to add that there is a companion item, F5, to accompany this item.

Are there any questions? Board Member Santos?

Thank you so much, and thank you, Ms. Pauline, for the thorough explanation and follow-up. Can you confirm that we're going to be seeing a revised item on this one through the chair?

Through the chair, yes. We're going to revise the item. Just to clarify, the automatic renewals and the high-performing, the mandatory 15 and up to 15 renewals, and there were a couple typos that we found that we will correct. Thank you so much. You're welcome, ma'am.

Thank you, Dr. Lewis. D67 through D69.

Through the chair, Dr. Garland. D67 is the initial reading of the proposed school board amendment policy 5120, student school assignment and attendance boundary committee.

Any questions? Board Member Santos?

Thank you so much and thank you Dr. Lewis and your team for the time you've spent on this. So there's two attachments on this item. One is the attendance zones previously approved and one is the attendance zone recommendations and related administrative actions. So I understand that one should reflect things as they exist today. The other one should reflect things as they might be if the recommended actions are adopted. Is that correct, Mr. Chair?

Through the Chair, yes it is, Board Member Santos.

Thank you, so on the first attachment, let's see, it's very long, so the scrolling takes a second. Okay, the attendance zones previously approved for 25-26. Currently, this document shows schools in my district like Air Base Biotech and Arthur and PolyMaze that are full district-wide magnets. Currently, it reflects boundaries for those schools. Can you clarify why that might be?

Through the chair, Ms. Santos, in reference to your question, the actual item that you're seeing, if you look at it, it just speaks to the recommendation. However, I think I did forward to you the actual presentation, PowerPoint presentation, that will be read on the 22nd. And on that particular PowerPoint, it's more detailed. It includes effect, impacts, and, of course, boundaries. And just quickly, there's no boundary assigned to, for example, Arthur and Polly Mays. However, there is an existing boundary for Pine Villa.

Thank you, through the chair, that's correct. That's why this document needs to reflect that. So if you look on page one of this document, Air Base, which is a district-wide magnet school, has an attendance zone here on this document. I'm not gonna read it to you, because it's a bunch of streets, but that, so, So you're correct in what you're saying out loud, but the document doesn't match that. And then at the end, as I pointed out, the last two schools on the list are Arthur and Polly Mays, Conservatory of the Arts, which right now on this document it says pre-K-12, which is not the current, it is the proposed, and it has boundaries. I think maybe you and your team will take a look and update this through the chair.

Through the chair, Ms. Santos, we will definitely make the revisions and make sure that it's updated as well.

Thank you. And then through the chair, on the second document, which is the attendance zone recommendations, so this one should reflect if adopted with the recommendations, what would happen. Is that a correct understanding through the chair?

Through the chair, that is correct.

Okay, so on these charts, and maybe I'll start, let's see, on page 47. No, excuse me. On page 53. Biotech at Richmond Heights shows for the current year as a grade configuration of nine through 12, and for the 26-27 year, a grade configuration of six through 12, which is the recommendation, which I've been supportive of. But the student enrollment current shows 290, projected for next year as a six through 12, 278. So even if we got not a single new student, that number would not be accurate because we're merging two. Is that correct through the chair?

Through the chairman Santos, I see what you're referencing. Technically, both student enrollment over at Richmond height and biotech should have been combined. And of course, looking at the actual number of student station, which is capacity, and those numbers should have been reflective. So yes, I see what you're saying.

Thank you. So we can expect an update on this as well through the chair?

Through the chair, that is correct.

Thank you. Okay, page 55. We have Leisure City, K-8. It is one of my impacted schools. And current year enrollment shows 1,037. Projected enrollment next year shows 1,036. But they are acquiring a boundary. So why would the enrollment go down by one?

Through the chair. The rationale behind that is the more so the exiting eighth graders are the grade level, I'm sorry, the exiting eighth graders are higher than the actually incoming students into that school. In reference to Mandarin, technically there are about 78 students that technically once that boundary is actually changed are slated to actually go to Leisure City K-8 Center.

Thank you, so through the chair, we should expect a number that's lower than 78, because not all of them will come.

That is correct.

But not one.

That is correct. So projected enrollment. Through the chair, duly noted.

Okay, thank you. So through the chair, on page 63, Irving Beatrice Pascoe. Another school similar to Leisure City that has the same change happening. This one shows a huge increase from 681 to 1,046, which on paper would bring the capacity to 123%. I don't think that's what you're recommending. I don't think that accurately reflects that through the chair.

Through the chair in reference to the school that we're referencing, you currently have about 340 something kids that are leaving Mandarin. Once the boundaries actually change, it's actually slated to go to PESCO. And, of course, that will definitely have an increase in the enrollment, and that will also increase the utilization as well. I would go back and verify, and if any revisions are definitely needed, we'll make sure that it's done there as well.

Thank you. Through the chair, obviously that makes sense that it's going to increase in utilization. That's the goal. But I think then I would have had many more questions about infrastructure and how you're going to support 125%.

What I recommend at this time, I think there are some gaps in terms. I want to thank Board Member Santos for lucidly and very specifically identifying some gaps in the actual representation in the document. What I would recommend is that Dr. Lewis, you and your team take a look at those particular issues and follow up with board member Santos and any board member that may have a question regarding that. And if it's not ready to go, then the superintendent can make some determinations about whether he moves it forward, the revisions are satisfactory, or he withdraws it, because I think she's identified a number of gaps at this particular time. So we'll do that. Is that okay?

Through the chair, Dr. Garland, thank you for the advice, and we'll do exactly that. As a matter of fact, staff has already been working on it to correct the numbers itself.

Yeah, I just think specifically the issues that Board Member Santos pointed out, I know that some of these issues are addressed in briefings, but I think she pointed out some salient points that obviously would be a concern, and I think you all can do a specific follow-up with Board Member Santos for the schools that she identified, and if any other board members have any questions about those particular issues, we can do the same thing. Okay. Duly noted, Dr. Gallin.

Through the Chair, may I close?

Yes, please.

You can close. Thank you. The reason I'm highlighting these, and trust I don't want to use our time here for this, These were sent in a PDF on Monday in detail, every single one that I'm listing. And I didn't get to many of them. And I followed this closely. And so I don't want to use this time. I didn't plan to use this time. But in the absence of having provided plenty of notice and having reassurance that things would be updated, It's important that as an education institution, the way we teach our kids to write a paper, present an item, that we embody that in our agendas and our items, and that we get to a point of clarity at this level, at the board level. That's where the expectation is set. Sorry, colleagues, for having to do it here, but I think plenty of opportunity was given to not have to do this.

Thank you. Yeah, I don't think apology is necessary to the colleagues. I just know that at a certain point when certain things have been identified as gaps, either we are going to, you know, continue the discourse in this particular space potentially to what avail or are we going to take a different course to try to address those gaps and give the superintendent and staff an opportunity to see if they want to move it forward. with the appropriate corrections for accuracy or withdraw the item at that particular point. And I think the level of engagement outside of what the board is going to have to act on is something specific to, you know, each board members and where that is relevant to the ABC process. I think that can be better utilized at that time. So when I move these Ds, board member Spina, you want to say something? Yes, please, sir. Go ahead.

Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. And I certainly don't want to, this is, We don't have too many opportunities to discuss these things. I just want to put something on everybody's radar. I don't know if all of you know, but we're having a consolidation in District 5, which is Miami Springs Middle and Miami Senior High. It's been very well received by the community. And one of the challenges, and Dr. Lewis and I have spoken about this along with the central region, has been that I think we may need to look at how our ABC process time-wise affects affects consolidations and affects closures. I know that Board Member Santos also intonated that because he echoed that during the ABC meeting. So I've got parents right now that are saying, and again, I know that's not the item, but I want to give them an opportunity if that's okay. I have parents that are saying, we'd like to sign up right now. And the response is, well, you can't because this isn't going to approve until June. And so what do we do? We said, well, you know, and Manny Garcia gets up and says, refer him to me, refer him to the principal. We're coming up with some kind of expression of interest form so the parents feel like they are responsible committed, so to speak, to that school. But even in the pendency of time between now and the approval of that school, we might lose some parents that want some certainty. And so I think, I forgot who from the administration, I think it was Brenda Swain who said, you know, this ABC process was really intended for the development of new schools and the growth of the district. And now that we're going backwards, we've got to figure out how to shift that over. And unfortunately, you know, we're coming to the end of the ABC process now, and we'll one of us or both of us or the administration will bring up a change to the policy, and we'll be right back in it with the old timeframe. So I think one of the things we have to look at is not only a change to it for consolidations and closures, but how we maybe, for those processes, truncate the time so that by the time parents are making decisions come January, February of next year, they're activated and have that solution of wherever their kids are going to end up going. So I just want to put that on the record. I appreciate the time.

Thank you, Board Member Spino, and I totally agree. I have a scenario in my district as well with a school that will potentially be impacted by ABC next year. But if we start to look at the timeline in terms of engaging the community and the parents, it can have a positive impact on students and decision-making this year. So I totally agree with you, and I think that is something that we may want to take a look at. When I move the Ds, I'm going to move all of the Ds except D67 with the notion that either it's going to be revised in consultation with the board members who have concerns about it, specifically board member Santos, or withdrawn until the appropriate time. On D67? No, I'm just letting them know on D67 where we do go. Now I'm on D68, sir. Thank you.

Dr. Gallin. Yes. I just want to give my colleagues a heads up, which I did before, that I have been working on an item. I'm waiting for the ABC process to wrap up this year. But next committee, next month, what I'd like to do is during new business, I'll just open the floor so that I hear from my colleagues so that any other issues you've heard, I can incorporate in that item and we bring it together.

Excellent. Vice Chair Colucci.

Thank you. And I want to thank you, Board Member Santos. I think that's a very prudent thing that we need to look at as a board. We really need to look at this in the direction that we're going. So I really look forward to hearing that discussion at our next meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. D68, Dr. Lewis, and then Board Member Geller has a follow-up once you present it.

Okay, through the Chair. D68 is the expulsion and assignment of students to alternative school programs. Board Member Geller.

Yes, and I had the opportunity during the briefing to discuss this item with Dr. Lewis, and I gave him a heads-up that I was going to be talking about it. Before I get into the substance, I just want to say to our attorney, Mr. Harvey, I'm aware that these are highly confidential matters, and I certainly don't want to be the person who puts something on the record that we should not be. I want to discuss this from the standpoint of what has been released, but I will ask you, sir, if you hear me starting to say anything, that sounds like it will violate anyone's privacy, please just break in and interrupt me because I really don't want to do that. I'm going to try to be careful, but I want to be sure that we abide by the policies. People rely on us to keep things confidential. I know I was talking with the superintendent. I heard something that may have violated that in a totally different field. We have to protect the privacy of families, students, parents, and everyone else, and in my remarks, I plan to do that, but stop me if I say something wrong. Thank you. Mr. Chair and colleagues, I understand we have discipline issues, and we have to deal with them, and they're important to deal with, and they're not just for the protection of all the other students, They're also for the protection of the faculty, the staff, everybody who's in that school. But they're also for the protection of the students themselves who need help, who have to be guided. And so I've had questions in the past, what happens to these students? I've had conversations with Dr. Lewis, do we track these kids? What do we do when we recommend an alternative school setting? Because I'm pleased to say that I've been told we don't just say you're out and leave these kids hanging. There's an alternative setting that's made available to them, and that's good. But a lot of times they don't take advantage of that opportunity, and I've asked, and I've gotten some follow-up, I might say. Thank you, Dr. Lewis. I know that you care very much about these issues from our conversations. I think we could be doing more to track what happens to the kids who get these alternative recommendations and to talk about what we can do to change the outcomes. What do we do in interacting with the families? What do we do to make these alternative settings attractive? What do we do to make sure that we're not leaving kids behind that need help? Because if you're in that setting, If you have that problem, you need help. And I haven't had a full discussion on that. I'm waiting for a little more follow-up, and I'll bring that at some point. But when I saw what was on this agenda, I don't know if everybody's looked carefully because we trust our staff. We trust Dr. Lewis and his team because, as I said, I know they care very much. But look at the two that we're talking about We're talking about students with a weapon, threats made, knife, I was told, bigger than six inches. In first and second grade, seven-year-olds, they are not responsible for their actions. They're seven years old. Now, this is not... a student discipline problem. As far as I'm concerned, I heard we've had some interaction with Department of Children and Families, but I don't know if they're proceeding forward. If you're seven years old and you've got a knife bigger than six inches and you're taking it to school, that's child abuse. Any parent that doesn't control that in some way or reach out for help That child is being abused. Seven-year-olds? There's a problem here. And it's our problem as well as everyone else's. If it's not being acted on by children and families, then maybe we need to seek about having guardians ad litem. appointed for these children. Maybe they need to be subject to some kind of removal proceedings. Maybe we should give their parents the benefit of the doubt and find some other way to engage these parents and these families. But seven-year-olds? And if it was just one, but two at the same time? A first grader and a second grader? That is not the fault of a seven-year-old child. And I know earlier we were talking about an item that Dr. Gowen had about our policy on family interactions. It was a great item, talking about orientations, very important. But this is shocking to me. And I don't think we can just, I mean, one of these kids declined and withdrew from Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Why? What other arrangement have they made? Or is this kid just going to be lost in the flow? We need to know. We need to track this. And with all deference to the hardworking people at Department of Children and Families, and I know that they're understaffed and underbudgeted and they're trying to do their best in difficult times like everybody else. And who funds them? But It's just not okay, and it's just not okay for us to not find some way, somehow, some program, some initiative to just say these seven-year-olds are going to get lost somewhere in the system. They're just not in a position for us to say, well, they did it, consistent with keeping other students safe, consistent with keeping faculty and staff safe. I don't know what the answer is other than looking to Department of Children and Families, but by God, we need something. And I just, I can't express how shocked I was to see this information. And I'd like to know in a comprehensive way what other members of the board think and to hear what ideas and solutions the administration has. Dr. Lewis, Mr. Superintendent, Mr. Attorney, we cannot just let this happen. Somebody has to step in and step up. And as far as I'm concerned, that ought to be us.

To the chair.

I know you say board members or Dr. Lewis or any of us. Anybody with an idea of what we can do? I want to hear whatever it is. I'm going to try to be as efficient in my remarks as possible. But unfortunately, this is a topic that does require an extensive discourse on where we are, and quite frankly, how we got here. And I think I chuckle to myself every now and then, Madam Chair, I still think I'm young. I still think I'm this 20-year-old teacher, this 23-year-old assistant principal, the 26-year-old principal. I'm not, no, I'm not. Because when I start to reflect on history and how things have evolved, I get affirmed in my journey, but I also get a little anxious about the fact that at some point my journey in this work will come to an end. I want to say I share your passion. I believe from what I've experienced with my colleagues on this board that they share your sentiments. And I'm going to, not in deference to Mr. Harvey, but just respectfully to the process, not to wade too far into some of the minutia of politics, but everybody who knows me knows I stand on business and I speak truth to power. We are bound, unfortunately, in these particular circumstances, to what I have just made up. You can write it down. I just made it up. Indiscriminate accountability. We have to hold certain students from pre-K through 12 accountable for certain violations to the Code of Student Conduct State Statute with little to no discrimination as relates to discretion. There were policies and practices and quite frankly programs in place pre-2018. In fact, pre-February 14th, 2018. And for those who don't know what that date is, that's post-Parkland. And sometimes we go from zero to 100 in our practices, in our politics, and in our policies. And in this particular case, as a lifelong educator, as one who was an elementary school principal, I don't talk about that very often, Board Member Geller, but I did three years at Holmes Elementary School. At the time, I had 1,100 students with a Florida First Start program, and the Liberty City Housing Projects was alive and well. And to your point, what practices I assumed at the time really spoke to what you're saying. If a child in the first grade or kindergarten or third grade is late to school, it's not the child. It's the parent. And I'm not here just representing this. You can, at the break, go to my office and go pick up a book and I'll turn you to the page where I wrote about this 20 years ago about how we coordinated partnerships with the housing agency and other social services entities to hold parents accountable for their children's absence, for their children's tardiness, for their children's non-participation. But unfortunately, we don't have a current structure to hold parents accountable for these particular issues. Thus, the revamped system of accountability post February 14th, 2018, compelled districts to revamp their practices, eliminate programs, eliminate programs and modify and amend policies that in my description years ago when it happened, I publicly described them in many cases as draconian. So we had success centers. I talked about this yesterday. We had what were called success centers. Some of the practices and programs were deemed inconsistent with policies that put us back into the play of zero tolerance. I don't know if many of you remember, there was a time period where we called it zero tolerance. Then we moved away from zero tolerance to second chance programs. i.e., Nicholas Cruz was a part of the PASS program, and that's where the indictment of the system came from. And I don't mean indictment of him, I mean the indictment of a system that allowed a young man to have a second, third, potentially a fourth chance. But yours truly wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't have a second, third, fourth, or fifth chance. Not just in school, but also in life, and in my career, and in my service, and in my leadership. Can you imagine if God didn't give us a second, third, and fourth and fifth chance? But unfortunately, my friend, our administration is bound to work within the parameters of policy practices, and in some cases, politics and laws. And until we start to have a conversation around that, Their subject, we're subject. We went through this, what, a couple of years ago, where the state came down, there was a, I don't want to call his name, but he's a public official, there was a representative from the state that would come down and make assessments about incidents. Everybody's saying, oh yeah, they know what I'm talking about. About incidents, and equally important, if not more importantly, how is the district handling those incidents? So an incident like that, if a school does not document that, if the district does not take certain actions that we find draconian, that we find incredible, and that in some cases we almost want to become incredulous to the fact that we have to do this to a six-year-old, a five-year-old, seven-year-old, then the district would be deemed noncompliant. And that's just the reality of it. So we, I know, and I'm seeing head nods, you know, you have people who are educators, people who are parents. It can happen to any one of us. A child picks up something, sticks it in his book bag, and there's no... Discrimination. There's little to no discretion regarding the length, the weapon, and the sanction that they're bound to provide. My last point would be, as you asked, where did the child go? My theory is the child may have gone to a private school. Okay? Because in some cases, private schools don't have to have safe school offices. They have a lot of discretion and latitude how they navigate some of the policies and procedures and structures of accountability that we're bound to. So my friend, it's unfortunate. This is kind of the space we are in. I've been trying to conceptualize a program of accountability for parents, but we don't have that authority. And I think as we continue to explore programs and laws allow that level of flexibility. And I want to say again, we had programs that provided some level of flexibility. Now, there are some things that are non-negotiable. But I think, and I'll close by saying this, I think there's some fulcrum of hypocrisy. Because when we talk about sex education, which I'm all for certain things, when we talk about certain things that can be taught and not taught, The language that's used is age appropriate. And I believe in that. I'm a parent. There are certain things I don't want my child to be provided instruction on without my involvement. And the language is always age appropriate. When we look at textbooks and curriculum, it's age appropriate. In some cases, people have had this notion that it's eliminating it. No, it's not total elimination. It's what's appropriate for their age. Maybe there needs to be a conversation for punitive measures that are age appropriate. And so if a 16-year-old brings a knife in, that's different than a 5-year-old bringing a knife in. But the policy and the practices and the sanctions don't really provide that level of discriminant discretion. So those are my thoughts. Mr.

Chair, very briefly, and I want to hear from others. But let me just say, I sat in the legislature on that day. I was up there. I was involved with that bill. I supported that bill and parts of legislation I had introduced to increase the number of school resource officers that were public safety officers had been introduced by me at the request of this district before that tragedy and were incorporated in that bill. I want to be clear. I am not suggesting that we have the ability under existing legislation to modify safety measures that we are required to take when there's a violation. That is not what I'm suggesting because you're correct. What I am saying is that our compliance, strict compliance with those mandatory safety measures does not need to occur in a vacuum. I know that legislation. I know it's changed a little bit since I sat in the House. It was only 22 when I left. And I will tell you that to the best of my knowledge, and the Board Attorney might correct me on that too, but to the best of my knowledge, as long as we comply with the mandatory safety measures, there is nothing that says We may not have, well, to put it your way, we may not have the authority to enforce accountability as to parents, but there are people who do. There's not only the Department of Children and Families, there's the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. I don't know to what degree we interface with those other agencies, how much of this problem we present to them, what not mandatory, but outreach programs we have that can help parents or that can seek action by our colleagues in the government. And, you know, it may very well be the case that that one student who's withdrawn is going to a private school, but we need to know that and not surmise it. We need a program of follow-up with every one of these kids and their families in an appropriate way that protects their privacy. But we should be able to get accurate statistical information as to how many of those kids got to private school or moved away and which ones just... There are no arrangements that can be determined. So I'm not suggesting that we... Do something that we're not allowed to. I'm not suggesting that we not follow the law, but what else can we do around that to make something happen?

Yeah, I want my colleagues to speak if they want to. And I'm not suggesting that you are. I'm just saying I don't want to conflate the issues of our obligation under the law and other practices and policies and requirements to enforce certain disciplinary actions upon students. In that, you're correct. And our inability to impose certain sanctions on parents. And those issues being conflated is where, well, you know, the conundrum that we face. Dr. Lewis and Dr. Doltris, if you will, and the other colleagues.

Thank you again, Dr. Gallin, through the chair. First of all, Dr. Gallin, thank you for your institutional knowledge and as far as sharing the current challenge that exists in our reality. And I would say this to Board Member Geller. You know, I welcome the opportunity to potentially schedule a debriefing session with you privately. And the reason being, I currently do that now with Board Member Santos. And what it does, it truly brings clarity to the actual issues individualized case that I'm dealing with. Because as you know, because of confidentiality, I'm very limited in reference to what I can say in this particular public forum, but I would truly welcome that. And let me just also say that if you look at the item that's being brought forward, we are seeking a modification. But beyond that, and I would stop with this, I kind of want to change the mindset when it comes down to alternative education, because you see at those locations, those kids get a wraparound services to include mental health counseling, smaller class size. So there's a whole lot that happens within those particular setting. And I know when we hear the word alternative, sometimes we tend to view it as negative. But I think I definitely need to say that, and I welcome the opportunity to be able to schedule that debriefing meeting with you, to be able to go into more details in reference to the individual case that we're discussing now.

Through the Chair, very quickly, Dr. Lewis, I know you care about this very strongly. I'm happy to have that debriefing, and I know that you're doing what you can. I don't question those alternative services. I think they're, frankly, I've asked about this issue with you in conversations before, and at any age of the child. I think it's great that we provide those services. My focus is on making sure that we're doing what we can to persuade older students and families to take advantage of those alternative services, how we track them, who doesn't get in, Why do people not take advantage of those services? Private school is always their option, but perhaps if we were in a position to do more advocacy for our alternative education and persuade more of the students and families who end up in this circumstance why they should take advantage of what we offer, that there is this wraparound service. I'd like to know how many of the kids in this situation end up taking advantage of it and see what we can do to find out why those who don't, don't.

Yeah. And any other board members? I just wanted to qualify. I mentioned private school as a potential option, but parental choice and school choice, it could be homeschool. It could be any choice that parents have because that's the parent's choice. In this particular case, when they do withdraw, we have information as it relates to what they indicated their choice would be. so but after that you know we don't have the authority or the through line to see what's happening on the other side to a private school situation or even to some extent a home school situation except when they interface with us for certain things that the district must provide so passionate discussion i believe everyone has the same concern But I think currently where we are, until we have some additional latitude and discretion, and with some of the experiences that we've had in the last several years, and I'll just close by saying this. I've often said it's not the intent, it's the impact. What's intended to be one thing is the impact. So I often say you got laws that's passed by the legislature. Then you have the State Board of Education that adopts rules. Then it drills all the way down to policies and practices. And so how a bill is presented does not sometime contemplate the full level of implementation. That's why we have to sometimes go back and amend some of the bills because, whoa, we did the bill. We thought it was a great idea, but when it drilled down, the interpretation of an implementation is where the gap is. I don't know if that was the intent, but quite frankly, until somebody looks at something that speaks to, maybe it's an idea I'm throwing out, age-appropriate in parental accountability. And we've seen that across the country. I don't want to get too far into that. We've seen several parents in some tragic cases not only indicted but convicted of charges because their children got access to weapons and committed heinous crimes. So the parents were held accountable. So the spirit of accountability for parents is there. Obviously, that's not something we have jurisdiction over, but it's something, obviously, as you said, we could potentially interface with in the future. Any other questions or comments, Madam Chair? Thank you.

Thank you very much. And thank you to both of you that have spoken and, of course, administration. Dr. Lewis, we all share the same sentiment for years. How many years now that I call you every single time that we get an item and we go through the same frustration? And Dr. Lewis cares very, very much, and you said it, sir, and you're absolutely correct. And before Dr. Lewis, it was Dr. Pace, and so on and so forth. Because it is very frustrating to see young children, you're right, you know, the parents have to take that responsibility. But as Dr. Galvin stated, and we've been dealing with this for so, so long, it's very difficult. We have to abide. by the law period simple as that and so the modification portion that came in at least instead of having a child out for one entire year now they only have to be out for one semester but when you see a little first grader or second grader It is heartbreaking, really. Honestly, it really is. That's an innocent little child. Who knows? Like you said, Dr. Gallant might have taken, picked up a little, you know, something in the house, took it. Okay, now you're going to have to pay the consequences. Yes, true, that when we dealt with Parkland, as a matter of fact, I was just reminding Dr. Gallin, and Dr. Bendos-Meningo was here too, I brought a board item, it was being read right here in this room, right before that took place. Maybe it was about an hour later that that was happening. I don't even know, maybe it was even happening when I was reading that item. Again, related to the concerns that we were all having about the safety and security and the well-being of our students in our schools and everything else. So this has been ongoing, but yes, we can go from zero to 1,000. in a flash when something happens, but again, the law exists for a reason, we have to abide by the law, yet we can do certain things here within our own internal group to try to, as suggested by both of you, to try to assist the families. Barbara's here, Mandy Sabal, through her team, the mental, you know, we talked about mental health today, Vice Chair Colucci brought it, excellent item, and I talked about the red flags as well. This is what we need to look at, because I alluded to this with her item earlier today, that Issues occur many, many times with students. The majority of the times, the red flags have been there since they were very young, But somehow it falls through the cracks. So the fidelity, the consistency in practice, the involvement of the parents, and it's everybody. It's everybody having to play a part, the principal of the school, the assistant principal, the counselor, all of those mental health facilitators that are from the external entities. It's just everybody that has to work together. That's where we are. So I thank you for caring and for making the... Truly, I know it comes from the heart, what you have just said, and I think we all feel very, very much the same. But as Dr. Gallon said, our hands are tied to a certain point, but at least the modification portion, and that's what I... I talked about this case extensively. I talked about the young man who also left our school district, but... There's only so much that they can do. So hopefully this young student, when he comes back, we are able to provide all the services that are necessary through the mental health portion and everything else, the counselors that we have in our schools. And hopefully that will make a difference. And then, of course, the involvement of the parents within this process as much as we possibly can. So those are my thoughts on that.

Yes, Board Member Blanco, definitely.

Sorry, I didn't want to, I think several months ago, maybe even a year, used a word and it was like to extend this, right? But too much mental health is going on tonight, make a comment. I've lived a lot of these situations. And I can tell you that when students, sometimes even if they've already been identified as having any kind of concern, their special education, when these happen, usually one of the first things that happens is a psychoeducational evaluation. Those cases are expedited when the student goes to an alternative site, and I'm sure we follow that same thing. One of the most frustrating things that I would experience as a school psychologist is that I could work with a student in first, second grade and see some real definite concerns that were beyond the parent, that the parent was trying, right? But there were some concerns. But worse yet was when the parents didn't see a problem and would not provide consent for evaluation. and our hands were tied. And when we talk about Parkland, I believe that's a lot of what came out. The schools attempted and requested for evaluations for consent, and if a parent does not give consent, an evaluation cannot happen. which precludes you from providing services, right? So it's a very, very complicated situation, and you have to honor everyone's rights, but sometimes in honoring rights, we fall into situations that unfortunately lead to really detrimental situations. I just had to add those two words.

Thank you, Vice Chair Colucci, please.

Thank you, Dr. Gallin and Board Member Geller. I too feel your heartache. I really, really do because I've had those students in my classroom that are, and that's where I have, and I know Ms. Blanco has been as well, been very, very big proponents of, I've even proffered items about monitoring our students' mental health, and if you want, perhaps we can share those with you, because I know this was prior to you being on the board. But the key here is, you know, we have to look at being proactive, which when sometimes, as Ms. Blanco said, Our hands are tied because of that. I do know, because I have been in the situation where you can see the child, very young, is crying out for help. the parent is crying out for help. We have the M Team process, referral process that goes through, we have counselors, and it does get expedited. So we, I feel that we do, within the parameters of the law, everything that we can to not have to get to this level. But sometimes, like Dr. Gallen said, we are in this situation because we have no other choice. But I feel your pain, and for me, failure is not an option when it comes to a child, to any human being, really. And that's always been the philosophy behind me. Every child deserves a chance, a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance. but we have to follow the laws, as our board chair said, and we have to, as a district, look at the resources that we have, be available to those parents, and sometimes those parents, if they've come to me and said, I just don't know what to do anymore, they are crying out for help. So we, I do want you to feel some level of, you know, I don't want to say comfort, but some level of reassurance that there are things being done at our district that before we get to this point, and there are things that we can continue to do and continue to explore. Absolutely. We can never stop. But I just wanted to state that to you directly because I share your concern deeply. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. All right. Dr. Lewis, that was D67. D68. I don't know if I don't... Yeah, you can give us a brief closure. I'm ready. On D68. Yeah, there's...

Yes. Let me just close with this, and I have something concrete that I want to suggest. I can't think of a member of this board who doesn't feel the same way. I can see it on everyone's faces. If I had never seen you before today, I get that. And I want to say again that I've had conversations about these issues with the administration, not just with the superintendent, but I really do want to single out Dr. Lewis because every time this has come up, he's shown within the context of the law Tremendous compassion for these situations and that's it's just not lost on me doctor that was I appreciate that as much as I do mr. Superintendent And as was pointed out by the chair To the degree that we can be consistent with the law there is some Adjustment that is within the boundaries of the law that's been made in these two cases good and And I absolutely want to be clear, I'm not criticizing or trying to diminish our alternative education. Frankly, I think it's wonderful. From the first time that was explained to me by Dr. Lewis in talking about these cases, I said, that's a great thing. But the mental health discussion that we had earlier is certainly key. My college freshman daughter was 11 when Parkland happened. I was doing some kind of TV interviews someplace with some other talking heads as a legislator, and other people were there, and she came along for the ride, and she looked at me and some so-called expert afterwards, and she said, well, you know, Daddy, and Mr. So-and-so, you know why that happened on this day of all days, and I hadn't even put it into context, she said, well, it's Valentine's Day, Daddy. She said no one gave him any love. And because he had no love, he reached out and wanted to make sure no one else did either. I never forget that. So concretely, while recognizing our legal obligations to both to privacy and to The safety of all concerned are three things I'd like to see, and I'd like to ask whether it's next meeting or the following meeting that we follow up. The first of them is I think I would like to see better reporting on this. Now, Dr. Lewis has furnished me with some information, but I think we should all have that information. We should know by age group or class level or whatever grade level how many students we have that are subject to these necessary and legally required sanctions and what happens to them how many of them are taking advantage of the alternatives we offer how many of them are going elsewhere where are they going again it's of course it's parents choice But where are they going and what information do we get? How many of them come back a year later or whatever? I think we would all benefit from having that information provided to us regularly. Our chair always says that we need to be data driven and this is data that I don't see that we get on a regular basis and I think we should. And where does that data lead us if we follow how we make our policies based on data. The second thing is I'd like more information and I'd like an effort to talk about more advocacy with these families and older students to persuade them to take advantage. of the alternatives. What more, we have smart people working in this district, what more can we think of to increase the percentage of students who say, you know, this whole wraparound idea is a great idea and it's also free to me because we have a system of free public education in this state And what more can we do to raise the percentage of students that take advantage of the great alternatives we offer? And number three is interface with other governmental agencies. What policies can we have that enable us to speak more forcefully to the Department of Children and Families? And if we think they're not doing their job, let's speak out about it. What policies do we have in place to say, if this is not child abuse, it's child neglect, and we need to have a regular ongoing program with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office specifically on this issue so that We give them the information that we have so they can take action in appropriate cases to make sure that this kind of child abuse or child neglect does not continue. And I think that if we did this monitoring, This advocacy and this interface with other agencies, I didn't say the Guardian ad litem program, but that might be one, too. If we did those three things and we could hear back, Dr. Dotris, from the administration on this, from you, Dr. Lewis, if we could hear back about what we can do that's consistent with our legal obligations, how we can step up our game, what more we could find a way to do, I feel that was a good day's work for all of us. Thank you. Thank you for your indulgence.

Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Lewis, I don't know if I want to give you D69. Can you do D69 very quickly, please?

Through the chair, Dr. Gallin, D69, on a positive news is the request for the school board of Miami-Dade County to approve the submission of an application to become an approved Florida post-secondary comprehensive transition program to serve students at South Dade Technical College.

No board members have any questions? Okay, that's good. All right. All right. Can I have a motion to... No, I need to separate the... I need to separate the ABC. Let's approve all of the Ds except D67.

Move it. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Okay. All right. Chair Rojas, you have H3, H4, and H5. You can take them in order.

Thank you very much, sir. I'm going to start with H3. This is an item that I bring on an annual basis and one that I'm very proud of, and that's a school board endorsement of May 1st, 2026 as Lunch Hero Day in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. It is an absolute honor to be able to recognize these hardworking men and women who are responsible for making sure that our children are nourished appropriately so that they can excel academically, physically, and emotionally in our classes. And spotlighting them, at our school board meeting and letting them know how much that this board, our superintendent, and the entire Miami-Dade County public school family appreciates their hard work, their dedication, their commitment to all of us. These are the heroes that shine each and every day in a very quiet way in those cafeterias. So simply I want to express our sincere gratitude to them and I want to thank Dr. Diaz because he will be bringing representation from every one of our board member districts, just like I've done in the past. I will ask them to stand up to be recognized. And it's something that they truly appreciate and are very thankful for. So that's the item, sir. Thank you.

Co-sponsors?

Yes.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. All right.

H4? Yes, sir. This is another one that I am extremely proud of because so many of us sitting right here, including myself, were former teachers. and know what they do each and every day. And I've said it a hundred times, know a thousand times, and I'll continue to say it, they do God's work on earth each and every single day. So H4 is a school board endorsement of Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, as National Teacher Day, and May 4th through the 8th, 2026, as Teacher Appreciation Week in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. And this is just a very small gesture to say thank you to all those that have made a difference in the lives of every single person in this room and every single person, period. Because for you to become any profession, really, it doesn't matter what it is, you had a teacher. That was the reason that you were able to achieve the success that you do when you become adults. So when you see a teacher, thank them for their hard work and their dedication, their passion, their compassion, and their love for the profession they've chosen because they certainly did not choose that profession for any other reason other than to do God's work on earth. It is a calling and it is an opportunity for us to say thank you to them. So that's the item, sir. Moving on.

Okay. Motion for co-sponsorship. All in favor? Aye.

Thank you very much. And now I'm moving to age five. Age five is a school board endorsement of the month of May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month. Here we go. And Thursday, May 7, 2026, as National Children's Health Awareness Day in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which is very appropriate with everything that we have been discussing extensively today. all day today and so this is an opportunity for all of us to be able to reaffirm the school board's commitment to continue to support the emotional well-being of all of our students of their families and of the staff and by promoting awareness and reducing the stigma and encouraging everyone about the access to the resources at Miami-Dade County Public Schools continues to offer in order to strengthen a culture of care that truly empowers individuals to thrive both on the inside and on the outside. And so I'm very proud to bring this item forth every year and hopefully based on all the communication and all of the discussions that have taken place that we continue to make a difference one day at a time for one child at a time in this particular arena. That's the item, sir. Thank you.

Motion for co-sponsorship? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Okay. Board Vice Chair Colucci, you're age six. Wait a minute. Yeah, you did. You have one more? Wait a minute. You did mental health. Okay, 8-7. I'm sorry. There is no 8-6. 8-7. I'm sorry.

Yeah, it's all right. So thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to my colleagues for looking at this item alongside me. And this is an item that we really need to look at because it concerns a situation that occurred with a school in my district. And I'm gonna formally read this into the record I'm not gonna read the actual item. I'm just going to read a statement into the record. I'd like to take a moment to place into the record the intent and necessity of this item. This is not about opposing change, nor is it about limiting the superintendent's ability to manage day-to-day operations of the district. Rather, it is about reinforcing the governance structure that ensures transparency. accountability, and effective collaboration in decisions that materially impact our schools, students, and community partners. The circumstances that give rise to this item involve discussions regarding future plans for programmatic changes affecting a district operated academic program in partnership with an external institution. These discussions occurred without prior notification to the school board, the board member, myself representing the impacted school, or the partner institution itself, which resulted in significant confusion and concern among parents, students, and stakeholders. So to my dismay, I started receiving emails, phone calls from constituents after a Zoom meeting had been held with parents and not knowing anything about this, about a principal change, which I don't know how that could happen when there's no D21 occurring right now. or just talks of it, either way it created a mass amount of confusion. Secondly, I got calls from and emails forwarded to me from the partner institution that were sent to the partner institution because the parents reached out to the partner institution. So when framed as future planning, discussions of potential, even though they were discussed and framed as potential, particularly in cases involving partnerships, can have immediate and meaningful impacts. We saw that in this case. I did firsthand. My office spent about three weeks dealing with this and rightfully so because I have a responsibility to my constituents in my district and I am their duly elected constitutional officer. We saw in this case the absence of clear communication created creating an uncertainty for families, disrupting confidence, and placing a strain on the important institutional relationship that we have with this partner. Even preliminary discussions must be handled with discipline, coordination, and an awareness of their potential impact on students and the broader community. Such matters warrant a level of communication and coordination consistent with both Florida law and school board policy. Pursuant to sections 1001.41, 1001.48, and 1001.49 of the Florida statutes, the school board serves as the governing body responsible for establishing policy and ensuring the proper operation of the district while the superintendent serves as the executive officer charged with implementing that policy. These roles are distinct but interdependent and they rely on timely, transparent communication to function effectively. Additionally, school board policy 1010 governing the school board superintendent relationship and policy 9500 addressing relations with educational institutions establish clear expectations for coordination and communication. particularly when actions involve external partners or have system-wide implications. When those protocols are not followed, it creates a breakdown in governance, can undermine trust, limit the board's ability to fulfill its oversight responsibilities, and create unnecessary concern within the community. This item, and I'm gonna rephrase this, I'm gonna restate this, is designed to address that concern in a constructive and forward-looking manner, and I will repeat that. It's designed to address the concern in a constructive and forward-looking manner. It directs the superintendent to conduct a comprehensive review of existing policies, procedures, and operational protocols related to notification and consultation with the school board. Where gaps or deficiencies are identified, appropriate revisions should be developed and brought forward. It also establishes a clear expectation that moving forward, significant proposed changes or discussions regarding such changes will be accompanied by timely notification to the board, engagement with the affected board member, in this case myself, and a detailed briefing outlining the scope, rationale, and potential impact. This does not impede the superintendent's authority to act. And I will say that again. This does not impede the superintendent's authority to act. Rather, it ensures that such actions are carried out within a framework of good governance, transparency, and mutual accountability. I remain supportive always of thoughtful planning, innovation, and strong partnerships. However, those efforts must be grounded in a process that respects the roles and responsibilities of both the board and the administration. This item provides a reasonable and necessary step to ensure that we strengthen our internal practices, restore confidence, at least my confidence, in some of our processes, and prevent similar situations from occurring in the future. For these reasons, I respectfully ask for the support of my colleagues, and I will skip to the recommend. When you have, and I will state all of, I'm not gonna go into all the he said, she said, because I like to look forward, but there was a lot of miscommunication. And when you start getting pieces of the story from constituents, and then you have to call for a meeting, which I had a representative from my office go, taking copious notes, and you heard all of the concerns that there was clearly clearly communicated to the parents that there was a programmatic change being made. Furthermore, structurally, and the schools are being discussed, I saw on social media that the school was being closed down. I know some of you might have seen it as well. The program was being closed down. It's sad to announce that this program is being closed down, was not the case, but when you communicate things without the proper due diligence, these are the things that happen. And statutorily, this is a dual enrollment program. This is not advanced placement. This is in statute. This is early college programs, and it refers to SAS and AAA. And the college Florida system in statute 1007.273 shall work with each school district in its designated service area to establish one or more early college programs, which we do have, and they're very, very successful, I might add. Each district school board and its local Florida college system institution shall execute a contract to establish one or more early college programs, I'm so used to saying early childhood, at a mutually agreed upon location or locations, which we do have according to statute. However, the contract must be executed by January of each school year for implementation of the program during the next school year. My question is, if we're even discussing programmatic changes, there has to be documentation of it, and there has to be a signed contract by January 1st, which I, again, I know what it's gonna go back to, it was a miscommunication, but you had a principal that was reassigned to the school that wasn't officially the principal, was announced to the parents, to the students, going in, saying to the students what the program was gonna look like, okay? These are all things that happened. And you also have, I had to have a meeting with the partner institution. I mean, for me, that's just, I have to say the word, and I hate to say it, but it's embarrassing. Point blank. Point blank. And I always, always, always, tried to do everything within my power to make this district shine and look good. But unfortunately, in this case, that did not happen. And we have to prevent this from happening again, and I do not want my colleagues to be in this situation again. So with that, I'm gonna read the recommend, because there were things that we could have done, such as have minutes of the meeting, if it was a Zoom meeting, a recorded meeting, so that I could have at least seen what was said. But then I have going back and forth with, I had nothing to go on, just what the constituents were telling me. So the first recommend is to undertake a comprehensive review of all existing board policies, administrative procedures, and operational protocols governing notification and consultation with the school board. This includes but is not limited to a mid-year restructuring initiatives, program relocations, modifications to partnerships or agreements, documentation and memorialization of meetings including minutes and recordings and school level organizational changes and rulemaking and or policy revisions as appropriate. And number two, ensure timely and appropriate notification to the school board, including forced situational awareness regarding significant proposed changes, provide a detailed briefing outlining the scope, rationale, and potential impact and provide a timely opportunity for the board to be informed and offer input consistent with its policy oversight role without limiting the superintendent's authority to implement operational decisions. So basically all this is asking for are clearer lines of communication in the relationship between the board and the superintendent and staff. to prevent this, and I'll say it, debacle from happening again, because it really was. So with that, I'll answer any questions from my colleagues or any concerns or any other details that they would like to know.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Madam Vice Chair, thank you so much for bringing this item. I hope that you would bring something forward. It was given as one of your school's But like SAS, AAA has students from across the county. So the moment this started happening, it had a ripple effect with students communicating to my office as well as changes within AAA being thought to apply also to SAS. I even had a former intern reach out to us and communicate that why is the principle of SAS changing and that wasn't the thing. I talked to my staff and I just said, did I miss a D21 or was there an issue that resulted in a direct appointment? Because sometimes we've had that. We've had that issue in Central Region where something happens to the principal and you need to put somebody at the helm and those things happen and that wasn't communicated. It's in your district, but even as a school with that kind of relationship with FIU, just like the same with Miami Dade College, it still wasn't communicated effectively as to what happened there. not trying to make this a an airing of dirty laundry. But we all have relationships across this county. And there's a lot of it's it's it's very difficult when forget, forget just parents, which there should be our primary concern. But individuals that are key stakeholders reaching out and say, Do you have anything? Do you have any idea what's happening here? And our response is, I don't know what's happening. I don't know why I mean, and then and then it's then you hear things that start snowballing. And What ended up happening or what was being proposed to happen and what made it out to the ether could have been prevented if done in coordination with certainly the vice chair of the school but also the entirety of the board because as I mentioned, I would venture to guess most if not potentially all of us have AAA students that live in our districts and that we could have confirmed and explained further but I still don't have a justification why a school, two schools or one school that is performing so highly were making a mid-year or end-of-year announcement that really caused confusion and chaos at a time when we should be focusing on end of the year, focusing on testing, focusing on finals in a manner that, you know, and I had parents tell me in their own way, if it ain't broke, why are you trying to fix it? I'm like, don't say me. And that's the thing. I don't want to have to say, I don't want to be in a situation where I'm like, oh, that's not me, that's them. Because we're not the ones effectuating that. So I look forward to the results that are going to come of this. If the administration has any comments today about what happened, I'm happy to hear it. But on this particular situation, it was what we call a baseball unenforced error. And we just didn't need to have it happen. So I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair, for bringing this forward. And Mr. Espino, you used the word I was gonna use. This is not meant to be like an airing of dirty laundry, but it is an opportunity to speak. My office also received a couple calls and emails regarding AAA. wasn't my school, right? So I had my office reach out to your office because they had some questions and like you said, they're not particularly to a district, right? They could be from all over the county. But I was surprised and felt that it was extremely unfortunate because I have been working together with the superintendent and his team to create a partnership with this institution at another one of our schools And it was made known to me. Like, you know, this, I don't want to, they didn't use the word broke our trust. I'm trying to remember exactly the words, right? But it just makes a conversation difficult with an entity that we may have left a bad taste in their mouth and we're trying to create something new with them at another school. So it was just, it's an unfortunate situation that, you know, I'm actually engaging to try to to have a meeting and be able to land the agreement that we've been talking about for a few months. So I'm happy that you brought this forward. And I'm happy that you've also kept it broad, because sometimes we've had conversations, like an item shouldn't just be about one particular incident or one particular school. And I'm not gonna go into a long list, but there have been several times where I find out about a situation at one of my schools through social media. and the last month and a half, maybe two months, it's been a lot better, I'm notified sooner, but I have found out about student arrests, violence, parent arrests taking place on our campus, and I find out on social media, or I find out because a constituent reached out to our office. And when I've had conversations, and I will say, Superintendent, we've had conversations, and you're like, that's unacceptable, you own it, I've told you before, and I appreciate that, but if it's something that we need to look at what we have in place, what's written, or just reevaluate that line of communication, right, and just ensuring that things get to the board member would really be appreciated. I did notice, and I will be honest, Vice Chair Colucci, in item two, where it says, ensure timely and appropriate notification to the school board, including for situational awareness, the board member representing any affected school. I'm not saying it's a friendly amendment, but I just want to put it out there as well. I wonder if we need to, because we're moving into that educational enterprise, if we need to include property or land on that school. And the reason why I say that is, I received notification that there was an entity that was looking at land at one of my schools and an item came forward. It's something I've been advocating for, but I did not hear from a single person in the district before that item came forward that there was an unsolicited proposal about the property on my school. So I don't know if that's something to consider to add the number two, and it might be because this is such a new process, right? And I know we're not at the F items, but I do need to leave a little bit earlier. There's an F item, and Mr. Perez can maybe mention about it. I had some concerns as well with some of the things that were being done or happening without board notification, happening beforehand. And again, I don't want this to be an airing out of laundry, but because I do need to step out early, I'm just gonna mention three things. I think with many of the comments I've made in the last month or two, and I've made some yesterday and today, I take very much to heart the financial situation that we're in. So this is not at all a reflection of that. And I was told, you know, credit cards are gonna, P cards are gonna be frozen, including board members, but a date wasn't given to me. We made a purchase and it was denied. And I didn't know that our P card was frozen already. And so I think a lot of it just comes down to communication. I think that's the key piece here, right? And so again, this is more because I also, I need to leave early. I asked for information about travel, and I had some comments about it. I think I'm gonna put it, maybe I'll just send an email with some of the information that I'd like as a follow-up. But when we talk about establishing trust, When I asked for that information, I was told at committee all of it was grant funded. And when I looked and I excluded board member travel, because I know board members were not traveling on grant money, almost 70,000 came from general funds. And I'm saying that now because we're in the sunshine. So just board members know I'm gonna ask for more detailed information about that. And again, I think it just, it highlights, we need an increased amount of communication. And I've always said, I don't need to know every single little detail, but when it's something that truly impacts our constituents, our stakeholders, we need to have advanced warning and advanced notice of things. So thank you and at the appropriate time I'd like to co-sponsor if I'm not here because I need to leave. I'll do it through the process that we've been stated to do it after.

And if I may, Mr. Chair, I know you made an amendment about land or what have you. I don't know if that would fall under this policy that we're looking at. And I'll turn that over to the board attorney. I do agree with you because there is another item coming in the F items that I have an issue with as well. So it does kind of relate to this because it's a communication issue. So I don't know how, if anybody, if you have a suggestion on that. You had suggested, I'm sorry, Board Member Blanco. Sorry.

Through the chair. Yes, through the chair. And consider it, right? And I don't know if it's appropriate to specifically what your item and what your intention was. But in Recommend 2, where it says, ensure timely and appropriate notification to the school board, including for situational awareness. Sorry, I'm losing my place. The board member representing any affected school and or land, property. I'm not sure. It came to me, honestly, as you were speaking, and I was thinking of situations where maybe I didn't receive notification of something.

I'm going to call Mr. Alonzo, but I concur with you. I think we may can keep it broad, and I was thinking about some language or impacted areas of representation. Okay. So anything that you represent, you want to be notified. So that can cover everything. Schools and or impacted areas of representation.

Yes, I just wanted to say that I accept that friendly amendment and I really do like it. I think it strengthens the language and it forms us in the loop as a board. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr. Gallin, and thank you, Vice Chair Colucci, for bringing this item. I've sat here and just thinking, right? And today I might actually take a play out of Board Member Geller's playbook when he talks about us coming together, right, and having better communication and working. You know, I truly believe that I don't think administration is ever trying to do anything behind our back or hiding it from the board, but there is sometimes that lack of communication. And I think it was just several months ago that there was a board item that had come and I forgot who it was and it was about communication. The superintendent had made a commitment to beginning have more meetings with each board member um to go over things to kind of feel what we're feeling in our district i mean we're each representative elected by the people to represent each of our communities and each of our communities are alike in many ways but different in so many other ways as well and there's so many moving parts right now in this district from enterprise to academics to finances to, it's just, you name it. This is a large institution with a lot of moving parts, and I think sometimes there's a disconnect that occurs. And it might be because we think it's just an operational thing and it's not a big deal to the board member, we're just gonna move forward with it and do what's right for the district, but then there's negative implications, right, that then come to the board because we're notified by somebody in the streets. notified of things in the past too. So I really think that this is another reminder, and I think you've had one of these in the past, and I think this goes to the entire administration, to realize that there needs to be a better method of connecting board member to administration and to superintendent in a higher frequency. Because we're here to support you, Dr. Dortch, it's the same way that you're here to support us, and we're a team in everything that we're doing, and from what I'm hearing here from Vice Chair Colucci, it seems like it was a communication lapse, possibly, and I don't know the whole story. I didn't receive any calls in my office. I just checked with my staff, so I wasn't aware of what's going on, and I still don't know what's going on, and I don't need to know all the details of it, but I do think that we can all work on better methods of communication, and maybe this board item can help us in creating something that continues to live in this district as well, too, because, I mean, we're having very important conversations now about what the future superintendent may have and what the role may be, and it's important that we define this and that the superintendent understands the level of communication that the board expects and vice versa, that the board understands the level of communication that the superintendent needs to have with us so that that way we're all sitting in the same level of playing field, right? So I appreciate the board item. I support anything that improves communication, that improves outcomes, that improves our district moving forward in a positive environment. And I just ask that we all communicate more and that we have that opportunity to share what's going on. And there's a lot going on within each one of our districts. I always question to myself, you know, how you all can do it, right, with so many pots in the fire. But That's what we do here. We all face all the different challenges and I'm looking forward to having the administration, the superintendent coming back with his vision and kind of ways in which we think we can improve this and from Mr. Harvey, from a policy perspective, do we need to put something in the policy that identifies what are the levels of communication to have, what things need to be communicated to the boards, what don't need to be communicated to the board so that there's a clear understanding And almost that the superintendent staff will know to say, hey, these types of decisions have to go through the board member. These we can do on our own so that we can move things forward. Because the last thing I want to do now too is start to stall the progress that we're making. Because we need to move a lot of different things. And if we now start requiring that every little thing has to come to us, we all know that we're busy. We might not be available. every second of the day when they're making split decisions. But when there are large decisions that are the change of a principal that could be impacting a large school or the change of a program, that's important. We need to know about that. So thank you, Vice Chair Kalushi, for bringing this up. And I look forward to continuing to improve the way in which we all communicate, specifically from board members to administration.

Vice Chair Colucci.

Thank you. As far as I'm done presenting, I just wanted to say that the principal of the school was managing it very well. I'm not, and I understand statutorily that's not my call to make, but at this time when we're not doing D21s, we're at the end of the school year practically because this happened right before spring break. Kids are getting ready for AP exams. They're getting ready for graduation, and all of this undue stress was just so unnecessary. And I just really, really felt that we have to look at this as a board and address it from a policy perspective, because that is our role. So thank you for your consideration, colleagues, and any other questions that you may have.

Madam Chair?

Thank you very much, sir. First and foremost, thank you for bringing the item forth because obviously this is something that I had no phone calls on or anything. I had zero involvement in. And I know that we work tirelessly to have a collaborative relationship, the board and the superintendent, but there is always an area that can be enhanced on either side. superintendent side or or ours but it's imperative absolutely imperative that the open line of communication is always there and that's something that that I think is critically important in the situation that has just been described especially with the issue of a principal being moved from one location to another. Again, I was not cognizant of that portion of the situation that occurred. But sometimes situations happen inadvertently, Nothing done maliciously or on purpose, but we got to learn from that because it has definitely affected the constituents that are represented by Vice Chair Colucci, by Board Member Espino, as they both have addressed it, also by Board Member Blanco. So we have to learn from every experience that we go through. Life is a journey. learning opportunity on a daily basis. So as we move forward from what I saw on the item, what the board vice chair is asking for is just to have a review of the policies that are currently in place, the procedures that are in place, and make a determination. Is there a need to amend to enhance policy? Do we need to change the way procedures are being implemented? But most definitely, the open line of communication I think is the critical component here that I've heard being stated by everyone who has spoken but I do know that again our constituents do come to our offices when they have issues. And if we have that enhanced communication line, then it will make life a lot easier for everyone. And if prior to implementation of certain issues, and you said it, Board Member Alonso, we can't be apprised of everything. It's absolutely impossible. The minutiae of the daily scenarios, absolutely not. But if there's a change of a principle from one location to another in the middle of the year, I would definitely state that that's something that, in my opinion, is imperative that we are apprised on. And moves in the middle of the year, I don't know, I don't know the circumstances, I don't know any of the specifics, but normally a move in the middle of the year is not something that's beneficial for the students, for the parents, for the administrators that are being moved. And again, I don't know, maybe there are issues that required that, but the line of communication with the board members affected, that's something that does need to be enhanced. So I just wanna end with that. I know that this administration wants to do the right thing and they have good intentions all the time but sometimes things happen, they fall through the cracks for X, Y, Z reasons. This is the third largest school district in the country and what we have to do is just not repeat it and enhance what we already have in place and make sure that the line of communication is something that continues to be a priority for every member here in the district. So thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, Vice Chair Colucci.

And Dr. Gallin, and I just want to state for the record, this was more about, this was a lot more than just about a principle move. This was about discussing programmatic changes with a partner institution. without informing the institution and announcing it to the parents of the students. And for the listening public, I don't know if everybody wants me to go into detail, but there is a, statutorily we have to have an early college program, which is for two years so that the students have that opportunity available to them. FIU is one of our partners, AAA, and at FIU MAST. AAA happens to be in my district. The other one isn't, and none of the other SAS schools are. Most of the SAS schools, and I will say this, are in the, they fall under, most of the students fall under the Kendall Campus in The candle, no, in the South region, I'm not sure who's, I think it might be Ms. Blanco's, perhaps, I'm not quite sure, or Santos, one or the other. But basically, there was even a shift in who reports to who as far as the south region reporting to a different superintendent. From my understanding, from the constituents, and through the chair, is that correct? My understanding was that even the Kendall campus would be reporting to the central office. That was my understanding from what I was told through the chair.

Dr. Lewis, Dr. Doltris, somebody wants to respond to the question?

Well, so I just wondered if I'm, If I can, just respond to the overall issue here.

Through the chair, if I may. I just want an answer to that right now, and then, you know, if you feel free. But I want to know, I was told by constituents that the central region was there, the north region was there, but the bulk of the south region is 60% of the students that go there, and everything is housed in that region, so my question is, yes or no, were they moved to, under that region, central or north, were all of the schools taken away from the south region, even though they are within the south region, through the chair?

Dr. Lewis. Through the chair, Vice Chair Colucci, the actual school leader was moved from the south region to the central region. As far as the schools that you're referencing, there was no impact to the schools whatsoever. It was only the school leader that no longer report to the south region was reporting to the central region.

Through the chair, if I may? Yes. So, and I don't want to get into the logistics of all of this now, but it's always been my understanding that the school within the district, and this is my understanding, the school within the region reports to that region superintendent through the chair. The campus, you know.

Through the chair, Dr. Gallant.

So we have two things here. We have, you know, everything was shifted. And again, I wasn't made aware of that as well through the chair.

Through the chair, Vice Chair Colucci, in reference to SAS, as you know, they have five different campuses all over, okay? Not all of their campuses are actually located in the south region. And once again, as far as impact, it was only the actual school leader no longer reporting to the south region superintendent or south region in particular. They actually were reporting to the central region.

So through the chair, so there was a change. Thank you, you answered my question.

Okay. I know that the superintendent, you wanted to, okay. Dr. Dote, I had some comments, but I'll let you go first. I had a few questions. Everything that has been described, I don't take any exception with the need for these issues to be addressed, as our chair often says, as long as they're done in decency and in order. What I did, I wrote down, if board member Spino tries to cheat and look on my paper, I wrote down every time the word communication was said. So the spirit of the item at first blush looks as if respectfully that there's an issue of a relationship versus communication. So when I first saw it, especially in the context of some of the discourse we're having here. In the subject, it says board superintendent relationship. If it were me, I may just want you to consider board superintendent communication. And just... No, no, through the chair, if you don't mind.

I just quoted the policy that would follow. Yeah, I understand. That's all I did. Thank you.

Yeah, I understand. But I'm talking about the crux of the issue that is being addressed, for me, appears to be an issue of communication.

Mr. Chair, can I raise a point of order very quickly with you? Point of order, yes. Yes, sir. I have to be in a meeting at 5. Can my item still proceed forward if I have to leave before we get to it on the agenda?

Yes, it can. Thank you. Yes. So I see you cited the policy. But when I look at the subject, I thought normally when I do the policy, I'll say school board superintendent relationship slash policy such and such. So I would reference it. Until you said it, I didn't connect it as being the foundation of the policy. I interpreted everything being related to the issue we're trying to ameliorate.

So that's how I looked at it and when I kept counting communication.

The first, I'm going, cut to the chase, go to the recommend. Recommend one, undertake a conference review of all existing board policies, administrative procedures, and I would recommend operational slash communication protocols. because you could have all of the operational slash communication protocols and recommend one. I would follow that up as well and recommend to ensure timely and appropriate notification to the school board, including for situational awareness, the board member representing any affected schools and or impacted areas of representation. regarding significant proposed changes provided, detailed briefing outlining the scope rationale, blah, blah, blah, for board to be on policy oversight without limit of thought. Now, the last one I have is prepare and deliver a detailed presentation. Just for consideration, just as this is my personal preference, I don't know if a report or a written response versus an all-out presentation unless that's what your druthers were. What I've seen today, which has been instrumental, we had both sides of the coin. We had presentations that I probably didn't sit through. But we also had vehicles by which we could address issues. And I think we had some reports. I think one was yours. You had a response, follow up. So that report allowed you to dive deep into the response in a way that does not bind us to a formal presentation. So respectfully, if you could modify it not being a presentation, I would be so thankful.

I will definitely do that. I hear you, Dr. Gallin.

You're the best.

Thank you. Those are my recommendations. I'll tell my husband you said that.

Tell him. I'm the best. Tell him. Thank you. Those are my only recommendations, and it will achieve the same thing, and the response can also provide an opportunity if the superintendent so chooses in the response to provide maybe a flow chart or some other things, things of that nature, that's fine. And the last part is, and if necessary, any proposed, okay, I'm sorry, I need to go back if you don't mind. Initiate rulemaking and or policy revisions. As appropriate, I will put rulemaking and or, I wrote it down. Any, I'm sorry, and school level organizational changes and where deficiency or gaps are identified changes to administrative practices and or communication protocols And then I want to put that in there too. So if it doesn't always have to be rulemaking, he can change some procedures and protocols. That's kind of what...

Through the chair, if I may just clarify. Just add that in there in addition to... You know what?

You could do it in three. You don't have to do it in two. Three will catch it. Yes. I think it just complicates it. And if necessary, any proposed board policy changes and or administrative changes slash communication protocols.

That's it.

And then thank you for no presentation. Those are my recommended changes. Any additional comments or questions? I don't know, Mr. Superintendent. Thank you, sir. Please.

Thank you. So I will try very hard to explain as much as I can without compromising, Ms. Colucci, the way you felt. and what you've had to do with this issue. Because it's not only about me, it's about the way my team, and the way I've been speaking to my teams as I got here, which is we have to keep board members informed. We've done it from the very, very beginning, and I do not like to talk about the past, but that's not where we were before. So, In life, success is all about communication. I believe it. It is there. So, constantly, when there is a change that's occurring in a school, we try very hard to make sure that the board member is involved for one particular and more important issue. If we don't have the board member on board, this may not work. So I want to be clear that we are guided by that. I had a situation just this weekend with Mr. Alonso and with Mr. Bueno, and I said it clearly. We need to alert Mr. Alonso. So I have insisted or we've tried very hard to follow that commitment to you because we don't see ourselves as a separate team. We see ourselves as connected, as connected because it's the only way. there are a lot of things happening at the same time. I'm not gonna use that as an excuse. The roller coaster ride is getting faster and faster. So in this situation, Ms. Colucci, absolutely, communication should have been better. I completely acknowledge, and I told you that over the phone. But there are a couple of things that I need to make sure that I correct in that I'm able to say, to make sure that everyone has at least the right information, although it has been communicated differently from the outside. And sometimes perception becomes reality for people. The first thing I'm going to say is partnerships are incredibly important for this organization. And as we move forward, partnerships are gonna make us better. That's the bottom line. I even discussed it in Puerto Rico yesterday. Partnerships, industry, community, organizations, if school districts don't partner with them in a solid way, it will not help us evolve into what public education really can become. So that is really important. Whatever happened with FIU, I can assure you that that partnership is going to be solid, Ms. Colucci. And we're going to respect it, and in no way I want it to lose any type of strength that it has. I've had multiple meetings with President Nunez, and they've been solid. They've been solid in moving forward.

Yes, point of order. I don't feel comfortable with saying things that were, you know, with putting someone's name out there. I really don't. Just because she's not present to speak and I'm not comfortable with that.

I understand. I don't disagree with you and I didn't think that the superintendent was going to go down that path. My recommendation would be is that if there is a need to clarify the i would provide i would recommend if it were me i think your initial statement of your position around communication how important it is that board members are notified and how certain things happen and you're working to address that i will attest uh factually and i don't know if the chair will co-sign with me uh the communication that we've experienced has dramatically improved under this administration. I want to say that unequivocally. However, I will say I wasn't going to say it. Some of the communication gaps are indiscriminate and it goes the opposite way for me. And I'll just give an example. Here's the irony of it. There is an institution that was exploring a space in my district and a staff person had actually facilitated a visit to that space. That space happens to be my satellite office area. So I was not aware of that, neither was the superintendent. This was about two years ago. When he found out about it, he addressed it immediately. And that situation did not materialize. And he addressed that staff person profusely. So I just want to put that on the record that it's not indiscriminate. Things happen in a large bureaucracy. But I agree with you. I would recommend that if there is a need to clarify a chronology of what happened, I would recommend that you do that based on that particular issue. and not conflate the issue with the need and importance of communication that is reflected in the item. That's my recommendation. Yes, Mr. Superintendent.

Yes, and I agree. Let me just say the partnership with that institution, Ms. Colucci, will be stronger than ever. We will continue working with them, clearly. But there was a couple of things that were said that I just need to correct for the record, okay? It is important, Dr. Gallin, because it was communicated. There was, we meant to create, and like I told Ms. Colucci, a transition opportunity. It was interpreted as a permanent, fixed opportunity, which Ms. Colucci now understands, and like I told you, an earlier communication piece of this would have made it all better, but we did not change the principle. It was a transition piece. It was understood that way, and that's what created the issue. That's why there was no D21, okay? So again, it all comes down to communication, but there are a couple of things that I want to make sure that although they might have been represented in a way out there, truly that was not the effort or the approach that we were taking with this. But again, I accept the fact that we could have done better in communication. And I must tell you, we are committed to share and keep board members apprised. Because we know for a fact that when we don't do that, then we're not acting as a team. And this landscape is getting more and more complicated, that the need for the board members to be informed is becoming more and more important, and I accept that. I accept that. And whatever we need to do to improve, enhance, or make sure that we don't forget, because I think this one was a matter of forgetting, we will definitely continue on the path to do it better. Okay, thank you, Ms. Cucci.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And if, you know... I respected your insistence, and I say that with a smile, but I'll give you a slight recommendation that if you want to codify some of the issues for the record, you can do it potentially in your report and maybe add a supplement regarding that specific issue if you need to clarify that, and that would give you an opportunity. I think the way it was presented, the item was presented, and it was presented as some representations from others. Those others are not here, and I think even if those others were here, it wouldn't be a healthy or productive discourse, and it's not really relevant to what is in the item. The body talks about it, but the recommend is what Dr. Stinson says matters, and if we can circumscribe our focus on that and our response to that, I think it'll be a productive situation. We'll make lemonade out of lemons. How about that? Motion for co-sponsorship with the amendments. With the amendments? You agree? Okay. Okay. Move it. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Tell me, am I there? Are we there yet? I'm not there. Dr. Bendross-Mendingall has H9. I think everybody's for safety, co-sponsorship. All in favor? Aye. H10, Mr. Geller, Board Member Geller.

We did this last year. Hope we'll do it again this year.

You want motion for co-sponsorship?

Aye.

All in favor? Aye. Everybody, last one, H11, Carrie Meek in Miami-Dade County?

Move it.

Motion, everybody, okay? Okay. Motion to move the H's?

Move it.

All in favor? Aye. New business staff follow-up, do we have any questions about H7? Oh no, wait a minute. The follow-up, are there any questions regarding the follow-up provided? No, no. What about the one to H10? Is there a question? You got the follow-up? Is there a question? You have a presentation? Okay. Is there a question regarding H3 referendum? We have to present that. You received the report. That's my follow-up. This is critically important. This is time-sensitive. So, again... to the point that Board Member Blanco made, and in deference to Board Member Alonso, Vice Chair Colucci, Board Member Espino, and even Board Member Geller, who were not here during the initial referendum, it was important for us to give you a foundation as it relates to what has been implemented, where we are right now, so that as we make a determination to move forward, on behalf of our teachers and on behalf of safety and security, you have documented foundational information for the voters to potentially have a voice in this. And obviously, this is something the voters will have to decide. But obviously, there's a time-sensitive nature to this, and we were not going to bring the item for that until you had an opportunity to receive that information, of which I'm sure each of you has received. Dr. Batlos, please.

Through the Chair, we transmitted staff follow-up for school board agenda item H13. Based on our recent stakeholder meetings and staff analysis, the findings and recommendations regarding the Secure Our Future referendum, which is a vital investment that has fundamentally reshaped the landscape of teacher compensation and school safety in Miami-Dade. Many of the realities we faced in 2018 that were the genesis of the need for the referendum continue to exist today. There continues to be a gap between income and the cost of living. Housing costs continue to rise. The median home price in Miami-Dade is approximately $627,000, according to Zillow. We continue to provide a school resource officer at every school, bell to bell. And teacher recruitment and retention continue to be a priority. The median income gap, the median household income is approximately $87,200. Without the referendum, our average teacher base salary is approximately $57,300, well below what is needed to live where they work. If Miami-Dade were a separate state, The current average base salary would rank 49th nationally in teacher pay. With the referendum, we jumped to approximately 15th. The current referendum provides an average supplement of approximately $15,000 for both elementary and secondary teachers. We know, however, that these aren't bonuses. These are referendum retirement accruing supplements, meaning they count towards a teacher's Florida retirement system credit. Our police department is the largest of school police departments in the United States, and we've increased from 176 officers to over 450 officers currently, with over 250 officers funded completely out of the referendum. This ensures every school is covered. Supplements from the referendum allowed us to provide competitive salaries for our officers, eliminating the train and drain concerns we previously had. In terms of accountability and transparency, we have kept our promise to the voters. The Secure Our Future Advisory Committee, known as SOFAC, has confirmed that 100% of the funds are being used exactly as the voters intended for instructional salaries and safety and security. We've maintained our strategic split of 88 to 12% for instruction to safety and security. After meeting with the stakeholders and the SOFAC, all recommendations were to move forward with a request to the electors for a November 3rd general election and to maintain the current one mill in order to keep our competitive edge and meet the ongoing needs of our workforce.

Thank you, Dr. Baglos. Are there any questions, comments? Madam Chair? Board Member Espino and then Board Member Santos.

I'm just going to be very brief because we've been through this a couple of times already and I'm going to tell all my colleagues on the board get ready to go out there because that's something that we had to do for the last rounds to let the members of the community know when the voting was taking place at the sites. why this was so critically important to our teachers and for the safety and the well-being of our children. I know that there has been polling that has taken place which has proven results that are very positive, that regardless, because I had a little bit of... because of the economy and everything else, I wasn't really sure 100% where the community would be, but I know that they love teachers and there's nothing more important to the parents and to members of this community to have safety and security at our schools. And because this enhanced both of those arenas, I believe the results of the polling have proven that if were to go for a vote today, it would definitely pass with good numbers. And so we're hoping that that continues to be the case, but this is something that has to be initiated. uh you know the communication portion and uh you know the notification to families and members of the community as to why it's so important that we have that referendum because our teachers where we have a crisis in the nation right now need to be able to live, work, and play so that they can teach. And because of the plethora of different reasons that they're encountering today, the dollars that we received from the referendum played a very important role in enhancing their salary. so that they could do exactly that and stay right here in Miami and be able to deal with the cost of living and all the other areas that they have to address in their personal lives. And in the other portion, again, the safety and security for our law enforcement department is very important as well. So communicating that to the community I think is extremely important to be done starting ASAP. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Board Member Espino, I'll just say about the polling, I remember when I first ran for office and they say, hey, man, you're like 15 points behind. I said, you mean 30. So I always be mindful, run like you're far behind. But I think we're not there yet, but the report really speaks to that recommendation of the SOFAC, and it gives the board an opportunity to digest that and take the next step as relates to supporting the maintenance of this particular provision. Board Member Espino.

And the next step is exactly, Mr. Chair, what I was going to bring up. The question was, when are we going to see an item for it, and when will we see proposed ballot language?

Excellent question. We were not going to, the item for the board will be coming, we're anticipating for this next meeting, but we didn't want to be presumptuous about the board not having an opportunity to reflect, receive, and reflect and respond to the report. So we've had that opportunity, but we do know, based on what you know, that there's a timeline that we have to deal with, so we're ready to transition to the next iteration for board action. And then obviously it has to go to the county, and we have to deal with their particular timeline. Right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Board Member Santos?

Thank you so much. I'll just echo the sentiment. I know for those of us who have had to really be out there presenting this to the community, getting the input, once we all do that and people realize the importance as outlined in this follow-up of how foundational it's become to our everyday functioning, voters, for the most part, and I respect everyone's opinion on it, but want to invest in our teachers and in our safety. And so I certainly just want to put on the record, I'll be out there working it, and we'll get it done together.

Thank you. All right, thank you so much for the work, Mr. Superintendent, Dr. Baglos. for providing that information in a timely manner. I know you'll continue to work with Mr. Harvey. I think you are getting ready for that language, Mr. Harvey. And we obviously have procedural contemplations potentially with the chair's approval for an item to be considered for next week's meeting. Any other questions? Can I have a motion to adjourn? All in favor? Aye. Board Member Spino? We will take. The time is now?

Time is now 5.04. No, I meant we're starting now. Oh, five minutes. Five minutes. Five minutes to regain our quorum and to reshuffle our chairs.

Dr. Gannon, I thought you were going to ask to get a redo of the bus presentation.