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

All right, welcome to the Personnel Student School and Community Support Committee meeting for October 1st, 2025. I'd like to call this committee meeting to order. Before we get started, I'd like to state the committee membership. Members are Dr. Steve Gallin, committee chair. He's unable to be here, and so as committee vice chair, I will be heading the meeting. Mr. Danny Espino and Mr. Robert Alonzo, members. Mr. Joseph Geller, alternate member. Our first order of today's business is to approve the committee meeting minutes of September 3rd. I hope everyone had an opportunity to review. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes?

Madam Chair. Oh, yes. Thanks. I alerted the staff because there was an error in the minutes, and I just wanted to get an update on whether we're in person out, right?

Yes.

good afternoon to the chair there was a revised version emailed out yesterday afternoon perfect thank you so much so it's been addressed okay great thank you so a motion to approve the minutes as amended can i get a second second thank you all in favor great all right we now move the agenda items um to the floor starting with the d items may i have a motion to move the d items thank you thank you um chief silva i believe you have items d16 through d18

Yes, through the chair, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

D16 is presentation of the annual school safety compliance report to the school board. A copy was sent to everybody's board member's office.

Any questions or comments? Okay, D17.

D17 is presentation of the quarterly school safety compliance report to the school board.

Okay, I just wanna comment and it's a conversation I had directly with the chief. I'm not gonna bring it up in public and just making some improvements and we've had some conversations about that. Any other board members like to make a comment? Board Member Santos.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Chief, were we able to get those digital links sent out for the supplementals for these items?

For D18, the one we were talking to today, or D17?

D17 and D18 through the chair.

Through the chair, D16 and 17 were sent with a memo with a link attached for the reports, and D18 will be sent before Monday morning. You should be getting Monday morning.

Through the chair. D17 I still had missing since our conversation yesterday. Okay.

Through the chair, I'll follow up and find out why it wasn't received.

Perfect, thank you so much. Sure.

Initially, I had some issues opening up some of those links as well, so maybe something we can look at to see how to, I don't know if any other board members had difficulties opening up the links.

Through the chair, I'll follow up on that.

All right, thank you. Okay, can I get a motion to move items D16 through D18 to the board meeting? Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. We'll go on to items D20 through D22. Dr. Don Baglos, those are your items.

Through the chair, D20, request approval of personnel action listing 1196 and instructional personnel assigned to teach out of field.

Thank you. Board members, any questions or comments? All right, thank you. We will move, well, again, I get a motion to move those items to the board meeting.

Thank you.

All in favor? Great, thank you. All in favor? I know we need some, I think we need some coffee to wake up. All right, item D6, Mr. Luis Diaz, this is your item. Through the chair. D6, D60, I'm sorry, not six. I need coffee too.

Through the chair, D60 requests authorization for students to travel out of country.

All right, any comments or questions from the board other than taking us with the students? All right, motion to move that to the board meeting. Second. Thank you. Item D68, Dr. Lewis, this is your item.

Thank you, Madam Chair. D68 through the chair is the expulsion and the assignment of students to alternative school programs.

Questions or comments? All right, motion to move that to the board meeting. Second. Thank you. All right, now on to the G items before us. Item G2, Mr. Harvey, this is your item.

Yes, Madam Chair. G2 presents for final reading, amendments to policies governing conflicts of interest. educator misconduct and mandatory reporting. These are updates based on the recommendation that was made by the Office of Inspector General, as well as some updates that are required by Senate Bill 1374 regarding reporting and self-reporting arrests. If there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions or comments?

Madam Chair? Just a very brief comment. First of all, I want to thank our general counsel and his team for doing such a comprehensive job. I'm very happy. I read everything very carefully and I looked at the self-reporting issues that we dealt with many times and still deal with in the Office of Professional Standards and the new criteria that has to be followed. So I just wanna make sure that, and I guess this question really would not be for general counsel, it would be more so for Dr. Lewis. Dr. Lewis, sir, my question would be, there's new information here. I know that at the beginning of the year, principal always has their meeting with their employees, they go over everything in the handbook and OPS-related issues are addressed at that time, specifically addressing the self-reporting of situations that there are arrests and things of that nature. but there's some changes. Is this information being provided to the principals at the region principals meeting for them to go back accordingly to a faculty meeting? How are we getting the new updates on?

Through the chair, thank you for the question, Board Chair Rojas. As you know, every month we have a unique opportunity with our skilled leadership principal meetings. Those items are being presented there and principals, as you can imagine, in return go back to the school and doing their faculty meeting, they're able to address it. Also, we have a very unique opportunity that's coming up with a planning day. So that gives us another opportunity as well.

Thank you. So through the chair, just one more question. Once they receive the update, because it's so important for people to be cognizant of what they are supposed to do if sadly someone is in an unfortunate situation, are we requesting a signed document to show that it has been shared with the employees and they are now cognizant of what is happening?

Through the chair, that's actually done electronically. The answer is yes.

Thank you very much. That's all I have. Thank you.

Dr. Bacchus? To the chair, if I may also add, we did recently update the online policies when you go into your portal so that it's representative of all of the changes. Additionally, we're partnering with our labor presidents so that we can make sure that all employees receive the information, not just school site, because it does impact all non-school site employees as well. So we're doing due diligence to make sure that all employee groups are aware of these changes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dr. Baglos. Any other comments or questions? Okay, can I get a motion to move the G2 to the board meeting? Second. Thank you. It's come to my attention that although I called for D20 through D22 together, we may not have actually had conversations on D21 and D22. So if you're okay with the board, we'll have Dr. Baglos go through those items.

Through the chair, D21 requests approval of administrative appointments for 2526. and through the chair D-22 requests by the inspector general to contract personnel for an open budgeted position.

Board members, any questions or comments? Okay, I think we had already moved all of the D items to the floor, but we gave an opportunity to ensure that she could present the items and clarify if there were any questions. Okay, can I get a motion to move the H items to the floor? All in favor? Thank you. All right, item H2. Madam Chair, this is your item.

Yes, thank you very much. And H2 is a revised Florida teacher standards for English speakers of other languages, ESOL. And this is regarding the endorsement and professional development assistance from the Florida Department of Education. And basically this agenda item is summarizing some of the new Florida teacher standards for ESOL. endorsement and again for the professional development that is to come with it and this professional development is being offered from the florida department of ed these new standards for the easel endorsement are much more rigorous and will without a doubt have an impact on our teachers and how they teach and hopefully the new standards will have a positive academic achievement for our students. The FDOE is willing to provide any technical assistance and professional development to Miami-Dade County Public Schools as the new standards are developed and as English language progress is a key now, it's a key measure by improving again the subgroups performance and so such as the students that are ELL population under the Every Student Success Act. I want everyone to be apprised of the fact that right now here our population as everybody knows, is very, very diverse. And we have a very high number of ESOL students compared to other counties in the state of Florida. We have more than 300,000 English language learners that are enrolled across the entire state. But for us here, we are ranked third, third in ELL population And again, although Spanish is a major native language that we have here, we're also serving students that speak 243 different languages, which is impressive. And we have over 80,000 ELL students that were reported in Miami-Dade County public schools. And this was last year for the 24-25 school year. Currently now we have 77,000 ELL students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. So therefore it is imperative that we prepare our teachers and that earning that ESL endorsement now not only meets the state certification requirements, but again, Also is opening the doors to very meaningful careers and bridging our cultural and linguistic divides I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to even witness some of these new standards and the training that's being given because it is going to truly make a difference in the final grade that that school gets and now there has to be improvement in If you're an ESOL one, you can't stay as an ESOL one because if you do, that's going to adversely affect the outcome of your grade in your school. So again, this is the item. And if there are any questions or anything, I'd be happy to answer. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Board members, any comments or questions? And I know Dr. Baglos would like to comment.

Through the chair, thank you. I just wanted to reassure the board that the Office of Professional Learning and Career Development has already begun working on our course catalog to make sure that our courses are aligned with the state requirements. And they have also been participating in the first round of technical assistance meetings. They are working diligently to make sure that we are in compliance.

Thank you. That's great to hear. Can I get a motion for co-sponsorships? Can I get a second? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to move the item as amended to the board.

meeting thank you all in favor all right and we now move on to item h4 madam chair this is your item yes and uh this is uh miami-dade county school board endorsement of national family literacy day which is november 1st of 2025 this is an item that i bring every year and it's it's so important it's it's truly a vital opportunity for our schools to be able to recognize and to promote how important family involvement is specifically in the arena of reading, which is what we are trying to encourage our students to engage in so much more than, sadly, they are spending way too much time doing other things, and we've gotta go back to the love of reading And via this item, the parents can get involved, the grandparents can get involved, the uncles, the aunts, the cousins. It's just getting everybody to show the love of reading to the children. So hopefully they will continue down that route after this day. And I hope that our schools, and I know in the past they have, are planning events that are meaningful. I have been present and I have participated in those events and they truly make a big difference. So Dr. Lewis and his team, I know that this is something that via the regions you're all working on, and I certainly appreciate what I've seen in the past, and I hope that it continues this year as well. Thank you very much, that's the item.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for bringing that item and recognizing that awareness. And ideally, we would have that every single day, right, for parents to have that family literacy moment together. Can I get a motion for cosponsorships? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to move that item as amended to the board meeting?

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Thank you. All right, we now go on to item H9 from Board Member Espino.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Colleagues, if those of you that had some spare time last night watched the City of Miami debate for the next mayor, there were substantive conversations, and one of them was about homelessness. And certainly the conversation of housing, which we've talked a little bit about this board, the conversation about homelessness doesn't stop at housing. I had occasion through the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to go to the Chapman Partnership and hear from them. I knew that we had an arrangement, a relationship with the Chapman Partnership through post-secondary. But when you're there and you see firsthand how it's being deployed, it's a very eye-opening experience because it is a bridge to that fight against homelessness. I had occasion to meet with them one-on-one because I had heard at that meeting with the Chapman Partnership that they were developing a company called, like an offshoot called CP Works. Essentially, you can think of it as job placement that they were themselves were sponsoring with their own residents, if you will. And recall, the Chapman Partnership is supposed to be transitional housing, transitional supports and transitional services. So considering the labor force and the offerings that we already provide, I thought it prudent to look at ways to expand that partnership with Chapman, that partnership with Chapman Partnership, no pun intended, that strategic arrangement with Chapman Partnership, to look at not only how we can expand what we already offer, the ESOL classes, the pre-apprenticeship, and some of the industry certifications, those pathways to permanent employment, but also how we can collaborate with this new office called CP Works, because from time to time we find ourselves in dire straits of a number of positions that could perfectly be suited for some of these people looking to transition out of CP Works into permanent employment. Currently, CBWorks has a relationship with the Underline, where those completed parts of the Underline have coordinated with CBWorks to do a lot of maintenance and security for that. And the sense of ownership that these people have over that job is the kind of thing you haven't seen in a lot of places. They're background checked, there's security, there's a number of issues that go with it, there's training. And then, of course, they're tied to Chapman Partnerships, so it's almost like a... placement company with which you have a personal relationship. And so this is simply an item to ask the superintendent to explore the feasibility of enhancing and expanding our current partnership with the Chapman Partnership, including CP Works, and to see how, if there are any opportunities that CP Works participants can help district staffing needs as may be deemed appropriate in areas such as custodial facilities, maintenance, landscaping, beautification, project and event support, logistics, and other things like that. That's the item.

Thank you, Board Member Espino. Colleagues, any comments or questions? Co-sponsorship? Yes, I think it's a great item, anything we can do to help the community and improve. All right, so co-sponsorship motion?

Move it.

All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to move the item as amended?

Move it. Second. All in favor?

Thank you. All right, I don't see any new business in the form of staff follow-ups. Do I have any board members who have new business they'd like to discuss? All right. Maybe I hold the record now, looking as we may have just exhausted the items for this meeting. Move into adjourn? Move it. Thank you.