Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 music
4:31 Thank you.
5:01 Good afternoon.
5:29 The December 13th work session is now in order.
5:31 Paul, roll call, please.
5:33 Mr. Susan?
5:34 Here.
5:34 Ms. Wright?
5:35 Here.
5:36 Mr. Trent?
5:36 Here.
5:37 Ms. Jenkins?
5:38 Present.
5:38 Ms. Campbell?
5:39 Here.
5:39 Please stand for the pledge.
5:47 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
5:51 and to the Republic for
5:53 which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
5:57 and justice for all.
6:02 The first topic on today’s agenda is Space Coast Junior Senior
6:05 High School’s additional
6:06 construction management services.
6:08 Ms. Sue Hand, assistant of superintendent of facilities, will be
6:11 presenting.
6:12 Ms. Hand.
6:13 Good afternoon, everyone.
6:14 Thank you for the opportunity to walk you through where we are
6:18 with the Space Coast Junior Senior
6:20 High School track.
6:21 As you recall, the board approved the construction management
6:25 contract for the resurfacing rubberization
6:28 of the track in November.
6:29 However, there was an alternate option that was noted on the
6:34 agenda that was to widen the
6:36 track from six lanes to eight lanes.
6:38 And the board gave us an opportunity to go ahead and explore
6:42 that a little bit more and provide
6:44 some research to you as to how we’ve progressed through the
6:47 track capital program.
6:48 And so just very briefly, as I mentioned previously, we have
6:54 been working on renewal and rubberization
6:57 of all of our high school tracks, with the exceptions of West
7:01 Shore and Edgewood, who don’t actually
7:03 have functioning tracks.
7:04 So what I’m about to say applies to the other 14 tracks.
7:10 We have gone through the program on the theory of renewal of the
7:16 track assets that we have.
7:18 And then while we are doing that as part of the sales surtax
7:22 program, also going in and
7:24 rubberizing the tracks.
7:25 And so that was a big ask from our athletic directors a couple
7:28 of years ago.
7:29 And we were able to combine those two things while we’re on site.
7:33 And so we have, we’ve gone through several projects already.
7:38 And I just want to let you know, we have eight that are finished,
7:42 three that are under contract,
7:44 two that are under design.
7:46 And one, Satellite High School, that was done back in 2017.
7:49 And that was done largely with community funding.
7:53 Some district funds were involved in that project.
7:56 And that’s really the case for most of these.
7:58 So as we have progressed through the track program, the
8:02 parameters around which we have done them
8:04 is we, the district, will be renewing the track and rubberizing
8:09 the track.
8:10 We’ll do the interior curbing and exterior curbing because those
8:15 are, those are aspects of the project
8:18 that will preserve the life of the track.
8:20 So from the perspective of the building of the track itself,
8:25 that’s what we have included.
8:27 But we’re basically putting back what is there.
8:31 So in the case of a couple of schools, they went from seven to
8:36 eight lanes via striping.
8:39 The footprint of the track was wide enough to be able to do that.
8:43 Melbourne High School is the one exception.
8:45 They are constrained at six lanes.
8:47 We didn’t look at widening the Melbourne High School track
8:51 because they’re also constrained
8:53 by the turf field that they have and the grandstand bleachers
8:56 that they have.
8:57 And so there really was no physical way to do that without a
9:00 fairly significant project.
9:02 In the case of Space Coast Junior Senior High School, they have
9:06 six lanes.
9:07 And our normal protocol would have been to just simply resurface
9:12 what’s there
9:13 and then rubberize the six lanes that they have.
9:16 The width of the track was not sufficient to give them any more
9:20 lanes.
9:21 So they asked for an alternate to widen the track.
9:25 So we redesigned it so that it could be done.
9:27 And our construction manager gave us a price for it.
9:31 And that’s what we presented at the last board meeting at $183,000
9:35 to do that work.
9:36 The unique aspect of the Space Coast track is that the grandstand
9:41 bleachers
9:42 coincidentally were failing at approximately the same time.
9:47 And so the grandstand bleachers are no longer in the way because
9:51 we had to tear them down.
9:52 So the opportunity to widen the track at Space Coast Junior
9:56 Senior High School is present basically now.
9:59 And so the ability to do the widening is really now if we are
10:05 going to make that leap.
10:08 In terms of how we’ve treated other schools, the way that we
10:12 have framed this is that, as I said,
10:15 the district funds, the basic track renewal and rubberization,
10:17 and the schools have been fundraising for some of their
10:21 additional track assets that they’d like to have.
10:24 And those included field events.
10:26 So we did very few field events as part of the project unless
10:31 the school wanted to fund those.
10:34 And we had several schools that did do a fairly significant
10:36 amount of fundraising,
10:37 certainly some of them, to contribute resources to doing the
10:41 field events.
10:43 So in looking at our track inventory, I believe that there are
10:47 seven of them that can actually host regional meets,
10:51 meaning they have the track, they have the correct number of
10:54 lanes, correct distance and all of that, and they have the field
10:58 events.
10:59 So that is not the case with all of our tracks.
11:01 So some of them have been improved and are not slated for
11:04 hosting regional meets, like O’Galley is probably an example of
11:08 one of those.
11:09 So we’re kind of all over the board with our track situation.
11:12 So what you have before you today is a summary of what I’ve just
11:16 said.
11:17 And there is $183,000 cost to widen the track if we do that
11:23 concurrently with the rubberization and renewal contract.
11:29 So the board also asked me to take a look at how we could fund
11:32 the $183,000.
11:34 And so I took a look at our capital plan.
11:37 And we have a project in our capital plan that relates to Myla
11:40 Elementary School.
11:42 And we’ve been talking with the principal, and this goes back a
11:45 year or so, probably a little bit more than a year,
11:47 about serving the ESE students better at Myla.
11:52 And the current building in which those students are served
11:55 really could use a significant upgrade and potentially a
11:58 replacement.
11:59 But we really have to take a look at what is the best way to
12:03 deal with that situation.
12:06 Is it constructing a new building?
12:08 Is it trying to do rehabilitation and renovation of the existing
12:13 building?
12:13 Our initial thinking was around probably a new building.
12:17 But we really need to do an RFQ process to bring in an architect
12:22 to take a look at that situation.
12:24 And we just hadn’t quite gotten around to doing that part yet.
12:28 So in looking at the capital program, I was pretty comfortable
12:34 that we could proceed with the RFQ.
12:37 We could proceed with the initial phase where we bring in an
12:40 architect to do that analysis of what is the best way to serve
12:43 those students.
12:44 And then we backfill the remainder of the funding in the fiscal
12:49 year 24 capital plan.
12:51 So we actually have $250,000 that was slated, $100,000 from last
12:56 year, $150,000 from this year’s capital plan for that project.
13:01 We could use a portion of those resources for the track.
13:05 And then when we do the FY24 capital plan, we would simply
13:09 request that money be replenished.
13:11 And at that time, we’d probably have a better idea of exactly
13:14 what project we would be doing, what the scope would be.
13:17 So we’d have a better sense of what the design fees would be and
13:20 what the ultimate project would be and whether that’s an impact
13:24 fee type of project or whether it’s a capital project to serve
13:27 those students better.
13:29 So that was the option I looked at for potentially funding that
13:33 widening of the track.
13:35 And so with that, I’ll be happy to entertain any questions.
13:39 If the board had, whatever the consensus of the board is, if we
13:42 choose to move forward, then I would bring that as a formal
13:46 change order request at the January board meeting.
13:49 But the contractor is prepared to move ahead if that’s the will
13:52 of the board.
13:53 Thank you, Sue.
13:54 So what Sue’s asking is, do we, first off, if there’s any
13:57 discussion, but then also if we can approve and give direction.
14:00 So is there any discussion?
14:01 Does anybody want to talk about it?
14:03 Can I ask Sue a question?
14:05 Absolutely.
14:05 Just to be clear on the Myla project, the timeframe for that has
14:09 not been established yet.
14:11 It sounds like you’re the very beginning phases of that.
14:13 So we don’t, do you know what that project is going to
14:16 potentially cost us?
14:18 So, yes, we’re at the very beginning stages.
14:21 No on what it potentially would cost.
14:24 A classroom addition for an elementary school, $5 to $7 million,
14:28 depending on what we would be, what we would actually do for an
14:32 addition.
14:33 A renovation is probably about the same.
14:35 Okay.
14:39 So right now, if I’m hearing you correctly, it sounds like $250,000
14:43 is what’s been kind of carved out for that project.
14:46 So we’re still a ways off from what we’re going to need there.
14:49 Right.
14:50 And the intention was just to get started because we really need
14:53 to do a lot of work on the scoping of the project.
14:55 We have a similar project at West Melbourne Elementary where we’re
14:59 not quite sure what the answer is.
15:01 But we know we need some additional student stations there.
15:05 So that’s how, we’re going to pursue it very similarly to what
15:08 we’re doing at West Melbourne.
15:09 Got you.
15:10 Okay.
15:10 Ms. Campbell.
15:14 So this is a unique situation.
15:17 I, you know, I have a few just hesitations and then a suggestion.
15:23 You know, a hesitation is, you know, we, as much as we would
15:26 like for every high school to have the same facilities, the fact
15:30 is that they just don’t.
15:31 They weren’t all built at the same time.
15:32 They weren’t all built in the same, each, each high school has a
15:36 different footprint on their property.
15:38 You know, and I, you know, it’s not lost on me because I’ve had
15:43 community reach out to me multiple times about Mel High has zero
15:47 field events facilities.
15:50 And then we look at our two, you know, Heritage and, not
15:52 Heritage, West Shore and Edgewood all day, although they don’t
15:55 have tracks.
15:56 They do have track teams, correct?
15:58 So those are having to use other schools’ facilities.
16:02 Unfortunately, those two schools are close by other schools that
16:05 they can use.
16:06 But it does create a potential problem.
16:08 My other hesitation is that, you know, in the description on the
16:14 second page, it says,
16:16 the cost of widening the track is $183,000.
16:18 The school has indicated they’re not capable of this level of
16:21 fundraising.
16:21 I totally believe that because, you know, Space Coast Junior
16:25 Senior High is situated geographically in a place where they’re
16:29 not in a city.
16:30 You know, even some of our, you know, Coco has been a high-need
16:35 school that we’ve prioritized funding for because of the
16:38 percentage of free and reduced lunch and all that.
16:41 But Coco is very supported in their community because they’re
16:44 right in the middle of Coco.
16:45 And they have, you know, I know Ms. Jenkins has shared with us
16:47 before, you know, community, county, even state and, you know,
16:51 not international, but national recognition and help.
16:53 Space Coast Junior Senior High being in Port St. John, it’s just
16:57 not really, it’s not a city.
16:58 They don’t have the same kind of support like a Vieira or a Coco
17:02 or a Mel or some things like that.
17:04 So I understand, but I do feel like, because we have this
17:07 process of fundraising, that there should be some buy-in from
17:11 the school, even if it’s not this level.
17:14 So for our new board members, we have a process that Ms. Hand’s
17:18 area oversees called the school improvement, I don’t know, what’s
17:23 it called?
17:24 School initiated project.
17:25 School, yeah.
17:25 We have two SIPs.
17:27 One of them is this one, school initiated project fund, which is
17:29 a matching fund.
17:30 And we have priority schools, which are Title I schools and
17:34 schools that have different, you know, like I said, higher
17:37 ratios of free-reduced lunch.
17:39 They can get a bigger match.
17:41 So if a school wants to, up to $37,500, up to $25,000 for other
17:45 schools.
17:46 So if a school wants to do a big playground thing, we’ve had
17:48 this for years, they can raise whatever, they want a new marquee,
17:51 it’s going to cost $14,000.
17:53 They raise $7,000, the district matches it at $7,000.
17:56 If they’re priority school, they raise $7,000, the district
17:59 matches it at like a 75% match.
18:01 I feel like Space Coast is one of the ones that can get the 75%
18:04 match.
18:04 I’m not saying they need to raise up to $183,000, but I just
18:08 feel like the school needs to have some buy-in here.
18:10 It would be, and I’m not willing to set an amount right this
18:14 minute, but I just feel like it would be perceived by the rest
18:18 of the schools in the district to be more fair.
18:22 And because they have done the hard work of doing some
18:25 fundraising, like I said, I don’t believe they’re able to do
18:28 this level of fundraising, but I think it would be helpful to
18:30 have some kind of buy-in at this level.
18:34 And I don’t know, Ms. Han, if you’ve talked to the school
18:37 leadership there to see if they would be willing or able to do
18:40 that.
18:40 I’m sorry, Ms. Campbell.
18:42 I had not talked to the school leadership about that, but we’ve
18:46 been talking with them about some other athletic facilities, and
18:50 so I feel like a nominal type of contribution is probably within
18:55 their reach.
18:56 Okay.
18:57 I think.
18:57 Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Susan, go ahead.
18:59 No, go ahead.
18:59 I’m sorry.
19:00 I thought you were finished.
19:01 And we would certainly work with them to be able to move forward
19:05 with the contract while they were doing their fundraising.
19:09 Right, yeah, right, because you said the time is now, and I don’t
19:12 want to necessarily put a hold on it, but, you know, just some
19:15 kind of, you know, skin in the game, I guess.
19:18 So I agree with you, Ms. Campbell.
19:20 Many of our facilities are inequity, right?
19:23 So Mel High received a, you know what I mean, over a million
19:27 dollars for their football field, and Palm Bay is the same way,
19:31 and school districts don’t.
19:33 Many schools have auditoriums.
19:34 Many schools have many, you know what I mean?
19:38 So there’s inequities out there, unfortunately.
19:40 Vieira High School doesn’t have a baseball and a softball field.
19:42 They have to go other places.
19:44 So I wanted to just tell a story from my perspective, so I
19:47 taught at Space Coast Junior Senior High School for six years,
19:50 and I loved that school.
19:52 Loved, I coached, I played, coached football, I coached
19:55 wrestling.
19:56 One of the issues that Space Coast Junior Senior High School has
19:59 is it was built as a middle school, and so your track and many
20:02 of the other facilities were built to become middle school
20:06 facilities.
20:08 So when you have, didn’t have a large auditorium, they don’t
20:10 have a lot of the things that a high school needs.
20:13 And one of the things that you pointed out, which I agree with
20:16 you 100% is, port’s not a, they’re not a, they’re not a city.
20:21 So like they literally have the bagel shop and a couple other
20:24 places that fund like every single rec league and everything
20:28 else.
20:28 And it’s a unique situation in that it’s a bedroom community
20:33 cornered off by basically forests, and you don’t have it
20:37 connected to others.
20:39 But at the same time, where I was coming across is, is there’s
20:43 inequities across, like Mel High has the field, Palm Bay has the
20:47 field, there’s certain ones there.
20:50 But I would say that I would be comfortable moving forward with
20:53 not making them go in, because the other piece is, is that we
20:56 would be taking away from one of those Title I schools,
21:00 because there’s only a certain amount of money that’s inside
21:02 that fund that they fund those with.
21:04 So if another school was to present a, um, a funding source and
21:09 they did not get it.
21:11 So like if your Title I schools all apply and Space Coast comes
21:14 in, they’ll get bumped because they’re not on the priority list.
21:18 So then we have a problem where we’re like, well, what are we
21:20 going to do?
21:21 So I, I feel, um, and this is, I understand a hundred percent
21:24 where you’re coming from, Ms. Campbell, but the fact that it was
21:27 built as a middle school to service for a while, then a high
21:30 school, the track was never built out.
21:32 Every single facility they have is like not big enough for the
21:35 next.
21:36 Um, and the fact that it would take away from possible Title I
21:39 schools for the fundraising, um, I would say that, you know what
21:43 I mean?
21:44 That would be my thought process that we would just move forward
21:46 with allowing them to do it.
21:47 Um, but I’m open to the board.
21:49 I just wanted to say that since everybody had had their part of
21:51 the conversation, any other comments?
21:54 Please, um, I, uh, would hope that this board, uh, uses this
22:03 moment to recognize and reflect the fact that inequity is rampant
22:10 throughout the district.
22:10 And I think it would be advantageous of us to actually educate
22:15 ourselves on where that inequity lies.
22:19 And if we’re going to talk about athletics, like, like, let’s
22:21 stick there.
22:21 Um, I’m not against these students getting what they deserve and
22:31 need and their community that can’t fundraise.
22:34 I acknowledge that.
22:35 Uh, I’ve always said, you know, there was a line that I read
22:38 that stuck with me forever.
22:39 There were, um, equal means everyone gets the same equity means
22:43 everyone gets what they need.
22:44 And so I believe in our school district, there’s no way we could
22:48 fund all these projects for every single school, right?
22:50 Of course.
22:51 Um, and I think it’s okay and right as a society and a community
22:55 for us to help those schools and communities that probably can’t
22:58 fund it themselves.
22:59 But I just want to highlight and make it very clear to everyone,
23:03 um, that this is an issue we’ve had for a while.
23:06 Um, and I want to make sure that we’re going to, if we start
23:10 this precedent, that we carry forward to all of our schools.
23:15 And, and that’s a precedent that we’re going to be setting and I’m
23:18 okay with that, but we need to recognize that that’s the
23:20 precedent we’re setting.
23:21 Um, and I hope we follow through with it because I know it’s
23:25 easy to mention our schools like Title Ones and stuff that we
23:28 say get more funding and all that.
23:30 Um, but, you know, when I was participating in that COCO project,
23:34 the only thing I was aware of, and correct me if I’m wrong, um,
23:38 that they were getting at the time was the track like everybody
23:40 else.
23:40 And, um, there’s a lot of need, there’s a lot of need in some of
23:44 our schools who can’t do it themselves.
23:47 And so, again, I’m not, I’m not against this by any means, but
23:50 this, if this is going to be a precedent, then we better follow
23:53 through.
23:54 We better be doing this for all of our students who, who have
23:56 those deficits and those needs.
23:58 Um, that is my only hesitation.
24:03 I, I don’t know if we’re going to do that.
24:05 Um, and that’s expensive.
24:07 Let’s be realistic about it, too.
24:09 Um, and I understand the timeline here.
24:11 I understand that, you know, um, this is the right time to do
24:14 this project.
24:15 So I, I acknowledge that wholeheartedly.
24:17 Um, but I think if we’re going to have that conversation, again,
24:20 we need to educate ourselves, um, and take a real hard look
24:23 about where those inequities lie.
24:25 Um, I might remind the board and we may be able to do that, but
24:31 I think, Ms. Sue, didn’t you spend some, um, aggressive time to
24:36 identify all the inequities inside the district athletic
24:39 facilities and other places?
24:41 I, I wouldn’t say all of them, but we have been trying to look
24:44 at that as, in fact, the field events is one area where we have
24:47 surveyed our schools.
24:48 So you saw the results of that.
24:50 Not all schools have all field events.
24:52 Space coast is one where there’s another piece of the, um,
24:55 potential ad alternates.
24:57 That’s $143,000 or so worth of improvements to the field
25:01 amenities that are not part of this contract.
25:04 And that would typically be something that the school would fund
25:09 and ha schools have funded those improvements.
25:13 So yes, we are trying to get there and we’re, we’re, we’ve
25:17 looked at all of our playgrounds.
25:20 We know who has two and who has eight, um, you know, it’s, we’re
25:24 trying to get a handle on that.
25:26 And so as we’re looking at conditions of assets, we do have, we’re
25:30 also comparing what assets are missing from schools.
25:36 So it’s kind of an ongoing work and it’s a little bit of art and
25:39 a little bit of science.
25:41 But we’re trying to get a much better handle on at least the
25:44 data so that we can make good decisions about these types of
25:46 things.
25:47 Can I just clarify that real quick?
25:49 Cause I didn’t want that to come across like the district and
25:51 the staff isn’t doing that.
25:53 I genuinely mean that us as board members have a responsibility
25:57 to be educated about it
25:58 and to make sure we understand it because we’re the ones who are
26:01 going to set that precedent.
26:02 So we need to understand it.
26:03 So I didn’t mean that, you know, you’re not looking into it.
26:05 I see.
26:06 No, I understand.
26:07 I know you’re on it.
26:08 There’s a lot of data that we don’t have.
26:14 And so in addition to what you said, we are trying to gather
26:18 more data about those issues so that we can
26:21 present you with, okay, here’s who has what tracks and here has
26:25 who has what field facilities
26:27 and who has field houses and who has turf fields and be able to
26:30 make good capital decisions,
26:32 capital programming decisions about our athletic facilities and
26:36 our ancillary facilities at our schools.
26:39 And I think, I’m sorry, Ms. Campbell, you go ahead.
26:42 I was just going to make a suggestion.
26:44 Ms. Han, you just very recently sent us the report from the
26:50 school initiated projects for the fall
26:52 round.
26:52 We do a fall round and a spring round and I believe there was
26:54 about $100,000 left over
26:56 because every semester we don’t always have all the requests and
26:59 all that money gets rolled over
27:00 and added to the funding for the spring.
27:02 We traditionally have money left over just about every time, if
27:05 I recall.
27:06 So what I would suggest is, I’m just going to toss out an amount
27:11 and I’m going to keep it low,
27:12 keep the bar low, that we ask the school to raise $5,000.
27:16 They would qualify for a $7,500 match because they are a
27:18 priority school.
27:19 That’s $12,500.
27:23 That doesn’t have to come out of Mila and capital, but it’s, but
27:26 it’s, I think it’s manageable,
27:28 you know, for a school to put that kind of fundraising effort
27:31 and it just shows good faith.
27:32 Hey, we’re going to, we’re going to at least put our part.
27:35 I don’t know if the rest of the board would be an agreement of
27:37 that.
27:37 We just ask them, you know, could you, would you contribute that
27:40 much?
27:40 And then some of that funding could come rather out of a capital,
27:43 come out of that school initiated project funding mechanism.
27:47 Ms. Han, are you allowed to apply for that one time per season?
27:52 Ms. Han, that’s one time per cycle.
27:53 So the next cycle opens in February and they would be able to
27:57 apply.
27:57 And if they’re successful, that would, that wouldn’t allow the $12,500
28:02 to be used.
28:03 And if they’re unsuccessful, their $5,000 could still be a
28:07 contribution to the, to the cost of the track.
28:10 And another question real quick.
28:12 And then I’m sorry if I have other people that would like, the
28:14 question is, is if they’re going,
28:17 does it behoove us as a school district to, if they’re
28:20 fundraising for the other
28:22 amenities that we spoke of, to have them, that built at the same
28:26 time as the track,
28:27 as they’re there if they’re fundraising for it?
28:29 Or is that, is that something that some of the other schools are
28:31 getting added on later?
28:32 Ms. Most of them are getting them added on at the end of the
28:37 track project.
28:38 So they’re still, while they’re still under construction.
28:42 But we’ll, we work with our vendors on that and try to match the
28:45 timing with the fundraising
28:47 so that we can support what the school is doing.
28:49 And if, if they apply for, to pay for what Ms. Campbell’s saying
28:54 in February,
28:54 they would not be able to reapply to fundraise for the internal
28:59 components to their track
29:00 until August of the next year, which would then become available
29:04 in like November of next year?
29:05 So a year from now?
29:06 So, um, yes.
29:08 Ms. Yes. So they, the cycle will open in February for the
29:11 balance, which is around 100,000.
29:14 And then if the board appropriates another 300,000 through the
29:17 capital cycle, that,
29:18 that cycle opens in October.
29:20 And again, if, if we know the schools are doing this, we’ll, we
29:23 will work with them on the,
29:24 on the funding to make sure that we finish their project and not
29:28 let the cycle affect
29:30 the project execution.
29:31 Ms. Can I ask a question just to be clear?
29:33 Because I, I like what you’re saying with Campbell about them
29:36 having skin in the game
29:37 and investing in it.
29:37 I understand that.
29:38 It’s just the amount of the project is so much that they can’t
29:41 come up with that.
29:42 So I don’t necessarily oppose that.
29:44 I just, to be clear though, the 12, five doesn’t get us there.
29:47 We’re still a long ways off, right?
29:48 Ms. Right.
29:49 No, but, but it’s a matter of where it’s coming from.
29:52 Oh, sorry.
29:53 Whatever it’s coming from.
29:54 So 5,000 is coming from the school.
29:55 7,500 is coming from this school initiated project grant.
29:59 Then that’s $12,500.
30:00 That’s not going to come from our capital budget,
30:03 which leaves more in the capital to put towards Myla and, and
30:08 things like that.
30:09 So it’s not a matter of, we’re not going to do it.
30:10 It’s a matter of letting them, and even if they don’t, as Ms.
30:13 Hand said,
30:14 even if they don’t, you do it through the matching, if they just
30:15 say, you know what,
30:16 we’re going to raise our 5,000 and put it towards it.
30:19 That’s, you know, it’s still a contribution, but it’s not
30:22 slowing down the process.
30:23 It’s just a matter of where the funding is going to come from.
30:25 Okay.
30:26 I understand.
30:26 And, and I agree.
30:27 I mean, there are schools that need additional attention and
30:29 help.
30:29 And I, I don’t think that that’s wrong to say that these schools
30:32 that, that are underprivileged,
30:33 that need additional help, that we, we should step in and help
30:36 in those aspects.
30:37 So, um, yeah, I just, um, just so everybody knows, I, I kind of
30:41 feel, you know, I used to do
30:43 the car washes and we would work all day for $240.
30:46 Right.
30:47 And then we would, um, go hit up all of the local bagel stores
30:50 and the pizza huts and,
30:52 and we would get $500.
30:54 And then, you know what I mean?
30:55 And they’re, and unfortunately for them, they get hit all the
30:57 time.
30:58 And, and it’s unique in the fact that Titusville, like you said,
31:01 has the Titusville and astronaut
31:03 has Titusville, Coco has Coco.
31:05 And you start running all the way down.
31:06 There’s many of our high schools have a city that they’re a part
31:09 of.
31:09 And Port St. John’s a unique thing.
31:11 So, um, with that and the knowledge that I had, um, I would like
31:15 to move on just letting
31:17 them receive it.
31:17 But if there’s board direction to go, um, Mr. Trent, you’ve been
31:20 kind of quiet on this.
31:21 You got, you got something.
31:22 So if you were going to build a, Ms. Hahn, if you were going to
31:27 build a new track for a
31:28 high school, would you build it at six lanes or would you build
31:31 it at eight lanes?
31:32 Eight lanes.
31:33 Um, it just seems like the timing is perfect that you’re there
31:38 doing work.
31:39 It’s almost a bare minimum at the space and would allow us to
31:44 get the eight lanes in.
31:46 Um, I would, I would suggest, you know, it looks like we have
31:50 the money from somewhere.
31:52 And, um, you know, the time is of essence.
31:54 They’re there to do it now.
31:55 Um, raising $5,000, that’s great for the schools.
31:58 I mean, I think having skin in the game, but it looks like they’re
32:01 going to be doing some
32:02 fundraising down the road for the other part of the project.
32:06 So, um, and again, not having that downtown, not having
32:11 businesses abundant in the area.
32:13 Um, I would, I would, I would move towards, let’s just get it
32:18 done and, and move on.
32:19 And equity is a part of, uh, and a fact of life here in the
32:22 county.
32:23 And I know we’re going to have this conversation again and again,
32:25 but in this instance, you know,
32:27 I, I, I just would like to get this done for the, for that
32:30 school.
32:30 I can, oh, sorry.
32:33 I have a follow up question.
32:34 So, or two questions.
32:36 So the school initiated projects, just to clarify and confirm,
32:40 if they were to apply for that,
32:42 they’re allowed to do partial project.
32:43 Yes ma’am.
32:45 Okay.
32:46 Just want to make sure.
32:46 And then, uh, Mr. Susan, Mr. Trent, I know that you, uh, foresee
32:53 them fundraising for the next
32:54 part of that project, which would be those field, uh, I don’t
32:58 know, I don’t know.
32:59 They’re like, you know me.
33:00 Shot put discus, discus long jump.
33:02 Thank you.
33:03 You know me when it comes to sports.
33:05 Um, but the, the reality is they’re not going to, they’re not
33:09 going to be able to fundraise
33:10 and fully fund that either, right?
33:12 So what, how much does that typically cost?
33:14 So in aggregate, the number was about 143,000.
33:18 Okay.
33:19 Um, and the events were about 25 to 60 each.
33:23 So, um, and, and they’ll have to look at the condition and what
33:27 is more important to upgrade,
33:28 that type of thing.
33:29 So I’ll work with Mr. Flora and, uh, when I bring this back to
33:32 you in January,
33:33 I’ll have a, a little better feel for what capacity they have
33:38 and how we might, uh, how we might handle
33:40 their, their share, so.
33:41 And the reason I’m asking that question is, um, not to say that
33:45 we’re funding all those projects
33:46 by any means, but the reason I’m saying that is because, um, the
33:49 likelihood of them then going
33:52 to fundraise for that when they can’t fundraise for this is
33:55 honestly slim, right?
33:56 Right.
33:56 Um, so by, by, um, applying for the school initiated project, it
34:00 doesn’t inhibit them for those projects
34:03 because they’re not at all.
34:04 Again, the reality is, is that’s a really costly project, um,
34:07 that they would also need support in.
34:09 And so, um, I see no harm in the game for them building some
34:13 pride and some buy into it.
34:14 Um, setting the bar at an achievable level and then again, you
34:18 know, using the funds we already have
34:20 set aside in a different categorical instead of going into
34:22 capital.
34:23 So I, I agree with Ms. Campbell on that one.
34:24 Yeah.
34:26 So, Ms. Um, Ms. Hand, what I’m seeing from the direction of the
34:31 board and if you want to speak again,
34:32 but it’s, hey, there’s some sort of ask for some of it, but you
34:36 think you could go back to Mr. Flora
34:38 and come back to us with a better suggestion of what they can do
34:41 rather than us trying to figure that piece out?
34:42 Yeah, I, I mean, I think you’ve given us, given me some
34:45 parameters and so I’ll work with Mr. Flora
34:47 and then when I present the change order, I’ll just disclose
34:51 what, what we’ve worked out with Mr. Flora
34:53 as part of the, the board action in January.
34:56 Right now it’s 2-2, so if you had something you wanted to say.
34:59 I just want to also be clear, this is not going to hurt Myla,
35:01 correct, with this, with moving this.
35:03 I don’t, I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hinder.
35:05 Okay, that’s, I want to be clear and make sure that’s clarified.
35:08 Um, I like the skin in the game.
35:10 I think that that makes it fair and I think that the schools
35:12 that have invested currently
35:13 into their tracks that they, they would appreciate the fact that
35:16 we are trying to raise something.
35:17 So I think that that school should be able to come up with a
35:20 little bit of the money
35:21 and I’ll help initiate some of that.
35:22 If they need some help knocking on doors and asking for money, I’ll,
35:25 I’ll get out there and do it with them.
35:26 So, um, but yeah, I think that that’s a good directive to go.
35:29 Perfect, I think you got direction unless Ms. Campbell wants to
35:32 say something.
35:33 Anybody else?
35:34 We’re all good.
35:34 Ms. No, Dr. Thetty?
35:35 Can I just provide one little point of clarification?
35:38 Um, Space Ghost is a Tier 1 school.
35:40 Um, it’s not one of our priority schools and I think I heard
35:42 that in the discussion.
35:43 So I just wanted to provide that point of clarification.
35:45 Right.
35:46 Thank you.
35:46 Yeah, but I think when it comes to the SIPs, I think they are.
35:51 So it’s Title 1 and priority schools and they may meet the Title
35:55 1 requirement.
35:57 I’m not positive off the top of my head.
35:58 They’re not a Title 1 school.
36:00 They don’t.
36:01 But I can’t remember.
36:02 No, they’re not.
36:03 I think they’re not a Tier 1.
36:04 Okay, so that would be a 50, so it would be a one-to-one match.
36:08 Yes, that’s why I wanted to point that, provide that
36:10 clarification.
36:11 Thank you.
36:12 I think Ms. Hand’s going to go meet with them and come back with
36:13 a proposal,
36:14 but I think you’ve got what you need.
36:15 Yes, sir.
36:16 All right.
36:16 Thank you.
36:16 Thank you for all your hard work.
36:18 Thank you, Ms. Hand.
36:19 Next up is the topic is the middle school financing presented by
36:22 Ms. Hand.
36:23 Oh, yes, sir.
36:25 Thank you.
36:25 So you might notice that foot-high stack of papers sitting there
36:30 in that green folder.
36:31 We’ve been working on this for a while.
36:33 And so the board had taken several previous actions on the
36:39 middle school that will be
36:42 built next next i’m sorry i’m no longer in my office where are
36:47 we that way next to vera high
36:50 school to the north and so we have we’ve done a number of things
36:55 to bring us to this point
36:57 more recently we have engaged an architect to use a prototype
37:02 design and that has been ongoing for
37:04 several months and they’re just about finished with their design
37:07 documents so ready ready to go
37:11 we concurrently engaged a construction manager and so the
37:14 construction manager has been working
37:16 alongside the architect as the design has been developed to try
37:20 to make sure that we are you know
37:24 we are managing our costs we are working with our stakeholders
37:28 to make sure that we’re delivering
37:29 the middle school that meets our needs here in the district and
37:34 so that process has been ongoing and
37:37 we realized a while back that our impact fee revenues are not
37:42 sufficient in terms of cash
37:44 on hand to be able to fund the project with cash and so we met
37:49 with the board and on two occasions in
37:51 workshop workshop session talking about we believe we’re going
37:54 to need some gap financing in order to
37:57 start construction when we’re ready to start construction and we
38:00 we are ready to start construction
38:01 basically now we have an early works guaranteed maximum price
38:06 proposal that will be before you this evening
38:08 that is about eight million dollars and that is to cover things
38:12 like buying mechanical equipment
38:15 electrical equipment early lead time items and also that will
38:19 allow the site work to get started
38:21 in January and so what we have previously told the board and it
38:25 remains true is that if if we
38:28 start the project now we’ll be able to open in august of 24 if
38:32 we delay
38:34 we will not be able to open in august of 24. so that was really
38:39 the impetus for
38:40 talking with the board about needing some some very short-term
38:44 gap financing
38:46 so the board gave us direction to proceed down those lines and
38:50 we issued an invitation to negotiate for
38:54 certificates of participation basically short-term financing and
38:59 framed it in in about a 30 million
39:03 dollar need between the the cash that i estimate having on hand
39:06 and the total cost of the project
39:08 so in order to issue a purchase order for 50 something million
39:13 dollar project we have to have the cash in
39:16 hand to be able to do that so we can’t issue a purchase order
39:19 for 55 million dollars if we don’t have
39:22 55 million dollars available so that was really the the key
39:26 point so we issued the invitation negotiate
39:30 indicated we wanted short-term financing and we wanted to be
39:34 able to pay it back as soon as possible that
39:37 was one of the the strong directions we received previously from
39:41 the board is we want to be able to
39:44 have that early payback if at all possible well several banks
39:48 gave us some very good very good proposals
39:50 but one allowed us to use a line of credit which is a little bit
39:56 unique in the certificates of
39:58 participation realm but the line of credit allows us to borrow
40:02 substantially less because as we are
40:05 proceeding through the construction of the project basically
40:08 spending money we’re also receiving quarterly
40:11 impact fee payments and so because we have that in and out we
40:16 actually will be able to borrow
40:18 much less than the total gap so having the line of credit out
40:22 there allows us to issue that purchase
40:25 order but we don’t actually need to draw down the same amount of
40:29 resources that we would have under
40:31 our traditional uh traditional uh traditional financing
40:35 structure so um with that we have um put together a
40:40 a um a structure that i mr ford i think could probably elaborate
40:45 on a little bit better but the
40:47 the um the terms for engineers is that we basically have a line
40:51 of credit and we will draw down that line
40:53 of credit when we need to my estimates at this point is that we
40:57 probably won’t even need to make a draw for
41:00 about another year as we do have about half of the cost of the
41:05 project cash on hand ready to go
41:09 and so the the cost of borrowing is significantly less than what
41:13 we had previously presented to the board
41:16 so we are we are ready to move forward what we have on your
41:20 agenda this evening is
41:22 and basically the analysis that i’ve just uh articulated
41:26 that will be considered by the board there are implementing
41:30 documents that go along with that
41:32 that are attached to the resolution and then the board will
41:35 recess will convene the leasing corp the leasing
41:38 corp will act on a similar resolution and then following that
41:43 the board will reconvene and then
41:45 potentially act on the early works proposal so that is where we
41:50 are with the middle school financing
41:52 and i’ll be happy to answer any questions thank you sue is there
41:57 anybody up here that has any questions
42:02 i have a side question because you just you just sparked my
42:05 memory of something i
42:07 we’ve been over this like a hundred times so thank you thank you
42:10 for re-articulating that for the
42:12 public as well um but i you just reminded me of something the
42:15 cost per student station and this
42:17 is more of a russell brune question but um was that part of our
42:20 legislature legislative um initiatives
42:23 that we were going to discuss this year about changing okay i
42:26 just wanted to i don’t remember um so
42:28 and just so you know fsba also made it part of their platform
42:32 okay awesome and for people listening
42:33 what that really means is um the state sets an amount that we
42:37 can technically fund to build new
42:39 schools and it is nowhere near the uh the appropriate amount and
42:43 so then it leaves this gap in order for
42:45 us to finance and figure out ourselves so and there’s many many
42:48 other laws constraining that but we
42:49 won’t get into that so anyway thank you um and um
42:55 just want to reiterate too uh not only do we want to open the
42:59 school as soon as possible because the
43:01 need has been here for years and years and years and the
43:03 community has been crying out um but just to
43:05 remind everybody it also saves us money in the long run because
43:08 the cost of goods has dramatically
43:10 increased and will only continue and is projected to only
43:13 continue to do so um so the faster we can do
43:15 this uh the better so thank you so much for all your hard work
43:19 thank you thank you miss jenkins
43:21 i just want to jump in there and say thank you because when i’m
43:24 you know i was one of the people
43:26 was adamant about this borrow as little as possible pay us off
43:29 pay it off as fast as possible i
43:30 couldn’t have imagined this so thank you mr for thank you team
43:34 um for helping us come to this solution
43:36 because i think this in the long run is going to be the very
43:39 best for brevard um you know as far as uh
43:42 financially and and getting this done in a timely in a timely
43:44 way so i just wanted to express my
43:46 appreciation miss wright i just have a few questions so when you
43:51 calculated the impact fees that and
43:54 realized they were not going to be sufficient enough to cover
43:56 the the cost of this build when what time
43:58 frame specifically did you calculate those fees how recently has
44:01 it been looked at oh about a week ago okay
44:06 all right so it’s very recent okay good yes ma’am all right um
44:10 can is it possible for you to um let us
44:13 know what the total limit is of the line of credit the total
44:17 limit we’re proposing as of today is 30.1
44:21 million okay we have one opportunity mr ford to downsize that
44:25 and we intend to do that when the
44:27 construction contract is before the board in march my guess is
44:31 that we’re going to downsize that to
44:34 around 22 million okay and then uh the other question i have is
44:38 in regards to coming from the private
44:40 sector and lines of credit usually are adjustable rates this is
44:44 not correct it is adjustable okay and
44:48 what is that rate look like for us right now and i’m sure it’s
44:51 tied to crime did you calculate that
44:54 yes ma’am the interest rate that right now is between 3.6 and 3.7
44:58 percent it’s based off of
45:00 what’s called the bisbee index which is a rate published by
45:03 bloomberg okay
45:04 and what what is our margins to to for the rate to rise i guess
45:11 that’s is it there’s there’s no
45:15 limitations as to how far the rate can rise although i believe
45:17 that there’s a statutory maximum of 12 in
45:20 florida okay um i would have to double check that figure but i
45:23 think that applies uh the floor on
45:24 this rate is zero okay so no event could get the interest rate
45:28 go negative okay all right thank you
45:30 see yeah that would be great if it didn’t
45:32 how can i make that up the other piece of data that um that you
45:38 may want mrs wright is that
45:40 we anticipate paying the note off july of 25 so it’s pretty
45:44 short-term financing and that will depend
45:47 upon the the impact fees that come in of course so though that
45:51 rate can also fluctuate so there’s a
45:53 lot of variables but based on a pretty conservative estimate i
45:56 feel pretty confident that we’ll be
45:58 able to pay this off in a couple years
46:03 so i just know that building with a a line of credit is so much
46:09 better than building with a
46:11 straight loan so for you to be able to secure even someone
46:15 allowing us to have this opportunity is uh
46:17 it it’s it’s it’s i can amend you for doing that so i know it’s
46:21 going to save the district
46:23 you know lots of money so i i appreciate the effort thank you i
46:26 have one more question if that’s okay
46:29 yeah uh in regards to where these students are coming from um
46:32 can you talk a little bit about
46:34 that on the schools that these students would be pulled from
46:37 possibly yes so that is going to be
46:40 a process that we kick off in january with a board workshop
46:43 because there are a number of different
46:46 options as to where those students can pull from and they the
46:50 middle school will affect potentially
46:52 adjacent schools and that would include delora kennedy and mcnair
46:57 and so that is a conversation we are
46:59 going to need to have as to how to balance the enrollment the
47:03 flip side of that is that we’ve looked at
47:06 the growth projections in the viera area in fact we look at it
47:10 countywide but there there is a tremendous
47:12 amount of growth projected for viera specifically like due west
47:16 of where we are and so i think over time
47:20 this will stabilize but that is that is a very important issue
47:24 and we are going to be spending
47:27 some quality time on that after the first of the year
47:29 thank you i think um we have everybody’s in full support a
47:34 couple extra questions and i think that’s
47:38 good i just have one i do have one question now that you say
47:41 that um i know i know that we’re constantly
47:43 in talks with vera and the growth and where they’re heading um
47:48 but i do know there was a weird flip and
47:51 change for flip and change um for when there was supposed to be
47:57 growth happening west of 95 and pinita
48:00 and then it kind of shifted their plan shifted a little bit and
48:05 so i just i want to just reconfirm i mean
48:07 they’re continuously having these conversations with us correct
48:11 correct okay um and so obviously they’re
48:13 going to be a part of this this conversation on the table when
48:15 we do talk about boundary changes because
48:17 in case they decide to flip again and start developing somewhere
48:21 different okay and i and i know you
48:24 know they’re they’re booming so fast um that they literally have
48:27 a lottery system for new builds within
48:29 their developments that are year year and a half out and so it’s
48:32 pretty easy for them to project where these
48:34 things are going to happen so thanks thank you i think you have
48:38 direction everybody okay you good to go
48:41 miss yes thank you appreciate it thank you very much um so it’s
48:46 now 2 43 right we have um normally we
48:50 finish these up at about 4 30. um and i didn’t know we have a
48:54 pretty packed agenda i didn’t know if you
48:57 guys wanted to possibly uh bring some of those other items up or
49:02 at least i wanted to get kind
49:04 of a survey from you guys if you’re okay to go to like five o’clock
49:08 or something like that on the back
49:10 end so first i’d like to discuss are you guys okay to move it to
49:14 five o’clock as a stop so that you guys
49:16 can get enough food and stuff like that and come back or is
49:19 there a need to finish up at 4 30. um just
49:22 like to kind of discuss that miss campbell since you made the
49:25 motion the last time just i guess i
49:27 you’re anticipating i just want i look i’m just trying to take
49:30 care of you i’m trying to take care
49:32 of you um no i would just suggest that we potentially could have
49:34 a long board meeting tonight so i think
49:36 getting some uh a break one mental break and some dinner is
49:41 going to be very important um five to five
49:44 30 is kind of tight um but let’s you know let’s uh plow through
49:49 i think if we’ve talked about the um
49:52 the public comment policy is something that we can you know even
49:56 if the meeting doesn’t go long
49:58 i’ll be an optimist for a minute tonight and we have some time
50:01 we could even bump that to discussion
50:03 to this evening but um clearly the next two items are high
50:08 priority for us so i um i meet in the middle
50:11 and say we you know chick-fil-a only takes five minutes but i
50:14 think we need a mental break as
50:18 much as we need a dinner break i think um what we can do is we
50:21 can about 4 20 make that decision and
50:24 then the other thing is is that um if you guys wanted to we
50:27 could go so i think that’s good on time
50:30 the next one is is that we could go to bring back the interim
50:34 and regular superintendent search and
50:37 move to the other items or we can start here um does anybody
50:40 want to move some of the other items up
50:43 and move this i the only reason i was mentioned in that was um
50:46 the superintendent search there’s
50:48 gonna be a lot of people watching tonight and i thought in my
50:50 mind i was like what would people
50:52 in the evening want to watch and that would probably be that one
50:55 over anything here so that’s
50:56 why i was saying if you wanted to move it up but i am open to
50:59 any ideas makes no difference let’s roll
51:02 okay all right here we go thank you very much um the next topic
51:07 is the interim superintendent search
51:10 um so everybody understands from the public we were i asked uh
51:17 mr gibbs to submit to ask the board
51:21 members to submit the um their rankings for the interim
51:25 superintendent search so just for the public to
51:28 understand we had 12 rankings i think four of them were for
51:31 former superintendents one of them was a
51:34 director over 22 schools in orange county so we had 12 a couple
51:39 of them were from the state of florida
51:41 a couple of them were from outside the state we had interim
51:44 superintendent rankings um and i’ll just read
51:48 them real quick miss katie campbell had james larson mark rendell
51:53 robert schiller james herholtz and cheryl baker
51:57 jennifer jenkins had james larson mariah poosh conister megan wright
52:03 had robert schiller mark rendell
52:06 michael ahearn i had mark rendell james larson robert schiller
52:11 and jean trent had mark rendell
52:14 so after all the points because you give 12 points to first
52:18 place 11 points to second place the total
52:21 that came out was mark rendell 46 points james larson 35 points
52:28 and robert schiller 32 points so we have
52:33 11 points lead and then we have three people that made the top
52:37 three um james larson and robert schiller a
52:41 little bit closer so with those in super interim superintendent
52:45 rankings i think the first thing
52:47 we wanted to do was see if we wanted to bring back five three or
52:51 make a decision today um based on what
52:55 we’re doing and just kind of discuss where your guys’s minds are
52:58 on that so i’ll open up the floor to
53:00 discuss how many we may want to bring back and also if um the
53:04 opportunity is is that you guys wanted to
53:08 bring it back back five three or make a decision today so i’m
53:10 going to leave the floor open um anybody want
53:13 to discuss
53:14 ms wright
53:19 um i would love the opportunity to be able to speak with each
53:25 one of these individuals before
53:26 we move forward so i don’t know if that’s i like the idea of the
53:29 top three being okay these are our
53:31 three that we kind of all collaboratively agree that they scored
53:34 the highest uh do we get the opportunity
53:36 now to speak with them and interview them uh before making any
53:39 decisions on the superintendent okay
53:42 the interim superintendent miss campbell yeah i i think this was
53:46 a good process for us to
53:47 you know just get to see if we can get um kind of a numerical
53:51 consensus uh i i will reiterate what i said
53:55 last monday um as far as the process i think if we i think we
53:59 need to we need to do our due diligence as
54:02 much as it’s added to our schedules over the next week i think
54:05 we need to do the interview process
54:07 and be as transparent as transparent although it would you know
54:11 maybe save us some time um to go
54:13 ahead and pick someone today i personally don’t feel comfortable
54:17 enough having just seen intent letters
54:19 and resumes and a few letters of recommendation and doing you
54:22 know quick google searches yeah to make that
54:24 decision today i think this is really important it gives our
54:28 community some time to um you know to
54:31 give their input as well some of them are already reaching out
54:34 to us um but some of them don’t even
54:35 know who’s on the list yet so this will give us some time so i
54:38 think i i would be um in agreement that
54:42 we just take these three and ask um you know staff to set up
54:46 interview times um it sounds like you would
54:48 like to have a private conversation in addition to group
54:51 interview is that what you’re suggesting
54:52 this right we’ve done that before with um i i would if that’s an
54:56 option i would prefer that if we’re you
54:59 know i know we’re up against the wire on time so if time is of
55:01 the essence and we can only do group
55:03 then we’ll do group that’s fine but if we only have three it
55:05 makes it much more yeah and feasible so
55:07 what we did in the past just so you guys know um if the
55:10 direction is that we take in the top three
55:13 is that they come in kind of like what paul did where there’s a
55:16 round table of three people and
55:18 we interview each one of them separately and they just kind of
55:21 move between us so
55:22 like they get up and run to the next room and meet with you it’s
55:24 like speaking only we can we can
55:27 do that or there’s an opportunity paul you may want to chime in
55:29 on what that experience was like
55:31 and then um the other thing you can do is is we being the fact
55:34 that there’s only three we may
55:36 want to just reach out to them and have a conversation with them
55:39 one-on-one
55:39 um on our own and then come back as a group to discuss so are we
55:43 allowed to do that paul to
55:44 reach out to them individually if it’s individual you can um we
55:48 have thursday reserved and friday
55:50 reserved with school board meetings so you could always schedule
55:54 three one-hour interview groups so
55:56 bring them in one at a time okay as a group and then in the app
56:00 take an hour break so let them go
56:02 down and get lunch and everybody kind of relax for an hour and
56:05 then set them up for a rotation and the way
56:08 it looked with me was i don’t remember how many total attorneys
56:12 you guys had but the board members
56:13 moved from room to room and so there were always three meetings
56:17 going on at the same time right
56:19 we made yeah we made us move and not them move because that’s
56:23 that wouldn’t be nice they we moved
56:25 and they got to stay in the same place we only had three at the
56:27 time so it actually worked pretty
56:29 well and and we didn’t do hour-long each we did like 15 to 20
56:32 minutes i think it was 45 minute like
56:35 one-on-ones and then there was like 15 minute break so you could
56:38 run to the bathroom or grab a snack yeah
56:40 i’m not really clear on one of these one of these applicants i’m
56:43 not sure that they’re in state so
56:46 that would be phone interviews so we would need to look at that
56:49 yeah and um let’s let’s go let’s slow
56:52 that piece down real quick because we have some other let’s i
56:54 hear the first two people saying that
56:56 they want to bring back the next three miss jenkins did you want
56:59 to um comment on that yeah um i think
57:02 we told the public that that’s what we’re going to do and so we
57:04 need to stick with it um so i am
57:06 definitely in agreement with that i think we need to bring the
57:08 top three back um and have real
57:10 conversations uh this is you know we’re the 49th largest school
57:14 district in the united states of
57:15 america um and i don’t think we hire someone to run it uh based
57:19 off of simply a resume so i think
57:21 it’s our due diligence to invite them here or via zoom obviously
57:25 um and at least have further
57:27 conversations all right and miss jenkins um are you okay so that’s
57:32 that’s a we’re good right so let’s
57:35 now that we have the top three um are we all okay with the top
57:39 three that were chosen um between the
57:41 points is that fair enough to you guys yeah absolutely good to
57:44 go miss jenkins all right
57:47 um so we have that set up and then one of the things that we
57:50 have is um it’s tuesday it’s tuesday
57:53 now and one of the problems we may have is is one of those just
57:57 like you said is from out of state
57:58 so do we want to move to do one of them um virtually or do we
58:03 you know what i mean to allow them to
58:06 interview virtually so they don’t have to move travel and all
58:09 that stuff and then the other one is do we
58:11 want to do this on like friday and then make the decision friday
58:15 um or do we want to take thursday
58:17 and friday together so the first thing would be are you guys
58:21 wanting them to fly in um and be in
58:24 person or would you want them to be on uh virtual i’m completely
58:28 fine with virtual that’s fine for me
58:30 yeah in fairness to the one who let them make the decision yeah
58:33 yeah i mean if he’s on vacation yeah
58:36 going to disney world they can just drive over for the day that’d
58:39 be great you know and we have no
58:40 idea there may be some life event that would prevent them from
58:44 interviewing on thursday i think staff
58:46 can take care of it if we have those days reserved um but i
58:49 would really like to do back to back to back
58:52 as a group i think for fairness so we’ve got all fresh in our
58:55 mind we do those back to back to back
58:57 together and then in the same day if we can if everybody’s the
59:01 three candidates to do the round
59:04 robin individual um times with them in the same day i think we
59:08 can get that done in a the reason i was
59:11 asking was a couple of things is if you if we decided to do it
59:15 all on friday then that gives them an extra
59:17 day to travel tell their families tell everybody that they’re
59:19 going to be moving right um but the other
59:22 issue that we have is is that in the event that we decided to
59:25 have the interviews do the group and
59:27 then make a decision that day um it only gives us uh saturday
59:31 sunday and monday to negotiate a contract
59:33 that we then rectify on tuesday so just so you guys know there’s
59:38 a little contract timing and um i
59:41 don’t know of course these individuals what their you know
59:44 contracts are but um you know what i mean
59:46 it might be a little bit tight but i think that that’s doable i
59:49 think if they’re coming in as an interim
59:51 they understand that um and we could do that possibly on on monday
59:55 paul what are your thoughts on that
59:57 on the negotiating part yeah i mean a lot of it can be done over
1:00:01 internet just paper you know
1:00:03 i’ll have a template ready for them for interim okay and then i’ll
1:00:07 shoot it to them let them redline
1:00:08 it in and if we need to sit down with the chair and me on a
1:00:11 phone call to hammer out the finer
1:00:13 details that are still up in the air we’ll do that sure okay so
1:00:17 i have a question really quick
1:00:18 absolutely if i can go ahead so we advertised thursday and friday
1:00:23 and tuesday to be such a way
1:00:26 that if we made a decision that we could go ahead and vote there
1:00:30 were interviews or school board
1:00:32 on any of those there were school board meetings to interview
1:00:35 and or select a interim school board
1:00:37 okay okay so so if we thought you know i understand you know if
1:00:41 we make it we need to really kind of need
1:00:43 to make a decision by the end of day friday so that staff can
1:00:47 negotiate and we can vote on the meeting
1:00:49 at the latest on tuesday so can then suggestions that we go
1:00:54 ahead and try to do unless there’s some
1:00:57 reason why one of the candidates can that we do all the
1:00:59 interviewing on thursday and that that leaves us
1:01:02 friday but i i hate to make the decision on thursday because
1:01:05 honestly i just need a little time to breathe
1:01:07 in between and pray and think and whatever um but then we make
1:01:11 the decision on friday if it’s possible
1:01:13 a little bit like i said if it’s not we have to do it all friday
1:01:16 we’ll do it we can but um okay um
1:01:20 if we can have everybody kind of have a conversation wrapped
1:01:23 around it go ahead go ahead ms jenkins um
1:01:26 so first uh i think we’re all in consensus that virtual is
1:01:30 totally fine uh but just to point out you
1:01:32 know it’s customary if we were to ask them to travel here that
1:01:35 we would pay for it so let’s avoid that um
1:01:40 i just want to remind everyone that we’re in this position of
1:01:43 feeling pressured and
1:01:44 rushed for time because we put ourselves here um and so mr gibbs
1:01:50 can you please just explain to me and explain to the public why
1:01:55 we would have to make that decision
1:01:57 so quickly on an interim yeah dr mullins is is still officially
1:02:02 superintendent through december 31st that’s
1:02:05 when his contract ends and he will officially be gone and we
1:02:09 will not have a superintendent come
1:02:12 january 1st to run the district so if something happens there is
1:02:16 nobody to call staff shut down
1:02:18 schools or make those decisions day to day and just for
1:02:22 conversation piece i think dr thetty how long
1:02:26 were you deciding to stay here in the event that we need my last
1:02:30 day in district is january 6th with my
1:02:33 final date january 20th gotcha so so those are the our the uh
1:02:39 pieces so miss jenkins do you have anything
1:02:41 else you’d like to yeah no i appreciate mr gibbs for um just
1:02:45 readdressing that um because i think it’s
1:02:47 important for the public to understand because there’s going to
1:02:51 be confusion but again we put ourselves here
1:02:53 so i think we need to do our due diligence and make sure we’re
1:02:56 taking this seriously
1:02:57 and do it right and do it transparently apparently as much as
1:03:00 possible thank you miss jenkins um anybody
1:03:03 else want to move in right now we have top three if they want to
1:03:07 stay virtual and call in for their
1:03:09 interviews they can um and then miss jenkins had mentioned pay
1:03:15 for their travel um that is customary and
1:03:18 if you look in many of the um uh you know to me proposals from
1:03:22 the other associations on the travel
1:03:25 um maybe something that we we decide to do to pay for them to
1:03:29 come um if we should stay on it does
1:03:32 anybody have anything else to say about the top three or virtual
1:03:34 if not we can move on to the pain okay
1:03:36 i think if we can have them in person i the travel two of them
1:03:39 are local i mean they can right they can be
1:03:41 here so i would just say give them the option and see see what
1:03:46 they say i i would the one that’s not
1:03:48 local obviously is probably not going to travel that’s very
1:03:51 short notice to be able to get on a
1:03:52 plane and come down here uh so it makes sense for that one to be
1:03:55 virtual but i guess we probably need
1:03:57 to offer the same to all three right we can’t offer one of them
1:04:00 virtual and the other two say we want
1:04:02 you in person so um i think i would yeah are you okay with
1:04:05 paying for their travel if they do to get
1:04:08 reimbursed because that’s what the other ones do if we offer we’re
1:04:12 going to be offering the
1:04:13 superintendents that come from around the state possibly or the
1:04:17 nation um i don’t know that’s another
1:04:19 conversation right it’s another conversation let’s um i i think
1:04:22 in order to save the money maybe do
1:04:24 give them all the virtual option first but if they want to
1:04:26 travel themselves then they can come
1:04:28 on their own dime yeah is everybody else okay with that i’m not
1:04:33 okay with that um if we’re putting
1:04:35 them as a candidate for this and we’re going to not offer to pay
1:04:38 for it we’re inhibiting one of those
1:04:40 candidates for having the same opportunity that candidates
1:04:43 nearby have so if we were going to open
1:04:45 this search nationwide then we need to do what we said we were
1:04:47 going to do and we need to offer the
1:04:49 money if they want to fly here i think that’s the right thing to
1:04:51 do otherwise we’re inhibiting them
1:04:53 and they’re not that’s not a level playing field they may not
1:04:55 have even implied then it doesn’t make any
1:04:57 sense so you’re saying that you would like to what is your
1:05:00 direction to reimburse okay um mr gibbs mr gibbs
1:05:06 do you have a say on it i’m sorry mr mr trent sorry i don’t know
1:05:11 ask mr trent um yeah extending the
1:05:15 offer is fine i mean i read his uh resume i’m sure he could he
1:05:19 could afford to do it he’s probably got
1:05:20 the email ready to go right now he’s a rock star and i would be
1:05:25 surprised if he doesn’t take us up on
1:05:28 that and get on a plane and get here yeah i think looking at his
1:05:31 resume he’s somebody that will be
1:05:33 coming okay he will be here friday um all right so we’ve got top
1:05:37 three virtual and we’re willing to
1:05:39 pay for the opportunity if they do come i think we have a
1:05:42 majority on all of that is that good and the top
1:05:45 three are the points just to reiterate mark rendell james larson
1:05:49 and robert schiller um do you need
1:05:52 anything else paul from the interim piece nope okay all right we’re
1:05:56 good on that one um the next one
1:05:59 that we want to move to is let me just get rid of all of these
1:06:03 um the superintendent search and there’s a
1:06:05 couple of layers to this one the first one is is selecting
1:06:09 possibly a superintendent search firm
1:06:11 and then sort of set in direction for what that looks like from
1:06:16 um from the perspective of how
1:06:20 long may we may want to make that search and some of the input
1:06:23 so if you guys have a second the first
1:06:25 thing is is in each one of your folders you should have a copy
1:06:28 and you should have received this i think
1:06:30 it was last friday we received these so that we could review
1:06:33 them um each one of the proposals
1:06:35 i’ll be honest with you i want to thank the firms that actually
1:06:37 did this in such a short amount of
1:06:39 time even though it is something that these organizations do on
1:06:42 a regular basis it does take
1:06:45 a second to do and there was four firms that brought it forward
1:06:48 there was the florida school board
1:06:51 association ray and associates mcpherson and jacobs and hazard
1:06:57 young atia and associates i want to i want
1:07:00 to say all four when i looked at them are very qualified firms
1:07:05 um i think that it’s they all kind
1:07:07 of niche into a different area so depending on how you guys
1:07:11 perceive it maybe the conversation is not
1:07:15 more about what’s here but more about what you guys see as a
1:07:17 search and then maybe dwindling it down
1:07:20 to what we decide based on that um so i’m going to leave the
1:07:23 floor open one of the things i would like to
1:07:26 do is hear when we do a search what are you looking for um
1:07:30 national state you know what i mean and then
1:07:32 we’ll go from there does that sound good all right i’ll leave
1:07:36 the floor open anybody miss miss wright
1:07:38 is on the mic so go ahead uh just to be clear so with the
1:07:42 interim superintendent there is there a time
1:07:45 limit on how long they can serve as the interim the my contract
1:07:48 proposal would say until this the new
1:07:51 superintendent is in place okay so does this decision about
1:07:55 hiring a firm need to be made right now or is
1:07:58 this something that we can look back in in 60 days once we’re
1:08:01 moving past this a little bit and
1:08:03 stabilizing things uh or do we need to start a firm search right
1:08:06 now it’s really up to the school
1:08:08 board’s timeline so there is no it has to be done before we
1:08:11 break for holiday it can be something
1:08:13 that you guys considered after the holidays if you want to okay
1:08:15 and my thought process on that is
1:08:18 if one of these interim superintendents is here and they are
1:08:21 amazing and we love them do we need a firm
1:08:23 and now we’ve hired a firm and we’re spending money that we don’t
1:08:25 maybe don’t necessarily need to
1:08:26 spend if if that ends up being that way so yeah i think i think
1:08:30 there’s an argument to be made there
1:08:32 um i think that if we were to select an interim and they did a
1:08:35 good job that you could make that
1:08:37 selection i think the other the other issue that you would see
1:08:40 is is that there’s going to be a lot more
1:08:42 applications that would come in and give us some more options
1:08:46 from the perspective of a national search
1:08:48 i do want to remind everybody that um collier charlotte manatee
1:08:54 sarasota and broward have all
1:08:57 decided and there’s some more that are coming um osceola just
1:09:01 retired right so there’s a um there’s an
1:09:04 opportunity to wait to make sure that we do things and then
1:09:07 there’s the other opportunity that the pool will
1:09:10 then become smaller as we get further down the line so just with
1:09:13 those two things i’m open to
1:09:15 suggestions but those were the two concerns with both sides i
1:09:17 completely understand where you’re
1:09:19 coming from is right and i can see both sides so um anybody else
1:09:23 yes that i’m i too have no interest
1:09:30 in jumping in quickly on a search i especially where we’re
1:09:34 coming up on the holiday that gives us ample time
1:09:38 ourselves to look at um the companies that have put forth or
1:09:42 these firms that have put forth uh the
1:09:45 proposals so uh and and and it’s money i that’s something that
1:09:49 we have to take very serious uh to
1:09:52 not jump in some kind of agreement um we have to i believe we
1:09:55 have this is where we have time in term
1:09:58 no we don’t have time we need to get we need to get somebody in
1:10:00 here this i think we have we have time
1:10:04 okay um uh either of you would like to speak yeah miss jenkins
1:10:09 so if we don’t make this decision we’re sending a message to the
1:10:18 public
1:10:19 that can be construed any which way they want to
1:10:23 again we had this conversation previously and i believe we have
1:10:30 an obligation to the community and the
1:10:32 public to continue to do what we said we were going to do one of
1:10:35 the things uh to consider if you don’t
1:10:37 do it um yes there’s the potential that you can like your
1:10:40 interim superintendent absolutely but
1:10:43 these timelines the shortest one i think is like almost four
1:10:46 months um up to six months and so if
1:10:49 you delay it then you’re going to delay having a full-term
1:10:52 superintendent and then at what point do you
1:10:55 do you decide you don’t like your interim superintendent enough
1:10:58 to open up the gate and then have that kind
1:11:00 of a public conversation um it’s kind of a weird uh a weird
1:11:05 thing to do um mr trent you bring up a good
1:11:10 point you know it’s money and it’s something we need to think
1:11:13 about and uh mr susan listed all of the
1:11:15 school districts that have uh vacancies we’re gonna have to pay
1:11:19 the superintendent a lot more money than we
1:11:21 paid the last one and the longer we wait the more we’re gonna
1:11:25 have to pay that superintendent as the
1:11:28 pool gets smaller and smaller um that’s just that’s just a
1:11:32 reality um and so if we’re concerned about
1:11:35 dollars then the smartest thing to do would be to jump on this
1:11:38 um it’s going to be the most cost effective
1:11:42 uh we’re gonna secure one of these or um companies who may not
1:11:46 be available anymore when we make that
1:11:48 decision two months from now um they may raise their cost
1:11:52 because their burden might be a little
1:11:54 bit higher um and again those candidates that are in that pool
1:11:57 are absolutely going to be requesting
1:11:59 a much larger salary than they probably would have requested a
1:12:02 couple of months prior
1:12:10 lastly i just
1:12:15 i just think it’s important for my fellow school board members
1:12:19 to uh
1:12:20 be honest about where we’re heading
1:12:25 because i also agree if we have an idea of what’s happening then
1:12:31 no let’s not waste 50 000
1:12:34 so um i want you to take a minute and think about that too thank
1:12:40 you thank you miss jenkins miss
1:12:43 campbell uh mr gibson christy rodriguez is in the room but do we
1:12:47 have any indication that these quotes
1:12:51 will be um this is their typical or do you have a lock in first
1:12:57 yeah i haven’t got anything saying
1:12:59 it’s only good for 10 days okay good good to hear um so i um
1:13:04 yeah i i what it sounds like there’s um not
1:13:10 anybody who’s ready i don’t know if you were mistaken ready to
1:13:13 put your preference in for these four you
1:13:15 didn’t speak to that and oh yeah i’m sorry i just wasn’t
1:13:17 speaking to that okay well did you want to do that
1:13:19 first okay i’ll sorry we weren’t going there so i didn’t like