Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 music
2:22 Thank you.
7:52 Good afternoon.
7:52 The August 8th, 2023 board work session is now in order.
7:56 Paul, roll call, please.
7:58 Mr. Season?
7:58 Here.
7:59 Ms. Wright?
7:59 Here.
8:00 Ms. Campbell?
8:00 Here.
8:01 Ms. Jenkins?
8:02 Here.
8:02 Mr. Trent?
8:04 And please stand for the Pledge, please stand for the Pledge of
8:10 Allegiance, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
8:17 under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
8:21 First item is a public hearing and rule development
8:25 for revisions to Policy 6180.01,
8:29 Allocation and Use of Sales Surtax
8:31 and New Administrative Procedures 6180.01.
8:34 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item?
8:40 Anybody in the floor?
8:43 Anybody have any conversation?
8:44 All right.
8:47 With no hearing anything, we don’t have a vote on it,
8:50 so we’re going to move on.
8:51 The next topic is a procurement process presentation.
8:54 Thank you, Mr. Chair.
8:58 I’d ask Christine Rodriguez and Don Richard
9:03 to come up and give you a short presentation
9:04 on the procurement process.
9:07 They have a PowerPoint downloaded.
9:09 You should each have a hard copy of the presentation at your
9:12 place.
9:12 And they’re going to walk us through the different steps
9:15 that we take when we’re awarding contracts
9:18 and going through the purchasing and procurement process.
9:21 all right, good afternoon, board members, Dr. Rendell.
9:26 Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today on our
9:32 procurement process.
9:32 As Dr. Rendell stated, my name is Christy Rodriguez.
9:38 I’m the Director of Procurement and Distribution Services, and I’ve
9:42 been in this role since April 2019,
9:43 I’ve been in this role since April 2019, and this is actually my
9:48 second time here at Brevard.
9:52 I’ve been in public procurement for 18 years, and of those 18
9:54 years, I’ve been in public procurement for 18 years.
9:58 And of those 18 years, 16 has been at three Florida school
10:01 districts, and if I’m listing it in order, it started out with
10:06 Osceola, Brevard, Orange, and then I came back to Brevard.
10:12 Also with me is Dawn Richer, procurement manager, and Dawn has
10:26 been with BPS for over 11 years, and she also has 24 years of
10:29 experience.
10:29 Dawn Richer: Ms. Roderick, can I get you to push your mark from
10:34 just a little bit closer, because that’d be great.
10:39 Sure.
10:39 Yeah, absolutely.
10:40 All right, so here’s the agenda we’re going to be covering today,
10:51 and I did provide you copies of the PowerPoint in front of you.
10:56 So here’s a copy of our organizational chart.
10:59 We have 24 positions in our department, 10 of which are full-time,
11:04 dedicated to procurement, so that includes eight procurement
11:08 agents, one manager, which is Dawn, and one procurement clerk.
11:11 I just wanted to highlight some of our accomplishments and
11:16 affiliations, so I’m excited to share that we received the
11:21 National Procurement Institute Achievement in Excellence and Procurement
11:25 Award for 2023.
11:26 That’s hot off the press news.
11:28 That makes four consecutive years for us.
11:30 And for 2023, we were one of 30 public agencies in Florida to
11:35 receive this award, and one of 25 school districts across the
11:40 country.
11:41 So not too many agencies qualify for this.
11:44 On a Florida level, we have received the Florida Association of
11:48 Public Procurement Officials Award for 11 straight years, and
11:52 have won the best practice award twice.
11:56 Both awards include rigorous application processes and encourage
12:00 the development of excellence, as well as continuous process
12:04 improvement.
12:05 I also serve as the FAPO representative on the National Council
12:10 for Public Procurement and Contracting.
12:13 Members of our team are actively engaged at both the National
12:19 Institute for Public Procurement level and the Central Florida
12:23 chapter.
12:24 And a fun fact, the logo there in the center bottom, one of our
12:30 procurement agents, Will Hensman, was involved in redesigning
12:33 that logo.
12:34 And obviously, you can see he made sure the Space Coast was
12:37 represented.
12:37 And several of our team members hold professional certifications,
12:42 as you can see on the right, CPPB, CPPO, NIGP, CPP.
12:47 And in order to qualify for these certifications, you have to
12:53 qualify through a combination of formal education, and
12:57 professional training, and years of working experience before
13:02 you can even sit for the exam.
13:03 And then the exam is a timed exam of 175 questions, so it’s
13:08 quite an accomplishment.
13:10 Here’s our mission statement.
13:15 It is to serve, support, and collaborate with our stakeholders
13:18 and each other delivering strategic, timely, and sustainable
13:22 procurement and distribution solutions that result in added
13:25 value and ethical stewardship of district resources.
13:30 A little bit about what procurement actually handles, we’re
13:33 responsible for the procurement of all commodities and contractual
13:36 services, including construction.
13:38 So we do this through competitive solicitations, which we’ll
13:42 talk about later, piggybacks, and state contracts.
13:46 We do about 75 of those a year.
13:49 We also process any exemptions, which would be sole source waivers
13:53 and agreements, and we do about 720 of those a year.
14:00 We also manage our active contracts, so the two that I just
14:03 mentioned before, these are new contracts that are coming up,
14:07 that we’re having to go out for.
14:09 Active contracts are 1,100.
14:12 So we approve and issue all purchase orders for the district.
14:17 So for last year, that was almost 16,000 purchase orders with a
14:22 total value of 200, or I’m sorry, 351 and a half million.
14:29 We also manage the district P-card program, which includes over
14:33 700 accounts, and we spend 25 and a half million dollars on our
14:37 P-card program.
14:38 And that’s 71,000 transactions.
14:42 We also manage the vendor master records, so everyone, every
14:47 vendor that gets paid by us, we have to go through a process, a
14:51 vendor application in W-9, and we have just under 9,000 active
14:57 vendors.
14:58 So the other arm of our department is distribution services, and
15:01 in case you didn’t know, I wanted to make sure you knew that
15:04 that was part of procurement and what all we handle.
15:07 So we handle courier services, DCRs, so all surplus property, we
15:12 assist with moving, we assist with delivering, receiving,
15:18 sorting, distributing, and picking up testing materials.
15:21 And we have a limited number of stocked items, of course, that
15:25 rose when we were dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, but
15:29 thankfully we haven’t had to distribute as much stuff with that.
15:34 We assist in emergency situations, so when we have a water line
15:38 breakage, we deliver emergency water.
15:41 And then, of course, in the event of a hurricane, we assist the
15:45 EOC with delivering hurricane kits and cots.
15:48 Special events takes up a lot of time.
15:52 We deliver chairs and tables and coral risers and all of that
15:56 for different events that are going on at the schools.
15:59 And then, storage and distribution, so we assist the supply zone
16:06 and Thrive by Five, and then we also run the mail room here at
16:12 ESF.
16:13 So this is just a snapshot of all the different rules related to
16:18 procurement that we have to comply with.
16:21 So it’s quite a bit, and going from left to right, it gets more
16:25 specific as you go along and more localized.
16:29 So any federal funding, we have to make sure we comply with
16:32 federal regulations, many Florida statutes, and then State Board
16:37 of Education rules, that’s specific to Florida school districts.
16:41 And then, SRF is specific to Florida school district building
16:45 and construction.
16:46 And then, of course, the most local is our school board policy
16:49 and procedures.
16:55 So our procurement team is held to a very high standard of
16:59 ethical conduct, and this includes complying with Florida
17:02 statute, board policy, and administrative procedures, the NIGP
17:06 code of ethics, and then those of us that have our professional
17:10 certification, we also comply with the UPPCC code of ethics, and
17:15 then also the FAPO code of ethics.
17:23 So our values and guiding principles are listed on the screen.
17:27 So accountability, we take ownership, and we’re responsible to
17:31 all stakeholders for our actions, ethics, we do the right thing,
17:35 impartiality, unbiased decision-making and actions, professionalism,
17:41 upholding high standards of job performance and ethical behavior,
17:44 service, obligation to assist stakeholders, transparency, easily
17:48 accessible and understanding, understandable policy.
17:48 All right, so kind of now to the meat and potatoes, now that I
18:01 gave you an introduction, so competitive thresholds, in
18:04 accordance with our board policy, and I think this presentation
18:08 is great timing because soon you’ll be moving on to the 6,000
18:10 policies, and so now you’ll be a little more familiar with the
18:14 policy.
18:15 So, in accordance with our policy, commodities or contractual
18:20 services must be procured from an approved contract if one is
18:24 available. That’s something that’s relatively new. Last time we
18:28 revised the policy, we put that in there because we didn’t
18:31 really have that in policy before.
18:33 So schools or departments might want to buy from a different
18:37 vendor. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and that
18:41 is listed in the policy. So if there’s significant savings that
18:44 can be achieved, or for example, if it’s to match existing,
18:48 sometimes we have that with uniforms, then we can go off
18:52 contract.
18:52 If no contract is available and a competitive exemption is not
18:57 available, then the following thresholds apply. So if it’s less
19:00 than 5,000 school or department just makes the best decision,
19:04 they’re closest to the need. If it’s over 5,000, but less than
19:09 15,000, they get two quotes, 15 to 50, three quotes, and then
19:15 over 50,000 we issue a formal competitive solicitation.
19:17 So this slide just gives you a general overview of the
19:29 procurement cycle and how the whole process works. Obviously, it
19:35 starts with a need being identified. We go through a pre-solicitation
19:36 phase, prepare the solicitation. We go through the process, the
19:36 evaluation, award process, and then contract.
19:36 And it just keeps going because obviously at some point the
19:48 contract expires and we have to redo it.
19:56 So formal solicitation types, there’s four solicitation types
20:00 that we do, and we’re going to go over these in a little more
20:05 detail.
20:06 So the invitation to bid is when we can fully define the scope
20:10 of work or have precise specifications.
20:13 The award is made to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder,
20:16 and this is defined in the solicitation document.
20:20 So if there’s certain licenses required or certain
20:23 qualifications, we define that all up front.
20:25 And responsive bidder pretty much means they responded exactly
20:29 the way we asked them to.
20:30 They filled out all their documents, they provided their
20:34 licenses or whatnot.
20:35 Responsible really looks at their capability to perform.
20:39 This process takes about six to eight weeks.
20:46 And this is a process map that tells you what our BPS process
20:50 actually looks like.
20:52 So it starts with a procurement request.
20:54 Then we develop the ITB.
20:56 We post the ITB.
20:58 We have a pre-bid if applicable.
21:00 We get questions in from all the vendors.
21:03 Then we issue an addenda because that puts out questions to all
21:07 the vendors at the same time.
21:08 We have a public bid opening.
21:11 We evaluate the bids.
21:12 Then we post a notice of intended decision.
21:15 That begins our protest period.
21:17 So we resolve any issues that may arise.
21:20 Then we prepare the recommendation form in the agenda.
21:24 Then we submit the board agenda.
21:26 And then it comes to you all for approval.
21:28 And then we administer the contract.
21:31 So we –
21:32 Can I ask a question?
21:33 Of course.
21:34 Please.
21:35 For the protest period, what is –
21:37 I’m guessing there’s a website that a vendor is going to go on
21:41 and be able to check the size of a BPS event?
21:44 So we – currently we use VendorLink.
21:46 And we post all of the documents on there.
21:48 And once they have downloaded a solicitation, they’re considered
21:52 a plan holder.
21:53 And they get email notifications of everything that we post.
21:57 Okay.
21:58 So when we – if we post a tab sheet and a notice of intended
22:01 decision, they’ll get an email.
22:02 Okay.
22:03 Perfect.
22:04 All right.
22:05 Thank you.
22:06 All right.
22:07 Thank you.
22:08 Mm-hmm.
22:09 All right.
22:10 So request for proposals.
22:11 This is used when a scope of work may not be fully defined.
22:14 And we’re looking for a solution.
22:18 And when we post the notice of intended decision, that starts
22:20 the clock for the protest period.
22:21 The protest – whole process is very complicated and outlined in
22:23 Florida statute in our policy and procedures.
22:24 And they have 72 hours to protest.
22:26 All right.
22:27 Thank you.
22:28 Mm-hmm.
22:29 All right.
22:30 So request for proposals.
22:31 May not be fully defined.
22:32 And we’re looking for a solution.
22:35 Or when it’s important that we evaluate more than just low price.
22:40 So price is a factor, but it’s not the sole determining factor.
22:44 It’s more of a best value decision.
22:46 And with this process, we have an evaluation committee that is
22:51 appointed to review and score
22:52 the proposals and the presentations if we require presentations.
22:56 So this process takes a little bit longer.
22:58 It’s nine to 12 weeks.
23:00 The next type of solicitation is request for qualifications.
23:05 And there’s two types.
23:07 One is Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act, CCNA.
23:12 And so we mostly work on these – well, we do work on these for
23:16 Sue and with her team.
23:17 And this is in accordance with Florida statute 287055 for the
23:22 purchase of architectural, engineering,
23:24 landscape, architectural, surveying, mapping, and construction
23:28 management services.
23:29 And the unique thing about this process is cost cannot be a
23:32 factor when we’re evaluating.
23:34 It’s not until the most qualified firm is selected that we work
23:38 with them on determining their costs.
23:41 The other type of RFQ is non-CCNA.
23:44 And this would be used to pre-qualify vendors, ensure that they
23:48 meet a minimum set of criteria.
23:50 So examples of what we’ve done as RFQs in this way is yearbooks
23:55 and school photography.
23:57 So these also have evaluation committees that serve and review
24:01 and score.
24:02 And it takes nine to 12 weeks.
24:03 So, Christy, on the first one, the CCNA, for those like with our
24:10 construction, most of these we have like a list, right?
24:14 And so you’re picking the three most qualified, for example,
24:17 this construction.
24:18 And that way Sue’s got a project.
24:20 Then she’s rotating through whoever’s got time.
24:23 Correct.
24:24 We have continuing service contracts in place for most of these.
24:29 But we can only use those contracts for up to $4 million.
24:33 And so when we have a larger project, we have to do a separate
24:37 request for qualification.
24:39 So if we’re renovating a couple of bathrooms, it would fall into
24:42 that.
24:42 But if we’re building our new school here, we start from scratch
24:45 with outside of this.
24:46 But is it still considered this CCNA?
24:48 Yes.
24:49 Okay.
24:50 So we’re still just going with the most qualified.
24:52 And then we negotiate the price with them separately.
24:54 Correct.
24:55 Okay.
24:56 Yeah.
24:57 As far as the evaluation committee goes, I know I have a lot of
24:59 questions.
25:00 I’m sure you’d like us.
25:01 That’s okay.
25:02 How are you selecting the evaluation committee?
25:04 Because these aren’t necessarily procurement employees, correct?
25:07 Correct.
25:08 Procurement serves on the committee.
25:10 Well, we facilitate the committee.
25:12 So we’re non-voting.
25:13 And I actually have a slide in here.
25:15 Do you want to wait?
25:16 Yeah.
25:17 Okay.
25:19 All right.
25:20 So here’s the process map for RFPs and RFQs.
25:25 Because those processes are very similar.
25:27 I just have one process map.
25:29 But the difference is the beginning process is pretty much the
25:34 same.
25:34 It’s just once the responses come in, then we have procurement
25:38 review phase.
25:39 So that’s where we review them to make sure they are responsive.
25:43 Occasionally, a vendor doesn’t even make it past that point.
25:48 And then we have an evaluation committee training and kickoff
25:51 meeting with the committee.
25:52 So we train everyone who serves on these committees, talk to
25:56 them about the rules, what they’re not supposed to do, and all
26:00 of that.
26:00 And then we set them free with their homework, so to speak.
26:04 And then they have their review period, which that can be one
26:07 week, two weeks, sometimes more.
26:09 It depends on the complexity and how many proposals we received.
26:14 After that, we get together at a formal committee meeting that
26:19 is a publicly noticed meeting.
26:21 So members from the public can attend.
26:23 And they discuss the proposals, they score them in accordance
26:28 with the RFP document and scoring criteria.
26:31 And then we often call this meeting the shortlist meeting
26:34 because depending on the ranking,
26:37 the committee may want to have presentations or demos,
26:41 conversations with the top-ranked firms.
26:43 So then we schedule those.
26:52 All right, invitation to negotiate.
26:53 This is used for the purchase of highly complex commodities and/or
26:58 services such as technology or volatile markets.
27:02 The procedures, this is a unique process because with the RFP
27:06 and the RFQ,
27:07 you don’t negotiate a contract or anything with multiple firms.
27:11 Once you get your top-ranked firm or firms, then you negotiate
27:15 the contract.
27:16 Part of this evaluation process is that you can negotiate with
27:20 more than one company at the same time.
27:22 So an example of when we did an ITN recently that I can remember,
27:27 it’s probably been a year or two,
27:28 was our exclusive beverage contract because there’s two
27:32 companies, Coke and Pepsi.
27:34 So we wanted to use this tool to make sure we got the best deal
27:39 for the district.
27:41 It also gives us the opportunity to further negotiate the scope
27:46 of services.
27:47 So because this one has a little more steps, it takes 16 to 20
27:52 weeks.
27:53 And so we have a process map here.
27:56 The process is very similar except for after the presentations
28:00 or demos, we’d post a finalist list that we plan to negotiate
28:05 with,
28:05 and then we’d move into the negotiation phase.
28:08 So as I mentioned before, all of the meetings are open to the
28:21 public.
28:21 The only ones that aren’t, and this is in accordance with
28:24 Florida statute, is the presentations and negotiations.
28:27 So those are closed to the public for reasonable reasons.
28:33 You know, you don’t want your competitors hearing your secrets,
28:37 I guess, or your competitive advantages.
28:41 And, but these meetings are audio recorded.
28:44 So then on developing the committee, the end user department
28:47 works with the procurement agent to determine a potential
28:51 committee.
28:52 And we try to ensure that it’s cross-functional, which is
28:57 sometimes challenging to pick someone from another area that
29:00 doesn’t know anything about it.
29:02 But we try to make it cross-functional so that it’s not five
29:07 people from the same department.
29:09 That involves getting help from our cabinet members to assign
29:14 people.
29:15 And we also want to make sure if there’s any technical or
29:19 software component that we have an ET representative on there.
29:23 And so what our current process is, is once that committee is
29:28 developed or in draft form, I send it to the cabinet member who’s
29:32 responsible.
29:32 And I’m asking them to review it and also consult with other
29:37 cabinet members to see if they feel they want to be represented
29:41 on the committee.
29:42 Any questions?
29:47 Yeah, I guess I do.
29:48 All right, as far as the committees go, once someone has gone
29:54 through the process of being selected for a committee, are they
29:57 forever in like the procurement committee pool, so to speak?
30:00 Or are you doing this for literally every single contract that’s
30:03 coming through, you are going through this process of selecting
30:05 a committee, going through the public process, and picking that
30:09 committee, is that correct?
30:10 Correct.
30:11 Okay.
30:12 Yeah.
30:13 It’s unique for every solicitation.
30:14 Okay.
30:15 All right.
30:16 Thank you.
30:17 And don’t we frequently, with things that have to do – I think
30:19 we have union representatives on some committees, don’t we?
30:22 Absolutely.
30:23 For certain solicitations, like a year or two ago, we redid
30:27 almost every insurance product that we had, and I led a lot of
30:32 those solicitations.
30:33 And we ensured that we had a representative from PFT and 1010 on
30:38 those committees.
30:39 It just depends on what it is.
30:40 Right, right.
30:41 I know, like our health insurance, I know they’ve sat on those
30:45 for sure.
30:45 Absolutely.
30:46 Thank you.
30:47 Anybody else?
30:48 I was just going to hold all mine to the final question.
30:49 Okay.
30:50 All right.
30:51 So I didn’t want to not take the opportunity to talk about the
31:01 cone of silence.
31:04 So this is something that we include in our solicitations, and
31:08 of course, it’s in our board policy.
31:09 So the cone of silence begins when the solicitation is posted,
31:14 and it ends when the board acts on the recommendation.
31:17 And of course, public comments always allowed at the board
31:20 meeting.
31:21 So if someone feels they want to voice their opinion on the
31:24 contract, that would be allowed.
31:26 But the goal of this policy is to protect the integrity of the
31:31 process from undue influence.
31:33 So it prohibits any communication with vendors to the
31:37 superintendent, staff, you know, they
31:40 can’t go and talk to the department and try to sway them one way
31:44 or another, and also board members.
31:46 So we just tell them all the communication has to flow through
31:49 procurement.
31:50 And that way we can make sure all the vendors get the same
31:53 information.
31:54 And we, you know, we let vendors know any violations could cause
31:59 and rejection of their proposal.
32:01 And then in our last revision of our board policy, we included,
32:05 you know, the violation
32:07 by staff could result in disciplinary action, up to including
32:12 dismissal.
32:13 And that’s the email that we get every month, right?
32:16 From you guys.
32:17 These of the list, the cone of silence list.
32:20 Yes.
32:21 All right, alternate source contracting.
32:25 So we also have available to us that we can utilize state of
32:29 Florida contracts and piggybacks.
32:31 So we can piggyback from other government agencies or
32:34 procurement cooperatives.
32:36 And we are actually members of two local cooperatives, the Brevard
32:41 County Public and Sea Purchasing
32:43 Cooperative.
32:44 So this was initiated probably 10 years ago or so, so that we
32:48 here locally can pool our resources
32:51 to get a better deal here in the county.
32:54 And an example of the solicitation that we’ve been the lead on
32:58 and our other local agencies
33:00 benefit from it is for fuel.
33:03 So we also are involved in the Florida School Procurement
33:08 Consortium.
33:09 And an example of that one I think has been our textbook
33:13 disposal contract so that we can
33:15 pool resources there.
33:17 So factors that we consider when determining if we’re going to
33:20 do a piggyback or utilize state
33:22 contract would be economies of scale, savings, local market,
33:26 because, you know, we don’t want to go piggyback
33:28 a national cooperative if we have a lot of local vendors who
33:32 would miss out on the opportunity.
33:35 Also timeline and urgency.
33:37 Are there some statutory requirements for using a more local
33:44 vendor?
33:45 Or is it just really like we want to keep the business local
33:47 because it benefits our local economy?
33:49 Correct.
33:50 There is a very specific Florida statute that applies only to
33:55 when we’re purchasing personal property.
33:59 And it’s one of the forms in our solicitation document deal with
34:03 it.
34:03 But basically it says if there’s an out of state vendor that
34:06 they have a local preference in their jurisdiction,
34:09 we have to apply that same preference to our Florida vendors.
34:13 So it’s just a very, very specific scenario when it applies.
34:16 But other than that, we don’t have any preference.
34:18 So, of course, we have a process for these as well.
34:23 We have a checklist that we have to follow, make sure we get all
34:26 the documents and save them.
34:29 For piggybacks, we complete an agreement with them.
34:32 And then the approval is based on the total value of the
34:35 contract.
34:36 Can a vendor ever refuse a piggyback?
34:41 I mean, I guess they would if they’ve already agreed to one.
34:44 But –
34:45 Yeah, I mean –
34:46 Because some of those piggybacks are actually out of state,
34:48 right?
34:48 I’ve seen contracts –
34:49 Some of them are, yeah.
34:50 I think that’s why we send them the agreement.
34:53 I don’t – I can’t think of any off the top of my head where
34:56 someone has.
34:56 Because they want our business.
34:58 Yeah.
34:59 But, yeah, I suppose they could say we’re stretched too thin, we
35:02 don’t have the resources or whatnot.
35:05 All right.
35:06 So, we also have competitive exemptions available to us.
35:14 And pretty much most of these, you can see I have these 6A
35:17 numbers listed next to them.
35:18 These are in our state board of education rules.
35:21 A lot of them are also listed in Florida statute.
35:24 But these are specific for school districts.
35:27 So, professional services.
35:30 Examples in this category are artistic services.
35:34 Lectures, legal services.
35:37 Educational services and copyrighted materials.
35:40 So, testing, software.
35:42 And this is when the – we’re buying from the producer,
35:46 publisher, or copyright holder.
35:47 Single and sole source processes.
35:51 There’s a full-blown process for that as well.
35:54 And that includes posting it out to the public for seven
35:58 business days.
35:59 We have emergency procurements.
36:01 That’s where if we were an emergency situation, we’d go to Dr.
36:05 Rendell, get his approval, and then take it to you all to ratify.
36:08 If grant or law prescribes who we need to contract with, that’s
36:12 also another exemption.
36:14 Regulated utilities or government franchise services,
36:18 information technology, insurance and risk management programs,
36:23 or third-party administrators.
36:25 There is an exception for group, employee group insurance.
36:30 And then any other exemptions that might be allowable to us.
36:34 Just because we have these exemptions available to us doesn’t
36:38 mean it’s always the best decision to use them.
36:40 But we do have them as a tool available.
36:43 So, like, for example, with information technology, we do solicitations
36:49 a lot of times for software and things like that.
36:52 All right.
36:57 So, procurement requests.
36:58 Just to explain this.
36:59 This is an internal process that was created in 2020.
37:03 And this formalizes the end-user department or school asking
37:07 procurement to take action.
37:09 Prior to this, it was emails, things like that.
37:14 And so, this is the first step that we ask our end-users to take.
37:18 And they have to do this for any agreements that require
37:21 signature.
37:22 It doesn’t matter the dollar amount.
37:23 If a school or department is being asked to sign something and
37:27 it has terms and conditions on it, they have to go through this
37:31 process.
37:31 And then, of course, if we need to initiate a solicitation, sole
37:35 source, piggyback, or state contract, any exempt procurements
37:38 with a value over $50,000, and then if they need our assistance
37:42 with requesting quotes.
37:43 They are – they don’t have to come to us to get quotes, but if
37:47 they – you know, it’s a complicated situation and they need our
37:50 help, we will assist with that.
37:56 All right.
37:57 So, agreements.
37:58 All agreements have to be reviewed by procurement before signing.
38:03 And I have presented this at the leadership team meetings,
38:07 principals meetings.
38:08 We just had bookkeeper and secretary training last week.
38:13 So, after several years, you know, I think that everybody’s
38:17 pretty good on complying with that.
38:18 And if – if we need to go and work with legal, then we
38:22 facilitate that.
38:24 And the preferred method that we use for signing anymore is
38:28 electronic.
38:29 And then also in our board policy, we state that employees who
38:33 enter into agreements without authority can be held personally
38:37 liable.
38:38 So, we kind of explain that so that they’re more cautious.
38:45 So, approval and signature authority.
38:47 This is also outlined in our board policy.
38:49 So, board approval is, of course, for a value of $50,000 or more.
38:53 The superintendent can sign $25,000 or more, less than $50,000.
38:57 Cabinet can sign $5,000 or more, less than $25,000.
39:01 And then department directors and principals have the authority
39:05 to sign contracts less than $5,000.
39:07 But they can only sign after we’ve reviewed it.
39:12 So, the agreement process, again, it starts with entering a
39:19 procurement request.
39:21 We work with the end user to develop and negotiate the agreement.
39:24 We have lots of legal approved templates that we use whenever
39:28 possible.
39:29 But sometimes the vendor will refuse to use ours.
39:32 Maybe they have too much terms and conditions.
39:35 So, then we use a vendor-provided agreement.
39:38 Or if they request changes to our standard agreement, then we go
39:42 through legal as well.
39:43 And so, of course, you know, legal’s busy.
39:46 So, that can add a little bit of time to the process.
39:49 So, then once the agreement is finalized, it’s sent to the
39:53 vendor for review and signature.
39:55 After the vendor signs, we work within those authority limits
39:58 that I just explained.
40:00 And procurement coordinates superintendent and board approval.
40:07 So, this is just a list of some resources that I’ve referenced.
40:12 And also, I think that would be beneficial if you want more
40:15 information.
40:16 So, from NIGP, they actually have a public procurement guide for
40:21 elected and senior government officials,
40:23 officials, global best practices, position research and white
40:28 papers.
40:28 And then, as I mentioned, these awards that we continue to earn
40:33 each year, these are great
40:35 to benchmark to make sure we’re not falling behind, we’re
40:39 keeping up with the best practices
40:41 and all of that.
40:43 And then, we also participate in professional association
40:47 training and networking.
40:48 And then, as I mentioned, the Flora School Procurement Consortium.
40:51 That is an amazing resource because within, sometimes, minutes,
40:56 I can get responses from my peers
40:58 all around the state.
40:59 So, it’s really beneficial.
41:01 Contacts, me, Dawn, and I didn’t mention Sandy Kimple.
41:08 She is the distribution services supervisor.
41:12 Questions?
41:14 Okay.
41:15 We’ll open up the floor to any questions for Ms. Rodriguez.
41:19 Ms. Jennifer, do you want to go first, Ms. Jenkins?
41:25 I don’t have any questions.
41:26 I just want to thank you.
41:28 Obviously, all of our departments are beholden to the taxpayer
41:31 and responsible.
41:32 of transparency and accountability.
41:34 But you guys probably are on the front lines of that.
41:37 And so I appreciate you, I respect you.
41:40 And over the past two and a half years of being here,
41:44 often we’re getting emails as well as notifications
41:47 from the dais of all the awards that you’re getting.
41:49 But you continue to go above and beyond.
41:51 So thank you for that.
41:52 Thank you for representing us so well.
41:54 And congratulations in one in 25 districts
41:57 in the entire country, that’s pretty impressive.
41:59 Thanks guys. - Thank you.
42:00 - Thank you Ms. Jenkins.
42:01 - Mr. Trent, you got anything?
42:04 - No, again, thank you so much for doing what you’re doing.
42:07 We’re happy you’re going through all this
42:10 and not having to have enough to do everything.
42:13 So I appreciate it.
42:14 - Thank you.
42:15 - Ms. Campbell.
42:17 - Yeah, no, this was great.
42:19 And I’m the one who requested this
42:20 because it’s been very, I mean,
42:21 even after having been on the board for almost five years,
42:24 I learned something new, a few things.
42:26 But I love that in the mission statement, stewardship,
42:29 because that’s a really important word.
42:30 And it’s something that we’re called to do,
42:33 but we can really do it best when your department
42:36 is functioning with excellence.
42:38 And so very much appreciate that.
42:40 I think I got all my other questions answered
42:43 in the presentation.
42:44 - Thank you.
42:44 Ms. Wright.
42:45 - Yeah, I have a couple questions, sorry.
42:47 I know this is, I’ve been the one that’s pulled things
42:50 and questioned them probably more so than anybody else
42:52 that’s been on the board since I’ve been here.
42:54 But what is the email every month that you’re getting
42:57 about the cone of silence, Ms. Campbell?
42:59 - You should be getting an email that has a,
43:02 it’s got an attachment and it has all the people
43:04 we shouldn’t be talking to.
43:05 - I have never received that email.
43:06 So I probably need to be,
43:08 I don’t know if you’re getting a cone of silence email,
43:10 but if not, maybe we need to make sure
43:12 I’ve not got that email ever.
43:13 - I’ll see if I can find when the last one went out.
43:15 - Okay.
43:16 And then, all right, so questions about this process
43:19 because there’s something that’s even coming up tonight
43:21 that we’re gonna be talking about,
43:22 but like a school initiated agreement,
43:25 does that go through the procurement process as well?
43:28 If they bring, if school brings forward a contract to you
43:31 that they want approved or they want the board to approve,
43:33 how does that, how’s that handled?
43:34 - Yeah, so they would submit the procurement request.
43:37 That, it depends on what it is.
43:40 I mean, if it’s something that we need to compete,
43:43 then we would have to either do a solicitation,
43:46 but if it’s something that’s below the threshold
43:48 or it falls under an exemption,
43:50 then again, it would start with the procurement request.
43:53 We would work on the contract,
43:55 work with legal if necessary,
43:57 and then we would work with the appropriate cabinet member
44:00 to get it submitted for an agenda,
44:03 you know, a future board meeting.
44:05 - And then, when it comes to, you know,
44:07 obviously you spoke about the fact
44:08 that you’re following the state statutes,
44:10 and one that just came out that was a big one,
44:12 obviously, is that we’re not allowed to work
44:14 with any foreign-based companies
44:15 that are owned by certain countries, not every country.
44:18 Have you guys gone back and looked at our contracts
44:21 that we have in place right now
44:22 to make sure that we’re not violating that?
44:24 ‘Cause I know I pulled one that was a pretty hefty one
44:27 that we found out after the fact
44:28 that that would have been a no-fly zone basically
44:30 for us to even use that contract had we approved it.
44:33 So is that something that you guys are looking at?
44:35 - So existing contracts,
44:37 we have not initiated that as of yet.
44:41 We were actually just talking about the language
44:43 that needs to go into our future solicitations
44:46 and contracts, so we’ll be working with legal on that.
44:49 - Okay, I think that’s a huge one
44:50 that probably needs to be looked at,
44:51 just because we could be in some trouble there
44:53 if we if we’re not paying attention to that.
44:56 I think, I don’t think I have any other questions.
45:02 I don’t think I have any other questions at this moment.
45:03 So thank you, I appreciate this presentation
45:05 and all your diligence and how hard you guys are working.
45:07 I know that it’s a lot to go through this many contracts
45:09 and review these things.
45:11 Typically when I pull them for question,
45:13 it’s not that I don’t trust you,
45:15 it’s that I legitimately have questions about them
45:16 and I need to bring them out
45:17 and ask them in front of everybody kind of deal.
45:20 So I appreciate your, you know,
45:22 how diligent you guys are.
45:23 You’ve been on it whenever I ask you
45:24 for the matrices on the scoring of our vendors
45:29 on our contracts, so I appreciate that too.
45:31 So thank you.
45:31 - Thank you.
45:33 - Just if I can circle back to the thing,
45:34 I just could, I did just do a quick search.
45:36 The last one we got was January.
45:39 So, but Christy, we usually send them to Pam or Tammy
45:44 and so we’d probably need to get back into-
45:46 - The groove.
45:47 - Yeah, making sure those are coming out.
45:49 Last three I got were January, then October before that,
45:52 and August before that.
45:54 So it’s just an email, it says cone of silence.
45:58 - What it is, is that anybody that’s currently
46:00 under contract or has engaged in the RFP process
46:05 or RFI process, we want them to not be able to reach out
46:07 to us to try to lobby us for that.
46:10 There was a contract about six years, no,
46:11 about nine years ago that they did not put the cone on
46:14 and they were hitting up board numbers
46:16 and stuff like that.
46:17 So for you, it’s illegal for us to talk to anybody
46:21 like during the middle of an RFP.
46:22 - Right.
46:23 - So what you have to do is find the app, know that.
46:26 And you wouldn’t know that unless you had the list.
46:28 So, which is part of the reason I’m trying to get that
46:31 lobbyist registration is there’s a barrier buffer for you.
46:34 But the thing is, is that that’s kind of what it is.
46:36 And it kind of came out of, I requested, I started requesting
46:39 vendors and stuff like that.
46:40 Said, hey, can you give me a list of all the vendors
46:42 so I know, stuff like that.
46:43 And then we came up to that conclusion to do that.
46:45 So thank you so much for doing that before.
46:46 - Yeah.
46:48 - Anyways, if you’re good, I’d like to ask some questions.
46:51 So the contracts that we have, the threshold is $50,000.
46:56 Is that yearly or is that complete?
46:58 So like if the contracts for $50,000 or if it’s for $35,000,
47:01 but it’s for three years, would that make it go above
47:04 and have to go through the RFP process?
47:06 - It’s whatever the term of the contract
47:10 and the value of that is.
47:11 - Okay.
47:12 - So that’s the way the policy reads.
47:14 It’s kind of each contract.
47:16 So yes, if it’s multiple years and the total
47:20 of our multiple years only adds up to 50,
47:21 it would still come to you all.
47:23 - And just for a process, if the superintendent signs
47:27 something for a contract, right?
47:29 And it’s under the $50,000 and it’s within his scope
47:34 of doing so, is that something that you always review?
47:37 So you review every single contract?
47:40 - Yes.
47:40 - And is there a way, because this was a part
47:43 of a conversation before that some of our board members
47:45 had some concern over a contract
47:48 that one of our superintendents prior to Dr. Rendell
47:50 was going after, is there a way to make sure
47:52 that those kind of come before the board?
47:53 Can we bring those as an informational item
47:56 just so that we know, does that make sense to you?
47:59 - Only contracts that the superintendent signs?
48:01 - No, I’m just trying to find a loop
48:02 so that we can see them.
48:03 Dr. Rendell, does that make sense to you?
48:05 ‘Cause there was a couple that were going through years ago.
48:09 So like if the superintendent signs a contract
48:11 with a company that is under the threshold
48:14 of going to the RFP process,
48:16 does that have to come before the board?
48:18 And if it doesn’t, then is there a way
48:20 that we can start doing that?
48:22 Not that Dr. Rendell would do that in any way.
48:25 I just know that in the past, we’ve had some of those.
48:27 Does that make sense to you?
48:29 - Yeah, I think the only way to ensure that happens
48:34 is to lower the threshold of my spending authority.
48:38 I mean, Paul can weigh in on that.
48:39 Is it?
48:40 - No, I wouldn’t say that we wouldn’t be able to approve it.
48:42 It’s just an informational item that you signed it.
48:45 Does that make sense?
48:46 That’s all. - Sure.
48:46 - So we didn’t do it for the idea.
48:48 It’s just so that we can keep that transparency and stuff
48:51 to make sure that everybody’s on the up and up.
48:53 That’s all.
48:53 - Okay.
48:54 - Does that make sense?
48:55 Do you guys follow that?
48:56 - So you just want to be informed.
48:58 You don’t necessarily want approval.
48:59 - Yeah.
49:00 - Just say, hey, these contracts are in place, basically?
49:01 - Right, because there’s times when the super,
49:03 the reason that that is there
49:04 is ‘cause the superintendent has to have,
49:06 there’s times when he has to pay for things
49:08 and he shouldn’t have to wait.
49:09 Like you have to give him that authority
49:11 because he is our superintendent to do that.
49:13 We don’t want to impede that.
49:14 We just want to make sure
49:15 that if something went through that we saw it, that’s all.
49:17 And it’s not in a way for us to say,
49:18 hey, we’re not going to vote for that.
49:20 It’s already been approved.
49:21 It’s already been spent probably by the time it gets to us,
49:23 but we just need to know that.
49:24 I don’t know if there’s another way,
49:25 but I was just trying to say, hey, you know what I mean?
49:28 And I don’t know if Dr. Rendell even does any of that,
49:30 but just to make sure that we know that’s all.
49:34 - Yeah, in a previous district,
49:35 I think we used to do an addendum to the board agenda
49:37 that listed any contracts that were approved under $50,000
49:42 and under a superintendent spending authority
49:44 or something like that.
49:45 And then also cabinet.
49:46 So if there’s ones that cabinet does
49:48 that are under the $25,000,
49:49 we can do something like that too.
49:50 - Yeah, it was an addendum.
49:52 I’m pretty sure I can go look it up.
49:54 - And it’s not a way for us to stop it.
49:56 It’s just a way for us to know,
49:57 hey, they went ahead and purchased this
49:59 and we just need to know about it, that’s all.
50:01 - Okay.
50:02 - Because ultimately we give approval through the budget process.
50:05 But I hear what you’re saying.
50:06 You’re asking for specific feedback, which–
50:09 - On the budget process, we give a certain allotted amount of
50:11 money.
50:11 If they go sign a $24,000 contract somewhere,
50:15 it’s not generally inside of our budget.
50:16 We want to be able to tell if they did that, that’s all.
50:18 - No, you just popped in a question that I have.
50:21 - Go ahead, Ms. Wright.
50:22 I’ve got all mine written down, so you go ahead.
50:23 - So if, in theory, like you just said,
50:26 a $24,000 contract gets approved and let’s say
50:28 that that contract now is amended
50:30 and now it’s an extra $24,000 additional dollars,
50:32 so it’s now bumped it over that threshold of $25,000.
50:35 Does that now change the whole dynamic of it?
50:38 - Yeah, so it’s actually in our board policy
50:41 that amendments follow the same approval authority
50:44 unless the amendment puts it into another threshold.
50:47 - Okay.
50:48 - So if Dr. Rendell signed something within his threshold
50:50 and then we needed to amend it and now it’s over 50,
50:53 it would come to the board.
50:54 - Okay, thank you for the clarification on that.
50:57 - I have a follow-up to something that Ms. Wright brought up
51:02 and then asked if you guys were reviewing.
51:04 - So the law that went into effect in July
51:06 about certain outside country contracts
51:11 is for renewal, extension, and new contracts.
51:15 It’s not for current because that would be wildly insane
51:20 to go back and undo all those and then re-procure them all.
51:23 So just throwing that out there
51:25 for the public that’s paying attention.
51:26 - Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.
51:27 I think it’s still, I think we have board agreement
51:29 that we should review all of our policies now
51:32 so that we know ahead of time before they come up
51:34 for procurement to let them know that, hey,
51:36 and there may be some that we might want to review.
51:38 So if that’s something that you guys,
51:41 I know you’re already starting to do that,
51:42 but that would be something that we would want to do.
51:45 And it would help if the Department of Education
51:49 could give us some guidance in that too,
51:50 because having you guys look for some sort of conversation
51:56 wrapped around like, you guys, where is your foreign,
51:59 you know what I mean?
52:00 Like it’s a lot of work for what, to look at,
52:02 we have 40,000 vendors.
52:03 - Right, and what is the percentage of your–
52:06 - For you guys to be able to look and stuff like that.
52:09 - Yeah.
52:10 - Anyway, so–
52:11 - And I believe DMS is supposed to publish a report,
52:14 so we’ll go back and see if that report
52:16 and that link has even been developed,
52:18 ‘cause that will make it a lot easier for us.
52:20 - So, perfect.
52:22 But I think that they could do a better job
52:24 of helping us out.
52:25 As far as the committee, so we have RFP, RFI, RFQ committees,
52:30 right, and so what we have is outside experience.
52:35 What I came across in some of the others,
52:37 and I have that on, I came across some of the other
52:41 municipalities and stuff like that,
52:43 where they actually bring in outside experts
52:45 as a part of their RFP process.
52:47 So in some of our school districts in the south
52:50 and some of our counties, what they’ll do is they’ll reach out
52:53 to other municipalities, like, say for instance,
52:55 we had an insurance contract coming up,
52:58 might wanna see if Jerry Visco across the street,
53:00 who’s been doing insurance for 30 years,
53:01 may wanna come over and be a part of it
53:03 to lend some sort of expertise to it.
53:06 There’s other places like that,
53:07 a small city may have somebody in there,
53:08 because ultimately we wanna try to get what’s the most,
53:12 you know what I mean, the best people
53:13 to be inside that procurement process.
53:16 And I think that having those kind of opportunities,
53:18 I just wanted to kind of offer that up to you.
53:21 When we go to the selection of individuals,
53:24 so we have, how far out ahead are you letting them know,
53:28 like, so say an insurance one, right?
53:30 Like a big one.
53:31 When are we letting them know,
53:32 like the RFP’s coming in November?
53:34 We kinda know that because you’re looking at contracts ahead.
53:37 So the whole year we’ve got January through December,
53:41 these are the contracts coming up.
53:43 You know, the majority of them probably don’t need to be
53:45 concerned
53:45 about huge like knowledge and stuff like that,
53:48 but there are some that get to that elevation
53:50 of 10, $20 million.
53:52 How do we let them know ahead of time?
53:54 Does that make sense to you?
53:56 - Yeah, so we normally start talking with the end user
53:58 about who should be on the committee
54:00 when we’re in the middle of drafting the solicitation
54:03 before it’s posted.
54:05 Ideally, because so many people are,
54:07 especially our higher level folks,
54:11 their calendars are filled up.
54:13 So we have to get on their calendars ahead of time.
54:16 So that’s when we would really start talking about it.
54:18 - Not sure if we ever wanted to,
54:20 but maybe in the beginning of the year,
54:21 like now, if there was a dead time,
54:24 we may wanna look at the contracts and say,
54:25 hey, the insurance one’s coming up in March.
54:27 Maybe there’s an opportunity now to say,
54:29 well, we know these people,
54:30 we know Ms. Scipio is gonna be on there,
54:32 but hey, maybe we can reach out to some others.
54:34 Just maybe if there’s a level of more than $5 million
54:38 that the contract’s gonna be worth,
54:39 that we do something like that,
54:40 just to start a pre-education.
54:42 ‘Cause I also saw in some of the other districts,
54:44 they have like a pre-education
54:46 where they bring in some of the people
54:49 and they kind of educate them
54:50 on the past practices and stuff like that.
54:52 So they understand the sequence
54:54 of about what’s about to happen.
54:55 Just helps them out.
54:56 And I can work with you offline about that.
54:58 It might be something you guys don’t do,
54:59 but just an idea, that’s all.
55:02 - Would that be different from what she mentioned
55:04 in the presentation that they already do
55:06 in the training of the committee members?
55:08 - Yeah, it’s a little bit different.
55:10 So thank you.
55:12 So the other thing is, is that,
55:14 so do all contracts that go through our school districts,
55:20 are those reviewed by Paul?
55:23 Or do they get reviewed by you?
55:25 Like who does that?
55:25 - We all come through procurement
55:27 and we use our legal approved templates.
55:30 So we have a regular agreement.
55:32 We have a independent contractor agreement.
55:34 We have a software license, addendum template.
55:37 So we have various templates
55:39 that have already been approved through legal.
55:42 And if the vendor’s willing to sign our agreement
55:45 with no changes, it doesn’t have to go through his office.
55:47 - There you go.
55:48 - If they have any changes to that
55:50 or they provide us their agreement,
55:53 then we have to go through legal.
55:55 - That’s when Paul has to come involved
55:56 and get it and go through it.
55:58 Okay.
56:00 All right.
56:01 And then we had, and I’d like to give Ms. Jenkins
56:04 a chance to speak to the Chinese business portion
56:08 in just a second.
56:08 And as far as when we pulled that one before,
56:12 we kind of diverted a major disaster
56:16 by getting that out ahead of time.
56:19 Is there any, like we utilize like Zoom
56:24 and stuff like that, right?
56:25 And that’s a foreign Chinese based organization
56:27 that the Kennedy Space Center doesn’t use
56:29 and stuff like that.
56:31 If there’s anything that we can do to help you in that,
56:34 like if there’s conversations that Dr. Rendell can ask
56:37 to DOE and stuff like that,
56:38 that’d be great too.
56:39 Just ‘cause it’s difficult to even know where they are.
56:42 ‘Cause that one I got approached by
56:44 after we had done that,
56:45 had said that only a portion of their headquarters
56:47 was in China.
56:48 And I was like, oh my gosh,
56:49 this is like, it’s kind of insane.
56:51 So Ms. Jenkins, you had said earlier
56:53 that you wanted to speak to this.
56:55 - There was a lot thrown out there.
57:04 So I think I’m gonna remind the board that everyone has a role
57:09 in this district and are experts in their areas.
57:14 Making a blanket statement about one of our contracts
57:19 with a vendor, such as Zoom being foreign owned,
57:22 as if our district isn’t looking into that or know that,
57:25 I think we should be careful what we’re saying out loud.
57:29 I think we have ET back here who can probably speak to that,
57:32 the validity of that statement.
57:33 What I was saying before was that,
57:43 it sounded like we were asking the procurement department
57:46 to review all of our existing contracts for foreign entities.
57:49 And that is not necessary, nor feasible or required.
57:54 They are well aware of the law change,
57:55 which will then be in policy change,
57:58 and they will do so going forward.
58:00 That is the statement that I am making.
58:03 I didn’t need a clarification.
58:04 Thank you.
58:05 - Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.
58:06 It’s very easy to find out if Zoom is a foreign-based company.
58:10 And I asked just so you can remember- - Mr. Susan.
58:12 - Point of order, Ms. Jenkins, please don’t cut me off.
58:14 No. - Mr. Susan.
58:15 - Paul, please note. - Respectfully.
58:17 - Paul, please note and explain-
58:17 - You do not need to clarify my statements.
58:19 - that I am allowed to speak without that.
58:20 Paul, can you help out here, Paul?
58:23 - Respectfully, you do not need to clarify my statements.
58:24 - Thank you, Paul. - Ms. Jenkins, Paul again.
58:26 Paul again.
58:27 Can you explain to Ms. Jenkins the proper process,
58:30 Mr. Gibbs?
58:32 - Everybody should speak one at a time.
58:35 - Everybody.
58:36 - Wouldn’t acknowledge.
58:38 - Thank you.
58:39 - So basically, I had just a point of order,
58:42 as I had asked for IT to look into our vendor’s
58:46 previous board meeting.
58:47 I had said, “Hey, can we take a look at these?”
58:49 That’s all.
58:50 And so that was one that I know when I tried to do
58:53 a conference call up at Kennedy Space Center,
58:56 I was told that I couldn’t use them.
58:58 And there was a major issue because we were 30 minutes
59:00 from launch for the big thing that I was doing.
59:03 And I asked them, I said, “Why?”
59:05 And they said, “Because of the relationship
59:07 with the foreign entities that they have.”
59:09 So they only use teams out there.
59:10 So that’s all, it was just a thing.
59:12 And we just approved the contract
59:13 and I had spoken to him about it and talked about it.
59:16 So anyways, the next thing is governmental changes.
59:21 So when these kind of governmental changes come,
59:23 Ms. Christie, how is our community,
59:26 how are we letting you know what’s coming down the pipe?
59:30 Because I have a feeling that this is something
59:32 that we could do a better job of.
59:35 Like here you are as an entity out there,
59:37 we have all these changes that are coming in July
59:39 and October and everything else.
59:41 Is there something we can do better?
59:43 Because we receive statutory information
59:46 from our lobbyists in a big form.
59:49 We could ask them if there’s anything,
59:50 does that make sense to you?
59:51 Because I feel like I don’t want you to have to be behind
59:54 the gun as far as all of the, you know what I mean?
59:57 Is there something we can do better?
59:58 I mean, I think Paul and the superintendent
1:00:01 and other cabinet members keep us pretty well informed.
1:00:04 So, but of course, I’m welcome for any advanced information,
1:00:09 you know.
1:00:10 Through your procurement association,
1:00:12 you guys are probably really talking.
1:00:13 Yeah, we do, we have a lot of legislative updates
1:00:15 on various boards through NIGP and then Florida as well.
1:00:19 You guys are probably lobbying against some of those changes
1:00:22 and stuff like that.
1:00:23 So, no, okay.
1:00:24 I just didn’t know it was something that I was going to ask you.
1:00:27 And then one of the things we’re going to be talking about
1:00:30 later on today, and you know, I don’t expect you to give a
1:00:34 reason
1:00:35 or anything like that right now.
1:00:36 But what I was trying to do is, is in some of the other areas
1:00:41 across the state, we have a contract and it says,
1:00:46 so we’re getting ready to do like a lobbyist registration, right?
1:00:49 So if you’re going to come in and speak to any of us,
1:00:51 cabinet members, superintendent, any of that, you have to
1:00:53 register, right?
1:00:53 Real easy process.
1:00:55 The other side of that is, is that if somebody is going to be
1:00:57 making money
1:00:58 off of a contract because of that relationship, I’ve seen it
1:01:02 to where they’ll put it at the bottom, or is there any other
1:01:04 entities
1:01:05 that you’re paying commissions to for this, this item?
1:01:07 It basically closes the loop for any of these people that may be,
1:01:11 and I see it in many of the other counties,
1:01:13 where some people will have influence and they’ll shepherd
1:01:16 something through.
1:01:16 And then all of a sudden the county wants to know
1:01:19 if there’s any of that going on.
1:01:20 So I might ask you about that later on, but I was just kind of
1:01:24 putting it
1:01:24 into your court to think about it.
1:01:26 Okay.
1:01:27 And then for me, I, I really appreciate you.
1:01:31 You and I know that we’ve, every time I’ve ever had a question,
1:01:34 I’ve come in, you’ve, all the way back from when we used to have
1:01:37 those
1:01:37 signal contracts with Langdorf and stuff like that.
1:01:40 And you’ve always been transparent upfront and hardworking.
1:01:43 And if there’s something that’s amiss, you always say, hey,
1:01:45 that’s a good opportunity to look through and we can move
1:01:47 forward.
1:01:48 And I really appreciate that.
1:01:49 You’ve, you’ve been amazing.
1:01:51 And I, I just wanted to say thank you for that.
1:01:53 Thank you so much.
1:01:55 And then I’m good.
1:01:56 Anybody else have any other follow-up?
1:01:57 I just want to add that I’m just one person and I have a really
1:02:00 great team.
1:02:01 Don and our senior procurement agents, all of our team members,
1:02:05 and our distribution staff as well.
1:02:07 So I just want to give them the credit.
1:02:09 Hey, just for, Mr. Susan, I want to add for the board’s
1:02:13 information.
1:02:13 If you haven’t noticed it, as we’re going through the contracts
1:02:16 on the agenda,
1:02:16 one of the things that got added, I think in my first year on
1:02:18 the board,
1:02:19 there’s some boxes up at the top that talk about legal review
1:02:21 required and did they use the template.
1:02:23 So that’s a good thing because if you can see, oh, they used the
1:02:25 template,
1:02:25 you don’t, you can kind of avoid reading every single little
1:02:29 word
1:02:29 because it’s the same as the last 15 contracts that you approved.
1:02:33 So, or if the legal review is required, it’ll, it’ll, it usually
1:02:36 has it on the agenda item,
1:02:37 but it also lists it on the, on the contract or the, what do you
1:02:41 call that?
1:02:42 Whatever the sheet is called on the, when you pull up the
1:02:44 attachment.
1:02:45 Yeah, there’s check boxes and there’s a sentence.
1:02:47 I’m having two spots.
1:02:49 Thank you.
1:02:52 Thank you so much.
1:02:54 Last topic is lobbyist registration discussion.
1:02:57 Board members, you’ve received a couple over the last couple of
1:03:01 days,
1:03:01 you’ve received a couple of possible policies.
1:03:04 What we had given direction to Paul and the, and them was to
1:03:08 kind of mimic the county
1:03:09 because Brevard County was pretty simple.
1:03:12 There was no fee attached to it.
1:03:14 It makes you register.
1:03:16 And there’s other things that basically say, you know, if there’s
1:03:19 a, if you break the law
1:03:19 or whatever, there’s a notice that goes out.
1:03:21 It’s real simple and it’s not can, you know, some sort of
1:03:24 overarching monster.
1:03:26 And I thought that was a good one to start with.
1:03:28 I also asked Paul if he could grab the Neola template if there
1:03:31 was one out there.
1:03:33 Paul, have you had a chance?
1:03:34 I know.
1:03:35 What’s that?
1:03:36 All right.
1:03:37 So like across the state, like Hillsborough public schools has
1:03:40 like 63 something.
1:03:41 So it’s probably going to be where we put it.
1:03:43 Miami-Dade schools has a couple of them.
1:03:45 But in general, I think right now all they’re looking for is
1:03:49 this direction as to what we
1:03:51 think we could do.
1:03:52 And as the person that brought this up and brought it forward, I
1:03:55 think the easiest way would be
1:03:56 to mirror Brevard County government’s lobbyist registration,
1:03:59 which is pretty simple and have
1:04:00 Paul bring that back as far as a recommendation for policy.
1:04:04 Does that make sense?
1:04:05 Or unless anybody else would like to add anything.
1:04:08 Many of the other ones are like really conducive.
1:04:10 Like you can see what they’re dealing with in Hillsborough,
1:04:13 Miami-Dade, Orange County and Broward County
1:04:15 and stuff like that, those school districts.
1:04:16 I’m sorry.
1:04:17 I’m not necessarily saying I’m opposed to that, but this came
1:04:18 through while we were in our executive session.
1:04:21 So honestly, I have not had a chance to review all of them.
1:04:23 Yeah, they came in at 11:30.
1:04:24 So they came in at like 11:35.
1:04:25 So there’s several attachments that are there.
1:04:27 So just to be able to read them and see, because there might be
1:04:29 some really valuable things that we can add from some of the
1:04:32 other counties
1:04:32 and to ours because the county is going to be a little different
1:04:35 than the school board.
1:04:36 It’s still government.
1:04:37 But if you wouldn’t mind just giving us a little bit more time
1:04:40 to review it, I would appreciate that.
1:04:41 How about we bring it back on the 22nd so you guys have time?
1:04:44 And then Paul, if we can send one, you know, I think we had a
1:04:48 couple of emails if there’s any questions to any of the sections.
1:04:51 Thank you.
1:04:52 Absolutely.
1:04:53 I just think that I think right now the simpler is better.
1:04:55 But if there’s anything anybody wants to put in there, it’s
1:04:57 pretty easy.
1:04:58 Does anybody else have any conversations wrapped around this?
1:05:01 No?
1:05:02 No.
1:05:03 No?
1:05:04 Okay.
1:05:05 Does any other board member have anything further to discuss?
1:05:08 I do.
1:05:09 I’m going to ask you to respectfully acknowledge the fact that I
1:05:15 am a 36-year-old woman who is equally elected to this position
1:05:20 as you.
1:05:21 And you do not need to reclarify my statements.
1:05:24 You do not need to mansplain my statements.
1:05:26 And you do not need to do so after every time I speak and go on
1:05:29 a rant for 10 minutes after so I cannot say something back.
1:05:33 You have a right to disagree.
1:05:35 You have a right to say the opposite.
1:05:37 But you have no right to cut me off or stop me from rebuttaling
1:05:40 what you’re saying.
1:05:42 Mr. Susan, you do not do the same for Mrs. Wright.
1:05:45 I expect the same for me.
1:05:47 Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.
1:05:50 Is there no further business?
1:05:51 Mr. Chair.
1:05:52 Yes, sir.
1:05:53 If I could just ask the board’s direction just to make sure.
1:05:55 So we have another work session scheduled next Tuesday.
1:05:58 And I believe the focus of that is just to pick up the 5,000
1:06:00 policies and keep moving on.
1:06:02 And then another workshop on the work session on the 22nd.
1:06:06 So that’ll be topic related stuff.
1:06:08 So we’re going to keep the policies like on those alternate days.
1:06:13 I just want to make sure staff knows what to prepare for.
1:06:15 Yeah.
1:06:16 And I wanted to give Dr. Rendell a lot of credit for his work.
1:06:19 We had spoken about, hey, now that we have a lot of these
1:06:21 starting to go through, let’s start getting them moving because
1:06:25 we want to get them done as fast as possible in the back end
1:06:27 coming up.
1:06:28 So he actually has a system in place.
1:06:30 So I wanted to say thank you so much for that, Dr. Rendell, to
1:06:33 make sure that happens.
1:06:34 Ms. Campbell, you got something to say?
1:06:36 Yeah, I was just going to ask if we make it through the 5,000,
1:06:39 assuming you make it through the 5,000 on the 15th, then is our
1:06:42 plan to tackle the 6,000 starting on the 29th?
1:06:46 Yep.
1:06:47 Okay.
1:06:48 However much we can get it done in three hours.
1:06:49 I will say I did ask – I talked to Paul real quick.
1:06:52 We had postponed his annual review because of the transition of
1:06:57 personnel, but we probably need to plug that in at some point.
1:07:02 And he suggested we could add it to one of our off Tuesdays, but
1:07:06 I don’t know.
1:07:08 I don’t know how long, but that’s important to do, so even if we
1:07:11 insert it in the middle of some 6,000 or whatever.
1:07:13 Plan it out.
1:07:14 Or if we, you know, we can look at that, or possibly, I mean,
1:07:17 the 29th is the 6,000, so we can either put it there, or we can
1:07:20 look at one of the future dates, maybe early September or
1:07:23 something like that.
1:07:24 And I don’t even know if everybody – I know I didn’t get – I
1:07:26 didn’t submit mine yet because we – I’m a last-minute person,
1:07:30 so I need to – we need a deadline, because I like to do it the
1:07:33 day before the deadline.
1:07:34 I know, but then we move the deadline.
1:07:36 And I think just so everybody understands and they don’t, you
1:07:39 know, think there’s any kind of bizarre stuff, with the changeover
1:07:42 of superintendent, with the changeover of staff, with the changeover
1:07:46 of Ms. Aguirre, I mean, it’s just been kind of a crazy time.
1:07:50 So Ms. Lena, I think, is in a good spot to start doing that, so
1:07:53 I’ll work with her on getting that forward.
1:07:55 I also wanted to mention that we have the athletics coming
1:07:57 forward in the next meeting, so if you guys have any questions
1:08:00 wrapped around that, pay a little bit of attention to it,
1:08:03 because there’s some great things that they put together, so.
1:08:06 I have one more thing for you.
1:08:07 Yeah.
1:08:08 I meant to bring this up a while ago, and I haven’t.
1:08:10 So there were some board members that decided not to renew their
1:08:14 FSBA membership, and I think it was just me and Ms. Jenkins that
1:08:16 decided that we weren’t going to do that.
1:08:18 I wanted to get guidance on this, and I talked to Dr. Rendell
1:08:20 about it, and he suggested I mention it to you guys.
1:08:23 There is a local organization in the north end of the county who
1:08:26 is providing, basically, mentorship in our schools with our
1:08:30 students, and they’re not-for-profit.
1:08:32 And I wanted to find out from the board if the board felt
1:08:34 comfortable.
1:08:35 I would like to give, instead of my FSBA dues, give him those
1:08:40 funds so that that non-for-profit can keep running and sending
1:08:44 in counselors, not counselors, mentors to work alongside
1:08:48 children.
1:08:49 And I can send you information about the individual, just so you
1:08:51 can see him.
1:08:52 He’s been featured on the news and everything else.
1:08:54 But I just wanted to kind of put that bug in your ear because he
1:08:56 is truly making a difference in our community.
1:08:58 He’s someone who is going above and beyond.
1:09:00 He’s a police officer, runs a non-for-profit with all that free
1:09:03 time he does not have, and really making a difference in
1:09:06 children’s lives.
1:09:07 And so I thought, hey, that’s a much better use right here in
1:09:10 our own town of those funds rather than something that I may not
1:09:13 partake in as far as the FSBA dues go.
1:09:16 So just wanted to throw that out there.
1:09:18 It can be a conversation we have or not.
1:09:20 If anybody has any disagreement with it, we can talk about it
1:09:23 and then give it to the next meeting.
1:09:25 I’m okay with it.
1:09:26 I think that if they’re your funds and you feel comfortable with
1:09:28 doing it, then that’s okay with me.
1:09:30 But does anybody have like a serious objection?
1:09:32 I do.
1:09:33 Yeah.
1:09:34 And not to whatever you’re speaking about because I don’t even
1:09:35 know the organization you’re speaking about.
1:09:37 But they’re not our funds.
1:09:39 And that’s not what they’re allocated for.
1:09:41 So I’m uncomfortable with that.
1:09:44 Again, not with the organization they’re speaking of because I
1:09:47 really don’t even know what it is.
1:09:49 But that’s not our money to just spend how we want to spend it.
1:09:53 It’s not a budget for us to dish out like that.
1:09:56 So it makes me uncomfortable.
1:09:57 I don’t like it.
1:09:58 I would remind you, Ms. Jenkins, that we had prior conversations
1:10:01 before you came on the board that had allowed us to take those
1:10:04 and utilize them in different ways.
1:10:07 Part of that is to support organizations, groups, and stuff like
1:10:11 that and be a part of associations and be a part of those things.
1:10:15 So if you have a major objection, we can maybe if you’re okay
1:10:18 with waiting two weeks, then we can bring it.
1:10:21 What I’ll do in the meantime is I’ll send everyone the link that
1:10:23 just kind of shows what the organization is so that you can kind
1:10:25 of get a feeling for it.
1:10:26 I understand that it’s something out in left field and you’re
1:10:28 going, what’s going on here?
1:10:29 Why are you bringing this forward?
1:10:30 Yeah.
1:10:31 But I want you to see it because honestly, for me, I think tax
1:10:34 funded school district funds should serve our local county and
1:10:38 they should serve our children.
1:10:40 And this guy is doing exactly that.
1:10:42 And so that’s why I really want to see that organization succeed.
1:10:44 But I would love to share it with you because I think you would
1:10:46 actually be really encouraged by the individual himself.
1:10:49 And that’s completely fine.
1:10:50 We can come back and talk about it further.
1:10:51 So I also would like to say that that might have been a
1:10:56 conversation when I wasn’t on the board, but I am on the board.
1:10:59 And that means that at least three people weren’t on the board
1:11:01 when that conversation happened.
1:11:03 And we did have this very conversation about our policies and
1:11:08 the zeros and the 1000s.
1:11:12 And we talked about this and we were pretty clear about it.
1:11:16 So it’s not as simple as this is what we discuss and what we’re
1:11:19 going to do.
1:11:20 This is definitely a bigger conversation that we need to have.
1:11:23 And again, no offense to this person or this organization
1:11:25 because, again, I don’t know what it is.
1:11:27 Just the process makes no sense to me.
1:11:29 It is not our funds to just divvy out this.
1:11:32 This isn’t asking to pay for a registration to be part of an
1:11:36 organization.
1:11:38 That’s a very different purpose.
1:11:40 So I think that what people are doing with North Innocent County
1:11:45 sounds great.
1:11:46 And I, you know, it sounds like something if it’s a nonprofit
1:11:50 that it was something that people need to donate to.
1:11:52 I do have a concern.
1:11:53 And you mentioned what would be good for the county.
1:11:57 I think whether it’s through FSBA or another organization, the
1:12:01 board members participating in professional development and in
1:12:05 organizations, whether it’s FSBA.
1:12:08 Because to me that, that fund, when it goes, when my, the fees
1:12:11 that under my, under my name go to FSBA, that benefits the
1:12:14 county, benefits the district, our students and our employees
1:12:17 and the rest of you guys.
1:12:19 Because I am a more informed, more educated, more connected to
1:12:22 other school boards across the state.
1:12:25 So I’m, you know, we’re kind of group think, not group think,
1:12:28 that’s the wrong word.
1:12:29 Um, just like our procurement, you know, I’m getting information
1:12:32 about things.
1:12:33 I’m getting notified.
1:12:34 Hey, did you see this article?
1:12:35 Do you see this initiative?
1:12:36 That’s what that professional development goes to, whether it’s
1:12:38 FSBA or another organization.
1:12:40 Um, I, I was, the time when there was, where board members were
1:12:44 given a certain allotment of money to use in their districts,
1:12:48 how they saw fit.
1:12:49 It was a, a one, a one time thing that was previous to me.
1:12:53 I’ve heard a lot of controversy that came out of it.
1:12:55 I’ve mentioned that before.
1:12:56 So I, when we start going, I’m going to spend my money this way.
1:12:59 I’m going to spend my money that way.
1:13:00 We can have that conversation.
1:13:02 Um, but I, when the, when the commissioners do that, cause they
1:13:08 do that sometimes they that with their COVID money.
1:13:10 I can’t remember how many millions or each county commissioner
1:13:12 got $5 million to kind of figure out what they want to do.
1:13:15 That caused a lot of stir.
1:13:17 And there’s actually a, even that this would absolutely not be
1:13:19 an abuse, right?
1:13:20 Because you’re somebody who’s pouring back into our kids.
1:13:23 Um, there’s the potential for that.
1:13:25 And we have to think, I like to think outside of just the five
1:13:29 of us, but what are we setting up for future board members?
1:13:32 And is there a potential for people to play favorites, to
1:13:35 support, you know, this, that, the other?
1:13:38 And, and to me, every dollar that, that we make decisions on as
1:13:43 a board, our budget that we approve, it’s the five of us making
1:13:48 that decision.
1:13:49 And I know you’re coming to us asking.
1:13:50 Right.
1:13:52 Exactly.
1:13:53 Right.
1:13:54 But the conversation is about, do we going to prove that we
1:13:55 should each have the freedom to do it how we want?
1:13:57 Um, and I don’t know that I’m going to be on board with that at
1:14:02 any time.
1:14:03 Um, but if we can make the decision together, Hey board, we have
1:14:06 some leftover at the end of the year because everybody didn’t
1:14:09 join FSBA or everybody didn’t use all their travel budget.
1:14:12 Can we, you know, rather than it going back into the general
1:14:14 fund for Cindy to find a good purpose to use it, which she
1:14:17 always will.
1:14:18 Um, can we say, Hey, we’ve got $5,000 left or $2,000 left.
1:14:21 Let’s, let’s pick an organization.
1:14:23 I don’t know there would be to check on the legalities of that.
1:14:26 Um, but can we do that?
1:14:27 I would feel more comfortable with that and making that decision
1:14:30 together as a board rather than ever having, um, you know,
1:14:33 something kind of bigger like that, that we’re just each getting
1:14:36 our own kitty to dispense with at how we see fit.
1:14:40 Um, um, we’ve had, we have had those conversations since I’ve
1:14:43 been on the board night, not, um, been super fan of that.
1:14:47 Um, so I would, I would say being the board member that was
1:14:50 actually here when that allocation went out, it went really well.
1:14:53 Um, so hang on miss, miss Campbell, what you hear and what
1:14:56 actually happened as being a board member on here.
1:15:00 I would miss Campbell, I miss Campbell, please.
1:15:03 No, no, what I’m trying to do is explain to you that as the
1:15:06 board member that I sat here and we went through it, there are
1:15:10 so many projects that we were a part of that were tremendous.
1:15:13 Like Croton elementary school had not had their basketball
1:15:17 courts recovered in so long that the point was, is that those
1:15:21 kids were able to recover that.
1:15:23 And they were able to redo that.
1:15:24 And that changed the life of a 30 life veteran teacher.
1:15:28 That was the, um, PE teacher there.
1:15:30 There were so many positive things that came out of that.
1:15:32 And I just don’t want to sit here anymore and allow what
1:15:35 happened when you weren’t on the board.
1:15:37 When I was on the board that I can speak to the fact that these
1:15:40 are good opportunities for people to spend, to spend money on,
1:15:44 to support, because sometimes they can’t get up over the top of
1:15:46 the finish line.
1:15:47 Sometimes there’s projects, there’s basketball courts right now
1:15:50 that have rust that are falling down.
1:15:52 There’s all kinds of stuff.
1:15:53 And if we had a little bit of money that we wanted to allocate
1:15:55 to that or a not for profit, that’s going to help that, that I
1:15:58 believe in.
1:15:59 And what I would like to do is not only bring this forward as an
1:16:01 idea, but then also bring forward the idea that we do go forward
1:16:04 with some sort of a section so that we can fund sort of projects
1:16:07 like this.
1:16:08 So then maybe the idea isn’t that what we don’t spend, we end up
1:16:11 spending, but you do have a section that you’re able to bring
1:16:14 forward for projects, community based stuff so that you can stir
1:16:17 some things because ultimately we are in charge of the entire
1:16:19 budget.
1:16:20 But there are some needs and stuff like that, but having that
1:16:23 allocation is, is really a good thing.
1:16:25 So I wanted to give you, hang on, Ms. Campbell, let me finish.
1:16:29 The bottom line is, is that I have a feeling that if done
1:16:32 correctly, it’s done in almost every city, every county, they
1:16:35 have allocations for funds to give out to the people.
1:16:38 So that, that literally is done all over the place and it’s a
1:16:42 good thing.
1:16:43 I think we can have a discussion about it.
1:16:44 And so when this came up, I was willing to just say, hey, Ms.
1:16:46 Wright, if nobody had any issues.
1:16:48 But now that we don’t have any issues, we can move forward.
1:16:51 Well, it sounds like a discussion before today.
1:16:53 Is that what you’re saying?
1:16:54 Bringing it up at the next meeting so that we can discuss it.
1:16:57 So you did discuss it before today.
1:16:58 That’s it.
1:16:59 Thank you for making that clear.
1:17:00 It sounds like it’s a further discussion than any of you have
1:17:01 and that’s fine.
1:17:02 Can we have the discussion?
1:17:03 Hang on.
1:17:04 It’s a big, because it’s a bigger discussion now because you
1:17:06 brought up some things.
1:17:07 And I want to say, yes, it is absolutely a good thing for us to
1:17:09 be able to meet the needs of our schools.
1:17:11 But we have that process in place.
1:17:13 We have it through the school-initiated project, the SIP.
1:17:17 We have it.
1:17:18 What that creates, and I’m sure absolutely for the people who
1:17:21 were the winners in that situation,
1:17:24 it was great for them.
1:17:25 It was great for the board members to feel good about doing good
1:17:27 things.
1:17:28 My perspective is from the people who were not the winners.
1:17:33 And we have a process in place that Sue’s department, we talked
1:17:37 about facilities, that Sue’s department has an evaluation
1:17:41 committee.
1:17:41 And we have lots of schools with needs, but we have a process
1:17:46 that’s not just driven by who gets to a board member’s ear, that
1:17:51 those needs get met.
1:17:53 But more, we have a facilities evaluation tool that was done
1:17:56 completely in 2019, and it’s done on a regular basis.
1:18:00 So we know how every scoreboard, every playground, every parking
1:18:05 lot looks, and we put the funds first at the schools that have
1:18:10 the worst need.
1:18:10 Where we have failing systems, we go there first.
1:18:14 And then when it comes to playgrounds and matching grants, we’ve
1:18:16 done things like put more matching funds to our Title I schools,
1:18:19 it would take them a whole lot longer to do the fundraising, and
1:18:22 so they get a larger match.
1:18:24 We have those processes in place that are without bias.
1:18:28 I don’t want to – I don’t want to have any kind of system in
1:18:31 place where it depends on who is the squeakiest wheel to any
1:18:35 particular board member’s ear,
1:18:37 and they’re the ones who are going to get the needs met.
1:18:40 I don’t like that.
1:18:41 I don’t think that it’s fair.
1:18:42 I think we’re walking on – and so the negative, I’m sure it was
1:18:45 positive for some people.
1:18:47 But when I got on the board, and I went to one of my school
1:18:50 visits, and they said, “Hey, if you get the money, we could
1:18:53 really use this.”
1:18:54 And I was like, “Okay.”
1:18:55 So I go to the superintendent.
1:18:56 I was like, “Hey, do we have money that we’re going to – oh, no,
1:18:57 no, no.
1:18:58 That was a couple years ago, and it didn’t go very well because
1:19:00 we have situations like that where that school goes,
1:19:03 “Well, hey, I heard so-and-so school got this done.
1:19:06 Why don’t I get something done?”
1:19:07 So that is my perspective, and you can have your perspective,
1:19:10 but my perspective is not false.
1:19:12 It is based on the people that I talk to and the conversations
1:19:15 that I had.
1:19:16 So I’m sure it was absolutely fun, but we have opportunities to
1:19:19 meet the needs of our schools,
1:19:21 and it doesn’t have to depend on the board getting – you know,
1:19:25 we have a process, too.
1:19:26 If we find out there’s school – it happened this week.
1:19:28 We’ve had people complain about the grass, and staff was on it,
1:19:32 and they took care of that need.
1:19:35 But it doesn’t have to – but individual board members deciding
1:19:37 who the winners and losers are, I’m not a big fan of that.
1:19:41 Okay, let’s table this, and we will have a conversation later.
1:19:44 But this isn’t a loser situation.
1:19:46 There’s no loser in this situation.
1:19:47 So to be quite honest, any organization that’s out there that’s
1:19:49 helping children, I think we should obviously embrace that
1:19:53 organization and help them.
1:19:54 They are in the schools doing more than a lot of people are.
1:19:58 So –
1:19:59 But what about the other organizations that we’re not going to
1:20:00 find?
1:20:01 Ms. Campbell, let –
1:20:02 Okay, so then that mentality means because we can’t do it for
1:20:04 everybody, we don’t do it for anybody.
1:20:06 And that gets us nowhere.
1:20:07 Ms. Campbell, Ms. Campbell.
1:20:08 That paralyzes us.
1:20:09 So we’ll table it.
1:20:10 I didn’t mean to open up Pandora’s box with this.
1:20:13 This is – it was supposed to be something good, but –
1:20:15 I have a follow-up.
1:20:18 So first of all, I’m a little concerned that we just admitted
1:20:21 that board members were having this conversation prior to today.
1:20:25 That’s concerning to me.
1:20:27 No, excuse me, point of order.
1:20:29 I can’t explain.
1:20:30 You literally just said it out loud.
1:20:32 So let me finish my statement.
1:20:34 You said that to Ms. Campbell, that Ms. Wright had discussed
1:20:38 this and you said if there were support.
1:20:40 You said that out loud.
1:20:42 Just now.
1:20:43 No, incorrect.
1:20:46 Play it back.
1:20:47 You’re being recorded, Mr. Susan.
1:20:48 May I remind you?
1:20:49 Okay.
1:20:50 Anyway, I’m with Ms. Campbell on this, that regardless of this,
1:20:54 that regardless of good intentions, this opens the door to the
1:20:58 potential of inequities that already exist widely across our
1:21:02 district.
1:21:03 And again, no offense to whatever organization you’re speaking
1:21:05 about, because again, I don’t know about it.
1:21:08 And I still want to know about it just because I would like to
1:21:11 know about this organization.
1:21:13 The example of resurfacing a basketball court is very different
1:21:18 than funding an outside entity as well.
1:21:21 It is literally going to open a Pandora’s box for no reason.
1:21:26 And the money isn’t ours.
1:21:29 Yes, we approve the budget, but it’s not our money.
1:21:32 The top of that organizational chart are the taxpayers of Brevard
1:21:34 County.
1:21:35 It is not our money.
1:21:36 And if that money goes back into the general fund, it goes back
1:21:39 into our school system naturally.
1:21:42 So this is a messy conversation.
1:21:45 Okay.
1:21:47 So with that, I would remind our school board members that
1:21:50 saying things like squeaky wheel, winners and losers, and stuff
1:21:54 like that, and some of the other allegations, we could do better
1:21:57 than that.
1:21:58 So let’s get to a place where we-
1:22:00 Really?
1:22:01 Do you really want to go there after this week?
1:22:02 Miss Jenkins.
1:22:03 Miss Jenkins, please.
1:22:04 Really?
1:22:05 The issue is that we as a school board are going to bring this
1:22:07 back up.
1:22:08 We’ll have a discussion wrapped around it.
1:22:09 I appreciate it.
1:22:10 As there’s no further business, this meeting is adjourned.
1:22:12 Thank you.