The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Education Issues Committee observes the Manatee County School Board meetings for items of interest to citizens and to the League and notes adherence, or lack of adherence, to good governance procedures and the sunshine laws. The following are the major points from the school board meeting on 08/22/2023.

hair Choate called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. He then read the district’s vision statement and introduced Mike Chaplinsky, Executive Director of Youth for Christ, who provided the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of the Agenda Passed 5-0.

Student Celebrations and Recognitions. Michael Barber shared an MSTV produced video of the opening of school, beginning with the send-off of buses from the Matzke complex, and featuring Superintendent Wysong at a bus stop where he rode with students to Palmetto Elementary then continued to visit Manatee High School, Nolan Middle School and Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary.

Public Comments - There were four public comments.

SA introduced the League of Women Voters Manatee County’s position paper,  Library Media Materials Recommendations Post - HB1069, that was sent to board members earlier. She read the first half of the Declaration Regarding School Media Center and Classroom Library Materials.

AS continued reading the Declaration Regarding School Media Center and Classroom Library Materials to the end. Both documents can be found on the LWVMC’s Education page via this link Position Paper

CG emphasized her support for her daughter’s school but indicated the strict adherence to the dress code during the first week was very stressful, creating unnecessary anxiety.

RF expressed concern that the district was hiring 25-year-olds with no experience and overlooking professional teachers with hearsay concerns for performance.

REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS Mr. Kevin Chapman introduced Andrew Kalel of Sunrise Consulting, who attended via telephone. Mr. Kalel and Shawn Foster of Sunshine Consulting are the school district’s lobbyists. Mr. Chapman thanked them for their part in getting the governor’s signature on a two-million-dollar appropriation for the Guy Harvey Academy for Arts and Science at Anna Maria Elementary.

Mr. Chapman invited Scott Hansen, Chief Technology Officer, to describe the implications of recent legislation on the use of technology in the classrooms. Other than specific cases, students’ personal (non-school district) devices will no longer connect to school Guest WiFi. Questions and comments from board members followed indicating this has been a hardship for students. The district is working through other ramifications of legislation while awaiting guidance from the Board of Education’s rule-making process. District staff is also polling other districts to learn what they are doing to comply with recent legislation. Mr. Kalel indicated that since the leadership at the state level will not have changed, there is little chance that there will be follow-up legislation to pull back on what was done this past session. 

Mr. Chapman briefly described other legislation that went into effect July 1. Students may only use bathrooms matching their biological sex at birth. Teachers may not ask students if they have a preferred pronoun. Mr. Chapman clarified that a parent may request the student be called by a different name than what is on the birth certificate; however, a teacher cannot be compelled to use that name for the student. Health education units will not be taught first semester awaiting guidance from the Florida Department of Education. Regarding curriculum for African American history, the district is awaiting guidance from the rule-making process at the State Board of Education level for implementation in the 2024-2025 school year. In addition, there is a new Florida Model of Threat Assessment to be implemented. A new coordinator has been hired to assist with implementation. Another piece of legislation calls for a change in school start times to be in place by July 2026 with middle schools not allowed to start before 8:00 a.m. and high schools not allowed to start before 8:30 a.m. In addition, starting 30 days prior to July 7, 2024, for AFSCME and Dec. 2, 2024, for MEA, if the union does not represent 60% of eligible members, there can be no automatic payroll deduction for dues. The requirement for having one virtual course for high school graduation has been eliminated. Forty-five-minute instruction is required on each topic: 9/11, Asian and Pacific Islander internments during WWII, and victims of communism. DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Program) goes from five years to 8 years. The Sunshine consultants will provide a

workshop on legislation for the school board on Friday, 8/25/23.

CONSENT ITEMS – 15 items passed 5-0.

NEW BUSINESS (NON-CONSENT ITEMS)

Approval of the Revision of the Job Description of Coordinator, Recruitment, No Financial Impact  Passed 5-0.

Approval of the Reclassification of the Job Description and Position of Specialist, Vocational Rehabilitation Employment (Grant Funded) Superintendent Wysong indicated this will make the description current with job duties and a needed salary adjustment. Passed 5-0

The Approval of the Discontinuation of the Existing SDMC Sales Tax Block Grant to Qualified Charter Schools Due to Changes in State Law, specifically s. 1011.72(2) and s. 212.055(6)(c), Effective July 1, 2023 with the Implementation of HB 1259  Ms. Messenger asked the monetary impact through 2027-2028. She was told the following will be divided among eligible charter schools for 2023-24 – $2m; 2024-25 – $3.6m; 2025-26 – $10.8m; 2026-27 - $13.9m; 2027-28 - $8.6m. Passed 5-0.

NEW BUSINESS (NO SUPERINTENDENT RECOMMENDATION)

Approval of Travel Expense for School Board Members to Attend the 2023 Manatee Chamber of Commerce Planning Retreat Not to Exceed $5,000.00 (General Fund)  Dr. Wysong will be a speaker. Board members promised to report back. Passed 5-0.

Approval of Travel Expense for School Board Member to Attend the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) 2023 Policy Governance and Bargaining 101 Forum Not to Exceed $1250.00 (General Fund)  Amendment passed 5-0 to increase to $2000 so that two board members can attend: Mr. Tatem and Mr. Choate. The amended motion passed 5-0.

Updates

Attorney Dye referenced Pamela D’Agostino, attorney for the school district, joining him, as attorney for the school board, at the dais and indicated both will attend board meetings. Pat Petruff from his firm will cover for him at the August 25^th  workshop. He provided a brief update on the JUUL lawsuit and anticipated a $250,00 payout in October, coming in 2 or 3 payments.

Operations. Mr. Ranaldi, Deputy Superintendent for Operations, gave a shout out to all of the instructional staff, parents and students for a smooth school opening. The few facility issues were dealt with immediately. He described transportation is still short on drivers, using 8-9 administrators and they are balancing/reorganizing routes. New bus drivers and aides are being trained to fill open positions. Food service department has seen an increase by 4% for breakfast and 5% for lunch compared to the same time last year. Fifteen thousand parents are using the new Café APP. The architect and construction management teams will be identified soon for the Palma Sola Elementary project. 

Instructional. Mr. Derrick Jensen, Deputy Superintendent of Instructional Services, expressed his appreciation for the tremendous start-up. He described the strong instruction and engaged students he observed as he visited the schools. He indicated there is a focus on early literacy and the science of reading. A University of South Florida program is providing professional development to paras in literacy. He announced the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners approved a literacy walk, Walk in the Forest, at Lincoln Park with stations. The post-secondary education night is scheduled for September 11, 5:30-11:30 at MTC. MTC will host an open house on October 5.

Superintendent Wysong thanked the board for supporting the consent items to continue the business of the district and to support the statutory requirements for mental health supports. He echoed his Deputy Superintendents’ lauding all for a great first day of school. While it is never perfect with traffic back-ups, etc., the schools were immaculate and the school principals were providing leadership. Human Resources were still onboarding personnel on the first day of school. So far, he reports visiting 16 schools with the next three scheduled for Wednesday. He is observing students in action, meeting teachers, conversing with principals, efficient cafeteria teams, and the campus security of SRO’s and Guardians keeping everyone safe. On the Day of Giving event on Aug 3, Carl Reynolds donated $12,500 to the Manatee Education Foundation for Teacher Impact Grants encouraging innovation. In-kind supplies and an additional $4,500 were donated. Groundbreakings are scheduled for Haile MS on September 8 at 8:00 a.m. and Tara Elem. on Oct 6 at 9:00 a.m. On day 3 or 4, the Department of Education’s Safe Schools Office made unannounced spot checks for school safety regulations at nine schools and three charter schools. There were no findings. He stressed we “get safety right, every single day.”

Board Comments

Ms. Messenger noted that while the number of minutes required for testing by the district is down in every grade but second, the state has added 300+ minutes in K-12. She complimented Dr. Wysong on his speech to the Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Tatem thanked all of the employees for a smooth opening. He again stressed being safe and if you see something, say something. He encouraged parents to work with school personnel regarding dress code policies or any other school issue.

Ms. Spray coined “Safety Over Secrets.” She reinforced the dress code applies to all schools. She stated she was refreshed and reenergized by the MHS football game and has a piece of turf trim as a souvenir. She acknowledged Mr. Roberts's retirement after 35 years. She said it was a good meeting.

Ms. Foreman indicated she was at Key Largo for the Greater Florida Consortium of School Board Meeting so regretfully missed Dr. Wysong’s Chamber speech. The list of legislative priorities identified at the meeting will be distributed soon for districts to agree or not with each item. If any district disagrees with an item, it will be taken off the list. She echoed Mr. Kalel’s comment that the Tallahassee leadership will not change for the next session. The Consortium will participate in the Tallahassee Days and meeting with legislators locally is better. She thanked all for a good start to the school year.

Mr. Choate commended Superintendent Wysong on the great feedback Mr. Choate has been receiving about the new superintendent. He thanked everyone for a great start.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:22 p.m.

GOVERNANCE

We recommend the Chair either introduce or request the Superintendent to introduce new members of the district staff who sit on the dais. It would have been helpful to the public if there had been formal introductions with short biographies of the new school district attorney and last month, the new Deputy Superintendent for Instructional Services. Likewise, the absence of the prior school district attorney should have been explained earlier.

The presentation of an overview of new legislation and its implications led to lengthy discussions about the impact on student use of personal devices on campus as well as other topics covered. We observed that if the presentation had been limited to the bulleted list of new legislation, the lengthy conversations about student use of personal devices would have been reserved for a workshop setting. It was clear board members were not prepared for this lengthy conversation and were reacting to parent calls. Perhaps Chair Choate could have interrupted to remind the board members that the topics would be discussed at the Friday Workshop and ask that the presentation to the public on the technology law be provided after the workshop.