LWV School Board Notes Regular Meeting: 5/20/25

The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Education Issues Action Team observes the School Board of Manatee County 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 Law. The League also provides feedback to school board members. 

 

The meeting was called to order by Chair Choate at 5:30 p.m. Mr. Kennedy read the district vision and asked for a moment of silence. The Braden River High School Color Guard presented the colors for the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Chair Choate.

 

 

Perfect Attendance Awards:

Brady Ballenger, Palmetto High School Senior, accompanied by Principal Monica DeLesline, was recognized for perfect attendance for his 13 years in Manatee County including completing COVID requirements. 

 

Employee Service Awards:

Employees who have passed the 30-year mark employed by the district were acknowledged, preceded by a reception held for them. Omar Edwards, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives, introduced them and said they represent retention of employees. Many of the honorees were with him at the podium and included Shelly Askew, Matthew Coles, Annette Dyer, Kelly Kennedy, Melinda Lundy, Sonjia Perkins, Deborah Riley, Sylvia Rumph, Ginger Stucky, Barbara Marino. 

 

Track and Field State Champion:

Chandler Johnson, a sophomore at Manatee High School, won the Class 3-A Track and Field State Championship in the Long Jump, with a winning jump of 24 feet, 4.24 inches. He was accompanied by his coaches, Principal Fleming and Athletic Director Bowling. Mr. Bowling acknowledged Chandler’s accomplishments in the classroom and community. 

 

 

KM thanked the previous superintendent Dr. Wysong and Mr. Chapman. She said that acting without transparency breaks the trust of the people who put the Board in office and the Board was not serving as a model of the qualities of the Vision Statement. The children in the schools are acutely aware when those around them are not modeling the best leadership traits. All Manatee children deserve this. She asked them to take this to heart and she will remember it at the next election.

 

SB said she was fortunate to watch the four-hour soliloquy that morning. She thanked Richard Tatem and Heather Felton who asked questions. The three people who voted against the Superintendent did not. In the future she is asking for better communication with the people: “People on SAC are asked to serve on textbook committees who meet during the day and they can’t attend. Our input is not considered in the calendar. The parents are your bosses.”

 

CD said she was also fortunate to watch the meeting today. She said there was no notice/communication about the meeting. She said, “The only reason I got to watch it is that I am not working today but most other parents were. We try to teach our children good communication and you are not doing it.”

 

JK said that nobody knew the “house was on fire” when we came to the meeting this morning and couldn’t make a public comment at the beginning of the meeting because he didn’t know what the meeting was about. He said he had been a school board member in another district and was here today as a concerned resident. He read an apt poem, “The Man in the Arena,” by Theodore Roosevelt, and stressed the need to be developmental. He pointed out the Superintendent was paid more because he has a doctorate. He said, “I hope we can do better moving forward.”

 

 

Class of 2025 – Senior Stats and Accolades 

 

Deputy Superintendent Derek Jensen introduced Sharon Scarbrough, Executive Director of Secondary School Management, and Evan McCarthy, Director of Assessment, who presented summary information about the class of 2025, including the most popular names. Mr. Evans shared that students speak 45 different languages. Those who started in kindergarten spent 2,100 days with the district and had 75 different teachers. They had the highest average GPA for the last five years of B, with a 3.01. Ms. Scarborough indicated the class of 2025 had no COVID time while in high school. The graduates provided 171,000 community service hours, accumulated $24.5 million in scholarships, will attend 145 different colleges/universities with 269 graduating early. She calculated that during graduation there were over 29,000 congratulatory handshakes as 3,325 graduates crossed the stage.

 

Board Members thanked Ms. Scarbrough for coordinating their involvement in all of the graduation ceremonies. Ms. Scarbrough acknowledged the efforts of school administrators and staff for their work and LECOM Park as the host for many schools.

 

 

Mr. Jensen reported testing in science is completed, and math is almost done as is US History. He said the state is still running all their statistics and the district doesn’t have those results yet. However, the ELA scores are up in all grades over last year’s except in 2nd and 9th. The final data should be available by the end of June and he will bring that information to the board as it arrives. 

 

Meeting of the School Board Leasing Corporation. Chair Choate gaveled out of the Regular Meeting and into this. The Board approved 5-0 to the Consent and Joinder by Manatee School Board Leasing Corporation for Permanent Utilities Easement-Blackburn Elementary School (No Financial Impact.) The Chair gaveled out and back in to the Regular Meeting.

 

Consent Items - The 37 items on the Consent Agenda were approved 5-0. 

 

 

Approval of the Budget Amendments for March 2025 (No Financial Impact) Approved 5-0.

 

Approval of Revisions of Job Descriptions the Instructions Division (General and Federal Funds) Mr. Jensen indicated the changes were due to reorganization of roles and responsibilities in Student Services and Curriculum Departments and reporting structures. Approved 5-0.

 

Approval of Academic Calendar for 2026-2027 School Year (No Financial Impact) After 30 days for public input and receiving 300 comments, 2/3 voted for Option A. Feedback was received about the need for comparison charts for the options and the need to get out the notice of request for input through the schools and not just the district website. Approved 5-0.

 

Approval of Student and Adult Meal Price Increases for School Year 2026-2027 Regina Thoma, Director of Food and Nutrition Services, said this is due to extra expenses related to the hurricanes, increased labor costs, and USDA changes. The price for lunches will increase by fifteen cents. Ms. Thoma explained that FEMA reimbursement does not cover all of the expenses of losing school days, with revenue generated per day at $200,000, and the need to pay employees. It can take 400-500 hours to complete FEMA paperwork and sometimes it costs more to do the work than will be received. Approved 5-0.

 

 

Approval of Travel Expenses Associated with the School Board Members’ and Superintendent Wysong’s Attendance at the FSBA-FADSS Annual Joint Conference, at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, FL June 10-13, 2024 Not to Exceed $3,500. (General Fund) Mr. Choate indicated he would not attend, Mr. Chapman will attend, and Ms. Felton indicated she’s agreed to helping at the Conference. Approved 5-0.

 

Approval to Purchase Security and Vulnerability Testing Services from Crowe, LLP, SDMC No. 25-0056-RG, Not to Exceed $82,680.00 – Revised (General Fund) The explanation was made in the prior Shade Meeting. Ms. Spray questioned why this was not put out for bid. She was told that the nature of the work did not require that because of the high-quality cybersecurity work that is done. Ms. Sellers explained it falls under a technical exemption. Approved 5-0.

 

Approval and Acceptance of the Contract Statement of Work with RSM US, LLP, to Provide Internal Auditing Services, SDMC No. 25-0077-RG, Estimated up to $340,000.00 (General Fund) Mr. Kennedy thanked the Audit Committee’s work to get this to tonight’s meeting. Approved 5-0.

Outside of the agenda and spontaneously, Mr. Tatem proposed and moved that the board approve $10,000 for up to three months to provide Mr. Chapman with coaching or support as this position is completely new to him. Ms. Spray seconded. She also recommended Mr. Vogel or anyone. Mr. Dye reminded the Board that the FSBA already offers some of these services for free. Approved 5-0.

 

 

Year-to-Date Financial Statements Through March 31, 2025 (No Financial Impact)

Year-to-Date Charter School Financial Statement Summary through March 31, 2025 

 

 

Instruction – Deputy Superintendent Jensen congratulated all schools on their great strides. He reminded everyone that Monday is Memorial Day and the following three days are each early release days.

 

Operations –Deputy Superintendent Ranaldi said weekly exercise classes as well as yoga and meditation are offered for employees. Graduating interns at USF have signed their contracts and the recruiting team is headed to USF Tampa. Two more operations job fairs scheduled. Summer Food and Nutrition services begin June 2 in 69 settings and locations are up on the district website. Mr. Ranaldi said the bump in salaries is helping to recruit needed bus drivers with 16 in the pipeline. Four of the 7 new buses have arrived and the next three should be here next week. Ten more buses will come in December. He reminded Board Members to set their alarms for the 5:30 a.m. wave-off on the last day of school, May 29. The revised website will be live by June 2.

 

Legal - Attorney Dye indicated the board is up to date.

 

Superintendent Remarks – Mr. Kevin Chapman said he is humbled and honored to take on this responsibility and that it was an honor to serve with Dr. Wysong these past two years and wishes him and his family well. Mr. Chapman indicated the district will remain unchanged and steadfast through the end of school and finish strong. The rezoning maps will be published before the community meetings next week between May 27 and 31. The times and places are on the district website.

The new schools are ready to go. The budget for 25-26 remains unchanged. He thanked the Board for the privilege to serve the district.

 

 

Mr. Tatem related that he saw a student alone after graduation and suggested everyone look out for them, engage them, and that was a dark side of all the celebration for him. He said he has read a book about the lethality of loneliness. He indicated that this year there were more seniors looking me in the eye and there seemed to be a high level of happiness at graduation.

 

Ms. Felton said she is reading through 67 grant requests for funds as a member of the Children’s Services Board to provide social services that support our children. She wants to coordinate efforts to be sure our schools and parents are aware of them. Ms. Felton enjoyed seeing the graduates and it was worth all the handshakes. She encouraged everyone to go to the district website and see the zoning recommendations. She said it was an honor and pleasure to work with Dr. Wysong and he completed the meeting with us with grace and dignity.

 

Mr. Kennedy quoted to the Seniors - “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” 

 

Ms. Spray said graduation is aways a fun shoe show. Her shoulder hurts but its worth it. She’s collecting tassels. She acknowledged that a retiree had worked in the district for 36.4 years. She said Mr. Barber will retire at the end of June. She wishes Dr. Wysong and family well. She thinks he has a bright future. She said, “Don’t be afraid to do the right thing” and it was a hard day. She thanked Mr. Dye, Mr. Pendley and the whole staff.

 

Mr. Choate was pleased there are a lot of our students at graduations who will be serving our country. He gave kudos to the staff at all the schools who were involved in graduations. They worked so hard and it was great for the kids. He said he is grateful for staff from top to bottom as we finish out the school year saying, “I appreciate everything you do.”

 

Meeting Adjourned at 7:09 p.m.

 

 

We appreciate Mr. Choate bringing the Director of Food Services to the podium so everyone could hear her explanation regarding the increase in food prices for next year.

 

Mr. Tatem’s question regarding reimbursement from FEMA resulted in clarification by the Director of Food Services.

 

Even if Mr. Kennedy did not intend it as so, his comment to Ms. Felton that being on the “cheer patrol fits you well” at the upcoming FSBA conference was observed as inappropriate.

 

Ms. Spray again should have asked her questions regarding agenda items prior to the meeting, i.e. cybersecurity purchases.

 

The spontaneous motion by Mr. Tatem regarding training or coaching for Mr. Chapman was observed to be problematic on several points: 

1. Observers found it hypocritical to offer Mr. Chapman coaching and support as he develops skills he does not have, yet resisted doing the same for Dr. Wysong; 

2. This was not an item on the published and approved agenda, nor was there a request to amend the agenda at the start of the meeting; 

3. School Board policies allow the Superintendent to make purchases of less than $50,000 without Board approval; 

4. Board members indicated that the time Mr. Chapman will serve as Superintendent will be brief;

5. And any support needed by Mr. Chapman can be received from FSBA for free or Dr. Wysong under his current contract.

 

Anyone who did not know about the Tuesday morning meeting, or took the noticed purpose of the meeting literally, would have had no idea that the Superintendent had been terminated without cause. The observers were dismayed that there was no acknowledgment of the termination of the Superintendent at the morning special meeting. It was only mentioned by public commenters.