 Issues we know we there are a lot of things going on with the school, but what you know I want you to tell us what's the most significant issue facing the board right now I think it would have to be our the superintendent search hiring the the person that's going to lead us Right now and through the next number of years With our schools and our students is critically important and and you know that we we suspended our search And I think we are now in a place where we're gonna have to go back to the drawing board and figure some things out But we have a good person in place now and Dr. Kriznar But I think it's going to be really important that we find that the right leader for right now Okay, so you know people want to know you know why what is rationale behind suspending the search? We talked about this a little bit on Friday's program Why do you think it makes sense to do so now instead of following the timeline that you had previously? Yeah, I think it's really important as one of the largest school districts in the state in the country that we get A robust pool to choose from so if you think about last time we did a search when dr. Green was was selected We had 70 applications this time we had 10 at the end of the day And even in those 10 there was probably about three or four that met the minimum qualifications being 25,000 like work and leadership with 25,000 plus students So at the end of the day I think we owe it to our community to make sure we have a robust pool to be able To compare and contrast I don't think it's an indictment on the people that were qualified I think but you have to be able to compare them to somebody who's either in the role of a superintendent And be able to look at them fairly. What's gonna be different about the second time around think timing is gonna be important We're gonna be right now, and I think we knew this When dr. Green left out like at the end of the day at the period she left We knew we were gonna be in a place where we we were gonna be middle of the year during a search And we knew this could be an issue so once you get to the end of the year We'll have a bigger pool folks who are dedicated to their school or their school environment aren't gonna leave in the middle of The year sometimes they will but it has to be that special person So we'll get a better pool then we'll also know a little bit more about these school board elections At the end of the day we as the school board are the ones who hire and fire or or keep that superintendent So right now there are four seats maybe six depending on if there's some some other action happening And we'll know a little bit more about who's running in those seats and and what that will look like so You know one more point on this Many people believe that the points you just made were obvious during their initial search like you know You probably knew the board probably knew coming in that you can be hiring someone prudence You know in the middle of the school year right and it would be difficult for a lot of qualified people to apply Especially in a situation where they under the sunshine Any reason expect a reason why explanation why that didn't occur that thought process didn't occur early on Yeah, we had those conversations for sure We we sat around that table and really discussed like should we go now or should we wait? Well, we also thought we wanted to get the process started So in our opinion if we would have had a pool of 3040 and really had some folks who we saw a robust pool We would have moved forward, but I think it's I don't think I I don't really see a huge issue because Because I'd rather us take a step back get the right person in that seat and then must move forward Okay, all right, so we have a caller just to get David on the west side in the west side All right David that they get him There you go All right, David join there. Good morning Hey, how are you today, sir? Great? What's your question? I'm actually a neurodevelopmental pediatrician with University of Florida here in town Wow, and I chose this because of reading disabilities My question is if up to 20% of children have a genetically inherited reading disability Which strives their families down socioeconomic strata over time Is there going to be a structured formal system-wide attack to help these kids attain functional reading by the time they're in fourth grade? Because right now my experience is if a hit or miss Independent process not a system-wide plan. Thank you. I'll take that. I'll find thank you for that question David Yeah, I think it's a great question. I think literacy is a huge focus of not only here in Duval County But across the country You you saw even a more declined during COVID and I think we have a number of resources that we're putting in place whether it's Extra tutoring extra staff to to lean in and intervene We're also leaning on some technology and innovation too and I'm sure Dave knows about this You have now have AI programs that can listen to a student read and understand what that students Comprehending and sort of have that conversation with the student So I think we have to have any in every approach and it is going to be a robust approach Not only from the school district, but you also have read jacks who's also leaning in and ensuring that hey This is a wrap around because it's not just what you're learning in those four walls of schools It's what's that vocabulary that a young person's learning at home and after school and and before school So it's going to be a community effort, but it is a huge focus and it's something that once you Learn to read you can then read to learn and that's something that you have to understand And I appreciate him saying about fourth grade We'd like to have them reading and being proficient even before that and second and third grade And I think those are going to be important steps that we need to take. Okay to David's point I think he wanted to know because he was looking at specific schools where those services were available Are they any are there any plans to make them system-wide? Yeah, I mean they are system-wide So every single school has resources for students to be able to read and gain the literacy skills that they need And now more than ever because of the innovations and technology that we have you can see that across all of our schools And now it's a moment for us to really take a hard look at that and even do more Okay, we are we're talking with a school board member district for school board member Dara Willie You can give us a call and join the conversation five or nine two nine three seven and We've seen a lot of progress from the half-sense half penny sales tax begin to take shape What are some of the key projects in your district that you're proud of and That we that the public maybe have not seen come online what is coming up or What how's that going to make it better for students and parents in your district? I think the environment of course We all know the environment that you're in whether it's a work environment school environment that you're sitting in is important I get it makes you feel a certain way it gives you an additional boost of confidence So we took a took a took a leap a many years back and created that master facilities plan And there's some great projects going on and I'll talk about one That's right on the cusp of my area and then my area so the brand-new Rutledge Pearson Right our first school that we built with the half penny I just want to thank the voters and all the folks who leaned in and supported that if you have not been by that school At least driving by it's a sight to see and we hadn't built a new school in that area in decades and decades So I think that's really important not only for the students that go inside But the families that have that pride and confidence in the school teachers that have pride and confidence there as well So in addition to that we just broke ground on the genre bow or reball high school That's gonna be our first high school built with the half penny and that'll open in 2025 What a what a site that's gonna be as well right there off went and drive that Monkreef area So we're really concentrating on areas of town that have been sort of left behind a bit In addition to that you have been brand new Highlands Elementary School I just drove by there Yesterday so as the walls are starting to go up at Highlands Elementary school is in that done sort of Turtle Creek area in addition to that you also You you have a number of other schools that are getting ready to start being built So that's that's what you'll see from the outside But what you may not notice is we also are doing a lot of things inside of our schools whether it's ACs and roofs and also the safety piece like building those double entries and festivals and whatnot So we're excited about the work that's happening there Our dashboard has all of those pieces in there and district four is gonna be better in our community It's gonna be better because of it. I've heard a lot about this about the Rutledge Pearson What is the makeup of Rutledge Pearson now because it was a it was a small elementary school Is it is it is it combined with our previous elementary schools or what what are old schools? Yeah, but it's combined with Martin Luther King junior elementary school has come on board with them as well And you're seeing a lot of parents who are making that choice to come over to Rutledge I mean parents have choices a whole another issue that we can chat through parents have so many options and choices So you have MLK and Rutledge all together in that school And wow like the energy is there that the numbers are there And you're starting to see more and more parents and families buying in to what's going on at Rutledge We have a great leader over there and re and rebalt same situation When it's completed will it be combined or will it be still the same or rebalt still the same it will be not combined It'll be rebalt high school and they have some good enrollment They're starting to see even more and more enrollment coming into the school And we have had to have conversations about what the number of seats We wanted to put in there because there's a lot of interest in rebalt It goes on leadership goes on culture and some of the programs that are going on in those schools What's included in the new schools a plan for the ones that have been constructed yet What's included in new schools that that people can say that weren't in the old schools Yeah, give me some of the you know some of the shiny objects that are there now that the community can be proud of Yeah, number one is just the space like if you if you go into any of the classrooms You have a space that's conducive to modern learning. You'll probably have a brand-new smart Smart wall that you have you'll have desks that can rotate and move for small group activities You'll the flow of traffic back through the hallways will be much better the cafeterias and sort of auditoriums Those will be state-of-the-art so students will be able to not only eat lunch in there But also put on a play or a show Also, it's in it's set up in a way where community can also access the space where the gym and sort of the cafeteria I'm a setup where community can come access those spaces as well so those are just a few of the pieces and Once you once you walk into these schools you start to realize what you should have had a long time ago Let's take a caller. Yep Good morning. You're on First Coast Connect Yes, is this are you talking to me? I sure am do Susan. Oh great My question is if parents and their kids to charter schools How will that affect the master facilities plan? I was listening in on a school board workshop And I felt like Joyce school board member Joyce and Carney were saying they wanted to change the master facility plan that we Voted on it and if you could clarify that a little bit if more kids go to charter schools How much is that going to hurt our funding of our neighborhood schools? And also, can you advocate for making a dashboard clear on how the charter schools are? spinning our sales surtax money because I find it very confusing and even when the That charter school asked for 1.4 million from the city council They the lobbyists that asked for the money didn't even know how they spent our cell service tax money. Okay. Thank you very much Thank you for that Susan Yeah, so the the first question I think we're we're we are gonna have to have some conversations about what the Masters facilities plan looks like currently versus what it looked like before COVID five years ago So to our to our point those conversations are gonna be coming up very soon because at the end of the day Enrollment has changed like enrollment has changed Folks are choosing different options for for their school whether it's home school whether choosing The new vouchers that you now have whether it's charter schools So that does affect it because a prorator percentage of those funds that come in for that penny Do go to our charter schools So that will affect our bottom line on what and how many schools we can build so currently Just in your I know you probably you don't have the numbers in front of you But how has a charter school enrollment impacted traditional school enrollment over? I mean, yeah since COVID Charter school enrollment has gone up a bit I think before COVID you started to see a spike a bit there too But now you're seeing a lot more of the homeschool a lot more of the folks using vouchers as well So if you take that that full pie and you break that down We're gonna be in a different spot. We're gonna be a little lower than we were pre COVID So when you have that conversation, we now have to say all right What's how do we prioritize which projects moving forward? And we knew we were gonna have to do this when we went into it You can't make a plan and think that plan is going to be going to stick for 15 years You want to try but you need to go back every three four or five years And that's what we said at the very onset We're going to come back every five years look at enrollment look at projects Look where growth is happening Because growth is happening in different areas of town too Now that may not have been growing when we started with this master's facility So the conventional for a lot of people in the community the conventional conversation is that The expansion of choice school charter schools has a negative resource impact on traditional public schools You know, how do you make up for the money that's lost in no cases with the arguments being made How do you make up for the resources that are being lost to charter schools? I don't know if you make up for them necessarily But I think the way that it's structurally set up right now is that the money then follows that kit So they would say like all right. Well, you have enough money because you have the money That's allocated for you based on the number of students you have So I think that that that system has always been flawed because it doesn't and includes sort of economies of scale So I think it's not necessarily going to make it up But I think the way that We're going to have to have the conversation is tough conversations being transparent about which which Which products do we prioritize and which neighborhoods are we going to prioritize as we move forward? So our hope is to maintain as much that master's facilities plan as possible But we also have to be mindful of taxpayer dollars And the way that we're set up if if we have either declining enrollment or flat enrollment in different places It's not the same as as the charter school environment some of the other environments where you can just build We have to look at the whole entire county And I think that's what sets us apart and is a little different for us So in that argument, you know, people are making the comparison between The charters and the traditional public school. Yeah, there you know, there is the element of Of a profit in the charter school system And and in doing so There are other ways for charter schools to raise money and or infuse money into their Into their process right into them to their business model What other ways are there for traditional public schools for them to infuse additional cash into their For the tender model business model, I mean outside of selling cookies And well from a from a structural standpoint is to have penny sales tax I mean that's one way that we went out and did it or a one mil Like that's you saw us go for those two pieces because those are the ways that That a traditional public sort of school or school district is able to do that So we're able to see some of those things and I think that one of the things that we We're going to be faced with in a new superintendent and this board is going to be faced with Is how do you navigate in this environment where there's it's ultra choice There's so much choice for every family and there's kids that we're also responsible as a board member I'm responsible for those kids in district four who go into not only traditional publics But also those charter schools as well like there's a there's a responsibility that I have So there has to be a balance and we've been in this phase of competition for so long with our charters But now with some of the the regulation and and the vouchers coming from Tallahassee I think we actually may be More closely aligned and we can actually fight together to say hey How do we figure out some of these regulations? Because we we have to figure out this landscape and we have to have more communication between each other because at the end of the day Right now we can't be just too two pathways not crossing over right So let's talk a little bit about some of those challenges with dealing with some of the policies that are coming from Tallahassee You know you all were challenged earlier this year beginning of the school year with Dealing with the reading materials the books based upon policies from Tallahassee How do you see that going forward? Do you feel like there is a way for students to be to have clear access to a healthy choice of reading materials in their libraries or in their lesson plans That doesn't conflict with the way the state Um sort of uh, you know brings down policy in terms of how what can what can and cannot be Made available to students. It's a balancing act. I think there are some some materials there. I wish it was more I mean, I think I'm in my opinion as me as a board member. I think If we talk about parent choice and parents should be able to choose if there's a book that's in a library They should be able to choose that we do have materials that are available For our for our kids and for our teachers Right now what we did as a as a district we We decided if there's going to be a law we're going to protect our teachers And we say we're going to make sure that they're uh, we're going to do everything we can to protect teachers from for many Consequences that could happen And I think now we're we're getting to the place where we're getting all of these books checked out by media specialists And that was the big issue like how do you you have these rules and regulations? But you don't have enough staff to be able to actually take here and look at these books So I think there are materials there. I wish there were more and I'm going to keep pushing To make sure that there's more and there's more access to that But I think we as duval county were are actually one of the groups that actually We did push a little bit more and we actually had more materials Especially right afric american history and whatnot and a lot of districts did We're one of the 11 who actually were were noted for some of the work that we're doing around that So I think we were a little bit more further advanced in some of our other districts But I think that's even more of a reason for us to be a model as we move forward So we got a few minutes left. I want to talk now about the rubber meat in the road The actual You know learning materials for students, you know, how students are doing We want to see progress in the district in terms of what students are learning and how they're progressing What is it that the district is doing and to to really sort of get there help students get there And to become proficient at on their grade levels and beyond It's a couple things number one I think when you go into a school, especially in these days is you have to have to make sure their basic needs of every kid Is met like I think you have kids who are coming to school And number one, we're going to make sure they're fit. So you got a meal in the morning meal in the For lunch as well to make sure that those basic needs that's taken off the table We've also done a really good job of making sure they have access to resources and technology So those one-to-one devices making sure kids have access to that So there's no excuses around those pieces. Um, we've also used some of those esser or covid dollars To really provide additional resources to many of our schools Especially schools that have that slide during covid and we're going to be able to use some of those resources for the next year or so So in addition to that, we're really setting up the stage for our students to have pathways That's what this is really about making sure our students who are matriculating through our system have pathways So if you go to any of our high schools right now, you'll see not only the ap and the dual enrollment in early college We also see cte or career technical education sort of pathways in every single high school Whether it's it whether it's cybersecurity whether it's gaming whether it's nursing Whereas the by-star business academy to really connect to actual jobs on the back end And I think that's what's different about today's education The jobs are different than when you and I came out of school So now we have to make sure we're educating based on what those jobs are And I think we're doing a good job at that And I think we have to not only attack it from that high school level But of course as you mentioned make sure we're attacking that literacy like Dave mentioned earlier Because once you learn and have that foundation It's easier to build upon that each and every year So we have those resources We have those uh the staff to be able to do it and now it's a matter of really just having um doing that to To to fruition and making sure we're actually hitting that nail on the head. Okay. I don't want you to get out here before talking about teachers Yeah, right. Love our teachers at a backbone of making all of this work Um, I think the community knows that the teachers are funded From the state level correct What is it that you can do locally to help support teachers and and trying to recruit and attract And and retain teachers Uh for the long haul. Yeah, I mean one of the things we did we went for the one meal And that was to sort of raise teacher salaries. We're able to get teachers some additional bump in their salary Um, it's but it's never never enough like the job that teachers do it's I mean Uh, you can go down the list of the things that a teacher does So we're going to continue to try to advocate for more money But in addition to that trying to create the culture environment where they want to come They want to stay they want to be retained. So whether that's taking some of the administration or regulations away Uh, whether that's making sure that the leaders of our schools have what they need to do to sort of take care of our teachers Or whether that's even from the testing perspective. A lot of our teachers are You have to take a test every number of years. We have the past test So we're also working with the state to make sure We we look at what those requirements are to make sure our teachers That are doing an amazing job in our classroom don't have that sort of hovering over their heads So there's a number of things we are doing a number of things We're going to continue to do to make sure and it takes the community like if you see a teacher make sure you thank them Um, we also if you're sending a kid to school make sure you're you're sending that kid to school in a way Where that teacher is going to be able to they're going to be a canvas for learning So there's a responsibility for all of us to make sure we're doing all we can because our teachers have a very tough job Um, and the folks know that after covet parents know exactly what that looks like And I think also that one of the main factors affecting us right now is is absenteeism So making sure kids are in school So if we can have our kids in school that they're going to be able to learn from our amazing teachers that we have in Duval County What's your vision real quick? What's your vision for your district? Uh That we have every single resource that we need you'll see new buildings pop up That will have all the staff that we need and students are learning at high high levels and have every single choice An opportunity to walk through any door that they want once they finish in our k-12 system here Okay. All right. Dara willie. I appreciate it. Duval County School Board District 4. Thank you for joining us this morning. Anytime, every time. All right. Go Ducks