LWV School Board Notes: 4/8/25

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chair Choate followed by the reading of the district vision by Ms. Felton. Ms. Felton introduced Mother Marcia Tremmel of the Episcopal Diocese of South West Florida who provided the invocation. Chair Choate led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Student Celebrations / Recognitions

Resiliency Week – Mr. Barber introduced Omar Edwards, Associate Director of Strategic Planning and Innovations, who described Resilience Week of April 11 – 17. Resiliency Week is focused on “We’ve Practiced, We’re Prepared, We’re Primed for Success” encouraging students to build confidence. Motivational speakers are visiting schools to encourage students to “finish the school year strong!” Kevin Chapman, Executive Director of Administration, acknowledged Mr. Edwards for creating the program and raising $50,000 in community donations to support the program.

Good News Moments - Mr. Barber recognized METV’s leader, Mr. Messenger, and his staff and their work broadcasting educational programming and airing school board meetings, district and school events such as performances and athletic contests.  He showed one of their videos – “Making Pickles at Bayshore Elementary” that integrated math and science lessons, featuring students explaining how they planted and grew cucumbers then worked with the cafeteria staff to make pickles out the cucumbers they grew.  

Public Comments

LDA spoke as resident, taxpayer, and parent of two Manatee County students and expressed her disappointment with the board’s decision not to share the local sales tax revenue with charter schools. She said families are paying for money they never see and 20% of Manatee students attend charter schools. Without the faith this will be done, she warned this tax may not pass in the future.

JD is principal of Palmetto Charter School and requested the fair and equitable distribution of the sales tax funds to charter schools. He reminded board members the community approved the tax with the expectations it would be shared with all Manatee County public school students – “we are a public school.” He said, “It is a noble and worthy investment.”

EV is a 10-year member of Team Success Board with 1,480 students. He stated they have been an A/B school since founded. He urged the board to include charter schools in the distribution of the tax revenue we voted for. The school has repairs needed and we need to use these funds to address that need, adding nothing regulatory has changed.

SZ state we all want what is best for all Manatee County students. The district is a solid B. As a lifetime resident of the state, I know the grade is only a small portion of the school or district. He said, “We need to look at what charter schools add to that grade; if you remove the charter schools the district is closer to a C.” He reminded the board that the ½ cent sales tax was presented to the public in the county as a tax that would support all students. Charter students are your students too. If they are good enough to count toward the grade, they are good enough to share in the tax. Not asking to go back to other years, but to start funding now.

BM said he has two students in a charter school in Manatee County and they chose this area specifically for their schools and charter schools. He said he was shocked to find out that the funding was not allocated appropriately to charter schools. If meant for every student, it should be shared. Don’t need to go back but need to start now doing the right thing.

Mr. Choate asked Mr. Dye to speak to the legality of what the board is doing. Mr. Dye affirmed that the district is not doing anything illegally with how the sales tax revenue is being distributed. He indicated an upcoming workshop will address the whole story with background, how the distribution decisions were made, and where it stands today.

Reports and Presentations

2025 Summer Programs and Professional Learning Update

Mr. Jensen introduced Allison Nichols, Director of Elementary Education, who provided an explanation of what will be happening this summer with additional student learning opportunities and staff professional learning. Mr. Jensen reminded everyone the staff has one foot finishing up this school year, one foot in preparing for next school year to meet our goals, and also producing many summer opportunities. The summer programs required by statute include: 3rd grade summer reading camps at 9 sites for retained 3rd graders; voluntary Pre-K’s program for all VPK students scoring lower than 10% which includes private school students; Summer Bridge Program; Extended School Year for K-12 ESE students. Mr. Jensen explained that funding for the summer programs comes from federal, state, local, and referendum funds. Ms. Nichols described other programs for elementary: Title I STEAM camp; Migrant Camp; smARTen Up Camp; for secondary: Title I Middle and High Schools Bridge Programs; Middle and High School Rapid Recovery; Migrant Summer Camp; Camp Creator for 6-8th; Middle School Robotics Camp; Drivers Education; and, Career and Post-Secondary Exploration Program held at MTC. For professional staff, learning opportunities include: SDMC Leadership Conference (administrators), New Educator Orientation, and a Summer REFRESH Conference for teachers with a variety of sessions to choose. Parents will be informed through school and district communications. [LWV note – see full presentation slides describing the programs and dates at the following link.]

Consent Items

The Consent Agenda included 22 items that were approved 5-0.

New Business: (Non-Consent Items)

Approval of the Budget Amendments for February 2025 – approved 5-0

Approval of New Job Description and Position of Guardian Weapons Detection Systems Technician – approved 5-0. Dr. Wysong explained that with the expansion of weapons detection systems to middle schools in addition to high schools, there needs to be a scaling up of equipment and personnel. Therefore, a school guardian will receive specialty training to trouble shoot and maintain equipment as well as floating among the schools.

New Business (No Superintendent Recommendation)

Internal Auditor Scope of Work – Following a lengthy discussion, a motion was made and supported 5-0 to do the facilities and maintenance audit in September-December using the new internal auditor after the Auditor General’s report is complete. The discussion covered concerns about having the current internal auditor and the new internal auditor overlapping, the numbers of audits that will be happening at the same time while the staff involved are also very busy with construction projects and opening new schools, and not knowing exactly what will be covered in the Auditor General’s relating to maintenance processes. The Board heard from Mr. Daniels who chairs the Audit Committee, Deputy Superintendents of Operations Ranaldi and Business Services Sellers, a representative of the current internal auditors, and Superintendent Wysong before making their decision. All agreed the audit of facilities and maintenance is important even though it has been delayed by other priorities in the past. 

Information Only (no board action required)

Year-to-Date Financial Statements Through February 28, 2025 (No Financial Impact)

Year-to-Date Charter School Financial Statement Summary Through February 28, 2025 (No Financial Impact)

School Safety Requirements and Monitoring Reports – 2024-2025 Quarter

Updates

Instruction – Mr. Jensen thanked the Board Members who made positive comments about the April 5 STEM Showcase and acknowledged it showed the true scope of what the district offers Kindergarten through Manatee Technical College. He reminded everyone of the upcoming Golden Herald Awards and high school proms over the next few weeks as well as summer VPK registration June 2-30. He noted the competitions of CTE, ACT, and HOSA.

Operations – Mr. Ranaldi indicated 21 attended the Pathway event to learn how to apply for a temporary teaching certificate. The March 27 Operations Job Far resulted in 21 job offers.

The Orlando Florida Teach-In was not as successful as the past with only 50 attendees.

Operations Job Fair on April 17 from 2-5 and Teacher/Para Job Fair on April 26 from 9-12 are coming up. A new finger printing procedure will be implemented by end of this week. Food and Nutrition is celebrating baseball spring training with players as guests and hot dogs and slushies on the menu. Congressman Buchannon will give a Congressional Award to Braden River Middle School cafeteria manager, Kelly Taylor, for her work during the hurricanes. There are currently 91 drivers and with 86 active but there are 18 applicants in the process.

Legal – Mr. Dye indicated a shade meeting regarding the Kinnan litigation will be held soon and real estate closings have occurred on two sites.

Superintendent Remarks – Dr. Wysong expressed appreciation for the board’s support of 22 consent agenda items that included the substantial completion of Parrish Community High School, next steps for a future high school to open in 2027, accepted a donation of fire truck for MTC, and approved student travel for drone championships in Kentucky and the Science and Engineering fair in Ohio. He thanked Jackie Dezelski and the Manatee Chamber of Commerce for Project Teach before Spring Break and their ongoing support for the Big Bank, and said other districts do not have this type of support. New and remodeled buildings are completed at Blackburn and Oneco Elementary schools. He said the district is in the quiet time of rezoning while staff creates three maps for consideration. Dr. Wysong is collaborating with the Anchin Center at University of South Florida in a strengthening district leadership as they go into the upcoming Strategic Planning process. He expressed appreciation for the time board members are spending with our legislative delegation, especially regarding the cutting of funding for advanced placement programs.

Board Remarks

Ms. Felton said she spent most of the last three weeks in Tallahassee and time with Ms. Sellers. She said four board members went and this was her first time. They spoke with a dozen legislators regarding funding for advanced programs (IB, AP, ACEE). There were “some sympathetic ears and others saying won’t be a cut in funding as they patted you on the head.” She has now visited all of the schools in her district. Ms. Felton said the final performance of Shrek the Musical at Parrish Community High Schools was outstanding. She put in a plug for Soar in 4 and the 5K event at Tom Bennett Park. She invited others to “put on your tennis shoes and come walk with me.”

Mr. Kennedy said he was speaking for himself on his concern with this legislative session, especially cutting funding for advanced programs. He shared that Sarasota High School talked with parents of these students, and if concerned, to contact their legislators about what is happening in Tallahassee. Legislators mostly take direction from senior leadership but may respond if they hear from enough parents. He’s also concerned about changing hours for 14 - 15 -year-olds working on school nights. He thanked Omar Edwards on his Resiliency Program and MSTV team for all of their work. He acknowledged he attended the 30th year anniversary of Take Stock in Children with his mentee at the Manatee School for the Arts charter.

Mr. Tatem’s safety tip was as weather gets warmer, watch out for alligators. He also went to Shrek and was equally impressed saying, “I too thought the person who played the donkey was spot on.” He went to an elementary music event last week and was really good and went to a JROTC Orienting Team event. He took a bus ride at transportation, asked how long the driver has worked in the system and was told 31 years with 30 years spent driving a bus. 

Ms. Spray said she talked to legislators and lobbyists about the education bills in Tallahassee. She expressed her concerns about reducing opportunities for advanced coursework and told them about one student that drives 45 minutes to attend an advanced program. It was an advantage to be in Tallahassee with the Consortium that represents more than 50% of students and finance come from those districts. She clarified that fingerprinting is done every five years and how that is done. Regarding the public commenters, there is a workshop scheduled and encouraged everyone to have an open mind and listen to all sides. In her district 3900 students go to charter schools. She said she hopes that students attend charter schools because they have a unique program and not because there’s anything wrong with the traditional school. The district schools have a lot to offer. Ms. Spray said we need to listen to what the charter school people are telling us and “I don’t think we’re doing anything nefarious about this but want to listen to whole story.”

Mr. Choate reiterated the importance of going to Tallahassee. He thanked Manatee High School Principal Fleming for providing his mom’s 40th reunion group with a tour of the campus. For safety, he asked all the prom goers to be safe and it’s his daughter’s senior prom. He also wished his daughter and other lacrosse players well in the district playoffs. Mr. Choate thanked the staff for preparing for this meeting. When he said they would break for 30 minutes before the workshop, he changed it to 5 minutes to accommodate Mr. Kennedy’s request to hear from Mr. Daniels regarding the Audit Committee as the first item at the workshop before the lunch break.

Adjournment 12:24 p.m.

GOVERNANCE AND SUNSHINE

Board members asked relevant and helpful clarifying questions regarding the summer staff and student learning programs.

The observers commend Mr. Choate for taking the opportunity to personally and publicly acknowledge Ms. Nichols and her team for producing the successful April 5th STEM Showcase. Providing positive acknowledgements lead to enhanced relationships and morale.

Overall, the meeting was well run with few unnecessary or irrelevant comments.

Ms. Spray is commended for voicing her desire to hear the whole story about the sales tax revenue distribution, past and present, in response to the many public comments. Listening to the concerns expressed by the community is important for the success of elected officials.  It is equally important to have all of the facts before making decisions. Hopefully the workshop to address this will be held soon.

We appreciate Mr. Kennedy’s suggestion and Chair Choate’s willingness to make the change in timing of the start of the workshop to accommodate Mr. Daniels’ time. The flexibility and sensitivity are noted as positive examples of good governance.

We again request that the Workshop topics and scheduled dates be kept current on the district website. January 2024 is the last time this was updated.

While the invocations are being given by a variety of representatives from various denominations, it is important to consider representatives from all of the religions represented in our community.