Thank you. We're good for food. Can everybody grab a seat? Can everybody grab a seat, please? Can everybody grab a seat, please? Where's Monica? Where's... Where's Schlemonica? I'm not going to do it. Don't worry. I got you. I'm not... I'm going to rush it. It's going to keep us all day and night. Monica, you got a second? Monica, over on here. Okay, you guys ready to start? I think we've got to wait until Michael Udine gets ready. No, he was joking. He was just joking. That was funny. Everybody was... I love it. You've got to have a little fun. I love it. I do. I love it. Good to see you. All right, you going to take us where we've got to go? I'll just get on your right. Are you going to open up that? Well, he's telling me it's going to be a... It's going to take so long. No, we're going to try to be... She has to leave. Okay. Okay. All right. Hey, guys. Can we start, please? Welcome, everybody. In 12 years is the first time I think we've had a meeting, a joint meeting with the school board and the county commission. So it's finally good to... Maybe we'll learn something. You know, we can learn. I'm going to... I'm sitting next to the chair here, and maybe you guys can do a quick introduction in your name and go around real quick, because we have a hard stop at 155. This meeting is over at 155. So if you could do it real quick. All right. I'm Sarah Leonardi, representing District 3, also the chair. And I just want to thank the county for hosting this and for feeding us today. I'll just ask my colleagues to briefly just name district, and we'll go around. Ms. Hickson? Hi. I'm Debbie Hickson, one of the county-wide school board members. Happy to be here. Jeff Holness, District 5. Happy to be here. And I know we have Ms. Rebecca Thompson, representing District 2. And Mara McCarthy-Buhlman, who is on her way, representing District 1. Oh, and Dr. Zeman, county-wide, is online. He's on our... Thank you so much. I'm very excited to be here today. He's on our state-of-the-art technology audio system. It only breaks down once every other meeting, so it won't break down this meeting. Okay. We have four items on our agenda, and the first one has to do with facilities and joint use of parks, libraries. Monica, do you want to take that away or no? Or do you want me to? Well, sir, I can certainly kick us off. Thank you. So we have a brief overview here. We just wanted to share. This was an item that the, working with the school board, that there's a number of facilities that we share with the school board, particularly libraries at different schools and things of that nature. And this was an item that the school board had actually asked to bring up as well. So I don't know if Chair Leonardi wanted to speak to that or if you had staff to speak to it. Mr. Sullivan? Sure. Thank you for the opportunity. John Sullivan, Chief of Staff. Our superintendent is en route. He got stuck in a panel that he was at. He should be here in about 15 minutes. So I believe this was discussed to bring possibly with partnering with the county to use some of our facilities that are available or will become available through our redefining efforts. So I think that was the premise behind this item. Did any of my colleagues want to speak to that? I think yesterday at our first redefining meeting, which was in the Miramar area, yeah, at Everlades High School. But the student, the schools that were being discussed were mostly in Everlades, right? I'm sorry, Miramar. Anyway, one of the questions that some of the families had was what would we be doing with our facilities? And actually, one of the suggestions that they shared with me was maybe using them for library space. So really happy to see libraries on here because that was one of the suggestions of the community. Thank you. Rebecca, good to see you on a different board, huh? Is it going to be three minutes? Whatever you want. No. I would just like to echo, I think, having a partnership between the county and our shared space. Whatever opportunities you guys think there might be an opportunity for. I think families are really missing out on third spaces in our county, which are spaces that aren't work or school, but places where they can get the supports they need, either through community services or just places that I know Miramar has a lot of community centers, but not necessarily out west. That might be an opportunity. And I know that the library space at Walter C. Young may no longer be available. I think their lease changes similar to our lease that we have for that property. So if there's an area there for expansion, that would be something to discuss as well. I just want to recognize Mara McCarthy-Bohman, who just came in. Okay. Monica, so you spoke to the superintendent. What are we trying to accomplish with the first agenda item? So this was just something that he felt that he knew that some of his board members would like to speak to, and then I believe we have some of our commissioners that wanted to engage after the school board members spoke. So if I could ask Chair, what are you guys trying to accomplish, if anything, on one? So what I'm hearing from my colleagues is we just want to open the discussion about we're going to have facilities coming offline. We have a variety of things that we could do with them, a partnership with the county. I think what Ms. Thompson was saying, you know, using that as community space. We just kind of want to open the discussion on that. Great. How can we move – so when we leave at 155, how do we move that forward so it just doesn't die here? So I will take it upon myself and work with Superintendent Hepburn to just get a list of those facilities that we can have further dialogue. I could bring it back to the board. He can bring it back to their board. And if there's specific facilities that need to have additional authority, if you will, from the board to engage in different activities, we can bring that forward in joint items or what have you. What I will tell you is the second item is probably the one that's most time-sensitive for us for school closures and how they might impact emergency management. Ms. Thompson, let's finish it first. I think you want to recognize it, Debbie. Ms. Thompson. Thank you. This one isn't so much a question or an ask for the school board for the county to use our facilities, but for us to use yours. And it's actually a discussion I've had with a number of commissioners, and that is help for graduation. You know, we had a huge issue in December of last year. We thought we could move them to the schools. The community was not having it. And so we had to go back. And I know some of the discussion has gone on about using the Amaranth Center, and there's some concerns about that because of the Panthers and the schedule that they have. But you also own the convention center. So I don't know if the discussion could maybe move to what that looks like or if there's a place that fits for us. But we have three schools that won't fit anywhere but the Hard Rock, and that is just too expensive for us. It's astronomical for those three schools, what we have to pay. So we like to give equity to our students and where graduation is held. So if there's a place where if the convention center – everybody gave weird looks when I said the convention center. So that might not be on the table. But we really would love to be able to partner to find a way to work that out. Can I just say – and then I'll let Monica – we all work for the taxpayers. We all work for the residents. So nothing should be off the table. And I hope – that's my own feeling. I don't know, you know, share it. So second, so whether our convention center could be workable or not, I mean, I think everything should be on the table. We are here to help, and that's the way we should operate. Monica, did you want to add to that? Certainly, and thank you, Mr. Mayor. So that's the first time I've ever heard of the convention center, at least personally, because the previous conversations have been the arena. But the convention center, I think the challenge might be for us, just to share it and put it on the table, is we book out, you know, years in advance for different conventions and things of that nature. Obviously, it's a revenue generation, and we use that money to pay off the bonds. But if it's available, right? We can certainly have the conversation, sir. I just – you know, we do book out years in advance, and that would be absolute revenue loss if we did – if we booked it for, let's say, you know, graduations, then it would not be available for things moving out, and we use those revenues to pay off the bonds for the expansion. But if it's more – let's say – when's your graduation, by the way, this year? In 2027. 2027, when's graduation? Last week of May. May. I mean, if they say – right now, let's just talk May 2027. If it's not booked for certain days, are you saying that, oh, no, but it could be booked, and therefore – so it pays off our bonds, that revenue. But usually, as you say, it's booked years in advance. It is. So if they're willing to make it so we don't have to commit years in advance, but May of 2027, on this particular weekend, something's available. It would only be a day or two. One day. One day. I mean, I'd like to expand it that it isn't just those three schools, but I guess we could start with those three schools. And it could be Wednesday night at midnight to 5 a.m. Well, maybe not midnight, but sure. I'm joking. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Thank you. I don't think we're here today to decide which venue we use for any graduation. When we're talking about government facilities, we're talking about government facilities. And as I just seconded, I did not want for any to be left off the table. I'm going to have discussion when that time comes. Not this meeting, because you only have one hour. But I just want you to know, when we're talking about collaboration, the school board has properties. We have properties. We have economic development issues and people looking for spaces, and we don't know what we have here in the county. Now we'll have that discussion, and we'll know what the school board has. We'll know what the county has. You should be able to see it on a website, visible, you know, when we're booked from when we're not booked. And if you need it, then there's a conversation. That's not what, you know, we're starting a family relationship here on taxpayers' time and their dime. It's the first time we're having a discussion between the county and the school board and their duplication of services and revenues and taxpayers' money being spent when it could be safe to do other things. So I'm just glad for this meeting. And it's over three years since I've been here. I've been asking, why aren't we having a conversation with the school board? We have similar issues because we're serving the same people. This is the first one Mayor said in 12 years. Love it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Just a question. Do we currently have interlocal agreements? Or I forget what they call the term, but I know when I was in the city of Miramar, there are agreements where we could utilize your parking lots. There's some agreements that could you... Reciprocal use agreements. Reciprocal. Yeah. What currently do you have with the county, if any? But I know you've had that with cities. Can you recall any? If I can chime in here. The only one that I am familiar with is for emergency shelters that we currently, obviously, when we activate for an emergency, those facilities that are used for the shelters are the schools. So we utilize those. The school board gives us access to their schools for that. Yes. And I know in the city's cases, they have access, is it to your facilities, your parking lots? Does anybody have any idea what the cities have? Do you, John? I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question real quick? One of the reciprocal agreements, for example, a kind of reciprocal agreement, because I do recall in Miramar we could utilize... Recreational and reciprocal. Yes, we have with many cities where they can use our facilities when our students aren't on campus, or we could use their facilities as well. Reciprocal. Yes. Right. So this is no different, maybe, as long as there's availability. You know, maybe you can go into more details. Okay. Item one. We understand about facilities. And, Monica, you're going to talk to the superintendent to move that forward and see how we can be of help and work with each other. Okay. Item two, emergency... No. Yes. I represent District 8, and I have a couple of schools that will be closing, in particular, North Fork Elementary. And I've engaged, Mr. Holders, the community in a number of conversations with Browder States, and in particular, North Fork. I would just like to get updates on where we are with that stuff, so when I go to the community meetings, I'll be on the same page as you. The historic Dorset River Bend had a lot of input in what they wanted to see happen to those sites. But I know that you are counting the beans, and you have a different amount of pressure on what you have to do with these facilities. But I would like to be a part of it, if I can, to help guide us through the community and see if we can reach a resolve, not questioning anything that you're doing, but would like to be a part of that, especially North Fork Elementary and Browder Estates. And thank you. I don't know if you had anything to do with it, but to see Parkway Elementary painted is just an eye-opener, because we waited a long time for a lot of things to happen there. But that paint and that four-way stop sign just really, really changes, I think, the dynamics for those children in the morning when they're going to school. But who can I stay in touch with with these updates? So we have our chief, Dr. Wanza, who's leading our redefining efforts, so she's taking notes. So she'll make sure to get in contact with you so you have a voice in that process. Okay, and John, if you don't mind, Vice Mayor, if you don't mind, you can also stay in touch with my office. I know we've been in many conversations over and over. And I can tell you, Vice Mayor McKenzie, Browder Estates, has a wonderful pre-K program. 100% of the pre-K students are now kindergarten ready. So we've transitioned that school over. And North Fork, John, we've approved a proposal for North Fork, which is Cistrunk Rising. And I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you, Commissioner Rogers, because you've been in conversation with me for many months for a joint meeting like this. And to see it happen here is wonderful. Thank you. And Browder Estates, by the way, way before you made a decision to change anything, in my opinion, was one of the best maintained and well-kept schools that I've seen in my district. Okay. Beam? Real quick. For the last almost 10 years, we've had a reciprocity on the libraries, where your student ID would allow for checking out materials at our public library. And I think there were about 80,000 students that were utilizing that at one point. That seems to have been, I'm not sure what's happening on that. Can anybody give me the status on that? The Children's Services Council is real involved on this part in helping that. So is that still in effect? Mr. Sullivan, can anyone answer that? I'm not sure if our deputy can give voice to that about that partnership with the county and the libraries and our students with their IDs being able to utilize it. I had not heard anything that had stopped. I had heard something. So we're checking with Allison right now, our library director, but it had not been brought to my attention at all. My understanding is it was still in effect. And I say that because I know the school board is down a lot of media specialists right now, which means there's not a librarian to direct it, to help the kids pick out books, all that stuff. So their option is a public library. And I think it's important for all the kids in this entire county to have somebody to go to to be able to do that. If we do have that, this happens to actually be library card month, if it has a better word to it. But if that's still in place, I think both the county and the school board should make some marketing to let everyone know that that's the case. I think it was an opt-in exercise on the first day of school, which was how it was being. And I don't know if it was there this year. That's what concerns me. We need to move on to item two. Time's running. Sure. Could you just, I don't know, how many schools don't have media specialists anymore? I don't have an exact number, but I would say maybe about 10% of them that don't have media specialists. However, it doesn't deny the students access to our media centers. So what we do in lieu of not having a media specialist, we have media clerks. So the students still have access to go into the media spaces that we have and still be able to check out books. But we are actively seeking, as you said, media specialists for our schools. We also made sure this year that every school had a position. So we do have positions, but not necessarily people in there to fill them. But we're actually recruiting them as we speak. Thank you. You're welcome. There's a big difference between a media clerk and librarian. Yes, there is. Okay. Let's move to item two. Time's running. Monica, you want to brief everybody on your conversation? So item number two was really centered on emergency management and shelter coordination. So on the list of schools of proposed closures for the school board, there were three in particular that impact the county's emergency shelters. And those are Panther Run, Silver Lakes. These are all three elementary schools. Panther Run Elementary, Silver Lakes Elementary, and Dolphin Bay Elementary. Those three school closures represent about 1,200 individual capacity for our shelters during emergency activations. And so that is concerning to us. And so really we just wanted to make sure that that was part of this conversation. And as you all contemplate school closures, that we can work together on potentially either leasing the space of the gymnasium, bathrooms, and the kitchen. Because that would be the main spaces that we would need for emergency shelter activations. Specifically, as you guys may put them up for sale or however you guys are planning to move forward with those properties, if we could at least be the first ones that you speak to so we can try to coordinate that effort. Because that is of concern, particularly before the next storm season, because this would be the next year that that would be coming into play. So I just want to make sure we put that on the table. And if I just may add on the superintendent spoke to staff yesterday as it relates to Panther Run. So Panther Run did close last year. We are moving some of our staff. But what the superintendent asked for was to keep those spaces available and open for emergency shelters. Because there was a scenario, I think it was last year or the year before, where we had to close the whole county for one shelter. So if we have our available spaces that are not school sites that can serve as shelters, that will also reduce the impact of schools because we wouldn't have to shut down the whole system. Ms. Thompson? Considering they're all in my district, that's what I was going to say about Panther Run is that it's just district staff as of right now and for those schools. What are the requirements that you need for it to be an emergency shelter? So I've got my emergency management director behind us, but in the essence of time, what we could do is at least, you know, commit to having further dialogue. I do know, and I just did a sidebar with him, is really the gymnasium space, the kitchen space, and the bathrooms. It's the core center section of the school in many, did I just say cafeteria, the cafeteria, the kitchen cafeteria area, so that we could actually obviously feed folks, have access to bathrooms, and then the shelter. Hey, superintendent, how are you? Good. Good. And have access to the space of the gymnasium where the individuals would have their cots and areas to sleep. Those are the three main areas, and it's the hardened portion of those facilities. So I think it would be helpful going forward for us to have a list of schools that could qualify as emergency shelters, so we know that if we do decide to sell one of these properties, we know where you could shift over to. And, school board member Thompson, what I would say is we certainly can take that feedback, because I think that's very good. It's obviously the hardened areas that the schools that have hardened space for hurricane, certain categories of sustaining winds, and then those facilities that have those three areas, which all of your schools, I imagine, would have the gymnasium, the kitchen, cafeteria space, and bathrooms. It's just the hardened area. And, Clay, Mr. Pacheco, if there's anything else that you think I need to add to this conversation, please let me know. Couldn't you use your mic, please, real quickly? Good afternoon, everyone. Clay Pacheco, OEM, Broward County. We work very closely with emergency management at the school board. We plan, train, exercise together. We go over the shelter lists every year. We exercise specific shelter operations, showing up with all our equipment to set up special needs, set up pet-friendly, set up general population shelters. So, we're hand-in-hand working together, and I will make sure that you guys get any updates from us on any issues we may be having with some of the shelters. Thank you, Mr. Pacheco. So, I was just advised by our county attorney that the existing agreement is in place through 2030, so any changes that the school board would make, you guys would have to work with us to try to make sure that we're made, I hate to say it like this, but made whole for the number of people that we needed to shelter during those activations. So, like Mr. Pacheco said, we work very closely with your team. I just wanted to make sure that during those conversations, it would be helpful. And we will make sure we get you the list of the requirements for those schools for shelters. Thank you. Ready to move on to the third point? Legislative priorities and joint advocacy. What's that topic about, Monica? Thank you. So, I have my team, Chief of Staff John Sullivan, and I think Ms. Knowles is actually here, too, so they can go over some of our legislative priorities and also some things that we can jointly advocate on moving forward. So, I don't think we had any specific ask. It was more for the commission and the board to have a discussion of where there potentially could be alignment as it relates to the state capitol and see if there is alignment, then we can work together as one to get it done. So, that was the premise behind this item. Ms. Hickson? Thank you. I think the biggest one that everyone could get behind is the fact that public schools need better funding. We are in a situation where our teachers are paid 50th in the nation, in this state, for teacher pay. I mean, all of our employees need, obviously, to be able to have a raise, but we are struggling. You know that we're going out for a referendum, and hopefully that's also something you would help us to be able to get through. But if that referendum doesn't pass, our teachers, well, I'll say teachers, but all of our staff are going to have a reduction in pay of about an average of $12,000 a year. So, we're going to be in a state that if the referendum doesn't pass, and I know a lot of people, the cities are in that space about the property taxes not passing, right? We're all going to be in a very odd space, but you're going to find that a lot of people are not going to stay in Broward County to be educators because they just won't be able to afford to live here. So, if there's any way that you could help us to make the state understand that 50th is not okay, we need to do something. We get, on average, in Broward County, $9,000 a student. Dade County gets about $300 more per student than us, and Palm Beach County gets $1,700 more a student than we do in Broward County. So, I think it's really important that we realize that, but think about, you know, what they get paid. 50th means Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota. All of those places are paying their educators more than we are, and that's, you know, we're an A district for the third year in a row. The problem with educators is they keep doing the work even without the resources being provided to them, and it puts us in this space where it's like, well, you're still an A, and you didn't have that money, and we can't keep letting that happen. So, we could use your help on that for sure. Can you repeat? You're paid 50th out of all 50 states? Florida's number is 50th for teacher pay in the country. And then out of our counties, you're paid the less? What are the least? We're not necessarily the least, but the average is right around what Broward County gets, but Palm Beach gets about $1,700 more a student than we do. So, we have a legislative team that we talk to. I don't think in 12 years I ever remember advocating for the school board. Have we? I don't think we've ever really been involved. We need to do that. Monica, what about our legislative team? So, this is where I was just getting clarification. So, this year's session starts in March. So, the committee weeks will start in December. So, we were thinking of, obviously, with that timing, we bring back to the board for consideration your legislative priorities. And so, what we could do is we'll maybe try to move that up a little bit. We'll share the proposals. And then once you all vote on that, we can share that with the school board. And you guys, I'm sure, probably follow a similar type of process for your legislative priorities. And so, as soon as both of the bodies, the legislative bodies, vote on the priorities, we could share them with each other and see if there's some alignment that can be further discussed. And you guys can decide as two independent bodies whether to support the joint legislative priority. So, that would be the proper posture and framework that I would recommend. And we'll bring that back for you because that's what we do every year. But the second part that has not necessarily happened is that second consideration for alignment. Mr. Gellert would like to. Okay. Question. In terms of, I understand we're 50th in the nation. In terms of the 1700 differential, is this based on the FEFP that we're getting less? Or is it a result of local issues? Or are we just getting less under the FEFP? And did they ever restore, I know when Jim King was Senate president, they eliminated or severely restricted the district cost differential. Is that still, you know, minimal? Yeah. So, you're absolutely, so the district cost differential is what equates to the difference between the tri-county school districts of receiving more or less. So, our district cost differential, don't know all the metrics that they're using to determine that, is actually equating to Broward County getting less than our peers to the north and to the south. Palm Beach County gets significantly more. When you calculate that out, that's a difference of almost about $300 million that we don't have. And if you notice the rhetoric between all three school districts, Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools were closing schools. Palm Beach County is not yet, because they receive more dollars than us when it comes to the FEFP funding based on that district cost differential. So, the answer is, it is, you're getting less because of all of the calculations that go into the FEFP. And so, it's not a local issue, it's the state. It's a state issue. Because they tweak that every year, depending on whose speaker or president, to give their local schools more. Correct. I don't want to get too far into the weeds on a lot of this, but really, my hope for this meeting, kind of like when we spoke in Tallahassee, when we talked about the graduations. I want us to figure out together where we can get to yes on things. It doesn't have to be big things. It doesn't have to be the hugest things. It doesn't have to be every school and every graduation. But where there's things that we do better than you, emergency management, certain things, we want to be able to work with you in a way that there's no friction. We shouldn't have to be waiting now to hear what schools are, and I'm sure Clay and some people in his department already have these things and are already smapping this out. We may not just not have it up here. I want to see us get to yes on the places we can get to yes, and if it can't be every agreement nailed down for every school and every student in the county, let's take some wins where we can. If we can't get every graduation at a certain place, but if we have a spot that's open and it saves you a million dollars, it's a no-brainer to me. And that's what I said to you when we were there. So we can talk about all this stuff, differential, going to fight in Tallahassee. Broward doesn't come up with the most weight when we go up to Tallahassee to fight for these things. But when we're here together, I'd like us to win where we can, and there are ways that we can do it. We should never be in a position where we're worried about a school closing affecting emergency management. That should be something that should be swapped out well before the time would be, whether the agreement's 30 years, 20, 30, whatever it is. That agreement's got to be worked out because our constituents do not care who's on the county commission, who's on the school board, and who's in city government. They just want to make sure that when a hurricane comes, they have a place to shelter. Coach, Dean, you got any wins that you want to talk about? I know that when we did some in Parkland back in the day, they told us we couldn't. They ran out of school paper at Stoneman Douglas when I was mayor. They said they're not getting their paper for another two months. I had them bring a truck when I was mayor to the city of Parkland, back the truck up, take the copy paper, and two months later when they got their copy paper order in, they put the copy paper back. Was it allowed? I don't know. Did it work? Yes, it worked. We also do at Stoneman Douglas, we do SAT and tutoring preparation. They were better at doing it than the city was. So what we did is we put $50,000 towards doing it at the school. I know Bob Mayerson, I saw him here. He might have been on our city commission at the time. We took those dollars. The school board was better at SAT prep at Stoneman Douglas than the city would ever be, and we ended up doing it and taking a win. By the way, I had a few SAT companies call me that wanted to do it for other schools within the county. Quite frankly, I couldn't get anywhere through the county. They wanted to do it in the sheriff's office training rooms. I couldn't get anyone to agree to come up with space for other schools to do it because we didn't even really need it at Stoneman Douglas as much as some of the other schools needed it. But that's how it worked out. So, yeah, there are wins to be had. But if we bog everything down and we love it to death with lawyers and groups and this and that, it's never going to get done. Small wins can go a long way. Moral of the story, keep the lawyers away. Exactly. Okay. We got one, two, three. We got too many lawyers already around here. Anybody? Yeah. Ms. Nixon. Did you have something you wanted to? Nope. I don't want to jump. I appreciate that, Commissioner Udine, and I appreciated the conversation that we had in Tallahassee. And I think today was one of those. Thank you so much for all unanimously agreeing to do a pilot program with us on transportation for activity buses. It will save us a lot of money, and it will get ridership on county buses that, you know, as Commissioner Davis said, when they become adults, they'll start paying. You know, we're giving it to them free as students, but then they'll get used to riding the bus, and they'll be able to do that. So just thank you. That was easy. We really appreciate it, and I hope that we are able to do more things like that because I agree with you 100%. 100%, and even like what Monica said at the meeting, and Monica's great, she's the best, I don't even care about the revenue that we're losing for the dollar for those students. If this works with these five schools, I'm going to be proposing that we expand it to the whole county, and if our seniors in high school can't afford their dollar to get on the bus, then we should just lose that revenue because there's other ways. It's not a lot of money, and it's not going to be a big deal, but that's a win that we can take all the way around. And Rebecca, Rebecca and I sit on the value adjustment board together, so next idea, just throw it by, we'll get it on the agenda again. That's it. We'll move it. Thank you. Anyway, what do we got next? So the last item is the workforce development and career pipelines. Yeah, absolutely. So we do a wonderful job with workforce development, workforce innovation, working with a lot of partners for career pipeline initiatives, junior achievement, career source, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. And so we do a great job to make sure we're aligned to industry standards, but definitely want to hear from the commission if there's anything that we need to be focused on to make sure that we're aligning our CTE curriculum. I think Ms. Formosa is probably here as well. Okay, Ms. Gill is actually here as well for any questions that the commission may have about any specific programs, details about specific programs, so you can probably learn more, but definitely want to open up the invitation for us to consider anything that we may not be considering as far as the workforce for the county as well for the things that we do here along Broward County to make sure our constituents are getting the services that they need. Mr. Mayor? Dr. Hepburn, thank you for being here. As I think you may know, I've been doing for the last nine-plus years a working group that brings together the organized labor, the unions, the ABC, the contractors, but also all of the groups you mentioned, the Boys Club, JA, returning citizens groups, et cetera. And the largest component of people that attend are actually school board employees because you guys do an absolutely terrific job on doing the three vocational schools that you do, which I believe are top-ranked statewide, and you do a great job on that. I would invite you, all of your predecessors as superintendent have come to the meeting. Dr. Zeman attends all of our meetings on behalf of the school board. I would invite you to these meetings. I believe it, and I'm a lawyer, I'm overeducated, but I do believe that it's absolutely critical. A lot of people think that you have to go to college to earn a good living, and that's just not correct. And a lot of people that go to college and get a major in dance or art, unless you're going to be a professional dancer or a professional artist, they're not particularly helpful. They'll be the most educated people at the Cheesecake Factory being waiters. So you do a good job. I hope that you can do more because one of the problems we found is that the guidance counselors tend to try and direct everybody to college, and that's just not a career path that everybody needs to take. The last jobs that are going to be lost to AI are the plumbers, the electricians, the welders, and we need more of those. So absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with that. Actually, too, in addition to having guidance counselors, one of the things that the CTE Career and Technical Education team, we formally call it CTAS, and I don't know what all those letters in that particular acronym means, but we've actually added CTE coaches to high schools to actually support students in understanding those other opportunities because, you know, for the past 20 years plus, it's always been about going to college, going to college, going to college, and we know there's a lot of high-paid careers in the technical and highly skilled fields, especially right here in South Florida as well. Anybody else on our side? On a different topic. Are you still on this topic? It's really not on this per se. It's a different topic, too. Yeah, mine, too. Ladies first. Yes, go ahead. Ladies first. I had a concern many years ago, and I still do have that concern, with regards to curriculum teaching young students, or maybe middle school, high school, how to better prepare themselves for relationships. I found that, you know, when it comes to domestic violence, a lot of folks are not educated on how to be in a relationship, and it starts, you know, kids are killing each other, not able to resolve disputes amongst themselves in relationships. I know you used to have a program that you can opt into the schools that they would teach that where they could. Is that still open? So we have a lot of constraints in the state of Florida of what we can and can't teach. I know we do a lot around child trafficking. We do a lot around, I think it's, I don't know if it's formally called sex ed, but in that realm. But as far as some of the key components around relationships, domestic violence, that's not so much embedded in the curriculum that we are allowed to teach. There's a lot of constraints of what we're allowed to teach in our schools. So currently you don't have an opt-in where you do that? Not for that. You do that. They used to, though. Used to previously, years ago. Now with the curriculum that we teach, parents can opt out. Okay. They can opt out. All right. I just wanted to just put that out there because I think it's, you know, kids go off to college and they're really not prepared for living by themselves, you know, dorm, you know, relationship issues. And the other issue I have also, the kids not being totally prepared on financial literacy either. So they go off, they believe they have to, you know, work for somebody. Maybe they're not entrepreneurial or they just don't know how to manage money, how to invest. And they get jobs. Many of them don't even sign up for the 401Ks. They don't understand the real value. Are we teaching that in schools? Is there a way to do that? Yes, we are teaching that. That is actually a required curriculum now, financial literacy, for the past few years. But we are teaching that. Excellent. So my son didn't get that, but. Yeah. And we have some, yeah. And we also have some very robust finance academies and programs in the district too, where you have students who are, you know, probably is going to be a future financial advisor to one of us in the room. Oh, nice. MSD is one of them as well. Oh, happy to hear that. That's going well. Thank you. Mayor. Yes, people. Thanks. As you guys know, and I know we've had a chance to talk to you about it, the Solid Waste Authority just got established. Luckily, you guys have had a wonderful representative in Mara Bullman there. Now that it's passed, you probably know that at the end of this year, all of the organics that are, any organic waste, all your cafeteria food, all that stuff, can't be going to Monarch Landfall anymore. And I think the entire Solid Waste Authority, all the cities, are looking to the school board and some kind of, you know, of how do we take all of that organic material that you have and take it up to Okeechobee, essentially. I don't know where the board has had a chance to talk about this. And I think we need to start having discussions because all those RFPs are going to start hitting the street in the next couple months of who's going to be doing what and where is it going to go. So I just want to, I don't know if there's been large board discussions on that or, and I know you as an environmental scientist yourself are right on top of this. Yeah, so there haven't been wide board discussion about it, but there's been internal discussions with staff, not so much about transporting compost or compostable waste, but more so about making sure that for our cafeterias we're purchasing things that are compostable, right? So the plates, the utensils is a whole other issue that we're trying to find vendors that don't produce plastic, more bamboo and things like that. But so we're starting there and also with education campaigns at our schools, you know, talk to the layman, you say, hey, put your organic waste here. They don't know what organic waste is, right? And so those are the things educating our youth to really understand what's the difference, what's the single-use plastic versus compostable waste or organic waste that you can actually put in the right bin to make sure it's getting to the right place. What you're going to be seeing across the county is every city is going to be having to talk with their hauler as to how can they transport that organic. You guys have almost over 200 schools. I think that discussion may need to start happening if you can do that because, like I said, those RFPs are going out in the next couple months. And we can. We can get our team on that. One thing that we do for just waste, period, is that we actually pay the cities. Yeah. We have to pay the cities. So we have whatever the city is using, if you have a school within that city, that's the same waste management company that's actually transporting the waste. So we can start a conversation with our team, the environmental, get the whole department name, to start having those conversations with the cities about what's to come with these RFPs going on the street, what we should expect, how we should package compostable waste so we can get it transported accordingly. And I think the whole Solid Waste Authority is looking to the school board. Yep. It has been for the last three or four years on education. By doing that, I think it's the best chance of educating the entire public. I agree. Kids will shame their parents into it. But I think this is one of those places where we can work together very closely on a lot of things. Agreed. I look forward to that. So thank you. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I was going to say something else on something else. Thanks for the opportunity to speak. But I really wanted to make sure we understand when I was advocating for us to have this type of meeting, I did not intend for us to be here all day, but I just felt strongly that there were things that we could do together. And I'm going to point out some of the things that I believe we can do together. We always talk about our homeless situation and the food deficiencies. When you break for summer or any long vacation break, what do you do with the food? Because I know you buy in bulk. So tell me, how do you get that back into a population that is deserving of that? So the food that we purchase is really just enough for the year. So we don't purchase because it's organic waste. It spoils and whatnot. So we purchase just to ensure that we don't have a large amount of spoilage. We purchase just enough for the year. So we have trend data per number of students in our district to know how much food that we need to purchase month over month, just to make sure we're not losing money due to spoilers. But we do offer summer meals. And I'll ask Dr. Wanza if she's near a mic. Okay. Just if there's any details. But we do offer summer meals and also summer meals, I think, during the school day and also dinners at some schools as well, too, to make sure our kids in certain neighborhoods aren't without food during the summer. So we have solved that issue because I know we had problems before with just not knowing where to give the food to. And folks were afraid of giving it away because you're going to get sued. So just wondering if we have that, still do have that issue. And where are you sending your food? Which nonprofit? But you're saying you have no excess. No, not like that. So we have no hungry children when they're on summer break. Correct. And we have nonprofits that actually support us and provide additional food that parents or students can actually take home over the weekend. Okay. Don't answer my questions. I'm just going to throw it out there. Okay. So whenever you start talking, we have different responsibilities as a governmental structure. And our challenges, they're the same residents. So there has to be things that we can be doing jointly. I hear us talk about emergency management. Never concerned about that because that we are mandated to do and working together on those things are good. But you have these facilities, and you must have a list of those facilities. We are getting calls. I know I get calls from people who would like looking for space. How do they know what properties you have available? What can we do to make sure we are, you know, able to answer those questions and address it? They just want the people I talk to. All they want is for their government to work together, and they believe there will be a savings to whatever that is. I would like for us to come from this meeting knowing that we're going to be having a joint meeting. I don't care if it's once or twice a year. That's not my issue. I just believe strongly that Broward County School Board and Broward County Board of Commissioners should be collaborating. There's just too many things that we can save taxpayers on. So that's my reason for advocating from day one. Let me see. Next step. I'm not going to tell you how to do it because I write that. I took all night last night, early this morning, making sure I write it down. Create a joint process for schools and community issues and assets, you know, issues from the community that's joint. Mayor, I see you're looking for an ombudsman. Maybe one ombudsman will work for both the county and so whatever that cost is going to be. I don't know what that is. But when we talk about our ombudsman, okay, but I'm just saying we don't need two ombudsmen, okay? Just remember that. Keep that in mind. And can this facility ever serve another public purpose? I was in one meeting earlier and I heard of the county owning property. I did not delve into it because we have a process here at the county. If it's in my district, you allow me to speak on behalf of my community. So I allow my colleagues to do the same, but oftentimes I would like to know, although it's a county property in a city, how close is it to a residential community? And did the county speak to the city when they were making the deal? Did they have conversation with the city and that is part of the record? Do you do that because we're hearing that you're leasing properties and neighborhoods don't know what the plans are in advance? It's just happening. I'm just hearing these things. And there are certain communities don't want certain things in their backyard, but it's allowed. Yeah, absolutely. Now, so before we even start talking in a workshop with the board about any properties or any schools that may be up for consideration or possibly close, we actually meet with the city managers and whoever the city manager brings on that call to start talking about that school, just so they have a heads up, they can ask any questions, understand any concerns for the schools, because our schools are the community schools. And so our priorities ensure that if it's closed, it's used for a purpose that serves the community. And so with this round, right, we've reached our capacity as a school district of what we can determine the use of a property is. So we've brought in some external partners to help us identify the best use case scenario for each one of these schools. And then during the conversations, or during this whole journey for this fall, we'll be discussing this with city managers, mayors, and the like, to really understand what the possibilities are as we bring back this information to the board. So cities are not excluded from this process. They're actually part of the conversation along the way. Okay. And two last points. One is launch a school kitchen and a food security pilot program. What I'm getting calls, opportunity for, we know that the access to healthy food is a challenge for all of us. But now that you have a lot of kitchen in schools, there are new industry, emerging industry, because we're cooking differently. We're serving a very diverse population. So the meals are different. So you need, they're looking for kitchen space. Send them my way. So, okay, they're coming, because I've been pointing them to Jeff. So they're coming to you. So they're just businesses that you can generate revenue from if you're looking at it. You look at your facility. You put it on the market based on the needs and compatibility to the communities. We want that to be a consideration. So I'll leave my comments for the next meeting. I will share my comments, because I'm serious about us having a serious relationship that benefits the residents that we serve. So thank you for joining us today. Thank you. We have a very short time. We have one more speaker for the school board. Ms. Thompson? Oh, if we're very short on time, I just was going to ask Mr. Sullivan to explain the referendum in 90 seconds, because I think it's important that you guys who are out in the community understand and can educate for any questions. So 90 seconds. 90 seconds. All right. So I'm allowed to educate, not advocate. That'll make the lawyers in the room happy. And that also applies to our elected officials. So we're going out for a renewal for a referendum. It is a continuation. It is not a new tax. It's been going since 2018. It funds three critical items for us, our supplements for our teachers and frontline workers, so everyone who impacts kids, our bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodian workers, our mental health professionals, and our school safety as well. If it's not renewed, we will lose $358 million annually. The board does not have that in their general funds, so those services would be severely impacted. There's no way we can maintain the level of services. I think that's my 90-second elevator speech. November 3rd. It's usually in the primary, but statute changed, so now it's in the general election. It's from Chicago. Vote early, vote often, right? Senator Rich, go ahead. So, Rebecca, I'm glad you brought that up because I was about ready to close with the other side of that. We have an amendment that affects us on the November 3rd ballot, and it affects all of us. And I know that the school board is the only one that is exempted from the property tax amendment. However, I hope that you will do the same when you are out there because this affects everybody. I mean, you know half of our budget is public safety. That's our general fund budget. I mean, we would be impacted just brutally and devastating in a devastating way for so many of the services that we provide. And our libraries and parks are not considered core services. So these are all things that people – I find it very kind of upsetting that when many of us have gone out, and I know when I've gone out, a lot of people just don't know where their property tax goes. And we need to make them aware so that we can get to a point where people understand we can educate, we can't advocate, we can't tell them how to vote. We can, you know, help them understand what the possibilities are for loss. And, you know, I look at what we do with – I chair our homeless continuum of care. So I work with the school board and your people, always on the calls. And, you know, we've been trying to work with all different kinds of programs. And obviously there are lots of young people that are in situations, you know, that are quite devastating for them. So, you know, but these are all things. So the affordable housing that we do, I mean, we just run through the gamut. All human services, I mean, these kinds of things. So I would just urge you, you know, I certainly know I'm out there urging people to support teachers and support that tax and hope you won't be out there. And if you go to our website, there's a wealth of information there to help educate people about, you know, what would happen. So thank you. Referendum, 50 percent or 60 percent? We just need 50 percent, unlike the – it's not a constitutional amendment, so just 50 percent. The last couple have passed well above 50 percent. Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting what's going to happen in November with all these different competing – like you're going to be pushing for a yes, and then you're going to have other groups pushing for a no, and we're going to be pushing for – on different things. We're not pushing, educating on different things. Make the lawyers happy. I think it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out with all these different – a yes on everything really is bad for us, good for you, good for the heart thing. A no on everything is bad for the heart thing, bad for you, good – whatever. It's just – I think it's going to be an interesting November, and I think a lot of money is going to be spent trying to educate. I'll finish. You want to finish? Sure. So I just want to thank the county again for having this conversation. I really look forward to future conversations. I also want to note I'm very proud of all of us. When Mr. Sullivan told me that a bunch of elected officials were only going to speak for one hour, I did not believe him. So we are right on time. I appreciate the speed and efficiency of this meeting, and I appreciate your support of public education and, again, for hosting us today. Yeah, we said 155. It's 154, according to my watch. And thank you guys for coming. If there's any issues and stuff, you can call us directly, please, and look forward to working with you. Thank you. Thank you.