All right, everybody.

Welcome.

I call to order the joint meeting of the Jacksonville City Council on the Duval County School Board.

It is April 9th, 2026, 1001 a.m.

We will start the meeting with introductions, unless our school board chair has anything to add before we get started.

All right, starting down there with Mandarin's Finance, Mr.

Michael Boylan.

Thank you, Mr.

Mr.

President.

Michael Ballon just Council District Six.

Good morning, Tyrone o'Clock Murray City Council District 9.

Rains Vikings number one.

I don't know if we're doing that today, but just felt like I needed to say that.

Good morning.

Anthony Ricardo, School Board District One.

Gamona, Reginald Gaffney and Jillian, District 8.

Terrence Freeman, City Council at large, group one.

Good morning, Cindy Pearson, School Board District 3.

Will Lane and District 3 City Council.

April Carney, Vice Chair, School Board District 2.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Charlotte Joyce.

I am the school board chair and board member for District 6.

All right, welcome everybody.

Kevin Carico, District 4.

Good morning, Nick Howland, City Council at large, group three.

Good morning, Raw Aries, District 11.

Randy White, District 12.

Sara Willie, School Board, District 4.

City Council, District 1.

Reginald Blunt, School Board, District 5.

All right.

Thank you for the introductions.

A little housekeeping, uh, whenever you would like to speak, get in the queue, and we will give you two minutes.

Last time we had two hours and we were jam packed to get through our agenda in two hours.

Uh so we'll try to limit um dialogue and questions per member to two minutes so we can get through everything.

Uh we'll start where we left off the last time.

I keep looking at you.

I want you to say something.

But everybody wants to hear from you.

Perfect.

Um, good morning, everyone.

I am really excited about this meeting.

I want to thank um President Carico.

I think these meetings are very important that we work together as a city and a school board to make sure that our communities are safe, our city's safe.

Um, we also want everyone to know about our great work that we're doing, and especially in our CTE education.

We didn't get to that last time, so we're gonna cover that um today.

I'm looking forward to Ms.

Fairley's um presentation.

I think you guys are gonna be very impressed, and you'll probably have some questions.

Um we're gonna get started with that in just a minute.

I do also want to um thank uh Vice President Nick Howland for the work that you've done since our last meeting to get us involved and get us a seat at the table for CIP and the council for approving that legislation.

We'll also have an update on how that went this year, um, and you'll be able to ask questions around that.

Um, and then let's see, we have Dr.

Brunier that's gonna give us some updates um around you know the good things that's going on in Duval County school system and also the the millage, the millage referendum and resolution.

He'll do a presentation on that, and we'll actually um have an opportunity for council members and board members to ask questions.

So I'm really looking forward to this meeting.

And with that, we can go ahead and get started with uh Miss Farrelly and our wonderful director of CTE education, and this presentation is amazing.

Thank you.

It's green.

Okay.

Good morning.

Thank you so much for having me this morning.

I'm I'm really excited to share what we've been doing in the world of CTE.

I'm actually gonna start with our CTE anthem video.

Um, these are our students, our teachers, our classrooms, our labs.

Um, and it really shows that CTE is for all students, and we have so many options to meet their needs.

So I'm gonna go ahead and start with that video.

If you're a school board member without a council member next to you, there's a button in front of you that says presentation mode.

If you switch that from your PC, this uh computer screen right here will pull up the video.

I got talked into it by my family.

They said, hey, give it a shot.

If you don't like it, you don't you don't even gotta do it.

I loved it.

In a world where the path ahead is not just seen but shaped.

Duvall County stands as a beacon.

Here, learning transcends textbooks, transforming into the work of hands to craft futures.

They are getting something different, something special, um, something that not everybody has.

We're trying to produce students who are ready for a high wage, high demand jobs.

Career and technical education is more than a program.

I've learned how to communicate my thoughts and feelings better.

I've learned how to strive and take initiative in projects, actions with other people, and I learned how to be a team player.

It's a bridge from dreams to reality powered by new skills.

In Jacksonville, the pulse of progress is strong, fueled by young talent shaped in our schools.

We have advisory board meetings so we can meet with our industry partners to keep everything up to date and have the kids learning what is needed in industry.

Education meets ambition, potential meets practice.

You get to experience more and feel more with CTE.

Every step in our program is a step toward mastery, toward waiting careers.

We have real life experiences.

So we'll be prepared for everything we need when we graduate.

Students don't just ponder their future, they create it.

Imagine a community united by the promise of its youth where futures are not predicted but prepared.

After they're done or they're get their certifications, they can go straight into the workforce.

Duvall County Public Schools CTE.

Discover more, be more.

So that's just a two-minute glimpse into what we have in all of our schools.

And I think it's really important once again to note that those are all of our own facilities.

So where you see firefighting, where you see all those hand tools being used, um, culinary, all of that's actually in our own schools.

Um I want to start by showing you some data because these numbers really show the positive momentum in CTE in Duvall County public schools.

Um the data starts in 2021 because that was around the time when we created the academy accreditation process.

Um there was significant support from the school board and um action in the strategic plan to really refine what CTE looks like in DCPS.

So we created a framework of best practices and expectations for all of our academies.

So when you go to any high school, everyone has at least one academy.

Often there's multiple at a school, but you'll get the same experience in each academy, um, work-based learning, industry certification, and all those things that employers are asking for and needing in a future workforce.

Um, over 65% of our academies are now at the master level, and this academy uh accreditation process is supported and endorsed by JAX USA, which is critical to making sure what we do is authentic and relevant for industry.

You'll see too that the data is for 24-25, um, because CTE data is usually lagged when we report to the state.

But significant growth.

I think one of the the biggest things to point out are those certifications earned.

Our kids and our and our um teachers are working extremely hard to make sure they're earning serve safe and culinary, NCCER and construction, all of those word processing and IT certifications that when they go to a business, they've got something relevant to get that um that job.

And this also includes middle school certifications and elementary as well.

All of these certifications bringing funding to our school district.

So I'm extremely proud of that growth and and really proud of our schools for putting in the work and setting the expectation.

Speaking about funds, there's been a significant investment in CTE, and mostly this is from competitive and entitlement grants that we have brought as extra funding to the district.

Um they're also, as you can see, the funds that have increased and and earned from those certifications as well.

Um the capitalization workforce capitalization grant is a tremendous grant that we have earned over the last three years, over 13 million dollars, and we have the highest award in the state of Florida for school districts, and and that money has gone straight into capitalization projects for our lab.

So we've upgraded right now.

We're closing out a project at Frank H.

Peterson that some of you were at the groundbreaking for.

We'll have a ribbon cutting soon for an amazing um agriculture facility that we just wouldn't have been able to do without this grant.

Many other facility upgrades, a brand new automotive program at Terry Parker coming soon.

And these programs are really expensive to fund, to develop, to maintain, and so this this grant money that we've been fortunate to be awarded is extremely important in keeping the momentum going and the growth strong.

Another award that we received was uh state appropriation from last year's legislative session.

It was $850,000, and this focus is on elementary CTE.

Um, so I it's really important that we see a K through 12 experience in in CTE, and and we realized there was a gap at elementary and specifically with our our youngest learners.

So we're really focusing on that K2 population for early exposure.

Um, sometimes people when they hear CTE, they're really thinking high school graduates, but if we don't expose our students earlier, they won't have that opportunity to get into those pathways sooner.

So we've collaborated with many existing partners as well as with JPEF.

They're providing funds to support the long-term sustainability for this project.

You can see some renderings.

We actually have procured a bus and they're working on building that out.

You can see what the outside of it will look like.

Very exciting and warm and welcoming for our students.

And then inside will be all discovery labs based on different industries.

They'll be flexible, they can come in and out.

If a teacher is looking for something specific for their students, we can cater to that.

So we're really excited to get this rolling in the fall out to our elementaries and other public events that we can be at some poster.

Sorry.

Another thing that I want to talk about is the Duval Ready Diploma designation.

This is another school board initiative that was implemented a few years ago.

We took a little bit of time for development and discovery.

We did quite a bit of research state and national, but also got some feedback from local partners on what you're looking for in a future employee.

And so there's specific skills that we hone in on through the Florida Ready to Work curriculum as well as the Zello platform that all of our students get access to.

So what's next?

We've got a we got a lot on the horizon.

We've been doing quite a bit, but there's still more to come.

Our CAP grants have really allowed those first several bullets to happen.

So there's a new emergency planning and response program opening at Inglewood.

We've been in communication and collaboration with the EOC here at the city as well.

And so we'll be opening that at Inglewood.

I mentioned Terry Parker Automotive, that's a really big project.

And then we've actually been working with FSCJ on some additional dual enrollment option opportunities where students can get a head start on their college credits while also still at our high schools.

We have a maritime technology program at First Coast that we'll be opening, and we've had a great partnership with Crowley, and so they've been supporting that work along with many other partners like the Propeller Club.

And then also refining what we're doing at middle school.

It's super important that those pathways are aligned from elementary, middle, and high.

And so responding to legislative changes, industry needs, and just making sure our students are better prepared so that when they go to high school, they can make an equated decision on what program they want to be a part of.

Lots of collaboration with junior achievement, United Way, VISTAR Train, Mayo Clinic, Miller Electric, TPC, Duffy Southeast Construction, a wide variety of industry industry partners that just see the value in this work and really rallying around the school district to make it happen.

So I'm gonna close with one last video, and this video is important because these are CTE alumni who are working locally in Jacksonville.

It just really shows the impact of our work, why the investment in CTE is so important, and especially to our own local community.

These people are back working here in Duval.

So we'll end with that.

If I wasn't a part of the CTE program, I would have never had experience picking up a camera.

I would have never had experience with the editing software that professionals still use today.

So in my core academic classes, I would really struggle because it was a lot of writing and taking notes and presentations and my CTE classes.

You really got to be hands-on, and your teacher would literally hold your hands with you and walk you through some of the um some of the curriculum.

So it was really great.

Really, before I had walked into my first college course, and so I was able to focus on more of my creative abilities and talents and to turn it out faster than my peers.

I didn't know I could be this leader or this this person that I am right now.

If I never found Barbara, if I never happened to go to academy school.

I tell people that the CTE program is the origin story for my success.

It's where I start every conversation when someone asks me how I got here.

I think it shows that any student has the opportunity to um launch their career in a great way.

And so I'm really happy with the education that I got.

CTE gave me the confidence to go out on my own and to start my own company.

Right out of high school, um, which was which is great.

A lot of people don't have that opportunity.

I'm Leah Crawford, I'm a graphic designer and photographer, and I'm a proud CTE graduate.

My name is Casey, and I was the first Barber graduate from my academy.

I am a three-time Emmy Award-winning photojournalist, and I was part of the first ever inaugural CTE program.

I'm Tristan Coates.

I own and operate a construction business in Jacksonville, Florida, and I'm also a CT graduate.

I'm Shannon Worling, and I am a web designer and developer, and I'm also a proud CTE graduate.

My name's Brooke Howells.

I am a hairstylist and proud business owner as well as a national educator for a large company, and I'm also a proud CTE graduate.

So we are a community united by the promise of its youth, and I hope you can truly see that through what we showed today in CTE.

So I open to any questions.

All right, let me first acknowledge school board member Bulduk who has joined us.

Welcome.

All right, and we'll go for the queue.

Let's kick it off with Vice President Howlin.

All right, you are.

He's not in the queue.

It's probably uh April or I don't know.

Is there anyone that has any questions?

I don't have a question about statement.

All right, Councilmember Arias.

All right, thank you, Mr.

President.

It's not really a question, it's more of a statement.

Um I I read on one of the slides here that it says uh it prepares students for their future careers.

However, I want to say it prepares them for entrepreneurship.

A lot of them are becoming business owners, so I think it's critical to make sure that the narrative is it's not just career path, it's also a path to uh owning your own business, and I think it's awesome what you guys are doing.

So I just I just want to applaud that.

Thank you.

All right, I've never seen a group of you guys so quiet, so I'm just gonna put some folks on the spot.

Uh so when I uh when I came into office here uh at the presidency, one of the first things I wanted to do is set an agenda for kids and bringing the school board together was very important to that, and also setting aside some resources for um for helping young people, and I empowered my past president Freeman to uh lead that committee.

So could you just give us an update?

There's been a lot of chatter and a lot of news, and you guys have made a lot of progress.

Can you let us know where we're at on the youth empowerment committee?

Uh thank you, Mr.

President, and one good morning to everyone and through uh the president through to the body.

Uh one, thank you for the opportunity to to lead such a um powerful and meaningful uh special committee.

Um our last committee meeting uh was packed.

I want to thank my good friend Councilmember Gaffney who uh put word out to the community that we were giving money away that day.

All right, which was not the case.

But um, after we set the record straight, many of them still stuck around uh to hear the process.

But we've had uh a series of meetings uh with an ultimate goal of this, and it's all about workforce, and we were focusing on an age group 16 through 21 or 24 that was kind of a missing middle.

They had aged out of high school, had not entered into great programs like we just saw here, they did not choose to go to college or into the military, um, but they're able-body individuals that with some skilling could go into the workforce, and it was about a 300 million dollar impact to our local economy.

Um the big things we wanted to have as a takeaway was connectivity and sustainability.

So we wanted larger organizations that are well established, like many of the ones that we all know around this day is um to then kind of be a big brother or a mentor to a small one.

So when they're applying for grants, we wanted them to couple.

And so we gave examples to a series of meetings of what that looks like.

Uh so now the RFP is being worked on through KHA.

Uh, we believe that uh it should be out here pretty soon, and then uh in June, we will then announce the awardees um and they get their money.

Uh and I think what we'll see, hopefully, is a lot of advocates coming and advocating this body next year, and um our future president, uh uh vice president Howland, uh, if they if he can sustain the momentum that's been built this year, uh, and the focus may not be 16 through 21 next year, it may be some other area involving workforce.

I mean, we've seen a lot of issues with JTA and transportation for certain members of our community.

I know at Miller Electric, we have uh, you know, beautiful members um from ARC that are working at our at our environment.

Um the chamber has it as well.

So I think there's so many opportunities for us to be inclusive of all individuals that are able to work and willing to work.

And I think that what uh the president has put in place now is gonna be something that continues to have a legacy from years to come.

So thank you for that opportunity.

All right, and thank you for leading that charge and doing exactly what I asked you to do, which was involve the community members, involve the stakeholders, have people come to the table, have hear from the community first before we put up any RFP or any dollars in the streets.

So that was accomplished, and um looking forward to the results and seeing some of these organizations make a difference in in the lives of young people.

Uh now officially, yeah, Vice President Howland is in the queue.

All right, thank you, Mr.

President.

I do actually have a question regarding that presentation, uh, which was a fantastic one.

Um it's great to see the the metrics increase and how many kids are taking advantage of the CTE offerings that Duvall County Public Schools offers.

Tell me if you would about recruiting.

Um do you have recruiting sessions for companies that may be interested in immediately hiring right out of school um some of these kids who graduate with a CTE certificate or with the CTE learning?

And do you have any idea of uh of those who want um immediate gainful employment afterwards are getting it?

Sure.

Um so there's a lot of ways we connect with business partners.

Every one of our in or every one of our academies has a um a program advisory committee, sorry, and that's coming condensed of um business partners and post-secondary.

And so we do go out, um, I'm at chamber meetings often, um, different meetings with Dr.

Bernier with with businesses, and we are putting this information out.

Um we also have an annual employment fair, and that is with JAX USA and Career Source, and they help to spread the word as well.

Um that just happened in March.

And so we don't the hard part about those metrics is it's self-reported from the businesses.

And so, yes, we they students get hired on the spot and sometimes afterwards.

As far as having accurate metrics for that, it's it's kind of hard just because it's self-reported from the student or or the business.

But there's definitely a lot of room to grow in that.

And as we've seen from some recent meetings, um, different places we can be sharing our message and and connecting with partners that we haven't been, and so that's some of what we'll be focusing on moving forward.

A lot of connections with the chambers as well, um, is what we're gonna be focusing on.

Fantastic.

Thank you and keep up with good work.

Thanks.

All right, past Chairman Willie, you're recognized.

Thank you.

I just wanted to come in.

Uh I've been on the board uh now getting ready to roll off, and I just get excited every time we get to talk about CTE.

Uh, thank you, uh Jill Fearley.

Your leadership is one of the reasons why we're in this spot, and you and your team, so I appreciate that.

And I just want to call everybody to the, I think everybody got the the pamphlet or booklet.

If you look at page three, the career clusters, one of the things I want to make sure we as a body and we talk about is it's the language.

Uh a lot of folks in Jacksonville are used to people talking about the skill centers, and that's what people say, why don't we have skill centers?

Why don't we have skill centers?

If they understand that CTE is that and more, I think we'll be in a very different spot.

So it's up to us to sort of be that messenger and let folks know, like whatever you name a job or industry or category, we likely have that in our schools right now.

And I think that's the message I think is so which is so important for us to take out to the community to say, yes, you may be used to hearing skill centers if you're a certain age, but now we have CTE.

And it is we have 15 career clusters, and there's so many opportunities for students.

So I just want to congratulate the team for for that and make sure us as leaders in the community make sure the language is there around CTE skills centers, same sort of aligned piece there, but now we're moving forward on a different level.

Thank you, Joe.

All right, back to Councilman Aries.

Thank you, Chair.

Um for uh the CTE for the exit program on CTE for all the students.

Are is there any kind of financial literacy class that they have to take, such as um how to do a business plan or um obtain an EIN or LLC?

Is that part of your program, like the exit part of it?

Sure.

So all of our programs include financial literacy as well as um different employment skills, but our business programs all cover those standards.

So we have I think eight different business programs.

We have an entrepreneurship program, and they all include that as part of their curriculum.

Okay, so I I saw in the video, you know, you had a barber uh marketing expert and all that.

Um while those are they could be also business programs too.

So do they do enroll in in that and also a business program, or is it just one or the other?

Because I want to say that even if you're just going for a barber to just be a hairstylist, for example, um you should still have the financial literacy part of it, even if you're not in the business program, is what I'm trying to get at.

Absolutely.

And um actually last year in our cosmetology program, JSUB came out and met with all of our students and did go through um specifically to Jacksonville, how to own a small business.

Um also financial literacy is now, as you know, part of the requirement for graduation.

So our students will be getting that half credit experience in their social studies class.

But we do bring in guest speakers.

It's not always necessarily in every single program as far as standards are considered, but we have resources that we provide to our teachers to embed that extra curriculum on top of what they're teaching to talk about entrepreneurship, financial literacy, personal as well.

Um so yes.

Okay, thank you.

All right, no one else in the queue, so I'll end with just saying thank you uh to you for coming to present.

And I know the school board members live and breathe this, but if any of the council members haven't been to one of the schools and witnessed uh the CTE programs, you should definitely go.

I was uh joined with um Councilmember Boylan, and I think at the time President White was there at my alma modermandarin high school when we cut the ribbon with you guys and saw the um the the health care uh section as well as the culinary section.

I was blown away.

It looked like uh it didn't look like a college or a high school, it looked like an actual hospital, an actual uh commercial kitchen rocking out good food, and we ate good food that day.

So uh to all my colleagues, if you haven't been, not just to Mandarin, but any of the sites, go check it out.

And um, I think the chairwoman has one more thing to add.

Yeah, I do.

Um one of the we have the most impressive.

It's not mine's not working, so let me use this one.

We really do have the most impressive labs, I think, throughout the state.

And um, one of the things that I love is before my in my really, really old life, I was in banking, and ViceTar has part we've partnered with ViceStar, and one of the things I love is to see that in our in a lot of our schools, ViceTar has branches in the actual high school, and the students are running those branches, and they have debit cards, and the debit card has their school motto, their logo on it, and a percentage of what they spend goes back to the school.

I mean, it's these kind of partnerships.

Uh JEA, we have a fantastic partnership with JEA, and the students are actually climbing the the polls out at First Coast High School.

So many wonderful things.

Um, if you want to tour, just let me know, and I'll make sure that you you can do that and spread the word around our community because when I'm when I was running, and I know that a lot of you as well, that is a really big issue in our community.

People want to know what is our CTE, what's going on with our workforce education?

We are doing our best to educate, and that's why we are so grateful for the opportunity to present this to you so that you will know and we can educate as well.

Finally, I want to say before we move on to the next presentation, you are going to be blown away because after this meeting, we have lunch provided by our culinary students at Frank H.

Peterson.

And when I tell you you are gonna be blown away, I am not kidding.

It is really, really good.

And I I really hope that you will all stay for just a minute to participate, meet the students, sample the food, and um just enjoy what we're doing in Duval County public schools.

Thank you.

All right, so moving on, yes, round of applause.

We're gonna we're gonna move into the next section of the agenda, which is the presentation on be safe, be seen.

Very, very important um aspect of educating our kids, keeping them safe.

And we uh had some discussions on this in in our previous meeting, so come on and take the floor and give us an update.

Sorry, so much morning.

Good morning, Dr.

Alberton.

We are gonna have to mitigate this height difference here as we get here.

It's great to see you all again.

Just it can raise it.

I didn't bring my booster chair.

That's fine.

I'll stand I'll stand like this.

Um so we are gonna move through some of these slides rather quickly, um, simply because most of you have that information already, so I don't want to be repetitive, but I did want to make sure that we um establish why we're here and how we got here.

So um Dr.

Heather Albert, director of health and physical education for Duval County Public Schools.

Hey everyone, I'm Matt Fall, I'm the senior bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the city of Jacksonville.

So we know we got here from the resolution, right?

So the resolution that was passed, and are we clicking here?

It's very, very small, but the resolution was passed charging the district to also work with the city and coming up with plans and actionable items that which we could address the safety issues that we see within our schools.

So how did we get here?

Early 2024 is where we saw multiple pedestrian and bicycle incidents, right?

But I do want to make sure that we note that prior to this, historically, bicycle and pedestrian safety has always been in Duval County Public Schools curriculum.

We've always had that.

These incidents actually spurred an expansion to our secondary schools and being more intentional, making sure that our students throughout the spectrum of K-12 receive this continual education and continual exposure to how to be safe within our streets.

November, we passed the resolution.

January, we started our training with all of our teachers, and that became an annual installation in our instruction and our professional development for our teachers.

Throughout 2025, we started the development of our traffic gardens, which you will see here shortly.

July 2025, we saw more community members coming to the table and being interested in what we were doing and asking how they could help.

So then we got into 2025.

We saw again some increased uh interest in support for bicycle rodeos, bicycle helmets, all of those things.

May 2025 continue the expansion of our education where we've looked at including e-bike safety, some of those scooter incidents that we had really sparked that interest from parents and you all as community members really asked for more information on an e-bike and scooter safety.

Matt will talk to us a few minutes about the Vision Zero initiative, which really aligns perfectly with what we're doing.

It's a seamless integration, safe routes to schools meetings initiated with all of our schools in certain areas where we're focused on making sure that those schools have the infrastructure and set up around their schools to make sure our students get there safely.

And then November 2025, the triv the YTSSC came and we have that's what we're really here for today is to present you with our goals, our proposed initiatives as we move forward.

So we're gonna present those to you, and we're here today to make sure that you understand what our hopes are and get feedback from you all as we move forward.

So turn it over to Matt real quick.

Yeah, thanks, Heather.

So from the city side, um, the city's Vision Zero Action Plan rolled out in 2025, which was developed to intentionally align with the DCPS TPO and City partnership that we developed.

Um this slide shows a sampling of identified action items from the from the Vision Zero plan and overall approaches to safety.

Um some of these include uh safer safer school zones to improve our over 200 school zones throughout the city, safe routes to school, which is an actionable item uh to expand safe routes to school assessments within public schools, uh education and behavior change, which is also an actionable item in the plan, including the bike ped safety lessons that Heather's gonna talk about.

Uh visibility and awareness, which is an approach developed in the plan to support DCPS's be safe be seen campaign.

Um school bus safety partnership, uh including the school bus stop arm cameras, which DCPS is beginning to implement now.

Uh and lastly, data-driven safety investments, which align with school zone projects in our high injury network.

Thanks, Matt.

So the tops of these slides both read shared commitment, right?

Because that is what we're here for.

The partnership that has been established and really fed through this work has been amazing.

So similar to what Matt shared for the district, bike programs for all.

We start as early as pre-K with teaching our students how to ride bikes and how to ride safely.

Um, education, educator training, annual training for all of our employees, our health and physical education teachers on how they can be creative and providing this instruction to our students.

Um, bicycle repairs, community organizations have really stepped up to the plate to help mitigate the cost of our bicycle trailer and making sure that those bikes are safe for our students as they travel to schools.

Helmet fittings, um, the players at Wolfsons and other community organizations that actively go out to schools and not only show students how to fit the helmets properly but also provide helmets to our students so they can ride to and from school safely.

Um hands-on learning.

We'll talk about that on the next slide with our traffic gardens, and then the life flight experience is something new that we've added this year in partnership, and that provides our young drivers an experience on how they can be safer on the road, including you know, your driving, but not only are you driving that really big vehicle and you need to pay attention to the road safety, but also you're sharing the road with pedestrians, so making sure that they are aware of the dangers that are present as shared drivers.

Traffic garden installation.

I am happy to report that one of our schools that was in the in progress has moved over to the established.

I saw some of you at the ribbon cutting for Ed White High School Memorials Traffic Garden, so thank you so much for that.

But we have a great number of traffic gardens that have been established, one in progress uh in partnership with you all at San Mateo at a shared park, and then we have some others that are upcoming.

Now, this is a slow process getting schools and um all of our new builds that uh we are um constructing will have traffic gardens as well.

So those are not listed, but they are automatically included.

So our CAP.

We met as a traffic committee and we really kind of hashed out everything that could possibly fall into these goals.

So they fell into really five buckets safety week for all students, partnerships and collaboration, education and curriculum, infrastructure and funding, and then e-bike and scooter safety was so important and mentioned so many times that has a um a box all of its own, as well as bus safety.

Um so we have nine tentative goals.

Now, as I mentioned, the the hope of this is that we pare these down and we don't have nine goals, but we can really be a little bit more focused and refined.

Um but we're starting all of these with the intent of making sure that you have access to all of the goals that we have um thought about.

So we're talking about eliminating pedestrian and bicycles fatalities, uh reducing traffic-related injuries, increasing student participation in walking and biking to school, and we all know that means making sure that their to and from routes are safe, um, supporting a culture of active transportation and um commuting for our students.

So I want to pause there, and because with the the last bullet of this one is to integrate safety mobility education and school curriculum.

And I know we had some comments about what does that look like and what is the hands-on learning look like.

So by show of hands, if you are biking to work, would you go on your bike with the flow of traffic, or would you go contra is it contraflow?

Contra flow.

Contra flow, which is driving into traffic.

So if you think you would go with the flow of traffic, raise your hand.

Okay, if you think you're going opposite and you're going into traffic, so you can see traffic as they're coming to you.

Anybody?

It's okay.

Well, most of good job, you passed the test.

But I was like, let me not do that.

No, so one of the big things that we do with our secondary students is really try to right is you try to bust myths, and a lot of our students think that they are supposed to go into traffic so the traffic can see them, right?

Which is true for pedestrians if there is no sidewalk.

But the education uh as we continue up to our upper grade levels is really intentional on giving them situations that they can put themselves in to come up with um resolutions and safe practices.

So that's what three focuses on.

Um four, we're talking about prioritizing improvements in the education program and curriculum in the highest areas of need.

We're developing and um adopting those local policies that really can um see those safety standards improve across all schools, monitoring our report and oh, I didn't change the slide, apologies, y'all.

Um monitoring and reporting on progress on our SAP traffic safety annually, and then seven, eight, and nine are securing and leveraging joint funding, which we'll talk about here shortly, and then cultivating partnerships with community organizations is eight, and number nine is supporting public awareness education programs such as Vision Zero and Be Safe and Be C.

So a lot in those nine goals and a lot underneath each of those.

But we're really trying to be intentional on covering everything that we can.

Um, so refining those is going to be key, and that's where we asked for your feedback.

So again, November, we finalized our goals as a committee.

We met in March to present it to the school board, and now we're here in April presenting it to you for your feedback.

We will meet April 17th for our next committee meeting.

So our hope is that we will have any feedback or suggestions from you all prior to April 17th, so we can really integrate those ideas into our into that.

Is my you're done talking, Heather.

Um, so we hope by May and June we can really refine those, share those with you again, and have a complete plan for you all in July that is approved by not only our school board but also you as city council members.

And um, as a result of our committee meetings thus far, we do want to share a few wins and a few um exciting things.

We are pursuing funding jointly but separately for the same purpose.

We've both submitted COJ and DCPS concept papers to FDOT to provide funding to support some of this work in the committee as far as curriculum and outreach and those things.

We have also submitted two separate proposals, one for Safe Routes to Schools National Convention as well as the Council of Great Council of Great City Schools, so we can highlight this partnership that has come out of our collaborative efforts.

And um that is where we're at.

I think I was only a minute over, so I will yield the floor for questions.

Before we go to the queue, let's acknowledge council member Rockman Johnson.

Thank you for joining us.

All right, Councilmember Boylan.

Thank you, Ms.

President.

President to the body.

Um lady, uh, with respect to e-bikes and scooters.

Uh, have to say, as far back as October, I've been working with the OGC in come developing an ordinance.

So I'd love some feedback, and it's not easy.

The state took try to take a bite at it, didn't get very far.

We've looked at some other communities and their efforts to do that.

Uh two questions.

Number one, uh, what are you doing to educate uh students with respect to e-bikes and e-scooters and the dangers inherent in the use of them?

And second question is any suggestions uh that you have in terms of an ordinance to speak to those.

I would welcome uh you to get those to me as quickly as possible so I can move forward on the development of that.

But so those two questions, please.

Through the chair.

Through the president.

So as far as education goes, we've tried to get a handle on where e-bikes and scooters are most prevalent in use, right?

So we've added it overall to our curriculum, and we're working on making sure that every student receives the information on having to wear a helmet, all of the different regulations that come into play, where you can where you can ride, what are the laws in Atlantic Beach versus Jacksonville Beach versus Jacksonville as a whole.

So making sure that our students know that, but we're also trying to formulate some um parental and community education because we feel like that is very important.

And I'll pause and let Matt speak to some of the ordinance um information and what we're working with with the legal part.

Sure.

Yeah, this is a hot topic.

And I'm also on the statewide bike bed safety coalition um in partnership with FDOT.

So this is a big topic.

And the thing that we want to avoid is we don't want an incident to happen and then everyone come in and say, all right, let's get her get rid of e-bikes all together because they are so functional and and and great for elderly people who want to get to grocery stores, things like that.

Um we really need to look at the classification of e-bikes.

There's three classifications.

One and two are great, and they're under 12 and 15 miles per hour.

But some of these class three bikes that kids are talking their parents into buying off a TMU or whatever can be really dangerous.

You know, these are like essentially little mopeds that we're just handing kids without a license.

And so that's something that we definitely would want to bake into the ordinance.

And I can reach out to you directly.

That'd be great.

If I may follow up very quickly, uh secondly, with respense with respect to the responsibility of the parents, uh and holding them accountable in this process.

Is that something uh you see as a practice in other communities?

I haven't seen it yet, but I I'm meeting with the statewide coalition this month, and uh that's something I can bring up, and I can also do a little bit of research and reach out to your office directly.

I'd very much appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

All right, councilman areas.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I actually had a similar question on e-bikes, and in my neighborhood in E Town, we have a lot of issues with just young people riding the e-bikes on the sidewalks or on the streets.

And uh I had a town hall recently, and and the neighbors were wanting to know like what is the the legal ramifications for these kids, you know, passing these, you know, people just running or whatever the case is.

So I guess um, if you don't mind looping me in as well, too, that way I can convey that message message to the community.

Um I do agree, I think it's more of an education on the parent side, more than the kids.

Parents need to know exactly what they're doing and if they're gonna buy them those bikes, because ultimately they're the ones buying the bikes, not the kids.

So I think the efforts need to be towards the parents.

Uh but my main questions were um primarily on on a slide that you were talking about, like the um pedestrian and bicycle for the kids.

Um you mentioned bike repairs and helmets.

How do parents know that they are first of all is the bike repairs for like if if my kid had a bike, can I take him or her to to get those the bike repaired for free of charge, number one?

And then the helmets, if I needed a helmet for my kid, can I go?

So the question is where do I find this information and and is this open to everybody, or just specifically to those students in that particular school, or just give me more information on that, please.

Sure.

Through the president.

So the bike repairs that we were speaking of were specific to our bike trailer that we house and take from school to school to school.

So there's a trailer that we have that has about 25 bikes on it, and it goes from school to school so they can use it for their bike rodeos and teaching the students how to ride safely.

So that is where those come as far as helmets go.

We also have organizations that come into our schools and partner with the schools to bring helmets to the schools.

Uh Wolfson's Players has been a huge partner for that.

Um Matt and I know some of our other committee members here in the in the um the audience, but the yeah, the the Pedbike Resource Center offers free helmets to us as as city bike pit planners, and and we're able to hand those out to the kids as long as we get certified in helmet fitting.

Um school, I think right before the the traffic garden or the bike rodeo was happening.

We went out and gave over 200 helmets to each each student.

So they had one the day of the training.

Um yeah, it's great.

And and the uh the bike repairs was such a great like handshake deal that we put together because the trailer bikes were really falling apart, and uh we needed someone to help out.

So we had a bunch of local volunteers from the North Florida bike club, um, Zen Cog, which is a local bicycle shop.

They said, Hey, just bring them to us, we'll fix them.

So that might be something that we even include in the community action plan where we could say if kids want to bring their own bikes to the bike training, maybe you know, Zen Cog and North Florida Bike Club would be gracious enough to help fix those too.

So that's an that's a really interesting uh idea.

Mr.

President, just one more question on that note would be um if we're gonna emphasize and promote for students to bring their bikes to school and all that kind of stuff.

Um when I was in the Navy, when I would go on leave or just travel out of the city, they will do an inspection on my vehicle first before I went over X amount of miles.

Um, do you guys do the same thing for students like maybe once a year say, hey, we're gonna, you know, the first of the year we're gonna do a bike inspection on your bike to make sure that they're safe for for you know usage.

Through the president, the very first lesson that they get within our pedestrian and bicycle safety unit is how to teach themselves how to do a safety check on theirs.

So while we don't have a professional that's coming, we do try to make sure that our students are are self-vigilant on making sure that they check their bike every time before they ride.

Um so the ABCs, but that that's also a part of the training with our physical education teachers to make sure that the PE teachers are aware of how to do that.

So that's a great idea for us to have a uh a school-wide check for those as well.

Thank you.

I have a kind of funny antidote to add to that is when the bikes were in disrepair and we were trying to figure out funding how to fix these things for the kids' lessons.

Um we kind of baked that into it.

Uh ABC is air brake and chain.

So the ones that were falling apart, we said, hey, we left that there intentionally for you to check.

Tell us what's wrong with it.

And they'd say, Oh, the air's out of the tires and the chain is falling off, and we'd say, good job.

But really, we were just kind of you know making up for our bikes being not where we wanted them.

But we've we fixed that problem now.

All right, past chairwoman April Carney.

Thank you for giving me that accolade.

Vice Chairman, that's okay.

Um through the president to the body.

I just wanted to being a representative of the beaches municipalities, um, to Councilman Boylan's comments about ticketing and parents' responsibility.

I know that all three beaches municipalities are now currently ticketing children, and that's the parent that actually goes to the parent, the ticket.

So one thing that we see a lot at the beaches, and I think we're probably out of all of our districts in Duval County.

We are the ones that have the highest amount of e-bike riders to and from school.

Um, and I can tell you that we've got kids that are riding on e-bikes with no helmets and staring at their phone, holding on to handlebars with one hand and flying through four-way intersections.

They are also riding down sidewalks, which are putting pedestrians in harm's way as well.

Um, and so it's something that I'm very aware of, and that I know Councilman Diamond and I have been talking a lot about with the beach's mayors about and the and law enforcement about how do we educate and enforce the rules and and you know, show these children that you are actually riding something that goes 25 to 30 miles an hour, and not only are you endangering somebody else, but you're endangering yourself by reckless driving one of these one of these uh bicycles.

I know that um during the summer, Neptune Beach police chief key is working with principal ledford at Fletcher High School before the school year starts to have parents and children come and meet in the parking lot at Fletcher to really go through the rules of the road.

And so um, we're working on that really hard out of the beaches municipalities, and I'm thankful to the mayors out there as well as uh individual city councils and and the law enforcement officers there as well.

All right, thank you, Madam Vice Chair.

Sorry I messed that up.

Councilman Amaro, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Just a very quick question.

Um is this awareness campaign extended to uh the charter schools?

And what prompted my question is a few days ago uh I received a panic call from a constituent in reference to the kids as they exit uh charter school in my district, and in his eyes, all he saw was an accident waiting to happen.

So I was just curious and uh uh I find it commendable where you are.

You start with your population.

Obviously, you have no control of uh of the motoring public.

Um has this been extended to the charter school community, this awareness effort.

So I think it's important to note that I think this collaborative effort is not just with DCPS, it's for the whole entire county, right?

So it's all of Duval County.

Our particular trainings that we host for health and physical education, those emails go out to all health and physical education teachers within the county with the exception of private.

So our charter school um health and physical education teachers are invited to our trainings.

We don't really see too much engagement with them based on when their PD days fall versus ours.

Um, but that annual training at the beginning of the school year, they are invited to attend.

Um, if prompted, I always will share any of our curricular materials with them that are available that they have access to outside of our um protected information.

But um the signs that we have that we post monthly that are always in our district buildings in our schools, they have access to those.

The Action Zero information, they have access to that.

Um, Traffic Gardens are pretty isolated to DCPS schools with our ability to do that.

But as far as any curricular materials or trainings, we always try to include um for the good of the group, all of the teachers that have access to students in the county.

All right, past President Freeman.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and through the chair to uh thank you all for the presentation.

Just a quick question, and I might have missed it.

Um did you say how many students ride to school, bicycles of school, or take that have that form of transportation?

So we have asked for simple survey responses from principals, it's always hard to gauge.

So a lot of times it's go out and look at the bikes.

Um it's very easy, as um Vice Chair Carney mentioned, it that the beaches, they're everywhere.

Um, but it's really hard.

So at our safe routes to schools, project schools, we do walk audits and bike audits, so we know within those specific schools kind of a more general idea, but overall it's very hard to gauge who walks at the end of the day.

Fair fair enough school.

Do you think maybe in that survey as well, uh you can ask kids if they had a bike, would they ride?

And I'm asking for a reason.

Um, because I was that kid that if I had one, I probably would have rode and I walked to school back when it was reasonable for five year olds to walk you know a couple miles of school by themselves.

Um but many of us hold charitable uh events over the course of the year.

Uh I know I personally give away many bicycles uh around Christmas, Thanksgiving in the summer.

So if we know that there are students sitting in schools and classrooms right now, that if they had an opportunity to ride a bike, on top of getting the helmet and getting the training of how to fix it, there I think that you would have a collection of partners here to help kids get them.

Thank you.

All right, no one else in the queue.

We're a little ahead of schedule, so I'm uh hesitant to open up this camp, but I just have a question.

I've I've met with several different companies maybe over the last year and a half about stoplight, you know, the cameras and school zones and the bus cameras.

Well, where are we at with that uh on on both of those instances?

Are any of those approved and ready to be activated uh from the city side and from the school board side?

I know it's kind of complex, but uh since we're all here to communicate and collaborate, it would be great to get that update.

Yeah, sorry, is that directed to me or you guys gonna follow?

Good morning.

Uh Jim Colbert, Chief Operating Officer for the Districts of Transportation Falls under me.

Uh we are currently in the process of working with our vendor to install the bus arm cameras on all of the buses.

We are in a period now where we are testing the systems and sending out basically warnings because the the actual tickets will do not take effect until the first of May.

Okay.

And then is someone from the city here that can answer the question?

I know we've had some conversations with JSO on the uh school crossing cameras and the possibility of having that come to Duval County.

Good morning, my name is Jackson Short.

I'm the chief of police of the school district.

I cannot speak for Sheriff Waters.

It is my understanding that they have put that uh on pause and they are not moving forward with that.

Okay, we'll look for some other updates uh as we progress.

Councilman Arias is off the queue.

Madam Chairwoman, anything before we move on to the next?

No, I just think this is a great conversation.

All right, good morning again.

I think this is a great uh great conversation.

And um, I think when President Carico and I met, you know, we had the last time we met, we we talked about the fatalities and the safety of our city our of our citizens but also our students.

And so we thought this was important that everyone received an update on the collaboration between the city and the school district.

This is the first update, hopefully, of many, and that hopefully we can continue to work together to make sure that not just our students but our citizens are safe, and we are providing safe paths for them in Duval County.

So just an update from the last um time we met together.

All right, thank you very much.

We're gonna move on to our CIP section.

So we have DCPS and public works on deck for updating us on the collaboration and where we're at with um getting the school board more involved in the CIP process.

So we'll turn it over to you, Miss Waters.

Okay.

Sickler, not waters.

That's another Nina.

Sorry.

All right.

Well, good morning.

Nina Sickler with Public Works.

And uh Chief Ledou with our traffic engineering division could not be here today, but I'm very pleased to talk through uh several items related to the CIP, and also because my traffic engineering division is not one to typically pat themselves on the back.

I get the distinct honor of having an opportunity to talk about all the great things that are planned and that are um uh in the works right now in in coordination with DCPS.

So if you'll indulge me for a moment, I'd like to start with a technical topic because it feeds into one of our CIP requests.

So one of the one of the items that has been um discussed frequently is middle school reduced speed school zones, and so through conversations over the past year or more, um we have uh we had undertaken a study to evaluate whether our policy should be adjusted to account for middle schools uh within that policy.

And so I'll talk a little bit about the process that was taken and then tell you uh what our findings were.

So, what what we did was we uh established a study that looked at crashes from 2020 to 2025 that involved a bicycle or pedestrian under 18 years of age within a mile and a half of a school during a school drop-off or pickup time, and what we found in that time was that there were 175 crashes reported.

Of those, there were 60 56 non-incapacitating injuries, four incapacitating injuries, and four fatal crashes.

I think we'll all agree that that is not okay.

The good news of that is of those, only seven of those sixty four um injury or fatal crashes, and the 175 total, only four percent were in our active reduced speed school zones.

What that tells us is that those reduced speed school zones are making a difference, and through this crash evaluation, along with looking at some peer cities, the study recommends and public works recommends that middle schools be added to the eligible locations for reduced speed school zones.

So, as I mentioned, this technical discussion led to our CIP request.

So, what we have what we've requested in our very preliminary part of the budget process is to roll those school zones out over time.

We'll be working with schools to determine the priority of which ones make the most sense to do that in the earlier years.

So that was that was an important uh item that I wanted to make sure I gave you an update on.

So beyond that, let me talk about the projects that we have underway right now, and then I'll talk about the projects that we're looking at in the future.

So, right now we have 14 funded projects funded for construction projects related to schools, and I have a list, I can certainly share this with you, but um 12 of them are being handled through our traffic engineering division.

Uh some examples are uh Terry Parker High School, speed tables, raised median islands, RRFB's pedestrian crossings.

Um, another example is Alfred DuPont Middle School, uh, looking at leading pedestrian intervals, signal upgrades, and pavement marking upgrades.

Um, and then Mandarin Oaks Elementary, we're looking at replacing the static signs with flashers.

So those are actively uh funded for construction.

We hope to get as many of these 14 done before the end of summer, so before the new school year as we can.

And those are done again with with uh funding that's already available.

In addition to that, we have um some more CIP projects that we are looking at.

We recently passed legislation to move money from our from our bucket of of uh pedestrian safety into two named projects.

That's at First Coast High School, an overhead pedestrian signal, and A.

Philip Randolph Academy, another overhead pedestrian signal that came through council, so council approved that.

We appreciate that.

Um there are additional sidewalk improvements related to schools in our CIP, five other projects.

And so that that concludes those projects that are already funded and uh ready to go as um you know as construction um can be made available.

And then uh then for CIP asked for the coming year.

We asked for two projects.

One is the produce speed school zones for middle schools, as we discussed over a series of years, and we also asked for um school flashers at Merrill Road and Hartsfield Road.

So those are the two that came out of out of um the public works department going forward.

Now talking about um the legislation that uh Council Vice President Howland um moved through council and was approved.

That was a way to make sure that there is a structured process for DCPS to coordinate with the city in order to get those projects in with the timing of that.

Um there are projects that you know that the schools are still working on and want to get through a certain point in order to get the actual roadway improvements that are needed.

So we have positioned ourselves this year.

Um we included DCPS in the kickoff meeting for CIP as well as the evaluation committee uh in order to understand the process, and we expect that we have we have put ourselves in a great position for the next year to align um the timing uh with what the schools are doing from a construction standpoint.

So that was a really good improvement.

Um it gets us set up to do what we need to do.

My last item that I want to cover is what is coming out of the school safety committee.

So um these projects that I talked about, these 14 that are we're hoping to construct within uh within the summer time frame, they really originate out of this school safety committee.

And so that that continues to be a really great opportunity to talk about the types of improvements on a range of different topics, not just CIP.

And so I'll I'll throw some out there again for you to to get a sense for the range of the types of things.

There are 14 active right now.

Um it includes looking at Springfield Middle School one-way conversion of the of the of the roadway.

We are looking at um areas where additional crossing guards have been requested, so that of course is a JSO request.

Um we are looking at uh speeding uh speeding complaints again, JSO as well.

Uh we even have requests for um vegetation blocking school flashers, for instance, and that's out of the mowing landscape division.

So a lot of elements that we hope to address safety at schools are handled through that uh through that committee, and we look forward to continuing that collaboration through that as well as the CIP process.

All right.

No offense to anyone else who presented, but that's a great update.

That shows that collaboration and what we actually came here to do is work together and um point to issues that we can collaborate on to improve safety, and that that's why we all signed up for these jobs and these roles that we're in.

So thank you for that update.

That that's very meaningful.

And we see the doc is at the podium, Dr.

Brunier.

So, Mr.

President, members of the board and members of my board, thank you very much.

I'm gonna give um Vice President Nick Allen my kudos.

Um he was the one I believe who really pushed on the legislation for us to be included in the CIP process.

Uh we've learned a little bit about city processes that we didn't know about this past year.

Um, we will never make the same mistake twice.

Um, so but we do appreciate the flexibility of the city's um committees and of the leadership to help make sure that our projects got included this year, at least for consideration.

And there's one I just want to talk about because it's I know it's near and dear to our hearts over at Merrill Road.

Um, there's amazing work going on over at Merrill.

I know our community was concerned with the combination of Don Brewer and Merrill, what we're going to do with that particular intersection.

Not only are we doing our work to improve the ability for parents to get off the road and have that stacking space so that they don't clog up on Arterial Highway, but the city is doing amazing work there as well.

And I just wanted to highlight that.

We're excited about that consolidation occurring and having a safer environment for our children.

I'd like to introduce uh Mr.

Culbert, you've met him already as our chief operations officer again under operations.

This becomes one of his areas, and Randy Gallup, who works for uh Jim for any updates they may have.

Thank you, Dr.

Brunera.

I would just like to say thank you very much for having us going to the CIP meetings.

Really enjoyed the process, learned a lot about those city processes that differ greatly from how we did.

Actually, took some things from that um back to my team that I would like to incorporate in our own CIP process.

So I would just like to say thank you, appreciate the work that we do.

Um, Randy Gallup is um almost um all things between operations in the city of Jacksonville.

Um I think sometimes he spends more time um over here than he does with us, um, but he's just doing an incredible job.

So thank you all very much.

Appreciate the cooperation.

Looking forward to the projects for next year.

We are already working on on next year's CIP.

Thank you.

Council Vice President Howland.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Really appreciate that update.

Thank you guys for getting together and collaborating for the CIP.

Um we'll make sure that the your priorities are absolutely reflected.

Um we won't need to, Nina will make sure of it in in the next year's CIP.

I did have a question for Nina, though.

Um, and that question is um the legislation says they need to start working together.

You guys are clearly doing that.

It looks like it's going really, really well.

But the 14 projects you just mentioned are in the current approved um CIP year.

Is there anything during your collaborate collaboration that maybe you realize, gosh, we don't need those two of the 14?

Maybe the schools have said we need two more, because um I know they're further down, they're pretty far down the road.

Um probably many have already started.

But if there's any last-minute change we need to do, I'm sure the city council will do it at the request of of school board in an emergency basis.

If there's a project that's not as important right now and something else needs to be that could get done by the start of the school year in in August, let us know.

Um and and we'll work on something.

Thank you.

That that's great.

I I know we'll get the support from you if it's a priority of the of the school board or of the the school administration.

Um we will certainly be coming to you if if they identify things that need to be prioritized over others.

Thank you very much.

I have a question.

I I've been working and talking uh with the district.

Um, and to Nick's point, there are these projects that you discussed um, Nina have already been in the queue.

Um we have been able to come to the meetings now, have a seat at the table.

We presented our projects.

Um I know there was I don't think, and and correct me if I'm wrong.

Um were were what was the district able to present their the new CIP projects we put together, were they able to present that um to you at this that meeting?

So because of the timing, right?

You wouldn't, you know, you wouldn't think that we start this in January, but we do for an October one start date.

So when we look at the projects that um school administration had, they they have a certain timeline for when they're getting their projects ready enough to say, well, we also need these road improvements or these signal improvements.

And so with it being tight timing, we didn't have specific projects related to say new schools or major renovations of schools.

So that's why the projects that are on the list now are more of those with existing schools, but there weren't any, there wasn't a presentation by the school uh administration.

However, um we we have all these projects in the queue next year.

Um because the process is clear, we'll be able to start earlier um now that we uh now that we understand the timing, and uh I expect that we'll see more of those come through.

Okay, so just to clarify, the projects we submitted weren't presented to the CIP committee.

They were not.

We uh we took projects that were already being discussed through the school safety committee.

So those are the projects that that generated our CIP.

Okay.

Because I I've seen the projects that we put together to submit to the committee.

I just want to be make sure I understand so none of those projects will be considered.

Not that I'm aware of, unless there's others that that didn't come to us that we that we need to talk about.

And I'm sure the the mayor's administration would take a look at those um if they're real priorities.

I think we can certainly talk about those.

Okay.

Um Mr.

Colbert, can you speak to why those projects were not um presented to the city?

So to clarify, we work with the public works department in collaboration to select certain projects that we would both support to take forward.

These projects when we entered into the meeting on the phone in January, realized that projects that had that were presented in February needed to be shovel ready.

That meant engineered, bid out, ready to do that.

So since we were not able to do that, and that's why I mentioned that we're already starting now for CIP for next year, we partnered with the public works, came up with projects that were shovel ready that we both could agree on, which include um like for for the e-parkway, the the raised crosswalks, um adding flashers at different schools, uh, the speed zones and middle schools.

These were things that were considered shovel ready that we could work on together and then move forward.

And those were the five that were presented as part of the city works.

Okay, thank you for that clarification.

All right, Councilwoman Clark Murray.

Thank you, Chair.

Good morning again to everyone.

So I'm concerned or would like to know, but not necessarily today about the criteria that is being used to determine those particular projects.

And I say that because I think about well, I'll start first of all with Councilmember Amarrow talked about the charter school, and this is not necessarily about charter schools.

But does the criteria that you are using to determine whether you are going to put reducing the speed zones or bus stops as well, the is where that school located included.

So I'll give you an example.

Just like I said, his charter school that he is referring to is off of University Boulevard.

University Boulevard is two lanes, one median, traffic is very, very dense.

And then I think about specifically the fact that a young lady who we just honored her with a traffic garden at Ed White, Ms.

Williams, the fact that her bus stop was off of Blanding Boulevard, once again two lanes, both directions, center, center turning lane, just traffic that is just so dense and that is speeding.

So I'm hoping that two things that first of all that bus stops are always off of those major highways.

Secondly, to make sure that those bus stops are off of those types of roadways, that they are on more residential roads where drivers who need to stop, as we found out most recently, will actually see and pay attention to the fact that there is a bus in front of them and that they need to see that arm and see the brake lights on the bus, and they need to stop.

In fact, I was at, well, you all know, 32-year veteran of Dubell County Public Schools.

The other day I watched someone who was on the side, and I work at DuPont Middle School.

I watched a parent who picked up her child, his child.

He went around the bus.

Now it took everything in me not to get out of my car and try to catch him at the stop at the stop sign, which was ridiculous.

But we want to make sure that we are using those metrics that apply to where those thinking about taking into consideration where those schools are located, because those schools that are on those major thoroughfares, be it a state road or a county road, and I don't know if you're having to talk with someone at the state level to make sure that if there's going to be any changes in regards to adding some type of uh mechanism to make drivers aware that there is a school there if you needed to coordinate with them.

I hope that they are very amenable to the coordination because we have students and we have those who are drive riding in vehicles who are losing their lives, and this is so incredibly serious.

And it didn't just start.

I I I don't like the fact, and I'm going to be very candid, that there are certain parts of town, someone dies, and it's all over the news.

Other parts of town, children are dying, and it's in the news for a moment, and then it goes away.

And I say that because I didn't start fighting this fight when I got on this podium, this this arena, I was doing that as a volunteer, trying to bring awareness to all sides of town.

All children matter, all people matter, regardless of where they live in this county.

And I'm not necessarily do not misunderstand my tone.

I'm not angry.

I'm just trying to be adamant and to help everyone understand.

I know because I come across as angry sometimes.

Okay, most times.

But you have to understand it's it's been a long fight to make sure that there's equity across this county.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Sickler.

I know that you do a fantastic job, and I know you have been working really hard since you have been in that position.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

All right, thank you.

And before I go to Councilman Murray, I just want to remind the members of the body and introduce to the school board that the process of taking something in front of the CIP with with Ms.

Sickler is the starting point.

The second point is the mayor's office during their budget review, they can add, subtract and do what they want with the CIP.

And then the final stop comes to the City Council once we get the full budget, and the Finance Committee can also add, subtract and adjust the CIP.

So if there are projects that you feel we really missed out on, they didn't get in this process, start with the mayor's office and then start with and then circle back with the Finance Committee and the full council if there are things that you think really need to be put in the CIP, and I'll just double check with OGC that um correct on that, uh, so I'm not giving any of that information.

Uh to the President, yes, you are absolutely correct.

And then obviously the full council, when it received the budget for consideration, can make additional insertions and deletions from the CIP then as well.

Okay.

Thank you.

And I'll go to Councilmember Amara.

Mr.

President, thank you very much.

Just I wanted to make a comment.

My observation and just make it clear for us to recognize the power of collaboration.

And the results.

And I want to commend Ms.

Sickler and Mr.

Colbert.

At our last meeting, I brought up my frustration with the intersection of Maryland Hartsfield because cars were queuing up on Merrill Road.

I had a subsequent meeting with the school district member Ricardo and Chris Ledou and myself, and on the score why something needs to be done.

And then subsequent to that, there was a student who's hit by a vehicle crossing Townsend leaving Terra Parker High.

And what I heard this morning, I'm really pleased with, because it says that our conversation and the collaborative effort, you heard the voices, and now you are addressing those concerns.

And so as Merrill Road Elementary expands, I I can see where it's going to be not just a larger school, but a much safer environment for the parents who are picking up their kids and for the community because being Merrill Alterior Roadway, folks don't want to slow down for nobody.

So thank you very much for this effort.

I just want to take the opportunity to underscore the power of collaboration.

When like minds address with the same goals, same objectives, you get this kind of results addressing critical needs in community.

Every time he talks, I have to say amen.

That is our chaplain.

School Board Member Bulduk.

Thank you so much.

I want to echo um the thanks to our council president Garako and our chair for working so hard to make sure that we have these meetings.

And I appreciate you guys hearing us.

I also want to thank our future president Halland for working so hard to get our requests into the CIP.

So I would also I would appreciate it if we could get that project, a copy of the project list that was discussed with the 14 projects.

And thank you, Ms.

Sickler and all of traffic engineering, that department for the work that you are doing, Councilman Boylan, who worked really hard with me over a year ago to make sure that our requests were heard and to to open that door so that I could have those conversations with you guys.

And so so grateful that it's been determined that our middle schools will get um get that attention in the reduced speed zones.

So and thank you for Mandarin Oaks elementary.

I know that's been in the works for a bit.

And so I really appreciate the teamwork and the advocacy.

My question would be is there an anticipated time?

I know you said we're going to roll it out as we have the funds to do that.

Do we have an anticipated timeline that we believe that all of our middle schools will be outfitted?

We've requested the funding over a five-year period.

So I don't have the exact dollar amount for the first year, but we obviously will be coordinating to make sure that the most critical middle schools are handled in that first year, um, assuming that uh it goes through the uh budget process as it as we hope.

Okay, through the president, one more question.

Um is there when will we know what the order will be?

I would suggest that because the money becomes available October 1, and it takes some time leading up to that, that we should um put together uh a group, whoever um doval schools believe should be in that meeting to discuss the priorities and get it queued up so that we're we're ready uh as soon as those funds become available to start that process.

All right, thank you so much.

All right, school board member Blunt.

President Chair.

Um I have one question, and this might be getting a little a little ahead, but is there any any processes put in place for with all the work that you already have and the future work you have, is there any process in place where you're trying to figure out with the growth of the city, you know, the departments coming up everywhere?

Um do you have any plans to try to anticipate where traffic stops, where any improvement needs to be done?

And I'm specifically talking about Ed White High School.

Uh, there's going to be a development of an easement that's going to be right next to the school.

But um I'm trying to wonder if they have even anticipated the increased traffic that that will cause because you're talking about a 250 apartment unit right next to the high school.

So that question is very timely because um those types of projections are done through our planning department, and we are uh right now starting the mobility plan updates, and it takes into account anticipated growth along um each of the uh the transportation corridors, and so that is that is um incorporated in our modeling, and it helps to identify those roadways that need the most capacity uh upgrades.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

I believe that's it for this section.

Piece of housekeeping.

Someone slipped me a note that says for all DCPS employees, if you parked in the library garage, we'll be able to validate your parking for you.

So you'll just come up to the front before you leave, and before you get your yummy lunch, we'll make sure we take care of those parking uh tickets for you.

Well, not tickets.

Hopefully, you didn't park illegally.

All right.

Our last speaker, we saved you about 35 minutes.

So, Dr.

Bernir for the superintendent update, the floor is yours.

And he figured out how to work the podium.

I I had a bad hip.

If I don't if I don't stand up straight, I'm gonna be and I'm gonna be sitting down by the end of this presentation.

I wasn't gonna start this way, but Councilman Amara, what a great segue for us, and let me echo the amen.

Just the three presentations we've seen so far today, when we think about where we were just a few short months ago, and the level of cooperation and spirit that's now been built between the school district, my school, our school board, and this August body, we are in a really great place.

And you're gonna hear me probably mention momentum about 25 times today.

But this was just so refreshing to know that once again we have this sense of momentum of cooperation and the spirit of working forward for the betterment of our most critical resource.

Those are our children.

They are our future citizens, they're future caregivers, there are our lawyers, there are doctors, there are our electrician, there are our painter.

I always try to respond to Mr.

Ricardo.

And they are the future of our city.

So let me tell you a little bit about the strength of the school system at this joint at this joint at this joint meeting.

Provided they get a decent evaluation this summer.

I will enter my 40th year of serving children and being a public steward inside a public school system next year.

In 1987, when I dusted off a ratty old desk at Conway Middle School.

But here I am.

And 18 months later, after coming here, I'm so glad we're here.

This is an amazing city.

It's a great school system.

And with your effort and our effort, we are going to begin to really get the story told of how great we really are.

I want you to know that the state of our schools is strong.

I included two posters.

I'll refer to them a couple of times.

One is about all the information that came out about our A grade, one is about our graduation rate, and actually they're reversed.

Though both of these posters have hang hung on our elevators as you go up through the school district offices if you go to a different floor.

Let's start with school grade.

Let's realize that 99 percent of the schools in Duval County are A B and C rated.

We've removed F's.

We have two D's, and the people seated behind me are spend countless hours.

And you, as commissioners, as partners in our community, the players' championship, community and schools, read USA, city or I could go on and on.

Pour into those buildings and all of our buildings.

Because that 99%, those 45 schools that moved at least one grade, those 10 that moved two grades, the proficiency in reading, math, algebra one, science, civics, every single category moved forward last year with greater proficiency amongst all of our students, not just the ones who look like me.

All of them made progress.

And we should be honored and be celebrating that today, tomorrow, and into the future.

Because that momentum, that resulted in the A grade, that momentum was reward for our educators.

It was a point of personal pride.

It was a point of personal pride for our board members.

It became a point of personal pride and momentum for you as a city council for the chambers.

I'm sure in London last year, still waiting for my invitation.

And sure in London last year, there was a mention when somebody said, Well, tell us about the schools.

It had to be awesome for someone to say, Well, yeah, let's talk about our schools.

They're A rated.

We're doing the right things in Duval.

And here's what we know about our kids and how we're increasing standards, how we're pushing the goal every year.

Caveat to that A grade.

I've told you before, I don't have the Jacksonville kicker.

I have another field goal kicker.

We got to the goalpost where we had a score, we kicked the ball, it hit the crossbar and bounced over.

We got the exact number of points necessary to get an A.

The reward for that in the increased performance of all of our high schools and our combination schools and the increased performance of districts across the state is we now have a goalpost that's further back.

But the momentum of getting the A makes you want to keep the A.

And I want to make sure you understand that.

We accept the challenge of a goalpost that's further back.

Our board has been very directive to me that it doesn't matter where they've moved the goalpost to.

We have to continue the momentum, and we have to continue to move us forward.

And how do we do that?

How do we do that?

We do that with educators.

And most importantly, the most singular factor in student achievement and soft skills that we heard about today, industry certifications.

Be safe, be seen, being run by one person from my division in health and PE are educators, their teachers.

Those are the people who have the knack.

And it's odd today to be in this August chamber and not have all those seats filled behind me.

Maybe next year we can do one of these on a work day.

And we can invite the rowdy bunch to come visit us who do the work each and every day.

So while they're not here, I want you to think of a husband or a wife or a friend or a fellow city council member who does the work every day.

Because it's an isolating profession.

You know, they're all about camaraderie and PLCs and hanging together as a group.

But anybody who's ever taught knows what it feels like to close the door and have 25 children look at you and you're on.

And I mean you're on like a comedian, you're on like a performer, you are on.

That light is on you, and you're expected and required to perform.

And our teachers do that every day.

That's why.

The graduation rate.

96.

97.6% in our traditional high schools, 94% overall when we include all the other choice in our school district.

All of your traditional high schools above 90%.

Four, five, with 100% graduation rates.

That's always a moving target.

Talk about that a little bit later.

Because 100% is a hard number to get when you've got 300 graduating or 400 graduating seniors.

But I'm going to tell you how they get it in just a second.

That work is also due to teachers, pre-K to 12.

Students don't get to graduation without a great pre-K, after school program, kindergarten one, two, three.

And if a student is proficient by third grade in Duval County, they are 96% likely to graduate from high school.

But let's talk about what lies beneath that.

Because there's a couple of districts around that may have outscored us by a couple of tenths of a percent.

Check their demographic data.

We've closed our achievement gap in graduation rate.

All of our subgroups are within 1% of each other.

And yet our grad rate continues to grow.

And there are some people on this body that are old enough to remember how we graduated.

I'll use me.

I needed a pulse, 24 credits, and a D average.

I did better than that.

I just want you to know that.

A graduate today has to have at least 24 credits, but they're very prescribed in the content in the areas they have to be in.

Certain number of mathematics courses, rigorous progression, an algebra one passing score, which counts to 30% of their grade in the algebra one class by state law.

They have to have a reading proficiency level, either on the state test or on their SAT or ACT.

They have to have a pulse.

And they may need an online credit depending on what cohort they're in.

It's just a different world.

And a C average.

And my suspicions are by the time the kindergartners that we're going to register today get to their graduation.

I would suspect that GPA is going to have to probably be in the B range.

By the way, kindergarten class, fun fact, 2039.

That's when they graduate.

So when we think about our educators and our principals and what they do, they touch a future that they may never see.

I'm going to start a kindergarten class this year and that's going to graduate in 2039.

I love my job, but I did the math.

I don't think I will be at their graduation ceremonies unless it's an invited guest.

And I'm hoping not in a walker or a wheelchair.

And yet every day I get up in this 40-year career and want to pour my heart and soul into the adults and the children that do this work so that we can celebrate these types of results.

And it's through the hard work of our teachers and our educators we get that done.

Two quick stories.

Teacher story.

Who somehow thinks we ring a bell, the kids all show up, they politely walk into class, open their books, and they go to work.

We have lots of kids like that.

You can attest you have some, councilwoman.

But we have to do so much more than that.

Providing supplies, talking about what kindergarten is going to be like, meeting the parents.

It's all the outside work on top of the inside work that our educators do that needs to be rewarded and honored.

The difference between a 98% graduation rate and a hundred percent graduation rate, I asked one of the principals on that list, and he said this.

I had to walk down dark, scary roads and go into homes that most people drive by.

Clearly, in some cases, they wouldn't buy one of our councilmen a bicycle.

But he walked to school anyway as a five-year-old and got there because that was the expectation in his home.

So as we think about our educators and we think about the amount of time that they spend, and we think about the results of this school, let me remind you again that a teacher is the single most important factor in student learning.

Experienced teachers and new teachers, even impact student success, including things like attendance, hey, missed you today, and developing what sometimes is referred to as the soft skills that so many of our children need in order to be successful when they graduate, both college and career ready.

If you haven't noticed we're in a bit of a teacher crisis, the University of Central Florida just gave away their education building to the Math and Science Department because the enrollment at UCF has dropped so low in the College of Education that they no longer need that facility.

We have to find a way to turn that around.

We have to find a way to make that job look more attractive.

We have to find a way to make sure we create a climate and culture our buildings that teachers, students, and families feel safe.

And we work on those things every day.

But I gotta be honest, compensation also matters.

What we pay people matters, and we are lucky in Duvall County.

We are lucky to have some of the structures we have.

We are lucky to have a millage.

We are lucky last year that myself, the COO, the CFO, the board were able to turn around us enough that we invested in our teachers ourselves through our own dollars at 2.6% to each one of our educators.

It's not a huge raise, but it's something, it's something that tells them they're valued.

We are in a teacher shortage, but I can assure you, we've got some good news over how salaries have helped us.

We've gone from an average of 400 vacancies a year just four or five years ago to right around 250.

Nothing to brag about as a superintendent.

250 is a lot of classrooms that don't have a certified educator in them, but we have amazing subs and we have amazing processes to make sure those classrooms are covered.

We work very, very hard to make sure that our children have the very best.

The one mill referendum provides a couple of other things for us.

It provides an opportunity to supplement a teacher's income by an average of about 8,600.

For most teachers, that's where it averages, but for most teachers, it's about a 10% bonus to their salary.

Without the millage, they will tell you if they were in this room, they're not sure how they're gonna fill their gas tank.

They're not sure how they're gonna be able to pay their mortgage.

And we can work as a school district to continue to maximize our dollars as we write size and we become more economically efficient to contribute to that.

But our millage is a big piece of keeping and retaining our teachers.

We're down in the number of vacancies, and our retention rate hovers right at 91%.

Once we get them and keep them, we can keep them if we continue to compensate them.

Also promised in 2022, we've designated funding for other projects such as new playgrounds at our elementaries, turf fields in our stadiums, track and court resurfacing, new high school band uniforms.

And you know what that does?

It sends a message to our children that they matter.

I think somebody told me the other day they drove up Main Street past Andrew Jackson, and they saw the new field and quote, it is a game changer.

The whole building looks different.

And remember Andrew Jackson last year got an A for its very first time.

We've also convinced we've also committed to the arts, stage and flooring, seating renovations, lighting and sound systems, and we made our case.

We made our case that our people and our kids are important and deserve first class quality experiences.

I want to thank the board and specifically Chair Joyce, because we put accountability into this process.

We have an independent citizens auditor advisory commital committee that oversees the spending and ensuring that we're moving forward as planned and that we don't underspend or overspend or do anything, quote, funky with the money.

But the state has accountability built in as well, because we have to go back to the voters every four years.

We've generated tremendous momentum, and we need to be able to sustain that momentum.

And our millage is part of it.

So like last time, I was not here for that.

We're not asking you to approve a tax.

I love the state of Florida.

I love the state of Florida because the voters hold that ability to approve their tax or not.

We will send that here.

And we're asking you to work through the processes of this august body.

And for you to take formal action necessary under the law so that our voters who we are all accountable to can make the decision as we make our case.

As a superintendent, I can't say how.

All I can say is go vote.

I will hold to that promise, and I will make sure that I am above reproach when it comes to that.

The action of pre approving the mill to go forward directs the supervisor of elections to give voters their voice, their final say on our performance, and the performance of our more than 6,000 teachers who are delivering every day to our Duval students and children.

In closing, I've always said great school systems do two things.

We produce amazing graduates who are both college and career ready.

Able to walk off the stage on a Friday night into a college of their choice or into a high paying wage job available here in this community, or both.

That creates amazing citizens, lowers crime rates, makes for better fathers, mothers, brothers, aunts, and uncles, and it makes for a better community.

The other thing that having a school system producing these types of results does, and the momentum that we have going, gives us the opportunity to sit with somebody from Iowa in December and say, why don't you move your company to Florida?

Specifically, why don't you come to Jacksonville?

In December, they're going to ask the temperature in Jacksonville.

And hopefully it's a warmer day than it was this winter.

But right after they asked that question, they're going to ask you about the school system.

We will continue this momentum.

Our goalpost has moved.

We just got to find a kicker with a stronger leg, and we will make it happen.

Because no matter what happens, Duvall will continue to deliver on those two promises.

First class quality graduates and a first class quality school system.

Mr.

President, Madam Chair, those are my remarks for this morning.

I liken that to a heck of a halftime speech, and I've never kicked a football before, but I want to kick one for you, sir.

I want to kick one.

Councilman.

You got to kick it far.

Councilmember Johnson.

There'll be tryouts.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I was actually taking some notes as well, and uh, Dr.

Brunier, I must say, uh, Mr.

President, as you well know, I uh am uh on the board of directors of the Florida League of Cities.

And one of the things, and and uh Chris and I share this uh together, uh the mayor, uh, who is now the president of the League of Cities, Holly Smith, when she knew that that Chris was possibly coming to Jacksonville, she reached out and she said, Dr.

Johnson, you gotta get him there.

And when I tell you, I reached out to him prior to his uh being confirmed on the school board, and the passion that um, and I'll say, you know, through the president to you, Chris, uh Dr.

Brunier, um, the passion that that you have for this city is almost uh it didn't take anything away from the former leaders of the school board, but I'm so honored to be in this space.

And any time uh we need it, you pick up the phone, you help us, uh, and even in conversations without looking at your phone or looking at notes, you knew where the schools were when we brought them up, you knew the street names.

In fact, you knew some of the students, and that is something to be commended.

Um, I just had to say that publicly that Holly is always, every time I talk to her, is always just bragging on you, wishing she could get you back down there, but it's too late.

We got you now.

Thank you for the work that you continually do for our community.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah.

All right, Council Vice President Howland.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh Dr.

Brunier, thank you so much for that impassioned uh speech and presentation.

It's so wonderful seeing both those posters and the accomplishments that you and your team have achieved.

Um, keep up the amazing work, thank you.

Uh I hate to put someone on the spot here.

I hate to do it.

I try to never do it.

I try to uh signal or at least tell people what I'm gonna ask.

But you mentioned um the resolution that the board passed related to the one mill extension.

Is there any way you or someone on your staff could read that to us so we know exactly what the resolution passed?

Because I don't I I read about it in the news, but I've not seen it.

Sir, I don't have the resolution with me, but I can paraphrase it for you.

I know that's not what you're asking for, but it is a replication of the former millage.

It still requests a one mill, which is allowable under the state by school districts to charge a community if approved by the voters.

Um what's changed in the state statute is that it has to occur during a major election time, it can't occur on an off cycle.

And that this breakdown would still be to support teachers, athletics, and the arts.

Um but I will make sure we get a copy to UASAP to the entire Thank you.

And I I should have read it as homework.

The only reason I'm asking because I think the nuance here is not you're asking us to approve a one mill extension.

You're asking City Council to put it on the ballot for resolution in November.

That is 100 percent correct, sir.

You you are the pass through for us based upon state statute to put it to the voters.

And that's I guess as I said in my my speech, I guess, on my in one of my remarks, that's what's great about the state.

The state puts things like this in the hands of the voter.

So somebody who owns a $225,000 home with homestead, it equates to about $17 a month, but it equates to about $126 million that we can that we can collect that we can then put in our teachers' pockets and continue to support both our teachers, our educators, our arts programs, and the athletics.

Okay, thank you.

Then, if if I may, Mr.

President, through the President to Ms.

Stephopolis, what would City Council be voting on when we have this come before us?

Thank you.

Through the President to Council Vice President Howland.

So what happened, what will happen is, as the superintendent indicated, they're gonna forward a letter to the City Council President's office requesting that the City Council take up the measure through legislation.

I would prepare a bill for consideration by the City Council, which would basically call for an election for the referendum to be considered on the additional mill or the extension of the mill.

And what would be outlined in that bill would be um confirmation that they follow the appropriate process under the state statute, which I believe they have based on what has been forwarded to me by the staff at the school board.

Um it would call for the referendum and have and set the date that the ballot date that it would be set forward on.

It would require the supervisor to issue a notice of that referendum, and it would actually post the referendum question that would go on to the ballot, which they supply to us to include in the legislation.

And then it also would call for um uh establishment of the referendum results and what would transpire if there was a majority versus not a majority.

So it just kind of it's a call to the supervisor of elections office to put it on the ballot.

That is the directive that the council gives under the statute.

It has to go through the council to direct the supervisor to put it on the ballot and set the question.

So it's entirely up to the voters to decide whether to extend the one mill.

Um then let me ask this question now from uh a voter who will get to vote on that referendum.

Yes, sir.

Um four years ago, when this one mill was introduced, I voted against it and and I put my reasoning out in the um in the public.

It was because I thought uh and I was sure of, and I verified um through the state that there was an additional pot of funding in the same amount that the tax would generate over four years that could pay teachers that additional compensation now.

That was SR two funding, and you and I have had the discussion about it.

That was available then.

The Duval County um schools had not yet submitted to the State its plan for the SR2 funding.

Um so I suggested that there were at least a dozen other school districts around the state uh that were using that SR2 funding for um teacher compensation and enhancements with the plan to four years hence ask for a one-mill um increase.

So I was against it just simply because I didn't think um I thought there was another source of funding to do what you intended to do, which we all would agree on to um pay teachers more um and increase your retention rate and recruit the best teachers.

This year, fasting forward uh four fast-forwarding four years, um, is there another pot of money um that could do what you need to do to increase teacher retention, increase teacher salaries, continue the same drive, uh like there I still contend there was four years ago.

Is there this year um or do you need this one mill to do just what you described?

Currently on the horizon, SR, as you will and just for the community to listen, Esser was uh given in three sections, one, two, and three.

First one for PPE, the second one at second and third at um district's discretions.

I was not in the state of Florida at the time.

I want to make sure everybody understands that.

But the concern I think that I've heard, and I think I shared with you is that when you take those types of funds and you invest them in people, knowing that they're going to expire, then you have to do one of two things when the funds expire.

You have to either let people go or you have to claw back out of their paycheck money that they've grown used to.

So no, the short answer, the shorter answer to that, but a longer precluded explanation prior to is really there is not another fund.

Um I think it's really important for our community to know that.

You know, because some people see a $3.3 billion budget, and they think he's got all the money he needs.

That is not that is not really true.

You have to figure $1001 billion of it comes right off the top in categorical funding.

Stuff that I cannot use for teacher salaries for a student for a textbook, their construction, their maintenance, there's other concerns.

Another $360 or $260 to $300 million is tied up in things like workmen's compensation benefits, um risk management, those types of things.

So you can already see where we're down.

Um there's a deck, there's then additional expenses in the remaining money, for instance, transportation, you would think would be a categorical from the state that they would give us specific money just to get kids to and from school.

We actually have to take that money from the same money that provides resources in our classrooms and teachers' salaries.

So by the time you whittle it down, this past year, we rolled the fund balance up.

I do want to make sure that the community understands we are moving in the right direction to be good fiscal stewards.

We moved from that near 3 percent state takeover position to five.

Five is the board's policy.

I have to have a 5 percent fund balance.

We invested um about 34 million dollars.

2.6 percent of that went to teachers and to educators and their salaries in order to boost morale and keep retention.

The other went into class size.

A year ago, I sat, well, a year ago last December, I sat in my office and was handed a list to send off to Tallahassee of 70 schools that were outside of um class size amendment.

The last time I checked, I put this hand down, I raised this one.

And I said I would be a good steward of the constitution of this state and of the national constitution.

We have a constitutional amendment on class size.

So we invested in class size this year.

I'm happy to report that at FTE time we only had two, and we have since fixed those two.

So we are in compliance with the constitutional amendment on class size.

Now, if your classes are still a little larger, Madam Councilwoman, I'm Madam Commissioner.

Um it goes back to those 275 vacancies, 250 vacancies that we have.

But if I don't have the vacancy, I can't hire the teacher.

So we've got to create the opening in order to create the opportunity.

Uh apologize, um Vice President Howland.

I just you gave me a segue, I thought I would advantage of it.

The question exactly is I needed it.

I appreciate it.

We're in a different spot than we were four years ago or in DCPS's in particular, because there's no large federal handouts of $300 million to the largest each to the largest school districts in the in the country.

Uh those were meant to address one-time uses.

Some put them towards teacher comp, hoping to continue that comp with a one mil in the future.

Um, and you put them or your predecessor to one-time uses, and that pot of money doesn't exist from the Federal Government this year.

That's what I needed to know.

Um thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

All right, we have one more speaker.

Councilwoman Clark Murray.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, through the chair to Superintendent Brunier.

Thinking about the teachers in Dubaugh County and the average number of years for a teacher, what does it cost to pay that teacher?

And I'm thinking about salary as well as benefits.

Uh the starting salary with benefits just what the starting salary for our district is very competitive.

We only have one district currently in our in our area that outdoes us, and that's Nassau County, is uh 487.

Um, our as our people move up, um, the average salary for an educator is around $75,000.

And let me turn to Mr.

Fagan.

Um, what's that is includes benefits?

No, what's benefit?

What's the percentage of benefit on top?

40 percent.

So there's a 40 percent uptick to that salary based upon benefits.

So based on that through the chair to um Superintendent Bronair, so we're looking at probably close to $90,000.

Somewhere, depending on the years of experience of a teacher, somewhere between 80 to 120.

There's been a lot of compression in our salary.

Our governor and our and the leadership in our state has done a really good job of investing in teachers, but it's mainly in TISA money, teacher incentive, and that is primarily targeted beginning salaries and beginning teachers.

What we have to do over time as we get more and more financially secure and we continue to raise our fund balance above that five percent minimum, then we have to start dealing with pulling apart the compression.

So essentially it costs.

The average teacher costs the district anywhere between 80 and 100,000.

Is that what you're saying?

Yes.

I just want to be sure I have somebody else who helped me say yes, ma'am.

And I I I thank you for that because that you know, of course, I'm I'm I'm I'm aware.

So I want those my colleagues to understand that when you put the when you vote to determine whether or not the one mill is going to go on the referendum, think about the cost of a teacher and how the one mill referendum is going to support those teachers, the cost of a teacher.

And once again, it's value, it's very important.

We want those young teachers, but you want to keep your veteran teachers because as the Bible says, they may be older, but they know the way and they can help the young.

Thank you.

All right.

We are closing up.

We have four minutes to go.

We have two more speakers.

Past Chair Willie, followed by Ms.

Bulduke, and then we'll wrap it up.

Yeah, uh, thank you, uh Mr.

President, for the opportunity.

And thank you, uh Superintendent Brunier for for your remarks and displaying exactly what the city has been asking for, and that is making sure that we continue to have a high quality school system.

Now an A-rated school system.

And I want to just use the word correlation.

When we think about this mill and what it's been able to do and provide for our teachers and our schools, you can drive around and see the improvements when you're driving around neighborhoods, whether it's turf fields, whether it's uh different roofs, whether it's all the different improvements that you see.

What I want to use the word correlation is because because of those measures, you now have an A-rated school district.

Because when when you look at uh why you vote for something, you say, Did it work?

Yes, you can see it working, and now you can also see it working in the percentages.

So I want to just thank every single teacher who's out there and every student as well.

Because students play a part in sitting in, uh consuming all of this knowledge, taking these tests to ensure that we have this as well.

So it's a it's a team effort, and this A rating doesn't happen with all the other pieces, whether it's this mill, whether it's the CTE work, making sure our students have the pathway that they need and desire to graduate.

So it's all these pieces working together.

So in my opinion, you can't tell people how to vote, but of course, I know where we need to vote, and that's yes, because at the end of the day, this is working, and we need to continue making sure it works for our kids.

I got kids in the system.

I want it to work for them, and it is working for them, and others do too.

So I'm just uh really proud of what we've done, not just as a school board, but as a city, because we all decided the voters decided to put this up, and now it's making great strides and improvements for us.

So thank you, Superintendent.

Thank you, staff, thank you, teacher students, and thank everybody in these two bodies for making sure that we continue to elevate our education system because that folds into everything else that happens in our city.

Thank you.

All right, my attorney told me I have a hard stop in two minutes, Ms.

Buldu.

Bring it home.

Thank you.

So I I don't need to echo anything that's already been said.

I don't like to ask for for more money, but I am concerned about our teachers.

And so, I mean, we've been looking, we've we've taken deep dives into this budget, and we still are.

And we will commit to do that, continue to do that.

But I did want to follow up with a question to Dr.

Brunier.

Would you please um let this body know what percentage of money in our budget goes toward teacher and staff salaries?

Because I think that's a really important number.

Give or take on in any any given year, you always expend in an organization about 85% of your available dollars in employee salaries.

And just so people understand, and I'll try not to go over the 30 seconds remaining.

Um we consolidate a school, we eliminate the cost of running the school, but we don't eliminate the cost of educating the children.

We still need the same amount of teachers when those two two schools combined.

So I want to make sure that's clear to the public as well.

Thank you, Ms.

Bulduk.

All right, thank you very much.

So we'll wrap when we uh uh chairwoman and I decided to have these joint meetings.

We said one thing to each other we don't want to meet just to meet.

We want to meet so we can not only collaborate, but we can have action and we can have sustainable progress from our meetings, and I think we've accomplished that.

So I hope that you continue this on.

Um future President Powell, not quite president-elect, but president full of pledges.

Um you're gonna be the guy.

So we hope you continue this work.

And uh if you have anything else to add, I'll just say thank you again to all the staff who came out and to Dr.

Brunier for great work.

Uh, we're not gonna have time for public comment today.

It is 12 o'clock and we are adjourned.

Members of the council, um, these posters.