Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
In recent action on Monday, May 10, the Jefferson County School approved three of four items on the agenda and tabled a fourth, pending a representative from the county providing more information.
The three items approved involved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Jefferson County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Jefferson Somerset for the use of the school’s gym as an alternate care site in case of a catastrophic medical event; an agreement with the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC) for an inservice program that qualifies teachers to instruct special needs children; and approval of a list of written reasons for the board’s rejection of Somerset’s proposed virtual school.
At School Board Member Shirley Washington’s request, the board pulled from the agenda a preliminary grant application for the repair and renovation of the old high school gym on South Water Street, a project that the school district is supposed to pursue in conjunction with NextEra/Gulf Power.
In the case of the school gym at 50 David Road, the MOU allows the EOC to activate the facility as an alternate care site to provide patient care to individuals affected by a large-scale catastrophic emergency. The two-year agreement allows for use of the school’s equipment and other resources during the emergency and provides for cost reimbursements if modifications or damages occur to the structure or equipment during the emergency.
The PAEC agreement entails a total of 70 pages, with the first section focused on increasing the level of knowledge, expertise and understanding of educators working with students who are labeled gifted (children with superior intellectual development and capabilities), and the second section focused on enhancing the same skills for educators working with K-12 students diagnosed with the Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The program, each section of which adds an endorsement to an educator’s certificate, is intended to better prepare the latter by raising their awareness of the unique characteristics, emotional and social needs, and the other challenges and issues associated with the two respective groups.
Relative to the stated reasons for denial of Somerset’s virtual school application, the board voted 3-1 to forward a brief letter to the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) with an attachment listing each school board member’s reasons for voting to deny. Washington alone voted against the action, and School Board Member Sandra Saunders was absent.
School Board Attorney Thomas Reeves advised the board that the list of reasons it had cited at the previous meeting for denying the application sufficed as they were written in list form.
All that it would require for submitting to the FDOE, he said, was for the board to affix the list of reasons as Exhibit A to a brief letter written on official letterhead stationery. That, at least, was one option, he said. Another was to write a more formal letter, he said.
The board chose the first option, with the exception of Washington, who said she preferred a more professional presentation, preferably written by the attorney.
“I’m not in favor of sending a letter of this type to the Florida Department of Education,” Washington said. “It wouldn’t be my preference.”
Finally, the board tabled a discussion on the preliminary application for the repair and renovation of the old high school gym, a project that the Police Athletic League (PAL) champions.
Washington objected to the late placement of the item on the agenda. There also appeared to be confusion as to what the application entailed and what the board was committing to.
Washington asked that a county representative be requested to attend the board’s next meeting to explain the purpose of the grant and why the school board rather than the county should apply for the funding.
School Board Chairman Charles Boland, meanwhile, suggested that another option was for the school district to give the gym to the county, as the former had no use for it and never would. That was as far as the discussion went.
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