Tavares, FL May 11, 2015
Are the Lake County, FL School Board members earning their $36,000+ salary by cramming board meetings with non-business awards, presentations and then only discussing ONE item on a 40+ item agenda?
I don't think so, and School District Board Chair Debbie Stivender's method of stacking the agenda with non-business items, preventing discussion of business items by putting them on the consent agenda, then limiting public input BEFORE an item is even discussed is un-acceptable.
At 6pm today, the regular Board meeting will be at the Lake County Administrative "round" Building in downtown Tavares. However, almost everything on the agenda is a "consent" item, meaning they won't discuss it.
Additionally, Chair Debbie Stivender keeps filling the agenda with MORE and MORE non-business presentations of awards which wastes the time of anyone waiting for business issues on the agenda. The agenda for this meeting includes ALL of the following presentations which could take an hour or more, so it means you give public input AFTER waiting for all of them to be completed. If you think Stivender is doing that to waste time so people won't wait to give public input, ask your School Board member why they allow such delays, and why they don't discuss progress on school improvement in the meetings.
Here is what is scheduled at the beginning of today's meeting before any discussions:
4.01 Presentation of the Gold and Silver School Awards (Carman Cullen-Batt, Executive Director of the Educational Foundation)
4.02 Recognition of the Scott Strong Memorial Scholarship Recipients (Carman Cullen-Batt, Executive Director of the Educational Foundation)
4.03 Presentation by Bank of America to Take Stock in Children (Carman Cullen-Batt, Executive Director of the Educational Foundation)
4.04 Recognition of the Tavares High School Students who placed in the 2015 Congressional Art Competition (Dr. David Christiansen, Chief Academic Officer)
4.05 District High School Athletic Recognition for Outstanding Achievement (Dr. Marilyn Doyle, Chief of Administration)
4.06 Recognition of Regional Scholars (Dr. Marilyn Doyle, Chief of Administration)
4.07 Recognition of Superintendent’s Reading Challenge Winners (Dr. David Christiansen, Chief Academic Officer)
4.08 Recognition of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) Schools (Dr. David Christiansen, Chief Academic Officer)
4.09 Recognition of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL Family Night Sponsors (Dr. David Christiansen, Chief Academic Officer)
4.10 Recognition of Career and Technical Student Organization National and/or State Winners (Dr. David Christiansen, Chief Academic Officer)
Stivender prevents discussion of many items by placing them on the "consent" agenda unless a Board member asks for the item to be "pulled" for discussion.
Thus today, there is only one item on the discussion agenda and almost 40 items won't be discussed. Items that are slated for automatic approval without discussion include the issue of hiring administrators and specialists as part of the Engage-LCS plan. They won't discuss a Florida Auditor General audit of Lake Schools that have many issues in it. They won't discuss some grants, the District Staffing Plan, any progress in grade rankings of schools, child abuse implemented in K-5 by using methods "not developmentally appropriate". They won't ask successful Principals to share 10 good practices and then ask low ranking Principals how they could implement them. They won't discuss the details of union negotiations and affect on taxpayer funds. They won't, and have not had a discussion of State and Federal mandates, list them and cost in dollars or teacher hours.
You get the idea. List what you think needs to be fixed, and the Board avoids scheduling those topics in evening meetings, but instead fill them with dog and pony shows. Kinda like the Romans providing Gladiator games to entertain them while not dealing with negatives.
It is time Chair Stivender and the Board earn their funds by shifting all the presentations to separate internal meetings, and discussing REAL business issues at the Board meetings.
If you agree, share this with other Lake County parents.
Vance Jochim