Tavares, FL Oct. 29, 2015
Here are notes on what happened at the Lake County School Board Oct. 26, 2015 afternoon workshop. They are by Jim Krakowski, past President of the South Lake 912 Project Group, who was there and here is what he said (I was not there):
Vance Jochim
My Comments / Observation – School Board Meeting
October 26, 2015
(Jim Krakowski 10/29/15)
Monday’s SB Workshop agenda covered several issues:
• Update on the District’s Wellness Centers
• Request of the Educational Foundation for an additional staff to focus on grants
• Textbook management update
• Discussion of purchasing an additional 10 acres for future elementary school in Tavares
• Overview the District’s strategic plan
• Initial review of performance metrics for the superintendent
• LifeStream’s request for funds
• Internal audit review of:
o Construction audit of Eustis Heights ES
o Grassy Lake ES
o Physical inventory
• Proposed sales tax proposal regarding future bonding of sales tax revenues
Wellness Centers The District’s health services for employees is self funded and done via three
Wellness Centers. One of the problems these centers are experiencing is “Appointment No-Shows”.
Over a 12 month period (9/14 – 9/15) there were a total of 1,535 No Shows to the District (at a cost
according to the CFO) of approximately $60 per appointment or $92,100, plus those needing services
had to go to other sources or wait.
Currently, scheduled appointments are being followed up via telephone calls by staff and via emails to the patient. One of the proposed solutions is to:
o Send letter for first no show
o Send “warning” letter for second no show
o Third – and forth no show charge the patient $25 for each
o Fifth no show suspend patient for 6 months
Both SB members Brandeburg and Mathias suggested stronger measures …. Increasing no show fee
and earlier suspension instead of waiting for the fifth no show.
My Comments It’s been my experience that if there is no meaningful value or consequences for
services rendered, those receiving the service will not put a value to those services. In my opinion,
the employee should be charged for all missed appointments.
Education Foundation’s Request for an additional staffer: Their purpose is to act as a conduit for private sector investment and community involvement in the school district via donations. Staff for the Foundation cannot by statute be funded via donated funds. With the current staff of 4, the Foundation has been able to raise over $1.5 million in donations.
The additional position requested will focus on community donor liaison with the
objective of maintaining and increasing dollars to the Foundation directly and the District indirectly. Mr.
Mathias suggested this position be a “commission” basis, but the Foundation Director indicated that
Florida statutes would not allow this type of compensation plan.
My Comments It’s unfortunate that Mr. Mathias’ approach is not allowed. Seeing what the
Foundation has been able to do with 4 staff, this seems to be a worthwhile investment both for
increasing donations, maintaining relationships with existing donors and keeping the community
involved in our school district.
Textbook Management update was presented by staff. This included the current status of
establishing a workable process and SOP’s for the management of the District’s textbooks to include
what textbooks are currently in inventory throughout the District (warehouse and schools) and the
implementation of programs and processes to monitor that inventory
Plan for an additional 10 Acre Addition to adjacent property for a future elementary or K-8 in the Tavares area.
My Comments It would make sense to purchase this property if:
o Future growth (next 3 – 5 years) justifies the need for additional student stations
o The price for the parcels is equal or less that current fair market value
o As Ms. Brandeburg indicated, that there is accessibility via existing roads or agreement with
local government to build needed access.
o There are no existing environmental issues (e.g. relocation of skinks, turtles, etc)
The Strategic Plan was presented as an overview and to be reviewed and modified in more detail at a
future Workshop meeting. Without going into the detail ( I’ll wait for the future Workshop meeting), All
of the components to a Strategic Plan seemed to be addressed:
o Stated mission statement
o Stated vision statement
o Strategies
o Tactics to meet those stated strategies
My Comments It has been my experience with strategic plans is they “look nice and colorful”; they
are enthusiastically presented to the stakeholders; and after all is done they end up “on the shelf’
until the next strategic planning session. In order to have an effective strategic plan there must be
the elements mentioned above plus:
o Detailed action plans with specific metrics (I AGREE with this one. The Schools don't do it. VJ)
o Employees / staff who are responsible for those action plans
o Dates / times when those action are to be completed
o Frequent status reviews
Hopefully all of the above will be a part of the future workshop meeting.
Performance Metrics for the superintendent were prepared and presented by Ms. Luke. The idea of
having a monetary incentive tied to specific measurable metrics is a good step forward and more in
line with what is done is the business community. I believe in the concept, and hopefully it will be
further developed by all of the SB members.
LifeStream Behavioral Services has been providing counseling and guidance services for LC
students for a number of years. They indicated that they are operating at a deficit with one of their “in
school” programs and are asking for the District to help fund this program. Medicaid is reimbursing
this LifeStream program, but those funds are not covering their costs. As stated by Dr. Moxley,
although they do provide a great service to the District, there are no funds available without taking
dollars out of the classroom, and she, along with the SB members, are in agreement. The District will
go to other organizations who may be able to provide this specific student service.
Internal Audits of Eustis Heights construction, administrative audit relating to Grassy Lake ES and
the District’s physical inventory. District Audit Director Tom Mock specifically identified the scope, results and recommendations for each area. Without identifying specifics, Mr. Mock was able to identify areas of recommended improvements.
If these improvements were made it would allow the District to:
o Increase productivity
o Reduce costs
o Better manage construction contracts.
My Comments The Internal Audit position and Mr. Mock in particular has been a great benefit to
the District. The president of the company I worked for had a saying “…what gets measured gets
done…” and I believe these types of meaningful audits is a part of the “measurement” process. (As a former Internal Audit Director, I agree - VJ)
Proposed sales tax proposal regarding future bonding of sales tax revenues Bill Mathias had
proposed a SB policy stating that a separate advertised discussion and vote if the District is going to
bond any part of the 1/3 sales tax revenue.
Finally, an update on the Pinecrest Lake Academy Charter Application - Pinecrest Charter is
currently operating nine high performance charter schools in the Central Florida area (Correction - I believe it is ONE school in Orlando and all the others are in the Miami area - VJ).
The SB reviewed their application at a previous SB Workshop meeting, and this review indicated Pinecrest has all of the key elements to be an asset to the District … an academic experienced staff, finance stability, proven track record, etc. The SB had several additional questions for Pinecrest that they satisfactorily answered and at the October 26th regular SB meeting, their application was approved by all SB members. The charter school will be located in the Montrose area ( Where is that? I don't think this is correct - I think it is in the Minneola area - VJ) and if past Pinecrest school performances are any indication, this new charter school should also be A rated … a welcomed rating in a District that has 5 F rated schools.
You can contact Jim Krakowski at: james krakowski [[email protected]]
