The School Board of Escambia County, Florida, convened in Special Meeting at 9:01 a.m. in the Board Room at the Administrative Building, 215 West Garden Street, with the following present:

Vice Chairman: Dr. John DeWitt

Members: Mr. Jim C. Bailey

Mrs. Barbara Morris

Mrs. Vanette Webb

School Board Attorney: Mr. Louis F. Ray, Jr.

Superintendent of Schools: Mr. Jim May

The invocation was led by Mrs. Linda English, Administrative Secretary to the Superintendent, and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mrs. Barbara Morris, Board Member. Dr. John DeWitt, Board Vice Chairman, explained that he would chair the meeting as the Chairman, Dr. Elmer Jenkins, was attending the State Textbook Committee meeting.

I. ADOPTION OF AGENDA

Motion to adopt the agenda was made by Mrs. Morris and seconded by Mr. Bailey. The motion was unanimously approved.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion was made by Mrs. Morris and seconded by Mr. Bailey to approve the minutes of the 11/17/97 Regular Board Workshop and the 11/18/97 Regular Board Meeting that were submitted for approval at this meeting.

Mrs. Webb said she had a problem with the minutes as submitted and asked the other three Board Members and the Superintendent if they felt comfortable with these minutes. Dr. DeWitt, Mr. Bailey, and Mr. May replied in the affirmative. Mrs. Morris said that she had moved to approve these minutes; however, she had one correction to make.

Mrs. Webb commented that these were not the same minutes that were tabled at the December meeting and questioned why they were the ones submitted for approval at this meeting. Mr. May explained that these were consensus, or summary, minutes that had been prepared in accordance with Board action at a previous Board Meeting when all five Board Members had voted that summary minutes be presented and approved. Mrs. Webb asked if it was not appropriate that the tabled minutes be the ones brought back before the Board to be approved. Mr. Ray stated that Mrs. Webb might be correct; if there was a motion to table the minutes that had been submitted for approval at the December meeting, those should probably be the ones brought back. Dr. DeWitt stated that the motion just made was not for approval of the tabled minutes but the ones submitted for this meeting.

Mrs. Morris explained that the minutes for the November meetings were submitted within the ten day time frame as requested by the Board Members. There were some changes requested by her as well as by Mrs. Webb. The copies of the revised minutes were submitted to the Board office the day prior to the December meeting. Therefore, there were two sets of minutes presented--the first set within the required time frame, and a second set that was a not a summary, but a lengthy set with extensive changes. The Board did not have time to read this second set, and no minutes were approved. When the motion was made at the December to table the minutes--there were actually two different sets of minutes. The only minutes to the Board for this meeting was the original set. Mr. Ray said he had not been aware of the two sets of minutes.

Mrs. Webb said she had been told that once the minutes were prepared and presented, that it was a Board Member's responsibility to be sure that they were accurate and that they represented what happened at the meeting. She had exercised that responsibility and gone to the secretary and Mr. Watson because the minutes were not accurate and did not represent her concerns conveyed at the meeting. The changes she had requested were included in the revised minutes submitted to the Board for approval at the December meeting. She said she wanted the minutes approved at this meeting to reflect those changes. She felt it was improper for the Board to act on anything but the one set of minutes that were tabled at the December Board meeting.

Mr. Ray reminded the Board that the basis for their taking official action to go to action minutes was to eliminate a lot of the discussion that had previously been the custom in this District to include in the minutes. He also stated that regular minutes, according to Roberts Rules of Order, should mainly contain a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said by the members. He felt that the decision of the Board to go to action minutes was a proper decision. If anyone wished to add to the minutes that had been presented at this meeting, the proper procedure would be to make a motion to amend those minutes to include certain facts.

Mrs. Webb stated Florida Statute 230.23, Duties and Powers of the School Board, paragraph (b), states that "the minutes shall show the vote of each member present on all matters on which the board takes action. It shall be the duty of each member to see to it that both the matter and his or her vote thereon are properly recorded in the minutes. Unless otherwise shown by the minutes, it shall be presumed that the vote of each member present supported any action taken by the board in either the exercise of, violation of, or neglect of the powers and duties imposed by the board by law or legal regulation, whether such action is recorded in the minutes or is otherwise established. It shall also be presumed that the policies, appointments, programs, and expenditures not recorded in the minutes but made and actually in effect in the district school system were made and put into effect at the direction of the school board, unless it can be shown that they were done without the actual or constructive knowledge of the members of the board." The Statute also states that it is the power and duty of the school board to "require minutes and records to be kept." We are to "require the superintendent, as secretary, to keep such minutes and records as are necessary to set forth clearly all actions and proceedings of the school board." A Board Member's vote was an action, and her concern was a proceeding, and she wanted her concerns to be accurately conveyed in the minutes as they had been submitted to Mr. Watson.

Mr. Ray said that he had read the statute himself just prior to this meeting and did not believe that the portion that she read, in any way, supported her position that discussion must, under the law, be included. He felt what she had read supported Roberts Rules of Order, and what appears in Board action, to go to action minutes. Proceedings are things other than meetings, such as hearings. Proceedings are not discussion of Board Members or discussions of citizens that address the Board.

Mrs. Webb disagreed with Mr. Ray's interpretation and stated, again, that she wanted everything she had submitted to the secretary reflected in the minutes. Mr. Ray asked if that was a motion for an amendment. Dr. DeWitt said the motion on the floor was to approve the minutes that were submitted with the current meeting packet. As maker of the motion at the December meeting regarding the minutes, his intent was to table the revised minutes. Mr. Ray advised that Mrs. Morris had moved to approve the minutes as originally presented which were the action minutes. He felt Mrs. Webb was making a substitute motion to substitute the revised minutes for the original minutes. Mrs. Webb said she did not think so.

Mrs. Morris, as maker of the motion, rephrased her motion to "delete the revised minutes and to approve the original minutes that were submitted to the Board in the time frame they had requested, with one change for clarification . Page 7 of the November 17 workshop minutes, third paragraph, states 'that the purpose of this statewide committee is to advocate the greatest state support for educational technology.' She had asked that this be changed to reflect her statement, which was 'to advocate greater state support for educational technology.'" She had asked that this sentence be changed, however, when the secretary went back to the original minutes, this change was not made. As seconder of the motion, Mr. Bailey agreed to this motion change.

Mrs. Webb asked Mr. Ray if one School Board Member had the right to delete, or did a body of a board have the right to delete the remarks of one Board Member if, in fact, it could be proven that her statements were accurate. Nothing that she had requested be put in the minutes was inaccurate. Her question was, could a Board Member be denied her rights to include her remarks. Mr. Ray stated that the decision could only be made by action of the full Board and not by one Board Member. He added that all official action taken must be included. Under Roberts Rules, and under the Board's previous action to go to action minutes, the Board could delete discussion. Mrs. Morris stated that the original minutes covered who voted for the motions, who voted against them, and comments that were made. The Board was charged by law to be sure the minutes reflect the meeting, and that was what those minutes did.

The following speaker was recognized:

Mr. Frank McCarthy, 2371 Berrydale Rd., Pensacola 32534, expressed concerns that the minutes of November 18 were not available for his review when they were requested earlier that week.

Mrs. Morris's motion to delete the revised minutes and approve the original minutes as resubmitted for this meeting, was approved 3/1 with Mrs. Webb voting NO.

Mr. Jerome Watson, Deputy Superintendent, asked for confirmation that action minutes were to be prepared and presented to the Board. Mr. May said that the Board directed. At the present time, the Board had directed that action minutes were to be done. If all five Board Members were to request verbatim minutes, it would not be possible to get them out within the ten-day time period. Preparing action minutes, as directed by the Board, allows that to be accomplished.

Dr. DeWitt stated that he felt the action minutes would be the ones they would receive in ten days. If any changes to those action minutes would be made officially at the next Board meeting.

III. ITEMS FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT

1. Request approval of the following appointment with assigned paygrade on the professional salary schedule to be effective 1/23/98:

Newchurch, Greg Construction Project Manager PG 13/1

Motion was made by Mrs. Morris and seconded by Mr. Bailey, to approve the above appointment.

Mrs. Webb asked what the paygrade increase was for this item and the reason for that increase. Mr. May advised that the former position was a paygrade 11 and was for a building inspector. The new title and paygrade increase was due to additional responsibilities and duties and also a degree requirement degree. He advised that he would provide Mrs. Webb with the increased dollar amount.

The motion was approved 3/1 with Mrs. Webb voting NO.

2. FOR INFORMATION ONLY: Classrooms First Program - Lottery Bond Proceeds. (This item will be on the January 27 meeting agenda for Board action. )

Mr. May explained that this item was in regards to the 26.4 million dollars that was to be bonded through the state lottery program. Information had been received from the state department on January 5. This required action on a very short time line as certain state requirements must be met in January. A list of priorities would be presented to the Board for their approval at the January Board meeting. Mrs. Patricia Wascom, Comptroller, presented a brief overview of HB-17A and the Classrooms First Program.

IV. PRESENTATIONS

A. EMPLOYEE GROUP INSURANCE NEEDS - COREY SHERMAN, AON CONSULTANTS

Mr. Charles Griffin, Director of Risk Management, introduced Mr. Corey Sherman of AON Consultants, and advised that Mr. Sherman would present the results of a study they had conducted dealing with the District's insurance and benefits program. Mr. May stated that this information had already been presented to District staff and the insurance committee. He felt the report would greatly benefit the Board, especially during the collective bargaining process and the discussion of employee benefits.

Copies of the information to be presented were distributed to the Board Members and the Superintendent. Mr. Sherman stated that the study process would be reviewed and detailed findings and recommendations of the study would be provided. Areas to be covered included: general issues affecting all employees; healthcare, which was what employees viewed as the most important benefit; the retirement program, probably the most misunderstood of all the benefits; and the full array of other benefits. The presentation would conclude by looking at the big picture--short-term recommendations to improve the current benefits as well as long-term recommendations. The purpose of this project was not to simply put the benefits under a microscope. The whole perspective of how well the programs were used, and the value to the employees needed to be assessed. Cost patterns, cost controls, and the administration of the program by the Risk Management Department were considered. They had met with individual Board Members, the Superintendent, District staff. and then groups of employees in the District. One major outcome of the study was that more emphasis needed to be placed in the area of communication. The employees need to be aware of all available benefits, what they mean, and what they can do to take advantage of those benefits. In conclusion, Mr. Sherman stated that the District had a very good plan with many strengths. The next step would be decide where to go from here--how the District would use the information gained from this study. Mr. May thanked the presenters for their thoroughness. He felt one major benefit of this presentation was that it conveyed to the Board and District staff how the employees feel and gave a national consultant's view on the quality of our program. He stated the Mr. Charles Griffin, Director of Risk Management, the insurance committee, and other District staff would review these recommendations. He requested that the Board make him aware of any concerns or suggestions they might have.

The meeting recessed at 12:05 p.m. and reconvened at 1:30 p.m. with all present.

B. DUTIES OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS AND SUPERINTENDENT - EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS OF FLORIDA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION AND FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF DISTRICT SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS

Dr. Wayne Blanton, Executive Director of Florida School Boards Association, and Mr. Marcus Johnston, Head of Florida Labor Relations Service, gave a presentation on duties of School Board Members and the Superintendent (for reference purposes, a verbatim excerpt of this presentation has been provided to each Board Member, and copy filed with the official minutes of this meeting). The official audio minutes of this presentation are available by request to the Information Services Department.

V. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.

Attest: Approved:

_______________________________ ________________________________

Superintendent Chairman