The School Board of Escambia County, Florida, convened in Special Emergency Meeting at 3:03 p.m. in the Board Room at the Administrative Building, 215 West Garden Street, with the following present:

Chairman: Dr. Elmer Jenkins Vice Chairman: Dr. John DeWitt

Members: Mr. Jim C. Bailey

Mrs. Barbara Morris

Mrs. Vanette Webb

Superintendent of Schools: Mr. Jim May

Chairman Jenkins called the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. for the purpose of addressing emergency actions due to Hurricane Georges. Mr. May asked if the Board would like Joe Hammons, Attorney to the Superintendent, to fill in for Lou Ray, School Board Attorney, who could not be present due to a previous commitment. The Chairman stated that it would not be necessary to fill in and Mr. May indicated that Mr. Hammons would be on standby.

I. ADOPTION OF AGENDA

Motion by Mr. Bailey, second by Mrs. Morris, to adopt the agenda, was unanimously approved.

II. ITEMS FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT

1. Hurricane Georges Emergency Actions

Mr. May stated that the employees are true heroes in this district because they opened shelters for

5000 people, participated in the operation of the Emergency Operations Center and provided a safe and secure environment for a good part of Escambia County's population during the hurricane. He expressed appreciation to all of those who contributed their time and efforts. Mr. Bailey noted that 800 marines were at the Washington High School shelter. Mr. May commented that our navy and marine partners assisted with cooking meals and contributed significantly to the order that occurred. Regarding emergency communications, Mr. May stated that cell phone usage was the primary form of communication available for personnel during the course of the hurricane.

Mr. May requested that each of the Assistant Superintendents give a brief presentation on the

status of events in the county. Mr. Gene Pettis, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, advised that schools will open tomorrow, Thursday, October 1. Any excused absences involving students or employees who have experienced hurricane-related difficulties will be handled on a case-by-case basis by the school site or work site administration. Permission will be requested from the Department of Education (DOE) to delay HFCT testing, originally scheduled for next week, until the following week. Concerning the FTE counting period next week, a meeting will be held Friday morning with principals and data clerks on facilitating the process, with principals to begin to work immediately with visiting teachers and others to identify those students who might need home visits. If necessary, a request for waiver may be considered. MIS has reported about 80% of the schools back on line with computer equipment. Regarding transportation, safety will be the primary concern and school buses will be routed to avoid hazardous condition areas. Beulah Charter School will open tomorrow, and Escambia Charter has not advised as yet.

Mr. Wallace Odom, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business Affairs, reported that today was payday and everything went well.

Mr. Jerome Watson, Deputy Superintendent, advised concerning food service that some alterations will be made for some schools that might not have the capability they normally have, but all children will have an opportunity to have lunches tomorrow.

Dr. Clarence Ladner, Special Assistant for School/Community Services, reported that the emergency plans that were in place went very well. He stated that he had visited all of the shelters except for the north end (Northview, Earnest Ward and Carver) and found that the principals were prepared, the cafeteria employees were there, and morale seemed to be very high. He stated that he stayed in touch with the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent, as well as facilities and maintenance staff during the hurricane, and county administration pulled duty at the Emergency Operations Center.

Dr. Jo Alice Tarwater, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, expressed that the employees did an exceptional job during this emergency. The principals and alternates in the centers were on duty and many principals stayed the whole time. Cafeteria managers were there to direct the Red Cross and the volunteers. Custodians were called in as needed. The emergency center was manned around the clock by administrative and professional people and the disaster team was on duty the whole time. The hiring freeze, which was to go into effect October 1, will be lifted until Friday, October 2, 1998, at 5:00 p.m. to allow the principals more time to make considerations in that they have been attending to emergency matters. In the morning, information concerning payroll will be sent to the schools as to how they will take care of the pay for the emergency days.

Mr. Charles Griffin, Director of Risk Management, stated that there are two avenues of recovery involved in recovering all of the costs from the hurricane. One will involve insurance losses. The smallest deductible on insurance for wind storm is $1,000,000, so we have a $1,000,000 deductible. Most of our efforts will be directed towards FEMA. Preliminary estimates of uninsured losses in the amount of $2,600,000 were provided to FEMA this morning. The adjustor has been here today and looked at some of the building damage. All costs associated with the hurricane will be assigned a project number for tracking purposes to make sure we have the proper records for FEMA.

Dr. David Epperson, Assistant Superintendent for Facilities Planning and Maintenance, expressed appreciation to maintenance, facilities, and custodial personnel who did a huge task in assisting with assessment and cleanup efforts. Dr. Epperson provided a handout listing damages, but noted that the status would change by the minute. He noted that Pensacola High School and Pine Forest High School were the only schools without power at this point and Gulf Power had indicated that power would be back on by 6:00 p.m. tonight. Sherwood Elementary School had the largest amount of damage, probably due to a tornado, that destroyed the roof of the cafeteria and will require roof replacement. Pensacola Beach Elementary School also had damages to the cafeteria area roof. Roofing contractors will estimate damages at about 13 school centers and will provide an assessment. The principals have provided information for evaluations needed to bring schools back on line and the schools will be safe and operational for tomorrow. Dr. Epperson stated that considering this was the third major hurricane in recent years, techniques have been refined to be able to move quickly and get these issues taken care of much faster.

Mr. Mark Pursell, Director of Maintenance Services, reported that major damage as a whole involved roof and water damage (interior and exterior), wet ceiling tiles and carpet, erosion, driveways and playgrounds that were washed out, and foundations under portables were washed out. Custodial substitute pools were used in the cleanup effort. Dr. Epperson noted that crews had to be pulled off of work being done on the new Board Room at the Hall Center; therefore, the room will not be ready for the October meeting but will probably be ready for the November Board Meeting.

Mr. May reported that the Governor came out to Bailey Middle School today and is going to set up a command post from which to survey the county.

Mrs. Morris commented that the Board had worked with the county over a period of years on several issues including drainage ditches and holding ponds, and she expressed concern that there is a problem with the holding pond by Navy Point Elementary School. She continued that the county had indicated that they would do a drainage ditch and would not drain Patton Drive into that holding pond; however, that is exactly what it is happening. The other drainage problem is at Escambia High School in that all of 65th drains onto

the Driver Education range. Mrs. Morris emphasized the need to let the county know that the Board is agreeable to work with them, but they need to work with us too and follow through with what they say they are going to do. Mr. Ted Kirchharr, Director of Facilities Planning, updated the Board on the situation at Navy Point, noting that the district's engineer designed a work plan for the county to use for their part of the work. After inspecting that work ten days ago, the engineer provided a report and pictures indicating that the county did not do what they were supposed to do. Mr. Kirchharr stated that the county had sent a letter related to concurrency efforts including site work associated with Tate High School gym and basically looking for cooperation on some work at Tate School Road. Mr. Kirchharr stated he wrote a letter back to Ms. Cindy Anderson at the county indicating that we could not agree to proceed until this problem gets resolved. He stated that he had also sent her a copy of the engineer's report and pictures in hopes of resolving the Navy Point issue before entertaining any work at Tate School Road. Mrs. Morris stated that because of various problems, she had asked at the last Board Meeting that we not go forward with roof work on one project or the work on Nine Mile Road until the county does something with the Edgewater property and Navy Point. She expressed that if Board action is necessary to close off that holding pond, she would be willing to make that motion. Dr. Epperson advised that a meeting had been scheduled last Friday with Bill Neron, county management, to discuss some of these issues and needs that the county should address in terms of reciprocity, and that meeting will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

Dr. DeWitt asked if the Dog Track Road property had been checked. Mrs. Webb stated for the record that she had requested that the Dog Track Road property be checked. Dr. Epperson responded that he plans to go out tomorrow to verify what the situation is on the west side.

Mrs. Webb inquired concerning replacement of damaged carpets and whether some type of anti- bacterial treatment could be done in the meantime. Mr. May advised that any carpets that were flooded will be removed and replaced. Mr. Griffin noted that we are not waiting until FEMA pays to replace carpets. Mr. Pursell added that custodial supervisors are overseeing cleanup efforts at the school sites.

Upon inquiry from Chairman Jenkins, Dr. Epperson stated that roof replacements would comply with code requirements to withstand 125 mph winds. Chairman Jenkins asked if flooding at Pensacola Beach Elementary had interfered with the plumbing. Mr. Pursell responded that the plumbing systems were operational and that there was some water damage with the intercom system and in the cafeteria where the roof was destroyed. He noted that all of the water damage had been cleaned up, according to the principal, so that the school can open. Chairman Jenkins inquired concerning problems with lift stations. Mr. Pursell stated that there were problems at all of the lift stations, but as of this morning, every lift station was back on line with the exception of one at Pensacola High School, which should be restored after power is back on. The Chairman asked if there were any electrical shutdowns where food products were stored. Mr. May stated there were and all safety precautions were taken including inspection of the food and meats by a food inspector, and some items were thrown away because it exceeded the time limit without refrigeration. Mr. Bailey asked if any structural assessment or stress testing would be done. Dr. Epperson stated that structural evaluations were occurring and if necessary, the structural engineer would be brought in to do an analysis. Mrs. Morris noted that two schools were still without power and asked if there were any schools that would not be able to serve meals. Mr. Watson responded no, that arrangements had been made with other schools to provide bag lunches as needed, and all of the schools open tomorrow will serve lunch. Dr. Epperson stated he had gotten word that power had been restored at Pine Forest High School, leaving only Pensacola High School without power at this time.

Mrs. Webb inquired concerning FEMA requirements. Dr. Epperson noted that staff will update the list of projects periodically and at a certain point, will meet with each of the principals to make sure that all of the issues that are part of the FEMA claim were identified and will then move into the claim process. Mr. Griffin noted there is no cutoff date on the process and that FEMA will send a representative from Tallahassee along with a federal representative to go to all schools and write damage survey reports on each school, which may take at least two months; however, that will not delay the carpet and roof replacements and we are proceeding with all of the property needs that have to be addressed.

The following recommendation was presented by the Superintendent and read by Dr. DeWitt in the form of a motion:

I move that the Board ratify and confirm any and all emergency actions taken by the

Superintendent September 30, 1998, in response to Category 2 Hurricane Georges

which damaged School District facilities on Sunday, September 27, 1998, and possibly

Monday, September 28, 1998. I also move, pursuant to School Board Rule 6Gx17-5.02(C),

that the Board approve, and authorize the Chairman to sign, any and all emergency

purchases and contracts made by the Superintendent without compliance with regular bid

procedures, provided that all such purchases and contracts shall be reported to the Board

within 30 days of their making. In view of the fact that compliance with regular bid

procedures would have delayed emergency measures necessary to prevent further damage

to school facilities, I am requesting this action.

The motion was seconded by Mr. Bailey. Chairman Jenkins called for the vote and the motion was unanimously approved

Mr. May stated that he had another request to make of the Board based on a conversation with the Office of the Commissioner of Education. He stated that by contract, personnel must be paid for emergency time at the double time rate of pay. Also by contract with the various professional groups, you cannot take out their pay for that same emergency time period. Mr. May stated that the cost to make up three days, with payment of personnel for three extra days, would run approximately $1,000,000 a day, and no monies are budgeted to cover $3,000,000 for three extra days of school. He requested that the Board consider as a motion "that the Board approve the Superintendent's request that the Commissioner of Education be asked to waive making up the three school days lost due to Hurricane Georges." Mrs. Morris so moved and the motion was seconded by Mr. Bailey. Chairman Jenkins stated that legal counsel had expressed that he was not sure that a waiver would come under the umbrella of being an emergency and thought perhaps we needed to consider advertising and vote on it later. Mrs. Morris discussed the emergency nature of this meeting and specified that a notice was advertised in the newspaper today and 24-hour advance notice was given to the media. Dr. DeWitt spoke in favor of using three makeup days (for hurricane emergencies) that had been approved as part of the calendar during spring break, and he asked if teachers would get extra pay for three makeup days. After discussion, Dr. Douglas Garber, Director, Employee Services, stated that spring break would be considered holiday pay for teachers. Mrs. Webb asked if salary costs could be factored in as district costs for insurance purposes. Mr. Griffin advised that FEMA would only cover cost of the emergency personnel, and the insurance policy is for property damage only.

Chairman Jenkins called for the vote and Dr. DeWitt registered a NO vote, stating that he did not think

we had an accurate figure and that the Board Attorney had indicated this was not an emergency item and had expressed that the Board should not vote on this. Mrs. Morris stated that the Board Attorney had not advised her in that regard. After discussion, the motion was approved 4-1 with Dr. DeWitt voting NO.

Chairman Jenkins thanked all of the employees who went the extra mile to make sure that everything was safe for the return of the children to school.

III. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 4:07 p.m.

Attest: Approved:

___________________________ _________________________________

Superintendent Chairman