Meeting Date: 12/09/2019
Time: 5:30pm
Place: Garland Boggus Board Room, School Board of Highlands County, 426 School Street, Sebring, FL 33870

Welcome and Roll Call: 5:31pm - Chair Curt Matthews opened the meeting and welcomed those attending the meeting.

Roll Call

Members present: Wendy Amos, Jason Biance, David Burnham, Diane Juve, Velma Lumpkin, Curt Matthews, and John Shoop.

Members absent: Lisa Branca, Chet Brojek, Tiffany Green, Maritza Telesky, Jennifer Waltman, and Joe Wright.

District Staff/Board present: Brenda Longshore, Mike Averyt, Frank Brown, Harry Howes, and Donna Howerton.

Approval of Minutes:

John Shoop made the motion to approve the minutes for the September 30, 2019 CAC meeting.
Diane Juve seconded the motion.
The motion passed with a unanimous vote.

Presentation of Income and Expenditures:

Chair Curt Matthews presented a Powerpoint on the revenue and expenditures. Also reported on was the hurricane repairs expenditures. Committee members inquired about FEMA and insurance reimbursements. Mike Averyt, Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations, reported that not all reimbursements had been received. He estimated that only $500,000 had been received.

Motion made by John Shoop to accept reports as presented. Diane Juve seconded. Motion passed with a unanimous vote. All documents reported on are attached, and made part of these minutes.

2020-2021 Capital Projects:

Mike Averyt reported on the capital project list for fiscal year 2019-2020. All documents reported on are attached, and made part of these minutes. Motion was made by Wendy Amos to accept the reports as presented. John Shoop seconded. Motion passed with a unanimous vote. All documents reported on are attached, and made part of these minutes.

Mr. Averyt reported on a Marjorie Stoneman Committee recommendation that windows be tinted. Opaque window tinting is being considered. He also reported that school principals are currently submitting their project lists for consideration, and that the annual school board walk-through is scheduled for January 16th and 17th.

Department Updates and Reports:

Transportation – Mike Averyt reported that a total of 27 new buses have been received. 9 more buses have been ordered for next year, and should be received in July. Also reported was the ID software for tracking students on elementary school buses.

John Shoop proposed that funds be set aside for the replacement of buses beyond the timeframe of the Half-cent Sales Tax.

Facilities – Mr. Frank Brown, Director of Facilities, reported that all fencing is complete at every school. Work on gates and codes for the gates are being completed.

Technology - Harry Howes reported on the school district’s phone systems – with Lake Country being the oldest. The department’s plan is to have all the district office’s phone systems connected by the end of Summer 2020, and then phase in all the schools. 1300 phones still needed. Mr. Howes also reported that we are about halfway to getting all teachers laptops: 50 more laptops are needed.

Calendar of Meetings:

Next CAC meeting will be after the school walk-throughs on January 27th at 5:30pm.

Other Business:

General discussion of communicating with the public about the goals and progress made in our schools because of the Half-cent Sales Tax.

Membership: It was decided that membership be addressed at the January meeting.

Adjourn: 6:28pm – John Shoop motioned to adjourn. Diane Juve seconded.