By Danny Federico Riverbend News
The Suwannee County School Board (SCSB) held a brief public hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at 5:55 p.m. in the School Board Meeting Room, located at 1740 Ohio Ave. S, in Live Oak. Board members in attendance were: Jerry Taylor, District 1; Norman Crawford, District 2; Tim Alcorn, District 3 and board chairman; Ed Da Silva, District 4; Ronald White, District 5 and Superintendent Ted Roush.
During the public hearing, the public was allowed the opportunity to comment on revisions made to the SCSB Policy Manual, including: revisions to 2.09, School Improvement and Educational Accountability; revisions to 2.15, School Board Adopted Plans; revisions to 6.214, Resignations and revisions to 8.27, School Construction Bids. As there were no comments from the community on these revisions, the public hearing was adjourned at 5:57 p.m.
A brief recess was held until 6 p.m., when the board proceeded to move into the scheduled regular meeting, which was opened with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Once the meeting was opened, Superintendent Roush recognized 21 members of Future Farmers of America (FFA) for winning awards at the 2021 State FFA Convention.
Florida FFA members honored from Branford High School's (BHS) middle school grades, included: Ella Clark, Natalie Clark, Carly Robinson and Wren Wilkerson, who all placed third in the Poultry Evaluation/Judging Team. In addition, Wilkerson also placed second in Poultry Judging.
Florida FFA members honored from BHS's high school grades, included: Colton Allen, who was named the state winner in Agricultural Mechanics Design and Fabrication Proficiency and awarded a State FFA Degree; Courtney Bradow, Jeremy Byrd and Dara Cannon, who were each awarded a State FFA Degree; Nile Bryant, who was a Goat Production Proficiency finalist; Dallas Frierson, who was an Equine Proficiency finalist, a State FFA Star Farmer finalist and was awarded a State FFA Degree; Halleigh Ray Harris, who was a state winner in Poultry Production Proficiency; McKayden Wilkerson, who was a state winner in Agriscience Research Proficiency; Barrett Young, who was named the FFA Area II State Vice President, named Florida Association of Agricultural Educators (FAAE) Student of the Year, a State FFA Star Placement finalist, a Diversified Agriculture Proficiency finalist, a Diversified Crop Production Proficiency finalist and was awarded a State FFA Degree and Dallas Young, who was a state winner in Forage Production Proficiency and a State FFA Star Chapter Degree finalist.
In addition, the Branford FFA Chapter was the state winner of the Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Award, placed third in Alumni Shop Project, placed third in 100 percent Membership, placed third in Florida's Finest and placed third for the Agriculture Advocacy Award.
Florida FFA members honored from Suwannee Middle School, included: Noah Garrison, Braxton Landis, Ryland Lawson and Cooper Lee, who all placed third in the Land Judging Team.
Florida FFA members honored from Suwannee High School (SHS), included: Maddie Carte, who was a State FFA Star Greenhand finalist; Jose Irisarri, who was a Dairy Production Proficiency finalist and Kati Taylor, who was the state winner in Wildlife Management Proficiency and a Feeder Steer Proficiency finalist.
In addition, the Suwannee FFA Chapter was named the state winner of the SAE Award and the SHS Alumni Chapter was the state winner of the Outstanding Alumni Affiliate Award.
Once all recognitions were made, the floor then opened for citizen input. During this time, Suwannee County resident Anita Williams stood before the board to discuss accountability in educational diversity. Williams stated she had been contacted by other members of the community about diversity in the schools. She went on to commend the board for some positive changes she's seen in SHS with staff reflecting the diversity of the community. However, she stated the community is concerned about the recent hiring of Adrienne Taylor to the Dean of Students position at Suwannee Riverside Elementary.
"You had three very qualified applicants for the dean position" Williams said. "We were very concerned when you hired a young teacher with no leadership skills and she just happened to be the daughter of your school board vice chair...We need more African American males in leadership roles in our lower grades, as well as more teachers that reflect the community as a student body. More importantly, the community wants to be assured that the most qualified persons for all positions are hired without perception of nepotism..." She then went on to state how she would like the community to be able to assist in recruiting, not hiring, young African American teachers. Williams stated the community would like to be involved in directing qualified applicants to positions within the district.
There were no other comments from the public, so the board went on to approve the adoption of the agenda, as well as consent agenda items, which included: the approval of minutes from meetings held on July 12, July 20 and July 27; the approval of the monthly financial statement for July 2021; the bills for July, which came to a total of $2,842,996.56; the approval of budget amendments; the approval for disposal of property; the approval of the renewal of resolution 2022-01R Affirming Participation in the Small School District Council Consortium; the approval of the renewal of resolution 2022-78 Suwannee County School Board Professional/Technical Services Agreement between the SCSB and Palmer Physical Therapy, LLC; the approval of student transfers for the 2021-22 school year and the approval of human resources transactions.
The board then moved on to the regular agenda items, which involved the approval of: additions and revisions to the SCSB Policy Manual; the advertisement of the revision of SCSB Policy Manual number 3.20, regarding the Pledge of Allegiance and the Solemnizing Message; two contracts for the 2021-22 school year: a Professional Services Agreement between Suwannee County Public Schools and Catapult Learning, LLC, for Holy Cross Christian Academy and a Suwannee County School Board Professional/Technical Services Agreement between the School Board of Suwannee County and Tracy Henderson to provide educational consulting services; the appointment of Vice Chairman Taylor to serve as the district's trustee on the Florida School Boards Insurance Trust for the 2021-22 school year; the 2021-22 Professional Learning Catalog and AGE and Postsecondary Student Fees for RIVEROAK Technical College.
After each item on both the consent agenda and regular agenda were discussed and approved, the floor opened for board members to make their final comments or voice any issues they had. It was at this time board members congratulated all the FFA members who were honored earlier in the meeting for their hard work. Vice Chairman Taylor also took this time to address the comments made by Williams, who had exited the room shortly after making her initial statements and did not return until the meeting was adjourned.
"I'm tired of people coming in here and making accusations that are either completely false or a half-truth...My daughter had 13 years of classroom experience and, during that time, she (learned) how to handle discipline in school. To intimate that she received that position because she is my daughter, is bull. I didn't sit in on her interview committee. When she told me what she was planning to do, I said 'you're stepping out in another arena.' But, to her credit, she's taken it upon herself to move up, because she wants to be part of the solution in this district, not part of the problem," Vice Chairman Taylor said.
"And for her (Williams) to sit here and say she (Dean Taylor) didn't have any experience and she probably received her job because of who I am, I take great umbrage to that. I'm sick and tired of people coming here and making accusations when there's no premise for their accusations to solely smear someone...That's doing nothing for this district but harm it...I'm tired of it. To insinuate that we're hiring people simply because of the color of their skin...We're looking for the best candidates. I don't care if they come in here and have polka dots. I don't care if they have stripes like a zebra. If they're the best qualified person for the position, then that's who we hire, because we're looking out for the welfare of the students in this district. I'm tired of people making those accusations, because it reflects on [Superintendent Roush] and his staff."
Superintendent Roush also spoke up, stating at no time during the hiring process was he contacted by Vice Chairman Taylor or Dean Taylor regarding the position. He went on to say he learned about the application through Suwannee Riverside Elementary Principal Marsha Tedder, who went through the screening of the applicants.
The next SCSB meeting will be a workshop session on Tuesday, Sept. 14, at 9 a.m. in the School Board Meeting Room, located at 1740 Ohio Ave. S, in Live Oak.