Leon County School Board Meeting Notes

By Lynsey Kirk April 15, 2021 (Updated April 19, 2021)

News items from the April 13, 2021 Leon County School Board meeting.

Leon County School Board recognized Senior Kyle McGill of Lawton Chiles High School. McGill was crowned state wrestling champion in March, when he beat a Fort Myers student 3-1. McGill was undefeated 30-0 while maintaining a 3.4 GPA. McGill is Chiles’ High first State Champion and the 5^th in Leon County.

Scott Mazer spoke on behalf of the Leon Classroom Teachers Association. Mazer acknowledged that in August, under the leadership of the Committee, they moved forward with a memorandum of understanding to “hold harmless all of the instructional staff” for high stakes state testing scores due to the pandemic. The result is that there are no Value-added measures (VAM) associated with the test scores, which would leave teachers vulnerable during evaluations.

Mazer also mentioned the Senate Bill 84 which will modify provisions governing participation in the state pension. He urged people to reach out to members of their local government to vote against the bill.

Veronica Scott, the Executive Assistant to the Director of Transportation James Cole, spoke about a project she and members of the Department of Transportation team worked on to raise donations for feminine sanitary products. Scott was inspired during the March 23 Board meeting when she heard two students, Amya Waymon and Arsha Harris raise awareness for the Girl Flow Project. Scott spearheaded a campaign which procured over 7,000 sanitary napkins for the project, for distribution across school campuses in Leon County.

The Southside Rotary Club is hosting a Youth Global Service Day, on April 25^th from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event will encourage discussion regarding the emotional and economic impact of COVID-19 on the youth in the community. There will be councilors available to help foster discussion and information on how the Rotary Club is available to assist the community.