Listed below are notes from the July 27th Leon County School Board meeting.
During the LCSB meeting Tuesday, with over one thousand viewers, more than 40 speakers, including parents, teachers, and students, gathered to weigh in on the school board’s decision regarding the mask policy and procedure for quarantining students in possible COVID-19 cases. At times the discussion was heated, as many supported and many were against a mask optional policy. Also, several speakers voiced concerns over race and discrimination.
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Mr. Stanley Sims, a concerned citizen, who is African American, criticized the parents who were discussing discrimination issues involving children depending on their vaccination status, asserting that they shouldn’t discuss discrimination, after African Americans have suffered so. He also, referenced the George Floyd incident, asking the crowd, “where were you” during that discrimination, and he referenced the January 6, 2021, protest at the capitol, stating “this ain’t January 6th.”
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Superintendent Rocky Hanna commented after the public speakers, stating, “we are caught in crossfire of recommendations” from federal and state governments, but they are trying to make the best decisions possible, “we want to do what is best for our children, to keep them safe and educate them.”
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Chair Georgia Bowen, addressed the speakers and stated, “we have listened to all of you this evening, we heard your fears, your frustrations, and your anger, but we are with you, we have not run away.” She assured them the children’s safety and education is their top priority.
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Board member Darryl Jones made his concerns about the mask optional policy known during the meeting. He questioned why we would make changes to a mask policy that seemed to work so well last school year, especially now that the positive cases of COVID are on the rise.
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Alva Striplin stated she fully supported Hanna and believes by requiring masks shuts “down one group’s options and that is not what we are about in Leon County.” She also commented on the tone of the meeting, full of frustration, she stated it is “…unfortunate and I hate to say it may not be the last of some controversial opinions and feelings.”
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Rosanne Wood agreed with Mr. Jones, and told Hanna that they will agree to disagree, about the mask policy being mandatory. She also commented that it is easier to be strict in the beginning and to loosen the restrictions as the year unfolds and progresses. Hanna disagreed with Ms. Wood regarding tight restrictions, he stated that the policy can be changed if they begin to see children impacted by the virus.
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Assistant Superintendent Dr. Alan Cox stated the current health plan will continue with many of the precautions which kept students safe last school year, but the plan will remain flexible. Leon County will have a mask optional policy. Leon County Schools will not have Digital Academy, but Canvas will remain available to get schoolwork to students who are sick or quarantined. The school plan is available on the LCSB website under “In Class.”
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As of July 22, 2021, Leon County was at a positivity rate of 14.7% for COVID cases and 51% of the population is vaccinated. The state of Florida’s positivity rate for children under 12 years is 15.4% and children 12 to 19 years of age is 18.8%.
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During the Leon County School Board (LCSB) meeting, Superintendent Rocky Hanna recognized A Full Summer Inc., who raised $39,000 to stock eight food pantries for two years to help keep children in supply of daily meals.
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Becca Peirce spoke on behalf of the Junior League of Tallahassee, this year is the 25th anniversary of the Kid’s Boutique Program, where children can pick out a whole new outfit and new shoes and will also receive a backpack full of school supplies, at no cost to them. This year the Junior League is sponsoring 200 students.
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The Board heard from the Foundation for Leon County Schools. The Foundation awarded a total of 32 grants totaling $122 thousand during the 2020-2021 school year. Some of the programs the Foundation funded were, Internet for All, Girl Flow Project, and the Bicycling Repair Program.
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The public hearing for the 2021-2022 Leon County School year budget occurred during the meeting. The hearing was advertised in the Democrat and on the Board website in preparation for the meeting, there were no public speakers. The budget passed unanimously, with Mrs. DeeDee Rasmussen not present. The final budget hearing will be held during the LCSB meeting on Tuesday, September 7, 2021.
LCS Meeting Briefs July 27th, 2021 added by Lynsey Kirk on
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The county administrator is telling certain public facing country employees that they must be vaccinated by October or be terminated.
Was this covered at the meeting? Voted on? Or is this just another fascist dictat?
America is dead.
@Tony… there is merit in your premise. Children who do not wear face diapers will surely be targeted by the teachers and administrators, bullied, ostracized, and marginalized.
Notice how the opposing viewpoints of the parents are characterized as fears, frustrations, and anger. This is by design. No mention of facts, science, parental rights, or common sense… again, by design.
The Mask is Optional, that means it is your OPTION to have YOUR Kid wear it or NOT. If you want your Kid in a Mask, YOU have that OPTION. What I see here is, Mommy doesn’t want to be the Bad Mommy by making her Kid wear a Mask when other Kids are NOT wearing one. If the School Board makes it mandatory then MOMMY is no long the BAD Mommy, she can now blame it on the School Board.
Mr. Sims is a racist of color, his comments alone illustrate that. I watched the full meeting and I don’t see mentioned that the Kommissars briefly discussed limiting citizen input to one minute based on all the folks that showed up. Nothing official of course, because that may not be legal or against the Kommissar’s rules. But rules can be changed. I also don’t see mention of the Scruel Board “Equity” Committee? Of course Kommissar Jones was asking about this, why wouldn’t he. Anything that says “Equity” is nothing short of establishing a racist committee to target certain groups within our Scruels.
There are white parents concerned about discrimination against their children. There are black parents concerned about discrimination against their children. There are parents worried about children wearing masks and about children not wearing masks.
If you are a parent worried about your child reading at grade level and generally being well educated and not indoctrinated, you need to leave the traditional public school system any way you can and as soon as you can.
One of the things discussed, was to put on the parent portal (FOCUS) a place where parents could opt their student in or out of wearing a mask. It was my understanding that Mr. Hanna said that he wanted to leave it up to the parents to send in notes with their child if they wanted them to wear one. My question now is, why when I signed into FOCUS today, under “Test History” is there a statement that says “Parent requests student wears a mask” with a “x” marked next to it. There is nowhere on the site to un-check that box. And why is it hidden under the Test Scores, and not under Health Forms?
I am so glad we will be homeschooling permanently. What a shit show!