School Board — Superintendent search committee approved; school bell times slightly adjusted

Here’s the highlights of the Osceola County School Board’s meeting from March 21:

Recognition of life-saving volunteers: Several students, staff, and members of the St. Cloud community were recognized for their quick action in assisting with a medical emergency that took place several weeks ago during a middle school basketball playoff game at St. Cloud High.

The board commended the following people for their willingness to help someone in need and ability to jump in to save a life: St. Cloud High students Kaisley Carswell, Haley Collins, Jaelyn Bonilla and Kennedi Johnson; St. Cloud Middle and High Coach Chad Ansbaugh; St. Cloud Police Department Officer Stephen Burrows; Sergeant Kelly Burda from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office; and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Dr. Isaiah Moser.

OCSA Jazz Band raising money for trip to NYC: In addition to performing at the meeting and being recognized as part of Arts Education Month, The Osceola County School for the Arts Jazz Band has been selected to participate in the 2023 Essentially Ellington High School Band Competition and Festival in New York City. The students are trying to raise $50,000 to travel and attend this event. Businesses and individuals looking to help the students can reach out to OCSA at https://www.osceolaschools.net/ocsa or 407-931-4803.

Approval of the Superintendent search committee: The board voted unanimously to approve the list of community members who will serve on the search committee to replace Superintendent Debra Pace, who is retiring during the upcoming summer. The committee members are:

District 1 – Tania Molina Filak and Deloris McMillon; District 2 – Mary Carr and Jorge Figueroa; District 3 – Carolyn Wilson-Grzeskiewicz and Abigail Winslow; District 4 – Dr. Scott Fritz and Rev. Mary Downey; District 5 —Bill Coffman and Racquel Schroeder.

Submissions from citizen’s input include Osceola County Educators Association negotiators Janet Moody and Barbara Gleason; Teamster Representative Frank Ortiz; teacher Alvin Olivo from Osceola County School for the Arts; parent Ahmed Elghonemy and Chestnut Elementary Principal Gary Bressler (CHES).

The search committee will meet March 28 to discuss the screening process for selecting semifinalists.

Change in school start times: Board members unanimously voted to make small adjustments to the Transportation and School Bell Times for the 2023-2024 school year. These adjustments will facilitate more accurate arrival times for buses across the district. Also up for voting was a change in the start time for New Beginnings Education Center. Several teachers and staff spoke out against the proposed time change, but the board opted to keep it the same as this school year.

Among the adjustments, St. Cloud and Tohopekaliga High schools will have bus drop offs at 6:40 a.m. and the morning bell will be at 7:10 a.m., with dismissal bell at 2:05 p.m. Other high schools will run 5 minutes later. Elementary schools will have bus drop off at 7:50 a.m. and the morning bell will be at 8:20 a.m., with dismissal at 3:15 p.m.

Middle and K-8 schools will have bus drop at 9 a.m. and the morning bell will be at 9:30 a.m., with dismissal at 4:25 p.m.