Morning, thank you for being here at Hungerford
Elementary School for the first day of school. I'm
Scott Howard. I'm the chief communications officer
for Orange County Public Schools. And this is the
first day of school for the twenty, twenty one,
twenty two school year.
We want to say welcome back once again to all of
our children, our families, our employees for the
first day. We have school board members here today
joining us. I'd like to recognize them at this
time. District three, Linda Kobert is here and
district five, Vickie Elaine Felder's is here as
well. Also joining us this morning is
Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins. Of course, we
welcome with us once again our partners in
education whose who've done so much for for this
school in this community since we since we last
met and and including today. Travel and Leisure is
here today. And we'll have more excitement there.
We'll talk about with what's happening with the
children here at Hungerford and just a few minutes.
But now I would like to turn it over to our
superintendent, Dr. Barbara Jenkins.
Thank you, Scott. Good morning and thank you for
being here. I have to tell you, it never gets old.
Even in the midst of a pandemic, the first day of
school is just special. And when we see bright,
shiny faces and the excitement of another school
year, it simply warms our hearts. It reminds us of
why we got into this business the very beginning
of the school day here at Hungerford, there was a
big group of cheerleaders out front, including the
mayor of Eatonville and others who cheered our
students on some of our special guests who cheered
our students on, give them the feeling that they
are supported and they are cared about by the
entire community and that they can have a great
year. Had a chance to visit a few schools from the
hallway. And I don't go into classrooms as I've
done in the past, but from the hallway having
wonderful conversations with young people. And
they said things like, we got a lot of neat stuff.
One one young man said, I said, well, what's in
the book bag? I heard you got gifts from Travel
and Leisure. And they said everything. We got
everything. He said, I have more than the stuff I
wanted. And so the children are just so ecstatic, can't
thank our partners enough for what they've done. I
wanted to start with that because it's a special
day, first day of school. I always feel like I
need to have a new outfit for the first day of
school. I can't you can always swing it, but it is
just special. I don't want to thank our entire
community for helping us make another school year
a reality. So let me give you just a couple of
tidbits in case you hadn't heard on behalf of the
board, my two board members who are here and our
entire board, we want all of our staff and our
parents to know how much we appreciate support and
working together during such a challenging year.
In case you hadn't heard the numbers, we have two
hundred and nine thousand students expected this
year. It's about a three thousand dollar increase
over where we ended last year with our enrollment
and has twenty four thousand employees, fourteen
thousand or so, our actual teachers and
instructional staff that we have to have cafeteria
workers, bus drivers, secretaries,
paraprofessionals, administrators, attorneys,
accountants. All that it takes to make this great
organization run includes about twenty four
thousand employees. Now, let me say something
about face masks. They are required in Orange
County public schools for all of our employees.
All of our visitors on campus are volunteers. We
absolutely welcome volunteers like the ones you
see here. We need them to help lead our students
to success, but they are required to wear face
mask if they are on our campus, indoors, outdoors,
not so much of a concern, but indoors it is
required. And for our students, unless a parent
has sent in a note this morning to opt out, the
face masks are also required. The board agree that
was an extra stipulation and extra mitigation that
could help protect our students and our staff. 30
days is the length of time we have that in place
both for our employees and for our students, at
which time we will reassess with our health care
professionals. Dr. Pino and his team and I will
consult with the board again to determine where we
go from there. We understand it is certainly a
pretty significant debate in the community and
with parent preferences. The board and I respect
every parent's right to choose, and we've made
sure schools understand, no matter what an
individual student's choices or their parents
choices, that they will be treated with respect.
Let me say a little bit about our our food
nutrition services. This is important news for all
of our families once again this year due to the
pandemic and additional funding that has been
provided. All of our children can eat breakfast,
lunch and even supper program, if it's at your
school, can eat all of those meals free of charge.
Laura Gilbert from Food Nutrition Services is here
in case anyone wants to speak to her later. They
are all every single student can eat free of any
charge due to the Pandemic. The second year that
we have such a provision. And any student, by the
way, should they have to go home due to either
testing positive or being quarantined I know
these terms, like the back of my hand isolated is
when you have a positive test. Quarantine is when
you have exposure. Those children can still come
for curbside pickup for their meals as well. We
don't want anyone, regardless of status with a
covid-19 to miss a meal. I also want to remind
parents and the community that our health and
safety manual is up on our website. Fluid is the
best term I can use. As we get additional
information. It will adjust. It will change. I
wish I could tell you that we are set for the
entire year and nothing else would change. I can't
promise you that every time there is. A called
meeting for superintendents with Department of
Education, we got to hold our breath to see if
something else will change. Our last meeting on
yesterday did not bring any additional changes to
Orange County. Our website also has frequently
asked questions about the start of any school year.
All of the covid-19 issues are at the very top of
the page. But any questions or concerns you have
around transportation, around provided services?
All of that is available on our Web page. I want
to make sure everyone has a safe start to the
school year and a continual atmosphere of safety.
So we ask again every parent, every guardian. If
your child does not feel well, please keep them
home. Parents, if the child, even if they don't
have a temperature, if they say, I don't feel well,
I have a stomach ache, my head hurt, doesn't have
to be a temperature. If they're not feeling well
out of an abundance of caution, please keep your
children home. I say the same thing to our
employees. If you're not feeling well flight is
concerned, then you need to stay at home. We're
doing frequent cleaning and disinfecting, hand
washing, sanitizing, social distancing where
feasible. And I want to be clear. If the majority
of our students return to school, as we expect,
the social distancing will be limited because we
only have so much space in our classrooms if all
the children come back lunch shifts, sometimes
principals can be creative and have some classes,
eat outside and try to spread groups out. We've
got only so much supervision and so much time in
the school day that can be taken away from
instructional minute. So the social distancing
will be a challenge in some instances, but as much
as feasible, we're going to provide that
distancing. I also want to encourage folks to be
taking advantage of the free testing that is
available. Dr. Pino Florida, Department of Health
are going to be partnering with us, providing even
more locations for free testing. It's probably one
of the best strategies for anyone who is the least
bit concerned about exposure or potential
potentially having contracted the virus. And
lastly, we are encouraging the vaccine for those
who will consider it. Check with your own health
care provider. We don't pretend to know your
health care circumstances, but look on our Web
site, Ask Mac is a video that our medical advisory
committee provided lots of answers to typical
questions and testimonials of physicians and
surgeons and head of pediatrics and such who have
not only taken the vaccine, but have given it to
their children as well. So we encourage folks,
look on our Web site, if you have questions about
the vaccine,
want to change course. Now, just for a little bit
to talk about where we are today at Hungerford
Elementary, you heard me mention how excited the
young people were. So you may recall just a few
months ago, we announced a new scholarship program
in partnership with Travel and Leisure. Well, hard
for students today. Came in to find out they were
the direct beneficiaries of that scholarship it
offers to graduating seniors from the town of
Eatonville who attend Hungerford Elementary School
and then graduate from either Edgewater or Evans
or with Kiva based on magnet programs. They may be
in any of those three high schools. They will have
scholarships to a Florida public college or
university or a technical college in the state of
Florida. I want to introduce a Melody Bostik Brown
Travel and Leisure Charitable Foundation board
member to say more. Mr. Brown, welcome.
It's a big, exciting day. Thank you, Dr. Jenkins.
Thank you. Board members and all those in
attendance. Good morning. I'm Melanie Bostic Brown,
one of the board members with the Travel and
Leisure Charitable Foundation. Our focus is making
a difference in the communities where we vacation,
as well as where we live, including right here in
Eatonville, and extending our support to the
nation's oldest black incorporated municipality,
our desires to make a lasting impact by providing
educational opportunities for students in this
community. This morning, the Travel and Leisure
Charitable Foundation donated backpacks to every
single student here at Hungerford Elementary.
That's about three hundred and fifty bags. I can't
tell you how exciting it was seeing the kids walk
the red carpet, as Dr. Jenkins mentioned, and then
their excitement as they receive those backpacks
filled with also all the supplies they need it for
the school year. It was quite remarkable, a little
bit more about the foundation. The foundation was
established a few months ago, and we're thrilled
about our first endeavor, partnering with the
Orange County School Board to launch the Travel
and Leisure Eatonville Scholarship Program. This
program will fund scholarships for students who
live in Eatonville, went right here to Hungerford
Elementary and will graduate from Edgewater Evans
and Will Carver High Schools. Students will also
plan to attend a public university, community
college or technical school in the state of
Florida. I'm happy to share. We will begin
awarding those scholarships to graduating seniors
this school year. On behalf of the Travel and
Leisure Foundation, we look forward to providing
well deserving kids in Eatonville the opportunity
to attend college or vocational school without
financial barriers. Thank you so much and happy
first day of school.
So let me also mention Principal Harris, I'm
looking for her Principal Harris certainly can
speak to the wonderful reception that the students
received this morning and how excited they are. To
be honest with you, when we made the original
announcement, our concern was that families and
parents would not be aware of what was being
offered to them. But we remedy that thanks to
people. Folks say we're sure. First of all, I
would like to say thank you to everyone and to the
Travel and Leisure Company for becoming such a
wonderful partner of Hungerford Elementary and the
community of Eatonville. The entire community, the
faculty staff and the parents and students are
static. Thank you so much. And we look forward to
the partnership that we're going to have with you.
As we were saying that they provided book bags
this morning for every student here. And I sent a
supply list. Whatever what they need it. And
every supply was in the bag and the students were
so excited. My little boy just came in and said,
Miss Harris, where's my book bag? I said, I
promise. Is there is there? You will get it. So we
thank you. Thank you for your partnership. And
then for to just for the parents to know that as
long as their students just stay focused and do
well academically and graduate, they will receive
a scholarship to a Florida college or university
or technical school. Can you only imagine that is
absolutely wonderful. So the morale that is
increasing here around the community, school,
faculty and staff, we thank you as well. We thank
you. And and last but not least, as our wonderful
Dr. Jenkins said, we want every student to feel
really good about starting school this year. And
even though we know that we're still in sort of a
pandemic, we wanted them to know we are ready to
learn that we're going to be excited this year and
we're going to do such a wonderful job. So
everyone, including the travel and leisure company
in the Eatonville, Mr. Right, everyone here was
here to welcome all the students to walk the red
carpet and to the school. And if you can see the
smiles on their faces when they got all the
handclaps, walking into the school, knowing that
they are valued and everyone knows that they are
special. It was such a special and wonderful
moment. So, again, I want to say thank you to all
of you for everything that you're doing for our
elementary and our community.
Thank you, Principal Harris, your enthusiasm. I
love it. We'd like to invite the Travel and
Leisure Company team to come up right now just to
just for us to recognize them, get a picture.
Thank you all for being here today.