My name is Dr. Trudy Jermanovich.

I am concerned that transparency seems be lacking for two items in this workshop. The district should have included the words “Rulemaking” in the title of items Number 1 and Number 2 and not just rely on legal notices which most people do not access. The public should be made aware that this will be the only time they can give input when these policies are being revised or when there is a new policy being created.

For Item 1 - Here’s part of the legal message but “Rulemaking” is not in the title on the Agenda provided to the public. The legal notice states, “The School Board of Broward County, FL shall consider the School Board Policy 5090- Code of Student Conduct for Rule Development at a School Board Workshop.”

According to Policy 1000 when a policy change is going to occur the public should have the opportunity to comment and ask questions of the staff in an open, well advertised, meeting. Hopefully those who wish to address these policy changes will then come to the meeting or submit written comments. If the word “Rulemaking” had been included in this Item, the public would have been better informed.

In looking over the changes, I decided to look at Palm Beach’s Student Handbook. I found it was only 54 pages and Broward’s is 154 pages, even though it had similar information. I do hope the district can write a shorter handbook which is more likely to actually be read by students and their parents. Palm Beaches Handbook even addressed the AI issue which appears to have been left out of Broward’s handbook. Here’s a snippet which can be found on pp. 19-21 under the topic entitled Social Media Guide:
“Deepfakes and AI-Generated Material
The creation, distribution, or use of digitally manipulated content (videos, images, audio), known as deepfakes, to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something they did not actually do or say, is strictly prohibited. This includes the malicious use of deepfakes or any AI-generated material to harm, deceive, bully, or defame others.”

Take this school year and form a committee of parents and students to help you redo the Student Handbook. Let’s use our neighbor’s example as a guide.

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