School board asked whether to continue FEMA appeals after roughly $4.2 million in denials

Shanna, a district staff member, told the school board that the district has received multiple denials from FEMA related to hurricane damage claims and asked the board for direction on whether to continue appeals or move funds to repair work. "We've currently been denied a total of ... $4,200,000," Shanna said, and asked the board whether to pay for additional appeals or use available money for repairs.

The question matters because the denials cover significant facilities and the district is carrying a FEMA-related loan. The board must decide whether to spend more on appeals that staff say may not succeed, or prioritize repairing buildings now and pursuing state grant funding instead.

Shanna summarized recent results and next steps: three additional FEMA determination memos denied claims for several school roofs, including an elementary-school roof she said was about $1,200,000 and was ruled ineligible because of "pre-disaster conditions" or "inadequately documented" evidence. The district appealed one high-school claim in March; the appeal was submitted to FEMA in May, and Shanna said a decision is not expected until September or October. Separately, a judge denied an arbitration the district pursued for late disaster-impact items; Shanna said that decision made that claim ineligible for Public Assistance funding.

Shanna gave financial context: she said the district has paid a consultant, Synergy, about $229,000 so far for work on the claims and that legal fees for the arbitration totaled $11,749.50. She said some of the combined costs for appeal and arbitration had been estimated (she described an estimate and a proportional percentage in the meeting), and asked the board to consider whether continued appeals would be a prudent use of funds given repeated denials.

On loan and reimbursement items, Shanna said FEMA has disbursed payments that in aggregate total roughly $4.3 million toward a FDIM loan the district took; she said the remaining balance on that loan is about $1.7 million. She also said the district recently received $192,000 for management costs but that, after accounting for amounts already spent, the district has paid roughly $105,000 out of pocket for some management and consultant expenses.

Board members asked practical questions about costs and timing. One board member asked, "If we stop right now and we don't ask for any more money from FEMA ... where's Dean? Are we through with all our repairs pretty much?" to which Shanna answered that repairs are not complete. Another asked how much it would take to finish repairs; Shanna replied by aggregating the loan balance and the two rough damage estimates she had on the sheet, and said that together those figures were in the low millions.

Shanna and Lacey, a district staff member who joined the conversation, said they will apply for a state grant administered by the Florida Commerce Division of Community Development that opens in July. "Me and Lacey are going to together," Shanna said of preparing grant applications. Shanna told the board the state grant can be applied for by the district directly and that the district has already begun gathering documentation, including reports and photos, to support project-level applications.

On next steps, Shanna asked the board for explicit direction: whether staff should proceed with additional appeals or pause and focus on repairs and state grant applications. "I need a little direction on that part if y'all want to go forward with an appeal or not on those 3 different ..." she said. Board members did not take a formal vote on the appeals during the meeting and directed staff to report back after the pending high-school appeal decision and as grant-application work progresses.

Additional context from the meeting: district staff said FEMA provides 60 days from the determination date to file appeals; staff noted that matches the deadlines listed on the determination memos. Staff also reported outreach to Representative Dunn's office and to a contact from Moody's (a referenced contact who offered assistance) to review the district's FEMA claims and documentation.

The board did not take formal action on appeals at the meeting. Staff said they will return with updates, including the outcome of the high-school appeal expected later in the year and progress on state grant applications opening in July.