District leaders presented a year-long inventory of family and community engagement efforts and data showing how state voucher policy changes are affecting local enrollment patterns.

Karen McMillan, director of Family and Community Engagement, told the board the department standardized the volunteer system, added language-assistance devices at every school, launched exit and parent surveys and compiled the first district-wide field-trip and volunteer datasets. "We delivered and supported language assistance devices at every single school," McMillan said, and she reported 91% of parent-survey respondents indicated they were "happy with their overall child's educational experience."

McMillan placed those efforts in the context of statewide policy changes. She briefed the board on the evolution of Florida school-choice and voucher programs — including Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES), Florida Tax Credit scholarships (FTC) and personalized education plan options — and said legislative changes in 2023–24 removed prior "guardrails" that previously limited eligibility and numbers of scholarships.

"Florida is home to 7 out of every 10 students nationwide using a voucher," McMillan said, and she showed county-level numbers that, she said, reflect exponential growth in voucher use within Clay County over a short period. Despite that growth in voucher usage, McMillan said district brick-and-mortar enrollment has held roughly steady and the district has not seen a broad mass exodus from its schools. "Notice there is not a mass exodus from Clay County District Schools," she said, pointing to year-to-year blue-line enrollment data in the handout.

McMillan gave specific program metrics: 1,345 field trips recorded in the year, more than 10,000 volunteers registered in the district's volunteer system in 10 months and nearly 2,000 volunteers completing fingerprinting for school access. She said the district has 414 business partners supporting schools and more than 200 fine-arts events recorded in the year.

Tory Bernice, who will take on expanded duties alongside McMillan, described planned next steps: better coordination of parent-teacher organizations (PTOs/PFAs), expanded course access for nonresident students to take specific lab or AP courses, continued website and communications improvements, expedited event check-in pilots and strengthened community partnerships.

Board members asked for clearer public-facing links between agenda items and the district strategic plan. One board member requested that when items are added to agendas, staff identify which strategic-plan goal each item supports; staff said the agenda system already links items to strategic-plan goals and that annual updates to the plan are posted on the district website.

The presentation closed with board appreciation for McMillan's and the departments work; McMillan noted she will retire soon and said she and staff will continue to build on the initiatives in the coming year.