Oasis Charter School board approves consent items, adopts new student health and AI policies and trims lunch prices to spend federal surplus

Oasis Charter School Authority Governing Board members met Sept. 16 in Cape Coral City Council Chambers and approved the consent agenda with two items pulled for discussion, adopted amended language delegating grant administration, and approved a $125,000 contract for speech and language services. Superintendent Jackie Collins reported on school safety planning and grant prospects, new policies on student health and academic integrity including artificial-intelligence use, and a plan to use a portion of a federal school-meal surplus to reduce full-price lunch costs and buy staff and equipment.

The board approved minutes from its Aug. 19 regular meeting, adopted the agenda and carried the consent agenda (items 9c–9h) after pulling items 9a and 9b for separate action. The board approved an amended version of consent item 9a to change the delegation language so that the Oasis Charter School food-service manager and the city assistant county manager are authorized to implement and manage grant-supported activities and follow reporting requirements; the amendment carried on voice vote. The board also approved consent item 9b, authorizing a contractor to provide speech and language pathology services for the 2025–26 school year at a contract value of $125,000 to accommodate an increase in qualifying students.

Why it matters: the meeting bundled routine governance with several operational decisions that affect daily student services — from medical preparedness and security to classroom supports and meal pricing — and set administrative direction on how grants and vendor services will be managed.

Superintendent Jackie Collins said the district must submit its annual FSSAT (Florida School Safety Assessment Tool) to state authorities and described remaining school-hardening priorities the district would seek TAPS grant funding for, including bollards at the South campus pickup, ballistic glass film for front-office windows and doors, and final door-locking mechanisms at Oasis North. Collins said the district used TAPS 2024 funds to finish most locking mechanisms and estimated TAPS funding is about $11,000 per school. Collins cautioned that federal grant availability is uncertain and that the district is not guaranteed TAPS funds for 2025.

Collins also described a new state requirement (identified in the meeting as Senate Bill 676) that volunteers who may be unsupervised with students must obtain a Level 2 background screening, including fingerprinting; the clearinghouse for those fingerprints will retain records for five years. Collins said the initial fingerprinting cost is about $84 and that the district will pay recheck fees thereafter; the athletic department intends to cover fingerprints for volunteer coaches. She clarified that vendors or contractors who work unsupervised on campus during the school day must have Level 2 clearance, while after-hours event vendors (for example, fall-festival booths) are not subject to that requirement.

On student health policy and recordkeeping, the board reviewed three new or revised policies in Volume 25, No. 1. Collins described policy 5330.04 (administration of short-acting bronchodilators) that would allow the district to keep a stock supply of prescribed bronchodilators (similar to stocked epinephrine) for appropriate use; policy 5505 (academic honesty) addressing plagiarism, forgery and inappropriate use of AI; and policy 7540 (artificial intelligence) which prohibits unauthorized AI use in student work while allowing teachers to authorize narrow uses (research assistance, data analysis, language translation, writing assistance and accessibility tools). Collins said existing plagiarism checks (e.g., Turnitin) are used and the district is drafting staff and family guidance on appropriate AI use.

The board was also briefed on required Lee County health-services assurances. Collins said the district’s school nurse completed the new Lee County assurance form verifying clinic facilities, medication administration protocols, first-aid/CPR staffing, AED availability and documentation systems; the chair will sign the form for submission.

Food service: Collins said the district closed fiscal 2024 with an approximately $572,000 surplus in the National School Lunch Program account, and because the program is required to operate at or near break-even, the board approved lowering full-price lunch cost by $1 to reduce the surplus. Collins said the $1 reduction should cut the excess by about $361,571 this year. She said the district will also use funds to hire four part-time food-prep employees, buy computer equipment and new outdoor lunch tables for the middle and high schools; Collins said those additional expenditures would bring the total reduction to about $421,571, leaving a remaining surplus to be monitored next year. Collins emphasized the reduction applies only to full-price paid meals and does not affect reduced-price or free meal eligibility.

Special education services: The board approved a single-contractor speech-and-language pathology contract for the 2025–26 year with a not-to-exceed value of $125,000 to meet increased qualifying student needs; Collins said the contractor charges roughly $75 per hour and provides direct therapy, documentation, and attendance at IEP/MTSS meetings. The motion passed on voice vote.

Facilities and athletics: Collins reported progress on the Oasis Athletic Complex master plan. The engineering firm aims to submit site-plan permitting to the city by Sept. 24 and the architect plans to apply for building permits by Oct. 8, 2025. Southwest Florida Water Management District permitting is in process; Collins described a typical two-round review cycle and said the project remains on track for substantial completion sometime in fiscal year 2028. Collins said a boosters meeting and outreach will follow and that some home football games will continue to be played at host sites while construction proceeds.

Other business and community notes: Collins reviewed STEM partnerships (a BirdBrain Technologies pilot that featured Oasis students) and a student project producing over 100 diabetes-diagnostic teddy bears the district will donate to UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital (Gainesville), UPMC Children’s Hospital (Pittsburgh) and Boston Children’s Hospital. Assistant City Manager Mark Basin said the annual audit work is on schedule and city IT deployed more than 1,800 Chromebooks for 1:1 middle- and high-school use.

Votes at a glance - Minutes (Aug. 19, 2025) — motion to approve carried on voice vote (5 present; 1 excused). - Agenda adoption — carried on voice vote. - Consent agenda — items 9c–9h approved as presented; items 9a and 9b pulled for discussion. - Consent item 9a (amended): approve revised delegation language authorizing the Oasis Charter Schools food service manager and the city assistant county manager to implement and manage grant-supported activities and follow reporting requirements — motion carried on voice vote. - Consent item 9b: authorize speech and language pathology contract (not-to-exceed $125,000 for 2025–26) — motion carried on voice vote.

Board chair set the next regular meeting for Oct. 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. in Council Chambers and the board adjourned following closing comments.