THANK YOU to the 30 concerned residents that attended yesterday's meeting at the College of the Florida Keys. These individuals took time out of their busy lives on a Tuesday at 2PM to attend this meeting so they could make sure the CFK Board of Trustees knew exactly how they felt about the CDL School being built in the heart of Big Pine Key. It was an honor to be able to be there and hopefully speak for others who could (understandably) not attend. 

I wanted to share what happened at yesterday's CFK Board of Trustees meeting: Although myself and at least one other individual in attendance asked Rachel Oropeza, the Director of the CFK President's Office via email in early January to be added to the agenda because we were expecting a group of concerned people to attend, we were denied and were told we would have to wait until the end of the 2.5-3 hr meeting and that we must arrive by 2pm to fill out a public comment card. So that's exactly what 30 of us did yesterday! We spread the word the best we could that we would have to be there early, fill out a card and would get to speak at the end. 

When we showed up to Key West Campus, Building A, at about 1:30pm, we were met by Rachel Oropeza and others from the President's Office with some confusing changes/rules. We were told only 7-9 or us were allowed in the board room during the meeting. The rest would have to wait in another larger holding room. We were told we were not allowed to stand in the hall. When asked if we could move the board meeting to a larger room (like the larger holding room) to accommodate us all, they refused. When asked if they could stream or zoom the board meeting so we could watch in the larger holding room (equipped with 3 TV monitors), they refused. We were told we could not repeat the same point or they would not record it in the meeting minutes. The problem here was that we could not hear what everyone was saying because we were not all allowed together in the same board room! Also, in this case, the repetition of the same point shows a through-line in agreement of opposition to the issue.

Overall, the 3-minute statements I heard everyone give were amazing. I was not able to hear everyone speak due to the restrictions mentioned above. All different points of view were discussed including many environmental concerns and public safety issues. 

Stay tuned. For now, we need to continue talking about this issue. Write the BOCC. Write the Governor. Rachel Oropeza I spoke about above from Dr. Gueverra's office is also an elected Keys Utility Board Member (Seat C) and Board Member for the Tourist Development Council. And members of the board are also elected officials within the county (Kevin Madok - Monroe County Clerk of Courts/Comptroller). 

I want to share one more thing with everyone. I presented the following data to the board: As of Tuesday, 1/27/26 morning, the Change.org petition had 1,180 signatures. Not to mention the 120 paper signatures we had collected before the online petition was created. Making a grand total of 1,300 signatures of people who DO NOT WANT THIS. Furthermore, in the online petition alone, 813 are listed as Monroe County residents. And 430 of those are listed as Big Pine Key residents. This data shows that the CDL School is widely opposed by the people who live here.