Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 [ Silence ]
0:30 [ Music ]
0:37 » I call the April 14, 2020 school board meeting to order.
0:41 In consideration of the current health
0:43 and safety concerns during the COVID-19 emergency,
0:46 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
0:48 as well as Executive Order 20-91 issued by Governor DeSantis,
0:53 it is necessary to modify our board meeting process to comply.
0:56 Please know that board members and staff may be participating
0:59 by phone rather than being present in the boardroom.
1:01 The educational services facility is closed to the public,
1:04 but the board meeting audio and video are being live streamed
1:07 so the community can watch and listen
1:08 to the meeting for usual channels.
1:11 In regards to public participation, community members
1:14 who wanted to make comments were asked to register in advance
1:16 on the district website.
1:18 Those who registered were called Monday evening, April 13th,
1:21 and their comments were recorded limited to three minutes each.
1:24 These comments will be replayed
1:26 under the public comments section of the agenda.
1:29 The board appreciates your patience and understanding.
1:31 While this process is different, we are in uncertain times
1:34 and must keep safety in mind while we continue operations,
1:37 including public participation in our board meetings.
1:41 Ms. McDougall will be joining us telephonically this evening.
1:44 As well as voting in our electronic agenda system,
1:47 Ms. Escobar will be calling out for each of our votes
1:49 for added convenience and transparency
1:52 to those watching and/or listening at home.
1:55 Pam, roll call please.
1:57 » Mrs. Belford.
1:58 » Present.
1:59 » Mrs. McDougall.
2:01 » Here.
2:02 » Mrs. Deskevich.
2:04 » Present.
2:04 » Mr. Susan.
2:05 » Present.
2:06 » And Mrs. Campbell.
2:09 » The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection
2:11 in memory of BPS family members who have recently passed away.
2:15 Darius Gowans, a 12th grade student
2:17 from Heritage High School.
2:19 Tim Hubner, a custodian from Ralph Williams Elementary.
2:22 And Layne Anderson, a fiddler’s parent education specialist.
2:41 Thank you.
2:42 We’ll now say the Pledge of Allegiance.
2:44 » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
2:51 of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
2:55 one nation under God, indivisible,
2:58 with liberty and justice for all.
3:04 » At this time, I want to offer my fellow board members
3:06 and Dr. Mullins the opportunity to recognize students, staff,
3:09 programs and community members for the contributions afforded
3:12 to Brevard Public Schools.
3:15 Anyone want to volunteer to go first?
3:19 Ms. Campbell?
3:22 [ Inaudible ]
3:43 » Power button.
3:44 There we go.
3:45 I’ll try that.
3:46 The word that I want to share tonight was community.
3:49 I’ve seen so many examples in the past few weeks of ways
3:53 that our schools and our community are working together
3:55 to find solutions.
3:59 And just a couple I want to mention.
4:01 The McNair Middle School,
4:03 one of their technology clubs was asked to help 3D print.
4:09 You may have seen them on Facebook.
4:11 These ear protectors for the nurses and the medical staff
4:14 who have to wear the face mask all day and it rubs
4:17 against their ears, so it’s a little plastic thing.
4:18 But the club wasn’t able to access their 3D printers.
4:22 And so through the pie network
4:23 and through some other social media shares,
4:26 they put it out there.
4:27 And there were families of, you know, for example,
4:29 a family I know they have students at Bayside
4:31 and at Stone, but they have a 3D printer.
4:34 And so they printed 100.
4:35 Somebody else printed 100.
4:36 So they have hundreds of these little ear protector things
4:40 that were produced by some of our students
4:42 because of the connections.
4:42 And then they’re going to the hospital.
4:45 And then today I saw another sample on our pie page.
4:54 » Hold on, Ms. Campbell.
4:55 » Yeah, I can come back to that.
4:58 » You can have mine.
4:59 » You can’t share a microphone.
5:04 » Pam to the rescue.
5:16 » All right, is that good?
5:20 Can you hear me?
5:21 On our pie page today, Deborah Foley, our pie coordinator,
5:25 said that Northrop Grumman is actually 3D printing face
5:29 shields for healthcare workers.
5:31 And so they put a call out because they’re looking
5:34 for the old transparencies that we used to use
5:37 like on overhead projectors.
5:38 And they’re asking teachers, hey, do you have in your stash,
5:41 you know, some transparencies?
5:43 And I will tell you, Dr. Mullins, we’ve had little issues
5:45 on the teachers, I have some, but they’re in my school.
5:47 So we may need to see what we can do.
5:49 But I just wanted to also put a little plug in there.
5:51 If any of our teachers or other business leaders have those
5:55 plastic transparencies that we all used to use back in,
5:58 you know, back in the day, Northrop Grumman is going
6:01 to take those and 3D print them into face shields
6:04 for our healthcare workers.
6:05 So just another way of our community working together
6:08 in such creative ways.
6:11 So that’s what I got.
6:15 - Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
6:15 Mr. Susan, you want to go next?
6:18 - Yeah, I did, I want to just say thank you.
6:21 This is the time that it takes a village, right?
6:23 And I’ve seen my fellow board members doing things.
6:27 I’ve seen teachers, I’ve seen administrative people
6:30 coming together and taking care of our number one resource
6:33 in this county, which is our children.
6:35 And I’m so honored to be a part of an organization
6:37 that not only stands high, but has been doing more
6:40 than what’s been asked of them.
6:41 The connection that we have between our teachers and staff
6:44 and administrators with our children,
6:46 I’ve never seen anything like it.
6:48 I had to give a huge shout out to Ms. Gaughman.
6:51 She was literally driving, trying to make sure
6:53 that the kids inside the neighborhoods knew
6:55 that they could come to her school to actually get fed.
6:57 And then she was able to apply and receive some operations
7:03 where they could bring food into some of these,
7:05 some of the poorest areas in Melbourne.
7:07 And then when she found that they needed clothes,
7:09 she was able to coordinate through a resource that we have
7:14 that the church of the era was able to bring clothes
7:16 for those children.
7:17 And just to make sure that our kids not only are learning,
7:20 but they’re okay because the bond between our staff
7:23 and our children doesn’t go for a paycheck.
7:25 It goes for a lifelong commitment.
7:27 And I think a lot of that has to do with the commitment
7:29 that Ms. Gaughman has.
7:31 Ms. Hall from Sable Elementary School was in there
7:35 working with delivering into some of these poor areas also.
7:39 And when we were inside there, she was standing there
7:42 handing them out to the kids.
7:43 She was standing there saying, hi, Johnny, hi, Sue,
7:46 hi, everybody else.
7:47 And she was making sure that they were okay.
7:48 And in one case we found that there was four
7:51 of those children that didn’t have a portion of the roof
7:53 on their trailer.
7:54 So she was able to coordinate getting a tarp
7:56 put over the top of it.
7:57 And with everything being happening between 3D printing
8:00 and getting these resources inside of our schools
8:03 or inside of our community, we are an amazing organization
8:06 beyond just what we do as far as getting the paycheck
8:09 and doing our board meetings and everything else.
8:13 I did wanna give a big shout out
8:14 to Family Promise of Brevard.
8:15 They worked with a family of 10 that was in a motel room
8:18 and we finally got them into section eight housing.
8:21 Erin Harvey from the Boys and Girls Clubs
8:23 been inside of our projects working every single day,
8:26 making sure that those kids knew that the food is there
8:28 to be picked up.
8:30 The Church of the Era donated a bunch of things
8:32 and Margarita Chavez from Third Street Bridge
8:35 made sure that the Hispanic community was represented
8:37 when she started asking for a lot of the translations.
8:40 So you talk about a village.
8:42 I mean, every day we stand up here
8:43 and we talk about the great things that the kids do
8:44 and some of our teachers and everybody else,
8:46 but it’s amazing to see the connection
8:49 that these teachers have with some of these kids
8:50 and the principals.
8:52 So I just wanted to say that my shout out today
8:54 goes to our entire staff and school board
8:56 and everybody else for what they’re doing.
8:58 Thank you.
9:00 - Thank you, Mr. Suze and Ms. Duskovich.
9:02 I have two, do I have to turn this on or is it on?
9:06 - You’re on.
9:07 - Can you hear me?
9:08 I have two shout outs.
9:09 One is Rebecca Talaya, the sixth grade teacher
9:12 at Indiana Elementary School.
9:14 She had an idea last week.
9:16 She has a friend who is a nurse who asked her
9:18 if she had any wipes, antibacterial wipes,
9:21 and she said, “Oh, I have,”
9:22 this was right before we closed up the classrooms.
9:24 So maybe it was a week and a half ago.
9:26 She said, “I have some in my classroom.”
9:29 And so she went and got her one little container of wipes
9:34 and then the nurse gushed about how all the nurses
9:38 were gonna be so excited at her nurse’s station at homes
9:41 because they were gonna have antibacterial wipes
9:43 and she was shocked that they didn’t have wipes
9:46 to wipe down, kind of the countertop areas
9:48 where people come in, phones, things of that nature.
9:52 And so she just did an all call
9:53 within Indiana Elementary School
9:54 and came up with 60 or 65 containers
9:58 of antibacterial wipes that teachers felt
10:01 like they weren’t gonna use during this time period.
10:03 They kept back wipes that they’re going to need
10:05 if we happen to reopen,
10:06 but they went ahead and donated the wipes
10:09 that had been donated to them already
10:10 from parents for their classrooms
10:12 and since the classrooms were going to be closed
10:13 and she gave them to the nurses
10:15 and the nurses were ecstatic and took pictures with them
10:17 with the card of them and how excited they were.
10:20 Then she reached out to us
10:22 and Dr. Mullins was able to coordinate,
10:25 just put out an all call through staff
10:27 and down to the teachers
10:28 and any teachers that felt like
10:29 they had additional extra available
10:32 and it turned out to be a whole pallet,
10:34 almost 600 of them yesterday arrived at Health First
10:36 distribution center and Miss Talaya showed up
10:39 and she said, her first words out of the car were,
10:43 “I didn’t know there were gonna be cameras,”
10:44 because there was like nine news outlets there
10:47 all lined up with a press conference podium
10:50 and all the microphones and I felt a little bad for her,
10:52 but she owned it and at the end the reporters were like,
10:55 “You should be a motivational speaker,”
10:57 because she’s so passionate about,
10:59 she just started like a national movement
11:01 of calling it teachers to nurses
11:04 or something of that nature.
11:06 Anyway, I just got a text just a minute ago
11:08 that said today.com just picked it up
11:10 and did a great story on it,
11:11 so we might see some more coverage
11:13 of our great little teacher there at Indy Atlantic
11:15 doing good work.
11:16 I think it’s a prime example of our community
11:19 between the school district, the largest employer
11:21 and just one of our three major health networks here
11:25 partnering together to help our community move forward.
11:28 And then the other shout out
11:29 goes to Children’s Hunger Project.
11:31 I know I probably mentioned them
11:32 the last school board meeting,
11:33 but they are hustling and bustling,
11:37 quadrupling what they normally serve as far as meals.
11:40 They have packings every week.
11:42 If people are interested with volunteers,
11:43 they’re following all health precautions.
11:45 You’re six feet apart packing meals, masked, gloved,
11:49 but they are putting, in the two hour session,
11:52 they have nine people in there doing almost 700 meals,
11:55 putting them together.
11:56 And so they’re trying to keep up with what we are,
12:00 what our team is doing on Fridays.
12:01 And so they show up on Fridays
12:02 to give the students meals for the weekend.
12:04 And it’s been a lot.
12:06 There’s only, I think, three employees
12:08 at Children’s Hunger Project.
12:09 So this is a huge undertaking for them.
12:11 So I just wanna give them a thank you.
12:13 Thanks, Ms. Belford.
12:15 - You’re welcome and thank you, Ms. Duskovich.
12:16 Ms. McDougall, did you have any recognitions
12:18 you wanted to share?
12:19 - I just wanna give a shout out to our teachers,
12:23 our students, our families and our community
12:26 for this is a very different time for them.
12:28 And how well everybody’s adapting
12:30 and how hard everybody’s working.
12:32 And to my fellow school board members who,
12:35 you’re right, Matt, it takes a village.
12:37 And it’s wonderful to see that we’re all coming together.
12:42 And that’s all I have, Ms. D.
12:43 - Very good, thank you, Ms. McDougall.
12:46 Dr. Mullins, any recognition you’d like to share?
12:50 - Yeah, I have to chime into some of the examples.
12:54 And it’s a moment like this
12:55 that we’re never gonna capture all of the amazing work
12:59 that’s going out there.
13:00 All we can do is give snippets of what we know is happening
13:02 across all the layers of the organization.
13:05 So I’d like to do a shout out to a teacher
13:07 who I know exemplifies the 5,000 teachers
13:11 that are supporting our kids out there.
13:13 I had the, I don’t know that I’ve ever met her in person,
13:16 but I met her via email this week.
13:18 Ms. Angela, I think you pronounce her name, Yerkes,
13:21 at Quest Elementary School.
13:24 And one of her teacher, or excuse me,
13:26 one of her parents sent her an email, you know,
13:28 concerned about her first grader
13:30 and her struggle with reading.
13:33 And through our eye-ready diagnostic tools
13:38 and the activities the teachers are providing the students,
13:41 Ms. Yerkes was able to provide an amazing feedback,
13:46 diagnostic, detailed about how this parent’s child
13:50 had done on the oral reading activity
13:53 with specific suggestions of what to work on at home.
13:56 It was just amazing and I was so impressed.
14:01 I got CC’d on it, but I emailed back to Ms. Yerkes
14:05 and just said thank you for going above and beyond,
14:07 even remotely.
14:08 So Ms. Yerkes, if you’re out there listening,
14:11 there is an impact pin on its way to you
14:13 because that is an example of the kind of above and beyond
14:17 our teachers are going to make sure that our kids
14:20 truly maintain the continuity of learning,
14:23 even while they’re away from us
14:24 during this distance learning time.
14:27 This week, or late last week, I also had,
14:30 actually it was over the weekend,
14:31 I got an email from Dr. Sullivan
14:33 when she was kind of web surfing some of our schools
14:37 and what they were doing to provide resources
14:39 to our teachers.
14:40 And Madison Middle School’s faculty and staff
14:43 and administrative team have done a phenomenal job
14:46 of launching their own parent resource website.
14:51 Places that they can go to get tutorial help
14:54 and to make sure they know how to clearly
14:56 and efficiently communicate with their teachers
14:59 and just wasn’t required,
15:02 wasn’t part of our instructional continuity plan,
15:05 but the entire faculty came together and did that,
15:08 including staying connected with their students
15:11 and their community.
15:12 So just appreciation to Dr. Goins, the principal,
15:16 and the entire staff at Madison Middle School.
15:19 And then I heard the example and testimonial
15:23 of one of our principals.
15:26 And he took the time over the course
15:29 of almost an entire day last week
15:31 and called every one of his faculty members,
15:34 and he’s in a considerably large high school,
15:37 probably over 100 staff, and he said,
15:39 “I’m not calling to see how you’re doing as a teacher,
15:41 “I’m calling to see how you’re doing as a person.”
15:45 And the commitment and the dedication,
15:49 if you can imagine the time it took to do that,
15:53 but the investment it was to demonstrate
15:56 that there are people behind all of these assignments
15:59 that are getting posted and activities and grades and so on,
16:03 and our leaders are taking the time to make sure
16:06 that they stay connected with their faculty and staff.
16:09 So just a shout out to Mr. Wilson for his efforts
16:12 to connect with his faculty during this time as well.
16:16 And then I also have to, I wanna do a shout out
16:18 to our communications team.
16:23 It has been no small task to keep our community connected,
16:27 assured, reassured, and remain in touch
16:33 with everything that’s going on,
16:34 the day-to-day changes that seem to happen
16:36 and the questions that emerge and the wonderings
16:40 and the uncertainty and the anxiety.
16:41 And our communications team,
16:45 under the direction of Mr. Reed, Nikki Hensley,
16:49 Kat Allen, Sarah Almond, Deborah Foley, Mike, Francisco,
16:58 help me.
16:59 - Dan Jankowski.
16:59 - Dan Jankowski, you know, it’s a small army,
17:05 but they get a lot done and they’ve done a wonderful job
17:07 of keeping our families connected
17:09 with everything that’s going on
17:11 and being responsive in the moment and so on.
17:15 So just a shout out to them.
17:18 And then finally, our food services team.
17:21 I know we’ve talked about the ramp up
17:25 of providing food for our community.
17:28 They’re serving, I heard today that it was
17:32 over 14, 15,000 students who came through our schools.
17:35 I haven’t confirmed that, but I know the last number
17:38 was 12,500 students that came through our sites
17:42 to receive food support.
17:45 And what is hard to capture with just the numbers
17:50 is how do you prepare for that?
17:53 I mean, our food services team,
17:56 under the direction of Mr. Thornton,
17:59 just they find ways to stay prepared.
18:01 I had the privilege of visiting Fair Glen last week
18:04 during their meal pickup time.
18:07 And the manager, and I feel terrible,
18:11 I can’t remember her name right now,
18:12 but she was just a bundle of energy
18:14 and positivity and optimism and can do.
18:17 And it was so inspiring, it was so impressive.
18:22 And her entire team, everybody was smiling.
18:24 And half of them were sitting outside in the heat
18:28 waiting to distribute meals.
18:29 And they had such an efficient process,
18:32 honoring and adhering to social distancing.
18:35 Everyone was just working together.
18:36 And then folks inside were cleaning
18:39 after all of the work had been done in the kitchen
18:42 and the cafeteria and the tables were set up
18:45 and they had systems and they had stacks.
18:48 And it was just so impressive that they had found ways
18:51 to make sure that they were ready for the next day’s meals,
18:54 whether it was 300, 400, or 600, they were ready.
18:58 So just a huge kudos to our food services team
19:03 and the commitment that they have made
19:05 to consistently provide that support to our community.
19:08 So thanks.
19:10 - Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
19:11 And I’m gonna piggyback off of you just a little bit
19:13 with a couple of the things that you mentioned.
19:15 I don’t know if you all are aware,
19:16 but the food services teams that are working at the schools
19:18 are typically mixed teams.
19:20 They’re not individuals all from the same school.
19:22 And so not only are they working so incredibly hard,
19:25 but they’ve been shoved in with people
19:26 that they didn’t have a previous relationship with,
19:29 didn’t know their work styles and those sorts of things.
19:32 And they have been really working so incredibly hard
19:36 to serve our community.
19:39 So much so, and you know, I think the ripple effect
19:43 of all that we’re doing is really kind of phenomenal.
19:45 So one of the food service workers
19:48 that I helped at Coquina Elementary two weeks ago
19:52 when I was there serving food
19:56 went to a grab and go restaurant the other night,
19:58 and she happened to be there as well.
20:01 And I asked her how it was going with food service,
20:03 and she said, “Oh no, you know, it’s going well.”
20:06 And all of this, she said,
20:08 “And you know, it’s so good to see the family.”
20:10 She’s like, “But you know, I had a parent come through
20:12 “the other day who was just really worried about her son.
20:16 “He’s really struggling.”
20:17 And she’s like, “I felt so bad
20:19 “‘cause I didn’t know what to do for him.
20:21 “I didn’t know what to do for her or for him.”
20:23 And I said, “Well, you know, we have resources available.
20:25 “We have all of our guidance counselors,
20:27 “our mental health counselors,
20:29 “all those people are still reaching out
20:31 “and doing what they can to support our students.”
20:33 And she said, “Would you mind giving me that information?”
20:35 And so I was able to get that information to her.
20:38 She was able to share the information with the family
20:41 largely based on the work of the communication department
20:45 and the work that they’d been doing to get the videos out
20:47 with all of those resources.
20:49 And so that was a really easy way
20:51 for us to funnel that information.
20:52 So to me, it’s interesting how it all comes together
20:57 for that huge impact.
20:58 And then I also have to give a huge shout out
21:01 to our teachers who have been just rock stars at rolling
21:06 with it and making it work and collaborating.
21:09 And actually some of them commenting
21:13 that the ones I’m friends with on Facebook
21:15 that they love the way that they’ve been able to collaborate
21:18 because they typically don’t get that opportunity
21:20 when they’re so busy in the classroom with students
21:22 to have that collaboration and how so many of them
21:25 are jumping in and helping each other
21:27 with technology solutions that they were not aware of.
21:30 And just really, really coming together as a team.
21:33 We’ve always known they were committed
21:34 to serving our students.
21:36 But I think this is just such a unique,
21:39 I’ll call it an opportunity.
21:41 Obviously it’s not a great time, right?
21:42 But an opportunity for them to embrace the challenges
21:47 that have come to them.
21:49 And then I also wanna give a shout out
21:50 to our school-based staff that are working.
21:54 I have gotten text messages and phone calls
21:58 from instructional assistants, from guidance counselors,
22:02 just checking in.
22:03 I just wanna make sure you guys are okay.
22:05 How’s it going?
22:05 Do you need anything?
22:07 If you do, here’s my phone number or call me
22:09 during these hours, text me anytime.
22:11 Just let us know what you need.
22:12 So the teachers are working incredibly hard,
22:16 but we have a lot of other staff members
22:17 that are working really hard in the schools too.
22:19 So yeah, absolutely.
22:22 And then of course our district staff
22:24 who I think a lot of people don’t realize
22:26 what’s been going on here at the district office
22:28 trying to make all of this work.
22:29 But from Russell Cheatham with making
22:33 all of the technology work to Sue Han
22:35 who has worked so hard to make our virtual meetings work
22:39 to our leading and learning team
22:42 that is coordinating the support for our teachers
22:43 so they can be successful.
22:46 Just everyone really at the district
22:49 has been working so incredibly hard to make this successful.
22:51 And so kudos to them and kudos to you guys
22:54 for all that you’re doing and it’s like I said,
22:59 not the best of times,
23:01 but I think a lot of good’s coming out of it.
23:03 So very good.
23:05 - Ms. Belkert. - Yes, ma’am.
23:06 - If I could just make a thought this week
23:09 that we’re kind of put some things on hold
23:11 because we’re not able to, nobody’s at our schools,
23:13 but I think that maybe we could continue
23:15 with our pen presentations virtually.
23:18 Send a staff member a picture of the card and the pen
23:21 and say you’ve been pen, whatever.
23:23 And when we can get it to you, we will,
23:26 but just there’s been so many,
23:27 there’s so many people worthy of that recognition.
23:29 So I’m gonna start that this week, I promise,
23:33 to send some of those recognitions out
23:34 and just virtually present those
23:36 until we can get them to them in person.
23:39 - Ms. Campbell, I’ll add on that if you want,
23:41 when you have pens and can bring them by Ms. Tammy
23:46 and Pam will help get them out in the mail.
23:48 I know that, I don’t know about your homes,
23:50 but it’s going to the mailbox and getting,
23:54 we’ve gotten some handwritten letters from family
23:56 and that sort of thing that is just kind of neat
23:58 during this time of not being able to see folks.
24:00 So I think it’d be great if we could send those out
24:02 in the mail to our teams out
24:05 and they could get it even at home during this time.
24:09 - Great idea, Ms. Campbell, thank you.
24:12 Okay, that brings us to the adoption of the agenda.
24:15 Dr. Mullins.
24:17 - Ms. Belford and members of the board on tonight’s agenda,
24:20 we have administrative staff recommendations,
24:23 22 consent items, three action items
24:25 and one information item.
24:27 Changes made to the agenda since being released
24:29 to the public are as follows.
24:30 Consent item F10 on student expulsions
24:33 and action item G31 on resolution regarding the extension
24:36 of the 1/2 cent school capital outlay sales surtax
24:40 received revisions.
24:42 Item F17 on alternative calendar 2019-2020
24:46 due to COVID-19 is an addition.
24:50 - What are the wishes of the board?
24:52 - Move to approve.
24:53 - Second.
24:54 - Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Deskevich.
24:57 Is there any discussion?
24:59 All right, and board members, just as a reminder,
25:01 we’re going to actually vote on agenda plus
25:03 and then Pam is also gonna call for a voice vote, okay?
25:06 So seeing no discussion, please vote.
25:20 (muffled speaking)
25:26 - Give me a second.
25:27 It’s not coming up.
25:32 - Is Ms. McDougall able to vote?
25:34 - Ms. McDougall did vote.
25:35 We’re just waiting on Mr. Susan,
25:37 who’s having some technical difficulties, I think.
25:39 - It’s just saying no actions available online.
25:42 - Scroll down a little.
25:43 - I did.
25:44 - It’s not down there.
25:49 - It’s there, it’s there, it’s there, it was hidden.
25:52 Got it.
25:53 - All right, and the motion passes five-zero.
25:56 Ms. Escobar?
25:57 - If you would just give me an aye or a nay.
26:01 Mrs. Belford?
26:02 - Aye.
26:03 - Ms. McDougall?
26:05 - Aye.
26:06 Ms. Deskevich. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. And Mrs. Campbell. Aye. All
26:14 right, Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know
26:16 about our administrative staff recommendations. There are two
26:19 persons
26:19 on this evening’s agenda for the board to consider. What are the
26:22 wishes of the
26:22 board? Move to approve. Second. Second. Moved by Mr. Susan,
26:27 seconded by Ms. Campbell.
26:30 Discussion. Discussion. First of all, it doesn’t make me happy
26:35 to second this
26:36 motion because there’s people in here that we hate to see go,
26:39 but you know I
26:40 certainly appreciate Mr. Small and his tenure at Bayside High
26:43 School, but it
26:44 really hit me in the gut to see Janice Scholl’s name on our list
26:48 tonight. I know
26:48 she’s still with us till the end of July, but I just want to say
26:52 publicly what a
26:53 treasure she is to our district. When people, you know, talk
26:58 about the great
26:59 things that our career technology programs have done, every
27:02 single one of
27:03 those programs in our schools has her fingerprints all over it,
27:06 and I know that
27:06 Dr. Sullivan has expressed to me what what a loss this is going
27:09 to be. She’s
27:10 got huge shoes to fill, but just appreciate her so much and she
27:13 certainly deserves a wonderful retirement, but oh man we’re
27:16 gonna miss
27:17 her terribly. Couldn’t agree more, Ms. Campbell. Any additional
27:21 discussion? All
27:25 right, then please vote.
27:33 Ms. Escobar, Mrs. Belford, aye. Mrs. McDougall, aye. Mrs. Deskevich,
27:56 aye. Mr.
27:57 Susan, aye. And Mrs. Campbell, aye. And the motion passes 5-0.
28:03 We are now at public
28:05 comments. As indicated in my opening statement, persons wishing
28:08 to comment
28:08 were registered in advance on the district website and were then
28:11 called
28:12 and the comments recorded. We will listen to the recorded
28:14 messages at this time.
28:27 Hi, good evening everybody. My name is Sue Ham. I’m the
28:34 superintendent for
28:35 facility services for Brevard Public Schools and I, along with
28:40 our folks at
28:40 the telephone panel meeting, will be hosting your meeting
28:43 tonight in
28:45 consideration of the current health safety and safety concerns
28:48 during the
28:48 COVID-19 emergency and guidance from the Centers for Disease
28:51 Control and
28:52 Prevention as well as Executive Order 2091 issued by Governor DeSantis
28:57 because it modified our procedures a bit for public comments. So
29:00 tonight, your
29:01 comments will be recorded and we will play them back under the
29:05 public comments
29:06 section of the board meeting tomorrow. As with our normal
29:09 protocol, each speaker is
29:11 limited to three minutes. Our moderator will keep track of your
29:14 time and ask you
29:15 to conclude your comments when you have reached three minutes.
29:18 As with our normal
29:19 meetings, always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is
29:22 expected at all
29:23 times and keep your comments appropriate for children who may be
29:27 watching or
29:27 listening from home. So before speaking, please state your name,
29:31 the organization
29:32 you represent, if applicable, and identify the topic that you
29:35 will be discussing. As
29:37 with our normal board meetings, we won’t be answering questions
29:40 on tonight’s call,
29:41 but our staff will follow up with you if you have a question or
29:44 need a response.
29:45 So with that, we can go ahead with our public comments. Thank
29:50 you, Ben. You’re
29:52 welcome. Thank you. So if you do have a public comment, please
29:55 go ahead and press
29:56 zero now and Taylor will get your name and then push you through
30:00 to speak. So go
30:02 ahead and press zero now and as soon as Taylor gets us through,
30:06 I will pull you
30:07 up and we can get your comments live. And looks like they’re
30:14 coming through right
30:14 now. Give us one second. All right. Anthony, you are live and go
30:40 ahead with
30:41 your public comments. My name is Anthony Colucci. I’m the
30:45 president of the Brevard
30:46 Federation of Teachers. First of all, I’d like to once again
30:49 compliment everyone
30:51 who works for BTS, including the board and superintendent, on an
30:54 outstanding job
30:55 of handling this crisis. The speed and efficiency with which the
30:59 board and
31:00 superintendent have worked during this crisis has been
31:02 exceptional. With that
31:04 said, I’m hopeful that this newly found speed and efficiency in
31:07 problem solving
31:08 will be the new norm in BTS. Without a doubt, I’ve been honored
31:12 to represent our
31:13 teachers and instructional personnel who have once again showed
31:17 themselves to be the
31:18 utmost of professionals as we’ve shifted to remote education.
31:21 Our teachers
31:23 continue to stay calm and work incredibly hard to meet their
31:26 students’
31:27 needs while so many are caring for their own children and
31:29 families at home. For
31:31 everyone involved in this process, the goal of remote education
31:35 needs to be to
31:36 do the best you can, not trying to recreate what we usually do.
31:41 And I would
31:41 be remiss if I didn’t say our students and their families are
31:44 doing an awesome
31:45 job too. These are not normal teaching and learning conditions.
31:49 What we are
31:49 experiencing now is emergency remote teaching and learning, or
31:53 as some have
31:54 called it, pandemic pedagogy. Though we are still experiencing
31:58 some bumps in the
31:59 road, I’m confident as long as the dialogue continues to be open
32:02 and honest,
32:03 we will smooth out those bumps. As discussions begin about
32:06 returning to
32:07 school, I urge us forward to proceed with caution and make sure
32:11 you are using your
32:12 influence to prevent hasty decisions from being made. The
32:15 decision to return
32:17 to school too early could literally be a deadly decision for
32:20 students, teachers,
32:21 staff, and family. If we return too soon, it is clear that many
32:25 teachers and staff
32:26 members will be forced to take personal or family leave under
32:29 the provisions of
32:31 the Family First Coronavirus Response Act. Furthermore, I
32:34 believe that many
32:35 families will not send their children back to school to pose as
32:38 a threat to
32:39 them and unenroll them from BPS. Finally, let me just say
32:43 something that other
32:44 leaders in Brevard have been hesitant to say for political
32:47 reasons. The
32:48 restrictions in place are not only about your rights as a
32:51 citizen, but your
32:52 responsibilities as a citizen. If we do not isolate and social
32:56 distance ourselves
32:57 with fidelity, this pandemic will continue. If you’re not an
33:01 essential
33:01 worker, then stay home. Stop putting other families at risk
33:05 because of your own
33:05 desire. Stop delaying or return to normalcy. As of Monday
33:09 morning, there are
33:10 140 cases of COVID-19 in Brevard. Keep in mind that just a month
33:15 ago, New York
33:15 only had 140 cases too. Isolation will be the only thing that
33:20 prevents us from
33:21 being the next New York. Let me end with the mantra I’ve
33:24 repeated to my teachers
33:25 from the beginning. Stay safe, stay calm, stay determined to
33:29 deliver the best
33:30 education we can for our students, and stay home. There’s a
33:33 light at the end of
33:34 this tunnel, and together we will get through this. Thank you.
33:41 Great. Thank you, Anthony, very much for your public comment. We
33:44 are now going to go
33:45 to our next public comment from Jayle. Jayle, you are live. Go
33:52 ahead and do your public comment.
33:56 Thank you so much. My name is Jayle, and I’m a parent, and I
33:59 wanted to talk
34:00 about the return to school process. First, I’d like to thank you
34:04 and all the
34:05 teachers and admin for your response and perseverance to getting
34:10 our
34:10 children to learn in record speed with remote learning. This has
34:15 been
34:15 difficult for all of us, but it’s been amazing how the community
34:20 has been
34:20 coming together on this, and we certainly couldn’t do it without
34:23 your guys’
34:24 leadership, so thank you for that. As a concerned citizen and
34:29 parent, I understand
34:30 and I appreciate that the decision to open the school is not up
34:34 to each district,
34:35 but each district can make recommendations that carry some
34:38 weight
34:39 with the state’s decision, and with that, given that there’s
34:47 only going to be, if
34:47 we go back to school returns May 4th, then there’s only three
34:50 full weeks and
34:51 four days at half days to send the kids back to school. Without
34:57 the measured way
34:59 and parameters that allow us to get back to school and keep
35:04 everyone safe, this
35:06 seems like a very rushed decision to move forward for basically
35:14 three and a
35:15 half weeks of learning, and do we really want to take that type
35:19 of toll on our
35:20 community? Unless there’s some information that I’m not aware of,
35:25 I
35:25 think it’s safe to say that there’s no near-term vaccine in
35:29 sight. The antibody
35:30 test is still in development, and the testing parameters have
35:36 opened up
35:37 in general for the public, but the locations are regional, which
35:42 impacts
35:43 availability of tests still, and so I would like to echo the
35:47 gentleman’s
35:48 concerns who was ahead of me to say that we should really make
35:52 sure that we’re
35:53 not rushing down to this, and we take a measured approach, and
35:58 we don’t go
36:00 into this with, you know, with the thought of we just want to
36:04 hurry up and get back
36:05 to normal. We need to protect everybody.
36:13 Great, thank you very much for your public comment. All right,
36:19 next we are
36:20 going to go to Dolores. Dolores, go ahead with your public
36:25 comment. Yes, good evening.
36:27 My name is Dolores, and my son is a senior at Calvary Magnet
36:31 High, so I’m just speaking on
36:33 behalf of a parent, and again, I do thank the school system for
36:38 how well the
36:38 transition has gone, and all of his students that he works with,
36:42 and his
36:43 teachers, and so forth. However, I am kind of in the middle of
36:47 the road as far as
36:49 looking forward to hopefully the children getting to return to
36:53 school,
36:53 even though, this person, former to me, I mentioned that they
36:58 only would have a
36:59 short time of school left. It is still a very huge amount of
37:04 information that
37:05 they are not going to gain by staying at school and not learning
37:08 in a classroom
37:09 atmosphere. I don’t believe anyone is suggesting that we rush
37:12 ahead without
37:14 adequate information about moving forward, but on the positive
37:18 side, which
37:18 no one seems to want to focus on, is that the percentage, and
37:23 the CDC has
37:24 announced this, of kids who are 18 and under who have been
37:28 infected is two
37:29 percent or less. So we need to realize that this age group is
37:34 not the hugest concern.
37:35 I know the teachers are older than that, but more so I speak
37:39 tonight on behalf of,
37:40 even if they don’t get to return to school this year, which I
37:44 feel would be a
37:44 shame, very much so, that these seniors really need to be
37:49 considered right now.
37:50 I’m speaking on behalf of my senior. He’s an outstanding student.
37:53 He’s worked very
37:54 hard in a full scholastic career, and I think an effort and plan
37:58 needs to be
37:59 getting worked for, and his principal is really positive about
38:02 this, on how these
38:04 people are not going to have their momentous time stripped from
38:07 them
38:08 because of this. It is not fair, and they need to be taken into
38:11 consideration at
38:12 this time, and I do believe we need to be looking toward the
38:16 positive and hoping
38:17 to get these kids back in school, and a very wise way of going
38:22 about it. I’m
38:23 not, I’m hoping that these kids don’t go back to school. We
38:26 should be trying to
38:27 focus our efforts on making a safe way of letting them get back
38:31 to the
38:31 classrooms, and that’s all I have to say. Thank you.
38:35 Thank you very much, Torres, for your comment. Next, we are
38:41 going to go to Vanessa.
38:43 Vanessa, you are live. Go ahead with your comment. Good evening,
38:48 everyone. This is
38:49 Vanessa Skipper, and I’m the vice president of the Brevard
38:51 Federation of
38:52 Teachers. Challenges make you discover things about yourself
38:55 that you never
38:56 really knew. They’re what make the instrument stretch, what
38:58 makes you go
38:59 beyond the norm. Cecily Tyson. One of the greatest things I’ve
39:03 noticed since
39:04 we’ve gone into pandemic distance teaching mode is the amount of
39:07 organic
39:07 collaboration that is happening. I’m constantly seeing my
39:10 colleagues at all
39:11 levels sharing ideas, files, tools, and strategies. Teachers
39:16 choosing to work
39:16 together, to work smarter, not harder, and the best part about
39:20 it is no one told
39:21 them to do it. No one scheduled a meeting and told them to turn
39:24 in their notes. No
39:25 one scripted a product to be developed. No one’s looking over
39:28 their shoulder
39:28 with a fancy Excel spreadsheet. They’re just doing it because
39:31 that’s what
39:32 teachers actually do when no one’s looking. We plan, we
39:35 collaborate, and we
39:36 get the job done. During this time, Brevard’s educators are
39:40 helping families and
39:41 students cope with some semblance of normalcy. Enterprise
39:44 Elementary is having a
39:45 spirit week this week, and today we show off your pet day. A
39:48 teacher from McNair
39:49 is focusing on the human aspect and keeping those relationships
39:52 with their
39:52 students by using a weekly Google check-in and asking questions
39:56 like, “What
39:57 are you snacking on? That TV or movie you’ve watched? And what
40:00 form of assessment
40:02 would you prefer for our end-of-legislative branch unit?” A VTK
40:06 teacher from Ocean
40:07 Breeze is driving packets to each of her students’ house,
40:10 waiting to make sure they
40:11 get it, and safely staying in her car to answer any questions
40:14 they might have.
40:15 These are just a few of the awesome stories I’ve seen about our
40:18 public
40:18 school teachers. While our teachers are going beyond the norm
40:21 during this
40:22 uncertain time, they’re hoping that you’re focusing on the
40:25 future. We know
40:26 that Tallahassee passed a budget that will raise beginning
40:29 teachers’ salary, but
40:30 we don’t know what this will look like for our veteran teachers,
40:32 some of whom
40:33 will have 15 years experience, yet will make the same as
40:36 somewhat to zero. Even
40:38 though we are taking this pandemic one day at a time, we still
40:41 hope you are
40:42 planning for how we’re going to retain our excellent veteran
40:45 teachers. Given
40:47 what we know about the FRS increase and the increase in base
40:49 student
40:50 allocations, we again cannot rely on the state plan to do what
40:53 needs to be done
40:54 for all educators in Brevard. What’s your plan? It’s mid-April
41:00 and teachers are
41:01 relying on you. There’s no doubt about it. Public schools are an
41:05 essential part of
41:06 our community. We are the largest employer in the county, and
41:10 with that
41:10 comes great responsibility to the community we serve, a
41:13 responsibility that
41:14 we provide a certified and experienced teacher in our classrooms
41:17 for our
41:18 students, a responsibility that we provide enough mentors for
41:21 our newer
41:22 teachers and for our struggling teachers so that every student
41:25 gets served with
41:26 excellence as a standard, and a responsibility that we don’t
41:30 carry
41:30 nearly 100 vacancies for the majority of the school year. So
41:35 while we are in
41:36 uncertain times, it is still time to plan for our future, and I
41:40 hope that you
41:41 consider that. Thank you. Thank you very much Vanessa for your
41:47 comment, and now we
41:48 will have Sue close us out. Thanks everyone. I just wanted to
41:53 give you my sincere thanks. This is a new
41:54 process for everyone, and I appreciate that everyone chipped in
41:58 and made it
41:58 work for us tonight, and will be playing your public comments at
42:01 the school board meeting
42:02 tomorrow night during the public comment session. Hi, good
42:08 evening everybody.
42:09 Sue’s coming back again. Sue, they liked you so much the first
42:21 time they
42:21 wanted to hear you again. All right, thank you so much Sue for
42:31 facilitating all of
42:32 our public comment last night. Thank you to those who joined us
42:35 to provide public
42:36 comment. We we certainly appreciate your input. Would any board
42:39 members like to
42:40 respond to any of the public speakers before we move on to our
42:43 consent agenda?
42:44 Madam Chair, I’d like to just take a moment that one of the one
42:49 of these
42:49 speakers referenced our seniors, and you know certainly our
42:53 seniors have this
42:55 whole uncertainty and being not being able to enjoy the final
43:01 weeks of their
43:03 senior year that they have anticipated, like likely all of us
43:06 remember it,
43:07 certainly has taken its toll on our on our kids and our seniors.
43:13 I am meeting
43:14 with my Student Government Association leaders on Thursday to
43:18 continue
43:19 discussion about graduation and senior activities and so on. We’ve
43:22 had
43:23 conversation with our principals, our high school principals
43:25 already, and they
43:26 are unanimously supportive of a delayed graduation if we’re
43:31 unable to graduate
43:33 our seniors in the traditional ceremony on the dates that have
43:37 been provided. I
43:38 felt it was important to make sure we heard directly from our
43:42 student
43:42 government leaders to make sure that they have that same
43:44 sentiment. That’s not
43:46 that the school principals haven’t already been hearing from
43:49 their
43:50 seniors, they certainly have, but I wanted that that opportunity
43:52 to connect with
43:53 them personally this week. So I anticipate we’ll be coming out
43:57 making
43:58 recommendations shortly for some graduation, some delayed
44:01 graduation date
44:03 alternatives for our seniors so that they can you know plan and
44:08 see and you
44:10 know kind of put that in the scope of their future. So just want
44:12 our community,
44:13 our kids, our seniors, and their parents know that we are
44:17 looking at that very
44:18 closely this week. Thank you Dr. Mullins, and I would just add
44:23 in response in
44:23 response to the comments about us going back to school, and it
44:27 was referenced in
44:28 the public speaking but I think it’s important for for all of
44:31 our public out
44:32 there to understand that the decision to return to school or not
44:35 to return to
44:36 school is not up to us as a district. We will be told either
44:40 that we will not
44:41 return or that we will return on a specific date, but I do want
44:45 to encourage
44:45 our families even as we worked with our families prior to the
44:49 decision to close
44:50 schools in unique situations where we had students that were at
44:53 risk, we will
44:54 continue to work with our families to do the best to support
44:57 them. However it it
44:59 works out going forward obviously within the scope of what the
45:02 state will allow
45:03 us to do, but we certainly want to make sure that all families
45:05 are comfortable
45:06 whichever way we end up going. So we will I think our district
45:11 team has done a
45:12 phenomenal job of working with and accommodating various needs
45:15 of families
45:16 and and I would expect that they would continue to do exactly
45:19 that. All right
45:20 Dr. Mullins that moves us into the consent agenda. There are 22
45:24 agenda items
45:24 under this category. Does any board member wish to push any pull
45:28 any item
45:28 from the consent agenda? All right then I will entertain a
45:33 motion. Moved by Mr.
45:36 Susan, seconded by Ms. Deskovitz to approve the consent agenda
45:41 as presented.
45:42 Is there any discussion? All right please vote.
45:56 All right I’m having a hard time getting to this it won’t let me
46:05 do this
46:05 for some reason. Okay we can just take a we’re taking a voice
46:08 vote anyway so Ms.
46:10 Escobar? Ms. Belford? Aye. Ms. McDougall? Aye. Ms. Deskovitz? Aye.
46:19 Mr. Susan? Aye. And Ms.
46:21 Campbell? Aye. And the motion passes 5-0. You guys don’t need a
46:29 break at this
46:29 point do you? All right then we will move on to the action
46:35 agenda Dr. Mullins. Ms.
46:37 Belford and board members there are three items under this
46:40 category. First
46:41 item is G31 on the resolution regarding the extension of the one-half
46:45 cent
46:45 school capital outlay sale surtax. What are the wishes of the
46:50 board? Move by
46:55 Ms. Campbell. Second. Seconded by Mr. Susan. Any discussion? I
47:03 just I don’t have
47:04 something to say. I just want to make it clear to the public
47:06 there’s been some discussion
47:08 I’ve seen online and some some forums that this is moving
47:11 forward with us
47:12 putting on the ballot or moving forward to the County Commission
47:15 to be put on
47:16 the ballot the half cent sale surtax renewal and that is not the
47:19 case all
47:20 we’re doing is moving some language over to OPAGA a government
47:25 agency to
47:25 evaluate if the language is proper basically I mean you all know
47:28 that but I
47:28 just want to make sure the public knows that before we vote.
47:30 Yeah Ms. Deskovitz I
47:32 think that’s a really important point for our public tonight I’ve
47:34 had a couple
47:34 of conversations around this issue and our challenge is what we
47:41 are doing
47:42 tonight is nothing more than an administrative process because
47:46 the state
47:46 requires with new sales tax efforts that we provide the the
47:55 language to OPAGA
47:56 and OPAGA has a certain amount of time that they we have to give
48:01 them 180
48:02 days I think correct Mr. Gibbs to hire a CPA to complete an
48:07 audit if it’s
48:08 necessary and then that has to be done 60 days before a ballot
48:13 initiative and
48:14 so really what it comes down to is this is just the first step
48:18 to make sure that
48:19 we are poised to take action should things improve and and it’d
48:24 be
48:24 appropriate but this is just that first step and very clearly on
48:27 this agenda
48:28 item it states that this is not giving authority to move forward
48:32 with
48:33 presenting it to the County Commission which will be our second
48:36 step for
48:36 approval in the event that we do not have to have an OPAGA audit
48:41 and so that
48:42 will be discussed at a later date so thank you very much Ms. Deskovitz
48:45 for
48:45 bringing that up is there any additional board discussion on
48:49 that item? Ms.
48:51 McDougall you good? I’m good. All right then I will call for the
48:55 vote. I don’t
48:58 know why my computer will not let me I can see Katie and you but
49:01 I it won’t go
49:02 to mining and I don’t know why it won’t go to mining but can you
49:05 see the scroll
49:06 bar on the right-hand side? Yeah it’s not it only goes to you
49:10 and Katie. That’s
49:14 okay we’re doing a voice vote anyway so Ms. Escobar? Ms. Belford?
49:20 Aye. Ms. McDougall?
49:22 Aye. Ms. Deskovitz? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. And Ms. Campbell? Aye.
49:32 And the motion passes 5-0 Dr.
49:35 Mullins. Next we have item G32 which are our procurement solicitations.
49:40 What are
49:41 the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second. Moved by Ms.
49:45 Campbell, seconded by Ms.
49:46 Deskovitz. Is there any discussion? All right please vote.
50:03 Ms. Escobar? Ms. Belford? Aye. Ms. McDougall? Aye.
50:10 Ms. Deskovitz? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. And Ms. Campbell? Aye. And
50:16 the motion passes 5-0 Dr.
50:18 Mullins. Item G33 is on amendment to catapult virtual tutoring
50:28 of
50:28 Title 1 private school students. What are the wishes of the
50:31 board? Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Susan,
50:34 seconded by Ms. Deskovitz. Is there any discussion? All right
50:40 please vote.
50:50 Ms. Escobar? Ms. Belford? Aye. Ms. McDougall? Aye. Ms. Deskovitz?
50:58 Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. And Ms.
51:00 Campbell? Aye. The motion passes 5-0. Next we have one
51:07 information item. While we
51:09 won’t act on this item this evening it may come back to us at a
51:11 later meeting
51:12 for a vote. Does any board member wish to discuss the
51:14 information item? Okay does
51:21 any board member have anything further to report? Ms. McDougall
51:27 just checking in
51:28 since I can’t see your face do you have anything additional to
51:30 report? No I’m okay.
51:32 Awesome. Dr. Mullins do you have anything else you wish to add?
51:36 No ma’am thank you.
51:37 There being no further business this meeting is now adjourned.
51:58 you