Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
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13:30 - Good evening.
13:30 I’m happy to welcome all of my fellow board members
13:32 and call the September 22nd, 2020 school board meeting
13:35 to order.
13:36 We continue to modify meeting processes
13:38 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
13:40 Public attendance is permitted on a limited basis,
13:42 allowing for 30 persons in addition to staff
13:45 and board members to be present.
13:47 All public comments will be in person this evening.
13:50 Pam, roll call, please.
13:52 - Mrs. Belford.
13:53 - Present.
13:54 - Ms. McDougall.
13:55 - Present.
13:55 - Mr. Susan.
13:56 - Present.
13:57 - Mrs. Deskevich.
13:58 - Present.
13:59 - And Mrs. Campbell.
14:00 - Present.
14:01 - The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection
14:03 in memory of one of our BPS family members
14:05 who recently passed away.
14:07 Amir Bah, a kindergarten student from Sea Park Elementary.
14:20 (no audio)
14:24 Thank you.
14:26 Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.
14:32 - I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
14:35 of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
14:39 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
14:43 and justice for all.
14:49 At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members
14:51 and Dr. Mullins the opportunity to recognize student staff
14:54 or members of the community
14:56 who would like to start us off this evening.
14:58 - I can, I only have one.
14:59 - Ms. McDougall.
15:01 - I just have two and I want to give a shout out
15:03 to Merritt Island and Edgewood’s volleyball team
15:07 this weekend.
15:08 They both had wins.
15:11 I think it’s their first opening game.
15:13 So congratulations to both teams
15:15 and that’s all I have today.
15:16 - Excellent.
15:17 Thank you so much.
15:18 We go next.
15:20 Ms. Campbell.
15:21 - So I wanted to give a shout out to the student staff
15:25 and the team.
15:26 I was able to ask Chris Moore who it was.
15:28 So I know, I know.
15:29 What you did, they put together a virtual calming room
15:35 for our staff.
15:36 If you guys saw that in the Super Tennis Bulletin.
15:38 And if you didn’t get to play with it,
15:40 it actually is a lot of fun.
15:41 And I thank the team for putting it together
15:44 in such a way that everybody has different things
15:46 that help them calm.
15:48 And they did it specifically because this year,
15:49 above all years, everyone is at a high stress level.
15:53 And so for our staff to go in,
15:54 if you’re a person that listening to,
15:58 for me waterfalls with birds chirping isn’t it,
16:00 but they had a piano music.
16:02 You can go and watch pandas for five minutes.
16:05 You can, there’s some yoga breaks.
16:07 There’s some little five,
16:08 if you’ve got five minutes de-stress,
16:09 you know, doing at home, something that brings joy,
16:11 something that brings calmness.
16:12 So I just, it’s like pages and pages.
16:15 So if you had specific names that we can thank Ms. Moore.
16:19 (indistinct)
16:27 All right.
16:28 So Kim Bias and Kathleen Erdman, thank you.
16:29 Thank you for putting that together for our staff
16:32 so that they can just take a little break
16:34 in the middle of the day or at home or anytime,
16:36 or just like I’ve had it streaming
16:38 while I was studying for the agenda.
16:40 So it’s a great resource.
16:43 - Very good, thank you, Ms. Campbell.
16:45 Ms. Duskovich.
16:46 - I have one, we’re going to give a shout out
16:48 to Amelia Curran.
16:49 She is a student currently at Mel High,
16:51 but last year she was at Hoover
16:53 and she competed in a science research competition.
16:56 The National Premier Middle School STEM competition
17:01 is what it’s known as,
17:03 and she is one of the top 30 finalists in the country.
17:07 And I’m going to read you the title
17:09 of her science research project,
17:12 just to see if any of you are smart enough
17:15 to know what this is.
17:17 It says comparing the efficiency, free fatty acid percentage
17:21 and carbon dioxide emissions of waste vegetable oil
17:24 and Ethiopian mustard biodiesel.
17:26 So congratulations, Amelia.
17:29 We are proud of you and are thankful
17:31 that you are representing Brevard Public Schools.
17:34 - Thank you, Ms. Duskovich.
17:35 And interestingly, I don’t know
17:36 if you read the entire thing,
17:38 but I guess she learned a lot about fuel
17:40 from her dad who’s a race car driver.
17:43 So what a cool way to incorporate that experience.
17:46 Yeah, great.
17:47 Mr. Susan.
17:48 - So thank you, everybody.
17:49 I wanted to first off say, Ms. McDougall,
17:51 since you threw it out there
17:52 that there’s all these athletic competitions going on.
17:54 I think we should renew our rivalry that we have.
17:56 - Oh, no.
17:58 - I don’t know if you guys remember,
17:59 but the last year, Coco, was it,
18:01 did they win against Rockledge?
18:03 I couldn’t remember.
18:04 - Oh, be quiet.
18:04 - So I think that we should redo this.
18:08 We were able to keep a principal.
18:09 If you remember, his job was on the line.
18:10 That if he had gotten hired the week before,
18:12 if he didn’t win, he was gonna lose.
18:13 So I think that we should renew that.
18:14 So I’m open to suggestions to how you wanna do that.
18:18 I think it’ll be fun this year.
18:19 And I think that if any other school board members
18:20 wanna chime in, we’ve got some rivalries now.
18:23 We’re gonna be able to return our football play
18:25 back to some rivalries
18:26 that haven’t been able to in the past.
18:28 So here we go.
18:29 Let’s have some fun.
18:30 So yes, some teams are better than others.
18:33 So I think that those rivalries will–
18:34 - They’re all fabulous, Mr. Susan.
18:37 They’re all fabulous, but Coco’s the best.
18:39 So what can I say?
18:39 - Yeah.
18:41 Anyways, tonight I had the amazing honor
18:43 of honoring a group of individuals
18:45 that stepped forward twice.
18:47 And the first time the Office Depot team
18:52 stepped forward was during our COVID crisis.
18:54 So many of you remember that we had a situation
18:57 where we had to go out and put together
19:00 some kind of gratitude towards our food service workers.
19:03 Well, Dan from Office Depot said,
19:05 let’s go even further than that.
19:07 I know that the kids inside the schools are hurting.
19:09 So he put together 300 packages for 25 for each school
19:12 so that they could go out to the low income areas.
19:15 That came out of each one of their stores,
19:17 all the Office Depots throughout the county participated.
19:20 And they were able to, Dan drove,
19:22 what’s that little car you were driving
19:24 with all that stuff in it?
19:25 I mean, it’s tiny.
19:26 It’s like half a car.
19:28 And he had all them boxes in the back.
19:30 And the heart that these individuals have,
19:32 I wanted to say during that COVID crisis was massive.
19:35 But then something else happened.
19:37 Unbeknownst to me, Dan started collecting not only supplies,
19:42 but he started putting on the front of each one
19:44 of the actual, when you go to check out,
19:47 would you like to donate to a Title One school?
19:50 And they did that in every one of the stores
19:52 throughout the district.
19:53 And the recipient school, and as many of you know,
19:56 I don’t know anything that happens at Croton Elementary
19:58 because my wife runs there
19:59 and she doesn’t want me anywhere near there.
20:01 So the recipient school was Croton Elementary School.
20:03 So they went through this process
20:06 and all of a sudden I got this call from Croton saying,
20:10 hey, we’ve got a big check coming here and a lot of supplies.
20:13 And so they brought this with the idea
20:16 that there’s gonna be a workforce in STEM project
20:18 that comes out of this.
20:20 Did you wanna talk to that, Ms. Susan?
20:22 Or would you like me to kind of speak to it?
20:24 How would you like, Ms. Susan?
20:26 No, I would like to give you as much of the floor as possible.
20:30 But I just wanted to take a second,
20:31 honor them for bringing a $2,000 check to Croton Elementary.
20:35 But the project, we even have Mr. McGinnish
20:37 from O’Gally High School who was here today to talk,
20:40 you know, to kind of type it in.
20:42 So Ms. Susan, you can have the floor.
20:44 And if you would like to, Mr. Dan,
20:46 if you would like to speak too on what the project was.
20:50 You just walk up.
20:51 The shorter ones for you, the taller ones for Dan.
20:54 (laughing)
20:58 - So I was actually talking with my guidance counselor
21:01 about some of our students,
21:03 not gonna be high enough.
21:11 And we were talking about some of our students
21:13 who tend to have some difficulties behaviorally,
21:16 academically, and a lot of it is them not feeling
21:19 like they have a path to move forward on.
21:21 They don’t have a dream or goal to achieve.
21:24 And I know that that’s a big focus
21:25 with our CTE programs here in Brevard,
21:27 but there’s not a connection from the elementary
21:29 up to the secondary.
21:31 So in talking with one of our other teachers on campus,
21:34 I was saying, you know, what can we do STEM wise
21:37 for our kids, we have this awesome check coming,
21:38 this great opportunity.
21:39 And she said, well, what about that aviation program
21:42 over at O’Gally, have you seen the stuff
21:43 that’s been coming out of there lately?
21:45 So I did a quick Google search
21:47 and not that I don’t hear about it from time to time,
21:50 but I was just floored by the things
21:53 that Mr. McGinnis’ program is doing.
21:55 So we are going to use the donation from Office Depot
21:59 to help to purchase items to create a lab at our school
22:02 where we can coordinate the program over at O’Gally
22:05 with our elementary students to help them to see the path
22:09 and to get some training so that they know,
22:12 sorry, these masks are really hard to talk to.
22:13 It’s harder when you’re giant and pregnant.
22:18 So they can engage with some of the students.
22:19 Obviously right now it’s gonna have to be virtually
22:21 because of our COVID guidelines,
22:24 but letting those high school kids kind of step in
22:26 and mentor and help train some of our students
22:29 to help them see the path that’s in front of them
22:31 and the opportunities that exist right here in Brevard
22:33 in their local feeder high school.
22:35 So that’s what we’re planning on
22:37 and we really appreciate all the support from Office Depot.
22:39 They came in with, if you think that the small car
22:42 was packed back then, Mr. Susan,
22:44 you should have seen what it looked like
22:45 when they showed up on our campus.
22:47 So we’re very grateful for their partnership
22:49 and their support and Mr. McGinnis,
22:51 the wonderful work that you’re doing over there
22:53 that’s kind of started all of this
22:54 that our kids have to look forward to.
22:57 - Thank you, Ms. Susan.
22:58 Mr. Dan, do you want to say anything?
23:00 - Well, we were just happy to be a part of it
23:04 and it’s something where,
23:06 so this and this is Office Depot’s across the country.
23:09 We got to look in our local community
23:12 and we got to choose a school
23:13 that we wanted to have everybody
23:16 pull the resources together for.
23:19 And so it was, the items collected and everything
23:24 was that the fact that we were starting to do it
23:26 with where it was just going to be a monetary check
23:28 was new to this year.
23:30 So we had over the course of, I think last year,
23:33 I worked with Sherwood Elementary.
23:35 So we get to choose a title one
23:37 and I loaded up the car again
23:39 and we brought stuff over there.
23:40 And so it was kind of amusing to me
23:43 that when the parade started for the,
23:47 working with the food services
23:48 and being able to give out the goodie bags
23:50 and the collection of stuff when COVID broke out
23:53 and we were kind of scrambling for a reaction
23:56 to make sure that people weren’t falling through the cracks
23:57 and things like that.
23:58 So it was kind of amusing that the parade started
24:01 over at Sherwood, I was like, hey, I know my way there.
24:03 So, and then I had all this stuff collected for Croton
24:09 as my new title one choice here.
24:11 And so I had all this stuff in the office.
24:13 It’s been hanging out there with me for the longest time.
24:15 So when they took the approach of,
24:20 hey, we want to have all the stores in the area.
24:23 We’re not gonna be collecting goods right now.
24:25 We want to just see,
24:26 we want to be able to bring it to our customers to say,
24:29 hey, do you want to help your local title one school?
24:32 And we had the, like a little saying
24:35 that we did with all the customers
24:36 and pops up when you go to check out and it’s,
24:38 hey, did you want to help some children
24:39 in need of a local title one school?
24:41 Even a dollar helps.
24:42 And just reaching out to the community,
24:44 the feedback was fantastic.
24:45 So we had, for our local stores,
24:48 we had the store in O’Gallon here with Mr. Scott.
24:50 We had the store in Palm Bay with Mr. Wilson.
24:52 My store in Vieira.
24:53 And then Mr. Corey wasn’t able to join us today.
24:56 He had to work today,
24:57 but the store just off of 192 across the mall there,
25:01 our four stores were able to put together just shy of 2000,
25:05 $2,000 there for delivery.
25:08 And then we actually, we had the program going till,
25:11 when was he said, towards the tail end of October.
25:14 So we should have another one coming as well.
25:16 So, and then the fact that this is being put towards
25:20 just planning ahead for the future,
25:21 giving just the Brevard County kind of making that stamp
25:26 and just what makes this area great
25:28 and just putting it towards that STEM program,
25:30 I think is gonna be fantastic.
25:31 So we can’t wait to continue with it
25:34 and just be able to be able to give back,
25:37 which has been fantastic and an honor to be included.
25:40 - Thanks Dan, we really appreciate it.
25:42 One of the issues that they have is,
25:43 is that in our STEM programs,
25:45 Mr. McGinnish could talk about it,
25:46 but we’re not gonna let him up there
25:47 cause he’ll take everybody’s dollars.
25:49 Last time I hung out with him on my own,
25:51 I ended up with less money
25:52 and every group he ever goes to get,
25:54 he ends up raising more money than any man I’ve ever seen.
25:56 But Mr. McGinnish’s program,
25:58 one of the problems we have is many of our middle schoolers
26:00 don’t even know what programs we have.
26:02 Many of our community don’t know what we have.
26:04 So this gives an opportunity for the first time
26:06 for our elementary schools to have a pipe
26:08 all the way through so that those children
26:09 who may not be the best kids in the world
26:12 as far as being inspired when they come in to do books
26:14 can be inspired that one day I can be an aviation tech,
26:18 I can be a pilot and I can work with Mr. McGinnish.
26:20 So it’s kind of a cool concept.
26:22 I think it’s awesome.
26:23 They’ve got Boeing, Grumman and a couple of other groups
26:25 that are gonna be working with them.
26:26 So I just wanted to say thank you and that’s it.
26:28 So I’ll give you guys a round of applause.
26:30 (audience clapping)
26:38 Thank you.
26:39 And I didn’t take time last time.
26:41 So I doubled it this time, just so everyone knows.
26:43 That’s what this is about.
26:44 Thank you.
26:45 - Thank you.
26:46 Dr. Mullins.
26:49 - Thank you, Ms. Belford.
26:49 I actually, my highlight was taken ahead of me.
26:54 I was gonna highlight Amelia
26:56 from Hoover Middle School as well.
26:57 But I’ll take this opportunity to remind our community
27:01 that we are the science research leader in the state
27:05 because of the amazing science research teachers
27:08 and science teachers, math teachers, engineering teachers
27:11 we have in our district who just come and inspire our kids
27:17 and give them a glimpse of the vast world
27:19 that’s before them and challenge them to find new ways
27:24 to tackle the questions that remain
27:27 that make our world an ever growing and better place.
27:30 So thank you to the science teachers at Hoover.
27:33 And I don’t know where Amelia went to elementary school,
27:36 maybe in the Atlantic Elementary, but there you go.
27:40 That helped add to her inspiration
27:43 to be a science leader as an eighth grader.
27:46 So thank you.
27:48 - Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
27:50 So my shout out this evening is actually
27:52 to the Pilot Club of Titusville.
27:55 Was visiting one of my schools the other day
27:58 and in the principal’s office, there was this huge basket
28:02 and she said, “Would you like some Skittles?”
28:04 And I was like, “No, it’s not thing to offer, but thanks.”
28:08 And she was explaining to me that the Pilot Club
28:10 of Titusville had put together, it was so cute,
28:13 just a little bag of Skittles, not like a small bag,
28:16 but bag of Skittles tied up with a note of appreciation
28:20 for all of the faculty and staff at the school.
28:22 And so definitely wanna thank the Pilot Club of Titusville
28:27 for reaching out to our schools.
28:29 But I also want to publicly ask that others join with them
28:34 because I feel like our teams are working so hard
28:38 with so many challenges right now.
28:41 Our administrators, our teachers, our staff members
28:44 that are at the schools,
28:46 it’s been an incredibly challenging year.
28:47 And I know we’re working on and ensuring
28:49 that we’re stopping by and thanking
28:51 and sending emails of appreciation
28:54 and those sorts of things.
28:55 But I feel like if as a community,
28:57 we could really come around our schools right now
28:59 and make sure that we’re reaching out to them,
29:03 whether it’s just a handwritten note or sent emails,
29:07 would love it if every organization in our community
29:11 could adopt the school closest to them
29:13 and just do something to recognize those staff members
29:17 at the school to let them know
29:18 how very much they’re appreciated right now
29:20 and just some realization for the challenges
29:23 that they’re working through
29:24 and really still doing a great job in serving our students.
29:28 So thanks to the Pilot Club
29:29 and may they be a guiding light for others.
29:34 - All right, that is going to bring us
29:37 to the adoption of the agenda, Dr. Mullins.
29:43 - Ms. Belford and members of the board,
29:44 on tonight’s agenda,
29:45 we have administrative staff recommendations,
29:47 two presentations, 13 consent items and one action item.
29:52 The changes made to the agenda since being released
29:54 to the public on September 15th are as follows.
29:58 There were revisions to item A7
30:00 on administrative staff recommendations.
30:02 Additionally, the presentations were renamed
30:05 to be more reflective of the content.
30:08 Following the conclusion of the rule development workshop,
30:10 the information item on policy 8420.02,
30:14 emergency policy requiring face coverings was removed
30:18 as the policy process will begin again
30:20 due to substantive changes.
30:23 - What are the wishes of the board?
30:24 - Move to approve. - Second.
30:26 - Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. McDougall.
30:29 Any discussion?
30:31 Please vote.
30:37 Huh.
30:39 I don’t know why mine’s not showing up.
30:45 It’s not, there’s no voting thing there for me.
30:49 Oh, here it is, sorry.
30:55 Hey Pam, do you have a minute?
30:56 Come over here and look,
30:57 because there’s something that I can’t.
31:00 - Somebody else, Tina, this here’s messing up.
31:04 - See, it’s like, I can’t go down any further.
31:09 This one?
31:10 This one here?
31:11 - No, this one right here, go down, there you go.
31:14 - Oh, shoot.
31:21 I’m sorry, thank you, Pam.
31:22 - Was it user error?
31:23 - Yes, it was user error.
31:28 - The motion passes five, zero.
31:31 Dr. Mullins, would you please let us know
31:33 about the administrative staff recommendations?
31:35 - Yes, Ms. Belford, on item A7,
31:38 there are six persons for the board to consider.
31:40 - What are the wishes of the board?
31:42 - Move to approve.
31:42 - Second.
31:43 - Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell.
31:45 Is there any discussion?
31:48 Please vote.
32:08 - Is that a five, zero, Ms. Haussebar?
32:17 - Yes, ma’am.
32:18 - Thank you, motion passes five, zero.
32:20 Dr. Mullins.
32:22 - Item A8 is to approve the appointment
32:25 of the assistant general counsel candidate,
32:27 Ms. Valerie Landano, pursuant to the terms
32:30 of the attached employment contract.
32:33 - What are the wishes of the board?
32:34 - Move to approve.
32:35 - Second.
32:36 - Is that you, Ms. Campbell, on the second?
32:38 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell.
32:40 Any discussion?
32:43 Can I just throw in a hallelujah on that one?
32:45 I think it’s been a long time coming
32:48 and going to be a great thing for Mr. Gibbs
32:52 as well as the district.
32:54 Please vote.
33:05 - And the motion passes five, zero.
33:08 Dr. Mullins, will you please tell us
33:09 about the presentations you have this evening?
33:11 - Ms. Belford and members of the board,
33:13 tonight we have two superintendent reports.
33:15 I will present a financial outlook update portion
33:19 and then Ms. Nada-Francis, assistant director
33:22 of testing and accountability will provide us
33:24 the presentation on state and federal accountability.
33:28 Give me just a moment.
33:35 All right, this evening I want to continue
33:53 to give the board and our community financial outlook
33:56 updates as they come to us as a school district.
33:59 There are several different reporting agencies
34:01 and we’ve presented in the past.
34:04 So the most recent financial outlook
34:07 is an analysis provided by HBEC Group Inc.
34:11 And they have done some financial analysis
34:13 actually specific to Brevard Public Schools in the past.
34:16 But this was a statewide analysis
34:18 and it broke down district by district
34:20 and it was provided to us.
34:22 Before we take a look at that,
34:23 I want to just remind the board and the public
34:28 of the Florida economic update
34:29 that was provided on August 25th.
34:33 Ms. Cindy Lisinski, our chief financial officer
34:36 presented the results of the economic
34:39 and demographic research estimating conference
34:42 held on August 14th.
34:44 And at that estimating conference
34:47 identified a projected reduction in revenue
34:50 in the 2021 fiscal year of $3.4 billion
34:55 and a projection of approximately another $2 billion
34:58 in 21-22.
35:04 Based on that projection
35:05 and using the most recent loss of revenue
35:12 impact of that magnitude for the state of Florida,
35:15 we went back to fiscal year 2008
35:19 during the great recession.
35:21 Where Brevard Public Schools due to the loss of,
35:25 the state lost $2 billion in revenue,
35:28 we lost revenue that year
35:31 through mid-year budget reductions totaling $13.5 million.
35:35 That was in 2007-8 school year.
35:39 By using that same process
35:40 and extrapolating current state revenue loss,
35:43 the 3.4 billion, it was an estimate
35:46 of approximately $22.4 million reduction estimated
35:50 for this year using that projection.
35:54 There were some assumptions based on that,
35:57 the EDR report which assumed the state does not use reserves
36:01 to offset the revenue shortfall
36:03 and that the state would cut proportional
36:05 across all entities that receive general revenue funds,
36:09 which public education, the FEFP formula
36:13 is funded through general revenue.
36:17 Now the long range financial outlook report of the LRFO
36:22 was adopted on September 10th
36:24 and it is a constitutionally required report
36:28 that provides a comprehensive forecast
36:30 of the general revenue expenses
36:31 and it follows the report that I referenced previously.
36:36 The current report is provided as a link
36:38 to this presentation for the public to view
36:42 and it projects through fiscal year 23-24
36:45 and it was adopted by the legislative budget commission.
36:50 There are some assumptions in that financial outlook.
36:54 First that CARES Act funds can be used
36:58 to replace reductions in state revenues and projections.
37:01 So that report or that outlook does make the assumption
37:05 that the state can use CARES Act to reduce
37:10 or replace reductions in state revenues.
37:12 However, there are specific cautions
37:16 that the CARES Act specifically can prohibit
37:18 the use of funds to replace lost revenue.
37:21 Things change day to day, week to week.
37:24 Certainly that could present some change
37:29 but I present that as one of the assumptions.
37:31 In addition, it projects that there will be
37:33 no general revenue budget deficits for 2021.
37:39 So HBEC group then takes that projection
37:44 and had two objectives in providing feedback
37:47 to districts across the state.
37:49 And that was to develop calculations
37:51 to forecast the impact on districts
37:55 if CARES Act funds cannot be used
37:57 to replace the lost state revenues.
38:00 As well as project the impact on districts
38:04 if the legislature reduced spending
38:06 to match the loss of revenue
38:08 and non-recurring general revenue.
38:11 The assumptions for HBC’s analysis
38:16 does not attempt to project how the legislature
38:19 might use reserves to address budget deficits.
38:25 And the use of reserves obviously
38:27 would reduce the impacts in the projection
38:30 if that were to be the case.
38:32 So the findings provide us with information
38:36 to evaluate adverse conditions that might be encountered
38:41 and allow us a forecast of what we need
38:44 to be considering and preparing for.
38:48 It’s interesting that this analysis done by HBEC
38:51 is rather consistent to the projection
38:55 that was done by EDR in a projection
38:58 of a 3.86% loss of FEFP funding for 2021,
39:03 approximately just under $22 million.
39:06 So very close to the extrapolated projection
39:10 that we made after the EDR report.
39:14 If there was further reduction
39:17 to address both recurring
39:18 and non-recurring general revenue loss,
39:21 the budget impacts could be as much as 29,
39:25 almost $29.5 million.
39:29 HBEC acknowledges that in their analysis
39:32 neither estimates the reflects any action
39:34 by the legislature again to reuse reserves.
39:39 If the legislature does take steps
39:41 to reduce the base budget in 2021,
39:44 the projected impact for 21-22
39:47 would be a better forecast as well.
39:49 So early adjustments would obviously
39:52 make favorable conditions better later on.
39:55 And the CARES Act funding or other federal funding
39:58 can be used to replace loss of revenues.
40:00 There may be no reductions in the 2021 budget.
40:04 But again, we have not been provided any assurance
40:08 that that would be the case.
40:11 I wanted to just remind the board and the community
40:14 that we are taking these forecasts
40:16 and outlooks with action.
40:20 And that is prudent steps moving forward
40:22 to ensure that we maintain and sustain
40:25 the financial stability of the organization.
40:29 We continue to analyze positions as they become vacant
40:33 and determine if those are critical
40:35 and necessary for filling at this time.
40:37 We have restricted out-of-county travel.
40:40 We continue to monitor our contracts for potential savings
40:44 on opportunities to reduce those.
40:47 We continue to evaluate our CARES Act funds
40:51 in an effort to maintain workforce stability.
40:54 We are continuing to work with the county
40:57 and their CARES Act dollars
40:58 for additional support and assistance
41:00 in our efforts to manage COVID-19 in our schools.
41:04 They’ve been very responsive and supportive
41:06 as we’ve continued to walk that out.
41:08 We’re continuing our district-wide position analysis
41:11 moving forward, if there’s a necessity
41:14 to reevaluate positions across the district moving forward.
41:19 And Ms. Lisinski is working on
41:22 the quarterly re-budgeting process to evaluate laps.
41:25 So we have a more regular picture
41:27 of exactly what our standing is moving forward.
41:30 I would share with the board that at this time,
41:32 we have not received any additional assurances
41:35 from the Department of Education
41:37 beyond the emergency order
41:39 with past first semester of this school year.
41:44 We are on the eve of FTE.
41:47 That’s where we formally assess and count our students
41:52 that get submitted to the state for funding,
41:55 often called as October FTE.
41:57 That process, that formal process is still in place,
42:01 and our staff are beginning to prepare
42:03 for what’s called pre-FTE that starts next week.
42:06 So with that, I’ll take any questions from the board,
42:11 or I will introduce Ms. Nada-Francis,
42:13 who will come and talk to us
42:14 about state and federal accountability.
42:16 - Do any board members have any questions
42:17 for Dr. Mullen before we transition?
42:22 All right, thank you for the update, Dr. Mullen.
42:24 - You’re welcome.
42:25 And as we, you know, there have been a lot of changes.
42:28 We know that state accountability
42:30 was put on pause for last year.
42:33 We do not have school grades this year,
42:35 and students obviously do not have
42:37 state accountability assessments
42:40 going into this school year.
42:41 And there have been a lot of questions
42:42 about what does that mean, what are the impacts,
42:44 what does that, how does that look moving forward?
42:48 And Ms. Nada-Francis, our assistant director
42:50 of testing and accountability, I tell you what,
42:53 she is the go-to person across the state
42:55 because she is the guru of testing and accountability.
43:00 She has put together a brief presentation for the board
43:03 and our community to better understand
43:06 what testing and accountability
43:07 looks like moving forward.
43:08 So Ms. Francis, you just have to click the mouse.
43:20 - Ms. Belford, members of the board, Dr. Mullens,
43:23 good evening.
43:24 This evening, I will provide you with a brief
43:29 summary of the state and federal accountability system.
43:33 There are five components that comprise
43:38 of the school grade.
43:39 That is achievement, learning gains,
43:41 middle school acceleration, college graduation rate,
43:45 and college career acceleration.
43:48 Keep in mind that in these components,
43:50 all students are included.
43:52 That means your ESC students and your ELL students
43:55 are included in all five components of the school grade.
44:02 The first one is achievement.
44:03 It’s worth 100 points,
44:05 but there are four achievement components.
44:08 The achievement components include all students enrolled,
44:11 they have to be full year enrolled.
44:13 And the calculation–
44:14 is based on any student that scored a level 3 or better on the
44:17 current assessment. And
44:19 it is English language arts, grades 3 to 10, math, grades 3
44:24 through 8, and it also includes
44:27 algebra and geometry. In science it’s grades 5 and 8, and
44:33 history, I’m sorry, and high
44:35 school biology. Social studies, it’s grade 7 civics and US
44:43 history in the high school.
44:48 Then there are four components for the learning gains. The
44:50 learning gains components, although
44:52 there are four, there are two that are learning gains for all
44:55 students, and that’s how it’s
44:57 calculated for all the students that are tested and have a prior
45:02 year score. And then there
45:04 are the lowest 25%. The lowest 25% component is a subset of all
45:09 of the learning gains,
45:10 so a student who is a low performing student can potentially
45:15 count twice if they’re a low
45:17 performing student. So when we calculate the learning gains, we
45:20 calculate the learning
45:22 gains for all students. Then we calculate the learning gains for
45:25 the lowest 25%, so
45:27 that subset could be the same students that are the low
45:30 performing students. Currently,
45:32 the way that they calculate the learning gains is they look at
45:35 prior year, so it would have
45:36 been 2021 calculated looking at the 2019 scores because a
45:41 student has to have a prior year
45:43 score. The state is proposing an adjustment for just the 2021
45:49 school grade, and that would
45:50 be to look at what they’re calling prior prior year. So what
45:55 does that mean for our students?
45:57 That means that a student that is in fifth grade would have
46:00 their learning gains calculated
46:02 based on the third grade score. And so nothing is final until
46:07 the learning gains have to
46:08 have legislative approval, even though it is for one year as of
46:13 today, because all the
46:15 information that I’m providing you is the latest information
46:18 that we have been provided
46:19 by the state of Florida as of this afternoon. I’m sure that
46:23 things will evolve and things
46:25 will change, but that’s what we know to be true right now.
46:27 Learning gains are calculated
46:29 for ELA and mathematics, and the mathematics includes the
46:36 algebra and the geometry. So
46:40 there are five ways that a student can make a learning gain. A
46:42 student can make a learning
46:43 gain by going from one level to the next or multiple levels. So
46:46 they can go from a level
46:47 two to a level four, from a three to a five. If they’re a level
46:52 five, that’s the second
46:54 way that they’re a level five, and remain a level five, that
46:57 student is also considered
46:59 to have made a learning gain. The interesting thing when you
47:03 look at the learning level
47:04 five is that students sometimes you’ll see that they drop in
47:07 scale score points, but
47:09 as long as they move from a level five to a level five in the
47:12 next year that they’re
47:13 tested, so this would be a prior prior year, then a sixth grade
47:20 student will not have a
47:22 fourth grade student will now have a sixth grade test, and they
47:25 would have to remain
47:26 a level five, and I’ll give you a little bit of an example
47:29 coming up. Level three and level
47:31 four students, they remain the same. They just have to increase
47:35 one scale score point.
47:37 Level two, there are subcategories. You go from the low level to
47:40 the high level, but
47:41 the students have to move within those subcategories, and level
47:46 one has three subcategories, and
47:48 they go from the low to the middle to the high. So this is an
47:56 example, if a student
47:57 in third grade in 2019 scored a 254, so that would be a low
48:03 level one, in order for that
48:05 child to be considered to have made a learning gain in 2021,
48:09 they are now in fifth grade,
48:11 they would have to score a minimum of a 273. An example of a
48:17 level four moving to making
48:19 a learning gain, a student in grade three, again, fifth grade in
48:24 2021 would have to go
48:26 from a 329 to a 336. The mathematics gets a little bit more
48:37 difficult because normally
48:39 students from seventh or eighth grade will take that algebra,
48:44 but because we’re missing
48:46 a grade level, current eighth grade students who would take the
48:51 algebra were in sixth grade,
48:53 so if you’re looking at a sixth grade student who had a 325 and
48:58 is now going to go into
49:00 algebra, they have to score a level of 497 as a minimum. The
49:09 middle school acceleration
49:11 is one of the other components that the state is proposing an
49:14 adjustment. The way that it’s
49:15 normally been calculated is they look at any student that is
49:20 currently in eighth grade,
49:22 and then they look to see based on that what prior year, how did
49:25 they score, if they were
49:26 a level three or better, they’re included in the denominator in
49:29 the pool of students
49:30 that they’re going to look at. Then they also look at any
49:34 student that is enrolled in an
49:36 algebra class, a geometry class, or who took a high school
49:40 industry certification test.
49:42 Keep in mind that the high school industry certification is lagged.
49:46 The proposed change
49:49 is that they’re going to look at the prior year, so middle
49:52 school acceleration, the students
49:54 that are currently in eighth grade will look at the sixth grade,
49:58 and that can absolutely
50:00 pose problems. I’ll show you a little bit what I mean by that.
50:05 Again, this requires
50:06 state board approval, so nothing will be final until the state
50:12 board approves these proposed
50:15 changes. Due to COVID, what are the changes and what are the
50:20 impacts? Some of the impacts
50:21 and the highest impacts that I believe we will see are the
50:26 learning gains in the elementary
50:28 schools. There will not be learning gains for fourth grade
50:32 because the current fourth
50:33 graders were in second grade when in 2019. For this year, we
50:40 will look at learning gains
50:41 for fifth graders and sixth graders, and that is an impact of
50:47 approximately 5,600 students
50:51 that will not have learning gains. So imagine the impact on our
50:54 schools that are your lowest
50:56 performing, your struggling schools that depend on the learning
51:00 gains to make a difference
51:02 with their students because they may not be able to acquire that
51:05 level three, but nonetheless
51:07 they’re still making those learning gains, and then those
51:10 students that are in the lowest
51:11 25% are counting double. The other piece is the industry
51:16 certification, although we made
51:17 every effort to try and test our students before we were shut
51:22 down for COVID, we’re
51:24 still not going to show the same numbers, and the industry
51:27 certification certainly helps
51:29 the middle school acceleration and it helps the high school
51:33 acceleration component. The
51:35 number of students included in the calculation for middle school
51:41 acceleration is also a problem.
51:43 Our sixth grade students normally outperform all the other
51:47 students in the state. I believe
51:49 last year we were number seven in the state when it came to the
51:52 performance of our sixth
51:53 grade students, and so 67% of them performed at a level three or
51:59 higher. When I looked
52:01 at the 2019 seventh grade students to see where they were, only
52:07 62% of them performed
52:09 at a level three or higher. So that means that we’re now
52:11 starting with a larger pool
52:13 of students for the middle school acceleration that are included
52:17 that now have to make a
52:18 level three or better. Now keeping in mind that we have the COVID
52:22 slide, that some of
52:24 the students are e-learning, some students are not going to want
52:27 to come to school to
52:28 take the test because they’re choosing to opt out for the FSA,
52:32 there are a lot of components
52:34 that can have a negative impact on this. The last piece that I
52:38 want to bring to your attention
52:39 is the 95% tested. The 95% tested, although if the schools don’t
52:46 test the 95%, Dr. Mullins
52:48 can certainly file an appeal and we just need to make sure that
52:52 the students that are tested
52:54 are reflective of the population that they represent. So we look
52:59 at the file that the
53:00 state sends us and we make a determination based on the
53:03 information the state is sending
53:05 us so we can certainly file an appeal for that. But keeping in
53:09 mind that all of the
53:10 fact that students are e-learning, the fact that parents don’t
53:14 want to bring their kids
53:16 in for testing, that may also impact the percent tested. The
53:22 graduation rate, the guidelines
53:24 are set forth by the U.S. Department of Education and it’s based
53:27 on the number of the percent
53:29 of students that graduated with a standard diploma within four
53:32 years. Keep in mind that
53:34 the standard diploma also includes your ESC students, your
53:38 exceptional education students.
53:41 College and career acceleration, the cohort is the graduation
53:44 cohort. So the students
53:45 that are in the denominator, the pool of students that graduated
53:49 are expected by the state of
53:50 Florida standards to have done one of these things and I’ll go
53:54 through them in a minute
53:55 in order to have to be counted positively in the college and
53:59 career acceleration. They
54:01 scored a level three, four or five in college board advanced
54:05 placement exams, a four, five,
54:07 six or seven in the international baccalaureate exam, a three,
54:12 four, five, six, seven or eight
54:14 in an advanced international certificate of education exam, a C
54:18 or better on an approved
54:19 dual enrollment class and industry certification. So this is
54:26 just an example and the numbers
54:28 on here do not represent the district. They don’t represent any
54:32 school. I just wanted
54:34 to give you some numbers so that we can have a total. So for
54:36 elementary school there are
54:38 seven components that are counted in school grade. The seven
54:41 components are achievement,
54:42 learning gains and learning gains for your lowest 25% in ELA.
54:46 Mathematics is the same
54:48 thing, achievement, learning gains and lowest 25% in addition to
54:52 science. For the middle
54:53 school there are nine components and that includes the first
54:58 seven plus the social studies
55:01 and the middle school acceleration. For the high schools there
55:06 are ten components because
55:08 it is the first seven social studies is history and then of
55:13 course graduation rate and college
55:16 and career acceleration. For the district and for those schools
55:19 that are combination
55:21 schools it’s eleven components so it is added up all of the
55:25 number, all of the components
55:28 count. So for this example we earned 681 points, eleven
55:34 components, that’s 62% of the points
55:37 and overall of an A. And this is the state will calculate for
55:42 every school and then they
55:44 determine where do you fall, within what range and that’s how it
55:48 is determined what your
55:49 school grade is. So the next piece that I want to talk briefly
55:56 about is the federal
55:57 accountability system and it’s the Every Student Succeeds Act,
56:02 ESSA, and that’s replacing the
56:04 No Child Left Behind. The main focus of the ESSA is to focus on
56:09 reporting the student’s
56:10 subgroups. The adjustment for at least the 95% tested, this is
56:15 where it gets a little
56:16 bit tricky because what they mean about that adjustment is if a
56:20 student does not test the
56:22 95% for school grade, remember I stated that Dr. Mullins can
56:26 file the appeals, we work
56:28 with the schools. For the adjustment for ESSA, for any student,
56:33 so let’s say that a component
56:35 for ELA you did not make your 95% tested, they’re going to add
56:39 back the students that
56:40 did not test and they’re going to add them as a negative impact.
56:44 So I always think of
56:45 them as adding them back as a level one student. So that
56:49 definitely will impact, so sometimes
56:52 you’ll look at an ESSA report in comparison to what the school
56:55 grade report is and you’ll
56:57 notice that the percent of proficiency for ELA is a little
57:00 different than it is reported
57:02 in ESSA, it could definitely be the 95% tested. The other piece
57:07 that is the ELA language learners
57:09 proficiency progress that is added, that’s the last component
57:13 that has been added to
57:14 the ESSA federal point index and what they’re doing is they’re
57:18 looking at what we normally
57:20 call WIDA, but the real name of the test is, it’s the WIDA is
57:24 the consortium but the name
57:25 of the test is the access for L’s or the alternate access for L’s.
57:31 So they are going to look
57:33 at language proficiency or language acquisition between one test
57:37 and the next and the students
57:39 are, they’re going to measure, it’s almost like a learning gain
57:42 but it’s for a language
57:43 acquisition. So that’s the last component that is being included
57:47 in the ESSA. So ESSA
57:49 as you can see, the first 11 components are the same, the ELP is
57:55 different which is the
57:56 language proficiency progress for language, sorry, progress of
58:01 English language learners
58:03 and when you look at it and you total the number of points,
58:06 there are 12 components
58:07 and it’s 67%. We have to meet the magic number of 41 in order
58:14 not to be, for there not to
58:16 be any sanctions. For the federal point index which is this
58:20 calculation that I just showed
58:21 you that encompasses all, if you’re not at 41 or better, then
58:26 you’re considered to be
58:28 in comprehensive support and improvement. Then there is the
58:32 federal, the targeted support
58:34 and improvement which has to do with every single one of the subgroups.
58:37 So they’ll look
58:38 at every single one of the subgroups to determine are they
58:42 making progress, are they making
58:44 gains, et cetera, et cetera. And if any of those fall below the
58:48 41, then the schools
58:49 fall into the targeted support and improvement. And a school yes
58:54 can have multiple, they can
58:56 have white and African-Americans and Hispanic students that are
59:03 not meeting that 41%. Are
59:06 there any questions?
59:07 » Board members have questions for Ms. Francis? Ms. Deskovich?
59:12 » Thank you, Nada. You’re so amazing with all of this.
59:15 » Oh, thank you.
59:16 » We appreciate you very, very much. Just a couple of quick
59:18 questions.
59:19 » Sure.
59:20 » One, are we tracking, do you track iReady scores too or just?
59:25 » We do. I do work with Mrs. Kline and her team to track the iReady
59:28 scores.
59:29 » Okay. So are we keeping an eye on that to have some idea of
59:32 how?
59:34 » Absolutely, Mrs. Kline. I’m waiting for her directive to tell
59:37 me exactly when I need
59:38 to start working on the tracking.
59:44 » Okay. And the previous you guys have sent us like summary-ish.
59:52 » Okay. Great. That is what I want to see because we need to
1:00:01 know if we need to be panicking
1:00:02 or if we’re in good shape or get some idea. So I appreciate that.
1:00:06 Also, I noticed you
1:00:07 didn’t include ROTC credits for.
1:00:09 » That will not come into play until 2021, 2022. So they’re
1:00:14 still working out how they’re
1:00:16 going to collect the data because the vendor, apparently the
1:00:19 vendors don’t speak to each
1:00:21 other so they have to make all of those behind the scenes things
1:00:24 that happen. Yeah. So 2022
1:00:27 is when JROTC will come into.
1:00:30 » I think they had to have, if I remember the legislation right,
1:00:34 they had to have participated
1:00:37 in it for two years which, right, was JROTC.
1:00:39 » But they could have already participated the last two years,
1:00:41 last three years. So the
1:00:43 clock doesn’t start for them in 2021. It just starts for
1:00:46 reporting, right? Okay. And then
1:00:48 my last question is about the sixth grade – it’s math you’re
1:00:52 talking about when you
1:00:54 said our scores are really high, correct? I don’t remember –
1:00:56 » Yes, it’s math. Absolutely. Yes, it’s math.
1:00:58 » So I’m just trying to get my brain around. So if we’re using
1:01:02 sixth grade scores for eighth
1:01:04 graders this year, correct?
1:01:06 » So the determination for the middle school acceleration is
1:01:09 the denominator, the pool
1:01:11 of students that they’re going to pull, they’re going to look at
1:01:13 all eighth graders and then
1:01:14 they’re going to say, do you have a score in sixth grade and
1:01:18 were you a level three
1:01:20 or better? If you were a level three or better, you’re being
1:01:23 included in the calculate – automatically
1:01:25 included in the calculation.
1:01:27 » So we’re going to be probably comparing algebra one scores –
1:01:30 I’m guessing we’re going
1:01:31 to be comparing algebra or geometry scores to a sixth grade and
1:01:34 they’re going to have
1:01:35 those learning gains if we’re doing eighth graders, yes?
1:01:37 » They are going to have – okay, so there are two things. So
1:01:40 the learning gains, a student
1:01:42 who had a – who had a seventh grade test and then now in ninth
1:01:46 grade is taking algebra,
1:01:48 they’re going to do the learning gains compared for the algebra
1:01:51 to the seventh grade. So it’s
1:01:54 – they’re looking at whatever score you have in mathematics
1:01:57 prior to create a learning
1:01:59 gain. The same thing will happen for ELA, but it’s a little –
1:02:02 it’s more difficult when
1:02:04 you’re looking to go from algebra to geometry or if you didn’t
1:02:08 have an algebra test because
1:02:10 you were in eighth grade last year, you took algebra. Ninth
1:02:13 grade, you don’t have a score
1:02:15 for – I’m sorry. And in ninth grade, you’re taking geometry, so
1:02:19 now they’re going to go
1:02:20 back and compare your score to your seventh grade.
1:02:26 » We did fairly well in algebra last –
1:02:28 » We did.
1:02:29 » – but probably not as well as our sixth grade math scores. I’m
1:02:33 guessing it’s just
1:02:34 – I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting to see. Thank you.
1:02:37 » It’s a difference of 976 students that were adding to the
1:02:41 denominator, potential
1:02:42 976 students that are being added to the middle school
1:02:46 acceleration component denominator
1:02:49 that normally wouldn’t have been there. It’s just because the
1:02:52 students in sixth grades
1:02:54 always outperform, A, the state and B, our seventh graders. Dr.
1:02:58 Sullivan, did you want
1:02:59 to add?
1:03:00 » [Inaudible]
1:03:17 » That’s exactly what I was trying to understand. That’s what I
1:03:37 assumed was going to happen.
1:03:39 And I think it’s going to be harder to show learning gains that
1:03:57 way.
1:03:59 » So it’s just one component of the score.
1:04:00 » So it’s –
1:04:01 » [Inaudible]
1:04:02 » So if you look here, you’ll see that mathematics still has
1:04:07 the learning gains and the achievement.
1:04:10 So the students will still be able to score a level three or
1:04:13 better to count an achievement.
1:04:15 The learning gains are there. And then you have the middle
1:04:19 school acceleration component
1:04:20 that is also added. That’s yet one more component of the middle
1:04:26 school grade, one of the nine.
1:04:30 » Thank you.
1:04:33 » You’re welcome. Ms. Campbell?
1:04:35 » Yes. So you had mentioned from the beginning that the only
1:04:41 scores that count in the accountability
1:04:44 grading are the students who were there for the entire school
1:04:47 year, correct? Is that the
1:04:48 same standard for the federal – for SF? Is that the same –
1:04:53 » It is my understanding that it is the same, but I’d like to
1:04:56 double check that to make
1:04:58 sure that I give you the most accurate information.
1:05:01 » So the 95% tested, you explain that, but I want to make sure
1:05:06 I understood that correctly.
1:05:08 So if we – on the 95%, if we get to the end of this year and a
1:05:13 school, an individual school
1:05:15 doesn’t have 95% of their students testing any one subject or
1:05:21 whatever, of the ones who
1:05:24 are – have been there full-time, right? Then explain to me
1:05:29 again what happens there.
1:05:31 » So for school grade, for the purpose of school grade, that
1:05:35 will get a list of schools
1:05:36 that will say an I, and it will tell us the reason why they wear
1:05:39 an I, meaning incomplete.
1:05:41 And so Dr. Mullins will then direct me to start working with the
1:05:45 schools so that we
1:05:46 can figure out if the school – the tested students indicate the
1:05:51 pocket of the community
1:05:53 that they’re serving. So for instance, if they have 50%
1:05:57 Hispanics, where did they test
1:05:59 the Hispanic kids? Are they trying to exclude a specific group?
1:06:03 So if we can prove that
1:06:05 they actually tested and it represents – it’s representative of
1:06:08 their population, then normally
1:06:10 the state will grant us the appeal and they’ll release the
1:06:13 school grade. Where it gets a
1:06:14 little tricky is with the ESSA. ESSA just puts in the kids that
1:06:20 they didn’t test and
1:06:22 then it will negatively impact the school. » Right. So – all
1:06:27 right. Okay. I’m going
1:06:29 to come back to that in a second. But on the graduation rate, I
1:06:33 know that statewide we
1:06:34 didn’t have grades, but is the federal – are they still doing
1:06:39 graduation rates for our
1:06:41 federal accountability this year? » So keep in mind that the
1:06:44 graduation rate
1:06:45 is lagged. So last year, the class of 2020 is the one that we
1:06:50 will be using for this
1:06:52 year’s school grade. Which, again, can be a problem because
1:06:57 although we had a lot of
1:06:59 graduates, the college and career acceleration components, so –
1:07:03 » Because they were able to finish up the way they usually do.
1:07:08 » But it is the 2020 graduating class that we will be – that
1:07:12 will be included in the
1:07:13 one school grade. » Okay. And then – so on the 95% – back
1:07:25 to the 95%, have we had that impact us before? I’m just thinking
1:07:28 of some of our students,
1:07:30 our schools that have a very transient population and you’ve got
1:07:33 kids moving in and out and
1:07:34 maybe, you know, maybe we don’t get the 95% or maybe a school
1:07:36 that has lots of opt-out.
1:07:37 Does that have been – pre-COVID, has that been – how has that
1:07:40 affected us before?
1:07:41 » We’ve had a couple of schools that have had an eye. But it –
1:07:45 we filed the appeal
1:07:46 and it’s never negatively impacted with the ESSA. So the only
1:07:50 reason I brought it up was
1:07:52 because this year and the parents wanting to opt-out their
1:07:56 students and wanting to keep
1:07:58 them home, et cetera, et cetera, if we continue on the same path,
1:08:03 then we may see a – we
1:08:04 may see an increase in those schools. » I know that – and this
1:08:08 is my final question
1:08:09 thought, is that – I know that we can’t predict what the
1:08:13 legislature is going to do, but obviously
1:08:15 this year it would be ideal if this year is kind of a hold
1:08:18 harmless year, but it’s just
1:08:20 to establish a baseline since we had that missing year. Give us,
1:08:23 you know, give us our
1:08:25 school grades, give us our whatever, but don’t base anything off
1:08:29 of that because, you know,
1:08:30 we had the spring, we have this whole year where we’re trying to
1:08:33 play catch-up. Is there
1:08:34 any kind of word that has been gone, you know, going around that
1:08:38 that is a possibility or
1:08:39 that they’re asking for that to happen? » So there are a lot of
1:08:43 people asking for
1:08:43 that specific to happen and not so much as hold harmless, but to
1:08:47 release it and not have
1:08:48 any of the sanctions is what is being requested. And that would
1:08:52 be the best case scenario,
1:08:53 but I’ve not heard that they’re moving forward with that. But
1:08:57 then again, the legislative
1:08:58 session hasn’t started, so. » Okay. But that would be a
1:09:01 legislative decision,
1:09:03 not a DOE decision. Okay. I would like to add that to our
1:09:09 legislative agenda, please.
1:09:11 » Just one second. Ms. Campbell, for your reference, the I
1:09:16 schools weren’t necessarily
1:09:18 our transient schools. So Holland in my district had, I think it
1:09:22 was last year.
1:09:23 » It was last year. » Yeah. Had more, yeah. Just part of the
1:09:29 opt-out movement and wanting to opt-out their kids. And so I don’t
1:09:31 know what COVID is going
1:09:32 to bring as far as that. » Right. Right. That’s it. Thank you.
1:09:36 » You’re welcome. Thank you. Ms. Campbell, Mr. Souza, any
1:09:39 questions for Ms. Francis?
1:09:40 » No. Thank you. » I have one that I think should be a pretty
1:09:43 easy one, Nada. » Okay.
1:09:44 » So remember back in the day of AYP, we had subgroups that
1:09:48 they analyzed, but our
1:09:50 subgroup in Florida was like 10 or something like that.
1:09:55 » The south side. » And so other places had much larger
1:10:00 numbers
1:10:01 for their cell size. And so they, their subgroup data wasn’t
1:10:06 counted in several areas. And
1:10:08 there was a lot of discussion around that. So going back to the
1:10:12 ESSA and the subgroups
1:10:13 scores, is there a cell size for ESSA? » 10.
1:10:17 » So it is still 10. And now everyone’s on 10.
1:10:20 » Well, I’m not sure if everyone is on 10, because remember
1:10:24 every state had to provide
1:10:26 a, like a roadmap or a proposal that would say this is what we’re
1:10:32 going to do, this is
1:10:34 how it’s going to impact. Ours just happens to look very similar
1:10:38 to our school grade,
1:10:39 because we were doing a lot of the asks by the federal
1:10:43 government. So that’s why, but
1:10:47 yeah. I would absolutely, I can check to see if everybody else
1:10:52 is on 10, if the cell size
1:10:53 is 10 for other states, but. » That’s fine. Don’t waste your
1:10:57 time on that.
1:10:58 » Okay. » I was just curious. You have plenty on
1:10:59 your plate. » Thank you.
1:11:01 » Thank you so much for all that you’re doing in this year of
1:11:04 craziness to keep abreast
1:11:05 of all of this stuff. And please know if there’s anything that
1:11:08 the board members can do, obviously
1:11:10 we’ll add the no sanctions to our legislative platform for
1:11:14 discussion. But if any of us
1:11:16 can advocate with the state board or with the legislature,
1:11:19 please, please feel free
1:11:20 to reach out to us and say, hey, I need your help.
1:11:23 » All right, thank you. » Thank you.
1:11:24 » Have a wonderful evening. » Ms. Belfort, may I just add a
1:11:29 couple comments?
1:11:30 Just to remind the board on October, I want to say 27th, we have
1:11:36 a workshop already scheduled
1:11:38 to present the board. The results of our first progress
1:11:42 monitoring for this year, Dr. Sullivan
1:11:45 and Ms. Klein will be presenting that information for the board.
1:11:48 It was already referenced and
1:11:50 alluded to how are we doing with iReady. I also want to take
1:11:53 this opportunity to remind
1:11:54 the board that I believe it was last year we initiated our first
1:11:59 formal progress monitoring
1:12:01 in algebra. Was it last year, Dr. Sullivan, or the year before,
1:12:04 last year? So we were
1:12:06 able to launch that progress monitoring district wide. And I
1:12:12 would suggest there will be no
1:12:15 more important year to have that tool than this year as we have
1:12:19 kids who have been placed
1:12:21 in algebra one based on two-year prior student achievement data.
1:12:24 So we can quickly monitor
1:12:26 and get feedback on their progress and make end time adjustments.
1:12:31 So I want to thank secondary
1:12:33 leading and learning Dr. Sullivan for that great insight and the
1:12:37 benefits it’s going
1:12:38 to yield moving forward. And finally, I would just do a shout
1:12:42 out to our middle school – I’m
1:12:44 going to try and get this right, Nada. Our middle school, Dr.
1:12:48 Sullivan, algebra one teachers
1:12:50 worked like warriors over this summer to offer algebra one EOC
1:12:55 to our kids over the summer.
1:12:58 They came in, controlled environments, small groups and so on. I
1:13:02 think if I remember correctly,
1:13:04 we led the state in the numbers of middle school algebra one
1:13:07 students who came in to
1:13:09 do the assessment. And that gives them the opportunity to test
1:13:13 closest to the time they
1:13:15 had the course and so on. So that is a credit to our
1:13:18 administrators in our middle schools
1:13:19 for thinking creatively, to our algebra teachers for making that
1:13:23 extra effort to reach out
1:13:24 to them, as well as our career and technical education teachers
1:13:30 who worked so hard to connect
1:13:32 with their CTE kids all through the summer. We had testing –
1:13:37 our poor administrators.
1:13:39 They were hosting testing throughout the whole summer in our
1:13:42 high schools and obviously in
1:13:44 our middle schools because it was the right thing to do for our
1:13:48 kids. And to give them
1:13:49 the opportunity of that reward, that award of accomplishment for
1:13:54 the hard work that they
1:13:55 persevered through a very difficult year. So just didn’t want to
1:13:59 lose the opportunity
1:14:00 to shout out to our CTE and particularly our math teachers for
1:14:03 continuing to work through
1:14:05 difficult circumstances on behalf of our kids. So thank you.
1:14:09 » Thank you, Dr. Mullins. And thank you to all of our team
1:14:13 members that made that possible.
1:14:15 We are now at public comments. We have two speakers scheduled
1:14:19 for this evening. Each
1:14:21 speaker is limited to three minutes. We have a clock in front of
1:14:25 me to help you keep track
1:14:27 of your time. When your time is over, you’ll be asked to stop
1:14:29 and allow the next speaker
1:14:31 his or her turn. Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is
1:14:34 expected at all times
1:14:35 and your statement should be directed to the board chairman. The
1:14:39 chairman may interrupt,
1:14:40 warn, or terminate a participant’s statement when time is up,
1:14:44 personally directed, abusive,
1:14:45 obscene, or irrelevant. Should an individual not observe proper
1:14:49 etiquette, the chairman
1:14:51 may request the individual leave the meeting. Let’s all
1:14:53 encourage an environment appropriate
1:14:55 for our children who may be present or watching from home. We
1:14:59 will start with our first speaker,
1:15:01 Mr. Shiffrin, and our second speaker, Kayla Magnusson. When Mr.
1:15:08 Shiffrin is done, it’ll
1:15:10 be your turn. » Do you need my help with the microphone,
1:15:17 Mr. Shiffrin? Ms. Belford, Dr. Mullen, school board members, my
1:15:29 name is Gary Shiffrin.
1:15:30 I’m the executive director of the Brevard Association of School
1:15:33 Administrators. I want
1:15:35 to extend kudos to you this evening in regards to how you have
1:15:38 confronted the reopening of
1:15:40 our schools. That is not to say that I’m necessarily supportive
1:15:44 of face-to-face instruction while
1:15:46 our trends in Brevard are not exactly the most conducive, but I’m
1:15:49 fully aware of the
1:15:50 position you’ve been put into by the bureaucrats in Tallahassee.
1:15:55 I think it’s shameful when
1:15:56 politics dictates policy and people’s well-being is at stake.
1:16:01 Having said that, though, I think
1:16:02 you would agree with me that the professionals of the Brevard
1:16:05 school system have stepped
1:16:07 up and have done an amazing job. Let me repeat that. The
1:16:10 professionals of the Brevard school
1:16:12 system have done an amazing job. From back in the spring when
1:16:16 the decision was made to
1:16:18 go 100 percent virtual and your teacher was suddenly required to
1:16:21 convert their lessons
1:16:22 to that which could be shown on the TV screen. What a challenge
1:16:26 that was, but your teachers
1:16:27 put in the time and effort to make it happen and it was
1:16:31 successful. Then because of direction
1:16:33 from those bureaucrats, you were left with few options which did
1:16:36 not include continuing
1:16:38 to go 100 percent virtual. Now the district went into overdrive
1:16:42 and plans were developed
1:16:43 for the return of face-to-face instruction. These plans were
1:16:46 then shared with the school
1:16:48 administrations and it was time for them to go into overdrive.
1:16:51 There were so many contingencies
1:16:53 that had to be developed, including the physical layout of
1:16:56 buildings and classrooms, the way
1:16:58 students would be allowed to walk in the hallways, enforcing the
1:17:01 board decision that everyone
1:17:02 would wear masks, understanding the flowcharts of personnel and
1:17:06 students would either test
1:17:07 positive and/or come in contact with other individuals who
1:17:11 tested positive. And I could
1:17:12 go on and on. The added responsibilities and additional stress
1:17:31 which became the new normal.
1:17:33 No one in any of our lifetimes could have anticipated having to
1:17:36 deal with what this
1:17:37 pandemic has caused. Having said all this, I now come to the
1:17:40 main reason I’m addressing
1:17:42 you this evening. And I know with loss of student numbers that
1:17:45 finances are probably
1:17:46 not very good. But based on what everyone has been put through,
1:17:50 based on how your professionals
1:17:51 have had to adjust their lives, based on the creative
1:17:54 innovations that had to be put in
1:17:55 place, even based on the fact that your custodians have to be
1:17:58 cleaning around the clock and so
1:18:00 on and so forth, I’m asking for this board to either
1:18:03 appropriately compensate their employees
1:18:05 or come up with some kind of recognition that will appropriately
1:18:08 thank each and every one
1:18:09 of them for the unbelievable job they’ve had to put forth to
1:18:13 make all of this work. I know
1:18:15 our motto is serving all the students with excellence. In this
1:18:18 instance, I think it’s
1:18:19 equally important to serve all of our public school staff with
1:18:23 excellence as well. I welcome
1:18:25 the opportunity to brainstorm with you in a way in which we can
1:18:29 properly recognize your
1:18:31 staff. Thank you very much. » Thank you, Mr. Shiffrin. Ms. Magnusson?
1:18:59 » Can you hear me? Okay. Ready? All right. On August 21st,
1:19:05 parents were emailed asking
1:19:06 how our children would be getting home from school. My response
1:19:10 was my child will be a
1:19:12 car rider. On August 24th, the first day of school, I drove my
1:19:15 daughter to school at 745
1:19:17 in the morning. I drove to pick her up at 2 p.m., waited for the
1:19:20 gate to open at 2.30.
1:19:22 As I’m trying to spot my child, a staff member came to my car
1:19:25 and told me that she was accidentally
1:19:26 taken to aftercare. Honest mistake, my daughter has been in
1:19:31 aftercare the past two years.
1:19:33 But I did not sign her up this year. She wasn’t in aftercare.
1:19:38 They accidentally sent her on
1:19:39 the bus, they thought. Sorry. But they still were not sure. So I
1:19:46 immediately drove as fast
1:19:47 as I could to try to beat the bus to the bus stop. My daughter
1:19:51 is only seven years old.
1:19:52 I wasn’t successful, but I had visual of the bus and my child
1:19:56 and I could finally breathe.
1:19:57 The school called me right after that, making sure she was safe
1:20:00 and actually with me. The
1:20:01 principal, the teacher called and apologized. I was humble and I
1:20:05 understood mistakes do
1:20:07 happen. I was just glad that my daughter was safe. The same
1:20:11 night, my ex-husband, who has
1:20:13 a no contact order with my children because of his domestic
1:20:18 violence and abuse, he was
1:20:21 the actual one that they called and apologized to. They did not
1:20:24 call the father of my children,
1:20:26 which my ex-husband is not the father of either one of my
1:20:29 children. They were going off of
1:20:30 my 2019 registration paperwork, not my 2020 registration
1:20:36 paperwork that I put in well
1:20:39 in advance. On August 31st, I wrote a note and emailed and
1:20:43 called to say Gina would take
1:20:45 the bus on the 31st, the 1st, the 2nd, and 3rd of that week only.
1:20:51 I made sure it said
1:20:52 that week only. I also had the email as proof. House updates
1:20:57 were being done and I was going
1:20:58 to be at the house. From August 4th to the 18th, she had been
1:21:01 picked up, no issues in
1:21:02 the car loop. Yesterday, I’m back far in the car line. I pull up
1:21:06 and they said my child
1:21:08 was not there and they did not know where my child was. I
1:21:13 understand my language that
1:21:16 I did use yesterday. It was inappropriate and it was wrong. My
1:21:21 emotions overtook me
1:21:22 and I reacted versus responded and I apologized for my words.
1:21:29 They still did not know where
1:21:30 my child was and I came all the way back to the school after
1:21:33 they pulled my child off
1:21:35 of a bus to have me trespassed from their school because of my
1:21:40 language and the words
1:21:42 that I chose to use. I am not the first parent that this has
1:21:45 happened to, but this is twice
1:21:47 in less than a month that my child is unaccounted for and nobody
1:21:50 knew where she was again and
1:21:52 seconds matter to me.
1:21:54 That’s it. Thank you. Does any board member wish to respond to
1:22:04 any of the speakers this
1:22:06 evening?
1:22:07 She’s going to go see Ms. Klein over anything that she’s got?
1:22:12 I’m sorry?
1:22:13 She’s going to go see Ms. Klein over her situation?
1:22:17 It’s being addressed.
1:22:18 Okay.
1:22:19 Yep. Dr. Mullins, any response to any of the speakers this
1:22:20 evening?
1:22:20 Okay. That is going to move us into the consent agenda, Dr. Mullins.
1:22:36 There are 13 agenda items under this category.
1:22:38 Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent
1:22:41 agenda this evening? Seeing
1:22:43 none, I’ll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as
1:22:46 presented.
1:22:47 Move to approve.
1:22:48 Second.
1:22:49 Seconded by Ms. McDougall. Is there any discussion? Please vote.
1:23:09 The motion passes 5-0, Dr. Mullins.
1:23:13 Ms. Belford and members of the board, were you on the action
1:23:16 agenda? Did I get ahead
1:23:17 of it?
1:23:18 Yes.
1:23:19 We are at the action agenda.
1:23:20 Yes.
1:23:21 You got ahead of me because I got behind.
1:23:24 That’s okay.
1:23:25 We will now move on to the action agenda, Dr. Mullins.
1:23:29 Members of the board, the only action item this evening is item
1:23:32 G25 on procurement solicitations.
1:23:34 What are the wishes of the board?
1:23:36 Move to approve.
1:23:37 Second.
1:23:38 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell. Any discussion?
1:23:52 Please vote.
1:23:56 The motion passes 5-0.
1:24:01 Does any board member have anything else they would like to
1:24:04 report at this time? Mr. Susan,
1:24:06 I think you indicated you had something.
1:24:08 Yeah, just Dr. Mullins, I was just going to follow up on those
1:24:11 two. There was the athletic
1:24:12 broadcast procedure that we were kind of talking about and the
1:24:16 volunteer application policies
1:24:18 that we were looking at. Just didn’t know, are we still working
1:24:21 on them? And moving forward,
1:24:23 that’s all.
1:24:25 Thank you, Mr. Susan. I had met with Ms. Moore yesterday
1:24:32 afternoon. She has drafted updated
1:24:35 procedures. I reviewed it. We’ve had a brief conversation about
1:24:39 it. I need to follow up
1:24:41 with her, but we’re prepared to continue taking – we’ll have it
1:24:45 ready this week.
1:24:46 Beautiful. And then the – that’s the athletic ones and the
1:24:49 volunteer one we’re still working
1:24:50 on, too?
1:24:51 Yes, sir.
1:24:52 Perfect. Perfect. And I just had one other thing. I got a –
1:24:57 Gibbs, you gave out a little
1:25:00 memorandum. Are we supposed to come back to you with that? I
1:25:03 didn’t know – like, I got
1:25:05 it and I was like – I didn’t know what it was.
1:25:07 No, that was just in response. So if you guys get questions, you
1:25:10 can answer questions about
1:25:12 what the board’s role is in negotiations and things. You don’t
1:25:19 have to do anything with
1:25:20 it. It’s just for your information.
1:25:24 So if we’ve got questions about it, come back to you?
1:25:26 Yeah, you can come to me.
1:25:27 All right.
1:25:28 I’m good. Thank you. Ms. Belfer?
1:25:31 Ms. Belfer, I would just like to remind everybody who may be
1:25:36 watching if you’re still with us
1:25:39 that we – just as a reminder, we do have the – our food
1:25:43 nutrition services was approved
1:25:46 along with many other school districts across the country to
1:25:49 continue basically the summer
1:25:50 lunch program during the school year. So all of our students
1:25:54 will be – if they get the
1:25:56 traditional school lunch and breakfast – breakfast is always
1:25:59 free, but lunch through the end
1:26:01 of this calendar year, through December. But I just want to
1:26:05 remind everyone that the deadline
1:26:07 for the free and reduced lunch application is coming up soon. Mr.
1:26:11 Novelli, do you know
1:26:12 what that date is on the top of your head? The free and reduced
1:26:15 lunch application deadline,
1:26:18 it’s sometime in the next couple weeks, right? Second week of
1:26:23 October. So even though everybody’s
1:26:25 going to get a free lunch between now and December, I just want
1:26:27 to remind everybody
1:26:28 you need to go ahead and get that application in because then
1:26:31 following December, it will
1:26:32 be too late to sign up then. So I want to encourage everybody to
1:26:35 go ahead. If that’s
1:26:36 something you’ve qualified for before, you think you will
1:26:38 qualify this year, especially
1:26:40 with economic changes, please make sure you fill out the
1:26:43 application, which you can find
1:26:44 on your school’s website.
1:26:45 Thank you, Ms. Campbell. That’s a great point. And I would
1:26:48 suggest that everyone just fill
1:26:50 out the application and see if you might qualify because not
1:26:53 only does it apply to potentially
1:26:55 reduced cost meals, but also applies to Title I funding for our
1:26:57 district and our schools.
1:26:59 So really critically important. And a lot of people might think,
1:27:02 you know, I would never
1:27:03 qualify, but there’s a good possibility that they may. So if all
1:27:06 parents would just please
1:27:08 take a couple of minutes to do that, we would certainly
1:27:09 appreciate it. And so would your
1:27:10 schools. Mr. Susan, you know, it’s just that there’s certain
1:27:15 schools where families didn’t
1:27:16 fill it out and they lost their Title I funding. And that
1:27:19 supports both for reading and everything
1:27:21 you just said. So it’s not like it’s something that, you know,
1:27:24 you just get free lunch. It’s
1:27:25 all the supports and it’s a considerable amount of support. So
1:27:28 thank you for bringing that
1:27:29 up. Ms. Campbell is a great point. Thank you. Even if your child
1:27:31 packs a lunch every day,
1:27:32 you know, it makes an impact on them. Yep. Well, yeah. Madison
1:27:36 last year or the year
1:27:37 before missed it by one student and they were just crushed. So
1:27:41 Roy Allen went from, I think
1:27:42 a C2 and A and then lost all their funding. Yeah. So it’s like,
1:27:46 you know. Yep. Very important.
1:27:49 Any other board members have any points of discussion? Dr. Mullins,
1:27:52 anything you would
1:27:52 like to bring up before we close off the evening? No, thank you.
1:27:55 All right. Seeing no further
1:27:56 business, this meeting is officially adjourned. Have a great
1:27:58 night.
1:28:19 [Music]