Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
6:36 » Good evening.
6:37 The April 26, 2022 board meeting is now in order.
6:40 I’m happy to welcome my fellow board members and the public.
6:43 This is a business meeting of the board held in the public.
6:46 As such, the board is authorized to adopt rules or policies to
6:48 maintain orderly conduct and proper decorum in a public meeting.
6:52 Please note that your presence here is subject to those rules
6:55 and policies.
6:56 Pursuant to Florida Statute 877.13, it is unlawful and a
6:59 misdemeanor of the second degree,
7:01 punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for any
7:04 person knowingly to disrupt or interfere with the lawful
7:07 administration or functions of any educational institution or
7:10 school board.
7:11 Or knowingly to advise, counsel, or instruct any school pupil or
7:14 school employee to disrupt any school or school board function
7:17 or activity on school board property.
7:19 To facilitate board business, please be aware of the following.
7:23 If you must leave the building for any reason, you will not be
7:25 permitted to reenter.
7:26 The appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is
7:29 during your individual public comment opportunity, as identified
7:32 in the agenda.
7:33 Outside of your individual public comment opportunity, your role
7:36 in the meeting is as an observer.
7:38 I will ask persons deemed to be knowingly or intentionally
7:40 disrupting this meeting of the school board of Brevard County or
7:43 not complying with policy to stop or leave.
7:45 If persons receiving the warning choose not to follow my
7:47 instructions, I’ll instruct Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies to
7:50 take any law enforcement action they deem appropriate, and you
7:53 may be escorted, detained, or arrested, depending on the conduct.
7:56 Persons who refuse to depart after a warning may also be
7:59 committing the crime of trespassing, in accordance with Florida
8:02 Statute Section 810.05.
8:04 These statutes apply to conduct on all school board property,
8:07 which includes this boardroom, as well as the outside of the
8:09 building to the sidewalk.
8:12 If you continue to cause a disruption, you’re advised that you’re
8:14 in violation of Florida State Statute 877.13, or if you fail to
8:18 leave the premises after being warned by the sheriff’s office,
8:21 you are committing trespass, and the board has authorized the
8:23 sheriff’s office to enforce these rules.
8:25 In the event multiple individuals fail to adhere to these
8:28 expectations and board business cannot continue due to
8:30 disruption,
8:31 I’ll call a recess and request that the law enforcement officers
8:34 present clear the boardroom of attendees.
8:36 When the room is cleared, the board will return and resume their
8:39 meeting with no public present.
8:40 Those who are signed up to speak will be seated under the front
8:43 entry area and called in when it is your time to speak.
8:46 Mr. Bruhn, roll call please.
8:48 » Ms. Belford?
8:50 » Present.
8:51 » Ms. Campbell?
8:52 » Present.
8:53 » Ms. Jenkins?
8:54 » Present.
8:55 » Ms. McDougall?
8:56 » Present.
8:56 » And Mr. Susan?
8:57 » Present.
8:59 » Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
9:05 » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
9:08 America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
9:13 under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
9:23 » The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection and
9:25 invite the audience to join.
9:48 Thank you.
9:49 » At this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members and
9:52 Dr. Mullins an opportunity to recognize student staff or members
9:55 of the community who would like to kick us off this evening.
9:59 I’ll start Ms. Jenkins.
10:00 » Yeah, thanks.
10:02 So first, I had a really awesome opportunity on Friday to
10:06 participate with the West Melbourne Police Department and the
10:10 Fire Department as well as the city council there for cops on
10:13 the coop to raise money for Special Olympics.
10:15 But pretty sure most people are aware of that by now.
10:19 But I really wanted to do a special shout out to our BPS staff
10:22 because hats off to district three.
10:25 I had four administrators there on that roof with me, which was
10:29 really cool.
10:30 Had a great time with the principal from Riviera, Sea Park, Surfside
10:34 and Stone Magnet Middle.
10:35 They were not the only administrators we had there.
10:37 We also had Meadow Lane.
10:38 We had teachers.
10:39 We had SROs from BPS.
10:41 So they were really representing and standing up for Special
10:43 Olympics, which was really, really fun.
10:45 Had a great time.
10:45 Met some awesome families and kids.
10:47 So and hats off to you, Ms. Campbell, because you are the one
10:50 who brought my attention to that last year and I found out about
10:52 it too late.
10:53 So I thank you.
10:55 The other thing I want to bring up is I had the pleasure of
10:58 being invited to your high school yesterday for the Robotics
11:02 Reveal.
11:03 And it was an event put on by the students.
11:06 It was student led, student driven, student organized.
11:09 It was really awesome.
11:11 And never mind the fact of how smart our kids are, I’m always
11:14 impressed by how smart they are.
11:16 But their ability to have public speaking, their dedication to
11:22 diversity and equity within their own program, and the fact that
11:27 they don’t even have a robotics CTE program there.
11:31 What they put together, a team of 45 students all on their own,
11:35 was really incredible.
11:37 And they just wanted to have this event just kind of wrap up the
11:40 year, let the public and the community members know what they
11:43 did, kind of recruit some new members.
11:46 I was escorted around by some of the students to get to know all
11:49 the other students more.
11:50 They told me their favorite part about being part of that team.
11:54 Well, this one student I was talking to was a senior, is when
11:58 the new meet came in during orientation every year.
12:02 They loved convincing those students that they can do whatever
12:06 they try.
12:07 They said it was really often they have students come and saying,
12:10 I can’t speak in front of groups of people.
12:12 I’m really good at finance and numbers.
12:14 I really want to be on the finance team.
12:16 And they trick them into joining.
12:17 And then once they join, they’re like, cool, you’re going to be
12:20 the one who presents our project in front of a panelist of
12:23 people.
12:24 And it was just so cool to see the students really supporting
12:27 each other and growing together.
12:29 It was a really unique family.
12:32 Hats off to those mentors, because only two of the mentors were
12:36 teachers.
12:37 The rest of them were from the community and some of the big
12:39 corporations we have here.
12:41 And one of them was from Iowa. And he flew down to surprise the
12:45 kids last night because he was working with them over COVID
12:48 virtually.
12:48 They’re just really impressed with the community and just, again,
12:52 so impressed by those students because it was so student led,
12:55 student driven.
12:57 And yeah, they’re our future. They’re awesome. So thanks.
12:59 Awesome. Thanks, Ms. Jenkins.
13:01 Campbell, you want to go? I will. Well, first of all, the day
13:06 after the last board meeting, we had our next CTE tour.
13:11 We went to Bayside and led the community around. They got to see
13:15 one of the manufacturing programs.
13:17 And that was that was the coolest thing. And the students are so
13:22 excited.
13:23 And some of them are already in the workplace, not just doing
13:25 internships, already have jobs at these companies with full time
13:28 jobs lined up right after graduation.
13:30 So amazing programs for that. We also went to one of the digital
13:34 classes that offers multiple certifications in digital design.
13:39 And we also visited the TV production program, the award winning
13:44 TV production program with award winning alumni.
13:47 I think Dr. Mullins may have mentioned we have an alumni who
13:52 just won an award for his presentation for ESPN.
13:56 Right. Tony, no, that’s like an Emmy Emmy. I don’t watch those
14:01 shows, but it was it was a big deal, very big deal.
14:04 So the community leaders who were there were very impressed.
14:09 Some of them are already offering those internship opportunities
14:12 to our students and jobs already pointed out as we’re going
14:15 through party hard.
14:16 That could have already hired that kid. So it’s really exciting.
14:20 Also, last Friday, I you know, we do our school visit.
14:25 Right. We each have our own district and we’ve challenged one
14:28 another over the last two years to try to visit schools outside
14:30 of our districts.
14:31 Right. So we get to know the flavor of the whole county. I did
14:35 something different.
14:36 I’ve been it’s been on my list for a while, and that was it at a
14:39 school visit to Brevard Virtual School.
14:41 And I want to challenge each of you guys to take the opportunity.
14:43 If you don’t get to have time before the end of the school year
14:46 and try to do at the beginning of next school year because
14:48 Heather Price is the principal of our virtual school.
14:51 It’s a different kind of kind of visit. Right. You’re not going
14:54 to go around and see the kids doing choir classes and all that.
14:56 But I went on a day when students were there. They had what they
15:00 call an SOS day.
15:01 It’s a day they have different grade levels. That was the day
15:04 the high schoolers were on campus, the ones who were behind and
15:07 needed that one on one time.
15:09 And I tell you what, I just have to highlight some of the
15:11 differences, because a lot of times people out in the community
15:14 get confused.
15:15 Is there a difference between for our virtual and FLVS is what’s
15:18 better?
15:19 And I’m going to tell you some of the things. The curriculum is
15:22 the same. The platform is the same.
15:24 It is Brevard teachers. So your dollars stay in Brevard. But it’s
15:28 not just that.
15:29 The kids who are who were there at the party participate in the
15:32 SOS day had one on one time.
15:33 They were literally a teacher sitting this close to a student,
15:38 helping them with the things that they need to help on so they
15:40 could get caught up in that time that they were there.
15:43 They also have community groups, just that fellowship, because
15:46 they’ll bring, for example, the whole senior class in if they
15:49 want to.
15:50 They don’t have to if they don’t want to. But so they can meet
15:52 together and have that.
15:54 They have field trips and they get to participate in the art
15:57 fair, the district art fair, in clubs, National Honor Society.
16:01 The counselor rates ratio is much lower rather than the
16:04 thousands that the FLVS counselors are dealing with.
16:07 It’s much lower. I literally met both counselors. I met the A
16:10 through L counselor and the M through Z counselor while I was
16:14 there.
16:14 And you have a teacher and a principal who knows you. They may
16:18 not know your face all the time, but I would see someone
16:20 recognize a name and they knew the name because they get to meet
16:23 virtually.
16:24 So it was just such a wonderful program. Hope you guys take the
16:27 opportunity to go visit, especially if there’s students on
16:30 campus and some of the things they’re doing.
16:32 But I just want to thank Ms. Price and her whole team for the
16:36 amazing flexibility they’ve had over the last year.
16:40 You know, we did two years in a row push and it was necessary
16:44 and they understood why push to have that enrollment be later
16:48 and later because of our COVID situations.
16:51 And so they really just just to give some numbers, because I
16:55 like to talk about the numbers, they’re full time.
16:58 Of course, they have over 5000 flex students every year taking
17:02 maybe just driver’s ed or hope or careers or Spanish.
17:06 Those are the top classes or other any other class. But full
17:09 time, their usual pre-COVID was about one hundred and sixty
17:13 students a year.
17:14 Last year at the peak, they had a sixteen hundred is surged from
17:18 one hundred and sixty to sixteen hundred students.
17:22 And now they’re back down, but not all the way down to about
17:24 four hundred and forty one currently full time students.
17:27 And of course, students have been in and out depending on what
17:30 their situation was health wise, whether what was worked out for
17:34 them.
17:34 So just kudos to them for doing some great work over the year.
17:37 And then last thing, and somebody else, somebody else might be
17:40 talking about it, but this is After School Appreciation Week.
17:44 And just want to thank all of our Brevard after school employees
17:47 for the great work that they do, the enrichment programs.
17:49 It’s not just babysitting till the parents come and pick them up.
17:52 I saw pictures on their Facebook page last week they were doing
17:56 all kinds of fun things for Earth Day and getting creative and
17:59 making sure that that’s not just it’s not just childcare.
18:02 It’s an extension of the school day as far as learning and there’s
18:06 tutoring going on, opportunities for students to get help with
18:09 homework as well as get outside and be active and and all that
18:12 kind of thing and keep them keeping them safe.
18:14 So we appreciate our after school, our Brevard after school
18:17 workers. Thank you.
18:19 Good stuff, Mr. Campbell. Thank you, Mr. Susan.
18:22 I was that was I think the longest Miss Campbell’s ever
18:25 presented so much excitement.
18:27 I was standing down here enthralled by your just like you’re
18:31 going like this and this.
18:33 I just you know, I just want to remind you that sometimes I get
18:36 that way.
18:37 And if I do to remember this moment just once in a while, I didn’t
18:40 pound the table.
18:41 I think I think it’s great. I think we should do more of it. But
18:44 I just wanted to kind of remind everybody that, you know, it was
18:46 good job.
18:47 I like it. Maybe we’re moving in a different direction here.
18:51 No, I just want to say thank you to everybody out there. I spent
18:54 a lot of time this last two weeks going and knocking on doors,
18:56 meeting with former school board members and stuff like that
19:00 over some of the agenda items that we have tonight.
19:02 And my heart goes out to reach out to those individuals who sat
19:05 down. Some of them talked to me a lot longer.
19:08 I think some of our old school board members are missing the
19:10 fact that they haven’t been in here.
19:11 So they have a long conversation with me. Maybe we invite them
19:15 back to have a little bit of fun for something.
19:16 But I did want to talk to them, talk to a lot of teachers, talk
19:20 to a lot of different people throughout our community.
19:23 And I want to say thank you to everybody out there that that
19:25 took the time to meet with me to discuss the different items
19:28 that are on our agenda.
19:29 The other thing is, I want to say that it is official.
19:32 Stewart Healthcare has announced that they’re going to put
19:35 together a nursing school and take our kids right out of our
19:38 program.
19:39 So I got the text that, hey, we’re finally ready to do this.
19:43 I think they’re going to do a big announcement out of a galley
19:45 because that’s the school that’s right appropriate.
19:48 But that’s a big deal. And that came right out of the trades
19:50 tour. I think they saw that.
19:52 I think that held first little push where they said we’re going
19:55 to hire on these five areas and hundreds of kids when they
19:58 graduate.
19:59 So to say the least, the CTE tours that were all supportive and
20:03 Dr. Mullins, thank you for putting that together, has been an
20:06 amazing thing for all of us.
20:07 So I wanted to say thank you to those two organizations and
20:09 thank you to everybody that’s met with me over time.
20:11 Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Susan. I have a couple.
20:15 I first I want to give a shout out to the Kiwanis Club of Cocoa
20:19 Beach and also the community of Cocoa Beach and also our
20:23 facilities department.
20:25 They all came together and they had a dedication of the track
20:29 that was redone and it came together because of everybody
20:33 joining together to make it happen.
20:36 So kudos to the community, the Kiwanis Club and our facility
20:40 department.
20:41 It couldn’t have happened without all three of you working
20:43 together. So thank you for that. Yes, it is.
20:47 I agree. It was it’s long overdue. And I know that all the other
20:52 tracks are on schedule to be redone and refinish.
20:55 So we’ll get there. We are going to get there. So thanks again
20:59 to the community.
21:01 The the other thing I have is I want to give a shout out to the
21:05 students at Edgewood Junior Senior High School,
21:09 because Ms. Campbell and I and Dr. Mullins were judges for the
21:15 senior project.
21:17 And if you want to see some amazing projects, if you ever get a
21:21 chance to volunteer at any of the schools to be a judge, I
21:25 encourage you to do it.
21:27 One of the one of the students that I was able to see her
21:32 project.
21:33 She has won the state championship for projects. She is going to
21:39 the International Science Project, which is happening there.
21:44 Was that happening? I think next week. I think next week. It’s
21:49 been May.
21:50 And then she shared this with us. National Geographic is
21:55 following her around.
21:57 And she’s one of the students that they’re highlighting for
22:00 science projects.
22:01 So she says, I’m bringing my film crew. And we all said what?
22:05 And so she shared that.
22:07 So in her project, which I should share with you is how to
22:11 reduce the algae in Indian River Lagoon.
22:15 Smart, smart students and well put together and very present.
22:19 And she brought it to a level where all of us judges could
22:22 understand what she was talking about.
22:25 And she’s thinking of patenting her procedure.
22:29 So this is one of our amazing students at Brevard Public School.
22:33 And I also want to give a reminder because I don’t think we have
22:38 a board meeting on this on the week of the sixth.
22:40 But it is going to be school lunch hero day on May 6th.
22:45 And if anyone needs a shout out is our cafeteria and our our
22:50 school staff.
22:52 For what they do and how many students they feed, how hard they
22:56 work, they get up at the crack of dawn.
22:58 And they are phenomenal. So I just want to make sure we all don’t
23:02 forget about that.
23:03 That is on May 6th. So celebrate your school lunch hero day if
23:08 you can.
23:09 And the other thing I’m so sorry, I’m not normally this long
23:11 winded, but this is something I just got today from a
23:16 constituent.
23:16 And I really thought I needed to share it. So I have to read it
23:20 because it’s something again.
23:22 This is a shout out to the Merritt Island Theatre Group. They
23:26 just did. They just finished the play Hunchback of Notre Dame.
23:30 And they all went out to dinner at a local restaurant. So I need
23:35 to share with you what was what they did and how it affected
23:40 somebody in the community.
23:42 I just have to open up the email. So bear with me here a minute.
23:52 I’m so sorry.
23:53 Here we go. So. And it was it was a Facebook post.
24:02 Which I normally never look at this. I’m not on Facebook. Are
24:10 you kidding? And it says this is from the server.
24:14 And she’s bear with me here. If this is the right place to put
24:20 it, you’re talking about Facebook.
24:22 If your child goes to Merritt Island High School and are in the
24:25 drama club, specifically, if they were at Chili’s tonight after
24:28 the last Hunchback of Notre Dame show, this message is for you.
24:31 I was their server. I served all 30 of those kids tonight with
24:35 the support of my crew. Let me just say they have restored my
24:38 faith in humanity.
24:39 Their bill altogether came to just below five hundred dollars.
24:43 And when all was said and done, these kids collectively tipped
24:49 me three hundred dollars.
24:52 And she goes on to talk about how she’s a single mom and she’s
24:57 struggling and she’s working really hard. And she said.
25:02 She just wanted the community to know. That. He is so he was so
25:09 overtaken that she was in tears and thanking these kids.
25:15 And she said, just so you know, you raise some darn good kids.
25:18 This is her quote. You work your butt off. You deserve. This is
25:22 what the kids said.
25:23 I was literally holding back tears. I can’t thank them enough.
25:27 So hats off to Merritt Island Drama Club, who did the Hunchback
25:31 of Notre Dame.
25:32 Well done. Thank you, Miss McDougal. Good stuff, Dr. Mullins.
25:41 Thank you, Mrs. Belford. I had the privilege of meeting with all
25:44 of the city managers a little over a week ago and share some of
25:47 the exciting initiatives that we’ve launched this year.
25:51 Thrive by five, which I’ll talk a little bit more about tonight.
25:54 We already have one of our cities that is adopting our
25:57 resolution and joining us in partnership in our students to
26:01 raising our community kids, our youngest to thrive by five.
26:05 And I met with my employee of the year and teacher of the year
26:09 superintendent ambassadors over the last week.
26:13 And every conversation I have with them, I always leave better.
26:16 And I just want to do a shout out to my employee of the year and
26:20 teacher of the year ambassadors.
26:23 You inspire me every time we get to to spend it break bread
26:27 together and spend time.
26:29 I learned from you and I appreciate your tremendous service to
26:33 our kids and our community. Want to add to the Edgewood shout
26:36 out this week or last week, we were notified that.
26:41 We have two of our high schools who are recognized in the
26:45 challenge index, which is the oldest high school ranking system
26:49 in the country beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The
26:53 Washington Post.
26:54 And they rank the top 50 schools in the nation and Edgewood
26:56 Junior Senior High came in at twenty three and West Shore Junior
26:59 Senior High came in at 20.
27:06 Excuse me. Forty six. So congratulations to our two high schools.
27:14 And then finally, I’ll add to the shout outs of our seat, our
27:18 career and technical education tours.
27:20 Next week is the last two tours on the schedule.
27:24 So next Tuesday and Wednesday, we’re going to be at Hightisville
27:28 High School.
27:29 We’re going to be way up north at THS and we’re going to tour
27:33 the 911 public safety telecommunications program, the culinary
27:38 arts program and then the new cybersecurity program.
27:41 And then the next day, we’ll go all the way to the south end of
27:45 the county to Heritage High School.
27:47 And we will tour the environmental water program, the advanced
27:51 advanced manufacturing program and the medical administrative
27:55 specialist programs at that high school.
27:58 So if you are a community member and that is of interest to you
28:01 and you’re particularly a business that would align with one of
28:04 those programs, please reach out to my office.
28:07 We’d love to get you on the tour list so you can see the amazing
28:11 things that are happening behind the scenes, engaging with our
28:15 teachers and our students in our state of the art CTE programs.
28:19 Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Mullins. I have just one.
28:25 Hopefully quick one this evening. You all may recall that I
28:29 started talking to you.
28:31 Goodness, I think it’s been two years ago about the junior port
28:34 ambassador program and have to give a huge shout out to Port
28:38 Commissioner Robin Hadaway, who put the program together.
28:42 It was her brainchild. She reached out to me and said, I have
28:45 this thought and can we figure out how to make it work?
28:48 And so we worked together and I worked with the school
28:52 principals, getting the information out to them and, you know,
28:55 getting information to make it a doable experience for the
28:58 students.
28:59 So last Thursday, I was able to go to the graduation, if you
29:03 will, for this year’s junior port ambassadors.
29:06 It was, I think, 11 students from seven of our area high schools.
29:11 And it’s kind of the reverse of our CTE program.
29:14 So what they did was they took students from all of these high
29:17 schools that are in the port district and the students came out
29:21 to the port once a month.
29:23 And they toured all of the different job opportunities at the
29:26 port and did videos about the different opportunities that are
29:30 out there.
29:31 And so. I mean, I think that sounds pretty cool, but when you
29:36 listen to the kids talk about it like they got to ride on the
29:39 new fireboat.
29:40 They weren’t like just sitting in offices talking to people.
29:43 They rode on the new fireboat. They met with SpaceX.
29:46 They met with Space Force. They met with Coast Guard. They got
29:51 to go on the Coast Guard boat.
29:53 The tugs. I mean, they had so many awesome experiences while
29:58 they were out there and did just a wonderful job about,
30:01 you know, the goal was to get this information into the hands of
30:05 our kids and spread it among our students.
30:09 And so they’ve been sharing their videos on social media and all
30:11 of that stuff to really kind of tell people about all of the
30:14 different job opportunities that are out there.
30:16 And I mean, they went into detail like this is, you know,
30:19 straight out of high school.
30:20 This is how much money you can make doing this job. And this is
30:22 what the requirements of this job are.
30:24 And, you know, here’s what commercial fishing looks like. And it
30:27 may not be for everybody, but somebody might want to be a
30:30 commercial fisherman.
30:31 And so really, thanks to all of the partners out at the port
30:34 that made that opportunity available to our kids and especially
30:39 to Robin Hadaway,
30:40 to the parents that oftentimes called those students. We had a
30:43 student from Titusville High School.
30:45 So I know, you know, some of them made a trek to get to the port
30:49 on those days and to everyone out of the port that made it
30:52 possible.
30:53 I’m hoping that we will continue to see that grow. As you all
30:56 may know, Commissioner Hadaway is running for state office.
30:59 And so she’s not going to be there next year. And I was very,
31:01 very concerned that the program was going to go by the wayside.
31:04 But Commissioner Michael Lloyd has said that he will continue
31:07 the program once Commissioner Hadaway is gone.
31:10 So looking forward to continuing to grow that and create those
31:14 opportunities. And it was really a win win.
31:16 The kids were offered jobs while they were out there, like on
31:19 the spot, many of them. So great opportunity.
31:23 Yeah. Ms. Belford, are we considered there are no other space
31:28 force places in Florida?
31:30 I’m almost convinced that we are the Space Force Board. Did we
31:33 say we’re the Space Force Board?
31:35 I think we are. That might be a stretch. Listen, we have kids.
31:38 We have them in our community.
31:39 We have kids interning for them. I think we’re part of this. The
31:44 only Space Force School Board.
31:47 I mean, seriously, start thinking about it. We launched. One
31:50 more check.
31:51 One more check. I got this one from Rotary. We’ll try to get one
31:54 for that.
31:55 I think we got it. I’m telling you, Space Force Board. I like
31:59 the way that sounds.
32:01 All right. With that, we are going to be at the adoption of the
32:04 agenda.
32:04 Dr. Mullins. Ms. Belford and members of the board, on this
32:07 evening’s agenda, we have administrative staff recommendations,
32:10 one presentation, 23 consent items, one public hearing, three
32:15 action items, and four information items.
32:17 Changes made to the agenda since release to the public include
32:20 revisions to A7 administrative staff recommendations,
32:24 F-19, renewal of the district’s property, boiler machinery and
32:28 terrorism sabotage insurance policies, and H-37 department
32:33 school initiated agreements.
32:35 What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Moved by Mr.
32:38 Susan. Seconded by Ms. Campbell.
32:39 Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying
32:43 aye. Aye. Any opposed?
32:45 Same sign. Motion passes 5-0. Dr. Mullins, will you please let
32:50 us know about the administrative staff recommendations this
32:53 evening?
32:53 Madam Chair and members of the board, there are five items for
32:56 your consideration. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second.
32:59 Moved by Ms. McDougall. Seconded by Ms. Jenkins. Is there any
33:02 discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any
33:06 opposed? Same sign.
33:08 Motion passes 5-0. Ms. Belford. Yes, ma’am. Can I say one thing
33:11 about that? Of course.
33:15 So regretfully, I have an eye on that one. We have an amazing
33:19 principal at Delora Middle School that I know the staff there
33:23 was in shock and devastated to hear that he will be leaving.
33:27 It’s for good reasons. And he’s moving on to something really
33:29 awesome, a really awesome opportunity for him and his family.
33:32 But just just a little special shout out to Mr. LeBrun to know
33:36 that his staff is really sad and really going to miss him.
33:39 And a lot of people up here at the district said the same as
33:41 well. Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.
33:44 All right. The next item on the agenda is a superintendent
33:47 report on early childhood education. Dr. Mullen.
33:50 Thank you, Mrs. Belford and members of the board and our
33:54 audience and viewing public as we as I provide the
33:57 superintendent reports periodically.
34:00 We’ve had an opportunity to celebrate our end of K-12 career
34:06 students through.
34:08 We saw junior achievement and we’ve been celebrating career
34:12 technical education. And I wanted to also make sure that we
34:16 recognize,
34:17 celebrate and acknowledge all of the programs and efforts we
34:21 make with our earliest learners.
34:24 So this evening, I’m going to talk for a few minutes about our
34:28 early childhood programs and priorities.
34:31 And it really all begins at birth, as we know the why behind the
34:35 Brevard Thrive by Five program.
34:38 We launched it almost six months ago. And I’ll be able to
34:42 provide some numbers and some update to impact.
34:46 I think you’re you’re going to be excited to hear the impact we’ve
34:49 already had in the community.
34:52 But before we do that, for those who aren’t familiar with Thrive
34:56 by Five, it focuses on the first days of life as a young learner,
35:01 because we know the first five years of life are critical and in
35:05 many cases and the majority of our kids don’t come to us until
35:08 age five.
35:08 And we really wanted to try and connect and reach out to our
35:12 families and our youngest learners as soon as possible.
35:16 So we developed this Thrive by Five program because we wanted to
35:20 take advantage of the more than a million neural connections per
35:24 second that are happening and firing in a little child, a baby’s
35:28 brain,
35:29 which we could bottle that sometimes and kind of just absorb
35:33 that once in a while when the neurons don’t feel like they’re
35:36 firing as well as they used to.
35:38 But and we want to make sure that every child is is in a home
35:44 where reading is happening every day.
35:48 So we put together the Thrive by Five program where, as the
35:51 board knows,
35:52 and hopefully it’s growing in knowledge and momentum that we
35:57 provide every child that is born through one of the three major
36:02 birthing centers in Brevard,
36:04 either through Stewart Medical Group, Parrish Hospital or Health
36:08 First hospitals.
36:09 With their first book, you might recognize Brown Bear, Brown
36:12 Bear, What Do You See?
36:14 We still have our copy at home that’s got teeth marks in it from
36:18 our kids’ youngest years and we’re now saving it for our grandkids.
36:23 But you can see here that we’ve distributed over 2100 bags
36:27 already since November through the different medical centers
36:32 across across Brevard.
36:34 So very exciting. Interesting note.
36:37 You might recognize the gal that’s in the picture with her with
36:41 her baby.
36:42 And just as a special shout out to Kathy Lott, our principal at
36:46 Freedom Seven.
36:47 Her daughter and her granddaughter are showcased here and they
36:52 went home recently with their Thrive by Five bag.
36:57 Included in the bag is also a congratulations and a card from
37:01 Brevard Public Schools wishing them well on their new journey
37:04 with their new loved one.
37:06 And within the bag is some printed materials as well as you’ll
37:12 see there the QR code where parents can scan and go directly to
37:18 our website where we have a whole list of resources.
37:24 Information on early literacy and why it’s important to start
37:28 early, a host of family resources, information for all ages and
37:32 stages of a child’s life, as well as a whole video library
37:37 assisting parents through those stages of raising a young child
37:41 and supporting them in their journey of literacy with their
37:47 newborn.
37:49 Before I move on, we talk about the next program or the next
37:54 stage of pre-K.
37:55 Just want to emphasize that the Thrive by Five program, the
38:01 vision, if you will, is that every child that is born in Brevard
38:06 gets the opportunity to start with a with a real priority of
38:10 literacy in the home.
38:12 And regardless of where you go, whether it’s the doctor’s office,
38:15 the grocery store or the dentist, you see reminders of our Thrive
38:19 by Five.
38:20 So I don’t see any window clings out here tonight, but I’ll get
38:24 them after I’m done during the board meeting and welcome our
38:27 community to take them with you, put them in your store windows
38:31 and or give them to a place that you patrons so that our
38:35 community knows that we support our youngest families.
38:39 Our cities across Brevard County are also adopting our
38:43 resolution that prioritizes early literacy and we are moving
38:48 toward the development of an app that our families can download.
38:53 And if they choose, register their child and every year we’ll
38:58 send them a new book to their little one as they continue to
39:02 grow in literacy.
39:04 So next we have our pre-K programs. I know our board is very
39:08 aware of why our pre-K programs are important to our kids and
39:13 our community as you serve as the advisory board to our Head
39:17 Start program.
39:19 But there’s some real powerful statistics here that pre-K
39:23 students show a 61% improvement in letter word recognition
39:28 compared to students who did not enroll in or participate in pre-K
39:33 as well as students are more than twice as likely to be ready
39:36 for kindergarten compared to students who are not attending a
39:40 pre-K program.
39:41 And I want to emphasize that our pre-K programs are full time
39:46 and they are a diverse learning experience for our kids.
39:52 Our pre-K teachers do an amazing job developing lessons and
39:56 activities for our kids to be engaged that not only begin to
40:00 hone their reading skills but also their math skills and so on.
40:04 And you can see that kids who participate in pre-K are more
40:09 likely to go on to higher learning after high school.
40:14 So we have a wide variety of pre-K programs across Brevard,
40:17 actually four different programs.
40:20 One is the Step Forward VPK program and that starts with kiddos
40:24 as early as four years old.
40:26 We have 15 classrooms across 12 different elementary schools in
40:31 Brevard with our Step Forward VPK program.
40:34 We also have the blended VPK, which is a class consisting of
40:38 both VPK students and ESE students.
40:40 So it’s students who are identified early as having a learning
40:43 disability and we work closely with them, but they’re also in a
40:47 mainstream environment with non-disabled peers.
40:50 And we have 16 classes of that program.
40:54 Then, of course, we have our Head Start VPK.
40:56 That’s another four year old program for families who meet the
41:00 federal qualifications.
41:01 And we have 19 classrooms across our elementary schools with a
41:06 Head Start program.
41:08 And then Head Start III, we got little ones as young as three
41:11 years old who also have to meet the Head Start qualifications.
41:16 But we have 15 classrooms of Head Start III.
41:20 So we have 65 VPK classrooms across Brevard.
41:26 So we have hundreds of the youngest and littlest learners.
41:30 But that’s not all of them because we actually also have our CTE
41:36 programs for early childhood development and VPK.
41:40 So we’ve got five high schools that have a early childhood
41:43 program where they are actually working with these littlest guys.
41:47 O’Gally High School, Merritt Island, Palm Bay, Satellite, and
41:52 Vieira High Schools.
41:53 I had the privilege of visiting the Satellite program a couple
41:57 of weeks ago, actually, on one of our CTE tours.
42:00 The teacher there is absolutely amazing.
42:02 I sent her a letter of recognition and commendation.
42:05 But I also engaged with about four seniors who were working in
42:10 the class.
42:12 And these young people were absolutely amazing.
42:15 These kids are literally writing lesson plans one week.
42:19 And then they’re delivering the lesson plans to these three and
42:23 four year olds the next week.
42:25 And I got to tell you, so there was one group delivering
42:27 instruction, another group planning instruction.
42:31 The planning was impressive.
42:32 They had a lesson plan template that they were using as a guide.
42:37 The teacher was– the formal teacher was interacting and
42:40 coaching them.
42:41 And then we also saw the other group of kids delivering the
42:44 instruction.
42:45 These kids were doing math by paint colors.
42:50 And it was so creative.
42:53 Every one of the kids was engaged.
42:56 So when I got back to the office, I wrote a letter to all of the
42:59 seniors
42:59 and said, you have a job after college.
43:02 Come back to Brevard and teach for us.
43:04 So that was a very fun time.
43:09 So if you haven’t caught on already, Brevard Public School’s
43:13 priority
43:14 is to create a meaningful transition for children and families
43:17 as they begin the journey of kindergarten long before they come
43:21 to us in kindergarten.
43:22 And so we want to make sure that our kids have a positive
43:27 experience on day one
43:28 when they come into kindergarten.
43:30 And they look forward to going to school.
43:32 We talked about our student feedback surveys.
43:34 And this all contributes to the culture and the environment we
43:37 set at our schools.
43:38 So that our kids, when they walk onto our campuses for
43:41 kindergarten, some of them
43:42 still for the first time, they are set on a path of steady
43:45 growth
43:46 in academic and social skills.
43:48 And that we promote and encourage and engage early with our
43:53 families of our kids
43:54 to be a part of the learning and the campus.
43:58 So to contribute to that and to promote that,
44:01 every one of our elementary schools has a kindergarten
44:05 orientation
44:06 that they’re going on right now.
44:08 So you can see the schedule there.
44:10 They’ve been going on for some weeks.
44:11 But there’s still a couple more coming up.
44:14 And so board members, you are welcome to visit any one of these
44:18 kindergarten
44:19 orientations if you haven’t already seen it.
44:21 I have to tell you, it is so fun to see these little ones
44:27 getting introduced
44:29 to the school environment.
44:31 They’ve got their little best outfits on.
44:33 And they’re just getting excited about getting to go to big
44:37 school.
44:38 So I want to encourage all of our families,
44:42 if you haven’t participated in a kindergarten orientation,
44:46 I promise you all you need to do is call your child’s school,
44:50 talk to the administration.
44:51 They would love to welcome you into their school and give you a
44:55 tour,
44:56 give you orientation with your rising kindergartener as well.
45:02 In addition, in preparation for the summer, all of our VPK
45:06 students
45:07 will receive a summer backpack that is packed with activities,
45:12 books for them to utilize over the summer in preparation for
45:17 kindergarten
45:18 as well.
45:18 This is the packing party that takes over this room here
45:22 in just a couple of weeks as we prepare to send them home with
45:26 our VPK kids
45:27 this summer.
45:28 Here’s just some fun snapshots of our kids looking forward
45:32 to becoming a kindergartener.
45:36 And just want to emphasize that we will continue
45:42 to invest in our youngest kids because they are the future of
45:46 Brevard.
45:47 And we want their future to be bright and positive.
45:49 And I want to thank and commend this board for prioritizing
45:54 and committing resources as well as your own efforts
45:58 to prioritize our youngest learners across Brevard, not just in
46:02 kindergarten
46:03 and not just even in VPK, but all the way to our firstborns’
46:08 first day
46:08 of birth kids across Brevard as well.
46:11 So thank you for the opportunity to share the great work we’re
46:14 doing with our youngest learners.
46:15 Happy to answer any questions if the board has any.
46:18 Thank you, Dr. Mullen.
46:19 Any board members have questions or comments?
46:22 I will just say thank you for your leadership on this effort.
46:25 I know you guys have heard that I’ve been quite the Thrive by
46:29 Five
46:29 cheerleader.
46:30 Everywhere I go, I carry my Thrive by Five bag
46:33 and hand out the materials because I think it is so critically
46:35 important.
46:36 And I think we can all, just from our heart feeling about it,
46:41 we know it’s the right thing to do.
46:43 But I think that we also have to look at the long-term impact of
46:48 that.
46:48 And if students are coming into kindergarten kindergarten-ready,
46:52 the difference that makes for their school experience.
46:55 As we saw in the youth peer survey earlier today,
46:57 the students who are performing lower academically
47:00 are not as engaged in school, don’t feel as safe, all of those
47:03 things.
47:04 And so I would say that there’s certainly an impact there.
47:06 But we also know that if our students aren’t on grade level by
47:09 third grade,
47:10 the chances that they’re going to end up dropping out of high
47:13 school
47:13 is significantly higher.
47:14 So having them come into kindergarten kindergarten-ready
47:18 makes it really easy for us to ensure that they stay on grade
47:21 level
47:21 and making that progress instead of closing gaps at that early
47:24 age.
47:24 So thank you for starting them off right.
47:27 I think it’s going to pay off in the long run.
47:29 Well, thank you and you’re very welcome.
47:32 If I may, I have to do a shout out.
47:34 I don’t think I gave enough kudos to our health partners, the
47:39 hospitals.
47:41 Some have asked, how are you paying for this?
47:43 And when I first went to the CEOs at the three hospitals,
47:48 I said, we’d love to give the gift of literacy to children when
47:54 they’re born,
47:55 but we don’t know who they are or when they come to us.
47:59 But you do.
47:59 Would you allow us to give you these bags to give to young
48:04 families?
48:05 And they said, absolutely.
48:07 If you’ll deliver them, we’ll make sure they have them.
48:09 You can see that they’re doing it because we’ve got thousands
48:12 going out.
48:14 Birth is alive and well in Brevard.
48:19 But they also said, how are you funding it?
48:23 And I said, well, there’s an opportunity.
48:25 And between the three hospitals, they have underwritten the
48:28 entire cost
48:29 for the next five years.
48:30 So that’s impressive.
48:35 And Dr. Mullins, I’ll just add to that quickly.
48:36 I know I was speaking with Marcia Gadky from the Titusville
48:39 chamber
48:39 the other day, and she is also working on funding from the Rotary
48:43 Clubs
48:43 throughout the county to continue to purchase the books for the
48:48 birthdays
48:49 so that we can have some support there.
48:51 So really, the whole community coming together on it is awesome.
48:53 Great job.
48:55 Thank you.
48:56 [APPLAUSE]
49:02 All right, we are now at the public comment portion
49:04 of the meeting on agenda items.
49:07 We have nine agenda item speakers this evening.
49:11 Therefore, each speaker will receive three minutes.
49:13 Please note that time is per speaker, not per agenda item.
49:16 Topics not specific to agenda items will be moved to the non-agenda
49:19 portion
49:20 of the meeting.
49:21 We have a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your
49:23 time.
49:23 When your time is over, you will be asked to stop and allow the
49:26 next speaker
49:26 his or her turn.
49:29 Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is expected,
49:31 and your statement should be directed to the board chair.
49:34 The chair may interrupt, warn, or terminate a participant’s
49:36 statement
49:36 when time is up.
49:38 It’s personally directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant.
49:41 Should an individual not observe proper etiquette,
49:43 the chair may request the individual to leave the meeting.
49:46 I’ll call up three speakers at a time.
49:48 And if you all could line up on the east wall
49:51 over there so that we can move through everyone.
49:53 Our first three speakers are Karen Colby, Connie Brooke, and
49:56 Katie Delaney.
50:14 Good afternoon, board.
50:15 Thank you for your time, as always.
50:17 I wanted to talk about three different things very quickly.
50:20 One is L41 public participation.
50:23 One is L38 seclusion and restraint of students with disabilities.
50:28 And the last is H35 ad valorem millage resolution.
50:32 The information that I have regarding L41 public participation
50:37 during the meetings, I would strongly suggest please do not
50:40 limit us anymore.
50:41 Our First Amendment rights are at play here.
50:44 The second item to speak– that was fast.
50:46 The second item to speak about is the restraining students with
50:51 disabilities.
50:51 This is a very, very tight area where you don’t want to have any
50:55 errors.
50:56 I would like to be a part of a committee if there is such a one
50:58 that’s
50:59 formed to discuss this process.
51:01 Because I seriously feel that the means to restrain some of the
51:05 children
51:06 would absolutely blow some people’s minds if we all
51:08 knew what was really going on there, which
51:10 is something I would like to suggest having cameras in these
51:13 special needs
51:14 classrooms because of a certain individual young woman named
51:19 Sophia.
51:20 Now onto H35 ad valorem millage resolution.
51:24 I’ve done a lot of research on this as a homeowner in Brevard
51:27 County
51:27 and a lifetime resident.
51:30 If you own property in Florida, that property
51:32 is going to be taxed by a certain method that’s
51:36 too complicated to go into here.
51:38 But what it comes down to is that the school board thinks they’re
51:40 going to raise our taxes on our homes.
51:44 We get a homeowner discount for one house, the one we live in.
51:48 But if we’re investment owners and we have property
51:51 that is rented out to people in the audience,
51:54 this is going to make the rents go up.
51:56 This is a pandemic year when everything is going up.
52:00 The cost of food, the cost of living, the cost of utilities
52:04 has more than tripled in the past three years of what we used to
52:08 pay to now.
52:09 It costs more to live anywhere but here exponentially so.
52:13 Let’s discuss a house worth $250,000.
52:17 Your millage rate is $2,150 annually.
52:20 That’s $2,150 annually.
52:23 The price of houses, that same house, is now worth $429,000.
52:28 And I’m speaking about my house.
52:30 So my millage rate went from $2,150 to $3,689 without y’all
52:35 doing anything.
52:37 I would like to anticipate everybody agreeing with me here
52:40 that that was a huge raise and that we are going to ask
52:43 that you do not raise our millage rate.
52:45 We just had it raised because of these inflationary numbers of
52:49 our house’s
52:50 value.
52:51 Raising at 1% would be another couple thousand dollars a year.
52:55 If you’re a landlord, that’s going to go right down
52:58 to the trickle down of the ones that you don’t want to impact
53:00 the most,
53:01 the renters.
53:02 Our renters can’t afford to live now.
53:04 The renters used to pay $1,250 for a two bedroom, three bedroom
53:07 house.
53:07 Now they’re paying $3,000 each side.
53:10 Got to go.
53:10 Thank you.
53:11 Thanks, Karen.
53:13 Connie?
53:23 Good evening.
53:23 Hi, members of the board.
53:25 My name is Connie Rook, and I’m the mother to three children.
53:28 Our oldest just graduated UF, and our youngest is still in high
53:31 school.
53:31 One of my favorite parenting memories is sitting around the
53:34 family table
53:34 at dinner and sharing our day.
53:36 I remember our oldest telling us about her US history teacher
53:39 having the students draw the outline of a slave ship in the
53:41 school’s courtyard
53:42 and having all the students lay side by side on the ground in
53:45 the outline.
53:46 We talked that evening about how traumatic
53:48 it must have been to be torn from one’s family and sold into
53:51 slavery.
53:51 I can’t help to think that there are people that would protest
53:54 that history
53:54 lesson today.
53:56 Very often, our discussions would fall to books.
53:59 Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing, Animal Farm, Hunger Games,
54:01 To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter.
54:04 And now that I’m finding that some of the books that we read and
54:07 discussed
54:07 are showing up on banned books lists across the country.
54:10 Those books portray poverty, hate, sex, drugs, politics,
54:15 homosexuality, pain,
54:17 fear, desperation.
54:18 Do you know what else those same books portrayed?
54:23 The power of the human spirit, of love, and kindness, and
54:26 inclusion,
54:27 and perseverance, and bravery, and the ability of a person and a
54:31 community
54:32 to empathize and overcome in the worst of adversity and the
54:35 worst of humans.
54:36 Discussions like this is how you raise good humans.
54:39 If I’ve learned anything from these discussions,
54:41 it’s that we must never judge a book by a few excerpts.
54:44 Those books have been praised and recognized and many have won
54:47 awards.
54:48 One of the books that has been presented to you
54:50 has been made into a movie and is honored at several
54:52 international film
54:53 festivals and has won two Oscars.
54:55 Intellectual freedom and books are powerful and necessary
54:59 to the education of not only our kids, but our society as a
55:02 whole.
55:03 I have a lot of respect for our librarians.
55:05 They are a crucial profession in our schools.
55:07 And it takes about six years of full-time study to become a librarian.
55:10 And I’ve said this before, you need a bachelor’s degree
55:12 and a master’s degree in library and information science.
55:14 The selection of books is not something they take lightly,
55:17 given the limited space and funding in our schools.
55:19 Librarians consider a range of factors and review
55:22 recommendations
55:22 from a host professional organization.
55:25 I would like to also add that school libraries are for all
55:28 students,
55:28 but not all students are the same.
55:30 They have diverse interests, abilities, maturity levels,
55:33 and a varied cultural and socioeconomic background.
55:36 Our school library connections must be relevant to the students
55:39 and the campus they serve.
55:40 No one book is right for every child, but one book
55:44 can make the difference in the life of a child.
55:46 We respect those school professionals, and I hope that you do,
55:49 too.
55:49 When it comes to removing books from our schools,
55:51 I do not want my children’s education whitewashed
55:54 by a few loud but narrow minds that do not represent me,
55:57 and they do not represent the majority of Brevard County.
56:00 Thank you.
56:01 Thank you, Connie.
56:02 As Katie’s approaching, our next three speakers
56:04 will be Carrie Tkach, Jean Trent, and Sarah Murski.
56:07 If you guys wouldn’t mind lining up on the east wall.
56:11 Katie, whenever you’re ready.
56:13 Well, I had some other things to speak about,
56:16 but I will spend most of my time speaking
56:21 about the public comment policy.
56:24 Earlier today, I was stopped when I brought up the math books,
56:29 and I didn’t even get a chance to get to my point.
56:31 Yet, the last speaker just got to go on a whole long rant
56:35 and didn’t bring up the policy at all.
56:39 The way that this board stops and lets other people go on and on,
56:48 but then stops others, that’s what the problem is.
56:54 Treat everyone equally.
56:59 This is why there are lawsuits.
57:02 Treat everyone equally.
57:06 We should all have our three minutes to say our piece.
57:09 And even though I may or may not agree with some certain people
57:14 about what they want to speak about,
57:15 I think that they should have their three minutes.
57:18 But I should also have my three minutes.
57:22 Thank you.
57:26 Carrie?
57:30 Hi, Carrie Takach.
57:32 I actually was looking for clarification
57:34 on I-38, seclusion and restraint of students with disabilities.
57:39 Earlier at the workshop, a board member
57:42 stated that they had to notify parents within 24 hours
57:46 and not the end of the school day.
57:48 I had read it, so maybe afterwards someone
57:51 could clarify that.
57:53 That would be great.
57:56 I’m also speaking on I-41 public participation at board meetings.
58:00 Every citizen taxpayer and parent
58:02 has a right to speak at the school board meetings
58:05 and share their input.
58:06 The constant limiting of public speaking time
58:09 is a tyrannical form of censorship, targeting parents
58:12 and eliminating dissent.
58:14 The board was elected by the people.
58:16 The taxpayers pay the board salaries.
58:18 They pay for the money to run and operate the entire district
58:21 and educate the students.
58:23 To ask them for more money, more of their money,
58:27 with this millage while also silencing them,
58:32 it’s abhorrent and it’s unconstitutional.
58:34 Thank you.
58:35 Thanks, Carrie.
58:38 Dean?
58:43 Thank you.
58:44 Dean Trent.
58:45 So I’ll be speaking on the millage increase
58:47 or the proposed millage increase.
58:49 When I first heard about this, it
58:52 was for teacher pay.
58:56 And let me be clear, I am all for Brevard employees
59:01 to be paid fairly and fight for fair compensation.
59:05 That goes for cafeteria workers.
59:08 That goes for custodians, clerks, and of course, teachers.
59:12 I myself am a teacher in a family.
59:14 I have a family and a father of five.
59:16 So we’re all for fair compensation.
59:21 But that might be for a fight for another day.
59:23 This isn’t about that.
59:24 This is about public trust.
59:27 Over the last few years, it’s been very clear,
59:31 abundantly clear, that this board as a whole
59:32 has not valued the input received
59:35 from the very same people they are now asking for more money.
59:42 You have gone out of your way to shut the public out
59:46 of your meetings, both literally and figuratively,
59:49 from reducing the amount of time one can speak on a topic
59:53 to literally asking for the room to be clear
59:56 so you can continue your meetings
59:58 without the public being present.
1:00:00 All of this has to come with a price.
1:00:03 And the price is public trust.
1:00:06 It pains me to say that because of your actions,
1:00:10 I’m afraid you lost the public trust.
1:00:15 And as you move forward, in closing,
1:00:19 I hope you have a plan to restore that public trust.
1:00:23 And maybe that plan is the elections in August.
1:00:27 But an idea to increase the millage at this point
1:00:33 is actually just an idea that is destined to fail.
1:00:38 Thanks, Gene.
1:00:39 As Sarah is approaching, the next two speakers after that
1:00:43 will be Wyatt Stumbo and Jennifer Strafford.
1:00:45 Sarah?
1:00:48 Good evening, Madam Chair and board.
1:00:50 My name is Sarah Mirsky.
1:00:51 I have two children in BPS.
1:00:53 I’m a registered voter, taxpayer, constituent,
1:00:55 stakeholder, and I’m in district two for school board.
1:00:58 The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United
1:01:00 States says, “Congress shall make no law
1:01:03 respecting an establishment of religion
1:01:05 or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
1:01:08 or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press
1:01:11 or the right of the people peaceably to assemble
1:01:14 and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
1:01:18 You were sworn in as constitutional officers.
1:01:21 Your current public policy abridges the Constitution
1:01:24 and freedom of speech.
1:01:26 As the majority of the school board
1:01:27 voted to limit public input time,
1:01:29 I have watched the trust between the public and the school board
1:01:32 continue to erode.
1:01:34 People who come to address the school board
1:01:35 can’t even finish their thoughts and sentences
1:01:38 before they are cut off by the chairwoman.
1:01:40 It was heartbreaking watching families
1:01:42 come to address serious issues of bullying
1:01:45 and our awesome bus drivers being shut out of the meeting
1:01:48 and/or unable to finish their sentence in their one minute
1:01:53 address to the board.
1:01:54 It was and still is disrespectful.
1:01:56 Madam Chair, you interrupted me to say one agenda item had
1:02:00 nothing to do with what my concern was
1:02:02 before I could explain how they were connected, which
1:02:05 was rude.
1:02:07 I request you live stream at all board meetings
1:02:10 and workshops and work sessions.
1:02:12 Age 35, I ask we table this until the public better
1:02:16 understands where our tax dollars are going.
1:02:19 I39, I ask, which is the instructional materials,
1:02:24 I ask that the board take the directives from the FDOE
1:02:28 to not go back to having funding taken away from our district.
1:02:34 And I think that is it.
1:02:36 Thank you for your time.
1:02:37 Thank you, Sarah.
1:02:39 Wyatt?
1:02:40 [AUDIO OUT]
1:02:48 Sorry, I’m going to speak on millage.
1:02:52 To me, it’s an interesting idea to tax
1:02:54 the whole community of homeowners
1:02:56 for students that go to school.
1:02:59 And as we look at what’s going on in the community,
1:03:02 we look at the government saying we have a 7% to 8.5% inflation,
1:03:06 which I think we all know is a little under the exact number.
1:03:11 If you go to ycharge.com, our gas is up 43% year over year.
1:03:15 If you go to Redfin, we know that Brevard County
1:03:18 is up roughly 19% to 23% year over year in housing values.
1:03:22 We know that if you go to MarketWatch, one in five
1:03:27 Americans didn’t save at all in 2021,
1:03:31 didn’t contribute at all to their savings, 20%
1:03:34 in the United States.
1:03:36 48% contributed less than $5,000 to their savings.
1:03:40 You just go on and on.
1:03:42 You look at the state of Florida’s population increase
1:03:45 is roughly 1.12% net.
1:03:48 We’re a net increased population state.
1:03:51 Our county is 1.1%.
1:03:53 So we’re taking in in the top 10 of all states
1:03:57 more population, which means more tax dollars, which
1:04:01 means more sales tax.
1:04:02 So I say all that to say you get over to the budget
1:04:06 and you’ll get last year’s budget.
1:04:07 And this is probably open to interpretation,
1:04:09 but we’re somewhere between a $900 million budget and a $1.2
1:04:13 billion budget.
1:04:14 When you look at the PDF online, we’ve got what?
1:04:18 72,000 students.
1:04:20 So simple math is somewhere around 14 to 16K per student
1:04:24 is the budget when you look at it, per student.
1:04:28 I said this last time I was here.
1:04:30 I could send my kid to private school for less money than that.
1:04:33 And that should be a concern that we’re
1:04:36 going to look at taxing the community more money when we
1:04:39 already have more money allocated
1:04:41 per student in theory than cost to send to a private school.
1:04:46 So my ask is we look at the current budget,
1:04:49 we find the money we need, and we take some stuff away
1:04:51 like we would a business, and we move it
1:04:53 to the areas we need it.
1:04:55 It’s taking from people that have probably–
1:05:00 I mean, I couldn’t find this percentage, but we know that–
1:05:03 or we could assume, sorry–
1:05:05 we have more people here that have been here over the years
1:05:08 that have seen their taxes on their housing increase year
1:05:11 over year as opposed to new people coming from the north.
1:05:14 That’s probably a safe assumption.
1:05:16 So those that have been here are those
1:05:18 that continue to pay increased tax and have less money.
1:05:20 Those are the same people that we’re talking
1:05:22 about Thrive for Five, those people that
1:05:24 aren’t reading to their kids who are providing books.
1:05:27 You can’t tax those people more.
1:05:30 Lastly, real quick, I would say the only thing
1:05:33 on the speaking time is the drivers from a few meetings
1:05:37 ago.
1:05:37 You have employees that can’t make it in time to sign up.
1:05:40 That should be addressed because they
1:05:42 should know how to come speak and use their time.
1:05:45 Thanks, Wyatt.
1:05:47 Jennifer?
1:05:55 Sorry, it’s all good.
1:05:58 Thank you.
1:05:59 Good evening.
1:05:59 Over the past several months to a year
1:06:01 that I have attended and witnessed these meetings,
1:06:05 the public comment section has been cut from three minutes
1:06:09 to one minutes on non-agenda topics.
1:06:11 This further makes us feel like you don’t want to hear from us,
1:06:14 your constituents.
1:06:15 It is so frustrating when those of you
1:06:17 up there don’t even acknowledge some of us
1:06:18 when we are at the podium, which is contributing
1:06:20 to the division between the parents and the school board.
1:06:24 The students and parents are the ones
1:06:25 you are supposed to represent.
1:06:27 But when we are getting threatened with jail time
1:06:28 at the start of every meeting, that further
1:06:30 proves that all of you need a reminder of just that.
1:06:33 We are aware that there are other ways to express–
1:06:36 Ourselves such as a call or an email
1:06:37 But this is our public forum to air our grievances and this time
1:06:40 is public record and the community is able to hear what we have
1:06:44 To say I ask at the very least you consider giving the speakers
1:06:47 on non-agenda items the additional two minutes back
1:06:51 Thank you, jennifer
1:06:53 All right that concludes our public
1:06:57 comment on agenda items
1:07:00 Do you want to make a point of clarification that the policy
1:07:03 modification that is on the agenda this evening actually?
1:07:06 increases the time for non-agenda speakers
1:07:09 um
1:07:10 To mirror the time for the agenda speakers
1:07:13 So we go back to the three two one instead of one minute for non-agenda
1:07:16 speakers when that policy is passed
1:07:19 And I think there is some some confusion on that point
1:07:24 Um
1:07:25 Dr. Mullins anything that you wanted to address before I move on
1:07:29 not at this time. Thank you. Okay
1:07:31 So that is going to move us into the consent agenda. Dr. Mullins
1:07:36 There are 23
1:07:38 23 agenda items under this category. Thank you. Dr. Mullins.
1:07:41 Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent
1:07:44 agenda?
1:07:46 Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent
1:07:49 agenda as presented
1:07:53 Moved by miss campbell seconded by miss mcdougal. Is there any
1:07:55 discussion?
1:07:57 All in favor, please signify by saying aye aye all opposed same
1:08:01 sign
1:08:02 the motion passes five zero
1:08:07 Now we will hold a public hearing on item g34
1:08:09 Is there anyone present who wishes to address the board
1:08:12 regarding the elementary and secondary emergency relief?
1:08:14 Esser fund under the american rescue plan arp act updated
1:08:17 instructional continuity plans
1:08:23 Is there anyone present who wishes to address the board
1:08:24 regarding the elementary and secondary emergency relief
1:08:30 Esser fund under the american rescue plan arp act updated
1:08:33 instructional continuity plans
1:08:36 Okay, does any board member have anything to discuss pertaining
1:08:39 to this policy?
1:08:41 That will conclude the public hearing on that
1:08:45 Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the item under
1:08:46 the action portion of tonight’s agenda?
1:08:49 The first item is f-35 ad valorem millage resolution. Do I hear
1:08:53 a motion?
1:08:56 Moved by miss mcdougal. Is there a second second seconded by
1:08:58 miss jenkins? Is there any discussion?
1:09:03 Miss campbell
1:09:06 Thank you
1:09:08 So I am I just wanted to thank the people who’ve reached out to
1:09:12 me
1:09:12 I’ve had some personal conversations with people in person phone
1:09:15 calls emails
1:09:17 because
1:09:18 They’re participating in the process, right?
1:09:22 their input is valuable and I just want to say your part in the
1:09:25 process is not over because
1:09:27 I just want to clarify some things because I you know, it’s
1:09:30 really important
1:09:32 For people to know what we’re doing
1:09:35 Because the process continues with the public if it passes
1:09:39 tonight
1:09:40 You know this school board can do nothing to raise the taxes for
1:09:45 the people of rebard county
1:09:48 We could do nothing on our own to rate to
1:09:51 Initiate the half cent sales tax or to renew the half cent sales
1:09:55 tax
1:09:56 We can send it out to the voters
1:09:58 And so the process the public participation your input continues
1:10:03 on
1:10:05 I also it’s really important to me
1:10:06 I don’t know if it’s just a teacher in me
1:10:08 But I want to make sure too that people have accurate
1:10:10 information because I understand there are some people it doesn’t
1:10:12 matter what it’s for
1:10:14 Or what it is
1:10:15 They’re just not going to be for a tax increase regardless and I
1:10:18 and I get that I understand that
1:10:20 um
1:10:20 So I just want to make sure that if when you’re as you’re making
1:10:23 your decision as people are making their decision
1:10:25 As i’m making my decision as a board member on what we’re going
1:10:28 to do tonight that I look for accurate information
1:10:31 And so, you know some of that is we don’t
1:10:34 Everybody doesn’t always understand millage and what it’s a mill
1:10:37 and I had to do my own, you know research on that
1:10:40 Back in the you know, a couple years ago to try to figure out
1:10:42 what exactly does that mean?
1:10:43 So, you know, we do all have somebody mentioned it tonight
1:10:47 we have on your home where you live right that you own if you
1:10:50 own it and that is your residence you get your
1:10:54 Homestead exemption but also we have a cap on how much your home
1:10:58 can be appraised. So even though
1:11:01 My house that we built in 2014 now is worth, you know
1:11:05 Like not quite twice as much as it was when we when we bought it
1:11:09 Because of the market values increase your appraisal can go only
1:11:13 up by just a small percentage every year
1:11:15 And that’s what your tax is based on
1:11:17 subtracting your home
1:11:19 Your home set exemption so a homes a house that is valued at 200
1:11:23 000 just to keep it super simple
1:11:25 I’m using super round numbers if your home is valued around 200
1:11:28 000 on your tax appraisals website
1:11:30 The increase of one mil would be 200
1:11:34 So I just want to make sure people understand
1:11:36 It’s not a percentage of your total tax bill, but it is
1:11:40 literally
1:11:41 0.1 percent of whatever that is. That’s what a mill is of
1:11:45 whatever your home is valued at
1:11:47 So like I said, anybody’s home in the county who is assessed at
1:11:50 200 000 after the homestead exemption the increase
1:11:53 Of one mil would be 200 a year
1:11:57 i’ve already
1:11:58 You can go on the tax if you forgot what your bills are over the
1:12:00 year
1:12:01 You can you can go and i’ve already been on the tax
1:12:04 Collectors bravado county tax collectors website this week
1:12:06 looking up all kinds of people
1:12:07 I’ve looked up some of the people in this room just to see what
1:12:10 would it be for you?
1:12:10 And what would it be for you? Am I am I giving the right
1:12:12 information?
1:12:13 I i’ve got somebody who’s renting across the street from me and
1:12:16 that’s been a concern that people brought up to me
1:12:17 So i’m like, okay, what does that look like? And actually, um
1:12:21 Because the thing that they don’t have is the homestead
1:12:23 exemption, right? And so, um,
1:12:27 Just, you know not being nosy. It’s all pucker public record and
1:12:30 I won’t tell you who it is. But um, they’re they’re
1:12:33 Assessment will go up about
1:12:36 240 a year and that’s for you know, relatively nice neighborhood
1:12:41 in west melbourne. So, uh,
1:12:43 so I just want to make sure that people understand because
1:12:47 um
1:12:48 One like I said, it’s been tossed out
1:12:50 someone has even said a couple of actually people have said you’re
1:12:52 actually
1:12:53 taking money away from the people you want to give the raises to
1:12:56 Um, and i’ll I but I think we need to recognize what an increase,
1:13:01 uh, what size of increase that is
1:13:03 And how much will be and I understand that to pass it on to the
1:13:06 renters
1:13:06 I I do and that was something that I had to take consideration
1:13:08 as I was thinking through this. I also want
1:13:11 We’ve said it before but not everybody watches all the board
1:13:13 meetings government who wants to watch the school board meetings
1:13:15 Sometimes they’re fun and sometimes they’re boring even for
1:13:18 those of us who are sitting up here
1:13:19 uh, but I want to make sure people understand that we actually
1:13:23 have very little not only can we not
1:13:25 Increase taxes on our community. We can’t even set the original
1:13:29 ones
1:13:29 That’s another misconception that happens a lot. We have had so
1:13:32 much growth in brevard county
1:13:34 Shouldn’t your aren’t your isn’t your revenue growing because we
1:13:37 have all these new houses going up and the answer is no
1:13:40 Because we don’t set our tax rate not like the county across the
1:13:44 street not like the cities
1:13:46 This school board can do nothing to change the rate. Our rate is
1:13:49 set
1:13:50 by the state and so that’s why and it’s in the agenda item, but
1:13:54 that’s why I just my records I just went back to
1:13:56 2015
1:13:57 maybe it’s because that’s your you know, I built my we built our
1:14:01 house, but
1:14:02 In 2015, the millage rate was 5.027
1:14:06 For the the discretionary with their required local effort that
1:14:09 we um have for the school board in 2021. It was
1:14:15 3.602
1:14:17 So again 5.027 down to 3.602
1:14:20 So what the state has done to all of our benefit is while our
1:14:23 property values have continued to increase even just a little
1:14:27 bit
1:14:27 because of the cap they’ve lowered the tax rate so that
1:14:32 And i’m just going i’m not going to tell you what I pay in texas.
1:14:34 You can look it up your own
1:14:36 Uh, if you are that curious, but um my family’s house, even
1:14:39 though like I said the market value has gone through the roof
1:14:42 Our taxes have varied over the last eight years by about a
1:14:46 hundred and forty dollars from a low point actually
1:14:50 Uh in 2020 the high point was in 2015
1:14:54 So 140 difference between the highest year and the lowest point
1:14:57 it’s gone up down up down
1:14:58 But those are the highs and the lows 140 difference. And so the
1:15:02 state
1:15:03 Adjusts that down down down and so actually if a mill is added
1:15:08 will actually be back up to around where we were
1:15:11 around
1:15:12 2016
1:15:14 so
1:15:15 I just want to again I
1:15:16 It’s really important if people are opposed to a tax
1:15:19 I I totally get that but I want to make sure we get an accurate
1:15:21 information out there
1:15:23 I i’m certainly grateful for the increases that the legislature
1:15:27 has given us over this last couple years to address
1:15:30 our salary our compensation, uh problems, but we still have some
1:15:34 holes and just to just to
1:15:37 To replay some of those that we have given the state gave us the
1:15:40 teacher, uh salary increase allocation
1:15:44 so that across the state school districts can get their minimum
1:15:47 salary up to
1:15:49 Forty seven thousand five hundred we were able the first year to
1:15:52 get up to forty six five fifty and then this year to forty
1:15:54 Six eight hundred and if governor signs the budget
1:15:56 It looks like we should be able to hit that forty seven five
1:15:59 minimum in this coming school year
1:16:01 This year i’m so grateful for the addition to the base
1:16:05 Base student allocation with the requirement that we get all our
1:16:09 salaries up to a minimum of fifteen dollars an hour
1:16:12 four years early
1:16:14 from three years three or four years early from from because the
1:16:17 voters of the state of florida approved the minimum wage to
1:16:21 increase a
1:16:21 Dollar a year till we get to two that to fifteen dollars an hour
1:16:24 and the state gave us some extra money to address that
1:16:26 um, but again
1:16:27 We we have some holes and part of one of the holes is that we
1:16:31 have the wage compression issue that we have people
1:16:34 Who are have who are brand new out of college all the way up to
1:16:37 having taught for 10 12 plus years and they’re making
1:16:40 the exact same amount
1:16:43 We have people who when we get to the fifteen dollar an hour
1:16:45 next year
1:16:47 Are going to be supervised by someone who’s only making 40 or 50
1:16:49 cents an hour more than they are
1:16:52 We also have holes in health care
1:16:55 for our budget
1:16:57 now
1:16:58 We could have as a board and you know
1:17:00 I’ve only been on the board for three and a half years
1:17:01 But as the board over the last eight years could have increased
1:17:04 premiums every year for the last eight years
1:17:06 I want you to think about what happened eight years ago 2014
1:17:08 anybody anything ring a bell in health care the affordable care
1:17:11 act
1:17:12 I don’t know
1:17:13 Anybody else in the country who has not had a health care
1:17:16 premium increase on their health insurance over the last eight
1:17:20 years?
1:17:22 But bps
1:17:24 Now if you chose the silver plan your rates are the same as they
1:17:27 were eight years ago
1:17:30 Now we could have increased those premiums a little bit every
1:17:33 year, but we didn’t
1:17:35 We in the previous boards
1:17:37 We probably should have done some of that a little bit year to
1:17:40 year
1:17:41 But truth be told it would have been counterproductive
1:17:44 to increasing compensation for our employees
1:17:48 Because some of those years there was nothing
1:17:51 Or next to nothing to give for recurring raises
1:17:54 So I understand why previous boards didn’t do it
1:17:56 And even though we’ve been able to give some pretty good raises
1:17:59 over the last couple years the first two years
1:18:01 You know 1100 and then the 2000 and the longevity supplement
1:18:05 last year dealing with the teacher salary allocation
1:18:07 Which didn’t affect help all teachers, but you know other
1:18:10 employees didn’t get anything
1:18:12 you know
1:18:16 And that increase
1:18:20 It’s just one of the things that we have that’s whole
1:18:23 The biggest thing i’ve heard people talk about, you know
1:18:26 continue to cut
1:18:27 And we have continued to cut we have cut I want to say this
1:18:31 again 39 million dollars over the last six years
1:18:34 29 million since i’ve been on the board
1:18:37 Those have come from all
1:18:39 Departments ten percent across the board where where dr
1:18:42 Mullins has come to departments and said you got to come ten
1:18:44 percent figure out where it’s going to come from
1:18:46 We’ve cut positions. We’ve done hiring freezes up here at the
1:18:48 district office
1:18:49 And i’m sorry if i’ve said this before but it needs to be said
1:18:52 again
1:18:55 Part of those cuts that we’re going to continue to do are going
1:18:58 to have to deal with things that
1:18:59 A millage a potential millage can’t deal with the inflation that
1:19:03 people have talked about a lot
1:19:05 I have lost count of how many contracts we’ve had to negotiate
1:19:08 renegotiate already
1:19:10 Because our vendors coming back to us and say i’m sorry. We can’t
1:19:12 we can’t continue that contract
1:19:14 We can’t extend the contract the current rates are going to have
1:19:16 to pay more because their costs are higher from
1:19:19 charter buses to construction costs
1:19:22 We’re renegotiating a couple of contracts tonight food service
1:19:29 So we’re not going to stop cutting
1:19:34 But we having looked at this over the last three and a half
1:19:38 years
1:19:40 I don’t believe that we can cut our way to the kind of
1:19:42 additional revenue that a millage can provide
1:19:46 And I am certain that we can’t cut our way to the significant
1:19:49 increases in compensation
1:19:52 That our employees who are also facing the same inflation
1:19:56 That everybody’s talked about tonight
1:19:59 That they need
1:20:01 It is still around four million dollars
1:20:05 For us to give a one percent raise
1:20:08 to all our employees
1:20:10 Roughly about four million. It’s probably a little bit more now
1:20:12 that we’ve the teacher salaries have increased and we’re going
1:20:14 to get to the
1:20:14 Fifteen dollars an hour. It’ll go up a little bit but a little
1:20:17 over four million dollars to give all employees
1:20:20 Across the district a one percent raise
1:20:22 One percent one percent that we’ve heard from the first year
1:20:24 that cheryl and I got on the board
1:20:27 Is not enough to deal with inflation normal inflation much less
1:20:30 what we have going on
1:20:33 I just want to point out tonight board
1:20:36 as we go through our
1:20:38 Department in our action agenda. We’ve got a department
1:20:41 initiated agreement with the florida department of health
1:20:43 The department of health is a state agency and they also have to
1:20:46 get up to the fifteen dollars per hour minimum wage
1:20:48 but I don’t know if you noticed that as this is the agenda item
1:20:51 it says
1:20:52 um, they’re going to be
1:20:53 Increasing to pay to fifteen dollars an hour for those who are
1:20:55 under it then it says all other employees are to be awarded a
1:20:59 five
1:21:00 point three eight percent increase to their base rate of pay to
1:21:06 address
1:21:07 rising
1:21:08 inflation
1:21:10 So our nurses and our health techs in our clinics are going to
1:21:13 be get getting either up to fifteen dollars an hour or five
1:21:17 point
1:21:17 Three eight percent raise to deal with inflation the same
1:21:20 inflation again
1:21:21 That our teachers and our staff our bus drivers our cafeteria
1:21:25 workers are also dealing with and I apologize for going wrong
1:21:28 long
1:21:28 But this is really this is one of the most significant decisions
1:21:31 that we will have made
1:21:33 in my time on the board
1:21:40 We have vacancies we have worked for shortage a lot of other
1:21:44 industries do as well
1:21:45 a lot of other industries have the opportunity to do things
1:21:48 about
1:21:50 increasing revenue
1:21:54 If you have a successful company you generate more revenue and
1:21:57 you can pay your employees more
1:22:01 If we have students
1:22:02 If we have you know schools that rate as a and we have students
1:22:06 for national merit finalists and all that
1:22:08 We’re going to congratulate them. We’re going to make a big huge
1:22:10 deal about it, but we don’t get paid
1:22:13 anymore
1:22:15 And our teachers
1:22:18 And our bus drivers and all that we just
1:22:21 They can go to any other job in their industry
1:22:25 They can leave us
1:22:26 And go to a job in their industry whether it’s science and we’ve
1:22:28 certainly got plenty of those opportunities around here
1:22:31 engineering firms
1:22:32 Um russell cheetham’s, uh tech staff going off to work other
1:22:36 computer jobs
1:22:37 They the bus drivers matt talked about this before they go work
1:22:40 for the county or somewhere else private bus companies
1:22:43 They can leave us and go work for another
1:22:46 Employer in their field and make thousands if not tens of
1:22:49 thousands more per year
1:22:52 Why would they stay with us and the ones who stay i’m so
1:22:54 thankful that they do
1:22:57 But they’ve got to help they’ve got to pay for their families as
1:22:59 well
1:23:02 You know
1:23:04 I just have to address one more thing
1:23:06 and that is uh, it’s been said in different forums that
1:23:11 um that we
1:23:13 Are would be asking for this increase because of loss of student
1:23:18 enrollment
1:23:20 And then it’s our fault and if we because of bps policies the
1:23:23 board policies that that’s why we’re losing students and I get
1:23:27 it
1:23:27 And I I know why some of the losses were we we lost students in
1:23:30 2020 because we had a mass mandate
1:23:32 We lost students because we didn’t have a mass mandate
1:23:34 We lost them this year because we didn’t have one at the
1:23:35 beginning of year and then we lost them because we did have one
1:23:37 Again, and then back and forth and we and we have lost students,
1:23:40 but I just want to point out and again i’m a numbers person
1:23:43 If you look at the bps plus the charter because we’ve lost some
1:23:46 of them to charter
1:23:48 uh bps has
1:23:50 If you add the bps plus the charter enrollment from pre-pandemic
1:23:53 in 2019-20, it was about 71
1:23:57 a little over 71 000 students in brevard
1:24:01 um
1:24:03 I’m gonna skip the pandemic here because that was an anomaly for
1:24:05 all of us, but this school year
1:24:06 We’re almost back up to 70 000 next year
1:24:08 We’re we’re predicted projected by the state to be back up to 71
1:24:12 000 in the year after that to be up to 72 000
1:24:14 So in other words the total number of students across the
1:24:17 district between the bps and the charter schools has stayed
1:24:20 relatively the same
1:24:22 And you know the millage by law has to be shared with the
1:24:25 charter schools. So
1:24:27 We’re talking about funding students and by the way as a charter
1:24:30 school liaison. I can tell you they’re desperately in need of
1:24:35 employees
1:24:36 And being able to compensate them competitively so that their
1:24:40 employees will stay across all employee groups
1:24:44 I’ll just say it’s our total room has changed. It’s not changed.
1:24:47 Really
1:24:48 We’re going to be sharing this to benefit all the students in
1:24:52 brevard county that are attending our public schools whether
1:24:54 charter or bps
1:24:56 So again, I just want to make sure people have accurate
1:24:58 information
1:25:00 And again, the process is not over
1:25:03 The the public is is going to have their time
1:25:07 But but I want to make sure people have accurate information i’m
1:25:09 certainly willing to spare
1:25:12 Any more information if somebody wants to reach out ask me about
1:25:14 what’s going on with our budget
1:25:16 Thank you. Ms. Campbell any other word member wish to speak to
1:25:19 the agenda item?
1:25:22 Thank you. Yeah, i’m going to keep it pretty short. Um, thank
1:25:24 you. Ms
1:25:24 Campbell for clarifying a lot of that stuff that I definitely
1:25:27 wanted to talk about as well
1:25:28 Um, I just kind of want to keep it human for a moment and kind
1:25:31 of reiterate something that you were talking about
1:25:34 Um, so my household two educators my husband has been educating
1:25:37 in regard public schools for 12 years
1:25:40 He is making forty six thousand eight hundred dollars, which is
1:25:44 exactly the same as the brand new
1:25:46 It is a problem. We are the second most experienced workforce in
1:25:49 the state of florida
1:25:50 Which means the majority of our teachers are teaching 12 years
1:25:53 and above that’s the thing you want
1:25:55 That’s a great quality to have the problem is we aren’t compensating
1:25:59 them enough and once they hit that amazing threshold of 12 years
1:26:03 They’re leaving
1:26:05 They’re leaving for other businesses
1:26:07 Other industries because they’re not making enough money, but
1:26:11 now it’s been made worse because they’re making same as the
1:26:14 brand new teacher
1:26:15 walking into the building
1:26:17 Never mind, all the other responsibilities have been placed on
1:26:20 top of them that they’ve just kind of humbled through like they
1:26:22 always do
1:26:24 Um
1:26:26 Someone made a really good point and I completely agree with it
1:26:28 during public comment about how
1:26:30 Families have been struggling to save everyone’s been hit hard
1:26:32 financially and I completely agree with that
1:26:35 um, you know
1:26:38 Again a household of two educators
1:26:40 We legitimately have to make decisions whether or not we’re
1:26:42 going to be able to save for our own daughters college
1:26:46 There’s a household of educators
1:26:48 And it’s just a weird concept
1:26:50 Um, you know, we’ve got master’s degrees. We’ve got 12 years of
1:26:54 experience
1:26:54 We’re dedicating our lives to these children and we can’t plan
1:26:57 for the future of our own daughter. That’s a problem
1:27:01 and then needless to say I mean
1:27:04 When we start talking about our other staff members that are
1:27:06 making
1:27:08 hourly wages
1:27:10 They are struggling
1:27:12 The fact that they’re even still here with us is more than
1:27:14 commendable
1:27:16 Um, and they need to be rewarded and no we cannot do it with the
1:27:19 current budget that we have
1:27:21 There isn’t some secret hidden money that we’ve been using
1:27:23 inappropriately
1:27:25 Um, I agree with miss campbell. I think it’s really important
1:27:28 for the public to be aware that no, it’s not our decision
1:27:31 Majority rules goes to the voters
1:27:34 But every other county in the state of florida, I think it’s 22
1:27:37 at this point. It’s gone to the voters
1:27:40 And they did the right thing for their community because it
1:27:43 impacts their families their neighbors
1:27:46 And the future of their community
1:27:48 And what I think is really unique about brevard that we really
1:27:51 need to take a minute and think about that’s different than
1:27:53 those other counties
1:27:55 Is that we are the space coast
1:27:57 And we offer so many employment opportunities
1:28:02 for all levels of our staff
1:28:05 to just leave
1:28:08 And that’s a problem because you want teachers in front of your
1:28:10 students
1:28:12 You want staff members in those classrooms? You need bus drivers.
1:28:15 You need people in our cafeterias
1:28:17 We can’t be without those people because we cannot function as
1:28:21 an organization without those people
1:28:25 Um
1:28:26 The other thing I think is really important and you know if this
1:28:29 goes forward
1:28:29 I know that bps is going to have a messaging plan and talk about
1:28:32 all the other things other than teacher compensation and and
1:28:35 staff wages
1:28:36 But this is going to support
1:28:39 all staffing
1:28:42 One of the things that dr
1:28:43 Mullins, sorry if i’m jumping the gun here, but every time I
1:28:45 bring it up to people it makes them really excited because
1:28:49 There’s really innovative things we can be doing with this money
1:28:52 that we don’t have the money to do right now
1:28:54 We can have an assistant in every k through two classroom to
1:28:58 support a teacher
1:29:00 So we can get in there when those kids are young and struggling
1:29:03 and get in there and get them on grade level
1:29:05 Before they hit the third grade we cannot do that right now with
1:29:08 the budget that we have
1:29:10 These are the important things that this millage could provide
1:29:13 to our students and to our community and to our staff
1:29:16 And even something as simple as adding an ia in a classroom
1:29:21 Not only does that benefit our students, but that makes the day
1:29:23 of our teacher better. It makes the morale for that teacher
1:29:26 better
1:29:27 And it will help us retain them and also recruit from other
1:29:30 counties
1:29:31 Where they may not have that support in their classroom because
1:29:34 it’s a unique ability to them. So that’s just one little thing
1:29:38 That I had discussed with dr. Mullins and i’m sorry if I wasn’t
1:29:40 supposed to say that out loud
1:29:43 But I think it’s really important because it’s not just about it’s
1:29:45 not just about the wages. Yes, that’s so critical
1:29:47 That’s so important. That’s what we’re going to talk about on
1:29:49 the forefront, but there’s so many other benefits benefits to
1:29:52 this millage passing
1:29:54 But again, it goes to the voters and the voters of revard county
1:29:57 get to make this decision ultimately
1:30:01 Thank you miss jenkins anyone else
1:30:05 Um, I will just add one thing and thank you miss campbell for a
1:30:09 very thorough explanation of the parts and pieces
1:30:13 Much much. No, no, no, it was it was great. It was it was all
1:30:17 important information to share and and much of it
1:30:19 I had planned on sharing as well. The only additional thing that
1:30:23 i’ll throw out there is
1:30:25 And primarily because people don’t understand it
1:30:28 Is that our tax dollars that we pay for education in the state
1:30:31 of florida don’t come directly to our schools
1:30:35 so when we pay millage on our our property for education those
1:30:40 dollars for our
1:30:42 Rle our required local effort the 3.6 that miss campbell
1:30:46 referenced earlier
1:30:48 Actually go to titus to not to titusville. I wish to titusville
1:30:52 um go to tallahassee
1:30:54 And the legislature decides how they’re going to send those
1:30:57 dollars back to us
1:30:59 And so we don’t necessarily
1:31:03 Get all of those dollars back and when we get those dollars back
1:31:06 we get them
1:31:07 in
1:31:08 The way that the state wants to give them to us and so with
1:31:11 categoricals that require us to spend them in a certain way
1:31:13 Like the 15 dollars per hour minimum wage
1:31:16 So in looking at the record funding that education is receiving
1:31:20 this year
1:31:22 Absolutely, you can’t can’t deny that
1:31:26 The the dollars are going up but there are a couple of things
1:31:29 that we have to consider I think and that is
1:31:31 How much of those dollars and it was covered very thoroughly in
1:31:34 our our budget workshop?
1:31:36 How much of those dollars are we being told how we have to spend?
1:31:40 because
1:31:41 We can’t determine how we’re going to spend the bulk of those
1:31:45 dollars. We went from
1:31:47 Dr. Mullins help me out on numbers because you’re the one who
1:31:49 has that brain that never forgets it
1:31:50 But we went from like a 43 million dollar
1:31:54 increase
1:31:55 To by the time we address the categoricals
1:31:58 The additional dollars to charter schools all of those things
1:32:00 were down to 3.6 million dollars available from the budget
1:32:06 I got the numbers, right? Look at that
1:32:08 um, which if you all were listening miss campbell mentioned
1:32:12 Over four million dollars to do a one percent raise
1:32:15 So not even enough additional dollars from the state funding to
1:32:18 do a one percent raise across the board
1:32:20 Um, and and that is really problematic
1:32:23 the other thing that is a part of the state funding formula,
1:32:25 which
1:32:26 This is I just think this is an interesting fact that a lot of
1:32:28 people are not aware of we’ve talked about it a few
1:32:30 Times and that is the district cost differential
1:32:33 so
1:32:34 What our state does is they identify a multiplier?
1:32:37 And it’s based on the cost of living per county
1:32:40 And if our cost of living in brevard county is lower than the
1:32:44 cost of living in other counties
1:32:47 Our multiplier is below one
1:32:49 So what they do is they go through all of the fefp funding florida
1:32:52 education finance program funding formula
1:32:55 And they determine how many dollars are going to come to brevard
1:32:58 county
1:33:00 And then they multiply it by our cost of living figure
1:33:05 If we’re under one for those of you who are math people
1:33:09 We’re losing dollars
1:33:11 And we’re under one
1:33:12 So every year we lose millions of dollars to other counties that
1:33:16 have a higher cost of living
1:33:17 Oh, and by the way
1:33:19 Most of the time those counties that are above one on their
1:33:22 multiplier because they have a higher cost of living
1:33:25 Also have additional millage
1:33:28 So when we’re looking at providing a competitive salary to our
1:33:31 workforce
1:33:32 We are facing multiple challenges in being able to do that
1:33:37 In addition the structure of brevard county because we’re long
1:33:40 and thin we have multiple counties that surround us
1:33:43 If you look at the average teacher salary of indian river
1:33:46 seminal county and orange county
1:33:48 All of them have a higher average teacher salary than what we
1:33:51 have here in brevard county
1:33:53 Which means not only do we have the competition of all of the
1:33:57 space boom that’s going on
1:33:59 But we also have the competition of the other districts
1:34:02 Especially those who have cost a millage and are getting
1:34:05 additional dollars through the district cost difference
1:34:08 so
1:34:09 I just I you know, there’s so many intricacies to the budget and
1:34:12 the way that we’re funded and the restrictions on the dollars
1:34:15 um, and then the last thing that I will say and you know to echo
1:34:19 what everyone else said the board is not making this
1:34:21 choice for our community
1:34:23 The board is making a decision tonight whether to give our offer
1:34:26 our community the opportunity to weigh in on it
1:34:29 And I think that’s a critically important difference
1:34:32 um
1:34:36 The bottom line is that a lot of people look at it and say we
1:34:39 got all this additional federal funding
1:34:42 And I think that’s an important aspect to discuss too
1:34:46 In that we did get a lot of federal funding that has allowed us
1:34:49 to do some great things for our students
1:34:51 The challenge with it is those are not recurring dollars. So we
1:34:55 can’t use one-time money to make a long-term commitment on a
1:34:58 raise
1:34:59 And that’s where we run into problems and we’ve heard you know,
1:35:02 if you’ve heard the sound bites over the past couple of years
1:35:04 When we’ve only been able to give a bonus to our employees that’s
1:35:07 because we only have one-time money and when that money goes
1:35:11 away
1:35:12 We don’t have the dollars to keep paying it. So we’ve been
1:35:14 forced to give bonuses as opposed to raises
1:35:17 and i’m going to throw one more intricate thing out there and
1:35:20 then i’m going to hush up and
1:35:21 And let you guys get to it. But I think it’s also important to
1:35:25 note that the issue that we’re facing with salary compression
1:35:29 Especially for our teachers
1:35:31 It’s difficult enough with our staff who are being raised to
1:35:33 fifteen dollars an hour three years before we had anticipated it
1:35:37 happening
1:35:39 But for our teachers, we have additional statutory limitations
1:35:42 that are creating some real issues
1:35:45 And that is that once we reach forty seven thousand five hundred
1:35:49 dollars as our minimum teacher salary
1:35:52 for every dollar
1:35:54 That we give to a teacher who’s making more than forty seven
1:35:57 thousand five hundred
1:35:59 We must give seventy five cents
1:36:01 to the teacher making forty seven thousand five hundred
1:36:05 Which means that it is incredibly difficult for us to be able to
1:36:08 close that gap
1:36:11 part of what we have been doing has been giving bonuses to try
1:36:14 to make up for
1:36:16 The the fact that those people haven’t gotten raises and the
1:36:19 same people that are currently making
1:36:23 A little bit over forty seven thousand five hundred that are
1:36:25 going to be making maybe four hundred dollars more than the
1:36:28 teacher in the next
1:36:29 Room to them that just came into the district
1:36:32 Those are the same people that lived with pay raises for four
1:36:36 years
1:36:38 Pay freezes did I say raises pay freezes?
1:36:41 For four years during the recession and so they are truly
1:36:45 getting a double whammy
1:36:48 And quite frankly, it makes it difficult to entice people to
1:36:51 stay in the classroom and serve our kids
1:36:53 So with that i’m going to get off of my soapbox and um anyone
1:36:57 else want to speak? Otherwise, i’ll call the question
1:37:01 Go ahead
1:37:05 I think everybody has covered it very well. I I think it’s up to
1:37:08 the community to decide
1:37:10 If they value their public schools and if they value their
1:37:12 teachers and I think this is why we are wanting to put this
1:37:18 forward and put it on the ballot
1:37:23 All right any additional discussion
1:37:26 All in favor, please indicate by saying aye aye
1:37:29 All opposed same time nay and the motion passes four to one
1:37:37 All right, dr. Mullins
1:37:41 The next item is f36 procurement solicitation, what are the
1:37:46 wishes of the board move to approve
1:37:48 Moved by mr. Susan seconded by miss mcdougal. Is there any
1:37:52 discussion?
1:37:54 All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye any opposed same
1:37:57 sign
1:37:58 Motion passes five zero. Dr. Mullins
1:38:01 The last item is f37 department school initiated agreements
1:38:06 Do I hear a motion move to approve?
1:38:09 Moved by mr. Susan seconded by miss mcdougal. Is there any
1:38:11 discussion?
1:38:13 All in favor, please signify by saying aye aye any opposed same
1:38:16 sign
1:38:17 motion passes five zero
1:38:20 All right
1:38:20 We will move on to the information agenda which includes items
1:38:23 for board review and may be brought back for action at a
1:38:25 subsequent meeting
1:38:26 No action will be taken on these items tonight. Dr. Mullins.
1:38:29 There are four items under the
1:38:31 Information category does any board member wish to discuss any
1:38:33 of the information items on the agenda this evening?
1:38:38 All right, do any other board members have information to report
1:38:41 or discuss for board discussion
1:38:44 Miss jenkins. Yeah. Thanks. Um, I have two things so I forgot to
1:38:47 say in the beginning that I promised the students from vera high
1:38:51 school
1:38:52 that I would
1:38:54 Make you guys but i’m going to ask you instead
1:38:56 Um if they can bring their robot here, um, they really want to
1:39:00 show it off
1:39:00 They said they’ll get it here. Just let us know when we can come
1:39:03 and I said I would make that happen. Um,
1:39:06 So let’s not break their hearts. You let me know. Dr. Mullins
1:39:10 You let me know when and I will tell them when um, but no so, uh
1:39:14 Serious note. Um, I do want to have a conversation and
1:39:16 ironically somebody brought it up in public comment earlier
1:39:18 today
1:39:18 And in public comment during this meeting
1:39:21 Um, but it’s something that um, I feel passionate about and I
1:39:24 was planned on bringing it up anyway
1:39:27 Um, I would like this board to consider
1:39:30 The recording of any of our meetings that are open to the public
1:39:33 Obviously, we have executive sessions that the public is not
1:39:36 privy to that information
1:39:38 But I think it’s completely appropriate
1:39:40 You know, it doesn’t have to necessarily be live streamed
1:39:42 because I know that would include certain staff members
1:39:43 And probably we would have to be in this room every single time
1:39:47 But I don’t understand why we can’t record it and upload it at a
1:39:50 bare minimum audio record it
1:39:52 I think that the public has a right to hear what people are
1:39:56 saying. I think it holds certain
1:39:58 accountability measures for what is being said
1:40:02 And presented and how it gets out to the public
1:40:05 and um
1:40:06 I just uh was wondering if you guys are on board with that
1:40:11 I like it. We’ve done it in the past where we record it and we
1:40:14 can upload it in places where there’s no
1:40:16 I’m, sorry in places where there’s no wi-fi and stuff like that
1:40:19 throw down an audio. I think it’s great good idea
1:40:21 I I think it’s something that we need to do
1:40:24 I’m in favor of it
1:40:26 Sounds good. Just start seeing what the infrastructure is.
1:40:28 Sometimes we run into places where it’s difficult to
1:40:30 Sometimes just so you know
1:40:32 We might throw down a microphone and the places where we’re in
1:40:34 that may be difficult to pick up a speech
1:40:37 But the fact that it’s there and doing it. Yeah, I mean, there’s
1:40:40 no you know
1:40:41 My only fear would be that somebody says well, I can’t hear you
1:40:43 on the microphone. Well, sometimes that might happen. That’s it
1:40:46 That’s all but i’m in favor
1:40:51 I
1:40:52 I don’t I just want to make sure that people understand that we
1:40:55 you know, we
1:40:56 We are we already in case there’s any question that we are
1:40:59 already doing what is required
1:41:00 Yes, yeah minutes at every meeting and they are publicly
1:41:03 available. They’re
1:41:05 announced and all that stuff
1:41:11 The biggest issue for me would be
1:41:13 The ability to do it, you know
1:41:15 Because I I don’t it’s not we can’t always have our meetings in
1:41:18 here because this room gets used a lot during the week. So
1:41:21 And we do our superintendent evaluations and our board
1:41:24 evaluations and whatever we usually do those in smaller rooms
1:41:26 because we’re not taking up so
1:41:28 Much space when this room has to be used for conferences and
1:41:31 stuff. So
1:41:32 You can record them on a cell phone. We can use our phones. Yeah,
1:41:35 we can literally live stream it
1:41:36 We have to love it. It’s more transparency. That’s great. I just
1:41:39 want to just that’s a good point miss campbell though
1:41:41 I do want to clarify
1:41:43 We are completely following every single state statute when it
1:41:46 comes to open meetings and recording and stuff
1:41:48 This would be going above and beyond but I don’t see why there
1:41:51 would be an issue to do it
1:41:52 And it’s something that I felt like we should have been doing a
1:41:55 long time ago. So, um, thank you
1:41:58 Thank you
1:42:02 Mr. Cheatham, I was wondering didn’t we used to I thought when
1:42:06 we first started when we were in the conference room
1:42:09 Didn’t we take those?
1:42:11 Was I dreaming that I thought we shaped it. No, I really thought
1:42:14 we were taping those
1:42:16 I thought we did. Yeah
1:42:18 Okay
1:42:23 Absolutely, so yeah, I just want to make sure I know that we
1:42:25 have done that
1:42:27 Yeah, we did have set up in the superintendent’s conference room
1:42:30 for when we meet in there that we could record
1:42:32 I think where we may run into problems is when we do off-sites
1:42:38 Then you know, we may have some issues with audio and video
1:42:41 quality and all of those things but yeah
1:42:45 Okay, any other discussion item? Yep. I got one. Mr. Susan. Are
1:42:49 we all clear? I think we’re good on that, right?
1:42:51 All right
1:42:52 Um, so many of you guys don’t know but there’s been an ongoing
1:42:55 situation that i’ve had with the florida high school athletic
1:42:58 association
1:42:59 In dealing with private schools that were playing
1:43:01 Last year we ran into a situation where one of our baseball
1:43:05 programs went down
1:43:06 All the way down into miami played a game and then found
1:43:10 literally they were not supposed to play a game for seven days
1:43:14 They practiced for four days running all their pitchers and then
1:43:18 because a private school overturned with a judge
1:43:21 That the fhsa’s ruling was was not fair
1:43:24 Our kids were forced to go within 24 hours and go up against a
1:43:28 team in miami and we lost by a couple of runs
1:43:30 We remember that it was very upsetting
1:43:32 Now we have another situation where?
1:43:34 private schools down in south florida
1:43:36 Um what they do is is they take a lot of the students from a lot
1:43:39 of these travel teams and they put them on
1:43:41 Private school teams and it’s an acoustic nature like
1:43:44 environment like our kids are going down there to play baseball
1:43:47 And the crowds and everybody else are engaging with our kids and
1:43:49 it’s getting to be out of control
1:43:51 So one in particular case came up with viera high school and
1:43:54 what ended up happening is is um, one of the one of the players
1:43:58 Ended up in the middle of playing and you know the umpire or the
1:44:02 catcher
1:44:03 Touched our guy and then he turned around to try to touch the
1:44:05 ref and say here’s what he did
1:44:07 And I threw him out and then gave him a 12-month suspension
1:44:11 all right, so
1:44:12 Um, I wouldn’t have brought this up had my athletic director my
1:44:16 principal the coach
1:44:18 And the family’s all been in unison and saying this is absurd
1:44:21 So this is just an fyi that i’m going to start getting involved
1:44:25 with pulling
1:44:26 I’m, actually going to ask for all disciplinary actions in the
1:44:29 state of florida over the last two years in both private and
1:44:32 public school
1:44:32 Both division level one two and three and to try to see if there’s
1:44:35 any inconsistencies
1:44:37 If they’re consistent with what they do then that’s one thing
1:44:39 but I will promise you to end a kid’s career
1:44:42 Because he’s a he’s a junior right now and it’ll run into next
1:44:45 year is horrible for what that is
1:44:48 That’s the same offense as some kid turning around and punching
1:44:51 somebody in the face
1:44:52 That is absurd and it’s not fair for the rest of us to have to
1:44:56 go through that
1:44:57 It’s not fair for us to have to go down to these private schools
1:44:59 where they can’t control the
1:45:00 The community that we’re playing against and our kids are in a
1:45:03 hostile environment. This is number two, and i’m just I mean
1:45:06 I’m just sick of it. So I just wanted to let you guys know I
1:45:08 wasn’t going to bring it up
1:45:09 I apologize not putting it on but I started getting texts from
1:45:12 the parents as I was walking in that the decisions come down
1:45:15 So i’m going to look to see the validity and if not, i’m just
1:45:17 going to get loud. That’s all just to let you guys know
1:45:20 Oh, that’s how we can support it
1:45:22 Thank you
1:45:24 Any other board discussion?
1:45:26 Dr. Mullins, do you have anything miss belford if I could just
1:45:29 do a quick appendix add-on footnote to my presentation earlier
1:45:33 I realized that I skipped over
1:45:36 Recognizing one of our pre-k programs it was on the slide with
1:45:39 the high school cte programs. I got so excited about that
1:45:42 I skipped over a bullet
1:45:44 But it’s our and I don’t want our pre-k ve classrooms to go unacknowledged.
1:45:49 We have
1:45:50 49 classrooms across 35 elementary schools. It was the bullet on
1:45:54 the slide
1:45:55 But uh, and those are our pre-k programs for our students with
1:45:58 disabilities based on the iep team recommendations and just
1:46:02 another
1:46:03 great testament of the support and resources that we provide our
1:46:06 littlest ones, uh who may have a learning disability already and
1:46:10 just a huge shout out and thank you to our
1:46:13 pre-k ve teachers who are
1:46:16 Inspiring our kids in lovin on them. Thank you
1:46:18 Can I double down on that real quick kind of goes kind of goes
1:46:21 hand in hand with that with that millage and how we?
1:46:24 Have the opportunity to offer unique situations for some of our
1:46:26 students
1:46:27 But that is something you’re talking about. It’s a part of that
1:46:30 was a program that I was part of
1:46:33 And that is not offered in every county across the state
1:46:35 We offer special education services to our kiddos that are three
1:46:39 and four years old even if they aren’t inside of bps
1:46:43 vpk classroom, so
1:46:45 These are things to think about about the amazing services that
1:46:48 we have
1:46:51 And I would say critically important to get them started off on
1:46:53 the right foot
1:46:54 Especially if they’re facing additional challenges coming into
1:46:56 kindergarten
1:46:57 Unidentified what they end up doing if they’re not identified
1:47:01 helped with inclusion. Everything is chaos and something that we
1:47:05 have committed
1:47:08 Yep, absolutely
1:47:09 All right, anything else?
1:47:11 All right, then we are going to now hear the remaining speakers
1:47:14 who signed up to comment on non-agenda items just for
1:47:17 clarification
1:47:18 We will be transitioning the policy
1:47:21 We will vote on the policy at the next meeting to adjust the
1:47:24 public comment time for
1:47:27 non-agenda speakers to three minutes
1:47:31 The sliding scale that goes along with
1:47:33 the agenda item speakers, but
1:47:36 This evening we have nine speakers each of which will have one
1:47:39 minute to speak
1:47:42 We have a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your
1:47:43 time when your time is over
1:47:45 You’ll be asked to stop and allow the next speaker his or her
1:47:47 turn
1:47:48 We’ll hear from the speakers in the order in which they signed
1:47:50 up including those who may be waiting outside
1:47:52 although I don’t think we have any unless they just wanted to
1:47:55 Enjoy the fabulous weather this evening
1:47:58 As stated earlier reasonable decorum is expected at all times
1:48:00 and your statement should be directed to the board chair should
1:48:03 audience participation
1:48:04 Interfere with speakers being heard or hearing me. I will be
1:48:07 forced to clear the room
1:48:08 When I call your name, please line up along the east wall of the
1:48:10 boardroom to facilitate the smooth transition of speakers
1:48:13 We’ll begin with our first three speakers emma ramsey karen colby
1:48:17 and max
1:48:18 Maddell
1:48:19 I apologize max if I got that wrong. You can correct me when you
1:48:22 get up there
1:48:28 Emma whenever you’re ready
1:48:30 Hello, my name is emma ramsey and I am currently a 10th grader
1:48:33 at edward junior senior high school
1:48:36 I am here today to propose a change to the current attendance
1:48:39 policy
1:48:40 They would excuse excuse special programs tied to the state or
1:48:43 federal government
1:48:45 In february, I was selected as a fordis senate page for a week
1:48:48 and it was an incredible opportunity
1:48:51 I learned a lot every day from 8 am to 5 pm
1:48:55 About government at the state level and I was able to apply what
1:48:58 I learned while I was there
1:49:00 Such as how bills make it to the senate floor how committee
1:49:03 meetings operate and how to campaign which are all things
1:49:05 We would learn in a government class
1:49:08 This is why I believe there should be a spot in the attendance
1:49:10 policy that excuses this program
1:49:13 For example under religion and doctors notes and court dates
1:49:16 could be special programs tied to the federal or state
1:49:20 government
1:49:21 this excuses things pertaining to the house and senate page
1:49:24 programs and
1:49:26 Girls and boys state I firmly believe the sole purpose of
1:49:28 education is meant to apply what we have learned in the
1:49:31 classroom
1:49:32 Thank you. Emma. We appreciate you joining us this evening and
1:49:35 my proposal
1:49:37 Yes, and i’m thrilled that you got an opportunity to take part
1:49:39 in that program. It is phenomenal experience
1:49:42 um, but
1:49:45 That should be an excused absence
1:49:48 Yes, but she has to submit an application I believe she’s
1:49:51 proposing that it’d be in policy so she wouldn’t have to submit
1:49:54 an appeal
1:49:55 Okay
1:49:58 Karen colby
1:50:02 Hey, okay for my one minute, um, I wanted to spend two seconds
1:50:07 talking about the the book conversation
1:50:11 We had an issue with books being taken from the library from the
1:50:16 curriculum and that would be math
1:50:18 Related books and just so people listening understand something
1:50:21 it has more to do with word questions
1:50:24 Instead of saying if billy had three brothers and one brother
1:50:28 Wasn’t with him that day. How many brothers does billy have and
1:50:31 you’d have to figure out?
1:50:32 Does billy still have the brothers not there or are the brothers
1:50:35 missing or whatever abcd multiple guests?
1:50:39 But some of these questions had to do with some pretty um odd
1:50:43 odd subject matter for a math question
1:50:46 And it would be more like um, if billy had three friends one’s
1:50:49 binary one’s gender fluid and one
1:50:52 Is questioning how many non-binary friends does billy have and i’d
1:50:56 be here going billy
1:50:57 I don’t know how many friends you got now. I’d be confused
1:51:00 because they them and there are two people sometimes
1:51:03 For my last six seconds. I do want to thank you for listening
1:51:05 about the millage and we will vote all of the people
1:51:08 Will vote against it. Thank you
1:51:11 Thank you. Ms. Colby as max is approaching our next three
1:51:14 speakers will be alexis seat
1:51:16 Full espanol and katie delaney you all would line up on the east
1:51:20 wall
1:51:23 Max how do I say your last name male?
1:51:26 Got it. Thank you
1:51:29 Hi, my name is max madel. I’m a 10th grade student at viera high
1:51:32 school this year vhs decided to implement an id card system
1:51:36 You are required to wear this id card on a lanyard around your
1:51:39 neck at all times on campus
1:51:40 You need this id card to come into school to leave the classroom
1:51:43 if you want to use the restroom
1:51:44 And if you want to come back from and if you want to come back
1:51:48 to class from the restroom
1:51:49 In the morning when people are trying to get into school
1:51:52 They are being marked as tardy because the line to stan scan
1:51:55 your id card is astronomically long
1:51:57 I know that in my first period class. There are multiple people
1:52:00 coming into class almost 10 minutes late
1:52:02 This morning april 26 2022. I forgot my id card for the first
1:52:06 time all year. I was given a detention slip
1:52:09 That is for tomorrow from 805 to 8 40 a.m
1:52:13 At the beginning of the year the principal attended one of my
1:52:15 classes and let us know that we can show our id card
1:52:17 To an administrator to get the attention removed, but how am I
1:52:20 supposed to get the get the detention removed?
1:52:22 If my detention is scheduled for 805 tomorrow morning, I
1:52:25 understand that this is for safety reasons
1:52:27 However, it makes us students feel like we are in jail to use
1:52:30 and anonymous students exact words from this morning. Thank you
1:52:35 We appreciate you joining us this evening, um, dr. Sullivan,
1:52:38 would you mind grabbing max?
1:52:43 Sorry
1:52:44 You’re not in trouble. Yeah. Yeah, she’s gonna help you
1:52:48 Alexis you look like yeah, make that clear. He’s not in trouble
1:52:54 He thinks he’s getting another one no detentions max, I promise
1:52:58 not in here
1:53:00 All right, alexis whenever you’re ready
1:53:04 Hello, my name is alex
1:53:06 I’m a sophomore from ogali high school with students working
1:53:08 against tobacco empowering youth in the fight against nicotine
1:53:11 addiction
1:53:12 I want to discuss vaping and the use of nicotine products by
1:53:15 youth you as board members can improve students academic and
1:53:18 behavioral growth
1:53:20 In barbara county one in six students aged 11 through 17 have
1:53:23 used harmful nicotine products
1:53:25 Which we know affects mental health and academic achievement
1:53:28 Withdrawal symptoms and nicotine addicted youth can be
1:53:30 experienced during school hours and can make it worse
1:53:33 A local student age 13 had stated I had headaches all the time
1:53:36 and it was hard to focus in school. So my grades dropped
1:53:40 We ask that you amend policy 3215 to remove suspension or
1:53:44 expulsion for using or having a nicotine product on campus and
1:53:47 instead provide
1:53:48 resources and help to quit
1:53:49 Those will improve all students chance of academic success and
1:53:51 mental health well-being
1:53:53 If students were caught using nicotine are given help instead of
1:53:55 suspension or expulsion
1:53:56 They will feel more comfortable asking for help in the school
1:53:59 With this I see a nicotine-free future within our schools and
1:54:01 our community. Thank you for your time. Thank you alexis
1:54:06 Uh nicolette
1:54:11 Mission
1:54:14 Hello, my name is nicolette, I am a junior at ogali high i’m
1:54:18 with swat today
1:54:19 I will address the opportunity you have to protect youth from
1:54:22 the detrimental effects of nicotine
1:54:24 As board members who support mental health social and academic
1:54:27 success. I know you care about this issue
1:54:30 Nicotine harms part of the brain responds for learning memory
1:54:33 impulse control and mental health
1:54:35 And rebard one in 15 youth vape on school property a common
1:54:39 response to this is suspension or expulsion
1:54:42 However, research shows this does not help kids quit and may
1:54:45 actually increase the likelihood of nicotine use within a year
1:54:48 A local eighth grader said this about suspension. It made me
1:54:51 want to do it more because I didn’t have much else to do
1:54:54 The same student was provided education and resources to help
1:54:57 them quit
1:54:58 If you amend policy 3215 to prioritize support services without
1:55:02 suspension or expulsion
1:55:04 Kids might be more likely to quit and stay quit
1:55:07 They would stay in a vape-free socially supportive environment
1:55:10 without missing class
1:55:11 Prioritizing mental health and academic success at the same time.
1:55:15 Thank you so much. Thank you nicolette
1:55:18 As uh, miss delaney is approaching our next three speakers will
1:55:20 be sarah mursky steven knapp and then diana haynes
1:55:29 I just wanted to say a quick thing about the millage. Um, I
1:55:32 think that everybody
1:55:34 In this county is for teacher raises
1:55:37 That’s that’s not what we’re arguing
1:55:40 some of us just believe that the
1:55:42 That the money is in the budget
1:55:45 um
1:55:46 Also, I wanted to speak about um, the I don’t know what else to
1:55:51 call it snitch hotline for the kids
1:55:54 um
1:55:55 A teenager came to me and told me that a few times this year
1:56:00 uh an anonymous tip came in that she was smoking weed on the
1:56:04 school property and when she went into
1:56:07 uh the sro
1:56:09 They had her and this is a male sro
1:56:12 They had her pull her bra out
1:56:15 and shake
1:56:17 With no female in the room and um
1:56:22 It’s totally inappropriate
1:56:25 Especially off of an anonymous tip for a really good kid who
1:56:28 gets great grades and has never been in trouble
1:56:31 Thank you. Miss delaney. Would you please send me the details on
1:56:33 that so we can follow up?
1:56:36 Um
1:56:42 Good evening, sarah mursky. I want to address some registration
1:56:46 issues that people have come across
1:56:50 If you do not check yes to a part of a of a medical form that
1:56:54 went out to the
1:56:57 District, I think a couple months back. I have lots of questions
1:56:59 still about that. Um
1:57:02 That it does say in the registration packet that your child will
1:57:05 be denied emergency or life-saving services
1:57:08 Which is really confusing because we’re hearing different things
1:57:12 from ems
1:57:13 and firefighters, um
1:57:15 The other thing that I want to say is it also states that your
1:57:18 child won’t be allowed on campus
1:57:20 For seventh grade if they haven’t had the d tap vaccination
1:57:24 And there’s no information about how?
1:57:27 You guys have to accept a 681 form which is a religious
1:57:30 exemption. Thank you
1:57:36 Steven whenever you’re ready
1:57:45 Hello and uh, good evening, my name is stephen and uh, i’m vivar
1:57:45 county resident my whole entire life
1:57:52 I have a daughter who is 11 years old
1:57:54 Um, she’s been a vivar county resident her entire lives
1:57:58 obviously and uh, she’s in fifth grade
1:58:01 and
1:58:03 I am here today because
1:58:06 For one reason really is that I just want to be able to eat
1:58:06 lunch with her
1:58:12 um
1:58:14 You know, um
1:58:16 It’s a very important time in our lives. Don’t really
1:58:21 Get this opportunity, you know in the future
1:58:24 Um, so that’s why i’m here
1:58:26 Um, I called the school multiple times
1:58:30 I talked to the front office and they say
1:58:33 they’re waiting for
1:58:35 Somebody else to make that decision. I just hope that it comes
1:58:38 sooner than later
1:58:40 I appreciate everything y’all do. Thank you very much. Thank you
1:58:43 steven. Diana
1:58:54 Good evening before you start my time
1:58:57 I’d like to ask that I get full three minutes if you pull my
1:59:00 record card. I requested to speak under um
1:59:03 I-41
1:59:05 And my name was not called so I would like to be able to use my
1:59:08 old three minutes now if possible
1:59:11 also, um
1:59:13 Hold on just a second. I don’t want to look into what it is that
1:59:15 you’re saying. Okay. Thank you
1:59:27 Yellow shade
1:59:33 Yeah, if it’s on yellow that’s the non-agenda items only
1:59:37 Because it’s the top of it in a big box, right? I well, I
1:59:41 apologize that your staff didn’t direct me
1:59:43 Otherwise, I was discussing I for I-41 with them when I filled
1:59:47 out that sheet
1:59:49 I also wanted to you know talk now under non-agenda items
2:00:00 Yeah, all I have is a non-agenda item sign up does it say I-41
2:00:04 on there also on the side it does but yes
2:00:07 But I don’t have so this is the sign up for agenda and this is
2:00:10 the sign up for non-agenda
2:00:11 And I don’t have an agenda item sign up for you. And that’s
2:00:14 always been because I did I didn’t see any orange
2:00:17 papers when I came and filled out
2:00:20 The form the only things that were there were yellow ones
2:00:23 I’m i’m not sure because I wasn’t out there when you signed up,
2:00:26 but that’s all I have is the non-agenda
2:00:28 I’ll try to get it all in under one minute
2:00:30 Okay, let’s start with as a parent a grandparent and a taxpayer
2:00:34 I demand to know what the hell is going on in our schools
2:00:37 Kids are in knife fights. There are bomb threats. There are
2:00:41 shooting threats bullying on so many levels
2:00:44 That parents are removing their children from your system at
2:00:47 astounding rates
2:00:49 We have pure unadulterated porn in our schools and a board
2:00:53 member finds it another waste of time to investigate it
2:00:56 We have an ex-teacher
2:00:58 On our school campuses who has shown and was convicted for
2:01:02 showing his penis to another student
2:01:05 So diana, i’m going to interrupt you and remind you of the
2:01:08 expectations for decorum in the room. Okay?
2:01:10 I’m also going to remind you hold on my first hold on, please
2:01:14 There were two instances of words that you said that are not
2:01:17 going to be appropriate for children
2:01:18 If you would please keep it clean, I will be more than happy to
2:01:20 allow you to finish your time. Okay?
2:01:24 Okay, then you can leave
2:01:28 No, ma’am, you’re not
2:01:32 Deputies if you would please assist her in exiting we would
2:01:34 appreciate it
2:01:50 All right, the board wishes to thank the speakers from this
2:01:50 evening, is there any additional business from the board
2:01:58 To go to eat I thought we were under the impression that we were
2:02:01 allowed to go eat
2:02:03 I know and that is that is I believe part of our uh security
2:02:11 I think that was part of our security audit. Dr. Mullins. Did
2:02:13 you want to speak to that? Can I ask a quick question?
2:02:16 So if they sign up under the volunteer, would that allow them to
2:02:20 eat with their child? I mean
2:02:23 Our volunteers are asked to have per planned and purposeful
2:02:26 reasons for being on campus
2:02:28 So no that would not constitute them to have lunch with their
2:02:32 their students
2:02:33 we continue to review it if the board recalls we’ve
2:02:37 That was a measure was put in place due to the covet situation
2:02:41 But it has remained extraordinarily difficult to provide the
2:02:44 supervision and staffing to do that given our current
2:02:48 Employment circumstances and challenges across our district and
2:02:52 to support our principals
2:02:54 meeting the supervisory responsibilities we have continued to
2:02:58 Not permit that particular practice in our schools
2:03:02 We’ll continue to revisit it as we have the opportunity. We
2:03:05 certainly want our parents at our schools
2:03:07 we welcome and want our volunteers to come in and be part of I
2:03:11 would remind our our parents that our
2:03:14 media centers are without media assistance and we would love for
2:03:18 our parents to
2:03:19 Work with our schools to be a part of working in the media the
2:03:22 media centers to be part of our school
2:03:25 uh environments on a regular basis, so they simply need to reach
2:03:29 out to the school and and we have
2:03:31 Right now I’d remind our parents and our community
2:03:34 That we if you are not a volunteer we have a no cost
2:03:38 Process for becoming a volunteer to do the background screening
2:03:41 as well. That’s paid for through the ester grants. So
2:03:45 We’re trying to promote volunteerism
2:03:48 I would say that in all my research that i’ve ever had there’s
2:03:50 never been a situation where a parent has come on
2:03:53 To eat lunch with their kid and something, you know what I mean?
2:03:56 So I would like to re-evaluate that but just going forward as a
2:03:58 school board member for the rest of the time that i’m here
2:04:01 I can’t allow parents not to go eat with their parents their
2:04:04 kids. I mean, it’s just like that to me is a big deal, you know
2:04:08 So I understood that because of covid because of the protocols
2:04:10 and stuff like that and I appreciate your dr
2:04:12 Mullins you thinking about the security of the children and
2:04:14 everything else. I just don’t know how much we you know
2:04:17 We get to a point where we’re over security and we forget about
2:04:20 the culture of the schools and who we’re about
2:04:22 So i’d love to have a conversation about it going forward. I
2:04:25 actually just had a conversation with dr. Mullins about that
2:04:28 this morning
2:04:29 Um, so we we do have our we have a policy and that’s why our
2:04:33 people come in on campus as a visitor
2:04:36 Not as a volunteer because they have to have that have to swipe
2:04:39 their badge
2:04:41 They have to have a pre-arranged whatever a purpose for being
2:04:44 there
2:04:44 I can just swipe a badge and wander on campus and have to be
2:04:47 supervised at all times
2:04:48 And that’s the part that it has become the challenge during covid
2:04:50 right because we had kids all over campus eating
2:04:52 So they could spread out more
2:04:54 And then of course now with the staffing so I i’ve talked to dr
2:04:58 Mullins and asked him can we revisit that? We’re pretty close to
2:05:01 the school year
2:05:01 I don’t know if we can put it in place, but i’m hoping that we
2:05:04 can put it in place for next school year
2:05:06 We still got a month and a half, right?
2:05:09 I mean like
2:05:10 Why don’t we actually today we were a month away from the last
2:05:12 day of school
2:05:13 But I mean that I mean honestly like I I just think we go at it
2:05:16 like instead of kicking it down the can
2:05:18 So i’d like to bring it to talk about it next board meeting that
2:05:21 we have in may
2:05:23 I mean, you’re right because even if we bring it forward we’re
2:05:25 not going to make the change quick enough
2:05:26 But let’s just start bringing it forward because I think we
2:05:29 should start that conversation
2:05:32 Guys if we could cut out the audience comment so that we can
2:05:34 make sure that everybody can hear the comments
2:05:39 All right, anything else before I gavel us out
2:05:43 All right, there being no further business this meeting is now
2:05:45 adjourned
2:06:13 You