2022-05-10 - School Board Meeting

0:00 ♪♪

0:37 Good evening. The May 10, 2022 board meeting is now in order.

0:42 I’m happy to welcome my fellow board members and the public.

0:45 Mr. Gibbs, roll call please.

0:47 Ms. Belford.

0:48 Present.

0:48 Ms. McDougall.

0:49 Present.

0:50 Ms. Jenkins.

0:51 Present.

0:52 Ms. Campbell.

0:53 Present.

0:54 Mr. Susan.

0:55 Present.

0:56 The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection and invite

0:57 the audience to join.

0:59 Thank you.

1:19 Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:21 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

1:29 and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

1:34 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

1:40 At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and

1:42 Dr. Mullins an opportunity to recognize students, staff, or

1:45 members of the community who would like to start us off tonight.

1:49 Ms. Jenkins.

1:54 So today I had the privilege and honor of participating with Brevard

1:56 Achievement Center’s annual performance.

2:02 I actually got to perform with O’Gally High School’s two

2:05 classrooms, which was really, really fun and closed the show.

2:09 But I just wanted to give a shout out to all of our schools that

2:11 participated.

2:12 So we had Johnson Middle, O’Gally High School, Kennedy Middle,

2:15 Rockledge High Central Middle, Stone Magnet Middle, Southwest

2:18 Middle, and Space Coast Junior Senior.

2:21 I want to give a shout out to all the people that were involved

2:23 to put that on today.

2:25 It was an amazing organization, as well as the King Center, who

2:29 opened their doors to them.

2:31 There was about 600 people in attendance, which is really,

2:34 really cool for those students and the adults that participated.

2:38 And I want to give a special shout out to one performance that I

2:41 was trying to watch on the sidelines as much as I possibly could.

2:45 And she made me cry. And Kelly Miller, she was a soloist. She

2:51 was a singer.

2:51 She sang Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” and literally was just kind

2:55 of sobbing on the sideline.

2:57 I got to meet mom and the director, Lise Sorensen, she used to

3:00 be a teacher for us here for Brevard Public Schools at Ocean

3:03 Breeze Elementary.

3:05 She is now working with Brevard Achievement Center.

3:07 She gave me a little bit of a history of Kelly, and it’s really,

3:13 really miraculous and impressive.

3:15 And that song is so fitting to who she was as a person.

3:18 Lise met her when she was four years old in VPK at Ocean Breeze

3:21 Elementary.

3:23 She was a nonverbal student, and she moved on to Roy Allen to

3:27 have a special program.

3:29 And then eventually over into Satellite High School, where all

3:31 of her music teachers kind of gravitated towards her passion for

3:34 music

3:35 and her ability to express herself through vocalizations and

3:38 through performance.

3:40 And hands down, I mean, she genuinely was a fantastic singer.

3:45 And so that was the most moving performance. And I was so, so

3:47 grateful to be there.

3:49 And again, thank you to Brevard Achievement Center for allowing

3:52 us to be there.

3:53 Ms. Belford was there and Dr. Mullins was there as well.

3:56 And oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. But Dr. Mullins and I were

3:59 speaking afterwards.

4:00 So I’m going to throw this out there in the public, you know,

4:02 how I like to hold you accountable there.

4:05 And we were discussing how it would be really interesting if we

4:09 can try and fill the rest of that performance hall next year,

4:13 by possibly figuring a way to incorporate some of our seniors at

4:17 those schools that are participating to come support their peers,

4:20 maybe go out to some of those assisted living facilities and

4:22 kind of grab a bus and hop on with some of our seniors in the

4:26 community,

4:26 have them come out for that free performance and really support

4:28 all of our kids in the community.

4:30 So we’ll see what we can do next year. Thanks.

4:35 Thank you, Ms. Jenkins. Since while we’re on that topic, I’ll

4:38 just throw it out there.

4:40 The other thing that I suggested to Dr. Mullins today as we were

4:43 watching the performances and Ms. Jenkins had the opportunity to

4:48 participate in the O’Gally performance,

4:49 which was really phenomenal. If you didn’t get a chance to watch

4:51 it, it’s going to be on their website.

4:54 You should go and watch it because the message was just

4:56 absolutely amazing and what all of us needs to hear.

4:59 But I think it would be really fun if all of us joined in and

5:02 performed with a group of students next year.

5:05 So as we. Yeah, drums or dancing or, you know, there were all

5:10 sorts of different performances.

5:12 So I think that would be a good thing. You realize we’re going

5:15 to ruin the performance like they’re good.

5:17 They are really, really good in the back. We don’t know. I’m

5:20 just like they’re going to get angry at us for ruining their

5:23 stuff.

5:24 If we hide in the back, it’ll be fine. All right. OK, I’m game.

5:28 Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.

5:29 Who’s next this evening? All right.

5:35 Mr. Linderman is I think Lindemann’s back there, some in there.

5:37 Lindemann, is he back there?

5:39 He’s in the hallway. Listen, just so you guys know, we had a

5:41 situation where some of our tracks that we have going in.

5:46 And everybody knows that right now we are refurbishing all of

5:48 our tracks and putting them as rubberized over the next two

5:51 years.

5:52 Well, one of the problems we have is that in the infinite wisdom

5:55 of some of the people that previously were inside the school

5:57 district,

5:58 they decided to put in seven track lanes as opposed to eight,

6:01 which makes it very difficult to host FHSA tournaments and stuff

6:03 like that,

6:04 which would have inhibited us. So at O’Gally High School, a

6:07 group of parents called me last week.

6:09 It was and said, hey, Mr. Susan, did you know that they’re only

6:11 they’re getting ready to resurface the track and they’ve only

6:13 got seven lanes?

6:15 And I lost my mind because I was like, how in the world are we

6:17 going to inhibit somebody for the next 30 years on their tracks

6:21 and not put eight lanes in there?

6:23 Right. So it caused all this commotion because of funding and

6:26 where the stands sit and everything else.

6:29 But lo and behold, what they found out was that FHSA allows from

6:34 32 inches to 42 inches to be a train width.

6:39 And we had 42 inches. We were able to reduce the size down to 39

6:42 and be able to get the eight lanes in.

6:44 So many of you guys, you know, that’s like, oh, gosh, that’s

6:48 common sense and stuff like that.

6:49 But they literally had the parents at O’Gally not called. Andrew

6:53 Ramjet not jumped on it.

6:54 Dr. Mullins, I called him immediately. He called Lindemann. They

6:58 all worked it out within two days.

6:59 Now we have a solution. They’ll have eight lanes and they’ll be

7:00 able to go.

7:01 And there’s been a solution for many of the other schools that

7:04 have the same issue.

7:06 Right. So hats off to Mr. Lindemann. Hats off to Ramjet. Hats

7:10 off to Dr. Mullins.

7:12 Thank you very much for doing that. The other thing I want to do

7:14 is, is there was a group of teachers that met with me.

7:17 We have a I always do this near the end of the year. I meet with

7:19 them and say, hey, about 20 of them said just roundtable.

7:24 How’s it going in education? How’s things going? Tell me how we

7:26 can help. Tell me what we can do.

7:28 And I just want to say they promise me not to say their names

7:30 because for one reason or another.

7:32 But I want to say thank you to them. We all know that the

7:34 current climate of education is not what it was a couple of

7:37 years ago.

7:38 And we’re fighting and those teachers are on the front lines and

7:40 I appreciate everything that those individuals brought to me and

7:43 told me that we need to do improve for next year.

7:45 So thank you very much. And that’s all I got. Thank you, Mr.

7:49 Susan. Miss Campbell.

7:50 All right. Well, I have to start off. I’m so excited for you

7:54 guys.

7:55 And it’s just going to be we’ve got all these wonderful people

7:57 out in the audience and I’m so excited.

7:59 But my first thing, I just have to take care of a piece of

8:01 business. It’s not alive.

8:04 So we just finished at the end of April, the district wide 300

8:09 mile walking challenge.

8:12 And I challenge the board to get involved.

8:16 And some of the people on the dais up here, you know, complied

8:19 and got with it.

8:21 But I have to say we have to give props or props or do so.

8:27 Mr. Gibbs. Far and away dumped all of us and with the goal was

8:33 six hundred thousand steps, which was about 300 miles.

8:37 Right. The way they calculated it. He had last I checked one

8:40 million two hundred and fifty five thousand six hundred forty

8:43 nine steps, which is the equivalent of six hundred and twenty

8:46 eight miles.

8:47 So for winning at least the board walking challenge, I present

8:56 you with this gold shoe trophy.

9:01 Thank you for playing along. I won’t ask for it back. Thank you.

9:05 There we go. You have to keep it next year. We’ll pass it around.

9:10 All right. So the next thing I want some of you saw on the news,

9:14 a really scary situation that happened down in Palm Bay with a

9:18 bus that caught fire.

9:20 And, you know, we do according to state law, we do a safety

9:23 drills at the beginning of every year and the students practice

9:26 exiting safely.

9:28 And so one of our I just wanted to give huge kudos to Miss Janet,

9:33 who is one of the best drivers for Imagine Schools and one of

9:36 our charter schools.

9:37 And the 40 students, elementary age students who were safely got

9:42 off the bus, followed instructions.

9:46 Lives were saved. I just want to congratulate them because, you

9:50 know, this makes you want to go home and hug your kids a little

9:52 tighter.

9:53 What could have happened. So kudos to Miss Janet. Kudos to those

9:56 40 students.

9:57 And I’m not in school, but I know that school community was

10:02 really thankful for all that that happened there. Saturday, we

10:07 recognized we had our retiree lunch.

10:08 I hope I’m not stealing your thunder. Am I? I’m going to steal

10:11 it anyway. It was so exciting.

10:13 I would recognize our retirees. And of course, we’re sad to see

10:15 people go, but it was exciting to see the years.

10:18 We had more at least a thousand, wouldn’t you say, years of

10:21 experience collective collectively.

10:24 And we recognize three people in particular who were there, who

10:27 had the longest tenure in our district.

10:30 And that was Mr. Robin Novelli, who is the administrator with

10:33 the most years of experience.

10:35 We talked about him last time. He’s retiring this summer with 36

10:39 years in Brevard.

10:40 We recognize Miss Lisa Rogers, who is our teacher with the most

10:42 years of experience.

10:44 Forty two years working with ESC students in our district.

10:49 And then we recognize our support staff member with the most

10:51 years of experience.

10:53 And that was Gary Dean, also with 42 years. He has been a carpenter

10:57 in the district the whole entire time.

11:00 And so it’s kind of like you never see NBA players stay with the

11:02 same team through their whole careers.

11:04 I mean, not only was with this the whole career, but was in the

11:06 same position.

11:07 So huge congratulations to those three and all of the others who

11:10 were there that were able to recognize.

11:13 And then finally, on Thursday of last week, we had our final

11:19 stop on the 2022 CTE tour where we have been highlighting the

11:24 current technical programs all across our district.

11:27 And we went to Heritage and, you know, go big blue. Had a great

11:30 time with some community members showing off our wonderful

11:33 programs.

11:34 We saw the very unique one of only two and really the best one,

11:38 the first one in the state water treatment programs.

11:41 We saw a manufacturing program and then we went to the medical.

11:50 Help me get where they get their certification is a certified

11:54 medical assistant, but they’re working to be like a medical tech.

11:58 And they were demonstrating the CPR skills that they have

12:00 learned.

12:01 They’ve already all the students in that class had already

12:03 gotten their CPR certification and they were demonstrating it on

12:08 a like a.

12:09 Doll dummy, whatever you call it, model, not dummy.

12:13 Right. But, you know, I mean, not a real person.

12:17 And then they demonstrated on a baby. And then Dr. Mullins asked

12:20 this question.

12:21 He said, have any of you in here had to use the skills you’ve

12:24 learned doing this?

12:26 And they all turned around to this one girl in the back.

12:30 And actually, Mr. Brun has a little video of what happened. Far

12:34 road and I witnessed a crash that happened in front of me.

12:39 And of course, I thought because, you know, it happened right in

12:42 front of me.

12:43 But once I realized that the man in the car, like he wasn’t

12:45 coming out the car, I went to go see and he was unresponsive.

12:49 So I took him out the car and checked for his pulse. There was

12:59 no pulse. So I began CPR.

13:02 There’s just, you know, that CPR on some random guy in an

13:06 accident.

13:07 I just say, you know, she saved that man’s life.

13:11 And this is what our this is what I have seen for me across our

13:14 CTE programs.

13:16 It’s not just the skills are getting the confidence because I’m

13:18 telling you what, as a 16, 17, 18 year old,

13:22 I would have not had the confidence to I would have been driving

13:25 by saying a prayer, whatever.

13:27 But to think that not only do I have the skills, but I’m going

13:29 to put them into practice right now to actually pull someone out

13:31 of a car, do CPR until the EMTs came.

13:38 It’s amazing. So her name is Tachani Forest.

13:42 And we invited her to come so we could recognize her tonight.

13:44 And she had a family situation where she couldn’t come.

13:47 But I definitely want to recognize her student at Heritage High

13:49 School and her teacher, Miss Patricia Trotman, for the skills

13:53 that she’s imparted.

13:55 And just I know you guys would love that story. I just have been

13:58 thinking about it since last week.

14:00 So we’re super proud of Tachani, who’s not just gained those

14:03 skills, but putting them into practice and having a huge impact

14:06 on someone else’s life.

14:08 And she said, and he’s good. He went to the hospital and he’s

14:10 fine. So even had been able to follow up.

14:13 So congratulations to her and to the whole program for the good

14:17 work that they’re doing.

14:19 Thank you, Miss Campbell. Great stuff. I really don’t have

14:22 anything because Dr. Mullins is going to talk about all the good

14:27 things in my district.

14:29 And I’m very excited for everybody in my district. So I’m going

14:32 to let you do that.

14:34 And with that. Well, first, I want to echo the sentiments of

14:40 Saturday’s retiree celebration and add some additional

14:44 recognition.

14:46 If you can picture this room was converted into a hall of

14:49 celebration.

14:51 We had banners and we had balloons and we had party favors and

14:55 we had probably close to 100 people in the room.

15:00 The honorees, those who are being recognized, they brought loved

15:03 ones with them.

15:04 And we celebrated together just the collective service to

15:08 provide kids and provides community.

15:11 But an event like that is not possible without an amazing team

15:15 of people who selflessly and behind the scenes commit themselves

15:20 to making that possible.

15:22 And that’s kind of above and beyond because we don’t have to do

15:25 that kind of an event.

15:27 It was on a Saturday. Our our food and nutrition services put

15:31 together an absolutely wonderful brunch.

15:34 Everything from biscuits and gravy to chicken and waffles and

15:39 and all of the sides and fresh fruit and so on.

15:44 But also our human resources team under the leadership of Dr.

15:48 Teddy.

15:49 I’d like to give a shout out to the folks who helped make

15:52 Saturday possible.

15:54 Heather, I’m not going to get Heather’s last name, right?

16:00 Petapah, of course. Why didn’t I get that?

16:03 Patty Snorff, Barbara Diaz, Kelly Harris, Riaf Mada, Bina Del

16:11 Vecchio.

16:13 Patty Walter, Charmaine Odom and Lisa Schmidt, and probably

16:19 second to the retiree honorees,

16:22 the man of the event was none other than our retirements

16:26 specialist, Carlos Lorenzo.

16:30 When his name was recognized, everybody cheered. Imagine that.

16:34 He was the one who walked out very explicitly with all of our

16:37 retirees, all of their benefits in the future.

16:42 All of the process of order retirement system. He’s just an

16:45 amazing gentleman as well in supporting our staff.

16:50 And then I’d also like to echo Mrs. Jenkins shout outs to this

16:55 afternoon’s event with the achievement center.

16:59 You know, our educators across this district who invest their

17:04 hearts,

17:05 their lives, themselves into our students with disabilities,

17:10 intellectual disabilities and so on.

17:12 They are heroes in every definition of the word and included in

17:17 there, we can’t forget our paraprofessional.

17:22 Who come alongside and join our teachers in creating

17:27 environments of love and acceptance and hope, encouragement.

17:34 Not the least of which was just even in the auditorium.

17:37 We had hundreds of students from across our schools who were chaperoned

17:41 by our paraprofessionals because in some cases the teachers were

17:44 up on stage with the students from that school.

17:47 And I just want to give equal recognition to not only our

17:50 students who serve our students with disabilities,

17:53 but also our instructional assistants, our paraprofessionals who

17:58 love on and serve our kids as well.

18:01 And then coincidentally, kind of in the in the same lane, if you

18:06 will.

18:07 I had a story shared with me last week about an unlikely hero

18:12 among our ranks in the organization.

18:16 A gentleman in our distribution services and procurement

18:20 department.

18:21 And you might be OK. Where is he going with that?

18:25 So I’m going to read you. The short synopsis of what happened

18:29 when this gentleman was in one of our our schools.

18:34 Picking up computers that were being DC yard or sent to the

18:37 warehouse for processing because they were so old.

18:41 And Mr. Cheatham will probably say, yeah, they’re probably 14

18:44 year old computers.

18:45 But this is the account. I’m a speech language pathologist. I

18:50 was walking one of my nonverbal kids back to class when a very

18:55 sweet gentleman who was helping DC our items saw the interest my

18:59 student had with his task.

19:02 My student gets interested in lots of things going on around

19:06 school.

19:07 But anyway, your sweet employee started engaging in a

19:10 conversation with my nonverbal student, asking him how he was

19:15 and asking questions about the bunny project.

19:17 My student, my student basic basically shoved in his face.

19:24 He then noticed the interest my student had with dumping the

19:26 computers in the box.

19:28 So he asked me if it was OK, if he could give my student a cord

19:32 to put in the box.

19:34 You would have thought he was giving my student a million

19:37 dollars.

19:38 His face being your sweet employee then asked if my student was

19:43 sensitive to noises.

19:46 I said no. So then he proceeded to give two quick beeps on the

19:51 utility dolly.

19:53 I had my student use his device to interact and describe the

19:58 event.

19:59 I can I honestly cannot express how grateful I am to your

20:03 employee.

20:04 You see, we have been struggling to use my student’s device in

20:08 real life situations because he really was not motivated.

20:13 But your employee interacted with him and gave him that spark

20:18 and opportunity to use the device in a way that was meaningful.

20:24 Please thank your employee for me and let him know how much his

20:26 interaction with my student meant to me.

20:29 I wish there were more people like this magnificent man who took

20:32 just a few minutes of his time and most likely had no idea how

20:36 much of an impact he made in that little boy’s life.

20:40 And I’ll tell you that that individual is Mr. Jeff Williams from

20:43 Procurement Distribution Services.

20:46 So I want to give a huge shout out to Jeff for capitalizing on

20:50 an opportunity to make a lasting impact and an unlikely student’s

20:55 life in that moment,

20:57 in that time and capitalizing it and making a difference in kids

21:01 life.

21:02 Jeff, hopefully you’re out there hearing tonight acknowledgement

21:06 of your investment in kids lives,

21:09 not just behind the scenes picking up DCR computers, but seeing

21:13 a young life that needs a little extra attention and needs your

21:17 love.

21:18 We appreciate you and are thrilled that you’re part of Team BPS

21:22 and you exemplify that mission.

21:25 Thank you.

21:34 I’m not sure that I can fill any of that up, but I do have a

21:39 couple of recognitions.

21:41 Every year, the city of Titusville reaches out to our schools on

21:43 the north end of the county and they ask the schools to identify

21:47 students that they would like to be recognized by the city.

21:52 This event is awesome because it’s not some of the kids are the

21:55 typical honorable kids and the ones who get recognized on a

21:58 pretty regular basis.

22:00 But the majority of them are students that don’t necessarily get

22:03 recognized in a lot of the events that we currently have.

22:07 And they had every single school. And I want to say they had

22:11 probably 15 to 20 students per school that they recognize for,

22:17 you know, strong academics, commitment, good choices, those

22:21 types of things.

22:23 So huge thank you to the city of Titusville for taking the time.

22:26 The entire city council is there. The mayor is there. The city

22:30 manager, they all invest in being there to congratulate and

22:32 thank our kids for being awesome.

22:34 So thanks to them for taking that time. We had our CTE tour at

22:38 Titusville High School, I think the day before yours, second to

22:42 last for the season.

22:44 And I was not able to be there for the entire thing. But we had

22:47 community members that came in and saw our cybersecurity program,

22:50 our 911 dispatch program, the culinary program, the automotive

22:54 program, and the CNA program.

22:59 And so, once again, that you feedback has just been phenomenal

23:03 on those programs. And every time we walk through with someone

23:07 we see, you know, there’s someone there that is already picking

23:11 out employees that has been a great thing. Thank you again, Mr.

23:15 Susan for getting that moving.

23:15 Also have to give a huge thank you to the propeller club of Port

23:19 Canaveral, had an opportunity to join them for their monthly luncheon

23:23 last week. And they are big supporters of our helm program at

23:28 Rockledge High School, the helm maritime studies program.

23:34 And the teacher for that program, Sarah Hardy was there as well

23:37 and spoke about the program just kind of giving an overview to

23:40 the propeller club members.

23:43 But they also gave out I think five scholarships to our students

23:47 who are three of them are graduating seniors, varying amounts of

23:51 scholarships, one of them was recurring for four years, one was

23:55 a one time and so it ran the full gamut.

23:58 And then also at that luncheon gave $3500 miss Hardy for support

24:02 of the home program at Rockledge High School. So, you know, I

24:05 talk all the time about how much community support we have

24:08 coming into our schools and how much we appreciate that and I

24:12 think that was just a glaring example.

24:15 And then I also along kind of the same vein as the community

24:18 support, you know, teacher appreciation has been this month and

24:22 mostly focused on this week. And as I see all of our schools

24:25 posting, there have been so many organizations that have come

24:29 together to appreciate our teachers.

24:33 And many of them I you know I we talk about life in the north

24:37 end is is different sometimes because we don’t have a lot of the

24:41 big businesses and those types of things. So many of the

24:45 organizations that are supporting our schools to show

24:47 appreciation for our teachers, at least up on that end, our

24:50 small mom and pop type stores.

24:52 And we know you know the struggles that businesses have had over

24:55 the past couple years, but they still are digging deep and doing

24:58 great things for our schools. So thank you to all of those who

25:00 have supported both, you know, volunteers and businesses that

25:04 have contributed to recognition of our teachers this week, it’s

25:07 greatly appreciated.

25:09 And then the last one. This is one that I’m really excited about.

25:23 And I don’t mean to steal your thunder. Miss Miss Campbell since

25:23 you are part of SIAC. But a while back, you know, we constantly

25:23 talk about how we have so many struggles with our health

25:23 insurance trust fund.

25:24 And that our employees just don’t understand how the health

25:27 choices that they make everything from making healthy choices to

25:31 the doctors that they choose or where they go for imaging or

25:34 blood work or any of those things impact the health insurance

25:37 trust fund which also impacts the amount of money that we have

25:40 available for raises and those types of things.

25:44 So I mentioned to a couple of people that I thought it would be

25:48 great if we had a podcast that would just give snippets about

25:52 how our employees can make better choices to positively impact

25:56 that health trust fund and impact their well being on top of it,

26:00 you know, financially and otherwise.

26:03 And the first podcast came out the end of April. During our

26:19 wellness week, it was introducing all of the wellness activities

26:19 that we have for that week. And so I encourage all of our

26:19 employees, especially if you’re on the health plan, but even if

26:20 you’re not, to take the time it’s on Spotify, go and listen to

26:20 that podcast and make sure that you’re keeping up to date with

26:23 them.

26:24 Because there really are a ton of ways that we as individuals

26:27 can impact the health of that trust fund and, you know, also

26:31 impact the amount of money that we have available to compensate

26:34 employees instead of funding the health insurance trust fund.

26:39 So, thank you to Dr. study and to Mr. Broon, and to Dr. Mullins

26:45 who very expeditiously hold that together. I appreciate it very

26:50 much. Of course, Miss thinking.

26:54 I forgot one thing. So I received in the mail, a letter from

26:58 Congressman Bill Posey, making me aware of the three students in

27:02 my district that are going to be honored with the Congressional

27:06 Medal Medal of Merit Award on May 24. So I just want to throw

27:10 that in there because our meetings that evening.

27:13 And we I’ve got Courtney Antolucci from Palm Bay Magnet High

27:16 School, Neil Reddy from Satellite High School and Lily Winston

27:21 from West Shore Junior Senior High School. Thanks. Thank you,

27:24 Miss Jenkins.

27:24 So I can I forgot to say one of the things that came out of the

27:26 jobs program recently and I forgot about it. We met yesterday. I

27:30 sit on as the executive board on the Economic Development

27:32 Council.

27:33 And one of the things we do is we’re the ones that conditions

27:36 for companies to come in and work inside this community. So that’s

27:40 all the aviation industry and everybody else. I mean, we’re

27:43 working on probably six of them right now.

27:44 And one of the things that they look at is no longer are they

27:46 looking for tax incentives. They don’t care about that. But they’re

27:50 really looking for is workforce.

27:52 Many of them have relocated to places throughout the United

27:54 States and they get there. They don’t have the workforce. They

27:56 have to shut down their production and everything else is poor.

27:59 So what they did was we put together a rapid task force. It’s it’s

28:03 going to be myself. Jack Parker from Eastern Florida State

28:07 College.

28:08 Dr. Mullins hasn’t said he’s going to be a part of it yet, but I’m

28:10 going to kind of ask him right now.

28:12 We also have Mike Mike Ennis from L3 Harris for former director

28:15 of L3 Harris and a couple other groups that what we’re going to

28:18 do is meet real quick and create that pipeline because we have

28:23 kids both from middle school to high school.

28:25 Then the college we can set up pipeline programs to exactly tie

28:28 into whatever companies coming.

28:31 Many of them are going to be communications and aerospace, which

28:33 we already have infrastructure for.

28:35 But we’re uniquely designed to inside this county that we don’t

28:37 have one big trade school in the middle of the state in the

28:40 county.

28:41 We can build and we can spin programs in different areas to fit

28:44 where those locations are happening.

28:47 And there’s all kinds of Brownsfield developments and all kinds

28:49 of opportunities throughout our county for these places to move.

28:53 And if we can put a rapid response program to pipe feed in there,

28:55 it’s going to be good.

28:57 So I just want to let you guys know that Dr. Mullins agreed to

28:59 be a part of the program and we got some things going on.

29:02 So thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Susan.

29:08 All right. I believe that we are now out the adoption of the

29:10 agenda. Dr. Mullins.

29:18 Ms. Belford and members of the board and this evening’s agenda,

29:21 we have administrative staff recommendations.

29:24 One presentation, 17 consent items, three public hearings, two

29:28 action items and two information items and two board member

29:32 reports or discussions.

29:34 Discussion point changes made to the agenda since release to the

29:38 public include revisions to a seven administrative staff

29:42 recommendations.

29:43 The eight superintendent report or wrap up F 14 reappointment

29:50 nominations of continuing professional service contract features

29:53 for 2022 2023.

29:57 And H 32 department school initiated agreements and the

30:02 additions of K 35.

30:04 The SHAC committee update and K 36 at large versus single

30:12 district. I’ll entertain a motion.

30:14 Moved by Miss McDougal, seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any

30:17 discussion?

30:19 All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed.

30:23 Same sign.

30:24 Motion passes five zero. Dr. Mullins, please let us know about

30:28 the administrative staff recommendations for this evening.

30:32 Yes, Miss Belford and members of the board this evening, there

30:35 are 15 items for your consideration.

30:38 One of the wishes of the board moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by

30:41 Miss McDougal. Is there any discussion?

30:44 All in favor, please. Miss McDougal, go ahead.

30:49 I just want to say that District two is making out like bandits,

30:52 and I’m so excited for the people that are coming and going and

30:55 having promotions.

30:57 And I’m going to miss a couple of people, but I’ll still get to

31:00 see them. So I’m very excited.

31:03 Any other discussion? All right. All in favor, please signify by

31:07 saying aye. Aye. Any opposed.

31:09 Same sign. The motion passes five zero. Dr. Mullins.

31:15 Well, I would like to take this opportunity and it’s going to

31:18 take a few minutes because we’ve got quite a lineup of new

31:21 leaders.

31:22 Well, some of them not so new, but leaders rising into new ranks

31:27 of leadership across our district.

31:31 So first, I’d like to. Very happily and pleased to announce the

31:38 reclassification from principal at Coco High School to chief

31:42 operating officer, effective June 13th.

31:46 Mr. Rashad Wilson. Good evening, board and Superintendent Mullins

31:59 and Dr. Mullins, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to

32:02 sit on your cabinet.

32:04 I’m looking forward to the journey. I know it’s going to be a

32:06 challenge, but I think I’ve my journey has afforded me some

32:10 tough skin to bear to bear all to my cabinet.

32:14 My new team, my new cabinet members. I’m looking forward to

32:17 working alongside with you, rolling up my sleeves and getting in

32:20 where I fit in and wherever that may be.

32:23 I guess I’ll find out here soon enough. Miss Bowman, thank you

32:28 for being an awesome director.

32:30 You’ve been my I’ve been blessed to have you from the time that

32:33 I’ve been a principal and you have afforded me the opportunity

32:36 to grow.

32:37 And I appreciate you, young lady. To my Coco High team, Miss

32:43 Stewart and everybody else, Miss Albright, I appreciate you guys.

32:49 It’s been a good ride.

32:52 School’s in great hands under your leadership, but I’m not going

32:56 to steal your thunder.

32:58 And to my wife and my two daughters, thank you for being patient.

33:07 With me, as you know, this past weekend, I had a very big

33:12 project that I had and that was my fault.

33:17 But I appreciate your patience. I love you guys.

33:22 And my youngest daughter, I have to admit, she’s a little upset

33:25 because she said that she can’t go to Coco High no more on

33:28 Sundays when I go to work and run the hills while I’m out there

33:31 working.

33:32 So maybe Miss Stewart will allow us to come out there every now

33:34 and then and run up some hills, run up and down some hills.

33:38 To my mom, to my brother, I appreciate this journey started this

33:43 late.

33:52 Love you. Thank you.

34:11 I wanted to say, you know, I had I’m not going to lie to you.

34:14 I had a problem with you getting the job, not because anything

34:17 else, but because you’re a former gator and.

34:20 Oh, you’re not. OK, that’s what was told.

34:23 That’s what it was. That’s what it was. No, but I did want to

34:27 take a second and tell you, you’ve come highly recommended by

34:31 all your colleagues and everything that I’ve seen, what you did

34:33 in Coco.

34:34 We are blessed to have you as an individual up here in this

34:37 district.

34:38 I think you’re going to do great things here and I look forward

34:40 to working with you.

34:41 I’ve never seen anything but class come out of your school.

34:44 I think you do a great job and I think that we’re going to see

34:47 great things happen in here.

34:49 I’ve got a list of projects already I’d like you to approve

34:52 right here.

34:53 Do 13. Man, I’m looking forward to it. I’m glad you’re here.

35:00 And Mr. Wilson, I will just say that one of the first

35:02 requirements of your job is the ability to say no to Mr. Susan

35:06 on all of those projects.

35:08 OK. Thank you, madam chair. Next, I would like to extend

35:26 congratulations and to Miss Heather Smith, who was reclassed

35:27 from assistant principal at Viera High School to principal at

35:28 Central Middle School effective July 1.

35:29 But interestingly, her journey as principal starts now because

35:35 she’s also serving as acting principal at Viera High School from

35:41 now through June 17 while Miss Sarah Robinson is out on

35:45 maternity leave.

35:47 And yesterday we just had a new BPS recruit join us. Miss

35:51 Robinson had a little girl named Madeline, otherwise known as

35:57 Maddie, but we won’t let her steal the show.

36:01 Heather, congratulations and appreciate your leadership.

36:09 Thank you, Dr. Mullins. Thank you to the board. I am super

36:11 excited to be an eagle.

36:13 I’ve been an eagle parent since 2014, so I’m super excited to

36:17 take this journey and thank you for entrusting me with Central

36:21 Middle School.

36:22 I have so many people to thank on my leadership journey. Dr.

36:25 Sullivan, Chris Moore, Lena Weibel, Sherry Bowman, Molly Vega

36:30 have all been instrumental.

36:32 Mike Alba. Wow. The list goes on. So many great people at BPS

36:37 that are always supportive.

36:39 My colleagues, the niece. I’m super excited for you. My husband,

36:43 who’s here.

36:44 My my my kiddos, my family are all supportive of my Saturday

36:48 ventures or Sunday ventures work.

36:52 So hopefully, you know, supporting me through that. I really

36:57 want to thank my VHS team.

36:59 So I have my team here with me. Some of them were able to come

37:03 tonight. I’m super thankful for them.

37:05 Sad Mrs. Robinson can’t be here, but I know she wants to be here.

37:07 She’s watching livestream. So more baby pictures, please.

37:12 And I’m just really thankful for all of the people I’ve gotten

37:14 to work with at VHS. The great team.

37:17 I know that they’re in great hands and my central family. I’m

37:21 super excited to work with everyone and just be a part of the

37:25 central team.

37:26 So go Eagles. Next time I wanted to say, Heather, thank you for

37:36 everything that you did in our district.

37:39 Sorry that I’m doing this the second time. But, Heather, I don’t

37:41 care. Like Heather was in my district, man.

37:45 Heather, thank you. I want everybody to know I would go over

37:47 there to visit your high school.

37:49 I would you know, my character, I would walk around. Hey, guys,

37:51 how you doing?

37:52 She’s like, OK, this is what you need to do. This is what you

37:54 got to do. I mean, she keeps it runs a tight ship.

37:56 And I think she’s going to do an amazing job down there in

37:58 Central. And I really appreciate everything you’ve done for us

38:00 here.

38:01 Good luck. I promise that’s it. Let me see. I don’t know what

38:06 else we got on here.

38:08 Now it is my privilege and honor to introduce and welcome.

38:14 Congratulate Dr. Steven Richardson, appointed as principal at

38:18 McNair Magnet Middle School, effective July 1st.

38:21 Welcome to Brevard. Dr. Richardson. And we are thrilled that you’re

38:27 able to join us this evening.

38:31 I didn’t anticipate making a speech, so I didn’t prepare

38:35 anything.

38:36 But I do live by the philosophy of to whom much is given, much

38:39 is required.

38:41 And I certainly don’t take it lightly. The opportunity to lead

38:44 children, to lead young people. It has been a passion of mine.

38:48 I will tell you that the Brevard family has been extremely

38:52 welcoming.

38:53 They’ve been extremely supportive already. Coming in, I talked

38:59 to Dr.

39:00 Sullivan and told her at the time I had three offers to lead a

39:04 school, but this just felt like home.

39:06 And so I’m just ecstatic to be here. I certainly appreciate the

39:10 opportunity.

39:11 And I guarantee you McNair Magnet will be in a school.

39:16 Come moving forward. So I appreciate the welcome. I’m just

39:20 looking forward to working with everybody.

39:26 Next, I would like to congratulate and announce Denise Stewart,

39:31 reclass from assistant principal at Cocoa High School to head

39:37 Tiger principal, Cocoa High School.

39:43 Thank you. Thank you. First of all, I just want to say on our

39:46 drive over here, my daughter can attest I have the Tiger was

39:49 playing.

39:50 So I think that’s a positive. I don’t want to leave anybody out.

39:55 So I did write a couple of words. But thank you. First, of

39:57 course, to the school board, Dr.

39:59 Melons and Dr. Sullivan for giving me the opportunity to

40:01 continue to serve Cocoa High School and Brevard Public Schools

40:05 as principal.

40:06 I value the trust and faith your selection represents. I am

40:10 truly humbled by it.

40:11 Thank you to the many Brevard leaders who have helped guide and

40:14 support me during my leadership journey.

40:17 Literally, there are too many to acknowledge, but I absolutely

40:20 want to acknowledge the three directors back here because their

40:23 phone numbers are on speed dial.

40:25 And I could not be more thankful for that. A special thank you.

40:31 Very special thank you to Mr. Rashad Wilson for his mentorship

40:35 during my tenure as assistant principal at Cocoa High School.

40:39 I’ve said it often and I’ll continue to say it forever. He gave

40:42 me the keys and said, go at it.

40:44 I believe in you and I have faith in you. And that has brought

40:47 me here today.

40:48 And I appreciate that. And finally, thank you to my family.

40:52 I have one of my daughters, another daughter is in Jacksonville

40:54 watching live streaming,

40:56 and my son here with me, as well as my in-laws for their

40:59 continued love and my children’s pride.

41:03 And the work that I do is absolutely a motivator to me.

41:07 I’m grateful to be able to continue to work in partnership with

41:09 the parents, community and staff at Cocoa High for the benefit

41:13 of our students at Cocoa High.

41:16 We rise together towards excellence. And if you know, you know,

41:24 Tiger pride.

41:26 Next, a huge congratulations to Miss Pam Albright, reclassed

41:31 from teacher at Cocoa High to assistant principal dean at

41:35 Jefferson Middle School,

41:37 effective August 2nd. Congratulations.

41:44 Good evening, Dr. Mullins. Lord, thank you so much for giving me

41:48 this opportunity.

41:50 From the bottom of my heart, it means the world to me.

41:53 Dr. Sullivan, you started off as my mentor and given me all the

41:57 different opportunities to become a leader.

42:00 And I appreciate every one of those opportunities. Mr. Wilson,

42:04 when she left, you took over.

42:05 And I thank you for the opportunities you gave me to help me

42:09 grow, not only as a person, but also as a leader.

42:13 And Miss Stein, thank you so much for putting me on your list

42:18 and seeing just what I can bring to Jefferson and I welcome it

42:23 as my new home.

42:25 And I just appreciate every bit of it. My husband, I thank you

42:29 for this crazy adventure and going through all the sleepless

42:33 night and just being there as my biggest cheerleader.

42:37 And I thank my children for putting up with everything that I

42:41 threw at them and the extra responsibility so I can make them

42:45 proud of me.

42:47 Boulevard County is my home, born and raised, and I just am

42:50 honored to continue to serve it. The students and the staff and

42:55 the community.

42:56 Thank you. Next, we want to welcome and acknowledge Miss Joanne

43:05 Patterson,

43:06 reclassed from teacher at McNair Middle to assistant principal

43:10 dean at Hoover Middle School, effective August 2nd.

43:14 Congratulations, Joanne. Thank you very much.

43:22 First and foremost, I would like to thank Jasmine Delater for

43:25 her leadership at McNair and for her mentorship.

43:29 Without her, none of this would have been possible for me.

43:33 She came into McNair and she really showed what great leadership

43:37 is. And I congratulate her on her move.

43:42 Secondly, without a cheerleader behind me, my best friend,

43:48 Carrie Fowler.

43:49 She was there when I started my master’s degree and I learned

43:53 how to turn on a computer and she encouraged me through and

43:57 through my ed specialist degree.

44:01 And without her, I don’t know how I would have survived it.

44:05 Talking about not being able to survive it.

44:07 My husband, he has supported me when I need my time. He gives it

44:12 to me.

44:13 And when I need his support, he gives it to me. And he’s always

44:17 there to rub my feet for me at the end of a very long day.

44:22 Last but not least, I want to thank my son. I’m so proud of him.

44:27 He is my joy.

44:28 He is my light. And he is so proud of me. He just graduated Viera

44:35 High School.

44:35 And the first thing he wanted to do was tell his friends that I

44:38 was going to be a dean in Brevard Public Schools.

44:42 So the fact that a recent graduate is proud of his mother for

44:45 her achievement within the district, that says a lot about us as

44:50 a whole.

44:51 So thank you for this opportunity. And I look forward to working

44:56 with you two. Thank you so much. And Brian, thank you so much.

45:06 Ms. Patterson, what is your husband’s first name?

45:10 Gordon Nice. You’ve got all the other husbands in the room in

45:18 trouble right now.

45:21 Next, I’d like to congratulate and welcome to Mr. Brian Irvine,

45:27 classified from teacher on assignment at Stone Middle School to

45:30 assistant principal dean at Southwest Middle School, effective

45:34 August 2nd.

45:35 Congratulations, Brian. Thank you. I don’t know how I followed

45:41 the foot rub, but I’m in trouble and I’m nervous now.

45:45 Board Superintendent, I want to thank you for this opportunity.

45:48 I feel very privileged to be part of Brevard Public Schools.

45:51 I think this is probably destiny for me to be here. I have never

45:55 in my life been a Bronco in my educational life.

46:00 And because I am and I’m not a gator, I’m an Oklahoma State

46:03 cowboy. So that’s why being a Bronco is probably a good thing.

46:07 But again, I want to thank everybody for this opportunity. Miss

46:10 Vega and Miss Lundy right now for helping me get to where I am

46:14 right now.

46:15 Thank you very much. Mr. Irvine, just remember those of us who

46:23 have left part of our heart and soul at Southwest through our

46:26 own administrative journey.

46:27 It’s not just Southwest Middle School. What is it? The Great

46:31 Southwest. That’s right. All right.

46:36 I think this is the last one for now. Want to congratulate and

46:40 welcome Miss Melissa Rivera Orazo,

46:43 classified from teacher at South Area Alternative Learning

46:46 Center to assistant principal at the Great Southwest Middle,

46:51 effective August 2nd.

46:53 Congratulations, Melissa. First of all, yay. I’m really excited

47:02 to be here. Super grateful to be here.

47:05 I’d like to start by thanking my leadership team, Missy Bland

47:10 and Mr. CJEC for being here and for guiding me and supporting me

47:15 along the way for all of my cheerleaders,

47:18 including my family, my mom and dad, my boyfriend for putting up

47:23 with me.

47:24 All those conversations about, oh, my God, am I going to get the

47:27 job or, you know, all the interview questions I probably threw

47:32 at him.

47:33 All my colleagues, my friend, the hiring committee, thank you so

47:37 much for this opportunity.

47:39 I look forward to serving the students at Southwest and for

47:42 following some of them back from the ALC and making sure that

47:46 they get to high school and are very successful.

47:49 Thank you. Madam Chair, if I may just make a couple more

47:54 comments, I can’t pass up the opportunity to really recognize

47:59 you heard all of our leaders moving into new areas of

48:04 responsibility, acknowledge and recognize those men and women

48:11 who have helped them on their journey as mentors along the way.

48:15 And I want to commend Brevard Public Schools leadership team.

48:21 You are a most impressive group of leaders yourself.

48:27 To raise up and help and support our next leaders.

48:32 And I am enormously proud to serve as your superintendent,

48:36 knowing that not just today’s leaders, but tomorrow’s leaders

48:41 are in great hands.

48:43 And second, if you’ve been in administration for a day or a

48:48 decade.

48:50 You can’t do it without the loving support and devotion and

48:55 patience and tolerance of the loved ones at home.

49:00 Because it takes far more than a nine to five commitment to

49:04 serve the children in the community of Brevard like this mission

49:10 charges us to and to the wives and the husbands and the children

49:15 and the moms and the families of those who are serving our

49:19 schools.

49:21 I thank you from every depth of my heart for the sacrifices you

49:25 make to raise up these incredible leaders to serve the children

49:29 of Brevard.

49:31 Thank you for being part of Brevard Public Schools family and

49:34 giving us a part of your family to serve our kids.

49:38 We appreciate you.

49:49 » I think we are now going to transition into the

49:52 superintendent report on CTE for wrap up.

49:56 » Do you want to give them a minute so they can all leave?

50:00 » Yes.

50:01 For those of you who joined us this evening for appointments,

50:03 you are welcome to go ahead and exit now if you would like.

50:06 We’re not running you off.

50:07 You’re welcome to stay too if you’d like.

50:09 But I have a feeling there’s some celebration to be had.

50:36 » I’m going to go ahead and get a little – I always feel full

51:00 when there’s a transition.

51:04 » I’m going to go ahead and get a little bit of a break.

51:34 I’m going to go ahead and get a little bit of a break.

54:42 I have no idea why she’s asking this.

55:11 I’m going to go ahead and get a little bit of a break.

1:47:13 terrorized our schools for the last year.

1:47:12 There’s already a statute that guides our books and policies so

1:47:17 it isn’t necessary to

1:47:17 supersede it.

1:47:19 The current handling of the books being removed and now the

1:47:21 removal of Epic and Prodigy also

1:47:22 tells me that you’re listening to the bullies and not the

1:47:25 majority.

1:47:26 This must stop for the sake of our public schools.

1:47:28 Please stop folding to this loud, angry, small group.

1:47:32 Moms for Liberty and their one-off tea party group doesn’t

1:47:35 dictate our school.

1:47:36 Mr. Hosey, hold one second, please, for me.

1:47:39 So I’m going to ask you to stop attacking another group, okay?

1:47:42 If you can just get your point across without that, that would

1:47:45 be awesome.

1:47:46 Thanks.

1:47:47 Where are the limits?

1:47:48 How far are we willing to go to appease them?

1:47:51 Many of them are attacking our public schools with little vested

1:47:54 interest as they send their

1:47:56 school kids to private and charter schools and I wonder if they’re

1:47:58 sending them the same

1:47:59 list.

1:48:00 Help protect our schools and allow our students to use the best

1:48:03 tools and books to grow as

1:48:04 well-rounded humans that live in this reality.

1:48:07 The world is diverse.

1:48:08 The workplace is diverse.

1:48:09 We need children that are not sheltered and filled with hate so

1:48:12 they don’t become the

1:48:13 next said group.

1:48:18 Or one of their original blueprints, the Daughters of

1:48:21 Confederacy or the Ku Klux Klan terrorizing

1:48:23 our schools because they don’t want diversity, equity, or

1:48:26 inclusion.

1:48:26 Mr. Hosey.

1:48:27 I repeat, please stop caving to the organization.

1:48:30 Mr. Hosey, I’m going to ask you to rein it in, okay?

1:48:34 You can’t, audience members?

1:48:38 You guys, I’m addressing the issue, but I need you all not to

1:48:42 interrupt.

1:48:43 So the way that the rules work is I address it, I ask for it to

1:48:46 be corrected.

1:48:47 If he’s willing to correct it, then we move on with the time.

1:48:49 Mr. Hosey, am I correct in understanding that you’re going to

1:48:52 stop with the attacks or name

1:48:54 calling?

1:48:55 Thank you, sir.

1:48:57 Okay.

1:48:58 So what precedent are we setting with our books or tools that

1:49:02 has something with diversity

1:49:04 like LGBTQ that there’s a complaint that these books get tossed

1:49:08 out or black people in history

1:49:10 and a parent can complain that it’s CRT and labeled and tossed

1:49:13 out?

1:49:14 If the state feels that there’s tools or materials or books that

1:49:17 violate these discriminatory

1:49:18 bills, then they should call it out and explain why.

1:49:21 It amazes me that we don’t indoctrinate our children with things

1:49:24 like critical race theory

1:49:25 or lead our classes in discussions of sexual orientation and

1:49:29 gender identity in elementary

1:49:31 schools, that somehow our schools, our school libraries are full

1:49:36 of porn.

1:49:37 This narrative is what it is, it’s a lie.

1:49:41 Please communicate the truth that BPS holds educating all

1:49:44 students with excellence, whether

1:49:45 that’s a student with privilege, poor, black, brown, white, gay,

1:49:49 straight, we celebrate

1:49:51 them no matter who they are, we keep them safe and we understand

1:49:54 how far we’ve come.

1:49:56 Please make sure that these narratives stay what they are,

1:49:59 rhetoric and lies.

1:50:00 Thank you.

1:50:01 » Thank you, Mr. Hoeven.

1:50:02 Audience members, please hold your applause.

1:50:05 Okay.

1:50:06 That concludes public comments on agenda items.

1:50:11 We thank you for your willingness to address us in this public

1:50:13 manner.

1:50:14 That will now move us into the consent agenda.

1:50:16 Dr. Mullen.

1:50:17 » There are 17 agenda items under this category.

1:50:20 » Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent

1:50:24 agenda?

1:50:24 Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion to approve the consent

1:50:27 agenda as presented.

1:50:28 » I move.

1:50:29 » Moved by Ms. McDougal, seconded by Ms. Campbell.

1:50:32 Is there any discussion?

1:50:33 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

1:50:36 » Aye.

1:50:37 » Any opposed?

1:50:38 Same sign.

1:50:39 Motion passes 5-0.

1:50:40 » Yeah.

1:50:41 I’m good.

1:50:42 » All right.

1:50:43 We are now at the public hearing portion of the agenda.

1:50:52 First is to hold a hearing and approve item G28, is there anyone

1:50:55 present to address the

1:50:56 board regarding board policy 5630.01 seclusion and restraint of

1:51:01 students with disabilities?

1:51:04 Celine.

1:51:05 » I have more so a comment rather than a question about this

1:51:15 policy.

1:51:16 I just find the timing of it very interesting.

1:51:20 Especially when this instance happened to a 7-year-old child in

1:51:24 Brevard public schools

1:51:25 earlier this year when a mask was forcibly tied on her face, it’s

1:51:31 just very interesting

1:51:33 that this is now being brought to the table.

1:51:35 Thank you.

1:51:36 » Thank you, Ms. Delaney.

1:51:37 Is there anyone else that wishes to address policy 5630.01 seclusion

1:51:41 and restraint of

1:51:42 students?

1:51:43 Marski.

1:51:44 » Good evening, Madam Chair and board.

1:51:51 I just want to echo what Ms. Delaney had mentioned and I know I’m

1:51:55 supposed to address the board.

1:51:58 I find this policy also, the timing of this policy incredibly

1:52:02 interesting since the school

1:52:04 board by majority vote chose to force face mask our children

1:52:09 without parental consent

1:52:11 and many of them being special needs students.

1:52:13 Thank you.

1:52:14 » Thank you, Ms. Marski.

1:52:15 Is there anyone else that wishes to address the board on policy

1:52:18 5630.01 seclusion and

1:52:20 restraint of students with disabilities?

1:52:22 Is there anyone present who wishes to address the board on

1:52:25 policy 5630.01 seclusion and

1:52:28 restraint of students?

1:52:30 Seeing none, I’ll entertain a motion.

1:52:32 Moved by Ms. McDougall.

1:52:36 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.

1:52:37 Is there any discussion?

1:52:38 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

1:52:40 » Aye.

1:52:41 » Any opposed?

1:52:42 Same sign.

1:52:43 Motion passes 5-0.

1:52:46 Next is to hold a hearing and approve item G-29.

1:52:48 Is there anyone present to address the board regarding board

1:52:51 policy 2521 instructional

1:52:53 materials program?

1:53:05 » Good evening, Madam Chair and board.

1:53:09 I’m Sarah.

1:53:10 I’ve got two children in public schools.

1:53:13 I’m a voter constituent.

1:53:16 I just want to point out that these – the materials of concern

1:53:24 isn’t – doesn’t have

1:53:26 any educational value, and I want to point out that just as

1:53:31 school computers have filters

1:53:33 and firewalls, we need to protect our children from certain

1:53:37 things.

1:53:38 There’s a reason why our school computers and things have

1:53:41 filters and firewalls because

1:53:43 we don’t want children accessing things that are illegal to them

1:53:50 or harmful to them.

1:53:53 In one of the books, it tells children how to meet sexual

1:53:57 partners online.

1:53:59 That is certainly not something I want my children having

1:54:02 knowledge of, and no, I do

1:54:03 not give free rein to my children on their electronic devices

1:54:09 contrary to popular belief.

1:54:11 The other point I want to bring up is that in one of the books,

1:54:17 it talks about the explicit

1:54:19 account of a pedophile raping a child over and over again, and

1:54:24 the only reason that that

1:54:26 would serve for me to have my children read that or to read that

1:54:30 with my child would be

1:54:31 incredibly harmful, and everybody that’s in a classroom setting

1:54:36 is a court mandate, and

1:54:38 this is clearly against the law.

1:54:40 This is not about book banning.

1:54:41 This is not about not teaching history or supposed to be some

1:54:48 sort of bias against anybody

1:54:51 or any group.

1:54:52 This is simply about protecting children.

1:54:54 Thank you.

1:54:55 Thank you, Ms. Murski.

1:54:56 Audience, please hold your applause.

1:54:57 Ms. Beavers.

1:54:58 As I mentioned before, the 41 books would take between four and

1:55:04 a half to six years

1:55:06 to review at the current standards you have on here, and that’s

1:55:09 assuming that most of

1:55:10 them are 300 to 350 pages.

1:55:13 I’m asking you to please take the books off the shelves now and

1:55:16 then review them.

1:55:17 That makes the most sense.

1:55:19 They should not be lumped in with the school curriculum books.

1:55:22 You have lumped them in together, and I understand the reason

1:55:25 for wanting to keep the curriculum

1:55:26 books available while you’re reviewing, but this isn’t

1:55:29 curriculum.

1:55:30 This is sexually explicit material that’s designed to excite you,

1:55:34 and that should not

1:55:35 be in our schools, and it shouldn’t be checked out by a child

1:55:38 who has no idea what they’re

1:55:39 checking out until they come across these passages, and I think

1:55:41 you know what I’m talking

1:55:42 about.

1:55:43 I don’t think there’s any question here about how bad these are.

1:55:46 If you take them off the shelves first, it’s not going to hurt

1:55:49 anybody.

1:55:49 You’re actually going to be buying tons of these books with your

1:55:52 current policy and giving

1:55:53 them out to everybody to read.

1:55:55 It’s going to be expensive.

1:55:56 It’s going to be just not very cost effective.

1:56:01 There was another point I had to make with you guys.

1:56:12 It never tells you in eight years what happens to these books.

1:56:15 They get put back on.

1:56:16 They do not get put back on, and also I would like to stop this

1:56:20 from happening over.

1:56:22 I’d like the librarians to post a list of books they plan to buy.

1:56:26 I don’t think that’s too much.

1:56:27 I think that’s putting out there in the sunshine.

1:56:29 If you plan to buy this book, it should be out there for the

1:56:32 public to review before

1:56:33 it gets in our library.

1:56:34 So this doesn’t happen again.

1:56:35 We don’t have to keep chasing these books after they get in the

1:56:38 library.

1:56:38 It doesn’t take much effort to put that list out there and let

1:56:43 the public review it.

1:56:45 These books are available for you to view, like I said, on that

1:56:48 website so everyone can

1:56:49 see what’s going on.

1:56:50 This has nothing to do with CRT.

1:56:52 It has nothing to do with race or anything like that.

1:56:55 This has to do with sexually explicit material, period.

1:56:59 We also are trying to look at the drug aspect, too, the drugs

1:57:03 aspect of enticing kids to

1:57:05 take drugs, telling them how cool it is in some of these books,

1:57:08 and then what happens

1:57:09 after they take the drugs is, of course, sexually explicit

1:57:12 things.

1:57:12 That shouldn’t be a thing that you find in our library.

1:57:15 Our library is supposed to be a safe place for these kids.

1:57:17 When you see it in our library, the kids think that’s normal,

1:57:20 that’s what’s part of life

1:57:21 is, and that’s not the normal that I want for my children or

1:57:24 anybody else’s children.

1:57:25 Thank you.

1:57:26 Thank you, Ms. Beavers.

1:57:27 Is there anyone else that wishes to address Board Policy 2521

1:57:31 and structural material?

1:57:33 Good evening.

1:57:37 My name is Tuan Owens.

1:57:39 I am a constituent of Brevard County.

1:57:43 I recently just had a son graduate last year from private school.

1:57:47 However, I am a successful story of the public schools

1:57:53 throughout Florida.

1:57:55 I was born and raised in Palm Beach, and literally as a health

1:58:03 educator for years, for over 20

1:58:07 years, I did HIV, and as a social worker.

1:58:12 It’s ironic how parents want the schools to take certain things

1:58:18 out when their kids are

1:58:20 actually doing it regardless.

1:58:23 In schools, there is only a certain limit that you can go to,

1:58:34 right?

1:58:35 We have dealt with individuals, kids, that have sex that parents

1:58:42 are saying that they’re

1:58:44 not having sex, because parents don’t know anal sex, oral sex is

1:58:51 sex.

1:58:52 And so kids are doing this.

1:58:54 This is the reality as a social worker.

1:58:57 This is the reality.

1:58:58 Hold on just one second, ma’am.

1:59:00 So I’m going to remind our audience that you all are here as

1:59:03 observers, not interrupting

1:59:04 other public commenters, okay?

1:59:07 You heard me address the two words that she used.

1:59:09 The other words are nothing different than anyone else used when

1:59:13 you all were up there.

1:59:15 I’m just, some people, I’m not looking at you, Sarah.

1:59:18 I’m looking in that general direction, but I need for the

1:59:21 interruption of the public

1:59:23 commenter to stop, okay?

1:59:25 It’s their time when they’re at the microphone.

1:59:27 Let’s be respectful.

1:59:28 Everyone will get their chance, and I will address it as it

1:59:32 comes up, okay?

1:59:33 As a parent, I have three kids, one who serves in the United

1:59:39 States Army, one who serves

1:59:42 our current congressional leaders for Washington, and one, like

1:59:47 I said, just graduated and is

1:59:50 in college.

1:59:54 It’s very sad as a community leader, a business owner, to watch

2:00:02 individuals take what has

2:00:06 been the authority of the school books or what they are.

2:00:12 There used to be a time where you could sign and have your kid

2:00:17 not participate during a

2:00:19 certain assignment.

2:00:23 Why are we now at a point where it’s, I won’t say the

2:00:29 requirement, but it’s the law of a

2:00:32 group of individuals, and we take that to govern the entire

2:00:39 school community?

2:00:41 As a LGBT woman, it is not, and it has never been, my place to

2:00:49 teach children, and I am

2:00:53 involved with children daily about sexuality.

2:00:58 I do not.

2:01:00 Unfortunately, parents, children have their own questions.

2:01:06 They see it, commercials.

2:01:08 You can turn on your television, and there are commercials that

2:01:13 show.

2:01:13 Thank you, ma’am.

2:01:14 We appreciate you joining us.

2:01:15 All right.

2:01:16 Is there anyone else present who wishes to address board policy

2:01:24 2521?

2:01:27 Sir?

2:01:32 My name is Robert Taylor.

2:01:33 Hold on one second, Mr. Taylor, I just want to make sure I have

2:01:37 your mic actually on.

2:01:38 Okay.

2:01:39 Go ahead.

2:01:40 My name is Robert Taylor.

2:01:44 I’m here not to express anything about myself.

2:01:49 It’s my grandkids, great grandkids that I’m concerned with.

2:01:55 It seems like we have a problem.

2:01:59 I was here a few years ago, and this LGBT whatever gay rights

2:02:05 thing was an issue then,

2:02:08 and it hasn’t gone away yet.

2:02:11 Is there anybody here that took biology?

2:02:14 I’m going to interrupt you for just a second, okay, for just a

2:02:18 couple of things.

2:02:19 I just want to make sure we’re all staying on the same path,

2:02:23 okay?

2:02:23 And I’ve stopped the timer, so I’m not taking any of your time

2:02:26 away.

2:02:27 So the policy that we’re talking about has to do specifically

2:02:30 with instructional materials,

2:02:31 and because we’re on the public hearing for the instructional

2:02:35 materials policy, I need

2:02:36 you to keep your comments focused on that policy, if you would.

2:02:40 And then the other thing that I would ask is if you could please

2:02:42 address the board as

2:02:43 opposed to addressing the audience, okay?

2:02:46 Thank you so much.

2:02:47 Go ahead when you’re ready.

2:02:49 So the problem isn’t about teaching.

2:02:55 We have biology classes for biology, and sociology classes,

2:03:00 maybe they have them in college,

2:03:03 I know, and a lot of colleges in high school now.

2:03:08 But the problem is biology versus psychology.

2:03:13 And my daughter studies psychology, and she brought up the term

2:03:19 delusional at one time.

2:03:21 I didn’t even know what it meant at the time, but it means can’t

2:03:27 accept fact.

2:03:28 Their feelings are more real than fact.

2:03:33 They need to see a psychologist to deal with that.

2:03:38 Now, introducing all this stuff to stir the pot at a young age,

2:03:44 I don’t believe is appropriate

2:03:47 for my great grandchildren.

2:03:49 Thank you, sir.

2:03:53 Is there anyone else present that wishes to address the board

2:03:56 regarding policy 2521 instructional

2:03:59 materials?

2:04:00 Good evening, madam.

2:04:01 Here and board, I wasn’t going to speak on this topic, but I

2:04:10 feel like at this point

2:04:13 I must, as a parent step up and also voice my concern about you

2:04:21 removing the 41 books

2:04:24 of concern that Michelle has spoken about this evening due to

2:04:30 sexually explicit content

2:04:33 for children that are minors in your care.

2:04:39 As you are the board of education as a parent, I implore you to

2:04:44 seriously consider removing

2:04:47 these 41 books first and then have them reviewed because what I

2:04:56 foresee for you as a board

2:04:59 is that this is not only inappropriate, morally reprehensible,

2:05:05 and illegal to allow children

2:05:08 inappropriate content, but also it will present serious

2:05:13 liabilities for the board in the future.

2:05:16 Equal ramifications if this sexually explicit content is not

2:05:22 immediately removed.

2:05:24 Thank you.

2:05:26 Is there anyone else that wishes to address the board on policy

2:05:37 2521 instructional materials?

2:05:45 My children don’t currently go to Brevard Public Schools because

2:05:50 I cannot trust that

2:05:52 the people sitting up on that dais are going to protect them.

2:05:58 My child, my oldest child, is one year away from not having

2:06:02 another option.

2:06:04 That is why I’m here every two weeks.

2:06:13 In one of these books that’s currently in many of the junior and

2:06:19 senior high schools,

2:06:21 it speaks about a man sexually abusing, in detail, little

2:06:27 children, and talking about

2:06:30 how he’s feeding them ice cream while he does it and laughs at

2:06:39 them giggling.

2:06:42 That’s what you want our 11-year-old children having access to?

2:06:48 I’m sorry that I am getting very aggravated, but I am done.

2:06:54 I am done with you people abusing our children.

2:06:58 We have dealt with it for years now, and I am done.

2:07:03 It is against the law.

2:07:05 It’s against Florida state statutes to distribute pornography

2:07:10 and sexually explicit material

2:07:13 to our children.

2:07:14 Thank you.

2:07:15 Thank you, Ms. Delaney.

2:07:18 Is there anyone else that wishes to address the board on policy

2:07:24 2521 instructional materials?

2:07:27 Anyone else present who wishes to address the board regarding

2:07:30 policy 2521 instructional

2:07:31 materials?

2:07:32 Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion.

2:07:34 Moved by Ms. McDougall.

2:07:36 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.

2:07:38 Is there any discussion?

2:07:40 Ms. Campbell.

2:07:41 [inaudible]

2:07:42 There was some question as to why we’re revising the policy, it

2:07:55 had to do with restraints,

2:07:56 and people can go back to the workshop where we addressed that

2:07:59 work session, and that doesn’t

2:08:01 have anything to do with the subject.

2:08:02 It has to do with actually a change in state law, and we have to

2:08:06 adjust our policies just

2:08:08 like we always do.

2:08:09 When state laws change, we adjust our policies, so.

2:08:12 On to this one, Dr. Sullivan and Ms. Klein, I may need to call

2:08:16 on you, I’ve got a couple

2:08:17 of questions.

2:08:18 One, I know that we’ve already been following the informal

2:08:22 process.

2:08:23 We have already removed, schools have already removed some of

2:08:27 the books that have been brought

2:08:30 to question in an informal process ahead non-skid, if we’re

2:08:35 correct.

2:08:37 Okay.

2:08:39 Dr. Sullivan and Ms. Klein, would you please come and provide

2:08:47 some additional clarification?

2:08:51 Thank you.

2:08:53 And Ms. Klein, while you’re coming, the other question was, we

2:08:56 had a conversation at our

2:08:57 work session about what we would do with the books that were

2:09:02 challenged, whether they,

2:09:04 if they felt a challenge that we were gonna have some kind of

2:09:09 mechanism of putting that

2:09:11 in the database so that media specialists would be aware of the

2:09:15 challenges at the school

2:09:17 or district level.

2:09:18 So just, you know, if you could kind of just bring some

2:09:22 clarification to that.

2:09:23 Just want to clarify the question I’m answering about the books

2:09:29 specifically in the libraries

2:09:31 currently.

2:09:32 Right.

2:09:33 Okay.

2:09:34 I just want to make, yeah, so I can, I’d be happy to address

2:09:36 what we’ve done in that

2:09:37 case.

2:09:38 I’ve certainly shared it with the board and the requester.

2:09:41 At this point, that information is in what I would consider the

2:09:47 informal process aligned

2:09:49 with both the previous process and the recommended change in

2:09:54 process.

2:09:55 The previous process before amendment, then a requester would

2:10:00 have to file a petition

2:10:01 at each school.

2:10:04 But the first step in that process was an informal meeting with

2:10:09 the principal.

2:10:11 Given the requesters had a large list with a few different

2:10:14 schools, first thing we did

2:10:15 was send it out to the schools to one, verify the information

2:10:21 and for their media specialist

2:10:24 to review.

2:10:25 As you guys are aware, there is new state law that does put that

2:10:29 responsibility on the

2:10:30 media specialists.

2:10:32 So in some cases, the data set that we had had some inaccuracies.

2:10:39 So big surprise, sometimes books are lost, right?

2:10:42 So in some cases, media specialists went to pull it, a book was

2:10:46 lost.

2:10:46 In some cases, the media specialists reviewed the book and felt

2:10:51 that it was not appropriate

2:10:53 for their collection any longer.

2:10:56 And our current practice media specialists, we their collection

2:11:00 every single year, and

2:11:02 will pull materials based on checkout data, age appropriateness

2:11:07 and other factors.

2:11:09 So there were several titles that upon review from the media

2:11:13 specialists, they chose to

2:11:15 remove those from their circulation based on all those criteria.

2:11:19 Age appropriateness, circulation data, in some cases, there was

2:11:24 updated reviews available

2:11:26 online for them to review and make some decisions.

2:11:31 So that’s why it wasn’t really a head nod because there’s a few

2:11:34 different scenarios.

2:11:36 So our media specialists have been maintaining that data along

2:11:41 with our district content

2:11:44 specialists to make sure we had accurate information, and in

2:11:49 good faith, presented it to them on

2:11:52 behalf of the requester so that they would not have to go

2:11:55 through every school site.

2:11:57 It’s much easier for me to communicate with schools.

2:12:01 They’ve maintained a current list, and we’ve shared that a few

2:12:04 times in the making.

2:12:05 So as they continue to review them, I’m getting some updated

2:12:10 information.

2:12:11 Sometimes we have media specialists in our schools right now

2:12:13 that weren’t the ones that

2:12:15 purchased the book.

2:12:16 And so we certainly appreciate requests to review those titles,

2:12:19 and the media specialists

2:12:21 have appreciated the opportunity to review any of those.

2:12:26 Our juniors and seniors all have some slightly different process,

2:12:30 but we’ve actually an opportunity

2:12:32 through these discussions to tighten that up a little bit, and

2:12:36 primarily really clear

2:12:38 designation on high school only or middle school only books.

2:12:41 And in some cases for that media specialist, they didn’t feel

2:12:45 comfortable in monitoring

2:12:47 that.

2:12:48 So in that case, they might have also pulled the book.

2:12:51 So the libraries are set up different physically staffed and

2:12:54 different levels of ability, so

2:12:56 the media specialists have made those decisions.

2:12:59 So I would say a significant number of books.

2:13:03 I don’t have like, you know, I like data, and I absolutely would

2:13:07 have given you an exact

2:13:08 number.

2:13:09 But a significant percentage of books have been removed from

2:13:14 circulation based on the

2:13:16 media specialist review of information presented by the requester.

2:13:22 Any other parent concern, I always, you all know, I work with a

2:13:25 lot of parent concerns,

2:13:27 address as much information as possible, present that

2:13:30 information to the schools, work alongside

2:13:32 the schools and process and policy to help them consider that

2:13:35 concern being brought by

2:13:37 the parent.

2:13:39 So we did just receive an additional list yesterday, if I’m

2:13:45 saying that correctly.

2:13:47 And that list is kind of in the hopper like the others.

2:13:52 This slack once again is giving me the information on where they

2:13:56 are in what libraries, where

2:13:58 they exist, and then the case of this most recent list, a couple

2:14:04 of titles, maybe in

2:14:06 high school AP classes.

2:14:08 And so we’re gathering that information as well.

2:14:11 And so my first step is to have exact factual information on

2:14:14 where any of these titles may

2:14:16 be.

2:14:17 And then that same list will go back out to the schools as well,

2:14:21 principles and media

2:14:23 specialists, for them to review it against what their criteria

2:14:27 is, what is appropriate,

2:14:28 and they’ve been extremely thoughtful, I think all parties would

2:14:33 agree that the media specialists

2:14:35 have been responsive to the information received, have viewed

2:14:38 them carefully and then made some

2:14:40 decisions along the way based on that.

2:14:44 So like any other presented concern, we appreciate concerns

2:14:47 being brought our way, and I’ve been

2:14:51 pretty careful to review them thoroughly at the schools and make

2:14:56 some of those decisions.

2:14:57 And so that’s where it stands.

2:14:59 It’s all at an informal stage at this point.

2:15:02 I know that I can’t speak for anyone else.

2:15:09 We imagine there’ll be a point of formal, whether it is school-based

2:15:13 or district-based.

2:15:14 Obviously, we didn’t have a district-based formal process until

2:15:18 this policy making is

2:15:20 complete.

2:15:21 But at that time, we’ll follow that policy as well.

2:15:23 So in short, up till now, we have followed the spirit of the

2:15:27 existing policy, which is

2:15:29 an opportunity of informal review.

2:15:32 And the schools have been, in my opinion, really responsive to

2:15:36 our requests for them

2:15:37 to take a look.

2:15:39 And that’s where it sits right now.

2:15:44 I hope that answered your question.

2:15:45 It did.

2:15:46 Thank you.

2:15:47 And thank you for that detail, that level of detail.

2:15:48 And thank you for the work you guys have done and for being

2:15:50 responsive to the people from

2:15:52 the public.

2:15:53 I very much appreciate that.

2:15:54 Second question.

2:15:55 I think that was from Ms. Klein.

2:15:56 As far as we talked about a mechanism, it doesn’t necessarily

2:15:59 belong to policy so much

2:16:00 as procedure, but can you just clarify as to what happens then

2:16:05 at each level if a book

2:16:07 fails to meet a challenge, whether either at the school level or

2:16:10 at the district level,

2:16:11 either in the A process or the B process, what are we going to

2:16:16 do to inform our media

2:16:17 specialists that that happened in the past?

2:16:20 So as Dr. Sullivan just said, our library media K-12 person is

2:16:24 very much involved with

2:16:26 every media specialist in our district with ongoing training

2:16:30 every year.

2:16:31 She does conduct annual training on how to read through a

2:16:36 library book and remove titles

2:16:39 that are of question.

2:16:41 So once this policy is completed, we were going to start then on

2:16:46 the administrative

2:16:48 procedures, making certain that this process is complete.

2:16:52 But part of that administrative procedure is any book which is

2:16:57 removed is completely

2:16:58 communicated with everyone in the school system.

2:17:03 And then, as you know, July 1, we have amendments to this policy

2:17:08 that will come forth again

2:17:10 with changes in instructional material and responsibilities of

2:17:13 the media specialist in

2:17:15 vetting books.

2:17:16 And we’re waiting for clarification right now from the DOE.

2:17:22 I think one of the things Ms. Klein, if I’m not mistaken, and I

2:17:27 added, was that those

2:17:28 would be posted on our media website.

2:17:32 And yeah, that was our, so we currently maintain a resource page

2:17:38 for our medias, as in we do

2:17:41 every other page, so any book that has been through a challenge

2:17:45 process would be posted

2:17:47 on there with the outcome, and that mimics the upcoming state

2:17:52 process.

2:17:53 So in the new bill, the state outlines that they will be

2:17:57 maintaining a state website where

2:18:00 we would submit all that information to the state, that would be

2:18:03 a public site.

2:18:04 So again, in the spirit of the law, we felt it was appropriate

2:18:09 to mimic that at the district

2:18:11 level.

2:18:12 And so to answer that question, the books will be on a public

2:18:16 website.

2:18:17 The media specialist, of course, will certainly see that as well,

2:18:21 but our public can as well

2:18:23 for parents who want to be involved in that level.

2:18:27 I imagine something like that at the state level will be helpful

2:18:29 to our media specialists

2:18:30 too, so that if something, it just would be a flag.

2:18:33 And it’s my understanding of the list, it doesn’t necessarily

2:18:36 mean this is the banned

2:18:37 book list, don’t buy anything off this, but it’s just for

2:18:40 awareness, hey, if you’re gonna

2:18:41 take a look at these, you better know what you’re talking about,

2:18:44 you better have reason

2:18:44 to justify your adding it to the collection.

2:18:47 One thing I wanted to add, Ms. Campbell, as well is we know that

2:18:52 the law comes effective

2:18:53 in July 1, however, the training for our media specialists,

2:18:59 early awareness from the DOE

2:19:01 is that training will not start until the following January.

2:19:06 So we know that there’s gonna be some lag time with

2:19:09 clarification from the DOE on how

2:19:12 that process will work.

2:19:13 Well, I just have to say, I appreciate that on this and as well

2:19:16 as other measures that

2:19:17 you guys don’t wait, we go ahead and start doing what needs to

2:19:21 be done in anticipation

2:19:22 of the changes that are coming.

2:19:25 Thank you.

2:19:26 I just, thank you.

2:19:27 I don’t have any more questions.

2:19:28 I’ll just add, board, as you guys have heard, the same, you’re

2:19:31 getting the same emails that

2:19:33 I’m getting for the most part, they’re sent to us as a group and

2:19:35 we’ve heard lots of public

2:19:37 comment about one group of parents versus another group of

2:19:40 parents.

2:19:41 I think I’ve shared with the board before, but I’ll just

2:19:43 reiterate it, that when it comes

2:19:44 down to it, no, it’s not any group of parents’ responsibility to

2:19:48 decide what another group

2:19:50 of parents’ children can read.

2:19:52 If you look at statute, the state gives us as a board, we are

2:19:55 personally responsible

2:19:57 as a board, collectively responsible as a board, to make sure

2:20:01 that the materials that

2:20:03 are in our schools abide by the law.

2:20:05 And so that’s why we have this policy and that’s why, you know,

2:20:08 the people who are doing

2:20:09 this job, ultimately, it falls on us.

2:20:11 And so it’s our decision to make this policy and we’ve, you know,

2:20:15 there were some things

2:20:16 that some of us didn’t want in there, that got in there, some

2:20:19 things that some of us

2:20:21 wanted in there that didn’t get in there.

2:20:22 And so we work through it together as a board.

2:20:24 And so I think that for what it is, it’s going to be very

2:20:29 helpful and just would point out

2:20:32 again that we’ve talked about it before, but the policy as we

2:20:34 had in place that we put

2:20:35 in place in 2019, the last time we revised it, actually, we

2:20:39 never used the challenge

2:20:40 process.

2:20:41 But we found through this process that it was not going to meet

2:20:44 the needs of the current

2:20:45 challenges, which I’m going to just pretty much think I can

2:20:49 safely assume that we will

2:20:51 be using it in the future and probably won’t slow down too much

2:20:55 for a while, but I think

2:20:57 it’s overall a good policy and we’ve made some good changes that’ll

2:21:02 help us adapt to

2:21:04 the needs of the time.

2:21:06 Thank you, Ms. Campbell, does any other board member have any

2:21:11 discussion?

2:21:12 I will, Dr. Moulton, should you want to say something?

2:21:15 If I may, I want to just first acknowledge and commend both Mrs.

2:21:21 Kline and Dr. Sullivan

2:21:23 in their extraordinarily attentive care as well as response to

2:21:29 this issue when it first

2:21:31 came forward.

2:21:32 I have been in ongoing conversation with both about honoring our

2:21:38 existing board policy prior

2:21:41 to the anticipated adoption of the new policy and the

2:21:44 acknowledgement that it does not respond

2:21:47 well to the current situation of multiple books from a group or

2:21:53 individual to be considered

2:21:55 across the entire district.

2:21:58 But in very careful consideration of our existing policy and

2:22:02 honoring, as Dr. Sullivan very

2:22:04 appropriately explained, the spirit or the merit of the policy

2:22:10 supported and approved

2:22:12 them to move forward in making that list of books available to

2:22:16 our media specialists as

2:22:18 ultimately they could be asked, questioned, potentially

2:22:22 confronted with the books and

2:22:25 any one of them that could be in their schools because all of

2:22:27 that information is available

2:22:28 online.

2:22:30 So that is what prompted us moving forward as although it didn’t

2:22:34 completely align with

2:22:36 our board policy, I made the final ultimate application.

2:22:41 I believe that that was the right thing to do and we moved

2:22:44 forward and that’s the process

2:22:45 that’s been in place.

2:22:46 And I believe it aligns with what the new policy will do more

2:22:51 directly and so on.

2:22:52 So I did want to publicly acknowledge and express my

2:22:56 appreciation to my leadership team

2:22:59 for their great work on this effort and bringing forward

2:23:02 virtually a policy that the board

2:23:04 has made very little amendment to from the work that they

2:23:08 presented to the board.

2:23:10 And then finally, in acknowledgement of the unfortunate, I would

2:23:14 suggest, and difficult

2:23:16 position this new legislation puts our media specialists in,

2:23:20 given the fact that training

2:23:22 and direction from the state is going to be delayed until

2:23:26 January.

2:23:27 I wanted to let the board know I’ve already been in conversation

2:23:30 with FADS, the Association

2:23:31 of District School Superintendents.

2:23:33 We have already as an organization presented this situation to

2:23:38 the Department of Education.

2:23:41 Haven’t received a response that provides any additional

2:23:46 confidence that we’re not still

2:23:49 in a difficult situation yet.

2:23:51 I will say, but we are addressing it as state district leaders

2:23:58 to the department in hopes

2:24:01 that they will expedite that training because we are held

2:24:04 accountable to the new statute

2:24:05 January, excuse me, July 1.

2:24:07 So just wanted the board to be aware that we are continuing to

2:24:11 pursue that even as a

2:24:12 collective, superintendents across the state.

2:24:16 - Thank you, Dr. Mullen.

2:24:18 Anyone else?

2:24:19 - I just, I have a quick comment and then I’ll go ahead and call

2:24:22 the question.

2:24:23 It was mentioned several times how long it’s going to take us to

2:24:26 get through all of the

2:24:27 books that have been presented.

2:24:29 And that’s part of the reason why we’re transitioning to the new

2:24:31 policy and the new policy does

2:24:32 in fact have in there that the superintendent can convene

2:24:35 additional committees if he find

2:24:37 it necessary to do so.

2:24:39 And so I think that’s an important recognition that it’s quite

2:24:44 possible that we may have

2:24:46 to look at that option based on the number of books that we’re

2:24:51 providing.

2:24:52 So that flexibility is in there should it need to be taken

2:24:58 advantage of.

2:24:59 And then just a quick, I’ve heard from a lot of people that they

2:25:02 have concerns that we

2:25:03 are taking away voice by moving to a district committee.

2:25:09 And I think that first of all, it is unreasonable to expect that

2:25:15 any school would convene multiple

2:25:18 committees, and we talked about this in the beginning of this

2:25:22 process, to address each

2:25:24 of the books that they have in their collection at their school.

2:25:27 And so it just is not feasible and takes way too much time away

2:25:32 from the work that those

2:25:35 individuals that would be participating in the committee work

2:25:39 would be doing.

2:25:41 And so this is not, I have not heard any board members say that

2:25:45 they want to take away voice

2:25:47 from the community or remove the opportunity to consider some

2:25:51 books may be appropriate

2:25:53 at some levels and not at others or in certain communities and

2:25:55 not other communities.

2:25:57 That is not the goal.

2:25:59 But I think we have very clear statutory language as to the

2:26:03 expectations.

2:26:04 And we have to be able to fulfill that role.

2:26:08 And we need to do it in the most effective and efficient way

2:26:11 possible for our already

2:26:12 overtaxed.

2:26:13 So, just want to make sure that that clarification was there as

2:26:17 well.

2:26:18 And with that, if there’s no one else, then I will call the

2:26:21 question.

2:26:21 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:26:23 » Aye.

2:26:24 » Any opposed?

2:26:25 Same sign.

2:26:26 The motion passes 5-0.

2:26:27 All right, next is to hold hearing and approve item G30.

2:26:32 Is there anyone present to address the board regarding board

2:26:35 policy 0169.1, participation

2:26:38 at board meetings?

2:26:39 Ms. Merski?

2:26:42 » Good evening again, Madam Chair and board.

2:26:51 My name is Sarah Merski.

2:26:53 As you know, I’m a voter, constituent, and taxpayer of Brevard

2:26:57 County.

2:26:58 I’ve got two children in Brevard Public Schools.

2:27:01 I just want to make it clear that when I come before the board

2:27:04 and talk, I’m talking on

2:27:05 behalf of myself and the concerns that I have as a parent.

2:27:08 I’m not speaking on behalf of any organization, but if other

2:27:11 organizations and parents agree

2:27:13 with me, so be it.

2:27:16 But I’m going to talk about public input policy.

2:27:20 What I’m hearing from – what I’ve heard from a couple school

2:27:24 board members is that the

2:27:26 state only gives you one minute, so we should be happy if we get

2:27:29 three minutes or one minute.

2:27:31 And my response to that, to the school board as a whole, is that

2:27:34 when you’re bringing something

2:27:36 to the state, that’s more of an investigation or more of a –

2:27:41 almost like a court case.

2:27:43 Here, this is about our community.

2:27:45 This is about our children.

2:27:47 This is about building relationships with each other and working

2:27:50 with each other.

2:27:51 And so I feel parents need to come and have a voice.

2:27:55 And I understand the policy of wanting to mirror of giving non-gender

2:28:02 items more time,

2:28:03 but I believe parents deserve more respect and more dignity than

2:28:08 that, and also people

2:28:09 such as our bus drivers and people who come to address the board.

2:28:12 Thank you.

2:28:13 » Thank you.

2:28:14 Does anyone else wish to address the board regarding board

2:28:19 policy 0169.1, Ms. Delaney?

2:28:22 » The revision of this policy gave you guys a real opportunity

2:28:36 to do the right thing.

2:28:41 The public has lost all trust.

2:28:43 And part of that is because the communication has been cut off.

2:28:48 We have been through unprecedented times together, and my time

2:28:53 hasn’t started.

2:28:55 » Thank you.

2:28:56 Sorry.

2:28:57 » We’ve been through unprecedented times together, and I think

2:29:00 that we’ve moved through

2:29:01 a lot of it with the COVID mitigations and all that.

2:29:05 But now, because parents are really digging in and paying

2:29:08 attention to what’s going on

2:29:10 in the schools, we are seeing what’s going on in the schools,

2:29:15 and we are not happy.

2:29:16 We are not happy at all.

2:29:18 And we have the right and the obligation to show up here every

2:29:22 two weeks at every school

2:29:24 board meeting, which I have done, to let you know that we are

2:29:30 not happy with what’s going

2:29:32 on.

2:29:34 There are kids having sex in bathrooms daily.

2:29:42 There are multiple Instagram pages that are out for fights that

2:29:47 are going on in the schools.

2:29:49 Southwest Middle School alone has five that we’ve found, where

2:29:54 we saw a teacher get laid

2:29:56 out by two students.

2:30:00 We need the opportunity to come to you people and the public,

2:30:05 because this is the only opportunity

2:30:08 we have.

2:30:09 Three minutes is not enough.

2:30:11 We should be able to fully express our grievances and have a

2:30:16 conversation back and forth with

2:30:18 our representatives.

2:30:24 You are not our rulers.

2:30:27 These are our schools.

2:30:31 It’s our tax dollars.

2:30:33 You represent us.

2:30:36 We have the right to share our grievances with you.

2:30:41 And I have come to every workshop.

2:30:44 And not one thing that any member of the public has mentioned in

2:30:49 these workshops has made

2:30:52 your policy changes vary.

2:30:54 Not one thing.

2:30:58 That is not working for the public, Ms. Belford.

2:31:03 And I’m directing it at you because I can’t direct it to the

2:31:09 rest of you.

2:31:10 And especially somebody that’s up for re-election should be

2:31:14 hearing me loudly when I say you

2:31:17 are my representative.

2:31:20 And you are my representative.

2:31:24 We should be heard.

2:31:26 And we should not be silent.

2:31:27 Thank you.

2:31:28 » Thank you, Ms. Delaney.

2:31:29 Is there anyone else that wishes to address policy 0169.1,

2:31:34 participation at board meetings?

2:31:37 All right.

2:31:38 Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion.

2:31:41 » I’d like to speak.

2:31:43 » I’m sorry.

2:31:44 I need a motion and a second to open for discussion.

2:31:48 » Okay.

2:31:49 » So I have a motion from Ms. McDougall and a second from Ms.

2:31:52 Campbell and that would

2:31:53 open for discussion.

2:31:55 Since you all motioned, do either one of you want to address

2:31:59 before I open it to Mr. Susan?

2:32:01 Susan, the floor is yours, sir.

2:32:04 » Yeah, I just wanted to take a second and say that we’re back

2:32:09 here again.

2:32:11 We’ve had a couple of speakers since the last time we spoke.

2:32:14 Ms. Ramsey was one of them, a student who came in to talk to us

2:32:19 about the program that

2:32:20 she wanted to deliver and talking about Boys State and all the

2:32:23 programs and literally her

2:32:25 speech was cut within a minute and she couldn’t even finish and

2:32:28 that’s one of our students.

2:32:30 I dislike the fact that we’re trying to cut down on the amount

2:32:34 of minutes.

2:32:36 I feel that there has not been a good reason given.

2:32:38 The two reasons that we kept getting back to was staff time and

2:32:42 abuse.

2:32:43 The abuse piece, I argue against because from one to three

2:32:46 minutes, the person still has

2:32:48 60 seconds to say something to go to three minutes is not abuse.

2:32:53 In staff’s time, I promise you, if you asked the back staff if

2:32:57 any of them minded waiting

2:32:59 because people wanted to speak for an extra two minutes, they

2:33:01 would not have a problem

2:33:02 with that.

2:33:03 I personally think that an individual that drives here all the

2:33:07 way up here tries to get

2:33:09 child care, tries to get everything, regardless of if it’s from

2:33:12 the right, from the left,

2:33:14 against my views or for my views, should be given the right to

2:33:17 sit and speak for three

2:33:18 minutes.

2:33:19 I think that when you carve out certain minutes for this group,

2:33:23 for these different times,

2:33:24 the more I look at it, the more I’m against it.

2:33:27 I feel that this is a bad policy.

2:33:29 I feel it just keeps getting us into situations where we’re

2:33:33 trying to stop people in the middle

2:33:34 of their speeches.

2:33:35 We are curbing individuals.

2:33:36 I mean, honestly, somebody comes here that half the public doesn’t

2:33:39 even know if we are

2:33:40 or are not, if we have the three minutes.

2:33:42 They think they prepare their speech, they sit at home, they

2:33:45 look on this piece of paper,

2:33:47 they prepare it for three minutes, because that’s the normal

2:33:50 time, and then they go drive

2:33:51 in words of no less than 15 minutes, no more than 45 minutes to

2:33:55 an hour to get here.

2:33:57 They sit in the crowd, and then literally under this current

2:34:00 policy, depending on how

2:34:01 many speakers show up, they then have to re-scribble their

2:34:04 speech based on one minute, two minutes,

2:34:06 three minutes, and it’s just, what are we doing here?

2:34:10 We still have not been given a good reason to move to this

2:34:13 policy, I feel, and I feel

2:34:15 that we have examples, like Ms. Ramsey, who we have cut off, and

2:34:18 I feel that we need to,

2:34:19 as a board, honor our individuals who are out there that want to

2:34:23 come to speak to us,

2:34:24 regardless of if we like it or not, we need to hear them, and

2:34:30 that’s my–

2:34:32 Ms. Campbell?

2:34:33 Thank you.

2:34:34 So I, to Mr. Susan’s point, the policy that we’re voting on

2:34:41 tonight, which is the revision,

2:34:44 actually would’ve given all the people that you just mentioned

2:34:49 three minutes, because

2:34:50 since we put the policy in place, it went down to one minute for

2:34:54 non-agenda speakers.

2:34:55 We’ve actually only been over, I don’t have my notes in front of

2:34:59 me, we’ve actually only

2:35:00 had more than 10 people for non-agenda or agenda, I think one

2:35:04 time, maybe twice.

2:35:06 In fact, when the policy, if we vote in just a few minutes and

2:35:10 it passes, then everybody

2:35:12 tonight, because now the policy will be in place, correct, Mr.

2:35:16 Gibbs?

2:35:16 Everybody who speaks at our non-agenda time at the end of the

2:35:19 meeting is going to get

2:35:20 three minutes, I believe, because I don’t think we asked all

2:35:22 more than a handful.

2:35:23 So everybody tonight is going to get three minutes, not one, and

2:35:27 the only time that it

2:35:28 would be less than three minutes is if we have a long, you know,

2:35:32 think about the mask

2:35:33 meeting that we had, it was an emergency meeting, so we could

2:35:36 have, we shortened it up to one

2:35:37 minute, we had 120, 132 people sign up, I think we had 120

2:35:41 actually speak that day.

2:35:43 So it went down to one minute.

2:35:44 And I know, Mr. Susan, you were actually trying to get people

2:35:47 just to say, you know, I agree

2:35:48 or I disagree, you know, and this saves some time.

2:35:54 So we’re moving to longer, it was my proposal, we’re moving to

2:35:57 longer, again, it’s a compromise

2:35:59 for all of us, but we’re moving to more time.

2:36:02 And I would just point out that actually, because we’ve

2:36:05 separated agenda and non-agenda

2:36:07 right now, people are getting more time, because we have people

2:36:10 who are signing up for agenda

2:36:12 things and getting three minutes, and they’ve been getting an

2:36:15 extra minute on other things.

2:36:16 And there are people tonight who have already gotten the

2:36:18 opportunity, they may have not

2:36:19 taken the whole thing, to speak for three, six, nine, 12 minutes.

2:36:25 And if they sign up for the last time, they’re going to get 15

2:36:28 before the night’s over.

2:36:29 So actually, by having agenda and non-agenda, we’re actually

2:36:31 giving people more opportunity,

2:36:33 especially when we go to the three minutes.

2:36:34 So I hear you.

2:36:36 And that’s why, and we were getting a lot of feedback from all

2:36:42 different kinds of people

2:36:44 on all sides of the political spectrum, from employees, students,

2:36:48 I totally hear you, which

2:36:49 is why I brought this forward, and I think this is going to be a

2:36:53 good change for us to

2:36:54 go from one minute to basically three minutes, unless we have a

2:36:59 whole lot of people.

2:37:00 So you know, I think, and again, because we’ve split agenda and

2:37:04 non-agenda, we’re actually

2:37:06 giving people more time than they’ve had before.

2:37:10 - Ms. Belford, since I was named, can I respond to it?

2:37:12 - Let me see if there’s any other board member that wants to

2:37:15 speak, and then I’ll come back

2:37:17 for follow-up, okay?

2:37:18 - Okay.

2:37:19 - Yeah, Ms. Jenkins?

2:37:20 - Please.

2:37:21 I just wanted to make it clear to the members of the audience

2:37:25 that are snickering at me

2:37:27 as this is happening, that I am the person who voted against

2:37:29 this change from the get-go.

2:37:32 And I think it’s interesting that we keep justifying all of

2:37:35 these decisions that are

2:37:36 being made with things like, oh, it’s both sides of the

2:37:39 political spectrum.

2:37:40 It has nothing to do with anything about that.

2:37:42 Like, let’s just be honest, there was members of this board that

2:37:45 wanted to change it.

2:37:46 We had a workshop on it, we presented a policy, people voted for

2:37:49 it, then they wanted to amend

2:37:50 it, then we had a workshop, then we put it on the agenda, and

2:37:55 people voted for it.

2:37:57 It’s just crazy to me that we’re continuously defending or

2:38:00 fighting it.

2:38:01 And I’m gonna say it again, I said it last time this came up, we

2:38:04 literally have someone

2:38:04 on the board who takes polls on when the board meeting’s gonna

2:38:08 end.

2:38:08 So stop the games, stop the games, this isn’t a show.

2:38:12 We’ve been through this policy like six times, either vote for

2:38:15 it or don’t.

2:38:16 - Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.

2:38:18 Ms. McDougall, did you want to speak to it, Mr. Susan, to you

2:38:21 for follow up?

2:38:22 - Yeah, I still don’t have a reason of why we are reducing,

2:38:26 other than staff’s time and

2:38:28 abuse, which I disagree with.

2:38:30 I would come back to Ms. Campbell’s point, specifically saying

2:38:36 that you’re given more

2:38:38 time.

2:38:39 The idea is that if you want to speak to the agenda, you’re

2:38:42 given three minutes.

2:38:42 But the individuals who want to speak to a non-agenda item that

2:38:45 are coming in are only

2:38:47 given one.

2:38:48 So it’s not like they can stand up for an agenda item and talk

2:38:50 about a non-agenda item,

2:38:51 then come over here and talk about a non-agenda item and the

2:38:54 agenda item.

2:38:55 If a person comes because they’re passionate about an issue,

2:38:58 they are restricted in the

2:38:59 time period that they have.

2:39:01 We still have not been given a time period or a reason why this

2:39:05 is the way it is.

2:39:06 Again, staff time and abuse.

2:39:09 The other thing is is that, you know, the period that you’re

2:39:13 saying from cutting that,

2:39:15 to me, that’s absurd.

2:39:18 The other piece is that someone, gamesman show, everything, I

2:39:21 have been against this

2:39:22 ever since we sat down and those bus drivers couldn’t speak.

2:39:25 That got me.

2:39:26 And so from that point on, I realized we were doing something.

2:39:30 And yes, there was a point where we said we should move to this

2:39:32 because of the way that

2:39:33 we were feeling, because we were going through these huge

2:39:36 meetings.

2:39:37 But after I sat down and I started looking at it, the people, Ms.

2:39:40 Ramsey, bus drivers,

2:39:41 everybody else, it consistently gives me the thought that these

2:39:44 people need to speak.

2:39:46 And the idea that these people could have spoken tonight and the

2:39:49 time before, they won’t

2:39:50 be able to speak to the three minutes when it does come a time

2:39:53 where there’s a lot of

2:39:54 people here.

2:39:55 So they’re going to come here when more than 20 or more than 30

2:39:59 people end up coming, and

2:40:00 they’re not going to be able to give their speech.

2:40:02 Their time that they came here to speak before us.

2:40:05 And if we have to sit here for a couple extra minutes, an hour,

2:40:08 two hours extra, it doesn’t

2:40:09 hurt us.

2:40:10 It doesn’t hurt us to just allow people to sit at the podium and

2:40:14 speak for an extra few

2:40:16 minutes.

2:40:17 It doesn’t hurt the abuse.

2:40:18 And we’re going to be here over our debate anyway.

2:40:20 So with that, I rest.

2:40:21 Thank you.

2:40:22 Anyone else requesting follow-up?

2:40:23 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:40:24 Aye.

2:40:25 All opposed?

2:40:26 Same sign?

2:40:27 Nay.

2:40:28 The motion passes 4-0.

2:40:29 All right.

2:40:30 I’m sorry, 4-1.

2:40:31 Thank you.

2:40:32 Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about items under the

2:40:38 Act of Enforcement?

2:40:41 Yes, Madam Chair, the first item is H-31, procurement solicitations.

2:40:47 Move to approve.

2:40:48 Second.

2:40:49 Moved by Mr. Susan.

2:40:50 Seconded by Ms. Zugel.

2:40:51 Is there any discussion?

2:40:52 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:40:53 Aye.

2:40:54 Any opposed?

2:40:55 Same sign.

2:40:56 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:40:57 Aye.

2:40:58 Any opposed?

2:40:59 Same sign.

2:41:00 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:41:01 Aye.

2:41:02 Any opposed?

2:41:03 Same sign.

2:41:04 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:41:05 Aye.

2:41:06 Any opposed?

2:41:07 Same sign.

2:41:08 Passes 5-0.

2:41:09 All right.

2:41:10 We will now move on to the information agenda, which includes

2:41:10 items for board review and

2:41:11 may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting.

2:41:12 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:41:13 Aye.

2:41:14 Any opposed?

2:41:15 Same sign.

2:41:16 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:41:17 Aye.

2:41:18 Any opposed?

2:41:19 Same sign.

2:41:20 Passes 5-0.

2:41:21 All right.

2:41:22 We will now move on to the information agenda, which includes

2:41:22 items for board review and

2:41:23 may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting.

2:41:24 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:41:25 Aye.

2:41:26 Any opposed?

2:41:27 Same sign.

2:41:28 Passes 5-0.

2:41:32 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

2:41:33 Aye.

2:41:34 Any opposed?

2:41:35 Same sign.

2:41:36 Passes 5-0.

2:41:37 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.