Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 (upbeat music)
0:30 - Good evening, the August 9th, 2022 board meeting
0:33 is now in order.
0:33 I am happy to welcome my fellow board members
0:36 and the public.
0:37 I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public
0:39 that the appropriate place for public participation
0:42 in the meeting is during your individual
0:43 public comment opportunity as identified in the agenda.
0:47 Outside of your individual public comment opportunity,
0:49 your role in the meeting is as an observer.
0:52 Mr. Gibbs, roll call please.
0:54 - Ms. Belford. - Present.
0:55 - Ms. McDougall. - Present.
0:56 - Mr. Susan. - Here.
0:59 - Ms. Jenkins. - Present.
1:00 - Ms. Campbell. - Present.
1:02 - The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection
1:04 and invite the audience to join.
1:28 - Thank you.
1:29 Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
1:36 - I pledge allegiance to the flag
1:38 of the United States of America
1:41 and to the Republic for which it stands,
1:43 one nation under God,
1:45 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
1:51 - Did you ever have all of them?
1:52 - I don’t know, some of your friends.
1:54 - All right, at this time I would like to offer
1:56 my fellow board members and Dr. Mullins an opportunity
1:58 to recognize student staff or members of our community
2:01 who’d like to start us off.
2:03 - I’ll go first.
2:04 - taken. - I’ll be pretty quick.
2:06 So last board meeting I had the pleasure of revealing
2:10 that Cocoa High School was getting almost $80,000
2:13 of weight room equipment from Academy Sports.
2:15 So shout out to Academy Sports one more time.
2:18 But also something pretty incredible happened after that.
2:20 I had talked about how the community is gonna come together
2:22 at some point and kind of paint the right weight room,
2:26 make the space look fresh and new,
2:27 and we were gonna find a mural list
2:29 and start a fundraiser in order to get that paid for.
2:32 After the board meeting, an assistant coach from NFL team
2:36 who wants to remain anonymous had reached out to me
2:38 and said that they wanted to pay for the mural,
2:40 which was incredible.
2:41 But I hadn’t gotten a quote nor a mural list.
2:43 And before I even could,
2:45 that amazing assistant coach from Cocoa High School,
2:48 Mr. James Falston, had already accomplished
2:51 all of the things.
2:52 He went out of his way, he found a mural list,
2:54 he got a quote, he got the entire project fully funded.
2:57 So I just wanna give another shout out to Mr. Falston
3:00 for being the most incredible human being,
3:02 not only working for this team for free,
3:05 but for donating his time, his money, and his care,
3:07 and his love for these students.
3:08 He’s an incredible, incredible human being.
3:10 So thank you again, Mr. Falston, for coming through.
3:14 (audience applauding)
3:19 And I just wanna do a quick shout out
3:21 to our new kindergarten parents.
3:24 We are gonna start kindergarten tomorrow,
3:26 and I know that your kids are going to be happy and excited,
3:30 but probably cry a lot.
3:32 And there’ll probably be some tears for you too.
3:34 You’re gonna make it through.
3:36 Olive is starting first grade next year,
3:38 so I know what it feels like for you guys.
3:40 But I just wanna shout out to those brand new parents
3:41 who are starting their experience
3:43 with Brevard Public Schools.
3:44 We’re happy to have you.
3:45 It’s gonna be a great year,
3:46 it’s gonna be a great experience.
3:48 Just hang in there, hold back those tears.
3:50 - Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.
3:54 - Pamela?
3:55 - Yes, first of all, welcome to everyone.
3:57 It’s a very colorful meeting out in the crowd tonight,
4:00 so glad you all are here to be a part
4:02 of what we have going on.
4:04 We had registration going on all over the place,
4:07 starting as early as, I don’t know, July the 26th, 27th-ish,
4:12 and continuing on into this week.
4:15 And one of the things that I noticed,
4:17 two schools down in my area do,
4:20 I thought was really helpful.
4:22 One of ‘em was like a ninth grade they did today.
4:26 Come on campus, take the tour, see your classes.
4:28 Because registration day,
4:29 you don’t really have a lot of time to do all that.
4:31 And then I know Dr. Sullivan and her crew
4:34 are working on our middle school transformation, right?
4:38 But I think some of our schools are starting
4:39 to get a head start.
4:40 And I can’t remember if I shared this with you guys or not,
4:42 but Central Middle School did a new student activity day
4:45 last Friday afternoon,
4:47 where it wasn’t just go around and see the classes.
4:49 They actually had games and lots of fun activities
4:53 for the afternoon for them to do.
4:54 And so, just drop off the kids
4:56 and let ‘em have a few hours getting to meet their,
4:58 getting to know their new school and their new staff.
5:00 And so that was really great and engaging
5:03 and a great way to kick off the middle school for those.
5:06 It’s hard to send your kid to kindergarten,
5:08 but I’m just telling you ‘cause I’ve already done it
5:10 three times, it’s even harder to drop ‘em off
5:12 for seventh grade.
5:14 So many more drop-offs to go.
5:18 Last week, we’ve talked about Brevard Virtual School
5:20 and what an amazing things,
5:22 all the amazing things they’ve done over the last two years.
5:24 You know, we extended the deadline
5:25 to apply to Brevard Virtual School two summers in a row.
5:29 And that was really, really hard on them.
5:31 And I shared with you guys before the surge, right,
5:33 up to, I don’t know, at 5,000 at the peak.
5:35 And then, and so I did take the opportunity last week
5:39 on the day that they were all together
5:40 and I presented our Impact Elevated Pen
5:42 to everybody on staff
5:44 because their principal, Ms. Price,
5:49 just couldn’t narrow it down just as future.
5:50 I’d have to give it to everybody.
5:52 I said, “Let me talk to Tammy
5:53 “and see how many pens we have.”
5:54 And I presented it to all the staff
5:56 who’ve been over the last two years.
5:57 So that was a great day, very well received.
6:00 And then just final, just kind of a little announcement
6:03 is that this Saturday, the Children’s Hunger Project
6:06 will be, has moved into their new facility there
6:09 at the edge of Cocoa Village.
6:10 And they’re having their ribbon cutting
6:12 and open house this Saturday.
6:14 So invite the rest of the board and invite the community.
6:16 You know the great work
6:17 that the Children’s Hunger Project does
6:18 for our students who are experiencing weekend hunger
6:22 and they pack those meals and work in cooperation
6:24 with our schools to meet those needs.
6:26 So the ribbon cutting is this Saturday.
6:28 I invite everybody to come out to Cocoa.
6:31 And for the exact address,
6:33 check out the Children’sHungerProject.org website.
6:37 I believe it’s 11 to one.
6:40 Yeah, 11 to one.
6:42 - Awesome, thank you.
6:44 (indistinct)
6:46 - I could go or you could go Madam Vice Chair.
6:49 You want me to go?
6:50 Oh, I got a couple of pages.
6:51 Want me to go before you?
6:52 - No, go ahead.
6:53 (laughing)
6:54 - Hey, I wanted to say thank you
6:56 for everybody that’s here tonight,
6:58 seeing you guys interact,
6:59 whether each one of us has a separate issue.
7:03 We’re glad that you came in here tonight to be with us.
7:06 The first thing I wanted to say is,
7:07 is I sent a email as a follow-up
7:09 to the 403Bs and 457 plans
7:13 to try to get that information that I did.
7:16 Many people don’t know that we have over 22 providers
7:19 and the fees that are inside some of those retirement plans
7:24 will, if they’re too high,
7:26 will actually inhibit a retirement
7:28 for one to two to three years
7:30 on the back end for the retirement.
7:31 So I’ve requested all of those with the fees,
7:34 should have something for you guys at the next board meeting,
7:36 but we’re moving forward with that.
7:38 I got to say thank you to the ROTC programs
7:42 at Viera High School and others.
7:44 They had me come over and,
7:46 Don Weaver, many of you guys don’t know,
7:48 or do remember Don,
7:49 he’s the one that worked with me
7:50 to create the largest veteran speaking project
7:52 in the Southeast United States.
7:54 He’s still going.
7:55 Like I just said, “Hey, this is a great idea, let’s go.”
7:57 And then Don’s been doing it for six years.
7:58 So he was speaking to the ROTCs about that
8:01 and an issue that we’re gonna discuss later on
8:03 about, “Hey, if we have more kids
8:05 “that are interested in ROTC,
8:07 “let’s try to figure out a way
8:08 “so that we can increase the amount of instructors
8:10 “and stuff like that.”
8:11 But I wanted to say thank you to them
8:12 for giving me the opportunity to speak to them,
8:14 listen to them about what they’re having problems with
8:16 so that we can address that as a board.
8:19 Big deal, you guys.
8:20 Beach Volleyball is now an official FHSAA sport,
8:24 which means, not many people understand this,
8:27 that the number one teams in the state of Florida,
8:29 comp teams, everything else, come from Brevard.
8:32 So we might be able to, for the first time,
8:34 host an FHSAA state championship for a program
8:38 here in Brevard.
8:39 The Tourism Development Council was excited,
8:41 there’s some other things going on,
8:43 but it just literally became a sport.
8:46 And we have the best athletes.
8:47 Many people don’t know,
8:48 like UCLA’s Beach Volleyball team is amazing, right?
8:52 Yeah, we got a kid on there.
8:54 The team that we had just recently,
8:55 the comp went all the way.
8:56 So huge opportunity we’re gonna discuss later on for us.
9:00 I wanted to give a big shout out to the ALCs.
9:02 Dr. Mullins is actually working in Suhan,
9:06 about the basketball court in the back,
9:07 that Dr. Mullins promised me he’d do a one-on-one with me
9:10 once it’s completed.
9:12 But many people don’t know this.
9:14 Our ALCs were double the amount last year.
9:17 They went through the toughest times as individuals,
9:20 along with everybody else,
9:22 but they had double the enrollment on their staff.
9:24 And the discipline was out of control.
9:27 And they were on the front lines.
9:29 And that is an exceptional workforce, exceptional group,
9:32 especially in the South Area ALC,
9:34 and anything we can do to help them out.
9:35 I know everybody here has been greatly appreciative of them.
9:38 But anyways, the other thing is,
9:41 is I’ve worked on the mandates.
9:42 Remember I said the good idea fairies up in Tallahassee
9:46 sometimes come up with these great ideas
9:48 that they’re gonna mandate this big volume of stuff,
9:50 and this big volume of requirements,
9:52 and this big volume of requirements.
9:53 And you know what?
9:54 They forget that every time they do that,
9:56 that’s less time for our kids to learn.
9:58 So when they’re inside of the classroom
10:00 and the teacher has to stop and fill out 55 forms,
10:03 or all these requirements to go to do all these things,
10:06 then that takes time away from the classroom.
10:08 So we started identifying and I started making a phone call
10:10 to a bunch of groups to come together and tell me,
10:13 complain to me about what takes time out of your day.
10:17 And then let’s go come together and come up with a anti,
10:21 hey, we can change some of these regulatory and requirements.
10:27 So I sit on the board of directors,
10:28 well, I sort of sit on the board of directors
10:30 for the Florida School Board Association.
10:32 And I’m gonna make this my number one request legislatively
10:36 is to reduce a lot of these mandates
10:38 that we have inside of our classes.
10:40 Hey, I don’t know if you guys are checking,
10:42 but literally our enrollments are exploding
10:44 in some of our schools.
10:45 Rockledge is up over 150 kids.
10:48 Some of our, it’s across the board,
10:50 incredible what’s happening.
10:52 That’s great, right?
10:52 Our schools are showing the rebound.
10:55 Kind of scary because we’re already at a teacher shortage.
10:57 So that requires more teachers.
10:59 So Dr. Mullins, great job, great direction.
11:01 We’re expanding.
11:03 And after school,
11:05 many of you guys weren’t here at the workshop.
11:07 It was great stuff.
11:09 They presented on afterschool programs.
11:11 And I got Dr. Mullins to agree to look at.
11:15 AAU offering some sports inside of the elementary schools.
11:19 ‘Cause many of you know, afterschool programs,
11:21 those kids are crazy.
11:22 They come out of school and they’re like ADHD city.
11:24 So if we give them an opportunity
11:26 to compete against each other in intramurals,
11:28 run by an organization with their own insurance,
11:31 we might be able to get it off.
11:33 And then I wanted to say thank you to Suntree Elementary.
11:36 My daughter is starting her first sixth grade year.
11:40 And Suntree United Methodist for both of their,
11:43 my son’s starting there for kindergarten.
11:45 And I’ll tell you guys,
11:47 the heart and soul of this district is inside of our,
11:51 and I am absolutely amazed at what our programs
11:55 and our schools are doing.
11:56 And Ms. Trestler is doing a great job
11:59 because my baby girl gets to go to school
12:01 and she gets to see and feel comfortable
12:03 and be a part of a learning environment.
12:05 And I wanted to say thank you.
12:06 And then we’ll be addressing some of the misconceptions
12:09 over the libraries and stuff like that
12:11 a little bit later on.
12:12 So thank you so much, appreciate it.
12:17 - So I only have a couple.
12:19 First, I wanna thank Dr. Mullins
12:22 because he was a speaker at the,
12:25 at Cocoa Beach Chamber of Commerce.
12:28 And he did a great presentation on our schools,
12:31 the safety in our schools.
12:32 And it was with the Sheriff’s Department also.
12:36 An amazing turnout.
12:37 It was one of their largest turnouts.
12:39 So thank you for being there.
12:41 And I also just wanna say thank you to all of our teachers,
12:45 to our volunteers, to our substitutes, to our parents.
12:50 And I wish everyone a great school year.
12:53 I think it’s gonna be fabulous.
12:54 So I just wanna say thank you for everything that you do
12:58 and look forward to a great year.
13:03 - Thank you, Ms. McDougal.
13:05 Dr. Mullins?
13:07 - Thank you, Ms. Bibber.
13:08 I’m gonna go ahead and defer my time
13:09 for the back to school presentation.
13:11 I’ll make some recognitions.
13:14 - Perfect.
13:15 I have just a couple of quick ones then.
13:17 Ms. Campbell, like you,
13:19 I have been so excited to see,
13:21 I have seen both middle school and high school
13:23 have done like student team building days
13:26 where the students get to come in and do activities
13:29 and start to build relationships with both their peers
13:32 and the faculty and staff at the school,
13:34 which I think is just phenomenal.
13:35 And so thanks to all of the teams
13:37 that worked so hard to put those together for our students.
13:39 Parent feedback has been amazing on them.
13:41 And I think it’s just a great start to the school year,
13:44 especially with students coming into a new school
13:47 and not knowing people.
13:49 So the other thing that I’ve noticed,
13:52 which I really appreciate,
13:53 is lots of our principals have been utilizing pre-planning
13:57 to do team building with their faculty and staff as well.
14:00 And so I think that too goes along with our whole push
14:04 for cultural change at the schools
14:06 and starting off our year strong.
14:08 So, and we can’t forget either
14:11 that so many people behind the scenes have worked so hard
14:14 to make our schools ready for tomorrow
14:16 from our custodial services, our facilities folks,
14:20 our goodness, our HR folks
14:23 that have been onboarding people like crazy,
14:25 our district security staff,
14:27 who is having to do all the fingerprinting
14:29 and background checks for all of the people
14:31 that are coming on board.
14:32 And so it really has been a full team effort
14:35 to make sure that we are ready to go for tomorrow.
14:37 And I just want to thank everyone for that.
14:40 Also want to share with you all,
14:41 I don’t know if you noticed in the BPS headlines,
14:44 but I think it’s appropriate to share a congratulations
14:47 to our financial services staff
14:50 who were awarded the certificate of achievement
14:52 for excellence in financial reporting.
14:54 The Government Finance Officers Association
14:57 of the United States and Canada
14:58 has awarded the certificate of achievement
15:00 for excellence in financial reporting
15:02 to the School Board of Brevard County
15:03 for its annual comprehensive financial report
15:05 for the fiscal year ended June 30th.
15:08 The report’s been judged by an impartial panel
15:10 to meet the high standards of the program,
15:11 which includes demonstrating a constructive spirit
15:13 of full disclosure, to clearly communicate
15:16 its financial story and motivate potential users
15:18 and user groups to read the report.
15:20 The certificate of achievement is the highest form
15:22 of recognition in the area of governmental accounting
15:24 and financial reporting.
15:25 And its attainment represents a significant accomplishment
15:28 by government and its management.
15:30 So many congratulations to our financial team.
15:33 And I know GCR had some input on the putting together
15:39 of that document as well.
15:39 So thank you to all of you for your efforts in that area.
15:43 And with that, we will move into the adoption of the agenda.
15:47 Dr. Mullins.
15:49 - Madam Chair, members of the board
15:50 on this evening’s agenda, we have one presentation,
15:52 18 consent items, two action items
15:55 and five board member reports or discussion points.
15:58 Changes made to the agenda since release to the public
16:01 include the addition of items F18,
16:04 approved memorandum of agreements
16:06 with International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
16:09 or Local 1010 for the 2022-23 premium pay
16:14 and recruitment and retention bonus.
16:16 H19, approved premium pay and recruitment retention bonuses
16:20 for eligible non-bargaining personnel.
16:23 K31, athletic stipends.
16:25 K32, teacher shortage plan.
16:28 K33, classroom libraries and book fairs.
16:32 K34, ROTC additional instructor.
16:36 And K35, parental visitation during lunch.
16:39 And a revision to item H30,
16:41 department school initiated agreements.
16:44 - What are the wishes of the board?
16:46 - Move to approve.
16:47 - Second.
16:48 - Moved by Ms. McDougall, seconded by Ms. Campbell.
16:50 Is there any discussion?
16:52 I will share just one quick comment
16:54 that I think is important to note.
16:55 I’m thrilled to see that we have the MOU on here for 1010
16:59 for them to be getting those funds.
17:02 I was out speaking with someone recently
17:03 and the perception was that because
17:06 there was much media coverage over the teacher’s
17:09 salary negotiation for the coming year,
17:12 the perception was we were not doing anything for 1010.
17:14 And so I just want to make sure that everyone’s aware
17:16 that we are preparing for bargaining on our 1010 contract.
17:19 We haven’t forgotten about all of those individuals.
17:22 It was just a timing issue with getting together
17:24 with the union to begin that bargaining.
17:26 And so we don’t want them to think that they have been
17:28 forgotten by any means, it is coming.
17:30 So if there’s no additional discussion,
17:32 I will call the question.
17:34 Dr. Mullins, did you want to say something?
17:37 Well, Ms. Belford, I appreciate that acknowledgement
17:40 of the process with our other employee groups.
17:43 I would echo the same with our
17:45 non-bargaining employee groups.
17:47 The only thing the board is approving this evening
17:50 is premium pay, which was negotiated very early
17:53 with the Brevard Federation of Teachers.
17:56 And we thought it most expeditious
17:58 if we brought it as soon as possible.
18:00 So to your point, we are continuing negotiations
18:04 with 1010 and anticipate bringing a contract
18:07 to the board for approval in the near future.
18:09 Super, thank you.
18:11 All right, all in favor, please signify by saying aye.
18:13 Aye.
18:14 Any opposed, same sign.
18:15 Motion passes, five-zero.
18:18 Next, we are going to have a back to school update
18:21 and safety and security presentation from Dr. Mullins.
18:30 See if I can get this queued up.
18:35 Well, I believe I recently suggested
18:42 that my favorite day of the year is not Christmas Day,
18:49 unlike many of our kids out there.
18:52 But it is literally tomorrow morning
18:55 as we wake up extra early and prepare for,
19:00 conclude the preparations for,
19:02 ‘cause we’ve been doing a lot of preparations
19:04 over the last many weeks,
19:06 to receive our 70 plus thousand kids
19:10 across our nearly 100 places of learning
19:14 in our great community Brevard County.
19:17 So I wanted to provide the board and our community
19:19 just an update of where we are and where things are
19:23 and what our plans and preparations are
19:26 as we prepare for the days ahead.
19:29 So I’d like to begin with talking about staffing.
19:31 I presented to the board and Dr. Theddy did as well
19:36 over the last couple of board meetings
19:37 where we are with teacher and staff vacancies.
19:40 I wish I could tell you that we have overcome the challenge
19:43 but we continue to work through that challenge
19:47 like our other districts across the state
19:49 and truthfully across the country.
19:52 I’m encouraged and pleased that we’ve made progress,
19:55 made improvements since we’ve reported to the board
19:57 over the last few weeks.
20:01 At this time have 143 classroom vacancies remaining.
20:05 That is up from 93 classrooms this time last year.
20:10 But we also have some support staff vacancies as well
20:14 and I’ve provided a breakdown
20:16 by both elementary and secondary.
20:19 And what I want to emphasize in the midst of
20:24 the perceived uncertainty of those classrooms,
20:28 we faced as difficult and I would even suggest
20:31 more difficult circumstances a year ago
20:34 where we had triple digit vacancies
20:37 yet also the uncertainties of quarantines
20:40 and staff going out for illness and so on.
20:44 So at this time we are putting contingencies in place
20:48 to be prepared of course for our first day tomorrow
20:50 with our students.
20:52 We have accelerated our substitute program.
20:57 We’ve reached out to them.
20:58 We have, if the board remembers over the last couple of years
21:00 we’ve had very inconsistent substitute availability
21:04 throughout the school year.
21:06 The substitute fill rate right now is up over 83%
21:10 which is better than anything we experienced
21:13 over the last two and a half years
21:14 and isn’t that much worse than what we had
21:18 during pre-pandemic time.
21:20 And we’ve also prioritized substitutes for schools
21:23 that we know are gonna have some immediate needs
21:25 as we work through some additional hiring process.
21:28 But in addition to that our district instructional staff
21:31 will provide supports to schools.
21:33 Both our leading and learning staff
21:36 are being deployed to schools
21:37 as well as our student services staff
21:39 are deployed to schools supporting them
21:42 during some of this transition of filling those classrooms.
21:45 And I’ll emphasize again later
21:47 but we go through a process of some adjustments
21:51 in right sizing our classrooms and so on
21:54 which is really fine tuned during our six day count process.
21:58 I’ll mention that again in just a moment.
22:00 But in addition to this our student services teams
22:02 are supporting our new Gardendale Education Center
22:10 for our students for the first time
22:13 and just wanna give a huge shout out
22:16 to not only student services
22:18 who have turned around starting up a school
22:23 in literally a matter of a few weeks
22:25 but also to the entire team of Brevard Public Schools
22:28 as my entire senior cabinet
22:32 have rallied around student services through this endeavor
22:35 to provide capital support, staffing support,
22:39 services and so on.
22:40 And everyone came to the ready
22:43 to help our team get that school ready.
22:46 And it’s gonna be a great first day
22:48 for our kids at Gardendale.
22:50 In addition ESE student services has the opportunity
22:54 to contract out some of our ESE services
22:58 for our schools as well.
23:00 In addition I wanna reassure and assure our community,
23:04 every one of our parents.
23:05 Our principals are very aware as we are
23:08 of exactly where our needs and potential gaps are
23:12 and we have a plan to receive our kids tomorrow
23:15 and to give them a positive and quality first day of school
23:19 tomorrow across every one of our campuses.
23:24 Then as we move forward we will begin looking at
23:27 how might we utilize Brevard Virtual School
23:30 through some extended day assignments
23:32 to support our secondary classrooms
23:34 as well as look at extended day assignments
23:37 within our schools for teachers who are interested
23:40 in for another year a double stipend opportunity
23:44 to take on an additional course in their school.
23:47 So those are transitions that happen every year.
23:51 That’s normal and we anticipate maximizing
23:54 those options again this year.
23:56 In addition we’ll be as enrollment realizes
24:00 and what I mean by that is sometimes
24:03 we aren’t completely perfect at the projections
24:06 of where we have our students and what grade levels
24:09 and even in what classes across our secondary schools
24:12 and we’ve got to do some collapsing.
24:15 We’ve got to do some consolidating and so on
24:18 and we anticipate that that will ease
24:21 some of our vacancies that exist right now.
24:24 As well as we’re continuing to walk out
24:26 the search for potential international teachers.
24:29 We’re in conversation right now with an organization
24:32 that would suggest they have teachers in Canada
24:35 who want to transfer and who are certified teachers
24:39 and could help meet some of our needs as well.
24:42 But because of visas and those type of things
24:47 it’s a complicated process.
24:48 So we’re working through it as expeditiously as possible.
24:52 But again our six day count process.
24:54 I know the board is very familiar with that.
24:56 Our schools are certainly a little bit
24:59 of an education ease term for our community
25:02 and what that means is after the sixth day of school
25:05 we shore up our numbers.
25:07 We take counts on the first second and sixth day of school
25:11 and we use those to begin setting our allocation adjustments
25:16 into the first semester of the school year.
25:18 We literally meet with every principal at every school
25:22 with staff across the district to right size
25:25 our allocations over three very rigorous days
25:29 called our six day count meetings.
25:31 And that is where we begin to optimize staff
25:34 across the district and that’ll be the process
25:36 we have in place again this year.
25:41 Before I move on to some of our operational updates
25:45 I also want to use this opportunity to reiterate
25:48 to our community that all of our schools
25:53 are open to in person learning
25:56 and activities are restored completely.
25:58 There are no restrictions to activities
26:02 as we go into this year.
26:03 We phased out of restrictions last year
26:05 and those remain in place.
26:07 I will share with the board at this time
26:09 that there is only one exception and temporarily
26:13 and that is lunch visits on campus.
26:16 As the board knows we have our first priority
26:19 to receiving our students,
26:21 establishing our security measures and processes
26:24 some of which I’m going to highlight
26:26 in the security portion.
26:28 And given the demand on our school staff right now
26:34 particularly with some additional shortages
26:38 we need to give the time to our principals
26:40 to make sure that we’ve met our security,
26:42 supervisory responsibilities,
26:44 as well as given the opportunity to make
26:48 the classroom adjustments that are required right now
26:52 as well as getting students settled into class.
26:55 And to Mr. Susan’s point I would echo
26:57 that our enrollment is looking very favorable this year.
27:01 We have new families enrolling in our schools every day
27:05 and anticipate that as folks come in
27:07 from particularly out of state Northeast
27:10 where the school year starts later
27:12 we are expecting a considerable number of families
27:15 even coming into our schools in these coming days
27:18 wanting to register their students.
27:20 We’re starting school at the beginning of August
27:22 is unfamiliar to them given that they often start
27:25 don’t start school till after Memorial Day.
27:27 But I will be coming back to the board here
27:30 in the next couple few weeks
27:32 and revisiting the lunch visits of parents on our campuses.
27:38 Next I want to give an update on food service.
27:41 We’ve made some mentions of our free breakfast
27:46 and lunch programs for our students over the last two years
27:51 as part of the federal school lunch initiative
27:56 to support all of our schools.
27:58 That program has ended but we have positioned ourselves
28:02 to expand our community eligibility provision program
28:06 and we’ll be able to continue to provide free breakfast
28:09 and lunch to now 46 sites across Brevard schools.
28:14 What many folks aren’t aware of is Brevard public schools
28:19 free and reduced lunch rate has continued to increase
28:23 over the last several years.
28:25 And our latest report of students who qualify
28:28 for free reduced lunch increased from 51 to 57%.
28:33 So we have been able to accordingly expand our CEP program.
28:39 But our students will continue to receive free breakfast
28:42 across all of our schools.
28:43 And you can see the robust investments
28:47 that we’ve made into our cafeterias
28:49 and our food service programs across the district
28:53 and many of our schools across the district.
29:01 Transportation, very excited as we launch
29:07 the reality of Brevard public schools buses,
29:12 every one of them is going to be equipped with GPS.
29:17 Now those of us who drive a vehicle or carry a cell phone
29:20 find it surprising that we don’t have GPS on our buses yet.
29:23 No, we hadn’t until this year.
29:25 And through the support of our sales surtax initiative,
29:31 we’ve been able to now equip our buses with this resource.
29:37 And it comes with a tool called Rexium
29:40 that is also installed on every bus.
29:42 And it gives us real time information
29:45 on where our buses are,
29:48 any troubles that they may be experiencing with delays
29:51 or adjustments to a route.
29:53 So we can ultimately make real time adjustments
29:57 in the district office inform our schools,
30:00 but also give notifications to parents
30:03 of exactly what’s going on with the routes
30:06 that their children are on.
30:08 So we have provided that information to our parents
30:11 through registration over the last several weeks.
30:14 We had transportation representatives
30:16 at every one of our elementary established registration days
30:21 and they were there able to assist parents
30:23 in understanding how they’d be able to utilize this tool
30:26 moving forward on their smartphone.
30:31 Some of the tools that are gonna be,
30:35 or feedback that we’ll be able to glean
30:37 from this new instrument or this new program
30:41 is identifying discrepancies between what we plan for
30:45 and then what reality is,
30:47 particularly for our kids on their buses.
30:49 We’ll actually be able to real time know
30:51 what is our pick up and drop off times.
30:55 Are they consistent?
30:56 Are we meeting our goal of having every student on campus
31:01 with time to go get breakfast when they arrive on campus?
31:04 So we have real time reporting of our arrivals.
31:09 But then also our parents can monitor
31:12 where their student is on the bus
31:15 as they can receive a notification
31:17 of when their student gets on the bus
31:19 and when they get off the bus.
31:21 It’ll even notify us when a student happens
31:24 to get on the wrong bus
31:25 and prevent that student from departing
31:28 from the school campus
31:30 to get a few miles down the road
31:32 and realize, uh oh, I’ve gotten on the wrong bus.
31:35 And we’ll be able to notify families
31:38 or parents when that occurs as well.
31:43 So now moving on to capital projects
31:46 that we have had going on across our district all summer.
31:50 It has been a very, very busy summer
31:53 for our capital projects team.
31:55 Across our campuses.
31:57 You’ll see as a result of our sales surtax initiative,
32:02 we have been able to expand
32:04 or complete electrical renewal, intercom renewals,
32:07 canopy renewals, track renewals.
32:09 Mr. Susan already referenced that.
32:12 As well as we’ve upgraded water fountains
32:15 across our schools with now bottle fillers
32:18 as we’ve learned that that is essential
32:19 coming out of the pandemic.
32:21 But also the pool lighting initiative
32:24 that we’ve discussed at previous board meetings
32:27 and workshops.
32:28 As well as several security projects across the district.
32:34 But not only were infrastructure items enhanced
32:37 and improved across our schools,
32:39 but also the insides of our classrooms.
32:42 As we replaced furniture
32:44 across different elementary schools,
32:46 we upgraded science labs.
32:51 I shared with the League of Cities last night
32:55 and I met Steve who was a graduate
32:57 of Cocoa High School in 1974.
32:59 And I was sharing this slide.
33:00 And I said, Steve, you’ll be pleased to know
33:02 that the science labs have been upgraded at Cocoa High.
33:04 So we had a little bit of a chuckle about that
33:08 because he is a proud alumni from 1974.
33:13 But also we’ve been able to replace carpet
33:15 that has more than lived its life across our schools
33:21 and district.
33:25 It’s amazing to see as a former principal
33:28 who had the benefit of welcoming my students
33:31 back to a new school year
33:33 with a new fresh of paint on the school.
33:36 The students walk in with beaming smiles and pride
33:40 to see how bright and new their school looks
33:44 with a fresh coat of paint.
33:46 So very pleased we were able to provide
33:48 those paintings services to several of our schools
33:52 this summer, and that’ll continue again next summer.
33:55 But then also some LED lighting projects
33:58 that not only enhance the environment for our students,
34:02 creating the most positive learning environment for them,
34:06 but also enhancing safety and security across our campuses.
34:10 And some of our schools have events going on
34:12 into the evening after dark,
34:14 as well as saving energy by converting to LED products
34:19 for lighting.
34:22 Other facility projects that occurred across our district,
34:25 you can see HVAC at several schools,
34:29 a significant renovation at the Gardendale Education Center
34:34 to support our new day school.
34:36 Restrooms, outdoor court renewal, JROTC range
34:40 and the Firefighter Academy at Palm Bay High School
34:43 and others received significant improvements.
34:46 And that’s above and beyond the many
34:50 food and nutrition service improvements
34:52 that I already referenced.
34:54 In addition to capital facilities,
34:57 our educational technology team has been very busy
35:01 improving the expansion of our network,
35:05 what will soon be our own fiber system for resiliency
35:10 as well as dependability across the district,
35:15 prepping our classrooms for the modern classroom technology
35:19 that we’ll be able to provide them
35:20 in support of our one-to-one initiative,
35:23 moving forward with our high schools
35:26 and elementary schools next.
35:29 As well as a formal full launch of FOCUS.
35:34 It is an amazing tool.
35:36 Parents have been introduced to it
35:37 over the last year or two.
35:39 We are making that platform fully available
35:42 and accessible to our parents
35:44 and really wanna do and encourage our families
35:47 to become familiar with all of the resources
35:50 that FOCUS has to provide
35:51 from keeping track of classroom assignments
35:54 to communicating with teachers as well as school staff.
35:58 So real quick, pictures are worth a thousand words.
36:03 Mr. Susan probably would say
36:04 I’ve already used a thousand words
36:06 but I’ll give you the pictures as well.
36:09 Here are some before and after.
36:10 The painting that we did at Suntree Elementary School.
36:14 You can see the media center
36:16 at West Melbourne School for Science.
36:18 A real wonderful upgrade and enhancement there.
36:21 Here’s a picture of some of our classrooms before
36:24 on the left and the new furniture
36:27 and positive learning environment
36:29 we were able to establish after.
36:32 As well as improving bathrooms
36:35 at our Cocina Elementary School.
36:38 - We didn’t have kids using that restroom.
36:39 (laughing)
36:41 We did not have people over there using,
36:44 like that wasn’t before.
36:46 - That’s Doreen, that’s Doreen.
36:47 - All right, all right Dr. Owens I mean.
36:49 - All right, all right, all right.
36:51 (laughing)
36:52 You got me on that one?
36:55 You’re right, we didn’t, that was for the faculty.
36:58 (laughing)
37:02 But our kids and our faculty
37:04 did not experience the bathroom on the left
37:06 but that’s what it looked like
37:07 before it gets to look like what is on the right.
37:10 (laughing)
37:12 All right, now I wanna kind of transition into,
37:20 you know, a topic that is certainly serious
37:25 but one that I am extraordinarily proud to discuss.
37:29 Having had the opportunity and privilege to work
37:32 as Chief Operating Officer before becoming Superintendent
37:35 at that very life changing time of Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
37:42 But what I am proud of is the commitment,
37:44 the priority that our district has made
37:48 to the safety and security of our students
37:50 long before tragedies began happening very close to home.
37:54 And that has continued.
37:57 I know parents, ‘cause they’ve reached out to me,
38:00 even this summer, are concerned about the realities
38:04 that have happened to our education family not far away.
38:10 And how are we working to ensure we’ll do everything
38:15 we can in our power to keep our kids safe.
38:18 And I wanna provide that assurance that I know this Board,
38:22 I know this Superintendent,
38:24 I know our law enforcement agencies who are,
38:27 all of them, our partners with Brevard Public Schools,
38:30 are 100% committed to the safety of our students
38:34 and our staff every day across our campuses.
38:38 So just quickly, here is a snapshot of the schools
38:42 that we are responsible for serving across the district.
38:47 And all of these sites will have,
38:50 even in the midst of staff shortages,
38:52 they will have an armed presence in every one of our schools
38:56 whose sole responsibility is to protect our kids
38:59 and protect our staff.
39:01 Who are those law enforcement agencies and individuals?
39:05 Well, the Board knows Brevard County Sheriff’s Office
39:09 is our contracted security provider for our schools.
39:15 We’re very fortunate to have a robust security office
39:18 with several Brevard County Sheriff’s Office employees
39:23 who work hand in hand, day in, day out,
39:26 with our own staff through our operations department
39:30 with our Chief Operating Officer
39:32 to ensure we’re meeting our students,
39:35 we’re meeting the needs of our kids and our schools.
39:38 But you can see that we have 34 county deputies,
39:42 we have 34 other law enforcement school resource officers,
39:46 as well as we maintain 34 of our own security specialists
39:50 across our schools.
39:51 So you can see we more than exceed the staffing
39:55 that we need to have at least one armed presence
39:58 at every one of our schools.
40:00 So I wanna highlight our district office
40:03 manned by Brevard County Sheriff’s Office,
40:05 Major Brian Neal, he is a familiar face,
40:08 even to this room, Lieutenant Joanna Siegel,
40:11 but also the other staff that we have in that office
40:14 that include analysts whose primary responsibility
40:17 is to search social media and internet and so on
40:22 and monitor any threats that could be shared out there
40:26 so we have a jump on what may be confronting our schools.
40:30 And they work literally 24/7
40:33 to support our school administrative teams
40:37 as well as our law enforcement representatives
40:39 across our schools.
40:41 But not only do we have an amazing partnership
40:44 with Brevard County Sheriff’s Office,
40:46 but that extends across our 10 municipalities
40:49 and the police departments that also provide
40:53 armed officers in our schools.
40:56 And these just aren’t men and women who put on a uniform
40:59 and wear weapons to protect our campuses.
41:04 These are men and women who have personally invested
41:06 in the lives of the people inside that building.
41:09 And it is not uncommon.
41:11 I give a shout out to our SRO
41:13 at Ocean Breeze Elementary School,
41:15 who has a phenomenal rapport, relationship,
41:19 partnership with the kids, with the staff,
41:22 and that was recognized
41:23 as she was our District Employee of the Year
41:26 and then went on to be recognized
41:27 as the State Employee of the Year.
41:30 But she’s not an exception.
41:31 Our SROs are invested in our schools,
41:35 our school safety specialists are engaged
41:38 at every level in our schools,
41:40 and they’re not just another staff member,
41:42 they’re a part of the family.
41:43 And they work hand in hand with our school administrators
41:46 to ensure that we’re all coming together
41:48 to share the safety and security of that environment.
41:54 And so I highlight again the different police departments
41:57 across our district that we partner with
41:59 and meet with regularly to ensure
42:01 that communication remains open and robust.
42:06 I want to highlight the training that occurs every year
42:10 for our law enforcement partners,
42:12 but also for our school staff.
42:15 This summer we had the opportunity
42:17 for several of our administrators
42:19 to participate in an active shooter exercise
42:22 provided by Health First.
42:24 It was hosted by the Sheriff’s Office.
42:26 And our administrators were able to engage
42:28 in this mock experience and do post-action debriefing
42:34 and learn from that experience
42:36 and take actions back to their own schools
42:38 to improve the environments that they are responsible for.
42:42 We also require monthly incident and fire drills,
42:48 but it’s not just a practice of doing a drill.
42:51 After every drill, our administrative teams come together
42:55 with the law enforcement representatives
42:57 and they debrief and do an after action report
43:01 that has to be submitted to the district
43:03 indicating where they will make some adjustments
43:06 and or improvements to the process
43:08 to be better increasingly prepared.
43:11 And when we don’t receive those after action reports,
43:14 our chief operating officer knocks on the door
43:17 of the principal and says, let’s have a conversation
43:21 so that we keep everybody current
43:23 and up to date on that process.
43:26 But in addition, our security specialists
43:29 continue to have to meet
43:31 annual recertification requirements.
43:34 I know Ms. Belford, you’re familiar with that as well
43:36 as you personally participated in the security specialist
43:41 training, but the training far exceeds
43:44 the state requirement of about 139, 40 hours.
43:48 Our program conducted or provided by the sheriff’s office
43:55 is 176 hours to ensure that our men and women
43:59 are above and beyond prepared.
44:03 In addition, our SROs have annual training
44:07 that they must complete to continue to serve
44:10 as a school resource officer.
44:13 An initiative I’m very proud of as we launched this
44:17 years before it was required by the state
44:20 and I would share with the board and our community,
44:24 this process has been recognized by the state
44:27 as an exemplar for districts across the state.
44:30 It is our own in-house developed school emergency operations
44:34 plan or what we call to, what we refer to as the CEOP.
44:38 It is personalized and developed at every school.
44:41 It is comprehensive and identifying everything
44:44 from evacuation plans to items that need to go
44:48 with staff and students when they evacuate,
44:50 where they evacuate to, whose role and responsibility
44:54 it is for several different functions throughout
44:57 any type of incident and so on.
45:00 It is reviewed annually with our law enforcement partners
45:04 and it includes the drills and the after action reports
45:08 that are required as well.
45:10 Again, they are not available to the public.
45:14 They are protected as part of our security plan
45:19 but I wanna provide the reassurance to our community
45:22 that our administrative teams dig into this personally
45:27 and comprehensively to ensure that they have done
45:29 everything they need to to be prepared
45:31 in case of any incident.
45:34 And as I wrap up and I’ll certainly be available
45:36 for questions from the board,
45:39 we continue to enhance the hardening of our campuses
45:44 across the district this summer
45:46 through our sales surtax dollars,
45:49 upgrading our intercom systems
45:51 which are obviously essential for communication,
45:54 hardening our front offices which as we have now created
45:57 a single point of access to our campuses,
46:00 that front office indicated a considerable vulnerability
46:05 and we have addressed that as well as providing GPS
46:10 and continuing to establish hard corners in our classrooms.
46:14 I had the opportunity to share this conversation
46:18 with the Cocoa Beach Chamber
46:20 that Ms. McDougall referenced last week
46:22 along with Sheriff Wayne Ivey.
46:24 And I don’t think I would be speaking out of place
46:28 if I reiterated some of the things that he emphasized
46:32 in that conversation.
46:33 And that’s because I have seen it firsthand myself.
46:37 Number one, the communication that exists
46:40 between every law enforcement agency
46:43 and as we’ve looked at tragedies that have occurred
46:45 and other places, a lot of things went wrong.
46:50 Not the least of which was communication
46:52 even across agency.
46:54 And I am pleased to say that that is not a problem
46:59 that we’ll have to experience here in Brevard
47:01 because the communication and the comm center at the county
47:06 will be able to patch us together.
47:08 But also there’s been question or wondering,
47:12 are our officers trained and prepared to act
47:17 when a threat is presented?
47:19 And I can confidently tell you I’ve heard it myself
47:22 and I’ve seen it in the officers who serve our schools.
47:27 They know their responsibility,
47:30 they are committed to their responsibility
47:32 and there is no question.
47:33 They are empowered as well as prepared to act
47:38 and put themselves between danger
47:40 and our kids and our staff.
47:42 And that’s a sobering thought,
47:45 but it’s also a reassuring thought.
47:47 And I commend the partnership we have
47:49 with our law enforcement agencies across Brevard County
47:54 and with Brevard Public Schools.
47:57 Before I open it up, I’ve got to bring us back around
48:02 to what tomorrow, the magic that’ll happen tomorrow.
48:06 Yes, we will open the front doors
48:09 and the gates of buildings and campuses.
48:14 But that will be eclipsed by the thousands
48:20 and thousands of men and women across this organization
48:23 who will open the gates to their hearts
48:26 to welcome our students with love, acceptance
48:32 and strive to inspire them to reach goals and dreams
48:36 that in many cases they would have
48:38 never thought of themselves.
48:41 So I’ll leave you with this short video that captures best
48:45 why I think, and I think you’ll agree, education matters.
48:49 (upbeat music)
48:54 - Education is the equalizer for kids.
48:58 Kids, students come from all kinds of backgrounds,
49:02 but when kids walk into the doors of our schools,
49:05 we can provide them a new gateway
49:07 to all of the opportunities that are before them
49:10 and provide them inspiration to pursue a dream
49:14 they may not have otherwise thought was possible for them.
49:18 - Education matters because it is the foundation
49:21 for our society.
49:23 Our young people grow up, they learn the lessons
49:25 that they need to be productive citizens after high school.
49:29 - My favorite part of being an educator
49:31 is working with the children.
49:32 The best part of this job, 100% hands down,
49:37 no matter how bad my day is, I can go in there
49:39 and I can see their smile on their faces,
49:40 and it’s gonna fill all our money.
49:42 - To be an educator to me just means
49:44 I have a safe zone on my legacy.
49:45 And I think that’s important because I would like to think
49:48 at the end of my life, it would be nice to know
49:51 that I had a hand in something
49:53 that affected everyone around me.
49:55 - The kids and the environment is what makes me happy
49:59 about coming to work every single day.
50:01 To be able to have that opportunity to help them
50:04 choose the right path and maybe make a difference
50:07 in their life is what it’s about.
50:10 - Having the support of fellow teachers and educators
50:13 in Brevard Public Schools means a lot.
50:16 Without educators, we would not be a community.
50:19 - I just think back over my 20 plus year career,
50:23 how there have been so many people along the way
50:26 who have inspired me because they were doing great things
50:28 with their students.
50:29 I thought, man, I can do great things
50:31 with my students as well.
50:32 - I’ve been blessed to have several different people
50:35 born into me that I’ve been able to pull information from
50:38 and just be able to observe and watch.
50:39 And it’s been a game changer for me.
50:42 - My hope and commitment and drive for our employees
50:46 is that you realize there’s only one you.
50:50 We need your best for our kids
50:52 and we can only be our best with you.
50:55 - Your impact knows no bounds.
50:57 You know, when you drop the stone in the pond,
51:00 the ripples go out forever and that’s what a teacher does
51:03 every single day for a student.
51:05 The interactions that you have, those ripples,
51:07 you just don’t know how far they reach.
51:09 - Getting involved with Brevard Public Schools
51:11 just was icing on the cake
51:13 ‘cause now I get to not only enjoy where I live,
51:16 but I get to help make it a better place.
51:18 - I am enormously proud of the commitment and the work
51:21 that our entire school system has provided our kids
51:25 and our community during this time.
51:33 - Well, with that, I reassure our board
51:35 and I reassure our community.
51:37 We are excited.
51:39 We are ready.
51:41 Let’s get started.
51:44 - Thank you, Dr. Mullins and the entire team
51:47 for all of the work for that.
51:49 Any board members have any questions or comments
51:51 for Dr. Mullins on the presentation?
51:54 - Very important question.
51:56 Did we burn those carpets that we ripped out?
52:03 They have been hauled far, far away.
52:07 - Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
52:08 I mean, not to take away from the seriousness
52:10 of the latter part of that presentation,
52:12 but there’s been so much work over this summer
52:15 and over the past year to get ready
52:17 and get started for this new school year.
52:19 So thank you to everyone on our team
52:21 that participated in it.
52:22 And thank you to you, Dr. Mullins.
52:24 And thank you for that video.
52:31 - You know, I do have answered several questions
52:33 over the summer from people who asked,
52:36 especially after what happened out in Texas.
52:38 And as more and more came out, the report had come out,
52:43 I felt more confident in what we have done than ever
52:47 because some of the things that went wrong,
52:49 as you alluded to,
52:51 I feel like we have that already handled here.
52:54 And not to say it’s something tragic couldn’t happen,
52:56 but I’m very thankful for the partnerships that we have
52:59 and for the work that we’ve already been able to do
53:01 and for our staff and our SROs
53:04 and for our security specialists who are committed.
53:09 I have to thank you about,
53:11 I know there’s been a little,
53:13 it’s every time we have something new, it’s changed, right?
53:16 There’s gonna be a little resistance.
53:17 I’ve seen a little bit of resistance
53:19 regarding the new bus program with the Reaxium program.
53:22 But I have to tell you, as someone,
53:23 you know, every day we get an incident report
53:27 and it goes to district level staff and to the board
53:29 and it tells everything, you know,
53:31 a kid at Discovery Elementary fell
53:34 and hit their head on the playground
53:35 or someone had a seizure or, you know,
53:38 a bus ran into a fence, you know, things like that.
53:41 But included in those incident reports every week,
53:43 there’s some child that the parents called and said,
53:47 my child didn’t get off the bus, where are they?
53:49 And sometimes it’s because they did actually get off the bus
53:51 and they went to the Johnny’s house next door
53:53 and didn’t call anybody and then they find him later
53:55 and everybody’s searching around.
53:56 But I can see how this is really going to eliminate
54:00 so much of that confusion and panic, you know, right,
54:04 stricken in parents’ hearts because they’re gonna know,
54:07 you know, they’re gonna have, they’re at work,
54:08 they know child got off the bus
54:09 and they should know where to look.
54:11 And so I think this is going to be a great thing.
54:13 I look forward to the implementation of that.
54:15 I look forward to those incidents
54:16 not being on the email report every day.
54:18 That’d be fantastic.
54:19 So I just had a quick question.
54:23 When we, when we had our, you know,
54:28 we had found out that the separate day school,
54:30 the special day schools were, you know,
54:32 that wasn’t going to happen,
54:33 that we had to have Gardendale up and running
54:35 in such a very short time.
54:37 Did we get some of the staff
54:39 from our previous special day schools?
54:42 Did, did we able, were we able to hire some of those?
54:45 We did, we were able to hire some of them.
54:47 I can’t remember exactly what the number is,
54:51 but we hired several of them to serve in our,
54:54 our school now at Gardendale.
54:57 Some of them chose to, to pursue other paths,
55:00 as well as went to other school opportunities,
55:03 including some of our other schools.
55:04 But several of them did end up serve,
55:06 continuing to serve our students at Gardendale.
55:09 - Well, I just have to say kudos on that too,
55:10 because that was a Herculean effort.
55:12 And I know you said it already, but that’s it.
55:15 That’s not just setting up any school.
55:17 It’s very intense, it requires a lot of specialized staffing
55:22 and facilities, and so a good job on that as well.
55:26 Thank you.
55:27 - I would highlight a comment Miss Moore said.
55:31 She said, “It has shocked me the little things
55:33 “we never suspected we’d be the big barriers,
55:36 “and what we thought were going to be the big challenges
55:38 “that were never even an issue.”
55:40 And it really came down to the big things
55:42 that we thought were going to be an issue,
55:44 we controlled in, within the organization,
55:47 and the team rallied and said,
55:48 “That’s not a problem, we got that.”
55:50 It was the little things like getting the school
55:53 an ID number, who would have thunk?
55:56 But literally got a call from the chancellor of education.
55:58 He said, “Help me understand, what are you doing?
56:00 “What are you trying to do?”
56:02 And so I explained our situation, he says,
56:04 “Oh, okay, I got it, let me see what I can make happen.”
56:06 So appreciate the work, but it took a call
56:09 from the chancellor to the superintendent
56:11 to get our new school a school ID number, so interesting.
56:16 - I would just put this challenge out
56:19 to my fellow board members.
56:20 I know that some of us, I know, here we go,
56:22 we haven’t had a challenge in a while.
56:24 We haven’t had a challenge in a while, Mr. Susan.
56:27 So this is a serious one that I think we can meet,
56:29 especially since, actually all five of us,
56:32 three of us in the public schools as teachers,
56:36 but you’ve taught college kids,
56:37 so you can teach kindergarten.
56:40 We’ve all subbed over the last couple years
56:43 when there was needed high absentee days.
56:47 I have already talked to Dr. Theti
56:49 and volunteered my services,
56:50 gave me a couple weeks first.
56:52 But as we have opportunity, and it’s all hands on deck,
56:56 I know it sounds like we’re doing great
56:58 actually in the sub area, and I’m super excited
57:00 about the new software that we’re using,
57:01 but I wanna challenge my fellow board members
57:04 to jump in there and offer your services
57:08 maybe one day a week or once a month or something like that,
57:11 because I think that helps when leadership sets an example
57:16 of being willing to jump in and serve,
57:18 and no, you don’t have to do kindergarten.
57:20 I don’t really like to do kindergarten myself,
57:22 but give me a middle school class.
57:24 - We forget, Ms. Campbell.
57:25 I also work with the little ones in the pool,
57:26 so I might be well suited for kindergarten.
57:28 You never know, right?
57:30 Anybody else have, Mr. Susan?
57:33 - Madam Vice Chair.
57:38 - So Dr. Mullins, I’ve seen part of this presentation before
57:40 and thank you again, it’s very well put together,
57:42 and I’m very excited for our whole staff.
57:47 And again, opening Gardendale was an amazing feat.
57:52 So kudos to everyone who was involved
57:55 because it wasn’t just one department.
57:57 It was our whole, everybody working together
57:59 and making it happen, as you said.
58:01 So thank you very much for this presentation.
58:03 I appreciate, but I do have a question about the CEOP.
58:07 That CEOP, isn’t that, don’t we have to report that
58:10 to the state?
58:11 Don’t they sign off on our plan?
58:15 - Yes, they do, but you may also be thinking of the FSAT.
58:19 That’s the annual survey that we do.
58:21 Every one of our schools completes approximately
58:25 a 400 question survey related to safety and security
58:29 of their specific campus.
58:31 We then break it down, go through every response.
58:35 We aggregate the responses,
58:37 look for any commonalities and respond.
58:39 And then here in the next several,
58:41 I know Mr. Wilson is working on that right now.
58:45 Then we’ll present that to the board here
58:46 in the coming weeks.
58:47 That then also has to be reported to the state, so yes.
58:50 - Is there a timeline on that?
58:52 - The FSAT response, I believe has to be to the state
58:55 by October 15th.
58:58 It is, I don’t think Mr. Wilson is in here right now.
59:02 I believe the response is from the schools.
59:06 The completion was due August 1st, I believe.
59:10 And now we go through the disaggregating
59:13 and then aggregating data to see
59:15 if there are any district responses we need to make.
59:17 - And I just want to remind everybody it’s 400 questions.
59:21 - Yes, it is.
59:22 - So it does take a lot of time.
59:23 - It’s very comprehensive.
59:24 - It is comprehensive.
59:25 And I appreciate our staff following through.
59:28 And I believe we work with our sheriff’s department
59:31 to complete that together.
59:32 - Yes, Mr. Wilson works with Major Brian Neal
59:37 and his team to look at the results as well.
59:39 Make sure there isn’t a response that we need to put
59:41 in place that is law enforcement oriented.
59:45 - Thank you.
59:47 - So Dr. Mullins, thank you.
59:49 When you were talking about the child’s getting
59:51 on the buses, we always get those
59:53 and that’s really a part of it.
59:55 But one of the things not many people understand is
59:57 that our bus drivers during COVID had
1:00:00 to literally submit paper every single day
1:00:04 about who was on their bus.
1:00:06 And it was one of the most ridiculous things
1:00:08 that we had to do as COVID.
1:00:09 It’s not our fault at all,
1:00:10 but to put our people through that, this gets rid of that.
1:00:14 Any time we ever have an issue in the future,
1:00:17 children be able to show their badge, scan it and get on.
1:00:20 The other thing that this does is that for security,
1:00:23 and I’m not sure if we’ve implemented this yet,
1:00:25 but I know that you can use them also
1:00:27 for all passes and everything else.
1:00:30 So as a teacher, when your student says,
1:00:32 hey, I’m gonna go out and use the hall pass,
1:00:34 you now have a registration of when they left,
1:00:36 when they came back, if they’re still out,
1:00:39 if there’s an instance that comes out,
1:00:40 they’ve registered that they’re out,
1:00:42 the central base will know which is out there.
1:00:44 Phenomenal program, Dr. Mullins, and hats off to you.
1:00:48 That’s just one of the most amazing things to do.
1:00:51 I love your idea, I’ve always subbed every year.
1:00:54 Once a week, a little too much for me, right?
1:00:57 But I do like that and I think it’s a culture
1:00:59 that we should do.
1:01:00 One of the things you do, even though I taught
1:01:02 for nine years in the district,
1:01:03 and I love doing it and I had great engagement,
1:01:06 man, when I went back into the classroom,
1:01:08 I realized that I couldn’t make it now.
1:01:10 To be honest with you, it takes a lot to get moving.
1:01:13 There’s so many regulations, but the kids,
1:01:15 there’s just so much energy that takes behind it,
1:01:17 and for us to realize what the teachers are going through.
1:01:20 I also would say, Deskovitz used to do it,
1:01:23 ride with the bus drivers every once in a while,
1:01:25 see the stuff like the kids acting inappropriate,
1:01:28 you can see some of that, or kids that are good,
1:01:30 see the past.
1:01:31 I think that there’s some of those that we really can do,
1:01:33 and I think we do do that for the most part.
1:01:36 So challenge accepted, and we’ll go from there.
1:01:39 Thank you.
1:01:42 - Thank you, Dr. Mullins, for all of that information
1:01:44 and to all of our team.
1:01:47 Just a couple of questions and then a couple of comments.
1:01:53 If I recall correctly from days, way back,
1:01:58 when you were COO and I would get calls from you
1:02:00 about our transportation issues.
1:02:03 As Ms. Campbell mentioned, the heart feeling of the parents,
1:02:07 but I can tell you, and you know from our conversations
1:02:09 as the board member who’s getting the call,
1:02:11 that hey, we have a child that got off the bus
1:02:12 and we have not yet located them.
1:02:16 One of the requirements that we had,
1:02:17 especially for our youngest, our kindergartners,
1:02:20 was that the adult that picked them up from the bus
1:02:22 have a photo ID.
1:02:24 Does the incorporation of the new technology
1:02:26 eliminate that requirement, do you know?
1:02:29 - I don’t believe so.
1:02:29 No, we still require the parental ID
1:02:32 when they pick up their child at the bus stop.
1:02:35 - Okay, perfect.
1:02:38 And then for my fellow board members who were here
1:02:43 for the workshop this morning and also for our audience
1:02:46 who probably didn’t get a chance to see it,
1:02:49 we had four staff members that presented
1:02:50 about the work that they had done,
1:02:52 and every one of those staff members was presenting
1:02:54 about a teeny little nugget of their job, right?
1:02:57 Because they all wear so many hats.
1:02:59 And I just wanna recognize that those same individuals
1:03:03 who have worked their behinds off to get Gardendale open,
1:03:07 who have worked on making sure that our Head Start
1:03:09 is doing phenomenally well, who have worked so hard
1:03:12 on ensuring that our students are actually getting to school
1:03:15 and addressing our attendance issue,
1:03:17 are also the same people that are being deployed out
1:03:20 for our schools this week to make sure
1:03:22 that we have coverage in the schools.
1:03:23 And so when Dr. Mullen says it is a full team effort,
1:03:28 I just could not be more proud of the way
1:03:31 that the team has come around and supported
1:03:33 the opening of Gardendale and all of these things
1:03:36 that fires come up and they just jump in
1:03:39 and take care of them.
1:03:40 And so thank you for your leadership
1:03:42 and to our other district leadership for all the work
1:03:45 that they do to make sure that we really
1:03:47 are functioning as a team.
1:03:50 And then the last thing that I guess referenced,
1:03:54 Dr. Mullen, and you mentioned it when you were speaking,
1:03:57 I too have had a lot of parents reach out to me
1:03:59 with concerns about our safety response.
1:04:01 And as you mentioned, I went through
1:04:04 the active assailant training.
1:04:06 I can tell you I have trained not only with our BCSO staff
1:04:11 that prepares our specialists to go out to the schools,
1:04:13 but I’ve also trained independently
1:04:16 with some of our municipalities that have gone
1:04:18 and trained in our schools.
1:04:20 And I just want to assure our parents
1:04:21 that there is not a scenario where our local law enforcement
1:04:26 is trained to stand back and not immediately address
1:04:30 the threat in our schools.
1:04:32 Every single aspect of the training
1:04:33 is about immediately addressing that threat.
1:04:36 And so as we see more and more of what’s coming out,
1:04:39 I think we just need to not let our guard down,
1:04:43 but know that that is not the way that we would operate here
1:04:47 in Brevard Public Schools with the Sheriff’s Department
1:04:51 or with any of our municipalities being represented.
1:04:54 So just a little encouragement there.
1:04:57 - Thank you.
1:04:59 - All right, anything else for Dr. Mullens before we move on?
1:05:02 Thank you so much, Dr. Mullens, for that update.
1:05:04 We appreciate it.
1:05:08 All right, we are now at the public comment portion
1:05:10 of the meeting specifically on agenda items.
1:05:13 We actually have three speakers signed up for agenda items.
1:05:16 Ms. Skipper, the item that you had signed up for
1:05:18 is not actually an agenda item
1:05:20 ‘cause it’s not something
1:05:21 that we’re taking action on tonight.
1:05:23 So I will move you to the top of the non-agenda, okay?
1:05:27 And Mr. Colucci, you also had mention of the K33 on yours.
1:05:33 So just giving you guys a heads up before you get here.
1:05:35 You had the other one on yours as well.
1:05:38 So we have Catherine Delaney
1:05:40 and Anthony Colucci on agenda items.
1:05:43 If you guys want to make your way
1:05:44 and I will read the things that I need to read.
1:05:48 We have only two speakers,
1:05:49 so each speaker will receive three minutes.
1:05:52 Please note that the time is per speaker,
1:05:53 not per agenda item.
1:05:54 Topics not specific to agenda items
1:05:56 will be moved to the non-agenda portion of the meeting.
1:05:59 We have a clock in front of me
1:06:00 to help you keep track of your time.
1:06:02 When your time is over, you’ll be asked to stop
1:06:03 and allow the next speaker his or her turn.
1:06:05 Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is expected
1:06:08 and your statements should be directed to the board chair.
1:06:10 The chair may interrupt, warn, terminate,
1:06:13 or terminate a participant’s statement when time is up.
1:06:15 It’s personally directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant.
1:06:19 Should an individual not observe proper etiquette,
1:06:21 the chair may request the individual to leave the meeting.
1:06:24 For the audience, please remember that outside
1:06:26 of your personal public comment period,
1:06:27 your role is as an observer.
1:06:29 Therefore, I would ask that you would please not disrupt
1:06:31 the meeting by interjecting comments
1:06:33 or noises during public comments.
1:06:36 All right, Ms. Delaney, give me one second here
1:06:39 just to make sure I’m set.
1:06:43 Whenever you are ready, ma’am.
1:06:45 - Thank you.
1:06:47 I am wanting to speak on the superintendent evaluation.
1:06:52 I have had a very different experience
1:06:54 than what has been presented here today
1:06:56 and at the evaluation.
1:07:01 I’ve been met with completely unprofessional behavior
1:07:07 to parents, to taxpayers, to the general public.
1:07:14 And after I left the meeting last, school board meeting,
1:07:19 Chairwoman Belford, you went on to say,
1:07:23 it was a misunderstanding why one of the board members
1:07:27 was left out of the final evaluation.
1:07:29 That’s fine, but what about the required notification
1:07:34 to the public that you did not do?
1:07:36 You changed and proceeded with the meeting
1:07:39 without public notification.
1:07:43 That breaks sunshine law.
1:07:47 I would like the public and the teachers to be aware
1:07:50 that Dr. Mullins received an $8,000 bonus
1:07:54 and a raise with this evaluation.
1:07:57 While our teachers got a 4% raise,
1:08:01 which is really a decrease in pay
1:08:02 because of the nine to 11% inflation
1:08:05 thanks to the failures of the current administration.
1:08:09 Why would the superintendent receive a raise
1:08:12 and an $8,000 bonus when our school grade
1:08:15 went down for the county?
1:08:22 When our discipline is out of control in our schools,
1:08:26 when our teachers are getting assaulted
1:08:28 in their classrooms by children.
1:08:33 That’s not leadership and we need new leadership.
1:08:36 Thank you.
1:08:37 - Thank you, Ms. Delaney.
1:08:39 Mr. Colucci?
1:08:42 - Chair Belford, I believe both these items
1:08:51 are related to F-13.
1:08:56 My name is Anthony Colucci.
1:08:57 I’m the president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.
1:09:00 Tonight, I’m here to talk about a walking contradiction,
1:09:03 the behavior of this school district.
1:09:05 I point you to the F-13 under supplemental positions.
1:09:10 Unless this board acts now, you are about to blatantly
1:09:13 disregard the decision of an arbitrator who stated,
1:09:16 and I quote, “If and only if the posting results
1:09:20 “in no qualified teacher volunteering
1:09:22 “for the coaching position, the school board
1:09:24 “may then award the position to a non-teacher volunteer.”
1:09:28 The arbitration decision was respected by BPS for five years
1:09:32 and then suddenly we have a qualified teacher
1:09:35 with exemplary experience apply
1:09:37 for a boy’s varsity basketball position
1:09:40 and you’re about to support a direct violation
1:09:43 of the arbitration decision by hiring
1:09:45 a non-teacher volunteer.
1:09:48 I’m asking that this item is pulled for discussion
1:09:50 and this board stop this injustice.
1:09:52 Arbitrating this language, which you never tried to change
1:09:56 at the bargaining table, is not a fight you should be having.
1:10:00 Now, on the other hand, this board should be fighting
1:10:03 HB 1467, but instead is willing to act in an overcautious
1:10:08 manner before the state even puts out guidance
1:10:11 about the law.
1:10:13 Other districts are not responding to the law in this way.
1:10:17 They are trusting their teachers and administrators
1:10:19 to use their professional judgment,
1:10:21 whereas Brevard is ripping resources out of students’ hands.
1:10:25 You’re preventing teachers from using supplemental
1:10:27 curriculum, you’re preventing book fairs from happening.
1:10:30 You’re overloading our already overloaded media specialist
1:10:34 with tests you’re not sure are required yet.
1:10:37 And don’t let staff tell you that it’s not happening.
1:10:40 I’ve seen the memos with my own two eyes.
1:10:43 I spent nearly two decades as a classroom teacher
1:10:46 and without a doubt, preventing students
1:10:48 from using supplemental materials will create them,
1:10:52 will cause them to become bored and disengaged.
1:10:55 Your approach is going to hurt students.
1:10:58 Preventing teachers from using their professional judgment
1:11:00 to choose supplemental materials will cause them to leave.
1:11:04 I remind this board, your job is to insulate
1:11:07 our teachers from harm.
1:11:09 In this case, you’re not insulating,
1:11:10 you’re intensifying the damage.
1:11:12 And if you think I’m exaggerating, let me read
1:11:15 from a teacher who resigned yesterday over 1467.
1:11:19 My entire classroom theme was Harry Potter.
1:11:22 I planned on incorporating many aspects of this novel
1:11:25 to teach a multitude of standards.
1:11:27 When I asked her media specialist if it was vetted,
1:11:29 she found that it was only for grades five and up.
1:11:32 That’s when I left and began breaking down my classroom.
1:11:35 Please note, it wasn’t just Harry Potter.
1:11:37 It was a principle and point knowing that I cannot expect
1:11:40 my students to instill a love of reading.
1:11:42 So many books are under scrutiny.
1:11:45 I feel my moral compass is too high.
1:11:47 I can’t look at my parents and students and tell them
1:11:50 everything is fine when it is not.
1:11:52 And board, I can’t look at you and tell you everything is fine.
1:11:55 - We appreciate you joining us this evening.
1:12:02 All right, that is going to then move us
1:12:05 into the consent agenda.
1:12:07 For those of you not familiar with the process,
1:12:08 if you signed up to speak to non-agenda items,
1:12:10 you will be called at the end of the meeting.
1:12:12 Okay, we’re not skipping over you.
1:12:15 Dr. Mullen’s consent agenda.
1:12:17 - Yes, there are 18 agenda items under the consent agenda.
1:12:20 - Does any board member wish to pull any item
1:12:22 from the consent agenda?
1:12:23 - I sent you a little card.
1:12:25 - Yeah, I just need you to say it.
1:12:26 - Yes, I wish to pull F-13.
1:12:28 - All right, then I will entertain a motion
1:12:31 to accept the consent agenda as presented
1:12:33 with the exception of item F-13.
1:12:36 - Second.
1:12:37 - Moved by Ms. McDougall, seconded by Mr. Susan.
1:12:39 Is there any discussion?
1:12:41 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.
1:12:44 - Aye.
1:12:44 - Any opposed, same sign.
1:12:46 Motion passes five, zero.
1:12:50 Mr. Susan, Mr. Gibbs, that will move us
1:12:52 to item F-13, correct?
1:12:54 All right, so I will entertain a motion on F-13.
1:12:57 - Move to approve.
1:12:57 - Second.
1:12:58 - Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell.
1:13:00 Floor is yours, Mr. Susan.
1:13:02 - Thank you.
1:13:03 Currently we have a situation where there’s been an active,
1:13:08 there’s an active grievance going on,
1:13:10 and there’s been past arbitrators who have arbitration
1:13:13 that has actually found against.
1:13:16 And the reason that I know this is, is because as a coach,
1:13:19 there’s many times when you come to a situation
1:13:21 where you have two people who are up,
1:13:23 and it’s always a community coach,
1:13:25 and you have a staff person, right, a teacher.
1:13:28 And what ends up happening is,
1:13:29 is they are very qualified between the two.
1:13:32 And it’s been an argument
1:13:34 that I’ve had to wrestle back and forth.
1:13:36 When this came up as an issue a couple,
1:13:38 like a month ago when we were talking about this,
1:13:41 my thought process was let it move through the arbitration,
1:13:44 let it go ahead and move through,
1:13:46 and then once it comes out,
1:13:47 let Paul and the district staff do that,
1:13:50 and then we make a decision based on the second half of that.
1:13:54 What came is, is that just recently,
1:13:55 like literally as we’re coming in,
1:13:58 to find out that this individual
1:14:01 in the middle of a grievance is put onto the agenda
1:14:05 to be accepted and receive the supplement and move forward,
1:14:10 it made me pull it and just say,
1:14:11 hey, we gotta stop for a second.
1:14:13 So I just had a couple of questions to run through
1:14:15 just to make sure that I’m on the right portion here,
1:14:18 and I wanted to hear if there’s anything that I’m missing.
1:14:21 But Paul, is there an active grievance
1:14:24 currently over this item?
1:14:28 - Yes, to my awareness, they’ve grieved the selection,
1:14:32 so it’s going to an arbitration.
1:14:35 - And is there past arbitration on this item
1:14:39 that has been found for or against us?
1:14:44 - On this specific, this employee has not–
1:14:47 - Not this employee, but on this topic.
1:14:49 - The issue has gone I wanna say at least twice
1:14:52 that I’m aware of.
1:14:54 - And in both cases, has the district prevailed
1:14:57 or lost those items?
1:15:00 - The last one was the one referenced by Mr. Colucci,
1:15:02 we lost, I don’t recall, ‘08.
1:15:06 I wanna say it may have been lost.
1:15:08 - We were on the board when this happened,
1:15:09 and I’ll be honest with you,
1:15:12 setting aside whether the community coach
1:15:14 or the teacher’s better is not what I make the judgment here.
1:15:18 That’s not it at all.
1:15:20 Where I fall on is the process of us putting an individual
1:15:24 on the agenda to pass them in the middle of an arbitration.
1:15:28 And that’s where I have an issue.
1:15:29 So thank you for that, Paul.
1:15:32 Is there a reason that I’m missing
1:15:34 that we want to appoint this individual now?
1:15:36 I didn’t know.
1:15:38 Is there a reason for that?
1:15:39 I see it on here, maybe I’m missing something,
1:15:41 maybe there’s something going on.
1:15:42 - I can’t speak to why they’re moving forward
1:15:45 other than the obvious of they wanna get
1:15:47 the program running.
1:15:49 - Okay, Dr. Mullins, is there a reason we’re doing this now
1:15:51 not as opposed to like a month from now or anything?
1:15:54 - Well, I would have to ask Dr. Thede to come up.
1:15:55 She’s closest, working most closely with the situation.
1:15:58 I provide one clarification to your question to Mr. Gibbs,
1:16:02 and that is it has been arbitrated in the past,
1:16:05 but not all the procedural circumstances are the same.
1:16:09 - Fine, that’s close enough.
1:16:11 Dr. Thede, thank you for coming.
1:16:13 Why would we move to put the individual
1:16:15 in the middle of a grievance on the move forward with this?
1:16:19 - Because we’re in the approval process
1:16:21 for those sports for that season.
1:16:24 - Is it consistent that in August
1:16:25 we usually do the approval process for all of the sports
1:16:28 for this, for basketball and those winter sports?
1:16:31 - We take the supplemented sports for the fall
1:16:34 when they come in from the schools.
1:16:36 - So what I did was I thought about that.
1:16:37 I said, you know, when we do the approval process
1:16:41 for the supplements, usually we never really did them
1:16:44 during sports until halfway through the year,
1:16:46 because we didn’t know if the coach would actually work out.
1:16:50 So you’d have football, you’d have three or four coaches
1:16:52 that work below you, and what you end up finding is
1:16:55 is that they may not make it throughout the process.
1:16:58 So I said, well, let me look at past preference
1:17:00 on when we actually did approve supplements for them.
1:17:04 So I went back to August of 2018.
1:17:08 I went to August of 2019.
1:17:11 I went to August of 2021, and I’ll hand these to you.
1:17:14 We have never approved a basketball or a sport,
1:17:19 actually no sport at all, supplement,
1:17:22 between July and now, or any of these.
1:17:25 So basketball has never been approved in July or August.
1:17:28 So this goes against not only the arbitration,
1:17:33 but past precedence of when we actually do it.
1:17:37 So, oh, here’s August 27th of 2019.
1:17:40 So when do we do it?
1:17:41 So instantly, if you look through those,
1:17:43 you’ll find that there’s absolutely no supplements
1:17:46 related to basketball, and actually in most of them,
1:17:49 no supplements related to any sport.
1:17:52 So for basketball, what you end up finding is
1:17:54 is that in November, December, and January,
1:17:57 you start to see them come in.
1:17:59 So generally, you’ll see a coach
1:18:00 who’s been playing for a while.
1:18:03 They end up coming in.
1:18:04 So here’s, for instance, November of 2019.
1:18:07 You’ll see that you have head soccer,
1:18:09 basketball for middle school.
1:18:11 Head football, they all start kinda rolling in.
1:18:13 So in this case, where we always are usually doing that
1:18:18 is in November, not July, not August, mostly not September.
1:18:23 That’s November of 2019.
1:18:25 This is November of 2021.
1:18:28 You can see all of our,
1:18:30 and we’re gonna put those into the minutes,
1:18:31 if you don’t mind, Mr. Gibbs.
1:18:33 As you’re looking at this December of 2021,
1:18:36 you can see it also.
1:18:37 So November, December, and January,
1:18:39 we end up supporting having these individuals
1:18:44 get their stipends.
1:18:44 So what I said was,
1:18:46 okay, so there’s something else going on.
1:18:49 If it’s agreeable that we’ve done it in the past,
1:18:53 then that’s one thing,
1:18:54 but if we haven’t, then I’ve got an issue,
1:18:56 and I’d like to amend the current motion
1:18:59 to remove Wardell Jefferson Collins
1:19:03 from basketball head coach supplement
1:19:06 until after the arbitration is complete,
1:19:10 and then we can do our due diligence.
1:19:12 There was a motion on the floor.
1:19:13 Here’s this one.
1:19:14 This is August of this year.
1:19:18 - Amended motion, is there any second?
1:19:20 Sorry, my mic’s not on.
1:19:21 I have an amended motion, is there any second?
1:19:23 - Second.
1:19:24 - Seconded, open for discussion on that motion, Mr. Gibbs?
1:19:29 - Yes.
1:19:31 - Mr. Susan, do you have any additional discussions
1:19:33 since it was your original motion?
1:19:34 - My thing is is that I just feel like right now
1:19:37 in the middle of an arbitration that it’s difficult
1:19:39 for us as a board to make a decision on an individual.
1:19:42 It may be preemptively, and I’ll tell you why.
1:19:45 Here’s the other piece.
1:19:46 The social-emotional of a team, okay?
1:19:49 So as a former coach, if I hear that I have this one coach
1:19:53 and everybody gets behind,
1:19:54 and they start putting together this team
1:19:56 and they start going,
1:19:57 then all of a sudden we lose the arbitration.
1:20:00 Now those kids have to get another coach,
1:20:03 and I’ll be honest with you, as a coach,
1:20:06 as a coach who has gone through multiple seasons
1:20:09 and multiple sports in transitions, it’s difficult
1:20:13 because teams get put in between things
1:20:16 and they don’t get an opportunity to just play.
1:20:19 And I think that preemptively us putting this person in
1:20:22 as the coach prior, while there’s an arbitration goes on,
1:20:25 goes against that.
1:20:26 That’s my feeling.
1:20:27 And I will answer any questions, but intimately for me,
1:20:30 this is something that I feel strong about.
1:20:35 - So I have a question.
1:20:37 So what happens?
1:20:38 Do we just put the basketball team on hold
1:20:41 that they won’t have a basketball team
1:20:42 until we figure out this arbitration?
1:20:44 - They don’t start till November.
1:20:47 Why do it now?
1:20:48 - So when you say start, is that when they start playing
1:20:51 or when they start practicing?
1:20:52 - We can ask when it starts,
1:20:54 but basketball generally doesn’t start
1:20:55 until the end of October, early November.
1:20:58 And we have an arbitration in file.
1:21:00 And I don’t want it to be a penalty to the students
1:21:05 who want to play basketball and not have any practice.
1:21:09 - That’s a good question.
1:21:11 I would say that I know that basketball doesn’t start
1:21:14 until after a couple of months into the season.
1:21:17 So I would hope that the union and the negotiations
1:21:21 would come forward and get this resolved
1:21:23 prior to for the betterment of our kids.
1:21:25 - Just for the record, I believe arbitration dates
1:21:28 are being kicked around and we’re in October or November.
1:21:33 - Well, let’s just say,
1:21:37 we don’t have to make a decision today.
1:21:39 We don’t have to make it right now.
1:21:42 We don’t.
1:21:43 We don’t have to make it now.
1:21:44 We can make it in 30 days.
1:21:45 We can make it in 45 days.
1:21:47 But I will tell you right now,
1:21:49 we are jumping the gun to allow an individual to go in
1:21:51 to start coaching because of the social emotion
1:21:53 of our students and having two different coaches.
1:21:55 I’ll tell you that much right now.
1:21:57 - Yeah, so I just want to make sure that we’re keeping in.
1:22:02 So if everybody gets an opportunity to speak–
1:22:03 - Sorry, we have that whole thing, I apologize.
1:22:06 I thought I was being asked a question or challenged.
1:22:08 - You’re good, Ms. Jenkins.
1:22:11 - So I agree.
1:22:12 I think it’s weird that we’re doing this
1:22:14 in the middle of a very obvious,
1:22:16 we know we’re having an arbitration,
1:22:17 we know where the discrepancies lie.
1:22:20 And just for me personally, I find it really difficult
1:22:22 to read that language of that arbitration decision
1:22:24 and understand how it’s being applied in this situation.
1:22:29 So I’m with Mr. Susan on this one.
1:22:31 I don’t want it for it to affect our students.
1:22:35 But at the same time, it’s a very obvious result
1:22:41 in my personal opinion.
1:22:42 And I don’t understand why we’re doing it in this place.
1:22:47 - Ms. Campbell, did you want to speak?
1:22:48 - Well, I just speak particularly to Mr. Susan’s
1:22:52 addressing what we do or don’t do in August.
1:22:56 So I hear ya, I’m not gonna look through every single page.
1:22:59 Trust you that we didn’t do that in August.
1:23:01 But we did, we do some other ones in the summer.
1:23:03 I just look back just really quickly
1:23:05 on our board meetings from the summer.
1:23:06 We did, at the end of June, we did for Edgewood,
1:23:10 a couple of supplemental positions,
1:23:12 Danscor, Future Problem Solving.
1:23:13 Earlier in June, we did a softball assistant coach,
1:23:17 the head track coach at Titusville,
1:23:19 and some other supplemental positions.
1:23:23 So as Dr. Thitty said, we approve them as they come in
1:23:28 because we have supplemental positions
1:23:29 on almost every agenda.
1:23:30 - Ms. Campbell, those supplements
1:23:32 were from the previous year.
1:23:33 - Hang on.
1:23:34 - They weren’t for the now year.
1:23:35 They’re from the previous year.
1:23:36 - Okay, oh, I gotcha.
1:23:37 You know what?
1:23:38 There you go, you’re correct.
1:23:40 But almost every agenda throughout the year,
1:23:42 we approve the supplements as they roll in,
1:23:44 as they get hired.
1:23:45 So I also wonder, just as a, is there even a grievance
1:23:52 to be had if we actually haven’t hired them?
1:23:55 I mean, ‘cause they’re not officially hired
1:23:57 until the board approves process.
1:23:59 I mean, the principal has hired them,
1:24:00 but you know, does that make sense?
1:24:03 - The recommendation’s being made,
1:24:04 so it creates the grievance.
1:24:06 - Okay, all right.
1:24:10 I don’t know that I necessarily right now
1:24:12 the need to weigh in on my opinion one way or the other.
1:24:15 I don’t want to put a pause on this, no.
1:24:20 I’d rather just move forward with hiring the coach
1:24:22 as recommended by the principal,
1:24:24 who’s already made their selection.
1:24:26 - Ms. Belford, may I respond to the other supplements
1:24:29 that were done over the summer since it referenced me?
1:24:31 - Could I ask some questions first
1:24:32 since I haven’t spoken yet?
1:24:33 And then I’ll come back to you for response to them.
1:24:37 And I don’t know who is best to answer this question,
1:24:40 whether it’s Dr. Mullen’s, Mr. Gibbs.
1:24:43 What is the impact of not approving this item tonight?
1:24:51 - Dr. Thede, would you like to respond to that?
1:24:54 She understands the hiring process,
1:24:55 but I’m not gonna, I’ll mess it up.
1:24:57 - I just didn’t want to put her on the spot without you.
1:24:59 - I appreciate that. - handling that.
1:25:01 - As far as when the supplements come in,
1:25:03 we do approve them, we take them
1:25:06 as they come from the schools.
1:25:09 The impact of pulling it tonight,
1:25:10 if we can bring it back on the next board agenda,
1:25:14 it wouldn’t have a huge impact.
1:25:16 But there is play, preseason play,
1:25:17 and all those other things that come into play with FHSA.
1:25:20 I don’t want to speak to FHSA rules
1:25:22 and when the season begins,
1:25:23 because I don’t have it in front of me right now.
1:25:26 - I do know that I had confirmed
1:25:27 the basketball season begins October 30th.
1:25:31 - And so you mentioned that we typically approve
1:25:38 the supplements when they come in from the schools.
1:25:40 So is it just like our schools were more efficient
1:25:43 this year and getting all of their coaches names turned in,
1:25:45 and that’s why we’re seeing this in August?
1:25:47 Do you or you don’t know because you guys just approve them
1:25:50 when they come in as long as they fit requirement.
1:25:52 - We approve them when they come in,
1:25:53 and we send out the memo in the summertime.
1:25:56 - Okay, and Mr. Gibbs, from a procedural standpoint,
1:26:02 the amended motion that’s on the floor
1:26:04 is to remove one individual’s name
1:26:06 from this particular agenda item.
1:26:09 And approve the remainder of the agenda item.
1:26:11 Is that procedurally appropriate for–
1:26:15 - Yeah, you can approve just everybody without the one.
1:26:18 So that’s the motion that he’s made,
1:26:20 and it’s been seconded, so.
1:26:23 - Okay.
1:26:28 So what I’m hearing from you, Dr. Thetty,
1:26:31 is if this is not approved tonight,
1:26:34 it needs to be approved at the next meeting.
1:26:37 - I’m not necessarily saying at the next meeting,
1:26:39 but we have to approve the coaches before.
1:26:41 We typically approve them before the season begins,
1:26:44 but Mr. Seusson is correct.
1:26:46 There are occasions when that doesn’t happen
1:26:47 if we don’t have a coach on board at the time,
1:26:50 but we approve them as they come in.
1:26:52 - And so if we go through this,
1:26:55 I just wanna make sure I understand all the sides of it.
1:26:57 So if we go through with the approval tonight,
1:27:01 and then the arbitration goes forward,
1:27:02 and we lose the arbitration,
1:27:04 what is the process at that point?
1:27:06 - It depends on the outcome of the arbitration.
1:27:08 It depends on what the arbitrator decides.
1:27:12 - So is there,
1:27:22 we would have to go through some process
1:27:23 to reverse the decision if the arbitrator said
1:27:26 that we should have chosen differently, correct?
1:27:28 - Yes, it would depend on what the outcome is,
1:27:30 and what the arbitrator, what the remedy is
1:27:32 that the arbitrator puts forth to the district.
1:27:36 - Okay, and you said currently we’re looking at October
1:27:39 or November for dates for arbitration?
1:27:41 - Yes.
1:27:43 - Okay, all right, Mr. Seusson,
1:27:45 I think that is the remainder of my questions
1:27:47 if you would like to respond.
1:27:49 - Thank you so much.
1:27:51 So I looked at it, and going back as far as I could,
1:27:54 and I apologize about not having,
1:27:56 I think it was 2020 for some reason
1:27:57 we don’t have those minutes on the internet
1:28:00 when I was trying to get to it.
1:28:01 So it goes like back down to 22,
1:28:03 hits a couple 21, then jumps like down to 19.
1:28:05 So everything that I looked at from June, July, August,
1:28:10 we have never hired a sporting coach
1:28:13 for basketball during that time.
1:28:15 There was a question of when the season starts.
1:28:17 Practice starts, just like Dr. Mullen said,
1:28:21 for girls and boys would be the last two or three days
1:28:24 of October or the first couple days of November.
1:28:27 It’s always what ends up happening.
1:28:29 So I wanna tell you guys, from my perspective,
1:28:32 I took over a wrestling team.
1:28:34 Literally the day before season started.
1:28:38 And I took them to an undefeated season,
1:28:40 and I won coach of the year for the county.
1:28:42 So to say that you need to get in there way before
1:28:46 to put our legal liability in jeopardy,
1:28:49 to take kids and have them go the wrong way,
1:28:51 I just don’t think it’s worth it to me.
1:28:53 So I would say that we don’t have to truly make a decision
1:28:56 as a former coach until October.
1:28:59 And I think that it behooves the union
1:29:01 to bring this thing forward, not to drag it out,
1:29:03 if that’s the case, or our union or our lawyers
1:29:06 to get it taken care of.
1:29:09 And I would reiterate, just remember this,
1:29:11 if we make this decision,
1:29:13 which has already been lost by the district
1:29:15 by subject matter, but there is some differences
1:29:17 like Dr. Mullen’s pulled out, and we lose again,
1:29:20 we have to take a group of children
1:29:21 that have been told they have one coach
1:29:23 and put in another coach,
1:29:24 which causes an acoustic environment for that coach going in.
1:29:28 And that’s tough.
1:29:29 I’ve been there before, I’ve seen it before.
1:29:31 It’s really a bad thing.
1:29:32 That’s why I decided that I think it’s a bad thing
1:29:34 and I would vote to support the amendment.
1:29:39 - Can I make one more statement and/or question?
1:29:42 I’m gonna keep it really simple.
1:29:43 But as school board members, do we not have the authority
1:29:49 to request that this just be expedited
1:29:53 and not delay this process longer than it needs to be?
1:29:55 If we know that this is gonna impact children,
1:29:58 if we hold off on it till October,
1:30:00 then why are we not just trying to get this done
1:30:01 as soon as possible?
1:30:02 Don’t we have the authority just to make that statement
1:30:04 really clear to the superintendent?
1:30:06 - I think they’re lining up their attorneys.
1:30:09 And I think after this meeting, they’ll probably do it.
1:30:11 - Right, I just wanna make it clear, though,
1:30:13 if this does go through where we vote to say
1:30:15 that we don’t wanna accept this right here and now,
1:30:18 we have the authority as school board members
1:30:19 to make it very clear
1:30:21 that we don’t want this to impact children.
1:30:23 So just putting that out there.
1:30:29 - She’s just saying, let’s let the attorneys know,
1:30:31 get together, and let Paul let them know
1:30:33 that if there’s somebody else that needs to jump in there
1:30:35 so that we can make it happen,
1:30:36 and we’re letting the union know.
1:30:40 You know what I mean?
1:30:40 Let’s make it happen.
1:30:41 Yeah, they will.
1:30:45 - Anybody else?
1:30:46 - If I can just provide some additional clarification.
1:30:51 Just to keep in, if I remember correctly, Dr. Thutty,
1:30:56 teachers actually, if they are coaches,
1:30:59 they actually don’t go on the board agenda
1:31:01 for approval, is that right?
1:31:02 Only community coaches do because they’re newly appointed?
1:31:06 - No, the teachers go on a supplemented positions.
1:31:08 - Okay.
1:31:11 I’m not sure what is being suggested or proposed.
1:31:14 I would, Dr. Thutty, you’re involved
1:31:18 in the arbitration process.
1:31:19 You correct me if I’m wrong,
1:31:21 but the reason that it is moving to an arbitrator
1:31:24 is because the union’s attorneys
1:31:26 and our attorneys disagree.
1:31:28 And so the disagreement that has to be presented
1:31:31 to an arbitrator, if we were as interested
1:31:35 in a expedited arbitration as the union would be,
1:31:39 but I don’t know that that can occur before October 31st
1:31:45 given schedules and that type of thing.
1:31:48 So I would assume we’re as interested in
1:31:53 working through this process as quickly as possible but we’re
1:31:56 confined by
1:31:56 schedules is that that’s true okay so I just stated that we’ve
1:32:04 never had in a
1:32:05 single coach hired before on the supplements before August of
1:32:09 the year
1:32:10 for basketball season doesn’t start until August 20 October 25th
1:32:14 or November
1:32:14 1st right in between there we have plenty of time until October
1:32:17 15th we
1:32:18 have at least four board members meetings probably until then we
1:32:22 have
1:32:22 time to do that we established all of that stuff and I think it
1:32:25 behooves us to
1:32:26 do the right thing that’s all thank you
1:32:31 I guess my question would be if the arbitration hasn’t happened
1:32:34 by the September board meeting or the October board meeting then
1:32:38 are
1:32:39 then we’re back to where we are today I mean I I’m not sure but
1:32:45 I think
1:32:47 miss sorry Jenkins are you suggesting that you would
1:32:55 like the board to go ahead and weigh in you know aside from the
1:32:59 arbitration what
1:33:00 we think this is how we would want to direct the superintendent
1:33:05 and the hiring
1:33:05 of this position is that what you’re guessing because we can’t
1:33:07 move what I’m
1:33:08 saying okay what I’m saying is I understand that there there is
1:33:13 going to
1:33:14 be a scheduling situation going on but I think if we just make
1:33:17 it very clear that
1:33:18 we want to get this done as soon as possible and expedited as
1:33:21 soon as
1:33:21 possible then let’s make that happen and you know if it doesn’t
1:33:26 happen before
1:33:26 October 31st then technically any one of you can put this back
1:33:30 on the agenda if
1:33:31 you wanted to the way it is today
1:33:38 dr. study um I’m understanding that whatever happens in the
1:33:44 arbitration
1:33:45 whatever way it goes let’s say this coach that’s currently on
1:33:49 the agenda
1:33:50 that’s coaching is it necessarily that the arbitrator would say
1:33:55 okay get rid of
1:33:56 that coach and put in this coach or would there be another
1:33:59 outcome where you
1:34:02 it should have gone to the other person so you now have to pay
1:34:05 for that coach
1:34:07 and keep the curtain coach in place does that ever happen there
1:34:13 could be a
1:34:13 variety of outcomes mrs. McDougal I can’t comment on because I
1:34:17 don’t know
1:34:17 what’s going to happen in this case so at the same time again my
1:34:22 big concern is
1:34:23 for students to be able to play and I want to make sure that we
1:34:30 as a board are
1:34:32 willing to relook at this if we decide to pull this now and dr.
1:34:39 Teddy can you
1:34:40 bring that to the next board meeting or do we have to bring it
1:34:43 or how does Paul
1:34:44 how does that work you can be placed back on the agenda once it’s
1:34:47 scheduled
1:34:47 if we know it’s going to be scheduled in November it’s not going
1:34:50 to go off before
1:34:51 the start of season so that everybody will know if that’s what
1:34:55 you guys are
1:34:55 wanting to design maybe we arbitrarily put it on the agenda for
1:35:11 October
1:35:12 whatever and then let them know that this is the way it’s gonna
1:35:18 happen in the
1:35:19 previous litigation that we had our arbitration what they did
1:35:22 was they found
1:35:23 in favor of this teacher at Viera high school and they said this
1:35:28 teacher will
1:35:28 become the coach so that it will probably be the outcome that
1:35:32 one or the
1:35:33 other will become go and again I’m not in the middle of who’s
1:35:37 better anything
1:35:38 else this is purely process like and what I know it does to kids
1:35:43 when you
1:35:44 switch
1:35:46 you don’t find miss Belford I’m sure there’s people out in
1:35:48 audience who have
1:35:49 no idea what’s going on so just to clarify for all this make
1:35:52 sure we’re all
1:35:52 on the same page us as well as anybody who might be listening we
1:35:56 have the
1:35:56 situation where you know one side is saying that this situation
1:36:01 is if we have
1:36:01 a coach position and correct me if I’m wrong if they don’t
1:36:04 understand it
1:36:04 correctly that we have a coach position like a basketball coach
1:36:07 that we’re
1:36:08 talking about tonight and we have someone who is a teacher at
1:36:11 the school
1:36:11 who applies to that position who is qualified they have to be
1:36:14 qualified
1:36:14 whatever FHS a requires and we have somebody from the community
1:36:18 who is also
1:36:20 qualified but they’re not a teacher if there is at least one
1:36:23 teacher who
1:36:24 applies the teacher automatically gets the job you know
1:36:28 regardless of
1:36:28 experience regardless they have to meet criteria that’s what I’m
1:36:34 saying if they
1:36:35 are both qualified have to meet the qualify can’t be that you
1:36:38 have a teacher
1:36:38 that’s just got no experience horrible everything else and then
1:36:41 I didn’t say
1:36:42 horrible but you kind of eluded but okay okay all right then but
1:36:46 then if there’s
1:36:47 it’s not necessarily all things being equal between the two I
1:36:51 would say it’s
1:36:52 the interpretation that the teacher gets the position and if the
1:36:56 principal
1:36:57 doesn’t have the choice and in that to pick between the two he
1:37:00 has to pick the
1:37:00 teacher and that’s the interpretation that the Union is is mr.
1:37:04 clue she was
1:37:04 referring to rather than that the principal can choose the in
1:37:09 their
1:37:09 judgment the best qualified candidate regardless of whether they’re
1:37:13 a teacher
1:37:14 or a community coach but am I understanding that correctly the
1:37:20 issue
1:37:21 is there is a teacher and a community coach and the principal
1:37:23 selected a
1:37:24 community coach thank you thank you for making it so so playing
1:37:29 their dark
1:37:29 setting we appreciate that so dr. that he’s good she organizes
1:37:35 our chaos so so
1:37:38 I will tell you I am not necessarily opposed to approving the
1:37:41 amendment if we
1:37:42 can have an arbitration date set prior to the next board meeting
1:37:46 so that we
1:37:48 know what the timeline is on it and if we need to move forward
1:37:52 on the issue is
1:37:53 that is that a likely outcome do either of you know you know not
1:38:00 schedule yeah
1:38:00 so the attorneys are talking about when it’s gonna be scheduled
1:38:04 so it but not
1:38:05 not like like I don’t I don’t mean can we get it scheduled right
1:38:09 like take
1:38:10 place before the next board meeting no I’m not saying it’s
1:38:13 schedule yeah so do
1:38:14 you feel like we would have a definitive date of arbitration by
1:38:17 the time we come
1:38:18 back together I would hope by September because that’s our next
1:38:21 meeting okay a
1:38:23 date set yeah yes that’s fair yeah yeah because that does
1:38:29 exactly what Jenkins
1:38:30 wants correct which is kind of getting giddy up and go which if
1:38:34 we can is great
1:38:35 and if not then I think we need to revisit the issue so that
1:38:37 would that’s
1:38:38 where I’m coming from absolute are you is anyone opposed to me
1:38:42 calling the
1:38:43 question at this point sure that we would go ahead and put it
1:38:49 forward to the
1:38:49 next in just you know that we put it forward to the next agenda
1:38:54 which would
1:38:55 be September the ever I don’t think we necessarily need an
1:38:59 amendment on that I
1:38:59 think that can probably be board direction to ask that it be
1:39:02 brought back
1:39:02 would you agree mister yes staff has time to just add it to the
1:39:05 September
1:39:06 agenda if you want to get to get opposing councils to agree
1:39:08 within 30 days
1:39:09 of a date they can’t do that that is a very good request yeah I
1:39:14 just want to
1:39:15 clarify I can’t guarantee you schedules of attorneys and an
1:39:18 arbitrator match up
1:39:19 so well if we have an attorney who can’t meet with them and we
1:39:24 should find
1:39:24 another attorney to meet with them you have three parties that
1:39:28 are trying to
1:39:28 coordinate schedules and they’re all very busy so I think that
1:39:34 we have come
1:39:34 to a good place you guys get with me calling the question on
1:39:38 favor please
1:39:38 signify with saying aye aye any opposed same sign the amended
1:39:44 motion passes 5-0
1:39:46 okay they can cheer yeah so do we need no because we approve the
1:39:57 amended motion
1:39:57 right so now we need to approve item f-13 independently or is
1:40:02 now they have 13
1:40:03 wasn’t was done without yeah the one so we just removed that
1:40:07 individual from an
1:40:08 f-13 is approved so that means that we are done on consent
1:40:11 agenda correct all
1:40:14 right mr. Susan all those discussion points you have at the end
1:40:19 you just use
1:40:20 all your time I’ll talk really fast all right dr. Mullins we
1:40:25 please let us know
1:40:26 about items under the action portion of today’s agenda
1:40:31 the first item is H 29 procurement solicitations any discussion
1:40:41 all in
1:40:42 favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed same sign
1:40:46 motion passes 5
1:40:46 0 dr. Moore item h30 is department school
1:40:52 initiated agreements please signify by saying aye any opposed
1:41:05 same sign motion
1:41:06 passes 5-0 we’re not board member discussion points and reports
1:41:10 mr. Susan
1:41:11 added five items under this category for discussion this evening
1:41:16 mr. Susan hey
1:41:17 listen we get paid so we came we had a situation last last
1:41:24 school board meeting which you guys really supported right and
1:41:27 it had to
1:41:29 deal with female wrestling and giving them the ability to get
1:41:32 the stipends and
1:41:33 dr. Mullins so eloquently said that due to title 9 because we
1:41:37 have the situation
1:41:38 between girls and boys having the same teams we have to get it
1:41:41 no matter what
1:41:42 something else came up and this just literally came to my desk
1:41:46 from parents
1:41:47 who have beach volleyball so let me give you a little bit of
1:41:52 background about two
1:41:54 and a half years ago I was approached from the tourism
1:41:56 Development Council to
1:41:57 create a beach volleyball network internally inside of our
1:42:01 schools so that
1:42:03 we could then compete and they could bring beach volleyball
1:42:06 championship to
1:42:07 provide they already do in many ways but what ended up happening
1:42:13 is is that I
1:42:14 said okay so I contacted the county the county set out and
1:42:17 created some beach
1:42:18 volleyball locations ones up in Merritt Island I think in a
1:42:21 couple other ones
1:42:22 and we have some other places where the kids actually practice
1:42:25 right so these
1:42:25 kids have been practicing way before this moment for the last 20
1:42:29 years and
1:42:29 we’ve actually got national championship kids that come out of
1:42:35 here full ride
1:42:36 scholarships on beach volleyball and we’ve never had an official
1:42:39 program so
1:42:40 fhs a came out with an official program and they said hey you
1:42:45 know they now it’s
1:42:47 an official fhs a sport it’s a female sport it helps with our
1:42:52 equity we are
1:42:53 off-centered we have because you know in the boys side you have
1:42:57 like 600 male
1:42:58 football players and so our numbers are like 46 54 right now
1:43:03 with female to male
1:43:04 and then with cheerleading along with the wrestling which is
1:43:07 only a couple and
1:43:08 then with this it would bring us up really close we’d be one of
1:43:12 the best
1:43:13 equitable districts in the state of Florida and it would be
1:43:16 close to being
1:43:17 like 49 to 51 so I said man let’s go so instead of just losing
1:43:22 the opportunity
1:43:22 to field a team I thought let’s do this and on top of that we
1:43:29 can get the TDC to
1:43:30 create a state championship here and our team can win it and I’m
1:43:35 telling you
1:43:35 because nobody throughout the state has beach volleyball teams
1:43:38 if they do
1:43:39 they’re not that good but we’ve already been winning for years
1:43:41 we could
1:43:42 literally field the state championship volleyball teams in their
1:43:45 first season
1:43:46 and we could host it and then we could own it for the next 20
1:43:49 years because if
1:43:51 you look back Cocoa Beach Cape Canaveral that is beach
1:43:56 volleyball territory and I
1:43:58 really feel that we need to give the opportunity to this now I’ll
1:44:05 explain to
1:44:05 you the negatives the negatives are they’re gonna say we don’t
1:44:09 have any
1:44:09 beach volleyball facilities totally agree they already have
1:44:13 facilities
1:44:13 they’ve already been practicing playing and everything else well
1:44:16 those aren’t
1:44:17 BPS facilities well remember the era doesn’t have their own
1:44:21 baseball field
1:44:22 there’s many other sports that don’t have their own facilities
1:44:25 that we rent
1:44:26 out or we have collaboration agreements that mr. Tobias trying
1:44:29 to take away from
1:44:30 us right so let’s go further than that the next one is is well
1:44:34 maybe not all
1:44:35 the schools are out there want to participate I will tell you we
1:44:39 will only
1:44:39 have less than four schools but in many sports we don’t have all
1:44:44 the sports
1:44:44 participating in all the schools so what I would like to do is
1:44:49 give direction to
1:44:49 dr. Mullins to say hey try to make this thing work try to work
1:44:54 towards ES see if
1:44:55 we can do it it’s a very small minimal amount of stipends we
1:44:58 feel a couple of
1:44:59 teams championship team will probably come out of Miss Jenkins’s
1:45:04 to district
1:45:05 really you think Merritt Allen’s gonna feel a team to beat Miss
1:45:09 Jenkins’s team
1:45:12 anyways I would just like to have dr. Mullins look at it with a
1:45:15 hey let’s try
1:45:16 to get there bring it back to the next board meeting if we can
1:45:19 get it to go
1:45:19 they’ve already got their teams they’ve already got their
1:45:21 players they would
1:45:22 love to get the opportunity and it would help us with equity
1:45:25 that’s all that was
1:45:26 my idea and I found out about this two days ago sorry about it
1:45:30 being the last
1:45:30 minute item there is a sand volleyball part at satellite high
1:45:36 school
1:45:37 and now the Mustangs always rise so I would like that I didn’t
1:45:44 know what your
1:45:46 feelings were if you guys are okay with Dr. Mullins working on
1:45:49 it bringing it
1:45:49 back seen if possible I think we go and then I’d like to see you
1:45:53 guys wear off
1:45:54 and a mono mono each volleyball match against each other and I’ll
1:45:59 referee it
1:46:03 you guys good with that any negatives
1:46:11 well this only came to my attention yesterday as well so I’m
1:46:14 certainly not
1:46:16 prepared to give the pros the cons the impacts the cost the
1:46:20 implications across
1:46:21 16 high schools so I can certainly if that’s the wishes of the
1:46:25 board work with
1:46:27 my staff to identify those answers and be prepared to present
1:46:31 something the
1:46:32 board if not at the next board meeting by the end of September
1:46:35 which will give
1:46:36 us plenty of time because the season doesn’t start until the end
1:46:39 of not over
1:46:40 in November beach volleyball season is actually in February oh
1:46:44 whatever are you
1:46:47 sure it is yes oh okay good we got plenty of time to do this all
1:46:52 right
1:46:55 dr. Mullins teacher shortage yeah but like like literally like
1:47:02 here’s the deal
1:47:03 we have so here’s what happened so everybody in the in the in
1:47:06 the crowd
1:47:07 knows we Mike my child went to school the other day and many
1:47:11 families went
1:47:12 into school and walked into a school where they find out that
1:47:17 possibly they
1:47:18 have a substitute right now with no end that a library books
1:47:22 were turned
1:47:23 opposite way or missing that they don’t know like what is the
1:47:29 plan and last time
1:47:30 we talked about this we talked about the fact that we came
1:47:33 through kovat and we
1:47:34 did a good job but this is a little different this is a long-term
1:47:38 sustained
1:47:38 problem so I just want to give dr. Mullins the opportunity
1:47:41 talked a little
1:47:42 bit about it but we have staff and stuff going in but what I was
1:47:46 looking at is
1:47:47 this there’s 51 people sitting inside of our stands right now
1:47:51 and you guys with
1:47:53 all intents and purposes will be here for about two hours
1:47:55 tonight that’s a
1:47:56 hundred and two minutes that we could have had given from your
1:47:59 time volunteered
1:48:00 to our students and we need to start doing some of that stuff
1:48:04 which is where
1:48:05 everybody starts volunteering and coming into our schools and
1:48:08 working hard so
1:48:09 when we do that we’ll be able to bridge the gap to help out some
1:48:12 of these
1:48:13 teachers and stuff like that I want to give out dr. Mullins the
1:48:16 opportunity to
1:48:17 just say hey what’s the teacher shortage plan as far as
1:48:19 addressing it and you
1:48:21 pretty much did it already but I won’t talk about well I could
1:48:25 certainly go
1:48:26 back to my PowerPoint slides you want to be you want to get loud
1:48:30 but you know
1:48:32 mr. shoes I will I will reemphasize number one our principals
1:48:36 have well our
1:48:38 directors for leading and learning both elementary and secondary
1:48:42 and assistant
1:48:44 superintendents are in literally daily communication with our
1:48:48 schools they are
1:48:49 confident every school has a plan to address the needs of their
1:48:53 campus right
1:48:54 now and we will welcome our students ready to serve them
1:49:00 tomorrow we will
1:49:00 work through the adjustments I can’t tell we go through this
1:49:05 kind of
1:49:05 adjustment every year through six-day count process some schools
1:49:09 lose teachers
1:49:11 because of enrollment other schools gain teachers so we we will
1:49:15 have that
1:49:16 shuffling adjustment just like we have every other year we will
1:49:21 have new
1:49:23 extended day opportunities becoming answering some of the
1:49:26 problems and the
1:49:27 the challenges we’re facing because numbers in one class don’t
1:49:32 make that
1:49:33 that class has already collapsed and they pick up another
1:49:36 section I mean it
1:49:37 is literally it reminds me of okay I’m gonna age myself remember
1:49:42 the little
1:49:42 square number game where you got like 36 tiles and they’re all
1:49:47 this is pre Rubik’s
1:49:48 Cube and you got to get all the numbers in the right order and
1:49:53 you only have one
1:49:54 empty chip that’s what our master master schedule and teacher
1:50:00 staffing is like in
1:50:01 the first days of school particularly when we’re anticipating
1:50:05 some enrollment
1:50:06 growth that weren’t built into our projections so
1:50:12 listen I put my name behind the principles we have serving our
1:50:17 schools
1:50:17 I put my every last ounce of confidence behind my team who has
1:50:21 worked tirelessly
1:50:23 all summer to support our schools and meet their needs we have
1:50:26 faced bigger
1:50:27 challenges than going into a new school year then I think we’re
1:50:31 gonna face now
1:50:32 is it any less challenging no it isn’t but I’ve got it we’ve got
1:50:37 an amazing
1:50:38 team of people who are going to tackle it in and address it the
1:50:43 numbers I
1:50:43 presented aren’t accurate as we talk right now they’re they’re
1:50:46 probably
1:50:47 different from when I presented them an hour ago because our our
1:50:53 staff are
1:50:55 working crazy number of hours onboarding people and so on so
1:51:02 I’m we will work through all of these processes from from the
1:51:06 standpoint of
1:51:07 parents helping and supporting our schools one hundred and ten
1:51:11 thousand
1:51:11 percent we’ve already rolled out our mentoring program that is
1:51:16 supported and
1:51:18 established on our website I everywhere I go I talk everywhere I
1:51:23 go I talk about
1:51:24 the the mentoring opportunity we have for our community to
1:51:29 engage in our
1:51:29 schools and get involved in a young person’s life our principals
1:51:33 are ready
1:51:34 and prepared to talk to our community about that our schools are
1:51:38 open and
1:51:39 ready to talk with parents and community members about
1:51:42 volunteering in our
1:51:43 schools we absolutely need volunteers at every single one of our
1:51:48 media center we
1:51:50 no longer have media assistance we have increased obligations on
1:51:54 our media
1:51:55 specialists right now it would be my
1:52:01 shameless ask for our community to answer the call to have every
1:52:06 media
1:52:07 center in Brevard Public Schools covered by parent volunteers
1:52:11 Monday through
1:52:11 Friday every single day the rest of the school year
1:52:15 it’s planned it’s purposeful it’s impactful so I know our
1:52:21 principals would
1:52:21 receive and welcome that interest in that opportunity and it’s
1:52:25 flexible one
1:52:26 day a week commit every third Monday at your child’s media
1:52:32 center to serve as
1:52:34 the check-in checkout get books back on the shelf and that type
1:52:37 of thing so I
1:52:39 don’t know if I’m now you did reiterating the the points that
1:52:43 you
1:52:43 wanted me to mr. Susan but number one we we are prepared and we’re
1:52:48 ready to
1:52:49 receive our kids number two our schools are open and ready to
1:52:56 receive parents
1:52:56 and families to get engaged and get involved so welcome those
1:53:00 opportunities
1:53:00 so we have we have resource teachers we have individuals inside
1:53:05 the district
1:53:06 that are filling all of those positions and in the long run we’re
1:53:11 gonna have to
1:53:12 figure out the next step because if we’re sustaining a hundred
1:53:15 vacancies
1:53:15 there’s gonna be a next step but in the short run very difficult
1:53:19 to do the
1:53:19 master schedule and everything else so that’s all I just wanted
1:53:23 to kind of when
1:53:24 we put that down there I didn’t see that inside the slides so
1:53:26 that’s it good all
1:53:29 right classroom libraries and book fairs here we go so there’s
1:53:33 been two school
1:53:34 board meetings where our staff has gotten up here and said that
1:53:38 there’s no
1:53:39 direction to the schools to do exactly what we’re seeing in some
1:53:42 of the school
1:53:43 and so I wanted to give dr. Mullins the opportunity to address
1:53:46 everybody again
1:53:47 for a third time because it seems that there’s people that are
1:53:50 misinterpreting what’s happening out there I wanted to read you
1:53:53 guys the
1:53:54 actual bill doesn’t become law that everybody’s referencing
1:53:58 until January
1:53:59 1st of 2023 it says that media specialists are supposed to be
1:54:04 trained
1:54:04 and ready by January of 2023 so in the meantime what we’re doing
1:54:10 is is we’re
1:54:11 seeing some people that are doing something different I wanted
1:54:13 to give dr.
1:54:14 Mullins an opportunity to address that or have staff do it
1:54:18 before I actually
1:54:19 have to trump you on something there I don’t necessarily agree
1:54:23 with one
1:54:23 statement that you made we were literally emailed a presentation
1:54:28 that
1:54:28 some of our staff was presented just the other day which I
1:54:32 requested yes and
1:54:33 within it it it did instruct people to vet the books inside of
1:54:39 their classroom
1:54:40 if any of them are talking about sexual orientation or gender
1:54:45 identity to remove
1:54:47 them from their classroom libraries and if they couldn’t vet
1:54:50 them automatically
1:54:51 on our fallout system but they had to wait until they’re vetted
1:54:54 to be used and
1:54:55 that they must be removed so I do want to make that clear there
1:54:57 are staff
1:54:58 members who are getting instructions to do those things and so
1:55:01 it’s not unjust
1:55:03 for them to be concerned confused and want to have clear
1:55:09 expectations across
1:55:10 the board because some schools are being told one thing when
1:55:12 another school is
1:55:13 being told another and full disclosure I mean I’ve called dr.
1:55:16 Mullins multiple
1:55:17 times from people reaching out to me both parents and teachers
1:55:20 because they’re
1:55:21 all you know we do have over 80 schools oh we have multiple
1:55:26 administrators and
1:55:27 sometimes these things are not being conveyed equally across the
1:55:31 board so
1:55:32 just wanted to jump over that so I wanted to make say when I was
1:55:36 complete
1:55:37 what I was saying let me read the text from the actual bill
1:55:40 beginning January
1:55:42 1st 2023 media specialists and other personal personnel involved
1:55:47 in the
1:55:47 selection of school district library materials must complete the
1:55:50 training
1:55:51 program developed pursuant and then it goes on to do the statute
1:55:55 before
1:55:55 reviewing and selecting appropriate materials and library
1:55:58 resources it was
1:56:00 referenced by the Union that we may be overstepping right now
1:56:04 and I think when
1:56:05 I was talking to dr. Mullins earlier he stated that there admit
1:56:08 that’s what
1:56:09 exactly is going on because there’s no direct risk district
1:56:12 directive to be
1:56:13 removing libraries and everything else I want to give dr. Mullins
1:56:16 the opportunity
1:56:17 to address it
1:56:21 lots I will do my my best to be as concise as possible first mr.
1:56:28 Susan just
1:56:28 as clarification I’m looking back to miss Harris and dr.
1:56:33 Sullivan if I’m
1:56:35 correct we did receive a memo from Chancellor Oliva verifying
1:56:40 that House
1:56:41 bill 1467 went into act July 1st that correct so we have
1:56:49 received do we
1:56:50 direction that the statute is in place July 1 all of the
1:56:56 contents of it the
1:56:57 contents include reference to the deal we being required to
1:57:01 provide training to
1:57:03 media specialists no later than January and they have the deal
1:57:07 we has also
1:57:08 indicated that they are working on that training and will
1:57:11 provide it likely in a
1:57:13 virtual format or the end the impression with I don’t remember
1:57:18 the exact language
1:57:18 toward the end of first semester so we we do have the
1:57:23 responsibility to do our
1:57:26 best to interpret and honor the law and that is I’ve explained I
1:57:32 think to board
1:57:33 members one we are intentionally not trying let me make sure I
1:57:37 said that
1:57:37 right we’re intentionally not trying to over interpret the law
1:57:41 read it for it is
1:57:43 for its simple fact for its simple word at the same time we’re
1:57:48 obligated and
1:57:49 responsible for honoring the law and third we are trying to
1:57:55 preserve our
1:57:56 staff our people who are boots on the ground from being caught
1:58:00 in the middle
1:58:01 of over interpretation interpretation and honoring and revering
1:58:06 the law so is
1:58:08 there going to be challenges of what individuals interpretation
1:58:15 of it is of
1:58:16 that along the way even with our most admirable attempts to
1:58:21 provide clear in
1:58:23 concise guidance I would says I would suggest yes when we have
1:58:27 hundreds of
1:58:28 staff nearly a hundred schools trying to manage this we did meet
1:58:33 with media
1:58:34 specialists last week and provide them guidance for classroom
1:58:40 teachers one look
1:58:41 through your classroom library like you likely would be every
1:58:45 year make sure
1:58:47 there is not a text that is there that you didn’t intend for it
1:58:52 to be there yes
1:58:55 we are obligated to make sure that there isn’t text that it
1:58:58 shouldn’t be there in
1:59:00 kindergarten through third grade like the law requires second
1:59:05 take your books
1:59:06 and come and go into our online system of Follett which is our
1:59:10 electronic
1:59:11 media center program if it is in Follett it is automatically
1:59:16 evaluated or
1:59:17 reviewed by a media specialist because all of our text and Follett
1:59:21 have been
1:59:22 reviewed by media special and so then it’s it’s good to go and
1:59:27 third if there
1:59:28 is a book in your classroom library that isn’t in Follett take
1:59:32 it to your media
1:59:33 specialist if they have the time they have lots of things going
1:59:36 on right now
1:59:36 that may be take some more time than you’d necessarily like but
1:59:43 if the media
1:59:44 specialist evaluates it and says you’re good to go then then it
1:59:49 can go back in
1:59:50 your classroom library so you know have we potentially had staff
1:59:56 go to one
1:59:56 extreme or another potentially and in every instance I’ve worked
2:00:00 with staff
2:00:01 and I know staff have already gone and worked more closely with
2:00:04 tools and staff
2:00:05 to bring the appropriate response to that there’s been some
2:00:11 additional
2:00:12 confusion around instructional materials that and supplemental
2:00:17 materials that
2:00:18 have to be reviewed versus have to be listed our classroom
2:00:25 library books do
2:00:26 not have to be listed on the website but instructional materials
2:00:31 used do have to
2:00:32 be presented and posted on our website so our staff are working
2:00:36 because staff
2:00:37 are getting confused that is it this is it that in spite of our
2:00:42 meeting with
2:00:44 department heads meeting with media specialists and so on as
2:00:49 much as I’ve
2:00:50 talked to some board members about some of the challenges yes we’ve
2:00:55 had some
2:00:57 miscommunication some over interpretation but it’s been limited
2:01:03 in
2:01:03 my opinion with the number of impact that we have across
2:01:08 literally 90 places
2:01:10 of learning so no libraries are not closed libraries are open
2:01:16 and available
2:01:17 to our kids and to our families book fear book fairs have not
2:01:21 been banned
2:01:22 there has been no direction from the district to stop book fairs
2:01:27 have some
2:01:29 schools who normally have done a book fair like during
2:01:33 registration said you
2:01:34 know what given everything we have going on we’re gonna delay
2:01:38 our book fair they
2:01:39 have they’ve also got staff were understaffed and they’re trying
2:01:44 to get
2:01:44 schools ready and open and they’ve made some school-by-school
2:01:47 decisions but it’s
2:01:48 not been from a district directive that book fairs are not going
2:01:53 to be
2:01:53 available to our students they will be we’re working with our
2:01:56 vendors to make
2:01:56 sure they’re fulfilling their responsibilities in reviewing
2:01:59 books and
2:02:01 and so on so
2:02:04 honestly our families and our kids should see very little if any
2:02:11 difference
2:02:12 or impact from the schools and classrooms they left in May to
2:02:16 the ones
2:02:16 they return to tomorrow but I know that the board has expressed
2:02:23 some concern I
2:02:24 have spent quite a bit of time on this issue with my staff who
2:02:29 are in the back
2:02:30 if there is more clarification needed I am happy to provide it
2:02:35 or ask some of my
2:02:36 very capable staff to come up Tara and dr. Sullivan kind of give
2:02:40 me a thumbs up
2:02:41 or stan thumbs up if I pretty much covered it or stand up if
2:02:45 there’s
2:02:45 something I need to add thumbs up okay I just I don’t know if
2:02:53 there’s another
2:02:54 response from Manny Diaz but the one that I have here is
2:02:58 response to federal
2:02:59 guidance on the meaning of sex discrimination under Title nine I
2:03:03 have
2:03:03 not received anything or seen anything from Manny Diaz that says
2:03:07 that the law
2:03:08 that was written is now in effect with libraries can somebody
2:03:13 help me there if
2:03:14 you get that we came from Chancellor Jacob Oliva who is the who’s
2:03:17 Chancellor
2:03:18 not Commissioner of Education I’m happy to provide it typically
2:03:21 those memos
2:03:22 don’t go to school board members they go to superintendents and
2:03:26 staff but I’m
2:03:27 happy to forward that to the board okay 1467 on HB at the
2:03:33 Florida site and says
2:03:35 effective July 1st 2022 the law the bill says absolutely July 1st
2:03:40 but what you’re
2:03:41 saying is and this is really really a little bit crazy is that
2:03:45 the
2:03:45 Commissioner on Education decided that he was going to take a
2:03:49 law that was
2:03:50 supposed to interpret go into effect January 1st and says we’re
2:03:54 just gonna do
2:03:54 it now okay all right then can you send that to me because I
2:03:59 haven’t seen that
2:04:00 memo and when we discussed this earlier there was no
2:04:02 conversation about that and
2:04:04 so that’s that’s you know I’ll send that out for the memo to the
2:04:11 board before the
2:04:11 end of the evening I just want to just kind of just make another
2:04:20 statement but
2:04:20 you know this law has very broad language throughout it with
2:04:25 very
2:04:26 significant threats to our staff members and quite frankly to
2:04:32 our children’s
2:04:33 education and I understand the tension on both sides of this
2:04:40 issue I really do
2:04:41 I understand feeling like the district might be overreacting but
2:04:46 at the same
2:04:47 time I do have to say the district is also overreacting to
2:04:50 protect their staff
2:04:52 members because that language is so broad but again I have
2:04:59 advocated on the
2:05:00 side of being as cautious as possible and and not rushing not
2:05:04 rushing to
2:05:04 implementing these things because there are significant impacts
2:05:08 to to our
2:05:08 students and to our education and to our curriculum I just
2:05:13 encourage our staff
2:05:14 members who are typically very comfortable reaching out to me
2:05:17 emailing
2:05:17 me calling me with their concerns take a pause when you’re told
2:05:21 something and
2:05:22 reach out to somebody and have a conversation because this isn’t
2:05:26 this is
2:05:26 not a simple solution this is very confusing the language is
2:05:30 very very
2:05:30 broad we do have a ton of schools and it’s really easy to have a
2:05:35 game of
2:05:35 telephone going on where one thing is said and it might be
2:05:39 relayed maybe the
2:05:40 wrong way but just to have a little grace on both sides and I at
2:05:45 least I can
2:05:46 speak for myself I mean I will be receptive to whatever you’re
2:05:48 saying and
2:05:49 I and dr. Mullins has been receptive to every concern that I’ve
2:05:51 brought forward
2:05:52 to him to try and address it directly to so we have to we have
2:05:55 to stick as a
2:05:56 stick together as a team in this situation because again it’s
2:06:00 confusing
2:06:00 it’s broad there is literally zero direction from the Department
2:06:04 of
2:06:04 Education other than this law is now implemented have fun
2:06:10 can I can I mention something we might want to do here and it
2:06:14 was what dr.
2:06:15 Mullins and I were talking so I think we’ve come around to a
2:06:18 full circle there
2:06:19 seems to be a lot of confusion because we went to the media
2:06:22 specialist fast
2:06:23 presented them they then took what we wanted went back to their
2:06:26 schools
2:06:26 presented them and now we have teachers so it’s like that I tell
2:06:29 you you tell
2:06:30 you you tell you and by the time it got down to people it’s been
2:06:32 disseminated
2:06:33 maybe you know nice as if dr. Mullins could send out a memo
2:06:36 saying here’s what
2:06:37 is required here’s what we’re looking for so that everybody can
2:06:40 read that
2:06:41 directly and say hey this is what we need rather than telling
2:06:45 people you know
2:06:46 what I mean rather than saying like hey we told the media
2:06:49 specialist media
2:06:50 specialist does this because to your point miss Jenkins I feel
2:06:54 that the
2:06:55 liability that from a broad statement stuff like that puts us in
2:06:58 danger in
2:06:59 some areas so maybe that that would be a good appropriate thing
2:07:01 and it out stop
2:07:02 say hey there’s been some confusion on this this is what we can
2:07:05 put together
2:07:05 and this is what I is expected of I don’t know how you feel
2:07:08 about that dr.
2:07:09 Mullins we talked about it and you know sending direction like
2:07:13 that well I
2:07:15 certainly want don’t want to confuse the issue more I’m
2:07:17 confident in the in the
2:07:19 communication my staff has provided I’ll certainly review it all
2:07:22 with them and
2:07:23 reevaluate if it is helpful if I send communication out in
2:07:27 addition to what
2:07:28 we’ve already done I’m happy to consider that but I would need
2:07:32 to make sure I
2:07:32 know exactly how we’ve communicated it to staff already which I
2:07:35 know has been
2:07:36 in multiple venues through a leadership team packet to our
2:07:39 principals and
2:07:40 principal meetings presentations and so on
2:07:45 we just I would suspect if we can just get started the tension
2:07:51 and confusion is
2:07:53 going to be resolved because our classrooms are open our media
2:07:58 centers
2:07:59 are open our live books classroom libraries are available to
2:08:04 students but
2:08:06 I’ll certainly reevaluate it I know God I’m sorry I keep jumping
2:08:14 ahead no I I
2:08:14 would echo what miss Jenkins said and that is you know the
2:08:17 actions that the
2:08:18 staff has taken have been in protection of our staff and our
2:08:22 teachers and you
2:08:25 know what I’ve been telling people is this is a process and it’s
2:08:28 going to have
2:08:28 to get worked out and it’s not going to be perfect from the get-go
2:08:32 and sure
2:08:33 there’s going to be some questions and yes there’s going to be
2:08:36 some hey right
2:08:36 now while we’re still in this period of not knowing all of the
2:08:40 details and all
2:08:41 the expectations we’re gonna have to be a little bit more
2:08:43 prudent and a little
2:08:44 bit more proactive and ensuring that we’re doing the best we can
2:08:48 to protect
2:08:49 our faculty and our staff and as we get through this process and
2:08:54 we have more
2:08:55 hands on deck to vet books and we have more opportunity for
2:08:57 principals to have
2:08:58 conversation with their faculty about it and we have hopefully
2:09:01 some clarity from
2:09:02 the state to your point mr. Susan yeah it’s pretty ridiculous
2:09:06 that we passed a
2:09:07 law effective July 1 and no training until January but it’s not
2:09:13 the most
2:09:13 ridiculous thing we’ve seen out of our legislators by any
2:09:17 stretch of these guys
2:09:18 hope hold your applause please hold your applause please it is
2:09:25 not the greatest
2:09:26 stretch that we have seen you know the most ridiculous thing
2:09:28 that we have seen
2:09:29 and so the reality is that all of us as board members right
2:09:33 advocating for our
2:09:34 community as dr. Mullins and his staff have been trying to work
2:09:37 through this
2:09:38 lunacy to ensure that we are protecting our faculty and staff
2:09:42 and putting a
2:09:42 process in place so regardless of what is in place tomorrow that
2:09:46 doesn’t mean
2:09:46 that that’s what’s going to be in place in three weeks right as
2:09:49 we have the
2:09:50 opportunity to work through all that so you know I I think you
2:09:55 know miss Jenkins
2:09:55 mentioned grace on both sides and I think that’s a very
2:09:58 appropriate ask at
2:10:00 this point in time because you know I’ll I’ll share with you too
2:10:04 I have I got an
2:10:06 email from a parent today that has a gifted child that’s reading
2:10:08 at she’s in
2:10:09 fourth grade and reading at a sixth or seventh grade level and
2:10:12 she doesn’t have
2:10:12 any books available to her child because we’re you know keeping
2:10:15 it to grade level
2:10:16 and so there’s going to be bumps in the road to our parents to
2:10:19 our teachers I
2:10:20 can promise you they’re going to be bumps in the road and we’re
2:10:24 going to
2:10:24 just have to work through it to the best of our ability you know
2:10:28 and and to your
2:10:29 point mr. Susan I understand what you’re asking but at the same
2:10:32 time there is no
2:10:33 every school is different right what we’re gonna do in a
2:10:36 kindergarten
2:10:37 classroom is gonna be different than what we’re gonna do in a
2:10:39 ninth grade
2:10:40 classroom or a twelfth grade classroom and so I just I think we
2:10:44 are right on
2:10:45 the cusp of starting school tomorrow and let everyone get into
2:10:48 their groove and
2:10:49 if we need to check back in and address some things I think it’s
2:10:51 perfectly
2:10:52 appropriate for us to do that but it’s frustrating we hear it
2:10:58 yeah and here’s
2:10:59 what it comes down to is is that student that comes to school a
2:11:02 parent that gets
2:11:03 called and says we don’t have any library books because that
2:11:06 teacher in my
2:11:07 classroom that teacher decided to take it over stuff just like
2:11:10 you said right
2:11:11 and now all of a sudden that parent decides and says you know
2:11:14 what I’m just
2:11:15 this isn’t the public school that I want I want the public
2:11:18 school that has the
2:11:19 things that they had and I’m pulling them out and going home is
2:11:22 that’s the
2:11:23 conversation I had with about 21 people and that was in and
2:11:26 there’s no lie and
2:11:28 so just hang on dr. Mullins so the bottom line is is this is
2:11:32 that giving
2:11:33 direction to our staff when they’re sitting there and they’re
2:11:35 not sure about
2:11:36 what to do I would say is the appropriate thing obviously the
2:11:40 board
2:11:40 doesn’t feel the need for it dr. Mullins is kind of saying give
2:11:43 it some time I
2:11:44 would send an email out I would send it out and I would say here’s
2:11:47 what we’re
2:11:47 sending guidance to no matter if you’re in first second third
2:11:50 fourth fifth this
2:11:51 is the standards and just do it because otherwise we’re gonna
2:11:54 create more
2:11:54 confusion than there I’ve just never I’ve never sat back and let’s
2:11:58 just let
2:11:58 things go that’s all well I respectfully would disagree we haven’t
2:12:04 let things go
2:12:04 we have intentionally strategically and consistently
2:12:08 communicated with our staff
2:12:09 across the organization so I have asked to review and make sure
2:12:16 I understand all
2:12:17 of the extents of that process and if it is prudent we’ll we’ll
2:12:20 do that again
2:12:21 it’s not going to happen between 845 Tuesday evening and 8 o’clock
2:12:26 tomorrow
2:12:26 morning when our kids and families report to our schools what I
2:12:29 would
2:12:30 respond to our families who are considering they have questions
2:12:33 about
2:12:34 what their child’s experiences in their classroom to do what we
2:12:38 have always done
2:12:39 go to the principal of the school share your concern with the
2:12:43 principal ask the
2:12:45 questions ask for an explanation and to understand the why if
2:12:51 the why seems
2:12:53 inconsistent with what we have said here then we have a process
2:12:58 they go to the
2:13:00 principal supervisor and follow that process but if a family is
2:13:07 gonna a
2:13:07 parent is gonna have an experience at the school that is
2:13:11 contradictory to what
2:13:13 they expected to see and not tell anyone before they depart from
2:13:17 our schools then
2:13:19 that’s that’s a difficult thing to prevent so I can’t implore
2:13:23 our families
2:13:24 enough if you have concerns if you have an experience in your
2:13:31 child’s school
2:13:31 that is contradictory to what you expected or what you’ve heard
2:13:35 from this
2:13:35 superintendent my staff or this board go to the principal they
2:13:39 are they are the
2:13:41 CEO of their school and if questions remain concerns remain
2:13:48 then we have a process to do that to follow up on that as well
2:13:51 so I just want
2:13:52 to provide that assurance to our community so I agree with you
2:13:55 100% the
2:13:56 only problem is is that as an individual that might be sitting
2:13:58 there as a parent
2:13:59 now all of a sudden I’m going to go to the principal to ask
2:14:02 direction who’s
2:14:04 also overseeing that school it just causes a lot of work people
2:14:07 are going to
2:14:07 be asking questions people are going to say well that’s not the
2:14:10 rule you need to
2:14:10 provide this it’s just sending an email and I didn’t mean to
2:14:14 send it by
2:14:14 tomorrow morning but sending an email out is appropriate to set
2:14:18 direction as a
2:14:18 as it’s obviously I don’t have the push
2:14:26 they need to ask the question before they take what they see I’ve
2:14:30 been
2:14:30 particularly seeing it on social media and it’s going like
2:14:33 wildfire fire and
2:14:35 that you know I’ve just in I’ve gotten the contact you know the
2:14:38 text - hey I
2:14:39 just heard that elementary schools aren’t going to have their
2:14:42 libraries
2:14:42 kids aren’t gonna be able to check out books we’re on earth did
2:14:45 you hear that
2:14:45 turn around very next text hey PTO just said we’re not having a
2:14:50 book fairs
2:14:50 because of all the book banning that’s going on which I mean
2:14:53 that is the
2:14:54 rhetoric that is going around and it’s causing confusion because
2:14:58 people are
2:14:59 hearing one thing and they’re running wild with it and it’s not
2:15:02 necessary
2:15:02 what’s actually happening so it I spent a lot of time with one
2:15:07 of our media
2:15:08 specialists on Saturday we talked around you know what did the
2:15:10 training we walked
2:15:11 through the PowerPoint and what was said and what was not said
2:15:14 and so it is you
2:15:16 know I understand the frustration and I understand the caution
2:15:20 but you know we
2:15:21 can abide by this law I have full faith we can abide by this law
2:15:25 and have
2:15:26 libraries we can abide by this law and have book fairs we can
2:15:28 abide by this law
2:15:29 and have classroom libraries we can do it it may not be business
2:15:35 as usual but
2:15:36 business as usual is kind of how we got into this situation
2:15:40 which is why so it
2:15:45 can be done and so I would much rather go with what dr. Mullins
2:15:48 just suggest
2:15:49 which is find out what’s actually happening at your child’s
2:15:51 school rather
2:15:52 than what is going around on social media and assuming that it’s
2:15:57 happening
2:15:58 in your child’s classroom and at your child these people just
2:16:03 called me
2:16:04 directly wasn’t social media we have every one of us has a
2:16:08 situation where
2:16:10 we’re looking at people who are telling us different things and
2:16:13 the only way to
2:16:14 communicate that to the 51 people here or the 50 people that are
2:16:18 watching
2:16:18 online there’s only a hundred people watching we have 60
2:16:21 something thousand
2:16:22 kids that are coming to school representing a hundred thousand
2:16:25 teach
2:16:25 and parents there’s no way they’re all going to call the
2:16:27 principal and ask
2:16:28 questions over this and that and it’s just like to just say go I
2:16:31 just I
2:16:32 respectfully disagree miss Campbell so I just want to jump in
2:16:36 here with all due
2:16:38 respect we’ve been listening to this rhetoric for months this is
2:16:41 not new it’s
2:16:42 not just social media it’s not just because it’s law passing
2:16:45 this has been
2:16:45 happening for months and months and months this has been a
2:16:47 concern of our
2:16:48 community once it started I am with mr. Susan I believe we have
2:16:52 an obligation to
2:16:53 be proactive here just put out a simple message I’ll think crazy
2:16:57 because we
2:16:57 don’t have any direction from the Department of Education but
2:17:00 just put
2:17:01 something out there to temper the flames as much as we possibly
2:17:03 can it will not
2:17:04 stop all of the confusion it will not stop all of the concerns
2:17:07 but there is
2:17:07 literally no reason why we can’t just jump ahead of this and say
2:17:10 something
2:17:11 simple and clean and give a little bit of direction not only to
2:17:15 the parents who
2:17:16 are looking at social media like we’re supposedly referencing
2:17:19 here but also to
2:17:20 our staff our staff is exhausted already just finishing pre-planning
2:17:27 and our
2:17:27 staff is exhausted and we have to recognize that these laws are
2:17:30 literally
2:17:31 attacking our staff members they are on edge and it doesn’t hurt
2:17:36 to just give
2:17:36 them a little bit more direction and guidance from the top
2:17:39 whether or not
2:17:40 things were done correctly or incorrectly it doesn’t matter just
2:17:44 give
2:17:44 them a little more guidance give them a little more support and
2:17:47 comfort I think
2:17:48 it would do us justice I agree with mr. Susan so I would I would
2:17:52 suggest miss
2:17:53 Jenkins that doctor and to everyone go back like probably ten
2:17:59 minutes into this
2:17:59 discussion and dr. Mullen said that he would absolutely
2:18:01 absolutely look look
2:18:03 into the communication that has gone out and and provide follow-up
2:18:07 communication
2:18:08 if necessary so is is there anything else on this specific topic
2:18:16 that anyone
2:18:16 feels the need alright mr. Susan your next topic ROTC so right
2:18:23 now inside of
2:18:24 our schools I went and met with the ROTC instructors and what
2:18:28 they ended up doing
2:18:29 is is they said that there’s been some instances throughout the
2:18:32 past and what’s
2:18:34 happened is is that they wanted to increase their enrollment but
2:18:37 they were
2:18:38 told no from the district because they needed a third instructor
2:18:42 and we weren’t
2:18:42 about to do that from various reasons right and I said well let
2:18:46 me meet with
2:18:46 dr. Mullen’s I’m on a one-on-one with them let me find out what’s
2:18:50 going on let
2:18:51 me call the armed services the individuals that oversee these
2:18:54 accounts
2:18:55 stuff like that they said okay so I called the armed services
2:18:58 and every
2:18:58 single one of them except for one that I couldn’t get a hold of
2:19:01 said that in the
2:19:02 event that the school district said that they would like to
2:19:04 increase an instructor
2:19:05 that they would pay their portion because not many people
2:19:08 understand that
2:19:09 an ROTC instructor is paid half by the school district half by
2:19:13 the military
2:19:14 right and they have to provide that instructor and everything
2:19:17 else they have
2:19:18 to come from the military branch okay great second thing is dr.
2:19:21 dr. 30 who’s
2:19:22 amazing sat down with me we walked through it and she said there’s
2:19:26 a couple
2:19:27 of factors there’s the enrollment piece then there’s the par
2:19:30 piece and there’s a
2:19:31 couple of little barriers inside of there which dr. Mullen’s
2:19:34 reiterated later
2:19:35 on but what I didn’t want to happen is is that if there’s a
2:19:39 group of students
2:19:41 that want to do ROTC and they go to register to be told no
2:19:45 because there’s
2:19:46 not an instructor and so I wanted to kind of get into that space
2:19:50 and find out
2:19:51 how can we streamline the process to increase those without
2:19:56 creating a
2:19:57 situation where we’re limited from other areas and I’ll explain
2:20:01 why if you have
2:20:02 par that’s so many so many teacher units that you have inside of
2:20:06 your school
2:20:07 somebody might say well we want to be able to offer this to the
2:20:11 school well
2:20:13 sometimes if a student wants a certain career path they shouldn’t
2:20:17 be held back
2:20:17 is all so all I was saying is I’m just gonna work with dr. Mullen’s
2:20:21 try to
2:20:21 figure those pieces out and report back to the ROTC instructor
2:20:25 so that they
2:20:25 understand what the process is that’s all they don’t think that
2:20:29 it’s the
2:20:29 military or the school district coming out and saying that they
2:20:33 can’t have it
2:20:34 and to be honest with you there’s a bunch of there’s some of our
2:20:38 ROTC
2:20:39 programs are actually declining in some areas and one of the
2:20:41 things that we
2:20:42 found out which dr. 30 helped me out a little bit with this is
2:20:45 that um you can
2:20:46 actually be a homeschool student or and actually come in and
2:20:50 take an ROTC class
2:20:51 which would help with our revenue help with our enrollments and
2:20:54 stuff like that
2:20:54 I think there’s just some good opportunity there to try to
2:20:57 explain the
2:20:58 process tell them here’s what you can do and from the board
2:21:01 after it comes back
2:21:02 in the event that we hear that they may want to increase a
2:21:05 specific school but
2:21:06 they should be allowed to do that and not one school actually
2:21:09 reached out they
2:21:09 just said here’s some of the things that we have so it’s not
2:21:12 like Merritt Island
2:21:13 High who’s got an amazing ROTC program said it or anything like
2:21:16 that
2:21:17 you just think you got it that way there’s not bad anyways does
2:21:22 everybody
2:21:22 understand that I had to put that on my Facebook post when I did
2:21:28 it I was like oh this is gonna be kind of crazy because I was
2:21:30 looking for a
2:21:31 junior ROTC logo for that so cool and my former place I taught
2:21:36 for six years
2:21:36 everybody understand where I was going with that no I think dr.
2:21:40 Mullen it’s an
2:21:41 easy process thing all right yeah I’m finished now
2:21:46 sorry to hold everybody up there’s a second page oh yeah okay dr.
2:21:55 Mullen says
2:21:56 some good news about parents and student lunch now come on dr.
2:22:01 Mullen’s you ran
2:22:02 through a bunch of stuff there’s a bunch of parents out there
2:22:03 that want to hear
2:22:04 about the student lunch student lunches is that right now we don’t
2:22:08 have an
2:22:08 opportunity to offer this no he didn’t want to he said he said
2:22:16 he said he
2:22:16 already addressed it but he tried to get out of it
2:22:23 well I want to talk about it again dr. Mullen so here’s what it
2:22:26 is if I’m a
2:22:27 parent inside this school right now I can’t go to lunch with my
2:22:30 parents that
2:22:31 was not the direction that we gave for the school board before
2:22:34 right from the
2:22:34 school board before we ended the school year we said we were not
2:22:38 gonna have that
2:22:39 now the difference is is that dr. Mullen said that we have
2:22:43 security issues we
2:22:45 have capacity issues and all that stuff but the one thing that
2:22:48 he didn’t say
2:22:49 earlier in his presentation that we talked about was that he
2:22:52 wants that the
2:22:53 goal is not to keep parents out the goal is to find a way to get
2:22:56 there and that
2:22:57 he’s going to come back I think it was like 30 days or something
2:23:00 and figure out
2:23:02 a way to get to yes to allow our parents to come in and in need
2:23:07 during much all
2:23:11 right here we go if the goal is to be involved in your child’s
2:23:20 school and I
2:23:20 I’ve shared this with dr. Mullen’s before I think in the
2:23:24 meantime I I would
2:23:25 like to see every school especially elementary schools you know
2:23:28 the
2:23:28 teenagers don’t necessarily want their parents coming up very
2:23:32 often but
2:23:32 especially our elementary schools for each school to be
2:23:35 intentional and to
2:23:36 have some kind of way for parents a lot of our schools did a
2:23:40 really great job
2:23:41 with this all throughout the year with parent nights and
2:23:43 activity nights to be
2:23:44 intentional about having our parents on campus so they they we
2:23:48 have that the
2:23:49 COVID years where it I community perceived that they were not
2:23:53 welcome we
2:23:54 have to work hard to work against that but I would say for
2:23:56 everybody who’s
2:23:57 listening you have been given an invitation to get involved in
2:24:02 your child
2:24:02 school to be and as someone who used to volunteer in the library
2:24:05 even back when
2:24:06 my kids were a little bitty the media centers need volunteers
2:24:10 and that’s be a
2:24:11 great way you can see your kids come through and they get to
2:24:14 come up and say
2:24:15 hi and and you’re serving the schools and so that is a great way
2:24:19 for people
2:24:20 who want to be on the campuses because you’ll be there but you’ll
2:24:24 also be
2:24:24 helping and we could really use you so I just reiterate dr. Mullen’s
2:24:28 challenge
2:24:29 Campbell any additional board discussion points okay I want to
2:24:35 do a quick check
2:24:37 in with the team we have 13 non-agenda speakers so each one is
2:24:46 slated to get
2:24:46 two minutes to speak going to keep us here about another 26
2:24:51 minutes roughly
2:24:52 does anyone need a break or are you guys good for okay I have a
2:24:56 request for a
2:24:57 quick break so we’ll take about a five minute recess and then we
2:25:03 will come back
2:25:27 you
2:33:37 all right we are back in session and ready to move into our non
2:33:42 agenda item
2:33:43 speakers each speaker is limited to two minutes we have a clock
2:33:47 in front of me
2:33:47 to help you keep track of your time when your time is over you’ll
2:33:50 be asked to
2:33:50 stop allow the next speaker his or her turn we will hear from
2:33:54 the speakers in
2:33:55 the order in which they signed up as stated earlier reasonable
2:33:58 decorum is
2:33:59 expected at all times and your statement should be directed to
2:34:02 the board chair
2:34:02 should audience participation interfere with speakers being
2:34:05 heard or hearing me
2:34:06 I’ll be forced to clear the room when I call your name please
2:34:09 line up along the
2:34:10 east wall of the boardroom to facilitate the smooth transition
2:34:13 of speakers our
2:34:14 first three speakers will be Vanessa skipper Michelle beavers
2:34:18 and then
2:34:18 Michael bloom
2:34:25 whenever you’re ready the skipper Vanessa skipper mom of a BPS
2:34:33 student
2:34:33 English teacher and vice president of the Brevard Federation of
2:34:37 NASA hold on
2:34:37 one second for me I got my my clock is not happy that’s you can
2:34:41 leave me all
2:34:42 the time in the world okay there we go all right go ahead to say
2:34:50 that I’m
2:34:50 heartbroken to see what is happening in classrooms around the
2:34:53 district with
2:34:53 classroom libraries would be an understatement the idea that
2:34:56 students
2:34:57 around this district are going to walk into their classrooms
2:35:00 tomorrow and the
2:35:01 only books they’ll have access to our textbooks and curriculum
2:35:04 is infuriating
2:35:04 while I understand that BPS is trying to respond to House Bill
2:35:08 1467 this harsh
2:35:09 approach is not necessary to say classroom libraries are open is
2:35:14 simply
2:35:14 not true to say that media specialists have not been told that
2:35:19 scholastic book
2:35:21 fairs will not be happening is simply not true to say follow-up
2:35:26 clear
2:35:26 communication should not go out is short-sighted we have
2:35:30 teachers in tears
2:35:32 we have teachers who have not unpacked their classroom libraries
2:35:37 our teachers
2:35:37 are leaving in droves and this is a straw on their backs for
2:35:40 some of them
2:35:41 they are losing the joy in teaching with the removal of access
2:35:44 to things that
2:35:45 make their classrooms inviting and fun places to be one of the
2:35:48 power points
2:35:49 that was shown during pre-planning at our elementary schools
2:35:53 stated that
2:35:54 teachers needed to make cute signs saying that the classroom
2:35:59 libraries were
2:36:00 closed you know what cute signs and empty libraries do reduce
2:36:05 literacy
2:36:05 that’s the exact opposite of what we’re supposed to be doing as
2:36:09 teachers also to
2:36:11 put the enormous responsibilities of approving individual titles
2:36:14 from
2:36:14 classroom libraries on our media specialists did I miss
2:36:17 something or are
2:36:18 y’all giving our media specialists their media assistants back
2:36:21 are you going to
2:36:22 compensate our media specialists and our teachers for the extra
2:36:25 time they have to
2:36:26 spend going through thousands of books in their classroom and do
2:36:30 you know how
2:36:31 much money scholastic book fairs bring into our schools for both
2:36:35 of my sons the
2:36:36 scholastic book fairs meant a break from the classroom to go do
2:36:39 something fun
2:36:39 with books it’s really this simple if parents don’t want their
2:36:43 child to go to
2:36:44 the book fair don’t send money for them to buy anything don’t
2:36:47 punish all
2:36:48 students for just a few that’s not good educational practice
2:36:52 Thank You miss
2:36:52 skipper audience hold your applause please Michelle Beavers
2:37:03 I want to say thank you to the teachers this year coming back
2:37:07 and being amazing
2:37:08 first thing I want to say is misty you mentioned a little
2:37:11 earlier that you
2:37:12 wouldn’t give do it what in a kindergarten classroom what you
2:37:14 would do
2:37:15 in a 12th grade classroom and that is exactly what a mother’s
2:37:18 for Liberty
2:37:18 person has said and you’ve misquoted her she said to say they
2:37:21 were slaves and is
2:37:22 one thing to talk in detail about how slaves were treated and
2:37:25 with photos is
2:37:25 another meaning that you wouldn’t put those photos in the hands
2:37:28 of a
2:37:29 kindergartener you you mentioned that in an NAACP NAACP meeting
2:37:35 there is an
2:37:36 organization that’s active here locally and around the nation
2:37:39 that’s been quoted
2:37:40 as saying it’s inappropriate to teach sorry it’s appropriate to
2:37:44 teach slavery
2:37:45 existed it’s not appropriate to show pictures or describe how
2:37:48 they were
2:37:48 treated that was not what she said and you know that you also
2:37:52 went on to say
2:37:53 the current leader of Brevard County went to Tallahassee and
2:37:56 said we are
2:37:57 absolutely teaching critical race theory in Brevard Public
2:37:59 Schools because we
2:38:01 have pictures of black children in our textbooks I dare you to
2:38:05 find somebody
2:38:06 who said that you were actually tagged on a Facebook post
2:38:08 publicly by monster
2:38:10 Liberty and you untagged yourself with instead of answering
2:38:12 where you would
2:38:13 have gotten that kind of quote so I think you should apologize
2:38:17 number one
2:38:18 number two the emails that I sent last week I’m sorry on the 19th
2:38:24 of last month
2:38:25 I said nobody bothered to respond to them it turns out nobody
2:38:28 actually got
2:38:29 them they were sent from me I called dr. Mullins on Friday the
2:38:32 29th he was going
2:38:34 to get back to me about what happened to my emails I didn’t hear
2:38:36 back from dr.
2:38:37 Mullins and I also heard back probably from Katie who said my
2:38:40 email appeared on
2:38:41 Thursday of this last week now all of a sudden my email has
2:38:45 appeared I don’t
2:38:46 know how that happened but it was definitely sent the 19th and I
2:38:48 approved
2:38:49 it was set in the 19th and nobody here got it so I’m being
2:38:52 blocked and I think
2:38:53 that someone needs to answer for that and I’d like a really good
2:38:57 reason why
2:38:57 these books can’t be behind a librarian’s library desk and opted
2:39:01 in by
2:39:01 parents so they’re sexually explicit thank you thanks Michelle
2:39:05 as Michael is
2:39:06 approaching Katie Delaney Fred Kilgallen and Carrie
2:39:10 dreas if you would please approach or move to the East wall
2:39:20 good evening I’m a product of the public schools I’m the son of
2:39:25 an elementary
2:39:26 music teacher and I was one of those students that read above
2:39:29 grade level and
2:39:30 above the books available in my grade school library my parents
2:39:35 installed the
2:39:36 love of books and all their children one of the things I do now
2:39:39 in my spare time
2:39:40 is administer a local private cultural library but I came
2:39:44 tonight to speak in
2:39:45 support of the board and I’ll be PS students and support our
2:39:49 teachers and
2:39:50 support staff the last few years have been trying for all of us
2:39:55 and I commend
2:39:56 the board and all staff for doing their best in unprecedented
2:39:59 and trying
2:40:00 circumstances they have successfully accomplished all the normal
2:40:05 school
2:40:05 business while responding to both a global pandemic and multiple
2:40:09 forces
2:40:10 outside of the school district working to dismantle to store our
2:40:14 public schools
2:40:14 I urge the board to continue to stand strong in the face of the
2:40:20 ignorant and
2:40:20 the ill-informed Michael careful
2:40:24 I urge the board to continue policies keep all our students and
2:40:28 staff safe
2:40:29 from the COVID pandemic I urge the board to continue to fight
2:40:34 correct for the
2:40:35 preservation of books in our libraries and classrooms and the
2:40:38 teaching of
2:40:39 factual history and factual science I use the board to could
2:40:43 fight for
2:40:43 competitive a for our teachers and our support staff
2:40:48 I urge the board to continue to work for equity for our diverse
2:40:52 school population
2:40:54 know that there are many citizens diligent working to elect
2:40:57 school board
2:40:58 members that will continue with the mission of serving every
2:41:02 student with
2:41:02 excellence as the standard thank you Michael
2:41:06 I am told your applause please Miss Delaney
2:41:13 thank you I want to speak on parents coming to lunch the father
2:41:19 who brought
2:41:20 that up originally he didn’t have the opportunity to come and
2:41:24 volunteer in
2:41:24 your schools he wanted to go to see his little child on his
2:41:29 lunch break and he
2:41:31 should have that opportunity that is his child and he deserves
2:41:35 to see his child
2:41:36 when he wants to it is not dictated by any of you when we can
2:41:41 see our children
2:41:42 or not right now title 9 was talked about in the in the workshop
2:41:51 before and
2:41:52 right now a rape victim could be forced to go into school with
2:41:56 with their
2:41:56 rapist like what happened last year at one of our Brevard junior
2:42:02 senior highs
2:42:04 miss Belford said when they were talking on truancy that they
2:42:10 have to abide by
2:42:11 state statutes according to one of the other board members they
2:42:16 don’t have to
2:42:16 follow state statutes or the Board of Education when it comes to
2:42:21 having
2:42:22 explicit material to letting our kids basically have porn in
2:42:28 their libraries
2:42:28 that’s fine
2:42:33 or having safe bathrooms and locker rooms and protecting girls
2:42:37 sports we we
2:42:39 warned that there would be a Loudoun County situation because of
2:42:45 these
2:42:45 dangerous guidelines an incident did happen over the summer
2:42:51 in a restroom at BPS coincidentally at the same school that a
2:42:59 teacher was
2:43:00 caught by students looking at pornography during class the kids
2:43:04 took a
2:43:05 picture of it and sent it out on snapchat we have major problems
2:43:13 we need
2:43:14 you guys to take this seriously thank you Thank You mr. Amy Fred
2:43:19 Kilgallen
2:43:34 finally my name is Fred Kilgallen and thank you for letting me
2:43:39 speak first
2:43:40 we’re starting back to school during a surge in the virus
2:43:42 because of course we
2:43:43 are because Florida hey also because Florida we can’t make mask
2:43:48 wearing or
2:43:48 distancing or basically anything that might mitigate the spread
2:43:51 of the virus
2:43:52 the requirement so I’m asking you and by you I mean everyone
2:43:55 that can hear the
2:43:56 sound of my voice but least ask students and teachers to mask
2:44:00 and take what
2:44:00 precautions they can to stop the spread of kovat hey I get it we’re
2:44:04 over it
2:44:05 unfortunately just because we’re over it doesn’t mean that
2:44:08 people have magically
2:44:09 stopped dying from this a friend of mine nearly died last week
2:44:14 in Kentucky it’s
2:44:16 still out there I’m not going to explain why mitigation
2:44:20 needs to be done but I do promise to come back and say I warned
2:44:23 you about
2:44:24 this if the cases rise and people die spare all of us my return
2:44:28 to say I told
2:44:29 you so I beg you second while the Second Amendment people are fainting
2:44:34 from
2:44:34 pleasure right now at our sheriff’s announcement regarding the
2:44:38 deploying of
2:44:39 military-style weapons on campus oh my god I ask you all to work
2:44:44 harder to
2:44:45 strengthen teacher-student relationships so that when students
2:44:47 detect that one of
2:44:49 their own and it’s ninety nine point ninety nine percent one of
2:44:53 their own is
2:44:54 about to explode when violence they’ll actually think it’s a
2:44:57 good idea to tell
2:44:58 a teacher or a staff member before it happens and thus prevent
2:45:05 the act from
2:45:05 occurring in the first place good teacher-student relationships
2:45:09 is hands
2:45:09 down the best chance any school has of preventing the worst it’s
2:45:14 not mentally
2:45:15 ill people who shoot up schools it’s angry wounded ignored and
2:45:19 abused young
2:45:19 boys and men who do it imagine if they had a counselor a
2:45:23 therapist or a trusted
2:45:24 teacher they could talk to right on campus before they erupt let’s
2:45:28 put that
2:45:29 system in place and reinforce it because if the sheriff ever
2:45:33 needs to implement
2:45:33 his system it’s too late we lost Thank You Fred
2:45:38 audience hold your applause please as Carrie’s approaching our
2:45:42 next three
2:45:43 speakers will be Rochelle jolly Jabari Hosey and then Michelle
2:45:48 Baron Oh Carrie
2:45:49 whenever you’re ready good evening board I wanted to start by
2:45:55 thanking you for the clarifications that you made on the
2:45:59 misconception
2:46:00 misconceptions about HB 1647 regarding our classroom libraries
2:46:06 and our book
2:46:06 fairs I appreciate the way that you have stated it in multiple
2:46:11 meetings it’s too
2:46:12 bad that more people aren’t watching your meetings to get these
2:46:15 communication
2:46:16 I also really appreciated the way that dr. Mullen’s included in
2:46:20 his presentation
2:46:21 the portion about safety and security as a former teacher who
2:46:26 went through all of
2:46:28 those classroom trainees when the catastrophe happened in Texas
2:46:33 in the
2:46:33 spring it certainly made me reflect on how safe I felt as a
2:46:39 teacher in this
2:46:40 community and I hope that helps parents out there understand
2:46:44 that we are
2:46:45 prepared as best as you can be in the face of that type of
2:46:50 emergency I also
2:46:52 really enjoyed in listening to your banters tonight the very
2:46:57 good idea that
2:46:58 came up about the possibility of an organized effort of parental
2:47:04 parent
2:47:05 volunteers helping our media specialists and I think that would
2:47:09 definitely be an
2:47:10 area where all parents should look at their own schedule and say
2:47:14 how can I
2:47:15 get involved and be out there so the conversations tonight have
2:47:18 been
2:47:19 difficult but there’s been a lot of progress and I appreciate
2:47:22 that thank you
2:47:23 board thanks Carrie
2:47:26 Rochelle
2:47:34 I just want to thank the board for letting me come up and speak
2:47:36 tonight
2:47:37 not done this before a couple things I want to say I do think
2:47:41 that that’s a
2:47:42 great idea for parents to come into the media center and be able
2:47:44 to help out the
2:47:45 media specialists and I’m sure that there are a lot of people in
2:47:49 this room
2:47:49 who are available to do that but we have a lot of parents in
2:47:53 this community who
2:47:54 work two or three jobs who don’t have an opportunity to go in
2:47:58 and help in their
2:47:59 child’s school so I know of no other profession that depends on
2:48:04 the public to
2:48:05 come in and help them do their job
2:48:09 I’m a Brevard County resident some of my children have come to
2:48:14 me through
2:48:15 childbirth and some of them have come to me because their
2:48:17 parents cannot are not
2:48:18 able to take care of them all of my children have attended Brevard
2:48:22 Public
2:48:22 School I have a really good idea about how we might be able to
2:48:27 retain our
2:48:28 teachers and maybe even gain some I have served as a room mom of
2:48:34 chaperone field
2:48:35 trips I’ve been a high school chair mom and observed on a school
2:48:39 advisory committee
2:48:40 I have a volunteered at my children’s school that they don’t
2:48:44 even attend
2:48:45 because there are schools that don’t have parents who are able
2:48:48 to volunteer
2:48:49 at the school and I have friends who are teachers there who
2:48:52 needed help in their
2:48:53 classrooms or help on their field trip through these experiences
2:48:58 I have
2:48:58 witnessed the incredible job that our teachers do every day
2:49:01 teachers have
2:49:02 positively influenced my own life and I’m sure there are many
2:49:05 people in this
2:49:06 room who can name a teacher that they love I have seen teachers
2:49:10 navigate
2:49:11 friendships and help children learn to be good citizens I’ve
2:49:14 seen teachers
2:49:14 come for a child who had an older brother who was gunned down
2:49:19 the night
2:49:19 before and was at school the next day so while some of us are
2:49:25 able to go and
2:49:26 volunteer in these classrooms because we’ve been very fortunate
2:49:30 there are a
2:49:31 lot of parents who are not we need to be respecting our teachers
2:49:36 if we’re able to
2:49:37 help our children achieve their potential we must thank you Rochelle
2:49:41 we
2:49:41 appreciate you joining us the barring
2:49:49 hi I’m Jabari Hosey president of families for safe schools so
2:49:53 many topics
2:49:54 talk about I’m gonna pick a couple here so I’m here to thank dr.
2:49:57 Mullins and the
2:49:58 majority of the school board for protecting all of our students
2:50:01 and
2:50:01 ensuring that our student guidelines go unchanged after the
2:50:05 Department of
2:50:05 Education has requested you follow the state’s own
2:50:08 interpretation of federal
2:50:10 law title 9 is the federal law has been around for more than 50
2:50:13 years prohibits
2:50:14 sex-based discrimination and educational institutions it protect
2:50:18 the protections
2:50:19 were expanded to cover sexual characteristics stereotypes
2:50:22 pregnancy
2:50:22 orientation gender identity the governor and the Department of
2:50:26 Education have a
2:50:27 problem with the latter two and are willing to openly tell our
2:50:30 public
2:50:31 public institutions to ignore this expansion I’m happy the
2:50:35 majority of the
2:50:35 board is in favor of following the law and guidance of the
2:50:38 federal government
2:50:39 and not the state acting as an authoritarian when deciding which
2:50:42 laws
2:50:42 we can and cannot follow based on their agenda I know one of the
2:50:46 school board
2:50:47 members in particular here has a mission since this expansion
2:50:51 started to remove
2:50:52 that language of protection from our students and staff from
2:50:55 discrimination
2:50:56 but saying that she is okay with openly discriminating is a
2:51:00 slippery slope that
2:51:02 we’ve seen play out in generations and decades in the past also
2:51:06 highlighting
2:51:07 why we must teach accurate history in our classrooms so don’t we
2:51:10 don’t repeat
2:51:11 those things to the rest of the board again thank you for
2:51:14 protecting our
2:51:15 children our teachers our staff as much as you can during this
2:51:18 turbulent time as
2:51:19 we start a new school year tomorrow didn’t have a place for this
2:51:23 but I had
2:51:24 to add after seeing the sheriff’s video the militarization of
2:51:29 the BCSO SRO’s
2:51:31 brandishing assault rifles is not a solution that is not what we
2:51:36 want our
2:51:36 children to see and feel when they’re in the classrooms and we
2:51:39 have to find a
2:51:40 better solution going forward we need to have a reworking of a
2:51:44 contract or some
2:51:44 sort of discussion when it comes to having assault rifles
2:51:48 strapped on to our
2:51:49 resource officers thank you thank you as Michelle is approaching
2:51:53 our next free
2:51:54 speakers will be T. Owens, Danielle McDonough and Wyatt Stumbo
2:51:59 whenever you’re ready Michelle hello thank you and I would
2:52:03 especially like to
2:52:04 thank all the teachers out there who are getting ready to start
2:52:07 a new year under
2:52:08 attack in a way that they never have been before and never
2:52:11 should be know
2:52:12 that the majority of the parents of public school students
2:52:16 respect you and
2:52:17 appreciate the work you that you do and I ask you to hang in
2:52:21 there hopefully it’s
2:52:22 going to get better as a member of families for safe schools and
2:52:26 as a
2:52:26 parent of a Brevard County student I appreciate the commitment
2:52:30 this district
2:52:31 has made towards school safety I fully support support the hardening
2:52:36 of the
2:52:36 schools dr. Mullins that you showed us on that presentation the
2:52:39 fencing the
2:52:40 cameras the intercoms hardening the front offices for sure that
2:52:44 needs to be
2:52:45 done training and most especially increased communication are
2:52:49 wonderful
2:52:50 and those are the correct answer for protecting our students
2:52:54 they are
2:52:55 effective and they don’t increase the risks inside the schools
2:52:59 the sheriff’s
2:53:00 plan based on the video he released today is to harden the
2:53:05 schools by more
2:53:06 aggressive visible tactical weapons on our school resource
2:53:10 officers having this
2:53:11 strapped on to a SRO on our student school is not the answer for
2:53:18 those of
2:53:18 you who can’t see it over there the intent he says is to save
2:53:23 time in the
2:53:24 event of an active shooter what it will do is create a prison or
2:53:28 warlike
2:53:28 environment in our schools nobody feels safer when they see this
2:53:33 they feel like
2:53:34 they’re in imminent danger the risk is actually makes our
2:53:38 students less safe
2:53:39 the risk of a shooting in school is one in six hundred and
2:53:43 twelve million which
2:53:44 is still too high there should be zero just for comparison your
2:53:48 odds of winning
2:53:48 the Powerball are one in three hundred and two million so you
2:53:52 are twice as you
2:53:53 were twice as likely you were twice less likely to be shot in
2:53:57 school than to win
2:53:57 the Powerball the odds of an accident with a gun like this in
2:54:01 the school one
2:54:02 in eight thousand three hundred and forty nine let’s not make
2:54:06 the cure worse
2:54:06 than the disease evening thank you he Owens audience hold your
2:54:12 applause please
2:54:15 good afternoon well good evening I’m T Owen and basically I want
2:54:20 to speak
2:54:21 regarding the book banding and also LGBT rights so as books are
2:54:27 banned and words
2:54:28 can’t be used there are so many other issues to fight about
2:54:31 which actually
2:54:33 help the children one being reading most importantly the reading
2:54:37 levels reported
2:54:38 of black students and students of all races and disadvantaged
2:54:43 communities have
2:54:45 have went down have you really considered the mental health
2:54:50 issues of
2:54:50 these of those LGBT students and teachers have you considered
2:54:55 how
2:54:56 minorities feel about banning books that depict pictures of
2:55:00 black children how
2:55:02 can you can how can you cancel history our history you can’t
2:55:09 racism and
2:55:09 homophobia are real and ever-present in Florida especially in
2:55:16 Brevard County so
2:55:17 for all those teachers and students that can’t say it I’m proud
2:55:21 to be gay gay gay
2:55:24 gay please
2:55:32 Danielle McDonough
2:55:38 thank you for the opportunity to speak on one second Daniel let
2:55:43 me hear okay now
2:55:45 when you’re ready thank you for the opportunity to speak I’m dr.
2:55:48 McDonough I
2:55:49 am a BPS parent this is my 13 year I am a BPS volunteer that
2:55:54 doesn’t mean I go
2:55:55 on school field trips it actually means in a top in addition to
2:55:59 working full
2:55:59 time even when I was a grad student I was at the school I my
2:56:04 first volunteer
2:56:05 opportunity was in the media center so you know there’s always
2:56:11 been opportunity
2:56:12 for parent engagement at the school as long as you seek it out I
2:56:17 really came
2:56:18 here tonight because I went to my students meet the teacher last
2:56:22 week and
2:56:23 I walked in that school for the 13th year in a row and I felt
2:56:28 this warm
2:56:29 welcoming community full of wonderful staff that were there
2:56:35 happy and
2:56:36 welcoming to the students regardless of the stress that they
2:56:40 have been under in
2:56:41 this pre-planning and I just can’t say enough about our teachers
2:56:45 and our
2:56:45 community Brevard County is a top-rated school district in the
2:56:49 state of Florida
2:56:50 and it’s so disappointing to come here week after week and
2:56:54 listen to these
2:56:55 board meetings where people sit here and say that teachers are
2:56:59 abusive students
2:57:00 are abusive bad things are happening in our schools guess what
2:57:04 our students are
2:57:05 going to Ivy League schools our students are top athletes our
2:57:09 students are top
2:57:11 performers they’re that because they have dedicated teachers who
2:57:15 are there
2:57:16 for them every day and we need to support them another important
2:57:21 topic to
2:57:21 me is books need to be available to the kids my kids are readers
2:57:25 my kids have
2:57:27 never brought home a book that has caused them distress they
2:57:30 read anything
2:57:31 and everything that they want our classroom libraries are
2:57:34 suffering right
2:57:35 now I know that you think that they’re not but they are we need
2:57:39 to make the
2:57:40 opportunities for us to opt-in the scholastic book fairs to the
2:57:46 media
2:57:46 center the classroom libraries don’t punish us because if you
2:57:50 people don’t
2:57:50 want books thank you
2:57:56 Wyatt and as Wyatt is approaching our last speaker will be Julia
2:58:01 Anton
2:58:02 good evening more so one thing I want to touch on was the media
2:58:06 center or a
2:58:07 library employee probably some out here this weekend I was at a
2:58:11 birthday party
2:58:12 with my son and one of the people there was a media center
2:58:16 person and in our
2:58:17 discussion they reference that they are not a part of the
2:58:21 performance bonus that
2:58:23 teachers get and this person is not miss Kludzik but miss Kludzik
2:58:28 at my kids
2:58:28 school is a phenomenal librarian she goes above and beyond all
2:58:33 the time I
2:58:34 mean she’s the kind of person you want every school and I know
2:58:38 she works as
2:58:38 hard if not harder than teachers do so if that is a fact that
2:58:42 they are not part
2:58:43 of a performance-based bonus or annual or whatever you all call
2:58:47 it I would
2:58:48 challenge you to work that out with the gentleman in the back
2:58:53 that was up here
2:58:54 earlier that said I agree with volunteers in the schools and I
2:58:59 believe
2:58:59 that the volunteer read it that we did last year did that expire
2:59:05 where you
2:59:06 didn’t have to pay for fingerprints it so volunteers are still
2:59:10 good to go that
2:59:11 leads to my solution which is eating with your children is
2:59:15 important and I
2:59:17 think we all agree parental involvement in schools is very
2:59:19 important so with an
2:59:21 approved volunteer status why couldn’t you go in that would
2:59:24 handle the security
2:59:25 concern closing it out I’m going to say that uh back to the
2:59:31 discussion on
2:59:32 coaches when you look at our mission to serve every student with
2:59:36 excellence why
2:59:37 are we not taking the better coach regardless of who they work
2:59:40 for that
2:59:41 makes no sense to me we shouldn’t be giving preference to
2:59:44 teachers if the
2:59:46 other person is better but doesn’t work for the school that’s
2:59:48 the problem I have
2:59:49 with unions thank you thanks Wyatt all right Julia
3:00:01 okay so I’m at the store and I make my purchase and the cashier
3:00:04 has no idea how
3:00:06 to count the change I think to myself this is why public
3:00:10 education is so
3:00:11 important we should be able to go to the store buy what we buy
3:00:15 pay for our stuff
3:00:16 and get our change back by somebody who knows how to do it
3:00:20 publication public
3:00:21 education is good for the community it’s to graduate an educated
3:00:25 workforce that
3:00:26 knows how to analyze contracts execute building plans create and
3:00:30 enforce fire
3:00:31 codes fix broken computers staff aircraft control towers
3:00:35 practice medicine
3:00:36 operate forklifts take inventory negotiate real estate deals
3:00:40 analyze
3:00:41 business processes write novels instruction manuals highlight
3:00:45 airplanes
3:00:46 and oh yeah go to the moon and that’s why the community funds
3:00:51 public
3:00:51 education public education is not some taxpayer funded babysitting
3:00:57 or parental
3:00:58 convenience all of the community is the school systems customers
3:01:03 not just the
3:01:03 parents not just the kids all of the community we the community
3:01:08 deserve a
3:01:08 system to meet the community’s needs by serving every student
3:01:12 with excellence as
3:01:13 the standard that includes gay students trans students straight
3:01:16 students who say
3:01:17 gay that includes students who read hot fan to kill a mockingbird
3:01:20 or the
3:01:21 outsiders students with non-traditional family structures
3:01:24 students are Hindu
3:01:25 Sikh Buddhist agnostic Jewish Muslim atheist it includes
3:01:30 students belonging
3:01:30 to demographics historically mistreated lynched or enslaved who
3:01:35 have just as
3:01:36 much right to hear about their own ancestors history as to learn
3:01:38 about
3:01:39 Robert E. Lee every student means every student the community’s
3:01:44 agenda is not
3:01:44 culture wars not removing books from the library or classroom
3:01:48 not falsely
3:01:49 accusing teachers of being better pedophiles or groomers the
3:01:53 compute
3:01:54 community’s agenda is to support our teachers and staff the
3:01:58 community agenda
3:01:59 is the customer the community is the customer its agenda is
3:02:03 education thank
3:02:04 you Julia we appreciate you joining us this evening audience
3:02:07 please hold your
3:02:07 applause
3:02:11 all right that concludes this evening speakers the board wishes
3:02:15 to thank you
3:02:15 for joining us this evening anything for the good of the order
3:02:20 can we just missy
3:02:22 I just want to clarify one thing that was said by one of the
3:02:25 speakers if you
3:02:25 don’t mind just something super simple one of the speakers
3:02:28 brought up teacher
3:02:29 bonuses and I just I just want to clarify that just because I
3:02:32 understand
3:02:33 why that would be a concern if you heard that and so what you
3:02:36 were talking about
3:02:36 or what was told to you was an old bonus from the state and that
3:02:42 was true we had
3:02:43 nothing to do with that that was not under our control but the
3:02:45 bonuses that
3:02:45 BPS has administered has gone to all of our all of our teachers
3:02:49 and our media
3:02:49 specialists so they are correct in what they said but that had
3:02:53 nothing to do
3:02:53 with BPS and that’s all they don’t even have that anymore
3:02:55 thank you miss Jenkins anyone else hearing nothing further this
3:03:01 meeting is now adjourned have a great evening
3:03:06 you