Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 ♪
18:35 I think the early release days could answer a lot of our
18:40 concerns or issues.
18:40 Where I differ is as a teacher,
18:45 finishing after Memorial Day, we talk about wasted days in
18:50 Thanksgiving week.
18:50 Those are absolutely wasted days if we come back after Memorial
18:54 Day.
18:55 Imagine putting semester exams on those days after that weekend.
19:00 So I’ve lived it, I’ve taught it.
19:05 I’d much rather be at school Monday, Tuesday of the Thanksgiving
19:09 week.
19:10 I would prefer if we could do both, have the full week and be
19:14 done by Memorial Day.
19:15 So I think that would be, if you’re talking about researching
19:19 things and
19:20 finding some time, that would really be the home run.
19:25 I’d be curious how you ask the questions of which one did you
19:29 ask first.
19:30 The week at Thanksgiving sounds great, but
19:34 maybe that’s the first question that was asked.
19:36 If it was, do you want to be done by Memorial Day?
19:38 I think that may have as popular a response as having the full
19:42 week off.
19:43 » Sure.
19:45 » Some of the things that I would like for us to research is
19:48 maybe some e-learning days.
19:50 We talked about hurricane days, and how many of those hurricane
19:55 days have we set up?
19:56 And it wound up being just a precaution and kids are sitting
20:00 home in very good weather.
20:02 But there are states that have incorporated e-learning days
20:07 since COVID.
20:08 And they’ve utilized them for snow days, for example.
20:11 » Right.
20:12 » So if we can do something like that, I think that’s something
20:15 for us to look at.
20:17 That could save us some time on the schedule, on the calendar.
20:21 All for looking at turning everything on its ear,
20:26 making good use of our teachers’ times, our students’ and
20:32 parents’ times also.
20:33 And I’m sure we’re going to have a discussion on that later.
20:35 So we got a little bit of work ahead of us there.
20:38 » Thank you.
20:40 » Thank you, Mr. Trent.
20:42 So one of the things I want to ask you, when we were looking at
20:44 this calendar,
20:45 I think I discovered this last year when we had hurricanes.
20:49 We don’t have a uniform bell schedule.
20:51 Is that accurate?
20:52 » That is accurate.
20:53 » Okay.
20:54 I think it would be very wise for the district to look into a
20:57 uniform bell schedule,
20:58 because I believe what I heard when the hurricane day happened
21:01 was that a lot of that makeup time
21:04 was driven by just a handful of schools because of their
21:07 different bell schedule than other schools.
21:09 Is that accurate?
21:10 » Yeah, so I can explain that.
21:12 Basically, the requirement is instructional minutes.
21:14 » Right.
21:15 » We always talk about 180 school days and that kind of thing.
21:17 It really doesn’t have anything to do with days.
21:19 It has to do with instructional minutes.
21:21 And that’s why there’s been some side conversations about early
21:24 release days,
21:25 because we lose 75 minutes of instruction every Friday.
21:29 Every Friday early release day, we lose 75 minutes of
21:31 instruction.
21:32 So one of the ways we made up hurricane days this year was to
21:37 eliminate some of those Friday early release days.
21:39 We gathered back that instructional time.
21:41 Because, again, it’s not about days, it’s about minutes.
21:44 So some of our secondary schools have different bell schedules
21:48 than other secondary schools.
21:50 Some have four-minute passing times because they’re small
21:52 campuses.
21:53 Some have five-minute passing times because they’re larger
21:55 campuses with larger enrollments.
21:57 Some have three lunches to not get into the weeds, but when you’re
22:02 trying to feed 2,000 students,
22:04 it’s kind of hard to do two lunches, 1,000 each.
22:08 Our cafeterias may not be big enough, we don’t have seating
22:10 areas,
22:11 so you split that into maybe three lunches or four lunches in
22:14 order to have teachers get a 30-minute duty-free lunch.
22:18 You have to extend that period, whatever period is married up to
22:20 lunch.
22:21 So there are reasons for not having uniform bell schedules.
22:26 It’s the variety of the campuses we have as far as size and
22:29 practices and things like that.
22:32 Could we uniform that? We could go to maybe a uniform minimum
22:37 for class periods.
22:39 Like every school has to have at least 48 minutes every day,
22:42 something like that.
22:44 And we have done that in the past.
22:46 So the schools who have a four-minute passing, maybe they do 49
22:50 minutes or something like that.
22:52 So when we start out the year, we do check everybody’s bell
22:54 schedule to make sure that you’re going to have enough minutes,
22:58 whether it’s you have 48 or you have 49 or you have a four-minute
23:01 passing or whatever.
23:03 But most of those campuses, they’re maximizing the instructional
23:08 time that they can get.
23:10 It’s just some of those things like having three lunches or four
23:13 lunches because of how big they are.
23:17 That impacts things.
23:18 Like when you’re a school that only has two lunches, it’s kind
23:20 of easier to squeeze those 30-minute duty-free lunches in
23:24 without expanding the period that’s assigned to the lunch.
23:28 Once you go to three lunches, now you’ve got to build in more
23:30 time.
23:31 So if you expand that period, then you decrease time in the
23:35 other periods.
23:36 We also have a couple of schools who have power hour or anchor
23:40 hour, and so that impacts the school day.
23:44 Edgewood and West Shore actually have a longer school day than
23:47 the other high schools.
23:48 So there could be a discussion about maybe lengthening the
23:51 school day so you can guarantee that every school has 49 minutes
23:54 or something like that.
23:56 There are other districts that are doing that because of the
24:00 late start date,
24:01 because of the August 10th falling on a weekend.
24:04 There are some districts that are lengthening their high school
24:06 schedule,
24:07 lengthening the day of the high school schedules to ensure that
24:10 they have the minutes they need
24:12 because, again, it’s about minutes, not necessarily about days.
24:16 So we can look at a uniform bell schedule or maybe a minimum
24:20 period.
24:21 Like every period has got to be at least 48 minutes or something
24:23 like that.
24:24 I would be curious, I think it would be smart for the board to
24:26 know what the bell schedule looks like for each of the schools.
24:29 I don’t know that, and I think we all should know that so we can
24:31 identify which schools it was that we were really running into
24:35 an issue.
24:35 So if we have to address them case by case, then we know, okay,
24:39 this is the school that needs a couple minutes extra here and
24:42 there.
24:43 For me, non-negotiable on the Thanksgiving week, I think that
24:46 that is very, very important for families to have that.
24:50 And in a perfect world, I want to not be in school, excuse me,
24:54 school past Memorial Day.
24:57 The reality is a lot of those days we know what happens at the
25:00 end of school, right?
25:02 They become parties. They become, you know, during the winter it’s,
25:05 hey, we’re going to watch 100 movies.
25:06 And those are all great things. It’s great.
25:08 But we also see an increase in absences, so I just think it’s
25:10 smart for us to use our time as wisely as we can.
25:13 So you have to work the magic. And I guess Ms. Jenkins is here
25:17 now, so she may want to chime in on this.
25:19 We’re discussing the two different calendars, and I don’t know
25:22 if you want to jump in on the next topic or if you, I don’t know.
25:26 She got stuck in traffic, so.
25:29 I had spoken to Dr. Rundell about this earlier today. I don’t, I
25:32 truly don’t really have a preference.
25:35 I feel like it’s always a double-edged sword when we’re having
25:37 this conversation.
25:38 I think families would be really irritated if we took away
25:40 Thanksgiving break after they had it, so my gut is to lean
25:43 towards the other option.
25:45 But I don’t feel strongly in either way.
25:48 Okay. All right. So you, Ms. Campbell, have signified that you
25:55 wanted to circle back and discuss this again.
25:59 I do. I do.
26:00 Okay.
26:01 Not necessarily. I mean, the Thanksgiving, I think we’ve kind of
26:03 got the…
26:04 Yeah, I think we’ve got our marching orders for 24-25 and 25-26.
26:08 I just, because we’ve been talking about creative other
26:10 solutions, I just wanted to throw, I have been doing some, some
26:13 other research into other counties, and I wasn’t quite done, but
26:17 I wanted to take a look at the six counties that are closest to
26:22 us in size.
26:23 I did look at the three that were just bigger than us and three
26:25 that were just smaller than us, and then the five surrounding
26:27 counties, which three of those are the same, the ones that, you
26:31 know, touch us.
26:32 Seminole doesn’t, but it’s real close, so I added in Orange and
26:34 Indian River.
26:35 Indian River is the one that I just couldn’t get a hold of.
26:38 But I was taking a look at do they do early release, what does
26:40 their school day look like, because when I’ve looked at
26:42 solutions in other times, especially when we talk about
26:45 hurricane days, we always talk about how, what we have to do to
26:49 make up the minutes and everything.
26:52 You know, there are a lot of school districts that have longer
26:55 school days than we do.
26:57 And some of them have similar length of school days, but they
27:01 don’t do early release every week, or they don’t do early
27:05 release at all.
27:07 So I did want to touch on one thing before I jump into this,
27:09 because this is not too long, but I just want to take a few
27:11 minutes through this.
27:12 But on the uniform bell schedule, because of, second to all
27:15 those things that Dr. Rendell was saying, every school is so
27:18 unique.
27:19 And also, with the planning times and everything, but they, that
27:22 one, I would rather allow the schools to continue to have the
27:26 flexibility, just because of all of the differences we have
27:29 between our schools, so when we talk about moving forward.
27:33 But here are some things that I found.
27:35 So Pasco, which is the next district, just larger than us, has,
27:40 their elementary school hours are six, they have six hour and
27:43 ten minute days, six hour and twenty minute days for their
27:45 secondary, which is shorter than us.
27:47 We are, just for, to start with our, with Brevard, we have six
27:50 and a half hour days for elementary, in general, except for the
27:53 few exceptions, we’re doing power hour and things, six hour and
27:55 forty five minute days for middle school and high school.
27:58 So Pasco has shorter days, but they only do four early release
28:01 days, they release four times a year, two hours, and it’s just
28:05 for professional development.
28:07 Pinellas has a little bit shorter days than us, they have six
28:10 hour and ten minutes for elementary, six and a half hours for
28:14 middle and high school, they stopped doing early release days
28:17 six to seven years ago.
28:19 So they have, they’re getting all those minutes that way.
28:22 Lee County, these are the ones that are just bigger than us,
28:24 also has a little bit shorter days, they have six hour and
28:27 fifteen minute elementary days, six and a half hour high school
28:29 days, they also only do four early release days per year, and
28:34 that’s for PD.
28:36 Osceola, so the ones that are just smaller than us, Osceola has
28:39 all of theirs, elementary, middle, and high, are almost seven
28:43 hours long, six hours and fifty five minutes for all three grade
28:47 bands.
28:48 They do have early release every Wednesday, except for four
28:52 through the year, they have non-early release Wednesdays, and
28:56 their early release is only one hour.
28:59 So they do that every week, but they have a longer day.
29:01 Seminole has about the same as us, except for high school, they
29:04 have six and a half hour elementary days, six and forty, six
29:07 hours and forty five minutes for middle, but they have seven
29:10 hour high school days.
29:11 They also do early release every Wednesday, but it’s only for
29:15 one hour.
29:16 Did I get that correct, Mr. Dufresne? Okay.
29:18 Volusia has longer days for elementary, six hours and forty
29:21 minutes, middle is the same, six forty five, and then for high
29:25 school, seven hours, they also do early release every week, but
29:29 it’s only for one hour.
29:31 Orange has, there’s various, their elementary’s are all six
29:35 hours and fifteen minutes, which is shorter, their elementary’s
29:39 are six hours and thirty four minutes, that was kind of weird,
29:43 but their high school is seven hours.
29:44 They also have early release every Wednesday, it is only an hour
29:47 for elementary and an hour and ten minutes for middle and high.
29:50 So, and I couldn’t get to Indian River, because I couldn’t find
29:54 it, but I didn’t see early release for them.
29:58 So I bring all that up to say, our amount of instructional time
30:02 is shorter when you calculate all this early release time, is
30:07 shorter than what I’m doing, the quick math, every single one of
30:11 these districts.
30:12 And when I started really thinking about it was last spring when
30:16 Dr. Cody did the presentation for us and started talking about
30:20 how Brevard used to be up here and Brevard has fallen in the
30:23 state rankings.
30:24 And I asked Dr. Rendell later on this summer, can you have staff
30:27 to go back and look when we started falling.
30:30 And you can’t prove causation, but I want to be very clear, you
30:34 can show correlation, and Brevard started to drop in the state
30:39 rankings when we started to do early release and make, and I
30:43 remember all of it, because I was a parent through all this.
30:45 I remember we just used to do it every, randomly, and then we
30:47 did it every other Wednesday, and then we did it every Wednesday,
30:49 and then we moved it to Friday.
30:51 I’ve been a part of this district through all of that.
30:53 So I get all of that, but we have less instructional time for
30:56 our students and that’s when we started to fall.
30:59 And we’ve had conversations about deregulation.
31:01 One of the pieces that was in the deregulation was about recess.
31:06 They asked, you know, can we make it, you know, we have to have
31:08 this 100 minutes of recess, you have to do 20 minutes a day for
31:11 recess, but can you give districts flexibility?
31:14 Because what happens on our early release day, the day is an
31:16 hour and 15 minutes shorter, but the elementary still have to
31:19 squeeze in 20 minutes of recess.
31:21 So there’s some days a class may have to choose not to do math
31:24 one day or to shorten their reading block.
31:26 And that’s really challenging when that’s the goal of why we’re
31:29 here, is this academic, you know, preparation, you know, to push
31:33 our kids to the next level.
31:35 I think that we’ve, I think we’ve sacrificed that a little bit
31:38 in what we’ve done.
31:39 So I want to just make that clear because I have been talking,
31:42 having conversations with district staff and trying to see what
31:46 other districts are doing.
31:48 And my thought in all this is we have, we’re shortchanging our
31:51 students because they have less instructional time.
31:55 And what happens then is when we have a hurricane, when we have
31:59 calendar issues, then we’re strapped because we’re at the bare
32:03 minimum.
32:04 And I’m going to share something.
32:06 One thing that there’s a district Flagler and I saw an article
32:09 last week you may have seen in the Pineapple News.
32:12 They’re adding one minute per period for their high school.
32:17 So they’re making their day in instead of 240 at 247, which is a
32:20 little odd, but that one minute.
32:22 So Flagler’s a unique situation. They wanted to keep their full
32:25 Thanksgiving off.
32:26 They wanted to end their first semester before Christmas.
32:29 And they had to, because they use five of their schools for
32:33 polling places, they’re giving the kids the whole day off for
32:36 the August primary and the whole day off for Election Day in
32:39 November.
32:40 So in order to do that, they’re adding, and they’re in the same
32:43 boat we are, right?
32:44 Nobody can start school before the 12th next year.
32:46 They’re adding one minute per period for high school.
32:49 Let’s put everything out there.
32:52 Because I know the union’s listening, or if they’re not
32:54 listening now, they’re going to be listening later, and this is
32:56 something that has to be bargained.
32:57 I just want to be crystal clear on this.
32:59 I’m willing to look at, me as a board member, I’m willing to be
33:02 flexible, to compromise.
33:04 If we do something like other districts do and we make our early
33:08 release an hour or 45 minutes instead of an hour and 15 minutes,
33:12 if we lengthen our school days from what they are to closer to
33:17 seven hours, I am willing to look at all of those things.
33:22 But the main focus for me is that instructional time, because
33:26 that is the most important thing that we’re here for.
33:30 And I want to make sure that our schools have the time they need
33:34 with all the restrictions and everything that all the other
33:37 districts have as well.
33:38 We’re not the only district dealing with recess time.
33:41 Everybody has those same things put on them.
33:44 Our students need as much instructional time as they can get so
33:48 that we can move them forward and they can progress like they
33:50 need to.
33:51 And as a district, our goal is to rise back up to the top where
33:55 we used to be.
33:56 And I don’t think we can do that with our instructional time the
34:00 way that we have it right now.
34:02 Thank you.
34:04 I think Mr. Trent being an educator and stuff like that in the
34:14 school system also,
34:15 and I know that Ms. Jenkins was a speech pathologist and I know
34:19 Ms. Campbell, you’ve covered some classrooms too and stuff.
34:22 Part of the issue that you have with the early release day is
34:25 that by shortening it, your schedules get out and the kids are
34:28 kind of on a different schedule, right?
34:30 So if you do the numbers, you have 32 early release days at 1.125
34:34 hours or whatever.
34:36 You run right at about 40 hours of work.
34:39 I know as an educator that it’s difficult to work on a schedule
34:42 based on it being a little bit shortened because of the lunches.
34:46 Everything just kind of throws the kids off once a week.
34:48 But the other thing is that you can take those, and I think the
34:50 ultimate goal for those teachers is to have a break, to have a
34:53 little bit of extra time.
34:55 If you took those 40 hours and spread them out over work days
34:58 that could be, you know what I mean, times for off and things
35:00 like that,
35:01 that becomes a different conversation, and that’s what I was
35:03 getting at.
35:04 I think the idea was to move in that direction.
35:07 We slowly moved it as an A district, and now it’s, hey, we’ve
35:10 got to start looking at every nook and cranny to where we can
35:13 say that we can add a little bit there.
35:15 And taking away from the teachers is one thing, but then also
35:17 giving them a better opportunity to teach and have the time off
35:20 would be another.
35:21 The other issue that we haven’t spoke about is the idea that we
35:24 may be able to move to a six-period day,
35:26 which now all of a sudden opens up a whole lot more of options
35:28 and ideas and conversations and everything else.
35:31 So I think our school district is at that point where we can
35:34 creatively take a look at some of the options,
35:37 and I think that I’m ready to do that also. So thank you.
35:41 Mr. Schmidt, do you have anything else to add?
35:46 Well, no, other than – so I guess I do. When Matt brought up
35:49 the six-period day, which leads us to a possible, going back to
35:54 a 24 credits graduation,
35:57 I think that absolutely needs to be looked at. It’s a different
36:01 day in Brevard, and again, we need to put all that on the table.
36:08 One other suggestion I would like to maybe throw out there is
36:11 that the weeks that we have a short week because of a holiday,
36:14 if we pulled the early release days there, would that help – I
36:17 know it would help our minutes, but maybe look at those.
36:19 I don’t know how many minutes that would get for us if we said,
36:22 hey, on a short weekday we are not going to have an early
36:23 release day.
36:24 I will tell you, the teachers have been very vocal. I’m guessing
36:29 that you guys are getting emails the same as I am.
36:32 They love their early release days. So the last thing we want to
36:35 do is upset our entire staff over, hey, we want to take these
36:37 early release days.
36:38 It’s a fine balance. We need to make sure that we’re honoring
36:40 their request.
36:41 I understand that every district does things different. I wasn’t
36:44 here when this came about.
36:45 I don’t know how it came about or why it came about necessarily.
36:48 It sounds to me like maybe it was an offer in lieu of money kind
36:52 of deal back in the day.
36:54 And so wasn’t here for it. We have it now. It’s here. It’s in
36:57 contract.
36:58 And like you said, Mr. Dufresne, this is not an easy solution to
37:00 just, oh, we want to do this and we’re going to fix it this way.
37:03 Can we look at those? And all of these things require
37:06 negotiating with the union because they are written into
37:08 contract.
37:09 So I think you have a resounding message here of we want
37:12 Thanksgiving.
37:14 I think everybody said we’re not taking away Thanksgiving. We
37:17 would like to finish before Memorial Day.
37:19 I would like to finish before Memorial Day. I think that was the
37:21 same thing. Do we have consensus on that?
37:24 It would depend on what we’re losing, because, I mean, we got to
37:27 put it somewhere.
37:28 I mean, we’ve got to put all these things somewhere. So with the
37:31 calendars that were presented, we can do one or we can do the
37:34 other, but we can’t do both.
37:36 Correct. So both of these counter options meet the contract
37:39 requirements and the state requirements.
37:42 So, you know, you could give us direction to move forward with
37:45 one of these with the option of maybe negotiating with the union
37:49 to see if there could be any changes to the contract that could
37:51 alleviate some of that as well.
37:54 Which could be temporary.
37:55 Right. We would need to go ahead and bring one of these to you
37:57 for approval at a business meeting. So that would be our
38:00 official calendar.
38:01 The board can change the calendar at any time. So we could adopt
38:04 calendar A, which is the full week of Thanksgiving, two weeks
38:07 into Memorial Day.
38:09 And if we were successful in negotiating some changes to the
38:12 contract that alleviated, you know, that two-day push into May,
38:17 into the end of May, then we could come back with a revision to
38:19 the calendar.
38:20 I think, you know, the one thing that we can unequivocally state
38:23 to the community is we’re going to have a full week off of
38:27 Thanksgiving.
38:28 So, you know, that is – we’re getting that message loud and
38:31 clear. And that, you know, so that’s calendar A, or so to speak,
38:35 the first one.
38:36 Right.
38:37 And so that’s probably the one we’d work off of. And if there’s
38:38 no way to make any changes to that, then that’s the calendar we’ll
38:42 present to you.
38:43 And, you know, if there are, then we still could present that to
38:46 you and get it approved. But if there are changes later, you
38:50 know, I hear discussion, suggestion about shortening the early
38:54 release time.
38:55 You know, so maybe we can gain enough minutes back to shave off
38:59 one of those days. Or, you know, one of the things that Pasco
39:04 County is doing, for example, is they’re increasing their
39:09 instructional minutes for the high schools and shaving off a
39:13 couple of days of instruction.
39:15 And so they’re not doing 180 days, they’re doing 178 days. And
39:19 those two extra days, so to speak, in the teacher calendar,
39:22 because the students aren’t there but the teachers are, they’re
39:26 giving those PD and work days.
39:28 So, you know, that’s something we could talk about with the
39:30 union is if we were to give up the Friday early release days, I
39:33 think that’s where Mr. Susan was going, you might be able to
39:36 give it back to them in full planning days.
39:38 That’s right. Yeah.
39:39 You know, so we can have those conversations. The fire drill
39:45 right now is we need to kind of have a calendar that we can put
39:48 up, you know, for approval. And it sounds like the first version
39:52 of the calendar is what we go with for now.
39:55 For me, it would be if it’s A or B, it absolutely would be A.
39:57 Right. We got four out of five, so.
40:02 All right.
40:04 So we’re done with the discussion in regards to the calendar.
40:07 I think so.
40:08 So I’m going to ask Mr. Gibbs, so this just real fast for clarifying
40:12 purposes.
40:13 I have on here discussion topic that kind of coincides with the
40:15 calendar. And so I’m just wondering what it makes sense to have
40:18 this conversation now rather than circling back to calendar
40:20 after. Is there a pay?
40:22 Okay. All right. So, board, at the last I think it was workshop
40:26 in November, I had mentioned to each of you this idea of year
40:30 round school and asked each of you to go out and start talking
40:34 to your principals, start talking to teachers, parents, pull
40:38 whoever you can on what their thoughts and their feelings are or
40:41 even experiences with year round school.
40:43 And so I’m going to go ahead and I’m going to launch first on
40:46 this one, which is probably a little different on why I think
40:49 this is a good solution and then open it up for discussion and
40:53 then we’ll move from there.
40:55 So I will full disclosure, I am a product of year round school
40:58 within Brevard County Public Schools.
41:00 So when I went to school, elementary school here, challenger
41:03 seven was a year round school and I have nothing but wonderful
41:05 things to say about it.
41:07 A lot of people, when you say year round school, they say, what
41:09 does that look like? What is that? And really, it equates to the
41:12 same amount of time in school.
41:14 You’re just not taking that huge break during the summer. So you’re
41:18 spreading out those weeks other times of the year.
41:21 Where I think this is extremely beneficial for our district is
41:24 that, well, there’s multiple reasons on why I’ll sell it.
41:27 The first one being is that teacher burnout is real, right? The
41:31 teachers need a break.
41:32 I think that this is a way that they would say, hey, you know
41:35 what? We’re almost at a break. We can get there.
41:37 And, you know, they will appreciate it. You can talk to any
41:40 teacher who’s ever taught in a year round school and they all
41:42 love it.
41:43 They ask me to bring it back all the time. My challenger seven
41:46 teachers, you know, our summer slide that we see.
41:49 So where our teachers, our students are lacking and teachers are
41:52 spending, you know, the first month trying to catch them back up
41:55 because they haven’t been in school.
41:56 They’ve been sleeping in, they’ve been playing video games,
41:58 playing with their friends.
41:59 So teachers are scrambling and spending an exorbitant amount of
42:02 time to catch them back up from the previous year’s learning.
42:06 Another benefit that I think it poses to families is that it
42:09 spreads the expense of child care out.
42:11 So if you have to pay for child care in one big chunk, two and a
42:14 half months versus spreading it out over the year, that’s
42:17 beneficial.
42:18 That helps families. It also would give our district the ability
42:21 to run intervention sessions, possibly during those breaks,
42:25 whenever the kids are out of school.
42:26 So if you have students that were struggling, we could use those
42:28 weeks when they’re not in school and offer some type of tutoring
42:31 in our schools, still using our facilities.
42:34 I know this conversation is one that’s a big conversation. It
42:37 requires many departments. I know it requires our facilities.
42:39 I’m sure Miss Hannah don’t know where she’s at if she’s in here,
42:42 but she might be having her eye twitch right now because I know
42:44 she does a lot of her construction during the summer months
42:47 whenever there’s that big break.
42:48 It permits families the ability to travel other times during the
42:51 year as well.
42:52 So you’re not strapped to just vacationing during the summer
42:55 when everybody else is and it’s more expensive or in the winter,
42:59 same scenario.
43:00 You know, I think it’s a unique opportunity. I think it could be
43:03 something that sets Brevard apart from other districts.
43:06 And I think it’s something that we should really take a deep
43:09 dive on exploring, especially when we’re talking about the
43:12 calendar struggles we have.
43:14 If we were looking at a year round model, we could use some time
43:17 there where we weren’t so strapped on minutes.
43:20 We could say, oh, a day here or we’re going to, you know, it
43:22 would help us. It would give us a lot more flexibility.
43:25 So that is all I’m going to say. And then I’m going to open it
43:28 up for discussion and see what the rest of the board thinks.
43:32 Does anybody want to go first?
43:37 I know that this is just like a conversational discussion, but
43:42 and I know that there’s an option on the table through the state
43:45 that’s different than every single school doing year round right
43:48 now.
43:49 But because we’re having the conversation, I’m just going to
43:51 kind of put it out there. So one of my hesitations is that it’s
43:55 often proposed or theorized that year round schooling has
44:00 significant benefits to academic success.
44:04 But it’s hard to say that because there’s not a lot of data out
44:07 there to actually prove that correlation other than the summer
44:10 slide effect, because there’s still those breaks in between.
44:14 And so when you look at the other states that traditionally are
44:17 doing that, there’s no correlation between their schools
44:20 performance versus other states that aren’t doing it.
44:24 So but there’s other there’s other reasons that someone might
44:26 want to do it. But I have a lot of hesitations and I’m just
44:29 going to throw them out there.
44:31 So obviously this would impact the community overall. And when
44:35 you talk about aftercare and daycare, you’re going to impact
44:40 those businesses that provide those services. You’re going to
44:44 impact the recreation departments that provide services during
44:44 some of those breaks and after school breaks.
44:47 And at some point. So I guess I’m going to talk about this
44:53 overall as if we did it across a district like for secondary and
44:59 elementary. Originally, when I was thinking about this, I was
45:01 looking at the proposition through the administration right now,
45:02 which is only elementary.
45:03 So just overall, I’m going to make a statement of doing them
45:06 completely different from one another is just like a disaster
45:09 for families if secondary schools are running on a different
45:12 calendar than elementary. So I’m going to speak as if they’re
45:15 all running at the same the same time.
45:17 What this really impacts is families in low income areas. It’s
45:21 difficult enough to find affordable daycare. And then in order
45:25 to find affordable daycare that you don’t need consistently is
45:28 even more difficult.
45:29 So that that’s going to be a challenge for certain communities
45:32 as well. Again, as those facilities themselves.
45:36 Organizationally, this can be difficult. It’s going to be a
45:38 totally different payroll burden, a whole new pay structure.
45:41 Again, originally, when I was thinking about having this
45:44 conversation, I thought the proposal is going to be elementary,
45:47 year round, secondary, not.
45:49 So that could change depending on what it is. Some of those
45:52 hourly employees would not or some of the salary employees to
45:55 would not necessarily be 10 month employees anymore. They’d be
45:59 12 month employees. So I don’t know if that would impact
46:01 changing job descriptions as well.
46:03 Transportation management and upkeep with those food and food
46:07 and nutrition services. And then, of course, of course, the
46:11 significant increase of costs over the summer when we’re running
46:16 AC and electric bills and all that stuff.
46:19 Again, if the proposition is to at some point have elementary
46:22 running and secondary not on the same calendar, we’re going to
46:25 have an issue with our staff members who work in secondary
46:28 schools who have elementary age students because now all of a
46:32 sudden they’re not going to have the same schedule as their
46:36 child anymore.
46:37 And then they’re going to have to find daycare and find costs
46:40 for that as well. So that’s going to be difficult. Speaking from
46:44 a staff perspective to a significant portion of our staff work
46:47 second jobs consistently over the summer just to supplement
46:50 their income.
46:51 So taking that away from them could very much impact their
46:55 overall household budget that they can’t recover from. And they
46:59 force them to genuinely leave this profession.
47:02 I don’t remember the statistic. I feel like it was a year or two
47:06 ago and BFT had presented it. But just for teachers, I want to
47:09 say it was like 50 percent of our teachers or 40 percent of our
47:12 teachers were working second jobs, typically over the summer,
47:15 but also after school.
47:17 So just something to think about. When we look at our ESC
47:20 students too, it’s not necessarily beneficial for them to have
47:25 more transitions throughout the school year. So those little
47:29 breaks in between that might be less impactful to a gen ed
47:33 student are actually going to be significantly impactful to many
47:35 of our ESC students because it’s causing more transitions within
47:39 their educational environment.
47:40 So it’s something that we need to consider. And also for those
47:44 families, most daycares and aftercare facilities don’t always
47:48 offer services for those students and or it’s very difficult to
47:51 get services for those students and a quality affordable daycare.
47:56 So those families are going to significantly struggle when it
47:59 comes to repetitive breaks throughout the year versus a program
48:02 that they can get their student into.
48:04 I also would like to understand going forward if this is
48:08 something we do decide. Are ESC students who have extended
48:11 school year services, how exactly is that implemented in a year
48:15 round structure?
48:16 Because that’s kind of confusing and traditionally those year
48:21 round extended school year services are traditionally filled by
48:26 our own staff because they’re willing to take on another three
48:31 weeks or so of working in the summer.
48:34 I don’t know if they’re going to feel that same way if they’re
48:38 working year round. I don’t know if we’re going to have that
48:42 volunteer base that we traditionally have. They’re getting paid,
48:46 but you know what I mean? The position itself is voluntary.
48:46 Another thing to consider too, there’d have to be a tremendous
48:49 heads up because we’re going to have a significant portion of
48:52 our community who have custody agreements with their significant
48:56 other, with the guardian of that child that will absolutely have
49:00 to be amended when it comes to the breaks that those students
49:03 are on.
49:03 Not only the financial burden that that would put on some
49:06 families, but just the legal burden. If it’s not a happy amicable
49:11 custodial agreement, that could take months. That could back up
49:17 the court system that’s already backed up.
49:20 Again, it’s something to think about because that’s a
49:27 significant portion of our students that we have to consider.
49:36 Correct me if I’m misspeaking for you, but I feel like you’re
49:37 talking holistically here for the future, but I do know that
49:39 there’s that pilot program on the table, which is a totally
49:42 different conversation.
49:44 One I was a little confused about, and Dr. Indell kind of filled
49:47 me in a little bit this morning too, so you might offer some
49:49 clarification there. I was under the impression that it was a
49:53 pilot program, only certain counties will be accepted.
49:57 I thought it was all elementary schools in the county. Dr. Indell
50:01 told me that it’s probably one, so it’s a whole different
50:05 conversation for me.
50:07 I’m not opposed to that as long as that community and school is
50:10 surveyed and we feel like it’s going to be palatable. The one
50:14 thing I hesitate to, though, is the one school we’re considering.
50:18 I’d argue it’s kind of an interesting choice for a pilot program
50:23 because we’re not really going to be able to test whether or not
50:25 it’s increasing academic performance in a really diverse
50:31 community with diverse incomes.
50:35 We might be working there, but it’s not going to prove for us
50:38 whether or not it’s going to work in a different area is the
50:40 only thing that I’m hesitant about, but I’m not against us
50:43 asking that community if they want to do it.
50:46 For me, if we are going to go that route, I’m not against it,
50:49 but I think it would be smart for us to allow these pilot
50:52 programs that are going on across the state to fulfill their
50:56 four years of data and they’re going to do a cost-benefit
50:59 analysis as well before we consider proposing waivers or
51:02 anything to change things here in Brevard.
51:05 But I have a feeling if the state’s going to consider this,
51:09 there will be annual updates on those schools. So I don’t think
51:14 it’s a bad idea to put it on the table and watch it, but I’d be
51:18 hesitant to jump ahead of the train.
51:21 Did you want me to clarify if I was talking about just primaries?
51:31 Yeah, please, sorry. And just full disclosure, I went into this
51:36 thinking it was going to be all elementary schools and not
51:36 secondary schools, and then I found out this morning that it’s
51:36 going to be a general discussion too.
51:37 Right, right, yeah, and so it’s a great question. So when I was
51:40 in year-round school, it was just elementary school and it
51:43 became a problem because my older brother did watch me. He
51:47 helped my mom, my mom worked, and so that was our household
51:50 dynamic.
51:51 So no, I think for it to really succeed, it has to be district-wide
51:54 for that reason. So yeah, and then the other issue, I’ll come
51:58 back and kind of talk to you or talk about some of the things
52:00 that you brought up because they’re great points. Who would like
52:04 to go next?
52:05 So knowing that we were going to have this discussion, because
52:08 you mentioned last time when we went to our FSBA conference a
52:11 couple weeks ago, there was a session on year-round schools from
52:14 Highlighting Charlotte, and I think Mr. Susan was in that
52:19 session too, and so I just want to share some of the things that
52:21 they talked about.
52:22 Charlotte has had two successful year-round schools since the ’90s,
52:28 like ‘92 and ‘94, and then after that they adopted a policy of
52:33 how a school can become a year-round school, which is they have
52:38 to send out a survey to all the stakeholders, including the
52:41 families.
52:42 At least two-thirds of the families have to respond back, and
52:45 out of those, at least two-thirds of the respondents have to be
52:48 positive for the change, and so they had one that started in, I
52:51 want to say 2016, 2017, about seven years ago, so they have
52:56 three.
52:57 Those three are all within the same, I want to say it’s Pona Verde
53:01 or what, Pona Gorda, all within the same city limits, so what
53:05 they’ve been able to do is, yeah, that whole, well, not a feeder
53:09 chain because they’re only elementaries, but that community then
53:12 has just kind of gotten used to it.
53:14 In the boundaries of this city, those schools are zoned with
53:17 inside the boundaries of that city, so that community just kind
53:21 of knows how it works, and to work with their middle school,
53:25 high schools to make that work, that mesh, now some of it won’t,
53:29 but families have the option to choice in or choice out.
53:31 What they do is they say, you know what, our spring break is
53:33 always gonna be, is always gonna line up, our Christmas break,
53:36 and then the year-round schools get a little bit more, but their
53:39 spring break is always gonna line up, their Christmas break is
53:41 always gonna line up, and they’re always going to end school at
53:44 the same time.
53:45 So some year-round schools go through June, and they start in
53:47 August, go through June, and some, they start in July, and they
53:49 go through May, so everybody gets out at the same time.
53:52 So they try to keep those aligned so that it’s helpful to
53:54 families, and their families love it, the ones who’ve been there,
53:57 but again, they have the option to choice in for the families
54:00 who really want to do it, to also choice out and to do other
54:06 options.
54:07 They were very successful right from the beginning because back
54:11 in the ’90s when they started, there was loads of funding for
54:16 them to use there in Charlotte, and so during those intercession
54:21 times, they provided transportation, it was optional, but they
54:25 had like 90% of their students coming back to do intercession.
54:28 They provided meals, which is actually not too complicated, I
54:31 don’t think, because they can use that summer lunch spot type
54:34 program that we use during COVID and that we use in the summer
54:36 times to feed kids.
54:38 They used that, so they fed the kids, they provided
54:40 transportation, the teachers, they had funding to pay the
54:43 teachers to teach, and they did, so the kids who didn’t come
54:45 wouldn’t get behind.
54:47 They did acceleration or enrichment activities or catching up
54:50 activities, so again, they had like 90-something percent of
54:54 students coming back, but they had the money to pay them.
54:57 Over the years, that funding decreased, and so they had to go to
55:00 when we can get a grant, we’ll provide transportation, but
55:04 sometimes they don’t provide transportation.
55:07 They can almost always do the food. We don’t have enough money
55:10 to pay for a full day, so it’s just going to be a half day, but
55:12 we’ll make sure we can feed kids breakfast and lunch.
55:15 They won’t have intercession at every school, but out of those
55:19 three, because they’re close together, they’re going to do intercession
55:25 this break at this school, and so they’ll just have, and so
55:27 their percentage of students who are participating is much lower.
55:29 Over the last few years, they’ve used ESSER money to do that,
55:32 and the school, it’s been successful for those schools.
55:36 They are Title I schools, and they are A schools, so for them,
55:39 it’s been successful, but again, a lot of that success started
55:42 when they began with that being able to pay, and the teachers
55:46 wanted to work there.
55:47 They stay in those schools, so they’re positive. Here’s just an
55:51 overall, as far as the idea of moving the entire district to a
55:54 year-round schedule, I’ll just be honest right off the bat, I am
55:58 not in favor of that.
56:01 One of the things that we are very good at, the whole entire
56:03 state is good at, but Brevard has been very good for a long time,
56:06 is the idea of choice.
56:07 I do like the idea of creating an option for families. In Brevard
56:11 right now, we have a year-round school. It’s a charter school
56:14 down in Palm Bay, Royal Palm, and the families have the option
56:17 to go there.
56:18 They love that school. If they didn’t love it, they would not
56:20 pick that charter school, because in the south area, there’s
56:23 certainly plenty of other options for you, but I understand the
56:26 feeder chain issue.
56:27 I think it might be interesting to look at in the future,
56:30 because this needs lots of community feedback. It needs lots of
56:33 stakeholder feedback from our employees, from our families, to
56:36 see how we do it.
56:38 It makes sense to put it in a feeder chain, as much as you can,
56:42 to do elementary, middle, high, so that families can be
56:46 consistent with the calendar, that it’s in an area, like that
56:50 area over there in Charlotte, that the community just
56:54 understands this is the way we do.
56:57 The businesses and everybody can adapt to how school in this
57:00 part of our county works, but then if there’s families who say,
57:04 “I love that idea. I want to go there,” they can choice in.
57:08 Or if there’s people in that community who say, “Not doing this.
57:11 My family, this doesn’t work with my family,” they can choice
57:13 out.
57:14 We’re such a choice-friendly district because of all of our
57:17 options. They’re always going to have a place to go if that
57:20 schedule does or does not work.
57:22 Just as a general pattern for our district, I’m not in favor of
57:26 that, but I like the idea of looking into doing it for a feeder
57:31 chain.
57:32 I’ve heard about the pilot program, so that’s new to me. This is
57:38 also something I think we have to put a time frame on, but it’s
57:42 something we’ll have to put out a couple years, because our
57:44 family and our community is going to have to be prepared, at
57:46 least not for next school year, to be prepared to make that huge
57:50 adjustment.
57:51 Once you get into it and the community is used to it, I think
57:55 everybody adjusts and you can deal with it.
57:58 That’s a really huge conversation, and I’m always going to go
58:02 back to I like the idea of choice, and I want to give our
58:07 families the options to use the model that best fits their
58:12 family.
58:13 Thank you, Ms. Campbell. Mr. Susan? Thank you. I’ll be honest
58:19 with everybody in here.
58:21 When I first heard about, I was a teacher at Space Coast High
58:24 School when we had the year-round schools at some of the schools
58:27 in Port St. John.
58:29 I didn’t know much about it, and I was convinced it just was not
58:32 a good idea. I didn’t think very positively in the past, but I
58:36 never really did a deep dive, nor did I have to.
58:39 I sat in on the same presentation that Ms. Campbell sat in on
58:42 over in, and I told myself at the beginning of this, open up the
58:45 mind, let’s get going, let’s do a lot of research, so I did.
58:48 But then when I sat in that meeting over there in FSBA, they
58:51 really laid out a footprint of how this works and how it can
58:53 work, and some of the positives, negatives, and everything else.
58:56 And I said, holy cow, this is a good opportunity for, quite
59:00 honestly, where Ms. Jenkins was saying that it may be a problem,
59:05 I find it in a positive, and I’ll tell you why.
59:09 Part of the presentation, and I know that it’s kind of something
59:11 that I got to see that other people didn’t, so I’m not gonna
59:13 hold others accountable.
59:15 But in a Title I area, you run into a couple of things in that
59:19 when we talk about the summer slide and stuff like that, a lot
59:23 of those kids could use the benefits and the support of a year-round
59:27 school.
59:28 And where I think it falls short, which I did not know, being
59:30 somebody on the other side, is that during those times, those
59:33 breaks, the summers, and those extended breaks, the schools open
59:37 up for enriched learning,
59:39 in not an area that is inducive of pull out your textbook and
59:43 get moving, but rather, let’s do some creative ways to have fun
59:47 at the zoo or have different things to come in here.
59:50 And with those creative ways, it creates a non-mental health
59:52 issue with the students, and I’ll explain why.
59:55 A lot of our students don’t feel like they have a part in the
59:58 school system because we have a lot of burnout teachers that are
1:00:01 not supporting some of the athletics, some of the clubs.
1:00:04 They’re not driving some of those conversations, so we have a
1:00:07 situation where extended time over breaks in between sessions
1:00:10 would give that opportunity for some of those children to take
1:00:13 advantage of some of the things inside of a school and feel very
1:00:16 positive about doing so.
1:00:18 I think that that really hit me when I was sitting there
1:00:20 thinking that you could be a student, plus it helps with the daycare.
1:00:24 I understand that in some cases, you know what I mean, finding
1:00:27 the daycare and stuff like that, but in the event that a parent
1:00:30 would like their child to stay and we funded it the right way
1:00:34 and put opportunities in between there for their families to
1:00:36 take advantage of some of that stuff,
1:00:38 we would actually see accelerated learning done the right way.
1:00:41 I understand that there’s this overall theory that we around
1:00:44 schools do not academically show, and that may be because every
1:00:48 single one of them have not come up with what Brevard would come
1:00:51 up with, but I do as an educator see the advantages of going in
1:00:55 and actually having those breaks.
1:00:57 A couple of things that I know that this isn’t something that we
1:01:00 like are going to pull the trigger on tomorrow, so some of the
1:01:04 things that I was looking at before I get into the other
1:01:07 positives is that right now our payroll for custodians and bus
1:01:11 drivers and everything is set on a certain number of payroll,
1:01:15 and also it’s set, sometimes we start at the end of the summer,
1:01:18 beginning of, you know what I mean, like payroll would need to
1:01:22 be changed and in some cases, if there’s, you know, the same
1:01:25 amount of days spread out over more, some of those paychecks
1:01:29 will look like they’re a lot less.
1:01:31 So the payroll situations one, you know you have the drivers
1:01:34 change if all of a sudden you’re having the workers changing
1:01:37 where they’re on and off and everything else that again is a
1:01:41 payroll issue it’s again and also maintenance issues there’s a
1:01:44 lot of other components to that piece.
1:01:47 We would have to check in with the workforce with L3 NASA Harris
1:01:50 all of the major work companies to say hey, if we move to this
1:01:54 Are you prepared from your end because they they do dovetail
1:01:57 into what we do with their days off and everything else.
1:02:01 Of course we have the union negotiations, dual enrollment might
1:02:04 be a little bit of an issue. I know we can do stuff online it
1:02:07 gives us some opportunities, but if we start like some of the
1:02:11 others were talking about in a secondary type situation.
1:02:14 Dual enrollment doesn’t start until they come back to school.
1:02:17 How would we deal with that just some of those angles right also
1:02:20 the cost analysis what I think was brought up by Miss Jenkins
1:02:24 which is a good opportunity.
1:02:26 You know, we do keep the chillers running a lot but what is that
1:02:30 cost going to be because I, I would honestly believe that this
1:02:33 is a really good way to look at it look I looked at as part of
1:02:37 the calendar conversation I looked at developing nations.
1:02:41 Some of the top tier nations that have education systems that
1:02:44 are ranked above us, you know, you can argue the rankings, but
1:02:47 they go to school for like 190 200 days like their, their kids
1:02:51 are going to school longer, right.
1:02:53 Now, they pays are better you know conditions or you know what I
1:02:56 mean like there’s all kinds of other things. But the idea is is
1:03:00 that having a longer school year is something that the top tiers
1:03:03 Denmark Finland and all that have more than us.
1:03:06 So how is it that they have more days that they’re going to
1:03:09 school, but yet, producing more right so there’s there’s
1:03:12 opportunities there I really think.
1:03:14 I also think that the sports is an issue in finding out like if
1:03:17 we’re going to start in the beginning of the year. How is it
1:03:21 that they stay off and I don’t think it’s these aren’t like hey
1:03:23 these are red flags these aren’t any things there’s just stuff
1:03:26 that we’re
1:03:27 going to need to coordinate. I also know that I am in favor of
1:03:39 the elementary middle and high pipeline for exactly the same
1:03:39 reason as the parents, and you look at like Merritt Island you
1:03:39 look at Space Coast you look over at Port St. John those are
1:03:41 developing schools
1:03:42 that are right there with it but there’s an issue when you run
1:03:46 into a non communities where you have some elementary schools
1:03:50 that are split or some in Cocoa that go to Cocoa High and go to
1:03:53 Rockledge that if we were going to do like some sort of those
1:03:57 pilots
1:03:57 or do something like that you have to choose those school dish
1:04:01 school areas that are truly feeders right. But then the other
1:04:05 problem that you have is is that if we go back to the L3 Harris’s
1:04:08 and everybody else and we say hey, we’re going to put this
1:04:11 program
1:04:11 in these areas and not the others, just stuff we have to work
1:04:13 through, you know what I mean like I’m telling you, when I sat
1:04:16 through that meeting at FSBA I was like this could work and this
1:04:20 could be a great thing for our kids.
1:04:23 And so my mind is is I like it I want to move to it. I just want
1:04:25 to make sure that we look at all those things and I know we will.
1:04:29 Some of the positives, the burnout definitely down. The three
1:04:44 week breaks, two week breaks, however we set it up, would be
1:04:44 that they could take the vacations that you want at the times. I
1:04:44 mean you know as well as I do that some of the times throughout
1:04:44 the year that you go on vacations everybody else is going
1:04:46 and it makes everywhere you go miserable. But if you have those
1:04:49 breaks where it’s other opportunities for extended times, it
1:04:53 works out and then just so you understand it’s not the parents,
1:04:57 but the actual, oh they must have heard about the early release
1:04:59 days and they came.
1:05:04 But the thing is is that if you have a family unit that is able
1:05:08 to get together, take a vacation during a time that’s more
1:05:12 affordable and have a better time doing so, mental health of
1:05:16 that is amazing, right.
1:05:20 So the travel opportunities of breakdowns of off times. Look,
1:05:23 you could bring in the AAU, you could bring in Boys and Girls
1:05:26 Clubs, they would scream to have the opportunity to work with
1:05:30 our schools during those off weeks inside the schools, they
1:05:33 would send staff into them.
1:05:35 The summer slide is going to be better. The mental health of the
1:05:38 students I feel is going to be more robust if they actually have
1:05:41 the opportunity to buy into the schools like I said.
1:05:44 And to be honest with you, if there’s going to be opportunities
1:05:47 for teachers to work, like I was a teacher, I gave up all my plannings,
1:05:51 I taught, I would literally go seven of seven, coach, and then I
1:05:55 would go teach night school just to get enough money so that I
1:05:58 could survive.
1:05:59 This gives the opportunity for teachers to add extra time in
1:06:02 between those work weeks to go to those extended special
1:06:05 weekends. So I’m in favor of going forward and answering some of
1:06:08 the questions.
1:06:09 I’m in favor of this as a whole as an opportunity to try to show
1:06:13 that we can look at it and see if it’ll go and I do think that
1:06:17 it’ll increase education and our achievement levels and also
1:06:20 mental health and other things.
1:06:22 So that’s kind of my overview in what was that like 10 minutes?
1:06:26 I know I lost you guys.
1:06:27 All right, that’s it. I’m done. Thank you.
1:06:29 I got to hand it to this board. As much as I would like to add
1:06:39 something new, and I’m sure I could find something between the
1:06:41 three of you, or four, that might be rather difficult.
1:06:45 I do believe the whole feeder program, for example, I was just
1:06:49 thinking of Beachside where we have Cape View and Roosevelt and
1:06:54 Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School, they all did it together
1:06:58 as a program there.
1:07:00 I could see that working out.
1:07:03 Student achievement is always the most important for us, but
1:07:07 experience is also as a parent and it’s a big world out there
1:07:11 for us to travel other than just June and July, fall time and
1:07:14 winter time.
1:07:16 Those things are great experiences for kids that many of them
1:07:19 just don’t get the opportunity to experience and we all seem to
1:07:23 think that parents sometimes run on the same schedule as our
1:07:27 students.
1:07:28 Their jobs aren’t like that either, and they have opportunity to
1:07:33 go visit relatives.
1:07:35 Your education extends beyond the school day and that could be
1:07:39 something that could be looked at.
1:07:42 Matt brought up something that I immediately thought of as those
1:07:46 communities that could utilize the schools during that downtime
1:07:52 where kids can come back into that school and it’s not
1:07:55 necessarily the same structure
1:07:57 as a school day but learning can continue and experiences can
1:08:01 continue.
1:08:02 I’m an open book on this one.
1:08:05 I talked to Mr. Dufresne about throwing everything on the table.
1:08:09 Here’s another thing we can do.
1:08:11 I look forward to that.
1:08:13 I’m going to circle back to just a couple of the things because
1:08:17 I want to, Ms. Jenkins, you had some of the same concerns I had
1:08:19 when it comes to the summer, the jobs for staff.
1:08:22 A lot of our staff is dependent on working during the summer and
1:08:24 so I thought, “Oh, I don’t know if they’re going to like that or
1:08:26 not.”
1:08:27 Interestingly enough, I think this would be a good thing for us
1:08:31 to poll and start asking these questions.
1:08:34 The ESE issue that you had brought up, that’s a valid concern I
1:08:36 think we need to look at.
1:08:38 What does that look like?
1:08:40 What do we do?
1:08:41 Can we do something unique, specific, just for our ESE
1:08:43 department?
1:08:44 I don’t know.
1:08:45 I don’t know if that’s a possibility.
1:08:48 The custody agreements that you had brought up as well.
1:08:50 I came from a split household so growing up it was a really
1:08:52 great opportunity.
1:08:53 My father lived out of state and so I was able to spend three
1:08:56 weeks with him during the year whereas normally I would have
1:08:59 just been there for the summer and winter.
1:09:01 I think it honestly helped us cultivate a better relationship
1:09:04 because I was able to be with him so frequently rather than just
1:09:06 those couple times a year.
1:09:08 I think it would be very smart for us to walk down the cost
1:09:11 analysis.
1:09:12 That is very, very important.
1:09:14 I’m kind of hearing mixed things from everybody up here.
1:09:17 So it sounds like you’re maybe interested in looking at just the
1:09:21 feeder schools and then the secondary school.
1:09:24 Kind of maybe a, I don’t know, I don’t even want to say city
1:09:26 because I don’t know that that would even be the correct term.
1:09:29 Well, the area that Ms. Trent brought up, Cocoa Beach, some of
1:09:32 the Merritt Island families, but Mr. Susan is right.
1:09:36 We don’t have a lot of areas in the county where there’s a chart
1:09:40 that’s in the, I can’t remember what report that Ms. Hands gives
1:09:43 us every year that has the from to.
1:09:45 But it has this percentage of this school goes to this middle
1:09:47 school and this school and this percentage.
1:09:49 There’s a few of those that are more exclusive and I think
1:09:52 probably the wisest idea if we’re going to pilot something
1:09:55 across grade bands is to pilot that in those places where it is
1:10:00 more exclusive.
1:10:02 Because if you, you know, then we’re, as much as possible, if
1:10:05 someone choices in, choices out, you know, but we don’t want to,
1:10:08 if we can take advantage of those areas where it is,
1:10:12 100% of this school is zoned for this middle school or zoned for
1:10:15 this middle school.
1:10:16 I think it’s a good opportunity where you’re looking at that
1:10:18 junior/senior model.
1:10:20 I mean, that’s Port St. John’s a prime example, too.
1:10:22 So you’re talking the three elementary schools that go into
1:10:24 Space Coast.
1:10:25 And so it sounds very similar to what Cocoa Beach has.
1:10:29 So what I would, I guess my ask now on how do we move this
1:10:31 forward and how do we look at this in more depth?
1:10:34 I think one of the biggest questions is going to be, I need to
1:10:36 see a calendar.
1:10:37 I need to see what this looks like for my family.
1:10:39 How are, you know, when would my kids be out of school before we
1:10:42 can even really launch it out to start polling people?
1:10:45 So my ask would be that you would allow me as the board
1:10:48 representative to work with maybe Mr. Dufresne on this calendar.
1:10:52 I’ve started kind of plugging in dates on my own and doing this,
1:10:55 but I think it would be smart for us to work alongside each
1:10:56 other.
1:10:57 So we’re not both doing the same things and spinning our wheels
1:10:59 in different directions.
1:11:01 And then from there, bring that calendar back to show you guys
1:11:05 what, what it looks like.
1:11:07 And then we could even at that point, if everyone says, hey, OK,
1:11:10 we’re in agreement.
1:11:11 We like this. We will go ahead and start polling and asking our
1:11:15 stakeholders because this is a big conversation.
1:11:17 I don’t want to just say, hey, you know, we’re slapping this on
1:11:19 them.
1:11:20 And you’re around school now. Truth be told, if I could do it
1:11:22 right now, I probably would.
1:11:24 Just because I know personally how beneficial this is. I know
1:11:27 how well this works for families.
1:11:29 I think that it would be something very unique to Brevard also.
1:11:32 I think we could use this as an attractive recruiting tool.
1:11:35 I believe teachers would say, hey, I really, really like that
1:11:37 idea.
1:11:38 Let me let me look at Brevard and go and teach there. They have
1:11:41 something different than what my district has.
1:11:43 So there’s a lot of benefits that that I think this poses. And
1:11:46 honestly, looking at what the state’s doing, I believe it is
1:11:49 headed that direction.
1:11:52 Maybe. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe not.
1:11:54 But I believe we’re having to think outside of the box and do
1:11:56 different things than what we’ve had to do in the past.
1:11:58 And this is a really good opportunity. So, board, are you in
1:12:01 favor?
1:12:02 Are you OK with me working with Mr. Dufresne to kind of come up
1:12:04 with the calendar that I will bring back?
1:12:06 And we will discuss the calendar and what that looks like and
1:12:09 then have further discussions on moving forward from there.
1:12:13 If I can jump in real quick.
1:12:17 First and foremost, like I’m I’m on board with like touching and
1:12:21 feeling the community about this in like a choice feeder type of
1:12:24 a situation.
1:12:25 That’s way more palatable to me than like an overall district
1:12:28 overhaul.
1:12:29 I also just really genuinely believe if we pulled the district
1:12:32 that that would not be a majority favor.
1:12:35 So I think that this is more more likely to pass in a community
1:12:41 that genuinely wants it.
1:12:44 I’m OK with that being like a starting point. I don’t think it’s
1:12:47 about starting point.
1:12:48 But I think very quickly after that, though, I think it would be
1:12:52 good if each board member can send it to either role.
1:12:55 I don’t know if this is breaking sunshine, so I don’t know if I
1:12:57 can send it to you. Maybe Dr. Rendell.
1:12:59 Questions that would then need to be answered, such as like the
1:13:02 ESE one, because you can’t do ESE different than anyone else.
1:13:05 It has to legally be the same as the jet ed students. So very
1:13:07 specific questions that we might have that staff can kind of
1:13:11 take a deep dive into.
1:13:12 Even if we’re going to just do it in a small community, how
1:13:14 would these things be addressed?
1:13:16 That way they have plenty of time to kind of research and come
1:13:19 back to us and just present it overall.
1:13:21 I think that would be smart. And I guess I don’t mean to jump
1:13:25 ahead here.
1:13:26 But if there’s a majority of support already saying cool with
1:13:29 like give us a general idea what a calendar looks like.
1:13:32 Can we just go ahead and get started with that, too? Just
1:13:34 putting those questions out there for just to give them ample
1:13:37 time to be comfortable answering.
1:13:39 Yeah. So a couple of things. Some of this conversation really
1:13:42 kind of started or the thoughts started by the fact that the
1:13:45 state put out a call for any district interested in piloting
1:13:50 year round school.
1:13:50 Elementary school, a handful across the state. So we did
1:13:54 indicate interest. We did and enter an application.
1:13:59 So if we are granted that pilot, then we’re going to have to
1:14:03 move forward anyway with one elementary school as a pilot in a
1:14:08 year round school format.
1:14:10 So we’re already going to have to start doing some of that legwork
1:14:13 if we were to get the grant.
1:14:15 So to prepare for the possibility of getting the grant, we can
1:14:17 already start that paperwork. I mean, that legwork. So we can
1:14:20 already start looking at calendars and maybe use the elementary
1:14:22 schools in in Charlotte as a model to say this is how they did
1:14:26 it.
1:14:27 This is how we could possibly do it. I think some really salient
1:14:30 points were brought up.
1:14:32 I think yes, why is definitely you know, we have to figure out
1:14:36 how we meet the needs of those students who get an extended
1:14:39 school year as guaranteed in their IEP.
1:14:41 So does that mean that they can come to the intersessions, to
1:14:44 the breaks? Is that the two week breaks at different times?
1:14:48 Does that cover that or does it have to be a summer anyway? We
1:14:52 could get those questions answered.
1:14:54 How do we deal with the other schools that these students
1:14:58 families go to and stuff like that?
1:15:01 So we were already kind of working on it a little bit because we
1:15:04 might get that grant or get the pilot.
1:15:07 So if we get that, we have to be ready to go anyway. So I think
1:15:12 it’s fine to have Mrs. Wright work with Ryan or whoever, you
1:15:16 know, elementary principals and stuff to kind of try to figure
1:15:19 some stuff out.
1:15:21 So I have a follow up question to that. Because this kind of
1:15:26 like tiptoeing and researching and just kind of seeing, right?
1:15:32 This pilot program is only for elementary school. In order for
1:15:37 us to do it the way we’ve been discussing, we’d have to have a
1:15:37 waiver from the state, which is not a guarantee.
1:15:39 Correct. So I also just genuinely don’t want to make staff do
1:15:52 this insane deep dive of a thing that may not even be allowed or
1:15:52 allowed for four years and then would look very different four
1:15:52 years from now, right? Things change.
1:15:53 So if we can just respectfully like keep it as surface level, I
1:15:56 guess, as we can for things that may not come to fruition,
1:16:00 because it’s I mean, it’s really unlikely that we’ll get a
1:16:04 waiver from the state next school year to start secondary
1:16:07 schools year round. I mean, we haven’t even gotten an answer
1:16:11 about the pilot program.
1:16:12 Yeah, well, that’s the other thing. You know, whenever we were
1:16:15 going to wrap this up, I wanted the public to understand this is
1:16:18 not happening next year unless we get the pilot and it would be
1:16:21 just that one elementary school.
1:16:23 Right. So and it may not even be next year because the state
1:16:27 originally sent out the request, you know, for anybody
1:16:31 interested. And the deadline to submit the applications was, I
1:16:34 think, early September or mid September.
1:16:37 They got their application in, but then they extended the
1:16:40 deadline for another month. So I’m not saying the state doesn’t
1:16:43 always move quickly, but, you know, it may not even be for next
1:16:47 year anyway, but we can start doing some of that legwork.
1:16:50 Well, and I want to put a plug in because a lot of those
1:16:52 questions, like obviously these three schools in Charlotte are
1:16:54 doing it, and I don’t think they’re the only ones. And we have a
1:16:57 school in the county, so I’m also going to put a plug in that
1:16:59 when we start looking at the calendar, we really need to look at
1:17:01 Royal Palm is already doing because they have that calendar and
1:17:04 their K8.
1:17:05 So we know they’re doing it not only for elementary for middle.
1:17:08 I’m not aware of any high schools in Florida that are year round,
1:17:11 but they’re possible that they could be.
1:17:13 So I think it would be good. I’m always a fan of not reinventing
1:17:16 the wheel for us to take a look at that because I’ll tell you
1:17:19 right now, Royal Palm because I’ve done that if we adopted a
1:17:22 year round schedule that was like different, you know, if it was
1:17:25 district wide be one thing.
1:17:27 If it was local to a certain school or whatever, it wouldn’t be
1:17:29 a big deal. But let’s take, I would suggest you take a look at
1:17:31 the way they do it because they’ve been successfully doing that
1:17:34 for such a long time.
1:17:35 Yeah, I think that a couple of things for us if we were to go
1:17:37 down the road of a feeder chain, you know, where secondary
1:17:40 schools are involved. And again, that’s down the road, you know,
1:17:44 if we were to do that.
1:17:46 Even the schools, the three elementary schools in Charlotte
1:17:50 talked about how there were some hurdles for them to overcome,
1:17:54 such as the state assessment calendar. You know, there’s only
1:17:58 these certain windows when you can do the testing.
1:18:00 So, you know, they got a jumpstart on PM1 because they started
1:18:03 in July. So by the time PM1 rolled around, they were probably
1:18:06 further in the curriculum than traditional schools, but then by
1:18:09 the time they get to PM3, they actually were behind on days
1:18:12 because they were going to extend longer.
1:18:15 So when you get to secondary, now you’re talking about AP tests,
1:18:18 you know, IB exams, you know, Cambridge, dual enrollment, stuff
1:18:22 like that we have to try to line up.
1:18:24 So, you know, I think we can start looking at some calendars and
1:18:28 some options and just put our toe in the water kind of thing.
1:18:32 But we also need to be ready for maybe an elementary pilot if we
1:18:35 get that.
1:18:36 The other thing, too, again, I know I don’t want to jump in too
1:18:39 deep into the water, but if you are going to have a conversation
1:18:43 about calendars in a specific school in a specific area to kind
1:18:46 of just reach out to that municipality that’s there in their rec
1:18:49 departments.
1:18:50 Because traditionally, they’re going to support our kiddos when
1:18:53 they’re on breaks often to just just to kind of get a feelsy
1:18:55 with them and give them a heads up to prepare and think about it
1:18:58 because they were really good for us when it when it came to,
1:19:02 you know, the weird anomalies that we had with COVID.
1:19:04 All right. Thank you. All right. Does anyone else have anything
1:19:10 else on this topic?
1:19:10 Yeah, I just want to say thank you. One of the things that Miss
1:19:13 Campbell had mentioned is looking at across the state at what
1:19:16 other people are doing.
1:19:18 I wouldn’t even be against if you wanted to call some of them
1:19:21 and have them come.
1:19:22 and just have a workshop on how their best practices are
1:19:25 and what they’re running into, you know what I mean,
1:19:26 to help staff so that we don’t have to recreate the wheel.
1:19:29 It was a great point Ms. Campbell said about locally.
1:19:31 I think there might be an opportunity to look at it
1:19:34 because during the evaluation phase,
1:19:36 if we don’t hear from the people that have been doing it,
1:19:38 and if we do have a bunch of examples in the state,
1:19:40 that might help, you know, just for your leadership
1:19:42 to take a look at, that’s all, as a suggestion.
1:19:45 - All right, thank you, thank you.
1:19:46 All right, we are gonna move on to the next topic
1:19:48 that is on our agenda, which is the Head Start update.
1:19:52 - So Madam Chair, if we could take like a five,
1:19:54 10 minute break while we set up and stuff.
1:19:55 - Prepare, absolutely.
1:19:56 We’ll call a recess and return at 3.20, all right?
1:20:11 (upbeat music)
1:20:22 (upbeat music continues)
1:27:13 - Welcome back.
1:27:14 Okay, we are moving on to the next topic on our agenda,
1:27:17 which is the presentation from the Head Start update.
1:27:22 Ms. Harris.
1:27:23 - So it is my pleasure to turn over to Dr. Smith,
1:27:26 our director that has worked
1:27:27 on the grant compliance side of Head Start,
1:27:30 as well as Terry Barlow,
1:27:31 our assistant director of Head Start
1:27:33 to update you on all things Head Start.
1:27:37 (audience applauding)
1:27:40 - Thanks, Mr. Susan.
1:27:42 Okay, so like Ms. Harris said,
1:27:44 we’re going to give you an update on our Head Start program.
1:27:49 As always, what we like to do is have you review
1:27:52 the Head Start vision and mission.
1:28:04 And just as a reminder,
1:28:05 we have presented this in the previous school year,
1:28:08 but I want to update you on the 2023, 2024
1:28:11 Head Start locations.
1:28:13 They have not changed.
1:28:15 So the north area has three schools,
1:28:18 the central area has the four schools,
1:28:21 and the south area has the five schools.
1:28:28 Our funded enrollment is to serve 624 students.
1:28:32 Those are in 34 classrooms.
1:28:35 We have 20 Head Start VPK,
1:28:38 which means 24-year-old classrooms,
1:28:42 and 15 Head Start III,
1:28:44 which means 15 three-year-old classrooms.
1:28:48 The bottom part down there is as part of the Head Start Act,
1:28:52 we must serve at least 10% of students who do have IEPs.
1:28:58 The agenda today will be the focus area one review,
1:29:03 five-year program goals, our school readiness goals,
1:29:08 the purpose, as well as the ongoing monitoring data
1:29:12 professional development, and some exciting news
1:29:15 with the Edward Ziegler Innovation Award.
1:29:18 So I’m gonna turn this over to Terri Barlow
1:29:22 to finish up our presentation.
1:29:26 - Okay, thank you, Dr. Smith.
1:29:30 Can you hear me okay?
1:29:32 Okay.
1:29:35 During the week of December 18th,
1:29:39 Head Start will participate in a focus area one monitoring
1:29:42 review.
1:29:43 This review is conducted virtually with one review lead.
1:29:47 The focus area one review provides an opportunity
1:29:50 for our program to share processes and systems
1:29:53 that support the implementation of high quality services
1:29:55 for children and families served over the course
1:29:58 of our five-year grant cycle.
1:30:00 This includes the quality of education services
1:30:04 intentionally, excuse me, the intentionality
1:30:09 of family and community engagement,
1:30:11 monitoring of fiscal operations, the effectiveness
1:30:15 of our health and safety practices, the focus we place
1:30:18 on eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment,
1:30:22 and attendance, as well as oversight
1:30:25 of our program structure.
1:30:28 The federal review will determine if we are meeting
1:30:30 the requirements of Head Start program performance standards
1:30:34 as well as the uniform guidance and the Head Start Act.
1:30:39 During the review, we will have multiple opportunities
1:30:41 to showcase our program strengths, program leadership.
1:30:46 Program leadership, a member of the governing body
1:30:49 and policy council will participate in interviews
1:30:51 with the review lead.
1:30:53 These interviews are more of a conversation
1:30:58 about our processes.
1:31:00 This monitoring event includes data tours
1:31:03 with program leadership and staff for each service area,
1:31:07 real-time walkthrough of data and reports
1:31:09 will help the review lead understand how managers
1:31:12 and staff conduct daily activities and use data
1:31:15 to demonstrate program compliance.
1:31:22 So you may recall during our presentation with you in May,
1:31:26 Dr. Smith provided an overview
1:31:28 of our five-year program goals.
1:31:31 Our program goals, and you may recall, align
1:31:34 with the district strategic plan.
1:31:35 They’re supported by measurable objectives and outcomes
1:31:39 and they’re supported by measurable objective,
1:31:44 excuse me, objectives.
1:31:45 The outcome and progress of objectives are reviewed
1:31:48 and adjustments are made annually or as appropriate.
1:31:52 Today, I would just like to speak with you briefly
1:31:55 about how our board policy council and program staff
1:31:59 collaborate to establish the five-year program goals.
1:32:02 Just as a reminder, the policy council is made up
1:32:05 of a parent representative from each of our Head Start sites
1:32:09 who are elected by other Head Start parents
1:32:12 and support the governance and oversight
1:32:14 of the Head Start program,
1:32:16 similar to a school advisory council.
1:32:19 Board members, policy council members and parents
1:32:22 and program staff are given the opportunity to provide input
1:32:25 into the development of our program goals,
1:32:28 objectives and budget.
1:32:30 Parents provide input through the policy council.
1:32:34 The annual program self-assessment, ongoing monitoring
1:32:37 and input from each of these stakeholder groups guides
1:32:40 the process for revising objectives.
1:32:43 This collaborative process also includes reviewing
1:32:46 and discussing program data,
1:32:48 progress of measurable objectives, aggregated data
1:32:51 from the community assessment results
1:32:53 and the annual self-assessment.
1:32:56 It is important to note that the budget is aligned
1:32:59 with our program goals and objectives.
1:33:01 Prior to the annual submission for continued funding,
1:33:04 final drafts of goals and objectives
1:33:06 and the budget narrative are presented to the board
1:33:08 and policy council for approval.
1:33:16 Each five-year grant cycle, Head Start programs
1:33:19 are required to establish school readiness goals
1:33:21 in consultation with families and children
1:33:23 who are participating in the program.
1:33:26 School readiness goals must align with state standards,
1:33:29 the Head Start Early Learning and the Head Start
1:33:31 Early Learning Outcomes Framework.
1:33:34 Additionally, we must have an ongoing monitoring tool
1:33:37 that is utilized three times a year
1:33:39 with all children enrolled in Head Start
1:33:41 to determine if they are making progress
1:33:43 towards these goals.
1:33:45 It’s important to note that programs who fail to establish
1:33:48 and achieve school readiness goals is actually one
1:33:51 of the 10 triggers that require a program
1:33:53 to recompete for the grant.
1:33:55 So our school readiness goals,
1:33:57 we place a high priority on those.
1:34:00 During a recent policy council meeting,
1:34:02 our education manager talked with our members
1:34:06 who are Head Start parents about how they worked
1:34:08 with their child’s teacher to select a goal
1:34:11 that they would like to work on with their child
1:34:14 for their child to focus on, to work on at home
1:34:17 as well as in the classroom.
1:34:20 Our education manager discussed the connection
1:34:23 between school readiness goals, family goal setting,
1:34:26 as well as our ongoing monitoring tool,
1:34:29 which will be the data that you’ll see on the next slide.
1:34:33 So for the 2022-23 school year,
1:34:38 our ongoing monitoring tool was used
1:34:40 to measure student growth.
1:34:41 This is a locally designed tool that is aligned
1:34:44 to our curriculum, ready to advance,
1:34:46 as well as the state standards
1:34:49 and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework.
1:34:53 Our data reveals our Head Start students made gains
1:34:56 in all areas, which include approaches to learning,
1:34:59 social development, language and communication,
1:35:03 mathematics, science, as well as physical development.
1:35:14 Finally, I would like to just briefly talk with you
1:35:17 about the professional development that we have been
1:35:20 offering to our teachers for the ‘23-‘24 school year.
1:35:26 Our topics have included required Head Start training,
1:35:31 curriculum training, active supervision training,
1:35:33 as well as an overview of class
1:35:36 and strengthening class dimensions.
1:35:39 Strengthening class dimensions was developed
1:35:42 using our most current data and feedback
1:35:44 from class observations to ensure the individual needs
1:35:47 of our teaching teams were addressed.
1:35:51 As a reminder, class is a tool
1:35:54 that measures adult-child interactions.
1:35:57 It’s important to note our professional development
1:35:59 is revisited throughout the year
1:36:01 as part of our practice-based coaching model,
1:36:03 not just a one and done.
1:36:06 PD is also individualized for our teaching teams
1:36:09 based on their coaching action plans
1:36:13 and data and needs identified during the coaching cycle.
1:36:19 Teaching in the fast lane was recently developed
1:36:21 by our coaches to support teachers using data
1:36:24 and STAR early literacy fast assessment
1:36:27 to support instruction.
1:36:29 In October, our coaches presented this topic
1:36:32 at the FLACI conference that took place in Orlando.
1:36:35 That’s the Florida Association of Educators
1:36:38 of Young Children.
1:36:42 And then finally, you’ve heard us talk before
1:36:45 about the Edward Ziegler Innovation Award.
1:36:48 And I’m so pleased to share with you
1:36:53 that in collaboration with the Department of Health,
1:36:56 our program has been nominated
1:36:59 to represent Region 4 Head Start at the national level.
1:37:03 So not only were we selected at the state level,
1:37:07 the day Ms. Buckmaster on the left-hand side,
1:37:11 she’s our health manager, Robin Buckmaster,
1:37:13 myself in the middle, and Amanda Willis,
1:37:15 our dental hygienist.
1:37:17 We went to the Florida Head Start Association
1:37:19 to receive the nomination for this award.
1:37:21 We learned that day that we were selected
1:37:24 out of eight states in Region 4 to represent Region 4.
1:37:28 And we will be competing against 11 other regions
1:37:31 in Head Start.
1:37:32 And that is with our onsite dental program
1:37:35 that you all have heard so much about.
1:37:39 So that concludes my presentation.
1:37:44 If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer.
1:37:47 - Thank you so much.
1:37:48 Let me give my fellow board members an opportunity
1:37:49 to ask any questions or make any comments
1:37:52 in regards to the presentation.
1:37:54 - I wanna go first.
1:37:54 - Oh, okay.
1:37:55 - ‘Cause she always goes first.
1:37:56 (laughing)
1:37:58 No, I just wanted to say thank you
1:38:00 for putting what is a monumental amount of information
1:38:03 and making it into like 10 slides and doing an amazing job
1:38:07 and presenting it to us.
1:38:10 You guys do so many amazing things on a regular basis.
1:38:13 We love what you guys do and appreciate you 100%.
1:38:16 And if you ever don’t feel that way, give us a ring.
1:38:18 We’ll come out there and say hi.
1:38:19 So thank you, Mr. Susan.
1:38:23 - Anyone else?
1:38:24 - So congratulations on the award and I’m excited to see.
1:38:28 I think Revard wins the whole thing, right?
1:38:31 And walks away with a big trophy.
1:38:34 So, and I, exciting to see about that,
1:38:37 that it’s about that unique dental hygiene program
1:38:39 that you guys worked so long and hard to get,
1:38:41 to plan and get in place,
1:38:43 incorporate into the goals and into the school.
1:38:45 So, and I’ve yet to go.
1:38:47 I just always on a day, I’ve yet to go.
1:38:49 So please send us out the schedule when they’re going around
1:38:51 because I still want to go visit a day
1:38:52 when they’re doing that, ‘cause I heard it was lots of fun.
1:38:57 I had a, just a real quick question about the class
1:38:59 because that’s an abbreviation
1:39:01 that I’ve seen other places we have.
1:39:03 Like at Gardendale, like it’s class as a way
1:39:05 of setting up the classroom, like we’re in different areas.
1:39:08 So this is not that same,
1:39:09 this is a different abbreviation, right?
1:39:12 - It’s not that.
1:39:13 - Okay.
1:39:14 - There’s so many.
1:39:15 - It’s the, it’s all like, there’s all these acronyms
1:39:18 and they have two, I know, I know, I know.
1:39:19 - We’re still waiting for the acronym dictionary.
1:39:21 - But it sounds like it’s, you know,
1:39:23 you guys do so much professional development
1:39:24 and I love all the different people
1:39:26 that you bring in the coaches.
1:39:27 So it’s a great model and you guys are doing a good job.
1:39:30 Thank you.
1:39:31 - Thank you.
1:39:33 - Ms. Jenkins.
1:39:34 - Yeah, I also want to recognize and congratulate you
1:39:38 for your statewide regional and national accolades
1:39:41 that you continue to get
1:39:41 and I know this wasn’t the first time.
1:39:45 I think everyone’s well aware of this is my wheelhouse,
1:39:48 this is my passion, early intervention,
1:39:50 early education services.
1:39:53 I hope that we can continue to grow in that area.
1:39:58 You know, when we always talk about setting ourselves apart
1:40:00 as a district, that’s actually where I think
1:40:02 we should be setting ourselves even more apart.
1:40:04 We already do, right?
1:40:06 We’re already recognized for programs like Head Start.
1:40:08 We’re one of the few that offer pre-K ESC services to kids
1:40:11 before they even come into the door as kindergartners
1:40:15 because that’s the most important thing we can do
1:40:16 for our kids is catch them early and get them early on.
1:40:19 It’s actually a conversation I had with the consultant team.
1:40:22 I don’t know if everyone had their one-on-ones already
1:40:24 or not about what can we do in the future, yada yada yada.
1:40:28 But that was kind of where I left my focus with them
1:40:30 was can we be the leaders when it comes to three-year-olds,
1:40:34 four-year-olds and five-year-olds
1:40:35 before they come into kindergarten?
1:40:37 It’s actually a cost savings at the end
1:40:39 when we get kids in early.
1:40:41 Can we have a conversation about piloting
1:40:43 some of those early education programs in certain areas
1:40:46 where there’s deficits in that third grade reading level?
1:40:49 And it goes hand-in-hand with the services
1:40:52 that you guys offer.
1:40:53 So again, congratulations on your accolades
1:40:56 and I hope that this just keeps reminding us
1:40:58 how advanced we are when it comes to that
1:41:00 and we can continue to do that going forward.
1:41:04 - Mr. Shunt.
1:41:06 - Just congratulations on your recognitions.
1:41:09 Well deserved, thank you for all you do.
1:41:11 And again, just like Matt said, if you ever think about us
1:41:15 not recognizing you or appreciating you,
1:41:18 just reach out to us, thank you so much.
1:41:20 - Yes, what an honor you guys have achieved.
1:41:23 So I am waiting for you to win that title.
1:41:26 So I wanna ask, the child that’s in the picture,
1:41:30 is this a child that obviously went through our VPK program,
1:41:34 I’m guessing, I’m assuming based on this?
1:41:37 Or is it just a, don’t tell me it’s a Google photo.
1:41:39 I’m like, please tell me that’s one of our kiddos
1:41:40 ‘cause I, there’s a child that’s in the PowerPoint
1:41:43 presentation that you have the photo in there.
1:41:45 And I, huh?
1:41:47 - I don’t remember.
1:41:47 - Is it a stock photo?
1:41:49 Oh man, all right, sorry.
1:41:50 All right, well anyways, I’m just gonna say as you know,
1:41:53 hey, I love it when I see a photo like that.
1:41:55 It’s just like, oh, that just makes my heart so happy.
1:41:57 So good work you’re doing and she’s like,
1:41:59 what photo is she talking about?
1:42:01 - Oh, this one? - No, keep going.
1:42:02 - So the Just the Thought? - That one.
1:42:04 - Yes, this child.
1:42:05 - Yes, that is one of ours.
1:42:07 - I was gonna say, this looks like they’re outside
1:42:08 of one of our schools.
1:42:09 So if this is a stock photo, this is really impressive.
1:42:11 But no, I think that’s just a great reminder of why, right?
1:42:16 When you see a lot of the charts and the words and all that,
1:42:18 it’s great, but it’s like when you see a smiling face there,
1:42:20 you’re like, this is why.
1:42:21 So thank you so much.
1:42:23 We appreciate you guys tremendously.
1:42:24 I can’t wait for the update when you guys come back
1:42:26 and say, we won the entire thing.
1:42:28 Good work, we appreciate you.
1:42:30 - Thank you and we always feel appreciated by you.
1:42:33 Thank you for your time and support.
1:42:35 - Thank you.
1:42:36 All right, so moving on, I’m guessing that the next topic
1:42:42 that we have is a presentation on the Social Studies
1:42:44 Instructional Materials Adoption Process Review,
1:42:47 which I, is that you, Ms. Harris?
1:42:49 - It is and what’s not on there
1:42:52 is the Student Achievement Update.
1:42:53 You want me to do that before the social studies?
1:42:56 - Okay, yeah, let’s go ahead
1:42:57 and do the Student Achievement Update.
1:43:00 Sorry, I apologize.
1:43:01 I forgot about that and I didn’t write it on.
1:43:03 - Right, so audience members, if they’re not aware,
1:43:05 yesterday, the state released school grades
1:43:09 and district grades for last school year.
1:43:12 So it’s six months later, but these are informational grades,
1:43:17 baseline grades on our performance last year.
1:43:21 Remember that we have a new state assessment
1:43:23 in many grades, in many subject areas.
1:43:26 Fast test is new, the process is new.
1:43:30 So we do not have learning gains calculated for this year,
1:43:35 as part of the school grade or district grade
1:43:38 and that’s because it’s the first year of the test.
1:43:41 Last year, they had no previous test scores
1:43:44 to count it against or to compare it against.
1:43:46 So informational, baseline grades, they’re still grades.
1:43:51 They’re still good ways to measure how we’re doing
1:43:53 as a district and to measure how each
1:43:56 of our schools is doing.
1:43:57 So Mrs. Harris is gonna present some information
1:44:00 in our initial glance at the data.
1:44:03 One of the other things is the state is finally releasing
1:44:06 the official cut scores and all that kind of thing.
1:44:10 So we’re still really only digging into the true data.
1:44:14 So we’ve been working off of PM1 data for most of the year
1:44:17 and we’ll have PM2 when we get back after break.
1:44:20 So Mrs. Harris.
1:44:23 - So just some reminders and Dr. Rendell did mention this,
1:44:26 that this is last school year’s data.
1:44:29 And I think that’s hard for our stakeholders
1:44:30 because it’s the middle of this year
1:44:32 and so it’s confusing to know that all of these data points
1:44:35 come from last school year.
1:44:37 The other thing is when we talk about
1:44:39 the informational school grades,
1:44:41 those are informational in nature.
1:44:44 And so something to keep in mind is if a school were
1:44:46 to drop to say a D or F, they would not go
1:44:49 into the school improvement status.
1:44:51 However, we are working with them because a school
1:44:54 could potentially come out of school improvement status
1:44:56 with these school grades.
1:44:58 And the biggest thing that is I want our stakeholders
1:45:02 to take away is that learning gains are not included.
1:45:04 And the reason that’s very important
1:45:06 is depending on the performance of a school,
1:45:10 learning gains can significantly help their school grade,
1:45:14 but in some schools where proficiency is high,
1:45:17 those learning gains are harder to get.
1:45:19 And so it can have a different impact
1:45:21 based on the performance at proficiency for schools.
1:45:25 And that’s something to keep in mind
1:45:27 once we take those away because for schools
1:45:29 that those kind of can be a barrier,
1:45:32 their school grade could potentially be higher.
1:45:34 And those schools that count on those school grade points
1:45:37 through learning gains could potentially
1:45:39 have a lower school grade as a result.
1:45:43 So if we go over what we do know about
1:45:47 our traditional BPS schools is for nine of our schools,
1:45:51 they haven’t improved school grades.
1:45:53 And that is again important when we start looking
1:45:55 at which schools those are because some of those
1:45:57 are schools that learning gains
1:45:59 have been their bread and butter per se.
1:46:01 Like those have been what have moved
1:46:02 their student achievement.
1:46:04 So we had six elementary schools improve their school grade
1:46:07 and three middle schools improve their school grades.
1:46:11 We did have six of our traditional schools
1:46:14 decrease their school grade,
1:46:16 five being elementary schools and one high school.
1:46:23 But before we go into that,
1:46:24 I want to highlight our schools that earned an A.
1:46:28 For some of them they’ve moved into this,
1:46:29 but some of them maintaining an A
1:46:31 again without learning gains.
1:46:33 So I’m gonna quickly call out our elementary schools
1:46:36 just because I know the font is small
1:46:38 and I think that’s a great thing
1:46:39 ‘cause that means I had so many schools to put on that slide.
1:46:42 So that is Southlake, Pinewood, Atlantis, Enterprise,
1:46:47 Manatee, West Melbourne, Suntree, Longleaf, Ocean Breeze,
1:46:54 Indie Atlantic, Gemini, Quest, Viera, Tropical,
1:47:00 Stevenson, Roosevelt, Freedom Seven, Holland,
1:47:05 Sea Park, Surfside and Lewis Carroll.
1:47:08 So we want to congratulate the teams at those schools
1:47:11 for earning a school grade of A.
1:47:15 And now we want to celebrate our middle schools
1:47:17 that also earned a school grade of A.
1:47:19 Kennedy, Jefferson, Delora and Hoover.
1:47:23 So next we’re going to move into those schools
1:47:28 that are high schools earning an A.
1:47:31 So we want to celebrate Viera, Satellite,
1:47:34 West Shore, Edgewood and Cocoa Beach.
1:47:38 So we want to commend the school staff,
1:47:40 stakeholders, students of their hard work
1:47:42 in earning that school grade of A.
1:47:47 So now we want to celebrate those schools
1:47:49 that have increased their school grade.
1:47:52 And then we want to recognize what supports may be needed
1:47:55 if the school grade decreased and looking again
1:47:58 at the impact that learning gains may have had on that.
1:48:01 So if we’re thinking of those that have increased
1:48:04 for elementary, that is Pinewood, Challenger Seven,
1:48:08 Lochmar, Riviera, Croton and I’m very proud to say,
1:48:14 Creole Elementary, as you know that they have been working
1:48:17 as a school improvement school,
1:48:19 had earned a school grade of D.
1:48:21 And they have moved to school grade of C
1:48:23 with these informational school grades.
1:48:26 Before we move to the schools
1:48:28 that have their grade has decreased,
1:48:30 I want to reiterate if they earned a school grade of D
1:48:34 with these being informational in nature,
1:48:37 they don’t jump right into that turnaround status.
1:48:40 I think there’s some misconception
1:48:41 when they see a school grade of D,
1:48:43 because it’s been a long time
1:48:44 since we’ve had informational school grades before.
1:48:48 So we look at Kokina that dropped to a C,
1:48:52 Fairglen and Saturn both moved to Ds.
1:48:56 And then we have Jupiter and Cape View
1:48:58 that moved from Bs to Cs.
1:49:03 When we’re looking at our secondary schools,
1:49:06 those schools that moved from a B to an A,
1:49:09 Kennedy, Jefferson and Hoover.
1:49:13 And then we had one secondary school move
1:49:15 from a B to a C at Titusville.
1:49:19 This section below that’s a special note.
1:49:22 So you saw on the chart
1:49:24 that some of our schools have an I.
1:49:26 So Mrs. Francis that works in our testing and accountability,
1:49:30 she’s working directly with these schools.
1:49:33 Typically what they’re gathering data around
1:49:35 is percentage of students tested.
1:49:37 In order to get a school grade,
1:49:39 you have to test a certain percentage.
1:49:42 And sometimes it’s 1% debate here or there.
1:49:45 So we look at that data very closely
1:49:47 and then complete the appeal process.
1:49:53 Now I wanna just move to our district.
1:49:55 Again, informational school grade.
1:49:57 So Brevard earned a school grade of B, a high B.
1:50:01 Last year we were also that high B
1:50:03 well within reach of that A.
1:50:05 I do believe that we have the formula
1:50:07 to be an A district again and we will work very hard
1:50:11 so that when we are presenting this
1:50:13 on not informational grades, but real school grades,
1:50:17 I hate to say real school grades,
1:50:18 but non informational school grades
1:50:21 that we’ll be announcing an A district again.
1:50:24 So you will see that we did increase
1:50:26 in our overall percentage points from 61 to 66%.
1:50:31 I wanted to highlight a large driver of that data point
1:50:36 was our increase in our college and career acceleration.
1:50:40 So those are students within a grad cohort
1:50:42 that either earned a score through an accelerated AP
1:50:46 or an ace IB course or through dual enrollment
1:50:50 or through industry certification.
1:50:52 So those are points that we were able to increase
1:50:54 based on an increase of participation
1:50:56 with earning scores in that cell.
1:50:59 - So this is actually certainly a highlight
1:51:01 for our district.
1:51:02 This is us making sure that our kids are prepared
1:51:05 for that next step after they leave high school.
1:51:08 So not just taking an advanced academic course,
1:51:11 but they can also demonstrate college and career readiness
1:51:15 by earning an industry certification in a CTE course.
1:51:20 And of course, the goal would be to be 100%.
1:51:22 You know, either kids taking advanced coursework
1:51:25 or they’re earning an industry certification.
1:51:27 So even though we’ve moved from 66 to 73,
1:51:30 really can’t rest until that’s a much higher number.
1:51:36 - Now I wanna move to something we talked about earlier
1:51:39 in the school year, because this is not informational.
1:51:42 So remember we talked about school grade
1:51:44 is the state accountability system.
1:51:46 And then the federal government has an accountability system
1:51:48 that is specific to subgroups.
1:51:50 And we talked about the schools that have different
1:51:52 subgroups that they are not yet meeting the target
1:51:55 that we are working to support.
1:51:57 So this is not informational,
1:52:00 that what was released yesterday.
1:52:02 That said at the end of the school year
1:52:04 in about five or six months,
1:52:05 we’re gonna have a whole new list.
1:52:07 And so you could maybe jump on or off the list now
1:52:11 and then on or off the list.
1:52:13 But I thought it was important to go over the improvements
1:52:16 that we’ve made in that area.
1:52:18 So we did have seven schools come off that list.
1:52:21 In full transparency, the chart that came from the state,
1:52:26 once it tells you what subgroups are not meeting the target.
1:52:30 So if a school was, you know, had three subgroups
1:52:33 and now they have a zero,
1:52:34 they technically should not be identified
1:52:37 as targeted support, comprehensive support.
1:52:41 I’ve emailed the DOE ‘cause I believe there was a typo
1:52:43 because we have seven schools that now have a zero.
1:52:46 So all of their subgroups are meeting the target,
1:52:49 but the column that says, are you on an identified list,
1:52:52 still has them on an identified list
1:52:54 and they should not be on that.
1:52:56 So I believe it’s a typo,
1:52:57 but I wanted to say that in full transparency.
1:53:00 Based on the data we have about their subgroups,
1:53:02 they are off that list.
1:53:03 We did have four schools that were added to that list
1:53:08 with subgroups that are performing below the target.
1:53:12 So if you look on the left side,
1:53:14 I didn’t wanna say came off the list or on the list
1:53:17 because until they fix that typo on the chart,
1:53:20 that would be inaccurate.
1:53:21 So we’re going to call these schools,
1:53:23 they’re subgroups that were underperforming,
1:53:26 have met the target.
1:53:27 And so we wanna celebrate those schools
1:53:30 because that is very intentional work
1:53:32 and identifying who are the students
1:53:34 that make up that subgroup
1:53:35 and how are we best meeting their needs.
1:53:38 The schools on the right side,
1:53:40 those are ones that now have one or more subgroups
1:53:43 that are not meeting that state target.
1:53:46 - Is there one school that’s missing?
1:53:47 The previous slide said there was four schools.
1:53:52 - Four added.
1:53:53 - Four added and that’s only showing me three, so there’s.
1:53:58 - That is because,
1:54:01 Audubon, Cape View, that is an error.
1:54:04 I’ll find it and I will email all of you.
1:54:06 That is an error.
1:54:07 - Can you email us this presentation afterwards?
1:54:09 I was about to take a picture.
1:54:10 I’m like, no, just email it to us so we have it that way.
1:54:12 - And what I will do is I will fix that
1:54:14 and have her post it and I’ll send it to you.
1:54:19 And now we are at questions.
1:54:21 I know that’s not a deep dive,
1:54:23 but we wanted to make sure,
1:54:24 there’s a lot of charts that were released yesterday
1:54:26 and sometimes it’s very hard for our stakeholders
1:54:29 when they’re talking about informational,
1:54:31 they’re just confused on what does that mean?
1:54:33 They know school grade.
1:54:37 - I’m glad you took the time to talk about this
1:54:42 since this came out yesterday.
1:54:43 I was quickly going through my spreadsheet
1:54:45 and highlighting schools and things like that,
1:54:47 but the difference between not counting the learning gains
1:54:50 and counting learning gains, I mean, I just feel like this,
1:54:55 isn’t it kind of an accurate summary
1:54:57 of when you talk about informational grades?
1:54:59 This is how our students come to us
1:55:02 and we know that our schools that have the high numbers
1:55:06 are free and reduced lunch, that that economic disadvantage
1:55:09 is one of the, is probably the number one,
1:55:13 has the number one effect on prediction of success.
1:55:18 We know those families, those students are coming
1:55:20 very frequently without the support
1:55:22 and so those schools that provide,
1:55:24 that are doing so much supporting those students
1:55:28 to not get those learning gains,
1:55:31 to not show how much work the student who came in,
1:55:35 who’s in third grade, who started at first grade
1:55:36 reading level and now they’re reading on grade level
1:55:39 and you don’t get the benefit of showing that work
1:55:42 that the staff has done.
1:55:43 I mean, it really is tremendous
1:55:45 and I’ve already talked to a couple of principals
1:55:47 that are like, oh, you know, I can’t wait
1:55:49 your learning gains are coming out.
1:55:50 So I’m thankful that you went over this information
1:55:54 ‘cause it’s really important for the public to understand
1:55:56 that this, when we get next year,
1:55:59 and it’s frustrating, it took so long.
1:56:03 ‘Cause really, reasonably next summer by July,
1:56:07 we should have the next round of numbers
1:56:09 and it’s December, right?
1:56:11 - Correct.
1:56:12 - So hopefully, I’m looking forward
1:56:14 because I know everybody’s been doing such great work
1:56:16 and we haven’t really been able to realize it
1:56:18 over the last couple of years
1:56:19 because last year we had grades,
1:56:21 but the year before we didn’t have grades
1:56:22 and then it was COVID and now we’re informational
1:56:24 and so it’s taken so long to get around to seeing
1:56:27 how successful we’ve been post COVID
1:56:29 and so I’m looking forward to July.
1:56:35 - And Mrs. Campbell, I just, you know,
1:56:36 I second our schools that rely on those learning gains.
1:56:41 We wanna celebrate those steps too
1:56:42 because they worked really hard
1:56:44 and the numbers presented in the cells
1:56:46 that were represented for this year based on this process
1:56:49 don’t represent the hard work that they put in
1:56:52 with those learning gains.
1:56:53 - Yeah, I agree, I totally agree.
1:56:55 I think for those little things that didn’t change,
1:56:57 like science and things like that,
1:56:59 we can just like shout,
1:57:00 ‘cause I was at a school this morning
1:57:01 and they were like, we improved our science scores
1:57:03 from this to that and I’m like, woo-hoo, you know,
1:57:06 but that’s just one part of the formula, so,
1:57:09 but I think every school should find those snippets
1:57:12 of success and shout ‘em from the rooftops
1:57:14 because it’s been a hard couple of years
1:57:17 and we need to celebrate every victory.
1:57:20 - Thank you, Mrs. Campbell.
1:57:22 Mr. Trent?
1:57:28 - So the same, as Mrs. Campbell was saying,
1:57:30 it’s unfortunate that there’s so much more to celebrate
1:57:34 that we’re not seeing
1:57:35 because of the lack of the learning gains component
1:57:39 and because we know there’s so many schools out there
1:57:41 putting in the extra effort
1:57:43 and I mean, I look forward to when we can get back
1:57:46 to the normal and have the full grades there,
1:57:49 but a lot of good things to take from here
1:57:51 and thanks for putting this together at the last minute
1:57:56 to when we started going through that.
1:57:57 There’s still a lot to celebrate and the future’s bright,
1:58:00 so it’s looking good, thanks.
1:58:04 - Mr. Susan?
1:58:05 - Yeah, I applaud the school district
1:58:09 for the hard work that they went through last year
1:58:11 to come to this grade that we have right now.
1:58:14 I think that there was a lot of dedication
1:58:16 and hard work and determination
1:58:18 getting through some of those things,
1:58:20 but one of the things I did wanna say
1:58:22 is in the middle of the deregulation conversation
1:58:24 that we’ve had in Tallahassee,
1:58:25 I’ve been with a couple of the state representatives
1:58:28 and I’ve talked to them that the overall school achievement
1:58:31 is more so than just the grades that we see
1:58:34 as far as student achievement.
1:58:35 Now, that is a large component of what we do,
1:58:38 but also how we grade up on workforce development,
1:58:42 how the kids are graduating and going into the industries
1:58:45 that they are asserted for and all of those things
1:58:47 should be part of the conversation moving forward.
1:58:49 What is the mental health of the faculty?
1:58:52 Are your teachers, you know what I mean?
1:58:54 There’s so much more that drives the achievement levels
1:58:57 inside of a district that we don’t look at
1:59:00 when we’re looking at student achievement.
1:59:01 They come in, they test the kids and everything else,
1:59:04 but there’s a lot more to what we do
1:59:06 that doesn’t get graded,
1:59:07 and that’s a lot of our career and technical programs,
1:59:09 a lot of our other things that we do
1:59:11 that knock it out of the park
1:59:12 that may not be graded to the point where we can.
1:59:15 Like, yeah, we get the total number
1:59:16 of career and technical certs,
1:59:18 but the industry alignment that we have to our county
1:59:21 is 10 times what a lot of other counties are.
1:59:23 We have programs that have been developed here
1:59:25 that aren’t developed anywhere else in the country,
1:59:27 and that doesn’t show on any of your achievement levels.
1:59:29 It doesn’t show on some of the other stuff that’s out there.
1:59:32 My heart goes out to all the teachers and all the staff
1:59:34 that brought us to the grades that we have here,
1:59:36 and I have no doubt in my mind
1:59:38 that next year we will be shooting for an A,
1:59:40 and I will party like it’s not gonna ever stop
1:59:43 when we get that, so thank you so much.
1:59:45 I appreciate the time.
1:59:45 Thank you. - Thank you so much
1:59:46 for throwing this together for us very last minute.
1:59:49 One of the things I think that’s very frustrating,
1:59:50 and I tell my daughter this when she goes in to take a test,
1:59:53 is that they look at certain things,
1:59:55 but they can’t measure everything,
1:59:56 and so the same is true for any kind of school grade,
1:59:59 and so if anybody’s looking at these in the public
2:00:01 and going, oh, that school doesn’t maybe have the grade
2:00:04 that I would like to see out of a school,
2:00:05 I would just encourage you, go tour the school.
2:00:07 If you walk the school ground,
2:00:09 you will see the good that is happening
2:00:10 inside of those walls.
2:00:11 There’s no way to deny that,
2:00:13 so for all the things they measure, wonderful, that’s great,
2:00:16 but there’s a million other things that can’t be measured
2:00:19 that are still wonderfully happening
2:00:21 inside the walls of these buildings,
2:00:22 so good work, thank you for putting it together.
2:00:24 I’m looking forward to cheering and celebrating
2:00:26 and having that wonderful, we got a day, yay!
2:00:29 I can’t wait for that to come forward,
2:00:30 so but thank you so much.
2:00:32 All right, we’re gonna move on,
2:00:33 which is also you, Ms. Harris, since you’re right there.
2:00:35 We don’t even need to recess, look at that,
2:00:37 to the next topic on the agenda,
2:00:39 which is the presentation of the Social Studies
2:00:41 Instructional Materials Adoption Process Review.
2:00:44 That’s a mouthful. - Yes.
2:00:45 So I am going to, I just feel the need to recognize
2:00:49 a whole lot of people on the back row
2:00:51 because our goal each year
2:00:53 is to gain more community involvement
2:00:55 because we know instructional materials are a hot topic,
2:00:58 but it’s important, and there’s a whole lot of research
2:01:01 behind getting the right instructional materials
2:01:04 and the right teachers,
2:01:05 and the sky is the limit for our students,
2:01:07 and it takes a lot of members,
2:01:08 so I just wanna recognize
2:01:10 both of our social studies content specialists,
2:01:13 so we have elementary is Christina, Ms. Jolly is secondary,
2:01:16 Janet Stevenson, you know her as school improvement,
2:01:19 but she has a part-time job that is
2:01:21 our instructional materials manager,
2:01:22 so as far as all that legislation around that,
2:01:26 under the leadership of both Dr. Smith and Ms. Vega,
2:01:29 so it’s a whole team that is going to share with you
2:01:32 all the highlights.
2:01:34 - Wonderful, thank you.
2:01:38 Okay, so like Ms. Harris said,
2:01:40 I’m going to present the instructional materials
2:01:43 adoption process that we are currently going through
2:01:46 with social studies, and Tara did a great job
2:01:50 of introducing all of the people
2:01:53 that are on the district team, as you see up here
2:01:56 in the name she just told you all about.
2:02:03 The district adoption process,
2:02:05 let’s talk about that for a minute.
2:02:07 So first of all, the district team,
2:02:11 which Ms. Harris alluded to,
2:02:13 we first developed a BPS vision for social studies
2:02:16 instruction, what is it going to look like?
2:02:19 The task was next to develop the adoption timeline,
2:02:23 then this tool that was used by all people
2:02:27 who reviewed the material, we call it the IMET,
2:02:31 which stands for instructional materials evaluation tool,
2:02:35 a course call for all publishers to submit
2:02:39 their digital presentation of materials.
2:02:42 So in other words, any publisher is allowed
2:02:45 to put forth their materials for us to review.
2:02:50 We did look at materials that were on the state adopted list.
2:02:55 Elementary, K-5, there were actually five publishers
2:02:59 who submitted materials.
2:03:01 Grade six, there was five publishers.
2:03:04 Three of them were the same, two were different
2:03:06 in the K-5 and then just the six.
2:03:08 And then in 7-12, we had 11 publishers
2:03:12 to cover all of those secondary courses.
2:03:15 Next, teachers, parents and community members
2:03:21 applied to be able to be on
2:03:23 the district review committee itself.
2:03:27 We were able to train the teachers,
2:03:29 parents and community members to serve
2:03:31 on this instructional review team.
2:03:35 If you didn’t or weren’t able to commit
2:03:37 to the district review team, there was an option
2:03:40 for stakeholders to provide input
2:03:43 on all the submitted materials.
2:03:46 One way was digitally via links
2:03:51 and then they were able to submit the survey.
2:03:56 I’m gonna slow down, I’m trying to get fast for you.
2:03:59 A second one was in person.
2:04:01 We had three different sites where the team
2:04:04 and I lugged books to Kyler Park in the north.
2:04:08 The central area was right here at ESF
2:04:11 and the south was central middle school
2:04:14 where community members, teachers, parents,
2:04:17 staff could come and actually hold the books,
2:04:20 look through them and complete the survey.
2:04:22 And there was also opportunities
2:04:25 for community members to participate
2:04:29 by actually sitting in on the review team’s meetings
2:04:34 to observe.
2:04:35 They weren’t participants but they were able to observe.
2:04:39 So that purpose of that review team,
2:04:42 first of all needed to understand the requirements
2:04:44 of the Sunshine Laws.
2:04:46 They built a shared vision
2:04:49 for the high quality instructional materials
2:04:51 and also we were able to develop a clear understanding
2:04:55 of what the IMET was and what their responsibility was
2:05:00 to complete this survey.
2:05:03 We kicked it off in September of 2023
2:05:07 right here in the boardroom.
2:05:09 It was highlighted in Dr. Rendell’s publication,
2:05:14 his monthly publication of celebrating of good things.
2:05:17 So we had a great turnout of all of our team,
2:05:20 our district team members and that was their first night
2:05:22 where they actually received some homework
2:05:25 to get ready for our first in person meeting.
2:05:30 We do have the stakeholder engagement opportunities
2:05:35 posted on the instructional materials website
2:05:38 and that’s the one I just went over
2:05:40 where we had those three places,
2:05:42 Kyler, ESF and Central.
2:05:48 We do have a complete calendar of events
2:05:52 that I will click on in just a minute.
2:05:55 Tonight’s recommendation will happen at the board meeting.
2:06:01 At the public hearing is scheduled for January 23rd, 2024.
2:06:08 The school board meeting to hear public comment
2:06:11 will be prior to consideration for adoption.
2:06:14 Now the public will have access to student additions
2:06:17 for 20 days prior to your approval
2:06:20 so that they will be able to give input
2:06:23 at the January meeting.
2:06:25 And then on the January 23rd meeting,
2:06:28 the approval and recommendation by you
2:06:31 could potentially happen.
2:06:34 If approved, student additions
2:06:36 of the instructional materials must remain
2:06:39 digitally available for people to review
2:06:43 for 30 days until February 22nd, 2024.
2:06:50 So I just wanted to give you a quick look
2:06:52 at the calendar events on the instructional materials
2:06:59 website, this was also posted, blasted out
2:07:02 by government and community relations
2:07:04 as well as posted in a newspaper.
2:07:08 So any questions on the process?
2:07:16 Okay, thank you very much.
2:07:19 Thank you to the team.
2:07:21 - We almost got out of there with no questions.
2:07:23 - So I looked through some of the links
2:07:26 that you guys had provided and I tried to jump
2:07:28 on some of the links to the student additions
2:07:31 and it said put in your email to, you know what I mean,
2:07:35 sign up and get into it and I put in my email
2:07:37 and it said you’re not a teacher, you can’t get access.
2:07:40 So just so you know. - That was on purpose.
2:07:41 No, just kidding, I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding.
2:07:44 - So just so you know, I don’t know if it works out.
2:07:46 - Was that in the PowerPoint?
2:07:47 - It was one of the forms. - Or it was
2:07:48 on the live link. - It’s the TCI,
2:07:51 High School Student Studies, Student Edition Access,
2:07:54 click here if you want one and then you go into it.
2:07:57 It’s just there’s a link, there’s a form.
2:07:58 - With the high school? - Yes.
2:08:00 - Okay, Jen will look into that and see.
2:08:03 - It’s not a big deal, I was just trying to reveal.
2:08:04 - No, that is, we wanna make sure that it’s accessible.
2:08:08 - When I was a teacher, I looked at multiple additions
2:08:10 from previous because once in a while,
2:08:11 you see ‘em laying around and I’d told ‘em all
2:08:14 and I laid ‘em out for like about a 10 or 15 year period.
2:08:17 There was three additions and what I found was
2:08:20 is that the only change, there was barely any change
2:08:24 throughout and we spend this exorbitant amount of money
2:08:27 in the social studies area for the content remains
2:08:30 the same, it just so happens to be the engagement
2:08:33 of how to engage with the children inside
2:08:36 the textbooks changes, you know what I mean?
2:08:38 - Sure. - But I was looking at the one
2:08:40 for American History ‘cause that’s the one I taught.
2:08:42 I kinda swarmed my way online and was able to find out
2:08:44 some of ‘em, it’s like 788 pages, you know what I mean?
2:08:49 So to be able to teach 788 pages on a, you know what I mean,
2:08:54 in this time period that we have is really tight.
2:08:56 So I applaud you, applaud everybody else
2:09:00 and I thank you, I just wanted to point out–
2:09:01 - The team, the community was amazing, our teachers,
2:09:04 our staff, the community members, our parents,
2:09:07 they were so engaged, so excited to be there
2:09:10 night after night after night and it was just–
2:09:14 - Sounded like a couple nights, huh?
2:09:16 - It was more than a couple, it was more than a couple.
2:09:18 - Did you have refreshments or anything?
2:09:20 - Yeah, I was gonna say there was some snacks, I don’t know.
2:09:22 - Well, because they were able to spend time
2:09:25 with my amazing team and we just had fun.
2:09:28 - They, you get a bunch of teachers outside the workday
2:09:31 and looking at books and instructional materials
2:09:35 and get to fill out a survey, it was good times.
2:09:38 It was seriously, they had fun.
2:09:39 - Good.
2:09:40 - I do wanna mention that one of the reasons we had
2:09:44 them present this information is a lot of times
2:09:47 there’s questions about how do we select these materials
2:09:51 and we have this whole process that we just outlined
2:09:54 and the community is involved.
2:09:56 That’s the thing that everybody that criticizes
2:10:00 a lot of times doesn’t understand that the community
2:10:02 was involved in the selection of these materials.
2:10:04 And we do our best to select the best materials possible
2:10:08 and we bring the stakeholders in.
2:10:10 So, and it doesn’t mean there still might be some things
2:10:13 that people don’t agree with in there, but this has been
2:10:16 an effort with the community, they’re involved.
2:10:20 - Yes, thank you, thank you.
2:10:22 All right, I see Mr. Raymer and Ms. McNutt
2:10:24 in the back standing up, so they’re ready to go.
2:10:27 All right, the next item that we have on our agenda
2:10:29 is the presentation of the proposed naming
2:10:31 of Mid-County School, so.
2:10:34 - Mid-County Middle School.
2:10:35 - Mid-County Middle School. - Needs a name.
2:10:38 - Needs a, yeah.
2:10:44 I don’t know about that.
2:10:46 I don’t know how high that ranked on the polls,
2:10:49 so we’ll see.
2:10:53 All right.
2:10:59 - All right, good afternoon.
2:11:00 - Hello.
2:11:01 - I have Ms. Kathy McNutt with me,
2:11:03 principal of current Mid-County Middle School.
2:11:06 And we are gonna present to you the naming process
2:11:09 that was followed, which is based on policy 7250
2:11:15 for naming of a new school.
2:11:16 So, what we are gonna do at this time
2:11:19 is Ms. McNutt is gonna present to you the timeline,
2:11:21 she’s gonna present to you the process
2:11:22 that was followed and the committees that were convened
2:11:25 for the naming of the school.
2:11:27 And then we will take a seat and answer any questions
2:11:30 or any further conversation.
2:11:32 So, I’m gonna turn it over to principal
2:11:34 of current Mid-County Middle School,
2:11:35 but hopefully to have a name later tonight,
2:11:37 Ms. Kathy McNutt.
2:11:42 - Thank you, Mr. Raymer.
2:11:43 Good afternoon, board members, Dr. Rendell.
2:11:46 I am excited to review the process that we’ve undergone
2:11:49 to propose a name for the new middle school.
2:11:52 So, thank you for taking some time today
2:11:55 to review the feedback that we’ve gathered.
2:11:57 I am certain that everyone will be in favor
2:12:00 of changing the Mid-County name.
2:12:04 - Yes.
2:12:05 - So, as you can see from our timeline,
2:12:08 we started the process by kicking off a community meeting
2:12:11 on August 29th, Mr. Susan was in attendance,
2:12:16 and we invited all of our zoned families
2:12:19 to our community meeting,
2:12:20 if they are zoned within the school boundary,
2:12:23 through a postcard that was mailed directly to their home.
2:12:27 We posted the invite on our school webpage.
2:12:31 Government and Community Relations helped to relay
2:12:34 that message and that invite,
2:12:35 as well as all of our feeder elementary and high schools.
2:12:40 From there, at the end of that community meeting,
2:12:44 I was able to share a QR code with families
2:12:47 who were in attendance.
2:12:48 Of course, it happened to be the evening
2:12:50 before school was canceled due to the hurricane,
2:12:54 but we, at that time,
2:12:56 the families were able to access a QR code
2:12:58 and to start providing feedback on the name of the school,
2:13:02 the mascot, as well as programs
2:13:05 that they would like to see in the middle school.
2:13:12 And from that community feedback,
2:13:13 we had nearly 300 responses.
2:13:16 You can see there how people identified
2:13:19 who completed our survey.
2:13:21 It was a Google form that was available for one month,
2:13:25 and again, it was shared through a number of avenues
2:13:27 so that we could get as much community input as possible.
2:13:31 Our responses are broken down there by school.
2:13:34 Viera Elementary School and Manatee Elementary School
2:13:37 had a very high number of responses,
2:13:39 and we did see that a lot of those families
2:13:41 were in attendance for the community meeting that evening.
2:13:45 Our responses on the Google form
2:13:47 really highlighted three recurring themes,
2:13:50 and those themes were location, space, and people.
2:13:55 And I think that it’s important
2:13:57 that we see those themes coming up so often
2:14:00 because that really drove some of the conversation
2:14:03 that we had with the naming committee.
2:14:09 So I don’t have any students who are registered
2:14:12 at the new middle school at this time,
2:14:14 so we went through our zoned students,
2:14:17 and I reached out to our elementary,
2:14:21 our sixth grade principals,
2:14:23 as well as our seventh grade principals
2:14:25 for the feeder schools to ask for recommendations
2:14:30 of parents and students who are highly involved
2:14:33 in their school to be a part
2:14:36 of our school’s naming committee.
2:14:38 And so the schools went primarily
2:14:40 through their SAC committees,
2:14:43 asking for volunteers as well as PTO and student government,
2:14:47 and we were able to establish a naming committee
2:14:50 that consisted of 13 zoned students and parents,
2:14:54 as well as myself and my school secretary, Patty McCormack.
2:14:58 As you can see, the names that were presented
2:15:02 to the naming committee
2:15:04 were broken into those three categories,
2:15:06 but that was really more
2:15:07 of just an organizational structure.
2:15:10 When we discussed the name options,
2:15:13 those categories did not limit the final six
2:15:18 that we came up with at the end of our naming committee.
2:15:22 So the committee could select all the names
2:15:26 from location, for example.
2:15:27 They didn’t have to select just one or two names
2:15:30 from each of those three categories.
2:15:33 The bolded names that you see there,
2:15:35 Viera Middle School, Artemis Middle School,
2:15:37 and Moore Middle School came up most often
2:15:41 in the community feedback.
2:15:43 So those were repeat recommendations
2:15:45 from our community input.
2:15:52 Our naming committee, I just have to say a thank you
2:15:56 to the students and parents who were on that committee.
2:15:59 I was wowed by the thoughtful discussion
2:16:02 from some of our kiddos on that committee.
2:16:05 And an example would be Infinitus Middle School,
2:16:09 which is under our space category.
2:16:12 It was a recommendation in the community input,
2:16:15 which is Latin for boundless or endless.
2:16:18 And to hear my sixth grader, Ben, from Century Elementary
2:16:22 present his reasoning for why he believed
2:16:25 that should be the name of the middle school
2:16:27 convinced the whole committee
2:16:28 that needs to stay on there as an option.
2:16:31 So from there, the committee discussed
2:16:33 how it would be presented to our future students
2:16:37 of the new middle school.
2:16:38 And that’s a little bit tricky
2:16:40 because I didn’t have students associated with me
2:16:44 through focus to be able to communicate with them.
2:16:48 And the committee definitely believed
2:16:50 that whatever the name selections that we came up with,
2:16:53 that there needed to be an explanation
2:16:55 as to why that name was chosen.
2:16:57 So on the original Google form,
2:17:00 community members had to say what their recommendation was
2:17:04 for a name and provide a reasoning.
2:17:06 And the committee felt very strongly
2:17:08 that that explanation needed to be included
2:17:11 when we shared the options that they had selected
2:17:15 with our future students.
2:17:16 And so there were six names that were listed
2:17:23 for our future students to choose from.
2:17:26 And I have to give a shout out to Gina Clark
2:17:29 in educational technology for brainstorming a way
2:17:32 for me to communicate this out to our students.
2:17:35 And we received 329 responses from sixth graders.
2:17:40 The reason why we focused on sixth graders
2:17:43 as opposed to seventh graders who are zoned for the school
2:17:47 was because it was very difficult to determine
2:17:50 which seventh grade students
2:17:52 would remain at their middle school
2:17:54 versus coming to the new middle school.
2:17:56 There was no way to differentiate that.
2:17:58 So we focused on our sixth grade feeders
2:18:00 and the top three schools that were selected
2:18:03 were Viera Middle School, Artemis Middle School
2:18:06 and Infinitus Middle School.
2:18:12 And so now Mr. Raymer and I will be available
2:18:14 for any questions that you have.
2:18:24 - Well, it sounds like the students were clear.
2:18:29 My only, it was fun to look through the responses
2:18:32 on the Excel spreadsheet.
2:18:33 And I’m just wondering if when it comes time
2:18:36 for the mascot, if you can incorporate
2:18:38 some of these suggestions.
2:18:39 But one of my favorite I have to say
2:18:40 is the Velociraptors.
2:18:42 And I think the Viera Velociraptors
2:18:44 would be an excellent mascot
2:18:46 and we don’t have a Velociraptor yet.
2:18:48 So, and you get the V and the V.
2:18:50 So I’m just throwing that out there.
2:18:52 No, we don’t get to vote on the mascot,
2:18:54 but I’m just gonna toss out my input.
2:18:56 So, but thank you for walking through this process
2:18:58 so transparently with our community
2:18:59 and getting everyone involved.
2:19:01 I think that’s good.
2:19:03 - Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
2:19:04 Ms. Jenkins, do you have anything?
2:19:07 Any questions?
2:19:08 - No, I obviously appreciate the extensive community input
2:19:13 that we had to obtain.
2:19:17 It did make me laugh though.
2:19:18 It ended up as number one.
2:19:21 You know, as long as the community
2:19:23 is gonna be happy with it,
2:19:25 I think it’s gonna be great.
2:19:28 I think it would be nice for you
2:19:29 to finally have a name to put to this school
2:19:31 so that you can kind of start getting going
2:19:33 and looking forward to other things going forward.
2:19:36 - Thank you.
2:19:37 Mr. Susan?
2:19:38 - So I had a lot of conversations with the families
2:19:40 and staff and what was interesting
2:19:44 with the Viera high school staff
2:19:45 and Viera middle or elementary
2:19:47 is that they get each other’s mail all the time.
2:19:49 Because like, it’s Viera this, Viera that.
2:19:52 So they end up with it and they’re like,
2:19:53 “Oh, just whatever you do, don’t name it Viera middle school.”
2:19:55 I was like, “Okay, I’ll take that.”
2:19:57 And then we end up with it, right?
2:19:58 So they can deal with a little bit of mail.
2:20:00 But I think this is good.
2:20:02 Question I had and it’s coming up as I visit schools,
2:20:05 talk to people, stuff like that is,
2:20:07 how far along are we for the planning of the faculty
2:20:12 and all of those questions, right?
2:20:14 Like, so I got hit when I was at Kennedy.
2:20:16 I got hit when I was over at Delora
2:20:18 and they’re asking questions.
2:20:20 Is there a scope and plan like going forward?
2:20:22 Like what is that real quick?
2:20:24 - Yeah, so for staffing the school,
2:20:26 there’s a procedure we’ll go through.
2:20:28 It’s in contract ‘cause to fill this school,
2:20:31 we’re gonna be drawing students from existing schools.
2:20:33 So with students comes FTE.
2:20:37 So the schools that we’ll be drawing from
2:20:39 will be losing FTE.
2:20:41 So staff at those schools will get the first opportunity
2:20:44 to apply for vacancies at said middle school.
2:20:48 And there’s a whole process.
2:20:50 We were actually reviewing it the other day.
2:20:51 So when we get back from winter break,
2:20:54 we’ll start pushing that information out.
2:20:56 So the staff at the two or three schools
2:20:59 that are gonna be affected by losing enrollment
2:21:02 will be the first opportunity,
2:21:03 they’ll have the first opportunity to apply for jobs
2:21:06 that are advertised at said middle school.
2:21:08 - And I think the anomaly that you face
2:21:10 is that seventh grade turning to eighth grade,
2:21:12 how many of the kids are gonna stay, come back?
2:21:14 It’s kind of up there.
2:21:16 So if there’s anything I can do to help facilitate
2:21:18 getting a heart, a beat of what’s going on out there,
2:21:22 I think we’re gonna see a considerable amount
2:21:24 of people coming.
2:21:25 But there are some people that love their schools.
2:21:27 So I think it’ll be 50% of what we think
2:21:30 for the fill rate on the eighth, seventh grade.
2:21:31 - Yeah, so middle school’s a transition year
2:21:33 and here in Brevard, it’s a two year transition.
2:21:37 So if you just transition to Delora this year,
2:21:40 you may not wanna transition to another school
2:21:42 just for a one year.
2:21:44 You may stay at Delora or Kennedy or McNair or you know.
2:21:47 So that’s why the sixth grade question’s
2:21:50 a little bit more– - Important.
2:21:52 - Certain. - Absolutely.
2:21:54 - Thank you, I just wanted to ask that question.
2:21:57 - Thank you, Mr. Trent.
2:21:58 - No, I’m good, good job guys.
2:22:00 - Yes, no, I’m excited.
2:22:02 The community has spoke, obviously they’re very vocal
2:22:04 about what they would like their school to be named.
2:22:06 So it’s very exciting.
2:22:07 It’s cool to see this thing going up.
2:22:09 It is changing every day when you go by there.
2:22:12 I’m like, man, it’s gonna be here before we know it.
2:22:14 So thank you for the work you’ve done, we appreciate you.
2:22:16 We’re looking forward to the ribbon cutting
2:22:19 and that building opening up, so.
2:22:21 - Thank you all. - Yes, thank you.
2:22:24 All right, so I added a couple of topics that are on here
2:22:28 and these are gonna be quick discussions.
2:22:30 I don’t think that they’ll be too much.
2:22:31 So we’re gonna kind of move through them,
2:22:32 which was the discussion of the offsite.
2:22:34 Last year, we had an offsite where we kind of vision cast
2:22:38 where we wanna go in the next year,
2:22:40 some of the goals that board members had.
2:22:42 I think it was very beneficial for our board
2:22:44 to kind of use as a guiding principle.
2:22:46 And I think that I would like to entertain us
2:22:50 doing another offsite in January.
2:22:52 So I wanted to bring this up as a discussion,
2:22:55 check everyone’s calendars to see if January 9th
2:22:59 would work for everyone.
2:23:01 And then we’ll get to working on planning from there.
2:23:07 - I’m good. - Okay.
2:23:09 You’re good, okay.
2:23:10 All right, so that’s easy.
2:23:12 The other topic that I wanted to bring up was
2:23:16 having the work sessions prior to the board meeting
2:23:18 sometimes can pose as a challenge
2:23:20 based on how much is on that work session.
2:23:22 And then it also doesn’t always give us adequate time
2:23:24 to digest everything that’s been brought before us
2:23:27 before we go into a board meeting
2:23:28 and sometimes are voting on those same exact things
2:23:30 that evening.
2:23:31 And so if you’re anything like me,
2:23:32 I like to read and look into and investigate
2:23:34 and kind of see.
2:23:36 So I wanted to propose this idea to the board
2:23:39 and see if this is something that everyone’s calendar
2:23:41 would entertain and that we could possibly look at doing
2:23:43 in an effort to allow us enough time
2:23:46 to really know what we’re going into the next meeting.
2:23:50 So I was wondering, would the board entertain the idea
2:23:53 of possibly looking at holding our work session dates
2:23:57 on the Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
2:24:00 prior to the board meeting that would follow that Tuesday?
2:24:03 It would give you the weekend.
2:24:04 It would give you a few days to just kind of
2:24:07 go through everything that was presented
2:24:09 and just really wanted to honor the sanctity of the board
2:24:12 making the decision.
2:24:13 Don’t want to just obviously make that decision for us.
2:24:15 So just want to hear everybody’s input on it.
2:24:17 You’re asking to open up some Thursdays?
2:24:19 Is that what I heard you say?
2:24:20 I am, yeah.
2:24:20 So it would consist of two Thursdays a month
2:24:23 and it would be the Thursday prior to the board meeting
2:24:26 that would follow that following Tuesday.
2:24:28 And you’re saying we would come in at nine o’clock?
2:24:31 Oh, 9.30, nine?
2:24:32 9.30, nine, eight?
2:24:34 Nine o’clock, yes, to go through.
2:24:37 And we can go until five?
2:24:39 Oh, it’s a work session.
2:24:40 I mean, in theory we wouldn’t go until five.
2:24:43 It would, I mean, right now we’re wrapping up
2:24:47 work sessions in two and a half hours.
2:24:48 It just would give us more time as a board
2:24:50 to really be able to take back the materials, read it.
2:24:53 If we have any questions, we could ask questions about it.
2:24:55 A lot of times when the presentations are given to us before,
2:24:57 today was not that case, but sometimes it,
2:25:01 you know, we have more questions
2:25:02 once a presentation is given.
2:25:03 And so if we’re voting on that that evening,
2:25:05 it doesn’t really give us adequate time
2:25:07 to read through everything and then ask our questions,
2:25:09 get them answered before we make a vote that evening.
2:25:12 And then if we have to throw an executive session in there
2:25:14 or a security meeting or things like that,
2:25:16 then it really gets tricky.
2:25:17 So I was just thinking in an effort to free up
2:25:20 some of our time and having adequate time to research,
2:25:24 it would be a good idea.
2:25:25 And what I would say to that is that I’m in favor of it
2:25:27 because there’s a lot of what you just said,
2:25:29 that there’s other meetings that go on,
2:25:31 there’s things that we need to do.
2:25:33 What I would say is if we move to that,
2:25:34 that everybody kind of puts to their calendar
2:25:37 and just blocks those days, just in the event that you have
2:25:40 some of those other things that are needed.
2:25:41 I like the idea because it gives us more flexibility
2:25:44 to where we’re not running up on a deadline date of,
2:25:46 hey, we gotta get to 4.30.
2:25:48 I always wanted to start a little bit early.
2:25:49 So I love the idea, but that does mean that we will not come
2:25:53 to a board meeting or a workshop
2:25:56 on the workdays of the Tuesdays, right?
2:25:58 Correct, we would have the workshop the Thursday prior to.
2:26:01 And we can move those to the 10 o’clock
2:26:03 if we needed to a couple of times
2:26:05 without any kind of conflicts and stuff like that,
2:26:06 like we did.
2:26:07 Ideally, we’d cut it for 9 a.m.
2:26:09 If we could, I think that’s the Thursday prior to.
2:26:12 Sounds good.
2:26:13 That would be what I propose.
2:26:14 So you’re in favor, Mr. Susan?
2:26:15 I have a different proposition.
2:26:18 Okay.
2:26:19 I mean, I prefer to keep it the way it is,
2:26:21 but if not, then I would prefer it
2:26:23 to be on the off Tuesdays.
2:26:24 It’s easier for me to plan when I know,
2:26:27 like anytime someone asks me for anything,
2:26:29 I go, please just avoid a Tuesday.
2:26:31 So I don’t wanna mess up,
2:26:32 ‘cause the meeting days will sometimes change.
2:26:34 For me, it would just be a lot easier
2:26:36 for me mentally and planning-wise
2:26:38 to say my Tuesdays are off the books,
2:26:39 which is what I do now.
2:26:42 It’s just easier for me.
2:26:43 Yeah, I’m coming to the same boat for right now.
2:26:45 I’m not opposed to changing it maybe in the future,
2:26:48 but as for right now,
2:26:50 I’ve built my whole life around Tuesdays,
2:26:52 the calendar, the way we had it.
2:26:54 And so I would have to literally go through
2:26:56 the next four or five months and look at Thursdays
2:26:59 and shift a bunch of things.
2:27:00 So I’m not saying it’s impossible,
2:27:02 but I’d prefer, I do,
2:27:04 I’ll actually like the off Tuesday idea.
2:27:06 And I don’t know,
2:27:07 that would be meaning staff getting something ready
2:27:10 a whole week in advance rather than five days in advance.
2:27:14 But if that’s,
2:27:17 and I hear what you’re saying.
2:27:19 Sometimes the workshops are 45 minutes to an hour,
2:27:22 and sometimes they’re loaded,
2:27:23 and sometimes we’ve moved them back and started at one.
2:27:25 Well, listen, I’m thinking of a five-year plan,
2:27:28 but they’re not always super long,
2:27:29 and there’s been times,
2:27:30 like even one of the most recent ones we had,
2:27:32 we were done in like an hour, an hour and a half,
2:27:34 and then we had a big break.
2:27:36 So it just depends.
2:27:39 I would at least like for now
2:27:40 to either leave it the way it is
2:27:42 or potentially look at some kind of,
2:27:44 do it the Tuesday on the off week times,
2:27:47 just because I do kind of have my,
2:27:50 I have, I can already tell you right now,
2:27:52 I’ve gotten, I’m gonna have some,
2:27:54 I’m gonna have some Thursday issues.
2:27:57 Maybe not as many as I feel like.
2:27:58 I mean, I just need to take a look.
2:27:59 So I can’t give you a full yesterday.
2:28:02 But I’d rather commit.
2:28:03 - But if it was a Tuesday, you could commit to doing it.
2:28:05 - But I will tell you, I don’t have another job,
2:28:07 and I know that Ms. Jenkins does have another job,
2:28:10 and Mr. Schusen has another job,
2:28:12 and I think Mr. Trent has another job.
2:28:14 He’s a flexible job, but right?
2:28:15 So I think we’d need to just take a look at it
2:28:19 and see what it might look like.
2:28:21 And I mean, I can give you a more firm yes
2:28:23 the next time we look at it.
2:28:26 - The other thing, too, is like,
2:28:28 I mean, this isn’t often,
2:28:29 but when we have those Thursday mandatory meetings,
2:28:32 too, if it’s just on a Tuesday,
2:28:33 then it kind of avoids that oopsie conflict.
2:28:36 - I think that happens once a year.
2:28:38 Mr. Trent, you wanna chime in on this one?
2:28:42 - Not really.
2:28:43 - Oh, nothing, you got nothing.
2:28:44 - Well, Sue, what I could do is put together
2:28:46 a couple of tentative calendars to send out to you guys,
2:28:50 and then when you come back in January,
2:28:54 on the 9th, you could even discuss it.
2:28:55 - On the offsite, we can– - Offsite.
2:28:58 ‘Cause when you see how it lines up,
2:29:00 you might go, actually, I don’t like that.
2:29:02 ‘Cause right now, we’re going first Tuesday of the month
2:29:06 is a business meeting at 5.30,
2:29:08 and the first meeting of the month is 5.30,
2:29:12 and then the second meeting of the month
2:29:13 is 9.30 Tuesday morning.
2:29:16 So every Tuesday, you’re gonna be coming here for something.
2:29:23 - And I guess, I mean,
2:29:24 I’m not opposed to doing it on a Tuesday,
2:29:25 I just didn’t know would that be enough time for staff
2:29:27 to prepare the presentations that they need to get forward.
2:29:30 - My whole gist here was just really trying to get away
2:29:32 from the workshop falling on the exact same day
2:29:34 that we have the board meeting,
2:29:36 and a lot of times, us voting on those things.
2:29:39 - Yeah, but I also think that’s something for me to work on,
2:29:41 to make sure that we’re not presenting material to you
2:29:44 at a workshop that we’re asking you to vote on that night.
2:29:48 Like, we have, I think, two items today
2:29:49 that we discussed today that we’re voting on tonight,
2:29:52 one board meeting this month, so that’s part of the issue.
2:29:58 If we can commit to getting you the information
2:30:01 in a workshop that you’re not voting on that week,
2:30:03 you’re voting on it at the next meeting,
2:30:05 you might even have, you’d have two weeks to preview it.
2:30:09 - Probably needs to weigh in on, in the process,
2:30:12 not necessarily today, but if you don’t have it,
2:30:14 I’ll talk your head, on the, like the policy revision,
2:30:18 public notice, the way, like the number of days
2:30:21 has to be noticed beforehand, how much would that affect,
2:30:23 because then those Thursdays would become a public hearing,
2:30:28 we’d have to kind of see.
2:30:29 - Right now, we don’t have any scheduled,
2:30:31 other than our special set, which should not be affected
2:30:34 by any of these changes, so we’re good.
2:30:36 - Can I also ask that we ask Dr. Rindell
2:30:38 to just, like, ask the staff, too?
2:30:41 - Yeah, I’ll– - Like, to me, like,
2:30:42 it’s easier for me to say Tuesdays are Tuesdays,
2:30:44 like, that’s meeting day, and they may feel the same way,
2:30:46 or they may not, they may be like,
2:30:47 “Oh, we prefer the Thursday before,” or whatever.
2:30:50 - Right, okay, yeah, if you don’t mind just weighing in.
2:30:52 The overall goal, I think it sounds like everyone’s okay
2:30:55 with us moving away from having a workshop
2:30:56 on a different day, sounds like majority are preferring,
2:30:59 well, Tuesdays are preference for Ms. Jenkins, Ms. Campbell.
2:31:03 - Right, but maybe doing an alternating workshop,
2:31:07 not the same day as business meeting.
2:31:10 - Right, right, and building a few days in between,
2:31:12 that’s really what I’m looking for,
2:31:14 so that I can have time to really go through
2:31:16 whatever it is that we’re voting on that subject,
2:31:19 so I would appreciate that.
2:31:21 The other discussion topic that I have on here
2:31:23 is slightly changing the board meeting format,
2:31:27 and I, let me tell you why.
2:31:29 - Ms. Ray, before you get into that,
2:31:30 can I, I just thought of something, too, just for, so,
2:31:35 I get what you’re saying about having time
2:31:36 to ask your questions, but if we do do it on a Tuesday,
2:31:39 it does technically give the staff more time
2:31:41 to answer us, too, because if we do it on Thursday,
2:31:43 then they’re gonna have to work over the week,
2:31:45 and we know they’re going to,
2:31:45 unless they’re not gonna let us not have an answer,
2:31:48 so just consider that.
2:31:49 Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,
2:31:50 but I didn’t wanna go backwards.
2:31:51 No, no worries, no worries.
2:31:53 - Good point.
2:31:54 So the other, the last thing, like I was saying,
2:31:55 was I attended the FSBA Chairmanship Academy,
2:31:59 I suppose is what it’s called,
2:32:01 and so it was very informative.
2:32:02 I got to hear from multiple districts around the state
2:32:05 on how they run their board meetings
2:32:07 and some of the hurdles they’re having.
2:32:08 A lot of the stuff is similar to what we’re having,
2:32:11 and one of the things that kinda stuck out to me
2:32:14 when I was looking at multiple different districts
2:32:16 is that a lot of them have their parliamentarian,
2:32:19 AKA Mr. Gibbs, in our case, announced the public speakers
2:32:23 and control the clock,
2:32:25 and I think this would be a wise idea
2:32:27 for Brevard to look at doing,
2:32:28 and so we had this discussion, Mr. Gibbs,
2:32:31 you still, I’m like, is he, are you okay down there?
2:32:33 (laughs)
2:32:34 You’re still comfortable with doing this?
2:32:36 Yeah, I know.
2:32:37 I’m like, yeah.
2:32:38 Yeah, that’s a valid question.
2:32:40 - Can you start tonight?
2:32:42 Are we set up for tonight, or?
2:32:44 - Yes, with the exception of the clock,
2:32:45 so I’m still gonna have to do the clock tonight,
2:32:47 just because the core didn’t come in time
2:32:48 in order to move it down.
2:32:50 It will eliminate anybody having, I know,
2:32:52 having the idea that there’s any bias
2:32:56 that I allowed somebody to go over and speak about it,
2:32:59 so it just kind of wipes us clean with that,
2:33:01 so I changed the script slightly just to make it my own,
2:33:04 because I don’t, reading it, sometimes you feel like,
2:33:07 okay, this is not my words,
2:33:08 this is somebody else’s words that typed it,
2:33:10 so just, but for the most part,
2:33:13 that was the main thing, was having Mr. Gibbs,
2:33:15 that’s the biggest thing that everyone’s gonna go,
2:33:16 oh my goodness, this is, what is this, this is different.
2:33:19 The other thing I did have is I had the rules
2:33:21 posted at the podium for the speakers,
2:33:23 just so that they can be reminded again
2:33:25 of what is expected of the speakers,
2:33:26 so we wanna try to make sure that our meetings
2:33:30 are business meetings, so that is really
2:33:33 what it should be kept as, and so I’m hoping
2:33:35 that if we make these couple small changes,
2:33:37 that we might see that this pays dividends,
2:33:40 and that they’re run a little more efficiently,
2:33:42 and that our public will respect the process
2:33:44 a little bit more, rather than some of them
2:33:47 bring in their political views or their ideology,
2:33:49 and they kind of put that on whoever it is
2:33:51 they’re speaking to, so just wanted to make you guys
2:33:54 aware of that, but other than that–
2:33:55 - Hang on, ‘cause I just wanted to just check,
2:33:58 because our policy talks about the presiding officer
2:34:02 administers the rules of the board,
2:34:04 which you can delegate that part of it.
2:34:07 - I will.
2:34:08 - So if he’s just doing, reading the names,
2:34:11 and yay for you, you get to read all the names,
2:34:13 and controlling the clock, as the board chair,
2:34:16 is the board chair still controlling the behavior
2:34:20 in which the board chair can still cause someone
2:34:23 to stop if they’re irrelevant, abusive,
2:34:25 and all those little things, ‘cause that’s not on him,
2:34:27 that’s still on the board chair.
2:34:28 - That is 100% still my responsibility,
2:34:30 so I’m really trying to, I mean, our district,
2:34:32 we have had a lawsuit brought before us
2:34:35 in regards to bias on speaker time,
2:34:37 and not being asked to stop, and so I think
2:34:40 this is, this possibly could eliminate that.
2:34:43 - I know, I know, but I’m just saying, I do believe,
2:34:45 and the districts that do this, it sounds like
2:34:48 it goes a little smoother for them than it does for us, so.
2:34:50 - I have a question, though, ‘cause,
2:34:52 so I thought that that it was delegating
2:34:55 that responsibility to Mr. Gibbs,
2:34:57 ‘cause my opinion, that’s where the issue would be,
2:35:00 not that I’m thinking you’re gonna cause an issue,
2:35:02 I don’t mean that.
2:35:06 I don’t, I mean, I don’t care if he reads the names
2:35:08 and does the clock, but I don’t think
2:35:09 that’s where the issue is, and where the conflict
2:35:11 always comes to, so I feel like–
2:35:14 - That’s not all of her issues, you are correct.
2:35:16 - Yeah, so, I mean– - At the time,
2:35:17 ‘cause there are people who go over–
2:35:18 - Yeah, I mean, is there, but like,
2:35:21 you’re in charge of the meeting,
2:35:22 so there’s no way to even give that up.
2:35:23 - No, no, no.
2:35:24 - And then is that gonna be weird, because she’s,
2:35:27 I mean, I guess you’re just gonna have to stop the clock
2:35:28 when she’s done. - So I’m gonna make
2:35:29 a statement about that, and I will,
2:35:30 if I stop the speaker, I’ll say,
2:35:32 “Mr. Gibbs, please stop the clock,” so that he has it,
2:35:34 and then if I have to warn them and say–
2:35:37 - Sorry, I’m just thinking– - No, no, I know,
2:35:38 the logistics of how it’s gonna go through, so I understand
2:35:41 100% tonight, I’ll have the clock still in front of me,
2:35:43 we may look at that and go, “That really still works great,”
2:35:45 I don’t know, if it does, then it almost is like,
2:35:47 “Why are we having Mr. Gibbs for the night?”
2:35:48 - It’s a lot to control, though, it’s a lot to control,
2:35:51 because you also have, the person who has the clock
2:35:53 also has the, because the, well, no, I take that back,
2:35:56 the clock controls one thing, the mic,
2:35:57 the chairman still needs to have the mic.
2:35:59 - The chairman needs to be able to mute someone
2:36:00 if they start cussing at the, you know.
2:36:03 - Right, and you’re flipping through name cards sometimes
2:36:05 if somebody’s like, “Hey, let me get the address,”
2:36:07 it just, I think will help on the back end of things, so.
2:36:11 - The roll call voting, roll call voting you were gonna–
2:36:14 - Oh, roll call voting, that’s the other thing,
2:36:15 so right now, we typically vote, and we all say,
2:36:18 “You know, if you’re in agreeance, you say aye,
2:36:20 “if you’re not, nay,” so we’re gonna specific,
2:36:22 he’s gonna individually call us for roll call voting
2:36:24 so that we don’t ever have any confusion
2:36:26 on where you’re at on a vote, so it’ll,
2:36:28 he’ll ask Ms. Jenkins your vote, and that way,
2:36:30 it’s recorded very clearly, it’ll help with keeping record
2:36:33 of accurate votes and all that stuff, okay?
2:36:35 And who walked, who, who’s–
2:36:37 - Or who’s not present, whatever happens, that is true,
2:36:40 yeah, so I think it’ll make life a little easier
2:36:41 on the bookkeeping end of things, so, all right.
2:36:44 Does any other board member have any further items
2:36:46 they wish to discuss?
2:36:47 - Yeah, we were talking, one of the reasons
2:36:48 we have to do that voice call is because we were talking
2:36:51 about going back to the old online system that we had,
2:36:56 so right now, we have the current one,
2:36:58 but we were talking about going to board docs.
2:37:01 Paula, do you had a chance to get ahold of those people?
2:37:04 I think you– - No, that’s through procurement
2:37:05 for board docs, but I think Agenda Plus works.
2:37:08 It’s just, it was really slow, so it was faster
2:37:12 for the board to just do an aye or nay
2:37:15 rather than wait on the computers,
2:37:17 ‘cause people’s computers went to sleep and all that.
2:37:20 - Yeah, there’s a whole lot of, there was a whole lot
2:37:21 of other issues that are going on with that Agenda Plus.
2:37:24 Did we call procurement?
2:37:25 Like, where are we at with that?
2:37:26 - Yeah, we have to go through the normal procurement process
2:37:29 to get quotes and all that.
2:37:30 - To add, but we can’t wait.
2:37:32 - We don’t have board docs right now.
2:37:35 - We have board docs for the other piece
2:37:36 that we pay for, right?
2:37:37 - For what piece?
2:37:38 - I’ll follow, I’ll take this offline, yeah.
2:37:40 I’ll always– - Neola has board docs.
2:37:42 That’s through Neola.
2:37:43 We don’t contract with them.
2:37:45 - Okay, gotcha, I’ll get with you after this.
2:37:48 - Okay. - Thank you.
2:37:50 - All right, hearing no further business,
2:37:51 meeting is adjourned.
2:37:54 (upbeat music)
2:38:32 (silence)