Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:30 (upbeat music)
1:00 (upbeat music continues)
5:27 - Good evening and welcome to the August 13th, 2024
5:30 board meeting.
5:31 It is now in order.
5:32 I’d like to welcome my fellow board members and the public.
5:34 It’s encouraging to see so many faces in the audience.
5:37 I will politely ask the public to help our board meeting
5:39 go more smoothly by following a few simple
5:41 housekeeping rules.
5:42 The public’s opportunity to address the board
5:44 is during public comment portion of the meeting.
5:46 I’d ask the public refrain from speaking loud disruptions,
5:48 distractions, or other form of communication
5:50 that hinder the business of the board.
5:52 Paul, roll call, please.
5:53 - Ms. Wright. - Here.
5:54 - Mr. Trent. - Here.
5:55 - Ms. Campbell. - Here.
5:56 - Ms. Jenkins. - Here.
5:57 - Mr. Susan. - Here.
5:58 - At this time, the board would like to hold
6:00 a moment of silence and we invite the audience to join.
6:22 Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
6:26 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
6:33 and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
6:38 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
6:46 - All right.
6:47 It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had a board meeting,
6:50 but it’s actually only been two weeks.
6:51 All right.
6:52 At this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members
6:54 and Dr. Rendell an opportunity to recognize students, staff,
6:56 or members in the community.
6:57 Does anybody like to go first?
6:59 - I’ll go first.
6:59 I’ll be quick.
7:00 - OK.
7:01 - I just want to say happy first week back to school
7:03 to all of our staff members, our families, our students.
7:07 And I just want to say a special shout out
7:09 to our families who are dropping off pre-K students
7:12 and kindergarten students.
7:13 I know this week can be a little scary for both the kids
7:15 and sometimes more of the parents.
7:17 But just know that your kids are in really good, safe hands
7:20 that love them and will wrap their arms around them
7:22 and they’re going to have an amazing year.
7:24 So don’t cry too much.
7:26 And I just also want to say a shout out to so many
7:28 of our community members and businesses
7:30 have over the summer had collective drives for school
7:33 supplies for either schools in their communities
7:35 or for the Brevard Schools Foundation.
7:37 So thank you for everyone who was thinking
7:39 are our kiddos in need.
7:40 And continue to reach out to your schools
7:42 locally, see if they need anything if you’re still
7:44 looking to support.
7:45 Thanks.
7:46 - Thank you.
7:47 All right, Ms. Campbell, you ready?
7:49 - Yes.
7:50 From all accounts that I’ve heard,
7:52 yesterday was a successful first day of school.
7:55 It’s always nice to be able to breathe a sigh of relief
7:58 that we didn’t have too many major issues going on.
8:00 Actually, I emailed Dr. Miller sometime during the day.
8:03 I said, I know it’s crazy because it’s the first day.
8:05 He said, actually, it hasn’t been too bad.
8:06 So he probably knocked on wood right after that.
8:08 But just thank you to Dr. Miller in transportation,
8:12 to Sue Han and the facilities team
8:14 for taking care of the things that did pop up.
8:17 And just for all the teams that helped our schools get ready
8:20 so that we could have a relatively uneventful first day.
8:23 That’s the way we like it.
8:24 So I also wanted to shout out to another staff member.
8:28 And that is Dr. Melinda Mayer, who is over our charter
8:32 and choice area.
8:35 And I sit for the board on the Choice Appeals Committee.
8:40 And I just have gotten to see up close and personal,
8:42 not just her, but her whole staff, their work they do.
8:45 Because we have parents who want their children
8:47 to have different opportunities besides their own school.
8:50 And it’s a very emotionally fraught issue.
8:53 And her team just handles that very well,
8:54 very personal with each family and with the schools
8:57 trying to figure out what’s the best for the kid and help them.
9:00 And so just shout out to Dr. Mayer.
9:02 And just thank you for the work that you and your team
9:05 do in making sure that goes smoothly for families.
9:10 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
9:11 All right, Mr. Susan?
9:13 I was thinking about this.
9:14 And I wanted to make sure that it was right.
9:17 But I’m almost positive that we are the first board
9:20 to have every member has a student in the schools.
9:23 Does everybody here has a kid in the schools?
9:25 Yes, I do.
9:26 So I wanted to just say, a lot of people,
9:30 we can relate to many of the parents on the day
9:32 before school and everything else,
9:33 how much it takes out of you, the energy, the excitement.
9:37 And then they come home.
9:38 And then you’re like, how did school go?
9:39 And they just basically fall asleep,
9:40 because they’re so tired from the whole day.
9:42 But I did want to say that that’s unique.
9:44 There’s not many school boards throughout the state
9:46 that I know that every single board member has
9:48 a child inside the school.
9:50 So I’m proud of you guys for having a vested interest
9:53 inside of our schools in what you do.
9:55 But I did want to say, my day started yesterday
9:57 at the bus drivers.
9:58 And one of the things, because I always like to start there,
10:01 one of the things that many people may not
10:03 know about the bus driver situation
10:04 is that not only are we fully staffed and everything else,
10:07 that’s great.
10:08 But we had gotten out so far ahead
10:11 that all of the buses were maintained.
10:13 All of the buses were ready.
10:15 Everything was scheduled correct.
10:16 You know what I mean?
10:17 Legitimately, there’s a time period
10:19 where transportation has to go through testing
10:22 and everything of those vehicles.
10:23 And sometimes they’re not already on the first day.
10:26 We have a bunch of reserves.
10:27 But all the reserves are ready.
10:28 They were talking about how everybody’s been trained.
10:30 Everybody’s ready to go.
10:31 That was a phenomenal stat.
10:33 And then I also had the opportunity
10:35 to go see an individual that’s one of the new STEM positions.
10:39 And there’s been some confusion out there
10:41 about these aren’t real STEM.
10:42 They are standalone STEM positions.
10:45 And I think that one of the things that
10:46 was interesting about the conversation
10:48 was how he’s taking each one of the school classrooms
10:53 and tying them into the STEM and then identifying
10:56 areas of growth for science and everything else.
10:59 We’re looking– this may be a great opportunity for growth
11:01 in our science and everything else,
11:03 having that STEM coordinator inside of every school.
11:06 And then Viera Middle School with Ms. McNutt,
11:08 she did amazing.
11:09 I stopped over at some assistant librarians
11:11 and checking in with them.
11:12 They’re excited on the day.
11:15 And then I’ve been dealing with a lot of pre-K parents
11:17 that are still trying to get their kids in because we’re
11:20 advertising a lot.
11:21 So our numbers are going to be really good in those areas.
11:23 And one of the greatest ones that I did
11:25 was I stopped off and thanked some of the crossing guards.
11:28 Because we always forget to stop to say thanks to them.
11:30 And they are just as excited to be there too.
11:32 So all the way around, I’m just proud to be a part of BPS.
11:36 And we have some great staff members out there.
11:37 And here we go.
11:39 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
11:40 Mr. Treck?
11:44 Pretty close to being flawless yesterday.
11:45 That was really good.
11:47 I had to make sure something didn’t happen to my emails
11:51 because I didn’t get any negative emails
11:53 on drop off lines.
11:56 Not that I didn’t get it in person on that.
11:59 But it went well.
12:00 Early in the morning, despite the mosquitoes attacking,
12:05 cheering on those kiddos being dropped off
12:08 and coming into the school for the first time of the year,
12:12 it was a great experience.
12:15 Shout out to the staff and the teachers
12:17 that had the smiling faces on that
12:19 were greeting those kids at the multiple schools I was at.
12:23 It was the same across the board.
12:25 So shout out to all of you.
12:28 Also shout out to our communications and Janet
12:31 Murnahan and her crew on top of things.
12:34 For the beginning of the year, couldn’t be any better,
12:37 couldn’t be any smoother.
12:38 Appreciate all the efforts.
12:40 And we’re excited.
12:42 It’s going to be a great year.
12:44 Thank you.
12:46 All right.
12:46 So yes, shout out to Janet and your team.
12:48 I have to say, honestly, we were all over the place yesterday.
12:52 And the government community relations
12:54 seemed to track us all.
12:55 And that was amazing.
12:56 So it was a wonderful first day of school.
12:58 One of the things that really resonated with me
12:59 walking the school and being there before students came in
13:02 is the feeling of a building when it’s empty
13:04 and there aren’t students in the building.
13:06 And then the change that happens when kids come in
13:08 and they’re excited and they have their backpacks.
13:11 And it’s just something magical to experience.
13:13 So we are so happy all of our kiddos
13:15 are back in our classrooms.
13:16 And we’re hoping for a wonderful school year and continued
13:18 improvement for their academic success.
13:20 We’ve had a lot of things that have happened.
13:22 And so I’m going to quickly run through them
13:23 because I don’t want to miss any of them.
13:25 But I want to give a thanks to Space Florida.
13:27 Space Florida held a signing, an MOU signing,
13:30 for multiple districts all over the state that
13:33 have signed on to become a Space Florida Academy.
13:36 And basically what that means is that our district
13:38 is going to dedicate ourselves to certain programs that
13:41 are going to align with the space industry.
13:43 And I believe Dr. Wendell, is there over 20 districts?
13:45 I don’t know if you recall how many districts
13:46 were there at that signing.
13:47 I believe it’s 22.
13:48 22 districts that came to Brevard here, obviously,
13:51 since we have the Space Center, fun event.
13:53 Really a lot of energy, a lot of excitement
13:55 for what the future looks like and what it holds.
13:57 Several back to school bashes obviously happened.
13:59 So thank you to Space Coast.
14:01 Space Coast gave their building up to have an indoor back
14:04 to school bash, which I will say might be the best thing that
14:07 ever happened because there’s air conditioning.
14:08 And it happened, obviously, in the month of August.
14:11 So that’s very warm.
14:12 But then the north end also had a back to school bash.
14:14 Lots of backpacks, lots of things that were given out.
14:16 That Sunday I got to participate in the Kicks for Kids event.
14:20 This is one that I selfishly think is probably
14:22 the most fun event of the year.
14:24 So the north end, they raised $30,000,
14:27 which is a lot of money, to be able to afford 600 kids
14:31 the ability to go into a shoe store
14:32 and pick a pair of shoes off of the shelf,
14:35 as long as they’re a tennis shoe.
14:36 And so just being able to stand there with those kids,
14:39 help the parents that come in with like six kids,
14:40 and they’re running all over, and they don’t know where to go,
14:42 and go help them find shoes.
14:43 And just a huge, huge, huge success.
14:46 Edna Wilson is a wonderful individual
14:48 in the north end of the county who helps coordinate this.
14:51 And honestly, it is a labor of love.
14:52 And it is just magic that happens in there.
14:54 So thank you, thank you, thank you, Edna,
14:56 for all the work that you do there
14:57 to make sure our kids show up to school on the first day
15:00 and have new shoes.
15:01 Dr. Rendell, I’m going to turn it over to you.
15:04 Thank you, Madam Chair.
15:05 The first thing I want to do is thank the negotiating
15:07 teams on both sides, the district negotiating team
15:10 and the negotiating team from BFT.
15:13 We are opening school with an agreement
15:15 with our teachers union.
15:17 And we don’t know officially, because we don’t really
15:20 keep track of those types of things,
15:22 but nobody in the building can remember ever opening school
15:27 with a contract already settled.
15:29 So that’s a huge shout out to the negotiating teams
15:32 and also the board for providing direction and support.
15:34 And thank you to our community for providing the resources
15:37 to make that happen.
15:38 I want to turn back the clock a little bit to earlier
15:41 this summer.
15:41 I’m going to ask Tara Harris to come up.
15:44 She’s our assistant superintendent in charge
15:46 of curriculum and instruction.
15:48 We’ve been having these summer enrichment camps
15:51 for the last couple of years.
15:52 And we don’t always get any feedback on those.
15:59 So we got some feedback recently that we
16:01 thought we would share.
16:03 So I’ll turn it over to Tara.
16:04 This is pretty special, because I’m
16:08 going to bring it up to the dais in a second.
16:10 But we actually got a thank you card
16:11 written by three of our students.
16:13 So I will share that with you.
16:14 But I want to read what they wrote in this.
16:19 The first student, Dear Brevard schools,
16:21 I loved going to summer camp this year.
16:24 It was fun to make art projects at Manatee Elementary.
16:28 I really liked working with clay.
16:30 I also went to snack making and block printing camp.
16:33 I love all the camps and stamps I made.
16:37 Thank you for a fun summer.
16:39 And that’s from Owen.
16:41 The next comment in here that I’ll share
16:43 is, thank you for providing my family
16:46 an incredible and free summer camp.
16:48 They have not only given me something
16:50 to do over the summer, but have also
16:52 allowed me to get a step ahead of my peers in my studies.
16:56 I personally took your SAT prep and automotive shop camps,
17:00 both at Satellite High.
17:02 I loved both of them and learned critical maintenance
17:05 on vehicles and how to prepare for the SAT.
17:08 Because of my experiences with these summer camps,
17:11 I plan to take more next summer.
17:13 So thank you for these summer camps.
17:16 And that is from Jack.
17:18 The next one is, thank you for letting
17:20 my family do fun summer camps.
17:23 I took the Broadway on the beach camp.
17:25 I made tons of new friends and learned stuff about the stage
17:29 my school does not teach.
17:31 I also went to the snack making and block printing camp
17:35 and learned something new.
17:37 I can’t wait to do more next year.
17:39 So I’m going to bring this up.
17:40 But I just thought it’s super nice.
17:42 I know that a lot of our teachers go to a lot of effort
17:46 and give up some of their summer to do this.
17:49 So this is a thank you for all of the teachers
17:51 out there that make those possible.
17:55 Thank you for sharing that.
18:00 Thank you, Madam Chair, that’s it.
18:02 All right.
18:02 Well, that will bring us to the adoption of the agenda.
18:05 Dr. Rendell.
18:07 Thank you, Madam Chair.
18:08 On this evening’s agenda, we have administrative staff
18:10 recommendations, 19 consent items, two action items,
18:14 and two information items.
18:17 Changes made to the agenda since release to the public
18:19 include the following.
18:22 Revised were A7 administrative staff recommendations,
18:25 F9 minutes, F11 instructional staff recommendations,
18:30 G29 department/school initiated agreements,
18:33 and H32, which is the 24/25 student progression plan.
18:38 Do I hear a motion?
18:39 Move to approve.
18:40 Second.
18:41 Any discussion?
18:42 No?
18:43 All roll call, please.
18:44 Ms. Jenkins.
18:45 Aye.
18:45 Ms. Campbell.
18:46 Aye.
18:46 Ms. Wright.
18:47 Aye.
18:47 Mr. Trent.
18:48 Aye.
18:48 Mr. Susan.
18:49 Aye.
18:50 All right.
18:50 We are now at the administrative staff recommendations.
18:53 Do I hear a motion?
18:54 Move to approve.
18:54 Second.
18:55 Any discussion?
18:57 No.
18:57 All roll call, please.
18:58 Ms. Jenkins.
18:59 Aye.
18:59 Ms. Campbell.
19:00 Aye.
19:00 Ms. Wright.
19:01 Aye.
19:02 Mr. Trent.
19:02 Aye.
19:03 Mr. Susan.
19:03 Aye.
19:04 Dr. Rendell.
19:05 Thank you, Madam Chair.
19:06 I’d like to take a moment to recognize
19:08 a couple of new administrators.
19:10 So first, we’d like to congratulate Scott Swinehart
19:12 on his promotion to assistant principal
19:14 at Kennedy Middle School.
19:15 Scott, congratulations.
19:16 Come on up.
19:24 Lord, Dr. Rendell, if I may.
19:26 I’d like to first start by thanking my wonderful wife,
19:30 Shannon, who I had the honor to share this experience
19:33 with this evening.
19:34 Were it not for her efforts, her continuous encouragement,
19:39 and support, I certainly wouldn’t be here.
19:41 So thank you so much.
19:42 I appreciate it.
19:44 Next, our wonderful new principal
19:47 at Kennedy Middle School, Ms. Owens.
19:50 She’s only been there a few days, but I can already
19:52 tell she’s going to make a huge difference.
19:54 And I thank you so much for giving me
19:55 the opportunity to serve as part of your administrative team.
19:58 I really think that we’re going to do some really good things,
20:01 and you’re going to be hearing a lot of really good things
20:03 from Kennedy this year.
20:05 Ms. Weibel, I hope you haven’t left.
20:08 There you are.
20:09 Ms. Weibel.
20:10 Dr. Davis, all the faculty and staff
20:13 that have provided me words of encouragement
20:15 and have just helped to build my confidence
20:18 in moving to this next step, I just
20:20 wanted to say a huge thank you to them,
20:22 and I really appreciate it.
20:23 And finally, to the board, Dr. Rendell,
20:26 I really appreciate your vote of confidence,
20:28 and I look forward to continuing to serve from our public
20:30 schools.
20:30 Thank you again so much.
20:32 I appreciate it.
20:32 Thank you.
20:33 [APPLAUSE]
20:38 All right, next we’d like to congratulate Sue Deginger, who’s
20:40 being promoted to the position of sister principal
20:42 at Bayside High School.
20:43 Sue, congratulations.
20:44 [APPLAUSE]
20:52 I don’t know if I’m calling–
20:53 I know.
20:54 I’m like, there’s a button to lower it.
20:56 It’s OK.
20:56 I’m pretty loud.
20:58 No, we’ll get it.
21:01 I don’t know.
21:02 No, we got it.
21:05 There.
21:06 Now we can see you.
21:07 There we go.
21:08 That’s good.
21:09 Yes.
21:12 I want to start by saying thank you
21:14 to Dr. Rendell and the board, and Director Sherry Bowman
21:18 for giving me this opportunity, and my principal, Holly Zander,
21:23 for choosing me last year for her TOA,
21:27 and then allowing me to step forward due to my efforts,
21:32 and guiding me.
21:34 She’s really been a servant leader for me
21:37 to watch and see how to interact with our students and faculty
21:44 at this level.
21:46 I would also like to say thank you to Vicki Medeiros.
21:48 She was my guide in the dean’s office,
21:51 leading me on helping me make the decisions
21:54 and guiding me through processes.
21:57 My friend, Felicia Whitfield, who really encouraged
22:00 me to apply for the TOA position, because I had debated
22:05 leaving my classroom and leaving my students,
22:07 because it was a transition after school had started.
22:10 And then my husband, who has supported me 30 plus years
22:14 in all my adventures and things, and encouraging me,
22:18 as well as the Bayside family, the school, the staff,
22:23 from the custodians to everyone that comes on the campus,
22:28 encouraged me, and just makes me feel like I belong there.
22:32 And go Bears.
22:35 Congratulations.
22:36 [APPLAUSE]
22:40 All right, we’re going to take a short recess to grab a photo
22:42 real fast, and then we will be back at 5.50.
22:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:32 Welcome back.
25:33 We are now at the public comment portion of the meeting.
25:36 We have a total of nine speakers tonight.
25:38 Each will receive three minutes.
25:39 In an effort to remain unbiased, the speakers at the podium–
25:43 actually, I shouldn’t say that, because I’ve taken back
25:44 the time clock now at this point.
25:46 So Mr. Gibbs is going to call you up to the podium in three.
25:49 Sorry.
25:50 I’d like to take the opportunity to remind
25:52 the public of the rules written out in board policy 0169.1.
25:55 All comments should be directed at the board or individual board
25:58 members.
25:58 Staff members or other individual names
26:00 shall not be addressed.
26:02 Abusive, obscene, or irrelevant comments will not be permitted.
26:05 Orderly conduct is expected from all public comment
26:07 participants.
26:08 The presiding officer may interrupt, warn,
26:10 or terminate a participant’s public comment opportunity.
26:13 Mr. Gibbs, can you please call the first three speakers?
26:15 Gina Darrange, Greg Ross, Julia Anton.
26:20 All right.
26:20 Give me one second, Ms. Gina.
26:21 Let me make sure this is good to go.
26:24 Ready?
26:25 OK, I’m ready.
26:25 Go for it.
26:27 Good evening, everyone.
26:29 My name’s Gina Darrange.
26:30 I’m a retired teacher from Brevard County.
26:33 I taught AP, Cambridge, and IB for 10 years.
26:38 I’ve been a grader for 10 years for College Board.
26:40 And this year, I graded for College Board from home.
26:44 I always get the DBQ, which is looking at seven documents
26:47 and grading them.
26:49 And I guess for seven years, I’ve gotten the DBQ.
26:52 So I guess I can read the handwriting.
26:54 I just want to give you some stats on what’s going on with AP.
26:58 820,000 essays were written by students.
27:02 And less than 2,000 people graded those essays.
27:07 An increase of my subject area, which
27:09 is world history, that I taught for more years
27:12 than I taught government and human geo.
27:16 20,000 more kids signed up for AP classes.
27:20 20,000 from last year to this year.
27:24 The pass rate for AP World was 64%.
27:27 But this is what I want to tell you all.
27:31 They answered the prompt.
27:33 And if you’ve ever taught an AP class,
27:37 you will know that they don’t answer the prompt.
27:40 They’re nervous.
27:41 They see China, and they start writing everything
27:44 they know about China and not answering the prompt.
27:46 And this prompt was about the impact of communism
27:49 from 1930 to 1990.
27:52 And they nailed it.
27:53 They nailed it.
27:54 The pass rate for AP World was 64%.
27:58 The pass rate for US was 73%.
28:02 The pass rate for African-American studies
28:05 not offered in the state of Florida
28:08 was 73% for a first year test.
28:13 Government, 73%.
28:15 AP Euro, 72%.
28:18 AP human geo.
28:19 And these are freshmen, OK?
28:21 These are babies.
28:22 56%.
28:25 Pass rate was great.
28:28 They answered the questions.
28:29 And I’m going to leave two suggestions.
28:32 Next year is supposed to be all digital for AP.
28:35 They’ve been saying that for two years, though.
28:37 Please work with their handwriting.
28:39 Because AP, we really vet that question.
28:43 If I can’t read it, I give it to someone else.
28:46 And then they give it to someone else.
28:48 It is the last, last effort to not give that kid a zero.
28:52 You don’t want to ever do that.
28:53 You want the ability of the kid to get that credit.
28:57 Cambridge is not offering digital.
28:59 So if the kids are taking Cambridge,
29:01 practice the handwriting.
29:04 And two teachers from Brevard County, Alex Lopez and Maria
29:09 Santiago, got 100%–
29:11 Can you please not use people’s names?
29:13 Oh, I’m sorry.
29:13 I’m sorry.
29:14 Thank you.
29:14 Two friends that I’ve taught with.
29:18 One from Edgewood and one from Palm Bay.
29:21 100% baby, yeah.
29:22 All right.
29:23 [APPLAUSE]
29:27 Greg Ross, Julia Anton, Nicole Van Ness.
29:36 Good evening, board.
29:36 Thank you for this opportunity for public comment.
29:39 I’m here to speak this evening on the continued book
29:41 banning policies of this board.
29:44 News has broken that an additional 105 books were
29:46 banned, some of them classics, such as Heidi,
29:48 Wuthering Heights, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
29:51 These book bans come not as a surprise as many of us
29:54 in the Brevard community predicted that the book bans
29:58 would only grow and get more ridiculous under this school
30:00 board.
30:01 And here we are.
30:02 But let’s remember how we got here.
30:04 This board was seated in November of 2022.
30:07 In response to a request by Moms for Liberty,
30:10 the new board of extremists immediately
30:12 set forth in December of 2022 to update the BPS book ban
30:16 challenge policy to make book banning easier.
30:19 The eventual changes to the policy?
30:21 Removal of books from libraries as soon
30:23 as they are challenged, not after an actual review.
30:26 That was you, Mr. Trent.
30:28 Mr. Susan wanted the school board
30:29 to consider multiple committees to speed it up.
30:33 What happened?
30:34 Removal of all media specialists from the voting committee.
30:37 No more media specialists providing
30:38 their qualified expert opinions via votes.
30:42 The first committee under these new rules
30:43 immediately banned three books in June of 2023.
30:47 Still not satisfied with the public scrutiny
30:49 and having to hear feedback from the citizens,
30:52 this board was then caught in a secret recording threatening
30:55 public commenters and members of the reconsideration committee
30:58 with whom they disagreed.
31:00 Matt Susan threatened to have the wife of a reconsideration
31:04 committee member arrested for voicing her opinion.
31:07 Jean Trent admitted that they should
31:08 be able to remove a book because they don’t like the cover,
31:11 regardless if the book actually broke the law.
31:14 Still not happy at the rate of books being banned to BPS,
31:17 this board then suspended the book reconsideration committee
31:20 in June of 2023 so they could revisit the policy again.
31:25 In July of 2023, Moms for Liberty,
31:28 not happy with the delay in banning of books,
31:31 decided to read books from the podium in an attempt
31:33 to get them banned through an unconstitutional state law.
31:36 Chair Megan Wright was only happy to oblige and ban
31:39 those books as well.
31:41 So here we are, right?
31:45 We now have an internal process that’s
31:47 being done by this board to ban books, right?
31:53 A process that is out of public overview, out of public sight,
31:58 and out of public input.
32:00 It shouldn’t be this hard for the public
32:02 to find out what books have been banned by this board, right?
32:06 It had to take a public records request by a nonprofit
32:10 to find these books.
32:12 What books?
32:13 How about No David?
32:16 All because of a little tiny but, right?
32:18 They moved it from elementary to middle school.
32:20 Well, I assume they did because they haven’t put out
32:22 a list of what happened to those books, right?
32:25 Hope the camera sees that, whichever angle.
32:29 The same book that Indian River County
32:31 had them draw pants on the little boys’ buttocks.
32:35 Here we are, 2024.
32:38 Thank you.
32:39 [APPLAUSE]
32:41 Julia Anton, Nicole Van Ness, Kelly Curban.
32:52 My first job out of college I worked in the deputy sheriff’s
32:59 office in Jefferson County,
33:06 Alabama, which is Birmingham, has a kind of a nasty history of
33:11 police behavior in that
33:13 area.
33:14 Well, when I started working there in my initial training, they
33:19 emphasized very strongly that
33:22 I was to obey any lawful order that I was given.
33:27 And then they circled back and they said the key word is lawful.
33:32 Remembering the bad history of police dogs, fire hoses, not
33:36 responding to calls for help,
33:38 ignoring lynchings, et cetera, lawful was the key word.
33:44 They were changing their practice.
33:46 And the new practice was you obey lawful orders.
33:51 But if you’re pressured to be a part of something that’s not
33:54 lawful, you don’t do it.
33:57 If you stand up to the pressure, we’ve got your back.
34:00 If you bow to the pressure, you’re on your own and you don’t
34:03 want to be there.
34:04 Now, that’s the way that it’s supposed to be, especially with
34:09 public employees.
34:10 They should feel safe and confident to do their jobs lawfully
34:16 and backed up by their
34:18 employers.
34:19 That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
34:22 But here we have books being weeded for no discernible reason.
34:32 And the reason given is HB 1069.
34:36 And the only reason that I can think of is that they have fear
34:40 that you’re not going
34:41 to stand up to them when those Moms for Liberty people start
34:45 shouting, we want to have this
34:47 person arrested because I don’t like that book.
34:50 Now, maybe I’m making a big leap, but I have been trying since
34:56 Friday to figure out any
34:59 justification for weeding the yearling and listing the reason as
35:06 HB 1069.
35:08 Have you read the yearling?
35:11 Hopefully you have.
35:12 And if you haven’t, you need to go home tonight, download it on
35:15 your Kindle or your Audible,
35:17 and you need to not sleep until you finish it.
35:20 If there was ever a book that teaches young adults, children,
35:25 morphing into adulthood
35:27 about responsibility, this is the book.
35:31 If there was ever a book that addressed the number one conflict
35:35 of every teenage since
35:36 the beginning of time, which is rebelling against parental
35:40 authority, this is the book
35:42 that teaches the child that mom and dad actually do love you and
35:46 they know what they’re talking
35:48 about and they actually are looking out for you, no matter how
35:51 much you think you know
35:52 more than they do.
35:54 There’s no HB 1069 reason for pulling that book.
35:58 They’re afraid you won’t stand up to them if Moms for Liberty
36:02 doesn’t like it.
36:03 » Thank you.
36:04 » Not true.
36:05 [ Applause ]
36:06 » Nicole Van Ness, Kelly Curvin, Rochelle Jolly.
36:12 It’s Nicole Van Ness.
36:18 » My question is directed towards Matt Susan.
36:29 Our son attends Sierra Middle School and our home is right at
36:34 the two-mile mark for the
36:36 bus route.
36:38 So we know we’re not eligible for a bus.
36:41 However, the route used to measure the distance includes kids
36:45 like mine and several others
36:47 crossing from our neighborhood right at the intersection of Fiera
36:51 Boulevard and Stadium
36:52 Parkway with no crossing guard, by the way.
36:58 So my question is, is what are we doing to make sure that these
37:03 kids can get to and from
37:04 school safely?
37:08 Is a concern from several people in my neighborhood and others,
37:12 other neighborhoods, past Fiera
37:14 Boulevard as well?
37:16 Do you guys ever answer or are you just here to listen?
37:24 » We typically – it’s not a back and forth conversation.
37:26 » Yeah.
37:27 » Okay.
37:28 This is my first time at one of these so I wasn’t sure.
37:31 » I’ll deal with you in just a second.
37:32 » Sure.
37:33 » So just hang on until I have public comment.
37:34 » I appreciate it.
37:35 Thank you, guys.
37:36 » Thanks.
37:37 » Thank you.
37:41 [ Applause ]
37:42 » Kelly Curvin.
37:43 » I’ve already got it all worked out.
37:44 » Rochelle Jolly.
37:45 » I’ve been working on this.
37:46 » Julie Mantione.
37:47 » A bunch of them that are there so I did it.
37:48 » When I come to the podium, I am talking to five elected
37:52 officials.
37:52 My comments may include our superintendent if the topic warrants
37:56 it but by far and large,
37:57 my comments are about school board members who have engaged in
38:00 unprofessional behavior,
38:01 shady low-level corruption, bad governance to include poor
38:04 policy writing, discriminatory
38:06 statements and ignoring unintended consequences, disrespecting
38:09 teachers and their classroom
38:11 autonomy, censorship of ideas and information and unsafe
38:14 practices like guns inside our
38:16 classrooms.
38:17 In short, the school board is not the district but the school
38:19 board does influence how people
38:20 feel about the district.
38:22 A list of books was released through a public records request, BPS
38:25 fulfilled.
38:26 That list contained over 100,000 books that had been weeded
38:30 which also means removed from
38:31 public libraries around the district but that isn’t unusual.
38:35 What was unusual was the over 100 books removed because of HB 1069,
38:39 otherwise known as the
38:41 book banning bill.
38:42 Books like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Anne of Green Gables,
38:45 Heidi, Little Women, The
38:46 Last of the Mohicans, The Yearling and the Negro Baseball Leagues,
38:49 Tales of Umpiring
38:50 Legendary Players, Breaking Barriers and Making American History.
38:54 The public outcry was swift and the statement released to the
38:57 public by BPS lacked transparency
38:58 and honesty.
38:59 First, if you weed a book from a library because of HB 1069,
39:03 then it can never go back in until
39:04 HB 1069 is repealed.
39:07 That isn’t to be confused with the book removed because it’s in
39:09 poor condition because that
39:10 book can be replaced.
39:12 Under HB 1069, the book has been banned.
39:14 Second, the school level banning is no different than district
39:17 wide book banning but unlike
39:19 district wide book banning, school level book banning isn’t
39:22 listed on the website unless
39:23 it’s been informally challenged.
39:25 Parents have the right to know every book that has been banned
39:28 from their child’s school.
39:29 Third, if I am to believe that most of the books on the list
39:31 were banned in elementary
39:33 schools and then moved to middle schools like the statement
39:35 claims, I have to ask, why are
39:37 we banning middle school books from middle school students?
39:40 Did you forget that sixth grade is middle school?
39:43 We are one of a few districts in the entire state that still
39:45 houses sixth grade in elementary
39:47 school but their curriculum is not K-5, it’s middle school.
39:51 The statement confirms you’re taking age appropriate books away
39:53 from age appropriate students or
39:55 the statement was always a lie and when it says discard, it
39:58 means discarded or trashed
40:00 because we all know you didn’t take a court of mist of fury out
40:02 of elementary schools
40:03 and put it in middle schools because it was always a high school
40:06 book that’s been banned
40:07 in the entire district and just so we’re clear, I’m not blaming
40:10 our media specialist.
40:12 They’re stuck between bad laws at the state level and bad
40:14 governance from the school board
40:16 all while knowing the school board doesn’t have their backs.
40:19 This list, that statement, was a culmination of nearly two years
40:22 of bad governance, shady
40:23 practices and putting politics over our students.
40:27 Rachelle Jolly, Julie Mantione and Karen McWhirter.
40:43 The first banned book recorded in the United States was actually
40:45 before there was even
40:46 a United States.
40:47 The Puritans that had settled the colonies banned a book and
40:50 exiled its author, Thomas
40:51 Morton.
40:53 He dared to write about the mistreatment of the indigenous
40:56 people who were here when the
40:57 colonists arrived.
40:59 This was a threat to the Puritans in their way of life.
41:01 You see, he was too friendly with the indigenous people.
41:04 He advocated for them and criticized his fellow colonists.
41:07 His book was published in 1637.
41:10 They tried to exile him.
41:13 Banning books is nothing new.
41:14 Books are a threat to narrow minds.
41:16 They’re dangerous to the status quo.
41:18 They threaten authority and dictators.
41:21 When Frederick Douglass’ slave master discovered that his
41:23 mistress was teaching Frederick to
41:25 read, he said, “If you let him read, he will be restless.
41:29 He won’t be satisfied with his condition.”
41:32 It was against the law for an entire group of people in this
41:36 country to learn to read.
41:38 When they were allowed to read, what they were allowed to read
41:41 was restricted.
41:42 The number one book they were not allowed to read was the Bible.
41:49 Because slave masters did not want the enslaved to learn, they
41:52 did not want them to learn
41:54 about Moses and the great exodus, for it might inspire and cause
41:57 them to be unsatisfied with
41:59 their enslavement.
42:01 It might cause them to understand more fully their possibility
42:04 of freedom.
42:05 Restricting books and information was a primary in maintaining
42:09 control of them.
42:10 During the reign of Hitler, there was a great removal of books.
42:13 Books were removed or banned that were deemed un-German.
42:17 Un-German books were considered dangerous.
42:19 They banned books about Jewish culture, Jewish organizations,
42:22 Jewish history.
42:23 Nazis banned books about sexuality and race.
42:26 All of this in order to control the masses and achieve a
42:29 cleansing, a state censorship
42:32 and control of culture.
42:34 To quote Joseph Goebbels, “No to decadence and moral corruption,
42:37 yes to decency and morality
42:39 and family and state.”
42:41 Once these books were banned, they were then burned, removed
42:45 forever.
42:46 As you can see from the very beginning, banning books,
42:48 controlling information and who has
42:50 access to that information is not about protecting people.
42:53 It’s about controlling them.
42:55 These book banners were not authority on morality and decency.
42:59 They were hateful and inhumane.
43:02 Do you really want to be on the same list as these historians?
43:06 Book banners, Puritans, Slave Masters, Hitler, Brevard Public
43:11 Schools, Matt Susan, Jean Trent,
43:14 Megan Wright, Katie Campbell, Julie Mantione, Karen McWhirter,
43:27 Paul Raub.
43:29 Hi, good evening.
43:33 Thank you for this opportunity and happy new school year.
43:38 Normally I’m here as a champion strictly of books, but I was
43:42 reflecting on current events
43:44 this summer and I realized I want to use my time today to talk
43:48 about a champion of nuance.
43:52 The more education that we have, the better we can appreciate
43:58 nuance.
43:59 There were particularly three instances this past summer that
44:05 showed more education will
44:08 equal greater understanding.
44:09 The first was the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics where
44:13 people didn’t have enough
44:14 nuance to know about that the Olympics began in 776 as a
44:21 religious festival to Zeus and
44:24 include Dionysus and therefore they only saw things in one
44:29 context.
44:30 And what a disservice we do to our students when we only provide
44:35 them with one way of
44:37 looking at the world and they lack nuance.
44:41 They’re essentially lacking education.
44:45 The second instance this summer was the boxer from Algeria.
44:51 That has become a huge topic in terms of transgender.
44:54 I hear people sneer all the time.
44:56 There’s only two sexes.
44:59 Democrats can’t even name what a woman is.
45:01 Well guess what?
45:03 It turns out it is more complicated.
45:06 It turns out you can be born with female body parts and still
45:10 have male levels of testosterone
45:13 or maybe even two different chromosomes.
45:18 Is serving every student with excellence not teaching them what
45:23 is appropriate science?
45:25 Is banning AP psychology because it wants to engage in nuance,
45:30 is that appropriate for
45:33 institutions of education?
45:35 And finally, we had a presidential candidate who called out his
45:42 opponent for turning black.
45:45 And no, that’s the exact quote, Mr. Trent.
45:49 But he, I couldn’t help but think that one of the reasons that
45:55 AP African American studies
45:57 was banned in the state of Florida was because it uses the
46:01 concept of intersectionality specifically
46:04 in regards to James Baldwin, that he was both, and he identified
46:08 as an African American man
46:10 as a game and as a gay man.
46:13 Perhaps if we were able to have these concepts in education, we
46:20 would better be able to understand
46:23 nuance and truly accomplish our mission to serve every students
46:29 with excellence.
46:31 Our mission should not be bubble wrap.
46:33 » Thank you.
46:35 » Karen McWhirter.
46:36 Paul Raub.
46:37 Karen McWhirter.
46:38 » Much of what I felt needed to be said has already been
46:56 covered by other speakers.
46:58 But I would like to just briefly address the issue of literacy
47:03 and removing books from
47:05 student access and removing authority and disrespecting the
47:11 expertise of library media
47:13 specialists.
47:14 I taught English at the high school level for 20 years, and I
47:18 gave it up upon moving
47:19 to Florida because I didn’t feel that this was an environment
47:22 that respected my expertise
47:24 or would afford me the ability to do what I loved.
47:27 And I think that there are a great many teachers leaving Florida
47:31 education or refusing to participate
47:33 for that very reason.
47:35 And I think that’s important.
47:41 » Paul Raub.
47:49 » So, it’s – I wish I couldn’t rely so much on the grand
47:58 tradition of not learning from
48:02 history that you guys seem to live by.
48:06 Or just not learning.
48:07 Or being against learning.
48:08 I mean, that is how you get the coveted Moms for Liberty
48:11 endorsement, man, good job.
48:14 Because learning means admitting, acknowledging that you were
48:16 wrong about something at one
48:16 point or God forbid that your parents were wrong about something
48:19 at one point or another,
48:20 which seems to be the overarching concern of that organization.
48:23 But you know, we like to repeat other people’s mistakes, maybe
48:27 even improve on them.
48:29 Escambia becomes a laughing stock for mass book removal, oh, we
48:33 can do that.
48:34 We can slide it under a few different reasons.
48:36 We can call it everything HV 1069.
48:39 Indian River County draws little pants on the No David book.
48:42 Well, we’re just going to take it away from the elementary
48:44 school students entirely, banning
48:46 by any meaningful definition.
48:48 Or if it was moved to middle school, please let me know the
48:51 middle school readers who
48:53 are clamoring to read kids’ picture books.
48:55 I mean, good for them, enjoy, have fun.
49:01 But it applies in other areas too.
49:03 Palm Beach County has an accident where someone’s injured during
49:06 their guardian-like – during
49:08 training for their guardian-like program.
49:10 The very next morning, with that little bit of knowledge, is
49:14 when you snuck that vote,
49:16 that vote under the transom to authorize it here.
49:21 We’ve seen the video from Broward County, some schools near
49:25 where I used to live, taking
49:27 what hours, two, three hours in some cases for kids to get in
49:29 the morning with the new
49:30 metal detectors.
49:32 But we’re going to float the idea of let’s throw those in here
49:35 as well.
49:35 Even though guns are so safe that we should definitely have more
49:38 of them in the schools,
49:39 we should also be looking for them with the metal detectors that
49:42 have not been proven
49:43 to actually improve things.
49:45 But another grand tradition is we don’t like data very much.
49:48 So it all checks.
49:49 You do know that metal detectors won’t detect books, the things
49:51 we’re actually afraid of,
49:53 just so everybody understands that.
49:57 And I know that later on, once the public commenters are done,
50:00 there will be the sort
50:01 of safe space where you’re going to have your comments about
50:03 misinformation and so forth
50:04 when nobody can respond.
50:07 But yeah, people may have misinterpreted or certainly
50:10 differently interpreted what the
50:12 word discard meant in a spreadsheet, because we thought it meant,
50:16 you know, discard.
50:18 And also history says getting books off the shelves as quick as
50:20 possible is referred to
50:22 as streamlining the process.
50:24 But don’t be surprised if people don’t buy your explanation.
50:27 We don’t trust you farther than we can throw you, which is not a
50:30 threat, it’s a figure
50:31 of speech.
50:32 All right.
50:33 All right, guys.
50:34 We are – is everybody good, we’re going to keep on going?
50:43 All right, awesome.
50:45 That concludes the public comment section of the meeting, so
50:47 thank you for taking the
50:48 time to address the board about your concerns.
50:50 We are now at the consent agenda.
50:52 Dr. Rendell.
50:53 » Thank you, Madam Chair.
50:54 There are 19 agenda items under this category.
50:57 » Thank you, Dr. Rendell.
50:58 Does any board member wish to pull any of the items?
51:00 None?
51:01 All right.
51:02 So I will entertain a motion.
51:06 » Move to approve.
51:07 » Second.
51:08 » Any discussion?
51:09 None?
51:10 No?
51:11 All right.
51:12 All right, so call roll call, please.
51:15 » Ms. Jenkins.
51:16 » Aye.
51:17 » Ms. Campbell.
51:18 » Aye.
51:19 » Ms. Wright.
51:20 » Aye.
51:21 » Mr. Trent.
51:22 » Aye.
51:23 » Mr. Susan.
51:24 » Aye.
51:25 » Dr. Rendell, you let us know about the items under the action
51:26 portion of the agenda
51:26 this evening.
51:27 » Thank you, Madam Chair.
51:28 The first action item is H-29, department and school initiated
51:29 agreements.
51:30 » Do I hear a motion?
51:31 » Move to approve.
51:32 » Second.
51:33 » Any discussion?
51:34 All roll call, please.
51:35 » Ms. Jenkins.
51:36 » Aye.
51:37 » Ms. Campbell.
51:38 » Aye.
51:39 » Ms. Wright.
51:40 » Aye.
51:41 » Mr. Trent.
51:42 » Aye.
51:43 » Mr. Susan.
51:44 » Aye.
51:45 » Dr. Rendell.
51:46 » Thank you, Madam Chair.
51:47 The last action item is H-30, procurement solicitations.
51:48 » Do I hear a motion?
51:49 » Move to approve.
51:50 » Second.
51:51 » Any discussion?
51:52 No?
51:53 All roll call, please.
51:54 » Ms. Jenkins.
51:55 » Aye.
51:56 » Ms. Campbell.
51:57 » Aye.
51:58 » Ms. Wright.
51:59 » Aye.
52:00 » Mr. Trent.
52:01 » I move on to the information agenda which includes two items
52:03 for the board to review
52:04 and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting.
52:07 No action will be taken on these items today.
52:08 Does any board member wish to discuss these items?
52:12 No?
52:13 All right, then we are now at the board member reports.
52:18 Does any board member have anything further to report or discuss?
52:21 » I’ll share.
52:23 On Thursday, FSBA hosted a regional meeting over in Orlando and
52:28 one of the guests was
52:30 Max Shactor and the organization that’s responsible for the
52:34 School Safety Dashboard, and they’ve
52:36 released their – this year their version 2.0 that records not
52:41 just like SUSO reporting
52:42 data and things like that, but bigger pictures, demographic data,
52:46 and so he encouraged everyone
52:48 to take a look at that, and it is the safeschoolsforalex.org is
52:53 the organization, and it’s schoolsafedashboard.org,
52:59 and they’re actually trying to expand outside of the state, too,
53:01 but you can actually go
53:02 to your kid’s school and see the data, and I just wanted to
53:05 point out, you know, he made
53:07 the point of saying, you know, the goal is not to trash any
53:10 particular school and say,
53:12 oh, look at the data.
53:13 He actually pointed out, for those of you who aren’t aware, Max
53:16 Shactor is one of the
53:18 parents whose child was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in
53:23 2018, and he made the
53:25 point of saying, when you look at a school that has really low
53:28 CSR data, he’s more concerned
53:30 about that, because if you look at the CSR data for Marjory Stoneman
53:33 Douglas for the
53:34 years prior to 2018, they had zero bullying incidents reported,
53:39 zero threats, zero – you
53:41 know, and it’s really – so he said, I don’t mind seeing a
53:44 school that has lots of reporting
53:46 because that shows they’re doing the reporting and they’re being
53:49 transparent, so I encourage
53:50 you guys to take a look at that resource, they’ve got all kinds
53:53 of data, and it’s coming
53:55 from us, it’s our district data that goes up to the state, but
53:57 to lots of different
53:58 organizations, and so what they did was they took all that
54:00 information, just kind of pulling
54:02 it together, and it’s a project from the University of Florida,
54:06 so a tool for board members to
54:07 use, for the public to use, and so it’s just lots of good
54:11 information, and I appreciate
54:13 them coming out and talking to us, so I’d share that with you.
54:15 That’s all I have.
54:16 » Thank you.
54:17 Thank you.
54:18 Board members have anything to discuss or report?
54:21 » No.
54:22 » No?
54:23 All right.
54:24 I am going to address this because you guys are all sitting here,
54:27 and so when we have
54:28 public comment, you are right, we cannot speak back to you, so
54:30 it is frustrating, right,
54:31 because that’s not a conversation, it’s a one-way street, it’s
54:35 you talking at us
54:36 or us talking at you, and what I will say is the misinformation
54:40 that’s being spread
54:41 by a few is wildly inappropriate, it really is, so I laugh
54:44 because one of the books that’s
54:46 on this list that you spread, my own child came home with the
54:48 curriculum for her eighth
54:50 grade class and is reading one of these books that you claim is
54:53 being banned and removed
54:54 from schools, so I’m just saying this to you to say this is not
54:57 accurate.
54:57 You guys are believing this, and it’s not completely accurate,
55:00 and the other part that
55:01 I will say, when it comes to these books being moved and put
55:05 from one place to another, number
55:08 one, the board doesn’t have any say in that, we’re not doing
55:10 that, we’re not directing
55:11 a media specialist to do such a thing, that is not coming from
55:14 us, so if a media specialist
55:16 decides to do that, they’re doing that on their own, so that is
55:19 not us, just so you
55:20 know, the board does review the books that have been challenged,
55:23 that is true, and that’s
55:24 a process, it’s in the sunshine, we have the book review
55:26 committee, a couple of you,
55:27 or one of you that spoke tonight is on that committee, so very
55:31 much, that is open, out
55:32 in the open, everyone gets to see that, but what I, what is a
55:35 little just disheartening
55:36 to me is that everything on the internet is not fact, it’s not,
55:40 I hate to say that, and
55:42 so that is, when I look at this list, I go, wow, I mean my own
55:45 kid’s reading it in her
55:46 eighth grade class for curriculum, so I’m just saying to you, it’s
55:49 not accurate, it
55:50 isn’t, so I understand that people, this topic is a topic that
55:55 people get very emotional
55:57 one way about it, or another way about it, and actually quite
55:59 frankly, people get emotional
56:01 on both sides of the aisle about this same topic, because I don’t
56:03 want my kids reading
56:04 things inappropriately, but I don’t want to ban books either, so
56:07 the two things kind
56:08 of go side and side, or side, hand in hand, excuse me, because
56:11 you think about this too,
56:13 this is, this made me think about this earlier, the, when we
56:16 talked about the FSBA advocacy
56:18 and like things that we want to go back, one of the things that
56:21 I have said from the beginning
56:22 that would help every school district, because this problem will
56:25 never go away, it’s going
56:26 to be an issue forever, is if there were an explicit content
56:29 warning, just the same as
56:30 if my daughter, who’s 13, tries to buy a CD that has curse words
56:34 in it, she can’t buy
56:35 it at Walmart, because it has explicit language, it requires
56:38 parental consent, it would be
56:40 great if the state would step in and require some type of
56:43 notification like that, and then
56:45 this doesn’t, this no longer is us, this is okay, parents, are
56:47 you okay with your children
56:48 checking out a book with explicit content, yes or no, I mean
56:51 that would be a good thing
56:53 to probably advocate for, so I’m just putting that out there to
56:55 you, Ms. Campbell, I don’t
56:56 know, I don’t, you know, that would solve this problem tenfold,
57:00 I think, honestly.
57:01 So that’s all I’m going to say about the book banning rhetoric
57:04 that’s going on and going
57:05 all over the internet, it’s not true, it’s inaccurate, so, Dr.
57:08 Rendell, do you have anything
57:09 else further to report?
57:10 I have something to say to that, because I’m so tired, I said
57:13 this last time, I’m tired
57:15 of us at the end of board meetings disparaging public comments,
57:20 people can come and make
57:21 a public comment and say the sky is green, the fact that us as
57:26 leaders in the community
57:28 feel the need to disparage those public comments every single
57:33 time is getting exhausting.
57:36 What is being shared on the internet is not false, it was given
57:40 to them as a public record,
57:42 you may not agree with the interpretation, but your role as a
57:46 leader is then to explain
57:48 what it means, correct the record, you don’t disparage the
57:52 public for legitimately reading
57:55 a public record that was disseminated by our school district to
57:58 them with those exact words
57:59 on it.
58:00 It’s ridiculous.
58:01 Okay.
58:02 No, no, ma’am, you don’t get to cut me off, I’m speaking, sorry,
58:06 just because you don’t
58:07 like what I have to say.
58:08 Ms. Jenkins.
58:09 No, Ms. Wright, I’m speaking, point of order, thank you, Ms.
58:12 Wright, I am speaking, thank
58:14 you.
58:17 The end of this board meeting isn’t a time for us to disparage
58:21 the public, where they
58:22 can’t say something back.
58:24 If you disagree, clear the air, put out a statement, ask your
58:29 staff members why there’s
58:31 confusion, ask GCR to put out a clarification.
58:37 They did not put out a good clarification, it said they were
58:40 moved from elementary school
58:42 to middle school, that is not accurate, there are books on that
58:45 list that were banned from
58:46 high schools, it doesn’t make sense, it is not an accurate
58:49 clarification.
58:50 So when the public is genuinely confused, it is our role as
58:55 leaders to clean it up,
58:57 even if they’re wrong.
58:59 If they’re wrong and confused, it should identify to you that it
59:02 needs to get cleaned up.
59:04 So stop taking it as an offense and just fix it.
59:08 If you truly believe you’re correct, put out a clear and clean
59:11 statement, but that statement
59:12 that was put out is not accurate.
59:14 Take a look at the list, it’s not accurate, so clear the air.
59:18 If those books weren’t removed, say they weren’t removed,
59:21 identify which ones weren’t removed,
59:22 but some of those were legitimately already banned from our book
59:25 committee, so it’s not
59:27 an accurate statement, so stop saying that.
59:30 I would like to put out some information that I think would help
59:33 clear the air, and the
59:34 people in the public can agree or disagree, but the fact is that
59:38 most of the books on
59:39 that list that were labeled HB 1069, they were removed by a
59:43 media specialist at a school.
59:45 Not in every school, but by that media specialist at that school.
59:48 And so they ended up on the list.
59:50 But what I would say is people need to read HB 1069, because it
59:55 includes so much more
59:57 than just sexual content, explicit content.
1:00:00 It also has other things that media specialists are charged to
1:00:05 determine if those books are
1:00:07 appropriate for the library, and that has to do with age level,
1:00:11 reading level, and so
1:00:13 whether, you know, and you know what, I will not, I wouldn’t
1:00:17 want to see the public coming
1:00:19 after these media specialists and going after the media
1:00:22 specialists because they decided.
1:00:24 You know, part of me would say, yeah, I’d like for you to be
1:00:26 able to ask why they removed
1:00:27 this particular book from this particular library, but that was
1:00:30 their professional decision.
1:00:32 So sometimes we’d come down and, oh, we don’t want the
1:00:33 professionals, we want the professionals
1:00:35 to be the professionals.
1:00:36 In this case, the professionals use their professional judgment,
1:00:39 and you can put it
1:00:39 on the legislature and say, oh, well, that law was bad, or that
1:00:43 you think that the board
1:00:44 is so intimidating that that media specialist went overboard,
1:00:48 but those books haven’t been
1:00:49 removed from every school that had those books.
1:00:53 That’s not true.
1:00:54 So I am happy to say that, but I do think people need to go and
1:00:57 read 1069, and I thank
1:00:59 you, Ms. Harris, because she informed the board after this
1:01:02 started coming out that in
1:01:03 the future, for clarity’s sake, there will be more than just HB
1:01:06 1069.
1:01:07 It will say specifically was it age appropriate, and I’m sorry
1:01:13 that you guys haven’t heard
1:01:15 that because I thought that went out, and it was clarified as
1:01:17 well.
1:01:18 Okay, so now let me clarify that.
1:01:20 In the future, Ms. Harris has told us that the codes are
1:01:22 different.
1:01:23 There are additional codes.
1:01:24 So it will say was it explicit content, was it that it wasn’t
1:01:28 the right reading level
1:01:29 for that school, all of the things that are in HB 1069, those
1:01:33 things, so it will be out
1:01:34 there, and the media specialist will have those choices, in
1:01:37 addition to books that never
1:01:38 got checked out, so they weeded them, in addition to the book is
1:01:41 in terrible shape, and so we
1:01:43 threw it away.
1:01:44 All of those things will be options, and so we’ll be clear in
1:01:48 the future.
1:01:48 So this whole process, yes, it created a lot of drama,
1:01:52 unnecessarily, my opinion, but the
1:01:54 good thing out of it is now we will have more clarity moving
1:01:57 forward, and so people will
1:01:59 know more specifically what was the reason behind the media
1:02:01 specialist removing that
1:02:03 book.
1:02:04 - And Ms. Campbell, I appreciate the response, because that is
1:02:06 legitimately what people are
1:02:07 asking for.
1:02:08 They’re asking for the transparency.
1:02:10 - Can you give everyone else an opportunity to speak if they
1:02:12 would like to speak or not?
1:02:13 So we’ll move down the line.
1:02:14 Do you have anything to say about this or add to it?
1:02:17 - I think the key is is that there’s misinformation, and there
1:02:20 was a statement made, but at any
1:02:21 point, at any point, point of order, can you tell point of order?
1:02:25 Thank you.
1:02:26 The issue is is that they continued to spread the misinformation
1:02:30 after they were said and
1:02:32 there was a statement out by our BPS, and at no time did they
1:02:35 say, “Hey, let’s meet
1:02:37 and talk about this to get the right information out,” and they
1:02:39 continue to do it, and that’s
1:02:40 just disgusting.
1:02:41 It’s just disgusting, because here we are trying to open the
1:02:44 schools, trying to do stuff,
1:02:45 and this narrative that’s not true is pushed out there, and it’s
1:02:49 wrong.
1:02:49 It’s completely wrong.
1:02:50 That’s it.
1:02:51 - All right, Dr. Wendell, do you have, sorry, Gene, do you, and
1:02:55 I’m gonna give you a chance
1:02:56 to speak.
1:02:57 I don’t know if you want to speak.
1:02:58 - Okay, well, now that I can say my second turn.
1:02:59 - No, no.
1:03:01 - Yes, yes.
1:03:02 - Dr. Wendell, do you have anything further to report?
1:03:03 - No, Ms. Wright, just because you don’t agree with my statement
1:03:05 doesn’t mean you can stop
1:03:06 me from speaking.
1:03:08 Mr. Susan, it was not misinformation.
1:03:10 It is not the public’s job to meet with you.
1:03:13 It is your job as the leader of the community to articulate
1:03:16 information to the public.
1:03:18 It is your job as the leader of this community to articulate
1:03:22 information to the public.
1:03:24 Ms. Wright, I don’t care if you disagree with me, I have a right
1:03:29 to speak.
1:03:30 - Dr. Wendell, do you have anything else further to report?
1:03:33 - Thank you, Madam Chair.
1:03:34 I’ll make a couple comments.
1:03:35 First of all, I believe the statement did include information
1:03:40 that in the future there
1:03:42 will be more menu options reported in the decision making or
1:03:48 whatever.
1:03:49 The other thing is, I really don’t wanna editorialize, but I
1:03:55 just find it ironic that the board was
1:03:57 criticized for removing media specialists from the book review
1:04:03 process.
1:04:04 They were the trusted professionals we were told.
1:04:06 They were the ones that have all the experience and know what
1:04:11 books are appropriate or whatnot.
1:04:14 This list was generated, this action was done by media
1:04:20 specialists.
1:04:21 The ones that supposedly have all the experience and knowledge
1:04:25 to make those types of decisions.
1:04:28 So we were criticized for not having them in the process of the
1:04:31 book review committee,
1:04:33 but when they act in their roles and responsibilities as a media
1:04:37 specialist, then we’re criticized
1:04:39 for them doing that.
1:04:41 I just find it ironic.
1:04:43 - Thank you.
1:04:44 All right, no further comment, this meeting is adjourned.
1:05:03 (upbeat music)