2024-09-24 - School Board Meeting

3:00 [ Silence ]

3:13 [ Music ]

3:29 [ Silence ]

3:55 [ Music ]

4:25 » Good morning.

4:26 The September 24th, 2024 board meeting is now in order.

4:29 I would like to welcome my fellow board members and the public.

4:31 It’s encouraging to see so many faces in the audience this

4:33 morning.

4:34 I would politely ask that you help our board meeting go a little

4:37 more smoothly by following a few simple housekeeping rules.

4:41 The public’s opportunity to address the board is during public

4:43 comment portion of the meeting.

4:45 So I would ask that you please refrain from speaking loud

4:47 disruptions, distractions, or other forms of communication that

4:50 will hinder the business of the board.

4:51 Paul, roll call please.

4:52 » Ms. Wright?

4:53 » Here.

4:54 » Mr. Trent?

4:55 » Here.

4:56 » Mr. Susan?

4:57 » Here.

4:58 » Ms. Jenkins?

4:59 » Here.

5:00 » Ms. Campbell?

5:01 » Here.

5:02 » At this time, the board would like to hold a moment of

5:02 silence and we invite the audience to join.

5:03 All right.

5:32 Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

5:39 » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of

5:43 America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

5:47 under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

5:55 » All right.

5:57 At this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members and Dr.

5:59 Rendell an opportunity to recognize students, staff, or members

6:02 of the community.

6:04 Ms. Jenkins, would you like to go first?

6:08 » Yes.

6:09 I had the opportunity to join the Do It For Hunter Foundation at

6:14 the You Matter event at Merritt Island High School this weekend.

6:20 And both Dr. Rendell and I had the pleasure of participating in

6:23 the dunk tank.

6:25 Mr. Ramer chickened out.

6:31 Right, right, right.

6:32 You gave his time to a student.

6:34 And, you know, it may or may not have been because the water was

6:36 a little bit of a questionable color, but it’s okay.

6:39 It was a good time.

6:40 It was a good time had.

6:42 It’s a wonderful event.

6:43 This event was even better than last year.

6:45 There were so many people there.

6:47 And honestly, one of the most positive moments was when I had

6:50 arrived for my time slot.

6:52 I actually had seen a couple of teachers who work in the south

6:56 area leaving and going back to their cars.

6:59 So it told me that, you know, our staff was supporting this

7:01 event from all over the district, which is really incredible.

7:04 Again, a really important message just to tell the people around

7:07 you that you love them, that they’re supported.

7:11 And to understand that you may not understand everybody’s story

7:13 and their journey and what they’re going through.

7:16 And that if you feel like you’re struggling, there is help out

7:18 there.

7:19 There are people there for you.

7:21 There’s a new hotline number.

7:24 I am really – I saw this last meeting because they were present.

7:27 But Hunter’s mom is an incredible inspiration.

7:31 And I will never forget meeting her and her sharing her story

7:34 with me.

7:35 Because I can’t even imagine what it feels like to lose a child

7:37 who dies by suicide and then to turn around and turn it into

7:41 positive advocacy.

7:43 I have so much respect for that woman.

7:45 And I just appreciate her inviting me to be a part of that

7:47 moment and allowing all of us to be there to support her and her

7:50 goals.

7:51 Thank you.

7:54 Ms. Jenkins, I’m going to go – I’m going to hop down.

7:56 We’re going to have Ms. Campbell speak last.

7:58 Mr. Susan, would you like to go next?

8:00 Yeah, thank you very much.

8:01 Just wanted to say thank you to a couple of the schools that I

8:04 visited.

8:05 First off, Sable Elementary School.

8:07 I was moving through the school and I had – it was really

8:10 bizarre last week because I ran into a lot of the former

8:13 students that I had that are now employees of the district.

8:17 And there was one of my former students that was actually a

8:19 teacher at Sable.

8:21 And she was so excited to show me what she’s been doing and talk

8:23 about what we did in the past.

8:25 And it was funny because when we were talking, one of the

8:28 coordinators was there along with the principal.

8:31 And she said, well, you understand what Mr. Susan did in his

8:33 classroom?

8:34 This was the fun stuff that we did.

8:36 She was going on and on and on.

8:37 And I realized I was like we may want to have some of those

8:39 stories not make it all the way out because some of the things

8:41 that we did was a lot of fun.

8:43 But I don’t know if they’d be respectful today.

8:46 The other thing is, is that we had a student that was inside of

8:48 there that once we started talking about, he had heard that we

8:51 were moving forward with our sports programs for the elementary

8:55 schools.

8:56 Many people don’t know, but we just put soccer inside of the

8:59 elementary school.

9:01 And we also put flag football.

9:04 And so this student had his cleats in his bag.

9:07 And when we started talking about it, he thought that for some

9:09 reason that today was going to be the day that he was going to

9:12 run out onto the field.

9:14 So he put them on and he came out and he was wearing his cleats.

9:16 And I said, what are you doing in between class?

9:18 He goes, I’m just getting ready for practice later on today.

9:20 I said, no, man, it’s another couple of weeks.

9:23 But I had asked him, I said, why are you so excited about it?

9:26 And this is the reason we did it, is that many of your low

9:29 socioeconomic and single moms throughout the county are not able

9:32 to pay for sports.

9:34 And some of those children, because they don’t have that

9:36 opportunity, don’t get the mentorships that they need.

9:40 And with this program, not only will we be able to have parents

9:43 that can’t afford to have their kids, but some of the other

9:45 programs that are going to be in there, they’ll be able to take

9:48 advantage of.

9:49 And it’s a lot nicer for a family to be able to say, hey,

9:52 instead of you coming home and then me running around trying to

9:55 take you to practice from 5.30 to 7 and missing time with your

9:59 family,

10:00 that you can actually have practice during school and then I get

10:02 off work and I pick you up and then our family can break bread

10:05 together.

10:06 It’s a big opportunity for our elementary schools, big

10:08 opportunity for our development.

10:10 We’re just really excited to bring it, which brings me into the

10:13 other part of the part was is that we had a problem with not

10:17 being able to fund some of the soccer balls and all the needs

10:21 for the soccer program for elementary schools.

10:24 And so all of a sudden I ran into another one of my students,

10:27 Alex Delhagen, and he manages all of the Walmart stores in

10:30 Orlando.

10:31 And I said, hey, Alex, I said, I got a big ask.

10:34 I said, remember how passionate I was about sports and

10:37 everything else inside the classroom? He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

10:40 I said, I got a big ask, man.

10:41 I said, I need you to fund all of our soccer balls.

10:43 So he agreed and he’s bringing 200 and I think 70 soccer balls

10:47 today along with a bunch of other stuff.

10:50 But it was just funny because when you teach and you come back,

10:54 I’ve been out of the classroom now for 10 years.

10:58 And when I was in the classroom, Alex was in my class about 12,

11:00 13 years ago.

11:02 You still see these kids as students of yours.

11:04 You still see them as the kids that were inside your class.

11:07 You see them as being 16, 17, 18.

11:10 And now they have families and they’ve grown up and you kind of

11:12 see where some of the work that you and others have done inside

11:16 the education system and gave them the hope as far as

11:18 individuals carries them through.

11:21 And the thank yous that you get are tremendous.

11:23 So it was good because I’ve been out of the classroom for a long

11:25 time, but it reminded me of some of the stuff that we did, had

11:29 an impact on some of the things in the future.

11:31 With that, I also went to Sherwood.

11:33 I got myself in trouble in the kitchen.

11:35 I stole some cookies and there’s a picture of me getting caught

11:38 and yelled at.

11:40 The unique thing about Sherwood that many people may not know is,

11:43 is that she cooks for all of the staff members every day and

11:46 they’re allowed to pay for it if they want.

11:49 But she doesn’t just cook some sort of meals.

11:51 She goes out of her way.

11:53 And the kitchen staff at Sherwood make sure that our teachers

11:55 have a special meal every day for a reduced cost.

11:58 And that was phenomenal.

11:59 I also wanted to say that I ran into the STEM teacher there and

12:01 she was doing some phenomenal things and she’s getting ready to

12:04 take her kids up to Kennedy Space Center.

12:06 So all around good at Sherwood.

12:08 And then I did – we met with Art Holke, Dr. Endell and I, on

12:13 Workforce.

12:15 A big shout out to Knights Armament.

12:17 Many people don’t understand it’s a manufacturing center up in

12:20 Titusville.

12:21 And what he has done in 2008 when I was a teacher, again, bring

12:24 me back to when I was in education.

12:27 Art and I developed some programs.

12:30 One of them was called the STEAM program.

12:32 But we fed a direct pipe from kids from Space Coast High School

12:35 to go to work at Knights Armament.

12:37 And it has been a program that’s been successful for many years.

12:40 And now he’s trying to expand it as his company went from having

12:43 15, 20 people to now having close to 400 or 500.

12:47 And so now he needs more children.

12:48 So we’re talking about how do we get the students from Titusville,

12:51 Astronaut, CoCo, and everybody through the programs that we need.

12:55 And that, to me, was a big deal.

12:57 And Art being there, he’s a driving force.

13:00 So he’s talking about bringing in Eastern Florida dual enrollments

13:02 and good opportunities.

13:04 And I just wanted to say thank you to Dr. Endell.

13:07 There’s been a lot of people that have come before Dr. Endell’s

13:09 position.

13:10 And these things hadn’t gotten across the finish line.

13:13 And when Dr. Endell turned around and started talking, Art said,

13:15 I think we’ve got it here.

13:17 I think we’re going to do something special for the majority of

13:19 our kids.

13:20 So I want to say thank you to Dr. Endell.

13:21 Thank you to Art Holke for coming and working with us with

13:23 Knights Armament.

13:25 And I could keep going all day.

13:27 It was a special week last week.

13:28 I just wanted to say thank you to my former students and the

13:30 opportunities that they presented back to us.

13:34 So thank you.

13:35 Thank you, Mr. Susan.

13:36 Mr. Trent.

13:37 I’ll keep it short.

13:39 It was a stressful week for many schools across the country but

13:43 in Brevard with some of the useless, you know, meaningless

13:46 threats that they’ve received.

13:48 I do want to have a special shout out for Cocoa Beach Junior

13:51 Senior High School Principal Tim Powers and the great job to him

13:56 and his administration and staff done when they evacuated Cocoa

14:00 Beach Junior Senior High School this past week.

14:04 I’ve heard from parents.

14:06 I’m a parent myself.

14:08 And staff on just how good of a job that they handled the

14:12 situation with.

14:14 And the communication multiple times during the evacuation, how

14:18 they took care of the kids.

14:21 I mean, this is why we practice and we have so many drills

14:25 throughout the year.

14:27 And they just did a phenomenal job.

14:29 So shout out to you guys.

14:31 Keep it up.

14:32 And I’m sure that would have been the exact same way at any

14:33 school in our district.

14:35 This is why we do the things we do and we get notifications all

14:39 the time of all these drills because then when it really has to

14:44 be done, it’s pulled off like this.

14:47 So great job guys and hopefully we don’t have many more of those.

14:52 All right.

14:53 Thank you, Mr. Trent.

14:54 I want to give a shout out to Astronaut High.

14:56 They held a college fair this past Monday where they had over 60

14:58 colleges come and participate.

15:00 They had available to the students in the north end of the

15:02 county to come and really just kind of get a feel for different

15:04 colleges and opportunities that are there for them.

15:06 I’m going to piggyback a little bit off of what you said, Mr.

15:08 Trent.

15:09 So every school I think in the nation, I don’t know, definitely

15:11 in Florida, and Brevard County wasn’t unique in this,

15:14 experienced an influx of threats that were not viable threats.

15:19 And thank God they’re not viable threats.

15:21 But I want to shout out to our district security because I know

15:23 they have been running around and making sure that every one of

15:26 these schools are safe.

15:28 And that is not a small task to do with the amount of facilities

15:30 we have being 72 miles in length and the amount of students that

15:34 we care for.

15:35 So thank you so much for all that you guys have done.

15:37 I know you’ve been burning the candle at both ends to make sure

15:39 that everybody is safe as they possibly can be.

15:42 So thank you, thank you, thank you.

15:44 I want to also give a shout out to the Brevard Autism Coalition.

15:47 This past Friday they held a forum for candidates and really

15:50 wanted to hear from people what their thoughts were on how we’re

15:53 going to help our communities that have different abilities,

15:56 disabilities.

15:57 Autism was the main focus, but there were quite a wide variety

16:01 of people in that room.

16:03 I got the opportunity to go and listen and just hear from people

16:06 and really walked away with feeling encouraged and feeling like

16:09 this is an area that we need to do a better job as society on.

16:13 I had the opportunity to meet with a really wonderful man, Ken.

16:16 So if he ends up watching the school board meeting, Ken, I

16:18 actually asked for his contact information today because he was

16:21 phenomenal and he’s trying to find a job.

16:23 And he’s in this weird area of like I can’t find a job anywhere,

16:26 but he’s got so many wonderful skills.

16:28 And so I’m going to connect him with a few people that I think

16:30 maybe will help him.

16:31 But thank you so much to Nicole Grabner for putting on that

16:32 forum.

16:33 It was very beneficial.

16:35 Excited to see what comes about from that.

16:37 I’m also going to shamelessly plug this right now because

16:40 Challenger 7, as you guys know, is our one and only year-round

16:44 school.

16:45 And guess what?

16:46 They’re on two-week intercession right now.

16:47 Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to have a two-week break right this

16:49 moment.

16:50 So going to go ahead and plug that. Shout out to Challenger.

16:53 I know that their teachers are very happy right now, and I’ve

16:55 heard from so many schools all over the place, bring this here,

16:57 bring this here, bring this here.

16:59 So just want to go ahead and plug it again.

17:01 It’s a wonderful calendar.

17:02 Keep looking for it as it comes forward.

17:04 So Dr. Rendell, do you have any?

17:07 Just wanted to make sure that everybody watching live knows that

17:10 we are monitoring the weather system that is in the Caribbean,

17:14 the Gulf.

17:15 And if we need to make any announcements, we will make those

17:18 tomorrow, Wednesday.

17:20 It looks like the worst weather that we will experience is on

17:23 Thursday.

17:24 So if we’re going to do anything different Thursday, we will let

17:27 everybody know Wednesday as in tomorrow.

17:30 If you’re watching this a few weeks later, you’ll know what

17:33 happened if we do anything.

17:35 That’s it.

17:36 All right. Thank you.

17:37 All right, Ms. Campbell, I’m going to turn the floor over to you.

17:39 Can I just ask a clarifying question?

17:40 Dr. Rendell, do we have a time tomorrow that we’re going to make

17:43 that decision by?

17:44 Thank you, yes, ma’am.

17:45 We want to make our decision by noon tomorrow.

17:47 So if we’re going to do anything different with Wednesday, if we’re

17:49 going to cancel school or after school activities or anything,

17:52 if we’re going to do that, we’ll notify everybody by noon

17:54 tomorrow, noon Wednesday.

17:56 Thank you.

17:57 All right.

17:58 Ms. Campbell, I’m going to turn the floor over to you.

17:59 You have a special recognition today.

18:00 I do.

18:01 And before I do that one, I just wanted to share one other event

18:03 that’s actually ongoing this week.

18:06 A few weeks ago we got an email from Julie with the Brevard

18:09 Cultural Alliance sharing all the wonderful things that the

18:12 funding that’s come through Brevard Cultural Alliance has done

18:15 with our art clubs.

18:17 So on Saturday, same organization, Brevard Cultural Alliance,

18:21 hosted Dr. Judy Bowers, who is a retired choral professor, music

18:27 education professor from FSU, and she came down and they opened

18:31 it up not only to all the choir teachers in our district but

18:36 also to some other districts.

18:37 And actually I heard that there were some teachers who don’t

18:39 teach choir who came and really gleaned a lot of great

18:42 information on just classroom structure and organization and

18:44 technique strategies, things like that.

18:47 And so I just wanted to give a shout out to them because not

18:49 only did she do the workshop on Saturday, she is – she has been

18:53 yesterday, today, and then also tomorrow going into several of

18:56 our choir classrooms.

18:58 And I think there was a me, me, pick me kind of volunteer

19:01 opportunity for choir directors to have her come in and observe

19:05 and give technique tips and help them work through some things

19:08 and give lots of good feedback.

19:11 And I got to do one of those yesterday.

19:13 I’m going to get to observe one tomorrow.

19:14 So thank you, the Brevard Cultural Alliance, for making that

19:16 happen.

19:17 It was – I heard just great things.

19:19 And for the little bit of time that I got to pop in on Saturday,

19:22 it was really great.

19:24 Lastly, I want – we’re going to recognize a very special alumni,

19:29 alumnus this morning, and that is U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant

19:34 Tristan Wright.

19:36 Tristan was a 2015 graduate of Heritage High School.

19:40 And while he was there, he participated in track, cross country,

19:43 and the sports medicine program.

19:46 Tristan tragically died on August 15th while serving in an

19:50 undisclosed location.

19:52 He is the son of retired Sergeant Ricky Wright and Navalia

19:55 Wright, who are here with us this morning.

19:58 Mr. and Mrs. Wright and family, would you please stand so that

20:08 we can honor you.

20:11 Thank you.

20:12 I want to tell you guys a little bit more about Staff Sergeant

20:15 Wright.

20:16 Tristan had been serving in the Air Force since 2016 and was

20:19 assigned to the 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness

20:23 Squadron.

20:24 During his career, he had deployed in support of Operation Resolute

20:26 Support in the Afghan theater and most recently in support of

20:29 Operation Inherent Resolve, which is in the Middle East.

20:33 His commander, Major Brent Esque, said that he was the kind of

20:36 supervisor who took the privilege of leading and mentoring airmen

20:40 seriously.

20:41 He cared deeply for the airmen in his flight and volunteered

20:43 actively within the local community.

20:46 His decorations include a U.S. Air and Space Force Commendation

20:48 Medal, a U.S. Air Force Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters

20:52 and Sea Devices,

20:53 an Air Force Good Conduct Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, a

20:57 Global War on Terrorism Medal, and a National Defense Service

20:59 Medal.

21:00 And he also served as a chaplain.

21:03 My favorite quote was from his mother in the Florida Today

21:07 article.

21:08 This is what Tristan told her.

21:10 “I’m serving my country and giving my life so that you can live

21:14 yours.”

21:15 So we very much appreciate your son’s service.

21:19 We thank you for giving him to us as a nation and as a community.

21:24 We commend you.

21:25 And I know that the last few weeks have been very difficult.

21:29 I know Heritage recognized him with a moment of silence at one

21:32 of their football games a few weeks ago, and I know there’s been

21:35 special services.

21:36 We wanted to recognize him as a special alumnus of Heritage High

21:39 School and of Brevard Public Schools.

21:42 And so thank you, thank you for your son’s service and your

21:44 brother’s service and nephew’s service and also for your gift

21:47 and sacrifice to us as well.

21:50 Thank you.

21:52 We’re going to take a short recess, if that’s okay.

21:54 So I’m going to come down and give you guys a hug and thank you

21:55 personally.

21:56 We’ll be back in five minutes.

22:36 [MUSIC PLAYING]

24:57 All right, thank you.

24:58 All right, we are on to our next agenda item.

25:00 I believe we have some other special guests that are in the room

25:01 today.

25:02 Mr. Susan, you have a group here today that you would like to

25:03 recognize.

25:04 So I’m going to turn the floor over to you.

25:06 Yes, I want to say thank you for the ECAC committee for accomplishing

25:10 one of their goals.

25:12 Many people may not know, but the ECAC committee was formed to

25:15 bring better citizenship to our students

25:18 with both the support of military organizations, STEM

25:21 opportunities, scholarships, and other opportunities

25:24 that we have that are available that not many people take

25:26 advantage of.

25:27 So we formed the ECAC committee over a breakfast, I think, napkin,

25:32 where we were sitting down and we said,

25:33 this is something that we feel very strongly about with a lot of

25:36 the turmoil that’s going on

25:38 and a lot of the direction that we see in some of our students

25:40 that we could use some help.

25:42 And so the Dennises, Mr. Dwyer and Ms. Tammy, were the leading

25:46 force behind getting it set up.

25:49 And then from there, everybody knows who Don Weaver is, Mr. Don

25:52 Weaver came on board.

25:55 And then we had everybody else that slowly joined into the

25:57 committee, and then we said we had some directions.

26:00 The first one was what we all saw, which was the passport, which

26:05 was very successful.

26:07 We launched it, we have students that are coming in two weeks to

26:09 get their certificates,

26:11 and the other one that took a lot of work.

26:13 And I will tell you that if anybody ever wants to get anything

26:17 done, everybody always says to bring in the veterans.

26:21 Well, it’s not so much the veterans, it’s usually the veterans’

26:23 wives that are usually the ones that do all the work.

26:26 And Ms. Tammy is responsible for all of the success that you see

26:31 from a coordinating perspective,

26:33 along with some of the organizations and individuals that we

26:36 have inside of our audience.

26:38 We developed a website that has some amazing opportunities, and

26:42 I’m not going to say a single word.

26:44 And I just wanted to take a second and say, Ms. Tammy Dennis,

26:48 thank you for your work as far as coordinating everybody’s ideas

26:53 and all the things that it took to make this happen, and working

26:56 with one of our salutatorians, Ms. Jessica Anderson, along with

26:59 some others.

27:00 So with that, if you’ll come up and explain what you have

27:03 created along with everybody that’s in here.

27:06 Thank you.

27:08 I am very happy to be part of this team, to meet so many amazing

27:14 people and have them all come together.

27:17 And our ECAC launch team is particularly excited to release this

27:23 new website in partnership with Brevard Public Schools.

27:29 Much work was done by our team and, of course, by people on the

27:34 staff, including Yvette here,

27:38 especially at the end with the actual technical pieces that had

27:42 to come together.

27:44 Our heart is to provide opportunities for students all the way

27:49 from kindergarten to career across Brevard.

27:53 And that’s truly where we’re coming from, and we always come

27:56 back to it’s about the students.

27:59 And as Matt mentioned not long ago, we had a little brunch with

28:03 him and brainstormed on how we could bring together veteran

28:07 and civic organizations into a consortium, a coalition, to where

28:13 the information could be put in one place so that people can

28:18 actually find it

28:19 and know about all the wonderful and amazing things that these

28:24 organizations provide, and especially for students.

28:30 And from there, we called or contacted Don Weaver.

28:35 Now, I have to tell you that Don never ceases to amaze me how

28:40 many people he knows, but more importantly, how many people he

28:46 helps.

28:47 And his breadth of the veteran organizations and all of the

28:54 things they do and bringing them together

28:58 and motivating them as they help the veterans in our community

29:03 and everyone around them is just amazing.

29:08 So I would like Don Weaver to stand, and I just want to give him

29:15 a hand.

29:17 And you may stay standing because Don helped us.

29:22 Hang on. You see how these meetings go, right? You can see it.

29:26 Yes, you got that.

29:29 So Don helped us identify other organizations.

29:34 And so representatives from those organizations came together

29:38 and met monthly, and we call that the ECAC Launch Team.

29:43 So if you’re here and you were part of that monthly team or

29:46 representing one of those organizations, please stand.

29:57 Thank you.

29:59 None of this could happen without them.

30:02 And then when it came time, after this organization collected

30:07 lots of opportunities, it was, as Matt mentioned,

30:13 a Brevard alumnus, Jessica Anderson, who put this beautiful

30:19 website together for us.

30:22 And I just want to go ahead.

30:24 She couldn’t be with us this morning, but can we just give her a

30:29 hand of applause anyway?

30:32 So the website, Brevard Education, Civic and Funding Opportunities,

30:38 Find and Finance Your Future.

30:42 The key is in the find, right?

30:45 That’s the reason we’re here, launching these resources.

30:50 So helping students find the nugget or the nuggets that will

30:54 help propel them into the future.

30:58 Once we gathered all of the information, we divided everything

31:02 that we found so far into six categories.

31:06 Scholarships, and you can see them on the screen, military

31:09 opportunities, contest and awards, activities and experiences,

31:15 the museum passport program, and educator resources.

31:20 And I actually want to start with educator resources.

31:23 I’m just going to give you a couple examples from each one.

31:27 The list is much longer, of course, but under educator resources,

31:34 the Civil Air Patrol is probably one of the most amazing sources

31:39 for teachers, and especially with STEM.

31:43 So if you go on their site, you will find that they have STEM

31:48 kits completely free.

31:51 They are mechanics, renewable energy, robotics, rocketry, flight

31:56 simulator, remote control aircraft, building bridges, you name

32:00 it.

32:00 I feel like it’s on there.

32:02 It was so exciting to me, and this is free to teachers so they

32:06 can access it.

32:08 It includes curriculum. It includes the products you need to do

32:11 the projects.

32:13 It’s just absolutely super amazing.

32:16 And then the fun thing that they offer, at least I would think

32:19 it was fun, is free flights for teachers.

32:23 So there’s lots to look into, and I believe that is a good

32:26 example of what’s on there.

32:29 Another thing that is under education resources is the Air and

32:33 Space Force Association recognizes a Teacher of the Year,

32:38 and it starts regionally and goes all the way to national, and

32:41 you’ve heard the story before.

32:43 Two years ago, one of our own teachers won that award.

32:46 So please go on and check it out.

32:49 Next we have the activities and experiences.

32:53 A different organization, the EAA, Experimental Aviation

32:58 Association, offers free flights to kids.

33:02 Now, how many kids wouldn’t enjoy that?

33:05 I would say probably a lot.

33:07 I know I would have as a kid, and so that’s a fun thing to check

33:11 out.

33:12 And then other things are like camps and design competitions.

33:19 The Air Force and Space Association offers a cyber camp, and

33:23 they also have Stellar Explorer’s space design.

33:28 And there’s many, many more.

33:30 That’s just two examples.

33:32 If we move on to contests and awards, on there you will find

33:37 that the VFW offers a patriotism essay and speech contest and

33:43 also an art contest.

33:46 So kids that like to jump in and compete and find something they’re

33:49 interested in, this is a good area for that.

33:54 MOAC honors – and I’m going to read this because I don’t want

33:58 to miss it.

33:59 MOAC honors superior students in the 20 Brevard County ROTC,

34:05 junior ROTC, civil air patrol, sea cadets, and sea scout

34:10 programs.

34:11 So Brevard is very supportive and has a lot, and we want to

34:16 encourage all of those military opportunities.

34:21 Another one I wanted to mention is Daughters of the American

34:24 Revolution.

34:25 They have a history essay contest, and I wanted to throw that

34:29 out because different contests have different themes,

34:33 and so the learning opportunity varies across which opportunity

34:38 your students would choose to participate in.

34:42 Then we have military opportunities.

34:44 We included all the service academies and links to join enlisted

34:48 ranks in all of our services, Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy,

34:56 and Coast Guard, and also the maritime academies.

35:00 So you want to check all that out.

35:02 We also included some military schools like the Citadel and

35:07 Virginia Military Institute.

35:11 Then moving on to scholarships.

35:13 Now, you probably know that, you know, that list is very long,

35:18 and so I’m just going to give you a couple examples, but – and

35:23 they also vary in what the scholarships are for.

35:28 So for example, AFCIA gives scholarships that emphasizes science

35:33 and STEM.

35:35 The Propeller Club is for students interested in the maritime

35:40 careers.

35:42 Florida American Legion includes nursing, medical, and general

35:47 studies.

35:48 So there’s lots of opportunities on there.

35:51 Some of them are particular to military families, so dependent

35:57 of or that sort of thing, because part of this program is

36:02 wanting to support military families within our Brevard

36:05 community.

36:07 But don’t feel like, oh, armed forces is in the title, I don’t

36:10 have any military family, none of this applies to me.

36:14 That is not true.

36:16 Most of it, you don’t have to be related to a military family.

36:21 So there’s absolutely something on this website for everybody.

36:26 And this website is very dynamic.

36:32 And that, I mean, as we learn more things, we will add to it,

36:36 and especially local things.

36:39 We’re very interested in getting anything local in Brevard onto

36:43 this website.

36:45 We did include some national opportunities, but of course we

36:49 want to let people know what’s happening in Brevard.

36:53 And that’s why the program that already has been launched, the

36:58 museum program, with the passports, right?

37:02 Launched in June, many students already doing it and turning in

37:05 that passport.

37:07 If you get, for those of you who may not be familiar that are

37:11 listening, 10 out of 17 of participating Brevard museums, they

37:17 will get a certificate.

37:19 And they will all be honored next month, October 8th.

37:22 So go see the museums and finish that up.

37:26 And then we will continue to add local things to this website.

37:31 So as we learn more, we’ll add it so students can find what

37:38 inspires, helps, and energizes them to thrive.

37:45 Thank you for this opportunity to work with you and with our

37:49 team to provide more things for our students.

37:53 » Thank you, Tammy.

37:54 I think one of the things as an educator, and I’m sure the

37:58 others that are on this panel understand this, is that we would

38:03 hear about these opportunities like a week before they would

38:07 come out.

38:08 And what we wanted to do is be able to say if you’re a teacher

38:11 and you want some of these opportunities, whether that’s STEM

38:15 materials, you know what I mean, any of that kind of stuff,

38:18 scholarships, possibilities for your students, all of that stuff.

38:21 We hear about it, but there’s never a place that we can all go

38:24 to get it all.

38:25 And this was a monumental undertaking because when you try to

38:28 contact all of the armed services for all their STEM

38:30 opportunities, and these are some huge names, Air Forces, Navy,

38:35 everybody, Sea Perch, there’s just some amazing opportunities in

38:38 there.

38:39 Now it’s all in one place.

38:41 We wanted to create sustainable resources, so sustainable

38:44 meaning that it’s not somebody that just decided, we all know

38:47 that when we came in to become STEM, when STEM became the big

38:49 term out there, everybody, including like some of your local

38:53 office furniture places became STEM companies and stuff like

38:56 that.

38:57 And what we wanted to do is be able to provide resources to our

39:00 STEM teachers that were sustainable, and that’s what comes with

39:04 some of these opportunities in line with our curriculum and

39:07 organize it all into one place.

39:09 And you did that. And that’s incredible. So I appreciate that.

39:13 Is there a way we can go down and get a picture with all of them

39:15 and have them come up? Let’s go ahead and come on up.

39:17 Just for the reference, can you say what the website is? Because

39:21 it’s not linked on the agenda, so we want to make sure that that

39:23 is out there, what the actual ECAC website is.

39:26 It is under Brevard County Public Schools website, and it’s

39:30 called Brevard Education, Civic and Funding Opportunities.

39:36 Okay, wonderful. Thank you.

39:37 Just for the – because I just typed it in. It is BECFO.org. So

39:45 BECFO.org.

39:45 Thank you. Thank you. I want to make sure that that’s linked on

39:46 there.

39:47 I wrote that part down. I’ve just been clicking on it since they

39:50 sent it to me.

39:51 Yeah, just want to make sure it’s out there, because I

39:53 anticipate people will go to that resource.

39:55 Well, the plan moving forward, just so you know, is that now

39:57 that it’s been put together, the opportunity is, is that we’re

40:00 going to have our STEM teachers take a look at it.

40:03 They’re going to bring the organizations in, and they’re going

40:05 to meet with our STEM teachers to talk about the sustainable

40:08 resources, and then also show them where these are at, along

40:12 with push this out to the PTOs and stuff like that.

40:15 So it will get out there, but I appreciate that. But it’s on our

40:17 website. We wanted to be in line with the school district.

40:20 Okay, wonderful. Well, we’ll take a quick recess and take a

40:22 photo.

40:23 And Matt, could I just say real quick, if you do have any

40:26 questions more specific, please feel free to contact me.

40:31 Okay. Thank you, Tammy. You’re welcome.

41:01 [Music]

42:44 All right. That will bring us to the adoption of the agenda. Dr.

42:59 Rendell.

43:00 Thank you, Madam Chair. On this morning’s agenda, we have 22

43:02 consent items, two action items, and one information item.

43:06 Changes made to the agenda since release to the public include

43:12 the following. We added A6, education and citizenship armed

43:15 forces coalition of Space Coast, or ECAC, which we just had.

43:18 F18, job description specialist-ESE support. Revised were A8,

43:23 administrative staff recommendations, and F13, instructional

43:28 staff recommendations.

43:31 Thank you, Dr. Rendell. Do I hear a motion?

43:32 Move to approve.

43:33 Second.

43:34 Any discussion? Paul, roll call, please.

43:36 Ms. Jenkins.

43:37 Aye.

43:38 Ms. Campbell.

43:39 Aye.

43:40 Ms. Wright.

43:41 Aye.

43:42 Mr. Trent.

43:43 Aye.

43:44 Mr. Susan.

43:45 Aye.

43:46 Thank you. All right. We are now at the administrative staff

43:47 recommendations. Do I hear a motion?

43:47 Move to approve.

43:48 Second.

43:49 Any discussion? All right. Paul, roll call, please.

43:50 Ms. Jenkins.

43:51 Aye.

43:52 Ms. Campbell.

43:53 Aye.

43:54 Ms. Wright.

43:55 Aye.

43:56 Mr. Trent.

43:57 Aye.

43:58 Mr. Susan.

43:59 Aye.

44:00 All right.

44:01 We will be acknowledging these administrative staff

44:03 recommendations at a future upcoming

44:05 meeting, correct?

44:06 Correct. We will honor the people that we just promoted at a

44:08 future staff meeting, but

44:09 I do want to announce that Kelly Rouse has been promoted to the

44:13 position of principal

44:14 at Oak Park Elementary, and Margaret Felling to the position of

44:17 assistant principal at

44:18 Oak Valley High School, but we will recognize them at an evening

44:20 board meeting.

44:21 Thank you. Thank you. All right. We are now at the public

44:24 comment portion of the meeting.

44:25 We have how many public comments, speakers, today?

44:27 So far, four.

44:28 All right. We have four speakers. Each will be allotted three

44:31 minutes. In an effort to

44:32 remain unbiased, Mr. Gibbs will be calling everyone to the

44:35 podium. I would like to take

44:37 this moment to remind everyone of the public comment rules as

44:39 written out in Board Policy

44:40 0169.1.

44:42 All comments should be directed at the board or individual board

44:45 members. Staff members

44:46 or other individuals shall not be addressed by name. Abusive,

44:49 obscene or irrelevant comments

44:51 will not be permitted. Orderly conduct is expected from all

44:54 public comment participants,

44:55 and the presiding officer may interrupt, warn or terminate the

44:58 participants’ public comment

44:59 opportunity. Do we just get a couple more in?

45:01 Yeah, six.

45:02 Six. Okay, wonderful. Can you please call the first three up?

45:05 Anthony Colucci, Bernard Bryan, Diana Haynes.

45:31 My name is Anthony Colucci. I’m the president of the Brevard

45:34 Federation of Teachers. While

45:35 I believe that this is a pro-teacher school board that works

45:38 collaboratively to improve

45:40 our working conditions, it’s very clear that those you entrust

45:43 to represent you in HR do

45:45 not share the same values. Last week, the response by HR to

45:50 several situations lacks

45:51 integrity, common sense, and an ounce of empathy. For instance,

45:56 we had one teacher have a cafeteria

45:57 door slammed into her head by an out-of-control student as she

46:01 was trying to open it on the

46:02 other side. She followed workers’ comp protocols and on that

46:06 Tuesday was diagnosed with a concussion.

46:09 She found herself not being able to make it to work Wednesday

46:12 through Friday. On Friday,

46:14 she went back to the doctor and was put out for Friday through

46:17 Tuesday. Whatever convoluted

46:19 rules exist for workers’ comp prevented the doctor from retroactively

46:23 putting her out

46:24 for the previous Wednesday and Thursday. As this situation is

46:27 clearly covered by her injury

46:29 in the line of duty contract language, I told the teacher to ask

46:33 her principal for the two

46:35 days per contract. The principal brought it to HR and they

46:39 denied it. That’s right. They

46:41 denied injury pay to a teacher given a concussion by a student.

46:46 Last year, you agreed to contract

46:47 language that stated, “All members of the bargaining unit who

46:50 are not entitled to preparation

46:52 time shall be allowed office hours for up to 40 minutes per day.”

46:56 How in the world HR

46:58 tells a principal that this only applies to those who are

47:01 entitled preparation time is

47:03 beyond any logical explanation. Last week, I learned that no one

47:08 bothered to tell the

47:09 district recruiters about the MOU for the bonus at Endeavor that

47:12 this board pushed for.

47:14 Is this the kind of incompetence you want behind your name? I

47:17 had an asthmatic teacher

47:18 who felt she needed to leave a building that was over 85 degrees

47:22 until the AC was fixed.

47:24 When I requested the teacher not be charged sick time for a

47:27 couple of hours because our

47:28 contract doesn’t require them to work in hazardous working

47:31 conditions, your HR wouldn’t do this

47:34 because the teacher didn’t earn the pay. Let me ask a very

47:37 pointed question here. Do you

47:39 make sure all employees, even administrators, earn every penny

47:44 they’re paid? Last week,

47:46 your HR folks tried to remove teacher pay to cover vacancies

47:50 claiming they don’t have

47:51 any money for this even though the funding comes from the vacant

47:54 position. HR once again

47:56 took it on themselves to decide ESE teachers working two jobs or

48:00 teachers with very large

48:01 classes don’t deserve money for it. Is that the value?

48:05 Is our budget really that tight that there’s no wiggle room?

48:09 HR is doing whatever it wants.

48:11 They offered a 1% raise without your permission.

48:14 Now they’re not abiding by our contract.

48:16 They destroyed our grievance procedure.

48:18 Your associate superintendent, who is supposed to be a neutral

48:21 party at step three,

48:22 is telling the principal what to do at step one,

48:25 the director of labor relations what to do at step two.

48:28 If you don’t believe me, look at the email he sent you last week

48:31 where he was clearly talking to a principal about a step one.

48:35 Thank you.

48:36 Thank you, Anthony.

48:40 Bernard Bryan, Diana Haines, Greg Ross.

48:46 Good morning.

48:48 My name is Bernard Bryan, and I’m the educational chair of the

48:51 South Brevard branch of NWCP,

48:53 as well as a concerned citizen of South Brevard.

48:57 First, you know, my reasons for coming up here for the last two

49:01 years

49:02 is to share my concerns about the reading and math gap among all

49:07 demographics.

49:08 And I just want to take this opportunity today to thank Dr. Rendell.

49:14 We identified an issue about chronic absenteeism among Brevard

49:19 Public School students.

49:21 And I’m going to tell you the report I just received from Dr.

49:25 Rendell’s team

49:26 showed a tremendous improvement in that area,

49:30 because we understand that if a child is not in school, the

49:35 child cannot learn.

49:37 Those instructional time is so critical.

49:40 That’s why for the last two years I’ve been looking at a first-born

49:45 diagram,

49:46 you know, without getting emotional, what are the root causes.

49:50 But I think this is significant root cause.

49:53 And I want to just thank Dr. Rendell and his team.

49:56 Thank you very much.

49:58 And I see a good trend over the last five weeks, so thank you so

50:02 much.

50:03 I also want to bring up – I’d like to thank Ms. Megan Wright.

50:09 We brought up at our last meeting about the old schools, you

50:13 know,

50:13 what can we do to upgrade our school.

50:15 And I want to tell you, we have a young man in this audience

50:18 today,

50:19 that young man right there, Mr. Joe McNeil, who stood up.

50:22 He was one of the original Stone members, Stone High School

50:25 members.

50:26 So he’s saying, “Mr. Bryant, we’ve got to upgrade our Stone

50:29 school.”

50:30 And I just want to thank this board for taking the time to

50:33 listen,

50:34 because I’ve learned that there will be a workshop around

50:38 capital expenditures.

50:39 What can we do to improve our schools?

50:42 Schools such as University Park, Delora, those schools need to

50:46 be upgraded.

50:47 And I’m not familiar with all schools across the district,

50:51 but I’m telling you, that man, my boss, was an original member

50:57 of Stone.

50:58 And it’s very sad to walk into that school.

51:00 But I’m just so grateful for this team.

51:03 Thank you for listening.

51:05 And I want to shout out Mrs. Suhans, and I know she’s going to

51:10 do it right.

51:11 She’s a professional, and we trust her ability.

51:14 And lastly, one of the areas that the community is concerned

51:17 about is our VPK,

51:20 early learning.

51:21 I’m going to continue to talk about that.

51:23 But we need to have a robust plan in place so those students in

51:28 marginalized communities

51:30 can have 100% participation of students that need to be

51:33 attending VPK.

51:35 That is a root cause that will mitigate a lot of spending of

51:40 trying to recover.

51:42 So VPKs, we definitely need a solid plan, and I’m confident we

51:46 will see that.

51:47 Thank you.

51:49 Diana Haynes, Greg Ross, Kelly Curvin.

51:56 Good morning.

51:57 I just wanted to start off by saying that there is no greater

52:00 loss in life than that of a child.

52:03 You have to love these early morning school board meetings.

52:06 What a great way to circumvent parental involvement.

52:09 Let’s schedule a school board meeting at 930 in the morning when

52:12 the majority of parents in your system are at work.

52:16 I think that’s just brilliant.

52:18 I’d like to go on to speak about something called decorum and

52:21 respectability and decency.

52:24 Some of these words might be foreign, but as school board

52:26 members and alleged pillars of the community,

52:29 I have a problem with the words and actions of your school board

52:32 member to the point I believe he should be censured in some

52:36 manner.

52:37 I am a female.

52:38 I am a mother.

52:39 I have a daughter and a granddaughter, and I find it absolutely

52:42 appalling that a school board member would refer to another

52:46 school board member in a demeaning way about her comments – or

52:50 comments about her looks.

52:52 But I also find it disgusting that she was called a whore.

52:59 Mr. Susan, no matter what side of politics you are on, you

53:02 represent the school board, the entity that educates our

53:05 children.

53:06 You publicly owe an apology to Jennifer Jenkins.

53:09 You made these comments.

53:11 It’s well known also that a state representative not only called

53:15 her that word but the C-word.

53:18 Maybe that’s the type of man you emulate.

53:20 Maybe that’s the type of man you want to be.

53:22 But we’re not going to accept it.

53:25 The gentlemanly thing to do, the decent and moral thing to do is

53:29 to publicly apologize to Jennifer Jenkins.

53:32 You owe her that.

53:33 You owe the women that work for you that apology.

53:36 You owe every mother, every daughter, and every female the

53:39 apology to Jennifer Jenkins.

53:42 I would also like to clear up something I haven’t seen not once

53:47 but twice.

53:48 Mr. Susan, you have been referred to in public as the chairperson.

53:52 Now, that may be a fantasy you want to entertain, but it’s not

53:54 reality or fact.

53:56 As a matter of fact, at the Viera graduation, you were referred

54:00 to as the chairperson and also at a BRIC meeting.

54:04 Megan Wright, as far as I understand, you are our chairperson.

54:07 And, Mr. Susan, you should probably correct individuals when

54:12 they say that to you.

54:14 I’d now like to go on with what’s been going on in our school

54:17 system that brought me to the first statement.

54:21 You’re headed for a disaster.

54:23 The community knows it, and they’re concerned.

54:27 All over social media, they’ve been talking about what’s been

54:30 going on from Titusville to Palm Bay in our school system.

54:34 Gun threats, bomb threats, sexual assaults, vicious fights,

54:39 assaults not only student on student but student on teachers.

54:45 And I understand you’re going to install a metal detector in one

54:48 school.

54:49 I can tell you they don’t work, and I would hope that you would

54:52 look to other solutions, preferably dogs, that can detect bombs

54:57 and –

55:01 Thank you.

55:03 Greg Ross, Kelly Curvin, Paul Raub.

55:12 Good morning, school board.

55:13 Thank you for this opportunity to provide public comment.

55:16 First thing I want to ask the board is if you could be proactive

55:19 in protecting Haitian students.

55:22 I haven’t seen anything come from the board or the district

55:25 based upon the hate I’ve seen in this country against Haitian

55:30 students.

55:30 It’s been displayed based on the last couple of news cycles.

55:33 It would be nice if you could maybe just speak about protecting

55:36 both their mental and their physical health.

55:40 Next I want to speak about the proposed changes to policy 0169,

55:45 public participation, specifically the part where you claim to

55:51 be defining irrelevant comments.

55:56 My question to you is, I don’t see this in the policy, who’s

55:59 going to determine what’s an irrelevant comment?

56:02 The board?

56:03 The chair?

56:04 How are you going to do it?

56:05 Are you going to parse every paragraph?

56:07 Are you going to stop the public commenters and say, that

56:09 paragraph was irrelevant.

56:11 Are you going to parse every sentence?

56:12 That sentence was irrelevant.

56:14 Are you going to stop them?

56:15 Are you going to parse every word?

56:16 It’s a silly thing to try to do.

56:18 You can do better.

56:23 Matt, I’ve got a question for you.

56:25 My question for you is why are you using BPS staff on your

56:30 campaign Web page?

56:32 When we just heard the great presentation about ECAC, which I

56:35 think is a great thing.

56:37 I love the program.

56:39 I love what the veterans have done.

56:41 The name of the Web developer was familiar to me, and I couldn’t

56:44 remember why, and then it hit me.

56:46 Oh, right.

56:47 That person’s also doing your campaign work.

56:50 So let’s just be specific, you’re using somebody who’s working

56:55 on your campaign to also develop a Web site in conjunction with

56:59 the Brevard Public Schools that you’re using to campaign on.

57:03 Because that’s what you did.

57:04 You sat up here and campaigned from the dais for about ten

57:07 minutes.

57:08 Everybody here heard it.

57:12 Lastly, Dr. Rendell and Matt, I’m going to give you kind of a

57:16 little hint of what your week to come is going to be.

57:20 I have a question for you.

57:22 Why are the students at Viera Middle School getting busing when

57:27 you wouldn’t provide busing to the elementary school students at

57:31 Endeavor and Saturn Elementary?

57:35 Is it because the kids at Viera Middle School are upper middle

57:38 class?

57:39 Is it because the Endeavor kids are underserved?

57:43 Why?

57:45 The middle school kids don’t deserve busing by policy or by

57:49 statute.

57:50 We both know you didn’t follow the statute, you didn’t follow

57:53 the policy, and we know you denied the busing to Endeavor and

57:57 Saturn.

57:58 The question I have is why.

57:59 So be prepared.

58:01 That’s going to be the discussion this week.

58:03 Do better.

58:04 Thanks.

58:06 Kelly Kerbin, Paul Raub.

58:18 Communication and transparency.

58:20 There’s often a short anecdote that I share when talking about

58:22 these two things, and it’s from Brene Brown’s Ted Talk where she

58:25 describes what happened when people are left to come up to their

58:28 own conclusions based only on their own assumptions, otherwise

58:31 known as the story we tell ourselves.

58:33 Now, why would I bring this up?

58:35 We are less than two months into the new school year, and this

58:38 board and Dr. Rendell has failed at both transparency and

58:41 communication.

58:43 I once thought my longstanding opinions on metal detectors were

58:46 unpopular, but turns out they’re not.

58:48 There is decades’ worth of data that prove metal detectors on

58:51 school campuses do not improve safety nor curb school violence.

58:55 The simple truth is a metal detector can’t detect intent, and

58:57 until it can, it is security theater.

59:00 As a nation, we have come to accept measures that give the

59:02 illusion of safety without it actually making us safer.

59:06 While I know I can’t fight the inevitable, and this board is

59:08 going to cite the TSA to which I’ll remind you of the red team

59:11 experiments, I will hold you accountable for your lack of

59:13 transparency and communication in this decision-making process.

59:17 At the meeting where metal detectors were discussed, it was

59:19 understood that BPS would be testing them at games and special

59:22 events.

59:23 That changed June 25th at a principal’s meeting, but the public

59:25 was never told, not in an email, a social media announcement, or

59:28 a follow-up meeting.

59:30 This is problematic because many of the questions and concerns I

59:33 have myself and that I’ve seen from the public could have and

59:35 should have been addressed already.

59:37 First, why is each school receiving three devices regardless of

59:40 school population?

59:42 It makes no sense that a school with nearly 2,300 students is

59:44 receiving the same equipment as a school with less than 1,000

59:47 students.

59:48 In fact, it sets the larger schools up to be less equitable and

59:50 accessible because the processing speed of each student isn’t

59:53 dependent on the school’s population.

59:56 Therefore, students at larger schools are more likely to miss

59:58 more class time than their peers at smaller schools.

1:00:01 Students at larger population schools are more likely to

1:00:03 experience more stress and therefore receive more discipline

1:00:06 actions.

1:00:07 Second, why aren’t dedicated security personnel being hired to

1:00:09 monitor these devices throughout the day?

1:00:12 At what point does this board and superintendent recognize that

1:00:14 the backs of our teachers are breaking with the additional non-teaching

1:00:17 responsibilities saddled to them?

1:00:19 Teachers just want to teach.

1:00:21 Third, what is the district’s plan for handing elevated rates of

1:00:24 tardies and absences that are attributed to these devices?

1:00:27 Despite your mission accomplished banner about solving the

1:00:29 bustling issue, you haven’t.

1:00:31 Students continue to show up late every single day, and many of

1:00:33 the routes that run late do so habitually.

1:00:36 If you cannot get students to school on time, how do you expect

1:00:38 to get students through the door on time?

1:00:40 Fourth, in the event of a mass casualty event, how do you plan

1:00:42 to keep students safe while they’re waiting to get inside?

1:00:45 Our policy for fire alarms was changed to keep students,

1:00:47 teachers, and staff from becoming sitting ducks, and now you’re

1:00:50 making them sitting ducks.

1:00:52 Fifth, are you working with local municipalities to address the

1:00:54 changes in traffic patterns?

1:00:56 Are you aware that car loops and butt loops loops are being

1:00:58 changed and adjusted for these devices and what that will look

1:01:01 like for traffic and arrival times?

1:01:03 Instead of being dropped at the curb, I now have to drop my

1:01:05 daughter in the middle of a parking lot and have her cross in

1:01:08 front of buses to get to school.

1:01:10 Is that actually the safest option?

1:01:12 When you make decisions that fundamentally change the entire

1:01:14 structure of our schools, it is your responsibility to

1:01:17 communicate with transparency, and that didn’t happen again.

1:01:21 And since my daughter’s school is the first guinea pig, I’ll

1:01:24 continue to hold you accountable.

1:01:26 Paul Raub.

1:01:40 So last time I was here, I babbled for a while about the last

1:01:43 couple years of devolution of the book policy and committee and

1:01:48 so forth in the county.

1:01:50 And as Ferris Bueller said, life moves pretty fast.

1:01:56 The committee’s on hold again because the I guess the couple of

1:02:01 members who sort of somewhat repeatedly, you know, we were

1:02:05 supposed to have a meeting last week, but they belatedly said

1:02:07 they weren’t going to show up.

1:02:09 We wouldn’t have had a quorum. We didn’t meet. That’s happened

1:02:10 before.

1:02:11 Now they finally quit. But with with one meeting to go on our

1:02:14 schedule, the committee’s been suspended because they’ve

1:02:18 actually, you know, historically, this will take some number of

1:02:22 months to find replacements.

1:02:24 If we’re following the past trends, don’t know why that is,

1:02:27 especially Mr. Trent has kind of a revolving door seat. Seems

1:02:30 like you should have a list ready.

1:02:32 But I don’t imagine anybody’s going to hustle up on this since

1:02:35 the guiding principles of all these changes seem to have been do

1:02:39 nothing to make removal more difficult and do nothing that might

1:02:43 speed up review.

1:02:45 There’s been promises to where we’re looking at adding more

1:02:48 committees never happened.

1:02:50 You could have supported, you know, narrower, less legally

1:02:55 dangerous guidance about, hey, really stick to the statutes.

1:03:02 Maybe we can not toss quite as many books on the shelves.

1:03:02 Maybe maybe we’d still have books that are on the shelves, even

1:03:07 though they’re red, you know, back to front.

1:03:11 You could have done something to limit challenges by non parents

1:03:14 or people who don’t even live in this district.

1:03:17 Now, the state has now implemented a rule to kind of limit that.

1:03:21 And I see in the new policy changes, you’re going to follow that,

1:03:24 you know, because you’re bound to.

1:03:26 But whereas you were happy to lead the state on things like, hey,

1:03:28 there’s been a challenge. Let’s just go remove the book forever.

1:03:32 I noticed we’re not happy to lead on anything that might make

1:03:41 the situation better.

1:03:46 It would be nice if, you know, the four books that are still

1:03:48 waiting on the you know, the four books that were currently

1:03:51 scheduled to be challenged.

1:03:53 Maybe some of them could be back on the shelves. Two of them

1:03:55 could have been back on the shelves at today’s meeting.

1:03:57 If you know, if the committee had met, if we’d voted, if we

1:04:01 voted to keep and if you’d actually respected our decision this

1:04:05 time.

1:04:06 But that’s not going to happen. And, you know, for people who

1:04:08 don’t know, once those books have been formally challenged by

1:04:11 somebody dropping in from anywhere in the universe,

1:04:14 they are off the shelves of all the schools in the district

1:04:17 indefinitely until such time as they pass the insurmountable

1:04:21 hurdles of getting reviewed,

1:04:23 getting approved and then the board agreeing that, yes, this

1:04:26 book is not actually going to jump off the shelves and harm

1:04:29 anyone.

1:04:30 It’s embarrassing. It’s just embarrassing and exhausting. Do

1:04:45 better. All right.

1:04:45 We are now at the consent agenda. Dr. And I’m sure there are 22

1:04:51 agenda items under this category. Thank you, Dr. And does

1:04:56 anybody wish to pull any items?

1:05:00 None. I’m going to pull F 31.

1:05:04 For discussion. All right. I’ll entertain a motion to approve.

1:05:10 All right. Any discussion? Miss Jenkins, Miss Campbell, Miss

1:05:17 Wright, Mr. Trent, Mr. Susan.

1:05:19 All right. I’m going to go back to F 31. And so I’m just going

1:05:21 to I want to have a discussion about this because it’s been

1:05:23 several years now that we see this.

1:05:25 It’s a 400 page report that gets published annually and it

1:05:27 really goes through every one of our schools.

1:05:30 I want to see a motion in a second. Sorry. Sorry.

1:05:34 All right. Discussion back into my discussion. You know, if you

1:05:40 took the time to go through the 400 page report and look at what

1:05:43 is on there and the citations, I would love our district to have

1:05:46 the goal of clearing every single citation off of this list.

1:05:52 I don’t like to see the ones that have been there for multiple

1:05:58 years. And so I’m just saying that publicly. I would like the

1:06:04 fire inspection report to come back clear. No, no citations or

1:06:04 citations have been corrected. And that is where I’m leaving

1:06:04 that one.

1:06:04 All right. Any other discussion on it? All roll call, please.

1:06:08 Miss Jenkins, Miss Campbell, Miss Wright, Mr. Trent.

1:06:12 All right. Mr. Susan. All right. Dr. Rendell, will you please

1:06:22 let us know about the items under the action portion of today’s

1:06:22 Oh, Sam was coming up here.

1:06:22 No. Okay. Sorry, I didn’t even see her move across the room. All

1:06:26 right. Would you let us know about the items today under the

1:06:29 action portion of the agenda?

1:06:31 Thank you, Madam Chair. The first action item is H 33 department

1:06:34 and school initiated agreements. Do I hear a motion to approve?

1:06:37 Any discussion?

1:06:40 No. Paul roll call, please. Miss Jenkins. Aye. Miss Campbell. Aye.

1:06:43 Miss Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. All right.

1:06:50 And Dr. Rendell, will you please let us know about the items. No.

1:06:52 Why is this on here twice? Sorry. I’m going through.

1:06:58 Here’s one more. The last action item. The last action item is H

1:07:00 34 procurement solicitations. Thank you. Do I hear a motion?

1:07:04 Move to approve.

1:07:05 Any discussion? No. Paul roll call. Miss Jenkins. Aye. Miss

1:07:10 Campbell. Aye. Miss Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye.

1:07:14 All right. We’re going to move on to the information agenda,

1:07:16 which includes one item for the board to review, and it may be

1:07:18 brought back at a subsequent meeting.

1:07:20 No action is being taken on this item today. Does any board

1:07:23 member wish to discuss the item? No. All right. We are now at

1:07:28 board member reports.

1:07:29 Does any board member have any further things to report or

1:07:33 discuss? I have some. You have some? I do. Okay.

1:07:35 Ms. Jenkins and Mr. Susan. All right. So I was talking to Dr.

1:07:39 Rendell, and I would like to try to make – you know, I can –

1:07:43 he already said that it would be okay,

1:07:45 but I wanted to kind of let you guys know, every time we ever

1:07:48 talk about moving to five of seven and giving an extra planning

1:07:51 to our secondary schools,

1:07:53 there’s always a conversation about it, but there’s never like a

1:07:56 formal review. There’s never a here’s what it would take for us

1:07:59 to do it.

1:08:00 They come back and they say, well, it will cost us around this

1:08:02 many millions of dollars. It will cost us around this many

1:08:05 people.

1:08:06 But there’s never been a formal like this is what it would look

1:08:08 like to make sure that we move to it.

1:08:10 Part of what we had said when Dr. Rendell came on, that this is

1:08:13 one of the things that we would like to try to see if we can do.

1:08:16 Now, we all know that this is a very big price tag along with a

1:08:19 workforce issue, but I did ask Dr. Rendell if we could formally

1:08:23 put that together just for an idea

1:08:25 as we start moving to possibly trying to give our staff members

1:08:28 and our teachers some more planning.

1:08:31 So I just wanted to let you guys know about that, that he said

1:08:34 it was okay to do, and they’re going to take a look at it,

1:08:36 but I didn’t want you guys to hear about it and not understand

1:08:38 where it came from. Anybody are good?

1:08:42 No, I’m good. This is a conversation that we’ve had before in

1:08:44 the past. I think –

1:08:45 Mr. Chair, could I just ask for some clarification?

1:08:47 Absolutely.

1:08:48 This is something that’s going to require some staff time and

1:08:51 investment, so I’m looking for consensus from the board to move

1:08:55 forward with a formal evaluation.

1:08:58 All right.

1:08:59 It’s – I mean, it was under my – it was my understanding that

1:09:02 we had this conversation previously,

1:09:05 and we had a consensus of the board to move forward with just an

1:09:07 idea of how much this would cost.

1:09:09 Yeah.

1:09:10 I feel like we already gave that permission.

1:09:11 Okay.

1:09:12 But I’m in favor of knowing how much it’s going to cost the

1:09:14 district.

1:09:15 It’s very appealing to a lot of our staff, so I would love to

1:09:17 know what does that look like and is it even something that’s

1:09:20 able to be done.

1:09:21 If I could add to the request, because I think it would be fair

1:09:24 to our elementary school teachers who don’t benefit from any of

1:09:28 this conversation,

1:09:30 for us as part of the report to just delineate the amount of

1:09:34 planning time secondary versus elementary in a typical week.

1:09:39 So it’s not just for student days, so they get a little extra,

1:09:41 but they also generally have more duty time.

1:09:44 So if we can just kind of compare it side by side when we have

1:09:46 that conversation, I think that would be helpful.

1:09:49 It’s funny you brought that up, because that’s the second point

1:09:51 of discussion that I have.

1:09:52 I just wanted to get the first one out.

1:09:53 So thank you, Ms. Campbell.

1:09:55 In my visits to the schools, I noticed both with the ESC

1:09:57 department and some of the other areas that our IAAs are

1:10:01 starting to –

1:10:02 that we could use some help filling some of those positions and

1:10:05 possibly look at using some of the other positions that we have.

1:10:08 So I spoke to Ms. Pam Dan Pierre, and I said, hey, talk to me

1:10:10 about something that I came up with.

1:10:13 So let me explain how this works.

1:10:15 I was at O’Gally High School, and I was sitting in an ESC room,

1:10:19 and all of a sudden the Best Buddy students came in.

1:10:21 And one of them sat down, and the light that came off of that

1:10:24 student was incredible because of the connection that that

1:10:27 student had to him.

1:10:29 And I said – I asked Mr. Vilgatz, my friend that I’ve been with

1:10:32 for a long time, and he said, Matt, these children work very

1:10:35 well with our students.

1:10:37 And it would really help if we could utilize them and actually

1:10:41 give them jobs working with them on-the-job training and stuff

1:10:44 like that.

1:10:45 So I talked to Dr. Rendell about it in our one-on-one, and I had

1:10:48 asked him if we could formally look at possibly looking at

1:10:52 allowing 18-year-olds that are inside of our schools to start

1:10:54 doing on-the-job training and filling some of those IA positions

1:10:58 for two reasons.

1:10:59 One, we need to fill the IA positions. But in some cases, the

1:11:02 students are more inept to work with a student than they are

1:11:06 with teachers and IAs currently.

1:11:09 Now, what that does is, is it also in the high school area helps

1:11:12 us with our ESC and some of our other areas.

1:11:15 But in the elementary school, what it does – and this is part

1:11:18 of what I asked Dr. Rendell to take a look at – is if we can

1:11:21 have those individuals, some IAs that could fill some of those

1:11:24 positions,

1:11:25 go out and watch some of the students during planning or during

1:11:28 their recess.

1:11:30 Now, all of a sudden, instead of an elementary school teacher

1:11:32 having to walk the students out to recess, sit there out in

1:11:35 recess, and then come back, then that time can be spent for

1:11:39 planning, which is a double end on top of their normal planning

1:11:42 that they would get.

1:11:43 Now, we know that our elementary school teachers get about 30

1:11:45 minutes of planning.

1:11:47 The problem is, is that by the time they walk the kids down, by

1:11:49 the time they use the restroom and then they come back and then

1:11:51 by the time they go back down there, it’s basically like 10, 15

1:11:54 minutes.

1:11:55 And we know that that’s not good, but we know that there’s also

1:11:57 some opportunities.

1:11:58 I’ve always wrestled with how to fit some more time for our

1:12:00 elementary school teachers inside of that workspace.

1:12:03 So what I did was I – part of the issue that I would like to

1:12:05 look at is seeing if we can utilize our 18-year-olds that would

1:12:09 be able to fill those job positions, both in the high school

1:12:12 coming down to elementary and middle school.

1:12:15 And then also, we did it when we talked about the IAAs.

1:12:19 We increased our bus driver pay by $5.

1:12:22 If we’re having trouble filling those IA positions and they’re

1:12:24 so critical to where our teachers can utilize those as plannings,

1:12:28 I’d like to look at possibly looking at raises for our IAAs.

1:12:31 So I made those requests to Dr. Rendell.

1:12:33 I don’t know if that requires a lot of staff work to check the OJT.

1:12:37 That’s something that Paul could take a look at, and then the IA

1:12:40 race would just be me working with HR to try to figure out what

1:12:43 the cost is and bring it back.

1:12:46 That’s all.

1:12:48 Okay.

1:12:49 Dr. Rendell, are you looking for direction again from the board

1:12:50 on this one?

1:12:51 Yes.

1:12:52 Okay.

1:12:53 All right.

1:12:54 Board, would you like to weigh in on the conversation?

1:12:55 Yeah.

1:12:56 I like the thought of it.

1:12:59 I don’t support it.

1:13:01 I don’t know how many 18-year-old students we have that are in

1:13:04 their senior year the whole time being 18 years old, and if they

1:13:09 are, traditionally, they’re there for a reason.

1:13:14 Also, just having an ESE background, having a master’s degree,

1:13:18 an exceptional student education.

1:13:21 I just believe if we feel like there’s a deficit there, which I’ve

1:13:24 been talking about for the past four years, then we should pay

1:13:27 them better, offer them better wages, better working conditions

1:13:31 in order to ensure that we have exceptionally trained people

1:13:35 working with our neediest students.

1:13:37 That is the most important thing.

1:13:39 Not to discourage our students from participating and

1:13:41 volunteering and being a part of that.

1:13:43 Absolutely not.

1:13:45 But these are our neediest students, and quite frankly, we need

1:13:48 people who are experts in that area, who are passionate about

1:13:52 that area, and who have been trained.

1:13:55 And I don’t even know the legality of even pulling that off.

1:14:03 The program that comes to mind is our – and I’m not going to

1:14:05 use the right term, probably.

1:14:07 Oops.

1:14:10 I may not use the right term, but we have a – it’s not work

1:14:13 release, that’s prison.

1:14:16 There’s a program where our students go on the job – thank you

1:14:19 – where they have a job out in the – they can be at a bowling

1:14:23 alley or at a restaurant or at a manufacturing company or

1:14:26 whatever, and some of them, you know, depends – the age range

1:14:30 depends on the workplace requirement, right?

1:14:35 I think that that would be something, especially if it’s by a

1:14:37 semester, because we do have a lot of 18-year-olds when we get

1:14:41 to the spring.

1:14:42 I don’t think that’s our long-term solution, but I certainly

1:14:46 wouldn’t – you know, if it’s legal and possible, and we can be

1:14:50 one of the employers.

1:14:52 We are doing that – we hire students in the summer for internships

1:14:56 that we pay them for from different departments, and we have –

1:15:00 we are paying students for tutoring through the RAISE program.

1:15:05 You know, certainly willing to have Paul and staff take a look.

1:15:11 You know, the other conversations are bargaining conversations,

1:15:13 which we’re not going to have out in the public.

1:15:16 You know, there’s always, you know, just lots of things that go

1:15:21 into those conversations.

1:15:24 But I think it would be worth, as far as seeing if we have the

1:15:26 right students, if it’s just a handful, if it’s a half a dozen

1:15:30 who are a perfect fit, let’s give them the opportunity.

1:15:34 So if it’s legal and possible, feasible, I think that’s probably

1:15:39 just as good of an opportunity.

1:15:42 Honestly, I’d probably rather have them have those opportunities

1:15:44 in a school somewhere than, you know, going to work at a fast-food

1:15:47 place.

1:15:48 Because, you know, I know I have a friend whose daughter was in

1:15:50 that program, and she was all stressed because she had lost her

1:15:53 job earlier in the year.

1:15:54 And, like, they had the deadline.

1:15:55 They had to get the job by the beginning of the school year.

1:15:58 And so if we have those opportunities that we can offer, I’m

1:16:02 good with that.

1:16:04 If I may, no way did I say that we want to fill every IA with

1:16:06 the 18-year-olds.

1:16:08 It was just an idea to help fill it.

1:16:10 I did want to say that the individual that was one of – I met

1:16:13 with the IA’s that were currently in that room and asked them

1:16:16 what they thought about it.

1:16:18 And they said that it would be a spectacular idea to allow the

1:16:20 students to be there.

1:16:22 So I did.

1:16:23 I just wanted to let you know that.

1:16:24 Thank you.

1:16:25 Yeah.

1:16:26 Here’s my pushback is, one, there’s minimum requirements to

1:16:29 become an IA.

1:16:30 You have to have your AA, which very few of our 18-year-olds

1:16:34 would have at the time.

1:16:36 You either have to have an AA or you have to go through the ParaPro

1:16:39 program.

1:16:40 And so I don’t think – I think probably where we might come

1:16:44 down on something like this is not necessarily an IA.

1:16:48 Because we have a job restriction and that you either have to go

1:16:50 through the ParaPro program, pass the test, or you have to have

1:16:53 your AA and do your certification that way.

1:16:56 IA’s cannot walk in off the street and get a job as an IA.

1:16:59 They have to have – they have those minimum requirements.

1:17:01 We might have something that’s not an IA but a special position,

1:17:04 like we would say an IA intern or something like that.

1:17:08 The other thing that comes to mind is that the IA’s are

1:17:13 sometimes used to fill minutes for certain – you know, with IEPs.

1:17:19 And I don’t know that an 18-year-old is going to be able to do

1:17:21 that.

1:17:22 Certainly the extra hands-on.

1:17:23 And it seems like it’s a really good match for our teaching academies

1:17:25 as well, even though I don’t think it would necessarily have to

1:17:28 come from just those two schools that have the teaching academies.

1:17:30 But just some cautions.

1:17:33 And I add those in there, and I know you know they’re in there,

1:17:36 but I add those in there because I don’t want anybody to watch

1:17:38 this meeting or walk away from this meeting going, oh, my gosh,

1:17:40 the school board.

1:17:42 They’re just going to throw 18-year-olds in the schools and they

1:17:44 think they’re going to take care of and some parent goes, not my

1:17:47 kid, you’re not having 18 – we’re not moving that fast.

1:17:51 We’re not moving that fast.

1:17:52 We realize there are hurdles.

1:17:53 Here are some of them that staff’s going to have to figure out.

1:17:56 But if we can find a way to get our students meaningful work

1:18:01 that also meets a need, I’m for it.

1:18:04 All right, thank you.

1:18:05 Mr. Trent, would you like to say something?

1:18:06 Yeah, I believe our staff, when you get the thumbs up, they’re

1:18:09 going to look at everything.

1:18:11 And, you know, as far as those 18-year-olds, I think they know

1:18:13 when they’re going to turn 18.

1:18:15 So maybe the summer before when they’re 17, if there’s any

1:18:18 somewhat training, they’re good to go when they are 18.

1:18:22 We’ll find a spot for them. We may have to change a job

1:18:26 description and put them into something else.

1:18:27 But, you know, why turn away somebody that can be in the

1:18:30 workforce when we don’t have to?

1:18:33 So, again, I have complete confidence in our staff.

1:18:37 They’re going to look through every possible avenue to make this

1:18:40 a reality.

1:18:41 They’re just going to bring it back to us and then we’ll have

1:18:43 these same discussions.

1:18:44 So I look forward to what they have to say.

1:18:47 Yeah.

1:18:48 Good idea, Mr. Susan.

1:18:49 Thank you.

1:18:50 I’m going to weigh in, too.

1:18:51 I’m in favor of this.

1:18:52 The North End does something similar where we have students that

1:18:54 are going into classrooms and helping and not necessarily in the

1:18:58 role of an IA, but sort of doing a lot of the same.

1:19:02 You know, it crosses over in some arenas.

1:19:05 I think it’s worth looking into.

1:19:07 I think we, you know, at graduation every year we hear how many

1:19:09 kids graduate with their associate’s degree.

1:19:11 If there is a way to have them secure employment already within

1:19:15 our district here and they’ve already identified that they love

1:19:18 working with children,

1:19:19 then by all means let’s find a path and a way to get them there.

1:19:22 That way they can stay local, stay here, and continue to invest

1:19:25 in the community that they’re part of.

1:19:27 I think it’s worth looking at.

1:19:28 But the IA – so you’re asking for a couple things here.

1:19:30 So you want to look at an IA race, correct, like what that looks

1:19:32 like and how that’s going – what that’s going to cost the

1:19:35 district.

1:19:36 And then you’re also looking at IA’s –

1:19:40 The realities of having an 18-year-old fill a position.

1:19:42 Okay.

1:19:43 All right.

1:19:44 So that’s why I’m like there’s a couple different asks.

1:19:45 I just want to make sure I write them apart.

1:19:46 I know.

1:19:47 I didn’t get a chance to kind of –

1:19:48 Getting the information and finding out what does this look like

1:19:50 and how much does this cost, is this something feasible, and

1:19:52 will this benefit our district.

1:19:53 I think it’s worth knowing that, yeah.

1:19:54 Okay.

1:19:55 Absolutely.

1:19:56 And then I did want to tell you, if I may, to close it out.

1:20:00 Lockheed Martin went two years to try to hire one of our 18-year-olds.

1:20:05 Like Lockheed Martin was going to their higher-ups and saying, “Guys,

1:20:09 we feel that some of the graduates that are coming out of O’Gally

1:20:12 can do the work of some of our 20-, 30-year-old employees.”

1:20:17 And then finally last year, the first one was hired, and she

1:20:19 knocked it out of the park.

1:20:21 And now they’re hiring a lot of our students at 18-years-old.

1:20:25 When I was a teacher at Space Coast High School, I was part of

1:20:28 the founding team that started ATEPs, the Teaching Academy.

1:20:33 And it was my students that would go across to Enterprise

1:20:35 Elementary School and then teach with them and stuff like that.

1:20:38 I see this as not only being an opportunity for our students to

1:20:41 fill a position and connect with our kids, but also the pathway

1:20:44 to become teachers.

1:20:46 So thank you so much for your support. I truly appreciate it.

1:20:48 Thank you.

1:20:49 All right. Ms. Jenkins, you said you had a couple things you

1:20:51 needed to discuss?

1:20:52 Yeah.

1:20:53 Okay. Go ahead.

1:20:54 Yeah. And I know you’re all aware of it, but I think it’s my job

1:20:58 and my responsibility to talk about it publicly because my

1:21:02 questions haven’t been addressed thus far.

1:21:06 So before I begin, I’m going to – I don’t have any interest of

1:21:12 making a comment after this, regardless of what’s said after I

1:21:18 speak.

1:21:19 But I’m going to refute the claims that are going to be made.

1:21:22 So, no, I don’t have one-on-one meetings with Dr. Rendell.

1:21:27 I’ve been very honest about that and closed doors.

1:21:30 And if you’d like me to be publicly, I have no problem doing so,

1:21:32 but I don’t think he would appreciate that.

1:21:35 But I do have a district-paid cell phone. We all do. That, you

1:21:40 know, rings when you call it.

1:21:43 And so I have a serious problem with what went down recently,

1:21:47 and the problem I have isn’t what went down, it’s how it was

1:21:52 dealt with, how it was communicated, and how it was handled.

1:21:55 Because the reality is, is if we discovered a problem and we

1:21:58 just notified the board about it and we moved on and we learned

1:22:02 from this, I wouldn’t have even blinked an eye at it.

1:22:06 But that’s not what happened.

1:22:07 So recently it was brought to my attention that we had

1:22:12 accidentally spent either a quarter million or half a million –

1:22:17 I haven’t gotten confirmation of which one it is – on extra

1:22:22 administrative pay in a supplement form.

1:22:27 And I completely understand how this may have happened in terms

1:22:31 of how we had changed the way Title I schools are identified

1:22:35 because, fun fact, I learned about that as soon as I got on this

1:22:40 board.

1:22:41 And it’s not complicated, but it is very different than the way

1:22:44 that it was done when parents would fill out free and reduced

1:22:47 lunch forms.

1:22:48 What I’m not okay with is the only reason I was made aware of it

1:22:53 was because I heard rumors about it.

1:22:56 I had administrators speak to me about it.

1:22:59 And then I questioned it.

1:23:01 And the only reason any of you were made aware of it was because

1:23:04 I questioned it.

1:23:06 And when I was made aware of it, it apparently happened a week

1:23:09 or two prior.

1:23:10 And I’m not okay with that because the reality is, if it’s a

1:23:13 quarter million dollar mistake or half a million dollar mistake,

1:23:17 the board should have been made aware of it within 48 hours.

1:23:21 We all have cell phones.

1:23:23 And as far as I’m concerned, it’s over the threshold of

1:23:26 solutions for the approval of the superintendent by himself.

1:23:31 And how it was handled after that was a disaster as well.

1:23:35 It is my understanding that Dr. Rendell gave the instructions

1:23:38 that these administrators can just keep the pay.

1:23:42 But then we had HR calling administrators telling them how to

1:23:44 give the money back.

1:23:46 And now we have rumor mills in between administrators talking

1:23:49 about who’s getting to do what, which is a disaster.

1:23:53 I do not appreciate the miscommunication and, quite frankly, I’m

1:23:57 going to call it what it is, the lying to individual board

1:24:00 members about what took place.

1:24:02 Some board members were told that the reason that they got to

1:24:04 keep the money was because BASA was really upset.

1:24:07 Well, BASA didn’t even know about it.

1:24:09 So that’s interesting.

1:24:12 It’s frustrating to me because when we talk about money and

1:24:17 spending – Mr. Susan, do you have a question?

1:24:19 I’m speaking to our general counsel.

1:24:21 Would you like me to wait so you can hear what I’m saying?

1:24:23 Absolutely not. You go ahead.

1:24:26 Yes, I’m speaking. That’s right, Mr. Gibbs, I’m speaking.

1:24:29 Go ahead. I’ll wait.

1:24:31 I just want to make sure you hear everything.

1:24:33 I think I’m hearing you and I know where you’re going.

1:24:35 Mr. Susan, you are the one who got up, so I will wait until you

1:24:47 sit down.

1:24:50 Okay. So I have a problem with the lack of communication. I have

1:24:55 a problem with the way it was handled.

1:24:56 I have a problem with different board members being told

1:24:58 different things, dramatically different things.

1:25:02 I have a problem with our administrators being told different

1:25:04 things.

1:25:05 And I also have a problem with where the blame is trying to be

1:25:08 placed because, quite frankly, I don’t really care where the

1:25:11 blame lies.

1:25:13 I have a problem with the lack of communication and the lack of

1:25:16 regard for the fact that it was either a quarter million or a

1:25:19 half a million and we don’t know what pot it came out of.

1:25:21 That is a lot of money for us to accidentally give to

1:25:23 administrators.

1:25:25 So here’s the other thing I’m going to refute before everyone

1:25:30 starts talking.

1:25:32 It was said, Ms. Jenkins is bringing this up because it’s

1:25:35 political.

1:25:36 I don’t know how it’s political.

1:25:37 Did we only pay Republicans? Did we only pay Democrats? Did we

1:25:40 only pay independents?

1:25:41 I don’t really understand that comment.

1:25:43 The only thing political about it is the fact that this board

1:25:45 chooses to ignore it because I’m the one who brought it up.

1:25:48 Much like the fact that I brought up firing our interim

1:25:50 superintendent a week after we hired him and you guys waited

1:25:53 months to do it.

1:25:54 I can’t even rationalize why none of you have a problem with

1:26:00 this.

1:26:01 Why we pull items off the agenda saying $50,000 is a lot of

1:26:04 money and we don’t have a problem with this.

1:26:07 Someone should be held accountable for the lack of communication

1:26:11 and for, quite frankly, the miscommunication.

1:26:15 It’s inappropriate.

1:26:16 And so my ask at the end of this, too, is because a lot of

1:26:18 things had come to light.

1:26:20 I believe we need to audit our supplements that we’re giving out.

1:26:23 Because apparently they’re not all accurate.

1:26:28 Some people are getting things they shouldn’t get or we’re

1:26:30 getting them for too long or at rates that they shouldn’t be

1:26:33 getting them at.

1:26:35 It is our job as school board members to create policy, to

1:26:37 implement it, to regulate and adjust the budget and to approve

1:26:41 the budget.

1:26:42 I don’t know how much more clear that this exact problem is our

1:26:46 job, how much more clear that can be.

1:26:49 So as you make excuses for it, I’m going to remind the public,

1:26:53 no one on this dais knew about it until I inquired about it.

1:26:58 Regardless of you saying I don’t have one on ones, you all had

1:27:01 them.

1:27:02 None of you knew about it until I inquired about it.

1:27:06 And that is a fact, a provable fact.

1:27:11 It is true.

1:27:13 Mr. Colucci, let’s have a conversation afterwards, because you

1:27:16 all admitted it to him.

1:27:18 I don’t lie.

1:27:19 You cannot like what I say, what I do, what I believe, but you

1:27:21 will never catch me in a lie.

1:27:23 It is a provable fact.

1:27:25 None of you knew about it until I brought it up.

1:27:27 And you’re covering it up because you want to cover up the

1:27:29 person who made the mistake.

1:27:31 And the fact that I was told that this is because payroll looked

1:27:34 to a column all the way to the right is the most ridiculous

1:27:38 excuse I have ever heard in my life.

1:27:40 If we hand payroll, if our procedure is to hand payroll a

1:27:43 complicated Title I form and expect them to only look to the

1:27:47 column to the right, well, man, we better come up with some

1:27:50 better payroll procedures.

1:27:52 That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.

1:27:55 And quite frankly, it is unfair to the person in payroll,

1:27:57 because we all know it’s not their fault.

1:28:00 We all know that.

1:28:01 And I asked these questions.

1:28:03 I put these questions in writing.

1:28:05 I asked them.

1:28:06 I even asked for the records, because I wasn’t getting any

1:28:10 answers.

1:28:11 It’s crazy.

1:28:12 It’s crazy that we don’t know where this money comes from, and

1:28:14 it’s crazy we don’t know how long this mistake went on for.

1:28:17 And it’s also crazy and unrealistic to say that we were going to

1:28:19 pull this money out of millage to make up for the problem.

1:28:22 Not okay.

1:28:23 And I think the public needs to know about it.

1:28:25 I’ve got two more board meetings after this, and I’m not going

1:28:26 to be quiet about this stuff.

1:28:28 It’s inappropriate.

1:28:29 Do your jobs.

1:28:32 All right.

1:28:33 Moving on, do you – I mean, we can either go back and forth

1:28:36 here about this.

1:28:38 I don’t feel as though I need to explain my position on this,

1:28:41 because I don’t – Ms. Campbell, you had a couple things that

1:28:44 you wanted to discuss.

1:28:45 Yeah, I’ll just very quickly – I’m not going to address all of

1:28:47 that, because I have the date on when the issue was brought to

1:28:50 me.

1:28:51 And I can’t tell you whether what you said was true or not,

1:28:53 because I don’t know when you found out, but I know when I found

1:28:55 out.

1:28:56 Let’s compare notes.

1:28:58 But I will say this.

1:28:59 I think we’ve had conversations about supplements before.

1:29:03 I think BFT has had conversations about supplements.

1:29:05 I think we’ve talked about it.

1:29:07 It probably would be a good idea.

1:29:08 If we don’t already have it in practice, so let’s just go

1:29:10 through.

1:29:11 And I think that was something we had conversations about, if

1:29:13 not in the last year, in the last two years.

1:29:16 I think it’s probably a good idea for staff to – let’s just

1:29:19 clean up some rolls so that I can absolutely support.

1:29:23 I just wanted to share with you, since we haven’t had a meeting

1:29:26 in a few weeks,

1:29:28 two things, one, thank you all for allowing me to go to

1:29:31 Washington, D.C. for the COSPA event a few weeks ago.

1:29:35 It was very fruitful.

1:29:37 We actually – the Florida team actually met with every single

1:29:40 – either the representative or their staff of all the Florida

1:29:45 delegation,

1:29:47 including the senators’ offices, except for one.

1:29:51 And so I think that’s a pretty good visit by the Florida team.

1:29:55 Because we have a large delegation today at Florida’s, it

1:29:58 actually took us a couple of days to get all those meetings set

1:30:00 up.

1:30:00 And we had three teams going, running all over the Capitol, back

1:30:03 and forth from building to building to make sure we got into.

1:30:05 But we had really great conversations with them, especially

1:30:09 around cybersecurity.

1:30:11 And the FCC is doing some new things to really try to support.

1:30:16 There was a specific bill we got to ask them to support that was

1:30:18 trying to expand cybersecurity offerings specifically

1:30:24 for the K-12 space.

1:30:26 And we really just made them aware, a lot of our congressmen and

1:30:29 senators weren’t aware of the huge threats that we received,

1:30:33 that Brevard specifically has received in the past.

1:30:36 And the idea of, you know, just the amount of sensitive

1:30:38 information that we needed, so it really needs to be protected.

1:30:42 And so those were good conversations.

1:30:44 We also had good conversations about the National School Lunch

1:30:47 Program.

1:30:48 And you guys may or may not be aware that IDEA has not been

1:30:53 fully funded.

1:30:55 And fully funded is not 100 percent.

1:30:57 Fully funded from the federal government is 40 percent.

1:30:59 It hasn’t been 40 percent ever.

1:31:02 So we always ask, hey, can we get a little more with our IDEA

1:31:05 funding, because it’s up to the state and the district to fill

1:31:09 in those gaps.

1:31:11 And then we had – because the House budget proposal had just

1:31:13 come out, and we’ve been told this is not the way it’s going to

1:31:16 end up,

1:31:17 because it’s passed across the table first.

1:31:19 The House proposal in particular had cut all Title II funding,

1:31:24 all of it.

1:31:25 And so, again, we were reassured by people, this is not where we’re

1:31:28 going to end up.

1:31:29 But one of the conversations that we had again and again and

1:31:32 again with our congressmen, with our staffers, with our senator’s

1:31:37 staff,

1:31:38 is that Title II funding is especially important today because

1:31:43 of our efforts around the science of reading.

1:31:47 Because the science of reading is such a – I won’t say it’s new,

1:31:51 because some of it is part of the pendulum swing that happens in

1:31:54 education.

1:31:55 But most of our teachers were not trained in those methods.

1:31:58 And so we’re doing such good, important work retraining teachers

1:32:04 in these – according to this body of research,

1:32:07 Title II funding is more important than ever before, on top of

1:32:09 the fact that we have so many teachers coming from outside of

1:32:13 education,

1:32:14 you know, didn’t study education in college, and so we’re kind

1:32:17 of doing on-the-job training.

1:32:19 And so we use a lot of those Title II dollars to support our

1:32:22 teachers who have come from other fields, including CTE.

1:32:28 And so those are really good conversations that was very much

1:32:30 received well.

1:32:31 And so I appreciate you guys giving me the chance to go up there.

1:32:34 It was super fun.

1:32:35 I didn’t just do a bunch of sight reading, even though I did get

1:32:37 to go on the very last day, the last hour to the Library of

1:32:39 Congress.

1:32:40 It was amazing.

1:32:43 The other thing I wanted to share with you is that for all of

1:32:46 our district employees and board, I’m going to challenge you as

1:32:49 well,

1:32:50 even though I’m not sure if you’re ready to have a team again.

1:32:53 But the Walktober challenge – thank you.

1:32:56 You got an e-mail about it.

1:32:58 Go online and sign up for Walktober.

1:33:01 There’s an app, and if you get your – I think it’s like 6,000

1:33:04 steps a day – you get a leaf on your tree.

1:33:07 And there is a team page.

1:33:09 I won’t create a team unless I’ve got at least a good handful of

1:33:12 buy-in from us, and maybe we can join with GCR or something.

1:33:16 Or another small team.

1:33:19 As long as we have Paul, we’re a shoe-in.

1:33:21 Somebody abduct Paul.

1:33:23 But you guys – the sign-up is going on from now through October

1:33:26 11th.

1:33:27 The actual walking time starts October 1st and goes through

1:33:30 November the 11th.

1:33:32 So we should all be able to participate in that.

1:33:35 And it does have a way to track automatically with your device

1:33:39 if you have a device that’s keeping up with your steps.

1:33:41 You can sync it, and that way you don’t have to remember to go

1:33:44 online and put in your information.

1:33:47 But I encourage everybody to go to that.

1:33:49 And also, all of our employees, I very much appreciate the

1:33:52 benefits department and our partners over there who encourage us

1:33:55 to get healthy, stay healthy.

1:33:56 Because a healthy workforce is a more effective workforce.

1:34:00 So, board, let’s lead by example.

1:34:02 Get your shoes on and sign up for Walktober.

1:34:05 I would like to know, Paul, how do you do yours?

1:34:08 We decided last year.

1:34:10 He puts it on the dog.

1:34:11 I know he does.

1:34:13 That’s why I’m trying to catch him so I can film this whole

1:34:14 thing now.

1:34:15 This is a whole deal.

1:34:17 Do you have it attached to your watch?

1:34:19 Is that what it is?

1:34:20 And then you attach it to your animals is what it is.

1:34:22 Or your kids, they run around.

1:34:24 I get it.

1:34:25 All right.

1:34:26 I got five kids.

1:34:27 My kids would not get me any steps, I promise.

1:34:32 Mr. Trent, did you have anything to report?

1:34:34 No?

1:34:35 All right.

1:34:36 Dr. Mendel, do you have anything further to report?

1:34:37 I do not.

1:34:38 All right.

1:34:39 Being that there’s no further business, this meeting is adjourned.

1:34:55 [end of transcript]