Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
1:00 ♪♪
1:47 Good morning.
1:48 The August 25th work session is now in order.
1:50 Paul, roll call please.
1:51 Mr. Season?
1:52 Here.
1:53 Ms. Wright?
1:54 Here.
1:55 Ms. Campbell?
1:56 Here.
1:57 Mr. Trent?
1:58 Here.
1:59 Mr. Thomas?
2:00 Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
2:04 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
2:08 and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
2:12 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
2:19 Today on the agenda we have activities and athletics and a
2:22 2026 proposed surtax investment plan.
2:26 Topics are going to be legislative agendas,
2:28 superintendent’s evaluation.
2:30 First on the agenda we have a presentation on activities and
2:32 athletics legislative overview by Mr. Raymer and Kevin Robinson.
2:36 The floor is yours, sir.
2:40 Well, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to speak
2:42 with you today regarding some athletic legislation that went
2:45 into effect on July 1st.
2:47 With me today I have Kevin Robinson,
2:49 our district director of athletics and activities.
2:51 So the two senate bills we’re going to focus on today are
2:54 Senate Bill 178 and Senate Bill 538.
2:57 As we go through the presentation,
2:59 we’re going to pause at the end of each slide just to answer any
3:01 questions that maybe you have for the efficiency
3:04 of the presentation.
3:05 So as we go through, we’re going to provide you with an overview
3:09 of recent legislative changes that impact athletics and
3:13 activities here in Brevard and across the state of Florida,
3:16 provide potential policy options to comply with the new
3:19 legislation and then seek directions on any next steps
3:22 that you would like us to take.
3:24 We’re going to start with Senate Bill 178 and give you an
3:27 overview.
3:28 So this is new legislative changes and is reflected in our
3:32 FHSA Policy 36.
3:34 And what this allows is that head coaches are now permitted
3:37 to use up to $15,000 per year of personal funds to support the
3:42 health, safety or welfare of student athletes.
3:46 There are limits to what they can do here and the limits are
3:48 to food, transportation and recovery services on an
3:52 emergency, non-recurring basis.
3:55 And funds may not – I’m going to repeat that – may not be
3:58 used for recruiting purposes for their programs.
4:02 Support must be authorized by school administration.
4:05 This is not authorization through the athletic department
4:08 so I want to reemphasize that, that the AD does not authorize
4:12 this.
4:13 It does go through school administration and we must have
4:15 prior written consent by parents and guardians in order for this
4:19 to happen.
4:20 And details of each incident recorded, which means details of
4:24 all the times in which financial support was provided to student
4:28 athletes, is to be reported to the FHSA office.
4:32 And we are still working through FHSA on what this exactly would
4:37 look like.
4:39 Any questions on the legislative overview?
4:42 I have a question.
4:43 And part of it – so what you – the last thing you just said is
4:46 FHSA hasn’t completed their rulemaking on this.
4:50 Is that what you’re telling us?
4:52 Yes.
4:53 They’ve completed rulemaking.
4:54 It’s more about compliance of providing the information to the
4:58 state.
4:59 So I’ll let Kevin, who’s been working with the state on that,
5:01 and athletic directors across the state on what this will look
5:04 like.
5:05 Okay.
5:06 Thank you.
5:07 So this is actually in Policy 36 and the FHSA revised their
5:11 policy over the summer to update it to include this language.
5:15 I actually just got correspondence back from the FHSA
5:19 yesterday, and there’s now a reporting form on home campus,
5:24 which is the database for reporting that all the schools
5:27 use to the FHSA.
5:29 So it’s now on there.
5:30 It’s loaded on there.
5:32 So there’s a form that they go in, and they report each
5:35 incident, and it goes to the FHSA.
5:38 So that’s in place now, as of yesterday.
5:41 I just had two relatively quick questions.
5:44 What’s recovery services – on the food transportation,
5:49 that’s easy.
5:50 What’s recovery services qualify?
5:52 That would be like rehab, physical therapy type things
5:56 like that, you know, things that the student needs to recover
6:00 from, you know, maybe from an injury sense or just a recovery
6:06 sense to get them ready for the next game.
6:08 Right.
6:09 I guess – so the fourth bullet down that has to be authorized
6:12 by the school administration, I guess when I heard the
6:15 legislature kind of tossing around this bill, it’s – I
6:18 don’t know.
6:19 The scenario that was brought up was a coach, after a game,
6:24 they’re on their way back, they stop and eat, and the kid
6:27 doesn’t have money for dinner.
6:29 And so – but I’m like, how do you do that if you have to have
6:32 written consent ahead of time from the parent and approval
6:34 by the administration?
6:35 I mean, so it seems like if that’s what the bill was for,
6:38 that’s not what it does.
6:39 So unless we just give a blanket, if my kid is ever at
6:42 McDonald’s and they don’t have money, I give my – the coach
6:45 permission to buy them dinner.
6:47 I mean, I – it’s – I don’t know.
6:50 When it comes to the changes in the athletics area in our state
6:53 and across the country, it’s kind of turning into wild,
6:55 wild west.
6:56 So pardon me for the questions, but I’m just trying to
6:58 understand how – what that looks like on a practical basis.
7:02 Would we just get a consent form for the entire team and just
7:05 say, hey, if there – any of them ever falls into this
7:09 category, we’d be able to cover them.
7:11 Is that – would that be the appropriate way to do it?
7:13 Yeah, so we have a consent form developed that we are ready to
7:16 get out to schools pending this discussion that will give us
7:20 authorization by the school administration and also consent
7:24 by the parent and guardian.
7:26 You guys okay with that?
7:27 Yeah.
7:28 Okay.
7:29 You got your kid.
7:30 Thank you for those answers.
7:31 And we appreciate the questions.
7:33 Today we did not have FHSAA answers on the reporting form,
7:37 so glad that’s – we got that before today.
7:41 Okay.
7:42 We’re good.
7:43 So our impact and actions here is our consent authorization form
7:46 has been developed for use by schools.
7:49 We are going to go through the board adoption policy – or the
7:52 policy adoption process with the board for a policy 3120.03,
7:58 which will have revised NEOL language,
8:00 and this will also show up in other policies across Brevard.
8:04 And we will continue to follow FHSAA policy 36.4.3 as this will
8:09 greatly alleviate any potential concerns.
8:12 So as per the question, Ms. Campbell,
8:14 we do have the form built.
8:15 We have worked through legal to have that form vetted and
8:18 approved, and we are ready to get that form out as needed.
8:22 That will provide us with prior parent consent and also will be
8:26 signed off by a school administrator.
8:29 Thank you.
8:30 Next.
8:31 So that takes us to the end of Senate Bill 178.
8:34 So any questions on this affectionately referred to as
8:37 the Teddy Bridgewater Act, as we all know the past year or two
8:42 is
8:42 how that went down.
8:43 Just so you know, he recovered well and got a backup NFL role,
8:47 so he made it.
8:48 So we’re excited.
8:50 Now retired, but he did make it after this all went down here in
8:54 Florida.
8:55 So Senate Bill 178, just in review, allows head coaches to
9:00 use $15,000 of personal funds.
9:02 We do plan on following the policy and legislation with
9:06 getting parent consent signed off by a school administrator
9:09 and then moving forward with allowing this
9:11 within our programs.
9:14 I mean, it’s state law, so it is what it is.
9:17 I guess the concern I have is the pressure it might put on
9:20 coaches because some of them don’t have up to $15,000 of
9:24 disposable income laying around.
9:26 I’m glad we’re putting limits on coaches like Teddy Bridgewater
9:29 and some of the other ones, but I don’t want there to be the
9:31 pressure or the expectation.
9:34 But this is one that it’s not a matter of board decision, right?
9:38 The law is the law, and we have to go along with this, correct?
9:42 Correct.
9:43 Okay.
9:44 Thank you.
9:45 All right.
9:46 Next up.
9:47 So going to Senate Bill 538.
9:48 So we’re going to walk through an overview as there’s a lot
9:50 that’s inside of this bill, but there is a big part of it that
9:52 we’re going to really focus on.
9:53 As we get towards the end of the presentation.
9:57 So the first changes is the eligible student, and this just
10:00 combines all areas of traditional and non-traditional
10:03 into one single category instead of having multiple categories
10:06 of eligible students.
10:08 And it also redefines extracurricular as any school
10:11 authorized or education related activity occurring during or
10:15 outside the regular instructional day.
10:17 So this is just language cleanup and just putting what was
10:21 different, I’ll call them buckets, into one centralized
10:24 bucket regarding eligible students.
10:27 Okay.
10:28 With the overview, it describes where eligible students
10:31 may participate.
10:32 So I know that you guys sometimes get athletic questions
10:35 of what can my student participate, where – so the
10:38 school at which the student is enrolled, obviously, is a place
10:41 in which they can participate.
10:43 If the desired activity is not offered at enrolled schools,
10:46 student may participate at a school located in the district
10:49 where the student resides.
10:50 If no school in the county of residence offers the activity,
10:53 students can participate in adjacent bordering counties.
10:56 And if a student has exhausted all of those options, they can
11:00 petition the FHSA executive director to participate at a
11:03 school outside the bordering county.
11:05 So an example of this that Kevin and I talked about with regards
11:09 to a student maybe participating in a sport outside of Brevard
11:12 would be something of like Orange County offering water
11:15 polo or another sport that we don’t offer and it’s an adjacent
11:19 county so they would be able to potentially participate in a
11:24 set school in that county.
11:25 I hope Orange County never has anything we don’t have.
11:29 If they have water polo, girls weightlifting.
11:32 Then we’ve got to start a water polo team.
11:34 Weightlifting in general is another one.
11:36 So those are just examples of where we might see if you were
11:39 to get that question or maybe wonder, like, oh, that was a
11:44 student, that’s one of our students, but they’re
11:46 participating in Osceola, Volusia, Orange, etc.
11:49 Mr. Robinson, a real quick question.
11:52 In regards to a student that is playing middle school golf,
11:56 right, that’s a FHSA sport, is that correct?
12:00 Middle school golf.
12:03 Just hang on.
12:04 We don’t have middle school golf as an FHSA sport.
12:07 So they don’t, FHSA does not offer middle school golf?
12:12 Not to my knowledge.
12:13 Okay.
12:14 They offer golf at the high school level.
12:16 But if they offer, if there’s a middle schooler that wanted to
12:19 play middle school golf and we didn’t offer it, then they would
12:22 go down this option number three, student exhaust all
12:24 options.
12:25 They may petition the FHSA director to participate in a
12:27 school outside the boardering committee.
12:29 Same thing, right?
12:30 Yeah, or if there was a middle schooler in the county that
12:33 wanted to play golf, they could play golf at one of our junior
12:35 senior high schools.
12:36 That’s what I thought.
12:37 Just wanted to make sure.
12:38 But if that didn’t happen and they were in another county,
12:41 then they would be able to petition and go outside the
12:43 county.
12:44 If they were in another county and they didn’t have any junior
12:47 senior highs or anything like that and they couldn’t develop
12:50 any agreements with a private school, maybe that had those
12:54 corresponding grade levels and that they could participate
12:58 there, then that would force them into that next step, which
13:02 would be going outside the county.
13:04 All right, thank you.
13:05 Okay, next up.
13:08 So the next part and overview for Senate Bill 538 is
13:11 activities fees for students not enrolled but eligible.
13:14 So we did work through this back in March/April.
13:19 So basically such fees cannot exceed the greater of the
13:22 following, which is the fee students enrolled at the school
13:24 pay to participate or a reasonable fee based on the cost
13:28 to the school not to exceed $400.
13:31 Brevard’s fees were approved in April 28th, 2026.
13:36 We will have middle school students that this applies to
13:40 paying $125 per sport per year and high school at $250 per
13:44 sport per year.
13:46 And this applies to our pet private school, FES, EO,
13:49 scholarship students, and we have information posted on all
13:52 secondary school websites and our school choice web page.
13:55 So we did already work through this part of the new
13:58 legislation.
13:59 Question real fast.
14:00 Are you keeping track of how many of these students that we
14:03 have that are paying these fees versus – do you have a
14:06 centralized database that covers the breakdown by each sport in
14:09 the school?
14:10 Yeah.
14:11 So what the athletic directors do is they report that,
14:13 and there’s a spreadsheet, a Google sheet that we reported
14:16 on.
14:17 Okay.
14:18 And then that has to be kind of connected with their method of
14:20 payment, which will either be on focus or on their EMA account.
14:24 Okay.
14:25 And then that goes through the office of school choice.
14:27 So the school choice takes that – the sheet that the athletic
14:31 directors fill the tracking sheet and then puts that with
14:35 their payments that they’ve received and kind of puts those
14:37 together.
14:38 Okay.
14:39 And I’m just curious for – I mean, I would like to see the
14:41 data just to see what does this look like.
14:43 Do we see a huge number of students that are homeschooled,
14:46 private schooled, you know, just to track it for our reference.
14:50 So if there’s a way to share that spreadsheet with the board,
14:52 I would appreciate that data.
14:53 Yeah.
14:54 We definitely have that data, and it’s – the list is growing,
14:57 you know, as the seasons go on.
14:59 Right.
15:00 The list is continuing to grow, but – yeah.
15:02 Yeah.
15:03 But we can certainly – we’ll have that data to share.
15:05 Okay.
15:06 Thank you.
15:07 Just remember, before we leave this slide,
15:09 I just want to make sure anybody watching that didn’t catch all
15:13 of this, those fees are not for our current students enrolled in
15:16 our schools.
15:17 The current students enrolled in our schools participate without
15:20 these fees.
15:21 These fees are for students, families that access the
15:25 scholarships or the PEP, you know.
15:28 So this is for, like, a homeschooled student or a
15:30 private school student.
15:31 If you see this slide, don’t think we’re charging our middle
15:34 schoolers $125 to participate and our high schoolers $250 to
15:37 participate.
15:38 The ones who are enrolled in our schools do not pay these fees.
15:41 Just want to make sure we’re clear.
15:43 I have another question, sorry, because it just prompted a
15:45 thought that I had with this, because some of our sports do
15:48 have an expectation for students to raise so many dollars to be
15:52 on the team.
15:53 Once they’re part of the team – and I’ll use cheerleading as an
15:56 example, and that’s, like, all over the board, right?
15:58 It’s different from school to school.
16:00 I know I’m probably opening Pandora’s box with even talking
16:02 about this, but how does that relate to this?
16:05 Because we’re only allowed to charge a certain dollar amount.
16:08 That – if they have to raise so much to be on the team, I just
16:11 want to make sure that those two things don’t necessarily – one
16:14 doesn’t outweigh the other.
16:17 Yes, that’s a good question.
16:18 And so that’s that first part right there, the fee students
16:21 enrolled at the school pay to participate.
16:24 So in a case like cheerleading where the fees would be higher
16:28 than the $400 that’s in statute, then that’s – they wouldn’t
16:33 pay,
16:34 you know, whatever the rate is plus 250, they would just pay
16:40 the rate.
16:41 So they pay the same as what each of the kids pay that are at
16:44 the school.
16:45 Does that make sense?
16:47 So it would not – this extra fee would not kick in.
16:54 It would not kick in.
16:55 They would not pay that.
16:56 So in other words, if your students required $750 to
17:02 participate, then they would just pay the $750.
17:06 They wouldn’t pay 750 plus 250.
17:09 It would just be 750.
17:11 And that’s by statute.
17:13 Okay.
17:14 Yeah.
17:15 And we’re not in trouble for – I mean, that’s why I’m just
17:17 concerned with the $400 max.
17:19 No.
17:20 It’s the greater of the two.
17:22 So because even like the band program that my children have
17:26 been a part of, their band fees for Marching Band every year are
17:28 $450.
17:29 So they will be – I have a question later about whether it
17:33 applies to Marching Band.
17:34 But, you know, it would be $450 because that’s the grader
17:37 because it costs all the things.
17:39 And I know cheerleading is even more than that.
17:41 Yes.
17:42 Okay.
17:44 Any other questions?
17:45 Next.
17:46 Not yet.
17:47 I’m sure there will be more.
17:48 So it also addresses student transfers.
17:51 So I know that you also get student transfer questions.
17:54 So we wanted to put in there that a student may not
17:57 participate in sports at two different schools during the
18:00 same school year unless they meet one of the following
18:03 exceptions.
18:04 And Kevin and I are currently working on policy changes here
18:07 to make sure that all of this is included so that we have our
18:10 transfer policy up to date with everything that is listed on
18:13 this slide.
18:14 So once again, this is just eligible transfer options for
18:19 students to then participate potentially at more than one
18:22 school in the same school year.
18:24 But for the most part, that is closed down except for these
18:28 options on this slide.
18:29 Good.
18:30 I’m glad.
18:31 That’s good.
18:32 That’s sport to sport.
18:33 Because I know we have had in the past kids do football in
18:35 one school in the fall and do basketball in another school in
18:38 the spring.
18:39 That shuts us down.
18:40 So this completely shuts that down?
18:42 Yeah.
18:43 Okay.
18:44 Unless you are one of these specialists.
18:47 Unless you’ve moved.
18:48 Okay.
18:49 So before the next slide, which talks about our opportunity to
18:53 pay our athletic coaches and stuff like that,
18:57 I think that that’s a considerable conversation that
19:01 we can have.
19:02 But I wanted to make sure that everybody – I was going to have
19:04 it at the off site so that we could have some time to go to
19:06 our people and talk to them about it.
19:08 But if you want to have a conversation now and you feel
19:10 sufficient, I’ve been doing a lot of research into it.
19:13 Yeah, let’s roll with it.
19:14 Well, I think we need to hear the information if it would have
19:16 a decision to make.
19:17 No, no, no.
19:18 The idea was that we could have some more discussion at the off
19:21 site.
19:22 But go ahead.
19:23 So Mr. Susan has preemptively got us to the bulk of where
19:27 we’re going to go with this new legislation.
19:30 So Senate Bill 538 also has a provision that allows school
19:35 boards to adopt a policy authorizing school support
19:38 organizations to provide funds to athletic coaches,
19:42 activity directors or activity sponsors.
19:45 They cannot be used for severance pay or to supplement
19:49 current compensation.
19:50 So, for example, supplant, sorry.
19:53 We’re not – the funds wouldn’t be used for somebody to no
19:57 longer hold that position.
19:59 And the funds would not be used to supplant what we already have
20:02 in the contract.
20:03 So those two things cannot be used for that.
20:06 There are some potential positives here that creates an
20:09 avenue for increasing coaching compensation for an activity
20:12 sponsor compensation.
20:14 And we know that that’s been a point of conversation here for
20:17 years, not only in Brevard but across Florida.
20:20 And then potential concern is to create somewhat of an inequity
20:24 or possibly imbalance, maybe some Title IX concerns among
20:28 programs and schools.
20:29 So this does provide us with the opportunity as a school
20:36 district
20:36 and you as opportunity as a school board to look at the
20:40 policy 9215 which is school support organizations that we
20:44 currently don’t have adopted but we are in the process of
20:47 adopting to provide funds to athletic coaches,
20:50 activity directors or activity sponsors.
20:53 So just so you have situational awareness of what a school
20:56 support organization would be classified as,
20:58 we’re thinking booster clubs, parent-teacher associations,
21:02 PTOs or any other nongovernmental organization or
21:07 group of persons whose primary purpose is to support a school
21:11 club, academics, arts, athletics,
21:14 et cetera as you go down that list.
21:16 The second bullet does identify what is not a school support
21:21 organization and that is just a group of people who merely want
21:24 to provide funds to a coach, athletic director,
21:27 activity sponsor.
21:28 They do have to be recognized as a school support organization.
21:32 So there is the – it does delineate from five parents
21:36 getting together and just saying let’s collect some money and
21:39 give it to the coach versus a full acting school support
21:43 organization that is functioning within the program in the
21:46 school.
21:47 So we typically would synonymously say booster club,
21:51 right?
21:52 That’s the language that we’re used to having but it does
21:56 extend out to PTAs, PTOs because athletic directors and activity
22:00 sponsors are included within this legislation.
22:03 Does that specific – do those organizations have to have the
22:08 501(c)(3) – is that language in there also?
22:12 Yes.
22:13 So that will all be within the policy,
22:15 the 501(c)(3), the insurance requirements and everything that
22:19 they would have to have to actively engage within our
22:22 schools and our program.
22:23 So all of that does apply.
22:24 In alignment with the policy that we already have
22:26 on support organizations.
22:27 Yes.
22:28 Okay.
22:29 Thank you.
22:30 So the impact in actions, legislation language says
22:34 districts may adopt policies, so we put a highlight of may,
22:38 adopt policies related to SSOs and funds going to coaches,
22:42 activity directors or activity sponsors.
22:44 The big question is do we want to adopt a policy addressing
22:48 school support organization funds going to coaches
22:51 and sponsors?
22:52 So that’s really the question that in this legislation that we
22:55 are trying to work through today.
22:57 All previous legislation for SB538 was really just an
23:01 overview of what’s in place.
23:03 So the options to consider.
23:05 Option one is that we remain as is and adopt a stronger policy
23:10 potentially prohibiting coaches from accepting compensation from
23:13 SSOs and being more specific within our language now that it
23:17 may be adopted and could be permitted.
23:20 And then option two is quite frankly the other side,
23:24 which is that we permit coaches to accept compensation from
23:28 authorized SSOs as written in statute.
23:31 And in statute the amount that they can accept is they can’t
23:36 make more than the highest paid administrator within the county.
23:41 So there is a significant gap between where they are and where
23:46 they could go.
23:47 Not saying that an SSO would be able to fulfill that gap,
23:51 but those are the two options that we’d really be looking at.
23:55 If we are going to prohibit this of putting stronger language
24:00 into policy saying that this is not prohibited and just being
24:03 straightforward that we are not allowing this within our
24:06 policies or option two is that we are going to allow it as per
24:11 the legislation as long as they have an authorized SSO.
24:16 Once again, not just five parents sitting in the stands
24:18 saying I really like what Coach Johnson is doing out there with
24:22 our team and let’s all pull some money together and give it to
24:27 Coach Johnson because it’s allowed now.
24:29 They have to be an authorized SSO.
24:31 So those are the two options that we would really like to
24:34 consider whether it is today in a discussion at the conclusion
24:38 of the presentation or whether it is at the offsite here coming
24:42 up shortly.
24:43 But with our fall sports up and running and policy revisions
24:47 going through the process, having robust discussions in the
24:51 near future is of most benefit to ensure that we have one of
24:55 these two options in place as fall will obviously conclude as
25:00 we move into the winter sports.
25:02 And we don’t want to go retro on anything.
25:04 We just want to have it in place as we get through the process.
25:06 And just for full transparency, this also includes bands,
25:10 orchestra, everything that has a PTO or a booster club.
25:13 Activity sponsors, athletic directors, coaches, et cetera,
25:18 are all included inside of this.
25:20 So everybody that is in the PTO or a part of our athletics or a
25:24 part of our curriculum, robotics,
25:26 everything else would be able to increase their costs that we
25:30 can’t provide.
25:31 OK.
25:32 All right.
25:33 I’m sorry.
25:34 Go ahead.
25:35 Let’s have the discussion.
25:36 Yeah.
25:37 So I would like for us to come back and talk about this some
25:39 more if we can, you know, maybe give some more better guidance
25:42 at the 18th because I want to have some conversations with
25:44 some people.
25:45 But what will help me is if we chose option two,
25:49 is there the flexibility in the language for us to put limits –
25:54 I mean, does it have to just be yes or no,
25:57 up to the superintendent’s salary?
25:59 Can the board put limits that we choose as far as up to a limit
26:05 that we might choose that’s lower or as far as how – I mean,
26:10 they’re outside organizations.
26:11 They kind of do what they want, right?
26:13 They’re not a government –
26:14 They have to be approved.
26:15 Right.
26:16 They have to be approved, right.
26:17 But within that – if they’re approved already – I mean,
26:19 we’ve got parent-to-parent associations,
26:20 sports booster clubs.
26:21 We’ve got, you know, all kinds of organizations.
26:23 And I imagine that if we approve this,
26:25 we will have many more organizations that bound in the
26:27 next 12 months.
26:28 But what kind of limits do we have the authority to place?
26:33 There’s a couple issues there.
26:35 One, the more restrictions and the more the board and district
26:40 is involved, the more likely we are to get sued if something
26:43 goes wrong.
26:44 Okay.
26:45 All right.
26:46 The second is the language says we may not control the provision
26:50 of funds except for limiting it.
26:52 It can’t be used for severance, and it can’t supplant the pay.
26:55 Okay.
26:56 So it’s restricting it to 10 grand a year,
26:59 placing restrictions on the funds.
27:02 I would argue yes.
27:03 So the plain language of the statute would say either we do
27:06 it or we don’t.
27:07 Okay.
27:08 I know –
27:09 That’s not a Title IX trouble.
27:11 Right.
27:12 And if it comes from the district,
27:14 and that was something some of the districts I talked to said
27:17 they were looking at, if it comes through the district,
27:20 that raises Title IX concerns.
27:21 If it’s going straight from the SSO,
27:24 they aren’t Title IX regulated.
27:26 They’re not the school district.
27:28 That’s an independent company that’s essentially donating
27:31 funds to the coaches or the activity,
27:34 you know, persons in our school system.
27:37 Okay.
27:38 That clarifications.
27:39 So that would be any kind of limits beyond just yes or no.
27:42 It would be yes, no, and then statutorily
27:44 up to the soup salary, so.
27:47 So we did have robust conversations leading into
27:50 today’s workshop about potential provisions,
27:54 frameworks that could be put in place,
27:56 and through continued conversations with Mr. Gibbs,
28:01 Dr. Rendell, and Mr. Dufresne, really worked through the
28:05 process, and even in the NEOLA template,
28:07 the guidance is to, you know, really not have too much
28:13 district oversight in regarding the policy,
28:16 because what we would do is on the next slide,
28:19 the NEOLA update would be in policy 9215,
28:22 so we’d be adopting this policy and specific language inside
28:26 of the policy as it would provide clarity on what
28:30 qualifies as an authorized SSO and what they have to have
28:33 in place to be considered an SSO.
28:36 And with that, seeking the direction on next steps for the
28:41 policy creation, which honestly is ready to go.
28:44 Kevin and I worked through that over the past couple weeks of
28:47 what language was going to be inside of there,
28:49 as the deadline to submit that was last Friday.
28:53 And then implementation of how we would implement that.
28:56 Obviously, if we are going to go in a different direction as we
28:59 go through the discussion, we would just enhance some of our
29:02 current policies and maybe pull back 9215 that we’re adopting,
29:06 or maybe in 9215, we would still adopt it,
29:09 but we would just put in prohibitions inside
29:12 of that policy.
29:13 So as we go back to the options, once again,
29:16 option one is that we remain as is and just have stronger
29:19 language prohibiting coaches from accepting compensation.
29:24 And by coaches, we also mean activity sponsors,
29:26 athletic directors, et cetera.
29:28 And option two is that we permit any qualifying staff member to
29:33 accept compensation, but only from authorized SSOs as written
29:37 in legislation and in policy.
29:40 Gene, where are you at?
29:43 Well, I definitely want to be on record to say that I’m excited
29:47 to get money to our teachers and coaches and the music
29:53 department, too.
29:54 Can we include CTE teachers on this somehow?
29:58 They have a booster club.
29:59 Yeah, let’s get them a booster club.
30:01 But absolutely, I look forward to moving forward and getting it
30:07 in policy that we’re able to get our coaches paid.
30:12 So then I can use Mr. Susan’s slogan again.
30:16 We need to get our teachers the number one pay in the state
30:19 because they deserve it.
30:22 So whatever we have to do.
30:23 Okay.
30:25 I guess I’ll go next.
30:26 I have some serious heartburn over this to some degree.
30:31 And I’m just going to speak from personal experience,
30:33 my own child, in athletics right now.
30:35 So I guess when we’re talking about music,
30:38 not typically, every single one of our music instructors or
30:42 orchestra or whatever, they’re teachers of ours.
30:44 So where does this fall with now,
30:47 like, I mean, everything is negotiated when it comes to pay,
30:51 but this would fall outside of that?
30:52 Okay.
30:53 It’s not school district pay.
30:54 And if we take control of the funds,
30:56 then you raise those issues of are we having to negotiate it,
30:59 and is it being equitably distributed through,
31:02 like, Title IX procedures.
31:03 That’s why I think the legislature intentionally put it
31:06 the way they did because they didn’t want districts getting
31:09 entangled in it.
31:10 It’s like either your groups are raising funds and giving it to
31:13 the coach or the activity director,
31:15 or they’re not.
31:17 Yeah, I guess my biggest concern with this is just what does
31:20 this
31:20 actually do to our athletics and our sports.
31:23 I really am concerned that you are going to create a big
31:27 problem with the haves and have-nots of – I mean,
31:30 Mr. Susan, I’m going to use you.
31:31 Vieira is going to be very affluent when it comes to being
31:33 able to raise a ton of money.
31:35 I don’t think I’ll have that same liberty in the north end
31:38 because we just don’t have – it’s just not the same.
31:41 And so what does that do?
31:43 Does that mean now you kill every other athletic program
31:46 because you’ve made one the shining star and everybody else
31:49 now is going to suffer?
31:51 That’s my concern with that.
31:52 I already have a big enough issue with community coaches and
31:55 that being a problem that comes up every single year.
31:58 I get phone calls from parents over discrepancies on how kids
32:02 are picked to be on different teams and what’s happening
32:04 there.
32:05 So I’m afraid this is going to create a big mess.
32:08 I am.
32:10 But I would like to do a little more research.
32:13 I would actually like to talk to some of our athletic directors
32:16 about this and different coaches and various different athletics.
32:20 I’m not comfortable to move forward and give guidance
32:22 personally on option A or option 2 right now until I do a little
32:25 more research on it.
32:26 James?
32:27 Yeah.
32:28 So I actually think it may do much of the opposite.
32:31 This isn’t just the parents that are living on a street.
32:36 Communities are very proud of their programs.
32:39 They own businesses.
32:41 There may even be more businesses in your area that
32:44 would be willing to donate back.
32:45 I mean, that’s where the school pride is.
32:48 You know, people that have even moved away that have successful
32:51 businesses and they see this happening.
32:53 So I don’t necessarily see it as a haves and have-nots.
32:57 It isn’t the average median home value that we’re talking
33:01 about here.
33:02 These are people that take pride in their schools and their
33:06 programs.
33:07 So I could see it even be a way of averaging out.
33:14 You know, it goes back to that.
33:15 I mean, there’s some very good programs that have history and
33:18 tradition that I think former players,
33:21 coaches, they’re going to want to see that continue.
33:24 So I don’t quite see it like that.
33:26 Not that I disagree with Ms. Wright at all.
33:29 Ms. Campbell?
33:30 Yeah.
33:31 Thanks for coming back to me.
33:32 You know, I said a minute ago I wanted to come back to this.
33:35 And I think probably it still would be good for us to have
33:37 some conversations between now and then.
33:39 That gives us three weeks to kind of be boots on the ground
33:42 talking to the people now that it’s explained clear what,
33:45 you know, the options are.
33:47 But if the options really are yes and no and if it’s yes,
33:51 we don’t really have a lot of controls.
33:53 I don’t really have so much – there’s not as much to decide.
33:59 I think all this – it’s like the NIL for coaches.
34:06 And I personally don’t like what NIL has done to college sports.
34:11 And the high school sports because it does make everything
34:13 a wild, wild west.
34:14 Especially since Florida has the you can transfer whoever you
34:17 want to whenever.
34:19 I – my experience rather than sports is with the band parent
34:26 association.
34:27 My children have gone to a school with a very strong band
34:29 parent association.
34:30 It’s just marching band.
34:31 Orchestras and choirs don’t really have these organizations
34:33 even though they might later.
34:34 It’s because the marching bands require so much.
34:37 It’s the summer.
34:38 And the stipend that we give them is – it’s one of the
34:43 bigger stipends, right, of stipends that we give.
34:46 But it’s not really – when you divide that by the number of
34:50 hours they spend in the summer for sectionals and whatever,
34:53 even just marching band.
34:54 I’m just going to use that because that’s an example.
34:56 From two solid weeks, Monday to Friday,
34:58 and then they’ve got all these extra summer things.
35:00 It’s not enough to cover all they do and then all the
35:02 weekends and the marching competitions.
35:04 So the ability – and this is what came before us probably
35:07 four years ago, I guess, of how do we increase that?
35:14 We know that we’re in a budget crunch.
35:16 That is true.
35:17 We don’t really have the ability to increase those
35:20 stipends, and if we start increasing it for one thing
35:22 from the district side, then we have to increase it for
35:24 that so that we don’t create the haves and have-nots.
35:27 But we do have programs that are – I think about a
35:32 cocoa.
35:33 Okay, a poorer community, smaller school,
35:35 but it’s a tradition of that community.
35:37 Their booster club can get their act together and do
35:40 something to keep coaches who are taking them to state
35:43 multiple years in a row, and then we don’t lose that
35:45 coach because that coach got recruited away.
35:47 This is how it was brought into us four years ago.
35:49 That coach gets recruited away across the state or out
35:52 of state where they can get paid more.
35:54 So I don’t like it, but it’s here,
35:59 and I would sure hate to be one of the districts that
36:01 doesn’t do anything with it, and then all of a sudden we
36:03 start losing our coaches, and we start losing our band
36:06 directors to other opportunities.
36:08 You know, in the situation of the band parent
36:10 associations, it’s going to – or the band boosters,
36:12 to make it a simpler term, it’s going to be up to them.
36:15 I know that our band booster association pays for the
36:18 exorbitant cost of transportation to all the
36:21 contests and everything they pay for the consultants
36:23 to come in, the people who design their shows.
36:25 They use it to buy new instruments,
36:28 which are so expensive every year.
36:30 There are so many things.
36:32 They’re feeding the kids during band camp.
36:35 Like there’s all those kinds of things.
36:37 So if they chose, they said, you know what,
36:39 if we have extra money because we do the concession stand
36:43 and we have a couple extra thousand dollars,
36:45 and so we as a band parent association want to give a
36:47 couple extra thousand dollars to each of the band directors,
36:50 I don’t have a problem with that.
36:52 I have a problem when we start getting up into the tens
36:54 of thousands of dollars.
36:55 That’s our problem.
36:56 Or hundreds of thousands.
36:57 Right.
36:58 But these booster clubs also have to continue to provide
37:00 the things that they’re doing right now,
37:02 which is equipment, training, all those kinds of things.
37:05 So if they choose to give all that extra money to the coaches
37:09 and not to support the students, they’re not going to have
37:11 a great team.
37:12 So it’s something I don’t like, but I also at this point I’m
37:17 leaning towards a yes, but I want to have those conversations
37:20 before I give my final yes.
37:22 I want to have conversations with you.
37:24 I think from my perspective, of course,
37:26 I’m in favor of it, but I wanted to talk through because
37:29 what Ms. Wright has concerns about and what Ms. Campbell
37:32 has concerns about are very valid.
37:34 And I think everybody that’s a part of this feels the same way.
37:37 I do know that Bay County moved and passed it recently,
37:40 within the last week.
37:41 And I have a feeling that the majority of districts across
37:43 the state are going to move, just like you said.
37:46 I do know that on the border towns up in the north,
37:49 many of those coaches and many coaches in the south end up
37:52 going up to Georgia because they have a similar situation
37:55 where coaches are making $100,000 a year.
37:59 But I will tell you with all of that said,
38:01 I did meet with Kevin Mayes down at Palm Bay.
38:05 Kevin said that he would be able to probably raise more money
38:08 in Palm Bay than he would be in Viera.
38:10 And I asked him, I said, “How in the heck do you figure that?”
38:13 He goes, “Because the community here means the sports are a
38:18 whole lot more with the alumni and everything else,”
38:21 he said, “than Viera.”
38:22 And he was a perfect example there.
38:24 I also said, I looked at CoCo, called up a couple people up
38:28 there, and they said, “We would have no problem doing this.”
38:31 So the Title I – or Title – yeah,
38:34 Title I level is a little bit – I don’t feel there.
38:37 I feel like where this would be difficult is the schools like
38:42 Space Coast, the schools like Bayside,
38:44 kind of, where they’re mid-level.
38:47 They’re not as old.
38:48 They don’t have the background.
38:50 But we come into a situation where do we hold back bringing
38:54 in the best that we can for our children,
38:56 or because the others aren’t able to get there yet,
39:00 or do we just levelize everybody and allow our – because I
39:03 promised you, I talked to two coaches.
39:05 They already said that if they’re giving away money in
39:07 bordering counties, they’re going.
39:09 And that’s some – two of our best coaches.
39:11 So – and then I said, “Okay, so that’s just coaching.
39:13 Let me take it past that, because I have to honor Ms.
39:16 Campbell’s band and orchestra and everything else, right,
39:20 because I want to do a good job for you.”
39:22 And so I was talking to a couple of my band directors,
39:25 and they said, “This would be a godsend,
39:27 because we’re already trying to do so much,
39:30 and we’re just basically, you know,
39:32 we’re putting Band-Aids on everything.
39:35 They deserve more if they can have it.”
39:37 And a bunch of them have quit in the last few years.
39:40 Because of that.
39:41 And we’re – and I think the question,
39:43 Ms. Wright, and I wholeheartedly understand, like, the burn on
39:46 it.
39:47 The question is, is do we hold back our district from having
39:52 really, really good quality coaches that might leave,
39:55 or do we go to compete with the rest?
39:57 And I feel – Ms. Campbell brought up a great point.
40:01 There’s not much more that a lot of these teams can actually
40:04 raise, because they’re already pushing to the limits as far as
40:07 it goes.
40:08 I do know that, like, you might be able to raise a little bit
40:11 more, but these guys, man, these coaches,
40:13 they’re trying to do anything they can.
40:15 They’re, like, joining other organizations to help coach over
40:19 the fall or over the off-season to try to raise enough money to
40:23 get paid.
40:24 I mean, it’s – there’s a significant need out there.
40:26 And I was, like, when I read the legislation and I said,
40:30 “Man, you mean to tell me that, like,
40:32 the boost – the activities coordinators could and PTOs
40:36 could?”
40:37 Then you start getting into some really cool stuff.
40:39 You know what I mean?
40:40 Because I think I’m in favor of it.
40:42 It sounds like the majority of the board is,
40:45 but I do want to have a conversation where everybody
40:47 goes to the off-site.
40:49 If, in the meantime, since the board is kind of in favor of it,
40:53 could you guys put together what a policy might look like both
40:56 ways so that we could see it, like one that says no and one
40:59 that says yes, and then we could start working through it at
41:01 that
41:02 time?
41:03 Because I think what we’re going to be up against is making that
41:05 decision and getting that out, because if we are going to or
41:10 not going to, we want to let our people know which direction we’re
41:13 going to go, if that makes sense.
41:15 Go ahead.
41:16 Can I continue to add?
41:17 Because it keeps coming up.
41:18 You know, the trickle-down effect.
41:20 You know, we talk about teachers or coaches.
41:22 Many of our coaches are teachers as well.
41:25 And we talked about community coaches.
41:28 But, you know, this is a time where if they get a head coach in
41:31 a sport or they get some extra money,
41:35 I’m sure that coach is going to say,
41:37 “Guys, take care of my coaching staff, too.”
41:39 No.
41:40 It’d be very good to get some of those guys,
41:42 those assistant coaches that are paid very,
41:44 very little and spend just as much time as the head coach,
41:48 get them some extra dollars.
41:49 And maybe, and I know this to be the case,
41:52 there are coaches that just don’t coach anymore,
41:54 but they’re great teachers.
41:55 And they’re like, you know, it might be,
41:57 you know, it’s not all about the money,
41:59 but if they can get a little bit of money,
42:01 you know, maybe they get back into the coaching.
42:03 You know, so it’s again, it’s solidifying our teachers as
42:07 well.
42:08 And I, you know, I had to make a choice,
42:10 either coach or spend time with my kids.
42:12 And I decided that the little bit of money,
42:14 and it wasn’t worth not spending the time.
42:17 But, you know, young families, you know,
42:19 it doesn’t take a whole lot of money for that coaching,
42:22 you know, light to get lit again and say,
42:25 “Alright, yeah, I do need to get back out there.”
42:27 So, this could help.
42:28 I know some of us look at this and say,
42:30 “Oh, a coach is going to make $100,000 a year coaching
42:32 golf.”
42:33 Not golf, but coaching football.
42:35 Let me tell you something.
42:36 Am I?
42:37 I’m going to flip there because I may get back in the coaching.
42:39 But, no.
42:40 But they also might be thinking of taking care of their coaching
42:43 staff because I know every head coach I know,
42:45 their heart aches at the assistant coaches that spend all
42:48 that time and don’t get compensated for it.
42:51 So, it could really help.
42:54 Yes, and it could really help our teachers as well.
42:59 So, and our retention.
43:01 Just to clarify, like I absolutely know our coaches work
43:03 a ton of hours.
43:04 And if they average the hours out by the supplement they
43:06 receive, it’s not nearly enough.
43:09 I’m not saying they’re paid adequately and,
43:12 like, that’s in that nature.
43:13 I just – I need to do a little more research.
43:15 So, I’m going to go back to each one of my schools.
43:17 I mean, you have five high schools at this point,
43:19 right?
43:20 So, I’m going to go back to them and ask to meet with all
43:22 the S – what is the acronym?
43:23 The school support organizations.
43:25 So, our booster presidents and our athletic director and the
43:27 principals and just have a one-on-one meeting to get their
43:30 feedback on what they think about this.
43:32 Because those are the people that it’s ultimately going to
43:34 impact or – I want to hear.
43:37 I want to hear all sides of it.
43:39 So, that’s all I’m saying.
43:40 I’m not a yes or a no.
43:41 I’m not ready to say one way or the other right now because I
43:44 need to do a little more research and hear from the
43:46 people that it will impact.
43:47 - Yep.
43:48 - I’ve got a timeline question.
43:50 You mentioned we’re already in the middle of football season
43:53 and volleyball season and a few others.
43:55 Just looking at our meetings, two September meetings,
43:59 two October meetings and a November meeting,
44:01 our off-site is at the 18th.
44:04 So, potentially – this may be a poll question.
44:07 If we give you a yes at the 18th consensus-wise – not a vote,
44:11 but a consensus – and could we do by the next Tuesday work
44:17 session where we’re hammering out language,
44:21 have the two October meetings be first public hearing,
44:24 second public hearing and pass it on the second meeting in
44:27 October so that we hopefully could get something moving so
44:31 these organizations, if they’re ready to roll,
44:33 football season won’t be all the way over.
44:35 They could potentially give their coaches an end-of-season
44:37 bonus.
44:38 I mean, same thing with band programs.
44:40 I don’t want to – you don’t need to be into the spring and
44:43 they’re giving a retro – you said you don’t want to do retro.
44:46 Basically, it’s up to the booster club,
44:48 though.
44:49 I mean, they could give a bonus in March and say,
44:51 “This is incentive for you to stay.”
44:53 - Yeah.
44:54 I would just encourage that if we’re going to move in either
44:58 direction, that we move in either direction in a timely
45:01 fashion so everybody has an understanding.
45:03 Coaches will – this will be meaningful to some and sponsors
45:08 and athletic directors.
45:10 There’s probably some out there that are unaware that this
45:13 legislation has moved through the process.
45:16 December 8th is our current policy track.
45:19 Mr. Gibbs can correct me if I’m wrong.
45:21 - Okay.
45:22 - Mr. Susan, we are prepared with a completed policy of 9215
45:26 of what the language could look like.
45:28 We’ve been working on that over the past two weeks.
45:30 We would have to work on a policy on the other side,
45:33 which would prohibit this because we would want to
45:35 strengthen some language there.
45:37 But I do believe if we stayed on the current policy track and
45:40 had
45:40 robust conversations leading into that final meeting for
45:43 approval, that December 8th is timely enough for all of this to
45:47 get in place without having to expedite it.
45:49 - Yeah.
45:50 And we can give – once we give indication on right after the
45:54 offsite what our direction is, the booster clubs will start
45:57 raising money.
45:58 It’s just at that point a member – a policy process,
46:02 one or the other.
46:03 Or if we say no, we don’t want to move forward with it,
46:05 then they know not to.
46:07 So that – I think we’re on a good pace.
46:09 I think we’re okay.
46:10 I just didn’t want – I knew that this was going to be a big
46:12 topic and I wanted to give it a little bit of time.
46:14 I do think that the majority of the board is willing to move
46:16 forward.
46:17 kind of like hey well you know let’s let’s try to see where the
46:20 boundaries
46:21 are on this thing. And there would be strategic fundraising for
46:24 the most
46:25 likely of how they’re going to continue with what they’re
46:29 providing to the
46:30 students within the program and and this is an added layer
46:34 inside of what that
46:35 potential fundraising would be. I went back to our overview just
46:39 because you
46:39 guys all hit on the potential positives and the potential
46:43 concerns so those are
46:44 ones to consider as you are discussing this with any of the
46:48 schools that you’re
46:49 going to approach. I would encourage when you approach a school
46:54 or have that
46:54 conversation use the terminology booster club PTO PTA they will
46:58 most likely not
46:59 have a understanding of what a school support organization is a
47:03 new policy new
47:04 terminology so you would be working through that. I would also
47:08 encourage that
47:09 we’re going to have to take a deeper dive in our current booster
47:12 clubs that
47:13 would be school support organizations to make sure that they
47:16 have all of the
47:17 policy requirements such as the insurance piece and everything a
47:22 501c3
47:23 everything that goes into place there that they are functioning
47:27 in the
47:27 appropriate manner in order to qualified side of this policy so
47:31 it would be
47:31 another part that we would have to work through just to ensure I’m
47:34 not saying
47:35 anybody’s outside of compliance just making sure that everybody
47:38 is inside of
47:39 that compliance piece. It is possible to get a quicker policy
47:44 through if that is
47:45 the desire we’ll have to advertise a different track figure it
47:48 out I think
47:49 September 15th gives us enough time to go talk to our people
47:51 come back your
47:52 direction it won’t from well I’m just I’m gonna be out of time
47:54 my daughter’s
47:55 getting married so I’m going to be out of town for one of those
47:57 weeks in there
47:58 so I’m working on emails right now it’s my principles to try to
48:01 help get this
48:01 organized and on the calendar so I it’s gonna be very hard-pressed
48:05 for me to do
48:05 that by the 15th but I will do everything I possibly can. Can
48:08 you Kevin
48:09 can you go ahead and email us the contact information to our
48:12 coaches and
48:12 athletic directors and everybody else so that we can reach out I
48:15 mean I can pick
48:16 up the phone and call them all but we may not have some of us
48:18 may not know who
48:19 the athletic director is at their local middle school or
48:21 something like that and
48:23 this also includes elementary school sports too right? I know
48:30 enough people
48:31 get a ballpark and John being the you know ultimate coach that
48:36 he was
48:37 through the years I imagine he has enough experience just I just
48:39 want I
48:40 just slid something on him and he’s got the perplexed look I it’s
48:42 I could
48:43 certainly give you guys a list of athletic directors and then
48:46 they would
48:47 be your conduit to any coaches or anything like that to answer
48:52 your
48:52 question about elementary school sports that they have PTAs PTOs
48:57 you know like
48:58 they’re it’s you know it’s in legislation there so good all
49:03 right here
49:04 we go all right thank you thank you all right next up we have
49:09 let me see what
49:11 the order is here we have the overview and then we have the 2026
49:16 proposed sales
49:17 tax surtax investment plan you have anybody that wants to yes
49:21 who is going
49:21 to present that information all right they just have to change
49:26 PowerPoint
49:27 presentations on the project and then are we are we doing this
49:31 aren’t we doing
49:32 the in reconvene to the conference room yep just want to make
49:40 sure and then
49:40 we’re just looking at the greater Florida consortium for
49:43 anything we want
49:43 to veto what I suggest with well while we have a minute what I
49:50 suggest with the
49:51 greater Florida consortium of school boards legislative agendas
49:55 is that the
49:56 first order of business would decide who’s going to go if anyone
49:59 is going to
49:59 go to their conference and that could be decided today the board
50:03 could discuss
50:04 the platforms but you have until we meet again September 10th so
50:09 you know the
50:10 board could give themselves some time to make decisions on
50:13 September 10th I
50:14 thought I said something about the fourth in here that they
50:17 needed it by
50:17 yeah but okay I’m not if you guys want to make your decisions
50:22 today that’s
50:23 absolutely fine no I think there’s enough in here to where we
50:27 can we can
50:28 bring it back up all right I think Sue is ready all right so let’s
50:35 have it
50:36 good morning so I’m here today to just kind of wrap up the
50:40 development of the
50:42 proposed 2026 sales or tax program so that as we go into the
50:46 fall we can
50:47 publish documentation as to what our projects are going to be
50:51 for the first
50:51 five years of the sales tax program should it be passed by the
50:55 voters so
50:56 just to kind of recap where we are we initially sent a program
51:01 of work to the
51:02 icoc and the school board back in the fall of 2025 talk through
51:08 some concepts
51:09 with the icoc specifically around working with a an initial five-year
51:15 program and then annually updating the program every year we
51:17 thought that was a
51:18 good idea it’s really hard to plan ten years out so I thought
51:22 that was a good
51:24 suggestion so we’ve retooled the plan to be just a five-year
51:27 plan but since that
51:28 time I’ve also been monitoring the revenues of the current surtax
51:33 program
51:33 as well as the the challenges we’ve been having relative to the
51:39 capital plan and
51:40 so I’ve reduced our revenue projections a bit so some of the
51:45 projects that were
51:46 in the initial document that the board reviewed back in the fall
51:51 have been
51:51 moved out to what would either be a later year or just a stable
51:55 of projects
51:56 that we can choose from once we do our annual updates to the
52:00 plan so the
52:01 facility renewal program that you see before you today is about
52:04 a 41 million
52:05 dollar annual program and the security and technology programs
52:10 are about eight
52:11 and a half million dollars annually that respects the
52:14 distribution of sales
52:16 surtax against the 70% facility renewal 15% security and 15%
52:21 educational
52:22 technology that was established when we took the referendum to
52:27 the moment we are
52:29 taking the referendum to the voters so from the facilities
52:32 perspective we’ve
52:33 really prioritized our building infrastructure projects so you’ll
52:35 see a
52:36 program that’s very heavy in roof renewal is probably the
52:40 biggest item in
52:41 the program and then we still have a pretty strong investment in
52:45 air
52:45 conditioning electrical classroom renewal and other building
52:49 infrastructure
52:50 technology what you will not see is turf hardcore renewal
52:54 playground renewal
52:55 those types of projects have been moved off to the side so they’re
52:58 not currently
52:58 in the 2026 proposed program I feel relatively confident that if
53:04 our
53:05 healthy surtax revenue continues and the the ratio of charter
53:13 school enrollment
53:15 to total enrollment remains about the same that we will have
53:18 some additional
53:19 revenue that is not programmed that’s how we built the 2020
53:23 program that would
53:24 allow for either adding projects to the sales tax program or
53:28 covering additional
53:30 costs and that has worked out really well we’ve been able to add
53:32 projects to
53:33 the program so we brought the proposal to the IC of C and I
53:38 guess that was last
53:39 week on August the 19th since that time we’ve I’ve made a few
53:45 additional changes
53:47 most specifically just reflecting some of the last-minute
53:50 projects our team has
53:52 identified that our priority either roof or HVAC projects so
53:56 move some things
53:57 around a little bit to be able to get those into the first year
53:59 of the work
54:00 program so this summarizes the facility renewal plan by project
54:06 category and you
54:07 can see it’s very heavily weighted towards building
54:11 infrastructure so roof
54:12 renewal HVAC again we have some plumbing projects we would like
54:17 to do very
54:19 interested in the classroom renewal projects investments because
54:22 that is so
54:23 impactful for our core mission those are really great projects
54:28 and we’d like to
54:28 do as many of them as we possibly can the high school athletic
54:33 facilities
54:33 renewal category that includes basically two types of projects
54:37 we have four
54:38 swimming pools in the district that are aging and we’ve put some
54:42 money up front
54:44 in the program to be able to do some diagnostic and fairly
54:50 fairly minor
54:51 updates to a couple of the pools but later in the program we
54:55 have some
54:55 reconstruction of some of the pools that we think are going to
54:59 need some some
55:00 more investment and then the other category picks up a couple of
55:04 grand
55:04 stands that need to be addressed so those are those are the only
55:09 high school
55:10 athletic facility renewal projects in the program and the rest
55:13 are our
55:14 building infrastructure projects with respect to educational
55:19 technology this
55:20 was basically the the plan of work that came out of the
55:26 conversation between the
55:27 technology team and the icoc we’re focusing very heavily on
55:31 structured
55:32 cabling systems and in continuing our modern classroom refreshment
55:36 and then
55:37 early in the program we’ll be updating media center modern
55:41 classrooms as a
55:42 strategy and security what we ended up deciding to do is to
55:48 include in the plan
55:49 a category basically called all schools and sites for security
55:52 and this allows
55:55 us to be flexible the experiences that we’ve had since the
55:59 program started in
56:00 2015 is that security needs have evolved over time and because
56:04 we have 85 places
56:06 that need security infrastructure by the time we get to the end
56:11 of the program of
56:12 whatever it is we’re doing sometimes things have changed and we
56:16 need to do
56:16 something differently so we wanted to maintain flexibility to
56:20 both respond to
56:21 evolving security protocols as well as to respond to the unique
56:26 needs at each
56:26 school site so in some cases for example a school may need more
56:32 extensive fencing
56:33 for operational needs as well as security needs than another
56:37 school so
56:37 every school is different and every school operates differently
56:41 and so we’ve
56:42 been trying to be a little bit better at putting the same
56:46 concept in place at
56:47 each school but responding specifically to the needs of that
56:52 school and the the
56:53 layout of that school and the operating protocols of that school
56:56 so the basic
56:57 categories that will be included are access control weapons
57:01 detection
57:02 technology building envelope improvements and we work hand-in-hand
57:05 with security and facilities if we’re doing things like hardening
57:09 doors and
57:10 windows as well as perimeter security measures and then the idea
57:14 would be that
57:15 we would do a shade session with the icoc and the school board
57:19 about annually
57:20 to lay out the specifics of how we would spend this year’s or
57:23 the first two years
57:25 type of plan of work specifically at each school and identify
57:30 these specific
57:32 security program improvements and then in the sunshine we would
57:35 simply summarize
57:37 and talk about the the amounts and the places that type of thing
57:42 and so our
57:43 next steps we’d like to publish the proposed 2026 plan and then
57:48 what we’ve
57:49 been doing as we have resources available is starting design now
57:53 based
57:53 on what we think are going to be kind of the first year programs
57:57 so we’re
57:58 starting to get ready and if we have resources that are
58:01 remaining from the
58:02 2020 program we’ll start to do those projects and then we’ll be
58:05 able to move
58:06 in additional projects into the 2026 so excited about the
58:11 opportunity here I did
58:13 provide you with some information that shows how we have spent
58:18 the resources
58:19 from the prior two programs by each school and then shows you
58:23 the proposed
58:23 2026 program by each school so you can see how those resources
58:29 have been
58:29 applied and with that I’d be happy to answer any questions yeah
58:34 so sue when
58:36 you came up with all these lists this didn’t come before the
58:39 board and then
58:39 did the the sir tax team think that that came from us or was
58:43 that just because so
58:46 like there’s there’s some stuff in here that I’d like to move
58:49 around some of
58:49 these that are in here but how’s that process go so so we’ve we’ve
58:56 done this
58:56 primarily based on assessments in the facilities world so we
59:01 have data on just
59:02 about everything that needs to be done and there’s not enough
59:06 resources to do
59:07 everything that needs to be done when it needs to be done and so
59:10 we tried to
59:11 prioritize based on our folks in the field that have you know
59:16 knowledge of
59:16 what’s what needs to be done right this minute versus what can
59:20 wait a little
59:20 while so the move to so you guys made the decision to move away
59:26 from turfing
59:28 fields and adding a baseball field it and softball field at the
59:31 era to come
59:32 up with these is what you’re saying and we push that off that’s
59:37 not exactly what
59:38 I’m saying what I’m saying is we took out turfing not the era
59:43 specifically
59:44 there were several turf projects proposed and just put those off
59:47 to the
59:47 side as candidate projects to be added later once we start to
59:51 see the the
59:52 revenue once we start to see the revenue through this program
59:57 and whether it will
59:58 be sufficient to put those projects back in so you and your team
1:00:02 came up with
1:00:03 that decision to do that and then like mclarty Stadium there’s
1:00:07 been a lot of
1:00:08 conversation about possibly moving them to Rockledge High School
1:00:11 and by spending
1:00:13 one point something million dollars for new grandstands which
1:00:16 they need don’t
1:00:17 get me wrong it kind of solidifies that we’re not doing that
1:00:20 there’s just
1:00:21 conversations like that you know that I mean that if we’re gonna
1:00:24 build new
1:00:24 grandstands then that’s the piece that was the cost to moving
1:00:27 them to the other
1:00:28 location along with a couple other parking pieces but those are
1:00:32 the
1:00:32 conversations that I I’d like to have maybe I’ll just maybe it’s
1:00:38 just a
1:00:38 conversation peaceful we can take it in another conversation but
1:00:44 if I may
1:00:45 respond on mclarty the reason that that’s in there is because we’ve
1:00:50 had
1:00:50 those bleachers assessed and so they were kind of next up on the
1:00:53 list that
1:00:54 needed some more substantial improvements so that’s why you see
1:00:59 that
1:00:59 on the list I know I’m just like maybe the mclarty is because I
1:01:04 think it’s 13
1:01:05 acres in the heart of Rockledge which would bring a pretty good
1:01:08 pain and if
1:01:09 we’re already gonna be paying for the stands if you talk to the
1:01:13 football
1:01:13 players everybody everybody wants that thing to go back to the
1:01:15 stadium back to
1:01:17 the off to the school it would make more sense the band just so
1:01:21 you know this is
1:01:21 a small piece but the band has to pay money every year to
1:01:25 transport their kids
1:01:27 everybody has to because it’s not an on-site it’s the only
1:01:30 school that still
1:01:31 has us besides Viera’s baseball softball that doesn’t have a
1:01:35 facility on their
1:01:36 campus and they’ve and the only reason that they’ve never done
1:01:39 it is because a
1:01:40 couple of the people around the circle that live closest to the
1:01:43 school years
1:01:43 ago get up and they get mad but they’re not gonna bring it there
1:01:46 but there’s
1:01:46 plenty of parking we’ve already looked at it in 2008 they
1:01:50 proposed it to the
1:01:50 athletic director and the athletic director said that he’d
1:01:53 rather have a
1:01:53 baseball softball field and then he would later want to move mclarty
1:01:56 over so
1:01:57 they made a financial decision back then there’s just some of
1:02:00 them I would just
1:02:00 like to have a conversation about that’s all I’m saying I really
1:02:02 didn’t want to
1:02:03 take away from the fact that your team did an amazing job this
1:02:05 is awesome I
1:02:06 just I think the board could probably weigh in before we make it
1:02:10 up next time
1:02:11 before we make a recommendation to the surtax committee on the
1:02:14 line items but
1:02:14 that’s just me go ahead you I always go to her first why don’t
1:02:18 you go ahead you
1:02:19 can go I’ll go well I I would disagree with you the last
1:02:22 statement in
1:02:22 particular mrs. Susan and we all have our different views and I
1:02:25 think by
1:02:25 allowing it to be done data-driven which is the way we all we
1:02:28 pride ourselves on
1:02:29 making decisions in a data-driven fashion by neutral party which
1:02:33 is the
1:02:33 staff when board members get involved it has a tendency to go
1:02:37 with the people who
1:02:38 have complained and I’m not saying you don’t know the history
1:02:40 you know you know
1:02:41 your history of your schools and just like we all do but what’s
1:02:45 not showing up
1:02:46 in this document that is showing up in the document that soon
1:02:49 emailed us
1:02:49 earlier this sometime in the last several days is things that
1:02:55 were at
1:02:55 failure or getting close to failure and so the to prioritize at
1:03:01 what needs to be
1:03:02 done first based on what’s about to fall apart and what’s
1:03:06 probably next going to
1:03:07 fall apart I think this is a good I could plan absolutely I’m in
1:03:10 support of
1:03:10 going ahead and publishing this I will tell you that this
1:03:13 document the last
1:03:14 time around in 2020 it was not only something that I used
1:03:17 frequently to talk
1:03:19 to our community members but ever since then with I go into a
1:03:22 school visit and
1:03:23 especially if it was a new principal that had come to that
1:03:26 building since we
1:03:27 passed a sales tax and they talk about oh my gosh this needs to
1:03:30 be done I’m
1:03:30 like well let’s pull up your sales tax plan now Kovac totally
1:03:33 screwed it all up
1:03:34 but I could point that and some of them weren’t aware especially
1:03:37 if there were
1:03:38 new principals that building oh my school supposed to get
1:03:41 painted in this
1:03:42 plan my school supposed to get a new this that or other and so
1:03:45 it gave them a
1:03:46 time frame again Kovac kind of mess things up with supply chain
1:03:50 issues but
1:03:51 this plan is so helpful for schools for the community to see we
1:03:55 your it’s on the
1:03:57 list right we’re on the it’s on the list and obviously we would
1:04:01 want it we know
1:04:01 these are needs we want to get them all done SAP but the
1:04:04 capacity of the team
1:04:05 the capacity of the funding all of that has to play in so I
1:04:08 think this is an
1:04:10 excellent plan an excellent way to do it and I and by all means
1:04:13 I support let’s
1:04:14 go ahead and get this baby published so that the community knows
1:04:17 when we’re
1:04:18 going out for renewal of the sales tax this is what we want and
1:04:21 need to do with
1:04:23 this and I appreciate that you’ve left the flexibility they’ve
1:04:26 been
1:04:26 conservative in your budgeting by pulling those things out that
1:04:29 we have
1:04:30 seen over the last six years we should be able to I have every
1:04:33 faith that we’re
1:04:33 gonna you’re gonna be able to put them put them back in because
1:04:36 the icoc has
1:04:37 been able to designate extra funding every single year in the
1:04:40 millions of
1:04:40 dollars to projects as the prices have increased and as the
1:04:43 scope is increased
1:04:44 or as a the board has just wished to happen in there so I
1:04:47 appreciate your
1:04:48 comments miss Campbell I disagree I don’t want to publish this
1:04:51 until I
1:04:51 actually have some conversations with some people the fact that
1:04:55 we have 13
1:04:56 million dollars in athletic facility renewal and we’re making a
1:04:59 decision to
1:05:00 go after certain things before we go after others I’ve got
1:05:04 concerns about
1:05:05 McLarty Stadium that keeps coming up with there’s band with the
1:05:08 other people
1:05:09 I’ve got and that’s a revenue generator like to sell that school
1:05:12 and to do that
1:05:13 now to put a put to put those stadium bleachers there is gonna
1:05:19 solidify that
1:05:20 we’re not doing it anymore and it’s gonna push them to continue
1:05:23 I would also
1:05:24 say that if anybody wants to go look at the baseball field that
1:05:26 our viera high
1:05:27 schools baseball team has to go on they were promised that they
1:05:30 would be next in
1:05:30 line now they’re shoved off the list and they actually have
1:05:33 holes inside of the
1:05:34 field that they play in literally two three inches and the
1:05:38 infield it’s
1:05:39 ridiculous they can’t raise money for their program they can’t
1:05:41 hang banners
1:05:41 and it’s just like well sorry we’re gonna go ahead and put some
1:05:45 of these
1:05:45 other things in and I just want to take some time to take a look
1:05:47 at it and I’ll
1:05:48 get back to her and I don’t think it’s a negative but I don’t
1:05:51 want to post it
1:05:51 until I take a look at it if that’s okay until I have some
1:05:55 conversations I’ve
1:05:56 questions just logistic questions and I’m hoping you can help me
1:05:59 with so thank
1:06:00 you for giving us the comparison of what has happened versus
1:06:03 what is going to
1:06:03 happen and just for my own ignorance if you’ll explain it to me
1:06:06 so we see in the
1:06:08 2014 and then the renewal that happened that we’re still
1:06:12 spending money on we
1:06:13 see a lot of HVAC renewal expenses right that was the biggest
1:06:16 thing our AC’s were
1:06:17 failing all over the place can you just explain to me and the
1:06:20 public what is the
1:06:21 difference between a chiller and an HVAC renewal when we’re
1:06:24 listing it that way
1:06:25 would that be the same or is that something different so it’s
1:06:29 the same
1:06:30 it’s the same a chiller is a subset of HVAC renewal okay so it’s
1:06:35 a component we
1:06:36 have there’s lots of other HVAC equipment so there’s BAS
1:06:40 building
1:06:41 automation system controls there’s air handling units there’s
1:06:44 chilled water
1:06:45 piping pumps there’s lots of different components and so and I’ve
1:06:51 tried to try
1:06:52 to clump them together so it’s a little easier to understand
1:06:55 versus having six
1:06:56 different categories of HVAC activities but their chillers are a
1:07:01 portion of HVAC
1:07:02 renewal they are in the HVAC renewals that we’ve done thus far
1:07:06 is there any
1:07:07 type of warranty that was in place on those because I the only
1:07:09 reason I’m
1:07:10 asking is some of these overlaps so I’m going wait if they fail
1:07:13 do we
1:07:13 necessarily need to spend six hundred thousand dollars or can we
1:07:16 go to the
1:07:16 warranty and have it replaced that way so the warranties are not
1:07:19 that long
1:07:20 we’ve been trying to get longer warranties as we’ve moved
1:07:23 forward in the
1:07:24 program but interestingly a certain level of warranty will come
1:07:29 with the
1:07:29 capital equipment and then if we buy the extended warranty that
1:07:32 actually has to
1:07:33 come out of operating funds and so we’ve we’ve been doing that
1:07:36 on our more recent
1:07:37 purchases we did not do that very early in the program we didn’t
1:07:40 have the
1:07:41 resources to do that okay so we’ve we’ve tried to manage that we
1:07:46 yes okay and
1:07:48 then one another expense that I see that’s pretty common in here
1:07:51 is
1:07:51 emergency generators talk to me about that a little bit is that
1:07:55 something that
1:07:56 we need to have on every single school site or it’s not
1:07:59 something we have at
1:08:00 every single school site those are typically at shelters okay
1:08:03 and part of
1:08:03 our interlocal agreement with Brevard County and we like to keep
1:08:07 those keep
1:08:08 those up so okay and does Brevard County help us at all with the
1:08:12 emergency
1:08:13 generators that we have in place as a shelter option
1:08:16 occasionally occasionally
1:08:18 and so there’s you know like basic life support emergency
1:08:22 generator and then
1:08:23 there’s the air conditioning is running type of emergency
1:08:27 generator and those
1:08:27 two things are different so the ones that we have we feel a
1:08:33 responsibility to
1:08:34 keep them working and so that’s what that is about is that
1:08:38 something that
1:08:38 could be explored as far as our inner local agreement to maybe
1:08:41 talk to them
1:08:41 about as far as maybe we’re doing on the sharing the expense of
1:08:45 that since it’s
1:08:46 serving the entire county and not necessarily something that’s
1:08:49 student
1:08:49 based in essence right right and we and we we do have those
1:08:54 conversations with
1:08:55 the county and they have partnered with us on some of them off
1:08:59 the top of my
1:09:00 head okay but we did we did assess them and this this is
1:09:04 actually a good example
1:09:05 of one of the effects of the capital plan as these have been in
1:09:11 the capital
1:09:11 plan and we’ve been doing them as we need to through the capital
1:09:14 plan but I’m
1:09:14 since it’s an emergency function we felt that we wanted to make
1:09:17 sure that it was
1:09:18 covered so that’s why you see it in here that’s why I see it
1:09:21 okay and there’s a
1:09:22 heavy focus around it looks like exterior interior doors that’s
1:09:26 being
1:09:26 that’s focused on almost every single one of our schools what’s
1:09:29 the thought
1:09:30 process there from the team so our building envelopes are kind
1:09:34 of leaky and
1:09:35 they’re leaky from the perspective of we get water and short
1:09:40 water intrusion but
1:09:41 we also can see these as a security measure so we wanted to
1:09:45 start focusing
1:09:46 on getting our buildings less leaky so to speak and then also
1:09:51 upgrading our the
1:09:52 quality of our windows and doors to meet more current security
1:09:56 standards so it’s
1:09:57 a little bit of it it started kind of as a facility renewal type
1:10:02 initiative to
1:10:04 seal our buildings better but we also see good opportunities to
1:10:08 partner on the
1:10:09 security side and improve our security okay and just to kind of
1:10:13 echo a little
1:10:14 bit of mr. season I understand what you’re saying because I as a
1:10:17 board
1:10:17 member we get brought a lot of different facility needs right
1:10:19 and so every time I
1:10:20 walk on the school grounds you’re gonna have 15 different things
1:10:23 at least maybe
1:10:23 more of that they would like to see done and so I think that
1:10:26 maybe that and I
1:10:27 don’t want to speak for you but I can understand maybe a bit of
1:10:30 your
1:10:30 frustration of like hey where is the board’s input in this
1:10:33 because we hear
1:10:33 something completely different from the community on what they
1:10:37 want to see in
1:10:38 the school versus necessarily what the facilities is looking at
1:10:41 you know making
1:10:41 sure that we’re meeting all of the standards and that our
1:10:43 buildings are
1:10:44 secure and all those things the community tends to respond more
1:10:47 to the
1:10:48 things are a little more I would say quote unquote fun right it’s
1:10:50 not very
1:10:51 fun to get a new HVAC unit but it’s very important because when
1:10:53 it fails you have
1:10:54 a problem right so I can understand maybe frustration a little
1:10:58 bit that
1:10:58 you’re experiencing on not being able to weigh in on that the
1:11:01 board weighing in
1:11:03 on it I don’t know how that would impact it if if the board was
1:11:06 to say hey we
1:11:07 want to to take a look at this and have an input under what’s
1:11:11 happening on each
1:11:11 one of these how would that impact this moving forward for you
1:11:15 so I think
1:11:16 there’s there’s a couple different ways to do this if you would
1:11:19 like to do it
1:11:20 now I think that’s fine other than there’s like thousands of
1:11:25 data points
1:11:25 yes worksheets so it needs to be somewhat succinct move this or
1:11:30 add this
1:11:31 in yeah and we can add things in and just be a little less
1:11:35 conservative in
1:11:36 the budget like that’s pretty easy if I want to do something
1:11:40 like that the what
1:11:42 we used to do is okay I think there isn’t there is another
1:11:49 option is we just
1:11:50 amended in when if this is passed by the voters we just sit down
1:11:55 and say these
1:11:55 are some of the priorities that we’d like to amend back into the
1:11:57 plan and we
1:11:58 just do that okay okay all right thank you I just I’m just the
1:12:05 logistics of it
1:12:05 and thank you for putting together the plan I know this is a
1:12:07 huge plan when
1:12:08 you’re talking about 85 different sites there’s a lot of needs
1:12:10 at each one of
1:12:11 those sites I forget how many it’s how many square feet do we
1:12:13 have a many
1:12:13 millions it’s about 13 million okay 13 million square feet so it’s
1:12:17 like that’s
1:12:17 a lot to undertake and I know you’re trying to take this from a
1:12:20 30,000 foot
1:12:21 view of like here are the things that we see the most pressing
1:12:24 and this plan can
1:12:25 be amended so I appreciate the clarification on that that’s all
1:12:28 I have
1:12:28 thank you so what we used to do is the capital projects used to
1:12:31 come before the
1:12:31 board for approval and it used to come line by line and then we’d
1:12:36 approve it
1:12:37 and we did that was the regular capital budget the sales or tax
1:12:40 plan we had it
1:12:41 we received the document in 2020 that looked exactly like this
1:12:45 except it was a
1:12:46 big fat no we would receive it and it was had 273 pages thank
1:12:51 you for not
1:12:52 making it quite so long but and then it came before us but it
1:12:57 wasn’t the same as
1:12:57 the capital it wasn’t any but it wasn’t the annual thing it was
1:13:00 a one-time thing
1:13:01 for a cell sex protection oh I think you’re confusing that with
1:13:04 our annual
1:13:04 capital budget which we did get and a little bit different
1:13:07 format this year
1:13:08 because that has things that they’ve added in you know which
1:13:12 included
1:13:12 athletic facilities but what we receive in 2020 was was this
1:13:16 same format so what
1:13:17 we used to do is is there would be a capital list of projects we
1:13:20 would go
1:13:20 through them and say okay let’s rank them and move them up that
1:13:23 did happen
1:13:23 yes not sir tax though and for the surtax we would end up having
1:13:27 it to
1:13:27 where it would come before us for our input if there was any
1:13:30 questions and
1:13:30 then it would go it already went to this or tax that’s all so I
1:13:33 just wanted to
1:13:34 have a little bit of input with Miss Han after this that’s all
1:13:37 not that I’m
1:13:38 trying to hold it all up just want to kind of see if there’s an
1:13:40 opportunity to
1:13:41 do some things and then bring it back to you guys that’s all all
1:13:44 right we all
1:13:46 good Miss Han you good good yeah all right all right the
1:13:54 direction you need
1:13:55 that’s my well I that’s why when you asked if I was good I
1:13:59 hesitated for a
1:14:00 moment if I could have two weeks to just get with Miss Han and
1:14:04 then come back to
1:14:04 see if there’s an opportunity to put some of the projects that
1:14:07 were on there
1:14:07 in there before we we move forward if there’s an opportunity if
1:14:10 not we can
1:14:11 come back and do it then that’s what I would ask do you do you
1:14:14 want this back
1:14:14 on your agenda on September 10th right that’s that’s that’s the
1:14:18 question yeah I
1:14:20 just want to let you guys know that the education campaign for
1:14:24 this is starting
1:14:25 next week yeah and it doesn’t mean they can’t really
1:14:28 significantly draw some hit
1:14:30 the road with it but the more specifics they can have and their
1:14:32 schools can have
1:14:33 and sharing with the public what we intend to do and I will just
1:14:37 reiterate
1:14:38 that I appreciate the conservative approach because we have
1:14:41 needs and wants
1:14:42 and we focused on the needs and we’re also going to be able to
1:14:45 throw in some
1:14:46 wants as well so I’m good to go with it as needed but if we want
1:14:50 to come back
1:14:51 and have another conversation you know we can always add stuff
1:14:55 in because we
1:14:56 can add stuff in and find out we don’t actually have enough
1:14:57 money to pay for it
1:14:58 and I can take it out to be modified is there any specific
1:15:02 projects that you’re
1:15:03 like I hear you with the baseball field that sounds like that’s
1:15:06 a major I mean
1:15:06 it’s just I mean so listen to you guys like Sue and I’ve been
1:15:09 dealing with it
1:15:10 for 10 years like when they brought those fields over here we
1:15:14 every year you
1:15:15 triple sa refuses to deal with us we have kids that are over
1:15:18 here getting
1:15:19 hurt on the field they can’t raise money they’re holding fundraisers
1:15:22 that are
1:15:23 trying to sell jeeps it’s a nightmare it is an absolute
1:15:26 nightmare and I deal with
1:15:29 it every year every year we’re like okay yeah next year we’re
1:15:32 gonna do it then
1:15:33 Titusville came up and they said we got money for two of them
1:15:35 let’s move with
1:15:36 Titusville first because it was right because you guys were in a
1:15:38 hostile
1:15:38 situation and everything else but like and then all of a sudden
1:15:41 we’re just like
1:15:42 okay well no we’re gonna we’re gonna get rid of that and we’re
1:15:44 just gonna put
1:15:45 cabinets in some of the schools which I understand but if you
1:15:47 could delay the
1:15:48 cabinets for a year get the school district in or look at McLarty
1:15:52 and say
1:15:53 they don’t need to have that there we’re gonna sell the property
1:15:55 there’s there’s
1:15:56 other things that we can do to take a look at it and this is the
1:15:59 first time
1:15:59 that I’ve had an opportunity to truly look at it and I’ve just
1:16:01 asked for till
1:16:02 September 10th to do it that’s it so I’m not saying I’m revamping
1:16:08 the whole thing
1:16:10 I’m just trying to see if miss hand and I can work out a plan
1:16:13 that kind of put
1:16:14 some of those things in place and then Jean can have a
1:16:16 conversation with
1:16:17 Rockledge High to figure out if they still want to move the
1:16:20 stadium there’s a
1:16:20 significant problem with them moving the band every single time
1:16:24 there’s a big
1:16:25 cost there the vat the all the teams when they go to transport
1:16:29 there every
1:16:29 one of them has to transport for a home game and there’s
1:16:32 liability on the
1:16:33 students the football players that have to show up there it’s
1:16:35 another nightmare
1:16:36 and we just don’t ever deal with it and it just seems to be able
1:16:39 to just put it
1:16:39 so we’d like to try to talk about those two projects and maybe
1:16:42 another one that
1:16:43 I had and then just come back and it’ll be completely
1:16:45 transparent we’ll bring it
1:16:46 to the board and if it’s not possible then it’s not possible but
1:16:49 I’d still
1:16:49 like the opportunity that’s all mr. chairman I have one more
1:16:58 suggestion that
1:17:00 maybe we could take the high school athletic facilities category
1:17:08 and just
1:17:08 not program funding for specifics at this moment and just set
1:17:13 aside an
1:17:14 amount and program that later because that seems to be the
1:17:18 category where you
1:17:20 all would like to potentially make some adjustments because you
1:17:24 can’t take
1:17:24 cabinets off to pay for a baseball field so instead instead of
1:17:28 taking cabinets
1:17:29 off we take the I forget what it was 13 million or so
1:17:34 potentially add a little
1:17:35 bit I think I have a little capacity to add and and treat it
1:17:39 like security so
1:17:40 like security we have eight and a half million a year it is
1:17:45 designated for
1:17:45 security and the board will direct whatever those projects are
1:17:50 that would
1:17:51 allow us to finish this and would allow me to be out of state on
1:17:55 vacation on
1:17:56 September the 10th what about the contingency fund miss Han we
1:18:01 have a
1:18:01 little bit of money I think it was 4% when I was on the IC o C
1:18:04 is that still
1:18:04 in there we do not do that that that was part of the 2014
1:18:08 program because it got
1:18:09 so complicated we had this bucket of contingency and then that
1:18:12 got
1:18:12 distributed seventy fifteen and fifteen and it just got too
1:18:16 messy yeah so so I
1:18:18 just don’t program all the expected revenue and so we could take
1:18:23 the high
1:18:23 school athletics site-specific projects out and just set that
1:18:27 category aside
1:18:28 I’ll put in a little extra resources and we can program those
1:18:33 separately if
1:18:34 that’s the primary area of concern so what you’re basically
1:18:37 saying is is that
1:18:38 it would be nice to be able to pass everything else because that’s
1:18:41 the only
1:18:41 place that we can actually pull some of the items that we
1:18:44 brought up and so
1:18:45 you’re saying like we can’t say no to cabinets this year because
1:18:49 yeah but you
1:18:50 said that is it already set in percentage was so the this this
1:18:55 represents in the facility side the 70% so yeah that’s set but
1:19:00 we can certainly
1:19:01 move within so if there’s cabinets you don’t want to do and
1:19:04 athletics you do
1:19:05 want to do as the board that’s perfectly I don’t know if the
1:19:07 other board members
1:19:08 are in there I just wanted to take a look at it and work it but
1:19:12 if you’re
1:19:12 talking about okay so at the summary on the bottom of page it
1:19:17 doesn’t have a
1:19:17 page number but it’s right after all the school by school it
1:19:21 shows high school
1:19:23 athletic facilities renewal thirteen point three thirteen point
1:19:26 four million
1:19:26 dollars and that she just makes that a categorical kind of like
1:19:31 the security
1:19:33 she was talking about you know eight million dollars ish a year
1:19:35 eight half
1:19:36 million dollars a year and then the board each year can
1:19:39 determine like we do
1:19:40 the capital budget let’s let’s prioritize let’s come to an
1:19:43 agreement
1:19:43 with facility failure and all of that but yeah that’s 13 million
1:19:46 dollars
1:19:47 that’s over the whole six the whole five five five years the
1:19:50 program so it’s not
1:19:51 you’re only gonna be able to do a couple of very large projects
1:19:54 so but in the
1:19:55 event that we wanted to cut some of the other programs and delay
1:19:58 a year so that
1:19:58 you can get some of the other things that are important up and
1:20:01 again it’s
1:20:01 just me it’s not it’s it’s a some programs that we had slated
1:20:05 that we just
1:20:06 literally were in the budget and now all of a sudden they’re
1:20:08 gone and this are
1:20:09 more important and I I feel like there’s some room for
1:20:11 discussion there so if we
1:20:13 said that we’re only going to do the high school athletics
1:20:15 renewal that may
1:20:17 not even be enough to do what we’re trying to do so but the
1:20:20 changes can be
1:20:21 made through amending the plan we can still make those changes
1:20:24 through
1:20:24 amending the plan yeah the voters aren’t approving the plan they’re
1:20:27 approving the
1:20:28 I go back to the teams in Viera and say that there’s no plan to
1:20:36 have the
1:20:36 facilities renewal as part of this that won’t bode well through
1:20:40 the Viera
1:20:40 concept and we need their support so that’s part of what this is
1:20:44 is bad and
1:20:45 then a couple other areas that I feel like we’re real big
1:20:47 selling points to
1:20:48 move forward with that are not in here and they’re just
1:20:50 completely disregarded
1:20:51 I mean it’s just I get that it’s a selling point for no it’s
1:20:54 also a need I
1:20:55 know I need a situation I’ve been dealing with certain point but
1:20:59 without
1:21:00 the sales tax or tax renewal there’s no way that that will
1:21:03 happen but that
1:21:04 doesn’t mean that that you just negate it and say no I’m saying
1:21:10 I’m happy to
1:21:10 have I’ve already said let’s talk about in two weeks y’all do
1:21:13 whatever but I
1:21:13 also like Sue’s solution which is making it a more generic
1:21:18 category and let’s
1:21:19 let’s do it by need and board but you box the category so now
1:21:23 you’re only at a
1:21:24 certain amount there whereas you can’t move to the other stuff
1:21:27 so if there’s a
1:21:28 need for it for being more than we can’t just wait until the 10th
1:21:34 so that I can
1:21:34 try to have a conversation with Sue but I’m hearing from dr. Endell
1:21:37 there’s an
1:21:38 opportunity to amend it before we get to the 10th and so if you
1:21:42 want to do
1:21:43 something where we approve this with the opportunity to come
1:21:45 back with a minor
1:21:46 amendment we always have the opportunity to amend the plan we
1:21:48 always have that
1:21:49 well this is kind of gonna go published out to everybody right
1:21:52 now and then I’m
1:21:52 gonna get 25 phone calls by a bunch of mad parents that are
1:21:56 gonna amplify to a
1:21:57 hundred parents and then we’re gonna have the conversation which
1:22:00 I could try
1:22:00 to kill beforehand so we’re talking about large sums of money I
1:22:04 mean I have
1:22:05 no idea how much building a stadium cost but I would guess in
1:22:08 the tens of
1:22:08 millions of five million five million to belt to build a
1:22:11 football stadium a
1:22:12 baseball stadium and so well we’re also talking about mclarty so
1:22:15 I you know one
1:22:17 of those five million to build a baseball stadium wipes out a
1:22:22 huge chunk
1:22:23 of us and so we have think countywide and so I get it it doesn’t
1:22:26 mean we can’t
1:22:26 we won’t be able to do it but I but mclarty would sell for 13
1:22:31 acres in the
1:22:31 heart of Rockledge is gonna sell for some pretty good coin so
1:22:35 that’s why I
1:22:36 was trying to figure out if there’s an opportunity to look at it
1:22:38 so what do you
1:22:38 want to do you tell me I don’t want to get you to where you’re
1:22:42 worried while
1:22:42 you’re off but you understand my concern we’ve talked about this
1:22:45 before how do we
1:22:46 rectify this I do understand your concern and perhaps we can
1:22:50 chat offline
1:22:51 and try to come up with a middle-of-the-road solution and I’ll
1:22:55 send that out to the board if we can so I think this has some
1:23:00 relationship to
1:23:01 the capital problem as well because we were starting to work
1:23:04 towards the
1:23:05 Viera solution on the capital side yeah and so like those two
1:23:09 problems are sort
1:23:10 of intersecting and just trying to make sure that we’ve got the
1:23:14 air conditioning
1:23:15 in the roof situation squared away which is not where I want to
1:23:19 try to attack I
1:23:19 just right so you know we were all about doing some really cool
1:23:23 athletic
1:23:24 improvements and that just had to kind of take a backseat given
1:23:28 some of the
1:23:28 other things that we were seeing I get what you’re saying mr.
1:23:31 Susan that’s an
1:23:32 important to me too because I’m answering probably a quarter of
1:23:35 the
1:23:36 calls you are but I’m getting them too so good projects to do
1:23:40 would like to
1:23:41 figure out a way to do them yeah and full transparency I’m not
1:23:44 saying that we
1:23:45 need to turf I’m just saying we don’t have a field that we have
1:23:49 and it’s the
1:23:50 only high school in the entire county and it’s the largest high
1:23:53 school in the
1:23:53 county does not have a baseball softball for complex and that
1:23:56 was slated in
1:23:57 capital and now it got taken away so the idea was well we’ll put
1:24:00 it in mill and
1:24:01 then this is the first time I’m saying that it’s not in there
1:24:04 sure that sir
1:24:05 tax sorry and so that’s why I’m where I’m at Paul can we say
1:24:09 that per
1:24:11 conversations with me in this hand that we can move this thing
1:24:13 through does this
1:24:14 need to be approved by the board so Sue and I can do it and they
1:24:19 can they can
1:24:20 adjust it and we can go from there all right so let’s do that
1:24:23 okay all right
1:24:24 sounds good thank you sounds good thank you guys for giving me
1:24:26 the opportunity
1:24:27 to do that I know it’s kind of a weird situation but it’s well
1:24:30 versed it’s
1:24:30 needed all right with that is there anybody board members have
1:24:34 anything else
1:24:34 to say we got a good break to go oh yeah I’m sorry we thought we
1:24:38 would look at
1:24:39 that you guys I mean basically we’re gonna veto it first off we
1:24:42 need to
1:24:42 figure out who’s gonna go I thought I was going but miss
1:24:45 Campbell if you want
1:24:46 to go down there to Miami and party I’m no I can’t either you
1:24:50 guys want to go
1:24:51 okay so I’ll go and then if you guys wanted to get through and
1:24:56 veto these
1:24:56 things right now or dr. and L suggested that we take a look at
1:25:00 anything because
1:25:01 they actually haven’t developed it they’re going down that
1:25:03 weekend to
1:25:03 develop it what they sent us was last year’s oh so this isn’t
1:25:09 even the list
1:25:09 well they still wanted input by September 4th right of things we
1:25:14 want it
1:25:14 really I think the important person before those things we
1:25:17 wanted to add
1:25:18 right and the FSBA proposals are also due next week - I really
1:25:22 just have one
1:25:23 and it’s a reiteration so it should be easy enough we have
1:25:26 talked about chronic
1:25:27 absenteeism mr. Brian mentioned it it’s something and it
1:25:31 actually I think it has
1:25:32 a chance of passing this year I’ll just be very brief they got
1:25:37 it they worked on
1:25:38 the last couple years and what it would do and I it closed down
1:25:43 I had it in
1:25:44 front of me but basically FSBA it was on FSPS platform last year
1:25:49 it was allowing
1:25:50 school districts to start taking action after five days rather
1:25:53 than ten and it
1:25:54 doesn’t mean we’re throwing parents in jail for truancy but that
1:25:57 we can start
1:25:58 the process a little sooner and as far as putting those measures
1:26:02 in place
1:26:02 everything it’s already in there the five days are you sure
1:26:07 because I didn’t
1:26:07 get one passed it’s already in the current statutes where we can
1:26:11 start
1:26:11 implementing stuff okay for five days okay what that was new
1:26:15 this year that’s
1:26:16 no it’s better so there let me let me pull it up if somebody
1:26:20 else wants to
1:26:20 girl because I had it right in front of me because there was
1:26:22 another there was
1:26:23 something about solidifying it and that was the one that I that
1:26:31 I had so if it’s
1:26:32 not something that we need because we can already do it but that
1:26:35 was part of
1:26:36 our platform last year for FSBA and I just think that would be a
1:26:38 good one to
1:26:39 be back on there I mean okay here it is we asked that the
1:26:43 legislature amend
1:26:43 Florida statute one zero zero three point two six sub paragraph
1:26:49 one B to
1:26:50 allow school districts to initiate chronic absenteeism
1:26:52 strategies
1:26:53 immediately upon the fifth unexcused student absence currently
1:26:57 districts are
1:26:57 limited to initiating intervention processes only after ten unexcused
1:27:01 avenues occurring within a 90-day period earlier intervention
1:27:05 will lead to more
1:27:05 successful student outcomes so is that not what we already have
1:27:08 or is that what
1:27:09 we already have we they start their interventions and reach out
1:27:14 that they
1:27:14 can at five days the chronic absenteeism does kick in at 15 but
1:27:18 there is language
1:27:19 in there already that does allow for some of that if you have
1:27:23 five within 30
1:27:24 days I believe okay okay so I mean I’m all good with promoting
1:27:31 our harsher
1:27:32 implementation strategies earlier that’s fine right and not
1:27:36 necessarily harsher
1:27:37 support or kicking off truancy at five days that’s fine too yeah
1:27:41 and so I
1:27:41 that’s because we want to get a handle on that that would be my
1:27:44 one
1:27:44 recommendation and I would just suggest if we’re gonna propose
1:27:47 it to FSBA or to
1:27:48 the consortium that we just take this language straight out of
1:27:51 last year’s
1:27:52 FSBA platform and just copy paste I’m heading to FSBA this week
1:27:57 I’ll be up
1:27:57 there Thursday and Friday so I would like to see Senate bill 296
1:28:03 modified
1:28:04 that’s the start date of August 10th which should be no surprise
1:28:07 to this for
1:28:08 as I have mentioned that multiple times but the ability for
1:28:10 school districts to
1:28:11 have flexibility on school start dates as long as we’re
1:28:13 maintaining the same
1:28:14 amount of days in school minutes sorry minutes not days right
1:28:18 this is where we
1:28:19 go back to back and forth I would love that to be an initiative
1:28:23 to give
1:28:24 districts the flexibility to potentially do some unique things
1:28:27 with calendars oh
1:28:28 I don’t have one other one and I don’t know sorry how this is
1:28:32 gonna work out
1:28:33 and somebody can make some pretty language for us dr. indell but
1:28:36 I while I
1:28:37 don’t agree with some people who think that every all the
1:28:40 private schools and
1:28:41 entities that receive the pep scholarship and other things
1:28:44 should have
1:28:44 to take the test because there are a lot of parents who leave
1:28:46 the public schools
1:28:47 because they don’t want their kids to have to take the tests I
1:28:49 do believe that
1:28:50 we need to that the ask the legislature to put more
1:28:53 accountability measures in
1:28:55 place to make sure that that funding goes they’ve done some
1:28:58 things to correct
1:28:59 it but you know frequently you know they do the ready shoot aim
1:29:04 procedure for new
1:29:05 initiatives and I the one last year was I don’t know this is
1:29:08 going to get across
1:29:09 the finish line but when the last year was to move the family
1:29:13 empowerment
1:29:13 scholarships into a categorical and out of the fe SP I know that
1:29:21 senator gates
1:29:22 was trying to do some things last year to move it it didn’t get
1:29:25 across the
1:29:25 finish line I don’t know if it will get across the finish line
1:29:28 but we had all
1:29:29 the news articles this year about the 270 million dollars that
1:29:32 got lost and
1:29:33 the school districts even though they’ve corrected it some
1:29:36 school districts not
1:29:37 getting the funding when the kid switches from going to a
1:29:40 private school
1:29:40 back into our public schools and we’re not getting the money
1:29:43 till halfway
1:29:43 through the year or maybe we’re not getting any at all so just
1:29:46 increased
1:29:47 accountability for the scholarship organizations making sure
1:29:50 that the
1:29:51 funding really follows the child a question this kind of goes
1:29:54 hand in hand
1:29:55 with that and it could work to solve this what about I mean the
1:29:58 counting
1:29:59 mechanism the state has for students right now drives me insane
1:30:02 that we’re
1:30:02 only doing you know our six-day count and then we’re counting
1:30:04 again in
1:30:05 February and I why we are counting every single day so what if
1:30:09 the legislation
1:30:10 took up a counting mechanism that was monthly instead of
1:30:13 allowing it to only
1:30:15 happen a couple times a year because that’s when we get caught
1:30:17 is when we
1:30:17 like up wait a minute the kid is registered at this school all
1:30:20 right they
1:30:21 came at the end of October exactly so they’re moving seats at
1:30:24 those really
1:30:24 funny times where it messes with our funding so why not ask the
1:30:28 legislation
1:30:29 to modify the counting mechanism to do it on a monthly basis
1:30:32 from a school
1:30:32 district standpoint where we’re counting for each student that’s
1:30:35 in the classroom
1:30:35 every single day so yeah what the board supports I support that
1:30:40 I’m writing them
1:30:40 all down I’ll get them all done and dr. Nadelis - if I took
1:30:43 notes okay I would
1:30:45 love to see that be something that would change you just lump
1:30:48 those two ideas
1:30:49 together just because it just increase accountability on the
1:30:52 funding yeah and
1:30:54 flexibility on the August 10th start date I got I get that I’ll
1:30:58 get that I’ll
1:30:58 get that through the board of directors on multiple platforms
1:31:02 all right good we’re gonna break over to
1:31:05 superintendent’s office for his evaluation dr. Wendell do you
1:31:09 have
1:31:09 enough I would suggest you take a break for lunch to be honest I
1:31:13 don’t really
1:31:14 want people doing my by wish while they’re hangry that’s what
1:31:21 you guys
1:31:23 want so when do you want to reconvene man um can you guys go out
1:31:28 grab
1:31:28 something and come back in 30 minutes 1230 1215 1215 so you want
1:31:39 to get to a
1:31:40 school okay all right everybody good thank you thank you
1:31:53 you