12-13-2022 - School Board Meeting

0:01 But the three players that he had interviewed when he was here, man, their reaction and their genuine thanks to that man for what he did and what he coordinated for them and their teammates was the most pure thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It made my heart so full and I’m so thankful for that opportunity. And I need to highlight more than just the win because those kids are so incredible on so many fronts. And so I asked their athletic director to give me a list of the kids and some of their commitments and offers that they were already given this year.

0:33 So Cedric Hawkings was offered and committed to Ohio State. Caleb Dobbs, Eastern Michigan. Blake Boda, Missouri State N.

0:42 Dartmouth. Jordan Holmes, Tennessee Tech. Cayenne Calhoun, South Florida.

0:49 Dandravius Dorsey Presbyterian College. Jamir Smith, Allen University. And man, here’s the big hitter, Jaden Edgecumbe.

0:58 He has been accepted to Yale and Dartmouth, but not only because of his football skills and starting on the team. He is the valedictorian of Cocoa high school with a 4.62 gpA.

1:15 And the combined GPA for all of our student athletes on that team is a 3.4. So talk about breaking through a stereotype.

1:23 I am so proud of these kids. I am so proud of that school and I’m so proud of that staff. The city of Coco thank you for being so supportive.

1:32 I know that they’re working on something to celebrate those kids a little bit further, which thank you so much for that. And I’ll announce that as soon as I know, and I’m sure BPS will as too. I am going to say something that doesn’t really have a solidified ending here, but I want to use the opportunity while people are paying attention and listening.

1:50 Cocoa is one of our most economically disadvantaged cities we have in Brevard and these kids deserve their state championship ranks. And we know they’re going to struggle to pay for them just being honest. And so I know that the principal there and the administration there and the athletic director there are strategizing a plan to reach out to the community for support and help.

2:14 They’ve got people in mind that they think they’re going to ask to make some contributions, but they’re currently also in process for starting a crowd fund through the school district appropriately. Don’t worry, Doctor Betty. And so I will absolutely distribute that.

2:26 I’ll ask bps if they’re willing to distribute it as well. But if you’re listening and you’re interested in helping out in some way, at this point, nothing’s officially set up. Please don’t overwhelm Cocoa High school.

2:29 But if you’re comfortable, reach out to me and I’ll connect you with the right person, because these kids deserve to remember that moment forever. So thank you, Miss Campbell. Yeah, sorry.

2:50 Because you mentioned our second grader, Abigail Shannon, who won in the Native American Heritage Month art contest. We had another winner from Brevard in the essay contest, and that was 8th grader Olivia Hilby from West Shore junior senior high. She won.

3:07 And so we had two Brevardians represented in the governor’s mansion as they got their awards last week. So congratulations to Olivia as well, Miss Wright. So I want to thank the city of Titusville held their parade this year.

3:23 And I have to tell you, I’m pretty sure everybody in the north end of the county lying down us one. It was a tremendous outpouring. Our schools represented really well.

3:31 So the bands came through. They had the hype. Music astronaut was there, Titusville was there.

3:37 The cheerleading team was there. I mean, it was a great representation of community and what it looks like to celebrate one event altogether. And I also want to give a shout out to the culinary department at Titusville High.

3:48 So some of the district staff yesterday had the privilege of touring the culinary department, and these students put on a meal for us, and it was absolutely amazing. So the culinary teacher there at THS is actually a cordon blue graduate. So she is very esteemed in what she does.

4:05 And it was just a really great way to see how these kids are learning a skill that they can take right out of high school and go straight into an industry. And I will tell you, I have eaten at a lot of restaurants, and their culinary department is better than most of the restaurants I’ve eaten at. So if you ever get invited to a culinary event at Titusville High, I would say definitely jump on that.

4:24 It was a great event, and I’m just grateful for them hosting us and welcoming us and showing us around there. Thank you. Miss Wright, I wanted to say thank you to doctor Thetti, first off, and respect you for basically setting the mold of achievement and stability and ethical behavior of an anybody and any employee inside this county.

4:48 And I wanted to say thank you for all of your dedication and your work. We could sit here and list 150 things, but basically, you set the priority, the top individual, and what their assets should be. And I wanted to say thank you for all of your time.

5:04 Miss Moore, I wanted to say thank you to you for all of your dedication. As many of the people have said here today, not only the pandemic not only you guys don’t know, but the school district basically takes anything that they don’t know what to do with and put it in student services. So, like, not only does she have to deal with all of it, what everybody else said, but she has, like, athletics and then she has all of the other clubs.

5:28 And, I mean, it’s just like that whole area is so many different things. And Miss Moore, you’ve done such an amazing job at working all those and putting those together, and I wanted to say thank you. She also is spearheading much of what’s going on right now with the discipline and sat down with us today and walked through some of the stuff.

5:46 And I really appreciate you taking the time to explain some of the limitations that we can do as a school district. Based on some of that, I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you did today. Thank you for your dedication to every one of the programs that you’re a part of, and thank you for being a part of BPS.

6:01 So thank you very much. One of the other things that I wanted to say is, and I know that it may be repeated up here, state championship. Great.

6:11 Not only that, but I want you guys to understand, we have more state championships in Brevard than the rest of the Central Florida region. All the way across the state of Florida. We have more state championships in Brevard for football than they do in Orange County, Lake County, Hillsboro county, all of it, because we win championships here.

6:30 And one of the consistent factors in doing so is cocoa. And one of the topics that was discussed earlier, the city of Coco, can be an example of some of what so many of the cities inside this county can do. Because not only do they support our schools, not only do they do all that, but they actually put $50,000 a year in for internships for our students, and they hire our students.

6:51 And if you ever get an opportunity to watch, I know everybody likes to watch the school board meetings lately, but if once in a while you guys would take some time and watch the city, city council from cocoa, there is some amazing things that go on there, because just like it was said, some of the individuals that need the most are in there and they’re doing a great job at supporting them. And I love that city and I love the individuals that are inside of there. I did want to also say thank you to the Viera company.

7:16 We also had one of those parades here, and it was a bunch of these big balloons that looked like the Macy’s day parade. And one of them was, like, laying flat, and then it came up. But the excitement on all the kids faces and all the other stuff that went on surfing Santas showed up.

7:31 So from your little neck of the woods, I just wanted to say we find community in those parades. We find community in what’s going on lately. And it’s just really nice to be a part of that and just sit back and watch.

7:44 I did want to say something really cool happened last night. A guy named the professor. About three months ago, I get this call from Victor, from the court kings, and he says, hey, Matt, what’s the biggest school in the county’s gym? I said, that would be Viera.

7:57 And he said, well, we need to get that. And then I said, wow. Yeah, okay, Victor, whatever.

8:01 And then all of a sudden, the sheriff calls me and he says, well, I want to play this guy. And I’m like, who is this guy? Right? And then I type it in and I’m like, this guy’s pretty good, right? So I started trying to train a little bit, and it lasted for about a week because I thought I was going to challenge him. But the thing is, is that he came last night, and I’ll tell you.

8:17 Thank you, Miss Robinson, for taking the time to work with them and everything else to make that work packed gym. For many of you that don’t understand what the professor is, he comes and gives his time and is all of the players there for not for profits. And he gives the.

8:31 He comes and raises money, charges a gate, and then he donates that money to the not for profits. And he’s got like 16 million viewers on his YouTube and whatever else he’s got. But what I was, what I wanted to get to is this.

8:44 I was watching the crowd, watching the kids. They were on the seats and they didn’t have their cell phones on. They weren’t looking at them.

8:51 They were literally so engaged. And it made me so happy because those kids were. They were there for the happy moment.

8:58 There wasn’t a single issue that happened. And I was just, I wanted to say, just take a second and say thank you to the producer, and thank you to the professor, and thank you to the court kings for what they did, because that really did something special for our community. And it was a really cool thing.

9:12 And, you know, I just wanted, wanted to, to say thank you to everybody that came tonight. Many of you guys that are here are passionate about some of the issues. We really appreciate that many of you guys came last Thursday.

9:21 That was a great meeting to get some of the things that we needed to work on out and I really appreciate public support. And what came out of the number one thing that I think came out last week and we keep hearing is that it’s the parents that we need to engage with and listen to and that’s what is going to set the direction of helping us through some of these issues that we have. So thank you so much for that.

9:42 And with that. Yeah, doctor. Yeah, I’m doing.

9:46 Hang on, hang on, hang on. Doctor. Theta, go ahead.

9:50 I’m sorry. Thank you Mister Susan. I have a couple of recognitions as well.

9:56 Tonight I’d like to thank one of our bus drivers at the south area compound, Joanne Mancini. Miss Mancini last week assisted a child who had been hit by a car. She clearly went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that he was safe, to make sure that EMS was there and that the school was notified, the parents were notified.

10:16 She clearly cares deeply for the welfare of our students and I want to take an opportunity to thank her Misses Mancini for her actions with our students. Another really exciting item I want to talk about is last night was our academic team tournament. And if you don’t know academic team, it’s high school students and it’s amazing to watch what they can do.

10:41 They had six nights of intense competition in a field of 19 and it was narrowed to the top six teams in the district. Cocoa Beach, Edgewood, Holy Trinity, Melbourne, Rockledge and West Shore competed for the district’s top honors. Students compete in a wide range of topics including math, humanities, world languages, history, science and literature.

11:05 First place went to Holy Trinity. Second place, West Shore junior senior high and third place, Cocoa beach junior senior High. Also, we select an all star team that moves on to state level competition at the commissioner’s academic challenge.

11:21 BPS took honors in the 2022 challenge and I want to give a special thanks to all the school coaches who work tirelessly in the evenings to support their students through the season. I want to give extra thanks to Mike Prince who has led our efforts for many years now. I also want to take an opportunity to tell you the students who will be participating in the at the state level competition.

11:42 We have Johnny Jones, Abby Shepherd, Jose Montalvo, Jonathan Nunez, Jan Carlo Valdivia, Vincent Stone and Ioanna Salagi. So thank you and congratulations to our academic team. Students.

11:57 I have one other recognition. We have a really special guest in our audience tonight. I want to invite Mister Ernest Patten and principal Ana Diaz to come up to the front please.

12:14 As Mister Patton makes his way up to the front. I want to read a message from University park principal Ana Diaz. Ernest Patten is a dedicated custodian at University Park elementary school.

12:26 He shows up to work every day to be part of the team that provides a safe and caring environment for the students at this amazing school. He works hard to ensure the school is clean and ready for learning. We want to acknowledge him for going above and beyond and taking time to let students know he sees them, he values them, and he is proud of their work.

12:48 Mister Patton decided to purchase 20 and $10 gift cards to give students reaching a and AB honor roll and who also demonstrate excellent behavior. Recently, he celebrated the 6th graders for their accomplishments by ordering pizza for the entire 6th grade class. He tells students he is proud of their work.

13:09 The students take time to tell the administration how wonderful he is to them. Several staff members and their spouses have decided to follow his example to continue to encourage our students to always aim high. Although he does not want to be recognized for this, I’m sorry.

13:27 We believe his actions inspire greatness. Mister Ernest Patton is the heart of Brevard and university park. Students and staff just love his huge and generous heart.

13:38 Congratulations, Mister Patton. Thank you for your dedication. Would you like to say a few words? Thank you all, but skip what I have to say is to the school board, okay? I had signed up to say something later on, but I’m gonna say it now, okay? Not going to take too long.

14:12 Our teachers need your help. They need full control over their classroom. Okay? Because when a child can get up and walk out of class anytime he feel like that teacher got to get on the walkie call that’s taken away from the time the teacher have to deal with their kids.

14:43 I have a child here. This child. Demonstrate how much time the teacher have with those kids in the coast over here.

14:56 Okay? This looks right here. That’s all the most time she had to try to educate those kids. When you got the behavioral kids in the classroom, the same one all the time.

15:18 Repeat us year after year after year. We need to address this problem. Okay.

15:27 The board, the sheriff. Shout out to the sheriff for saying. He said the code of conduct needs to be changed, which is true.

15:42 You get with the parents, the teachers, the school board, and let’s solve this problem. Yeah. Thank you very much Mister Cesan.

15:58 Mister Susan, if you would join us, we’re going to get to take a picture. I’m going to bring you back. Please tell me, are you finishing doctor SeTI? Because I don’t know what’s going to happen next? I am done.

17:19 Thank you. Thank you. That brings us to the adoption of the agenda.

17:22 Doctor Thetti, find my place on this evening’s agenda. We have administrative staff recommendations, two presentations, 22 consent items, nine public hearings, seven action items, and three board member reports. Changes made to the agenda since release to the public include the addition of f 21 amendment to the 2022 23 school calendar and k 52 attendance policy.

17:48 Board report revisions were made to items a, seven administrative staff recommendations. D nine independent Citizens Oversight committee annual report to the school board. F 14 annual comprehensive financial report.

18:02 Hang on, hang on. I got you. There you go.

18:04 Got it. You’re good. No, I didn’t touch it.

18:06 I didn’t touch it. You okay? No, I’m not touching. Okay, I’m good now.

18:11 H 44 appointment of board representatives and H 45 department school initiated agreements. Do I hear a motion? Motion to approve. Second.

18:20 Is there any discussion? Please vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

18:26 Opposed? Paul, you got it. Thank you very much. Doctor Thede, will you let us know about the administrative staff recommendations? Yes.

18:34 Thank you. There are nine items for your consideration. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second.

18:41 Is there any discussion? Please vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

18:46 Opposed. Thank you very much. I would like to recognize Doctor Theta, who is on tonight’s agenda and will be retiring for the position of Deputy Superintendent, Chief Human resources officer, slash everything else that goes on at the ESF, effective January 20.

19:03 Doctor Thetty, please head down to the podium for a quick second. Thank you. That’s better.

19:23 Good evening, Mister Susan, board members, audience, thank you for this opportunity to briefly, and I will be brief, briefly speak and reflect on nearly 33 years of service to the students, staff, and the entire Brevard public schools community. I have found that retirement is actually bittersweet. I am looking forward to spending some time with my husband, my children, my mom, traveling, reconnecting with the people I love, and engaging in hobbies such as photography that I’ve put aside over the years.

19:53 However, I have found departing an organization to which I have dedicated my entire professional career really stirs some deep emotions, as I will truly miss the countless instructional support and administrative staff, students, parents, and community I’ve worked alongside over the years, starting at Johnson Middle School, which was then Johnson Junior High, in August 1990. As a young science teacher right out of college and progressing to chief human resources officer and deputy superintendent. I can honestly say I wouldn’t change the experience experiences I’ve had along the way.

20:27 Some have been great, some haven’t been so great. But they’ve all been learning opportunities and I appreciate every one of them. As I reflect on my time at BPS, I’m reminded of the selfless dedication of all bps staff to our most precious resource, our students.

20:42 I’m deeply indebted to and remain in awe of all BPS staff as their steadfast commitment to the vision and mission of this school district have made this district exemplary. My husband, who is a retired BPS teacher, and I raised our two children in this amazing school district. And during my time as both an employee and a parent, I had the opportunity to interact with and work alongside some of the kindest, most professional, caring and focused educators, administrators and support staff who embody the mission of serving every student with excellence as a standard.

21:17 I know even as I depart, our staff, with the help of the community which we serve, will carry on the mission with honor, integrity and a focus on our students. I’m a better person and a better leader because of brevard public schools and the talented, compassionate, and committed professionals with whom I’ve had the privilege to work over the last three plus decades. We’ve done amazing work together and my heart is filled with gratitude.

21:43 While my time with BPS is ending, I remain forever a champion of the work of BPS, a champion of our students, of our staff, and of our community. And I wish each of you all the best now and in the future. Thank you so much.

21:58 Thank you, doctor Godin. Yeah, I think that’s okay. I’m still up.

22:23 I would like to recognize we have some other administrative staff recommendations today, and I’m going to take a moment of opportunity because we do have another senior cabinet member retiring in January. And Chris Moore, if you would approach the podium for a minute, please. I want to thank you for your many years of service.

22:42 Misses Moore has been with us 32 years and has 34 total years in education. She’s been the principal at Bayside High School. She’s been the principal at Harbor City Elementary School, assistant principal at Cocoa High, and assistant principal at Ogalley High.

22:56 And I wanted to thank you for your tremendous dedication to our district. I echo everything we heard up here. You led student services in this district through a pandemic.

23:05 And that probably is a mic drop right there. So would you like to say a few words, Miss Moore? Yeah. Thank you.

23:12 I think for anybody who knows Beth and I, this is going to so encapsulate who we are as people. Beth came up here with very poignant printed words to read, and I’m just going to go off the cuff. First off, I want to thank anybody who I have had the opportunity to work with.

23:35 It has been thousands of kids, hundreds of teachers, hundreds of administrators. The people who work in public education are hardworking. They are dedicated.

23:45 They are dedicated to the mission of serving your children. And I could not be prouder of their work and any part that I played in, in supporting them in their work. I do want to recognize my family and friends because as we went through some of those hard times, as I get phone calls, because part of student services is the crisis team.

24:07 And, you know, we have crisis in holidays and on weekends, and I’ll be out with them and we’ll get a phone call. And I have to say, stop. It’s no longer friend and family time.

24:17 It’s now work time. So I want to recognize my mother, my two sisters, my other family, Carla, Abby, Noah, because they have all given me grace. When I have had to stop family events and say, it’s now time for work, I want to recognize my two mentors.

24:40 These were two administrators who taught me how to be professional, taught me how to speak when people are angry, taught me how to speak when people are sad, taught me how to speak to people in power, and taught me how to speak for people without any. So to Tom Sawyer and to Doctor Mark Mullins, I give my eternal gratitude. And I will tell you that some people said, you know, Chris, you got a while yet.

25:16 My last day with the district will be January 13. My final day of employment is January 31. And I laugh because I’ve never thought that in my whole entire life that I would have a final day of employment.

25:30 But they said, you can’t go up there and tell it like it is. And I’m going to take a minute to tell it like it is. Beth, Betty, you are the smartest woman I know.

25:45 Stephanie Sullivan, you are the biggest advocate for children that I know. And now I can’t speak anymore. Sue, I have never met anybody with such quiet persistence and dignity than you.

26:06 Russ Cheatham, your leadership, I am in awe of. Sit back and you take it in, and then you deliberate, and then you lead. I’m missing people.

26:18 I’m so sorry if I’m missing you, but if I tell it like it is, this is an outstanding district, and I’m proud of every minute of it. I’d hate to go after that, wouldn’t you? Yes, but we have some other exciting, exciting administrative appointments to talk about tonight. And, you know, as we’re talking about retirement, you’re talking about embarking upon your careers as administrators, you’ve been teachers.

27:00 I don’t know how many years each of you have been with the school district. But before I announce your names and you get an opportunity, Mister Bruno bring you the microphone. I just want to say congratulations to you.

27:11 It is an awesome career. Public education is the best and we appreciate you taking this next step. And I wish you all the best.

27:19 So let me start with Christy Flora. Christy Flora is being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Viera High School to the position of assistant principal at Edgewood Junior Senior High School, effective January 5. Miss Flora, thank you.

27:34 Thank you to the board for the opportunity to serve Edgewood as their twelve month assistant principal. I’ve had a lot of help along the way. I want to thank Doctor Sullivan and all the directors for all the guidance that they have provided me, especially over the past year as I’ve gone through the process and wanting to move on to the next step.

27:51 Obviously want to thank my Viera high family. I have a lot of them here to support. Support me tonight as they have through my whole two and a half years.

27:58 They’ve always been there to guide me and give me growth opportunities to get me where I am today. So I appreciate them and know that, you know, our relationships will continue. And I want to thank Miss Engrada and the whole Edgewood community.

28:11 I’m very excited to be back at Edgewood. I served there for six years and so I look forward to seeing the familiar faces and meeting the new ones and just continuing to serve that community with excellence. And of course, my family, who has always been there to support me and all the late nights and all the sacrifices that they have had to make to help me get to this point.

28:31 And I wanted to also take a moment to just congratulate Doctor Theta and Miss Moore and thank them for their dedication to our district. Marie Robinson, appointed to the position of assistant principal at Madison Middle School, effective January 5. Miss Robinson, thank you.

28:54 I just want to thank Doctor Lutz and school board for giving me this amazing opportunity. I come from Osceola county, so I am new to Brevard. I’m really looking forward to my new family here in Brevard and at Madison.

29:07 Obviously, my family who is here with me today, has been a huge support for me and have probably put up with some moments not so graceful, but part of being an educator also. I know this is going to be forum for a lot of people because it is Osceola. But Osceola really was where I grew as an educator and a lot of people there really supported me.

29:28 Specifically, a special thank you to Miss Don Parker, Chris Todd, Dennis Neal, and Doctor Ramdiel. They have been a huge support. Have really reminded me my why we’re here for the students and I. I look forward to my new adventures with my new family here.

29:43 Thank you. Tiffany Harvey is being reclassed from the position of teacher at Johnson Middle School to the position of assistant principal at Jefferson Middle School, effective January 5. Miss Harvey, thank you very much for supporting me, having me here.

30:03 I have wanted to do this for a long time and it certainly wouldn’t be possible without, obviously, your support. Doctor Thet, you are a wonderful professor, by the way, in case you decide you need another career. And I have a wonderful principal.

30:20 I’m leaving Misses Middleton at Johnson Middle School, which is a hidden gem. And I’m returning to what I consider to be my home school, which is Jefferson Middle School, which is where my three children attended. So I’m very excited to be going back as well.

30:34 I’m very thankful, of course, for my lovely family who are here tonight. And I have two older children as well who are serving active duty and can’t be here tonight. So thank you for your support.

30:43 I’m very excited. And Jasmine Jackson, she’s being appointed to the position of assistant principal at Madison Middle School effective January 5. Miss Jackson, thank you all.

31:01 I’m very excited to be here tonight. I just want to say thank you to doctor lips for considering me, for seeing potential in me. I am coming all the way from Marion county, so it is bittersweet for me.

31:14 That’s where I had my entire education there. I’m just. I’m really overwhelmed with emotions right now as this is my first assistant principal position.

31:28 So, I mean, I would like to thank my family. I have my two children here, my mom and my sister. Yeah.

31:40 Thank you. Good. Doctor.

31:51 Doctor Thetti, please tell us about tonight’s presentations. Tonight we have two presentations. The first is a superintendent report on the election certification and millage filing.

32:01 Miss Cindy Licinski will provide the board with this information. Miss Licinski is making her way on up. Oh, you didn’t.

32:54 Can I go? Yeah, I saw signature. Sorry. That’s all right.

33:19 Good evening. I want to thank the community for approving Brevard Public Schools 2022 milledge referendum. The election took place on November 8, and results were certified on November 18 by the county judge and supervisor of elections.

33:35 Strong schools and strong communities go hand in hand. We are coordinating closely with Wyatt Peters, property tax oversight, Florida Department of Revenue and Dana Blickley, Brevard county property appraiser. The additional millage will be included in our trim truth in millage process as we certify next year’s school district millage and improve the FY 2324 budget.

34:08 Thank you. Our next presentation is the Independent Citizens Oversight committee annual report to the school board. Mister John Hoppengarten, ICOC chairman, is here to present.

34:28 My fan club. It’s like I lost half my audience. They’re not your fan club.

34:43 Good evening, school board. I am John Hoppingarten. I am the chairman of the Independent Citizens Oversight committee.

34:50 In the audience with us tonight are members of the ICO committee. We have Tammy Dennis. You can stand if you want.

34:58 Say hi. Margaret Goodlock and Joe Finley. Thanks for coming.

35:09 This is the 8th presentation of the annual report of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee and my first. The ICOC has been in existence since February 2015, shortly after the sales surtax program was approved by the voters. The tax was renewed in 2020 for this last election.

35:33 In the last election. Since that time, the sales surtax program has invested almost $290 million in facility renewal, educational technology and security at our schools. Under this program, building systems are up to date and more reliable, technology equipment is more modern and schools are becoming more secure.

35:57 The sales surtax investment has also allowed the district to begin to transition from reactive to proactive maintenance. Not only were these capital improvements made, but we also have the beginning of a robust asset management system where district staff is better prepared to make capital planning and investment decisions. The written report which you have been provided with, has much more detail and includes considerable reference material regarding the sales Surtax program.

36:29 This document covers the sales surtax program through September 30, 2022. However, the revenues and expenditures that I will report to you tonight are through November of this year. These are the members of the Independent Citizens Oversight committee who are bringing considerable experience to the process, four of which I’ve already introduced.

36:59 The charter requires that at least seven and no more than eleven members on the committee. In 2022, the ICOC welcomed five new members and elected new officers in February. 1.

37:13 Individual Kaylee Spelman has served on the ICOC since 2015. Dedicated new members and member reappointments are first considered by the ICOC and then recommended to the school board for consideration. Consideration and approval the purpose of the ICOC is to provide oversight of the sales surtax expenditures and to have an advisory role to the school board.

37:43 The ICOC meets every other month and we review a detailed package of information that includes revenues, expenditures and project status. We also receive regular briefings on related topics such as audits and construction industry trends that affect our schools. We also consider projects recommended for revenues remaining from the 2014 program and proposed changes to the 2020 program.

38:11 This process gives us greater flexibility to adapt to changing needs and costs. All of these recommendations are passed on to the school board. Prior to the last general election, the sales Surtex program was reviewed by the ICOC and added to the ballot in November of 2020.

38:44 This initiative was overwhelmingly approved by 69% of votes cast. That is an 11% increase over the 2014 election. So the voters really like the program.

38:57 A change was added to the program in 2020 that permitted funds to go to the charter schools on a per capita basis. The ICOC recommended and the school board approved the allocation of CERT tax revenue to the three major security educational technology facility renewal. This allocation was incorporated into school board policy okay, Mister Trent, we’re going to do some math now.

39:27 There’ll be a test after, okay. Through November of this year, the sales tax program has generated $375 million in revenue, consisting of 270 million from the 2014 surtax and 105 million from the 2020 surtax. This 105 million was split with 94 million going to the Brevard public schools and 11 million going to the charter schools.

39:57 That means that 364 million has gone to the brevard public Schools. Did you check my math on that? Due to the spending habits of residents and visitors, the 2014 revenue exceeded projections by $72 million, and through November of this year, the 2020 program revenue has exceeded projections by $29 million. This slide shows the comparison of revenues from each month throughout the life of the program.

40:30 So far this calendar year, revenues are up an average of 18 over calendar year 2021. This slide shows the allocation to the charter schools. For the first year of the sales surtax renewal program, the allocation to charter schools was 10.

40:58 141%. The second year, this allocation is 10.77%.

41:30 The allocation is recalculated every February and is expected to increase next year to between eleven and 12%. The ICOC does not have oversight over the chartered schools expenditures. Now for the expenditures, sales surtax, encumbrances and expenditures total $290 million through November.

41:48 The financial reports cover both the 2014 and the 2020 sales tax programs. The 2014 program will continue until all funds are invested and projects completed. The funds from each program, though, are tracked separately.

42:14 The district also keeps track of capital funds that are used to supplement and support the Surtax projects. Since 2015, the district has invented, invented, invested $33.6 million in capital, primarily in facility renewal and security projects.

42:14 This slide shows the breakdown of expenditures and encumbrances by type. This breakdown has remained fairly consistent throughout the life of of the program. At the top of the chart you can see that the district utilizes an owner direct purchase program which is shown at 14% which has saved approximately $3 million in sales taxes on equipment purchased for the projects.

43:01 This slide shows the type of projects implemented or underway and the costs associated with them. These are total numbers which include both the 2014 and the 2020 programs. Investment in air conditioning was a significant aspect of the 2014 program.

43:33 The 2020 program includes investments in electrical and roof renewal as well as classroom renewal and outdoor facility renewal. Over the life of the 2020 program, this chart will evolve to capture the broadening scope of the CERD tax program. Although the current state of the construction industry is impacting schedules and costs, the sales tax revenue has exceeded projections so these issues can be managed.

44:27 Major facility renewal initiatives include electrical, which is in progress in 18 schools, intercom in progress in 28 schools and roofing in progress in seven schools work completed or underway classroom upgrades including casework, furniture and flooring track renewal at ten high schools with district funding rubberization concurrently with these surtax funds science lab upgrades at four middle schools and playground renewal at 18 elementary schools. This year, the district implemented a comprehensive student ridership solution for bus riders that improves security and operating efficiency. This is an example of a project that was added to the program through ICOC review.

44:58 Educational technology projects include completion of the district wide fiber optic projects, several structured cabling projects, and the modern classroom initiative. The photograph on this slide is the new playground at endeavor elementary with a new type of rubberized fall protection service. As the sales tax playground projects are implemented, the district is funding the cost difference for this improved fall protection with capital funds.

45:41 I’ll show you some more slides of the before and after pictures from some of the projects that we’ve been working on. Many of the 2020 sales surtax projects are more visible than those of the 2014 program since the emphasis then was on air conditioning. Can’t see that too well.

46:06 Community awareness of the impact of the sale Surata tax program is improving as these projects are completed and inaugurated. In addition to the ICOC oversight, the district internal auditors RSM perform semiannual audits of the program. The 14th audit was recently completed with no findings.

46:27 This audit will be presented to the audit committee and the ICOC in February. All audits have been positive and are available for the public to review. The district construction auditors Carr, Riggs and Ingram audit each project over $1 million small project on a spot check basis.

46:49 Their purpose is to ensure compliance with the contracts and validate the final payment requests. Most sales surtax projects are subject to construction audits. The district is implementing the sales surtax program in accordance with the ballot language and district policies and procedures.

47:17 The program funds critical facility renewal, educational technology upgrades, and school security enhancements. A six year renewal of the sales surtax, approved by the voters in November 2020 will allow the district to continue these investments in the learning environment for our students and teachers. The sales Surtax program is also strongly supported by the departments of Procurement and Finance.

47:43 They provide assistance to the staff in facilities, educational technology and security in order to implement projects in our schools. The government and Community Relations department also supports the program by spotlighting projects funded through the sales certex. Role of the ICOC includes reviewing revenue and expenditures as well as program changes proposed by districts.

48:13 Staff. ICOC members provide guidance and perspective to staff based on their diverse areas of experience. In conclusion, I would like to thank Suhan for her tireless effort to provide all the data that the ICOC reviews and also to her staff of project managers who work under difficult conditions to expedite these improvements without disturbing the operations of an active school system.

48:30 That concludes my presentation. I’d be happy to answer any questions except from Mister Susan. You were on the committee before, Miss Campbell.

48:49 I don’t have any questions, but I just want to take the opportunity to thank you and to thank the members of the committee here and not here, for your volunteerism and the way that you lead this. This is part of just maintaining transparency for our community. They need to know that we’re doing what we said we would do with what they entrusted to us.

48:59 So thank you. Anybody else? I want to echo her sentiments and say thank you. Honestly, the amount of work that you guys do is tremendous, and so we appreciate you.

49:12 To have no findings on an audit, that’s a huge winner. So we appreciate all that you’re doing to make sure that we are doing what we should be with the money that we’re getting. Thank you, Miss Jenkins.

49:17 Yeah, I’m just going to echo that right back. Thank you for everything you do. This is a voluntary position.

49:38 It’s an important one. It not only holds us to accountability and transparency, but it entrusts our voters to feel confident when we go out and ask them again for other things like we did with the millage, that when there’s a committee assigned to it, they do it right, they do it accurately and they come here and present it to the public. So thank you for everything that you do.

49:46 So, Mister Hoppingarden, thank you so much. And thank you for everything that you guys do as a member of the ICO. See, I remember those days and I appreciate what you guys do on a regular basis.

49:55 And Miss Jenkins is 100% right. When we have citizens that are in charge of the oversight, it gives more of community backing. And you guys have done such an amazing job.

50:13 I did want to say Mister John Hoppingarden, since he gave me a hard time, I want to tell you how Mister Hoppingarden came to the ICOC was that one day I was in a meeting, one of these, you know, group meetings, and he says, Matt, I’d like to come and help the school district. And I said, well, you know, there’s an opportunity to go to the Melbourne. What was it? It was planning and zoning board.

50:22 Planning and zoning board. And I said, you know, Miss Hand’s been trying to get somebody there and I’d really appreciate if you go. So then he goes off, then he calls me back, he says, I’m not doing that.

50:31 I’m going to join the ICO. See, they asked me to be a part of that. So then he goes to the ICOC and then it goes a little bit about another month later, and he goes, hey, Matt, I’m the chairman of the ICOC.

50:45 I’m like, what in the world is going on? It went from, you know, the Melbourne planning to this to this. But you’re a true leader and I really appreciate your time. I appreciate what you’re doing, and I appreciate the oversight that the committee does.

50:52 And I truly appreciate you taking some time out of your busy night, coming here and presenting what you do. So thank you. You’re welcome.

50:58 I have one more ad. Oh, no, I’m going to turn your mic off right now. We don’t know what’s coming.

51:15 Okay. I would like to add that we have 61 schools currently engaged in active projects with values over $100,000 each. And I strongly encourage our ICOC members to visit these schools to view the work in progress.

51:37 ICOC members are volunteers and are not compensated for their involvement. I therefore request that under article six, section six of the ICOC charter, that the members be reimbursed for travel expenses at the standard millage rate for the travel to these schools. They will each maintain a log which will be reviewed and submitted to the board.

51:49 Brevard is a large county and the distance traveled to visit these schools and verify the work is considerable. I hope that you will approve this request. Thank you very much.

52:10 Thank you, Mister Hoppengarden. You guys want to engage in that right now or do I, Mister Gibbs, does that take board votes to do something like that? Or should talk to me there or is that just part of the article so they can do it and they just need to submit it? It needs board approval, so. Okay.

52:22 Yeah, we can bring that back at the next meeting if you want. I don’t know that the IE is. Go ahead and move forward with it today.

52:36 I mean, honestly, they are dedicating a tremendous amount of time and for them to be able to see those locations and again volunteering their time, there’s no reason we shouldn’t, I think, move forward now with it. It’s in the article, so if you want to. If someone wants to make a motion, I think you’ll be okay.

52:54 I’ll second the motion. You want to clarify the motion? The motion is to allow exactly what Mister Hoppingarden said is to take advantage of article six, section six of the ICOC report and allow individuals to, if they choose to take advantage of the travel time. All right.

53:00 All right. Do you. Hang on, ma’am.

53:11 What is it? Yes, ma’am. Will they be under the same criteria that parents have to go through that branch? How about. See me about that later.

53:24 See me about that later on. It’s a whole other conversation if everybody. Yeah, ma’am, I’ll meet with you afterwards.

53:46 Ma’am, they’re governed under a different subset than what your volunteerism is, and it’s separate. So, ma’am, I think we could clarify that nobody walks into our buildings unless they go through the driver’s license drop. And anybody who comes in as a visitor, not a, not a.

54:10 Anybody who comes in as a visitor, not as a volunteer, has to be supervised at all times and be there for specific purpose according to policy. So anybody, including our ICOC, and I know they understand that they would have to go through the sexual predator screening that our raptor system does. And then again they would be supervised, escorted at all times through the building.

54:18 So I think we can, I think we can confirm that with the public. So thank you. So back to the motion is that we have.

54:34 Anybody else have any discussions, discussion on it? We’re basically going to approve them to take advantage of what’s already inside the ICOC for reimbursement for travel. Anybody else? All right, you guys all in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

54:43 All opposed? No we’re good to go. We are now at the public comment portion of the meeting and agendas. Can I get a motion to move the public comments non agenda speakers to the public comments agenda items portion of the agenda giving each speaker three minutes and ability to address the board by name.

55:02 Can I get a motion? So moved. Motion to approve. Can I get a second? A second.

55:12 Okay. Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed? All right, here we go.

55:28 So we have four from the regular agenda and then we have 18. So a total of 22 speakers today at three minutes. If we get started right now it’s, you know what I mean, it’s roughly going to be about an hour and a half if everybody takes their three minutes.

55:36 So if you guys needed to take a second to use the restroom or we can get going. You do? Okay. Mister Trent wants to take a second to take a break.

1:07:22 We’ll take take a recess for about five minutes and we’ll be right back. Sa, sa. We have 22 speakers and each will receive four or three minutes.

1:07:34 Sorry. I will call up three speakers at a time. The first three speakers are Mister Levine, Amanda Herkind, Katie Delaney, and just so everybody knows, once it starts to beep, please keep an eye on it.

1:07:40 We’re going to cut it. So if you guys are taking a look as you’re speaking, try to catch it up. We want to get this thing moving.

1:07:53 So Mister Levine, it’s all yours. Mister chairman, members of the board, Madam Superintendent. I’ve waited a long time to say that.

1:08:02 It’s a great idea. My name is Mark Levine, I’m a lawyer from Tallahassee, I’m with the firm of Levine and Stivers. Most of you I know.

1:08:11 I’m here regarding an employee identified on your agenda item. I think it’s under f 22. She is a 15 year veteran math teacher.

1:08:28 She teaches the high level maths. She’s consistently been highly effective, never been in any type of disciplinary proceedings before that I’m aware of and had the highest VAM score possible last year. And I think she’s waiting on the VAM scores now.

1:08:55 I think most of you understand that even though you may be new at this, the concept of this reasonable suspicion, which is what we’re here to talk about, the district received a photograph from a source. It was not a photograph. That was on your educator’s website, not on her facebook, not on any of her social media.

1:09:28 This came from an independent third party who we now know was a former boyfriend who felt a bit jilted the district received the photograph. And the district then took action through its administrative arm and has given her a notice of termination because she refused to take a drug test based upon the photograph. Now, we know that the photograph was not taken during a school year calendar year.

1:09:53 We know it was taken during a summer period of time. It was not taken with her consent. And we know that the district has relied upon the photograph as the last criteria in your 20 some odd criteria for finding out what you can do in a situation where you want to give somebody a drug test for an intoxicant.

1:10:14 We believe that to be wrong. We believe that if you adopt that policy, then starting next week, anybody in this room can take a photograph of one of you at a bar with a drink in your hand and send it, and you’ll have to be investigated for possibly being under intoxication. This educator was not employed by the district at the time.

1:10:32 I mean, she was a summertime photograph. We know that. And we think that it would be bad policy for the district to adopt this type of situation for the enforcement of what is referred to as a reasonable suspicion.

1:10:39 Your rules say every one of them. At work, at work, at work. There’s no question this did not occur at work.

1:10:47 So my suggestion and hope is that you will reject the superintendent’s recommendation for termination. Thank you. Thank you, Mister Levine.

1:10:56 Next up, Amanda Herkine. Katie Delaney. Jonathan Hilliard is three up.

1:11:01 Good evening. My name is Amanda Hernkind. I’m the mother of a 10th grader.

1:11:24 Several of you know why I’m here and have been responsive and supportive of my plea for policy change. For those of you that have not heard my family’s story, I’m here tonight to ask for policy change in Brevard County School system. A change that will reflect clear outlines and communication regarding the attendance policy and what absences are considered excused versus unexcused.

1:11:55 I was recently pointed out to me that. Excuse me, by the attendance staff at my son’s high school, as well as the dean, the principal, and several district staff members, that the death of a family member, attending a funeral or being at a bedside are considered unexcused absences. As I began to try and reach out for support and clarification on what messages we were trying to send our youth, I came across the current attendance policy.

1:12:15 When I called the district to clarify its messaging, I was referred to a state statute. I was then told there was nothing at the district or county level nor at the school that could be done unless the legislation changed. That’s when I became charged to seek out a change, I reached out to one of our local senators.

1:12:32 Each school board member has been copied on the correspondence, correct? If not, I have a copy of. The senator made it clear that the county and school board do have the power and the authority to change their current policy without going all the way to Tallahassee. But if needed, we would.

1:12:49 We were given a copy of Brevard’s policy to compare with Indian River County. Brevard has four reasons for excusals, including that of a court date, but not that of a death of a family member. Indian River county has 14 reasons.

1:13:14 One can be excused from school, luckily including the death of a family member. I have since received positive feedback and support from school board members, the principal at my son’s school and the assistant superintendent. However, we still are having trouble deciding on the need to change the verbiage, so there is no confusion throughout the district’s schools, offices, parents and students.

1:13:39 Despite the many conversations I have had, the documentation I have offered and provided, my child was still today sent home with a packet regarding his truancy. I am grateful that all my child’s teachers have been gracious and kind. He has not missed any work or test, as they were told beforehand of his expected absences, and have been compassionate and understanding.

1:14:03 However, the policy, as written in the current plan of correction, is still requiring. Excuse me, the student and family who would likely wanna have some time to grieve and mourn a batch of more paperwork, justification and the like of proving where you were. I can assure you that even a hospice social worker, these families have a lot of those tasks in front of them.

1:14:18 Thank you, Miss Hurkine. Next up, Katie Delaney. Then on deck is Jonathan Hilliard.

1:14:49 I am here today to speak on item g 41, I believe, regarding student and parent legal guarding complaints. I spoke on this while it was in rulemaking, and that was when the previous board was still in place. And I am asking that this board will pull this agenda item from the consent agenda and go back into rulemaking.

1:15:15 Because 37 days for the district to come back with a resolution for families is too long. There are some things that need to be handled immediately, and giving the district the availability to wait 37 days could potentially put in a new marking period. And, you know, that’s.

1:15:27 That’s just not fair for our students. Some things need to be handled right away. So I’m asking that this item be pulled from the consent agenda and that it goes back into rulemaking.

1:15:39 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Delaney. Next up, Mister Jonathan Hilliard.

1:15:46 Good evening. My name is Jonathan Hilliard. I’m the second vice president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.

1:16:03 I wanted to thank this board for arranging this community forum that we had last Thursday. It’s been many years since I’ve seen this level of community engagement. It brings to mind the african proverb that it takes a village to raise a child.

1:16:30 And Brevard has a very, very strong village. Even though there were many different groups at the table and had lots of ideas, lots of passion, one thing that we all agreed on was strength based outcomes for the success of our children. That was, number one, everybody’s passionate plea for something to be done in our classrooms.

1:17:06 I also want to say that the Brevard Federation of Teachers number one priority is teacher safety. It is a reasonable, reasonable expectation that a teacher will go to his or her classroom and be safe, just as every parent expects their child to go to a classroom and be cared and be safe. Also, one of the things that comes up when we come through new programs and when we go through change, we hear a lot about professional development.

1:17:33 And that was thrown around a lot. But I want you to know, our teachers are not against professional development if it’s relevant and valuable. You know, if a plumber goes into a building and they’re responsible for the construction in that building, and they’re laying their pipe and everything, and they notice that there are no plugs and no light switches when they go to the construction superintendent to bring that to their attention.

1:17:47 The superintendent of the construction site doesn’t say, let’s send the plumber to additional professional development. They go and they hire or they get an electrician. And that’s what our teachers need.

1:17:57 We don’t need new training or unrelevant training. We need help, folks. We need help that might be outside of our skillset.

1:18:08 Just like the plumber. We’re very good at what we do. But there’s things that our students need right now that are outside of that area of expertise.

1:18:21 And that’s what our teachers need right now. They have a right to be safe. Let’s continue with this successful village, not just for our students, for our teachers.

1:18:37 Thank you very much. Thank you, Mister Hilliard. Next up, non agenda item speakers, Miss Deborah Crisafulli, Ernst Patton and Damani Hosey.

1:18:48 Miss Crisafoli. Sorry. It’s okay.

1:18:56 Good evening, board. My name is Deborah curcifully, newly appointed Brevard chapter chair of moms for Liberty. I truly appreciate this opportunity to speak to you.

1:19:09 A brief look into why I’m standing here today. I’ll jump around a bit, but I promise to bring it all together before my three minutes are up. I’ve been a resident of Brevard county since 1969 and a graduate of Milk High Way back in 76.

1:19:23 My husband and I have four grown children who attended and successfully graduated from our public school system. I grew up in a hard working family dance school business. For over 35 years, our studio and resident company instructed hundreds of students and produced professional productions within our community.

1:19:44 Eventually, I became super involved in the local theater scene as a performer, but primarily a choreographer. Then, when my eldest was a senior, she came home one day and asked if I would meet with her drama teacher and discuss choreographing their spring musical. With a little hesitation, I accepted that union with the school would last for 17 years and also led me to choreograph 15 seasons with the summer fine arts program.

1:19:53 Along the way, I became a substitute teacher. In addition to our careers, my husband and I were the perfect nerdy examples of involved parents. Oh my goodness.

1:20:04 Between the two of us, I don’t think we missed an event. There was classroom volunteering, field trip chaperoning, chorus, theater, band, ROTC, swimming, wrestling, baseball, lots of baseball. Somehow we did it.

1:20:15 And all the while, we made a strong effort to be deeply involved in their studies. We always knew what curriculum was coming their way. When you’re a substitute teacher, you see and hear a lot, but you can’t do anything about it.

1:20:26 One time, a high school class of about 24 students, only only five stood for the pledge. Afterwards, I was curious and asked them, why don’t you stand for the pledge of allegiance? Answers, don’t have to. I’m too tired.

1:20:33 You’re not my mama. The flag is a piece of it broke my heart. I did address this with the school board years ago, and it went nowhere.

1:20:39 Nowadays, high schools are way too lenient and comfortable with our kids. The hormones are raging. The behavior is unacceptable.

1:20:48 Sadly, many girls are getting away with pushing the dress code limits. Shorts are too short, tops are too tight. Parents, be aware of what’s being presented in your theater departments.

1:21:01 Your young student might not be ready for some of the mature content area schools are presenting. Theater can sadly breed promiscuity. Boys and girls having fast costume changes in shared dressing rooms, kids can get really friendly really fast.

1:21:08 Questionable behavior is not for the sake of the art period. Add social media to this and all heck breaks loose. We must get tougher.

1:21:19 This is not just a local issue. I pulled away from the public school scene because observing the behavioral decline was so frustrating. This is why it is so important to fight the battle of book content.

1:21:24 I cannot erase the the diagrams I have seen in numerous books. Seriously. I mean, duh.

1:21:35 Sadly, while moms for liberty strives to stand up for parental rights at all levels of government, there are other groups whose primary mission is to stop moms for liberty. That should not be their battle. It isn’t mine.

1:21:43 Let’s agree to disagree on certain things. We each have opportunities to express our concerns. I do look forward to getting to know each of you much better in the new year.

1:21:56 Thank you for your time and merry Christmas. Thank you, Miss Cristopoli. Next up, Ernst Patton, Damani Hosey and Charlie Graham.

1:22:00 Okay. I just didn’t know if he was holding on. Damani Hosey’s up next.

1:22:10 Charlie Graham. Damani Hosey here? No, Charlie Graham. Charlie Graham here.

1:22:16 No, Richard Verber. Thank you, sir. Next up behind him, Brian Bernard.

1:22:25 Brian and Kelly Kervin. Good evening. I’m Rick Bieber.

1:22:46 I live in Titusville. I was at the workshop this morning, earlier this afternoon. Rather as far as a book review and the book banning, this is as much for the public as along with what I have to share with what I think we all.

1:23:07 Okay, first of all, there are nine people on the book review committee. There’s two media people, administrator and a content specialist, along with five representatives of each of the board members. Mister Trent has recommended lowering the number to move the process along.

1:23:28 In other words, having five representatives of the board to be the book review committee, this is not good. We need more people with experienced professionals either teaching or in psychology in the book review process. And I hope that you all will make better selections on the board.

1:23:45 Not moms pro liberty. I mean, some of the craziness I heard about the books being put out there, we don’t need to shell books. Please do not take AP books and shell them and not make them available for the students because that’s bad news all around.

1:24:09 I hope that you will consider continuing keeping the rules that you have. I’m working under now because the boards have worked hard over the last several years creating them and they’re working. Please.

1:24:21 Oh, Megan Wright mentioned that the texts have a conflict for interest. Of interest, possibly for show me books. Taking them off or not taking them off.

1:24:36 That’s nonsense, you know, period. So anyway, that’s that. Now, the other thing I was hoping to address was the interim superintendent.

1:24:46 Now let’s see, I got 47 seconds. I’m just going to read this for 40 seconds. 43 seconds.

1:25:08 49 seconds. Only one application came from someone currently within Brevard public schools. Doctor Mark Rendell, the current principal of Cocoa beach junior senior high, was one of the first to apply, which has drawn concerns not just from those within Brevard, but neighboring Indian River county as well.

1:25:24 It is the same school that newly elected school board member Gene Trent worked. Doctor Randall began his tenure as superintendent of Indian River County Schools in July of 2015. In 2019, he began seeking employment elsewhere.

1:25:28 He had evaluations of one to three on a. Thank you, Mister Berber. Appreciate the time.

1:25:41 Thank you, sir. Next up is going to be Bernard Bryan, Kelly Kervin, Mike Munich Mueller. Thank you, Richard Berber.

1:25:57 Good evening. Thank you, board, for allowing me to speak with you today. My name is Bernard Bryant and I’m the educational chair for the South Brevard branch, NWCP and the concerned citizens of South Brevard.

1:26:17 I gotta be honest with you, I’m a little bit tired. I spent the last month helping young people with their science project at University park. For 3 hours this morning, I spent judging children’s science project.

1:26:27 And I gotta be honest with you, I was at University park. Those students were excellent. Those science project was phenomenal.

1:26:47 So I’m here as my number one priority is to make sure that every child has an opportunity to learn, and that should be our priority. I just wanted to remind this board that we should never forget what the data says about our children’s educational gap. Our educational gap in reading is around 30%, and this was even before the pandemic.

1:27:11 Our educational gap in math is around 32%. So those data, those numbers are very, very heartbroken to me. And I do understand the issues that are being discussed today.

1:27:21 But I want this team to understand that our children, education matters. Every child. Every child should have the opportunity.

1:27:36 Every child. And I’m just curious now to know what is our strategic plan of closing the gap? And please invite us, the south brevard branch of the NAACP. We want to partner with you.

1:27:47 I spend a lot of time. I’m retired, and I appreciate all this. You know, the accolades I heard today for those who are retiring, and I do understand those are tough decisions.

1:28:03 But it’s my priority now to help every child that needs help, we mentor. We have a phenomenal mentoring program at stone and maybe sometime take a chance to go visit those schools. So I just want to leave with you.

1:28:13 Every child, please, please look at the educational gap. What can we do to address those? There are root causes. They’re not one root cause.

1:28:25 There are multiple root causes. And I would like to encourage you to put some beef around parental engagement. Not parental involvement, but parental engagement.

1:28:37 There’s a difference between those two things. So anything we can do from the South Brevard branch of NAACP, as well as the concerned citizens of South Brevard, please give us a call. Thank you.

1:28:58 Thank you, Mister Bryan. Kelly Kervin, Mike Mueller, and Michelle Beavers. In one of her most viral TEd talk videos, Brene Brown shared a story that superintendent, only one, was coming from Brevard county.

1:29:14 And to me, that tells me that our internal talent does not want to work with this board. Mister Sesson said he had made many calls, and that wasn’t among the responses he was told. When I asked for any of the reasons given, he refused to share them under the guise that he was asked not to.

1:29:25 I didn’t ask for names, Mister Susan. I asked for generalized reasons that could explain the lack of local applicants. The thing is, I lack the trust it takes to accept such a non answer.

1:30:00 So until I’m presented with facts, the silence of our local talent pool speaks volumes and the lack of trust that they have in this board. As far as book banning, as someone who reads and reviews books for a living, I am concerned that the voices of the extreme are going to influence the books my daughters have access to, especially as my eldest daughter, Samantha, will venture into AP classes next year at West Shore Junior Senior High School. Also, as someone who reads at least one new book a day, I hope to see the committees expanded and not limited, as was talked about earlier.

1:30:10 And Miss Campbell, you are my representative. I would love to get on board, and I would love to talk to you about that. Thank you.

1:30:18 Thank you. Miss Kirvin. Mike Mueller, Michelle Beavers, and Katie Delaney.

1:30:24 I understand. I gotcha. Good evening.

1:30:38 My name is Mike Miller. I’m a resident of Brevard county with two children in the public school system. During the last school board meeting, Miss Jenkins presented herself as the sole person on this board who was standing up for the LGBTQ community.

1:30:52 She was very vocal about it, and in return, she got considerable support from the audience. I’m here today to tell the very same people who cheered for her so vigorously that they all have been had. And here is why.

1:31:07 During the meeting, a member of the board made a comment. He said, mental illness is alive and well. In this online post, Miss Jenkins wasted no time jumping on the opportunity and accusing Mister Trent of calling the lgbt youth mentally ill.

1:31:25 But that very same day, Miss Jenkins also made this post. Here, it refers to the mental illness comment and she writes, quote, my gut is that he was speaking about me because it’s the same narrative of Randy find that I’m mentally ill. End quote.

1:31:52 So basically, Miss Jenkins attacked Mister Trent by painting him as anti LGBTQ while knowing perfectly well that with his comment he was referring to her. At this point, it is crystal clear Miss Jenkins is using the members of the LGBTQ community as pawns to further her own political aspirations. The members of the gay community deserve an apology from Miss Jenkins for using them for political gain.

1:32:17 Mister Trent also deserves an apology for falsely accusing him and for calling him in her post a useful idiot. A third apology should go to the public at large for deliberately crafting a fake narrative and therefore lying to us all. Such behavior is unbecoming of an elected official and should not be tolerated.

1:32:36 For what it’s worth, I myself am a gay person. I’ve been married for over twelve years to my husband, who is jewish, and together we have adopted two native american siblings. Usually I don’t advertise my sexual orientation as it is only a part of who I am.

1:32:56 I also don’t like dragging my family into this, but in this case, I felt it was not only appropriate, but necessary, as Miss Jenkins always claims to represent people like me. Well, Miss Jenkins, nothing is more diverse than my family and you definitely do not represent me. Thank you all for your time.

1:33:14 Thank you Mister Mueller. Michelle Beavers Fillmore Marcus Hockman hello board. I want to set something straight again because people don’t seem to understand.

1:33:25 We’re not trying to ban books. No one’s trying to ban books that I’m aware of. When you take a book out of a library because it’s inappropriate and you move that access point to a public library, kids can still access it.

1:33:54 No one is advocating for any public library to have books taken out of them, any publishers to stop publishing, or any authors to stop writing. The access point for some of these books we’re talking about is a great place in our public libraries. I consulted a lawyer because I’m in the DoE work group and working on the new librarian training, and I was for the opt in and opt out at that point.

1:34:13 I advocated for it strongly for the opt in part of it. But after speaking to a lawyer and understanding that when a child opens a book and I’m going to use the example as genderqueer because we don’t have that anymore, but this group is larger than that, and there are books similar to that in some of the schools. Schools.

1:34:33 And you see a picture that’s inappropriate at that moment, at that moment in time, that child is harmed, because at that moment in time, they don’t have the benefit of having read the entire book. They’re going to open a book, see a shocking picture of oral sex. They’re going to show their buddy next to them, and they’re going to shut the book until they get home to finish reading that book, if they read it at all.

1:34:52 Because these are pictures we’re talking about in some of these books. And at that moment, they are harmed because we cannot say that book has serious literary value. And when they say serious literary value, I do not believe the legislature is meant if there are words on a page that that qualifies as serious literary value.

1:35:16 Unfortunately, our legislatures have not, at this point, given us directions on what serious literary value is. So I would suggest, because you are elected officials and you have the ability to make the decisions of these books, and you are elected from the people that you now hold our values because we elected you for this reason. So our values are what you’re telling us it is at that point.

1:35:32 So if you take a book and it’s inappropriate and you have decided, I don’t want kids to see pictures of oral sex in school, then you can say, this is our community standards for our schools. And you have that power, and I hope you use it. There are other books, of course.

1:35:49 There’s text in books that aren’t appropriate. And I hope that you do change the makeup of the, the board to five, because there’s no reason we need nine people to go over erotic books and decide they’re not appropriate for our schools. Thank you for your time.

1:35:52 Thank you, Miss Beavers. Next up, fill Moore. Marcus Hockman.

1:36:15 Sarah Mirsky. Good evening. Board Fillmore, Palm Bay, Florida, 32905.

1:36:19 And I’m trying to. It’s not allowing me to get my passcode in. There we go.

1:36:29 Okay. All right. As one of the few people who sat through the entire seven hour meeting last week, I wanted to address some of my biggest takeaways.

1:36:41 First, the sheriff. Don’t ever invite him again. He had nothing to add and he mocked members of the community invited to speak on the panel and didn’t have the decency to stay.

1:37:04 You want to talk about consequences for your actions with our children? If he’s going to make those statements like he did, then he has to deal with the consequences of his words. The other thing about that was the guest panel. Mister Susan, you should be embarrassed as to how many times you cut off and attempted to stop leaders of our community from speaking.

1:37:18 You cut off two people in particular, the representatives from the NAACP. It was disingenuous to put together this panel when you stifle their speech and dismiss their contributions. And part of their contributions were facts.

1:37:37 Everyone, whether you are a parent or not, should be alarmed at the statements made that data doesn’t matter to Mister Susan and Mister Trent. When presented with data on what major classroom issues are, both were dismissed. The data for your own personal anecdotal stories.

1:38:01 If you aren’t going to base your decisions and set policy on data and facts, then you really shouldn’t be sitting up there. And the other thing issue that I took up on as a takeaway was there was an issue about corporal punishment, Mister Susan, because you were wavering when you were posed a question and deflected on an answer. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants clarity.

1:38:32 I would like each board member to unequivocally answer yes or no. Should the and the public should know if you are for or against beating somebody else’s child in brevard public schools. Lastly, and this is not in context to the meeting, but what I’ve seen from the dais is Mister Trent and misses Wright, I’m going to assume that you haven’t had time to attend any of the mandatory ethics meetings and to educate yourself on sunshine laws.

1:38:52 But I know Mister Susan has, and yet he has been breaking the law and I ask that you not follow in his footsteps. You’re not allowed to sidebar when you’re in the meetings right now. Anything that has to be said needs to be said into the microphone so the and know what you are saying.

1:39:08 And then also I did want to address one thing because it was just mentioned and I do have a little bit of time. Mister Trent, I did email you seeking clarification as to what you did mean when you made the statement about mental health. Mental health is a serious issue and I did email.

1:39:14 I don’t know if you got that email, but I did not recommend thank you Mister Moore. I appreciate your time. Marcus Hochman, please.

1:39:27 Then Sarah Mirsky, then Lashawn Dillard, please. Good evening program. Ms. Robinson, some realizations about the discipline and behaviors going through our district right now.

1:39:34 Discipline is a part of behavior. Actually, negative takeaway punishment decreases. Inappropriate behaviors can be interpreted as discipline.

1:39:42 Staff are getting hurt and there’s a trend out there that some staff assume they will get hurt. Think about that, please. Districts needs to be held accountable.

1:40:04 Number four, BFT and possibly 1010 have seemed to be the only checks and balances in this district pertaining to the issues for the last to these issues for the last several years, a pipeline is already here. Some of these kids behaviors that are unchecked are leading them to increased opportunities of being incarcerated. There is no magical bottle out there for 1999.

1:40:22 So all the solutions pertaining to behaviors and yes, discipline have to be looked at and discussed. Some possible solutions inform the public what behavior programs and supports we implement and use in our schools. Analyze as a district what we need to do to improve behavior programs and supports.

1:40:37 All schools will have school CPI teams. This is a non negotiable increase reverse suspensions, get more parents involved. Number four, possibly create a director of behavior discipline position, office slash office.

1:41:09 Have behavior analysts, CPI trainer, possibly behavior coordinator, possibly discipline coordinator and et cetera work in this office which will work directly under the superintendent. This next one for me is a non negotiable create an oversight committee to keep the district and schools in check with whatever with whatever the plan might be. Possibly seven members, BFT officer, 1010 representative or far county Sheriff representative or law enforcement representative, parent representative, principal representative, board chair, and superintendent.

1:41:26 Because then we know we’ll go through the superintendent’s on there and these people are on there, then hopefully that will work. Number six, create a platform through blackboard or whatever to implement the best behavior strategies and discipline strategies that all our schools can share with each other. There’s tons of stuff out there.

1:41:48 It’s about getting organized. Number seven, increase classroom management opportunities through trainings during pre planning and summer. Please remember, a lack of summer school of classroom management does not mean a student has a right to assault staff, curse or disrupt if number eight, if you have a school behavior program, run it with fidelity.

1:41:56 All stakeholders must participate. Next thing. There used to be a D A R e program which was about drug awareness a few years ago.

1:42:11 Personally, I like to see another kind of D A R e program called discipline awareness, respect and educated implemented it. Talk to your experts here at ESF, which are your teachers. Sometimes they’ve been falling on deaf ears.

1:42:26 Have a look at the ESE and non ESE together and separately of discipline and behaviors. And the last thing is going to be kind of ironic coming from me, but create relationships amongst the change needed here at our appreciate your time Mister Hockman. Thank you so much for comments.

1:42:41 Miss Sarah Mirsky, Lashawn Dillard and Megan Hollerin, please. Quick question before you start my time. Are we going to do a public hearing on the Sr funding portion.

1:42:44 No, there’s not a. Not a public hearing. Thank you.

1:42:49 That there is a public hearing. Chairman and board, we will ask you. Yeah, I’m sorry.

1:42:54 Sorry. Can you clarify? Yes. There will be an opportunity for you to speak on the Sr. Thank you, sir.

1:42:59 Thank you Miss lifty. Good evening, chairman and board. My name is Sarah Mirsky.

1:43:46 I’m a wife, mother of two children and BPS college student, taxpayer, voter, stakeholder and I live in District two for school board. As the board moves forward with their search for an interim superintendent and superintendent for the Brevard County School District, I urge you to do it with the utmost transparency. Although I agree with the decision the current board has made to come to a separation agreement with the outgoing superintendent, I come from a district where lack of transparency and workarounds with the school board voting a school board member, illegally rescinding a vote and hiring a different superintendent than the school board legally and originally hired left our community even more divided in losing faith than our school board to make a competent and legal decision.

1:44:29 As the voting majority of the last Brevard Public School board and actions of the outgoing superintendent eroded the trust of many parents and stakeholders in this county. By making choices against law and directives by the state Department of Education, which was not in the best interest of the stakeholders, I and many others feel they broke their corporate fiduciary responsibilities. I urge this current board to interview and meet individually as well as interview as a board the top contenders for both your interim and superintendent picks that the interviews are live streamed or shared through the district to the general public via YouTube or platform the district prefers.

1:44:39 The next thing I’m going to talk about is public input. I’m excited we are revisiting this policy or the board is. I have a couple suggestions that I implore the board to make.

1:44:58 The first one is that anyone should be able to sign up to speak at any time during the meeting, fill out a public speaking sheet and hand it to the clerk. If the public speaking time has passed for agenda items by the time someone wants to speak, let them speak at the end of the meeting to address the board. Leaders of organizations should have six minutes.

1:45:22 Like the head of the AACP, Moms for Liberty, families for safe schools, all those organizations should have a chair or a leader have six minutes to speak at the meeting. That’s what seminole county does. As we’re comparing what other counties do, another way to facilitate the public is opening up the room to accommodate more people like it was in the summer of 2021.

1:45:28 Move these tables and set up more chairs. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Mirsky.

1:45:39 Next up is Lashawn Dillard, Megan Holloran, and Jabari Hosi. Hello. First off, it’s Lashawn Dillard.

1:45:58 We’re going to get that straight together. Second off, I want to say we have the Department of corrections and the Department of Education, two separate departments. And that’s the reason you should never, ever in life, sheriffs, not let that man back in any meeting for anything.

1:46:15 If you want to fix the problem with the outrageous students, you need to make it so that parents can do pop ups. Because I don’t think that all the kids were in the wrong, because there’s not a kid in their right mind that’s just gonna attack an adult for no cause, no show. Just like this young lady.

1:46:20 What’s her name? Katie Campbell. You don’t put your hand up. That’s just rude.

1:46:30 That’s disrespectful, and it was not called for. Now, if I was a kid and I threw something at you, you would be like, oh, my God, it was no cause. But you did do something.

1:46:38 Sometimes adults don’t realize that their actions have. And you. This is a very beige committee.

1:46:53 There is no color in this committee. So you don’t always know how to interact with somebody that’s a different race, a different sex, or a different anything. You guys need to.

1:47:03 And I’m saying this as you as a board, y’all might want to go to some. Some NAACP meetings. I might want to go to some gay.

1:47:29 Some LBGT committees, because right now I’m seeing that you guys are all stuck in white people land, and you need to get out of white people land for real. You need to open it up, because Brevard has opened up, and if you don’t, you’re going to continue to have problems. You also need to make it so that we’re not going through class b, a, b, c, d felony checks.

1:47:48 I just want to go in and see if my son is off the hook. Because I guarantee you, before, when he was at another school, I would walk into school, Cameron’s mom’s here, everybody, not just my son, but everybody in different classrooms. I wouldn’t even go into some of the classrooms, but you knew I was in the building, and those kids got accurate.

1:48:09 Sometimes you need to have that pop up parent come in there because they know, oh, the teacher can’t say nothing to me, but, oh, Cameron’s mom is going to say something. Cameron’s mom is going to tell Cameron’s friend’s teacher’s mom, what’s going on? And you might need that. And you also need that because y’all teachers are not alright.

1:48:18 I’ve popped up and heard teachers saying some out the way stuff to students and I had to stop. Did you just say what you said to that kid? Really? That’s what we do. And you.

1:48:24 They need to be checked too. So you. Lord Jesus.

1:48:35 But Katie, I really feel you need to apologize for your behavior earlier because it was totally out of line. It was very out of line. Thank you, Miss Lashawn.

1:48:53 Appreciate the time. Have a good day. Miss Megan Holloran, Jabari Hosey and then Ron McKee McClellan are up next.

1:49:07 Good evening. Hi, I’m Megan Halloran. I’ve been paying attention to the workshops and the meetings and I feel like so much has been moving really fast in the last couple of weeks.

1:49:28 Really concerned at the speed at which the board is making very important decisions, decisions on staffing, terminating the old superintendent, and now we’re hiring a new interim and looking for a permanent superintendent. The discipline, policies, the book banning is a lot. It feels like urgency.

1:49:44 It feels like political focused urgency. And I’m not seeing parental and student voices incorporated into your process. My first point is that it appears to me that the board wants to change its own established processes in terms of reviewing books.

1:50:02 At least that’s what came up in the workshop today. And I worry that banning book silences important and diverse perspectives. I get confused because I thought it was this board’s job to seek expert advice from educators and think about the importance of critical thinking in education.

1:50:12 Use the processes you have. You don’t get to skip the democratic process. And second, I’m really concerned about the superintendent hiring process.

1:50:36 My hope is that this board will take the time necessary to find the best person for this job, that you’ll look for internal and external candidates. I expect that this board will go beyond internal board divisions and find someone maybe you can even unanimously agree upon. I also hope that you’ll look for diverse candidates in your selection process.

1:50:55 Brevard deserves a superintendent that is a leader, not a politician. The next superintendent, interim and permanent, should be a candidate with significant experience who has a background connected to education. The ideal candidate has served as a teacher, a principal, and as district administrator.

1:51:12 Our students deserve a candidate focused on academic experience. This selection process should include a superintendent selection committee. The selection committee should include a diverse selection of community leaders across brevard from multiple education and youth focused organizations.

1:51:31 There are fabulous people here that could fill those roles that I listen to tonight. I want more transparency from this board on how you’re making your decisions and why. I want this board to pull in the voices of teachers, students, parents, and community leaders when considering the decisions you make.

1:51:37 The democratic process takes time, and it takes accountability. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Holloran.

1:51:51 Up next, Mister Jabari Hosey, Ron McClellan and Paul Robin. Hi. Jabari Hosey, president of families for Safe Schools.

1:52:04 I find it very ironic that two of our school board members that have a criminal history, Mister Susan and Mister Trent, and Mister Trent most recently is district investigation. So the jury is still out. If lessons have been learned from the past, both are pushing zero tolerance.

1:52:22 Imagine if you had zero tolerance with our criminal justice system, the types of criminal activities that you two have done as grown men. You two were afforded due process along with judicial process, again as grown men, and have now been allowed to be in the positions that you are today. This is the same privilege we want our children to have when attending school.

1:52:31 We want them to have non discriminatory due process. We talk about stringent policies. So I propose two policies for Brevard public schools.

1:52:46 One, Brevard public school board members cannot have criminal histories and open investigations while serving our community. I suggest another policy in terms of generalizations. This board meeting has many public speakers who make radical generalizations, and now the board seems to be doing the same.

1:53:01 Unless you have evidence to publicly share these conversations or sources that an incident have occurred, the public cannot trust these as viable. We could. We should talk about real situation, real solutions for our children, and none of these should result in criminalizing them.

1:53:22 You all know this comes at a time where a teacher shortage, social worker shortage, mental health advocacy, the tale of a pandemic, culture wars, massive bullying, social media. We know that 60% of our student population is on free and reduced lunch, which means most of them have food insecurity issues. We have more incidents in our schools involving bullying and vaping than violent behavior against staff or other students.

1:53:32 But this doesn’t seem to get addressed. Last week, we talked about data, but some of us only care about data that fits our agenda. But we look at that data and we see equity issues alone in our schools today.

1:53:55 Yet only one school board member addressed that. Yet we stood here with Mister Susan in front of a jail to decide that jail is the best solution for our students actions instead of for tolerating them. Our children are speaking through disruption, violence, truancy, and disrespect, and we have yet to listen to the root cause of what they’re calling out for students need to see themselves and to be successful.

1:54:02 We recruit. Only 15% of our our student population is african american. Yet a handful of our teachers throughout the district are african american.

1:54:15 That is problematic, yet it has gotten no energy. Mister Susan Wayne Ivey and Phil Archer dont seem to care about real solutions, but internal dont care about our children and families here in Brevard county. Only their agenda.

1:54:31 If you are willing to lock our children up, give them a criminal record before they graduate high school, how is it serving them with excellence? What is happening in our schools? Teachers are dragged into a culture war. We have teachers labeled as groomers, indoctrinators. This board is violating federal law, openly discriminating against transgender students.

1:54:48 The majority of the board doesn’t care about data when it comes to diversity. Sros have rifles strapped to their chests as if they’re patrolling a jail. Who’s safe in brevard public schools? Keep your personal politics out of our school district focused on real data driven solutions that serve all of our kids of excellence.

1:54:52 We will be here to hold you accountable. Thank you, Mister Jabari. Appreciate it.

1:55:41 Ron McClellan, Paul Raub. Mister chairman, members of the board, doctor Fetty, distinguished guests, friends and neighbors. I’m going to start off by saying I made a tactical error last week when we met for our seven hour meeting with respect to discipline, I chose not to speak.

1:55:54 And I will reiterate that was a tactical error on my part. Let me be exceedingly and unambiguously clear. I’m passionate about public schools.

1:56:06 I am product public schools. I am an East Rome high school gladiator. So now who are we talking about when we talking about all of these discipline issues? Let’s run it down.

1:56:16 Let’s identify who we’re talking about. As Jabari pointed out, 15% of the population is african american. I kind of identify with that group.

1:57:01 Of that 15% of the population, they account for 51.4% of the disciplinary actions. They also account for 57.

1:57:20 7% of the arrest as a result of disciplinary actions in school. One statistic that we did not mention of overall, of the Brevard county student enrollment, 56% are underprivileged, 56%. So if we were to generalize, if you are male, black, poor, but yet you can win a high school football championship, you can go on Facebook and be met with political violence.

1:57:30 And I mean political violence as defined by Carol Anderson from Emory uniform. And you can also be in the same group that has a 90% graduation rate, but no one mentions it. When I was at the meeting, we heard a lot of, well, back in the day, back when I was young.

1:57:42 That’s politics of eternity. We’re looking at the past about context. Let me give you a little bit more recent history.

1:57:55 When we were doing distance learning at home, there was a child in my daughter’s class. He couldn’t get his laptop to work. His dad screamed, yelled and cursed at him.

1:58:08 This kid was heartbroken. Took him 15 minutes just for the teacher to call and calm him down. You see, class wasn’t interrupted because of the behavior of the student.

1:58:19 It was the parent. So while we’re talking about, well, let’s get the parents involved, it’s the parents fault. Let’s remember, all parents don’t have the same tools.

1:58:25 While we are denigrating african american students, let’s not forget who were also denigrating their parents. You see, this is an old playbook. We know the script.

1:58:31 Why is it still so effective? Thank you mister chair. Thank you Mister McClellan. Appreciate your comments.

1:58:39 Mister Paul Rao, please. Paul’s done. It’s the end.

1:58:56 Just so everybody knows. We’ll go to the rest. Here you go now.

1:59:06 So try to keep, I have to say, within the time limit. I have a lot of notes here because that was a long meeting earlier. Not going to spend time on idiosyncratic definitions of words like banning or liberty and versus the normal meanings of those.

1:59:45 This isn’t about us or them. This is about the kids. And actually about the kids worrying about their education, their growth, their potential.

1:59:57 Not just yelling for the children while maybe literally wrapping oneself in a flag. I’m specifically going to talk about the discussion earlier about the reorganization of the book review committee, of which I’m a member currently. And interesting that while we’ve parsed the rules just enough that it looks like, okay, we can replace some of the members and probab, I’m going to guess not with, sorry, I’m more nervous than usual.

2:00:03 I’m gonna leave that alone. We’re talking about pulling the. Not pulling the staff, the experts, the subject matter experts from the committee.

2:00:10 But let’s take away their vote so they’re still here. So we can say no, they were on, we’re there. And I want to tell you, watch the video.

2:00:20 Watch the videos of those two meetings. They’re available in full. I learned so much about what actually goes on with the.

2:00:27 These books in the library and what the responsibilities those folks are and how much they care and how much they think about it. But we can have them on the committee, but don’t let them vote. So we can point at that and gesture at that.

2:00:40 Kind of like some of the folks that were at the discipline meeting there. They were there, we heard them. I mean, we’re going to ignore their data, but they were there, we had them.

2:00:45 And we’re going to bring in some new members that I’m guessing are probably going to be fairly moms for Liberty friendly, let’s say. And there’s going to be a guaranteed slam dunk majority. I’ll still be there.

2:00:59 I will still speak. I hope that it’s in good faith, like it’s been up till now. I really do.

2:01:10 Not optimistic. Gotta be honest, I was right. You talked about these books.

2:01:14 We couldn’t read them here in the boardroom, so why should they be in a library? And one thing we talk about, again, if you watch those whole meetings, is context. The context of an assigned book versus a book that’s just available in the library. The context of grade levels.

2:01:29 As simple as that. High school is not. Junior high school is not.

2:01:42 Elementary school is not kindergarten. I would actually hold a board meeting to closer to the kindergarten level of accessibility because this is publicly, easily available by anybody with access to YouTube. But I don’t think we need to toddlerize the entire school system.

2:01:58 I realize there’s kind of a statewide movement to toddlerize our educational system, but let’s not join in that, please. Let’s keep a robust, well intentioned, fair minded book review process. Thank you, Mister Raub.

2:02:07 Appreciate your time. That concludes our speakers and public comment. We thank you for your willingness to address us in this public matter.

2:02:49 Mister Delaney, I thought you had already gone. We moved all the speakers up. All right.

2:02:57 If you can give me a second so I can look through. Thank you. Give me just a second.

2:03:07 I mean, I can check and see. Because we got to make sure we fumble. I think, unfortunately, you can’t.

2:03:28 I don’t think you can fill it out for other people. Mister Gibbs, can we hang on just a second? I don’t mind giving you the opportunity. I just gotta find a piece of paper.

2:03:48 Mister Gibbs, are we allowed to have somebody fill out for somebody else? Off the top of my head, yeah. I have no. I’d have to look at the policy real quick.

2:03:55 I want to make sure that if she is, you can ask Tammy. Miss Mirsky fill out hers. But there’s nothing else behind it, so.

2:04:13 I’m sorry. It’s right on. Sorry.

2:04:17 Just come see me right afterwards if you. I understand, but without a public comment thing, if you can meet me right afterwards, I’ll meet with you. So let’s.

2:04:23 I just don’t have a form. There’s not one to be filled out. I apologize.

2:04:35 Okay. But it’s past the time, so I just would like the opportunity. We are good.

2:04:58 And we are now at the consent agenda. Doctor Theta. There are 22 agenda items under this category.

2:05:03 Thank you, Doctor Thetti, does any of the board members wish to pull any of the these agenda items? Some of you guys may have some comments. I do believe that that number 41, is that where we’re at? That’s in the public, yeah. That’s later.

2:05:16 No. So not for consent for me. Thank you.

2:05:30 Let me see this. So on the consent agenda, we don’t have anybody that wishes to pull any of them. Student expulsions.

2:05:40 Good. I have one question in regards to the labor relations item f on the consent agenda 22. Are you asking to pull it? I guess if I pull it, then we can discuss it.

2:05:52 Correct. Okay, so then, yes, I would like to pull that one. Are you talking about the school it calendar nomination of the termination? Yes.

2:06:04 Okay, so f 22. Is there anybody else that wishes to pull any of the other ones? No. Okay.

2:06:13 I move that we approve the consent agenda with the exception of f 22, which has been pulled. Thank you. I will entertain a motion to accept the consent items with the exception of those polled for discussion.

2:06:19 Move to approve. I’m sorry, is there any discussion? Please vote. All in favor? Second.

2:06:30 Is there a second? 2nd. All in favor? Please signify by saying aye. Aye.

2:06:34 All opposed? Thank you. All right. F 22, you have the floor.

2:06:37 That’s right. Need a motion in a second? No. All right, so we have a motion on the floor to.

2:06:44 No, we don’t have a motion yet. Just. Excuse me.

2:06:52 It’s been pulled. We need a motion, right? We need a motion to accept the f 22 for discussion and everything else. So we have a.

2:06:57 Hang on. We have. Do I have a motion to approve f 22 conversation? Yes.

2:07:16 And do I have a second? Okay. Okay. Discussion is yours, Miss Wright.

2:07:41 Okay, I just. I want to run down with this a little bit more because Mister Levine made a few comments that pose a bit of a concern for future for us. Can you clarify our policy? What our policy says? Because he referenced the fact that our policy indicates that it.

2:07:58 When it comes to screening someone, the reasonable suspicion. He made several references to it and it indicated to me that the policy looks like it is for somebody who’s under the influence while they’re at work and not so much this. And so I’m just concerned about the legality of what it could drag our district into if that policy gets drunk into court.

2:08:13 Ms. Wright, if I may. Okay. In the reasonable suspicion part of our technical guide, it speaks to evidence that an employee has used, possessed, sold, solicited or transferred drugs while working for the board or while on the board’s premise or operating boards vehicle.

2:08:23 So it’s covered in there. We had reasonable suspicion when we were given that, that picture to request a drug test. And the outcome, if she had taken the drug test, would have either exonerated or not.

2:08:42 Okay. And it’s my understanding too that a refusal to take a drug test is considered what it’s considered a positive test result. Okay.

2:08:46 And that would be grounds for termination? Yes. And in the, in the policy section, it says specifically that in, except in extraordinary circumstances, the superintendent shall consistently recommend for termination for positive findings of controlled substances. It goes on through there and a positive finding is a failure to test.

2:08:52 Okay. Okay. I just wanted clarification on that.

2:09:14 All right, thank you. Is that all you needed? Yeah. Okay.

2:09:25 Mister Trent, anybody else on the topic? I had the same question. And so it also clarified a question that I had when Mister Levine was talking about the picture was confirmed to be in the summer. We’re still under contract, are we not? I mean, are we still getting paid by the district? Or is that outside of.

2:09:46 Are we not employed by the district at that time? The timing of the picture was not part of the question. The timing of the picture. We received the picture.

2:10:11 Our response to that picture is reasonable suspicion drug test. And regardless of the timing, if the individual had taken the test and was clear that individual would have been back to work. Could the teacher at that point say that that was in the summer, but did she do that or was that.

2:10:18 Would that have made any difference? Not to my knowledge. Was that said and no. Anybody else wish to discuss? So I’m sorry, I don’t know if you addressed the part about tactically being underemployment, but it is my understanding that we get our letters before we leave for summer for reappointment.

2:10:46 So we’re technically still under contract with brevard public schools over the summertime, correct? Yes. Thank you. Okay.

2:11:05 Thank you, doctor. Fede, if I was. If I was shown to have, like Mister Levine said, if I was shown to have a beer at a bar, would that signify the school district to ask me to go take a alcohol test or something like that, have we ever gone in the past and taking a picture that was not given to us from any other thing but somebody else and acted on it.

2:11:11 Is there some history behind this? We have had cases where typically they involve drugs. Not so much the alcohol, they involve marijuana, CBD, oil possession, things like that. Those are the cases that we have had.

2:11:38 I can’t speak to a picture of alcohol. We’ve not had that. Okay, so I mean, because here’s what it is.

2:12:00 Do we have the probable cause to do what we were, what our district is now just for some arguments in the effect that you do something off during the summer, you cannot be held accountable by the school district for your actions unless you break the law that then can terminate your contract. But you’re not under the school’s policies and procedures and stuff like that. And the reason that you get paid over the summer is because you get paid for the amount of time that you work.

2:12:18 So you work ten months, but it’s spread out over all the pay so that you can have it. The employment contract does renate and initiate, but you as a person and a human being have no control over what you want to do over the summer and stuff like that. Basically as long as you don’t, you abide by the law and you don’t break it and then change the fact that you can be hired or not from it.

2:12:33 But I would say that being the fact that if the picture was over the summer, that there’s not a probable cause for that. What I would suggest with that kind of conversation, I just wanted to kind of add to that. Mister Wright, you have any questions? I just think it’s a slippery slope.

2:12:51 I’m concerned with the fact that we don’t have a date status stamp to when that was taken as far as context goes. And so that does concern me to some degree. And then it’s basically an assumption that that was a positive because she didn’t take the drug test.

2:13:01 So that’s where my concern is. And the fact that is this opening up the window to photos getting sent in and all of a sudden everyone is eligible to be popular drug test over what could be something that was in college or something to that degree. Thank you, Miss Campbell.

2:13:19 Just some history. This is not our first time to have situations like this before. And that’s why we have policies and procedures in place.

2:13:52 We have the manual that teachers have to go through the, they have to sign off on that. They understand what the drug free workplace, which by the way is a federal guidelines, what drug free workplace means. And from my perspective, just to be completely honest, if you don’t have anything to hide, you don’t have anything to hide.

2:14:02 And so the reason why the termination was, as doctor Fede said, always recommended, is because that they followed procedure. So whether the picture was this summer or last summer, when the question is called, okay, we have gotten this, I don’t know that they really need to go chase down a date stamp. They have evidence that an employee was using an illegal drug that the employee had signed off on saying they understand drug free workplace.

2:14:11 So it’s something that we do. People, if they have workers comp related issues, they have to go get a drug test. If you refuse the drug test, that’s just standard procedure.

2:14:22 That it’s considered positive. It’s not something unique to brevard, but it’s something we have to be very careful of. Because drug free workplaces.

2:14:45 I recall a conversation we had in previous years, grants that we do. We have to be able to check that box that says we are maintaining a drug free workplace. And I would just bring that.

2:15:09 Because this is something that we talked about in the past with other employees that we’ve had to bring out, have this termination discussion. And that is the reason, just on a practical level, as a school district, that we would want to enforce these rules for our employees. Is because these employees are over the care of our children.

2:15:13 And we have to maintain that because they need to be able to make decisions in today’s world split second and be on their a game all the time. And so that’s why, you know, it’s my feeling that we need to constantly preserve the integrity of a drug free workplace. Especially with the jobs that these people do that are in our employees.

2:15:21 I have a follow up. Yes, ma’am. Miss Jenkins.

2:15:40 Doctor Denny, I have a question and then a follow up. Did you meet with all the board members individually about this case? I did. Okay.

2:15:52 And the reason I asked that is because I don’t want to identify specific things about this to the public that don’t need to necessarily be identified. And that was a genuine question because I don’t know with everybody, this isn’t pleasant. Nobody wants to do this.

2:16:02 I hate if it is retaliatory. That’s gross. But the facts are there was reasonable assumption and the employee had an out to choose.

2:16:17 And so unfortunately, we have to follow policy. We have to do what we have to do. It doesn’t make it less gross and painful to do to somebody.

2:16:21 But you all had an individual meeting, so this is not about what is being discussed. I don’t really want to make it any more obvious what we’re talking about because I don’t think that’s fair. But I just.

2:16:34 I wanted to bring that. Bringing that up. Thank you, Miss Jenkins.

2:16:39 Mister Trent. I mean, it just goes, yes, we did have that meeting and I did see the pictures. And I guess we’re assuming in the pictures what was there.

2:17:06 We did have to assume some things. I’m not up on that. I had to be.

2:17:19 I had to be creative in knowing what I was looking at. I’ve been around education for a while and there was a time where if someone sent a picture of an athlete that had a red solo cup in his hand or her hand, they were kicked off a team that they were on suspended at the very least. And this started getting abused near the end of the season.

2:17:37 And that’s how you would take out. Maybe sometimes the best player on the other team is somebody anonymously would send a picture of this student with a. Could have been at a family function and it had a red solo cup and they were suspended.

2:18:04 That’s just a slippery slope. We know for a fact that you can put in a request to the district or department of education and poof. Now we have an investigation into an employee, and then we can use that for political gain.

2:18:23 I just don’t want to see that happen here in Brevard. But I will say again, this employee had the opportunity to exonerate herself. I would argue against the exoneration because her, apparently her legal counsel told her that not to take the test just because that then becomes that they assume the right of the probable cause.

2:18:51 So here’s my argument. If I’m sitting here and I just get hired and I’m six months into my job, we just set the precedent that somebody can come in and take a picture, show a picture to you out of vengeance, which we said, you know what I mean? Out of being negative and which would automatically put the same person back into this. I feel that we have probable cause for a reason.

2:19:03 But I hear some people here saying that drug free workplace, if you’re drug free workplace means that you have to have something that inhibit something that happens, that shows that you are no longer able to perform your duties inside of the workplace. Or there’s something kind of a trigger, showing a picture to somebody, then forcing them to take a drug test, just because that person forced them to, then put them into the guilty side of things. I feel against.

2:19:17 But you know what we can do is we can send the probable cost piece off to get a report from another attorney. It’s going to cost us a little bit of money. Or we can vote for it or against it tonight.

2:19:26 But my concern is, is the probable cause portion of it maybe being a slippery slope for other things, other abuses that may be able to come up? And I wanted to take a second and just say that that’s where I’m at. So I have one more thing to say. Hang on, Miss Wright.

2:19:50 And then I’ll come back to you. Miss Wright, I just want to make it very clear, I’m 100% in favor of a drug free workplace. So, like, I don’t want this to appear that way.

2:20:00 My concern is that, do we have enough here to say that this is 100%, or are we just assuming someone is guilty of something because of pictures and timestamp and that could drag us into a lawsuit? And so my concern is that I get that she had an out. Wish she would have exercised it, really do. But again, if your attorney says don’t do something, usually you follow your attorney’s advice.

2:20:05 So I understand that to some degree, and I just do think that we are on a slippery slope with this one, so. But I am 100% for a drug free workplace. Let me say that.

2:20:07 Thank you, Miss Wright. Doctor Theta. Were you trying to enter your chat? I will when the board.

2:20:23 Okay. Miss Jenkins. Yeah.

2:20:42 Listen, sometimes we have to make. Really think of a kind of word to say hard decisions. Sometimes it feels really gross to have a black and white option.

2:20:58 But may I remind the board we also have educators or staff members, I know one personally who burned her hand on her soup while heating it up for her lunchtime and then automatically had to go take a drug test because she injured herself. These things happen a lot in the workplace where you go, I don’t understand. That doesn’t make any sense.

2:21:12 But it’s our policy, and we have to follow it. We can’t just change one thing because we feel emotional about it in a different way. Again, you know, we had a conversation, I don’t know, a year ago, about a different employee that felt weird and dirty.

2:21:23 And I spoke honestly about it because it was a different scenario. But this employee had the opportunity to make a choice to have a possible different outcome. We can’t ignore that.

2:21:37 And we also can’t ignore that an investigation took place. There’s a file that’s thick about it. It’s not like our staff just came to us with a piece of paper and said, hey, we got this photo.

2:22:03 We need to fire this employee. That didn’t happen either. So we need to take that into consideration, because I hear that we’re on a slippery slope, but we’re also then on a slippery slope to allowing certain things as well.

2:22:09 Because if we don’t follow the policy as it’s written down to a t, then what are we going to do when another scenario comes out that we feel differently about? We’re not going to have. We’re not going to have any structure behind it, any strong will behind it. And so again, I just want to remind you these weird scenarios happen on a regular basis, even when there isn’t a suspicion.

2:22:31 I’m sure there’d be plenty of employees who could speak to that. Thank you, Miss Jenkins. Doctor Thetti had something to say.

2:22:35 Well, I wanted to point out to you that this is not just about reasonable suspicion. It’s also about pre employment drug script screenings, and it’s all part of your policy and your technical guide for drug free workplace. Employees who fail to report to a collection site within 24 hours of receiving the form are also not eligible for employee employment for up to a year.

2:22:43 I mean, for a year. Not up to a year. For a year.

2:22:56 This is the same kind of situation. If you. In my opinion, if you open the door, you run.

2:23:03 It’s a risk management issue because we now have knowledge that somebody may have been under the influence at some point, and we. If something happens with a student, it’s a risk management issue. It is your policy.

2:23:11 The policy speaks to all of these things. It speaks to pre employment. It speaks to random drug tests for those who drive.

2:23:28 Who drive for us, and it speaks to reasonable suspicion. And the criteria were met. I just wanted to share that.

2:23:34 And I also wanted to say that, as we’ve said, the employee did have the opportunity to test. Thank you, doctor Thede. Anybody else wish to comment before we go to a vote? No, I’ll call a question now, just so everybody knows.

2:23:41 If you vote in favor, you vote in favor of terminating. If you vote against, you vote against terminating. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

2:23:45 Aye. All opposed? Nay. Nay.

2:24:08 Next up, we are now at the public hearing portion of the agenda. Mister Susan. The first item is to hold a.

2:24:32 The first item is to hold a hearing regarding the elementary and secondary emergency Relief Esser fund under the American Rescue Plan ArP act, updated instructional continuity plans, ICPs. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Somebody had. Somebody wanted to come up.

2:24:52 Miss Marsky had said that she wanted to address it. Miss Marsky, did you want to address it. Good evening chairman and board.

2:25:14 Thank you for this opportunity to speak. I guess, and I know this is not a question and answer time about why you would want to remove the SR funding. I had a lot of concerns with the district originally accepting SR funding and the puppet strings from the federal government.

2:25:19 As far as policy went of how you as an independent local government school board would have to craft policies and things around that. My other concern was inflation. And it just seems now inflation is an accepted form of our everyday life which we can’t escape.

2:25:34 Inflation. But it’s certainly a huge concern. The most people who inflation.

2:25:48 The majority that inflation affects our poor population. That’s the one who this has affected the most. So that was my concerns.

2:25:56 My concerns were one, that why we were pulling the SR funding. Why now? And two, the strings attached with that funding from the federal government. Thank you.

2:26:07 Thank you. Miss Mirsky. Is there anyone else who wishes to address this item? No.

2:26:15 Do I hear a motion? Second. Is there any discussion? Please vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

2:26:32 Opposed passes. 50. Next item is to hold a public hearing to approve board policy 5780.

2:26:40 Parents rights. Students rights. Is there anyone here? Anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone here who wishes to address this item? Do I have here a motion to approve? Do I have a second? 2nd.

2:26:48 Is there any discussion? Everybody please vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

2:27:08 All opposed passes. 50. Next item is to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 6520.

2:27:14 Payroll deduction. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Opposed.

2:27:31 Motion passes. 50. Next item is to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 24 10.

2:27:37 School health services. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Second. Is there any discussion? Please vote.

2:27:58 I’ll signify by saying hi. Opposed? Passes. 50.

2:28:03 Next item is to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 24 one six. Student privacy and parental access to information. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Is there any discussion? Please vote.

2:28:10 All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, passes.

2:28:28 50. Next item is to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 3213. Student supervision and welfare.

2:28:34 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion. Motion to approve. Is there any discussion? Please vote.

2:28:54 All signify in favor by signify by saying aye. All opposed? Motion passes. 50.

2:29:11 The next item is to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 5200, attendance. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Is there any discussion? Yes. Okay.

2:29:19 Just to clarify, I think, Doctor Sullivan, you clarified that the death of a direct family member is an excused absence. And that’s in the policy moving forward. So anybody that’s receiving currency notices over a loved one that’s passed away, that will stop.

2:29:27 So just want to clarify that for the public, if you would like. I have Miss Sullivan coming up to say that in the board discussion. So if you miss.

2:29:32 Doctor Sullivan, if you wanted to come up and just kind of explain the policy, explain that we’re good, that way we can avoid it. Yeah. Okay.

2:29:40 Miss Moore then. Thank you. Miss Moore.

2:29:50 Thomas more. Yeah, I know. That’s why I said it in the mic.

2:30:05 So we should just keep calling you up because we don’t have you much longer. So we want to try to give you an opportunity to speak to us. Thank you so much.

2:30:25 Yeah. The new policy added a couple of areas into what we consider excused absences. The board considers the following factors to be reasonable excuses for time missed at school, including illness with medical documentation, court appearance, medical appointment, pregnancy.

2:30:35 Approved school activity. This is added insurmountable conditions. Insurmountable conditions are extreme weather conditions, communicable disease outbreaks and local conditions determined by the school district, which after taking into account material circumstances, would render impractical a student’s attendance at school.

2:30:50 Other absences prior with prior approval from the principal or designee. We used to have that many, many years ago and then it went away. Now it’s back.

2:31:05 Attendance at the center under DCF, significant community events with prior permission from the principal. So, for example, we had a lot of families keeping their students home for the last launch. So that gets pulled in here.

2:31:16 Religious instruction or religious holiday death in the immediate family, appointments for therapy service provided by a licensed healthcare practitioner. That one’s a little bit longer. Chronic and extended illness.

2:31:19 I just have a question. Is this retroactive for this school year so that anybody that has received notices or does this go into effect once we change this policy? Moving forward? That would be a poll question. Moving forward.

2:31:48 Okay. It’s moving forward. Moving forward.

2:31:58 Okay. So as we speak now, if you have an absence for a funeral and a couple other ones, even though they may be excused if it hits the ten days, do they automatically get sent in to have to fill out the packet and stuff like that? Or is it that they don’t have to fill it out if it’s excused and it’s on that list and only unexcused brings them to the nine or ten. There was a lot in what you just said, so I’m gonna.

2:32:06 Oh, oh, oh. Look, steph. Doctor Saldivan is just a reminder that it was always parent excused.

2:32:26 And those are excused absences. And so even with the change, it just makes it even cleaner. But it was always parent excused before.

2:32:34 And that’s the note that I mentioned to the board previously that we are clarifying with our schools this week. So in the event that that’s occurring, then we should be able to do what Miss Wright wanted, which is excuse the absences where people had applied prior to this making the change. Yep.

2:32:51 Yes. That’s what I just wanted to make sure to give those. So this semester is close to being over, right? And so the question is about.

2:33:10 I believe it’s not about true in because that’s a whole other definition. It’s about students who may fail due to absences and the process by which we can waive that legal obligation. So this policy is not going to have much impact on that.

2:33:15 Unless a student misses nine days between today and December 22, it will have a huge impact on next semester and how we determine whether or not a student has to do a failure due to absences. Waiver packet. Does that answer your question? So basically, if I have a.

2:33:19 If I was in a funeral in the. This pre. This current semester, it’s going to get excused.

2:33:21 It is parent excused. Yes. And so they have the option to parent excuse.

2:33:27 That’s all. Okay? Yes. Thank you.

2:33:31 All right. Any other discussion? All right, moving forward. All signify.

2:33:54 All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed.

2:34:13 Motion passes. The next item is to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 5710 student and parent legal guardian complaints. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Is there any discussion? Yes.

2:34:27 On this? Also, and maybe just some clarification that. That we put in the district must within 30 days respond. I do agree that it seems in some cases an awfully long time to hear back from the district on an issue.

2:34:43 Was that for any particular reason? 30 days? That’s exactly the language. Thank you, mister Chen. That was modeled after the state’s model.

2:34:51 So we took the state language, took the state’s form, took the state’s everything, and felt safe, even prior to the school board rule being approved, that that was the direction the state was going to go. And we wanted to model the state. And just to be clear, I mean, it’s up to 30 days.

2:35:11 If they come up with something quicker, and if there’s a board meeting in between, they can still come and address the board on an issue. That’s not an issue. Correct.

2:35:17 And basically, the parent has the opportunity to go to the principal and say, I disagree with how you are implementing these very specific, narrow policies. Principal has to respond within seven days. And then all of that, if the parent continues to disagree with what the principal determined, comes up here to the district.

2:35:28 And you’re right, nobody wants to sit on anything for 30 days. Okay. Thank you.

2:35:54 Yes, ma’am. Miss Campbell, on this topic, you sent us an email the other day that shared with us the memo from Jacob Oliva on how this relates to charter schools. Correct.

2:36:11 And so I just want to make sure I understood that because I, for some reason, had not caught that before. So this introduces some more accountability for charter schools because quite often we have gotten complaints or concerns from a parent of a charter school student who comes to us and says, and as a board, we don’t have a lot of authority in that way. But if I’m understanding this correctly, the seven day process would.

2:36:16 The charter schools would have seven days to. And if it doesn’t, they don’t resolve it, then it would go back to our policy, which is this one, saying that we would work with them. So it provides, if I’m understanding correctly, some more accountability for our charter schools to the charter school parents.

2:36:25 That is my understanding of it as well. In practice, we’ll. We’ll see how it happened.

2:36:35 But that is my understanding, as well. Right. Well, and then, you know, and even if it doesn’t go through, I mean, the parents can rise to the next step for them after they would come through.

2:36:43 Our process is the special magistrate, so it just gives them somewhere to go, which I think that was what was missing before. So thank you. You’re welcome.

2:36:53 Thank you, Miss Campbell, any other discussion? Okay. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

2:37:10 Aye. Opposed passes 50. The last item to hold a public hearing and approve board policy 5751, parental married status of students.

2:37:25 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? No, you got somebody? Oh, I’m so sorry, ma’am. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. I apologize.

2:38:00 Actually, I did want to address this item, but I have a statement to make. There’s so much on the agenda that sometimes it takes. It’s too much for a parent because this is one of the things I noticed on the agenda.

2:38:22 And I didn’t get the opportunity to really go into detail of your policy because you’re trying to go through so much to find out what it is, what is not to have a question in comment about it. I would ask, is it possible that we can move this item? I know this is the last one for the year, so that parents actually have the opportunity to read through these policies, to come here and actually make suggestion statements or even concerns and a lot of these things, we don’t have the time. You have parents that work two jobs, they’re in college and they have children.

2:38:57 So I employ the school board to please, if we can, minimize some of the items on here, because this is an item I really wanted to understand and didn’t get the opportunity to really look at and look into so that there can really be something to say about it. So that’s my thing. Can we push it? And if not, we can’t.

2:39:07 But if we can push it so that we get the opportunity to read and really see, study it, so we have something to say or agree with it. Is there anyone else who wishes to address this item? Okay, do I hear a motion? Second, is there any discussion just for education purposes, I think might help this process? When we go through the policy revision process, we do take. It was brought up in the workshop for those who were there.

2:39:18 It is a multi board meeting, multi week process. It takes at least, I always say six. Yes, I always say 60 to 90 days.

2:39:34 60 to 90 days. So this is the third time that this would have been on one of our agendas. So at any time, we want the public to be paying attention to what’s on the other agendas, because this is like third time it spent on there.

2:39:48 This particular policy, the only change, the only change from the way it used to be was we added some lettering, so it’s consistent with other policies. Added ABCD, and we added one statute. So the policy actually didn’t change in the verbiage, it just changed in.

2:40:00 We added the statute that was related to the policy. So there’s no other changes to the policy of a substantial nature. Miss Wright? I was going to do the exact same thing as I was pulling it up and just looking to say, like, there was a cabinet meeting.

2:40:19 On 926, a work session on 1011, rule development was 1025. So it has gone through several different options or different times for you to be able to have some input to it. So.

2:40:31 And then Miss Campbell said the other part of what I was going to say. So that’s all I wanted to say. Yeah, here we go.

2:40:46 Absolutely. So what I wanted to say was, we’re starting to see some of our parents that really want to get engaged. So I’m going to meet with her afterwards, and I’m going to sit down and talk to you and say, hey, let’s talk about this.

2:40:56 There isn’t an absurd amount of policies tonight that we’re going through. So I agree with you with the amount of them, and I would love to engage with you in conversation over our policies at any time. So let’s meet right afterwards and talk about that.

2:41:21 Is there any other discussion on the item? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed passes 50.

2:41:32 Doctor Thetti, will you please let us know about the items under the action portion of today’s agenda? The first item is H 43. Designate times, dates, and locations of school board meetings. Thank you, doctor Thede, do I hear a motion? Is there any discussion? I wanted to just say, Russell Brune and I are working on some of the offsite locations that we talked about.

2:41:44 We should bring that back for a general discussion in January at a workshop. Just so you guys know, I submitted some of those possible locations to you guys and through Paul. It doesn’t mean that those are all of them.

2:41:55 It doesn’t mean that that’s all. You know what I mean? We’re going to go to all of them. It’s just, we’re going to go look at when they have their meetings, see if we can utilize some of those locations.

2:42:09 And I think Russell and I will work through that and then bring it back near the end of January. As you guys know, the county is moving to an online posting of a de agenda. So we’ll be able to then say, okay, here’s the plan.

2:42:18 Discuss it a little bit, put together an action item, and maybe either add a couple of dates or amend some dates and then go from there. So I just wanted to kind of give you guys the. Just a quick rundown and that, you know, bring something back in January.

2:42:49 Miss Campbell, you had something to say? Yeah, if I could just. I want to add something to that discussion before we move forward into that. I mean, I think we need to approve the calendar.

2:43:14 I actually went back and checked statute we were supposed to by statute and by policy, approve it in November. But we didn’t know. But this, when we, I have a concern with moving around, and I would suggest, and I’ll share my, a little bit, that rather than, when we talk about our regular meetings, rather than moving them to other locations that we consider having maybe quarterly or more often if necessary, having those, like, more like a special meeting in the alternate locations.

2:43:32 And here’s why, you know, especially representing the south end, I know Miss Wright, up in the north end in particular, it, we can’t anticipate, anticipate today what policies, what controversial issues might be coming up, let’s say in August. And to go ahead and say, okay, in August at our second meeting, we’re going to hold that one in Titusville. But that time we might have something that community really wants to speak to.

2:43:37 But we just made a real hardship for people who live in Palm Bay and Malabar because it’s an hour to drive to Titusville. So I think it’s, even though, honestly, for some people in Pompeii and Titusville, even coming to Viera is prohibitive. But having it, this is about as central as you can get anywhere in Broad county, right next to the highway.

2:43:55 We’re right in the middle. I feel like we need to continue to have our regular meetings here. But I like the idea of going out.

2:44:21 But I think maybe that might be better to do as a, as a special meeting rather than a regular board meeting, because we don’t know what topics we, and we don’t want to inhibit, prohibit the public from participating. I think those are great suggestions. I think some of those concerns, and that’s, you know, what we wanted to work through.

2:44:40 I think one of the issues that we’re running into, just so the public knows, is that we really, we meet here every single time and there’s some great opportunity to go into the communities and listen to the groups of people who don’t make their, all the way down here because they have families, they have other things that they have to be at. So you might have a bus driver that lives in Palm Bay, and she might not be able to, or he might not be able to drive all the way up here to talk about issues, or there might be a community member. So we want to try to engage the community.

2:44:49 The way that we do that is go to the community. And then if we are going to roundtable, the idea, just so everybody knows, is to take the community leaders toward the schools, talk about what we’re doing, then meet in a roundtable this is all suggestions. We’re going to discuss this, but listen to the community in that area so that we can develop stronger policies based on those things.

2:44:56 So I think Russell and I will work on that together. And I look forward to bringing something back. And I think we’ll bring it to the workshop off site thing that we put together.

2:45:11 So, any other comments on this? Yeah, I hear you, Miss Campbell. And I just want to. I’m not going to go into detail about it because I’ll probably mess it up.

2:45:21 Let’s be real. But Mister Gibbs had sent us all an email also explaining pretty explicitly how difficult it makes a rulemaking process if we hold it somewhere and then move it and all that stuff. So if you want to explain that, if it’s too much right now, that’s fine as well.

2:45:31 But that was another major concern. It would delay policies being revised and finalized even longer than it normally takes. If there’s a way we can discuss all of that at the workshop, it’s kind of the idea.

2:45:35 So if we can do that, I mean, having discussion now is. It’s also the time to have that discussion now as well. So.

2:45:45 Okay. I think she asked you a question, Mister Gibbs. You sent out an email.

2:45:45 Did you care to qualify? We can discuss it when the board discusses it. I was using it as an example. Like, if I didn’t know what the scope is of the off site.

2:46:08 So if we’re going to have those discussions, that’s fine. I know there had been conversations about maybe limiting the workshops there so that you can’t. And I have to have that first public hearing for rulemaking at a workshop.

2:46:28 So if we’re limiting agenda items, I can’t hold that first public hearing at off sites. So that was the example I provided on the impacts it could have to the rulemaking process. And I think these are all great opportunities.

2:46:36 I thank you for putting those things forward. That’s what we do, is try to listen to everybody and perform an idea. I did want to let you guys know Sarasota goes to different cities and utilizes the city council chambers and Monroe county does, which is the keys because they’re so diverse, has north and south meetings.

2:46:46 But I think we’re different, right? So all this is great input. I think the idea is we just want to get to the communities and start listening to the people. And this gives us an opportunity.

2:46:54 So thank you very much for all your comments, Miss Jenkins and Mister Gibbs. I appreciate it. And with that, is there any other discussion? Okay, please vote.

2:47:10 All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed passes 50 doctor theta.

2:47:39 The next item is H 44, appointment of board representatives and alternates to various committees for the upcoming year. This doesn’t take a vote or anything like that. Just so you guys know, my thought process and I didn’t know where your guys head would be at, is that there’s other opportunities for us.

2:47:53 I sat in Lake county schools and some others where they just literally ran off like 100 organizations and they’re very involved. And I think that that’s a little bit extreme, but I think on the back end there are some other ones that we could. So I just kind of threw this thing out there and say, hey, there’s some other organizations I reached out to, like HBCA and some of the others, and they said, man, we would love to have a school board representative come to our organization and just kind of represent us and bring back feedback to the board at specific things.

2:47:56 And many of these organizations are already a part of our school system in one way or another. To be honest with you, not all of these have been reached out to for. To make sure that they can.

2:48:05 All except for one that I know of. I called the director. He just hasn’t had time.

2:48:23 He liked the idea. He just doesn’t have time to get to the board. So what I was doing is putting these out, and I didn’t know if any of you had some that you may want to ask for.

2:48:35 But there’s, you know, there was some that I added, and I think that civ mil is a perfect example. The EDC I sit on, but I sit it on it as a private member for insurance, I think that should be one career source, Brevard. And in some of these, the super superintendent is in there, but we never hear back from those organizations.

2:48:50 And I think it would behoove us to also be there with the superintendent if he was or she was. So with that, we have some of these space coast league of cities. I hope you guys had enough time to try to think of where you really wanted to go.

2:49:02 I will tell you, I will fight everybody up here for the Brevard county values adjustment Board. That is my number one, just so you know. But anyway, so I guess we’ll just go down here and I’ll just kind of say, you know, space Coast League of cities and we’ll go through it.

2:49:20 Does anybody else wish to go any other way to do it? Well, we might want to. There’s at least one of these that it’s usually, it’s almost always the chair. Yeah, I was going to do those.

2:49:26 As we get down to them, I was just going to say this is the direction that we’ve gone in in the past and I just want to give the other board members the opportunity to discuss that. So I, before we start naming them, because the ones that you added, 13 down, I don’t know, it sounds like some of them are inviting us to be a part. Have a seat at the table.

2:49:30 Except for one. How many, like, are official? And I’m assuming we could also just participate. Just.

2:49:42 Yeah, and then go anytime. I know. Home Builders and contractor association.

2:49:53 Last time I met with them, like, you come anytime, you’re welcome. But I didn’t know the first twelve are ones that we specifically have a need to have a seat on. So we want to make sure we get all those covered.

2:50:23 But I wanted to share this. I asked Mister Roon what staff are already part of some of these. So just so we know, the EDC, government community relations and the superintendent usually participate with that.

2:50:44 Career source Brevard government community relations, RCTE department and recruitment government community relations works with HBCA, the Chamber of Commerce is all of those CTE programs, superintendent and then NAACP leading and learning. And the superintendent usually is involved with those and build relationships with those. So we have had representation and I think we have somebody on civil, but I superintendents gets registered for them.

2:50:57 But I think that having being the fact that many other cities basically, like for the League of Cities, which were not a city, of course, but like they send their entire group, there’s other cities that will pay for all the members to go because it’s kind of a collegiality with a major organization and our thing. So I put them all out there. Thank you so much for your comments, Miss Campbell.

2:51:13 Do you have anything else? No. Okay, so space Coast League of Cities is one of those that are open. So just everybody understands in the event that you wish to attend any of these, you have a budget inside of yours that you can just say, I want to go to it and we will pay for it.

2:51:18 You just got to give them enough time to tell them that you’re going to be going. So if you wanted to go to Space Coast League of cities, stay next week, month, you can just tell Tammy and she’ll make sure that you’re on the list and then they’ll pay for it. So there’s, even if you’re the representative, I mean, almost every one of these, we are more than welcome to go as a board member.

2:51:27 Right. Central Florida Coalition of Schools and all that other stuff. So just wanted to do that.

2:51:40 But Mister Trent, looks like you want to say something. Well, I had thought that the space Coastal League of cities, do their meetings move around? Yes, they do. Yes, sir.

2:51:50 Was that ever a thought of just, hey, it’s in your district next month. Do you want to be the representative to go, or does it have to be the same person? I know you said we all could go, but we’ve done that. Like, to be honest with you, when they get near me, I’ll try to.

2:52:01 And so I think we just do that. But having somebody that in the event that they have an issue or something like that, that is the direct person. And I think Miss Jenkins and Miss Campbell have been doing it for a while.

2:52:12 I haven’t ever, actually, I’ve never gotten, but I think Miss Jenkins has been the representative. Now, is this your second year, Miss Jenkins, or only your first year? Okay, so Miss Jenkins did it for a full year. Yeah.

2:52:21 So anyways, that’s so, you know, and like, to be honest with you, it’s just those are the people that go, and then you can fill in if you want. So, space Coast League of cities. Does anybody wish to.

2:52:24 Miss Jenkins, do you wish to retain that? Are you dying about it? Is there anybody else that wants to be a part of it? No, I don’t mind giving that up for somebody else. Okay. Does anybody else.

2:52:36 Every month it rotates to a new city. They’re the host. Yep.

2:52:43 What we didn’t include on here was the date and time of pretty, like, what? You know, what day of the week or month or. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, just remembering.

2:52:56 I mean, it was yesterday, so it could be the second Monday of every month. I don’t really know. I never really paid attention.

2:53:07 It was just on my calendar and I went, it’s Mondays usually. Yes, it rotates every single. Every single month to a new city for the opportunity for that city to invite people there, but also talk about what they’re doing.

2:53:07 And typically there’s like some kind of a special guest or something. So, yeah, I mean, I participated for a full year, went to all of them, and. Thank you for that.

2:53:28 Is there anybody else legal cities, if you don’t want to retain it, I don’t mind taking that one in. Okay. And Miss Campbell on the backup, would you like to continue to be the backup? Sure.

2:53:33 Is there anybody else who wants to be the backup? I mean, basically, you can back them up anytime and go anyway, so. All right. All right.

2:53:44 Brevard county value adjustments boards. I will fight you guys if you try to take it from me. No, I’m just kidding.

2:54:00 Just so you guys know, it’s the known as the worst one for anybody to go to because it’s really, really boring. But I like it because there’s only two meetings and they only last like 15 minutes. I know what they used to be.

2:54:06 You remember how bad they used to be? I mean, if you go, they can potentially, they go hours and hours and hours. Just recently we got it in line and started going, but it’s a lot of fun. So if you guys don’t mind, I would love to continue to serve on that, but I do need a backup.

2:54:10 Well, that was my predecessor, so I’ll be the backup. All right, man. I might not show up.

2:54:18 Just so that you can. And get a feel for the value adjustment board. All right.

2:54:32 Brevard Cultural alliance. This is a great organization. Works with many of the arts and hosts and funds things inside.

2:54:40 Miss Jenkins, did you want to talk a little bit about it? Yeah. It is really wonderful, and the people who are a part of it are fantastic. But I have to be honest, the schedule of this one was really tough for me, and so I didn’t get to participate as much as I really probably would have preferred.

2:54:51 It’s a lot of mornings, and it’s really hard for me to get there. And they were. When they were virtual, it was easier to participate as well.

2:55:01 So if somebody else is able to take that, that’s. That’s fine. And that’s honestly more convenient for me.

2:55:08 Monthly. Yeah. Okay.

2:55:35 Where do they typically meet and day or anything like that? When I served on it, I served it, I think, for two years. They met across the street. They had an office, but I think they’ve since moved.

2:55:50 Miss Jenkins, do you know where they. A couple of times it was at the. I’m gonna say the Vlong Hotel, the Marriott on 182.

2:56:04 Don’t hold me to that. Yeah. And again, it was virtual for most of the time that I was on it, but it’s either Wednesday or Thursday mornings at like, 08:00 a.

2:56:15 m. So I do know that part of the conversation, and I’m not sure, Miss Jenkins, is that they were trying to join with the other counties that were south of us. Did you know if they actually did move to that or are they still solo? I have no idea.

2:56:41 The person I communicated most with outside of those meetings, honestly, was their education liaison. I mean, they specifically have an education liaison department. So really, that’s really the best connection their meetings aren’t necessarily focused towards us, their main meetings.

2:56:55 But that person, she is, she’s critical, she’s important, and she deserves somebody who can be there to communicate with her regularly. And there’s some very important people that sit on that guy. Spearman’s wife was very involved in that.

2:57:09 And there’s a bunch of other people. So I do know it meets a little bit further south. So I didn’t know if Miss Jenkins or Miss Campbell would be interested first, just being the fact that they do meet down there off 192.

2:57:20 Yeah, I’m trying to, I don’t mind, I’m trying to, like, balance because I don’t want to get to the end and like certain people are overloaded and I. So I just really want, I mean, I don’t mind going in order, but there’s kind of a couple of like, you know, that are more time consuming than others. And it would kind of. I would only reason why I hesitate is I know if I’m going to say yes to some other things, then I probably have to let go of some others.

2:57:29 So I. If I can reserve the right to. When we come back, can we get to the bottom? I think that might be a good idea. Then we can shuffle around us new board members know which ones you’re talking about that are more time.

2:57:44 You know what, maybe before we start, maybe we could go through and assign and everybody, because there’s some of these that I haven’t done, but tell me what you really want. Well, so if we can just go through like Central Florida public school boards coalition. It used to be you had to drive over to Orlando once a month and do it.

2:57:58 And it’s always was the chair and the, the vice chair was alternate, which it still should be. But now they’ve been, since COVID they’ve been, they’ve gone virtual and they’re gonna. It looks like we’re gonna stay virtual and it’s open.

2:58:05 We can all participate. I always put it on my calendar and I tend get online when I can. A bar schools foundation can be.

2:58:17 I haven’t done that one, but Mister Susan, you can. How often do they meet? And I’ll be honest with you, what I’m gonna do is I would love to work with one of the components of the Brevard Schools Foundation. I want to finish out my career working really hard in that area.

2:58:38 But I think that me being the actual board member, I’ll be in the group, but I want to be able to focus on that one component. So if somebody could be the group meeting. You know what I mean? I can always be the backup, or.

2:58:47 I truly believe that that is an amazing organization, and it’s one of the ones that you learn a lot on. So I didn’t know. I mean, if.

2:58:56 Miss Cameron, it can be a time thing, I’ll tell you. Charter. I’ve been to charter school liaison for four years, and the main reason why I picked that was because most of the charter schools lie within district five.

2:59:12 But it is what you make it. So I made the point of visiting all the charter schools from north to south over the last couple years, you know, try to get to most of them more than once, and also helped host with the superintendent meetings a couple of times a year to fill them in. So that is just more building relationships.

2:59:26 Miss Campbell, are you saying that you wanted the choice? Choice? No, I’m going through describing what these are. Everybody picks. I think what we were saying is if you have some that you.

2:59:48 Because you were kind of like, well, I don’t want to do that, because there may be some others. If you want to just say which ones you’re really interested in, I can run down the explanation. I know.

3:00:09 Yeah. I mean, because, honestly, you’ve been on the capita outlay committee, but I’m not sure what’s the time commitment of that. It’s quarterly, and it’s very short, and it’s an afternoon, but it oversees a lot of the impact fee stuff and building and stuff like that.

3:00:16 It’s a great committee to be a part of, and I think it’s also a learning committee. I think that if you haven’t been on it, I would love to allow somebody else to do it. One of the reasons I was on there was to facilitate some of the middle school projects in the elementary school in my area.

3:00:19 But I think that there’s a great opportunity for other people to be on that. SIAC, I will tell you, is the one that I’m going to ask to remain on. I’ve been on PSIAC for three years, and it’s a lot to learn, but I think we’re in the middle of some changes, and I would request to just, even though that’s probably one of the ones, that’s the most time, because it’s like a three hour meeting every month and a lot of reading and research.

3:00:33 But I would request to remain on Saiac. Is there anybody else that would like to be the alternate? Hey, Paul, isn’t it legal that if they notice it, that two school board members can just sit in there or does one just sit on the side and not make any comments? Yeah, because they really don’t vote. Yeah, because we’re not voting members right now if they’re commenting and discussing things in psych together and it’s going to come before the.

3:00:48 But a member could go visit and watch and be a part of it if they wanted to. They’re also streamed, I believe, right? Yeah. Yeah, they are.

3:00:54 I don’t know if it streams. They’re recorded. I think they’re recorded.

3:01:11 They’re recorded to us on a really. So is there anybody else that would like to follow up, Miss Campbell on that? Anybody else who wants to say, I can go insurance? I don’t mind remaining. Okay.

3:01:19 I don’t remember remaining the alternate because I will say Miss Campbell does a really good job of always being there. I never had the opportunity of being there, which is fine, because I respect that, because I do know that you invest your time in that. So thank you.

3:01:25 Miss Campbell, you said that you were also doing the Palm Bay youth advisory board. Be kind of weird for us to do that. They are all but defunct.

3:01:33 But that needs to be continued to be, Miss Jenkins and I, because we’re the only ones who have Palm Bay within our districts. But the other one that I don’t know about, Ami kids, you can speak to that, but the FSVA advocacy committee is another time commitment because they meet monthly. I actually am.

3:01:52 It’s. I’m in the advocacy because I sit on the ad hoc committee, which is part of it, so I have to meet their end anyway. But I don’t mind if.

3:02:10 I mean, yeah, I mean, I have to be there anyway. So if somebody wants to be the representative, all the more power to them. But I just.

3:02:16 You’re already there. But I do need a backup so that I can call somebody and say, because they always ask, I’ll be your alternate. That’s fine.

3:02:21 All right. But going back, Ami kids, I called them and they told me that they didn’t, like, they were confused that I was calling them to start the next thing. So I actually, whoever goes should just have the district reach out because I don’t know if they understood what I was trying to tell them, but it is one of the most incredible organizations in the world.

3:02:33 They’re right off O’Galley. They work with some of the most troubled youth and getting them into the workplace. And I will tell you, by far, I watched one of their graduations, and it’s one of the times of very few that I actually almost cried and there is extreme need in this community for that organization, and I think I would have loved to have done it.

3:02:41 They just kept. I called up, I’m like, hey, can I come to the meeting? They’re like, we don’t know who you are. So I was like, okay, I’m gonna leave it alone.

3:02:49 So I think. But if anybody wanted to be a part of it, I would. That is an amazing thing.

3:02:58 I would love to be a part of it. My father was an employee there for 13 and a half years, so I have a perspective, but I’d love to get one from the educational standpoint. Okay.

3:03:02 So can you go? Yeah, I can go back through. Where are we right now? Well, we go back. I thought, you know what I mean? You were concerned about grabbing some.

3:03:09 So here’s what we have. Space Coast League of cities is Megan and Campbell. Yep, yep.

3:03:17 And then value adjustment board is me and Trent. Brevard Cultural alliance is Campbell and Jenkins. Central Florida Public School boards coalition is me.

3:03:22 And. Hang on, hang on. We didn’t take cultural alliance.

3:03:26 Yeah, she doesn’t. She didn’t need to be the alternate for Brevard Cultural alliance because she’s saying that that’s a hardship for her to get there. Oh, I’m sorry.

3:03:33 I’m so sorry. I didn’t do that. Is there anybody else that wishes to back up Miss Campbell to go to the Brevard Cultural alliance? Yeah, I don’t have a problem backing her up on that.

3:03:38 Okay. Thank you very much. Central Florida Public School boards coalition.

3:03:54 It’s always been the chair. So I’d like to be that person. Chair and vice chair.

3:03:58 And then if neither one of you can come, you can call. But again, all of us have the opportunity and we will. You will get the emails from everyone.

3:04:04 Everybody gets emails across the whole board. Yeah. And then Brevard schools Foundation.

3:04:05 I would love to take that one. Anybody else want to fight her for it? I’m not going to fight her for it, but I will be participating in things regardless, just because I do. I think it’s one of those organizations that we can all be a part of.

3:04:14 One of their. They have so many great things. Yeah, they do meet monthly as well.

3:04:30 Okay, sorry, my mic’s on. So that’s why there’s an alternate on there. Just because.

3:04:40 Choice chart. And it is in the afternoon. Do you want four on Thursdays? It’s like 04:00 on Thursdays.

3:04:45 Do you want to be the alternate for that? Yeah. Yeah. Miss.

3:04:48 Miss Campbell choice charter. You want to do that? If there’s someone else who would like to take that role. I’m happy I picked up something else that I don’t usually do, so I’m trying to toss it to the new people.

3:04:57 Okay. No, no, I love doing it. I mean, I love doing it, but I just, you know, I don’t want to be the only person who has connections with the charter schools.

3:05:06 But like I said, I already have connections at charter schools. The owners are. I know many of the owners.

3:05:09 No, I’ll continue. Okay. All right.

3:05:18 Campbell’s, the charter school capital outlet, did we need an alternate on that one? It’s not. We don’t. Because it’s not regular meetings.

3:05:22 It’s when we the. When we have met together, like, we schedule it for them when we. You know, so it’s not really, like a thing that I go to, so.

3:05:25 But thank you. And you don’t vote on any. No, no.

3:05:38 It’s really just relationship building. Okay. So you could go.

3:05:41 Oh, I don’t know. I think that would. There’s no voting.

3:05:50 There’s no nothing. There’s just kind of. Or if Mister Susan wanted to go.

3:05:58 Yeah, I thought you wanted to go. I think board members would be free to schedule, and they’d probably be happy to have any board member attend if you scheduled with them. So I would always caution against going at the same time.

3:06:03 Correct. Right. Right.

3:06:07 Thank you. All right. Capital outlay committee.

3:06:15 If somebody would like to learn more about it, there’s going to be a lot of growth in your area, Miss Campbell, I didn’t know if you wanted to join that. I’m not saying that to anything else. I will.

3:06:19 I would be interested. All right. SAC committee is going to be Miss Campbell and Miss Wright.

3:06:24 School safety. School health and safety, that is. Actually has some good stuff inside of it.

3:06:27 Miss Wright. All right, Palm Bay Youth council. We’re going to keep it the same way.

3:06:30 You guys are going to revive it, make it amazing. You want to flip flop it or. Yeah, let’s flip flop and make Miss Jenkins be the main and I’ll be the alternate.

3:06:36 Okay. And maybe she can get them to. Yeah, I was gonna say I can.

3:06:44 You know, you’ve been the main for a while. Well, they didn’t meet for the whole last year. Right.

3:07:03 There you go. You can help. Are you listening, Palm Bay City Council.

3:07:14 No, you’re not. You’re not watching this. I think you do a great job over there.

3:07:28 All right. Am I, kids? Miss Jenkins, I didn’t know that you actually had a paint. That is an amazing opportunity.

3:07:32 I think you’ll do great. There’s Florida a school boards, associations. I’ll take that with Megan or Miss Wright as my backup civil.

3:07:45 Just so you know, there’s going to be, we can assign somebody to these and then there may be a fee. We also have inside of our budget, we have, if you guys remember, we had the base for the FSBA and then we approved to have the secondary like 2500 if we wanted to ever join another one. And so that should be in of there.

3:07:51 So these kind of meet fees, if they’re there, we can try to cover that. I just actually received an application in the mail for civil. There is a fee associated with it.

3:07:55 So do any of the other new organizations that you’ve added on here have fees that are associated or. No. Do you know that they may or may not? So like the economic Development Council, I sit with the executive board of directors and so I pay to do that.

3:08:01 Okay. So. But I don’t know if they would charge brevard schools.

3:08:09 I was with Mister Weatherman two days ago. Okay. So I think that that one, I think we just assign here and then we go talk to them and if we want to, we can utilize ours or we can pass it off at the next workshop that we have in January, if that makes sense.

3:08:13 Okay, gotcha. So if you’re, you’re saying that you would like to go to civil, Miss Wright? Not exactly. Okay.

3:08:18 I don’t know what Siv mill is exactly. I would. I’ll be honest with you.

3:08:20 Yeah. I would love, love to be the civil representative to. And I may just go anyway if anybody else wants to.

3:08:34 Okay. So if you wanted to, like, if you’re like, look, I really want to go to this, then I’ll just pay on the private side and I’ll go to it too. Because you can go as a member of the public.

3:08:40 Okay. I mean, if you’re passionate about this one, I would say take this one. Okay.

3:08:49 Unless anybody else, unless I didn’t want to take it away from anybody. Okay. Yeah.

3:08:57 All right. Economic Development Council. I’m already there.

3:09:13 But I really think that from, from a board’s perspective, we should get more people to come to it and be a part of it. So I didn’t know if anybody else wanted to go there. I mean, I can continue in my role as a, you know, they say this private sector and then board member.

3:09:25 I would like to be a part of the Economic Development Council. You would? Yep. All right, Miss Jenkins, good job.

3:09:36 All right. And then career source, brevard they actually meet and I don’t know if you guys know what career source is. I don’t.

3:09:40 I was asking great organizations. So they’re set up through the government in various places. There’s a certain number of them, depending on the zones.

3:09:43 And what they’re there for is to assist with economic development as far as workers. So they have a lot of different roles, but so like when the shuttle shut down program shut down, they engaged to reeducate our people and transition. Right.

3:09:48 Low socioeconomic people who have difficulties getting jobs. They work with them, help them with the resumes and all that stuff. They have a very impressive board that meets once or once a month or once every other month.

3:09:54 And it’s a pretty good one. And I was going to it my first two years and then doctor Mullins asked me if he would go to it and I said yeah, and then just got so busy. But I think we should have a screen.

3:10:00 I would be happy to take that one. If no one wants that one, I’ll take it. Career source.

3:10:04 Career source. Yeah, HBCA. They’re off of Ogalley Boulevard.

3:10:09 Great organization. Contractors. I love that organization.

3:10:19 Along with ABC. I usually go, but I think we need a representation. Yeah, I would be interested in that one as well.

3:10:34 Anybody else want the HBCA? Okay. ABC. Associated builders and contractors.

3:10:43 I like ABC. So if I need ABC, I would prefer that one. I get peeps.

3:10:48 Okay. It’s the correct place, right? Huh? It’s the correct organization. It is.

3:11:00 I talked to the director of the business voice and he. He was really interested in having a representative go there. They have not appointed like gotten the approval yet.

3:11:14 So maybe what we do is just shelf that one and come back to it in January, if that’s okay. I was hoping that we could try to get something, but I don’t know if they were able to do that. Chamber of Commerce, I think this is one that I think like, I mean, I’m a member again through my company that I work for.

3:11:21 But I think we should. We should. We should go more and we should go as a team to some of these, right? So, like the Cocoa beach one, that’s yours.

3:11:34 But they also come over to us. So I wouldn’t mind going to that one. You know what I mean? Like I think.

3:11:46 Yeah. So I think that Mister Bruno had the answer to this question, but we are. The school district is a paid member of all four chambers, is that correct? So does that.

3:11:57 Would that enable us as board members to attend? I mean, obviously we have to. It’s just like a $25 fee for the lunches or whatever. But would we, if you’re a member, and sometimes it’s more if you’re not, would that enable us as board members to attend? I know you guys participate.

3:12:06 Deborah Foley. It’s usually individual, so I think we would need to look at getting additional memberships. Okay.

3:12:22 So something we need to think about. You can also, a lot of times what we do is if they have a breakfast where they have people that give me some sort of presentation will attend that. And we are charged for that as well.

3:12:40 But it’s a good way to meet people and kind of know what’s going on in the community. So that’s another way that we do it. So the way they have their memberships is a part of your organization.

3:12:57 You literally get a membership depending on how many people are inside your organization. So I don’t know if we’re not paying for the 10,000 people, but they say there’s some sort of a. I don’t think we’re going to.

3:13:02 No, no, literally they. Two memberships, one for the superintendent and one for Miss Foley from my office, who goes regularly. Everything else is on top of that.

3:13:11 It’s usually a company, depending on the size, pays for that and then everything. Everybody else that goes to any of the events, you have to purchase the ticket to the big thing and stuff like that. So what I would like to do is just say, hey, you know, you can be like the main point for Titusville, but I would really love us to start.

3:13:19 Start going to some of these chambers as a group because we go to them and then we’re all sitting around and like, I used to go to the Melbourne one all the time, be a part of all their committees, but I didn’t have any other, like, Andy Ziegler was on there, and then after the election, he. He became a board chair unit or a director. But I think it would be good for us.

3:13:30 So I would like to see if we wanted to have a point person for each one and then we would all start attending. So what do you think? So I get the. I get the emails for the Pompeii chamber, and I don’t need the district to do anything extra, but I’ll commit to trying to attend.

3:13:46 It is more often. Same here. They host the mayor’s breakfast and I go to that every year.

3:13:52 They are really cool chamber. Yeah, I can do that. I mean, Melbourne Chamber falls within my area too, but I mean, I’m just gonna pick one.

3:14:02 Okay. So yeah, I’ll take time to spell. I don’t mind doing Melbourne, but Miss Jenkins also is kind of in the Melbourne area.

3:14:08 Right, Miss Jenkins? Well, and the cocoa beach chamber covers viera as well, so. Yeah, they just have an office over there. I mean, I. I push a lot into the Melbourne.

3:14:12 Cocoa beach usually is over there, but. Miss Jenkins, did you feel like you wanted to be a part of Melbourne, or would you like me to be the representative there? Do you have a passion for that? I don’t have a passion for that. They communicate pretty regularly about what’s going on.

3:14:18 Yep. And they have invitations to things. So, you know, the things that are open, I don’t mind going to, but.

3:14:33 Awesome. I’ve already signed up for a lot, so what I would like to do, say we become members. Oh, you should see some of the other ones, other school districts, but say.

3:14:52 Say we became members of the Melbourne one. Right. What I would do is come to the meeting and say, hey, look, this is what’s coming up on their agenda.

3:14:55 Maybe we can all go and we would do something like that. So, Cocoa Beach. Trent, you good? Yes.

3:15:00 All right, brother. NAACP. I’ve had conversations with non presidents.

3:15:09 I would love to be a part of the central NAACP just because of how we’re communicating with them and bringing them on and stuff, but I’m all about letting other people have the opportunity. The NAACP, we would just pay for a membership and go. Right.

3:15:13 And I don’t know if you guys know, but my major in college was focused around civil rights, and it’s a big passion of mine. I was a member of the NAACP in Tallahassee, and I would love to engage with them and be a representative for the central one because it’s more my area. And then I didn’t know if you guys wanted to join the other ones and be a part of it.

3:15:17 That’s all. Yeah, yeah. I’ll take the north end.

3:15:21 That’s mine. Okay. And then I will reach out to our.

3:15:26 I’ll reach out to our south area. I was actually already supposed to be scheduling a lunch with James minus, and we just haven’t. And I know he’s not the president anymore.

3:15:35 South area. But I’ll reach out to the south area. We probably need to be careful about being there at the same time.

3:15:38 But if we’re just both attending, it’s fine. It’s fine. Yeah.

3:15:51 I think it’s kind of like the chamber. There’s nothing that’s. There’s nothing that’s in.

3:15:58 In there that they’re going to. You know, I mean, they did start to talk about education issues. You just can’t address each other.

3:16:04 Yeah. All right, did you guys have any that you might want? I kind of left that open on the bottom. Did you guys have any that you might want to add? This is just what I was trying to add.

3:16:10 I think I. Yeah, this is a lot. I don’t know. That’s an exhausted list.

3:16:20 What do we do with these? All right, we want to expand. I really appreciate it, you guys. I think, you know, part of when you guys were running, one of the things that was a complete narrative is that we get back into the communities and start being representative, and this is a way for us to do that.

3:16:28 So with all of those. I have them all written down, tammy, I swear. And anyone that I don’t, I’m just gonna assign Miss Campbell to.

3:16:35 So. So. Do I hear a motion? Second.

3:16:42 Is there any discussion? All right, please vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

3:16:49 All opposed, passes. 50. Doctor thet, the next item is H 45, department school initiated agreements.

3:16:58 Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Is there any discussion? Please vote.

3:17:08 All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed, motion passes. 50.

3:17:15 Doctor Thebe, the next item is H 46, procurement solicitations. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second.

3:17:29 Is there any discussion? Please vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

3:17:41 Aye. All opposed, passes five to zero. Doctor thet, next item is H 47, attendance boundary change proposals for SY 2023 and 2023.

3:17:53 2024. Do I hear a motion? Second. Is there any discussion? No.

3:18:19 Please vote. I’ll signify by saying aye. All opposed to zero.

3:18:28 All right, doctor Thede, the next item is H 48 to approve the school board’s resolution on new middle school financing. Do I hear a motion? Second. Is there any discussion? Yeah, I would.

3:18:39 I would just like to add. I mean, I am. I would love to see our district build this middle school with no debt at all, and I’m hoping that maybe we could get there with the impact fees and things of that nature.

3:18:47 So the line of credit offers us some flexibility. I do like that option, but I would love to see us really, really work hard to not take on any more debt. I agree with you.

3:18:57 I think that should be something that we work towards, because we still have a year and a half before that kicks in. I also love the fact that we’re saving almost, like, 24% per year in inflationary costs in order. Now, when she was talking about ordering the machinery and stuff like that, the transformers and stuff, they’re a year out from actually being delivered, so if we order them now, we can get ahead of all that.

3:19:12 So I agree with you 100%. Let’s work hard on getting that done. I felt very confident that they were going to pay it back within two years, but I think we can actually get there with some creative stuff that we can do.

3:19:25 So I appreciate that. I just want to clarify. Today in the workshop, they made it pretty clear that they project us paying it off by the end of 2025.

3:19:38 So it’s three years. And the line of credit allows us to use impact fees in between to start paying it back. But it doesn’t mean we’re going to pay it back in total all the time.

3:19:50 But it’s kind of like a back and forth wishy washy situation. So I just want to make that pretty clear. This is the least amount of risk possible.

3:19:59 This is a really great scenario where we will only hopefully have this debt for three years. Okay, any other discussion, please vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

3:20:11 Aye. Opposed? Passes, five to zero. I am now going to recess the board meeting and then call to order the leasing corporation.

3:20:21 Okay, ready? Okay, sorry. The leasing corporation is now in order for approval tonight. We have item two, the leasing corporation’s resolution on new middle school financing.

3:20:27 Do I hear a motion? Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye.

3:37:59 Opposed? Passes. 50. The leasing corporation meeting is now adjourned.

3:38:07 Okay, go again. We will now resume our regular school board meeting. Doctor Theta, the last item is h 49, new middle school.

3:38:15 Can we take a recess to sign so they can go? Oh, yeah, that’s right. They’ve been here, like, all night waiting for us to sign this. Ford, are you going home tonight or are you gonna.

3:38:21 Oh, let’s make the guy, let’s make the accountant stay. No, I’m serious. Let’s take a minute.

3:38:34 Let’s recess for a second so I can sign some documents. Sa, sa, sa. Welcome back, everybody.

3:38:41 Just need to take a second. Paula, we, I’m trying to. We went through the leasing corporation.

3:38:44 We had the action with the new middle school construction management, right? No, we were, we did not finish. 49. We were on 49, age 49.

3:38:55 Oh, yeah. All right, let me just start the whole 49 over again soon. I don’t know where we were.

3:39:06 So we will now resume our regular school board meeting. Doctor Thetti, the last item is age 49, new middle school construction management services. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve.

3:39:22 Second. There it is. Is there any discussion? If I don’t hear any, please.

3:39:28 All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

3:39:50 Aye. Opposed? Passes 50. Now, we’re coming into the board reports and discussion points, but we had two that rolled over from earlier today.

3:40:13 So I didn’t know if you guys wanted to put those at the bottom or the front. Makes no difference. But you know, if you guys are okay, we’ll just start with what we left over from earlier, if that’s okay.

3:40:35 So I think that Mister Gibbs wanted to talk to us about the interim because he’s heard back from the candidates and wanted to ask if we could nail down Thursday. I’ve got two confirmations already and the Mister Schiller has requested a later time. That’s fine.

3:40:42 We can schedule him for later. They’re all in Florida. So Mister Schiller is coming from Stuart.

3:40:53 So he’s going to drive in. So he will be here. He did ask like if what’s the process for him? So he knows how to prepare, or is he going to get an opening, an introductory period of like, like five minutes, that kind of thing, or are we just gonna pounce on him with questions? So what we did in the past was we each had our own set of questions that we kinda meet with them individually.

3:40:57 So we have the five of us and then he comes in and meets. Well, no, the first, the morning is gonna be board interviews and then the afternoon is the round robin. So he’s, let’s say if we come in and the board decides who’s gonna ask everybody for half an hour, we’ll start the first interview at 930, second at 1030, third at 1130.

3:41:01 Is any part of that hour going to be for them to do like an introduction? Are you going to say you get five minutes to introduce yourself to us? So just so I can let them know how to prepare. So if we, if we start at nine and we spend that 1st 30 minutes kind of Just Deciding. I know when we, when we, we’re going through your Hiring process.

3:41:21 We had a list of questions, so we said, okay, you asked this question. You asked this question. We can come with our own questions, but maybe there’s also a list.

3:41:28 Yeah, I think we do have a list. I can have, I think Tammy has it from the last super. Or did doctor Thetti, did you have it? Tammy has them, but I’m aware of them.

3:41:37 All right. Yeah. So I can have Tammy send that to Everybody and you guys can.

3:41:43 Yeah. Prepared questions. I think they should have an opening and a closing.

3:41:44 Absolutely correct time for an in standard. So then if we do interviews at 930, 1030, 1130, lunch at 1230, come back and do like 130 to four, we get 20 minutes with each of them, each of us five members. At 20 minutes with a ten minute in between.

3:41:51 That’s almost two or five minutes. However you guys want to structure the round. Robinson, 20 minutes with a board member, then ten minutes to collect yourself.

3:42:04 Enough? Or do we need to go more or less? What do you think? You went through it? Yeah, I was fine with the break. I think I had a ten or 15 minutes break, so I thought that was fine. Maybe 20 and ten.

3:42:10 That way it’s 30 minutes halves, and then we run through it. Okay, sounds good. Good.

3:42:14 All right, that’s fine. That’s exciting. Yeah.

3:42:30 Good job there, Paul. Okay, we good on that? Yep. Good.

3:42:34 Thank you very much, Paul. All right, so one of the things that we wanted to board discuss was the implementation and payout of schedule salary agreement. Looks like the teachers union is not here to discuss it.

3:42:53 He’s right there. Where is he? Oh, oh, oh. Mister Savage.

3:42:53 Mister Savage. He is wearing gray. You come up to the podium you guys have made.

3:43:07 Just so you guys know, just so you guys know, the reason that I put this on is because the union had made a public comment that this was an issue. And then I’ve met with staff and stuff like that. But I wanted to give you an opportunity to just kind of explain it, and then we can discuss it as a group and stuff like that.

3:43:25 Thank you. I didn’t know I was doing this. Are you just so happy to be here? No, we’re good.

3:43:33 Thank you, Mister Susan and the board and doctor Thetti. One of our issues, as was brought up in public’s common, and we brought up multiple times with staff, is we agreed before school started on an agreement with the board, and it was ratified and the previous board approved it in August. Our teachers still haven’t seen that full race.

3:43:47 Some of our teachers have seen bits and pieces of it. Some of our teachers have seen none. Some of our teachers will see all of it in February.

3:44:02 Some of our teachers won’t see all of it till April. I understand there’s constraints, and be completely blunt. We know there’s constraints.

3:44:09 We know there’s some wonderful people in finance working very hard for any time there’s a bonus or a raise. And I understand we’ve met in meetings with them as well. But I think at the end of the day, from our standpoint, and I hope from the sports standpoint, moving forward, it’s not acceptable to offer your employees a raise in August.

3:44:26 They don’t finally see all of it till April 2. Of all, we don’t think it helps retention. And although I don’t advocate, I advocate for teachers.

3:44:44 Right. We also know our staff works very hard in our schools every single day. And for the majority of them, just on a pure math, Mister Trent, pure math basis, the percentage that that raise makes an impact in their life is tremendous.

3:44:52 And it’s unfortunate that, you know, maybe there is nothing that can be done. I would say you got some days and some people that would probably be willing to make some extra money over the break, but that’s on them. But at least moving forward that we look into this and realize that’s not acceptable.

3:45:05 Thank you. Thank you, Mister Savage. I’m not sure if you guys had the opportunity to meet with staff, but I did.

3:45:16 One of the issues that we have is that there were staff members that had retired or left. And according to Mister Cheatham, those positions had been put on the out there and nobody has filled them. So we’re down people according to what the district was saying.

3:45:23 And then also the capacity to do each month or each pay period is maxed out. So. And they even said, like, we apologize, that when we negotiated with this, we didn’t know that there would be this much or else they would have set expectations ahead of time.

3:45:30 And then I said, well, why don’t we. And this is just me, I said, why don’t we just go hire ten people right now, put them to work and get it done. I asked the same question.

3:45:38 And. Right, and then what they had said to that was that even by the time we train them, get them in, get them to understand it and do it, we end up in a situation where in March anyway. And now you have ten people that work a month.

3:45:48 You know what I mean? It’s all done. So I think for me, I have a couple of recommendations that I’d make to alleviate this in the future. When we negotiate that we put that part of the salary schedule.

3:46:07 But I wanted to give you guys the opportunity to discuss it. So there we go. Since I was the one bringing it, I wanted to explain it.

3:46:31 So, Miss Jenkins. Yeah. I met with Doctor Mathetti and I understand the frustration, Kyle.

3:46:54 I mean, it affects my bank account too. We live paycheck to paycheck. So I get it.

3:47:08 Trust me, I get it. And we’re looking forward to that next bonus that’s coming. But I met with Doctor Thetti and it is a insanely complex process.

3:47:36 One of the most jarring images was the image of the special pay periods last year versus was the special pay periods this year. So because of hurricane pay, because of the bonuses, because of the way we structured the raises this time by percentages versus just, you know, lump sums and stuff. So it’s way more complicated.

3:48:00 We’ve got way less people. But I just wanted to highlight, it’s a negative situation, but the one positive of it is the intent to be extremely proactive when milling comes into play. To have an, an entire team dedicated to that because programming millage increases is going to be a whole nother challenge in battle.

3:48:33 And so at least we are well aware of the problem. We’re acknowledging the problem, and hopefully that will not be one when we get to that because that’s going to be a whole other situation when it comes to years of experience, your department and your pay grade. Again, not a great situation, but at least there was some positive outlook here.

3:48:42 And you have my commitment to know that I will follow through because Miss Betty’s unfortunately leaving to follow through and push and hope that that is in place way before that village comes into play. Miss Campbell. Yeah.

3:48:49 So I think we have the perfect storm of, you know, on a positive thing, we had lots of money to give in just a very complicated way and in some unique to this, like, for example, the premium pay that came from Esser dollars, that’s not something that we, we did it last year, but in a less complicated way. But this year, trying, we made it more complicated. Y’all negotiate it to be more complicated so that we didn’t miss people.

3:48:54 The negotiations went so that we didn’t. So we included the most people possible in that premium pay, but that meant splitting it up over four different times of the year. And so, and then the raises that, you know, between the teacher salary increase, allocation pay for performance, which we couldn’t do until all the teachers had their VAM scores, which they don’t get until October, I think.

3:49:04 And so that, you know, there’s so many complicating factors that made this year, probably, I mean, at least in the time that I’ve been on the board, the most complicated pay structure, a negotiated agreement that we’ve ever had before. And then on top of that, we had her hurricane pay for staff who worked, either hurricane that had to be incorporated in, in addition to all the new staff coming on, all the people retiring, everything that makes it more complicated. And so, and we’ve got the $15 an hour that we had for 1010 staff and support staff that we had to raise up, that we did that immediately.

3:49:25 So we’ve done all these little bit. You know, we had stuff going out in September, in October, November, December. We’ve got stuff going out in February and March, March and April.

3:49:30 And I don’t think we have anything in May. But, you know, we’re just. It’s just the perfect storm of complication.

3:49:36 And I think this is something we do. I agree. We need to see what we can do for next year.

3:50:03 We’ll have less complication in some of these factors, but we will have more when it comes to the millage. So we need to have a team ready to go and at least we know ahead of time. I’m glad we’ve already negotiated that right.

3:50:15 So we can have the team ready to program those in as soon as we hit the new year. Thank you. Real quick, before we go to you guys, Doctor Thetti, have we sent out communications to explain when they’re getting what pay and all that other stuff? Is there a way to do that? I think that may be part of what we’re dealing with here.

3:50:23 It is part of. Yes. The communications did not go out prior to, I believe yesterday.

3:50:24 They were in the leadership team packet to principals. The millage. Not the millage, I’m sorry.

3:50:29 The premium pay information went out earlier, but the implementation of TSIA and paper performance did not go out. We asked the principals to communicate that to their staff. Is there like an attachment that they’re giving them? Like how, how do the custodians, how do the IAS, how do all of they find out about when their raises come? So what we put out yesterday, because it went into the leadership team packet thinking that we were handling this on Thursday last week.

3:50:44 So normally we would handle it a little bit differently. But pending tonight’s conversation, we may be able to send out different communication to the employee groups. But they are aware of their premium pay.

3:50:48 They were not aware of their. The unions were, but the employees themselves. We had not communicated directly with them on dates of payout.

3:50:52 Okay. All right. I’m sorry.

3:50:58 I just wanted to ask that quick question. Miss Wright, you had a conversation. Yeah.

3:51:01 I don’t want to tell you something that, you know, you know what we’re going to say up here, and I think you expect that, and I think all that we can do with this situation is we can learn from it. So moving forward that, you know, with the next time this happens, we will not be in the same circumstance. So I’m sorry.

3:51:10 To our teachers or educators that are waiting for that money. It’s coming. I am terribly sorry.

3:51:43 Sorry. The workload is extreme. It really is.

3:51:56 And don’t want to make excuses for it. All I can say is moving forward, I think that we’ll do a better job next time with this. Okay.

3:52:16 Well, sorry, I didn’t. That’s okay. It’s okay.

3:52:24 Miss Campbell. Sure. We have to take into consideration the risks, the risks of pushing it and just saying, okay.

3:52:38 We didn’t, you know, regardless of how many, how few people we have doing the risks are people making mistakes in the programming, people making mistakes, and honestly, the potential of a payroll failure, which, that would be disastrous. And, you know, we already have every now and then, someone who got paid more than they were supposed to and we had, it’s a nightmare dealing with, you know, getting it back or they didn’t get it paid enough. And the very few times that happens, and it is very, relatively, very few because people do their jobs well and they’re very conscious and detail oriented in this.

3:53:02 But that, that is a risk. These are some pretty big risks, and I think we’re just not comfortable pushing the envelope on that with these kinds of huge risks at stake. Okay.

3:53:11 Thank you, Miss Campbell. I did want to give a big shout out to both the union and our school district for negotiating what is the most complicated set of raises and everything else that the school district has ever seen. So I really wanted to say thank you to Miss Lucynski staff and everybody else and your work, doctor thet, for negotiating and everything else.

3:53:14 So I’m done. You keep trying to talk and I keep talking. I have a clarifying ask before you talk because it might go there.

3:53:20 I appreciate the intention to send out communication to our employees, and I’m sure you’re already thinking of this, but I just want to make sure it’s clear. I want to make sure that we break it down right. Because again, this is confusing.

3:53:26 Who’s getting what? You’re getting a little bit from here, a little bit from there. You know, staff is already frustrated and waiting for it. And so let’s go ahead and be very proactive and communicate as much as we can clearly of why they’re getting that amount and how it’s coming down or give a really good example, at least to the average staff member or teacher, because it’s complicated.

3:53:46 It’s confusing. And I don’t expect them to be able to digest that all on their own. So it’ll kind of help lessen some tension when they get that letter as well.

3:53:54 Doctor Thetti. Well. Oh, so sorry, Mister Gibbs.

3:54:01 And I thought all you were waiting for me to say. Mister Gibbs. Mister Gibbs, I apologize.

3:54:15 I’m teasing. I’m teasing. You’re gonna probably hear some of the same, Kyle.

3:54:27 But I agree with you that you signed something in August and some have not even heard why or when they’re going to get it from the other side. Being on the teaching aspect of. Wait, didn’t we sign that in August? Why isn’t my paycheck changed? No excuse for that.

3:54:39 Even though there’s reason. All right, I have seen it. Like Megan said, you probably know what we’re going to say.

3:54:44 Their job is daunting, ridiculous. It truly, truly is. However, it’s still no excuse.

3:54:51 Our teachers, our staff, they’re wondering, where’s my money? So communication is key. And we weren’t here at the beginning of this situation. All I can say is, moving forward, I’ll do whatever I can do, and this board can do that.

3:55:03 This doesn’t happen again. When we sign an agreement, we have full, complete understanding of when this thing will be given out. Transparencies and communication is key.

3:55:13 So as a teacher, not knowing when we’re receiving money is more important than us. Maybe you know the guesswork. I mean, that as long as we.

3:55:18 It’s coming to them. So that was something that I’ve heard out there is. Well, I’m not even sure I’m getting it.

3:55:28 I thought we signed something so we’ll communicate. But I 100% agree that teachers are out there. Probably.

3:55:38 You know, your phone’s probably ringing off the hook on where is this? So, I mean, I completely understand. Especially coming into the holidays. It would be nice even if it was an extra $50 in a paycheck.

3:55:45 I get it. But I’ll do whatever I can do. And I promise that if I can do anything, this should never happen ever again to our staff.

3:56:00 Thank you, Mister Gibbs. Doctor Thetis been trying to talk down there. Can you go ahead, doctor.

3:56:19 Theta. I need to provide a variety of points of clarification. The first point of clarification is we negotiated the premium pay, and you board approved it in May.

3:56:27 And that was a very complicated system. And I’ll just give you one example. The first set of premium pay that went to BFT was on September 15.

3:56:50 It was $1,000. If you were a returning member of the bargaining unit, you would receive. I’m sorry, I’m trying to read sideways.

3:57:05 You would receive premium pay if you were employed with BPS on May 27, 2022, and were active on August 15, 2022. That was not all people. It was not all teachers, but it was any teacher who was with us at the end of last year and came back to us this year.

3:57:28 The second on the same pay date, September 15, 2022. Members of the bargaining unit who completed eight years with bps and were active on August 15 received $1,000 for longevity on November 15. Members of the bargaining unit who were active on October 14.

3:57:50 That captures our new teachers that came on that weren’t on board at the end of last year. They received $1,200.01 time premium pay.

3:57:57 And then our final premium pay installment for BFT is in February for all members to the bargaining unit who are active on January 27, 2023. And that’s another $1,200. The other point of clarification is TSIA, the teacher salary increase allocation that required a four pronged approach because we had to bring teacher salaries to $47,500.

3:58:08 That was done on October 31, and then we did a tiered increase. Once we were able to bring to 47 five, we had a little more flexibility with the funding. The tiered increase is going to be in the teachers paychecks.

3:58:25 Those that earn the tiered increase zero to five years did not get a tiered increase, but the rest of them did. I believe it was 850 for years six to 1413 and then 1250 for people 14 years and more. And that is going to be in their paychecks on December 15.

3:58:33 That is a recurring raise that will be in their paychecks December 15. During the same time that we’re doing all of this, we negotiated the premium pay, like I said, in May, scheduled all of that, completed a contract with BFT and thankful to BFT and 1010 for early negotiations and getting that done. The board approved that on September 8.

3:58:56 Pay for performance was a piece of it. Pay for performance is predicated on VAm. That came out in October.

3:59:10 That is what is scheduled. That piece of the raise is scheduled to be paid to BFT on March 15. But in the meantime, there are all the regular payrolls that are going on.

3:59:43 There’s also 1010, and we negotiated premium pay with 1010 as well. Not as complicated as BFT, but still very complicated because of the hourly rate increase to dollar 15 an hour. I heard one of the board members, I think, Miss Campbell, mention that we implemented that in August.

3:59:57 So all of these are special payrolls that we don’t have in other years. We did not have them in previous years. We don’t anticipate having them again.

4:00:14 So I do understand and do appreciate the challenges. I want our people paid as quickly as we can pay them as well. But when we’re trying to pay all these different payrolls with very specific parameters around them that we want to do correctly so we don’t fail to pay somebody or overpay somebody and then have to recoup that.

4:00:32 There’s. It’s a considerable lift on the part of ET, educational technology, financial services and human resources. Not lost on me at all that they’re not getting the rest of their raise until the spring.

4:00:52 I understand that 1010 is scheduled to get their raise in retro on February 15, and then non bargaining is scheduled to get raised in retro on February 28. So I’ve talked a lot about BFT, but within all of those groups, we have premium pay for each of those, and they all have similar parameters. The other thing I wanted to make sure that you knew is we make sure that we have a robust process for people to say, I didn’t get that premium pay, or I should have gotten something that I didn’t get.

4:00:57 And based on the number of people who have submitted that, it’s very few in an organization our size, very few people have said, I should have gotten that. I need you to look into it. And then my staff takes that.

4:01:13 When we get those forms, they go through personnel files, they look at everything, provide a very comprehensive report or response to the employee. And in some cases they’ve been eligible and we paid them right away. Financial services has made that happen.

4:01:37 I say that to tell you that there are so many processes going on in the background and so many things that the team, and the team is a small team, is managing. Unless something strange happens, we won’t have this level of detail before our next year. And we have not.

4:02:04 In the past when we’ve negotiated a recurring raise, we have not been in a place like with BFT where we’ve done a four pronged approach and it has taken so long, we’ve usually been able to do it much quicker. This year is an anomaly due to all the other payrolls that are within this one system. This year.

4:02:16 I just wanted to provide that clarification. Doctor Thetti, thank you for that thorough explanation, and I really appreciate your work on that item. Is everybody okay with the explanation that we’ve heard? Are there any other questions? Doctor FedEx, thank you so much.

4:02:34 I really appreciate it. If we can just communicate to our people, that’s great. So are we good to move on.

4:02:58 All right, I think this might be your intention, but can we ensure, because we’re talking about the reoccurring pay, but while we’re at it, can we just, you know, remind them of the last bonus that’s coming to them, just, just so they know that’s coming too. Just remind them that there’s another thing coming to. Oh, can I add one more thing? I forgot to say this, and this may be part of the concern, and I haven’t talked to Mister Savage about this there.

4:03:14 When we’ve done bonuses in the past, if somebody hasn’t been active at the point the bonus is paid, they haven’t received it. It is different with the recurring raises. So for employees who may have separated employment with us due to retirement or moving to another, another state, whatever the case might be, they will still receive their retro pay, they will still get that, and financial services will cut them a paper check, but they will get their raise.

4:03:27 So if somebody in BFT separates with us on December 31, they’ll still get the semester value of that raise. So I wanted to make that clear. I didn’t say that earlier.

4:03:54 Thank you, doctor thet. Any other comments? All right, the last, I think the last item, and then I just, I just wanted to kind of mention just a couple of things right after this to the board, which would take less than 30 seconds. The last item that we had that carried over is the public participation at board meetings.

4:04:04 It was the will of the board under the first November 22 meeting that we would reinstitute kind of the three minute rule and have this conversation and discuss it in its entirety and then come back. I brought this forward just as, and other people, as Jenkins says in the past, expressed a little bit of disagreement with it. And I’ve seen some people from the community.

4:04:16 Where it comes from for me, was that we had students and we had people coming in from other count from other parts of the cities, from Palm Bay and stuff like that. We had a bus driver come up and they had 1 minute to speak, and it was something that they needed longer to speak on. The student, I’ll never forget it.

4:04:18 Miss Ramsey was in the middle of her speech thanking us for everything that she had, and she got cut off. I just felt like it was nice enough to go back to three minutes. So basically, the only difference that we would be moving forward to is to get rid of the.

4:04:40 That I would like to go forward. And when I was looking for board direction is for us to just basically go back to the original public speaking policy that we had before, which was to delete the separation of the agenda and non agenda items, delete all of the other than three minute specifications. And then there was one that kind of slipped in there that said if in the event we wanted to extend, it would have to be a vote of the board.

4:05:01 I thought that was kind of redundant. I was like, I’ll just say, would you like some extra time? You know what I mean? So those were the three things that I wanted to bring up. Would love the discussion on it.

4:05:19 And it looks like Miss Campbell’s coming. So just to clarify the last point, it would be extended by the vote of the board. That would not be an, that wasn’t an individual’s comment, but it was.

4:05:28 Made me back up. So I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back to. And I asked Miss McGiri to attach it.

4:05:43 I don’t think it’s on this agenda. It was when we were going to talk about Thursday, the old policy, and she put all the iterations of it, what we had previous changes in 2020, and then the one we did last year actually had several rounds. We can’t really go back to the old policy.

4:06:05 I mean, we can, but I think what you’re asking me is to go back to our old practice, what the problem was. And this was one of the reasons why we changed the policy. We made some other changes in the tiered system with the minutes and everything, but we weren’t actually following our policy because our policy, number one, did not provide for people to comment off agenda items.

4:06:23 We just always did it. Our policy only provided for 30 minutes of public comment, which, that is what we could be extended by the board was to go longer than 30 minutes. We just always did it so that when we changed the policy, one that we were guiding, I think we were going through our master board training, actually.

4:06:31 And the suggestion was, whatever your, your, you need to do what your policy says. So if you’re, if you’re not doing your policy, says, you need to change your policy. So we change our policy to.

4:06:52 And we were, we were trying to fit it also to the time when we were having large numbers of people. So I think we need to bring back the workshop. But I just, I would just suggest we can’t really go back to, through the old policy because as it was, it didn’t stand well with what we were doing.

4:07:04 I apologize for maybe misspeaking on that. What I was trying to say is go back to originally, how we had the three minutes and stuff like that, and that’s why I specifically identified those three main areas that I thought was there. And then I think, as far as the definition of absurd and all that other stuff, I’d like to work with Paul on bringing something back for the workshop and a new policy.

4:07:15 Can I suggest that rather than you working with Paul, if that’s something we talk about together in the work session? This is a policy that we own as a board. Staff doesn’t usually have very much input because it’s really just us, but that we can kind of hash that out together. Yeah, I think the idea is that we know the direction that we want to do.

4:07:22 We want to give everybody the three. Well, I would hope that we would want to give everybody the three minutes. We want to get away from the agenda and non agenda.

4:07:36 And then the little thing about removing the vote of the board to increase the person’s conversation, and the conversation wrapped around what is absurd and all that other stuff. I asked Paul if he could just put a legal definition inside there so that instead of just saying it’s absurd, that becomes a different definition for a lot of people. Right.

4:07:45 So let’s find a way. There was some talk from Mister Broune about FCC, because we have regulation from the digital stuff. You know what I mean? So, like, because we’re online, there’s all these little things.

4:08:02 So I was just going to ask Paul to get into that and bring it to the workshop. Absolutely. And have all of us work on it together, but actually have staff bring back what could be a working product that we could take a look at until then.

4:08:11 And we can just keep suspending the policy until we get there. So that was all, if everybody’s okay with that. Yeah, Miss Jenkins.

4:08:23 And obviously, I’ve said this from day one, so I obviously agree with all that. Just to reclarify what Miss Campbell said, though, that part about extending the time wasn’t about individual speakers. It was because the time was limited originally to, like 30 minutes or something like that.

4:08:26 So we always would say, yeah, yeah, we want to hear all the speakers. So I don’t think we even have to have that in there. We could just not have it at all.

4:08:32 And I want to clarify a piece that I have said that I care about, and I want to make sure it’s in there. I want to make sure that people are allowed to address their board members. Doesn’t always sound nice for me either, but I think it’s important.

4:08:43 I think that that’s the venue for the public to hold people accountable if they feel that they need to. And I think we should definitely make sure that that is clear. I would.

4:09:01 And part of the conversations that we used to do in the past was that we would also not allow the individual to speak directly to any of our staff out of respect for them. That’s all. Yeah.

4:09:12 They shouldn’t be talking to our staff. Yeah. No, yeah.

4:09:21 I mean, by name, they can say I spoke to a person, whatever, but they can’t say I spoke to this person because they’re not here to defend the person. Yeah. That’s not, they’re not.

4:09:26 They’re not representing the people and that’s not, that’s not fair to them. Yeah. It’s one thing for people to come up and say, you know, misses Campbell, you did something that offended me.

4:09:40 It’s another thing for someone to come and mention a story, a student’s name, a staff member’s name. I think we need to be pretty clear that we have had people say, change it and say, the principal at my school. I mean, people can figure it out, but it’s not appropriate to put that in that setting.

4:09:54 So we need to protect the people’s privacy and that, and maybe direct them to work with staff on that. I think you’re thinking about the word obscene. Not the word absurd.

4:10:09 I think absurd is going to have to continue to be brought to our public comment time. But obscene, maybe not so much. Thank you, Miss Campbell.

4:10:31 Is there any other. Mister Trent, you had some conversation. Well, I was just.

4:10:35 If we’re going to talk about public speaking policy, if we’re going to do this at a workshop and talk about it, then I’m good with leaving it. But just, you know, if we have students that sign up, I mean, they should immediately float to the top. Just things like that.

4:10:43 Are we going to talk about. If you want to, you should say that so that they can bring back a policy, so that we’re not trying to rework a bunch of stuff that day and do what we’re doing here. And again, maybe in the past we haven’t had that many students speak, but it.

4:10:59 I mean, look how late we were here getting, hitting, you know, public comment. So what about possibly staff and students would move? I would, you know, I’m at least on the student part. I’ve, you know what, we need to get to bed or go home and get some homework done or something.

4:11:19 If there’s any way we can do that. If there’s a student here, I’m okay, you know, and then also maybe addressing what your name and what town you’re at because I would separate brevard county residents first and put, if you’re coming here from Orange county, you need to go some. I mean, you can speak here, but I would, I would like for them, that’s not a thing I’d like for.

4:11:33 I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. Addressing. Here’s my name and here’s my, where I live.

4:11:57 Yeah, just so you guys know, I can give you guys a sample of it. They have to put it on their form, but they don’t always, but they don’t always do it. Take a look at it.

4:12:13 There’s no need for that. So I think, I think that, you know, we can do so first off, let’s just talk real quick. Does anybody have a problem with moving students up to the front? Mister Gibbs, does that violate anything? I would have to look at some of those.

4:12:28 Okay. I’m not on board of us picking which stakeholders, because you also talked about moving staff. The thing is, yes, we want to hear from the students, but then we also have, we’ve had people come with little ones and there’s mom with little ones and strollers and they want to get done.

4:12:46 So when we start picking and choosing who’s more important, I mean, we’re already putting everybody, you know, we’re not going to have anybody at the end of the meeting anymore. We’re going to put all, everybody, the public comment time all back up front. I have a problem with picking and choosing which stakeholders are most important.

4:12:56 I think we need to just stick it with whoever, you know, just sign up order. I think for me, Miss Campbell, what Mister Trent was saying and maybe, and way I took interpreted it was if we have a long board meeting and we’re going to be here late at night and the students need to speak and then possibly go back and get back home for school the next day along with staff. I was okay with giving them that opportunity.

4:13:13 That’s where I came from. So if I’m okay with it, is this something that can be addressed at a specific board meeting? So if we come in and we see we have a room full of, you know, 50 students and maybe that’s something that we address at that time. Yeah, I mean, we can always amend it to move people up and down.

4:13:25 I mean, I think I had a couple like what she was saying, some expecting ladies or had the lady with the, I made a motion for a lady in a wheel, had a stroller speak first because she had to go right, the kid. I agree. We can do that kind of.

4:13:38 And to be honest with you, out of an entire year, we might see 1015 students that actually speak. So it’s not a very pronounced thing. But how about we give Mister Gibbs an opportunity to see if it’s actually legal and then bring it back as part of the conversation later on? As long as we bring it back, this conversation, I’d be great.

4:13:51 I think we can talk a lot about. About the order and who speaks and. Yeah, well, and then as far as the name and town, Mister Gibbs, if you can find out if that’s legal, to kind of hold.

4:14:08 Because I’ll be honest with you, I almost feel like asking, hey, do you guys have, like, a driver’s license or something to verify it? But there was a lot of conversation wrapped around people that were speaking from outside the county. The one day that we had that I did check, everybody was from inside the county. I haven’t had a check.

4:14:15 Time to check here, but there are some times where people just put their name, you know what I mean? And I don’t know. I mean, I think we would like to know where they. Sometimes it’s not about not having Brevard county people speak here sometimes.

4:14:35 It’s really nice to know what town they’re from inside of inside the county. Just to know if somebody’s in Palm Bay or Cocoa beach or Cape Canaveral. An introduction means something.

4:14:43 That’s all I was getting at, so I. You guys weren’t on the board when this happened. But technically, those sheets are public record. And so these.

4:14:54 These conversations that there’s all these people coming from outside the county, like there’s some ulterior motive, is verifiable. But also, they were published, and there was an outcry from all sides of the public because they didn’t want to be identified. Identified where they were.

4:15:04 They didn’t feel comfortable with that. And so I don’t see the real benefit of that. Forcing someone to do it.

4:15:27 You want to suggest it? Okay, go ahead. But forcing someone to do it is a little crazy. And if I’m going to be blunt, the only person I know that definitely came from out of county, that was a situation, was someone who was arrested outside of our board meeting with a threat to board members, all of us.

4:15:41 So these blanket statements, again, they’re verifiable. It’s all public record names. If they put their address.

4:15:54 If not, their names are on there. We also can’t require them to use their real names. And we have people using fake names all the time.

4:16:17 So, I mean, you got to consider that stuff. And I’m pretty sure we had that conversation. Whether or not we could force them to use their legal names, I would want to double check before I’m on the record.

4:16:31 Yeah, because, you know, we had some actresses and actors and presidents and, you know, and we all know that wasn’t their names, but we couldn’t force them to do it any other way. Mister Gibbs, if you can look into legalities of that, just for the public who’s watching, nobody up here made that assumption. We just were asking if that could be looked, looked at.

4:16:53 Appreciate it. Is there any other conversations wrapped around this? All right. One of the things I wanted to talk about real quick was, is that we’re going to have kind of an off site workshop where we kind of sit around and talk about stuff.

4:17:03 I think in that we wanted to. I wanted to just kind of mention for the board members, because you guys were getting ready to go on a break. One of the things that we did as a board was we were reviewing all of the policies based on a certain schedule. Right now that we have new board members, it might behoove you to start looking through the policies to see if there’s anything that you wish to bring forward. And you know, it doesn’t have to be that you’re combing through them, but just start getting familiar with it. Because I think at the workshop, I’m going to say, hey, would you guys like to do a review policy and just say, you know, this month we’re going to do the one thousands, two thousands, whatever that is, and then we just review it and we bring it in. If anybody has an issue, then we can tag it. And then I would like to have an overview on the our drug policy. And for me, I would like to enhance that. What we were just dealing with to make sure there’s a stronger definition in it, so that if we have a, you know, we can recognize the need to be able to move forward with it. So with that, I just wanted to kind of mention if you guys have some topics, please forward them to Paul Gibbs over the break. And then he can make it a part of that workshop, and then we can start putting that together as a list. That’s all. And if there’s nobody else, I’ll move to Doctor Thetti. But I wanted to check if anybody else had anything that they wanted to talk about with nothing else. Doctor Thetti, do you have anything further to report? No, thank you, Mister Susan. There being no further business, this meeting is now adjourned.