2019-07-09 - School Board Meeting

0:00 Good morning, I’m happy to welcome all of my

0:29 fellow board members and call the July 9th, 2019 school board

0:33 meeting to order.

0:33 Whether you’re in attendance here or watching from another

0:36 location, my colleagues and I

0:38 are pleased that you took time to join us.

0:40 We appreciate and applaud your commitment to partnering with us

0:43 in support of our schools,

0:44 our students, our staff, and our community.

0:46 While the board and Brevard Public Schools staff members are

0:49 fully committed to doing

0:51 our best to ensure excellence in Brevard Public Schools, we know

0:53 that our success depends

0:55 heavily on an engaged and committed community to work alongside

0:59 us and help us

0:59 to continually improve.

1:01 Thank you for being active participants in the process.

1:04 Pam, roll call, please.

1:06 Thank you.

1:08 Mrs. Belfer.

1:09 Present.

1:10 Mrs. McDougall.

1:11 Present.

1:12 Mrs. Deskovich.

1:13 Present.

1:13 Mr. Susan.

1:15 Present.

1:15 And Mrs. Campbell.

1:16 Present.

1:17 Please join us for a moment of silence as we mourn the loss of

1:20 Tina Parent, a teacher at Columbia

1:23 Elementary and custodial supervisor, George Bishop.

1:26 Thank you.

1:42 Matt Reed, Assistant Superintendent of Government and Community

1:44 Relations, will now lead us in

1:46 the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:47 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

1:55 and to the republic for which

1:59 it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and

2:04 justice for all.

2:05 At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and

2:14 I would also like to, before

2:18 we do that, I’d like to recognize that up here today we have Dr.

2:22 Beth Thetty sitting in

2:24 for Dr. Mullins while he is on vacation with his family.

2:27 So at this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members and

2:30 Dr. Thetty an opportunity

2:31 to recognize students, staff, or members of the community.

2:34 We can start with Mr. McDougall.

2:38 Ms. McDougall.

2:39 Sorry about that.

2:40 That’s okay.

2:41 Thank you.

2:42 Just two things.

2:43 I wanted to go ahead and remind people that Coco High School’s

2:48 chorus is going to or working

2:50 very hard to get to Carnegie Hall.

2:52 And they have a fundraiser in Cocoa Village Playhouse.

2:54 Tickets are $25.

2:56 You can purchase them online.

2:57 And if you don’t really want to hear them sing them, I think you’re

2:59 missing a great thing.

3:00 You can still donate.

3:02 They have a GoFundMe page and you can also send a check to the

3:05 school.

3:05 But make sure you put that it’s for the Carnegie Hall Choir.

3:09 Also, I want to encourage my fellow board members.

3:13 What I had, I hosted a launch for Brevard Schools Foundation,

3:18 which was wonderful.

3:20 And I think I encourage you all to do that.

3:22 As you all know, they do a lot for our teachers and our students.

3:25 And they’re always looking for mentors.

3:28 So if you have some extra time or you’re retired, they could use

3:32 a mentor.

3:33 And if you have any questions about Brevard Schools Foundation,

3:35 please see me afterwards.

3:36 I’ll be glad to share that with you.

3:38 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.

3:39 Ms. Belford?

3:40 Thank you, Ms. Duskovich.

3:43 I want to first give a shout out to the adult education

3:46 graduates.

3:47 Ms. Archer and I had the pleasure of attending their graduation

3:51 a couple of weeks ago.

3:52 And it was the biggest graduation that I have seen at adult ed

3:56 since I have been attending their graduations.

3:59 Parking was a challenge, which is, you know, speaks volumes

4:03 about the level of involvement in the event.

4:05 And a couple of really cool things.

4:07 Their graduations are always awesome because you hear great

4:10 stories of the challenges that their graduates have overcome to

4:12 get there.

4:13 This year, there were two sets of sisters, not twins, that were

4:17 graduating together.

4:18 One of their students was celebrating his 18th birthday on his

4:23 graduation day.

4:24 One of their students came to Brevard County speaking zero

4:29 English.

4:30 And through their English language learner program at adult ed,

4:35 was able to both have a good enough grasp of the English

4:38 language to actually speak at graduation.

4:41 And I was also earning her GED.

4:43 Perhaps the coolest thing, though, that came out of the

4:46 graduation, there was a mother and son that were graduating

4:49 together.

4:50 And she had said that she took her son to adult ed to sign up

4:53 for classes because she wanted something better for him.

4:57 And while she was there, she thought, you know, if I’m going to

4:59 be driving him here every day, I may as well register myself.

5:02 And so they were actually graduating together, which is really

5:05 cool.

5:07 So many thanks to all of the staff, the teams at our Brevard Ed,

5:10 or at our adult ed sites for all of the hard work that they do

5:13 to help those students be successful.

5:16 It’s always a great time to be there.

5:19 Also, our FSA, ELA, and math scores came out, as you all know,

5:24 recently.

5:25 And I know that we have done some information out to the public

5:28 regarding our overall district performance.

5:31 But I wanted to give a couple of shout-outs.

5:33 I think you all know that Coquina and Mims Elementary have

5:37 gotten some additional support from the district.

5:40 And they have been moving in a positive trajectory.

5:42 But, again, this year, they have shown phenomenal grades in

5:45 those two schools.

5:46 In their English language arts, Coquina had double-digit

5:52 increases for their grade 3 ELA level 3 through 5,

5:57 which is always great to see more of those students moving into

5:59 the upper tiers.

6:00 But perhaps most importantly, they saw a double-digit decrease

6:03 in their level 1 students for grade 3 ELA.

6:06 Mims, a double-digit decrease in their level 1s for grade 3 ELA.

6:12 Double-digit increase for their grade 4, level 3 and 5.

6:16 And double-digit decrease for their grade 4, level 1.

6:19 So those are just a couple of the highlights I don’t want to

6:22 drag on forever.

6:23 I’ll be happy to share with you guys the information if you –

6:26 I pulled all the data and made my own spreadsheet.

6:29 I know that doesn’t surprise you.

6:30 But anyway, I want to give a definite shout-out to all of the

6:34 individuals on the teams at Coquina and Mims Elementary,

6:37 especially Imperial Estates had some great numbers, too.

6:40 Double-digit increase in their ELA grade 4 and double-digit

6:43 decrease in their level 1 grade 4.

6:45 So lots of great things going on, and I know it is obviously

6:48 hard work on the students’ part that gets them there.

6:51 But I think we also have to recognize that our teachers, our

6:53 principals, the social workers that are in the schools providing

6:57 support,

6:57 all of those people are playing a role, and we’re seeing some

6:59 great positive changes.

7:01 And I have one more kind of shout-out and information item I’d

7:05 like to share.

7:07 You all know that I sit on the FSBA Legislative Committee.

7:12 And Ruth Melton, who is our legislative person with FSBA every

7:16 year, creates this book.

7:18 We call it The Book of Ruth, and it is a summary of our

7:22 legislative session, from funding to actual bills that are

7:26 passed.

7:27 She does a phenomenal job on putting all of that together, and I

7:30 cannot thank her enough,

7:31 because it is incredibly tedious and complicated, and there’s a

7:35 lot of information that she has to be able to catch.

7:39 But I wanted to share with you all and with our audience a

7:42 couple of the highlights from our summary.

7:45 I sent out to the board, I tried to condense The Book of Ruth to

7:48 about seven pages for you all,

7:49 so you didn’t have to dig through all of it.

7:52 But a couple of things that I thought were really interesting

7:55 from that update.

7:56 We’ve seen that there’s been a significant increase in our FEFP

7:59 funding for this year,

8:01 but I think it’s important to note that we saw some changes in

8:04 the things included in the FEFP.

8:07 So our real increase statewide in FEFP funding is about $300

8:11 million.

8:12 The total increase is $782 million, but out of that $245 million

8:20 was the inclusion of best and brightest into our FEFP,

8:24 so that’s not actually new dollars.

8:25 The new voucher program increased the FEFP by about $130 million,

8:30 and obviously we know that’s not going to schools.

8:32 Some interesting factoids, there are about 200,000 more students

8:36 today than in 2007-2008,

8:38 but we still have not returned to the same funding level in 2007-2008.

8:44 The increase that we are seeing in the 2019-20 base student

8:50 allocation of $75,

8:51 which we’ve all been very excited about because it’s so much

8:54 better than last year.

8:55 In reality, that’s a 1.79% increase in our flexible funding,

9:00 which is the funding that we use, of course, for salaries,

9:02 for increases in insurance, electricity costs, all of those

9:06 things.

9:09 So while 1.79% sounds not great,

9:12 in 2018-2019, our $0.47 increase was 0.01%.

9:19 And so I think if you look at the trends on BSA,

9:22 you can certainly see why we face some of the challenges we face.

9:26 Some highlights of the appropriation,

9:29 100% of the PICO, which is the capital outlay dollars,

9:33 is going to charter schools this year, $158 million.

9:37 And we have cringed about that in the public schools,

9:39 but the good news is that means that we don’t have to share the

9:42 $1.5 million.

9:43 So the theory is that that will wash out.

9:46 Some of the specific categorical areas that they look at,

9:51 BPK, which we have all talked a lot about the importance of BPK

9:55 and getting students to come into kindergarten ready for

9:57 kindergarten.

9:58 We were spending more in 2007-2008 than today.

10:02 We’ve seen an increase in the overall funding in BPK,

10:05 but it is because of an increase in students,

10:08 not because we’ve actually increased per-student funding in BPK.

10:11 But that’s one of the things we’ll want to keep on our radar for

10:14 next year.

10:15 There does seem to be some bipartisan support to improve BPK,

10:18 and I think that’s critical to success in K-12 as well.

10:20 The district cost differential,

10:22 which we lose millions of dollars every year in Brevard

10:25 through the district cost differential.

10:27 They have completed the study on that,

10:30 but they have not yet made any changes to it,

10:32 and so hopefully next year we can get some change through on

10:34 that.

10:35 For those of you not familiar with the district cost

10:37 differential,

10:37 basically what the state does is looks at the cost of living in

10:40 our district,

10:40 and they determine the amount of money that we have to raise at

10:43 the local level,

10:44 and then there’s a multiplier.

10:46 So if your multiplier is less than one,

10:48 your district actually loses money to other districts

10:51 because your cost of living is lower.

10:53 So for example, Orange County,

10:56 who has a much higher tax base than us,

10:57 also has additional millage and additional sales tax.

11:00 Their multiplier is over one,

11:02 so they actually receive additional funding

11:04 every single year through the district cost differential.

11:06 So getting that changed at the state level

11:08 would be very helpful for Brevard.

11:09 We talk a lot about our required local effort,

11:13 and one of the calculations that the FSBA determined

11:16 is if they had left our millage rate where it was supposed to be,

11:21 there would have been about $350 million more available

11:26 for education in the state of Florida.

11:30 Our ESE guaranteed allocation is still below the 0708 allocation.

11:34 Our transportation funding is below the 0708 level.

11:37 Digital classroom is going away.

11:39 Mr. Cheatham, I apologize.

11:41 I know you know that,

11:42 but we’ve seen a huge decrease in the digital classroom

11:45 allocation.

11:46 Some good things that have come out of it,

11:48 the mental health assistance allocation increased this year,

11:51 plus we have some additional flexibility

11:52 in the way that we can use those funds, which is good.

11:55 There are two new allocations in special categories

11:58 for computer science certification

12:00 and teacher bonuses in computer science, which is great.

12:03 We did see an increase in our FRS contribution rates.

12:09 The total cost to school districts is approximately $35 million

12:12 in the increase in our FRS.

12:17 There are some changes to the MSDS, which I think you all saw in

12:21 your briefing.

12:23 Some other great things that have come out,

12:26 we’ve got some flexibility in our teacher prep programs.

12:29 The general knowledge exam, which has been a challenge for a lot

12:33 of teachers,

12:34 they are giving us some flexibility there.

12:37 It is now only required if a person serves as a classroom

12:40 teacher,

12:41 which is great because I know we’ve had some struggles

12:44 with some of our social workers and guidance counselors

12:46 getting through that general knowledge exam,

12:49 so that gives them that flexibility.

12:50 We also now have three years for new teachers to pass the

12:54 general knowledge exam,

12:55 which is great, so we can keep quality teachers.

12:57 And there’s a great new workforce education program, HB 7071,

13:02 that creates some additional paths for students

13:04 who may not be really academic in nature

13:07 and are looking for ways to get certifications and still

13:10 graduate.

13:10 So that will be, I think, a great benefit to a lot of our

13:14 students here in Brevard.

13:15 And that’s all I have.

13:18 Thank you, Ms. Belford.

13:19 We appreciate you serving on that legislative committee.

13:23 Is that the correct term?

13:24 And reporting back to us in a nice summarized form.

13:27 I know a lot of us follow it all closely,

13:30 but I think it’s important for the public to hear what’s going

13:32 on too

13:33 and how it affects our school district.

13:34 Mr. Susan.

13:35 Thank you.

13:39 I just wanted to take a second and say thank you to the Joneses

13:42 for all of their work in our education that we’ve had

13:46 throughout the Brevard schools.

13:48 Mr. Jones was an SRO at my daughter’s elementary school.

13:52 And I remember going in there for the first time thinking,

13:54 oh, I’m going to walk in here,

13:55 and he’s the first person you saw over at Cape View.

13:58 And it’s pretty intimidating.

14:00 And he had that entire school in line.

14:03 And Ms. Jones and I worked on several projects,

14:04 and I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you guys

14:06 have done.

14:07 Next thing is that today we have Adrian Lafitte

14:10 is being nominated to the Brevard Schools Foundation.

14:12 I just want to give him a shout out for all the hard work that

14:15 he does

14:15 for our school district, volunteering and everything else.

14:17 He is the heart of the sales tax initiative that we had

14:20 originally,

14:21 and he continues to give back to our community.

14:23 And I just wanted to take a second and say thank you to him, too.

14:25 I did want to say on the jobs, because I’m always talking about

14:30 the jobs,

14:31 the county finally signed on.

14:33 They have an MOU, and they’re going to start hiring our kids for

14:35 the jobs programs

14:36 for the internships over the summer and throughout the year.

14:38 It was a long, lengthy process to get through it, and they

14:42 finally did.

14:43 And tomorrow, throughout the rest of the week at the Home Builders

14:46 and Contractors Association, one of the jobs programs is called

14:50 BRIC.

14:51 There are kids, there are 75-plus kids, learning on how to do

14:55 their OSHA certification

14:56 and a series of other things as they get ready for their second

14:59 round of internships

15:00 for the summer, where they’re working in construction fields

15:03 across the county.

15:04 That’s only a fraction of the rest of the jobs program that we

15:07 have.

15:07 So the county’s on board.

15:08 I know the port, you’re working on getting the port, and a bunch

15:11 of other cities

15:12 and municipalities and counties, and they’re doing amazing.

15:14 So if anybody wants to go to the HBCA in the next couple of days,

15:18 yeah.

15:18 Okay, that’s huge.

15:19 All right, there we go.

15:20 I got one for him.

15:21 Look, he’s, there you go.

15:22 Anyways, I also wanted to say that who we play for has screened

15:26 2,000 kids now.

15:29 2,000 kids.

15:31 They’ve triggered 12 that said that they had some heart

15:34 complications,

15:35 and one of those kids has already gone in and gotten surgery,

15:38 was one of our staff members,

15:39 was a teacher at one of our local high schools, and she is over,

15:43 she did a video,

15:44 they went on Facebook talking about how awesome this was and how

15:47 her kid may have saved her life.

15:48 So kudos to who we play for and the organizations that are

15:51 putting this together, such an amazing job.

15:54 And those of you that don’t know, these are the heart screenings

15:57 where if a kid,

15:58 a lot of our athletes have a heart screenings with an EKG that

16:02 tests to see if they have any kind of heart murmurs

16:04 that then triggers them to go get it checked out, and sometimes

16:07 they have to have corrective surgery

16:08 so that we don’t end up in a situation where they end up passing

16:11 on our fields or we have a worse situation.

16:13 So that was that one.

16:15 I did want to say it is kind of crazy on the legislative end

16:19 when, and thank you so much for your update,

16:23 that every time I go to the store, I see more lottery, right, I

16:28 see more money that’s being dumped into a program for lottery

16:31 that was originally sold to the communities over going to

16:34 education.

16:35 And all they did was use a shell game for what they were doing.

16:38 And that’s sad.

16:39 That’s the first thing, is that they are using what could be one

16:42 of the worst things to do to a community

16:44 by expanding that habit and then not funding the education

16:47 program like they were supposed to.

16:49 The other thing is, is that last year alone, the state, they

16:53 increased over 3%,

16:55 but our education budget only increased over just a little over

16:59 1%.

17:00 So they’re not even keeping with, at the state level, the actual

17:03 amount of money that the state is receiving.

17:05 They’re not even giving that same amount to education,

17:08 which means that if we just took the same amount of pie that we

17:11 had the year before,

17:12 we would be a 3% higher, but they actually only received 1%.

17:16 And until the legislation, legislators in Tallahassee hear the

17:19 voices of the people

17:20 over raising the amount of money that goes towards our schools,

17:23 it’s going to continue to go down.

17:25 And I will say that’s nothing against our local legislators,

17:27 because Debbie Mayfield and the rest of them, Tyler Soroy, Thad

17:30 Altman, everybody,

17:32 they do a phenomenal job at making a fight for us,

17:35 but there are a bunch of other ones out there that don’t,

17:37 and unfortunately, our guys are outnumbered.

17:39 So I do want you guys to know that that fight’s coming,

17:41 and I think we’re all going to be in alignment to go after it.

17:43 The other thing, I want to say thank you to Donnie Felix for

17:47 inviting me to come be on a panel

17:48 for the Haitian American Association of Brevard.

17:51 For those of you guys that don’t know,

17:53 we have a significant amount of Haitian Americans that are

17:55 inside of our community,

17:56 and one of the problems that we have there is we all talk about

18:00 ESOL, ESOL, ESOL, right?

18:02 But when you go to learn about ESOL, ESOL’s not just Hispanic,

18:05 Spanish-speaking,

18:06 but it’s also Haitian, which is more Creole.

18:09 It’s also Russian.

18:11 And when I was a teacher, I had probably six or seven different,

18:15 in one year, I had six or seven different kids that were Spanish,

18:19 that were Haitian,

18:19 that were Russian, that were all trying to learn English.

18:22 So a big shout-out goes to the organization that you were,

18:25 the group that you were talking about in the evening.

18:27 Ms. Morris runs it.

18:29 I used to teach right next door to her for adult ed parents to

18:32 be able to come back in and transition.

18:34 But the other problem that we have, as far as a district goes,

18:37 is that the available resources at the adult eds and everybody

18:40 else,

18:41 there’s just not enough for those specific groups, the Hispanic,

18:45 Spanish-speaking population.

18:46 We have good setups, but when it comes to, like, the Haitian

18:49 group,

18:50 when I was teaching adult ed at night,

18:52 when they went to go take their, when they went to go take the

18:56 adult ed test,

18:57 you could get that in Spanish, you could get that in Russian,

19:00 but you couldn’t get it in Haitian.

19:01 So I actually had to drive a kid to Miami to take the test.

19:04 So there’s some gaps there, right?

19:06 And that’s not our fault in any way.

19:08 That’s not him.

19:09 So what they offered, the Haitian-American group,

19:11 offered to send in volunteers to work with our students, which

19:14 was huge.

19:15 So if we have, I’m going to have them contact our office,

19:18 and if we have students that need help,

19:20 they would volunteer to go in and work with those kids,

19:22 specifically at those schools.

19:23 And I think that was a great thing.

19:25 But I wanted to say thank you to Donny Felix and the Haitian-American

19:28 Association of Brevard.

19:29 And I think that that’s pretty much it for me.

19:33 Thank you.

19:33 Thank you, Mr. Susan, Ms. Campbell.

19:37 All right.

19:38 First, I want to, oh, first I want to recognize Ms. Troisi

19:42 and Jupiter Elementary’s team for their summer reading clinic

19:45 that they put on

19:46 with their, some Title I funds.

19:48 They invite, you know, a lot of our schools are doing the third

19:51 grade tutoring

19:52 the kids who made a one on the FSA, excuse me.

19:54 But she wanted to expand it.

19:56 They offered this summer reading clinic for the month of June

19:59 for all grade levels, kindergarten through sixth grade.

20:02 And they were able to come in and get reading assistance.

20:04 My favorite part of what they did was they invited the parents

20:07 to come in.

20:08 And the parents could drop them off and come back a couple hours

20:11 later,

20:11 or they could come in and just see their students, their

20:14 children in action,

20:15 see some learning strategies that might help them,

20:18 not only through the summer, but in, during the school year.

20:20 So, and they were able to give the students free books.

20:23 And they had just a great participation.

20:26 And so excited to see what they’re doing with their Title I

20:28 funds.

20:28 I want to thanks, I give thanks to Chris Ault for giving me a

20:32 tour

20:32 of the half cent sales tax work being done at Central Middle

20:35 School.

20:35 And I’m happy to say that they have, right now,

20:38 the best communications equipment room in the county.

20:42 You can be jealous of that.

20:44 All right.

20:45 So, it was really cool getting to see the guys.

20:47 And it’s not just about making the internet faster for our

20:50 students and for our teachers.

20:51 In today’s world, that room, that kind of infrastructure runs

20:57 our security systems

20:58 and our air conditioning systems and our fire alarm systems.

21:03 And so, all of that is integrated.

21:05 And so, some, a lot of that half cent sales tax work that’s

21:07 going on,

21:08 we’ll never see it because it’s in the walls and it’s in the

21:11 wires.

21:12 But it’s really important and exciting to see that we’re getting

21:14 that kind of progress.

21:15 I want to recognize someone really special in the security

21:19 office.

21:19 And Major Walters, I don’t know if she’s here today, but tell

21:22 her later.

21:23 There is a wonderful, super rock star volunteer in the security

21:28 office.

21:28 Her name is Carol Patrick.

21:30 And she spends 15 to 20 hours every week in our office working

21:35 with people

21:35 who are coming in for their fingerprinting and their badges.

21:38 She does it as a volunteer.

21:40 And she’s actually a volunteer for the Sheriff’s Department,

21:42 correct?

21:43 But she’s doing it here in our building and for the benefit of

21:47 our employees

21:47 and for our students.

21:48 So, I just want to recognize Carol Patrick and just give her a

21:50 huge shout-out

21:51 for the work that she does.

21:52 I’m not really sure your office could run without her.

21:55 Not in the way that it does.

21:57 So, she’s a rock star and we’re grateful for her.

21:59 Two things coming up.

22:02 There are two big back-to-school giveaways coming up.

22:07 One of them is at Centerpoint Church, which I believe is

22:10 actually the largest

22:11 back-to-school giveaway in the county.

22:12 And then, of course, our Brevard Schools Foundation one.

22:15 The Centerpoint Church is doing theirs on July the 20th.

22:18 And then Brevard Schools Foundation is doing theirs on the 27th.

22:22 Let me just talk about Brevard Schools Foundation one really

22:24 quickly.

22:25 I know that right now they’re collecting their backpacks and

22:28 supplies.

22:29 The Supervisor of Elections Office started yesterday collecting

22:32 those.

22:33 And you can go to any office near you.

22:35 If you live in Palm Bay down on Kogan or across the street here.

22:37 There’s one in Titusville and then the one on Sarno in Melbourne.

22:41 If you backpacks, pencils, paper, everything school supply, you

22:46 can drop off at those locations.

22:47 And they will be handing those out to the students who have

22:50 registered that are on our free and reduced lunch list.

22:53 Centerpoint Church, I just want to shout out to them.

22:56 They have been doing this for several years now.

22:58 Like I said, it’s the largest one in the county.

23:00 Not only do they give away to school supplies, they do back to

23:03 school haircuts, dental exams, vision screenings.

23:07 They have tons of giveaways.

23:09 Everything is free.

23:10 And we’re just so thankful for our community partners who are

23:13 loving on our kids and loving on our families.

23:16 So just really excited to see both those community outreaches

23:19 who can help our families in days to come.

23:22 Thanks.

23:23 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.

23:27 Dr. Thetty?

23:31 Thank you, Ms. Deskovich.

23:32 I do have a couple of things.

23:33 I want to give a shout out to our facilities team.

23:35 They are working fast and furiously to complete all of their

23:38 summer projects prior to the start of the school year.

23:41 It’s no small feat to get everything done that they have to get

23:43 done prior to the first day of school.

23:46 Cabinet, staff, teachers, they’re all prepping for the start of

23:49 the new school year.

23:50 Next week, we have several trainings going on for our principals,

23:54 assistant principals, teacher leaders,

23:56 department and school secretaries, getting everybody up to date

23:59 and ready to go for the 19-20 school year.

24:02 And I would like to echo what Mrs. Belford said about the FSA

24:07 scores,

24:08 and kudos to our schools for their improvement.

24:10 So thank you.

24:11 Thank you, Dr. Thetty.

24:14 I have nothing to share, which will just help the meeting go by

24:23 quicker.

24:24 So let’s get back on task with the meeting.

24:27 This brings us to the adoption of the agenda.

24:31 Dr. Thetty?

24:34 Mrs. Deskovich and board members, on this morning’s agenda,

24:38 we have administrative staff recommendations, one recognition,

24:41 one resolution,

24:44 19 consent items, six action items, and three information items.

24:48 You also have the yellow supplemental agenda, which are changes

24:51 made to the agenda

24:52 since being released to the public on Tuesday, July 2nd.

24:56 Item A7, on administrative staff recommendations, receive revisions.

25:00 What are the wishes of the board?

25:02 Vote to approve.

25:03 Second.

25:04 Any discussion?

25:05 Please vote.

25:07 Second.

25:37 Please vote.

25:48 Motion passes 5-0.

25:50 Dr. Thetty.

25:51 We will begin by recognizing Ms. Anita Jones on her retirement

25:54 from Brevard Public Schools.

25:56 Most recently Ms. Jones served as the principal at Titusville

25:59 High.

26:00 Thank you for your years of dedicated service to the students,

26:02 staff and community of Brevard.

26:07 Good morning, everyone.

26:14 First of all, thank you for acknowledging my retirement and I’m

26:18 already starting to reap

26:19 the benefits of it.

26:20 I can assure you guys of that.

26:23 I have been an educator for almost 31 years and I can say unequivocally

26:28 that the large majority

26:29 of my career I have truly enjoyed.

26:32 I have been able to spend a great deal of time working with

26:35 students and I consider that to

26:37 be a blessing.

26:38 They are a great joy.

26:42 I would like to take this opportunity to thank my family.

26:46 First of all, my husband for his unyielding support of me always.

26:50 My son, Marcus, who’s here.

26:52 My daughter, Jada, is unable to be here because she just

26:55 graduated from USC and she’s studying

26:57 for the bar.

26:58 My mother, who’s here today to support me.

27:01 And all of the community members who’ve come out to support me

27:07 to include my neighbors,

27:09 my church family, my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated

27:13 and everyone else who’s come

27:15 out to support me today.

27:17 And I would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Rosette

27:20 Brown for disseminating information

27:22 about today’s retirement recognition.

27:24 I truly appreciate that.

27:26 And as I move forward in my life, I can look back with joy and

27:31 appreciate the great things

27:33 that I was able to experience being an educator.

27:36 I have no regrets about that.

27:38 None.

27:39 Students did bring me great joy and I am so appreciative.

27:41 So for those of you guys who have come out to support me today,

27:44 I truly appreciate that.

27:46 After the comments section, I would like perhaps if we could

27:49 leave and take some pictures.

27:51 But it would be very remiss of me if I didn’t take just a moment

27:55 to ask those of you guys

27:57 who came out to support me to please stand to be acknowledged.

27:59 So once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

28:14 Before we go on, I wanted to take an opportunity, Anita, on

28:21 behalf of Dr. Mullins, to express my

28:24 life and our sincere gratitude and appreciation to you and

28:27 acknowledge your 27 years of service

28:30 to Brevard Schools and your almost 31 years to students in

28:34 general.

28:35 You are appreciated.

28:36 Dr. Mullins wanted you to know that he was unable to be here

28:39 personally, but he wanted to wish you

28:41 all the best in your retirement and congratulate you on your

28:45 dedication to Brevard Schools and

28:47 your most recent service at Titusville High School.

28:49 Thank you and congratulations.

28:54 At this time, I would like to welcome two administrative staff

29:01 appointees from the June 25th meeting

29:04 who were unable to be in attendance.

29:06 First, congratulations goes to Jerry Hansen on his reclassification

29:10 from the position of

29:11 teacher on assignment to the position of 10-month assistant

29:14 principal at Astronaut High School.

29:15 Thank you very much. I’d like to thank Dr. Mullins and the

29:22 entire school board for allowing me to continue

29:24 to serve in the community of North Brevard, which has been

29:27 fantastic for me and my family.

29:29 I’d also like to thank Ms. Miller, who’s actually here with me

29:31 today, Ms. Tomlinson, who was at

29:33 Madison Middle School when I was a teacher there, for giving me

29:36 numerous growth opportunities,

29:38 as she likes to call them, to learn more leadership.

29:41 And also, Mr. Gary Schifrin, who was the first principal to

29:44 actually hire me.

29:45 My family was unable to be here with me today because my son is

29:48 actually an incoming freshman

29:49 at Astronaut High School and refused to miss football practice

29:53 to come with me.

29:53 So, mom had to stay behind to give the ride.

29:56 But again, thank you very much for this opportunity.

29:58 Thank you, Mr. Hansen.

30:07 Congratulations are also in order to Jasmine Baez on her recent

30:11 reclassification and transfer

30:12 from the position of teacher on assignment at Palm Bay Magnet

30:15 High School

30:16 to the position of 10-month assistant principal at O’Galley High

30:19 School.

30:19 Thank you to the board. Thank you, Dr. Mullins.

30:25 I feel very blessed and grateful for this new challenge.

30:29 When I talk to the kids, I try to tell them that in every event,

30:31 there is some learning

30:33 and an opportunity to grow.

30:34 So, I take this as my opportunity to learn and grow within Bravada

30:38 County Schools.

30:39 I’ve had a great many people who have supported me, encouraged

30:42 me throughout the years.

30:44 I have my family here.

30:45 This is my son who understands what I’m doing.

30:48 And I hope he knows that he’s my why.

30:52 My mom’s here, who’s always supported me and everything.

30:54 My aunt came from Pennsylvania to celebrate with me.

30:58 I know my brother and my sister-in-law couldn’t be here, but

31:00 they have my back 100%, so I’m

31:02 grateful to them.

31:05 Professionally, Dr. Sullivan, Ms. Bowman, Ms. Wybelt, you guys

31:09 have given me many nuggets

31:11 of advice, and I greatly appreciate it, I don’t know what I

31:13 would do without you.

31:15 I’ve been a pirate all of my teaching career so far, so I’d be

31:19 remiss not to thank the pirate

31:21 community for everything they’ve done, all the words of

31:24 encouragement, all the support.

31:26 Mr. Kaminsky, who I know every time I went into your office, you

31:30 would listen to my complaints,

31:32 my questions, and just help me grow, so thank you so much,

31:38 Lauren Kingsley, and Lauren Ferrante,

31:40 they’ve also helped me greatly, so thank you so much, and I take

31:44 this opportunity to take

31:45 that foundation at O’Galley, so thank you, Dr. Sullivan, Mr. I

31:49 made him a doctor, Mr.

31:51 Solomon, for taking this chance with me, so thank you.

32:02 Moving on, we congratulate Deanna Smith on her reclassification

32:05 and transfer from the position

32:06 of literacy coach at Turner Elementary School to the position of

32:09 10-month assistant principal

32:11 at Enterprise Elementary School.

32:15 Thank you so much, thank you, Dr. Mullins, and the board, and Ms.

32:20 Klein for this opportunity.

32:22 I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for some incredible

32:25 people who have influenced me

32:26 along the way.

32:27 I’d like to thank Dr. Mella for believing in me as a leader and

32:31 all of the support and guidance

32:32 you’ve given me during my time at Turner, I can’t thank you

32:35 enough.

32:36 The administrators that I’ve worked under, Ashley, Melissa, Tanya,

32:41 I can’t thank you guys enough

32:42 for the opportunities you’ve given me, for trusting in me,

32:46 believing in me, placing me in situations

32:49 that have allowed me to learn and grow as a leader.

32:51 I am going to miss working alongside you, and I can’t thank you

32:54 enough for all that you’ve

32:55 done.

32:56 My family, my husband is here today, my children are home, my

33:00 parents are watching from home,

33:01 all my family watching from home.

33:04 I can’t thank you guys enough for believing in my dreams and

33:08 supporting my goals and always

33:09 remaining positive.

33:12 You guys are my rocks, I love you.

33:14 My Turner family, I love you all, I wish you all the best, I’m

33:17 going to miss you tremendously.

33:20 And Miss Kelly Dufresne, I am so excited for this opportunity

33:24 and grateful and so excited

33:26 to join the Enterprise family.

33:28 So thank you.

33:29 Congratulations also to Jennifer Gonzalez on her reclassification

33:37 from the position of 12-month

33:40 assistant principal to the position of principal at Titusville

33:43 High School.

33:44 Thank you, Dr. Thetty School Board, Dr. Mullins, thank you, Dr.

33:51 Sullivan.

33:52 So many people to thank, Mike Alba, Molly Vega, my whole team,

33:57 my mentor, Sylvia Majeskovic,

33:59 of course, Anita Jones, for making me the leader I am.

34:03 I’m so excited, I’m so honored to be the principal of Titusville.

34:05 Thank you, I won’t let you down.

34:07 Go Terriers.

34:12 And last but certainly not least, we welcome Hilary Poole and

34:17 congratulate him on his appointment

34:19 to the position of principal at Stone Magnet Middle.

34:22 Mr. Poole is currently an assistant principal in Indy River

34:24 County.

34:31 Good morning, everyone.

34:32 I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Dr.

34:35 Sullivan and to the board and all

34:37 of the overwhelming support that I have received since walking

34:41 in those doors this morning.

34:43 It’s truly a blessing.

34:45 I am very excited about this school year.

34:47 I’m very excited to be back home.

34:50 I’m happy to meet the staff, the students, and the community,

34:54 and hopefully we have a very

34:56 productive school year this year.

34:58 Thank you.

34:59 Oh, I’m sorry.

35:00 My apologies.

35:01 I’d like to introduce my wife, my daughter, and my mother who

35:03 have come here to support

35:05 me today.

35:06 Better not forget that.

35:07 Well, he almost got in some serious trouble right there.

35:20 Mr. Poole?

35:21 Am I saying that?

35:22 Is it Poole?

35:23 Yes.

35:24 You also forgot to mention that you are a former student of

35:25 Stone Magnet Middle School.

35:26 I think it’s important for our community to know when people

35:29 have come back.

35:29 And are serving in leadership positions in our community.

35:32 So we’re looking forward to you, to you serving here in Brevard.

35:36 Okay.

35:37 We are on to the recognition of visitors.

35:41 I know that a group of you said you wanted to leave after the

35:44 recognitions.

35:46 So we are finished with the portion of administrative staff

35:50 recognitions.

35:51 I don’t know.

35:52 Do you want to take a pause?

35:53 Ms. Jones.

35:54 Sorry.

35:55 Ms. Jones was hoping, I think, to get a picture with all of the

35:58 folks that were here.

35:58 Do you want to pause briefly so that they can come up and do a

36:02 photo?

36:02 Tell them to come up.

36:04 Yeah.

36:05 Ms. Jones.

36:06 Yes.

36:07 Okay.

36:08 That’s fine.

36:09 Are we going to recess, an official?

36:11 Just a brief one.

36:12 Ms. Jones.

36:13 We’ll just take like a three-minute recess just for the

36:15 photograph opportunities.

36:17 Thank you.

36:37 Bye.

37:36 Thank you.

41:42 Good morning.

41:54 And, Chairman and Board members, I spent over 35 years in the

42:04 system and I retired back in 1995.

42:11 And, in the meantime, I worked very hard to earn a doctorate

42:16 degree and I’d like very much for that to be known whenever I’m

42:22 presented.

42:23 Thank you.

42:24 I can get my papers together here.

42:40 Thank you.

42:41 I’ve known Ms. Jones.

42:41 I’ve known Ms. Jones all of her life, I would say.

42:46 She’s a member of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church

42:52 where she grew up and participated in our programs there.

42:57 She attended Whistler, she attended Whistler Elementary School,

43:02 Ms. Belford, you might remember that back in the day and she

43:07 also attended Park Avenue, middle school, it was the junior high

43:13 school at that time.

43:14 Ms. Jones has made contributions to our North Revolta community

43:22 that I wish to share with you.

43:26 We were particularly pleased with the program that she

43:32 established at Jackson when she was the assistant principal

43:37 there for, I believe it was in the dean’s position.

43:43 When she established a program there by the name of JAG and that

43:51 stands for Jackson Aspiring Gentleman and I tried to encourage

43:57 the district to adopt that program and I don’t know where it is

44:01 presently on the agenda of things to do.

44:05 She also recruited over 300 businessmen and church people to

44:11 participate as mentors for students at Jackson Middle School.

44:16 That program was Jackson Ultimate Mentoring Program and that was

44:26 an acronym JUMP.

44:27 Another program that assisted children, especially male, black

44:36 males and programs where successful businessmen and church

44:42 people would mentor them during their time at Jackson.

44:46 Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in business

44:52 education and a master’s degree and special degree from Nova

44:58 University.

44:58 She has been an educator that we were very pleased with and we

45:06 came this morning to honor those hours that she put in.

45:13 And preparing our young people.

45:18 And Ms. Jones, thank you for all that you have done for us.

45:23 Thank you, Dr. Basin.

45:24 And we also are going to hear from Gloria Bartley.

45:36 Good morning.

45:38 My name is Gloria Bartley and I have been asked by Reverend

45:42 Bernard C. Wright, pastor of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church

45:46 in Titusville, to come this morning to express our sincere

45:50 appreciation to Mrs. Anita Jones.

45:52 On behalf of the Bethlehem Church family.

45:57 Pastor Wright is recuperating from surgery and could not be here

46:01 today.

46:01 However, we would not miss the opportunity to let Mrs. Jones

46:08 know that we applaud you and your 31 years of your service to

46:14 the children and families of Brevard County School District.

46:18 Thank you for all of the sacrifices you have made.

46:23 Thank you for the role model you have been.

46:28 As you start a new chapter, please know that we wish you the

46:34 best today, enjoy today, and every day.

46:39 Congratulations on your retirement.

46:40 Thank you, Ms. Bartley.

46:41 Thank you, Ms. Jones and all the supporters.

46:55 We are now going to move back to the general portion of our

47:01 school board meeting.

47:03 We are on to the recognition of visitors.

47:05 Dr. Thede.

47:07 Thank you, Ms. Deskovich.

47:10 This morning, we will be recognizing the Office of Purchasing

47:14 and Warehouse Services for receiving Florida Association of

47:18 Public Procurement Officials Award of Excellence in Public Procurement

47:22 for 2019.

47:23 Robin Novelli, Chief Operating Officer, will facilitate the

47:27 presentation.

47:27 good morning this morning I’m very excited to announce that the

47:43 office of purchasing and

47:44 warehouse services has earned the Florida Association of Public

47:48 Procurement officials

47:49 award of excellence in public procurement for 2019 the program

47:54 places emphasis on continuous

47:57 process improvement and outstanding purchasing practices earning

48:01 this award serves as confirmation

48:04 of the significant quality of an agency’s procurement process

48:07 and demonstrates demonstrations

48:10 of the commitment and contributions to the public purchasing

48:14 profession this prestigious award is

48:16 earned only by those organizations that demonstrate excellence

48:20 by obtaining a high score based on

48:23 standardized criteria which measures innovation organization

48:28 professionalism source selection

48:30 productivity e-procurement process improvements and leadership

48:35 attributes of the procurement

48:37 organization the trophy was presented on Wednesday May 15th at FAPPO’s

48:44 52nd annual conference and trade show

48:48 in Fort Lauderdale and I have that trophy right here to match

48:52 yours there mister and at this point of

48:56 interest this is the seventh year that our school district has

49:01 won this award and we are only one

49:05 one of 18 agencies in state of Florida to receive this honor the

49:09 only other school districts include Orange Seminole and Volusia

49:13 County Public Schools

49:13 public schools my sincere appreciation goes out to the

49:22 purchasing team for an exceptional job purchasing and warehouse

49:22 services has truly

49:22 distinguished themselves within the state now I would like to

49:31 introduce to you our team members and I’d like the director

49:31 Christy Rodriguez to

49:31 start and come up here and grab the trophy and we’re going to

49:33 have a photo op here but our director Christy Rodriguez our

49:37 purchasing manager Don Richter is unable to be with us today

49:40 senior buyers include come on down Will Hensman Janice Ellis and

49:47 buyers are Nick Kanjur Sean Hines Heidi Dotson Candie Cattell

49:53 Jennifer Wells

49:54 our purchasing clerk is Michelle Cherry our administrative

49:59 secretary is April Terry warehouse supervisor Sandy Kimble and

50:03 our surplus specialist Kyle Gotti and so if you

50:07 folks would line up here and if I could have Chairman Deskovich

50:11 and Dr. Thetty please come down let’s have a photo taken of

50:14 these award winners

50:14 thank you

51:35 Mr. Novelli and to your whole team we appreciate the hard work

51:43 that you do

51:44 Dr. Thetty will you please tell us about the resolution on this

51:50 morning’s agenda

51:51 Mrs. Deskovich and board members you will be asked to approve a

51:54 resolution implementing a student crime watch

51:57 program through the central florida crime line speak out hotline

52:00 and fortify florida programs with local law

52:03 enforcement agencies to promote safety within its schools

52:06 Mr. Reed will you please read the resolution for us

52:09 whereas the school board is the governing body of the brevard

52:14 county school district

52:16 and constitutes a body corporate pursuant to florida statutes

52:19 and whereas the board desires to keep its students safe secure

52:24 and free from harm

52:25 whereas florida statutes requires the board to implement a

52:29 student crime watch program

52:30 by resolution to promote responsibility among students and

52:34 improve school safety

52:35 whereas the student crime watch program shall allow students and

52:40 the community

52:41 to anonymously relay information concerning unsafe and

52:45 potentially un potentially harmful dangerous

52:48 violent or criminal activities or the threat of these activities

52:52 to appropriate law enforcement

52:54 agencies and school officials and whereas the board provides a

52:58 student crime watch program through central

53:00 florida crime line speak out hotline program and the fortify

53:04 florida program which reports information

53:06 it receives through anonymous tips to the appropriate law

53:09 enforcement agencies and school officials

53:13 now therefore be it resolved one the foregoing recitals are true

53:17 and correct and are incorporated herein in

53:19 reference and two the school board of brevard county florida

53:23 hereby implements a student crime watch

53:26 program through the central florida crime line speak out hotline

53:30 and fortify florida programs and local law

53:32 enforcement agencies to promote safety within its schools by

53:36 providing a mechanism that allows students and the community to

53:39 anonymously relay

53:41 information concerning unsafe and potentially harmful dangerous

53:44 violent or criminal activities

53:46 or the threat of these activities to appropriate law enforcement

53:50 agencies and school officials

53:52 this resolution shall become effective immediately upon its

53:56 adoption thank you mr reed what are the wishes of the board

53:59 move to approve second motion by miss belford second by miss mcdougall

54:06 any discussion please vote

54:18 motion passes 5-0 we’re now on to the general public comment

54:22 portion of our meeting the school board

54:25 policy 0169.1 limits to 30 minutes the portion of the meeting we

54:29 have five speakers signed up this morning

54:33 each speaker is limited to three minutes we have a clock in

54:38 front of me to help you keep track of your

54:41 track of your time when your time is over you’ll be asked to

54:44 stop and allow the next speaker his or her

54:46 turn always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is expected at

54:49 all times and your statement should

54:50 be directed to the board chairman the chairman may interrupt

54:54 warn or terminate a participant statement

54:56 when time is up personally directed abusive obscene or

54:59 irrelevant should an individual not observe proper

55:02 etiquette the chairman may request the individual leave the

55:05 meeting let’s all encourage an environment

55:06 appropriate for our children who may be present or watching from

55:09 home we will begin with our first three

55:12 speakers before speaking please state your name the organization

55:15 you represent

55:16 and identify the topic you will be discussing our first three

55:20 speakers are anthony colucci

55:22 vanessa skipper and ron bradley mr. colucci

55:34 good morning mr bradley okay mr colucci you’ll be second you did

55:39 that last time yes i think i think i see a trend

55:42 go ahead mr bradley okay uh i was up to four o’clock this

55:47 morning trying to figure out what i was going to

55:50 say and i thank you school board members i know it’s in your

55:55 heart to do what’s right i have taken the time

56:02 i’ve got every board member the schools as i represent and some

56:07 problems that the schools

56:10 it’s not problems and issues that you have some schools and i

56:15 hope that i’ve got the right information

56:18 i talked to someone earlier and they said well i hope your

56:21 information is not true and i said well

56:25 it’s in the budget and i hope the budget is right so rather than

56:32 embarrass anybody from what i’m going to

56:35 say i would like to talk with some of you people at the school

56:42 board meeting to tell you some issues

56:45 that i have found that maybe you can address it and won’t

56:48 embarrass anybody in the school system

56:51 thank you god bless you for your work and have a wonderful day

56:54 thank you mr bradley uh maybe we

56:57 could direct you to mr novelli is he still i’m not sure of the

57:01 nature of his findings but maybe you can

57:03 help coordinate and get him to the right person and if he needs

57:06 to speak with us individually we’ll

57:07 set appointments with you mr bradley thank you mr collucci

57:18 my name is anthony clucci i’m the president of the brevard federation

57:21 of teachers

57:22 first off i want to report that we were scheduling the vote on

57:27 our contract for august 9th

57:30 we do appreciate bps’s offer to use some of its communication

57:34 tools if we were to hold the summer

57:35 vote however we do not believe we we would be exercising due

57:39 diligence by conducting a contract vote over

57:42 the summer when we cannot guarantee that all teachers would

57:45 receive required communication about the vote

57:48 and while so many teachers are out of town due to summer break

57:52 we will not risk disenfranchising teachers

57:55 i will present the results of the vote at the august 13th school

57:59 board meeting

57:59 as we head towards negotiations for next year’s contract let’s

58:05 review where we are on teacher pay

58:07 the fact is florida is 46th in the nation in teacher pay we may

58:12 be performing higher than the state

58:14 average on standardized tests but not for teacher pay the fact

58:18 is brevard county ranks 30th in in average

58:22 teacher pay in florida trailing the state average by 2170 even

58:27 though we are the third most experienced

58:30 workforce the fact is we are amongst the worst paid country

58:34 worst paid teachers in the entire country

58:37 the fact is based on the decision that four of you made to

58:40 accept the superintendent’s recommendation

58:43 we will fall further behind our comparable counties the 1100

58:48 recurring raise is still less than what

58:51 osceola orange and volusia received last year whether you want

58:56 to believe it or not there are many

58:58 unanswered questions about your 2018 budget it is concerning

59:02 that some of you are trying to rush us

59:05 back to the table in order to offer us a two percent raise for

59:08 next school year it is an extremely

59:11 twisted logic that giving two thousand three hundred dollars as

59:14 recommended by the special magistrate

59:17 for 1819 is the same thing as giving two thousand three hundred

59:21 dollars over two years

59:22 those of you that are attrition deniers i’m still waiting for

59:26 you to explain to us

59:27 why this average teacher salary has only increased 262 dollars

59:32 since 2013-14

59:35 in your quest to try to prove the union wrong rather than ask

59:40 your staff serious questions and hold

59:42 them accountable you miss the attrition dollars staring right at

59:46 you in addition to the 1.4 million

59:49 dollar attrition savings that dr mullins figured out using some

59:53 convoluted method we all including your cfo just

59:57 learned that an additional 3.1 million falls to the bottom line

1:00:01 to cover a portion of the board’s

1:00:03 contribution to health insurance 3.1 for health insurance 1.4

1:00:08 for attrition means when you’re

1:00:10 determining the cost of raises it’s actually 4.5 million less

1:00:15 than you’re budgeting for you didn’t

1:00:17 even know 3.1 was being taken from the bottom line for health

1:00:21 insurance even in mid-may your cfo was not

1:00:24 able to explain that now this isn’t saying that i want health

1:00:28 care costs to go up but what i’m

1:00:30 suggesting is you start asking hard questions of your staff

1:00:33 thank you

1:00:36 thank you mr kalucci miss skipper good morning vanessa skipper

1:00:45 vice president brevard federation of teachers

1:00:48 i was fortunate this past week to spend my days with over 9 000

1:00:53 educators from around the nation

1:00:55 educators from places like oakland and los angeles who took to

1:01:01 the streets fighting for their students

1:01:04 also taking to the streets with them were parent teacher

1:01:07 organizations who actually packed boxed

1:01:09 lunches to take to those teachers on the strike lines let’s not

1:01:14 forget about the places like kentucky

1:01:17 oklahoma arizona and west virginia and west virginia is actually

1:01:21 where it all started and all of those

1:01:23 are states just like us states that are not allowed to strike

1:01:27 but they did it anyway they showed in west

1:01:30 virginia that solidarity matters because the people that joined

1:01:33 them on the strike line not just parents

1:01:36 but students but also other public service workers and when the

1:01:40 teachers were offered a five percent raise

1:01:43 they turned it down and said not until our other service workers

1:01:47 like the state police get that raise

1:01:49 as well and solidarity matters you may or may not know but at

1:01:52 the legislative hearing where four of you

1:01:55 voted against a recommendation by a neutral third party we had

1:01:59 peepers people here from the firefighters

1:02:02 communication workers machinists letter carriers and many other

1:02:05 organizations in addition to parents and

1:02:08 the community wants our public schools funded and the community

1:02:14 wants the teachers to stay

1:02:17 i’m asking you all to think about the promises you made on the

1:02:23 campaign trail

1:02:25 in addition to being among 9 000 educators we had the

1:02:29 opportunity to listen to 10 candidates who accepted our

1:02:33 invitation we invited all of them 10 candidates for president

1:02:37 and some of them were full of lip service

1:02:40 and some of them had a very specific play a plan for how they

1:02:46 would improve title one funding and other

1:02:49 funding measures that come from the federal government lip

1:02:52 service versus a plan so i’m asking what is your plan

1:02:58 because this situation is not getting better and i’ve had candid

1:03:02 conversations with all of you

1:03:04 about the disparities that have happened in the past 10 years as

1:03:09 far as teacher pay in this county

1:03:12 it is incumbent upon you to go to staff and say this is what

1:03:17 needs to be done make it happen i appreciate

1:03:21 that funding comes from the legislature however they are

1:03:25 pointing the fingers back at you teachers are

1:03:28 writing them they’re writing our education commissioners and the

1:03:32 letters they are receiving says the power

1:03:35 to raise teacher salary is in the hands of the school board

1:03:40 members we also had the opportunity to hear

1:03:43 from the 2019 national teacher of the year out of virginia and

1:03:47 he said this about politicians who promised

1:03:51 to raise teacher pay and school funding it’s time to write the

1:03:54 checks your mouths are cashing we’re ready

1:04:00 thank you miss skipper our last two speakers are kathy west and

1:04:07 lucille hornas sabitz

1:04:11 is miss west here okay oh miss west

1:04:30 i’m a substitute teacher my name is kathleen west um and i’m

1:04:41 here on behalf of the subs and uh teachers

1:04:46 we are in a sub crisis many counties have been bumped up to 15

1:04:55 an hour for sub pay brevard county is lagging

1:04:59 behind uh many counties offer perks uh for their subs the sub

1:05:05 pay has not been raised in 10 years

1:05:08 i would like to know how we are supposed to pay our bills if we

1:05:14 haven’t gotten raised in 10 years

1:05:17 basically schools are at a disadvantage at the expense of the

1:05:23 subs and other teachers

1:05:26 where’s our sub pay and our increases and our bonuses

1:05:31 i had to ride the bus down here because i can’t afford a better

1:05:36 car which is pretty sad

1:05:38 um that’s all i have to say

1:05:44 thank you miss west

1:05:52 miss west can you can you wait just one second um we we’re going

1:05:56 to let the last speaker go and it

1:05:58 sounds like some of our school board members might have some

1:06:00 questions for you

1:06:01 no let’s let’s finish with our public comments if you would like

1:06:05 to go ahead that way we can keep on

1:06:07 schedule and then we’ll we’ll ask her to come back up so can you

1:06:11 state your name for me please ma’am

1:06:13 it’s going to be kind of hard it’s a long way married for love

1:06:15 not the name my name is lucille horn

1:06:19 horn sabitz yes okay um go ahead miss horn sabitz i’m from palm

1:06:25 bay florida and i’m mother of two

1:06:28 and grandmother of six which brings me to first of all i want to

1:06:31 say thank you for having the pledge of

1:06:32 allegiance said that got rid of one of my concerns what i’d like

1:06:36 to know is whether or not the pledge

1:06:38 of allegiance is also said in our schools is it every day yes ma’am

1:06:43 yay okay number two um i’m

1:06:46 understanding and i hope not that the quran is being forced

1:06:50 pushed on our kids in school is that true or

1:06:53 not true or not true no quran teaching no no yay all right yay

1:07:01 america okay uh not that i’m prejudiced

1:07:05 but you know number two um so uh gender neuter uh teaching is

1:07:13 that being pushed in our schools

1:07:17 um i think of this it’s a little complicated with five of us and

1:07:22 going

1:07:23 back and forth we want to make sure we have accurate information

1:07:25 to all of your requests

1:07:26 so if you could uh read if you have a statement read your whole

1:07:30 statement if you have questions

1:07:31 oh okay um we can maybe we’ll get you with dr sullivan in the

1:07:34 back she’s head of all secondary

1:07:36 school leading and learning she’ll be able to answer each of

1:07:38 those for you and she has 100 accurate

1:07:40 information okay so um is common core caught taught in schools

1:07:46 again we’re gonna we’re gonna let

1:07:50 you read them all out and then she can answer them for you

1:07:52 and is history still being taught in our schools

1:07:55 seriously history yeah i taught it is it yay well that’s great

1:08:05 because i i understand of course it’s

1:08:08 via the uh social media that in a lot of schools that’s not

1:08:13 happening and that’s very sad so i’m

1:08:14 glad we’re sticking with the three r’s and history and okay um i

1:08:20 think that will conclude i’ll go back and

1:08:22 see dr sullivan then thank you thank you thank you ma’am so much

1:08:25 dr sullivan is will you raise your

1:08:27 hand so she can see who you are right there thank you so much

1:08:30 okay um it’s a little out of the ordinary

1:08:32 but miss west we’re going to ask you to come back up i think

1:08:34 some board members have a few questions for

1:08:36 you if you’re okay with that okay uh i know we tried to address

1:08:43 the um the substitute issue a couple

1:08:47 years ago with um a different board before the new board was up

1:08:50 here and so um clearly we need to do

1:08:54 better mr susan did you have a question where is your home base

1:08:56 at like what schools do you normally go

1:08:59 to i do the the north end i can’t afford to come no i got you so

1:09:03 you’re from the ticeville area which is

1:09:05 one of the identified areas that we have um the other question

1:09:08 is is that on that scale are you a

1:09:10 retired teacher are you where do you fall on that retire on that

1:09:15 scale i’m a sub and i’m a degree sub

1:09:17 okay so i make a little bit more than the entry level subs and i

1:09:23 still can’t make it no i understand

1:09:25 thank you i think all the rest of the questions miss miss belford’s

1:09:30 from our area miss belford um first

1:09:31 thank you i’m the i’m the titusville representative on the board

1:09:34 and so i i certainly appreciate your

1:09:36 service to our community you made a comment um and and please

1:09:39 don’t assume that i’m dismissing the

1:09:41 subject of pay because it’s something that i think we need to

1:09:44 continue to look at but you made a comment

1:09:45 that many counties offer perks and i’m curious what perks could

1:09:50 be offered that would benefit you as a

1:09:53 substitute many of the counties offer perks to their sub they

1:09:58 may offer them free lunch because when you

1:10:01 when you’re called at the moment’s notice in the morning a lot

1:10:03 of times you’re not don’t have enough

1:10:06 time to pack a lunch so a lot of times i’m just running out the

1:10:10 door getting ready and running out the door

1:10:13 right so free lunch from the cafeteria or do they purchase okay

1:10:17 anything else that you can think of

1:10:20 that would um that’s it that i can think of right now okay if

1:10:24 you if you think of anything else could

1:10:28 you um i will some miss klein could you please give her my email

1:10:33 address and if there’s anything else

1:10:36 that you think of that we could do as far as sub support would

1:10:38 you please drop me an email and let me

1:10:39 know okay and miss klein is in the back of the room she’ll she’s

1:10:42 raising her hand for you okay thank

1:10:43 you so much so much i think we still have more questions i live

1:10:47 across the street from a substitute

1:10:49 and she pings me all the time um one of the issues that she was

1:10:52 mentioning is that we used to have a

1:10:54 system that the substitutes used that allowed them to network

1:10:57 within the different schools and we cut

1:10:59 that system off were you a part of that by any chance it was an

1:11:02 online system that alerted them to

1:11:04 different you’re not a part of that um they still use um it’s

1:11:09 not asap it’s um something else i’m drawing

1:11:13 a blank right now smart fine smart fine right but the other

1:11:16 piece you weren’t okay that’s all thank you

1:11:19 does anyone else have any comments or questions for miss west

1:11:22 thank you so much we are we’re going to

1:11:25 get to work on this one and try to to help to help you and our

1:11:28 substitutes out okay if you could um get

1:11:30 with miss klein miss klein okay thank you so much does anyone

1:11:34 have any uh comments or for any of the

1:11:36 other public speakers before we move on miss belford i’d just

1:11:40 like to thank uh mr clucci and

1:11:41 miss skipper um i think um i understand your reasoning for not

1:11:45 going for a vote on the contract sooner but

1:11:47 i think knowing you know at least what the plan is is beneficial

1:11:50 for all of us so um thank you for

1:11:52 getting to that as soon as you can we appreciate it i want to

1:11:55 say thank you to ron bradley for cutting off

1:11:57 anthony and vanessa and getting up to the stage first it shows

1:12:00 your initiative and i really want

1:12:01 to say thank you for that oh my gosh all right on that note we’re

1:12:05 going to get back to our meeting

1:12:08 it moves us to the consent agenda consent agenda dr thuddy there

1:12:13 there are 19 agenda items under this

1:12:16 category two with prior information

1:12:21 thank you does any board member wish to pull any items on the

1:12:24 consent agenda yes madam chair i’d like

1:12:27 to pull the following for lengthy discussion if i could pull f16

1:12:31 f18 f21 f24 and f27 please

1:12:40 that’s it um oh miss belford if i could pull f17 f19 and f22

1:12:55 please f19 f22 and i want to pull f31 pam

1:13:05 are you able to keep up with everything that’s going on we made

1:13:09 a restaurant would anyone else like to

1:13:12 to pull any items from the agenda okay um i would like to

1:13:19 entertain a motion to accept the items

1:13:22 with the exception of um after further thought madam chair um i

1:13:26 would like to remove my

1:13:30 following lengthy discussion items from the board um f16 f18 f21

1:13:35 f24 and f27

1:13:37 um i think dr thetty i think a joke’s being played on you i

1:13:42 figured that out

1:13:44 much appreciated thank you that was not funny pam did dr thetty

1:13:54 that was uh pam’s idea just so you know

1:13:57 pam looked shocked did you inform pam you were doing that mr susan

1:14:02 i did oh okay so pam you know okay

1:14:04 so i do want to make sure we’re clear on how we’re moving

1:14:07 forward

1:14:07 mr susan is there anything you want i removed all of my pulled

1:14:13 items for the consent agenda

1:14:14 miss belford is were you wanting to pull those three or were you

1:14:17 to remove all of my polls and place

1:14:19 them back on the consent agenda i truly want to pull f30 or oh

1:14:23 no there is no f31 i want i’m in action gosh we

1:14:26 are fine group between us don’t disrupt the flow okay dr molens

1:14:31 is never going to leave again i i

1:14:33 still need to entertain a motion to accept the ex-move to

1:14:37 approve consent agenda moved by mr susan second by miss belford

1:14:43 any discussion

1:14:45 please vote oh my gosh

1:14:51 motion passes five zero miss campbell are you okay that stressed

1:14:58 you out

1:14:59 i think we stressed out some staff members in the back

1:15:06 yeah they were having heart attacks back then sorry guys sorry

1:15:12 pam’s idea

1:15:13 and we know who the troublemaker is up here and it’s not him

1:15:18 okay

1:15:19 on to

1:15:23 we will move on to the action agenda dr thetty

1:15:28 thank you the first item is g30 on department school initiated

1:15:32 agreements

1:15:32 what are the wishes of the board moved to approve

1:15:38 moved by mr susan second by miss mcdougall is there any

1:15:50 discussion please vote

1:15:52 motion passes five zero dr thetty the next item is g31

1:15:59 purchasing solicitations

1:16:03 what are the wishes of the board move to approve second motioned

1:16:08 by mr susan second by miss campbell any

1:16:10 discussion

1:16:11 yeah i have a little bit of discussion we’ve had this pulled a

1:16:18 couple times my

1:16:25 uh… it’s um g31 cheryl if you want to click on it it’s the the

1:16:31 contract for cigna

1:16:33 for pharmaceuticals

1:16:35 so

1:16:41 most of us did everyone received the emails between my

1:16:44 representative on the sciac

1:16:46 miss butterfield and then the responses from

1:16:50 miss zirker

1:16:51 okay so i went through some of those in detail and we’ve been

1:16:56 able to answer

1:16:57 miss zirker answered most of them to my satisfaction i still had

1:17:01 some concerns

1:17:02 and i just want to see if anyone else has concerns on on some of

1:17:07 these same issues so i

1:17:08 called miss envall yesterday with some of them one of the things

1:17:11 that still bothers me about the contract

1:17:13 is the class action lawsuit waiver that we are saying that we

1:17:18 cannot bring a class action lawsuit and i

1:17:21 also called rsm last night just to get some input from them on a

1:17:25 few of these items the one of the

1:17:26 other things that was really bothering me was the uh the tight

1:17:30 controls on us being able to audit

1:17:33 the prescription process and what was going on and it did seem

1:17:37 too strict to me and we were really put in a box but

1:17:40 rsm said that was kind of standard language and that you see

1:17:44 that in most contracts so

1:17:46 i obviously am like okay well our auditors say that they’re

1:17:49 comfortable with those parameters

1:17:51 to do an audit then then i’m that i’m good with that uh they

1:17:55 couldn’t answer to the

1:17:57 i spoke with two people at rsm and they said they had not ever

1:18:00 seen in a contract the class action

1:18:02 lawsuit waiver so it basically says um in in the contract that

1:18:06 we waive our rights to ever be

1:18:08 part of a class action lawsuit against them uh does anyone else

1:18:13 take issue with that or am i out on a

1:18:17 alone island with that mr susan you have a lot of experience

1:18:21 with this in this field with there

1:18:23 was there was insurance sales there was that one and then i had

1:18:26 a quick question for mark um so the

1:18:28 class action lawsuit does one second do you need mr langdorff to

1:18:31 come to the front just real quick on

1:18:33 another one of them just for clarification because i think it

1:18:36 was one but yes the class action lawsuit does

1:18:39 have some concern that i have okay um and maybe you can speak to

1:18:45 that that one mr langdorff i am mark

1:18:48 just real quick um there’s a plan design trigger that allows

1:18:52 them to there was something in there

1:18:55 that we were getting and i just wanted to give you the

1:18:57 opportunity to explain it that in the event that

1:18:59 we change anything they can change the contract and the only

1:19:02 reason that i was asking and i’m sorry i

1:19:04 didn’t preempt of you with this before is if we do go straight

1:19:08 to our local um

1:19:10 clinics for pharmacy eventually would that renegotiate the rate

1:19:15 pbm that we’re paying i i don’t

1:19:18 think it just depends on what what the sciat committee would

1:19:21 recommend okay so at this point we don’t have

1:19:24 anything that would be in contrary to what sickness contract

1:19:28 says okay obviously we’d have to see what

1:19:30 the recommendations are from the board as well as the sciac

1:19:33 committee to find out if it would affect

1:19:35 the contract in any way so what you’re saying is is that if we

1:19:37 did go directly to our pharmacies

1:19:39 that’s not something we’re not going to do until next year and

1:19:41 in the event and we would have to

1:19:43 go through sciac to create that and then and then that would be

1:19:46 something that at that time we would

1:19:48 either renegotiate with cigna or start another contract that is

1:19:52 correct okay we we can’t do anything

1:19:54 without getting that going through negotiations with our unions

1:19:58 as well so we can’t make any changes at

1:20:00 all unless that no i got you i just wanted there was a little

1:20:02 bit of clarification there and then

1:20:03 the fiduciary responsibility you tend to be very very strong on

1:20:09 that with other entities you feel

1:20:11 comfortable with that being where it is inside the contract all

1:20:14 all adjusters and including health

1:20:16 insurance are claims fiduciaries they have a responsibility to

1:20:20 be our fiduciary actually

1:20:22 the language in the contract says if they are not acting with it

1:20:26 as a fiduciary we can terminate

1:20:27 the contract immediately perfect okay thank you for those clarifications

1:20:31 sure if you can just one

1:20:34 more thing back to the the class action lawsuit waiver is this

1:20:37 something that has been in our contracts

1:20:39 before is this something new can you speak to that a little bit

1:20:42 please it’s been in our past contracts

1:20:44 it really just depends on what the legal ramifications are that’s

1:20:51 the dispute resolution process

1:20:53 what signet would prefer is that we go through an arbitration

1:20:56 process rather than do a class action

1:20:59 frankly as your risk manager i’m not a big key proponent of

1:21:05 class action lawsuits i’d rather bring a

1:21:08 case against them directly so it didn’t bother me to have that

1:21:11 language in the contract obviously

1:21:14 i can’t speak for amy embo i’m not sure what her opinion is on

1:21:16 that we spoke so i i we’re on the same

1:21:20 page with that there’s nothing that precludes us from bringing a

1:21:25 suit individually to do so have we

1:21:28 ever done that before no one last question is is that on the

1:21:34 sorry on the 25th last agenda item we had a

1:21:39 disparity between it was 19 per month per employee and 36

1:21:43 dollars per month per family member there was

1:21:47 kind of a difference there and now it’s just 36 flat was there a

1:21:50 mix-up what was going on there

1:21:52 my math error okay it’s always been 36 dollars per employee per

1:21:57 month got it they’re only con there’s

1:21:59 if if you look at our billing because that’s the easiest way to

1:22:02 look at it is find out what they’ve

1:22:04 been charging us there’s two different charges there’s a 17 and

1:22:08 a 19 charge combined is 36. okay that’s

1:22:10 remaining the same okay so it’s a per employee per month charge

1:22:15 of 36 dollars got it okay all right

1:22:18 miss belford um i i mr lingdorf or miss envall feel feel free

1:22:25 whoever is uh is maybe better suited to

1:22:28 answer the question so in the event that something occurred and

1:22:32 we decided to file suit against

1:22:34 cigna if there was a class action lawsuit already filed against

1:22:38 them does that prohibit us from filing

1:22:40 individually against them no and as a separate we can’t join a

1:22:46 class action lawsuit okay but it’s it

1:22:49 wouldn’t it wouldn’t stop us from moving forward on anything if

1:22:52 if there was something else out there

1:22:54 and then um second question being do we by by signing the

1:22:58 contract do we prohibit our employees from

1:23:00 taking part in any class action lawsuit against them no okay

1:23:05 thank you those individuals have the right full

1:23:09 legal redress with the law that they would have yeah super thank

1:23:14 you thank you mr langdorff does anyone

1:23:16 else have questions for mr langdorff thank you is there any more

1:23:20 discussion on agenda item f31

1:23:33 please vote

1:23:42 motion passes 5-0

1:23:45 dr thuddy the next three items are policies each were brought

1:23:53 forth to staff during a work session

1:23:55 on may 28 2019 a rule development workshop was held on june 25th

1:24:00 2019 giving the public its first

1:24:02 opportunity for public comment the policies came before the

1:24:05 board as an information item on june 25th

1:24:08 today will be the second opportunity for public comment after

1:24:11 which time the board will take action

1:24:13 by a vote i declare a public hearing open is there anyone who

1:24:19 has come to address board policy 5120

1:24:22 assignment within the district is there anyone that has come to

1:24:28 address the board on board policy 5120

1:24:31 assignment within the district what are the wishes of the board

1:24:34 move to approve second motion by miss

1:24:37 miss campbell second by mr susan any discussion please vote

1:24:49 motion passes 5-0

1:24:55 we move on to our next policy is there anyone who has come to

1:25:02 make public comments concerning

1:25:05 policy 5121 controlled open enrollment

1:25:12 mr bradley would you like to speak on our policy 5121 controlled

1:25:16 open enrollment

1:25:17 if i understand you right what i think my daughter is this a

1:25:23 safety

1:25:23 what i’m concerned is my daughter lives right across the street

1:25:29 from the palm bay high school

1:25:32 and when the band practices for football practice that sometimes

1:25:37 it’s night and they have to bring

1:25:40 their xylophones down out in the street and there’s no street

1:25:45 light there

1:25:46 and the sidewalk is only four feet wide so i think it need to be

1:25:52 addressed either to widen the sidewalk

1:25:56 or put a street light there because when it’s dark and those

1:26:00 kids come down that street and i tell you

1:26:03 they come down that street and thank you something might happen

1:26:10 i don’t want that thank you mr bradley

1:26:12 if you can see miss hand in the back miss hand can you speak

1:26:15 with mr bradley about the possibility of

1:26:17 either working with the city or figuring out how to maybe get

1:26:19 that area lit a little bit more

1:26:21 i will ask one more time is there anyone that has come to speak

1:26:25 uh on public or on policy 5121

1:26:28 controlled open enrollment what are the wishes of the board move

1:26:32 to approve second motion by mr susan

1:26:35 second by miss belford please vote

1:26:47 motion passes five zero our last policy for this morning is

1:26:53 school board policy 7120

1:26:55 is there anyone who’s come to address policy 7120 criteria for

1:26:58 balancing school membership

1:27:00 to capacity is there anyone that’s come this morning to to

1:27:05 address the board on policy 7120

1:27:08 criteria for balancing school membership to capacity what are

1:27:11 the wishes of the board

1:27:15 motion by miss belford second by mr susan any discussion please

1:27:20 vote

1:27:21 motion passes 5-0

1:27:29 that concludes the public hearing portion of this meeting dr thetty

1:27:36 the last item under the action agenda is item g35 on the florida

1:27:41 educational equity act annual update 2019-20

1:27:45 what are the wishes of the board move to approve second motion

1:27:47 by mr susan second by miss belford any

1:27:50 discussion please vote

1:27:52 motion passes 5-0 we will now move on to the information agenda

1:28:03 which includes items for board

1:28:05 review that will be brought back for action at a later meeting

1:28:08 no action will be taken on these items

1:28:10 tonight dr thetty there are three items under the information

1:28:14 category

1:28:15 does any member wish to discuss any of the items on the

1:28:19 information agenda

1:28:20 would any board member we’re going to move on to board reports

1:28:28 is there any discussion points or reports

1:28:30 that a board member would like to give mr susan um just wanted

1:28:35 to remind the board that there was a

1:28:37 a push for a possible pilot up in the titusville area for subs

1:28:42 last year when we were dealing with the

1:28:43 kelly services and it didn’t go down um and just to bring you

1:28:46 guys up to speed kelly services was going

1:28:48 to come in and privatize our substitutes and we found that there

1:28:51 was an increased cost

1:28:53 so what we were trying to do was possibly look internally

1:28:55 instead of that increased cost and one

1:28:57 of the things was like we identified all of those schools up in

1:29:00 titusville that had an issue

1:29:02 and i was wondering if we could get that information that

1:29:05 substitute information to

1:29:07 our new board members just with the totals from last year i know

1:29:11 this year’s kind of probably still

1:29:12 being compiled but it should be easy to pull that way you guys

1:29:15 can take a look at it we had talked

1:29:17 about some of the ideas to move forward um including

1:29:20 specifically targeting certain schools by having

1:29:23 a raise in those schools so like if a substitute makes 12 an

1:29:27 hour here they make 14 if they go there

1:29:29 show that there is an increase it would be a pilot program then

1:29:32 they could go from there and there

1:29:33 was a lot of other issues that were discussed at that but i just

1:29:35 kind of wanted to get you guys that

1:29:37 information from last year so that you guys could be brought up

1:29:39 to speed i i feel like uh

1:29:42 we probably need to revisit this at some depth so maybe we do

1:29:46 want to give direction to start start

1:29:48 this up again if i can add one more discussion point i’ve talked

1:29:51 with matt reed a few times before

1:29:53 about this issue about going back with our legislative ask i

1:29:56 think we need to look at that again about

1:29:58 asking the legislature to change some of the rules of retirees

1:30:02 in certain job descriptions to be able to

1:30:04 come back because i know that our supervisor of elections lori

1:30:08 scott presented to our legislative

1:30:10 delegation in january her request for them to change that

1:30:13 because it affects her ability to hire poll workers

1:30:16 because if uh those are that’s some of the people that she draws

1:30:19 from as retirees to come and work

1:30:20 the polls during election years and we’ve got a huge um this

1:30:23 problem won’t be solved before the 2020

1:30:26 election cycle but it’s a big year for her and so if we can pull

1:30:30 our resources and our our think tank

1:30:32 you know resources with um organizations like the supervisor of

1:30:35 elections office because there’s lots of

1:30:37 organizations that would benefit from our retirees being able to

1:30:40 come back sooner um so i think we

1:30:43 need i know we didn’t um yeah yeah they can so anyway just

1:30:48 another another partner in that thank you

1:30:51 miss campbell i think i think it’s safe that we could give

1:30:54 direction to dr thuddy to get on to dr mullins

1:30:56 to tell you dr thuddy to put together uh maybe as part a part of

1:31:03 a workshop or however you guys see

1:31:06 appropriate for us to start having some offline discussions of

1:31:09 where we wouldn’t want to go with

1:31:11 us okay thank you i have it thank you mr susan um yeah so there

1:31:15 was another legislative ask that i was

1:31:18 working on with dr mullins and i kind of wanted to speak to the

1:31:20 rest of the board because i hadn’t had an

1:31:22 opportunity too but um we have our pre-k that we were talking

1:31:25 about earlier um for some of those

1:31:28 requirements they’re also just so you guys know forced to go

1:31:31 into drop at 57 not later there’s a

1:31:33 bunch of other requirements that are inside of there um i met

1:31:36 with a bunch of pre-k teachers and

1:31:38 listened to their demands gave that to dr mullins to add to it

1:31:41 but i did just want to give you a heads

1:31:43 up that that pre-k i think we could really focus in on a couple

1:31:46 of asks besides the requirements for the

1:31:49 testing and stuff like that but also let them retire at a later

1:31:52 rate there’s no reason why not right

1:31:54 and stuff like that so um i think that if we could formulate a

1:31:57 platform there it would really

1:31:59 significantly help our elementary schools in the transition from

1:32:01 those younger kids into our k

1:32:03 programs i’m sorry i know misty looks like you’re chomping at

1:32:05 something you want to say something

1:32:06 i was i was just going to add on to the pre-k issue oh go ahead

1:32:12 miss pelford um absolutely mr susan

1:32:15 in addition to the fact that our pre-k teachers don’t qualify

1:32:18 for best and brightest bonuses and

1:32:20 um i i think there are i think our our legislative environment

1:32:24 is ripe for really creating some

1:32:27 positive changes in early childhood education because i think

1:32:30 there is beginning to be an

1:32:32 understanding that it has long-term impact in the k-12 system um

1:32:36 not that i want funds taken away from k-12

1:32:40 to support early childhood um because i i think we’re scarce on

1:32:43 funding as it is but i think that

1:32:46 there’s opportunity as a state for us to focus on really beefing

1:32:49 up early childhood which would um

1:32:51 take some of the challenges that we’re currently seeing in k-12

1:32:56 and potentially decrease our costs in

1:32:58 k-12 and and have students be more successful so um i think that’s

1:33:02 an area that we need to have a lot of

1:33:04 discussion around as a board and in advocating um to make sure

1:33:07 that we can you can have the no cost

1:33:11 issues and the cost issues that way they they can decipher

1:33:14 between the two absolutely sometimes they

1:33:15 get bogged down in the cost but those other ones retirement all

1:33:18 drop all that stuff is we could take

1:33:21 care of yeah and there was one i don’t know if you all caught it

1:33:24 um and i’m trying to think where

1:33:25 i even oh it was in the information that dr thetty sent out

1:33:28 about the reading endorsement changes

1:33:30 i actually forwarded to renee placentia yesterday the request

1:33:33 that the reading endorsement be available

1:33:36 via test and not require all of the the work that was in one of

1:33:39 the documents that dr thetty sent

1:33:41 saying you know the reading endorsement is one of the few that

1:33:44 requires that they have is it 300

1:33:46 hours dr thetty for the reading endorsement

1:33:48 if they’re english certified teachers yes 300 hours some of the

1:33:53 other classifications are 60 hours for

1:33:56 the endorsement there’s also a reading certification program

1:33:59 which requires a master’s degree in college

1:34:01 coursework to get that degree yeah so uh the request was it why

1:34:05 can we not make it so that our teachers

1:34:08 that have been and have been teaching and have those skills um

1:34:11 can can take the test and get the

1:34:13 certification just like they do with with other areas so um i

1:34:16 did forward that on as well mr reed for

1:34:18 your uh for your knowledge i already shared that thank you ms balford

1:34:23 mr susan did you have any other

1:34:26 issues you wanted to discuss any other board member have any

1:34:29 issues to discuss dr thetty do you have

1:34:32 anything to report or discuss not this morning thank you then

1:34:36 the next school board meeting will be

1:34:38 the board meeting will be thursday july 25th and we’ll convene

1:34:41 at 5 30 p.m included in that meeting

1:34:44 will be the tentative budget hearing there will be a workshop in

1:34:46 the superintendent’s conference room

1:34:48 today at 1 p.m regarding policies there being no further

1:34:52 business this meeting is now adjourned