Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 music
2:44 Thank you.
4:43 Welcome all of my fellow board members and call the July 25th,
4:46 2019 school board meeting
4:48 and tentative budget hearing to order.
4:50 Whether you are in attendance here or watching from another
4:53 location, my colleagues and I
4:55 are pleased you took the time to join us.
4:57 We appreciate and applaud your commitment to partnering with us
5:00 in support of our schools,
5:01 our students, our staff, and our community.
5:03 While the board and Brevard Public Schools staff members are
5:06 fully committed to doing
5:08 our best to ensure excellence in Brevard Public Schools, we know
5:11 that our success depends
5:12 heavily on an engaged and committed community to work alongside
5:16 us and help us to continually
5:17 improve.
5:18 Thank you for being active participants in the process.
5:23 Matt Reed, Assistant Superintendent of Government and Community
5:34 Relations, will lead us in the
5:39 pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
5:48 and to the republic for
5:50 which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
5:55 and justice for all.
6:01 At this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members and Dr.
6:05 Mullins the opportunity to
6:06 recognize students, staff, or members of the community.
6:09 Ms. McDougall, would you like to start us off?
6:12 Thank you, Ms. Dishavich.
6:16 I want to just reach out and say welcome to all my new
6:19 principals at the schools.
6:21 I have five new principals, so I had the chance to meet them all,
6:24 and I’m very excited.
6:25 I think it’s going to be a great school year.
6:27 I also want to congratulate the staff and the community at Golf
6:33 U and Endeavor for increasing
6:36 their grade.
6:36 It was wonderful to get the grades, and congratulations to the
6:41 teachers, to the community, to the principal,
6:44 and to the students who improved their grade.
6:47 So that was really nice to be able to celebrate that.
6:51 I also was lucky enough to go to the astronaut parade in Cocoa
6:55 Beach.
6:56 And celebrate our lunar landing and our astronauts.
7:01 And some of our past astronauts were riding in the parade, which
7:04 was kind of fun.
7:05 I attended last weekend, Stuff the Backpacks, which we will be
7:10 giving out backpacks this Saturday.
7:12 And I think we’re going to have a great turnout.
7:16 So that was kind of fun to stuff the backpacks, even though
7:18 there was no air conditioning in the
7:20 gym, and many of us look like we’re going to pass out from heat
7:22 stroke.
7:23 I also attended the superintendent’s summit, which I thought was
7:28 very well put together.
7:29 I’m looking for our theme, and I appreciate it, the impact that
7:33 we all make in one way or another
7:35 with our students.
7:37 And I was also lucky enough to attend food services and their
7:43 kickoff.
7:44 And make a smile.
7:48 Help me out with that one, Dr. Mullins.
7:49 What was the?
7:50 Serving up happiness.
7:52 Thank you, serving up happiness.
7:53 And what an amazing group of people.
7:56 The energy there was fantastic.
7:58 These are people who get up at the crack of dawn to provide
8:02 nutritious meals for our children
8:04 so they can be able to reach their academic potential.
8:08 So I want to thank the food service.
8:10 And, of course, I will not forget my Cocoa High School.
8:14 There’s a really great flyer now.
8:16 The Cocoa High, their trip to help fund the trip to Carnegie
8:20 Hall.
8:20 So I’m really hoping the event is at the Cocoa Playhouse on
8:25 August 10th.
8:27 The tickets are $25.
8:27 You can buy them online.
8:29 This will allow our chorus to go to Carnegie Hall.
8:34 They’re one of the few, I think they’re the only high school
8:37 that got selected to perform
8:38 there in October.
8:40 So if you can’t go to hear them sing, please feel free to donate
8:47 to the Cocoa High and specifically
8:50 sign your check for the choir to go to Carnegie Hall.
8:54 And that’s all I have at the moment.
8:57 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.
8:58 Ms. Belford.
8:59 Thank you, Ms. Duskovich.
9:02 Just a few things.
9:04 I was gone for part of the time since our last board meeting.
9:08 But I wanted to share, especially with the board, and say a
9:12 thank you to Palm Point Behavioral in Titusville.
9:17 They invited me out this week to tour the facility, meet with
9:20 their new CEO, which was wonderful.
9:23 More importantly, thank them for all of the outreach work that
9:26 they’re doing in our schools, providing
9:28 wonderful support to many of our principals and faculty and
9:32 staff and students on the north
9:33 end of the community.
9:34 I look forward to our continued partnership there, and they are
9:37 very eager to make sure that
9:38 they’re doing all that they can to support Brevard Public
9:41 Schools from the mental health
9:42 standpoint.
9:43 So very appreciative of them.
9:44 Also, I have to give a shout out to our head custodian at Titusville
9:47 High School, Terry
9:48 Haworth.
9:49 She decided that the grounds at Titusville High School, ironic
9:54 that we just had our capital
9:55 workshop today and talked about all the things that we can’t
9:58 fund, right?
10:00 And one of those many things that we don’t fund as a district is
10:04 beautification on our campuses,
10:05 planting and mulch and that sort of thing.
10:07 And so she decided that she wanted Titusville High School to be
10:10 a much nicer environment for
10:12 her and her students and the parents in the community.
10:14 She put out an all call on Facebook for people to donate shrubs
10:18 and mulch that could be used
10:20 to beautify the campus.
10:23 Had a wonderful response from the community, wonderful response
10:26 of donations, as well as
10:27 volunteers to come out.
10:28 And they worked last Saturday beautifying parts of the campus.
10:31 They’ll keep working on it.
10:33 But a huge thank you to her for her initiative to put that all
10:35 together, and obviously to
10:37 the community that supported those efforts to really make a
10:39 difference at that school.
10:40 Also, I’d like to say thank you to L3 Communications.
10:43 I’m not sure how many of the board members are familiar, but
10:46 they reached out to Dr. Sullivan
10:48 pretty late in the school year and said that they would like to
10:52 actually, I think it’s L3
10:54 Harris now, right?
10:55 Did I say that correctly?
10:56 Used to be L3 Communications.
10:59 But they reached out to Dr. Sullivan and said that they would
11:02 like to sponsor via scholarship
11:04 some of our students here in Brevard County to participate in
11:07 the National Flight Academy
11:08 STEM summer camp program in Pensacola this summer.
11:14 And so our students will be leaving 12.30 this Saturday night.
11:19 They are boarding a bus to head to Pensacola.
11:22 We’ve got about 50 students that have been funded fully via
11:25 scholarship to go up to Pensacola
11:27 and participate in this phenomenal summer STEM program.
11:30 So many thanks to L3 for their support of so many things in our
11:34 schools, but especially
11:35 for providing that opportunity for our students.
11:37 Also wanted to give a shout out to our EIC team.
11:40 A couple of our EIC members went out to Madison Middle School
11:45 and there are, we have, we have
11:47 launched the STEAM Academy, the Innovate STEAM Academy at
11:50 Madison.
11:50 And for any of you who joined us in the Capitol workshop earlier
11:54 today, you heard that we, there’s
11:57 just so much that we cannot fund.
11:59 And one of those things is computers and tables and desks and
12:03 those sorts of things for, for special
12:05 programs and classrooms.
12:06 So they are working on our, two of our Equity Innovation and
12:11 Choice members went out and through
12:14 a partnership with one of our business partners have gotten
12:21 materials to refinish about 12 tables
12:25 that are probably older than many of us in this, in this room
12:29 today.
12:29 And the, the initial table that they refinished came out
12:33 absolutely beautiful.
12:34 So they are in the process of aligning volunteers to go out and
12:37 continue to work on that this
12:39 Saturday and they will be meeting at Madison from I think nine
12:42 to 12 or nine to one to continue
12:44 refinishing tables so that the Innovate STEAM Academy can have
12:47 some nice tables for their students
12:49 to work on.
12:50 So thank you to our EIC team who brought that about, to our
12:53 business partner that also made
12:54 it happen.
12:55 And then of course, to all of the volunteers that will be
12:57 working this weekend.
12:58 And the final thing that I will say is, I don’t know if you all
13:02 have noticed it.
13:03 I know our Brevard Schools Foundation has their school supply
13:06 giveaway this weekend.
13:07 I know we had the big Center Point Community Church giveaway
13:12 last weekend, but there just really
13:15 seems to be an enormous amount of school supply giveaways going
13:19 on this year.
13:20 And not only school supply giveaways to benefit our students,
13:23 but also lots of programs to benefit
13:25 our teachers to welcome them back to school.
13:27 I’ve seen free meals that are being offered in I think Cocoa
13:30 Beach this week.
13:32 I’ve seen drawings for massages for our teachers.
13:35 And so to all of those in the community that are realizing what
13:38 an important time of year
13:39 this is and how we really want everyone to start off on a
13:41 positive note, we appreciate that.
13:43 And that’s all I have.
13:44 Thank you, Ms. Belford.
13:47 Mr. Susan?
13:48 First off, I wanted to say thank you to Mark Langdorf for his
13:51 works on our SIAC committee.
13:53 We had a meeting earlier today and due to the savings both from
13:58 our identified MRI and outpatient
14:01 surgeries and some of our rebates, we’re looking at possibly
14:05 going forward $1.86 million additional
14:09 each year over the next three years in savings towards our fund
14:12 balance over there, along with
14:15 also receiving $2.3 million last year and a considerable fee-free
14:23 couple of months where
14:25 they didn’t charge us for some of our stuff.
14:27 And basically, instead of a $77 million trust fund or cost, we’re
14:32 looking at between $70 and
14:34 $72 million.
14:35 So that’s a significant amount.
14:36 And I would tell you that Mark will agree that our SIAC
14:40 committee is probably the most
14:42 great, aggressive, knowledgeable board in the state of Florida.
14:45 And he said that there’s many other school districts that don’t
14:47 even have SIACs.
14:48 So to say the least, that he works with our leaders in the
14:51 industry to get those savings,
14:53 that’s money that goes back into our teachers and our staff, and
14:57 we don’t have to raise rates,
14:59 and that’s amazing.
15:00 So I wanted to give him a shout out for all his hard work that
15:03 he normally does and the
15:04 SIAC committee that we normally have.
15:05 I did want to say it was great.
15:07 Superintendent Summit, amazing.
15:09 You had some great speakers.
15:11 I played football at Palm Beach Lakes, and I remember those days.
15:15 It was a tough school.
15:16 And to have a principal come in and take the reins like he did
15:19 and show us what he’s doing
15:20 down there.
15:20 And I’ll tell you a funny thing.
15:22 A lot of the stuff that he’s doing, we’re doing in our schools
15:24 too.
15:24 So I was really happy about that.
15:26 I did want to say thank you to Sue Han for the facilities tour
15:29 that we did.
15:30 Or to Sue Han.
15:31 I keep doing it.
15:32 I’m sorry, Sue.
15:34 You know, we went to O’Galley and Amazing Things’ new cafeteria,
15:39 and if you look at some of the old
15:40 panels back in the corner, there’s literally wires hanging out.
15:43 They’re replacing the panels and doing stuff.
15:45 But then I got to go over to Johnson, and Miss Middleton is on a
15:49 desk in this little classroom
15:50 in the back, and she has a couple of blowers in her room, and
15:53 she’s working through the
15:54 summer.
15:55 And I did want to just say, our facility teams, along with our
15:59 construction teams, are absolutely
16:02 amazing.
16:03 The amount of work that they do in the short amount of time.
16:06 And I don’t know if sometimes the inconveniences that we see,
16:10 both during and when we get back
16:12 from the summer, that’s appreciated how much it takes just to
16:15 get to that point.
16:16 I almost wanted to have some cow, our teachers, actually meet
16:21 some of the guys that put together
16:24 the construction project, because these guys are committed, and
16:26 they’re doing an amazing
16:27 job over the summer.
16:28 And I want to say thank you, Sue, for everything that you did
16:30 over there.
16:31 I did want to say thank you to the Home Builders and Contractors
16:33 Association.
16:34 They had a lot of their kids doing their safety tests and stuff
16:37 like that, and I went by.
16:38 And we went ahead and had a meeting with a lot of the kids that
16:42 were doing the testing, and
16:44 then Space Coast Daily covered it, and they were doing some
16:46 great things.
16:47 But I will tell you that the Palm Bay Air and Heat has hired
16:51 like six of our kids.
16:52 And then the funniest story is I was listening to the pest
16:55 control kids talk, and they were
16:57 telling us about some of the things that they’ve had to remove
17:00 out of something.
17:01 Some of the schools for their internships, which is pretty funny.
17:03 Or not in their schools, in their houses that they have to go on
17:05 their internships.
17:06 And then one of the things that spun out of this, which I wanted
17:08 to give a big shout out
17:10 to a guy named Adam Broadway.
17:11 Adam Broadway owns certified construction down there in
17:15 Melbourne.
17:16 And if anything knows, he came out, doesn’t have a college
17:18 degree, and he’s been a big advocate
17:20 for our construction programs.
17:21 He’s going to sponsor Melbourne High School, and he’s going to
17:25 come in with his trade,
17:26 with the trades that work under him as a GC, and they’re going
17:29 to work hand in hand.
17:30 And he’s already offered to donate $4,000 to kick the year off
17:34 for supplies for the construction
17:35 program, and he’s doing some amazing things.
17:37 So that, just like you were talking about the mulch and
17:40 everything, dedication to our trades
17:42 programs is Adam, and I just want to say that’s it.
17:46 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
17:47 Ms. Campbell.
17:48 Well, I made a big mistake last board meeting and forgot
17:52 something super important that I
17:55 had gotten to do and want to recognize our students, and that is
17:57 the Summer Music Theater
17:58 Workshop, the culmination of the Summer Music Theater Workshop
18:01 with Fiddler on the Roof and
18:03 Mary Poppins.
18:03 They were fantastic.
18:06 Our students are so incredibly talented, and the musicals were
18:10 wonderful.
18:11 We had Bert from Mary Poppins dancing on the ceiling, and Mary
18:14 Poppins flying in, and Fiddler
18:16 on the roof.
18:16 I mean, even in each show that I went to, something happened
18:19 that wasn’t supposed to happen, and
18:22 the students just stayed in character and played it off, and the
18:24 audience loved it.
18:25 So both shows were amazing, and Oshera got to see Fiddler, and
18:28 so our students are so talented,
18:30 but I especially want to thank Cindy Johnson and her team of
18:34 teachers who directed the show
18:37 and engaged our students, and those performances, they were
18:40 wonderful.
18:40 I got to go to my first Palm Bay Youth Advisory Board meeting a
18:45 few weeks ago, and just the
18:48 students that are on that advisory board are very committed.
18:53 They’re insightful.
18:56 They’ve got a lot to contribute to the city of Palm Bay, but
18:59 there are students from Palm
19:00 Bay High School, from Bayside, from Heritage, and from Odyssey
19:03 Charter, and so it’s exciting
19:04 for them to have that opportunity to impact their community, and
19:08 I’m going to be talking
19:09 to Dr. Sullivan, because they have a couple ideas they really
19:12 want to engage with the district
19:14 as well.
19:14 West Melbourne School for Science, last Saturday had, excuse me,
19:19 two Saturdays ago, had Beautification
19:21 Day, and our new principal, Ms. Benson, asked the students and
19:26 the parents to come in and
19:28 do a similar project to what’s going on in Titusville, and she
19:31 provided the plants and the mulch, and we
19:33 provided the sweat, and there was plenty of dirt to go around,
19:36 so, but just want to thank those
19:38 students and parents who came around, who came out, and then Ms.
19:41 Benson and our clerk and the
19:42 custodian served us lunch and did a great job coordinating us
19:45 all.
19:45 Central Middle School is also, because it’s this time of year,
19:47 we’re getting ready.
19:48 They’re also getting ready for, I won’t say beautification,
19:53 because it depends on which
19:55 college team you like.
19:56 They’re going to be decorating the halls next week with their
19:58 National Junior Honor Society,
20:00 asking students to come in and decorate the halls with different
20:04 college themes, and so
20:06 I’m sure there are some that all of you will like who have, yes,
20:10 there you go.
20:12 But there, you know, Lindsay Kerstader, Kerstader, excuse me,
20:15 the sponsor for NJHS is going to be
20:17 leading the students, so it’s just great to see our students and
20:19 our community stepping in,
20:21 and I want to thank Jim Hudson and Dave Martin from Facilities
20:24 for taking me on some construction
20:26 project tours at Bayside University Park and West Melbourne
20:29 School for Science.
20:30 They’re really doing, I will reiterate what you said, they’re
20:35 doing a great job in a short
20:36 amount of time, and those facilities have got to be ready when
20:39 the students get there,
20:41 and they’re going to be, so that’s going to be great.
20:43 I won’t steal all the thunder, but I am super proud of my
20:46 District 5 schools when we got our
20:48 district and school grades in a couple weeks ago.
20:50 School grades aren’t everything, but it just shows the great
20:53 work that our students and our
20:55 teachers and the rest of our staff are doing, and I’m super
20:57 proud of District 5.
20:58 Everybody either maintained their grade or moved up one, or in
21:01 the case of Columbia
21:02 Elementary, two grades, so I’m excited for, to see those results.
21:07 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
21:10 Dr. Mullins?
21:11 Thank you, Ms. Tescovich.
21:13 I want to start by sharing.
21:16 I had the real privilege of joining Shannon Crailing and her
21:20 husband, Mark.
21:21 Shannon was our 2019 Teacher of the Year, and the Commissioner
21:26 of Education hosted the
21:27 Teacher of the Year annual gala in Orlando, and I was able to
21:31 join Shannon and her husband
21:33 for just a wonderful celebration of an evening, just celebrating
21:38 amazing educators, and Ms.
21:40 Crailing, certainly top of the list, so I’ve represented Brevard
21:44 so well.
21:45 So congratulations to Ms. Crailing again.
21:48 I was able to participate in the back-to-school event at Centerpoint
21:52 Church this past weekend,
21:54 passed out nearly 2,500 backpacks.
21:57 I believe an amazing collection of volunteers, over 600
22:03 volunteers to make that happen, and
22:06 want to do a big thank you to Lori Willey.
22:08 Behind the scenes, I believe it’s Wiley, behind the scenes
22:12 coordinating everything, and it was
22:15 just really exciting to see our students across the community
22:19 get excited about coming back to school.
22:22 A shout-out to Senior Pastor Tom Walker, as well.
22:25 August 3rd, Love Brevard, another community agency, has adopted
22:33 Turner Elementary School,
22:34 and volunteers will be collecting and be doing beautification on
22:38 Turner’s campus in preparation for
22:40 the school and doing some wonderful things for our teachers
22:44 there, as well, so I’m looking forward
22:46 to being a part of that community event, as well.
22:48 And I have to join the shout-outs and echo the amazing
22:54 accomplishments of our school teams across our district.
22:58 Student achievement and performance was just amazing.
23:03 The focused work, the attention of our teachers and staff across
23:08 our schools, absolutely amazing.
23:11 For the first time since 2010, Brevard has no D or F schools.
23:15 I have to do a shout-out for Cocoa High School had, I believe,
23:26 the highest secondary school point increase,
23:29 and they are knocking on the door of a B school, so great work
23:32 by our team there.
23:33 And just a true demonstration of focused work and really keeping
23:40 the sights set on our students and helping them achieve.
23:44 We, for the third year in a row, achieved an A district was just
23:48 another amazing accomplishment.
23:50 I would be remiss, and alongside our teachers and our assistants
23:57 and our school staff,
23:59 is the tremendous support that our teams across the district
24:03 commit to to support our schools from our cafeteria workers,
24:08 and our maintenance techs and our HVAC techs and health and
24:14 safety and our social workers and school psychologists.
24:16 And I get in trouble when I start to list because I will leave
24:21 someone off, but the reality is it takes a team across the
24:26 district to serve the students in the way that we did.
24:28 And just couldn’t be more proud to serve the Brevard Public
24:32 Schools as superintendent, so thank you.
24:35 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
24:38 I’m going to reiterate and add to what some of my fellow board
24:41 members shared.
24:42 I want to start with the facility services team.
24:46 In my district alone, the half-cent sales tax is being used this
24:51 summer.
24:51 Just the schools that I’m aware of at Stone Magnet Middle School,
24:56 they’re getting sewer lines put in.
24:58 None of this stuff is very attractive, and none of it, I don’t
25:03 even want to, like, none of it sells on the surface.
25:06 But it’s important to know where your sales tax money is going,
25:08 and it’s important for those in the community
25:11 of these schools to know that these things and recognize they’ve
25:13 been done to your school while you’ve been off for the summer.
25:16 So sewer lines and covered walkways at Stone, cooling tower and
25:21 new chiller at Holland, let’s see, duct work and electrical work
25:27 in the cafeteria at Surfside, air handling units at Port Malabar,
25:32 other work has been done at West Shore,
25:34 and Indy Atlantic is all tore up right now with all kinds of
25:37 stuff going on there.
25:38 So your half-cent sales tax works really hard for us in the
25:42 summer when the students are away so that we can get the work
25:45 done.
25:45 And so thank you to Sue’s team, who I wish I could call them out
25:49 by name.
25:49 There’s just so many of them that are just plugging away and
25:52 working diligently, trying to get the schools ready for the new
25:54 year.
25:55 So please tell them we are extremely grateful.
25:57 Dr. Mullins mentioned Centerpoint Church and all that they did
26:02 to put that backpack giveaway together.
26:04 He mentioned backpacks and school supplies, but the other
26:08 volunteers there, 50 hairstylists were there giving these
26:11 children haircuts.
26:12 And at one moment we were standing together and we looked over
26:15 and there was a, I mean a wee little one, was he kindergarten,
26:19 first grade, who just got his haircut.
26:22 And they said, “These are the only haircuts some of those kids
26:24 will get all year.”
26:25 And he saw a mirror in the corner and he was admiring his new
26:28 cut.
26:29 And it was, I, both of us were like, oh, I mean he was looking
26:33 back and looking forward and that was because hairstylists who
26:37 don’t probably make too much money in their own living were
26:41 giving up their whole day to go in and cut hair for free for
26:43 these children.
26:44 And so I just want to say how much we appreciate them and there
26:47 were dental hygienists there checking teeth, there were chiropractors
26:51 there checking for scoliosis.
26:53 And all these people were giving up their time.
26:55 So we’re so grateful to the community.
26:57 And last but not least, I have to mention my district three
27:00 schools as far as school grades go, because like Ms. Campbell’s
27:04 district, every single one of the schools in district three
27:06 either maintained their grade or went up a grade level.
27:10 And out of my 14 schools, we had nine A’s, two B’s, and three C’s,
27:14 so you better believe we’re going to be, for those three C’s,
27:18 right, we’re going to have an all A and B district in D3.
27:22 But I want to give a huge shout out to Stone Magnet Middle
27:25 School that went up 32 points, to their administrators, to their
27:29 teachers that have worked so hard.
27:31 And like Dr. Mullins, it takes everyone in that school to bring
27:36 the school together to set the environment.
27:40 what the students can learn.
27:41 And so I’m just, I’m just grateful to all of them.
27:44 And I think that concludes our, our recognition portion of the
27:49 meeting.
27:50 And we’re now going to move on to the adoption of the agenda.
27:53 Dr. Mullins.
27:54 - Ms. Tescovich and members of the board, on this evening’s
27:58 agenda,
27:59 we have administrative staff recommendations, eight consent
28:02 items, eight action items,
28:04 which include the tentative budget hearing and one information
28:07 item.
28:07 You also have the yellow supplemental agenda, which are changes
28:10 made to the agenda,
28:11 since being released to the public on Thursday, July 18th, 2019.
28:15 Items A7 on administrative staff recommendations.
28:19 F9 on meeting minutes.
28:21 F12 on 2019-20 school resource officers.
28:25 And H25 on the Brevard Public Schools mental health plan
28:29 received revisions.
28:31 An attachment was added to G21 on adopt the 2019-20 tentative
28:37 budget.
28:38 - Bless you.
28:39 - Thank you.
28:40 - Bless you. - Thank you.
28:41 - What are the wishes of the board?
28:42 - Move to approve. - Second.
28:43 - Motion by Ms. Belford.
28:44 Second by Ms. McDougall.
28:46 Please vote.
28:48 Any discussion?
28:49 Sorry.
28:50 Please vote.
28:56 Motion passes 5-0.
28:58 Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the
28:59 administrative staff recommendations?
29:02 - There are seven persons on this item agenda for the board to
29:04 consider.
29:05 - What are the wishes of the board?
29:06 - Move to approve.
29:07 - Second.
29:08 - Motion by Ms. Belford.
29:10 Second by Ms. Campbell.
29:11 Any discussion?
29:12 Please vote.
29:13 Motion passes 5-0.
29:26 Dr. Mullins.
29:27 - At this time, we want to welcome and congratulate Ms. Jana
29:32 Jenkins on her reclassification and
29:34 transfer from the position of Assistant Director of Student
29:38 Services and Fiddlers to the position
29:40 of Director of Student Services.
29:42 Congratulations, Ms. Jenkins.
29:45 - Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
29:46 Dr. Mullins, members of the board, thank you for this
29:52 appointment and this opportunity.
29:54 I’m honored.
29:55 Thank you.
29:56 To Chris Moore, thank you for having faith in me.
29:59 I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and work with you.
30:01 Roll them up.
30:04 They’re already rolled.
30:05 Dr. Thetty, Jane Klein, and Dr. Sullivan, your support means a
30:10 great deal to me.
30:10 Thank you so much.
30:11 And to my new team, Dr. Fontan.
30:14 You don’t know what you’re in for, so I thank you in advance for
30:17 all your help and encouragement
30:19 and mentoring.
30:19 And my Fiddlers team, the deep friendships and collegial
30:22 relationship will continue to
30:24 move forward.
30:25 And my new Student Services team, I look forward to working with
30:28 you all.
30:29 And finally, to my family who are watching online from Tampa and
30:33 Colorado, your love and support
30:35 and constant encouragement mean a great deal to me.
30:38 So thank you everybody.
30:39 I look forward to it.
30:40 Thank you.
30:54 Okay.
30:55 Being there’s no resolutions or proclamations tonight, we will
30:58 move on to the public comment
31:00 portion of our meeting.
31:02 The school board policy 0169.1 limits to 30 minutes, the portion
31:06 of the meeting which
31:08 the public is invited to participate and provide public comment.
31:11 The policy further provides that this time limit may be extended
31:14 by vote of the board.
31:16 We have nine speakers tonight.
31:19 Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
31:21 We have a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your
31:24 time.
31:25 When your time is over you’ll be asked to stop and allow the
31:28 next speaker his or her turn.
31:30 Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is expected at all
31:33 times and your statement
31:34 should be directed to the board chairman.
31:36 The chairman may interrupt, warn, or terminate a participant’s
31:39 statement when time is up, personally
31:41 directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant.
31:43 Should an individual not observe proper etiquette, the chairman
31:47 may request the individual leave
31:48 the meeting.
31:49 Let’s all encourage an environment appropriate for our children
31:52 who may be present or watching
31:53 from home.
31:54 Let’s begin with our first three speakers.
31:57 Before speaking, please state your name, the organization you
32:01 represent, and identify the
32:02 topic you will be discussing.
32:04 Our first speaker is Anthony Colucci, followed by Bill Juergens,
32:09 and then followed by Justin Henry.
32:11 Mr. Colucci.
32:15 My name is Anthony Colucci.
32:30 I’m the president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.
32:33 First off, I want to start by saying that last year I requested
32:37 a workshop with the board chair
32:38 about millage, and that request was never granted, even though
32:42 it is guaranteed in the contract.
32:44 Tonight, so there is no question about it, I’m publicly
32:47 requesting a union board workshop.
32:50 The topic of the workshop I’m requesting is secondary schools
32:54 switching to a six period day instead
32:56 of a seven period day.
32:58 This was a popular idea a couple of years ago when the former
33:01 superintendent asked teachers
33:03 to brainstorm ideas on how to increase planning time.
33:07 But rather than vet the idea, a few individuals were allowed to
33:11 crush the idea.
33:12 Some of the benefits of returning to a six day period seem
33:15 obvious.
33:16 It would lead to more planning time.
33:18 It could decrease the number of instructional vacancies.
33:21 By the way, stands at over 80 with one week left until school
33:27 starts, and it could potentially
33:29 save the district tens of millions of dollars.
33:31 The pros and cons of a six period day need to be thoroughly
33:35 researched and then presented
33:37 to the stakeholders to decide if they want to go in that
33:40 direction.
33:41 If the board chair denies my request for the workshop, I will
33:45 take formal action.
33:46 As we are heading towards our contract vote, I want to remind
33:51 you that our teachers and community
33:53 saw you vote against a third party ruling that said you had the
33:57 money to pay for the union’s
33:59 proposal, our teachers deserve the pay, and it was in the best
34:03 interest of students to do
34:05 so.
34:06 But four of you decided, and many teachers believe conspired, to
34:10 vote against the recommendation
34:12 even when no significant evidence existed to refute our facts.
34:16 This was clearly a result of a psychological phenomenon called
34:21 groupthink.
34:22 To quote from Psychology Today, “Groupthink occurs when a group
34:25 of well-intentioned people
34:27 make irrational or non-optimal decisions that are spurred by the
34:31 urge to conform or the discouragement
34:34 of dissent.
34:35 This problematic or premature consensus may be fueled by a
34:39 particular agenda or simply because
34:41 group members value harmony and coherence above rational
34:46 thinking.
34:47 In a groupthink situation, group members refrain from expressing
34:50 doubts and judgments or disagreeing
34:52 with the consensus.
34:54 There are eight different symptoms that indicate groupthink.
34:57 Illusions of invulnerability leads members of the group to be
35:02 overly optimistic.
35:04 Unquestioned beliefs lead members to ignore possible moral
35:09 problems and ignore the consequences of
35:12 individual and group actions.
35:15 Rationalizing prevents members from reconsidering their beliefs
35:19 and causes them to ignore warning
35:22 signs.
35:23 Stereotyping leads members of the in-group to ignore or even
35:27 demonize out-group members who
35:30 may oppose or challenge the group’s ideas.
35:34 Goes on self-censorship, mind guards, illusions of unanimity,
35:41 and direct pressure to conform.
35:44 This board’s groupthink is doing tremendous damage to this
35:48 school district and it must stop.
35:51 Listen to the words of Einstein who said, “When we all think
35:55 alike, no one thinks very much.”
35:57 So, thank you.
36:00 Thank you, Mr. Pellucci.
36:02 Mr. Juergens.
36:04 Good evening.
36:05 My name is Bill Juergens.
36:06 I’m the director of athletics at Florida Tech, and before I go
36:22 talk about a proposal, I would like
36:24 to say that I’m a product of Bavard County Schools.
36:29 I started Bavard County Schools in the third grade, graduated
36:34 from Melbourne High School.
36:36 I taught at O’Galley Junior High 50 years ago, and my son has
36:41 been teaching in your school system
36:43 for the last 25 years.
36:45 So, I’m real proud of the work that Bavard County Schools do.
36:50 I’m here to speak on a proposal from Florida Tech to move our
36:54 tailgating activities to the
36:55 Palm Bay Magnet High School.
36:58 We believe that this will really help our game environment.
37:04 Tailgating includes alcohol and it includes cooking, and we know
37:12 that the school system is concerned
37:14 about this, and I’m going to address this in a short time.
37:18 Game environment is so critical to participation.
37:22 You’ll see that throughout the country now.
37:24 You see a lot of schools addressing game environment to try to
37:27 improve it.
37:28 And, of course, that school spirit and community spirit.
37:32 We believe that as the only football college in Bavard County,
37:37 we really want to serve the community well.
37:40 So, we’re addressing a number of these issues to improve the
37:45 game environment.
37:46 We have a great team.
37:47 Our team won eight and three the past year, made the NCAA
37:51 playoffs.
37:52 We’ve been, I think, great partners with Palm Bay Magnet High
37:59 School.
38:00 We’ve worked with them for six years.
38:02 It’s been a very close relationship.
38:04 I don’t think it could be better.
38:06 We’ve constructed a lot of items from the scoreboards to press
38:11 boxes, improved the facilities.
38:14 It’s been such a good relationship that it’s actually carried
38:17 over into the academic side,
38:19 where we have been able to provide dual enrollment at our
38:24 college at no cost to the student.
38:25 I think that just shows how this partnership can grow and
38:30 benefit all parties.
38:32 Before I address this, I went to the Palm Bay Magnet High School
38:39 and talked to the administrators there.
38:41 And I saw no opposition to moving it forward.
38:45 They know that we know how to manage activities.
38:49 We’ve done it for six years.
38:51 We’ve had absolutely no problems with our six years of having
38:55 football games there.
38:57 We utilize the Melbourne Police Department as well as our campus
39:01 security in providing the security necessary.
39:05 And as far as leaving it like we found it, we have a
39:09 professional service that cleans the stands.
39:15 And, of course, if there’s tailgating, they would be doing the
39:18 same, working closely with the school system.
39:22 We, you know, it’s important that we have liability insurance.
39:28 And the university has four additional insured for Brevard
39:33 County, naming Brevard County schools.
39:36 Mr. Jerkins, I’m sorry, but your three minutes are up.
39:39 Okay.
39:40 Do you have –
39:41 I’ve just finished.
39:42 Okay.
39:43 All right.
39:44 Thank you so much.
39:45 We’ll address that at the end of our meeting tonight.
39:47 I don’t know if you want to hang out all the way to the end.
39:50 If not, you can watch us online from your phone or something.
39:52 All right.
39:53 Thank you, sir.
39:54 I appreciate it.
39:55 Our next – oh.
39:58 Our next speaker is Justin Henry.
40:00 Go ahead, sir.
40:01 All right.
40:02 Good evening.
40:03 My name is Justin Henry, and I am a member of Space Coast
40:13 Cultural Arts and Business Organization,
40:17 Social Entrepreneurship and Civic Engagement Program, Developing
40:21 Leaders, located at 2295 Washington Street, Palm Bay, Florida 32905.
40:24 I serve as president of the Developing Leaders Class of 2019,
40:28 and this comment is on behalf of our group.
40:31 As students of Brevard Public Schools and Developing Leaders in
40:34 our local communities, we would like to amend the lunches that
40:37 our school cafeteria serves us.
40:39 Numerous high school students eat lunch from their school’s
40:42 cafeteria.
40:42 According to a writer Brevard Times, as of June 12, 2018, 39,000
40:48 students in Brevard County qualified for food assistance
40:52 programs within Brevard Public Schools.
40:53 That is almost 53% of the students that are enrolled in Brevard
40:57 Public Schools.
40:58 School lunch may be the only time they have access to a healthy
41:01 meal, but according to an article in the Brevard Times,
41:03 22% of Brevard Public Schools charter schools and private
41:07 schools received an unsatisfactory rating during a food health
41:12 inspection by the Florida Department of Health in 2018,
41:14 and some failed up to four follow-up inspections as well.
41:18 The most recent food inspection was in January 2019.
41:22 We will not name the schools, but we have provided all the
41:24 members of the school board with a written copy of our proposal,
41:27 and the schools will be listed.
41:29 Excuse me one second.
41:35 I need to restart the time, and I don’t think we caught which
41:39 group you all are from.
41:40 If one of you could state that a little slower for us.
41:42 Space Coast cultural arts and business organization.
41:47 Cultural arts –
41:49 And business organization.
41:54 And where are you – where are you guys – this is the first I’ve
42:00 heard of you all.
42:00 Where are you from?
42:01 Where are you located?
42:02 You can answer, sir.
42:03 Are you their leader?
42:05 Washington.
42:06 Yeah.
42:07 I’m their instructor.
42:08 Your instructor.
42:09 Can you come forward for a second?
42:10 Sorry for breaking our usual code here.
42:13 My name is Alberta Klingskales.
42:14 I’m the executive director of Space Coast Cultural Arts and
42:18 Business Organization Charities, Inc.
42:21 And we have a program that is a social entrepreneurship and
42:26 civic engagement program.
42:28 So our students learn to be social entrepreneurs and they run a
42:32 business so that they can buy their
42:34 school clothes and other supplies they need for school as well
42:38 as fund their checking and savings accounts.
42:41 We also – as a part of that, their social – they have to find
42:47 a social issue in their community
42:48 that they want to address.
42:49 And the issue – they decide on the topic and the issue that
42:52 they talked about was school lunches.
42:55 And so they talked about their personal experiences and I said,
42:59 “Well, that’s just you all.
43:00 Can you prove it?” with some other research.
43:02 They did impeccable research, found not only the problem but
43:07 also the solution.
43:08 And so they’re here today to make that presentation.
43:11 And I gave the deputy the five copies for the school board.
43:15 I didn’t give one to the superintendent, but I do have another
43:18 copy.
43:18 I might as well give you my copy.
43:20 And they’ll continue on with the presentation if that’s okay.
43:29 That’s wonderful.
43:30 Thank you so much.
43:31 We’re looking forward to hearing from each of them.
43:32 Thank you.
43:33 If you each could state what school you attend, just so we can
43:36 get an idea if you’re talking
43:37 about lunches that you’ve had, that would be helpful for me.
43:40 I attend Bayside High School.
43:45 Okay.
43:46 And you – are you – sorry.
43:49 Are you – you’re Justin Henry?
43:51 Yes.
43:52 Okay.
43:53 And then are you – did you finish or did I interrupt you?
43:54 Nothing.
43:55 Okay.
43:56 Thank you, sir.
43:57 Next up is Zavron Pelham.
44:00 Did I get that right?
44:01 Xavier.
44:03 All right.
44:04 And I attend Heritage High.
44:06 The Brevard Times article also quoted a Florida Department of
44:11 Health employee who has worked
44:12 at six different Brevard public schools this year.
44:16 Quote, “They’re all garbage.
44:18 I can’t tell you how many kids I’ve sent home after lunch for
44:22 stomach aches, vomiting,
44:23 or diarrhea.
44:24 I dread 11 a.m. every day because I know the kids will be coming
44:28 down after eating school
44:29 lunch.
44:30 I’m not going to lie.
44:31 I thought they were faking it,” she added.
44:32 “But I noticed the trend in all the schools.
44:35 I realized it was the food I started – I started asking them if
44:39 they had school lunch or packed
44:40 lunch, and 99% were school lunch.”
44:47 I attend Bayside High School and – okay.
44:51 We are proposing a healthy choice for school lunch and we are
44:54 here today to request permission
44:56 to pilot the Scholar Bars at School program at Palm Bay Magnet
44:59 High School and technical
45:01 assistance to write the Salad Bars to School grant.
45:04 The Salad Bars to School program – School program awards school
45:08 grant for free salad bars.
45:10 Research in school across the country demonstrate that the
45:13 children significantly increase their
45:15 produce consumption when given the variety of choices in the
45:19 school salad bar.
45:21 When offered multiple fruits and vegetable choices, children
45:25 respond by – and correspond – incorporating
45:27 greater minority on their plate increasing their overall produce
45:30 consumption.
45:31 If we get the grant, Palm Bay High School and eventually all
45:35 schools in Brevard that wanted
45:37 will receive free salad bars.
45:38 We met and discussed the pilot program with Palm Bay – Palm Bay
45:44 Magnet High School principal
45:44 Judd Kaminsky on July 3rd, 2019.
45:46 We requested a tour of the cafeteria and the kitchen and
45:50 Principal Convincey took us to the tour
45:53 and expressed his support of the idea.
45:55 He also stated that the school currently does not have a fresh
45:58 food Salad Bars are offering.
46:00 We also presented our proposal for a healthy choice for school
46:03 lunch to Palm Bay City Council
46:05 and received a letter of support from the full council.
46:07 We have concluded a copy of the letter in the written report we
46:10 submitted to each of you on the board.
46:14 Thank you.
46:16 Madison?
46:17 Is that your name?
46:18 Madison?
46:19 Okay.
46:20 Sir, if you’d state your name before you start.
46:21 Good evening.
46:22 My name’s Damaris and I attend Heritage.
46:26 According to the salad bars to school program, if a grant is
46:30 approved, the school would receive
46:32 one portable 72-inch five-well insaluted salad bar, two tray
46:37 slides, five pan chillers, divider bars,
46:40 two four-inch-deep full pans with covers, four four-inch-deep
46:44 half pans with covers,
46:45 twelve four-inch-deep quarter pans with covers, five buffet
46:49 chilling pads, and 16 serving tongs.
46:52 There are requirements that must be met before a school district
46:56 can apply for a grant.
46:57 Thank you.
46:58 Thank you, sir.
47:01 Good evening.
47:02 My name is Terrell Brooks and I attend Palm Bay Magna High
47:07 School.
47:08 To meet eligibility requirements to apply for the salad bar to
47:13 school, for the salad bar
47:15 school grant, the applying school district must, the applying
47:22 school district must be a participant
47:26 of the National School Lunch Program.
47:29 On Monday, July 15, 2019, we called the Food and Nutrient Office
47:37 here at the Brevard Public School
47:40 District Office and confirmed that Brevard Public School
47:45 District is a participant of the National School Lunch Program.
47:51 The second requirement for a salad bar, for salad bars to school
47:56 grant, you must offer the salad
47:58 bar as part of the reimbursable meal served in your district.
48:06 The six-foot-five well salad bar package is appropriate for the
48:12 location that serves at least 100 reimbursable meals daily.
48:20 According to Principal Judd Kaminsky at Palm Bay Magnet High
48:25 School, the school serves over 100 reimbursable meals daily.
48:33 Based on our research, Brevard Public School District met all
48:39 the requirements to apply for the salad bars to school grant.
48:48 We are excited to learn, we are excited to also learn that the
48:53 grant provides training for food services, food service teams,
48:59 so that we can learn systems and tools to manage daily
49:03 productions,
49:03 production as well as to show the students that the salad bar,
49:10 that the salad bar is a great addition to their meal.
49:15 Thank you.
49:18 Thank you, sir.
49:19 Hello, my name is Kevin and I attend Covenant Christian School.
49:22 As stated earlier, we are committed to finding ways to increase
49:26 access to healthy fruits and vegetables in our school lunch
49:30 program.
49:30 Salad bars are a great way to do it while at the same time
49:33 install healthy eating habits and prevent children and prevent
49:38 childhood obesity in our community.
49:40 We hope that you will seriously consider our proposal and take
49:43 advantage of this opportunity and apply for free salad bars to
49:48 schools grant.
49:50 We realize that you may not be able to make this decision
49:53 tonight, but ask that you please contact us once your decision
49:56 is made.
49:56 Our contact information has been provided to you.
49:59 We are grateful for the opportunity to speak here tonight and
50:02 thankful to Space Coast Cultural Arts and Business Organization
50:06 for helping us to understand that we do have a voice to
50:09 implement positive change in the communities where we live and
50:12 grow.
50:13 Thank you.
50:14 Thank you, sir.
50:15 I’m not sure if you have any.
50:16 Thank you.
50:17 I’m not sure if you have any questions for me.
50:18 Well, I have one question for the youth behind you.
50:19 If there are salad bars in your school, would you eat them?
50:20 And how many days a week do you think you would eat from these
50:23 salad bars?
50:24 Because we have been pushing for some salad bars and we’ve tried
50:29 them in some schools and often they sit there untouched, which
50:33 is super frustrating.
50:34 So if you have salad bars, don’t you think you would eat from
50:36 these salad bars?
50:37 I’m not sure if you have any questions for me.
50:39 Well, I have one question for the youth behind you.
50:40 If there are salad bars in your school, would you eat them?
50:41 And how many days a week do you think you would eat from these
50:42 salad bars?
50:42 Because we have been pushing for some salad bars and we’ve tried
50:44 them in some schools and often they sit there untouched, which
50:47 is super frustrating.
50:48 So if your salad bar is in your school, are you going to eat
50:50 from the salad bar?
50:51 Me personally, yes.
50:52 I used to attend Odyssey Charter School and they had salad bars
50:56 there.
50:56 So I would always get servings of fruit and vegetables from
50:59 there.
50:59 So I always ate from the salad bars each day.
51:02 So I don’t know.
51:03 Okay.
51:04 Just hands up.
51:05 Would you eat from your salad bars?
51:06 Tell the truth.
51:08 What grade did you implement in?
51:11 Was it high school?
51:12 Well, I’m going to ask you all to meet.
51:15 We have our head of food services back there, our director of
51:17 food services,
51:17 Mr. Kevin Thornton.
51:18 Can you raise your hand?
51:20 He’s in charge of all of our food purchasing and all of our
51:24 cafeterias.
51:24 And he decides what we serve and what we don’t.
51:26 And I heard some comments about food not being good.
51:30 But I just want to give Mr. Thornton a little credit because he
51:35 works very hard on our menus.
51:36 And I worked very closely with him last year on getting our
51:40 chicken upgraded.
51:41 I mean, anybody getting the drumsticks and chicken wings in your
51:44 schools?
51:44 Okay.
51:45 I mean, what?
51:46 No?
51:47 No chicken wings?
51:48 Is it not every secondary school, Mr. Thornton?
51:50 It is?
51:51 You should be.
51:52 And we also put in three healthy salad options and a
51:56 Mediterranean pita.
51:57 So we are working to get school lunches healthier.
51:59 But I would love a salad bar.
52:00 So if all of you want to meet with Mr. Thornton, he’ll meet with
52:04 you in the back.
52:04 And you can start telling him about your grant.
52:07 And we can see if it’s something we can apply for.
52:09 Do any more school members want to address this group before I
52:12 ship them off to Mr. Thornton?
52:14 So I was fascinated by your group.
52:17 And I jumped on your website real quick.
52:19 And one of the things you guys said was entrepreneurship.
52:22 And I thought I heard somebody say they guys make stuff and sell
52:26 it.
52:26 How do we find out how to buy it?
52:30 Do you guys have websites?
52:31 Do you guys have links?
52:32 Do you have products somewhere?
52:33 Is there anything going on?
52:34 Because this is a great marketing moment right here, guys.
52:37 Well, the entrepreneurship program, we decided to sell jewelry.
52:43 And hide them in our t-shirts.
52:45 And we have a flyer.
52:47 And we also have an Instagram page where you guys can follow us.
52:50 I’m pretty sure we have an online website or store up right now
52:53 running.
52:54 What is your Instagram page?
52:56 What’s your?
52:57 D-L-B-O-U-G-I-E.
53:02 So that is D-L-Bougie.
53:04 That’s the name of our store.
53:05 We’re located at the flea market.
53:08 Wow.
53:09 And then I noticed on the website that you guys had a mixed-use
53:12 facility.
53:12 That looks like you guys, is that what the dream is?
53:15 Is to create that?
53:16 Or what is that?
53:17 Yes.
53:19 We want to open up a cultural arts and business center.
53:22 And we are looking for a school to partner with.
53:24 We already have our conceptual designs and things drawn out.
53:29 Yes.
53:30 So what we’re looking for is a partner to get it done.
53:32 Yes.
53:33 So it would be a 364-seater.
53:36 Mm-hmm.
53:37 So, yeah.
53:38 We’re looking for a school to partner with.
53:40 So is there a way that you can get that information?
53:43 Because I’m not on Instagram.
53:44 My daughter teases me all the time about that.
53:47 But is there a way we can get that so I can push that out?
53:50 Definitely.
53:51 And then I think you have some school board members.
53:53 I’d love you to come up into my district and I’d try to work
53:56 with you.
53:56 But they’re going to try to steal you down south.
53:58 And you guys are located off Washington right now?
54:00 I didn’t see the address.
54:01 Yes.
54:02 The students actually have a business at Renninger’s.
54:05 It’s our entrepreneurship simulation center.
54:08 So if you go to the Renninger’s flea market near I-95 and their
54:12 booth is in there.
54:14 And they work there on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00
54:19 p.m.
54:19 So all of their jewelry is all natural jewelry.
54:22 So they do crystals and semi-precious stones, highway men t-shirts.
54:29 We have some Florida highway men infused apparel there as well.
54:34 And the e-commerce site we’re learning how to put it up.
54:37 We don’t have a lot of money but we’re learning how to develop
54:41 it ourselves right now.
54:42 So it’s not operational but it will be.
54:45 But we’ll keep in touch and get you the information.
54:48 And I just wanted to make sure the superintendent got a copy of
54:52 the proposal as well.
54:53 I want to tell you thank you.
54:55 Thank you.
54:56 And what was your name again?
54:57 My name is Alberta.
54:58 You’re the one that founded it in 2014.
55:01 You’re amazing.
55:02 And good luck, you guys.
55:03 I mean, I know we’re going to get you guys here.
55:06 She’s the salad.
55:09 I mean, she waged war on the man in the back to try to get
55:13 everything that you just heard.
55:14 So you definitely have a definite positive group up here.
55:17 But I am just fascinated by the fact that you guys came here
55:20 today, took your time out, put together speeches.
55:23 You know, you guys are trying to make an impact in your
55:25 community.
55:26 And, you know, that’s how it all starts.
55:28 And thank you for taking your time to come out here and do this.
55:31 I get goosebumps.
55:32 You guys are awesome, man.
55:33 Thank you.
55:36 Does anyone else have any more comments for them before they?
55:38 We’re looking forward to it.
55:41 Thank you so much.
55:42 Oh, I think the superintendent.
55:43 Go ahead, Dr. Lawrence.
55:44 So I want to commend you for using your student voice in such a
55:48 positive way as well.
55:49 And the courage to come up here and talk to a bunch of people
55:52 sitting up here in suits and so on.
55:55 When you talk to Mr. Thornton, I know he’s going to extend an
55:59 invitation.
56:01 To come sample his food.
56:03 I’ve been there.
56:05 A full-blown, behind-the-scenes tour of all things food.
56:09 To kind of round your food service experience, our food service
56:13 program.
56:14 And you can help be a student advisory council on how we can be
56:18 better.
56:18 To include being a part of our schools, getting back into your
56:21 schools, and so on.
56:22 So, Mr. Thornton can talk to you about that.
56:25 And we look forward to getting your feedback.
56:28 Thank you.
56:30 Would any board member like to address any of the concerns of
56:42 the other speakers?
56:47 With the exception of Mr. Jenkins, only because we’re going to
56:50 discuss that at the end.
56:51 So, if there’s any other, anybody else you want to address
56:54 before we move on?
56:55 I thought there was nine.
57:00 Yes, every speaker did speak.
57:02 Maybe you didn’t number all the students or something.
57:06 I just do want to say to Mr. Colucci, I don’t recall ever
57:10 declining a workshop with you.
57:12 So, if you have record of that, I would love for you to –
57:15 maybe I don’t remember sending an email or telling you that I
57:19 wouldn’t go to a workshop,
57:20 but if you have some record of that, I’d like to see it.
57:22 Thank you.
57:25 Okay.
57:26 We’re going to move on to the consent agenda.
57:29 Dr. Mullins.
57:34 There are eight items under this category.
57:37 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
57:42 Does any board member wish to pull any of these items?
57:45 What are the wishes of the board?
57:52 Ms. Decker.
57:53 Second.
57:54 Motion by Ms. Belford, second by Ms. Campbell.
57:58 Any discussion?
57:59 Please vote.
58:02 Motion passes 5-0.
58:16 Does any board member need a break?
58:20 Are we – Pam, are we time – is it time certain?
58:25 Do we have to wait to start at any specific time?
58:28 Okay.
58:29 Recess the normal meeting and move forward.
58:34 Okay.
58:35 We are going to recess our meeting to go into our public hearing
58:39 meeting,
58:40 and then we will recess the public hearing meeting and go back
58:43 into our normal meeting.
58:44 We’re officially recessed, and do I have to bang again to be –
58:48 okay.
58:50 And now we’re officially in our public hearing.
58:55 We will now – oh, I had actually a part to read there.
58:58 Excuse me.
58:59 We are opening our tentative public hearing for the 2019-2020
59:04 proposed millage rates and tentative budget.
59:06 Dr. Mullins.
59:07 Mrs. Chairman and members of the board, Ms. Penny Zerker, Chief
59:12 Financial Officer,
59:12 will make a presentation on the proposed 2019-20 budget and millage
59:18 levy.
59:19 Good evening.
59:22 Welcome to our hearing to all the members in the public.
59:25 This is our first opportunity to look at a proposed budget.
59:29 It’s important to start off to realize this is not our final
59:32 budget.
59:33 There is still about six weeks’ worth of work that can be put
59:37 into this budget to improve it.
59:39 Tonight, we will be looking at the millage, the tentative millage
59:44 that will be voted on tonight
59:46 and then finalized in September, as well as the budget.
59:52 Looking at our timeline, we started this process back in March
59:56 with the opening of the legislative session,
59:58 and today is our tentative hearing.
1:00:01 Our final step will be on September 10th at our final budget
1:00:05 hearing.
1:00:06 In this presentation, I’m going to go over enrollment
1:00:10 projections,
1:00:11 our taxable property values, proposed millage, proposed budget,
1:00:16 and next steps in the process.
1:00:18 Starting out with a membership, our student membership in the
1:00:24 district has been slightly declining,
1:00:27 while our charter schools have been slightly increasing.
1:00:32 Looking at 19-20, our district membership is 68,413 projected,
1:00:39 with charter schools 7,010 for a total of 75,423.
1:00:47 Charter schools are rising by 426 students.
1:00:52 The district is going down by 141, and the total district is
1:00:59 expected to grow by 285.
1:01:02 In comparison to the next highest, or the first highest year of
1:01:07 our highest year of membership, 08-09, where the district was 70,951,
1:01:15 and our charter schools were 3,049.
1:01:19 FTE is different than our membership.
1:01:24 Membership is just the children who walk through the door.
1:01:27 FTE considers seat time.
1:01:30 Are there in their seats for one class or the full day?
1:01:34 Or the full day?
1:01:35 And however many times they sit in a class defines the FTE unweighted,
1:01:41 and then it is weighted by the type of student that we’re
1:01:44 working with.
1:01:45 In this case, our FTE has followed our membership, declining
1:01:52 slightly at the district level, and increasing at the charter.
1:01:55 However, we are anticipating in the total district 168 increase
1:02:04 of FTE as compared to 133 in 18-19.
1:02:10 Our taxable property values have rebounded significantly over
1:02:14 the last 10 years.
1:02:16 For 19-20, we’re at 45,455,674,986.
1:02:27 That’s up $3.2 billion from 18-19, or a 7.61% increase.
1:02:34 This is slightly down from where we’ve been the last couple of
1:02:38 years, which was about an 8%, 8.1% increase, but still looking
1:02:43 very positive.
1:02:44 When we compare to 2009-10, which was our historical high before
1:02:51 17-18, that year we are $12.3 billion – excuse me, $4.1 billion
1:02:59 over what that property value was in ‘09-10.
1:03:04 But the better news is in the last five years, we have increased
1:03:09 $12.3 billion from our low point.
1:03:12 That’s a 37% increase in property values.
1:03:18 Our proposed millage is made up of three different millages.
1:03:21 There’s the required local effort.
1:03:23 This is the millage that the board is required to levy in order
1:03:27 to receive state funding for the operating fund through the
1:03:32 Florida Education Finance Program.
1:03:35 This year, the millage has been lowered to 3.838, and it makes
1:03:42 up approximately 63.1% of our total millage, and it is used for
1:03:48 the operating expenses in the general fund.
1:03:51 Our second millage is the discretionary local effort.
1:03:55 This is .748.
1:03:57 It provides approximately $448 per FTE for a total of $32,600.
1:04:06 It is subject to compression, which is the good news.
1:04:09 They guaranteed for ‘19-20 to receive at least $555 per student.
1:04:15 Since we did not receive that, our FEFP funding includes
1:04:20 compression of $107 per student or an additional $7.8 million.
1:04:26 And again, this is discretionary funding for the general fund.
1:04:31 Our last millage is the local capital improvement, more commonly
1:04:35 referred to as the capital outlay tax.
1:04:39 It is 1.5 mills.
1:04:41 That brings into the district about $65.5 million.
1:04:46 Debt service is the first paid out of that millage, and that is
1:04:51 $36,613,000.
1:04:54 We cover some maintenance expenses out of the general fund for $8,300,000.
1:05:00 And our property insurance for $4,945,000.
1:05:04 That’s left us about $15.6 million in capital needs.
1:05:09 And these funds are for the capital outlay fund.
1:05:12 While some of them may eventually get spent due to the function
1:05:16 we’re using them for in the general fund,
1:05:18 they start and are tied to the capital outlay restrictions.
1:05:23 Talking more on our proposed millage rates, this is a visual
1:05:30 graph of where we’ve been over the last 10 years.
1:05:34 And we can see that we’ve had a significant decrease since 2011-12.
1:05:41 That decrease is 2.026 mills, or almost 25% from the high.
1:05:49 Going most recently in ‘15-‘16 to today, we’ve seen a 1.291 millage
1:05:57 reduction, or 17.5%.
1:06:02 Our millage for 1920 is 0.213 mills less than they were in 1819.
1:06:11 The truth in millage law, commonly known as trim, requires us to
1:06:11 compare the millage, which we know is 0.213 mills less than last
1:06:11 year,
1:06:11 to what the law describes as the rolled-back rate.
1:06:20 And what this rate is, is the millage that we would levy to
1:06:24 receive the same dollars
1:06:26 we received in 1819 on 1920 property values.
1:06:40 It’s not a real millage, it’s a millage to compare what it would
1:06:46 be on this year’s property values to receive the same.
1:06:48 It’s to look and see what the tax increase is as a result of
1:06:57 property values.
1:07:00 In this case, our rolled-back millage, being the center column
1:07:04 here, is 3.8452 for required local effort, 0.71 for local
1:07:11 discretionary,
1:07:11 and 1.4238 for local and capital improvement, for a total of 5.979.
1:07:20 So, 5.979 mills on the $45 billion this year would give us the
1:07:27 – essentially the revenue we received in 1819.
1:07:30 Because that is less than the millage we are required to levy,
1:07:35 which is the 6.086,
1:07:38 we are required to announce a tax increase of 1.79%.
1:07:49 Looking at the impact of this tax change, two columns here –
1:07:54 boxes here.
1:07:54 The first box represents your primary homeowner.
1:07:57 The second one represents a vacation home or something that is
1:08:02 not the primary homeowner.
1:08:04 While in this graphic we’ve explained – we’ve shown $100,000
1:08:09 value, these would be two different types of homes.
1:08:12 Under the primary home, if the home value was – in 1819 was $100,000,
1:08:18 under the Save Our Homes cap,
1:08:21 the value would have only been allowed to go up for tax purposes
1:08:25 by $1,600.
1:08:27 The homeowner would be able to take their homestead exemption of
1:08:31 $25,000 and their taxable value of property would be $76,600.
1:08:38 Under the 1819 rates – the actual millage rates, not the rolled
1:08:44 back – the homeowner paid $472.43.
1:08:50 In this scenario, due to the Save Our Homes cap, the homeowner
1:08:54 under the new rates, which have lowered but also received a cap
1:08:59 on the increase,
1:09:00 would be $466.19 or a reduction in taxes of $6.24.
1:09:08 And the second block representing something like a vacation home
1:09:14 in our area.
1:09:15 In this case, they would not be affected by the Save Our Homes
1:09:19 cap.
1:09:19 In their home value of $100,000, they would have received the
1:09:24 full 7.61% increase in value, taking their property value to $107,610.
1:09:30 Under the 1819 rates, they would have paid $629.90.
1:09:40 Under the proposed 1920, although it is a lesser millage rate,
1:09:45 due to the increase in their property values,
1:09:48 they will pay $25 and a penny more than they would have in 1819.
1:09:53 Looking at our proposed tentative budget, it’s important to note
1:10:02 that the budget is a plan.
1:10:05 It’s not our actuals.
1:10:06 But for the truth and millage laws and trim advertising, we’re
1:10:10 required to mimic as if it would be an actual.
1:10:13 Hence, the fund balance numbers at the bottom.
1:10:16 In this case, we’re looking at operating revenues of $559
1:10:22 million, expenditures of $568 million,
1:10:26 with transfers in from other funds of almost $17 million.
1:10:30 This would leave at a mimicked actual budget $66 million planned
1:10:37 in fund balance.
1:10:39 And that is made up of non-spendable property and prepaids of $4,144
1:10:45 million.
1:10:46 Restricted, our state categoricals, we’re into $7.5 million.
1:10:51 The last committed, and this is still here because we will not
1:10:55 appropriate that out until September,
1:10:58 when we do the first to budget amendment.
1:11:00 And because at this point, the board has not voted to approve
1:11:05 that yet.
1:11:06 So that will eventually go away of $1,952,952.
1:11:12 And then the assigned, which is our school operations, of $5,466,835.
1:11:19 Unassigned, $47,188,346.
1:11:24 It’s important to note that the actual details within those
1:11:28 categories can be found in our budget book,
1:11:31 which is available on the board agenda or can be requested from
1:11:35 my office.
1:11:36 And the details are found on both page 12 and page 17,
1:11:41 into the full breakout that we’ve presented in the past to the
1:11:45 board.
1:11:45 Special revenue, we’re looking at $86 million coming in and $86
1:11:51 million going out.
1:11:52 So that debt service is a little higher this year at $41 to pay
1:11:58 off a QSAB, qualified zone – I forget what the A stands for.
1:12:04 Help me, Joanne.
1:12:05 Academy bond.
1:12:08 This was taken back in 2004 for about $3.5 million.
1:12:13 Over the five years following that, up through 2019, funds were
1:12:19 placed into a savings account or a sinking fund.
1:12:22 And that account has just been building funds until we had
1:12:25 enough money to pay off that bond.
1:12:28 And it is due for payment.
1:12:29 The bond comes due this year.
1:12:31 We’ll take those monies out of that savings account and pay off
1:12:34 that bond.
1:12:35 Otherwise, we’re looking at about $36,700,000 for our regular
1:12:41 debt service payment.
1:12:43 Capital projects, we’re anticipating revenues coming in in total
1:12:48 of just under $127 million.
1:12:50 Expenditures are $135 million.
1:12:53 This is carry forward of appropriated dollars from the previous
1:12:57 year from either projects crossing the year
1:13:00 or being started in the new year after all the planning was done
1:13:05 in the prior year.
1:13:06 Our total government would be $772 million in revenue, $830
1:13:12 million in expenditures,
1:13:14 and between the funds, $54 million will transfer.
1:13:18 Our enterprise fund is our after-school program.
1:13:22 We do continue to carry what appears to be a negative fund
1:13:25 balance.
1:13:26 I remind the board this is that crazy governmental accounting
1:13:30 standards board journal entry
1:13:32 that we were required to place for the pension liability of the
1:13:37 FRS a few years ago.
1:13:38 It is not real dollars.
1:13:41 It is all on paper, and it’s all based on what’s going on at the
1:13:46 FRS.
1:13:46 Our internal service fund, this is just a real first blush look.
1:13:52 We just, as of today, received our claims liabilities and can
1:13:57 begin to really look at this fund
1:13:58 and do a complete workout on it for the budget for the final.
1:14:04 Again, the same at the bottom.
1:14:06 You can see how those fund balances get categorized.
1:14:10 The majority of them will be restricted because everything but
1:14:14 operating has external restrictions on it.
1:14:20 Our 10-year capital plan, which was originally presented to the
1:14:24 board at the June 25th workshop
1:14:26 and discussed again this afternoon at your capital budget
1:14:31 workshop,
1:14:32 is currently set up for $126.8 million with total planned
1:14:40 expenditures of $173.
1:14:44 As you know, coming out of the workshop today, we do have quite
1:14:47 a bit of work to come back
1:14:48 and bring back to you based on the feedback provided to the
1:14:52 board.
1:14:52 This will change by the time we get to final.
1:14:56 Next step is taking board feedback and adjustments from
1:15:00 discussions that we have had.
1:15:02 Going back and doing a final review and updating the budget.
1:15:07 Completing that by August 23rd so that we can be prepared for
1:15:12 the September 10th board meeting.
1:15:14 We will hold again like this meeting the final hearing as part
1:15:20 of the regular board meeting.
1:15:22 And that board meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. here in the board
1:15:25 room.
1:15:26 After that, we will be prepared to make notification to the
1:15:30 Florida Department of Education,
1:15:32 the Florida Department of Revenue, and the Brevard town tax
1:15:36 collector.
1:15:37 Anyone in the community who would like more information
1:15:41 concerning our budget
1:15:42 may contact my office at the information on the screen.
1:15:45 We’ll be happy to provide that information out to them or answer
1:15:50 any of their questions.
1:15:51 At this time, we’d open it for questions or discussion or
1:15:56 feedback from the board on the presentation.
1:15:59 Thank you, Ms. Zucker.
1:16:00 Does any board member have a comment or question for Ms. Zucker?
1:16:05 Ms. Zucker?
1:16:06 I’m good right now.
1:16:07 Mr. Susan?
1:16:08 Yes.
1:16:09 I wanted it to be note, if you look at the numbers that we have
1:16:19 received because of the rollback rate,
1:16:22 that if you go back to the 2012 numbers, meaning how much if
1:16:26 they wouldn’t have rolled us back,
1:16:27 we would be in our pockets today just this year alone, would be
1:16:33 an increase of $90 million.
1:16:34 So had they not rolled us back since 2012, had they allowed us
1:16:39 to grow with the actual surrounding community,
1:16:43 we would be receiving $90 million extra this year than we would
1:16:48 have last year.
1:16:49 If you just go back to 2015 and you say how much we would be
1:16:53 receiving this year if they had not rolled us back since then,
1:16:57 it’s $58.5 million.
1:16:59 So to say the least, the rollback is killing us.
1:17:02 Thank you for providing that.
1:17:04 When is the actual date of the budget due to the state?
1:17:08 September 11th, the day after the next hearing.
1:17:13 Gotcha.
1:17:14 And that’s for our budget.
1:17:15 When is the actual budget of this year, the spend that we have,
1:17:20 runouts, everything else, that’s due the same day?
1:17:22 It is.
1:17:23 The actual expenditures is due the same day as well.
1:17:26 Will we receive prior to the September 10th budget for us the
1:17:32 numbers from the previous year’s expenditures solidified?
1:17:37 At this point, we’re on track to provide that to the board on
1:17:40 August 23rd.
1:17:41 Thank you.
1:17:42 Also, we talked before about $1.4 million in lapsed salary only
1:17:48 going towards the actual retirees portion of that.
1:17:51 Have we started looking at the other portions of transfers and
1:17:56 –
1:17:56 Yes.
1:17:57 We have a slightly large project going on on that to see – to
1:18:01 validate and see if there is anything else in addition.
1:18:04 Is there – inside of that, does that also include the vacant
1:18:08 positions that we have not filled throughout last year?
1:18:11 Vacant positions is something we’re also looking at.
1:18:14 We actually have a list of items I’ve presented to Dr. Mullins
1:18:17 and other things we’re continuing to look at moving forward with
1:18:21 the budget.
1:18:21 Perfect.
1:18:22 And then, because the millage actually came in higher than the
1:18:26 last time we were here, what is the increase –
1:18:29 in the budget since the last time we came.
1:18:34 I think the millage came in a little bit higher
1:18:36 than what we were.
1:18:37 Can you reflect what the operating budget’s increase
1:18:39 to that was?
1:18:40 Sorry.
1:18:42 - I don’t have specifically what the total budget
1:18:52 has increased, but the millage itself went up
1:18:55 about $1.3 million into the fund.
1:18:59 And then we’ve been doing some other work
1:19:01 towards budgetary savings and other things to it.
1:19:04 And I believe you all have at your podium
1:19:08 a copy of the most recent calculation
1:19:11 of new and lapsed recurring for your information,
1:19:14 which is reflective of what’s in the budget book.
1:19:16 - Okay, thank you.
1:19:18 - You’re welcome.
1:19:19 - Thank you, Ms. Serker.
1:19:22 Does any other board member have a question at this point?
1:19:26 - Okay, it’s now time for public comments.
1:19:29 The hearing is now open for public comments.
1:19:31 We will, in accordance with Florida law,
1:19:33 accept the speakers in the following order:
1:19:36 the 2019-2020 proposed millage levy,
1:19:39 followed by the 2019-2020 tentative budget.
1:19:43 Is there any individual that would like to address the board
1:19:45 on the 2019-2020 proposed millage levy?
1:19:48 - I would.
1:19:50 - Mr. Colucci.
1:19:50 Ms. Senbault, is there the three-minute time limit?
1:19:56 And do all the rules of conduct comply?
1:19:59 - Yes.
1:20:01 - What’s the word? - Just the ones you did before, apply.
1:20:02 - Apply.
1:20:05 - This is on the millage.
1:20:06 - Mr. Colucci, just to remind you,
1:20:08 this portion of public comments is on the millage only.
1:20:11 The budget comments will be next, of which you can speak again,
1:20:14 if you choose.
1:20:15 I’m gonna set the timer for three minutes,
1:20:17 and do you need me to read the rules
1:20:22 of public comments again, or are you good with them?
1:20:25 - If the last one I skated by with, this should be fine.
1:20:28 - Okay, go ahead, sir.
1:20:31 - Okay, so talking about millage,
1:20:34 I do need to talk a little bit about context.
1:20:37 Teacher salary is 46 in the nation,
1:20:42 in the state of Florida.
1:20:44 Per capita student funding, Florida is 43 in the nation.
1:20:48 We do have a funding crisis.
1:20:50 Our teachers here in Brevard are 30th in the state
1:20:55 and average teacher pay and we are $2,170
1:21:00 behind the state average.
1:21:02 I do agree with what Mr. Susan was saying
1:21:06 about how these rollback rates are impacting our budget,
1:21:11 but there are things that you could have chose to do.
1:21:17 So the woe is me attitude needs to stop.
1:21:22 There is something that could be done,
1:21:24 and that would be to go out for additional millage.
1:21:28 And it is something that this board,
1:21:30 against the recommendation of the previous superintendent,
1:21:33 decided not to do.
1:21:36 That is in your power.
1:21:37 It is not in your power to change the rollback rights.
1:21:41 We can’t do it, but you can go out for additional millage,
1:21:46 which would increase our funding drastically
1:21:49 and could be used for teacher salary,
1:21:52 as well as other things.
1:21:54 Thank you.
1:21:54 Thank you, Mr. Colucci.
1:21:56 I believe so.
1:22:03 Mr. Colucci, Ms. Belford has a question for you.
1:22:05 Do you want to say you can respond to me?
1:22:09 Otherwise, it would be pointless to ask the question, right?
1:22:11 So I just want to clarify, for the sake of all of us being on
1:22:17 the same page,
1:22:18 in previous conversations that you and I have had about millage,
1:22:21 there has been some wavering as to support from the union on a
1:22:25 millage effort.
1:22:26 So am I to take your comment that we should go for a millage,
1:22:31 that you are now willing to support a millage again?
1:22:34 Because quite frankly, even if this board decides to go for a
1:22:38 millage,
1:22:38 we wouldn’t be successful unless we had the backing of the union
1:22:42 and the teachers.
1:22:42 So I think that’s an important clarification, if you will.
1:22:47 Well, and just to clarify, our union has, for years, been making
1:22:54 the push to go out for millage,
1:22:56 and Mr. Bennett can confirm that, that we’ve been leading the
1:23:00 charge for that.
1:23:01 And, you know, it came to the vote or the discussion last May,
1:23:05 and Ms. Belford was the only board member to vote in favor of
1:23:09 the millage.
1:23:10 And for various reasons, other board members decided not to do
1:23:14 so.
1:23:16 As of late, with everything that’s been going on, with the
1:23:20 salary debacle, I’ll call it,
1:23:23 this is going to be a difficult, heavy lift.
1:23:28 And it’s going to be a heavy lift with our teachers because of
1:23:31 the trust factor.
1:23:32 I am willing to have further discussion, to look at timelines,
1:23:37 to look at, you know, how the board would like to spend that
1:23:40 money
1:23:41 and bring it to the membership and get a feel from the
1:23:43 membership
1:23:44 if they would be willing to support it.
1:23:46 Thank you.
1:23:47 Thank you, Mr. Colucci, and thank you for your cooperativeness.
1:23:51 Are there more speakers that would like to speak
1:23:56 on the proposed millage, 2019-2020 proposed millage rates?
1:24:00 Ms. Skipper, state your name for the record, and please go
1:24:03 forward.
1:24:05 Vanessa Skipper, vice president, BFT.
1:24:07 I’m just echoing what Anthony was discussing earlier about the
1:24:10 millage.
1:24:11 This is, again, a positive solution that we brought forward many
1:24:17 times to this board.
1:24:19 Obviously, in the past year, we’ve gone back and forth, back and
1:24:23 forth,
1:24:24 but I believe I handed every single one of you at one point
1:24:28 information on millage,
1:24:30 which county had extra millage and extra half cent or extra full
1:24:34 cent.
1:24:35 I believe almost actually every county on the eastern seaboard
1:24:42 of Florida all the way up to Volusia County,
1:24:45 except for us, past extra millage, and those teachers in all of
1:24:52 those counties from Miami-Dade, Broward,
1:24:56 Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, all of those counties coming up,
1:25:01 they’re getting a significant, significant pay increase.
1:25:05 And if there’s one thing that I always try to teach my students,
1:25:09 and I think we saw an example of that earlier,
1:25:11 is don’t come talk about a problem if you don’t have a solution.
1:25:15 So in further discussions, whether it’s going out for millage or
1:25:20 whatever we decide to do,
1:25:22 I would hope that you all understand, especially since we just
1:25:25 had that presentation about what’s happening
1:25:27 with the RLE and the rollback,
1:25:31 that we were bringing a solution to the board to make a problem
1:25:35 better.
1:25:36 And we will continue to do so,
1:25:39 and we hope that you take us seriously with those solutions.
1:25:42 And I think just to kind of piggyback on the question and answer
1:25:46 just then,
1:25:47 if we’re taken seriously, I think that will change the game in a
1:25:51 lot of things that we do.
1:25:52 Thank you.
1:25:53 Thank you, Ms. Skipper.
1:25:59 Is there anyone else that would like to speak on the proposed
1:26:01 millage rates?
1:26:02 Is there any individual that would like to address the board
1:26:15 on the 2019-2020 tentative budget?
1:26:20 Please state your name.
1:26:24 Yes, ma’am.
1:26:25 Hello, my name is Kyle Savage.
1:26:27 Oh, I need to get this up on my phone.
1:26:28 And I’m a very proud teacher in Brevard Public Schools.
1:26:31 Since the impasse hearing, I started looking at the budget
1:26:35 because there was a lot of talk about what was in the budget
1:26:38 and what wasn’t in the budget.
1:26:39 There was a lot of numbers presented.
1:26:41 And I will be honest with you, when I first started looking at
1:26:44 it,
1:26:44 I kind of understood why some of you guys were hesitant.
1:26:46 However, I feel like you’ve been looking at it all year
1:26:50 and you were able to have the information.
1:26:51 So looking at the tentative budget for 2019 and 20,
1:26:55 there was quite a few things that stood out to me.
1:26:58 But one thing was on how the page marked.
1:27:02 I want to say it’s page 11.
1:27:04 When you look at instructional total spending,
1:27:07 now I understand that’s a line item.
1:27:09 I understand there’s a lot that goes into that line item.
1:27:12 The majority of that line item is salaries.
1:27:15 If we looked at the adopted budget, which kind of is a problem
1:27:19 because in this budget, there is no actuals.
1:27:21 Everything we’re looking at is adopted, amended,
1:27:24 and adopted again are the tentative budget for this year.
1:27:27 But in the adopted budget, you guys adopted $372 million.
1:27:35 For 2019 and 20, you’re adopting $370 million.
1:27:40 That’s a decrease in instructional spending.
1:27:44 Now, when we were at the impasse hearing,
1:27:46 it was told that this is reoccurring money.
1:27:48 It wasn’t in the budget.
1:27:49 But on your own budget documents,
1:27:52 we’re going to spend less money this year going into 19-20
1:27:56 than we did in 18-19.
1:27:58 That doesn’t make sense if everything is reoccurring dollars.
1:28:01 Along that trend, I would like to point out,
1:28:04 if you would allow me,
1:28:05 we went through and looked at the actual budgets
1:28:08 that was from 2015 to 16, 16 to 17, 17 to 18.
1:28:13 We looked at actual, what was budgeted,
1:28:16 and what was amended.
1:28:17 In 2015-16, the district budgeted $355 million for salaries,
1:28:24 instructional that line item.
1:28:25 They amended it to $360 million.
1:28:28 The actual spent was $347 million.
1:28:31 That was money that dropped to the fund balance.
1:28:35 I know we look at the fund balance,
1:28:36 and in the beginning of the year, it’s $66 million.
1:28:39 It drops to $32 million, and then it goes back up.
1:28:41 All we’re doing is moving money to say we don’t have a fund
1:28:44 balance.
1:28:44 If you look at 16-17, same trend.
1:28:48 The district budgeted $363.5 million.
1:28:52 They amended it.
1:28:54 You guys amended it to $367 million.
1:28:57 You actually spent $350 million on that instructional line item.
1:29:01 17-18, same thing.
1:29:04 You guys budgeted.
1:29:06 I’m sorry.
1:29:07 I’m not trying to be rude by saying you guys.
1:29:09 The board budgeted $373 million, almost $374 million.
1:29:13 You amended it to $384 million.
1:29:16 The actual file from the state was $370 million.
1:29:20 Every single year, that has been millions of dollars
1:29:24 that were budgeted and never spent.
1:29:26 I’m sorry.
1:29:27 My time’s up.
1:29:27 All this information we use from DOE records, and it’s all there,
1:29:31 and I would love to talk to anybody that had any questions about
1:29:33 it.
1:29:33 So thank you.
1:29:34 Thank you, sir.
1:29:39 I appreciate the information you just shared.
1:29:45 Is there anyone else that would like to speak about the 2019-2020
1:29:49 tentative budget?
1:29:50 Mr. Colucci.
1:29:51 On page 3 of the proposed tentative budget,
1:30:02 I see that your fund balance as of July 1, 2019 is $58,322,324.
1:30:12 Your fund balance on July 1, 2018 was $58,322,324.
1:30:25 Sorry.
1:30:25 Mr. Colucci, we would like to follow along.
1:30:28 Can you?
1:30:28 We just got the books back out.
1:30:30 Can you start over?
1:30:31 Yeah.
1:30:31 I’ll start your time over, too, sir.
1:30:33 And hopefully I’ll say the number right this time.
1:30:35 It’s actually the page, Mr. Colucci.
1:30:37 On page 3 of the proposed tentative budget.
1:30:40 Proposed.
1:30:42 Oh, on the, in the, do you have the book, or do you have just
1:30:45 the presentation?
1:30:46 We’ve got the book.
1:30:47 Okay.
1:30:48 We’ll start there with you.
1:30:50 Okay.
1:30:50 Page 3, proposed tentative budget, fund balance of July, as of
1:30:56 July 1, 2019, is $58,322,324.
1:31:05 We-
1:31:07 Fund balance-
1:31:08 One second.
1:31:08 We, we aren’t seeing the same numbers as you.
1:31:10 Oh, wait, here it is.
1:31:11 Fund balance, here.
1:31:12 Try here.
1:31:12 Fund balance.
1:31:13 We were looking at the bottom.
1:31:14 I just want to make sure we’re following, so we understand what
1:31:16 you’re saying.
1:31:16 That’s fine.
1:31:16 Okay.
1:31:18 Fund balance on July 1, 2018 was the exact same number, $58,322,324.
1:31:29 So I’m trying to find out why the actual fund balance number is
1:31:36 not given here, or are we
1:31:39 saying that the fund balance one year later was exactly the same
1:31:45 amount to the dollar.
1:31:46 Now, on page 5 of your May amendments, I don’t know if you have
1:31:53 those in front of you, your
1:31:56 May amended budget, the fund balance was amended to $32,410,089,
1:32:06 but the actual amount listed
1:32:09 in that, those May amendments-
1:32:12 What page?
1:32:13 Um, I do not have the page, page 5.
1:32:16 It’s on our, it’s on our agenda?
1:32:18 May amendments.
1:32:19 It’s on our, it’s on our agenda?
1:32:20 May amendments.
1:32:21 Financial statements?
1:32:22 No, that’s a financial statement.
1:32:23 He’s talking about the budget amendment.
1:32:24 That’s a, he’s talking about the budget amendment.
1:32:25 That’s in our June 25th board agenda, if you want to go back
1:32:28 there.
1:32:29 Okay.
1:32:30 If we go back to the June 25th board agenda, that’s, um, when we,
1:32:34 uh, approve that.
1:32:34 Is that where you pulled it from?
1:32:35 Yes.
1:32:36 Okay.
1:32:37 Give us just a second.
1:32:38 It is, um, item, it’s item 15.
1:32:42 What’d you say?
1:32:43 It was May what?
1:32:44 May.
1:32:45 I’m sorry, the June 25th, the June 25th board meeting agenda.
1:32:49 Item 15.
1:32:50 What page were you on?
1:32:51 Five?
1:32:52 Yes.
1:32:53 On page five.
1:32:55 Okay.
1:32:56 So we will approve that.
1:32:57 I will approve that.
1:32:58 Is that where you pulled it from?
1:32:59 Yes.
1:33:00 Okay.
1:33:01 Give us just a second.
1:33:02 It is item, it’s item 15.
1:33:03 What did you say it was May what?
1:33:04 May, I’m sorry, the June 25th, the June 25th board meeting.
1:33:04 I’m page five of the May amendments.
1:33:07 Okay.
1:33:08 I got, I got to do a, uh, formative assessment here.
1:33:19 Can I get like a thumbs up sideways?
1:33:21 Okay.
1:33:22 All right.
1:33:24 Um, so the fund balance was amended down to 32 million dollars.
1:33:34 One hundred ten million, four hundred ten thousand dollars.
1:33:38 But if you look somewhere over there, you will see the actual
1:33:42 amount in that fund balance
1:33:45 was a one hundred ten million, four hundred fifty four thousand,
1:33:50 nine hundred four dollars.
1:33:51 Okay.
1:33:52 So what I’m trying to figure out is…
1:33:53 Hang on.
1:33:54 Are you, you are in the budget amendment, not in the…
1:33:55 The year of the May financial statement.
1:33:56 Okay.
1:33:57 Then that’s, okay.
1:33:58 That’s something different.
1:34:00 Yeah, on tonight’s agenda.
1:34:01 Okay.
1:34:02 He said budget amendment, so…
1:34:03 Hold on.
1:34:04 We changed agenda.
1:34:05 Yeah.
1:34:06 Go back to today’s agenda.
1:34:06 Oh.
1:34:07 Looks like your time’s up.
1:34:08 I’m just kidding.
1:34:09 Okay.
1:34:10 So what, what I’m trying to get at is why after this being such
1:34:11 a contentious amount of money
1:34:12 at the legislative union, the legislative union, what are you
1:34:13 doing?
1:34:14 Why don’t we know what the actual amount in the fund balance is
1:34:24 right now?
1:34:27 All right.
1:34:28 So we’re seeing it was fixed.
1:34:29 Okay.
1:34:30 So we’re seeing, it was fixed.
1:34:32 Okay.
1:34:33 I’m just kidding.
1:34:34 Okay.
1:34:35 So what I’m trying to get at is why after this being such a
1:34:36 contentious amount of money
1:34:37 at the legislative hearing, why don’t we know what the actual
1:34:39 amount in the fund balance
1:34:40 is right now?
1:34:41 All right.
1:34:42 We’re seeing it was $50 million and then $58 million, then it
1:34:47 was amended to $32 million,
1:34:49 but there was really $110 million in there.
1:34:52 So what is that fund balance really at?
1:34:55 That is something that is crucial going forward, especially
1:35:00 after the whole legislative hearing
1:35:03 and magistrate hearing centering on this fund balance.
1:35:09 Do you, do you want me to hand you a copy of this or do we
1:35:13 figure?
1:35:14 I think Ms. Belford finally, we pulled it up.
1:35:16 We have to log out.
1:35:17 We have to log back in to get to a different agenda.
1:35:18 Okay.
1:35:19 So it just took her a minute.
1:35:20 Are we? This is my record time being up here. Yeah, I don’t even
1:35:28 have the clock running on you, Mr. Calucci.
1:35:30 Ms. Campbell has a question for you, I think. Well, not a
1:35:34 question, but an answer, because you asked us a question. Are we
1:35:37 to that part yet?
1:35:38 Oh, is there more you want to say, or can we ask you some
1:35:41 questions? Because I asked a similar question earlier today, and
1:35:44 I think Ms. Belford actually asked the same question, too.
1:35:48 If you would mind Ms. Urker giving him the same answer you gave
1:35:52 me, please.
1:35:53 Sure. The budget amendment reflects what’s called budgeted fund
1:35:58 balance.
1:35:58 There are two different basic accounting systems. One balances
1:36:02 the budget, and one is the actual accounting system.
1:36:06 So we have budgeted fund balance, which as we appropriate the
1:36:10 carry forwards in September and other funds out of the fund
1:36:14 balance in the budget amendment,
1:36:17 the budget amendment fund balance will reduce.
1:36:20 When it comes to the actual in your monthly financial statements
1:36:24 through the year, fund balance varies by receipt of dollars.
1:36:29 So our ad valorem dollars all come in in December.
1:36:34 It’s a huge chunk of money that gets spent throughout the year,
1:36:37 and the way our cash flows are,
1:36:40 while all that money is for the 18, 19 year, from a cash flow
1:36:45 basis, that’s paying salaries, supplies, and everything going
1:36:51 through.
1:36:52 So it makes the monthly financial statements look larger fund
1:36:56 balance at this time of year compared to when we get to the end.
1:37:01 We have provided, since publishing this book to Dr. Mullins, an
1:37:05 estimate of what we think the final fund balance will be.
1:37:08 We are not closed.
1:37:10 There are a number of items that don’t come until next week or
1:37:14 after August 1st from DOE.
1:37:16 So closing date is scheduled for August 9th, but we have
1:37:20 prepared an analysis looking at what we think the accruals will
1:37:24 be.
1:37:25 It will probably be around $56 to $57 million with the same
1:37:29 breakouts, and as soon as we get a final update on that, we will
1:37:34 share that with the board.
1:37:35 So just to clarify, the reason why you’re showing that our fund
1:37:43 balance on July 1st is the same amount as it showed at the
1:37:49 beginning of last fiscal year is because we have to put an
1:37:51 estimate.
1:37:52 We use it as an estimate because we don’t have the books closed,
1:37:55 and we’d rather use something that we know is more realistic and
1:37:59 explainable.
1:38:00 And so practice in this district has been to use the previous
1:38:03 year’s ending fund balance as the beginning for the new budget.
1:38:06 When we get to the final hearing, you get the book, and August
1:38:09 23rd, it will have the actual fund balance in it, following the
1:38:13 close of the books on August 9th.
1:38:15 Thank you, Mr. Zucker, or Mr. Susan.
1:38:20 So when I look at this amendment and I look up at the available,
1:38:24 the actuals, right, it’s $537 million for the total revenues.
1:38:29 Total expenses are $484 million, and the ending fund balance is
1:38:33 $110 million, $480 million, roughly.
1:38:37 So what I’m hearing you say is that the reason that that ending
1:38:40 fund balance is that is the balance of what our actual fund
1:38:43 balance is,
1:38:44 along with the revenue that we have to spend by the end of the
1:38:47 year, and we’ve actually only spent $484 million, is that
1:38:51 correct?
1:38:51 Right.
1:38:51 We still have, for that budget amendment, that financial
1:38:55 statement to months of salaries, which is the biggest portion,
1:38:59 almost 78% of our budget.
1:39:03 And so that money sitting in the fund balance equates the cash
1:39:07 in the balance sheet that will be used to pay those expenditures.
1:39:11 Okay.
1:39:16 Thank you.
1:39:16 You’re welcome.
1:39:17 Any more questions for Mr. Zucker?
1:39:20 Is there anyone else that would like to speak on the 2019-2020
1:39:25 tentative budget?
1:39:28 I just had some questions, because I, too, was looking at that
1:39:34 number.
1:39:35 So I’m looking at your proposed tentative budget on page nine.
1:39:49 And again, the fund balance right there for 2018-2019, all the
1:39:58 way across from adopted to amended to projected, is the same
1:40:02 number.
1:40:02 And I was just curious as to why we can’t have actual numbers
1:40:08 for this particular hearing on page nine,
1:40:13 but we are able to have actual numbers if you flip to page 25.
1:40:18 So on page 25, we have actual expenditures, estimated
1:40:33 expenditures.
1:40:34 And then there is another page, which I have lost my place.
1:40:40 So special revenue, yeah, 25.
1:40:47 So I’m just wondering why we can have actual funds and parts of
1:40:52 this proposed budget, but in not other places.
1:40:55 While I realize that there’s a lot of money to spend, it is the
1:41:00 end of July.
1:41:01 So I feel like we could have some more actual numbers to
1:41:04 actually look at.
1:41:06 So I’m just curious as to why we don’t.
1:41:07 Thank you, Ms. Skipper.
1:41:09 Ms. Sarkar, do you want to address that?
1:41:15 My explanation would be, again, we’re not closed with the books.
1:41:22 We would have to pick a month, May 31st, and say, here’s what we’re
1:41:26 using.
1:41:27 We wouldn’t want to use, you know, even June 30th.
1:41:31 I think Ms. Skipper’s question, that was on page 25, there’s a
1:41:34 column that says actual expenditures.
1:41:36 It says there’s an estimated expenditure there.
1:41:38 It’s a much smaller fund, much easier to do the estimates.
1:41:40 Those are still estimates, even though it says actual at the top?
1:41:43 It doesn’t say actual for 2019.
1:41:47 Let me pull the page back up.
1:41:48 For 2019, okay, and for 2019, it says estimated expenditures.
1:41:51 So those are just estimates again.
1:41:53 Yes, there is an estimated expenditures.
1:41:55 It’s a much smaller fund, much less line items.
1:41:59 On the tentative budget for operating, we haven’t included it.
1:42:03 If it’s the board’s desire in the future, we’ll be happy to
1:42:06 include it.
1:42:06 The final budget and the CAFR will provide actual expenditures
1:42:12 in comparisons to budgets as well.
1:42:14 Thank you, Ms. Zirker.
1:42:15 I appreciate you answering questions on the fly.
1:42:18 We, I think it’s important, you know, it’s just numbers, but it’s
1:42:24 large numbers, and there’s a lot of data there,
1:42:26 and it’s important that we all are on the same page so that we
1:42:29 can have good information.
1:42:30 Any more questions for Ms. Zirker?
1:42:34 We didn’t, we answered Anthony’s question and Vanessa’s question,
1:42:42 but Mr. Savage,
1:42:44 we’ll go back in all the years, we can talk about that later,
1:42:48 but you did mention there’s a decrease in instructional spending
1:42:51 from the year we just ended into this coming year, and I think I,
1:42:57 or I think Ms. Belford actually asked that question,
1:43:01 so I want to make sure you, we get, we address that, because
1:43:04 that was some of the changes that we made
1:43:05 in order to bring the salary increase that, from the 1% to the 1.6%,
1:43:12 some of that is included in that.
1:43:14 So I want to make sure we get you an answer, I think tonight
1:43:16 would be good.
1:43:17 Do you want me to share that response?
1:43:19 Yes.
1:43:20 Go ahead, Ms. Belford.
1:43:20 So, looking at, there are a couple of things taking place there,
1:43:24 one is, keep in mind that this is our, our first look at the
1:43:28 budget,
1:43:28 at the budget, and so there are vacancies that are not included
1:43:31 in that number at this point, because we have not hired those
1:43:34 positions yet.
1:43:35 We also, in order to come up with additional dollars last year,
1:43:39 we had some changes in the number of allocations,
1:43:41 the number of units that we have in the district, and so you’ll
1:43:45 see, too, if you look in the electronic version of the budget
1:43:48 book,
1:43:49 you’ll see that there are some changes in the number of people
1:43:51 in various positions in the district,
1:43:53 and I think that’s what Ms. Campbell was referencing, we had
1:43:56 some reserve units that we eliminated,
1:43:57 so that we can actually provide additional dollars last year.
1:44:01 The only way that those dollars can be reoccurring dollars is,
1:44:04 is if those reserve units go away in the following year,
1:44:08 otherwise it would just be a one, one-time thing, non-recurring,
1:44:12 so that’s some of that.
1:44:13 I would love, Anthony and Vanessa have my contact information, I
1:44:17 would love to sit down and talk to you about the previous years,
1:44:20 because I actually have done that study myself, and looked at
1:44:23 previous years, actual versus spend versus amended for the past
1:44:27 six or eight years, I think.
1:44:29 So if, if you would like to reach out to me after tomorrow, I’d
1:44:31 be happy to talk to it.
1:44:33 Thank you, and I did just want to point out, I do understand
1:44:36 that this is a tentative, and there’s a lot of,
1:44:38 we started reading line items, and it’s insane to me how much
1:44:41 goes into the budget, so thank you.
1:44:43 Sure, absolutely, thank you.
1:44:45 Thank you, sir, and thanks for bringing that back up, Ms.
1:44:49 Campbell, I overlooked that.
1:44:51 Anyone else have any comments or questions?
1:44:53 Anyone else to speak?
1:44:56 Oh, yep, gotta go back and ask one more time.
1:44:58 Is there anyone else that would like to speak, address the board
1:45:02 on the, to the, to the, is there anyone else that would like to
1:45:04 address the board on the 2019-2020 tentative budget?
1:45:08 Yes, ma’am, please state your name.
1:45:10 My name is Angela Dawson, I was here at the, the impasse hearing.
1:45:14 I work for the Florida Education Association in consultation
1:45:17 with the Brevard Federation of Teachers.
1:45:19 We’ve been doing a lot of discussion about the budget, and we
1:45:23 had a couple of additional questions on page 12.
1:45:34 So, as part of the impasse hearing, we had a lot of discussion
1:45:37 about the unassigned fund balance,
1:45:39 and you can see that the adopted budget started out with some
1:45:42 specific encumbrances, carry forwards,
1:45:44 and a medical insurance fund of 3.1 that was discussed at the
1:45:48 hearing.
1:45:49 Then you can see in the amended budget, those were removed, and
1:45:51 now you can see that they’re,
1:45:52 they’re back in the adopted, in the proposed budget for, to be
1:45:57 adopted in the future.
1:45:58 We have a question for you about health insurance.
1:46:01 Health insurance in our country is in a crisis.
1:46:04 We have exploding costs in pharmacy that are driving a lot of
1:46:10 expenses into our districts.
1:46:12 And if you look at your, your May report, the very last page
1:46:17 gives you a history,
1:46:18 compares your current May expend for your health insurance to
1:46:21 last year’s May expense.
1:46:22 And you can see you are, you have a bit of a trend going.
1:46:26 I’m guessing that that’s probably pharmacy and some increase
1:46:29 possibly in things like emergency rooms
1:46:32 or other types of things that you, your insurance committee, I’m
1:46:36 sure, is looking into.
1:46:37 But pharmacy is in trouble across our entire country.
1:46:40 You need to address that, and you need to get ahead of that
1:46:44 trend before it starts to tank your, your plan.
1:46:47 Right now, you’re still healthy.
1:46:48 You still have money in reserve.
1:46:50 However, holding $3.1 million out of your general fund for a
1:46:55 rainy day is a bad plan.
1:46:57 And here’s why.
1:46:58 Not all your employees are paid out of the general fund.
1:47:01 If you have employees that are paid out of grants, paid out of
1:47:04 categoricals,
1:47:05 if you decide to wait until you need money and infusion,
1:47:09 you’re not charging those categoricals for the appropriate
1:47:12 amount for the health insurance of those employees.
1:47:14 You would be better off saying, we’re going to add $10 per
1:47:19 person per head per month and start charging all your categoricals.
1:47:23 Because probably about 80% is coming out of general fund for
1:47:27 your staff and maybe 20% out of categoricals if you’re kind of
1:47:29 typical.
1:47:30 So you’re really spending more money out of your general fund
1:47:33 doing it this way.
1:47:34 And when you’re building a budget, if you know that you need to
1:47:38 increase an expense, you would increase that expense in the line
1:47:42 item.
1:47:43 You wouldn’t hold money in reserve and put a label on it.
1:47:46 So if there’s things here that need to be amended in your budget,
1:47:49 I would suggest that you actually budget for the amount you
1:47:52 think you need
1:47:53 and not hold money into the reserve like that because you will
1:47:57 end up shortchanging your general fund
1:47:59 when you could have been charging your categoricals for health
1:48:01 insurance.
1:48:02 Thank you, ma’am.
1:48:04 Anyone have any comments or questions?
1:48:07 Ms. Belford?
1:48:07 I would just like to clarify on the $3.1 million only because I
1:48:12 think I was the only one that was here
1:48:14 when that $3.1 million fund was created initially.
1:48:19 The $3.1 million that is in general fund for health insurance is
1:48:22 not a rainy day fund for health insurance.
1:48:24 It actually is part of the dollars that we pay, the district,
1:48:28 the board, whoever you want to reference,
1:48:30 pays for employee premiums for health care.
1:48:33 And so when this fund was brought about, it was 2015.
1:48:38 At that point, Dr. Bingley was our superintendent, and his
1:48:43 solution, because our premium year
1:48:45 and our budget year were not aligned, his solution and the
1:48:50 former CFO came up with the solution
1:48:54 to allow that portion of premiums to drop to the bottom line and
1:48:59 utilize $3.1 million of the funds
1:49:02 that fall to the bottom line to pay that portion of health
1:49:04 insurance premiums.
1:49:05 And that is something that has just continued.
1:49:08 It is not, in fact, a rainy day fund.
1:49:10 That’s why it goes away in September, October, whenever it
1:49:15 changes.
1:49:16 And then the next year when we have funds drop to the bottom
1:49:18 line,
1:49:19 we set aside $3.1 million of those funds for those health
1:49:22 insurance premiums as well.
1:49:24 So while I absolutely appreciate what you’re saying about making
1:49:27 sure that funds are coming from categoricals,
1:49:29 this is just a very small portion of what we’re paying for for
1:49:33 employee premiums.
1:49:34 Ms. Zucker, can we change the way we do that?
1:49:39 I hate that we’ve always done it this way.
1:49:41 Let’s just continue to do it.
1:49:42 Would it be helpful if we move that into and pay it like the
1:49:47 rest of our budget?
1:49:48 It’s a recurring budgeting item.
1:49:52 So if we move it as part of the adopted budget up, then it’s
1:49:56 committing recurring dollars
1:49:58 that could go to something such as salary increases.
1:50:01 And that’s why it’s never been done since then.
1:50:04 I would love to do that.
1:50:06 I don’t agree with what we’re doing.
1:50:09 It was, as Ms. Belford said, established before I was CFO.
1:50:13 There were a number of things like that that were much smaller
1:50:16 we were able to get rid of.
1:50:18 But at some point, the board would have to allocate $3.1 million
1:50:22 recurring
1:50:23 to be able to just move it back up to the premiums where it
1:50:26 belongs.
1:50:26 It seems as if it’s been falling to the bottom line since 2015.
1:50:30 We’re taking it out of lapsed dollars to pay it.
1:50:34 So we’d still have to find $3.1 million worth of cuts.
1:50:38 Yep.
1:50:39 Thank you.
1:50:45 Is there anyone else that would like to speak on the 2019-2020
1:50:50 tentative budget?
1:50:51 Hello, Mr. Bennett.
1:50:54 You should give him to the officer.
1:50:56 We have a new process now.
1:50:58 We trust you, Mr. Bennett, but we haven’t seen you in a while.
1:51:03 I have an extra copy, so I’ll leave it here with Penny.
1:51:07 There should be one for everybody.
1:51:08 Good evening, Dr. Mullins and member of the board and Amy and
1:51:12 Pam.
1:51:13 My name is Dan Bennett.
1:51:14 I used to be Anthony before Anthony was Anthony.
1:51:17 Now I’m back to being Dan.
1:51:18 I’m a teacher at Space Coast and loving it.
1:51:20 I stumbled into this building a few weeks ago for lunch.
1:51:24 It was Meat Loaf Monday, and the room was packed,
1:51:26 and y’all were having some kind of discussion up here.
1:51:28 People were angry.
1:51:29 Everyone’s wearing red.
1:51:30 And I heard y’all talking about something, budget money, and I
1:51:34 heard my name come up.
1:51:35 And so that perked my interest.
1:51:37 I came up, what are they talking about?
1:51:38 And I said, oh, no.
1:51:39 My students have fallen from grace, and I had to come back and
1:51:41 go over some things.
1:51:42 Because you were talking about a Dan Bennett line of the budget,
1:51:44 and it’s something that I talked to you about for, oh, about 10
1:51:47 years.
1:51:47 I didn’t name it after myself.
1:51:48 That was Dr. Blackburn named it that.
1:51:51 But the problems we’re having in this county are because there’s
1:51:55 a lesson that I failed to get all the way delivered.
1:51:57 I got some of it delivered, but not all the way delivered.
1:52:00 Across the state, as the magistrate pointed out, other districts
1:52:03 are doing better than us,
1:52:04 and it’s only because they have completely mastered the lesson.
1:52:07 You all are capable of this.
1:52:08 You will get it, I’m confident.
1:52:10 And I mean that sincerely.
1:52:12 I’m optimistic that you will get there.
1:52:14 We will get there like all our other districts.
1:52:16 And when we’re talking about a 1% or 2% raise, everyone else won’t
1:52:19 be talking about a 2% or 3% raise.
1:52:21 For the past four, five, six years, every other district is
1:52:23 talking about 1% to 2% more than us,
1:52:25 and it’s just because we didn’t get the whole lesson.
1:52:27 So let me give you the history.
1:52:29 If you look at my circle on the sheet, and I’m not suggesting it
1:52:33 unencumbered fund balance,
1:52:34 I’m not suggesting they’re equal, but just in the circle it
1:52:37 worked out to be the same.
1:52:38 Your encumbered fund balance is money.
1:52:40 Don’t spend.
1:52:41 That’s your school balances.
1:52:42 Your payroll can’t spend it.
1:52:43 But within there, you’ve got board contingencies, 19.
1:52:46 But we talked a lot about that meeting.
1:52:47 You talked a lot about board contingencies.
1:52:49 Don’t spend that.
1:52:50 That’s a lock.
1:52:51 The unencumbered fund balance is the part of your fund balance
1:52:54 that is money sitting there
1:52:55 doing nothing, and yet it magically grows every year.
1:52:58 You don’t budget for it to grow, and yet the trend line over
1:53:00 time is that it grows.
1:53:01 Why does it grow?
1:53:02 Because there’s portions within the budget that are padded, that
1:53:05 are bigger than they need to be.
1:53:07 If we just know what that is and get a better grip on it, we can
1:53:10 capture it in real time.
1:53:12 The magistrate told you that other districts are doing this
1:53:14 better than us,
1:53:15 and that money is there as evidenced on the backside.
1:53:18 I’m going to jump to the back right quick because I want to show
1:53:20 you the evidence.
1:53:21 Misty, you were hitting all around this at the meeting.
1:53:22 I was proud of you, but we didn’t quite bring it home.
1:53:25 Look at the box where I put question marks underneath those
1:53:28 numbers.
1:53:28 All right?
1:53:29 Notice every year the average raise is much bigger than the
1:53:33 change in average salary.
1:53:34 What that means is you budget to give that much in raise, and
1:53:38 yet the salary doesn’t go up,
1:53:39 so there’s a gap in there somewhere.
1:53:41 Let’s explain some of that gap.
1:53:43 Oh, man, I’m running out of time.
1:53:44 The first is the lapse factor.
1:53:46 This was a past CFO admitted.
1:53:47 She said the average contract is 98.8% of fulfillment.
1:53:51 This is because not everybody works the full contract.
1:53:53 $5 million was captured.
1:53:55 The attrition money is what’s called the Dan Bennett money.
1:54:00 It means year over year the average teacher comes in is about $3,500
1:54:03 less.
1:54:04 That’s the number Penny gave, I agree.
1:54:05 That saves you about $285 in average salary, but there’s more to
1:54:10 it.
1:54:11 Just look at those two numbers.
1:54:12 Look at the gap.
1:54:13 Oh, I’d love 30 more seconds.
1:54:14 Can I get 30 more seconds?
1:54:16 I just want to give you a few ideas.
1:54:17 I’ll move to it.
1:54:18 Please.
1:54:18 30?
1:54:19 Lord, will we give Mr. Bennett 30 more seconds?
1:54:21 30 more seconds.
1:54:22 29.
1:54:23 Ms. Belford gives you 29.
1:54:25 These are what other districts have looked at, and other
1:54:27 districts have agreed and admitted
1:54:29 and said, oh, yes, we can do this.
1:54:30 Vacant positions.
1:54:32 Don’t make the union fight for this.
1:54:33 Every four days you have a teacher vacancy, or excuse me, every
1:54:36 four days that you have
1:54:38 50 vacancies, that’s one teacher’s salary.
1:54:40 It’s real.
1:54:41 Other boards have learned this, agree it, capture that money,
1:54:43 put it in.
1:54:44 This district still fights about it.
1:54:45 You have positions in your budget that are not advertised.
1:54:48 Dr. Mullins, you wisely said that if we had a catastrophe, had
1:54:51 to cut money, we cut positions.
1:54:53 There are positions not advertised that are in the budget.
1:54:56 Those people don’t collect raises.
1:54:57 I’ll leave you with a question.
1:54:59 Suppose you just approved $9 million in recurring raises for
1:55:04 next year.
1:55:05 I mean, suppose that’s just the package that you did.
1:55:07 How much do you have to have in your budget for next year to
1:55:09 cover those $9 million raises
1:55:11 for next year?
1:55:12 Did you say $9 million?
1:55:13 It’s not.
1:55:14 It’s less than $8.5 million.
1:55:15 Because 10% of your people, 8% to 10% of your people quit on you
1:55:18 every year.
1:55:19 So those people that leave, they don’t get the raise next year.
1:55:22 There’s ways that you can capture that money ahead of time, and
1:55:24 then your average raise
1:55:26 will actually, or your average salary will actually go up as
1:55:28 much as your average raise.
1:55:30 When you get those two numbers to balance, we will be right on
1:55:33 level with other districts
1:55:34 in our area that have already learned this lesson.
1:55:36 You can do it.
1:55:38 I’m confident because other districts have done it too.
1:55:40 Thank you.
1:55:40 Thank you, Mr. Bennett.
1:55:41 I appreciate the time.
1:55:42 Thank you.
1:55:48 Is there anyone else that would like to speak on the 2019-2020
1:55:52 tentative budget?
1:55:53 Board members, any more questions or comments on the tentative
1:55:57 budget?
1:55:57 The public comment portion of this hearing is now closed.
1:56:08 This brings us to the recommendations for the adoption of the
1:56:13 proposed millage rates
1:56:14 and tentative budget, Dr. Mullins.
1:56:16 There are a total of three separate motions for the board to
1:56:18 consider.
1:56:19 I will read each of these recommendations into the record and
1:56:23 request board action.
1:56:24 Item A, adopt proposed 2019-2020 millage rates of operating fund.
1:56:32 Required local effort, 3.838.
1:56:36 Local discretionary, 0.748.
1:56:42 Capital outlay, 1.500.
1:56:46 For a total, 6.086.
1:56:51 What are the wishes of the board?
1:56:55 Move to approve.
1:56:56 Second.
1:56:57 Motion by Ms. Belford.
1:56:59 Second by Ms. Campbell.
1:57:00 Any discussion?
1:57:01 Please vote.
1:57:04 Motion passes, 5-0.
1:57:29 Dr. Mullins.
1:57:37 Item B, adopt the 2019-2020 tentative budget of operating, 633,907,522.
1:57:48 Special revenue, 97,291,035.
1:57:54 Debt service, 41,402,583.
1:58:01 Capital outlay, 254,423,721.
1:58:09 One, enterprise, I’m going to go back.
1:58:19 Which one?
1:58:20 Let me repeat debt service.
1:58:24 41,402,585.
1:58:30 Capital outlay, 254,423,721.
1:58:38 Enterprise, 4,700,823.
1:58:45 Stop, stop, stop, stop.
1:58:47 For a subtotal, 1,031,700,000.
1:58:51 Excuse me, Dr. Mullins.
1:58:55 Enterprise was read at 4,700,823, and it should be 826,
1:59:02 according to the agenda.
1:59:03 I apologize.
1:59:05 I just want to make sure we got it right so we don’t have
1:59:07 anything messed up.
1:59:08 I said three?
1:59:09 No idea where that came from.
1:59:12 Let me try again.
1:59:13 Enterprise, $4,700,826.
1:59:23 For a subtotal, $1,031,725,689.
1:59:33 Less transfers, $54,774,758.
1:59:43 For a total, $976,950,931.
1:59:53 Internal service, $81,798,819.
2:00:01 What are the wishes of the board?
2:00:04 Move to approve.
2:00:06 Second.
2:00:06 Motion by Ms. Belford.
2:00:08 Second by Ms. McDougall.
2:00:10 Any discussion?
2:00:11 Please vote.
2:00:22 Motion passes.
2:00:25 Motion passes 5-0.
2:00:26 Dr. Mullins.
2:00:32 Item C.
2:00:35 Authorize the superintendent to take the following actions.
2:00:38 One.
2:00:40 Notify both the property appraiser and the tax collector of the
2:00:44 proposed 2019-2020 millage
2:00:47 and the following rolled-back rates.
2:00:49 Operating fund rolled-back rates.
2:00:52 Required local effort, 3.8452.
2:00:57 Local discretionary, 0.7100.
2:01:02 Capital outlay rolled-back rate, 1.4238.
2:01:09 Total rolled-back rate, 5.9790.
2:01:13 Number two.
2:01:16 Notify both the property appraiser and the tax collector of the
2:01:20 final public hearing on September
2:01:22 10, 2019 at 5.30 p.m. at the educational services facility, Vieira.
2:01:28 And three.
2:01:30 Adjust the revenues and expenditures, if necessary, prior to the
2:01:33 final public hearing.
2:01:35 What are the wishes of the board?
2:01:37 Move to approve.
2:01:39 Second.
2:01:40 Motion by Ms. Belford.
2:01:42 Second by Ms. Campbell.
2:01:43 Any discussion?
2:01:43 Please vote.
2:01:53 Motion passes, 5-0.
2:01:55 The proposed 2019-2020 millage rate necessary to fund the tentative
2:02:02 budget exceeds the rolled-back
2:02:04 rate by 1.79%.
2:02:06 Budget hearing is now adjourned, and we will reopen the school
2:02:14 board meeting.
2:02:18 We will move on to item, oh, Dr. Mullins, not your, sorry.
2:02:22 We’re moving on to the action agenda.
2:02:24 We will move on to item G-23 and purchasing solicitations.
2:02:28 What are the wishes of the board?
2:02:31 Move to approve.
2:02:33 Second.
2:02:34 Motion by Ms. Belford.
2:02:36 Second by Ms. Campbell.
2:02:37 Any discussion?
2:02:38 Please vote.
2:02:41 Motion passes, 5-0.
2:02:49 Dr. Mullins.
2:02:50 Item G-24 is on purchasing solicitations.
2:02:54 What are the wishes of the board?
2:02:56 Move to approve.
2:02:57 Second.
2:02:58 Motion by Ms. McDougall.
2:03:01 Second by Ms. Belford.
2:03:03 Any discussion?
2:03:05 Please vote.
2:03:07 Motion passes, 5-0.
2:03:14 Dr. Mullins.
2:03:15 There is one item under the information category.
2:03:21 Am I in the right spot?
2:03:23 You are, but we will move on to now to the information agenda,
2:03:27 which includes items for board review,
2:03:29 and will be brought back for action at a later meeting.
2:03:32 No action will be taken on these items tonight.
2:03:35 Dr. Mullins.
2:03:36 There is one item under the information category.
2:03:39 Does any member wish to discuss this item?
2:03:41 Ms. McDougall.
2:03:47 I first want to thank Ms. Moore’s team for putting this plan
2:03:54 together.
2:03:55 I spent a lot of time on the phone with her yesterday, and I
2:03:58 appreciate her taking the time.
2:03:59 I think it’s a great start, and I look forward to our plan, and
2:04:06 I probably will be asking her more questions,
2:04:08 but I’m excited that you have put this together, so thank you.
2:04:11 I know it was a lot of work, so thank you again.
2:04:17 Anyone else have any comments on our information item this
2:04:21 evening, the BPS mental health plan?
2:04:23 I just want to thank Ms. Moore and her team, and probably Dr. Thetty,
2:04:29 who was probably in the formative stages of that.
2:04:33 I think it’s all Ms. Moore.
2:04:34 There’s so much in that plan.
2:04:38 There’s so much good for our students that I think I emailed you
2:04:42 the minute I saw it posted and clicked and opened it,
2:04:45 and I’m pretty excited about what our district is doing for the
2:04:48 mental health of our students,
2:04:50 and I know we’ve got room to grow, but we’ve come a long way in
2:04:54 the last few years,
2:04:55 so thank you and your team for all your hard work.
2:04:57 We are now on to board member discussion points and reports.
2:05:04 It turns out they’re both mine, so that’s not how I’m supposed
2:05:09 to say it.
2:05:10 According to Pam, I have to say, I placed two items for
2:05:13 discussion for this evening.
2:05:14 The first one is regarding Florida Tech’s request for special
2:05:17 use of alcohol at Palm Bay Magnet High School,
2:05:19 and the second one is options for a long-term compensation plan.
2:05:24 We will start the discussion for Florida Tech’s request of
2:05:29 special use of alcohol at Palm Bay Magnet High School.
2:05:32 Mr. Langdorf, I think we’re probably going to, no, I’m at least
2:05:37 going to have some questions for you,
2:05:38 if you can come up.
2:05:39 So, I asked for us to discuss this because Mr.
2:05:47 Juergens.
2:05:50 Juergens, sorry, your name escaped me,
2:05:53 reached out to me earlier this week because the district had
2:05:57 denied FIT the ability to not sell,
2:06:02 but serve or bring alcohol on our Palm Bay campus.
2:06:07 And for those that are watching, FIT leases our stadium at Palm
2:06:12 Bay Magnet High School.
2:06:15 It is actually called the Florida Panther Stadium.
2:06:18 Is that, do I have that correct?
2:06:20 And they would like to do some tailgating, and so they wanted us
2:06:25 to alter our school board policy,
2:06:28 which says we cannot have alcohol on any campus for the time and
2:06:31 the duration that they are on the campus.
2:06:34 I am told that your department denied according to our school
2:06:39 board policy, and I would like to hear,
2:06:42 because I haven’t called you or even discussed, your reasons for
2:06:46 denying,
2:06:47 and then I’m hoping we can discuss it as a board if it’s
2:06:49 something we want to consider to make an amendment to,
2:06:52 like we have for the Space Coast property, or the, what’s it
2:06:55 called, Matt, the Space Coast Daily, Space Coast Daily Park.
2:07:01 Mr. Langdorff, I’m sorry, I probably should have prepared you.
2:07:04 I didn’t, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this was coming.
2:07:06 That was perfectly fine.
2:07:07 I did.
2:07:08 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
2:07:09 The, obviously I’ve been doing, I looked at the calendar today.
2:07:14 This is my 20th year and 25th day working for the school board
2:07:17 of Bard County as your risk manager.
2:07:19 Thank you for your service.
2:07:20 Thank you.
2:07:21 I’m not looking for accolades on that, but the reality is I’ve
2:07:24 been over the facility use during that entire time.
2:07:28 Part of the things, part of my duty is to make sure that anybody
2:07:31 who’s using your facilities is doing so according to policy.
2:07:34 If you look at board policy 5530 under drug prevention, it says
2:07:40 a couple of things that I think are pretty clear.
2:07:42 It says, for the purpose of this policy, and I just highlighted
2:07:46 these to shorten this up,
2:07:47 for the purpose of this policy, drugs shall mean all alcoholic
2:07:51 beverages as part of our drug prevention.
2:07:54 And then it’s a two-part process when it comes to drugs.
2:07:58 It says, the board prohibits the use, possession, concealment,
2:08:02 or distribution of any drug
2:08:04 or any drug-related paraphernalia as termed by, term is defined
2:08:11 by law
2:08:12 or the misuse of a product containing a substance can be
2:08:15 providing an intoxicating or mood-altering effect
2:08:19 on school grounds, on school vehicles, and at any school-sponsored
2:08:24 event.
2:08:25 In addition, it says, it further establishes that a drug-free
2:08:31 zone,
2:08:32 there is a drug-free zone within 1,000 feet of any facility used
2:08:37 by the district for educational purposes.
2:08:39 Based on that, whenever we get a request for somebody to serve
2:08:44 alcohol
2:08:46 or have alcohol on campuses, we deny all of those requests.
2:08:50 So FIT’s request was no different than what we might have had
2:08:54 from anybody else.
2:08:58 Mr. Susan, do you have a question?
2:09:00 Do you have a question?
2:09:00 Just real quick, when did that request come in?
2:09:02 It came in last week.
2:09:05 That’s when I was aware of it.
2:09:08 Do we have any other type of arrangements that are similar to
2:09:12 what we have with FIT
2:09:13 as far as the contract, the stadium use?
2:09:17 I know we rent out our cafeterias for meetings and things of
2:09:21 that nature,
2:09:22 but do we have anything else on that level?
2:09:23 We don’t have the, on the same level as FIT, no.
2:09:26 But we do rent out our facilities frequently to a lot of members
2:09:31 of the public.
2:09:32 We process over 7,000 facility use agreements a year, district-wide.
2:09:39 Are they under a facility use agreement, or are they under some
2:09:43 other type of contract also?
2:09:45 They’re mostly facility use agreements.
2:09:48 There may be some that, an individual group that might be
2:09:51 working for the Parks and Recreation Department.
2:09:54 No, FIT specifically.
2:09:56 Are they just under our traditional one-page facility use
2:09:58 agreement?
2:09:58 Yes, they’re under our facility use agreement.
2:10:00 Even with them naming the stadium and all, there’s nothing
2:10:03 overarching that’s bigger than our facility use agreement with
2:10:06 them?
2:10:06 Those are separate agreements.
2:10:07 When it comes to facility use, it’s always done through our
2:10:10 facility use agreement form,
2:10:11 and we charge them according to what we’ve charged initially.
2:10:16 When I can’t, I don’t have those charges in front of me or else
2:10:19 I’d give those to you.
2:10:20 No, I don’t, I don’t need to know the amount.
2:10:22 I’m more curious about how we’ve done this before.
2:10:25 Do you remember when we, what we did to allow, I know it’s
2:10:29 different, the property,
2:10:31 it doesn’t have a school on it, et cetera, et cetera.
2:10:33 But what did we do different to go against our own policy to
2:10:37 allow Space Coast Park to serve and sell alcohol?
2:10:42 That, that is school board property.
2:10:44 It is, but there is no school located.
2:10:46 In addition to that, we, we had Brevard Productions install a
2:10:52 six-foot fence
2:10:53 between the VR high school property and where they will be.
2:10:57 So it’s not within a, it doesn’t meet that qualification of a
2:11:01 thousand feet within an educational facility,
2:11:03 and there’s a six-foot fence separating those two properties.
2:11:06 I think the board was looking to help Brevard Productions do
2:11:10 that because it was something that they looked at
2:11:12 as a public good for that particular area, and because it wasn’t
2:11:16 a school campus, I think that’s,
2:11:18 I can’t speak for the board, but I think that’s what the
2:11:22 decision was
2:11:22 as to allowing alcohol just on that particular property.
2:11:26 Okay.
2:11:27 Does anyone else have questions for Ms. Langdorff?
2:11:31 Mr. Langdorff.
2:11:33 I, I did want to just touch base between the differences,
2:11:36 because as soon as this came in, I started the deep diving,
2:11:38 and one of the main drives was to put the Daly Park,
2:11:41 which we were even talking about revenue just the other day.
2:11:43 He’s, I contacted Giles Malone and asked him how much has he
2:11:50 improved that property.
2:11:52 He spent $625,000 to raise the base, put in an entrance, put up
2:11:57 the fence around there,
2:11:59 follow the policies and stuff like that.
2:12:00 That’s roughly what he put into the, into the property.
2:12:02 And then I asked Mark, I said, how is it that we can do alcohol
2:12:06 out there,
2:12:07 but then how does that not fit into the stadium and everything
2:12:10 else?
2:12:10 And he said that the thousand foot barrier is what allowed it to
2:12:14 happen.
2:12:15 So I said, okay, so that’s our policy.
2:12:17 So I said, well, is there a state policy that we can,
2:12:20 if we can just amend this one, is there a state policy?
2:12:23 And I looked up and I did.
2:12:26 I found 56 to 562.45 penalized penalties for violating beverage
2:12:32 law timeline.
2:12:33 And I, I pulled it up and it says, um, a location on, however,
2:12:42 except for premises,
2:12:43 licensed on or after, and except for locations, they’re licensed
2:12:46 at restaurants, which drive 51%.
2:12:48 It says a location on premises consumption of alcoholic
2:12:51 beverages may not be located within 500 feet of the real
2:12:53 property that comprises a public or private elementary school,
2:12:57 middle school, or secondary school,
2:12:58 unless the county or municipality approves the location as
2:13:01 promoting the public health, safety, and general welfare of the
2:13:05 community under the proceedings provided in subsection 125.664.
2:13:10 I went those in the guidelines that we are trying to make this
2:13:13 happen under don’t meet that.
2:13:16 So what I was going to recommend is I was trying to figure out a
2:13:21 way to get this to happen.
2:13:22 But at the same time, everywhere I went, I hit a, hit another
2:13:26 wall, hit another wall, hit another wall.
2:13:28 So I think if there was a way that we could ask staff to see if
2:13:33 there’s a way to make this happen and make a recommendation to
2:13:36 bring it back to us,
2:13:37 because there’s some other concerns that I had, which were if we
2:13:40 have alcoholic consumption going on on campus on a Saturday or,
2:13:45 um, but we also have SATs or we actually have all of our clubs
2:13:49 or what, what are we doing there, you know what I mean?
2:13:51 I think I was, I really wish this would have came in earlier so
2:13:54 we could have vetted all of those things.
2:13:56 Mr. Susan, I do want to address that one because I’ve spoken, um,
2:13:59 to the, to the school and to the principal and he said that they
2:14:03 purposely even now do not schedule anything at the school on
2:14:07 game days for FIT.
2:14:09 And not only that, they don’t even usually schedule anything the
2:14:12 night before, like they try to put all their home games
2:14:14 completely opposite weekends because they set up on Friday
2:14:18 nights before the Saturday games.
2:14:19 So, um, I just, I just want to make sure we’re all, is that, so
2:14:23 that’s state statute that you just read?
2:14:25 Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I, and I, and I, and there’s, I, I tried,
2:14:30 um, I tried that and then there was just a couple other concerns
2:14:34 that I had that were with the difference between the two.
2:14:36 Uh, is there a fence that we can say just to try to say
2:14:38 similarity between the two were there and I, and I just, I kept
2:14:42 hitting roadblocks.
2:14:43 So instead of coming up with a last minute, yeah, let’s make
2:14:47 this happen, I think it would be our due diligence to let staff
2:14:50 take a look at it, workshop it, and come back to us with
2:14:52 something if that was possible.
2:14:53 Because I didn’t, I, I do want to promote working with our, our,
2:14:57 our people, but I don’t want to put us into a liability where we
2:15:00 get hit.
2:15:01 And then there was another thing, a federal funding thing that I
2:15:05 hit that was, um, dealing with the national, um, laws as far as
2:15:08 alcoholic, um, school property.
2:15:11 So I just think there, it would just behoove us rather than
2:15:13 jumping into something, we would do that anyway, is to just tell
2:15:17 staff, hey, can we make this work and what is it that’s going to
2:15:20 be our barriers, um, rather than jumping into it.
2:15:22 And they don’t have a game until September 28th, so I don’t know
2:15:25 if that plays into it.
2:15:27 Gives us a little time.
2:15:27 Um, so I, I agree with Mr. Susan that I would like to see this
2:15:32 work if we can, we can’t violate state law, obviously, we can
2:15:36 work within our own policies if we choose to, uh, but we need
2:15:40 feedback from the other three, because it would take three of us
2:15:43 to even move forward to have staff try to figure something out,
2:15:45 if possible, I mean, maybe there’s not, but is there anyone else
2:15:48 that has any interest in, in looking more into this for FIT?
2:15:51 I, I, I understand the, the desire of our, you know, of this,
2:15:57 the school, of our city council from Melbourne who has contacted
2:16:04 us, and the Chamber of Commerce who has contacted us, but I, for
2:16:08 one, am not interested at all in allowing alcohol consumption on
2:16:12 any of our campuses, ever.
2:16:13 Can I, I, I’d like to say something too.
2:16:15 Ms. McDougall.
2:16:16 Um, at, at the moment I understand that FIT, you have your tailgating
2:16:20 on your campus, and then you, everybody kind of goes over to our
2:16:26 stadium.
2:16:27 Is, is there a reason why that can’t continue?
2:16:31 I mean, I, I read some articles, thank you very much, Ms.
2:16:35 Campbell, um, that it talked about that one of the main reasons
2:16:40 that, uh, people want to do this, schools want to do this, is
2:16:44 because it’s a fundraiser.
2:16:44 It, it brings in more money.
2:16:46 It, it helps the, the programs.
2:16:48 I get that.
2:16:49 Um, but also, I am very leery of having alcohol on any of our
2:16:55 campuses, also, for many reasons.
2:16:58 Um, there’s some statistics that was written by a university, um,
2:17:03 somebody, uh, doctor, let me see what his name was.
2:17:06 President, oh boy, Nitez, N-I-E-T-Z-E-L.
2:17:11 Um, he wrote an article in 2018, and talking about how more and
2:17:16 more colleges are wanting to serve alcohol,
2:17:19 but at the same time they talk about, um, more than one-third
2:17:24 college students report binge, binge drinking.
2:17:26 Um, that 20% of the college students, um, could be diagnosed
2:17:31 with, um, alcohol disorder.
2:17:33 And if people know who I am, I’m a social worker, so this is why
2:17:36 I’m quoting all these, these facts here.
2:17:38 Um, a fourth of college students report that they have adverse
2:17:41 effects with drinking.
2:17:42 Um, and, uh, this statistic, alcohol, it tends to be a factor in,
2:17:48 um, the cases for sexual assaults.
2:17:51 More than 1,800 college students die annually from alcohol-related
2:17:56 deaths.
2:17:56 I really do not want to have any alcohol on our campuses either.
2:18:00 Ms. Belford, sounds like you’re gonna make the deciding,
2:18:06 deciding decision if we move forward with, uh, exploring this.
2:18:10 Ms. Belford, so I am, um, you know, I think we should always
2:18:16 look into, to things, um, just to make sure that we understand
2:18:20 all aspects of it.
2:18:21 I am, uh, admittedly not a huge fan of having alcohol on our
2:18:25 campuses.
2:18:25 I think that, um, the only way it, barring, barring state,
2:18:32 national laws, that may stop us.
2:18:36 And, and that may be a deal breaker, that may be exactly where
2:18:39 the work stops and looking into it.
2:18:41 Um, barring that, if there were a situation where our campus was
2:18:45 effectively shut down to everything except for, um, FIT, being
2:18:51 there, doing their tailgating,
2:18:52 it’s something that I could potentially consider.
2:18:55 However, um, I will not vote to go against our own policies.
2:19:02 So, it would require for me, in order for me to support it, it
2:19:05 would require that we go through the process of altering our
2:19:09 policy.
2:19:09 Um, to provide some very slim, very restricted, um, exception in
2:19:14 order to make this happen.
2:19:16 So, I’m not, you know, I, I get where they’re coming from.
2:19:19 I, I, I can understand.
2:19:22 Um, but at the same time, I’m, I won’t vote to go against our
2:19:27 policy.
2:19:27 Um, I suspect, based on having done the same research that Mr.
2:19:31 Susan did, that, um, we are going to run into obstacles that
2:19:34 will keep us from doing that.
2:19:35 Unless there is some way, um, for, well, and I, I, because of
2:19:40 the proximity to the school, I don’t see that there is.
2:19:43 I was going to say, unless there’s some way that we can actually,
2:19:46 like, transfer partial ownership of the parcel or something.
2:19:49 Um, but that, even if you look at the state statute with the 500-foot
2:19:54 restriction, I don’t think that would even achieve it.
2:19:57 Because we’re, we’re still going to be within 500 feet on that
2:20:00 campus.
2:20:00 There’s no way to get, get 500 feet away.
2:20:02 So.
2:20:03 I even had Suhan look in to see if we had any vacant property
2:20:07 around.
2:20:07 Mm-hm.
2:20:08 That we could have, that had joined Palm Bay.
2:20:09 That we could try to allow the, you know, that piece so they
2:20:13 could just walk to the stadium.
2:20:15 Right.
2:20:16 Um, and she said there wasn’t.
2:20:17 So, I was, I was trying as hard as I could.
2:20:18 Yeah.
2:20:19 I just kept hitting walls all the way.
2:20:20 Yeah.
2:20:21 So, I mean, I’m, I’m fine.
2:20:22 If, if you all would like to give direction to Ms. Envall to
2:20:26 look into the statutory, the, you know, the, the statutory
2:20:29 restrictions,
2:20:30 that I, I would think that would be the best place to start.
2:20:32 And just to verify that that is, you know, our biggest roadblock.
2:20:36 Um, if that’s the case, I don’t know that there’s anything that
2:20:39 we can do about it.
2:20:39 And it, it shouldn’t take an enormous amount of your time just
2:20:42 to verify that, I hope.
2:20:43 I can, I can take a look at that.
2:20:44 I haven’t had a chance to look at it because it was so quick.
2:20:46 Right.
2:20:47 I did get a chance, however, to look at, um, our policy, the 5530.
2:20:51 Um, and it has not been amended in a very long time.
2:20:54 And it has a number of, uh, wonky provisions that need to be
2:20:58 changed.
2:20:58 But, NEOLA’s template is the exact same as our current policy is,
2:21:03 save for an extra line at the end,
2:21:04 that doesn’t, is not applicable in this particular situation.
2:21:07 You have another policy you also need to consider.
2:21:09 You have a, a human resources policy.
2:21:12 Mm-hmm.
2:21:13 Um, hang on a second.
2:21:15 Let me go over there.
2:21:16 3124, which is drug-free workplace policy and the administrative
2:21:20 procedures that specifically,
2:21:21 um, provides in sec, in the third section A.
2:21:24 Like I said, we still have to amend some of those.
2:21:26 But in the third section A, it says employees will be free of
2:21:28 alcoholic or drug intoxication
2:21:29 when on duty or onboard property.
2:21:31 Employees are prohibited from the manufacture or use of
2:21:34 alcoholic beverages while onboard property
2:21:36 or while on duty with the board.
2:21:37 So the way that that language specifically states, it means that
2:21:41 any employees would be in violation
2:21:42 of our board public policy if they choose, if, first of all, if
2:21:46 you have alcohol on our property
2:21:47 and then if they choose to partake in the use of it.
2:21:50 Right.
2:21:51 So it seems it would have to really be some kind of way.
2:21:54 It wouldn’t be our property for so many hours.
2:21:56 It would have to be some obscure way of making it work.
2:22:01 I, if you’re okay with them just looking at it, I mean, seeing
2:22:06 if there’s anything mis-envolved.
2:22:07 And I think with us moving forward with, just in general, it’s a
2:22:12 good exercise to look at.
2:22:13 I’m sorry.
2:22:14 I think moving forward, regardless of if it comes back state
2:22:18 statute or whatever, we need
2:22:19 to look forward to this because we are opening up for
2:22:21 advertising dollars and everything else.
2:22:23 What, what could we capture if there was an event?
2:22:25 And we do have Space Coast Daily Park that’s over there that’s,
2:22:28 that’s operating.
2:22:28 So what’s the difference?
2:22:29 What do we do?
2:22:30 I see.
2:22:31 That’s, I was going to ask if, if we didn’t get this thing
2:22:34 through to just do an exercise
2:22:34 just to, to see it, but I agree with you.
2:22:37 I want to do due diligence.
2:22:38 I don’t want to throw something on staff.
2:22:40 So let’s give them the opportunity to bring it back to us.
2:22:43 Dr. Mullins, did you, do you want me to restate what we’re
2:22:47 asking for?
2:22:48 Ms. Anvall, are you?
2:22:50 I know, but he, he has to kind of know.
2:22:52 It’s our attorney, but she may be working with Mr. Langdorf and
2:22:56 some others.
2:22:56 I think we understand this is, um, not likely, but if there’s
2:23:03 any avenues we’ve asked Ms. Anvall
2:23:05 obviously to look and probably use some of your staff to, to get
2:23:08 some resources together.
2:23:09 The thing is, is we want to be a good partner.
2:23:11 I think all five of us want to be good partners to FIT.
2:23:14 Um, I think two of our board members have legitimate concerns.
2:23:18 We are, you know, we are under 18 schools.
2:23:22 Uh, so if we can just take a look, see if there’s something we
2:23:26 can do.
2:23:26 If not, at least we need to look at that policy anyway for other
2:23:30 future things.
2:23:30 Uh, I think what Ms. Belford said is important.
2:23:33 Uh, if we need to, needed to alter our policy, it had to be done
2:23:38 in a very specific way
2:23:39 because we don’t want every single, that’s why I was asking if
2:23:43 they were under some different type of contract.
2:23:45 We don’t want everyone that comes up with the, what’s that form?
2:23:49 Facility use form to check a box to say, yeah, we’ll be serving
2:23:53 alcohol at our local elementary school.
2:23:54 There are some concerns with precedent as well.
2:23:57 You know, I didn’t even go there because of the, the district.
2:24:02 There’s, there’s enough in the policy to, okay.
2:24:04 We appreciate your time.
2:24:05 Thank you, Mr. Langdorf.
2:24:06 Um, Mr. Jer, Mr. Jergens, if, I’m not sure if you followed
2:24:10 everything that was going on there.
2:24:12 It’s, it’s not shut down and closed, but there’s going to be a
2:24:16 lot of obstacles is what it seems to look like.
2:24:18 Okay.
2:24:19 Thank you for your time and for coming out.
2:24:21 All right.
2:24:22 The next topic board that I wanted to discuss, and I know I just
2:24:26 threw it on here last night,
2:24:26 but, um, yesterday we met, uh, the school board, one of our jobs
2:24:33 is to do the superintendent’s annual evaluation.
2:24:35 And yesterday we met to do that.
2:24:37 And one of the things we do at the end of the evaluation is set
2:24:41 five goals.
2:24:41 And Dr. Mullins barely even knows what we’ve set for his five
2:24:44 goals.
2:24:44 Cause we haven’t met him to give his, um, to give him his
2:24:47 evaluation yet.
2:24:48 But, uh, I, I think it’s a, it’s timely.
2:24:52 It’s timely with the budget hearing and with everything from
2:24:55 that’s going on with teacher salary.
2:24:56 And us coming off of this meeting yesterday that we had these
2:25:00 discussions as a board.
2:25:01 And as we set Dr. Mullins’s goals for the next, uh, the next
2:25:06 year, we have as the number one goal.
2:25:08 Uh, the exact wording is to adopt a plan to fix equity gaps and
2:25:13 increase compensation.
2:25:15 And that is equity gaps within compensation.
2:25:18 So his number one goal that the school board has directed for
2:25:22 the year is to increase compensation.
2:25:25 Uh, I, I, um, thank you.
2:25:30 Um, we don’t get that from, from that table very often.
2:25:37 We’ll take that.
2:25:38 Um, and as I went home and thought about that some more and what
2:25:44 that’s really going to take.
2:25:46 Um, it’s going to take in my mind, like a big, bold plan and it’s
2:25:51 going to hurt somewhere in our community.
2:25:54 Uh, we’ve been throwing around a millage rate, half of our,
2:25:59 roughly half of our community is, is not going to like that.
2:26:02 It’s, it’s going to harm some of maybe our elderly that are on a
2:26:05 fixed income and have their home paid for it.
2:26:06 Um, we’ve been throwing around this, the five of six and there’s,
2:26:14 uh, I really want us.
2:26:17 And it’s interesting that you brought that up today because it’s
2:26:19 actually in my notes from last night that I’m very interested in
2:26:23 the district really digging in there again.
2:26:25 Uh, several of my schools, including satellite high, those
2:26:29 teachers are constantly asking to go back to five of six.
2:26:32 Again, there’s a downside, there’s consequences to that.
2:26:35 And our CTE programs would suffer.
2:26:37 I believe our electives would suffer for satellite alone.
2:26:40 Some of their fine arts, um, opportunities may suffer, but I
2:26:44 think it’s, it’s something we have to, it’s time.
2:26:46 Time is here.
2:26:47 Something big has to happen.
2:26:49 We’re looking at tax increases, switching our whole system back
2:26:53 to six period days.
2:26:54 Uh, and you know, I tried to, I’ve tried to talk about this a
2:26:58 couple of times and no one seems to want to hear me.
2:27:00 We have 30 more schools, but 19 more elementary schools in Seminole
2:27:06 County with the same amount of students.
2:27:09 Ms. Zirker tells me it’s approximately $1 million a year to
2:27:14 operate that school outside of teacher salaries.
2:27:17 It’s just $1 million a year.
2:27:19 That’s $19 million.
2:27:20 So when we look at other counties and we say, why can’t we pay
2:27:24 ours?
2:27:24 Mr. Bennett, he’s gone.
2:27:25 Um, why can’t we pay ours?
2:27:27 What other counties are paying theirs?
2:27:30 Well, there’s one reason.
2:27:31 There’s $19 million that we’re using to operate 19 more schools.
2:27:36 That needs to be a community discussion.
2:27:38 Does our, do we want to look at that as an option in our
2:27:41 community?
2:27:42 Can we really look at that?
2:27:45 Well, it’s time.
2:27:46 It’s time to look at that.
2:27:47 Is it time, is it time to put a five year plan in place, a 10
2:27:51 year plan in place to consolidate some of our schools?
2:27:52 So those operating expenses are, we love our small community
2:27:55 schools here.
2:27:56 I love them.
2:27:57 I love being in them.
2:27:58 I, I get it, but we’ve got big problems and it’s time for some,
2:28:03 some bold.
2:28:04 And I say brave because it’s very hard to sit up here because
2:28:07 there’s going to be a room of people screaming at us.
2:28:09 If we raise taxes, if we don’t give teachers a proper raise, if
2:28:14 we close schools, if we go to six period days, there will be a
2:28:18 room full of somebody screaming at us.
2:28:20 It’s going to be hard decisions.
2:28:22 And maybe there’s some decisions out there or some options out
2:28:25 there.
2:28:25 I’m not even thinking of, but I think the time’s here.
2:28:28 And so I feel like along with our making this Dr. Mullen’s
2:28:33 number one priority for the year, I want tonight to get support
2:28:36 from you all to ask him to bring us a plan.
2:28:39 It’s time.
2:28:41 It’s time for three or four major hard options that we can bring
2:28:44 out to the community and we can debate and fight about and
2:28:48 figure out what we want to do to, to get this district whole
2:28:52 again where we need to be.
2:28:54 So if I can get my fellow board members on board, we’ll give Dr.
2:28:58 Mullen’s marching orders, give him a few months probably to
2:29:01 start pulling that together, whatever time he thinks he needs,
2:29:07 and we can go forward.
2:29:09 Dr. Mullen, thank you.
2:29:10 Like the main reason, one of the main reasons when I left, when
2:29:15 I was teaching after nine years, was that I had people that
2:29:19 worked right next door to me that were making $3,000 more than
2:29:22 me.
2:29:22 And that was before they took away the pay increases based upon
2:29:26 steps and everything else.
2:29:28 People were literally coming in because we were on a frozen pay
2:29:32 scale for so long, making more money than I was, and I was
2:29:35 teaching seven of seven.
2:29:36 I think not only do you look at five of six, not only do you
2:29:41 look at the extra four credits that we have that we have to
2:29:45 graduate the high school students with, that takes up.
2:29:48 I think you also look at a slew of other options that we have,
2:29:51 but yes, you’re right.
2:29:52 And what the bottom line is, is that we have to make a decision
2:29:56 on what’s best for the kid.
2:29:57 And literally every single piece of statistics that says who it
2:30:02 is that has the biggest impact on achievement inside the schools
2:30:06 is teachers.
2:30:07 And if we’re not giving that the first look and the first
2:30:12 priority, and we have all of these other options that are great
2:30:15 for the kids,
2:30:15 but the actual person that’s inside the classroom isn’t taken
2:30:18 care of.
2:30:18 And then we’re not going to get the achievement we need, no
2:30:20 matter how many options we have, no matter.
2:30:21 And I am so happy that this board made the decision to move
2:30:25 forward and make this such a priority.
2:30:27 And I think it, and that was your answer, Anthony, as far as
2:30:33 getting back to the five of six, let’s go there.
2:30:34 Let’s go everywhere.
2:30:35 And that the board went for it yesterday.
2:30:37 So you guys are amazing.
2:30:39 And I applaud the effort and go.
2:30:41 Just one second.
2:30:42 Ms. Belford, the board has not gone with five of six yet.
2:30:46 No, I’m saying look into it.
2:30:48 We’ve asked Dr. Mullins to look into it.
2:30:50 Did I say that?
2:30:52 The board agreed to that yesterday is what you said.
2:30:54 Let’s go there.
2:30:55 Sorry, Dr. Mullins.
2:30:56 We went for it.
2:30:57 Didn’t mean to give everybody a heart attack.
2:30:58 Sorry, Dr. Sullivan.
2:30:59 We went for it.
2:31:00 Didn’t mean to give everybody a heart attack.
2:31:01 We haven’t moved forward with it yet.
2:31:02 But we definitely need to look at it.
2:31:04 And not only that, but we need the real numbers.
2:31:06 Because the last time we did it, it was kind of a shade the way
2:31:09 that it went.
2:31:10 And we need to get the true core of what it is.
2:31:13 And the pros and the cons of what it means.
2:31:16 Really laid out.
2:31:17 And again, presented to all corners of this community.
2:31:20 So that, you know, I really think we’ve done a poor job on
2:31:24 educating what we’re dealing with up here.
2:31:27 And what our choices are.
2:31:29 And let the community have input.
2:31:30 This is their schools.
2:31:31 This is their teachers.
2:31:32 This is their kids.
2:31:33 And let’s hear what they want.
2:31:35 Ms. Belford.
2:31:36 Thank you, Ms. Duskovich.
2:31:38 I just wanted to clarify.
2:31:39 And thank you for bringing that to the forefront and sharing our
2:31:43 conversation from yesterday.
2:31:44 I just want to clarify for Dr. Mullins that what we are asking
2:31:49 of you.
2:31:49 Is to bring forward options.
2:31:53 Not to bring forward a solution.
2:31:55 But to bring forward options.
2:31:57 Because our discussion yesterday really centered around the fact
2:32:01 that this is a community issue.
2:32:03 That the community has to own.
2:32:05 And the community has to support going forward whatever
2:32:09 decisions we make.
2:32:10 And so the importance of having those options and educating our
2:32:14 community about the impact of those options.
2:32:16 Pros and cons.
2:32:17 So that they can join with us in giving feedback on the
2:32:20 direction that they would like to see us go.
2:32:22 And it really kind of dovetails with my conversation today with
2:32:26 Ms. Hand regarding our capital needs.
2:32:28 And making sure that we can explain to our community that we
2:32:32 have out of our, I don’t know, 60.
2:32:36 Jane’s not here, is she?
2:32:38 Out of our 56 elementary schools we have 38 that don’t have a
2:32:43 functional playground.
2:32:44 And that’s not a real number.
2:32:45 That’s a random number I’m throwing out there.
2:32:47 We have to study that and pull that information together and
2:32:51 know exactly how many schools that we have that need playgrounds.
2:32:54 How many parking lots we have that are not safe that we don’t
2:32:56 have funding to fix.
2:32:57 How many black tops or green tops do we have rusting basketball
2:33:02 hoops on at our elementary schools that we don’t have the funds
2:33:06 to address.
2:33:06 Because we simply don’t allocate funding in those areas from our
2:33:09 capital dollars.
2:33:10 In addition to our operating dollar challenges.
2:33:13 But I feel like putting all of that together and really
2:33:17 educating our community and saying here’s our challenge.
2:33:19 And we want world class education in Brevard County.
2:33:22 How do we get there as a community is really, really important.
2:33:25 So those options would be fabulous.
2:33:28 And with those options, once we do the community tour and get
2:33:33 input, that’s, I feel like that,
2:33:35 and I titled this tonight long-term, what do I call it? Options
2:33:39 for long-term, I have to click on it.
2:33:42 It’s a long, compensation plan.
2:33:43 You’re talking about long-term care.
2:33:45 Cheryl did ask me when she got here, are you talking about long-term
2:33:49 care?
2:33:49 Oh my gosh, that’s so expensive.
2:33:51 No, long-term compensation plan.
2:33:53 So we’ll take, we’ll take what we, all that feedback.
2:33:58 We’ll do one of your big old spreadsheets and we’ll figure out
2:34:02 what to do.
2:34:02 And we’ll put, this year to year stuff is killing me.
2:34:05 I can’t, I can’t do this again with you all.
2:34:08 It’s painful for, for me too.
2:34:10 Like I, I want to know what they’re getting next year.
2:34:13 We can’t depend on the state apparently.
2:34:15 And so, and you know, and I just want to say something about
2:34:18 that too.
2:34:18 I don’t want to slam the state and throw it under.
2:34:20 Dr. Mullins and I have had this conversation.
2:34:22 And I, you know, I went back to the state constitution.
2:34:25 It is therefore a paramount duty of the state to make adequate
2:34:29 provision for the education
2:34:30 of all children residing within its borders.
2:34:34 Is adequate education mean they have to pay for football stadiums
2:34:39 and top fine art programs?
2:34:41 I think probably not.
2:34:42 I think the state gives us enough funds for reading, writing,
2:34:46 arithmetic.
2:34:46 And if we want more here in Brevard, we are going to have to do
2:34:49 something different to, to bring it here.
2:34:51 And I, I think that’s the message the state has been sending
2:34:55 where, you know, they keep saying, no, we’re funding it.
2:34:56 We’re funding it.
2:34:57 And you know, they are, they’re funding the basics, but we want
2:35:00 more here in Brevard.
2:35:01 I’m pretty sure of that.
2:35:02 I’m pretty sure it’s, that’s the message throughout.
2:35:04 And I think that’s what we’re going to hear from our community.
2:35:14 The only thing I wanted to add, and this may be getting too
2:35:17 specific,
2:35:17 but one of the things that I’d like to see as we move forward,
2:35:20 and I hope, hopefully I can sit down with Anthony and Vanessa
2:35:22 soon,
2:35:22 because I want them, need their help in some research, is
2:35:26 changing our, our new higher salaries schedule.
2:35:29 And we have to work on how do we do that without leapfrogging
2:35:32 over the people who have been here.
2:35:34 But I think when it’s time to make that move as well.
2:35:37 So, and that’s, I’m, I’m working on it myself.
2:35:39 I’ve got a little Excel spreadsheet project going on, but I’d
2:35:42 like to see that included as part of our, our move.
2:35:45 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
2:35:46 Dr. Mullins, do you want to say anything to any of that or?
2:35:50 Well, I, I just want to say thank you to the board for wanting
2:35:54 to tackle the challenge together.
2:35:56 And, um, I’m up for the challenge and we will, we will begin
2:36:01 dialogue.
2:36:01 I look forward to one-on-one conversations with you as, as we
2:36:05 develop that.
2:36:05 And, um, I’ll certainly be working with staff to bring, put
2:36:09 together a, a task force and, and tackle that.
2:36:12 And we’ll discuss some timelines and deliverables and so on.
2:36:14 So, um, absolutely appreciate the support and, um, ready to get
2:36:19 to work.
2:36:19 Thank you, sir.
2:36:20 With all that, our meeting is adjourned.
2:36:22 is adjourned.
2:36:52 you