Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 So thank you and that’s all I have.
0:02 Thank you, Ms. McDougall. Ms. Duskovic, are you ready or?
0:10 I’m gathering up. I’m gathering up.
0:12 I know you are. Do you want me to go on down to Mr. Susan?
0:14 No, no, no, I can do this. Is somebody else going to cover the
0:16 ABC awards?
0:18 Anybody have that down?
0:20 I won’t. Go for it.
0:22 I think Dr. Mullins is shaking. Do you have it on your list? Go
0:24 ahead.
0:24 No, I’ve got other stuff if somebody else has it on their list.
0:25 Go ahead.
0:26 I just don’t want to take everybody’s time double, triple doing.
0:29 So we want to congratulate the Palm Bay High Marine JROTC rifle
0:33 team for their competition.
0:37 They’re one of the best in the nation.
0:39 And if you look at a picture of them, I think there’s maybe 11
0:41 of them, 10 are females.
0:45 There’s a whole article about them in the Space Coast Daily.
0:48 They are amazing.
0:49 And so if you get a chance to thank them and congratulate them
0:52 and read that article about them, please do.
0:56 The other thing I wanted to cover – I could do it in board
0:57 reports, but it’ll just take a minute.
1:00 So I’m going to do it now.
1:02 I attended my first Florida League of Cities meeting as the new
1:04 representative.
1:06 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
1:08 And it was fantastic.
1:09 The state president or chairman of the organization – I’m not
1:12 sure what his title is.
1:14 Anyways, his initiative this year is readers to leaders, which I
1:17 appreciate greatly, right, as a school district and an education.
1:21 And he wants students to learn more about municipalities and how
1:25 they work and government and civics.
1:28 And so he actually co-authored this book.
1:30 It’s called The City That Talks.
1:32 And it’s really quite adorable.
1:34 And he challenged all city councilmen, mayors, and other leaders
1:39 throughout the government to spend a day in the month of April
1:43 going into one of your local schools and reading this book to
1:46 the children.
1:47 So if you are a principal or a teacher and you are interested in
1:51 having someone do that in your community, if you don’t know your
1:55 local elected officials in your city, you can contact me and I
1:58 can connect them for you.
1:59 And let’s arrange to get them in to talk to your classes.
2:02 Also, oh, I can’t – nope, I’m going to – I might have one more
2:08 at the end.
2:09 I need to look something up real quick.
2:11 Thank you, Ms. Belford.
2:12 You’re welcome.
2:13 Thank you, Ms. Tuskevich.
2:14 Mr. Susan, would you like to go?
2:15 So I wanted to say, you know, we had talked before about having
2:20 some mentors in the O’Galley area with our ALC and stuff like
2:24 that.
2:25 So what I did was I had a meeting and started talking to some of
2:28 them and started pulling people together.
2:31 And I did want to give a shout-out to this individual.
2:33 His name is Pastor Mike Emanuel from the Emanuel Methodist
2:36 Church in O’Galley and – United Methodist Church in O’Galley.
2:41 And what it is is he actually just moved here, and he is from
2:45 Moscow.
2:46 And he worked in the inner cities of Moscow and the streets of
2:50 some Ukrainian cities on mentoring youth in a different way.
2:54 And he is going to head up that whole thing.
2:58 And I kind of said, I need a community leader to start this
3:00 initiative down here, along with the Rotaries and everybody else.
3:04 And he said, I am your guy.
3:05 I will take this on.
3:06 So that was an amazing thing, and I wanted to give him a shout-out.
3:08 Awesome.
3:09 Yeah, he’s – the stories he started talking were absolutely
3:12 amazing.
3:13 Next thing is I wanted to say I’m proud of this board.
3:16 Today, for the first time, I felt like we went through in
3:19 athletics and pushed more into the realm of what athletics means
3:24 to our district
3:25 and who – what we are as a district and addressing some of the
3:28 needs than we ever have since I’ve been here.
3:31 And that goes a lot of credit to all of you for what you did.
3:34 And that was just a really, really awesome meeting, that
3:36 workshop.
3:37 And then I wanted to give credit to – a shout-out to Miss Pam
3:40 Escobar, because Miss Pam, yes, has got a little –
3:44 a little – yeah, all right – has got a little gardening
3:48 project that we’re working on, where we’re going to grow some
3:53 vegetables here at ESF.
3:54 And then we’re going to make some salsa and have a mini-competition.
3:58 It’s a program out of food and nutrition where students learn to
4:01 garden inside their schools, and then they go garden to table.
4:05 And we were meeting about it, and I said, how can I help?
4:08 And Pam says, you know, we should have a salsa competition
4:10 between the schools, and we should have ESF.
4:13 So there’s just going to be a little garden out there, and we’re
4:14 going to grow some stuff, and then we’re going to have it.
4:16 And it all came because Pam had the idea.
4:18 So I wanted to give her a shout-out.
4:20 But Pam was working on a project, which is awesome.
4:22 And then I’ll give an update on the pre-K stuff later on.
4:26 That’s it. Thank you.
4:27 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
4:28 Good job, Pam.
4:29 And I think that is the loudest shout-out we got.
4:31 And thank you, Pam.
4:32 Yeah.
4:33 We have to really welcome Major Lanza to the team because you
4:36 just got right in the spirit.
4:38 I’m proud of you over there.
4:40 We like this.
4:41 Yeah.
4:42 Pam earns it.
4:43 Absolutely.
4:44 Ms. Campbell, would you like to do recognitions?
4:46 Yes.
4:47 I will keep mine short and sweet.
4:48 Dr. Mullins and I did some school visits last week, and we went
4:50 into Jupiter Elementary.
4:52 It happened to be during Literacy Week.
4:55 So maybe it was the week before last.
4:57 And I was just so excited to see so many community partners.
5:02 A lot of them are partners in education with Jupiter.
5:05 But so many community partners, even the media specialists from
5:09 Southwest Middle School, which
5:11 is in their feeder chain, come and participate in Literacy Week.
5:15 And they came and read to classes all day long.
5:18 And so we only had time to do one class.
5:20 But we walked into the room full of all these adults ready to
5:23 pour into our kids.
5:25 So it was really exciting to be a part of that day.
5:27 So thank you to all the partners and volunteers who work there
5:29 at Jupiter Elementary.
5:31 And to their PI coordinator for getting it all together.
5:34 I want to make everyone aware that Brevard Achievement Center is
5:38 having their very special
5:40 arts festival at the Brevard Zoo, not next week, but the
5:43 following week, which is February
5:46 24th, 25th, and 26th.
5:48 And I believe it’s 10 to 1 each of those days.
5:51 That’s a Monday through a Wednesday.
5:52 And a lot of the art that will be showcased will be from our VE
5:56 classes.
5:57 So I’m planning on making a trip to the zoo that week.
6:00 And again, to check out the art that will be on display there.
6:03 And I hope that you guys will take that.
6:05 We have a fabulous zoo here in Brevard County.
6:07 We really do.
6:08 It’s tiny, but it’s powerful.
6:10 So check out the zoo and all the updates they’ve had.
6:13 But also take a look at the art from our students.
6:15 Thank you.
6:17 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
6:19 Dr.
6:21 Dr. Mullen’s first or you want to go first?
6:23 You go, Dr. Mullen.
6:24 Go ahead.
6:25 We have a circle back.
6:26 I was just really excited.
6:27 I was, I kind of forgot about my peeps over here.
6:30 The Eastern Florida State future teachers of our county.
6:33 Major, you can give one of those big shout outs anytime too.
6:38 That’s going to be like a regular occurrence.
6:40 We’ll just give you a signal and you can do it.
6:42 But thank you for taking on this profession.
6:44 We really, you know, anything we can do.
6:46 Some of you came to me earlier and said that there’s an issue
6:49 where you’re trying to get in to do your 15 hours inside the
6:52 schools and they’re trying to possibly say that you needed
6:55 to get fingerprinted for that.
6:57 I talked to district security and they had said that in order
7:00 for you, as long as you are just going in to do your 15 hours
7:03 and you’re not leaving the side of a teacher,
7:05 there’s actually a login where you log in as a volunteer student
7:08 and then you work with that teacher.
7:10 And that district security said that they would work with your
7:13 teachers and any opportunity that there may be a principal that
7:16 is confused about that piece.
7:19 So you can do that.
7:20 The other piece.
7:21 One of you guys said is, hey, I’m graduating and I would like to
7:24 know where I can go apply for jobs and all of that other stuff.
7:28 I do know that Mr. Alba heads up that department.
7:30 Correct?
7:31 Mr. Mullins?
7:32 Yes.
7:33 And so if your instructors can meet in the back with Mrs.
7:38 Who should I send them to?
7:39 Mrs. Thetty, right?
7:40 Dr. Thetty?
7:41 Yeah.
7:42 If you can meet with Dr. Thetty, she’ll put you in contact
7:45 with Mr. Alba.
7:47 And Mr. Alba will be the point of contact for all of you that
7:50 are
7:50 looking to get jobs.
7:51 Because we don’t want you to go over to UCF, take that
7:54 internship
7:54 and stay there because they are not a good county.
7:57 I can tell you all kinds of stuff about them.
7:59 All right?
8:00 Yeah.
8:01 And you don’t want to go to you can’t finish university either.
8:03 So you want to stay here and you want to finish your school.
8:06 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
8:10 I’m teasing.
8:11 But the thing is, is that we want you guys to be here.
8:14 We appreciate you being here.
8:15 UCF’s a great college.
8:16 I’m just kidding.
8:17 But just remember where your home is and come back to us.
8:19 Okay?
8:20 Thank you very much.
8:21 I used to be knowing that guy.
8:23 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
8:25 Ms. Duskovich, did I need to circle back to you?
8:29 Sure.
8:30 The two that I needed to add was West Shore.
8:33 I wanted to thank them.
8:34 They had a bullying program last week, which was unlike any I’ve
8:39 ever seen.
8:39 I’ve attended a lot of these over the last couple of years with
8:41 the funding,
8:43 with the suicide prevention funding that some of the schools
8:44 were doing.
8:45 And it was actually ASA Action Sports that they brought in for
8:50 free.
8:51 I think they agreed to do a select few schools in Brevard County
8:55 this year
8:56 and then maybe rotate each year and pick a few more.
8:59 They were on motorbikes.
9:01 And literally – I have – oh, and for the highlight of the
9:05 whole show,
9:06 they put Mr. Fleming out on a huge ramp in the middle in a chair,
9:10 and they were flipping motorbikes over his head and landing.
9:14 I’m sorry, what?
9:15 Langdorf’s going to freak out.
9:16 Oh, I know.
9:17 Sorry, Mr. Risk Management back there.
9:20 It was phenomenal.
9:22 And through the whole thing, it’s just there’s so much going on
9:25 and all –
9:25 there’s like anti-bullying messaging and mental health support
9:28 messaging.
9:29 You don’t even realize you’re getting it.
9:31 You’re just – it’s so – there’s so much going on.
9:33 And it’s impartial and funded by the Marines, interestingly
9:37 enough.
9:38 And so they’ve got some Marines there helping out.
9:40 And it was really a phenomenal program.
9:41 So a shout-out to Mr. Fleming for bringing them in and to the ASA
9:45 Action Sports
9:46 and the Marines for being willing to help our students out and
9:49 provide programs like that.
9:50 And Dr. Mullins, were you going to cover science fair or – okay.
9:55 We had the Intercoastal Science Fair this past weekend.
9:58 Our students are so amazing.
10:01 As always, I’m not going to go through the list of who placed,
10:04 but you can find that on our Facebook page.
10:07 We listed out and probably a link back to our website, I hope,
10:10 of the winners.
10:10 Dr. Sullivan, are you here?
10:12 I don’t even see her.
10:14 But more importantly, our next science fair, don’t miss it, the
10:17 Melbourne Mall,
10:18 not this weekend but the following weekend on the 21st.
10:20 You can walk around on that Friday and that Saturday morning,
10:24 the 22nd,
10:24 and see the projects and then they’ll have the awards ceremony
10:27 the night of the 22nd.
10:29 That concludes.
10:30 Thanks, Ms. Belford.
10:31 You are most welcome, Ms. Tuskevich.
10:34 Dr. Mullins.
10:35 All right.
10:37 I want to start with celebrating and recognizing a couple of our
10:42 bus drivers.
10:43 Yes.
10:44 Erica Culver, and I think the board is aware of this, a couple
10:48 weeks ago, January 30th actually,
10:51 she was on her route, finished up, and she saw a young child
10:58 like wandering on the sidewalk,
11:00 two or three years old.
11:02 No guardian, no adult around.
11:04 She stopped her bus.
11:06 She got off.
11:07 She intervened with the child, and a couple minutes later she
11:10 called dispatch and said,
11:12 it wasn’t one of her kids, it wasn’t one of our school-age kids,
11:15 it was a child in the neighborhood.
11:17 And then another boy came up, probably 10 or 11 years old, said
11:21 he was the brother of the child,
11:23 but she stayed with them until the police got there to make sure
11:26 that they were in the appropriate care before she left them.
11:31 And just, I can’t think of a better example of one of our
11:34 employees going above and beyond,
11:36 not just taking care of her own kids on her bus, but aware of
11:39 what was going on in the community.
11:41 So Erica Calvert is the driver, and Donna Seifert was the
11:47 dispatcher that assisted with that.
11:50 And just a huge, huge appreciation to them.
11:53 And Roy Salvador, you know, bus drivers have a really difficult,
12:00 challenging job.
12:02 Our future educators have probably already heard, don’t ever
12:06 turn your back, right, to the kids.
12:09 But our bus drivers, not only do they have their back to the
12:12 kids that they’re transporting,
12:15 but they’ve got to pay attention to the road and everything else.
12:18 But Roy Salvador, in the midst of hectic A1A traffic and
12:21 satellite beach,
12:23 and if you know Beachside, in that area there’s a lot of
12:25 construction going on,
12:26 and there’s the beach restoration project going on.
12:31 And a citizen took the time to call dispatch and let us know how
12:36 impressed they were
12:38 with Roy’s managing that very difficult, demanding environment,
12:42 great attitude, and so on.
12:45 And so Roy Salvador, thank you for being a great representation
12:50 for Brevard Public Schools.
12:53 Very exciting that Brevard Public Schools is – Brevard Public
12:57 Schools’ kids and kindergarten teacher,
12:59 Barbara Wilcox, are impacting the entire state of Florida.
13:04 If you remember, about a year ago, this board adopted the
13:08 kindness symbol from our kindergarten class at Tropical
13:14 Elementary School.
13:15 And next week, on February 19th, the Florida House of
13:19 Representatives will be announcing the kindness week resolution,
13:24 and adopting for the state the kindness symbol that our
13:27 kindergarten kids created through the leadership of Ms. Wilcox.
13:32 So, yeah.
13:37 So, our kindergarten kids, making statewide impact.
13:40 That is just amazing, and for all the right reasons.
13:42 And I want to give just a notice to all of us.
13:45 You know, we’ve had dias challenges throughout the year.
13:48 Next Wednesday, February 17th, is National Random Act of Kindness
13:53 Day.
13:54 Monday. Monday.
13:56 Is that Monday?
13:57 It is Monday.
13:58 I’m sorry.
13:59 I’m a couple days ahead.
14:00 So, Monday is National Random Act of Kindness Day.
14:04 So, it would challenge all of us to go above and beyond and do
14:07 an extra random act of kindness on that day,
14:11 in honor and recognition of our kindergarten class and Ms. Wilcox
14:15 at Tropical Elementary.
14:17 And then last, ABC Awards, applauding Brevard’s Champions.
14:23 Our January 29th, I can’t remember if that was a week or two
14:27 weeks ago, we celebrated champions across our district.
14:31 And it was just such a great event.
14:34 There were student performances.
14:36 Our culinary programs just knocked it out of the park again,
14:40 providing food and desserts and everything to all of the
14:45 attendees.
14:46 And the recognitions that were made, just a great testament of
14:51 the workforce across Brevard Public Schools.
14:56 But I’ve got to give a shout-out to our Teacher of the Year,
14:57 Employee of the Year, Kathy Hamilton Brown,
15:00 our Teacher of the Year from Endeavor Elementary School.
15:04 Just, she is a bundle of energy.
15:08 And she has a contagious enthusiasm everywhere she goes and has
15:13 made such an impact, not just at Endeavor Elementary School,
15:15 but the community of Coco.
15:17 And then, Ms. Maria Morales, our Employee of the Year, who is
15:23 the Front Office Clerk at Palm Bay Elementary School.
15:27 I have met her, I don’t know, a dozen times in the past, and she’s
15:31 always been delightful.
15:32 But her acceptance speech was probably one of the most moving
15:36 speeches I’ve ever heard.
15:39 The daughter of immigrants to the United States and her journey
15:46 to overcome the language challenges and just to aspire and serve
15:53 her community through her role at Palm Bay Elementary was just
15:56 so impressive.
15:57 So, thank you.
15:59 Thank you.
16:00 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
16:01 And tonight seems to be the circling back night.
16:04 I am circling back to Ms. Campbell.
16:06 Sorry.
16:07 So, today was the Children’s Hunger Project luncheon, and it was
16:13 so encouraging to me to sit in a room full of hundreds of people
16:18 from our community.
16:19 How many?
16:20 410.
16:21 410 who were there to hear about this special program where the
16:24 Children’s Hunger Project is partnering with our schools and
16:29 bringing in these backpacks full of food for our elementary
16:32 students who may not have a meal after their free reduced lunch
16:35 on Friday until they get to breakfast on Monday.
16:37 And so, we’re so thankful for them, and it was so exciting to
16:41 see.
16:42 I can’t wait to hear the total.
16:44 Pastor Corky from Georgiana Church just laid the –
16:49 Strong-armed.
16:50 Yeah, he did.
16:51 He strong-armed us.
16:52 He threw it down.
16:53 He did.
16:54 He threw it down.
16:55 He gave all our money.
16:56 So, hopefully that will have an impact because their goal is to
16:58 have every student who has a need who applies for that
16:59 assistance to have it.
17:01 And so, already meeting how many?
17:03 2,000.
17:05 Over 2,000 students who are getting those backpacks every
17:07 weekend to help take care of hunger in Revard.
17:09 And I have confidence that we as a county can do that.
17:14 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
17:16 Definitely a worthwhile circle back.
17:20 I have – one, it is from a little over a week ago, but we did
17:27 not – have not seen Ms. Campbell since her birthday.
17:30 So, a very happy belated birthday to you, Ms. Campbell.
17:33 Thank you.
17:34 Hope you had a wonderful day.
17:36 A lot of us took part in different Literacy Week events.
17:39 I got to do the Pinewood Bedtime Story, which is one of my
17:41 favorites every year, because we dress up in jammies and hang
17:46 out in the school for a while.
17:48 And I get to read books to kids, and we had a lot of fun
17:50 together.
17:51 And so, many thanks to Pinewood and all the families that
17:53 participate in that to make it happen.
17:55 And then, I had an opportunity last week to do quite a few
17:57 recognitions.
17:59 And for the sake of time, I’m going to not go into a lot of
18:01 detail on them.
18:03 But, you know, we had talked previously about including our
18:06 guest teachers or substitutes in our pen recognition program.
18:11 And so, that has proven to be a little bit of a challenge, only
18:13 because I never know when they’re going to be there.
18:16 And so, I reached out to my principals and got some feedback
18:19 from them and have been trying to hit them as I am able.
18:24 But last week, I was able to recognize six of our guest teachers.
18:28 Peyton Smith from Coquina.
18:30 Vanessa Estrada from Southlake.
18:32 Cheryl Lewis from Space Coast.
18:34 Nadia Brown from MIMS.
18:35 Dee Primer from MIMS.
18:37 And Chanel Bailey from Titusville High School.
18:39 And each of them have phenomenal stories.
18:41 I put a little bit out on my Facebook page, so if you all didn’t
18:43 see it, please take a look.
18:46 Just about their incredible level of commitment in serving our
18:49 schools.
18:50 And then the last recognition and a huge thank you to David Hammond,
18:54 who is our AP of discipline at Titusville High School.
18:58 And Mr. Hammond is phenomenal at building relationships with
19:03 students and families and holding them to high expectations.
19:07 But there is absolutely no doubt that he is all about supporting
19:09 the whole child.
19:11 And, you know, I think oftentimes our assistant principals of
19:14 discipline get kind of a bad rap,
19:16 because they’re the ones that address some of the discipline
19:18 issues.
19:19 But he does a great job building relationships and lifting
19:22 students up.
19:23 And so I was able to present him with an impact pin last week as
19:26 well.
19:27 So many thanks to all of those people that are serving our
19:29 schools in such an excellent manner, serving our students.
19:33 And I think especially in the – specifically to our guest
19:37 teachers, I think it’s important for us to realize that not only
19:40 are they serving students,
19:42 but they are also serving faculty at the school by, you know,
19:46 giving them some freedom to be out for whatever reason.
19:50 They may need to be out of the classroom and have faith that
19:51 their students are taken care of.
19:53 So we appreciate them immensely.
19:56 Thank you.
19:57 Anyone else I need to circle back to before I – what do you
20:00 know?
20:01 Dr. Mullins.
20:02 I thought there was a page two.
20:04 But I don’t want to miss the opportunity to recognize and
20:07 acknowledge.
20:09 Dr. Mullins.
20:10 We have a teacher leadership council that was formed some years
20:12 ago.
20:13 They’re former teachers of the year that come together and
20:16 provide leadership and support to teachers across our whole
20:20 district,
20:21 all levels of the organization.
20:23 They work closely with human resources, Mr. Alba and
20:26 professional learning development and his staff.
20:28 And this past Saturday, they held their first annual teacher
20:31 leadership conference.
20:33 There were over 160 attendees.
20:38 They attended breakout sessions that were delivered by teachers,
20:42 for teachers that included de-escalation techniques,
20:46 mindfulness, classroom cultures, digital engagement, a trauma-sensitive
20:51 class in school, restorative conversations, and there were
20:55 several more.
20:56 It was such an impressive engagement of teachers learning from
21:00 teachers.
21:02 And so a huge thank you to our teacher leadership council for
21:04 their continuing commitment to the professional development of
21:08 teachers, for all teachers.
21:10 And then a great opportunity coming up this Saturday – or
21:13 excuse me, Saturday, March 28th, Vieira High School.
21:17 It’s a Saturday from 8:00 to 12:30.
21:20 It’s the fifth annual Start Transition Conference.
21:24 And it’s a free conference for families, students, and educators
21:27 who support someone with a disability.
21:30 There will be over 40 community vendors in the cafeteria
21:34 providing services from early childhood through post-secondary
21:38 programs and adulthood.
21:40 It’s a great opportunity to begin planning and making contact
21:43 with support agencies that can assist individuals who need –
21:48 who have individual needs.
21:50 Start conference March 28th, Vieira High School from 8:00 to 12:30.
21:55 Thank you.
21:56 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
21:57 And I have to tell you, I had the opportunity to see a lot of
22:00 the feedback on the teacher leadership event this past weekend.
22:05 And I can’t tell you the number of teachers that were saying
22:07 that that was the absolute best conference that they felt like
22:10 they had ever been to.
22:12 Um, super engaging topics and – and just a lot of valuable
22:14 takeaways that they can immediately go back to their school and
22:17 have impact on.
22:19 So, many thanks to all of the teachers that worked to put that
22:22 together and – and to lead the – the breakouts.
22:25 All right.
22:27 Anyone else I need to circle back to before I – okay.
22:31 Then that will bring us to the adoption of the agenda.
22:34 Dr. Mullins.
22:35 Before I get started with the script, I do have to, like, nullify
22:39 an earlier comment and just say, “Go Knights.”
22:42 Um – Ms. Belford and members of the board, on tonight’s agenda,
22:47 we have administrative staff recommendations, 17 consent items,
22:51 9 action items, and 1 information item.
22:53 You also have the yellow supplemental agenda, which are changes
22:55 made to the agenda since being released to the public.
22:58 Item A7 on administrative staff recommendations receive revisions.
23:02 Item F-14 on revision of termination date and items G-29 through
23:06 G-33 on board policies, 2371, 5350, 8390, 8400, and 9160 were
23:17 additions.
23:19 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
23:20 What are the wishes of the board?
23:21 Move to approve.
23:22 Second.
23:23 Moved by Mr. Susan.
23:24 Seconded by Ms. Duskiewicz.
23:25 Is there any discussion?
23:27 Please vote.
23:29 Thank you.
23:30 Okay.
23:31 That looks different now.
23:33 Yeah.
23:34 We had to go through two screens.
23:50 How did you get to the – now it was letting me vote right from
23:53 the corner at the bottom where it was showing each of you that
23:56 voted.
23:56 Pam, they updated again?
23:57 Oh, wait.
23:58 Pam doesn’t have to tell you now.
23:59 Do you have the – I do.
24:00 I – yes, I can see the vote.
24:01 Did they fix that for us, Pam?
24:02 We can also see who hasn’t voted.
24:03 And the motion passes 5-0.
24:04 Can you see that?
24:05 I can.
24:06 It’s very exciting.
24:06 Okay.
24:06 Dr. Mullins, would you please let us know about the
24:06 administrative staff recommendations.
24:06 Madam Chair, there are four persons on this agenda item for the
24:06 board to consider.
24:06 What are the wishes of the board?
24:07 Move to approve.
24:08 Second.
24:10 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell this time.
24:12 Okay.
24:12 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell this time.
24:13 Okay.
24:14 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell this time.
24:14 Okay.
24:15 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell this time.
24:16 5-0. Can you see that? I can. It’s very exciting. Okay. Dr. Mullins,
24:23 would you please let us know about the administrative staff
24:26 recommendations? Madam Chair, there are four persons on this
24:29 agenda item for the board to consider. What are the wishes of
24:32 the board? Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded
24:37 by Ms. Campbell this time. Any discussion? All right. Please
24:43 vote.
24:46 Look at that. That’s way better. I can see how each of you vote,
24:55 too, instead of it being a mystery. Although now it went away
25:01 and I can’t see. You have to look real quick before. I know. I
25:05 wonder if you click on view at the top if it will show you. And
25:10 the motion passes 5-0. Dr. Mullins.
25:16 At this time, I would like to welcome and recognize Ms. Jennifer
25:19 Rosato on her appointment to the position of 10-month assistant
25:24 principal at Cocoa High School.
25:26 Thank you so much. I’m so happy to be here. I look forward to
25:38 working at Brevard Public Schools. And I want to thank Mr.
25:42 Wilson for providing me that opportunity. And my family for all
25:45 the love and support in getting me here. Thank you.
25:54 Congratulations, and welcome to the team. Thank you so much.
25:57 I also want to welcome Dr. Thomas Johnson and wish him all of
26:03 the best on his upcoming retirement at the end of July.
26:08 Where is it? Is Dr. Johnson here? Where is he? There he is.
26:11 Dr. Johnson, thank you for everything you have done to further
26:16 our mission to make a lasting and a legacy impact in the lives
26:22 of our kids.
26:23 Dr. Thomas Johnson: Thank you, Dr. Mullins and the board. I want
26:28 to thank God, my family, for these opportunities. I came into
26:36 the district in 2002, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since.
26:40 Again, I just want to thank everybody for the opportunities I
26:44 had to touch kids. And I think it’s one of the most important
26:47 things. Again, thank you.
26:50 All right. We are now at public comments. We have six speakers
27:03 scheduled to speak this evening. Each speaker is limited to
27:06 three minutes. We have a clock in front of me to help you keep
27:10 track of your time. When your time is over, you will be asked to
27:12 stop and allow the next speaker his or her turn.
27:15 Dr. “Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is expected at
27:18 all times and your statement should be directed to the board
27:20 chairman. The chairman may interrupt, warn, or terminate a
27:23 participant’s statement when time is up, personally directed,
27:27 abusive, obscene, or irrelevant. Should an individual not
27:31 observe proper etiquette, the chairman may request the
27:34 individual leave the meeting. Let’s all encourage an environment
27:37 appropriate for our children who may be present or watching from
27:37 home.”
27:37 Dr. “Let’s begin with our first three speakers: William Van Doren,
27:45 Anthony Colucci, and Vanessa Skipper.”
27:52 Yes, sir.
27:55 My name is William Van Doren. I’m with the Veterans Group
28:12 Rolling Thunder. Rolling Thunder is an organization, a veterans
28:17 organization, and non-veterans who support the finding of POWs
28:22 and MIAs in this world.
28:22 Dr. “If you’re not aware, and if the audience isn’t aware, there
28:26 are 82,900 servicemen that are missing in action right now for
28:35 all the wars, 82,900.”
28:41 Dr. “How do we serve these individuals? How do we recognize
28:46 these individuals?”
28:48 Dr. “In 1970, Mary Huff’s husband became missing in Vietnam.
29:00 After a year, she did not give up, but she wanted to dedicate,
29:05 knowing that he might never be found.
29:08 Dr. “So she came out with a flag to represent the 82,900
29:16 veterans that were missing.”
29:20 Dr. “In August of 1990, the 101st Congress passed legislation of
29:27 Public Law 101-355 that the POW, MIA flag should be flown in
29:35 Congress,
29:35 and the United States, and the United States, White House, and
29:42 all different federal buildings throughout the United States.
29:50 In November of this year, President Trump passed the flagged act,
29:59 the POW, MIA flagged act, which says that all federal buildings
30:02 now should be flown in Congress and the United States, White
30:02 House, and all different federal buildings throughout the United
30:02 States.
30:02 And it says that all federal buildings now should fly the POW, MIA
30:07 flag. Any federal building that has an agency in it is required
30:12 to fly this flag.
30:14 You can see the post offices. You can see across the street at
30:17 the federal building. You can see the POW, MIA flag.
30:22 Like I said, we represent the 82,900 that are missing. That
30:29 chair represents one of those men that have not been able to
30:35 enjoy sitting here with you and us today.
30:38 A chair like that sits in the halls of Congress to show
30:42 everybody that when they come there that that chair shows that
30:50 the MIAs and POWs will not be forgotten.
30:52 And that’s why I’m here. The Brevard County school system, when
30:59 I pass here every day, does not fly a POW, MIA flag.
31:06 It’s the only flag that can be flown under the American flag by
31:11 Congress.
31:12 And the public schools in Brevard County do not have that flag
31:19 flying underneath the American flag.
31:24 And the public schools in Brevard County school system, and the
31:25 public schools in Brevard County, the public schools in Brevard
31:31 County, and the public schools in Brevard County.
31:40 If you could connect with Dr. Sullivan in the back of the room,
31:44 she’s got her hand up.
31:46 Any additional information that you would like to share, she
31:48 will be more than happy to make sure that the board is made
31:50 aware and will rectify that okay.
31:52 Okay. I thank you for your time. And all I ask is that you
31:55 support us flying the flag and the ROTC and all the high schools,
32:00 which we have gone into the high schools already to teach and
32:03 bring information, and they are well aware, you know, how we
32:07 feel.
32:08 So I thank you for allowing me to come up here.
32:10 We appreciate you, sir.
32:12 Thank you.
32:14 Mr. Colucci.
32:16 My name is Anthony Colucci. I’m the president of the Brevard
32:28 Federation of Teachers.
32:29 Based on these meetings, I’m not sure what, if any, accurate
32:33 financial information is shared with this board.
32:36 I wanted to point out that according to the FEFP third
32:40 calculations, Brevard Public Schools is receiving a windfall of
32:45 $3.8 million.
32:46 I would certainly like to hear discussion of how that money is
32:50 going to be spent.
32:52 Also, I’d like to hear discussion of how this board will spend
32:55 the nearly $4 million in savings that is occurring this year
32:58 because of the approximately 60 instructional vacancies that
33:02 this district has been running since day one.
33:04 And while I’m asking, I’d like to hear what the board is going
33:08 to do with the savings from the 137 support personnel vacancies
33:12 that I counted yesterday.
33:14 And speaking of which, I’d like to hear some discussion of how
33:17 the unused sub money is going to be used as our teachers wear
33:21 themselves out to cover these substitute vacancies on a daily
33:25 basis.
33:26 And I’m also wondering why this board continues to hold over $19
33:31 million in reserves for something called state required contingencies.
33:36 And while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about that $19 million
33:45 that’s there for emergencies.
33:50 I reviewed this policy and there’s still no definition of
33:54 emergency tied to it.
33:56 So while most of you up there have decided that this means this
33:59 is money for a hurricane, that’s just your opinion.
34:02 It’s not grounded in policy.
34:04 I’d like to hear some discussion about whether having thousands
34:07 of students without a certified teacher in front of them is an
34:11 emergency.
34:12 Is having 137 support personnel vacancies an emergency?
34:16 Is it an emergency that our teachers are being denied their
34:19 planning several times a week to cover for sub vacancies?
34:22 How about the projected shortfall in the health insurance fund
34:26 balance?
34:27 Does that constitute an emergency?
34:29 And while we’re at it, does this policy even make sense?
34:32 By the very nature of this policy, if you ever use the money for
34:36 an emergency, you’re out of compliance with your own policy that
34:40 says you need to keep 3% for emergencies.
34:43 How does that make sense?
34:45 As we all know, this board will never publicly discuss these
34:48 issues.
34:49 Instead, it will continue to publicly discuss those that shine a
34:52 positive light on this district.
34:54 With that said, I’m asking our stakeholders to start pressing
34:57 this board to answer these questions.
35:00 Thank you, Mr. Colucci.
35:05 Good evening.
35:10 Hold on one second, Ms. Skipper.
35:11 Before you start, I just want to go ahead and cue our next three
35:14 speakers really quick, okay?
35:15 We have Jennifer Jenkins, Anna Chong, and Frank Chong.
35:19 And Ms. Skipper, the time is yours.
35:20 Thank you.
35:21 All right.
35:22 Tomorrow marks the middle of the legislative session.
35:25 While there’s been lots of conversation swirling about public
35:29 education funding, there are still lots of people left behind
35:34 and no real positive resolution.
35:37 So, people can go to feaweb.org to keep track of the legislative
35:43 session.
35:44 People should be calling every single day.
35:46 Tomorrow, the House Committee on Education meets.
35:49 And on Thursday, the Subcommittee on Education meets, which
35:52 means you can’t wait till later to call.
35:55 You need to call.
35:56 now right now the plan that is in place leaves behind veteran
36:03 teachers instructional personnel
36:05 who are not classroom teachers such as school counselors social
36:09 workers media specialists
36:10 instructional coaches resource teachers and our pre-k teachers
36:15 also left behind our educational
36:18 staff professionals such as our instructional assistants bus
36:21 drivers custodians and clerical
36:23 staff i’ve said it a million times sometimes maybe i’m preaching
36:28 to the choir however i think
36:30 sometimes we get complacent in our advocacy and right now we’ve
36:34 got 30 more days left in the session
36:37 i would be remiss if i did not remind the board in the district
36:44 that we have been tireless and also
36:47 saying that we cannot rely on tallahassee to make the right
36:51 decision we can call we can advocate we can
36:54 push forward our agendas but at the end of the day when that
36:58 session closes they may or may not send
37:00 enough money down to make sure that we make sure we take care of
37:05 our own you heard the number of openings
37:07 from my colleague before me every classroom that is without a
37:12 certified teacher
37:13 is full of students who are not being served with excellence as
37:19 a standard
37:20 we will not continue to be to being one of the top districts in
37:26 florida if we don’t take steps forward
37:30 and leave tallahassee behind if tallahassee is not going to make
37:33 the right decisions we need to make
37:35 the right decisions so we’ve been up here i could probably loop
37:39 all my public comments together where
37:41 i’ve said we can’t count on tallahassee to do the right thing we
37:46 have to do the right thing here
37:49 so as anthony mentioned as i’m sure has been mentioned times
37:53 before teachers in your district
37:56 instructional coaches pre-k teachers social workers your bus
38:01 drivers your custodians they’re all waiting
38:03 to hear what your plan will be to improve compensation if tallahassee
38:08 falls short again
38:10 we must do better for our students so that we can have the bus
38:14 drivers who are driving through the
38:16 neighborhood and who care about the neighborhood and who stop to
38:19 do the right thing instead of a bus
38:22 driver who’s driven extra routes and i could go on but i thank
38:27 you miss skipper also go nights
38:33 good evening dr mullins and members of the board my name is jennifer
38:42 jenkins i am a speech language
38:44 pathologist with verbard public schools the wife of a history
38:47 teacher at cogo beach junior senior
38:50 and the mother of an incredible three-year-old little girl
38:52 during a recent school board public
38:54 comment a member of bft proposed the start of a conversation
38:58 about paid maternity leave
38:59 it caused me to go home and reflect on my personal experience as
39:03 a bps employee welcoming motherhood
39:05 in a quick summary my first few days as a new mother were filled
39:08 with a joy that could never be defined
39:10 with words and over the following months that joy was clouded
39:14 with anxiety stress and sadness
39:15 not by my responsibility of my new role but by the unpredictable
39:19 struggle i was facing with my finances
39:22 knowing my sick leave would be exhausted my husband went home
39:26 went back to work just two days after i
39:28 delivered my daughter just to reserve his pto i battled with
39:32 short-term disability nearly every day for five
39:35 long weeks as thousands thousands and dollars of medical bills
39:39 poured in to finally receive a mere
39:41 percentage of my pay after five weeks when i returned to work i
39:44 was expecting relief from my next paycheck
39:47 but i was very wrong a combination of the structure of summer
39:51 pay periods my due date at the beginning of
39:53 the school year and an accounting error in the benefits
39:56 department overcharging me by hundreds of dollars
39:59 resulted in me not receiving a full paycheck for six more weeks
40:02 we found ourselves a household of two
40:06 educators a young new family without full income for 12 weeks it
40:10 was disheartening as a professional
40:12 to require financial assistance from my family to support our
40:16 household fortunately i had that resource
40:18 available many do not fortunately i had elected and qualified
40:22 for short-term disability before i was pregnant
40:25 many do not when i look back on my precious first weeks with my
40:29 daughter i’m saddened by the time and
40:31 attention that was diverted from her to navigate my broken
40:33 process i’m saddened by the difficult
40:36 experiences i continue to hear from my colleagues many far worse
40:41 than my own i encourage you all to
40:43 continue this conversation and guide it towards an example for
40:46 the rest of the state of how to positively
40:48 impact morale recruitment and retention for our public schools i
40:53 encourage you all to reflect upon the idea
40:57 that welcoming a child has been equated with a disability to
41:00 those who are who are concerned
41:02 about the cost of such a benefit think about the value of
41:05 increasing the attractiveness of our county
41:07 to new industries and businesses with our sustaining strong
41:10 public schools thus increasing our tax revenue
41:13 as educators and staff we support and nurture a community of
41:16 children from the moment that we meet
41:18 them now is the time to support our educators and our school
41:21 staff as they meet their own thank you
41:23 thank you miss jenkins
41:26 anna chong
41:36 my name is anna chong and i’m a freshman at vr high school and i
41:40 play the flute
41:40 i was very grateful to be able to play in rivard’s high school
41:44 all-county band two weeks ago and even
41:47 though they’re in the same weekend i was also able to spend a
41:50 few hours at the florida flute association
41:52 annual convention in orlando and i would like to share some of
41:56 my experiences there i was able to attend
41:59 this class on double tonguing which is a technique that advanced
42:02 flute players need to learn in order to
42:06 play difficult pieces and this class really helps me uh uh do
42:10 better with double tonguing and uh
42:14 also introduce new ways to do it too and it’s helped me ever
42:18 since there was also a wide selection
42:21 of flutes that were there with stores from new york and also boston
42:26 and i got to try flutes of different
42:28 materials like silver gold and platinum and also um different
42:32 head joints and i got us i got to hear the
42:34 difference of the different flutes um there are also a lot of
42:37 flute professors there um who were teaching
42:40 performing and also networking from uf fsu usf and also stetson
42:46 university uh i also got to see some of
42:50 my fellow all-state flute players from the all-state convention
42:54 about four weeks ago and i got to talk
42:57 with them about flute and music and all that i wish that every i
43:02 wish that i could have spent the whole
43:06 weekend there and i asked my flute section during the all-county
43:10 band and none of them knew about this
43:12 um amazing convention i hope that every um flute player in brevard
43:17 county will be able to know about
43:19 this convention and also be able to attend it um thank you for
43:24 letting me share and thank you
43:27 thank you anna for joining us tonight
43:31 yes board good evening uh my name is frank chong i was able to
43:43 speak with you about four weeks ago
43:45 since then i did receive some feedback uh from from that address
43:49 and and learned that there was going to
43:51 be an attempt to try to deconflict the two events the two events
43:55 being brevard all county and the florida
43:57 flute convention um i just wanted to share at least a little bit
44:00 from from my perspective as as a parent
44:02 obviously i’m not i’m not the flute player my my daughter is but
44:07 um just just some thoughts uh from from
44:10 my from my view and and i’ll overarch this theme just by saying
44:13 what i learned a little bit more about
44:16 about what was the realm of the possible and and and and this
44:18 convention really surpassed my expectations
44:20 and this happened along a few lines one is that she got to
44:24 listen to some really really good players
44:27 i mean i’ll take a sports analogy you know it’s like how did how
44:30 do you get to be a better football
44:31 player you watch tape you watch you watch people play games and
44:34 in in this sense anna was able to to
44:37 listen to some really really good flute players there were some
44:40 there was a young artist competition the the
44:42 champions or the the winners was able to to perform and you just
44:45 got to listen to these very very long
44:47 very complicated very beautiful pieces and and and it sought a
44:52 uh an energy to try to aspire to to that
44:55 level of performance um as a as a postscript to it there was
44:59 actually a performer that uh that competed
45:02 in it uh from from o’galley high school and she actually placed
45:05 and so i was able to i’d like to report
45:07 that to the board as well second what’s what’s also possible
45:11 just the techniques that were taught anna got
45:14 to attend one uh such uh workshop that was at the convention
45:18 there were several over over half a dozen
45:20 or so similar types of workshops that were in attendance and so
45:23 if we’re able to deconflict the events
45:26 just think of the numerous possibilities that would be opened up
45:28 third uh understand the realm of the
45:32 possibility of of what type of music could be played there were
45:36 a million dollar million dollar
45:37 plus inventories that were brought by by some of these vendors
45:40 larger inventories that they can
45:42 anything be found here in the state of florida i mean the people
45:44 were coming these vendors were coming
45:46 from new york from boston from from from these other cities and
45:49 bringing flutes you know from starter
45:51 flutes from a few hundred dollars all the way to fifty thousand
45:54 dollar flutes all right these are
45:56 opportunities are not afforded to us here in the state or at
45:58 least we have not been able to find a store that
46:00 that has provided such opportunity anna anna didn’t uh anna didn’t
46:04 mention that we were able to to bring
46:06 one of her friends uh from from florida from the brevard all
46:09 county to that event and she was thinking
46:11 about trying out some of some other instruments and she was
46:14 actually able to to not only try that but
46:16 try different different head joints different types of materials
46:19 and say oh this is what i really want and
46:21 so just trying to open up that envelope of what exactly is a
46:25 possible and so that’s that’s some of the things
46:28 i took away as as a parent just understanding what’s really out
46:32 there i wanted to thank the board once
46:34 again to revisit the um the opportunity to perhaps be
46:37 conflicting the two events um i do have uh and i
46:41 want to submit as evidence uh just uh the dates for the upcoming
46:45 two years mr chong i’m sorry as well as
46:48 program so thank you thank you for joining us this evening and
46:50 if you would like to leave anything you can
46:52 certainly hand it to uh major lanza over there and and we’ll
46:55 make sure that the board gets it thank
46:57 thank you thank you for being here tonight
47:07 um board members have any
47:11 miss tuskovic uh dr mullins i think i mentioned at the last
47:17 board meeting that he spoke can you
47:20 i don’t know if you’ve looked into it yet or if you’ve had staff
47:21 look into it just the conflicting dates
47:23 and see if it’s is it something even in the realm so we can let
47:26 him know if it’s no it’s already hard
47:27 set for the next five years or if it’s something we can work
47:30 with yeah i don’t have an update at
47:31 this point but staff is aware i’m looking at it okay and then
47:35 also on the paid maternity leave when
47:38 kyle spoke about it um two weeks ago we also mentioned that at
47:43 least i did that at least we were curious
47:46 if someone could start looking into that just to see what that
47:48 would look like for us some general
47:50 information just so we can start mulling it around
47:52 why don’t you go ahead i wasn’t aware yeah um so i actually just
47:59 asked mr langdorff today in an
48:01 email hey could follow up on that and he shared with me that he
48:03 had a conversation with um mr kaluchi
48:06 and with uh mr savage about that and so um we’re there they’ll
48:10 be getting us something some general
48:11 numbers to start looking at to see what it would take to to move
48:13 in that direction okay thanks so much
48:16 that’s all i have any other any other board member wish to
48:19 respond to any of our speakers um i i will
48:23 um make just a couple of of brief comments and i say this not to
48:27 um be argumentative or disagreeable
48:32 but i think that it’s really important especially when we are
48:35 looking at um specifics of situations that
48:40 we make sure that all of the information is out there and so um
48:43 mr kaluchi one of the things that
48:45 you mentioned when you were speaking was a 3.8 million dollar
48:49 windfall on the third calculation
48:50 and i understand looking at that information it looks like
48:54 something really great but um the truth
48:57 of the matter is that that windfall that you reference on the
49:01 third calc for the fefp is actually going
49:03 to charter schools and so um that is where the the growth was
49:07 identified and i think dr mullins was
49:10 it do you remember the exact numbers on that i know you and i
49:13 had discussed that a couple of weeks ago i
49:15 can’t it it’s all either charter hope scholarship or other
49:19 categoricals that we can’t utilize i i assure
49:22 you i it was one of the first things i looked at um it actually
49:25 is about a seventy thousand dollar
49:27 deficit to our operating budget at the end of the third calc
49:31 thank you for the clarity on that um and
49:34 and so i mentioned that only because i i think it’s important
49:37 when our public hears this information they
49:39 think wow you have 3.4 million dollars that you can do other
49:42 things with um and the reality is that our funding in the state
49:45 of
49:45 Florida is an incredibly complicated um determination and
49:50 oftentimes there are things in there that
49:53 we’re not considering so um once again i just want to make sure
49:55 that we’re we’re putting accurate
49:57 information out there um we will typically we would be having
50:01 some budget priority discussions uh about
50:04 this time but we are awaiting our new cfo to come on board so
50:07 that we can really work through all
50:09 that also um you know as was mentioned the legislature is
50:12 currently in session and so we’ll have a much
50:14 better idea of what our budget is going to look like when they
50:17 wrap up if they wrap up on time on march
50:19 13th um so that we can have a better idea of numbers um i also
50:24 mentioned by miss skipper and i think it’s
50:27 important to note um we’re not seeing a lot of great news coming
50:31 out of tallahassee with regard to budget
50:33 admittedly um there are some increases in our the district’s um
50:38 required contribution to the retirement
50:41 accounts and that’s going to be of significant dollar amount um
50:47 and we do well the the main focus
50:50 in tallahassee has been on teacher salary both the house and the
50:54 senate proposals do have different
50:57 leeway in there um for other instructional staff other other
51:00 staff within the district in some instances
51:03 so we’re we really at this point are obviously having those
51:06 conversations advocating for what we
51:08 think is best for our district including our veteran teachers
51:11 and all of our support staff um but until
51:14 the house and the senate come together uh and decide which way
51:17 that’s going we can’t really we can’t
51:19 really make a determinant that determination as to who’s getting
51:23 what dollars so i just want to
51:25 encourage any of you who are watching that there is still hope
51:27 that we’re going to come away with
51:29 something somewhat more favorable than what’s currently been
51:33 proposed um but i say that with uh cautionary
51:36 optimism so uh dr mullins i think you wanted to respond i just
51:41 wanted to also clarify the third calculation
51:44 the 3.8 million but i think it’s been addressed thank you
51:49 miss deskovich uh since you were gonna i didn’t know if we
51:53 wanted to address all those that list
51:55 of items but the other one was the uh the three percent in
51:58 contingency is state required we it’s not
52:01 a policy set by provide public schools and the the fact that
52:04 there’s 19 million dollars in contingency we
52:07 have this discussion at length over the summer that it’s
52:10 recommended that we have three months of spending
52:15 uh revenue in in our contingency at any given time and that i
52:18 think that number was more it’s been a
52:20 few months since i’ve looked at it but more around 50 million
52:22 when there’s only 19 million sitting in
52:24 there so again i don’t want the public to think we’re we’re
52:27 sitting on 19 million because
52:28 we think it’s a a a fun thing to do thank you um
52:35 miss campbell um you mentioned uh mr collucci the unused sub
52:39 money and i’ll i’ll i’ll be happy to
52:41 find that memo and share that with you but i know i had this
52:43 conversation with our cfo last summer
52:46 and we know we had a lot of vacancies last year but there’s a
52:49 process that the administrators have to
52:51 go through um at the end of the year if they’ve used it all up
52:54 if they had long-term subs they had to pay
52:56 there’s an appeals process they have to go through and then if
52:58 there is anything left over then there’s a
53:00 we can do this this and this with it and i know last year there
53:04 was not any left over so once that all
53:06 the appeals were made so i’ll be happy to find that memo um back
53:09 in my email files and send it to you
53:11 so you can see exactly where any um quote unquote leftovers of
53:15 money goes um because it it was all used
53:18 up last year thanks miss campbell thank you miss deskovich and
53:22 miss campbell for your follow-up as well
53:25 and uh thank you to all of our speakers for joining us this
53:29 evening
53:30 your willingness to speak to the board is much appreciated that
53:36 will move us into the consent
53:38 agenda dr mullins there are 17 agenda items under this category
53:44 thank you dr mullins does any board
53:47 member wish to pull any item from the consent agenda okay then i
53:50 will entertain a motion to accept the
53:54 consent items as presented move to approve second moved by mr
53:58 susan seconded by miss deskovich any discussion
54:01 all right please vote
54:17 the motion passes 5-0 we’ll move on to the action agenda dr mullins
54:26 miss belford and members of the board there are a total of nine
54:29 action items on this evening’s agenda
54:35 and i think that’s me the first one is to hold an opportunity
54:39 for public comment followed by school
54:41 board confirmation that mrs belford’s travel to tallahassee january
54:45 20th through the 22nd
54:47 was for official school board business complying with the state
54:50 board of education rules
54:51 is there anyone here who would like to publicly address the out-of-county
54:55 travel for me for january 20th
54:57 all right what are the wishes of the board moved approved second
55:04 moved by miss campbell and seconded by miss mcdougall
55:09 any discussion please vote
55:19 and the motion passes 5-0 dr mullins next next is to hold an
55:31 opportunity for public comment followed
55:33 by school board confirmation that mrs deskovich’s travel to tallahassee
55:37 uh january 20th through the 22nd
55:40 was for official school board business complying with the state
55:42 board of education rules is there
55:44 anyone here who would like to publicly address the out-of-county
55:46 travel for miss deskovich january
55:48 20th through 22nd what
55:52 do i get three minutes
56:07 um i would just like to know how miss deskovich spent her time
56:16 in tallahassee
56:17 and assure that she wasn’t working on her personal um campaign
56:21 for school board during that time
56:23 is that what i get to address does she answer
56:28 um technically it’s not discussion but i will
56:34 allow are you are you done with your three minutes or do you
56:38 have additional to say do i get to save the
56:40 three minutes for another time
56:41 um if you would like to know if you would like to speak on this
56:50 now then i’ll be happy to start the
56:51 timer again i will give miss deskovich the opportunity to
56:54 respond if she would like to respond
57:00 i would gladly respond so the public knows that i am using their
57:03 funds appropriately um miss belford mr susan
57:06 and i traveled separately uh per our attorney to tallahassee uh
57:11 for two i think both of us were there for two days the first day
57:15 we um attended brevard day which was um just about all elected
57:19 officials that was put on by the chambers of commerce and held
57:21 by representative saroy
57:23 uh for half of the day um we spent with them um going over uh
57:28 priorities for brevard and in their
57:31 collective priorities for brevard uh workforce education was in
57:34 there so education played a role
57:36 with that they made appointments with us to reach out to
57:39 legislators not just from brevard but from other
57:42 places around the state um asking for support for brevard for
57:45 workforce education so i believe that aligns
57:48 completely with um with the the role of a school board member
57:52 traveling to tallahassee on day two
57:55 our students were actually bussed up and uh the three of us and
57:59 dr mullins uh i think that was just us
58:02 this time i was there the day before miss campbell was there the
58:04 first day um they bussed our student
58:07 government leaders up and the schools that are in district three
58:10 those student government leaders spent
58:12 the day with me we toured the old government the old government
58:17 capital and then they had individual
58:19 appointments with legislators that i took them around to again
58:22 not just our delegation but different
58:24 legislators in the state and they actually pitched uh their
58:28 legislative agenda uh on vaping and things
58:30 of that nature and then we drove home so i think they all fall
58:34 the whole trip falls completely in line
58:36 with uh what a school board should be doing until a school board
58:39 members should be doing in tallahassee thank you
58:42 thank you miss deskovich is there anyone else that would like to
58:45 address this particular agenda item
58:46 all right then what are the wishes of the board moved to approve
58:51 moved by miss campbell seconded by miss
58:54 mcdougall any discussion please vote um is it appropriate to
58:59 vote it seems like it’d be a conflict we
59:03 know we haven’t had to vote on these until tonight i don’t think
59:06 it’s a new um is it probably to vote for
59:08 yourself we voted on them previously but mr gibbs if you would
59:11 like to to weigh in on if it is a
59:13 conflict to vote to approve our own travel if you wish to abstain
59:16 and i will not say you can’t but i
59:19 don’t think that there’s necessarily a conflict there i think we
59:21 should kind of set a precedent here
59:23 because if it ever if there ever was one that two or three of us
59:26 thought they shouldn’t go
59:27 i think we shouldn’t we have kind of a if we should be voting
59:32 for ourselves or not i think we should
59:35 continue with whatever we do i think we should continue to do
59:37 that because there may be a time
59:38 where we’re divided on if we want to support someone going
59:41 somewhere is it appropriate to vote
59:44 you can vote i don’t think there’s a i don’t think there’s a
59:47 conflict but uh if you do abstain
59:51 that does create the possibility in the future of a tie vote
59:54 with five number panels so okay
59:56 i will vote i will vote and the tie go to the chair for the
1:00:01 extra vote
1:00:02 and if the chair is not voting then the chair votes here anyways
1:00:07 usually that’s in situations where the
1:00:08 the chair doesn’t vote so i i would also address miss tuskevich
1:00:13 that what we’re asking the board to
1:00:15 vote on is confirmation that the travel was for official school
1:00:18 board business complying with the
1:00:20 state board of education rules so unless you are it unless you
1:00:24 believe that any of us were not
1:00:26 working on the school board business when we were there then i
1:00:29 would suggest that it you know it’s
1:00:30 it’s not like you’re approving the dollar amount you’re just
1:00:33 saying yes it is in fact fair does that
1:00:35 make sense yeah for sure yeah okay so did you abstain or not no
1:00:39 no okay i voted okay
1:00:42 the motion passed five zero thank you
1:00:51 next is to hold an opportunity for public comment followed by
1:00:57 school board confirmation that mr susan’s
1:00:59 travel the tallahassee on january 21 and 22 was for official
1:01:03 school board business
1:01:04 complying with state board of education rules is there anyone
1:01:08 here who would like to publicly
1:01:09 address the out-of-county travel for mr susan on january 21st
1:01:12 through 22nd all right what are the
1:01:16 wishes of the board move to approve moved by miss tuskevich uh
1:01:21 second by miss mcdougall
1:01:29 seconded by mr susan seconded by miss tuskevich any discussion
1:01:38 all right please vote that was funny
1:01:39 that was funny
1:01:42 and the motion passes five zero dr mullins
1:01:45 uh item g 29 is on procurement solicitations
1:01:50 what are the wishes of the board
1:01:52 move to approve second moved by mr susan seconded by miss dusk
1:01:55 deskovich any discussion
1:01:56 all right please vote
1:02:08 and the motion passes five zero dr mullins
1:02:13 the next five action items are on policies 2371 5350 8390 8400
1:02:22 9160 the board will hear public comments on each of each one
1:02:26 followed by the recommendation for approval
1:02:28 is there anyone who has come to publicly address the revisions
1:02:32 to board policy 2371 hope scholarships
1:02:36 what are the wishes of the board move to approve second moved by
1:02:47 mr susan seconded by miss campbell any discussion
1:02:51 is there anyone who has come to publicly address the revisions
1:03:06 to board policy 5350 student suicide
1:03:06 is there anyone who has come to publicly address the revisions
1:03:10 to board policy 5350 student suicide
1:03:14 is there anyone who has come to publicly address the revisions
1:03:16 to board policy 5350 student suicide
1:03:20 what are the wishes of the board move to approve second moved by
1:03:24 mr susan seconded by miss campbell any
1:03:26 discussion please vote
1:03:44 i’m sorry any discussion
1:04:02 please vote please vote
1:04:23 please vote
1:04:36 and the motion passes 50 is there anyone who has come to
1:04:38 publicly address the revisions to board policy
1:04:38 8400 environmental health and safety
1:04:43 What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second. Moved
1:04:47 by Ms. Deskovich. Seconded by Ms. McDougall. Any discussion?
1:04:50 Please vote. The motion passes 5-0. Is there anyone who has come
1:05:08 to publicly address the revisions to board policy 9-1-6-0 public
1:05:12 attendance at school
1:05:13 events? Is there anyone who has come to publicly address the revisions
1:05:19 to board policy 9-1-6-0 public attendance at school events? What
1:05:23 are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second. Moved by
1:05:27 Mr. Susan. Seconded by Ms. Deskovich. Any discussion? Please
1:05:30 vote.
1:05:43 The motion passes 5-0. We’re now at the information items, which
1:05:55 are items that may be brought back later for board consideration.
1:05:57 No action will be taken on these items this evening. Dr. Mullins.
1:06:01 There is only one item on this evening’s agenda regarding board
1:06:04 policy 22-16, gifted education.
1:06:07 Does anyone wish to discuss this particular item? Me, me.
1:06:10 Just real quick. I already said a lot of this today in the
1:06:13 workshop, so I’ll be super brief, but I didn’t want to miss this
1:06:16 opportunity to, in a more public forum, thank Ms. Jane Klein and
1:06:22 Amanda Howell, our gifted resource teacher, for working
1:06:26 diligently on a policy, and not just a policy, but a whole
1:06:30 program that goes along with this.
1:06:32 This has been three years in the making.
1:06:34 I just want to let you all know that we’ve come a long way in
1:06:37 three years.
1:06:38 We have identified funds for all of our teachers that are
1:06:42 wanting to become gifted certified.
1:06:45 We pay for them to become gifted certified.
1:06:48 We have moved on testing all eight-year-olds in the entire
1:06:52 district to see if they are gifted, so that we can identify all
1:06:56 gifted students, and they can receive the services they deserve.
1:06:59 This is the next big step, creating an actual overarching policy,
1:07:03 which is a little general, but that will put the framework in
1:07:07 place for the whole district to have a policy.
1:07:09 It is remarkable that we have not had one before in Brevard
1:07:12 County.
1:07:13 From here, the program will be adopted by leading and learning,
1:07:17 and we’ll be working diligently to get some great things put in
1:07:21 place in this district.
1:07:24 So I just wanted to thank you all.
1:07:25 Thank you, Ms. Duskovich.
1:07:29 Any other board members wish to discuss, comment, share?
1:07:33 All right.
1:07:36 I will just echo the appreciation.
1:07:38 For anyone who is not familiar with Amanda Howell, she’s done a
1:07:42 phenomenal job with gifted students in our district,
1:07:45 and we are so blessed to have her working at the district level
1:07:49 so she can impact many more students’ lives.
1:07:51 She has moved things forward significantly, and there is no
1:07:55 doubt that she is a staunch advocate for students who are gifted.
1:08:01 So we appreciate her very much, and all of the work, Ms. Klein
1:08:04 and Dr. Sullivan, and especially Amanda.
1:08:08 So thank you very much.
1:08:09 Thank you, Mr. Seusson.
1:08:10 Didn’t want that breaking.
1:08:12 All right.
1:08:14 Does any board member have anything further to report?
1:08:18 Yes.
1:08:18 Just one thing.
1:08:19 Ms. McDougall.
1:08:20 I just want to share with the board that we had our, I think it’s
1:08:26 quarterly we meet, the Safe and Healthy Schools meeting,
1:08:29 and everybody, and Rachel, shout-out to Rachel.
1:08:33 She is working diligently to get us the gold standard, and this
1:08:39 is a packet.
1:08:40 It’s like oodles of pages and double-sided of the things that we
1:08:45 need to jump, what hoops we have to do to get there.
1:08:48 And I want to thank her and her team for working real hard, and
1:08:52 it was a very productive meeting.
1:08:54 We had a lot of our community supporters there also, and I think
1:08:59 everybody is excited to see if we can get gold this year.
1:09:03 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.
1:09:06 Mr. Seusson, I believe you had a comment?
1:09:08 Yeah, thank you so much.
1:09:12 So when we were up in Tallahassee the last time and we were
1:09:15 talking about the pre-K issue, right,
1:09:17 there was a series of issues that each that they had brought to
1:09:21 us in saying that, one, if we expanded certified teachers inside
1:09:25 of our program,
1:09:26 that it would hurt the private providers, and then there was all
1:09:29 of these issues.
1:09:30 So I have singly worked out every single one of them, and the
1:09:33 last piece was the argument that if we expand our certification
1:09:38 of teachers
1:09:38 to include best and brightest and everything else, that we are
1:09:41 somehow going to negatively impact the revenue source of the
1:09:45 private providers
1:09:46 by them losing teachers, right?
1:09:48 So not only did we show that in every county besides ours, as
1:09:53 things grew, even with certified teachers,
1:09:56 there was no situation where the certified teachers took over
1:09:59 and the private providers went out,
1:10:01 but I personally have friends that run a couple of these pre-K
1:10:05 programs, so I met with them,
1:10:07 and in the three places that I met, including one where my kids
1:10:10 go to school,
1:10:11 they said that actually pre-K in their schools is underfunded
1:10:16 and that they may be not doing it anymore
1:10:19 based upon the fact that it has become a negative.
1:10:21 So the idea that we are going to expand and take over and hurt
1:10:26 their ability because pre-K was somehow funding
1:10:30 the rest of their program was completely debunked by all three
1:10:34 of them.
1:10:34 And the revenue that they received from those VPK dollars does
1:10:39 not offset any of the loss that they have in the other areas.
1:10:42 So I just wanted to kind of report that to you guys as the last
1:10:45 piece.
1:10:46 I am going up to Tallahassee tomorrow.
1:10:47 I’m leaving at 4 o’clock in the morning, and I’m going to meet
1:10:50 with staff on what we found,
1:10:51 and then I’m also testifying over some bill in the Education
1:10:54 Committee that deals with a DOE program
1:10:57 that keeps all of our individuals that don’t make proper choices
1:11:01 that move around.
1:11:03 It has a whole database that they hold them at.
1:11:05 So I’m going up there to support that.
1:11:07 So I just wanted to let you guys know.
1:11:08 Thank you.
1:11:09 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
1:11:11 Thank you for your advocacy on those pre-K issues.
1:11:13 Dr. Mullins, do you have anything else?
1:11:15 No, ma’am.
1:11:17 All right.
1:11:19 There being no further business, this meeting is now adjourned.
1:11:22 Have a great night.
1:11:23 Thank you.
1:11:24 Thank you, Ms.
1:11:24 Thank you.