Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 This video is a production of the U.S. Department of Education.
0:11 This video is a production of U.S. Department of Education.
1:24 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
2:04 U.S Department of Education.
2:06 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
2:32 U.S Department of Education.
2:34 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
2:52 U.S Department of Education.
2:54 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
3:12 U.S Department of Education.
3:14 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
3:38 U.S Department of Education.
3:40 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
4:06 U.S Department of Education.
4:08 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
4:34 U.S Department of Education.
4:36 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
4:52 U.S Department of Education.
4:54 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
5:42 U.S Department of Education.
5:44 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
6:10 U.S Department of Education.
6:12 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
9:22 U.S Department of Education.
9:24 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
9:58 U.S Department of Education.
10:00 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
10:26 U.S Department of Education.
10:28 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
12:04 U.S Department of Education.
12:06 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
12:32 U.S Department of Education.
12:34 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
12:52 U.S Department of Education.
12:54 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
13:12 U.S Department of Education.
13:14 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
13:40 U.S Department of Education.
13:42 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
14:08 U.S Department of Education.
14:10 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
14:26 U.S Department of Education.
14:28 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
15:16 U.S Department of Education.
15:18 This video is a production of U.S Department of Education.
15:58 This video is a production of U.S Department.
17:32 This process will conclude once the public comment item on the
17:36 agenda is complete.
17:38 The board appreciates your patience and understanding.
17:40 While this process is not ideal, we are in uncertain times and
17:43 want to keep safety in mind
17:45 while we continue operations, including public participation in
17:48 our board meetings.
17:50 After tonight’s board meeting, we will evaluate how this process
17:53 worked
17:54 and consider where we may need to make some improvements.
17:57 Again, thank you for being patient in these challenging times.
18:00 Pam, roll call please.
18:04 Mrs. Belford?
18:05 Present.
18:06 Mrs. Campbell?
18:07 Present.
18:08 Mrs. Deskovich?
18:09 Present.
18:10 Mrs. McDougall?
18:11 Present.
18:12 And Mr. Susan?
18:13 Present.
18:14 Please stand while we say the Pledge of Allegiance.
18:17 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
18:24 and to the republic for which it stands,
18:27 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
18:33 all.
18:34 At this time, it is appropriate for us to recognize the great
18:37 work of our teams during this crisis.
18:40 Board members, if we could save our normal acknowledgements for
18:42 after we’ve gotten through all of this,
18:45 I think that our team has certainly gone above and beyond in the
18:48 past couple of weeks.
18:50 And so if any of you would like to take this opportunity to
18:52 acknowledge any particular individuals or the team as a whole,
18:55 I would ask that you do that at this time.
18:58 Any board members?
19:00 Ms. Deskovich?
19:02 Maybe if we each take a team.
19:04 There’s so many.
19:05 Sure.
19:06 There’s so many.
19:07 I don’t want to pick one over the other, but I’ll start with one
19:09 and then maybe you guys can pick up from there.
19:11 I’ll start with Mr. Cheatham, wherever.
19:12 He was just in here and I asked him how many hours of sleep he’s
19:14 getting and he just kind of shook his head.
19:17 So I don’t know if that means no sleep or very little sleep.
19:20 Our IT team has been scrambling, to say the least, to get
19:25 technology in place to go from a fully functioning 70,000-plus
19:30 student school district in-person hands-on
19:33 to a school district that’s going to be doing virtual or
19:36 distance learning.
19:38 I just can’t imagine everything that he and his team are doing.
19:44 Mr. Cheatham, I’m giving you accolades right now.
19:47 We want to thank him and his team for all the hours they’re
19:50 putting in for all the time and ask the public to be a little
19:54 patient with them.
19:55 I imagine there’s going to be a lot of technology fails over the
19:59 next few weeks and that’s not because they’re not working really
20:04 hard and not trying.
20:06 Thank you, Mr. Cheatham.
20:07 Thank you, Ms. Deskovich.
20:09 Ms. McDougall?
20:11 I want to give a shout out to Kevin Thornton and his team at
20:14 Food Services.
20:16 What an amazing job and how quick they put it together and they
20:21 are just expanding now to more schools.
20:24 So we have a total of 27 and I’m hopeful that we may even have a
20:28 moving truck or van to go around to kids who can’t make it to
20:32 the school.
20:33 So kudos, very much so, to the food service, everybody who works
20:37 there and to Kevin and his team.
20:39 So thank you.
20:41 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.
20:42 Ms. Campbell?
20:43 All right.
20:44 Well, I want to do government community relations, but I did
20:47 promise some of our food nutrition services that I was going to
20:52 do something tonight.
20:53 And I think it was almost a dare to put my hair net on.
20:57 I’m only going to wear it for a little bit, but just want to
20:59 recognize our great staff at all of our schools who are putting
21:02 lunches together.
21:04 We fed 599 students at Central Middle School today.
21:08 So it was pretty amazing.
21:10 Yay.
21:11 It was quite a workout.
21:12 So, but kudos to them.
21:14 But government community relations has done such a fantastic job
21:18 in the last week and a half communicating when we really don’t
21:22 have all the information.
21:23 Because we’re waiting on the state, we’re waiting on, you know,
21:26 just had spring break and not everybody’s been working.
21:30 I particularly want to recognize Katherine Allen, Kat Allen, for
21:35 her presence on social media because that is a lot of places
21:39 where people are asking questions.
21:42 And while really it’s not always the best place to ask questions,
21:45 she has been so consistent to provide answers just minute by
21:49 minute.
21:50 And I mean, I think Ms. Hensley told me she was up, you know,
21:53 into the late hour sometimes answering questions, which has just
21:58 been a calming presence.
22:00 And so I just – I’m so thankful for her.
22:02 And also to Sarah Allman and Deborah Foley for keeping our
22:05 partners in education in the loop through this.
22:08 They have been consistently reaching out to them.
22:10 And it’s such a great partnership both ways, us helping them and
22:13 them helping us.
22:14 And just want to thank – I’m thankful for their leadership in
22:18 that area.
22:19 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
22:20 And Mr. Susan?
22:21 Yeah, I just wanted to echo those thoughts for Mr. Thornton and
22:25 his food and services team.
22:29 Today at Sherwood, they did over 800 meals in one school, in the
22:32 elementary school.
22:34 And he also delivered into the TurnQuest Center, the Meadows –
22:39 inside the Meadows Mobile Home Park was over 145 kids standing
22:44 there waiting for food.
22:45 And I’ve never seen inside that kind of a – area of the poverty
22:49 that’s happening right now with a lot of these families who can’t
22:53 work.
22:54 And I think that we as a school district are the backbone for
22:57 this community.
22:58 And I’ve never been more proud of individuals all the way from
23:01 soup to nuts, all the way from the superintendent, all the way
23:03 down to our parents.
23:05 And a lot of our – our parents, our superintendent, our staff,
23:08 and our teachers who are getting ready to do something that’s
23:11 never been done before.
23:13 And whether we all sit back and do everything perfect, it’s all
23:17 going to come down to that piece where they are working with
23:21 those kids one-on-one.
23:22 Making sure that they have their assignments and making sure
23:25 that they’re getting counted.
23:27 And we’re all in this together.
23:29 And for a lot of the people that are being inconvenienced across
23:31 the district, they need to understand that we’re trying the best
23:34 we can.
23:35 And everybody’s in this together.
23:36 And to work with us, not against us.
23:38 And I think that needs to be said.
23:39 I also wanted to say that I’m really, really excited to also say
23:43 that the Grissom Parkway is being sold tonight.
23:47 And that’s a big deal for a lot of us.
23:49 Because a lot of what we do as far as having our vacant land on
23:52 the properties for sale brings us more revenue and stuff like
23:55 that for us to do stuff.
23:56 So that’s it.
23:57 Thank you.
23:58 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
24:05 Dr. Mullins, did you want to postpone your recognition or did
24:09 you want to?
24:10 Yeah, I’ll wait until our continuity of services presentation.
24:13 So thank you.
24:14 Okay, super.
24:15 And I guess this is the appropriate time to do so.
24:20 Our partners at BFT have opted not to attend our meeting this
24:25 evening.
24:27 But Mr. Colucci did reach out to me and ask if I would be
24:30 willing to share a message on his behalf.
24:32 And I think this is probably the appropriate place for it.
24:37 I did ask him to send me an email because I didn’t want to misspeak
24:39 on his behalf.
24:40 So I am speaking exactly what Mr. Colucci has sent me, just so
24:43 everyone is aware.
24:45 He said, “I wanted to thank the staff for the incredible work
24:48 they’ve done to make sure a quality education will continue for
24:51 our students.
24:52 I know that they’ve been working day and night to put a plan in
24:54 action while dealing with ever-changing circumstances.
24:58 They’ve done an amazing job of communicating with us and
25:00 responding to the concerns of our teachers.
25:03 I also want to thank our teachers who’ve been patient, calm, and
25:05 eager to provide the best possible instruction for our students
25:09 during this unprecedented situation.
25:11 I’m very pleased that we successfully negotiated a memorandum of
25:14 agreement this afternoon.
25:16 The parameters put in place in this agreement address many of
25:18 our teachers’ concerns surrounding COVID-19.
25:21 This agreement will enable them to focus on providing the best
25:23 possible education for students.
25:25 We know that there will be some bumps in the road, but we are
25:27 confident that together we’ll effectively deal with these
25:30 challenges and that our students will continue to receive an
25:33 outstanding education.”
25:34 So thank you, Mr. Colucci, for recognizing all of the hard work
25:38 of our team members.
25:40 And I will actually echo Mr. Colucci’s sentiments, which is not
25:43 something that happens all the time, but I think that the
25:48 superintendent, the district team, all of our school leaders,
25:51 all of our staff in so many different areas of the district have
25:55 been working so hard at making sure that our students will come
25:59 back and get an education, even if not in our normal environment.
26:03 So, uh, Dr. Mullins, thank you for all that you have done as far
26:06 as your leadership and to all of our staff.
26:09 We appreciate you immensely.
26:10 Um, that brings.
26:13 Ms. Belford.
26:15 Yes.
26:16 Ms. Deskovich.
26:17 They said these microphones aren’t as loud.
26:18 I just want to make sure because we each took a department, but
26:21 we didn’t specifically acknowledge, I don’t want anyone to feel
26:22 left out.
26:23 These people are working so hard.
26:24 Yes.
26:25 We didn’t acknowledge HR or leading and learning and talk about
26:27 huge departments that have had a huge role in what’s been going
26:30 on lately.
26:31 So just want to include, um, Dr. Thetty because she, you know,
26:34 hours today and leading up today to negotiating with the union
26:38 with everything else going on, trying to, um, make sure our 9,000
26:43 employees have the information that they need in this time of
26:46 crisis about their employment.
26:48 She, she’s led the charge with that.
26:50 So a huge thank you to her.
26:51 And then, you know, leading and learning is underneath all of
26:54 this, everything that’s going on.
26:57 Maybe that’s what you’re going to cover in a bit with the, I
27:00 just needed to say thank you to them.
27:02 Yes.
27:03 And student services as well.
27:04 Who’s been, um, I understand.
27:05 I haven’t seen it yet, but I understand that Chris Moore did a,
27:07 uh, a Facebook live today with some information for our, our
27:10 families with students with special needs.
27:13 So it really has been an, and all, all hands on deck.
27:16 And, you know, Mr. Gibbs rarely gets recognition as he’s sitting
27:19 at the end of the table, but he has been incredibly involved in
27:21 all that has been going on as well.
27:23 Making sure that we are, are, uh, following the law along the
27:25 way and, and doing what we need to do, Mr. Susan.
27:28 Uh, the Brevard Schools Foundation has begun to pack, um, all of
27:31 the stuff for our homeless children across the district.
27:34 I was in, uh, Wickham Park coordinating with the park rangers
27:37 today to try to make sure that all of our children that are
27:40 inside there get their hygiene packs along with the food and
27:44 everything else that we’re getting ready to do.
27:45 So Brevard Schools Foundation and their work with our homeless
27:48 populations is, is gotta go shout out to.
27:51 It’s the backbone right there.
27:53 Very good.
27:54 Thank you.
27:55 Anyone else that we, I’m sure we, we missed people along the way,
27:58 but, um, Mr. Novelli and operations and all the work that they
28:02 have been doing.
28:03 And yeah, Sue, oh, Sue and facility. Sue actually made our
28:07 meeting tonight possible.
28:08 Uh, she, she will tell you that she worked with a great
28:10 collaborative team, but, uh, she was kind of taking the lead on
28:13 that.
28:14 Not to mention all of the facilities issues and, and handling
28:16 all of that.
28:17 So, um, really and truly every single department in this
28:20 district has been working insanely to try to make this really
28:24 challenging situation work for our students.
28:26 And, and not to, uh, Ms. Lisinski, our new CFO.
28:31 Yes.
28:32 Boy, she sure came on board at, uh, uh, unsuspecting time, but,
28:36 uh, just, just so fortunate to have her.
28:39 And she has jumped in and been so supportive of our staff and is
28:43 already helping make us better by analyzing and looking at what,
28:47 what, uh, expense savings can we be putting into place right now.
28:51 And, uh, so she’s leading the charge with her staff on that.
28:55 So, uh, it really has been a hundred percent full team effort.
28:59 The district staff behind the people you just mentioned, uh, are
29:03 a legion of warriors of not great number, but of great character
29:08 and commitment and dedication to this organization, to this
29:11 community.
29:12 Um, we, we can’t do what we have done in a week’s time.
29:18 Mind you with spring break in there and people had taken leave
29:22 and gave it up and said, this is too important and came in and
29:26 responded and, and have put things into place.
29:29 Um, the, the, the, the presentation you’re going to see shortly
29:33 shows where all this work has occurred in less than a week and a
29:36 half.
29:37 And, um, it’s just a tremendous demonstration of what Brevard
29:42 public schools is about.
29:45 Um, it’s times like this, you know, we’ve been a, we’re, we’re
29:49 probably one of the most unique geographic districts in the
29:53 state of Florida, 80 miles long.
29:55 80 miles long.
29:56 And we have been areas of a district or school system for many,
30:01 for decades, area one, two, three, four, north, central, south.
30:06 But the reality is it is at a time like this, that we’re able to
30:10 bring to our community this kind of work because we come
30:14 together as one Brevard.
30:17 And, uh, I just couldn’t be more proud to be part of this
30:20 organization, uh, to be leading this organization with the army
30:24 of folks who just daily and selflessly commit themselves to
30:28 serving our kids and our families and, and our community, uh, in
30:32 this capacity.
30:33 So, um, I’ll, I couldn’t, I couldn’t hold out any longer.
30:37 I’ll probably say a few more comments, uh, in a minute, but.
30:40 Ms. Belford.
30:41 I’m sorry.
30:42 One, I, Dr. Thuddy would like to, um, pass the acknowledgement
30:47 to her to directly that I just did.
30:49 Uh, she said that Carly Green is the one that did the
30:51 negotiating today and Carol.
30:53 Oh, I mean, Carol Green was the one that did the negotiating
30:55 today and that we should acknowledge her instead, just in true
30:59 leadership fashion, like Dr. Thuddy does.
31:02 And that the small team of Mark Langdorf, Mike Alba and Rick
31:05 Morton, uh, have been carrying a lot of weight back there.
31:08 Thank you.
31:08 Excellent.
31:09 Thank you to all of those.
31:10 And thank you for passing that message along Ms. Deskovich.
31:13 Um, that is going to bring us to the adoption of the agenda.
31:17 And I would like to request that we consider one small change to
31:21 the agenda this evening.
31:24 And that is that we actually move our public comment, um, prior
31:29 to the, um, presentation on, sorry, I can’t, uh, I got my
31:36 computer covered up here.
31:38 Um, if we can move public comment up, uh, just after the
31:41 adoption of the agenda so that our public can get back to, uh,
31:45 an isolated situation, hopefully.
31:48 Um, if the board is open to that, then I would, um, I will ask
31:55 Dr. Mullins to read us the agenda, but then we will need a
31:58 motion to approve the agenda with amending the location of the
32:01 public comment section.
32:04 Does that make sense to you guys?
32:05 Mm-hmm.
32:06 Okay.
32:07 So Dr. Mullins, if you would, um, give us the details on the
32:11 agenda.
32:12 Madam Chair and members of the board, on tonight’s agenda, we
32:14 have administrative staff recommendations, a presentation, 20
32:18 consent items, four action items, and two information items.
32:22 You also have the yellow supplemental agenda, which are changes
32:24 made to the agenda since being released to the public.
32:27 Item A7 on administrative staff recommendations, F10 on student
32:31 expulsions, F11 on meeting minutes, G30 on entry of final order,
32:36 and G31 on procurement solicitations received revisions.
32:42 Item G33 on temporary delegation of procurement authority, and H34
32:47 on draft resolution regarding the extension of sales surtax
32:51 additions.
32:52 Item H34 also received subsequent revisions.
32:57 An FMEA recognition item and a military child month resolution
33:01 have been deleted from this agenda.
33:04 What are the wishes of the board?
33:06 Move to approve.
33:07 Second.
33:08 Um, with an amendment.
33:09 With the amendment?
33:10 Open for discussion.
33:11 Okay.
33:13 Madam Chair, I recommend that we amend the order of the agenda
33:16 this evening to move public comment before the presentation.
33:20 Okay.
33:21 Is there a second to Ms. Campbell’s motion?
33:23 I will second that.
33:24 Ms. McDougal has seconded.
33:25 Is there any discussion on the amendment?
33:27 All right.
33:28 Then, Pam, I will need to call for a voice vote on the amendment,
33:32 I’m guessing.
33:33 Yes.
33:34 Who seconded?
33:35 Ms. Campbell seconded.
33:36 I’m sorry, Ms. McDougal seconded.
33:38 Ms. McDougal seconded.
33:39 May I ask something?
33:40 If the motion, the recommendation is about the March 24th, 20th
33:44 school board meeting agenda
33:49 and its revision, do we have, do we have to have a second motion
33:57 to, okay.
33:59 The original was the revisions as laid out by Dr. Mullins.
34:05 The amendment is so that she would permit the chair’s request to
34:08 move public comment up.
34:10 So you need to submit an amendment there and second to the
34:12 amendment.
34:13 So the motion now is as amended.
34:16 Ms. McDougal seconded.
34:18 Do we need to vote on the amendment first?
34:20 There’s only one thing to vote on.
34:22 Ms. McDougal seconded.
34:24 Okay.
34:25 Ms. McDougal seconded.
34:26 Do you need a voice vote on that?
34:28 Ms. McDougal seconded.
34:29 I do not.
34:30 Okay.
34:31 Then I will call the question.
34:38 Please vote.
34:39 You’re so good, Ms. McDougal seconded.
34:43 Wow.
34:44 This is popped right on that.
34:47 All right.
34:49 And the motion passes 5-0.
35:02 Okay.
35:04 Given that we have moved our public comment to this area of the
35:09 agenda.
35:10 As indicated in my opening statement, I will call those who
35:17 signed up to speak one at a time.
35:25 A deputy or staff member will escort you to the boardroom where
35:27 you will have three minutes to make comments.
35:30 After the conclusion of your statements, you will be escorted
35:32 back to the front courtyard.
35:34 Please be mindful of social distancing parameters at all times.
35:38 Ms. Escobar, have you gotten names of speakers yet?
35:47 Yes.
35:48 Bob Cusimano and Joanna Cusimano.
35:49 Okay.
35:50 Bob Cusimano and Joanna Cusimano, if you would please, with your
35:56 deputy escort, make your way to the boardroom for your public
36:02 comment opportunity.
36:02 I will be able to do the boardroom for your public comment.
36:55 Thank you, Ms. Church.
36:56 Thank you, Major Lanzo.
37:14 Mr. and Mrs. Cusimano, I do want to –
37:17 so I’m assuming that you all heard the instructions out there as
37:20 far as standing back,
37:21 so I will turn the mic on so you will have the opportunity to
37:23 speak.
37:24 Given the nature of what you’ve come to speak to us about
37:26 tonight,
37:27 I just want to make sure that you are aware that this is a televised
37:29 meeting,
37:30 so if there’s any private information that you don’t want to
37:32 share,
37:33 I just want to make sure that you keep that top of mind
37:36 because it is going out to the entire world, okay?
37:39 And typically, our speakers have three minutes to speak,
37:42 so I have a clock here in front of me that I will start when you
37:45 are ready to speak.
37:47 It will show you when the time is almost up.
37:49 At the end of three minutes, I will, if you’re not done,
37:51 interrupt you and ask you to wrap up so that we can take our
37:54 next speaker.
37:56 We have obvious public decorum requests when you’re speaking.
38:00 Make sure that you’re respectful.
38:02 Don’t give private information.
38:05 Name individual staff members.
38:07 No profanity.
38:09 We want to keep it family-friendly, that sort of thing.
38:11 So I’m sure we won’t have any issue with that.
38:13 All right, super.
38:14 Then I’m going to go ahead and start your time and turn on your
38:18 mic.
38:20 Okay.
38:21 There you go.
38:22 I’m going to talk about my son, Glenn, and the expulsion.
38:27 I’m going to talk about, I’ll start with October.
38:30 He broke up with his girlfriend.
38:31 People were texting, asking what happened.
38:34 He was upset and impulsively, I guess probably from his ADD,
38:38 said to leave him alone and stay away.
38:42 He did not make a threat or say he was going to use a weapon.
38:46 We never saw the Instagram trail, but the one I did see just
38:50 said that, to stay away, and others added to it and also put it
38:55 on Snapchat.
38:56 The sheriff saw it and said they did not even consider it a
38:59 threat.
39:00 The school said it was, so he was suspended.
39:03 During the MDR, we didn’t agree it was not from his disability.
39:09 But the dean stepped out, said she spoke to the board on the
39:12 phone and came back with a decision to put him in ALC.
39:18 She also stated that, said if we fight it, he would be expelled.
39:23 So we went with the ALC decision.
39:26 In February, the latest issue, friends were talking about
39:31 sneaking drugs and knives into ALC and how they would do it.
39:36 He joined the conversation, this was on a Friday, and in jest,
39:39 like the others were doing, said he would sneak in a gun.
39:43 Note, he did not make a threat.
39:45 On Monday, he heard people talking about him.
39:48 A person asked if she was on his list.
39:51 He did not answer, because he didn’t want to get into trouble.
39:56 That person went back to the group and said we were on his list,
40:05 which was the start of the rumor mill.
40:08 He was suspended based on hearsay.
40:11 The October paperwork in the packet you have states vague threat,
40:15 because there was no threat made.
40:20 And I don’t understand why it says with intent.
40:23 He doesn’t have a weapon, and he never made the threat to begin
40:25 with.
40:26 And also, this was done on a school holiday, so I don’t know how
40:28 there was any interruption.
40:30 The packet also states martial arts weapons on his wall.
40:33 They were $5 from Goodwill.
40:35 They’re decorations.
40:36 They’re not sharp.
40:37 And I said before, it’s like hanging a baseball bat up on your
40:40 room.
40:41 It’s just there for display.
40:43 For both the October and February MDR, we did not agree that it
40:47 was not from his disability.
40:49 To repeat, he never made a threat.
40:51 Others either added to his post or extrapolated from when he was
40:55 so scared to answer a question,
40:57 because he didn’t want to get in trouble.
40:59 Please consider what actually was said versus what was added and
41:02 misinterpreted.
41:04 Thank you.
41:06 Thank you, sir.
41:08 Thank you.
41:13 Mrs. Kisimano.
41:18 Good evening.
41:22 Glenn has never been given.
41:26 Glenn has never been given due process for either the first
41:29 incident in October or the second incident in February.
41:35 For the first incident in October, somehow people mistakenly
41:40 took what other students posted as something Glenn had posted
41:45 himself.
41:46 This created a misconception of what actually was posted.
41:56 Glenn had stated his innocence from the very beginning.
42:00 He even told– when he had the MDR, he never threatened anybody.
42:05 For the second incident in February, statements about him are
42:09 untrue.
42:10 He is an ESE student with ADHD that just came out during the MDR.
42:17 Didn’t even have the paperwork.
42:19 He also has a processing disability.
42:25 He has trouble getting what’s in his mind out.
42:28 So when they told him to write something down, he just, you know,
42:32 came what came to his mind.
42:35 As a result, his statement does not reflect all that he believes
42:39 happened.
42:40 Glenn told me verbally, because he’s good at telling you
42:42 verbally what happened, his side of what happened.
42:46 The accusations against my son Glenn leave out so much.
42:51 They left out their part of what they were saying.
42:54 Because it was a conversation between everybody.
42:58 How can my son Glenn be expelled when he has not been able to
43:03 tell what actually happened in October and in February?
43:09 Please remember that there are two sides to every story.
43:13 And I’m a parent, and I believe my son.
43:17 He’s told me from the very beginning.
43:19 And during the first MDR, I just stood there.
43:24 Because she just wouldn’t let us, she just told us verbally
43:28 everything.
43:29 And we just stood there.
43:30 And my husband and I are not ones to start trouble.
43:34 We just stood there.
43:35 I said, my son did something, and we had to go forth.
43:38 And then when the second one happened, I said, oh my gosh, this
43:41 can’t be happening.
43:43 If I could tell you what my son’s been through, through the
43:46 school system, you’d be shocked.
43:48 And I just wish that you would consider not dispelling my son,
43:52 because he doesn’t deserve it.
43:54 He’s been through a lot.
43:55 And I hope that you can look into the, you know what, really, my
43:59 son would never threaten the school.
44:02 He would never do that.
44:03 And I hope you believe me, because my son would not do that.
44:07 Thank you for your time.
44:10 Thank you.
44:11 Ms. Belford, may I really quick?
44:14 Are you just speaking to them?
44:17 I want to ask somebody from staff to meet them in the hallway
44:19 and show them a document that I was referencing earlier.
44:23 Yes.
44:24 Is that a yes, I may?
44:26 Yes, you may address that.
44:27 Okay.
44:28 I reviewed the packet earlier today.
44:30 And if Ms. Moore or Dr. Sullivan, whoever is appropriate and has
44:33 that document right now in your packet, because you referenced
44:37 that due process didn’t happen, one of the documents is signed
44:43 by, I don’t know if it’s by you, sir, or by you, ma’am.
44:46 Because we have a process for this.
44:47 We have a whole hearing where you can come before three board
44:50 members and we can work through this of why you don’t, you know,
44:53 work through the due process.
44:55 That’s where you petition to say you didn’t get due process.
44:57 Right.
44:58 We passed that because that document was signed.
45:00 So one of them will meet you out there in the building, but they
45:02 didn’t want to be in here tonight.
45:04 One of them will meet you in the hallway with that packet and
45:07 maybe you can review that with them because I’m confused.
45:10 I can comment on that if you want.
45:12 We can tell you why we didn’t.
45:14 Why you signed the due process?
45:15 Yes.
45:16 If the chair would allow, I would like to hear why you signed
45:18 the due process, why you checked the box that said you didn’t
45:21 want the hearing, you didn’t want the due process, and now
45:24 tonight you want the due process.
45:26 Yeah, the reason was, like I said in my first statement, was
45:30 that was the one in October.
45:32 And the person that was in the room, the dean, she had told us,
45:36 well, if you try to fight it with the board, you’ll probably get
45:40 him expelled.
45:42 He goes, you got to go to ALC or you’ll get him expelled.
45:45 She goes, I suggest you just do that.
45:48 I said, okay.
45:49 Figuring that I would be trusting her because I didn’t know.
45:51 We never did this before.
45:52 I don’t know about the board.
45:53 I don’t know who you guys are.
45:54 Just very nerve-wracking, scary, all that kind of stuff.
45:57 Like, ooh, do I got to go in front of this board?
45:59 What are they going to do to us?
46:00 I said, well, I don’t want to do that.
46:01 I want my son to stay in school.
46:03 It’s not the best of circumstances, but we’ll go forward.
46:06 I didn’t agree with the whole thing to begin with, but I said,
46:09 this is where we’re at, and I’m trusting you guys to lead me to
46:12 the right place.
46:14 And that’s what she told me.
46:15 She said, well, if you do the hearing, you’ll probably get
46:17 expelled.
46:18 And she knew we didn’t want to get expelled because we were both
46:20 crying about it before we even entered the room.
46:23 Okay.
46:24 She knew exactly where to poke.
46:27 Thank you very much.
46:28 You’re welcome.
46:29 Does anyone on the board know, do you get an opportunity?
46:31 Are you presented with that option again when something happens
46:35 at the ALC and you’re now going to go through the expulsion
46:38 process?
46:39 So I think probably given the delicacy of this particular issue,
46:46 if we could have them meet with staff outside and then if you
46:52 all would like to take a brief recess to individually speak with
46:55 staff about any questions that you have prior to actually voting
46:58 on the item, we could probably accommodate that as long as it’s
47:02 not, I mean, I don’t want to drag the meeting on for all night
47:05 long, but I certainly want to make sure that our questions are
47:07 answered.
47:08 We have that question and a couple other for them.
47:10 Okay.
47:11 So if Dr. Sullivan or Ms. Moore, if you can hear me, if you know
47:13 the answers to those questions, maybe we can meet out.
47:15 Ms. Moore is on her way to meet with the parents in the corridor.
47:19 We would just ask that you respect social distancing when
47:21 speaking with Ms. Moore.
47:23 Of course.
47:24 Thank you.
47:26 Thank you all for joining us and Major Lanza will escort you
47:28 back out so you can speak with Ms. Moore, okay?
47:29 Thank you.
47:30 Thank you for being here this evening.
47:31 We appreciate you taking the time.
47:33 Thank you.
47:34 Hopefully we weren’t scary.
47:35 Okay.
47:36 That concludes our public comment section of the meeting and I
47:44 believe Dr. Mullins that brings us to the administrative staff
47:50 recommendations.
47:50 There are three persons on this evening’s agenda for the board
47:55 to consider.
47:57 What are the wishes of the board?
47:59 Second.
48:00 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Deskovich.
48:05 Is there any discussion?
48:07 All right.
48:08 Please vote.
48:09 All right.
48:10 Thank you.
48:39 Dr. Mullins.
48:40 Is it not coming up?
48:40 It’s not showing on my screen.
48:41 Did you have five votes on that Ms. Escobar?
48:42 Yes.
48:43 You all had.
48:44 Oh, you guys can see it now.
48:45 Look at that.
48:46 Okay.
48:47 And the motion passes 5-0.
48:48 All right.
48:49 Dr. Mullins, we are ready for the presentation about the
48:51 continuity of services update for COVID-19.
48:54 If I may, Madam Chair, just to take a moment to introduce what
48:59 you’re going to see in a moment.
49:16 We began our efforts to prepare for the closure of schools a
49:21 little over a week ago.
49:23 That came late on a Friday afternoon.
49:28 And senior cabinet, we got the notification between 4 and 5 o’clock
49:34 on a Friday afternoon.
49:36 And our senior cabinet refused to leave until we got a handle on
49:40 that.
49:41 I think we left the building shortly before 9 o’clock that night.
49:46 Just the dedication and the commitment to that.
49:48 But it doesn’t end there.
49:50 We recognized a lot of senior cabinet members.
49:53 But the trickle-down effect.
49:56 And then, ultimately, I have to give huge kudos and shout-out to
50:00 our school leaders as well, our principals and assistant
50:05 principals.
50:05 Because even they, while on spring break, and in some cases even
50:10 their schools were closed because all of the school staff had
50:15 taken personal leave, came together to start getting informed
50:20 and understand what we were going to be facing as a community,
50:22 as a school district in the coming days.
50:24 The effort, I don’t know if a day has gone by that, I did say, I
50:29 think the last 24 hours has been the least information changing
50:35 that we’ve had in the course of the last week.
50:39 But, and not due to anyone’s fault.
50:42 It’s just the circumstances of what we’re dealing with.
50:45 The word unprecedented couldn’t be overstated.
50:50 But our school-based leaders have done an amazing job of
50:55 preparing their staff, communicating with their teachers,
51:00 beginning to set up plans and accommodations and adjustments to
51:04 what need to be done to tomorrow.
51:08 We’re going to be launching training for teachers.
51:11 We begin device checkouts.
51:13 We begin supporting staff out in the field, if you will, and
51:19 then making contact with their hundreds and thousands, in some
51:24 cases, of their students across their school community.
51:28 Fielding questions, being adjustable, being flexible.
51:33 It’s, I can’t begin to capture the hours of effort and the poise,
51:38 professionalism, commitment to flexibility.
51:42 We’ve used the word grace and flexibility no short of 100 times
51:46 in the last few days.
51:48 And our school-based leaders, our principals, administrators,
51:52 our district leaders have just been exemplars of those two words.
51:57 And I will, it’s interesting that we’re really on Monday, March
52:04 30th, starting the third, now the third first day of school.
52:13 One was August 10th.
52:15 The other was September something, post-Hurricane Dorian.
52:20 And then March 30th will be the third first day of school for
52:24 this school year as a result of a pandemic.
52:27 So just our leaders carrying the charge and providing great
52:31 stability and support to our community and our families and our
52:35 kids is nothing short than miraculous.
52:41 And I couldn’t be, again, more proud to lead this organization
52:44 with the demonstration of leadership behind me and alongside me
52:48 that has been demonstrated.
52:50 So with that, you’re going to see kind of a collage of
52:56 information from several of our district divisions of the work
53:01 that has been done.
53:03 But I think it’s a nice collection.
53:05 It’s not fancy, but it’s functional and it’s practical given all
53:09 of the other things they’re doing.
53:11 But we wanted to give the board a glimpse of the work that’s
53:14 been done over the last several days, as well as it’s a good
53:18 reference for our community as they begin to understand what an
53:22 organization that consists of
53:26 over 9,000 employees, over 70,000 clients, over a stretch of 80
53:32 miles and 83 different sites of learning.
53:36 Well, probably closer to 90 sites of learning when we take in
53:39 our special centers and so on.
53:41 So with that, I’ll turn it over to the presentation.
53:46 Good evening, board members.
53:49 In this presentation, cabinet members will provide an update on
53:54 how each division is ensuring continuity of services through
53:59 restrictions in response to COVID-19.
54:02 Good evening.
54:05 Educational technologies COVID-19 update to the board will cover
54:08 how we’re handling the challenges of online education and
54:13 communication,
54:14 learning of devices to students and staff, procuring hot spots,
54:19 and dealing with the possibilities of a remote workforce.
54:26 Online education and communication.
54:29 Our teacher technology integrators have been creating new
54:32 instructions and providing training for instructional and non-instructional
54:36 staff members.
54:37 They’ve also created materials to support online learning for
54:40 our students and parents.
54:42 Finally, this team has been supporting and configuring our Focus
54:46 Gradebook and the Launchpad to support Revard’s online
54:49 educational and additional communication needs.
54:55 Device availability.
54:58 Computing devices.
55:00 Our network team has been updating system protocols and
55:03 configurations, installing necessary software, and working to
55:07 create device-loan documentation.
55:11 Our staff is working with school leadership on distribution
55:16 plans.
55:17 Internet hotspots.
55:20 We’re working to procure devices from service providers,
55:24 although they are experiencing low inventories.
55:27 To understand the needs of both our students and staff, and we
55:32 continue to partner with our community for support on purchasing
55:35 these devices.
55:36 Remote workforce.
55:37 In the event that some staff can no longer report to their
55:43 various offices, educational technology is working to enhance
55:47 the barred software and hardware systems to support the
55:49 technological challenge that a remote workforce will present to
55:52 our network.
55:53 this situation has presented e-punches, including new protocols,
56:01 configurations, in addition to a large number of devices
56:04 possibly leaving our campuses.
56:06 The next four slides will review the functions of student
56:08 services, including exceptional student program support and
56:10 administration, English language learner program support, mental
56:13 health supports, and what is happening at our alternative site
56:17 programs.
56:19 Students with IEPs are included in the standards aligned
56:34 instructional continuity plan to the same extent as all other
56:36 students.
56:36 Web links are included providing digital supports for accessing
56:39 instructional materials on grade level for both students with
56:43 disabilities and English language learners.
56:46 Instructional and Skype, Zoom, and/or Google Chat will be used
56:50 to connect with students and monitor progress.
56:53 Paper packets will be provided as needed.
56:56 Individualized assignments, as appropriate, will be posted in
56:59 Google Classroom, focused, or sent via email.
57:02 Students on access points and class sites can access materials
57:06 through the unique portal or PDF.
57:09 Additional instructional materials may include touch math and PCI.
57:13 Parent resources will be available on the ESE webpage.
57:17 For the related services of speech and language, deaf and hard
57:20 of hearing, visual impaired, or occupational and physical
57:23 therapy,
57:24 virtual, specialized instruction will be provided to the
57:27 greatest extent possible.
57:29 In order to maintain compliance with special education and
57:33 related services,
57:34 exceptional student education supports school-based teachers and
57:38 staff to ensure compliance with IEP services.
57:42 This plan may include specialized instruction and related
57:46 services to the extent it can be practiced remotely.
57:49 All areas of a student’s IEP or Section 504 accommodation plan
57:53 will be considered.
57:55 In Section 504, teams will monitor each student’s progress and
58:00 determine what, if any, remediation may be needed upon return to
58:03 school.
58:03 The student’s placement.
58:04 Any and all required evaluations or meetings may also be held
58:08 remotely and virtually to the extent practical.
58:12 If there is any type of delay, the nature and extent of the
58:15 delay and a plan to move as quickly as possible to prevent
58:19 further delay shall be documented.
58:21 ESE support specialists will begin assisting schools to schedule
58:24 virtual meetings the week.
58:26 Outside agency providers will continue to provide telehealth
58:32 services to their current caseload of students.
58:36 School counselors, social workers, and psychologists will check
58:39 in with current student caseloads via BPS virtual platforms and
58:43 will initiate new referral for parents or teachers.
58:47 School counselors, social workers, and school psychologists will
58:50 work to connect families and students to resources, collaborate
58:53 with instructional plans on IEP 504 and problem-solving meetings,
58:57 and will follow up with parents and families to support virtual
59:00 school attendance.
59:02 Behavior analysts and techs will collaborate and consult with
59:05 school staff and families in problem-solving virtual meetings.
59:09 They will also provide resources to school staff and families
59:13 that support student behavior as academic expectations for our
59:17 living rooms.
59:19 Our students in transition team will provide supports and
59:22 services to ensure students in transition have access to
59:25 technology for instruction, or packets, and that their personal
59:30 needs are also being met, such as food and clothing.
59:34 Our alternative sites include the Department of Juvenile Justice,
59:41 the Brevard Group Treatment Home, our two special day schools,
59:43 Fieldston and Memorial, as well as our two alternative learning
59:46 sites.
59:48 At our DJJ site, our teachers developed work packets by grade
59:50 level course for 30 days.
59:52 Students will continue to attend class with DJJ staff monitoring
59:56 them and helping.
59:57 Teachers will be available for staff to call them for academic
1:00:00 help as needed.
1:00:01 Students will receive weekly phone calls to check in on their
1:00:04 emotional and academic status.
1:00:06 At the Brevard Group Treatment Home, students will attend school
1:00:08 during the normal time with Aspire staff providing the
1:00:10 supervision and guidance.
1:00:12 Our teachers developed packets by grade level course for 30 days.
1:00:17 Our teachers met with Aspire staff, explained student work,
1:00:20 provided sample work problems, and answer keys.
1:00:23 We’ll call each student twice weekly to check on their emotional
1:00:26 and academic status.
1:00:28 At our two special day schools, Riverdale and Fieldston, the
1:00:32 parents were called by faculty members to explain the procedures
1:00:35 and alleviate misconceptions.
1:00:37 Each student was sent home with current passwords to the active
1:00:39 platforms they are currently using.
1:00:41 Students that do not have internet or a computer were sent home
1:00:44 with work packets to complete.
1:00:46 Those students will be called by a teacher daily.
1:00:49 All other students will be called twice a week from their
1:00:51 teachers.
1:00:53 There will be a faculty member at both during normal work hours.
1:00:57 At our two alternative learning centers, students will complete
1:01:01 coursework via Odysseyware, which is the current platform they
1:01:03 are using.
1:01:04 Students without computer access were allowed to sign out of
1:01:07 computer.
1:01:08 Students without internet access were given work packets.
1:01:13 Teachers will be online to help students with Odysseyware during
1:01:16 their normal work hours.
1:01:17 Students that are not completing assignments or having
1:01:20 difficulties will be called by a social worker or school
1:01:23 counselor to assess the situation.
1:01:26 Students without further ado.
1:01:27 Good evening.
1:01:30 The Division of Equity, Innovation and Choice has a variety of
1:01:33 responsibilities.
1:01:35 Our Access Grant project team will continue to update their
1:01:38 website to support Florida teachers with appropriate lessons and
1:01:43 accommodation.
1:01:44 BART after-school team will develop lessons and activities for
1:01:48 families, which will be posted to their website.
1:01:52 Adult Education currently has an online educational platform to
1:01:56 continue to support their students.
1:01:58 EIC communicates daily with all charter schools to offer support
1:02:02 and update them with district plans.
1:02:05 Our charter schools are responsible for developing their own
1:02:09 educational continuity plan as they often use different
1:02:12 curriculum materials.
1:02:19 The facilities department is continuing to monitor cleaning
1:02:21 protocols from the Department of Health and the Department of
1:02:23 Education.
1:02:25 Our environmental health and safety team is regularly reaching
1:02:27 out to schools and providing assistance when requested.
1:02:30 We are already executing and planning for maintenance and minor
1:02:33 improvement projects in schools while students are not in the
1:02:36 buildings.
1:02:37 These efforts are being coordinated with school administrators.
1:02:40 The team is continuing to plan for summer construction projects
1:02:44 and potentially starting earlier if that opportunity is
1:02:45 available.
1:02:47 Concurrently, we are communicating with our vendors in the event
1:02:50 of material or worker shortages to execute projects.
1:02:53 Finally, we are working with the finance team to estimate
1:02:56 utility cost savings that will result in reduced usage of our
1:02:59 facilities.
1:03:00 Food and Nutrition Services.
1:03:06 We are pleased to announce that the following schools opened as
1:03:09 food distribution centers on Monday, March 23rd, and will
1:03:12 continue on weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
1:03:18 Those schools are Atlantis, Cambridge, Cape View, Central Middle,
1:03:19 Gulf View, Jupiter, Myla, Mims, Sherwood, Sunrise, Turner, and
1:03:31 University Park.
1:03:32 Additional sites are being planned for subsequent weeks.
1:03:36 Our procurement and distribution schools and departments will
1:03:43 cancel travel, field trips, and events.
1:03:45 They are expediting procurement items related to COVID-19
1:03:49 outbreak, postponing non-essential selection committee and
1:03:53 vendor meetings, and modifying distribution services to assist
1:03:56 schools and district offices with emergency needs.
1:04:01 Good evening, Ms. Belford, Dr. Mullins, and Board members.
1:04:07 I’d like to provide a brief update regarding human resources
1:04:10 services and the ongoing processes to ensure we not only move
1:04:13 smoothly through this circumstance, but are also ready to finish
1:04:17 the school year and begin a new one in August.
1:04:20 Our annual career fair, originally scheduled for yesterday in a
1:04:23 face-to-face format, was converted last week to a virtual format
1:04:28 with over 150 candidates interviewing and our principals issuing
1:04:31 47 binders to teachers.
1:04:34 Thank you to Mr. Mike Dalma, his team, and to our principals for
1:04:37 thinking outside the box and for being so flexible and open to
1:04:39 new ideas.
1:04:40 Ongoing professional development to include reading endorsement
1:04:45 classes and ESOL classes has shifted to a completely virtual
1:04:48 format through Blackboard Learn and Skype.
1:04:51 We are constantly re-evaluating the upcoming courses and
1:04:55 assisting teachers where needed to ensure they can complete what
1:04:58 they have started.
1:05:00 Thank you.
1:05:01 This morning, we’ve met with…
1:05:02 We’ve developed a memorandum of understanding regarding online
1:05:04 and remote instruction.
1:05:06 I know our teachers are embarking upon a new process in teaching
1:05:10 and instruction, and I appreciate the positive attitudes and the
1:05:13 support of the BFT and of all the teachers and staff.
1:05:16 In addition, we’ve met with Local 1010-11, Mr. Schiffrin with BASA
1:05:21 as well.
1:05:23 We will continue to work with our unions to ensure we are
1:05:26 meeting the needs of all employees.
1:05:28 We have been providing staff updates to the extent possible in
1:05:32 this ever-changing landscape we are currently navigating, with
1:05:35 the most recent one being last Friday afternoon.
1:05:39 Cabinet members have been working through plans for staff whose
1:05:42 job responsibilities might be appropriate for remote work, and
1:05:45 to that end, I sent to the leadership team last night the
1:05:48 alternate work site procedures with hyperlinks.
1:05:54 Finally, while planning for the immediate circumstance in hand
1:05:56 is a priority, we are also running a parallel process to ensure
1:05:59 all daily operations of HR and the district continue to run
1:06:03 smoothly, to include typical spring processes of supplements,
1:06:08 reappointments, issuing, or just to name a few.
1:06:12 As we modify these routine tasks to our new way of work, we will
1:06:14 be communicating directly with the leadership team to keep them
1:06:17 informed and apprised of any changes.
1:06:19 Thank you so much.
1:06:21 Good evening.
1:06:23 Thank you for the opportunity to share the Elementary Instructional
1:06:27 Continuity Plan.
1:06:31 We are developing a website for our parents, teachers, and
1:06:36 students to be accessible through…
1:06:40 We will be asking students to log into FOCUS each and every day
1:06:46 for attendance and information on their daily lessons.
1:06:50 Teachers will be pushing out lessons via FOCUS.
1:06:56 Remember, you can get to the FOCUS at the launch pad.
1:07:00 We will also have a link on the main page of the BPS website
1:07:05 into the Elementary Instructional Continuity Plan.
1:07:09 Once a teacher or student logs into the Elementary School
1:07:15 Learning Platform, they will see a link to the grade level in
1:07:22 which their lessons will be stored.
1:07:25 There will also be links to the library, to PE, to…
1:07:31 Our teachers will have three different instructional options in
1:07:40 which to deliver instruction.
1:07:42 They may use the district-created lessons…
1:07:49 Our other third choice is the teacher’s autonomy to create their
1:07:49 own lessons…
1:07:50 They may also use the same district-created lessons with teacher-choice
1:07:50 enhancement…
1:07:50 If a teacher chooses to develop a teaching tool for her students,
1:08:06 she may do that and push it out through the website as well.
1:08:12 Our other third choice is the teacher’s autonomy to create their
1:08:18 own lessons based on instruction.
1:08:23 We know that our teachers know their students best.
1:08:26 And we know that our teachers know what kind of lessons our
1:08:29 students need.
1:08:31 So we’re giving our teachers these three options in which they
1:08:35 can deliver a lesson.
1:08:38 Also, we have developed a sample classroom teacher’s agenda that
1:08:44 they would be available via Skype or phone or email to connect
1:08:50 with parents or students who may have questions about their
1:08:53 instruction.
1:08:55 We also have a sample guide for students.
1:08:59 Our English language arts in elementary and in math will be
1:09:04 delivered through the iReady platform.
1:09:09 Students will be expected to spend 45 minutes with the online
1:09:14 instructional program a day for reading and 45 minutes for math.
1:09:21 We also expect our students to complete two activities a week
1:09:26 – music, art, or media.
1:09:30 And that’s a minimum.
1:09:31 Students will also be expected to do science through STEM scopes
1:09:39 and social studies in studies weekly.
1:09:43 And we do, do hope our students are reading, reading the books
1:09:47 of your choice.
1:09:50 As we know that we will need to be in touch with our students,
1:09:55 we are asking our teachers a student log where a teacher will go
1:10:02 in and record where students are instructionally and then follow
1:10:09 up with the parents and the students on anything that they need
1:10:14 help with.
1:10:16 We want to make certain that our students are logged in through
1:10:20 either iReady or Focus every day so we know they are engaged in
1:10:24 the work.
1:10:25 We have also created on our website a parent help guide because
1:10:33 we know this is a new world for all of us.
1:10:38 So parents, teachers, and students should all be working closely
1:10:43 through the elementary instructional continuity plan.
1:10:47 Make adjustments and modifications as we go through this process
1:10:52 to make it more efficient and easy to use.
1:10:56 Thank you so much.
1:10:59 Secondary medium learning has been focusing on leveraging our
1:11:03 existing resources and stress learning.
1:11:07 Many of our students and teachers work seamlessly in a variety
1:11:10 of digital platforms and will continue to utilize the tools that
1:11:14 are familiar to them.
1:11:16 The student launch pad is the center of all operations.
1:11:22 Students are very accustomed to accessing their launch pad and
1:11:24 working through many of the available resources.
1:11:27 For example, you will see we have full online textbooks for many
1:11:31 of our courses in addition to supplemental resources.
1:11:34 Students frequently access those books in lieu of taking home
1:11:38 heavy textbooks.
1:11:40 BPS Overdrive, now Libby, is an online tool that allows students
1:11:45 to check out free library books in an e-book format.
1:11:49 BPS has a significant number of online books and students can
1:11:52 also access books from a public library.
1:11:55 Each student’s launch pad is a little different depending on
1:11:58 their courses.
1:11:59 I encourage all parents to take a look at their student’s launch
1:12:02 pad.
1:12:04 In the days prior to spring break, we asked all secondary
1:12:06 students to log into their focus account and launch pad just to
1:12:10 make sure their passwords were current.
1:12:13 Within launch pad, one of the most used features is Google Docs.
1:12:18 Many of our students already submit the majority of their work
1:12:21 in this format.
1:12:22 They peer edit, share documents, and work on presentations.
1:12:26 Most of our teachers also have a Google Classroom already set up.
1:12:32 Most of our teachers can also post lessons, reading assignments,
1:12:34 problem sets, and other engaging activities.
1:12:37 For the teachers who may not previously utilize a lot of online
1:12:42 resources and content specialists,
1:12:46 created a guide for every one of our courses, well over 400 of
1:12:50 them.
1:12:51 That includes all of our elective and CTE offerings in addition
1:12:55 to all core classes.
1:12:58 We have communicated with our teachers and given them contact
1:13:01 information for help with either content, digital tools, or
1:13:06 support in student services.
1:13:07 I have been engaged in robust communication with principals and
1:13:11 our team adjusts resources as needed.
1:13:14 We are prepared for teachers in this new way of working.
1:13:19 So again, I hope that gives you a glimpse of the work that’s
1:13:24 been going on behind the scenes.
1:13:28 A lot of that will be going live tomorrow with additional
1:13:31 supports for teachers.
1:13:34 Our principals, again, have been amazing in adapting all of
1:13:38 these resources and supports to their staff.
1:13:42 They have created creative meeting environments.
1:13:49 Some folks chose to meet in person in groups of ten or less
1:13:53 while also accommodating virtual participants in those same
1:13:57 conversations.
1:13:58 And they have just, they found a way to do it.
1:14:02 And they’ve accompanied, they’ve taken advantage of the
1:14:06 resources in their building, both teacher leaders as well as
1:14:09 staff members.
1:14:11 I would say for our public, a couple things.
1:14:14 One, your child’s school remains your number one point of
1:14:20 contact.
1:14:21 For the supports, the questions, the resources, whatever you
1:14:26 need for your child’s education, their school remains their one-stop
1:14:31 shop for all things their child needs.
1:14:34 From guidance to mental health to social work support, all of
1:14:38 those types of things at their schools.
1:14:41 And our schools have plans and backup plans in place to support
1:14:46 our students and our families.
1:14:49 And the other thing I would ask of our parents, our students, we
1:14:54 will be launching the third first day of school on March 30th.
1:15:01 Just like the first first day of school, and just like the
1:15:05 second first day of school this school year, there are bumps in
1:15:08 the road.
1:15:09 There are things to work out.
1:15:12 There are some challenges to overcome.
1:15:15 And there will be inevitably on Monday, March 30th, when we ask
1:15:21 70,000 children to return to school, return to learning,
1:15:26 assigned to 5,000 different teachers,
1:15:31 at 83 schools across our district in an environment that never
1:15:35 brings them onto campus.
1:15:37 There’s going to be bumps.
1:15:39 There’s going to be some challenges.
1:15:41 But we will work through them valiantly like we have the last
1:15:45 two first days of school for 2019 and 20.
1:15:50 So we just ask for patience and grace and flexibility from our
1:15:53 students and our parents along the way, just as we’ve asked that
1:15:57 of our staff as well.
1:15:59 So thank you for the opportunity to share the work that’s been
1:16:02 going on.
1:16:04 Thank you, Dr. Mullins, and thank you to our entire team for all
1:16:07 of that great information for our families.
1:16:09 Ms. Deskovich.
1:16:10 I have a question.
1:16:12 I’m ready.
1:16:13 The last I knew, over half of our elementary schools didn’t have
1:16:15 the full instructional version.
1:16:17 Is this going to be accessible for all of them?
1:16:20 Actually, Curriculum Associates stepped up, and they’re
1:16:22 providing it to all of our teachers for this period of time.
1:16:25 Wow.
1:16:27 That is huge.
1:16:28 I don’t know how we can say thank you properly.
1:16:31 it.
1:16:31 it’s super impressive and um thank you to what the curriculum
1:16:38 associates curriculum and associates
1:16:39 i ready yes wow that’s unbelievable because that is a multi-million
1:16:44 dollar price tag if i’m correct
1:16:46 yeah i i couldn’t begin to estimate what the cost is i feel like
1:16:50 it’s a half a million for the school
1:16:52 i feel like there was like a million and a half i if i go back
1:16:54 to the budget when we wanted to
1:16:56 purchase it it’s well over a million dollars yeah i believe i
1:16:59 believe you’re right thank you
1:17:00 okay board members at this point we are approaching our consent
1:17:09 agenda and um you know we we should
1:17:13 have known that tonight was going to be a little bit squirrely
1:17:15 and it’s not because of our technology
1:17:17 or our social distancing as it turns out um per the
1:17:23 recommendation of mr gibbs instead
1:17:29 instead of recessing to allow discussion with uh individual team
1:17:32 members his recommendation was
1:17:35 that we consider uh pulling the item because we we don’t really
1:17:38 want to have discussion with our staff
1:17:41 um and we can stop filming and have discussion on that so that
1:17:57 was my plan was to ask you all for a motion
1:17:59 before we went into the consent agenda but then i just got an
1:18:03 email from um dr sullivan who says that miss
1:18:08 miss moore and she spoke to the parents and they are all good on
1:18:12 next steps so miss moore has joined us
1:18:16 in the back of the room um i think in the event oh and it looks
1:18:20 like maybe dr sullivan as well
1:18:22 so um so um so um board members i will ask for your comfort
1:18:38 level with moving forward based on the
1:18:40 information that dr sullivan and miss moore have already
1:18:43 assisted this family and things appear to be
1:18:46 resolved uh if you are comfortable doing so then i would move us
1:18:50 to uh voting on the consent agenda if
1:18:54 you are not comfortable doing so then um do we want to pull it
1:18:58 and move it to the end of the agenda
1:19:01 what is the what are the wishes of the board on that issue to
1:19:04 approve the consent
1:19:05 okay mr susan has moved to approve the consent agenda as
1:19:10 presented is there a second for discussion
1:19:13 i’ll second for discussion all right miss campbell has seconded
1:19:17 for discussion that would open us up for
1:19:19 if nobody else has concerns then we can i can pull it and we can
1:19:28 vote on it and i’ll just i’ll just vote
1:19:33 no because i still have some more questions because and if i’m
1:19:36 the only no vote then then it doesn’t hold
1:19:39 us up um if other people have concerns then i say let’s move it
1:19:44 to the end and do uh you guys following
1:19:48 me i know i’m talking in fragments i think i’m tired i’m also
1:19:51 fine with moving it to the end we’ll have
1:19:55 the same people ladies uh at our disposal for discussion my
1:19:58 question is would we be moving the entire agenda
1:20:01 item which includes all the student expulsions or just removing
1:20:04 that one from item miss miss escobar
1:20:07 has indicated that she is capable if a board member were to uh
1:20:11 request to pull item f10 uh attachment
1:20:16 2020-62s from the consent agenda that she could accommodate that
1:20:20 need i would also like to see
1:20:24 if we could i don’t have a problem moving it to the end and
1:20:26 discussing it i think it’s a good idea i
1:20:28 don’t have i don’t i mean i don’t want to make this a huge deal
1:20:30 i don’t have a ton of questions i just
1:20:32 need a few more tiny confirmations before i’m comfortable so if
1:20:35 you guys are all okay moving it then
1:20:37 do i make a motion to amend is that the so i so i’ll move that
1:20:42 we remove item
1:20:44 from item f may i make a suggestion that we pull that item first
1:20:51 and vote on the rest of the
1:20:52 of the content she’s amending it the right way yes can we just
1:20:56 on that one yes so miss miss campbell is um
1:20:59 offering an amended motion to to to just pull from item f10 the
1:21:04 expulsion 2020-62
1:21:07 second s does that work for you ms escobar that way we can leave
1:21:15 the rest in place yes on f10
1:21:19 just so you know i seconded our motion yes mr susan seconded the
1:21:27 motion to pull that item from the
1:21:30 consent agenda is there any discussion on the motion all right
1:21:34 then i will are you ready for
1:21:37 me to call for you you’re a trooper pam we love you i don’t
1:21:42 think we’ve ever done that before
1:21:44 squirrely clarification while she’s typing it will be unrecorded
1:21:51 as well so when you’re finished with the
1:21:53 meeting you will recess so they can clear us and then you will
1:21:56 discuss the specifics of the student
1:21:58 discipline off air unrecorded because it is about student
1:22:01 discipline okay and then how do we vote
1:22:05 on the final vote miss escobar can continue to take minutes so
1:22:08 she has to record the minutes it’s just
1:22:10 not recorded because you’re going to discuss student discipline
1:22:13 which is exempt from the sunshine
1:22:14 it’ll be off air and unrecorded thank you thank you mr gibbs
1:22:22 mr gibbs may i read you what i have written sure approve the
1:22:26 march 24 2020 school board meeting
1:22:29 consent agenda agenda with the exception of pulling 2020-62s
1:22:35 from item f10 and the item will be
1:22:38 discussed and unrecorded off air yes okay
1:22:50 okay so miss campbell made that motion correct yeah mr susan yes
1:22:57 mr susan seconded
1:23:04 i think we’re we can vote on the whole consent agenda with this
1:23:08 correct yes you have to vote
1:23:10 to approve the amendment then you vote to approve the act it’s
1:23:13 as amended it’s without that one item so you
1:23:16 just then moved to approve the consent as amended we didn’t vote
1:23:20 on the amendment right so we so
1:23:22 vote on the amendment the motion pending is without 2020 so if
1:23:26 she removed it so the consent item is
1:23:29 and pinned as amended but the motion was to amend so we have to
1:23:34 approve the motion to amend which the
1:23:36 second did and then we vote and then we go back and vote on the
1:23:39 whole thing yeah so we’re voting now on the amendment
1:23:42 so pam are you good with that do we need a voice vote on the
1:23:46 amendment let me ask you one more thing
1:23:48 i’m sorry i just want to make sure i don’t mess this up so if we
1:23:53 are removing 2020-62s
1:23:58 do i have to do that now before they vote and move it to
1:24:01 someplace else or i don’t know how the system
1:24:05 is set up so i mean if you just want to do it by voice and then
1:24:08 go in and fix it later you can do that
1:24:10 let’s do that that way we’re not messing so much that’s a
1:24:14 separate attachment with so would you like
1:24:15 for me to call for a voice vote on the amendment yes all right
1:24:18 at this point i will take a voice vote on
1:24:20 the amendment all in favor aye any opposed all right so the
1:24:25 amendment passes 5-0 pam okay at this point i
1:24:29 will ask for the board to uh provide direction on approval of
1:24:33 the consent agenda move to approve
1:24:36 second moved by mr susan seconded who seconded seconded by mcdougall
1:24:40 is there any discussion
1:24:44 all right please vote dr mullins i totally skipped your little
1:24:48 blurb about the consent agenda i’m sorry
1:24:50 and can we do a voice vote on that one too all right i will take
1:24:56 a voice vote on the motion to
1:24:58 approve the consent agenda minus item f10 all in favor aye aye
1:25:05 all opposed all right motion passes 5-0
1:25:14 okay we good down there miss escobar we will be do you want me
1:25:22 to hold off on moving forward
1:25:24 because we’re moving on to action no that’s fine okay
1:25:28 now we are moving on to the action agenda dr mullins miss balford
1:25:34 members of the board there are four
1:25:35 items under this category first is item g30 on the entry of
1:25:39 final order in regards to the e-rate bid
1:25:42 which you will be voting on later under the procurement solicitations
1:25:45 agenda item i understand the
1:25:48 parties have submitted written statements in lieu of attendance
1:25:51 due to social distancing before i ask
1:25:52 mr gibbs to explain the process i want to thank charter
1:25:55 communications operating llc and our school board
1:25:58 attorney for considering social distancing and cooperating with
1:26:02 the board for tonight’s meeting mr gibbs
1:26:06 thank you uh i do have a written statement from mr kenneth
1:26:11 curtain with adams and reese llp on behalf of
1:26:15 charter communications operating llc who filed the bid protest
1:26:19 and the statement is we represent charter
1:26:22 communications operating llc in this bid protest proceeding and
1:26:25 we are writing concerning the upcoming
1:26:27 meeting on march 24th 2020 wherein we understand the board will
1:26:31 consider the recommended order entered march
1:26:33 12th 2020 and the written exceptions thereto we submitted on
1:26:37 march 19th 2020 we understand that because of the
1:26:40 ongoing coven 19 crisis personal appearances at the meeting are
1:26:43 being limited and the chair has invited
1:26:45 the submissions of written statements while we would certainly
1:26:48 prefer to attend the meeting in person
1:26:50 given this invitation the current state of emergency and acting
1:26:52 consistent with state and federal directives
1:26:55 to limit travel and personal contact we are submitting this
1:26:58 statement in lieu of our personal appearance
1:27:01 in short we believe that charter has raised significant issues
1:27:04 errors and irregularities that render the
1:27:06 intended award improper and illegal or and indeed illegal these
1:27:10 these issues as well as a number of cited
1:27:13 errors in the administrative law judges recommended order being
1:27:16 considered at this meeting are addressed
1:27:18 in detail in charter’s formal formal protest and exceptions we
1:27:22 strongly encourage each board member to
1:27:24 thoroughly review the materials charter has submitted fully
1:27:27 consider the issues raised therein
1:27:29 and contemplate the potential consequences of proceeding with
1:27:33 the award we apologize for not being able to
1:27:35 attend in person but thank you for the board’s attention and due
1:27:38 consideration especially given the ongoing
1:27:40 crisis please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any
1:27:43 questions or would like to discuss this matter in more detail
1:27:49 thank you mr gibbs did you also want to give any uh explanation
1:27:53 as to process on this or would you just like to
1:27:55 let the uh recommendation stand right um as i don’t know how
1:28:00 many of these you guys have done but as a protest
1:28:03 with exceptions filed the board has to by statute vote on each
1:28:07 exception individually and then you’ll vote on how
1:28:10 you want to handle the overall process so the way i would set i
1:28:14 recommend setting it up is go through
1:28:16 the exceptions one by one you’ll vote on each one and then you’ll
1:28:20 discuss and you can have discussion
1:28:23 under each exception and then you’ll discuss the issue overall
1:28:26 and you can either approve the
1:28:27 recommended order by the alj or modify it or you can just accept
1:28:33 the uh exceptions filed and then
1:28:36 you would have to go against the recommended order and file your
1:28:40 own order are there any questions
1:28:44 so just to clarify i’m going to ask the board members to vote on
1:28:50 exception one and then exception two
1:28:54 and then you’ll have a discussion on how the board wants to
1:28:59 handle if you grant the exceptions you can
1:29:01 you’ll have to decide whether you want to grant on one of the
1:29:05 grounds and what you want to do with
1:29:06 the bid at that point if you deny the exceptions you can still
1:29:09 deviate from the recommended order
1:29:12 if you wish to or you can approve the recommended order in whole
1:29:15 if we approve the exceptions then you’re saying that the
1:29:23 recommended order was invalid for a reason
1:29:27 for the reasons stated if you deny the exceptions then you are
1:29:33 saying the recommended order was not invalid
1:29:36 you can still discuss it and go a different direction from the
1:29:41 recommended order based on all of the
1:29:43 arguments raised you do not have to approve the recommended
1:29:47 order it’s just you’re saying the
1:29:49 issues raised by the exceptions are invalid or you do not
1:29:52 believe they’re valid
1:30:00 did all board members under did all board members understand
1:30:04 that process so when you look at it on your
1:30:07 screen we have multiple actions
1:30:14 well yeah there are a lot of documents there but there are
1:30:18 multiple actions the first two are
1:30:21 presented as approve exception one approve exception two and
1:30:27 then approve the proposed final order adopting
1:30:30 are you seeing it that way yeah mr susan has it the same on the
1:30:45 so on the right side of your screen it says
1:30:47 current agenda item oh yeah entry of final order and then there’s
1:30:50 a window under that that has the actions
1:30:53 i think we both were on in we were in we were on the item
1:30:56 actually got it thank you we see it now
1:30:58 you guys got it now yeah so what i am going to do is i am going
1:31:04 to request the wishes of
1:31:06 the board on exception one
1:31:08 clarifying that approving the exception is disagreeing with the
1:31:13 alj
1:31:17 so if you approve this you’re going against right i think that’s
1:31:22 what mr gibbs just indicated approving
1:31:24 is rejecting the alj order and approving the exception right the
1:31:30 exceptions are they’re arguing
1:31:32 the alj got it wrong for the reasons stated in their right their
1:31:37 pleading which i saw so that’s what
1:31:39 your the motion is to approve the exception so if you do not
1:31:43 want to approve it you would vote no
1:31:46 and you would deny the exception do we need to move to deny so
1:31:50 the motion well you would have to you
1:31:52 can move to discuss and second it so that you open it up for
1:31:56 discussion the board can discuss the
1:31:59 exception and the reasons for its you know the reasons that it
1:32:03 believes for or against and then you
1:32:06 would vote to approve or deny at that point move to discuss
1:32:10 madam chair second move for discussion by miss
1:32:14 campbell seconded by miss dusk of itch i will open for
1:32:17 discussion on exception one
1:32:19 ms campbell your motion would you like to discuss um sure i
1:32:24 would suggest that we as a board would deny
1:32:27 exception one um based on the fact that you know the lack of
1:32:31 standing means that they they don’t have
1:32:34 the opportunity to protest this because they never put a bid in
1:32:38 so it’s you know that’s pretty simple and
1:32:42 straightforward you either submit a bid or you don’t submit a
1:32:45 bid um so that’s where i am on that
1:32:49 any additional board discussion
1:32:51 all right then i would request a motion to approve or a motion
1:33:00 to deny so we can move forward on this
1:33:02 action item it would be a vote so if you do not wish to the
1:33:06 motion is motion to approve okay so you would just
1:33:09 vote and if you do not want to approve it you say no and it will
1:33:13 not pass so the exception will be denied
1:33:16 i have a question why i’m in three years on the board i’ve never
1:33:21 seen us have
1:33:23 a recommendation of a motion to approve and then we have to why
1:33:26 wouldn’t this have been presented
1:33:30 reverse why do i feel like we’re being tricked you you either
1:33:34 have you don’t want to say you’re denying
1:33:37 it they’re asking you to approve their exception that’s what the
1:33:42 party is asking you to do they
1:33:44 filed the pleading so that’s how it’s put on our agenda from
1:33:47 them not from staff right if they did
1:33:49 not file if they did not file exceptions the only thing here
1:33:51 would be a motion to approve the recommended
1:33:54 order of the alj okay and basing it on the jacksonville case i’m
1:33:58 sorry they’re basing that exception
1:34:00 on the jacksonville case that although they did not file the bid
1:34:03 that they they have proof because
1:34:06 of that case that’s what it is so if we deny it then we’re
1:34:09 saying no you don’t so i believe i have a
1:34:13 a i believe i have a motion and a second on that issue so
1:34:19 lacking further discussion i will call the
1:34:24 question
1:34:27 can you guys see the vote up there because i can’t see it five
1:34:38 five zero five the motion fails zero to
1:34:42 five five at this point uh that will move us to exception number
1:34:46 two what are the wishes of the board
1:34:48 move for discussion i’ll second it move for discussion for ms
1:34:57 campbell seconded by ms mcdougall
1:34:59 ms campbell your motion your discussion um just a challenge with
1:35:06 that you know untimely challenge and you
1:35:09 know just i think we need to have a little discussion just
1:35:11 because the public needs to understand what’s
1:35:13 what’s going on right um when you know charter had a problem
1:35:19 with the rfp and um but they didn’t
1:35:22 say they had a problem with rfp until the whole process was was
1:35:25 done someone who is a potential bidder
1:35:28 has the opportunity if my understanding is correctly is correct
1:35:31 to if they see a problem with it to put that
1:35:34 challenge out and it looks like through the process that our
1:35:37 procurement department answered lots of
1:35:39 questions throughout the process even delayed the final um due
1:35:43 date and so and through that process
1:35:46 my understanding and charters said on their own they they never
1:35:48 put that question out there they never
1:35:50 said there was a problem with the rfp and so once that process
1:35:53 has gone through you didn’t put in a bid you
1:35:56 didn’t put in any kind of timely thing then you know your
1:36:00 opportunity is is lost and so that’s my
1:36:02 recommendation would be that we deny this exception as well all
1:36:06 right then i will accept a motion oh i’m
1:36:09 sorry any additional board discussion then i will accept a
1:36:13 motion motion’s already been put forward oh
1:36:16 she moved to approve for discussion sorry that move for
1:36:19 discussion is throwing me for some whatever
1:36:21 reason so i have a motion on the floor without further board
1:36:24 discussion i’ll ask for a vote
1:36:38 and the motion was rejected 5-0 yes all right motion was
1:36:42 rejected 5-0 okay this brings us to our third
1:36:46 action on this agenda item which is to approve the proposed
1:36:49 final order adopting the administrative
1:36:51 law judge’s recommended order of dismissal and dismiss charter
1:36:54 communications operating llc’s protest
1:36:57 for lack of standing and failure to timely file its challenge to
1:37:00 specifications what are the wishes of
1:37:01 the board move to approve second moved by miss deskovich and
1:37:05 seconded by mr susan is there any
1:37:07 additional board discussion okay i just want to make sure i’m
1:37:10 voting the right way
1:37:11 okay that’s what i was thinking i said okay this is just want to
1:37:17 make sure i understand it okay thank
1:37:18 you unbelievable any additional board discussion does someone
1:37:23 want to explain that more to cheryl
1:37:25 than me saying it’s a normal vote i get this is to approve the
1:37:30 aljs recommended order so we’re
1:37:32 approving the aljs now awarded in the positive right so we’re
1:37:35 voting in the way that it’s worded instead
1:37:37 of having to reverse it okay we all good i’m good all right then
1:37:42 i will call the question
1:37:53 pass five to zero and the motion passed five to zero thank you
1:37:57 miss escobar for your patience and mr gibbs
1:38:01 for getting us through that wonkiness um dr mullins i believe it
1:38:07 is to you next we have item g31 which
1:38:11 are procurement solicitations what are the wishes of the board
1:38:15 moved to approve second moved by miss
1:38:18 ms campbell seconded by mr susan any additional any discussion
1:38:21 all right please vote
1:38:23 ms campbell seconded by mr susan all right please vote
1:38:46 okay somebody hasn’t voted it wasn’t me it was me it was in a
1:38:50 different place
1:38:51 why can i no longer see our bear with me for just one second
1:38:59 guys it’s okay i’m trying to figure out
1:39:02 why i can no longer see your voting i could see on the bottom do
1:39:06 you see the thing that says votes is it
1:39:08 because it’s too far down it changed my screen and now i have
1:39:11 actions and attachments for some reason it’s
1:39:14 not going off of that that’s why i was taking so long yeah all
1:39:18 right but the motion passed five
1:39:20 zero miss escobar yes all right dr mullins
1:39:23 item g32 is department school initiated agreements what are the
1:39:30 wishes of the board move to approve
1:39:31 second moved by mr susan seconded by miss campbell any
1:39:35 discussion
1:39:40 move by mr susan seconded by miss campbell any discussion please
1:39:50 vote
1:39:53 five to zero and the motion passes five zero
1:40:06 dr mullins
1:40:17 what are the wishes of the board
1:40:19 second moved by mr susan seconded by miss campbell is there any
1:40:24 discussion
1:40:26 that’s a lot of
1:40:41 or if they want to come down a little more heavy handed and
1:40:49 making sure we can’t leave that means a lot of
1:40:53 that means a lot on authority not that i don’t trust but uh that
1:40:58 eliminates oversight
1:40:59 um you know on contracts on budgets i just i’m very comfortable
1:41:05 with this
1:41:06 so i don’t know that i don’t know
1:41:08 as my understanding this particular act i’m sorry madam chair
1:41:13 this particular item is just allowing him to
1:41:16 to do that specifically with procurement is that correct on
1:41:21 things that might we might need
1:41:23 it is forward in our situation we’re in right now well and it’s
1:41:27 specific to board members being
1:41:29 incapacitated basically so if three of us um are not if three of
1:41:35 us are you know laying in a bed on
1:41:38 ventilators and we cannot come up with a quorum even virtually
1:41:42 then it would give the superintendent the
1:41:44 authority to keep things going in the district um and in
1:41:49 addition if he were to uh not be able to
1:41:53 function then it would delegate to his deputy i i heard what you
1:41:58 were you’re thinking also um
1:42:00 and when i went through it and it specifically gives us that
1:42:04 three of us have to be incapacitated
1:42:06 and there needs to be some kind of a process in place that in
1:42:09 the event that the board can’t be answered that but there is an
1:42:12 opportunity for the superintendent to continue um that’s what i
1:42:15 did have some extreme concern when
1:42:17 i heard about it at first but then once i realized that it only
1:42:20 triggers if three of us
1:42:22 are not able to make it due to incapacitation just like miss belford
1:42:25 said that’s when i i realized
1:42:27 that this was something that i could approve i hear what they’re
1:42:30 saying but i don’t see anything
1:42:32 written that says that but oh this is so much louder now thank
1:42:35 you sir uh all it says in in the write-up
1:42:39 here is the delegation of authority will only be implemented if
1:42:42 school board meetings are cancelled
1:42:44 and expires upon the next occurrence of a regular school board
1:42:47 meeting
1:42:47 uh it doesn’t say anything about i don’t say anything about what
1:42:51 miss belford is saying
1:42:53 there is no attachment on here at the moment part of it also is
1:42:57 is that if we’re speaking that this is
1:43:00 what we approve that is the intent of what we’re what we’re
1:43:03 saying so if we say we are passing this
1:43:05 based upon what we think to be three of us being incapacitated
1:43:08 that also becomes part of the intent
1:43:10 record i’m not comfortable there’s no attachment it doesn’t say
1:43:14 those words i i’m not i will be voting no
1:43:17 dr mullins if i’m you know this uh agenda i just want to clarify
1:43:24 my position on the agenda item i don’t
1:43:28 have a strong opinion that it is my hope and expectation that it
1:43:33 becomes unnecessary to have such an
1:43:36 arrangement the item was put on the agenda before the more
1:43:40 recent flexibility provided by the state to
1:43:43 not have to have an in-person quorum for the board um that uh
1:43:47 board members can call in or attend the
1:43:52 board meeting virtually and their participation counts towards
1:43:56 uh voting rights on the board so
1:43:59 even if a board member were to become ill and couldn’t attend in
1:44:02 person they could attend virtually and
1:44:05 still render their vote uh so we can maintain business in the
1:44:09 unlikely event that
1:44:12 more than three members of the board became so incapacitated
1:44:16 that they couldn’t participate
1:44:19 even remotely on a board meeting you know i i that that seems
1:44:23 tremendously remote to me
1:44:27 but i am not i don’t this is not a i like the accountability i
1:44:34 like the democracy of the board voting
1:44:37 um i don’t have a strong position to insist that the board you
1:44:43 know uh provide make this provision so
1:44:47 if the board isn’t comfortable with the current recommendation
1:44:50 but interested in other provisions
1:44:54 that would uh ease the comfort of the board we could certainly
1:44:57 work with uh mr gibbs on language and
1:45:00 bring it back to the board at the next board meeting or we can
1:45:02 just amend it to say exactly what you want
1:45:04 what you wanted to say now if you can take a list and if you can
1:45:06 revise it i will point out that it does
1:45:08 say that the board does at the next meeting have they’ll bring
1:45:11 everything that’s done without
1:45:13 word approval gratification at the next meeting that does if you’re
1:45:17 still not comfortable
1:45:18 you can take a list until the next board meeting and we can work
1:45:22 on the language with guidance from
1:45:24 the board on what would make it like or we can amend it to say
1:45:28 it is to include the three that is not in
1:45:30 there and that can be brought back to us yeah i’m this is
1:45:33 something i’m extremely passionate
1:45:35 about i think i saw quickly the board lose its entire authority
1:45:40 in a matter of one order from the
1:45:42 governor uh and then reinstated again and and put i am very
1:45:47 uncomfortable with this that we’ve been
1:45:50 elected by the public it’s it’s our form of government i’m very
1:45:53 proud of the way the state of florida does
1:45:56 business and running their education and something like this uh
1:45:59 changes that it changes the people’s
1:46:03 oversight input and gets it all to one individual again dr mullins
1:46:08 this is not a about you personally
1:46:11 at all it’s more about um our authority and us turning it over
1:46:16 if if i may madam chair i wanted to refer um back to refer us
1:46:22 all back to an email i sent everyone
1:46:24 last week i did a little research on superintendents emergency
1:46:27 powers and that might make us feel
1:46:29 better about the situation with or without this particular
1:46:31 action um so our it’s policy 0132
1:46:36 and i’m just pulled out a section of it because it includes lots
1:46:39 of things on our executive power but
1:46:41 there is a section that says the superintendent shall be delegated
1:46:44 the authority to take necessary
1:46:45 action in circumstances not provided for in board policy
1:46:48 provided that such action shall be reported
1:46:51 to the board at the next meeting following such action and the
1:46:54 next paragraph states the superintendent
1:46:56 in cases of emergency may suspend any part of these policies and
1:47:00 or procedures provided that the
1:47:01 superintendent shall report the fact and the reason of and the
1:47:05 reasons for such suspension at the next meeting of the board
1:47:08 and provided further that the suspension shall expire at the
1:47:10 time of said report unless continued in effect
1:47:13 by action of the board so i i’m assuming that really it’s is
1:47:16 actually kind of a redundant um policy if
1:47:20 for example the superintendent um a need were to arise in our
1:47:24 certain you know circumstance that we’re in
1:47:27 right now and we couldn’t convene a board meeting quickly enough
1:47:30 following our our sunshine laws that are still in place
1:47:34 um you know emergency meeting or whatever this would give him
1:47:38 the authority
1:47:39 to go ahead and prove let’s say a purchase over fifty thousand
1:47:42 dollars or something like that if he
1:47:44 if it was necessary and it would still come back to us that we
1:47:47 could does that make sense so this policy actually
1:47:50 it kind of makes this um particular recommendation um redundant
1:47:58 it seems to me it seems like it’s already
1:48:00 taken care of in that policy right mr susan um i and thank you
1:48:05 for that i think where the difference
1:48:07 between the two is is that that states that if we have another
1:48:10 school board meeting that is coming
1:48:12 up and he can make those decisions and move to that next school
1:48:16 board meeting the only issue with
1:48:18 that is is that if there’s an issue where we can’t have a quorum
1:48:21 we have emergency meetings we have
1:48:23 issues that are coming up we need to be able to have a process
1:48:26 in place if we can’t have a quorum to be
1:48:28 able to move the district and that’s when i heard that if there
1:48:32 were three of us that were not able to
1:48:34 call in that weren’t able to attend that that is an extreme
1:48:38 situation that as dr mullen stated earlier is
1:48:41 such a low probability but in the event that that happens we no
1:48:44 longer have a quorum for a meeting in a
1:48:46 couple of weeks we may need to have emergency meetings within a
1:48:50 couple of days situations could
1:48:53 drastically get worse so the opportunity to fix that and to move
1:48:57 forward with a policy that gives
1:48:59 our district the opportunity to continue to move while that’s
1:49:02 going on um i think is why i supported
1:49:05 it and i think that if you look at that policy that you were or
1:49:08 that statute that you were referring to
1:49:10 it refers to the next meeting but if there’s a situation where
1:49:13 we can’t get a quorum at this meeting
1:49:15 or the one in reference then you may not be able to get one at
1:49:17 the next meeting and there may be a
1:49:19 whole lot going on in between there that i would be concerned
1:49:21 about i am also miss deskovich huge on
1:49:26 having the people um be represented i just know that there’s
1:49:30 some times in in history where there
1:49:32 needs to be an opportunity when we cannot perform ours that the
1:49:35 district has an opportunity continue to
1:49:36 perform theirs that’s all i just want to say thank you mr susan
1:49:44 any additional board discussion just to reiterate that what we’re
1:49:50 voting on isn’t what right mr susan
1:49:53 is so i i feel like this needs to be okay well then i’ll let you
1:49:57 but i would you want to amend it this evening and then hash that
1:50:03 out this evening or i would like to
1:50:05 set intent that we do not want to pass this policy unless it is
1:50:08 that three of us are incapacitated it
1:50:10 does not reference inside there so i would make a motion i’ll do
1:50:14 it now make a motion to amend this
1:50:16 to include that if three board members are incapacitated that
1:50:20 this would kick in
1:50:21 may hi uh we have we have a motion on the floor so we have to
1:50:28 have a second before we can open for
1:50:29 discussion i will second so we have a second on the motion that
1:50:33 will open for discussion miss deskovich
1:50:36 so that amendment is this plus that you’re not overriding this
1:50:41 you said to include so you’re a you want
1:50:44 to pass this not a policy it’s a action what would this be
1:50:48 called if we’re not creating policy here
1:50:51 this is a anybody it’s a it’s a signature authority okay that
1:51:01 says
1:51:03 that we will delegate authority only when school board meetings
1:51:10 are canceled because
1:51:13 or also like there’s there’s a lot of i’m very uncomfortable
1:51:18 with us moving forward tonight with
1:51:20 a lot of words usually we nitpick and fine-tune exactly what we
1:51:25 want things to say especially when
1:51:27 we’re going to change our whole the way money gets spent here i
1:51:32 think i think we owe it to ourselves
1:51:35 to put a little more thought into this i i would reference that
1:51:38 mr gibbs’s recommendation was to table
1:51:41 and refine but i will leave it up to you all to go the direction
1:51:45 you would like mr gibbs at what point
1:51:47 can you call ask for a table when there’s a motion and an
1:51:50 amendment on the floor we can you can deny the
1:51:53 amendment come back to the original and then deny that and table
1:51:57 there was a second there was a second
1:52:00 yeah
1:52:08 i can’t make a motion to table right now because we have an open
1:52:14 motion right right we have killed the vote
1:52:15 and then deny the amendment and then when it comes back around
1:52:19 to the other one you would table the
1:52:21 original motion madam chair yeah before we close the discussion
1:52:25 to vote on the amendment or you know up
1:52:28 down or or sideways um i just want to remind us that our next
1:52:32 board meeting unless we have an emergency
1:52:34 meeting is in three weeks whatever we choose to do just be
1:52:38 reminded that things are changing day by day
1:52:42 and um we just need to be comfortable with that if we put it off
1:52:48 for three weeks and something were to
1:52:49 happen and you know there’s something that we need to get in a
1:52:52 hurry especially when regarding technology
1:52:55 needs or whatever it would be we wouldn’t have anything in place
1:52:58 except for we have policy zero one
1:53:01 three three two um which and we’re certainly in a state of
1:53:03 emergency at the time you know the
1:53:06 superintendent could act under that authority and may i state
1:53:09 also that this is in reference to
1:53:10 specifically to the coronavirus right it does not give a supreme
1:53:14 authority for here on from all the other
1:53:17 issues that are coming through so
1:53:19 any additional board discussion before i call the question can i
1:53:26 go for a clarification on that amendment to
1:53:29 miss deskovich and to include that when we amend it it is to
1:53:33 include that this does not kick in unless there
1:53:36 are three incapacitated board members so this would not kick in
1:53:41 at all so not and if or and everything
1:53:44 else that is this will not kick in unless my amendment says
1:53:47 three board members are incapacitated
1:53:50 and then this kicks in only for the coronavirus in the event
1:53:54 that he needs to purchase things that we
1:53:57 can’t get together to give him the approval to do so when we
1:54:00 were saying that we might be concerned about
1:54:03 people in the future this is specific to this one to dr mullins
1:54:06 to the next month
1:54:07 it it is and it isn’t mr susan because what we’re approving is
1:54:13 not the discussion we’re approving the
1:54:15 recommendation and the recommendation simply reads delegate the
1:54:18 school board of bavard county florida’s
1:54:19 approval and signature authority under board policy 6320
1:54:23 procurement and contracting to the superintendent or
1:54:25 designee in the event school board meetings are canceled so i
1:54:28 think that’s where the issue is is that we’re
1:54:32 we’re approving or denying the recommendation not the discussion
1:54:36 item and there’s a lack of clarity in
1:54:38 the recommendation right where it references in response to it
1:54:44 gives that intent to in response to this
1:54:47 is coming only in the discussion right and if they’re going to
1:54:52 come back with it cleaned up for us at the
1:54:53 next meeting yeah any additional discussion again why do we need
1:55:00 any of this if if this happens
1:55:02 he can invoke that policy at any time is that correct mr gibbs
1:55:08 i think it’s important that we make sure mr um gibbs microphone
1:55:16 is working just because i don’t want
1:55:18 there to be any question of what was stated right can we it’s
1:55:22 not working not miss miss campbell can
1:55:28 you share your microphone with mr gibbs i don’t know i’ve been
1:55:31 breathing on hold on let’s let’s model
1:55:47 um thank you to our tech staff for keeping us all straight this
1:55:54 evening all right very good yes
1:55:58 better all right mr gibbs thank you sir all right uh the
1:56:00 emergency does kick in there and he can do it
1:56:04 i had it up it does provide for suspension of any part of the
1:56:11 policies and procedures
1:56:13 i think the concern is it if it only applies to the emergency
1:56:19 because it says in the event of an
1:56:22 emergency what qualifies under the emergency proceed you know
1:56:25 purchasing authority there is i think the
1:56:28 concern from purchasing would include like bids that have
1:56:33 federal deadlines that aren’t
1:56:34 waived not necessarily related to the emergency it’s general
1:56:38 business that needs to take place i think
1:56:40 that was what they were looking to encompass in there if we if
1:56:44 the board’s not able to meet so
1:56:46 if it’s not directly related to the emergency if he doesn’t need
1:56:49 to make a purchase only for the
1:56:52 emergency it’s general business would it be covered by that
1:56:55 policy is the question they had
1:56:56 i i don’t really have an answer whether it would cover every
1:57:00 single purchase the district wanted
1:57:03 outside of an emergency so if we had a deadline that was going
1:57:05 to save the district 12 million dollars
1:57:08 but it’s not an emergency related item can the superintendent
1:57:13 invoke that policy
1:57:15 to purchase that versus you know if you grant him the authority
1:57:20 to and then bring it back to the board
1:57:22 when it can meet again for final approval it wouldn’t hold up
1:57:26 those types of purchases
1:57:28 i i would think a state of emergency declared by our governor
1:57:31 and by our president would put
1:57:33 anything under you know under can be qualified under emergency
1:57:37 but not only that it puts the superintendent
1:57:40 in a position where he’s very careful where he is going to
1:57:44 double triple quadruple check because
1:57:47 he’s not only going to be questioned on the purchase and this
1:57:50 the signature he’s also now going to want
1:57:52 to make sure that it falls in the emergency category so i’m just
1:57:56 holding my ground on this one
1:58:00 so i will remind the board that we have uh motions on the floor
1:58:04 to approve the amendment that mr susan
1:58:06 brought forward uh lacking further discussion on the amendment
1:58:10 specifically i will call the vote
1:58:13 we do that voice voice voice if you give me one moment
1:58:21 yes in the interest of time let’s all right all in favor of the
1:58:31 amendment aye aye all opposed
1:58:35 no no nay nay no so the motion fails three to two
1:58:40 at this point we’re back on the original recommendation to
1:58:46 delegate the school
1:58:47 board of guard county florida’s approval and signature authority
1:58:50 under board policy 6320
1:58:51 what are the wishes of the board
1:58:57 move to approve
1:59:06 i have a a question here so
1:59:08 and this is my fault do we have a policy in place that has um
1:59:14 chain of command um if something should
1:59:17 happen to the superintendent that that is in our policy um this
1:59:22 is unusual circumstances right now
1:59:26 this is not business as usual um and of course we are his boss
1:59:30 so if he does something screwy
1:59:33 um we have there are repercussions but um i want to make sure
1:59:39 that we’re not hanging out there in
1:59:42 case something should happen i do not foresee three of us being
1:59:45 incapacitated i would be very very
1:59:46 surprised if three of us um was incapacitated but i just want to
1:59:51 make sure that we do in case there’s
1:59:53 something that we need um that needs to be purchased and for
1:59:56 whatever reason three of us are not around
1:59:58 and that we can move forward mr gibbs can i ask a quick question
2:00:04 this as it stands does not include
2:00:07 the three member incapacitation correct it’s just covers as
2:00:11 written yeah if the board cannot meet so
2:00:15 if you know the executive order waves physical quorum it does
2:00:19 not wave any other sunshine requirements
2:00:22 if the board can meet virtually but we do not have a mechanism
2:00:25 in place for public comment
2:00:27 you cannot hold that meeting the governor did not wave any other
2:00:32 requirement of the sunshine
2:00:35 other than physical quorum so you have to make sure you have a
2:00:40 virtual quorum so at least three board
2:00:42 members are available and you have a mechanism in place to allow
2:00:46 public comment i don’t know how
2:00:48 difficult that is to set up i know other districts are
2:00:51 discussing multiple different options including
2:00:54 allowing them to call into a number and then they put them on
2:00:57 the air with call-ins that might suffice so it
2:00:59 might be an easy answer i cannot answer that how easy it would
2:01:03 be to arrange for our district but it would
2:01:07 right now it would cover everything if the board can’t meet if
2:01:09 the governor simply says everybody’s
2:01:11 staying home if the public isn’t allowed to come to a board
2:01:15 meeting and we don’t have a mechanism for
2:01:17 them to communicate from home you cannot have a meeting
2:01:23 miss mcdougall’s question though was is there the chain of
2:01:27 command for dr mullins i think like if
2:01:29 if your man down who then takes over your role and i think that’s
2:01:34 the deputy designee according to
2:01:36 policy he can he can designee anyone correct and it’s usually
2:01:40 the the deputy um miss campbell i think
2:01:44 you were trying to speak yes i wanted just to just point back to
2:01:47 the recommendation right now which is
2:01:49 school board meetings are canceled and technically that was
2:01:51 issued last week all school board meetings are
2:01:53 canceled to the end of the fiscal year am i remembering that
2:01:56 order i know there’s been
2:01:57 recommendations since then and we can call emergency meetings
2:02:00 tonight necessarily wasn’t necessarily an
2:02:02 emergency meeting but there were definitely timely things that
2:02:04 needed to be done because we have
2:02:05 deadlines and um due dates for different things that we were
2:02:09 voting on tonight and they took
2:02:10 most of the you know the non-essential things off um but you
2:02:15 know the governor did say in the executive
2:02:19 order school board or maybe it was a doe recommendation i can’t
2:02:21 remember we’ve had a lot of things in the last week
2:02:24 school board meetings are canceled so unless we have a really
2:02:27 good reason to have one
2:02:28 we we probably will because we’ve got construction projects
2:02:32 coming up things that can’t wait we’ve
2:02:34 we’ve really we just need to consider that it’s very likely what
2:02:37 mr gibbs said a little while ago
2:02:39 um that we get in a situation where we can’t have a school board
2:02:42 meeting i i just wouldn’t put it past
2:02:44 our uncertain future yes
2:02:54 this is that’s good it buffered i am more comfortable with miss
2:03:00 belford being the designee because she is at
2:03:03 least elected by the people and then elected by us to be chair i’m
2:03:07 more comfortable with giving her that
2:03:09 authority on our behalf than i am on an appointed position i don’t
2:03:14 know if we want to go down that
2:03:16 right this minute but that’s that’s my opinion
2:03:20 mr gibbs is that a feasible request from the stuskovich
2:03:24 i’m not i’m not uh motioning to amend is that your third one you’ve
2:03:32 burned through you are chatterbox
2:03:34 tonight keeping him hopping i’m not asking for an amendment yet
2:03:38 i’m just right i’m saying is that
2:03:40 even in the realm of consideration you’re basically want to say
2:03:43 we’re going to grant the chair you know
2:03:46 temporary ability to approve these brought to them brought to
2:03:50 the chair by staff or the superintendent
2:03:52 i think you could you can’t hear him still me him okay i think
2:03:59 it’s working now right yes he just got
2:04:02 his third mic it brought me a new one okay so if i think you can
2:04:08 designate the chair if you wanted to
2:04:11 and then it would come to the next board meeting for for
2:04:14 everyone to approve after that right the next
2:04:17 available board meeting if that’s the route you wanted to go and
2:04:20 if the chair is not then the vice
2:04:21 chair and if the vice chair is not then who i actually think no
2:04:26 insult to the chair the vice chair i
2:04:29 actually feel less comfortable with that situation than has the
2:04:33 recommendation stance right now and
2:04:35 honestly if we’re kind of all done i’d call the question
2:04:38 so i’m going to remind the board that what we are voting on
2:04:46 right now is the recommendation
2:04:53 to delegate uh our approval and signature authority to the
2:04:58 superintendent so in the event that you would
2:05:02 like to request an amendment to this in any way shape or form um
2:05:08 then we would need to vote down the
2:05:11 approval or we would need to have an uh motion to amend and i
2:05:16 can remove my call the question if
2:05:18 someone was interested in tabling it i just that’s what i’m i
2:05:23 can i motion to table now or do we have
2:05:25 to wait till we vote yeah you can move to table it i moved to
2:05:30 table to a unnamed future date is that the
2:05:33 correct way you can do unnamed or you can just which would just
2:05:36 be table you just want to table it or you
2:05:38 can table it for a date certain could she table it for no later
2:05:42 than april 14th in the event that we
2:05:45 need to have an emergency meeting before our next scheduled
2:05:48 meeting that’s fine
2:05:49 i moved to table it no later than april 14th is that the
2:05:55 scheduled date for yeah i moved to table it no
2:05:57 later than april 14th all right so i have an amendment or i have
2:06:02 a motion on the table to
2:06:03 table this particular item till until no later than april 14th
2:06:10 is very second
2:06:18 seeing no second the motion fails which puts us back on the
2:06:22 original motion to delegate the signature
2:06:27 authority per the agenda what are the wishes of the board
2:06:33 uh you you can vote on that one oh we already have the motion
2:06:40 standing on that one okay so then i will
2:06:43 call the question on delegating the uh school board brevard
2:06:48 county florida’s approval and signature
2:06:51 authority under board policy 6320 and the event school board
2:06:54 meetings are cancelled and who can i ask
2:06:57 a point of clarification who would cancel the school board can i
2:07:00 ask who would cancel the school board meetings
2:07:03 it would be the superintendent or the yes the governor so the
2:07:10 governor now cancels off
2:07:13 hours and this would allow you in the event that the governor
2:07:17 cancels off our school board meetings
2:07:20 you to do your procurement and everything else that’s what this
2:07:24 is correct that’s my understanding
2:07:26 yep mr gibbs yes yes or if there is no quorum so i mean if the
2:07:31 event arose where we could not hold
2:07:33 a meeting right because three of you were incapacitated in some
2:07:37 form it would cover that as well
2:07:39 or if we couldn’t have public comment right if we couldn’t yeah
2:07:43 if if it can if a meeting’s cancelled
2:07:45 if we cannot hold meetings for any reason it would give that
2:07:48 authority to move business forward
2:07:50 until the next board meeting it expires upon the next scheduled
2:07:54 board meeting per the language
2:07:56 so as it sits right now if you voted yes it would give him
2:08:02 authority from now if we don’t have one
2:08:04 virtually through a minimum june 30th and if we have a meeting
2:08:08 in july we would have to vote on
2:08:11 everything that he approved in those months a lot of damage can
2:08:14 be done
2:08:15 and i would also make the argument back that a lot of damage
2:08:23 could be done to
2:08:25 all of our procurement all of our contracts all of our
2:08:28 construction all of the things that we have
2:08:30 opening of schools and everything else so it’s a balance between
2:08:33 the two in that i understand that
2:08:35 the fear is there but at the same time if the governor calls it
2:08:39 if we can’t get the the meeting
2:08:41 there needs that the district needs to continue to run so if i
2:08:46 may because i’m starting to lose my
2:08:49 mind a little bit here um
2:08:53 i think there are very valid arguments on both sides of this
2:08:56 issue and my recommendation would be
2:08:59 that someone put forward an amendment to modify the language
2:09:02 here so that we could be comfortable with
2:09:05 it because i understand we don’t want to hastily put language
2:09:09 together but mr susan is correct and
2:09:14 that we could be in a real bind if we did not have the available
2:09:17 availability to have a meeting and
2:09:19 something needed to happen and miss duskovich is is very correct
2:09:23 in my opinion as well that
2:09:25 um there’s an awful lot of leeway there especially in today’s
2:09:29 political climate and executive orders coming down not that any
2:09:33 of us have concerns about dr mullins
2:09:35 but i think we do have concerns um about that delegation of
2:09:39 authority we we have taken an oath to
2:09:42 serve the people of the state of florida right and so um i i i
2:09:46 think there are legitimate concerns
2:09:49 um mr gibbs is it appropriate for general counsel to make a
2:09:53 recommendation on the verbiage of a motion
2:09:56 based on your understanding of the wishes of the board
2:09:59 try and put something together if you wish but i i think that’s
2:10:04 fine can i ask a question if we put
2:10:07 in uh temporary does that help at all it already says it does it
2:10:12 say temporary i didn’t miss that obviously
2:10:14 second line approval signature it says temporarily delegate its
2:10:23 approval and signature authority
2:10:25 oh i was waiting in the top part it’s only implemented if school
2:10:29 board meetings are
2:10:30 canceled and expires upon the next occurrence of a regular
2:10:33 school board meeting
2:10:35 so if the superintendent this is for you mr gibbs if the
2:10:38 superintendent signed a contract for a
2:10:40 million dollars that was a year-long contract during this period
2:10:44 of time we didn’t meet for
2:10:46 a few months as it would be set up right now we’d meet in july
2:10:49 what is our recourse it’s now been
2:10:52 signed by someone we gave authority to and the money spent what
2:10:56 what what recourse do we have at that
2:10:58 point if we have to sit down to approve that then in july it
2:11:01 would have to be ratified under these terms
2:11:03 so if it goes there we would have to add something to that
2:11:07 contract if the board was unable to meet
2:11:09 for any reason that says it will be approved by the board upon
2:11:12 the next regularly scheduled so they
2:11:14 would go into it knowing it could be pulled back and that we
2:11:18 would have to get a company to give us
2:11:20 back a million dollars in three months usually you don’t pay in
2:11:23 advance so it would be how far
2:11:25 long are they given the current environment that we are in in
2:11:29 performance so normally you don’t just
2:11:32 write a check today for a million dollars upon approval and then
2:11:35 wait for them to perform the services
2:11:37 okay so thank you you know likelihood what this is more likely
2:11:41 to be is something that’s consumable we
2:11:42 would have already used it up yeah if yeah if we needed
2:11:47 emergency supplies or something emergency order
2:11:51 of food for to hand out to students and he spent a million
2:11:55 dollars then there’s not much we can do
2:11:58 i just would like to remind the board if you all remember before
2:12:02 any of us were on the board the eight
2:12:03 million dollar vote that went down that the board members weren’t
2:12:07 even clear on what they were voting
2:12:09 for that staff declared was an emergency because we were going
2:12:12 to lose our our software system uh it
2:12:16 it devastated this district monetarily for quite some time into
2:12:19 the years that i got on the board and
2:12:21 we had to settle with that company i i have that in the
2:12:24 forefront of my mind as this is going on
2:12:26 staff convinced that superintendent before my time like i said
2:12:31 that it was it was urgent and it needed to
2:12:33 be done that was a lot of money committed for a long time that
2:12:36 was we never saw anything for
2:12:37 so that’s what’s in my my mind is i’m people are panicking and
2:12:42 making decisions and this gives up
2:12:44 our authority that we’ve been elected to do to have oversight
2:12:47 and i’m just not comfortable in in any
2:12:50 fashion at this point
2:12:50 mr gibbs if if i can ask for clarification our recommendation
2:12:59 here is what we’re actually voting on
2:13:01 but you and and mr susan have referenced uh items in the
2:13:05 discussion section
2:13:07 do the items for like for example it says uh shall seek ratification
2:13:16 of any procurement items
2:13:17 approved using this delegation of authority at the next
2:13:19 regularly scheduled school board meeting
2:13:21 that is not actually in our written up recommendation
2:13:25 do you feel that by voting we are by default approving the
2:13:33 elements of the discussion item
2:13:36 i would uh incorporate if i would amend at the very minimum to
2:13:48 incorporate items in the discussion item
2:13:51 if that’s the way you want to go i know there was also talk of
2:13:56 recommending an amendment
2:13:59 to incorporate the language here discussed tonight i mean you
2:14:03 could change you could amend to incorporate
2:14:05 the discussion language and then add to it if you would like to
2:14:11 if you want it to be incapacitation you
2:14:14 could add in the event school only be implemented if school
2:14:18 board meetings are cancelled
2:14:21 and or incapacity due to incapacity of school board members
2:14:25 preventing a school board meeting
2:14:27 and then it would you know continue on as written you could go
2:14:31 that route as well
2:14:33 but uh i think at a minimum i would if you’re concerned with
2:14:38 implementing that language in the
2:14:40 discussion item move to amend to incorporate the discussion item
2:14:43 language into the motion
2:14:51 i would simply recommend an amendment that we include in our
2:15:17 vote in the recommendation the language from the
2:15:20 discussion right so pam can copy paste that later and also to
2:15:26 add to the language in the discussion
2:15:30 that says this delegation of authority will only be been
2:15:33 implemented if school board meetings are
2:15:35 canceled or um there is help me mystery of there or there if i
2:15:42 because of incapacity of school board members
2:15:45 we are not able to hold on that was i think that’s what he just
2:15:52 said but i don’t think i said it as well
2:15:54 if the governor cancels if the school board members are incapacitated
2:15:58 and but i think it needs to be
2:16:00 i think it needs to be or right because there’s their school
2:16:02 board cancels that means the governor can
2:16:04 cancel them or or it can be we can’t have one because we um the
2:16:07 governor cancels if the school board members
2:16:10 are incapacitated or if under current guidelines people cannot
2:16:14 have um public speaking thank you or
2:16:17 under current guidelines you know sunshine the way the rules are
2:16:20 unless we cannot held a meeting in the
2:16:22 sunshine that we can vote due to lack of public comment and we
2:16:26 can also add just for the the purpose of
2:16:29 this discussion the time certain on this not to include um after
2:16:33 a certain date this says june 30
2:16:36 but we can also say under the current situations of coronavirus
2:16:39 right you could add and it expires
2:16:41 upon the emergent state of emergency being lifted right and as
2:16:45 soon as that lifts the state of emergency
2:16:48 specific to this scope um of what we’re looking at all right so
2:16:52 can i amend my amendment
2:16:57 it’s getting long have mr season make a friendly amendment okay
2:17:00 can i make a friendly amendment to
2:17:03 um i’d like to make a motion to friendly amend to only accept
2:17:08 this if the governor makes it to where
2:17:11 we can’t meet if the school board members are incapacitated or
2:17:14 if there is not public comment being
2:17:17 allowed to be made um and specific to the current state of the
2:17:20 emergency for the coronavirus
2:17:25 do we cover it all but do you want to include about the language
2:17:29 in the discussion right discussion
2:17:31 language and the discussion language yeah that was already yeah
2:17:34 that was already in hers he was
2:17:36 just adding to hers so if she accepts it she needs can we can we
2:17:40 tweak yours to say because
2:17:42 let’s say yes things get all crazy use the way you specifically
2:17:47 word it was we couldn’t have public
2:17:48 comment there may come a time where the governor even suspends
2:17:51 that because we have to have business and it’s not
2:17:53 possible i don’t i’m not anticipating that public comment right
2:17:56 but that we can’t have a meet we
2:17:58 cannot we have a meeting that we can’t vote where we can’t vote
2:18:02 because of sunshine law as it stands
2:18:04 at the time yep there it is did you get all that ms oscobar it’s
2:18:09 on the recording
2:18:11 watch it back 12 times to get it do you accept the friendly
2:18:15 amendment i do
2:18:18 so you need a second second that one so we have the friendly
2:18:22 amendment offered and accepted and seconded
2:18:26 so ms oscobar are you prepared for me to
2:18:31 voice vote on the amendment as presented
2:18:39 i would feel better if it were stated again mr gibbs can you
2:18:43 please state
2:18:44 can you please state the the intent of the amendment
2:18:50 more aren’t you glad that you’re here with us tonight mr gibbs i
2:18:54 can try we’re so happy you are
2:18:55 all right it’s a the amendment is to incorporate the language
2:19:00 from the discussion item adding to it
2:19:04 that it says
2:19:10 in the event school board meetings are cancelled by the governor
2:19:15 due to incapacitation of board members or the inability to
2:19:22 legally hold public hearings in the sunshine
2:19:25 as a during the pendency of the state of emergency from the
2:19:30 governor in executive order 20-52
2:19:33 i’m getting a head shake from miss escobar any additional
2:19:38 discussion
2:19:40 i will call the question do you need a voice vote miss escobar
2:19:44 all right all in favor say aye aye
2:19:48 all opposed nay and the motion passes four to one that is for
2:19:53 the amendment right that is for the
2:19:55 amendment yeah yes for the amendment that mr gibbs he’s gone
2:19:59 through another microphone already amazing
2:20:02 four microphones what they say about attorneys is true
2:20:09 okay so we’re back voting on the actual agenda item mr gibbs or
2:20:24 we’re done with that now you
2:20:26 approved the amendment so we’re good oh we don’t have to go back
2:20:30 to approve it it was amended okay so
2:20:33 you you the item is approved as amended thank heavens okay uh
2:20:39 next we have two information items while we
2:20:43 won’t take action on these items this evening they may come come
2:20:46 back to us at a later meeting for a vote
2:20:48 does any board member wish to discuss either of these items
2:20:55 i’m not going to say much i just for those that are watching and
2:21:00 maybe don’t have the agenda in front
2:21:03 of them i just want to us to be very public about the process
2:21:06 with the half cent sales tax
2:21:08 this is not approving that we are trying to put this on the
2:21:12 ballot at this point
2:21:13 this is which wouldn’t come before us until april anyway but
2:21:18 this is the first sign
2:21:20 i think that the district is looking in this direction and this
2:21:24 is the information item is just sending
2:21:27 it’s getting us prepared to vote next month to send the ballot
2:21:31 language for approval from opaga
2:21:34 so it’s very early stages but i just want to make sure the
2:21:38 public’s aware that that this is this is on
2:21:40 there i appreciate that miss duskovich and uh dr mullins i know
2:21:44 you and i spoke a little bit
2:21:47 earlier about this did you want to speak to this item is there
2:21:49 anything that that you would like
2:21:51 to address well i i’ll just speak to the in the and i would draw
2:21:54 the public to the agenda item
2:21:56 description some or excuse me discussion it clearly outlines
2:22:00 what the process is that’s required
2:22:03 for the board to consider bringing forward to the voters of brevard
2:22:09 county the continuation or extension
2:22:11 of the half cent sales tax and the requirement is is that the
2:22:16 resolution be presented to opaga
2:22:19 at least 180 days prior to the referendum so the 180 day period
2:22:27 is approaching uh at the end of april
2:22:30 so that’s why it’s coming before the board for information at
2:22:33 this meeting uh and it is scheduled to come
2:22:35 before the board for approval at the next meeting to then be
2:22:39 submitted to opaga to meet that requirement
2:22:41 then there would be a another board action required to approve
2:22:47 it to be presented to the brevard county
2:22:51 commission for uh then to be uh taken to the supervisor of
2:22:56 elections so there are you know to miss
2:23:00 deskovich’s point there are additional board actions required
2:23:04 before this would go before voters um in november
2:23:08 additional board comment miss campbell um we’ll have more
2:23:15 discussion about the half cent sales
2:23:16 tax itself but i think it would be later but i think it would be
2:23:20 good to explain to the public what
2:23:21 exactly what opaga is and what that what they do and why we have
2:23:25 to do that sure opaga uh stands for
2:23:30 i gotta i gotta read it because i won’t get it right uh is the
2:23:33 office of program policy analysis and
2:23:35 government accountability uh mr gibbs you you chime in here but
2:23:39 essentially if a referendum is coming
2:23:42 before voters for extension um then if it is significantly
2:23:48 different than what came before the voters
2:23:52 originally then it would potentially qualify for an audit by opaga
2:23:58 which would have to be completed and
2:24:02 published to the public before the referendum right yeah it’s a
2:24:07 it requires an audit when it’s first
2:24:10 initiated and then for renewals if it is not significantly
2:24:13 different from the version that was in place the
2:24:16 december before the vote then it does not require an audit we
2:24:20 want to make sure we’re safe if the board
2:24:23 decides to go forward so we’re trying to get it in line and we
2:24:26 want an opinion from opaga that it doesn’t
2:24:29 need an audit so that there’s no questions later on once the
2:24:32 deadline is passed i would take this opportunity
2:24:36 to remind the board a couple things one we engaged in some
2:24:40 pretty robust discussion in january when miss hand
2:24:44 presented uh the current status of our facility needs assessment
2:24:49 uh related to the projects that
2:24:52 already been completed as a result of our the current sales tax
2:24:56 initiative um and also that the icoc the
2:25:01 independent citizens oversight committee provides an annual
2:25:05 report to the board uh per their direction
2:25:08 of their oversight of all the expenditures related to the sales
2:25:14 tax and thirdly we have the sales tax
2:25:18 expenditures expenditures expenditures expenditures projects and
2:25:23 procurement audited twice a year by an
2:25:26 external auditor that’s done by rsm mcladry and uh that is
2:25:30 presented not only to the board but also to
2:25:33 our audit committee after each audit and we just completed the
2:25:37 ninth audit uh for the current duration of the sales
2:25:41 surtax and received three green checks again from rsm related to
2:25:48 uh those areas that i mentioned with the uh
2:25:52 with the sale surtax so it is without any reservation that we
2:25:57 are presenting this to opaga up with any
2:26:01 concerns about an audit we certainly would you know if that if
2:26:04 they determine that that is required we
2:26:06 certainly welcome that process um but ultimately we’re on a
2:26:11 timeline requirement of the 180 days that’s
2:26:14 what’s bringing us to the place at this meeting that it is
2:26:17 coming before the board for information
2:26:18 any additional board discussion
2:26:22 okay uh does any board member have anything further to report
2:26:29 beyond the information items reminding
2:26:31 you that we still have item f10 uh that we are going to come
2:26:36 back to when we stop filming
2:26:38 any board member have anything further to report just one thing
2:26:43 miss mink too uh just one thing um
2:26:45 i don’t think we mentioned it and it’s almost end of march but
2:26:50 it is national social work month
2:26:53 and i want to thank all of our social workers in our schools who
2:26:56 work very hard to remove barriers that
2:26:59 prevent any of our students from getting an education so thank
2:27:02 you very much to our social workers thank
2:27:04 you miss mcdougall for reminding us all of that we appreciate it
2:27:08 all right dr mowens do you have anything
2:27:11 what else you wish to add to discussion this evening i do
2:27:15 because inevitably when we recognize folks
2:27:19 and we give thanks and kudos and so on we inevitably and
2:27:24 unintentionally leave folks out and um i don’t
2:27:29 know that we left them out but i want to call them out
2:27:32 explicitly going back to our opening conversation
2:27:35 about the work that has been done to support the district
2:27:38 support our teachers support our staff
2:27:40 in preparation for our distance learning launch on monday our
2:27:45 resource teachers our technology
2:27:48 specialists the curriculum that you saw in the presentation the
2:27:53 resources that are being provided
2:27:55 online for our teachers across the district that has been
2:27:59 orchestrated developed put together by
2:28:02 i wish i could say it was an army uh it’s really a very modest
2:28:08 number of resource content resource
2:28:10 teachers teachers and content specialists but again they gave up
2:28:13 their time uh in in many cases over
2:28:16 spring break and and uh even this week um so our and all of that
2:28:22 has had to you know we we take for
2:28:25 granted what we put on our website just magically appears right
2:28:30 um that doesn’t happen magically it’s
2:28:33 through the support of et and community relations and making
2:28:36 sure that links go where they’re supposed to not
2:28:39 just one time but every time um and i was i was recently
2:28:43 enlightened after a a very uh extensive
2:28:49 discussion around cabinet uh cabinet meeting and mr cheatham
2:28:55 graciously and humbly met with me afterwards
2:28:58 and he said sir i just need to remind you that that 90 minutes
2:29:02 of discussion of about five different things
2:29:06 involve five different departments except one that was et
2:29:10 because everything that was discussed comes back to et
2:29:15 to be supported and orchestrated and uh so i i just i i
2:29:21 inevitably am going to miss some of the folks i
2:29:25 should be recognizing again but the layers and the extension of
2:29:29 the work that’s been done uh can’t be can’t be
2:29:32 can’t be overstated and uh just so appreciative of the selfless
2:29:37 dedication of our our employees
2:29:39 across uh you know our schools and across this building as well
2:29:44 and appreciate the indulgence of
2:29:46 the board to to recognize them absolutely thank you for making
2:29:49 sure that we’re getting all those people
2:29:51 included we appreciate it and then uh okay any can we just give
2:29:57 a shout out to custodians like they are
2:29:59 clean and like mad people everywhere every inch sanitizing
2:30:02 absolutely i know we’re getting we’re
2:30:04 forgetting people but yeah thank you they’re there and you know
2:30:11 miss escobar and all of the adjustments that
2:30:14 she’s made and i mean i really i’m i really don’t think that we
2:30:18 can point to a single person in this
2:30:20 district that has not just um achieved herculean uh progress in
2:30:29 in the past week or so so uh we we
2:30:32 absolutely appreciate each and every one of you any additional
2:30:36 discussion all right at this point i’m
2:30:39 going to call a recess in the meeting so that we can go uh
2:30:43 offline to have discussion regarding student
2:30:46 discipline on the item that was pulled from the consent agenda
2:30:49 so i will recess at this point so that
2:30:51 our team can take us offline as far as recording
2:30:56 so
2:31:29 you
2:31:31 so
2:31:43 you
2:33:01 Thank you.