Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL

2020-06-30 - School Board Meeting

0:00 music

2:12 Thank you.

9:12 Ms. Escobar, are you prepared for roll call?

9:14 Would you like me to hold for a moment?

9:16 Ms. Belford, would you put your mic on a little bit closer?

9:19 Yes.

9:19 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.

9:20 I’m picking you up.

9:21 Better?

9:22 Yeah.

9:23 Okay.

9:28 Thank you.

9:43 The board will hold a moment of silent reflection and invite the

9:51 viewing audience to join us.

9:56 Thank you. We will now say the Pledge of Allegiance.

10:26 Okay. At this time, I want to offer my fellow board members and

10:36 Dr. Mullins the opportunity to recognize students, staff,

10:39 programs, and community members for the contributions afforded

10:42 to provide public schools. Ms. Campbell, you want to start us

10:45 off?

10:45 Absolutely. So in cooperation with our wonderful Food and Nutrition

10:51 Services Department, who continues to just be the amazing people

10:56 that they are, and now we’ve got this new plan of how we’re

10:59 going to feed kids in the same way that we’re doing plus school

11:02 sites during summer school and things like that.

11:04 But one of our community partners, Children’s Hunger Project, is

11:08 continuing to feed students as well on the weekends to meet

11:11 those needs for the weekend meals.

11:13 But the United Way, a few weeks ago, joined with them and

11:19 offered just thousands, really, of books to be passed out along

11:25 with the meals.

11:26 And so my girls and I were doing the meal distribution a few

11:29 weeks ago, and we were able to do the books, and that’s a

11:32 perfect job for them because they’re both avid readers.

11:34 And as the parents and the students were coming through the line,

11:38 and we said, “Hey, we have books today, too.” Just the faces

11:41 that lit up.

11:41 So thank you, thank you, United Way, because it was just

11:44 wonderful to be able to give that gift, and really, we were just

11:48 the people passing it through.

11:49 But the kids and the parents, the grandparents, all the ones who

11:52 went through the line were just so excited to have that book in

11:55 their hands.

11:55 So really grateful for their partnership.

11:58 Thank you very much.

12:00 Ms. Duskevich, you want to go tonight?

12:02 Sure.

12:03 I have two.

12:04 I had one a minute ago, but I had just remembered also, I wanted

12:09 to give a congratulations to Stone Magnet Middle School and

12:12 Space Coast Junior Senior High School.

12:13 They’ve been selected by the state to be part of the Florida Civics

12:18 and Debate Initiative, which will qualify them for extra funds

12:23 for teacher development in the area of civics and debate.

12:26 They’ll be able to participate in the program to expand.

12:29 They’ll be able to compete statewide, and it sounds like there’s

12:32 even going to be a national debate, if we ever get past COVID,

12:37 some national debate that they’ll be able to participate in also.

12:40 So I’m excited for them.

12:41 And then the second one is, it starts with Dr. Stephanie

12:45 Sullivan, who came to us with the idea, with the problem,

12:49 actually, that our ROTC students that were preparing for

12:56 military careers were not being counted as career-ready by the

12:59 state in every set of metrics that they evaluate us for.

13:02 She brought that to us, and then we brought it to our

13:06 legislative delegation luncheon, if you recall.

13:09 And Representative Tyler Sorori and Senator Wright ran with the

13:15 idea and thought it was important and sponsored a bill in each

13:18 of the House and Senate, and the governor signed it this week.

13:20 So not only were our students in Brevard that are ROTC students

13:24 preparing for military career now count, we’ve changed that for

13:29 the whole state.

13:30 So great job to Dr. Sullivan for having an idea and bringing it

13:34 forward into Representative Sorori and Senator Wright for their

13:38 hard work making it happen.

13:40 Thank you very much.

13:41 Ms. McDougall, would you like to go?

13:43 Sure.

13:44 Now, I have a couple things.

13:46 One will take a little bit of time, but the first one is kind of

13:50 short and sweet, and I want to encourage everyone.

13:51 I know you’re sitting around the home or you’re kind of bored.

13:55 Well, Brevard School Foundation is along with the organization

14:02 that sponsors Run the Tide.

14:04 It’s a virtual 5K, and you can sign up at runthetiderace.com.

14:12 And basically, they give you a really cool shirt.

14:14 I think it’s a shirt, or maybe it’s a beach towel.

14:17 I can’t remember now, but there’s also like a little octopus

14:21 medal that you get for everyone who participates.

14:23 And the benefits really will help with the Brevard School

14:27 Foundation to take stock with in-shouldered programs.

14:30 So sign up, give you something to do, and help a great

14:34 organization.

14:35 So my next one is a little bit long, and that’s because I would

14:39 like to recognize the top 20 scholars of 2020.

14:46 And I think there are 20 of them from schools across our

14:50 district.

14:51 And so bear with me, and I hope I don’t mess up anybody’s name.

14:54 But these are amazing students, and 2020 has been a tough year

14:58 for a lot of our graduating students.

15:00 So we have first from Astronaut High School, Elisa Regina.

15:05 And she’s going to be – her career goal is an orthopedic

15:09 surgeon.

15:09 You’ll see the – you’ll be amazed at the career goals that some

15:14 of our students have.

15:15 They’re really amazing.

15:16 Then we have Benjamin Yost from Bayside High School, and he

15:20 wants to be a biochemist.

15:21 We have Alexandria Foley from Brevard Virtual, who’s working –

15:25 wants to work with animals.

15:27 Then we have Christina.

15:28 Christina, I hope I say your name right.

15:30 So McCary from Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School, and she

15:34 wants to get a Ph.D. in biophysics chemistry – biochemistry.

15:39 And we go to Amber Moore from Cocoa High School, and she wants

15:45 to do tax law.

15:46 And we have Samantha Griffin, Cocoa High School, who wants to

15:50 become a marine veterinarian and work in a state aquarium.

15:55 And then my next student is from Merritt Island, and it’s Edgewood

16:00 Junior Senior High School.

16:02 I’m sorry, it’s from Edgewood Junior Senior High School.

16:04 And – I’m going to hope I don’t mess your name up – Grarish

16:10 Kenneth.

16:10 And, again, he’s from Edgewood, and he cracked me up.

16:13 He wants to retire or scale back hours as early as possible.

16:18 So – and then I have from Florida Prep, Natisha Invenko, and

16:25 she wants to become a diplomat working with the U.N.

16:28 I’m almost done.

16:29 I’m sorry.

16:30 But I didn’t want to miss out any of these kids, because these

16:32 students are amazing.

16:33 It’s been a tough year, and I just wanted to salute them.

16:36 We have Brianna Proper from Heritage High, and she – her career

16:41 goal is to be a government researcher.

16:44 We have Jake Vigren from Holy Trinity, producing innovative biotechnology.

16:50 Lauren Turney from Melbourne Central Catholic School.

16:53 She wants to be a pediatric neurologist.

16:56 And then I have Kayla Reed from Melbourne High, who wants to be

17:02 an OB-GYN.

17:03 We have Rochelle Hawks from Merritt Island High School, and she

17:07 wants to be a surgeon.

17:08 You see a theme here.

17:09 We have a lot of people who want to be in the medical field,

17:12 which is great.

17:13 We have Mikayla, also known as Midgy Panilla, from Odyssey Charter

17:20 Junior/Senior High School, and she is heading off to the Air

17:24 Force.

17:24 That’s where she wants to go.

17:26 And then I have – I’m not sure I’m going to say Dylan’s name

17:31 right – at Rock and Stalk at Palm Bay Magnet High.

17:35 And, again, this is another one – he wants to work at a job

17:39 that pays six figures and have enough time to relax.

17:42 Then I have Daphne Diaz at Rockledge High, and she wants to be a

17:47 family physician.

17:48 We have Maximus Scheiman at Satellite High, who wants to be a

17:54 biomaterials engineer.

17:56 Chris Strong from Brevard Adult Community Education, and he

18:00 would like to work in the IT field.

18:02 I have Jennifer Oroka-Gobaira from Space Coast Junior/Senior

18:07 High School, who wants to work in military intelligence or a

18:12 career in law.

18:13 I’m almost done.

18:14 Thank you for your patience.

18:15 David Lewis from Titusville, and he wants to work with NASA in

18:20 the aerospace industry.

18:21 I have Kevin Luciano from Vieira High, who wants to be a

18:26 chemical engineer working in pharmaceuticals and wants to play

18:32 the flute.

18:32 And some form of community band.

18:34 And then my last but not least is Darren Cook from West Shore

18:38 Junior/Senior High School, and she’s also amazing.

18:41 And she wants to design naval destroyers for the military.

18:44 So my hat’s off to all these top scholars in Brevard.

18:48 Nicely done.

18:49 Best of luck in your careers.

18:51 And that’s all I have.

18:53 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.

18:54 We appreciate you taking the time to recognize all of those

18:57 students.

18:57 Mr. Susan?

18:58 I did want to say, Ms. McDougall, you’re onto something.

19:00 The virtual 5K that we held at Vieira High School was

19:03 significantly better than any of the in-person ones that we did.

19:06 So you wouldn’t believe it, the amount of people that like to go

19:09 throw that T-shirt on and go run in their own community and

19:12 consider it a 5K.

19:12 It’s a good way to raise some money for some of the PTOs.

19:15 I also wanted to give a shout-out.

19:17 You had mentioned the ROTC bill.

19:19 Tyler Soroy gets a huge shout-out for that because there was a

19:23 big debate up in Tallahassee whether it was going to make it or

19:27 not.

19:27 And he stepped up to the plate and was able to push that through,

19:30 one of the education committees, and he continued to push

19:33 through.

19:33 So that bill never would have happened had it not been for Tyler’s

19:36 push.

19:36 I wanted to give a shout-out to my – I was selected on the

19:40 school board from the School Board Association to be on the

19:43 COVID response team to make suggestions for all school board

19:46 members to ask their school districts over what questions should

19:49 be answered as far as moving forward.

19:50 It was put on by the, you know, members from Orange County, from

19:54 Hillsborough County, from all across the state.

19:56 There’s about six of us.

19:58 And we put together a document that’s going to come out today.

20:03 I brought that to Mrs. Moore and Student Services, the rough

20:06 draft, to give her some of the ideas and get feedback.

20:08 But I did want to give a shout-out to my COVID response team of

20:12 individuals that have been with me for the last 30 days, meeting

20:15 twice a week, going through stuff, and coming up with solutions

20:17 based upon their argument.

20:19 What they see out there.

20:21 Celina DeFilippo from Sable PTO President.

20:24 Jennifer Nagy from Sun Tree PTO Treasurer, who absolutely was

20:28 amazing because she just figured out a way to get CARES Act

20:31 money for her PTO.

20:32 She received $4,000.

20:33 And my Sable PTO, because of what we did, collaboration, the

20:37 other PTOs are applying for that same money.

20:40 Sable should be getting theirs pretty soon.

20:43 And there’s an – the way that you do it is if you’re a not-for-profit

20:46 that’s been impacted, you can apply for it.

20:48 So they figured that out and they collaborated.

20:50 So I did want to give Miss Nagy a big shout-out for that.

20:53 Tara Pagliarino from Family Promise of Brevard.

20:57 Sherilyn Diskin, who’s the choice parent with an immune-compromised

21:03 child.

21:03 Michael Braug from Heritage CTE.

21:06 He gave us a lot of the CTE issues that we were dealing with.

21:10 Lane Keith.

21:11 She’s a Health First medical expert along with a secondary

21:15 parent.

21:15 Jonathan Schumann, teacher at – and also BFT member.

21:18 Theresa Mitchell, who’s Students with Disabilities, a leader in

21:22 Students with Disabilities organization.

21:23 Samantha Nazario from Third Street Bridge and Hispanic Coalition.

21:26 And then three individuals from Transportation Athletics and

21:29 Band and Activities.

21:30 They literally worked twice a week for – through a lot of the

21:34 issues.

21:34 And we collaboratively worked with Miss Moore.

21:37 And that document should come out the next couple of days.

21:41 We’re actually finalizing it this morning.

21:43 So I did want to give a shout-out for them to spend the time

21:46 that they did to try to come together with a response.

21:49 And they deserve a lot of credit.

21:50 Thank you.

21:51 Thank you, Mr. Susan.

21:52 Dr. Mullen.

21:53 Thank you, Ms. Belford.

21:55 I want to – the board may recall that the Cape Canaveral Air

22:00 Force Association annually recognizes teachers as part of their

22:05 association every year.

22:05 And this year we have three winners.

22:08 Elementary Teacher of the Year is Ms. Jill Whitaker from West

22:12 Shore Junior Senior High School.

22:14 Yeah.

22:16 She runs the Whirly Girls, I think, program.

22:19 I got more announcement on Ms. Whitaker in a second.

22:22 South Brevard Secondary Teacher of the Year is Commander

22:26 Sergeant – I think I got the rank correct.

22:28 I apologize if I didn’t – James Stadler from Satellite High

22:32 School.

22:33 And North Brevard Secondary Teacher of the Year, Ms. Tracy Bitovich

22:38 from Merritt Island High School.

22:40 But what is especially exciting this year is one of those three

22:47 was selected as the Florida Air Force Association Teacher of the

22:53 Year.

22:53 And that is Ms. Whitaker.

22:55 Yes.

22:56 So we – she was notified by the AFA on June 15th.

23:00 And she was very excited and looking forward to working with the

23:04 AFA on expanding STEM throughout Brevard.

23:07 So we will certainly be supporting her and watching her journey.

23:11 Is that State of Florida, though?

23:13 Yeah, the State of Florida.

23:14 Is there a national one that she can go into?

23:16 She could win it nationally.

23:17 She absolutely could.

23:19 I’m not sure.

23:20 I’ll – I’ll find out and let the board know.

23:21 We’ve got to ask them to do that.

23:23 And then last, I’d just like to do a – give a shout-out to some

23:28 staff that have been working tirelessly, nonstop, on preparing

23:34 Brevard’s CARES Act grant application.

23:38 I shared with the board a couple weeks ago that we qualified for

23:43 up to $17 million to be shared with Brevard schools, charter

23:46 schools, and private.

23:46 Or non – non-public schools.

23:50 But that requires an enormous amount of paperwork,

23:54 accountability, budget, and so on.

23:56 Shireen Lukton and Robin Ward have just been absolute champions

24:02 over the last 10 days to pull together the whole process and do

24:07 the – do the day-to-day work.

24:08 But I also must give a shout-out to Dr. Sullivan and Miss Lisinski.

24:13 We both of them have been working right along with Shireen and

24:17 Robin to bring it all together.

24:19 And proud to say that we are submitting our proposal by the end

24:23 of the day today, which was the deadline, although it was a soft

24:26 deadline.

24:26 But if you turn it in after the 30th, then you’ve got to get in

24:29 line.

24:29 So just my appreciation to our team for making sure that Brevard

24:34 is front of the line.

24:36 So thank you to those folks.

24:38 Excellent.

24:39 I have just a couple.

24:40 One, I have got to thank our reopening task force and all the

24:46 work that is going on around that issue.

24:49 We have – we have obviously a board briefing coming up in a –

24:54 9, 10 days, something like that.

24:56 But I don’t know how many of the board members have had an

25:00 opportunity to log onto the site and read the comments that are

25:05 being provided from students, parents, community members,

25:07 teachers.

25:09 So just trying to wrangle all of that information, in my opinion,

25:15 is a huge undertaking.

25:17 And admittedly, I have not read all 11,000 plus comments that

25:21 are on there.

25:22 But it’s been very good for me to have the opportunity to go and

25:25 read through those and see what our community is thinking.

25:28 I know we all have a lot of communication with our community

25:31 members and parents and students on a regular basis, but

25:34 certainly not at that volume.

25:35 And so that I have been very appreciative of.

25:38 And then I want to give a huge shout out to Chris Moore and our

25:42 student services team.

25:43 For anyone who was not watching this morning, we had a workshop

25:48 where Ms. Moore presented our behavior plan for the coming year.

25:53 And I think this really has the potential to just be life-changing

25:57 as far as the culture, the energy within our schools,

26:00 and addressing some of the frustrations that our teachers have

26:03 talked about for some time with regard to student behavior in

26:06 schools.

26:06 And it is a very robust undertaking, but I think it’s going to

26:10 be really great for our schools.

26:12 So if you didn’t get the opportunity to see that this morning, I

26:15 would encourage our public to go back and watch that workshop.

26:17 And especially our teachers as well, so that they could see some

26:21 of the great things that are going to be going on in the schools.

26:23 And then I would be remiss if I didn’t throw out a thank you to

26:27 our governor for finally signing a budget for us.

26:30 Not necessarily all of the things that we were hoping for, but I

26:36 think that we could have definitely been worse off.

26:39 And so we do finally have a signed budget going into our fiscal

26:43 year, which starts tomorrow.

26:44 We did lose a couple, well, one, a couple of allocations.

26:49 So, and we’re awaiting some additional information on that, but

26:53 I think certainly it could have been much worse.

26:55 So with that, we will move on to the adoption of the agenda.

27:01 Dr. Mullins.

27:02 Ms. Belford and members of the board.

27:06 On this morning’s agenda, we have one administrative staff

27:09 recommendation, 20 consent items, which is a change.

27:13 And I’ll give more information in a moment.

27:15 Eight action items and six information items.

27:19 Again, a change that I’ll give clarification to in a moment.

27:22 Additionally, there are two items added under board reports and

27:26 discussion points, as well as an item under superintendent’s

27:29 report.

27:30 Changes made to the agenda since being released to the public on

27:34 June 23rd are as follows.

27:35 A7 on administrative staff recommendations and F8 on meeting

27:40 minutes have received revisions.

27:42 Board discussion points on teacher salary legislation and

27:47 letters to be mailed and the superintendent’s report on July

27:50 campus activity reports were additions.

27:51 As well as an amendment to move item H 35, renew the school

27:58 board’s casualty insurance policies from information to consent.

28:05 If you look at that item, it was misplaced in the information

28:10 section of the agenda when it is actually a consent item.

28:13 So I wanted to make sure I brought that to full clarity for the

28:18 board.

28:18 What are the wishes of the board?

28:19 Move to approve.

28:20 Second.

28:21 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell.

28:24 Is there any discussion?

28:26 Ms. Askebar, would you please call for the vote?

28:29 Mrs. Belford?

28:31 Aye.

28:32 Mrs. McDougall?

28:34 Aye.

28:35 Mrs. Deskovich?

28:36 Aye.

28:37 Mrs. Campbell?

28:38 Aye.

28:39 And Mr. Susan?

28:40 Aye.

28:41 The motion passes 5-0.

28:43 Dr. Mullins, will you please tell us about our administrative

28:45 staff recommendations?

28:46 Yes.

28:48 There are 10 persons under this category for the board’s

28:50 consideration.

28:50 What are the wishes of the board?

28:51 Move to approve.

28:52 Second.

28:55 Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Deskovich.

28:56 Is there any discussion?

28:57 Ms. Askebar, if you would please call the vote.

29:00 Mrs. Belford?

29:01 Aye.

29:02 Mrs. McDougall?

29:03 Aye.

29:04 Mrs. Deskovich?

29:05 Aye.

29:06 Mrs. Campbell?

29:07 Aye.

29:08 And Mr. Susan?

29:09 Aye.

29:10 The motion passes 5-0.

29:13 We are now at public comments.

29:15 As indicated in my opening statement, persons wishing to comment

29:19 were registered in advance

29:20 on the district website.

29:21 Mrs. Belford?

29:22 I’m sorry to interrupt.

29:23 Yes.

29:24 There was a change and I don’t think it made it in your script.

29:25 I did have a superintendent’s update.

29:27 Okay.

29:28 Under presentation before we go to public comment.

29:30 I apologize.

29:31 Okay.

29:32 Then we will back up and move to presentations.

29:36 Dr. Mullen.

29:37 Thank you, Ms. Belford and members of the board.

29:49 I wanted to take a few minutes to provide the board as well as

29:54 our public an update because

29:54 a lot has occurred since we were together last, just even two

29:59 weeks ago.

30:00 Uh, you, you, the board is certainly aware, the community aware

30:04 that the governor announced,

30:05 uh, several education related initiatives or additional, uh,

30:10 grants that were made available

30:11 to K-12 education districts across the state.

30:15 And I wanted to provide the board and our community an update on

30:18 all of those activities.

30:19 So I’ll take a few minutes and go through our elementary summer

30:23 school learning programs

30:24 that includes VPK, gear, rising up kindergartens, uh, as well as

30:28 what our elementary summer school

30:29 health and safety protocols will include.

30:31 And then I’ll close with, uh, some additional summer programs at

30:35 our secondary level.

30:37 First, uh, Governor DeSantis funded, uh, a voluntary pre-K

30:43 program working with communities,

30:45 uh, VPK programs, uh, to allow in-person voluntary pre-kindergarten.

30:50 These are for students in anticipation of coming into

30:53 kindergarten.

30:54 Uh, we have, uh, identified a location, Saturn elementary school

30:59 to include five students.

30:59 This isn’t necessarily a new initiative.

31:02 Uh, it has been implemented in the past, um, and, and five

31:07 students may be sound disappointing,

31:08 but it’s actually one more student than we had in the program

31:11 last year.

31:11 So we’re pleased to be able to continue that through funding

31:14 from the state.

31:15 It will actually, uh, it began last week, uh, runs Monday

31:20 through Friday from 7:30 to 2:30,

31:21 and will actually run through the end of July.

31:23 Uh, and that came from Governor DeSantis, uh, executive order,

31:30 uh, zero four.

31:30 Then we move on to the governor’s emergency education relief,

31:37 relief act or gear.

31:39 These were dollars that the governor was given through the cares

31:42 act, uh, federal stimulus

31:44 that he allocated and earmarked just for K 12, uh, learning,

31:48 particularly over the summer.

31:50 Uh, these, uh, these funds are used to address early literacy

31:56 skill development.

31:57 Uh, very pleased to, to share that we have over 660 students

32:04 currently registered or, uh, RSVP

32:07 to participate in this program across our 14 elementary schools

32:12 that include, uh, incoming

32:14 or rising first through fourth graders.

32:17 In addition, uh, fifth and sixth graders rising fifth and six at

32:22 Endeavor and Mims Elementary

32:24 will, will, uh, be, uh, be allowed to participate.

32:28 This will be, uh, beginning July 8th and run through July 30th

32:33 in anticipation of the school year.

32:35 Um, the, the state has allocated up to $1.6 million for these,

32:41 uh, for this program to include

32:43 charter and private schools who choose to participate.

32:46 Uh, we are provide, uh, it is mandatory and required that we

32:50 provide transportation as well as our breakfast

32:53 and lunch programs.

32:54 So those departments are gearing up and getting ready to support

32:58 our kids and our community

32:59 for the early literacy skill development opportunity this summer.

33:03 And that will run, uh, it is, um, runs from, I believe, 7:30 to

33:08 2:30 as well.

33:09 So it is a, it’s a full day program for our, our kids.

33:13 Uh, another program that was funded is called Rising Up Kindergarteners.

33:19 It’s a grant offered through the Office of Early Learning.

33:22 It was, uh, a grant we had to write actually to the early, early

33:26 learning coalition, uh,

33:28 that we submitted yesterday and it’s pending approval.

33:31 Um, but we’ve already been notified or we will be notified

33:34 within three days that we would,

33:36 uh, receive the grant and it’ll allow us to extend even more

33:40 opportunities to previous VPK students,

33:44 uh, to participate in the gear program beginning July 8th,

33:48 running through July 30th.

33:50 So you can see that we have, uh, normally the month of July is a

33:56 very quiet month in our schools across the district,

33:59 but we’re actually, uh, to, to use the DOE’s analogy, dimmer

34:04 switching up our schools returning to full capacity.

34:07 The summer school health and safety protocols that, uh, we will

34:12 have in place, uh, obviously hand sanitizer

34:15 will be available in every classroom on our buses, uh, be very,

34:19 uh, uh, very available across our, our schools.

34:24 Uh, we will continue to encourage frequent hand washing.

34:27 Teachers will be pausing and sending kids to wash their hands

34:31 regularly.

34:31 We have, uh, procured touchless thermometers for all of our

34:36 schools in anticipation of, of return.

34:37 Uh, and they have those now and will be available to use in our

34:41 schools.

34:41 We’ll be utilizing the small classroom, uh, as well as social

34:46 distancing for our summer program.

34:46 Again, I mentioned a grab and go breakfast and lunch.

34:49 And, uh, we are encouraging, but face max, face masks will be

34:54 optional for our students.

34:57 But our elementary schools aren’t the only sites that we’ll be

35:01 having students reporting to them in July.

35:04 We were able to, uh, move forward with providing driver’s

35:08 education.

35:08 We, we normally provide, uh, driver’s ed course options for our

35:13 students over the summer.

35:14 So we were able to get those in place, uh, for two nine day

35:19 sessions in July at the locations you see there.

35:22 Uh, it’s a modified or hybrid program where students will

35:26 obviously driver’s education requires them to do some driving

35:29 time.

35:29 So they’ll be doing that, uh, on our campuses, uh, behind the

35:33 wheel.

35:33 And then they will also be participating in some remote learning

35:37 about three hours per day.

35:38 Uh, in addition, we, uh, were able to reinstate, uh, ACT testing,

35:44 uh, at the high schools that you see represented there beginning

35:49 on July 18th.

35:49 And we are providing an opportunity for our students to take for

35:54 the first time.

35:55 The DOE is facilitating or accommodating the, the first

35:59 administration of the algebra one EOC, which will still be a

36:04 requirement for students, uh, who were in algebra one this year,

36:07 but couldn’t take it.

36:08 The test because we were closed.

36:10 So we’re beginning, uh, an optional administration or access to

36:15 the test July 13th through the 24th in small groups, uh, at all

36:19 secondary schools.

36:20 So we’ve already received some response and, uh, feedback that,

36:24 uh, students and families would like to take advantage of that

36:27 early option for algebra one EOC.

36:32 And that’s the update I have for now.

36:34 So things are, uh, moving quickly and, uh, we’re getting things,

36:38 uh, in place to welcome our students back.

36:40 Well, we have some already here in our, our, uh, early programs.

36:43 And then July 8th, we’ll mark another wave of students who will

36:47 be coming into our schools.

36:50 Dr. Munson, if I can ask a, uh, just a quick question on the,

36:55 excuse me, on the programs for our, like the Rising Up Kindergarteners

36:59 and the VPK program.

37:01 Are those students who were already, because we have VPK

37:03 programs in all different kinds of facilities, you know,

37:06 churches and, um, daycares and around the county.

37:08 Are these, were these, uh, sent out, are these just available to

37:13 VPK students who were in, uh, BPS, VPK programs?

37:17 They, uh, no.

37:20 So Ms. Klein, she’s coming to rescue me because that’s a layer

37:24 of detail that admittedly she knows.

37:25 It’s the magic door that people who have answers walk through.

37:27 That’s right.

37:28 Ms. Klein, come on up.

37:30 To answer your question about VPK, it is, it was open to all VPK

37:47 providers.

37:50 Okay.

37:51 And we’re VPK providers.

37:53 So typically, um, we’ve offered it.

37:57 And last year, as Dr. Mullen said, we had four at Saturn.

38:00 And this year we have five.

38:01 Who’s taking that?

38:02 Same thing for the Rising Up Kindergarten.

38:04 No.

38:05 Rising Up Kindergarten would be students.

38:07 Yes.

38:08 It is open to all students, whether they attended our VPK or any

38:13 VPK.

38:13 So we are going to house the program.

38:16 But once we, um, we have identified, once we’re accepted, then

38:22 the Office of Early Learning

38:24 will extend the offer to any student who’s been in VPK to

38:29 register to become part of our

38:31 Rising Up Kindergarten.

38:32 Okay.

38:33 So we’ll be able to put, once that’s approved, we can push that

38:36 out, um, through our normal

38:37 channels.

38:38 Right.

38:39 It’ll be, uh, the Office of Early Learning will, uh, extend the

38:44 invitation.

38:44 Okay.

38:45 Because there are criteria that have to be set aside of the

38:49 students who can attend.

38:50 Right.

38:51 No, I totally understand.

38:52 I appreciate that.

38:53 Thank you.

38:54 Thank you, Ms. Klein.

38:56 Any additional questions from any of the board members for Ms.

39:00 Klein or Dr. Mullen?

39:01 Ms. McDougall?

39:02 I’m good.

39:03 Okay.

39:04 Excellent.

39:05 Thank you so much.

39:06 We appreciate the update and all the great work that’s going on

39:10 to, uh, ensure our students

39:10 can be successful in, in the fall.

39:13 At this point, we are moving on to public comments.

39:16 As indicated in my opening statement, persons wishing to comment

39:20 were registered in advance

39:20 on the district website and were then called and the comments

39:24 recorded.

39:24 We will listen to the recorded messages at this time.

39:27 Later on, we will be holding a public hearing for policies.

39:30 If anyone called to address those policies, his or her comments

39:32 would have been heard during

39:33 this time as well.

39:34 Consequently, there were no public comments related to the

39:38 policies for which we will be,

39:39 we will be taking a vote later on.

39:41 Mr. Francisco.

39:43 Good afternoon, everyone.

39:44 My name is Sue Han and I’m the assistant superintendent for

39:51 facility services.

39:55 In consideration of the current health and safety concerns

39:58 during the COVID-19 emergency guidance

39:59 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as

40:03 executive order 2091 issued by Governor

40:04 DeSantis, it has been necessary to modify our procedures for

40:08 public comment.

40:09 Tonight, your comments will be recorded and we will play them

40:13 back under the public comment section

40:13 of the board meeting tomorrow.

40:15 Each speaker is limited to three minutes.

40:17 Our moderator will keep track of your time and ask that you

40:20 conclude your comments when you have reached three minutes.

40:22 Always keep in mind that reason is expected at all times.

40:26 Please keep your comments appropriate for our children who may

40:29 be watching or listening from home.

40:31 Before speaking, please state your name, the organization you

40:35 represent, if any, and identify the topic you will be discussing.

40:38 We won’t be answering questions on tonight’s call, but our staff

40:41 will follow up with you if you need a response.

40:44 Thank you.

40:45 All right.

40:46 And with that, we’ll go to Scott.

40:48 Scott, go ahead with your comments.

40:51 Good evening.

40:53 My name is Scott Rook and I reside in District 4.

40:56 During May 26th school board meeting, memorandums of

40:59 understanding with the Brevard Sheriff were presented

41:01 for approval for STOMP training and district security personnel

41:04 to include school resource officers.

41:07 The posted comment for F-16, the MOU related to district

41:11 security and SROs with DCSO, was heavily redacted.

41:14 In the past two years, this information has not been so in any

41:18 of the 11 different SRO MOUs with law enforcement.

41:22 My questions are, why was the MOU redacted now?

41:26 What’s different?

41:27 And will all SRO MOUs be redacted going forward?

41:32 Comparing the last two years MOUs against the current years, it’s

41:38 not difficult to identify some of the missing text.

41:40 In light of the school board’s responsibility to transparency, I

41:44 failed to understand why the rank of officers assigned to the

41:47 district office,

41:47 a major, a lieutenant, and two deputy sheriffs to name a few,

41:51 are security sensitive.

41:52 Or why the major will, quote, provide consistent direction,

41:56 coordination, collaboration, and training to all safe school

42:00 officers and school resource officers, end quote.

42:05 Provide line supervision and direction for the school security

42:09 program and security staffing.

42:11 staffing, end quote, needs redaction. Please explain how these

42:15 generic

42:16 assignment descriptions require redaction. While some may claim

42:20 that

42:21 security is a redaction, it’s easy enough for parents to look

42:24 around and see a

42:25 police car and/or a uniformed officer at school to know whether

42:28 an SRO or a

42:29 school security specialist is assigned. In fact, many BPS

42:34 schools list their

42:35 assigned SRO in their faculty directories, so their placement is

42:40 clearly not security sensitive. In the interest of transparency,

42:43 parents

42:44 deserve to know whether they will have a sworn law enforcement

42:47 officer at their

42:47 school or a security specialist. For some, this knowledge may be

42:52 a determining factor.

42:55 Finally, understanding how many SRO are provided aids in

43:00 understanding how the

43:01 budget supports this piece of BPS spending. With the cost of SROs

43:05 identified in each MOU, it’s easy enough to do simple math to

43:08 figure out

43:08 how many officers are provided by each MOU. As to why it’s redacted

43:13 when the dollar

43:14 figures are not. I would ask the board to stop the policy of redacting

43:18 SRO MOUs going

43:19 forward. It breeds distrust in BPS and the school board in

43:23 particular. Thank you.

43:24 Thank you very much. Next we’re going to go ahead and go to

43:28 Anthony. Anthony, go ahead with your

43:31 comment. My name is Anthony Colucci. I’m the President of the

43:35 Brevard Federation of Teachers.

43:37 As you all are aware, the spike in confirmed cases of COVID-19

43:41 is the schools an extremely difficult proposition. If Brevard

43:48 County residents do not change their behavior, there is simply

43:52 no reason why COVID-19

43:54 cases will decline in our county. The days until August 10th are

43:59 ticking away while the number of positivity rates are ticking up.

44:04 Tuesday afternoon, the county commission is considering making

44:08 masks use mandatory in businesses in Brevard. The mandatory use

44:13 of masks is our only hope for declining COVID cases come August

44:18 10th.

44:18 The decision that the county commission makes will directly

44:22 impact the decisions you have to make about reopening. You must

44:26 employ employ your county commission to support mandatory masks.

44:31 Schools and communities are not island. Decisions in one sector

44:37 will affect the spread of COVID in others.

44:40 While we understand that at the minimum, your reopening plan

44:45 must include a traditional start with safety measures in place

44:50 and the continuity of remote learning, we urge you and the

44:53 coronavirus task force to add options. Options such as staggered

44:58 scheduling would present a safer environment than a traditional

45:02 schedule while offering valuable face time with students that

45:05 remote learning does not.

45:07 There are several options of staggered schedules and flexible

45:10 scheduling that this district should be considering. Ultimately,

45:15 having more than two options available will allow the district

45:20 to be responsive to circumstances.

45:22 I realized the difficulty of the decisions that this board must

45:26 make about reopening. The bottom line is these are likely life

45:31 and death decisions for some in Brevard County. With that said,

45:35 I’m asking you to err on the side of caution when implementing

45:38 your plan.

45:39 Inconvenience, discomfort or politics must not be the reason why

45:44 this board chooses to avoid the proper safety measures. If you

45:49 are asking staff and students to return to campuses, every

45:53 safety measure available must be put in place. You must ensure

45:57 the health of our students and staff. As always, feel free to

46:01 call me if you want to discuss this issue further. Thank you.

46:04 Thank you.

46:05 This is Sue Hamm. I’d like to thank both of our speakers tonight

46:08 for your comments. As I mentioned earlier, tomorrow morning’s

46:12 board meeting under the public comment section. Thank you

46:14 everyone for joining us tonight.

46:16 All right. Did any board members wish to respond to any of the

46:20 speakers for today’s public comment? Can we, can you put

46:27 together a response to Mr. Roof as to why we redact all those SROs?

46:30 I don’t want to give him direction unless everybody else, but

46:32 just a follow up email. I mean, that’s standard. We have a

46:36 standard email as to why we redact things. I think we can just

46:39 follow up on that. That’s me asking. Please don’t think that’s

46:43 board direction. Are we okay with that?

46:44 I don’t think that’s a board action. I think it’s okay to ask

46:47 our attorney.

46:48 Yeah. I mean, it would be the same thing as if he’d send us an

46:50 email and we asked Mr. Gibbs to respond.

46:52 Okay. That’s all.

46:53 I don’t have a problem.

46:54 Thank you.

46:56 You’re welcome. Thank you. All right. That takes us to the

47:00 consent agenda, Dr. Mullins.

47:02 There are 20 agenda items under this category.

47:06 Thank you, Dr. Mullins. Does any board member wish to pull any

47:10 item from the consent agenda?

47:12 All right. Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to accept the

47:16 consent items as presented.

47:17 Move to approve.

47:18 Second.

47:21 Mr. Susan. Seconded by, we’re going to give that one to Ms. McDougall

47:24 because there’s a time delay.

47:27 Thank you.

47:28 Any discussion?

47:30 All right. Ms. Escobar, if you would please call the vote.

47:34 Mrs. Belford.

47:35 Aye.

47:36 Ms. McDougall.

47:37 Aye.

47:38 Mrs. Deskovich.

47:39 Aye.

47:40 Mrs. Campbell.

47:41 Aye.

47:42 And Mr. Susan.

47:43 Aye.

47:44 And the motion passes 5-0.

47:46 We will move on to the action agenda.

47:48 Dr. Mullins.

47:49 Ms. Belford, members of the board, there are eight items under

47:54 this category.

47:55 The first action is for procurement solicitations.

48:00 What are the wishes of the board?

48:01 Move to approve.

48:02 Second.

48:03 Moved by Mr. Susan.

48:04 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.

48:05 Is there any discussion?

48:07 Please vote.

48:08 Mrs. Belford.

48:09 Aye.

48:10 Ms. McDougall.

48:11 Aye.

48:12 Mrs. Deskovich.

48:13 Aye.

48:14 Mrs. Campbell.

48:15 Aye.

48:16 And Mr. Susan.

48:17 Aye.

48:18 The motion passes 5-0.

48:19 Dr. Mullins.

48:20 Next, our department school initiated agreements.

48:23 What are the wishes of the board?

48:24 Move to approve.

48:25 Second.

48:26 Moved by Mr. Susan.

48:27 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.

48:28 Is there any discussion?

48:29 Please vote.

48:30 Mrs. Belford.

48:31 Aye.

48:32 Ms. McDougall.

48:33 Aye.

48:34 Mrs. Deskovich.

48:35 Aye.

48:36 Mrs. Deskovich.

48:37 Aye.

48:38 Mrs. Campbell.

48:39 Aye.

48:40 And Mr. Susan.

48:41 Aye.

48:42 The motion passes 5-0.

48:43 The next five items are in reference to policies.

48:46 A policies work session was held on May 12th with a rule

48:49 development workshop on June 16th,

48:50 which was the public’s first opportunity to make comments.

48:53 Today would be the public’s second chance to comment before the

48:56 board takes action.

48:57 As I stated earlier, there were no recorded comments regarding

49:00 any of the policies on this evening’s agenda.

49:02 I will now call for the motion to approve the revisions to board

49:07 policy 5-7-7-1, search and seizure.

49:10 Move to approve.

49:12 Moved by Ms. Campbell.

49:13 Seconded by Mr. Susan.

49:14 Any discussion?

49:15 Ms. Escobar.

49:16 Ms. Belford.

49:17 Aye.

49:18 Ms. McDougall.

49:19 Aye.

49:20 Mrs. McDougall.

49:21 Aye.

49:22 Mrs. Deskovich.

49:23 Aye.

49:24 Mrs. Campbell.

49:25 Aye.

49:26 And Mr. Susan.

49:27 Aye.

49:28 The motion passes 5-0.

49:29 Is there a motion to approve the revisions to board policy 7-440.01,

49:34 protection of personnel and property?

49:35 Move to approve.

49:36 Second.

49:37 Move by Mr. Susan.

49:38 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.

49:39 Any discussion?

49:40 Ms. Escobar.

49:41 Mrs. Belford.

49:42 Aye.

49:43 Mrs. McDougall.

49:44 Aye.

49:45 Mrs. Deskovich.

49:46 Aye.

49:47 Mrs. Campbell.

49:48 Aye.

49:49 Mr. Susan.

49:50 Aye.

49:51 The motion passes 5-0.

49:52 Let’s move on to policy 8-4-0-6, reports of suspicious activity

49:57 and potential threats to schools, facilities, students, and

50:00 employees.

50:00 Do I have a motion?

50:01 Move to approve.

50:02 Move by Mr. Susan.

50:03 Seconded by Ms. McDougall.

50:04 Any discussion?

50:05 Ms. Escobar.

50:06 Mrs. Belford.

50:07 Aye.

50:08 Mrs. McDougall.

50:09 Aye.

50:10 Mrs. Deskovich.

50:11 Aye.

50:12 Mrs. Campbell.

50:13 Aye.

50:13 Mrs. Campbell.

50:14 Aye.

50:15 Mrs. Campbell.

50:16 Aye.

50:17 And Mr. Susan.

50:18 Aye.

50:19 The motion passes 5-0.

50:20 Do I have a motion to approve the revisions to policy 8-410,

50:23 crisis event intervention and response?

50:25 Move to approve.

50:26 Ms. Deskovich.

50:27 Moved and seconded by Ms. Campbell.

50:28 Any discussion?

50:29 Ms. Escobar.

50:30 Mrs. Belford.

50:31 Aye.

50:32 Mrs. McDougall.

50:33 Aye.

50:34 Mrs. Deskovich.

50:35 Aye.

50:36 Mrs. Campbell.

50:37 Aye.

50:38 And Mr. Susan.

50:38 Aye.

50:39 The motion passes 5-0.

50:40 Next is board policy 8-410.01 on critical incident response.

50:42 Do I have a motion to approve?

50:43 Move to approve.

50:44 Second.

50:45 Move by Mr. Susan.

50:46 Second.

50:47 Moved by Ms. Susan.

50:48 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.

50:49 Any discussion?

50:50 Ms. Escobar.

50:51 Mrs. Belford.

50:52 Aye.

50:53 Ms. McDougall.

50:54 Aye.

50:55 Mrs. Deskovich.

50:56 Aye.

50:57 Mrs. Campbell.

50:58 Aye.

50:59 Mr. Susan.

51:00 Aye.

51:01 The motion passes 5-0.

51:02 Our last motion passes 5-0.

51:03 Aye.

51:04 Ms. McDougall.

51:05 Aye.

51:06 Mrs. Deskovich.

51:07 Aye.

51:08 Mrs. Campbell.

51:09 Aye.

51:10 Mr. Susan.

51:11 Aye.

51:12 The motion passes 5-0.

51:13 We’re now at our information items.

51:14 Ms. Belford.

51:15 Can I pause?

51:16 Can you pause for a second?

51:17 Dr. Mullins, didn’t you say we needed to the first information?

51:19 5-0.

51:20 The motion passes 5-0.

51:21 We’re now at our information items.

51:22 Ms. Belford, can I pause for a second?

51:24 Dr. Mullins, didn’t you say we needed to the first information?

51:25 5-0.

51:26 The motion passes 5-0.

51:27 We’re now at our information items.

51:28 Ms. Belford, can I pause?

51:29 Can you pause for a second?

51:30 Dr. Mullins, didn’t you say we needed to the first information?

51:32 5-0.

51:33 The motion passes 5-0.

51:36 We’re now at our information items.

51:37 There will be no action on these items this morning.

51:38 They may be brought back to the board for action at a later time.

51:42 Does any board member wish to discuss any of the items on the

51:46 information agenda?

51:47 Okay.

51:48 We’re now at board member reports and discussion points.

51:49 Before we move on to our discussion points, does any board

51:50 member have any questions?

51:50 The motion passes 5-0.

52:09 The motion passes 6-0.

52:10 The motion passes 5-0.

52:33 The motion passes 6-0.

52:34 The motion passes 5-0.

52:55 The motion passes 6-0.

52:56 The motion passes 5-0.

53:19 The motion passes 6-0.

53:20 The motion passes 5-0.

53:22 And that responsibility in many parts is not so much on the

53:26 schools.

53:27 And if I can explain a little bit better is that we have some of

53:32 the most amazing social services through United Way, Family

53:35 Promise of Brevard.

53:36 They are so interconnected that if you dial 2-1-1, bam, they

53:39 find you the right information.

53:41 They get you supported, right?

53:43 We have, arguably, we just had one of the best presentations on

53:46 how to deal with discipline in the future.

53:48 And we’re doing our part.

53:50 And the cities have all these different programs where you have

53:54 after-school parks and rec and all these other issues that they

53:57 have.

53:57 And they have supports inside their housing departments and

54:00 their developments.

54:01 And we have Boys and Girls Clubs.

54:02 And we have DOC.

54:03 And we have the Meadows.

54:04 We have all of these organizations that are amazing at what they

54:07 do.

54:07 But we don’t pull them all together under a house and

54:10 collaborate and talk about what we can do from beginning to end

54:15 for our students.

54:16 How we can collaborate our resources.

54:18 How we can – how we can help drive kids to the DOC.

54:23 Drive kids to the Boys and Girls Club.

54:25 Drive programs to the Meadows.

54:27 Not us.

54:28 Because we ask too much on our shoulders.

54:31 We don’t – we put too much on our school system.

54:34 I think it behooves us to have – engage our community partners

54:38 for the support in the community that we need.

54:41 And allow them to do the work, basically.

54:43 Have Rotarians giving mentorships.

54:45 Have the American Legions and the VFWs working with our ROTCs on

54:50 the career pathways that they’re doing.

54:53 Have a lot of our different organizations, not-for-profits, the

54:57 churches working with our families.

54:59 It’s not connected the way that we could.

55:02 So when we’re sitting here and we’re – and we listened to Mrs.

55:05 Moore give that presentation.

55:06 And I was real quiet.

55:08 And it just kind of woke me up.

55:09 And it just – you start trying to get moving on how can we fix

55:13 these children.

55:14 And every time one of those children comes into the school, they’re

55:17 – the issue that they’re having,

55:19 nine times out of ten, did not originate inside the classroom.

55:22 It originated at home.

55:23 So what are we doing to help the organizations at home develop

55:26 the issue – fix the issues?

55:28 We have students that get up every day.

55:30 And some of the places that we had over the feed and services,

55:33 students – one place didn’t have a door on a trailer.

55:36 Another place had a leaky roof.

55:38 Another place where there’s ten kids in one little room.

55:41 Those are issues that they bring.

55:42 That’s not our fault.

55:43 We’re trying to do what we can.

55:44 But we need to engage our community partners, I think.

55:47 And we need to do a better job as school board members.

55:49 And I’ll tell you what I was going to do is I’m going to create

55:52 a coalition inside the O’Galley area to do exactly that.

55:56 And then I hope that through forming the coalition between

55:59 churches, not-for-profits, the city of Melbourne,

56:02 and a bunch of the other agencies, maybe we can help those

56:05 principals in a support.

56:06 Not to put more work on the teachers, the principals, or our

56:09 district, but to bring our community into line.

56:12 To support our students and our families in the community better.

56:16 Because I’ll tell you, when I was knocking on those doors, when

56:18 we were going through those food services, and I was finding all

56:20 those kids over the COVID break.

56:22 You know who was right behind me?

56:23 Our social workers.

56:24 Our guidance counselors.

56:25 They were there.

56:26 I saw Mr. Sejic, the one from the ALC.

56:29 He was across at one of my housing developments talking to one

56:34 of the students.

56:36 They were there.

56:37 We just need to pull everybody together.

56:39 Those same kids that he was going to see also go to the Boys and

56:42 Girls Club.

56:43 And I asked them, I said, are we connected?

56:45 No.

56:46 So we just need to help connect them.

56:47 We as school board members.

56:48 And I’m going to try to create that.

56:50 And a lot of that happens in Tallahassee or Titusville.

56:53 You guys do an amazing job up there.

56:54 It’s a big family.

56:55 I would like to try to recreate that here and then move from

56:58 there.

56:58 That was all.

56:59 It was my spin from what we had a conversation earlier.

57:01 That’s all.

57:02 That’s a great segue, Mr. Susan, for me to just throw a reminder

57:06 out to the board members

57:07 that the community mapping project that we had discussed

57:12 previously, it’s kind of the center focus.

57:15 Like that’s where we need to get.

57:16 We’re taking baby steps with just identifying our groupings, if

57:20 you will, at this point.

57:22 So if you all would not mind trying to send a little reminder

57:26 for yourself this week.

57:28 And just to clarify, I’m not asking you to populate.

57:31 I’m just asking you to identify groupings at this point.

57:35 And then we can move forward.

57:36 Because, Mr. Susan, as you mentioned, one of the things that I

57:39 am working toward in the

57:41 North Area is a community action coalition.

57:44 Partly from the book that Dr. Mullins gave to each of you to

57:49 read.

57:49 And partly from the book that you mentioned earlier, Ms. Duskovich,

57:52 the upstream book.

57:53 Whereas if we can address some of these issues before they

57:55 become issues, we save tons of money.

57:58 So just to clarify, Ms. Belford, you’re asking for types of

58:01 organizations, not specifically the names of the organizations

58:04 yet.

58:04 Not yet.

58:05 Okay.

58:06 Yes.

58:07 I just want to make sure that we have our –

58:08 I told you mine in the meeting.

58:09 Yes.

58:11 So –

58:12 I’ll email it to you too.

58:13 I will send out a reminder to you all just to make sure that you

58:16 all have had the opportunity

58:18 to review those and get back to me before we set up an online

58:20 form for us to begin to populate.

58:22 And we did receive the information from Dr. Mullins regarding

58:27 community partners and that sort of thing.

58:29 So we can – once we have our format set, not to say it won’t

58:33 change as we go, but I think that’s a starting point for us.

58:36 And then we can start populating.

58:37 So thank you, Mr. Susan, for that passionate advocacy for

58:42 collaboration.

58:43 I think it’s important as well.

58:44 Okay.

58:45 Ms. Campbell, you asked to have teacher salary legislation

58:48 placed on as a discussion item.

58:50 Would you like to –

58:51 I did.

58:52 And I think Dr. Mullins, Ms. Leszczynski has –

58:55 Yes.

58:56 Dr. Thetty is prepared to come and make a short presentation

58:59 just with some general information about the teacher allocation

59:03 legislation.

59:03 Let’s see if she comes out the magic door.

59:06 The magic door.

59:07 Well, I – while she – while we’re waiting on her, I’d just

59:10 love to set this up.

59:11 I just – you know, we’re – as Ms. Belford already shared, we’re

59:14 grateful to have a signed budget here the day before – you know,

59:18 it was signed yesterday, the day before the last day of the

59:20 fiscal year.

59:21 And I know that the governor had announced that the teacher

59:25 salary allocation, which was one of his proposals from the fall,

59:30 that the legislature passed back in March, would not be cut.

59:33 And he signed a bill – I think it was House Bill 641 last week.

59:39 And so – but there – because of that, there’s been a lot of

59:42 stirrings.

59:43 And it’s, you know, there’s some confusion as to how is it going

59:46 to work out.

59:46 And just kind of stirs back up some of the – the positive end

59:50 and the negatives.

59:51 So on the outset, it – you know, everybody said, okay, all

59:53 teacher salaries are going to make at least $47,500 in the state

59:57 of Florida.

59:57 And it’s not quite that cut and clear, you know, clear.

1:00:00 And then a lot of our veteran teachers are saying, great, I’m

1:00:03 not going to see a penny of that.

1:00:04 So I had – I didn’t actually ask for the staff to do any work.

1:00:09 I wanted them to not do – but in typical fashion, they did put

1:00:12 together something for us.

1:00:14 So I just – I don’t know.

1:00:17 There’s a couple – there’s, you know, there’s some pros and

1:00:19 cons.

1:00:19 And, you know, I think if I – I’m going to let Dr. Seide give

1:00:24 kind of the information.

1:00:25 And then I’d like if I could have the back for just some talk

1:00:29 through some of that.

1:00:30 I didn’t see in your presentation that you sent us real quick

1:00:34 over the weekend.

1:00:35 Did you include the amount from the FEFP?

1:00:37 Because I have that – I have that here.

1:00:40 I did not.

1:00:41 So the Brevard – in the FEFP, because the Florida Education

1:00:45 Finance Program was – it was –

1:00:47 when it was passed, that was not changed.

1:00:49 So the allocation for Brevard is $12.6 million.

1:00:54 But everybody needs to understand that out of that comes –

1:00:58 well, our charter schools will get their proportionate share

1:01:02 first, right?

1:01:03 So it’s not BPS will get $12.6 million.

1:01:05 But that is our Brevard total, all the public schools in Brevard

1:01:08 number.

1:01:09 So then out of that comes what Dr. Seide is about to share some

1:01:12 with us.

1:01:13 So –

1:01:14 So before I even start, I’d like to clarify the $12.6.

1:01:17 It’s based on projected FTE.

1:01:19 Right.

1:01:20 So that’s something to really be very cognizant of because that

1:01:24 projection may change.

1:01:26 And if it changes, our allocation will also change.

1:01:28 So that’s why you did not find it in my presentation.

1:01:30 Okay.

1:01:31 But that is what is published, $12.6.

1:01:32 And just to clarify, that number would change based on if our

1:01:34 enrollment drops.

1:01:35 Correct.

1:01:36 Okay.

1:01:37 Yes.

1:01:38 Thank you.

1:01:39 Thank you, Mrs. Belford, board members, Dr. Mullins.

1:01:41 I just wanted to give you a quick overview of House Bill 641,

1:01:45 the teacher salary increase allocation.

1:01:48 And by way of setting the stage, just so you know, statewide, it’s

1:01:52 a $500 million allocation

1:01:54 with $400 million for raising the minimum base pay for full-time

1:01:59 teachers – classroom teachers,

1:02:01 clarify classroom teachers – and $100 million to raise the

1:02:04 salaries of Florida’s veteran teachers

1:02:06 and other instructional personnel.

1:02:08 the $500 million.

1:02:10 The $500 million and $400 million are really important because

1:02:12 that’s where the 80/20 comes in that you hear about, but is not

1:02:16 specifically delineated in the statute.

1:02:21 That bill repeals the former best and brightest, so that program

1:02:25 is gone as a result of this.

1:02:26 It amends section 1011.61 and creates that categorical called

1:02:31 teacher salary increase allocation.

1:02:34 Of that allocation, 80% plus any remaining funds, if it doesn’t

1:02:39 take 80% to get where we need to be, although we have not

1:02:43 determined where we’ll be at this point,

1:02:46 we have to use it as specified in the statute 1011.62, which is

1:02:51 the section of statute that deals with the funding for the

1:02:55 operation of schools.

1:02:56 And I do want to repeat again that our funding is based on

1:02:59 projected enrollment, so that 12.6 allocation minus the charter

1:03:04 school’s proportionate share is based on our enrollment for next

1:03:08 year.

1:03:09 In the allocation of funds – let me go back up one – eligible

1:03:15 instructional staff earning less than $47,500.

1:03:21 The purpose is to increase the minimum base salary to at least $47,500

1:03:26 or the maximum amount possible, which is an important caveat,

1:03:30 for the following instructional staff.

1:03:32 Full-time K-12 classroom teachers, as defined on the next slide,

1:03:36 and certified pre-K teachers funded in the FEFP.

1:03:40 Those pre-K teachers who are funded in the FEFP are pre-K ESE

1:03:45 teachers.

1:03:46 This does not include those funded through Head Start or Title I

1:03:51 programs.

1:03:52 Based on numbers from last year, from 2019-20 – so these are

1:03:57 estimates only, and they’re just for our planning purposes –

1:04:00 there were 2,043 classroom teachers, as defined in the statute,

1:04:05 with a base salary under $47,500.

1:04:09 There are 278 non-classroom teachers with a base salary under $47,500,

1:04:15 and 2,509 instructional personnel with base salaries above $47,500.

1:04:20 Keep in mind, those are – based on last year – they are

1:04:24 subject to change.

1:04:25 But it’s just a place to start.

1:04:28 The definition of classroom teacher in statute 1012.012A is a

1:04:36 staff member assigned to the professional activity of instructing

1:04:40 students in courses in classroom situations,

1:04:43 including basic instruction, exceptional student education,

1:04:47 career education, and adult education.

1:04:49 Another really important caveat here is, even though the statute

1:04:52 speaks to substitutes in that particular section,

1:04:55 this House bill does not include substitute teachers.

1:05:03 What’s the definition of minimum base pay?

1:05:05 The definition of minimum base pay is the lowest annual salary

1:05:10 reported on the salary schedule for a full-time classroom

1:05:12 teacher.

1:05:13 And the interpretation of the base pay is that it’s the base

1:05:17 salary plus the pay for performance differentials, but not

1:05:21 including advanced degree supplements.

1:05:25 The first 80% – in step one, the first 80% of the allocation

1:05:29 must be used to raise the base salary for classroom teachers to

1:05:32 be as close to $47,500 as possible.

1:05:36 If there are funds left over in that first 80%, the remaining

1:05:40 funds may be used to provide salary increases for full-time

1:05:44 classroom teachers,

1:05:45 as defined on the previous slide, funded in the FEFP, who do not

1:05:49 receive an increase,

1:05:51 or who received an increase less than 2% under the initial

1:05:54 parameters that I talked about just a minute ago.

1:05:57 And then followed by other instructional personnel is defined in

1:06:02 1012.01 to B through D.

1:06:05 And I’ll talk a little bit about who those people are in just a

1:06:08 minute.

1:06:08 The teachers who are not included in Part A, that classroom

1:06:12 teacher piece,

1:06:12 those are certified school counselors, our school social workers,

1:06:16 our media specialists, primary specialists, instructional

1:06:19 trainers, etc.

1:06:27 The second part of the allocation is the 20%, and that’s the

1:06:31 full-time classroom teachers and certified pre-K teachers,

1:06:34 and I just probably got ahead of myself and talked about this

1:06:37 already,

1:06:38 who are funded by the FEFP who did not receive an increase or

1:06:42 received an increase less than 2%.

1:06:49 And again, you can see the definition of who those are.

1:06:52 This is taken directly from the statute.

1:06:54 The statute required – the House Bill 641 requires us to

1:07:03 maintain a minimum-based salary.

1:07:06 We are not to reduce that salary in any subsequent year unless

1:07:10 authorized in the General Appropriations Act.

1:07:12 We have to develop a salary distribution plan pursuant to the

1:07:16 bill,

1:07:16 and we have to submit that to the school board for approval.

1:07:19 And then we have an approval process or a submittal process

1:07:22 through the state.

1:07:23 By October 1st, we have to submit our plan, including the

1:07:27 charter school plans, to the DOE.

1:07:29 We will have to bring our plan to you for approval prior to the

1:07:32 October 1st deadline.

1:07:34 Charter schools will have to bring their plan to their charter

1:07:37 school governing boards prior to the October 1st deadline,

1:07:39 but we will submit hours in charter schools together.

1:07:43 The submittal includes the amount of the increase to the minimum-based

1:07:47 salary, our salary schedule from the prior fiscal year,

1:07:51 and our – I didn’t have it on here – but our salary schedule

1:07:55 for this fiscal year as well.

1:07:57 By February 1st, the DOE is going to submit a statewide report

1:08:03 to the Governor, the President of the Senate,

1:08:05 and the Speaker of the House.

1:08:06 And then by August 1st, 2021, we have to provide a final report

1:08:11 to the DOE of expenditures for the prior –

1:08:13 for this fiscal year, for the fiscal year 2021.

1:08:16 So that’s just a really brief overview of the language, and I’m

1:08:21 here to take any questions.

1:08:23 And I have Mrs. Lisinski in the back also if there are any

1:08:26 financial questions, too.

1:08:28 Good. Thank you.

1:08:29 Thank you for putting all that together.

1:08:31 I think it’s important to – I mean, people could even go – you

1:08:34 can go online and Google this bill,

1:08:37 and it’s now law, and you can read through it, but it’s – some

1:08:42 of it is kind of clear as mud.

1:08:44 But thank you for going through that.

1:08:47 I just think it’s really important to – because I want people

1:08:50 to understand that this is not going to happen

1:08:52 with your first paycheck out of, you know, out of the gate.

1:08:58 Because, one, it has – to my understanding, it has to go

1:09:01 through bargaining.

1:09:02 One of the things that we have as part of our contract with our

1:09:05 teachers’ union is that starting pay schedule,

1:09:10 and that is something that, you know, also has to be a piece of

1:09:14 that.

1:09:14 So just thinking about positives and negatives, I just – first

1:09:18 of all, even though it’s – in a way,

1:09:20 it’s been kind of a controversial bill, I have to say,

1:09:23 considering our current crisis with the COVID pandemic,

1:09:27 I was so happy to see that this $500 million pot of money didn’t

1:09:38 get pushed off to next year.

1:09:39 Because it very easily could.

1:09:40 I mean, the governor had to cut a billion dollars.

1:09:43 There’s half of it right there.

1:09:45 He could have just said, hey, let’s cut this.

1:09:48 And so that he did – you know, we did have our priority in

1:09:51 education,

1:09:51 even though it may not be exactly how we wanted it, that the

1:09:53 priority was still there.

1:09:55 So I’m grateful, first of all, to have the $500 million when it

1:09:59 really could have easily said, hey,

1:10:00 you know what, we really want to do this, but we’ll do it next

1:10:03 year.

1:10:03 No, we’re going to do it now.

1:10:04 Another thing that’s positive about this is our teachers have

1:10:08 been crying out for us to recognize –

1:10:10 for our legislature to realize we need salary, not bonuses, and

1:10:13 we are doing away with best and brightest,

1:10:17 who I – every now and then I’ll see someone say, oh, I really

1:10:21 – I wanted that bonus program.

1:10:22 But, you know, we – salary goes towards retirement.

1:10:25 It goes towards – it’s not taxed the same as heavily as bonuses,

1:10:30 and so we have that.

1:10:31 And, you know, even though this is not the way that I ever would

1:10:35 have imagined it happening,

1:10:36 I have been wanting us to get our starting salary over $40,000

1:10:40 since before I got on the board.

1:10:41 And, you know, we’re going to get over $40,000.

1:10:45 So it helps with our recruiting, which leaves us with fewer vacancies,

1:10:51 fewer classes to cover.

1:10:52 It helps just all of that that we’re being – that we’ve been

1:10:56 working on.

1:10:57 And I am happy to see, even though it doesn’t include all of our

1:11:01 pre-K teachers,

1:11:02 it’s a step in the right direction of including some of them,

1:11:05 and that has really been a point of contention in a lot of

1:11:07 legislation.

1:11:08 Now, there’s also some problems that we’re going to have to work

1:11:11 through.

1:11:12 One, it does create an inequity for our veteran teachers, who –

1:11:17 some of them may be making $47,501.

1:11:19 I don’t know if we have anybody exact at that number, but I’m

1:11:22 like, it would really be a bummer if you’re just –

1:11:24 you know, you’re right there at that number.

1:11:26 And, you know, I understand and so appreciate the frustration

1:11:29 for some people who, you know,

1:11:31 we’re going to create a – this creates a compression issue.

1:11:36 And it also is, again, one more instance of where – how the

1:11:43 definition of classroom teacher is causing problems

1:11:47 in the progress that we’re trying to make, because then we have

1:11:50 our media specialists,

1:11:51 our counselors, our social workers, our school psychologists,

1:11:53 and all our resource teachers,

1:11:55 our coaches, whose work is so valuable and important, yet it

1:12:01 seems, when things like this come out, that it’s not.

1:12:04 And so I am – I know that I have on my task list for the next

1:12:10 – in the next few weeks to personally contact

1:12:13 each of our legislative members from our delegation and just

1:12:17 thank them for the work that they did,

1:12:19 but just continue to put a bug in their ear that we’ve got to

1:12:22 rewrite some of this so that we don’t keep coming back

1:12:25 to this, and especially when I think about our counselors and

1:12:30 our social workers and our psychologists,

1:12:33 there’s never been a more – a greater emphasis on mental health

1:12:38 than there have been in the last couple years.

1:12:42 And yet here we are with all the great work that we talked about

1:12:45 in our workshop this morning on behavior and, you know,

1:12:48 discipline and how we’re going to wrap our arms around our

1:12:51 students in a different way, and yet they don’t have the same

1:12:54 recognition.

1:12:54 And that’s a problem. And we have such an important –

1:12:59 especially right now with the pandemic,

1:13:03 and trying to catch kids up from, you know, the way we had to do

1:13:07 learning in this last quarter.

1:13:09 And we need our media specialists and our reading coaches and

1:13:12 all those people to be able to – and yet here we are once again

1:13:16 not recognizing them in the same way.

1:13:18 And I say we – I mean, as a state, our legislature. And so I

1:13:22 just want to – us to continue to advocate with our wonderful

1:13:27 delegation.

1:13:27 I love our delegation. I think they, you know, they’ve done a

1:13:29 lot of great things.

1:13:30 But just continue to put that bug in their ear that we need to

1:13:34 fix that piece that is discriminatory towards pre-K,

1:13:38 discriminatory towards these other instructional employees who

1:13:43 may not have a class of, you know, 18 to 25 assigned to them

1:13:47 each period,

1:13:48 that are doing great work. And it really just – it makes things

1:13:54 difficult.

1:13:55 So again, I’m really excited for this that it happened because

1:13:58 it is – it’s showing that we’re moving in the right direction.

1:14:00 But there’s still a lot of work to do. And we as school board

1:14:03 members have great opportunities.

1:14:04 And we have a great delegation who listens to us. And so just –

1:14:08 we continue to work on that.

1:14:10 But I thank you for putting that out there. And I just want to

1:14:13 make sure we address it because the stirrings are happening.

1:14:15 So that’s all I have, Dr. Haye. Thank you.

1:14:19 Any other board members have comments, questions for Dr. Thetty?

1:14:21 Ms. Deskovich?

1:14:22 I don’t have a question for Dr. Thetty, but I just wanted to

1:14:24 build on what Ms. Campbell said.

1:14:26 I really appreciated your comments, especially calling out the

1:14:29 guidance counselors and social workers

1:14:31 and the work we need to do there. But I just wanted to add an

1:14:34 emphasis there also with our media specialists

1:14:37 because I received a couple calls this week after the signing

1:14:40 from our elementary media specialists who do have classrooms.

1:14:44 They may not have a roster, but, you know, six, seven classes

1:14:48 and then their one planning period.

1:14:50 They have to run a library. Like, that’s even more work

1:14:52 sometimes.

1:14:53 So somehow we’ve got to communicate that and get that fixed at a

1:14:58 higher level than us.

1:14:59 Because it’s – they’re going to leave because they can now hop

1:15:05 over and potentially make thousands more with, you know, doing

1:15:06

1:15:06 and the media specialists I talked to love their job. They love

1:15:13 the environment they’re in.

1:15:14 It’s the same for our social workers and our guidance counselors.

1:15:16 And they are certified teachers, so they easily could just hop,

1:15:20 ship, and go to a classroom.

1:15:22 And especially with us looking at reducing the budget with their

1:15:25 assistance, they’re going to have even more work

1:15:27 and yet be on the lower end of the scale. So thank you.

1:15:31 Thank you, Dr. Thede.

1:15:33 I’m sorry, Mr. Susan, did you want to speak for you?

1:15:36 Just if we can get a consistent message, right now is the time

1:15:40 for us to hit our legislators.

1:15:41 And I’ll just tell you, one of the things with pre-K, we’re

1:15:45 doing a statewide initiative with all pre-K teachers

1:15:47 throughout the state, educating all the legislators in each one

1:15:50 of the prospective districts.

1:15:51 And one of the issues that we have found is that our legislators

1:15:54 are so busy with everything else inside the budget

1:15:57 that it’s difficult for them to understand the minutiae of what

1:16:00 we do.

1:16:00 So I would say let’s get a little white paper out real quick and

1:16:03 start – and go and allow our voices of our employees,

1:16:07 because it’s not only the media specialists, it’s our

1:16:09 transportation folks, it’s everybody, right?

1:16:11 Education needs more funding.

1:16:13 So how that looks and how we move forward, I’m on board.

1:16:16 I’m ready. Thank you. That’s all.

1:16:19 Just a point of clarification, Dr. Thede.

1:16:22 Could you give me those numbers again when you threw out the

1:16:24 number of employees in the different categories,

1:16:26 understanding it’s from last year and may change, but –

1:16:29 I sure can. Hold on just a second.

1:16:31 Thank you.

1:16:32 So based on 2019-2020 numbers and salaries from that year, there

1:16:38 were 2,043 classroom teachers,

1:16:40 as defined in section 1012.012A, with a base salary under $47,500.

1:16:49 There were 278 non-classroom teachers with a base salary under $47,500.

1:16:55 And there are 2,509 instructional personnel with base salaries

1:17:00 above $47,500.

1:17:02 All based on last year’s numbers, all subject to change.

1:17:06 Okay. Thank you.

1:17:08 And with regard to what Ms. Deskevich brought up with the media

1:17:11 assistance, understanding that all of this has to be bargained,

1:17:14 right?

1:17:16 But under best and brightest, we were able to find a way to

1:17:21 include our media assistants who have a roster of students –

1:17:25 Media specialists.

1:17:28 I’m sorry, media specialists who had a roster of students

1:17:32 assigned to them.

1:17:33 Like, they clearly had a classroom of students they were serving.

1:17:36 Is the same flexibility – does it apply in the statutory

1:17:41 language for this teacher salary allocation,

1:17:43 or have they closed that loop?

1:17:45 I don’t have that kind of guidance from the state yet.

1:17:48 Okay. Very good.

1:17:49 And then you said we have to submit our plan by October 1st.

1:17:54 That’s correct.

1:17:55 And I’m guessing that all of that has to be bargained prior to

1:17:59 it being sent to the state, or –

1:18:01 So there are a couple of different things there.

1:18:03 The allocation, and directly out of the language in line 260 of

1:18:08 House Bill 641,

1:18:09 although district school boards and charter school governing

1:18:12 boards are not precluded from bargaining over wages,

1:18:14 the teacher salary increase allocation must be used solely to

1:18:17 comply with the requirements of that section.

1:18:20 So we have to submit the plan that meets the requirements of

1:18:23 this section.

1:18:24 The other pieces will be separate from that.

1:18:27 Okay.

1:18:28 Thank you very much for that clarification.

1:18:30 Just to clarify what you said, we – because our – our count,

1:18:36 official count, doesn’t happen until October,

1:18:38 after this first date.

1:18:39 So the plan will not have any numbers on it, or they’ll be very

1:18:43 preliminary.

1:18:44 They will be preliminary because it – we have to submit before

1:18:49 October FTE.

1:18:50 Okay.

1:18:51 Good coach.

1:18:52 Ms. Belford.

1:18:53 So does the plan have to be approved before we can – we have to

1:18:56 – do we have to be settled with BFT on that to submit the plan?

1:18:58 Ms. We have to have the plan based on this allocation approved

1:19:04 by you prior to the October 1st deadline for submittal to the

1:19:08 state.

1:19:08 So by October 1st, you have to figure it out with BFT, and you

1:19:13 all have to bring it to us, and we have to vote on it?

1:19:15 Ms. We have to bring this portion of the – because remember,

1:19:18 this is a very specific allocation, and it’s very specifically

1:19:22 identified.

1:19:23 So that plan is about this.

1:19:25 It’s not about all of the other pieces that go into negotiations

1:19:29 each year.

1:19:30 Ms. So technically, negotiations with BFT could run past October,

1:19:34 but as long as this portion of it is settled?

1:19:36 It seems like it’s kind of a package – there’s going to be give

1:19:39 and take, and it’s going to –

1:19:40 Ms. We are required to have approved by you this part of the

1:19:44 plan.

1:19:44 Ms. Thank you, ma’am.

1:19:46 Ms. Does anyone else have any additional questions for Dr. Thetty?

1:19:51 Ms. You’re welcome.

1:19:52 Ms. Thank you so much, Dr. Thetty, for very quickly putting

1:19:54 together some information for us.

1:19:55 Ms. You’re welcome.

1:19:56 Ms. We appreciate you.

1:19:57 Mr. Susan, I believe you have requested discussion about letters.

1:20:02 Mr. Yeah, we – it could have been a discussion point in a board

1:20:07 workshop or whatever it is,

1:20:07 but currently we have our funding every year that we talk about

1:20:12 for – we had a discussion over professional development

1:20:14 and all these other things, and at the end of the year,

1:20:17 sometimes we have some money fall to the bottom line,

1:20:18 but one of the issues that we have this year is today is the

1:20:21 last day before the budget sort of starts sinking in,

1:20:25 and I took the opportunity to say that if we were able to take

1:20:29 the remaining funds that are left over

1:20:31 and allocate also for sending out letters to graduates, to

1:20:37 individuals inside our community as board members to support our

1:20:41 schools,

1:20:41 I wanted to be able to do that because there’s a lot of times

1:20:44 where I’ll come here and I’ll write a couple of letters to

1:20:47 people that are doing stuff in the community,

1:20:48 and I just bring my stamps in and I go.

1:20:50 The problem with that is, is that like – I don’t know – like

1:20:53 the mayor of West Melbourne, Hal Rose, he said,

1:20:57 “Hey, Matt, I’d like to send a thank you out to all of your

1:20:59 graduates.”

1:21:00 So that’s great. So he requested the scope and he got it.

1:21:03 Melbourne did the same thing. County commissioners did the same

1:21:06 thing.

1:21:06 We don’t have that opportunity to do it.

1:21:08 So what I’d like to do is take the remaining funds that we have

1:21:11 left over from Deskovich and everybody else

1:21:12 and be able to utilize that for postage. And just like we do a

1:21:17 lot of the other accounts that we already set precedent,

1:21:19 we transfer back and forth, we have rollovers, we have

1:21:22 everything else, we could utilize it for that.

1:21:24 So what I would like to do is roll the existing funds that we

1:21:27 have left over and utilize portions of that for postage if any

1:21:32 of us want to.

1:21:33 Ms. Escobar, what is the date, do you recall, of our – we have

1:21:40 a discussion –

1:21:41 we have a discussion around the board budget scheduled coming up

1:21:44 this coming month, right?

1:21:46 14th of July?

1:21:49 Correct.

1:21:50 Okay.

1:21:51 We maybe want to ask Ms. Lisinski, I don’t know about the

1:21:55 possibility of keeping the dollars that are left in there.

1:22:00 Because we’ll be in the new fiscal year left over.

1:22:04 We do it every year we roll millions of dollars over, so this is

1:22:08 not a – this is not setting precedent in any way.

1:22:10 Yeah, just for the public that may be watching, there’s not

1:22:13 millions of dollars rolling over in our –

1:22:15 No.

1:22:16 – in our actual board account.

1:22:17 There’s –

1:22:18 It’s only a couple thousand.

1:22:19 – a few thousand dollars maximum, yeah, that we’re – we’re

1:22:22 discussing here.

1:22:23 So I – I will say, Mr. Susan, I feel like that’s going to be

1:22:26 part of the overall conversation that we’re having on July 14th

1:22:30 as to how dollars are allocated as well as what we should do

1:22:34 with any dollars that were left in the board budget from this

1:22:37 current fiscal year.

1:22:38 So is this something that you feel needs to have action taken on

1:22:41 it today, or can we discuss that on the 14th?

1:22:43 It’s not – yeah, it’s not something that absolutely has to be

1:22:48 done today.

1:22:49 You know what I mean?

1:22:50 It’s not.

1:22:51 I just – I would like to start the process of every other

1:22:53 elected board in this county sends letters to their constituents,

1:22:55 lets their students, their people, everybody know.

1:22:58 And they do – they have a little fund for that.

1:23:01 And I think that if we don’t travel, if we don’t do the things

1:23:04 that we have a budget for, then we should be able to utilize

1:23:06 those funds for those other things.

1:23:08 And I think that that also gives us our connection to our

1:23:11 community and, you know, goodwill.

1:23:13 So that was all – that was the main reason behind it.

1:23:15 Okay.

1:23:16 So if you guys want to think about it and bring it back on the

1:23:18 14th, that’s fine with me.

1:23:19 Okay.

1:23:20 Super.

1:23:21 Thank you.

1:23:22 Any other board members have any discussion points before we

1:23:25 move on to Dr. Mullins?

1:23:28 Ms. McDougall, are you still doing good out there?

1:23:30 And –

1:23:31 I am still doing good.

1:23:32 Yeah, thank you.

1:23:33 Excellent.

1:23:34 All right.

1:23:35 Dr. Mullins, do you have a superintendent’s report?

1:23:36 Actually, we moved that up to the beginning, so I don’t have

1:23:39 anything else.

1:23:40 All right.

1:23:41 There being no further business, I will call this meeting adjourned.

1:23:43 Have a great day.