2020-07-14 - School Board Meeting

0:00 music

1:41 Thank you.

5:42:33 All right.

5:42:52 We are reconvening from our recess, and Dr. Mullins, before we

5:42:56 get into discussion, I believe that you wanted to discuss

5:42:59 calendar modification.

5:43:01 Yes. Thank you, Ms. Belford. The board has been provided three

5:43:06 handouts. One is a summary of the calendar modification based on

5:43:10 a later start date. The second handout is our current adopted

5:43:15 2020-21 calendar. You’ll see that off to the left margin in the

5:43:20 blue strip.

5:43:21 And the third handout is the proposed 2020-21 calendar with an

5:43:27 August 17th start.

5:43:30 So the consideration of this came from awareness and

5:43:34 consideration that our staff need additional time to prepare for

5:43:40 the very different school year that we are walking out and

5:43:44 proposing for this coming school year.

5:43:48 So staff looked at teacher in-service days that were built into

5:43:52 our calendar throughout the year, and there essentially were

5:43:57 four full days that were student holidays, but teacher work days

5:44:01 or teacher professional development in-service days.

5:44:05 So we took those four days throughout the year. You’ll see in

5:44:10 the summary handout that those four days consist of two planning

5:44:18 days between grading periods, the February in-service day, and

5:44:23 the post-planning day.

5:44:25 So a total of four days, they have been swept or scooped and put,

5:44:31 built into the first before school starts with students.

5:44:36 Adding those four days to the existing six days of pre-planning

5:44:40 gives our teachers and administrators, our school-based

5:44:44 personnel, ten pre-planning days and delays the student start to

5:44:51 the following Monday or, excuse me, August 17th.

5:44:55 So originally, the original calendar was students started on

5:45:00 August 11th. The new student start date would be August 17th.

5:45:07 You see the implications or the opportunities and challenges.

5:45:12 The opportunities, it continues to align with Eastern Florida

5:45:15 State College semester calendar. It would not affect the pay

5:45:20 dates for any employee type. Minimal start date changes would,

5:45:25 uh, would be needed, uh, would be needed given the later start

5:45:28 dates. So any other later start date would have an interruption

5:45:33 in our pay cycle for employees.

5:45:36 But this per, this, uh, recommended calendar does not. Our

5:45:40 employees would receive their consistent pay schedule.

5:45:44 It also aligns favorably with FHSAA. Um, and the school year

5:45:49 would end at the same time. Um, and the school year would end at

5:45:51 the same time. All of the other holidays remain the same. The

5:45:53 winter break holiday, the spring break holiday, uh, and other.

5:45:59 Teacher student holidays remain the same. It’s just those four

5:46:03 in-service days. The challenges or the, the, the, the cons, if

5:46:09 you will, uh, is it does take time that teachers would have

5:46:14 later throughout the year.

5:46:17 Uh, manage their classrooms, uh, manage their classrooms,

5:46:20 grading and, and great input periods. Um, it does eliminate two

5:46:23 hurricane days, uh, in first semester from the adopted 21, 2021

5:46:29 school calendar, but weighing out those circumstances and in

5:46:35 conversation already with union leaders, uh, with their support.

5:46:36 Uh, with their support, I am recommending that we modify the

5:46:39 calendar to reflect in August 17th start so that our teachers

5:46:44 and schools have the additional planning time, uh, to continue

5:46:48 to, uh, meet the needs that we propose the e-learning platform,

5:46:53 uh, any distance learning, uh, requirements, uh, certainly

5:46:57 supports preparations for teachers in the block scheduling

5:47:00 environment and so on.

5:47:02 Uh, this would require board approval. Um, obviously we would

5:47:07 need to get this information if, if it, if the board, uh, so

5:47:10 chooses and so approves, we would need to get this communicated

5:47:14 to our parents and our community as soon as possible, understand

5:47:18 that the board, uh, would not be prepared to add this as an

5:47:22 approval for today, in which case I would request a special

5:47:26 board meeting within the next week to, uh, get direction or

5:47:30 approval from the board.

5:47:31 So, um, thank you for, uh, um, thank you for, um, thank you for,

5:48:01 um, for looking into that and coming up on the board and coming

5:48:01 up on the board as well, um, um, thank you for, um, thank you

5:48:01 for, um, thank you for looking into that and coming up on the

5:48:01 board.

5:48:01 Thank you for, um, thank you for, um, thank you for coming up

5:48:03 with a possible solution that would still keep them financially

5:48:05 whole. We appreciate that. Uh, would you like to return to your

5:48:09 seat now? And then, um, I will open up, uh, for board members.

5:48:14 Um, would you all prefer to maybe break the presentation down

5:48:19 into sections? Do you want to just, each board member take their

5:48:25 time to go through all of their questions on the presentation?

5:48:31 What’s the, Mr. Susan?

5:48:33 I would suggest that we do it either by pages or by topic,

5:48:36 because we might be all over the place.

5:48:38 That’s just my suggestion.

5:48:40 I think that may be a pretty good one.

5:48:43 Yeah, I, I would agree.

5:48:44 Can I also suggest that maybe since it’s fresh, that we could

5:48:47 start with the calendar while we’ve got it up here?

5:48:49 Are y’all good with that?

5:48:50 Yeah.

5:48:51 So we will open conversation around the calendar proposal.

5:48:55 Ms. Campbell, since it was your proposal, you want to start our

5:48:58 discussion or?

5:48:58 Sure, sure.

5:48:59 I’m, I’m happy to.

5:49:00 So this is, um, this is one of the things that a lot of people

5:49:03 have been asking for.

5:49:04 It might not be pushing the calendar, the school start back as

5:49:07 far as some would like, but this meets our state guidelines, but

5:49:10 it also, you know, takes care of our, our employees’ payroll.

5:49:14 I just had one question, so I think this is great.

5:49:16 I just had one question just to clarify the, there is a change

5:49:22 of the end of winter break from the, from the current calendar

5:49:26 to the proposed calendar.

5:49:28 It actually, we come back two days later.

5:49:29 So I missed in there somewhere where those extra two days, um,

5:49:36 came from.

5:49:37 Dr. Thetti, could you come to the, I think we’re going to use

5:49:43 the,

5:49:44 Oh, there you go.

5:49:45 We would actually come back from winter break two days earlier

5:49:53 under the proposed calendar, moving the four days.

5:49:59 Um, they still have 10 days of, uh, winter break.

5:50:02 That’s in policy.

5:50:03 Uh, we would, instead of coming back on January 6th, the new

5:50:06 proposed calendar has us coming back on January 4th.

5:50:10 Right.

5:50:10 So, so I’m trying to figure out one, because it allows us to

5:50:16 finish the school year before Memorial Day.

5:50:19 Okay.

5:50:19 We do the end of the school year at the same day.

5:50:21 Gotcha.

5:50:21 Thank you.

5:50:22 Um, Ms. Gamble, I’d also add that I want to acknowledge that

5:50:28 first semester exams are moved to after winter break.

5:50:32 Right, and it’s, it’s good to have a couple of days to, um,

5:50:35 catch it.

5:50:36 Correct.

5:50:37 So just to summarize, for our viewing audience who doesn’t have

5:50:40 the benefit of the handout,

5:50:42 uh, second semester would end on January 8th, excuse me, first

5:50:53 semester, did I say second semester?

5:50:55 First semester would end on January 8th, which is the Friday

5:50:59 after the winter break.

5:51:01 The first day back for students would be January, Monday,

5:51:05 January 4th.

5:51:06 So there’d be, Monday, January 4th, Tuesday, January 5th as

5:51:10 regular school days.

5:51:12 And then the 6th, 7th, and 8th would be the early release exam

5:51:17 days.

5:51:17 Okay, so that still gives us two full weeks with three weekends,

5:51:22 you know, for our winter break.

5:51:24 Correct.

5:51:25 Okay.

5:51:25 Ms. Tuskevich?

5:51:30 Yes, Dr. Mullins, you did say that BFT, you’ve been in

5:51:32 communication with them,

5:51:34 and this is what they would like, this is what they support.

5:51:36 They have been supportive, yes.

5:51:38 We have not formally sat or have an MOU with them because needed

5:51:43 board direction first,

5:51:45 but they’ve been supportive of this proposed calendar.

5:51:47 Okay, I mean, I can imagine what our teachers are going to be

5:51:51 doing during those extra four days,

5:51:53 but for the public, uh, who sees that the teachers have these,

5:51:56 this other pre-planning,

5:51:58 what’s the benefit of giving them these extra days to prepare

5:52:00 under these circumstances?

5:52:02 I know you vaguely touched on it, but I think.

5:52:03 Sure.

5:52:04 Uh, what the reality is, is the, the look of this school year is

5:52:07 going to certainly be very different.

5:52:09 Teachers are going to be facing with needing to, uh, manage a

5:52:13 different classroom environment

5:52:15 without some of the resources and the, the, um, learning

5:52:19 environments that they had.

5:52:21 Their small group learning center, their literacy center, those

5:52:24 types of things,

5:52:25 because we are literally, um, taking out extra furniture from

5:52:30 our classrooms

5:52:31 to expand and maximize, uh, student desk spacing and social

5:52:34 distancing.

5:52:36 Our teachers need, uh, you know, I think, uh, Ms. Campbell said

5:52:40 grieving the loss.

5:52:41 Uh, there is going to be some, some grieving loss of what my

5:52:44 classroom used to look like

5:52:46 and how I used to operate.

5:52:47 Uh, I believe this gives our, our teachers, particularly

5:52:50 elementary environment,

5:52:51 additional opportunity to, you know, re, re-evaluate and re-adapt

5:52:57 to this, this, uh, situation

5:52:59 and begin, continue modifying their lesson plans that have to

5:53:03 look different

5:53:04 and be delivered differently than they would have had previously.

5:53:08 In the secondary environment, as we move, uh, as we implement

5:53:12 block scheduling,

5:53:13 it would provide our teachers that additional time to, uh,

5:53:17 modify their lessons

5:53:19 and adapt to, uh, a, a, a longer instructional day and period.

5:53:24 In addition, both elementary and secondary are going to be

5:53:28 adapting

5:53:28 to an e-learning environment, getting familiar with the platform,

5:53:32 making sure they know how to utilize the tools, and so on.

5:53:35 So there’s definitely increased, uh, planning, uh, expectations

5:53:40 and, and necessities for our teachers and staff.

5:53:43 Okay, thank you.

5:53:45 Ms. McDougall, did, sorry, Ms. McDougall, did you have questions

5:53:50 or comments?

5:53:50 I did. Um, I have a quick question.

5:53:53 Pull your mic a little bit closer, Ms. McDougall.

5:53:55 Is that better? No?

5:53:56 A little.

5:53:58 Anyhow, I have a quick question.

5:54:00 And so I’m curious on what would be the impact if, because I’m

5:54:04 hearing from parents

5:54:06 and some staff, can’t we move it back even further?

5:54:10 So if we moved it back to the 24th, what’s the impact for our

5:54:15 teachers and our students?

5:54:17 Like have the teachers come back and be able to do more work?

5:54:21 Because I am concerned about the changes that they’re going to

5:54:23 have to make in this short time period.

5:54:25 I appreciate this and I certainly support that but what’s the

5:54:29 impact if we go to the 24th?

5:54:31 I’ll attempt to summarize them, but I think Dr. Thetty is

5:54:36 probably best prepared to, to respond.

5:54:40 Dr. Thetty, you, you flagged me down if I’m, if I’m not getting

5:54:43 it right.

5:54:44 The maximum amount of planning time we could propose for

5:54:48 teachers is two weeks without a further,

5:54:51 if we were to add more days, we’d be looking at a compensation

5:54:54 impact.

5:54:55 So it would move, teachers would then not return to likely

5:55:01 August 10th versus August 3rd.

5:55:05 Um, and then students would report on August 24th, I believe.

5:55:12 That’s correct.

5:55:13 Um, if, if that’s what you’re proposing.

5:55:15 Uh, it would interrupt our pay, our pay schedule for employees.

5:55:20 It would significantly delay employees who are, who don’t start

5:55:25 on August 10th.

5:55:27 Our bus drivers, our cafeteria staff and so on.

5:55:30 Uh, it would then further extend their employment gap, uh, and

5:55:36 pay.

5:55:36 Uh, it would, it would malalign, if you will, our Eastern

5:55:40 Florida State College semesters with our dual enrollment

5:55:44 students.

5:55:44 Uh, and it would extend the end of the school year into June

5:55:48 after Memorial Day.

5:55:50 So when we evaluated that or even a later start date against,

5:55:55 you know, the, the, the benefits and the challenges,

5:55:58 we felt like this is the, this is the recommendation.

5:56:01 Any other questions or comments, Ms. McDougall?

5:56:10 Okay.

5:56:13 Mr. Season.

5:56:14 So I looked at the same thing, and thank you, Ms. McDougall, for

5:56:16 bringing that point up.

5:56:17 Because when I look at moving the block, and we move to all of

5:56:20 the different components to this,

5:56:22 I think we need as much time as possible.

5:56:25 And I think that when I was looking at it to try to develop a

5:56:27 plan of how to do that with

5:56:29 inside the box that we were doing, um, I targeted our early

5:56:32 release days.

5:56:33 So one of the questions I was going to ask Dr. Mullins was, we

5:56:37 have built in early release

5:56:39 days at the end of every week.

5:56:40 If you were to take those early release days and you were to

5:56:43 move those into the front of

5:56:45 the year, it gives us a considerable amount of time without

5:56:48 extending the calendar for planning

5:56:51 at the beginning of the year.

5:56:52 Um, and when I looked at all of these pieces that you brought up,

5:56:57 the financial impact,

5:56:58 it would stay the same for teachers and staff except for the gap.

5:57:02 Um, Eastern Florida State would be a week early.

5:57:06 I understand that.

5:57:07 Um, but we wouldn’t have to extend a Memorial Day.

5:57:10 We wouldn’t have to do a lot of those things, and it would give

5:57:13 us that opportunity in the

5:57:14 front.

5:57:14 Did the staff look at that?

5:57:15 We did not, uh, unless Dr. Theta, you want to correct me, we did

5:57:20 not.

5:57:21 I would, I would, uh, suggest that early release days are built

5:57:25 into the collective bargaining

5:57:27 agreement with, uh, with, uh, BFT.

5:57:30 So it would require bargaining.

5:57:32 The only reason I say it is, is when I count them, I’m counting

5:57:35 one, two, three, four, five,

5:57:37 six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, early

5:57:41 release days, which would

5:57:43 probably give us a little bit of a window in the beginning.

5:57:45 It would also maybe give us an opportunity not to lose our exams

5:57:50 until after the second

5:57:51 nine or second semester after winter break.

5:57:53 If we were to look at that as a, as an option.

5:57:55 And the main reason that I bring it up is, is that, um, the more

5:58:00 I was looking at the need

5:58:01 for if we are going to move to block, which it seems like that

5:58:05 is a, a, a definite positive

5:58:06 thing for what we’re trying to do.

5:58:08 Um, I would try to do everything I can to try to make that

5:58:11 happen.

5:58:12 Um, the only issue that we have, and I’m probably going to get

5:58:15 attacked by my football coaches

5:58:17 is, um, football would start a week early, right?

5:58:19 You would stay, would have their game before school starts in

5:58:22 Eastern Florida State and

5:58:23 the gap for our, our bus drivers.

5:58:25 That would be the, the issue that I would see off the bat.

5:58:28 Uh, there’s other employee groups.

5:58:31 Uh, food service, instructional assistants, um, uh, bus drivers.

5:58:37 Yes, there would be other, there would be a delay in, in, in

5:58:40 different employee groups

5:58:41 pay periods.

5:58:42 There’d be a gap in, in, in income, if you will.

5:58:45 Yeah.

5:58:45 And so when I was looking at the gap of the income, the Eastern

5:58:49 Florida State College,

5:58:51 the teacher, or the, the football, I think it behooves us that

5:58:54 if we can squeeze those

5:58:55 days to get a couple of extra ones at the beginning of the year,

5:58:58 um, condi, you know,

5:58:59 considering the conditions in the current environment, I would

5:59:02 like to make that a

5:59:03 positive look, um, for a start date to try to release.

5:59:07 And I know that it takes the union representatives to do it, but

5:59:10 I would like to try to do anything

5:59:11 we can to extend the, the beginning of the start date for the

5:59:14 year so that we can

5:59:15 prevent, plan and prepare inside of our classes.

5:59:17 Can I just ask a point of clarification, Mr. Susan?

5:59:23 Um, you’re talking, um, you’re talking in essence about taking

5:59:27 the non-student hours on our early

5:59:33 release days and moving those non-student hours to the beginning

5:59:37 of the calendar.

5:59:39 So our early release days would now be full student days and so

5:59:44 you’re just taking advantage of those

5:59:47 non-student hours and, and suggesting that it be moved to the

5:59:49 beginning.

5:59:50 And in particular, if you’re looking at your early release days

5:59:52 during the exam days, we’ve

5:59:54 built in three days so that on, on the, um, on the calendar for

5:59:58 those days.

5:59:59 And if you remember we’re moving to block schedule, if the

6:00:02 students are taking four classes,

6:00:04 they don’t need three days worth of early release, which means

6:00:07 that we can consolidate

6:00:08 the early release days for the exam schedules.

6:00:11 Also you could, I remember when I was teaching block, we went

6:00:14 two and two, so we had two exams

6:00:17 on one day, we had two exams on the other, we didn’t have early

6:00:19 release days on those days.

6:00:21 So if that’s the case, then we could move a lot of these early

6:00:24 release days to the front because

6:00:26 I have a feeling that we’re going to be in communication.

6:00:28 I mean, right now the FHSAA is meeting to discuss on what they’re

6:00:32 going to do for sports.

6:00:33 We’re trying to get our emergency contact people, um, to try to

6:00:36 understand if we have to do fire

6:00:38 drills and everything else.

6:00:39 I think this gives us some extra window of time to try to be

6:00:42 ready.

6:00:42 Um, and I would like to have that as an option to be supported.

6:00:46 Ms. Belford, I, my, um, one of my concerns about that is I

6:00:52 really feel like we, you know,

6:00:53 obviously it has to, it has to be, um, discussed with BFT.

6:00:58 I, I just wonder where teachers stand on that because they asked

6:01:02 and bargained for those

6:01:03 days so that they spaced out throughout the year so that they

6:01:06 had that time.

6:01:07 And we’ll be cutting that planning time from them now weekly.

6:01:10 I mean, you know, if they want it, absolutely, I can support

6:01:13 that.

6:01:14 But I’m not sure that they would want that those days back in

6:01:17 the beginning and then have

6:01:18 a full year without any, any planning time at all.

6:01:21 And, and it, and it appears to me that there’s no way to take

6:01:25 any more days than what have

6:01:26 already been taken without having a couple thousand of our

6:01:30 employees not have a paycheck

6:01:32 in that first cycle of August.

6:01:34 Because for all of our employees who are, their jobs are student

6:01:39 centric, you know, their start

6:01:41 times, that’s, that’s a lot of people to not get that first

6:01:45 paycheck.

6:01:45 And I would take, I took that into consideration when I was

6:01:48 looking at it because you have your

6:01:50 IAs, you have them all.

6:01:51 Um, but I would put the public safety ahead of paychecks is

6:01:54 where that, that rubber came

6:01:56 for me.

6:01:56 And I would say as a former teacher that I would, um, I would

6:01:59 have wanted the planning

6:02:01 time up ahead.

6:02:02 Um, we’re talking about transitioning to e-learning.

6:02:05 We’re talking about teachers that are now going to have to put

6:02:09 together a ton of pre-planning

6:02:11 for their lesson plans.

6:02:12 We have to teach these teachers for the first time to transition

6:02:15 to block.

6:02:15 There is so much that’s coming that we need every day that we

6:02:19 can.

6:02:19 And I understand again, like this isn’t something that is the

6:02:23 most prolific thing in the world

6:02:25 as far as something we’re going to continue for the rest of the

6:02:27 time.

6:02:28 But I think it’s all hands on deck.

6:02:29 And I think this might be something we could consider and look

6:02:31 at.

6:02:31 That’s all.

6:02:32 Dr. Mullins, do you, uh, would you like direction from the board

6:02:40 as to whether to consider that

6:02:42 alternative or?

6:02:44 I have one more too.

6:02:44 Um, yes, I would, I would request direction from the board.

6:02:49 Uh, again, I believe that if we’re going to move towards a

6:02:52 modified calendar this late in

6:02:54 the, in the summer, that we need to do it expeditiously.

6:02:57 Um, I have no doubt that staff can put together a similar

6:03:02 proposal for, uh, the, the scenario

6:03:05 that Mr. Susan has proposed, we could have it ready within a

6:03:08 week.

6:03:08 So I would, I would, uh, propose that, uh, the board consider a

6:03:13 special meeting a week from

6:03:15 today.

6:03:15 I would also like to add that if there was an opportunity, um,

6:03:19 one of the other things that

6:03:20 we do as a school district is we are in school classes longer

6:03:24 than, or more days than other

6:03:26 school districts because they extend their day by a couple of

6:03:28 minutes.

6:03:28 So there’s an opportunity for extending the school day by five

6:03:32 or six minutes to grab another

6:03:33 little bit of time.

6:03:34 So if you have one day that doesn’t match up because we have

6:03:37 four hours and we don’t,

6:03:39 maybe we could extend a couple of minutes.

6:03:40 So that’s what all I was trying to say.

6:03:42 My goal would be to try to extend, to create as much planning in

6:03:45 the beginning of the year

6:03:46 as possible with something like that.

6:03:47 So I, I, I don’t, we can, we can certainly look at it, but if we

6:03:54 extend the school day that,

6:03:57 that could have pay and bargaining implications as well.

6:04:00 But we can certainly put together.

6:04:02 Absolutely.

6:04:03 Not, not to mention having our students are in, you know, that’s

6:04:07 longer hours.

6:04:08 And we had one of our commenters who said, you know, get in, get

6:04:10 out and go home.

6:04:11 The couple, the few things that you just suggested is longer

6:04:16 time for our, you know, longer time

6:04:18 in our school days for the students and teachers to be with one

6:04:21 another.

6:04:22 I was just trying to say that if we could extend it five or six

6:04:24 minutes, it would give

6:04:25 us an extra day.

6:04:25 But it does inhibit an extra cost and an extra bargaining and

6:04:29 everything else.

6:04:31 So I, I do understand that.

6:04:32 It was just one of the options that if we’re caught between

6:04:35 something, we may want to look

6:04:37 at.

6:04:37 That’s all.

6:04:38 But I do understand the ramifications behind it, and I know it

6:04:40 has a low threshold for,

6:04:42 for support.

6:04:43 We, I will, I will add, you know, I appreciate that we, we did

6:04:46 consider the implications of

6:04:48 the loss of hurricane makeup days.

6:04:50 I mean, that, that is a real, we, we experienced that this past

6:04:53 year where we had to have a hurricane

6:04:55 makeup day.

6:04:56 Um, and we have limited our options with the proposed calendar.

6:05:01 Um, and we, there were options that we consider.

6:05:05 For what are, what are our backup plans if we had to have a, you

6:05:08 know, make up a day for,

6:05:09 for hurricanes, honestly, presenting to the union for agreement

6:05:15 to extend the, to eliminate

6:05:16 the early release days was an option to not have to extend the

6:05:19 school year later in the

6:05:21 calendar.

6:05:22 So, we, we didn’t necessarily consider scooping up early release

6:05:30 days for additional planning

6:05:33 days.

6:05:34 We did consider that they could be an option for hurricane

6:05:38 makeup days, but if we scoop them

6:05:40 up as well, that would eliminate that from the hurricane makeup

6:05:42 day option.

6:05:43 But, and there’s some other things that I’m, I’ll bring up once

6:05:47 we hit the block scheduling

6:05:49 in one of the other topics that I think would alleviate some of

6:05:52 the concern for planning and

6:05:53 stuff like that.

6:05:54 Okay.

6:05:55 So, nothing else specific on calendar?

6:05:57 No, sir.

6:05:58 No, no, ma’am.

6:05:59 Sorry.

6:06:00 Um, Ms. Tuskevich.

6:06:01 Just, I think it’s very important that before staff spends too

6:06:05 much time doing this that

6:06:07 we contact BFT.

6:06:08 Yeah.

6:06:09 I, I, if teachers in general don’t think this is a good idea and

6:06:12 don’t want to give

6:06:12 up those days.

6:06:13 I hate to see staff, they’re working on so much stuff to be scrambling

6:06:17 to figure it

6:06:17 out to us have a meeting to hold that and BFT have zero interest.

6:06:22 Well, and our, they’re not the only, our other union as well,

6:06:25 because they’re the ones whose

6:06:26 pay is going to be affected.

6:06:26 Right.

6:06:27 Yeah.

6:06:28 It would, correct me if I’m wrong, Dr. Thede, it would require

6:06:32 bargaining with both bargaining

6:06:33 units?

6:06:34 That’s correct.

6:06:35 So, either plan would require plan bargaining from both units,

6:06:41 right?

6:06:41 The current proposal does not.

6:06:44 Um, we’ve made both unions aware of the, uh, August 17th.

6:06:48 And, um, because it does not impact the, the direct pay, it, we’re

6:06:53 okay there.

6:06:53 And we’re working with BFT on Thursday on an MOA.

6:06:56 And it would likely become part of that.

6:06:58 The alternate plan that you just proposed has some implications

6:07:01 because those early release

6:07:03 days are not teacher early release days.

6:07:05 They’re student early release days.

6:07:07 So they’re full teacher days.

6:07:08 If we shift the, that hour and 15 minutes onto the beginning, it

6:07:13 has the potential to

6:07:13 I haven’t looked at it yet.

6:07:15 Um, you know, cause it, we didn’t consider it, but it has the

6:07:19 potential to, um, extend the

6:07:21 amount of days we would have to pay teachers.

6:07:23 And right now they’re at it.

6:07:24 We pay them for 190 days plus six days of holidays.

6:07:28 So I have staff, I have to have staff look at that and see what

6:07:31 the implication is.

6:07:31 In addition to the implication for our 1010 union employees who

6:07:37 may not start, uh, on time and

6:07:39 would miss a paycheck.

6:07:40 So all of those are things we have to look at and consider.

6:07:42 Mm-hmm.

6:07:43 So I, I would suggest board that as Ms. Deskovich indicated,

6:07:50 perhaps we provide direction to the

6:07:51 superintendent that, uh, Dr. Thetti and her team work with our

6:07:55 union representatives to

6:07:56 get some feedback on the options that have been put forward.

6:07:59 Um, if, and Dr. Mullins has requested a special board meeting

6:08:04 with us next week.

6:08:04 Um, so if, if our union representatives say, yes, teachers love

6:08:09 this and, and, you know,

6:08:11 our, our 1010 staff love this, they can potentially bring us

6:08:15 back a recommendation along those lines

6:08:17 next week.

6:08:18 Does that work for you, Dr. Mullins to expedite?

6:08:20 Yes.

6:08:21 Thank you.

6:08:22 Okay.

6:08:23 All right.

6:08:24 So, uh, we will move on to the meat of the presentation.

6:08:30 Does anyone have any, uh, anything they want to address on the

6:08:39 first, uh, eight slides,

6:08:40 which are primarily talking about the strategic plan and equity

6:08:46 framework?

6:08:47 Anything that needs to be addressed in there?

6:08:49 Say that again?

6:08:50 The first eight slides?

6:08:51 Oh, no.

6:08:52 The strategic plan and equity framework?

6:08:54 No, ma’am.

6:08:55 No questions, comments there.

6:08:56 Perfect.

6:08:57 Uh, any comment or question on the community feedback slides?

6:09:05 Okay.

6:09:06 That’s going to move us then to slide 10 and 11, which are the

6:09:14 opening guidelines, um, that

6:09:16 were considered from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

6:09:19 Anyone have, actually that would be 10, 11, and 12.

6:09:24 Anyone have comments or questions on that section they’d like to

6:09:27 address?

6:09:27 Ms. McDougall.

6:09:28 I just have a quick question.

6:09:30 What are we talking about when we say social distancing?

6:09:35 What are we talking about in a classroom setting?

6:09:38 Um, is it three feet?

6:09:40 Is it six feet?

6:09:41 Is it 10 feet?

6:09:42 Is it two feet?

6:09:43 I mean, I don’t know because social distancing can mean

6:09:46 different things to different people.

6:09:48 So I’m just curious what we, what they, what we’re talking about.

6:09:53 We have used six feet as the guideline, but in the classroom, it

6:09:57 would be social distance,

6:09:57 social distancing to the full extent possible.

6:10:03 So points of clarification on that.

6:10:05 Do we anticipate?

6:10:06 Because the, the American Academy of Pediatrics actually states,

6:10:11 um, that for the school setting,

6:10:16 three feet is, appears to be as beneficial as six feet, as long

6:10:23 as students are asymptomatic

6:10:26 and wearing masks.

6:10:29 Um, evidence suggests that spacing as close as three feet may

6:10:33 approach the benefits of six feet of space,

6:10:35 particularly if students are wearing face coverings and are

6:10:39 asymptomatic.

6:10:40 So do you anticipate that we would be less than three feet of

6:10:44 separation in classrooms?

6:10:46 Uh, that’s, that’s a little bit of a difficult question to

6:10:50 answer.

6:10:50 I, I do believe we will, I can’t assure six feet.

6:10:54 Uh, but it is dependent on how many students we have choose e-learning

6:10:59 and how many are in class.

6:11:01 So, um, and those classrooms.

6:11:04 So we’re working towards six feet, but it’ll be to the, to the

6:11:08 full extent possible.

6:11:09 I can’t, I can’t guarantee that every classroom will have six

6:11:13 feet of social distancing.

6:11:14 Hence why we’ve made the recommendation that face coverings we

6:11:18 be utilized when social distancing is not feasible.

6:11:20 Okay.

6:11:21 Uh, anyone else have questions, comments on slides 10 through 12?

6:11:30 I have comments about class size.

6:11:32 So I don’t know if that fits in here because it would affect how

6:11:38 many you can fit in the classroom, obviously, in the distance.

6:11:42 Sure, go ahead.

6:11:43 Uh, so I, you know, I’ve been pondering a lot, obviously, since

6:11:48 Thursday’s meeting and trying to figure out if there’s a

6:11:52 possible way for us to reduce class size.

6:11:54 I mean, one of the public comments stood out to me, the

6:11:58 gentleman said, it was just, he said it very clearly, when a

6:12:02 group gets together, numbers go up.

6:12:04 I mean, I think we all kind of agree on that.

6:12:07 And so to me, the best way to keep numbers down is to keep our

6:12:12 groups small.

6:12:13 And we, we do the average, we all know 18 and 22 for class sizes

6:12:18 in elementary school.

6:12:19 And I pushed staff a little bit at the last meeting, like, can

6:12:23 we cap that at 18 and 22 instead of doing averages?

6:12:26 And so I, I just emailed our poor CFO just an hour ago and asked

6:12:32 for a cost summary.

6:12:33 Has anyone had an opportunity to?

6:12:36 I, I don’t believe so.

6:12:38 I haven’t been able to look at email.

6:12:39 Dr. Thetty?

6:12:40 No.

6:12:41 Um, Ms. Lisinski?

6:12:43 Had a chance to look at the cost implications of strict adherence

6:12:49 to 18-22 in elementary?

6:12:52 No, I guess we don’t have that.

6:12:56 Okay.

6:12:57 I, I’m sorry.

6:12:58 I know that was a short, I brought it up at the last meeting,

6:13:00 but I didn’t follow up this week.

6:13:01 And then I was sitting here listening to everyone and thinking,

6:13:04 we really need a dollar amount on that.

6:13:06 It doesn’t have to be exact at this point, but I think we as the

6:13:09 board need to know, oh, that’s going to cost, you know, a

6:13:12 hundred million dollars when we couldn’t come up with that.

6:13:14 But I was looking at our contingency fund, which you did just

6:13:18 email to me.

6:13:18 Thank you, Ms. Lisinski.

6:13:19 Uh, you know, I never want to dip into our contingency.

6:13:23 It’s for emergencies.

6:13:24 Well, this is an emergency.

6:13:26 Uh, our 3% is unacceptable.

6:13:28 I always want to have three months worth, but we do, by law, we

6:13:31 only need 3%.

6:13:32 So there’s $2 million in there.

6:13:34 If that could get us to classes smaller somehow, it’s just

6:13:38 running some numbers.

6:13:39 It gets us 32 more teachers.

6:13:41 I have a feeling that’s not going to help a ton with class sizes.

6:13:45 But, you know, maybe, maybe it can start digging, digging away

6:13:49 at grade level at a time.

6:13:50 I don’t know.

6:13:51 I just, I wonder if there’s something we can do to get these

6:13:54 class sizes down.

6:13:54 We were getting emails all week that said, you know, some of

6:13:58 those lower level classes would have upwards of 25, 26 kids in

6:14:01 there.

6:14:01 And I hear often from staff, oh, that can’t be true.

6:14:05 But then we hear so many teachers say it is true.

6:14:07 I, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what the truth is there, but

6:14:11 I have great concerns when we start going above 25, because

6:14:15 there was one of the callers was listing out your chances of

6:14:18 being exposed when you start going past 25 people in a room.

6:14:22 And, you know, we’re going to discuss masks, we’re discussing

6:14:25 sanitizing, we’re discussing all these things.

6:14:27 But I think one of the things we know is more people in a room,

6:14:30 more chances you’re going to get it, more exposure.

6:14:32 So it’s just, I wish we could reduce our numbers somehow.

6:14:36 Just for clarification, and Ms. Klein, you correct me.

6:14:40 For, even with average, we are bound to no more than three more

6:14:45 in any one class.

6:14:46 So 18 at most could go to 21, and is it five?

6:14:50 Three in primer, so K to two, could go to 21, and three to five

6:14:59 could go to, five above 22, so up to 27.

6:15:06 We typically try and not do that, we cap at 25, but there may be,

6:15:11 I can’t tell you that there wasn’t an instance that it didn’t

6:15:14 happen.

6:15:14 Okay, I have e-mails over the past couple years where that’s

6:15:18 been blown away, 29 and sixth grade.

6:15:21 People that I trust, too, and know, not just, you know, a faceless

6:15:25 e-mail.

6:15:25 So I know we’ve gone over that.

6:15:27 I think we need to just work really, really, really hard to not

6:15:31 get that high again.

6:15:32 And I don’t know if the board needs to take action to make sure

6:15:35 that doesn’t happen, or if we can have a verbal, or if we just

6:15:40 announce publicly teachers come running forward if you have 30

6:15:43 kids in your class in a K-6 classroom.

6:15:45 We just, we can’t, we can’t risk that right now.

6:15:49 If we’re not even allowing, you know, our volunteers that are,

6:15:53 volunteers that are almost like employees come into our school

6:15:56 because of exposure, then we can’t have five extra kids in a

6:15:58 classroom.

6:15:58 I feel very strongly about that.

6:16:01 I follow that, Madam Chair.

6:16:03 Mr. Susan.

6:16:04 I think you’re 100% right.

6:16:05 I think where you’re going to see a lot of those high numbers

6:16:08 are going to be in the electives, especially inside the block

6:16:11 scheduling.

6:16:12 And there seems to be some concern of what to do, right?

6:16:15 One of the things that I was looking at is, I was going to ask

6:16:18 when we got into this conversation, how can we increase the

6:16:24 amount of students that an individual teaches online?

6:16:26 Because the more people that the online teachers can take in,

6:16:30 the less people needs to be inside the class.

6:16:33 Because when I was doing the components to how we were going to

6:16:37 do this, if the idea is that they, as they go online, it has to

6:16:41 follow the same guidelines as the ones inside the class, then we’re

6:16:44 just shifting and there’s no way to reduce.

6:16:47 So the question is, if somebody can give me some, Dr. Mullins,

6:16:53 if moving to Brevard Virtual or moving to online e-learning,

6:16:59 what are the rules there?

6:17:00 And we, like we do in some of the other areas, so we know that

6:17:04 there’s been those cases where those electives are higher.

6:17:08 They’re a fact, right?

6:17:09 We know them.

6:17:10 The teachers email us and they’re there.

6:17:12 But it’s on a class, on a school average.

6:17:14 So there’s a lot of other classes, whether they’re ESE or

6:17:17 whatever, they get counted into that average and it drops it

6:17:20 down.

6:17:20 So how do we do that?

6:17:21 And the question I would have is, is what is our limitations on

6:17:25 e-learning?

6:17:25 And then if we go over that, who’s going to come and get us in

6:17:30 trouble?

6:17:31 Who’s going to, what, what, what penalties do we get?

6:17:34 Well, I’m not sure, I’ll try and answer the question.

6:17:38 I’m not sure.

6:17:39 E-learning doesn’t have limitations other than the plan has to

6:17:44 be how you’re going to manage and ensure consistent curriculum

6:17:49 learning experiences from a student in the school to the e-learning.

6:17:53 How are you going to ensure the support services?

6:17:58 How are you going to progress monitor?

6:18:00 We have to demonstrate a plan and criteria for all of those

6:18:04 things to the state before they’ll approve us to go stand up an

6:18:07 e-learning platform.

6:18:08 Same for elementary school.

6:18:10 In terms of capacity, I don’t, I don’t know that there is a

6:18:16 capacity limit.

6:18:17 In terms of feasibility, particularly in the secondary, we need

6:18:23 all of our teachers being accessible, if you will, or available

6:18:28 for the e-learning consideration because every time you pull out

6:18:34 just one teacher’s availability, you create, you probably

6:18:37 remember the term singletons, those kind of things.

6:18:38 Yeah.

6:18:39 It chokes your schedule.

6:18:40 It constricts your flexibility with students.

6:18:44 So we need all of our teachers available.

6:18:46 We need all of them prepared to support both platforms.

6:18:50 The union has been very supportive so far.

6:18:53 We know it presents some additional considerations by our

6:18:58 teachers, but the benefits are is it de-densifies our classroom

6:19:03 environment.

6:19:04 So, but we’re still bound to class size, whether it is a in-person

6:19:09 or an e-learning or a hybrid or combination of both.

6:19:12 Class size applies to our mesh subjects.

6:19:15 It does not apply to electives.

6:19:17 So.

6:19:18 And it would apply to our mesh subjects or in elementary school

6:19:21 to the overall average of the school.

6:19:23 So if we have, and here’s where if I can try.

6:19:25 Minus electives.

6:19:26 Yep.

6:19:27 So if I can try to explain what I’m saying, if you have 20 kids

6:19:31 in teacher one, teacher two and teacher three, that’s 60 total

6:19:34 kids.

6:19:34 Now we want each one of those classrooms to be reduced down so

6:19:38 that we can have our social distancing, right?

6:19:41 So if the first two teachers, teacher one and two, have only 13

6:19:45 kids that stay inside their class,

6:19:47 then the third teacher who would go online would have to take up

6:19:51 not only their class, but the other vacancies that have been

6:19:55 created and gone off.

6:19:56 Now if they can do that and we can add extra children to the e-learning

6:20:02 or the, um, the Brevard virtual, we got it.

6:20:05 We can, we can reduce the class sizes and we can get that, that

6:20:08 window in there.

6:20:09 But if we’re, if we’re constrained, if what you said is true,

6:20:12 then I think that it’s something as long as the e-learning

6:20:15 teachers are willing to do it,

6:20:16 it might be a possibility.

6:20:17 So I was trying to help you.

6:20:19 The other thing is, is if you look at, I think it’s, uh, line

6:20:22 numbers, uh, 331, 332, 333 in our, on our budget.

6:20:25 Transfers today, there’s a million dollars in travel between the

6:20:29 three of them that hasn’t been spent yet.

6:20:30 So don’t spend that money yet.

6:20:31 We can use the, the travel that we’re not traveling for part of

6:20:35 that.

6:20:35 So, sorry, Dr. Mullins.

6:20:37 Just a point of clarification of what you said.

6:20:39 And, uh, you guys correct me if I’m wrong.

6:20:42 I don’t think we can transfer those students to Brevard virtual.

6:20:45 Um, the e-learning may have some flexibility, but we, we’re, we’re,

6:20:50 there’s, that’s a step completely separate FTE.

6:20:52 Absolutely.

6:20:53 My example was set for e-learning for the school between three

6:20:56 teachers, say at a Suntree Elementary.

6:20:58 Okay.

6:20:59 So you’re talking about having, you know, 13 kids in one class

6:21:03 for your example of 2020, you know, normally.

6:21:05 13 kids in one class in school, 13 kids in another class in

6:21:09 school, and then the other teacher would be responsible for 34

6:21:14 kids.

6:21:15 If I’m doing my math right, I may be off by 10.

6:21:18 Hmm?

6:21:19 50.

6:21:20 Yep.

6:21:21 Somewhere.

6:21:22 You can’t, you can’t get away from it one way or the other.

6:21:24 But if you truly are trying to figure out a way to reduce that

6:21:28 class size, the question is, one of the options is, is that the

6:21:32 e-learning teachers take a couple of more students on.

6:21:34 I don’t believe the DOE, I don’t know for sure because e-learning

6:21:38 or innovative learning options is new.

6:21:40 It may depend on us getting approval from the DOE.

6:21:42 I don’t, I, my suspicion is, is they are going to hold us to

6:21:47 class size amendment requirements to the e-learning classroom.

6:21:51 What if there was an IA, just hypothetically, what if there was

6:21:55 an IA assigned to that e-learning class that now has 40

6:21:58 something and they could help check in, follow up with students

6:22:01 so that that teacher, is that, does that bring the class size

6:22:05 down?

6:22:05 An IA does not contribute to the reduction of class size.

6:22:11 Dr. Sullivan?

6:22:14 So the, the secondary model that we’re looking at would, every

6:22:22 teacher would carry some students in each period that are e-learning

6:22:28 and in front of them.

6:22:29 And that total is their class size.

6:22:32 So I think that’s exactly what Mr. Susan was saying.

6:22:36 I just, I want to make sure we’re speaking the same language.

6:22:39 So if Ms. Campbell has four music classes in her first period

6:22:46 class, she might have 13 of her 25 that have chosen e-learning,

6:22:50 that means there’s only 12 in front of her.

6:22:53 And so it is a strategy that de-densifies classrooms, as Dr.

6:22:58 Mullins said.

6:22:59 And that’s why since between Thursday and Tuesday, we really

6:23:06 couldn’t commit until we were further down that we could do

6:23:09 block, because that allows more time in the classroom for the

6:23:14 teacher to pivot.

6:23:15 Maybe small group lesson for the children in front of them, and

6:23:19 then potentially 15 minutes of small group lesson for the

6:23:23 children online.

6:23:24 And the block enables that, which is why we needed a couple of

6:23:29 days to see that we could pull that out.

6:23:31 Because of the specialty classes, that’s why Dr. Mullins has

6:23:35 mentioned a couple of times, it’s really an all-day affair.

6:23:39 So the benefit to the teachers, of course, is every one of those

6:23:43 e-learning students comes out of their generated roster.

6:23:47 And so they could conceivably have ten children in front of them,

6:23:51 or eight children in front of them, depending on how many of

6:23:55 them choose an e-learning option.

6:23:56 Or secondary.

6:23:58 I think Mr. Susan was specifically talking about…

6:24:01 No, either way.

6:24:02 Either way.

6:24:03 I was just giving an example, and Ms. Sullivan, you did an eloquent

6:24:06 way of explaining that.

6:24:06 So thank you so much.

6:24:07 I really appreciate that.

6:24:08 I thought that’s what you were saying.

6:24:09 I just want to make sure.

6:24:10 Thank you.

6:24:11 I would add, I don’t want to…

6:24:14 In that a teacher mood who might have three classes of English

6:24:20 one, they may not have a class that has an e-learning student in

6:24:24 it, but the other two classes may have.

6:24:26 So there’s lots of permutations of when you build a master

6:24:31 schedule.

6:24:32 We can’t assure that every class will be de-densified with e-learning

6:24:38 kids, because all of the dominoes have to align just right.

6:24:43 We certainly would hope to work toward that, and it may

6:24:47 naturally, particularly if e-numbers climb, but I don’t want to

6:24:51 leave to suggest that it will happen in every classroom, because

6:24:55 that wouldn’t be a fair statement that we could assure or

6:25:00 guarantee.

6:25:00 Is that correct, Dr. Sullivan?

6:25:02 Yeah.

6:25:03 So that, the e-learning at home option is going to de-densify

6:25:07 potentially secondary schools, if this all plans out, but it’s

6:25:11 not going to de-densify in elementary school.

6:25:14 Is that…

6:25:15 Not at this point.

6:25:16 We’re looking to cluster e-learning students with an e-learning

6:25:20 teacher.

6:25:20 Now, we also have to…

6:25:22 We have to be able to pivot in either one of those environments,

6:25:26 elementary or secondary, that if, or more realistically, when a

6:25:31 student wants to transition back to in-person, we have to

6:25:34 accommodate them, and the expectation is that they transition

6:25:37 back to their classroom teacher.

6:25:38 So, you know, they would be transitioning into that teacher’s

6:25:43 classroom.

6:25:44 So, a whole…

6:25:49 To remain e-learning only is not likely to be for the duration.

6:25:55 If you weren’t able to do what I was saying about the three

6:25:58 teachers, then you would just have to hire another teacher to

6:26:00 take on the workload of the e-learning to alleviate the in-class

6:26:03 learning, if that makes sense.

6:26:05 Which is why I was looking at contingency for funds, because if

6:26:08 you’re going to try to bring down class size, you need money.

6:26:11 But $2.1 million isn’t going to go very far.

6:26:18 Thank you.

6:26:20 So, I think though that, you know, obviously we would all like

6:26:26 to see our class sizes smaller if there are opportunities to

6:26:29 create that.

6:26:30 So, definitely to keep top of mind.

6:26:33 Does anyone else have anything from 10, 11, or 12, which is the

6:26:38 American Academy of Pediatrics?

6:26:40 Is there any opening guidelines that are being utilized and

6:26:44 discussed?

6:26:45 If not, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask.

6:26:53 Dr. Mullins, on slide number 12, it’s the latest statement from

6:26:59 the AAP.

6:26:59 Yes.

6:27:00 Coupled with, you know, it was the joint statement that was

6:27:03 released by the superintendents’ group and the National Union

6:27:09 and…

6:27:09 The next to the last line says, “For instance, schools in areas

6:27:17 with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should not be

6:27:20 compelled to reopen against the judgment of local experts.”

6:27:24 And I’m struggling, and I suspect you are as well, to identify

6:27:32 who are our local experts that have the ability…

6:27:38 To provide judgment on the appropriateness of our reopening.

6:27:45 We heard last week that our local Department of Health indicated

6:27:50 that they did not have the authority to tell us that we should

6:27:54 not open schools at the local level.

6:27:57 And that there weren’t really any significant metrics, right?

6:28:01 She said, “We’re just, we’re going in a bad direction, but there’s

6:28:04 not a…

6:28:04 If our positivity rate is over 15% or if our death rate is over,

6:28:09 you know, 2%.”

6:28:10 Okay.

6:28:11 Has the Florida Department of Health, like the state level

6:28:16 Department of Health weighed in on the directive to open brick

6:28:21 and mortar schools?

6:28:23 Not that I’m aware of.

6:28:25 Okay.

6:28:26 So would the State Department of Health be our local experts

6:28:33 that are referenced in the statement?

6:28:38 Ms. Moore, do you know who’s…

6:28:43 I’m frustrated, quite frankly, because I feel like we have been…

6:28:47 We’ve been put between a rock and a hard place, right?

6:28:49 We’ve been told that we must open brick and mortar schools

6:28:54 unless the local health experts tell us otherwise.

6:28:57 But I can’t identify who our local health experts are that feel

6:29:04 as though they have the authority to do so.

6:29:09 I don’t know how to answer that question.

6:29:13 I can tell you our local Brevard Department of Health do not

6:29:16 believe they are the local experts that are allowed to lead that

6:29:20 conversation.

6:29:20 I do know they are allowed to discuss, they are allowed to,

6:29:26 based on statute, declare an emergency about infectious illness

6:29:31 for students who are to be excluded from school due to

6:29:34 vaccination.

6:29:35 But it is a case-by-case basis and not a whole school district.

6:29:38 Got it.

6:29:40 Okay.

6:29:41 If I remember the reference correctly, I believe it was we’re

6:29:46 the local Department of Health but we’re part of a statewide

6:29:49 agency.

6:29:49 So therefore they would not make that decision in isolation.

6:29:53 Did I get that right?

6:29:54 Yeah, they are called an integrated agency and all of the local

6:29:58 health departments are part of the one Tallahassee Department of

6:30:02 Health.

6:30:02 Can I follow up to that?

6:30:06 Just the fact that we don’t know, can we get somebody to give us

6:30:09 an answer, whether it’s the local or the state?

6:30:11 And then, I mean, because what’s happening is our public is

6:30:15 pounding on our district and us for this topic.

6:30:17 And we’re trying to find out ourselves and they’re not giving us

6:30:21 an answer over there.

6:30:22 If we can find that out and then just ask them, who is it?

6:30:25 And then, because what I’m finding is, is in many of our

6:30:28 organizations that are above us that are giving us guidance,

6:30:30 whether it’s the FHSAA, whether it’s the Department of Health,

6:30:34 whether it’s a lot of these different, they’re waiting to the

6:30:36 last minute, which is putting a lot of our school districts in a

6:30:38 tough spot.

6:30:38 So, that’s all, if we can do something like that or get fired up

6:30:44 here.

6:30:44 Is that okay, Ms. Moore?

6:30:46 I’m not sure where to go with that.

6:30:48 Our local Department of Health has already said that they are

6:30:51 not that agency.

6:30:52 It seems to me that’s a bigger question for our superintendents

6:30:56 to ask our governor.

6:30:57 I’m not, I think we need clarification for the state.

6:31:02 So, I’m not sure where to go with that question.

6:31:06 I mean, I can certainly ask our local Department of Health,

6:31:10 again, to ask the Department of Health in Tallahassee if they

6:31:14 are the agency, and I will be happy to do that.

6:31:16 But, again, I think it’s a bigger question that our superintendents

6:31:22 need to get direction from our DOE or governor.

6:31:25 We just need direction over who is going to do it.

6:31:29 I understand.

6:31:30 And if they don’t know who, then they need to provide a name up

6:31:34 in Tallahassee who should.

6:31:35 And I think that I’m tired of our staff, including you, getting

6:31:38 beat up over this, along with Dr. Mullins and our board members.

6:31:41 And it’s not fair to everybody to do that.

6:31:43 So, if there’s anybody that we need to call or go up there, Dr.

6:31:47 Mullins or superintendents, because this is happening across the

6:31:50 state.

6:31:50 So, I’m done.

6:31:51 But if you’re looking for direction, I would first go to the

6:31:54 Department of Health locally and say, who is it that tells you

6:31:57 what to do?

6:31:57 And then I would call that person and see if they’re the ones

6:31:59 that are going to do it and keep going up until we get an answer.

6:32:01 That would help.

6:32:02 So, Mr. Susan, if I might recommend, only because we’ve

6:32:06 referenced so many times all that our team is trying to tackle

6:32:10 at the moment.

6:32:11 Dr. Mullins, if you could reach out to FADS and see if they’ve

6:32:15 gotten any indication, I will reach out to FSBA and see if they

6:32:19 have been able to get any information there.

6:32:21 As well as, I spoke with Representative Placencia the other

6:32:24 night, he said if there was anything that he could help us with,

6:32:27 to please let him know.

6:32:28 So, I will reach out to him as well and see if we can’t, you

6:32:33 know, walk this up the chain and see if we can get some answers.

6:32:37 Although, I will say in total honesty, I doubt that we will

6:32:42 because, you know, even the callers have said that they have

6:32:46 reached out and are not getting answers to who that falls on.

6:32:49 So, but we’ll walk it up the chain and see what we can do.

6:32:53 Thank you, Ms. Moore, for clarification on that.

6:32:55 I didn’t mean to put you in a bad situation.

6:32:57 I’m just trying to get to the bottom of it because it’s so

6:33:01 incredibly frustrating.

6:33:03 Ms. Belford, I have a question that goes along with that because

6:33:08 you mentioned the rate of the spread and that’s what the big

6:33:12 concern is with even the American Academy of Pediatrics mentions

6:33:16 the rate of the spread.

6:33:17 Do we know or can we find out, say, what Miami-Dade’s rate of

6:33:22 spread is because the governor has left them in a different

6:33:25 stage than us and that’s why they can still do at-home learning

6:33:30 only compared to our rate of spread?

6:33:32 Because we have to have metrics.

6:33:33 I mean, we have to have some way to measure.

6:33:35 We do.

6:33:36 You can actually go onto the Department of Health’s website and

6:33:39 there’s a link and it shows county by county.

6:33:40 There’s a map.

6:33:41 Yeah, I’ve been looking at that through some of the, earlier in

6:33:44 the meeting, I was going through there, but there’s no, I didn’t

6:33:47 see rate of spread.

6:33:47 If that’s what we want to mention, if that’s what we want to

6:33:50 measure, then I just want to look at rate of spread.

6:33:52 Because people are arguing, we’ve had so many cases, it’s

6:33:55 growing, death, no, we’re only going to look at death rates.

6:33:57 If a public health crisis is how much it’s spreading, then let’s

6:34:01 make that our standard.

6:34:02 We need to be able to say to the public, okay for us to open

6:34:05 because our rate of spread is X lower than Miami’s.

6:34:08 Or, look, ours is the same and now we have to go to the state

6:34:11 and really scream and yell.

6:34:12 Like, how come we’re in a different stage if it’s spreading at

6:34:15 the same rate as it is there?

6:34:16 I don’t, this shouldn’t be hard for us to figure out and

6:34:20 somebody in the health world needs to answer that question for

6:34:24 us.

6:34:24 I strongly feel that because one of my questions and later in

6:34:29 our presentation is if we’re going to ask students to stay six

6:34:33 feet apart or wear a mask or when are we going to stop?

6:34:36 When, when, what’s the measure?

6:34:38 You know, is it when everybody feels better?

6:34:41 Is it when there’s none of, you know, there’s no COVID anywhere

6:34:44 again?

6:34:44 Like, again, we have to have some benchmarks so that people know

6:34:48 and parents can come back and say, rate of spread now is X for,

6:34:52 you know, three months and you guys promised that we can roll

6:34:55 these things back and the playground can open back up.

6:34:57 I, we’ve got to be able to measure some of this stuff.

6:34:59 We can’t just go on feelings.

6:35:00 So, that’s my piece.

6:35:01 Thank you.

6:35:03 Absolutely agree, Ms. Doskovich.

6:35:04 The other, I think the other reference that many of the

6:35:07 recommendations make is the level of community transmission.

6:35:10 And there are lots of plans that identify low, moderate and high

6:35:15 levels of community transmission, which is, I’m assuming the

6:35:18 same thing as rate of spread.

6:35:19 But I, I, I’ve yet to be able to find any metrics that identify

6:35:23 what is a low level of transmission, what’s a moderate and what’s

6:35:27 a, what’s a high.

6:35:28 So, I think there’s, Ms. Moore, if you’re, if you have the magic

6:35:32 wand and can get answers to those things, you texted, Patty?

6:35:35 I did.

6:35:36 Excellent.

6:35:37 Thank you so much.

6:35:38 So, just flag me down if you get an answer.

6:35:39 All right.

6:35:40 We’ll, I’ll, I’ll circle back to you.

6:35:42 Um, on, any other questions on slides 10 through 12?

6:35:49 Okay.

6:35:51 Then we will move on to our prior to opening operational, which

6:35:56 is going to be on slides 13 and 14.

6:35:59 Any comments or questions on either of those slides?

6:36:02 I think that one of the questions I have is, is based on, um, 13.

6:36:10 So, um, it has not, it has to do more with during, after opening,

6:36:15 but, um, relates to how the desk is going to be turning the

6:36:18 tables and everybody facing the same direction.

6:36:20 Um, because there were a few comments and I’ve had a few emails

6:36:24 about, you know, we, they’re just, I think there just needs to

6:36:27 be some clarification.

6:36:27 Are we saying there shall be no interaction between students?

6:36:30 I just, I don’t get that picture.

6:36:31 I think that people are starting to think that what class is

6:36:35 going to be look like is for, you know, 30 minutes, 45 minutes,

6:36:39 90 minutes, depending on age level, that the kids are going to

6:36:42 be in their desks facing the same way and stuck there for the

6:36:45 whole entire block.

6:36:45 And can you give us some more clarification of what exactly that

6:36:49 means and might look like?

6:36:50 Um, certainly as just like we’re sitting right now facing

6:37:00 forward.

6:37:02 So when we’re giving instruction, direct instruction, students

6:37:06 won’t be engaged in that collaborative group.

6:37:09 That does not mean that we’re not going to be able to turn and

6:37:15 talk, you know, kids talk.

6:37:17 Um, uh, when we do small group, we’ll be putting our mask on and

6:37:22 having small group or the teacher will be wearing the face

6:37:26 shield.

6:37:26 Uh, I heard earlier, um, students at home and e-learning, they

6:37:31 can’t sit all day long.

6:37:33 Well, we’re not expecting that.

6:37:34 Just like in the classroom, we’ll be doing the brain break

6:37:38 breaks.

6:37:38 We’ll be doing recess.

6:37:40 We’ll be moving, but we’re going to maintain our social distance.

6:37:45 And we’re going to, when we’re not make sure our mask is on and

6:37:49 we’re recommending that mask as much as possible.

6:37:53 But although what we don’t want is we know that it’s

6:38:00 transmission is transmitted by bodily fluid and children talk

6:38:07 and they get excited.

6:38:07 And so we don’t want that face to face, um, opportunity for

6:38:14 transmission.

6:38:17 Thank you.

6:38:18 Any other board members have questions on slides 13 or 14?

6:38:22 I have one on, I’m sorry, Mr. Sisson, you want to go?

6:38:25 No, no, no, no.

6:38:26 I’m, I always go after you.

6:38:28 Okay.

6:38:29 Um, on 13, this is just the, um, I’ve been getting lots of

6:38:35 emails and about who’s going to be doing the pumps of the hand

6:38:41 sanitizer.

6:38:41 That may sound odd, but people are afraid and they’re concerned

6:38:45 and it’s safety.

6:38:46 Do we have those automatic things where you just stick your hand

6:38:50 underneath it and it spits out?

6:38:51 I mean, is that a possibility?

6:38:53 Under, I mean, CARES Act, we’re probably using all the money up.

6:38:56 But anyhow, I just wondered if that’s a possibility for our

6:38:59 classrooms and certainly for the lunchroom, I would think that

6:39:02 would be an easy thing.

6:39:03 But just asking.

6:39:04 Mr. Novelli, I’m going to put you on the spot.

6:39:08 Do you happen to know if our hand sanitizer dispensers that are

6:39:14 in stanchions around campus are, uh, touchless, I guess, dispensed

6:39:22 just by putting your hand under them?

6:39:24 Or do they require the depression of a paddle or a handle or

6:39:28 something like that?

6:39:29 I don’t know.

6:39:31 Okay.

6:39:33 So I, I, I think we heard last time the gallon jugs of hand

6:39:37 sanitizer in the classroom have a pump.

6:39:39 And it sounds like the, uh, dispensers around the campus would

6:39:43 have a paddle.

6:39:44 Have you seen those?

6:39:45 Have a paddle to dispense the hand sanitizer.

6:39:48 Right.

6:39:51 Mr. Susan.

6:39:52 Just really fast.

6:39:53 And this has been stated before, but I received a couple of

6:39:56 emails on it since the last meeting.

6:39:57 And I think that some people wanted some clarifications.

6:40:00 If there’s a request for plexiglass barriers or if the PPE hand

6:40:04 sanitizer and additional cleaning products run out, we’re going

6:40:08 to provide those.

6:40:09 Right.

6:40:10 I mean, that’s the case as they need.

6:40:12 They, there was just some people said like, what happens when I

6:40:15 run out?

6:40:15 Well, we’ve ordered enough to supply us for the year.

6:40:18 And I just wanted the public to know that that’s it.

6:40:21 Excellent.

6:40:22 Anyone else have anything on, um, 13, 14?

6:40:29 Ms. McDougall.

6:40:30 Um, Ms. Hand, I have a question for you with our HVAC and the

6:40:35 filters that you’re changing.

6:40:36 I know there’s some, um, some furnaces and I have no idea what

6:40:41 the cost or if it’s feasible or whatever.

6:40:43 Or like there’s an, some kind of little thing that you can, I’m

6:40:47 going to get the name all wrong.

6:40:48 That will kind of kill viruses before they go through the system.

6:40:53 Does that make any sense to you?

6:40:55 It’s kind of like something like that, but it’s different.

6:40:59 They have a different name.

6:41:00 It’s like an ion or, I can’t, what?

6:41:08 Good afternoon, everyone.

6:41:13 So a couple of different things on the air conditioning systems.

6:41:16 We, um, we looked at filters first and we’re in the process that

6:41:23 I stated earlier of changing

6:41:23 out about 13,000 filters.

6:41:26 There are different types of filters.

6:41:28 We looked at what we can do and our filters are a certain size.

6:41:32 So we’re kind of stuck with that size.

6:41:34 We can’t do really bigger filters in most of our air

6:41:37 conditioning units, nor are the mechanics

6:41:39 of the machine able to overcome, for example, a thicker filter.

6:41:45 We have to be careful about how we affect our air conditioning

6:41:49 systems overall.

6:41:50 They’re pretty sensitive and they’re pretty tightly designed.

6:41:53 I think what you may be referring to is the ultraviolet light

6:41:58 units.

6:41:58 And we’ve been looking at those, but the science isn’t crystal

6:42:04 clear on whether they do or do not actually kill the virus.

6:42:07 They’re somewhat expensive, especially if they’re replicated

6:42:11 everywhere throughout the school district.

6:42:12 From what my guys are telling me, they last about a year.

6:42:15 We can barely get our filters changed.

6:42:17 I am not confident that we can keep up with thousands of ultraviolet

6:42:23 light units that, um, with the custodial and the maintenance

6:42:28 staff that we have.

6:42:29 So what we’ve tried to do is really prioritize what our

6:42:33 workforce is able to do and what our custodial teams are able to

6:42:37 do with the resources that we have as supplemented by our cares

6:42:41 act and not create things that we will not be able to sustain

6:42:44 over a longer period of time.

6:42:44 Over a longer period of time with the resources that we have.

6:42:47 Thank you.

6:42:48 Mm-hmm.

6:42:49 All right.

6:42:52 Anything else back on 13-14?

6:42:54 Moving ahead then.

6:42:56 Slides 15 through 17.

6:42:59 Our purchase supplies and the recap of the educational things

6:43:04 that have taken place prior to opening.

6:43:07 Ms. Campbell.

6:43:09 I’ve got some technology questions, Mr. Cheatham.

6:43:13 I know we’ve talked about technology needs before, which you

6:43:18 guys did a monumental job of, you know, taking care of in the

6:43:22 spring.

6:43:22 I know we’ve already mentioned today, we passed up more than 15,000

6:43:27 devices, including laptops and hotspots, and then we are still

6:43:32 waiting on many of those to come back.

6:43:34 And we’ll have to replenish some of those that were broken or

6:43:40 not usable anymore.

6:43:42 With the e-learning, and of course if we have to do any pivots

6:43:46 to distance learning, we’re going to have to pass out laptops

6:43:49 and hotspots again.

6:43:50 I’m assuming we’ll have those people identified already.

6:43:53 And then, but we’re still going to need those devices at school,

6:43:59 right?

6:43:59 Many of those devices that were passed out are ones that are

6:44:01 being used in our classrooms.

6:44:02 Now we may have some people who do choose virtual and we may

6:44:05 have less, a smaller population in each school because of that.

6:44:07 So we may have some extra, not extra, but it will be less tight,

6:44:12 I guess.

6:44:12 But, so that’s kind of my first question of how are you

6:44:16 anticipating that going?

6:44:18 And then I’ve got one real quick about our virtual.

6:44:21 It’s a bit of a mix.

6:44:22 I mean, we have some schools that gave out just about everything

6:44:26 they had.

6:44:26 So for those schools, we have to watch closely as, you know, the

6:44:32 e-learning options put out there.

6:44:33 We’re going to have to talk with those schools and see what

6:44:36 percentage of devices do they feel comfortable letting go off

6:44:40 campus so that they can still function to some level on campus.

6:44:44 But those are definitely the things we’re looking at.

6:44:47 The e-learning piece, we’re still figuring that out, I’ll be

6:44:50 honest with you.

6:44:51 Right.

6:44:52 But we’re trying to figure out those percentages to where what

6:44:56 can you have off campus and still function on campus.

6:44:59 But it’s a bit of a moving target for sure.

6:45:02 Right.

6:45:03 And I know some of our schools are close to one-to-one, one

6:45:07 device, but some of those are not laptops.

6:45:09 They’re desktops that can’t be taken home.

6:45:12 Correct.

6:45:13 We have schools that are close to one-to-one.

6:45:14 Some are desktops.

6:45:15 Some are older devices.

6:45:17 You know, we have aging devices within our schools and some of

6:45:20 those devices aren’t the best devices to do e-learning with.

6:45:23 But we’re going to do the best we can.

6:45:25 Again, we’re going to use some of the CARES Act funds to replace

6:45:30 some of the devices that went out last year.

6:45:32 We’re fixing devices that came back damaged from last year as

6:45:36 well.

6:45:36 So we’re hoping to get as many back into rotation as we can.

6:45:40 But it’s still going to be pretty tight when you talk about

6:45:44 having devices going home versus devices being in our schools at

6:45:47 the same time.

6:45:47 So if there’s any large corporations listening today who would

6:45:51 like to donate a couple million dollars towards the laptop fund,

6:45:54 that would be great.

6:45:56 That wasn’t my second question.

6:45:58 Just putting a plug in there.

6:45:59 Contact Brevard Schools Foundation.

6:46:02 So when we do Brevard Virtual School, and we’re going to have

6:46:05 greater numbers in Brevard Virtual School than ever.

6:46:08 When we do Brevard Virtual School, do we loan out devices for

6:46:11 Brevard Virtual?

6:46:12 Or are families expected to have their own device?

6:46:14 I see you shaking your head yes.

6:46:16 We do.

6:46:17 If a family has a need, we do that.

6:46:19 And do they have their own inventory?

6:46:21 Or do those usually come?

6:46:22 Yes, they have their own inventory.

6:46:24 Okay.

6:46:29 So they have some, but they’re going to need more is what you’re

6:46:32 saying.

6:46:32 The inventory still comes from E.T. though.

6:46:34 It still comes from E.T.

6:46:35 But we’re not taking laptops from the school where they used to

6:46:38 go or anything.

6:46:39 They have – it runs through their technology budget.

6:46:43 Right.

6:46:44 We are – poor Mrs. Price.

6:46:49 I’ve asked her to pivot three or four different times now.

6:46:52 As we’ve rolled out e-learning, now we’re expecting some of

6:46:55 those to pull back.

6:46:56 And so she amplified her enrollment.

6:46:58 So her concerns were sky high.

6:47:00 Her concerns late last night when I told her we’re a little less.

6:47:05 So we’re all on the roller coaster together.

6:47:08 Right.

6:47:09 But just wanted to check.

6:47:10 They do have the availability of families need to do that.

6:47:12 Yep.

6:47:13 But they don’t have their own devices.

6:47:14 Thank you.

6:47:15 Absolutely.

6:47:16 That’s all I’ve got on those pages, Ms. Belford.

6:47:17 Great.

6:47:18 Ms. Campbell and Ms. Duskovich.

6:47:19 I have a couple questions to follow up with that.

6:47:21 Dr. Sullivan, do we know what is Brevard Virtual School numbers?

6:47:25 It was interesting.

6:47:26 I think some – maybe Dr. Mullen said earlier about 25% look

6:47:30 like they’re looking at e-learning.

6:47:31 Maybe that was elementary school at this point.

6:47:33 And so what’s Brevard Virtual School looking like?

6:47:35 Do we know?

6:47:36 Every given day.

6:47:38 She’s currently looking at about 600 full-time students.

6:47:43 But that was just prior to Thursday’s announcement of some –

6:47:49 Is that K-12?

6:47:50 K-12 full-time.

6:47:51 Yeah.

6:47:52 But that was just prior to Thursday’s announcement on elementary

6:47:57 e-learning and, of course, today’s

6:47:59 we have a couple of comments towards secondary e-learning.

6:48:02 So she’s going to take the next couple of days continuing to

6:48:06 reach back out to families.

6:48:08 Charity receives some declinations after Thursday’s board

6:48:12 meeting from some of our elementary

6:48:13 families.

6:48:14 And we’ll outline and put up for parents when they’re choosing

6:48:19 between either e-learning

6:48:20 or virtual the pros and cons and what might be the best fit for

6:48:24 their family.

6:48:25 But I think she’s naturally assuming her numbers to go down a

6:48:28 bit over the next few days.

6:48:30 And that 600, what was – do you have any idea what last year

6:48:34 was?

6:48:34 About 150.

6:48:35 Wow.

6:48:36 Thank you.

6:48:41 And then last, Mr. Cheatham.

6:48:44 I have great concerns because we have a budget hearing coming up

6:48:49 where I believe we are removing

6:48:54 positions.

6:48:55 What word do I – not removing – getting rid of?

6:48:58 I’m trying to think of a nicer word.

6:49:00 But eliminating several positions for your IT team, which means

6:49:06 some schools wouldn’t have

6:49:06 full coverage.

6:49:07 Am I correct in that?

6:49:09 And when would that start?

6:49:12 They were vacant positions.

6:49:14 So it’s five positions.

6:49:17 It would have started July 1.

6:49:19 But they’re vacant.

6:49:20 They’re not – it’s not a layoff or an elimination of people.

6:49:24 It was a position.

6:49:25 A position.

6:49:26 I still have great concern.

6:49:28 And maybe this will be a better conversation at the budget

6:49:32 hearing.

6:49:32 But just to kind of give everyone a heads up that I’ll probably

6:49:35 bring it up there.

6:49:35 Because I – you know, if we’re going to be doing e-learning

6:49:39 from home, I imagine that’s

6:49:40 not a time for a school to be – without a full-time tech.

6:49:43 So we – we may want to look at that.

6:49:45 I – you know, just as a – an outside question.

6:49:49 Maybe – like I said, maybe that’s for the budget hearing.

6:49:51 But do you want to respond to that at all?

6:49:54 It’s a concern.

6:49:55 You know, as we – it’s definitely a concern.

6:49:58 But we’re putting together some shared services plans to help

6:50:02 cover the schools.

6:50:03 But it’s a concern.

6:50:05 So just for example, if we’re doing e-learning at home from a

6:50:09 school, and you have a shared

6:50:10 tech, and the tech is at a different school, and the system goes

6:50:13 down, or there’s a crash,

6:50:14 you know, I just – it just seems like you need somebody on site

6:50:17 to be able to help.

6:50:18 And just back to my earlier point in the budget presentation now,

6:50:23 what, probably a month

6:50:24 ago, it’s absolutely not ideal.

6:50:29 It’s a concern.

6:50:30 Budget cuts are never ideal, and they’re always a concern.

6:50:32 And the reality is, I probably said no short of eight or ten

6:50:36 times, we can eliminate positions,

6:50:38 but it’s going to lower level of service.

6:50:40 So, you know, I don’t disagree.

6:50:42 It definitely is a concern.

6:50:43 It’s just we’ve got to – we’ll have to do our best to manage it.

6:50:47 Of course, I understand.

6:50:48 But also, we are eliminating positions and lowering service, but

6:50:53 asking at a time when – you

6:50:55 know, we’re increasing the IT demands.

6:50:57 So we may need to look somewhere else for those eliminations.

6:51:02 Maybe.

6:51:03 Thank you, Ms. Duskovich.

6:51:05 Ms. McDougall, did you have anything on those two pages?

6:51:08 Mr. Susan, did you have anything?

6:51:11 Actually, it was three pages, I guess.

6:51:13 Yeah, no, it’s just – I think I’d like a couple of deeper

6:51:16 questions on Florida Virtual,

6:51:17 but I can wait until later on, unless this is the appropriate

6:51:21 time.

6:51:21 I mean, is – do we think that’s going to come up again, or no?

6:51:23 I actually have a – while we’re on Brevard Virtual, I have just

6:51:28 a quick question on Brevard Virtual.

6:51:29 So if you –

6:51:30 Okay.

6:51:31 If you want to ask it now, I’ll go right ahead.

6:51:32 Yeah, no.

6:51:33 When I went through it to just – if I could make some

6:51:36 suggestions, I walked through the Brevard Virtual

6:51:40 platform and it transitions from Brevard Virtual to Florida

6:51:45 Virtual back to – and then you land on Florida Virtual.

6:51:47 You can get your information, but in order to get back to Brevard

6:51:51 Virtual, you have to click back.

6:51:52 The user interface on that Florida Virtual is a lot stronger

6:51:57 than it is on our Brevard Virtual.

6:51:59 It’s an issue that I brought up before in just the transitional

6:52:04 pieces.

6:52:04 Like when they go to click on – if you’re looking on Brevard

6:52:08 Virtual and you go to see, you know,

6:52:11 elementary, whatever it is, or secondary, you go to – it just

6:52:15 says the class.

6:52:16 But if you go to Florida Virtual, there’s options to see just

6:52:19 kind of a description and stuff like that.

6:52:20 So I don’t know, and it’s been a concern for a lot of my parents

6:52:24 in that a lot of them, the user-friendly opportunities,

6:52:28 I feel like if we’re going to compete against those people, that

6:52:32 we need to put up a better one than what they do.

6:52:33 And Gibbs can look at if we can just copy and paste all their

6:52:36 content information or not onto our own policy or not,

6:52:39 or onto our own website.

6:52:41 But I think that there’s some significant savings there if we

6:52:45 present a good platform

6:52:46 in that we are able to capture savings from people leaving to

6:52:50 Florida Virtual.

6:52:51 I have a list of things that I can – I’m going to look forward

6:52:56 to the principal.

6:52:57 She’s been very good and very open to a lot of stuff.

6:53:00 And then the – so that was just the first one.

6:53:02 I just kind of wanted to say that.

6:53:03 And then the other piece is, is that the – I’m assuming that

6:53:07 the Florida Virtual is following the –

6:53:08 or Brevard Virtual is following the same class size requirements.

6:53:12 And if so, is that an aggregate over – do you see what I mean?

6:53:18 Like, like we have it by school-based average.

6:53:21 Does Brevard Virtual – can they expand as – I mean, what’s the

6:53:25 limitations there for class size?

6:53:28 Sorry.

6:53:29 That’s okay.

6:53:30 I think I got the question.

6:53:31 I’m not 100% sure.

6:53:32 But no, Brevard Virtual School, as a franchise of Florida

6:53:37 Virtual School,

6:53:37 is governed by the guidelines set for the state for that Brevard

6:53:41 Virtual School platform.

6:53:42 They don’t have class size constraints.

6:53:45 So the teachers – it really depends on the environment, whether

6:53:49 it’s a full-time environment or a part-time.

6:53:51 But they carry rather significant loads of students.

6:53:55 And when they reach a capacity point, that’s when the students

6:54:01 get moved over to Florida Virtual School,

6:54:04 which we want to continue to avoid.

6:54:07 So we’ve added some capacity to Brevard Virtual School.

6:54:10 And in fact, prior to COVID, we were looking to add capacity

6:54:15 anyway,

6:54:15 in analyzing the number of students that we lose to Florida

6:54:18 Virtual School.

6:54:19 So it’s a delicate balance of adding capacity where we know we

6:54:23 can get enrollments.

6:54:24 So it’s not the same standard at all.

6:54:27 Our e-learning would follow the traditional school.

6:54:29 Sure.

6:54:30 Brevard Virtual School would continue to operate as they do.

6:54:33 Minus for secondary, they would pivot to block.

6:54:36 And then – and that’s beautiful because that would actually

6:54:39 help us with capacity inside of our schools,

6:54:41 as far as our – you know what I mean – as far as our cost, so

6:54:45 –

6:54:45 it helps de-densify particularly in a part-time situation.

6:54:50 In a full-time situation, the FTE unit goes to Brevard Virtual

6:54:54 School, which is a slightly lower FTE.

6:54:57 The part-time would de-densify with some additional costs, but

6:55:04 marginal additional costs.

6:55:05 Sure.

6:55:06 And then the other question I had was advanced placement

6:55:10 Cambridge, those opportunities.

6:55:11 Are we moving on Brevard Virtual Platform to offer those?

6:55:14 Are we offering those back at the school?

6:55:16 What were your thoughts on that?

6:55:17 Because that was a huge concern for our constituents.

6:55:19 For sure.

6:55:20 And a very reasonable concern.

6:55:21 So advanced – there’s already several advanced placement

6:55:25 opportunities.

6:55:25 But with e-learning now in discussion since late last night, it

6:55:35 should be really easy for a student.

6:55:36 I mean, I’m not going to say easy because they’re hard classes.

6:55:39 So it’s not easy.

6:55:41 But by participating in e-learning as we are working it out

6:55:45 right now, that student would have their teacher,

6:55:47 their Cambridge class, their IB teacher, and they would choose

6:55:53 to do it at home.

6:55:53 And so that’s why I mentioned earlier, a teacher teaching IB

6:55:59 biology might have some students in front of them,

6:56:00 some students at home.

6:56:02 There are some limitations in the natural sciences that have

6:56:09 some lab requirements that might have to be a day

6:56:12 where a student comes in or things like that because those

6:56:16 advanced classes do have required lab minutes.

6:56:20 But from my interaction with those families, they will work that

6:56:25 out.

6:56:25 And I think you’ve all interacted with a lot of those families

6:56:28 as well.

6:56:28 So they might, you know, potentially put some of those lab

6:56:31 activities on Fridays or, you know, something like that

6:56:33 and flip-flop with a less dense situation.

6:56:38 That’s great.

6:56:39 And then one last question on the virtual.

6:56:41 I apologize.

6:56:42 It’s a big thing.

6:56:43 So there’s some courses that Florida virtual offers and we don’t.

6:56:47 And that’s a capacity issue.

6:56:49 Is there a way to capture when you, on that website, hey, you

6:56:56 know, here’s, there’s 50 parents that would love to teach,

6:56:58 love to learn Mandarin Chinese, and we do have a Mandarin

6:57:01 Chinese person, that kind of stuff.

6:57:02 Is there a fluid way to capture some of that stuff?

6:57:04 Or is that just kind of pie in the sky because we’re trying to

6:57:07 just deal with the basics right now?

6:57:09 Yes, ish.

6:57:11 I know you hear ish from me a lot.

6:57:13 Heather does that.

6:57:15 I’m sorry.

6:57:16 Mrs. Price does that now to capture where to add units.

6:57:19 Okay.

6:57:20 It’s primarily historical.

6:57:22 You know, it’s looking at what courses are our kids requesting

6:57:26 that we don’t offer.

6:57:28 And then we turn around and try to offer that.

6:57:31 We try not to do it too whimsically because we want to be able

6:57:34 to maintain employment for a teacher

6:57:36 and not have a teacher convert over to Brevard Virtual School.

6:57:39 And we can’t maintain that.

6:57:41 So she carefully monitors all those enrollments and requests for

6:57:46 Florida Virtual School in addition to ours

6:57:48 and modifies our offerings as a result.

6:57:50 In fact, we’ve added in the last few years, we’ve added teachers.

6:57:54 We’ve added courses based on that enrollment pattern.

6:57:57 And we try to do in a way that protects the district financially.

6:58:01 Awesome.

6:58:02 And another question on the transitioning from block to six

6:58:07 period Florida Virtual and back.

6:58:09 Are we going to be trying to do block at the virtual or how are

6:58:12 we doing that?

6:58:13 Yes, they’re actually a super easy pivot.

6:58:15 So our Brevard Virtual School secondary courses will operate in

6:58:20 block as well.

6:58:21 Wow.

6:58:22 Okay.

6:58:23 And so she can make that happen.

6:58:24 For our students that are choosing courses in Florida Virtual

6:58:29 School in lieu of one of our courses,

6:58:31 we would encourage them to select that option as well.

6:58:34 When a student takes a course, they can choose either a 36-week

6:58:38 option or an 18-week option.

6:58:40 And so that they stay on pace.

6:58:42 But if not, we can actually work with it too.

6:58:45 Some of our students finish sooner than they anticipate in

6:58:49 virtual school and some finish longer.

6:58:52 And we always find ways to make that work.

6:58:54 Awesome.

6:58:55 So what I’m hearing you say is we should tell the public that if

6:58:58 they are going to sign up for something,

6:58:58 it’s advantageous for them to sign up through Brevard Virtual

6:59:01 because it’s a seamless transition

6:59:02 as opposed to possibly dealing with Florida Virtual because of

6:59:06 the block scheduling.

6:59:07 Yeah.

6:59:08 Well, honestly.

6:59:09 Yep.

6:59:10 Okay.

6:59:11 That sounds great.

6:59:12 Yes.

6:59:13 Okay.

6:59:14 The other question I have maybe for Ms. Klein.

6:59:16 There’s, as I was looking on Florida Virtual School, the sixth

6:59:19 grade is contingent on having multiple classes there.

6:59:23 Am I to assume that if I am a parent in sixth grade signing up

6:59:27 for Brevard Virtual that I will have multiple teachers or just

6:59:32 one teacher?

6:59:34 Because if you look on Brevard Virtual, it says K through five.

6:59:37 Yeah.

6:59:38 Right?

6:59:40 But then you get to the sixth grade and it starts talking like

6:59:42 it’s almost like middle school.

6:59:42 And I just wanted to give the parents out there that answer.

6:59:46 Within Brevard Virtual School, students exist differently as a

6:59:51 full-time student than they would as a part-time student.

6:59:55 So even though it looks like secondary, there’s still a full-time

7:00:00 like leadership umbrella.

7:00:02 You’re not taking four random courses that aren’t connected.

7:00:07 So our full-time teachers teach under an umbrella that’s

7:00:11 different than our part-timers.

7:00:13 And so the sixth grade student might have different teachers in

7:00:19 all likelihood, but would still have an overarching leadership

7:00:24 and framework that’s part of being a full-time student.

7:00:26 Okay.

7:00:27 I just, that was, when I was looking through it, it was one of

7:00:30 those questions.

7:00:30 And we have got a good transition going back and forth, course

7:00:34 updating, multiple teachers, seven to 12.

7:00:36 Got it.

7:00:37 Okay.

7:00:38 I think that’s it for my questioning.

7:00:39 Oh, one other thing.

7:00:40 You guys, there was an offer by a local restaurant to feed us if

7:00:45 we wanted to for dinner, just to think about it.

7:00:47 Okay.

7:00:48 And he said that he would take care of, he has children inside

7:00:51 the room.

7:00:51 It’s not beer or pizza, by the way.

7:00:53 Um, and Pam has that number.

7:00:54 So if you’re interested in ordering food, we could probably do

7:00:57 something like that.

7:00:58 That’s all.

7:00:59 Thank you, sir.

7:01:01 Um, Ms. Klein.

7:01:06 So we have started our summer school classes, right?

7:01:15 Yeah.

7:01:16 And we are transporting students on buses and we have them in

7:01:21 classrooms.

7:01:22 And I am curious how that is all going with regard to safety.

7:01:27 Are we, are we seeing compliance with our expectation of masks?

7:01:32 Are we, have we had any entire classes that have had to be shut

7:01:35 down because we’ve had a positive case?

7:01:37 Like what, how, how’s that all flowing?

7:01:40 So we haven’t enforced masks because we recommended, but, so we

7:01:48 have some masks and some not.

7:01:51 Uh, we have had no shutdowns to date.

7:01:55 Knock on wood, Chris Moore.

7:01:57 Um.

7:01:58 Uh, we, um, we anticipated about 766 children and we have almost

7:02:10 400.

7:02:12 Um, I was chatting with some of the principals that are, uh,

7:02:18 host schools and, um, uh, they’re talking about the manpower it

7:02:25 takes to separate six year olds.

7:02:27 Uh, but, you know, they’re, they’re modeling it.

7:02:33 They’re expecting it.

7:02:34 So, so far it’s going well.

7:02:37 Um, tomorrow we begin rising up kindergarten.

7:02:40 So we’ll see how that enrollment, uh, begins.

7:02:44 But, uh, so far it is, uh, it’s going extremely well.

7:02:50 Excellent.

7:02:51 Thank you, Ms. Klein.

7:02:52 All right.

7:02:53 Um, any board members have any additional questions on anything

7:03:02 up to slide 17?

7:03:04 I’ve got another Brevard virtual question, but I was going to do

7:03:08 it on 22 when we got there to the, but while we’re on the topic

7:03:12 and people are listening, um, because it relates to elementary

7:03:14 and secondary, there was some questions from, um, from some of

7:03:19 our commenters and some of our emails that are concerned, um,

7:03:21 that Brevard virtual is not as flexible as Florida virtual.

7:03:25 And so can you just clarify, and I’m, I’m specifically speaking

7:03:29 about Brevard virtual full-time where someone would not be

7:03:33 enrolled in their, their school, but would do Brevard virtual

7:03:37 full-time.

7:03:37 Do they follow a, say, typical 8 to 2:30 day?

7:03:41 Um, or do they, you, you have to keep in pace per week, unlike

7:03:45 the flex version, but you, but you still get it done during the

7:03:48 day in your own time.

7:03:49 How does, what’s the flexibility on that?

7:03:51 So, um, it’s actually similar whether it’s Brevard virtual or

7:03:55 Florida virtual, depending on the platform that you choose.

7:03:58 So a full-time program is going to be less flexible because it

7:04:04 is following a scope and sequence of a full-time educational

7:04:08 experience.

7:04:08 They are receiving instructional minutes.

7:04:11 They are getting all of the benefits and distinctions of an

7:04:16 accredited public school.

7:04:18 They are a school within Brevard with its own school number.

7:04:21 Um, students get a diploma versus a home school student who

7:04:25 might do for a virtual classes.

7:04:26 So a parent though can choose flexible options at Brevard

7:04:32 virtual school.

7:04:33 If they wanted it to be their full-time option and be flexible,

7:04:38 that might be a home school student choosing the components of

7:04:44 Brevard virtual school.

7:04:44 That makes sense.

7:04:45 Okay.

7:04:46 Um, it really depends on what works for the family and Mrs.

7:04:50 Price and her team.

7:04:52 There’s like a whole training video thingy that a parent does to

7:04:57 understand those choices.

7:04:59 We’re really running three different models in elementary and

7:05:03 three different models in secondary.

7:05:05 And so I would encourage them to call them directly.

7:05:08 Might take a day or two to get a call back because what their

7:05:12 friend tells them, they may not have realized it’s in reference

7:05:15 to a different model.

7:05:16 Right.

7:05:17 So the true Brevard virtual school as your school of record is

7:05:21 less flexible because it’s meeting all of those expectations as

7:05:25 serving of your school of record.

7:05:26 Right.

7:05:27 So if that’s the choice they want to do, if they want to do that

7:05:30 rather than e-learning through their, their school they’re

7:05:32 registered with right now.

7:05:33 Um, they just need to contact Brevard virtual and say, here’s,

7:05:37 here’s the hours that our family could do school.

7:05:39 What do you have that would fit?

7:05:40 Yeah.

7:05:41 And, and, and it may be that the student taking courses as a

7:05:45 homeschool student might be more effective in that situation.

7:05:48 Um, it just really depends on the students and the parents

7:05:53 dynamics, um, on what fits for them, but, but they, they offer

7:05:57 that same flexibility as well.

7:05:58 Okay.

7:05:59 Thank you.

7:06:00 All right.

7:06:01 Anything, anybody else, anything up to number 17?

7:06:10 All right, then we will move on to slide 18 through 21, which is

7:06:17 our reopening requirements.

7:06:20 Uh, the assurances from the state and the, uh, framework.

7:06:25 Anyone have, yes, Ms. McDougall.

7:06:27 I just want to, um, reach out to our community.

7:06:31 Cause I, I’ve heard from many people that we are not taking

7:06:35 safety in, in consideration.

7:06:36 And I just want to say the Florida department of education and

7:06:40 our governor and the mandate, you’re absolutely right.

7:06:42 They did not include safety in it at all.

7:06:45 And we are doing our very best to make sure that our students

7:06:50 and our staff come back in a very safe way.

7:06:53 So when you look at the requirements that were set for us from

7:06:59 the governor and the commissioner, it was truly academics, which

7:07:05 is what we do.

7:07:06 But all of us here on the board, our staff, we are very

7:07:11 concerned about the safety for our educators and all of our

7:07:15 staff and our students.

7:07:16 And I just needed to put that out there loud and clear that we

7:07:20 are doing the best we can within the mandate that we got.

7:07:23 So.

7:07:24 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.

7:07:27 Ms. Desikovich.

7:07:28 Uh, I just want to address, because one of our public comments

7:07:33 suggested, I feel like it did, or someone emailed me recently.

7:07:36 It starts to all run together.

7:07:37 That maybe we were not, uh, in the spring meeting IEPs and

7:07:42 meeting 504 plans.

7:07:44 Maybe Ms. Moore or Ms. Yeah, no, I’m sorry.

7:07:48 I, I noticed.

7:07:49 Yeah.

7:07:50 I’ll, I’ll ask it again.

7:07:51 Sorry.

7:07:52 Okay.

7:07:53 No, I, it’s, it’s either leading and learning or you.

7:07:56 There’s been some suggestion that in the spring, we completely

7:07:59 just ignored IEPs, 504 plans.

7:08:01 And so I just, I want to address that publicly.

7:08:03 I, I don’t know the answer to that specifically what we did to

7:08:06 make sure those were met or if we’ve got hours that we need to

7:08:10 make up and to still service.

7:08:10 I don’t know.

7:08:11 Can you give us an update on that, please?

7:08:12 Sure.

7:08:13 I can.

7:08:14 Um, there’s two ways to look at it.

7:08:15 And, um, Dr. Sullivan, please jump in as if I miss anything.

7:08:18 Um, the first, oh, let me take this off.

7:08:21 The first thing, um, is that there are, we offered services to

7:08:27 meet what was in the IEP to the best of our ability.

7:08:30 And so there are going to be some, two different ways to look at

7:08:34 it, both with compensatory time and with extended school year.

7:08:37 So if there was a service not offered because we were not able

7:08:40 to meet it remotely, we will be offering compensatory time to,

7:08:44 to make up those services as we engage into this school year.

7:08:47 Um, the other thing is that the services, most of the services

7:08:51 our student gets, the vast majority are through, um, the

7:08:54 accommodations given in the classroom.

7:08:56 So their regular, uh, gen ed teacher would have been giving

7:09:00 their, their, uh, ESC accommodations or IEP accommodations

7:09:03 through the gen ed curriculum.

7:09:05 Um, our students that are on access points absolutely had, had

7:09:10 the same level of, um, uh, continuity of instruction as our

7:09:14 students who are not on access points.

7:09:16 And those would be our students who are in self contained

7:09:19 settings.

7:09:19 Um, our students who, uh, lost, uh, progress or lost progress on

7:09:26 their IEP goals.

7:09:28 Those are the students we’re targeting right out of the gate for,

7:09:32 um, for ESY extended school year.

7:09:33 So as we come back into schools and we’re doing our evaluations,

7:09:37 we’re going to be looking at evaluating IEP goals and seeing if

7:09:41 we’ve lost progress and, and offering extended school year

7:09:45 opportunities before, after school, Saturday.

7:09:47 Uh, however it is that we can make up that ground.

7:09:51 So I don’t know, Dr. Sullivan, did I, did I leave out something

7:09:57 important?

7:09:58 You got it.

7:09:59 The reality of it is much of that time we were in the lockdown.

7:10:03 Which limited a lot of ones that require contact.

7:10:07 Many of the services that we couldn’t do were those very

7:10:12 personal services that are OT, PT, and involve, um, uh, some

7:10:18 hands-on services.

7:10:19 And, but we didn’t ignore it.

7:10:22 We knew we couldn’t do it.

7:10:23 Um, I, I think is the best way to say it.

7:10:26 And, and we’re, sounds like we’re going to make them up, right?

7:10:28 We are tracking it.

7:10:29 We, we know what we owe and it will be taken care of.

7:10:32 That’s just what I wanted on the public record.

7:10:34 Thank you so much.

7:10:35 Mm-hmm.

7:10:36 And that the federal government gave us the flexibility to do

7:10:40 that as well, right?

7:10:41 We were.

7:10:42 Yeah, that is correct.

7:10:43 There’s, I mean, there’s a couple of different ways.

7:10:45 Um, the, we were given permission to, um, delay certain things

7:10:51 with parent permission and, including meetings.

7:10:54 And so we’ve been keeping track of those things that the parents

7:10:57 said, we understand you can’t meet this in this way, or they

7:11:01 have said, we don’t want you to meet this in this way.

7:11:04 And we’re going to, we’ve been tracking those and we’re going to

7:11:07 be following up on those as soon as we can go live face to face.

7:11:09 Uh, we tried to the best of our ability to, um, to meet all of

7:11:13 the services.

7:11:14 Well, even, even those OTPT, uh, vision impaired, hearing

7:11:18 impaired services that we offer, um, our, uh, behavior, behavior

7:11:22 services, our, our mental health services.

7:11:23 Um, we, uh, we were able to do a lot because we had worked on a

7:11:28 plan where we could do some face to face instruction, but we

7:11:33 absolutely know that those services are, were not offered, uh,

7:11:37 to the, to the level that they could have been offered face to

7:11:41 face a hundred percent.

7:11:42 And so, uh, our real test is, you know, we, we know we’re going

7:11:46 to be offering some compensatory services, but our real goal is

7:11:50 to really see where we, um, have lagged behind on IEP goals.

7:11:53 And to offer, um, extended school year to make that up for

7:11:57 students.

7:11:57 That, that’s our overarching goal is that students didn’t lose

7:12:02 ground.

7:12:02 Anything else?

7:12:09 On reopening requirements 19, 20, or 21.

7:12:15 Mr. Susan?

7:12:17 Nope.

7:12:18 All right.

7:12:19 Y’all are going to have to bear with me for a minute because I’m

7:12:21 going to beat a dead horse, but I feel like it needs to be beat.

7:12:23 Um, Mr. Gibbs.

7:12:25 Do you have a mic?

7:12:27 You do have a mic.

7:12:28 I can, I can almost see you pass the monitor.

7:12:30 Um, so you clearly are our general counsel for the district,

7:12:36 right?

7:12:36 Um, assurance number one, the district will assure that all

7:12:40 brick and mortar schools open in August at least five days per

7:12:43 week for all students.

7:12:44 Is it your interpretation that the five of us can choose not to

7:12:53 open schools in August?

7:12:56 Yes.

7:12:57 The school district controls the schools.

7:13:00 The state controls your purse strings.

7:13:02 So if you read the executive order.

7:13:05 Let’s see.

7:13:06 It’s, uh, section two reopening plans.

7:13:18 The order actually says in order to receive the flexibility and

7:13:23 continuity provided for in this order, school districts must

7:13:27 submit to the department a reopening plan that satisfies the

7:13:29 requirements of this order.

7:13:30 So if you want the continuity of your funding to continue as

7:13:35 they’re proposing for the first semester of the school year, you

7:13:40 have to reopen in August.

7:13:41 That’s their hook.

7:13:42 So you can say we’re opening in September.

7:13:45 They can cut your funding.

7:13:47 Would there be any other repercussions to us deciding to delay?

7:13:53 It’s possible that they seek removal of elected officials from

7:13:57 office by the governor and have the governor appoint a board who

7:14:01 will reopen the school in August.

7:14:02 It’s possible that they take that step.

7:14:05 I mean, I can’t speak for the DOE or where, how far they would

7:14:08 be willing to go.

7:14:09 But there, there’s other measures they could take along with

7:14:13 cutting funding, like I said.

7:14:14 So in essence, we would, we would not receive any funding from

7:14:18 the state to keep the district functioning, right?

7:14:21 They’re proposing in their executive order to hold us harmless

7:14:24 for enrollment.

7:14:25 They’re going to allow us to continue under our funding under

7:14:30 pre COVID attendance numbers.

7:14:32 As long as we meet their mandate.

7:14:34 It’s just like what the federal government does.

7:14:36 You take our money, you play by our rules.

7:14:38 They’re saying we’re going to fund you for the first semester,

7:14:43 but you’re going to reopen schools five days a week in August.

7:14:47 That’s their hook.

7:14:49 So is it also your interpretation that that requirement to open

7:14:57 five days a week in August eliminates our opportunity for, we

7:15:04 had a super bright student that called in and I just so enjoyed

7:15:08 his advocacy for his, him and his peers, but he put forward what

7:15:12 he called the three, two model, which we had, we had been

7:15:15 discussing prior to the executive order.

7:15:16 Make calling, you know, we called it staggered schedule or

7:15:19 something like that where we had part of the students there part

7:15:22 of the time.

7:15:22 Um, is it your interpretation based on the, the language in the

7:15:26 executive order that that would be an acceptable recommendation

7:15:30 for our brick and mortar option?

7:15:32 I would say it’s probably something we could propose.

7:15:35 I mean, the, the proposal would have to be accepted by the DOE.

7:15:38 So they would tell you whether they accept that or not.

7:15:40 Um, the D the order does state they want five days a week for

7:15:44 all students that wish to attend.

7:15:46 So I don’t, if you take it literally, it’s, they want schools

7:15:50 open.

7:15:50 So all students can attend brick and mortar schools five days a

7:15:54 week.

7:15:54 That would be the literal interpretation.

7:15:56 Okay.

7:15:57 And do you get any, you know, we had some discussion earlier

7:16:02 about who the, the local officials are that could potentially

7:16:06 weigh in on the safety of our return.

7:16:08 So the, um, that’s not my executive order.

7:16:16 Give me one second.

7:16:21 We have too many documents at this point.

7:16:24 It’s the, uh, I have it here.

7:16:26 It’s, uh, subject to the advice and orders of the Florida

7:16:29 Department of Health, local departments of health.

7:16:33 Okay.

7:16:34 That’s the exact language from the DOE.

7:16:36 So the state department of health.

7:16:38 And then it goes comma, local departments of health, executive

7:16:42 order 20 dash 149 and subsequent executive orders.

7:16:47 It’s the second page for, I think the first sentence in section

7:16:52 one a.

7:16:52 Yeah.

7:16:53 Under reopening requirements.

7:16:54 And so it says absent these directives, um, from.

7:16:59 Right.

7:17:00 From the department of health or, um, then the day to day

7:17:04 decisions to open or close the school

7:17:06 must always rest locally with the board.

7:17:09 If I understand correctly from the memo that you provided to us

7:17:14 earlier.

7:17:15 What that really comes down to is if we’re in week three of

7:17:20 school.

7:17:21 And Miss Moore is working with the health department and we

7:17:25 identify that we have a case in our school.

7:17:28 We do, at the local level, have the opportunity, the authority,

7:17:33 I guess, in conjunction with our local health department to say

7:17:36 we are closing a school for three days for cleaning.

7:17:38 But it does not, that language does not mean that we can opt not

7:17:42 to open schools, correct?

7:17:44 That would be, unless you can get the DOH to say we’re

7:17:48 recommending you don’t reopen.

7:17:49 And that’s what’s going around right now.

7:17:51 There’s another county.

7:17:52 I can’t remember which one it is.

7:17:54 Their DOH has told them, we will not recommend you close a

7:17:59 school.

7:17:59 And we will not recommend you delay opening.

7:18:02 And so they’re under the same opinion that they are kind of out

7:18:07 of luck without the support of their local health authority.

7:18:10 Well, I think, so Mr. Susan is saying that seems to contradict.

7:18:19 But I think actually what Mr. Gibbs is saying, Mr. Susan, is

7:18:24 that their local DOH is saying it is they don’t have the

7:18:26 authority to tell them to close schools.

7:18:28 So it’s the same thing that we’re being told here locally.

7:18:30 Okay.

7:18:31 Is that our local folks do not feel like they have the authority

7:18:34 to tell us to close schools.

7:18:35 Right.

7:18:36 And I have no idea what’s coming down through the DOH.

7:18:38 It’s not going around my circle.

7:18:41 So have – in your – I know you have nearly constant

7:18:45 communication with your circle of legal representatives for

7:18:49 school districts throughout the state.

7:18:50 Is there anyone – any of your general counsel representatives

7:18:55 that are advising their district to not open in August brick and

7:19:00 mortar?

7:19:01 Not that I’m aware of.

7:19:03 I know there is talk with Miami-Dade and Broward about their

7:19:08 date.

7:19:08 I don’t believe they’ve said yes or no.

7:19:10 But they’re still in phase one.

7:19:12 So they have never come out of phase one.

7:19:15 So they’re still under the meetings of 10 people or more

7:19:18 requirement.

7:19:19 So they can’t reopen in phase one is their argument.

7:19:23 So since they’ve never been brought out, they’re playing under

7:19:27 different set of rules.

7:19:28 Okay.

7:19:29 So can I add to that just one second?

7:19:33 Because I don’t want to confuse our local Department of Health’s

7:19:37 ability to close us for three days versus their ability to say

7:19:42 we’re not going to open at all.

7:19:43 Right.

7:19:44 And so I’m just reading Florida Statute 1003.22.

7:19:47 This allows for the Department of Health to declare an emergency

7:19:51 and any students who have not properly vaccinated can be

7:19:54 excluded temporarily from school and mandates that school board

7:19:57 exclude these individuals when there’s an outbreak of a communicable

7:20:00 disease for which particular students have not been vaccinated.

7:20:02 And so as you look at COVID, we identify that as an illness, an

7:20:07 infectious illness without a vaccine.

7:20:09 And just by sheer necessity to exclude all students from school,

7:20:14 that would in essence turn into a school closure.

7:20:18 I will tell you that I have gotten information from the

7:20:22 Department of Health.

7:20:23 I know what our level is, our spread rate is, but I’m waiting to

7:20:31 find out what the interpretation of that spread rate is.

7:20:36 Right now we are 1.5 to 3.

7:20:40 And so I’ve written and said I need information on number one

7:20:45 what that rate is for the three big Broward-Dade-Palm so that we

7:20:49 have a comparison as well as what that rate means to us as a

7:20:53 community.

7:20:54 So just so that you know there is a rate, we can get it.

7:20:58 It seems to be a little bit under lock and key at Tallahassee

7:21:01 because that’s where we’re having to go back and forth from.

7:21:04 But we’ll keep trying to get that information for you.

7:21:07 Awesome.

7:21:08 Thank you so much, Ms. Moore.

7:21:09 That’s huge that you were able to get that info.

7:21:12 We appreciate it.

7:21:14 I think that is all of the questions that I had on –

7:21:20 And I will just throw out Palm Beach meets tomorrow.

7:21:23 So I guess that’s when they’re discussing their reopening.

7:21:27 So it has not been released to date.

7:21:30 Okay.

7:21:31 Super.

7:21:32 Thank you, Mr. Gibbs.

7:21:33 I think that’s all the questions that I had on 19 to 21.

7:21:38 Is there anyone else that has questions on that particular

7:21:43 section?

7:21:43 All right.

7:21:45 I’m going to recommend that we take a brief break to refresh.

7:21:50 And before we get into the specifics of the elementary and

7:21:53 secondary plans, and I think we need probably some clarity as

7:21:57 well on what remains on our schedule today after this.

7:22:02 And potentially some talk about food because I’m not sure that

7:22:08 we’re leaving anytime soon.

7:22:10 So we will go ahead and take about a 10-minute recess, and then

7:22:17 we will be back with you.

7:22:19 We’ll be right back with you.

7:23:19 We’ll be right back.

7:23:49 We’ll be right back with you.

7:37:06 Where are we on that?

7:37:07 Everything’s possible.

7:37:09 Say that too loud.

7:37:13 We know it needs to mirror the instructional day that you’re in

7:37:18 school.

7:37:18 However, we also know that, say, if you have a first grader and

7:37:23 a fourth grader,

7:37:23 their activity times are different.

7:37:25 When they’re doing small group is different.

7:37:27 When they’re doing independent work is different.

7:37:30 So there is some flexibility within the day because the student’s

7:37:34 schedule is different.

7:37:35 So first and foremost, we have to look at the student’s schedule

7:37:39 and figure what will work with the family.

7:37:44 However, if the e-learning doesn’t work, then they have the

7:37:48 opportunity of the Brevard Virtual,

7:37:49 which is more flexible than the e-learning.

7:37:52 Thank you.

7:37:53 Is that all you had, Ms. Campbell, on that section?

7:37:58 That is all I have on that section.

7:37:59 All right.

7:38:00 Ms. Tuskiewicz, you got anything on that section?

7:38:05 elementary my phone face all right I’m still going over my note

7:38:16 and get caught

7:38:16 back up I can come back to you if you want me to okay mr. Susan

7:38:29 okay miss

7:38:34 Klein one of the things that we thought that people have been

7:38:43 asking is is there

7:38:45 an opportunity to decrease class size in elementary like we

7:38:51 anticipate we may be

7:38:53 able to do in secondary with the e-learning approach that’s

7:38:58 being proposed

7:39:00 and I know we can’t guarantee smaller classes in secondary

7:39:05 because of e

7:39:06 learning but I think there’s a perception that that might at

7:39:10 least have some impact

7:39:11 on the number of students that we have in the classroom so I am

7:39:14 tracking our

7:39:16 principals are tracking on a Google Doc how many parents are

7:39:20 completing the

7:39:21 survey by grade level by ESC program how many devices will need

7:39:26 how many hot spots

7:39:27 so I’m gathering that information as we speak

7:39:33 when we look at a school that perhaps may only have one or two

7:39:37 kindergartners

7:39:39 I think that’s a conversation with the principal and the teacher

7:39:42 to say

7:39:44 you know will you take the two kindergartners and we add

7:39:49 different you know we

7:39:51 figure out the class sizes for that but the state plan doesn’t

7:39:57 give us much

7:39:58 flexibility on on class size we can’t go over we can go under I

7:40:03 will tell you that

7:40:04 I’ve already spoken to the principals and share with them that

7:40:08 in the event we have

7:40:10 a teacher out and we can’t go to doubling up classes we can’t

7:40:15 double up activity classes we have to

7:40:18 maintain the class size as much as possible so yes there’s

7:40:23 always possibility my work

7:40:25 group that’s working on the e-learning at home and also going

7:40:32 through the

7:40:33 assurances are they’re working begin they have a meeting at

7:40:37 eight o’clock in the

7:40:37 morning to go through many of these recommendations and changes

7:40:42 so

7:40:45 we are writing it for the assurances and hopeful that we’ll get

7:40:51 full approval by

7:40:53 the deal we very quickly also waiting on the charters to submit

7:40:58 their plans to us

7:41:01 okay and then the other and and this actually I’m I’m bringing

7:41:09 it up now because

7:41:09 we’re discussing elementary first but I think it probably speaks

7:41:13 to both elementary

7:41:15 and secondary and I have not used Microsoft team so I’m I’m not

7:41:19 familiar with that

7:41:20 platform but I know on many of the platforms that we’ve been

7:41:23 utilizing for

7:41:24 virtual meetings there is an opportunity to record the meeting

7:41:29 and make that

7:41:30 available at a later time so for our e-learning students or for

7:41:36 our students who

7:41:37 are sick and and can’t be there at that point in time do we do

7:41:44 we number one have

7:41:45 the ability number two the capacity and number three the

7:41:52 willingness on behalf of

7:41:54 our teachers to consider the recording of the e-learning

7:42:00 experience for those

7:42:02 students who may not be able to join them during a specific time

7:42:04 period so we’re

7:42:05 working very closely with our friends and et mr. Cheatham and he

7:42:11 is also looking at a

7:42:13 a contract with zoom but teams and zoom both you can record and

7:42:20 so you can easily

7:42:21 record a meeting capacity

7:42:26 and I believe we need a a long conversation with our BFT friends

7:42:34 on and

7:42:34 what we’re putting on our teachers but at this point you know we

7:42:39 talk about

7:42:40 flexibility and grace I think we have to work very hard to make

7:42:47 students accommodate

7:42:49 our students as much as we can while accommodating our teachers

7:42:52 because we

7:42:53 can’t add so much on their plate that they’re they’re unable to

7:42:59 do the job of

7:43:00 teaching so of course we can look into all of that I can’t make

7:43:04 any promises today I

7:43:06 absolutely appreciate that thank you mr. Cheatham is flagging me

7:43:11 down I’m guessing

7:43:12 he’s gonna tell me that we’re gonna need millions of dollars of

7:43:15 servers to handle

7:43:15 all of the recordings right no I was just gonna say we have to

7:43:18 be careful when it

7:43:19 comes to recording you know it changes the way that we can show

7:43:23 classes and

7:43:23 interact with the students it changes the what the way that we

7:43:27 interact because if

7:43:29 you record sometimes you’re recording the faces of the students

7:43:31 in the classes when

7:43:32 you’re displaying that way just depends how the the interactions

7:43:35 being run as to

7:43:36 whether we can record it and share it and do some of those

7:43:38 things okay super

7:43:40 thank you mr. Cheatham miss miss Belford from if I could add

7:43:43 that

7:43:46 the flexibility that the state is offering and the flexibility

7:43:50 that we are

7:43:51 suggesting we take advantage of and they’re offering pending

7:43:54 approval you know

7:43:56 the expectation is that child is robustly participating in the

7:44:00 school day so what

7:44:02 you describe that child would be absent now like any other

7:44:06 absent student we would

7:44:08 have mechanisms for them to do their makeup work and you know

7:44:11 the teachers would

7:44:11 provide it but again these are teachers full-time working all

7:44:17 day versus in our

7:44:18 distance learning environment some of our teachers preferred

7:44:22 evening hours or did

7:44:23 two hours here two hours there two hours here this is an

7:44:26 environment where the

7:44:27 teachers would be doing a full-time static situation for a

7:44:31 student that really has

7:44:33 those diverse needs on a regular basis versus being absent a

7:44:36 couple of days that’s

7:44:38 where BVS has some opportunities for some flex option for the

7:44:42 child who does it in

7:44:43 the evening so we’ve tried to put something together for

7:44:46 everything but we

7:44:48 can’t make each option great for everybody we want an option for

7:44:53 somebody so

7:44:53 the expectation is that teacher is taking attendance first

7:44:57 period and that

7:44:58 includes the children in front of them and the children

7:45:00 electronically in the case of

7:45:02 elementary they might be all electronic but that teacher is

7:45:04 working a full caseload

7:45:05 all day thank you very much for that clarification and thank you

7:45:10 for

7:45:12 you for all the work that you all have done to try to

7:45:15 accommodate all of the very

7:45:18 different needs and in our community I know it has been no small

7:45:21 feat and you

7:45:22 really have done a phenomenal job of putting together some

7:45:25 options so we

7:45:25 appreciate you I don’t think I have anything else on elementary

7:45:30 Miss Duskovich

7:45:31 you have your questions ready I do miss Klein departmentalizing

7:45:36 you know that’s

7:45:36 coming and brought it up Thursday still on my mind still have a

7:45:39 lot of teachers

7:45:40 asking me how how that’s going to work and concerned that you

7:45:43 know they’ve been

7:45:44 teaching sixth grade math for 20 years and now they’re gonna

7:45:47 have to pick up

7:45:48 science and social studies and language arts real quick so what

7:45:52 are we gonna do to

7:45:52 address that so we we actually met this morning to talk about

7:45:57 departmentalizing

7:45:58 and you know we have some brilliant brilliant principals who are

7:46:06 thinking

7:46:06 outside the box and so we have a variety of things that we’re

7:46:12 looking at we have to

7:46:13 talk to our friends in ET to see if they’re possible

7:46:18 however we know as a former sixth grade teacher who taught only

7:46:25 ELA you wouldn’t

7:46:28 want me teaching your math child and so I I know that that is

7:46:35 real and we need to

7:46:37 work around it I think we can the easiest the simplest method is

7:46:42 the teacher rotate

7:46:43 but then you have concerns with if they’re doing hands-on

7:46:48 science then you’re

7:46:49 rotating all that but departmentalizing for sixth grade is not

7:46:55 out the window of

7:46:58 course we’re I wouldn’t recommend departmentalizing in our our K

7:47:04 through four

7:47:06 fifth grades on the fence sometimes but I if it works for the

7:47:10 school and it works for the

7:47:12 teachers we’re going to work around it to make the meet the need

7:47:17 to all of our

7:47:18 inter elementary schools currently departmentalize for sixth

7:47:21 grade so

7:47:22 there’s some that already don’t and so they don’t have an issue

7:47:24 here so I just

7:47:24 some of our some it’s probably less than oh I don’t want to

7:47:31 predict but we have a

7:47:32 majority of them do departmentalize in sixth grade some

7:47:35 departmentalize in fifth

7:47:37 but it just seems to me that it’s vital especially with math and

7:47:43 the strength of

7:47:44 our sixth grade math scores so we know that our sixth grade

7:47:47 students that are

7:47:48 departmentalized are I mean yes I agree I think we’re gonna work

7:47:52 on and I know

7:47:53 right now we’re still kind of in crisis mode but if we want to

7:47:55 deliver the best

7:47:56 education I’m hoping that we’re working towards you know I would

7:48:00 hate to see the

7:48:00 ELA teacher who hasn’t taught math in 20 years try to step in

7:48:04 this year and whip out

7:48:05 excellent math curriculum yes we we have some really exciting

7:48:10 opportunities that I

7:48:11 want to make sure they’re viable before I share okay thank you

7:48:16 ma’am I appreciate it

7:48:18 next question it’s kind of for both of you I haven’t heard maybe

7:48:22 I missed it wasn’t

7:48:23 paying attention but is there a deadline for parents to decide

7:48:26 which which path

7:48:27 they’re taking so that we can we would love absolutely love them

7:48:34 to decide by the

7:48:35 20th if they’re going to go with the e-learning of course we

7:48:42 know that that’s

7:48:43 flexible because life changes things change and but we for us to

7:48:50 plan accordingly for

7:48:52 what teachers we need to do e-learning we need to know who’s

7:48:58 committed to it so we

7:49:00 have a the team that’s working with me on that we’re working on

7:49:06 an agreement to say you know we

7:49:10 we need you to make the commitment so we haven’t released that

7:49:15 yet I’m meeting with

7:49:16 them one day this week I’m sorry you’re making a commitment that

7:49:21 yes I want you

7:49:22 they’ve completed the survey and the survey says do you want to

7:49:28 be would you

7:49:29 like to be part of this and if yes complete the survey if no you

7:49:33 know you’re

7:49:34 you’re finished but that’s just a survey now we need to reach

7:49:38 back out to those

7:49:39 parents and say are you really ready to accept this platform so

7:49:43 then then principals can make

7:49:45 a decision on how many teachers they need and what grade levels

7:49:48 for e-learning I feel like we need to

7:49:52 really promote that and and make it a heart I know that people

7:49:55 are going to be flexible and as things change we have to

7:49:58 let people move around but I think we also need to convey if

7:49:58 July 20th is the date please you know I’ve seen other districts

7:49:58 doing it here’s your graphic it goes out a hundred times it’s

7:49:58 everywhere pick one you have to

7:49:58 let people move around but i think we also need to convey if july

7:50:02 20th is the date please you know

7:50:04 i’ve seen other districts doing it here’s your graphic it goes

7:50:06 out a hundred times it’s everywhere

7:50:08 pick one you have till july 20th pick one and so that we can

7:50:11 start planning because absolutely

7:50:13 i was just waiting until we finished this board meeting today

7:50:19 prior to making those decisions

7:50:22 without you um so you know as soon as we’re a go we will work on

7:50:27 that and then also and also knowing

7:50:30 that it could change if the doe doesn’t accept our plan i

7:50:34 understand but we have to keep moving

7:50:37 forward you know otherwise we go we’re paralyzed by things may

7:50:41 change because things are changing

7:50:43 and my last question is vpk can you like how does that fit

7:50:47 completely perfectly into your elementary

7:50:49 plan or is there something different for them and i know that’s

7:50:51 a question for both of you so either

7:50:54 it’s it’s uh both of us and miss moore um because we all own a

7:50:59 piece of vpk but marilyn chappy is my

7:51:03 director of early childhood and she works directly with the um

7:51:07 uh office of early learning and she has

7:51:11 been in a continuous conversation trying to get answers about vpk

7:51:16 and and how will that look and

7:51:19 uh are there any provisions by the doe we haven’t received a

7:51:23 clear answer on any of that yet but

7:51:25 uh we’re that yes they keep saying it that information is coming

7:51:30 but we haven’t received it what we do know

7:51:35 is um when we went out for emergency at home learning uh the

7:51:40 office of early learning um provided us very

7:51:44 much flexibility with our vpk program the uh biggest concern is

7:51:52 not um required so if we’re if it’s not

7:51:58 required then are we going to get funded for it so that is the

7:52:03 question we keep asking because you know

7:52:06 we are paid we are funded only partial day for vpk and so we pay

7:52:12 the other part out of our title one

7:52:14 so more information to come on our vpk right now we’re in we’re

7:52:21 pulling them in to our early learning and

7:52:24 maryland is working with uh both uh esc and um our cte program

7:52:32 to make sure we have a quality program

7:52:34 two questions one do vpk vpk parents have the same four choices

7:52:38 that you’re presenting to all elementary

7:52:41 students they do not have the virtual component so there’s no e-learning

7:52:47 from school option there’s

7:52:49 no bvs there’s no brevard virtual school for vpk they can still

7:52:53 e-learn from home

7:52:54 so they have two choices really go to the class or e-learn from

7:52:58 home unless we’re not approved for

7:53:01 the e-learning because the e-learning under the state assurances

7:53:05 does not include pre-k is that

7:53:07 we were talking about the funding because why would they not

7:53:10 fund us for vpk this year if they have every

7:53:13 other year well vpk is only funded for half a day right but you

7:53:17 said we put in title one for the

7:53:19 other half so you’re saying that first half of money is at risk

7:53:22 for some reason this year we don’t know

7:53:24 we’re waiting on answers from the why would it be at risk this

7:53:28 year what’s different because it’s not

7:53:30 a required instructional day so students are in that by choice

7:53:34 they’re not required but it wasn’t required

7:53:37 last year why would they change it this year last year we were

7:53:40 at emergency remember we we that when we

7:53:43 went out in march we were in emergency we just they didn’t stop

7:53:47 our funding in march

7:53:48 i don’t think i’m i don’t know if i’m super confused or what’s

7:53:55 not clear tina i think you’re

7:53:56 speaking i’m sorry miss deskovich i think you’re speaking to the

7:54:00 brick and mortar and she’s speaking

7:54:02 to the e-learning is that what’s going right when you go to e-learning

7:54:06 that you’re talking about just

7:54:08 the e-learning portion right i’m talking about vpk in general it’s

7:54:11 not going away right

7:54:13 right right right right they may not be able to e-learn that’s

7:54:15 correct okay yes what i was hearing

7:54:18 is that we may not have a vpk program no no no we are scheduled

7:54:21 to have vpk but it will be

7:54:23 the only thing we know for sure it is brick and mortar

7:54:28 understand sorry no no no it’s i think we

7:54:31 it’s been a long day so we are uh dr sullivan says she’s

7:54:36 different do you have any more elementary

7:54:38 questions were

7:54:38 i want to remind everybody five of our programs are high school

7:54:47 programs and those are funded through

7:54:50 career and technical education and are related to the adult to

7:54:56 the high school students in the class as

7:54:59 well and so if we don’t have high school students working in the

7:55:04 lab we have some potential problems

7:55:07 there and so we we are still in gray area on those high school vpk

7:55:15 programs because it’s a combination of

7:55:19 the high school students in the class that runs the programs

7:55:23 thank you

7:55:26 is that it for elementary miss bestowicz

7:55:30 um anyone else have any other questions that came up while we

7:55:35 were yeah uh miss klein

7:55:37 this office of early learning if we don’t hear back from them

7:55:41 say like monday of next week

7:55:44 um could you give me the name of the person because i may drive

7:55:47 up there because i got to go see the

7:55:49 department of health too absolutely i will email you the contact

7:55:54 thank you i got the i got the

7:55:55 directory here i’ve got all of their phone numbers i’m ready to

7:55:58 go okay thank you thank you thank you

7:55:59 miss belford yes ma’am i would just say one more thing and it

7:56:03 really would probably just segue into the

7:56:05 secondary we’ve we’ve continued to hear from parents that um

7:56:10 they’re not interested or they have a

7:56:12 problem with the e-learning because the distance learning they’re

7:56:14 calling it distance learning the

7:56:15 distance learning didn’t work for them last year so it’s been

7:56:18 said many times before but i’m not

7:56:19 sure there probably are people here listening now who haven’t

7:56:22 listened to it before that are e-learning

7:56:24 and if we have to pivot your first of all let me start with

7:56:27 either our e-learning is

7:56:28 not going to be the same as distance learning everybody shake

7:56:31 their head really big because it’s not it is not

7:56:33 um we are going to be able to have face-to-face interactions in

7:56:37 fact that’s required by the order

7:56:40 right that there’s interactions with the teacher interactions

7:56:44 with peers and so whether it’s zoom

7:56:46 or teams or whatever there is going to be interaction there’s

7:56:50 going to be um you know it it’s more

7:56:54 developed because we’re one thing we have more than 10 days to

7:56:56 put it together and i appreciate all the

7:56:58 guys you guys work you guys have done towards that but i the

7:57:00 other thing i would say is even if we have to

7:57:03 pivot to distance learning because a school needs to close down

7:57:07 for three days or 14 days or whatever

7:57:10 that you know we work out even then that distance learning will

7:57:15 also be better than in the spring

7:57:17 because we’ve had more time and the training and the students

7:57:19 will be more ready that is correct and

7:57:21 we are currently uh working on the continuity of instruction

7:57:27 plan and so we have a cross-functional team

7:57:30 that is working on developing that plan for in the event we

7:57:34 would have to go to distant learning right

7:57:37 we can absolutely but that’s the key to why it is so important

7:57:42 that on the very first day

7:57:44 we start that blended learning instruction and our teachers

7:57:49 become very familiar with all the platforms

7:57:52 all the instructional material and our students understand how

7:57:57 to use focus and how to use um

7:57:59 the launch pad to get to the information they need right good

7:58:04 thank you i just wanted to reiterate that

7:58:06 one more time this this will be so much different and better

7:58:10 than what we did amazingly put together but

7:58:14 this we’ve had so much more time to prepare for what what this

7:58:17 is that’s coming excellent observation

7:58:19 ms campbell uh ms klein i have i have one final question on

7:58:23 elementary at least i i believe it to

7:58:25 be a final question um and i know the answer i just want to make

7:58:28 sure that our public hears the answer so

7:58:31 the assurances that we talked about earlier that your your work

7:58:35 team is currently working on putting

7:58:37 the plan together um and and really could go elementary or

7:58:41 secondary as as well as the the previous comment

7:58:44 am i correct in understanding that we must commit to brick and

7:58:50 mortar

7:58:52 in order for us to offer the innovative solution so in order in

7:58:57 order for us to be able to do the e-learning

7:59:00 we must have our schools open for students to sit their butts in

7:59:03 the chairs and get instruction right

7:59:04 that is correct that is assurance number one thank you ma’am all

7:59:09 right anything else for elementary

7:59:11 before we move on to secondary all right then we will move over

7:59:16 to secondary which will take us through

7:59:20 um slide 29 so 27 28 29 comments questions on that section just

7:59:27 if i could real quick i just heard

7:59:29 broward is going e-learning to start the year they are still in

7:59:35 phase one but just so everybody knows

7:59:38 august 19th they are opening up decided this afternoon e-learning

7:59:43 and that was with support of their two

7:59:47 hospital district heads saying that they could not keep their

7:59:50 people safe can can i break in as well

7:59:54 because i i the our local department of health is getting

7:59:57 slammed with some phone calls um and so they

8:00:00 have sent me the language and i just want to read it to you so

8:00:03 that you guys have it so there’s no

8:00:05 misunderstanding from our public out there about what is our

8:00:07 authority and what is their authority

8:00:10 so florida department of education order 2020 eos 06 and this

8:00:14 came from the tallahassee department of

8:00:16 health gives authority over the decision of whether to open

8:00:19 schools and how to open schools to the local

8:00:21 school board and school superintendent the local county health

8:00:24 department does not have the authority to

8:00:26 determine when and how students will return to school the county

8:00:29 health department works collaboratively

8:00:30 with the local school board to provide county data and trends

8:00:33 and educate on mitigation strategies to make the

8:00:36 school environment as safe as possible and then we are

8:00:38 responsible for following the governor’s uh executive

8:00:41 orders um and then we go to the statute that i told you before

8:00:45 which is about excluding students that

8:00:48 if we have to exclude students from in school in essence closes

8:00:52 our our schools so that is the

8:00:54 guidelines under which our local department of health is is

8:00:58 operating based on the information they’re

8:01:00 getting from tallahassee and i don’t want to leave our community

8:01:03 with the impression um that they’re just

8:01:05 not responding to us because they have been very responsive to

8:01:09 us i appreciate that clarification miss

8:01:10 more and i i too would suggest to our public that it is not uh

8:01:14 it is not a local department of health

8:01:16 issue it’s it’s just really trying to determine who has the

8:01:20 authority to make this decision because

8:01:23 the statement that you just read makes it sound like the five of

8:01:25 us have the freedom to say we are not opening

8:01:28 schools but mr gibbs you’ve indicated that that we do not in

8:01:33 fact have that based on the executive order correct

8:01:36 you can decide not to reopen the doe can then say we aren’t

8:01:42 funding you so if you go e-learning i don’t know if

8:01:45 that means they’re going to put you on virtual funding and cut

8:01:48 your funding that you would normally receive

8:01:51 for your district with in-person so starting out the year you

8:01:55 may not be held harmless so you could lose

8:01:57 i don’t know what that would equate to i wouldn’t even try to

8:01:59 guess millions and millions and millions

8:02:03 mr gibbs do you is there any indication that broward has had any

8:02:08 um

8:02:09 approval from the state for them to go to e-learning or did the

8:02:13 broward school board just decide that

8:02:15 that’s what they’re putting forward to the state is that they’re

8:02:17 just doing e-learning i’ve gotten

8:02:18 limited information other and it’s just basically that today

8:02:22 after they did it in about face they were set to open

8:02:26 with brick and mortar august 19th and i guess at today’s meeting

8:02:30 when they got the numbers from doh

8:02:32 their two hospital districts not the doh said that there’s no

8:02:38 way broward can keep their kids safe

8:02:41 and they were saying they did not need to reopen schools so the

8:02:45 superintendent recommended they do not

8:02:47 open and the board backed that that’s what i’m getting i’ve not

8:02:52 you know verified anything from news stories or any

8:02:56 things that are happening okay very good thank you i appreciate

8:02:58 you sharing that ms deskovich um but

8:03:01 they are in a different phase than us correct right they’re part

8:03:04 of the south florida that are still

8:03:06 okay just we need to be clear on that yeah that’s a big

8:03:09 difference between us and them but you guys keep

8:03:11 talking about we don’t have the authority we can do it they

8:03:15 would withhold funds but i feel like there’s

8:03:18 more to that like we get our authority from the florida

8:03:21 constitution which i mean the con the statute over

8:03:26 the constitution reads that it’s the paramount responsibility of

8:03:29 the state to provide the

8:03:30 education i mean we’re elected locally but our authority comes

8:03:33 from the state and if the state says you

8:03:35 will open i where do we get the authority to say no we won’t i

8:03:39 don’t i don’t think we have that legally

8:03:43 they’re they’re not saying you can’t they’re just saying if you

8:03:46 want the flexibility when you read

8:03:47 the order that’s what i read it if you want that flexibility and

8:03:51 continuation of funding you have to

8:03:54 reopen they aren’t saying we’re saying you can’t read or delay

8:03:58 reopening they’re just saying they’re not

8:04:00 going to guarantee you your funding so they might i don’t know

8:04:04 if that would be they change you over if

8:04:08 you’re electronic to being all virtual funding and what that

8:04:11 would equate to if you said we’re just

8:04:13 going to do digital thank you

8:04:17 okay uh we were moving on the secondary any questions comments

8:04:25 concerns for 27 through 29

8:04:36 no i would just say thank you because that’s probably the number

8:04:38 one thing we’ve been asked about is

8:04:39 offering that e-learning option for secondary i know we still

8:04:42 have to finesse it and work it but

8:04:44 that meets the needs of our ib cambridge for the sake of clarity

8:04:50 i’ve already prepared the slide that’s

8:04:52 going to go in the presentation at this point i can go ahead and

8:04:55 just read a couple high points

8:04:57 since we don’t have a visual so all secondary students will be

8:05:01 able to choose a full-time

8:05:03 at-home e-learning option students will participate in a

8:05:07 standard school day with academic and attendance

8:05:10 expectations that match their schedules so again that’s

8:05:13 important and and i think that we all

8:05:16 recognize that would have been ideal in the spring but we didn’t

8:05:19 have that option students will be

8:05:21 scheduled in the exact manner as other students students will

8:05:25 select their option prior to the first day of

8:05:28 school or upon enrollment so each of our schools manages

8:05:32 registration a little differently and in

8:05:35 my very quick conversation with principals very early this

8:05:38 morning we talked about them obtaining that

8:05:41 declaration when they do registration because honestly it won’t

8:05:45 impact our scheduling like it will in

8:05:47 elementary where they need it sooner but it will impact how we

8:05:52 eventually schedule that course

8:05:54 students will be responsible for attendance participation in

8:05:59 class required progress monitoring and other

8:06:02 course expectations and so where we’ve mentioned that e-learning

8:06:06 is not distance learning and in some

8:06:08 cases that’s a woohoo but for some kids that’s not a woohoo

8:06:12 because they appreciated the getting the assignment

8:06:15 doing it whenever they did it and turned it in this won’t mirror

8:06:18 that this is an educational experience

8:06:21 as it should be

8:06:22 students will continue to receive services through iep 504 or

8:06:28 ell plans

8:06:29 some services may require some on-campus time depending on the

8:06:34 students goals

8:06:34 i’m not saying they will i’m just saying there are each iep is

8:06:39 so custom

8:06:42 that there might be some need for some on-campus services and we

8:06:45 just wanted to include that

8:06:46 teachers will have both in-person and e-learning students on

8:06:51 their class roster

8:06:52 students scheduled for e-learning will count towards class size

8:06:57 and again that was one of the

8:06:58 differences there within the 90-minute block teachers will lead

8:07:02 instructional activities for

8:07:04 both groups of students which is why we weren’t really prepared

8:07:08 to roll this out until we felt

8:07:10 better about block schedule and so a teacher might go between 15

8:07:14 minutes here and 15 minutes there

8:07:17 the guidelines that we’ve received from the doe on these e-learning

8:07:20 options and potential video in

8:07:22 classroom and i think miss moore mentioned it last week the

8:07:25 video would need to be directed towards the teacher

8:07:29 or you would have to have permission from every student in the

8:07:33 class so what i’m imagining as a

8:07:36 possible made-up scenario is i’m the teacher i’ve given some

8:07:39 instruction the students are doing some

8:07:42 formative assessment perhaps or collaboration and then they’re

8:07:45 working and then i’m working with my

8:07:47 computer with the camera for those students and again they’re

8:07:51 getting me they’re getting direct they’re

8:07:53 getting interactive but it may not necessarily be the e-learning

8:07:56 students always interactive with the

8:07:59 in-person students unless we obtain ferpa permission which i

8:08:03 imagine in many cases the teachers will

8:08:06 attempt to obtain ferpa permission from the students in the

8:08:09 classroom

8:08:09 we believe that teachers can choose the method to provide that

8:08:15 live engagement with students on e-learning

8:08:18 and so again as miss klein mentioned that slide talks about not

8:08:22 only required interaction but required

8:08:26 engagement and participation in the class time and with an

8:08:30 improved plan students may also compensate

8:08:34 teach schools may also compensate teachers for tutoring or help

8:08:37 sessions that are delivered

8:08:39 either virtually or in person for e-learning and in-person

8:08:42 students so one of the things we mentioned

8:08:45 earlier was that we’ve provided schools additional funds through

8:08:49 cares act to provide things like tutoring

8:08:51 and extra help they could use those funds also for our e-learning

8:08:55 students and we could compensate teachers

8:08:57 for you know maybe twice a week help sessions or things like

8:09:01 that and so it would primarily be a

8:09:05 synchronous environment with potentially some asynchronous

8:09:09 elements if perhaps the teacher is videoed a lesson

8:09:12 and they show it to the students first we do that right now in

8:09:16 um flipped classrooms where the students

8:09:19 view content first before they engage in classrooms so a teacher

8:09:23 might have an asynchronous lesson developed

8:09:26 like that and um i think that’s it

8:09:30 that was phenomenal dr sullivan thank you so very much miss desk

8:09:37 i i i want to say that this is all

8:09:41 on the pr we feel that our teachers um will be in support of it

8:09:45 because of the benefits to the classroom

8:09:48 this is totally uh principals and teachers and schools that will

8:09:54 make the magic happen

8:09:56 i have the blessing of saying things and having an incredible

8:10:00 team of people that get things done

8:10:03 and so all credit and all quick turnaround was because of the

8:10:07 attitude of the principals and the teachers

8:10:10 and them believing and knowing what their teachers want to do

8:10:13 what’s right for kids awesome thank you to

8:10:16 each and every one of them miss duskowitz thank you dr sullivan

8:10:19 so does the e-learning option uh i know most of

8:10:22 my emails have been about ib right so does that mean ib students

8:10:26 will have this e-learning option all secondary

8:10:29 students that’s so amazing whether it’s our ib students or

8:10:33 students who have access points

8:10:35 or our students who love auto body um again some of those

8:10:39 classes are where they might have to do some

8:10:42 in-person lab components and that’s why i was vague we offer 450

8:10:47 courses and so i i there are some

8:10:49 circumstance if a student wants to maintain their certification

8:10:52 to do lab hours um but yes we we

8:10:56 were not going to put up a plan that wasn’t all students um and

8:10:59 we felt really strongly about that

8:11:02 and dr mullins and i wrecked our brain for many many late nights

8:11:05 figuring out a solution that would be for

8:11:07 all kids okay you keep saying all kids but i’m going to keep on

8:11:10 because people are going to keep asking

8:11:12 does that also mean west shore and edgewood choice schools

8:11:14 choice programs are they also going to

8:11:16 edgewood choice schools choice programs and so it eliminates the

8:11:20 panic that uh students and parents

8:11:23 are rightfully having that they would lose their seat in their

8:11:25 school we don’t want that for anybody so

8:11:28 this would of course they would be properly enrolled in their

8:11:31 school with west shore teachers

8:11:33 with um we’ve got choice students at rockledge at coco high at

8:11:37 astronaut at heritage we have choice

8:11:40 students throughout the district so this would equally protect

8:11:43 all students who have chosen a pathway

8:11:46 again some of those pathways do have some specialized items that

8:11:50 would require some lab time

8:11:52 just as a as a warning but um by and large that’s that’s huge

8:11:59 because the the you know that’s been ib

8:12:01 it’s been the academies from different schools i don’t want to

8:12:04 lose my spot people have been really

8:12:06 concerned about that so this opportunity is wonderful thank you

8:12:09 thank you thank you uh one of our callers

8:12:13 recommended that we call college board and i think it was a i

8:12:17 think it was a young man maybe

8:12:20 and i thought that’s not a bad idea i mean it’s going to be a

8:12:23 national problem and i know they’re not

8:12:25 going to say sure we’ll change it just for you but maybe we can

8:12:28 call college board and see if they’ll

8:12:30 do ap tests with you so as the as the secondary person i i have

8:12:35 to say the students that presented

8:12:38 today were in my opinion a reflection of our awesome secondary

8:12:42 education because they were just amazing

8:12:45 we are in constant conversation with college board they are

8:12:48 incredibly receptive

8:12:50 the challenge is schools all over the country currently operate

8:12:53 on block but we are not afraid to ask we

8:12:57 literally have them on speed dial and they really like working

8:13:01 with brevard they take a lot of pride in

8:13:04 the ap success of brevard so we plan to capitalize on that and

8:13:08 we will certainly ask questions you know the

8:13:11 worst case scenario they study so we’re feeling okay about this

8:13:16 is a good case where the worst case scenario is not that bad

8:13:20 i understand but hopefully that student is watching or someone

8:13:23 will tell that student that their request

8:13:25 will be we will ask right and and i so so pleased at the

8:13:29 students that took the time to advocate

8:13:32 thank you thank you um

8:13:35 i think that’s all my secondary questions miss belford thank you

8:13:42 so much all right thank you miss deskovich

8:13:46 anyone else have any questions comments concerns specific to

8:13:50 secondary

8:13:51 i just want to say thank you very much for the e-learning and

8:13:57 secondary because those are the most

8:13:59 i have lots and lots of parents community people even teachers

8:14:05 reach out to me why can’t we do this

8:14:07 so thank you for going the extra mile and making this happen and

8:14:11 people i just want everyone to hear

8:14:13 it’s edgewood west shore our choice schools also ap ib the whole

8:14:19 gamut so we’re not a limit we’re not

8:14:22 leaving anyone out in our secondary school so thank you you’re

8:14:27 welcome and i i i i can’t turn the mic

8:14:30 without like recognizing the process like this board engaged in

8:14:35 a really robust

8:14:37 board workshop to flesh these things out we made changes we

8:14:41 heard feedback i am a process person

8:14:44 and i i think this is a good example of how the process worked

8:14:49 um and that’s why we have it new

8:14:51 today in our plan even though it’s not physically there until i

8:14:55 get out of here today

8:14:59 thank you dr sullivan all right so we are going to move up a

8:15:03 couple questions i thought i didn’t

8:15:06 i already ask i was waiting after miss mcdougall i was all nice

8:15:08 and quiet over here miss belford

8:15:10 all right mr all right okay so when i i when i taught before i

8:15:15 used to do a recording and posted on my um

8:15:19 my thing so that i can kind of familiar with it um dr sullivan

8:15:22 would it be smarter that if there are

8:15:24 enough e-learning children to do a whole block of e-learning for

8:15:27 a teacher if that’s the case instead

8:15:29 of a mix and match and the only reason i say that is i got away

8:15:32 from recording while i had other kids

8:15:35 inside the class because of the nonsense that sometimes goes on

8:15:38 with those kids and i started

8:15:39 pre-recording them prior my lectures prior to getting in there

8:15:42 and then posting all that stuff is that

8:15:44 something that you’ll be looking at to consolidate for so pluses

8:15:47 and minuses um in a really large school

8:15:51 so you probably have your viera hat on um there might be a

8:15:54 potential of it conglomerating into a

8:15:56 section in a small school it’s not at all likely yeah no i

8:16:00 wouldn’t you know because you have

8:16:03 again lots of singleton classes two sections things like that um

8:16:06 so maybe um it’s just going to depend

8:16:10 on the thing the difference is the negative side of that is you’re

8:16:14 not spreading the students to

8:16:16 de-densify your classroom and so that ends up kind of back to

8:16:20 where we are in some of the other

8:16:22 challenges if they’re if you have all 25 in one class and then

8:16:26 your other classes are all in person

8:16:28 you’re not getting the benefit of less students in front of you

8:16:32 unless they take that extra planning

8:16:34 block and utilize that as the e-learning section would reduce

8:16:38 the in you know what i mean the the

8:16:41 class capacity it could but then again that’s a cost not

8:16:45 attached to kids so we are expecting some

8:16:47 teachers using their planning block but we would pay them for

8:16:50 that of course and it would represent

8:16:52 different group of kids so maybe so you get one of my ish

8:16:56 answers just as long as it’s an option that

8:16:59 if it’s there they could look at okay the next thing um so if we

8:17:03 have a bunch of kids that are leaving

8:17:05 some of our capacity schools for brevard virtual that then means

8:17:09 that they’re open schools for transfers

8:17:11 oh viera no manatee we we’ve still got to protect the total

8:17:18 enrollment so right now

8:17:20 i know viera high for example is really hoping to come in as

8:17:24 close to projection as possible

8:17:27 because again lots of staffing things are related to it um so um

8:17:31 i’ve got my two big high schools

8:17:34 watching very closely to keep their third dean um and we have so

8:17:38 much staffing tied into accounts that

8:17:41 i know for sure they’re very aggressively trying to keep their

8:17:45 kids and this e-learning model allows

8:17:47 them to keep their kids and um no i i agree i was just saying

8:17:51 that if if you have viera high school and

8:17:54 you have 200 kids or whatever that decide to go brevard virtual

8:17:58 they’re no longer inside that cost center

8:18:00 does that allow more transfers to come in or are we locking and

8:18:04 continuing down the same no matter what

8:18:06 because those kids may come back yeah that the kids i was going

8:18:09 to say we have to protect a seat for every

8:18:12 child who’s in district yep and students who are full-time bvs

8:18:17 would be able to transition back into

8:18:20 their home school relatively easily we actually mentioned that

8:18:23 on thursday and so i do not foresee

8:18:27 a mid school year mid whatever we typically lock um openings on

8:18:32 the 17th we’re extending that for bvs

8:18:36 so the 17th is the last day so that we can make sure we have

8:18:39 teachers hired at the schools right

8:18:41 um to do the jobs um the exception that we have made to that

8:18:45 lance long-standing um guideline is for brevard

8:18:49 virtual school we are allowing parents to uh take until july 31st

8:18:55 to make some final decisions because

8:18:57 it’s a weighty decision okay but in terms of transferring one

8:19:00 school to another that actually closes the 17th

8:19:04 i think it would be advantageous though that you can’t have

8:19:06 those transfers coming in and out and

8:19:08 because of brevard virtual if all of a sudden this goes away

8:19:11 then all of a sudden the air high school

8:19:12 ends up with 22 and that’s the direction that i did but i did

8:19:14 want to just make sure for the people

8:19:16 out here that think that all of a sudden when one of our high

8:19:19 schools drops below enrollment that they

8:19:21 can start applying i don’t think that’s applicable because of

8:19:23 that that’s all yes sir yeah you’re correct

8:19:25 okay um the next thing is is that um okay so i was looking at

8:19:30 this and and you’re probably not going

8:19:33 to be happy with me for saying this but okay um here’s what i

8:19:36 have if i’m a teacher and i have

8:19:40 three there’s two pieces to this if i have three classes and i

8:19:42 have an extra planning at the end of

8:19:44 the day does it behoove us to let that teacher plan from home

8:19:48 leave to go home so that the custodial

8:19:51 staff has a larger window of time to clean those classrooms does

8:19:55 that make sense it does that’s not

8:19:59 something i can speak to that’s a condition of employment that

8:20:02 would absolutely need to be a

8:20:04 discussion led by human resources um teachers have plannings you

8:20:09 you have to by definition have

8:20:11 that percent of your students in planning each period so in a

8:20:14 four-period day you’d have to have

8:20:16 a fourth of your teachers basically in planning each period so

8:20:19 that’s kind of how we begin the framework

8:20:21 of the schedule is you know how many you need and then how many

8:20:25 sections you need each period for

8:20:27 your total students and i i would find it difficult to get into

8:20:32 a situation where um there’s advantages

8:20:36 to disadvantages to that block but i leave that to my friends in

8:20:39 human resources um and of course in

8:20:42 conversations with the union our teachers that are in planning

8:20:47 are still going to be engaging in you know

8:20:49 school activities answering parent phone calls be available for

8:20:52 things and we could certainly

8:20:54 uh utilize some time in cleaning during those planning periods

8:20:58 they do that now a lot of times in planning

8:21:00 periods the custodians come barreling through they keep a

8:21:03 schedule um but i wouldn’t feel comfortable

8:21:06 saying or no nor do i have the authority to say and i wouldn’t

8:21:10 ask that’s okay i wouldn’t ask you to do

8:21:12 that now it was just a on a perspective of two angles one was to

8:21:15 get the teachers off campus as fast as

8:21:18 possible for minimal exposure that was one of the issues that we

8:21:20 dealt with before also giving the

8:21:22 custodial staff a larger window to be able to clear those areas

8:21:26 it also goes to at the end of the day

8:21:28 instead of making the teachers stay at the school for a variety

8:21:32 of reasons we’ve moved a lot of our

8:21:35 professional development to um online so they could leave the

8:21:39 school so that there’s minimal exposure and

8:21:42 do online virtual professional development that was and i’m not

8:21:46 asking for a decision now i just would like

8:21:48 that to be i i personally would like that to be part of the

8:21:51 conversation as we go forward with

8:21:53 minimalizing the amount of time that the teachers are inside of

8:21:56 the school um looking at having them

8:21:59 you know what i mean leave and and at the appropriate times but

8:22:03 not stay there longer than they need to

8:22:05 that’s all yeah on the flip side it would probably require them

8:22:09 utilizing their phones and some other

8:22:11 kind of conditions that come with the typical expectations and

8:22:15 planning period to include iep meetings

8:22:17 and um mtss processes and things to support our students so i

8:22:23 certainly the person people who have

8:22:26 influence have have heard to look at it um okay that’s it that’s

8:22:30 all i had thank you yep

8:22:35 all right um i’ll just share quickly with you all because we

8:22:38 were just having the conversation and

8:22:41 and ms deskovich you were asking about the the power of the

8:22:44 board um apparently senate president bill

8:22:47 galvano did a i guess a presser with governor de santis this

8:22:50 weekend and the question was posed about

8:22:54 school boards um being able to make their own decision about

8:22:57 opening schools

8:22:59 and um per this quote uh president galvano said yes the answer

8:23:04 is yes the florida department of

8:23:06 education cannot be ignored must be adhered to school boards

8:23:10 cannot ignore this order and he said they

8:23:13 must do so in exact accordance with state education commissioner

8:23:16 richard corcoran’s july 6th executive order

8:23:19 so i think that is is confirmation of what you were kind of

8:23:23 putting out there i hadn’t read that or saw

8:23:26 that but that’s just just from my knowledge of the constitution

8:23:29 and we take our oath yes what we

8:23:31 oath what we oath to what we take our oath to is the u.s

8:23:34 constitution and the florida constitution

8:23:36 that’s what we’re bound to i mean you know we want to put

8:23:39 students first we want to serve our community

8:23:41 but we’re bound to what our oath was so i down in the weeds but

8:23:45 it’s important in this instance because

8:23:47 people want us to to go against it and i don’t think legally we

8:23:51 have the authority well and i think it’s

8:23:53 interesting for our public as well um the the headline on the

8:23:56 article is florida school boards

8:23:57 say they will decide when to resume classes the state

8:24:00 constitution prescribes and the very first

8:24:04 sentence says a growing number of florida school boards say they

8:24:07 will defy a state order to open

8:24:08 schools next month if local county health departments say it’s

8:24:12 not safe to do so so really really kind of

8:24:15 misleading so i i encourage our public as we start hearing about

8:24:18 districts that are are suggesting that

8:24:20 they will not be going back to make sure that you look at the

8:24:23 details because i think that’s that’s rather

8:24:25 important okay we are moving on to 30 and 31 which is health

8:24:32 screening i know this is an area that we

8:24:36 had identified as as potentially needing to revisit um so that

8:24:42 is

8:24:43 responsibilities of parents and legal guardians and uh the

8:24:49 actual health screening recommendations

8:24:52 anyone have comments questions concerns they’d like to address

8:24:58 miss deskovich sorry i don’t know these are just from today too

8:25:00 from the public comments and um

8:25:03 oh this was from a bunch of emails and i have no idea if this is

8:25:08 truth or fiction but i think we need

8:25:10 to clarify it publicly i think it’s for you miss moore are we

8:25:12 going to ask our teachers and employees to sign

8:25:16 some sort of waiver that if um they have some samples going

8:25:20 around online that they say other districts

8:25:23 are asking their employees to sign uh saying we’re not

8:25:27 responsible if you know they catch

8:25:30 covet 19 or something of that nature do we have any waivers in

8:25:33 the works that we want them to sign

8:25:34 i have no waivers in the works but i’m but that may be an hr

8:25:38 question nor do i i they may be getting it from the fact

8:25:42 that for our extracurricular voluntary uh return to activity

8:25:47 plan we did ask people to to sign a waiver

8:25:49 but we have nothing in the work for the record loud and clear

8:25:52 none of our employees are going to be

8:25:54 asked to sign a waiver before they come back to schools in the

8:25:57 hospital correct that is correct go

8:26:00 ahead we’ll say it together that’s correct thank you so much

8:26:05 miss deskovich i think that the maybe some

8:26:07 people are doing that in fear that they may be personally

8:26:10 responsible and i think mr gibbs can

8:26:12 probably explain that we’re holds harmless as teachers and and

8:26:15 things for stuff like that correct

8:26:17 harmless hold harmless for what so if the teachers cannot be

8:26:24 personally sued right for that through

8:26:28 state statute and everything else so i think that the question

8:26:32 is not are we meaning we don’t have to

8:26:35 because it’s already statutorily law that they cannot be held um

8:26:40 responsible for anything that happens

8:26:42 they would not be personally liable yeah right it would be they

8:26:45 would sue the school district

8:26:46 yeah i’m just trying to relieve some teachers minds that are

8:26:50 worried about a waiver coming their way and

8:26:52 i think yeah no no i just wanted to i wanted to convey that okay

8:26:56 last question is in your presentation

8:26:58 miss moore you said close the school and i’ve seen a lot of

8:27:02 discussion about this

8:27:06 there are times that we would just shut down a building right i

8:27:09 want to make sure the words not

8:27:10 interchangeable right when with there’s a student that went in

8:27:13 building a b and c

8:27:14 and tested positive you could potentially shut down building a b

8:27:19 and c but the rest of the school

8:27:22 could stay open right just because the student was there it

8:27:24 doesn’t mean the whole school is going

8:27:26 to get shut down every time someone gets diagnosed yeah like the

8:27:30 um example that i gave where we have

8:27:32 siblings that might travel a pretty wide distance across the

8:27:36 school you then begin to look at the whole

8:27:38 school there are other instances in where sections or grade

8:27:42 levels might be shut down every single one of

8:27:44 those cases is going to be evaluated separately the department

8:27:48 of health does sit on that response team with us as well as

8:27:51 pretty much

8:27:52 representative from every uh division up up here at esf thank

8:27:58 you that’s all i have mr susan you have

8:28:06 questions comments on this section well i i think gibbs is this

8:28:09 where we’re going to talk about our

8:28:10 screenings yes we are on health screenings miss mcdougall was

8:28:14 before me though

8:28:16 so i had asked to utilize the um screening tool to temperature

8:28:23 check students as they’re coming in

8:28:27 and give the schools an opportunity or the teachers an

8:28:30 opportunity to do that we’ve already deployed

8:28:32 these to the schools and so the idea was that we would create a

8:28:36 sort of a perimeter um around to try to

8:28:41 stop any of the students to from coming in that may have a

8:28:44 temperature so when i did that it was the

8:28:46 idea that we would come back and discuss this a little bit more

8:28:50 mr gibbs put together a a response

8:28:52 here that i’ve read through um and i would like to discuss that

8:28:56 is everybody okay with that okay so um mr gibbs

8:29:01 i read through this is there anything in anywhere that says that

8:29:06 it is prohibited for us to do it i mean

8:29:09 i understand you’ve got in here you’ve got what miami-dade it’s

8:29:13 more uh just considerations mostly for

8:29:16 you to take um okay under normal circumstances i would be

8:29:19 hesitant to tell you to do that just like

8:29:22 if hr called me in march and said hey we want to temperature

8:29:25 check all of our employees i would have

8:29:27 said hold on a second there’s rules that say you can’t do that

8:29:31 unless it’s specifically job related

8:29:33 since covid’s hit the eeoc is saying you can ask covid related

8:29:39 questions and do temperature checks

8:29:41 because it potentially affects the health and safety of all your

8:29:44 employees in the business

8:29:47 so i would say that you know in this if you got challenged on

8:29:50 temperature check i think you would

8:29:52 prevail in the current climate as it is that’s where i would

8:29:56 fall there if you were concerned you said

8:29:58 hey if we do this these are some of the concerns that i have it’s

8:30:01 a whole lot of questions and

8:30:02 considerations the board might want to take thank you and they’re

8:30:05 more than it is guidance because

8:30:07 we’ve never been here before yeah and i appreciate that because

8:30:10 that’s when i was looking at it i said

8:30:12 it didn’t feel like it was like a legal opinion it felt like you

8:30:15 were doing just what you just said so thank

8:30:17 you um one of the other things i kind of just wanted to bring up

8:30:20 the health um screenings like that

8:30:23 or the temperature checks i’m sorry because i was trying to

8:30:26 figure out a way so that our parents

8:30:28 could feel more confident that we are going to stop as many

8:30:31 individuals from coming in as possible

8:30:34 so i did a little bit of research and um first off i to in order

8:30:39 one of the issues that miss campbell had

8:30:43 was that there may be an opportunity for large groups to be

8:30:46 getting consolidated at the front

8:30:48 there are right now for almost the same cost as handing these to

8:30:53 teachers thermal image cameras that

8:30:56 you can attach to your cell phone that as the students walk

8:30:59 through it’ll tell you exactly who’s

8:31:01 got a higher temperature before they’re even walking through

8:31:04 literally there’s opportunities to find

8:31:07 other ways to screen the students for temperature checks beyond

8:31:11 just screening them with a temperature

8:31:13 check does that make sense so i didn’t want when we’re looking

8:31:16 at the temperature checks of students

8:31:18 coming in i didn’t want it to be held with the fact that a

8:31:22 temperature check off of a student which

8:31:24 takes less than 1.5 seconds i do it practiced it on my kids i

8:31:28 made sure that this was that we did it right

8:31:30 but the thing is is that um with that it gives the school the

8:31:34 teachers the parents everybody the

8:31:37 opportunity that if they wanted to do that to make sure that

8:31:40 their people felt safe that they could

8:31:42 that was all so is there anybody any board members that are in

8:31:46 objection to allowing what we had talked

8:31:49 about before do we need direction here i didn’t understand dr mullins

8:31:52 what is your call on the temperature checks

8:31:58 you know mr gibbs has been working on that and just received it

8:32:01 uh the recommendation that was made to

8:32:06 the board on thursday has not changed to today primarily because

8:32:10 um i’ll use the word there are

8:32:13 some risks presented with the practice of temperature checks by

8:32:17 individuals other than the clinic i feel

8:32:20 like because there is risk to the district the board needs to

8:32:23 take a position on that we’ll certainly follow

8:32:25 the wishes of the board but to recommend something with with

8:32:29 risk that is unprecedented i didn’t feel

8:32:31 feel it was appropriate to make that recommendation myself so uh

8:32:34 certainly we’ll follow the direction of

8:32:37 the board um if that’s if that’s the will of the board mr gibbs

8:32:46 what i i’ve read what you sent what you

8:32:49 handed us earlier or mostly because you gave it to right before

8:32:52 the meeting so i didn’t have time to read it in detail

8:32:54 but i scanned it um this is the first i’ve heard about a thermo

8:32:58 imaging camera or yeah from my phone i’m

8:33:01 reading about it right now online as you bring it up mr susan is

8:33:05 that is there any privacy issues i’m a

8:33:08 little creeped out by thinking i have not i could be walking

8:33:11 around in somebody’s thermo imaging scan like

8:33:14 how accurate is that compared to thermometer you have a sweaty

8:33:18 kid who just guys guys if we can just stay

8:33:20 on the screening we’ll just stay there okay i have not let’s

8:33:22 just stay okay i just don’t know anything

8:33:25 about this so i was like i don’t i don’t know how it’s just it’s

8:33:28 they’re using them across the districts

8:33:30 there’s there’s kiosks that people are purchasing that’s it it’s

8:33:33 something that is being used but it was

8:33:36 just something that i said let’s just ignore it if you want to

8:33:39 try to if it’s something that you need

8:33:41 time for that’s fine i didn’t want to throw it out there as an

8:33:44 idea to try to get it done tonight

8:33:46 but i did want to say part of my conversation that i was trying

8:33:50 to get at was i felt that we needed to

8:33:52 make a stronger perimeter support for our teachers our parents

8:33:55 and our and our students and i think that

8:33:58 that this was the way to do it and i didn’t want to um because i

8:34:01 want to lose my mind when i hear

8:34:03 somebody say that you know it only captures 50 of the people

8:34:06 well that’s 50 of the people that would

8:34:08 shut down a school so what i what i wanted to say was instead of

8:34:12 not saying instead of saying no find

8:34:14 a way to say yes that’s what i’m saying that’s all and if it’s

8:34:17 being held up that because you have to

8:34:19 have somebody standing there then look at these other options

8:34:22 that are out there that other school

8:34:23 districts are already purchasing throughout the country that’s

8:34:25 all that’s all i i i i

8:34:28 understand what you’re saying and i understand the concerns i

8:34:30 just but just to remind everyone we

8:34:32 even had a doctor on our call today that’s one of the public

8:34:35 commenters who said it was an ineffective

8:34:38 screener and i just feel like from what mr gibbs has brought

8:34:42 from the you know you know got a doctor

8:34:45 confirming i just feel the same way about this and from all the

8:34:47 other problems that it will create

8:34:49 no matter which way we do it potentially feel the same way as

8:34:52 miss hand shared about the you know the uv lights

8:34:56 something that’s not proven to be effective or it’s questionable

8:35:00 effective and it can cause more

8:35:03 problems um you know mr gibbs and i know this and if anybody

8:35:08 from the public would like a copy of

8:35:11 this you can certainly email and i’ll forward it to you um you

8:35:15 know you have the student who you know if

8:35:18 if a teacher is doing in their own classroom like we were

8:35:20 talking about the other day um they’ve decided

8:35:22 you know they want to be one of the teachers to do it and you

8:35:24 know you’re going around or letting them

8:35:26 before they walk in the door you know okay you go this way you

8:35:28 go that way we’ve got sheep and the

8:35:30 goats and everybody knows where the goats are going and if they

8:35:32 go down to the clinic to actually confirm

8:35:34 because a teacher taking the temperature doesn’t count right

8:35:37 fully is you know that just means go down

8:35:39 to the clinic and let them confirm and they go down to the

8:35:41 clinic and the clinic says no they don’t

8:35:43 meet the threshold they don’t you know then then they’re going

8:35:46 back to class and what kind of chaos

8:35:48 have we created in that scenario um i just you know i think we

8:35:53 have a good plan and i just

8:35:58 if we start off that way too then we’re saying we’re going to do

8:36:01 it what what’s about the day that

8:36:02 the morning is crazy and we didn’t get everybody checked before

8:36:05 they came in the gate but we told

8:36:07 people in our plan that we’re going to do that every day um i i

8:36:10 am not in favor of adding that to our

8:36:15 screen so can i respond ms belford um so we have already

8:36:22 deployed a thousand of these to our schools

8:36:26 for the specific purpose of doing what i’m asking to do the

8:36:32 other problem thing is is that if you speak

8:36:35 to saying that they’re ineffective because a doctor called in to

8:36:39 speak on public comment that we don’t

8:36:42 even know if he’s a doctor and you’re quoting also the uv lights

8:36:47 for suhan i would ask some clarification

8:36:50 over what it is said that these are not effect you know these

8:36:54 are ineffective because if disney’s using

8:36:56 them if we bought them a thousand of them then there seems to be

8:37:00 some disconnect there and the fact

8:37:03 that it causes more problems is just suggestions that are here

8:37:07 that’s not fact when you’re sitting

8:37:10 here and you’re going through each one of these there’s

8:37:13 scenarios that say that if i temperature check

8:37:15 a student and say hey you might not be feeling well once you

8:37:18 head to the doc to the to the the the nurse

8:37:22 we already do that when you see a kid and you say you don’t look

8:37:26 so good maybe you should go to the

8:37:28 nurse it’s the same application but hang on that is not the only

8:37:32 way that is not the only way that you

8:37:35 can tell a kid that see to corner it into a corner and say that

8:37:40 this is the exact way that it’s going

8:37:43 to happen here’s the outcome i don’t think i i don’t agree with

8:37:47 that that is what you’re asking you’re

8:37:49 asking to do it as a fence around the school which means before

8:37:53 either they walk into the building

8:37:55 on the campus or before they walk into a classroom okay so you’re

8:38:00 talking about doing it that way so it

8:38:03 at the door so there is going to be a separation and everybody

8:38:06 so then and for the people who aren’t

8:38:09 again you don’t have this we’re talking about privacy rights and

8:38:13 honestly we’re talking about

8:38:14 bullying and we’re talking about a lot of other things and i’m

8:38:18 not saying bullying comes before

8:38:19 someone’s health necessarily but there’s there’s there’s just a

8:38:22 lot of ways that this can go wrong

8:38:24 ms campbell are you suggesting that we should return all

8:38:27 thousand thermal no no i’m saying we use them

8:38:30 for the purpose that they were bought we’ve got our teams who

8:38:33 are coming for they they have a place

8:38:35 and our what we were presented the other day is that we know in

8:38:39 our schools we have parents we have

8:38:41 students who don’t have this family support who can do that we

8:38:45 have our homeless liaisons at each school

8:38:47 i’m assuming we’re going to especially um have them with the

8:38:50 kids that are assigned to them

8:38:54 we’ve got students that we’re following up on that we’re gonna

8:38:56 we’re gonna have private ways for that

8:38:58 check to be done every day we’re gonna have you know different

8:39:02 for our extracurricular um teachers

8:39:05 who were doing you know band camp but a band camp they’re going

8:39:07 to be doing it every day just like

8:39:09 their sports they’re gonna do it every day i’m there i’m not

8:39:11 saying they’re going to waste and if we can

8:39:14 find another way i just don’t like this particular way of using

8:39:18 them and we can argue about it all day

8:39:20 no no you brought up a good point i would like to address i have

8:39:24 significant issue with identifying a

8:39:27 specific group of individuals based on their socioeconomic or

8:39:32 their their home life that we’re

8:39:34 going to target those kids to do testing i think that’s actually

8:39:37 what you are talking about is extremely

8:39:40 high mr gibbs can you say that if we are targeting a specific

8:39:43 type of people based on their demographics

8:39:45 wouldn’t that be a very bad situation wouldn’t that i mean do

8:39:50 you agree i don’t know enough specifics

8:39:52 about this status of these students i mean i could even easily

8:39:56 say you have an affluent student that

8:39:58 teachers might be aware don’t have you know necessarily parental

8:40:03 support at home so if you

8:40:04 were saying we’re only targeting low income then i would be

8:40:07 concerned even even the same same token

8:40:09 i’m also concerned with the privacy is the one aspect of

8:40:12 temperatures that does concern me i don’t

8:40:14 know how you get around it though everybody knows what kids they

8:40:18 rode the bus with everybody knows what

8:40:20 kids are supposed to be in their class if all of a sudden they’re

8:40:23 not there everybody’s going to know

8:40:25 something happened between the bus ride and getting to class i

8:40:30 just i think i think we need to really

8:40:34 look back at looking at identifying children that may not have

8:40:39 parental support and testing them only with

8:40:42 these things i think i would like for miss uh more to clarify

8:40:45 that because that was presented to us so

8:40:47 we don’t we don’t twist the words of no no no i’m okay with it

8:40:51 yeah miss moore thank you

8:40:55 by function of the child study team and each school has a child

8:40:59 study team we look at the whole child

8:41:01 we look at their academic progress we look at their social

8:41:04 emotional progress

8:41:05 we look at their mental health needs that’s the function of the

8:41:10 of the child study team it would

8:41:12 be by function of the child study team that we review and and

8:41:16 make their physical health also one of

8:41:19 those areas that we look at and say this child’s going to need

8:41:22 extra support from us it has nothing

8:41:24 to do with uh socioeconomic level it has nothing to do with uh

8:41:28 race it has nothing to do with

8:41:30 neighborhood it has to do with how the child study team looks at

8:41:33 the whole child and physical mental

8:41:36 health academic well-being all of that is rolled into what that

8:41:39 team studies

8:41:39 so you feel confident that we can test those kids with the

8:41:44 screeners

8:41:47 outright without any kind of negative repercussions uh i

8:41:51 confident is uh an interesting word i feel

8:41:55 like the schools have the schools understand ferpa i think the

8:42:00 schools understand what the child study

8:42:02 team is meant to do um every time i feel confident over

8:42:06 something there’s going to be an individual

8:42:08 someplace that proves me wrong mr susan and that’s why we have

8:42:12 ocr complaints and that’s why we sit in

8:42:15 litigation so i feel like uh we will put it out in a way that

8:42:21 our schools can uh manage it and that i

8:42:24 believe our administrators have know what they’re supposed to do

8:42:28 and and will be able to do it uh and

8:42:31 i will hope that everybody will comply with the processes that

8:42:35 are put in place but but make no mistake

8:42:38 i am i am fully prepared that we’ll have an ocr complaint on

8:42:41 this issue at some point thank you

8:42:44 i think i guess what i was getting at is is that if mr if mr gibbs

8:42:48 says that there is nothing in this

8:42:51 in the statutes that prohibits this if he’s saying that under

8:42:55 the current conditions we would prevail

8:42:57 i just wanted to give it as an option to our teachers and our

8:43:02 principals that if they want to do it that

8:43:04 they have that option i’m not mandating that they do it i’m

8:43:08 asking that if they wanted to that we provide

8:43:11 the resources for that school to do it if the teachers wanted to

8:43:15 then we provide them the resources to do

8:43:18 it that’s it i would rather give them the choice than take away

8:43:21 the opportunity

8:43:22 ms tuskovich would you like to weigh in on this one and then we’ll

8:43:26 we’ll try to kind of see where

8:43:28 our consensus is as a board yeah it kind of went around in a

8:43:32 round but i agree with mr susan’s last

8:43:35 statement that i would like them to have the option i have

8:43:37 talked to several teachers and some have zero

8:43:40 interest in doing in this and some absolutely want to do it a

8:43:43 couple of them said if i’m forced to i

8:43:46 will or if i feel yeah i think i think we need flexibility here

8:43:49 uh if it’s going to be done

8:43:51 right i still have a concern about how it’s done but even

8:43:54 speaking to them they said oh we know how

8:43:56 to be discreet you know we’re not going there’s going to be no

8:43:59 shaming and embarrassing because in

8:44:01 my mind i have that vision of little johnny and everyone you

8:44:04 know calling him a name and but i think

8:44:07 we have to trust our our employees on this and so i support

8:44:11 having them available i don’t think we need

8:44:14 what we say three hundred thousand dollars worth to make sure

8:44:16 everyone had one i think maybe we start

8:44:18 with what we planned on purchasing which is is it a hundred per

8:44:21 school is that what that breaks out

8:44:22 to be how many do we buy no we no we we’ve got we gave like 10

8:44:26 per one per 100 100. don’t do math in

8:44:30 your head tina duskowitz purchased um right around a thousand

8:44:36 and the lowest amount is five for a small

8:44:42 elementary school up to our large high schools have just under

8:44:46 20. so i don’t know what that magic

8:44:50 number is and that’s probably what you’re going to look to meet

8:44:53 to us for right like or now can you i would like to just let

8:44:56 them if sun tree elementary says hey we feel like we can

8:44:58 confidently

8:44:58 with the way that we balance our income and give them the

8:45:03 opportunity to do it and if those teachers

8:45:06 wanted to give them the opportunity i wouldn’t say you only get

8:45:09 10 you only get five we deployed enough

8:45:11 to do what they wanted to do but now i would just want to give

8:45:15 the opportunity for them to order more if

8:45:17 they wanted them that’s all i’m okay with that can i make a

8:45:20 suggestion that if it’s the will of the board

8:45:23 to do something like that that i that the way we word it for

8:45:28 example if you fly on southwest they say

8:45:31 you know this you know there is a possibility that before you

8:45:35 get on the plane you can be temperature

8:45:37 checked but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to do it

8:45:40 right but they are saying it out front

8:45:42 so that you know because i think if we’re going to you know in

8:45:45 other words what i’m saying is we add it

8:45:47 in there so that we’re if we get to a day and then something

8:45:50 somebody slips through the cracks that we’re

8:45:52 not saying every child will be temperature checked on their way

8:45:55 into the door but then we get flexible

8:45:58 for schools to work out their own plan um for teachers i’m still

8:46:03 kind of iffy about this because

8:46:05 i think it comes back to privacy rights and what we can and

8:46:08 cannot do um but that’s one way to write it

8:46:14 in thank you miss campbell miss mcdougall i just want to clarify

8:46:17 that miss campbell you’re not saying

8:46:20 that they can’t send somebody to the clinic that’s not what i’m

8:46:22 hearing at all no no and that’s that’s

8:46:25 they can send people to clinic the way they’ve always sent it to

8:46:27 the clinic kids got their head

8:46:28 on the desk they look you know that they don’t have to they don’t

8:46:31 even have to have 100 degree

8:46:33 temperature to get sent to the clinic or sent home is my

8:46:36 understanding of the way it’s been presented

8:46:38 because there’s so many other symptoms besides fever right so i

8:46:42 i support what mr susan’s saying i think

8:46:45 we leave it up to the school they have the ability to to test

8:46:49 who they think is possible you know i

8:46:52 i’m not sure i can see a one of our big high schools testing

8:46:54 everybody as they come through the door

8:46:57 it would be a miracle um but i also just want to point out for

8:47:01 people the information we got from

8:47:03 mr gibbs and he reached out to other districts and i’m very

8:47:06 surprised about some of this

8:47:08 miami-dade superintendent has reported um that they’re not doing

8:47:14 temperature checks but he talks

8:47:15 about mass and distance are the effective way to slow the spread

8:47:19 um now remember these are two of the

8:47:21 highest areas and brevard and broward um has also confirmed they’re

8:47:26 not checking temperatures due to

8:47:28 and they say due to too many students and their department of

8:47:32 health advised them um against it because

8:47:35 it’s only 30 effective um so i’m surprised that large counties

8:47:40 are not doing them but i feel that we

8:47:44 can leave it up to our teachers and our staff the admin staff to

8:47:48 say okay if we need to do it we do it

8:47:50 and let it up to them they’re the ones who are on the school and

8:47:54 osceola is doing it and osceola is

8:47:57 doing it on a random through the week so that’s all so um i i i

8:48:06 agree with much of what’s been said um when

8:48:11 i look at the aap recommendation um there are three things that

8:48:17 they address um with regard to safety in

8:48:20 the classroom and as i referenced earlier they say that that

8:48:24 three foot spacing um is is shown to be

8:48:29 likely as effective as six foot spacing in the event that

8:48:33 everyone’s wearing masks and they are asymptomatic

8:48:37 um and so i that asymptomatic piece i think is is a big piece

8:48:45 and obviously there are lots of

8:48:46 different symptoms that we could look at um but i feel i as i

8:48:52 expressed at our last meeting i am

8:48:56 incredibly concerned that we are sending teachers back into a

8:49:00 classroom many of whom who are in high

8:49:02 risk categories or have people that they care about that are in

8:49:06 high risk categories and so

8:49:08 i am absolutely not in favor of mandating that every student be

8:49:13 temp checked on the way into school

8:49:15 but if it’s going to make one of our teachers feel better to be

8:49:18 able to temp check her students as

8:49:20 they come into the classroom in the morning or his students as

8:49:22 they come into the classroom in the

8:49:24 morning if that if that’s going to help them feel a little bit

8:49:28 better about being in the classroom

8:49:30 with their students as one piece of you know multiple layers of

8:49:33 protection

8:49:34 then i would suggest that we give them that that peace of mind

8:49:40 even i mean you know we’ve thrown it out

8:49:42 there 50 of it only catches 50 of cases the health department

8:49:47 said only 30 of cases it’s it’s not a

8:49:50 be-all end-all it’s not an absolute definite but i feel like if

8:49:53 we can make them feel a little bit

8:49:55 better about the situation um then we should do that so i i

8:49:59 would not support mandating that all

8:50:01 students uh get temp checked i would suggest you know notifying

8:50:05 people that there’s a possibility

8:50:08 that their child is going to have their temperature taken if

8:50:10 they’re going back into brick and mortar

8:50:12 school um and then you know do what we can to accommodate the

8:50:16 wishes of the teachers who

8:50:18 maybe maybe each of our schools can kind of ask their teachers

8:50:23 to let them know if they would like to

8:50:25 have a thermometer and then we can look at trying to get some

8:50:28 more order to accommodate i don’t think

8:50:30 we need to order one you know for every teacher but maybe if

8:50:33 there’s some way that we could get a

8:50:35 consensus there that would be my my recommendation yeah i need a

8:50:38 point of clarification with mr gibbs

8:50:41 right now we do have a florida statute about uh health screenings

8:50:44 and what health screenings um

8:50:48 specifically what um health screenings we’re allowed to do and

8:50:53 then including in our registration packet

8:50:57 is an opt-out form uh it’s a permissive form so if it’s not

8:51:00 returned we assume that the parents are

8:51:03 opting in so i just need to know if we’re going to have to redo

8:51:07 that registration form to include the daily

8:51:10 uh temperature check if a if a teacher decides to take that

8:51:14 option

8:51:18 i don’t know that you have to redo that form you’re talking

8:51:20 about 100322 correct i’m talking

8:51:23 about florida statute 381.0056 mandates the florida department

8:51:27 of health in cooperation with the

8:51:29 department of education provides student health screenings for

8:51:32 possible identification of unknown

8:51:34 or unrecognized diseases or defects they include vision hearing

8:51:38 scoliosis height and weight and parents

8:51:41 are allowed to opt out of those screenings based on a form we

8:51:44 include in our registration packet

8:51:47 do we right uh those are not necessarily school health checks

8:51:53 but again i would uh i don’t know that you

8:51:56 have to redo your form i would certainly put a notice in there

8:52:00 and if they opt out if you want to screen

8:52:02 them and opt out you might want to provide that to the parents

8:52:05 because if their parents are saying i want

8:52:07 out for some reason then that’s a sure sign if you screen them

8:52:11 you might get whacked with a lawsuit so each school

8:52:16 will have to because registration forms have already been done

8:52:19 and out and returned so each school will

8:52:21 have to provide each student with permission form or at least

8:52:24 notification that that’s not that’s what

8:52:27 the option that teachers have that option what i’m hearing is

8:52:30 they’re leaving it up to the school so

8:52:32 it would be possible it’s not a guarantee so i would certainly

8:52:37 include it in all the forms that get sent home

8:52:39 at the beginning of the year that this is a possibility there is

8:52:44 legal recommendations from some of the

8:52:46 bigger firms that say get parental permission prior to testing

8:52:50 but the question then is going to be what

8:52:52 happens if a parent says no it’s the same thing if they opt out

8:52:55 are you going to force them to one of your

8:52:58 virtual platforms it can i ask a point of comp i mean we already

8:53:03 are going to have a teacher have a student

8:53:06 walk in front of them and if they exhibit signs of covid we are

8:53:10 going to send them to the nurse correct

8:53:14 is that considered a health screen uh no what they’re doing is

8:53:18 through observation making the

8:53:21 decision to send them to a health professional to be evaluated

8:53:25 so and that’s i’m basing that just on

8:53:27 the information that mr gibbs provided because i was looking at

8:53:30 that difference as well yeah i looked at

8:53:32 that too and if you look at it being a health observation the

8:53:36 teacher is not making a ruling

8:53:38 that you have covid or anything they’re saying hey you’ve

8:53:42 exhibited the same respect or the same

8:53:45 issues that we see in the non-temperature checking so i don’t

8:53:49 know if temperature checking a student as

8:53:52 the same as looking at them and saying they have to go down to

8:53:55 the clinic falls into some new defined

8:53:58 screening that we have to send home stuff it’s the same process

8:54:01 they’re not they’re going to go to the

8:54:02 nurse and the nurse is going to be the one that truly performs

8:54:05 the health screening not the teacher

8:54:07 because the teacher is just making an observation hey you’ve got

8:54:10 a higher temperature according to this

8:54:11 thing go get checked out they’re not performing a true health

8:54:15 screening which is where that that

8:54:16 statute’s defined when i when i looked at this um earlier i uh i

8:54:21 looked i looked it up while we were there

8:54:24 and it’s defined as as basically as like the nurse making that

8:54:27 determination not the teachers so i

8:54:30 didn’t understand why we would apply that section because it’s

8:54:33 an observation to it i defer to mr gibbs

8:54:36 judgment my question was we allow parents to opt out of the

8:54:40 health screenings um that that we mandate

8:54:43 as a district and as a health department and i i defer to mr gibbs

8:54:47 judgment the same would be true

8:54:49 for the vaccinations they get the right to opt out for religious

8:54:52 purposes so they can come to school

8:54:54 if they object um at the same time the the clinic nurse or

8:54:59 teacher that’s serving in that position

8:55:02 is performing my quite the cdc calls temperature checks health

8:55:06 checks that’s what they call them so

8:55:08 if you’re going to say health screening is the same thing it’s

8:55:11 going to be there i still would say if you get

8:55:13 sued not that we want to get sued but i think in the current

8:55:18 climate you would prevail again that’s you’re

8:55:21 prevailing in a lawsuit so you take it on knowing that it’s a

8:55:25 lawsuit i would also caution against just

8:55:28 leaving it up to every school to implement this without any

8:55:32 guidance what does a positive

8:55:36 or a high temperature from a teacher mean do they go to the

8:55:39 nurse i mean you might want some guidance for

8:55:42 your principals and administration as to what this means is a

8:55:45 high temperature of presumptive covid

8:55:48 if it’s confirmed by the nurse are they going home for 14 days

8:55:51 in which case it’s going to trigger

8:55:54 your covid response at the district level for that school or is

8:55:57 it just going to be hey you got a

8:55:59 high temperature you know we’re going to call your parents and

8:56:02 see if you can go home for the day and

8:56:03 then come back in the morning when they check you out in the

8:56:06 morning you’re probably going to get a bunch

8:56:08 of students with tylenol in the morning that passed the morning

8:56:10 check i think when i look at it and

8:56:14 this is something the workshop too is that the nurse is making

8:56:17 all those calls if the nurse is performing

8:56:19 those screenings and the people have opted out but it’s just

8:56:22 like an observation like anything else

8:56:24 please go see the nurse that’s the way that i saw it and you’re

8:56:26 right i think that that guidance

8:56:28 needs to be given so that there’s not a misconception because i

8:56:31 i don’t even think that we would want our

8:56:33 teachers to be sitting here saying you have covid or anything

8:56:36 like that just go to the nurse because

8:56:37 that’s the professional i agree with you i would second thought

8:56:42 mr gibbs do we do our i don’t know how to

8:56:46 word this our do our or maybe miss moore um do our families sign

8:56:55 a waiver allowing our nurses and the

8:56:58 clinics to take their temperature they do not know so it’s just

8:57:06 it’s assumed that if they go to the

8:57:08 clinic the nurse can do whatever he or she feels needs to be

8:57:11 done when they’re there that is correct

8:57:13 on the health card that they turn in uh they it they know they

8:57:18 turn that health card into uh to the

8:57:22 school but it’s a florida department of it goes right to the

8:57:26 florida department of health um

8:57:29 i’ve never been asked that question before quite frankly yes it

8:57:33 is the assumption that um the nurse

8:57:36 works for the department of health and she’s there to treat uh

8:57:40 students for illness so my recommendation

8:57:43 would be that we we move forward with giving teachers the

8:57:47 opportunity should they choose to

8:57:50 temperature check their students with it just being a quick

8:57:53 check and then sent on to the nurse for

8:57:55 verification with with guidance that this is no different than

8:58:00 any other student that we would be

8:58:02 sending to the clinic if a child when my kids are in school if

8:58:06 they are running a fever the the teacher

8:58:09 would touch them and say they feel hot and send them to the

8:58:11 clinic and the nurse would take their temp and

8:58:13 call me and i would go and get them um so that that would be my

8:58:18 recommendation as to how we move

8:58:20 forward and certainly you all can can take into consideration um

8:58:24 you know we don’t want this to

8:58:26 be a flag this kid has coveted it should just be this particular

8:58:29 child is running a fever and we need

8:58:32 to do what we do with fevers and then everything else be handled

8:58:34 as as we would without the temperature

8:58:38 attack would be my recommendation mr gibbs parent permission or

8:58:41 no parent permission

8:58:43 that would be a district call i mean i don’t know that you have

8:58:46 to but if you’re going to do it

8:58:48 i mean my question is if you if a parent objects what are you

8:58:51 going to do are you going to kick

8:58:53 them out of school are you going to let them sit there if you’re

8:58:54 going to let them sit there

8:58:55 there’s no point in doing a parent permission is he going to

8:58:58 object to a teacher saying you look like

8:59:01 you have coveted or if they’re just sitting there pale and they’re

8:59:04 sweating and it’s 70 degrees in

8:59:06 the class and they say hey go to the nurse yeah i i i don’t i

8:59:10 feel like it’s the same i think i feel

8:59:15 like we’re over they have a fever and i mean whether it’s coveted

8:59:18 or strep throat they don’t need to

8:59:20 be there if it’s the same it’s the same way we’ve sent them to

8:59:23 the clinic all along except they’re

8:59:28 well the difference i guess would be the data the temperature is

8:59:32 giving them data so if i’m sitting

8:59:34 there observing and somebody’s sweating maybe they just got too

8:59:38 many layers of clothes on but they’re

8:59:40 pale and they’re sweating i send them to the nurse nurse says no

8:59:42 they’re fine and they come back to

8:59:45 class if you know i there could be hey i took his temperature it’s

8:59:50 101 now there’s data behind that

8:59:53 at some level so is that data of ferpa record and you know i

8:59:56 kind of get into that it’s like

8:59:58 there there’s no clear guidance here like i said this is uncharted

9:00:02 we’ve never had mandatory school

9:00:04 in the middle of a pandemic and i i would argue that um you know

9:00:09 the teacher touching my child’s

9:00:11 head and saying this child is warmer than they should be would

9:00:14 also be you know a piece of data

9:00:16 a piece of information like i i get where you’re coming from and

9:00:19 i appreciate that you’re trying to

9:00:21 protect us mr gibbs and certainly there are lots of

9:00:23 considerations i understand that but um

9:00:27 i just i feel like it’s simple enough thing for us to do it’s a

9:00:30 risk i’m willing to take as a board

9:00:32 number to provide that comfort for our teachers if they choose

9:00:34 to to tempt their students but

9:00:36 absolutely with no mandate that all of them all of the students

9:00:39 be tempted so well for may i attempt

9:00:41 to clarify the direction of the board please so uh if i

9:00:45 understand correctly we will add to the plan

9:00:50 the notification of the notification of students possibly being

9:00:53 temperature checked by staff

9:00:55 throughout the day when in attendance at school we will develop

9:00:59 guidelines for staff if they choose to

9:01:04 want to have a touchless thermometer and utilize it with their

9:01:08 students we’ll run that through the

9:01:12 the department of health and mr gibbs for you know clarity and

9:01:17 you know uh approval for the guidelines

9:01:20 and then we will make available to staff at their request and

9:01:24 willingness to follow the guidelines

9:01:27 a touchless thermometer and if a principal requests that he

9:01:31 would like some not just for the teachers

9:01:35 that he can they can get them for their school too yeah i i said

9:01:38 staff yeah so it’s not limited to

9:01:40 teachers yep board members good with that consensus distraction

9:01:44 is there any desire for an opt-out

9:01:47 the parent no same thing is i don’t know why they would opt out

9:01:55 because it would be just like before covid if

9:01:59 somebody looked like they had a fever we would send them to the

9:02:02 nurses and then we would take the

9:02:03 temperature so no i i don’t think it’s that different quite

9:02:07 frankly uh but we let them opt out of health

9:02:11 screenings and hearing screenings and all other screenings so we

9:02:15 just define this isn’t a health

9:02:17 screening it’s just observation you’re going down they make you

9:02:21 temperature check to get medical care

9:02:23 they make you temperature check to go to disney they make you it

9:02:27 is it is not a it’s not a foreign

9:02:29 object or something it’s becoming a norm we’re noticing though

9:02:32 in the packet right was that the oh no the

9:02:34 packets my recommendation would be to put something in there

9:02:37 that goes home letting everybody know that

9:02:39 thank you yeah so we’ll add that it’ll be included in the plan

9:02:43 notifying uh students and parents of

9:02:47 the possibility of a temperature check while in attendance at

9:02:50 school and we’ll include it in

9:02:52 our registration packet information it will not be included in

9:02:55 the 20 uh 2021 registration packet that

9:02:58 packets out done turned in it’ll be included in the 21 22 we

9:03:02 could we could make a separate page which

9:03:05 which would just be the notification page but that registration

9:03:08 packets um it’s it’s already completed

9:03:11 we can put it in for new students to brevard public schools we’ll

9:03:15 be happy to do that i i just feel

9:03:18 like there just needs to be notification yeah it’s in the plan

9:03:21 you know can be sent out you know this is a

9:03:24 possibility i don’t we’ll make every effort to reasonably notify

9:03:28 through the advertisement of the plan and to our

9:03:31 schools and students that this is going to be a practice applied

9:03:34 in our schools even if we you

9:03:36 know if we’re sending home hand washing information with

9:03:38 families in the beginning of the school year

9:03:40 maybe a little note your child maybe to i mean i don’t think we

9:03:43 have to i don’t think we have to

9:03:45 recreate the wheel here and make it i’m comfortable with that

9:03:49 that’s fine

9:03:52 okay um i see yeah i see that uh food has arrived do you all

9:03:58 want to take a break

9:04:00 to grab food before we go to face coverings do you want to just

9:04:06 eat our way through it what’s the

9:04:08 preference of the board okay stop grab something mr susan what’d

9:04:13 you say i’m okay to stop take a break

9:04:16 grab something come back and then or however you want to do it

9:04:18 you want to take like a 10 minute run to the

9:04:20 restroom and get your get your plates and then we’ll resume the

9:04:23 meeting all right we will take about a

9:04:26 take a break for the 10 minute recess then

9:04:32 you

9:26:26 Thank you. I, you know, we heard from at least a third of the

9:26:32 parents, teachers, people who called in about mandating face

9:26:39 covering and how all the science is coming out that the way to

9:26:45 stop the spread is social distancing and face covering.

9:26:52 So I like that we change the language expected, but I kind of

9:26:57 like mandate better. And I don’t know if anyone else has the

9:27:01 appetite for that. But what I heard our governor say over the

9:27:07 weekend was that this is an airborne virus, which it is, and

9:27:14 that it spreads even with talking.

9:27:17 In a air conditioned clothes area. So what exactly do we

9:27:24 consider a classroom? Right now we’re spread out. We have a much

9:27:28 bigger area than a classroom would have.

9:27:31 So I feel relatively comfortable, but I really do want to

9:27:37 support the safety of our teachers and our students. So yes,

9:27:43 expected is good. And if that’s the best that the board wants, I

9:27:47 will go with that. I like mandate better.

9:27:50 Mr. Susan, did you know, I’m supposed to go a second to last go,

9:27:59 go ahead. You ready, Ms. Kimball?

9:28:02 Sorry, you’re still chewing?

9:28:04 I’m willing to change the language from where we were to what

9:28:13 they put in there today, which is expected.

9:28:16 Because I do, I do expect our staff and our students to do that.

9:28:23 But I, you know, I won’t repeat the things that I said, you know,

9:28:28 for time’s sake on Thursday about not wanting it to be mandated,

9:28:31 but I just, you know, I go back to the survey that Mr. Colucci

9:28:36 sent us that the teachers, he collected from the teachers back a

9:28:40 few weeks ago.

9:28:41 And even of the teachers, and of course, it’s been, you know,

9:28:44 almost a month, granted, since some of them put their input in,

9:28:47 but they, you know, how many of you expect to or anticipate

9:28:52 wearing masks?

9:28:53 And only 65% said yes. And of the ones who said yes, how often?

9:28:57 And the, you know, all the time was, I think, about 48%.

9:29:01 So, you know, there’s just going to be times when, when it’s not

9:29:06 going to be necessary or would it be actually getting in the way.

9:29:11 So, you know, I just still want, you know, kids there not to be

9:29:14 the discipline factor.

9:29:16 As soon as we say mandate, and we all say we don’t want to

9:29:18 discipline, you know, practice placed on it.

9:29:21 We’re asking people to be, I think the words were, be reasonable

9:29:23 in their monitoring of it.

9:29:25 You know, if we say mandate, then we, we take that out.

9:29:31 You know, if we say mandate, then we have to start making lots

9:29:34 of exceptions.

9:29:35 Except for this person, except for that person, except for when

9:29:38 you’re on the playground, except for when you’re whatever.

9:29:40 I mean, if you, if you say mandate.

9:29:42 So I think the way that it is expected, you know, we’re going to

9:29:46 set that bar.

9:29:48 You know, this is where, this is where we want everybody to be.

9:29:52 But not have to come up with, you know, a page full of rules

9:29:58 when it would, you know, we’re not, you’re not going to be in

9:30:02 trouble if you don’t have it on.

9:30:04 Ms. Duskovich?

9:30:06 So I, I’m sure you all read through what Dr. Sullivan sent us

9:30:11 from the American Pediatric Association, right?

9:30:16 Did I say that right?

9:30:17 Ms. American Academy of Pediatrics.

9:30:18 Thank you.

9:30:19 American Academy of Pediatrics.

9:30:21 One of the things I liked about it, and I think we should pay

9:30:23 attention to, is the breakdown.

9:30:25 I mentioned on Thursday, some of my concerns was having the same

9:30:29 expectations of a pre-K student that’s four years old and a 17

9:30:34 year old, you know, senior.

9:30:38 When you look at the pre-K recommendations on here, they have a

9:30:43 higher priority strategies and lower priority strategies.

9:30:49 And under the face covering section, that one’s put under lower,

9:30:52 it’s the only one that’s put under lower.

9:30:55 And it says for, face coverings for children in pre-K setting

9:30:58 may be difficult to implement.

9:31:01 I tend to agree with them.

9:31:03 Anybody that’s ever had a four year old and been around a four

9:31:05 year old.

9:31:06 And when you move up into the elementary school, the face coverings

9:31:12 is now in higher priority, but it also says children should wear

9:31:17 face coverings when harms.

9:31:21 For example, increasing hand, mouth, nose contact do not outweigh

9:31:25 benefits, which would be the potential COVID-19 risk reduction.

9:31:31 So I don’t know that if we want to, or we don’t want to, but I

9:31:36 almost feel like maybe we need different language for different

9:31:38 age groups.

9:31:39 And maybe Dr. Mullin, do you want to weigh in on that?

9:31:41 What do you think if our staff can interpret this?

9:31:45 Can they assume if we use the language expected that maybe four

9:31:48 year olds, it’s not as expected as it would be from a 17 year

9:31:53 old?

9:31:53 If that’s even that the board agrees with me, but I, I have a

9:31:57 really hard time with pre-K even kindergarten.

9:32:02 I, I, you know, I don’t know what to do with them.

9:32:06 They’re so little, it seems more dangerous to have all the

9:32:08 touching and the dropping and putting back on and wiping.

9:32:12 And it seems worse.

9:32:14 Thoughts, anybody?

9:32:16 In, in presenting it, I, I defer to, we will continue to use the

9:32:22 American Academy of Pediatrics as the reference and the go-to.

9:32:27 When making those discretionary decisions of ages and that sort

9:32:30 of thing.

9:32:31 I, I realize that brings in some discretion, but I, if we’re not

9:32:36 going to mandate, I think we need the ability to have some

9:32:39 discretion.

9:32:41 For our staff, for those youngest learners, the pre-K and that

9:32:44 sort of thing like you’ve suggested.

9:32:47 I, I guess what I’m saying is, do we need different language for

9:32:50 pre-K than we do secondary students?

9:32:52 Do, do we need expected, assuming, because I’m not willing to go

9:32:57 all the way to mandate.

9:32:58 I don’t know if three are yet, Cheryl, because the other two

9:33:00 haven’t weighed in.

9:33:01 But I’m not willing to go to mandate, but I am flexible in this

9:33:04 language, especially if we want to, do we need to differentiate?

9:33:08 Do we, do we need to have expected for older?

9:33:10 Is it helpful to be highly recommended for four year olds?

9:33:13 Or do you think the word expected can be translated correctly?

9:33:18 If, if I could make a suggestion.

9:33:20 Yes, ma’am.

9:33:21 We have individual teams that are right now working on this plan.

9:33:24 So for example, my resource teachers for ASD and, and our, um,

9:33:28 supported and participatory level are reviewing the guidelines

9:33:32 and making specific guidelines for their group.

9:33:35 I think we have people in pre-K.

9:33:37 I think we’re going to have people all over this district, uh,

9:33:40 up, up here in, um, leading and learning and student services

9:33:43 and, and HR that are going to be looking at how this

9:33:46 specifically relates to specific subgroups and are going to be

9:33:50 creating guidelines around it.

9:33:51 I don’t think that needs to be included in the plan.

9:33:53 I think we’re going to have resource teachers working on it.

9:33:55 I don’t think, I know we’re going to have resource teachers

9:33:57 working on it.

9:33:58 And do you think that they’re going to kind of pattern after

9:34:01 this and have more flexibility for four year olds?

9:34:05 And yeah, what they’re going to do is.

9:34:07 I mean, some of that seems common sense, but with 9,000

9:34:09 employees, we can’t always assume that everyone is going to

9:34:12 interpret things the same way.

9:34:14 So I’ll specifically talk about, um, this, uh, ASD population

9:34:17 and our participatory and supported level units.

9:34:21 They’re going to be looking at, okay, so are, uh, it is expected

9:34:24 they wear masks.

9:34:26 Is that, what does that look like for an ASD student?

9:34:31 And what are some of the things that we’re going to have to know

9:34:34 going in and work with that student on what does that mean to

9:34:38 wear a mask?

9:34:39 And are there sensory issues?

9:34:40 Same with supported and participatory.

9:34:42 We’re going to have to teach them, you know, how to wear the

9:34:44 mask and how not to touch the mask and how not to drop it on the

9:34:46 floor and to pick it up.

9:34:48 It’s all going to be part of what those individual teachers,

9:34:51 they’re experts.

9:34:52 I mean, they are experts in their field and they’re going to see

9:34:55 things that I didn’t see and you didn’t see, but they’re going

9:34:58 to see through this and say, we need to define what expectation

9:35:02 looks like with those special populations.

9:35:05 We need to give our teachers guidance and we need to teach them

9:35:08 and give them the information to teach the students on how to do

9:35:12 this safely and appropriately given that specific population.

9:35:17 The other text in that statement is when social distancing

9:35:21 cannot be adhered to.

9:35:23 And I think it’s important that if we go this route, that we

9:35:27 also point that out because in the cafeterias, I guess we’re

9:35:32 sitting X feet apart.

9:35:35 Did we have that written somewhere or was I reading a different

9:35:37 county’s plan?

9:35:38 I might have been reading Osceola’s.

9:35:42 There’s going to be a lot of times that you can social distance.

9:35:45 Osceola, their plan was interesting.

9:35:47 It’s not their plan, but it’s like a three page flyer.

9:35:49 It looked like that maybe they’re sending out to parents and it

9:35:53 actually said things like wear your mask in the hallway.

9:35:58 But, you know, if you’re at your desk and everybody is spaced

9:36:00 out and sitting, you can take a break for a while.

9:36:03 And Miss Campbell kind of referred to you need a break sometimes

9:36:05 if you’ve had it on for hours and hours and hours.

9:36:08 I just want to make sure we don’t have, you know, a kid just

9:36:11 needs a little break and they take it off and then teacher is,

9:36:15 you know, not happy and they’re scared and the kids are picking

9:36:19 on them.

9:36:20 Or I just, this whole mask thing is so, I mean, just look around

9:36:24 with adults.

9:36:25 They can’t even behave nicely with each other when, you know,

9:36:28 and make exceptions for each other.

9:36:30 So, I have concerns for our staff and our students.

9:36:34 Short answer is I’m most comfortable with our former language of

9:36:38 strongly recommended.

9:36:40 but I understand that expected is, might be where we end up

9:36:44 going.

9:36:45 Does that give you enough to work with for me?

9:36:48 And I would love to see a little differentiation between ages.

9:36:52 Mr. Susan.

9:36:54 Well, I’d like to mandate common areas and I’ll tell you why.

9:37:00 Classrooms are going to be very difficult to, to monitor and to

9:37:04 keep in control.

9:37:05 But I truly believe in what Ms. Campbell and others have said

9:37:08 that there’s going to be situations where everybody gets

9:37:10 together, that they’re going to be on top of each other.

9:37:13 They’re going to want to move together.

9:37:14 They’re going to bump into each other.

9:37:16 And if we’re going to truly stop the spread of this virus, I

9:37:19 think that we need to do everything we can in order to do that.

9:37:23 Now, I think that inside the classroom, that’s very difficult.

9:37:26 A lot of my teacher friends have said that it’s going to be way

9:37:28 too much for us to actually monitor and work inside the

9:37:31 classrooms and keep them on top of it.

9:37:34 And just like you said, Ms. Deskovich, they want to take those

9:37:36 things off.

9:37:37 They want to be able to, you know, eat and a bunch of other

9:37:40 things.

9:37:41 But the key is, is that in those common areas, in between the

9:37:44 class changes, in between all of that stuff, I think that it behooves

9:37:48 us to do it.

9:37:49 Because if it is going to stop the transmission of what we hope

9:37:52 is, you know, and help our students and not shut down schools

9:37:56 and not infect people, I think we would do it.

9:37:59 So my idea is not to go as far as you do, Cheryl, but I’d be

9:38:02 open to going for the common areas.

9:38:05 And then with a strong suggestion, just like we have currently.

9:38:09 Thank you. I’m sorry.

9:38:12 Sure.

9:38:15 So we talk about as long if there’s social distancing.

9:38:20 So I’m getting questions asked.

9:38:23 What exactly will consist of social distancing?

9:38:27 How far apart?

9:38:28 We’re saying six, but we know some of our classrooms.

9:38:31 That’s going to be very difficult to do six feet apart.

9:38:34 I’m just saying it’s the reality.

9:38:37 So if we say expected, does that give the teacher the teeth to

9:38:42 do what they need to do to keep everyone in that classroom safe?

9:38:46 I just want to ask them the question.

9:38:48 That’s all.

9:38:49 So anyone want to, I mean, I think we discussed that we’re

9:38:59 basically utilizing the AAP three foot in our classrooms.

9:39:04 Correct, Ms. Moore?

9:39:05 No, when we were discussing social distancing, it is six feet.

9:39:10 And please correct me if you have a different impression.

9:39:15 I’m looking at Dr. Sullivan and Ms. Klein, but it is 12 feet.

9:39:23 And when we said that, six feet, six feet, sorry.

9:39:26 I was just adding.

9:39:28 It is six feet.

9:39:29 And when we said expectation that if that can’t be met, that

9:39:34 students wear a face covering, it was based on the six foot

9:39:39 guidance.

9:39:40 When we talk, you know, the three feet number came out of some AAP

9:39:45 information that we were given.

9:39:48 But the fact of the matter is when we were talking about face

9:39:50 coverings, we were talking about if we can’t meet that six feet

9:39:54 criteria,

9:39:55 we would expect that our students wear, our students and our

9:39:58 teachers wear face coverings.

9:40:01 To add to the confusion, the DOE reopening plan also referenced

9:40:09 the three feet and the smaller distances.

9:40:14 So after Thursday’s board meeting, some different directions

9:40:18 from the board and our discussion with Dr. Mullins,

9:40:22 that’s why we clarified the language on the social distancing,

9:40:25 meaning the six foot.

9:40:27 So in some cases, that would mean in the classroom.

9:40:30 Some cases that would mean in the hallways.

9:40:32 The campuses are so different.

9:40:34 That’s the tricky part.

9:40:36 But our intention was what has been practiced in society in

9:40:41 general is if you can’t social distance, you wear the mask.

9:40:47 So that if that’s the definition, then we’re going to have some

9:40:54 kids that are considered as six feet apart and wouldn’t have to

9:40:57 wear the mask all day.

9:40:59 And then we have some classrooms that can only be three feet

9:41:01 apart and would have to sit in a mask all day.

9:41:04 That seems very unfair.

9:41:06 That’s unfortunately pandemic is not fair.

9:41:11 Right.

9:41:12 But I’m looking at the the pediatric site again, and it says desks

9:41:15 should be placed three to six feet apart.

9:41:18 And I just want to be clear where that was just our logic.

9:41:25 We defer to whatever you guys decide.

9:41:27 No, I’m trying to, you know, I’m talking about what’s right and

9:41:30 what’s healthy and what’s recommended by experts right now.

9:41:33 And the American Academy of Pediatrics.

9:41:36 Did I get it right that time?

9:41:37 Yes.

9:41:38 Ms. Belford.

9:41:39 Is recommending three to six feet.

9:41:42 Why would they, why would they start with the three?

9:41:45 Because they want to be nice and they know we have small

9:41:46 classrooms.

9:41:47 I wouldn’t think the American Academy of Pediatrics would take

9:41:50 that in place.

9:41:50 Can I address that real quick, Ms. Duskovich?

9:41:52 Yes, ma’am.

9:41:53 I think they actually lay it out in the document.

9:41:56 They say evidence suggests that spacing as close as three feet

9:42:00 may approach the benefits of six feet of space, particularly if

9:42:04 students are wearing face coverings and are asymptomatic.

9:42:10 So that’s their logic for justifying three feet because they

9:42:14 have apparently found, although they don’t cite their source,

9:42:17 that three feet gives the same benefit as six feet.

9:42:21 If there are face coverings and asymptomatic.

9:42:25 So let me just throw this out there.

9:42:27 One of at least my major concerns, and I think it is with you

9:42:30 all for mandating masks or highly recommending or expecting

9:42:34 masks is to protect our teachers and staff.

9:42:37 Because many of the people that want to send their children back

9:42:40 to brick and mortar are, that I have heard from, absolutely do

9:42:44 not want any masks.

9:42:46 And so, you know, I’m like, well, okay, if you’re super afraid

9:42:50 and you absolutely want your kids in a mask, you have all these

9:42:54 other options to do online schooling and such.

9:42:57 That’s where you’re safest anyway is to do e-learning at home or

9:43:00 Brevard virtual.

9:43:01 But now then we have this teachers and staff that we want to

9:43:04 protect and they don’t want a classroom full of students.

9:43:07 Some of them do not want a classroom full of students that are

9:43:10 unmasked, but the teacher could social distance.

9:43:15 The students may not have a choice if we have 20 in a classroom

9:43:18 and it’s small, but the teacher can social distance.

9:43:22 Is that, what do you guys think?

9:43:24 Is that a fair statement?

9:43:26 The teacher can always stay six feet apart or no?

9:43:28 Is that not a, just in some cases?

9:43:31 By the nature of their job at some point, they’re going to have

9:43:34 to get close.

9:43:35 I feel like here, you know, we’ve, it’s, we’ve upped the

9:43:42 language from where we were on Thursday.

9:43:44 I think we’re, we’re in this balance and we’re not going to make

9:43:47 everybody happy in any of these decisions today, probably.

9:43:53 Are we going to make everybody happy?

9:43:55 Because people think so differently.

9:43:57 I think by, by leaving it at expected, we can up the bar of the

9:44:03 expectation level, right?

9:44:07 Probably up the bar of the percentage of people who are aware of

9:44:10 them, right?

9:44:11 We’re, you know, like I said, we have our support from the union.

9:44:17 I know I just got an email the other day saying, hey, I hope you’ll

9:44:19 support Ms. Belford.

9:44:21 I think you were the first one to bring it up the other day, to

9:44:23 bring it, changing language from Strong and Encouraged to Expect,

9:44:26 like transportation.

9:44:27 But we, we don’t have the discipline factor in there, but we do

9:44:33 have the, here, here’s where I’m concerned.

9:44:36 These are the two things I want to stay away from.

9:44:38 I want us to stay away from, you know, disciplining either an

9:44:41 employee or a student because I took a breather.

9:44:44 But I also have heard some, some concern from some teachers that

9:44:48 they somehow, I’m not sure how this got around, but they, they

9:44:52 were, they had the expectation that they won’t be able to have,

9:44:55 let’s say, a mask lesson on the first day of school.

9:44:58 This is why we wear one. This is how we wear one. And

9:45:00 instruction in that. And I, I know that didn’t come from anybody

9:45:03 in this room.

9:45:04 So I, I also want us to stay away from that. I don’t have a

9:45:07 problem at all, even though I don’t want us to mandate masks.

9:45:10 I don’t have a problem at all with a, here’s, here’s how we take

9:45:12 care of one. Here’s how you wear it. You don’t, you know, put it

9:45:15 under your chin, like we see people all the time.

9:45:17 You know, this is, this is what social distancing means because,

9:45:21 you know, kindergartners don’t necessarily know what that means.

9:45:24 I don’t want us to do that either. I, I’m fully open unless

9:45:28 there’s some reason why they can’t.

9:45:31 I mean, I don’t see any reason why we can’t have teachers who

9:45:33 actually incorporate that in part of our, a science lesson or a

9:45:37 social studies lesson or, you know, morning meeting or whatever.

9:45:41 Am I, am I on target with that?

9:45:44 Yeah. Yeah. No, nobody, nobody from here has said that they can’t

9:45:48 do that. In fact, it would be totally appropriate.

9:45:50 Good. Good. Thank you for saying that. It’s on the record.

9:45:54 So let’s discuss mandated for a second. What is, if, if we went

9:45:59 with Mr. Susan’s route of mandating in common areas.

9:46:02 So you think in hallways and things of that nature, Mr. Susan,

9:46:05 where you start walking around and getting closer together. Is

9:46:07 that what you’re recommending?

9:46:10 Yeah. And Dr. Mullins made a good point. Um, one of the issues

9:46:14 when we start mandating, which is, I think some of the biggest

9:46:16 piece is the, um, becoming a disciplined nightmare.

9:46:20 That’s what I was just going to ask what happens when they, when

9:46:23 they won’t.

9:46:24 I mean, you got the kid that wears the hat in the hallway, take

9:46:26 the hat off. I told you for the fifth time, go down to the

9:46:28 office. Right. So, um, I just, I want to try to put as many

9:46:33 controls in place because I want our teachers to feel safe.

9:46:35 Like Ms. Belford said, um, I, I, you know, the reason that I

9:46:38 wanted to do common areas is because there’s, I saw another

9:46:42 school district did it.

9:46:44 And that seems to me to be the place where they would spread it

9:46:46 the most. Right. Um, but I don’t want to bring a recommendation

9:46:49 forward.

9:46:50 That’s going to end up becoming a massive, um, disciplinary

9:46:53 issue for some of our admin. They’re already going to be taxed.

9:46:57 So I wanted to discuss it. I wanted to throw it on the table,

9:46:59 say, Hey, let’s workshop this thing. Let’s see what happens.

9:47:02 And then if we can get it through, we do, if we don’t, then I’ll

9:47:05 tell you right now, if I’ve got a bunch of people walking around

9:47:08 that school saying, no, I’m not wearing a mask, I’m not doing

9:47:10 this stuff.

9:47:11 And I’m ready to mandate that point because I want to protect my

9:47:14 teachers. If I’ve got kids that are going to go into classrooms

9:47:17 and act inappropriately, um, I feel strongly that if we don’t do

9:47:21 something about it, that we need to protect our teachers and our

9:47:23 other students. So that’s all.

9:47:25 So you want a punishment at that point if they don’t, we just

9:47:27 got to find a way we have to find a way to make sure that

9:47:31 individuals take this serious and wear masks period.

9:47:35 Because if we mandate and they refuse, what’s, what is the, if

9:47:39 we mandate and they refuse, it’s going to be a discipline issue.

9:47:44 So then you’ll have kids being sent down. And so what, what’s

9:47:48 the, if there’s no meat, the kids are going to be like, you’re

9:47:51 not gonna do anything to me. I’ll keep walking down there and

9:47:52 keep going back to the class.

9:47:54 Is there a punishment at that point? We look at it and say, are

9:47:57 we going to create punishments?

9:47:59 Because it’s the other end of that is, is that we’re shutting

9:48:03 down schools and kids are sick and teachers are sick and we have

9:48:06 to go that route.

9:48:07 My daughter is going to get on a bus, whether it’s August 17th

9:48:10 or 24th.

9:48:11 She’s going to sit next to a kid right next to her, whether that

9:48:14 person has a mask on or not.

9:48:16 I would like to think that, you know, that the individuals that

9:48:19 are around her are going to be wearing a mask.

9:48:21 And that’s just how I feel.

9:48:24 Um, I think the same thing for my 17 year old, when she goes to

9:48:26 the era high school, she’s going to be walking through that

9:48:28 courtyard.

9:48:29 And I would like to think that if the bottlenecks at one of the

9:48:32 gates that she’s protected, that she’s not going to walk through

9:48:36 what would be, um, some other things.

9:48:38 I, that’s just my personal view, but I don’t want it to create a

9:48:41 nightmare, but I still don’t want our, I mean, what are we

9:48:44 saying that we wouldn’t want it to become a discipline issue.

9:48:47 But at the same time, if we’re not going to protect our teachers

9:48:49 and our students from, from shutting down schools, I mean, that’s,

9:48:52 you know, that’s all.

9:48:53 So there’s got to be a window and this might be it that I wanted

9:48:55 to discuss. I wanted to make it a discussion.

9:48:57 I just don’t think I’m clear on you is you, you want to mandate

9:48:59 it, but without punishment or without repercussions, without

9:49:02 discipline.

9:49:03 How are you going to make that happen?

9:49:05 We’d all would like to think that everyone’s going to be wearing

9:49:07 one and protecting our children that are next to them.

9:49:10 But how are we going to make sure that happens? Do we, do we

9:49:13 send them home?

9:49:15 I mean, is that, is that legal? If you don’t wear a mask, you go

9:49:18 home.

9:49:19 I just want to understand where you stand on this. This can’t be

9:49:22 a, I wish everybody was.

9:49:24 We have to make a decision today on, on with actual, you know.

9:49:29 Could I, I haven’t had an opportunity to weigh in yet.

9:49:32 And I think that, um, I think maybe we should hear all of the

9:49:36 thoughts before we try to, to whittle it down.

9:49:39 If you guys are okay with that. Um, so I have, I have a couple

9:49:44 of concerns.

9:49:45 One, the statement that I read to you all a few minutes ago, and

9:49:49 that is that the three feet is appropriate when students are

9:49:55 wearing masks and are asymptomatic.

9:49:58 Um, and I have expressed throughout this process, my extreme

9:50:02 concern, um, for our students and their families,

9:50:06 Um, but also, especially for our faculty and our staff, because

9:50:10 they don’t have the option of distance learning or, or e-learning,

9:50:16 virtual learning.

9:50:17 Um, not being exposed, right? We, we just don’t have good

9:50:21 options for them to not expose themselves.

9:50:23 Um, and secondarily the people that they care about. And so that

9:50:26 has weighed incredibly heavy on me throughout this process.

9:50:28 Um, and it didn’t really hit me until we were a good ways

9:50:33 through our meeting last Thursday that we’re talking three feet,

9:50:40 not six feet in our classrooms.

9:50:43 Um, and then when I read this AAP suggestion, I went, ooh,

9:50:49 because I really was not aware when we were having the

9:50:51 discussion that that three feet from the AAP is, is, uh, with

9:50:56 face coverings and asymptomatic.

9:50:59 Um, and so that is a, a serious, serious concern for me.

9:51:04 Later in the document, it actually goes on to say that school

9:51:06 staff working with students who are unable to wear cloth face

9:51:09 covering and who must be in close proximity to them should

9:51:12 ideally wear N95 masks.

9:51:15 When access to N95 masks is limited, a surgical mask in

9:51:19 combination with a face shield should be used face shields or

9:51:23 other forms of eye protection should also be used when working

9:51:25 with students unable to manage secretions.

9:51:28 And so basically what they, what they have said is if we are not

9:51:32 going to make our students wear masks, then we should make our

9:51:36 teachers wear masks to keep them safe.

9:51:40 Um, and both of those, I think are, I think are reasonable

9:51:46 expectations to be able to keep our schools open, to be able to

9:51:50 send our teachers and our staff home to their families at night

9:51:54 with some level of comfort and safety.

9:51:56 Um, to give our teachers some level of comfort in coming back

9:51:59 into the classroom as opposed to choosing to retire or changing

9:52:02 careers altogether.

9:52:04 Um, I do think that we need to, um, give exceptions.

9:52:09 So if they are, if so social distancing at the six foot level is,

9:52:15 um, doable, then I, I think they should have an opportunity to

9:52:21 not wear a mask during that timeframe when they are in fact six

9:52:23 feet away from everyone.

9:52:25 Um, I think we need to give some exceptions for extenuating

9:52:29 circumstances, um, for our kids that have sensory issues for our,

9:52:35 um, you know, our teachers that have asthma and, and can’t wear

9:52:39 a mask for, I think there’s some level of common sense that

9:52:43 perhaps the, the working group can put in there.

9:52:46 Um, and I like that we have moved to expect, but my concern is

9:52:50 like when I asked earlier about how summer school is going and

9:52:54 how mask wearing is going.

9:52:57 We’re not, we’re not pushing masks, right?

9:52:59 We’re not, we’re not enforcing because we just say that we

9:53:02 expect masks.

9:53:03 And so I, I feel like we need to make it very clear that we

9:53:06 expect everyone to have a mask on unless you are six feet away

9:53:10 or you have some reason that you literally cannot wear a mask.

9:53:14 And I, I think we need to even take it to the point that we need

9:53:17 to offer a mask.

9:53:18 If a student comes into a class or is getting on a bus and they

9:53:20 don’t have a mask on, I think we need to offer and encourage for

9:53:24 them to wear one, not in favor of discipline.

9:53:26 I, you know, the last thing we need to do is suspend kids from

9:53:29 school or anything crazy like that.

9:53:31 But at the same time, we’ve got to have some strong language to

9:53:36 encourage that this is actually taking place because otherwise I,

9:53:42 I fear that we’re not even going to have enough teachers to

9:53:45 start the school year.

9:53:46 And then as soon as they start getting sick, we’re going to be

9:53:48 up a creek and meeting class size amendment, forget it at that

9:53:51 point, we’re not going to have any options.

9:53:54 Um, so I, I do feel strongly, I would be happy to mandate with

9:53:58 exceptions.

9:53:59 Um, but if, if, you know, the will of the board is to just

9:54:03 expect, then I would ask that we be very clear that that is a

9:54:07 strong expectation and that our team members do what they can to

9:54:11 encourage that that is followed through on without discipline.

9:54:15 So my true sense.

9:54:17 I don’t know how that plays into everyone else’s thoughts, but.

9:54:20 I do like, by the way, the differentiation, Ms. Descovich, like

9:54:30 following the pre K probably doesn’t need to wear based on the

9:54:34 recommendations in here.

9:54:36 And secondary schools, they were very clear.

9:54:39 There’s no reason why.

9:54:40 Yeah.

9:54:41 And to support that when you look at cases diagnosed that age

9:54:45 group is very minimal, very, very minimal.

9:54:48 And maybe that’s because most of them are home with their mom.

9:54:50 I have, I have no idea why that’s minimal or they just don’t

9:54:52 transmit it.

9:54:53 I’ve read things about that, but between the, the, you know, the,

9:54:56 the chance of them really keeping it on and not making it more

9:54:59 of a disaster and the fact that the cases are very minimal.

9:55:03 So I guess we need to, because this is something we’re voting on

9:55:09 today, right?

9:55:11 It’s on the action agenda.

9:55:12 We need to, if, if there was any changes that we’re going to

9:55:17 make today, you know, do at least three of us feel like we need

9:55:23 to change it from what it is right here today?

9:55:25 Knowing this is a flexible breathing document, you know, or, or

9:55:31 when you say you want it to be very strong, you want to leave

9:55:36 this wording the way it is, but make sure in our implementation

9:55:40 of it that we are providing masks that we are, you know, talking

9:55:46 about it.

9:55:46 They’ve already talked about making videos to encourage people

9:55:49 along with the hand washing videos and all that where, you know,

9:55:52 what are we talking about?

9:55:55 I, personally, I would like to go to mandate, but that, that’s

9:55:59 just my, I, because I, I feel like we’re not going to get, um,

9:56:03 response.

9:56:04 But I understand that we need to find a happy medium that works

9:56:06 for everyone.

9:56:07 So, um, the only thing that I would say is I think we need to

9:56:10 define social distancing, um, because three feet is not social

9:56:15 distancing.

9:56:16 So if we’re, when we cannot be six feet apart, when there are

9:56:20 exceptions, you know what I mean?

9:56:23 I, I, and whether that is done in this statement or done in

9:56:26 implementation, I don’t care.

9:56:28 But, um, but I do think that we need to be very proactive about

9:56:32 encouraging, supporting, um, all students to wear masks if they

9:56:38 are not six feet away.

9:56:39 And staff as well, quite frankly, unless they have, obviously

9:56:43 those students who have sensory issues or health issues that

9:56:48 prevent them from wearing masks.

9:56:49 We understand that, but.

9:56:50 Ms. Belford, can I ask, um, Ms. Klein and Ms. Sullivan to weigh

9:56:54 in on what they think since this is a big deal?

9:56:56 Um, Ms. Klein first and Ms. Sullivan second or vice versa?

9:57:01 We will work to, to make whatever we can happen.

9:57:15 Uh, I’m thinking about capacity in the classroom of six foot,

9:57:20 feet between each desk.

9:57:23 Uh, on the state plan, I believe page 58 talks about six feet is,

9:57:31 is not always possible in the classroom.

9:57:36 So we will make those adjustments.

9:57:40 And cafeteria will have to make additional adjustments in there

9:57:48 as well.

9:57:50 Because currently the plan was three students on, at a seat area

9:57:56 with the bench seat.

9:57:59 I think with six feet, we’ll have to go to two.

9:58:03 One on each end.

9:58:06 Ms. Klein, is it, is your interpretation that it’s going to be

9:58:10 very difficult to make sure, guarantee that we’re going to be,

9:58:14 um, three feet apart, six feet apart?

9:58:17 I mean, here’s what I’m getting at.

9:58:20 If we’re wearing masks inside the classroom, you can do small

9:58:23 group, correct?

9:58:25 Correct.

9:58:26 You can get closer.

9:58:27 The, the, the validity of the education and the, the, is, is a

9:58:30 little bit more.

9:58:32 Um, and I, I just physically, there’s a couple of my schools

9:58:36 that I know down in the Melbourne area that I think a lot of the

9:58:40 kids are going to come back.

9:58:41 And I think that we’re going to be in a situation where six foot

9:58:44 social distancing is going to be very, very difficult.

9:58:47 And I know that right now we, we want to be able to say, oh, no,

9:58:50 we’re going to be six foot social distance.

9:58:53 I can promise you there will be instances inside our school

9:58:56 district that we’re not going to be.

9:58:58 So at that point, does it behoove us to do this?

9:59:02 So anyways, Ms. Klein, I’m sorry.

9:59:04 That wasn’t a question.

9:59:05 That’s me just rambling.

9:59:06 Um, do you have anything else to say on the topic?

9:59:08 So I will say that currently in our summer gear program, we have,

9:59:15 um, struggled with keeping students six feet.

9:59:19 Not because we don’t have space because those class sizes are

9:59:23 extremely small, but because children like to be near each other.

9:59:29 And so, uh, that’s been a, um, something that we’ve dealt with

9:59:34 every day in the summer program.

9:59:37 The other thing is I, I truly believe in the hallways because to

9:59:42 mandate, right?

9:59:44 You think of 17 first graders in a line six feet apart, walking

9:59:49 down the hallway, they’re going to have to be in a mask in the

9:59:54 hallways.

9:59:56 But I also know that we have to take into account children who

10:00:00 cannot physically wear masks.

10:00:03 Also adults, we have teachers who, because of a medical

10:00:07 condition, cannot wear a mask.

10:00:10 And I think we have to remember that as we plan this out.

10:00:14 But I also believe that, as Ms. Moore said earlier, we have

10:00:19 groups that are working on trying to work this down by specific

10:00:26 grade level, by specific need.

10:00:31 And I agree with Ms. Deskovich, it’s important that we look at

10:00:35 it by developmental level.

10:00:37 Because a first grader, or a kindergartner, or a four year old

10:00:41 in a mask is different than a 17 year old.

10:00:44 Just, just to add, for clarification, and I, it’s for my,

10:00:52 because I met with the team about it, I don’t know, a couple

10:00:54 days ago now.

10:00:55 The social distancing, the, the caveat when social distancing

10:00:58 cannot be adhered to, is applicable wherever a student is in the,

10:01:03 in the school.

10:01:04 Whether it’s in the classroom, whether it’s in the hallway, you

10:01:06 know, those types of things.

10:01:08 So that, it’s not, that’s not a caveat just in the classroom,

10:01:11 that’s anywhere.

10:01:13 The, the vision is like we are, wearing the mask, you know,

10:01:18 pulling up the, whatever.

10:01:21 It, it’s one of these all day long.

10:01:23 And we teach, and we help our students and each other remember

10:01:27 and hold, have some, I would suggest, positive peer pressure.

10:01:31 That we all own each other’s safety by applying our, hey, we’re,

10:01:35 we’re too close, let’s put our mask on.

10:01:38 Um, maybe, maybe that’s over, over idealistic, but that was what

10:01:42 we talked about.

10:01:44 It’s, it’s going to be an on and off and on and off circumstance

10:01:47 and situation, uh, which is a different environment than just

10:01:50 strongly recommend.

10:01:52 Because then you have an environment where students never have a

10:01:57 mask and never wear a mask and those who do by choice.

10:02:01 So just, that was my vision of encapsulating what this statement

10:02:06 feels and it will be a culture building environment.

10:02:10 I mean, mandatory masks will be, there’ll be as much effort

10:02:13 managing that environment as there with this, just from a

10:02:16 different perspective.

10:02:17 But again, uh, I just, I had to share that because that was my

10:02:21 thought process as we went through this from the strongly

10:02:24 recommend to the expectation, so.

10:02:33 So, I’m the one that read the 13,000 plus comments.

10:02:40 And, um, uh, our teachers, our students and our parents feel

10:02:46 strongly and feel differently.

10:02:50 And so, um, you know, that’s going to present itself as an issue

10:02:55 pretty immediately to our schools.

10:02:58 Um, we have staff members and teachers that feel strongly about

10:03:02 masks and not wearing them.

10:03:05 And we have several that feel strongly about wearing them.

10:03:09 So we’re, we’re balancing the strong opinions of parents,

10:03:12 students themselves and teachers and staff and administrators.

10:03:18 And they’re not always, um, medically driven, um, or at least

10:03:21 they are in their mind.

10:03:23 So we landed at expected and at social distancing because I’d

10:03:30 like to believe that regardless of everybody’s different opinion,

10:03:37 that people’s personal space, everybody respects.

10:03:42 Like regardless of the differing opinions, um, whether those

10:03:46 opinions are driven by medical, political, I don’t know,

10:03:52 whatever, that everybody respects people’s personal space.

10:03:55 And so the fact of the matter is, I think we all are the kind of

10:03:59 humans that respect that, that respect, even if it’s not

10:04:03 necessarily what I do on my own on the weekend, I’m going to

10:04:05 wear it because I’m in your personal space.

10:04:08 And six feet is really our personal space and where it used to

10:04:11 be maybe like two feet.

10:04:13 And so now our personal space has gotten wider.

10:04:17 And so I think ultimately like that’s where I land, like no

10:04:23 matter what you feel about masks in general, like people deserve

10:04:28 their personal space to feel comfortable and safe.

10:04:32 And we can do that for each other.

10:04:34 Um, so I, I don’t know if that answered your question on my

10:04:38 opinion.

10:04:39 Um, our campuses are really different and some of our campuses,

10:04:42 the, the outdoor space, they actually are spread apart.

10:04:46 Um, you know, like our presidential schools, I would have to say,

10:04:50 yeah, you need to wear, I mean, that’s just too much contact.

10:04:54 So, um, we landed here because it was really about each person

10:05:01 deserves their space to be respected.

10:05:06 And that’s, that’s all I got for you.

10:05:08 Dr. Mullen, do you want to weigh in?

10:05:10 Uh, I, I just think we, we keep going with the narrative.

10:05:16 Here’s where I keep going back and forth.

10:05:18 We keep going with the narrative that we’re going to be socially

10:05:21 distanced.

10:05:22 We’re going to do all of those things.

10:05:23 And I agree with you, Ms. Sullivan, that we are going, people do

10:05:26 respect each other.

10:05:27 Um, but I do know that on those buses, those kids are sitting

10:05:31 next to each other in those common areas.

10:05:34 They’re going to, like you said, line up those little first

10:05:36 graders.

10:05:37 They’re going to bump into each other.

10:05:38 Um, there’s, there’s a lot there that I think is, is really,

10:05:42 really, uh, concern for me for spread.

10:05:46 And if that’s what we’re literally going to move our entire

10:05:49 secondary over to a new policy procedure to capture 50%

10:05:53 reduction in the amount of travel and everything else,

10:05:55 I think that this is something that we should really work on and

10:05:58 have a conversation about.

10:06:00 So that’s all.

10:06:01 Dr. Mullins.

10:06:02 All right.

10:06:06 After we worked through the, the comments and the feedback from

10:06:10 the community and our board discussion last week,

10:06:13 this is the language that, uh, we are bringing forward as a

10:06:16 recommendation,

10:06:17 but we certainly will follow the wishes of the board.

10:06:19 Ms. McDougall, did you want to talk?

10:06:28 I, I just for a few minutes.

10:06:30 I, I don’t have a problem.

10:06:33 I can go with expected.

10:06:35 It is expected.

10:06:37 When you are less than six,

10:06:40 if the social distancing isn’t there,

10:06:43 it’s gotta be expected because we wear a mask to protect the

10:06:48 other person.

10:06:49 We’re not necessarily protecting ourselves.

10:06:51 We’re protecting the other person.

10:06:53 So I really feel that’s an important message that we convey to

10:06:57 our students and staff.

10:06:59 You’re protecting your students.

10:07:02 You’re protecting your buddy,

10:07:03 especially if you’re not been able to be six feet apart.

10:07:06 I get that six feet apart.

10:07:09 I get that somebody who’s four or five, three.

10:07:12 It’s going to be very difficult.

10:07:14 And I don’t think,

10:07:15 I would be very surprised if we can get the whole students to do

10:07:18 that and maintain it.

10:07:19 It, it, it would be very difficult.

10:07:21 No, I don’t want any punishment,

10:07:23 but I do expect that in the classroom,

10:07:26 when people are two feet apart or three feet apart that they’re

10:07:30 wearing a mask.

10:07:32 That’s what I expect.

10:07:35 So as much as I would like to push toward mandate for all the

10:07:42 reasons that I stated,

10:07:44 I am, I am fine going with the expected.

10:07:49 Um, but I do think we need clarity in however you achieve this,

10:07:55 uh, when your work groups get together.

10:07:57 I do think we need clarity on social distancing being six feet

10:08:00 apart and not three feet apart.

10:08:02 Um, I do also think that it needs to be,

10:08:05 um,

10:08:06 that all of our adults need to be encouraged to encourage the

10:08:17 others to be wearing masks.

10:08:19 So, um, what I don’t want is for example,

10:08:22 I got an email from one of our bus drivers who said,

10:08:24 and I don’t know if everyone was copied on it or not,

10:08:27 but, uh, he or she is driving for our summer program.

10:08:30 And, um, the other morning, five kids got on the bus.

10:08:34 Maybe it was six kids got on the bus.

10:08:36 Five kids had a mask.

10:08:38 Um, there was no mask offered to the sixth one.

10:08:41 Just assumed that there was a decision made not to wear a mask

10:08:46 as opposed to,

10:08:47 “Hey, did you want a mask so you can have the same as your

10:08:51 friends?”

10:08:52 Or, you know what I mean?

10:08:53 I think there was an assumption that it was a protest to wearing

10:08:56 a mask

10:08:56 as opposed to just a lack of having a mask to wear.

10:09:00 Um, and then in the afternoon when the kids got back on the bus,

10:09:04 uh, I, I think only one or two of them had masks still at that

10:09:08 point.

10:09:09 Um, and there again, no mask offered to them.

10:09:14 So my concern is that if we go with expected as opposed to

10:09:18 mandate,

10:09:19 that our adults who are primarily going to be responsible for

10:09:24 keeping our school safe, right?

10:09:26 Because we’re not going to be there to handle it each and every

10:09:28 day at all of our schools.

10:09:30 Um, I think it’s really important that they do the best that

10:09:33 they can to encourage that students are participating.

10:09:37 That doesn’t mean you strong arm them and tell them, you know,

10:09:39 you have to wear a mask or you’re going to get in trouble.

10:09:42 But I absolutely don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying,

10:09:45 “Hey, Susie, I have an extra mask here. Did you want to wear it?”

10:09:48 Um, because I, I, I think we, oh, apparently Siri thinks her

10:09:54 name is Susie. I apologize.

10:09:57 Um, I think we need to do what we can to encourage as many

10:10:02 people as possible and to be prepared to support those students

10:10:06 in doing that.

10:10:06 So that would be, that would be my request, Dr. Mullins, if you

10:10:11 feel that appropriate.

10:10:13 Can I ask the question to Ms. Deskovich and Ms. Campbell?

10:10:16 What, at what point would it be that you guys feel sufficient

10:10:18 that we would move to something that would be mandatory at all?

10:10:21 That’s what I was, I think that’s what I’m wrestling with.

10:10:24 Um, because in my mind I see a sequence of events happening and

10:10:28 coming back and that’s the reason I was willing to go there.

10:10:31 But is there a will to say that, you know, once it, if this is

10:10:34 what we see, the kids aren’t social distancing.

10:10:37 We’re seeing, you know, people are, things are happening.

10:10:40 Would you guys move towards that then or is that not something

10:10:42 that you would do then?

10:10:43 I would rather, oh, Ms. Campbell, do you want to go?

10:10:50 Go ahead.

10:10:51 I would rather see us work really hard to social distance.

10:10:55 I would rather see us come up with funds so that we can bring

10:11:00 down the class sizes.

10:11:02 High school’s one thing.

10:11:04 I think those kids can put on a mask and manage it.

10:11:06 But when I picture what’s, I just picture being in the

10:11:08 elementary school.

10:11:09 And social distancing, I think you can make that, especially in

10:11:15 classrooms, if we had the funds, like, that works.

10:11:19 You’re six feet from somebody.

10:11:21 You’re hopefully not going to, you’re, what’s the word for your

10:11:27 tears and your sneezes and your fluids?

10:11:30 Your body fluids are probably not going to go six feet.

10:11:34 You know, masks, they just, especially with the little ones,

10:11:40 like, pull it up over your nose, pull it down, pull it here.

10:11:43 It just seems so, I don’t know that, it’s just, it’s super

10:11:46 frustrating.

10:11:47 I want us to be able to have smaller class sizes desperately.

10:11:50 I want us to be six feet apart because I think that is the

10:11:55 safest avenue.

10:11:57 If we come back and there’s 30 kids to a class and they’re

10:11:59 socially distanced, one foot, different scenario, we come back

10:12:06 to this?

10:12:09 Which classes do we have 30 kids in?

10:12:11 No, just, I was just throwing out a hypothetical.

10:12:13 PE.

10:12:14 We’re not socially distanced.

10:12:15 PE.

10:12:16 Well, PE, I’m hoping they can be six feet apart if there’s 30,

10:12:19 right?

10:12:20 They should be outside.

10:12:23 You know, in the same document that we’re pulling from, it says,

10:12:26 this is for the elementary school kids again.

10:12:28 Similarly, reducing classmate interaction or play in elementary

10:12:33 school aged children may not provide enough COVID risk reduction

10:12:37 to justify potential harms.

10:12:39 I was listening to this trying to do six feet at the tables and,

10:12:42 you know, you’ve seen some of those images online of two little

10:12:47 guys at opposite ends of the table in a cafeteria and then a

10:12:50 whole other table and two little guys.

10:12:53 And those images are sad.

10:12:57 Like, and I think that’s what they’re trying to capture in here,

10:13:00 that some of these decisions we’re making, where’s the, where’s

10:13:04 the cost?

10:13:05 There’s other harms.

10:13:06 There’s other harms and that’s what they’re trying to say.

10:13:09 There’s emotional harms.

10:13:10 There’s mental harms.

10:13:11 And so I’m just trying to get my head around where that line is.

10:13:16 And I think it’s different for age groups.

10:13:19 I think two teenagers having to sit like that, they may be

10:13:22 irritated with you, but they can do it.

10:13:24 And I don’t think there’s emotional harm.

10:13:27 Five year olds, six year olds doing that week after week after

10:13:31 week, you know, don’t touch, stay apart, put your mask on.

10:13:35 I understand we need to do, we want to do it for health reasons,

10:13:38 but with their numbers being so low, them being the carriers so

10:13:42 low of every, all the research, how much do we want to put on

10:13:47 them and, and cause these problems that I think that the, the

10:13:53 American, American pediatric.

10:13:56 So seriously.

10:13:57 Thank you.

10:13:58 I think that’s what they’re trying to get at with this document

10:14:00 that we need to watch their mental health.

10:14:03 And so I, I know I just muddied the water a little bit with some

10:14:06 other things, but I, this whole plan, this whole document is a

10:14:10 big picture.

10:14:11 And I want to make sure we’re capturing the whole picture and we

10:14:15 don’t get mired down with making it so scary and miserable for

10:14:20 the littlest learners.

10:14:22 Does that make sense?

10:14:26 I mean, I want to keep the guidelines as we have them listed

10:14:36 here.

10:14:38 You’ve done a lot of work.

10:24:44 No that’s good.

10:24:45 It’s just the absence.

10:24:46 Yeah but there was another.

10:24:47 Oh a three day absence.

10:24:49 So if a child is out for more than three days.

10:24:52 For three days or more without notification.

10:24:55 It is our expectation of our schools to call that family.

10:24:58 That’s in our code of student conduct.

10:25:00 It’s in our policy to find out what’s going on.

10:25:03 And we would have to make that decision based on the information

10:25:06 that the family gave us.

10:25:07 And of course all of this is under the supposition that we’re

10:25:13 being informed.

10:25:14 Of these things.

10:25:15 And just to verify.

10:25:17 Because you had talked about traffic.

10:25:18 It is a separate room that the students will go be placed into.

10:25:22 It is a separate area.

10:25:24 There are some of our.

10:25:25 Yeah some of our clinics are really big.

10:25:27 Okay.

10:25:28 And we’re going to be able to cordon off a space in them.

10:25:30 Some of those.

10:25:31 Some of our schools.

10:25:33 I mean it’s just hard for me to guess.

10:25:35 In the 80 different schools what that area might look like.

10:25:38 But it is.

10:25:39 We are.

10:25:40 The clinics are aware that it needs.

10:25:43 To be a separate area.

10:25:44 And the principals and our health techs or nurses will be

10:25:47 working on that.

10:25:48 Okay.

10:25:52 All right.

10:25:53 I’m good.

10:25:54 Because you did cover the other stuff in your presentation.

10:25:55 Thank you.

10:25:56 Anyone else for food, nutrition or school clinics?

10:25:57 Okay.

10:25:58 Moving on to custodial services and academic and social

10:26:07 emotional learning.

10:26:11 Anything Mr. Susan?

10:26:12 Nope.

10:26:13 All right.

10:26:14 Moving along to academic programs and extracurricular activities.

10:26:24 And visitors to campus.

10:26:25 I’ve got one quick one on page 41.

10:26:28 We are.

10:26:29 The fourth bullet point says that PE classes won’t dress out.

10:26:31 And there is the question that has been asked.

10:26:32 Does that mean that the locker rooms will not be utilized in any

10:26:32 way?

10:26:32 I know that.

10:26:33 Because it came up from one of the PE teachers that that’s a

10:26:33 place where there’s a lot of bathrooms

10:26:33 and that’s kind of the chance that, you know, people, you know,

10:26:33 people, you know, they’re not going to be able to do that.

10:26:34 And they’re not going to be able to do that.

10:26:36 And they’re going to be able to do that.

10:27:22 In a PE class.

10:27:23 It’s going to be the closest restroom.

10:27:24 Just like you would send a student to a restroom in general.

10:27:27 But obviously, we don’t want a large group of students gathering,

10:27:31 changing clothes, and

10:27:32 doing all those things that happen in a locker room.

10:27:35 Because it’s – it wouldn’t even be close to three feet.

10:27:39 Right.

10:27:40 So we want to minimize that.

10:27:42 But certainly, I could see it very appropriate for students to

10:27:45 use the restroom.

10:27:46 Okay.

10:27:47 Thank you.

10:27:49 Anyone else have anything on 41 or 42?

10:27:52 Visitors to campus?

10:27:54 Are we going to actively go and try to get our volunteers to

10:27:59 turn around and become substitutes?

10:28:02 There was a lot of positiveness from my volunteers, from my Manatee,

10:28:08 Ralph Williams, and those areas,

10:28:10 that they would like to start substituting.

10:28:12 Is there a way that we can send that information to volunteers

10:28:15 who have registered?

10:28:17 Absolutely.

10:28:18 I mean, I think –

10:28:19 We would welcome the opportunity to talk to moms, you know,

10:28:23 community members, about

10:28:24 being substitutes.

10:28:25 We’re definitely interested in that.

10:28:26 We can put together a campaign and give them an opportunity to

10:28:29 come in.

10:28:30 Could a substitute also perform, like, IAs and everything, right?

10:28:35 So you could – they could act in there as –

10:28:37 We bring in substitutes for IAs when that –

10:28:39 All the time.

10:28:40 Yeah.

10:28:41 And then, besides us just saying here right now, because we have

10:28:44 thousands of people watching this,

10:28:46 hey, please, if you’re a volunteer, become a substitute if you

10:28:49 can to be a part of the school to support and everything else.

10:28:52 Is there a way that we can identify and send something out?

10:28:55 Like, can we email them?

10:28:56 Are they registered in the system?

10:28:58 Do we do social media push?

10:28:59 How do we get it?

10:29:00 Because I truly believe our substitute issue is going to become

10:29:03 a major issue, and I’m trying to circle something here.

10:29:06 Yeah.

10:29:07 Dr. Thede, do we have volunteers in an email database?

10:29:10 I don’t know.

10:29:11 That piece I don’t know, but I do know we are actively working

10:29:13 through a substitute campaign right now for this very reason.

10:29:17 We’ve got some social media campaigns going on, working with GCR.

10:29:21 We can certainly add volunteers to that list.

10:29:24 I don’t know if the database maintains in security email

10:29:27 addresses, but we can certainly target that population of

10:29:30 individuals.

10:29:31 I do just need to caution you that they would have to go through

10:29:34 the employment process to become employees as substitutes.

10:29:37 Yeah.

10:29:38 I mean, whatever the process is, going to the school, filling

10:29:40 out the paperwork.

10:29:41 I mean, I don’t think a lot of them would have an issue with

10:29:43 that, and I think we could capture them.

10:29:45 I was amazed at how many of our volunteers were actually former

10:29:48 teachers that then just raised their children,

10:29:50 and while they’re in elementary school, they’re sitting there.

10:29:52 And I know that now, after we start circling the wagons and we

10:29:55 start getting closer to school,

10:29:57 I think there’s going to be a big push for the community to

10:29:59 rally around the schools and rally around our teachers.

10:30:02 And I think that’s a great opportunity for us to get a win there.

10:30:05 We can reach out to our principals and ask them just to send us

10:30:08 their volunteer.

10:30:09 I imagine some of them have their volunteers on a little email

10:30:13 distribution list.

10:30:13 And maybe that’s what they do too. Maybe they send that out.

10:30:15 We can request that and make an effort to contact them.

10:30:18 And then the other thing is that we have our extracurricular

10:30:21 activities.

10:30:22 The Florida High School Sports Association or Athletics

10:30:24 Association is meeting this week or next week

10:30:28 to reset guidelines and reset everything.

10:30:31 Is it next Monday?

10:30:33 Yeah, it’s Monday.

10:30:35 Wish they could have had that meeting about two weeks ago, right?

10:30:38 But you know my main concern.

10:30:41 We’ve got kids coming back and then all of a sudden literally

10:30:44 they’re in pads

10:30:45 and then a week later they’re hitting and possibly injury.

10:30:48 You know what I mean?

10:30:49 Injury.

10:30:50 Is there any opportunity that if the Florida High School Athletics,

10:30:55 Sports Athletics comes out

10:30:56 and says it’s okay to open those up a little bit earlier that we

10:30:59 would do something like that?

10:31:01 Or are we still going to try to keep along our lines?

10:31:03 Would we follow their guidelines or are we still going to stay

10:31:06 strict with ours?

10:31:07 I have a lot of concerns over that.

10:31:10 I have concerns of what takes precedence in protecting our kids

10:31:17 and protecting our families.

10:31:18 So we started the return to activity plan I would say about

10:31:23 three weeks ago now, four weeks ago.

10:31:28 We are, we are, we have had, I’m going to say between seven and

10:31:34 10 instances of a COVID positive case,

10:31:40 taking all of the precautions that we put into place.

10:31:45 And so as we see the cases rise, and as we know the precautions

10:31:52 that we put in place are lessened

10:31:54 the return to activity plan continues, I have a concern of what

10:31:59 that means for the spread.

10:32:02 Because part of the activity plan was that we keep the kids in

10:32:05 very small groups.

10:32:07 And so as we’ve had to send people home for 10 to 14 days, it

10:32:12 has been very small groups of students

10:32:15 as opposed to 40 or 50 students.

10:32:19 So I continue that same concern as we go into school because now

10:32:24 that group of students is going to be touching an even larger

10:32:30 group of kids.

10:32:31 So I have that concern balanced against the concern that Florida

10:32:38 High School Athletic Association may decide that they’re going

10:32:45 to keep to the,

10:32:46 to the fall plan of high school athletics and what that might

10:32:50 mean to students who aren’t conditioned because our return to

10:32:53 activity plan has been protecting them and the community against

10:32:57 COVID.

10:32:58 So Mr. Susan, I don’t have an answer for you.

10:33:02 I have to wait and see what they say, and then I’ll bring the

10:33:05 committee back together and we’ll take input from other athletic

10:33:09 directors.

10:33:10 But the fact of the matter is, it’s a lose-lose decision.

10:33:14 And we’re going to make the decision that best protects the

10:33:19 students, period.

10:33:23 And I ran some of the scenarios through when I started thinking

10:33:27 about it because you’re talking about that if a student tests

10:33:30 positive inside of a classroom,

10:33:32 that the scenario that plays out, right, student tests positive

10:33:37 on a football field or a baseball team, what’s the proper

10:33:40 process?

10:33:41 Can you kind of talk to that right now?

10:33:43 Or would you rather wait until FHSAA comes out next Monday and

10:33:46 maybe we communicate that on Tuesday?

10:33:48 Sure.

10:33:49 Well, I can tell you what’s happening now and I can tell you

10:33:50 what would happen then.

10:33:51 Okay.

10:33:52 So now if a student comes in and they are the contact to a familial

10:33:55 case, a presumptive case or a case themselves, we would exclude

10:34:03 them, the pot of people that they are currently practicing with,

10:34:08 as well as the coaches that they worked with.

10:34:10 So we have had to, on some occasions, collapse a whole program

10:34:15 for 14 days because the coaches worked, they didn’t have any

10:34:19 coaches to work with the rest of the kids.

10:34:22 And they were part of the small pod that got quarantined for 14

10:34:28 days.

10:34:29 So, in the case of a student that were to come in to us after we

10:34:32 were in full play and tested positive for COVID or was the

10:34:37 presumptive case, it wouldn’t just be the athletics that would

10:34:41 be impacted, it would be the academics as well.

10:34:44 So we would track back to the last day that student was in

10:34:47 school, we would do the contact tracing on that student and make

10:34:51 the determination if that was going to shut down the football

10:34:55 team for 14 days,

10:34:58 if that was shut down the football team and certain specific

10:35:02 classes for 14 days, or if that would shut down the building for

10:35:06 14 days, depending on what our contact tracing turned up in that

10:35:12 case.

10:35:13 Those aren’t very good scenarios.

10:35:16 Every scenario sucks is my motto now.

10:35:19 Well, and I’ll be honest, if we’re going to sit here and have

10:35:21 the discussion that we may need to have a different standard for

10:35:25 masks when people are passing each other in the hallway,

10:35:27 and yet we want to encourage kids to get up and to participate.

10:35:31 And sorry, football fans, but to get up in a sport where part of

10:35:34 their sport is getting up in each other’s faces.

10:35:36 I’m sorry, I have a problem with that.

10:35:38 I mean, you know, I don’t know what FHSAA will do next Monday,

10:35:42 but I anticipate if they’re dealing with the same kind of

10:35:44 pressures that we are,

10:35:45 that they’ll put some major shifts into the season until we see

10:35:48 some improvement across the state.

10:35:51 So the other question is, is there an opportunity in there that

10:35:55 if it’s a baseball team or something like that and all the kids

10:35:58 two days later go out and test and they come back negative,

10:36:01 that there’s any opportunity for them to return to play?

10:36:03 Are they automatically out for 14 days?

10:36:05 No, because at the very beginning of the return to activity plan

10:36:08 I had to work through each of those scenarios with the

10:36:11 Department of Health.

10:36:13 And the fact of the matter is the incubation period is five to

10:36:16 seven days.

10:36:17 And so when we talk about being out for 14 days from the point

10:36:21 of when we know there’s a case, the incubation period of anybody

10:36:25 that would be involved in that case is five to seven days.

10:36:28 And then we would have to wait till result test results come

10:36:30 back, which right now is seven to 10 days.

10:36:33 So we’re looking beyond the 14 days when we’d have all the

10:36:36 information to make that decision to begin with.

10:36:39 So there’s lots of different case scenarios.

10:36:42 I have had a student drive over and take a rapid test in Orange

10:36:45 County and they were able to get their test results back.

10:36:49 And when I went to the Department of Health, they determined

10:36:52 that they were still in the incubation period.

10:36:55 And so they had to wait another, they had to wait out that time.

10:37:00 That five to seven days of incubation period is what you’re

10:37:02 saying?

10:37:03 Correct.

10:37:04 Okay.

10:37:05 That’s where the, I believe I, you know, I wasn’t part of those

10:37:09 high level discussions,

10:37:10 but I believe that’s where, where that time period came from

10:37:13 with the Department of Health is that there is,

10:37:16 and I mean like the United States Department of Health.

10:37:19 Right, right, right.

10:37:20 I would like to come back on Tuesday after FHSAA because I think

10:37:23 this is broad discussion.

10:37:24 I think Ms. Campbell wants to weigh in.

10:37:26 I think it’s something that we should do.

10:37:28 So if we can do that, that’s it.

10:37:29 And I’m okay.

10:37:30 And that’s it.

10:37:32 Would you, if you guys, if it sounds as if we’re holding a

10:37:35 special meeting, correct?

10:37:38 Next week?

10:37:39 I don’t know.

10:37:40 We’re coming back all right.

10:37:41 We’re moving toward a special board meeting on Tuesday, the 21st

10:37:43 at 9:30 AM.

10:37:45 Okay.

10:37:46 But we’re not going to be here for 12 hours.

10:37:52 I’m bringing three meals.

10:37:54 I don’t believe you.

10:37:55 Ms. Belford, if I could just, I still have the same concerns

10:38:00 that I had last week on this list.

10:38:03 I won’t, you know, beat it to death.

10:38:05 But I’m still really, especially talking about sports and people

10:38:09 being near each other and sharing equipment.

10:38:12 Yet we’re not going to let our smallest kids play on playground

10:38:15 equipment when all the public parks are open.

10:38:17 It still really bothers me.

10:38:19 And then I do like the opportunity with our volunteers.

10:38:24 I had a volunteer reach out this week that said she called, it

10:38:27 was her time to get fingerprints.

10:38:29 She’s about to expire.

10:38:30 And she called up here and they basically said, don’t bother.

10:38:33 Just get fingerprinted in October or November.

10:38:36 And I said, we’re going to lose these volunteers.

10:38:39 And she was, she was mad.

10:38:40 She’s like, I’m going to go volunteer somewhere else.

10:38:42 I’m like, no, she’s been a volunteer in one of my beachside

10:38:44 elementary schools for like 12 years.

10:38:46 And, you know, if that conversation could just be more like, hey,

10:38:50 but here’s an opportunity to sub or, you know,

10:38:54 I think I reached out to Major Lanza and asked him, I said, can’t

10:38:57 she at least come up and get fingerprinted?

10:38:59 Can’t we keep that process going so we don’t lose her?

10:39:02 But I guess we’re trying to keep people out of the building.

10:39:04 And so I, I don’t, we might want to look at a new approach

10:39:07 before we, you know, are desperate for volunteers when things

10:39:11 are back in full force.

10:39:12 I don’t have anything on that page, but I do have something on

10:39:20 42 about, okay, visitors in the school limited to emergency

10:39:26 situations or enrollment.

10:39:27 So we will be having, I’m assuming parents right now come into

10:39:31 the school with their enrollment packets, like new people into

10:39:35 the area.

10:39:36 So I want to share a scenario that happened because a staff

10:39:40 member reached out to me.

10:39:42 Over the summer, she was the office manager.

10:39:46 Somebody came in, didn’t know they had COVID.

10:39:50 She got COVID.

10:39:52 She is currently still out.

10:39:54 But she was asymptomatic for several days, which is typical of

10:39:58 this virus.

10:40:00 And she wiped out the whole front office.

10:40:02 So the whole front office now is out at this particular school.

10:40:06 She is very afraid.

10:40:09 She says, and this is where I like mandating masks.

10:40:12 So if someone is walking into our school, going to hand a packet,

10:40:18 we have no idea where they’ve been, who they are, who their

10:40:22 contacts are.

10:40:24 And so we’re putting our office people at risk.

10:40:27 And certainly we’re going to put plexiglass, but is that going

10:40:31 to be enough?

10:40:33 So I really, I don’t know.

10:40:36 I think we’re making a mistake by not mandating masks, but I

10:40:38 would like something on the door of the school.

10:40:41 If you’re walking into the school as a guest, the expectation is

10:40:45 you will have a mask.

10:40:47 If you don’t have a mask, please ask for one.

10:40:50 I just think we can’t put our staff into harm’s way.

10:40:55 So a couple of things, because I had a voice over there that was

10:41:05 curious as to how that shut down a whole front office.

10:41:09 And I will tell you that was one of the first or maybe the

10:41:11 second case we handled.

10:41:13 And the guidelines were different at that point.

10:41:15 At this point, the front office wouldn’t be, the front office

10:41:21 staff would not be all sent home.

10:41:24 But the front office would still be shut down for 24 to 48 hours.

10:41:28 And then we would have our team work with the custodians to

10:41:33 cleanse that area.

10:41:36 But to your point, yes, we are looking at having signs on all

10:41:41 the schools saying this is what our expectation is as people

10:41:45 come in.

10:41:46 The other thing that’s being worked on, and Beth Eddy can talk

10:41:49 about it more, is about what our personal workspaces look like.

10:41:53 And what we can say as an employee as people enter our personal

10:41:57 workspace.

10:41:59 And I’m thinking in terms of like a school counselor in their

10:42:03 office that’s working with a parent registering classes.

10:42:07 Our personnel should have the expectation that they can say, you

10:42:10 know, if I’m working with you in this space, you have to wear a

10:42:15 mask.

10:42:17 If that person entering into that space does not want to do it,

10:42:21 then we’re going to have to schedule a time where a larger space

10:42:24 is available or a different way to do the meeting, either Skype

10:42:29 or some other way.

10:42:31 Because we do have to protect our people, especially those that

10:42:34 have smaller workspaces that engage with the public more often.

10:42:37 Dr. Petty.

10:42:39 So, Ms. Moore, you just stole all of it.

10:42:41 Sorry.

10:42:42 Because that was the entire plan.

10:42:43 No, we – pending the outcome of this evening’s meeting, we have

10:42:48 information set to go out to employees, potentially tomorrow

10:42:51 morning, that reflects the discussion tonight and the

10:42:55 expectation for masks and what workspaces look like, what it

10:42:59 looks like when you walk out of your workspace and you’re within

10:43:01 six feet of somebody else.

10:43:03 Ms. Moore is correct if there’s an occasion where somebody is

10:43:08 without a mask and the person in the workspace doesn’t want that,

10:43:13 we’re going to stop that meeting and find a larger location

10:43:18 where we can – people can be six feet distanced or everybody

10:43:21 will be wearing a mask.

10:43:23 We’ve identified different locations everywhere, public areas,

10:43:29 shared workspaces.

10:43:31 There are some shared workspaces that are very appropriately

10:43:34 socially distanced and there are some shared workspaces that are

10:43:38 not so appropriately socially distanced.

10:43:41 And then we talk about personal workspaces and the expectation

10:43:43 for the face covering.

10:43:45 So, we will be providing that guidance to all of our schools.

10:43:48 It will go out in a separate e-mail tomorrow and then be put in

10:43:52 the leadership team packet as well next Monday.

10:43:57 Dr. Thetti, to that point, can our teachers request that anyone

10:44:01 that entered their classroom wear a mask?

10:44:05 Ms. This is guidance for all employees.

10:44:07 So, if another adult is walking into a classroom, the teacher

10:44:10 can say, I request that you please wear a mask if you’re

10:44:13 entering my room?

10:44:14 Ms. So, we have to keep in mind the expectation of social

10:44:17 distancing.

10:44:18 If social distancing cannot be maintained, and that’s what Ms.

10:44:20 Moore was talking about with the personal workspace,

10:44:23 if there is no way when somebody walks into a classroom or into

10:44:26 a cubicle to maintain social distancing, then yes.

10:44:29 But social distancing is still – and I know one of the

10:44:32 questions you had was the definition of social distancing,

10:44:35 and that has been defined by the CDC as six feet.

10:44:38 Okay, thanks.

10:44:42 All right.

10:44:43 Anyone have anything else for 41 or 42?

10:44:46 All right.

10:44:47 Then we move into, let’s say, 43 through 47, which are the

10:44:53 processes that – 46 –

10:45:01 – the processes that Ms. Moore walked through as far as what

10:45:07 happens in these different scenarios.

10:45:10 Ms. Cable?

10:45:11 Yeah.

10:45:12 This is my last question, I think, that I had written down.

10:45:16 So, we needed some clarification before this of testing and

10:45:20 quarantining.

10:45:22 And if a kid is sent home for a fever, but it’s strep or various

10:45:27 other things, you know, or they have a sore throat, you know,

10:45:32 and it’s strep or allergy related or whatever.

10:45:35 Are we still going to require them to quarantine the same as a

10:45:39 presumed COVID?

10:45:41 And I think you answered that, that, you know, without knowledge

10:45:46 of it being COVID, that no, that would be – you know, like if

10:45:50 it’s strep and they go to the doctor and they get antibiotics

10:45:52 and they’re – you’re – whatever.

10:45:54 Then they come back after they’re – you know, you’re supposed

10:45:57 to be on that for 24 hours before you – before you’re not

10:45:59 contagious anymore or three doses, whatever, that they’ll be

10:46:02 able to come back.

10:46:03 And we’re not going to presume that everybody who has a fever or

10:46:06 a COVID symptom has COVID.

10:46:08 So, I think – I’m going to use one of Dr. Sullivan’s terms-ish.

10:46:13 So, for a student that has COVID-like symptoms and has a contact

10:46:19 to a case, we are making that presumption.

10:46:24 Okay.

10:46:25 For a student that has COVID-like symptoms, sees a physician or

10:46:30 their – their health provider and is tested for strep, then

10:46:35 that – they are under now that doctor’s care and we will follow

10:46:38 the orders of that doctor.

10:46:40 Okay.

10:46:41 Gotcha.

10:46:42 And which they usually have – give a note saying they can

10:46:43 return to school on such and such day.

10:46:45 Correct.

10:46:46 So, I am really grateful for page 45 that you added in here

10:46:51 because I think this is – this is clear.

10:46:56 One of the problems that we are having right now is the length

10:46:59 of time because so many more people are going to get tests.

10:47:02 Whereas a couple weeks ago, you could get a test and get the

10:47:04 results back.

10:47:05 Like at the EFSC site, you could get it in two days.

10:47:08 Sometimes even under 48 hours.

10:47:11 So – but now, it’s a lot longer.

10:47:14 And so, you’re waiting around and people are having to retest

10:47:16 and come back.

10:47:17 So, this – these columns here that on page 45 mean that, you

10:47:20 know, we can do – as a presumed case, we can go ahead and treat

10:47:24 that.

10:47:25 We don’t have to wait for you to get a positive test before we

10:47:27 put this in place.

10:47:28 If you have the contacts and you are exhibiting symptoms, you’re

10:47:31 still going to fall the 14 days.

10:47:34 And then we also don’t have to – we’re not waiting around for

10:47:39 those results to come back.

10:47:41 Because that came up on Thursday.

10:47:42 If, you know, an employee was, you know, as a contact, they’re

10:47:44 out 20 – 14 days.

10:47:46 Well, then – but they – they didn’t get their test until day

10:47:49 whatever.

10:47:50 Then they have to wait 14 days beyond – you know, if once the

10:47:52 14 days hit and you’re symptom-free for this many days and fever-free,

10:47:57 you know, that we’ve listed here, then – then you can come on

10:47:59 back.

10:48:00 I guess the other thing that – relating to this is – I think

10:48:04 – I think – I think – no, I think this has to do with more

10:48:07 with Dr. Thetis.

10:48:08 I think I’ll wait until 47.

10:48:10 So, that was it.

10:48:11 Just – just wanted to know – making sure if we find out it’s

10:48:13 something else that we – we have a way for people to come back.

10:48:15 Thank you.

10:48:17 Anyone else for – just one thing.

10:48:22 I want to clarify because I’m getting texts from people saying,

10:48:27 why can’t you mandate –

10:48:29 about the fevers.

10:48:32 So, you can’t – you can’t tell somebody that they’re concerned

10:48:36 – and we know this happens – that some parents will give their

10:48:40 kid Tylenol and they’ll come back the next day.

10:48:42 So, we do not have the legal ability to make somebody go get

10:48:47 tested or even go to the doctor for that.

10:48:51 So, I want people to really understand that.

10:48:54 It’s not that we wouldn’t like that, but we don’t have the legal

10:48:56 authority to do that.

10:48:58 And I think people are thinking we do have that power and we don’t.

10:49:01 All right.

10:49:03 Anyone else for – very good point, Ms. McDougall, by the way.

10:49:08 Anyone else for 43 through 46?

10:49:11 I’m going to just – thank you for bringing that up because I’ve

10:49:19 heard that a ton too.

10:49:22 And I’ve also seen a lot of recommendations for us to have all

10:49:23 staff tested before – we don’t have the authority to force our

10:49:26 staff to be tested before they start work.

10:49:28 Is that a true statement?

10:49:29 We didn’t.

10:49:31 Under the EEOC and the ADA, in this particular environment, we

10:49:37 can, but we don’t provide the testing.

10:49:42 And it would be an all – everyone would have to be tested or

10:49:45 just those that are symptomatic.

10:49:48 And we’ve been on the symptomatic side.

10:49:50 Thank you.

10:49:51 Additionally, Ms. Daskovich, that was one of the conversations

10:49:54 that we had on one of the Friday calls with FSBA with the State

10:49:59 Health Department.

10:49:59 And they said that they do not recommend because that test is

10:50:02 only a moment in time test.

10:50:04 And so we could test all of our employees two weeks prior to

10:50:07 school starting.

10:50:08 And by the time school starts –

10:50:10 It doesn’t mean anything.

10:50:11 – they could all be positive.

10:50:12 So there’s – yeah, there’s a little value there.

10:50:16 And related to what Mr. Seussman was saying a little while ago,

10:50:19 the sooner that you get a test after you’re exposed,

10:50:21 the much higher the – the possibility that it’s a false

10:50:24 negative.

10:50:25 So, you know, people who you find out, oh, I was with someone

10:50:28 yesterday and they had COVID and you go out that afternoon and

10:50:31 get a test,

10:50:32 it’s probably going to be negative because it –

10:50:34 Right.

10:50:35 – hasn’t had a chance to do its thing yet.

10:50:36 And that is also the guidance from EEOC and ADA.

10:50:39 They say the same thing.

10:50:40 The – the negative test doesn’t necessarily mean that you are

10:50:43 not going to develop the virus at some point in the future.

10:50:49 Okay.

10:50:51 Um, that’s moving us on to 47 – through 49.

10:51:00 Okay.

10:51:01 Any comments, questions, concerns there?

10:51:06 Uh, this is great.

10:51:07 Thank you for the extra clarification.

10:51:09 But just for the people who may be joining us now, um, and don’t

10:51:11 want to go back and watch the 12 hours.

10:51:14 Oh, we’re not 12 hours yet.

10:51:16 Um, what – obviously, if someone is ill, right, they’re symptomatic,

10:51:22 they’re ill, they’re – they’re home, they’re – they’re taking

10:51:24 their leave.

10:51:25 But if someone is quarantined because of whatever, is – are we

10:51:29 – because we have this – you know, our in and out plans are –

10:51:35 what is it called?

10:51:36 No, no, no, no, no.

10:51:37 The blended.

10:51:39 No, when we have to go.

10:51:40 It’s –

10:51:41 Continuity of instruction?

10:51:42 But the – thank you.

10:51:43 The continuity plan.

10:51:44 Ah!

10:51:45 Too many words.

10:51:46 Um, the continuity plan.

10:51:47 When – when people – if – if that – there’s nothing

10:51:50 necessarily to keep a teacher who’s home, who’s asymptomatic or

10:51:55 just had to quarantine because there’s someone – someone –

10:51:58 contact or close contact – to continue to teach from home.

10:52:00 If their class is from home, that’s why we have that continuity

10:52:02 plan in place, right?

10:52:04 So, if someone is – there are the questions about if I have to

10:52:06 quarantine for all these days, I’m losing pay.

10:52:09 No, if you’re working from home, I know we have to renegotiate

10:52:12 the MOU and all that because that ended at some point, the one

10:52:15 that we had in the spring.

10:52:17 But they can continue that class.

10:52:19 Somebody made fun of me for saying the word pivot.

10:52:21 But if we pivot to, you know, the – to distance learning, then

10:52:24 the class also does, then – then they’re still working.

10:52:27 They’re still getting paid, and none of these leave situations

10:52:29 have to take effect.

10:52:30 That’s correct.

10:52:31 Okay.

10:52:32 So, the only time the leave has to take effect is if, let’s say,

10:52:35 just they are having to stay at home, but their class is not.

10:52:39 Well, keep in mind that when we talk about employees, we are

10:52:41 talking about all 9,000 employees.

10:52:44 We’re not just talking about teachers.

10:52:46 So, as you saw in the slides, there are occasions, and teachers

10:52:50 were my illustrative example, where there is the possibility for

10:52:54 remote work.

10:52:55 And in which case, there would be no leave taken.

10:52:57 However, not all positions in our school district lend

10:53:00 themselves to remote work.

10:53:02 That’s the caveat that I have to make sure everybody understands

10:53:05 because I want to make sure all the listening audience also

10:53:08 understands that we do have classifications of employees whose

10:53:13 work does not lend itself to remote work.

10:53:15 And in those cases, we would have to work through our leave

10:53:19 scenarios on the exposure.

10:53:22 If somebody is living with somebody with a positive presumptive

10:53:25 COVID case, that was one of the examples I gave as well.

10:53:28 All right.

10:53:29 Like our bus drivers on our cafeteria workers.

10:53:29 Yes, that’s correct.

10:53:30 Thank you.

10:53:31 Anyone else have anything on 47 through 49?

10:53:43 I do.

10:53:44 Mr. Susan.

10:53:45 On page 49, we talk about staff leave considerations, workers

10:53:51 compensation, and those kind of things.

10:53:56 I had mentioned before that I feel very strongly that if an

10:54:00 individual gets the virus, that it’s going to be a difficult

10:54:05 thing on them to go through this.

10:54:09 And as an employee, you can see some scenarios where you may be

10:54:13 out months because of all of a sudden one person in your family.

10:54:17 The next time it just could go around and I and I wanted to

10:54:19 reiterate and if everybody else doesn’t want to comment, they

10:54:23 don’t have to.

10:54:24 But I feel very strongly that we should make up that extra 33.33%

10:54:29 on that workers comp so that they get a full paycheck when they’re

10:54:33 home because they contracted the virus while they were with us.

10:54:37 Or they were forced to stay home and they can’t work.

10:54:42 They can’t provide for their for their families.

10:54:45 In some instances, our bus drivers wouldn’t even be able to

10:54:48 receive a paycheck to actually pay for the insurance, which is

10:54:51 what a lot of them actually go for.

10:54:53 So you would have people that would be falling behind to not

10:54:55 even be able to pay for their insurance and some of those other

10:54:58 things.

10:54:59 So it’s a big concern for me.

10:55:00 I didn’t know if anybody else wanted to weigh in on this.

10:55:03 I feel very strongly about it.

10:55:05 I think it’s a negotiated part of our contract, but it might not

10:55:08 need to be if we just make the decisions to take care of our

10:55:10 people.

10:55:11 That’s all.

10:55:12 I’ll be happy to respond on that one, Mr. Susan.

10:55:20 I think your heart’s in the right place on it.

10:55:24 But I think that is an unending can of worms.

10:55:30 That is not, we would, we would, in essence, be saying board

10:55:39 contingency, we’ll be willing to give it all up because we have

10:55:44 no earthly idea what the cost of that could potentially be.

10:55:47 You know, some people might be out for a month and some people

10:55:51 might be out for eight months.

10:55:54 If they have hospital bills, are we going to pay the cost of the

10:55:58 hospital bills?

10:56:00 Are we going to, like, I just question where the logical

10:56:04 threshold is on that.

10:56:06 Like I said, I think it would be a fabulous thing for our

10:56:09 employees.

10:56:10 And I think absolutely if they are sick and it’s proven that it

10:56:16 is a work-related exposure, I think we definitely need to do

10:56:22 what we can.

10:56:23 And I’m thrilled to know that they’re able to get workers’ comp

10:56:26 if that’s investigated and determined.

10:56:29 I’m just concerned about the financial impact of committing

10:56:33 beyond what’s already in place.

10:56:36 Along those lines, can I ask about, you know, I don’t know workman’s

10:56:42 compensation, so I want to ask the question.

10:56:47 So how would we, who investigates whether the employee got it

10:56:51 here at school or got it some, how do you figure that out?

10:56:57 We currently actually have that process for all workers’

10:57:00 compensation claims, and that goes through risk management and

10:57:03 Mark Langdorf’s office.

10:57:04 And he has 14 days to either pay or deny the claim.

10:57:09 So there is a limited timeframe in which it has to be

10:57:11 investigated.

10:57:12 And there will be some cases that won’t be related to work, and

10:57:17 there will be other cases that may be related to work.

10:57:20 And each one will have to be investigated individually.

10:57:23 So one of the other things, because this is in my area of

10:57:27 insurance, is workers’ compensation.

10:57:30 There’s a return to work plan.

10:57:32 A lot of times what we do is we take our workers, and there are

10:57:37 some investigations that turn up that they’re frivolous lawsuits.

10:57:41 In order to continue to close the back end of that, what

10:57:44 employers do, and we do a very good job of it in instances, is

10:57:48 we offer people other employment so that they can capture that

10:57:52 paycheck and they can continue to do that.

10:57:56 So, Dr. Thetty, is there an opportunity that if a person is at

10:58:00 home, forced to stay home, they’re not able to perform the

10:58:04 duties at school, that we would be able to capture or not teach,

10:58:08 that we would be able to capture them into another position,

10:58:12 something online?

10:58:13 Could they take professional development days?

10:58:16 I mean, is there any opportunity to capture some days at work

10:58:21 for them?

10:58:22 Because we know that it happens in workers’ comps.

10:58:24 So if you get your leg hurt, then they say you can’t be a

10:58:26 delivery driver, but you can go and you can do secretarial work

10:58:29 on a computer, right?

10:58:31 Do we have anything like that in place for these employees when

10:58:35 they do this?

10:58:36 So that’s quite a loaded question, because it’s related to job

10:58:40 classification of employee, what accommodations we can make

10:58:44 under the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, and the contractual

10:58:50 obligations we have with our unions as well.

10:58:53 So I do know that under, you know, common workman’s comp claims,

10:58:56 Mr. Langdorf’s office works through different scenarios with

10:59:00 employees as they are appropriate, because we get involved in

10:59:03 those in human resources quite frequently, trying to work with

10:59:06 reasonable accommodations for employees.

10:59:09 It’s very difficult to give you one answer in a one-size-fits-all,

10:59:14 because I can tell you from experience, one size does not fit

10:59:17 all in the workers’ comp arena, and it won’t in the COVID arena

10:59:21 either.

10:59:22 So I hesitate to answer with a yes or a no, I can tell you we’ll

10:59:25 investigate each one, and we’ll work with our employees.

10:59:29 I understand that, and I think it’s going to be challenging,

10:59:34 because we’re hearing that children are asymptomatic.

10:59:40 So it’s going to be – I don’t envy that position, I’m just

10:59:44 curious how that’s all going to play out.

10:59:48 You are correct.

10:59:49 We’ve actually had those discussions, because, you know, we work

10:59:52 very closely with Ms. Moore and the Department of Health, and in

10:59:55 risk management and HR.

10:59:57 We do understand that there will be children or potential

11:00:00 opportunities that somebody may be asymptomatic.

11:00:03 It is – it is an area where things are changing and evolving,

11:00:08 and, you know, we rely on our guidance from the Equal Employment

11:00:15 Opportunity Commission and from the Americans with Disabilities

11:00:19 Act guidance that we get.

11:00:20 And we do get quite a bit of guidance from them, along with the

11:00:23 CDC and the Department of Health, and we’re going to have to

11:00:26 take those cases individually.

11:00:29 And I fully understand what that could potentially look like.

11:00:35 Would there be a problem if they, say, for instance, could teach

11:00:38 an online course while they were home?

11:00:41 Could we – is that legal under our workers’ comp?

11:00:44 Well, if you’re talking about teachers, we’ve already talked

11:00:47 about the potential to – famous word – pivot into a distance

11:00:53 kind of learning environment.

11:00:55 However, it depends on the health of the employee, because if

11:00:58 you have somebody who is out sick, we have to make sure that we

11:01:02 are not infringing on any family medical leave issues or any

11:01:06 health issues.

11:01:07 You don’t want an employee who is actively very ill forced into

11:01:11 a situation where they’re trying to do something different.

11:01:16 So that’s why I say it’s hard to give a one-size-fits-all,

11:01:19 because it’s going to depend on the individual employee and the

11:01:23 condition of that employee.

11:01:25 I just – here’s the scenario I play out in my head.

11:01:28 So we’re going to send an investigator in to see if we’re going

11:01:31 to pay them workers’ count based upon if they got COVID in the

11:01:33 workplace, right?

11:01:35 But we can’t test the kids to find out who has it.

11:01:38 We don’t know if there’s an asymptomatic kid inside the class

11:01:41 that maybe possibly gave it to the instructor.

11:01:44 It becomes a nightmare.

11:01:45 And I think Mr. Gibbs already alluded to the fact that it’s very

11:01:48 difficult to pinpoint when you actually got COVID earlier today.

11:01:53 I – do you see what I’m saying?

11:01:55 I do understand what you’re saying, and I agree with you.

11:01:57 I agree it’s going to be very difficult.

11:01:59 In some cases, it’ll be clear-cut, and there won’t be an issue.

11:02:02 And in other cases, it will not nearly be as easy.

11:02:05 But I do think we have processes in place to work through it.

11:02:08 We have processes in place to accommodate to the best of our

11:02:10 ability, our employees.

11:02:13 And, you know, I think we have to work through each one.

11:02:16 Is there a certain time this workers’ comp will run out?

11:02:19 If I’m out and all of a sudden I’m told to go back out on leave,

11:02:24 every time I go out on leave, I’m forced to go because somebody

11:02:26 was in my classroom.

11:02:28 So, all of a sudden, my family member or somebody in the

11:02:30 classroom, they said, “Nope, you were next to that person.

11:02:33 You have to go and you have to socially – you have to stay home,”

11:02:35 right?

11:02:36 Are they going to – is it just going to re-trigger another

11:02:39 workers’ comp claim every single time?

11:02:41 Keep in mind that our employees, all of us, we’re critical

11:02:44 infrastructure workers.

11:02:46 So, under the scenarios that you’ve described, unless they are

11:02:49 living with somebody who has a COVID-positive case or a presumptive

11:02:53 case, they would not necessarily be excluded from work if they’re

11:02:57 just exposed to COVID-19.

11:03:00 No, I know, but I’m saying that they come back to work and they’re

11:03:04 going in another scenario since it’s set to where they have to

11:03:06 go home.

11:03:07 It resets another workers’ comp claim every single time.

11:03:11 If it is related to the workplace.

11:03:14 I see where I’m going.

11:03:18 It’s going to be very difficult to identify if it – and I think

11:03:20 that there’s something we need to protect our people there.

11:03:23 That’s where this was about.

11:03:25 I’m going to try to come up with some ideas for you for Tuesday.

11:03:29 All right.

11:03:30 Happy to talk with you about them.

11:03:31 Okay.

11:03:32 All right.

11:03:33 Anything else on 48 and 49?

11:03:37 How about 50 and 51?

11:03:44 All right.

11:03:45 Then how about 52 and 53?

11:04:02 54 and 55?

11:04:03 I’ve got 53 if I can ask real quick.

11:04:17 There’s something that came up.

11:04:19 So one – I apologize, I was – you’re moving pretty quick there.

11:04:24 So the aftercare, afterschool programs, is there a way that we

11:04:30 can give teachers preference into the spots?

11:04:34 Because I’m looking at the – the amount of people that we can

11:04:37 put in a aftercare situation.

11:04:39 Is there any way that we can look at giving teachers preference

11:04:45 to the aftercare?

11:04:47 Hi, Mr. Susan.

11:04:48 Hi.

11:04:49 I think we have to look at it case by case and school by school.

11:04:56 Depending on the slots that are available, the funding to

11:05:04 operate the program.

11:05:08 So, of course, we will – if the teacher will work with their

11:05:13 principal, then the principal will work with us to try to make

11:05:17 that happen.

11:05:18 But I really don’t know at this time how many slots we’re going

11:05:22 to have available.

11:05:24 We’re doing a survey as we speak on how many students can fit in

11:05:30 the cafeteria with social distancing and what other spaces

11:05:35 within the building can we use for aftercare.

11:05:39 So I think that’s up to the – we as a school board can make a

11:05:43 decision on if we want to make press prints for the teachers.

11:05:48 So if I can walk through this scenario for you at, say, Suntree

11:05:52 Elementary, Manatee Elementary have some of the largest aftercare

11:05:55 programs, right?

11:05:57 And there’s a lot of teachers’ kids that are inside of there.

11:06:00 From the guidelines that we have, we’re looking at 50 people per

11:06:03 cafeteria or wherever.

11:06:05 It’s kind of the massive amount of people that you can do.

11:06:08 So if it was that, say, for instance, hypothetically, we were

11:06:11 only having 50 that were allowed in there,

11:06:14 I would like the opportunity, regardless of revenue, to allow

11:06:17 the teachers to take precedence over having their kid there.

11:06:22 That’s what I would like to do.

11:06:24 And I would fall back on – and I’m sorry, like it’s – I know I

11:06:27 keep saying, you know, as if we have all the money in the world,

11:06:30 but the bottom line is that I think we’ve been down this path

11:06:33 before with the teachers, and I know that it’s a reduction in

11:06:36 rate.

11:06:37 But at the same time, this goes a little bit further than that.

11:06:39 I think if we’re going to tell our teachers that they – that we

11:06:43 – we support them, that this is an angle that we could take

11:06:46 care of it very inexpensively.

11:06:49 So I would ask if there’s any direction from the board to allow

11:06:52 us to take precedence with teachers in the aftercare programs.

11:06:57 Mr. Sissa, may I ask a question?

11:06:59 Sure.

11:07:00 You’re talking about any BPS employee.

11:07:02 Yes.

11:07:03 I don’t mean teachers.

11:07:04 I apologize.

11:07:05 I – I – I said that, and you’re right.

11:07:07 It’s any BPS employee.

11:07:08 And then I’m not aware of any BPS employee who hasn’t had a

11:07:13 space in their current school.

11:07:16 Absolutely.

11:07:17 I wouldn’t say that you wouldn’t.

11:07:19 But in the – in the fact of when we went moving, if it’s that

11:07:21 easy to where we can just make it a precedent.

11:07:24 Because I – and the only reason I bring this up is because it

11:07:26 came up to me with four different teachers this week.

11:07:29 That they said, hey, can we get preference?

11:07:31 And I know that all of us are going to do the right thing.

11:07:33 We’re going to try to make them part of the team.

11:07:35 We’re going to make them work in there.

11:07:37 But I think it sends a message to our people that we are going

11:07:39 to take precedence for you.

11:07:41 And that’s the reason I brought it up.

11:07:43 I mean, if we’re going to do it anyway, I can’t imagine a

11:07:45 scenario where a principal is going to tell the teacher, no, I’m

11:07:48 sorry.

11:07:49 You can’t come here for aftercare.

11:07:51 Right?

11:07:52 So if we’re going to do it anyway, it sends a message and we’re

11:07:54 on the front end of the – of the – the conversation.

11:07:57 Anybody care to weigh in?

11:08:01 I’m not opposed to the concept, Mr. Susan.

11:08:04 But I think that we need to give Ms. Klein an opportunity to

11:08:07 investigate the full impact of that before we give direction.

11:08:13 Certainly, I want to do all that I can to support our employees.

11:08:16 But I feel like that is a dive into a murky pond and that we

11:08:24 probably need to make sure we know the actual impacts of that

11:08:28 decision before we make a decision on that, if you don’t mind.

11:08:32 Absolutely.

11:08:33 The question is, how do we find that out?

11:08:34 And how do I not create a – I mean, I think we know how many

11:08:36 teachers are actually in the system.

11:08:38 We have it flagged already, right?

11:08:39 Because they have a reduced rate inside of our aftercare center.

11:08:42 So we would know they’re already in there.

11:08:45 I guess the other question would be how many we’re going to be

11:08:48 carving off.

11:08:49 So if – if we have 150 that are normally at Manatee, we already

11:08:52 know how many teachers are going to be in there because they’ve

11:08:55 already gone there.

11:08:56 They’re already registered.

11:08:57 It’s already inside the system.

11:08:58 The idea would be how many – how much revenue is being taken

11:09:01 off the bottom end because we are socially distanced and we don’t

11:09:04 have enough people.

11:09:06 Okay.

11:09:07 And then I also need to know what space we have available.

11:09:10 Yeah.

11:09:11 So if I’m not mistaken, that is due back to me by the 20th of

11:09:17 space available.

11:09:19 Nice.

11:09:20 So I – I hope to get you an answer soon, but I can’t –

11:09:25 I think it’s not a question of if we can.

11:09:27 It’s just how much we’re going to lose because we don’t have

11:09:29 enough space for the other people that actually will.

11:09:31 Because I know our principals are going to stand up and try to

11:09:33 do the right thing and get their people in there.

11:09:36 It’s just going to be how much money our aftercares are going to

11:09:38 lose because they can’t put the other 70 kids inside of a

11:09:42 classroom.

11:09:43 But I think it would do something very well for our employees if

11:09:45 we were able to get out ahead of it and say we do – we do value

11:09:48 you and you have first right.

11:09:51 That’s all.

11:09:52 Sorry.

11:09:53 That was 53.

11:09:56 Okay.

11:09:57 I think unless anyone has anything else that we may have

11:10:01 actually gotten through the reopening.

11:10:04 52.

11:10:05 I got to say something about 52.

11:10:06 I’m sorry.

11:10:07 Can I throw something at you?

11:10:08 Yep.

11:10:10 Afterwards, because I’m probably going to do it again so you can

11:10:11 register a bunch of them.

11:10:12 52 is our fire drills.

11:10:15 Okay.

11:10:16 So I looked and Gibbs, you can back me up if you want to, but I

11:10:18 looked through our statutes and actually it says that we’re

11:10:22 supposed to work with our local people on our fire drills and

11:10:25 what we expect and stuff like that.

11:10:27 What I would ask is if there’s an opportunity to do a virtual

11:10:31 option where we would virtually show how the fire alarm goes or

11:10:35 something in that respect.

11:10:38 I looked at the statutes and it does not say that we can’t do

11:10:41 that.

11:10:42 It just says that as long as we agree on what it looks like and

11:10:45 in the event there’s a fire alarm, everybody leaves.

11:10:48 I could be wrong because I was going through it, but that’s a

11:10:51 big area of concern for me.

11:10:53 So it just might be an opportunity.

11:10:55 That’s what I shared earlier that we believe that there are

11:10:57 options other than a traditional evacuation.

11:11:00 That there are options that might be that.

11:11:02 A simulation like experience.

11:11:04 Okay.

11:11:05 I heard simulation.

11:11:06 I just didn’t know.

11:11:07 Okay.

11:11:08 That’s it.

11:11:09 Thank you.

11:11:10 Anyone have anything else on the reopening plan?

11:11:13 All right.

11:11:14 Then at this point, I will ask for a motion to approve the

11:11:17 district reopening plan granting the superintendent discretion

11:11:21 to make necessary changes based upon direction and or guidance

11:11:24 from the governor, Florida Department of Education or state or

11:11:27 local Department of Health and grant the superintendent

11:11:30 discretion in lessening the restrictions in the reopening plan

11:11:34 should the circumstances warrant doing so.

11:11:36 As amended.

11:11:40 Thank you, Mr. Gibbs.

11:11:41 Next Tuesday.

11:11:42 Move to approve.

11:11:43 Moved by Ms. Campbell.

11:11:44 Second.

11:11:46 Seconded by Mr. Susan.

11:11:47 Is there any discussion?

11:11:49 No.

11:11:50 I thought I heard someone come with a discussion.

11:11:51 No discussion?

11:11:52 Okay.

11:11:53 Are you wanting to specify what amendment?

11:11:56 Yes.

11:11:57 All right.

11:12:00 No discussion.

11:12:01 Okay.

11:12:02 Are you wanting to specify what amendments are being made?

11:12:07 I’m just asking.

11:12:09 Would you like to specify which amendments are being made, Mr.

11:12:13 Gibbs?

11:12:13 I don’t have that written down, so no, I would not.

11:12:15 Did we, but did we actually amend anything in the panel?

11:12:21 I don’t know.

11:12:22 You’re, you’re mandating temperature checks at least, so, I mean,

11:12:25 or you’re allowing temperature

11:12:26 checks, so.

11:12:27 The, the amendment that I, well, amendment or the guidance that

11:12:29 I have written down is related

11:12:31 to the temperature checks, notifying, there were three things,

11:12:36 notifying on our, changing

11:12:38 in our plan and notifying on our website that students may be,

11:12:44 may participate in a temperature

11:12:48 check, will provide guidelines to staff and make available to

11:12:51 staff at their request, and

11:12:53 assuming their willingness to follow the guidelines, a touchless

11:12:56 thermometer.

11:12:57 So.

11:12:58 Move to approve with amendments.

11:13:01 I have a motion from Ms. Campbell to approve with amendments as

11:13:05 read previously.

11:13:07 Do I have a second?

11:13:09 Are you kidding me?

11:13:15 You gotta say it?

11:13:16 Yeah.

11:13:17 Second the motions.

11:13:18 We’re, we’re, say that again?

11:13:21 I said I have a motion to approve, as read previously, the

11:13:25 reopening plan with the amendments

11:13:28 that Dr. Mullins just read to us.

11:13:30 I have a motion.

11:13:31 Do I have a second?

11:13:32 Yes.

11:13:33 You have a second.

11:13:34 Thank you.

11:13:35 Motion by Ms. Campbell, seconded by Mr. Susan.

11:13:37 What are you guys doing?

11:13:38 You guys are just standing there looking like.

11:13:40 Is there any discussion?

11:13:41 It’s really late.

11:13:42 Sorry.

11:13:43 That’s why.

11:13:44 Yes.

11:13:45 People need coffee.

11:13:46 All right.

11:13:47 Ms. Escobar, would you please call for the votes?

11:13:49 Mrs. Belford?

11:13:50 Aye.

11:13:51 Ms. McDougall?

11:13:52 Aye.

11:13:53 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:13:54 Aye.

11:13:55 Mrs. Campbell?

11:13:56 Aye.

11:13:57 Mr. Susan?

11:13:58 Aye.

11:13:59 And the motion passes 5-0.

11:14:00 Next, we have department school initiated agreements.

11:14:03 Oh, Dr. Mullins, you were supposed to say that, but I said it

11:14:06 for you.

11:14:07 You want me to just keep going?

11:14:08 Sure.

11:14:09 What are the wishes of the board?

11:14:10 Second.

11:14:11 Moved by Ms. McDougall, seconded by Ms. Deskovich.

11:14:15 Is there any discussion?

11:14:16 Ms. Escobar, please call for the vote.

11:14:18 Mrs. Belford?

11:14:19 Aye.

11:14:20 Ms. McDougall?

11:14:21 Aye.

11:14:22 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:14:23 Aye.

11:14:24 Mrs. Campbell?

11:14:25 Aye.

11:14:26 Mr. Susan?

11:14:27 Aye.

11:14:28 And the motion passes 5-0.

11:14:29 Dr. Mullins?

11:14:30 Item G-30 is on procurement solicitations.

11:14:32 What are the wishes of the board?

11:14:33 Move to approve.

11:14:34 Second.

11:14:35 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. Campbell.

11:14:38 Any discussion?

11:14:39 Ms. Escobar, please call the vote.

11:14:41 Mrs. Belford?

11:14:42 Aye.

11:14:43 Ms. McDougall?

11:14:44 Aye.

11:14:45 Mrs. Campbell?

11:14:46 Aye.

11:14:47 Mr. Susan?

11:14:48 Aye.

11:14:49 The motion passes 5-0.

11:14:50 Dr. Mullins?

11:14:51 The next four items are in reference to policies.

11:14:53 A policy work session was held on June 16 with the Rue

11:14:56 Development Workshop on June 30,

11:14:58 which was the public’s first opportunity to make comments.

11:15:02 Today would be the public’s second chance to comment before the

11:15:05 board takes action.

11:15:06 As I stated earlier, there were no recorded comments regarding

11:15:09 any of the policies on this morning’s

11:15:12 agenda, which it was a whole lot of hours ago, so this evening’s

11:15:16 agenda now.

11:15:17 I will now call for the motion to approve the revisions to board

11:15:20 policy 9-8-0-0 charter schools.

11:15:23 Moved to approve.

11:15:24 Second.

11:15:25 Moved by Ms. McDougall.

11:15:26 Seconded by Mr. Susan.

11:15:27 Any discussion?

11:15:28 Ms. Escobar?

11:15:29 Mrs. Belford?

11:15:30 Aye.

11:15:31 Ms. McDougall?

11:15:32 Aye.

11:15:33 Ms. McDougall?

11:15:34 Aye.

11:15:35 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:15:36 Aye.

11:15:37 Mrs. Campbell?

11:15:38 Aye.

11:15:39 Mr. Susan?

11:15:40 Aye.

11:15:41 The motion passes 5-0.

11:15:42 Is there a motion to approve the revisions to the board policy 5-6-1-0,

11:15:45 removal, suspension,

11:15:46 and expulsion of students?

11:15:48 Moved to approve.

11:15:49 Second.

11:15:50 Moved by Ms. Campbell, seconded by Mr. Susan.

11:15:53 Any discussion?

11:15:54 Ms. Escobar?

11:15:55 Mrs. Belford?

11:15:56 Aye.

11:15:57 Ms. Deskovich?

11:15:58 Aye.

11:15:59 Ms. McDougall?

11:16:00 Aye.

11:16:01 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:02 Aye.

11:16:03 Mrs. Belford?

11:16:04 Aye.

11:16:05 Mr. Susan?

11:16:06 Aye.

11:16:07 The motion passes 5-0.

11:16:08 Let’s move on to policy 7-1-1-0, student accommodation.

11:16:12 Do I have a motion?

11:16:13 Move to approve.

11:16:14 Second.

11:16:15 Moved by Ms. Deskovich, seconded by Ms. Campbell.

11:16:17 Any discussion?

11:16:18 Ms. Escobar?

11:16:19 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:20 Aye.

11:16:21 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:16:22 Aye.

11:16:23 Mrs. McDougall?

11:16:24 Aye.

11:16:25 Mrs. Belford?

11:16:26 Aye.

11:16:27 Mr. Susan?

11:16:28 Aye.

11:16:29 Mrs. Belford?

11:16:30 Aye.

11:16:31 Mrs. McDougall?

11:16:32 Aye.

11:16:33 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:16:34 Aye.

11:16:35 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:36 Aye.

11:16:37 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:38 Aye.

11:16:38 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:16:39 Aye.

11:16:40 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:41 Aye.

11:16:42 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:43 Aye.

11:16:44 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:16:45 Aye.

11:16:46 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:47 Aye.

11:16:48 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:49 Aye.

11:16:50 Mr. Susan?

11:16:51 Aye.

11:16:52 Mrs. Belford?

11:16:53 Aye.

11:16:54 Mrs. McDougall?

11:16:55 Aye.

11:16:56 Mrs. Deskovich?

11:16:57 Aye.

11:16:58 Mrs. Campbell?

11:16:59 Aye.

11:17:00 The motion passes 5-0.

11:17:02 We are now at board member reports and discussion points.

11:17:07 We don’t have anything on the schedule.

11:17:09 Is there anyone?

11:17:10 Don’t even.

11:17:11 I am.

11:17:13 I gotta say something.

11:17:14 I’m sorry.

11:17:15 So, one of the things I wanted to say thank you to the ESOL.

11:17:19 There’s a Samantha Navarro who’s working with me on ESOL.

11:17:23 I went through the actual translations, everything else, and

11:17:27 found that we have done an amazing

11:17:30 job with making sure that people can be notified on our website

11:17:33 if they go to it.

11:17:34 All they have to do is click down.

11:17:36 I put it in Hebrew.

11:17:37 I put it in every single language that was out there.

11:17:39 It was amazing.

11:17:40 I wanted to say thank you to that.

11:17:41 The other thing is, is that I think one of the pieces that we,

11:17:44 it wasn’t part of the

11:17:46 reopening, but I think it needs to be part of it, is our well

11:17:48 care centers and what they

11:17:50 do for us for this COVID response.

11:17:52 And I think that we had mentioned before about possibly taking

11:17:55 them to identify the individuals

11:17:57 that need the well care when they test positive and stuff like

11:18:00 that.

11:18:01 That should be part of what they do.

11:18:02 That it should be number one along with the cancers and

11:18:04 everything else that we have.

11:18:06 The other thing that I was thinking about is, is that I had a,

11:18:10 like a yoga instructor and

11:18:11 a couple other individuals come up and they said that they would

11:18:13 be interested in providing

11:18:15 services to our schools virtually.

11:18:17 So there might be an opportunity for well-beings and welfare of

11:18:20 the, of the staff to take advantage

11:18:22 of some of those things virtually, whether that’s yoga after,

11:18:25 after school or, or meditation

11:18:27 or whatever it is in your group.

11:18:29 And I think that we’re missing when we start looking at this,

11:18:32 there’s going to be some, some

11:18:34 detoxing from the day.

11:18:35 There’s going to be some de-stressing and, and I think we need

11:18:37 to put some of that in place.

11:18:39 That’s all.

11:18:40 But I think that our well care centers and the main reason I

11:18:42 brought this up was that our

11:18:43 well care centers need to be pushing, need to be working on this.

11:18:46 This needs to be firing on all cylinders.

11:18:48 That’s it.

11:18:49 Very good.

11:18:52 Thank you.

11:18:53 Dr. Mullins, do you have anything further to report?

11:18:55 Nothing to report except I have to take one, maybe two minutes

11:18:58 for some acknowledgements.

11:19:00 And I know the board, I believe the board again has been, has

11:19:05 experienced a level of expertise

11:19:09 and a level and depth of knowledge and understanding and

11:19:13 preparation that far exceeds any expectations.

11:19:19 The level of information and detail you are provided with what

11:19:24 had to have been a hundred plus questions throughout today.

11:19:29 Whether it’s from facilities or operations, elementary leading

11:19:33 and learning that we were collecting space information about Brevard

11:19:38 and aftercare.

11:19:39 I’ve never thought of that.

11:19:41 To the level of detail that Dr. Sullivan has around Brevard

11:19:45 Virtual School, it blows me away.

11:19:48 Dr. Thetty has had workman’s comp and risk management for 14

11:19:53 days.

11:19:54 And to put the presentation together and be able to answer in

11:19:58 depth hypothetical scenarios and situations, not to mention you

11:20:02 can see why I punted the discussion around our scenarios of when

11:20:07 different situations happen to miss more.

11:20:10 To manage and understand that world to the complexities of 80,000

11:20:17 devices across our district.

11:20:20 through ET.

11:20:21 And Mr. Keetum had the opportunity to pitch hard, the budget

11:20:25 cuts that were impacting us and he’s a team player.

11:20:30 I just, I, my admiration and respect for this team of

11:20:33 professionals could never be higher.

11:20:36 And I just had to take the opportunity to thank them for all of

11:20:38 the amazing work they put in to prepare our district to move

11:20:41 forward with this plan.

11:20:43 Thank you.

11:20:45 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.

11:20:46 And I would absolutely, uh, second that and add that, uh, if I

11:20:53 may speak on behalf of all of the board members, we are so

11:20:55 appreciative that you all sat with us for 12 hours last week to

11:21:00 work through the intricacies of the plan and, uh, took our

11:21:04 concerns and our feedback and, uh, worked it, worked it into the

11:21:09 plan to the best of your abilities.

11:21:11 And, uh, I think you have shown, not only have you shown your

11:21:14 phenomenal expertise in your areas of responsibility, but I

11:21:18 think you have also shown our community how very much each and

11:21:21 every one of you cares about our faculty and our staff and our

11:21:24 students.

11:21:25 And so, um, um, we thank you and, um, unless anyone else would

11:21:28 like to, to speak, then I will call this mini adjourn.

11:21:36 Mrs. Belford?

11:21:37 Yes.

11:21:38 Um, the workshop, are we rescheduling it to another time?

11:21:43 I would request we reschedule.

11:21:45 Yes.

11:21:46 Um, so…

11:21:47 To be determined, send us an email.

11:21:48 Yes, Mr. Susan, we have a workshop following this.

11:21:53 It was supposed to be at 11:00 a.m.

11:21:56 We could have it just at 11:00 p.m. at this point.

11:21:59 Um, I’m going to veto that.

11:22:01 I don’t know if I have that power as chair, but I’m invoking

11:22:03 that power as chair to veto an 11:00 p.m. workshop this evening.

11:22:06 Um, no, perhaps we can work it in after our special meeting next,

11:22:12 uh, next Tuesday.

11:22:14 So, um, so yeah, no, no workshop.

11:22:17 And, and thank you again.

11:22:18 I hope you can all go home and get some rest, especially Ms. Han

11:22:21 who handled all of our public comments last night.

11:22:24 You are a, a warrior and we appreciate you.

11:22:27 So with that, uh, meeting adjourned.

11:22:31 Thank you.