2020-09-10 - School Board Meeting and Tentative Budget Hearing

0:00 - Public comments that were prerecorded

0:02 will be played at the appropriate time.

0:04 Additionally, in-person comments may also be heard.

0:07 Please be advised that this was the last opportunity

0:09 for prerecorded comments and all public participation

0:14 beginning on September 22nd, 2020 will be in person.

0:19 Pam, roll call please.

0:21 - Mrs. Belford.

0:23 - Present.

0:24 - Ms. McDougall.

0:25 - Present.

0:26 - Mr. Susan.

0:27 - Present.

0:27 - Mrs. Deskovich.

0:29 - Present.

0:29 - And Mrs. Campbell.

0:30 - Present.

0:31 - At this time, the board will hold a silent moment

0:33 of reflection and invite you to join us.

0:35 Thank you.

0:52 Please stand with us and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:57 - To the flag of the United States of America

1:01 and to the Republic for which it stands,

1:04 one nation under God, indivisible,

1:07 with liberty and justice for all.

1:09 - I would like to offer my fellow board members

1:15 and Dr. Mullins the opportunity to recognize students,

1:18 staff, or members of the community.

1:20 Who would like to start us off this evening?

1:24 - Yes.

1:24 - Thank you.

1:25 - Mr. Susan.

1:26 - I’m good.

1:27 - I don’t believe it.

1:29 - Thank you, sir.

1:31 - I just don’t believe it.

1:33 - Ms. Duskovich.

1:34 - That was amazing, right?

1:36 - And a first.

1:37 First in four years.

1:39 I knew there was something coming.

1:41 ‘Cause he has three discussion points.

1:44 I just wanna give a shout out to Sabrina Wilpark,

1:46 kindergarten teacher at Indialenic Elementary School.

1:48 I stopped by there last week.

1:50 Was last week the first week of kindergarten?

1:53 My days are running together.

1:55 - I think so.

1:56 - I hit her classroom on the very first day of kindergarten

1:58 and she is the e-learning teacher for kindergarten,

2:00 which I thought might be a disaster and it was not.

2:04 So it was, she’s amazing.

2:07 She happened to be my son,

2:08 who’s in seventh grades now, kindergarten teacher.

2:11 So I already knew she was an amazing teacher,

2:12 but I wondered how that was gonna work for e-learning.

2:15 So I popped in and she had all of her students create,

2:19 come up the week before at separate times

2:21 and pick up like a science fair board

2:24 and had them all create a backdrop for their Zoom classes.

2:28 And she had pockets, six pockets for all the subjects.

2:32 And so everything and everything that they needed,

2:34 manipulatives for math and different things.

2:36 And so when it was time for school,

2:38 the kids would get in front of their computer screens,

2:40 open their backdrop.

2:41 So all the kids had matching backdrops

2:43 with all their, everything that they needed.

2:45 She could say, turn around,

2:46 pull out from square A, what you need, let’s put it back.

2:49 So everything stayed organized and together.

2:51 And she was, I mean,

2:52 she was just ecstatic with everything.

2:54 She said that they had pet sharing time

2:56 where all the kids would bring their pets

2:58 in front of the screen and introduce them to the class.

3:00 And so show and tell takes on a whole new meeting

3:02 for kindergarteners right now with Zoom.

3:05 And she said it was going really well and was enjoying it.

3:09 At least on day one,

3:10 I haven’t followed up.

3:12 I don’t know how, if it’s continuing to be such fun for her,

3:14 but she’s an ex, a great example of how this can be successful

3:18 and in such challenging times.

3:20 Thanks.

3:21 Awesome.

3:21 Thanks, Ms. Duskovich.

3:22 Ms. Campbell, you want to go?

3:23 Sure.

3:24 So last week I presented the impact pen to Carolyn Robb, who is

3:30 one of the art teachers

3:31 at Melbourne High School.

3:32 I got a glowing email from one of our tech integrators for the

3:38 district who had been working

3:40 working with them and she is one of the teachers who, like I

3:43 said, she’s not a tech teacher,

3:44 she’s an art teacher, but she took it upon herself to help with

3:48 the transition, the integration

3:49 of Focus and Google Classroom and didn’t just, she helped the

3:54 district staff with, you know,

3:55 what does it really look like, you know, kind of offered herself

3:58 as a guinea pig, I guess,

3:58 but then also offered herself to her teammates and colleagues as

4:03 well to help them get things going.

4:05 So I just wanted to thank Ms. Robb for her great work in that.

4:08 And also just wanted to say to all of our teachers who are doing

4:14 a hybrid, whether you’re elementary or, you know,

4:20 obviously all of our secondary, almost all of our secondary

4:22 teachers are doing hybrid,

4:22 but quite a few of our elementary, I just wanted to say thank

4:24 you.

4:25 I know that it is so difficult, the challenges that you’ve been

4:29 asked to take on, but I just thank you.

4:31 Just, you know, I know we recognize everybody for what they’re

4:34 doing, but just wanted to just tell you,

4:36 I appreciate the job that you’re doing. Also, this is kind of

4:39 more of an announcement than a recognition,

4:41 but we have so many things on our end of the, for me, I thought

4:43 I’d do this.

4:44 Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization, which does all

4:47 the new projects,

4:48 they are doing a Minton Road study. And so it’s kind of a

4:51 recognition because as part of that there,

4:53 we have the Minton Road schools or the Wingate schools, the Meadowlanes

4:57 and Central,

4:58 and also West Melbourne School for Science, they’re all in that

5:01 corridor.

5:01 And they’re doing a study right now and they’re asking for

5:04 community input.

5:05 And so you can go to MintonRoadStudy.com and take a look at all

5:10 the plans.

5:10 They’re really taking into consideration bikers and pedestrians

5:15 and our school traffic

5:17 and our kids who are getting to school in the morning either by,

5:20 on foot or on bicycle.

5:22 And so it’s a great opportunity for you to go take a look if you

5:26 use or live near or go to school

5:29 near that road on Minton Road between Palm Bay Road and 192.

5:32 There’s some really creative options.

5:34 And the public can vote through September the 14th.

5:36 That’s it.

5:37 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.

5:39 Ms. McDougal.

5:40 I have a couple.

5:43 So first, I was lucky enough today to go to Anderson and present

5:48 a couple pins.

5:49 I did an impact pin to our, one of our teachers, Ms. Kristin Enos.

5:53 And I got this very nice long email, and I think Mr. Susan also

5:58 got it, about a teacher

5:59 who went out of her way for students who became ill and what she

6:04 did to make them feel part

6:06 of.

6:08 And she just went above and beyond.

6:09 So I gave her an impact pin because the note that was written

6:13 from the parents and the students

6:14 was just pretty amazing.

6:16 So thank you, Ms. Enos.

6:17 Also two more teachers at Anderson, Ms. Lamb and Ms. Pritchard.

6:23 Again, they’re doing e-learning, which is challenging sometimes.

6:28 And this was a wonderful note from a parent, a grandmother, who

6:31 said her kids are just loving it

6:33 and doing very well, and it’s working just fine.

6:36 So hats off to those three teachers, and they got excellent Achiever

6:39 pins.

6:40 Now, I have a rather long list of people that I gave pins to a

6:43 couple of weeks ago.

6:45 And this was at our distribution service team members, who these

6:50 are people who order supplies,

6:53 get them in, and right now all the PPE, it’s stacked up to the

6:58 ceiling.

6:59 You should go see it.

7:00 It’s amazing.

7:01 So I went down there, and these are people who get the stuff in,

7:04 then they sort it out,

7:05 and they load it back up on trucks, and it’s not an air

7:07 conditioned site, just so you notice.

7:09 And I want to give them a shout out because they do a terrific

7:12 job, and I don’t think people

7:14 realize how hard they work and how much and what they’re

7:18 dedicated in doing to make sure all of our

7:20 students and our staff get the safety equipment that they need.

7:23 So please bear with me.

7:24 So I want to give a shout out to Sandy Kimple, Sean Hayes, who

7:30 Sean and Tony McNair were just

7:33 recently promoted.

7:34 So I want to give a shout out to both of them for going above

7:38 and beyond.

7:38 These are all people who made an impact to all of our schools.

7:42 Bill Bender, Andrew Deer, Billy Rouse, Brandon Collier, Chris

7:47 Jackson, Gene Collins, and Robert McGrath.

7:51 I hope I said his name right.

7:52 And these are all of our courier drivers who are dropping off

7:56 everything throughout our 84 schools and other sites.

7:59 And then two more, Jeff Williams, who’s our shipping receiving

8:04 clerk.

8:04 Thank you so much.

8:05 And then last but not least is Christine Rodriguez, the team,

8:09 the team director who keeps everybody together

8:11 and on task.

8:12 So thank you very much for all you’re doing for all of our

8:15 schools.

8:16 And we couldn’t get there without you.

8:19 So thank you.

8:20 Thank you, Ms. McChugol.

8:22 Dr. Mullins.

8:23 Thank you, Ms. Belford.

8:26 I just want to acknowledge I had a chance to get out on Tuesday

8:30 and visit some schools.

8:31 And principals graciously took me to some classrooms.

8:34 I, too, visited Ms. Wolpert’s class at Indian Atlantic

8:37 Elementary School.

8:39 Ms. Deskovich gave me the heads up.

8:40 She said you’ve got to go by and meet her.

8:42 So I’ve got to tell you, two weeks later with kindergarten, she

8:44 was still as enthusiastic as it sounds like she was with you.

8:47 And just so excited.

8:49 I caught her just before she was getting online with her kids.

8:53 And just a delightful lady and doing a wonderful job working

8:58 through a very different platform as a veteran teacher.

9:02 Then I met at Indian Atlantic a second grade e-learning teacher,

9:05 Ms. Nisha Worthington, who, too, she shared the struggles and

9:11 challenges and apprehensions and probably even some tears early

9:15 on and trying to figure out how to do e-learning.

9:16 And Tuesday, she was just, had just clear command of the process

9:21 and her learning environment and had really established a

9:25 routine with her kids.

9:26 It was, it was so impressive.

9:28 And then I got over to Melbourne High School and visited with Ms.

9:33 Julie Minor, a ESC self-contained teacher.

9:36 And it doesn’t take long, but a few seconds to walk into a

9:39 classroom and feel a culture and an environment and the love and

9:43 embracement of her kids.

9:44 And she was managing both kids in her classroom and online.

9:48 And she was sitting at her desk getting one of her students

9:51 oriented to the day, even before the school day started.

9:54 And, but just a real gracious lady and appreciate her great work

9:58 to incorporate and integrate both e-learning and in-person

10:03 students.

10:04 And then I met a young man, a first year teacher, a freshman

10:08 English teacher, Mr. Jonathan Halfide at Mel High.

10:12 And first year teaching is always a challenging experience.

10:18 But I said, you’re in good company because quite frankly, we’re

10:21 all kind of first year educators this year because it’s such a

10:23 different environment.

10:24 And again, just another demonstration of a positive outlook and

10:28 a can-do attitude.

10:29 And it was obvious that both school environments had really done

10:34 such an amazing job of supporting their teachers.

10:38 I asked every teacher, what more can we do to support you?

10:41 And they said, you know, our administration has been great.

10:43 So I had a wonderful visit and just wanted to say a special

10:46 thank you, like Ms. Campbell, for our teachers and taking on the

10:50 additional responsibilities and the challenges and overcoming

10:53 them.

10:54 And finding ways to give our kids the positive experience they

11:00 deserve and they want to give them.

11:03 Thank you, sir.

11:05 Just a couple from me, like all of you, I think we just cannot

11:11 thank our teams enough.

11:12 I’ve gotten so much positive feedback from parents and students

11:16 and many of our teachers just really rising to the occasion

11:20 through the challenges and figuring out how to work their way

11:23 through all of those things.

11:24 And I think we also have to give our principals some kudos

11:29 because we know, you know, that oftentimes leadership is what

11:32 makes the difference between teachers really being able to feel

11:35 successful and being supported through those challenges.

11:38 So thanks to all of our school teams who are just doing a

11:41 phenomenal job, getting very, very few concerns from parents or

11:46 students about their experience.

11:47 So I think that speaks volumes.

11:50 I also wanted to give a quick shout out to Titusville High

11:55 School, who was recognized in U.S. News for the badge of best

12:03 high school.

12:04 Titusville High School, West Shore and Bayside actually were all

12:09 highlighted.

12:11 Several of our schools ranked pretty high in the rankings, but I

12:14 think Bayside and Titusville sometimes don’t fall into those

12:19 great recognition opportunities because they serve different

12:22 students.

12:23 And that was one of the elements of their recognition was the

12:26 fact that they do serve a lot of diverse students and close

12:28 those achievement gaps.

12:30 So kudos to all of them.

12:34 And I believe that will bring us to the adoption of the agenda.

12:37 Dr. Mullen.

12:38 Ms. Belford and members of the board on this evening’s agenda,

12:43 we have 11 consent items, 12 action items, which include the

12:47 final budget hearing items.

12:48 Additionally, we have board discussion items and I’ll be

12:51 providing a superintendent’s report.

12:53 Changes made it to the agenda since it was first released to the

12:57 public are as follows.

12:58 There are no administrative staff recommendations this evening,

13:01 so the placeholder was removed.

13:02 Attachments were added to item G19 on the superintendent’s

13:06 presentation, final public budget hearing and item G24 on adopt

13:11 the 2020-21 budget.

13:13 Items G29 on procurement solicitations and G30 on department

13:22 school initiated agreements received revisions.

13:25 That’s it.

13:26 All right.

13:28 What are the wishes of the board?

13:31 Move to approve.

13:32 Second.

13:33 Moved by Ms. Best of it, seconded by Ms. Campbell.

13:38 Is there any discussion?

13:39 All right.

13:40 Please vote.

13:41 Moved by Ms. Campbell.

13:48 Oh, ho, ho.

13:50 No, I just had to log back in.

14:12 I’m almost there.

14:14 Moved by Ms. Campbell.

14:15 All right.

14:16 I’m the moved by Ms. Campbell.

14:17 All right.

14:18 I’m the moved by Ms. Campbell.

29:05 No, it’s not right.

29:06 Today’s Thursday.

29:07 I was thinking today was Tuesday.

29:08 Normally, we’re doing this on a Tuesday.

29:10 See, I got myself confused.

29:12 So, September 4th through Tuesday, which was September 8th, and

29:17 then our Friday update will

29:19 be the time period from September 8th through September today,

29:28 the 10th.

29:30 So, obviously, it’ll be clearly identified on the dashboard

29:35 because it’s important to us

29:37 that we make sure everyone understands what the reporting period

29:41 is.

29:41 Each of these dashboard reporting periods will be archived on

29:45 the dashboard website so our community

29:48 can go back and look at what each update is.

29:51 It identifies both the number of reported positive cases

29:55 district-wide by employee and students.

29:58 You can see during this time period we had 28 reported positive

30:02 cases, six employees and 22 students,

30:05 as well as the number of quarantines from a contact to a case

30:10 district-wide, or 284 total,

30:13 with 232 coming from contacts to a case in a school or a work

30:18 environment,

30:19 and 52 quarantines that came as a result of a contact to a case

30:24 outside of the school or in the community or in the household.

30:30 Also in the data dashboard in every report, we will list the

30:34 schools impacted by a reported positive case,

30:37 as well as those with reported quarantines.

30:41 You’ll see here this link will provide quarantine numbers by

30:47 school.

30:48 At the bottom, you’ll see that we’ll provide an updated graphic

30:53 in each update of what the impact is across Brevard County,

30:57 compared to the 79,353 students and staff that we have as part

31:03 of Brevard Public Schools.

31:06 I would emphasize that this will be the most accurate updated

31:13 numbers for Brevard Public Schools.

31:17 When entities request a public records request, it takes some

31:22 time to provide those records,

31:23 so we would suggest that if other numbers are reported, they may

31:29 not be aligned with these because they’ll be lagged,

31:33 and not necessarily based on the same time period that we would

31:37 have been providing this update.

31:39 So I would encourage our community to use this as a consistent

31:45 and valid source of information as we move forward.

31:50 And that is all I have this evening for our update.

31:57 But I’m happy to answer questions for the board if you have any

32:00 at this time.

32:01 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.

32:02 Any board members have any questions for Dr. Mullins on this

32:04 presentation?

32:05 Ms. Vescovich?

32:06 I don’t have a question, but can you have someone send us that

32:10 presentation?

32:11 Yes, we’ll have it sent to you tomorrow.

32:14 Any questions?

32:15 All right.

32:16 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.

32:17 You’re welcome.

32:18 Thank you.

32:19 We are now at Public Commons.

32:24 Each speaker is limited to three minutes.

32:29 We have a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your

32:32 time.

32:33 When your time is over, you’ll be asked to stop and allow the

32:35 next speaker his or her turn.

32:36 Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is expected at all

32:37 times and your statement should be directed to the board

32:41 chairman.

32:42 The chairman may interrupt, warn, or terminate a participant’s

32:46 statement when time is up, personally directed, abusive, obscene,

32:49 or irrelevant.

32:49 Should an individual not observe proper etiquette, the chairman

32:52 may request the individual leave the meeting.

32:55 Let’s all encourage an environment appropriate for our children

32:58 who may be present or watching from home.

33:00 We have two speakers in person this evening, James Paddock and

33:06 Joanne Lyle, and then we have recorded public comment as well.

33:11 So, Mr. Paddock, if you would like to step to the microphone in

33:14 front of me, please, sir.

33:16 Give me just one second before you start.

33:26 Am I clear?

33:27 Just one second.

33:28 One second.

33:29 I have a technical issue with our timer.

33:38 Mr. Francisco, I appear to have no power on the timer.

33:50 All right, we’re going to go old fashioned.

33:53 So I’m going to set my timer on my phone.

33:55 And when we get to 30 seconds, I’ll give you a little wave.

33:57 Does that work?

33:58 Is this working?

33:59 Yes.

34:00 Hold on one second.

34:01 Let me get to my timer because I don’t want to mess anyone up

34:04 here.

34:05 All right.

34:06 Whenever you’re ready, sir.

34:07 Okay.

34:08 I’m addressing you on behalf of my son, well, on behalf of my

34:14 wife and myself because of something

34:16 that’s going on inside of, what I perceive is going on inside of

34:19 Vieira High School that’s

34:20 wrong.

34:21 My wife was checking my son’s, he’s a junior in the high school,

34:24 he’s in the civics honors

34:27 class.

34:28 And she was checking his homework and came across three

34:31 questions in his homework assignment.

34:32 They started in the order of, do you feel safe or safer?

34:35 Do you have guns in your house?

34:37 Do you own guns?

34:38 And how do you feel about the victims of school shootings?

34:41 Do you think school shootings are a problem?

34:43 Needless to say, we wanted to find out where this was coming

34:45 from.

34:45 And he was subjected to watching video with his class on school

34:48 shootings where students,

34:50 I guess they were survivors of school shootings, were

34:53 interviewed and some NRA members were interviewed.

34:57 It’s kind of noteworthy, in my opinion, that the very next day

35:02 after this, there was an active

35:05 shooter drill in the school.

35:07 So, I think you have to pay attention to the sequence of events.

35:11 He’s forced to watch a video with kids who’d survived school

35:14 shootings.

35:15 He’s asked if there’s guns in our house and if he feels safe.

35:19 And the next day, he has to go through an active shooter

35:23 practice in school.

35:25 There’s certainly an implication that you’re creating the

35:30 thought that guns in the house

35:31 could be brought into the school for school shootings.

35:33 Anybody who’s the slightest bit objective is going to think that

35:36 that’s an issue.

35:37 I don’t think the teacher has any business asking any questions

35:41 about whether or not somebody has weapons in their home.

35:43 It’s not her business.

35:45 It’s a completely inappropriate question.

35:47 There’s a lot of talk about indoctrination, so I started going

35:52 through his notebook beyond that.

35:53 There are other questions that go into similar areas.

35:57 He’s asked questions about promises Donald Trump has made and

36:00 promises he’s kept.

36:01 What did he call Joe Biden?

36:03 The answer from that, this is from another video.

36:05 These are all YouTube videos where he’s called the destroyer.

36:09 There is a third one where he’s asked to describe, to give the

36:15 definition of gerrymandering,

36:16 which for those who don’t know, it’s the redistricting of

36:19 congressional districts.

36:20 Then he asked how many seats the Republicans gained from gerrymandering.

36:24 If I wanted my son to be indoctrinated into a particular

36:29 political mindset,

36:32 my wife and I would do it ourselves.

36:35 This does not belong in the classroom.

36:37 This is not part of civics and U.S. government.

36:40 He shouldn’t be asked questions about weapons in our home or any

36:44 of these things.

36:45 This teacher is acting, in my opinion, completely inappropriate

36:49 and it’s intrusive.

36:50 I’m bringing it to your attention.

36:52 If I wanted to the school’s attention, the advice principal, Mr.

36:56 Link, told me he would get back to me.

36:58 Instead, he had the teacher call me.

37:00 She defended what she did.

37:02 She said I have the leeway to bring anything into the classroom

37:04 that I think is important and relevant,

37:06 if it’s a current event, anything she wants to bring in.

37:09 And she was offended that I even contacted the school.

37:14 So, I find this problematic.

37:17 She actually pretty simply told me she’s going to continue doing

37:23 what she wants and that we have no say as parents.

37:27 Thank you for joining us this evening, Mr. Paddock.

37:30 Dr. Sullivan is in the back of the room.

37:32 She just raised her hand for you.

37:33 If you could just please touch base with her and she will

37:36 address your concerns.

37:37 Our last in-person speaker this evening is Joanne Lyle.

37:41 Joanne, if you would please make your way to the mic in the

37:43 front of the room.

37:44 And I’ll do the same for you.

37:46 When you’re at about 30 seconds, I’ll hold up a three for you.

37:49 And then when you’re done, I’ll go ahead and let you know, okay?

38:07 I’d like to introduce myself as Joanne Lyle.

38:10 Thank you for allowing me to speak.

38:13 I’m here mainly to try to understand why we’re seeking a name

38:18 change for a school mascot.

38:21 As I said, I’ve been a long time community member of Mary Allen.

38:26 And it’s been very difficult to hear this when the only

38:31 knowledge of it came across social media.

38:35 And that the community wasn’t told beforehand before any

38:39 decisions were being made or anything like that.

38:43 I want to just read to you what I have here.

38:47 I would like to think that something of this nature would have

38:50 required some input.

38:51 Not only from the school improvement, but also from the

38:54 community at large.

38:56 The knowledge of this being done was put on social media leading

39:00 our community to believe it was already done.

39:02 And just waiting for board approval.

39:04 I know I speak for many hoping that this is not the case.

39:07 I was given the information that the Native American Indian

39:10 tribe that frequented Edgewood with their history of their

39:13 people

39:13 and their settling here on Merritt Island were contacted and

39:16 that they were fine with the name that has been there for many,

39:20 many years.

39:20 Again, this was secondhand knowledge. I can’t say that I know

39:24 that.

39:25 I myself tried to contact the IAES tribe.

39:30 I used to keep pretty good contact with them at times.

39:33 They were in Cocoa Village, but I was also told that because of

39:36 their age and because of COVID that they no longer have that

39:39 building there.

39:40 This same IAES tribe not only shared the culture with Edgewood

39:46 and their students for many, many years, but they also shared

39:50 how at one time they sold the property to the schools.

39:53 And were part of laying the bricks of the actual school itself.

39:57 They shared on how many historical events and gatherings that

40:00 were shared.

40:01 They shared this with not only the Edgewood community, but the

40:05 Edgewood students on the premises and were very proud of what

40:09 they had done and that we would remember them with their legacy

40:12 for years to come.

40:13 The school was named in honor of this Indian IAES tribe not to

40:18 offend anyone.

40:19 The Indian River was named in honor of the many tribes that were

40:23 here not to offend them.

40:25 We are not, why are we, I have to ask why are we are so

40:29 aggressively trying to take the culture and the history of

40:32 something that was made so wonderful and make it something to

40:35 fit a narrative of time when everyone is trying to find hate and

40:38 disrespect just for using a title.

40:40 I know that the Seminole Indians used their tribe name for their

40:46 college.

40:47 When they were asked and approached they wanted it changed, they

40:50 said no and they honored that.

40:52 I would hope that our community would do the same.

40:54 I feel our community was faced with Edgewood changing from

40:57 middle school to a school of choice with conflict and great

41:00 conflict.

41:01 It divided the community on Maryland for a long time and it

41:04 still has a source of tension in some areas.

41:07 At that time the county should have closed Edgewood maybe like

41:10 they did West Shore and made school changes at that time such as

41:13 improvements, changing of names, whatever needed to be done.

41:17 Thank you, Ms. Lyle, your three minutes is up but thank you for

41:20 joining us this evening and I know we have a couple of other

41:23 recorded comments regarding Edgewood so we’ll address that when

41:26 we finish the rest of them.

41:26 I appreciate that.

41:27 Thank you so much.

41:28 Thanks for being here.

41:29 Mr. Francisco, if you could please load our recorded comments

41:34 for us this evening.

41:35 Thank you, sir.

41:36 I’m the Assistant Superintendent for Facility Services for Brevard

41:47 Public Schools.

41:50 And in consideration of the current during the COVID-19

41:53 emergency guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and

41:57 Prevention as well as Executive Order 20-91 issued by Governor

42:01 DeSantis, it is necessary to modify our procedures for public

42:04 comment.

42:04 Tonight we are recording comments for the public comment section

42:08 of the agenda first and then for the public hearing on the tentative

42:11 budget that is later on tomorrow’s school board agenda.

42:14 We have eight registered to speak under public comments and one

42:17 registered to speak under the public hearing on the tentative

42:20 budget.

42:21 Comments for both sections supported and we will play them back

42:25 under the public comment section or the tentative budget hearing

42:29 section of the board meeting tomorrow as applicable.

42:31 Each speaker is limited to three minutes.

42:34 Our moderator will keep track of your time and ask you to

42:36 conclude your comments when you have reached three minutes.

42:38 Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is at all times.

42:43 Please keep your comments appropriate for our children who may

42:46 be watching or listening from home.

42:47 Before speaking, please state your name, the organization you

42:51 represent is applicable.

42:52 We won’t be answering questions on tonight’s call, but our staff

42:55 will follow up with you if you have a question or need a

42:57 response.

42:58 Thank you, Ben.

42:59 Please go ahead.

43:00 Thank you, Sue.

43:01 And with that, for everybody that’s on the call, go ahead and

43:04 press zero now.

43:05 We’ll get you in mind, McDonough, to verify your name and get

43:08 you in to make your comments.

43:09 Go ahead and press zero now to get in mind.

43:12 And we’re going to go ahead and start the call with Anthony.

43:15 Anthony, go ahead with your comment.

43:17 I’ll go ahead with your first and last name and your address and

43:20 your comments.

43:21 My name is Anthony Clitchie.

43:23 I’m the president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.

43:26 Friday evening, we concluded the vote on our memorandum of

43:29 agreements surrounding COVID-19.

43:32 I’m pleased to report that 95% of those that voted cast a yes

43:36 vote.

43:37 There were 1,964 yes votes, 114 no votes, and 37 abstained from

43:44 the vote.

43:45 The results of this vote mean our employees are trusting that

43:48 this agreement will be carried out with fidelity.

43:50 It is important to realize that some teachers made the decision

43:53 to continue to work because of the protections provided in this

43:57 agreement.

43:57 Some of those teachers are high-risk or have a high-risk

44:01 individual living in.

44:02 As this agreement potentially deals with life and death issues,

44:05 it must be honored without question.

44:07 It is important that we do everything we can to mitigate the

44:10 spread of COVID-19.

44:12 A big part of that is being transparent about what is happening

44:16 in the district.

44:17 With that said, I appreciate that you honored my reporting to

44:21 all parents and staff whenever there is a positive COVID-19 case

44:26 at the school.

44:27 I do need something else from you right now.

44:30 As many of our teachers are struggling to adjust to many new

44:33 challenges such as safety protocols, block scheduling, e-learning,

44:38 and hybrid instruction, I need you to reassure them that their

44:42 best is good enough.

44:43 And their best instruction this year may not be as good as their

44:46 best instruction was last year.

44:48 But that’s okay because this year is something great.

44:51 It seems that because of the reckless rush to get back to normal

44:55 stemming from our lack of leadership from our governor, there is

44:59 pressure to pretend like our students and teachers should be

45:01 performing as they always have.

45:03 We must not have to come to this pressure.

45:06 I’m calling on you to change the climate this district.

45:10 Teachers, parents, and students must understand that safety is

45:13 the most important priority now.

45:15 They must understand that this year is going to be messy,

45:18 confusing, and difficult.

45:20 But that is only temporary and together we can get through this.

45:23 Because without that attitude being pervasive throughout this

45:27 district, this year will only be more messy, confusing, and

45:31 difficult.

45:32 Every teacher, parent, and staff member should rest easy every

45:35 night knowing that their school board has their back if they did

45:38 their best each day.

45:39 Really, that is a big standard right now.

45:43 It is a standard I would use to advocate for teachers, staff,

45:46 and students.

45:47 We must take care of our community and you must lead on this

45:50 issue.

45:51 Don’t forget to practice social distancing, wear a mask, and

45:55 wash your hands.

45:56 Don’t forget to practice social distancing.

46:41 Don’t forget to practice social distancing distancing.

46:42 Don’t forget to practice social distancing.

47:57 Don’t forget to practice social distancing distancing.

47:58 Don’t forget to practice social distancing.

51:34 Don’t forget to practice social distancing distancing.

51:35 Don’t forget to practice social distancing.

51:38 of the elementary school teachers said highly effective, 1% of

51:42 the secondary school. 23% effective, 19% for the secondary

51:48 school teachers. 45% of the elementary school teachers said it

51:52 was ineffective, 52% for secondary. 30% of the elementary school

51:57 teachers said it was highly ineffective, 26% for the secondary

52:01 teachers. In answer to the question when asked about the

52:05 guidelines and expectations provided for a hybrid

52:08 instruction, 0% of the elementary school teachers said it was

52:12 very clear, 1% of the secondary schools.

52:15 Elementary school teachers stated that the guidelines and

52:19 expectations were just clear, 22% of the secondary teachers. 50%

52:25 of the elementary school teachers stated that they were not

52:28 clear, guidelines and expectations were not clear, 60% for the

52:32 secondary school teachers.

52:34 25% of the elementary school teachers said there were no

52:38 guidelines or expectations provided at all, 15% of the secondary

52:42 school teachers.

52:43 When asked how could the district provide guidelines and

52:46 expectations, elementary school teachers, 24% said through

52:50 documentation, through a document. 33% for secondary teachers.

52:54 21% of the elementary school teachers said through video. 20%

52:58 for secondary teachers. 22% of the elementary school teachers

53:02 said through a sample lesson plan. 20% for secondary teachers.

53:06 32% of the elementary school teachers said they would like to

53:10 see professional development. 26% for secondary teachers.

53:13 27% for secondary teachers. 22% for secondary teachers. When

53:16 asked do your e-learning students have the necessary equipment

53:19 for you to see and hear them. 57% of the elementary teachers

53:22 said yes. 32% of the secondary teachers said yes. 42% of the

53:28 elementary school teachers said no. They do not. My students do

53:31 not have the necessary equipment to see or hear me. 67% of the

53:36 secondary teachers who responded said their students do not have

53:39 the necessary equipment to see or hear them.

53:42 67% of the secondary teachers. Our principals and teachers are

53:45 professionals and are willing to work in a very challenging

53:48 conditions of COVID. Please do not leave them high in drive with

53:52 excuses. Give them the necessary tools and training to win.

53:57 Thank you very much.

53:58 67% of the secondary teachers.

53:59 67% of the secondary teachers. Thank you.

54:00 67% of the secondary teachers. They do not have the secondary

54:01 teachers. Thank you very much.

54:03 Indian class of 2020 and I was shocked to learn that there was a

54:07 mascot review

54:08 committee that quietly researched the idea of changing the

54:11 school mascot

54:12 because members reached out then in the first meeting they

54:15 unanimously

54:16 unanimously decided to retire some Indian as mascot this was a

54:20 hand-picked

54:21 group or it most definitely would not have been unanimous I

54:24 would be interested

54:24 to know who was on the committee and who because the people that

54:27 I’ve talked with

54:27 including teachers PTO board members and SGA board members knew

54:30 nothing about it

54:31 until an email went out on August 27th which amazingly happened

54:35 to coincide

54:36 with a nice lengthy article in the Merritt Island Now magazine

54:38 and the Florida

54:39 Today newspaper that both came out on the same day coincidence I

54:42 think not this is

54:43 a concern few people that attend Edgewood and because I’m quite

54:48 sure that all of

54:48 you would understand that the urging of numerous community

54:51 members that have

54:52 supposedly have been emailing and calling on this issue have

54:55 lots more important

54:56 issues to deal with over this crazy summer of pandemic for

54:59 unemployment and

55:00 educational uncertainty

55:02 secret

55:04 the mascot discussion has been pushed by several Edgewood

55:07 parents over the last

55:07 six months with the exception of a few parents who think of a

55:10 racist because we

55:11 don’t agree with them and that’s their work in my mind

55:14 everyone else disagrees

55:16 I would think it would be a fair assessment to say that the

55:18 majority do not want a mascot name change

55:20 secondly I am a woman with the proud Cherokee American and

55:24 grandmother was not half Cherokee my grandfather would always

55:26 get upset when people started talking about changing the names

55:28 of the mascots of the Washington Redskins and the Cherokee

55:32 Indians he was proud of the

55:34 American not just once but over several decades continually

55:38 shows that 90% of Native Native Americans polled are not

55:41 offended by the use of these mascots and if we continue to succumb

55:44 to the oh we might offend someone let’s fix it mentality where

55:47 does it end the Dallas Cowboys the Raiders the Giants the

55:52 Vikings and myself

55:52 any of this I mean anything could offend somebody I’m also a Texan

55:57 and as much as I think this is a joke there’s a talk of changing

56:00 the major league hate culture because law enforcement is now

56:03 offensive to some

56:04 at some point things have to have started falling out of control

56:08 I mean who would have ever thought the name Karen would have

56:10 been become so offensive it’s time for the silent majority to

56:14 speak up and have a say as well people have started to become

56:17 offended just for the sake of being offended

56:19 our district struggles opened up with finances the last thing we

56:21 need to be spending money on

56:24 and all that entails and it would be expensive we have multiple

56:27 sports that are self-paid and uniforms and equipment aren’t

56:30 cheap and we try to use them for multiple years

56:32 and to the name this means that family would once again be asked

56:35 to come up with additional funds to replace perfectly good year

56:37 they kept the coveted error families are already struggling

56:40 first we should straddle with them with the additional expenses

56:44 so please

56:45 in closing I would ask that this name change not take place and

56:47 at the very least the school board

56:48 requires that those things are decided in a more open democratic

56:52 way the school doesn’t belong to a select

56:54 view but to all of us all of us that pay taxes with all the

56:57 changes that COVID has inflicted on

56:59 our world our families our children and our schools a little

57:01 normalcy is what we need

57:02 it’s not changed for the sake of someone’s agenda go edgewood

57:05 indians thank you hello my name is

57:07 adrian schmadike and i live in viera and i’m a proud parent of

57:12 two students edgewood junior senior

57:15 hike mascot the indian was chosen when the school opened over 60

57:19 years ago to honor the ayaz indians

57:21 and their descendants who helped build the school the ayaz was a

57:24 major tribe that dominated east central

57:27 east central coastal florida complete canaveral inlet this is

57:31 now known as rebar county up through the

57:34 18th century they lived along the present-day indian river and

57:38 became extinct as individual groups

57:40 during the 18th century the edward indian tradition honors the

57:44 ayaz’s heritage of the area in which the

57:46 school was built painting a mascot not only dishonest tradition

57:50 but also brings on exorbitant costs to change

57:52 facility signage logos uniforms and more upon speaking with the

57:57 principal edward stefan and grata to

58:00 explain that to cover the cost in my opinion it is representable

58:06 to ask edward’s family and the

58:08 community to donate to the mascot change as it is something that

58:12 is not necessary the cost for changing

58:15 the high school mascot by other schools ranges from a low of

58:18 seventy thousand dollars over three hundred

58:21 thousand dollars everything that has an indian logo or verbiage

58:25 would be updated including the gymnasium

58:27 floor the building signage uniforms scoreboards and more seventy

58:32 thousand dollars could buy edward the much

58:34 needed facilities improvements and technology upgrades including

58:38 covering the walkways to the portables or even

58:41 building in addition and eliminating portables have a new track

58:45 more science labs and more technology

58:50 this magnitude should not rest with only the school the board of

58:55 education who are elected by the

58:57 community should have the final vote on whether to approve this

59:00 will help prevent further financial

59:03 waste and nonsense in the future if a principal decides on his

59:08 or home on his or her individual persuade the

59:11 principal to make a matchup change for whatever political

59:14 reasons is popular at the time

59:16 hello my name is maria sundell i’m a parent of an edgewood

59:21 junior senior high school student

59:24 my daughter was the seventh grade president and currently the

59:26 third year girls varsity student athlete i’m here

59:29 today to speak against our edgewood mascot change my daughter is

59:33 a proud proud to be an edgewood indian and

59:35 what it represents i understand what the concerns are and would

59:38 be green i would agree that because of the

59:42 name redskins is a documentary term however our school mascot is

59:47 the indian and with the name of proud indigenous

59:50 people everyone is an immigrant in this country unless you’re an

59:53 american indian they are proud people and we

59:56 should take great pride honoring them with their names i speak

1:00:00 of you today from the perspective of a

1:00:01 multiracial family i am filipino my children are half filipino

1:00:05 irish and english our family have taught

1:00:08 actual to never judge or stereotype anyone when we bleed we all

1:00:13 bleed the same as an active volunteer

1:00:16 parent for our community and school i was never notified of such

1:00:19 meetings or discussion regarding the change of our

1:00:21 mascot we feel this was done in a closed group that didn’t

1:00:24 include the rest of the families and students

1:00:26 of edgewood the parent of students that wrote those letters by

1:00:30 the parent is highly influenced by her

1:00:33 when we first aware of this topic it was on facebook’s parents

1:00:36 page i had it it had immediately

1:00:39 responses of the pose of the topic and were completely surprised

1:00:42 the decisions were made without

1:00:44 90 of the edgewood students imbalance being included i’m really

1:00:47 just it has become the political situation in our

1:00:51 country we have bigger topics to address like covid funding for

1:00:55 buses how about speakers for our

1:00:56 field for athletic sporting events food supplies for sponsors

1:00:59 students families and etc our school

1:01:02 hasn’t been around for many decades and we’ve just got a flash

1:01:05 hold this year our funds should be utilized

1:01:08 where it really matters we believe that changing the mascot is a

1:01:11 waste of time

1:01:12 and responses i mean resources thank you for your time and stay

1:01:15 safe everyone thank you very much and that

1:01:19 that’s for tonight i appreciate everyone being here this evening

1:01:23 on the call and we will play the

1:01:24 comments tomorrow at tomorrow 4b thank you good night

1:01:31 all right thank you to all of this evening speakers to any board

1:01:34 members wish to reply to any uh any of

1:01:37 the speakers for this evening or well we’re going to talk about

1:01:40 the mascot later can later so i will

1:01:42 then let me have the issues later thank you mr mcdougall my my

1:01:47 issue is not to talk about that

1:01:49 uh mr susan can you talk in your mic mr mcdougall your mic was

1:01:54 not on

1:01:58 so later on when i discussed my point that i brought was not to

1:02:02 discuss anything that they’re

1:02:04 referring to as far as an edgewood mascot so if you want to

1:02:06 refer to that just make it another point

1:02:08 mine’s to refer to renaming of mascots and facilities and stuff

1:02:11 in general so but i didn’t

1:02:13 want you guys to get confused i didn’t want the conversation to

1:02:16 be debated over whether we had ace

1:02:17 indians or anything like that just about the process um so if

1:02:21 you wanted to if we wanted to to

1:02:23 talk about it that’s great i just didn’t want you to think that

1:02:25 that that was what you’re right so just add

1:02:27 another point to just say discuss edge with a mascot but that

1:02:30 was that was what it was

1:02:31 and i’m sure what do you think is best so um you know i i don’t

1:02:36 think it hurts to let the speakers

1:02:37 that are here this evening know that um one it’s not currently a

1:02:41 board decision to make a determination

1:02:43 on the mascot but i think probably more importantly um is that

1:02:47 the decision is not final um there are two

1:02:52 looks like two upcoming opportunities september 17th and october

1:02:56 15th yes where the school advisory

1:02:58 council at edgewood is welcoming community input is that correct

1:03:03 that is that is correct um on the

1:03:05 17th did anyone i’m going to ask you all the question did you

1:03:09 receive the communication from

1:03:11 the school that you are welcome to speak and that she’s and the

1:03:14 first sack meeting there’s going to

1:03:16 be at least 40 people and then the next sack meeting in october

1:03:20 there’s another 40 people

1:03:21 um she has laid out um a process this will not be an overnight

1:03:27 process

1:03:28 um we she has uh dr um principal and grada has stepped back and

1:03:34 has incorporated the sack committee

1:03:36 and input from the community and from students if they would

1:03:40 like to speak to

1:03:41 so like i said this is not going to be a quick decision and

1:03:47 there will be input from people in the

1:03:51 community but i do want to address because i asked because i

1:03:53 knew this was going to come up i wanted

1:03:55 to address cost because things would eventually change at this

1:04:00 time they are not discussing changing

1:04:02 the colors they want to keep the colors the same i asked her i

1:04:05 said what about uniforms and she said

1:04:07 they were uniforms replaced every two years and if they decide

1:04:13 the keyword is if if they decide to

1:04:15 change the mascot that the uniform they have now would just go

1:04:19 until it wears out why replace something

1:04:21 that is already usable so that would be on the normal recycle if

1:04:26 there’s going to be a change the gym

1:04:28 floor a local business has already volunteered to without any

1:04:33 and nobody asked them they volunteered

1:04:35 to the school and said we will repaint the image on the gym

1:04:38 floor free of charge jostens has reached

1:04:42 out to help with anything that they need free of charge so there

1:04:47 are a lot of people that without any

1:04:50 input from anybody has stepped up and said if you need to do

1:04:56 this we will help you free of charge

1:04:57 i think the biggest thing that hasn’t been decided um is the

1:05:02 sign out front i think that would be the

1:05:04 one thing that could be a sticking point i’m not sure but anyhow

1:05:09 i wanted to share with the board

1:05:11 the um mascot review process i believe this is posted have you

1:05:15 seen the mascot review um

1:05:18 i don’t know i will ask missing grata if she has posted it

1:05:23 anywhere but it’s very detailed it

1:05:25 talks about um september 9th and october 7th our community

1:05:29 notices september 17th is the that community

1:05:33 session one then she talks about what the rules it’s pretty much

1:05:37 what the rules are here you have two

1:05:39 two minutes be appropriate um be respectful and then it goes to

1:05:44 a second meeting on october 15th which is

1:05:48 the session two which 40 more people can speak um then they have

1:05:52 sac deliberation through october and

1:05:55 november it’s a primary voting and then it goes well what

1:05:59 happens to this what happens to that when if there is a

1:06:03 decision to change so it’s pretty well mapped out it is a

1:06:06 process that is not going to happen overnight

1:06:09 so the school has stepped back and say let’s get more community

1:06:14 input because they have heard you

1:06:15 so i wanted to let you know that you do have the opportunity and

1:06:19 if you don’t know how to reach out to

1:06:21 make your voice heard please contact the school and they will

1:06:25 help you get to the site that you need to

1:06:27 to record your message thank you mr mc google mr susan um i so

1:06:34 there’s a couple of things that

1:06:36 were said in there and i just wanted some point of clarification

1:06:39 first off that it’s not the school

1:06:41 board’s decision final decision of making to of a name change or

1:06:46 a mascot change can you clarify where

1:06:50 that is in policy standard anything like that uh we have a

1:06:53 policy for naming schools and facilities but

1:06:57 we don’t have a policy requiring the board to approve the mascot

1:07:00 name what i mean is is that there’s no

1:07:02 policy for anybody to actually mascot either there’s no

1:07:06 procedure correct there’s a policy for renaming it

1:07:11 or for naming it there’s there’s a policy for naming schools and

1:07:15 facilities we do not have a policy

1:07:16 regarding mascot right so in the event our charging documents as

1:07:21 school board members is that in the

1:07:24 event that there’s no policy or procedure as long as it does not

1:07:28 expressly inhibited by some other rule

1:07:30 the school board has the final say in anything that happens

1:07:33 inside the school district it’s our

1:07:35 charging document and not arguing that point at this point in

1:07:38 time mr susan i think that’s

1:07:39 where we’re going with discussion later is what i anticipate

1:07:42 based on what you put forward in the

1:07:43 email that you sent um my only point was there there were a

1:07:47 couple of people who made comments that the

1:07:50 board should make a decision not to do this and at this point in

1:07:54 time there is no requirement that it

1:07:56 be brought to the board right and i just i just wanted it to be

1:07:58 stated that there is no

1:08:00 process or policy that allows a school to do it to begin with

1:08:04 also that’s all

1:08:05 any other board members just to make any comments on the public

1:08:12 comments reply to anyone

1:08:13 dr mullins would you like to weigh in on anything yes miss belford

1:08:19 i’d like to respond to

1:08:21 miss skipper’s comments about our health tech staffing across

1:08:25 our school district

1:08:26 one i i just want to clarify um i’m surprised that she was

1:08:31 surprised to hear we have health techs we

1:08:34 have we have had health tech staffing our school clinics for at

1:08:38 least the last 10 years

1:08:40 uh that goes at least back to what we’re able to verify and and

1:08:45 likely before that

1:08:46 um this suggestion to staff our clinics with a registered nurse

1:08:54 comes with a significant cost

1:08:57 more than double than what we pay now for a a certified health

1:09:02 tech so i just want to clarify that

1:09:05 that was not a decision to staff with health techs was not a

1:09:09 decision made recently that’s been a long-standing

1:09:13 practice of our public schools but perhaps what’s more important

1:09:17 is that we do not make medical

1:09:20 assessments in our school clinics we defer to medical

1:09:24 professionals to do that that’s why we have

1:09:28 law enforcement on our campuses that’s why we utilize 9-1-1 when

1:09:33 appropriate and so on

1:09:35 that includes our current protocols for making determinations

1:09:38 about an individual whether it’s

1:09:41 a student or a staff member who may be either presenting

1:09:45 symptoms uh consistent with covid19

1:09:49 or even have indicated that they have are experiencing symptoms

1:09:53 of covid19 the decision is quite simple does

1:09:57 not require a medical assessment if they present or indicate any

1:10:01 symptoms consistent with covid19 we

1:10:05 immediately send them home and have them go under quarantine

1:10:08 restriction and can only return to the school

1:10:11 or work site with a doctor’s note releasing or clearing them or

1:10:16 a a covid test demonstrating negative the viral test

1:10:23 or have completed the quarantine period as determined by the

1:10:27 school district in cooperation of the department of health

1:10:30 so i don’t want to i don’t want our community to have any

1:10:34 misconception that not having a health tech

1:10:37 in our clinics any way inhibits our ability or process to take

1:10:45 appropriate steps to keep the school environment

1:10:47 safe and as healthy as we possibly can so thank you thank you dr

1:10:52 mullins um

1:10:53 board members the mr hilliard read off quite a few numbers from

1:10:59 that survey and i had requested from

1:11:01 mr fallucci last night after hearing the recorded calls to share

1:11:04 that information with us so we didn’t

1:11:06 have to try to process all of those numbers so i emailed that to

1:11:09 all of you today as well as dr mullen so

1:11:11 you would have that information but i think there was um there

1:11:15 was an important point that was made

1:11:17 and that is that our teachers need to know that their best is

1:11:20 good enough

1:11:21 and i think that’s true i think um absolutely we understand that

1:11:25 things are not going to be perfect

1:11:27 and i’ve had the opportunity i think over the past two days i’ve

1:11:30 been with dr mullen’s four community

1:11:32 presentations and i’ve heard him say we are never our best on

1:11:37 day one but we will bring our best each

1:11:39 and every day and we’ll continue to get better and i think there

1:11:42 is much truth to that with what’s

1:11:44 going on in our schools so i encourage our teachers um to to

1:11:49 keep their head up and and know that we

1:11:51 absolutely support them and understand their struggles um but

1:11:55 you know there’s um we have heard some great

1:11:58 examples of people who are managing the the hybrid teaching

1:12:02 platforms well and so i’m wondering

1:12:04 dr mullins and dr sullivan and miss klein if there’s an

1:12:09 opportunity for us to capitalize on those

1:12:13 people that have found a groove and are feeling very successful

1:12:17 in that environment to maybe help them

1:12:20 to share what’s working with their peers i know i mentioned a

1:12:23 couple board meetings ago that we had

1:12:25 our group of sixth grade teachers who had developed an online

1:12:28 facebook group and were supporting each

1:12:30 other and sharing resources and that sort of thing um i wonder

1:12:34 if there’s just some opportunity for us to

1:12:37 have those who are feeling successful with the current challenge

1:12:41 to maybe share how they’re finding that

1:12:43 success so i have faith that you guys will will address the

1:12:46 issue and provide that support but just

1:12:48 wanted to throw that thought process out there okay that is

1:12:51 going to move us into the consent agenda dr

1:12:56 mullins there are 11 items under this category thank you dr mullins

1:13:01 does any board member wish to pull

1:13:03 any item on the consent agenda hearing none i will entertain a

1:13:07 motion to accept the consent items as

1:13:11 as presented i move so move second moved by ms mcdougall seconded

1:13:17 by ms campbell is there any discussion

1:13:20 please vote

1:13:29 the motion passes five zero

1:13:51 i will now recess the regular school board meeting and convene

1:13:54 the final public hearing

1:13:56 good evening this is the second and final public hearing for the

1:14:01 2020 2021 proposed millage rates

1:14:06 and tentative budget the hearing of september 10th 2020 is now

1:14:10 in session

1:14:14 we will now move into the presentation portion of this hearing

1:14:18 dr mullins madam chair and members

1:14:19 of the board miss cindy lisinski chief financial officer will

1:14:23 make a presentation on the proposed 2020-21

1:14:27 budget and millage levy miss lisinski and miss karen strickland

1:14:36 director of budgeting

1:14:41 this is the second and final public hearing on the proposed millage

1:15:03 and tentative budget for fiscal year

1:15:06 2021

1:15:11 tonight’s public hearing will include remarks regarding the

1:15:13 proposed millage and budget

1:15:15 it will include public comments board discussion adoption of the

1:15:20 total millage and adoption of the

1:15:22 the 21 tentative budget

1:15:27 so let me start by explaining what trim is

1:15:31 the truth and millage legislation was enacted in 1980 to

1:15:35 redirect taxpayers concern over rising taxes

1:15:38 from the property appraisers who do not control the levying of

1:15:43 taxes toward the government taxing

1:15:45 authorities that set the tax rates the truth and millage

1:15:48 legislation requirements are detailed under florida

1:15:51 statutes trim timelines are very prescriptive in law and the

1:15:56 clock started july 1st the total timeline to

1:15:59 budget adoption is 80 days the statute dictates the order of

1:16:02 business during the budget hearings

1:16:06 and trim requires two public hearings for open discussion of

1:16:10 millage rates and proposed budgets of all taxing

1:16:13 authorities and this is the second hearing

1:16:15 millage is a term that represents the tax rate levied on real

1:16:22 estate and other property

1:16:25 the florida education finance program or the fbfp is the

1:16:31 mechanism by which the state and local funds are allocated to

1:16:38 florida school district

1:16:41 the florida legislature sets the required local effort millage

1:17:00 rates this is the local portion of the fbfp calculation

1:17:04 the school board must levy the rle millage rates in order to

1:17:09 receive

1:17:09 any state funding under the florida education finance program

1:17:13 the total proposed millage related to school funding for fy 21

1:17:21 school year is

1:17:23 5.942 this millage will generate revenue for the general

1:17:28 operating and the capital outlay funds

1:17:35 using the proposed millage rate at the 20 taxable property value

1:17:39 of 48.7 billion dollars our total

1:17:43 projected tax levy is approximately 278 million dollars at a 96

1:17:49 percent collection rate the required

1:17:52 local effort and discretionary millage makes up the local

1:17:56 operating funds the capital outlay millage is

1:17:59 levied for local capital improvement the full basic disk

1:18:02 discretionary millage will garner 35 million

1:18:06 dollars if any school district levies the full 0.748 mill levy

1:18:11 and it generates an amount of funds per

1:18:14 fte that is less than the state average the school district will

1:18:18 receive a discretionary millage compression

1:18:21 supplement and in our case we will receive 7.8 million dollars

1:18:26 to get us up to the state average

1:18:28 the local capital improvement millage or lci will provide the

1:18:32 district 70.2 million dollars 35.3 million

1:18:37 comes off the top and is used to pay the district’s debt service

1:18:40 which covers principal and interest

1:18:42 payments for previously bonded debt that was issued primarily

1:18:45 between the years 1996 and 2008 to build

1:18:49 schools and provide for major renovations at our older schools lci

1:18:54 contributes 10.3 million towards the

1:18:57 maintenance costs for labor lci also pays for the district’s

1:19:01 property insurance which leaves 19.6 million

1:19:05 for capital needs projects throughout the district that includes

1:19:09 facility renewal and repair replacing old

1:19:12 school buses computer refresh and placing educational technology

1:19:17 in our schools

1:19:25 so this side depicts the historic millage rates over the last 10

1:19:30 years since fy 13 the millage rates have

1:19:33 declined each year this has been the trend because of the growth

1:19:36 of property values lawmakers reduced the rle

1:19:40 millage rate to limit the revenue generated from this source

1:19:45 this is a conscious effort to ensure that

1:19:48 revenues received are not greater than the previous year which

1:19:53 reduces the tax burden on homeowner

1:19:55 owners this year the rle was reduced by 1.55 mills

1:20:00 as required by trim we must compare the proposed millage rate to

1:20:08 the rollback rate the rollback rate

1:20:12 is the millage rate that would generate the same amount of

1:20:15 revenue as last year if applied to the current

1:20:19 year’s adjusted taxable value said another way the state rolls

1:20:23 back the rate as property values

1:20:25 increase to bring the total dollars available roughly equivalent

1:20:29 to the prior year under trim the

1:20:32 rollback rate is the basis for determining if tax rates have

1:20:35 increased or decreased the state tries

1:20:37 to get the rollback rate as close as possible to the proposed

1:20:41 millage rate the rollback rate is

1:20:44 generally generally less than the proposed tentative rate

1:20:50 so when the when the rollback rate is less than the proposed

1:20:54 millage rates that we receive from the

1:20:56 state we must actually advertise a tax increase for bevard

1:21:00 public schools the proposed millage rate

1:21:03 is 2.49 percent higher than the rollback rate so the notice of

1:21:08 proposed tax increase was advertised in

1:21:10 the florida today on july 25th

1:21:17 so it’s interesting to review bevard’s tax tax assessment

1:21:23 history beginning with 2007 and 2008

1:21:27 this is the last time the state experienced a significant

1:21:31 economic downturn notice there was a two-year lag from the

1:21:35 two to the zero seven zero eight economic downturn and the

1:21:39 impact to tax rule property values have increased

1:21:44 each year since 2012 and 13 keep in mind the fy 2020

1:21:50 21 current tax assessment is pre-COVID values. The Office of

1:21:54 Economic Demographic Research

1:21:57 hold their estimating conference on August 7th to adopt a new

1:22:01 forecast for tax roll assessments.

1:22:04 And the projected growth for the next year, although positive,

1:22:09 is 2% and then 3.1% for

1:22:12 22 and 23. So that is not depicted on this slide, but when you

1:22:18 see the growth of 7.43%, then

1:22:21 7.23%, next year it’s going to be projected at 2% and the

1:22:27 following year 3.1%. So it’s

1:22:30 still positive. It’s still, it’s just not at the same level as

1:22:34 it has been for the last

1:22:36 10 years. While the residential sectors remain steady and keep

1:22:41 the 2021 tax roll positive,

1:22:44 the economic effects from the coronavirus are expected to have

1:22:47 the greatest impact on non-residential

1:22:49 sectors as commercial property becomes vacant, idled, or lower

1:22:58 income producing.

1:23:01 So this example shows how a homeowner property tax is calculated

1:23:05 and compares tax year 2019

1:23:08 and 2020 with no increase in assessed value. In this example, a

1:23:13 homeowner with an assessed

1:23:15 value of $225,000 with the homestead exemption will pay about $1,217

1:23:23 in tax year 19 and $28.80

1:23:27 is less the next year in 2020 to school related property tax to

1:23:33 Brevard County. So homeowners

1:23:36 would be paying less or would be paying less in taxes for the

1:23:43 same assessed value the following

1:23:47 year. So what does the property tax we pay for education mean to

1:23:54 our families? The average

1:23:57 family will pay about $1,039 in property taxes on a home

1:24:01 assessed at $200,000 earmarked for the public

1:24:04 schools. And over the course of one year, that averages out to $2.85

1:24:09 a day. And you can see that

1:24:11 200, I’m sorry, you can see that $2.85 a day is critical in

1:24:16 serving our children’s education. There is no

1:24:19 greater indicator in a child’s future than his or her education.

1:24:23 As parents, we worry over the quality of

1:24:26 schools because we know a strong education is essential to

1:24:30 opening so many doors for our

1:24:32 child’s future. Be it success in college, the labor market, and

1:24:37 being able to provide for a productive

1:24:39 and joyful life. Families moved to Brevard in order to provide

1:24:42 their children that opportunity. And as a

1:24:45 community, we all need to take this charge incredibly seriously.

1:24:49 And I have the good fortune to work and serve

1:24:52 with incredible educators that lead the way in the state of

1:24:56 Florida in providing an excellent education.

1:24:59 $2.85 a day pays for the things the school needs to educate our

1:25:05 children at the highest standards,

1:25:07 which in turn makes for a strong community and makes Brevard an

1:25:11 economic leader in the state.

1:25:16 So now I’m going to pass this off to Ms. Strickland who is going

1:25:20 to talk about the proposed tentative

1:25:30 budget. This is the proposed budget we are asking you to take

1:25:32 action on and adopt this evening.

1:25:34 It is shown by fund, our general fund, our debt service fund,

1:25:37 our capital projects funds,

1:25:39 our special revenue funds, which now includes the CARES Act, our

1:25:42 internal service fund and our enterprise fund.

1:25:44 They are shown as in fund which is designated and prescribed by

1:25:50 the Florida Department of Education

1:25:52 in accordance with governmental accounting standards board

1:25:55 guidelines. So that’s why it’s presented in that

1:25:59 type of structure. The next slide is exactly the previous slide

1:26:04 only it has more detail in it.

1:26:06 The very top portion of the slide, still by fund, now the funds

1:26:10 are off to the side.

1:26:11 The very top portion is our beginning fund balance as we open

1:26:14 the books this July 1

1:26:15 with our revenues increasing that fund balance, our expenditures

1:26:19 taken away from that fund balance,

1:26:20 any transfers end from one fund to another or transfers out from

1:26:25 one fund to another.

1:26:26 And then we have our ending fund balance there about midway down

1:26:28 the page. At the very bottom

1:26:31 is the designation required by GASB 54 as to how the fund

1:26:35 balance is breaking out, non-spendable,

1:26:37 restricted, committed, assigned, or unassigned. And I’d like to

1:26:40 draw your attention to the operating fund.

1:26:42 We began the fund balance at the beginning of the year with $63

1:26:46 million. Right now we’re projecting at the

1:26:49 end of this fiscal year, June 30, it’ll be at $83 million. But

1:26:53 that’s only because we have three

1:26:55 reserve line items there, two of them to be bargained with the

1:27:01 union, with the unions. One is the teacher

1:27:03 salary increase allocation and the other is the health insurance

1:27:06 trust fund commitment. There is

1:27:07 also a $2.8 million that is yet to be committed. Once these

1:27:10 items have been committed, they will be

1:27:13 incorporated into the expenditure budget and expenditure line

1:27:16 items and they will no longer be recorded as

1:27:18 for those reserves. Our next steps from my office is that we

1:27:23 need to let the Florida Department of Education

1:27:26 know about our millage rate and our final budgets. We also need

1:27:30 to send that information to the Florida

1:27:32 Department of Revenue as well as the Brevard County tax

1:27:35 collector so that they may start collecting those taxes

1:27:38 on our behalf. Ms. Belford, before you go to public comment or

1:27:47 board questions, Ms. Strickland,

1:27:50 can I ask you to go back to the two previous slides? I just want

1:27:54 to make an emphasis. Yes, sir.

1:27:55 Because very often our community and community members have

1:27:59 questions about the fund balance that is represented.

1:28:02 So the fund balance at July 1 was $63 million and I’m literally

1:28:08 reiterating what Ms. Strickland said just for

1:28:10 clarification to our community. The fund balance projected at

1:28:14 the end of this fiscal year of $83 million is really

1:28:17 inclusive of unallocated or committed revenue that we know

1:28:23 exists. But again, $12.1 million came from the state

1:28:28 that is earmarked as essentially a categorical that must be

1:28:33 utilized for teacher salary allocation according

1:28:37 to legislation. We’re in the process of discussing that with the

1:28:40 union right now and have to provide

1:28:42 to the state the plan for the utilization of those funds by

1:28:46 October 1st. But they haven’t been allocated,

1:28:50 they haven’t been committed, so they have to be carried as uncommitted

1:28:54 at the time. That’s why they’re

1:28:55 falling in today at the end in the fund balance. That is going

1:29:00 to change as soon as it is negotiated and

1:29:03 they’re committed. In addition, I presented to the board,

1:29:06 probably eight weeks ago now,

1:29:09 approximately $8 million in budget cuts that we implemented

1:29:14 going into this fiscal year.

1:29:18 And the expenditures against those budget cuts included a $4.7

1:29:23 million allocation to our health

1:29:27 insurance trust fund. That $4.7 million, because it has not been

1:29:32 expended or committed yet,

1:29:34 it too is falling to the fund balance at the end of this fiscal

1:29:37 year, which won’t be the case as soon as

1:29:39 the expenditures committed. And the only then remaining amount

1:29:44 of approximately $2.8 million

1:29:46 is the uncommitted that remains from the budget savings for this

1:29:50 year that I presented to the board

1:29:51 again about eight weeks ago. So just wanted to make sure our

1:29:55 community, our board understands,

1:29:57 our fund balance, although suggests it’s going to be

1:30:00 significantly higher at the end of this year,

1:30:02 that is not the case. So I hope that was helpful. Yeah. Thank

1:30:06 you, Dr. Mullins. Do any board members

1:30:07 have any questions for Ms. Listensky before we open for public

1:30:11 comment? Ms. Deskovich.

1:30:12 It’s not necessarily a question, but I do think we need to

1:30:16 explain to our community and maybe you’re not

1:30:18 prepared tonight because I didn’t give you any forewarning, but

1:30:22 maybe sometime in the near future,

1:30:24 because I have a feeling if we’ve got some people watching this

1:30:26 that have been following it for a few years,

1:30:29 our total budget number has increased dramatically over the last

1:30:32 couple years when clearly we’re still

1:30:35 struggling to do some ordinary things. And we know why because

1:30:39 of increases from the state,

1:30:41 which is already assigned to us, you know, growth and security

1:30:45 and some different areas that they’ve

1:30:47 mandated already where we have to spend it. But the general

1:30:50 person looking at this will say, oh my gosh,

1:30:53 if I track over the last few years their total budget, why is

1:30:57 their budget increased so much? So

1:30:59 maybe we get a one pager or a graphic out or something to show

1:31:04 to show why that has happened,

1:31:05 because I know I’m going to get hit with that question in the

1:31:07 next few days.

1:31:08 Okay, absolutely. We can do that. Thank you.

1:31:10 Any additional questions or comments from board members before

1:31:14 we open for public comment?

1:31:15 I will just say once again, Ms. Listensky, thank you so much for

1:31:20 bringing it back to what really is

1:31:22 important in the district. Obviously, it’s about the numbers and

1:31:25 the budget, and sometimes that can

1:31:28 get a little dry for our folks. But I appreciate so much that

1:31:32 you continue to focus on really what the

1:31:33 impact is for our students on all these these numbers that are

1:31:36 coming forward. So thank you,

1:31:37 I appreciate it. Thank you.

1:31:39 Yes, absolutely. Thank you. And just for our public, I, and I

1:31:46 think I have said this every year since I

1:31:48 have been on the board, we are asked to notify the state of what

1:31:52 our final millage is, but we really

1:31:54 have no say in what our final millage is. The state tells us

1:31:57 what we will charge our community for millage.

1:32:01 And so us approving it really is kind of a ceremonial thing more

1:32:04 than anything. We have have no ability

1:32:07 to raise that or lower that. So I think that’s important for the

1:32:09 community to know as well.

1:32:10 Ms. Belford.

1:32:13 Yes, Ms. Campbell.

1:32:14 And just to add on to what you just said, because many people

1:32:17 sometimes look at Brevard and the growth

1:32:20 that we have and say we have homes going up right and left and

1:32:23 why, why isn’t it? And it’s partly because

1:32:26 this is the number that we get from the state. This is the

1:32:28 number that you shall charge to the public for

1:32:30 taxes. Then all that money goes to the state to the pot and then

1:32:34 is redistributed through the FEFP

1:32:36 finance program. So it’s not just as simple as we’re having

1:32:39 growth, we should have more money.

1:32:40 It’s not the way it’s calculated. Actually, while we’re adding

1:32:44 requests, I had a request from a

1:32:46 community member because I started to explain the FEFP and how

1:32:50 it’s complicated and I went to a two-day

1:32:52 workshop trying to get a FEFP 101. If there is a resource that

1:32:58 we could send just the community

1:33:01 members, anyone who really wants to dig into it to how the FEFP

1:33:05 is formulated, if there’s like a

1:33:06 FEFP for dummies kind of thing, something that they wouldn’t

1:33:15 have to go to a two-day

1:33:16 workshop like I did. But the training I received was from FSBA,

1:33:20 but if there’s something for the public,

1:33:22 a public-facing document, actually I looked in the budget book

1:33:24 and you guys did a pretty good job,

1:33:26 but if there’s something that we could refer them to, if you

1:33:29 could send that to me, I’d love to

1:33:32 send that out to some people who’ve asked me. Thank you.

1:33:36 Thank you, Ms. Campbell. Okay. Is there any individual that

1:33:41 would like to address the board on

1:33:42 the 2020 2021 proposed millage living?

1:33:45 Is there any individual that would like to address the board on

1:33:52 the 2020 2021 proposed millage living?

1:33:58 Is there any individual that would like to address the board on

1:34:01 the 2020 2021

1:34:03 tentative budget? Mr. Francisco, I believe we have one recorded

1:34:14 speaker on the budget.

1:34:19 And I’m the Assistant Superintendent for Facility Services for

1:34:32 Brevard Public Schools.

1:34:33 Kyle Savage. Good evening. My name is Kyle Savage. I’m the Treasurer

1:34:36 of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.

1:34:39 First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Mullins, Ms. Felford,

1:34:45 and members of the board for this opportunity to speak.

1:34:45 And additionally, I would like to thank Ms. Lewinsky, the new CFO

1:34:48 for Brevard Public Schools who has always been available when I

1:34:49 asked for information.

1:34:49 Good evening. My name is Kyle Savage. I’m the treasurer of the

1:34:52 Brevard Federation of Teachers.

1:34:54 First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Mullins, Ms. Belford,

1:34:57 and members of the board for this opportunity to speak.

1:35:00 And additionally, I would like to thank Ms. Bluminski, the new CFO

1:35:04 for Brevard Public Schools,

1:35:05 who has always been available when I ask for her information. I’m

1:35:08 very grateful for that.

1:35:09 Year over year, BFT has talked about salary lapse and raises not

1:35:14 cost in what is projected.

1:35:17 Well, the final budget documents show once again this year that

1:35:20 projected raises to $12 million,

1:35:22 only actually increased instructional salary spending by $2.5

1:35:26 million.

1:35:27 Additionally, last year, lapse money was identified in the

1:35:31 amount of $14.9 million into the general fund budget

1:35:37 and was used on salary. This year, $9.7 million of lapse money

1:35:42 has been identified and will be used on health insurance.

1:35:45 It sure seems like a lot of your priorities are covered with

1:35:48 teacher lapse money.

1:35:49 I’m not here to tell you that Brevard Public Schools won’t have

1:35:54 a tough financial year because of COVID-19.

1:35:57 However, last week, the Brevard Federation of Teachers returned

1:36:01 to the bargaining table

1:36:02 to tear down the list of proposals for the 2021 school year

1:36:06 contract.

1:36:08 I can personally tell you that prior to COVID-19, we were ready

1:36:11 to address the supplement scale

1:36:13 that hasn’t seen a raise since 2015.

1:36:15 We were ready to talk about maternity leave in excess of six to

1:36:20 eight weeks for our soon-to-be mothers.

1:36:22 We were ready to talk about paternity leave for our fathers as

1:36:26 well.

1:36:26 However, we realized that this is a pandemic, and we realized

1:36:30 that we had to be responsible as well.

1:36:33 So I’m here tonight commenting on the budget to ask you,

1:36:36 please don’t treat negotiations this year like we are purchasing

1:36:39 a used cart at your dealership.

1:36:41 It’s not enjoyable.

1:36:43 Your teachers don’t enjoy it.

1:36:44 And more than that, the community does not like seeing the

1:36:47 teachers not treated properly at negotiations.

1:36:50 Treat your teachers like they are part of the team this year

1:36:53 with negotiations.

1:36:55 You may be surprised by the results.

1:36:57 Thank you.

1:36:57 Is there any other individual that would like to address the

1:37:03 board on the 2020-2021 tentative budget?

1:37:07 The public comment portion of this hearing is now closed.

1:37:12 That will bring us to recommendations for the adoption of the

1:37:18 2020-2021 proposed millage levy

1:37:21 and tentative budget.

1:37:22 Dr. Mullins?

1:37:24 Ms. Belford, if I may ask for personal privilege to address Mr.

1:37:28 Savage’s comments this evening,

1:37:30 because I think it’s essential that I provide clarification to

1:37:34 some of the information that has been suggested.

1:37:36 I just find, you know, I find Mr. Savage’s comments surprising

1:37:45 and, well, quite frankly, a little disappointing.

1:37:47 Mr. Savage and the union reached out to us approximately in

1:37:52 January of this year,

1:37:53 and raised question as to the cost of the raises that were bargained

1:37:59 and agreed upon for the fiscal year 1920,

1:38:02 suggesting that there was a cost of $6 million for the raise

1:38:08 against the $12 million projected cost of the raise.

1:38:14 That certainly raised my concern and alarm that, number one, we

1:38:23 could potentially have had such a incorrect projection of the

1:38:24 cost of the raise,

1:38:24 not to mention what the implications would be.

1:38:28 I immediately reached out to staff and charged them with

1:38:32 identifying in detail what the true cost of the raises were for

1:38:37 our teacher group and then across the entire district,

1:38:40 so that we could meet with and present that information with the

1:38:45 union, regardless of what the outcome was.

1:38:48 I have to tell you that Ms. Lisinski, Dr. Thetty, and Ms. Lisinski’s

1:38:55 staff worked tirelessly for over two weeks to provide a detailed,

1:39:01 exact evaluation of the cost of teacher raises for this

1:39:08 organization.

1:39:10 Line by, I can’t even tell you how many thousands of lines the

1:39:14 spreadsheet required to do this level of detailed analysis.

1:39:22 We then, they concluded their evaluation and their analysis and

1:39:26 in fact confirmed that the cost of the teacher raises

1:39:30 was within amazingly dollars of the estimate of their projection

1:39:35 of $12 million.

1:39:37 We invited Mr. Savage and Mr. Colucci into my conference room,

1:39:42 met with my staff for approximately two hours,

1:39:46 and went through the entire spreadsheet on the big screen item

1:39:52 by item, detail by detail,

1:39:54 and explained exactly how the cost of the raises translated into

1:40:00 $12 million.

1:40:02 At the conclusion of that conversation, I wasn’t there, but I

1:40:06 was, I was informed.

1:40:08 And Mr. Savage can certainly clarify. I, I will not make a claim

1:40:12 that I’m quoting him, but it’s my understanding.

1:40:15 And quite frankly, I don’t, I, I would have not been

1:40:19 disappointed if we overestimated the cost of the raises.

1:40:22 That would be a benefit to the organization.

1:40:26 And like me, Mr. Savage responded, “Well, I wish we were right,

1:40:30 but I can’t argue that this isn’t correct.”

1:40:34 So I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m caused pause because we worked so hard to

1:40:40 demonstrate and validate our calculations,

1:40:45 presented it openly and transparently to the union.

1:40:50 But tonight I hear now, Mr. Savage is suggesting the cost, the

1:40:54 cost of the raises was $2.5 million.

1:40:57 So I would welcome the union to come back in and look at the

1:41:01 calculations again and any member of our public.

1:41:05 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:09 office.”

1:41:10 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:11 office.”

1:41:12 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:13 office.”

1:41:14 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:15 office.”

1:41:16 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:17 office.”

1:41:18 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:19 office.”

1:41:19 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:22 office.”

1:41:23 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:24 office.”

1:41:25 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:26 office.”

1:41:27 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:28 office.”

1:41:29 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:30 office.”

1:41:31 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:32 office.”

1:41:33 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:34 office.”

1:41:35 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:36 office.”

1:41:37 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:38 office.”

1:41:39 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:40 office.”

1:41:41 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:42 office.”

1:41:43 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:44 office.”

1:41:45 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:46 office.”

1:41:46 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:47 office.”

1:41:47 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:48 office.”

1:41:48 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:49 office.”

1:41:49 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:50 office.”

1:41:51 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:53 office.”

1:41:54 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:55 office.”

1:41:55 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:56 office.”

1:41:56 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:41:58 office,”

1:41:58 and I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:00 office.”

1:42:00 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:02 office.”

1:42:02 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:03 office.”

1:42:03 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:04 office.”

1:42:04 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:06 office.”

1:42:06 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:07 office.”

1:42:07 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:08 office.”

1:42:08 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:10 office.”

1:42:10 And I would like to say, “I’m going to be right back in the

1:42:12 office.”

1:42:12 The Health Insurance Trust Fund from teacher salary lapse.

1:42:16 That money is going back into the services and compensation that

1:42:21 serve our teachers,

1:42:22 just like our other employees.

1:42:25 We also have a $2.9 million workers’ compensation cost

1:42:32 against our fund balance at the end of every year.

1:42:35 But workman’s compensation supports our entire organization,

1:42:39 including our teachers

1:42:41 who have to be supported through workman’s compensation.

1:42:46 Finally, I recommend it to the board that we take $5 million

1:42:51 this year of our lapse,

1:42:54 non-recurring lapse funds, and put it into our Health Insurance

1:42:58 Trust Fund.

1:43:00 Because we know, and the union agrees, our Health Insurance Fund

1:43:05 is at a critical funding situation.

1:43:09 And I would again remind the board in our community that the

1:43:13 salary lapse that comes as a result of all of our employees,

1:43:16 those dollars are then, that $5 million is going to the Health

1:43:20 Insurance Trust Fund.

1:43:22 That supports, that is supported by 66% of, 66% of our Health

1:43:29 Fund is taking care of teachers.

1:43:31 So, we use our dollars that are available to us to benefit all

1:43:38 of our employees, including teachers.

1:43:42 So, teacher salary lapse is reinvested into the services and the

1:43:48 programs and the benefits and the compensation that we have for

1:43:51 our teachers,

1:43:52 as well as our employees, as well as our other employees, as we

1:43:54 all work to contribute to a healthy financial organization.

1:43:59 So, I, I, you can tell I’m a bit emphatic, but I’m going to be

1:44:05 when it’s suggested that our organization isn’t being prudent,

1:44:08 responsible, and transparent with our dollars.

1:44:11 I take enormously serious the responsibility to be transparent

1:44:16 to our public, our taxpayers, and ensure them whether it’s, we’ve

1:44:23 had some good, bad, and ugly.

1:44:25 And I have openly and transparently demonstrated how we will

1:44:29 make it right, and we will take responsibility.

1:44:32 But this is a situation I could not allow to pass, and anyone to

1:44:36 leave that comment and suggest we have not accurately and

1:44:41 carefully and responsibly utilized the dollars for the benefit

1:44:47 of our teachers,

1:44:48 but also for the benefit of our approximately 4,000 other

1:44:52 employees across the organization.

1:44:54 So, I appreciate the opportunity to provide that clarification.

1:44:58 And again, welcome Mr. Savage and any other individual to come

1:45:03 and review our budget, sit with members of my staff,

1:45:07 and understand line item by line item what has been budgeted,

1:45:14 what has been expended, and what may be falling as potential

1:45:17 lapse.

1:45:18 So, thank you.

1:45:19 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.

1:45:21 Okay, I think I now I’m supposed to read the next part.

1:45:28 Yes, we are now at the adoption of the 2020-2021 proposed millage

1:45:32 levy and tentative budget.

1:45:34 Florida, Florida statute 200.065 requires each taxing authority

1:45:48 levying millage to publicly state the name of the taxing

1:45:51 authority, the rolled back rates, the percentage of change from

1:45:54 the rolled back rate, and the millage rate to be levied prior to

1:45:58 the adoption of the millage levy resolution.

1:46:01 In compliance with those requirements, the following needs to be

1:46:05 stated.

1:46:05 The taxing authority is the school board of Brevard County,

1:46:08 Florida.

1:46:08 The 2020-21 rollback rates are:

1:46:15 Required local effort: 3.6560.

1:46:20 Local discretionary: 0.7125.

1:46:25 Capital outlay: 1.4289.

1:46:30 Total rollback rate: 5.7974.

1:46:37 The total millage rate to be levied exceeds the total rollback

1:46:41 rate by 2.49%.

1:46:43 The proposed 2020-21 millage rates are:

1:46:46 Required local effort: 3.694.

1:46:51 Local discretionary: 0.748.

1:46:56 Capital outlay: 1.500.

1:47:00 Total millage rate: 5.942.

1:47:05 The written resolution is incorporated into this motion by

1:47:17 reference.

1:47:19 What are the wishes of the board?

1:47:34 The motion?

1:47:35 The motion.

1:47:40 discussion please vote yes my screen will not allow me to get

1:48:05 down to my actual vote yeah mine’s

1:48:08 given me a fit too it was doing it i was the last bit on the

1:48:12 bottom before but now it has moved up to

1:48:14 um i can try to refresh my screen if you give me a minute but i

1:48:18 think it’s going to be consistent

1:48:20 yeah i don’t know what happened i can’t get down

1:48:28 so we can do a voice vote if you need to that’s awesome can you

1:48:34 take a voice vote all in favor

1:48:38 aye aye aye anyone opposed the motion passes 5-0 dr mullins

1:48:44 number two adopt the 2020-21 budget in the following amounts

1:48:51 operating 656 million 403 530 dollars special revenue 123

1:49:03 million 531 191 dollars

1:49:08 debt service 35 million 692 036 dollars capital outlay 253

1:49:16 million 588 800

1:49:21 enterprise 4 million 347 919 dollars subtotal 1 billion 73

1:49:31 million 563 476 dollars

1:49:36 less transfers 57 million 390 645 dollars total 1 million 16

1:49:50 excuse me correction total 1 billion 16

1:49:52 15 million 172 000 831. internal service 81 million 686 708

1:50:02 dollars what are the wishes of the board

1:50:04 move to approve second moved by mr susan seconded by miss campbell

1:50:09 is there any discussion

1:50:10 please vote i’ll fix my screen review good okay

1:50:22 the motion passes the motion passes 5-0 dr mullins number three

1:50:33 authorize the superintendent to adjust

1:50:39 the adopted millage levy and budget due to changes in the

1:50:42 certified tax rule what are the wishes of the

1:50:45 the board move to approve seconded by mr susan seconded by ms mcdougall

1:51:01 any discussion please vote

1:51:02 the motion passes 5-0 dr mullins number four authorize the

1:51:13 superintendent to forward the adopted

1:51:15 millage millage levy resolution to the brevard county property

1:51:18 appraiser and tax collector no

1:51:20 later than 30 days following the adjournment of the value

1:51:23 adjustment board what are the wishes of the

1:51:25 board move to approve second moved by mr susan seconded by ms

1:51:28 campbell any discussion please vote

1:51:45 vote vote all in favor all in favor aye aye any opposed the

1:51:57 motion passes 5-0 dr mullins motion 5

1:52:02 authorize the superintendent to forward the following to the

1:52:06 designated state agencies a the adopted budget

1:52:10 millage levy resolution certified tax roll rolled back rates

1:52:14 proposed millage and certified copies

1:52:16 of the advertisements for the proposed budget and millage rate

1:52:19 to the state department of education

1:52:21 b the millage levy resolution certified tax roll rolled back

1:52:26 rates proposed millage

1:52:29 and certified copies of the advertisements for the proposed

1:52:32 budget and millage rate to the department of

1:52:34 revenue what are the wishes of the board move to approve moved

1:52:39 by mr susan seconded by ms campbell any discussion

1:52:42 please vote

1:52:44 need a voice vote pam

1:52:54 okay

1:53:14 and the motion passes five zero

1:53:17 dr mullins

1:53:21 motion six approve the release of one million four hundred sixty

1:53:28 one thousand eight hundred sixty eight

1:53:29 dollars in committed fund balance to pay the cost of

1:53:32 instructional coaches

1:53:34 school athletic assistance and other expenditures for fiscal

1:53:37 year 2020-21 what are the wishes of the

1:53:40 board move to approve moved by mr susan seconded by ms mcdougall

1:53:45 is there any discussion

1:53:48 please vote please vote

1:53:56 and my name is not coming up until the right

1:54:09 ms ms dufford i had a comment on that but it didn’t affect her

1:54:12 vote so i just want to put it um

1:54:14 um give me just one second do we need a voice vote from this so

1:54:20 yeah i can’t answer that coming up all

1:54:23 all right all right all right so all in favor aye any opposed

1:54:28 okay motion passes five zero

1:54:29 ms ms ms dufford i just wanted to confirm that that’s the last

1:54:35 allocation out of the fund

1:54:36 balance for the instructional coaches and such correct so this

1:54:40 is the final year that they are

1:54:41 funded that is correct if the board recalls there was three

1:54:44 years of uh revenue set aside for that those

1:54:48 initiatives actually that revenue that was originally committed

1:54:52 uh came to an end at the end of this

1:54:56 last year we committed the additional funds for this as a result

1:55:00 of hurricane reimbursement from fema

1:55:03 to be able to continue this initiative for one more year at this

1:55:06 time we do not have additional

1:55:08 allocated funds to carry that initiative beyond the fiscal year

1:55:12 2021 does that um it that seems like

1:55:16 a less a lower amount than i recall so does this also include

1:55:19 that it was a couple of sros and social

1:55:21 workers in that same three three year is does this include that

1:55:25 or is this just instructional coaches

1:55:28 and athletic assistance it only includes those things that are

1:55:31 listed as we’ve received additional

1:55:32 mental health allocation from the state we’ve been able to

1:55:35 secure the funding for those social workers

1:55:38 through that recurring funding source from the state so those

1:55:41 social worker positions are secured moving

1:55:43 forward whereas we’ll have to reevaluate the instructional

1:55:46 coaches great thank you so much

1:55:48 any additional comments questions all right then this hearing is

1:55:54 now adjourned and the regular meeting is reconvened

1:55:59 dr mullin we’ll move on to uh the action agenda uh item g29 is

1:56:07 procurement solicitations what are the wishes of the board move

1:56:10 to approve

1:56:11 second ms deskovich is that a second moved by mr susan seconded

1:56:17 by ms deskovich is there any discussion

1:56:20 please vote please vote please vote

1:56:30 seconded by mr susan seconded by ms deskovich is that a second

1:56:35 moved by mr susan seconded by ms deskovich is there any

1:56:36 discussion

1:56:36 seconded by mr susan seconded by mr susan seconded by ms deskovich

1:56:39 is there any discussion

1:56:49 seconded by mr susan seconded by mr susan seconded by ms deskovich

1:56:54 is there any discussion please vote

1:57:01 in the motion passes five zero

1:57:18 we are now at board member discussion points and reports mr susan

1:57:23 asked to have discussion items

1:57:25 added on school mascot changes board athletics policy 7511 and

1:57:29 volunteer background checks mr susan the

1:57:31 floor is yours thank you chairperson belford i appreciate you

1:57:34 giving me the opportunity to bring

1:57:36 this forward um in dealing with the school massacre changes what

1:57:41 i noticed was um i was looking around

1:57:44 and the there was no there was no policy or procedure inside of

1:57:49 our inside of our

1:57:51 school school school ward policies and procedures no

1:57:54 administrative actions there’s nothing that says

1:57:57 a process for the renaming of a mascot or even renaming of a

1:58:00 school because if you read our current

1:58:03 policy 7250 it only allows us to

1:58:07 name those schools doesn’t say anything about renaming so when i

1:58:12 was looking at this being the

1:58:13 fact of all the other factors that people want to bring in and

1:58:16 everything else i i truly believe

1:58:19 that in order to bring forward a policy or an action to rename

1:58:24 one that we should have a policy wrapped

1:58:27 around those um those those movements and so we can debate

1:58:31 whether it should be or shouldn’t be

1:58:35 but my argument is is that if we don’t have a policy and we need

1:58:39 to have one in order to move forward

1:58:42 that the no policy then falls under the management control and

1:58:46 operation 1001.32 of our statutes

1:58:50 which says that we have as a school board the power to rename or

1:58:53 i’m sorry we have the power to

1:58:56 we basically have the power for anything that is not found

1:58:59 illegal or inside the statutes so if that

1:59:03 makes sense my goal here is literally if we’re going to move

1:59:08 forward into this contentious area of

1:59:11 mascots and schools which we all know is going to happen we

1:59:15 should do a policy wrapped around it and

1:59:18 do it right that’s it and without one we’re treading in areas

1:59:22 that are that are very um when you don’t

1:59:26 have a policy or procedure and you’re allowing stuff to start

1:59:29 happening i i it’s tough that’s all and

1:59:32 if you’re doing checkers for everybody that’s out there not

1:59:34 playing chess not checkers um this isn’t

1:59:36 a move to stop anything this is just saying we need to put a

1:59:39 policy in place to make it happen

1:59:41 and whatever the policy or procedures that are happening now

1:59:45 would be strengthened and be more

1:59:47 inclusive of community and everything else as the other policy

1:59:51 says for naming facilities that’s all

1:59:54 so i open that up for discussion i i i tend to agree with you mr

1:59:59 susan i i think the writing on

2:00:01 the wall is more of this is coming our way um i haven’t really

2:00:03 had time to read through this and

2:00:05 grata’s process but as it looks right now every if this came up

2:00:09 at two or three different schools

2:00:11 there may potentially be two or three different processes and

2:00:15 potentially things could look unfair

2:00:17 and i it looks like it could be a long-term issue uh and i i see

2:00:22 no problem with moving forward

2:00:24 with us and you know it’ll take a few months to just put

2:00:26 something in place a general policy that may

2:00:28 direct it direct it back to schools to create it it may say

2:00:31 something but for us to be silent

2:00:33 probably would cause chaos and inequities between how it’s

2:00:37 handled

2:00:37 miss mingdougall yeah

2:00:44 i look at a mascot as something that a as part of the school

2:00:49 this is the school function it’s the

2:00:51 community function it would be students community and the

2:00:54 principal and the administration there

2:00:56 and i’m i’m concerned that we’re going to come into an area that

2:01:02 really is not ours um that i i don’t know

2:01:07 of any others have we ever weighed in on any mascot and why

2:01:11 would we because i would think that the

2:01:14 like i said the students the community administration would vote

2:01:19 on what would they like for their

2:01:21 school and so i get nervous when we it feels like we’re intruding

2:01:25 on the running of a school

2:01:28 can i respond um no i agree with you 100 percent miss mcdougall

2:01:33 when i looked at the policy um i

2:01:35 looked at you know any policies or past practices um because

2:01:39 what we do in the past determines almost

2:01:43 just as much as policy as we’ve learned from mr gibbs over our

2:01:46 graduations and stuff like that being the

2:01:49 fact that we don’t have any precedent on renaming a school or a

2:01:54 mascot then there is no pres precedence

2:01:58 set with no policy set we are in an area where it i just feel

2:02:03 uncomfortable and i’m not saying that

2:02:06 the validity behind things is what it is that’s why i didn’t

2:02:08 want to say names i didn’t want to bring up

2:02:10 anything this is more about our structure as a board and our

2:02:15 bringing forward strong policies to include

2:02:17 i mean there’s a lot of stuff like that was inside the naming

2:02:20 policy that is not inside of miss ingrata

2:02:23 who has a good process i mean that was a good one but like

2:02:27 feeder school input timetables there’s a lot

2:02:29 of stuff that needs to be added and i think we would vote the

2:02:33 validity of our school district is determined

2:02:35 on our processes this is one that i think and if like miss mc

2:02:39 tescovich said we’re only putting a

2:02:42 little bit of time in place to make sure it’s done right and we’ve

2:02:44 done that over and over again with

2:02:46 everything that we do that’s all just asking for that so you’re

2:02:50 saying that we are going to jump in

2:02:52 to a functioning of a school i mean that’s what i’m hearing

2:02:57 because you say you want to give more time

2:03:00 and i think miss ingrata if we’re let’s get real it came up

2:03:04 because of edgewood wants to

2:03:06 has been suggested that they would like to look at their mascot

2:03:10 and i think there’s plenty of time in

2:03:14 that if that’s if we’re going to get real and call and call it

2:03:17 what we’re calling it and not just do a

2:03:20 policy because this one particular school may want to have a

2:03:23 mascot change and there’s no guarantee that

2:03:25 that’s going to pass i just feel that we are intruding again on

2:03:29 the function of a school

2:03:31 miss mcdougall i would remind um i would i would disagree with

2:03:38 the the concept that this is a school’s

2:03:41 decision in the fact that there is no policy procedure or

2:03:44 anything in place to allow them to do

2:03:46 it plus the state statutes guarantee us the management control

2:03:50 operation administration and

2:03:52 supervision of our schools so with our policies in place and our

2:03:57 procedures it is us to manage

2:04:00 to control operate administer and supervise our schools which

2:04:03 falls this into our realm i am again

2:04:06 not saying anything about the validity of what’s happening i am

2:04:10 just saying that based upon our

2:04:12 current statutes and policy i would appreciate it if we could

2:04:15 write a policy before moving forward

2:04:17 because this is going to be a contentious area and i want to do

2:04:21 it right basically that’s all

2:04:22 i um if i may weigh in i’m not opposed to developing a policy

2:04:28 and process i don’t think it’s something that the

2:04:31 board should vote on um with regard to an actual recommendation

2:04:36 i think that should be left at the

2:04:38 community level um you know we reopened south lake two years ago

2:04:43 they chose their own mascot we didn’t

2:04:45 have anything to do with it um i i don’t recall i don’t we didn’t

2:04:50 have any discussion about vr elementary

2:04:53 mascot as a board um and and i think it should remain a school-based

2:04:57 issue if we want to establish some

2:05:00 minimum standards for the change process via policy i don’t have

2:05:04 an issue with that um i i think that’s

2:05:08 that’s fine for us to do to say at a very minimum if you are

2:05:10 going to go through a mascot

2:05:12 change process these are the steps that are necessary to be

2:05:17 taken i’m good with that

2:05:19 but i i don’t feel that it’s an issue that should come before us

2:05:22 for a vote i think it’s very much a

2:05:24 community issue so um you know i think we can get into the minutia

2:05:27 of what that policy looks like

2:05:29 going forward if we can come to consensus as a board that we

2:05:32 probably need to look at a minimum

2:05:34 minimum standard for that process are you would you be good with

2:05:38 that miss mcdougall

2:05:40 not really okay so i i agree with uh miss belford on that that

2:05:46 it’s i think it’s probably to have

2:05:49 something that would provide guidance so that if it came up at a

2:05:52 school because we have had um mascots

2:05:55 we have at our new elementary school and our and our when we

2:05:58 open yourself like you know some guidance

2:06:00 minimal guidance so they can they can do it i don’t think you’re

2:06:03 going to do it the same way that’s an

2:06:05 elementary school as you would at a secondary school but you

2:06:08 know some minimum guidance i think um

2:06:10 you know we didn’t recognize mr mr gibbs i’m assuming he’s still

2:06:13 on the line you there mr gibbs

2:06:15 oh yes i am oh good good we’re just checking keep you on your

2:06:20 toes um i think it would be good for

2:06:23 mr gibbs to do and staff to research if there are policies like

2:06:28 that from neola or other places but

2:06:30 again just maybe for the idea of guidance so that something like

2:06:34 this comes up um a principal can say

2:06:36 okay where do where do i start is you know are there some basic

2:06:39 things that need to be done

2:06:41 not that it would come to the board but because honestly when it

2:06:45 comes to this issue this issue that

2:06:47 we’ve received emails back in the summer on this i know i did i

2:06:50 don’t know the whole entire board did

2:06:52 um you know i think a grassroots movement in in something like

2:06:56 this is excellent because you need to

2:06:58 to involve the community i love the idea that things like this

2:07:01 come from our students because they’re

2:07:03 thinking and they’re um you know they’re trying to be

2:07:06 compassionate and but with adult guidance to be

2:07:10 hey what’s reasonable and and uh you know to guide that

2:07:13 procedure but um i think the grassroots movement

2:07:16 can still be the um initiated right by students but have

2:07:21 somewhere to go um and i would i would say just

2:07:26 my thoughts on the process that’s already been initiated by

2:07:29 missing grata at edgewood it’s not that

2:07:31 we put a policy in place and say don’t stop your process because

2:07:34 we’re fixing to come up with a policy

2:07:35 that’s going to change what you’re doing no i think she should

2:07:38 go ahead and and whatever we do moving

2:07:39 forward is for from here uh from here on you go with that mr mcgill

2:07:46 okay so i’m hearing that we’re going

2:07:49 to ask mr gibbs to come back to us for discussion on a i would

2:07:53 like to just follow up hers in that um

2:07:56 yes mr gibbs does have experience in this he actually in his

2:07:59 last school board they reviewed

2:08:01 i did a review of all their mascots and the school board made

2:08:05 decisions on that was just if i could that

2:08:09 that wasn’t mary and that was uh seminole county did that where

2:08:12 they reviewed there it was not my

2:08:14 district so he has a process in place i would also caution

2:08:19 moving forward with anything right now

2:08:22 until you get a process and procedures in place because you’re

2:08:26 basically setting pro there’s a there’s

2:08:29 it’s moving forward without a process in place means that there

2:08:34 is it basically that is the power of

2:08:38 the board unless there’s a power a process or a policy so it

2:08:42 should come back to us for a decision

2:08:44 and it gets into a murky water where we’re moving forward with

2:08:47 something i would say

2:08:48 if we could peel back and say okay hold on we’re going to give

2:08:52 you a process and procedure come back

2:08:54 in a couple of months let them go through it we got an email

2:08:56 from miss sullivan saying this is not

2:08:58 something that’s going to happen overnight it’s going to take

2:09:01 some time let’s just do it right i’m not

2:09:03 i think if you’re playing again chess not checkers the there is

2:09:08 support for this coming and this is

2:09:12 not that this is allowing a process to be put in place which is

2:09:16 what we do and we don’t move forward

2:09:18 when we don’t have that that’s all this is the renaming of

2:09:21 something when you have community and

2:09:23 everything else that needs to be put into that that’s all the

2:09:25 policy could clearly say the school

2:09:28 gets to do it like i think as a board that discussion comes so

2:09:33 it seems like that’s the smarter more

2:09:37 prudent approach is to have something in place that everyone is

2:09:40 going to and i just want to add i think

2:09:42 when this is addressed you know probably work sessions or

2:09:45 workshop that we also need either

2:09:47 in that same policy or another policy about changing a school

2:09:51 name because like we said that those are

2:09:53 coming down the pike too might as well have it in place on how

2:09:55 we want to handle that as a board

2:09:57 before that stuff starts coming to us i think we do have we have

2:10:03 policy on the process to change the

2:10:05 name of the school not change the name just to name it just to

2:10:09 name it it doesn’t say anything about

2:10:10 renaming no there’s a change there is a yeah i read that too is

2:10:14 it the same policy and it really said

2:10:16 that the name is there if i read it right that we can’t change

2:10:21 it well did i interpret it wrong yeah

2:10:23 there’s there’s a process there for us to change the name of the

2:10:27 school it requires community input

2:10:29 an 18 month period of community input

2:10:39 and i did not print and bring that policy with me i apologize is

2:10:42 that the same policy 72 72 50.

2:10:45 section i

2:10:46 it says the name of a new or existing school once adopted by the

2:10:52 board shall be considered

2:10:53 permanent however should the board subsequently initiate or be

2:10:57 called upon to consider a name

2:10:59 change of an existing previously named school then in that event

2:11:03 the board shall allow a period of time

2:11:05 not less than 18 months from said date for community involvement

2:11:09 deliberations discussions and debate

2:11:12 prior to its taking action

2:11:14 so that’s on that’s on a name change correct not a mascot

2:11:19 i i i don’t have a problem with us developing one i do have a

2:11:27 problem of stopping something that has been

2:11:29 going on and say oh wait a minute your process is not okay if

2:11:34 you look at that process it is not going to

2:11:37 happen overnight it just doesn’t if we get anything by january i’ll

2:11:41 be surprised um so

2:11:44 i do i feel we would be remiss to say i’m so sorry you can’t go

2:11:50 on with your process when we already have

2:11:53 she already has things lined up for the next sack meeting of at

2:11:57 least 20 people speaking then there’s

2:11:59 the ability to have 40 and then there’s another sack meeting in

2:12:03 october where other people can sign up so i just

2:12:06 i i question us stopping the process mr suson unless we can come

2:12:11 together quickly and get whatever policy you

2:12:15 think we should have again are we going to review every single

2:12:18 mascot i’m just curious are we going to

2:12:20 every single school in mizzou everybody’s mascot well i think

2:12:23 that’s for discussion when a policy

2:12:25 recommendation comes forward as to um you know what what we

2:12:29 really want that policy to look like but

2:12:32 mr susan if you look on the timeline there’s not even an

2:12:35 opportunity for sack to discuss the possibility

2:12:38 of a vote before november 19th um and then if they are not if

2:12:43 they don’t feel like they are prepared

2:12:45 by november 19th then it postpones to january 21st so you know i

2:12:51 i would suggest that missing grata is

2:12:53 probably very open if there are aspects of this that you feel

2:12:56 need to be tweaked um you know speak to dr

2:13:01 sullivan and see if there’s something else that needs to be

2:13:04 included but i mean our policy development

2:13:06 process is three months so i don’t anticipate this resolving

2:13:10 prior to that is there let me ask you

2:13:13 this if let me just for point of order have we ever allowed a

2:13:17 process to move forward without

2:13:19 policy and just said well it’s moving forward so let’s just let

2:13:23 it go and the second part to it is

2:13:26 is that what is the rush and this has been the mascot there for

2:13:30 what 50 years i mean there’s no rush to

2:13:33 do this i mean i like to do it right to make sure that it’s done

2:13:37 right to stall for three four months

2:13:40 whatever do it right i mean i i just there’s no the there’s

2:13:44 there’s a lot of community upheaval

2:13:47 right now over this it gives them the right to come in and and

2:13:50 look at it from the fresh to to follow

2:13:52 the process that’s there to give i mean it it it’s it’s a better

2:13:56 process and it’s how we’re governed

2:13:58 already we’ve never allowed somebody to start doing something

2:14:01 and then just said well you’re doing

2:14:02 it already it looks good which it does but we’re going to allow

2:14:05 you to do it and then we’re going

2:14:07 to go write a policy while it’s happening i mean it’s just not

2:14:09 good governance in my mind that’s all

2:14:11 and i’m just i i would i would beg to say that we need to stall

2:14:14 what’s happening now put together a proper process come back to

2:14:18 it and 60 year name change if it if it’s found to

2:14:20 to change the name couldn’t wait three months that’s all i’m

2:14:26 just how i feel

2:14:28 miss campbell you look like you want to speak well i just i

2:14:35 considering that the next two steps

2:14:38 on their process are getting community i mean i don’t know what

2:14:41 it would look like

2:14:43 if it would if we would even be this specific in a policy but

2:14:46 you know to say this is the way that

2:14:49 you have to get community input or these are this is the timing

2:14:52 between them but since the next two

2:14:54 things they’re going to do are just about getting community

2:14:56 input um specifically for their sac committee

2:15:02 i i would not want to pause that because we can’t get a policy

2:15:06 you know for them for these two steps at

2:15:09 least if we get this on we have a work session or whatever um i

2:15:13 don’t know if we get as soon as we

2:15:15 already have something planned for the 22nd but the first one in

2:15:18 october uh board work session or whatever

2:15:20 in october i i i don’t you know we will already they only have

2:15:23 have these two opportunities for community

2:15:25 input and i think the community is ready to speak um and so i i

2:15:30 would rather at least allow them to

2:15:33 go ahead and walk through this process until such a time that we

2:15:36 know that what we’re looking at is

2:15:37 very different from this and if we come up with a policy or a

2:15:41 process that’s different than what was

2:15:43 already going on what is the case then do we stop what they did

2:15:46 and after two long nights of going

2:15:49 through community input and everything else and say well you

2:15:53 know what you didn’t do this you didn’t do

2:15:55 that or while we’re writing the policy do we then feel pressured

2:15:59 to follow some of the things that

2:16:01 are already here based upon the fact that they’re already going

2:16:04 on because we may be telling them

2:16:05 there’s just a whole bunch of it’s a spaghetti nest and it’s

2:16:09 just not the other pieces is that many of

2:16:12 the people that are community that are saying that they don’t

2:16:14 feel like they had input originally

2:16:16 there’s just a lot of of not if we’re going to write a policy i

2:16:20 don’t think we should be allowing

2:16:23 another process to be going through while we’re writing that

2:16:25 policy that’s all and i and i i totally

2:16:28 understand where you’re coming from miss campbell but the

2:16:31 pressure that you would feel from trying

2:16:33 to write a policy based on what’s already happening i i don’t

2:16:36 feel that pressure i don’t know you do i

2:16:39 don’t feel that you don’t have a problem telling them that if

2:16:42 they didn’t follow part of the policy

2:16:44 that we we put together that they need to stop after the second

2:16:47 october meeting no that’s not what i said

2:16:49 you said i would feel pressure to feel like we needed to make

2:16:52 their policy follow this i don’t

2:16:53 feel that pressure you know we we’ve just uh i’ve just said that

2:16:58 we should ask mr gibbs to take a look

2:17:00 and see what other districts have because we always do what neola

2:17:03 has what’s recommended and then we

2:17:05 take you know whatever we want of that bits and pieces piece

2:17:10 together what is what is amenable to

2:17:11 this board and um and then we go with that i have no pressure

2:17:16 whatsoever on me personally to look at

2:17:17 this piece of paper and say we need to do it just like this or

2:17:20 we need to make sure our policy doesn’t

2:17:21 mess up what they’re doing all right this is my first time

2:17:25 seeing this and it’s microscopic and on black

2:17:27 paper but are they only allowing 40 people to speak to this each

2:17:31 time i’m sorry there will be 80 total

2:17:36 20 the first time and i mean 40 the first first meeting and then

2:17:40 40 available spots in the second

2:17:42 meeting and so far they only have 20 signed up for the next

2:17:46 meeting so there’s still 20 spots that

2:17:49 people could sign up for this september meeting mr gibbs can you

2:17:53 tell me if current sunshine law allows

2:17:56 you to limit the number of speakers that are speaking um because

2:17:59 this has to be a publicly noticed

2:18:01 meeting because sac meetings should be you would uh not limit

2:18:05 the people speaking like right now i’m i

2:18:09 don’t know why they’re at 40. i’m guessing it’s capacity of the

2:18:13 room i mean they could have them outside

2:18:15 waiting looks like it’s virtual they’re probably trying to keep

2:18:19 the meeting under uh three hours

2:18:20 but that’s possible if students are involved they don’t want the

2:18:24 students up late i don’t i don’t

2:18:26 know the full circumstances of the meeting so but that breaks

2:18:30 sunshine laws that you limit the speakers

2:18:32 we actually we yeah we can limit our speakers and i’m missing grotta

2:18:37 i’m quite certain if her 80 slots

2:18:40 get filled i’m sure that she would open up another opportunity

2:18:42 for public input i don’t think

2:18:44 i think that’s the plan you know to but if she needs additional

2:18:48 i’m sure that she would

2:18:49 she would open additional all right mr susan i’m sorry mr we

2:18:54 generally we generally limit to 30 minutes

2:18:56 and then at the end of the meeting give an opportunity i think

2:18:59 is how most districts do it

2:19:01 in the four years i’ve been on the board and two years before

2:19:04 that that i watched practically every

2:19:06 meeting i never saw this board turn away a speaker i’ve seen you

2:19:09 guys before i was even on the board sit

2:19:11 here till midnight one in the morning listening to speakers and

2:19:14 you know i initially i didn’t want to

2:19:16 get into the weeds of this exact process but limiting the public

2:19:20 comments on it right right out of the

2:19:22 gate and box number one concerns me mr gibbs can you can you

2:19:27 talk to the fact of allowing a process to go on

2:19:30 that doesn’t have a policy or a procedure in place currently is

2:19:34 and we’re writing a policy to that

2:19:36 can you can you just give me your opinion on that do you feel

2:19:40 secure with allowing that to happen or would

2:19:42 it be better according to governance to wait and write it and

2:19:55 then go

2:20:01 i’ll wait on that one

2:20:11 uh no it was on here somehow but i pam to the rescue thank you

2:20:22 okay

2:20:36 all right round

2:20:52 okay

2:21:22 he said he got dropped

2:21:41 no routes found

2:21:47 we got ruffle jackie everybody come to the rescue just call him

2:21:55 on his cell phone and put it on

2:21:56 call myself put it on

2:22:08 he’s safe

2:22:10 but there’s no route

2:22:22 no routes found

2:22:35 russell to the rescue

2:22:47 no routes found

2:23:05 Hello? Hello, Mr. Gibbs.

2:23:35 All right. We have you back.

2:23:40 And Mr. Susan had asked you to weigh in on your thoughts about

2:23:45 allowing a process to move forward when a policy is in process.

2:23:50 I don’t have a problem with it, per se. This has been the

2:23:55 procedure.

2:23:55 This is how the district’s done it, I guess, in the past.

2:23:58 They’ve allowed schools to implement this, so I wouldn’t

2:24:02 necessarily have a problem with us doing it.

2:24:04 And it’s going to take, once a policy is actually written and

2:24:07 developed, 90 days, of course, to get it written.

2:24:09 So it wouldn’t be ready until January or so, but it’s a board

2:24:14 decision.

2:24:15 So if the board wants to do their policy and implement it or let

2:24:20 them go, that’s the board’s decision.

2:24:23 Mr. Gibbs, I was asking what I, and I just wanted to make point

2:24:27 of clarification.

2:24:28 There’s never been a mascot change that I could go back 40 years.

2:24:31 So it’s kind of a new thing as opposed to just a naming of the

2:24:34 mascot.

2:24:34 So there’s not prior precedence.

2:24:36 You are aware of that, right?

2:24:39 Right.

2:24:40 I know that we’ve always left the naming of the mascots in the

2:24:45 schools up to the, or at least, yeah, the mascots at the schools,

2:24:49 even when they’re new, up to the school and their process.

2:24:52 So, but there’s never been, there’s never been a renaming of a

2:24:56 mascot.

2:24:57 Right.

2:24:58 But they still get to name their mascot.

2:25:00 Even when the, I guess, like Mr. Belford said, the one that reopened,

2:25:04 I had heard about prior to tonight, they picked their own mascot.

2:25:09 So.

2:25:10 And then in, in the event that, um, for proper governance, can

2:25:14 you tell me what would be a better form of passing the policy?

2:25:17 Would it be that having a current policy and allowing, um,

2:25:22 working on a policy as another entity is running with what may

2:25:27 not be that policy at the exact same time?

2:25:29 Or is it better that you write the policy and then enacted

2:25:32 afterwards?

2:25:33 I don’t know that either one would be better than the other.

2:25:38 Uh, it happens all the time.

2:25:39 You know, laws are getting passed and legislate and done and

2:25:42 they’re implemented later on.

2:25:44 And any actions taken after that date, it would apply to it and

2:25:48 everything done before that date, it doesn’t apply to it.

2:25:51 So that’s a routine thing with legislation in general.

2:25:54 But usually in legislation, there’s actual legislation that you

2:25:57 have that you’re amending or changing.

2:25:59 In this case, there’s no renaming of, of, of a, a mascot in a

2:26:05 policy or procedure.

2:26:07 Well, yeah, there’s a naming.

2:26:08 So they have the, I guess the schools have got to set up in the

2:26:12 past gotten to establish how they’re going to do it on their own

2:26:17 for consistency purposes.

2:26:19 Uh, I wouldn’t, I think the, uh, setting up minimum standards,

2:26:23 isn’t a bad idea.

2:26:24 Just so you don’t have one school doing it this way and one

2:26:27 school doing it that way.

2:26:29 But for purposes of this, this school already started and going

2:26:34 and the board’s bringing it up in the middle.

2:26:37 I don’t have a problem.

2:26:38 If the board has a problem with it and wants to interrupt that

2:26:42 process there, you know, that’s like I said, that’s the board’s

2:26:46 decision on that.

2:26:48 But yeah, I don’t have a problem one way or the other.

2:26:50 It happens all the time in legislation and legislation drafting.

2:26:54 Okay.

2:26:55 And the time that I’ve been on this board, I have never, ever

2:26:59 been a part of a policy where we have, we allow something to

2:27:02 continue to go on before we have the policy.

2:27:05 We’ve always said that we want to write a policy and then move

2:27:08 forward with it.

2:27:09 So I truly believe here today, and I don’t want to keep beating

2:27:12 a dead horse, that we as the school board should write the

2:27:16 policy, then move forward with it.

2:27:17 And I also believe that it’s the ultimately the school board’s

2:27:20 decision in the end, just like the renaming of the facilities

2:27:22 and everything else and the past precedents with those.

2:27:25 So I’ll, I’ll, I’ll finish with that if anybody else wants to

2:27:28 give input, but I, I think I’ve stated my case.

2:27:30 Thank you, Mr. Susan.

2:27:32 And I would suggest that there are things that go on all the

2:27:35 time within our district that we have not, not yet written

2:27:37 policy for.

2:27:38 Um, I trust that Dr. Sullivan will continue to work with Ms. Ingrada

2:27:42 to ensure that she’s doing her best to get the input.

2:27:44 But I’m not hearing from the majority of the board that they

2:27:47 would like to at least pause that process for now.

2:27:49 Um, feel certain that we can bring concerns if there are

2:27:52 elements of the process to be included.

2:27:54 But I, I think this is a slow moving train at this point.

2:27:58 Um, so, uh,

2:28:01 The process, the process for renaming this didn’t follow the

2:28:06 process for naming this a normal naming process either.

2:28:10 So the way they went about making the change and deciding on the

2:28:15 change was never followed any other prior precedent.

2:28:19 And so now we’re allowing the change and then the, the

2:28:22 proceeding after that to be completely new.

2:28:25 And that’s where I’m at.

2:28:26 That’s all.

2:28:28 I’m suggesting that we will likely have policy in place or at

2:28:31 least pretty clear discussion on where that policy is going

2:28:33 prior to this process finishing.

2:28:34 And if there are elements that we feel need to be included, I’m

2:28:38 sure that Dr. Sullivan and Ms. Ingrada would be more than happy

2:28:41 to include those elements going forward.

2:28:43 So, uh, Mr. Gibbs, if you would please prepare for a discussion

2:28:47 on a policy regarding mascot identification and changes going

2:28:51 forward.

2:28:52 Okay.

2:28:53 And Mr. Susan, the floor is once again, yours on athletics and

2:28:56 background checks.

2:28:57 Okay.

2:28:58 Oh, hold on.

2:28:59 Ms. McDougal.

2:29:00 I want to make sure we’re really clear.

2:29:01 So I want to make sure it’s very clear for our, um, for Ms. Ms.

2:29:08 Sullivan, Dr. Sullivan and principal Ingrada that they can go on

2:29:11 to get public hearing at this point.

2:29:13 Correct?

2:29:14 They’re not stopping their process.

2:29:16 I would say public, public input.

2:29:18 Correct.

2:29:19 Exactly.

2:29:20 And I’m sure that Dr. Sullivan will address the, the, uh, issue

2:29:23 of limited speakers as well.

2:29:24 Okay.

2:29:25 All right.

2:29:26 Mr. Susan, athletics.

2:29:27 So currently our, we’ve, we’ve got a, um, athletics policy that

2:29:32 I sent to you guys.

2:29:34 And it, it is just kind of a benign little policy and it doesn’t

2:29:39 state anything as far as nuts and bolts.

2:29:42 And then we have this really, really long procedure from 2009

2:29:47 that touches a lot of different things that we haven’t been

2:29:50 putting into practice and we haven’t been doing.

2:29:52 Right.

2:29:53 Um, charging $250 a game, yada, yada, yada.

2:29:56 So I was talking to Dr. Mullins and I didn’t want to give board

2:30:00 direction without your support.

2:30:01 Um, but what it is, is that there are some things inside of

2:30:05 there, that procedure that prior to our game starting would

2:30:09 probably be better to work up and bring back.

2:30:11 Um, including the, um, we’re in the middle of a COVID crisis.

2:30:16 So we want to try to allow as many people to cover, um, the

2:30:20 games as possible.

2:30:21 We also want background checks.

2:30:22 We want insurance to make sure that these guys are covered.

2:30:25 Um, things that may not have been going on before.

2:30:28 So we want to just put those in place.

2:30:30 So before I said, Dr. Mullins, we need to do this.

2:30:32 I figured I’d bring it before the board, see if the board has,

2:30:35 um, feels the same way.

2:30:37 And we can reach out with them with any concerns or maybe even

2:30:40 stated here, um, that we can give Dr. Mullins direction.

2:30:43 He can change the procedure before the meeting, the school, um,

2:30:46 the football and every activity start.

2:30:48 That’s the reason I brought it up.

2:30:49 Does anybody have any other questions?

2:30:51 I’m looking at 7511.

2:30:52 Is there a procedure to go with it you’re referring to?

2:30:54 Mm-hmm.

2:30:55 It’s a long one.

2:30:56 If you go to administer, go to the dropdown.

2:30:58 Mm-hmm.

2:30:59 And then you click on, um, instead of, instead of policies, go

2:31:03 to administrator.

2:31:04 And it’s, it’s very lengthy.

2:31:06 Okay.

2:31:07 And we.

2:31:08 I was actually surprised to see the $250 live stream, $750 telecast.

2:31:16 I, I didn’t realize we did that.

2:31:18 We don’t.

2:31:19 And it’s just something that I think Ms. Moore rightfully so is

2:31:22 trying to move forward with putting something in place so that

2:31:25 we can deal with this.

2:31:26 And this was our actual procedures and policies, or I’m sorry,

2:31:29 procedures.

2:31:30 So she pushed forward.

2:31:31 And I’m just saying that we should probably address it prior to

2:31:34 the game starting.

2:31:35 We should, um, do some things.

2:31:37 And it, and it just, one of the things that I will stand for is

2:31:41 that we allow, um, the media outlets to come and we don’t limit

2:31:45 them.

2:31:45 Um, Florida today has covered, um, for 30, 40 years, our games.

2:31:50 Space coast daily covers brevard.

2:31:52 Um, there’s brevard sports, three, two, one sports channels,

2:31:55 spectrum news.

2:31:56 Like these are our kids and their highlight films and future

2:31:59 lives for the next 20, 30 years will be off of these videos and

2:32:03 stuff like that.

2:32:04 So I didn’t want to limit that.

2:32:05 Um, and I, I really was wanting to put some structure around the

2:32:09 insurance and the other stuff.

2:32:11 That’s all.

2:32:12 Is there something, could you give us, can you, at least a top

2:32:16 three things or whatever that you would like to see change?

2:32:19 No charge, no.

2:32:20 Or do you just want us to look at it?

2:32:21 Sure.

2:32:22 I, I, I felt like Dr. Mullins had a good grasp on it.

2:32:24 Um, but, um, don’t charge for the games because you’re going to

2:32:28 limit the amount of games that get covered for the kids.

2:32:31 If the kids are being covered, then everybody will.

2:32:34 Um, the next one is, is some kind of a credentialing system so

2:32:37 that if they act inappropriately, they can be pulled.

2:32:39 Make sure they have insurance, make sure they have background

2:32:42 checks, and then everything else we can work out later.

2:32:44 But just getting that initiated to make sure off the bat.

2:32:47 That’s all.

2:32:48 More access for our kids.

2:32:50 Safer.

2:32:51 Ms. McDougall.

2:32:52 Mr. Susan, I, I want to make sure, I, I don’t disagree, but do,

2:32:57 do any of these outlets, media outlets, charge our families to

2:33:02 look to view at their film?

2:33:04 I want to make sure because if we’re not charging them, is it

2:33:08 fair that they’re charging our public?

2:33:10 Yeah.

2:33:11 So, I guess like if Spectrum Sports covered, you have to pay a

2:33:14 cable fee.

2:33:15 Um, Space Coast Daily does not charge.

2:33:18 Right, I know they don’t.

2:33:19 Um, the 321 Sports did not charge.

2:33:22 Florida Today, I think you have three or four articles you have

2:33:25 for free.

2:33:26 And then all you have to do is, is, um, you know, you pay a

2:33:29 price, I guess.

2:33:30 But there’s no like subscription fee to charge people to watch a

2:33:34 certain game that I know of, except for the FHSAA.

2:33:37 And you know how I feel about that.

2:33:39 Um, that’s a whole nother war that I would like to go into.

2:33:42 But right now, no.

2:33:43 And, and I, and I think the other piece is, is that you’ve got

2:33:46 some smaller organizations.

2:33:48 Hometown News sometimes shows up.

2:33:50 Viera Voice sometimes shows up.

2:33:52 Titusville’s probably got one.

2:33:53 I just don’t want to limit them.

2:33:54 That’s all.

2:33:55 Some of those articles, those kids hang on their, their walls

2:33:58 forever.

2:33:58 So Dr. Mullins, are you clear on the elements of that, that Mr.

2:34:03 Susan has concern around?

2:34:04 Because the board doesn’t approve administrative procedures.

2:34:08 I mean, sometimes they’re attached to our policies, but you have

2:34:12 the freedom to change those procedures

2:34:13 without a board vote on that.

2:34:14 Correct.

2:34:15 Yes.

2:34:16 And, uh, I, I’ve been in conversation with Ms. Moore already

2:34:19 about it.

2:34:20 And quite frankly, the, the administrative procedure, this is

2:34:23 one of the more extensive administrative procedures

2:34:25 that we have as a district and, uh, just became more aware of it

2:34:30 towards the end of last week.

2:34:32 And, and, uh, so I think Ms. Moore would agree we need some time

2:34:36 to spend in the administrative procedure

2:34:38 to understand maybe a little bit about the origin of why it was

2:34:41 put in place several years ago.

2:34:43 Uh, but also to look at where are we today?

2:34:47 Cause it’s a much different place today than we were, uh, when

2:34:51 the procedure was put into place.

2:34:52 And, you know, I default to what is reasonable and what is

2:34:54 responsible.

2:34:55 So what is reasonable and providing, you know, for our kids, but

2:34:59 also what is responsible on behalf of the school board.

2:35:02 So, um, I don’t know what the fees, I don’t know if there’s a

2:35:06 charge to access the viewing.

2:35:08 I don’t know if there’s advertising that then the, uh, broadcaster

2:35:12 would benefit from.

2:35:13 Those are things we’d have to take a look at.

2:35:15 We certainly want to be responsible.

2:35:17 So, but at the same time reasonable and in an, an environment

2:35:21 where we’re going to be limiting gates

2:35:23 to 25% capacity for safety and so on.

2:35:26 So I think if we have a little bit more time, we do have a

2:35:29 couple of weeks before, uh, games commence.

2:35:33 Uh, we’ll, we’ll do our best to, to, uh, work through this as

2:35:37 quickly as possible.

2:35:39 Any board members have any additional comments, questions,

2:35:41 concerns on the issue?

2:35:42 I would just say, I appreciate that.

2:35:43 And it’s kind of, you know, some of our policies have not been

2:35:46 updated in a long time,

2:35:47 but you think about this one’s only about 11 years old,

2:35:50 but think about where the world is and social media is.

2:35:53 When this policy was written, you weren’t live streaming

2:35:56 anything off of Facebook.

2:35:57 It existed, but you, you didn’t have that capability.

2:35:59 Right.

2:36:00 And now we’re in a completely different technical, technological

2:36:03 world than we were in 2009.

2:36:05 So, um, I think that would be really good, especially for this

2:36:09 year.

2:36:09 You’d go with that, Mr. Susan?

2:36:11 Absolutely.

2:36:12 Awesome.

2:36:13 The floor is now yours again for volunteer background.

2:36:14 Ms. Belford, if I may, you know, just another thought that we’re

2:36:16 going to have to

2:36:16 we have to work through these things.

2:36:19 The reality is, is when we live stream athletic events, even if

2:36:23 we have limited access to the game,

2:36:26 we could be limiting our gate, which is the only source of

2:36:30 revenue we have for those athletic programs.

2:36:32 So I don’t know what the intent was many years ago.

2:36:36 Maybe that’s what it was.

2:36:37 We’ve got to try and, you know, dig that up.

2:36:40 But, you know, responsible includes what do we need to do to

2:36:43 ensure the, the, um,

2:36:45 that the program’s viability and that sort of thing.

2:36:49 So I just want to be clear that there’s, there’s several factors

2:36:52 taken into consideration.

2:36:53 And I know Ms. More, I provide, getting some feedback from the

2:36:56 board is very helpful.

2:36:57 And again, we’re in a very different place than we were many

2:37:00 years ago, not just from a live streaming perspective, but from

2:37:06 a COVID impact reality.

2:37:08 So we’ll, we’ll work through it and bring something back to the

2:37:11 board.

2:37:11 As long as in, in, in, I would say, as long as charging the fees

2:37:15 does not inhibit more coverage for the kids, because we both

2:37:19 know that, you know, you’re going to charge $250 for a thing is

2:37:23 not going to make even a dent in an athletic budget.

2:37:26 And it’s going to limit that access.

2:37:28 You know what I mean?

2:37:29 That’s all.

2:37:31 Okay.

2:37:32 And I have it again.

2:37:35 Yeah.

2:37:36 Okay.

2:37:37 Volunteer background check.

2:37:38 So one of the reasons I brought this forward was there is a

2:37:42 process that if you are an employee currently and or a staff

2:37:47 member or coach, you get, you come forward, you get a background

2:37:52 check.

2:37:52 And if you have certain elements inside your application, they

2:37:56 are sent up to the professional standards practice review board.

2:38:00 They look at those based upon a certain number of, um, standards,

2:38:04 and then they set back to the school district, whether it’s a

2:38:07 plus or a positive or a negative.

2:38:09 Um, and they want to let that person either teach or coach or

2:38:12 whatever that is.

2:38:13 Um, currently with our volunteer status, um, some of those

2:38:17 practices and procedures that are inside of there, um, don’t

2:38:20 mirror what that standard is.

2:38:22 So what I would like to do is give Dr. Mullins, um, direction

2:38:26 and he’s kind of been working in there to try to mirror what

2:38:29 standards we have for our employees and our coaches.

2:38:32 The same with our volunteers, as far as background checks and

2:38:34 everything else.

2:38:35 And that’s it.

2:38:36 And Dr. Mullins already said that he knew about, he’s going to

2:38:39 work on some stuff, had some ideas.

2:38:41 And I thought that he could work on that and bring it back to

2:38:44 the board.

2:38:44 And so it’s basically creating the same standard for employees,

2:38:51 staff, and coaches as we do for our volunteers.

2:38:56 That’s it.

2:38:57 So currently right now, I want to understand, um, Major Lanza,

2:39:03 isn’t that the sheriff’s department?

2:39:06 Don’t you do a check on all of our volunteers?

2:39:09 We do do a level two background check, other qualifications that

2:39:14 are a little different than volunteers and employees.

2:39:23 Currently we do a level two background check.

2:39:28 It is a little different as far as the qualifications or disqualifications

2:39:32 for the volunteers and the employees.

2:39:34 I have five copies here, you can see there’s several different.

2:39:39 I’m interested in, I’m interested in how different it is, um,

2:39:46 because I’m thinking that a volunteer typically is never by

2:39:50 themselves.

2:39:51 Is that correct?

2:39:52 I mean, would a volunteer ever one on one work with a student

2:39:55 without some kind of supervision?

2:39:57 We actually have done away with a plus and gone to the level two

2:40:05 background check for all of the volunteers.

2:40:08 So all of them technically are cleared to work with students

2:40:10 individually.

2:40:11 So what is a level two?

2:40:12 I mean, I don’t, what is involved in a level two?

2:40:14 I’m sorry.

2:40:15 They take their fingerprints and they compare them to a national

2:40:19 and local database and see what comes back as far as their

2:40:24 criminal histories.

2:40:27 So I have a question, Mr. Susan, about, so what, so right now we

2:40:33 send them up to the state.

2:40:35 How would we do that with the volunteers?

2:40:37 I don’t think there’s a volunteer state database.

2:40:40 I mean, I’m just curious.

2:40:41 I’m not understanding.

2:40:42 Sure.

2:40:43 So when a, when a volunteer applies for a, a, um, to be a

2:40:46 volunteer, they have to go through a level two background check

2:40:51 and then they have to, um, put certain things down that may be

2:40:54 on their application.

2:40:55 Those certain things, um, if they are an employee or a staff

2:40:59 member or a coach would signal for them to send them up to Tallahassee

2:41:04 to be reviewed.

2:41:05 Um, and there are certain processes that both the school board,

2:41:10 um, uh, law enforcement, uh, the, um, the military, uh, even

2:41:16 nurseries are allowed to look at these things and then determine

2:41:20 based upon those factors.

2:41:20 If that person, um, deserves to be a part of the organization.

2:41:23 Um, those, that process is not in place for our volunteers.

2:41:27 I’m just trying to make sure that we keep the level of standard

2:41:30 that we do for our employees for our volunteers.

2:41:32 That’s it.

2:41:33 So I, I certainly am not opposed to having, you know, you said

2:41:48 Dr. Mullins already has some stuff in process.

2:41:50 I think there are some complications with regard to the same

2:41:53 process being applied to volunteers because there are some, I

2:41:57 think there’s some statutory limitations there.

2:41:59 But I, I don’t know that we necessarily need to get into the

2:42:02 weeds on that right now.

2:42:03 Perhaps have Dr. Mullins bring back recommendations for us on

2:42:06 that process at a later time.

2:42:07 Is that good for you, Mr. Susan?

2:42:08 Yeah, and the statutory limitations don’t exist with us either

2:42:11 with us or the DOE on those topics.

2:42:13 So I agree with you and Dr. Mullins can work on that.

2:42:16 Just to, to clarify, I’ve already been in discussion with Mr.

2:42:21 Gibbs and Dr. Thetty in reviewing both the legal and the

2:42:25 procedural aspects

2:42:27 and ensuring that, uh, standard operating procedure are guiding

2:42:31 exactly what we need to do and, and how those align,

2:42:33 keeping the legal impacts within our legal department and the HR,

2:42:38 uh, responsibilities in the HR route.

2:42:41 So it, we’re, we’re, we’re analyzing and looking at that closely

2:42:44 to update, uh, to make sure that we are being thorough and

2:42:49 responsible.

2:42:54 Board members good with that?

2:42:55 Having discussion?

2:42:56 Okay.

2:42:57 Does anybody else have anything we need to report or discuss

2:43:01 before we call it a night?

2:43:03 All right.

2:43:05 There being no further business, this meeting is now adjourned.

2:43:07 Have a great night.

2:43:08 Thank you, Mr. Gibbs.