Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
2:39 Sadeena. Sadeena. Good afternoon. The September 21, 2021 policies work session on zero one six 9.
12:13 1. Public participation at board meetings and 5112 entrance requirements is now in session. Pam, roll call, please.
12:17 Misses Belford? Present. Miss McDougall? Present. Misses Jenkins? Present.
12:27 Mister Susan? Present. And misses Campbell? Present. Board members, this is our opportunity to review and discuss these policies, as well as make suggestions for changes.
12:34 We will begin with policy zero one six 9.1. I will ask Paul Gibbs, General counsel, to go over the executive summary.
13:09 Before we begin discussion. Please stand for the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all right, Mister Gibbs.
13:16 All right. I have policy zero one six 9.1, which is public participation at board meetings.
13:31 The purpose of the proposed revisions to the policy is to ensure compliance with all applicable federal and state laws. Fleur. State Board of Education rules, board policies, administrative rules, procedures and guidelines, in addition to the proposed revisions, promote transparency and accountability.
13:57 The policy changes on this one, it’s being revised to clarify procedures regarding public participation at board meetings and make board meetings more efficient in compliance with applicable Florida law. Particular areas of revision include graduated scale of public comment time dependent on the number of individuals who speak to the board. Separating public comments regarding agenda items and non agenda items in public created signs in the boardroom.
14:08 These proposed revisions encompass suggested language from Neola, as well as include additional language added by the board. I’m happy to take any questions. Thank you.
14:29 Mister Gibbs, does any board member have any questions or feedback on the policy? Mister Susan, do you have anything? I do. I just had a couple of relatively small things in the redline draft. The very first red line.
14:45 I’ll give you guys a second to get there. The very first red line says or underboard discussion and information. So I was curious if we can clarify that, because not the discussion points, I think that’s separate.
15:05 But sometimes we have, you know, we have, like, we’ll have this policy under the information agenda at the next war meeting. We are going to eventually vote on it. And I think it would be appropriate for people to come and speak during public comment time on that type of agenda item, because really, if we go too far out, it’s almost too late, not too late to make changes.
15:20 We can always pull things, but we can’t really make changes at that point. The way that it’s written as is, it seems like that anything information item under the information agenda is. Would be a.
15:30 Would be off limits for that initial public comment time. Does that make sense? Well, there’s the category of information. I think that’s what it was covering.
16:09 You don’t have an issue with the discussion, is that right? I’m saying that I think if someone wanted to come and speak on something that was on the information item that we are going to vote for later, like policy, that that would be appropriate for them to address us as an agenda item, not a non agenda item. But since it says a proposition does not include items, it looks like that’s defining things for later on. That if somebody wanted to speak to a policy that was on the information agenda, they’d have to be in that last part of the, well, they would have to come to the next meeting or at the public hearing portion, workshop or board meeting.
16:25 I mean, we can add except for policies, but I mean, are there any other exceptions you want or do you just want to open up the information category? We can do either one. Mainly policies are things that we’re going to vote if policies, student code of conduct. Like we had our student code of conduct on there.
16:32 Right. I was going to say, usually everything on information is usually coming to the board at a future date. It’s sort of like a heads up.
16:51 This is coming down the pipe. So it would still count as a proposition, is what you’re telling me. If you wanted to, we can take it off here and say, and make a statement about information items are included in agenda items, just so it’s clear, because those are all items that are going to come before the board for a vote.
17:01 Well, I was thinking sometimes we have things that don’t like grants, don’t we have things that are on information item that are just. We don’t vote on. There are some grant.
17:05 Grant that we. Some we vote on, some we don’t. I don’t.
17:18 I think I remembering that correctly. I just. I don’t know how the rest of the board feels, but I would like for us to be clear that that is still included as part of agenda items rather than non agenda items because they are coming up.
17:28 And if it’s already clear, that’s fine. I’ll let other people wait. And when it’s their turn, the other thing is.
17:43 Give me a second to find it. The part about the signs and Mister Gibbs, I think I said something to you. The main purpose of that was so that we’re not blocking the view of the audience and of the cameras.
17:47 It’s the rest of our audience. But there was part on number two. This is g two.
18:04 In the red line version, it says. Well, I guess in the clean version, too, it says, the bottom edge of the sign must remain on the floor so as not to block any other person’s view of the board. This is small and technical, but if someone’s got a relatively normal size sign and it’s sitting in their lap, I don’t care if it’s on the floor.
18:14 You know, I just. I don’t know if we wanted to be that specific. Obviously, the main thing is that they’re not holding up over their heads where people behind them and the cameras are black.
18:19 So those are my own main things. My only two things. Very small.
18:26 Okay. Yeah. So thank you very much for bringing this forward, Gibbs.
18:38 Thanks for stopping working on this and everything else. I think it’s much needed. One thing that I was also looking at, that sign on the bottom of the floor that was kind of like, how do you do that? Because I don’t know.
19:01 That was a little bit of a concern. But the main thing is, is that we have, like, groups of individuals that are coming in, and there’s sometimes 30, 40 of them, 50 of them. We have sometimes students that are here for something, or they may want to speak to the topic, or we have teachers, or we have 1010, we have BFT, we have non bargaining.
19:23 Those kind of people come and I almost feel like, do we put those people up front? Meaning that, like, if, you know, non bargaining came in and said, hey, we’ve got an issue. It would be a courtesy since they are working with us, and I think it might even be in contract to let them go before all the big groups, if that’s the case. That was all.
19:43 I would like to propose allowing BFT 1010 non bargaining if they’re on the speaker’s cards, to go first on the overall plan, just in case. And then I would like to also add, if there’s any students, and then also if there’s any women that bring their children, because that’s happened a couple of times. So I didn’t know what your thoughts were on that.
19:54 I would just like to. It’s just, they’re individuals that work with us in our district. I think you give them the right before a lot of the other groups just to speak so that they could get off their business because they’re here.
20:15 That’s all any other board member wish to make? Comments? Sure. I understand where the last board member is going with that, but I get concerned when we point out individual groups. I think we’re going to open up a can of worms, quite frankly.
20:25 I get where you’re going. I really do. And again, our purpose is we’re going to want people who speak to the agenda, because many people come and don’t speak to the agenda.
20:38 We are always going to let the people who speak to the agenda go to the head of the line, no matter where they are. So I get concerned. I understand where you’re coming from, but I do get concerned about, I want this group and that group.
20:46 I don’t know how we’re going to really make that work. So I just have concerns when we start picking certain groups. That’s all I’m going to say.
20:55 I can respond to it. It’s a great point. It was just a couple of instances where we’ve had students who have come in on a different topic.
21:07 So let’s say, for instance, there’s a topic that comes up that’s not on our agenda, but there’s a group of people that are going to talk about it, 50 or 60 of them. Right. And we have a student that was here the whole time trying to speak to something that was kind of off.
21:31 Maybe the appropriate thing for students and teachers is that if we see something like that just making a motion during the meeting, hey, I moved to let so and so come up because I heard that maybe that’s where that goes. And it’s a case by case, but I really would like to talk. Let’s take the teacher and the student piece off about letting BFT, 1010 and non bargaining speak ahead of time before the other speakers in the group.
21:40 That’s all. Just an opportunity. I understand the teacher student gets a little dicey because then the teacher could be dual and the student could be the same thing.
21:48 Right. So we’re not really helping them if they’re just talking to the cause of the other group. But the 1010 non bargaining and BFT would be.
22:01 I’d like to try to see if we can move them up to have precedence over the group. That’s all. Miss Jenkins, did you want to weigh in on any of it? I’m concerned as well.
22:03 I just. I appreciate it. I respect it.
22:22 But at the same time, if we are making this move, to have only agenda items being spoken about in the beginning, just like Mister Dougal said, I think it’ll kind of alleviate that problem for us. I understand what you’re saying because we have been having that problem, but it is a public meeting. It’s open to the public, and I think it’s kind of dangerous when we start prioritizing certain people over others.
22:36 And I think it’s best just to kind of leave it as it is. Okay. So just want to make sure we.
22:57 I didn’t hear any concern about including information items as agenda items with regard to who’s speaking. So, Mister Gibbs, you’re clear on that request? And then we did have two who requested clarification on the sign language. Maybe we change it to the top edge of the sign.
23:09 Must remain below shoulders or something. I can see that. I just.
23:16 Right. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And I was like, maybe we just.
23:30 Yeah, the top edge. Something along those lines to make sure that they’re. And then on the topic of prioritizing speakers, I have concerns as well.
23:50 And I think that there are some concessions that can be made. BFT has in their contract that they can actually request time on the agenda in the event that it’s necessary. I do have concern with, and I get the point of like mothers with kids and students coming and all of that stuff.
24:17 I’m hopeful that we’re going to start to see a little less chaos when we get this policy through with regard to meeting progression. But I just cringe a little when we start carving people out and prioritizing some over others in an actual policy. So I would have concerns about that as well.
24:40 Other than that, I am good with the policy. Everyone’s had a chance to speak once on the issue. Is there anyone that wants to speak a second time on the issue? Stop seeming to show favoritism, you know, to do that.
24:53 But I think that will be taken care of. And thank you for pointing out, Miss Belford, the language and the contracts. Do we have similar language in the 1010 contracts track? I’m trying to recall.
25:08 I do not know. Thank you. The reason I brought it up was that we will see Gary out there and he’s sitting out there for an hour and a half.
25:19 And I just thought there’s an opportunity so I can always just make a motion at the meeting to move them up if it’s kinda heavy, if that’s what you guys want to do. That’s all, you know, and we can always say no. We can always.
25:30 But that might be the appropriate place to do it. Okay. So, Mister Gibbs, would that motion violate policy in any way, shape or form? I left it pretty open.
25:37 I left you the catch all there at the end. Regarding. You guys can amend this as you guys deem fit.
25:54 So I did give you a catch all there. I was going to say there was a one thing I did not add, and that is to specifically address yielding your time to somebody else. If you want me to stick that in so that it’s explicit, you may not yield your time to somebody else.
26:05 I can insert that in here. That makes sense. Yes, I know that’s our practice, and we would say no, but to have it in black and white in your policy, be beneficial.
26:26 Yes. And Major Neil had asked me about umbrellas. Is there any interest in banning umbrellas like the Long beach style umbrellas? Because I did say no poles or anything for signage, but we did not address, like, the real long umbrellas.
26:40 Is that something he wants? I guess, you know, a stick could be used to smack somebody with. So if somebody has, like, one of those really big, tall umbrellas, they could use it as a weapon as well. But, you know, we’re fine with umbrellas in general.
26:47 Just know real big. I just think you ban them, you put them outside, you leave them out there. We don’t need that water coming in anyway.
26:52 Right. So if it’s raining and just leave them out there when you want them, you go back out and get them on the way out. It’s just like Disney world.
26:57 You got a. You have a little. You know what I mean? If you’re pushing your stroller or you got your.
27:04 Your thing, that’s what you have to do. Here we go. We’re just like that.
27:06 We’ve got. You just put them all out there. You got a.
27:10 A camera out there. Somebody steals it, we got them on camera, we can bust them. We’re done.
27:24 How hard is that? All right, no umbrellas. I know this is very odd. They leave them outside, they can come underneath.
27:32 They can leave them outside, underneath the dome. And then we have a camera out there that if somebody was to try to come up and steal them, we have the thing. Look, Johnny stole the camera.
27:39 There you go. Or stole the umbrella. I mean, it’s either that or you have somebody measuring umbrellas coming in.
27:46 And I think there’s a. If our security is asking us to do it, then they need to be supported by us, so we go with it. That’s all.
27:56 I’m sorry. Any umbrellas that are waist high or taller? I don’t know. So if you’re six foot tall, you can have a bigger stick.
28:10 This is so sad. What’d you say, Pamdan? The beach umbrella is too cold. Yeah, I have a huge golf umbrella.
28:13 Yeah. Yeah. I carry a golf umbrella.
28:24 But my office is right there, so it doesn’t really matter. I understand. The purpose of the request.
28:48 But I just think we’re getting really complicated. And I just would hate for someone to be the umbrella enforcer. I mean, does it fold? Does it not fold? How tall is it? You know, I. You know, our security does such a fabulous job of eyes on the room when it’s necessary.
28:55 And, you know, whether. Whether we think it’s necessary or not, they do a good job of doing that. I don’t know.
29:09 And I don’t like the idea of banning umbrellas in the boardroom, even though we don’t, you know, water spots and all that kind of stuff. But, I mean, I think we’re just creating more headache than it’s worth. All right.
29:27 I mean, isn’t it easy to just take if you’re walking in, you put your umbrellas over here before you walk in and on your way? We’re not talking about hundreds of umbrellas. Well, we’ll see tonight. I’d like to do it.
29:36 Anybody else has seconded, move on it. No, give me a minute. I’m trying to look at the language.
29:57 Mister Gibbs, did you say that Officer Neal said that this is what he wants? No, he was just asking if it would be considered had we given any consideration to the big umbrellas. Yeah, go ahead. Mister McDougall.
30:08 Mister Gibbs. So I just want to get clarification on what Lieutenant Neil asked for. Was it just the beach umbrellas or just umbrellas in general or.
30:14 What are we talking about? It wasn’t any, like, compact umbrellas. Umbrellas that’ll fit in your lap, essentially. They had no issues with.
30:22 They were just a really big umbrellas. Okay, I don’t know how to. Yeah, I don’t know how you would.
30:35 Can’t we just say no signs, flags, banners, or non compact umbrellas? Oh, I like that. Yeah. If anybody comes in here with a massive one compound.
30:40 Right. But even a golf umbrella, you’re spending too much time on. It’s too big.
30:44 You can’t have it. I’m sorry. We know it when we see it.
30:58 On your number three. That was only specifically to polls, so. Because if you say no flags or banners and you’ve just taken away the signs, which you guys said below shoulder height, the whole point of that one was no, nothing on a pole.
31:11 That means they can’t attach it to our things. Right? That’s what. No, like they, like they are, have attempted to bring in their huge Trump flags and their huge american flags and their huge.
31:12 Okay. Two polls. Okay.
31:21 I guess I read. When I first read that, I was thinking, we’re saying you can’t attach to anything to in the building. So that would be if they brought it in that way.
31:28 Okay. Yeah. Somebody tried to bring a big flagpole with a flag on one of our meetings.
31:42 Like a. Not even like a normal size, but like a ginormous. I mean, that works for me with it.
31:53 Can. Can we just say oversized? Yeah. Who’s going to measure the oversize? I mean, it’s going to be a hard, hard thing to measure at the door.
32:18 And right now we’ve got them coming in there, but going out here. So if they leave them over there, are they walking in the rain around the building to get back to their umbrella? I mean, there’s a lot to consider there. I don’t know if you just want to leave it for now and then maybe amend later on if it turns out to be an issue.
32:31 I’m thinking that our sheriff’s department do a really good job. If they see something as a threat, I think they can move in and say, I’m sorry, that’s not allowed. You know, you can’t bring that in here.
32:47 I mean, the commissioners have a metal detector. So I’m just thinking. I’m wondering if the question from Major Neil was not more along the lines of giving us teeth in policy to prohibit them from bringing it in.
32:55 I mean, as opposed to having them. Yeah. So, I mean, it’s up to them to enforce.
33:09 But I wonder if having the language in the policy wouldn’t give them the authority to point out those things that are of concern and tell people they can’t bring them in. And I suggest the umbrella. And maybe.
33:13 Maybe. I just answered my own question, Mister Gibbs. Maybe what we put in there is some sort of statement.
33:25 No. Items deemed by law enforcement to be of concern. I can work with Major Neal on some language, if you guys are interested, and bring it back to you.
33:38 Yeah, I just want to make sure we give them the COVID they need to be able to respond appropriately. I mean, we’ve certainly had enough crazy lately to try to anticipate, but the moment that we nail something down, they’re going to switch it up. Yep.
33:48 All right. All right. Anything else on this policy, Harmony? One Miss Campbell.
33:56 Related to the policy, but not. Not requesting a change in the policy, but in our procedure for board meetings. Hang on.
34:05 Oh, my goodness. I’m sorry. I. You know, we have the new revised statement that the chair is reading.
34:17 That’s really long. And I. It served a purpose. I think it serves a good purpose, but I think it’s I wonder if we might not adjust it.
34:39 And one of the adjustments I would suggest is there’s a part in there that talks about if you leave the room, you can’t come back in. And when you read that last time we were looking at a room that was only half full, I wonder if we might, if, you know, adjust it, at least put that part in parentheses if necessary. Because, I mean, there are going to be times when we’re going to have a lot of people and there’s going to be times when we don’t.
34:54 So if we can make that adjustable, I just. I don’t know if that is like the forever on. We’re always going to read the big, long five minute statement or if we just did it for a time to make everybody aware and we can kind of back up on some of that.
35:06 Yeah, I can certainly make note of that. Sometimes I just get an autopilot reading through it and so. But I will try to highlight that so that I don’t read that portion if it’s not necessary.
35:09 Right, right. Thank you. Sure.
35:21 Anything else? All right, thank you, Mister Gibbs. We will move on to. I’m sorry, did you have anything else for us, Mister Gibbs? On that one? Okay, we will move on to 5112.
35:31 Doctor Patricia Fontan, director of ESE administrative support, will provide the executive summary. So we have policy 5112. Title of the policy’s entrance requirements.
35:49 The purpose of the proposed revisions to the Florida is to ensure compliance with all applicable federal and state laws. Florida State Board of Education rules, board policies, administrative rules, procedures and guidelines. In addition to the proposed provisions, promote transparency and accountability.
36:01 The summary of the proposed revisions. This policy is being revised to clarify the procedures regarding reentry of previously withdrawn students age of 18 or older. These are not Neola revisions.
36:29 These were in collaboration with student services and leading and learning. We did some research and looked at other policies from Orange, Collier, Marion, Osceola, Hillsboro and Pasco to develop these proposed changes. All right, does any board member have any comments or questions on this policy? Miss Campbell, just briefly, I was.
36:46 I think this is a good idea. I just wondered, has this caused us problems in the past? Okay, so I’m trying understand this is where a student might have dropped out and they’re coming to re enroll, but at that point, they’re like 2021. Okay.
36:49 All right. Thank you. Thank you for looking around, too.
37:04 I think that’s always appreciated when we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Anyone else? Okay. Hearing no further discussion, this meeting is now adjourned. Thank you. It.