Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Brevard County is a community on the move as one of the fastest
0:19 growing counties in the state.
0:20 With increased business opportunities, a booming tourism
0:24 industry, and a key role in the return to space,
0:27 living in Brevard County means being where the action is, and in
0:31 the middle of that action is Brevard Public Schools.
0:35 Brevard Public Schools is a community leader actively working to
0:41 shape young lives into individuals capable of making real-world
0:46 impact.
0:46 Accessibility is of high importance, and as such, 84 schools are
0:52 offered throughout the county spanning from Mims to Palm Bay.
0:55 Proud to be an A district with a 90% graduation rate, Brevard
1:01 ensures students have every opportunity to succeed.
1:05 This can be seen in the 414 graduates who earned their associate’s
1:10 degree while still in high school, and the 47% of graduates who
1:15 earned certificates in STEM and CTE courses.
1:17 Further showcasing national leadership in career and technical
1:21 education, Brevard students dominate in science,
1:25 with seven high schools ranked as America’s best for STEM.
1:29 For those students interested in other areas of study, our
1:33 schools offer 82 different industry certifications,
1:37 a unique aviation assembly and fabrication program, a top-notch
1:42 robotics program,
1:43 and a maritime program that uses technology only found in one
1:47 Florida high school, right here in Brevard.
1:51 All of our CTE programs prepare students for college and the
1:54 workforce.
1:55 Whether in automotive tech, 911 public safety, or culinary,
2:00 these programs strengthen the future of our children and Brevard
2:04 County.
2:04 Not just available to high school students, CTE programs are in
2:08 middle school and yes, elementary schools too.
2:12 When it comes to academics, our students shine using a robust AP
2:16 program, dual enrollment, Cambridge program,
2:20 International Baccalaureate program, and National Honors Society.
2:24 If you want the best educators in Florida, they are inside Brevard
2:28 classrooms.
2:29 Experienced, energized teachers and staff are leading our kids
2:34 from kindergarten to graduation.
2:36 At Brevard Public Schools, the sky is not the limit.
2:40 We aim for beyond.
3:00 Apollo Elementary was built in 1966, right in the middle of the
3:05 Apollo program, which brought the astronauts to the moon.
3:08 This school has a special place in Titusville because of that,
3:12 and I think it’s important for us to continue our relationship
3:16 with Kennedy Space Center and the space program.
3:19 The best thing about the school, it’s an environment where
3:22 students are nurtured, where they are given what they need to
3:25 become global citizens,
3:26 where everybody works together collaboratively so that they can
3:29 be successful.
3:30 My favorite thing about Apollo is just the culture that it
3:35 promotes.
3:36 The teachers are kind and they work together and the students
3:40 respond well to them.
3:41 When you have everybody working together, it just makes a
3:44 stronger school.
3:45 Just being such a tight-knit community, we really want to work
3:49 with those kids that maybe are struggling in an area.
3:52 We work a lot with the kids that maybe are excelling
3:55 academically.
3:56 We have a lot of programs.
3:58 We will make sure that every child is taken care of no matter
4:01 what the need is.
4:02 They know no matter what, when they go home, that they’re loved.
4:05 And we just want to see Apollo continue to succeed.
4:09 It is really easy at Apollo to make friends, and I got lots of
4:14 great friends here.
4:16 I really love how the teachers help me here at Apollo Elementary.
4:21 I actually want to be an astrophysicist when I grow up because
4:26 of all the space-type things we do here at Apollo.
4:29 We actually have a moon tree.
4:31 There are seeds that they took to space and took them back, and
4:34 one of them is actually planted right in front of the school.
4:37 It’s really great to walk through the school knowing that this
4:41 school has a part of history that we’ll forever live on in our
4:45 lives.
4:46 My favorite thing about Astron High School are the students.
4:58 The students make everything that we do worthwhile.
5:01 I think the most unique aspect about our school is that we serve
5:05 a diverse population.
5:08 We have outstanding, experienced educators who really put the
5:14 students first
5:15 and celebrate our ability to serve our students here at Astron
5:19 High.
5:19 My favorite thing about Astron High School is the community.
5:21 The culture is about every student being successful.
5:24 From the moment you step in here, it’s a different feeling.
5:27 There is no other school like Astron High School.
5:30 We are just here to support our students, support our community,
5:33 because we are a family.
5:34 There is something for everyone here at Astronaut.
5:36 From accelerated academic programs like our AP Academy to our
5:41 career and technical programs,
5:42 such as welding, construction, and nursing, we have great
5:46 opportunities for all of our students.
5:48 We have a group of teachers who feel like Astronaut High School
5:52 is home.
5:53 They’re truly invested in the students, and they want to see
5:56 them succeed.
5:57 The connection between our administration, it’s what makes the
6:00 school work,
6:01 and it’s what makes this such a special place.
6:03 I feel like everyone’s really involved here, and it’s a really
6:07 positive environment.
6:08 Everyone here is like a family.
6:10 Everyone’s here to support you and make sure that you succeed in
6:14 everything that you do.
6:15 My favorite thing about Astronaut High is just the experience,
6:20 and the friendships I have here at the school,
6:22 and the relationships I build here.
6:24 There’s many things that you can do here at Astronaut High
6:26 School,
6:26 and they give you so many opportunities.
6:28 The teachers really do care about your future.
6:30 Astronaut just gives me that home feeling.
6:32 If I could describe Astronaut High School in one word, it would
6:35 be passion,
6:36 family, community, excellence, learning, special.
6:40 It would definitely be pride.
6:53 Upon arriving to this campus, they’re going to arrive to an
6:55 atmosphere of caring faculty.
6:58 Teachers are energetic about what they do.
7:00 Their passion is undeniable.
7:01 Their reputation is undeniable throughout the county,
7:03 and not just throughout the county, but throughout the state of
7:05 Florida.
7:06 So whether the student has ambition to go to Harvard or Yale,
7:12 or to be a machinist at the Cape or one of our local industries,
7:18 those opportunities exist, and they’re well-rounded for any
7:21 student,
7:22 whether it’s in the classroom, the athletic department, our
7:25 clubs and activities,
7:27 our JROTC program, which is a very popular program here at Bayside
7:30 High School.
7:31 Even our BLAST program, which is students that have graduated,
7:35 but have decided to continue on in their education,
7:38 they have real-world experience in transitioning from school to
7:42 independent living.
7:43 I can’t say enough wonderful things about the CTE department and
7:48 all of the variety of courses
7:49 we offer from machining to culinary, TV productions, drafting.
7:54 Not only do we have world-class instructors, but we have world-class
7:57 equipment.
7:58 There are a lot of academic opportunities here for kids at Bayside
8:01 High School.
8:01 The dual enrollment program and the early admissions program is
8:04 where students can
8:05 enroll in Eastern Florida classes, and if they complete the
8:07 program,
8:08 they can graduate with their AA degree and their high school
8:10 diploma.
8:11 We have a wide variety of AP courses here that they can take on
8:15 campus and earn college credit for.
8:17 There’s something for everyone.
8:18 The staff definitely does care about us here.
8:22 I feel like they tailor us in a certain way so that we all feel
8:25 comfortable learning
8:26 certain things because not everyone’s the same.
8:27 They really try to make it beneficial and comfortable for
8:30 everyone.
8:31 At Bayside High School, I always feel like staff and faculty are
8:34 putting an extra step forward
8:35 when it comes to their student success.
8:38 They’re very easy to reach out to and will always help you with
8:40 anything academic related
8:41 and non-academic related.
8:43 The people you’ll meet here are just wonderful and they’re super
8:46 easy to get along with.
8:47 Community is just fantastic.
9:01 In Heritage High School, you can find a lot of different
9:06 cultures, diversity,
9:08 and everybody respect each other.
9:10 It’s kind of like a really, really big family.
9:13 We have very successful students that are striving for
9:17 excellence in many different ways.
9:20 We have Cambridge programs.
9:22 We have dual enrollment.
9:23 We have CTE programs, automotive programs.
9:27 The Academy of Environmental Water and Technology have a very
9:30 strong athletic program.
9:32 And then, of course, we have the best band in the business.
9:34 And our performing arts programs are very good also.
9:37 So all types of opportunities here at Heritage High School for a
9:41 well-rounded student that enjoys the
9:43 performing arts, that enjoys athletics, but also has college and
9:46 career in the back of their mind.
9:48 My favorite thing honestly has to be our Cambridge program.
9:51 The kids have a chance of earning college credit while they’re
9:54 right here on campus with us.
9:55 If the students earn their Cambridge diploma and also get 100
9:58 hours of community service,
9:59 they qualify for Bright Futures, which will pay for their
10:01 college for up to a four-year degree,
10:03 plus a book stipend.
10:04 Our kids, they get along.
10:05 Our teachers, they love them.
10:07 And we hear this back and forth from the kids.
10:09 We have visitors that come onto campus and they make comment
10:11 about how pleasant our kids are to interact with.
10:14 We are inclusive, we are robust, and your kids will feel welcome
10:18 here.
10:19 I feel like the staff here really does care about the students’
10:24 success and just their well-being.
10:27 We have great teachers here to get you prepared for the exams.
10:31 Here at Heritage, you can do everything at once.
10:33 I can manage TV productions, live stream all the football games,
10:36 and earn my Cambridge diploma at the same time.
10:39 I love being a student here because it’s so easy to meet new
10:42 people.
10:43 People aren’t segregated into their groups of band kids or
10:46 athletes or this or that.
10:47 Everybody mixes together, so you can really make a lot of
10:50 different friends at once.
10:51 Imperial is a fun place to be.
11:03 The school is family and that’s what my classroom is.
11:06 You as a parent become part of the family.
11:10 You work close with the teachers.
11:11 The teachers know each student.
11:13 I have third graders that come to my door to wave at me and tell
11:16 me good morning.
11:17 So it’s just a family atmosphere.
11:18 Your child’s coming to a school that they’re going to feel the
11:25 love.
11:25 They’re going to feel that we care about them and their growth.
11:29 We have a lot of teachers and staff members that put in the
11:34 extra effort and time
11:35 to get to know our kids and work with our kids.
11:38 You come here because we do have quality educators and we thrive
11:43 ourselves on getting better
11:46 and doing our best with our students in the classroom and
11:48 outside of it.
11:52 We have some great programs, the robotics program, we have
11:57 wonderful computerized programs where
11:57 we’re dealing with technologies and we have a great art program
12:00 where students can stay after
12:02 school and work on their creativity.
12:04 The students are able to help each other out.
12:07 They’ve got a lot of spark.
12:08 Everyone’s helpful and friendly and if you don’t know something,
12:14 if you just ask someone, they’ll lead you the
12:15 right way, you can be yourself and no one will make fun of you.
12:20 This is a special school that is always wondrous to come to in
12:24 the morning.
12:25 They’re really special because these teachers, they’ve taught
12:29 you for years and they know
12:32 you, they know your family, they know all of you basically.
12:42 We have the greatest kids, we have the greatest teachers and we
12:47 have an outstanding community.
12:49 We believe in every child’s ability to learn and we believe it’s
12:52 our responsibility as educators
12:54 to create access for them, to access the educational world and
12:57 have the success that they deserve.
12:59 We are an AVID school.
13:04 We’re one of the few AVID elementaries, one of only two here in
13:07 Brevard schools.
13:08 And AVID, I believe, really helps create the purpose for why
13:10 students come to school.
13:12 It helps them understand what elementary school is going to do
13:15 for them in the future.
13:16 We have a lot of great programs like our drone teams, our Sea
13:20 Perch teams.
13:21 We have STEM clubs and STEAM clubs.
13:22 We have orchestra.
13:24 They’ve been growing vegetables in the garden.
13:26 They’re learning and exploring.
13:28 And I have no doubt that we’re cultivating the next generation
13:31 of thinkers, innovators,
13:32 and creators.
13:33 And I’m very excited for what our kids are doing.
13:35 At Palm Bay Elementary, we have quite a few programs that are
13:39 unique.
13:39 We’re a Special Olympics Unified Champion School.
13:42 So we’re super proud of our large exceptional education program.
13:45 Part of that is our gifted student program.
13:48 Our kids are super involved in lots of different academic
13:51 competitions
13:52 and different community events.
13:53 So we have a lot of opportunities for kids outside the classroom
13:57 to participate in authentic learning.
13:59 Palm Bay Elementary is a special place to work and learn and
14:04 grow
14:04 because of our sense of community and our commitment to our
14:08 students.
14:09 We give them the platform to practice their leadership skills.
14:13 At Palm Bay Elementary, the teachers make you feel really
14:16 welcoming and comfortable here.
14:18 It feels like family.
14:19 The first day you came here, it feels like you’re automatically
14:23 just a part of it.
14:24 What’s awesome about Palm Bay Elementary is where they always
14:27 have something new every year or a month.
14:30 And they offer new clubs or more hands-on activities.
14:33 And I also like that you can make a lot of new friends in this
14:36 school
14:36 and have opportunities to learn new things in this school.
14:47 We have really grown and really been able to offer some very
14:53 unique learning opportunities for students.
14:55 I fully believe that the school is one of the best kept secrets
14:59 in South Brevard.
15:00 We have anything and everything you can imagine and you’re not
15:03 going to find much like this in the district.
15:05 We’re the only magnet high school in Brevard County where our
15:10 focus is STEAM.
15:11 We have so many opportunities within that.
15:13 Not only the rigorous courses such as dual enrollment and AP and
15:17 honors,
15:18 we have a Pirate to Panther program where you can take college
15:21 courses at FIT while you’re in high school.
15:25 It’s complimentary to our students.
15:27 AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination.
15:30 We provide leadership and community service opportunities.
15:34 We have an AVID tutoring center.
15:35 Students volunteer during their lunch to help all students on
15:39 campus.
15:40 So everybody gets support.
15:41 We all have one goal in mind and that’s for our students to
15:44 succeed.
15:45 Palm Bay Magnet High School is an emotionally safe environment.
15:49 Its diversity is its strength.
15:52 And when I say diversity, I don’t just mean cultural or
15:54 linguistic diversity.
15:56 We have a wide range of academic abilities.
15:58 We have a wide range of programs to meet every student at every
16:02 level that they come to us.
16:04 And we have such knowledgeable faculty.
16:07 But they’re not just knowledgeable.
16:08 They’re really genuinely caring.
16:10 And they want to meet the students where they are.
16:13 And work to make them come up to where we need them to be.
16:16 And to where they need themselves to be.
16:18 It’s been amazing.
16:20 I’ve seen aspects both from in the classroom and in sports.
16:24 We all support one another.
16:26 The coaches are great.
16:27 They’re going to push you to be your best on and off the court.
16:30 Our teammates are going to push each other.
16:31 We know our strengths and weaknesses.
16:33 And we continue to strive for the better for all of us.
16:35 And not just individually.
16:36 One of the things you notice if you talk to any of the adults on
16:40 campus.
16:41 Is how much they genuinely care for the students here.
16:43 The goal of Palm Bay High is for everyone to feel included.
16:50 The culture of Port Malabar can be summed up as positive,
17:01 supportive.
17:01 Many of our teachers have their own kids enrolled here.
17:04 Many of the teachers were students themselves here.
17:07 So I’m very proud of that family-oriented, family-focused,
17:10 very warm, welcoming feeling that we have here at Port Malabar.
17:14 Academics and social-emotional growth will be the focal point.
17:18 And we will take pride in making sure your child grows and
17:21 progresses.
17:23 Port Malabar Elementary is an incredibly unique place for your
17:26 child to attend.
17:28 We have several unique programs.
17:30 We have an exceptional gifted program.
17:32 We focus on multiple intelligences, such as art, music, STEM.
17:37 And the kids really shine.
17:39 The teachers take such good care of the kids here.
17:42 Honestly, safety is first.
17:44 And after that, we just love your children so much.
17:47 When you walk in, you can feel it.
17:49 There’s love here.
17:50 There’s caring.
17:51 We take good care of the kids, and they want to come back every
17:54 day.
17:54 We also have five teachers that are bilinguals.
17:57 We’re very proud of that.
17:58 We try to have one per grade level.
18:00 So if your student is struggling with English, we can
18:02 accommodate them.
18:13 I like coming to school because the teachers care about me and
18:17 like my own way.
18:19 My favorite thing at Port Malabar is recess because it’s the
18:24 time where you make new friends,
18:26 and you get to spend time with them.
18:28 I feel like our teachers really do care about us, and they
18:31 comfort us when we may be having a bad day
18:34 or something’s going on either at school or at home.
18:36 It does feel really special when we’re recognized for our hard
18:39 work because of our Pelican Pride Awards.
18:41 Prepared, respectful, improved, dependable, and enthusiastic.
18:46 I’ve had a really fun time here at Port Malabar, and I totally
18:50 recommend it.
18:51 Riviera is a very open school.
19:01 We’ll do almost anything for our students in order to make sure
19:05 that they’re successful.
19:06 We do believe in that village mentality where it takes a full
19:11 village to raise a child.
19:12 The thing that excites me the most is we’re not stagnant.
19:15 Every year our expectations here for our students expand and
19:18 they get greater and greater.
19:20 What gets me excited about coming to work each day are the kids,
19:24 seeing them learn.
19:25 I enjoy greeting them in the morning, seeing their excitement
19:28 for coming to school every day,
19:30 and the positivity that they have knowing that no matter what
19:33 happens,
19:34 we’re here to support them and they’re safe while they’re here
19:36 doing it.
19:37 I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done at Riviera to make
19:39 our core academics really strong,
19:42 specifically in the areas of reading and math and science.
19:45 I am very proud of the fact that we’re all a tight-knit
19:49 community and we’re all working towards a common goal,
19:52 which is for the students to be successful.
19:54 We’re full of instructors and staff that reflect, and so our
19:59 number one goal is to make every day better than the day before.
20:02 For me and my team, we love seeing the progression that the
20:07 students have.
20:08 The light bulb going off is basically why we do what we do.
20:12 We work hard with these students five days a week.
20:15 So you’re sitting with that student and those students working
20:19 hard,
20:19 and to see them progress, see them understand something, it
20:23 makes it all worth it.
20:24 For someone new coming to Riviera, you can expect kind people
20:30 and people that can help you.
20:32 They don’t just like say the answer, they teach me how to get
20:35 the answer.
20:36 I like science because we get to do some experiments time to
20:41 time.
20:42 They provide kindness, respectfulness, and mostly fun.
20:56 I am a product of Brevard Public Schools.
21:00 I’ve been with Brevard Public Schools for approximately 18 years.
21:04 Southlake is an amazing school and what makes it special is the
21:10 collaboration
21:11 between the teachers and the faculty.
21:14 Well, students have different learning styles, and part of what
21:25 we do in the Smart Lab is that choice.
21:27 If they’re interested in 3D printing, or video, or building,
21:33 engineering,
21:35 and I think that giving students the opportunity to follow their
21:39 passions in the Smart Lab helps with
21:40 engagement helps them find that success.
21:43 As students decide on the careers that they want to do, what
21:48 they learn here is really going to help them.
21:50 I love the fact that we honor, respect, and take ownership in
21:57 all the diversity and the differences
21:59 and uniquenesses of all of our teachers, staff, and the students.
22:03 Every aspect of Southlake is a teaching opportunity.
22:07 Be ready to be enriched, get ready for the adventure of learning,
22:12 and not just having one teacher,
22:13 but having 50 teachers.
22:15 Not just having one friend, but having hundreds of friends.
22:18 In my opinion, I really liked PE and the Smart Lab.
22:22 You do things on the computer and things with robots, and I
22:25 really like it.
22:26 You can go into school and go like, “Oh, I wonder what is going
22:30 to happen today?”
22:31 Because there’s just new things every day to try.
22:35 For me, you can kind of like feel the friendliness about Southlake.
22:39 You can wave at people, and they’ll wave back.
22:41 Like, you smile, and they smile.
22:43 I love Southlake because of stuff like that.
22:46 When I talk to fellow people, and I say I’m at Sunrise, they say,
22:57 “Oh, I’ve heard of that school.
22:58 Oh, I know that school.”
23:00 It’s always for really amazing things.
23:02 We are making the kids more responsible for their learning now.
23:10 We are all here for the children and just holding them up to,
23:14 I think, higher expectations.
23:16 Knowing that we will reach every child here on whatever level
23:20 they need
23:21 is why they should come to Sunrise.
23:22 Sunrise Elementary is a school community where it just radiates
23:28 joy and love
23:30 and a super passion for learning.
23:32 Sunrise is well known for academic success and helping every
23:37 student shine.
23:38 Our teachers love what they do.
23:40 They learn right along with the students,
23:42 but they also collaborate with one another to plan and execute
23:47 amazing fun and engaging lessons.
23:49 And that’s what I want for the future of Sunrise Elementary
23:51 School.
23:52 I want our little sea turtles that come here to be able to come,
23:55 start when they’re young,
23:56 grow up in our school, and we want to be able to help them meet
24:00 their full potential
24:02 and help them shine as they become young adults in the world.
24:05 We came up with three standards that aligned with our core
24:09 values,
24:10 which is be safe, work hard, and be nice.
24:12 And we run our day-to-day lives here at Sunrise that way.
24:16 And we recognize students and staff and faculty that follow that
24:19 mindset.
24:20 You know, it’s just a great guideline of what you should be
24:23 doing at all times.
24:24 Every teacher’s classroom rules aligns with the Sunrise
24:27 standards.
24:28 You can ask any student and they’ll tell you what the Sunrise
24:30 standards are.
24:31 Really work on having those kids take ownership of their
24:33 behavior.
24:34 All the teachers care about all the students, and all the
24:37 students like look up to the teachers.
24:39 But it’s really kind, it’s really nice, and like it’s just a
24:42 great place to be.
24:44 All the teachers, they’re wonderful.
24:46 They don’t treat the students differently.
24:48 They treat all the students the same.
24:50 They never treat you because of how smart you are.
24:53 They treat you because of who you are.
25:14 They treat you because of how smart you are.
28:51 they treat you because of how smart you are.
28:54 They treat you because of how smart you are.
29:08 They treat you because of what smart you are.
29:10 They treat you because of how smart you are.
29:18 they treat you because of how smart you are.
29:21 They treat you because of how smart you are.
31:46 They treat you as an observer.
31:48 Once again, this is a meeting for board business held in the
31:50 public.
31:51 Our agenda is quite lengthy and I will take appropriate measures
31:54 to ensure we are able to continue with board business without
31:56 interruption.
31:57 I will ask persons deemed to be knowingly or intentionally
32:00 disrupting this meeting of the school board of Brevard County or
32:03 not complying with policy to stop or leave.
32:06 If persons receiving the warning choose not to follow my
32:08 instructions, I will instruct Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies
32:11 to take any law enforcement action they deem appropriate and you
32:14 may be escorted, detained or arrested depending on the conduct.
32:19 Persons who refuse to depart after a warning may also be
32:22 committing the crime of trespassing in accordance with Florida
32:25 statute section 810.08.
32:27 These statutes apply to conduct on all school board property
32:30 which includes this board room as well as the outside of this
32:34 building to the sidewalks.
32:36 If you continue to cause a disruption, you are advised that you
32:39 are in violation of Florida State Statute 877.13 or if you fail
32:43 to leave the premises after being warned by the sheriff’s office,
32:46 you are committing trespass and the board has authorized the
32:48 sheriff’s office to enforce these rules.
32:50 In the event multiple individuals fail to adhere to these
32:53 expectations and board business cannot continue due to
32:56 disruption, I will call a recess and request that the law
32:59 enforcement officers present clear the board room of attendees.
33:02 When the room is cleared, the board will return and resume their
33:05 meeting with no public present.
33:07 Those who are signed up to speak will be seated under the front
33:10 entry area and called in when it is your time to speak.
33:13 Pam, roll call please.
33:18 Mrs. Belford.
33:20 Present.
33:21 Mrs. McDougall.
33:22 Present.
33:23 Mrs. Jenkins.
33:24 Present.
33:25 Mr. Susan.
33:26 Present.
33:27 And Mrs. Campbell.
33:28 Present.
33:29 The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection in memory
33:31 of three BPS family members who recently passed away.
33:33 Michael Storm, a mechanic in our transportation department.
33:36 James Sestillo, also a mechanic in our transportation department.
33:40 And Shree Ali, a kindergarten teacher at Gulfview Elementary.
33:48 Thank you.
33:49 Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
33:50 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
33:50 and to the Republic for which it stands.
33:51 one nation under God, indivisible,
33:56 with liberty and justice for all.
33:57 Thank you.
33:57 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
34:01 and to the Republic for which it stands,
34:01 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
34:03 all.
34:03 At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and
34:05 Dr. Mullins the opportunity to recognize students, staff,
34:06 or members of our community.
34:07 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
34:10 and to the Republic for which it stands,
34:10 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
34:22 all.
34:24 At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and
34:28 Dr. Mullins the opportunity to recognize students, staff,
34:29 or members of our community who would like to start us off this
34:33 evening.
34:34 Ms. McDougall?
34:35 Sure.
34:36 I just want to give a shout out to a food service manager at
34:40 Freedom 7 who also happens to be the food service manager at
34:51 Roosevelt.
34:52 So he is doing two schools.
34:54 So a shout out to Devin Smith, which I did give him an impact
34:59 elevated pen because he is definitely elevating two kitchens.
35:06 And I found out the other day when I was there, I looked around
35:09 the kitchen.
35:10 I said, okay, there’s you and one other person.
35:13 Are you the only two?
35:15 And they were the only two because someone was out on injury.
35:20 And so there’s two people serving and the serving line and
35:24 cooking for over 400 people, 400 students.
35:28 But I do want to also give a shout out to the volunteers who
35:31 help at Freedom 7 to make that run smoothly.
35:35 So shout out to Devin Smith and the volunteers at Freedom 7.
35:41 Thank you, Ms. McDougall.
35:42 Anyone else?
35:43 Ms. Campbell?
35:44 I have a few, but I’ll be fast.
35:47 Last Tuesday night, the Children’s Hunger Project, who I also
35:49 get to serve on their board, held a packing party for all our
35:53 school coordinators who coordinate, you know, which students are
35:56 in need.
35:57 And Children’s Hunger Project doesn’t get those names, they just
36:00 get numbers.
36:01 But we just had a little celebration, but also we packed 850
36:05 meals that go out to our schools.
36:07 And thank you, Dr. Mullins, for coming and joining us.
36:10 One table team may have packed a little more than the other
36:13 tables team, but we had a good night.
36:16 And we’re so thankful for all those people.
36:17 The rest of them are going tonight to, again, have a nice dinner
36:21 and get to pack.
36:22 We appreciate the Children’s Hunger Project and what they do for
36:24 our students, feeding them on the weekends.
36:26 This morning, I got to participate in Central Middle School’s Stomp
36:30 Out Bullying Walk.
36:31 We walked from the West Melbourne Police Department all the way
36:33 to Central.
36:34 And we had at least a couple of hundred students show up wearing
36:36 red, walking down Main Road in West Melbourne, Minton, and just
36:41 hearing some inspirational speeches by our mayors.
36:45 And just had a great morning.
36:47 I’m proud of them for the work that their teachers are doing to
36:50 help them in that initiative, too.
36:52 So, this Saturday is the Marching Band Music Performance
36:56 Assessment.
36:57 And I want to invite the rest of the board, as well as the
36:59 listening audience, to come out to Mel High.
37:02 They start at 3 o’clock.
37:04 I will try to publish the schedule on my Facebook page this week
37:07 because it goes all the way up to 8:00.
37:09 The last band performs at 8:30.
37:11 So, if you want to know which band you want to come see or if
37:12 you want to stay there for the whole day, it’s going to be a
37:15 wonderful day of music there for their competition.
37:19 But I encourage the rest of the board to come, as well, and
37:22 check out the great work our marching bands have been doing.
37:25 I had one thing I was going to say for the board report, but I’ll
37:27 just say it now, since it’s going to be a long night.
37:30 I met my every-other-month meeting with Russell Brun from
37:33 Government Community Relations.
37:36 The PAFR, which is the Public Annual Financial Report, is coming
37:39 out soon, or popular.
37:41 I think it’s popular.
37:42 It’s going to be so popular, everybody’s going to want to look
37:44 at it.
37:45 The very first one that we’ve ever done, it will be a layman’s
37:49 view at our very complicated budget and finances and all of that.
37:54 And so, the initial look at it has been really great, and I look
37:58 forward to seeing that in the coming month.
38:01 Awesome.
38:02 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
38:03 Mr. Susan?
38:04 I’ll go ahead.
38:05 Jenkins, did you have anything?
38:06 Mr. Susan?
38:07 Yeah.
38:08 So, I wanted to thank Dr. Mullins and Russell Broome.
38:11 We’re getting ready to do something extraordinary.
38:14 Many individuals know that this COVID problem that we’ve had for
38:17 a while has put a lot of kids on the couch.
38:20 A lot of kids are sitting back, and they’re just lethargic.
38:24 They’re not getting out.
38:25 They’re not doing what they should do.
38:27 And also, at the same time, we have one of the worst workforce
38:31 shortages in the United States in the last 50 years.
38:35 So, what I’m going to do, and Russell Broome’s setting it up, is
38:38 that we’re going to do tours of our career and technical
38:40 programs.
38:41 I’m going to go in and show you exactly what’s inside of there.
38:44 I’m also going to call on the industry that surrounds each one
38:47 of those programs.
38:48 So, at O’Galley, I’ll be reaching out to all the automotive
38:52 companies and shops and everything else, so that they can then
38:56 view and see what we have.
38:57 Because the next step is, is that we have on-the-job training.
39:01 We have opportunities for these kids to get out and work.
39:04 And if our parents know that the opportunities are there, if
39:07 those shops and those organizations, whether that’s the aviation
39:11 hangar over there at O’Galley High School,
39:13 those students that are going into Melbourne Regional Airport
39:15 and working at some of those, each one of those sectors should
39:19 be driving each one of our kids to get jobs inside of them.
39:23 And if they know where the students are, they know the actual
39:26 teacher, they’ll be able to do that.
39:28 So, I wanted to thank Dr. Mullins and Russell Broome for getting
39:31 ready to set it up.
39:32 And it looks like we’ll probably start it in my district, and
39:34 then I hope my other school board members follow suit.
39:37 It’s going to be a great opportunity to show off our stuff and
39:39 get these kids back to work.
39:40 Thank you.
39:41 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
39:42 Dr. Mullins.
39:43 Thank you, Ms. Belford.
39:44 I want to first recognize our Student Services Department and
39:51 our ESE teachers, our ESE specialists.
39:56 Florida recognizes schools who establish a high-quality MTSS
40:03 process.
40:05 And that stands for the multi-tiered system of supports that is
40:08 in every one of our schools and responds to the needs of kids,
40:13 academic, behavioral, and so on, to provide the identified
40:17 supports.
40:18 Well, the state allows schools to submit application to
40:23 recognition of a school of high-quality MTSS.
40:28 There were only 59 school applicants across the entire state of
40:34 thousands of schools, and Brevard is being, has one of the
40:39 awarded schools.
40:40 Only 20 schools met all three criteria, which, and so
40:44 congratulations to Quest Elementary School for not only going
40:49 through the rigorous application process, but being only one out
40:55 of three applicants who received the award.
40:55 the award across the state.
40:59 So congratulations to Quest, the staff who made that possible,
41:03 as well as our entire Student Services team that comes around
41:06 them and supports them to do the work of supporting our students.
41:10 And then, if that’s not enough, I’m going to kind of tout on Brevard
41:14 Public Schools dominating the state.
41:16 This last Saturday, the Florida Council for Social Studies had
41:22 their annual awards program this last Saturday night, and we
41:29 took so many of the awards that night.
41:31 It’s going to take a minute to go through them, but these are
41:34 state-recognized educators and instructors of social studies.
41:38 First, the Warren Tracy Beginning Teacher of the Year Award was
41:42 awarded to Stephanie Booth at Jefferson Middle School.
41:46 Congratulations, Stephanie.
41:48 Yeah, let’s hear it.
41:53 You’re going to clap a lot, because there’s more.
41:55 J.R.
41:56 Scredding Leadership Award to Jennifer Jolly at Palm Bay Magnet
42:00 High School.
42:01 State recognition.
42:03 The Dr. Theron Trimble Florida Teacher of the Year Award High
42:09 School recipient.
42:10 We took that one.
42:12 Francine Dravick at Space Coast Junior Senior High School.
42:16 And then the Dr. J. Doyle Castile Outstanding Leadership Award.
42:25 This is a big deal.
42:27 We took that award and awarded to Miss Kimberly Garten, who we’ve
42:32 said her name a half a dozen times up here on the dais,
42:36 as she is our secondary leading and learning resource teacher
42:39 for social studies.
42:41 Congratulations.
42:42 No surprise to Kimberly Garten.
42:44 So I think the other 66 districts across the state had to share
42:51 a couple other awards that we didn’t take, but that’s okay.
42:55 Dr. Mullins, it’s funny that you said that.
43:01 So when I was a teacher, I won the Warren Tracy Beginning
43:04 Teacher of the Year for the whole state of Florida.
43:05 And Miss Dravick was one of the ones that taught next door to me.
43:10 And the individuals that you have for social studies inside this
43:14 county leads the state.
43:16 And you should be very, very proud of them for that.
43:19 Miss Dravick is an amazing teacher and I just had to make a plug
43:21 for her.
43:22 I mean, I sat across the hall from her for six years.
43:24 So good stuff.
43:25 Thank you.
43:26 Thanks, Mr. Susan.
43:28 And that is a good lead in for me.
43:31 Wanted to thank Dr. Stephanie Sullivan and Miss Jane Klein for
43:36 an awesome workshop earlier today.
43:38 Where we really dug into the academics in our district where our
43:43 challenges are and laid out our plans to address those
43:45 challenges.
43:46 So for our public, if you did not have an opportunity, I know we
43:49 have a couple that were here with us earlier and thank you for
43:52 being here and engaging.
43:55 But if you did not get an opportunity to watch it, I would
43:57 certainly encourage that you do so because there’s lots of great
44:00 data and lots of great explanation as to how we move forward
44:04 successfully.
44:05 Tying into social studies because one of the areas that we are
44:09 very strong in Brevard County is in fact social studies.
44:13 And so I think it’s a testament to the work that those people
44:16 have done that we can share that data.
44:18 I also want to thank our students and our parents as well as our
44:21 faculty and staff for the commitment and determination to work
44:24 together to bring down our COVID numbers.
44:26 Over the past several weeks, we heard numerous times that there
44:29 was no way we would get to 50 cases per 100,000 over a seven day
44:32 period in our community.
44:34 As you know, this past Friday, we came in at 50.1.
44:38 Perhaps even more impressive and more on point with my
44:40 appreciation for our school community is that our in-school
44:43 cases have dropped to nearly half of what our community cases
44:46 have been per 100,000 people.
44:48 That’s an amazing feat considering that at the end of August,
44:52 our cases in schools were two and a half times that of our
44:54 community.
44:55 I will not claim that the masks are the sole cause of this
44:58 decline as we know we had a decline in our community.
45:01 But I don’t believe that we can say they had no impact either
45:04 given the much steeper decline in our schools than in our
45:06 community.
45:07 Other mitigation strategies like staying home when sick, social
45:10 distancing when possible, and additional cleaning protocols also
45:14 likely contributed to our steep decline.
45:16 So I don’t want to overlook the fact that everyone truly
45:19 contributed to our ability to have reached the 50.1 in the
45:22 community and 29.9 in our schools.
45:25 So on behalf of everyone who sacrificed to make this happen, we
45:29 appreciate you.
45:31 I look forward to more discussion later in the meeting about
45:33 what our next steps are.
45:36 All right.
45:40 Dr. Mullins, that is going to bring us to the adoption of the
45:43 agenda.
45:44 Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board.
45:46 On this evening’s agenda, we have administrative staff
45:48 recommendations, two presentations, 20 consent items, 12 action
45:52 items, and two information items.
45:55 Changes made to the agenda since it was first released to the
45:58 public on Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 are as follows.
46:02 A presentation on issues facing teachers and strategies for
46:05 improvement was added.
46:06 A revision was made to item G40 on procurement solicitations.
46:11 And item F12 on student expulsions as well as item G38 on
46:17 extension of emergency mask policy and a board discussion item
46:22 were additions.
46:23 What are the wishes of the board?
46:24 Move to approve.
46:25 Second.
46:26 Moved by Mr. Susan.
46:27 Seconded by Ms. McDougall.
46:28 Is there any discussion?
46:29 Hearing none, please vote.
46:31 Only when I try to vote twice.
46:57 No, it didn’t show me.
46:58 And the motion passes 5-0.
46:58 Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the
46:59 administration.
46:59 staff recommendation.
47:00 Ms. McDougall.
47:00 Okay.
47:00 I’m assuming that was in.
47:00 No, it didn’t show me.
47:01 And the motion passes 5-0.
47:02 Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the
47:02 administrative staff recommendation.
47:02 Ms. Belford, members of the board.
47:03 Ms. Belford, there are three individuals for the board to
47:03 consider.
47:03 And the motion passes 5-0.
47:03 Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the
47:03 administrative staff recommendation.
47:03 Ms. Belford, members of the board, there are three individuals
47:04 for the board to
47:20 consider.
47:21 What are the wishes of the board?
47:22 Moved to approve.
47:23 Second.
47:24 Moved by Mr. Susan.
47:25 Seconded by Ms. McDougall.
47:26 Is there any discussion?
47:27 Dr. Mullins?
47:28 Oh, we should vote first.
47:29 Sorry.
47:30 Please vote.
47:31 Ms. Belford, members of the board.
47:32 Thank you, Ms. Belford, members of the board.
47:33 Okay.
47:34 Thank you, Ms. Belford, members of the board, members of the
47:35 board.
47:35 Ms. Belford, members of the board.
47:36 Ms. Belford, members of the board, members of the board.
47:37 Ms. Belford, members of the board.
1:58:03 Ms. Belford.
1:58:04 Ms. Belford, members of the board.
2:33:45 nonverbal what was she supposed to do she didn’t go home and
2:33:48 tell her mommy and
2:33:49 daddy that he was having to be forced mask every day he had no
2:33:54 way to tell and
2:33:56 that is a crime
2:33:59 hi good evening
2:34:11 I came here this evening with a well-thought-out well-researched
2:34:17 comments regarding cameras in the classrooms and in hallways and
2:34:23 I believe
2:34:23 that in light of what has occurred this is a necessity it is
2:34:30 important that
2:34:31 parents have access to their children at all time there is no
2:34:36 reason if you’re
2:34:38 going to replace intercom systems you can just as easily put in
2:34:43 cameras the
2:34:45 incident that occurred with Sophia is is heinous there’s no
2:34:50 other word for it and
2:34:51 had there been cameras in the classroom it never would have
2:34:55 happened and as the
2:34:56 other gentleman mentioned there are other instances where there
2:35:00 is obviously
2:35:01 abuse neglect or something going on in these classrooms to these
2:35:06 children we
2:35:07 have cameras everywhere so there’s no reason why a parent only
2:35:12 or a legal
2:35:13 guardian has access to these cameras they don’t have to be for
2:35:17 public viewing
2:35:20 then some events unfolded in the last ten days that went against
2:35:25 everything that I
2:35:26 was raised to believe in on how one conducts oneself in life the
2:35:31 biggest
2:35:32 violation that ever could occur in my world is the harming of
2:35:35 innocent children
2:35:36 and animals I was completely totally and utterly appalled by the
2:35:40 actions of
2:35:41 members of the school board violating the mask mandate set forth
2:35:45 by our
2:35:46 government and then going on national TV and crying victim
2:35:49 because parents that saw
2:35:50 that broken mandate as a harmful event to their children and
2:35:54 chose to voice their
2:35:55 concerns doesn’t make you a victim then it got worse as we all
2:36:00 know the
2:36:01 innocent disabled child with no ability to communicate her
2:36:04 frustration her pain her
2:36:06 inability to breathe her uncomfortableness was forced to endure
2:36:10 all of the above for
2:36:13 the above for weeks days and hours that is beyond unconscionable
2:36:19 she can’t tell us what other
2:36:21 things she felt because again she’s nonverbal this was all done
2:36:25 as a direct
2:36:26 result of the mask mandate that the three members of this board
2:36:29 chose to to violate
2:36:33 now I can get up here and I can make a speech about as a
2:36:36 taxpayer I pay your
2:36:37 salaries okay and I can also speak about my First Amendment
2:36:43 rights where I can say
2:36:45 whatever it is I choose to say to you in whatever language I
2:36:48 choose but I have a
2:36:50 sense of decorum I hope and I’m going to try not to do that but
2:36:55 I can tell you now
2:36:56 that I’m going to leave you with this if you thought Randy fine
2:37:00 statement it was
2:37:01 there’s a special place in health for those who did this to
2:37:05 Sophia was horrendous I
2:37:06 can tell you that some of you which is in this thank you miss Haines
2:37:10 we
2:37:11 appreciate you joining us
2:37:14 once again if I could just ask you so everyone can hear when I’m
2:37:22 calling their
2:37:22 names and calling up the next group of people can we just hold
2:37:24 applause I don’t
2:37:25 it doesn’t matter to me what side of the issue you’re on if we
2:37:28 can just hold
2:37:29 applause so we can get through everyone that would be fabulous
2:37:31 okay um miss Stevens when you’re ready okay um my name is Judy
2:37:51 Stevens I’ve lived in
2:37:52 Movard County for over 30 years so I’ve had kids through the
2:37:58 school system and grandkids
2:38:01 um a couple weeks ago I was able to come and review the ELA
2:38:11 curriculum for K through 6 and while
2:38:15 talking to two of the women from the administration about the
2:38:22 curriculum we
2:38:23 talked about the learning gap and how that would be handled and
2:38:28 one of them
2:38:29 and I had to mention this great at that point I thought current
2:38:33 program which was
2:38:35 thrive by five and I thought wow this is really great so I went
2:38:43 home and I got on
2:38:43 the website and researched it and I thought oh there’s a lot a
2:38:48 lot lacking so thank you Dr. Mullins for tonight clearing up
2:38:53 that it’s really going to start
2:38:55 oops um Monday so hopefully on the website there will be
2:39:02 somebody we can contact in case I and some of my friends who are
2:39:09 very interested in it can find ways that we can volunteer or
2:39:12 help with it so that kind of took a lot of my griping tonight
2:39:18 away so I’m going to add another little gripe
2:39:21 I know that you’re trying to get out of here at a decent time
2:39:28 and I know I’ve walked out on some board meetings at 11:30 at
2:39:32 night to a dark parking lot that’s scary but to cut down the
2:39:38 time below three minutes is really very hard for many of us who
2:39:46 have several things to speak on
2:39:49 so we would like at least three minutes to say our piece because
2:39:57 it’s important to us what goes on in education I worked for a
2:40:02 while at then Brevard Community College teaching everything from
2:40:07 pre-calculus down to remedial math and when you see 18 and 20
2:40:14 year olds that can barely add and subtract
2:40:17 so we’re going to add to that and we’re going to add that and
2:40:21 then we’re going to add to that it makes you well aware that
2:40:23 something needs to be done with early intervention
2:40:24 all the way up and we’d all like to get that done thank you
2:40:30 thank you Judy Joanne and as Joanne’s approaching our next three
2:40:37 speakers are going to be Sarah Mursky Michelle Beavers and Jabari
2:40:39 Hosey
2:40:39 hello congratulations the numbers are down the mask worked thank
2:40:52 you audience members I’m not going to say it again thank you to
2:40:59 the three courageous board members who at great personal
2:41:03 sacrifice and in some cases great personal risk took the
2:41:09 the step of the step of voting in a controversial way because
2:41:16 they have one priority
2:41:16 that priority is to keep children safe to keep staff safe and to
2:41:21 do what they can to mitigate disease spread in our community you
2:41:26 did that congratulations thank you it worked now let’s keep it
2:41:32 up
2:41:32 thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
2:41:36 thank you thank you thank you thank you
2:41:39 for the people that are in favor of masks I don’t feel terribly
2:41:46 comfortable being indoors with all these people without masks
2:41:48 but I got tired of watching it on TV or on my computer and
2:41:54 seeing so many people speak against masks when that’s really not
2:42:00 the majority most normal people are home watching what happens
2:42:06 the next day on TV or on in their news
2:42:08 in their newspaper they’re they don’t have time or they don’t
2:42:14 have the interest to come be here in person but most people are
2:42:19 like me they want the community to be safe this little piece of
2:42:23 fabric is not a big deal it’s it’s something that we’re doing
2:42:30 during a pandemic to keep people alive it’s a little piece of
2:42:35 fabric it’s not
2:42:37 it’s not your civil liberties I guarantee you regarding Sofia I
2:42:47 saw the picture it’s an adorable little girl with a mask and you
2:42:53 can see that somebody took a shoelace and made a bow above her
2:43:00 ponytail so that her little ears would be comfortable and people
2:43:06 grabbed on this as
2:43:06 audience members please stop interrupting
2:43:11 people glommed on this as
2:43:25 ma’am pause for just a moment okay
2:43:26 sir make your way out please
2:43:27 great have a good night
2:43:34 i apologize jimanna if you’d
2:43:39 like to go ahead and finish
2:43:40 thank you uh so i mean you
2:43:43 could see the little bow
2:43:45 somebody was just keeping a
2:43:47 little girl under their care
2:43:49 comfortable they were not
2:43:51 trying to imprison her or any
2:43:54 such thing it’s so much
2:43:55 political bastardization of
2:43:58 what really happened to wrap
2:44:01 it up thank you again to the
2:44:05 board members and to the staff
2:44:07 whose number one priority is not
2:44:09 politics thank you ma’am we
2:44:11 appreciate you joining us this
2:44:12 evening pardon that your time is
2:44:14 up i i stopped the timer when he
2:44:18 walked out yeah so thank you
2:44:20 sarah good evening madam chair and
2:44:36 board hope everyone has been able
2:44:38 to enjoy the beautiful weather we
2:44:40 are having and make fall memories
2:44:41 with your families and i just wanted
2:44:43 to share because it wasn’t
2:44:44 explained that these ribbons that
2:44:46 we’re wearing are in honor of down
2:44:48 syndrome awareness month in honor of
2:44:50 Sophia i’m sarah taxpayer registered
2:44:53 voter student wife and mother of
2:44:54 two children in bps and i live in
2:44:57 district 2 for school board and i’m
2:44:59 heartbroken and disgusted over all
2:45:01 the events surrounding our bps
2:45:03 community over the past couple weeks
2:45:05 madam chair you’re willing to defend
2:45:07 your stance on the illegal mask
2:45:09 policy that you were the swing vote
2:45:12 on that you say it’s now up to the
2:45:14 courts to decide with that it is
2:45:16 grossly unfair to fifty percent of
2:45:19 your constituents who are now on the
2:45:21 hook for paying your for your legal
2:45:23 fees that is not in the best interest
2:45:25 of your stakeholders and our children
2:45:27 and that is not serving every student
2:45:29 with excellence as the standard just
2:45:32 because something is denied from the
2:45:34 dais does not mean it’s true today it
2:45:36 was reported in your workshop that bps
2:45:38 has about ten thousand less students
2:45:40 than last year whereas in a recent
2:45:42 meeting the board stated that
2:45:44 enrollment numbers were not down the
2:45:47 damages our children have suffered
2:45:49 that many of us have brought to your
2:45:51 attention before about your illegal
2:45:54 mask mandate now have come out in
2:45:56 very public ways and will continue to
2:45:58 do so including but not limited to
2:46:01 lawsuits and investigations there’s
2:46:03 a reason why i voted with my feet
2:46:05 and moved from chicago to florida
2:46:07 don’t chicago my brevard you could
2:46:09 have simply allowed a parental opt-out
2:46:11 since since your illegal mask policy
2:46:14 was first enacted and avoided all the
2:46:16 downfall since three board members are
2:46:19 so concerned about politics and
2:46:21 defending an illegal mask mandate
2:46:23 agenda i do not think that a school
2:46:25 board seat is the right place for
2:46:27 you we need people to serve on the
2:46:29 board who are interested in being
2:46:30 in compliance with the doe the law
2:46:32 and in making the best policies for
2:46:34 our district for everyone and
2:46:36 focusing on education not using their
2:46:39 board seat for their own personal
2:46:41 political agendas we need school
2:46:43 board members who actually listen and
2:46:45 engage and welcome parents including
2:46:47 parents who have a different point of
2:46:48 view who actually take their oath of
2:46:50 office seriously as well as the laws
2:46:53 and directives they are governed by i
2:46:56 joined sac at my child student school
2:46:59 to help support our school staff and
2:47:01 bridge the learning gap the biggest
2:47:03 need for our children is more mental
2:47:05 health help the mental health
2:47:07 professionals are not able to
2:47:08 actually provide the mental health
2:47:10 services that the children need we
2:47:12 need to take that esser money and
2:47:14 employ more mental health
2:47:15 professionals for our children who
2:47:17 are going through trauma and
2:47:18 actually get them the help they need
2:47:20 please do not vote to extend the
2:47:21 illegal mask mandate or a lot or
2:47:24 allow students teachers and staff to
2:47:26 opt out let’s get the focus back to
2:47:28 teaching thank you
2:47:29 hello board first i wanted to address
2:47:40 dr melons just for a moment he
2:47:42 reached out to me last time we had a
2:47:43 meeting and he corrected some numbers
2:47:45 that we had i’d gotten wrong so i
2:47:50 thought it was eighteen i’m sorry one
2:47:52 thousand eight hundred ninety one
2:47:53 students that had left the district in
2:47:54 that 30 40 days it was actually twelve
2:47:59 hundred and seventy five on that
2:48:00 number but that still means that
2:48:03 you’re missing seven million nine
2:48:06 hundred and ninety nine thousand
2:48:07 five hundred and fifty dollars in
2:48:09 revenue and if you take away the
2:48:11 expense of educating those children
2:48:13 which is eight i’m sorry eight
2:48:15 thousand seven hundred eighty eight
2:48:17 person per child you’ll have a
2:48:19 difference of about fifteen
2:48:21 hundred dollars of students you’re
2:48:22 still missing one thousand one
2:48:23 hundred and eighty eight thousand
2:48:25 eight hundred and fifty dollars and
2:48:27 you just lost another twenty thousand
2:48:28 that just walked out the door so i
2:48:32 think if you limit the the ability for
2:48:35 us to be seen on television and
2:48:38 recorded then what you’re doing is
2:48:40 hiding us and i think everyone knows
2:48:42 that i don’t think you want to hide
2:48:44 what’s going on i think you want to be
2:48:46 open with us and honest with us the
2:48:50 the other thing i wanted to address is
2:48:53 in the beginning of this pandemic it
2:48:55 was never to stop the spread of this
2:48:57 disease it was to slow the spread of
2:48:59 this disease slow it because the
2:49:02 experts at the time said everyone’s
2:49:03 going to eventually can’t handshake
2:49:05 this this disease it’s just like the
2:49:07 flu eventually you’re going to get
2:49:09 it it’s just the way it is because
2:49:10 even if you have the vaccine you’re
2:49:12 still going to get it and the bottom
2:49:15 line is is these children in these
2:49:16 schools aren’t going to die from
2:49:18 this it’s just not happening it’s
2:49:20 it’s point zero zero eight i believe
2:49:22 it was last time i checked of kids
2:49:24 that are dying from this so all you’re
2:49:27 doing is starving their brains there’s
2:49:29 a neurosurgeon and i did not put her
2:49:30 name up here i had it on my phone who
2:49:33 who came out and said look you know
2:49:34 those kids that were complaining of
2:49:35 headaches at the beginning of the
2:49:36 pandemic because they had these masks
2:49:37 on all day mom said oh they’re coming
2:49:39 home slow they’re coming home lethargic
2:49:40 they have headaches they’re not
2:49:41 having them now they’re not having
2:49:42 them now they’re not having them now
2:49:44 because eventually the body says oh
2:49:46 well it’s not working so we’ll just
2:49:48 ignore the headaches now and go on but
2:49:49 the damage is still being done to their
2:49:51 brains which left me very little time
2:49:53 to talk about books which i was really
2:49:55 here for today i tiptoed toward the
2:49:57 door appearing through the window at
2:49:58 the boy’s pants around his ankles
2:49:59 squeezed between april’s straddle legs
2:50:01 as you lay on the teacher’s desk i
2:50:02 swung the door open letting the
2:50:03 soft light from the hallway shine a
2:50:04 spotlight on them shit keith muttered
2:50:05 pulling up ma’am i need for you to
2:50:07 keep your language clean okay oh
2:50:08 well this was on this was our
2:50:09 school books yeah i understand oh
2:50:10 but at this meeting i need for you to
2:50:11 not i’m sorry you get my point right
2:50:12 you get my point these books are in
2:50:14 our school you’re going to keep me
2:50:15 muted i’d like my time back that you
2:50:16 muted me for then these books are in
2:50:17 our school that is my point that is
2:50:18 just one of them i have another one
2:50:19 here it says see dick see jane hear
2:50:20 baby sally cry see jane put the
2:50:21 knife in baby sally’s neck baby
2:50:22 sally is quiet now that is my point
2:50:23 that is my point that is just one of
2:50:24 them i have another one here it says
2:50:25 see dick see jane hear baby
2:50:26 sally cry see jane put the knife in
2:50:27 baby sally’s neck baby sally
2:50:28 is quiet now that’s just part of it
2:50:35 that also talks about going to other
2:50:37 people’s houses where your parents
2:50:38 aren’t going to know what you’re
2:50:39 doing encourage kids to play games
2:50:42 calling strangers that says can you
2:50:43 come to my party mommy daddy left me
2:50:45 alone and forgot it was my birthday
2:50:47 will you come play with my party this
2:50:49 is what this was for a second grade
2:50:51 child a second grader can you imagine
2:50:56 someone’s someone’s second graders
2:50:58 coming home with a book that says to
2:50:59 kill a baby and it also talks about
2:51:01 about about taking a fake baby and
2:51:03 drowning it thank you ma’am
2:51:08 jabari hosey as jabari as jabari is
2:51:13 approaching our next three speakers
2:51:14 are going to be kim huff sarah
2:51:16 cronkling and danielle mcdonough
2:51:19 jabari hi i’m jabari hosey president
2:51:23 of families for safe schools um and
2:51:26 we all know masks do work uh vaccines
2:51:29 do work thought that everyone catching
2:51:32 a virus that has so many unknowns is
2:51:35 is our solution is absurd at the last
2:51:39 school board meeting a resolution was
2:51:41 discussed to discourage attacks on
2:51:43 board members after six plus months of
2:51:45 this happening to a board member up
2:51:47 there today while many on the board
2:51:49 remain silent this board has spoke on
2:51:53 discouraging its behavior in this room
2:51:55 outside of this building yet one group
2:51:58 and their associates and or affiliates
2:52:00 have been the only ones guilty of this
2:52:02 countless times they have been told to
2:52:04 quiet down or follow the rules
2:52:06 arrests were made outside of this
2:52:08 building remarks have been disrespectful
2:52:10 untruthful and obligatory hand gestures
2:52:13 outside the list goes on yet two of you
2:52:17 who sit on this board who harp about
2:52:19 following rules laws and respect seem to
2:52:23 not have a problem attending private
2:52:25 speaking engagements with this group
2:52:27 mr hosey keep it directed at me please
2:52:29 sir this sounds like hypocrisy but
2:52:32 maybe i can’t hear the same group
2:52:35 regurgitates posts and comments via
2:52:38 facebook made by a state representative
2:52:41 who is no more than an internet troll
2:52:45 who has made threats against the very
2:52:47 same person you express in the
2:52:49 resolution to protect
2:52:52 i would advise this board to focus on
2:52:53 what is best for the majority of
2:52:55 their students here in Brevard and
2:52:57 again not pander to these small
2:52:59 pockets of hate and the groups that
2:53:01 do not bring us together but create a
2:53:04 further separation and wedge in the
2:53:06 community and within our schools thank
2:53:08 you
2:53:09 thanks mr hosey
2:53:13 kim huff
2:53:16 kim huff no kim huff
2:53:21 sarah conkling
2:53:28 good evening i’d just like to thank all
2:53:30 of you for your service to our
2:53:31 community i don’t think we thank our
2:53:32 administrators enough and our school
2:53:33 board members so let’s say that i’m
2:53:37 here tonight support a jennifer jenkins
2:53:39 school board member who isn’t even from
2:53:41 my district but i just want to say we
2:53:43 love you we appreciate you we
2:53:44 appreciate you standing tall in the
2:53:46 face of threats and intimidation and
2:53:48 threats of violence and that’s the
2:53:50 number one thing i want to say tonight
2:53:52 and i want to also speak out in
2:53:54 opposition to the resolution that was
2:53:56 passed at the last school board
2:53:57 meeting which was in response to a
2:53:59 letter calling for federal law
2:54:01 enforcement intervention in the
2:54:02 harassment of our school board
2:54:04 members i want to start by quoting
2:54:06 ellie wiesel we must take sides
2:54:08 neutrality helps the oppressor and
2:54:10 never the victim violence encourages
2:54:13 the tormentor never the tormented
2:54:15 sometimes we must interfere when human
2:54:19 lives are endangered when human
2:54:21 dignity is in jeopardy sensitivities
2:54:24 become irrelevant whenever men and
2:54:26 women are persecuted because of their
2:54:28 race religion or political views that
2:54:31 place must at that moment become the
2:54:33 center of the universe the language of
2:54:36 our local board resolution adopted at
2:54:38 the last meeting regarding board
2:54:39 member safety has not been and is not
2:54:42 strong enough to discourage the acts
2:54:44 intimidation and threats of violence
2:54:46 against our school board member
2:54:47 miss jenkins contrary to the
2:54:49 suggestion of that resolution the
2:54:51 fact that the acts of intimidation
2:54:53 and threats of violence have been
2:54:54 going on for six long months says
2:54:57 that our local law enforcement for
2:54:58 whatever reason has been ineffective
2:55:00 in preventing the torment of miss
2:55:02 jenkins this is the exact
2:55:04 circumstance in which bigger and
2:55:06 hopefully better federal law
2:55:07 enforcement resources should be
2:55:09 employed when faced with serious
2:55:12 protracted unending violent threats of
2:55:15 one of your members you should not be
2:55:17 continuing to suggest that local law
2:55:19 enforcement is enough it is not
2:55:21 enough it has not been enough it has
2:55:23 not succeeded in protecting miss
2:55:25 jenkins all of you should be asking
2:55:27 for all available law enforcement
2:55:29 resources to end the torment of one of
2:55:31 your members and lest anyone else on
2:55:33 the board think that they might be
2:55:35 immune to what miss jenkins has
2:55:37 suffered i would like to say i hope
2:55:39 you’re immune specifically as a
2:55:41 lifelong democrat committed to
2:55:42 non-violence i hope there are no
2:55:44 democrats no democrats in our county
2:55:46 who would perpetrate acts of
2:55:48 intimidation or threats of violence
2:55:50 just as i hope that they would never
2:55:52 do it anywhere else nonetheless the
2:55:55 issue of domestic terror should
2:55:57 transcend political affiliation as
2:56:00 humanity we must all stand together
2:56:02 against inhumanity i therefore
2:56:05 admonish every one of you to strongly
2:56:08 condemn specific terms the acts of
2:56:10 intimidation and threats of violence
2:56:11 suffered by miss jenkins to
2:56:13 emphatically and adamantly disavow
2:56:15 the perpetrators and to bring every
2:56:17 available law enforcement resource
2:56:19 both local and federal to bear on the
2:56:22 personal torment of one of your
2:56:23 members your failure to do this is
2:56:28 encouraging the tormentors thank you
2:56:30 ma’am we appreciate you joining us
2:56:32 your time is unfortunately up
2:56:35 danielle mcdonough
2:56:39 after danielle our next three speakers
2:56:43 will be gordon sumner ashley hall and
2:56:45 then sarah brightman danielle whenever
2:56:47 you’re ready
2:56:49 good evening board i want to thank you
2:56:52 for doing what we needed to be done to
2:56:55 mitigate the pandemic the evidence is
2:56:58 overwhelming when you just look at the
2:57:00 dashboard i think we were at 15 cases on
2:57:03 the most recent dashboard community
2:57:06 spread of covid is going to be
2:57:09 reflected in the schools and school
2:57:11 spread of covid is going to be
2:57:12 reflected in the our community and we
2:57:15 need to do everything we can to
2:57:17 mitigate that i do hope you extend
2:57:19 the mask mandate we are still
2:57:22 waiting for a vaccine for children
2:57:24 under 12 years old so we still have
2:57:27 nothing to protect them it takes two
2:57:30 weeks after their second dose we’re
2:57:32 probably a minimum of two weeks away
2:57:34 from the them being eligible for the
2:57:36 first dose so you need to continue to
2:57:39 make an effort to mitigate the
2:57:42 pandemic we’re going towards the
2:57:44 holidays people are going to travel
2:57:46 there’s going to be get togethers
2:57:49 we’re going you know we’re at risk of
2:57:51 another surge so i want to thank you for
2:57:53 everything you’ve done so far i don’t
2:57:55 think that there’s enough positivity
2:57:57 in this room i’m actually really
2:57:59 disappointed by our community i’m
2:58:01 disappointed by the hatred that we
2:58:03 hear every day i’ve been a parent of
2:58:08 bps students for 13 years i’ve been
2:58:12 an active member of our school system
2:58:14 i’ve volunteered at four different
2:58:16 schools i continue to volunteer the
2:58:18 gentleman that said we can’t
2:58:19 volunteer mrs campbell and i are at
2:58:22 mel high on a regular basis
2:58:24 volunteering so i’m not sure what
2:58:26 that’s about i also volunteer at
2:58:28 metal lane and i’ve volunteered at
2:58:31 central i’ve served on that
2:58:33 committees and pto’s and parent
2:58:35 leaderships under our previous
2:58:37 superintendent so there’s lots of
2:58:40 ways to be involved and i think that
2:58:42 people sit in this room and they say
2:58:44 we don’t have this and we don’t have
2:58:45 that they’re just not participating so
2:58:50 i want to thank you for all that you
2:58:52 do i want to thank our teachers and i
2:58:54 really hope that you listen to the
2:58:56 union president today because we are
2:58:59 losing teachers we’re losing them to
2:59:01 counties that pay more money we’re
2:59:03 losing them because they don’t want to
2:59:05 come here to work because there’s not
2:59:07 pay we’re losing them because they’re
2:59:08 not supported we don’t have substitute
2:59:11 teachers we can’t get them for the
2:59:14 same reasons because there’s not
2:59:15 enough pay and because there’s so much
2:59:17 hatred and attacks on our education
2:59:19 system i believe in public education
2:59:23 i i cannot say enough how proud i am of
2:59:32 the teachers and administrators at all
2:59:34 of the schools my kids have been
2:59:35 affiliated with i am so proud to be a
2:59:38 parent at metal lane primary metal lane
2:59:41 intermediate central middle and mel high
2:59:45 they have outstanding teachers and
2:59:48 they’ve done amazing jobs we have a
2:59:50 great public education thank you ma’am
2:59:53 thank you
2:59:57 gordon sumner ashley hall
3:00:09 hello members of the board my name is
3:00:10 ashley hall i’m the brevard chair for
3:00:12 moms for liberty i’m here to address
3:00:14 agenda item g-32 the proposed parent
3:00:17 suppression policy is what i’m calling it
3:00:19 i have watched for over a year now
3:00:22 board meetings how they have become
3:00:24 more and more contentious do you do
3:00:28 you remember the may 25th meeting that
3:00:33 was the meeting right after the special
3:00:36 meeting ending the mandate were meetings
3:00:39 during the summer contentious no why do
3:00:43 you think that was i can tell you
3:00:46 definitively that it was because parents
3:00:49 regained their control over health care
3:00:51 decisions for their children the balance
3:00:53 was restored it wasn’t until the july
3:00:56 29th meeting where one particular board
3:00:58 member brought back the discussion on
3:01:00 mask mandates and just like that
3:01:02 tensions flared because parental rights
3:01:04 were once again in jeopardy the only
3:01:06 difference at this time was that rules
3:01:08 were established directing school boards
3:01:10 that mask mandates were not to be
3:01:12 instated during the school year don’t
3:01:14 get me wrong i am not i’m not a hundred
3:01:17 percent against this policy change i
3:01:19 actually agree with the proposed time
3:01:21 reduction based on the number of
3:01:22 speakers it actually makes sense to do
3:01:24 this and forces speakers to get to
3:01:26 their point my real issue is with the
3:01:28 policy changes that reduce the comments
3:01:31 one minute regardless of the number of
3:01:33 speakers simply because someone is not
3:01:35 speaking to the agenda under the new
3:01:37 policy that speaker would be moved to
3:01:39 the end of the meeting and most
3:01:40 egregiously would not be broadcast on
3:01:42 the live feed didn’t this board just
3:01:44 pass a past resolution denouncing the
3:01:47 statements of the national school
3:01:48 board association about parents was
3:01:50 that all for show because the message
3:01:53 this policy sends right now is we don’t
3:01:55 want you here your voice doesn’t matter
3:01:57 and just to make sure you know just
3:01:59 how much we don’t care about what you
3:02:01 have to say we will turn the cameras
3:02:02 off and not allow the public to listen
3:02:04 i would ask that you remove these
3:02:06 parts these parts of the policy as well
3:02:08 as amend your broad statement of no
3:02:10 signs with obscene messages to have a
3:02:13 short list of things that are not
3:02:14 allowed such as curse words threats
3:02:16 of violence etc anything else is
3:02:18 suppression of speech and further
3:02:20 divides the community if bps and
3:02:23 this board really wanted to restore
3:02:24 harmony with parents and quell the
3:02:26 tensions in the boardroom i would
3:02:28 like to suggest a public denunciation of
3:02:30 the dangerous dangerous and slanderous
3:02:32 accusations made against hard-working
3:02:34 concerned parents in our organization
3:02:36 one by one particular board member all
3:02:39 we want is to protect our children
3:02:41 but what we are met with is false
3:02:43 malicious and baseless claims that
3:02:45 these parents are likened with
3:02:46 domestic terrorists and should be
3:02:48 under federal and get investigation
3:02:50 these attacks need to stop there’s
3:02:52 absolutely no evidence that moms for
3:02:54 liberty members have done any of these
3:02:56 things to this member no police reports
3:02:59 no pictures no videos no arrests if
3:03:01 there were evidence we would not
3:03:03 condone it and we have said as much
3:03:05 multiple times the district’s silence
3:03:08 on this matter is unacceptable and
3:03:10 implies their complicitness
3:03:11 thanks Ashley
3:03:13 Sarah is approaching our last two
3:03:18 speakers will be Sandra Sullivan and
3:03:20 Michelle Berenal
3:03:21 good evening board i’d like to second
3:03:30 everything that Ashley hall just said
3:03:35 i am also a moms for liberty member a
3:03:38 very non-violent moms for liberty member
3:03:43 and i’m speaking tonight on critical race
3:03:47 theory and the american rescue plan and
3:03:49 number six on the agenda addressing
3:03:52 the needs of children from low-income
3:03:55 families english learners racial and
3:03:57 ethnic minorities students experiencing
3:03:59 homelessness and foster care youth my
3:04:02 concern is in the words racial and
3:04:04 ethnic minorities recently the newly
3:04:06 appointed director of equity and
3:04:08 diversity for bps dr danielle mckinnon
3:04:11 presented a slideshow with three
3:04:13 ethnicities white black and hispanic
3:04:17 there was no mention of other
3:04:19 ethnicities no native american no
3:04:21 asian so why would bps select certain
3:04:24 minorities to focus on instead of all
3:04:26 students is money being allocated from
3:04:29 arp for just certain races dr mckinnon
3:04:33 stated that she is merely reviewing
3:04:35 documents since october 2020 that
3:04:37 she’s not implementing policy she also
3:04:39 stated that crt is not being taught in
3:04:41 bps schools even when given examples
3:04:44 of crt and bps curriculum she would
3:04:47 not admit it here’s an example of crt
3:04:50 and bps schools the u.s constitution
3:04:53 then and now by benchmark education
3:04:56 benchmark received grants from bill and
3:05:01 melinda gates foundation follow the
3:05:03 money
3:05:05 excuse me your bps teachers don’t like
3:05:09 crt here’s a suggestion to anthony
3:05:12 collucci tell your union that crt
3:05:15 must be banned in every form of bps
3:05:17 schools parents and teachers recognize
3:05:19 that crt indoctrination is harmful to
3:05:22 all citizens oppressors and oppressed
3:05:25 diversity equity and inclusion training
3:05:30 racial sensitivity training racial
3:05:32 healing social emotional learning
3:05:35 anti-bias training critical ethnic
3:05:37 studies are all synonymous with crt
3:05:40 we’d like to say stop the bleed just
3:05:43 like anthony collucci said tonight
3:05:45 stop the bleed of losing teachers and
3:05:47 students get rid of critical race
3:05:50 theory in bps schools thank you thank you
3:05:54 sandra sullivan
3:06:01 sandra sullivan i have three children
3:06:06 at bps i have special education kids
3:06:10 both gifted and esc and i’ll say i was
3:06:14 extremely disappointed when you reduce the
3:06:17 the time of non-agenda items when parents
3:06:20 come in especially parents of special
3:06:22 need kids come in or any other issue and we
3:06:25 come in here and to have one minute only
3:06:28 that is unacceptable you need to hear from your parents i used
3:06:35 to come to these meetings regularly and speak about ese and
3:06:35 gifted needs i gave up took my kids out to homeschool for some
3:06:35 years but we’re back into bps right now anyway i would like to
3:06:35 talk about the hypocrisy that is going on you guys are certain
3:06:35 school board member anyway is talking about the hypocrisy that
3:06:35 is going on you guys are certain school board member anyway is
3:06:35 talking about the hypocrisy
3:06:35 to these meetings regularly and speak about ESE and gifted needs.
3:06:41 I gave up, took my kids
3:06:42 out to home school for some years, but we’re back into BPS right
3:06:47 now. Anyway, I would like
3:06:49 to talk about the hypocrisy that is going on. You guys, a
3:06:54 certain school board member
3:06:56 anyway, is talking about how much she cares. Well, she cares so
3:07:04 much or the school board
3:07:05 cares so much for our children. Sure, with actions because
3:07:11 childhood cancer is an issue.
3:07:15 We in Satellite Beach, where I live, we became a childhood
3:07:20 cancer cluster for 2000 and 2010.
3:07:23 Now, I came in here and I talked about how schools that are 50
3:07:27 years old, back in the
3:07:29 day, you guys used Chloridae and Hapachlor to treat for termites
3:07:32 and other insects. And
3:07:34 I requested that you, like other districts, you test the schools,
3:07:40 the indoor quality because
3:07:41 this is a very cancer-causing issue. I also came here and spoke
3:07:47 one day and sent emails
3:07:50 out to the school. And I asked you to approve the Corps of
3:07:54 Engineers right of entry form for
3:07:55 Seapark Elementary as soon as possible. They’re starting the
3:07:59 testing soon. The area to give the
3:08:03 Corps of Engineers access is to the far left field, which is fenced
3:08:08 and separate from the
3:08:10 school regarding the formerly used defense site, the military
3:08:14 dump that is under our homes in
3:08:16 that area and extends out to the school. Why haven’t you taken
3:08:20 action on this in a few
3:08:21 months? You care about kids, you care about them dying, but you
3:08:25 don’t care about things
3:08:26 that can cause cancer. Or did you see the full page, the front
3:08:31 page article of Florida Today
3:08:33 with the vapor intrusion concerns? And thirdly, test all the
3:08:38 beachside schools for PFAS. I mean,
3:08:43 I sit on the Patrick Space Force Base Rad Board meeting and this
3:08:48 last meeting this month, discuss
3:08:50 the PFAS levels, which adjacent to Sallet High School are 400
3:08:54 parts per trillion. This chemical
3:08:58 now has been determined via research to have far more vapor intrusion
3:09:03 potential than they previously thought.
3:09:04 Thank you, ma’am. We appreciate you joining us this evening.
3:09:06 Have a great night. Michelle.
3:09:09 Michelle Barineau. Hello. Hi. My name is Michelle Barineau. I’m
3:09:19 a Vice President for Families for Safe Schools. I would like to
3:09:19 thank all of you for your service. And this is truly a thankless
3:09:19 job. No matter how many people like me come up and say thank you,
3:09:19 what you have to deal with on a daily basis
3:09:19 is immense. And whether I agree with everything you do or not,
3:09:34 thank you for doing it. But I would also like to specifically
3:09:34 call out and thank the three board members who went up against a
3:09:34 ridiculous amount of political pressure. I find it ironic that
3:09:34 people are saying that you did it for
3:09:34 political reasons when in fact, the politics were aimed at your
3:09:36 head. And that was not, clearly not your motivation for doing it.
3:09:41 It was clearly concern about where we were headed. It’s real
3:09:41 easy to sit here now, but it’s really easy to sit here now.
3:10:04 And think that. And think that we’re all great schools were
3:10:06 closing. There was staff missing in all the buildings. How many
3:10:10 people were in the the ER with ventilation tubes down their throats.
3:10:14 Let’s not forget that. That’s why you voted for the mass and we
3:10:17 appreciate that. Thank you.
3:10:21 And for that reason, I would like to ask you to continue with
3:10:25 mass for under 12 until the vaccine is available until they have
3:10:30 some protection that they can their parents can provide for them.
3:10:34 I ask that you maintain that. I think that is a reasonable thing
3:10:36 to do. And it looks like we’re talking about a matter of weeks
3:10:40 here.
3:10:41 Third, I would like to address the unfortunate situation with
3:10:48 Sophia. My daughter goes to Ocean Breeze Elementary School.
3:10:53 If what is being alleged happened happened, then that is an
3:10:58 atrocity. Okay, this board voted for mass to protect kids, and
3:11:02 they specifically allowed a medical opt out. If Sophia needed a
3:11:06 medical opt out, it should have been available to her.
3:11:09 I don’t know all the facts in this case. I’ve heard one side
3:11:13 from someone with a very clear political agenda, who has
3:11:15 successfully and rightfully gotten people upset because we
3:11:19 should care about children, especially those of us who can’t
3:11:22 speak for themselves.
3:11:25 We’re talking about how perhaps the fact that Sophia was able to
3:11:28 wear a mask because, again, I don’t know what happened. I asked
3:11:32 the principal, she said there’s an ongoing investigation. She
3:11:35 couldn’t share any facts with me. We don’t know the other side.
3:11:39 Okay. And the, um, this stick vibration, uh, down syndrome
3:11:45 resource foundation has posted ways to help keep masks on
3:11:52 children to protect them from getting COVID.
3:11:53 Imagine if you have down syndrome and enlarged tongue, how
3:11:57 devastating would it be to catch COVID in your class? So I don’t
3:12:01 know the facts. I’m withholding judgment until I hear what
3:12:04 happened.
3:12:05 Thank you. Uh, I also want to point out the irony of people up
3:12:08 here speaking on public, talking about how their voices are
3:12:11 being silenced.
3:12:12 I think a minute is sufficient. If you want to be on TV, get a
3:12:15 blog, go, go on TV, get on Facebook.
3:12:18 Thank you very much.
3:12:23 All right, board members, that concludes our public comment for
3:12:25 this evening. Are you all good to move into the consent agenda?
3:12:28 Does anyone need a break?
3:12:30 I’m good. Okay. Super. All right. That’s going to move us then
3:12:35 into the consent agenda. Dr. Mullins.
3:12:37 There are 20 items, 20 agenda items under this category.
3:12:41 Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent
3:12:43 agenda? Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion to accept the
3:12:46 consent agenda as presented.
3:12:48 Moved to approve. Seconded. Moved by Mr. Susan. Seconded by Ms.
3:12:50 McDougall. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, please vote.
3:12:55 Yeah, we’re taking it from me.
3:13:13 I’m going to close the last. Hang on a second. Oh, I did it
3:13:24 again. It’s slow. Hang on.
3:13:28 It’s slow. Hang on. It’s slow. It’s terrible. Yeah, it’s me. I’ve
3:13:32 got it right now. It’s me. Hang on. There you go.
3:13:37 Need my hand frame for mine. No, I got it. Yes. The motion
3:13:43 passes 5-0.
3:13:47 All right, Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the
3:13:49 items under action?
3:13:50 There are 12 items under this category. The first one is G32 on
3:13:54 board policy 0169.1, public participation at board meetings.
3:14:00 The board will hear public comments regarding this policy and
3:14:03 then be asked for a vote.
3:14:05 Is there anyone present this evening who wishes to address the
3:14:07 revisions to board policy 0169.1, public participation at board
3:14:20 meeting?
3:14:30 I’m hopeful that you guys hear us. We are…
3:14:34 Hold on one second, Katie. Your mic was not on. Sure.
3:14:39 And if you could please state your name since you’re not signed
3:14:41 up to speak just so they can get record for the minutes. Okay?
3:14:43 Sure. Go ahead.
3:14:45 My name is Katie Delaney, and I’m here to talk about public
3:14:49 comment. I hope that you guys hear all of us when we speak. I’m
3:14:54 not speaking for just me. I’m speaking for everybody in this
3:14:57 room. I had an incident years ago when my daughter was in a
3:15:03 school in town and it wasn’t an agenda item. She got abused at
3:15:09 school. The admin brushed it under the rug, said kids will be
3:15:10 kids, but it wasn’t an agenda item. She got abused at school.
3:15:11 The admin brushed it under the rug, said kids will be kids, boys
3:15:14 will be boys. It shouldn’t be a big deal. They’re just in third
3:15:17 grade.
3:15:18 At that time, if I only had one minute to speak on this, it
3:15:28 wouldn’t be enough.
3:15:31 When parents come here, we’re coming pleading because you are
3:15:35 our last hope. Because we’ve gone to the teacher. We’ve gone to
3:15:38 the admin. We’ve gone to the, you know, assistant superintendent.
3:15:43 I went to Stephanie Archer.
3:15:45 There was a major who literally said to me that somebody
3:15:49 touching my daughter’s private parts is not, that’s not abuse.
3:15:55 And I said to him, so if I touched you right now, that wouldn’t
3:16:00 be abuse. I wouldn’t be arrested.
3:16:04 I came here to you guys for my measly three minutes to talk
3:16:08 about my daughter’s abuse.
3:16:11 To plead for help.
3:16:14 And I’m here today asking for that same respect for the entire
3:16:19 community. I don’t care if they want 15 masks.
3:16:22 I don’t care if they want vaccines. I don’t care if they want
3:16:25 everyone painted purple. I don’t care.
3:16:29 We deserve our time to speak with you guys.
3:16:34 We really do want to work with you all. But cutting our time is
3:16:40 just going to tell parents that you guys don’t want to hear us.
3:16:47 So I really hope that you guys take that into account with this.
3:16:54 Thank you.
3:16:56 Thanks, Heidi.
3:16:58 Is there anyone present who wishes to address the revisions to
3:17:08 board policy 0169.1, public participation at board meetings?
3:17:10 Hello, my name is Michelle Barino. I’m horrified to hear that
3:17:19 woman’s story with her daughter, and I hope that situation got
3:17:22 resolved.
3:17:23 I also hope that three minutes in front of the board was not her
3:17:27 only avenue for resolving that.
3:17:30 I feel that a minute is sufficient. I have emailed each and
3:17:34 every one of you repeatedly.
3:17:36 There is a phone number to this building. There’s Facebook.
3:17:40 There’s Twitter.
3:17:42 I do not feel that I have any inability to reach you.
3:17:46 I also feel that any issues I have that I want to address with
3:17:49 you don’t have to be televised.
3:17:51 If I want to speak to the public, I will address the public on a
3:17:55 variety of social media sites, newspaper editorials.
3:17:59 There has never been, I can write you a letter, there has never
3:18:03 been more options for communicating with people than there are
3:18:06 today.
3:18:06 I think a minute allows people to get their point across, allows
3:18:09 them to be heard.
3:18:10 If it needs to be followed up on, as obviously this woman’s case
3:18:13 does, then there needs to be ways of that occurring, and I think
3:18:18 those exist.
3:18:19 So I think a minute is fine.
3:18:21 Thank you very much.
3:18:22 Thank you so.
3:18:25 Next.
3:18:26 Hi, I’m Julie Bywater.
3:18:42 Just think about the public comment, when you have the three
3:18:46 minutes and it’s not a non-agenda,
3:18:48 I mean, I spent three minutes talking to you about homecoming
3:18:52 dances and offering you three minutes full of options, of which
3:18:56 you never once reached out to me about.
3:18:58 I mean, I stood up here for three minutes.
3:19:04 Why is this such a hard thing for you guys to sit up there and
3:19:07 listen to us talk to you about things that aren’t on the agenda?
3:19:10 We don’t get to pick the agenda.
3:19:12 You’re picking the agenda.
3:19:13 Sometimes we are going to come to you with things that are going
3:19:16 on in the schools, positive things.
3:19:20 And we want to talk to you about it.
3:19:21 It might take longer than a minute.
3:19:23 And yeah, we do deserve to be on video, not because we’re
3:19:27 looking for attention, but because it’s public record.
3:19:31 Sometimes you don’t check your email.
3:19:33 Sometimes you’re looking at other things while we’re talking.
3:19:36 And this is our chance for us to address you.
3:19:41 Yes.
3:19:43 This is our chance to address you.
3:19:45 We want to be heard.
3:19:46 You don’t return our email.
3:19:48 You kind of blow us off.
3:19:52 It hurts the kids.
3:19:55 It hurts the issues.
3:19:57 This is often our last resort, not our first one.
3:20:03 It doesn’t hurt you to listen to us.
3:20:06 And we’re trying.
3:20:08 Just like when I gave all those suggestions.
3:20:11 I wasn’t up here to complain.
3:20:13 I was up here to offer solutions.
3:20:17 It’s really sad that you want to limit that ability.
3:20:21 You want to shove us to the end of the meeting.
3:20:23 You want to turn the video off.
3:20:25 And you want to act like it doesn’t exist.
3:20:27 And that’s a shame.
3:20:29 Because you have a room full of people just dying to be invested
3:20:34 and involved.
3:20:36 And when we stand up here and we’re speaking, and you refuse to
3:20:40 look at us, it’s hard.
3:20:42 It’s frustrating.
3:20:45 And it’s disrespectful.
3:20:55 Good evening again.
3:20:56 I’m still Sarah Mirsky.
3:20:57 I still live in Brevard County.
3:20:59 And I still have kids in the school system.
3:21:01 I left a couple of you voicemails today about this issue.
3:21:04 And I appreciate the chance to actually address the board
3:21:08 tonight on the issue on public speaking,
3:21:10 public input.
3:21:11 So what I talked about was that how I feel every parent who
3:21:18 takes the time to have their voices heard at school board
3:21:23 meetings,
3:21:23 even parents who disagree with me or I disagree with them,
3:21:27 should have their three minutes regardless.
3:21:29 I appreciate, again, where the board is coming from on this
3:21:34 issue, not wanting marathon board meetings, not wanting trying
3:21:40 to keep the tone down and keep the decorum in the room.
3:21:43 And I do appreciate that.
3:21:45 And I understand that.
3:21:46 But like many of the other parents have shared, when we come to
3:21:50 address the board, we’re taking time away from our families.
3:21:53 We’re taking time away from our schedules and things to set the
3:21:57 time to address the board on issues that are important to us.
3:22:01 And the fact that you want to take that away or you want to
3:22:04 limit that in any way, shape or form, I think is a slap in the
3:22:07 face of parents,
3:22:09 even parents who disagree with me on issues that I come to
3:22:12 address.
3:22:13 As I mentioned, I am from Chicago.
3:22:15 I’ve worked with a lot of people, politicians, friends, church
3:22:18 members, who disagree with me politically.
3:22:21 And I can work with people who disagree with me, who have
3:22:24 different points of view than I do.
3:22:27 And I really wish that the board would lead by example in that
3:22:30 way.
3:22:31 I am.
3:22:32 I am doing that in the schools that my kids are a part of.
3:22:35 We’re helping to bridge the gap as a family.
3:22:37 That’s part of our family values.
3:22:39 And I just, I would want, I want to work with the board even if
3:22:43 we disagree.
3:22:44 Thank you.
3:22:51 Yeah.
3:22:52 Hi.
3:22:53 I echo everything that Sarah just said.
3:22:55 Karen, can you just repeat your name for the minutes, please?
3:22:57 I’ll repeat.
3:22:58 My name is Karen.
3:22:59 Hi.
3:23:00 Last name.
3:23:01 And I’m Beachside.
3:23:02 And I’m District 3.
3:23:03 And I have reached out to my rep before and heard nothing.
3:23:07 It seems like there has been a changed air in this board.
3:23:11 Sometimes you guys always seem to listen to us.
3:23:14 And as of late, it’s like non-existent.
3:23:16 And I’m scared that if we don’t have our three minutes, the half
3:23:19 of the time that we are speaking, you’re not paying attention.
3:23:22 Some of you, some of you are and I appreciate that.
3:23:25 We have offered to help.
3:23:26 We’ve offered to work with you even if we disagree with you
3:23:29 because it’s our kids that are in jeopardy here by not paying
3:23:32 attention.
3:23:33 We didn’t pay attention to what’s going on with the special
3:23:36 needs school issues regarding masks.
3:23:38 And look what happened.
3:23:39 We’re national laughing stocks.
3:23:42 I’m really embarrassed about that because that’s the school I
3:23:44 went to.
3:23:45 That’s the school my brother went to and all six of my children.
3:23:49 I’ve raised a legacy of kids coming up through Brevard County
3:23:53 schools that went to the schools that I went to and my husband
3:23:57 went to.
3:23:58 Most of my children were A students.
3:24:00 The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
3:24:02 They speak their mind.
3:24:03 They do volunteer work in public.
3:24:06 They work with the kids younger and less fortunate than them.
3:24:09 All the way through high school, both my daughters cheer coached
3:24:12 with me with disadvantaged kids.
3:24:14 Even on days they’d rather have gone to the movies than gone out
3:24:17 with their friends,
3:24:18 they still were with me with unfortunate kids they’re not even
3:24:22 related to and they were helping.
3:24:24 I just wanted to point that out because I can show a record of
3:24:27 public service, of public leadership.
3:24:29 I have never been in trouble.
3:24:31 I have never gone to anybody’s house, anybody in front of me or
3:24:34 anybody behind me or anybody that I would meet in the future.
3:24:37 I don’t agree with it.
3:24:38 I think it’s really a heinous thing to do to our community
3:24:41 because in our community we have to trust each other.
3:24:44 What if something bad happens like another hurricane.
3:24:47 We have to all get together by limiting our public contact time.
3:24:50 You’re coming here.
3:24:51 We’re losing connections with y’all.
3:24:53 If you try to tell us we can’t talk without a mask on and put
3:24:56 the mask off, take the mask on, put it off, take it on.
3:24:59 It’s so confusing.
3:25:00 We already let them wear them if they want to.
3:25:03 If I wanted one on I’d have one on right now.
3:25:06 And I believe in PPE because I brought earplugs tonight because
3:25:08 that guy out front was playing obscene music on that thing.
3:25:11 And it was very loud and could have hurt our ears.
3:25:13 So I came with PPE with masks and I handed out stuff to others.
3:25:18 So I am a team player.
3:25:20 I’m here to offer to be a team player and to continue to be a
3:25:23 team player.
3:25:24 I have never been at anybody’s house in front of me, nobody’s
3:25:27 house behind me.
3:25:28 And I have no intention on ever doing that.
3:25:30 I have separated ties with every idiot that did something like
3:25:33 that.
3:25:33 And I’m not apologizing for them because they’re their own
3:25:36 person.
3:25:37 I didn’t do it.
3:25:38 Why should I apologize and quit linking me with them?
3:25:41 I am Karen Colby.
3:25:43 I am an alumni, a mom, a friend, and I want to work with you.
3:25:49 Okay.
3:25:50 Thank you.
3:25:51 Karen.
3:25:52 Next.
3:25:53 How’s this?
3:25:59 A little hot.
3:26:00 Sure, if you could just state your name for the record.
3:26:02 Yeah, you got it.
3:26:03 Jeremy Bauer.
3:26:04 First time, long time.
3:26:05 I wasn’t planning to come here tonight and make a speech.
3:26:08 That’s why it looked like it came from a luau.
3:26:10 We raised that up for him.
3:26:11 He’s standing over.
3:26:12 You know, I’m a business owner here in Brevard County.
3:26:15 I’m a packaging company.
3:26:16 I put people to work.
3:26:17 I might be hiring some of those teachers that left.
3:26:20 We’re hiring now.
3:26:21 Give her packaging.
3:26:22 Shout out there.
3:26:24 You know, I wasn’t planning to speak, but I felt compelled to.
3:26:28 There’s a lot of talk of domestic terrorism and people being
3:26:32 very opinionated about their children and potentially even
3:26:39 something being politicized that’s not.
3:26:40 But I want to just pose a couple of questions to the people here.
3:26:43 First of all.
3:26:44 Mr. Bowers, I’m going to stop your clock just for a moment to
3:26:46 address something.
3:26:47 Okay.
3:26:48 Yeah.
3:26:49 I’m sure that your intentions are absolutely pure, but we do
3:26:52 have an expectation that it be directed.
3:26:54 Any comments be directed to the chair as opposed to the audience.
3:26:57 So if you could, you could just divide that one.
3:26:59 Yeah.
3:27:00 Oh, okay.
3:27:01 Procedurally, I speak to you guys, not the constituents.
3:27:04 Oh.
3:27:05 Absolutely.
3:27:06 Got it.
3:27:07 And on the policy issue before us, if you would.
3:27:10 Yeah.
3:27:11 Okay.
3:27:12 It’s pretty relevant because this is going to take, you know,
3:27:15 between two and a half and three minutes.
3:27:18 I think three minutes is probably pretty appropriate.
3:27:20 So I’m going to go ahead and restart your clock, okay?
3:27:22 Got it.
3:27:23 All right.
3:27:24 Let’s rock.
3:27:25 So, yeah, like I said, I’m a business owner and political
3:27:30 comment is important.
3:27:32 Which group is the domestic terrorist, I think?
3:27:34 And it’s important that I’m saying this in three minutes.
3:27:36 So, you know, because we’ve already gone through one and I haven’t
3:27:38 even gotten to my point.
3:27:39 Is it the group that’s putting masks on people or the group that’s
3:27:43 mandating choice?
3:27:44 Is it the group that’s saying, hey, let’s have three minutes?
3:27:48 Or is it the group that’s saying, we’re definitely going to
3:27:51 limit the time that you have to speak at a public forum?
3:27:54 Which group is more likely to be a domestic terrorist?
3:27:57 Pretty troubling when you put it that way.
3:28:00 So let’s make this clear.
3:28:01 I’m here tonight as a concerned citizen, a constituent of
3:28:04 district three.
3:28:05 But next time I come here, I’ll be a political candidate.
3:28:07 You hear that?
3:28:08 That’s all I have.
3:28:10 All right.
3:28:12 This is getting ridiculous.
3:28:15 I know.
3:28:17 No one.
3:28:18 Sandra Sullivan.
3:28:19 So when I, so talking about the amount of time.
3:28:23 Um, I would appreciate that you, um, not reduce the time to one
3:28:29 minute for non agenda items.
3:28:31 I think it’s especially important to listen to parents.
3:28:34 Um, when I came moved to this district, I came here with a, my
3:28:38 oldest is ESE and my, um, other kids are, are gifted.
3:28:44 So what did this district do to my kids?
3:28:47 They put my ESE kids in an ESE clustered class in the school.
3:28:52 That is not, that violates federal law.
3:28:55 Okay.
3:28:56 As an ESE kid that is deserved, is supposed to be legally placed
3:29:02 in a gen ed class, in a gen ed class with 85% of the time to
3:29:10 cluster him in a class that was ESE clustered.
3:29:14 What happens is the performance level goes way down on those
3:29:17 kids.
3:29:18 Ma’am, can I ask you to speak to the policy, please?
3:29:20 So, to, when I come in here to these meetings and I need to
3:29:23 speak about what was going on here, if you, if I had one minute
3:29:28 to explain what was going on, that wouldn’t be sufficient.
3:29:31 For my gifted kids, I moved up here.
3:29:34 I have a profoundly gifted child and I have another gifted kid
3:29:38 and their needs are very different and they were not being met.
3:29:42 You guys do candy peas here.
3:29:44 You, in the school we were in, we had one lecture.
3:29:47 Once again, ma’am, I’m going to ask you to keep to the policy,
3:29:49 please.
3:29:49 So again, I came into these meetings to talk to you guys about
3:29:53 the needs of our gifted kids.
3:29:56 I, I have a gifted Brevard Facebook group as a consequence.
3:30:01 I served on your gifted board until I got too vocal and you disbanded.
3:30:06 Okay.
3:30:07 So my option, I couldn’t get what I needed on being a board
3:30:12 member of SAC.
3:30:14 So my option was to come in here on this platform right here and
3:30:18 have my three minutes.
3:30:20 And now you’re going to reduce that for parents with kids needs
3:30:25 to one minute.
3:30:26 That’s shameful.
3:30:28 Okay.
3:30:29 And when I read that, I was livid.
3:30:32 Okay.
3:30:33 It took a lot for me to come back into BPS.
3:30:36 Okay.
3:30:37 To bring my kids back in here.
3:30:39 And when I see these shenanigans that you guys are doing, this
3:30:42 is disgusting.
3:30:44 Thank you.
3:30:46 Next.
3:30:47 Hi, I’m Michelle Beavers again.
3:30:56 And first I want to apologize for the language.
3:30:59 That wasn’t of my choosing.
3:31:00 That was to get the point across of the things that are
3:31:02 happening in our schools.
3:31:04 And on that count, the limiting of the television coverage would
3:31:09 not allow parents to see things
3:31:12 like that and understand what’s happening.
3:31:14 So they could address that in their schools and look in their
3:31:16 schools for these things that
3:31:17 are happening.
3:31:18 I think it’s important that they see not just what’s on your
3:31:21 agenda, but what people are actually
3:31:23 concerned about.
3:31:24 So not just me, but anybody else who has a concern about their
3:31:28 child or children or classrooms.
3:31:31 I think it’s important that it’s a part of the public record and
3:31:34 that we have that chance
3:31:35 to get it on record.
3:31:37 Also coming here.
3:31:38 Now, I’ve done emails before too that weren’t answered.
3:31:42 Coming here.
3:31:43 I know you’re hearing me.
3:31:45 I’m old school.
3:31:46 I have six kids.
3:31:47 They range anywhere from 36 years down to 11.
3:31:51 So I have a huge span.
3:31:53 I’ve been in helping in schools since the very first one.
3:31:56 30 years ago when she first entered kindergarten.
3:32:01 I’ve been in school every single year helping out, being room
3:32:05 mother, SAC committee, volunteer,
3:32:09 and all kinds of things.
3:32:11 I don’t think it’s too much when you’re getting paid to be up
3:32:14 there once or twice a month or
3:32:15 however many special sessions you have that you listen to the
3:32:18 parents and record it.
3:32:20 I think it’s a really small thing.
3:32:22 If you have to limit time a little bit.
3:32:24 Okay.
3:32:25 But I think it should all still be recorded.
3:32:27 Thank you.
3:32:29 Hi, my name is Carrie Tagus.
3:32:36 I just wanted to say with public comment.
3:32:40 I’ve sent plenty of emails that haven’t been answered.
3:32:43 I’ve made calls and I haven’t had callbacks.
3:32:46 So this was the last avenue.
3:32:47 It’s why I started coming to board meetings.
3:32:49 It’s how I met the awesome parents in Moms for Liberty who have
3:32:52 been nothing short of amazing.
3:32:55 The stuff going on the news, it’s not us.
3:33:00 The last thing I want to say, I don’t want to take up too much
3:33:03 time, but there are nine officers that I counted here.
3:33:06 And they look well equipped to protect us.
3:33:09 And I think it’s really insulting to assume that they’re not.
3:33:12 Thank you guys.
3:33:13 Hello, Matthew Dolly again.
3:33:24 Still the village idiot.
3:33:26 To talk about the time thing.
3:33:28 As I had said earlier, there’s two board members I had spoken
3:33:32 with back in May, who had told me we were going to talk on the
3:33:35 phone about my child’s speech delay and their prosperity through
3:33:39 the school system.
3:33:40 I’m still waiting on those phone calls from those two school
3:33:43 board members to discuss that topic.
3:33:45 And the public forum is a check and a balance.
3:33:49 It’s a way for me to come here and say, hey, I’m reaching out to
3:33:51 you.
3:33:52 You’re not getting back to me.
3:33:53 This is why we need it.
3:33:55 I’ve advocated this before or complained.
3:33:57 I should say it should be longer than three minutes.
3:34:00 Not not cut back.
3:34:02 This public forum is important because I got to learn today that
3:34:05 there’s parents that actually get to volunteer to their school
3:34:08 without restriction.
3:34:10 I’m curious as to why it’s parents on one side of the aisle.
3:34:13 They’re able to come up here and brag about unrestricted
3:34:16 volunteering access.
3:34:17 But that gives me hope because my wife and I want to volunteer
3:34:21 again.
3:34:22 And also the reason why I think time should be longer than three
3:34:26 minutes because I also want to speak out to the domestic
3:34:30 terrorism stuff.
3:34:32 I’m telling you right now, a person’s house is not the place.
3:34:37 It is not the place.
3:34:38 Their family was there.
3:34:39 And I don’t care what kind of flack I’m going to get for this.
3:34:42 I saw the YouTube video of the lady out on the sidewalk.
3:34:46 That’s where you should have been.
3:34:48 I don’t fault you for that at all.
3:34:50 Come to my house and see what you find.
3:34:52 It’ll be very similar.
3:34:54 Someone’s private property is not the place.
3:34:57 It is sacred grounds.
3:34:58 Okay.
3:34:59 This is the arena.
3:35:01 This is the forum.
3:35:02 This is where we come to combat our ideas.
3:35:05 And that’s why we need as much time as possible to do it.
3:35:08 Three minutes is not enough.
3:35:10 It should be longer.
3:35:11 And you should provide coffee.
3:35:12 Like I said that one time.
3:35:13 But that being said, like the freedom of speech is such a
3:35:18 foundational thing.
3:35:20 You know, without it and without some of the other amendments of
3:35:23 the Bill of Rights, we will crumble.
3:35:26 Please do not impinge on it.
3:35:28 Please don’t do anything like that, whatever.
3:35:30 And I’m going to say it again because I still got 50 seconds.
3:35:33 So it’s like a heyday for me to have six minutes.
3:35:35 If you are the person that’s going to travel to somebody’s house,
3:35:40 you do not have my support.
3:35:42 You, as I said before, you will never stand beside me and I will
3:35:45 never stand behind you.
3:35:47 And with that being said, if any of these school boards feel
3:35:51 intimidated, I know you got the police officers here.
3:35:54 Obviously they’ve done their job because nobody’s been
3:35:56 physically harmed.
3:35:57 You contact me and I will come to your house and I’ll stand on
3:36:00 your sidewalk for you.
3:36:02 Because that’s malarkey bull crack.
3:36:05 100%.
3:36:06 It is un-American to go to somebody’s house and try to intimidate
3:36:09 them to align with you.
3:36:11 And if you come to my house and do the same thing, you’re going
3:36:14 to get the same thing the young lady did.
3:36:16 A pissed off parent.
3:36:18 Thank you.
3:36:19 Thanks, Mario.
3:36:20 Next.
3:36:21 And guys, if we could just keep your comments focused on the
3:36:27 policy at hand, that would be great.
3:36:30 Thanks.
3:36:31 Roger that.
3:36:32 Coffee and donuts.
3:36:33 And don’t forget to state your name for the record, please.
3:36:35 Coffee and donuts.
3:36:36 Sorry, I’m greedy.
3:36:37 And I like donuts.
3:36:38 Sorry.
3:36:39 With regard to the policy for public speaking, I would greatly
3:36:41 appreciate having three minutes
3:36:42 to speak to you all.
3:36:54 And you are beloved in our community.
3:36:59 Even if we have disagreements, you are the force of our
3:37:07 community and for our children.
3:37:11 And you are greatly respected for your office that you hold.
3:37:16 And so, you know, you are very much appreciated.
3:37:19 With regard to the mask mandate, that mandate needs to end.
3:37:25 The illegal mask mandate, I mean, just needs to end altogether.
3:37:29 I want to remind you, we’re talking about the policy for public
3:37:31 comment.
3:37:32 Okay.
3:37:33 So, sorry.
3:37:34 It’s okay.
3:37:35 But I would like to please request that we get our three minutes
3:37:39 and that it be broadcast
3:37:42 so that other people that may have to work can watch it later.
3:37:47 And I heard a speaker two board meetings ago who said that she
3:37:52 watches you all no matter
3:37:55 what state she’s in.
3:37:56 And she listed like four or five states she travels a lot.
3:37:59 So, she loves you.
3:38:01 And we love you.
3:38:02 So, please let us interact with you in our three minutes.
3:38:06 Thank you very much.
3:38:07 Thank you.
3:38:08 Good evening.
3:38:12 I’m Devin Marshall.
3:38:17 I’m in district three, unfortunately.
3:38:19 We’ve had some trouble in that district lately.
3:38:21 So, I had no plans on speaking tonight, but I do third donuts
3:38:24 and coffee, by the way.
3:38:26 But I do want to get to the point.
3:38:28 I have emailed you concerns.
3:38:30 I have emailed you questions.
3:38:31 I have emailed you a lot of suggestions.
3:38:35 And I get a lot of responses whenever you’re defending yourself.
3:38:38 After you’ve already insulted us as parents.
3:38:41 You’ve insulted a group that I support because I didn’t have a
3:38:44 voice before Moms for Liberty
3:38:46 came about and told us that we did have a voice and told us what
3:38:49 to do to get in contact with you.
3:38:51 So, if you’re going to cut our time and you’re going to cut us
3:38:54 to the end of the meeting, how do you want us to contact you?
3:38:58 How do you want us to get a response?
3:38:59 I mean, please tell us.
3:39:01 Because you don’t follow through with what we’re telling you
3:39:04 during the meetings.
3:39:05 And you only respond when you’re defending yourself.
3:39:07 So, when do we get a chance to have a question and answer or a
3:39:11 discussion or a debate?
3:39:13 Because we don’t see that we have that.
3:39:15 So, I’m going to make that very brief.
3:39:18 Think about that.
3:39:19 Maybe send out a Facebook notification, whatever fits your fancy.
3:39:22 I just want to know how we’re supposed to communicate with you
3:39:24 as parents who are terrified for our kids.
3:39:26 My child is in kindergarten.
3:39:28 I can’t even tell you what we’ve dealt with through this process.
3:39:31 It’s not enjoyable and it’s actually embarrassing.
3:39:34 So, please listen to us and let our voices be heard.
3:39:38 Or at least tell us how to communicate with you otherwise.
3:39:40 Thank you.
3:39:41 Thanks, Devin.
3:39:42 Is there anyone else that wishes to speak to Policy 0169.1,
3:39:49 Public Participation at Board Meetings?
3:39:52 All right.
3:39:53 Hearing none, I will entertain a motion.
3:39:56 I’ll move to approve the current policy.
3:40:04 I have a motion from Ms. McDougall.
3:40:07 Is there a second?
3:40:08 Second.
3:40:09 I have a second from Ms. Campbell.
3:40:11 We’re open for discussion.
3:40:12 Ms. McDougall, your motion, would you like to discuss?
3:40:14 I think we have…
3:40:16 Is your mic on?
3:40:17 Oh, no, it’s not on.
3:40:18 I’m so sorry.
3:40:19 It’s okay.
3:40:20 We have vetted this through our council.
3:40:23 We were very concerned.
3:40:26 We wanted to make sure that we were following what was legally
3:40:31 possible for us.
3:40:33 And Mr. Gibbs, we have…
3:40:34 We are not breaking any laws at this point, if that’s my
3:40:38 understanding.
3:40:40 No, you can…
3:40:43 You set the rules for your public…
3:40:45 It’s a limited public forum.
3:40:47 As established by statute for public meetings.
3:40:51 You got to set the ground rules for those.
3:40:53 As long as the public’s only given an opportunity, unless you
3:40:57 expand the forum for items before the board.
3:41:01 So that would be agenda item.
3:41:04 And I want to be clear, in this policy, we have stated that we
3:41:09 can vote to extend times.
3:41:11 I want to make sure that everyone…
3:41:13 Yes.
3:41:14 We have put that in there.
3:41:15 So I just want to make sure that people are clear on that.
3:41:18 That we are not trying to limit people’s voice.
3:41:23 Ms. Campbell.
3:41:24 Thank you.
3:41:25 I know we’re trying to go back and forth.
3:41:27 But I just…
3:41:28 I intend to support the vote tonight.
3:41:30 But I want to share some things.
3:41:32 And because there’s been a lot of misunderstanding.
3:41:34 I encourage everybody, last board meeting, to go and listen to
3:41:37 the workshop.
3:41:38 And I think Mr. Brun’s department for me a little short.
3:41:41 But I want to…
3:41:42 There are a couple of things that didn’t get addressed that day
3:41:44 that I’d like to talk about really quick.
3:41:46 One is, you know, the board, we came together in a couple of
3:41:52 sessions.
3:41:53 I think at our retreat or check-in.
3:41:56 And we started talking about this back in the spring.
3:41:58 And started brainstorming.
3:41:59 What can we do better?
3:42:01 And we talked with council.
3:42:03 And one of…
3:42:04 So I will just say this.
3:42:07 That was one of the most…
3:42:09 Actually, this process has been one of the most collaborative
3:42:11 processes that we’ve had.
3:42:12 Because we all gave a little.
3:42:14 We all took a little.
3:42:15 And we came up with what we have before us today.
3:42:19 Because we’re trying to make things better.
3:42:21 We’re not trying to get out by, you know, 8:43 or before Chick-fil-A
3:42:26 closes.
3:42:27 I think they close at 10.
3:42:29 But we’re not trying to do that.
3:42:31 The second thing is, as we started looking at what are the
3:42:34 problems,
3:42:35 that I see the really definition of one of the problems is
3:42:39 people started looking at this as an open forum.
3:42:42 I’m not going to go into the legal definitions, but I can send
3:42:45 them to you if you’d like.
3:42:46 The difference between an open forum versus a limited public
3:42:48 forum, which is what this is.
3:42:50 And so it’s been taken as we want to silence parent voices.
3:42:56 And by the way, I have three points and a caveat.
3:42:58 So it’s almost like a sermon.
3:43:00 Over the past year, during the public comment time, people have
3:43:05 used their three minutes to share their political opinions on
3:43:09 how the presidential election went.
3:43:11 They’ve used their three minutes to talk about immigration.
3:43:13 They’ve used their three minutes to talk about how bad Democrats
3:43:17 are or how bad Republicans are.
3:43:19 They’ve used their three minutes to insult parents in the room.
3:43:21 One side insulting one group of parents, one side insulting the
3:43:24 other group of parents.
3:43:25 All things that had nothing to do with this board.
3:43:27 They’ve used their three minutes as a sales pitch to try to sell
3:43:31 us various products.
3:43:33 They’ve used their three minutes to share their personal sexual
3:43:36 history.
3:43:37 So, our public is guaranteed by law and by our policy, and by
3:43:45 this policy also, the opportunity to address the board about how
3:43:49 we’re running the district.
3:43:51 But the public is not guaranteed a microphone and a camera to
3:43:55 speak whatever irrelevant or inappropriate thing that they want
3:43:59 to broadcast over our YouTube channel.
3:44:03 And that is the thing that I think we all had this mutual
3:44:06 frustration that people were using it, really abusing it, to spew
3:44:11 whatever that really didn’t have anything to do.
3:44:14 Now, we’ve heard a lot of things tonight, a lot of parents
3:44:17 concerned that it’s their topics that we do need to hear, have
3:44:20 talked about, and that’s going to be in my caveat here in just a
3:44:22 little bit.
3:44:23 But those are the things we’re trying to curtail.
3:44:25 We don’t want to curtail parent voice or public voice, because
3:44:28 some people who come talk to us have really good things to say,
3:44:30 and they’re not parents, current parents.
3:44:32 But the third thing I want to bring up is that a lot, I don’t, I
3:44:36 think, I wonder how many people have actually read our current
3:44:40 policy on this.
3:44:41 Because our current policy, the actual verbiage states that our
3:44:46 public comment time is only going to be on agenda items.
3:44:50 It only talks about propositions to be brought before the board.
3:44:54 It also says public comment time will be limited to 30 minutes,
3:44:58 which would be 10 people.
3:45:00 And unless extended by a vote of the board, and then the rest of
3:45:04 the comment time would be moved to the end of the meeting.
3:45:06 Not where we’ve been doing ours, like before voting, but to the
3:45:09 end of the meeting, in which case, some people may have things
3:45:12 that they wanted to say about things we were going to vote on,
3:45:15 but we wouldn’t have heard them.
3:45:15 That is what our current policy says.
3:45:17 So if the choice for me, and we, these are things we talked
3:45:19 about.
3:45:20 If the choice for me was between enforcing our current policy,
3:45:24 which doesn’t allow people to speak off the agenda, and moves
3:45:28 people who might have things to say that we’re going to vote on
3:45:31 to the very end.
3:45:32 And actually we have been counseled in our master board training
3:45:35 to use, to use the policy to, if we’re going to have a policy,
3:45:39 we might as well enforce it.
3:45:39 So if the choice is enforce the current policy or have a policy
3:45:42 that guarantees that people who are going to speak off the
3:45:44 agenda, and this was very important for me.
3:45:47 And we, this was part of the give and take that we had to have,
3:45:49 that people are going to speak, get that time, even if it’s just
3:45:52 a minute, then I’ll take the new revised version.
3:45:56 Okay, now, we’ve, a lot’s been said about how to communicate
3:46:02 with us, and I understand the frustration of people who, who
3:46:05 call or they email and they don’t get a response, but I will
3:46:08 continue to say that this forum, this three minutes where there
3:46:12 can’t be back and forth, is not really the best way, at least
3:46:15 for me, to communicate with me.
3:46:17 Because you, I can’t respond back to you.
3:46:20 And I can tell you time after time after time, just in this week
3:46:23 alone in the past seven days, where someone’s emailed us or
3:46:25 emailed me and said, here, I have a problem.
3:46:27 I’ve sent it immediately to staff, gotten a response within a
3:46:30 few hours, and the problem has gotten taken care of.
3:46:33 And that to me is effective way of working, waiting until school
3:46:36 board meeting, which might not happen for two or three weeks or
3:46:40 more to save it up, to say it then in a public comment time is
3:46:43 not effective.
3:46:44 And I will tell you this, for the people who have, who have
3:46:46 emailed us, some people, I can maybe think they still can only
3:46:49 email their own school board member.
3:46:51 You can email all of us, you can email any of us, and if you
3:46:54 need a phone call, I’ve talked to lots of people, including Mr.
3:46:58 Dolly, who don’t live in my district, I welcome you, email me, I’ll
3:47:02 get, I’ll get, I’ll take care of you.
3:47:04 We are elected by our five districts, but we all are responsible
3:47:08 for all of the citizens and all the students and all the schools
3:47:12 in the county.
3:47:13 And so it’s not just one person who, they may represent you
3:47:16 because they were in your, you know, voting district, but we all
3:47:19 represent all of you.
3:47:20 So please reach out if you’re having a hard time communicating
3:47:23 with one of us, communicate to all of us, and we’ll try to take
3:47:26 care of the problem.
3:47:27 That happens every day, multiple times a day, and I see it.
3:47:30 Here’s the caveat.
3:47:32 I have said this to a few people this week who’ve reached out to
3:47:35 me.
3:47:35 This is not permanent.
3:47:37 Someone said this is permanent.
3:47:38 It’s not permanent.
3:47:39 It’s not any more permanent than our current public comment
3:47:41 policy, which we are voting to change whether we’re going to
3:47:44 change it tonight.
3:47:45 And it can be revised again.
3:47:48 Interestingly, board, I have heard, and you may have as well,
3:47:52 from people on multiple sides of a few issues who have a problem
3:47:59 with one particular part.
3:48:00 And we’ve heard it tonight, but I’ve also heard it in some phone
3:48:02 calls and emails, and I’ve seen it on social media.
3:48:04 The one thing that keeps coming back up that is consistent is
3:48:08 the video piece.
3:48:09 And so I, here’s what I know, Ms. Jenkins, you mentioned it at
3:48:13 our workshop that you thought for transparency sake that we
3:48:17 ought to leave that in, and I did not join you that day.
3:48:18 But I will tell you, I think, I think if we’re listening to
3:48:21 people as if you have had the same kind of feedback as I have,
3:48:25 what I would like to suggest as we move forward, and then I’ll
3:48:28 close with this, is that we revisit this pretty quickly.
3:48:33 Because I think, I don’t, I think it’s, I don’t think we can
3:48:36 change that tonight.
3:48:37 Correct me if I’m wrong, Paul, because that would be more than a
3:48:39 technical change.
3:48:40 Yeah, you’re voting to approve it tonight.
3:48:42 Right.
3:48:43 So here, here’s what I would suggest that we, we do, if it’s, if
3:48:47 it’s, if it’s amenable to the board and, and Madam Chair, you
3:48:51 direct us however we want after the vote, is that we go ahead
3:48:54 and move to revise the policy immediately and to make that
3:48:57 change to allow the cameras to be on.
3:48:59 Still leaving everything else in place, but that would be my, my
3:49:02 request, or, and if I need to do as a motion after we’re done, I,
3:49:07 I can do that.
3:49:08 However, Mr. Gibbs says.
3:49:09 So the only, I would just, just a point of clarification, Ms.
3:49:13 Campbell, because I don’t want there to be any understanding
3:49:15 from the audience side on that.
3:49:17 Mm-hm.
3:49:18 A request to revise the policy requires that we go through the
3:49:22 policy amendment process again.
3:49:24 Right.
3:49:25 So when you say immediate, if the board supports, we can start
3:49:28 that process.
3:49:29 Right.
3:49:30 But it’s not going to be an immediate change to the policy.
3:49:32 Right.
3:49:33 So just for clarification.
3:49:34 Right.
3:49:35 That we would start that process.
3:49:36 In which case, we’ve got, I think, three weeks before the next
3:49:38 meeting.
3:49:38 If it, if there’s room on the November workshop that we could do
3:49:40 that.
3:49:41 If it, like I said, if it was movement from the board to do that,
3:49:44 and then we could vote for it in December.
3:49:45 And honestly, the way Mr. Gibbs wrote the policy, we could
3:49:48 probably vote that night if we felt like to, to go ahead and
3:49:51 leave the camera on for the end of the meeting.
3:49:53 But that’s, that would be my caveat.
3:49:55 Thank you.
3:49:58 Mr. Susan.
3:49:59 Good, Mr.
3:50:00 She hasn’t.
3:50:01 Do you want to?
3:50:02 Yeah, that’s fine.
3:50:03 Okay.
3:50:04 Yeah.
3:50:05 I appreciate that.
3:50:06 I mean, I made that, I made that statement when we had our offsite
3:50:10 meeting, when we had our workshop and when we had our last board
3:50:14 meeting.
3:50:14 Frustrating that we’re having this conversation now, because my
3:50:18 whole point was that it increased the volatility of the
3:50:22 community when it came to this policy.
3:50:24 And I don’t know if you noticed, but most of the comments were
3:50:28 directed at me as if it was, you know, my, my reasoning why we
3:50:32 were doing this and if I felt that way.
3:50:34 So I just want to make that very clear that from the beginning,
3:50:37 that was something that I said, I don’t understand the point of
3:50:40 turning the camera off.
3:50:41 It just makes the public think that we’re trying to hide
3:50:43 something, even if we’re not.
3:50:45 There’s, there’s no point behind it.
3:50:47 People have cell phones and can’t record it anyway.
3:50:49 So we might as well just, just keep it on.
3:50:51 So, um, I’m with Ms. Campbell on that one.
3:50:54 Thank you.
3:50:55 Ms. Jenkins.
3:50:56 Susan.
3:50:57 Thank you.
3:50:58 I had a couple of things.
3:50:59 So I went ahead and, um, you know, we got to a point where all
3:51:02 of a sudden there was a lot of community input and I started
3:51:05 looking around and started asking people.
3:51:07 I said, uh, what do you think about this?
3:51:09 I started pushing back and forth.
3:51:10 So in the community, I got consistently.
3:51:14 Why does this matter?
3:51:15 We pay the taxes.
3:51:16 It’s our three minutes.
3:51:17 It’s all right.
3:51:18 Right.
3:51:19 Okay.
3:51:20 The employer groups, um, a lot of them, our buses, bus drivers,
3:51:24 everybody else started telling me, why are you restricting our
3:51:28 speech?
3:51:29 We may have to come in on an issue.
3:51:31 There might be 10 teachers that want to come in and speak.
3:51:34 You’re going to limit us and you’re going to take us off.
3:51:36 That’s not fair.
3:51:37 Okay.
3:51:38 Um, fellow elected officials.
3:51:40 So I called around to many of our elected officials and talk to
3:51:43 them and each one of them.
3:51:45 I mean, there was not one that said, they said the optics on
3:51:48 this are really bad because of the timing that you guys are
3:51:50 doing it.
3:51:51 They said, and we don’t, and we wouldn’t.
3:51:53 And then one of them in particular, two of them actually gave
3:51:56 instances where people would come in and do exactly what you’re
3:51:58 saying.
3:51:59 It’s like, we have the, the local, not nothing against you,
3:52:02 Matthew, but the local village idiots that come in and speak
3:52:06 about everything that’s out there.
3:52:07 Right.
3:52:08 But that’s their right.
3:52:09 That’s what they do.
3:52:10 So I was like, okay, okay.
3:52:12 I’m, I’m listening.
3:52:13 I’m going.
3:52:14 And then I started looking at, and I called two of my friends.
3:52:18 One of them’s a very, very, um, well known attorney up in, in Tallahassee.
3:52:24 And there’s another one here locally.
3:52:25 That’s well known.
3:52:26 Both first amendment, um, both first amendment lawyers with over
3:52:30 30 years in first amendment.
3:52:32 And I asked them, I said, is this legal?
3:52:34 Is this, is this right to do where you were taking the visual
3:52:38 off at the end?
3:52:39 And they both said with 30 years experience that there is some
3:52:43 gray area there, but it is not a sound and strong policy.
3:52:47 So after I talked to the attorneys, after I talked to the
3:52:50 community, after I talked to the fellow elected officials, the
3:52:53 employer groups, I then came back and started looking at it.
3:52:57 And I said, what are the optics on this thing?
3:53:00 It looks like we’re trying to reduce it during a time when we
3:53:03 have the height, the most heightened up awareness on our school
3:53:07 board.
3:53:08 So just the optics and what that does long term in our community
3:53:12 is the trust and transparency and everything else.
3:53:15 And I, and I, and I understand, and I will say to everybody in
3:53:17 here, there is not, that is not what this is about.
3:53:20 Just as it was said before, this was not brought forward to do
3:53:23 that, but it’s what it looks like.
3:53:25 And when we have to start gaining the trust and transparency
3:53:27 inside of our community, even though it’s not what it was meant
3:53:29 to be, along with the lawyers, along with the community, along
3:53:33 with the employer groups, along with the fellow elected
3:53:35 officials, I started having some serious issues.
3:53:38 Okay.
3:53:39 And it just got to me that the optics were bad.
3:53:43 And that that piece that you talked about was one of the issues
3:53:46 I had a problem with.
3:53:47 The other problem is, is that we are limiting the people who
3:53:50 come afterwards to one minute, no matter what, but we’re
3:53:54 limiting all of the other ones to multiples.
3:53:56 So if there’s 10 public speakers, they get three minutes of
3:53:58 there.
3:53:59 I have a problem with just having each speaker afterwards only
3:54:02 speaking for one minute, because there may be, as it was stated
3:54:05 here tonight, and I’ve talked to other people, an issue that
3:54:09 takes more than one minute for somebody to come down here to a
3:54:11 non agenda item.
3:54:12 It’s got to be pretty serious.
3:54:13 And they may want that extra more than one minute.
3:54:15 Now we can always vote to extend, but that might not always be
3:54:18 there.
3:54:19 So then I started looking at that.
3:54:21 And I said, you know what, I can’t support this policy the way
3:54:24 that it’s written.
3:54:25 So, um, Gibbs, I don’t tell me, no, don’t do it.
3:54:31 Um, we can amend it now while we’re here.
3:54:35 And then we start the process.
3:54:37 Right.
3:54:38 If you change it, you can’t vote to approve it tonight.
3:54:41 Cause then you.
3:54:42 But that’s one extra step towards it.
3:54:44 You can say you’re going to yank it off the agenda and to start
3:54:47 the process over again.
3:54:49 That’s fine.
3:54:50 But if we start the process, I mean, I’m hearing from one board
3:54:53 member and another board member that they don’t.
3:54:54 You can’t satisfy rulemaking cause you’re going to change it.
3:54:58 So I have to advertise 14 days prior to a workshop and that’s
3:55:01 your first public hearing.
3:55:03 And then 28 days prior to adoption, which is your final hearing.
3:55:08 So tonight, so you, tonight cannot be your first meeting.
3:55:11 It has not been advertised for 14 days.
3:55:13 The rulemaking process is 14 days prior to a workshop, 28 days
3:55:18 prior to your final adoption.
3:55:20 So, okay.
3:55:21 I get you.
3:55:22 I don’t, I don’t physically believe in that portion of this
3:55:26 policy.
3:55:27 I would like to, I will vote against this because I don’t think
3:55:31 that even if you don’t believe in it and she doesn’t believe in
3:55:34 it, that we should do it and then force it upon our people and
3:55:37 then change it in three terms.
3:55:38 I just don’t.
3:55:39 And whatever.
3:55:40 I mean, so we stay here a little bit longer.
3:55:41 We listen to a little bit more, you know, and that’s all.
3:55:44 So I would, I would like to make that amendment, but I can’t.
3:55:50 So I will be voting against this in the attempt that we can
3:55:53 bring it back and go through the process again.
3:55:57 So I, so there’s, I guess we could, I want to talk about what Mr.
3:55:59 Shin said, but in just a second, but I just want to, you know,
3:56:13 as mentioned this evening, someone talked about the state board
3:56:18 of education meeting.
3:56:18 And I understand the frustration about the one minute, but every
3:56:21 one of us here tonight, um, experienced people who were watching
3:56:25 the clock and were filling the time, you know, uh, some of us
3:56:29 experienced, uh, the people who got to the three minutes and
3:56:32 they could have gone for another three and they had it written
3:56:34 out and, you know, you know, and say where to go.
3:56:36 But then, but then we also have had two meetings recently where
3:56:39 everybody got one minute and it was pretty successful.
3:56:43 I’d say everybody got to the point and we got it and we got out
3:56:45 and the state board of education meeting that was met.
3:56:48 You know, man, those guys are ruthless because that chair of our
3:56:52 state board of education, he gave, they gave him one minute.
3:56:55 And if you got off topic, he didn’t just remind you, he cut it
3:56:58 off.
3:56:59 So, you know, um, I think we can, we can get this done.
3:57:04 Uh, but I, to your point, Mr. Susan, I, I’m just trying to
3:57:08 figure out which way we do it.
3:57:09 Cause we have two ways we could go ahead and vote tonight and it’ll
3:57:12 be up to everybody’s choice.
3:57:14 And I hear what you’re saying that you’re, you don’t want to
3:57:16 vote for it tonight.
3:57:17 Um, and if it passes, we could go into, you know, rulemaking at
3:57:22 the next workshop and go ahead and change it would pass.
3:57:24 You know, the earliest we could vote on it would be the December
3:57:26 meeting.
3:57:27 And then we could vote at the, those two meetings to go ahead
3:57:31 and leave the cameras on.
3:57:33 We could, we, it’s, you know, we can, we can do that.
3:57:35 Or we can vote it down now and not have the thing in place.
3:57:38 I just, I go back to what we’re guaranteeing in this policy with
3:57:43 the revisions is to hear the non-agenda items.
3:57:46 And I know this board has been very gracious to hear those, even
3:57:49 if they are trying to sell us something.
3:57:51 Um, but I just, you know, so I, I’m not really sure which way, I
3:57:57 don’t know, Mr. Gibbs.
3:57:58 Where are we with the voting one way or the other?
3:58:03 I mean, I’m trying to figure out what difference it makes.
3:58:07 It’s your item.
3:58:08 So, I mean, you guys can vote it up or down.
3:58:12 If you want to pass it, you can pass it.
3:58:14 If you want to say, we’re going to go to rulemaking and three of
3:58:16 you vote it down, go back to rulemaking.
3:58:18 We can do that.
3:58:19 Okay.
3:58:20 Sounds like it’s going back to rulemaking either way.
3:58:24 Can I speak?
3:58:29 You want to?
3:58:30 Yes.
3:58:31 Can, can I, um, only because, yeah, I, well, I, because I haven’t
3:58:35 spoken.
3:58:36 If you want to go ahead and go again, Mr. Jenkins.
3:58:38 No, it’s okay.
3:58:39 No.
3:58:40 So, um, and I’ll come right back to you.
3:58:44 But, um, so, I think, um, to your point, Ms. Campbell, I think,
3:58:55 I think you made some really great points.
3:58:58 And, and pointed out some really important things.
3:59:01 I think we have to say again, this forum is not the best forum
3:59:06 for resolution of concerns.
3:59:10 And I’m going to, Ms. Delaney, do you mind if I reference you
3:59:14 personally?
3:59:15 Okay.
3:59:16 So, Ms. Delaney referenced, and I, and I say this because we had
3:59:19 a conversation yesterday, where she expressed her concerns and
3:59:22 shared the situation of her daughter.
3:59:24 And the only thing that I will say is I think we need to verify
3:59:27 that that student was not at a Brevard public school run by the
3:59:30 district.
3:59:31 It was at a charter school.
3:59:33 Um, because I think that’s an important differentiation in how
3:59:36 staff handled the situation when you reach it out to them.
3:59:39 But as I shared with her, it’s much more effective to pick up
3:59:42 the phone and call me and let’s work through the issue.
3:59:46 As opposed to waiting for a board meeting, as you said.
3:59:50 Um, you’re right.
3:59:52 And, and she, the point she brought back was emails get lost or
3:59:55 don’t get responded to sometimes.
3:59:57 And I absolutely agree.
3:59:58 Um, I, I think we all try to get to them as much as we can.
4:00:01 But at the end of the day, all five of our cell phone numbers
4:00:04 are on the district website.
4:00:06 The main district number, Ms. Escobar over here, um, takes calls
4:00:11 for the board members and sends us messages, uh, to follow up
4:00:15 with her.
4:00:16 You can always obviously send us email, send her email and she’ll
4:00:20 follow up with us.
4:00:22 Um, I think there are lots of ways to get in touch with board
4:00:25 members that are much more effective than coming and speaking in
4:00:28 a board meeting.
4:00:29 And I would agree.
4:00:31 I don’t think that, you know, some things waiting for a board
4:00:37 meeting or coming to this, this public forum is the way to do it.
4:00:42 Um, and I just want to reiterate what Ms. Campbell said, which
4:00:45 was that, um, once we are elected, we serve all of you.
4:00:49 So if, if I am your designated representative for the schools
4:00:53 that you attend, and I’m not responding to you, then please call
4:00:57 any one of my peers.
4:00:58 Because I really try hard to return all of my phone calls, but
4:01:02 there are times when I am buried for whatever reason and can’t
4:01:06 get back to you right away.
4:01:07 It might take me a day or two.
4:01:09 I have faith that they will be responsive, uh, and do all that
4:01:13 they can to assist you.
4:01:15 And the beauty of it is, I can immediately, I spoke to a father
4:01:19 this afternoon on my way to the board workshop, was able to get
4:01:23 with staff when I got here to have a conversation so staff can
4:01:26 start looking into the issue and follow up with him.
4:01:28 As opposed to no response, waiting until the next board meeting
4:01:33 or any of those things.
4:01:35 So, I think we have to really think about the purpose of the
4:01:39 public comment and what we’re trying to achieve with the policy.
4:01:44 And one thing that hasn’t been addressed, that I think is really
4:01:47 important to be addressed, is there are a lot of people who don’t
4:01:50 come to board meetings because they can’t sit through hours of
4:01:54 public comment.
4:01:57 Because they don’t have childcare, don’t want to bring their
4:02:00 kids, don’t want to, there are a lot of people who don’t come to
4:02:03 board meetings because the environment and I appreciate the
4:02:06 person that referenced appreciation for keeping decorum.
4:02:09 Um, because that’s what we’re, Sarah’s waving her hand.
4:02:15 Um, because that, that’s what we’re trying to accomplish is a
4:02:19 forum here where we can all hear what we need to hear and have
4:02:24 it be done respectfully.
4:02:26 But, you know, at the beginning of the meetings, I say every
4:02:28 meeting, this, the purpose of this particular meeting is for the
4:02:33 business of the board.
4:02:35 I don’t think there’s anyone up here that doesn’t want to hear
4:02:38 from our public.
4:02:39 Um, I’ve, we get meeting requests all the time.
4:02:43 Hey, can we have coffee and talk?
4:02:44 Absolutely, I’d be happy to.
4:02:46 Doesn’t matter if I agree with you or disagree with you.
4:02:48 We’re all working for the same goals, right, for our kids.
4:02:51 So I just want people to understand that this forum is designed
4:02:55 for a very specific thing.
4:02:57 And we are happy to make ourselves available outside of this
4:03:01 forum to address things that need more of our time.
4:03:04 I just don’t want it to be perceived that we don’t want to hear
4:03:07 what you have to say.
4:03:08 But we need to ensure that we’re doing it in the most efficient
4:03:12 and effective way to work.
4:03:14 And that’s not necessarily coming up and speaking at the board
4:03:18 meeting for three minutes or six minutes when we have policies
4:03:23 or, like, we can do this.
4:03:25 We can do this together.
4:03:26 We’re not trying to silence you.
4:03:27 Um, and I, you know, I appreciate the concerns about the videotaping
4:03:32 and I would absolutely support if, after we take the vote, if
4:03:37 you guys want to start that policy amendment process.
4:03:41 But I do think that it’s important that we go ahead and make the
4:03:44 changes that we have put in place to make the meetings more
4:03:47 manageable for so many reasons.
4:03:48 For those people who can’t come and spend all that much time,
4:03:51 for the people who, um, who stand there and try to fill their
4:03:56 three minutes.
4:03:57 I mean, it’s, there’s a, there’s a lot to that.
4:03:59 So, um, Ms. Jenkins, I will gladly turn it back over to you at
4:04:02 this point.
4:04:03 Sure.
4:04:04 Um, I have to be like perfectly honest with you guys.
4:04:08 What’s more frustrating than listening to somebody tell me
4:04:10 something for three minutes or be vile to me for three minutes
4:04:13 is listening to us go round and round and round in circles about
4:04:16 a policy we already discussed three times.
4:04:17 So can I please just call the question?
4:04:19 Thank you.
4:04:21 Jenkins has called the question.
4:04:22 Is there any opposition?
4:04:23 Without rebuttal.
4:04:24 Do you want to respond?
4:04:25 You already went twice.
4:04:28 Sorry, I went once.
4:04:29 Thank you.
4:04:30 All right.
4:04:31 Thank you.
4:04:36 All right.
4:05:06 And the motion passes 3-2.
4:05:11 Ms. Pelford, can you read it to the public who voted which way?
4:05:17 It’s on the screen.
4:05:18 You can see it?
4:05:19 Okay.
4:05:20 Good.
4:05:21 Just people that watch it can’t see.
4:05:25 Yeah, and I don’t –
4:05:26 People that watch it can’t see.
4:05:28 That’s all.
4:05:29 I mean, it’s just – I don’t know.
4:05:30 Sometimes in tighter votes, people can’t see.
4:05:32 I think it’s obvious how –
4:05:34 I don’t – my screen doesn’t even show me who voted how, so they
4:05:38 have more.
4:05:39 Aye, nay, aye, aye, nay.
4:05:44 Okay.
4:05:45 So, Ms. Campbell, if you would like to bring that issue back at
4:05:48 board discussion.
4:05:49 Yeah.
4:05:50 I’ll go ahead and move through the rest of the action items.
4:05:52 Is that okay with you?
4:05:53 Yes.
4:05:54 All right.
4:05:55 Dr. Mullins.
4:05:58 Sorry.
4:05:59 It took me a second to find where we’re at.
4:06:01 Yep.
4:06:02 Got it.
4:06:03 Okay.
4:06:04 Section 1001.39 subsection 1 of the Florida Statutes requires
4:06:09 any board member travel outside the district exceeding $500 to
4:06:14 receive prior approval to confirm the travel is for official
4:06:18 business and complies with the rules of the State Board of
4:06:20 Education.
4:06:21 An opportunity for the public to speak to this item must be
4:06:24 provided prior to action by the board.
4:06:27 Each board member has indicated his or her wish to attend the
4:06:31 conference.
4:06:32 Is there anyone present this evening who wishes to publicly
4:06:33 address item G33 on Ms. McDougal’s travel request to attend the
4:06:45 FSBA conference?
4:06:51 Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion.
4:06:52 Moved by Ms. Campbell.
4:06:53 Is there a second?
4:06:54 Second.
4:06:55 Seconded by Ms. Jenkins.
4:06:56 Is there any discussion?
4:06:57 Hearing none, please vote.
4:06:58 is to publicly address item G33 on Ms. McDougall’s travel
4:07:02 request to attend the FSBA conference.
4:07:03 Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion. Moved by Ms. Campbell. Is
4:07:08 there a second?
4:07:10 Second. Seconded by Ms. Jenkins. Is there any discussion?
4:07:15 Hearing none, please vote.
4:07:26 Yeah, am I supposed to vote on my own? I think I think you guys
4:07:29 have done this in the past.
4:07:30 Paul’s giving us a nod. I vividly remember a school board
4:07:37 meeting where it was a really difficult question.
4:07:39 So I’m having major, is anyone else getting a stop sign?
4:07:49 Everybody but you voted.
4:07:56 Do you want me to vote? Yes, if you would, please.
4:07:59 Aye.
4:08:01 Can you give me the vote count?
4:08:05 Okay. Motion passes five to zero. Dr. Mullen.
4:08:17 Next is item G34 on Jennifer Jenkins, travel request to attend
4:08:21 the FSBA conference.
4:08:23 Is there anyone present this evening who wishes to publicly
4:08:26 address item G34 on Ms. Jenkins’ travel
4:08:28 request to attend the FSBA conference? Is there anyone present
4:08:32 this evening who wishes to publicly
4:08:34 address item G34 on Ms. Jenkins’ travel request to attend the FSBA
4:08:38 conference? Hearing none,
4:08:40 I’ll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr.
4:08:43 Susan.
4:08:44 Seconded by Ms. Campbell. Is there any discussion? Please vote.
4:08:47 Second. Moved by Mr. Susan.
4:09:04 The motion passes five to zero.
4:09:12 Seconded by Ms. McDougall.
4:09:13 Next is item G35 on Katie Campbell’s travel
4:09:16 request to attend the FSBA conference. Is there anyone present
4:09:19 this evening who wishes to publicly
4:09:21 address item G35 on Ms. Campbell’s travel request to attend the
4:09:24 FSBA conference?
4:09:25 Is there anyone present this evening who wishes to publicly
4:09:28 address item G35 on Ms. Campbell’s
4:09:30 travel request to attend the FSBA conference? Hearing none, I’ll
4:09:34 entertain a motion.
4:09:35 Move to approve. Second. Moved by Mr. Susan.
4:09:38 Seconded by Ms. McDougall. Is there any discussion?
4:09:40 Second. Please vote.
4:09:53 The motion passes five to zero. Dr. Mullins.
4:10:06 Next is item G36 on Matt Susan’s travel request to attend the FSBA
4:10:11 conference.
4:10:12 Is there anyone present this evening who wishes to publicly
4:10:15 address item G36 on Mr. Susan’s travel
4:10:18 request to attend the FSBA conference? Is there anyone present
4:10:22 this evening who wishes to publicly
4:10:23 address item G36 on Mr. Susan’s travel request to attend the FSBA
4:10:27 conference? Hearing none,
4:10:29 I’ll entertain a motion. Moved by Ms. Jenkins, seconded by Ms.
4:10:34 Campbell. Is there any discussion?
4:10:35 Please vote.
4:10:55 The motion passes five to zero. The motion passes five to zero.
4:10:57 Dr. Mullins.
4:10:59 Item G37 is on Misty Belpert’s travel request to attend the FSBA
4:11:04 conference. Is there anyone
4:11:06 present this evening who wishes to publicly address item G37 on
4:11:09 my travel request to attend the FSBA conference?
4:11:11 Is there anyone present this evening who wishes to publicly
4:11:15 address item G37 on my travel request to attend to the FSBA
4:11:19 conference?
4:11:21 Mr. Dollar, are you raising your hand or just stretching? Okay.
4:11:24 Hearing none, I’ll entertain a motion.
4:11:26 Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Ms. McGoogle. Is there any
4:11:31 discussion?
4:11:31 It’s really Katie, but no. Is Katie faster?
4:11:34 No, no, no, no. You want it, Katie? I’ll give it to you.
4:11:36 All right. Hearing none, please vote.
4:11:51 The motion passes five to zero. Dr. Mullins.
4:11:58 Next is item G38 on possible amendment of the emergency mask
4:12:05 policy.
4:12:06 Thank you, Dr. Mullins and members of the board. As you all see,
4:12:12 so this process has been a little bit
4:12:15 different because we’re so accustomed to working from
4:12:18 recommendations from the superintendent on the agenda.
4:12:21 So I did request addition of this item to the agenda and have
4:12:28 put forward recommendation,
4:12:31 a starting point, much like we had before.
4:12:32 So at the October 5th special board meeting, we approved the
4:12:38 motion to continue the current
4:12:39 emergency mask policy until we reached 50 COVID cases per 100,000,
4:12:43 at which point the board had to take
4:12:45 no action. It allowed Dr. Mullins to remove the mask mandate or
4:12:49 update the mask mandate with a parental
4:12:51 opt-out and employee mandate unless social distancing is
4:12:54 maintained in effect until October 29th,
4:12:58 unless it’s extended by the board. Obviously, as I reflected
4:13:02 earlier, I’m thankful to say that we
4:13:04 reached that measurement on Friday and the superintendent was
4:13:07 able to implement that parental opt-out.
4:13:09 I’m very encouraged by the numbers and certainly we want to see,
4:13:14 I would say we all want to see those
4:13:16 numbers go down. I did ask to have this item placed on the
4:13:20 agenda to extend that policy for the final 30
4:13:24 days and I would just remind our public this is an emergency
4:13:27 policy so it cannot be extended beyond this
4:13:30 final 30 days. In the least restrictive manner possible to, in
4:13:35 my opinion, still take us forward.
4:13:37 My recommendation, and as I said, it’s a starting point,
4:13:41 certainly open to discussion,
4:13:42 is that we continue to require masks for our students in pre-k
4:13:46 through sixth grade because there are no
4:13:47 vaccines available. And while I think we can all celebrate where
4:13:53 we are, I don’t know about you
4:13:54 all, but I’m still hearing from a significant number of parents
4:13:56 that are concerned about the safety of
4:13:59 their students, especially those who are not yet eligible for
4:14:02 vaccine. So the recommendation or the
4:14:08 request is to continue to require masks for students in pre-k
4:14:12 through sixth grade with the parental opt-out
4:14:14 option. And then for students in grades seven through 12 and
4:14:18 adults, making masks strongly recommended
4:14:21 but not mandated. The only other thing that I would throw out
4:14:25 there and Ms. Campbell, you may want to
4:14:27 weigh in on this particular request. I did and I think we all
4:14:30 got the request this morning from
4:14:33 I want to say it was a chorus teacher that was requesting that
4:14:37 we continue to require masks
4:14:39 in classrooms where students are going to be singing. Based on
4:14:42 the study that we talked about, the Colorado
4:14:45 study. So yes, there was concern expressed about not having a
4:14:54 mask requirement for indoor singing in
4:14:57 seven through 12. So I will, with that, as you all know, idle
4:15:02 motion. So if anyone would like to make a
4:15:05 motion and then we can open for discussion or however you all
4:15:09 want to move forward.
4:15:11 I can make the motion. Okay. I make the motion. Can I just make
4:15:18 the motion that we discuss this as
4:15:19 the current recommendation? You can make a motion to approve the
4:15:24 current recommendation
4:15:25 and then it can always be modified in discussion. Okay. I make a
4:15:28 motion that we approve the current
4:15:31 recommendation. I have a motion for Ms. McDougall. Is there a
4:15:34 second to open for discussion? Second.
4:15:36 And I have a second for Ms. Jenkins. That would open for
4:15:39 discussion. Ms. McDougall, your motion,
4:15:41 your discussion. Okay. I do like that our middle school and high
4:15:47 schools, because of the option of
4:15:49 if they want a vaccine, they can get a vaccine. And I feel that
4:15:57 we’re there, definitely there. And I think
4:15:59 that makes perfect sense. I’m not the expert about singing. I’m
4:16:03 going to leave that to Ms. Campbell to
4:16:05 talk about that some more. I do think at this point, we do need,
4:16:10 I get a lot, a lot of emails from people
4:16:14 and phone calls telling me how they want the mask mandate. I
4:16:18 would like it to be with a parental opt-out,
4:16:21 not a medical opt-out. So I really support how you have raised
4:16:25 this amendment at this point. I only have a concern about,
4:16:30 Dr. Mullins, maybe you can help me. How does, how does that look?
4:16:33 How does that look when we get the forms in to the school?
4:16:37 Because you and I talked to a principal the other day, and what
4:16:41 he, what that principal really said that,
4:16:44 yes, he would follow, he definitely follows it, but it would
4:16:47 have been better not to just say,
4:16:49 email it or send an email, but to print it off and bring it in
4:16:53 so that one person is not inundated,
4:16:55 like the secretary, their email gets fulfilled up. So how would
4:16:58 that work if we did it that way,
4:17:00 if we had forms that people like, I don’t know how it’s working
4:17:03 now with the parental opt-out.
4:17:05 I’m sorry, Ms. McDougall. I’m not sure I understand your
4:17:11 question. I can’t rephrase it.
4:17:12 I can’t understand why, but so, but basically how is it working
4:17:17 with the current parental opt-out?
4:17:18 What kind of workload are we finding with our schools?
4:17:22 Have we had that feedback and what are the principals or the,
4:17:27 the administrators saying about the forms that are coming in?
4:17:30 Um, I, I have not heard any, any, that feedback has not come to
4:17:34 me directly. I’m not aware that there’s
4:17:36 been a difficulty in retail, you know, receiving the, the
4:17:40 parental opt-out forms. I think, I anticipate
4:17:43 schools have adapted to the method, which they have been turned
4:17:47 into the school, whether it’s via email
4:17:49 or brought in by the student, but they’re collected in the
4:17:52 office and then they are cataloging those,
4:17:55 uh, turned in forms. So, yes, you did ask my question, but there’s,
4:18:02 there’s one more question
4:18:03 and I, I don’t know if it’s been answered. I do know that there
4:18:06 was a constituent that asked,
4:18:07 that they talked about, um, that we’re noting, we’re documenting
4:18:14 it in the system and was concerned
4:18:18 about how that was being used or not being used and do we
4:18:21 document it in a system and I, I think we need
4:18:23 to share with the public why or why not we’re doing that. I’d
4:18:27 have to call out. Dr. Thudde,
4:18:29 do you know if we are actually inputting students indication
4:18:35 that they are a parental opt-out in AS 400
4:18:38 or is it retained in the front office for the administration’s
4:18:43 reference?
4:18:44 Dr. Thudde, this is truly a better question for Chris Moore, but
4:18:47 my understanding was there was a data
4:18:49 element on one of the S screens in AS 400 that these, um, they’ll
4:18:53 be put into at some point,
4:18:55 but I don’t know for sure. I got a thumbs up from Dr. Sullivan
4:18:59 in the back.
4:19:00 Dr. And here comes Chris Moore.
4:19:01 My great, uh, team coming in through the magical door there. Uh,
4:19:07 but so to answer your question,
4:19:09 Ms. McDougall, I’m gonna, I’m gonna anticipate that our school
4:19:14 teams are entering those into the
4:19:17 appropriate field in AS 400. So then any staff at the school can
4:19:21 look that up and know if a student
4:19:23 has submitted a parental opt-out or not. Thank you. Did I, did I?
4:19:30 Yes, you did. I wanted to.
4:19:31 Get around to your question, answering your question, Ms. McDougall.
4:19:34 All right. Thank you.
4:19:35 Um, Ms. Benkins, you seconded. Do you want to go next on
4:19:41 discussion? Yeah, I’m just gonna be really
4:19:43 quick. I, um, the only concern I have about this, I’m fine with
4:19:47 the parental opt-out. We’ve hit that
4:19:49 number like we agreed upon, but, um, for the seventh through 12th,
4:19:53 personally, I think it should be a
4:19:55 required mass. We know that no one’s going to wear it. If it’s
4:19:57 not required, if the intention is to
4:19:59 mitigate, we should be putting it there with a parental opt-out
4:20:02 as well. Um, because we can’t
4:20:04 assume just because vaccines are available that all of our
4:20:06 students have access to those vaccines. Um, and
4:20:09 I think it’s our responsibility as an educational institution to
4:20:12 keep those students safe, but then
4:20:14 there’s that simple parent opt-out form if their parents don’t
4:20:16 want them to wear a mask. Um, I think it
4:20:19 kind of, you know, takes care of both sides there, but, you know,
4:20:22 takes the responsibility off of us,
4:20:23 making sure that we’re keeping all of our students safe,
4:20:26 regardless of their socioeconomic status,
4:20:28 or the ability to get to a vaccine. Thank you, Ms. Jenkins.
4:20:32 Anyone else want to discuss?
4:20:34 Mr. Susan’s given you the finger, Kate. All right.
4:20:38 I’m supposed to go second to last. All right. So I, sorry, I was
4:20:46 taking just a minute to look up a couple,
4:20:47 couple of things because the last time I had checked that study
4:20:50 from University of Colorado,
4:20:51 Boulder had not been updated in a long time. So I was just
4:20:54 checking and it didn’t look like,
4:20:55 I don’t know if they have, I can’t see any more, um, studies, uh,
4:21:02 but they did release some more
4:21:04 information in the summer about, uh, arts, particularly band and
4:21:10 choir. The, you know,
4:21:14 things were, you would be blowing through things. Uh, actually,
4:21:18 can you just go so I can finish
4:21:19 this up really quickly? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll be done in like
4:21:23 two minutes. No problem. Paul,
4:21:24 can you read me the actual emergency mandate? You sent it to me
4:21:27 the other day. Can you pull that up?
4:21:29 Sorry, I didn’t give you a heads up because it is written
4:21:31 completely different than what we,
4:21:33 like the, the preamble, the basis behind it, all of that is
4:21:37 geared towards something else. If you’ll just
4:21:38 read that because I think that once we start seeing that it’s,
4:21:41 it’s, it’s a little different.
4:21:42 Because we’re amending something that we’re not looking at,
4:21:48 right? You see the beginning of it?
4:21:51 It references the court cases. It references. Right. The preamble
4:21:57 is about, uh, the basis for
4:21:58 implementation of the mask mandate originally adopted. And it
4:22:05 talks about lawsuits that are currently in
4:22:08 place, right? It says the reason that we are implementing this
4:22:11 is because of the lawsuit that has,
4:22:12 and the judge had defined it based on that. And that has been
4:22:16 overrun by the DCA, right?
4:22:18 It’s been stayed by the DCA, but it also goes into the parent
4:22:22 bill of rights and, uh, exceptions
4:22:25 set forward in Florida statute like the, uh, 25236 and so. But
4:22:30 the basis behind our argument for this,
4:22:32 which is stated inside of that was for the original prior to the
4:22:38 most recent updated changes by the
4:22:40 governor, correct? Yes. It was the original implementation by
4:22:44 this board. And the justification
4:22:46 behind it is for the previous, not the current. So we are
4:22:50 basically making an argument to impose this
4:22:55 based on the previous laws and regulations and the argument and
4:22:59 everything else. That’s what it says in the preamble.
4:23:01 I don’t know what you’re referring to. Would you like me to read
4:23:05 it?
4:23:05 The previous laws. I can read it. I have it up, but you want me
4:23:09 to read the whole thing?
4:23:10 No, just the beginning, because it sets the, sets the root, the,
4:23:13 the premise behind what we’re doing
4:23:15 is based on a premise of a previous lawsuit that was stayed by
4:23:19 the DCA. Then a new rule has come in.
4:23:21 So like literally the, the fundamental legislative intent behind
4:23:25 it. Right. All right. The preamble,
4:23:28 Judge John C. Cooper, Florida circuit court for the second
4:23:31 circuit of Florida found that the
4:23:32 Centers for Disease Control is the preeminent authority in the
4:23:35 United States for infectious diseases
4:23:37 and control. Moreover, section 252.36 sub 1 sub C Florida
4:23:42 statute states the legislature intends that
4:23:45 during an extended public health emergency, such as the COVID-19
4:23:48 pandemic, there should be a presumption
4:23:51 that K-12 public schools to the greatest extent possible should
4:23:54 remain open so long as the health and
4:23:56 safety of students and school personnel can be maintained by
4:23:59 specific public health mitigation strategies
4:24:02 recommended by federal or state health agencies for educational
4:24:05 settings. The CDC qualifies as a
4:24:08 federal health agency as specified in Florida statute. Moreover,
4:24:11 CDC guidelines explicitly recommend all
4:24:14 individuals, students, as well as staff, wear face coverings
4:24:17 while inside, whether they have been
4:24:18 vaccinated or not until the spread of COVID-19 is better
4:24:22 controlled. As the Florida legislation.
4:24:24 We’re good. I just, what I was trying to get at was, is that we
4:24:28 base the beginning of it and the intent.
4:24:30 So if you guys are going to pass this, I would try to reword
4:24:33 that beginning so that it’s stronger
4:24:36 for the argument rather than quoting a previous case that was
4:24:39 stated. That’s all. That was part of the
4:24:42 beginning of it. That helped. I’ll keep going. But it was just a
4:24:45 recommendation. All right. So we’ve heard
4:24:47 from multiple speakers that the hospitals, the CDC, our district,
4:24:52 every number that is out there, every single
4:24:58 data point is at the lowest that it can be. The lowest it’s ever
4:25:02 been is in the thirties since this has
4:25:05 started. And we’ve only been below 50 for now 30 days total over
4:25:09 18 months. So my common theme that I’m
4:25:13 going to get to is, is at what point are we not going to have
4:25:17 opt outs? And at what point are we not
4:25:19 going to have people wearing masks and, and having policies and
4:25:23 everything else? Because what it’s
4:25:25 doing is, is it feels to me as we’re starting to put in the AS
4:25:28 400 piece, and we’re starting to put
4:25:31 it all in that this is slowly becoming permanent. And, and that’s
4:25:36 not where we started with this thing.
4:25:39 So let me get started. So right now, I talked to bus drivers,
4:25:46 teachers, administrators,
4:25:48 the teachers union, the community, the bus drivers cannot
4:25:52 enforce it. I am telling you that they are
4:25:55 screaming that they cannot enforce it, that they do not want to.
4:25:58 Our bus drivers in many areas have been
4:26:01 told that they, they should not try to enforce it because it
4:26:05 becomes dangerous for them to consistently
4:26:07 look behind and try to force an opt out. Plus they don’t have an
4:26:10 opt out list every day that they get.
4:26:12 There’s nobody walking out and presenting them an opt out list.
4:26:15 The teachers are upset because the kids have been given an opt
4:26:23 out and they don’t. They’re forced to
4:26:26 wear a mask and they don’t have the opportunity to opt out
4:26:30 themselves.
4:26:31 The administration, the administration from the people that I’ve
4:26:39 talked to, are trying to mitigate
4:26:41 this as much as possible. But you have people emailing, carrying
4:26:45 in opt out forms. I mean, it’s just,
4:26:48 it’s a lot of work. And we’ve heard from the employee groups and
4:26:51 everybody else that everybody’s stressed
4:26:52 beyond belief. So having more work into the pipeline at a time
4:26:57 when every single data point is low enough
4:27:00 to support it, to me, it doesn’t justify it. Our own union has
4:27:06 come out and said that they do not want
4:27:10 the opt out forms anymore. They’re done. They want their own
4:27:13 people to have, they want the employees to be
4:27:17 able to choose for themselves. They have said that. The
4:27:21 community has shown us through the way that
4:27:26 they act, not just the individuals that come in here. I get it.
4:27:29 It’s both sides. We have football fields,
4:27:33 football stadiums filled, basketball arenas filled. The
4:27:38 communities are all doing outside of what we are
4:27:42 doing. And I get you. We worried about people being, we’re
4:27:45 worried about keeping our kids safe. But
4:27:48 everywhere they go outside of the schools is not mandated. I
4:27:52 tried to find one single place in this,
4:27:55 in the county that does have a mask mandate that you have to
4:27:58 perform an opt out. I couldn’t find it.
4:28:00 So with the community showing us that the, for the community
4:28:04 showing us, for the teachers union
4:28:06 calling for our employees to not have to mandate it, for the
4:28:09 administration that’s being overworked because of
4:28:11 the opt out forms, because the teachers themselves want it,
4:28:14 because it’s not fair to have the other
4:28:16 kids be able to do it, because the bus drivers can’t enforce it,
4:28:20 because the numbers are so low,
4:28:22 and because the efficacy of actually trying to enforce it is
4:28:26 difficult. And it’s more difficult now
4:28:30 that the numbers are justified, that we told the public we were
4:28:34 moving to a certain direction.
4:28:37 And so now we keep going into the seesaw. We go into the seesaw
4:28:41 of coming up with this every week,
4:28:43 and the mental health and the problems. I mean, our parents are
4:28:47 worn out. I heard from them say,
4:28:48 I’ve heard people that are mask mandate supporters call me and
4:28:52 say, I’m just worn out. I just want this
4:28:55 thing over. I mean, people that were like basically yelling at
4:28:58 me before are saying that to me. And I just,
4:29:00 like my thing is, is that Japan doesn’t have a mask mandate.
4:29:05 Like the one place you would think has one
4:29:07 doesn’t actually have one. What they do is they recommend it.
4:29:11 And their entire population
4:29:14 goes up and down based on the threat level. They just do. It’s
4:29:18 incredible when you allow people to make
4:29:22 a choice on what they’re doing, that they make the right one.
4:29:26 But the instant that you start telling
4:29:28 people they can’t choose, they will fight you. I’ve got five
4:29:31 kids, I tell them anything, they will
4:29:32 do everything opposite than what I do. And if you give them the
4:29:36 opportunity to make the right choices,
4:29:38 to make their own choices that they can make, at a time when all
4:29:42 the numbers, I mean, if this is where we are
4:29:45 right now with all of the numbers at the lowest place that we
4:29:48 can be, is this our reality for the rest of
4:29:52 our existence? That’s, it’s scary to me to think that the rest
4:29:57 of the world, the community, the teachers,
4:30:00 the employees, everybody are moving on. And we’re still in here
4:30:04 trying to create something that’s
4:30:06 creating more work, animosity, mental health to our community.
4:30:09 That’s my opening statement. And I look
4:30:14 forward to you guys with rebuttal. Please don’t call the
4:30:16 question. Thank you.
4:30:19 So, um, sorry, when you said that was opening your statement, I
4:30:24 thought you had more paragraphs to go.
4:30:25 I do. I’m waiting. I’m not going to give it all out now, Pam. I,
4:30:30 I just quickly about the, um, the music
4:30:35 stuff. Um, I’ll just, there, there was, there was no further
4:30:39 study done except where they did a survey of, uh,
4:30:44 the school, the programs. I think most of them were secondary.
4:30:46 There were some post-secondary, uh,
4:30:49 programs that they asked. They got in a survey out of 3000. They
4:30:53 got, you know, pretty good numbers,
4:30:54 almost 2800 back. Um, their recommendations that they sent out
4:30:59 over the summer included the same
4:31:01 things that we had in place last year, which were, um, using
4:31:06 outdoors as much as possible, using the
4:31:08 indoors. If you’re indoors, using masks, using bell covers for
4:31:12 the bands, like we had last year,
4:31:13 doing rehearsal times. Um, they increased it to 50 minutes. If
4:31:17 you have good, uh, filtration of three
4:31:22 air exchanges, uh, per hour, um, you consider longer rehearsals.
4:31:26 Physical distancing, they reduced that
4:31:29 to three feet. Um, hygiene, you know, dropping your spit from
4:31:33 your trumpet on the floor, those kinds of
4:31:35 things. Um, and using face shields and partitions if necessary.
4:31:39 Uh, but they specifically talked about
4:31:42 masks and bell covers being this specific material, MERV 13
4:31:45 material or something compromised. So,
4:31:47 by the way, none of those things we had in place at the
4:31:50 beginning of the school year, except, uh,
4:31:52 except for we tried to social distance and several teachers did.
4:31:54 We did not require masks. We have,
4:31:55 no band has used bell covers. I’ve not seen a single
4:31:58 instrumental trumpet, clarinet, any,
4:32:00 using bell covers. We’re not doing that at all. We have not
4:32:03 released, uh, reducing our rehearsal times.
4:32:05 I do know some programs, choir programs that are rehearsing
4:32:09 outdoors, uh, because that’s the,
4:32:10 the choir teacher, but they were not directed to do that. That
4:32:13 was the choir teacher’s choice.
4:32:15 And those kids have been outside in the heat rehearsing the best
4:32:17 they can, uh, before we had
4:32:19 a mask mandate. And then since we’ve had a mask mandate, um, we’re
4:32:22 doing official fiscal distancing,
4:32:25 um, as much as the rooms can, can handle, um, you know, the
4:32:30 hygiene. I don’t know if they’re not
4:32:32 allowing the spit to be dropped on the carpet. I can’t answer
4:32:34 that, but we have not had that requirement.
4:32:35 So they’re not doing, uh, that’s just program by program teacher
4:32:38 by teacher. So the data,
4:32:40 when they did that, they, what they said was, you know, self
4:32:44 report back,
4:32:45 over last year, what worked, not what worked, but how many of
4:32:48 the mitigation measures did you put in place?
4:32:51 And how, what evidence of spread within your program was there?
4:32:54 So here’s the results.
4:32:55 And there’s some mix because they’re not sure. It even says in
4:32:58 here, you know,
4:32:58 some of it, it’s not clear. Did it actually happen to use your
4:33:01 class or did it happen in another place?
4:33:03 They made the assumption that it happened in there, not in a
4:33:05 cafeteria or not as they were walking out
4:33:07 or when they went and spent the night with a friend or whatever.
4:33:09 It’s a, out of the 20,000 programs
4:33:12 who came to, uh, return to activity, four and a half million
4:33:15 students were expected to participate.
4:33:17 Um, they did a risk assessment. So I’m just going to cut down to
4:33:21 the most important number.
4:33:22 Um, it says the overall expected chance of getting COVID in a 30
4:33:28 minute rehearsal.
4:33:29 Uh, I’m going to read you the number. If you don’t use any of
4:33:34 the study mitigations would be
4:33:36 0.00037% or one in 273,124. That’s if you didn’t do any of those
4:33:44 things. So I say all that to say,
4:33:47 uh, and by the way, that is a greater chance than the people who
4:33:50 used all the mitigation strategies,
4:33:52 who were like at 0.00051 or one in, you know, a million,
4:33:58 whatever. Um, the chances are very,
4:34:02 very low. And I’ll point out again, we had none of those
4:34:04 mitigation strategies required or banned this
4:34:07 year. Our programs have done successfully, uh, successful work.
4:34:11 We haven’t heard, I haven’t
4:34:12 heard of any, uh, when we were having all our great outbreaks of
4:34:15 them happening more often
4:34:17 in band or chorus classes. So I would absolutely recommend
4:34:19 against making any adjustments. If we
4:34:21 have choir directors who are particularly, they can continue to
4:34:24 rehearse outside as they’re, as they’re
4:34:26 nervous, they have the freedom over those, uh, programs, but we’ve
4:34:29 had indoor concerts. We’ve had,
4:34:30 you know, things going on outdoor concerts, um, successfully.
4:34:34 And I would just very strongly
4:34:36 request that we don’t make any of those changes. It’s been very
4:34:39 difficult for our music programs to
4:34:41 have to deal with what they’re doing with. Um, on the mask
4:34:43 mandate as a whole, I,
4:34:46 I’m just a strong no. If I could just yell, no, I’m getting to
4:34:50 the point where I just want to yell,
4:34:51 no to the top of my lungs. I don’t want us to continue in
4:34:54 another 30 days. And I would just point
4:34:57 out that this board, when it first came up on August 30th and we
4:35:01 had the policy, the way it was originally
4:35:03 written. And we made the one, the one big change that we added
4:35:06 was to change it from 90 days to 30 days.
4:35:08 And we’d revisit it. That 30 days was good enough. The 30 days
4:35:12 was good enough.
4:35:13 We got to the end of 30 days and we weren’t at the point. We
4:35:15 made, we added the 50, or I don’t know
4:35:17 if the 50 was in the middle, but we got to the 50. We said, you
4:35:20 know, that’s good enough. When the 50
4:35:21 comes, we’re going to drop it. And then we changed it to, when
4:35:24 the 50 comes, we’re going to do a
4:35:25 parental opt out. But at some point, the 50 was good enough just
4:35:29 to drop it, to let the superintendent just
4:35:31 drop it. And, and now it’s not good enough. And I’m very, very
4:35:35 frustrated that we’re having this
4:35:38 conversation when we were almost to the finish line for many of
4:35:43 us to get to Friday and, and it continues
4:35:45 to not be good enough. And now we’re changing it again because
4:35:49 the parental opt out, you know,
4:35:51 getting down there is not good enough. And I, I am so grateful
4:35:55 that on here, we’re allowing the staff
4:35:58 for it to be optional for them, wrongly recommending. I’m so
4:36:01 grateful that, that this, or the recommendation
4:36:04 that we’re allowing, that we’re rec recommendation is for the
4:36:06 secondary students. But I think we just
4:36:08 need to keep it clear across the board from pre-k to where there
4:36:12 are youngest ones who are the very least
4:36:14 likely to have issues. Our parents knowing what the options are,
4:36:22 the ones who are extra afraid, have we
4:36:24 gotten any, do we have the KN95 masks available to kids?
4:36:27 Yes, we do. We have KN95 masks available to kids. If that’s what
4:36:35 the parent wants, we will provide
4:36:36 them to them. I know we, we had some problems with shipping.
4:36:39 They were coming from Singapore and,
4:36:40 you know, who knows ships getting stuck everywhere, but we have
4:36:42 them available for parents who are still
4:36:46 concerned and parents are waiting for the vaccine. You know, we
4:36:49 have those things. I, what was good enough
4:36:51 then, now that we’ve reached here, we keep moving the finish
4:36:55 line. And I’m, it’s very frustrating
4:36:58 to me. And I just ask that we would just go to what we
4:37:00 originally thought was good enough, which is when
4:37:02 we get to a good place in our county and an even better place in
4:37:05 our school district. And we’ve got
4:37:07 school districts all around the state that are showing they didn’t
4:37:10 do what we did. And yet they’re
4:37:11 also getting to those, that same good place that we don’t have
4:37:16 enough evidence to support
4:37:18 and, you know, continuing to put this restriction in place. And
4:37:22 I would just add that, you know,
4:37:24 Mr. Susan shared already my, my same frustration with the
4:37:27 parental opt out all along is the inconsistency.
4:37:31 Now I will tell you yesterday when I dropped off my son, I
4:37:34 watched, you know, kids. I was curious who’s
4:37:37 going to have a paper in their hand, who was going to not have a
4:37:40 mask because, you know, Monday was the
4:37:41 first day. And honestly, most of the kids at that middle school
4:37:44 got off the bus and they had their
4:37:46 mask on and went in the building. And I thought, well, either
4:37:48 they didn’t know or they don’t care or
4:37:49 they didn’t want to be the only kid because they’re middle
4:37:51 schoolers and nobody wants to stand out.
4:37:53 So I don’t know how it was the second day because today when I
4:37:55 saw them, they were outside and I
4:37:56 didn’t get to see them, uh, going to the building because we did
4:38:00 our, our walk. The rest of the week
4:38:02 will have yet has yet to be seen, but I, our, our teachers have
4:38:05 already said we have an MOA with the
4:38:07 teachers that say they’re not going to enforce it. They don’t
4:38:09 want to have to enforce it, which means
4:38:10 it will be dependent on the teacher and want in one teachers,
4:38:13 which honestly, it’s kind of like this
4:38:15 already, to be honest, in one teacher’s class, you have to wear
4:38:17 them in another teacher’s class. You don’t have
4:38:19 to wear them because this teacher is going to enforce it. And
4:38:21 this teacher is not going to enforce it.
4:38:23 And honestly, we’re back to the place where we were first,
4:38:25 talked about the opt out where it’s
4:38:28 mandatory. So if you child who does not have an opt out, if you
4:38:32 don’t have your mask on, you’re
4:38:34 going to get in trouble or I’m going to be correcting you all
4:38:38 day long, which is tiring. Well, you have
4:38:40 this student over here who doesn’t have to wear one at all. And
4:38:43 there, there’s no discipline there.
4:38:45 So the inequity in that is also frustrating. And the only time I
4:38:49 voted for a parental opt out was
4:38:50 because it was a lesser of two evils. And I, but I’ve hated it
4:38:54 all along and I still hate it.
4:38:56 And so I would just ask that we just let it go. We get to Friday
4:39:00 and we say goodbye and we move
4:39:02 forward and just be done with it. Thank you.
4:39:07 So we’re putting the teachers in a liability because of exactly
4:39:17 what she said. So imagine
4:39:19 yourself inside that classroom with that student that’s sitting
4:39:31 there and they have the opt out form,
4:39:36 but Johnny right next to him is dropping it or doing whatever
4:39:40 ADHD. And now he’s being forced
4:39:42 and now he will be disciplined for it. That teacher, if they’re
4:39:46 not doing it to efficacy in some,
4:39:49 in some of our schools, we’ve already heard from principals that
4:39:52 said that it would be on their
4:39:53 evaluations. That, and then I received emails from people that
4:39:58 said, how could you ever not think that
4:40:00 they should be, you know, reprimanded on their evaluations for
4:40:04 not having a mask?
4:40:05 The community doesn’t support it by the visions and what they’re,
4:40:09 by what you see on TV and what
4:40:11 you do in the community. The evidence doesn’t support it in any
4:40:14 single way.
4:40:15 Bus drivers are out of masks half the time. They can’t even
4:40:19 offer them to the kid.
4:40:21 We’re consistently moving the goalposts on our community. Our
4:40:25 community thinks this is it. This
4:40:27 is going to be good. We’re moving into it and then we move it.
4:40:29 This is it. We got the numbers here and
4:40:31 then we move it. And, and, and I got real scared when all of a
4:40:33 sudden I found out that we’re putting
4:40:35 that thing on AS 400 because that starts to become permanent.
4:40:38 The governors and the legislature are
4:40:41 getting ready to go in and they’re getting ready to change
4:40:43 everything that’s happening. The lunch rooms,
4:40:46 just so everybody is consistent, lunch rooms have a third of the
4:40:50 school in there with no masks on,
4:40:53 sitting right next to each other eating. Anybody wants to go
4:40:55 watch it, go to Vieira High School.
4:40:57 There’s 700 kids in a lunch room that are sitting there looking
4:40:59 at each other with their masks off
4:41:01 in one big room talking the whole time. So for 20, 30 minutes at
4:41:06 a time during the day,
4:41:08 our entire student populations are in massive non-mask areas
4:41:13 with each other. And ultimately,
4:41:17 where it all comes down to, to me is, is that if my kid, if I
4:41:23 told my kid to go wear a mask and I
4:41:25 wanted them to wear it in there, they’re not going to, or they’re
4:41:28 going to when they leave anyway.
4:41:29 So whether you give them an opt out, whether you do it or not,
4:41:33 the teachers are slowly going to not
4:41:36 enforce. The administration is slowly not going to, and it is
4:41:40 going to become non-valid. And my fear,
4:41:44 ultimately, right, is that when it comes time to come back up,
4:41:48 because it’s coming back,
4:41:50 this is three times it’s been in here, and it comes back, what’s
4:41:54 going to happen then? Are we going to go
4:41:57 right back to it? Are we just never going to come out of this?
4:42:00 And that’s my fear is, is that we as
4:42:03 individuals are, are not doing what we should, and we’re forcing
4:42:06 something on the parents and on the
4:42:08 children and creating a massive mental health problem for our
4:42:12 community. That’s it.
4:42:15 Thank you, Mr. Susan. If I could just address a couple of
4:42:19 comments from you both, and I, you know,
4:42:21 I, I want to make it clear that, um, regardless of how the vote
4:42:25 comes out tonight, I, I respect the
4:42:28 perspective and, and input from, from both of you, and I
4:42:31 understand your frustrations and where you’re at.
4:42:33 Um, one thing I, I do want to address, Mr. Susan, going back to
4:42:39 your original comments, was the, the fact
4:42:41 that the DCA stayed the, the, uh, judge’s comments, um, in the
4:42:49 beginning of the, the policy, and I just
4:42:52 promised myself I wasn’t going to go here, but since you
4:42:55 mentioned it, um, I think it’s important to note
4:42:59 that the DCA stayed the ban on the Department of Health policy,
4:43:05 but the DCA has not weighed in on
4:43:09 the legal analysis of that case yet, right? Because when they
4:43:13 filed for the appeal, they, they put the
4:43:16 stay back on the ban on mask, but they, they’re, the only
4:43:21 analysis that we have on all of this, at this
4:43:24 point in time, is from that one case, because the appeals court
4:43:28 hasn’t weighed in on any of the arguments
4:43:30 of that case. Is that a correct interpretation, Mr. Gibbs? Yes,
4:43:34 there’s no decision yet. So, I don’t
4:43:38 think that we necessarily need to, uh, need to worry about the
4:43:42 language in the beginning of it, and
4:43:44 that’s, that’s the only reason I say that. Um, to your point of
4:43:48 becoming permanent, um, as, as stated,
4:43:51 this, this policy can only go to the end of November, um, unless
4:43:56 we go into rulemaking to amend our
4:44:00 permanent policy. So, um, I get your concerns there, I
4:44:04 absolutely do, and I think that, um,
4:44:07 um, you know, it, it’s even, it’s in, it’s in the language of
4:44:10 the recommendation, it’s everywhere that
4:44:13 this is, this is it, it can only go there. Um, the
4:44:16 recommendation, which is what the motion is on,
4:44:20 actually removes the requirement for teachers to wear masks and
4:44:24 makes it strongly recommended for, for all
4:44:27 of the adults. So that would be our faculty, our staff,
4:44:30 volunteers, visitors, vendors. Um,
4:44:33 so I, I think there was some misunderstanding there. Um, and you
4:44:40 know what, you’re right. It,
4:44:41 it is a lot of work for our teachers, but our current policy
4:44:45 runs through Friday, and I would suggest
4:44:47 that the majority of the opt-outs have already, are already in
4:44:51 process, right? So, um, and, to your point,
4:44:55 Ms. Campbell, I don’t love the, the idea of an opt-out either.
4:45:00 Um, I commented initially that I
4:45:02 didn’t think it was going to be effective, that I thought it was
4:45:04 going to make a lot of work,
4:45:05 but the reality is, and I go back to, and, and this is the crux
4:45:10 of, of my choice, um,
4:45:13 is we still do not have vaccines available for our five through
4:45:18 12 year olds. And something came out
4:45:21 today, and I’ve not had a chance to read it in depth, but it
4:45:24 looks like we are very close to FDA
4:45:25 approval on that. Um, and so that, that is really what’s driving
4:45:32 my concern. And, and based on the
4:45:36 feedback that I’m getting from parents who have little ones that
4:45:39 say, you know, we, um,
4:45:42 we, we really have no protection for them if there is no mask
4:45:45 requirement. So, um, the,
4:45:48 the recommendation I put forward was to try to find a middle
4:45:50 ground that we could, um, come together on
4:45:54 that would address Ms. Campbell’s concern about employees, that
4:45:57 would address, um, concern about
4:46:00 any unnecessary paperwork, um, to put forward really what, you
4:46:04 know, the, the least restrictive,
4:46:06 given the fact that things do look so good and that we are so
4:46:09 close to a vaccine for our youngest ones.
4:46:12 Um, and so I, like I said, I, I respect your stances and, and I,
4:46:17 I’m not looking to,
4:46:19 to argue, but, um, and at the end of the day, I, you know, we’ll,
4:46:26 we’ll walk away however it comes
4:46:28 out and I will still have the utmost respect for you all. So I
4:46:31 just think that’s important to, uh,
4:46:33 the state. So, is there any additional discussion?
4:46:36 Was that called the question Ms. Megan? All right. These votes.
4:46:45 I think I’m going to have to.
4:46:48 Yes, ma’am.
4:46:58 I think I’m going to have to.
4:46:59 We did not.
4:46:59 No, we did not.
4:47:00 I had to refresh mine.
4:47:10 Did you approve my travel? Can you tell me that?
4:47:17 Oh, I just unapproved.
4:47:18 Thanks, Sadie.
4:47:20 Yeah, mine’s still stuck on this.
4:47:22 Yeah, mine’s given me.
4:47:23 Ms. Escobar, can you take a voice vote for us?
4:47:28 All in favor, please signify by saying aye.
4:47:31 Aye.
4:47:32 Those opposed, please indicate by saying nay.
4:47:35 Nay.
4:47:36 The motion passes free to you.
4:47:38 Yeah, Mr. Susan.
4:47:45 Dr. Mullins, just so that the parents in the community
4:47:48 understand, is there a way
4:47:51 to explain what’s happening?
4:47:53 Because, you know what I mean?
4:47:54 Like, I think right now everybody was, are we going to wear
4:47:57 masks?
4:47:57 Aren’t we going to wear masks?
4:47:59 But now, completely secondary, starting what, next Monday, will
4:48:03 not be required to bring an opt-out
4:48:05 or anything?
4:48:06 Right?
4:48:07 If you could just kind of just explain that for the people that
4:48:10 are on here, and then maybe send
4:48:11 out some kind of information tomorrow to the parents, that’s all.
4:48:14 Yes, sir.
4:48:17 We’ll work on communications as ASAP to our community, so they’re
4:48:21 aware of exactly what the standing is.
4:48:22 So the employees don’t, will be required to wear masks until
4:48:27 Friday,
4:48:27 and then coming back Monday, they’ll be in the clear, is that
4:48:29 what it is?
4:48:30 The mask policy, the current mask policy is in place through
4:48:33 Friday, the close of business Friday.
4:48:36 When employees return on Monday, masks will be optional for all
4:48:41 employees.
4:48:41 Students in 7th through 12th grade will be strongly recommended,
4:48:48 and students in elementary school
4:48:51 will still require a parental opt-out.
4:48:53 Thank you.
4:48:57 Yep, absolutely.
4:48:58 Thank you, Mr. Susan, for that clarification.
4:49:00 I’ll go ahead and also make the board aware, by the end of the
4:49:05 week, I will review the other
4:49:07 remaining mitigation strategies and provide schools and an
4:49:11 update, as well as the board,
4:49:13 by the end of the week, what the update will be for the
4:49:15 following week.
4:49:16 Thank you, Dr. Mullins.
4:49:19 All right, if I’m tracking correctly, we are back on item G39,
4:49:26 Dr. Mullins.
4:49:27 The next action item is G39 on department school initiated
4:49:33 agreement.
4:49:34 And board members, you may want to try to refresh your screen if
4:49:38 you were hung up on the travel item
4:49:40 while we, what are the wishes of the board?
4:49:41 Move to approve.
4:49:42 Second.
4:49:43 Moved by Mr. Susan.
4:49:44 Seconded by Ms. Campbell.
4:49:45 Is there any discussion?
4:49:46 Please vote.
4:49:57 - The motion passes 5-0. Dr. Mullins? - Item G40 is on
4:50:20 procurement solicitation. - What are the wishes of the board? -
4:50:24 Move to approve. - Moved by Mr. Susan.
4:50:27 Seconded by Ms. Campbell, is there any discussion? Please vote.
4:50:57 - The motion passes 5-0. Dr. Mullins? - Item G41 is to approve
4:51:03 the naming of the Adult and Community Education Manufacturing
4:51:07 Building to the Johnny Fred Bailey Sr. Manufacturing Building.
4:51:11 - What are the wishes of the board? - Move to approve. - Seconded
4:51:14 by Ms. Campbell, is there any discussion?
4:51:17 - I just hate that all the turmoil of the evening has diminished
4:51:21 other good things, but this was exciting.
4:51:23 I hope you guys read the bio of the gentleman. I haven’t gotten
4:51:26 to meet him. Sounds like somebody to meet, but I’m very pleased
4:51:29 with the name that was chosen for this building.
4:51:31 - Yes. Thank you, Ms. Campbell, for that recognition on this
4:51:35 particular item. I know we had a couple of community supporters
4:51:37 that came earlier. Excuse me. In support of the item and have
4:51:44 since left. So…
4:51:45 - I would echo Mr. Bailey has been a long-standing member of the
4:51:51 community and made, quite frankly, generations of investments in
4:51:59 our kids across the community. And it’s a very worthy
4:52:01 recommendation. And I appreciate the board’s support.
4:52:03 - Absolutely. Is there any additional discussion? Hearing none,
4:52:15 please vote.
4:52:19 The motion passes 5-0. Congratulations, Mr. Bailey.
4:52:23 - Thank you. - Yeah.
4:52:25 - Thank you.
4:52:27 - All right. Dr. Mullins.
4:52:39 - Item G-42 is to hear public comments on board policy 5-1-1-2,
4:52:44 followed by board action.
4:52:45 - Is there anyone present who wishes to make comments regarding
4:52:49 the revisions to board policy 5-1-1-2?
4:52:51 - I’ll do it.
4:52:55 I was just reading that. Revisions to number 5-1-1-2, entrance
4:53:01 requirements packet. Do you have a copy of the packet we can see?
4:53:17 - It’s on mine. - It was attached to the agenda.
4:53:19 - Okay. My question is, is it going to cost us anything, and who
4:53:27 is it benefiting?
4:53:29 - Legal.
4:53:30 - So it’s not a Q&A session, Karen. It’s just for you to make
4:53:34 public comment on the policy.
4:53:35 - Okay. I vote against it because I don’t know what it is, and
4:53:39 you all shouldn’t explain it. Thank you.
4:53:39 - Thank you. - That information is on the agenda.
4:53:47 - All right. Is there anyone else present who wishes to make
4:53:50 comments regarding the revisions to board policy 5-1-1-2?
4:53:55 All right. What are the wishes of the board?
4:53:57 - Move to approve. - Second.
4:53:58 - Moved by Mr. Susan. Seconded by Ms. Campbell. Is there any
4:54:01 discussion?
4:54:02 Hearing none, please vote.
4:54:06 - The motion passes 5-0.
4:54:27 Dr. Mullen.
4:54:28 - Our last action item is G-43 on the 2021-2022 Student Progression
4:54:34 Plan for Brevard Public Schools.
4:54:36 You are being asked to authorize the superintendent to advertise
4:54:40 for a public hearing on the plan.
4:54:42 - What are the wishes of the board?
4:54:43 - Move to approve.
4:54:44 - Second.
4:54:45 - Moved by Mr. Susan. Seconded by Ms. Campbell. Is there any
4:54:48 discussion? Hearing none, please vote.
4:54:52 - The motion passes 5-0.
4:55:13 We will move on to the information agenda, which includes items
4:55:18 for board review and may be brought back for action at a
4:55:21 subsequent meeting.
4:55:22 No action will be taken on these items tonight.
4:55:24 Dr. Mullins.
4:55:25 - There are two items under the information category.
4:55:28 - Does any member wish to discuss either of these information
4:55:32 items?
4:55:32 - All right, that then is going to bring us to board discussion.
4:55:41 Mr. Susan, you had a request for substitute vacant teaching
4:55:44 position discussion.
4:55:45 - Yeah, it’s real quick.
4:55:46 I just wanted to say kudos goes out to the ESF staff for going
4:55:49 out and covering all of our schools.
4:55:51 I know many people don’t know this, but because of the lack of
4:55:55 substitutes and vacant positions, our ESF staff, to include
4:55:59 superintendent, went out and covered into the schools.
4:56:03 So when this started happening, I started looking back over the
4:56:06 last six, eight months, and I realized that, you know, when I
4:56:10 substitute, I feel the school different than when I visited.
4:56:13 I don’t know if you guys feel that way, but it’s just different
4:56:16 when they close the door, you’re with the kids, and you can have
4:56:18 those communications.
4:56:19 So what I would like to do is move forward with us, with you,
4:56:25 maybe discuss it in a board workshop as an item, just discussion,
4:56:29 about possibly making anybody who’s not in the schools that may
4:56:33 be, you know, above the teacher grade, maybe in ESF, everybody
4:56:36 just substitute one day.
4:56:38 And the reason is, is that many of the individuals that we have,
4:56:42 including myself, I was a teacher many years ago, and I lost
4:56:46 touch with the classroom.
4:56:48 I mean, I was really into it.
4:56:49 I mean, I was there, but now when I get in there, I substitute,
4:56:52 I can feel it, but I, it’s not the same.
4:56:54 So what I would like to do is look into a possible policy to
4:56:58 have more involvement with our staff into the schools.
4:57:02 Not so much for filling the subs, I mean, that’s going to happen,
4:57:05 but just to get that feeling that we get when we, when we
4:57:08 substitute in there and feel it.
4:57:09 And even if it’s just one day, it gives them the perspective of
4:57:13 what our teachers are dealing with because every year is
4:57:15 different.
4:57:16 That’s it.
4:57:17 So I just wanted to bring that up and put it in towards a
4:57:20 discussion in the future.
4:57:21 That’s it.
4:57:22 Ms. Escobar, could you do me a favor and make a note to add that
4:57:27 to our future board offsite conversations?
4:57:30 There we go.
4:57:31 We got one coming up.
4:57:32 We just approved it today.
4:57:33 Yep.
4:57:35 Ms. Campbell, did you want to request that Mr. Gibbs move
4:57:41 forward with amending the public comment policy on that video
4:57:45 issue?
4:57:45 Yes.
4:57:46 If we can, if we can, I know, I don’t, I can’t remember what we
4:57:52 have on the agenda for our November workshop day, but there’s
4:57:56 room to squeeze that in.
4:57:57 I don’t think it’ll, huh?
4:57:58 All right.
4:57:59 I’ll, I’ll get with the, my parallel.
4:58:04 Is there any board member opposed?
4:58:06 No.
4:58:07 Okay.
4:58:08 Mr. Gibbs, you’re clear on what the area of concern is that
4:58:10 needs to be amended?
4:58:11 Yep.
4:58:12 Okay.
4:58:13 I have another.
4:58:14 Okay, that’s all right.
4:58:15 To see what happened with the mask mandate first.
4:58:18 Go right ahead.
4:58:19 So I’ve gotten some feedback.
4:58:21 I’m sorry, there are like little bugs crawling out over there.
4:58:24 Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of them.
4:58:26 Might have been my steak.
4:58:29 It’s gone.
4:58:30 Somebody stole it.
4:58:31 Or your bread.
4:58:32 There’s been some angst about the opt out policy.
4:58:35 And I asked Mr. Gibbs if he wrote and he said, no, it was
4:58:37 understanding.
4:58:38 It was kind of a conglomeration of what some other districts
4:58:41 have done.
4:58:41 So I, you, you may have gotten, I think there was at least one
4:58:44 email that came to all of us.
4:58:45 I’ve gotten a few to me questions.
4:58:47 I’ve seen some feedback on social media concerns about the
4:58:51 language of the opt out form.
4:58:53 Um, two, two problems.
4:58:55 One has to do with liability.
4:58:57 Um, and the other one has to do with, um, acknowledging that the
4:59:02 board can, uh, tighten or loosen restrictions as needed.
4:59:06 So, um, I would just put, you know, I signed the form.
4:59:13 I sent it.
4:59:14 I gave it to my kids.
4:59:15 I said, and put it in the mask basket, take the opt out or take
4:59:18 the mask, whatever you choose.
4:59:19 Take both, uh, whatever you choose.
4:59:21 But, you know, some people have concerns the liability part to
4:59:25 my understanding.
4:59:26 I don’t remember if this is exact statute, Mr. Gibbs, you can
4:59:29 help fill me in.
4:59:30 There was a, the, in the legislature this spring, they passed a
4:59:34 bill that had to do with, um, uh, COVID liability for schools
4:59:40 for, and even for hospitals and things like that.
4:59:42 There was another bill.
4:59:43 Um, so that if someone gets COVID in, uh, a business or a school
4:59:49 or whatever.
4:59:50 Who’s taking reasonable precautions, then you can’t sue because
4:59:54 you got COVID in that place.
4:59:56 So this is that statute, correct?
4:59:58 Mr. Gibbs.
4:59:59 Yeah.
4:59:59 76838.
5:00:00 Okay.
5:00:01 So when people, I think one of the concerns about that piece of
5:00:05 it was that if they signed this, they were saying that they,
5:00:08 they were losing all their rights to sue the school board for,
5:00:11 um, because they didn’t want a mask mandate.
5:00:13 And I, I don’t think that has anything to do with this.
5:00:16 No, that, that’s just referring to the statute.
5:00:18 That’s what the statute does.
5:00:19 If the school district is materially compliant with a
5:00:23 recommendation of a federal or state health agency, we are
5:00:26 immune from lawsuit unless certain requirements are met.
5:00:29 Right.
5:00:30 So the kind of people who would be signing an opt-out wouldn’t
5:00:33 really be concerned with that probably.
5:00:34 Um, so then the first part is also bothersome for some about the
5:00:39 school board, maybe tighten or loosen restrictions as needed.
5:00:43 I mean, I guess, technically we did that tonight by loosening,
5:00:46 uh, before the end of the 90 days, we could come back in our
5:00:50 November.
5:00:50 I don’t know why we do this, but in November 17th and tighten it
5:00:53 back up.
5:00:53 Um, but at some point the 90 days ends.
5:00:57 Um, so, you know, there’s been people saying I crossed out the
5:01:01 parts I didn’t like and signed it, or I sent in my own farm.
5:01:04 I’m not really sure what’s happening in this McDougal’s asking
5:01:07 about how is this being handled, but, um, I, you know, if it had
5:01:13 been, been me and nobody asked, could have just left it to my
5:01:17 child blank will opt out from wearing a mask, parent signature
5:01:20 and a date.
5:01:21 Um, but I just wanted to clarify that because I don’t, you can
5:01:26 understand it.
5:01:28 You don’t have to agree with it.
5:01:29 And I just tell people, just sign it, send the form.
5:01:31 You do what’s right for your family.
5:01:32 If you don’t feel like sign it, don’t, don’t sign it.
5:01:34 But, um, if you’re just saying, I understand that they will
5:01:38 continue to review.
5:01:39 I don’t have a problem with it, but some people may, but it
5:01:42 doesn’t really, it’s not really making very much of a difference.
5:01:44 Um, and if someone crossed it out, I don’t really know a
5:01:48 principal that’s going to say, no, you crossed out that one
5:01:51 sentence.
5:01:51 So I’m not encouraging people to cross it out.
5:01:53 I’m just saying, you know, I just feel like we created a bigger
5:01:56 problem with the way this was written.
5:01:58 Um, is there any.
5:02:00 Uh, movement into changing and just making it a little simpler?
5:02:06 Um, not that we make everybody do it over again.
5:02:09 Um, but since now we’re going to need this for another month, uh,
5:02:14 for our elementary school students.
5:02:15 Um, that’s what I would say, but people are still having a
5:02:22 problem with sign it and send it in.
5:02:25 So, um, like I said, cross out the words you don’t like,
5:02:30 highlight the words you like the best, you know, sign it, send
5:02:33 it in.
5:02:33 But I, but I did want to clarify the legal legalities of that
5:02:37 part.
5:02:37 You’re not signing that.
5:02:39 That’s already been established.
5:02:40 Yes.
5:02:41 It’s just a reference to the Florida statute granting immunity.
5:02:43 So there’s, there’s nothing in there that we’re saying you are
5:02:47 waiving it.
5:02:48 It’s just a reiteration and letting people know what Florida
5:02:52 statute is.
5:02:52 Right.
5:02:53 Thank you.
5:02:56 Madam Chair, just for clarification, I take responsibility for
5:02:59 the form.
5:02:59 I would, I directed staff to put a form together that was
5:03:03 reflective of what other districts had used.
5:03:05 The language that’s there is reflective of other districts,
5:03:08 albeit not necessarily on the form, but in other locations
5:03:11 across the district.
5:03:13 Mr. Gibbs, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe staff
5:03:17 did go through.
5:03:18 You did review the form, although you didn’t necessarily write
5:03:21 the form.
5:03:21 Yes.
5:03:22 I have no issues with the form.
5:03:23 Okay.
5:03:24 Thank you.
5:03:25 And that’s, that’s fine.
5:03:27 Thank you.
5:03:29 And I’m a big fan.
5:03:30 I’m a big fan of not reinventing the wheel.
5:03:33 Um, so I appreciate that you, there goes another bug.
5:03:36 Sorry.
5:03:37 It’s all coming me.
5:03:41 Um, so, but again, you know, if parents are concerned, you’re
5:03:47 not actually saying you’re
5:03:48 willing for them to be further restricted.
5:03:50 I mean, it’s, it’s just an acknowledgement or you understand
5:03:55 that.
5:03:55 So I just encourage people if you want to use the opt out to go
5:03:58 ahead and sign it because
5:03:59 it’s, it’s really not going to make one difference whether you
5:04:02 cross it out or sign it as is, but
5:04:03 you do need to have a form if you’re going to opt out.
5:04:06 And it’s not like, I’m not getting like dozens and dozens.
5:04:10 I’ve just seen a handful and I just wanted to address what that
5:04:14 actually means.
5:04:18 Thank you.
5:04:19 Ms. Campbell.
5:04:20 I appreciate you clarifying that.
5:04:21 Um, I’ve had a couple of inquiries as well.
5:04:23 So, um, I think that’s definitely important information.
5:04:26 Dr. Mullins, do you have anything more?
5:04:29 I do.
5:04:30 If the board doesn’t have any other closing items and I, it’ll
5:04:33 be a good one.
5:04:33 And I think you’ll appreciate hearing it quite frankly.
5:04:36 And so will the union and our principals.
5:04:39 Uh, credit to Dr. Thetty and staff were, have been working on
5:04:46 actually finding ways to incentivize our subs to cover what we
5:04:52 anticipate are soon to be what I’m calling high demand sub days.
5:04:56 So we’re, we are instituting a high demand premium pay
5:05:02 supplement for our substitutes who commit to subbing on Friday,
5:05:08 November 12th.
5:05:09 And or Monday and Tuesday, November 22nd and 23rd.
5:05:17 That’s the Friday after veterans day.
5:05:20 We have, we are closed.
5:05:22 Our schools are closed for veterans day on November 11th.
5:05:25 Uh, $50 for every sub that covers those days.
5:05:30 In addition to the regular daily rate, obviously, which actually
5:05:35 gets, I think even the lowest daily rate paid sub well above the
5:05:40 $15 an hour.
5:05:41 So, uh, it’s not where all the distance we want to go, but it’s
5:05:47 definitely a big step in the right direction.
5:05:49 And, uh, Mr. Savage, I’m disappointed that Mr. Colucci didn’t
5:05:54 have the fortitude to, uh, stay their whole evening to hear the
5:05:57 great announcement.
5:05:58 But I know that you will pass it along.
5:06:00 Just kidding.
5:06:00 Anthony had to give you a hard time.
5:06:02 I don’t know, past his bedtime.
5:06:05 Uh, but if the union would help us get that information out and
5:06:09 communicate that, we’re going to hit the highways and the byways
5:06:12 and encourage our, our subs to, uh, help us out on those days.
5:06:17 So that we ensure we’ve got our schools covered because those
5:06:21 are historically higher teacher vacancy days.
5:06:24 That’s phenomenal news, Dr. Mullins.
5:06:25 Thank you.
5:06:26 And thank you, Dr. Fetty and team for working on that to make it
5:06:29 happen.
5:06:29 We appreciate it immensely.
5:06:30 Anyone have anything else?
5:06:32 All right.
5:06:33 Hearing no further business.
5:06:34 This meeting is adjourned.
5:06:35 Have a great night.