Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:30 This is the organizational school board meeting of November 16, 2021. It is my privilege as superintendent to chair the school board meeting until such time as a chair is elected for the upcoming year. Pam, roll call, please. Misses Belford? Present.
0:52 Miss McDougall? Present. Misses Jenkins? Present. Mister Susan? Present.
0:56 And misses Campbell? Present. At this time, we will hold a moment of silent reflection and invite you to join us. Thank you.
1:25 If you would please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag and to the republic. One nation under God, indivisible, with equity and justice for all.
1:51 All right. That brings us to the organization of the board. First, we will need to elect a chair for this coming year, at which time the person elected will assume the responsibility as board chair.
2:03 And we’ll do some musical chairs. The board will then elect other officers and appoint individuals to committees where board representation is required or expected in various organizations across the county and in the state. Before we begin, I’ve asked Mister Gibbs general counsel to explain the process.
2:23 We’ll be proceeding with Gibbs. Good evening, board members. We follow Robert’s rules of order.
2:29 In pursuant to Robert’s rules of order for the election of the chair of the board, the presiding officer will be the superintendent, who will call for nominations. Any board member who wishes to make a nomination should call out. The first person to call out will be number one.
2:43 To make a nomination, I will assist the superintendent in determining who is the first nominator. The superintendent will then call for the nomination by that person and go down to the second. Then the third.
2:56 We’ll go back to the first person, the first nomination, and vote on that nominee. The nominee that gets the majority vote, three votes, will be the chair. If that person is the first nominee, that will end the process.
3:10 If the first nominee does not get three votes, we will go to the second. And so forth. The nominations do not need to be seconded under Robert’s rules.
3:19 I would be happy to answer any questions before we get started. All right. Again, Mister Gibbs will observe and inform me which board member makes the first nomination.
3:34 As I may have trouble distinguishing simultaneous voices, the floor is now open to nominations for chair. I have a nomination. Jenkins.
3:49 I would love to nominate Miss Belfort again as an acknowledgement for what probably has been the most difficult fear to navigate, and temperatures to navigate. And challenges not only for our students and staff, but our community. And so this nomination is just an acknowledgement of her effort and her expertise and her commitment to this school board.
4:26 Any additional nominees? The floor is open. There’s no other nominations. I’ll ask if there is a motion for nominations to be closed.
4:41 I shall move. Make them nominate. I move to close the nominations.
4:47 There. 2nd. 2nd motion made by Miss McDougall.
4:52 And second that, Miss. Jenkins. Jenkins.
5:00 All right. Just checking my notes to make sure I do this in the correct order. All right.
5:09 We will proceed to a vote for the nomination of Miss Belford for chair. They close? Yeah. Oh, we haven’t closed them.
5:20 Sorry. There was a motion. There was a second.
5:22 All in favor of closing the nominations, say aye. Opposed? Believe it was 50. Yeah.
5:36 The vote to close nominations was five to zero. Pam, you got that? Mister Gibbs, we now move to the vote of the nomination. Yes.
5:49 So all members of the board in support of Misty Belfort’s nomination as chair of the board, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay.
6:03 Pam? I heard a vote of four to one in favor of Miss Balfour as chair. At this time, I’ll call a short recess to have the technology reconfigured to accommodate the needs of the new chair. We’ll take the recess now.
6:24 It. All right. Welcome back.
8:03 At this time, I’ll open the floor to nominations for vice chair. I have a nomination. Miss Jenkins.
8:13 Oh, sorry. Mister Gibbs, are you recognizing. Oh, it’s you.
8:17 It’s Burke. Yeah. Okay.
8:19 I have a nomination for Miss Jenkins. Sure. I would like to nominate Miss McDougall.
8:30 All right. Are there additional nominations? I’ll nominate Campbell. Any additional nominations? All right.
8:52 Then I will call for a motion for nominations to be closed. Move to approve. Second.
8:59 Moved by Miss Jenkins. Seconded by Miss McDougall. Is there any discussion? All right.
9:07 All in favor of closing nominations, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right.
9:16 The motion passes. 50. Miss Escobar.
9:22 All right. So we will take the first nomination on the floor of the nomination for Cheryl McDougall. All those in support of Miss McDougall and the role of vice chair, please signify by saying aye.
9:38 Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Nay.
9:42 Nay. And the motion passes three to two. Does that mean you supported McDougall for vice chair? I supported McDougall for vice chair.
9:59 All right. So that closes out nominations. Correct, Mister Gibbs.
10:03 All right, Miss McDougall, do you need to sit here or would you rather sit there? It makes no difference, manager. It’s completely up to you. This is fine.
10:11 Okay. Mister Susan, would you like to switch? Do you want to switch? No, no, no. I just was giving her the option since she’s the vice chair.
10:18 Yeah. Okay. The next item on the agenda is to designate the date, time and place of regular and special monthly meetings, with exceptions.
10:26 Doctor Mullenhe, it’s my recommendation for the board to adopt the dates, times and places for these meetings as listed on the attached meeting date schedule. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second.
10:38 Moved by Mister Susan. Seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion hearing? None.
10:45 Please vote. Yeah, we’re logging in. I think I’m in the wrong one.
10:52 Hang on a second. Miss Escobar, did you need voice votes on those previous ones, or did you already have them fed in? I already had them in, but I put them in. Okay, thank you.
11:04 Sorry, I don’t know if I’m in the right. No, it’s. Opens up technical issues.
11:17 Yeah, I am. He’s like shrunk. I know I did.
11:22 Come on, open up. Okay. All in favor, please signify by saying aye.
11:30 Any opposed? Oh, here it is. The motion passes 50. All right, next.
11:37 We need to appoint board representatives to various committees for the upcoming year. Currently we have League of cities. Mister Susan, you are primary, and Miss Kate Campbell, you are alternate.
11:47 Do you guys wish. Do we do the board authorization part? Don’t we have to do that? The checks? I think we can do it now or we can do it after. Either way.
11:59 Yeah, it’s okay. As long as we do it tonight. All right.
12:04 So, League of Cities, are you guys desiring to keep your appointments there, or. I think being the fact that I’ve been that person, I’d love her to sit into a role like we should be rotating. Right.
12:17 So it’s up to you. I’m fine with that. My thing would be that I would.
12:25 I’m considering stay on Siak, unless somebody wants to keep that. And SIAC is a pretty big time commitment, so I don’t know that I. I wouldn’t mind taking SAAC, if that alleviates it for you taking Siak. Okay, so.
12:42 Sure. Do you want to give up Sayak, or is it your preference to stay? Well, right, it’s my preference to stay, but I mean, certainly, I’ve been on it for two years, and if Miss Jenkins would like the experience of sitting on. Well, no, I don’t.
12:53 If you. If you want to stay there. I mean, I think that’s smart, because what I don’t want is to take on another big one.
12:59 Yeah. And have sex. So, is there anyone else that would like to take on? I would take on lingo.
13:04 Cities. You want league of Cities. All right.
13:07 And then, Mister Susan, do you want to be alternate for League of cities? No, I’m good. I think Miss McDougall or somebody else would need to be an alternate. Or I can stay as alternate on now.
13:17 On you want to stay alternate, Kaden. Okay, so I have League of Cities Jennifer Jenkins as primary and Miss Campbell as alternate. All right.
13:28 Brevard County Values adjustment Board, mister. Susan, you love that one so much, I’m sure you’re not giving it up, right? I do. I’d love to keep it.
13:34 So you keeping that one, Miss McDougall, your alternate on that? Unless Miss McDougall wants it. I’m fine with alternate. I mean, you love it, but sure, keep it.
13:43 I’ll be the alternate. Okay. We play teams.
13:46 I mean, that’s one that there’s like no takers on and there’s no, like, we’re not reporting. There’s no networking. It’s just the intricacies of taxes.
13:56 So I love that you love it. So thank you, mister, for continuing to serve there. All right, Brevard Cultural alliance.
14:04 We have Jennifer Jenkins as primary and Cheryl McDougall as alternate. Anyone want to take on BCA? I don’t mind keeping it, but I don’t mind. Brevard cultural alliance.
14:15 I was the chair of that a while ago, so I like it, but I just don’t think it would be good to redo it. Okay. Katie, you good? Okay, so, Miss Jenkins, you’re good to stay primary on that one? And Miss McDougall, did you want to stay alternate on that one? Sure, I can stay alternate.
14:31 All right. Central Florida Public School Boards coalition. Typically, this is chair and vice chair.
14:37 I am. I am happy to stay unless somebody wants to take primary on that. I know.
14:42 Katie, you filled in for me a few times and I think that’s one that just to remind all of us, we can all go because it’s advertised. Just like League of cities. Just like Brevard Culture alliance.
14:51 Like we can do all of them together. Yeah. So are you.
14:56 Do you want to stay alternate or do you want to. I think Matt’s alternate on that one. Make sure all the alternate for that, then you want to be alternate or not? Absolutely.
15:10 Brevard Schools Foundation. Miss Jenkins, you are current primary. And Miss McDougall, you are alternate.
15:15 I’d love to have that one. Miss Jenkins, are you married to that one or would you? Absolutely not. Thank you.
15:22 So, Mister Susan will take. Oh, sorry. Yes, Mister Susan, is everyone good with that? Mister Susan is primary on Brevard Schools foundation.
15:35 And Miss McDougall, do you want to stay alternate or I can if no one else wants it. Sure. Okay.
15:41 McDougall, you’ll remain alternate choice charter school liaison. Miss Campbell, I don’t think you’re giving that one up. Well, I’m happy to stay there unless someone wants it.
15:50 We actually have a meeting with our charter schools on Thursday. So I was, you know, definitely hanging on for at least a Thursday. Unless someone really would like to take that.
15:57 So. Yeah, anyone? Okay, I’m good. Sounds like you’ve got it.
16:02 Capital outlay committee. Mister Susan, I’d love to continue to serve, especially because of the growth. But I do think that we need people.
16:10 So what I would like to do is if I do serve, I’d love to have somebody else come in every once in a while and just be in there because there’s good to know the growth of the community. Would you, next time you’ll have a meeting, would you send out the calendar invite? Yeah, absolutely. It’s a big deal.
16:25 I think. I was thinking about you, is what I was. Yeah, it’s lots of good info on that committee.
16:32 Everybody good with Mister Susan? Capital outlay SIOC committee. Miss Campbell, you would like to keep that one? I’m invested now. Right.
16:41 And Mister Susan, you were down as alternate. You want to stay alternate on SIoC? Yeah, I think. I think one of the reasons that I kind of stepped away from that was, is because the.
16:50 Because that’s my world, right? So I don’t want a conflict of interest. So me actually being an alternate almost is because then if she doesn’t, then I’ve got to fill it in. So I’d love to have somebody else step into that role just because of it.
17:01 Miss Jenkins, you want to pull alternate on side? Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks. All right.
17:08 School health and safety. Miss McDougal? I’d like to keep that one if it has a burning desire, but I’d like everybody good with that. Okay.
17:18 Bombay youth advisory board. Miss Campbell. So they’ve been kind of defunct over the last year, but hoping, I guess, once they get new students kind of back.
17:28 Covid has been difficult. Yeah, and they lost a lot of students that graduated and they need a new crew. So I still have it on my calendar every month, but they haven’t met since probably a year ago.
17:40 Okay, so. But we still need a representative for when they get back going. So, Miss Jenkins, are you good with it, how it is or you want to switch? No, that’s fine.
17:47 Okay. All right. Ami kids.
17:51 Miss McDougall, I would like to have someone else do that one. I’ll do it. Okay, great.
17:57 I mean, it’s in my district. I was gonna say. Right.
18:01 Great. All right, I think that is all. As far as appointments, unless there’s anything that anyone else needs to bring up.
18:13 All right. That is going to bring us to board authorization. Doctor Mullins, it’s the requirement to.
18:19 It is a requirement to authorize the superintendent to have signature facsimiles made of the chair and superintendent to be used for signing checks, and also to approve the continued use of the current signature facsimiles for district checks. Until new facsimiles are received, a motion and vote of the board is required for this issue. What are the wishes of the board? Motive? Second moved by Mister Susan, second by Miss Jenkins.
18:44 Is there any discussion carrying? None. Please vote. Probably you loosen my coordinate, you esque wire.
19:26 Was that a 5050? Before we proceed with the regular school board meeting, I want to remind everyone present that this is a business meeting of the board held in the public. As such, the board is authorized to adopt rules or policies to maintain orderly conduct and proper decorum in a public meeting. Please note that your presence here is subject to those rules and policies pursuant to Florida Statute 877.
20:37 13. It is unlawful and a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for any person knowingly to disrupt or interfere with the lawful administration or functions of any educational institution or school board, or knowingly to advise counselor, instruct any school pupil or school employee to disrupt any school or school board function or activity on school board property to facilitate a cooperative environment for all. Please be aware of the the appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity as identified in the agenda outside of your individual public comment opportunity, your role in the meeting is as an observer.
21:01 I will ask persons deemed to be knowingly or intentionally disrupting this meeting of the school board of Brevard county or not complying with policy to stop or leave. If persons receiving the warning choose not to follow my instructions, I will instruct Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies to take any law enforcement action they deem appropriate, and you may be escorted, detained, or arrested, depending on the conduct. Persons who refuse to depart after a warning may also be committing the crime of trespassing.
21:38 In accordance with Florida Statute Section 810.08, these statutes apply to conduct on all school board property, which includes this boardroom, as well as the outside of this building, to the sidewalks. If you continue to cause disruption, you are advised that you are in violation of Florida State Statute 877.
21:57 13. Or if you fail to leave the premises after being warned by the sheriff’s office, you are committing trespass, and the board has authorized the sheriff’s office to enforce these rules. In the event multiple individuals fail to adhere to these expectations and board business cannot continue due to disruption, I will call a recess and request that the law enforcement officers present clear the boardroom of attendees.
22:14 When the room is clear, the board will return and resume their meeting with no public presence. Those who are signed up to speak will be seated under the front entry area and called in when it is your time to speak. Before we move further, I would like to offer my fellow board members the opportunity to recognize staff, students, or community members.
22:26 Anyone have any special recognitions this evening? I do, but I can go last. Feel good to say that. I feel like I’m just, you know, following sue, my predecessor.
22:36 I get it. I do, Miss Campbell. So, on October 30, we had the marching band mpas.
23:04 They were wonderful. All our groups did so well, and we were extra proud of all the performances. I just have to say, over the last month in particular, we have had all county auditions.
23:11 We have had all state auditions. We have had a couple different solon ensemble competitions and as well as concerts and musicals. And I just want to do a huge shout out to our performing arts teachers, who have done such a fantastic job getting all these things going and getting ready for what feels like a more normal season of performances and competitions and really looking forward to those all county concerts there at the end of January.
23:47 So mark your calendars for the final Saturday in January. You should be getting more information about tickets later. But it’s just.
24:11 Just shout out to all our performing arts teachers, because they’re doing such a great job making things normal for our students. On November 5, junior achievement Space coast, which is a great partner of ours, was back in the schools for JA in a day at Discover elementary. Doctor Mullen was actually one of the instructors that day, and they had people from the business community, nonprofit organizations come in, and they always, except for last year because of our Covid year, but they come in and they take over every classroom and just have to make it fun.
24:15 Learning about money, learning about taxes, learning about business, entrepreneurship, just making it practical and fun for the kids, and so really appreciate their partnership and glad they’re back in our classrooms. They should. They have a whole schedule in the spring of going into the schools and doing more JA days coming up, and then, oh, actually, I’ll save the other ones, because I think Doctor Mullins had his.
24:34 I had them on his list. So that’s all I have. Great.
24:53 Thank you, Miss Campbell. Anyone else? I want to give a shout out to two of our school psychologists who were voted, have very, received some really great honors. First to Charles Eccleston.
25:04 Eccleston, who was voted 2021 Florida School Psychologist of the year. And then to Jessica Copeland, who was also voted 2021 early career, less than five years school psychologist of the year. So a big shout out to both Charles and Jessica.
25:17 Thank you, Miss McDougall, doctor Mullen. Thank you, Miss Belford. I do want to give a shout out to my amazing fifth grade class.
25:26 I was able to spend the day with Miss Dre’s class at Discovery elementary school where I was able to deliver the JA in a day program. My class was amazing. Best class ever.
25:55 So thanks for letting me spend the day in your classroom, Miss Dre. She obviously is a wonderful teacher. Her students were just absolutely delightful.
26:21 Also, I want to acknowledge and Mister Susan, stop me if I’m taking one of the recognitions you were going to share our annual, I believe it was our fifth annual Innovation Games day last Friday. We probably had well over a couple hundred students compete and participate in the innovation day. Super big shout out to several of our sponsors who made it possible.
26:47 Our big sponsor, Northrop Grumman, they brought something like over 70 employees to help facilitate and moderate the different competitions. But also Jacobs Corpse, L three, Harris Code craftworks, UCF Solar Energy Center, Larson Motorsports, and even our 45th space wing helped facilitate the games. We gave away, it’s six different categories.
27:27 We gave away over $12,000 in awards and prizes to the winning schools. I’m gonna because just to recognize our schools and our kids, I’ll do a quick, real fast list. Our sea purge competition elementary Palm Bay elementary winners University park, our middle school, Edgewood one sculptor charter, Emma Jewel, and then the high school.
27:43 Winners in that category were satellite, in first place, Palm Bay Magnet High and in second in satellite in third in the drones races competition at the elementary, Palm Bay elementary, first endeavor second Viera Elementary Third Middle West Shore Middle School West Shore junior senior high but the middle school category took first place, Edgewood took second, Central middle took third. High School West Shore took first and second, and Edgewood took third in our school promotional video competition. How cool is that? Our students developed a promo video throughout the day.
27:52 Satellite high school took first place, Madison took second, and Edgewood took third in shark Tank, just like you see on tv. Elementary school, Palm Bay elementary took first. Westside elementary took second and third.
28:00 Obviously they had multiple teams. And our secondary shark Tank winners, Palm Bay Magnet High School took first. And Madison Middle School took second and third.
28:07 Almost done. Coating elementary winners, Holland took first. Palm Bay elementary took second and third.
28:16 And our secondary winners, Viera High School School took first. Home Bay Magnet High, second. Satellite high, third.
28:27 And in the junior solar sprint competition, another very cool competition. Elementary, first place. Cape View elementary, second place.
28:51 Cambridge and Madison Middle School took both first and second place in that competition. So very exciting day. The kids were so engaging.
29:03 And a shout out to satellite high school, who hosted the day on top of running school themselves that day. We’re just wonderful, gracious hosts, but also to our Shereen Lucdin, our coordinator of STEM, and just did an amazing job with organization and coordination. So wonderful day.
29:16 And then last night, if I can have just a couple more minutes. Last night, Miss Campbell and I were at the academic teams finalist competition. So this is a six week long competition.
29:35 These are brilliant. High school kids come together, they compete across the district for six weeks. The 6th finalist teams come in here and they battle it out throughout the evening.
29:42 And then teams rise to the top. Edgewood took first, West Shore took second, and Cocoa beach forgot. It’s terrible.
30:05 No, galley wasn’t there. I think it was Coco beach. Sorry about that, Coco beach.
30:10 But we also select the all stars team. And it is the top competitor from each of the six finalists, who then makes up the Brevard superintendents all star team, who go compete at the state commissioner of education level. So these six brilliant young students will be representing us.
30:20 Jack Baptiste from West Shore. Tommy Tibbets from Cocoa Beach. Phoenix.
30:26 Boggs from Edgewood. John want from Edgewood. Nikhil Iyer from Edgewood.
30:33 Giancarlo Valdivia. I practiced it last night. I had him down last night.
30:46 From Holy Trinity. Forgive me, Giancarlo. And then our alternates, Jose Montalvo from Holy Trinity.
30:57 Matt Kreninger from West Shore, and Nate Horton from Cocoa beach. And a huge, huge, huge shout out to our amazing coaches. Mister Sean Johnson from Edgewood, and Mister Mike Prince from Cocoa beach.
31:15 And all of our academic team sponsor coaches who take on yet another extra duty to make it possible for our kids. So, thanks for letting me give our kids a shout out. Thank you, doctor Mullins.
31:32 At this time, I’m calling a recess so that we can make and may convene the leasing corporation meeting. The leasing corporation is now called to order. Doctor Mullen, the item for the board to vote on is to elect the following officials to the Brevard County School board.
31:45 Leasing corporation president, will be the chair of the school board. Miss Misty Belford, vice president, is vice chair of the school board. Miss Cheryl McDougall, secretary, will be myself, superintendent of the school board of Brevard county.
31:53 And treasurer will be Miss Cindy Lasinski, chief financial officer of the school board of Brevard county. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second moved by Mister Susan, seconded by Miss Campbell.
32:02 Is there any discussion voice vote on this, Miss? Voice vote. Okay. All in favor, please signify by saying aye.
32:14 Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. 50 policing corporation.
32:34 Time certain meeting is now adjourned. Hello. The school board meeting is back in session.
32:41 Okay, quickly, my recognition. Before we move into adoption of the agenda, I just want to give a huge shout out to our community for the way that they have really wrapped their arms around our schools recently. And it’s been some individuals driving it, but it’s also been, like the community coming around to support those individuals.
32:56 So. And I’m sure I’m missing some. These are just the ones that came before me that I was made aware of.
33:05 We had a parent, for example, that reached out and asked for donations to purchase pies for our teachers at Titusville High School. Small, individual, like, personal pies to recognize them. This week, within like ten minutes, she had all the money she needed to buy all the pies for that school.
33:19 And she ended up adopting another school to take pies to them as well. And that was fully funded as well. Within like 20 minutes, everything was covered.
33:29 We had one of our local folks that realized that the astronaut high school pantry was out of food for their students. And she put out a post on Facebook that she was going to Sam’s. If anyone wanted to contribute, she was going to buy a bunch, but she would buy more.
33:48 Katie, I think you know who I’m talking about. And I think it was over two to 3 hours. She raised over dollar 800, packed her suv full of items for the astronaut high school pantry.
34:00 Like, everyone just jumped in to help. Amazingly, we had one of our media specialists that posted that her kids wanted some specific books that were. I’m not even going to try to remember what the genre was, but it was specific book requests for, like, some 6th grade students in the media center.
34:22 And she said that she was going to look into them. And maybe for her birthday or for Christmas, she was going to ask for Amazon gift cards. She immediately had more than enough money to buy the books that her kids wanted in the media center.
34:38 And so, you know, I think those are just phenomenal examples of how obviously it took the one person to light the spark, right, to start that conversation. And we certainly thank them, but they couldn’t do it without the support of the entire community. And I think that’s just a phenomenal representation and a huge thank you goes out to all of those that are supporting our schools so passionately.
34:49 I would also be remiss if I didn’t thank our Brevard county parks and recreation department, who, yeah, huge applause to them. As I think the board knows. I had reached out to them as soon as the potential of us having Thanksgiving week came up and asked them if they could assist us.
35:05 And boy, did they step up in a huge way. They have. I want to say it’s ten plus locations throughout the county that they have opened camps next week.
35:20 It’s on sliding scale, so for low income families, they can afford it. And we’re also working on scholarship and voucher options for those families who can’t. So literally, as soon as I said, do you think you could help? There was no question whatsoever that they would step up and do that.
35:44 So just, you know, it’s just heartwarming to see the way that people are wrapping their arms around our schools and supporting it. So thanks for all that are pitching in on that. We appreciate it immensely and with that we are going to get to the adoption of the agenda.
36:15 Doctor Mullins, chair and members of the board on the published agenda we have administrative staff recommendations, 33 consent items, six action items and nine information items. Changes made to the agenda since being released to the public on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 are as follows. There were revisions to Item A, twelve and administrative staff recommendations.
36:24 Under the consent agenda, confidential attachments were added to item f 14 on student expulsions, item f 22 on the 2021 to 2022 calendar amendment adding November 22 through the 24th, 2021 as holidays for all. A discussion item on athletic Esser three funds has also been added. The consent item on appoint school board representative to the City of Melbourne local planning agency has been deleted.
36:56 What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve second moved by Mister Susan. Seconded by Miss McDougall. Is there any discussion hearing? None.
37:13 Please vote. Miss Belford. Yes.
37:39 I didn’t want to say it as a discussion because it wasn’t about whether or not I was in favor of something, but can I just bring something up about the Thanksgiving break edition? Yeah. You want to do that now or discussion? Just really quick. Do you mind if I do it now? And while people were paying attention to that, I just want to bring up.
37:46 I had this conversation with Doctor Mullins earlier, and I know Misty brought it up that the county has a sliding scale for people who are looking for some camps or daycare for their students from Monday through Wednesday. But I just want to bring it to everyone’s attention who’s listening that if you feel that maybe that’s not enough or that is a difficult route for you, absolutely reach out to your administration. Doctor Mullins has let his staff know and administrators know that they are there to help you.
37:51 And we have funds available so that we. We can support you as well to cover those costs if you need be. So absolutely reach out and let your administrators know.
38:03 That’s going to be the fastest and easiest route to that. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Jenkins.
38:44 Doctor Mullins, will you please tell us about the administrative staff recommendations on tonight’s agenda? There are three administrative staff personnel for you to consider this evening. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second moved by Mister Susan, seconded by Miss Campbell.
39:17 Is there any discussion? None. Please vote. I think I may be the only one whose vote hasn’t gone through.
39:33 Can you record me as an I and give me account, please? Thank you. All right, Doctor Mullins, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Miss Deborah Kranell on her reclassification and transfer from the position of assistant principal in elementary leading and learning to the position of acting principal at Apollo Elementary School. Miss Cornell, welcome back to the principalship.
39:46 As the board may recall, DJ Cornell is a retired former BPS principal. Came back and served as assistant principal. We’re certainly pleased that, Miss Cornell, you have successfully failed retirement and come back to serve us.
39:55 Continue to serve us with excellence. So thank you for taking on the responsibility of acting principal at Apollo. Doctor Mullins, can we start having them come back, you know? Right.
40:27 And bring them back if they would like. I mean, I don’t think we should twist any arms, but, you know, if they’d like to join us, I think that would be awesome. I think they all feel pretty big about it.
40:33 These are speakers on agenda items. There’s no items. All right.
40:48 We are now at public comments for the revisions to policy zero one six 9.1. Public participation at board meetings.
40:56 Speakers addressing agenda items will have up to three minutes if ten or fewer speakers are signed up. We currently have six speakers signed up to speak to agenda items. Speakers have signed up to address non agenda items.
41:06 We’ll each have 1 minute at the conclusion of business tonight. We have at this .6 speakers on.
41:19 Looks like five speakers on non agenda items. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. We have a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your time.
41:32 When your time is over, you’ll be asked to stop and allow the next speaker his or her turn. Always keep in mind that reasonable decorum is always expected and your statements should be directed to the board chair. The chair may interrupt, warn, or terminate a participant’s statement when time is up.
41:57 It’s personally directed, abusive, obscene or irrelevant. Should an individual not observe proper etiquette, the chair may request the individual leave the meeting. Let’s all encourage an environment appropriate for our children who may be present or watching from home.
42:17 We’ll begin with our first three speakers, Katie Delaney, Karen Colby, and Diana Haynes. And Miss Delaney is speaking on item f 21, critical teacher shortage area. I’m Katie Delaney and I wanted to talk about the staffing issue that we’re having.
42:42 After speaking with many teachers from around the county, it is clear discipline is one of the major factors that is causing our teachers to resign. Here’s an example. One teacher shared with me that a student of hers stood up in the middle of class and said, I’m going to isshen in school suspension.
42:59 She then explained, the kids in ISS get to chat with others, play on their phones, basically do whatever they’d like. Why aren’t these kids made to sit quietly and read or do homework, etcetera, put them to work? They could help with the custodial staff, serve food in the cafeteria. I’m sure there are constructive punishments that these kids can be doing.
43:29 Other teachers explained to me, detentions were scheduled to meet the needs of the student and or parent, sometimes weeks between the offense and the detention. There needs to be swift consequences to their actions. Detention is meant to be inconvenient.
43:44 That’s why it’s a punishment. If these disciplinary problems don’t get rectified, not only will we have teacher retention issues, but also equity issues. How is it equitable that students who come to school ready and willing to learn keep having their learning environment disturbed by other students who either cannot or will not behave in the classroom? This is a major issue contributing to the achievement gap as well.
44:00 How can students learn or catch up with all the disruptions? I am asking you to please give the teachers support. Stand behind them when they legally discipline the kids. Children need boundaries, they need rules.
44:22 They need consequences when they choose the wrong thing, and they need praise when they make good choices. The teachers in this community need support of this board, their administration, and above all, kids, parents. And as one of those parents.
44:33 I will stand behind any teacher who sees fit to discipline my children if they’re not behaving in school, even if I have to go sit in that classroom myself and give the eye to my children. Our teachers need our help even more so than money. They said discipline is the number one thing.
44:43 We need to figure out something, because the issues are just too much. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Delaney.
44:49 Karen Colby is speaking on the selection of the school board chair. Hey. Thank you for your time tonight.
44:54 This is. I’m going to try to be very punctual in my timing. Politics.
45:21 Partisanship has no place in the schools. It really doesn’t. From our school board.
45:43 This comes from the top down. Watching what just happened, I’m certain I just witnessed a coup. How better to punish an individual who supports parents rights than to remove that individual from a position for their apparent support of parents rights? How better to let the people listening to me now to understand that we are actively candidate searching now for people who we didn’t think we were happy to do that on.
46:04 It’s really important to our kids that we put up a strong face in that we’re consistent as parents and voters. It’s becoming clear the courts are being abused by school boards in general to control parents thoughts. Now, we are given the rights that are in this document here that Governor DeSantis sworn to legislation should a member.
46:12 Something that hit me about parents rights is we also have a right that the people who are representing us on the school board, if they’re sanctioned by the courts, we’re going to expect you all to rebuke that person from this body and to consider removing them from the board when this rebuke happens. I believe it’s occurring right now. It’s time we get on with the business of our children.
46:23 Please. And off tv or being interviewed and wasting the court’s time with frivolous court. So, Miss Colby, if you could just keep it focused on the agenda item.
46:37 Okay. I was gonna also speak because it’s an agenda item about sports equity, and I kind of been combining them. I’m really not happy with what I just saw happened.
46:47 Okay. Equity of sports means a lot to a lot of people. I want to speak, coming from a parent who had six children go through upper level sports facilities, I want to speak about Rockledge High School.
47:02 I came here to actually do that because watching track and field for years now, I admire their program so much. They don’t have any facilities. They have to practice, as far as I know.
47:13 Still at the era. My kids were all, I want to say, track stars, but a couple of them were actual track stars. And when I watched Rockledge performing at the level they were performing, if they had the facilities that satellite had, I’d put them at national champions.
47:29 And this is a good way to get the kids to get to college. So the fastest way to be equal to kids quickly is through sports. And it’s the most way that’s not debated about.
47:38 Everybody likes sports, and the track and field team there deserves it. So does their long distance running. And the football field would benefit, too, because it would involve fixing the track, the football field, that would bring lacrosse, soccer, women’s events.
47:41 And they don’t have the things satellite has. And I’d like to have all schools equal in their sports. And that’s what I wanted to say, but I was just kind of upset about that whole chairman thing.
47:56 Congratulations to you. Thank you. Thanks, Miss Colbye.
48:04 All right. As Diana is approaching, Diana is speaking on board policy. Zero one six 9.
48:14 1. As she’s approaching, the next three speakers will be Sophia Patterson. Although, Sophia, if you would be prepared, I’m going to need clarification on your topic.
48:22 It doesn’t appear to be an agenda item, so I’ll ask that when you come up. Okay. And then Sarah Mirsky and Julia Anton.
48:27 So, Diana, on zero one six 9.1, can you remind me what that is? Remind you what? What is 0.61? I’m very confused and I’m kind of upset.
48:33 This is called public comment. Your rules to make them agenda items really disturbs me because. So I’m going to interrupt you.
48:40 I’m going to interrupt you for 1 second. Okay. Just because we need to follow process.
48:44 So the note that I have here is that you are speaking on our board policy. Zero one six 9.1, public participants.
48:50 Is that your intent to address? Yeah, public participation. That’s what I’m discussing right now with you. Okay.
48:56 I just didn’t. I hadn’t started your clock because I wasn’t sure if you were waiting on clarification. No, I didn’t.
49:10 Zero 1.69 was. I think I also added about the board nomination.
49:46 Not on this one, but I’ll go ahead and start your clock and you can address your concerns. Okay. Yes.
50:06 And like I started out saying that public comment is just that, comments from the public. You are restraining us by dividing it off into agenda items only. We are here to speak to you as the taxpayers and parents and the public.
50:46 And we should be able to speak about whatever it is we want to speak or we have issue with. You also mentioned non agenda items at the end of the meeting, I’d like to know what is the purpose and point of that because is it public comment then? Is it still on camera? Can the public still view complaints, accolades, issues that the public has? These are questions and concerns I have about this entire public comment. I didn’t get a chance to find out whether or not you passed the new 1 minute rule, which you might as well.
51:02 That was really great. I mean, I don’t know anybody that can make a clear thought in a minute or less that has any validity, but I’m going to come back and I’m going to come back under the non agenda items to speak about cameras in the schools, usage of cell phones up on the dais, and lawsuits that the taxpayers are paying for, and that’s it. Thank you.
51:12 Thank you so much. All right. Sophia Patterson, can you clarify for me? The note I have is here is oath of office, which doesn’t seem to be an agenda item as that what you’re speaking on this evening, that is in part of it, as well as Florida statute 1001.
51:23 42, which was mentioned on the agenda. So I don’t think we have an agenda item for Florida statute that wasn’t made clear. It does list that it is on the agenda and I did click into it and that is what you have for 1001.
51:45 42. Okay. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to.
52:03 We don’t have a very long agenda, but I’m going to go ahead and put you into the non agenda pile. No, because I thought that I would have three minutes to speak. It does indicate that that is an agenda item and I’m not sure that had to be distinguished as such.
52:20 But when you look at the agenda for this evening, that is included as an agenda. So we. Ma’am, we don’t vote on statute, so that’s not an issue that the board would be voting on.
52:36 We’ll be happy to hear you and the non agenda speakers. Okay. How is it not an agenda item when it’s listed as an agenda for today? If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll be happy to speak with you after the meeting about the specifics of it or have our attorney do it.
53:04 Okay. And I’ll call you back up with the non agenda speakers already listed for non agenda items. I just don’t understand how you can have language phrased in that manner indicating that section 10 zero 1.
53:12 42 is listed as an agenda item. This is. This is not an appropriate time for this discussion, so I’m going to ask you to step back so we can finish the rest of the public comment, and then I’ll bring you up for the non agenda item.
53:20 Okay? All right. Sara Mirsky speaking on item f. Project management, it looks like.
53:30 Good evening, madam chair and board. My name is Sarah Mirsky, and I’m a mother, wife, student, stakeholder, registered voter, constituent in district two, and I have two children in the Brevard public school system. I hope that the board has a wonderful Thanksgiving, a merry Christmas, and a happy new year.
53:36 As I will not be meeting. I will not be at the meeting on December 14, as I’ll be graduating college that day, I wanted to clarify my support for teachers and BPS staff having Thanksgiving week off. I fully support teachers and staff getting much needed time off.
53:59 I just wish the board would have listened to us about how hurtful policies put a lot of stress and unnecessary work on our teachers and staff, including but not limited to the illegal mask mandate. I want to especially thank the board for quickly responding to the repair issues at endeavor elementary. This is a health and safety issue, and I’m glad that the BPS board is very concerned with this, as well as the achievement gap, which we will continue to follow up on.
54:10 Now, I want to address inappropriate books being taken out of school district libraries. So, Sarah, I have. I’m going to stop your clock.
54:14 Thank you. I have your topic as construction f, so I’m going to ask you to stick to that topic. Okay.
54:32 I addressed that, and so I just would like to finish the rest of. As long as you keep it on agenda item. Absolutely.
54:40 Okay. If not, then I’ll bring you back in the non agenda item, and you can speak to the off agenda items. I have no problem with that.
54:51 Okay. And then how much time will I have? You’ll have 1 minute on the non agenda. Okay, well, I’d like to bring up the agenda item of public participation, and my point on that is that other school districts give three minutes and they have all their speakers all at one time.
54:56 And in fact, if you’re a representative, like the head of the teachers union, the head of moms for liberty, Florida, freedom keepers, get, actually six minutes to speak. Thank you. And go ahead and put me for the 1 minute.
55:06 All right, thank you. Thanks. Sarah Wyatt stumbo.
55:20 Oh, sorry. Julia Anton and I have you speaking on policy 252020, curriculum adoption. The newest fad for organizations that are storming board meetings is to claim that if we teach history truthfully.
55:25 That there’s only one possible result. And that is that all schoolchildren will learn to hate all white people. I’m calling who I on that.
55:29 I learned about the Holocaust without learning to hate Germans. I learned about the evils of slavery without learning to hate white people. I witnessed 1964, the schoolhouse doorstand.
55:39 I witnessed being chased around the schoolyard. Because my parents didn’t vote for George. George Wallace.
55:47 I didn’t learn to hate all white people. We can teach history, and we can teach it truthfully. Without suddenly everybody hates everyone white.
55:55 So why am I here? I’m here to say that when that fake outrage. Inevitably presents itself in these school board meetings. And they start giving you all that hooey, respond to it.
56:13 Miss Anton, I’m going to interrupt you for a moment. And just ask you to speak to the agenda item. Okay.
56:23 Not to. Not to comments from others. But specifically to the curriculum.
56:28 Adoption, please. That’s fine. They appear and say, we want to adopt specific criteria, specific curriculum.
57:01 Or to get rid of specific curriculum. On the belief that you can’t have certain curriculum. Without making all white.
57:09 Everybody hate all white people. And I’m saying when that manifests itself. Don’t listen to it.
57:17 Because it’s who I. Thank you, ma’am. Okay, that is going to move us into the consent agenda. Doctor Mullen? Madam chair and board members, there are 33 agenda items under this category.
57:23 What are the wishes? I’m sorry? Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent agenda hearing? None. I’ll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Move to approve.
57:56 Second, moved by Mister Susan. Seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion? Hearing? None.
58:04 Please vote. It looks like I am the last one not to have voted. Again.
58:11 If you would record me as an I and give me account on the vote, please. All right. Motion passes.
58:16 50. That is going to bring us to the action agenda. Doctor Mullen, there are six action items on tonight’s agenda.
58:56 The first item is g 47. On department school initiated agreements. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve.
59:04 Second, moved by Mister Susan, seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion? Hearing? None. Please vote.
59:10 I voted, and then I disappeared. And the motion passes. 50.
59:16 Dr. Mullen, item G 48 is on procurement solicitations. What are the wishes of the board? 50. Approved.
59:20 Second moved by Miss Campbell. Seconded by Mister Susan. Is there any discussion? Hearing.
59:32 None. Please vote. The motion passes.
59:41 50. Doctor Mullins, item G 49 is to approve the naming of the Viera High School media center. To the doctor David J.
59:58 Mumford. Media center. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve.
1:00:02 Second moved by Mister Susan. Seconded by. I heard Miss Campbell.
1:00:11 I don’t know who else was in there. I’m sorry. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve.
1:00:43 Wait. I have a motion in a second. Is there any discussion? I would just say that reading through the letters in support of the naming after Doctor Mumford, it was.
1:00:56 It was a wonderful thing to see how this school in particular wants to honor his name and his memory by naming the building after him. So. Good job, Viera.
1:01:01 Hi. Yes, that was the second thought. All right.
1:01:42 The motion passes. 50. Doctor Mullen.
1:02:00 Item G 50 is to approve the renewal of the Immajule charter contract. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second moved by Miss McDougall.
1:02:34 Seconded by Mister Susan. Is there any discussion it. The motion passes.
1:02:39 50, Doctor Mullins. Item G 51 is to approve the renewal of the Pineapple Cove Classical Academy West Melbourne charter contract. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve.
1:02:45 Second moved by Miss Jenkins. Seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion? Carrying.
1:02:54 None. Please vote. The motion passes 50, Doctor Mullins.
1:03:16 And item G 52 is to authorize the superintendent to advertise for a public hearing to approve the charter contract for Florida High School for accelerated Learning, Brevard county, to be held on December 14, 2021. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Second moved by Mister Susan.
1:03:40 Seconded by Miss McDougall. Is there any discussion? Hearing? None. Please vote.
1:04:07 Did you get a little red? Yes. It’s telling me that votes are closed for some reason. All right, the motion passes.
1:04:32 50. All right, that brings us to the information agenda. The information agenda includes items for board review.
1:04:45 And we brought back fraction of decisions subsequent meeting. No action will be taken on these items tonight. Doctor Mullins, there are nine agenda items under the information category.
1:04:51 Does any member wish to discuss anything else on the information agenda? All right. Does anyone have anything else they want to report? Mister Susan, you had asked to have a discussion item added on athletic Esser three funds. Yeah.
1:04:57 So? Thank you, madam chair, for giving me the opportunity to speak. We had a meeting last week where the Esser funds were discussed in dealing with many of the positive things that we can bring back to our districts. To include the mental health and a lot of the positive gaps that we’ve created because of COVID One of the areas that I felt very strongly about and spoke about was the athletic programs and facilities and stuff like that.
1:05:09 That we currently have. So right after the meeting, I engaged with staff and said, hey, what’s the plan moving forward? We’ve got a lot of need out there. And to my, like, extreme excitement about it, they had an amazing plan, and I just kind of wanted to go through that so that the individuals that saw the exchange last week would understand that there’s a plan moving forward, and a lot of our athletic directors would have a direction on what they were going to be looking at and stuff like that.
1:05:12 So many individuals that are out there right now may or may not know that the facilities across the county are looking. There’s need in multiple layers, right? So our school district started in an area that I’m going to ask Doctor Mullins to talk about where they started upgrading, whether that was tracks and other things, but there’s other things. There’s Rockledge High school that has a football field that’s not on their field, right? So they’re incurred costs from transporting their band and everybody else that’s going over there.
1:05:24 There’s. West Shore junior senior high school has a locker room that rivals a horror film, right? There’s a lot of different things. So Galley’s gym, and there’s carpet still hanging from the gym.
1:05:44 And it’s nobody’s fault. It’s not like there’s. It just hasn’t been an opportunity for us to go out and find those things.
1:05:54 We needed athletic trainers in all of our schools. Our weight rooms were falling apart, safety issues. There was netting that wasn’t holding back.
1:06:02 Softballs and baseballs were flying into the crowds. I mean, there was just stuff that we needed to do, and it’s nobody’s fault that it wasn’t. But because Esser was, because Covid came, all of the opportunities that we had, the fundraise were gone.
1:06:06 We missed our homecomings. We missed our proms. That gave us the opportunity.
1:06:28 We missed a lot of the football games that drew the large crowds. We missed all of those things, and that’s what this money was for. So I said, hey, here’s some of the biggest concerns I have that I’ve heard, heard before, and I’d like to move forward.
1:06:39 And Miss Moore came out and said she’s working on and has had them agreed to an athletic trainer in every single school in the entire county. That’s huge. I will tell you as a former coach that sat back and we would go to schools where we would have an athletic trainer, and the guys across the way didn’t have them.
1:06:49 So our athletic trainer was running back and forth across the field. And some days, there will wasn’t an athletic trainer on either side. And you have coaches trying to make protocol decisions on concussions and stuff like that.
1:06:56 And in some cases, you have good coaches to do that. In some cases, they just don’t know. Sebastian river lost a kid because they made a decision that they didn’t have athletic trainers.
1:07:00 It was a situation. So that’s huge. And I want to say thank you to Miss Moore.
1:07:25 I talked to Sue Han and our facilities director, and she said that they knew about the netting on the fields, and they’re already moving forward with that. So they’re already putting together a plan to take care of that as they’re starting to do a lot of the drainage issues and stuff like that at each one of the schools. And then there’s some of the other issues, like I started hearing, like, Palm Bay has.
1:07:38 They can’t. Palm Bay High School can’t even host a local, like, their own meet because they don’t have a long jump pit. So, like, these are all things that need to happen.
1:08:36 There’s. When I came to the table, I said, I want weight rooms to be fixed throughout the entire county because I heard about what happened at cocoa, right? But the problem is that some schools, they don’t need a new weight room. Some schools need a new locker.
1:09:03 Some schools need a jump pit. Some schools need this. Some schools need a transportation to the other ones.
1:09:29 It’s everywhere, right? So it. Sue took. Stepped up and said, here’s what we’ll do.
1:09:52 We’re going to create a master athletics plan that identifies the need of each one of schools and then takes that need and identifies it from first to 15 or whatever it is. And then what we’re going to do is put it all on a schedule. Because if we just don’t do that and we just come forward with, like, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, then what ends up happening is we just take care of this over here, over here, and things like locker rooms and stuff may not get done.
1:10:13 So I’m looking forward to that. I’m just so excited that we have a plan moving forward, because we did. Doctor Mullins, do you want to talk about some of the stuff we did before this tracks and stuff? Yes.
1:10:44 To that point, you know, Brevard county, the Brevard public Schools went through what I would call an athletic facilities renewal drought during those several years when we didn’t have capital funding to renew our facilities at the level any one of us would be satisfied with when we had our community generously approve the first sales surtax. As much as we would have liked to prioritize our athletic fields and facilities in that proposal, we had to prioritize H Vac, we had to prioritize failing systems and infrastructure for our schools. And fortunately, our community again rallied and responded with enormous support for the renewal of this second sales surtax, which then was able to include having taken care of some of those dire infrastructure needs in the first sales tax round.
1:11:09 Put addressing some of our athletic facilities. A large priority right now is our tracks across the district. And I think, if I remember correctly, I think we just approved Rockledge High School’s track resurfacing, which includes a rubberized surface, and that will then transfer and translate across other schools over the life of the Certacs.
1:11:35 I think upwards of $1.5 million investment in our athletic facilities. But on top of that, because we’re also seeing the favorable property tax return, our capital budget, which is separate from surtax, as the board knows, has grown some, and we’ve been able to set aside and the board has prioritized funds for athletic facility renewal.
1:11:50 And that’s where funds for the baseball field netting came in. This is all possible. Doctor Ramjit, our assistant director of student activities and athletics, has been compiling that needs assessment of our athletic fields and facilities, and that’s what’s allowing our facilities team to begin prioritizing.
1:12:19 What are those facilities that need be addressed first? And so on. We have built into the Esser three grant proposal capital investment for athletics. As the board knows, we’re moving forward to introducing or making available the opportunity for competitive cheerleading next school year.
1:12:40 It will require capital investment, primarily mats, which we are going to be able to fund through Esser, as well as we’re going to be acknowledging the, the need of our staff to take on the responsibility of coaching. And we love our community coaches, we love our school based coaches and the additional support that they can provide our students on the field, in the gymnasium and so on. So we have included in our Esser proposals.
1:12:54 The board recalls a significant supplement increase for all extracurricular supplements for our teachers and community coaches across the district. I commend this board for recognizing we need to prioritize. We’ve needed to prioritize and elevate our investment, both capital and in human capital, of our athletic programs, coaches, as well as our facilities.
1:13:08 I think we are making great strides in that direction and the work that mister, or, excuse me, Doctor Ramjit is doing to continue the needs assessment is going to make us better. And every year we can sustain that renewal through our capital budget as it continues to grow as the sales surtax has helped us kind of accelerate the process as well. So, good news all the way around.
1:13:10 I’m just so happy that Doctor Mullins, you know, thank you so much for the direction on doing that. Also, he saw that the need for that was needed to be increased. So since the last time we spoke last week, he found an opportunity to increase that essay, $250,000 for the facility.
1:13:14 Also, some of the things to put on our radar, okay, is that our swimming pools are like somali warlord zones for coaches to fight over. Right? And we have an MOA with the county that we need to go work with because our schools are having difficulty inside of the, you know, swim swimming times and everything else. And the guys that have the actual schools where we have swimming pools are happen to share the time.
1:13:34 So we need to figure out a solution wrapped around how that can work with the facilities around the entire county. And if that’s the county bending on their MOA or us or however that works, and we do that. The other thing to keep in mind, we send almost six to eight kids every year for beach volleyball.
1:13:49 The national scholarships, division one, UCLA, and everything else. And right now we could do well with adding a couple of beach volleyball, or at least one in the district that we can have. There’s six club teams.
1:14:00 They compete, they do stuff. But it’d be nice to bring them on officially because we already have the infrastructure, we’re already sending kids, and it would be nice to have something. And those are just two things to put on your guys radar as we move through.
1:14:04 But. So here’s the plan. So we have three buckets.
1:14:22 We have esser, which is coming out. Esser three. We have the facilities operate.
1:14:33 We have the facilities capital outlay, and then we have the operating budget from those three buckets. Depending on what it is that is needed, we’d be able to fund some of these in an orderly fashion after being identified by each school. And the reason for that is that the Esser funds that come out are narrowly focused on the.
1:14:47 On the quoting because they’re federally funded. And so what ends up happening is the quoting for the material, equipment, and everything else has to go through a different process. So sometimes our capital outlay, we can get those funds to be paid for for things that we may not need to take that much longer.
1:15:04 So I just wanted to say thank you to everybody for it. I wanted to say thank you for Doctor Mullins, for putting a scope on athletics like you have. And I look forward to those needs assessment and getting them taken care of.
1:15:24 That’s it. Thank you. Thank you, Mister Susan.
1:15:59 One thing that I’ll point out is part of the reason that we are fighting over pools the way that we are is because the majority of our pools don’t have lighting. And so we are currently in the process of putting lighting into the pools, which I think is going to alleviate some of that stress because it’ll expand our swimmable hours. Excuse me.
1:16:22 That was something that we went through with Titusville High School. I was working with Renee Plastencia. We were trying to get funding to do the lighting at the pool because it opens up to so many other options from, you know, early morning, late night.
1:16:32 But you have to have a certain amount of light in the pool to do it, so. But we actually just approved, I want to say like what, a month or month and a half ago, something like that. We actually approved.
1:16:42 The only reason I’m looking that way is because sue is sneaky and she’ll remember better than I do. When did we approve pool lighting? Pool lighting was approved several months ago. It is under contract and under construction.
1:17:00 We’re just waiting for the equipment to come in. Yeah, so that is a phenomenal news for our swimmers because it will expand significantly the amount of time that we can have them in the pools. So, you know, in that vein, I don’t know, I may get stink eye from Miss hand, but I’ll lob out there because it’s really.
1:17:05 I want to echo our interest in support of a community partner, community investor expressing an interest in actually constructing a pool at Space Coast Junior senior High school. The interest came to us with a very intriguing proposal and we were very receptive and we’re happy to continue to walk that out and seek that as an option, which would add not only a pool for the school’s utilization, but also as a community resource. So I don’t remember who it is out there who said that we’re still interested.
1:17:10 Let’s keep talking. So we will leverage that opportunity if it continues to be a possibility. No? So, on the topic of pools, I know Mister Susan, you mentioned county pools, but I know some of the pools are actually like the one in Palm Bay aquatics and actually is owned by the city.
1:17:14 And they were closed for a good bit of time and that really put a hurt on some of our programs because they in the south, because they couldn’t use that. It’s been reopened. We still.
1:17:20 We have teams practicing there again, correct? I’m not sure, but that seems likely. I just don’t know. Okay.
1:17:23 Never got what I was going with that. Well, to that point, we have so many, like our coaches are trying to make so many ends meet out there. And we could do well with not only this push financially with an overall plan, but reaching out to like, Palm Bay and saying, hey, why don’t you open it up? Or Melbourne over there.
1:17:49 I know right where it is. Or all the different facilities. Sherwood, you know, off of Post Avenue.
1:18:06 Like, let’s. Let’s help them get there, you know? So that’s all. I’m just really excited.
1:18:22 Thank you. That’s it. I want to give a shout out.
1:18:51 All right. Doctor Mullins, do you have. I’m sorry, is there any additional comment? I have a discussion item.
1:19:02 Go ahead, Mister Campbell. Okay. And just very briefly, there was.
1:19:09 There had been some concern from a community member, at least one that with the COVID vaccine coming out for the younger children and some other counties organizing shot clinics in their schools, that we would do that in the request that we would not. It wasn’t really a policy decision, but I’d have that conversation with Doctor Mullins today and just wanted to give him the opportunity because we talked about. We’re not interested in that at all.
1:19:19 We don’t have any plans to host shots. Our community certainly has plenty of opportunities and locations for our children to get those shots, if that’s what they desire. And it’s my understanding that we already had several thousand take advantage of that opportunity in the first week that they were available, according to the Florida Department of Health report.
1:19:32 So, anything else you wanted to say on that, Doctor Mullins? No, just that we’re providing information to families. But we’re not accommodating, providing any kind of vaccination access at our school. Thank you.
1:19:47 All right, any additional board discussion? All right, Doctor Mullins, do you have a superintendent’s report? All right, then. We have six speakers who signed up to address non agenda items. Policy zero one six, 9.
1:19:59 1 currently states that the camera will be turned off during non agenda speakers. However, based on conversation at the earlier board meeting or at the earlier board workshop, I will certainly entertain a motion to adjust. Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.
1:20:16 Madam chair. I move that we go ahead because we’ve had consensus with changing the policy, which we are in the process of doing that we go ahead and keep the cameras on for the non agenda comments this evening. Thank you.
1:20:32 Moved by Miss Campbell. Seconded by Miss McDougall. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Please signify by saying aye.
1:20:40 Opposed? All right. We will move on with our non agenda speakers. 1 second to adjust here.
1:20:54 All right, Miss Delaney, it indicates that you are speaking on equity. Did you have additional equity comments or is that. I was hoping to expand on achievement gap and equity kind of how they go ahead.
1:21:17 Gonna go together. My name is Katherine Delaney. I just wanted to continue on with what I was speaking on before, how critical equity is with the achievement gap.
1:21:29 I think a major piece of that is the discipline in our schools. Our teachers need help with that. Before all of these extra programs get put into place.
1:21:40 We need teachers. Our kids are not going to learn and fill those gaps if we don’t have teachers. And the thing that our teachers need is for us to stand behind them with this discipline issue that we’re having.
1:21:48 I hope that you guys, I wanted to challenge you guys to put the achievement gap on the agenda. From now until it’s fixed, we need to have this. A constant topic of conversation we cannot forget.
1:21:51 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Delaney. Karen Colby and I have you speaking on equity in sports.
1:22:10 After Karen, we have Diana Haynes, Sophia Patterson and then Wyatt Stumbo. Karen well, I kind of got into some of that earlier about the equity issue. Let’s talk about college.
1:22:27 When the schools have all the different venues and they’re all pretty much the same, each kid has the equal opportunity. So if you want to, let’s say, play football and run track, and you’re at a school without a track, you’re not as equal as the kids who are at schools with both football and track available. If you want to play soccer and your school only offers lacrosse, it’s not fair.
1:22:42 So I really want to get involved with that because I have a lot of experience in the sports field. I’ve already volunteered to help with this issue. I feel really sad that the schools I went to visit were not as nice.
1:23:07 Satellite high school in Viera in particular astronaut track and field. They need some help. It takes a mile to walk in and the handicapped folks have to walk against incoming traffic.
1:24:08 So their parking lot is an issue. And that’s just one aspect. And thank you Mister Sussan, for taking on this challenge with sports.
1:24:39 I want to help you. Thank you. Thanks, Karen.
1:24:55 Diana Haynese good evening. I wanted to expand on what Katie said about the camera, about the equity and the discipline. Cameras in the schools are almost essential.
1:25:05 You’re replacing intercoms which are antiquated. Everybody has access to cameras in their personal and private lives, and it seems to be a necessity in the schools. You’ve got a major lawsuit coming down the pike for a child whose mask was tied, a disabled child whose mask was tied behind her head.
1:25:16 And then I read about an incident in one of the cocoa schools where a young man is being bullied to the point that it almost criminal. It borderlines on criminal. And to read the story the mother posted was heartbreaking.
1:25:19 Then I wanted to go on about cell phones up on the dais. How do we know as the public, that you, on your private or school board cell phone, aren’t communicating with each other and violating sunshine? We have no way of knowing that kids are not allowed to bring their cell phones to school and have them in the classrooms. I don’t believe that any of you should have them up there.
1:25:35 Sophia Patterson. Again, my name is Sophia Patterson. According to Florida Statute 1001.
1:25:48 42, section six, any part of an agreement or contract that has the purpose or effect of concealing misconduct by educational support employees, instructional personnel, administrative personnel, or school officers, which affects the health, safety, or welfare of a student is void and contrary to public policy and may not be enforced. In essence, what you guys have done by changing the policy for these meetings is limiting the public comment to agenda items that you get to select and choose. You don’t put the agenda up with enough time to get information informed on how the process works.
1:25:59 And for parents who are getting new to this involvement process, it is unconstitutional to limit their free speech and to express their parental rights in these forums, which is the place where they can get the most done. In conclusion, when I was speaking earlier, Madam Chair, she restricted my speech because she wouldn’t let me finish. With regard to that agenda item which is listed, and it’s not distinguishable with regard to that meeting agenda tonight.
1:26:38 Thank you, Wyatt stumbo. And then after Wyatt, Sarah, you’ll be back up. Miss Balfour, a quick question before we start.
1:26:48 I was a little confused when I signed up. The items pulled for discussion, are they to be discussed here? I thought they were being pulled off just the way I read it. I don’t really know.
1:27:05 Items pulled for discussion? Yeah, the way it was listed on the agenda today, we didn’t pull anything. So that’s only if a board member pulls an item from the consent agenda, I believe is what you’re talking about. But I’m.
1:27:19 I don’t know. I just. That was the verbiage online, so I wasn’t.
1:27:44 I thought we couldn’t speak about it, so I didn’t sign up to speak about an item pulled for agenda. So you’re talking about an item that was removed from the agenda. The verbiage states item pulled for item pulled for discussion.
1:27:52 It was g 47 a. Miss Campbell discussed what I was going to discuss secondary, but I was going to sign up for this as well. Okay.
1:28:10 And it was already voted on, but can I discuss it anyway? Yeah, you’re on non agenda speaking at this point, so you’re fine to address whatever you’d like to address. Okay. So just make a quick note.
1:28:14 I come from the food sales background. That’s my profession. So when I read through G 47 A, we neglected to request a one to $2 million product liability insurance, which is 28.
1:28:28 2 when you look at the form, unless we cover that somewhere else, I would highly recommend that you go back and look at that. That’s something that the company I work for, we have with our people, we do business with. So when you neglect to check that box, you put liability, I’m assuming, onto the school system out of one to $2 million or more, which is standard.
1:28:40 So might want to pull that one back. It won’t go through unless they have it. Just so you know, understood other concerns with that would be the costing of goods.
1:28:55 While I understand the way the verbiage is written in the agreement, cost is relative to how you can purchase, not recommending any specific person because of conflict. But again, I don’t know how it was sought after and location of company for distribution purposes. Thanks, Mister Sumbo.
1:29:13 Sarah. Thank you, Sarah. I wanted to address inappropriate books and if it’s not an agenda item, it absolutely should be an agenda item.
1:29:19 But I want to address it being taken out of the school district libraries as a parent and as a student studying developmental psychology. No book that is extremely sexually explicit or makes pedophilia normal has it has a devastating effect on a developing brain. In fact, it’s quite abusive and can lead to a minor having a porn addiction.
1:29:36 There are many other excellent books out there to teach children. Let’s focus on those books. We will also be following up on this issue as well.
1:29:52 Mental health is an ongoing issue for our students. There has been a 51% increase in suicide attempts by 51% higher by girls ages seven to twelve than during the same year before last month. The AAP.
1:30:07 Oh, and now I’m cut off. Thank you. Thanks Sarah.
1:30:19 And I’ll just mention to our public before we close out the meeting this evening, just to remind you that we are all available for conversation via email. Cell phone numbers, whatever it may be. If you’d like to speak to us after the meeting.
1:30:23 I know several of you didn’t get completely through your comments, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if there are concerns. All right? Does any board member have anything else? Doctor Mullins. Sorry, I wanted to take this opportunity.
1:30:28 We’re on the eve of our Merritt island high school volleyball team going to five a state championship competition tomorrow night. So good luck, Mustangs. Go bring home the state championship trophy.
1:30:31 They’ll be playing at the Suncoast credit union arena in Fort Myers. So very exciting that brevard will be represented in the volleyball state championships. And congratulations to our Viera high school boys who won state four, a cross country championship last week.
1:30:36 So great things happening with our students across the state. So congratulations and go Mustangs. Awesome.
1:30:49 Thank you, Doctor Mullen. Miss Belford, can I just make a comment real quick? Miss Jenkins, I’m really excited to hear so many people, both in the agenda items and non agenda items, shifting the narrative and conversation towards closing the achievement gaps in equity. And I’m really excited about that.
1:30:57 And I hope that they recognize, as long as everyone else up here as well, how important it is for us to get that equity audit moving so we can have an equity plan in place, so we can work on closing that achievement gap. Thank you. Before you, Miss Jenkins, Mister McDougall, I’m going to just jump in.
1:31:01 I wasn’t going to do it, but since Doctor Mullins started with the Mustangs, which is great. Here we go. So we have so many wonderful teams in our district and I think you all know that.
1:31:14 So I want to give a shout out to so many of our football teams. I’m sorry that Rockledge didn’t win the barbecue bowl, but Coco did. But Coco Rockledge.
1:31:15 Merritt Island, I believe. The Bulldogs. Melbourne.
1:31:23 Who am I forgetting? They’re all in the state satellite. They’re all in. Going to the championship.
1:31:26 They are amazing teams. Playoffs. Playoffs.
1:31:38 All right. But you know what? They’re going to win. She’s going to wait to announce they’re winning the championship.
1:31:46 She’s aiming high. I’m aiming very high. But we have phenomenal teams and I didn’t want to let forget them and I didn’t want to rub it in too much with Mister Susan losing the barbecue bowl. Miss McDougall, thank you so much for bringing that up. That’s a great point. Is there a wager that I lost that you would like to enact now that we kind of left it open. I think we just left it open and just. Come on, McDougall. This is orange and black striped face painting. I wore a helmet the last time and got berated by half the community for wearing a helmet after Jenkins said something about a person that was hurt or something like that. Right. So what do you need me to do? It was the person who died. Okay. Yeah. This is awkward. What do you need me to do? You know what? Are we really having this conversation? No, we’re not. I just think. You know what? I’m glad that we do this back and forth. I think it’s fine. If you want to wear a coco shirt, go for it. You got it. Listen, just so everybody knows, our school district has won more state championships in football than the entire I four corridor, to include Hillsboro, Fort Myers and everybody else. And that’s what we do. We win championships here in Brevard. Thank you. That’s it. Anyone have anything else before I gavel us out? No. Please. Gavel fast. Alright, folks, have a fabulous Thanksgiving and we’ll see you on the flip side.