Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Good morning. The December 5, 2022 special board meeting is now in order. Paul, roll call, please. Mister Susan.
0:08 Here. Miss Wright. Here.
0:10 Here. Mister Trent. Here.
0:13 Miss Jenkins. Here. Miss Campbell.
0:15 Here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and just as strong.
0:43 Doctor Mullins, did you have something you wanted to mention? Yes. Good. Good morning.
0:49 Thank you, Mister Susan. Good morning. Wanted to take this opportunity to.
0:54 Before we go into public comment. I think we’re heading into public comment here shortly to provide some correction to what I suspect or has been brought to my attention may be a misrepresentation of at least part of our meeting this morning. And that the date and time of this meeting.
1:19 And that there has been some accusation that the board intentionally chose to have a special board meeting at 09:00 a.m. Which is not uncommon if you look historically across when the district, when they’ve needed a special board meeting.
1:35 It is not uncommon that we have held a meeting in the morning, but also to hold the meeting on a Monday to prevent public being able to participate in the meeting. And I just want to go on record in stating that that is not true. It is not the boards at the board’s direction that we’re meeting this morning.
2:00 The truth is that I worked with Mister Susan together to identify a time and date that we could meet to continue to expeditiously work through the preparation of a separation agreement. I completely requested and asked that the board moved as expeditiously as possible to both allow the district to bring closure and move forward and to do the same for me personally and professionally. And Mister Susan, I appreciate you accommodating that and the board members making themselves available as quickly as this morning to make that possible.
2:38 So I wanted to make sure that our public understood that either blame or responsibility shouldn’t fall where it was suggesting it might. It was a completely mutual agreement that we would have, if we’re able to work through the negotiations, meet this morning. It was properly noticed, cleared with legal counsel, and it was completely agreed upon.
3:09 In addition, I want to take the opportunity to thank Mister Susan and thank the board for what I had hoped when we had conversation back on November 22 would be a fair, respectful and amicable separation agreement and process. And I will tell you, from me to our public, to our community, to brevard public schools, that it has been exactly that. And the agreement that is coming before the board this morning I believe is fair, it’s respectful, and it is within the contents of my employment agreement and Florida state statute and appreciate working toward that expeditiously and moving forward.
4:01 I have had an enormous amount of affirmation from colleagues, community, and it has been very well received and very appreciated. You know, life presents us the ending of chapters, some that we anticipate, some that we don’t necessarily anticipate. But the reality is, is at the closing of a chapter, a next chapter begins.
4:33 And sometimes that chapter is much more laid out, and the narrative is anticipated, and other times there’s blank pages that we get to help write what’s next. But the fact of the matter is, is new chapters bring new opportunities, new adventures. And that’s how I view this.
4:51 I will forever cherish my time as an educator with brevard public schools. I will continue to lift brevard public schools, this board, the leadership team that I leave in my prayers and all of my best and well wishes, because as I shared with our extended leadership team last week when I had the opportunity to meet with them, this mission is bigger than any one of us individually, including me. And so in anticipation, in hopes that we’ll be able to quickly move through the action item this morning, I just wanted to assure the board that I wish them well and wish this district nothing but positive and prosperous things in the future for the children and the community of Brevard.
5:55 With that, I’m going to take one last personal privilege in anticipation of several of you here this morning who may have come to either be a physical sight. I don’t know how many public speakers we have. 17.
6:12 Some of you may have come to speak, excuse me, words of affirmation, and others may come to voice different opinions. But if you are here to speak on my behalf, and a speaker before you, even though you may have signed up to speak, echoes what you plan to share. If you feel like you can forego your time to make this morning more expeditious, you could stand quietly just as a sign of the speaker, echoing your sentiments.
6:44 And it would be as honoring to me as if you took time to speak at the podium. Public speaking is what it is. It’s for our public.
6:55 And you are welcome to use the time if you have done so. But I just wanted to offer that this morning, just to continue to move towards a most expeditious process as possible. So with that, Mister Susan, I turn it back over to you.
7:10 I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. Doctor Mullins, thank you for all your comments.
7:14 We really appreciate it. We are now in the public comments portion of the meeting. During this morning’s special meeting, comments will be limited to the agenda items only.
7:22 However, if there is anyone in the audience who wishes to address a different topic, I’m happy to meet with you. After the meeting. We have 17 speakers and each will receive three minutes.
7:32 The clock in front of me will help you track your time. When time is over, you will be asked to stop and allow the next speaker his or her turn. I will call up three speakers at a time.
7:41 The first three speakers are. Mister Susan, you need a motion because the policy is there. You’re going to need a motion to move it to three minutes.
7:48 The policy has the tiered approach. Oh, you’re right. You’re right.
7:53 Okay. So many of the individuals. So we need a motion to amend the current policy so that we can allow everybody to speak for three minutes, because under the former one, they would be limited.
8:04 So do I hear a motion? I’ll make a motion. Yes. Okay.
8:11 2nd? 2nd. Okay. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
8:16 Aye. Aye. All opposed? Miss Jenkins, did you vote aye or nay? Okay.
8:23 All right, thank you. So the first three speakers are Bernard Bryan, Jennifer Nagy and Virginia Hamilton. Bernard, please come up to the front first.
8:40 Good morning and thank you for allowing me to speak this morning. I just want to say a couple of things. My name is Bernard Bryan and I’m representing the South Brevard branch of the NAACP and the concerned citizens of South Brevard.
8:44 I just want to say something specific to Doctor Mullins. Thank you so much for your collaborative spirit. Thank you for training me.
9:06 When I first, when I first became part of the revived public school partnership team, you trained me, you taught me a lot. You listened to me, and you also gave me some good critical feedback. And I just can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.
9:23 I just want to step forward just a little bit. When I listened to the recommendation from this board on last week, maybe a couple weeks ago, it was said that we were looking for new leadership and it’s time to move forward with new leadership. One of the things that the community is concerned about and have questions about what was lacking under this leadership that wasn’t right, what is the metrics that were unacceptable and what were the values that were not met? And the reason why the community wants to know those answers is because we want to make sure the next leader meets your actual demands and meet your quality values.
10:07 I’ve been managing people all my life, and one of the things we always understand what is the purpose of our leadership? And I hope this leadership team, this board, will consider every child, each child, no matter what their colors are, their backgrounds are that we value every child. And I think under Doctor Mullins leadership, that’s what we saw. So the self provide NAACP act, as well as the concerted citizen.
10:41 We really want to partner with you. We want to partner with you with those values, helping every child, even those childs that are in poverty, those children that are in poverty, those children that don’t have food, don’t have clothing and housing. We want to be there to support you with those decisions.
11:04 So we really want to work with you. But just keep this in mind. The community wants to know what value does this board are looking for in a leader.
11:13 And we really want that to be very much explained to us so that our next leader would actually meet exactly what you look for. But let us partner with you. Okay? Thank you very much for allowing me to speak.
11:26 Thank you, Mister Bernard. Just so everybody on the board knows, I met with Mister Bernard this Friday and had a conversation, and I’ve asked him and the NAACP to be part of our conversation on Thursday. I really appreciate your time with the conversations that we’ve had and look forward to a great relationship in the future.
11:47 Jennifer nagging. Good morning. Hang on, Jennifer.
11:55 Let me get you here. Ready? Good morning. My name is Jennifer Nakey.
12:05 I too wanted to thank Doctor Mullins for his service. I wanted to also just say this is my first time coming to a board meeting. I’ve watched several online and I’m confused.
12:21 Last week it was brought up that there’s a plan and a process for reevaluating service every year. And it’s really come across that this was politically motivated, possibly personally motivated by some of you. I do think better of you than this.
12:40 You are creating unnecessary drama and upheaval in our lives. You are leaving our district without leadership mid year. Finding a quality candidate takes time, something we are in short supply of.
12:54 Now, thanks to your actions, you are elected to look out for the best interest of all the students in Brevard county. Please behave like the people I thought you could be. Thank you.
13:10 Thank you, Miss Nagy. Thank you, Miss Nagy. Next up is going to be Virginia Hamilton, then Phil Moore, then Sarah Almond.
13:24 Good morning. This is. I just want to speak directly to Doctor Mullins.
13:29 I have just retired. He knows this. I’ve been teaching for 31 years, and the last 20 of it was in the gifted program.
13:36 And we had a wonderful service learning program called the Canine Commandos. That you supported on the 11th hour of several times when paperwork was missing. You went and tracked the paperwork down and took it to people that needed to appropriately sign it so the kids could get out to the shelters.
13:53 I remember you calling me on a Sunday afternoon to talk to me about an award. And I also have a very fond memory of you coming to my last school and walking into my room and seeing the chaos of materials all over the floor with the kids, the gift of kids working on their science projects. And you were just giggling and laughing.
14:14 And these are just all the memories that I have of you and have known you for years. And the support you’ve given me and the kids and the canine commandos is so valuable. Thank you so much, Doctor Mullins, for everything you have done for the teachers, for the kids, and for the animal shelters.
14:23 Thank you so much, and we will miss you. Thank you, Miss Hamilton. Next up, Phil Moore.
14:41 Phil Moore, concerned citizen in Palm Bay, Florida. I’d like to say good morning, but unfortunately there’s no good reason for us being here this morning. First, the new board has already shown it wants to work in deliberate deception, as many of us, including myself, are here now because you, Mister Susan, allowed for a non agenda item to be voted on without public notice.
15:05 And many of our here are after the fact and the damage has already been done. It is complete hypocrisy to say that you value public input in light of these actions. Mister Susan, the past two years there were groups like moms for liberty decrying what a poor job they thought that the school board was doing.
15:25 And yet you sat up there in the last meeting acting like a coward and used the superintendent as your scapegoat for the direction you on the board tasked him to do. I’d like to thank Miss Campbell and Miss Jenkins, who clearly understand how the role of staff works. Doctor Mullins, I told this to a couple other locally elected officials who were upset at the actions of this board.
15:51 And I said to them, I don’t blame you for immediately asking for an exit package. I wouldn’t want to work with this board or a board who acts as rashly as this. What happened to you should alarm every school teacher, staff member and administrator that they too can be fired, not based on job performance, but because of political ideology.
16:14 What is clear is that we now have three stooges up there for Randy Fine, who act. This action was a personal vendetta against school staff and this case was the superintendent. If your intention was to see an exodus of good teachers and staff to threaten our children.
16:36 To turn school into a police state and introduce discriminatory policy and ban books. You are in for a long two years. Thank you, Mister Moore.
16:50 Miss Alman. Then Kyla Mercer and Kelly Kervin. Good morning.
16:58 I’d like to thank the board for the opportunity to speak. Most of you are familiar with me, those I haven’t met. My name is Sarah Almond, and I had the privilege to work for Brevard Public schools from 2017 until the summer of 2021.
17:14 I had a son, Vaughn. He’s one. And my two month old is outside with Miss Foley.
17:20 Doctor Mullins, really? I’m here today to talk about your legacy and the legacy that you’re leaving behind. My background is community relations, and I’ve done that all over the world. But some of the most important things to me in my career happened under your leadership.
17:40 And it’s because you’ve been here for so long. But you laid a foundation that others could come and build upon. You introduced me to people like Bernard.
17:52 You’ve introduced me to people all over this county, from Mims to Pom Bay, that really take that mission behind you seriously. To serve every student with excellence. Like Bernard said, it doesn’t matter.
18:05 Their color, their background. 80,000 students. That’s a lot of diversity.
18:11 And I remember my first meeting with you. There was this weight in the room. And at first, I was intimidated.
18:19 But I realized it wasn’t you to be intimidated of. It was the weight that you carried as a leader for this county. That was before you were superintendent.
18:28 But anything we’ve worked on, we’ve done hard stuff. Hardening our schools, teacher pay, a pandemic. Nothing about your tenure was easy.
18:41 And through all of that, everything I saw in you was humility. It was compassion. You cared.
18:48 Talking about those Sunday night calls. I know. I don’t know how you and Laurel ever got a break.
18:54 Seeing you out at community events. You know, this news was shocking. But you’re a grandpa now.
19:02 You know, there’s a new chapter for you. And I’m not worried. I’m not worried about you at all.
19:08 You know, take Laurel on a cruise, get out of here. I’m worried about those 80,000 students, one of the future ones, crying in your. Your hallway.
19:14 I’m worried about what may or may not be imposed on them. And the most important thing I want to use my last seconds is to say 30 years of a legacy won’t be forgotten. You know, it’s not a term.
19:36 It was your life. It’s a life you built here and a life that you served so well, you’ve uplifted thousands. I know there’s a lot that wanted to be here today that couldn’t speak because of time constraints.
19:48 And I want to acknowledge the passion that they have for you too. And just say that, you know, you won’t be forgotten in Brevard. And I know this isn’t the end.
19:56 I know there’s still plenty, plenty for you to do here, but just a heartfelt thank you, sir. Next up, Hylia Mercer, Kelly Kervin and Katie Delaney. My name is Hilah Mercer.
20:22 I’m a retired Brevard public school employee. Everything I came to say, including what Doctor Mullins has said, has been said. And I just want to add my thanks and my concern.
20:38 Thank you. Next up, Kelly Kervin. Katie Delaney.
20:47 Janice Crisp. Good morning, board members. I want to first say thank you for allowing us to speak this morning and for giving us a full three minutes, although we don’t plan on using all three of them first.
21:01 Doctor Mercer, I am a brevard public schools graduate. My husband and I traveled with the army for eleven years before he was medically retired. And then we moved home to Pompeii, where our children are both brevard public schools children as well.
21:17 I have one in our virtual platform and I have one in a brick and mortar platform. My journey with brevard Public Schools has not always been a positive one. I have a daughter with dyslexia, which is not on the agenda, so I won’t speak of it today.
21:30 You guys know the struggles with having an ESC student. I also have a daughter with autism having struggles with an ESC student. What I have appreciated with Doctor Mullins is that you always put Ese first.
21:43 You worried about staffing, you cared about our teachers. I have spent thousands. And that is not an overstatement of hours volunteering in our classrooms.
21:53 Specifically sunrise elementary school, where my daughters have since left into secondary education. The most important thing as a parent is the education we give our kids. And under your leadership, I have trusted brevard public schools to do that job.
22:14 I have never attended a meeting before, not because I didn’t want to. I live in Pompeii. It’s a bit of a drive.
22:21 But I’m here today and I will be here every single day after because I do not trust what the board chose to do. So that is the sentiment. I want to leave.
22:29 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
22:29 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Kirvin. Thank you, Miss Kirvin.
22:38 Katie Delaney, Janice Crisp, Diana Haynes are up next. Thank you. I’m not going to go into all of the reasons why I am happy about this change.
22:57 I think it’s time that our district needs a new leader. This is nothing different from any corporation that gets a new board. Usually they bring in leadership that reflects the path forward of the new board.
23:11 And so for people who say that this is politically motivated, I don’t agree. There have been issues with the budget. There have been issues with discipline in the classroom.
23:17 There have been issues. Too many to name. And I support this board, and I thank you for making this change.
23:30 And I’m excited to work with the new leadership that’s in this district. And I think it’s going to be a wonderful thing. So thank you.
23:38 Thank you, Katie. Next up, Miss Janice Christ. Diana Hynes.
23:44 Marilyn Waters. Hi. First, I want to say congratulations to the new board members.
23:50 Since I wasn’t here last meeting, I had a pleasure to work with you and help spread the word about your campaign. So congratulations. There’s been a lot of name calling here, so I just want to say a few names as to why we’re changing the leadership.
24:07 Sophia, that’s one big name that needs to be remembered. The name that we don’t know that was victimized by Kenny Johnson. And the reason we need to remember that name is because Mister Mullins invited the man who victimized her to come back into the school system after he was scolded by the board of education to never bring him back on school property.
24:31 And he personally invited Kenny Johnson to come back on school property. She later said in a statement that she hoped Kenny Johnson was never around any children again after her victimization. So he did that to a school child when he was working for Brevard county and it was not reported in time.
24:57 And later, Mister Mullins was the one who was scolded for it. The subject of Mister Mullen’s receiving this excessive amount of benefits and severance I think is ridiculous. I’ve never seen an employee who was reprimanded, not once, but several times by his boss, who is the state of Florida.
25:15 How many times were you reprimanded, Mister Mullins, by the Department of education and the governor over the mask mandate? Let’s remember that you did have the right in the policy to stop the mandate at any time. The board gave you those rights to do so, and you never did so even though salary was taken away from the board, you never did that. You not only supported, but you encouraged these actions by the pass board.
25:50 That is why they are not sitting here today. And that’s why you have been removed from this board as well. Let’s remember that you were here when many discipline issues were brought up and you sat silent.
26:07 How many times do we not know how you encouraged the actions that led to three women being the people who decided on discipline issues? We don’t know that. We weren’t around for that. So I think this is the right move to make.
26:27 People are afraid of how this board will go, but how this board will go is parents making the decisions for their children. Not you, Mister Mullins. Not you.
26:37 Sitting behind a board and leading people and getting the final say. Why on earth were you given the final say? To stop a mask mandate and illegally. Thank you, Miss Crisp.
26:52 Thank you for illegal. Thank you. Thank you.
26:55 Thank you, Miss Crisp. Diana Haynes. Marilyn Waters.
26:58 Gregory Rose ROss Good morning, board. I’m going to expand a little bit on what Miss Crisp said in regards to the incident that occurred years ago, many years ago, but unfortunately was brought to the forefront because the bringing back of Palm Bay Councilman Kenny Johnson. He was arrested.
27:27 He was fired from his job as a teacher and a coach from Palm Brevard public Schools for the inappropriate relationship with a minor student. And subsequently, Mister Johnson made the decision to send in a text message an underage student, that particular student, a sexually explicit photo of his sex organ. These are facts.
27:49 He was arrested at the time of that incident, and it was the Brevard county school system that failed to report those allegations and the predatory behavior to the Department of Education as required by law. School districts were to report any illegally sufficient complaints to the department within 30 days of the district becoming aware of the offense, and in October of 2019, they changed the law, saying within 24 hours, the superintendent, the head of the Department of Education, Mister Corcoran, wrote he only became aware of the case in March of 2020, nearly five years after Johnson’s arrest, adding that this extended delay extremely hampered the department’s investigative efforts. That there alone should have been enough to remove Doctor Mullins, because that is hiding a crime, no matter what the outcome was.
28:48 It was an incident that occurred to a student under his watch and it was left to re victimize her over and over. This is unacceptable, something I will not tolerate, Corcoran wrote. In a similar situation, I even went as far to recommend the removal of an elected superintendent from office because it happened so long ago, they didn’t proceed.
29:14 However, if this situation is repeated in the future, Corcoran warned, we would act decisively. Now, despite his arrest in 2015, Johnson began volunteering with the public school system two years after clearing a background check. He was suspended again in February pending a district review after the allegations resurfaced.
29:36 And his volunteer status with the district has been permanently on inactive suspension. On an active suspension. So my question is, in April of 2022, why was this man being paraded around schools on a career day? That’s all I need to say.
29:57 Thank you, Miss Haynes. Next up, Marilyn Waters. Gregory Ross.
30:01 Haley Burke. Good morning. My name is Marilyn Waters, and I’ve lived in Brevard county for over 40 years.
30:11 I helped raise three boys, all of whom successfully graduated from Brevard county public schools. And luckily, they’re all now successful and I don’t have to send them any money so they can drive. I was invited to be part of a community group that met with Doctor Mullins and other leaders of the school system several times a year to hear updates, what’s really going on in the community, and our job was to then go out and share that information with other people.
30:39 I was very impressed with the transparency, the thoughtful approach to education, and the focus on preparing our young people for future. For the future. With skills and a strong foundation to succeed.
30:55 I really regret that our country and our community has become so focused on where we don’t agree divisiveness. And as a long term, very engaged citizen of this community in Brevard, I strongly ask that you rise above the politics and personal platforms and focus on all our children and collaborate in your decision making board. You were elected to represent all of us.
31:25 There’s a lot of people here and at other board meetings who take the time and energy to show up. And the least you can do is look at us as we are speaking to you. Because that way we know you are listening and taking in what we say.
31:41 And I am very sad that, Doctor Mullins, you are leaving because I very much enjoyed your tenure. I have friends who have worked for county school system since the seventies and have seen lots of things happen. But I think over the past ten years, 20 years, things have been going pretty smoothly.
31:58 And I hope that you will take your job very seriously and make sure our kids. Kids are ready to succeed, no matter what their dreams are. Thank you.
32:17 Good morning, board doctor Mullins. Thank you. I’m going to speak for a teacher who couldn’t be here today.
32:25 I’ll be honest with you. He was actually afraid to be here today. I’m going to paraphrase some of what she wrote me.
32:35 She wanted me to speak for her today because she’s on annual contract and she feels the board has proven they are petty enough to not renew. People who don’t agree with their radical stances that are based on no kind of data or any kind of data. School board has fired our superintendent without cause.
32:52 The school board has placed teachers and staff in a situation many of us now she is writing on the wall and they are ready to resign. She expects mass resignations. COVID was hard.
33:06 The last year was harder and now this. If the board’s concerns have anything to do with behavior, they need to look at staffing of ESE teachers in instructional age. We currently have varying exception ability, exceptionality ESE classrooms that have k through six grade in one room.
33:27 Not enough ias and personal care assistants. They have eliminated positions that were no longer. That we no longer have k three and four six in separate classes.
33:38 It’s not appropriate for teachers to try and teach individualized lessons for students of such wide age range. Students not getting their ESE educational minutes. And this is leading to behavior that is communication, that they can’t do the work without additional support.
33:54 That’s the end of her statement. I’ll tell you what I think I’m going to agree with Mister Bernard here, very first speaker, and that we’ve seen no data that supports this decision. Nothing.
34:07 I find it ironic, mister chair, that you stood up last week and spoke with Ivy about consequences and students should have consequences. We’ve given no regard to the consequences of this decision and how it’s going to affect the faculty, the staff, the administration, and most importantly the students of this school district. Let me repeat, we’ve seen no data that supports this action that you guys are taking.
34:35 None. I want to agree with Mister Moore. Thank you, Katie.
34:42 Thank you Jennifer, for doing the right thing. That’s all I ask as a parent in Brevard schools. That’s it.
34:51 Thank you. Thank you Mister Ross for your comments. Next up, Kayleigh Burke.
34:56 Lacy Okonski. Mia Hozie. Good morning.
35:04 I’m here because I care deeply about the quality of education in our schools and for the children to be accepted and respected for who they are. There are children in this community that I care for and for their future. But also I care a lot about who will be in our community, you know, ten to 2030 years from now, who are doctors, lawyers, building buildings, who’s going to be interns at the space center soon.
35:29 You know, I really don’t appreciate this decision in the sense that there was a lack of public discussion. I haven’t heard from the board. A valid reason for the dismissal, which makes it either seem very flippant for those of us in public or else seem like there was discussion that happened without our transparency, which is required and also presents us as a waste of money and makes the leadership of our school system rocky from the sense of both the lack of leadership right now, but also the willingness of leaders to step up in the future and what is the decision making process of the board going to be as they look for and attract candidates for this position and future ones? I’m really worried about that for both the acting and replacement and really all positions of leadership in our schools, this is coming as a waste of money and I’m really worried about our educated, experienced teachers and educators and them being attracted to our schools.
36:36 My friends who have been here who are around my age, they’re mid level teachers and they barely make more than those who are coming in. We all know how hard it is for educators. It is a very tough job and it’s really hard.
36:51 If we can attract people, we need to also retain them and keep them here and working for the education and for our students to be whole in who they are as they come into our community, both in this moment and in the future. So please, as you work for actions in the future, consider our ability to track educators who bring great education, but also make our students whole members of this community healthy for our community and the whole world. Thank you.
37:23 Thank you Miss Lacey, Miss Mia Hosey, Claudette Wells and Paul Rube are going to be the last one. Good morning. My name is Lacey and I’m the proud mother of a Cape View rocket here in Brevard.
37:44 And I also completed kindergarten to high school here in Brevard Public schools. The fact that Doctor Mullen’s last move was a call for unity when being ousted from his position as superintendent is both remarkable and completely unremarkable. When I was growing up here in Brevard, from 6th grade until my senior year in high school, I routinely had math teachers who would seemingly randomly place me in advanced or regular math, regardless of my passion for math.
38:18 And I can certainly say that when Doctor Mullins was my math teacher, he was not one of them. He showed up every day and he was such an exemplary man. He was organized, kind, polished, smart, engaging, and attentive to all of his students.
38:39 He handled disruptions with grace. I can even now picture him sitting in his younger days next to his overhead projector, walking us through math problem after math problem and making it compelling just by being himself. No gimmicks.
38:58 By the end of the year, I was so proud that he selected me as the top performing student of that year. This achievement was based on my GPA, but this achievement was actually something we did together every afternoon. And I did it with the help of one of the most memorable educators of my life, Doctor Mullins.
39:20 I want to say to you that it’s remarkable that anyone would want to fire you. But I find it completely unremarkable that you are leaving your position with kindness and grace because that is just the caliber of person that you are. And that’s what I remember.
39:36 It’s a tragedy that my daughter will not have continue in the school system without you at the helm. And I’m certainly rethinking her attendance here in the Brevard public school systems, given the poor decisions displayed here today and given the recent abusive, violent remarks with respect to corporal punishment in schools. I went on from Cape View elementary in Coco Beach High School to get a PhD in cognitive psychology with a focus on psycholinguistic research.
40:06 And I now work in edtech as a subject matter expert in statistics and calculus. This is a direct result from confidence that I gained in large part through Doctor Mullins and his educational excellence that I was able to go on to teach statistics at the university level, become a Fulbright scholar, be invited as a visiting professor in places like Brazil and Sweden, and be recruited to work on a Bill and Melinda Gates funded project, and finally become a subject matter expert at Math and edtech. Thank you, Miss Mia.
40:41 Thank you. Cheers. Doctor Mullins.
40:43 There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be than Harrison. Next up, Claudette Wells. Paul Robe.
40:57 Oh, I’m sorry. Mia Hosey Miyahozy. Good morning.
41:04 I am also here today to talk about the mutual separation agreement of Superintendent Mullins. Mainly because I don’t think that there ever should have been one. Superintendent Mullins, by all accounts, has served dutifully in support of our children as superintendent for four years and as an educator for 29 years.
41:26 He has a reputation of success, including the introducing the Thrive for five program, a very popular program, helping to increase the BPS graduation rate and successfully championing the millage tax initiative, among other things. He has a stellar record of supporting the board and being a champion for our students. Not to mention being very well liked and respected by a tremendous amount of parents, faculty and staff.
42:03 In light of all this, the move to force him out was unwarranted. At the last board meeting, there was well thought out data in support of Doctor Mullen’s work and contributions over the past four years, the time that he has served on as superintendent. On the opposing side, there was a generalized assertion that he had lost community support with no data to back it up.
42:32 No scientific polling from the community. No scientific polling from parents. No scientific polling from faculty and staff.
42:41 No instances of professional missteps that warranted investigations. Nothing negative from his annual review, which just took place a few months ago. Just a broad assertion of lack of support leading to this sharp and monumental move.
42:59 One that will affect all of our county schools and may very well decrease the morale of faculty, staff, not to mention parents. My children are enrolled here in Brevard county school system. Schools has a stellar reputation in the state of Florida.
43:18 Interestingly enough, every curriculum that I’ve ever seen here instructs students to use facts in their calculations and their decision making scientific data. When the individuals in power don’t use that same methodology in practice, we are doing our children a great disservice. Thank you for your time.
43:40 Thank you, Miss Mia. Next up, Claudette Wells and Paul Rao. Hey, good morning.
43:49 It’s the first time for me, too, so thank you for letting us all speak here today. You know, I wish I had that kind of statistical background that we just heard about, but I don’t. But I moved here in 1996.
44:03 My nephew went through the Brevard county school system, and he’s now got a master’s in cyber security. So thank you, Mister Mullins, for your contribution to that. I’m very proud of him.
44:13 I don’t have any kids, but I have three dogs. But as a taxpayer in the county, I certainly have followed since 1996 the performance of the Brevard county kids, the Brevard county schools, because as I think we, most all of us know, it’s the largest portion of our taxes. And so I follow it pretty closely.
44:34 I’m a retired Navy Jag, retired air Force civilian. I did have a TSSDI clearance when I worked for the air force, and so I’ve been in similar positions as some of you are right now. As far as sitting up there and listening to people who, you know, give you their opinions about what’s been happening.
44:55 And I want to give you my opinion about what’s been happening in our county. I. You know, I haven’t watched the school board proceedings very much. And, you know, as you may have seen, as I was standing up in support of certain speakers, you know my position right now.
45:08 I don’t understand why this man was fired. I don’t know this man? I’ve never met him before in my life. But I heard the statistics about the performance of Brevard county schoolchildren.
45:20 And, you know, I have no idea why the board took the actions that they did. I really don’t. And I’m waiting to hear it.
45:27 I mean, everybody’s looking at me now, but not everybody was looking. Looking at the speakers who profess these same kind of opinions earlier. I don’t understand it.
45:35 And I would really like to ask you to provide an explanation to not only me, but to these folks and to people of the county. And if you can find another person of this caliber to replace him or to replace her, or have a female come in and do the same job, then good on you. You will have worked together to accomplish something.
45:56 But you came into this position and took this action without a plan in place. And now we’re going to not be. We’re going to be without a leader of his caliber in this county.
46:06 And where does that leave us? I don’t understand. I really don’t understand. And I need to hear why you took the actions that you took.
46:14 And if it wasn’t political, I think we need to know why it was. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Claudette.
46:23 Mister Paul. Robbie. Echoing everyone else.
46:36 Brevard county graduate, satellite graduate, as were both my brothers, as soon will. Well, next year, the fourth of our four kids, all of whom graduate, satellite. Long time brevard resident.
46:46 Obviously, for all that to have happened, it’s hard to talk about what’s going on right now without sounding paranoid. We could pretend that this is happening in a vacuum. We could pretend this is the only superintendent who has suddenly been dismissed by an incoming moms for liberty backed school board in the state.
47:08 It’s not. And that sounds paranoid. I realize that it sounds paranoid to start talking about book banning, but I’m on a committee discussing that we’re seeing trans kids being targeted.
47:21 The bathroom wars are back again, like a sitcom that’s been resurrected that nobody liked in the first place. This would all be funny. I’m making a joke because that’s my defense mechanism.
47:31 It’d be funny if it weren’t for actual harms coming from some of this discrimination against the weakest and most vulnerable. In some cases, part of which Doctor Mullins is being vilified for by letting folks whose mission in life is not understanding biology dictate mask mandates at the state level, actual death. And the idea that standing up for what’s right and for the health, safety and success of all the students, even those who might be, I don’t know, immunocompromised.
48:11 That that is a negative. And then claiming that you want leadership, what is that leadership? Is leadership toeing the line set by again, people who are aggressively anti expertise, aggressively anti knowing what the hell you’re talking about? I don’t think so. Or is leadership standing up, doing what’s right, even when it might be unpopular? We had that.
48:37 We’ve lost that. I hope we’re not losing it permanently. I hope that a couple years from now.
48:43 I’m not saying I’m glad we don’t have more kids in the brevard school system. I really do. Doctor Mullins.
48:50 Not the first wonderful superintendent we’ve had, I hope won’t be the last. I’m sure you hope that whoever comes after you exceeds you in every possible way. Because that’s best for the school system and so do I. But let’s look for that.
49:07 And not to satisfy. No, I’m not going to go there. Thank you again, Doctor Martins.
49:17 Thank you, Mister Rao. That concludes our public comments. Thank you for coming today to address the board.
49:24 I did want to. There’s been some questions as to individuals that were. Were speaking coming from our county or outside the town.
49:31 Every speaker that spoke today was from Brevard county. So thank you very much for all of your comments. That brings us to our action.
49:38 Item to approve the mutual separation agreement. And third amendment to the superintendent’s employment agreement. Do I hear a motion in a second? 2nd.
49:53 Okay. Floor is open for discussion. Does anybody wish to have comments? Miss Campbell.
50:05 Miss Jenkins. Campbell asked me to go first. So.
50:16 Doctor Mullins, I have played this moment over and over and over again. So this may be all over the place. You and I have had personal discussions.
50:38 And you made it very clear to me in those personal discussions, just like you did tonight. Your wishes for the best of our public schools. Not only for our staff, but for our students and our community.
50:58 You made it clear to me that you did want this to go away quickly. Because you believe that is what is best for brevard public schools. You are humble.
51:11 You are professional. And I acknowledge your why. Behind all of that.
51:20 In those decisions that you made, the statements that you’ve made. I believe it’s truly who you are to your core. But I’ve also expressed back to you that I believe it is not in the best interest of our public schools.
51:34 I believe it is my obligation and my role. That is a little bit different since the November 22 meeting. I can’t even keep track of how many people that I’ve never met before who’ve come up to me in the community, at the grocery store, at a play, at the gas station, at the library, on a playground, who have all expressed the exact same concern, why? Why is this happening? And I couldn’t give them an answer.
52:26 So I’m gonna do my best to give one. Members of this community have asked today. They’ve asked since November 22, why? Why are we doing this? And I haven’t heard a reason from my fellow board members.
52:55 Not one. The only one that we were given was in Florida today. Our board chair said, Randy Fine has had multiple conversations with all of us.
53:10 I have the words right here, so whatever I say is written in the article. Mister Fine said he did speak about it with Susan Wright and Trent. So that’s all I’ve seen.
53:29 So then I started thinking, what else could possibly be factual and on paper? And so, for members of the public who may not understand how this works, we have an annual superintendent evaluation this year. We were given an email the first week of June and access to a link to a smart sheet in which we all individually can go in and write our own reviews on a rubric. And then in mid July, we were to meet as a board and collaborate and bring those responses together, come up with mutual agreements on every single subject line, some positives, some challenges, things we want to work on.
54:18 We can discuss the goals that were set in place from the year previously. We can create new goals. So I went back and looked.
54:29 They’ll have access to those individual sheets, and I have it here. So if anyone wants it, I don’t have any problem making copies of it or emailing it to you just three months ago. We’re at this point, we’re in December now.
54:54 Our chair came into the meeting and admitted to all of us that he hadn’t filled out the rubric yet. And our secretary, Doctor Mullen, secretary, actually, because we’re down with secretary, went ahead and filled it out as we went through the evaluation, independent responses and then the responses that every board member had mutually agreed upon. And I think it’s important, as much as you think it’s the best interest of our public schools for this to just be done and go away, I think the community who has not gotten any rationale or response or data as to why these decisions are being made should know that those responses, majority were four out of five and five out of five, with averages around 4.
56:32 7 and nothing below a three, which on most rubrics on a scale of one to five mean neither agree or disagree or average. I also think that’s important for anyone who’s looking to become our next superintendent, for you to be well aware that that of apparently isn’t good enough, and you might, in your interview, want to ask questions about what exactly you think is good enough. And I argue to our staff and our educators, would that be good enough for you, too? So, speaking about those goals that I had mentioned that were set, that’s another thing I have to bring up.
56:54 These are performance based goals that the board, again collaboratively comes up with, discusses sets for the superintendent, and that the annual evaluation decides whether or not those goals were met. And if they are met, it comes with compensation. Again, mutually agreed upon.
57:23 That same board member mutually agreed upon $8,000 worth of bonuses because of performance based initiatives. That said board member left the meeting early, and you can say you had work. That’s great.
57:30 We know that. No one’s saying you didn’t. But you also have this job to do, a meeting that you knew about well in advance.
58:19 And if you have grave concerns just a couple of months later, you would have had them then. And if they were so grave to remove such a remarkable man and a leader of this community, then you would have filled out the rubric immediately, not when you walked into the room, and you would have stayed to express those concerns, not only to your fellow board members, but to the man himself. I think the community has a right to be concerned about this rash decision that has already caused instability within the organization, which was my immediate concern and response on November 22.
58:39 It will continue to do so. And I want to make it really clear that the people in the community who have come to me and express their concerns are actually people that don’t align with me. I haven’t heard from these people over the past two years, not one time.
59:04 This transcends everything. This is a monumental decision for this entire community. And before we vote on this, I think somebody needs to come up here and tell us specifically in a number how much this decision is costing us.
59:21 I think the community deserves to hear that, and not because I don’t think he deserves it. I just think the community deserves to hear it. We already know as a board that it’s going to cost up to $50,000 to start the search for a superintendent unless we already have one.
59:28 And quite frankly, let’s be real. It’s not just in the state of Florida. It’s across the nation.
1:00:20 This political theater that’s going on firing superintendents, there’s quite a lot of vacancies. And when there’s quite a lot of vacancies in a market, typically it costs you more money to find someone to fill that vacancy, and it costs you more money to then hire them. You might want to zoom in this, so please stop.
1:00:49 It is our job and our obligation to follow the mission on that excellence as the standard. And according to Doctor Mullen’s evaluation, he did just that. And so I’m going to read a statement that was listed under this evaluation that, again, was mutually agreed upon.
1:01:16 And upon rereading it, I feel like it conveniently says every single thing. I agree with, and I believe the community agrees with, and I know Miss Campbell agrees with, this is under significant achievements. This is in the summary.
1:01:32 Doctor Mullins is unwavering in his service to brevard public schools. His dedication to the mission of this organization is impenetrable. He models exemplary leadership for every level of this organization.
1:02:04 Doctor Mullins affords his cabinet members professional autonomy, respecting their expertise, trusting their judgment with reasonable oversight. He is expeditious and comprehensive when confronted with challenges, often informing the board of incidents, while simultaneously presenting the plan of action that has already commenced. His leadership, management, and communication skills are fundamental to the success of this organization.
1:02:33 And then it continues to list 20 bullet points to support that. Doctor Mullins, I know you didn’t want me to say anything I just said. But not only I had to because of my personal conviction, but because I was an educator for Brevard Public schools.
1:02:52 My husband is still a teacher for Brevard Public schools. And I have a six year old little girl who I am trusting in the hands of brevard public schools. And this community is shook by this.
1:03:13 And I believe that you needed to hear from the community. And I believe you need to acknowledge how important you are to this organization. I know you have the best of hopes for this organization.
1:03:45 Of course, so do I. But you need to acknowledge the destabilization of this removal and how important you are to this community. When I was going through the toughest times, and my family was going through the toughest times, Doctor Mullins literally drove to my home. On days when I refused to answer the phone, he drove to my home, and he demanded that I come outside and I speak to him.
1:03:59 And he held my hand, and he hugged me. And he did that time and time and time again. And, Doctor Mullins, this is my way of holding your hand and hugging you back, because you don’t deserve this.
1:04:10 This organization doesn’t deserve this. And this community absolutely does not deserve this. I respect you.
1:04:17 I appreciate you. I appreciate your professionalism. I appreciate how humble you are.
1:04:30 And I’m sorry that me saying this today probably disappoints you a little bit. But I had to for you, because I respect you. And I want you to know how deeply I truly, truly, truly respect you.
1:04:41 Thank you for your 29 years of service to brevard public schools. You will not be forgotten. And I know you will continue to serve your community in every capacity you possibly we can.
1:04:53 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Jenkins. Miss Campbell, do you have a comment? Thank you, Mister Houston.
1:05:19 It’s our turn. I’m going to ask the board, out of respect for Doctor Mullins, to keep our discussion to the issue before us, which is our mutual separation agreement, and not let this become about us as individuals or defending our positions. And I know the public has been calling for answers.
1:05:31 They’ve called for answers today. They’ve called for answers in emails and in social media as to why. But out of respect, again, for Doctor Mullins, the time for that discussion was last week.
1:05:49 I do hope that the three of you who. We’re in agreement when we had our meeting on the 22nd, we’ll take the opportunity, please, to. I know some of you already have to give those answers, to provide those answers in the way that they were offered, and even speak to the people.
1:05:57 Just so you know, new board members, the list of public comment people who sign up. We usually get their information when they sign up. So you have the opportunity to reach out to them.
1:06:11 So I hope you’ll provide those answers. But I would just encourage us not to make this a more awkward and disappointing time by providing a defense in some way today. I think the time for that discussion again was last week.
1:06:35 And the issue before us at hand is whether or not to approve the mutual separation agreement. I made the motion and believe that we should approve this agreement for the following reasons. One, because this is exactly what Doctor Mullins would have gotten if we had decided to terminate him without cause.
1:06:51 And just for our legal review. The definition of being fired without cause is an employee being let go, not because of any serious workplace misconduct. And I don’t think there’s an attorney on this bias or anywhere else that would say that we would have a reason to terminate with cause.
1:07:20 So this is what these are the benefits, according to his contract, that he would get without cost. Also, because if he had stayed with us, since he’s a year and a month away from having his full 30 years into the Florida retirement system. If he had stayed with us through the end of next year as a BPS employee, he would be eligible to retire and have the payouts of the unused leave that are in his negotiated mutual separation agreement.
1:07:42 Just if you. Because of the way that was negotiated, by the way, thank you, Mister Susan, for negotiating that for us. The agreement, just FYI, says it cannot be amended without going through the same process, so we cannot make any amendments to it today.
1:07:58 But finally, we should support it, because I believe that Doctor Mullins is, was, and has been to our district. Doctor Mullins has worked with ten different board members in four years. Plus a little ten very different board members.
1:08:12 Board members who brought controversy, maybe a little drama, maybe a lot of drama sometimes, but come from. Came from very different political perspectives. And yet, he treated us all fairly.
1:08:52 He treated us all personally, and he treated us all with respect, just like he treated the people who were his subordinates. The kind of leader he is has been reflected in four different evaluations that we’ve done at the end of the year. And I won’t repeat what Miss Jenkins said, but they have all been very excellent evaluations, including extensions of his contract, which would have gone out into, I believe, the summer of 2024 or 2025.
1:09:29 Doctor Mullins has great respect in this community, and deserves nothing less than our respect in this separation agreement. He knows how I feel about him, because I’ve shared that before, and I think they’ve communed us, too. So, to honor him and his work that he’s done, whether you agree or disagree with his direction, I believe that we need to approve the agreement, and to honor his wishes to make this as expeditious as possible.
1:09:48 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Campbell. Mister Trump, any comments? Either? Thanks, Miss Campbell, for saying what you said.
1:10:01 I do believe last week was our moment for discussing or defending which way we were moving in leadership. So I won’t do that either. I won’t sit here and defend that.
1:10:16 So at this point, I just think we need to move on with the separation agreement. Miss Wright, I’m going to take a moment really fast, and I’m going to do something a little different, because I want to thank Doctor Mullins. From the time I came in to this role in August, he has been honest, transparent.
1:10:28 We’ve had a lot of conversations. What the community doesn’t know are conversations that have happened with Doctor Mullins and myself outside of a community forum like this. And I was very honest and transparent with him.
1:10:38 And I told him from day one that. That is something I respect and honor about him. I think it is a disservice to sit here and argue amongst each other to do these types of things.
1:10:55 It does not honor the man that is sitting right there. So while I understand that the community is not necessarily happy with all of the decisions that are being currently made, what I will say is that we are headed in a different direction. And that is a change that is going to happen.
1:11:00 I hope in twelve months. We look back on this and we say, you know what? That sucked. And it was really hard.
1:11:04 It was not fun. But we’re okay. We’re in a good spot today.
1:11:12 We have drastic changes that need to come in our schools. Our teachers are screaming for these changes. They are needing help.
1:11:18 So this is the reason behind it. Doctor Mullins is an excellent man. The community will agree with that.
1:11:22 He is an excellent man. I agree with that. I think that we are doing a service to him.
1:11:32 We are honoring him in the fact that we are going to honor out his employment contract. And like I told you last night on the phone, Doctor Mullins, I pray that this is a blessing in disguise for you. That.
1:11:37 That something good comes from this. As unfun as this is right at this current moment. So thank you for your service.
1:11:47 I appreciate your service and I am praying that good things come as a result of this for you and your family. Thank you. Miss Wright, appreciate all the great comments about Doctor Mullins.
1:11:56 I concur with many of the comments that Miss Wright said. Doctor Mullins, you’ve served us 29 years with great respect. And you as a human being to the community is amazing.
1:12:06 And I have watched it as your wife has been here supporting you in almost every board meeting. And she’s an amazing woman. And there is a lot of great things that you have brought to this district.
1:12:14 And I look forward to seeing you continue either inside of our district or somewhere else. The chapter has changed. So I wanted to say thank you for everything that you’ve done.
1:12:22 I appreciate it. And I’ll call the question. All in favor, signify by saying aye.
1:12:28 Aye. Aye. Aye.
1:12:34 Those opposed? We have it. Miss Jenkins, did you vote for. Okay.
1:33:13 5004. Paul, did you record that? You got it. Okay, we’re going to take a break.
1:33:22 Let Doctor Mullins collaborate with some of the community and then we’ll come back and discuss interim and other ones. Thank you. Sa, sa, sa.
1:34:08 Thank you. We are now at the discussion portion of the agenda. The first topic I’d like to discuss is the superintendent search both the interim first and the regular.
1:34:26 I was going to start it by kind of a following of the way that we frame. So the first question that we would ask in relation to the interim and the superintendent search, and I would like to give a little bit of insight as to the reason that it was suggested by both Doctor Mullins, by Paul Gibbs, by many of the staff members, is that we would determine on whether we want the interim to be able to apply for the superintendent’s position. The reason that it was brought back to me, which was pretty clear, was, is that if you go to an interim and the opportunity for them to become the superintendent is there, that we will not see probably 90% of the applicants because they’re convinced that you may be trying to choose that person for the overall superintendent.
1:34:30 So what I wanted to do was just mention that I do was going to give you guys, as per your email that you guys received from Paul on Friday to explain. This was one of the items that we were going to discuss. I was going to leave it open to the floor for any kind of discussion and then maybe bring it back for a direction.
1:34:35 We don’t need to vote on any of this, right? We just need to have the direction. Or do you want to. Yeah, it’s just consensus.
1:34:51 Yeah. So we don’t need an official vote since it’s consensus. So moving forward, do I have any.
1:35:05 Anybody that would wish to speak about that? I just want to clarify that we’re going to open the application period up today and then close it on Friday. Is that correct? Am I understanding that correct? Those were just suggestions as what could happen today. It’s really up to the board.
1:35:27 I laid out a potential schedule with the thought being we have a drop dead date of December 20 before the school district breaks for Christmas. There will be nobody here. So if it’s an outside source, you have drug testing, fingerprinting for background screening.
1:35:45 All of that has to be done before they’re eligible to be on a campus with students without having someone that has been cleared with them. And the other thing I was going to do after we decide this piece. After we decide this piece is I was going to ask if there’s anybody that has a current candidate that they’d like to bring forward to avoid the search.
1:36:05 There’s reasons for that and everything else that I can support and go against, but just wanted to let everybody know the direction. Okay. The reason is, is that we’re going to not only decide on whether we are going to move forward with a superintendent, an interim that can apply for the superintendent’s job.
1:36:53 But we also are going to try to, I’m going to give the opportunity that if anybody wants to make a suggestion for somebody currently that they may want to, that they’ve had discussions with, we might be able to do that, too. But the first thing we need to discuss is do we want to have somebody who may be the interim become the, you know, the superintendent? That’s it. Well, I could speak on that.
1:37:51 I’ll always be like this, where if we have an interim, but we come to find out that that is the most qualified person for the position, I don’t think that’s the right move for Brevard county if we ignore that applicant. So I understand by reading this the reasons why, but again, I don’t think we should turn away the best applicant if that happens to be our interim. I go back and forth on whether an interim should be allowed to apply for the regular position because I see the, the reasoning behind, you know, we might discourage people from applying because they’ll think, oh, the interim’s got it right.
1:38:07 But at the same time, I don’t want people to not apply for the interim, which is going to be so crucial because, you know, they wouldn’t have an opportunity to apply the other. This wasn’t listed in here, but I think another kind of, if I can add another kink to the conversation, another option for us to look at as a board is if we are interested in limiting the interim position to internal candidates. And I actually feel, I actually have a stronger view on that than I do on whether we allow them to apply because we need the stability, the continuity is the word I was looking for of someone who already can step in and, and kind of know the systems in place for this interim time, which, you know, hopefully will be short.
1:38:32 But I think for that, for those reasons, I actually feel stronger about limiting the interim position to an internal candidate rather than my feelings on the other. Absolutely. I think that was part of the conversation that we were going to get into.
1:38:54 Once we start discussing the process of the interim, when we get to it, I think I can see where your feelings are. I did want to remind everybody that as I spoke to all of the staff, that making an interim usually not be able to become is one of the largest factors in receiving the majority of applicants. So that’s what it was.
1:39:01 Literally everybody, and I’ve called some of the other individuals that are retired superintendents said, hey, what do you guys think? And they had all said the same thing. So there’s an extreme caution on allowing the interim to become the actual superintendent. And especially if we were going to go with an internal, as the decision making, it becomes more and more of a, looks like an inside job.
1:39:22 Just to clarify what you’re saying. So you’re saying when you talk to all the. They were suggesting that it’s better to not allow the interim to apply for that.
1:39:37 Okay. Because to be honest with you, part of the conversation, and I kind of wanted to put the superintendent’s piece first, is that you may be speaking to less than 90 days. And if you’re going to do something like that, then what we’re looking at is somebody to come in short term, run the organization, get through that, and then go out during that time for the superintendent.
1:39:51 So that was what that was. So that’s part of the conversation. Is there a limit on how long the interim can serve? As the interim? Could they serve for 180 days instead of 90? They can serve the contract as long until we serve, until we choose the superintendent.
1:40:13 But I think the direction of the board will tell how long we want to search. And then at the end of that search, you know, then that would be the time period. And then there’s usually a little bit of a transition where they’re like, hey, these are the things that I was doing.
1:40:37 These are the things that were going on. And so, and in the event that we were to find superintendent in between while the intern was serving, we could terminate that contract with that person and start our superintendent right away. It would be a contractual agreement with whoever’s interim and it would have those terms, you know, such as the term would be until a superintendent has been named by the board.
1:40:47 There would be, you know, they could terminate it themselves if, you know, they were, if they weren’t unable to do the job as well, there would be those provisions if, as you limit it to, they are ineligible for the job. That would be a term that I would need to know to put into that agreement. You’re saying that we select an interim or something like that and then all of a sudden the search goes quicker than thought.
1:41:03 Right? That’s my thought is if somebody surfaces, that is quicker than the 90 or 100 or however many days that we limit are we. I would not want to put a definitive term in there. I wouldn’t say for 90 days.
1:41:17 It would be until the board names the superintendent. Because you, especially if you’re doing a national search, how long do they have to give notice on their end? How long is it going to take them to move? And all that so you wouldn’t have that information upfront. Okay.
1:41:49 And I think that’s a great point because there may be an opportunity, and I didn’t mean to speak out ahead, but if you guys all decide that you’re going to make a decision to go faster than normal, you’re right. It’s lit up. I don’t know.
1:42:08 I think that one of the issues that you can have is that, you know what I mean? The board’s going to decide how long we’re going to take to do this next step. And that’s why I kind of wanted to put the superintendent’s piece first, but was advised that she go the other way. So the first piece is that I wanted to give everybody an opportunity to discuss, does the interim able to apply for a superintendent’s position or do we limit the interim to just the interim? And that was what I was going to ask the board.
1:42:15 So a couple of things were brought up. So I don’t understand why the opinions of other superintendents matter or even apply because they didn’t hire themselves. So I don’t understand how they have knowledge of the process and the limit of applicants.
1:42:46 It would really be the board members of those boards that were searching for those superintendents. I absolutely believe that the interim needs to be an inside candidate. It doesn’t make any sense.
1:43:01 If we are concerned about the function and stability of brevard public schools with our 70,000 students and our 9000 employees, then the best interest of our community and our schools would be to have somebody who has some expertise in our school system to take us over this bridge and this hump when it comes to whether or not they can apply for superintendent. If the true interest of this board is to get the best applicant, then everyone should be able to apply. It’s going to, their resumes will be public record, the selection process should be public.
1:43:36 People should be well aware of what’s happening and be held accountable whether or not they’re the best person. If they’re not, if someone else amazing comes in and steps in, then you select that person over them. But I think that every single person should be able to apply for this position.
1:43:46 So, Miss Jenkins, getting. So, Miss Jenkins, getting back to the initial interim, I did want to say you had asked, how is it that other superintendents that are retired would know if more applicants would come? They’re the ones that would have gone into and applied for jobs based on what the conditions inside of that school district were. And their direction to me was, if we know that there’s an interim that individuals inside their like that there’s a very good chance that we would not have applied to some of the positions that we applied for, and that’s why.
1:43:52 So I just wanted to kind of let you know that. But I was looking for direction on whether the interim could or could not be the superintendent, and I was. That’s one of the things I was asking for.
1:43:59 I didn’t know if you could give direction on that. I already did. Okay.
1:44:18 So are you for or against allowing them? He was four. Allowing them. For allowing them.
1:44:42 All right, Miss Campbell, you had said one way or the other. Do you know which direction you want to go, or do I? Sorry to waiver, but I’m not a strong yes or no. I actually understand what you’re saying, but I also have heard from.
1:45:00 Had a couple conversations with our staff to understand the detriment of allowing interim to apply because other people might not apply who might be very good candidates. So, sorry, I can’t give you a strong yes or no right this second. All right, I am going to say that I am in favor of not allowing them to apply.
1:45:06 So, Miss Wright, I guess I’m with Miss Campbell on this one. I’m a little conflicted, because if we get an interim, that’s amazing. I feel like they should have the option to have the job if they’re doing a phenomenal job for us, but I also understand there’s repercussions from that.
1:45:08 This is a really hard thing to answer one way or the other, honestly. Would you like to give Mister Trump? I would. Yeah.
1:45:17 Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mister Trump.
1:45:25 All right, so that’s. I’m gonna groove Miss Jenkins on this. I believe we need to have the best person for this position.
1:45:37 If it’s so, so be it. The interim. If there’s a superintendent out there, applicant that feels they should not apply, that that’s not.
1:46:03 That’s not the strong enough person I want here in Brevard county. The best person needs to apply and be confident in his or her ability. So at any point, regardless, I would never not apply for a position because they have a temporary person in that position.
1:46:10 So, no, we have you guys, the two of you, if you go one direction or the other, determine the application process. So let me ask you, Matt, how many superintendents did you speak to when you. When you ran this or you were polling this? When we were.
1:46:40 Part of the discussion occurred when we were at FSBA. There were a lot that were theirs. Probably sick.
1:46:50 But the thing is, is that please don’t take that as an overall understand that look, you know, if we were to say that we are truly looking open and that we want all of them to apply, there’s some argument behind trans argument, you know what I mean? To not limiting. It’s just, I don’t know how that message goes all the way out to the national search firm pieces like locally in the state, people are going to know that we’re really looking. But when these other ones look, then it might be a little bit difficult to get some of them.
1:47:23 But you know, it’s, look, I’m at the will of the board here. I felt that way because of who I spoke to. But at the same regard, I can see Mister Trent’s argument.
1:47:41 I would just hate to disqualify someone that if they come in and they are doing a phenomenal job, I would hate to say we can’t hire them because we’ve set this limitation on ourselves. Is there a way to contractually get around what the heck is going on here? Can you literally, could we put it into the contract that if no superintendents that we see were of value, that we would then stop the search, come back and give it to the interim? I’ve seen it done, even with it in there. The most recent was in Broward, where they hired an interim, and most of their interims are ineligible for the job.
1:47:48 And after reviewing all the applicants and everything, and they disqualify them, eventually they’ve gone back and said, well, you just serve as superintendent and can you do that? Sure. You could contract with them. It’s still in their contract that you’re ineligible.
1:48:01 That sounds like a win win, is what you’re saying to me. They’re limiting. Essentially the interim didn’t apply for the job.
1:48:07 The board just wasn’t satisfied with any of the candidates that they got, so. And they were happy with the job that the interim was doing. So they just went back and said after review of all applicants, we aren’t happy with the.
1:48:42 With the applicant pool, but we’re happy with the job the interim is doing. So they just offered the job to the interim. I have a follow up.
1:49:00 I have a follow up. What I don’t understand is if the interim is coming internally, then that is someone we believe is the best person for the job right here in our district. So the odds of someone else in our district applying and the board thinking that they’re better than that person, yeah, it can happen, but doesn’t really make any sense because we’re going to choose the person who wants to be the interim and the person we think is the best for that position right then and there.
1:49:12 So by limiting that person out, the person that we would then technically be agreed is the best in our own district, then we’re limiting anyone from our district, essentially. And to be concerned whether or not people are aware that we are going to have this vacancy nationally. I mean, we’ve been in the national news about this conversation.
1:49:42 We already got resumes sent to us from people from other states. So I think people are aware. I don’t think the pool is going to be limited because they’re not going to know that the job is open.
1:49:47 My greatest concern again is we have tremendous amount of experience here in Brevard, and yes, they may not end up being the person that gets selected, but we shouldn’t be limiting that opportunity to that person that we’re putting in that position in the meantime. So there’s an option that we can move forward with allowing the internal candidate to not be part of the superintendent search. But in the event that the superintendents that we see are not good enough, we can always stop the search, go back and choose that person.
1:50:07 We can. That is an option. Honestly, I don’t like that option because I feel like we’re saying one thing and doing another.
1:50:26 I think we need to. I would prefer for us to go with the way Mister Trent and Miss Jenkins have suggested that we go ahead and allow the interim to also apply for the full time job, rather than say we’re not going to, and then go back and have that as our back pocket opportunity. I think we just need to move forward in integrity and say we’re going to do what we say.
1:50:30 And if we think there’s a possibility that the interim might be the person that we might find someone that we want to be, then we just need to leave that door open. I am curious to see the resumes that Miss Jenkins speaking about. Have those been sent to anybody? Oh, you know what? I think the person who sent that resume from like Arizona, it was.
1:50:39 It did. I don’t think it came to the new board members. I. It was.
1:50:44 There’s a bunch of people on there. I didn’t be perfectly honest with you. I mean, the objective statement said they wanted a part time position, so I mean, you didn’t miss anything.
1:50:53 It was a very small district that they’d come from. Strong candidate. Okay, it might be a strong candidate.
1:51:00 We don’t want to say anything like that. It’s just they were, they like they like the direction that we were going and they were trying to say, hey, I’m here for you and stuff. We just need a.
1:51:15 We need a strong kid or somebody who wants a full time position. Right. I’ll be honest with you, they might be a strong candidate for the position of interim.
1:51:29 You know what I mean? All right, so Katie, is that. Are you saying that your side, you’re on Miss Jenkins and Mister Trent’s side on this? I would rather. Yes, I’d rather just leave that option open then to close that option, and then with the idea that we might go back and remove it later.
1:51:44 Okay, so that’s a majority. Yeah, I tend to agree with that same thought process on this one. All right, do you guys want to personally say something? Because every superintendent that decides, or deputy superintendent that decides to apply will be watching this video.
1:51:55 Is there. Is there a desire for you guys to see the outside candidates and those kind of things? Because I am really wanting to see what outside of our state? Outside of or inside our state? Outside of our state and everything else is willing to show us. Right.
1:52:00 I think that we are all willing and there is no determination that this is the person that we want forever. I think that we are willing to look at all of them. But Mister Trent, for the interim.
1:52:12 But the. No, for the final, when we receive the outside. But Mister Trent, you have a good point.
1:52:21 Like what if we decide to get somebody that does a good job and then we’re all happy with them and we can move on? So that’s it. Okay, so Mister Gibbs, you got direction on that? Yep. Okay.
1:52:43 All right. So the next thing that we wanted to talk about was limiting. Limiting it to internal or external? External.
1:52:58 It makes no difference to me either way. What is the wish of the board? Limiting to internal or external? Well, I’ll speak on that. The same as I spoke on the last issue is if we have a set time for interims to apply, we should be looking for the best candidate possible.
1:53:14 I don’t care where they come from. I think it’s what’s best for Brevard and the students and the teachers and everyone involved. Okay, so you’re definitely willing to go outside, right? You’re willing to go outside? Yes.
1:53:33 Are you asking for interim. No, we’re asking for internal interim superintendent or going outside of the school district also. Yeah, I am a strong, strong disagreement with that.
1:53:55 To pretend that we can find someone and they can just step in and fill that role quickly is. I’m in disbelief that’s even a concept that we’re even having a conversation about, again, the way our organization is structured. We had a man at the top who served 29 years for brevard Public schools.
1:54:13 We’ve got cabinet members who, again, 15, 2025 years for Brevard Public schools. These aren’t jobs and roles you can just jump into and hit the ground running. And if it’s the point of an interim is to just keep us afloat until we find that candidate that we need to keep us going in the long run, then we need the stability of somebody who actually knows how to run the organization.
1:54:23 Yeah, no, I think that’s a terrible decision. I think that we, an interim would be better to come from internal and against external. But I think for the continuity, as I’ve already said, and, you know, we’ve got a lot of, let’s just, let’s just be open and honest.
1:54:33 We’ve got a lot of fear and chaos going through our district. And I have talked to enough employees in the last two weeks to know that there are many. And truly, it’s unjustified.
1:54:48 I know Doctor Mullins has said he’s been approached by people. They’re worried about their being fired. And he’s assured them we hire and firewall to employees that we are directly responsible for.
1:54:56 Everybody else answers operationally through the superintendent. And so, but there is fear. There is chaos going on in the community that, and honestly, it started before November.
1:55:13 There’s, there’s. So we need to be very careful how we move forward and showing, moving. I think we made a good start this morning to show how we’re going to treat people.
1:55:33 I think we need to continue on to move very carefully. And I think just me. And of course, you know what? If it’s decided against, if we, the majority of the board decides, you know, we’re going to open up to everybody inside and outside.
1:55:48 The thing is, when it comes down to the time when we get the applications, you know, we can push for the internal candidate because of the continuity. I understand that. But I do feel strongly that we need for that continuity for the sake of the morale that’s going on the district, we need to have this short time be led by someone internal.
1:56:05 Okay. Thank you, Miss Campbell. I think I’m going to go outside also with Jean and Miss Megan because some of the retired superintendents may want to come and apply for the interim superintendent to help out.
1:56:17 So whereas you may have some superintendents that are out there that might say, you know what, I’ve had 20 years of experience, six years as a, as a superintendent, I’d be more than happy to come over and help you guys get through the transition into a new superintendent. So I think that that’s where I’m going to go. So I’ll agree to go outside.
1:56:47 Mister Gibbs, do you have consensus on outside for the search? Yes. Okay. So that brings us to start to talk about some of these, the inside of meetings and all that stuff.
1:56:58 But prior to that, I said that I would want to throw out any names that you guys may have, that you may have had conversations that they are willing to serve. And I was going to give that opportunity to everybody here, just so everybody understands. The reason that this is a good thing if you guys were to decide to go that direction is because in my mind, I say it’s a good thing, is because we have a rush to try to get all of the individuals, get their applications, get them in.
1:57:15 We would have to come back on the 20th or the 21st, pass their agreement. Then they have to go through the process. And to be honest with you, it kind of slows down the process.
1:57:24 But it’s okay if that’s the, if that’s what the will of the board wants to do. But I would say that when I was looking at the internal candidates, I kept coming up with four names that were, that were the top name and for superintendent experience and stuff like that. So I’m going to leave it up to Miss Campbell.
1:57:55 You wanted to go first, as she is chomping at the bit. Go ahead. We just had the conversation that we want to pick the best candidate.
1:58:28 And we just had the conversation, literally, it’s fresh ink is still wet, that we wanted to have the opportunity for outside candidates. Whether it is true and justified or not, there is a perception, another perception in this community about lack of transparency already with this board of sunshine violations. And I am not going to cast you know what, but the perception is there, and I know you realize it.
1:58:34 And so for us to decide coming into this meeting today and to make the decision today on a candidate that we’re going to have the discussion right now, I feel very strongly that that would just continue that perception. And so, so I’m just going to before, I mean, people can, you know, the chair is open it up for nominations or suggestions, but I would just caution any one of us from saying, even saying a name today because I believe as much as it’s going to be, and we need to get our calendars out and just mark off. We’re not doing anything for the next two weeks.
1:58:42 And a half weeks besides this. But I think we need to be as transparent as possible. It is a very short window.
1:58:51 We can go to whoever we want to in the district and say, will you please apply? I think you’d be a good candidate, or anybody outside the district, will you please apply? But we’re. We have got to. To be going transparent.
1:59:02 I would feel very, very uncomfortable with choosing an interim today. We need to follow the process that we’ve just outlined. The majority of the board said that we need to do.
1:59:25 Okay, Miss Jenkins, did you have an opinion? Yeah. Sorry to come to you next. If you want to go following back to.
1:59:40 I know there’s a consensus of decision of internal, external, but I think one thing that we should have been considering is the cabinet members who have to work directly underneath that person and their feelings and what they would have wished. So I’m with Miss Campbell. I don’t understand the argument of saying why we have to go externally.
1:59:43 And we don’t want the interim to be able to apply for the full time position because it’ll limit applicants. But we think naming people out loud on the dais isn’t going to limit the amount of applicants when you’re already saying someone who you have on your mind that you’re going to select. So it’s kind of hypocritical.
1:59:57 It doesn’t make any sense. And I’m with Miss Campbell. There needs to be full transparency.
2:00:12 There needs to be time and consideration given to every single consideration and applicant. I agree with the. I agree with what you both are saying on this.
2:00:17 I think that the best process here would be to open this, the application process up to start as of today. Let’s see what resumes come in, and then go through the interview process as a team, collaboratively, and then find the best candidate that can serve our county. Yeah, well, that’s a majority.
2:00:34 So I think. Sorry, I think that’s a majority. Paul, you have direction.
2:00:57 All right, so let’s go through. Paul, would you like to kind of explain this section of what you had together? I was going to ask, is the board good with my outlined schedule there? I had opening up the application period for interim starting this afternoon. After this meeting, it’ll run through about 03:00 on Friday.
2:01:16 Doctor Theta and I will compile those resumes and forward it to the board before 05:00 on Friday so that you guys have the weekend and Monday to consider them. During the workshop on Tuesday, you can discuss the applicants, and then we can schedule interviews on the 15th and 16th. We’ll put that notice on the application notice as well, that the position’s open.
2:01:39 Interviews to be scheduled on the 15th and 16th. Then once the selection is made, we can bring the contract back for board approval on the 20th. We’ll have to have special board meeting notices for December 15, December 16 and December 20, and we’ll work to get those ads out.
2:01:49 That sound good? Can we go ahead and everybody is raised calendar good, so we can go ahead and nail this down for them before we walk away. The dates were for us to be here would be the 13th, which we’re already here because that’s board meeting day, the 15th and the 16th to review the interviews, and then the 20th. Now, some of those could be if needed.
2:01:56 So if we have. If you guys want to interview only three people, you get them all done on the 15th, you could potentially have a board meeting on. The board meeting on the 16th could be naming the individual.
2:01:57 Then I would work out the contract with the individual and bring that on the 20th. So the 20th would just be potentially just. Yeah, it would be an if needed as well.
2:02:03 Yeah, but. Okay. Okay.
2:02:07 But we would have to have public comment and all that. Yep, yep. Just.
2:02:22 Oh, sorry. That thought went in my brain. Oh.
2:02:38 In a separate from these interviews. I know when we did, when we hired you, we also had individual interviews. Is that possibility potentially you could set that up however you want.
2:02:56 It’s really probably going to depend on how many people you decide to interview and whether you can get through them all on the 15th. If you wanted to then have individuals on the 16th, you potentially could do that. I mean, basically we’re going to get them on this Friday and then on Tuesday we’re going to look through them.
2:03:21 There’s an opportunity on Tuesday that you may just say, look, after reviewing all of these, this is the person. Or if you want to move to interviews of our current or outside staff, then we can do that on the 15th and 16th, set up individual. What Miss Campbell’s talking about is that we had individual meetings with the top three candidates and we did like a round robin.
2:03:37 Poor Paul had to go through, like, five different members in a matter of a couple of hours, but it works out real well so that you can meet them. And I think that that was the direction Paul and I were talking about maybe going. Can I clarify something that you just said? If we in the workshop shortlisted and even went beyond shortlisting and there was some agreement that actually maybe we all landed on one name, I don’t think we could actually vote on it that night, could we? I wouldn’t recommend it.
2:03:41 My recommendation would be to put it on an agenda for one of the already noticed meetings, if you like. For instance, if an internal candidate everybody already knows is the top person, you probably don’t need to interview them. If on the 13th, you guys are like, hey, this is it.
2:03:51 This is the winner. We all know them. We think they’re going to do a great job.
2:04:06 And you want to hire them for interim. You could certainly do that. I would recommend you put it on for the agenda for probably that Thursday or Friday as just a special board meeting to appoint the interim superintendent.
2:04:21 So if we’re. So if we’re clear on the 15th and 16th, those are both dates that we could come back. Decision, Paul? What I’d like to do is possibly, if we’re going to be here the 15th and 16th, maybe the idea is that we come together on the 16th.
2:04:29 We maybe hold a meeting on the 16th rather than the 20th, the next week. Does that make sense to you? So what we were originally going to do is have them come through, have all their interviews, then stop, take three and four more days, then come back on the 20th. But I know some of you may be leaving for Christmas and have schedules.
2:04:39 I’m here. But I think maybe we hold a meeting on Friday the 16th and just have it temporary in the event that we can get that taken care of. Yeah.
2:04:42 We’re going to advertise as if needed, but if the. The selection isn’t outside, you’re probably going to need more time for interviews. So, I mean, it’s all going to depend on the applicants.
2:04:53 Sure. Okay. Just one more.
2:05:05 I don’t know if Miss Sagiri has already advertised for the 13, but do we think that two to four timeframe. I’m just looking at what else is on the agenda on the workshop, because I don’t want us to. It could be a really short conversation.
2:05:09 It could be a really long conversation. We have the space coast junior senior high, additional construction, and then the new middle school financing. It should take less than half an hour for.
2:05:20 So you think 2 hours is enough to. Yeah, I mean, and we always roll through it. So we have.
2:05:24 You know what I mean? I think that we can make our conversations pretty quick there, but if you guys think that we should come in a little bit earlier, we can. We can’t start earlier. You can go up.
2:05:32 We can roll. You can go until 530. Right? I think we’re good.
2:05:41 We’re good. I think there’s plenty. And you could also if you ran out of time, move it to the discussion at the board meeting to roll it over there, too.
2:05:58 We’re good on the. I have a question. So first I have a legal question before I then bring it to the board for consensus.
2:06:11 And I think I know the answer to this, but I want you to clarify for me. So when it comes to public records requests, I believe they have to be fulfilled in the order that they’re received. Are we bound to that? It depends on the scope of the request.
2:06:27 You know, a request of 5000 documents is going to take longer to compile and review for any exempt information than a request for two documents. So they’re usually processed simultaneously. So we’re going to get to it.
2:07:07 But once the request for the documents and while they’re being compiled, public records may be able to compile that one page document while the others are still being compiled and send them out. So it’s all relative to what the actual request is and what the scope of the request is. I think there’s probably five.
2:07:11 I’m still going, so I don’t know if I even need a consensus for this. But I think tapping off of what Miss Campbell said, for the sake of transparency of the community, because we’re on such a short timeframe, would there need to be a consensus to say if anyone’s requesting documents or communication that involves the superintendent, search for it to maybe be expedited before these meetings? You mean from the board or that you can’t make prospective public records? That wouldn’t be, that wouldn’t be a public records request if any board member wants us to send, which have qualified themselves as being really good. Right.
2:07:18 Will be able to perform those duties. Yep. All right.
2:07:58 We all good. So we’ll bring that back on the 13th. Make a decision on the 13th who we want to go for.
2:08:11 Did you guys want to talk a little bit about the process that we want to go from here, or did you guys want to bring it back on the 13th and then discuss how we’re going to go from there? Does that make sense to you? Because I’ve heard some people say that they would like to have a, I haven’t heard from people that a short search due to the fact that all of the other school districts that have gone out so that you understand Charlotte Collier, Sarasota Manatee, Broward, and that’s just the first five. So there’s an opportunity to move quicker than them, which we are already on pace for doing. Or there’s another argument that says that if you take a longer time that you have more applicants.
2:08:45 But as Miss Jenkins said, we may actually have made national news, so we may already know that we’re in the. In the hopper. So I’ll take discussion if you guys want to do that on the 13th and discuss it then, or if you guys want to get direction.
2:08:50 Now, Miss Campbell, personally, I, you know, I don’t know how FSBA exactly runs theirs, but I think when they come in, they come in and have those conversations with the board and help us think through those things, since I know you have been a part of hiring a superintendent, but the rest of us haven’t, and you and I are the only people who are part of hiring the attorney. So it’s kind of a new process, I think. Rather than deciding today, I think it might be, or even on the 13th, it might be better just to wait and see if those companies help them come guide us through the process of deciding how we want to go forward.
2:09:01 Honestly, right now, I don’t have a lean one away. Let’s hurry. Let’s go slow.
2:09:13 I understand the competition, but Brevard is unique and every county is unique, and we need to get open the window as soon as we can. But I don’t know that we have to close it. Sure.
2:09:43 I mean, and that’s what the discussions are. The reason that I was asking is that if they bring back and say, okay, FSBA, or what was the other one? Ray and associates is the other big name that usually gets kicked was the one that started with an age. Yes.
2:10:02 Someone young and something is the third one that’s most commonly kicked around. And anyway, so those would come back and they would say, okay, maybe part of the conversation is that they, in their proposal, put together what a short and a long term plan would be when they come back, because they can say, okay, this is what we feel is a definite shorter and a longer term plan, so that we could look at that because that’s their direction. And then maybe we could hire and have discussion wrapped around which one of those processes we would like to go down.
2:10:21 Does that make sense to you guys? I think something to add there is when we get quotes, if we bring them on the 13th, are you wanting to, like, short list the top two and then have them come in and do a presentation to the board of what each wishes to do? Because that might take longer. I think if we. It’s a search, right.
2:10:35 They can put it inside their presentation, ask them to put it inside there, and then we can make a choice on the 13th. Or if you guys would like, we could ask them to come present. But due to their situation, they may not present until January, which means that we would then give them direction, and then they would have a time period where they would make that choice.
2:10:38 It’s up to you guys. I am fully confident that the packages that they do are pretty standard with every single school district. So the presentation would be, hey, here’s our presentation, or this is what we do.
2:10:53 This is a short. This is a long. We choose discuss and go.
2:10:56 You know what I mean? Whether it’s long or short, I feel confident that their slides that they have can give us direction. But if on the 13th, what you can do is turn around and say, look, I don’t feel comfortable, maybe we do need to stretch this out. That makes sense.
2:10:58 Yes. Yes. Yes, Miss Jenkins.
2:11:14 Okay. Miss Campbell. Yeah.
2:11:19 Okay. So I think having them present their process for both long and short, and the prices on the 13th, bring that in a document to us so that we can review it, and then we may be able to make a decision there. Okay.
2:11:25 Just. We only have one meeting in. In January.
2:11:40 That’ll probably change. That’ll probably change, but we might. Hang on.
2:11:57 Just filled up our December, Mister Susan. But we’ve got important discussions to be had, so probably would be a good idea for everybody to look in January and hold some dates. I know, I know there’s certain time frames that are, like, non negotiable for me, that I can’t be a part of.
2:12:04 But it probably be a good idea in the near future for us to offer Miss Agiri some so she can try to coordinate our calendars, which can be unwieldy at times. And we’re going to have. Just so everybody understands, we’re going to have discussion about those calendar issues on Thursday.
2:12:20 So that might be a time, like Miss Campbell said, is to look at your calendars and then bring that back on Thursday to discuss. So. Perfect, everybody.
2:12:28 Okay, is there any other information that you need? Signatory authority for the superintendent’s capacity of $25 to $50,000 without board approval. Is that going to be doctor thet? It’s the wish of the. It’s the usual process to have doctor thet take that over. And if anybody doesn’t have a problem with that, that’s the direction that we normally go. All right, all good. Got your consensus? All right. Anybody else? For the good of the order? Thank you.