Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
1:38 Good morning. The December 16 special board meeting is now in order. I’d like to take the opportunity to remind the public that the appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during the individual public comment opportunity identified in the agenda. Outside of your individual public comment opportunity, your role in the meeting is to be an observer.
1:55 Paul. Roll call, please. Mister Susan? Here.
1:58 Miss Wright. Here. Miss Campbell? Here.
2:00 Miss Jenkins. Here. Mister Trent.
2:02 Here. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
2:22 That brings us to the adoption of the agenda. Can I get a motion? Move to approve. Second any discussion, please vote.
2:32 All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? We’re now at public comments.
2:40 During this morning’s meeting, comments will be limited to the agenda items only. I’m assuming because I. Wait a minute. We have two public comments.
2:56 First, can I get a motion to allow all three speak minutes and the ability to address the board by name? Motion to approve. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Please vote.
3:07 All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. No naysayers.
3:12 We have three number of speakers and each will receive three minutes. I will call up three speakers, but this is going to be two speakers at a time. The first three speakers are Kelly Kervin and then Michael Dorn.
3:24 So, Kelly Kervin, you have the floor. Did you want to set up that clock, Mister Susan? Yeah, I mean, at this point there’s only a couple of you. Good morning, everyone.
3:43 I overheard a little bit of remarks about the id and naming things. So for the purpose of. My name is Kelly Kervin.
3:50 I live in Palm Bay, Florida. Miss Campbell, by address, is my representative. My oldest goes to a school represented by Miss Jenkins, and my youngest goes to a school that would be in Mister Trent’s district.
4:01 So, three out of five of you. Yesterday I sat in here and listened to all the interviews just like everybody else did. And when I walked in the door yesterday, I firmly believed that I knew who was going to be picked.
4:15 And then I left feeling differently. And I felt differently because I felt like Robert Schiller gave a part of the board a Hail Mary, in a way. And what I mean by that is Doctor Rendell is who I genuinely thought was going to be offered this position when I walked in.
4:34 He is passed. Has some checkered marks to it. To be fair, I haven’t heard any negatives coming out of Poco beach junior senior high school.
4:43 Maybe a principalship is where he shines the most, but his time in Indian River county has some question marks. However, Mister Schiller, on the other hand, with his educational consulting background, provides the board a very unique perspective of putting everything together before it’s handed off to the permanent. And he flat out said he wouldn’t take a permanent position regardless.
5:10 So he’s not going to fight to stay. Whereas doctor Rendell would be given the opportunity who I do firmly believe will be our permanent superintendent. He could finish out his principalship.
5:23 The media surrounding him will die down, and it gives the public the appearance of. Okay, well, maybe the naysayers were wrong, which can go either way. I have a daughter with Ese in the first grade.
5:39 She was that little kid who was given the wrong breakfast straw and was hiding under a desk at the start of class. And it was our AP, now current principal of Locmar, who got on the floor with her and formed a relationship and formed a bond that the other day she looked at her baby box and there was a shirt that this assistant principal bought her so that they could twin and get through school. And I felt like listening to the three of them.
6:07 James Larson came off the most human. He came off four students and four staff and four teachers. His track record showed in Orange county that he can handle a district of our size with our budget.
6:21 I think he’s the best choice. I want to be wrong. I know it sounds paranoid, and I generally am a facts based person, but I like to see things from all possible perspectives.
6:35 So I really, really hope that that’s who you guys pick. That’s all. Thanks.
6:44 Thank you. Miss Carvin. Michael Dorn.
6:52 Hi, thank you for. Thank you for letting me speak here today. My name is Michael Dorn.
6:58 I’m a professional safety assurance manager. I work on trains and rail signaling and stuff like that, but I’m here talking about a different kind of safety problem today. I didn’t expect to come here until just a few minutes ago, but I’m glad to have an opportunity here to talk about this.
7:14 I found out yesterday that there’s a safety problem. Viera elementary, and I have three kids that go there. They sent one of my kids home, said he was on the playground.
7:28 There was an incident where kids are tying each other up with jump ropes, restraining them physically with ropes. Teachers don’t even notice what’s going on. They weren’t even aware of it until after the fact.
7:42 I heard about this. No, can’t be true. Of course the teachers are watching the kids, right? Of course.
7:47 This is the kids make up stories? No, I just came from a few minutes ago from the principal’s office and they corroborated. Yes, this happened. This has happened.
7:55 There are written reports saying that this happened. There are parts of the playground where kids are just not able to supervise them. And this is happening.
8:03 It’s been happening. In fact, I’ve been doing more research about it and realize that this has actually been going on for months. Apparently a couple months ago there was an incident where a kid got tied up, so severely knotted, the teacher couldn’t remove the knot.
8:17 She had to get. Teacher, Mister Nagel had to get scissors and cut the kid out of the ropes. After this happened months ago.
8:23 You mean to tell me that they’re still able to play with jump ropes on the playground and not have the proper supervision? Blew my mind. And then the principal’s trying to downplay. They’re playing a game.
8:34 I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. You’re playing a game.
8:36 You know, the responsible parents, the teachers, the administration has responsibility to watch the kids and supervise them and make sure that the other kids are not tying each other up with jump ropes, for goodness sake. So I’m here today to advocate on behalf of safety and who, I don’t know which candidates you have to select from, but if one of them in particular has a better background on safety, then I would advocate for that. For that.
9:08 For kids safety. I would advocate for that candidate. And of course.
9:13 Of course, there needs to be some kind of training, some kind of announcement, some kind of. I’m glad I have the opportunity to make a speech today. But there needs to be some better control and some better supervision in general.
9:28 Not just at VRL elementary School, but in general, from the top down, needs to be sent a strong message to the staff, to the principals, to the teachers, to the faculty. Watch the kids on the playground, for goodness sakes, and don’t let them tie each other up with jump ropes. If you’re going to play with ropes at all, then teach them about the safety of ropes.
9:52 Ropes are very, very dangerous. Of course, everyone here understands that. Thank you, Mister Dorn.
9:57 If you get a chance after this meeting, if you’re still here, I’ll meet with you. Otherwise, it’s my district, so I’ll go call. I don’t know how long the meeting lasts, but hang around.
10:07 Thank you, Mister Dorn. Okay. No, that was just that.
10:13 That concludes the public comments. We thank you for your willingness to address us in this public matter. Today’s meeting is to deliberate and select the district’s interim superintendent.
10:22 I’m gonna open the floor for conversation. Does anybody wish to speak? 1st, 2nd, 3rd? Anybody want to open up the floor and start discussing? Okay, Miss Campbell. So I just want to start off by saying I am.
10:40 I was very pleased, considering how fast we moved. And to be quite frank, you know, the negative attention that our district has gotten over the last month that we had such that we had some high quality candidates apply. I think we ended up with the three best finalists.
11:01 All have vast amounts of experience at many levels. And was the whole process yesterday, I think was good. I think that our district can do well with any of the three.
11:19 I’m just going to say that right up front. I think they’re all qualified. I have, I have.
11:29 I want to say two favorites, because I got it. You know, this is an awkward process. Let’s just acknowledge.
11:33 Right? It’s an awkward process. We’re going to be talking about people not behind their backs. Yeah, let’s just acknowledge it, you know, and so I really want to focus rather than, for me, you know, rather than talking about the negatives anyone can with the positives that caused two of them at least to rise above the other.
11:51 I do think that it’s interesting, as our public commenter mentioned, that doctor Shiller represents a really unique opportunity. He is the only one who clearly is. Only the other two might be interested in the full, in the permanent position.
12:03 He is clearly only interested in the interim. And he has so much experience in doing what we see that we need to do, which is turning us around. And to be, you know, to be honest, again, we have a very young.
12:18 I don’t say young board, but like, yeah, yes, we’re very young. A very new board. Most experienced person only has six years.
12:26 I’ve got five. Miss Jenkins has two. You guys are just starting.
12:30 He has that experience of working with boards to get them ready to go right, to move forward. It’s almost like we would be getting a twofer, you know, an interim superintendent who has clearly has experience in helping a district move forward, but also experience in training boards, kind of, in addition, like our own personal FSBA every day, you know, so I think that is a really right free consulting that we’re paying for, that we’re paying for, you know, that kind of energy and to come from the outside and I know, I know. I emphasized last week I thought we needed internal candidate.
13:06 Honestly, I know, even though Doctor Rendell is the internal candidate, I know there’s. That’s kind of a balance. Is he internal candidate? Yes, he’s from, but he’s not completely because he’s had experience outside the district.
13:16 But when I was thinking of maternal Canada, I was thinking like a cabinet level position. Clearly none of them applied because they already know the inner workings and it would be smoother. But since that didn’t happen to me, this is a really good opportunity to really get that, get the ship turned right, work with us.
13:38 You know, I think he has honestly, I think all, you know, he has opportunity to the ability to stay neutral when it comes to politics. If he’s worked in LA and he’s worked in Houston and he’s worked in some of these other places, he’s been able to do that. And you know, the letters of recommendation, I don’t know if you guys were able to look through.
13:54 I mean he’s continued to be sought after to do the very thing that we are wanting to do and I think would really set us up well for whoever we choose. That being said, that being said, I was really excited about Doctor Larson. I think that even though he hasn’t been a superintendent and out of the three who’s not been a superintendent, to be an area superintendent in Orange, which is the size of a small country, really gives him, and because of the positions he served in, that he’s got a vast amount of experience also in including some significant time overseeing discipline for Orange county.
14:39 And you know, we’re not unaware. Orange county is in some ways similar as far as you know, we’re all here in central Florida, but in some ways, you know, even more challenging because they do have even more schools that are high needs, you know, free and reduced lunch rates and all those kinds of things. They have unique challenges of inner city, which we don’t necessarily have here in Brevard.
15:03 And so that kind of experience, you know, and the energy that he brings, the passion that he brings, I don’t think any of them were not passionate, but I was really excited about that. The ability to just engage with the staff, engage with the community, that was exciting to me. Not that Doctor Rundell could not do those things I do.
15:25 For me, I’m just going to just put this out there because like we have to have this awful conversation out in the public. I do like the consistency of staying in one place for a good amount of time that you can kind of build that practice and get to touch so many things, you know, clearly Doctor Shiller has not been doing that for the last several years. But I think his role is different because he is.
15:46 That is. I mean, you know, he’s in retirement time, and so his whole focus has been on helping districts turn around. So I see him view him a little bit differently in that not staying in one place at any given time, because he was intentional about that.
16:01 So I, you know, I’m not. Those are my two, and they’re very different. And I honestly, through the night, have not been able to really settle on one of those as my number one.
16:16 But, you know, they’re kind of tied for number one and two for me. Miss Jenkins. No, I’m not ready.
16:25 Do I. I’ll jump in there. I think that we are very lucky. We did get three highly qualified candidates, and they’re very unique and different.
16:33 So I think that was one of the really cool things to see yesterday. From my perspective, what I walked away from yesterday is that we are hiring for an interim superintendent. That is what we have been advertising.
16:43 That is what we are looking for with the understanding we are going to go to look for a full time superintendent. I think Mister Schiller brings a unique. I do think he brings a unique opportunity for us because he does have that history of turning districts around.
16:59 He doesn’t want full time. He’s not looking to stay here. He’s looking to help us get on the right track.
17:05 And then I think that the other part that’s good is that when we go to advertise for the permanent superintendent, people may not be willing to throw their name in if they know that one of our, the other two candidates express the fact that they are looking for a permanent superintendent position. So I think that that is something that could hinder us on getting all the best candidates that are gonna throw their name in the hat, so to speak. Plus, his experience is extensive.
17:34 I will say for Doctor Rendell, he offers a level of stability, though. So that is one of the perks that he has coming from a BPS culture, that he understands what’s going on. He understands how these policies that we have in place are affecting the schools.
17:47 Cause he’s there. So for the comfort level, I think he brings that benefit. And then when you look at Doctor Larson, that’s why I said, these are all great options.
17:58 They really are. Doctor Larson, I liked what Miss Pervin said when she said he was the most human, and I agree. I mean, you could connect with him.
18:06 He’s got a lot of experience, too. I just keep going back to the fact that we are hiring for an interim superintendent, and I think that we should make our decision based on who is the best interim superintendent? Not who is the best long term superintendent. So for that reason, for me, it would be Mister Schiller that would rise to the top because of the fact that we’re looking for interim.
18:28 All three candidates were excellent. I don’t think we would go wrong with any one of them. They would all be able to do the job.
18:34 But focusing on that interim aspect of it, I think he is the one that provides our district with the best direction on being able to straighten out some stuff and get us set up for the next superintendent that’s going to come in. Thank you, Mister Wright. Miss.
18:52 Ready to go? All right, so I echo the same. We were blessed to have three quality candidates. And I told each and every one of them that our district would be in a better place tomorrow if any of the three at 08:00 a.
19:20 m. Would be our interim superintendent. Mister Larson, for example, most human.
19:42 I do believe he is going to be a superintendent here real soon. We are hiring for an interim and that would need some experience. And I know he’s in the area, but that’s why Doctor Schiller and Doctor Rendell, who had that experience, immediately rose to the top there.
19:52 But honestly, I had the best teacher conversation with Mister Larsen. He’s going to be. He’ll be somewhere really soon and he’ll do a fine job.
20:11 We had talked about as a board that if we could find somebody internal, that would be wonderful. And we have someone internal and that would be Doctor Rendell. Even as an interim, you say it’s a safe pick or comfortable pick, and it is true.
20:40 You know, he’s taught in the south, he was a principal in the north, and the central, arguably the best non choice high school in Brevard. I mean, his numbers from Indian River county, as far as results, it’s there. But as an interim, I don’t believe our district is in such situation that Doctor Shiller’s expertise would even be needed.
20:56 He’s an expert at rebuilding districts, and I don’t think that’s where we’re at. If you’ve ever been overqualified for a position, it’s obviously him. It’s amazing the amount of experience we would have there.
21:04 I mean, he did mention that our county had tanked. I don’t believe we’re at that point. I don’t think we’re waving a.
21:40 A white flag saying that we would need to be built up from the ground, which he has experience in doing. That this would be an easy transition to move to someone that already knows the stakeholders involved, the local. And if we did not select someone such as Doctor Rendell for the permanent, it would be an easy transition for him to go back to where he was and he’s lending his years of experience in service to our district and he didn’t have to do that.
22:05 This isn’t someone that’s going to go out and try to be a superintendent at another county. He is going to retire in Brevard county. And that just, I believe it just sends a message that I don’t want to be a part of is that when we are faced with an open position, be it a assistant principal and principalship, that we constantly look outside the district.
22:25 And that’s what’s been happening, in my opinion, in some of our administrator administrative jobs that we’ve been questioning our bench. Where’s our young leaders of our new assistant principals and deans and principals. And it has come off with an appearance around the district.
23:06 Guys, I’m the one that’s fresh out of the schools, that too many of our new positions have been outside the county, outside the state. And not that we’re looking for a babysitter for a few months, but if we can’t look inside our own county and pick someone that obviously is the most qualified person that we have in Brevard at this point with the superintendent and deputy superintendent and his experience on budget and HR position, obviously our talented doctor thet Levin. You know, Doctor Rendell seemed to be, in my eyes, the obvious choice.
23:27 If this place was burned to the ground, I would be calling Doctor Schiller in a heartbeat. But I just don’t believe our district is there and I don’t believe we would be headed in the right direction moving forward if we did not select Doctor Rendell. Miss Jenkins.
23:36 All right, bear with me because I’m assuming this is like the only time we’re talking and I’m being. Okay, well, I’m gonna be honest. I’m like all over the place.
23:54 So bear with me giving you a heads up here. If I’m being perfectly blunt, off the get go, this train has been moving at a high pace, has been coming off the rails. The wind is pushing it back on the rails as much as possible.
24:22 It’s hard for me to feel genuinely confident about any decision today, if I’m being perfectly honest. I’m going to say that I’ve thought a lot about this. I’m going to go into my picks and my whys, but I’m going to talk it out loud with you because I genuinely did not come in today with a, this is the decision I’m coming to the table with today, which is why I wanted to go last, because we can’t talk about it afterwards.
24:45 And it’s a really weird process to spend an entire day interviewing three candidates and not be able to talk about it with somebody else who went through that experience with them. Also, we never got to discuss what happened in our one on ones, which probably were all unique experiences for each and every one of us. So I apologize for the rambling, but bear with me here.
25:01 All right. Where do I begin? So I thought about yesterday’s group interview, and I felt like, well, first and foremost, thank you to the three candidates for being here yesterday. Yes, Katie, this is incredibly awkward.
25:16 All are kind human beings, and I appreciate them, and I don’t. I hate that this is like a public forum. So I thought about the three candidates, and I. And I tried to, like, quickly categorize them in my mind.
25:36 And so I feel like we had one who was energetic and hopeful and passionate, and we had one that was. And I literally wrote this down because I’ve been literally thinking about this since we left yesterday. I feel like we have one that’s practical and realistic and in the moment right now.
26:05 And if I’m being honest, the other one, I guess I would use the word comfortable. I’m not comfortable, but I acknowledge some people are. But I also felt like there was a little bit of a negative feeling in terms of the district from that group interview.
26:29 I also was hopeful, like Miss Campbell, for an internal candidate for this position. But I was also thinking someone who is at a cabinet position, somebody who will quickly jump into the ranks, understand the day to day of that operation side, their colleagues stabilize the cabinet. That’s hanging on by a thread at this point, with two vacancies in the near future.
27:04 That was an internal candidate that I was thinking would rise to the rank even if I thought it was the best candidate. I can’t rationalize removing someone as a leadership position in our district, creating a new problem within our district at this time of the year. We would then have a vacancy at a junior senior high school with the beginning of a second semester, starting when all of the testing begins.
27:26 Just got a new testing coordinator, no less. I just don’t think that that’s the right thing to do. I think we’re going to create more problems by attempting to solve problems.
27:40 The thing that’s hard for me is the comfort that people are feeling. I have to be honest about why I don’t feel that way. And I was very open and honest in my one on ones with every single candidate to be.
28:15 I said to the one that honestly wasn’t at the top of my list point blank in the beginning, I’m going to ask you uncomfortable questions because if I don’t, I’m not giving you a fair shake because I’m going to leave this room with some kind of judgment or thought that I might have had. And I need to give you the opportunity to be able to speak to that. And so I asked tough questions, mostly for coming answers, which was pleasant to hear, but they still weren’t answers I was comfortable with.
28:53 You know, one of the questions I asked all the candidates was about, in any role that you were in in the past, you know, what was something you were shown that maybe you could develop or have some personal growth in. And that answer, that answer just didn’t sit well with me. Because when you make such a hard decision to leave a district from such an important role, I find it hard to believe that you can’t remember the negatives or be prepared to answer why that’s no longer a thing.
29:04 That was hard for me. That was hard for me to see the growth there. And again I asked again in the 101 because I wanted to give that opportunity, because I understand this is an awkward setting to sit in this room.
29:32 And he was a little more open and forthcoming. I’m not going to say that he wasn’t, but I was a little, I was a little uncomfortable with that. Mister Larson was my top pick on paper before they even came in.
29:38 I acknowledge that I was even more impressed when he came in here and spoke. I feel like a lot of times, sometimes resumes sound really good and they’re filled with all of these amazing experiences, but then sometimes it just doesn’t match the person. There’s no really validity behind the actions and positions that they’ve held.
30:00 I feel like he was that I believed that he served those roles because he wanted to serve those roles. He was human. I like that somebody said that he gives me the confidence that he would be able to successfully portray this district in a positive light, not only to the community, but also to our very fragile cabinet members and employees at the district level right now, which would hopefully then trickle down into the schools.
30:35 I like that he has a diverse experience when it comes to population. I like that he’s kind of touched a little bit of everything. I think he was the one and if he wasn’t, I apologize.
30:51 I think he was the one that he had a very. He said, I had a very linear trajectory in my career, but I also had a lateral one. And I respect that because like Miss Campbell said, it shows that consistency.
31:25 If you’re able to stay with a district that long, but also kind of navigate through it to stay fresh and new and challenge yourself with new experiences, that’s something I can absolutely appreciate. But then I have this other thought process. I was one of the ones who argued, no, our interim absolutely needs to be able to apply for the full time position.
31:44 I’m one of the ones who thought that doesn’t make any sense. Because to be fair, my thought process was if our best internal candidate applied for that position, then that best internal candidate who would be the best to carry us through this, this interim should have had the opportunity to apply for full term. That’s really where my mindset was, but that’s not where we are.
32:06 None of those people that I thought would apply applied. Mister Schuller made a really good case as to why it might be important to have someone in this position who isn’t seeking the full term, not only here in this room. But I do want to share with you guys some of the things he said to me in my one on one that really put me in the place I am right now.
32:20 Why? I’m just confused. Again, this is awkward, but I’m going to tell it like it is. One of the first things he said to me, and it wasn’t in a judgment way.
32:37 It was very neutral, like he was in this board room was, listen, you guys made a major mistake in the timing and the way in which the superintendent was fired. And it wasn’t based on simply emotion and respect for that individual. It was based on practicality.
33:27 Here we are rushed to make this decision because we’ve got holiday break coming up and winter break coming up, and we looked at contracts for searching for the full time superintendent that said four to six months. But in all honesty, we shouldn’t really be finding anyone until the summertime because most school districts in America, if we’re going to go nationwide, don’t end in May. And the likelihood of a candidate willing to just jump ship from probably a very good position in a place they’ve been very long in the middle of the most critical times of their school district, if we’re looking at educational backgrounds, is kind of slim or rare, or also makes you question their ability to want to stay and be dedicated to a certain area.
34:17 Having them come in around June summertime gives them the opportunity over the summer to acclimate, to set a plan to get out in the community, to start making relationships with administrators and then start the new year off fresh, kind of like a, we’re in this together, we’re all new, let’s do this. And I agree with that mindset, and I appreciate him being blunt about it. The next thing that motivated me in my one on one was he said, listen, my number one priority would be your cabinet, and I don’t want to give away exactly what he said to me.
34:43 He said the first thing I would do is sit down with each and every single one of those cabinet members, get to know them, get to know their why of why they’re here, and ensure that they feel secure right now while I’m here as just the interim, my goal would be to make sure they’re hanging on, at least for that six months with me and let them know they’ve got a team player in order to ensure we have stabilization in this district. We can’t lose any more people in those top positions. We just can’t.
34:58 We just can’t. And I love that he acknowledged that himself. I love that he literally admitted that is, that’s going to be my number one priority.
35:17 And then he said to me, and I don’t know if he said it to you guys, he kind of made it sound like he did, but I don’t know because as you saw, he was very conversational. So it was kind of just like a natural back and forth. But he said to me, you have to think about the fact that you have to go to the public now.
35:28 You know, the public saw what happened. The public had a response to what happened. Your community, your leaders, your nonprofit organizations, your businesses, they were watching you.
35:57 So they’re watching you right now in this decision. And this is one of the most critical decisions we’re going to be making as this new board together, because this could right the ship or stabilize the ship. And he said, how are you going to feel comfortable justifying your decision? And what I took from that was we got rid of a man that obviously I felt like had no business being fired.
36:11 His evaluations were exceptional. The community relations were exceptional. The businesses, the nonprofits, the schools, the administrators, even our teachers were shook by that decision.
36:42 And how do I then say, how do I advocate for someone who may not live up to that, someone who may have already had that opportunity somewhere else that I can point to results of or somebody that I just genuinely don’t know because they weren’t in that role at all before. I don’t have the valuations or results to even point to. And when he said that to me, I thought, you’re right.
36:50 You’re completely right. This moment, right now, is to. The primary focus is to stabilize this district, to carry us to the end of this school year.
37:03 There have been some grave missteps and bad decisions to get us where we are right now. And my personal concern and priority is our cabinet. That is my personal concern.
37:14 And I said that the day that we talked about getting rid of Doctor Mullins and my predictions came true. And I’m really scared because I’ve got other ones. I’m really scared that that’s going to continue to happen.
37:29 And I don’t know how we move forward as a district if we have all these vacancies and all these really significant places. I’m with Miss Campbell in the fact of, you know, this guy has a wealth of experience. He’s upfront about not wanting the long term position.
37:51 So really he’s going to come in here to guide us, to hold hands of certain staff members and to hold our hands honestly, I mean, in my one on one, I mean, he was super blunt. I mean, he’s going to tell it like it is. He’s going to do what we tell him to do because we’re his boss, but he’s going to advise us why that may not be the best idea or situations in which he’s seen this play out before.
38:03 And why, you know, why maybe we should think twice. And I think that’s. I think that’s important.
38:29 And when we say that he’s overqualified and we don’t need to rebuild, I just. I actually disagree so deeply on that one. And I also make the argument that one of the candidates kind of painted that picture for us as well, that we aren’t where we used to be.
38:45 And so I feel like those are two conflicting arguments. I do think we need to rebuild in many areas, and it’s not because of the performance of our staff members. They’re incredible or the performance of our students.
39:17 But, man, there are fractures in this community and in this organization that absolutely need to be healed and or rebuilt. And so I apologize for ranting. I warned you because I really am trying to figure this out myself because I feel positively about two people I am fearful to get rid of this bright human who’s worked in ESE and diverse populations, but also managing a billion dollar budget of Esser funds.
39:34 I mean, the likelihood of us getting candidates who even comprehend that kind of a budget is kind of slim as well. And so I’m nervous to let them go, but I understand they can reapply for the full time position as well. So I asked to go last because I really wanted to have that.
40:13 I wanted to hear everyone else’s perspectives, if I’m being honest now, after thinking out loud with all of you and verbal diarying right now, I think my gut is slightly ticking towards Mister Schiller a little bit more. I think that that’s the right choice for our district at this point, to focus in a small step, tiny timeframe, not worry about the long term picture right now, worry about getting through this tumultuous time and then figuring that out when things die down a little bit. And honestly, everyone can reapply for the position as well, because, I mean, I heard that public comment as well.
40:25 I mean, I don’t necessarily disagree with what was said, so. Okay, I’m sorry. I’m done.
40:30 Jenkins, I think you made some great points. Thank you so much for taking the time. It didn’t sound really that bad.
40:37 I think it was okay. I think you did a good job. I come from a different perspective than many of you guys do.
40:50 This is my fifth superintendent in this school district that I’ve been a part of. Doctor DiPatri started off in 2005 when I was a teacher, and we moved through, and this would be the fifth change. I was a nine year teacher.
41:16 I sat on the half cent sales tax review committee, and as a board member, I’ve been here for six years. So inwards of 17 years, I’ve been a part of or moved around this district between, you know, I just. My thing is, is that I’ve seen a lot of things from when I was a coach and we had a booster club I coached for many years, and we’d see the transition of many of the booster clubs and stuff like that.
41:35 And you want to talk about some fighting going on, right. I’ve seen principals come in and have new principals into areas. I’ve seen a lot of transition take place, and one of the things people look immediately towards is towards their qualifications, which is where we all want to go.
42:04 Very good qualifications. What is it that makes them the next best leader? And one of the things that we fall on that we don’t do very well, and it’s not anybody’s fault, but it’s the transition and how they will collaborate with staff and tie in with staff and how does their two styles work and how do all those other pieces do? Because I’ve seen it where we have the best coach in the world comes in and it doesn’t work with the actual staff. So what ends up happening is you have a brunt.
42:18 Right. Okay. So one of the things that I run into is that as many of those superintendents have come through, I can tell you absolutely the most positive and absolutely the most negative of every one of them.
42:47 I will also say that the majority of them were all selected during the year, like, and that there are six other school districts that are going out to decide right now that are right now going to be choosing right during the year. So the applicant pool process, depending on who throws their name in where, if we are to wait until the end of that, this is just a reminder that makes it very dangerous for us in the fact that we may not get the best person that may want to come. So there’s that.
42:58 I also heard some of the conversation wrapped around, you know, each one of them and what they’ve done. I couldn’t agree with you more. I think Mister Wright has literally turned around entire states.
43:18 He’s done all those things right, and he’s done it in very good areas. And one of the things we didn’t focus on yesterday that I feel is probably going to become in the month of January, our number one target is how we do with the lowest socioeconomic and diverse, you know what I mean, achievement levels. And when I looked at that, Mister Wright has some deliverables.
43:28 I mean, I’m sorry, Shiller. Sorry. I’m looking at your name on my forum, but Mister Schiller had all of that, and Mister Larson had some of it, too, because he talked about the nine schools and the eleven.
43:41 But there was one thing that I saw on Rendell’s paper was that if you saw that number and it just jumped out to me. Graduation for black students increased from 65% to 82%. And he’s got some other stuff in there.
43:49 So I could say that pretty much all of them have the same qualifications one way or the other. Some have had more experiences in areas. Some have had less.
44:14 I think that each one of them could qualify to argue that they’re the best in those areas. The one area that I kept coming back to was, how are they going to come in in the short amount of time that we have set a direction, understand everybody that’s inside of this county, and then move forward with an agenda that we decide that we want to move forward. And I think that a lot of that has to come from a homegrown candidate.
44:38 Now, I from the beginning said that if we are going to, if we are going to make a pitch to say that we keep this as interim and they could apply as the other one. But like, I didn’t want the interim to apply for the superintendentship just because of what has been said here and everything else. I have always thought that whoever is the interim would stay that way and then we would apply outside to draw in the best talent.
44:47 I always thought that. But when I look at all three candidates, my three is Rendell, Wright and Larson. And it’s not, I’m sorry, Schiller.
44:50 I keep saying that. Let me get rid of this. Hang on.
45:06 Shiller. So Schiller would be second, Larsen would be third, and Rendell would be first. And the main reason is, is that I can point to many different areas where they all have achieved in many of the composites that we look at, they all presented very well.
45:23 The difference is that Rendell is here. He came from a county that’s right below us. He understands the dynamic where you may have this theory, this process in this, but actually making it come to fruition becomes very difficult because of the culture that surrounds it.
45:31 And I think that knowing the culture is as big of a component as a resume, too. And he had that also. So those were my, that’s all.
45:37 Anybody else want to go? We’re going to move around a little bit. Yeah. Miss Campbell.
46:29 So I just, you know, just kind of thinking about, I was good even, even for me to go first, you know, I don’t mind going first, but it’s also good for me to hear from everybody else because honestly, because I told you I had the top two and I kind of what was going to help me was what is everybody else thinking about who we’re comfortable with working? Because even, it’s not just who I’m comfortable working with, even though I could work with any of them, it’s who are you all comfortable working with? You know, Megan kind of reiterated, excuse me, Miss Wright reiterated something that this interim we really need. And they all talked about healing, they all talked about fractures. I think they almost, I think every single one of them used those words in some way.
46:45 Honestly, you know, Mister Trent, I’m going to challenge something you said because you said the perception out there is we’re always looking outside. I have much more often, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard that. Actually what I have very frequently heard is that we are always looking internal and not thinking outside the box.
46:53 And right now, and I would also challenge the. Not just a direct challenge to you, but about the overqualified. You know what? Brevard is the 10th largest district in this state.
46:59 Date. And you know what? We deserve someone who’s overqualified. I’m not, I’m not.
47:05 Can’t buy into that one. Because honestly, you know, we even had. And Miss Jenkins actually mentioned it.
47:25 You know, we even had a candidate sit there and say and talk about our missteps. And I think we need somebody that the community can, that will be uniting to our community. Even if they’re an outsider, nobody knows them.
47:38 There is a downside of someone, you know, being. I think we’ve already seen some disunity. I think that we can have one of these.
47:53 You know, honestly, I’m just gonna. Because I was had those two and I’m clearly everybody’s got great respect for Doctor Larson, but it looks like he’s not rising to the top enough. I’m gonna just throw all my chips in onto the side of Doctor Schiller.
48:12 Because I, you know, I think that. I think that for all the reasons I’ve already said, his great expertise, his ability to get boards to work together, and we have got to work together. And while I have to applaud us, because ever this week board, we’ve done really well.
48:17 We’re all laughing because we know it’s true. I don’t think it was the whole week. I think you’re being kind.
48:20 Well, I think we’ve. I think we’ve. I think we’ve done well this week.
48:27 I think. I think we’re, we’re. But we’re so far from rowing in the same stream, we’ve got a lot of controversial issues coming up in the near future.
48:34 We just talked about, even though we may not be, we’re not. Well, not Baltimore. We’re not a hot mess like Baltimore.
48:47 But we did just have a meeting with our community last Thursday, that now the whole nation has turned their attention to us that says, oh yeah, we are a hot mess. I think that was a mischaracterization of our district, a great miscarriage characterization. I think we did our district a disservice in that.
49:00 But we clearly have problems. And I don’t think the interim is going to be able to come and solve all of our problems. But I think an interim like Doctor Schiller will help us to focus on what do we need to do first.
49:15 And he didn’t come, and he made it very clear together and in our 101s that that’s not going to be, he has a plan that he does with other districts and he’s going to come and do that plan and tell us you’re going to do this, this and this. He’s got the plan to come and work with the board and help us figure out what our priorities are. He’s got expertise in that.
49:42 And so, and also, I have to say I was greatly impressed with the amount of research that he had already done before he ever walked in the door. He had seen our budgets, which are not small, our strategic plan which is not small, and I don’t even know if the two new members have taken a look at it. And honestly, I was disappointed actually that our first candidate had some questions about the strategic plan and some questions about the CAFR.
49:59 And I’m like, yes, we have a cafr, of course we have a cafr. I mean, why, but I understand why they wouldn’t, because, you know, if you’re in the district, you’re doing, you got your head down, you’re doing a great job at your own school. But if, you know, even Doctor Larson mentioned he’d already done some research too, in about a 24 hours period gone and looked at everything that we had online.
50:09 So, you know, the amount of research to art, to be familiar, to, to jump in there, that’s the way that Doctor Schiller operates. He’s going to know. He already said he wants to jump in.
50:37 I mean, if we make this decision today, even though we’re not going to vote on a contract and pick him, even though we wouldn’t vote on a contract for any of them until next Tuesday, I guarantee you he’s going to be on the phone with people this afternoon getting a running start. So I just, I think he would be a stabilizing influence. And when you talk about Mister Stoicin talked about who collaborates best, I heard that again and again and again, the collaboration.
50:41 And he knows how to do it. He knows how to do it. He knows how to unify people.
51:04 So after having heard everybody, I just, you know, because I did have that high, I truly hope, and I hope that doctor, if they’re listening, Doctor Larson hears me say this, I hope that he will apply. But I agree, Mister Trent, he is going to be a superintendent somewhere probably in the state of Florida in the next eight to nine months. I have no doubt he’s an exciting candidate.
51:16 And even if he’s not here with us, I hope that he would apply because I think he’s very highly qualified and would do a good job. For Brevard. But maybe this is just a stepping stone for him in the process.
51:31 And I wished him wherever he ends up, the best. But I do think that Doctor Schiller would be really. I’ll go, Nestle, or unless you want to go.
51:35 I just. I feel bad. I usually look to who has their hand on the thing, is what it is.
51:39 Oh, it doesn’t matter. Go ahead, Miss Jenkins. No, go ahead, Miss Jenkins.
51:46 It’s fine. Okay. Katie, I appreciate you bringing out.
52:02 Bringing up the strategic plan and the kaffir thing, because, again, this is awkward. Like, I don’t want to sit here and, like, talk about the negative of an experience so much, but honestly, that was one of the things that was most uncomfortable with me is, you know, we talk about. We say things like, we want a homegrown candidate.
52:15 They argue, we had one. We had a man with 29 years experience in brevard public schools, and we let him go. And that candidate isn’t necessarily a homegrown candidate because his resume shows him moving around, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
52:38 But that argument isn’t really justifiable. So that one candidate, I would have expected it to be more focused on Brevard public schools instead of a binder of the strategic plan of Indian River. I would have expected to see our strategic plan and his school strategic plan and how those are tied together and the advances he’s made within his school with that strategic plan.
52:47 That would have made a little bit more sense to me. Not being aware of the things that we were. That already doing in the district concerned me as well.
52:58 Does that maybe say, yeah, we need to communicate it a little bit better? Yeah, sure. But also, if you’re applying for this position and you’re here, I would hope that you would be more aware. I mean, you’re in a leadership position, too.
53:10 It’s a little bit different. So that concerned me a little bit. You made me laugh about Mister Schiller not getting a contract signed until Tuesday.
53:19 But, yeah, I agree. I think five minutes after a decision is made, he’ll be on the phone, probably calling Doctor Dede. So I agree.
53:36 We deserve someone over qualify. We deserve somebody who is very strategic and focused. We’re the 10th largest school district in the state of Florida, but we’re also finding 49th in the nation.
53:44 I have grave concerns about one of the candidates. I have grave concerns about the integrity of the process. And.
54:00 And I’m doing my best to not speak about them if I don’t have to. But it’s frustrating to hear things being said. I care so deeply about this position and this district.
54:16 I care so deeply. I am very uncomfortable, very disturbed by everything that has happened in the past month for this district. I am deeply, deeply concerned.
54:28 And I again said the one thing that Mister Schiller said. This is one of the most critical decisions your board is going to be making after the month that has happened. And I agree with him wholeheartedly.
54:54 I really, really do. I think the most strategic and the most beneficial decision we can make right now is to put someone in place like Mister Schiller to temper everything that’s happening within our organization and outside of it. As much as I like Doctor Larson as well, I hope he reapplies for the full time.
55:01 I really do. One of my reservations and why I was on the fence was like, he excites me. I feel like he’s an amazing candidate.
55:37 I think I’m a little scared he will get taken away by somebody else and may not be here to apply for that. But I also don’t feel wholeheartedly in my heart that even if he was nominated to get this interim, that he could even be successful right now in the climate that we have in the timing of the year, I would be nervous that that would be setting him up for failure, because I don’t know if he would be, given the time and the resources and honestly, the staff to be successful. And so I think someone who knows how to manage those crisis situations would be the best decision for us.
55:54 I don’t really play poker too often, Miss Campbell, but I. And I know you really don’t either. But I think after having this discussion, I think I feel comfortable putting all my chips in Mister Schiller’s basket as well. Thank you, Miss Jenkins.
56:08 Did I see? I told you I don’t play. All right. So, Mister Susan, how many counties are up for? Six.
56:16 There’s six. It seems like one of the candidates. It’s just an easy decision.
56:26 Make all of us feel fine. The community will get off our backs for making tough decisions. But we signed up for this to make tough decisions.
56:33 And I’m not going to stop now to just say, yeah, that’s. That feels good. It feels easy.
56:57 And we can make up for maybe some of the decisions some of us didn’t like that we’ve made up to this point. Even though one of the candidates said that they would like to stay here for the rest of their career. There’s six counties looking for someone with the qualifications of all three of those candidates that we had.
57:33 And it is just going to come back at us if we pass up on something that we had here in our own backyard and winds up across the state. This person is not as locked into this area as they once were, because they have no kids in the district anymore and you can move around, and this is a different time. So I’m pretty straightforward on sure some things, but if you look at some numbers and when we have a person that’s solely responsible, I mean, that’s a superintendent that.
57:46 The grad rate you already mentioned in indian river counter went from 65% to 82%, and for hispanic students, 79% to 88%. Let’s see. AP and IB enrollment for all students increased from 21% to 29%, which is important here.
58:09 AP and IB enrollment for black students, african american students increased from 8% to 21%. AP and IB enrollment for hispanic students increased from 15% to 25%. And it also increased.
58:32 AP IB enrollment for white students increased 27% to 34%. This person was also heavily involved in the creation of the technical college, which was big on the campaign trail. We heard that from many people we talked about, knocked on their doors and the community asked for a possible technical college or something.
58:50 And we do a great job already. But that’s just the expansion of it, where it said 87% of his new employees stated that the employer treats him, treats them fairly. Another district is going to come knocking at this person’s door, and he should.
59:02 Yeah, all three of them. And again, I’m not talking about Mister Larson in this case, because he’s, you know, for an interim, he hasn’t been that head person yet, and he’s going to be gobbled up. I’m telling you.
59:29 You know, out of the three conversations, he had the teacher conversation with me, which was wonderful, and Doctor Schiller had the life experience conversation, and then they had a conversation of who can lead this district tomorrow. This district, not a district. When I mentioned the overqualified, not overqualified for the position that we currently are, but he’s overqualified, I think, for a bigger position than this.
59:49 Not that this is not. I mean, if five of us walked out tomorrow because, you know, our district was on fire, that’s who I would be calling. So I’m not trying to diminish Brevard county in any way, but I’m just afraid we’re going to look back and say we had something here.
1:00:08 When Doctor Larson, or Mister Larson’s gone, Doctor Rendell’s gone, and we’re six months down the road, or eight, whatever it is. I think it can be shorter than that. I don’t want to say professional salesman, but Doctor Schiller, he can, he can talk about his experience very well.
1:00:37 And I’m just hoping that isn’t just our decision making there. The more our conversation progressed on our one on ones, I don’t want to get too much into those. As good a job as he was talking about what he would do here and in our timing of getting a superintendent and what we needed to do with the community, he actually was solidifying my decision on the person that I thought would be right for that job.
1:00:59 We’re talking about a person who is familiar with the stakeholders, the community that already has that relationship. And if we’re trying to repair anything, you know, bringing someone from the outside has that negative appearance too, is you are so mixed up here in this county and you got to bring somebody from the outside. And I don’t believe we’re at that, that point.
1:01:20 I just don’t. I think we still are one of the best performing schools, school districts in the state and I want to keep it that way. My fear is we get somebody such Doctor Schiller, he comes in here and I don’t want to say waste time, but we have work to do and we’re not building from the ground up.
1:01:47 I don’t believe Mister Jenkins, if you think our cabinet is so strong and we have lots of good people in there, there’s just not that we’re not in dire straits. We need to move forward. I know it’s an interim position, but we have somebody in our backyard that could seamlessly come in here, connect the community back with our board and our staff.
1:02:08 And I hope we don’t look back at this and say, we had someone here and we didn’t take advantage of his qualifications and his willingness to step up and help our district when a time he didn’t need to do. That’s all. Am I able to jump in there? Okay.
1:02:17 Okay. I think that we are in a unique position because we have three candidates that were right. They are all exceptionally great.
1:02:33 Here’s what I would say. I think that an outside perspective is sometimes a really healthy thing because sometimes we just get so tunnel visioned in where we are at that it would be nice to have a fresh set of eyes that comes in that hasn’t been here who says, hey, this is what I see. This is how we could improve some things.
1:02:49 This is what’s worked in other districts that are, you know, have gone through comparable things as what you’re going through right now, Doctor Shiller brought with him a ton of research. He did a ton of upfront work. And for me, I appreciate that, because he came in knowing our district, he wasn’t blind to it.
1:02:55 And I know that, you know, obviously, Doctor Rendell has that experience, too. So he’s. He knows what’s going on as well.
1:03:00 For me, again, I just. I like all three of them. I think they are all exceptional men.
1:03:13 I think that all three of them will be successful wherever they’re at. That’s a good thing, right? Like, even though whatever decision we make, we know that those three men will succeed somewhere, whether it’s here, we’re deciding that now, or somewhere else. For me, I just keep.
1:03:24 Keep going back to the fact that we are hiring for an interim. And if we hire an interim, that could potentially transition to a permanent. I think, Mister Susan, you were the one that mentioned this.
1:03:49 I think that you were concerned with us opening that up. And I think I even advocated at that point, saying, hey, if they’re doing an exceptional job, why would we not at least make that option available to them? So. But when Doctor Shiller talks to you and explains these things, and I think, Mister Gibbs, you’ve explained it as well, it will limit further applicants from applying because they’re not going to put their name out there knowing, hey, they may have someone that’s going to stay permanently.
1:04:00 And I understand that. So I just think that Doctor Shiller has what it’s going to take to get us on the right track right now. And he has a fresh perspective and a ton of experience.
1:04:10 I will say, you know, the only negative, I would say, and I think, jean, you kind of hit on it a little bit, is his ability to answer a question before it was asked. I think we all saw that yesterday. We were going, wait, wait a minute.
1:04:28 What are we going to ask him? He’s already answered it, so, you know, I think that’s the only negative. But again, having done what he’s done, he knows the questions that are going to be asked, which is why he’s able to offer those answers before the question is even asked. And sometimes he was kind of telling us the answers to questions we should be asking and maybe didn’t.
1:04:45 You know what I mean? So it is true. So I just go back to, I think he has what it takes for this interim position to really get us back on track and get us moving the right direction. So for that reason, that’s really why I’m standing behind that decision.
1:05:08 You know, I think he did that because he’s, he’s been the one who’s hired the people so many times. He did. And so I kind of, I mean, I can continue to make arguments on both sides and everything else, but I think what I’m hearing you guys say is there’s a majority that would like to go on with Mister Schiller.
1:05:18 Right. Is that pretty, pretty consistent? Yeah. Because, again, like, we can only have these conversations in this forum.
1:05:28 I know. And there’s no point of hashing this conversation back out in the future. So I would like the opportunity just to say some things about some things that were said.
1:05:46 Cause I think it’s important. Because I think it’s necessary for moving forward. So saying that we don’t believe that we’re at, like, at that certain point, that, honestly, that is one of my biggest concerns, is that we have board members who don’t even acknowledge where we actually are.
1:06:00 Because I haven’t met a person who tells me that we don’t feel like we’re there. We don’t feel like we’re fragmented. We don’t feel like our cabinet’s hanging on by a string or some of the people at the district.
1:06:11 I mean, guys, I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m walking through the halls and people are whispering, like, thank you for having me. Because they’re uncomfortable with what’s happening, whether or not they agree with the decision at the top is made.
1:06:21 They may, some of them may, but they’re still uncomfortable with where we’re going. It’s unpredictable. And so I encourage you to have those conversations with people.
1:06:32 Blatantly. Ask them, let them feel comfortable. To tell you the truth, they may agree with you, but they still may feel uncomfortable where we’re heading.
1:06:42 And I encourage you to have one on one connections with our cabinet members, if you haven’t already. I’m assuming maybe you have. We haven’t had much.
1:06:56 So sorry if you have. I’m making an assumption, but. But I encourage you because it’s really critical to understand the pulse of what’s going on at the top of our district, because they’re the glue that’s holding us together.
1:07:10 I mean, yeah, the superintendent leads them, but they’re the people who are really making those day to day major decisions and presenting it to the students. Superintendent, they’re so important to our district. They’re all amazing people.
1:07:26 Have a pulse with them. Please, if you haven’t already. And I just, I appreciate the tunnel vision comment.
1:07:39 I appreciate that because I think that’s exactly what Mister Shuler will provide us is the opportunity to just like take a step back minute and to calm down and get the train back on the track. So thank you. I just, I don’t want to hash this stuff out later on for no reason.
1:07:43 So thank you, Miss Jenkins. 1 second. Yeah.
1:08:02 Mister Trump, maybe some people here at district should feel uncomfortable. Okay. We had, we had quite a year in our campaign.
1:08:11 We had three elections. Our community has spoken. All right, I’m just not letting this go without comment.
1:08:25 There is things that need to be changed, and that’s okay. When the outside is getting involved and the inside’s uncomfortable, that means we’re doing our job. That doesn’t mean it’s going to change the outcome.
1:08:39 It just means we’re bringing in the stakeholders. I fully support Doctor Shiller for the interim of Broward county. He did call us Broward county.
1:08:58 That’s a concern. Moving forward might have been an accident, but it just goes back to we’re missing an opportunity to get somebody that understands. Brevard county has taught, has been a principle, has had the outside perspective that we were also looking for.
1:09:08 I don’t think a linear progression of a career is always the best. Mister Larson pointed that out. So yes, we’ve had one on ones.
1:09:20 We have some wonderful individual people. But here again, we’ve wanted change, shake up. You’ve seen that it’s needed.
1:09:35 We’ve been asked by our teachers, our staff, our ias, our parents. Please do something. And I’m not going to stop saying that we’ve had an opportunity to do something here.
1:09:53 And my fear is we’re going to have an overseer for months as a wonderful person, but an overseer. And we’re going to have to start over again when this new superintendent comes in here. Thank you, Mister Trent.
1:10:06 I think we have a majority that I would like to follow up again because I think Miss Jenkins, I would just like to just let that go. No, we’re trying to create, if we can, if we just move on. I’m actually.
1:10:06 I understand you’re the chair, Mister Susan, but this is the only opportunity. This is the only opportunity for us to have this conversation. We can have a back and forth about where we’re at, Mister Susan, it’s ironic that I am the only person that you try to quiet Miss Jenkins in the board chair.
1:10:29 I understand you’re the chair, Mister Susan. Okay. Go ahead and explain it.
1:10:38 Yeah, absolutely. All right. Looks like we have a majority of people that want Mister Schifrin so what I would like to.
1:10:46 Shuler. Sorry. Listen, we’re concerned about Brevard and Broward, but we can’t remember what it is, is that I was out last night until 01:00 in the morning with my son.
1:10:50 I took him to Disney World. So we had the Disney conversation. So I’m just a little bit tired today.
1:11:06 So I did want to tell you guys, I think that’s the direction that the board wants to go. I’ll be honest with you, he is very qualified to do what he’s about to do. I was even last night with my wife, going back and forth about where the decision would be made.
1:11:16 You know what I mean? And he was the top two, and I was sitting there going back and forth. So I think we’re in a good place. I appreciate everybody’s comments.
1:11:31 Like, I think that we all feel comfortable with amounting what our comments are going to be. Miss Wright, I really appreciate where you’re coming from. I appreciate some people were willing to, on one topic or another, decide, hey, I might not have been right about that before, but now this is the direction.
1:11:37 So I think we’re moving together in a good direction. And I think, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for that.
1:11:56 I did want to say that it does sort of take a motion to hire the next person. So if you guys want to, you know, somebody wants to make a motion to hire him, and then we can go back to Miss Jenkins conversation afterwards. I’ll make the motion to hire Mister Schiller as the interim superintendent.
1:12:01 Second. All in favor of. Oh, yeah.
1:12:20 I mean, does anybody have any further discussion about Mister Schiller? Yeah, I’d like to. Okay. Mister Trump is, we said from the beginning of today, our district will be better off tomorrow with any one of the three.
1:12:36 Okay. I’ve heard all the positives of why we’re moving, where we’re moving, and I meant when I said is we will be better off. Okay.
1:12:59 It doesn’t matter if I felt personally that I think our district would be better off, I know it’s not a personal issue. I’m publicly stating it. Not any one board member’s position that I will now attack because they didn’t vote or pick my person.
1:13:05 I’m not going to do that up here. I’m not going to do it online. Because I think we had all three good candidates.
1:13:20 And I don’t care how we’ve come to this decision, it’s going to stay here, and that’s how we get this board moving forward. Even though I think we could have done it differently. But that’s just how we need to do.
1:13:32 We’re going to be making lots of decisions like this. And I’m not going to continue this conversation on why we picked a certain person after this. And I’m hoping we’ve all do the same thing.
1:13:40 Yeah. And that’s the appropriate way to go about doing it, Mister Trent, is that once we make a decision, we can do that. Miss Campbell? Yeah.
1:13:48 You know, we have a clear direction of. The majority are about to take a vote. I would suggest, and you know, I’m not your mom, tell anybody what to do.
1:14:13 But I would suggest that it would be a good gesture to start this off by giving a unanimous vote to present to the community that whatever disagreements we may have had, and different perspectives we may have had, that, you know, we’re moving together. I’m just going to offer that up as a. As a suggestion, an encouragement.
1:14:27 Miss Jenkins, anything about that you’d like to speak to? Nope. All right. So when Doctor Mullins got hired, they made a motion to hire him ahead of interviewing everybody, which I thought was disingenuous at the time.
1:14:43 So I voted against it. And then I had another vote where they said, would you like to revote that and vote together unanimously? So, what I would like to do is exactly what Miss Campbell said, but we can go both directions. You know what I mean? So I’m not following what you’re saying.
1:14:56 If you are very positive about not voting for one or the other, there’s the opportunity to show that, but then come back as a unanimous vote, too. That’s all I wanted to say. So, we have a call to vote.
1:15:01 All those in favor of Mister Schiller, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.
1:15:09 All those opposed? Aye for Trent. Okay. You looked at me as a nay, and I said no.
1:15:11 I’m not voting nay. I said aye. Oh, I’m sorry.
1:15:17 I’m so sorry. So, Mister Trent said, we have a 50 vote for Mister Schiller. I oppose that.
1:15:26 Within about 30 seconds, all of our phones will start ringing. And good luck, Doctor Fetty. One on ones over Christmas.
1:15:35 I had called all the candidates ahead of time, and I think I’m going to forward your phone number to Mister Schiller right now so that he can get started. Because that’s what he wanted to do. Can I say something to that? And I want to just.
1:15:46 I want to let you know that one of the things that Mister Schiller said during the interview process, which I thought was very very good. And I wanted. I want to commend you on this, because he said I was on the fence, honestly, on this.
1:16:00 He said I hadn’t really heard anything except for, hey, here’s your interview time. I think Mister Gibbs had made, you know, minimal contact communication. And then he said he received a message from the chair, and that was what pushed him over and said, you know what? I’m going to go and help this district.
1:16:09 And so I just want to commend you on reaching out to him, because that personal touch really did make a difference. And in this case, I think it’s going to make a huge difference for our district. Yeah, he.
1:16:33 And just so now that we can talk about it, I was in a conversation with him wrapped around political theory and everything else, and we were going back and forth because intellectually, you don’t get stimulated too much in those regards in some areas in our world, right? And I said, man, you could rewrite your entire. I mean, you could get hired by any governor inside the state of the country to restructure their health systems. You’ve rewritten 40 or 50 of these things.
1:16:46 What is it that you’re doing here, man? Like, why are you here? Coming here to Brevard and what’s the gig? And he said, I want one last run. That’s what he said. He says, I want to be able to do this one last time.
1:16:55 And I want to show that. And I think that’s when you see that inside that person, that’s what was running. So I’m happy that everybody had the conversations.
1:17:00 There’s a point of discussion that I would like to bring up. I had one, too. Go ahead.
1:17:11 Are we done with him? Yeah, I do have something on him. Are you going to be my contact to negotiate his contact details? Negotiate it. That’s appropriate.
1:17:35 So I wanted to bring a recommendation. I think we wouldn’t be able to vote on it today, but in the past, when we have had a staff member step up to fill in an empty role, especially if they were continuing to serve in their current role, we have recognized that with a bonus or assignment of some sort. So I would recommend that we recognize doctor thet for her time.
1:17:46 I mean, she is the deputy superintendent, but usually what that entails is, you know, if the superintendent was out, she filled in for a meeting. But in this case, there is not a single thing that she’s let drop with HR. And in addition, she’s had to do this.
1:18:15 So I would recommend that we, that we recognize and honor that time of filling in as basically acting superintendent with monetary bonus of some kind. Is that where you were going? So, I know that I had something else I wanted to talk to you guys about, but I did want to say, have you talked to Doctor Theta about that? Because I have a feeling that she will be like, no, I don’t want that. And there’s a reason for it.
1:18:18 Not because she’s there, but I just. Just. There’s.
1:18:29 Because I have been saying the same thing for Tammy, because she’s been covering two since February. I also been saying the same thing about the transportation guys that have been driving the buses and stuff like that. So, hey, I’m all about it.
1:18:40 Let’s roll. Because, you know, it’s not good practice to surprise people on the dais, and especially not to surprise Doctor Thetti. So I did talk to her right before the meeting.
1:18:45 I mean, she’s not the boss of me, so she can’t tell me now not to bring it up. So. No, I did.
1:18:49 I did mention talk to her about it. I also asked Doctor Keb. Doctor Gibbs.
1:19:05 Mister Gibbs, to see if there was anything that we need. He suggested that maybe if the board had a consensus that they would bring something forward for us to officially vote on Tuesday. But I don’t know if anybody else has similar thoughts.
1:19:15 I like the idea. I’d also like to do it for Tammy, who’s been doing it. And then I would also like to have that conversation in January about some of the other people that have been doing the same thing.
1:19:28 So I’m all in favor. I do have a memo that Tammy just gave me from Doctor Mullins suggesting the same thing. If there’s consensus, it is within Doctor Mullins’s ability to pay and authorize that.
1:19:42 So I can have Mister Susan sign approving the consensus. Takes care of Tammy, too. Have we ever overcompensated Tammy for the fact that she stepped in and became our secretary? I’ve been asking for it since ask the bar left.
1:19:49 It’s insanity, because she’s literally doing two jobs for a year. So do Mullins and Tammy. Right.
1:19:59 And then we’ll talk about it. All right, so that’s good. Sounds good.
1:20:06 Anything else? Do we have an amount? Are we gonna let. No, we’re gonna let them do that. All right.
1:20:09 The other. Well, that’s. I mean, he knows the best thing.
1:20:21 I mean, if we start throwing out numbers, it’s inappropriate if we were throwing out numbers. Right. All right, so one of the things that I wanted to do is suggest that we hired FSBA as our search firm.
1:20:50 Right. And what I would like to do is have for the main superintendent, what I’d like to do is on Tuesday, right after we sign real quick, give the opportunity that if you would like, and I would like to just have them as part of the discussion, tell you some of the things you need to think about over Christmas break. Not, you know, we’re going to meet, we’re going to discuss it all and everything else, but that way we, there’s a lot of conversation here today wrapped around, we’re moving pretty quick and everything like that.
1:21:10 I didn’t want to come back and then say, hey, we got to, you know, so it gives us like three weeks to sit down, digest and talk about what we really want. FSBA, Miss Messina said that she would be available if we wanted that, so if you guys wanted to, it would only take ten minutes. She would just get up there and say it and then that way we can at least plan on what we really want to do in sector.
1:21:27 What’s that? I said let’s let them start earning their money so we don’t have it published yet. So the agenda for Tuesday will just be a board discussion approving the contract for Doctor Schiller and having a discussion with FSBA. Yeah.
1:21:41 And it can just be on the board discussion that we had to. As far as the process, when we, when we advertised, it was for interim selection and a selection of a search firm. So it was advertised as such.
1:22:03 So it would be appropriate if you wanted to. I know at the prior, at Tuesday’s meeting there was discussion of moving that to the new year, but if you guys just want to have an informal conversation with them on what the board is kind of looking for so they can structure something to bring back to the board maybe in the new year. I just want everybody to realize we’re not going to have a break because Mister Killer is going to be calling us.
1:22:12 I’m kind of like afraid. Why did I use my, I have a question about the FSBA coming here on Tuesday because technically we didn’t vote to hire them yet. Right.
1:22:19 The contract has not come. The board selected that. It’s, yeah, so, but the contract is going to be dependent on what the board wants.
1:22:39 So if you’re adding stuff on their contract is actually under the school board’s need to vote. So Doctor Thetty could sign that contract because with the maximum add ons to that contract, the total came to $49,500. That’s in the superintendent authority, which Doctor Thetti is wielding for the board right now, unless you’re adding additional costs on there.
1:23:02 So if you say, hey, we really want you to add five community meetings around the district, and they say, well, that’s gonna add, you know, $2,000 to it, now you’re over that threshold, and we’d have to bring that contract to the right, which I think is part of the question. Just want to throw this back at you guys. I was cautious about this conversation we had about who we were selecting already, because I think it’s.
1:23:42 I think it’s a little bit rushed to not have the top two come back and present to us a full package, a full presentation of their plan and what they’re going to do, because one of the things lacking on FSBA side was actually explicitly telling us how they would engage the community. And that increase from 35,000 to 49,000 already happened overnight without us even having a conversation about community engagement. I think we need to do our due diligence and just make sure that we’re comfortable with it, know what it’s going to cost us, number one, but also make sure we’re comfortable with the process as well, because that’s a huge jump, like, overnight, and it’s not even including community involvement.
1:23:54 If I can just clarify that it didn’t jump. It was in their proposal to do the contract language. We assumed that at the maximum level that they proposed, it would not exceed 49.
1:23:58 Five. So procurement’s proceeding with a not to exceed contract. Okay.
1:24:10 So we took all their numbers and built it in. They were very upfront. It could be as little as 35 or as much as 49.
1:24:24 5 if we took the maximum of every package that they did. Yeah. Based on what this board.
1:24:34 But just to clarify for me. Not to finish, Mister Susan. So just to clarify for me, those packages, though, did not include the community events other than facilitating a conversation off the top.
1:24:44 I don’t remember what it all was. I know you did comment that they did, and so I think it’s important for. For us to have that conversation, because we don’t know what that looks like.
1:25:02 I mean, that’s not good due diligence for us to be, like, full fledged, let’s do this, and have no idea what we’re walking into. I think that’s a bad idea. I think we need to talk about that.
1:25:17 So everything that was inside of there that he just spoke of, travel for them, covering the cost of applicants, all of those different things is inside of there. There’s many components to what we’re about to do. And community involvement, I mean, FSBA has done.
1:25:26 You saw all the ones in the state of Florida that they’ve done. So it’s not what it is with these search firms is the same thing as any other firm is you say, this is what we would like. They would take the package that they had over here, put it in, then they take this package over here, put it in, devise it, and then they set it.
1:25:42 It’s not like we’re going to be creating something that’s completely outside the box. They did a max of 49.5 and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to have the conversation with them.
1:25:46 I would go against making two people fly here to have a presentation when we already set direction, that this was the one we were going to select on top. And I think that I have full confidence that FSBA would be able to do it. So that’s why I was asking if you guys wanted to be able to see it.
1:25:57 That’s all. I’m not judging their inability to do it. There’s no reason to be defensive about it.
1:26:09 I’m not saying that it is our due diligence to be clear about the direction going forward and know what we’re walking into. That’s all I’m asking. And I understand how the process works.
1:26:26 I know that they’ve done this before and they’re going to pull packages from one place that they’ve done somewhere and present it to us. I understand that completely, but they have not done that yet. Their initial offer to us did not lay out how they would do community engagement.
1:26:32 And the way one district is structured versus another will in costs will impact the amount of staff that they have to send here. And so I think it’s the right thing to do to at least ask. It’s not to say that we’re not going to hire them by any means, but we absolutely need to know what we’re walking into before we move forward.
1:26:48 That makes no sense at all. Well, what we did was we set direction that we were going to choose FSBA. Okay.
1:26:53 And what I did was I said, let’s have a conversation wrapped around what we should be working for moving forward. And we had had wrapped around conversation about FSBA was the best fit because of X, Y and Z. That was, they work inside the state of Florida.
1:27:06 They have the best connections there. The other ones had one reason or another that they weren’t. We had that discussion.
1:27:16 We set the direction that we were going to move with FSBA, I would like to have the conversation wrapped around what we can do to prepare for next year. So that’s all. I think that maybe what they lacked was maybe a more.
1:27:33 They weren’t necessarily the most explicit laying out how they were going to do it. I don’t think that means they don’t do it or that it’s going to cost us extra. And it probably would be good just for.
1:27:41 To feel comfortable with maybe calling, contacting some of the districts that have most recently used them and ask them, what did this look like in your district? And obviously it’s going to look different. I think that’s. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why they didn’t explicitly lay it out, because it is different in when they worked with Orange, as it would have been if they worked in.
1:27:51 I’m just going to, you know, Escambia, so. But it would probably. There’s a list of people that, you know, if you contacts, you know, call those.
1:27:58 I think we need to make contact with those other districts and just find out so we feel comfortable. But are we vote so we don’t have to vote on that? You said because it’s under 50. Okay.
1:28:03 Well, I think it’d be good to have them have this initial conversation with them on Tuesday and make very clear we want to know. Right. And that’s my intention.
1:28:14 They’re coming Tuesday. This is why I’m asking if they’re coming, they’re gonna be virtual, whatever. If they’re.
1:28:21 They’re with us some way or the other Tuesday, we. I think it’s okay for us to ask them to come back and tell us what they would do. I mean, I don’t think that’s a weird thing to ask them.
1:28:36 If we know they’re coming Tuesday already. Let’s just ask them to tell us how they could fill in the gaps there because it wasn’t presented in the initial. In the initial plan.
1:28:50 And what I would say is that I’m gonna give them direction to listen to kind of give us the overview of what is exactly needed in a search. Right. Then we can say exactly like what you were saying, Miss Jenkins, is this is what we feel from our community.
1:28:57 And then we can. And they can be going back to formulate a plan and come back exactly like what you’re saying, Miss Jenkins, is to make sure that we’re in dovetail. Because I have a feeling that that’s going to take maybe more than one meeting because we’re going to be going back and forth and that’s.
1:29:17 That’s why I wanted us to have enough time to present before that. That’s all. We’re okay with that? Yeah.
1:29:28 Is everybody else. Anybody else have any other items? One question on that. I don’t know if it’s possible the screen in the superintendent’s conference room, would we rather have, like, a teams thing where we can see Andrea, if possible? That might be a Russ Cheatham question, but if we can set it up, we’ve done it.
1:29:42 Yeah, it’s a great point, Mister Gibbs. From my limited knowledge, we had a redistricting where we had that one time where we brought that screen in here. We have, like, six of them in the building.
1:29:55 So the idea would be that we put it there and we can communicate, but I think it just. It behooves us to kind of start that process of understanding. So, everybody else has any other questions? And one more on that, because I just got a question from procurement.
1:29:58 On this contract, they structure their pay a little different. They usually do one third, one third, one third. Is the board good with that, or would you rather have all services rendered than pay at the end? Third.
1:30:02 Getting paid as they’re traveling. Okay. That’s just me, though.
1:30:03 I don’t speak for all. I think that makes sense. Looks like you got a majority there.
1:30:09 All right. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Anything else? For the good of the board? All right, we’re done. Thank you.