2023-04-25 - School Board Meeting

7:33 It sa good evening. The April 25, 2023 board meeting is now in order. I’m happy to welcome your fellow member, board members and in the public. My mom is Danielle, and becoming a principal to Sunshine State elementary.

13:52 Thank you. Have a good day. She actually put down sunshine, then cross it off and then put sunrise.

14:06 So anyways, thank you, guys. Roll call, please. Mister Paul.

14:11 Mister Susan. Here. Miss Wright.

14:14 Here. Miss Jenkins. Here.

14:15 Miss Campbell. Here. Mister Trent.

14:17 Here. Will everybody please stand for the Pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and syrian public for which it stands, one nation under God. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind the public that your appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity as identified in the agenda.

14:50 Outside of your individual public comment opportunity, your role in the meeting is as an observer. The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection and invite the audience to join. At this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members and miss hand an opportunity to recognize student staff and or members of the community.

15:32 Who wants to go first? Skip, everybody here. Okay, Miss Campbell, go. I have a lot.

15:42 I have a lot. And I have some swag, so you’ll be excited. So I’m going to save that for last.

15:52 So, first of all, a couple weeks ago, yeah, a couple weeks ago, I met some of my fellow school board members from across the state in Pinellas county. And they took us around and showed us these college and career centers and gave us some ideas, and I was so excited. And they’re talking about how they had just won.

16:08 They just found out that they had won for the most improved district and completion of FAFSA for their. For the large counties. And lo and behold, I got back and checked my own email and found out that brevard was the overall for large county, overall winner, mvp for FAFSA completion.

16:28 So super proud of the efforts of Doctor Sullivan and Doctor Doakes and the team that was formulated to get those, those FAFSA completions up in Brevard county. So more students are keeping their eyes on the prize of how to get into college and get it paid for. So, great job, Brevard.

16:46 Super proud of you. And that doesn’t happen without that community support that Doctor Doakes led. Just getting into the schools that had the lowest completion rates and really focusing on the students who don’t even understand that whether you’re going to college or a technical school, that there’s money to help you pay for it.

17:08 So great job. Second, and I know Miss Jenkins may mention one of these, but I got the chance last Thursday and Friday to do senior project judging at West Shore and then Edgewood, you know, a double dose. It was fantastic both days.

17:23 Loved it. And I just wanted to congratulate our students, our seniors, for such a great job and the teachers who supported them in those, you know, years long processes of going through the research or science project or a senior leadership project. They were all fantastic.

17:40 And also thank the community volunteers who came in to judge. It’s an all day long event. It is giving, but you get so much back because you hear these seniors talk about their passion and their goals and their dreams and the hard work they’ve already done and the insight they have into their own personal, academic and personal growth.

17:56 And it’s really inspiring. Friday night I was on the roof of Chick fil A in west Melbourne along with some of our principals and assistant principals, elected officials. Miss Jenkins was not there because she raised her bail money before Friday night.

18:10 And so she got to skip out into going on the jail, the rooftop jail. We were raising money for the Special Olympics. And so shout out to all of our principals and assistant principals who joined me up there, and our other elected officials, as well as the West Melbourne Police Department who spearheaded that effort.

18:25 Final thing, and that is next week launches the school lunch hero celebration. I told you guys about that last time. So make sure next week, particularly Friday, May 5, Cinco de Mayo.

18:39 Right? Well, we actually, we may have a meeting that morning, but if we don’t have a meeting, find a way, a day next week to get out into the schools and volunteer. Either you can do breakfast or you can do lunch, but you must do a hair net. I was going to bring hair nets, but Mister Kevin Thornton, the head of food nutrition services, went a little step farther and put together a whole cafeteria workers volunteer survival kit.

19:12 So in this you will find a little cape. Oh, some awards to give. I’m sorry, I should have looked beforehand.

19:22 Send these little pen goodies to give out to the cafeteria staff that you serve with. And a t shirt celebrating. It says, not all heroes wear capes.

19:35 And you can be a one for one day, a school lunch hero. And then also in here, you will find Gatorade and some lotion and, ooh, oh, snicker bars. And I believe this is where you will find your hair net.

19:51 And so you guys get out there, volunteer. We love our food nutrition staff. You guys in the public, if you’ve got kids in our public schools, have them write a little.

19:59 Thank you for being an awesome hero. Because our food nutrition services staff just rocket every day and we’re so proud of them. So we have one for you too, Miss Henry.

20:09 So you and me can join the hairnet squad. All right. Thank you, guys.

20:18 I have a question. Yes. Do we give Gatorade and Snickers to all of our cafeteria staff on a regular basis? Because I feel like that’s not very fair for us to accept.

20:27 I don’t have answer that question. But if you want to give out the Gatorade and Snickers as well as the little pins, you can do that. Just don’t give out the haircuts.

20:36 I’ll go ahead and go next. And Miss Campbell did mention a couple of things that I had the ability to participate in, too. I did not get to attend the cops on the coop event in West Melbourne, but I do want to say a special shout out to the West Melbourne Police Department for putting that on annually.

20:53 And a special thank you to all the community members who participated in that fundraiser together. Just with me alone, we collected $1,200 for that organization. So I appreciate you all so much for being so generous.

21:05 And thank you for not making me stand on top of a roof. Appreciate it. I also got to participate at West Shore to judge their senior boards.

21:13 I had the privilege of being in the AP Capstone rooms. These students are incredible. And one of the things that impressed me the most was our AP Capstone students have been working all year on their senior projects that they had to put together 15 to 20 minutes presentations to send to AP and the college board.

21:32 But in order for them to do these senior project presentations, they had to shrink them down to six to eight minutes, which, if you’ve ever had to do a presentation, to chop it down by two thirds, is a really difficult feat. And they were so impressive, every single one of them. The volunteers that were in the room with me were struggling because they felt like, how do I give any of them not a perfect score? Everyone is so incredible.

21:56 So thank you for that opportunity. Thank you for Adrian Gent, for putting that on and for inviting me to participate once again. I also was able to participate in the L three Harris STEM challenge that was up here at the district.

22:07 Again, another opportunity to see the remarkable math and science skills of our students across the district. Thank you to Michelle Marshall for inviting me and continuing to invite me to all of the stem opportunities that we have here here in brevard public schools. And last but not least, I had the opportunity to participate last night with bright this is about ten religious congregations that come together in unity from all different denominations.

22:37 I believe they meet bimonthly in order to come together to focus on issues to tackle across Brevard county. And so the two issues that they’re taking on this year are educational, specifically the reading gaps for our third graders, as well as affordable housing for our residents here in Brevard county. It was wonderful to come together collaboratively and hear that.

23:00 I believe there was probably at least 200 people there last night, all speaking and focusing on positive changes for every single resident and every single student here in Brevard county. So thank you again for that invite and that opportunity. All right, that’s great.

23:16 Okay, Mister Trent, I always try to. Alright, so I’d like to have a big shout out for the 2023 Brevard Academic all star team. Recently, they earned a second place finish at the commissioner’s academic challenge, also known as the Florida High School academic championship, kind of a state championship team.

23:39 Brevard competed against ten other division one teams over a three day period at the Omni World Resort in Orlando. This is Brevard’s second top three finish in the last two years. Last year and then 2022, they won the state championship at Disney World.

23:56 Selection of these high achieving students began last fall during seven academic competitions known as the BCAC, in which 15 high schools participated. The top seven players from these competitions were selected for their strengths in the following art, English, foreign language, history, math, music and science. Since January 9, coaches Mike Prince and Eric LeBlanc have practice with his team every Monday night at ESF in preparation for the state tournament.

24:29 I’d like to say congratulations to everyone on the on team brevard for their hard work, grit and the determination and capability of representing BPS at this year’s state championship. And we’ll give them all a round of applause. You are good to go.

24:53 All right, I’m going to give a shout out to a couple different organizations. So the first one I’m going to give a shout out to is the leadership institute. I had the opportunity last week spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday with people from all over the country.

25:05 29 states are represented of school board members or potential school board members. A lot of legislators were there, Department of Education was there, and it was just a really good event, really speaking into the work that we do and how we’re going to improve our districts all around the country. So I want to give a shout out to them for putting on an amazing event that was inspiration to many of us.

25:24 I think we possibly maybe recruited some school board members that are going to run in the future, which it was good all the way around. Also want to give a shout out to ABC builders. That’s associated builders and contractors.

25:34 So I had the opportunity to go to a dinner this past week. Rachel Rutledge, our career and technical education specialist, was there, and she just got to speak to all of these contractors about how we can partner with them and help our students find a career immediately coming out of high school. And so that was an encouraging event.

25:50 A lot of contractors all over our area, central Florida. So I am excited about that. That’s going to be good things coming in the future.

25:57 And I thank Rachel for representing Brevard county really well. My next shout out is going to go to the Grove church. And so this is a church that’s near and dear to my heart.

26:05 But this past weekend, they had a senior dinner, and let me tell you, so I have a student who is a senior. I’m not going to cry right now. I’ll do my very best.

26:13 But they host this event every year, and it’s a way to honor the families and recognize the seniors that are graduating. So they put on this great event. It’s a great dinner where you get to really bless your student and kind of send them off into the next chapter of their life.

26:25 So I just want to give them a shout out, say thank you. That was a very special, monumental moment for a lot of families. A lot of tears.

26:30 We all cried and went through it together, but it was a good event, and I’m very grateful. My last shout out’s gonna go to coquina. So that school up in the north end of town has been going through all kinds of things, construction related.

26:43 So we had a fire. There’s all kinds of things just happening there. And I just want to give a shout out to the staff there, because they are really pulling it together, going there and touring, and I’m watching where they’re putting, you know, moving offices and making a makeshift office here and there.

26:46 And I just really thank you. Miss Lovelace, from the bottom of my heart, you are doing amazing things. We support you.

27:02 We’re ready for that construction project to be done, and I am grateful for the work that you are doing. Okay. Thank you.

27:08 I just wanted to say. Oh, yeah, after me, then I’ll. I just want you to know, I didn’t want you to miss, so I wrote your name on there with exclamation points, so I don’t miss you.

27:21 So, anyways, I did want to just look across at everybody inside the room and say thank you. Many of, many of the faces that are in this room right now that are possible principals and staff I worked with as a teacher and as a school board member. I’ve worked with many of you and I wanted to say thank you.

27:37 This is an exciting time. Thank you for coming and being a part of this and supporting the individuals that are becoming principals, too. We really appreciate what you’re about to do and look forward to that leadership.

27:48 I think the other thing that I’d like to do is I wanted to say yes on the ABC builders. So here’s what happened. So one of the things that associated builders and contractors are, is they’re the largest organization that puts together trades and apprenticeships for the construction programs, and they’re an association that all of our builders are a part of.

28:09 And they talked about trades and trades and trades. And I said to them, I said, I’m sick and tired of hearing about this over and over again, and you guys need to start hiring. You need to start doing some things.

28:18 So while I was sitting down south, I got ahold of a couple of the contractors and we put together what will become an operation that they do outside of the district and they’re going to recommend, and it’s been kind of moving through, but they’re going to do it through the associated builders and contractors, where they’re going to take our construction schools next year and have them compete against each other so that we can actually have those kind of competitions which we’ve never had before. They’re going to put together possibly the award ceremony for the competition. They’re also going to put together a career day in conjunction with us that brings the kids to see what kind of trades and what they can be a part of.

28:53 Outside side. We do that for college, but we haven’t been able to do that for trades. We also are going to do, they said that they will actively recruit some of their retired people and others to come back into the classroom and start teaching because we have a deficiency in some of the trades programs.

29:08 And then also they said that their job. I want to give a lot of credit to Jonathan Wilkes from Wharton Smith. He’s spearheading the effort to bring jobs for internships this summer.

29:17 So there’s a huge opportunity from what we were a part of. I wanted to give a huge shout out to associated builders and contractors. I also wanted to say I was a part of the l three stem challenge here.

29:27 Also, many of the stuff that these kids are doing is amazing. They’re putting together 3d models, 3d printed stuff and magnets and everything else. And the operations that they’re doing were very engaging and very exciting.

29:41 I also wanted to say it’s national school bus driver Appreciation Day, so today’s big day because many of you guys don’t know, but our, but many of the people over here on this side of the room do know that we appreciate our bus drivers a lot. And the reason for that is that if our kids didn’t get on that bus and get there, we wouldn’t have kids inside of our classrooms. And many of our other school districts sit there and they go to different schedules where one school may have two different operations.

30:04 And it’s insane. So kids come at all different. It is.

30:07 What our transportation and our bus drivers have been able to do is anything but short of amazing. I also wanted to say thank you to the bright group last night. We had, I don’t know, what do you think, 200 people in there? 300 people in there.

30:18 There’s a lot of people inside there. And it’s ten congregations, roughly that are committed to k through three. Specifically, a lot of educational reading.

30:27 And what we’re looking forward is seeing them come out and be a part of it. I challenged them. They wanted us to adopt certain things and everything else which we’re already doing in our district, but I challenge them, which I’m going to challenge everybody from this point forward.

30:39 We need parents to be a part of what we do. We got to stop saying that. It’s our schools that need to do everything.

30:44 Our parents need to take some of the responsibility and they need to start listening to us say, no, this is partially on you too. And everybody wants to have a meeting and tell us what to do. Well, then also be a part of what we do and volunteer inside of our schools and be a part of it.

30:57 So we challenged them with that and they were overwhelmingly excited to be a part of that. I wanted to say thank you to Ralph Williams for putting together spirit week. Last week.

31:04 They put on a breakfast for purple up day to honor military students. They had stars and stripes, camo day. Miss Flickinger had purple bandanas, glasses, and dyed their hair purple.

31:16 Thank goodness we’re working on that policy before they get in trouble. But I did want to say thank you to Ralph Williams for what they did. I’ll just let her run around.

31:24 Just let her run around. It’s fine. The other thing I wanted to say is that we have our adult ed has three new pre apprenticeship programs starting in May for a lot of the kids that are graduating and a lot of the kids that, that need that opportunity.

31:36 So if you guys get an opportunity to try to take a look, please go to the apprenticeships. And I got a bunch of other stuff. But you know what? Miss Hand’s looking down there at me.

31:43 Go ahead, Miss Hand. Okay, so just real quickly, thank you, Mister Susan, for mentioning the l three Harris stem challenge. I had just a brief opportunity to hang out in the escape room.

31:54 They literally said, you geeked out. I did geek out. So this is like a science based, sequential escape room.

32:00 And my family and friends, we are escape room aficionados, you might say. And I was so impressed with the design of the game and the excitement of the volunteers as well as the staff that supported that event. They were just amazing.

32:16 So it was truly awesome. And then, misses Wright, thank you for mentioning our folks at Coquina. I’m putting on my facilities hat here.

32:26 We have been up there more than we should because those folks have had a really tough, tough year and just appreciate the grace and flexibility that their staff shows to our team from facilities. And we’re trying to put it back so much better than it was before the fire. So thanks for mentioning them.

32:42 They really are awesome. But the real reason I wanted to just have a few moments tonight is tomorrow is administrative professionals day. And those are the folks in our organization that no one ever sees.

32:54 But they totally make our world’s turn. So whether they’re out in the schools or they’re here at the district office, I know in my office, my world doesn’t turn without my administrative team. And I just want to say thank you to those folks who you rarely ever see.

33:09 But they are the folks that process the bills, that write the contracts, that process permits, that answer the phones, they do everything. And they support our schools and they support our school district with just great integrity and enthusiasm. And I’m so happy to recognize them tonight.

33:29 So, thank you. Yeah, thank you. I wanted to say thank you, Miss Hann.

33:42 I think we all appreciate your leadership and guidance over the last couple of weeks. I know you are looking, looking forward to the day that you can get out of there, but we really appreciate everything that you’ve been doing. You’ve been a blessing to this district and a blessing to all of the employees that are here and the students and everything else.

33:58 I just wanted to take a second and say thank you. Thank you, sir. All right.

34:01 Okay, that brings us to the adoption of the agenda. Miss Hand? Yes, sir. On this evening’s agenda, we have administrative staff recommendations, 34 consent items, one public hearing, three action items and one information item.

34:15 Changes made to the agenda since release to the public include the addition of f ten student expulsions and revisions to ace seven administrative staff recommendations, f 32 Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School construction management services and h 45 procurement solicitations. Do I hear a motion? Second any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

34:41 Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Passes 50 Miss Hand, would you please let us know about the administrative staff recommendations? Yes, sir.

34:48 Mister Susan and members of the board, there are 14 items for your consideration. Move to approve. Second any discussion? All right.

34:59 All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? All right.

35:04 Passes 50 miss Hand. Yes, sir. So just before I introduce our new principals, I would like to say that I had an opportunity to be on the interview committee, the final interview committee for our new principals.

35:15 And I was so impressed with all of you. Many of you I’d never met before in my role as facilities. Some of you I have, but most of you hadn’t.

35:25 And I’m just so encouraged by the future of our district as a result of your upcoming work. And I’m very proud for all of you. And I’m very excited for all of you.

35:35 I think you’re going to be just amazing principals. So thank you for stepping up in a leadership role for brevard public school schools. You’re going to make us stronger and better with your leadership.

35:44 So with that, I want to introduce first Andy Pasinsky. Reclassed from. Probably not.

35:53 Let me try again. Andy Papcinski. Did I know it.

35:56 Ok. Reclassed from assistant principal at Space Coast Junior Senior High School to the position of principal at Kennedy Middle. Congratulations.

36:11 Thank you, members of the board. Miss Han. I also want to thank the directors, wherever they’re hiding.

36:16 Miss Bowman, Miss Vega, Miss Wybolt. Hey, over there. Doctor Sullivan.

36:20 Thank you guys for trusting me in this process and helping me grow to be a leader that I am today. I also want to give a shout out to some other leaders that helped develop me along the way. Jeremy Solomon.

36:31 Burt Clark. We’ve got Terry Kalaga who’s not here, retired from us as well. Mike Alba through the process.

36:39 Joe Flora. James Ramer. Thank you all for helping me grow to be the leader that I am here to take over Kennedy as well.

36:47 To my Space coast family. The last three years have been an absolute blast. I love every single one of you.

36:53 A lot of good memories. And I know that school is in good hands with Mister Flora. So the biggest shout out goes to my family.

37:01 Here I have Amy, Adeline and Piper. The girls are products here of brevard public schools. Amy’s also a teacher at Suntree.

37:08 You guys are my biggest supporters and my biggest cheerleaders. So thank you very much. I love you.

37:15 With that being said, I’m very much looking forward to taking the next step in my journey and becoming the principal of Kennedy Middle School. Next, I’d like to introduce Keith Barton. Keith is moving from assistant principal at Melbourne High School to the position of principal at Ogalley High School.

37:36 Congratulations. Thank you very much. First thing, I’d like to thank God, because without him, I wouldn’t be here tonight.

37:46 So I’d like to thank my wife who’s put up with me for this journey, the many people that have helped me get here, Lena Weibelt, John Thomas. He had me promise to mention him tonight. Molly Vega, Tim Kuhl, Melissa Kotakis.

38:08 All those people played a great part in me becoming a principal. I come from a different background. I used to work for Suhan when I was working in Palm Bay.

38:21 An honor and blessing to be here. I want to thank the Ogalley administrative staff for coming out tonight. That means a lot to have their support going forward.

38:32 I’m excited about the opportunities that are ahead of me and look forward to moving from a bulldog to a commodore. And next, I’d like to introduce doctor Paloma Ferreira. She is coming from assistant principal at Satellite High School to the position of principal at Hoover Middle School.

38:55 Congratulations, members of the board and misses han. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I’m so grateful to serve Hoover middle school community.

39:09 I am excited and ready to go. But before I transition from satellite high school school, I would like to share my gratitude for Mister Pruitt, the faculty and staff at satellite. I’m going to miss working with them very much.

39:25 And the road leading to Hoover Middle School included dedication and love for helping students in the process. I had amazing mentors, to name a few. I’d like to thank doctor Sullivan and misses Vega for always supporting me, my administrative career.

39:44 During my principal and preparation program, I had the opportunity to be mentored by Misses McNutt and Doctor Kirk. And I would like to recognize their support as well. Finally, I want to recognize my family watching at home, and my husband Michael and my son Mason here tonight.

40:03 Thank you for always believing in me and helping me improve every day. Thank you. Next, I would like to introduce Tina Susan, who is moving from principal at Jackson Middle to principal at Delora Middle.

40:21 Congratulations. Thank you. Miss Ann, I’m very excited about my move from Jackson to Dolora, but it’s bittersweet.

40:32 I’ve spent a long time, time in Titusville, eight years serving in the community of Titusville, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. And I do want to say thank you to the entire community for supporting me for the eight years that I’ve been there. I do look forward to going to Delora.

40:48 I was there for eight years previously in my career. I taught there, and I was the assistant principal there, so that’s where I got my start in administration. So I’m looking forward to new opportunities.

40:59 Go, Scotty’s next. I’d like to introduce Jennifer Shockley, who is coming from assistant principal at McNair Magnet Middle to the position of principal at Jackson Middle. Congratulations.

41:19 Thank you, Miss Hay and members of the board for this opportunity. I’m very grateful. I’ve spent my whole career in Brevard public school schools, and so there are way too many administrators, district leaders that I have had the opportunity to work with, to learn from through their mentorship.

41:35 So I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you. I would like to thank my family and friends for all their love and support. I am truly going to miss my McNear family doc and his leadership, and all of our great families and staff there.

41:49 But I am so excited to go to Jackson. I was there previously, and so it’ll be like going home, back to being a Jackson general, and I can’t wait to start there. So thank you again for the opportunity.

42:06 Next, I’d like to introduce Steven Lynx. Stephen is currently serving as the interim principal at Heritage High, and he has been selected as their principal. Congratulations.

42:20 Thank you very much, Miss hand. Thank you to the board, a lot of people to thank. Thank you, Doctor Sullivan, for trusting me with this opportunity.

42:27 To Miss Vega, Miss Weibelt, Miss Bowman, for answering all my soon to be many, many phone calls with questions. Thank you to Mister Tuttle for giving me the opportunity to become a teacher and an educator to begin with. When I decided to take the leap from engineering to education, people thought I was crazy, including my wonderful father here.

42:46 But it seemed to work out well. I’d like to thank Sarah Robinson and Doctor Rendell for helping me grow as a leader and just learning what different leadership styles look like and how to run a school. Thank you to Doctor Harris for his countless, countless growth opportunities he provided me, truly, he has provided me with all the tools to be successful in this role.

43:07 As I mentioned, my dad is probably the greatest mentor I could ever imagine that could go on and on and on, as Cocoa beach and Viera can attest to. Whenever I leave the school, they say, we’re sorry to lose you, but we’re more sorry to lose your father for all that he does. So I’m happy to bring him with me to heritage as well.

43:25 To my beautiful wife back there with a crying baby, and my three other wonderful boys who are loud and awesome. I just thank you for their support, especially over the last few weeks as I’ve pulled a couple jobs going on. But most importantly, other than my wife, to the heritage staff, community, teachers, students, everybody there, I’m so, so grateful for this opportunity.

43:45 I look forward to leading the school into the next journey. Heritage is my home and I’m so excited to lead us there. So thank you very much.

43:52 Go big blue. Next, I’d like to introduce Melissa Long, who is coming from assistant principal at Lockmar elementary to the position of principal at Cape View elementary. Congratulations, Mister chairman, Miss Hahn and members of the board, I just want to say thank you so much for this opportunity to serve the community of Cape View elementary.

44:23 And I’d like to thank my husband and my family. That’s all here, my friends. And a special thank you to my current principal.

44:32 And happy birthday coming out to celebrate me on her special day. So thank you, misses Campion, many, many leaders and mentors through my time in Brevard. And I’d like to thank them for continuing to believe in me.

44:48 And misses Klein, thank you so much. And next, I’d like to introduce Jeffrey Coverdale, who is being appointed as the position of acting principal at Golfview elementary. Congratulations.

45:11 Well, I hope I’m no longer going to be the acting principal, but to the members of the board and to sue. Thank you so much for your trust and faith in me to assume this position as the head of this wonderful school. I see several members of the passionate staff and faculty here who work so hard for that community and for those kids there.

45:35 And it goes without saying that they really love those kids and they really love that community. To my wonderful wife, who is my biggest cheerleader and my biggest fan. Thank you so much for all of these years.

45:50 She recently retired from Brevard public school schools and now she’s volunteering to go back in at endeavor. So thank you for your support, your love and faith in me. And I too have way too many folks that I would have to thank.

46:09 But thank you to Tara, thank you to Doctor Ivory and to so many others. Here, who have spent the time and the effort helping groom me for this position now. I thank you so much and go, Bobcatz.

46:29 Congratulations. And next, I’d like to introduce Cherie Cochran, who is being reclassified from assistant principal at Saturn elementary, to the position of interim principal at Mims Elementary School. Congratulations.

46:44 Thank you, Miss Hannah. And to the board, and to Miss Klein and all the elementary leading and learning directors who have poured into me their wonderful knowledge to prepare me for the task I’m about to take on tonight. I have with me my mom, my dad, my sister, my wonderful three children, and my very supportive husband who now realizes what it needs to be an administrator.

47:05 To Miss McCloney and Miss Hurst. We’ve had some great times together and I will miss you very much. And thank you for all the growth opportunities you’ve given me and the friendship that will last forever.

47:18 To Mister Alfonso, I cannot wait until we get started together and do great things at Mims. And I cannot wait to serve the north area again. Thank you.

47:32 Next, I’d like to introduce Elizabeth Hill Brodigan, who is coming from assistant principal at Ocean Breeze elementary to the position of principal at Roosevelt elementary. Congratulations. Thank you so much.

47:43 Thank you so much, board members. I’m so excited for this opportunity. Mister Trent, I look forward to working with you directly in Cocoa Beach.

47:54 I appreciate Misses Klein and all of her support over these years. Thank you so much, Misses Klein, Rachel Roberts and Taylor for Tara Harris, for being my cheerleaders this year. So thank you so much for that.

48:07 Really excited for my ocean Breeze family that I’ve worked with, with the last eight years. It’s been a wonderful experience and I greatly appreciate them. My principal, Shelley, thank you so much for all the growth opportunities and for being my friend.

48:19 Appreciate that. And my new Roosevelt family, Roxanne, I’m so looking forward to working with you. And she gave me a great t shirt already for the new Roosevelt.

48:30 To the new Roosevelt team. So I’m so excited. I can’t imagine all these new Roosevelt people that I’m excited to meet.

48:36 Thank you so much for coming out and supporting me. It really means a lot to me, my family and my friends. Thank you so much.

48:43 My two boys, also brevard schools students. My husband Dave, who’s also a teacher here in Brevard county. My mother and father, who are always my biggest cheerleaders and also making all my dreams come true.

48:57 My family from New York, my sisters, everybody’s here today for this special occasion. So thank you all so much. It has been a long ride and it’s going to be a great experience.

49:06 Thank you so, so much. Next, I’d like to introduce Kelly Gruegen. Kelly is coming from the position of assistant principal at Gardendale separate day school, to the position of principal at Roy Allen elementary.

49:25 But before you talk, Miss Gruegen, I. I just have to say a few words about Miss Gruegen. An opportunity to visit Gardendale. You can stand up to visit Gardendale on several occasions.

49:37 And I have witnessed Miss Gruegen’s heart and love for our kids and our community firsthand. And I just want to say I so admire you and appreciate what you, what you do for our students. So congratulations.

49:52 Well, whatever I was going to say is out the window because that was very emotional. But thank you. So thank you, Miss Hann and the board for this opportunity.

50:01 I’m very excited. It has been a great year. I want to thank Miss Klein and the panel for selecting me for this position.

50:06 I want to thank my family, who this year has really stepped up to support me. And without them, I wouldn’t be here. So I have my husband, who’s a teacher, and I have my daughter and my son and my mom’s here.

50:25 And there’s some youtubers here that are watching me. And I have some great friends and I have a fan club that came. I want to thank.

50:35 There’s so many administrators that helped me get here and I’m already failing Miss Klein’s task of talking for 1 minute, so I’m going to hurry. But I’m not going to mention all of them. But they were the.

50:47 The foundation that I needed to be where I am today. I have to thank Miss Bland for the opportunity this year and my gardendale warriors because it has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside you this year. And when I mean alongside you, we held hands and we got through this.

51:10 Miss Bland, I have never met anybody with the conviction and advocacy that you have for kids who have no voices. And I commend you. And I know our kids will be in good hands because of you.

51:24 So thank you for all you do for those students. And I’m forgetting something, but thank you so much. And I just have to say to the rookie class of 2023, principal, we look pretty good.

51:46 Okay. And batting cleanup on our principal roster tonight is Miss Krauss. So Miss Krause is moving from assistant principal.

51:56 From it. Boy, I blew it. Sorry.

51:58 Let me start again from position of assistant principal at Atlantis elementary. Harder to say than you think to the position of principal at sunrise elementary. Congratulations.

52:15 Thank you. I’m so excited to be in this spot. It’s so hard to follow you up, Kelly.

52:22 I’d like to thank the board and miss hand for this opportunity, along with Miss Klein and the team. Thank you for following me from the beginning of my career to now. My family that is here with me tonight, along with my, you know, toddler and my toddler of anger, my mother in law over there, just thank you so much for supporting me.

52:39 It’s a. It’s not an easy task to be an educator supporter, especially within the family, my Atlantis family who come tonight. I’m so good because of them.

52:51 We have worked so well together, and I’m just. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer, for being there for me.

52:57 I am so excited to join the Sunrise family. I can’t wait to start with you and miss Joss. Thank you so much for coming and give me warm hugs to make this transition so smooth.

53:08 And I always thought about what I would really say when I got up here. My biggest supporter since day one, that Debbie Pringle called Mister Brown to say, hey, I’ve got a girl for you. She’ll work really well in third grade.

53:21 Mister Brown has followed me every step of the way, and I am a better leader because I got to watch you lead. So thank you. And thank you so much for this opportunity.

53:30 I know. I’ll do your proud, I promise. Thank you.

53:41 Russ, you want to get a picture of all of them together? Because there’s so many of them. I mean, it’s like the freshman class. I like the idea.

53:49 Let’s get one. Can you get your camera all right? Yeah. If all the principals come up here so we can get a picture with you guys, that’d be great.

53:54 Come on. Even the experienced one Miss ones. Miss Zeus and you, too.

55:40 He goes, why does he ever say anything to us? And I started laughing. All right, Mike, we’re ready to come back when you are. We are live.

1:02:52 We are now at the public comment portion of the meeting. We have 16 number of speakers and each will receive three minutes. I will call up three speakers at a time.

1:03:00 The first three speakers are Christopher Adams, Bernard Bryan, Elizabeth McEterion. Who’s the first one? Yes, sir. Good to go.

1:03:21 My name is Christopher Robin Adams. I’m a poet, parent, english teacher and taxpayer. I’m here to talk about books with those who seek learning for children.

1:03:30 I want to save our children not from guns that smear blood and brain matter on the floor, but from the insidious danger of insufficient material to help minds grow and personality strengthening. You see, parents of our students and teachers in loco parentis always have this question, what do we teach? Brevard gives class state vetted textbooks, but every teacher knows that textbooks provide information. They do not provide incentives to read.

1:03:55 Doe knows this, but they will not tell us what other source to use to improve student minds and inspire them to seek more. Well, teachers and media personnel know what to use. Books.

1:04:05 We need books in the classroom, our schools. I recall an elementary school getting an a because they had a print rich school with buckets of books by every front door. My classrooms of central and Ogalley each contained some 1200 books bought from garage sales and thrift stores, purchased from scholastic control and solicited from the community.

1:04:24 Any student could take a book. Books weren’t alphabetized because studies show students will find more books. If books are not in order, students will find unexpected books, picture books, chapter books, novels, graphic novels, history books, and books recommended by friends.

1:04:39 Yes, I kept books aside for low interest readers who would ask me to suggest a book. Students know that self chosen books are the best reads and if they self choose, their reading levels increase quickly. Limiting book choice limits students reading range.

1:04:54 Thinking and exploring district pre and post test showed my students reading levels jumped 1.6 grade levels each year. My remedial students reading levels late 4.

1:05:17 54 to five years. Our free public education and free libraries for all give our nation preeminence in the world. It stands to reason we should maintain that and allow media personnel and teachers to stuff our rooms with books.

1:05:26 We’re not doing that in Brevard. Instead, we’re pulling libraries and hiding books. I stopped teaching in Brevard when told any book not stamped Brevard county could not be in my room.

1:05:44 After 70 years of reading and 27 years teaching, I was no longer trusted to bring books to class that I knew would help my students minds. One school threw out 400 of my books. To prevent this from happening again, I took 30 cases of books to my granddaughter school in South Carolina and they said thank you.

1:06:04 As a national board certified middle school language arts teacher, I was paid a $50,000 bonus to improve student learning. Further, the district paid another thousand dollars for media attendance four week national Writing Project seminar which showed me how to use picture books to inspire secondary school students. I read poems and novels to my students every day before instruction.

1:06:17 They wrote to authors and authors wrote back and I couldn’t have done this without books. With Doe, I helped create the state reading test for 9th graders. I presented reading programs for the Florida Reading association, the Florida Council of Teachers and the Florida English Journal.

1:06:24 We know the world past high school is challenging and if we don’t prepare students to face it, we fail. The sole reason for building in position. Thank you Mister Adams.

1:06:37 Thank you Mister Adams. Appreciate the time. Mister Bernard Bryan.

1:06:46 Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to see you all again. And I want to thank Miss hands and this board for allowing me to speak before you again.

1:07:00 First of all, I want to say thank you to this, this team for your present at the bright meeting on yesterday. And thank you for making a pact with those eight churches. And I really, really appreciate that.

1:07:11 And I want to say thank you for listening to our communities as we discuss the reading and actual math gaps. So thank you for listening to us. So we really appreciate that.

1:07:29 But I just want to also thank Misses Klein as well as Doctor Sullivan for really accepting the challenge of looking at science, of reading. And we believe that’s going to be a tremendous impact on our children’s proficiency levels. So thank you so much.

1:08:08 So I also would like to bring up to you, I had an opportunity to look at the MoU that was presented in your minutes and one of the things I’m concerned about is the $554,000 that’s going to be paid towards security. When I study that, it looks like all of that half a million dollars is going to be going to overhead. So if you can reconsider that, and I think it would add a little more proficiency if we don’t overload overhead, which is not going to give you the overall coverage in terms of security that I think can help our schools.

1:08:22 And I also would like to, just to make a comment. I had an opportunity to review your discipline audit that was presented. Just a couple of things that I saw.

1:08:35 I saw four red flags and I hope this team will really look at those red flags. One of the red flags was disciplined governance. So I think there’s a lot of opportunity there as well.

1:08:59 Another one of the red flag that was presented, it was formalizing mentoring and I think that’s a tremendous opportunity as well. And the third thing was that we automate the discipline system and I think that will help the discipline process as well. And then lastly, they brought up data accuracy.

1:09:29 There were some fields in the report that said a lot of fields were actually missing. So I hope that this team will take those red flags, implement those process recommendations so that our disciplinary process can be very consistent across all schools. And then lastly, I would like to say that I, in favor of renaming Stone Jim to Miss Ruby May Jackson.

1:09:40 I’ve had a chance to meet her family, and based on what I’ve learned about her, she’s done a tremendous job at Stone middle school. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you, Mister Bryan.

1:09:48 You can go back to the back and find out how that application process works and put it in. You’re welcome. Have a good day.

1:09:57 Good evening. Liz Mcaterian from Titusville. Retired BPs kindergarten teacher and founder of Stop Moms for Liberty National Movement.

1:10:23 First, I’m here to offer my personal apologies to all of the citizens of Brevard, because apparently discipline is all my fault. Mister Trent, in a public meeting stated, if kindergarten teachers had just done their jobs, we wouldn’t have discipline issues. So on behalf of all of our kindergarten teachers, I am requesting a public apology this evening.

1:10:40 My reason for coming tonight is to express my dismay at several of the things that have unfolded over the past few months. Our superintendent forced to resign at the very first meeting of a very untrained school board majority. Therefore, a new superintendent is needed.

1:10:58 One candidate in the pool has raised some serious red flags. Mark Rendell, who is one of your four finalists, has very strong connections with Tiffany justice, the founder of the radical group Moms of Liberty. She was his champion in Indian River county.

1:11:18 We also see Moms of America, another radical group, seeming to have unfettered access to you board members. Moms for America has even done an official endorsement of Doctor Rendell, the leader of moms for Liberty. Katie Delaney was very involved during the election, and now she runs.

1:11:27 Runs from one board member to the other during business hours. And I suggest that Mister Gibbs take a look at those issues. And we have photographs of her having dinner with more than one board member at a time.

1:11:46 And we have some really strict concerns about that. People have now seen the close collaboration with two radical groups and we don’t like it. Radical is not my word, by the way.

1:11:56 I come to my final and most egregious concern. As I have been a part of BPS for almost three decades. People know and trust me, so they contact me.

1:12:19 It has been disclosed that both in the community and within the school system. Mister Trent is saying when Rendell becomes the superintendent, as if it’s already a done deal, there is no coming back from that statement. So I petition you tonight to remove Mister doctor Mark Rendell from your pool of finalists.

1:12:38 I’m inspired by Katie Delaney’s Fox News interview stating that any controversy should be reason for removal of a candidate. Looks like that might have worked. I think most citizens would agree that we have controversy when it comes to one of your other candidates.

1:12:50 So two things I ask of you. Remove Doctor Rendell from your final pool of candidates to avoid the public perception that this has all been rigged from the beginning. Thank you.

1:12:54 Missing. Thank you, Miss Mcatarian. Appreciate your time.

1:12:57 Natalie Twine. It’s three minutes. No, there was no time left on the clock.

1:13:00 It beeped. Miss Twine. Natalie Twine, please.

1:13:03 You’re up next. Alyssa Young. Misses.

1:13:09 Misses McCatarian. No, no, I mean the time was up. Thank you, Miss Twine.

1:13:13 Alyssa Young. Jessica Boyko, please. Thank you.

1:13:21 Matt, you’ve gotta not let them say I cut off everybody. Thank you. You can’t let them say candidates names.

1:13:29 Go ahead. Hi, my name is Natalie Twine. I’m a brevard county resident and parent of two BPS graduates.

1:13:36 There you go. Thank you. Last November, the board voted to change the prior restroom locker room guidance.

1:13:49 The actions of this board resulted in merely a symbolic policy. By creating an illusion of control and safety, this board dodged answering critical questions. Make no mistakes.

1:14:02 The motivation and intent of this policy is to target transgender and non binary individuals. But to understand this requires emotional intelligence, which is lacking here. My daughter is a biological female.

1:14:17 For 23 years, she has consistently been misgendered because some don’t think she is feminine enough. In middle school, she attempted to use the girl’s bathroom. A teacher physically stopped her from entering and required her to use the boys room.

1:14:48 This is an example of gender policing, which utilizes the concept of gender expression and identity. Every time a student is misgendered, pronouns and a gender identity are forced on that child, which directly conflicts with biological sex and violates my parental rights. I’m sure no one on this board will have problems being able to prove their biological sex because now, under the proposed state legislation, anyone, including a student, can challenge you and deny you access to a public restroom.

1:15:07 Surely you will agree, if you can’t prove your sex, no student should have to prove theirs. Lawmakers want you to believe this is a simple task, but law reviews that came out in November of 2020 clearly outlines it is not. Even our state doesn’t have a protocol to address challenges.

1:15:17 Birth certificates aren’t reliable in many states, including Florida. For the moment, sex markers can be changed. Some states offer a non binary option.

1:15:57 Sex testing and using biology to determine biological sex was used in the 1968 Olympics. History has shown these methods lack specificity, sensitivity, violate human rights, infringes on privacy, is impractical to implement and costly basing policies on unsubstantiated threats of the imaginary boogeyman to protect women is not right. In fact, perpetrators of violence against women are overwhelmingly straight, white, biological, presenting as male that will now use this policy to assault women and gender nonconforming individuals.

1:16:17 Just like recently that a man threatened my daughter with violence. That if she were ever to enter a woman’s bathroom looking like a man, that she couldn’t expect a fistfight for simply trying to use a bathroom. Individuals like my daughter face the constant threat of verbal and physical abuse.

1:16:28 I pray that you never experience the humiliation, fear and threat of violence emboldened by these policies. Thank you, Miss Twine. Alyssa Young, Jessica Boyko.

1:16:36 Diana. Diana Haynes. Sorry.

1:16:43 Hello. Am I using this okay? I am using this ring. I have never done this before.

1:17:03 My name is Alyssia, and I am a fifth grade student at century elementary school. I am here to ask you to include us in the new middle school. We want to go to the new middle school because, number one, we’ve been told our whole lives that we would be able to go to said middle school.

1:17:22 Number two, we want to go to a middle school and high school with our friends that we’ve known for very long. Number three, the middle school is closer to home. We don’t want to spend forever on the bus in an emergency.

1:17:41 Our parents can come get us faster, too. I hope that me coming here has given you an idea of what the students of Suntree want. Thank you.

1:17:47 She’s done. Clock. I gotcha.

1:17:59 Hi. I hope you guys can understand how very difficult it was for Alyssa to come here and speak to you today. But it is something that she is very passionate about.

1:18:32 Two weeks ago, I stood here and asked you to consider the facts when voting on the new zoning for the middle school. Part of me wants to come up here and give you numbers about how much money has come out of our school, our property taxes for the school system, about how much time our students will spend on the bus every day, how long it takes for us to get to the school in case of an emergency, about how we really don’t know how many students are going to be moving into the new areas. But you have all of those facts.

1:19:04 I could tell you about the number of people who have come up to me in the last two weeks to tell me how poorly my daughter will be treated at Dolora, how student and others will treat her just because she’s different. I can tell you about how the numbers of parents I’ve talked to over the last couple of weeks have talked about their plans, making alternatives to Delora and Jackson and Kennedy, just in case. Viera Charter School and Brevard virtual have been passed around a great many times in the last couple of weeks.

1:19:28 And some of us have even gotten together to talk about a coalition in order to hold homeschool our students over the next two years. Instead, I’ve come to tell you that thanks to HB one, we have the power to decide where our children go. I know that right now the vote to include zones one, two, and three is hanging by a thread, and that you can change your minds at any time between now and then.

1:19:38 But it is my sincerest hope that you will vote to include these students in the new middle school. Thank you very much and have a great night. Thank you.

1:19:46 Miss Boyko. Diana Haynes, John Kervin, Samantha Curvin, please. Hi.

1:19:58 Good evening. I understand that school boards and school board races are supposed to be nonpartisan, non political events. But we live in the real world.

1:20:13 And because of that, many of you have used your political affiliations to get elected or to stay in office. We’re going to hold you accountable because of these affiliations. Miss Campbell, you have professed to be a devout Christian and a Republican.

1:20:31 Mister Susan allegedly is told you have aspirations to run for higher office. After many years of being a Democrat, you decided to become a Republican, so I am sure that you adhere to the republican philosophies. Miss Wright stood next to our republican governor and accepted his platform and endorsements.

1:20:44 So we can assume, rightfully so, that you are a Republican and you hold dear the same philosophies and values of the republican party. The same goes for Mister Tran. So you can probably understand my confusion at the ruling.

1:21:12 The majority of the board has betrayed themselves as Republicans with a hint of conservatism. And I’m confused because your interim superintendent was a staunch Democrat who has democratic philosophies and policies which directly conflict what you have sold the public as to what your positions are. I also have to ask how the superintendent, who is now withdrawn, made Mister Stratton made our short list.

1:21:37 He is also a staunch Republican or Democrat, and I would refer to him in the future as Mullins 2.0. Because if you look at his policies and his procedures and everything else that has to do with Mister Stratton, he was mirroring the exact same agenda that was going on with the previous administration and superintendent.

1:22:11 So I have to ask you, what is your vetting policy? Because we have also looked at the other three candidates and there is some questionable events concerning some of them. So you’ve got a man who had the most egregious, outrageous event go on in his county and you put him on the short list to be our superintendent here. I have to question so much of what is going on with this board and the people who you have hired to vet these individuals and why he wasn’t removed by you all the minute.

1:22:40 You heard of what went on in that county and you did your due diligence, or had your people do it, you should have come forward to the public and made an announcement and said, we are going to request that Mister Stratton step down from this offer that we’re making. So I would hope in the future that you would reconsider how you vet individuals for positions that are going to affect every student, every parent, every individual in this school system. And I thank you for your time.

1:22:48 Thank you, Miss Haynes. Just so that everybody understands, Mister Stratton withdrew from the actual application process. So that’s official.

1:23:05 So, just wanted to let everybody know in the event that they came here to speak to that topic. Mister Kervin, good evening to the board, acting superintendent, and everybody that’s here, physically and virtually here as well. My name is John Kervin.

1:23:29 I’m going to read from my notes so I don’t mess some words up. I’m retired army, I’m an alumni of the Brevard county school system. And I’d like you all to hear a viewpoint of my own based off of your workshop commentary on homework.

1:23:40 Okay. I heard some very differences of opinions and whatnot, and I’d like to give you guys a viewpoint of it. I know you guys are holding another workshop to finish that agenda off.

1:23:55 So for those of you guys that don’t know, throughout my education career, from second to 12th grade, I was always bored in the class. I paid attention in class. Even when everybody thought that I wasn’t paying attention.

1:24:17 I tested well. I hated homework and I thought that school was a complete waste of my time. The lost mention of the spot, participated in the classroom how and when was required.

1:24:40 Homework was just busy work to me. Okay? Through my military service, one of the most important things I learned was that you train as you fight. I learned that through my college career, I learned that my ideal learning environment existed, one without required homework, where testing your understanding was what mattered.

1:24:55 We expect adults to have learned how to make educated decisions. After completing high school. We need to focus more on how we’re inspired, inspiring our students to want to know about the subjects we expect them to learn.

1:25:21 Homework should be given under an optional basis with a week’s worth at once. This allows the students to decide if they think they need more fortification in that subject or less fortification in the subject. Consistent testing on knowledge should be done monthly, at least for data collection on the effectiveness of our teaching strategies and our system.

1:25:30 I think this is how we can facilitate our students to grow in decision making. And thank you very much for your time, and you guys have a good night. Thank you.

1:25:35 Thank you. Miss Samantha Kirvin. Paul Raub.

1:25:57 Kelly Kirvin. Okay, y’all can hear me just fine. Okay, so let’s just get this started.

1:26:05 Jean Trent and Megan Wright. So I am here to request. Actually, I’ll rephrase that.

1:26:42 I’m here to demand a apology publicly to the dyslexic community for your disrespect, not only to people who have difficulty learning, but also to me. But when I stood up here and told my story about dyslexia and the challenges that I face in my worries for the next generation of students, upon students who were basically set up to fail. Megan, you laughed at Jean Trent.

1:27:34 Jean Trent, you tried gouging your eye out and were caught on the microphone making a comment and maidie, comment to Miss Wright, who then proceeded to laugh, obviously, after this. And it was more known to the public, Miss Bethany, which was not to my knowledge, but she sent out an email to most of you demanding an apology for it. And Miss Wright, you said, and I quote, just to be clear, I was not laughing at the child.

1:27:51 I was laughing at Trent, who has made a comment about me that’s laughing at me. You can shake your head, but it’s laughing at me. A 14 year old should not have to tell you how to act.

1:28:15 That’s your job, to act like an adult. And Mister Souza, today at the workshop, you made a comment about the school’s workbooks. I believe it was how all that.

1:28:39 And you made a comment during it that said, the first week and a half of school is teaching where the bathrooms are and who to write their names on paper. I take a lot of offense to that. I think I know how to write my name on my paper.

1:28:45 I kind of learned how to do that when I was younger. Know what I’m doing? It’s just. It’s kind of.

1:28:57 It’s just kind of inappropriate. It made you kind of look like a jerk in front of a lot of people, which is not great for your image and. Yeah, thank you.

1:29:17 Thank you, Miss Kervin, appreciate you coming out. Paul Rao, Kelly Kervin, and then Gary Ross, please. So an analogy, hypothetical.

1:29:55 There’s a discipline committee, as we all well know. Imagine that around the topic of discipline, there was a group who were vocally at every meeting referring to any behavior that bothered them as murder. Obviously, murder is not a problem in the schools, but they’re just going to keep yelling about murder, dress code violations, murder, swearing on campus, murder, wearing a mullet, murder.

1:30:14 Sorry. Anyway, at every meeting demanding why we’re not doing something about all this murder that we’re allowing in our schools around our children. And the fact that we already have plenty of laws against murder and it’s not actually allowed in the schools already and it isn’t, in fact, happening in our schools, doesn’t dissuade them in the least.

1:30:41 Would you take them seriously? Would you want them influencing policy? Would you want their concerns about this imaginary murder to take precedence over all the other parents and their children and actual concerns? Hopefully not. But in the world of books, it’s kind of where we’re at phrase, I don’t like a book. I don’t like something with uncomfortable material.

1:30:45 It’s pornography. Everything’s pornography. We’re going to yell about pornography, pornography around the children.

1:31:07 Again, are there already laws against it? Yeah, yeah, there definitely are. Is it allowed in the schools? God, no. Does anybody want it in the schools? No, but we’re going to keep yelling that and grabs headlines and it makes people seem, you know, what’s wrong with these people on the other side who want pornography in our schools? Again, all the adults in the room know nobody actually wants that.

1:31:49 But I got to say, I was a little surprised when I was here last time I talked about that. The book review committee, which had been paused and is now coming back, the books that had originally been challenged had been pulled, presumably waiting for the new book review policy, which is going to make it much easier to get books off the shelves and keep them. And of course, two new, more incoming members on the committee who would conceivably be much friendlier, who would expect to be much friendlier to the point of view of the challenger, did not expect the challenger and high ranking person in the group I was referring to to become a member of the committee.

1:32:05 I mean, I will say, in terms of brass, that’s impressive. I mean, I guess it’s good that we’re saying the quiet part out loud. I don’t know, but you don’t have to be part of the problem.

1:32:08 There’s problems at the state level. You can’t fix everything. But we don’t have to be part of the problem.

1:32:19 Brevard schools don’t have to be a punchline. Thank you. Kelly Kervin on deck.

1:32:28 Gary Ross, Katie Delaney so I had a speech prepared. I might go over Megan, she’s 14. Be respectful.

1:32:34 That’s all she’s asking. For those who don’t know, I let Samantha write her own speeches. She picks her own topic.

1:32:46 She picks what she cares about. She’s not going to be gas led into believing she didn’t see what everybody on YouTube also saw. So either be quiet or apologize, but pick one.

1:33:05 But shaking her hat at her while she stands up here as a 14 year old, which he’s already terrified of being up here as it is, is just not okay. And ironically enough, my speech is about you today. I watched in horror last week as you made a charge against our teachers and students yet again, this time voting against loving guidance.

1:33:25 I understand that there is a philosophy where we can educate our students on math, English, history and science only, but that’s a fallacy. We can’t ignore the health and well being of the whole child. Taking loving guidance away from our educators doesn’t stop their students from melting down, but it does give them less tools to help their students.

1:33:44 Today I watched her lack of preparedness and understanding about how funding works. You should know the difference between title II and title IV funding, and if you don’t, you should be asking our staff long before she sits up here and looks and act. A few weeks ago, a popular news and discussion based website, a woman posted asking for advice about moving to Melbourne.

1:33:57 The thread gained over 100 comments and several comments were made about bps. I’m going to read a couple the brevard school system used to be great, but our school board got rid of an awesome superintendent and they are rapidly distributed destroying our schools. A school board member, Jean Trent, said.

1:34:04 We are a conservative area and others can move. We moved to Melbourne for work in 2019. We moved away three months ago.

1:34:21 We loved it, but we couldn’t risk our kids in those schools. People are correct about the school board being problematic. It wasn’t too bad before, but two new folks came in and are barely literate and they just show whatever extremist line is the most vile base they can come up with and they can’t even explain or discuss why they’re voting for the destructive things that they’re voting for.

1:34:42 They’re the most ignorant and racist people I’ve ever seen to be clear, these aren’t people in the room. These are Brevard county residents who you will never hear from and you will never hear come here and speak to you. But they talk to their friends, their family, their neighbors, their coworkers at Little League fields bingo halls, and who become very vocal telling people not to move to Brevard county.

1:34:55 Our community supports our schools, our administrators, our teachers, our staff, our bus drivers. But our community as a whole doesn’t support this board. They could have, despite the divisive election cycle, despite the hate and vitriol.

1:35:12 But again, Megan Wright took the first shot against our students, teachers and staff by leading the charge to fire doctor Mark Mullins, the superintendent the community actively supported. And Matt, I know this is super petty, I was listening to lyrics up earlier. It’s not miss Cody, it’s Doctor Cody.

1:35:19 And just please be respectful to our staff and their titles. Thank you. Thank you Miss Kervin.

1:35:27 Next up, Gary Ross. Katie Delaney. Sarah Mirsky.

1:35:31 Good evening board. My name is Gregory Ross. I’m a Palm Bay resident.

1:36:11 Thank you for allowing public comment during this meeting, even though I see some of you can’t handle public comment. Obviously I’m here to speak to this board about your words and your actions and your responsibility to all the citizens of Brevard county, not just the electorate, not just those who vote, and not just those persons who shout the loudest. We already heard one story tonight from Miss McLetarian about some alleged Sunshine law violations and the way it’s being done.

1:36:25 So the topic really seems to be corruption to a degree. Right? So let’s start with you, Mister Susan. At the last board meeting, the very first speaker in public comment rose up and spoke in favor of expanding the boundaries of the new Viera East Middle school.

1:36:42 His points in favor of changing the boundaries ran against the recommendations of BPS staff. Staff who have been down the road before and have shown they make recommendations only after doing their due diligence. For the record, I’m not for or against those boundary changes.

1:36:57 I think that’s a good discussion to have, and I appreciate that the board’s having that discussion. My issue is at first listen, this speaker’s comments seemed reasoned and legitimate, but sounded very familiar. Imagine my surprise when I discovered from whom I had heard those comments before.

1:37:23 From you, Mister Susan, at the previous school board workshop, pushing for the change in boundaries using the very same wording, terminology and reasoning. A little more digging revealed that the speaker parroting your words exactly two weeks later was known to you, Mister Susan, not only is he known to you, but he appears to be a close business associate who works in the same office suite as you do, Mister Susan. He also appears to be a close friend of yours as well, based upon social media posts.

1:37:36 Now, was this a coincidence? There is certainly nothing wrong with this concerned citizen speaking about the school boundaries. That is his right. What is concerning is the apparent lack of respect for the rest of the board and members of the county.

1:38:00 When you don’t make clear that not only is this person well known to you, but that he is parroting the very phrases that you used prior in time, are we to assume that this is a mere coincidence? In reality, it reeks of corruption. Not huge corruption, but the kind of corruption that is part of the history of Brevard county. And perhaps you cannot see because you have been raised in that corruption until it becomes part of your regular business.

1:38:10 Please do better with the time I have left. I just want to address one more thing. Miss Campbell, you gave a really nice speech last school board meeting after you guys passed the.

1:38:16 What I’m going to refer to as the book banning policy. Right. And I don’t disagree with anything you said.

1:38:29 I just want to point out that every time we have this discussion, nobody talks about the Miller test and that prong three every single time that needs to be part of the discussion. Thank you. Thank you Mister Ross.

1:39:01 Next up, Katie Delaney, Sarah Mirsky and Renee Salmon. All right, I guess we get to bring up members of the public’s name now. I want to say thank you to Mister Stratton for doing the right thing and stepping away.

1:39:18 There’s a lot of trouble going on in his district and it was the right move for him. So I appreciate that. As far as book banning goes, nobody is banning books.

1:39:41 They are putting books that are inappropriate for children out of children’s hands. If you would like to give your child that book, you could do so. Just like when we were talking about the cell phone debate, quote unquote, every child has a cell phone and can access anything.

1:40:07 So there is not an equity issue. I wish that people would use their influence for good. Yeah, because one thing that I know that I’ve been speaking about the past three years is we need to focus on safe schools.

1:40:45 We need to focus on our discipline issues. We need to focus on the culture in this community and in our schools. Because frankly, Miss Jenkins, teachers and staff don’t trust you enough to protect them to come forward when things go on in the classroom, when things go on in their schools, those are the things we need to be focusing on, not porn in our classrooms.

1:40:49 Yes, it is. It is, Miss Delaney, if it is. Absolutely.

1:41:00 Comments this way. A Virginia court said that the book gender queer and a court. I forget what the second title is.

1:41:16 I think it’s in the series of the court of Mist and Fury. Both are obscene. So those are just two books.

1:41:43 When I brought numerous titles to our sheriff, he agreed that these books violated. It’s just that the obscenity laws are so vague that they needed to be fixed because there is no clear definition. There is no definition for pornography.

1:41:47 A legal definition for pornography. Thank you, Miss Delaney. Thank you for coming out.

1:42:08 Sarah Mirsky, Renee Salomone, and Richard Weber. Good evening, chairman and board. My name is Sarah Mirsky and I’m a wife, mother of two children in Brevard public schools.

1:42:36 I’m a college student myself, but most importantly, I have a holistic interest in seeing this district become successful, be successful, and be even more successful. Tonight, I’d like to bring up a couple of issues that I have that are of concern for me, as well as many other parents in Brevard county. First, I want to appreciate the board by taking a second look at conscious discipline.

1:43:06 I had my concerns a couple of years ago that were dismissed by the previous board. But someone who is going into the mental health field, I wanted to know if those teaching this curriculum were licensed mental health professionals and what kind of. What were they teaching, especially with trauma informed care, because that’s an actually very difficult realm of mental health care that people specialize in and go to years of school for.

1:43:38 I went to the conscious discipline website, and the person acknowledges Erickson, Maslow, Bandura, and also Payajet, which are all phenomenal theorists in the mental health world that have really progressed our practice. However, there is no citations and no references to their peer reviewed work. So that has me very concerned about that.

1:44:13 Other than that, I do think things that conscious discipline does, such as mindfulness and the box breathing, are excellent resources for children and for adults to be teaching children. My other concern is that the discipline issue and the discipline audit, why was there not a licensed behavioralist or a licensed mental health worker giving advice or helping this district come up with what to do with the discipline issue? The other major issue that we’re all dealing with right now is the superintendent search. I just really, you know, there’s a reason why we had an election.

1:44:29 It was to get a school board that the voters wanted. And please, I understand that this should I actually disagree with some of this speakers tonight. I do think it should be a bipartisan issue because that serves every student with excellence as a standard.

1:44:41 But please hire a superintendent that listens to the board and takes the direction of this board in the district where the board wants it to go. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Mirsky.

1:44:57 Next up, Renee Salamone. Richard Weber. Hi, good evening.

1:45:08 My name is Renee Salomon. I’m here on behalf of the little guys over on NVR east. Areas one and two, my daughters make up two students.

1:45:39 And over the next ten years, each year, that’s areas one and two only comprise, I think it’s nine total students per year is what they’re estimating, not including the new charter schools going in. So I just wanted to come here to speak on behalf of that. There’s something about continuity and these kids, when we came here, we moved here specifically because we were looking for a larger community that had a lot of opportunity, but that wasn’t too big and still had that community feel.

1:45:59 So we’ve gone and invested lots of time into the Viera area, volunteering, getting our kids into sports activities, and this is their community now. So I would really like to just express the small number of students that area wanted to add to the total number of students going to that middle school. And I appreciate your time.

1:46:12 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Salamone. Next up, Richard Weber.

1:46:31 Hi, y’all. I’m ill prepared as usual. I didn’t write anything tonight, say, but this fiasco, this craziness, you know, you can’t change the definition of the word ban just because it makes you uncomfortable.

1:47:04 If you request a review of a book and it’s pulled off the shelf, essentially it’s banned. And this resource taken away from our students is just a sad thing. And so anyway, we hit a new low two weeks ago when we had the one person asking for the most bans here in Brevard county, up here reading an excerpt, I guess it was, she thought it was pornography, but it was just a disgusting display in front of the young kids here.

1:47:21 I cringed back there. I was here for those kids and their mother two weeks ago, and I was mad earlier today, and then I was just sad tonight, but I got fired up again. Yeah, I’m pissed off.

1:47:30 This shit needs to stop. I hope you all will kind of quell it a little. Thank you.

1:47:37 Thank you, mister Weber. That concludes our public comments. We thank you for your willingness to address us in this public manner.

1:47:43 We are now at the consent agenda. Miss Hand? Yes, sir. There are 34 items under this category.

1:47:50 Thank you. Miss Hand. Does any board member wish to pull any of these items? Give me 1 second.

1:47:54 Sorry, my computer’s. I don’t think I have anything. I’m pulling.

1:48:00 Good. Miss Campbell, you’re moving through it. Is there anything you wish to pull? No.

1:48:05 Okay, we’re good. We’re good, everybody. Miss Jenkins, are good.

1:48:09 Just saw you moving up there. Okay. All right.

1:48:21 No items will be pulled for this. I will entertain a motion to accept the consent items, with the exception of those pulled for discussion, if applicable. Move to approve.

1:48:24 Come on. Second. Is there any discussion? No.

1:48:28 All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay.

1:48:32 I’m just going to roll this thing. We have now hold. We are.

1:48:52 We will now hold a public hearing to address item g 44, the elementary and secondary emergency relief fund under the American Rescue act updated instructional continuity plans. Is there anyone here present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone here who present. Who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve.

1:48:59 Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? No.

1:49:10 All right, 50. Miss Handy, will you please let us know about the item under the action portion of today’s agenda? Yes, sir. The first item is H 45, procurement solicitations.

1:49:33 Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second. Is there any discussion? Yeah, just briefly, I just wanted to celebrate a little bit with the passage of this. The last item, the focus school software that we’re adding the component for it to have the shopping cart is check with Miss licensing today.

1:49:42 Does this mean that we can maybe pay registration fees online? Maybe. Some of you said yes in bold capital letters, and I send her back. Yay.

1:49:46 So I’m really excited about that. Thank you, misses Sinski and your team for. For working with this.

1:50:00 Because I know our community has asked and our staff have asked for a long time to be able to pay online to use credit cards. People just don’t. I mean, I may be one of the only check writers left in Brevard county, but, you know, the ability to pay online and just make it more convenient for our family.

1:50:08 So I’m super excited about this particular item because it’s what it’s going to be for our families. Welcome to the 19th century. Here we go.

1:50:12 We accept checks, but not credit cards. We’re good to go. That was great.

1:50:16 And thank you so much for everybody. Appreciate it. We need to vote on it.

1:50:21 Me, too. You made the motion and someone seconded it already. Yeah.

1:50:29 You good? Everybody good? All right. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed, say nay.

1:50:37 Next is item H 46. Department school initiated agreements. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve.

1:50:39 Second. I’m going to roll them. All right.

1:50:55 Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Any opposed or passes? Miss Hamm? Yes, sir. Item H 47 is regarding the new middle school attendance boundary, and the action for the board tonight is appropriate.

1:51:03 Approve advertising. The public hearing that will be advertised for May 30. Move to approve.

1:51:13 Do I hear whack? I was relishing the moment of what this is about to happen. Do I hear a motion? We’re just scheduling a meeting, mister. Susan, move to a second.

1:51:20 Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed passes.

1:51:30 50. We will move on to the board information agenda, which includes items for board review and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting. No action will be taken on these items today.

1:51:39 There’s one item under this category. Does any board member wish to pull this item? Hearing? None. That concludes our meeting.

1:51:43 Are there any board member reports. Miss Hand, do you have. Oh, okay.

1:51:51 Miss Jenkins. Yeah, I just. So tonight, we approved the MoU with the sheriff’s office, and I didn’t want to pull it because I was going to vote for it.

1:52:08 But I do want to say this one thing. I was frustrated a little bit by the ease of transparency when it comes to this. And I’ll say my why.

1:52:54 We all believe that school security is our priority, and we all recognize that after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, the state had given specific line item allocations for schools to improve their security. But we all know that that’s not enough for every single district, as well as to the sheriff’s office, I would assume the amount of money that they were given to protect our schools wasn’t enough either. In order to support our schools, especially in our county, the way that we’re spread out in how many schools, schools they support for us, I would just encourage that we ask for a little bit more transparency for us to be able to better advocate and articulate the needs and the deficits that exist, because we understand they exist.

1:53:15 The sheriff’s office is taking on a burden by supporting our schools, and the county has supplemented in many areas for them. But it’s also really difficult for us to continue to keep up as well. And so in order for us and for the sheriff’s office to continue to advocate at the state level for more funding to keep our kids safe, we need to know the why.

1:53:32 And I understand the why, but I don’t think I’m able to speak about it articulately. I know. I understand that the ammunition is more expensive, that manufacturing guns is more expensive vehicles, vehicle maintenance, hiring and retaining and recruiting our staff.

1:53:50 Absolutely understand that. But I would love to be a better advocate for more funding for school safety, and I would encourage us to be a little more transparent with one another so that we can be better partners to advocate for more funding on both ends. Okay, thank you.

1:54:02 Anybody else? Yeah, I’ll just add to that. This is one of the reasons why we do. We have, as a board, and FSB, FBA has advocated for more funding for security every year because it’s like, it’s kind of like transportation.

1:54:09 We. The costs are higher than. I’m thankful for the state giving us money specific for, say, security.

1:54:16 And I believe they’ve increased it just about every year since 2018. But like you said, it’s. Yeah, it’s not quite enough.

1:54:33 And we’ve got some other counties that they have done their funding, or they have partnership. They have an SRO in every single school. School, or I was in a school district having this conversation, I told you, with some school friends, board buddies from around the state, and they, some of them have two in all their high schools.

1:54:43 And so it is. It is a need, and we do need to continue to advocate because this is important. It’s a.

1:54:52 It’s a report. It’s a priority for everybody. But I think I. I agree with you as far as we need to continue to advocate for that because it’s important.

1:55:05 I’m glad that this is coming up, because, honestly, this is something that I am passionate about when it comes to school security. I think that has to be our number one priority, is to make sure our children are safe. Our sheriffs do a great job at ensuring that our children are safe.

1:55:30 And honestly, one of the things that really threw me was when I see this miss hand, how much does it cost the sheriff’s department to provide this service to brevard county public school schools? It’s, if I remember correctly, it’s costing the sheriff’s department about 1.2 to 1.3 million over the reimbursement that we provide to the sheriff’s office.

1:55:38 That’s right. So, and I don’t think there’s a single vendor that we work with that gives that much to a school system. I don’t think there is.

1:55:52 And if there is, I would love to know who it is, but I just thank you to our sheriff’s, because you guys go above and beyond, you protect our children and I will always advocate for safety. So thank you. Can I. Mister Trent, did you need to say anything? No.

1:56:12 I believe Miss Bright just said it along with the other board members. But since you asked, yes, I saw that figure and I thought that was a figure that they’re willing to do that. That just shows that this is, this is a community effort from the sheriff’s office all the way down to our parents.

1:56:24 So I think everyone involved, but we always got to look for better ways and way to add security for our kids because that’s what’s important. Yeah. And I think to close it out, I would say that I agree 100%.

1:56:43 One of the issues is that he’s done a. I don’t know if everybody’s aware of this, but the sros in every school, he has gone out of his way to actually cover other cities and municipalities who have not been able to do so. Currently, two of our municipalities are not able to do that because of the constraints on hiring and stuff like that.

1:57:02 But the sheriff has sent up a progressive way for these guys to some of our sros to move up in the agency. So they have selected that as a career path. So that’s how he’s able to push it together and I also, and be able to provide the most of the sros inside of our schools.

1:57:31 The other piece I would like to say is my wife used to be the assistant principal over at Croton and many of the assistant principals and principals really appreciate the specialists that they have. So I would say that in many areas that has been probably the most well oiled and run security program that we’ve had because they make our schools feel safe. And I think there’s something to be said about the way that program, I mean, we literally, that came down and within six months had people inside of the schools protecting our schools.

1:57:42 And it was incredible the way it did it. We’ve been very lucky to have the sheriff have these resources towards us and I honor everything that we had just signed and I was excited to do so. So thank you very much.

1:57:46 I think we’re good for the end of the night. No, uh uh. No, she’s done. We all.