Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
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5:30 (gavel bangs)
5:32 - Good morning.
5:33 The April 27th, 2023 special board meeting is now in order.
5:36 Paul, roll call, please.
5:37 - Mr. Susan.
5:38 - Here.
5:39 - Ms. Wright.
5:40 - Here.
5:41 - Ms. Campbell.
5:41 - Here.
5:42 - Mr. Trent.
5:43 - Here.
5:44 - Ms. Jenkins.
5:45 - Here.
5:46 - Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
5:49 - I pledge allegiance to the flag
5:51 of the United States of America
5:53 and to the Republic for which it stands,
5:56 one nation under God,
5:58 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
6:05 - That brings us to the adoption of the agenda.
6:07 Do I hear a motion?
6:09 - Move to approve.
6:11 - Second.
6:12 - Is there any discussion?
6:14 All in favor signify by saying aye.
6:16 - Aye.
6:17 - All opposed?
6:19 This meeting is for a board to conduct interviews
6:21 with the finalists with no decisions will be made.
6:24 Public comments prior to the interviews
6:25 will not serve to assist the board to making a decision.
6:27 Therefore, there will be no public comments in this meeting.
6:30 There will be public comments at the next board meeting,
6:33 which will afford the public an opportunity
6:34 to provide their input pertaining to the interviews
6:36 to assist board members with reaching a decision.
6:38 However, I will make myself available to anyone
6:41 who wish to meet after the conclusion of today’s meeting.
6:45 All right, if we could have Mr. Schneider, please come in.
6:49 As Mr. Schneider’s coming in,
6:51 just so the public understands,
6:52 we’re gonna interview Mr. Schneider, Mr. Mark Rendell,
6:54 and then Mr. Jason Weissong.
6:57 Welcome, Mr. Schneider.
6:59 I’m gonna give my board members
7:00 an opportunity to speak if they can,
7:02 and then we’re gonna go into some of the questions.
7:05 I’ve got 15 minutes up here
7:06 because apparently each one of us has 15 minutes,
7:08 so we’re gonna try to move through it pretty quickly,
7:10 and we appreciate you being here.
7:11 Ms. Campbell, if you wish to.
7:14 - Well, good morning,
7:14 and thank you for being a part of this process.
7:16 I’m Katie Campbell,
7:17 and I represent the south end of Brevard.
7:22 - Good morning.
7:23 Hello again, got to say hello really, really fast.
7:25 Jennifer Jenkins, it’s nice to meet you,
7:26 and I’m glad that you’re here.
7:31 - Hello, Mr. Schneider.
7:32 Megan Wright again.
7:33 I got to meet you just briefly a moment.
7:34 I represent the north end of Brevard County.
7:36 Thank you for coming and being part of this process.
7:40 - And welcome.
7:42 I represent the middle part of Brevard County,
7:44 and we did get to meet shortly over there,
7:47 but thank you and welcome.
7:50 - I wanted to say thank you.
7:52 We’ve done, I think all of us have done our due diligence
7:55 in interviewing you, and we really appreciate you
7:57 coming forward to interview for our school district.
8:00 I represent the area that’s around here
8:03 through the center part,
8:04 and we’re honored to have you
8:06 and the other individuals here today.
8:08 We have 90 minutes for our board approval interview today.
8:11 You’ll have three minutes to provide an opening statement.
8:13 Each board member will ask a series
8:15 of thematic-based questions, general leadership,
8:17 which includes board to superintendent relationship,
8:20 academic excellence, exceptional workforce,
8:22 community connection, operational sustainability
8:25 based on our strategic plan.
8:27 Each board member is allocated 15 minutes
8:29 and is prepared with four to five questions.
8:31 The number of questions each gets to will depend
8:35 on the length of your responses.
8:37 You will have time at the end for concluding thoughts
8:39 or questions for us.
8:40 I will tell you this, we normally sit down at your level
8:43 because this is, we hate this overarching,
8:47 like we’re on top up here,
8:48 but the way that the camera systems work
8:50 and everything else, they thought that this was
8:52 more appropriate, so I apologize about,
8:54 you know what I mean, us not.
8:55 We are a familiar board with everybody that comes here
8:57 and we appreciate your time.
8:58 So with that, Ms. Wright, you have the floor.
9:02 - Oh, I’m up first.
9:03 Oh, wait, we have to give an introductory statement.
9:06 - Oh, yes, I’m sorry, I apologize.
9:07 You have your time to give an introductory statement.
9:11 - Well, thank you so much, board here, too.
9:13 I’m honored to be here, so I’m just grateful
9:17 to be considered to be the next member of the board.
9:21 - Is the mic working?
9:22 - A little bit about me, my name is Scott Nutter.
9:27 - Can we just pause you just a second?
9:28 I’m not sure that your microphone is working.
9:31 And we want to hear you.
9:33 - We can hear you.
9:42 - All right, so thank you again to the board chair
9:46 and the board members for having me here.
9:48 I’m honored to be here.
9:50 It’s an exciting time for myself, but also my family.
9:54 So I do want to introduce my lovely wife
9:58 that’s here with me over here, Ginger Schneider.
10:00 She’s also an educator.
10:02 She’s been an educator for 21 years
10:04 and I’ve been an educator for 23 years.
10:07 And I’m grateful to have someone
10:10 that keeps me grounded all the time.
10:13 At any given time that it seems as if I forgot
10:16 what it’s like to be in the classroom, she reminds me.
10:19 I have two amazing children, Grant and Sterling.
10:22 And Grant’s about to be 16.
10:25 I just go ahead and say 16 going on 25.
10:28 And my daughter’s 13, they’re obviously both school age.
10:32 So we’re anxious to make sure
10:34 that wherever our children continue to go to school,
10:36 that it’s the best school district possible.
10:39 A little bit about my background is I started out
10:42 as a teacher, actually a special education teacher
10:45 in middle school.
10:47 And then I actually met my wife there
10:49 and she decided to go to elementary school
10:51 and I decided to go to high school
10:53 and it was probably the best decision for both of us.
10:56 I was fortunate enough to go through the ranks
10:59 from teacher to assistant principal.
11:01 And then I was principal for eight years
11:03 at two different high needs high schools.
11:06 Both of those high schools had historic success
11:08 with grad rate and also academic excellence.
11:11 And so I’m very proud of what we were able to do
11:14 at those two schools.
11:16 I was then asked to be region superintendent,
11:19 which I went from being in charge
11:21 of approximately 1800 students to 34,000 students
11:24 as region superintendent of alternative schools
11:26 and high schools.
11:28 During that time, we had the historic highs
11:32 for graduation rates in my current district.
11:35 And I’m very proud of what we’re able to do.
11:37 And then also the high school region has not had
11:42 less than a C school in quite a few years.
11:44 So it’s been very beneficial to the district as a whole,
11:48 but also our community.
11:49 And when we talk about workforce readiness,
11:51 it’s a key element for that for our community as well.
11:55 Now to my current position,
11:56 I’ve been a chief of schools in my current district
11:59 for two years, which means that now I get to make sure
12:04 that the academic excellence for all children
12:06 and the safety of all children,
12:08 which is approximately 125,000 students in our district.
12:11 And then also the support and retention
12:15 of 13,000 employees, that is my sole job
12:19 at this point in time.
12:19 There’s a lot of other things that come along with that
12:21 as being chief of schools.
12:23 Anything that goes along with schools,
12:24 the good, the bad, the ugly.
12:26 And sometimes one can outweigh the other,
12:29 but that falls on me.
12:31 And so I’m excited for what I’m able to do.
12:33 I truly enjoy what I do every day.
12:36 We’ve had some success on the heels of pandemic
12:39 as we all have went through.
12:40 We actually had all of our SI schools
12:42 or school improvement schools,
12:44 all of them made a C grade or higher.
12:46 And so this is the first time as a historic achievement
12:50 in our district that we have no SI schools
12:53 at this point in time.
12:54 And so we continue to want to move forward.
12:57 A couple of things about me is that first,
12:59 the three things that I want everyone to walk away with
13:01 knowing about me is that first and foremost,
13:03 I will not talk as much in academic excellence
13:06 or curriculum specifically,
13:08 because I think that the only way
13:10 you truly have academic excellence
13:12 is actually outside of curriculum and things
13:14 is actually the teachers in the classroom.
13:16 So it’s recruiting and retaining teachers
13:18 is first and foremost for me.
13:20 And then building a foundation of trust.
13:22 And that foundation of trust has to be with you as the board
13:26 but also all stakeholders.
13:27 Without a foundation of trust,
13:28 it’s almost impossible to move initiatives forward.
13:32 And then two way communication.
13:34 I’m an advocate for two way communication
13:36 and open dialogue between all stakeholders.
13:38 We can’t operate in a silo.
13:40 I believe we must have all stakeholders included
13:42 including our parents and our students for sure.
13:46 Our parents need to know what education
13:48 their children are being provided
13:49 and know that Revard Public Schools
13:51 is providing them the best education possible.
13:53 And that’s why they should stay with us
13:55 and not go to other competition.
13:58 Thank you.
14:00 - Awesome, thank you so much for that.
14:02 - All right, I’m up first.
14:03 Well thank you so much.
14:04 We’re excited that you’re here
14:05 and being able to watch your video response.
14:07 I will say that was very informative.
14:09 It was nice to get a feel for who you were
14:11 and hear how you genuinely and authentically
14:13 responded to questions.
14:14 I appreciate that.
14:15 So we have prepared questions that we’re going to ask you.
14:19 And I’m gonna go first.
14:20 I’m up first.
14:21 So my first question for you is
14:22 what do you think the most important part
14:24 of a superintendent’s job is and why?
14:29 - Well, I think first and foremost,
14:31 the board is crucial by just determining the what,
14:35 what the district should do.
14:37 And as a superintendent, it’s my job to determine the how.
14:42 And throughout that process of determining the how,
14:45 it’s really making sure that if time allows,
14:48 depending upon the situation,
14:50 that we include all stakeholders.
14:52 Again, we cannot work in a silo.
14:55 We must include those stakeholders in order to get buy-in.
14:58 And so as a superintendent,
15:00 I must make sure that I bridge that gap.
15:03 How are we going to actually get the work done?
15:06 But then once we decide how, it’s the who.
15:09 We have to decide who’s going to be able to do this work
15:12 and make sure that we, again,
15:14 get the best people possible to do the work
15:17 inside of our schools and make sure that we are transparent
15:20 throughout that process.
15:21 We set expectations throughout that process.
15:23 We set ways to monitor the results.
15:26 Without monitoring, we cannot judge
15:28 whether something was successful or not.
15:31 In addition to that, there is going to be a time
15:33 where I think that as an educational specialist,
15:35 I think I would like to see myself,
15:37 that it is my duty to also speak to things
15:40 and initiatives that I foresee that would benefit
15:44 not only our community, but obviously our school district.
15:47 But ultimately it’s my job to implement the work
15:51 and the choices of what the board sets forth
15:54 and to make sure I determine the how and the who.
15:58 - Thank you.
15:59 All right, so based on your knowledge of our system,
16:01 what do you believe should be the top two priorities
16:04 of our school system?
16:07 - Again, I would say, again,
16:09 referring to academic excellence.
16:11 I am very familiar with Brevard Public Schools data
16:16 and what that data says for when elementary schools on,
16:20 you know, and looking at the discrepancies
16:22 between students with disabilities
16:25 and African-American students.
16:26 There’s discrepancies, especially in the elementary area,
16:30 but I’m not gonna harp on that because I’m gonna go back
16:33 to what I originally said, and that is making sure
16:35 that we recruit and retain the best teachers.
16:39 That to me is the only way
16:40 we can actually move academic excellence.
16:42 We have to make sure we have the best teachers
16:44 in the classrooms.
16:45 - Thank you.
16:46 - The other piece to that though,
16:48 is that, you know, I also know that safety and security
16:52 of our employees is crucial.
16:54 I’m abreast of some of the research
16:58 and some of the reports that have come out
16:59 from Brevard Public Schools, and I echo that,
17:03 that our employees must feel safe.
17:06 But that goes, to me, that ties into the recruitment
17:09 and the retention of those teachers.
17:11 So I don’t wanna overlook how important that is,
17:14 but I think that we have to make sure we address that
17:16 by revisiting the code of conduct,
17:19 ensuring that the monitoring and implementation
17:22 of said consequences is in place,
17:24 but also proactive measures.
17:26 But that goes hand in hand with that retention piece.
17:30 So I think that’s, first and foremost, that’s priority.
17:34 I know that sounds like a large priority,
17:36 but that is the priority altogether in one nutshell
17:39 for number one priority.
17:41 The second priority, again, is trust.
17:43 I think that I have to build relationships
17:46 with you as the board, but also with the community.
17:50 Transparency is key.
17:51 We have to have everybody on board.
17:53 We have to have the buy-in of our parents and our students
17:56 and all of our stakeholders, because any initiative
17:59 that we want to move forth, again,
18:01 it has to take the buy-in of all parents.
18:04 We need our parents to start with early education.
18:07 The first teacher of any child is their parent.
18:09 So we have to make sure that we are transparent
18:11 with our stakeholders, including our parents,
18:14 and share our expectations, and then also bring them in.
18:18 And if we have to go out to them, then that’s fine, too.
18:22 We have to be accessible to go out to the community
18:24 to make sure that we get the buy-in from all stakeholders
18:27 to help them feel as if they’re a part
18:29 of what we’re doing in this great district.
18:32 - Thank you.
18:34 How would you ensure board members have the information
18:36 they need before being asked to make a vote
18:39 on an issue of concern?
18:42 - I think that’s where that relationship comes into play.
18:47 As the superintendent, I must have that relationship
18:49 with the board at any point in time
18:50 that board members are concerned, have a concern,
18:54 or want more data, that that is my job to provide it.
18:57 Also, if there was an initiative
18:59 that I was looking to try to move forward,
19:02 I would obviously, through board workshops,
19:05 or however else we felt the need
19:08 to share that information up front.
19:09 I would never want to have any board member to be surprised
19:15 and to get that information after anyone else.
19:18 The board should get that information first,
19:20 and we should be able to have candid conversations
19:22 about the pros and the cons of moving that work forward.
19:25 - Thank you.
19:27 And describe what you would believe
19:28 to be the ideal working relationship with the school board.
19:31 And when you have an adversarial situation
19:33 with a board member, how would you resolve that?
19:37 - I think that goes back to building those relationships.
19:40 Again, my respect for what you do as an elected board,
19:46 to know that you are representing constituents,
19:49 and to know that we do have a common goal
19:50 of student outcomes, but my respect and honor
19:53 of what positions you’re in
19:54 in regards to your areas that you represent,
19:57 I think that’s crucial in building those relationships.
19:59 I think at that point in time as well,
20:01 that I need to be responsive to needs
20:05 that you bring forth to me.
20:07 So overall, anything that comes forth after that,
20:12 I think that as long as we have the relationships
20:14 to be candid with one another,
20:16 and to have those conversations prior
20:20 to addressing an issue in isolation,
20:23 I think that’s crucial.
20:24 We must be as united as possible.
20:26 I know that sometimes we’re not gonna be always
20:28 on the same page, but I think if we can respect
20:31 where each person comes from,
20:32 so that consistency and transparency,
20:34 I think is crucial for how we move anything forth,
20:37 and respect for where each one of us comes from.
20:40 Again, highly respect that the board decides upon the what,
20:43 and it’s my job to decide upon the how,
20:45 and if we disagree on something,
20:46 then I think that our relationships
20:49 should be strong enough to have those open conversations.
20:53 - Thank you.
20:54 What are the first three things that you’re going to do
20:57 if you’re hired as our superintendent?
20:59 - So I have an entry plan that I plan on sharing tomorrow
21:03 with each of you when we have our one-on-one time,
21:05 and it does lay out the things
21:08 that I think I would like to do,
21:10 or I know I would like to do as next superintendent
21:13 of Brevard Public Schools, and first and foremost,
21:15 it’s going on a listening tour.
21:18 I need to listen first.
21:21 I do believe in the support first,
21:23 evaluate second mentality, which in this situation
21:25 would be listen first, act second mentality,
21:28 so I needed to listen to our stakeholders.
21:30 So that’s first and foremost.
21:33 I need to then go out to the community.
21:36 I need to be accessible,
21:38 and so when I say I go on a listening tour,
21:40 it’s not just a listening tour inside this internal area,
21:43 but it’s also externally.
21:44 I need to go out and speak to the community, ask them,
21:48 and I have a set of questions
21:50 that all stakeholders will be asked the same question,
21:53 so this way is consistency.
21:55 Then once we get that information,
21:57 then at that point in time,
21:58 we would go into the discovery phase,
22:00 diving into board policies, looking at are there some things
22:04 that we recommend as a board and superintendent relationship
22:08 that we should readdress,
22:09 but that discovery process would be every type
22:12 of systemic approach that we have,
22:14 our processes that we have in the district,
22:16 and to see what we believe is working and not working,
22:20 and that goes hand in hand with the listening tour,
22:22 but this would go more in depth
22:23 to actually the discovery process.
22:25 Then after that point,
22:27 then we move into involving stakeholders
22:30 before we act.
22:31 I wanna make that clear that this isn’t,
22:34 again, I don’t believe that we should isolate in a silo.
22:37 That is not my job as a superintendent.
22:40 As a superintendent,
22:41 I think we should include all of our 8,000 employees,
22:43 and we have 74,000 students with parents and guardians
22:48 that should also be included in our next steps.
22:50 So listen first and foremost, then the discovery process,
22:54 and then include stakeholders
22:56 to then develop how we’re going to act.
22:58 - Okay, and I have two more questions
22:59 that are not on the script,
23:00 but I’m gonna go ahead and ask ‘em.
23:01 What’s your favorite football team?
23:03 - College or pro?
23:05 - Ooh, let’s go college.
23:07 - Gators. - Okay.
23:08 - Go Gators. (laughing)
23:09 - All right, and– - Was that on the list
23:10 of questions we were not supposed to ask?
23:11 - It’s not, no, no.
23:12 - I should have said whatever one y’all saw it is.
23:14 I don’t know. - I’m impartial, no.
23:16 No, I know, a lot of times we’re up here,
23:17 and it feels a little robotic,
23:19 and we’re asking these questions,
23:20 and so just as you as a person asking a question.
23:24 And then the other question I have for you
23:25 is the importance of the relationship
23:27 that the superintendent has between the school union,
23:31 the teacher union, sorry, not the school union.
23:32 What do you feel that role is for you as a superintendent?
23:37 - I think it’s crucial.
23:38 That’s actually laid out in my plan as well
23:40 to make sure that we have that relationship.
23:43 Our union represents a great deal of employees,
23:45 and so we cannot exclude.
23:48 We must include their thoughts and ideas.
23:53 So it’s absolutely instrumental,
23:55 especially when you get into contract negotiations,
23:58 and any labor union negotiations.
24:01 It’s crucial to have that relationship on the front end.
24:03 They need to know what my intentions truly are,
24:06 and where my passion and heart is,
24:08 and then we can work through the rest.
24:10 - Okay, thank you so much.
24:11 I appreciate your answers.
24:14 - With that, I’ll turn it over to Ms. Jenkins.
24:20 - All right, so I have academic excellence,
24:24 which we kind of touched on a little bit,
24:26 so I’m gonna go a little deeper.
24:28 Currently, there’s a significant achievement gap
24:30 for minority students and students with disabilities
24:33 when compared to white and non-disabled peers.
24:36 What specific steps would you take
24:37 to ensure academic success is distributed equitably
24:40 across our district?
24:43 - Thank you for the question.
24:45 So again, I will reiterate,
24:47 I think it’s so important for academic excellence
24:49 that we have the same excellent teachers,
24:52 regardless of what school setting
24:53 that they’re in.
24:56 We must first and foremost recruit,
24:58 retain those amazing teachers.
25:01 But also, we need to have professional development.
25:03 If there’s something more that needs to be done,
25:06 and we feel like our teachers
25:09 perhaps are not equipped to do the work,
25:11 we must look at what professional development can be done.
25:15 But before we just act on that,
25:17 we need to see what’s truly happening.
25:19 Again, that would be something that I would want to do,
25:21 is see what’s happening in our schools.
25:23 Are we utilizing our professional
25:24 learning community time adequately?
25:27 And then what curriculum do we have in place
25:29 that actually addresses those things,
25:32 I think is crucial before I say the next thing,
25:35 which is actually look at tier one
25:37 and tier two interventions.
25:38 One thing in my district that I’ve implemented
25:41 is ensuring that tier one interventions
25:43 are embedded in curriculum
25:45 as we first present the curriculum,
25:47 not at a later date, which sounds simple,
25:52 but actually sometimes it’s a little bit more difficult
25:55 to actually implement,
25:56 but to ensure that teachers understand the importance.
25:58 And then how we move from tier one interventions
26:00 to tier two interventions,
26:02 because when you’re talking about students
26:03 that have a significant deficit or learning gap,
26:07 those tier two interventions are instrumental.
26:10 And then tier three, if needed,
26:12 what does that look like for our schools?
26:14 What does that look like for our teachers?
26:16 Do we have the personnel at our schools
26:18 that can actually deliver tier three interventions?
26:20 As we know, tier three interventions
26:21 is the most aggressive intervention
26:23 that we could possibly implement.
26:25 And so we would need the help
26:27 of additional personnel as needed.
26:28 So that would be my plan to address that.
26:32 But again, I go back to making sure first and foremost
26:35 that we don’t have vacancies.
26:36 I know that in Brevard
26:39 that there’s been approximately 80% turnover
26:43 or 80% more vacancies, I should say,
26:45 80% more vacancies now than what was just a few years ago.
26:49 And so that’s concerning.
26:51 So we have to address the vacancies.
26:52 So this way we have certified professional teachers
26:57 in front of every single student
26:58 in every classroom across the district.
27:02 - Thank you.
27:03 Detail what you’ve done in the past
27:04 and what you would do to facilitate an increase
27:06 in third grade reading proficiency rates.
27:10 - Yes, so again, first, I won’t continue to say it,
27:14 I promise, but best teachers inside of those classrooms.
27:17 I think before, the mindset of elementary schools
27:21 was that we kind of in the past looked at high schools
27:25 and try to address that.
27:26 But now I think everyone realizes
27:28 the importance of early literacy.
27:30 And so I would say to actually,
27:32 to change third grade data and academic excellence,
27:36 we must first look at pre-K information.
27:39 We must bring in our parents
27:40 and make sure our parents do know
27:43 that they are the first teachers of their children
27:45 and try to make sure they have the resources.
27:49 So through parent development courses
27:52 inside of our district to provide that to them,
27:55 provide them resources, books for all children
27:57 that can actually help at their level.
28:00 And if our parents need educational assistance,
28:03 then we can step in and assist for that as well.
28:06 That’s first and foremost.
28:07 Then ensure that our K-2 teachers
28:10 are still as excellent as any other teacher.
28:13 And what I mean by that is in the past,
28:15 we haven’t focused in that area as much.
28:17 Well, now we have best standards that goes to that K-2 area,
28:22 and that accountability is there.
28:24 But we can’t just start with accountability.
28:26 We have to start with preparing our teachers
28:28 first and foremost.
28:28 So to have the best third grade data,
28:31 we must look at our previous grades as well.
28:35 We must also have robust curriculum.
28:38 I think that’s the other piece that’s crucial
28:40 and not only have robust curriculum
28:42 that deals with what has been laid out now
28:45 with best standards and with fast assessments,
28:48 but not just teaching to the test.
28:50 We have to make sure that we’re starting
28:52 from where our children are,
28:54 meet them in the middle and then move forward.
28:56 I won’t say a specific curriculum
28:58 because I think there’s so many different curriculums
29:00 that are out there,
29:01 so many different textbooks that are out there
29:03 that I think, yes, they’re important.
29:05 But again, it’s about how we address early learning literacy
29:09 and how we move that forth
29:10 and then have the best teachers in front of those students.
29:14 And I cannot miss the parents
29:16 because we have to have that partnership with parents
29:18 and we have to be transparent and show that our parents,
29:21 here’s the expectation for your child.
29:23 Here’s what your child is expected to do
29:25 by the end of third grade.
29:26 Help us get there.
29:27 How can you help us get there
29:29 and let’s partner together to do it?
29:33 - Thank you.
29:35 What do you feel is the single most important piece of data
29:37 that will drive our district forward?
29:43 - Vacancies.
29:45 I mean, I hate to say that,
29:47 but I do believe that sincerely, it’s vacancies.
29:52 You can have the best intention substitute
29:55 inside of that classroom.
29:57 But again, that’s not gonna deliver
29:59 the same quality of instruction.
30:00 So that’s the single most thing.
30:05 - Sorry, the light went on and off there.
30:09 Describe a situation where you were clearly instrumental
30:12 in facilitating a change in the way career
30:14 and college readiness was approached in your district.
30:16 How was the change meaningful and or successful
30:19 and what measures were used to determine the success
30:21 of the change initiative?
30:24 - So I was involved in making sure that our,
30:28 we have a school choice program,
30:31 but to make sure that it’s more than
30:33 just accelerated academic programs.
30:37 We have now shifted our thought process
30:40 for career and technical education
30:41 ensuring that all high schools have some form
30:44 of either a direct program or a direct line to credentials.
30:50 One thing that I do want to,
30:52 I said it in my video and I’ll say it again,
30:54 I think we definitely have to utilize
30:55 the Florida Ready to Work program.
30:57 I think this is crucial.
30:59 We know that approximately 90% of Florida employers
31:05 are looking to hire individuals.
31:08 But out of those, they feel like 80 some odd percent
31:11 of people they want to hire
31:13 don’t have the employability skills.
31:15 And so what we’ve done in my current district
31:18 is ensure that we’re starting to actually,
31:20 we move forth on the Florida Ready to Work credentialing,
31:23 but we’ve also expounded upon how many career
31:27 and technical education programs we have at every school
31:30 and to ensure that they can get credentials
31:32 and then be much more marketable for our community.
31:36 The actual numbers we’ve increased for,
31:39 we’ll speak to high schools.
31:41 Our high schools now, again, all of our high schools,
31:44 so 100% of our high schools
31:45 have some form of career technical education path,
31:48 whether they actually have a specific program or not,
31:51 they have a path.
31:52 So whether that’s digital design,
31:54 whether that’s ServSafe through culinary,
31:57 there’s all those other paths
31:59 that we made sure we put forth in front of them.
32:01 But we realized that’s not enough.
32:03 We have to start at in the middle school.
32:05 So now we have just started to really become
32:09 strategic in how we do vertical alignment
32:13 and feeder patterns with those same programs,
32:16 all the way down to our elementary schools
32:18 that we’re looking at dual language programs as well.
32:20 So it can’t just be at the high school level.
32:23 It must be at the middle and then the elementary level.
32:24 So I’ve been instrumental in pushing that agenda forth,
32:28 ensuring that our students though know
32:30 what that means to them.
32:31 And then also our parents.
32:33 Our parents have to know the investment that as a district
32:36 that we’re putting into their children,
32:38 because those career and technical education programs
32:41 and courses, it does take,
32:43 it’s a financial commitment to their child
32:46 and what that means for their future.
32:48 I think we also have to be proactive
32:49 and make sure our parents know that,
32:51 because when they start thinking about
32:52 going to a competitor, they need to realize,
32:54 oh, I can’t get these same options at any other school
32:59 inside of the broader community of Brevard.
33:04 - At time, did you wanna follow up with the part
33:07 about the measures that you said?
33:09 - I have one more.
33:10 - Oh, you still have one.
33:11 - Yeah, I have one more.
33:12 How much time do I have?
33:13 - I’ve got six minutes.
33:13 - Oh, perfect, okay.
33:14 All right, thank you.
33:16 Based on what you know about our school system,
33:18 what do you think is the greatest potential for improvement
33:20 and what are our greatest opportunities?
33:25 - Thinking, building upon already,
33:27 Brevard has a robust career technical education system.
33:32 All your secondary schools have career CTE courses
33:36 in those schools.
33:37 I think what we can do is make sure that we align them,
33:40 not just 7th through 12th,
33:42 but actually start going earlier on 6th grades
33:45 and then continue to work down even into elementary.
33:48 And again, what that looks like at elementary schools,
33:50 of course, would be a little bit different,
33:52 but just getting kids excited about perhaps different paths.
33:56 So career technical education, where we can go with that,
33:59 and then also the business partners
34:00 and making sure that we bring ourselves to those campuses
34:06 as much as possible.
34:08 That’s one thing that I absolutely want to do.
34:10 I want to meet with those business partners.
34:13 Who doesn’t want to meet with Blue Origin
34:14 and Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman?
34:17 I mean, we have so many other places
34:18 and in that excitement that we can bring to our children
34:21 and to being able to take a course on their work campus,
34:26 if allowable, that would be my goal.
34:28 I know that’s a lofty goal.
34:30 They would have to have that buy-in from them,
34:33 but what that looks like can evolve over time.
34:36 Maybe initially we can bring them to us
34:38 and then have our children realize what the potential is
34:41 in their own community, right here,
34:43 where they live every day, where they wake up,
34:45 the personnel that look like them,
34:48 that walk the same streets that they do,
34:50 that went to the same schools,
34:52 or now have moved here and live in the same neighborhoods,
34:56 that they have access to them
34:57 to help them see where their future could lead.
35:00 It’s all about building hope for our children.
35:02 So I think that CTE courses absolutely brings hope
35:05 to our children that might not have normally had hope
35:08 because college was not an interest of theirs.
35:12 I think that also we have room for growth
35:15 in reference to how we support our employees
35:18 and not saying that there’s not
35:19 some amazing things happening,
35:21 but I think we have to build upon, you know,
35:25 giving all of our employees a voice
35:28 so they feel valued and heard.
35:30 You know, there’s tons of research,
35:32 and I’m not gonna bore you with all the research,
35:35 but you know, one of the things that, you know,
35:36 whether it’s John Hattie or many additional universities
35:39 across the country have done is talked about the key pieces
35:43 to, again, academic excellence, goes back to the teachers,
35:46 but then it also talks about how do we support teachers.
35:49 We think naturally that it’s the financial piece
35:52 that makes teachers not wanna stay in this profession,
35:55 and actually it’s teachers not feeling valued.
35:58 And so we have to do a job, we can do a better job.
36:01 Every district can do a better job.
36:03 It’s not not brevard in isolation by any means,
36:06 but it’s how can we do a better job
36:08 in making sure our teachers feel valued,
36:09 invested in, and then continue to go through.
36:11 I know there’s some great programs already
36:13 that identifies teachers that want to go
36:16 and to the next level and identifying them
36:19 and making sure they’re successful through that program.
36:21 I think we can expound upon that,
36:23 and then I think those that still want us to remain teachers,
36:25 we need great teachers to remain great teachers
36:28 to make sure that they still, as a teacher,
36:30 feels valued and knows their worth.
36:35 - You have any follow-up, Ms. Jenkins?
36:37 - No, I wanna keep, I only have the five,
36:40 so I wanna keep it consistent between every candidate.
36:42 But thank you so much.
36:45 - All right.
36:47 - Ms. Campbell wants me to ask you
36:48 what your favorite ice cream flavor is.
36:50 Just keep the ice breaking throughout the course.
36:54 - With that last answer I gave,
36:55 Board Chair Susan put his pen down.
36:56 I don’t think he’s a Gator fan.
36:58 So whatever Board Chair Susan likes.
37:00 I think I should say that this time.
37:02 - No, no, no.
37:04 You can say that for every single one of those ice breakers.
37:07 (laughing)
37:09 - My daughter ended up, I’m a long-time Seminole,
37:12 my daughter two years ago ended up going to the Gators,
37:15 I think specifically because I was a Seminole.
37:17 So it’s just a long-running thing with me, man.
37:19 They’re an amazing school, and I’m very proud of them.
37:22 Anybody in the state of Florida we should always promote.
37:24 So I do that for fun.
37:26 It’s a whole thing we’ve been doing around here for a while.
37:29 So thank you for noticing that was fun.
37:30 - My wife is a Florida State alum.
37:32 - There we go.
37:33 - If that helps counter anything, we’ll do it.
37:35 (laughing)
37:37 - Anyways, thank you so much.
37:39 I was focused around exceptional workforce.
37:42 You’ll notice that the majority of this board
37:44 were all part of the Brevard Public School system,
37:47 whether we were teachers or something else.
37:49 And I think that we care both inside and out,
37:52 both as parents, which we all are,
37:54 and then we have that piece.
37:55 So like when you’re speaking to us,
37:57 we have firsthand knowledge inside of that classroom.
38:00 So thank you so much for your emphasis so far on the teacher.
38:03 It means a lot to me at least, and I know it does to them.
38:07 What is your, my first question is,
38:09 what is your immediate plan for teacher substitute
38:12 and bus driver recruitment?
38:14 And I know you have something tomorrow to show to us,
38:17 but if you can, if you have some sort of ideas
38:19 that you guys do there or something,
38:20 because I think the public is wanting to know around that,
38:23 ‘cause that is arguably one of our top issues.
38:27 - Yes, sir, absolutely.
38:29 Well, for one, we know that human capital
38:32 is the top commodity for whether it’s a school district
38:36 or any other business across this country right now.
38:39 And so we have to be able to showcase what we do uniquely
38:45 compared to any other business in this community,
38:49 but also in the state of Florida, in my opinion.
38:52 And so I think that goes back to developing a plan
38:55 that shows that our personnel will have a voice
38:58 and be valued and what that looks like can evolve.
39:02 And so I don’t want to speak on specifics,
39:05 but I think the first and foremost,
39:06 we need to have those bus drivers and come in
39:09 and let’s talk to them.
39:10 What can we do to make your job more enjoyable?
39:15 And then the same thing with our teachers
39:19 and with those vacancies,
39:21 we have to make sure that they feel valued.
39:23 No one does this work
39:25 because they’re going to be rich tomorrow.
39:27 And so I think that’s first and foremost to listen to them.
39:30 What are their desires?
39:32 When reading the reports,
39:33 it sounds like safety and security for those,
39:36 for actually all of them is extremely important.
39:40 So what does that look like for each one?
39:42 I think we need to lay it out where it’s so specific
39:45 that what does it look like?
39:47 What does it sound like?
39:48 What does it feel like, et cetera,
39:49 to be able to then say, okay,
39:52 to make sure that they know we’ve listened to their concerns
39:54 and that we are going to immediately
39:56 and aggressively address those concerns first and foremost.
39:59 And then obviously negotiations
40:03 and discussions with the unions.
40:04 I think that’s extremely important
40:07 because they have firsthand knowledge as well
40:09 as what their employees are feeling and what they need.
40:12 So that’s where I would start.
40:13 And then also what other initiatives we can move forth on
40:18 in the future.
40:19 So I’m sure that salaries and compensation
40:22 and things like that might be something
40:25 that they would want to look at.
40:26 I would need to,
40:28 I’m not privy to the budget at this point in time
40:30 and see if that’s an option,
40:31 but I think we need to put all things on the table
40:34 and make sure that they know we legitimately
40:36 are putting all things on the table
40:37 and be vulnerable enough to accept what their feedback is
40:41 and to take it and to also then have them have a say
40:44 in what our next steps are and what our actions would be.
40:47 - Thank you.
40:49 - Thanks for that.
40:51 How do you make sure professional development programs
40:54 initiatives have impacted the knowledge, skills
40:56 and practices of educators?
40:59 What metrics?
41:00 - So in my current role,
41:03 we realized that what we put in place was not working
41:08 and what that was is our walkthrough monitoring tool.
41:12 We realized it wasn’t working.
41:13 And the way we realized it is because we actually listened
41:15 to our teachers and our principals that said,
41:19 what you’re coming in to measure
41:20 only holds teachers accountable.
41:22 It doesn’t look at the full body of work.
41:24 And so I took that information
41:27 and we redeveloped a walkthrough tool
41:29 that there’s three sections.
41:33 The first section is the only section
41:35 that actually focuses on what the teachers are doing
41:39 or some would argue are not doing.
41:41 And then the rest of it is about student outcomes.
41:43 So I think that same approach would apply
41:45 to whether professional development is working or not.
41:48 We cannot just focus on what the teacher is or isn’t doing.
41:52 It’s about, are we getting the results
41:54 all the way through to our children?
41:55 Because all professional development, in my opinion,
41:58 should have a direct impact on student learning.
42:01 So my challenge would be to see what walkthrough tool
42:05 we have to monitor the professional development
42:08 that’s been put in place.
42:10 I think it’s crucial though,
42:11 that we don’t have a million different initiatives
42:13 in reference to professional development.
42:15 I think we need to streamline it to make sure again,
42:17 we have three elements in my current district.
42:19 I think that’s extremely important
42:21 that we have professional development
42:22 that’s centered around our initiatives
42:25 and our priorities of the district.
42:26 And that’s what we monitor and that’s what we focus on
42:28 because we wanna make sure
42:30 that we’re supporting our teachers.
42:31 Teachers feel as if they’re being,
42:33 and I’ll speak to my current district.
42:35 Teachers had felt as if they were being pulled
42:38 in many different directions.
42:39 And so when someone came in to monitor what they were doing,
42:42 what they were being monitored on
42:44 was not what the professional development they received
42:46 because every department was presenting
42:49 their own different types of professional development
42:51 and we were not aligned.
42:52 So I think alignment is crucial
42:54 and then developing one true walkthrough tool
42:57 that measures what our initiatives are
43:00 and that aligns with the true professional development
43:02 that we’re giving from our district.
43:03 - That’s awesome, thank you.
43:05 Next question is what will any teacher,
43:08 what will any teachers organization/union
43:12 that you have worked with tell us about you?
43:14 What would your staff organizations,
43:17 what would they tell us if we went up to Duval
43:20 and said, “Hey, what’s this guy about?”
43:21 What would that be?
43:23 - I have a great relationship with Ms. Brady.
43:25 That’s our DTU president in Duval.
43:28 And I think she would tell you that we don’t always agree,
43:31 but we work hard to make sure we come to a compromise
43:34 that is still benefits, not only our employees,
43:37 but also our students.
43:38 I feel confident in my ability to work with people
43:44 that have all different beliefs and different perspectives.
43:47 I think that’s evident in my letters of recommendation
43:50 with I have three board members recommendations,
43:53 but those three board members are uniquely different
43:56 and in many ways.
43:57 But I think that speaks to my ability to work with all.
44:02 Again, it’s about building relationships
44:04 and making sure people know your heart,
44:06 your intention and your passion,
44:08 and then being willing to be vulnerable enough to hear them
44:11 when they tell you that certain things are not working,
44:14 not just listen to them,
44:15 but actually listen and hear what they’re saying.
44:17 So I do believe that the union members
44:21 and then also the president would say that I am fair
44:26 and I also am consistent,
44:29 but willing to compromise and be vulnerable enough to listen.
44:33 - Thank you for that.
44:35 Next question is what has your district done
44:37 to develop and maintain a collaborative relationship
44:39 with employees includes issues of morale,
44:41 communications and team building.
44:44 Describe your role in this.
44:46 - So we do have the five essential survey
44:49 that’s from the University of Chicago
44:50 that we put out every year that gives our employees
44:54 the opportunity to give anonymous feedback.
44:58 My role in this is to ensure that we have percentages
45:02 that are needed to actually get a report
45:04 because you have to hit,
45:06 it’s all different depend upon parents and input
45:09 or teachers input and what levels that we need.
45:12 It’s different to get a report from each area,
45:14 but that’s my role.
45:15 But in addition to that role of just getting it done
45:18 is actually then reviewing the data
45:20 because it can’t just be
45:21 that we’re giving people a survey to take
45:23 and then when we get the results back, we just move on.
45:25 There’s no point of doing that survey.
45:28 There’s no point of spending that money
45:29 ‘cause it’s everything’s costly
45:31 and takes away monies from schools.
45:33 So what I see by that actual survey,
45:37 it does tell us key crucial things.
45:41 Do I feel safe in my school?
45:43 Do I feel valued in my school?
45:45 And do I feel like I am being invested in, et cetera?
45:49 So there’s a lot of pieces that we can take
45:51 from that five essential survey
45:52 and based upon that feedback,
45:54 then we must review that feedback.
45:56 And then what might also in my current role
45:59 is I task my principals to make sure
46:03 that they review that data
46:05 and then they have an overall synopsis summary
46:07 that’s given to their faculty and staff
46:09 because the faculty and staff needs to know, again,
46:12 that their voice was heard
46:13 and that what are we going to do to address it?
46:15 They can go through their shared governance team
46:17 to address it, but the overall summary
46:20 has to be shared with their entire faculty and staff
46:24 to, again, share it.
46:25 And it also forces our administrators to be vulnerable.
46:28 And again, listen, and hear what their community’s saying
46:33 because sometimes it’s easy for us to discount
46:38 what the community’s saying and oh, well, I’m doing this.
46:40 But when you see it in black and white
46:42 and you continue to see that you have not
46:46 continued to grow in certain areas,
46:48 then there’s no person to look at but yourself.
46:50 I’ve always been told that the world can’t be wrong
46:53 and you be right.
46:55 And so I think that’s something that we talk about.
46:57 Now, with that being said, we’re there.
46:59 The Regent superintendents, myself,
47:01 are there to go assist that principal
47:02 with some of their areas of weakness
47:05 and areas that need to grow.
47:06 And then we also celebrate those areas of success as well.
47:09 And we do a share out with all schools
47:11 to be able to say, well, I had this great rating
47:13 in this area, so what are you doing
47:15 to make your employees feel this way in this area
47:17 so we can have that collaborative work?
47:21 - Thank you for that.
47:22 Next question, just so you guys know,
47:23 I’m gonna change it up just a little bit
47:24 and I’ll keep it consistent ‘cause it’s just long
47:27 and it, you know what I mean?
47:30 Basically, our school district tries to utilize technology
47:33 in as many places as possible.
47:34 And one of the problems we always have
47:36 is as soon as you upgrade technology,
47:38 there’s always the learning curve and everything else,
47:40 which is a massive problem for us
47:41 in that we wanna move to one thing
47:43 but we find it difficult and stuff like that.
47:45 So describe a time when you may have led
47:47 in the implementation of a new technology in your district.
47:50 What challenges and obstacles did you encounter?
47:53 What was the success of that technology
47:54 and is it measurable?
47:57 - So the biggest, I’ll say the biggest positive impact
48:01 in technology that we’ve done in our school district,
48:04 well, I’ll tell you two, if you don’t mind.
48:06 First and foremost, we went one to one in our district
48:09 for high schools and middle schools
48:11 and we’re almost 100% there in our elementary schools,
48:15 which sounds amazing, but the other part
48:18 that we had to realize that sometimes when kids get home
48:23 and they use those devices in not the best way,
48:27 how are we addressing that?
48:28 How are we monitoring that?
48:29 So there had to be this curve of how we trained
48:32 not only our teachers to be able to utilize technology
48:35 in their classroom with our different virtual platforms,
48:40 because that’s hard to make sure that you can work that
48:43 into your classroom setting.
48:46 You’re used to your regiment, we go from math,
48:49 we go to science, to social studies, et cetera,
48:52 elementary, but how am I going to incorporate these devices
48:55 that sounds great that you gave them
48:57 without it being a scheduled day class,
48:59 like today we’re gonna use our laptops.
49:01 No, it has to be a fluid process.
49:03 So we definitely had to make sure
49:05 that we provide professional development,
49:07 but more than just a curriculum,
49:08 we had to go in and actually model for teachers
49:11 how to use that device and how to utilize it
49:15 during the classrooms set up.
49:17 Then we also had to train our students
49:19 to make sure they knew where to go and how to do it.
49:22 So we went to a single sign-on, which is crucial
49:24 because that allows us to monitor things.
49:26 That’s one side of that piece,
49:32 which I would speak more, but I know I don’t have much time.
49:34 And then the other side though,
49:35 I think from a district standpoint,
49:37 we’ve went to a data analysis side of things
49:41 and data assessment piece that actually includes
49:43 our data dashboard.
49:45 So in the past, as when I was a principal,
49:47 we used to have to crunch numbers and figure out,
49:50 we have this process that’s called a four-step process
49:53 where we identify our students that have their weaknesses.
49:55 Once we identify the students have the greatest weaknesses,
49:57 we look at the areas that we need to focus on.
50:00 We identify those students
50:02 and we have to utilize all different pieces of data
50:05 ‘cause it can’t be one piece of data.
50:06 And so we triangulate data,
50:07 whether that’s achieved 3000 data,
50:09 whether that’s our progress monitoring data,
50:12 whether that’s past data, all those other elements,
50:15 but it takes a lot of time to do it.
50:16 Well, now in our district,
50:17 we’ve created a dashboard that has all of that information.
50:21 If you want to look at,
50:23 I need 30% of my eighth graders to be proficient in ELA,
50:29 and that’s a low percentage, just an example,
50:31 but at 30% to be proficient in ELA,
50:33 how many students is that?
50:34 I can literally hit a button and it’ll give that to me.
50:38 Not only will it give that to me,
50:39 it’ll give it to me in order of who is the closest
50:42 to achieving that number.
50:44 So that sounds great.
50:46 All that data being at your fingertips,
50:48 but if you don’t train principals
50:50 of how to utilize this data, then it means nothing.
50:53 And then we realize that not only do we need
50:55 to train principals, because when you train principals,
50:57 that sounds great, but who does the work?
50:59 It’s the teachers.
51:00 Who’s the ones that are providing that intervention,
51:03 the tier two interventions, tier three interventions
51:05 that you’re needed to address those concerns,
51:07 it’s the teachers.
51:08 So now just this year, we finally have gotten to a place
51:11 where we can roll that out to have much of that data
51:14 at the fingertips of our teachers as well.
51:17 So technology can be a great thing,
51:19 but there are growing pains through that technology,
51:22 through the pieces.
51:23 We’re fortunate enough to continue to expand
51:27 upon our broadband width and things along those lines,
51:29 but how it’s implemented in schools
51:31 and how we provide that professional development
51:34 is what I’ve been involved with.
51:36 - It’s pretty consistent with what we’ve seen
51:37 in the implementations and everything else.
51:39 Thank you so much for taking that time.
51:41 I remember as a teacher, one of the funny things was
51:44 is that we had a couple of teachers
51:46 that really didn’t utilize their emails and stuff like that.
51:49 So we had secretaries that would print their emails
51:51 that were important and put it in their inboxes.
51:52 So we’ve come very far when you go to that
51:56 to see where we are today from those years past.
51:59 So next one, I’m gonna give it over
52:01 to a board member Campbell, please.
52:02 - Are you familiar with that process
52:04 of having to have your emails?
52:05 - Nope, not at all.
52:06 Actually, I was in charge of the technology team, so.
52:09 - Alright, good, good job, Mr. Sussan.
52:11 Alright, well, my area, you might be able to tell
52:14 that we all picked smoothly.
52:18 I think Mr. Trent got the leftovers,
52:19 but we were all passionate about the areas
52:21 we were asking these questions
52:22 and I could absolutely say this about community connections.
52:25 So you wanna start me, Mr. Sussan, so I don’t go over?
52:27 - Yeah, go ahead, I’ll wait until he starts.
52:28 - Alright, what are your ideas about engaging families
52:32 who are inexperienced with participating
52:35 or who have had negative experiences with education?
52:37 And how would you help your staff to reach out
52:39 to those families successfully and respectfully?
52:43 - So it’s accessibility, right?
52:46 You know, we have to make sure
52:47 that we’re going out to the community.
52:49 So whether that’s whatever housing developments
52:52 and be part of that community.
52:55 And even if two people show up the first time,
52:58 we keep going back out and we make sure
53:01 that we’re bringing the information to the communities.
53:03 We currently, I’m involved in developing,
53:07 we have a chat with the superintendent
53:09 and then also the board member that’s assigned to that area.
53:12 And we do it quarterly in different regions of our district
53:18 and we market that and we make sure
53:20 that we try to get as many people as possible.
53:22 And we go to any and all schools that continue to say
53:26 that they need some assistance
53:27 and want to have their voices heard.
53:28 So first and foremost, accessibility.
53:30 We gotta go out to the community.
53:32 I think it’s important for so many reasons.
53:34 For one, you know, again, as you spoke to parents
53:37 might not know what education
53:39 that their children are being provided
53:40 or not being provided or what their children need,
53:43 but it’s also to make sure
53:44 that we can showcase what we are doing.
53:46 I think that’s extremely important right now
53:49 with when you talk about, you know,
53:51 Florida House Bill 1, you know,
53:53 that’s extremely important to make sure
53:55 that we are going out into all communities
53:57 and showcasing what we’re doing for all students,
53:59 not just parts of town, not just parts of the community,
54:02 but for all parts of the community.
54:05 I think the other piece too is that, you know,
54:08 we need to include them in as many events.
54:11 And sometimes that’s hard because, you know,
54:13 we do know that parents,
54:14 some parents have had negative experiences with schools
54:18 and never want to take step on that school campus again.
54:22 And we understand that.
54:24 So we have to appeal to faith-based organizations,
54:27 things along those lines.
54:28 Get into whatever, if we have to go to church on Sunday,
54:32 then I’m gonna go to church on Sunday.
54:33 If I have to go to 10 churches on Sunday,
54:35 I’m gonna go to 10 churches on Sunday
54:37 because at the end of the day,
54:38 we have to go where our constituents feel comfortable.
54:40 And that’s really what it is.
54:42 They’re not gonna come to our schools
54:43 if they don’t feel comfortable
54:44 because of negative experiences.
54:46 So accessibility is crucial.
54:49 - Thank you.
54:51 What has been your experience or interaction
54:53 with local business and community groups?
54:55 What have you specifically done
54:57 to ensure a positive working relationship
54:58 with economic development groups,
55:00 chamber of commerce groups, philanthropic groups?
55:04 - So I’m in charge of faith-based organization partnerships.
55:08 So we definitely have,
55:09 we have a large group of faith-based partners
55:13 that we work with and so much so that our goal
55:16 is to have every single school attached
55:18 to a faith-based partner.
55:20 So in that regard, I’m very involved.
55:23 In reference to partnerships and I’m involved
55:27 with developing partnerships to address school needs.
55:32 So whether that’s a Haskell,
55:35 that’s a business inside of our community
55:37 that has done internships that I’ve been a part of,
55:41 Beyond School Walls and working with Boys and Girls Clubs
55:44 to expand our after day programs,
55:47 that also falls under my current position.
55:51 And I think that’s crucial.
55:52 We actually have a partnership currently right now
55:54 that’s working on utilizing a vacant building
55:56 that’s on a campus or near a campus
55:59 to turn that into a Boys and Girls Club,
56:00 but then how does that benefit our school?
56:02 That’s there and it’s in a low socioeconomic part of town.
56:06 So I’m very comfortable and accustomed
56:09 to working through those sides of things.
56:14 The other piece too is I also know
56:16 that it’s extremely important to include
56:18 the Jacksonville, sorry,
56:19 Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce where I work.
56:21 And then here in Brevard Chamber of Commerce,
56:24 because when we talk about recruiting
56:25 and retaining the best teachers and getting people to come,
56:28 we have to showcase everything that this community offers.
56:32 And so the Jackson, I keep saying Jackson, I apologize,
56:35 but the Brevard Chamber of Commerce is crucial
56:37 to make sure that we include them to be able to help us.
56:41 What they put out is important.
56:43 We have to take our show on the road
56:46 and we have to go to outside of this district
56:49 to get the people to come,
56:51 but we also have to go outside of our home
56:54 of our school district as well
56:56 to get those community partners.
56:57 So I’m very accustomed to working
56:59 with multiple different entities,
57:02 not quite as much with the city council,
57:04 but in every other side, I’m very accustomed to it
57:07 and I’m comfortable with it.
57:09 And the key is again, building relationships
57:11 and making sure that we all have a common goal.
57:13 And one thing I have learned is that you can’t just go
57:16 to a business partner and say, hey, I need your help.
57:19 I have to go to them with a specific thing or item
57:23 or initiative that I need their help with.
57:25 So whether that’s internships, which again,
57:26 I spoke to here is being able to bring our show
57:29 to the campuses of our amazing businesses.
57:32 We have to go to them with our initiative
57:34 and say, this is what our goal is.
57:36 This is how you can help us.
57:37 And are you willing to jump on board with us?
57:39 And if not, is there something in between
57:41 that we can start with?
57:43 - Great, thank you.
57:44 We have four chambers, by the way,
57:45 not to be a stress for a girl,
57:48 but they all are nice, they play nice.
57:51 So good segue actually into my next question,
57:53 which has to do with elected officials.
57:54 So how important is it and what specific roles
57:57 have you played personally in dealing with your,
58:00 the legislature, the congressional delegation,
58:02 the county and city officials or any other agencies?
58:07 - So I play a pretty significant role
58:12 with anytime there’s an event at a school,
58:14 we make sure that they’re included.
58:16 Because for one, if you’re ever going to go to someone
58:19 and ask for support later on,
58:21 you must have them involved in things before then.
58:24 You know, it’s kind of like in schools
58:25 before you call a parent and tell them how bad their kid is
58:27 or what their kid’s not doing,
58:29 you should call them first and foremost
58:31 to tell them how great their child is
58:32 and some of the great work they’ve done.
58:34 So it’s the same thing
58:35 with including our elected officials.
58:38 We need to include them in every step of the way.
58:40 The other piece too, is that we need to tap into
58:42 the resources that they have that we might not be aware of.
58:46 They have the knowledge to know
58:48 when certain funds are coming
58:50 and how that is going to be allocated to certain areas.
58:53 So in my current district,
58:55 we have, you know, I work closely with Kids Hope Alliance
58:58 and make sure that also work closely
58:59 with the mayor’s council,
59:01 because all of that is geared by his budget.
59:04 And so how much funding is gonna be there?
59:06 How does that impact our afterschool programs?
59:08 So it is crucial to involve our elected officials.
59:12 Now there is a line, right?
59:14 So, you know, they’re specific
59:18 to what they do as in their role,
59:20 and we’re specific to specialists in our role,
59:22 which is in education.
59:23 But it doesn’t mean that we can’t collaborate
59:25 and work together because their constituents
59:27 are coming to them with real concerns
59:29 and we need to be open and vulnerable enough
59:32 to hear what those concerns are
59:33 and work together to solve it.
59:35 So for instance, in our district,
59:37 we’ve worked a great deal
59:38 with many different council members
59:40 to put in places for safety,
59:42 such as crosswalks that we normally
59:44 would have never had approved
59:46 if it wasn’t for their assistance.
59:47 Also, if you’re looking at, you know,
59:49 we also were fortunate enough
59:51 to have a half penny sales tax
59:53 be supported by many council members
59:56 and put on the ballot and passed by our voters,
59:58 as well as another referendum just recently
1:00:01 on the heels of that half penny sales tax.
1:00:04 So those elements, if you’re looking at doing
1:00:06 huge initiatives that impacts the entire community,
1:00:09 we must involve our elected officials
1:00:11 and work together for a common good.
1:00:13 - Thank you so much.
1:00:15 All right, presenting information
1:00:17 in a highly charged situation
1:00:19 into a variety of groups
1:00:20 is a part of a superintendent’s job.
1:00:23 Give an example of how you have encountered opposition
1:00:26 and how you dealt with the resulting situation.
1:00:32 - You know, when you’re responsible
1:00:34 for people’s pride and joy
1:00:37 and their most valuable possession,
1:00:39 you know, I say possession,
1:00:41 but their most valuable item
1:00:43 that they’re charged to work with
1:00:46 and ensure that are successful,
1:00:48 you’re bound to face, you know, criticism.
1:00:52 And it’s something that I welcome to be completely honest.
1:00:55 I have been successful
1:00:58 because of the teams I’ve been able to put together.
1:01:01 I ensure that my team knows
1:01:03 that I do not want you to agree with me
1:01:06 just for the sake of agreeing with me.
1:01:08 I need you to push back.
1:01:09 That’s the reason why I surround myself with professionals
1:01:11 and that they can poke holes in our initiative, our plans.
1:01:15 And if I ever become defensive
1:01:18 because of someone questioning my plan
1:01:21 or questioning my initiative,
1:01:22 then that means I shouldn’t be moving forward on this
1:01:25 ‘cause I must not know it as much as I should.
1:01:28 I can’t, if I can’t explain it multiple ways,
1:01:30 I hold myself to the same accountability as I hold teachers.
1:01:34 If a teacher teaches information
1:01:36 and a student doesn’t learn,
1:01:37 you can’t just teach it the same way
1:01:39 over and over and over again and expect different results.
1:01:41 And so I face the same thing
1:01:43 and I hold myself to that same level of accountability
1:01:46 that if I can’t explain it where everybody is on board
1:01:49 and understands the purpose and the rationale,
1:01:53 then that means we shouldn’t be moving forward.
1:01:55 I should be able to explain it multiple different ways
1:01:58 and to different stakeholders because again,
1:02:00 every stakeholder has their reasons
1:02:05 why they’re doing what they’re doing.
1:02:06 So if I’m talking to a parent,
1:02:08 I need to make sure that it applies to a parent.
1:02:09 If I’m talking to a board member,
1:02:10 I need to make sure that here’s the reason
1:02:12 why it applies to that board member, et cetera.
1:02:14 So I welcome scrutiny and criticism.
1:02:19 When I implemented the walkthrough tool,
1:02:21 got a lot of criticism from personnel
1:02:24 because they thought that it was just one more thing.
1:02:27 But when we rolled it out
1:02:28 and we were transparent about the process
1:02:30 and that actually we showed how it could benefit
1:02:32 and actually remove some of the other information,
1:02:35 the evaluation systems,
1:02:37 then I think people were more willing to buy in.
1:02:39 But it’s not about words, it’s about actions.
1:02:42 You can say whatever you want to say
1:02:43 and unfortunately sometimes
1:02:45 when you’re in a high ranking position,
1:02:47 people don’t always take your words at face value.
1:02:50 And so it’s your actions that speak louder than your words.
1:02:53 And so you have to be consistent and transparent.
1:02:54 So that’s how I would deal with criticism.
1:02:57 But I welcome it and I expect it and to be honest with you,
1:02:59 it shows that people are invested in our district
1:03:03 and want the best for their children.
1:03:04 I do, I can completely understand.
1:03:07 I am highly critical of anyone that’s teaching my children.
1:03:12 Now I don’t voice that because I’m a teacher at heart.
1:03:15 So I know, but I sit back and I watch what they’re doing
1:03:17 and ensure that my children are headed in the right direction
1:03:19 but I welcome that.
1:03:21 - Thank you, my last question is,
1:03:25 what have you or your district done
1:03:27 to respond to the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, vaping,
1:03:31 et cetera by students?
1:03:35 - So I’ll start with the vaping piece.
1:03:36 It’s new, right?
1:03:37 And so it’s a struggle
1:03:39 because vaping is not like it used to be.
1:03:42 It holds, if you haven’t seen some of the new vaping devices
1:03:45 it would surprise you.
1:03:47 Some things that look like everyday items
1:03:49 are now vaping devices.
1:03:51 And so we have to evolve of how we’re looking for things
1:03:54 and how we’re searching children,
1:03:57 randomly searching children or as we get words
1:04:00 and things along those lines, how we’re dealing with that.
1:04:03 But first and foremost, we really have to educate
1:04:05 our children because people, especially with vaping
1:04:07 think that vaping is a safe alternative
1:04:10 to smoking or use of tobacco and things.
1:04:13 And we really have to do a better job
1:04:14 in educating our children and educating our parents
1:04:17 to educate their children.
1:04:20 Our children model what their parents do
1:04:23 and what they see people in the community do.
1:04:25 And so I think it’s important to get out to the community
1:04:28 and to make sure that we speak to them.
1:04:30 So that’s one of the things that we’re doing
1:04:31 in our district.
1:04:32 We do have assemblies to talk about well-being
1:04:36 and healthcare of themselves
1:04:37 and making sure that they understand those pieces.
1:04:42 In addition to that, we do have,
1:04:44 we have implemented evolved systems in our district
1:04:48 and those evolved weapons detection systems in our district.
1:04:52 So it does help a little bit more with picking up devices
1:04:55 that kids are walking through.
1:04:56 So all of our, well, we’re almost there.
1:04:59 We have about 13 of our high schools now
1:05:01 that have those evolved systems in place.
1:05:03 And so it does help at the high school level,
1:05:05 but we are seeing that the use is becoming
1:05:07 much more widespread in our middle schools as well.
1:05:11 That’s vaping specific.
1:05:13 We also have, we have to look at technology.
1:05:15 So we actually have two pilot schools now
1:05:17 that have vaping detection systems in their schools as well.
1:05:20 So where we know that it’s most common,
1:05:23 which is in the bathrooms.
1:05:25 So we have vaping detection systems there.
1:05:27 And then we also have to have, again, continue to,
1:05:29 we talk about see something, say something
1:05:32 in reference to safety,
1:05:34 but we also have to have that connection with our children
1:05:36 that if they see one of their friends
1:05:38 that might be doing something that’s dangerous to them,
1:05:41 that they could say something to us
1:05:42 so we can then address it, not in a punitive way,
1:05:46 but in a proactive wellbeing way.
1:05:49 For the additional drugs, et cetera, we do,
1:05:52 we kind of approach it the same way.
1:05:54 I will tell you that our major issue is vaping.
1:06:00 It’s actually not the use of other drugs.
1:06:02 It’s not, you know, it’s not,
1:06:04 we had the opioid crisis and things along those lines,
1:06:07 and we’ve seen that definitely taper down,
1:06:10 but we do have a robust code of conduct
1:06:12 that addresses what happens when we do have that violation.
1:06:16 We have a substance abuse course that our students
1:06:19 and their parent must attend with their student
1:06:22 if they are in violation of that policy.
1:06:25 And I do think that that’s significant.
1:06:27 It’s a six-week course, and unfortunately or fortunately,
1:06:31 you can look at it two different ways.
1:06:33 When you inconvenience parents,
1:06:34 sometimes that has to happen in order for them
1:06:37 to take it serious to be able to help their child,
1:06:40 but that’s been very beneficial
1:06:42 in combating the use of additional drugs as well.
1:06:45 - Thank you very much.
1:06:46 We’re now remaining 56 seconds.
1:06:48 What’s your favorite animal?
1:06:50 - Lion.
1:06:51 - A lion. - All right.
1:06:55 - Mr. Trent.
1:06:57 - Yeah.
1:06:58 - Bring everyone down.
1:06:59 - No, the icebreaker.
1:07:00 - Really?
1:07:01 All right, well, now we’re at operational sustainability.
1:07:05 So I know you’ve been waiting for this one, right?
1:07:08 - I can see how excited you are.
1:07:09 - Yeah, I am.
1:07:10 This is good.
1:07:11 - You got the leftovers.
1:07:12 - This is actually what I wanted to begin with,
1:07:14 so when we chose.
1:07:15 So I’ll start with what is the most challenging
1:07:19 operational issue in school districts today,
1:07:21 and how do you approach this challenge?
1:07:27 - I think in most school districts,
1:07:28 it’s the learning environment, you know?
1:07:31 So operationally, how do we make sure
1:07:34 that we bring the best and most advanced
1:07:38 learning environment to our schools?
1:07:41 Some of our schools are considerably older,
1:07:44 and it’s just enough to continue to repair those buildings
1:07:47 and to keep them in working condition.
1:07:48 So how do we retrofit those schools
1:07:51 to bring the learning environment
1:07:53 up to where it should be first and foremost?
1:07:56 And then, of course, with that,
1:07:57 where does that funding come from?
1:07:59 So there’s a lot of financial pieces
1:08:01 that come along with that.
1:08:03 But definitely the learning environment,
1:08:06 and how can we bring that up to par
1:08:08 to make sure that our teachers and our students
1:08:10 have the most modern resources at their fingertips
1:08:14 so they’re not at a disadvantage
1:08:16 compared to other students in the state or in the country?
1:08:20 - Very good.
1:08:22 Which this one kind of leads into it.
1:08:23 Share with us an example of when you were especially
1:08:27 involved or innovative, let’s start this one over.
1:08:30 Share with us an example of when you were
1:08:33 especially innovative in addressing a funding gap.
1:08:36 Now there’s some caveats here.
1:08:38 The situation, your obstacles, the risk involved,
1:08:42 and then the outcome.
1:08:45 - So I’ll use the technology piece, the one-to-one.
1:08:47 That was our goal.
1:08:48 In our strategic plan, we wanted to move forward
1:08:51 to making sure all of our students had one-to-one devices.
1:08:54 And again, they’re considerably expensive
1:08:58 because when you buy devices,
1:09:00 I think sometimes the public has,
1:09:02 well, we can go to a Best Buy or to a place
1:09:05 and buy a laptop, they’re $200.
1:09:07 But actually the laptops and devices that we’re looking at
1:09:10 are extremely more expensive than that.
1:09:13 Some were upwards about $3,000
1:09:15 ‘cause you’re trying to get commercial grade
1:09:16 so you’re not reinvesting after all of them get broken
1:09:20 and things dropped and the cases and all those things.
1:09:22 So knowing we wanted to go to one-to-one,
1:09:25 knowing the reasons why, that was the intent first
1:09:29 in what we were trying to accomplish.
1:09:31 The financial obstacles became just that, an obstacle,
1:09:35 and we had to figure out a way to overcome that.
1:09:37 So what we’ve done is we actually have made sure
1:09:41 we went after grants.
1:09:43 So we worked with the company of Sprint to go after grants
1:09:46 for funding for the additional piece to it too.
1:09:50 A device cannot be utilized unless you have wifi.
1:09:54 So we went through them to get hotspots for our children.
1:09:57 So there’s things that we continue to uncover
1:10:00 once we got those, we were looking at one-to-one devices.
1:10:02 So we had that grant and they were provided,
1:10:05 it was a free grant that we went to.
1:10:07 Then we also have another grant
1:10:08 because the other piece too is that
1:10:11 not only do we want one-to-one devices in schools,
1:10:14 but if we don’t let those students take them home
1:10:16 or they take them home and don’t bring them back,
1:10:17 what are we gonna do?
1:10:18 So then we went after an additional grant
1:10:20 that we got 45,000 units for our most
1:10:26 low socioeconomic or disadvantaged students
1:10:29 to have a laptop at home that they don’t have to bring
1:10:32 back and forth to school.
1:10:34 So this way we didn’t have to worry about our investment
1:10:36 that they were having to be able to utilize at school.
1:10:38 So we have 45,000 free units there,
1:10:40 and we had approximately 10,000 free hotspots.
1:10:43 And I think then we got an additional wave.
1:10:46 So again, all that sounds great, but how you distribute it,
1:10:49 how do you get it out to the individuals?
1:10:52 So we had to walk through that process as well.
1:10:55 So the most innovative thing that we’ve done
1:10:56 is to provide those one-on-one devices.
1:11:00 The obstacles, financial obstacles,
1:11:02 we had to look at other funding sources.
1:11:05 And yes, eventually when ESSER funds came around,
1:11:09 that was great, that helped some,
1:11:10 but we know that then we’re on the ESSER cliff right now.
1:11:14 But in addition to that, then how to make sure
1:11:17 that we got those, but then provided the ability
1:11:19 to use those at home and provided the ability
1:11:22 to use those inside the classroom.
1:11:23 So that’s the biggest initiative that I’ve been a part of
1:11:27 in reference to technology.
1:11:29 But then there’s, again, not to continue
1:11:31 to go down this path, but it’s just kind of,
1:11:33 if you can kind of keep it in your mind of what we did,
1:11:35 it took us years to go through this,
1:11:38 but do we have enough broadband with to do it?
1:11:40 And then to expand that, what does that look like?
1:11:43 Because broadband with expanding that is extremely expensive.
1:11:46 So the most recent initiative that we took
1:11:48 is actually utilizing,
1:11:54 I wanna say the right terminology.
1:11:55 I wanna say it’s dark fiber.
1:12:00 We’ve now utilized dark fiber,
1:12:02 and dark fiber is that that has been laid in the past
1:12:05 that’s not utilized right now, but it’s free to utilize it.
1:12:09 And so we’ve actually tapped into that resources.
1:12:12 So some of now we’ve continued to expound upon that.
1:12:15 So we’re not locked into one provider
1:12:18 that those costs can be extremely expensive.
1:12:21 So a lot of those things have come into play
1:12:24 to overcome different obstacles
1:12:26 that we uncovered along the way as well.
1:12:30 - Great, I appreciate that.
1:12:31 Describe your experience with strategic planning
1:12:34 for a large organization.
1:12:37 - Well, first and foremost, you have to look at data
1:12:44 and to evaluate what your priorities are.
1:12:47 But by doing that, you have to include stakeholders.
1:12:50 So again, the relationship with the board
1:12:52 and going to you as the governing party
1:12:57 to talk about what is the what that you are looking to see
1:13:02 is crucial and important.
1:13:04 Then we must get the input from those around us.
1:13:07 So I’ve looked at the strategic plan for here
1:13:10 and I think it’s important to make sure
1:13:13 that we continue to review it.
1:13:14 And I noticed that y’all has been reviewed
1:13:17 and just re-updated.
1:13:18 So it’s important to look at a strategic plan often
1:13:22 to see if you’re on the right track.
1:13:23 Is this still what the community needs?
1:13:25 Is still what our school needs?
1:13:27 I would also challenge that instead of doing
1:13:29 a four or five year strategic plan,
1:13:31 that we have it’s an 18 month strategic plan,
1:13:35 because so much changes in a span of four or five years.
1:13:40 And I think it’s important.
1:13:41 Yes, we do need to see the future.
1:13:43 We do need to plan for the future.
1:13:44 But I truly believe that an 18 month plan
1:13:47 is not only more realistic to actually accomplish,
1:13:53 but it also has you continue to focus
1:13:55 on the immediate present and the immediate future.
1:13:58 So with that all being said,
1:14:00 I think it’s important to make sure
1:14:01 that all stakeholders have a voice
1:14:03 and that we are not leaving anything out.
1:14:05 And then once we narrow those items down
1:14:07 to what those four or five elements are going to be,
1:14:11 that they also have a say in what does that look like?
1:14:13 How are we gonna monitor it?
1:14:15 And then what does success look like?
1:14:17 I think oftentimes, and I’ll speak in my current situation,
1:14:21 we do not identify what success looks like.
1:14:23 We don’t agree on what success looks like.
1:14:26 And so then we get to a strategic plan
1:14:27 and we have this percentage in there.
1:14:30 And yes, we might’ve met that percentage,
1:14:33 but does it mirror what we thought
1:14:35 that it was going to truly look like?
1:14:38 And so one example, one small example of that
1:14:41 is one of the pieces in our strategic plan
1:14:43 was our PBIS schools and make sure
1:14:46 that we had model schools in our district.
1:14:48 And so a positive behavior situate in model schools.
1:14:53 And so one of the things that we had was like a 60% goal.
1:14:58 And that sounds great, 60%, we’re gonna get to 60%.
1:15:01 But the reality was within two years,
1:15:04 we were over that 60% because we started figuring out
1:15:08 how to meet the needs, the credentials
1:15:12 of becoming a model school.
1:15:14 So did it actually, did that success
1:15:16 of meeting that 60% goal,
1:15:18 did it actually look like we intended it to?
1:15:20 No, it didn’t because we didn’t have
1:15:23 a drop in discipline data.
1:15:24 We didn’t have an increase in student engagement.
1:15:27 We didn’t, our early warning systems were still showing us
1:15:31 that we were still having kids not attending school.
1:15:33 So that’s what I mean by having a clear identifying area
1:15:37 that what does success look like?
1:15:38 It needs to be included in that strategic plan as well.
1:15:41 - Nice, thank you.
1:15:43 How do you ensure climate assessment results
1:15:46 are used in school improvement planning across the district?
1:15:49 - So that part, I’m sorry, I apologize.
1:15:51 - Climate assessment results, surveys.
1:15:53 - So I’ll go back to our five essentials.
1:15:56 I think it’s absolutely instrumental.
1:15:58 We do review that with our principals.
1:16:00 We make sure that, especially,
1:16:02 there’s actually a climate and culture piece in there.
1:16:06 And we talk about that with our principals
1:16:10 and they have to actually embed that
1:16:12 into their school improvement plans.
1:16:14 So that’s crucial.
1:16:16 Every school has to submit a school improvement plan
1:16:18 as far as for the state.
1:16:19 So that has to be a part of their plan.
1:16:22 And then what they’re doing to ensure
1:16:24 and monitor that it’s happening.
1:16:26 There’s outside things that we measure, obviously,
1:16:29 as well, you know, that are such as vacancies of teachers,
1:16:32 teachers leaving that school.
1:16:35 And so those are other elements that we definitely look at
1:16:38 through our human resources department,
1:16:40 are we having a large number of students or,
1:16:42 well, students and teachers, to be honest,
1:16:44 leaving that school in that area.
1:16:46 So we look at that data and then we also then make sure
1:16:50 that it’s part of the school improvement plan.
1:16:52 And then we work with the, you know,
1:16:54 obviously the school advisory council
1:16:56 that makes sure they monitor the school improvement plan
1:16:58 to make sure that things are happening in that building.
1:17:01 But culture and climate is felt.
1:17:02 And so we also have to be out in schools.
1:17:05 You know, it’s as a superintendent and everyone
1:17:08 that works for the district must have the mentality
1:17:13 that what we do is all for one goal
1:17:15 and that’s for what we’re doing school-based.
1:17:17 That’s really where the rubber hits the road.
1:17:19 So we have to be inside those schools
1:17:22 to feel what culture and climate is in that building.
1:17:26 And I think that cannot be, you know, left out.
1:17:30 - Great.
1:17:31 And to the last question.
1:17:34 How would you ensure that schools located
1:17:36 in under resourced areas receive the attention
1:17:39 and the resources they need?
1:17:43 - So I think first and foremost,
1:17:45 we have to identify what they are.
1:17:47 You know, what are the weaknesses or the gaps
1:17:49 that those schools have?
1:17:52 Money is not the end all be all.
1:17:55 That’s not the magic bullet.
1:17:56 It is, you know, what other things do they need?
1:17:59 So I’ll use an example in my current district.
1:18:02 We developed a curriculum and we do believe
1:18:05 that that curriculum is amazing curriculum.
1:18:07 We use educators and specialized and people
1:18:09 in our profession to create the curriculum,
1:18:13 to embed all the theory, to do all these things.
1:18:17 And so we put it out there.
1:18:18 It’s the best thing since sliced bread in our opinion.
1:18:21 And so we put it out there and then come to find out though,
1:18:25 we didn’t get the autonomy for schools
1:18:27 to be able to do different things based
1:18:29 upon the learning gaps that their children had.
1:18:32 We literally rolled it out as a one size fits all
1:18:35 and come to find out obviously very quickly,
1:18:37 which is actually where my world is that we go out.
1:18:41 So academic services develops the curriculum.
1:18:43 We have input in that of course,
1:18:45 but then our job is to go out to schools
1:18:47 and see how is that curriculum impacting learning
1:18:49 and academic excellence.
1:18:50 And we realized, oh my goodness,
1:18:52 in some schools it’s working extremely well.
1:18:54 And in other schools it’s not.
1:18:55 And it’s not based upon,
1:18:56 it’s not because the schools weren’t doing
1:18:58 what they were asked.
1:18:59 It’s because their students had larger learning gaps.
1:19:03 And so we had to adjust that.
1:19:04 So that’s part of that.
1:19:05 We have to make sure that we know first
1:19:07 and foremost where that adjustment needs to happen.
1:19:09 So of course we then gave the autonomy
1:19:12 for those schools to come to their principal,
1:19:16 the teachers to come to their principals
1:19:17 and say, this isn’t working.
1:19:19 My children don’t know this, so they can’t jump to this.
1:19:21 I have to meet my children where they are.
1:19:23 And so we have to have that autonomy to be able to do so.
1:19:26 And so that’s the reason why we were able
1:19:28 to move those SI schools, those school improvement schools
1:19:32 to the levels of success that they were,
1:19:34 because we realized a flaw in our process.
1:19:37 So going back to your question,
1:19:40 I think that’s what we have to do.
1:19:41 We have to make sure we talk to the principals
1:19:42 and the teachers of that building.
1:19:44 We cannot assume we know what they need.
1:19:46 We also have to talk to the students
1:19:47 and the parents of that building
1:19:49 ‘cause they will tell us honestly what they need.
1:19:51 They will tell us when their child is not getting
1:19:54 what they believe their child needs
1:19:55 or when they struggle at home for two hours at night
1:19:57 because they can’t do the work.
1:19:59 So I think that we have to first start there,
1:20:02 ask them the questions
1:20:03 and then realize what resources we’re looking at.
1:20:06 And then if we have business partners,
1:20:08 whether it’s in our district,
1:20:10 we have communities and schools,
1:20:11 we have many other business partners, we have Elevate,
1:20:13 we have other business partners that actually
1:20:16 the funding didn’t have to come from our district.
1:20:17 It was coming from the community partners
1:20:19 where they put additional teachers inside the classroom
1:20:21 or additional personnel to be able to have small groups
1:20:24 inside the classroom to offset the class sizes
1:20:27 because that’s what they needed.
1:20:28 So it can be as simple as that,
1:20:30 or it can be as large as yes,
1:20:31 we do need to provide more funding
1:20:33 to make sure they have the same technology
1:20:35 as every other school, just as a couple of examples.
1:20:40 - Great, I just wanna thank you for your candid answers
1:20:43 and honestly there.
1:20:44 So that was it for me.
1:20:46 - You don’t have an icebreaker.
1:20:47 Oh, you don’t have an icebreaker?
1:20:48 - She used them all.
1:20:52 - What do you do in your spare time?
1:20:53 (laughing)
1:20:56 - I like to spend, I’m at my wife’s back there,
1:20:58 so I gotta tell her the honest answer.
1:21:00 I love to go to the gym,
1:21:01 but I also love to spend time with the family, appreciate it.
1:21:06 - Thank you, Mr. Schneider.
1:21:07 Is there any additional information you wanna share
1:21:09 with the board members about yourself?
1:21:12 - I think just to know that my passion for education
1:21:16 has been since I was young,
1:21:19 been in this profession now for over 23 years
1:21:22 and that I know it’s not just my work that is important,
1:21:26 it’s the important, it’s everyone coming together
1:21:28 for one common cause.
1:21:30 I’m a servant leader.
1:21:31 I believe that that is my duty,
1:21:33 is that I’m supposed to serve those around me
1:21:36 and not only for the benefit of the community,
1:21:38 but I also will be selfish and say
1:21:40 that it’s for the benefit of my own children.
1:21:42 So that’s it, just my passion
1:21:45 and this is what I was born to do
1:21:46 and I’m grateful for every day I get to do it.
1:21:48 - Do you have any questions for the board members?
1:21:51 - What is your favorite football team board chair, Susan?
1:21:56 - So it’s kinda weird.
1:21:57 So it’s the Florida State Seminoles because for college
1:22:00 and then my family’s from Detroit.
1:22:02 So I’m a Detroit Lion fan, which is a good time right now.
1:22:05 So they’re up and coming.
1:22:08 So everything else except for college is up there.
1:22:11 But no, I really appreciate it.
1:22:13 Does anybody else have anything for ‘em?
1:22:16 - No. - You guys good?
1:22:17 - I wanted to say thank you to Ms. Schneider.
1:22:19 Thank you so much for coming.
1:22:21 I truly believe that there’s a connection between you
1:22:23 and I know that you are the smarter in the family
1:22:27 because you did graduate from Florida State University.
1:22:30 - Absolutely.
1:22:31 - But I also can see that connection and that’s grounding
1:22:33 and you come from an educational background
1:22:35 and that means a lot.
1:22:36 So I did wanna say thank you for that.
1:22:38 Thank you for all your time.
1:22:39 Did you have anything else you wanted to finish up with
1:22:41 before we head out?
1:22:43 - Just grateful for the opportunity.
1:22:44 Thank y’all so much.
1:22:45 Thank you so much, Mr. Schneider.
1:22:47 (muffled speaking)
1:22:48 Yeah, you wanna take a second and break real quick?
1:22:51 - Yeah, oh yeah. - You guys okay with that?
1:22:52 All right, take a break.
1:22:54 (muffled speaking)
1:22:56 Yeah, we’ve got, I’ve been watching it.
1:22:58 We were ahead on the 15 minutes, so we’ll take a break.
1:23:02 (muffled speaking)
1:23:12 (dramatic music)
1:23:42 (upbeat music)
1:41:39 (gentle music)
1:44:06 (upbeat music)
1:44:42 (gentle music)
1:45:12 (upbeat music)
1:45:42 (gentle music)
1:46:12 (upbeat music)
1:47:42 (gentle music)
1:53:27 - Welcome back.
1:53:29 We are here at the April 27th special board meeting.
1:53:32 We’re now back in order.
1:53:33 We’ve already adopted the agenda.
1:53:36 This meeting is for board members to conduct interviews.
1:53:38 We are on to Mr. Rendell.
1:53:40 Welcome, Mr. Rendell.
1:53:43 I’d like to give a chance for my board members
1:53:45 to say anything, if you would like.
1:53:48 - I think you know us.
1:53:49 So, but I’ll just say,
1:53:50 Katie Campbell represent district five.
1:53:52 I’m very glad for all the input,
1:53:55 the work that you’ve had to do,
1:53:56 as well as our other candidates to go through this process.
1:53:59 So thank you.
1:54:01 - Good morning, Mr. Rendell.
1:54:02 It’s good to see you again.
1:54:04 And of course, you knew me before this experience as well.
1:54:07 So it’s wonderful to see you again.
1:54:08 - Thank you.
1:54:11 - Good morning.
1:54:11 We are so glad that you’re here.
1:54:12 Thank you for participating.
1:54:13 Obviously, you know I’m Megan Wright.
1:54:15 I represent district one of the school district here.
1:54:19 - All right, and good morning, Dr. Rendell.
1:54:20 Thank you for being a part of this process.
1:54:23 And we look forward to hearing from you.
1:54:25 - Thank you.
1:54:26 - Just so everybody understands,
1:54:27 we also have our amazing assistant,
1:54:29 Ms. Tanami Agouir over there,
1:54:30 whose birthday was yesterday at the same time
1:54:32 as the birthday girl right next to me over here.
1:54:35 We also have Janice Kershaw.
1:54:37 Thank you for the amazing opportunities
1:54:39 and things you give to our students
1:54:40 through the Brevard Schools Foundation.
1:54:41 And we have Mr. Russell Bruhn,
1:54:43 who is working all the communications for us.
1:54:45 So I wanna say thank you to everybody inside the room
1:54:46 along with the people who have come.
1:54:49 We are reviewing the process and we have 90 minutes
1:54:52 for our board to interview today.
1:54:54 You’ll have three minutes, Mr. Rendell,
1:54:56 to provide an opening statement.
1:54:57 Each board member will ask a series
1:54:59 of thematically based questions, general leadership,
1:55:02 which includes board, superintendent relationship,
1:55:04 academic excellence, exceptional workforce,
1:55:06 community connection, operational sustainability
1:55:09 based on our strategic plan.
1:55:11 Each board member is allocated 15 minutes
1:55:13 and prepared with four to five questions.
1:55:16 The number of questions which each gets to will depend
1:55:19 on the length of your responses.
1:55:21 I’ve got a time up here.
1:55:21 I’ll start it when you start speaking,
1:55:23 not when the board members do
1:55:24 ‘cause they like to pontificate.
1:55:26 You will have time at the end
1:55:28 for concluding your thoughts or questions for us.
1:55:32 So the floor is yours.
1:55:34 You can have your opening statement.
1:55:37 - Thank you, Mr. Chair.
1:55:39 First of all, I wanna say thank you to the board
1:55:40 for the opportunity to be here in this room
1:55:43 interviewing for this position.
1:55:44 It’s truly an honor.
1:55:46 I think Brevard Public Schools
1:55:47 is a fantastic school district
1:55:49 and the opportunity to serve in another role
1:55:52 is just that, it’s an honor.
1:55:54 So thank you for–
1:55:54 - Hold on one second.
1:55:56 No mic again.
1:55:58 There it is, there we go.
1:55:59 - You have some of those binders.
1:56:01 Do you want me to come–
1:56:01 - Can you hear me now?
1:56:02 - Yes. - Yeah.
1:56:03 - No, the binders are for later, so thank you.
1:56:06 So I’ll start again.
1:56:07 Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today
1:56:09 to interview for this position.
1:56:11 I think a lot of Brevard Public Schools,
1:56:13 I think it’s a fantastic school district.
1:56:15 So the opportunity to maybe serve in this role
1:56:18 is indeed an honor and I thank you for the opportunity.
1:56:23 Little bit about myself, just a quick story
1:56:25 for maybe, you guys may know ‘cause I was here before,
1:56:27 but for the audience.
1:56:29 My wife Heidi and I, who’s here with me today,
1:56:33 moved to Brevard in 1993, almost exactly 30 years ago.
1:56:37 And bought a house in Viera and started working in Brevard
1:56:43 and raising our family in Brevard.
1:56:45 I worked at Satellite High School as a teacher,
1:56:48 Melbourne High School as a dean,
1:56:49 Ogalia as an assistant principal
1:56:50 and became principal of Titusville High School.
1:56:53 During that time, we started raising a family here.
1:56:55 All three of our children were born in Brevard.
1:56:57 Two boys born at Holmes Regional.
1:57:00 My daughter was born at Parrish Medical
1:57:02 when we were up at Titusville.
1:57:04 They all attended schools in Brevard.
1:57:05 We left Brevard for a short time in North Carolina
1:57:07 and we came back, put them back in Brevard schools.
1:57:10 We came back to Florida to come back to Brevard.
1:57:13 And so Brevard’s always been home.
1:57:16 Went down to St. Lucie County for a little while working.
1:57:18 Still lived here, commuted to St. Lucie County,
1:57:21 didn’t wanna move our kids out of the schools
1:57:22 that we had here.
1:57:24 Then when I got the superintendent post in Indian River,
1:57:26 we went ahead and moved the family there.
1:57:28 Even though one of my oldest was a rising senior at Ogalia
1:57:31 and he didn’t wanna move for his senior year.
1:57:35 So he actually lived with my parents.
1:57:37 My dad and mom were living in Satellite Beach at the time.
1:57:41 My dad’s a retired Navy chief.
1:57:43 And so he said, is there any way I can stay
1:57:44 with mom and dad to finish out my senior year at Ogalia?
1:57:48 I said, well, you gotta work that out with the chief.
1:57:50 And so he met with my dad
1:57:53 and they set up some ground rules
1:57:55 and he had to make his bed every morning.
1:57:57 He had to be at the table for dinner,
1:57:59 no loud music, all that kind of thing.
1:58:01 And so he ended up finishing at Ogalia,
1:58:04 with the rest of our kids.
1:58:06 The other two went with us to Indian River.
1:58:08 One graduated from Sebastian River High, my son, Lucas,
1:58:11 and my daughter, Sarah Grace, graduated from Bureau.
1:58:14 When I got to come back here a couple of years ago,
1:58:16 almost four years ago,
1:58:17 the plan was always to come back to Brevard.
1:58:19 We were waiting for Sarah Grace to finish high school.
1:58:22 Didn’t wanna move her in the midst of her high school.
1:58:24 She graduated two years ago.
1:58:25 She’s at UCF, she’s doing fantastic.
1:58:28 And so two years ago, we were gonna come back to Brevard,
1:58:30 but you may recall the housing market
1:58:33 had taken a huge jump at the time.
1:58:35 So we waited and we believe their time is right now.
1:58:38 So we actually sold our house in Bureau a couple months ago
1:58:42 and are living in satellite.
1:58:43 I’m actually, we actually moved back in with my mom
1:58:47 while we’re building a house in Bureau West.
1:58:50 And so, and I wanna state upfront,
1:58:53 we made the decision to come back to Brevard
1:58:55 regardless of this.
1:58:57 When we made the decision to come back,
1:58:58 we weren’t even, I don’t think this job was even advertised
1:59:01 or anything like that.
1:59:02 So it’s not like there’s some master plan
1:59:05 or anything like that.
1:59:06 We were coming back to Brevard regardless.
1:59:08 Now, my wife Heidi has a fantastic job in Bureau Beach.
1:59:11 So now she’s gonna have to commute.
1:59:13 So I’m gonna have to be extra nice.
1:59:15 And you know, but that’s a little bit about me.
1:59:18 The last thing I’ll say is every decision
1:59:21 that I’ve ever made as a leader at the principal level,
1:59:24 at the district level has been about
1:59:26 what’s best for children.
1:59:28 That is the job.
1:59:31 Not an interest group, not anybody else.
1:59:34 I know who my allegiance is to,
1:59:36 and that is to the children that we serve.
1:59:39 And so all of my decisions are always gonna be based
1:59:41 on what’s best for kids.
1:59:43 Sometimes what’s best for kids is not convenient for adults,
1:59:47 but I’m always gonna make the decision
1:59:48 on what’s best for kids.
1:59:50 Thank you.
1:59:53 - All right, thank you.
1:59:55 I think we’re gonna turn it over to Ms. Megan Wright
1:59:58 for the first couple of questions here.
2:00:02 - Yes, I get to go first.
2:00:04 I’m hung up on 1993 being 30 years ago.
2:00:07 I’m gonna be honest.
2:00:08 I thought, oh my gosh, that was 30 years ago.
2:00:11 Whoa, okay.
2:00:12 All right, so back to focus here.
2:00:13 Thank you for the opening statements that you gave
2:00:15 and the background and history of you and your family.
2:00:17 I appreciate that.
2:00:19 The questions that I’m gonna ask you really are going
2:00:21 to apply to the board superintendent relationship.
2:00:25 And so I will kick us off.
2:00:26 I have a set of five questions and you have as much time,
2:00:30 I think right where we have 15 minutes total
2:00:31 to answer all five of my questions if we get through them.
2:00:34 So my first question is what is the most important part
2:00:37 of the superintendent’s job and why?
2:00:40 - Well, the most important part as far as board
2:00:43 and superintendent relations or just in general,
2:00:45 the most important part.
2:00:46 - Just what is the most important part
2:00:48 of the superintendent’s job and why?
2:00:51 - To keep the focus on the students in the classroom.
2:00:53 Every decision we make has to be to support them.
2:00:56 In my written response to one of the questions earlier,
2:00:59 I said the role of the central office
2:01:00 is to support the teacher in the classroom.
2:01:02 So every decision we make has to be based
2:01:04 on what’s best for the kids in the classroom,
2:01:06 the teachers that are serving them.
2:01:07 And as a superintendent,
2:01:09 I need to keep pointing everybody in that direction.
2:01:11 Sometimes staff members, sometimes board members
2:01:15 might focus on a certain area, a certain thing and say,
2:01:18 we gotta go do this, we gotta go do that.
2:01:20 And we always have to weigh,
2:01:21 is that what’s in the best interest
2:01:22 of the kids in the classroom?
2:01:23 Is that what’s in the best interest of the teaching,
2:01:25 the learning and instruction going on in the classroom?
2:01:28 So in some ways, the superintendent
2:01:32 is the CEO of the organization.
2:01:34 They are tasked with driving the ship
2:01:37 or navigating through the waters,
2:01:38 however you wanna say it,
2:01:40 responding to the wishes of board corporate,
2:01:44 the board as a whole, and also responding to the needs,
2:01:48 wants, desires of the organization itself,
2:01:52 of the staff that’s in the organization,
2:01:54 of the students and of the community.
2:01:57 But I think in a lot of spaces,
2:02:02 the superintendent’s main job is to make sure
2:02:04 we keep the focus on what’s going on in the classroom.
2:02:06 - Thank you.
2:02:08 Based on your knowledge of our system,
2:02:09 and you have an advantage on this
2:02:11 ‘cause you have firsthand knowledge being in the system,
2:02:14 what do you believe should be the top two priorities
2:02:16 for our school district?
2:02:19 - Yeah, I certainly do have a unique perspective
2:02:21 having worked at the district office outside,
2:02:24 having worked in our school district before,
2:02:27 and now back, working as a building level principal,
2:02:30 I see a lot of different things,
2:02:31 tell a lot of different viewpoints
2:02:33 than maybe somebody else.
2:02:36 The two priorities I would focus on
2:02:38 are student achievement and staffing.
2:02:41 Student achievement, you all got a presentation
2:02:45 on some data a couple months ago at a board workshop,
2:02:48 and you had seen some data,
2:02:49 I believe Dr. Mullins presented some data back in the fall.
2:02:52 And I did some analysis based on looking at
2:02:56 from a different lens.
2:02:58 So income level is often associated
2:03:03 with academic performance.
2:03:06 Whether you believe it’s a causal factor
2:03:08 or just correlational, income level
2:03:10 or level of free and reduced lunch or level of poverty
2:03:13 is always tied to academic achievement.
2:03:17 And so I looked at our district in terms of income level
2:03:21 compared to the other districts in the state,
2:03:23 67 other districts in the state.
2:03:26 I got some information
2:03:27 from the Florida Department of Health,
2:03:28 and it’s elementary students
2:03:31 who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
2:03:33 I picked the elementary level
2:03:34 because at the secondary level,
2:03:35 a lot of kids don’t fill out the forms.
2:03:38 They don’t necessarily want to be embarrassed or whatever.
2:03:42 So the most reliable data is elementary school data.
2:03:45 And we’re 13th from the top,
2:03:49 or we’re the 13th least poor district.
2:03:54 I.e., so out of 67, we’re 13th least poor
2:04:00 or with the 13th least percentage of free and reduced lunch.
2:04:04 You could flip that around and say
2:04:05 we’re the 13th most wealthy district
2:04:09 if you want to try and say that.
2:04:10 Either way, 13th.
2:04:12 And if you are looking at our performance
2:04:15 and you’re saying that income level
2:04:18 is often correlated to performance,
2:04:21 then we should be in the top 13 in every category
2:04:24 when compared to the other districts around the state.
2:04:27 We are not.
2:04:29 In the last few years, in most of those other metrics,
2:04:31 we’re in the 20s.
2:04:34 Graduation rate, we’re much lower than that.
2:04:37 So if we are theoretically the 13th least poor district
2:04:42 in the state, how come we’re not performing up in the teens?
2:04:46 For example, the last time we had,
2:04:49 when the school district is graded
2:04:51 and you get your points, percentage points possible
2:04:53 to be an A district and that kind of thing,
2:04:56 the last time we were close to 13 was in 15, 16.
2:04:59 I believe we were 14th in points earned
2:05:03 to earn a district grade of A,
2:05:05 which we were an A that year, but we were 14th.
2:05:08 The last few years that we received grades,
2:05:10 we’ve been in the 20s.
2:05:12 So we’re not where we need to be.
2:05:14 Now, is Brevard Public Schools not performing well?
2:05:17 We’re performing well, but not where we need to be.
2:05:21 So we need to start looking at the other districts
2:05:24 and see how they’re doing
2:05:25 and why are we not doing as well as them.
2:05:28 Some of the data that was presented to you,
2:05:32 the impression was that we are back to where we were
2:05:35 before the pandemic, or very close to back to where we were
2:05:38 before the pandemic.
2:05:41 I looked at St. John’s, Seminole, and Orange.
2:05:44 St. John’s, ‘cause right now they’re number one.
2:05:46 They’re number one in all the metrics.
2:05:48 And Seminole and Orange,
2:05:49 because we used to always look at Seminole and Orange.
2:05:52 They’re somewhat neighboring districts.
2:05:54 Seminole, I don’t know if we shared a contiguous boundary,
2:05:57 but they’re right there.
2:05:58 Similar in makeup and stuff like that.
2:06:00 And Seminole outperforms us every year
2:06:04 and actually have a higher rate of pre-reduced lunch.
2:06:07 And Orange, usually we’re slightly above Orange,
2:06:10 but they have a significantly higher percent
2:06:13 of pre-reduced lunch.
2:06:15 The one thing I noticed about those other districts though,
2:06:18 is they are not only back up
2:06:20 to where they were pre-pandemic,
2:06:22 they’re a little bit above where they were pre-pandemic
2:06:26 in a lot of categories, not all, but in a lot.
2:06:29 So why are we not there?
2:06:31 So one of the top two priorities is
2:06:33 we need to boost our academic achievement.
2:06:35 We need to get back to gunning for the top spot
2:06:38 in the state.
2:06:39 When I was fortunate to be named principal
2:06:42 at Titusville High School,
2:06:44 Dr. DePatrie was the superintendent
2:06:46 and the mantra at the time was first in Florida.
2:06:49 And then once we thought we got to first in Florida,
2:06:51 I think it was first in the nation or anything like that.
2:06:54 But our focus,
2:06:57 like some of the data that was presented to you was
2:07:00 versus the state average.
2:07:02 Are we above the state average?
2:07:04 Well, if we’re 13th least poor,
2:07:07 then we shouldn’t be looking at the state average,
2:07:09 we should be looking at the top 10.
2:07:12 Are we in the top 10, top 15?
2:07:14 Because average would be like 33.
2:07:18 So I would shift our focus on trying to,
2:07:23 I want to say chase,
2:07:24 but measure ourselves against some of these other districts
2:07:26 that are performing higher than us.
2:07:28 Why aren’t they,
2:07:29 they experienced the same pandemic challenges that we did.
2:07:32 Why are they performing better than us?
2:07:35 And so that’s the first one.
2:07:36 The second one is staffing.
2:07:38 I think everybody knows that there is a teacher shortage
2:07:40 across the country.
2:07:42 There’s also a bus driver shortage across the country.
2:07:45 I watched the presentation the other day
2:07:47 that we’re being creative with some other job types,
2:07:49 work from home, stuff like that.
2:07:51 So the second priority is,
2:07:53 how do we get all of our classrooms filled
2:07:56 with high quality teachers?
2:07:57 How do we get all of our bus routes covered
2:07:59 with bus drivers?
2:08:00 How do we fill every position that we have in the district?
2:08:02 I don’t know if I have the answers,
2:08:04 but you said what were the two priorities?
2:08:05 So one is boosting our academic achievement
2:08:07 and trying to get back to where we’re shooting
2:08:09 for the first in Florida
2:08:11 or the top performing districts in Florida
2:08:14 and finding a way to staff every open position.
2:08:18 And part of that’s keeping the people that you have.
2:08:21 We need to make sure
2:08:22 that we’re doing an active recruiting program.
2:08:25 We’re going out trying to find these employees,
2:08:28 being creative using LinkedIn and Indeed
2:08:32 and all these different things
2:08:32 that we didn’t ever have to do,
2:08:34 but also we need to keep the people we have.
2:08:37 Retention rate, when I was in Indian River,
2:08:39 we were able to increase our retention rate
2:08:41 the last two years I was superintendent
2:08:43 and a lot of that was working conditions.
2:08:45 So let’s find out what we can do
2:08:47 to improve our working conditions
2:08:49 and keep our people employed.
2:08:51 - Thank you.
2:08:52 How would you ensure that board members
2:08:54 have the information they need before being asked
2:08:56 to make a vote on an issue of concern?
2:08:59 - Yeah, over communicate.
2:09:01 You need to make sure that you guys have all the facts,
2:09:03 all the time.
2:09:05 And so that’s gonna be a thing that we develop
2:09:09 some kind of relationship
2:09:11 between superintendent and board member.
2:09:13 Is it phone calls?
2:09:14 Is it texts?
2:09:15 Is it face-to-face meetings?
2:09:17 How do we get information to you?
2:09:19 How do you want it presented and things like that?
2:09:22 If ever there’s some kind of crisis in the district,
2:09:25 you guys need to know almost as soon as I know,
2:09:28 ‘cause you’re gonna be asked questions by the community.
2:09:30 Hey, what’s going on at this school?
2:09:32 I heard this or I heard that.
2:09:33 And you need to have the information
2:09:36 probably right after me.
2:09:38 Aside from whoever needs to respond to it,
2:09:41 I use security or student services or whatever,
2:09:44 but there shouldn’t be any surprises.
2:09:47 I would hope that you wouldn’t get a call
2:09:49 from a reporter or a community member
2:09:52 and they say, hey, what’s going on at school X
2:09:54 or I heard this is happening
2:09:56 and for you to not know is not acceptable.
2:10:00 So it’s just over communicate.
2:10:02 But we have to develop some kind of mechanism
2:10:05 that is effective with each of you,
2:10:09 whether that’s immediate cell phone calls
2:10:11 or emails or whatever.
2:10:14 But as far as big items that are on the board agenda,
2:10:17 we need to make sure we share all the facets
2:10:19 of what’s gonna be presented at a board meeting
2:10:21 before the board meeting.
2:10:23 Brevard has a really good pattern
2:10:25 of bringing stuff and information before action
2:10:28 and stuff like that.
2:10:29 I’ve worked in other districts where everything,
2:10:31 you saw it for the first time at the board meeting
2:10:33 and that’s not fair.
2:10:35 So we would try to make sure
2:10:36 that you have all the information about anything
2:10:39 that you’re gonna be asked to consider
2:10:41 and then obviously going back
2:10:42 to those emergency situations, it’s just over communicate.
2:10:44 Share as much information as possible
2:10:46 with the people who need to know.
2:10:48 - Thank you.
2:10:50 Describe what you believe to be the ideal
2:10:52 working relationship with the school board
2:10:54 and when you have an adversarial situation
2:10:56 with a board member, how would you resolve that?
2:11:00 - Yeah, so you wanna build trust.
2:11:01 I mean, the first thing is you wanna build trust.
2:11:03 It can be a working relationship.
2:11:05 The two people don’t necessarily have to like each other
2:11:07 or anything like that, but they have to trust each other.
2:11:09 That what each is sharing is the truth
2:11:13 with no hidden agenda or anything like that
2:11:15 and that we’re working together
2:11:17 for the betterment of the kids,
2:11:18 the betterment of the district and things like that.
2:11:19 If there is some breakdown in that relationship or whatever,
2:11:24 then you just gotta keep trying to repair it.
2:11:27 You gotta keep trying and trying and trying
2:11:28 to make sure that the two of you,
2:11:30 it takes two to have effective communication,
2:11:33 but that both people are bought in
2:11:35 and both people understand the mission at hand
2:11:38 and that’s to make decisions on the best interests
2:11:41 of the kids and the district and the teachers
2:11:42 and not get involved or off topic with something
2:11:46 that a personal issue or something like that.
2:11:49 It’s a business relationship and it needs to be that,
2:11:52 but for it to be effective,
2:11:54 there has to be some level of trust.
2:11:56 You don’t have to like each other necessarily.
2:11:58 I mean, I would hope everybody likes us, but.
2:12:01 - Thank you.
2:12:03 What are the first three things that you’re going to do
2:12:06 if you were hired as the superintendent?
2:12:08 - You actually have an action plan
2:12:10 that I’m gonna leave with you.
2:12:12 If you remember last time I gave you a notebook,
2:12:13 so I got another notebook for you.
2:12:15 There’s actually, the action plan has five action steps.
2:12:18 The first one is relationship building.
2:12:20 So the first thing I’m gonna do is meet
2:12:22 with every principal for a one-on-one interview
2:12:26 and every district level staff member
2:12:28 from director on a one-on-one interview this summer.
2:12:31 I have done that at every building
2:12:33 that I’ve been a principal of.
2:12:34 I even did it as a superintendent in Indian River County.
2:12:38 This is the notebook right here
2:12:40 of all the interviews from Cocoa Beach.
2:12:43 So the first summer I got to Cocoa Beach,
2:12:45 I scheduled interviews over the summer
2:12:46 with all the staff members and sat down with them
2:12:48 for an hour and asked them for their input.
2:12:50 You know, what’s going well at the school?
2:12:52 What’s not going well at the school?
2:12:53 What can we do differently?
2:12:55 I did the same thing as the superintendent in Indian River.
2:12:58 It seems like a Herculean task,
2:12:59 but if you schedule it right, you can do it.
2:13:03 I need to know the perspective of all these people involved.
2:13:07 I need to start developing relationships
2:13:08 with all these people.
2:13:09 So as we’re working together going forward,
2:13:13 I know a little bit about them, where they’re coming from,
2:13:15 what their needs are, how they’re feeling about,
2:13:18 the direction of the district, their school,
2:13:20 that kind of thing.
2:13:21 So that’s the first thing
2:13:22 is this relationship building phase.
2:13:24 Now, that’s inside the district.
2:13:26 Outside the district,
2:13:27 as part of the relationship building phase,
2:13:30 I have to immerse myself in a lot of these civic groups
2:13:32 and local organizations.
2:13:34 I know Dr. Mullins was really good at that.
2:13:36 He had a lot of relationships with the different chambers,
2:13:40 with the different community agencies and organizations.
2:13:43 I’m a member of Rotary and Cocoa Beach.
2:13:45 I would go visit more Rotary clubs now than just Cocoa Beach
2:13:48 and be involved in the chamber meetings,
2:13:51 develop relationship with the local legislative delegation,
2:13:54 start to see how we can work together
2:13:56 to improve things in the environment.
2:13:58 So that’s action step one.
2:14:00 Action step two is an academic progress check.
2:14:03 I feel like we need to take a look
2:14:04 at where we are performing.
2:14:07 One thing that I don’t think I saw anywhere,
2:14:10 I tried to scan all the board workshops and meetings
2:14:13 and I didn’t get to watch them all,
2:14:15 but I tried to scan the agendas and everything
2:14:17 is I don’t know that you guys got a data update mid-year
2:14:23 on our performance this year.
2:14:25 The data presentations that you got were last year’s data.
2:14:29 Sometimes I call that cadaver data.
2:14:31 It’s dead data, it’s last year’s data.
2:14:33 That body’s already cold.
2:14:34 We have data now with the FAST assessment, PM1, PM2.
2:14:39 We have formative assessment data.
2:14:41 So we can do a progress check of where we are right now.
2:14:45 So I need to do that.
2:14:47 As soon as we get in, we need to see
2:14:49 what was our PM1 data, what’s our PM2 data.
2:14:52 And of course, by the time the person would become
2:14:56 superintendent, I guess we might have PM3 data,
2:14:58 which is the end of the year data.
2:14:59 But we need to be doing a better job
2:15:02 of checking our academic progress as we’re going.
2:15:05 And then the third thing, well, the third of the five
2:15:08 is a review of the organizational structure.
2:15:11 Serving as a principal for the last four years here
2:15:15 in Brevard, our organizational structure is different
2:15:18 than when I served here before.
2:15:21 I’m not sure this organizational structure
2:15:23 is the most effective.
2:15:25 It might be, but I’m not sure from my perspective
2:15:28 as a principal, it did not seem to be.
2:15:31 So I would take a look at our organizational structure,
2:15:33 our flow chart, our organizational chart,
2:15:35 who does what, who’s responsible for what,
2:15:37 and perhaps bring some changes to the board for that.
2:15:40 If after reviewing it, I thought there needed to be changes.
2:15:44 I think the RSM audit about discipline
2:15:47 did reveal some things that this organizational structure
2:15:51 were limiting.
2:15:53 And so that’s one of the things I would check.
2:15:55 Those are the first three of the five.
2:15:57 (muffled speaking)
2:16:01 - We had 30 to 40 minutes last time,
2:16:03 so I’m willing to just pause it and keep asking questions.
2:16:07 Go ahead, all right?
2:16:07 - I only have one last question, so okay.
2:16:10 What’s your favorite football team?
2:16:12 - Pros, it’s the Dallas Cowboys.
2:16:14 - Okay.
2:16:14 - And that’s ‘cause when I was 10 years old,
2:16:16 I was living in Austin, Texas, and they won the Super Bowl.
2:16:19 So I was kind of forced.
2:16:20 - Okay, thank you, thank you for your answers.
2:16:22 I appreciate them.
2:16:24 - You didn’t say college.
2:16:26 - James Madison University, that’s my alma mater
2:16:28 for my bachelor’s degree.
2:16:30 They are becoming a power in the group of five.
2:16:35 - So just to warn you going forward,
2:16:36 after every single person goes,
2:16:38 we’re gonna ask you a ridiculous icebreaker,
2:16:40 ‘cause that’s the thing we just started.
2:16:42 - I love it, okay, I love that.
2:16:44 - It lightens the atmosphere a bit.
2:16:46 - Love it.
2:16:49 - Okay, it’s my turn.
2:16:50 So I have academic achievement.
2:16:54 So currently there is a significant achievement gap
2:16:57 for minority students and students with disabilities
2:16:59 when compared to white and non-disabled peers.
2:17:02 What specific steps would you take
2:17:03 to ensure academic success is distributed equitably
2:17:06 across our district?
2:17:08 - Yeah, we need to know what supports we’re providing
2:17:10 all the different subgroups.
2:17:12 And if those supports aren’t being effective,
2:17:13 then why aren’t they being effective?
2:17:15 Is it implementation?
2:17:17 Is it a lack of knowledge and training
2:17:18 of the people providing those supports?
2:17:21 For example, we use the tiered support model here.
2:17:24 So schools with higher needs receive more district support.
2:17:27 So is that district support effective?
2:17:30 And the way to ensure that is just checking your data.
2:17:33 You gotta be checking your data on a constant basis.
2:17:35 So the elementary schools use iReady.
2:17:38 iReady data is available all the time.
2:17:39 Like as soon as a kid takes an assessment,
2:17:41 you have a way to check that data
2:17:43 and see if they’re progressing or not.
2:17:45 The secondary school is now going back to what I said before
2:17:47 with PM1, PM2 data, you can check and see
2:17:51 if you’re making progress during the year.
2:17:53 So the thing to do is to sit down
2:17:55 with each of those individual schools
2:17:56 and talk about what their academic achievement plan is.
2:18:00 And so for their minority students, so to speak,
2:18:03 what extra supports are they putting in place
2:18:05 for anybody who’s not performing at grade level?
2:18:08 Is it a tier two level instruction support
2:18:10 or is it a tier three level support?
2:18:12 And is it being effective?
2:18:14 When I was here before serving as a principal,
2:18:17 we had to have an academic achievement plan every year
2:18:21 in that pursuit of being in any school.
2:18:23 And we need to go back to requiring that.
2:18:26 I wanna see it on paper, I wanna see what you’re doing
2:18:28 for these different populations.
2:18:30 And it wouldn’t necessarily be me, the superintendent,
2:18:32 meeting with you initially as a principal,
2:18:34 but it’d be your supervisor.
2:18:36 And the idea is you need to track that data
2:18:38 all the way through.
2:18:39 Are these supports being effective or not?
2:18:41 One of the things that we did in Indian River
2:18:43 was we saw that our minority students
2:18:47 were underrepresented in advanced coursework.
2:18:50 I believe in that philosophy.
2:18:51 If you raise expectations and provide supports,
2:18:54 then people will meet those expectations.
2:18:57 So we had a lot of students in our schools,
2:18:59 in our two high schools,
2:19:00 Sebastian River and Bureau Beach High,
2:19:02 that had the capability, the potential,
2:19:04 to be in either AP, IB, or dual enrollment courses,
2:19:07 and they were not.
2:19:09 And so we attacked that data,
2:19:11 we brought in a consulting group
2:19:14 that helped us identify students
2:19:15 who should probably be in advanced coursework and weren’t.
2:19:20 And then we identified all those families,
2:19:24 identified all those students,
2:19:25 then met with the families and said,
2:19:26 “Hey, we really think your son or daughter
2:19:27 “has potential to take an AP class,
2:19:29 “or should be in dual enrollment,
2:19:30 “or should be in the IB program at Sebastian River.”
2:19:34 And these were mostly underrepresented populations,
2:19:36 minority populations,
2:19:37 and we actually had to do some convincing
2:19:41 of some of those populations
2:19:43 that it was good for their children
2:19:44 to be exposed to advanced level coursework.
2:19:47 And then we also had to meet with the teachers
2:19:49 and talk about, “We’re gonna expand access.
2:19:52 “We’re gonna expand access to these courses,
2:19:55 “and we’re gonna support these kids
2:19:56 “as we expand this access.”
2:19:58 So, I mean, it’s in the resume.
2:20:00 I don’t know if I can quote the numbers right,
2:20:02 but when we decided to do that,
2:20:04 we expanded access not just to the minority kids,
2:20:08 but also to all kids.
2:20:10 So, in other words,
2:20:11 the number of white students participating
2:20:13 in advanced studies courses increased,
2:20:16 the number of African American,
2:20:17 the number of Hispanic, number of Asian students,
2:20:19 all the subgroups increased as we opened access.
2:20:23 And one of the things we did with the teachers
2:20:24 is we made sure they understood
2:20:26 that we know that sometimes when you open access like that
2:20:28 and you provide higher level coursework,
2:20:31 more challenging coursework to someone
2:20:32 who may not have been exposed to that,
2:20:34 there may be a drop in performance,
2:20:36 and that we were gonna support them in that.
2:20:38 We weren’t gonna say, “Oh, you’re an AP teacher,
2:20:40 “and you used to have a 90% pass rate on the AP exam,
2:20:43 “and now you’re only at 80%.
2:20:45 “We’re gonna knock you down on your evaluation.”
2:20:47 Like, “No, no, we’re doing this.
2:20:50 “We’re asking you to take on kids
2:20:53 “who may not have been in these classes before,
2:20:55 “and we’re gonna support you.”
2:20:57 What we found is the performance only dropped slightly
2:21:01 in almost every one of those AP dual enrollment, IB courses.
2:21:06 The hard science is where we saw more of a drop,
2:21:08 like so AP chemistry or AP calculus.
2:21:12 But in, I wanna say the softer AP classes,
2:21:15 but AP American history, AP Lit, AP Lang,
2:21:19 we didn’t see as much of a drop.
2:21:21 And part of it was because we got the teachers in the room
2:21:24 and talked to them about why we were trying to do this.
2:21:25 We were trying to expand access.
2:21:28 These kids were all level three or higher
2:21:31 on the FSA at the time, so they had potential.
2:21:34 They weren’t in these advanced courses, and why not?
2:21:38 And so, the numbers, I believe the average overall
2:21:44 went from one in five students were in an advanced course
2:21:48 to the last year, one in three overall.
2:21:51 One in three high school students
2:21:52 was in an advanced course.
2:21:55 And I believe for the African-American students,
2:21:57 it went from like one in eight to one in five.
2:22:02 And then the others, I mean, it’s on the resume
2:22:04 and I can dig it up if you need.
2:22:06 But the idea was we saw, hey, this is a need.
2:22:09 We wanna attack it.
2:22:10 We have some underrepresented kids here
2:22:12 that should be in these advanced level courses.
2:22:14 Being in those advanced level courses
2:22:16 is gonna prepare them for whatever they’re gonna do
2:22:17 after high school, whether it’s go to college or not.
2:22:19 And if it is to go to college,
2:22:20 then it’s gonna better prepare them,
2:22:21 and it’s gonna better prepare their application,
2:22:24 their chances of getting into college.
2:22:25 So, you know, that again was something we saw.
2:22:29 We weren’t performing as well as we needed to be,
2:22:31 and we figured out a way to improve that.
2:22:35 - Thank you.
2:22:36 Okay, do you tell what you’ve done in the past
2:22:39 and what you would do to facilitate an increase
2:22:41 in third grade reading proficiency rates?
2:22:43 - Yeah, so in Indian River, when I arrived,
2:22:45 there was already a focus on third grade reading proficiency
2:22:48 in that we’d identified it as a focus.
2:22:51 There was actually a nonprofit there
2:22:52 called the Learning Alliance that was working with schools
2:22:56 to try and improve third grade reading proficiency.
2:22:59 Third grade is that grade where you switch
2:23:01 from learning to read to reading to learn.
2:23:03 It’s the beginning of reading comprehension.
2:23:04 So it is the key.
2:23:05 It’s like the gatekeeper.
2:23:06 That’s why the state identified third grade
2:23:09 as the grade you’re gonna be retained,
2:23:11 possibly if you don’t perform well
2:23:13 on the state standardized assessment.
2:23:15 So working with the Learning Alliance,
2:23:17 we tried some things with primary grades,
2:23:20 reading instruction, and the thing that we found
2:23:22 that worked the best was the 3GI.
2:23:27 3GI is a third grade interventionist.
2:23:29 So most elementary schools in the past,
2:23:31 and it might be different here
2:23:32 and it might be different now,
2:23:36 you have a literacy coach.
2:23:38 And the literacy coach is tasked
2:23:40 with improving reading instruction, so to speak,
2:23:43 across all grade levels.
2:23:45 So elementary schools here,
2:23:46 we have seven grade levels, K through six.
2:23:48 Down there, we had five, six, K through five.
2:23:51 So your literacy coach meets with teachers
2:23:55 and shows them how to improve their instruction
2:23:58 and maybe comes into a classroom
2:24:00 and does a sample lesson or something like that.
2:24:02 But the literacy coach is usually focused
2:24:04 on working with teachers
2:24:06 and working across, again, sixth grade spans.
2:24:10 What we did is we took that literacy coach unit
2:24:12 and that literacy coach
2:24:14 and assigned them to third grade only,
2:24:17 and they were titled third grade interventionists.
2:24:19 And instead of working with teachers across grade levels,
2:24:22 they only worked with the third grade teachers.
2:24:24 And in fact, they spent more time
2:24:26 working with the third grade students.
2:24:28 So they would go into those third grade classrooms
2:24:30 and do small groups.
2:24:31 Now, these were literacy coaches,
2:24:33 so they were reading endorsed or reading trained.
2:24:35 So they were making a big impact
2:24:38 directly in the classroom with students in third grade,
2:24:41 not trying to make an impact across all grade levels.
2:24:44 So in the four years that we were in Indian River,
2:24:47 the four years I was in Indian River,
2:24:49 we moved third grade reading proficiency from 53% to 60%.
2:24:54 So a 7% increase district-wide with the three GIs.
2:24:59 There were a couple underrepresented,
2:25:01 underperforming schools like Fellsmere Elementary
2:25:03 that had a really challenging population,
2:25:06 and they saw a 14% increase over that time
2:25:09 in their reading proficiency in third grade.
2:25:12 So the idea was you took this resource
2:25:13 that was kind of spread out amongst five or six grade levels,
2:25:17 concentrated it down to one grade level,
2:25:19 and you impacted the students more so
2:25:22 than the other classroom teachers’ instructions,
2:25:25 and that had a direct payoff in third grade.
2:25:28 The idea is if they are proficient readers in third grade,
2:25:31 they’re gonna be more successful down the road.
2:25:33 So we invested in third grade.
2:25:36 Now, the schools that had title money,
2:25:38 they would hire an additional literacy coach
2:25:40 and make them like a first and second grade interventionist,
2:25:43 maybe even K-1-2.
2:25:45 So some of the higher poverty schools
2:25:46 that had additional money, Title I, they did that.
2:25:51 I did notice that Indian River’s third grade proficiency
2:25:56 was 60% post-pandemic last year, or two years ago,
2:26:01 first year post-pandemic, and last year,
2:26:04 I think they were 58, so they tripped a little,
2:26:06 but that’s not the drop that other districts,
2:26:09 including us, have seen in third grade pre-post-pandemic.
2:26:14 So I believe they’re still using the 3GI model
2:26:17 in Indian River, and it’s still paying dividends.
2:26:25 - Describe a situation, oops, sorry.
2:26:28 Describe a situation where you were clearly instrumental
2:26:31 in facilitating a change in the way
2:26:33 career and college readiness was approached
2:26:35 in your district, or your school.
2:26:38 How was the change meaningful and/or successful?
2:26:41 What measures were used to determine the success
2:26:43 of the change initiative?
2:26:45 - Yeah, so a couple different things.
2:26:47 At Cocoa Beach, we just jumped our CCR rate.
2:26:50 I think you guys might have got that from last year.
2:26:53 Anyway, we had the highest increase
2:26:54 in all of our high schools, and we’re right behind
2:26:56 West Shore and Edgewood, which is where we should be,
2:26:59 or above them.
2:27:00 But by really focusing on with the counselors
2:27:03 and talking about, okay, what of our kids,
2:27:05 of course, can our kids be taken that they’re not taking
2:27:08 to make sure they are a completer,
2:27:10 make sure they’re ready to go.
2:27:12 The other part of it is putting in programs.
2:27:14 And this is what we did in Indian River,
2:27:15 is we looked at each of the two high schools
2:27:18 to see what programs could be added
2:27:21 if there was a need there.
2:27:23 And that’s when we added the Embry-Riddle
2:27:25 Aeronautical Program, the Gates Aerospace Institute
2:27:28 that we added at Vero Beach High School
2:27:30 and Sebastian River High School.
2:27:32 That’s a completer program, that’s a CCR program.
2:27:35 So not only are they gonna be getting fantastic,
2:27:38 crazy, good, fun instruction, learning how
2:27:41 to either operate an unmanned aerial vehicle, a drone,
2:27:44 or they can actually sit in a simulator
2:27:47 and learn how to fly a plane.
2:27:49 So we found some high wage, high need, high tech jobs needs
2:27:55 and a program that met those needs.
2:27:57 And that served the population that wasn’t getting served
2:28:01 in CCR, College and Career Readiness before.
2:28:05 The other thing is we went down to the middle schools
2:28:08 to make sure that we were doing things
2:28:09 in the middle schools, intro to tech, intro to engineering,
2:28:12 to get them ready for some of that stuff
2:28:14 when they get to high school.
2:28:18 - Okay, what do you feel is the single most important piece
2:28:21 of data that will drive our district forward?
2:28:24 - Yeah, I think that the one that we’re measured
2:28:27 by the most is graduation rate
2:28:28 because that’s the K-12 measure.
2:28:31 A lot of times high schools get either the praise and glory
2:28:36 or the criticism for the graduation rate,
2:28:41 but in reality, it’s a four year cohort graduation rate.
2:28:44 And so in order for them to graduate in four years,
2:28:46 they need to be prepared when they get to ninth grade.
2:28:49 So that’s why it’s a K-12 measure.
2:28:51 You know, if we’ve done our job in kindergarten,
2:28:53 elementary, middle school, when they get to high school,
2:28:56 they should be able to, they should have the skills
2:28:58 and knowledge in ninth grade that they should be successful
2:29:01 all the way through.
2:29:03 So graduation rate is probably the one
2:29:05 that is the easiest to look at to measure
2:29:08 whether we’re being successful or not.
2:29:11 I argue that there’s more than one though.
2:29:12 I don’t know how you can go to just one.
2:29:15 Third grade proficiency, like we talked about already,
2:29:18 third grade ELA proficiency is kind of the predictor.
2:29:21 You know, if you’re not a proficient reader,
2:29:23 when you exit third grade,
2:29:24 your chances of being successful go down,
2:29:27 diminish measurably.
2:29:30 So I think third grade would be,
2:29:32 third grade reading proficiency would be one
2:29:33 that I would also take a look at.
2:29:35 And then CCR actually is great
2:29:37 because that’s telling you whether we’re getting kids ready
2:29:40 for something after high school.
2:29:42 And so our CCR rate actually should be very close
2:29:46 to our graduation rate.
2:29:47 I think that would be the goal,
2:29:49 to try to make sure that our college
2:29:50 and career readiness rate is as high as our graduation rate.
2:29:53 ‘Cause if we’re graduating them
2:29:55 and they are not a CCR completer,
2:29:59 then are they really ready for life after high school?
2:30:02 So sorry, not just one, but three.
2:30:03 Graduation rate, third grade proficiency and CCR.
2:30:08 - How much time do I have left?
2:30:10 Good?
2:30:11 Okay, all right, thank you.
2:30:14 Based on what you know of our school system,
2:30:16 what do you think is the greatest potential for improvement
2:30:20 and where are our greatest opportunities?
2:30:24 - Yeah, I think we have
2:30:24 a lot of business partner opportunities.
2:30:27 I think at the secondary level,
2:30:29 we could do some more business partnerships.
2:30:31 We talked a little bit about getting kids ready
2:30:34 for their next step after high school.
2:30:36 So I think we could tap into the industry that’s here.
2:30:39 I mentioned it and I think one of my video responses
2:30:42 that we’re the Space Coast,
2:30:43 we have this booming industry right here
2:30:45 and we need to be the providers of that human capital.
2:30:50 So I think with such a supportive community,
2:30:53 but also such a robust industrial complex,
2:30:57 that’s where we should be looking to make some partnerships.
2:30:59 So how can all these different companies,
2:31:04 these agencies partner with us?
2:31:07 How can we partner with them?
2:31:09 Is it kind of like the NASA Hunch Program,
2:31:12 where kids go in the summer
2:31:14 and they get experience right there working at NASA.
2:31:17 Can we do that with these other industries,
2:31:20 with SpaceX and Blue Origin, with L3Harris, with Grumman,
2:31:25 with all the different agencies that are here?
2:31:26 I think we’re uniquely positioned
2:31:29 to have all of that available right here.
2:31:32 I don’t know we’re tapping into it as much.
2:31:34 So you asked what resource or opportunity,
2:31:37 I think that’s one.
2:31:39 I was just at Viera Elementary just this morning.
2:31:42 That was my tour.
2:31:43 And I got to see their STEM lab
2:31:46 and their STEM lab is supported by, I think she said Grumman.
2:31:50 And so it’s not just secondary
2:31:53 where these partnerships can be.
2:31:55 It’s all throughout the school system.
2:31:58 Their STEM lab was phenomenal.
2:32:00 And a lot of that was support by a business partner.
2:32:04 And so I think that’s an opportunity
2:32:07 that we need to tap into much, much more.
2:32:12 - Thank you.
2:32:15 Oh, sorry, I’m sorry.
2:32:16 What’s your favorite ice cream?
2:32:18 That was mine, right?
2:32:19 Okay, thank you.
2:32:21 - Actually, there’s a soft serve ice cream place
2:32:24 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, James Madison,
2:32:26 soft serve ice cream place there, Del’s Freeze.
2:32:28 And they do a peanut butter chocolate combo
2:32:31 that is just phenomenal.
2:32:36 - All right, thank you, Mr. Rendell.
2:32:38 Mine’s workforce.
2:32:40 Mine, my questions move around exceptional workforce.
2:32:43 And there’s a couple here that talk about
2:32:45 not only retention recruitment and some of the other stuff.
2:32:49 What is your immediate plan for teacher substitute
2:32:51 and bus driver recruitment?
2:32:54 - Yeah, we need to see what types of recruiting strategies
2:32:57 we’re using and see if we can increase those,
2:32:59 bump those up.
2:33:00 Like I said, indeed, the other online portals,
2:33:04 we need to do that as much as possible.
2:33:06 But I think we’ve held held one or two career fairs
2:33:10 this year out in the community.
2:33:12 I think we need to do that more.
2:33:14 We need to go out and hold these career fairs
2:33:16 in the communities, job fairs in the community.
2:33:18 So we’re looking for bus drivers.
2:33:20 We can hold a bus driver fair
2:33:22 in different community spots around the district.
2:33:25 I believe we’ve done one or two of those.
2:33:26 I think they should just be a regular thing
2:33:28 that we do all the time.
2:33:30 I think we also need to talk to the people
2:33:33 that we have in those positions
2:33:34 and say, why are you in this position?
2:33:36 So that we can then advertise that to other people.
2:33:39 You know, what are the benefits of being a bus driver?
2:33:42 What are the benefits of being in a support staff position
2:33:45 or anything like that?
2:33:46 Obviously with teaching the same thing,
2:33:47 we need to find out from our teachers,
2:33:49 what is it that makes them want to come to work every day
2:33:52 so that we can ensure that we maintain that,
2:33:54 we bolster that, we support that,
2:33:56 but we can use that as a recruiting tool.
2:33:58 Hey, you know, have you considered a career in teaching
2:34:01 because of this or that?
2:34:02 But I think the concrete answer
2:34:05 to the beginning of the question about,
2:34:07 we just need to go out and try and recruit
2:34:09 more in different places than maybe we’re recruiting
2:34:12 and try different means and methods.
2:34:15 - Next question is,
2:34:18 how do you make sure professional development programs
2:34:20 and initiatives have impacted the knowledge, skills
2:34:22 and practices of educators?
2:34:25 - Yeah, ask them, you know, ask them.
2:34:27 Go out and talk to them about, you know,
2:34:29 after you’ve had this training,
2:34:30 how are you using this in the classroom?
2:34:32 And people will be honest.
2:34:33 They’ll tell you whether they’re using it or not.
2:34:35 And we probably need to find a different tool
2:34:39 than the online survey.
2:34:41 You know, those are,
2:34:43 I fill out the online surveys after my trainings
2:34:46 and I’m not sure that that’s my best feedback.
2:34:51 So I think we really need to talk to people.
2:34:54 I really do.
2:34:55 I really think you need to get in front of them in person
2:34:58 and say, hey, you went to this training last week on such,
2:35:01 how are you using it in your classroom?
2:35:03 Is it beneficial?
2:35:04 And if they are using it in the classroom,
2:35:06 then that’s a validation that that training was worthwhile
2:35:09 or spending money on.
2:35:11 If they’re not, then ask them why.
2:35:13 Is it because you still don’t feel comfortable
2:35:14 with that new teaching technique or strategy?
2:35:16 Is it because you don’t think it’s effective?
2:35:20 And that would give us feedback on whether we should spend
2:35:21 money on that training in the future and things like that.
2:35:24 But I really think we need to talk to the people
2:35:28 that took the training, you know, the PD and say,
2:35:31 was it, is it effective?
2:35:32 Has it benefited you in your workplace?
2:35:35 And if not, then maybe we shouldn’t be doing that.
2:35:38 We’ll find something else.
2:35:39 - Okay, thank you.
2:35:40 Next question is what will any teacher’s organization union
2:35:44 that you have worked with tell us about you
2:35:46 and what would support staff organizations?
2:35:50 - Yeah, I think that it depends on what role
2:35:53 I was in at the time.
2:35:55 So for example, when I was deputy superintendent
2:35:57 in St. Lucie, I was the chief negotiator.
2:36:01 So at times, you know, the teacher’s union might say
2:36:03 that I was tough or something like that,
2:36:06 but I’ve always been fair.
2:36:07 I don’t think you’ll find any criticism from anybody
2:36:09 that I’m not fair.
2:36:11 And in most of the relationships with the different
2:36:13 bargaining units, it’s been very, very positive.
2:36:15 For example, when I was a building level principal,
2:36:18 always had a good relationship with the building rep
2:36:19 for BFT or the other organizations with 1010,
2:36:23 stuff like that.
2:36:24 Right now at Cocoa Beach have a really solid relationship
2:36:26 with my building rep.
2:36:28 We have a good relationship.
2:36:29 We, I don’t, you know, you can talk to, you know,
2:36:32 the BFT and see what they say,
2:36:34 but we used to do surveys years ago,
2:36:38 and I would always come out fairly positive
2:36:40 on those surveys from bargaining unit surveys
2:36:43 and stuff like that.
2:36:45 When I served in, and even as the deputy in St. Lucie,
2:36:50 there was a professional persona with the union
2:36:53 and then a personal persona with the union.
2:36:55 In other words, when we were going through negotiation,
2:36:57 sometimes it was all business and we’re not gonna,
2:37:00 you know, we’re not gonna agree to that,
2:37:01 and you’re not gonna agree to that,
2:37:03 and you’re a jerk and you’re a jerk, that kind of thing.
2:37:05 And then after the official meeting was over,
2:37:06 we’d go chat about, well, you know,
2:37:08 we can’t do this or we can’t do that and stuff like that.
2:37:10 So sometimes you might see a public persona that,
2:37:14 you know, in that official role of negotiating, you know,
2:37:18 but then the private role is,
2:37:20 we’re all in this for the same reason.
2:37:22 You know, we’re all in this to make the schools
2:37:23 the best places they can be.
2:37:24 We’re trying to provide the best education possible
2:37:26 for the kids, so we have to work together to do that.
2:37:29 So I think it’s been a positive relationship
2:37:31 at every step of the way.
2:37:32 I mean, negotiated a three-year contract in Indian River
2:37:35 as, I wasn’t the chief negotiator,
2:37:37 but we did a three-year contract
2:37:39 and then negotiated a three-year contract
2:37:40 with the teachers in St. Lucie.
2:37:42 Those are rare in Florida, three-year contracts.
2:37:45 - No, they are, thank you.
2:37:47 Last question is, I got two more I guess I could get.
2:37:51 What has your district done to develop and maintain,
2:37:54 or what have you done to develop and maintain
2:37:57 a collaborative relationship with your employees?
2:37:59 Include issues of morale, communication, team building,
2:38:03 describe your role in this.
2:38:04 - Yeah, I think if you talk to anybody that’s worked for me,
2:38:08 worked with me out of school,
2:38:10 and the district-level people and the principals
2:38:13 and other people like that at Indian River or St. Lucie,
2:38:17 I like to have fun, I like to make the job
2:38:21 an enjoyable place, the workplace needs to be fun,
2:38:23 we need to laugh together, we need to break bread together,
2:38:26 we need to do things fun together.
2:38:28 For example, as a high school principal,
2:38:30 I’ve done this every place I’ve been.
2:38:32 We don’t have a general faculty meeting
2:38:34 where the administrators stand up in front of the room
2:38:36 and just say stuff over and over.
2:38:38 The only time we come together as a faculty
2:38:41 is the general faculty meeting/celebrations.
2:38:44 And so we celebrate everybody’s birthday, we have cake,
2:38:48 we usually have refreshments there from a business partner,
2:38:51 and then we do the benevolence box.
2:38:54 So the benevolence box, and I’ve done this every place,
2:38:56 is a box that’s in the teacher workroom
2:38:59 and has some three-by-five cards there.
2:39:01 And so if a colleague does something for you,
2:39:03 act of benevolence, you write that down there.
2:39:06 Say Mark covered my class the other day
2:39:08 ‘cause I had a dentist appointment.
2:39:09 So you put that on a three-by-five card
2:39:10 and you drop it in the box.
2:39:12 So at the general faculty meeting/celebrations,
2:39:16 I draw names out of the hat and I read out loud
2:39:19 the acts of good deed, the acts of benevolence.
2:39:23 And the doer of the good deed gets to come up
2:39:26 and take a gift certificate that’s been donated
2:39:29 by the local community.
2:39:32 So it’s quite a fun way to have a faculty meeting.
2:39:36 Everybody’s usually pretty happy.
2:39:38 You know, we’re breaking bread.
2:39:40 Usually we have some kind of refreshments
2:39:41 and we’re doing the birthdays.
2:39:43 And we always try to do some other fun stuff.
2:39:44 Like recently, we asked all of our staff members
2:39:49 for their walk-up song.
2:39:51 So we played walk-up songs and tried to guess
2:39:54 whose walk-up song it was, stuff like that.
2:39:56 So we always wanna have, I don’t know if I should say
2:40:00 it was fun, but we always try to make things enjoyable.
2:40:03 Now keep in mind, we are all about business.
2:40:05 You know, everywhere I’ve been, it’s still always been
2:40:07 about we have work to do.
2:40:09 But when we come together, it should be enjoyable
2:40:13 so that you can look forward to a faculty meeting,
2:40:15 not have a faculty meeting to go to, you know, kind of thing.
2:40:20 And so that’s a part of it.
2:40:22 The other thing is, again, it goes back to meeting
2:40:25 with everybody and developing relationships from the start.
2:40:28 So some of the questions I ask in those one-on-ones
2:40:30 is about their background, maybe silly questions.
2:40:33 You know, where’d you go to school?
2:40:35 What’s your hidden talent?
2:40:36 That’s one of my questions.
2:40:37 You know, tell me about something you can do
2:40:38 that nobody knows and stuff.
2:40:40 And so develop these relationships with all the people
2:40:43 I’m working with, and that comes into play
2:40:45 a lot of times down the road, okay?
2:40:47 And so can’t remember the exact phrasing of the question,
2:40:52 but most of the people that have worked with me in the past,
2:40:54 I’d say it’s a very positive relationship.
2:40:56 We’re trying to improve morale.
2:40:58 It’s a tough job.
2:40:59 You know, being a teacher in the classroom,
2:41:01 public teacher in America right now,
2:41:02 it’s a very, very tough job.
2:41:04 So I try to do my part as a principal
2:41:05 to make sure that it’s as enjoyable as possible.
2:41:09 Same thing for the principals when I was the superintendent
2:41:11 in Indian River and deputy in St. Lucie.
2:41:14 You know, whenever the principals got together,
2:41:15 we had a principals meeting.
2:41:16 We always had some fun stuff planned.
2:41:18 Not necessarily goofy icebreakers,
2:41:20 ‘cause I don’t necessarily like goofy icebreakers,
2:41:23 but something enjoyable, and there was always food
2:41:25 and stuff like that.
2:41:26 You know, typically what I do is I try to find out
2:41:29 a milestone or something that somebody may be accomplished,
2:41:32 and then we announce that.
2:41:34 You know, Mark just ran a 5K the other day,
2:41:36 got his best time he’s had in a while,
2:41:38 or so-and-so’s having a baby,
2:41:40 so-and-so’s now a grandfather and that kind of stuff.
2:41:43 The idea is that any time you get your faculty,
2:41:45 your administrative team together,
2:41:48 you need to make it enjoyable,
2:41:49 ‘cause the work is tough, and the work’s not going away,
2:41:53 but there needs to be that support network
2:41:55 where people feel excited about coming to work
2:41:58 because of the place of the work
2:42:00 and the atmosphere that’s created.
2:42:03 - Great answer.
2:42:04 - Thank you.
2:42:05 The last question that I have is,
2:42:06 describe a time when you led an implementation
2:42:08 of a new technology in your district,
2:42:11 and basically, like, what was it?
2:42:14 How did you learn about it?
2:42:16 What were the challenges and obstacles?
2:42:17 What was the success, and how did you impact,
2:42:19 how did you measure that success?
2:42:21 - Yeah, so when I left Titusville to go to North Carolina,
2:42:27 my father-in-law was not doing well,
2:42:29 and we wanted our kids to be near him in Virginia,
2:42:31 so that’s why we left.
2:42:32 I never planned on leaving Titusville,
2:42:34 but it was a family thing, and we went and did that.
2:42:37 So I was a high school principal there
2:42:39 in Mooresville, North Carolina,
2:42:40 and we launched a one-to-one initiative,
2:42:42 and this is 15 years ago, at least,
2:42:46 so one-to-ones was still fairly new.
2:42:48 So we were going one-to-one at the middle school
2:42:51 and high school level with MacBooks.
2:42:53 So we did a lot of research.
2:42:55 We talked to a lot of districts that had done this before,
2:42:57 learned from them, Richmond, Virginia had done this,
2:43:01 Henrico County had done this.
2:43:03 So we learned from them some of the pitfalls,
2:43:05 some of the things to look out for.
2:43:07 So we learned about insurance for the laptops.
2:43:10 We learned about how to maintain the laptops
2:43:12 that basically have to have a fix-it shop in every school
2:43:15 because the laptops are gonna be broken,
2:43:17 things are gonna happen.
2:43:18 But probably the biggest thing was the teacher training,
2:43:22 because the one-to-one laptop is not a paperweight.
2:43:25 One-to-one laptop is supposed to be an instructional tool.
2:43:28 So we had to spend a lot of time and money
2:43:32 training the teachers on how to teach
2:43:34 using the laptop as a tool,
2:43:37 not necessarily teaching through the laptop,
2:43:39 ‘cause that’s not how it works,
2:43:40 but basically seeing the advantages
2:43:42 to having that piece of technology
2:43:44 in the kids’ hands every day
2:43:45 and the different crazy good things you can do
2:43:48 with technology, especially the kids.
2:43:51 They show us on that.
2:43:53 But that was the thing that when we went into it,
2:43:56 lessons learned by going and talking
2:43:57 to these other districts that had done it,
2:43:59 if the teachers aren’t ready to use the one-to-one laptop
2:44:04 as an instructional tool, then it’s a paperweight.
2:44:07 Or it’s just a word processing thing for the kids.
2:44:10 I could teach a lot.
2:44:11 They wrote their papers on it.
2:44:13 We want them to be able to do research on it.
2:44:14 We want them to be able to create videos and podcasts.
2:44:17 We want them to be able to do different things with that.
2:44:19 And you measure that, obviously,
2:44:23 by the usage of the machines.
2:44:26 There’s a way you can track the usage of software
2:44:28 and that kind of thing.
2:44:29 And then, obviously, the goal of all of that
2:44:32 is to impact student achievement.
2:44:34 So if down the road,
2:44:35 you see increased student achievement numbers,
2:44:39 and you can tie it, if you can tie it to the technology,
2:44:42 then that was the technology initiative that paid off.
2:44:45 One of the things that we saw there,
2:44:47 and it kind of goes against what the chatter out there
2:44:56 is that the underprivileged kids actually benefited more
2:45:00 by having the one-to-ones than the kids
2:45:03 who probably already had a laptop at home.
2:45:05 We did have to work with the city, the local city,
2:45:07 to provide free internet access at certain hubs,
2:45:10 like the public library and stuff like that,
2:45:12 so that when they took that laptop home,
2:45:14 it wasn’t just a paperweight.
2:45:16 But the idea was they could start an assignment
2:45:18 or start a project at school
2:45:20 and take it home and complete it.
2:45:21 Continue to learn, whatever.
2:45:23 If the teacher put something on there
2:45:25 for them, an assignment to complete at home,
2:45:28 they could do it.
2:45:28 In the past, they may not have had the resource to do that.
2:45:31 So when I was deputy in St. Lucie,
2:45:35 we were getting ready to launch the one-to-ones there
2:45:39 at two high schools, at Fort Pierce Westwood High School
2:45:41 and Port St. Lucie High School.
2:45:42 And so I was on the ground helping them get ready
2:45:44 ‘cause I had done it in Mooresville.
2:45:47 So I have two experiences with putting out one-to-ones.
2:45:54 - Thank you, Mr. Endell.
2:45:55 I gotta just follow up on that.
2:45:58 There’s a lot of talk about one-to-one.
2:46:00 Sounds real good out there.
2:46:02 Were you able to see some learning gains?
2:46:04 And you had specifically said
2:46:06 about some of the low socioeconomic children
2:46:08 that could then finish that.
2:46:09 Did you see those learning gains and–
2:46:11 - Definitely in Mooresville, definitely in North Carolina.
2:46:13 I don’t know what they saw in St. Lucie
2:46:16 ‘cause it was no longer my project.
2:46:19 So I don’t know what they…
2:46:20 But definitely in Mooresville, no.
2:46:21 I mean, because we had to spend a lot of money to do that
2:46:25 and we needed to go back and show the board
2:46:26 that the investment was a good return on investment.
2:46:31 And we definitely did see.
2:46:32 A lot of it was we changed the way we taught
2:46:37 so that by using it as an instructional tool,
2:46:40 again, by investing upfront
2:46:42 with the training with the teachers.
2:46:46 And to be honest, we turned off some other systems.
2:46:49 You have to use this.
2:46:50 This is what you have to use.
2:46:52 We forced some people to say,
2:46:53 “Hey, this is the change that we’re using.
2:46:56 “We need to do it.”
2:46:57 So I think that might be part of,
2:46:59 if you don’t see that type of return on investment
2:47:02 or that type of increased academic achievement
2:47:06 somewhere else where you’ve implemented that,
2:47:07 it’s because you might not have taken away
2:47:09 the old mechanism.
2:47:12 - Awesome, thank you.
2:47:15 Next up, I think we have Ms. Campbell.
2:47:19 - Thank you.
2:47:20 Well, except for Mr. Trent who got the leftovers
2:47:22 when we were picking, we all picked areas of our passion.
2:47:27 He said that’s what he wanted to begin with.
2:47:29 So we’ll go with that.
2:47:31 All right.
2:47:34 Hang on, ‘cause I wanna make sure
2:47:35 I ask them in the same order.
2:47:39 So my area of questions is relating
2:47:41 to community connections.
2:47:44 And the first one is what are your ideas
2:47:46 about engaging families who are inexperienced
2:47:49 with participating or who have had negative experiences
2:47:52 with education and how would you help your staff
2:47:54 to reach out to such families successfully and respectfully?
2:47:59 - Yeah, so two parts to that.
2:48:00 The first thing is one of the things we did
2:48:01 at Cocoa Beach is we have tours of the campus all the time.
2:48:06 A lot of times when we have families move into the area
2:48:08 or they’re shopping for schools
2:48:10 and they wanna go visit a school.
2:48:12 And we decided, we always want our tours to happen
2:48:15 when we’re open, when we’re open for business.
2:48:18 The phrase that I usually use is we want you
2:48:20 to see us warts and all.
2:48:21 But we want you to be out there for a class change.
2:48:24 We want you to see lunch.
2:48:25 We want you to see us in action.
2:48:27 So we have standing tour procedures there at Cocoa Beach
2:48:32 for any family that’s interested in coming to Cocoa Beach
2:48:35 or checking it out.
2:48:37 They’re actually student led tours.
2:48:39 So what we do is we have a couple of juniors and seniors
2:48:41 that we trust to lead a family on a tour.
2:48:45 And that way they can ask student questions
2:48:47 about student life and things like that.
2:48:50 So that, I guess the answer is you invite them in.
2:48:53 This was really beneficial
2:48:55 when we were coming back from COVID.
2:48:57 We had a lot of families that moved from other states
2:49:00 down to Florida and they wanted to see what it was like
2:49:03 at our school.
2:49:04 So that’s when we really kind of got routine
2:49:08 doing these tours.
2:49:10 And so invite them in, I guess is the first thing.
2:49:14 The other part of it is you said something
2:49:16 about staff members reaching out.
2:49:18 Well, that’s it.
2:49:19 They need to reach out.
2:49:20 You know, we at Cocoa Beach, we talk about the fact that,
2:49:23 you know, focus is a great tool.
2:49:25 You know, you can use it to email families.
2:49:27 You can use it to send them text messages.
2:49:29 You can use it to post stuff on your classroom page.
2:49:32 You can do all kinds of different stuff with it.
2:49:34 So anytime there’s a student that you feel you need
2:49:36 to make contact with the parent, you need to do it.
2:49:39 And, you know, do it when it’s positive as well,
2:49:42 not just when it’s negative.
2:49:43 You know, reach out and share good news and stuff like that.
2:49:46 You know, we try to do a really good job
2:49:47 of following up with our new students.
2:49:49 So for example, earlier this year,
2:49:53 one of our student groups had a reception
2:49:56 for any student who had come to us this year.
2:50:00 It was back in September
2:50:02 and students who had joined us either over the summer
2:50:06 or even the first month or two of school,
2:50:08 one of the student groups held an ice cream social
2:50:10 for all the new kids.
2:50:11 And it was kind of neat
2:50:12 because the new kids all made friends with the new kids.
2:50:15 You know, but I mean, you know, they, you know,
2:50:18 and we did a survey after that.
2:50:19 And, you know, strong majority of the students
2:50:22 that were new to the school rated, you know,
2:50:25 that experience as a big highlight
2:50:28 of their year so far at the school.
2:50:31 So I guess invite them in,
2:50:33 going back to the first part of that,
2:50:34 especially the families, you want to see us,
2:50:36 come talk to us, come take it towards school.
2:50:39 When we’re open, warts and all, nothing to hide.
2:50:41 And then, you know, reaching out,
2:50:44 not just for negative things,
2:50:46 but reaching out all the time
2:50:47 and then supporting any new families that you have.
2:50:50 - Good, thank you.
2:50:51 All right, the next question is,
2:50:52 what has been your experience or interaction
2:50:54 with local business and community groups?
2:50:57 What have you specifically done
2:50:58 to ensure a positive working relationship
2:51:00 with economic development groups,
2:51:02 the chambers or local philanthropic groups?
2:51:05 - Yeah, so I’ll start local first at Cocoa Beach
2:51:07 and then I’ll go back to being
2:51:08 a superintendent in Indian River.
2:51:10 At Cocoa Beach, I am out in the community a lot.
2:51:13 I’m a member of a Rotary Club there.
2:51:14 I go to the Elks Lodge every once in a while.
2:51:17 I go to Kiwanis, been to the Chamber of Commerce meetings,
2:51:22 Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce.
2:51:23 Have a really strong relationship
2:51:25 with the city of Cocoa Beach,
2:51:26 with the mayor and the city manager,
2:51:28 developing a stronger relationship with Port Canaveral.
2:51:32 So you gotta get out there and make those introductions
2:51:36 and find ways for them to be invited to the school
2:51:41 and find ways for them to help interact
2:51:43 and support the school.
2:51:45 When I was the superintendent in Indian River,
2:51:48 we had several really strong partnerships
2:51:51 with local organizations already
2:51:53 and I just kept those going,
2:51:55 but then we also developed some new ones.
2:51:57 So for example, United Way is a fairly strong organization
2:52:01 in Indian River County.
2:52:03 United Way has a big day of caring
2:52:05 where they want everybody to come together
2:52:07 and do projects for the community.
2:52:09 And so my second year at Indian River,
2:52:14 we decided to partner with United Way
2:52:15 on that day of caring in every school.
2:52:18 Every school was going to participate in the day of caring,
2:52:22 providing students and families individually
2:52:25 or doing a United Way caring activity at their school.
2:52:29 So for the most part, what we did,
2:52:31 and we did this for the last three years I was there,
2:52:34 on the day of caring,
2:52:35 the elementary schools usually did
2:52:37 some kind of beautification project at their school.
2:52:40 So they would get United Way volunteers
2:52:43 to come and help the families and the staff at the school
2:52:46 beautify their school.
2:52:48 But for the secondary schools,
2:52:49 what we did was each secondary school sent students
2:52:53 and staff to one location, it’s always on a Saturday,
2:52:57 to one location and we did certain projects.
2:53:01 So for I think all three years, we did homeless care kits.
2:53:05 So what these were were Ziploc bags of hygiene items
2:53:10 and personal items for homeless people in the community.
2:53:15 So I got this idea from a friend of mine
2:53:16 who that’s what he did when he would see a homeless person
2:53:20 or someone panhandling, rather than give them money,
2:53:22 he had these stacked stocked Ziploc bags in his car already
2:53:27 that had like a pair of socks, deodorant, toothbrush,
2:53:30 all this kind of stuff,
2:53:31 and maybe a granola bar and a water bottle.
2:53:33 And so he would handle that.
2:53:35 So he gave us the idea.
2:53:37 And so we did that with the United Way.
2:53:39 So every step, those three Saturdays
2:53:41 where we did the day of caring, three years in a row rather,
2:53:45 we had middle school and high school students there
2:53:48 packaging all these homeless care kits.
2:53:52 And then we gave them to the local sheriff’s department
2:53:54 and the municipal police departments.
2:53:56 And so they would be in the squad car.
2:53:58 And so when those guys would roll up,
2:54:01 or guys would roll up on a homeless person,
2:54:03 one of the first things they did
2:54:04 was gave them a homeless care kit.
2:54:06 So that’s something that we involved the school district,
2:54:10 the people, the kids, and United Way,
2:54:13 working together with the community organization.
2:54:16 There were some other ones there.
2:54:17 There’s a lot of philanthropic organizations
2:54:18 in Vero Beach, in Indian River County.
2:54:21 I mentioned the Learning Alliance earlier.
2:54:23 That’s a multimillion dollar nonprofit
2:54:26 that really supports literacy initiatives
2:54:28 in all the elementary schools in Indian River.
2:54:31 And so it was kind of in place already when I got there,
2:54:34 but I did my part to strengthen that
2:54:36 and keep it going and expand it.
2:54:38 There’s a couple others that are pretty strong supporters
2:54:42 of the school there, school district there.
2:54:45 Was developing a partnership with Piper when I left.
2:54:48 That has come to fruition.
2:54:49 So similar to the aviation program at O’Gally,
2:54:54 Vero Beach High has a program
2:54:56 at Piper Aircraft Factory there.
2:54:58 It’s not quite on the level of what’s going on
2:55:02 with Embraer, but it’s a similar thing.
2:55:04 So, and that’s just being, in the superintendent’s role,
2:55:08 that’s just being out in the community
2:55:10 and talking to these business leaders
2:55:11 and trying to find these opportunities to partnership.
2:55:14 - Thank you.
2:55:15 How important is it and what specific roles
2:55:18 have you played personally in dealing with the legislature,
2:55:21 the congressional delegation, county, and city officials?
2:55:27 - Excuse me.
2:55:28 So, sorry, I’m getting over a cold,
2:55:32 so I’ve been doing pretty well so far.
2:55:35 So when I was deputy in St. Lucie County,
2:55:38 I was very fortunate that my clan, the superintendent said,
2:55:40 you’re our legislative liaison.
2:55:42 You’re gonna meet with all of the local elected officials
2:55:45 for Tallahassee, you’re gonna go to Tallahassee
2:55:47 on legislative days, you’re gonna be our lobbying voice,
2:55:51 so to speak, not a lobbyist,
2:55:52 but you’re gonna be our voice.
2:55:54 So it was Representative Mayfield at the time.
2:55:58 She was actually the representative from Bureau Beach
2:56:00 at the time in the State House.
2:56:02 Larry Lee, he represented four peers.
2:56:04 So I got to know them in that role as the deputy.
2:56:07 And then when I became superintendent in Indian River,
2:56:11 obviously it was still Representative Mayfield at first,
2:56:13 then she became Senator Mayfield
2:56:14 and the other legislative delegation
2:56:16 from Representative Grall and the others from Indian River.
2:56:21 So lots of time meeting with them individually,
2:56:26 going to Tallahassee, meeting with them in office hours,
2:56:30 also presenting the legislative,
2:56:32 when they have the local legislative delegation
2:56:33 meets with the local officials
2:56:35 and you present your legislative agenda.
2:56:37 So I crafted those legislative agendas when I was the deputy
2:56:42 and I worked with staff to craft those legislative agendas
2:56:44 as the superintendent in Indian River.
2:56:47 As you know, a lot of the work gets done
2:56:49 during committee week.
2:56:50 So you go during committee time,
2:56:53 you try to get ahead of,
2:56:54 if you have some bill that you wanna support
2:56:57 or some initiative or some grant you’re trying to get funded
2:57:00 and that kind of thing,
2:57:02 you need to do a lot of the work ahead of time
2:57:03 before it’s session,
2:57:05 as almost all that stuff’s decided before session.
2:57:08 But to answer your question,
2:57:10 I was tagged or tasked with being the legislative liaison.
2:57:15 as the deputy in St. Lucie, so got to start there.
2:57:18 Kept it going as Indian River as a superintendent.
2:57:21 Then locally, like I said, here at Cocoa Beach,
2:57:24 definitely tuned in with the mayor of city,
2:57:27 mayor of the city of Cocoa Beach, Fort Canaveral.
2:57:30 Also talked to Representative Saroy on a couple things
2:57:32 ‘cause he represents our area.
2:57:34 And with the aqua science program that we’re launching,
2:57:39 there’s gonna be some state funds associated with that.
2:57:43 - Great, thank you.
2:57:46 Presenting information in a highly charged situation
2:57:49 into a variety of groups is a part of a superintendent’s job.
2:57:52 Give an example of how you have encountered opposition
2:57:55 and how you dealt with the resulting situation.
2:58:04 - I think a highly charged situation I can go back to.
2:58:09 When I was superintendent in Indian River,
2:58:11 we had Chelmsbury Elementary,
2:58:14 there was a classroom that had some mold in it
2:58:17 because a window was leaking
2:58:19 and hadn’t been repaired properly.
2:58:21 So the first thing that everybody thinks is
2:58:24 that now you have a sick school
2:58:26 and so they don’t wanna send their kids there.
2:58:28 So we had some environmental engineers come out
2:58:34 and assess the situation and draft a report.
2:58:36 And then we held a meeting with the community
2:58:39 at the school to allay their fears
2:58:42 on whether the school building was safe
2:58:44 to return to or not.
2:58:46 One of the things that paid big dividends there
2:58:50 was we went to the school and had the meeting in the school.
2:58:53 And we had the environmental engineers there.
2:58:56 Felismer has a large Hispanic community.
2:58:59 So we had some trusted members of the community
2:59:03 that could speak Spanish
2:59:06 and were recognized by the community
2:59:09 as someone they could trust at the meeting.
2:59:12 So these were community members that we had met with
2:59:15 and shown them all the data and stuff like that.
2:59:18 And that allayed their fears
2:59:20 and we didn’t have any high absentee
2:59:24 or anything like that, absence rates or anything like that.
2:59:27 And we continued to follow up with air quality tests
2:59:31 for days and weeks and months
2:59:34 to make sure everybody knew that the building was safe.
2:59:36 But it was one classroom with one leaky window
2:59:39 that wasn’t repaired properly, got some mold.
2:59:42 And so when the rumor is you gotta go squash the rumor
2:59:46 and allay those allegations.
2:59:48 We actually had a similar thing happen
2:59:49 a year or two later at another elementary school.
2:59:52 They did some HVAC work over the summer,
2:59:54 didn’t seal some things properly.
2:59:56 When they were getting ready to come back
2:59:58 for teacher pre-planning, it was mold.
3:00:01 So we had to remediate that.
3:00:02 We did all the same protocols,
3:00:04 had the same parent meetings
3:00:06 and all their fears were allayed.
3:00:09 So I don’t know if that’s a highly charged enough situation
3:00:12 for you, but that’s something that I dealt with.
3:00:15 - That’ll work, thank you.
3:00:17 To another highly charged situation.
3:00:20 What have you or your previous districts done
3:00:24 to respond to the use of drugs, alcohol,
3:00:27 tobacco, vaping, et cetera, by students?
3:00:31 - Yeah, so education for one thing.
3:00:33 You need to educate them on the pitfalls,
3:00:36 the negatives of doing that, of getting involved in that.
3:00:42 The other thing is also the consistent
3:00:43 enforcement of policy.
3:00:44 You need to make sure that if you have policies
3:00:47 on the books to deal with those things,
3:00:48 you need to enforce those.
3:00:49 But the education is probably the key.
3:00:53 It’s kinda like those commercials that we had
3:00:55 when we were growing up,
3:00:56 this is your mind on drugs or whatever.
3:00:58 They need to see that stuff.
3:00:59 They need to understand that this is not,
3:01:02 this is serious stuff, this is not a joke.
3:01:04 So education’s the first part of it.
3:01:07 Making sure they understand that this is not good
3:01:09 for your health, not good for your future,
3:01:11 not good for any of that.
3:01:12 But then you need to consistently enforce the policies.
3:01:15 I think one of the things that we need to do
3:01:16 a better job of now is the support after the fact.
3:01:20 So if we do find someone who is vaping
3:01:23 or using THC or something like that,
3:01:26 what support do we provide to them after
3:01:29 to kinda break them from that cycle and that kinda thing?
3:01:33 So I know student services is tasked with a lot,
3:01:40 but I think that’s something that we need to look at.
3:01:41 You know, what are we doing for our students
3:01:43 who have made some poor choices?
3:01:45 How do we support them going forward
3:01:47 to make sure that they don’t do that again?
3:01:49 You know, fall further down the abyss or whatever
3:01:52 of the chain of that type of stuff.
3:01:54 So I guess going back to education ahead of time,
3:01:57 trying to show them that this is not,
3:01:58 you don’t wanna be doing this.
3:02:00 But consistently enforcing your rules
3:02:02 and then maybe providing better support after.
3:02:05 - All right, and for the record, I quote that,
3:02:08 this is your brain on drugs with the egg.
3:02:11 That comes to my mind all the time.
3:02:12 That one stuck with me for some reason.
3:02:14 All right, so my fun question is
3:02:16 what’s your favorite animal?
3:02:19 - Yeah, if I could be an animal, it would be a dolphin.
3:02:22 ‘Cause I love the ocean and love being in the ocean
3:02:25 and it seems like they got the best gig on the planet.
3:02:28 (laughing)
3:02:29 They’re sleek, they’re fast,
3:02:31 they get to play in the water all day.
3:02:33 It’s a big gig.
3:02:35 - All right, thank you.
3:02:37 - All right, well, thank you very much.
3:02:39 - That was exciting.
3:02:39 - Yes, so now we get to the exciting questions.
3:02:42 All right, so my area is operational sustainability.
3:02:51 And I will start with what is the most challenging
3:02:53 operational issue in school districts today
3:02:56 and how do you approach this challenge?
3:03:02 - I don’t know if this is operational, but it’s staffing.
3:03:04 And staffing is the number one challenge.
3:03:07 And it impacts operations, obviously,
3:03:10 ‘cause we haven’t had a full custodial staff
3:03:12 at Cocoa Beach since I’ve been there.
3:03:14 It’s not due to lack of trying.
3:03:16 We are constantly hiring new custodial staff
3:03:20 and sometimes they leave us for better paying opportunities
3:03:22 and things like that.
3:03:25 It’s an organizational structure issue at all levels.
3:03:28 I mean, obviously, our transportation operations
3:03:30 are affected ‘cause we don’t seem to have,
3:03:33 you can’t seem to find enough bus drivers.
3:03:34 Obviously, our instruction in the classroom
3:03:37 is affected if we can’t find high quality teachers
3:03:39 and employ them in every classroom.
3:03:43 - Perfect, all right.
3:03:45 So secondly, share with us an example
3:03:48 of when you were especially innovative
3:03:50 in addressing a funding gap.
3:03:52 And they’re asked, what’s the situation,
3:03:56 the obstacles, risks involved,
3:03:58 and then lastly, the outcome.
3:04:03 - So I’ll use the Citrus Bowl example.
3:04:05 So the football stadium at Vero Beach High School
3:04:09 is called the Citrus Bowl.
3:04:10 So it’s not the Citrus Bowl in Orlando,
3:04:12 but it’s the Vero Beach High School football stadium.
3:04:17 It is akin to Fenway Park in Vero Beach.
3:04:19 It is the stadium, it is the place for all activities.
3:04:24 It is a hallmark of that school.
3:04:27 The home stands at one point seated 3,000 people.
3:04:30 It is quite the structure.
3:04:32 So midway through the football season,
3:04:36 believe it was my second year as superintendent,
3:04:39 a structural engineer, and so to paint a picture for you,
3:04:42 the home stands were concrete bleachers.
3:04:45 So concrete vertical supports,
3:04:47 and then the bleachers were actually long slabs of concrete.
3:04:52 And they’d been in there about 50 years.
3:04:55 And so about halfway through the football season,
3:04:58 again, I think my second year,
3:05:00 a structural engineer came by and inspected the stadium,
3:05:03 and we did this annually,
3:05:05 and said the structure is cracking
3:05:08 and no longer safe to use.
3:05:10 This is in the middle of the football season.
3:05:12 Now, Vero Beach High School is a football powerhouse.
3:05:16 They usually host about eight home games a year.
3:05:21 They pay the other teams to come and play at their school
3:05:23 because they fill the stadium and they get a lot of money.
3:05:26 So we had a home side that was not gonna be able to be used,
3:05:33 unless we were to ignore the structural engineer,
3:05:35 which we weren’t gonna do.
3:05:37 And so we had to figure out, okay, how do we fix this?
3:05:41 When can we, how soon can we fix it?
3:05:43 Where do we find the money?
3:05:44 And that kind of thing.
3:05:46 And Su Han is incredible.
3:05:48 And a shout out to Su Han
3:05:49 for doing what she’s doing right now, by the way.
3:05:51 But even Su Han can’t work magic.
3:05:55 So we had the home stands of the football field
3:05:59 that we could no longer use,
3:06:00 and we still had half the season to go.
3:06:02 Nevermind the fact that we then had soccer season
3:06:05 in the winter, and nevermind the fact
3:06:07 that we then had lacrosse in the spring,
3:06:11 ‘cause they’re very big in lacrosse.
3:06:14 And nevermind the fact that it’s a marching band school,
3:06:19 and they host Crown Jewel,
3:06:21 which is a large marching band competition,
3:06:24 and they host graduation in the stadium.
3:06:27 So we had to find a way to fix the stadium pronto,
3:06:31 and we had to find the money to fix the stadium pronto.
3:06:36 So we never missed a home contest.
3:06:40 We moved, we brought in additional bleachers
3:06:43 at the end zones, and we moved the home stands
3:06:45 to the visitor’s side for home games
3:06:48 and all that kind of stuff.
3:06:50 But the work of funding, sorry,
3:06:52 to get back to the question, the work of financing.
3:06:54 So we sat down with the CFO
3:06:57 and talked about how can we come up
3:06:59 with millions of dollars right away to start this project?
3:07:04 One of the things that we learned
3:07:05 as we were figuring this out was
3:07:07 the structural engineer said that the vertical
3:07:11 concrete supports were fine.
3:07:13 They could last for another 50 years.
3:07:15 They were poured differently,
3:07:17 a different mechanism, how they did it.
3:07:19 But it was the horizontal bleachers
3:07:21 that you actually sat on that had to go.
3:07:23 So the first thing we learned was
3:07:26 we could take the concrete bleachers off
3:07:28 and just put new bleachers on top
3:07:30 of the existing structures.
3:07:31 So we could put aluminum on top, aluminum bleachers on top.
3:07:34 So we costed that out, $1.2 million.
3:07:37 So first thing is we gotta find $1.2 million.
3:07:40 But once you touch a structure,
3:07:44 you have to bring it up to current ADA requirements.
3:07:48 So once we touched that structure,
3:07:50 there were other things we needed to do.
3:07:52 Some of them were really good.
3:07:54 They only had a handful of bathrooms on the home side.
3:07:57 3,000 seats, but only a handful of bathrooms.
3:08:00 So whenever you touch the stadium,
3:08:03 you know, a stadium like that,
3:08:04 there’s a certain number of required bathrooms
3:08:06 for how many seats you have in it.
3:08:08 So we had some estimates done by some firms.
3:08:13 So to bring the entire facility up to code
3:08:15 was gonna be about $5 million.
3:08:18 Where do we find 1.2 if all we wanted to do
3:08:21 was do the aluminum seats, but that’s not enough.
3:08:24 Where do you find the total package of $5 million?
3:08:28 So I don’t know if you’re familiar
3:08:30 with certificates of participation,
3:08:33 but we had some certificates of participation.
3:08:36 And we refinanced, so to speak,
3:08:38 those certificates of participation, we reissued them.
3:08:43 Luckily for us, at that time, interest rates were very low,
3:08:47 much lower than when we had issued those COPs years before.
3:08:52 So in layman’s terms, we refinanced the COPs
3:08:56 at a lower interest rate and added in the money
3:09:00 for the citrus bowl, the five point whatever million dollars.
3:09:04 The savings that we actually incurred
3:09:08 by the conversion was 5.9 million,
3:09:11 so we were actually 800,000 to the good.
3:09:13 And we did not extend the COPs.
3:09:15 Like a lot of times when you refinance your house,
3:09:18 it’s the same concept, like refinancing your mortgage.
3:09:20 A lot of times when you refinance your mortgage,
3:09:22 you extend the term, and we didn’t do that.
3:09:25 We kept the same term, just lower interest rate,
3:09:28 and refinanced it.
3:09:29 And we were able to have the money in time
3:09:31 to start work on the citrus bowl.
3:09:34 And so we never missed a game that season.
3:09:37 We still held graduation there.
3:09:39 The following year, the stands were replaced.
3:09:43 We held all of our games and everything there.
3:09:45 And then by the third season,
3:09:47 or second season after the, everything was done.
3:09:52 But it was one of the things that, you know,
3:09:54 when we were having this discussion with the board
3:09:55 about why is there a sense of urgency?
3:10:00 And I looked at it from the student perspective.
3:10:02 You know, if I’m a senior,
3:10:04 and I’m planning on playing my last senior soccer game
3:10:06 in the stadium, if I’m a senior football player,
3:10:09 I’m planning on playing that last senior game in my stadium
3:10:11 that I’ve been working my butt off all these times.
3:10:15 If I’m a lacrosse player,
3:10:16 and again lacrosse is very big there,
3:10:19 I wanna play my playoff games in the stadium
3:10:21 and stuff like that.
3:10:22 So the idea was we had to find a way
3:10:25 to find the money to get this done, and we did.
3:10:29 You can Google it, and there’s newspaper articles about it
3:10:31 that probably explain the financing better
3:10:33 than what I just did.
3:10:34 But basically by refinancing a mortgage,
3:10:37 we were able to find funds quickly to do the citrus bowl.
3:10:42 - Great, all right.
3:10:45 Describe your experience with strategic planning
3:10:48 for a large organization.
3:10:50 - Yeah, I think I shared with the board last time
3:10:52 that when I arrived in Indian River County
3:10:54 as a superintendent, they did not have a strategic plan.
3:10:57 So we set about creating a strategic plan.
3:11:00 So we talked with the community
3:11:03 about how they could help us craft a strategic plan.
3:11:07 We hired a firm that helped us do all this,
3:11:10 you know, that held the meetings and gathered the data,
3:11:13 put the website up to get input and stuff like that.
3:11:16 We assigned different aspects of the strategic plan
3:11:19 to different cabinet level staff members,
3:11:22 very similar to the work that you all have engaged in.
3:11:25 A board member picked an area to work on,
3:11:28 and that’s why there’s five areas of their strategic plan,
3:11:31 ‘cause there’s five board members.
3:11:32 And so we went through the whole process,
3:11:35 from organizing, you know, how we were gonna do it,
3:11:38 to then marshaling it through.
3:11:41 And, you know, the big thing about that strategic plan,
3:11:43 I think I mentioned before,
3:11:44 was we filled it with a lot of measurables,
3:11:49 a lot of ways to track our progress.
3:11:53 That was what was really, really important.
3:11:55 You know, as we asked the community for their input,
3:11:58 and we asked staff to spend so much time
3:12:00 crafting the strategic plan,
3:12:02 we didn’t want it to be a three-ring binder on the shelf.
3:12:07 You know, we wanted it to be something
3:12:08 that we visited often, that drove our,
3:12:12 really, your strategic plan is supposed
3:12:13 to drive your decisions.
3:12:15 You know, that’s like your guiding document.
3:12:17 It’s supposed to be like what you’re all about
3:12:19 and what you wanna be.
3:12:21 And so that was, we built in a lot of metrics
3:12:24 that some of them we were already measuring,
3:12:26 but others we needed to measure.
3:12:29 And so, you know, when we built the plan,
3:12:31 that’s what we did.
3:12:32 One of the other things is that we did
3:12:34 an annual update every summer.
3:12:36 You know, so an annual update every summer
3:12:38 to the community, not just the board, but to the community.
3:12:41 Kind of like the state of the schools,
3:12:43 state of the district.
3:12:45 And I think that’s what I gave you last time
3:12:47 in your binder, was a copy of the one-year update.
3:12:51 So, done from soup to nuts, I’ve done a strategic plan.
3:12:56 - Perfect, okay.
3:13:01 How do you ensure climate assessment,
3:13:03 here we go, I thought it was, there we go.
3:13:06 How do you ensure climate assessment results
3:13:08 are used in school improvement planning across the district?
3:13:12 - Yeah, you look for it.
3:13:13 So, we’re supposed to be checking
3:13:15 the school improvement plans.
3:13:16 We’re supposed to be seeing like,
3:13:17 are they using their youth tree survey data?
3:13:18 Are they using their parent survey data?
3:13:22 You know, that’s one of the things that
3:13:24 I miss about our parent survey right now.
3:13:26 There’s a couple questions that we used to have
3:13:28 that we don’t have.
3:13:30 Like, what letter grade would you give your school?
3:13:33 You know, that used to be on our survey.
3:13:35 I’d like to know how my parents feel about my school.
3:13:39 You know, I’d like to know how they feel about the district.
3:13:40 You know, we used to grade the schools
3:13:42 and grade the district.
3:13:43 So, but going back to the question,
3:13:45 how do you ensure that that is implemented?
3:13:51 You know, you look for it in the plan,
3:13:52 but then you follow it up with measureables, okay?
3:13:54 So, you know, are you doing the things you say
3:13:58 you’re gonna do in your school improvement plan?
3:14:00 You know, are you taking a look at the data?
3:14:04 Youth tree survey data is pretty important
3:14:06 because it’s coming straight from the kids.
3:14:08 You know, I wish the survey was a little shorter
3:14:11 as they tend to lose their attention towards the end.
3:14:13 But, you know, anytime you can get input
3:14:17 from the stakeholders, again, like the parent survey data,
3:14:20 you need to take a look at that and see what you’re doing,
3:14:22 you know, what you can do differently.
3:14:24 Insight survey data, I am always upset
3:14:28 if my insight survey data is not as strong
3:14:30 as I want it to be, if my staff is not, you know,
3:14:34 singing our praises as much as I want
3:14:36 because I want them to be, I want it to be like that.
3:14:39 So, you know, just look for it in different places.
3:14:43 - All right, well, to the last question
3:14:46 on my category here, how would you ensure
3:14:49 that schools located in under-resourced areas
3:14:52 receive the attention and the resources they need?
3:14:57 - Yeah, so, you know, there’s that quote
3:14:58 where your treasure is, your heart is also.
3:15:01 We need to go and support those schools.
3:15:03 We use a tiered system of supports here,
3:15:05 so what supports are we providing
3:15:07 those underperforming schools and is it effective?
3:15:12 I mean, I think that’s the follow-up part.
3:15:13 You know, we can say we’re gonna provide them
3:15:15 extra literacy coaches or extra units or this or that.
3:15:18 Okay, well, what are those extra units
3:15:20 being used for and is it effective?
3:15:22 Like, you know, so the proof is in the pudding somehow.
3:15:25 You know, this could be student performance data,
3:15:27 but also, again, going out and visiting those schools
3:15:31 and seeing what the climate is like.
3:15:34 Most of us that have been doing this for a while
3:15:37 can walk onto a campus and know pretty quick
3:15:40 what the climate is like.
3:15:42 You know, whether it’s a safe, secure place,
3:15:44 whether it’s an orderly place,
3:15:46 whether there’s a joy of learning in the hallways
3:15:49 and the classrooms, you might not find joy of learning
3:15:52 at a high school, but the idea is you can sense the campus,
3:15:57 you can sense the environment.
3:15:58 So one of the ways to make sure
3:16:01 that those underserved schools or underperforming schools
3:16:04 are receiving the support is data,
3:16:06 but the other part is being out there, going out there.
3:16:09 You know, being visible and talking to teachers.
3:16:12 When you go there and visit classrooms, talk to teachers,
3:16:14 talk to kids, you know,
3:16:16 get input from the people doing the work.
3:16:18 You know, one of the things that,
3:16:20 when I was the deputy in St. Lucie,
3:16:23 different assistant superintendents
3:16:25 had different schools to supervise,
3:16:27 but they also had other responsibilities.
3:16:29 So like this assistant superintendent
3:16:30 had these areas of responsibility
3:16:32 and then these 10 schools to supervise.
3:16:35 They’d spend more time on their area of responsibility
3:16:37 and less time in their schools.
3:16:39 And so we reorganized the support structure there
3:16:43 so we had just principal supervisors.
3:16:46 So all they did was go visit schools.
3:16:48 That’s their job, was to supervise those schools.
3:16:51 And so they were in those schools all the time.
3:16:53 And they could come back and say,
3:16:54 this is working, this is not working.
3:16:57 This money we’re spending over here,
3:16:58 man, it’s doing great things.
3:16:59 This is really good stuff, we need to do more of it.
3:17:02 This money over here is a waste.
3:17:03 Why are we doing this?
3:17:04 You know, the teachers don’t like it,
3:17:05 the kids don’t like it, it’s not being effective.
3:17:08 You know, so we have to be in our schools more,
3:17:11 the leadership here has to be in the schools more
3:17:13 to see if these things are happening.
3:17:15 So to measure whether the support we’re giving
3:17:19 those underperforming schools is working,
3:17:22 we need to go out there and see it.
3:17:26 - Great, thank you for those responses,
3:17:28 maybe for your candidate responses.
3:17:30 I think my–
3:17:32 - What was your random question?
3:17:33 - My random question was in your vast amount of free time,
3:17:38 what do you enjoy doing?
3:17:39 - So I actually like watching live sport events.
3:17:42 So anytime I can go to a live sporting event,
3:17:43 I like to do that, baseball game, softball game.
3:17:46 Heidi was an athlete, and so she doesn’t mind
3:17:50 going to athletic contests, she likes it, you know, so.
3:17:53 Yeah, if there is free time,
3:17:56 usually trying to find some sport.
3:17:58 - Great, all right.
3:18:00 - Thank you. - Thank you so much.
3:18:01 - All good, is there any additional information
3:18:03 you would like to share with the board members?
3:18:05 - So I’m gonna leave you guys with a notebook
3:18:07 like I did before, I’m gonna talk about the notebook
3:18:10 and then give it to you and then you can read it tonight
3:18:13 in your leisure or not, and then maybe tomorrow
3:18:15 in our individuals, we can talk about it.
3:18:18 The first section is an action plan.
3:18:21 A lot of times, a superintendent candidate
3:18:23 will give you an entry plan or a 90 day plan
3:18:25 or something like that, this is an action plan,
3:18:27 this is a description of what I would do
3:18:30 if I was selected as superintendent right away,
3:18:33 these are the things I would focus on right away.
3:18:34 So we talked about three of them already,
3:18:36 relationship building, academic progress check,
3:18:39 and the organizational structure evaluation.
3:18:43 The other thing, we just talked about the strategic plan.
3:18:45 I know you guys got an update back in September,
3:18:48 I think, from Mr. Wilson.
3:18:50 I don’t know that the community gets an update
3:18:52 on the strategic plan other than it’s presented
3:18:56 at a workshop, and I don’t know that our staff,
3:18:59 building level staff in particular,
3:19:02 get a strategic plan update or review.
3:19:05 And then it’s right here, so we’ve already printed it out,
3:19:09 an inventory of our tiered support.
3:19:11 So what types of resources are we providing
3:19:13 to different schools, and is it effective?
3:19:18 And then, so the first part of this is the action plan,
3:19:21 and then the second part is somebody told me
3:19:26 that last time I didn’t share with you guys enough
3:19:29 all the crazy, innovative, out of the box things
3:19:32 that I’ve been a part of.
3:19:34 So the three GIs is in here.
3:19:37 So there’s a section, sorry, there’s a section
3:19:39 on out of the box ideas.
3:19:40 So these are things that I’ve done or been a part of,
3:19:44 or things that I would do.
3:19:46 So the three GIs is in there,
3:19:47 that’s a third grade interventionist.
3:19:49 It’s also a section on school report cards.
3:19:52 So when I took over in Indian River,
3:19:55 I wanted to know how our schools were doing,
3:19:57 and we get a letter grade from the state, but that’s it.
3:20:00 It’s a letter grade, it’s based on student performance data
3:20:03 on state assessments, and except for the high schools,
3:20:05 it’s pretty much it.
3:20:07 High schools, you’ve got graduation rates,
3:20:09 CCR and some other stuff,
3:20:10 but it’s mostly how we’re doing on standardized tests.
3:20:13 That’s not always the most accurate picture of a school,
3:20:16 especially a school that’s showing improvement.
3:20:19 So we created a report card in Indian River
3:20:21 for all of our schools,
3:20:21 and it has several different areas of measure.
3:20:24 One is the state report card grade.
3:20:27 We own that, not gonna walk away from it.
3:20:30 The other one was a parent grade.
3:20:32 What grade did the parents give the school?
3:20:34 And some questions on the parent survey
3:20:36 were listed in there.
3:20:38 And then student attendance, student discipline rate.
3:20:41 Certain standardized tests were tied on those reports.
3:20:45 So for example, for all the elementary schools,
3:20:47 third grade reading was a separate measure.
3:20:49 Are you meeting your target for that?
3:20:52 And then high schools, it was graduation rate,
3:20:54 CCR and some other stuff.
3:20:56 And then one of the other measures is staff attendance.
3:21:00 I don’t know if there’s a perfect way to measure morale,
3:21:03 but high absentee rate in any employee, in any company,
3:21:09 a high absentee rate by your employers
3:21:10 is usually a signal that the culture’s not good.
3:21:13 So we had staff attendance as part of the report card.
3:21:19 And that was with the union’s blessing, by the way.
3:21:23 They thought that was good.
3:21:24 They thought it was a good idea, so yeah.
3:21:27 And then a couple of other things.
3:21:30 In Indian River, we converted a couple of school buses
3:21:32 to mobile feeding cafes.
3:21:35 And the idea was to use those in the summertime,
3:21:39 originally to go out to impoverished communities.
3:21:42 ‘Cause a lot of times we offer free food at our schools
3:21:45 and come and get food in the summer,
3:21:47 but people don’t have transportation.
3:21:48 So we converted these three school buses.
3:21:51 They were being decommissioned, they’re surplus,
3:21:54 and we converted them to mobile feeding stations.
3:21:56 And they actually proved to be very, very, very beneficial
3:22:00 in the hurricane aftermath.
3:22:02 So when our schools were still closed after hurricanes,
3:22:04 we used them.
3:22:05 And then when Hurricane Michael went through the panhandle,
3:22:08 we sent all three of our buses up there,
3:22:10 our mobile cafes up there, and they were used for weeks
3:22:14 as that area recovered.
3:22:16 And so that’s in there.
3:22:17 There’s a couple others, crazy good ideas.
3:22:20 One is a CTE job fair, I think we need to do.
3:22:24 We have all these students graduating with certificates.
3:22:27 I think it was almost 4,000 certificates last year,
3:22:31 our students partnered.
3:22:32 And so they’re ready to work.
3:22:35 They’re ready to enter the workforce.
3:22:37 We need to have a job fair.
3:22:38 We need to invite all of our local employers to a job fair
3:22:42 so they can hire our CNAs,
3:22:44 they can hire our culinary arts kids
3:22:46 who have a ServSafe certification,
3:22:48 they can hire our auto tech kids,
3:22:50 they can hire the tech design one, two, and three kids.
3:22:53 I, it’s in there and then I’ll stop.
3:22:57 This is all based off a conversation I had.
3:22:59 I was at a chamber meeting and there was a guy
3:23:02 that works in one of the space related industries,
3:23:06 support industry.
3:23:07 And he said they were having trouble finding people
3:23:11 that had computer software skills
3:23:15 like SolidWorks and AutoCAD.
3:23:18 We have kids that are graduating with SolidWorks
3:23:21 and AutoCAD certification.
3:23:22 He didn’t know that.
3:23:24 So I think we need to have a CTE job fair every spring
3:23:27 where we bring all of our seniors that are graduating,
3:23:29 maybe even juniors who want to do a summer job
3:23:32 and we bring our employers together and match them up.
3:23:36 We have that.
3:23:37 So there’s some other crazy good ideas in there too,
3:23:40 but we’ll save them for later.
3:23:44 - Thank you.
3:23:45 Does any other board members wish to say anything
3:23:47 back to Mr. Rendell?
3:23:49 We’re good.
3:23:50 - Thank you.
3:23:51 Thank you so much for coming.
3:23:52 I’m excited to read your book.
3:23:53 I like crazy good ideas
3:23:54 and thank you for humoring our icebreaker questions.
3:23:57 - All right, no, it was fun.
3:23:59 Thank you for the opportunity today.
3:24:01 - I think we’re good.
3:24:02 Thank you so much for that.
3:24:03 And the one thing you did miss was as a teacher
3:24:06 at Cocoa Beach, we missed out on,
3:24:10 or I’m missing out on Friday’s snacks
3:24:12 that your administration does.
3:24:14 - Again, we want to make the place enjoyable.
3:24:16 So every Friday afternoon,
3:24:17 we go around with a snack and drink cart
3:24:19 to all the teachers’ classrooms.
3:24:21 And if we don’t, we hear about it.
3:24:25 So we do.
3:24:26 - Yeah, you do.
3:24:27 - Yeah.
3:24:28 (laughing)
3:24:29 - Well, I really appreciate it.
3:24:31 I did want to say that there is one thing
3:24:33 that I feel is a negative
3:24:34 and that the Citrus Bowl was where I ended
3:24:37 two of my state runs in high school football.
3:24:41 And many people don’t know why
3:24:42 it’s called the Citrus Bowl.
3:24:43 It’s because it’s surrounded by citrus.
3:24:46 And in many times of the year,
3:24:48 you drive by Vero and you can smell the citrus blooms.
3:24:52 But the unique opportunity that you were talking about,
3:24:54 those stands was giving me heart palpitations
3:24:56 ‘cause not many people understand
3:24:58 when you go play a game at Vero
3:25:00 back in the day before they had Sebastian,
3:25:02 they used to take up half the visitor side too.
3:25:05 So you would be over there
3:25:06 and they would take up half the visitor side.
3:25:07 And then not only that,
3:25:08 but they would wheel over bull horns.
3:25:11 And the bull horns were, they weren’t like,
3:25:13 they were the truck horns times six of them.
3:25:15 - It is actually a train horn.
3:25:17 - Yeah. - Oh, lovely.
3:25:19 - So I was out and the first year we missed a field goal
3:25:23 and I don’t think that kicker
3:25:24 ever made his way back into our program.
3:25:26 And then the second year you guys came to us,
3:25:29 but quality program, I think there was 5,000 kids
3:25:32 in that school, like the years that I was playing
3:25:34 because it was just in, you had no other school.
3:25:35 - ‘Cause there was no Sebastian River, correct.
3:25:36 - Yeah, before they had Sebastian River,
3:25:38 but that gave me some heart palpitations
3:25:40 ‘cause I remember those stands and I remember those games.
3:25:42 So thank you so much for your time.
3:25:45 I really appreciate it and we appreciate all of it.
3:25:47 Thank you. - Thank you.
3:25:48 - Guys, anybody okay?
3:25:49 We’re good?
3:25:50 Take a break?
3:25:51 (gavel bangs)
3:25:52 - We’re done.
3:26:08 (gentle music)
3:26:17 (gentle music continues)
3:53:23 (upbeat music)
3:53:44 (upbeat music continues)
3:55:04 (gentle music continues)
4:32:47 - Good morning.
4:32:48 The April 27th, 2023 special board meeting is now in order.
4:32:53 Members, we’re returning.
4:32:54 We have Dr. Jason Wysong.
4:32:58 And this meeting is for the board to conduct interviews
4:33:00 with the finalists and no decisions will be made.
4:33:03 Dr. Wysong’s coming up and I wanted to have each one
4:33:07 of our board members introduce themselves.
4:33:09 Dr. Wysong, then I’ll give you an opportunity to, you know,
4:33:13 give a brief to us and then we’ll go through these things.
4:33:15 So go ahead.
4:33:17 - All right.
4:33:18 Well, good afternoon.
4:33:20 Thank you so much for coming over to Brevard
4:33:22 to walk this process with us.
4:33:24 I’m Katie Campbell and I represent the Southwest area
4:33:27 of our county.
4:33:28 - Good afternoon.
4:33:30 It’s wonderful to meet you again after a brief hello.
4:33:33 I look forward to hearing from you
4:33:34 and getting to know you a little bit better.
4:33:38 - Hello, Dr. Wysong.
4:33:39 I’m Megan Wright.
4:33:40 Nice to see you again.
4:33:41 I represent the North end of Brevard County.
4:33:47 - And I’m Gene Trent.
4:33:49 Thank you so much for coming
4:33:50 and being a part of this process.
4:33:52 Thank you.
4:33:54 - Mr. Dr. Wysong, we’re gonna have about 90 minutes
4:33:57 to review our interview today.
4:33:58 We’ll have about three minutes for an opening statement.
4:34:01 Each board member will ask a series
4:34:03 of thematically based questions, general leadership,
4:34:05 which includes board superintendent relationship,
4:34:08 academic excellence, exceptional workforce,
4:34:11 community connection, operational sustainability
4:34:13 based on our strategic plan.
4:34:15 Each board member is allocated 15 minutes
4:34:17 and is prepared to four to five questions.
4:34:19 The number of questions each gets will depend
4:34:22 on the length of your responses.
4:34:23 You will have time at the end
4:34:25 for concluding thoughts or questions for us.
4:34:27 Basically, if you go over a little bit, I’ll pause it.
4:34:30 Like it’s not, we’ve been running
4:34:31 to where we completed early
4:34:33 and I’d rather give you the opportunity to response.
4:34:35 So don’t feel like if you’re running to a thing,
4:34:38 I’ll pause this thing.
4:34:39 I did that, we’ll reset it and stuff like that, okay?
4:34:42 With that, you have the floor.
4:34:45 - Well, good afternoon, board members.
4:34:47 It’s an honor to be here in Brevard County with all of you.
4:34:50 And I appreciate your interest in my candidacy.
4:34:54 I know this is a very serious decision that you need to make.
4:34:57 It’s the most important decision
4:34:59 that a school board has in front of it.
4:35:01 And it’s an honor to be here
4:35:03 with the other finalists to be considered.
4:35:06 I also wanna thank FSBA
4:35:09 for their support through the process.
4:35:11 They’ve answered every question and Dr. Vogel,
4:35:16 Mr. Reichert, Ms. Messina have all been so helpful
4:35:19 and supportive of all of us
4:35:20 who are going through this process.
4:35:24 I had a great tour this morning.
4:35:27 Thank you, Dr. Sullivan for driving
4:35:30 and for so much information about Viera High School
4:35:34 and McNair Magnet Middle.
4:35:35 Enjoyed getting on both of those campuses
4:35:38 and seeing your teachers in action.
4:35:39 That’s always the best part of the job.
4:35:43 I am from Seminole County.
4:35:45 I’ve been an administrator there for the last 15 years.
4:35:49 I’ve started as a dean of students at a high school
4:35:52 and embraced every challenge from there
4:35:55 up to currently serving as deputy superintendent.
4:35:58 I’m very fortunate to have incredible colleagues.
4:36:02 I wanna thank my current superintendent,
4:36:04 Sarita Beaman and Chairman Krauss
4:36:06 and the other members of the Seminole County board
4:36:09 for being supportive of my candidacy here.
4:36:14 I live currently in Lake Mary with my wife, Nicole.
4:36:17 She’s in the audience.
4:36:19 We’ve been married 19 years.
4:36:22 So we’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary in July.
4:36:25 If you get to talk with her,
4:36:26 she’ll tell you she actually gets credit for 27 years
4:36:30 ‘cause we met in high school.
4:36:32 And we have one son who is in elementary school,
4:36:37 which adds a lot of depth to the work
4:36:39 when you’re building initiatives
4:36:40 and then your own student gets to participate
4:36:43 in the things that you and your teams have worked on.
4:36:47 It adds dimension and even greater appreciation
4:36:52 for the teachers in schools
4:36:53 who are doing tremendous work every day with our students.
4:36:57 So again, I’m very thankful to be here
4:36:59 and I look forward to your questions.
4:37:02 - Thank you.
4:37:03 With that.
4:37:05 - All right, I am up first.
4:37:06 Thank you so much for giving us the brief history
4:37:09 about yourself.
4:37:10 Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary
4:37:12 that is happening.
4:37:13 I’m gonna be asking questions today
4:37:14 that pertain to the board and the superintendent relationship
4:37:17 so I have five questions that I have picked out to ask
4:37:20 and I will start with the first one.
4:37:22 What is the most important part
4:37:24 of the superintendent’s job and why?
4:37:28 - Thank you, Vice Chair.
4:37:29 That’s a great question to start on.
4:37:32 The superintendent role is so multifaceted
4:37:38 and certainly important from a visibility
4:37:42 in the community role.
4:37:45 From a policy perspective, the board sets policy
4:37:51 and then it’s the superintendent’s job to implement it
4:37:53 and to get the staff behind it and executing those plans
4:37:59 so that we’re moving forward as a district.
4:38:03 In many ways, the superintendent
4:38:05 is the communicator in chief.
4:38:06 They’re the person that’s often invited
4:38:09 to get out in front of groups
4:38:11 and carry the message of the district
4:38:13 and that message really should be embedded
4:38:16 in the strategic plan.
4:38:18 The board has a strategic plan
4:38:20 and it’s the superintendent’s job to put the pieces in place
4:38:24 to execute that plan and achieve those metrics.
4:38:27 So I think that’s the kind of external visibility piece
4:38:31 of the superintendent role and then of course,
4:38:33 there’s the myriad of responsibilities daily
4:38:36 that a superintendent is dealing with internally
4:38:39 and I think over the last three or four years,
4:38:42 especially with regards to retention
4:38:45 and recruitment of staff
4:38:46 and if you look back at my application materials,
4:38:49 we often say recruitment and retention
4:38:51 but right now, it’s about retention and recruitment
4:38:54 and so I think the superintendent plays that key role
4:38:58 in carrying the message
4:39:00 and trying to keep the district moving forward
4:39:03 to the benefit of all students.
4:39:05 - Thank you.
4:39:06 Based on your knowledge of Brevard’s system, our system,
4:39:09 what do you believe should be the top two priorities
4:39:12 of our school system?
4:39:16 - So the first is that academic outcomes are why we are here.
4:39:22 We can get a lot of things done as a school district,
4:39:26 as a community lever but we have to deliver
4:39:31 on student learning first
4:39:33 in order to do all of those other things.
4:39:35 So Brevard has a long history of academic excellence
4:39:40 and certainly the pandemic and the challenges
4:39:43 of the last three years have caused all districts
4:39:47 to kind of bobble a little bit
4:39:49 and so now we have a standards transition
4:39:52 and new instructional materials, new assessments
4:39:54 and this is really the time to focus on sustaining
4:39:58 that academic achievement because with that a school grade,
4:40:02 with that academically high performing school district status
4:40:06 from the Department of Education,
4:40:09 with those things in place, with learning growth happening,
4:40:13 then we talk about the other kind of key pieces
4:40:19 with the school district in a community
4:40:21 and all of the good things that are done
4:40:25 but the learning has to be there
4:40:27 and that’s even more important now
4:40:29 in the area of competition.
4:40:30 I think the second priority for Brevard
4:40:32 and I saw this extensively on the tour this morning
4:40:36 is the growth that you’re experiencing
4:40:38 in one part of the district which is really exciting
4:40:42 and you’ve got new construction, everybody loves that,
4:40:45 new schools opening but you also have to be sure
4:40:50 that you’re sustaining the excellence and the excitement
4:40:54 in all of the other regions of the county as well
4:40:57 and so that becomes a bit of a balancing act
4:41:00 as you look at new programs, new opportunities
4:41:04 and how you’re spreading that out
4:41:06 so that the entire county is benefiting from growth,
4:41:10 from prosperity, from academic excellence
4:41:13 and not that any one part is moving faster than the others.
4:41:17 - Thank you.
4:41:19 How do you ensure that board members have the information
4:41:21 that they need before being asked to make a vote
4:41:23 on an issue of concern?
4:41:26 - That’s a great question and the superintendent
4:41:32 is responsible for the communication to each board member
4:41:35 and I’ve been brought up in a system
4:41:38 where we’ve been taught that each board member
4:41:41 should get the same information
4:41:44 and questions should be answered
4:41:48 but each person on the board needs to have the same data,
4:41:53 the same access to answers
4:41:56 so that when the board comes together as a whole,
4:41:59 there aren’t surprises
4:42:00 and everybody can move on the same page.
4:42:04 There’s certainly a lot that goes into prep
4:42:07 for each board workshop in each meeting.
4:42:11 The consent agenda is a powerful and efficient tool
4:42:16 for getting work done
4:42:17 but each board member needs to be confident
4:42:21 in the items on that consent agenda
4:42:24 and what they’re approving
4:42:25 and when the staff, the superintendent staff do a good job
4:42:29 with board meeting preparation
4:42:32 and when the board is able to approve a consent agenda 5-0
4:42:36 or make a hard decision but get to the same place,
4:42:43 it matters, it makes a difference to the staff,
4:42:46 the principals see it, the district leadership sees it,
4:42:51 that when the board is moving together
4:42:53 in the same direction, you build momentum
4:42:57 and the key to that is no surprises to each board member
4:43:01 and really good prep work before each meeting
4:43:05 to be sure that each board member is comfortable.
4:43:07 That doesn’t mean that everyone’s always going to agree
4:43:10 but it means that everyone feels
4:43:12 like they have the information to make the decision.
4:43:16 - Thank you.
4:43:17 Describe what you believe
4:43:18 to be the ideal working relationship with the school board
4:43:22 and when you have an adversarial situation
4:43:24 with a board member, how would you resolve that?
4:43:28 - So again, I’ve spent the last 10 years
4:43:33 in a school district office being taught how to do this
4:43:36 and then the last three years in an executive director
4:43:41 and deputy role working almost daily
4:43:43 with school board members and I think the,
4:43:47 again, the key is open, honest communication.
4:43:51 The news will not always be good, right?
4:43:55 There will be bad news sometimes
4:43:59 but are we communicating that again to each board member
4:44:02 and are we communicating it clearly
4:44:05 and providing all of the information?
4:44:08 I think in terms of the superintendent’s relationship
4:44:13 with each board member,
4:44:14 there has to be comfort
4:44:18 that frequency of communication is good
4:44:21 and again, each board member, each of you has,
4:44:25 as elected officials,
4:44:26 different professional and personal lives
4:44:28 and so people work at different times of the day
4:44:30 and the superintendent and the senior leadership team
4:44:33 have to adapt to that to make sure
4:44:36 that each board member has the information they need.
4:44:39 I think nothing substitutes for a good sit-down,
4:44:44 face-to-face meeting, a conversation,
4:44:47 an acknowledgement that there may be differences of opinion
4:44:53 but how do we work together to get to a good place?
4:44:58 And again, even if ultimately a board member feels like
4:45:01 I have to vote no on this,
4:45:05 if it’s just a legitimate difference of viewpoint,
4:45:11 that’s okay.
4:45:12 What’s not okay is when the board doesn’t feel like
4:45:17 they have all of the information they need
4:45:18 to make that decision.
4:45:20 - Thank you for that answer.
4:45:22 What are the first three things that you are going to do
4:45:25 if you’re hired as our superintendent?
4:45:29 - So acknowledging that an external candidate
4:45:36 always has a different kind of entry plan
4:45:40 than perhaps an internal candidate.
4:45:43 I think the first piece of anything is listening
4:45:47 and getting out and really engaging
4:45:51 with as many stakeholders as possible
4:45:53 and I think each board member has a role to play there.
4:45:57 You have the existing community and business connections.
4:46:02 You know the history of how things unfold
4:46:09 and a superintendent coming in from the outside
4:46:12 is gonna need that support to say,
4:46:14 this is the lay of the land.
4:46:17 So I think initially it’s talking with each board member
4:46:21 and kind of mapping out that engagement strategy
4:46:24 and then it’s getting out and actually listening.
4:46:29 I think that’s the second key piece
4:46:31 and then in terms of the timeline here,
4:46:35 I think the third piece is making sure
4:46:39 that we are ready to go for the 23-24 school year
4:46:44 and you have an experienced leadership team
4:46:48 who’s already looking down the road at all of that
4:46:51 but coming in and just working department by department
4:46:55 to be sure that the short-term priorities
4:46:59 have been addressed and are moving along
4:47:02 and then really listening to each department head,
4:47:06 each member of the cabinet
4:47:07 about what those long-term plans they have
4:47:10 or how they align to the strategic plan,
4:47:13 how they support the district’s vision
4:47:16 and then from there, I think as a new superintendent,
4:47:18 you’re trying to synthesize all of that
4:47:21 and get some clarity around what are the things
4:47:26 that need to be addressed first beyond August 10th
4:47:31 and having students in ready to go for the school year.
4:47:34 - Thank you for those answers.
4:47:35 One of the things that we’ve been doing
4:47:36 is we’ve been asking a funny icebreaker
4:47:39 because this feels a little bit like a hearing
4:47:41 and so just to kind of break it up,
4:47:43 my icebreaker question to you is
4:47:45 what is your favorite football team?
4:47:48 - At the college level, I support the Gators.
4:47:50 I’m a University of Florida graduate.
4:47:53 I don’t know if that’s the right answer or not.
4:47:55 - There’s no right or wrong answer here so that’s–
4:47:57 - On college football for some people, there is.
4:48:01 However, I grew up in Miami,
4:48:05 went to lots of hurricanes games as a kid
4:48:08 so our families support a lot of the Florida teams.
4:48:12 - Okay, awesome.
4:48:13 Thank you so much for your answers to your questions.
4:48:15 - Thank you, Vice Chair.
4:48:16 - Ms. Jenkins.
4:48:18 - Thanks.
4:48:21 - Makes you feel any better.
4:48:22 I don’t watch football so you can say whatever you want.
4:48:25 (laughing)
4:48:27 - Good to know.
4:48:28 - Okay, and so my area is academic excellence.
4:48:32 So currently, there is a significant achievement gap
4:48:35 for minority students and students with disabilities
4:48:37 when compared to white and non-disabled peers.
4:48:40 So what specific steps would you take
4:48:42 to ensure academic success is distributed equitably
4:48:44 across our district?
4:48:46 - That’s a great question and that’s the ultimate challenge
4:48:50 that nearly all school districts
4:48:53 across the country are facing.
4:48:54 The achievement gap is not an easy problem.
4:48:58 It’s a gritty problem.
4:49:00 It’s a long-term problem.
4:49:02 And again, if it were simple to solve,
4:49:06 it would have been done already.
4:49:07 And so I think the first step is to really understand
4:49:14 the data, not just at the surface level,
4:49:18 but you’ve gotta get into schools
4:49:21 where your achievement gaps are larger
4:49:24 and say what’s the difference?
4:49:26 So what’s happening that things are a little more narrow
4:49:31 at school A than at school B?
4:49:34 And those root causes are complex
4:49:37 and they interact in different ways.
4:49:39 So I think really pushing into that data.
4:49:42 And then it’s all about action planning
4:49:45 around evidence-based practice.
4:49:51 There is research about how to do this,
4:49:54 but the key is not to start and stop.
4:49:57 It’s a long-game problem.
4:49:59 It’s not something that you’re gonna fix
4:50:02 in one or two or three years.
4:50:05 So much of what we do in public education
4:50:08 is driven in shorter cycles, right?
4:50:10 We have a legislative session every year.
4:50:13 We have board member terms at four years,
4:50:19 typically strategic plans are at five years.
4:50:23 For the last 20 years,
4:50:24 we’ve had a lot of changes in accountability systems
4:50:27 and you’re always kind of resetting that data.
4:50:29 So I think figuring out how to build a long-term strategy
4:50:34 and then executing it so that you get
4:50:36 that gradual gap closure and a lot of that
4:50:40 is about building a cadre of principals
4:50:45 and assistant principals who can have resilience
4:50:52 around the problem because you’re gonna have
4:50:54 up and down years.
4:50:56 But then also that there’s not just one or two people
4:50:59 who know how to do it, that there are lots of people.
4:51:01 And what you often see in school districts
4:51:04 is you have a principal that takes a school
4:51:07 from a low grade, a C or a D or an F up to an A.
4:51:12 And then what happens, everybody goes, that’s amazing.
4:51:15 And then that person gets pulled to the district
4:51:17 and three years later, that school’s right back
4:51:19 where you started.
4:51:21 And so again, it’s not about having one superhero
4:51:24 to do the work, you’ve got to figure out
4:51:26 how to build high skill across the entire talented
4:51:34 principal core and then how to sustain that gradual growth
4:51:37 so that eventually you do get that gap.
4:51:40 ESC is another issue completely and if there’s more time,
4:51:49 maybe we can talk more about that.
4:51:52 But again, it’s another issue that I think
4:51:53 all of our districts are struggling with.
4:51:57 - Thank you, I appreciate that so much.
4:52:00 Do you tell what you’ve done in the past
4:52:01 and what you would do to facilitate an increase
4:52:03 in third grade reading proficiency rates?
4:52:06 - So what we’ve been working to do in seminal
4:52:12 over the last couple of years,
4:52:15 particularly with the standards change,
4:52:19 is to use that as an opportunity to identify
4:52:23 and surplus or purge, if you will, older practices
4:52:30 that really aren’t aligned with the research.
4:52:33 And so we’ve used a combination
4:52:36 of instructional materials funds and ESSER funds
4:52:39 to really listen to teachers about what they say they need
4:52:45 and then providing those needs,
4:52:48 but really going to the research to be sure
4:52:50 that we’re selecting materials that are evidence-based.
4:52:56 Teachers are incredibly creative and resourceful
4:53:00 and we just wanna be sure
4:53:04 that when we’re selecting activities,
4:53:06 selecting materials for use in classrooms,
4:53:10 that there’s an evidence base to them
4:53:12 and that the time that they have with students
4:53:15 is using those highest quality materials.
4:53:19 I think the other investment of time
4:53:22 has been in professional learning communities
4:53:24 and in districts where there’s a deep commitment
4:53:28 to getting just past the grade level team
4:53:31 and into that notion of all of us
4:53:35 who are on the second grade team,
4:53:38 we own all of the second graders
4:53:40 and we design intervention and share students
4:53:43 and we’re not afraid to put our data on the table
4:53:46 and say, how are you getting those results
4:53:50 because for whatever reason,
4:53:52 my students aren’t getting there
4:53:54 and how do we exchange that information?
4:53:56 So the more we have deep teacher collaboration,
4:54:00 I think the better opportunity we have
4:54:03 to differentiate and support students
4:54:06 because really when you’re talking about third grade reading
4:54:09 as we get toward the end of third grade,
4:54:11 it really is about each student
4:54:14 and what do you have to do differently
4:54:18 to illuminate that love of reading
4:54:21 and that persistence with complex text.
4:54:25 So I think, again, it’s about the materials
4:54:29 that you’re giving teachers to use
4:54:31 and then the time you’re giving them
4:54:35 for authentic collaboration.
4:54:42 - Describe a situation where you were clearly instrumental
4:54:45 in facilitating a change in the way
4:54:47 career and college readiness was approached
4:54:49 in your district.
4:54:50 How was the change meaningful and/or successful
4:54:53 and what measures were used to determine the success
4:54:55 of the change initiative?
4:54:57 - So this is a passion area of mine
4:55:00 and my background is academic.
4:55:03 I’m a high school social studies teacher by training
4:55:07 but in 2013, my former superintendent
4:55:12 tasked me with taking on a new group
4:55:16 that he branded Education Pathways or ePathways
4:55:20 and the first step in the process
4:55:24 was to substantially increase career and technical education
4:55:28 in Seminole County which historically
4:55:31 was a college and university prep district
4:55:34 and in response to changing student interests,
4:55:39 changing family needs,
4:55:41 there was a need to significantly scale up CTE.
4:55:45 So with the help of funding from a voter approved millage,
4:55:51 we got into the CTE game very, very quickly
4:55:56 and it was very metric driven.
4:56:00 So we looked at expanding the number of career
4:56:02 and professional education academies
4:56:05 that met those kind of DOE gold standards.
4:56:09 We looked at expanding the number of industry certifications
4:56:13 earned first at high school and then down into middle school
4:56:18 when the legislature approved the digital tool certificates
4:56:22 which was technically K through eight
4:56:24 but targeted at middle school.
4:56:27 We jumped into that very, very quickly
4:56:31 and with the help of some middle school principals
4:56:34 who were really excited about kind of energizing
4:56:38 their technology electives
4:56:40 and some of their other non-core courses,
4:56:43 we scaled up digital tool certificates
4:56:46 really in about a year’s time
4:56:48 and had thousands of those earned
4:56:50 and that’s all sustained.
4:56:51 So all of that then translates the industry certs
4:56:55 and the digital tool certificates
4:56:58 into supplemental funding that’s coming into programs
4:57:02 and into the district from the FEFP
4:57:04 and then you use that money to reinvest in those programs.
4:57:07 And so we were able to open advanced manufacturing
4:57:12 and modeling and simulation and bioscience research
4:57:17 as well as expanding culinary and some of the digital arts.
4:57:22 And again, many of those programs are in Brevard
4:57:26 and it’s just about continuously upgrading them.
4:57:29 For Seminole, it was a substantial expansion
4:57:33 and of course the best part was that students and families
4:57:38 really responded and those have become very popular programs.
4:57:42 So despite starting with an academic background,
4:57:48 I certainly enjoy the career and tech world
4:57:52 and the value that it adds to our students and families.
4:57:59 - What do you feel is the single most important piece
4:58:01 of data that will drive our district forward?
4:58:07 - I think as we move back
4:58:10 into the full accountability system with FAST,
4:58:14 we wanna start going back to the low quartile ELA
4:58:22 and math results.
4:58:23 So the percentage of students in the lowest 25%
4:58:27 who are making learning gains.
4:58:29 And once upon a time in the Florida accountability system,
4:58:34 if you didn’t hit that 50% at your school,
4:58:38 there was a penalty of a letter grade.
4:58:40 We called it the trap door
4:58:42 that even if you had enough points to get an A,
4:58:45 if half of your lowest quartile
4:58:48 was not making learning gains,
4:58:50 you took that letter grade penalty.
4:58:53 We don’t know exactly all the contours
4:58:55 of next year’s accountability system,
4:58:58 but that’s a key metric
4:59:00 because if you’re doing well in that area,
4:59:02 if you’re doing well with your lowest 25% of learners
4:59:05 are making learning gains,
4:59:07 chances are your highest 75% of learners
4:59:11 are making the learning gains as well.
4:59:13 And then Mrs. Jenkins,
4:59:15 that gets back to that achievement gap closure.
4:59:18 If you’re moving that lowest 25%,
4:59:20 your achievement gap closure is happening
4:59:24 because you tend to see your students with disabilities,
4:59:27 your English language learners,
4:59:28 your struggling readers sitting in that group.
4:59:30 So I think it’s gonna be very important
4:59:33 to refocus on that metric next year,
4:59:37 especially for districts
4:59:39 that are looking to either get back to
4:59:41 or hold their A grade.
4:59:46 - Thank you.
4:59:47 Do I still have time?
4:59:48 Okay.
4:59:48 - Let me get time.
4:59:49 Listen, if you get an extra one, we–
4:59:51 - No, it’s okay.
4:59:52 I always say the last one on purpose.
4:59:54 Based on what you know of our school system,
4:59:56 what do you think is the greatest potential for improvement
4:59:58 and where are our greatest opportunities?
5:00:03 - Well, the greatest opportunity is
5:00:07 leveraging the dynamic Space Coast
5:00:10 to go even further than you have already.
5:00:13 This is such a unique county and community
5:00:17 and the revitalization of aerospace and engineering.
5:00:23 The opportunities for students here are boundless.
5:00:26 And so again, CTE is already a strength in Brevard,
5:00:31 but I think you have the opportunity
5:00:34 with the growth of some of the companies
5:00:37 that are either moving into the area or expanding,
5:00:41 you have that opportunity to build on that.
5:00:45 The talent of the professionals who work in this community
5:00:49 is such an asset to the school district
5:00:51 from a volunteer perspective,
5:00:56 classroom expertise from mentoring and internships.
5:01:00 And again, I know that all of that is already in place.
5:01:03 So I think it’s, how do you create a multiplier effect?
5:01:06 How do you scale it up?
5:01:10 - Thank you.
5:01:12 - You got your icebreaker.
5:01:13 - Oh, I’m sorry.
5:01:14 What’s your favorite ice cream?
5:01:16 - Favorite ice cream?
5:01:19 They’re all good.
5:01:21 - Good answer.
5:01:22 - It’s fine.
5:01:23 It’s my, yes, it’s definitely my vice.
5:01:27 But yeah, anything with any kind of combination
5:01:29 of chocolate is great.
5:01:32 - Thank you, Jason.
5:01:33 I just wanted to say my area is the exceptional workforce.
5:01:36 And there’s a couple of questions in here wrapped around
5:01:39 some of the things that are important to me.
5:01:41 So the first question we have is,
5:01:43 what is your immediate plan for teacher substitute
5:01:45 and bus driver recruitment?
5:01:48 - Another big issue that’s facing all districts.
5:01:53 And your voters,
5:01:57 your taxpayers have already given you an incredible tool
5:02:02 with the millage and the opportunity
5:02:05 to be more competitive with salaries
5:02:09 than you would typically be,
5:02:11 or be able to be in a school district given the budget.
5:02:13 And so I think that’s important,
5:02:18 particularly the percentage of the millage
5:02:21 that has been allocated to support employee compensation.
5:02:27 So that’s a very powerful messaging tool.
5:02:33 And there are lots of districts
5:02:34 that don’t have that opportunity.
5:02:38 So I think, so that’s one part of it.
5:02:41 I think another part of it is continuing to talk
5:02:44 about quality of life in a school district.
5:02:47 There are lots of advantages.
5:02:49 And I think that’s why you see sometimes,
5:02:51 in fact, I met a new teacher this morning
5:02:55 who had made a transition into public education
5:02:59 from other parts of the workforce.
5:03:01 And I think we have to continue to message
5:03:06 all of the advantages of working for a school district,
5:03:11 you know, both kind of the structure of the day,
5:03:16 but also the intangibles
5:03:17 of truly making a difference for children.
5:03:19 And I think we have to highlight those examples more
5:03:24 so that people really take a look at it
5:03:29 and understand the options.
5:03:30 And then finally, again, I think all districts
5:03:33 are heading in this direction,
5:03:36 the importance of grow our own, right?
5:03:38 That we have a captive audience of high school students
5:03:42 in our schools, and we should be talking to them
5:03:45 about career pathways, whether they stay in Brevard
5:03:48 for college or they go somewhere else,
5:03:52 we should be talking with them as early as possible
5:03:57 about all of the opportunities
5:03:59 that Brevard Public Schools has.
5:04:01 And again, I don’t think that’s a unique strategy.
5:04:05 I think all of the districts are looking at programs
5:04:09 and pathways to bring graduates back to their schools.
5:04:13 The other piece is that when that happens,
5:04:16 when you’re bringing former students, graduates,
5:04:18 back in four years later, you know, as teachers
5:04:22 or paraprofessionals or in whatever role,
5:04:24 that’s tremendously gratifying to the people
5:04:26 who are already here, right?
5:04:28 To the long-term teachers
5:04:29 who help produce those graduates in it.
5:04:32 And it’s exciting to see one of your former students
5:04:34 working in a classroom.
5:04:36 And so I think the more that we do grow your own,
5:04:44 the more gratifying it is for longer-term employees,
5:04:49 it helps cement that retention.
5:04:51 - Thank you.
5:04:53 Next question is how do you make sure
5:04:54 professional development programs/initiatives
5:04:57 have impacted the knowledge, skills,
5:05:00 and practices of educators?
5:05:02 - Well, I think, Chair, where we have to start with that
5:05:06 is we have to be sure that we’re talking to our educators
5:05:09 about what they believe they need.
5:05:13 And often when, in my district,
5:05:17 when we do focus groups with teachers,
5:05:19 the number one request is for time, right?
5:05:22 And that’s the hardest thing to grant
5:05:26 because the structure of public education
5:05:29 is just set up a certain way,
5:05:31 and we’re all struggling to find more time.
5:05:36 But I think where you free up time,
5:05:38 making sure that it’s being used efficiently
5:05:42 and that it’s focused and that we’re addressing
5:05:45 what teachers need.
5:05:47 The second part of that is that we’re hearing them
5:05:50 and we’re adapting our professional development offerings
5:05:54 so that there are dynamic opportunities.
5:05:58 One thing that we did in Seminole last summer,
5:06:02 and we’ll repeat this summer,
5:06:04 was we used our ESSER funding
5:06:07 to create a summer educator conference.
5:06:10 We called it the Best Summer Ever,
5:06:13 and really targeted around learning loss
5:06:16 and academic recovery.
5:06:18 And so we offered every teacher the opportunity
5:06:21 to spend an extra five days, not at their own school,
5:06:25 but at a host school working with members of their PLC
5:06:30 to dive deeper into the academic standards
5:06:33 to get into the new ELA and mathematics materials
5:06:37 that had been purchased so that they were going into
5:06:40 the first day of school with an understanding
5:06:43 of the curriculum framework,
5:06:45 with a deeper knowledge and comfort with the standards
5:06:49 and with time to work through new materials.
5:06:51 And so our teachers who took advantage of that
5:06:53 reported that they were really able
5:06:55 to hit the ground running this year.
5:06:57 And again, we got so much positive feedback on that
5:07:01 that we’re gonna repeat that same opportunity this summer,
5:07:05 two years into the new standards
5:07:08 so that teachers have that opportunity to deepen.
5:07:11 So I think it’s, again, about talking to teachers
5:07:14 about their needs, creating opportunities
5:07:17 that are attractive to them,
5:07:19 and then going out and monitoring
5:07:22 what you’re seeing in schools to say,
5:07:24 are we seeing any evidence that what we’ve provided
5:07:28 and what we’ve practiced in a PD environment
5:07:32 is now being implemented?
5:07:34 And if not, we’ve got to go back and say,
5:07:36 okay, where’s the gap and what do we have to do to fix it?
5:07:40 - No, I appreciate that, following up.
5:07:42 The next question I have is,
5:07:44 what will any teacher’s organization/union
5:07:47 that you have worked with tell us about you?
5:07:50 What will support staff organizations say the same?
5:07:55 - Good question.
5:07:56 So I am a member of the bargaining team in the deputy role,
5:08:02 so I get to observe all of that.
5:08:06 Our structure, we try to be a bit more formal
5:08:09 in terms of our chief negotiator is our spokesman,
5:08:13 and so we wait to answer questions,
5:08:17 and so I’m there if there’s an instructional question
5:08:21 emerges and there’s that kind of back and forth.
5:08:26 Informally, again, I’ve been in the same district
5:08:29 as a school administrator
5:08:30 and then as a district administrator,
5:08:33 and generally the relationship with the union
5:08:36 has been positive just in terms of our being open
5:08:41 to listening to challenges even outside of bargaining
5:08:47 so that we’re addressing issues
5:08:49 before they boil up to the level of a grievance.
5:08:53 So I’ve been involved where there are questions
5:08:56 about instruction or whatever,
5:08:58 and really the goal is to, when there are changes,
5:09:04 when there are mandates, to try to implement them
5:09:08 with teacher time and convenience in mind.
5:09:13 And so, for example, the instructional materials changes,
5:09:16 the cataloging of classroom libraries,
5:09:18 all of that impacts teachers,
5:09:20 and so are we giving them tools
5:09:23 to be able to do that quickly and efficiently
5:09:25 so that those complaints either are minimized
5:09:28 or don’t kind of boil over.
5:09:31 - Thank you for that.
5:09:33 What has your district done to develop
5:09:35 and maintain a collaborative relationship with employees?
5:09:38 Include issues of morale, communication, team building.
5:09:42 Describe your role in this.
5:09:45 What do you do to make it fun?
5:09:46 - Sure, absolutely.
5:09:49 So one of my favorite activities,
5:09:52 and it’s been a long-standing tradition in Seminole,
5:09:56 is that the senior leaders spend the first day of school
5:10:00 at about 5.30 at the bus depot,
5:10:03 greeting and waving to the drivers as they head out.
5:10:07 And that’s an easy gesture, right?
5:10:09 It’s just getting up early and getting out there,
5:10:13 but it says we’re all in this together.
5:10:15 And then the last couple of years,
5:10:17 there have been random follow-up meals
5:10:20 served out at transportation,
5:10:21 and regardless of who’s doing that organization,
5:10:24 it’s about the senior leadership team showing up,
5:10:28 saying thank you, being present.
5:10:30 And that goes a long way, or has gone a long way,
5:10:36 with our transportation department,
5:10:38 with facilities, with maintenance.
5:10:41 I think we’ve used a lot of different techniques
5:10:44 over the years to celebrate teachers and employees.
5:10:50 We do a veteran recognition at each board meeting.
5:10:55 That’s proved to be very positive,
5:10:59 and just as much gratitude to teachers and staff as possible
5:11:05 and when it’s specific and it’s genuine, it goes a long way.
5:11:10 - Thank you for that.
5:11:12 Next question’s wrapped around new technology.
5:11:14 Describe a time when you led the implementation
5:11:16 of a new technology in your district.
5:11:18 If you can talk about what technology it was,
5:11:22 what did you learn about the technology,
5:11:24 what challenges, obstacles did you have,
5:11:25 what success was the technology,
5:11:27 and how did you measure the results of that?
5:11:29 Just basically, we implemented X, here’s what it did.
5:11:33 - Sure, so going back a few years,
5:11:38 my first job at the district office and seminal
5:11:42 was administering our Race to the Top programs.
5:11:46 That was in 2011, that was an Obama administration
5:11:49 initiative, federal funding coming to districts
5:11:53 at a time when the economy was tough,
5:11:56 and the infusion of money allowed
5:11:59 certain projects to keep going.
5:12:02 There were specific requirements,
5:12:06 it wasn’t do with it whatever you want,
5:12:08 so there were some specific requirements around
5:12:10 what at the time was called
5:12:11 the local instructional improvement system,
5:12:14 and one of the things that we put into place
5:12:16 was a student performance data management system,
5:12:20 which is where you’re housing
5:12:23 really all of your student analytics.
5:12:25 It takes you a step beyond the student information system,
5:12:28 and what was unique here is that we ended up
5:12:32 selecting a vendor that was new to Florida,
5:12:36 and that frankly submitted a low bid
5:12:39 in order to get into a high performing district in Florida,
5:12:43 and what I enjoyed about that was that
5:12:46 because it was a newer product,
5:12:48 and because it was new to Florida,
5:12:50 we had tremendous influence over the customization,
5:12:54 and so my very small team and I got to map out
5:12:58 what the RTI, now MTSS module looked like,
5:13:03 and so we did all of the storyboarding,
5:13:06 and then the programmers came in
5:13:07 and made it look right and made it operate correctly,
5:13:12 and so what didn’t work right on the functional end,
5:13:17 we owned that, right?
5:13:18 What didn’t work right on the technical,
5:13:20 the programming end, they had to fix,
5:13:23 and 10, 12 years later, we still use the same system,
5:13:28 and we’ve built lots of little enhancements.
5:13:30 There’s a risk scoring algorithm in there
5:13:33 to help us with early warning,
5:13:35 even earlier than some of the metrics that are in statute,
5:13:38 and so that’s a system that I definitely got
5:13:42 to implement pieces of and that continues to be used today
5:13:47 for a variety of purposes.
5:13:49 More recently, a lot of technology was put in
5:13:53 as a result of the, again, the CTE upgrades,
5:13:57 and so when you’re putting in an advanced manufacturing lab,
5:14:03 you start learning a lot about CNC machining,
5:14:09 all of those specialty products,
5:14:11 and again, as the person managing the work,
5:14:15 you’ve gotta understand it,
5:14:16 but you’re also relying on your teacher experts
5:14:20 and different organizations
5:14:23 to try to use that money as best you can,
5:14:26 so both kind of a data example
5:14:29 and then a more practical student equipment example.
5:14:31 - No, I appreciate that.
5:14:33 That concludes my questions.
5:14:35 Ms. Campbell, you have the next round.
5:14:37 Thank you.
5:14:38 - Thank you.
5:14:39 I haven’t had one since the beginning.
5:14:40 I just didn’t start one, so whatever.
5:14:42 - So we can’t start one now.
5:14:43 - We have to do it the exact same way for every person,
5:14:46 so I have to tell you that we all picked areas
5:14:49 of our passion except for Mr. Trent
5:14:52 because he got the leftovers, so.
5:14:57 So my area of passion and questions is community connections.
5:15:02 So first of all, what are your ideas about engaging families
5:15:07 who are inexperienced with participating
5:15:10 or who have negative experiences with education,
5:15:12 and how would you help your staff
5:15:14 to reach out to such families successfully and respectfully?
5:15:18 - That’s a great question,
5:15:19 and it becomes even more important
5:15:22 right in the HB1 environment
5:15:24 because families do have more choices than ever,
5:15:26 and I think the challenge for school districts in Florida
5:15:31 is going to be how do we leverage the scale advantage
5:15:37 that we have by being a large district,
5:15:40 but how do you make it feel like it’s not?
5:15:43 How do you make every family, every school
5:15:48 feel like an N of one?
5:15:51 And that requires a lot of thinking,
5:15:55 a lot of customized approaches.
5:15:58 I think all of us who are educators
5:16:00 retrained into leadership are also gonna,
5:16:03 we’re gonna need to rely more on help
5:16:05 from folks who have expertise in strategic communication
5:16:09 and marketing to kind of fine tune those messages
5:16:13 and really understand how to do that work.
5:16:19 I think in Brevard specifically,
5:16:23 the geographic uniqueness, right,
5:16:25 the 72 miles north to south creates,
5:16:28 although it’s one county,
5:16:30 you’ve got a lot of different communities,
5:16:32 and so that message is gonna have to be more,
5:16:37 more narrowly tailored to specific schools
5:16:43 and then down to specific families.
5:16:46 In terms of engaging communities that,
5:16:50 or families that maybe, as you said,
5:16:52 weren’t successful in school themselves,
5:16:54 I think that’s the importance of trying to go out
5:16:59 into the community and not just doing everything
5:17:01 from a district office or from a headquarters building.
5:17:06 And again, just being at McNair this morning,
5:17:13 very important community school.
5:17:16 And your staff at each school has to know
5:17:22 the history of the area and how it’s evolved
5:17:25 and how to utilize that as an asset
5:17:29 in talking with families.
5:17:32 - Thank you.
5:17:33 What has been your experience or interaction
5:17:34 with local business and community groups?
5:17:37 What have you specifically done
5:17:38 to ensure a positive working relationship
5:17:40 with economic development groups
5:17:43 or chambers or local philanthropic groups?
5:17:47 - Sure, thank you.
5:17:49 So I think the first part of that is showing up, right?
5:17:55 And that’s challenging because there are a lot
5:17:59 of different groups kind of all working at the same issues.
5:18:03 So how do you, you get invitations to different events
5:18:12 or different opportunities and it’s about going out
5:18:15 and doing those things and then following up
5:18:17 with the people that you meet.
5:18:19 Certainly in the career and tech world,
5:18:22 the program advisory committees that are required
5:18:27 are a good way to engage with a lot of different partners
5:18:32 in an organized fashion.
5:18:35 But then I think it’s about really working
5:18:39 to understand what each business partner can do
5:18:44 and what each business partner is interested in doing
5:18:47 and how that aligns to the district goals.
5:18:50 So for example, both Brevard and Seminole do a lot of work
5:18:55 around student internships.
5:18:57 And you have to put some parameters in place,
5:19:03 but then you also want to be able to adapt
5:19:09 to each particular businesses either limits
5:19:13 or preferences, right?
5:19:15 So there are some businesses where you’re not going
5:19:20 to be able to do an internship for a student
5:19:23 under the age of 18, but you might be able
5:19:27 to do a job shadow or bring the business into the school.
5:19:33 So again, I think it’s about kind of each partner’s
5:19:36 unique needs and then staying engaged with them.
5:19:39 And that’s really, it’s important
5:19:40 that the district leadership team be available.
5:19:46 It can’t just be a single person,
5:19:48 but that lots of people are going out
5:19:51 and hopefully the same people repeatedly
5:19:53 to the same organizations.
5:19:55 I certainly in Seminole have gotten
5:19:57 to serve on some economic development committees
5:20:00 within chambers and do some of that work.
5:20:03 And the key piece is making the meetings,
5:20:06 making the contacts, and then when those folks have,
5:20:10 when they have a need or a request from the district
5:20:14 that we follow up on that and that we provide it.
5:20:18 So for example, in the economic development world,
5:20:22 sometimes you have a group trying to bring
5:20:27 a business to a community.
5:20:30 And one of the decisions or one of the factors
5:20:33 in that business is relocation is what schools
5:20:37 are the children of my employees going to attend?
5:20:40 And so often they’ve got specific questions
5:20:44 and you’ve got to attend to those in order
5:20:46 to be a good partner to the group that’s trying
5:20:48 to bring them in.
5:20:49 And so I think that responsiveness is really important.
5:20:53 - Thank you.
5:20:55 How important is it and what specific roles
5:20:57 have you played personally in dealing with the legislature,
5:21:02 congressional delegations and county and city officials?
5:21:08 - You know, that’s an area that when I started my service
5:21:12 at the district office, I didn’t realize coming
5:21:16 from a school administration role, how critical
5:21:19 all of that was going to be.
5:21:21 So I’ll give you a couple of examples.
5:21:25 I have twice gone to Tallahassee to testify on,
5:21:30 or not testify, but present to House
5:21:35 and Senate subcommittees.
5:21:37 That’s an incredible opportunity because you have legislators
5:21:41 sitting on these education committees
5:21:45 and they’re interested in the policy area,
5:21:49 but most of them, not all of them,
5:21:51 but most of them haven’t worked in a school district
5:21:53 or haven’t been a classroom teacher.
5:21:55 And Chair Susan, as you know, it’s different
5:21:59 when you have classroom teaching experience
5:22:02 and you’re trying to communicate the complexity
5:22:05 of different issues.
5:22:06 So I’ve had a couple of those opportunities to go up
5:22:10 and talk to legislators formally.
5:22:13 Like Brevard, Seminole has had success
5:22:17 with specific legislative appropriations
5:22:20 to enhance programs.
5:22:22 And I’ve had different roles there.
5:22:25 In some cases, I’m the person writing the request.
5:22:29 I have been up to Tallahassee then to talk with legislators
5:22:33 and educate them on those issues.
5:22:38 I work closely with our current superintendent
5:22:41 as we kind of draft the legislative platform each year
5:22:44 in response to what our board members are telling us.
5:22:47 And there’s an art to crafting that legislative platform
5:22:51 because you have to capture complexity,
5:22:54 but you also have to do it succinctly.
5:22:56 And so again, there’s often one page documents,
5:22:59 a lot of work goes into that one page
5:23:01 ‘cause you’re trying to get the message right.
5:23:05 In terms of local leaders,
5:23:09 again, I think both the kind of formal
5:23:11 and informal connections are really important.
5:23:14 And again, each of you as board members
5:23:17 already has those existing connections.
5:23:20 And so sometimes the role of the superintendent
5:23:23 is making sure that you have the information you need
5:23:26 when a colleague from another board calls you
5:23:28 and asks you for information or a question or says,
5:23:32 “Hey, I heard that this was going on.
5:23:35 “And you need that quick response from the superintendent
5:23:39 “or the senior staff so that you can respond to that
5:23:43 “and have that productive relationship
5:23:45 “with your elected colleague.”
5:23:47 And so I think that’s another important role
5:23:51 that the superintendent,
5:23:52 the senior leadership team needs to play.
5:23:55 - Thank you, I appreciate that.
5:23:58 Presenting information in a highly charged situation
5:24:02 and to a variety of groups
5:24:03 is a part of a superintendent’s job.
5:24:05 Give an example of how you have encountered opposition
5:24:08 and how you dealt with the resulting situation.
5:24:14 - Great question.
5:24:18 Again, going back a few years,
5:24:23 I had the opportunity to participate
5:24:26 in a rezoning process within Seminole.
5:24:31 Our former superintendent, Dr. Walt Griffin,
5:24:36 came into his superintendency
5:24:39 and within the first year looked at growth patterns
5:24:41 and said, “We really need to address some things.”
5:24:44 And so there ended up being
5:24:50 a rezoning of three different areas geographically,
5:24:54 which were then kind of split up and staffed
5:25:00 by two members of the leadership team.
5:25:05 And at that point, I was the junior member of the team
5:25:07 and it was a great learning experience for me.
5:25:10 But at that time in Seminole,
5:25:11 we actually had a process
5:25:12 where citizens could submit their own map proposals,
5:25:18 which then had to be kind of analyzed at the district level
5:25:22 and then communicated back.
5:25:26 And certainly there’s nothing more polarizing
5:25:30 than attendance boundary changes, right?
5:25:31 Because very few people are happy
5:25:35 and lots of people are unhappy, it’s just hard work.
5:25:38 And it’s really about trying
5:25:41 to address people’s specific concerns,
5:25:44 but then also trying to appeal to the greater good,
5:25:47 which doesn’t work for everyone,
5:25:51 but some people do understand.
5:25:53 And so I think, and I’m sure there are other,
5:25:57 certainly other controversial issues that we’ve dealt with
5:26:01 over the last 10 years,
5:26:03 but it’s about trying to be clear in the messaging,
5:26:07 particularly formal presentations, right?
5:26:10 That you make sure that everybody on that team
5:26:13 is on the same page and moving the same direction,
5:26:17 because when we’re not, people sense that
5:26:20 and it becomes an issue.
5:26:23 And then the second part of that is being as transparent
5:26:27 as possible in answering people’s questions
5:26:29 and acknowledging that you’re not going to make
5:26:32 everyone happy, but you’re trying to make
5:26:35 the best decision that you can for students
5:26:40 and trying to manage all of the complexity.
5:26:44 - Thank you, all right, I’ve got one more.
5:26:48 Sorry, I’m a note taker.
5:26:51 All right, what have you and your district done
5:26:55 to respond to the use of drugs, alcohol,
5:26:57 tobacco, vaping, et cetera, by students?
5:27:03 - You’re exactly right, another problem that we all face,
5:27:07 and I think with vaping,
5:27:13 we hear about it from some schools more than others
5:27:19 in terms of principals saying this is a bigger issue here
5:27:25 and then other principals saying,
5:27:26 I think we have that more under control.
5:27:31 And so sometimes you’re dealing with more specific behaviors
5:27:37 at different campuses.
5:27:40 First of all, my personal belief is that your code
5:27:45 of conduct should reflect what you’re willing to enforce.
5:27:50 So sometimes we write things and then the folks
5:27:54 who have to do the work, we’re talking about the deans
5:27:57 and the behavior support people and the assistant principals
5:28:01 look at that and say that’s impractical and here’s why.
5:28:05 And so I think we have to be careful about having
5:28:09 a written message that sounds nice on paper
5:28:13 but doesn’t reflect what we’re actually willing to do.
5:28:20 And then I think the second part of that going back
5:28:23 to something we talked about earlier is the issue of time.
5:28:26 So you can more heavily increase supervision,
5:28:33 but you have to look at that campus supervision plan
5:28:36 and you also have to say what’s the opportunity cost
5:28:39 of doing that, what are we giving up?
5:28:41 So if all of our assistant principals and deans
5:28:47 are standing in front of bathrooms all day,
5:28:50 then we’re not monitoring instructional quality.
5:28:53 And so I think that’s the other, and again,
5:28:56 if it was an easy answer, it would already be fixed, right?
5:28:58 But I think that’s the, when you decide,
5:29:02 okay, we really want to eliminate this problem,
5:29:09 then our actions have to match the words that are on paper
5:29:13 and we have to acknowledge what we’re giving up
5:29:16 in order to do that.
5:29:18 And I think, to give another example,
5:29:21 the dress code comes up now and then in different districts
5:29:25 and it kind of ebbs and flows and now we want to have
5:29:28 really strict enforcement and again, you can do that,
5:29:33 but you have to weigh the cost too.
5:29:37 Certainly alcohol, drugs, vaping,
5:29:41 that has to be taken seriously.
5:29:42 You can’t say, not our issue,
5:29:45 but I do think you have to be intentional about,
5:29:48 what’s our messaging to families?
5:29:50 How are we helping students?
5:29:54 How are we enforcing and tying all of that together?
5:29:58 And of course with students,
5:29:59 consistency is really important too.
5:30:02 So again, making sure that, again,
5:30:04 if a school leadership team has decided to plant a flag
5:30:08 on a certain hill and say,
5:30:09 this is, we’re not gonna tolerate this,
5:30:12 that everybody on that team is on board
5:30:14 and saying the same thing.
5:30:15 - Thank you, I appreciate it.
5:30:17 And my fun question is, what is your favorite animal?
5:30:21 - Favorite animal?
5:30:24 My elementary school son is quite fond of the clouded leopard
5:30:32 and so, we hear about that a lot in our house
5:30:36 and so, I think that’s just become one of our favorites.
5:30:40 - All right, thank you.
5:30:41 - Have to look that up.
5:30:45 Go ahead, Mr. Trenton.
5:30:45 - All right, so again, thank you for being here.
5:30:49 My area is operational sustainability.
5:30:53 So, I know you’ve been waiting all day for this,
5:30:56 so here we go.
5:30:57 - I’m ready, Mr. Trenton.
5:30:58 - All right.
5:30:59 What is the most challenging operational issue
5:31:01 in school districts today
5:31:02 and how do you approach this challenge?
5:31:05 - I really do.
5:31:07 I think it’s important.
5:31:08 - That’s huge.
5:31:10 - So, thinking back to an earlier question as well,
5:31:15 I think right now, nearly every school district
5:31:18 is challenged by transportation, right?
5:31:22 And by meeting our obligations with the staff that we have.
5:31:31 Everyone’s dealing with driver and monitor shortages.
5:31:36 You’ve got the wage pressures in there
5:31:40 and then, you just have logistics
5:31:42 and you couple that with the fact
5:31:44 that when we talk about operations,
5:31:48 there aren’t a lot of people who pick up the phone
5:31:50 and call transportation and say,
5:31:52 I’m thrilled that the bus has been on time every day
5:31:57 for the last three weeks.
5:31:58 Thank you, right?
5:31:59 Nobody does that.
5:32:00 And so, that transportation department
5:32:07 has challenges every single day.
5:32:10 And so, I think that’s an area
5:32:12 that a lot of districts are looking at.
5:32:14 It looks like there’s some innovation
5:32:16 perhaps coming out of the legislature
5:32:18 and some opportunities to look at ways
5:32:24 to supplement your traditional kind of school bus
5:32:27 and routing, but I definitely think that’s right now
5:32:33 an area of significant challenge.
5:32:36 And it is, it’s a very customer facing area.
5:32:39 So, when those buses are late through no fault
5:32:41 of the district or transportation or whatever,
5:32:46 parents do see that, right?
5:32:48 And some are gonna be understanding and some are not.
5:32:51 And so, again, particularly in this area of more choice,
5:32:54 more competition, efficiency of transportation
5:32:58 is even more important at a time
5:33:00 when the labor shortage is a real problem.
5:33:03 So, I think that’s probably our greatest challenge
5:33:06 just about in any district.
5:33:08 - Okay, thanks for that answer.
5:33:10 Share with us an example of when you were especially
5:33:13 innovative in addressing a funding gap,
5:33:16 such as the situation, the obstacles you encountered,
5:33:20 the risk involved, and then lastly, the outcome of that.
5:33:22 So, a funding gap.
5:33:29 - So, I guess there are a couple of things
5:33:32 I could talk about.
5:33:34 I think one thing in seminal over the years has been
5:33:41 that as budgets are tight, you wanna keep
5:33:44 your central office pretty compact, right?
5:33:49 We put our funding in the schools.
5:33:51 And so, you have compared to other districts,
5:33:54 perhaps a relatively flat organization,
5:33:57 you’re trying to do all of this.
5:34:00 One thing that we currently do on all of the teams
5:34:03 that I lead is every time there’s a vacancy,
5:34:07 we stop and say, “Do we need to post that right now?
5:34:15 Is that still the most important need
5:34:19 or is this a job that needs to be shifted
5:34:25 or responsibilities revised?”
5:34:28 And often when you do that exercise, the answer is yes,
5:34:31 we absolutely do need this and let’s go ahead and post,
5:34:34 but we have done some repurposing.
5:34:40 Recently, we lost one of our curriculum specialists
5:34:44 to a private industry job and my director of teaching
5:34:47 and learning and I sat and looked at it
5:34:50 and we really felt like not surprisingly that media centers.
5:34:59 We’re taking up a lot more time, right?
5:35:00 The cataloging of all of these libraries,
5:35:02 the approval of every book in a library.
5:35:04 And so, we made a hard decision to shift
5:35:07 from that curriculum specialist role
5:35:09 to adding a teacher on assignment over in the media area.
5:35:13 And then the work of that other person who had departed
5:35:17 was still important and so it had to be divided up
5:35:20 and distributed differently among the rest of the team.
5:35:24 But the point is we addressed a need
5:35:27 without needing more funding,
5:35:30 but it requires, again, a lot of time and analysis.
5:35:33 Typically you have a vacancy, you wanna get it up there,
5:35:35 you wanna get somebody replaced,
5:35:36 but in times of scarcity,
5:35:39 sometimes you have to make hard choices in order to shift.
5:35:45 The other thing I’ll say, Mr. Trent, is federal funding
5:35:53 is divided among multiple grants
5:35:56 and one thing that you wanna see in a school district
5:35:59 is that all of your federal grant administrators
5:36:02 are talking to each other
5:36:04 because the scope of those grants often overlap.
5:36:08 And although you can’t supplant from the general fund,
5:36:13 sometimes what you can do is get more efficiency
5:36:16 out of your federal grants by pooling
5:36:20 and dividing how you fund things.
5:36:23 So for example, this year,
5:36:25 our federal projects administrators selected some grants
5:36:30 and we went through a zero-based budgeting exercise
5:36:33 on grants that were very mature.
5:36:36 And we all sat in a conference room together
5:36:40 and we went line by line and everybody kind of
5:36:44 let down their guard and said,
5:36:46 this is what I’m paying for out of my grant.
5:36:48 And we went through and talked about,
5:36:51 is this aligned to the strategic plan?
5:36:54 Is this something that still adds value every single year?
5:36:58 Or is this something that has lost its luster
5:37:01 and either needs to be redesigned or abandoned?
5:37:04 And in the course of doing that,
5:37:06 you end up with grant administrators going,
5:37:09 that really belongs over here with me
5:37:13 and you should be taking this or,
5:37:15 oh, there’s a way for us to split fund
5:37:19 a position or an initiative.
5:37:20 And so again, that’s about building trust
5:37:23 among district leaders, among grant administrators
5:37:27 and sitting down and having those honest conversations.
5:37:31 - Well, thank you for that answer.
5:37:33 Describe your experience with strategic planning
5:37:36 for a large organization.
5:37:38 - So currently as deputy superintendent,
5:37:41 one of my job duties is to steward
5:37:44 the district’s strategic plan.
5:37:46 And again, it is absolutely the board’s strategic plan.
5:37:49 We have a five-year plan that gets reviewed
5:37:53 and can be adjusted by the board each year.
5:37:57 Some years there are minor adjustments
5:37:59 and they’re because of accountability changes.
5:38:02 And then in other years,
5:38:06 we might rework an entire system initiative.
5:38:10 You have four goals in your current strategic plan.
5:38:14 Ours is structured a little differently.
5:38:15 We have eight strategic initiatives that we’re working on.
5:38:19 There’s a lot of language overlap actually
5:38:21 between our two districts plans.
5:38:23 They’re just organized differently.
5:38:25 So my role currently is to maintain that document.
5:38:35 And then each year oversee the results reporting,
5:38:40 the reporting of the key performance indicators
5:38:43 to the board and then to work with the initiative owners
5:38:49 on what they’re seeing in the data,
5:38:51 what they’re gonna report back to the board
5:38:53 and whether they have suggestions for adjustments.
5:38:57 And obviously I’m working very closely
5:38:59 with our superintendent on that.
5:39:02 But part of my job is to get the coordination
5:39:07 among departments right,
5:39:09 so that we’re moving forward as a group
5:39:11 so that we’re not overwhelming the board
5:39:14 with too many changes at once.
5:39:16 And that we’re kind of crystallizing around
5:39:18 what really are the key priorities.
5:39:22 And again, I’m surrounded by a great team of people
5:39:26 and we work at it together,
5:39:30 but I run kind of point on management of the processes.
5:39:34 Beyond that in prior roles,
5:39:37 I wrote what we call our system initiative C,
5:39:41 which is our innovation for college careers and citizenship.
5:39:45 Again, as part of that education pathways initiative.
5:39:48 And I was the owner, meaning the person responsible
5:39:52 for the outcomes of those key performance indicators.
5:39:55 And one of the things I’ve learned about strategic planning
5:39:59 is we have to make sure that we’re talking
5:40:01 about the strategic plan to all employee groups.
5:40:04 And in the day-to-day work of running schools,
5:40:07 it’s easy for that document to get lost.
5:40:12 And people are doing the work toward the attainment
5:40:16 of the plan, but we have to make the links explicit.
5:40:20 The other piece is that sometimes when you’re making
5:40:22 decisions as a district leadership team,
5:40:26 others may not understand why you’re doing things
5:40:29 a certain way.
5:40:30 And the answer is often because we’re carrying out the plan
5:40:34 and that’s why it’s important for all stakeholders
5:40:37 to know what’s in that plan.
5:40:41 - Great, thank you for that.
5:40:42 How do you ensure climate assessment results
5:40:47 are used in school improvement planning across the district?
5:40:51 - So in seminal, we have a total of three surveys
5:41:00 that go out to stakeholders.
5:41:03 And some of those are built internally,
5:41:05 some of them are externally validated.
5:41:08 And those results, this is actually the time of year
5:41:10 that those results are coming in and that principals
5:41:14 are asked to reflect and our assistant superintendents
5:41:18 are reading those and having conversations with principals
5:41:21 about what’s in that feedback.
5:41:25 And then what you wanna do is you wanna take that feedback
5:41:29 directly into your school improvement planning process,
5:41:33 your development of your SIP.
5:41:36 And certainly you have some schools that are filling out
5:41:39 state required documents.
5:41:41 In seminal, we’ve continued to have all schools
5:41:44 go through a formal school improvement plan process
5:41:47 and presentation of that plan back to their school advisory
5:41:51 council and as a district leadership team,
5:41:54 we’re looking at each of those SIPs to be sure
5:41:58 that that feedback data is making it into the action plans
5:42:04 within those school improvement plans.
5:42:05 So I think it’s about connecting those dots,
5:42:08 taking the time to monitor and then continuing those surveys.
5:42:15 Ideally, you want really longitudinal data,
5:42:19 you don’t wanna make too many adjustments
5:42:21 because then it gets disconnected from year to year.
5:42:26 - And our last question here is, how would you ensure
5:42:29 that schools located in under resourced areas receive
5:42:33 the attention and resources they deserve and need?
5:42:38 - Great, great question.
5:42:40 And the term equity is being used in schools
5:42:46 in a lot of different ways now.
5:42:48 Again, where I’ve been trained in seminal,
5:42:52 going all the way back to the desegregation process
5:42:57 and the achievement of unitary status,
5:43:00 we’ve all been trained that there are always two priorities.
5:43:04 One is excellence, right?
5:43:05 Performance at the highest standard possible.
5:43:09 And the other is equity, that all groups are all schools
5:43:16 are having the same opportunity and outcome
5:43:21 related to excellence and that no one is falling behind.
5:43:24 I think with regards to facilities,
5:43:31 certainly there are lots of data metrics
5:43:33 that you can take a look at.
5:43:35 And of course, you’re going to see,
5:43:38 you have to build new schools in your new growth areas.
5:43:43 And you can’t replace every school every X number of years.
5:43:49 So even in schools that are older, the question becomes,
5:43:55 what’s happening on the inside of those schools, right?
5:43:57 What programs are being placed at schools
5:44:00 that are relevant and exciting to kids?
5:44:04 What’s happening at each school
5:44:05 so that it’s building its own identity
5:44:08 so that the community is excited about it,
5:44:11 even if it doesn’t have the freshest coat of paint
5:44:13 on the outside walls.
5:44:15 Then the other part of that goes back, I think,
5:44:17 to Mrs. Jenkins’ question earlier about achievement gaps
5:44:21 and doing all of that data and instructional leadership work
5:44:25 because if the data shows that your gaps are closing,
5:44:31 that student performance is improving,
5:44:33 then you know that your experience is becoming more uniform
5:44:36 and that you’re reducing variance
5:44:39 in terms of student experience and outcomes.
5:44:45 - Great, thank you for that.
5:44:46 And one of the most important questions is,
5:44:49 what do you find yourself doing in your spare time?
5:44:55 - Great question.
5:44:58 Nicole and I certainly enjoy the opportunity to travel.
5:45:01 There’s been less of it the last three years,
5:45:04 more because of work than anything else.
5:45:07 We also find that as our son gets a little older,
5:45:12 his social calendar becomes our social calendar, right?
5:45:15 That the chauffeuring requirements increase.
5:45:19 And so the free time that we have ends up at Little League
5:45:24 and lots of those kinds of opportunities.
5:45:32 Certainly beyond that, the opportunity to do
5:45:35 a little reading, not in education, is always a nice thing.
5:45:40 - Thank you. - Thank you.
5:45:43 - Thank you, Dr. Rasang.
5:45:43 Is there any additional information
5:45:45 that you would like to share with the board members?
5:45:48 - Well, thank you, Chair Susan.
5:45:51 You know, again, I’ve been really privileged
5:45:54 to serve in Seminole County for the last 15 years.
5:46:02 Lots of leaders move around for advancement
5:46:05 or to get that next experience.
5:46:07 I’ve been the beneficiary of a system
5:46:11 that understands leadership development
5:46:13 and succession planning and the power of that.
5:46:16 And when my colleagues and direct reports
5:46:22 either were informed or discovered
5:46:24 that I was looking at a superintendent opportunity,
5:46:28 it’s interesting because we haven’t, in our history,
5:46:31 had a lot of candidates looking externally
5:46:35 for superintendent jobs.
5:46:36 People tend to stay a really long time,
5:46:39 but that’s because I think we’ve all been given
5:46:43 new opportunities and continuous challenge.
5:46:49 In Seminole, I’ve worked for three superintendents.
5:46:53 Dr. Vogel was our superintendent
5:46:59 when I was at a high school as an assistant principal.
5:47:01 And then the very first part of my district office career.
5:47:08 Then Walt Griffin was promoted internally to superintendent
5:47:14 and served, I believe, nine years.
5:47:16 And now Sarita Beeman, who was our board attorney,
5:47:19 and made the transition to superintendents.
5:47:21 I served three superintendents all very different
5:47:25 in their leadership styles and their approaches.
5:47:29 But all extremely dedicated to students
5:47:33 and all doing a lot of work behind the scenes,
5:47:36 whether it’s for an individual student,
5:47:38 for a school that has extra needs.
5:47:44 And that’s the environment that I’ve been brought up in.
5:47:52 Brevard Public Schools is a district
5:47:55 that I have watched for years
5:47:57 when we would go early in my administrative career
5:48:00 to leadership conferences.
5:48:03 Dr. Vogel would talk about Brevard
5:48:06 and Dr. Depatri’s leadership
5:48:08 and the systems that were being put in place.
5:48:11 We benchmark ourselves academically.
5:48:14 And so Brevard is always a system that I’ve watched
5:48:18 when I first got career and technical education.
5:48:21 And I said that this is completely different
5:48:24 from running academic instruction.
5:48:27 Everyone said, anytime you have a question,
5:48:29 you call Janice Scholz and Brevard.
5:48:31 And so, and the first time I called her,
5:48:33 she said, come over and spend the day.
5:48:35 And so my first trip to Brevard was to meet her
5:48:38 and spend the day with her.
5:48:40 And so Brevard’s always been a great school district.
5:48:44 And I would be honored should you choose
5:48:48 to select me as your superintendent.
5:48:50 I appreciate your time today.
5:48:52 Look forward to talking with you individually tomorrow.
5:48:55 - Thank you.
5:48:56 Anybody else have any other questions?
5:48:57 - No, no, thank you, thank you so much
5:48:59 for coming and participating.
5:49:01 I know this is an awkward setting
5:49:02 as far as us asking questions.
5:49:04 And I said earlier, I wish we were kind of a round table
5:49:07 where it was more of a discussion,
5:49:08 but I really appreciate your answers to the questions.
5:49:10 So thank you.
5:49:11 - Yes, thank you.
5:49:12 - Since we have time, you wanna ask him the last question
5:49:14 of the DIV program.
5:49:16 What was the last question? - It’s the same,
5:49:17 no, it’s the same thing.
5:49:18 You have any questions for the board members?
5:49:19 - Oh, DIV, yeah. - Do you have any questions
5:49:22 for us?
5:49:23 - I think the one question, if we have time,
5:49:26 I think the one question I’d like to ask,
5:49:27 I know many of you have been here in the community
5:49:31 for a long time, and I’d love to know what you love most
5:49:34 about this community.
5:49:37 - Only one thing?
5:49:39 I can go first.
5:49:44 So you had brought it up about how Brevard
5:49:47 is a long, diverse county
5:49:51 with many different communities within it.
5:49:54 But I will say the one thing that transcends
5:49:56 through every single one of those communities,
5:49:57 and it might be a little bit
5:49:58 of a different nuance inside of each of them,
5:50:00 but is this real pride from being from the Space Coast.
5:50:06 That’s really important to everybody who lives here.
5:50:09 Again, everyone has a little different piece
5:50:11 as to why that’s important to them
5:50:12 or how it’s important to them.
5:50:14 But that pride of being on the Space Coast
5:50:16 is what I find unique, especially coming from New York City
5:50:22 where you don’t really get that tiny, small community feel.
5:50:26 And being such an expansive county,
5:50:28 I still feel like it has that feeling
5:50:30 and that vibe and that unity.
5:50:32 - That’s wonderful, thank you.
5:50:35 - I don’t know if I pick one thing that’s the best.
5:50:38 I am a Texan, and so we’re very proud of our home state.
5:50:43 And I still am proud of my home state,
5:50:44 but I have to say, growing up in a big city,
5:50:48 thinking that I’d be going over to Orlando all the time,
5:50:49 I have to say what I love about Brevard
5:50:51 is everything that I need is here,
5:50:53 somewhere in the borders of our county,
5:50:55 unless I need to fly to Texas,
5:50:58 in which case I have to go to Orlando.
5:50:59 But everything else that I need is right here
5:51:02 in this county.
5:51:03 - Thank you.
5:51:04 - You could connect.
5:51:06 - I might be the only one, were you born in–
5:51:09 - Oh, way to go there.
5:51:10 No, I just found out today,
5:51:11 I was the oldest school board member.
5:51:13 - I know, I am born and raised, Brevard County resident,
5:51:17 so I’ve been here my entire life,
5:51:18 and hands down, it’s the people.
5:51:20 - It is the community, so we have community here
5:51:22 that is like no other, and I absolutely have a heart
5:51:26 for our community and our people.
5:51:28 - Thank you.
5:51:32 - Like a few of our board members here,
5:51:34 I was not born and raised here in Brevard.
5:51:37 And unlike Ms. Campbell, I’m from a state
5:51:40 where we’re not always proud of where we’re at.
5:51:42 So it’s nice to be in Brevard here,
5:51:44 where it’s a very large county,
5:51:48 but no matter where you’re at in that 72 mile stretch,
5:51:51 what Ms. Jenkins says, the pride of being a part of Brevard,
5:51:56 it stretches from one end to the other.
5:51:58 So that is, that’s refreshing, so yeah.
5:52:02 - Absolutely, thank you.
5:52:03 - So for me, I call it the small big,
5:52:06 and what that is is that like you have,
5:52:09 you will be, the thing about Brevard is,
5:52:12 is that you will go to eat lunch somewhere,
5:52:15 and there’s a guy sitting next to you with holy shorts
5:52:17 and a torn-up shirt, and you think that he had just gotten
5:52:21 off the turn-up truck or something,
5:52:22 and you find out that he’s the lead engineer
5:52:24 for the launch systems outside.
5:52:26 And what we have is this difference between this,
5:52:30 is that we here in Brevard don’t try to show off too much
5:52:34 as far as what you look like and everything else.
5:52:36 We don’t wear a lot of ties here.
5:52:39 We have a lot of, but a lot of the people here
5:52:42 will wear polo shirts, will wear T-shirts,
5:52:44 and that’s who we are.
5:52:45 And the other thing is, is that as big as we are,
5:52:48 we’re small, so like I know the mayors up north,
5:52:52 but then I also know family members
5:52:54 and other individuals all the way up from Mims to Micco,
5:52:57 and you have, everybody’s connected,
5:52:59 even though we’re big enough, but we’re small enough
5:53:01 to where we still are all those little communities.
5:53:03 So we are all Space Coast, we all do want
5:53:07 to be a part of that, but the thing is,
5:53:08 is that there’s a difference in Brevard.
5:53:10 I do a lot of business around the state of Florida,
5:53:12 and I will tell you that Brevard is a special kind of county
5:53:15 and the reason is, is that we’re real here.
5:53:17 And we’re real politics, we’re real people,
5:53:20 and that’s what I love about it, so thank you.
5:53:23 - Real politics, real people.
5:53:25 - Thank you.
5:53:27 - Anybody else?
5:53:28 We’re good?
5:53:30 Yeah, we’re gonna go do this.
5:53:31 Thank you very much.
5:53:38 (upbeat music)