2023-05-09 - School Board Meeting

3:22 Good evening. The May 9 board meeting is now in order. I’m happy to welcome my fellow board members and the public. I’d like to take the opportunity to remind the public that the appropriate place for participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity as identified in the agenda outside your individual public comment opportunity, your role in this meeting as an observer.

3:39 Paul, roll call, please. Mister Susan. Here.

3:42 Miss Wright. Here. Miss Campbell.

3:44 Here. Mister Trent. Here.

3:46 Miss Jenkins. Here. Please stand for the pledge.

3:54 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. Fraud. The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection and invite the audience to join.

4:32 At this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board members and miss hand the opportunity to recognize student staff or members of the community. We’ll go with the west Shore teams in a second here. Miss Jenkins.

4:45 Do you want to lead? No, we’re just going to wait to do the big recognitions until after everybody’s gotten their chance. Yep, go ahead. Go ahead.

4:52 No, I have one of them. Okay, you see you in. I’ll go, I’ll go.

4:56 I don’t have one of the big ones. All right. So a couple of Saturdays ago, I was able to go to the Bhimda gala, which stands for Brevard Indian Medical Doctors association.

5:10 And except on behalf of Brevard Schools Foundation, a $25,000 check for a new scholarship that they are sponsoring, you know, when we do our spring senior scholarship. So really excited to see that for students who are going to be going into the medical field. And so I wanted to thank Bimda one for hosting me at the dinner and then for their very generous gifting of that new endowed scholarship.

5:31 So that was very exciting. Last Thursday was the national day of prayer. And I just want to thank all the people who joined at all the many gatherings.

5:37 I can’t remember how many there were there, over 40 across the county. Because one of the things that they specifically pray for whenever they me is for our schools and very much appreciate all the prayers anytime that are lifted up. But especially on that day.

5:50 Friday was school lunch hero day, and we got to get out there and have a little fun serving some lunch, wearing the hair nets. I hope you wear your hair net, Mister Trent. And getting to see the great work that our heroes in our cafeterias do.

6:04 But I was able to go to Bayside for breakfast and Jupiter for lunch. But I have to tell you, when I took a little break when we had a lull in the line, which we didn’t have many of those, and went out to a table full of second graders. And second graders are my favorite.

6:19 And I just knew after they started talking to me, I said, what grade are you guys in? They said, second. I’m like, I knew it. I just had to share with you some of the rave reviews for our school cafeterias.

6:29 Jameson said, it’s the best. Angelo said, cool. Kelly just gave me two thumbs up.

6:38 Kymani said, ten out of ten. And they have the best staff. What second grader uses the word staff? I was so impressed.

6:46 Micah said, super awesome. Bailey said, I like all the staff here. Jamar said, it’s the best cafeteria ever.

6:55 And Isaac said, 1000 out of 100. So thank you to all of our cafeteria staff and thank you, board for going along with the challenge and getting out there and meeting some of our superheroes in our, our schools. I’ll go next.

7:10 Since, since we’re, since we’re on the school cafeteria, I too got the opportunity to go and serve in one of the school cafeterias in my district and I had the opportunity to serve at challenger seven and the staff at that school, in the cafeteria, I was blown away. The fact that they remember all these kids names. I’m like, oh my gosh.

7:29 I actually worked the hotline next to Miss Veronica. Burned my hand on pulling something out just a little bit. Not too bad, anything bad, but I just have a little mark.

7:37 But I just, they were amazing. Honestly, the amount of students that they come through and as fast as she was, I honestly felt like I was hindering her, being next to her, but she was so cheerful. Her contagious joy was just something that I think the students picked up on and they were excited to go in there and see her.

7:51 And so to the challenger seven crew there. Thank you guys so, so much. I had the opportunity to do a couple fun things in the last couple weeks.

7:58 So the city of Titusville put on an award ceremony where they recognize all the schools in the north end. Some of our staff here got the opportunity to go with us and it was just a great event to recognize outstanding students that are doing well in all the schools in Titusville. And so I just thought it was a good honor.

8:12 They got to come up on stage. A lot of these kids were coming from elementary schools, middle schools, and so it kind of breaks down that barrier of what Titusville High is going to look like for them, which was very exciting. So that was a great event.

8:23 And I also got the opportunity to attend the space coast bowling team’s bowl a thon, which I am not a bowler by any means, but it was a great event, and the amount of community support that came out to help them raise money to get to nationals was absolutely encouraging. They have an upcoming event where they’re going to do axe throwing at stumpies, and they will be. That’s coming towards the end of this month.

8:44 So if you guys see that on social media, go out there, throw some axes. It helps get our kids to nationals, which is going to be a great expense. And then the other thing is, it’s teacher appreciation week.

8:54 So thank you, teachers. From the bottom of our heart. You guys are the backbone of what happens in our schools, and without you, we don’t have a school.

9:01 So just want to give a shout out to all the amazing educators that we have in Brevard county public schools. We are grateful for each and every single one of you. What you do is a hard job, but we appreciate you from the bottom of our hearts.

9:12 Mister Trent. All right, well, I’ll start also with the school lunch hero. I was able to help out, if you want to call it that, with breakfast at Cocoa beach junior senior high school.

9:24 That staff is amazing. Trish, Maureen, and Dana, the amount of kids that they, again, they know by name. But I asked Trish some of the secrets, and she just said, absolutely.

9:38 Say good morning or good afternoon to every single kid, no matter what. I mean, she learns what they order. There were times that the kid just showed up, didn’t say a word.

9:47 You know, like, the kids don’t like to talk. And she just went to the cooler, got their colored drink, got their chip. He put in his number and just went on.

9:55 And it’s a language just between Trish and the students there, but they do a wonderful job. I’m not ratting out any teachers, but there were multiple teachers that came up in the morning and went right to the back to see if the fresh cookies were done. And they weren’t at the time, but they said they could come back and get them later, so they must do that often.

10:16 But it was a good morning. So I have a little history in restaurant business, so it was a little flashback there, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. And I just.

10:24 It’s amazing how many kids don’t take advantage of, for example, the breakfast. The stuff was great, so hats off to them a little bit more out there. I was able to attend Roosevelt’s elementary spring choir concert.

10:39 The admins Miss Lott and Miss Blale, along with the music teacher. Miss DeLucia just puts on a wonderful program. That music program there’s exceptional.

10:50 So they did a great job. Congratulations to the Cocoa beach boys baseball team who won districts. That was one of the very.

10:59 They’re very congratulatory being there, but they found themselves in the spot that they probably didn’t think they were going to be at the beginning of districts. They were very low seed, it’s okay to say that. But they overcame the odds and they won districts and they’re playing today, I think, down south.

11:14 So that was a wonderful, wonderful game. The entire town really came out to see what had happened and I think they beat MCC for the championship there. Let’s see.

11:25 Other than that, it’s the week for teachers. I know you guys put in a hard year and every week we were thankful that you do the things that you do. I know you’re counting down the days, not that you don’t want to be in school.

11:39 You’re counting down the days that you’re going to miss your kids. I get it. But thank you for coming to school every day and doing what you do.

11:46 I appreciate you. Thank you, Mister Trent. Miss Jenkins.

11:49 Yeah. I also want to say happy Teacher Appreciation week to all of my colleagues. It has been a rough couple of years, but the one thing that remains constant for all of our educators is the reason why they’re doing it and the students that they do it for.

12:05 So I just want to acknowledge you and I want to encourage you to not only appreciate the Starbucks gift cards that you’re going to get in sleuths, but also the smiles and the hugs and the respect and love that you’re going to get pouring at you this week from your students, as well as their families that love you. So I have something extra special tonight and I’m going to go off script a little bit. Mister Bruin.

12:29 Sorry. This is going to show you that our staff is ready and able to help no matter what is needed. And I’m really excited about this because the person I’m about to speak about, coincidentally, is my neighbor and a friend of mine.

12:46 A neighbor who is so ready to help that I got a phone call from him the other day and I thought he was going to tell me that my crazy dog had leapt my six foot fence again and was escaping and running around the neighborhood. But that’s not the story that he shared with me. He shared something pretty incredible and we invited him here tonight.

13:05 He brought his amazing, wonderful family to celebrate his tremendous actions. So Mister Gibbs was an educator for brevard Public Schools, he worked at Johnson Middle School as a history teacher and he decided to start subbing recently to get back into the classroom in support brevard public schools because he loves us so much. And while substituting at Ogalley High School, he stumbled upon a student who was choking and he quickly ran into action, performed the Heimlich maneuver and saved that student’s life.

13:37 He was in the right place at the right time and acted quickly as can be. We are so appreciative of you. I’m appreciative of you as a friend and a neighbor.

13:48 I know. I know your love and dedication for public schools. I know your love and dedication for students.

13:55 And I’m not surprised by this story. I was surprised to receive it that day. But I’m so appreciative of you and I am so appreciative that you decided to step back into our schools and substitute as well.

14:05 So double kudos for you. Double thank you. And thank you to your wife who is a nurse who probably taught you how to respond correctly.

14:24 And we also have the assistant principal from Ogalley High School, Mister John Rauch, here tonight. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you very much.

14:35 I just want to make sure didn’t have it look like you had something to say. I want to say thank you to everybody that’s here tonight. We appreciate, we have a whole host of administrators that are coming on.

14:44 We also have an amazing cheerleading squad that’s going to be over here. We’ll talk about that in a second. And we see many of the faces that come up here to our board meetings and we really appreciate your input and everything else.

14:53 I wanted to say thank you also for teacher appreciation week as a former teacher. Also many of the things that we’re about to roll out and we did today during the. I’ll let you talk to that, Miss sue.

15:05 There’s some big news coming for all of our teachers and there’s probably going to be a really good retention issue that we just announced today. So there’s that. The other piece is that I wanted to say, you talk about baseball, Mister Trent, just so you know that Viera also is in the playoffs and they’re moving against Melbourne tomorrow.

15:21 Rockledge high versus american heritage. And Ogalley is playing Pembroke Pines tonight. So our teams, just so you know, we win more state titles here in football and many of the other sports than any other Central Florida teams.

15:35 And one of the problems we have on the baseball front is that and many of the others is that as we get further down into the playoffs, we end up facing against some of these private schools that are allowed to recruit, and they have an entire mob that’s down there. So we’re going to go at it again. We went at it again last year.

15:51 Ogalle had some things that happened that wasn’t so nice last year, but we’re going to support our teams and we’re going to go to bat for them as they get further down in the playoffs. I also wanted to say thank you to the propeller club and our amazing teachers and staff there. What ended up happening is the propeller club is an organization that’s out at the Cape that gives many scholarships and opportunities for our students to work on the job training and other things.

16:16 So they had me speak out there, and I will tell you that I was flabbergasted by the amount of people that are a part of that club that I never knew. They are amazing, everybody that’s involved out there. And then also the fact that we were honored in front of Cape Canaveral, the port, for many of the efforts that our schools have done over there.

16:35 I wanted to say thank you. There’s one thing that I wanted to bring up prior to getting with the West Shore cheer team, I had the very nice opportunity to sit with Miss Kublank at manatee elementary, and she’s the media assistant. And I wanted to say from the bottom of my heart, as we move forward, there’s a lot of budgetary items that we’re going to be working on, but our media assistants are getting slammed, both from the reviews that we’re doing to all of the new requirements that we’re doing.

17:02 And we took away one of their assistants in the elementary schools and many of the high schools and middle schools. So I think I wanted to say thank you for Miss Kublai, for laying out all of the needs that she has, and we will be working towards some of those goals in the future. Now, let’s get to the fun stuff over here.

17:19 I want to take a moment to celebrate West Shore junior senior high school and their competitive cheer team in an inaugural season. To remember. I don’t know if everybody in here remembers, but we had a.

17:28 We rushed to have the opportunity. And thanks to the individuals that are inside this room, the team is here, along with coach and school administrators. Please come to the front, because you guys are amazing.

17:39 So come on up. This team was. This was the first year of the cheer team.

17:44 Something that I wanted to see happen for this school and these are the students with their coach went to nationals in year number one at Walt Disney World. They competed, and actually, it was on tv, and I saw that, like, literally when you told me about this, and we started moving forward with it. It was running all weekend on tv.

18:00 They competed in the co division, finishing 10th in the nation. Guys, it’s 10th in the nation. Off of the first year we had a program.

18:07 I just wanted to say congratulations to the students and coach Caitlin Hoskins. We are happy for you and proud of you. Dedicated in talent.

18:14 Coach Hoskins, do you have to say a few words? Yeah. So, is it on? Yeah. Oh, wait, let me turn it on for you.

18:23 Hang on. Let’s do that up here. There you go.

18:26 Can you hear me okay? Yeah. I just wanted to say thank you so much to the school board for supporting this endeavor. We had a really amazing first season.

18:35 So thankful for all of our parents, our hard working athletes, our administrators, everybody that made this possible, the opportunities that this sport is affording. Our cheerleaders. We had two tryout for college teams.

18:48 We have a few more that want to cheer in college in the future. So that was the whole point of bringing competitive cheer to brevard schools. So we’re very excited for our first year and all that we accomplished.

18:58 We never imagined we would have such a successful year. With the assistance of coach Hardy over here, we just can’t be more proud of our athletes. How did you do it? Like, you go 10th in the nation on the first year you put a team together.

19:13 I mean, what do you guys. What kind of special sauce do you guys have? A lot of hard work, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this season. I don’t know if you guys know how it works.

19:25 We went to Tampa. You had to qualify to be able to go to the national competition. So they only selected four teams, and we were one of the four.

19:31 So we were really excited with that. And then we competed against 48 teams on day one at Walt Disney world, and then we made it to day two, which we were just happy to be there, so we didn’t expect anything. And then it was announced that the 48 teams, they took 15 to finals day three.

19:31 So we were screaming and crying in the hotel room. So excited for that. So it’s definitely a core memory that I think we will all remember.

20:01 Miss Hardy. Thank you so much. Many people don’t understand, but Miss Hardy was pivotal for making all of this happen, as she completely would not stop saying, we need to have competitive cheerleaders.

20:11 So Miss Hardy, do you want to take a second? Oh, well, thank you. First of all, thank you to the board and all the BPS staff and administration for making it possible for us to have competitive cheer. Mister Susan’s right.

20:25 I would not leave him alone until he said yes to competition cheer, because I knew this could be the outcome for Brevard. And although we might be the only team in Brevard that went to nationals this year, there’s many more to come. And what many people don’t know is, on top of preparing a competitive team, they also have to cheer at basketball games, do pep rallies at school, and be incredible students.

20:49 So these athletes are not just like, oh, they play their one football game every week. They’re cheering on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, going to practice on Thursday, going to competition on Saturday. Like, they really have full schedules, and they were incredible.

21:03 Like coach Hoskins said, she really put in a lot of time, effort, and planning into this. And with the help of the parents and the community, the school administrators, we came in 10th, and this year, we’re bringing back way more than 10th, too. Nice.

21:17 Well, and many people as we go to expand the athletic options for our students. This is the reason why, because you have the smiles of tonight and the successes that they have. I wanted to say thank you.

21:29 We’re going to steal a second. Did you guys have. Did you.

21:31 You guys want to, like, put a routine together? You guys gonna tumble in here? Do you need mats? Like, what do we need to do here? Well, we thought you were doing the challenging. I am very good at doing, like, all kinds of somersaults and everything like that. That’s what we heard.

21:43 No, they’re gonna do the school fight song, which is part of their competition routine that won them 10th in the nation. Do we need to remove the ceiling tiles up here for anyone? I’m not gonna be doing any stunting tonight. Cause it’s not quite tall enough, but you’ll see the rest of it, and it’s really cool.

21:57 Hey, I want to say to each one of you, you are the competitive wing to a lot of cheerleaders that wanted to go compete, and we never had that opportunity inside of our county, and now they do. So your success will drive others to join and be successful. So I wanted to say thank you for that.

22:14 Do you want to give a team captain a second to talk? Come on. Come on. Yeah.

22:18 Go. She knows who she is. Fill us in.

22:24 Hi, I’m Riley, and I just want to say thank you so much to the school board. For helping us and their support along the way. It sounds like cheesy, but we really wouldn’t have been able to do it like without you guys, especially funding our mats.

22:36 We started off with three mats and then we got to twelve, which is like the full panel like we do at competitions. And that was really helpful. And thank you so much for recognizing us today.

22:45 And I just love my team and I’m so happy with what we’ve accomplished this past year. All right, now, maybe. Yep, maybe next year we’ll come to the competition and support you guys as board members.

22:58 Let’s get a picture with you guys after you guys do your cheer. Yeah, yeah. I’m excited.

23:02 I’m excited. Thank you. If your music doesn’t work, I have some classic rock we can put on.

23:17 Fabulous. Let’s get a picture with them. I’m actually wearing their colors.

24:23 I didn’t even know. Okay, we got the email. Thank you people.

24:51 That first, just so everybody understands, Mister Fleming has said that next year he will be part of the cheer plant program. And we’re looking forward to seeing that. Yep, that’s where we’re going to.

25:44 All right, Miss sue. Thank you, sir. Go with the announcements.

25:48 Okay, so a couple things first, as Mister Susan alluded to do, want to let everybody know that our voters approved a millage for operational expenses, salaries, benefits and programs back in November. And we’ve been working with our team and we are able to start the, start the compensation part of that on August 31 for our employees. So we’re so excited about that.

26:11 And thank you to our team. We really a cross functional effort with HR and educational technology and finance trying to make sure that that all happens. And we’re just, we’re just super excited.

26:22 So thank you to our voters and to the public for what they’ve done for our employees and for our retention. So I want everybody to know to please come on back and be part of the BPS team in August. So thank you for that opportunity.

26:36 And then I do have a couple of recognitions. I too want to say thank you to our teachers and just let you know that from the operational side of the house, we appreciate you all too. We know what you do.

26:49 We understand and really appreciate what you do for our students and we want to be there to support you. So just, I want to say thank you on behalf of all of the folks in operations. We appreciate what you do, too.

27:01 Also want to recognize our ESF cafeteria folks. They feed the big kids here at ESF and I have the same experience as Mister Trent noted. Like, they know I need chocolate chip cookies and they know what I like for lunch.

27:17 So I just want to say thanks to Carrie and her team at the ESF cafeteria. They do an awesome job taking care of us here at ESF. And then I also want to recognize Will Hensman.

27:29 Will is a senior procurement agent in our procurement department and he received the Central Florida chapter of the National Institute of Government purchasing 2023 volunteer of the year award. Yeah, he did. Sounds like some huge.

27:46 So will’s an awesome guy. We do a lot of procurement through their department with, from facilities. And Will has helped us with a couple of projects and is just a stellar member of a stellar team.

27:59 And so awesome that Will was able to get recognized for his work on behalf of the chapter. And then finally, I just want to say thank you to Doctor Cody there in the back corner. Doctor Cody has been with us since the first of the year as our interim deputy superintendent and has helped us navigate through some of our discipline issues and working to make sure that we’re on track with resolving those.

28:22 And she will be leaving us as of May 12. But I wanted to recognize her and thank her for her work on behalf of BPS. Appreciate you joining us.

28:29 Thank you, doctor Cody. That’s all, Mister Susan. Thank you.

28:37 And I think not many people understand the work that the staff did. And I know you didn’t want to honor yourself, but sue, you worked diligently to try to say that we would be able to get that running on August 31 with the millage. She also worked diligently to make sure that the oversight committee was done correctly.

28:54 She also did diligently to make sure that it all wrapped together and we could announce it a little bit early. So it’s just a huge opportunity. So I wanted to say thank you, sue, for all of your benefits.

29:03 It was amazing. So thank you. All right, that brings us to the adoption of the agenda.

29:08 Okay. On this evening’s agenda, we have five. I’m sorry, let’s start that again.

29:09 On this evening’s agenda, we have administrative staff recommendations, 26 consent items, five public hearings, three action items, and three information items. Changes made to the agenda since released to the public include the addition of f 20 through f 22 job descriptions for Assistant Superintendent of student services, millage compensation specialist and millage compensation analyst, H 40 Superintendent’s employment agreement, and I 43 school board member. District residence area redistricting revisions were made to ACE six administrative staff recommendations, f nine student expulsions, reappointment, nominations of continuing professional services, contract teachers for 23 24.

30:00 F 17 reappointment, nomination of annual contract teachers for 23 24. F 18 administrative and professional reappointment, nominations for 23 24 and f 19 reappointment, nominations of support personnel and school safety and security security specialist for 23 24. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second.

30:27 Any discussion? No. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

30:32 Opposed? Motion passes 50. Miss Hand, would you please let us know about the administrative staff recommendations? Yes, sir. There are 21 items for your consideration.

30:43 Do I hear a motion? Move to approve? Second. Is there any discussion? Hearing? None. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

30:53 All opposed? There it is, Miss Hamm. Thank you very much. So, we have several new assistant principals joining our team.

31:03 And I wanted to take an opportunity to recognize them. So we’re going to start with Laura Barna. Laura was reclassed from the position of assistant principal at Delore Middle School to the position of assistant principal at Space Coast Junior Senior High School.

31:16 Congratulations, Laura. Thank you. Thank you.

31:23 Thank you. I just want to thank everyone for this opportunity for my career in leadership growth. I am looking forward to supporting the community of Space coast.

31:39 Thank you. Next, I’d like to introduce Michael Gladden. He’s being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Bayside High School to the position of assistant principal at O’Galley High School.

31:52 Congratulations. Thank you, everyone. There’s so many people to thank since I’ve been with county.

32:02 All my old administrators, school board staff directors, my family were my number one support. So that’s why they’re here today. I look forward to my next step at O’Galley High School.

32:14 I will sincerely miss all of Bayside High School. But hopefully I’ll be back. Thank you, Mister Gladden.

32:23 In the next, I’d like to introduce Jasmine Jackson Vereene. She’s being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Madison Middle School to the position of assistant principal at Space Coast Junior Senior High School. Congratulations.

32:37 Thank you. Thank you all. Most of all, I would like to thank doctor lips for this wonderful opportunity for seeing so much in me.

32:43 I would like to thank my family and my support. Marie. And of course, I cannot wait to join Mister Flora.

33:00 So I’m very excited for this opportunity. Thank you. Congratulations.

33:10 And next, I’d like to introduce Kavitha Tracy. She is being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Johnson Middle School to the position of assistant principal at Heritage High School. Congratulations.

33:24 Thank you, Miss Han and the board for this opportunity. I wanted to thank everybody in secondary leading and learning for mentoring me and preparing me for this next step in my career. To misses Middleton and my Longhorn Johnson family for challenging me every day to be a better administrator.

33:43 And to my family, who since I started teaching, has dealt with all the long nights. Everything. So thank you.

33:52 Because you guys are amazing. They never say no and so I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. And my amazing family support.

34:01 Thank you. Next, I’d like to introduce Kelly Bombrian. She’s being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Stone Magnet Middle School to the position of assistant principal at satellite high school.

34:15 Congratulations. I’d also like to thank the board for approving this tonight. And you know Courtney Lundy, for the past year, years, it’s been a fun ride.

34:28 My family for always being amazing. And Mister Pruitt for taking a chance on me. Lena, Molly and Sherry for always being just a text or a phone call away.

34:37 I appreciate that as well. So thank you. And then next, I’d like to introduce Mark Malick, who’s being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Merritt Island High School, to the position of assistant assistant principal at adult and community education.

34:54 Congratulations. Thank you very much. I’d like to thank the school board, Miss Hahn and doctor Sullivan for this opportunity to be here today.

35:04 I currently would like to thank my current principal, Mister Ramer, who gave me the opportunity for my first administrative experience. Spent two wonderful years at Merritt Island High School. I will always cherish those memories I had there.

35:17 And then obviously Miss Benjamin, my current principal or the principal, I will be going to at community and adult ed. And I’d like to just thank you all for this new opportunity, a new chapter in my life with my newborn, who is two and a half weeks old and enjoying the meeting today with everyone. Thank you.

35:39 Next, I’d like to introduce Brittany Postawaite, reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Viera High School to the position of assistant principal at Southwest Middle School. Congratulations. Thank you.

35:53 I just wanted to say thank you Miss Hann and the board for approving this. I’m a product of brevard Public Schools, so I’m super excited to continue on in working here. I wanted to thank everybody, my whole squad that came out tonight from Viera, Miss Robinson, Miss Legate, Mister Melinda’s, Maggie, all you guys, Corporal Williams.

36:12 And a big thank you to Miss Delotter for taking a chance on me and bringing me on her team. I’m super excited. And the rest of the team, Matt and Melissa.

36:21 I’m super, super excited to work with you guys. And then a big thank you to my mentor, Joe Flora, who has just really grown me as an administrator. I would not be here without you, so I really, really appreciate everything that you’ve done for me.

36:35 And then my family, my parents were holding down the two littles and my husband for being amazing. So I really appreciate everybody and I look forward to the great work at Southwest. Thank you.

36:50 Next, I’d like to introduce Genesis Rowe, who is being reclassified to the position of assistant principal at McNair Magnet Middle School. Congratulations. Thank you, board.

36:50 I’d like to say thank you to you all. Thank you to Brevard County. Doctor Sullivan always says she steals talent from outside.

37:12 I’m from Orange county, so I am a traitor. But I am a happy trader here in this place. I want to give thanks to my first principal, Jasmine Delautor.

37:22 At McNair. She brought me on and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity that she gave me. And to my current principal, Doctor Richardson, who’s just a bunch of fun to work with.

37:31 I was nervous to take this position, but when you have a strong team and people that are for you, it makes it easy to say yes. So I just wanted to say thank you. And to my beautiful family, once again, thank you.

37:47 Next, I’d like to introduce Sarah Strauss, reclassified from the position of teacher on assignment at Stone Magnet Middle School to the position of assistant principal at Stone Magnet Middle School. Congratulations. Forgive me, please.

38:03 I had to write this out. It truly takes a village to raise a child. Thank you to the school board for approving this exciting opportunity to be an assistant principal at Stone.

38:13 I’d like to thank doctor Sullivan, Mister Alba, Miss Bowman, Miss Wybel, Miss Vega, and Miss Hyam for believing in me. I appreciate working alongside my awesome staff, staff and student family. I have learned so much from each of the admin teams I worked with, especially Principal Lundy, Miss Bombriant, Miss Wilkerson, and Mister Weaver.

38:34 A special thank you to Barry Pitchard, Kathleen Campion, Debbie Lubbers, Robert spinner, Katrina Hudson, Jeff Coverdale, Liz Tatro, and Hilary Poole for constant teacher leader support. I appreciate all of my Florida and Wisconsin colleagues from who I have learned so much. Thank you to my former teachers, especially my favorites, Darlene Machten and Sherry Baker.

38:58 You both gave me the drive to teach to be a teacher just like you. She flew in from Wisconsin. A huge shout out to the stone community, our awesome, compassionate village that generously supports our students, staff and families each week.

39:15 Thank you. Thank you to my husband for always believing in me when I continuously stay late at school and you have a hot meal on the table. I love you.

39:17 Thank you to my entire family and the best parents I could ever have. See, it truly takes a village to raise a child and assistant principal. Our students need every one of us.

39:36 Like my mom always said, it’s a beautiful day. Go. Go first.

39:46 Thank you. And next, I’d like to introduce Jennifer Williams, who is being reclassified from the position of assistant principal at Space Coast Junior Senior High School to the position of assistant principal at Melbourne High School. Congratulations.

39:58 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hahn, board, doctor Sullivan, and directors. For this opportunity, I’d like to thank the first principal.

40:05 He gave me an opportunity as administrator, a friend, and a mentor. Mister Lauderdale. Thank you, Mister Fluor and my Space coast family for all the experiences, fun and challenging to get me to this place.

40:17 I like to thank my family for always supporting my late nights. My son is not here because he’s the cause of most of those late nights. He’s on the practice field.

40:25 And last but not least, thank you, Doctor Kurt, for this opportunity. I’m extremely excited to be part of the Melbourne family and culture. Go Bulldogs.

40:38 And now I’d like to introduce Jasmine Baez, who is being reclassed from the position of assistant principal at Satellite high School to the position of assistant principal at Pombe Magnet High School. Congratulations. Thank you.

40:53 I just want to say that I have a huge support system for anything and everything that I do that starts with my family. My mom. Thank you for always being there for me.

41:01 My son, who is actually graduating this year, which is insane to even think about for me. But right now this feels like I’m going back to where I started, which is insane because I literally started my teaching career upon my high school. So thank you, Jud, for bringing me back.

41:16 And Mister Perritt, thank you for saying all the good and always supporting me and guiding me throughout the years. Well, the two years that I was there. But thank you.

41:27 And thank you, everyone, for being here. Appreciate it. I just want to offer my final congratulations to all of our new assistant principals.

41:40 You guys have got a big job ahead of you, being leaders for BPS and looking forward to working with all of you. Congratulations again. Can we get that teacher from Wisconsin to stand up for a minute? Because that’s pretty inclusive.

41:55 Yeah, that’s pretty cool. That’s a pretty incredible story. Where’s the support system from Wisconsin? There you are.

42:03 Happy teacher appreciation week. Great point, Miss Jenkins. If we’ll take a second and let everybody kind of leave the boardroom now.

42:15 I think that we’re going to move. What’s that? Oh, yeah, one. Do a big photo.

42:21 Okay. All right, let’s go. It’s picture time.

42:23 All of you guys, come on up. Let’s do a photo. Sorry.

42:30 Matt’s gonna kick them all out. Everybody believe. Thank you, Mister Gibbs, for getting me these 14.

45:54 Welcome back, everybody. We’re now at the public comment portion of the meeting. We have 14 public speakers and each will receive three minutes.

46:01 I will call up three speakers at a time. The first three speakers are Hilah Mercer, Blythe Grossman, Gabrielle Russo. Good evening.

46:21 My name is Hilah Mercer. I’m a retired BPS teacher and principal who now volunteers in our schools. My belief is that anyone engaged in education should dedicate themselves to increasing student achievement and to closing the glaring achievement gaps between student subgroups.

46:42 That is the purpose of schools. We now face a situation where politics have taken our attention away from that primary goal. An investigation that took 161 days to complete and another 30 to be made public states that a board member was not truthful on his his application to work for BPS and therefore cannot work for the school system for one year.

47:12 The original allegations against the board member were made during his campaign for the seat he currently holds, thus giving the appearance that the charges were politically motivated. More recently, the deputy mayor of Cocoa, who substitute teaches in our schools, had a similar allegation made against him. It took five days for the district to bar him from subbing for one year.

47:44 While we do not know the reasons for the discrepancy in the time it took to make each decision, it gives the appearance of privilege on the one hand, and bias, or worse, on the other. City council members reach decisions that sometimes make constituents angry. It appears that the allegations against Mister Levander Hearn were also politically motivated.

48:12 Mister Jean Trent, the board member who is no longer allowed to teach in the school system for a year, is and is charged with leading our district personally forwarded the complaint against Mister Hearn for action. Now, three high need schools in Coco and Rockledge are denied for one year. A substitute teacher who served as a role model of what is possible through vision, hard work, and determination.

48:45 Mister Trent’s presence on the board sends a message to students that people do not have to follow the rules. A recent BPS survey identifies discipline as the number one concern among citizens. His continued presence on the board contributes to the problem.

49:08 Not much is asked of us, but that we do justly, that we love kindness and that we walk humbly I am asking all of us that in some instances, just because we can does not mean that we should. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Mercer.

49:33 Next up, Blythe Grossman. Gabriel Russo. Tiara Songer.

49:37 Good evening. I’m a lifelong Brevard resident, a product of birth Brevard public schools, and a proud parent to two current BPS students. However, I stand here tonight as an educator.

49:48 I have a bachelor’s in english education, a master’s in english lit. I’ve received commendations from the DOE. I’ve been on your textbook adoption committees, I’ve been nominated teacher of the year, and I’ve served in your community for 19 years.

50:01 I say all of this to establish that I am an expert in my field. And as an expert, I can say with confidence that the practices of your book reselection committee or reconsideration committee are going to leave students short changed. We are underestimating our students, who are very capable of reading hard things and using those experiences to become more skilled readers and thinkers.

50:24 Year after year, my AP students tell me in their course and reflection that the kite runner was the best book we’ve read, that it had been impactful and moving. I have pages of student testimonials to support this, and I would share them with any committee. But the problem is, no one is asking.

50:40 No one is asking to hear from teachers or students. I would expect that our district would have committees in place where teachers have a voice as strong as those parents and community members, where our years of experience and education would be heard and valued. And that is not currently happening.

50:58 Pulling a book out of classrooms without understanding the pedagogical reasoning that went into selecting it is problematic. A teacher on the committee could provide insight into why a text is taught, at what age it would be appropriate, and specifically in which classes. Making those determinations is part of the job of the teacher, and it’s a big responsibility and we don’t take it lightly.

51:20 The alternative is allowing fear to rule us and making knee jerk reactions anytime we find something distasteful. So should we scrap literature altogether? The Odyssey is about a man who cheats on his wife. Across the Mediterranean, Romeo and Juliet has not one but two teen hamlet, incest, and murder.

51:39 Macbeth, witchcraft, suicide and murder. The great Gatsby, infidelity, and murder. Where does it stop? It doesn’t stop until we return to our senses.

51:50 We are becoming so reactionary that we are pulling books off shelves simply because some people find them objectionable without first asking ourselves what literary value these texts hold and why the experts may have found merit in them in the first place. There are few things I am more confident in than my ability to teach teenagers in an effective and meaningful way through literature that reaches them. If we refuse to include teachers in the conversation and instead villainize and isolate them, then we are placing fear above common sense.

52:19 We can’t offer ap classrooms or classes but withhold college level materials. We can’t be a district that respects teachers but doesn’t place any trust in them. These things are mutually exclusive.

52:31 A medical board without a doctor on it seems ill advised, as does a book reconsideration committee without a single english teacher. I trust my doctors to diagnose my thank you, Miss Grossman. I trust my financial advisor to handle my money.

52:42 It’s time to thank you, Miss Grossman. Appreciate you coming out, Miss Gabrielle Russo Tiara songer, please. Good evening everyone.

52:52 My name is Gabrielle Russo. In 2019, I was a senior in the broadbard public system taking AP literature when I opened my AP testing booklet, as many high schoolers have done this past week, I saw the following prompt for my free response in his 2004 novel Magic Seeds versus Nepal writes, it is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That’s where the mischief starts.

53:12 That’s where everything starts unraveling. Below this prompt, there were a list of books where I was asked to identify a character from one of these pieces of literature and identify how their ideal view of the world resulted in a positive or negative consequence and how it illuminates the work as a whole. The list of books was diverse, but all had mature topics to discuss, from death to violence to mental health crises.

53:32 Some of these books have been directly brought forth for review in Brevard county, including the Kite Runner, which is the novel that I chose to write my essay about. After writing the AP essay, I never thought I would have to use my english literature experience again. However, it was this english curriculum that allowed me to take the next steps when I applied and competed against students across the country.

53:51 By submitting essays, test scores, and grades, all to get into the University of Florida. I was on par with these students because I had a competitive education, the same access to literary pieces, and the same depth to my curriculum when we the same depth to my curriculum. I worry about losing the depth of our curriculum when we lack media specialists and teacher votes on our boards and books in our libraries.

54:11 How will our students compete academically with students across county lines if we do not have the same access to the books that AP tests directly draw upon? I went to college to become an engineering major, jokingly said to be a degree for people who don’t read. However, it was in this degree that the life lessons I’ve learned throughout books come to life. In my chemical engineering curriculum, we discussed war engineering, ethics, chemical disasters, all of which were far removed from my home in Brevard county.

54:36 However, because of my exposure to a life outside of my home, through books such as the kite Runner, Slaughterhouse five, among others, I was able to empathize and understand the gravity of these ethical dilemmas. As a recent college graduate. As of this Friday, I believe I’m a better engineer entering the workforce because of this empathy.

54:53 We do not live in an ideal world, and as Nepal writes, I believe it is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. By removing books that discuss life’s ugliness, we take away an essential growth experience for our students. The beauty of school is that we can discuss this complex world in a safe setting with love, kindness, and the support of our peers and faculty.

55:12 I urge you to take this into consideration and ensure the review process for books is based on academic merit with input from our teachers and media specialists, not idealism, so that our students leave this county with empathy and academic success. Thank you. Thank you.

55:26 Miss Russo, Miss Tiara songer. John Kervin Samantha Kirvin, please. My name is Tiara Songar, and I am here tonight to share a letter penned by Khalid Hossini, author of the award winning bestseller the Kite Runner.

55:41 It follows. Inside a drawer on my office desk sits a stash of Manila envelopes. Inside each are some of the letters I have collected over a span of nearly 20 years and that I continue to they have come to me from high school students from all across the US.

55:54 In these writings, the students share with me, often quite poignantly, what impact reading the kite runner has had on their lives. For some, the book is a clarion call to stand up to bullies, to defy intolerance. Others hear familiar echoes in a mere strained bond with his father in his struggles to measure up.

56:11 Yet others, perhaps inspired by the book’s de facto tagline, there is a way to be good again. Speak of the desire to volunteer, learn more, be more tolerant of others, mend broken ties, muster the courage to do the right and just thing, no matter how difficult. For many students, those who write me, as well as the many I have met in high schools across the country, the kite runner is their first window into afghan culture.

56:33 Most openly admit to knowing little about the country outside of its media depiction as a violent, unhappy land, perpetually wracked by war and misery. But because they find in the story of Amir and Hasan resonant parallels to their own lives around friendship, family, love, courage, cowardice, Afghanistan becomes a real place. They gain a more nuanced and compassionate perspective on the country and its people, and they express gratitude for it.

56:57 Perhaps the most recurring word I hear from students is empathy. It isn’t surprising. Studies have shown that reading fiction improves the ability to intuit and understand the feelings of other humans beings.

57:08 Books remain our most powerful teachers of empathy. They remind us of our immutable connections as a species sharing this planet. They open the world to us.

57:16 They help us feel less alone and find solace in one another. Their gift is immeasurable. Stripping students of this gift is a tragic mistake.

57:25 Hearing from high school students in their own words, in person, and in letter, has convinced me that they are more than sophisticated and mature enough to digest and and contextualize the themes raised by the kite runner. They are appropriately and constructively challenged by the book, and they are more than up to the task learning valuable lessons about injustice, discrimination, tyranny, the perils of religious extremism, etcetera. I am a parent myself.

57:48 I understand the parental impulse to safeguard our children from harm. But banning books like the kite runner does not protect the students of Brevard county at all. It betrays them.

57:57 Instead, it robs them of the chance that we as parents and instructors, owe them the chance to broaden their human community, to let them walk the world in another’s shoes for a while, to foster empathy for others, to be challenged by the experience, and perhaps take a small step towards becoming Fuller, richer versions of themselves. Thank you. Thank you, Mister John Kervin, please.

58:30 Good evening. As some of you know, this is my second time coming in and speaking to the board. I had a lot of stuff that I wanted to go over, but I’m only going to hit on a couple points today.

58:43 Specifically, during the workshop earlier about dress code, there was terminology used, and I don’t exactly think that everybody on the board board understands the term furry. I think that you need to understand the definition of what the furry is before you start using it in context and or out of context. I’ll read it straight from here.

59:10 A furry, used as a noun in an informal sense, is an enthusiast for animal characters with human characteristics. A person who dresses up in costume as such a character or uses one as an avatar online. Now this is a very basic definition.

59:31 This very basic definition is the first thing that comes up on Google. My youngest child is on the ASL spectrum. When she was very young, she hid from people because she was afraid of people in conversation.

59:49 She’s not afraid of me. She’s not afraid of mom or her older sister, but she’s the first one that will go to bat for her older sister too. In fact, I recall an occurrence in Fort Leonard Wood where I was stationed at, where both of my kids were playing on a playground and my oldest daughter was being bullied by another child.

1:00:08 My youngest daughter stood up for my oldest who had no idea what was going on other than her big sister was being bullied. Fast forward. Dealing with the other students inside of BPS schools at Sunrise elementary, she utilized your, quote, furry tendencies to deal with the situations that were being pushed in her way.

1:00:39 She was dealing with those situations by utilizing what made her comfortable, to be able to cope and to coexist with the, quote, normal people of the classroom. I’ll leave it at that. Mister Susan, I’m at a small of a loss.

1:01:02 When you walked into this room before the board meeting, you were half undressed. I’m just going to say that’s slightly unprofessional. I do appreciate the support of West Shore because West Shore is an amazing school and it’s one that my daughter attends.

1:01:20 But it is unprofessional and you do me a disservice by not putting your hand on your heart when you pledge the allegiance. Thank you. Hand was on my heart.

1:01:32 Thank you, mister. Kervin. Samantha Kirvin.

1:01:34 Jacqueline Chandler. Bernard Bryan, please. Hello.

1:01:49 Good afternoon. So today I’m going to be talking just about dyscalculia. I talk a lot about dyslexia, but there’s more to that that meets the eye.

1:02:04 Another, well, common occurrence is dyscalcula. Now what is dyscalcula? Dyscalcula is the. Is difficulty in learning or comprehending patterns.

1:02:22 In understanding numbers. It’s commonly caused when like subtracting or adding is huge. It causes a huge amount of difficulty as long with multiplying and dividing just numbers.

1:02:39 In general, it’s similar to dyslexia because dyslexia, as in with letters, can be you. Well, letters will look differently. Some letters could be flipped or it won’t even look like a letter at all.

1:02:52 Numbers can do the same thing. Now, dyslexia, sorry, dyscalculia is a learning issue and it makes it harder for understanding correlations with numbers and that it is also common. It happens to a lot of kids.

1:03:15 It’s pretty. It’s out there just like dyslexia, but it’s not seen as much. It is more.

1:03:25 It’s more or less less known about than dyslexia, which is ironic because it’s so many people have it. But in a fun fact about it, it is a common co occurrence, which basically means that with dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and dyslexia, along with ADHD, ironically, they all, for some reason, have a positive correlation, as in, if you have one, you’re more likely to have the other. In my case, I have ADHD.

1:04:00 I also have dyslexia. So it’s a pretty interesting fact I learned about today. It is not.

1:04:11 It does not mean that the child has low self esteem or they are not trying. They’re trying their best. It is not that they have lower intelligence.

1:04:21 They can be very, very smart. They just have a different way of seeing the world. It’s as if your brain is wired such a different way, and it’s not what other people would be normal.

1:04:37 And it is not the same as being math anxious. Thank you for your time. That’s all tonight.

1:04:45 Thank you very much. Jacqueline Chandler, Bernard Bryan, Crystal Cayce, please. Good evening.

1:04:56 I listened to you this morning, all day. I know you’ve had a long schedule, but I want to address a few things that that was mentioned today. The parent survey.

1:05:08 I saw the numbers, but I would love to see the comments that parents made. Because as a. I’m retired military.

1:05:16 I worked here at Patrick retired, 23 years of school service, and I also did surveys for each unit on the base. And comments mean more than those numbers. You have to put them together.

1:05:30 So I would appreciate if we would see some of the comments to support those numbers. Also, a discussion was about. No, I wanted to talk to you about the way we talked about way we communicate about inclusiveness.

1:05:49 I heard Mister Sousa say women know something about the military and that we should talk to the wives of military members. They’re more than wives or military members, so we should address them as spouses. Also, I want to give you a little history lesson.

1:06:14 Not too much. I’ve had seven generations. I’ve lived seven generations, and I’ve watched them change throughout my lifetime.

1:06:24 So I want to remind you that this month is the board versus the. I’m sorry. Brown versus the board of education.

1:06:35 It seems like we’re going back there. If you remember, if you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

1:06:45 Also, I also listened to the dress codes. It’s amazing how we as adults talk about those things that we did in our lifetime when we were younger, and we tried to implement those rules that they were implemented before. Also, the book banning, we have been banning books since 1982.

1:07:15 Again, we are doomed to repeat history if we don’t understand it. So I would just like for you to think about what we’re doing. I don’t want to say it’s all political and it’s all this and that.

1:07:31 I want to say that our children need to learn what’s going on. If they don’t learn it from you, our teachers, they’re going to learn it from the Internet. And now we’re dealing with artificial intelligence.

1:07:44 So what’s going to happen? We also have tv programs that if they really want to learn things, there are so many documentaries on the tv that you can learn, and I’ve been listening to that, reestablishing myself in history from listening to all the things that are going on. Our children should be privileged to that because it enhances the culture of the United States. Thank you.

1:08:15 Thank you, Miss Chandler. Bernard. Bryan, Crystal.

1:08:17 Casey, Julia, Anton. Good evening. It’s such a blessing to be here.

1:08:26 I drove 400 miles to be at this meeting today. So that tell you how much I love all kids, love all community, and love what you guys do. I just want to say that we’re here to serve every student with excellence as a standard.

1:08:44 And one of the things I couldn’t sleep about last night is around redistricting. So the community is concerned, the NAACP is concerned, because we don’t understand why redistricting has taken place. What is the benefit of it? And typically, when you look at redistricting under this environment, it also drives an advantage for some group.

1:09:14 So please communicate with us. What are the advantages of this redistricting strategy? How is it going to serve all students and how it’s going to serve all parents? So that’s my concern. So if you can please share with the community, you know, what’s the purpose of that? The other thing that I’m very much concerned about, and I’ve discussed this in many other board meeting, I am very much concerned about the vulture program.

1:09:48 I got to give you credit. The Brevard Public Schools did a tremendous job in communicating the one millage, the one millage proposal. You did an excellent job calling group meetings together, subgroups together, talking about the advantage of the one mil passage.

1:10:08 So we asking if you will use the same strategy to really share with the community what is your plan in terms of the vulture program, we need to understand the FTE impact, the staffing impact, the program impact, because we are nervous about it. So please, if you will, do what you can to actually communicate. And then lastly, I know we’ve selected a new superintendent, and I know the process was not an easy process, but one of the things we want to keep on the radar is, number one, this new leader has a focus toward closing the achievement gap.

1:10:49 And this new leader understand the needs of the math and reading discrepancies. But I just want to end with this. I am so happy to be able to work with most of you, all of you, really.

1:11:03 And the Brevard Public School administration is an awesome team. It’s a great team. I’ve had great cooperation.

1:11:12 But we need to work together. We need to be transparent with one another and look after every student need and every family’s concern. So if you can make that commitment, I would appreciate that very much.

1:11:24 Thank you, Mister Bryan. Crystal Cazia. Julia Anton, Kathy Ebersberger.

1:11:35 Good evening, board and superintendent. I, too, would like some communication, as has previously been stated here. Just a few moments ago, about a month and a week ago, I sent an email to you, Chairman Susan, asking for specific information about an incident that occurred at Viera High School on March 28, 2023.

1:11:57 It was an incident of a gun threat by a student, and there were verbally named students that this student wished to execute. I specifically ask about the Cesar reporting and whether or not that incident was properly reported to save schools or not. And as of today, nearly five weeks later, I have not received a response from you.

1:12:22 So I’m standing here asking if you would please consider working with me when I ask these questions. I’m not asking because I don’t care. I’m asking because I do care.

1:12:38 And this is a bipartisan issue, folks. School safety affects all of our kids, every single one of them. And a little bit of background about me, so you probably don’t know me or my background.

1:12:54 I am a 17 and a half year flight attendant, and I have worked incidents where the loss of life was definitely in this scenario. I have been in difficult situations, emergency situations in the past, and I will tell you that the level that I feel when I see hazards that could affect children greatly concerns me. So please, if you wouldn’t mind responding to my email, I’d really appreciate it.

1:13:29 So that was the first thing I wanted to mention, and that’s regarding your school discipline policy, which as we all know, there was a recent audit with that April 17 with RM’s, I encourage all parents to read about the audit. If you could take the time, read about it. It’s published and there’s a wealth of information for you there.

1:13:49 The other thing that’s unrelated to the school safety, which has to always be first priority, is the book committee. And I’m hearing people voice their concerns about certain books, like the kite runner. But my opinion is that there is no educational value for sexual assault to be occurring to children in literature that is provided by the superintendent and this board.

1:14:18 So that is my personal opinion. I do not agree that pornography nor child sexual assault should ever occur in literature that is given by this BPS board. So thank you very much for your time.

1:14:32 Thank you, Miss Casey. Next up, Julia Anton. Katherine Ebersberger.

1:14:40 Miss Anton, I try to always come up here very organized and planned what I’m going to say, but I have to tell you that somebody said something to me late last night because I was ready to go to bed. I didn’t have real time to percolate on it. And then I went to work today, and I worked all day.

1:14:57 So I’m all over the place. And forgive me, but the thing that I heard right before I went to bed last night was conversation about the fact that, you know, I’m a native of Alabama. I have traveled almost every state in this country.

1:15:10 I have traveled 52 countries. I’ve been to Madagascar, I’ve been to England, I’ve been to France. I’ve seen the underpants.

1:15:21 I’ve been everywhere. And no matter where I go, anywhere in this whole flipping world, I open my mouth, southern comes out, they say, where are you from? And I say, alabama. And you know what the next thing is? Oh, you must be an ignorant redneck.

1:15:42 And it ticks me off. And the reason they say that is because the year that I started first grade, the educational priorities had nothing to do with education. They were about keeping the little black children away from the lily white ones.

1:15:58 And the whole world watched it, rolled its eyes and said, how stupid is that? And now here we are in 2023, and I’ve escaped Alabama and come to Florida. Florida. And I’ll be dad gone.

1:16:14 What’s the educational priority here? Making sure that children who happen to be gay or transgender or somehow different than straight white men or straight white little girls have to feel ostracized. They must be made invisible. We must not acknowledge the fact that they exist.

1:16:35 That’s our educational priority. And I can tell you that 60 years from now, Florida students, wherever they are in the world, are going to be pegged as ignorant bigots because this is the priority we have. Instead of educating our students now, we need to do better.

1:16:57 Get your priorities straight. It is not important to make sure that rainbows are taken out of the classroom. It is not important to pretend that books are pornography when they’re not.

1:17:11 And if you’re really concerned about a picture of a blowjob in one book, the book’s already off the shelf. Parents already had the opportunity to say, don’t let my kid check it out, rip the page out of the book and be done with it. There is a lot that children who suffer abuse can learn from reading about abuse.

1:17:33 And there’s a lot that children who don’t suffer abuse can learn about their peers. Get your priorities straight. Thank you, Miss Anton.

1:17:40 We appreciate it. Kathy Ebersberger. Paul Raub.

1:17:46 Susan Hodgers. Katie Delaney hi, my name is Kathy Ebersberger and I’m in construction. Citizen taxpayer.

1:17:57 First, I’d like to thank Misses Hahn for her exceptional leadership in a difficult situation. She deserves the most pay possible for the time she spent as acting superintendent, whether it’s the price paid to Doctor Mullins, Doctor Schiller or Doctor Rendell. Doctor Rendell, congratulations on your new position.

1:18:19 I wish you well because your success will mean our students success. Misses Hahn was successful and called in the waters after two superintendent changes because her integrity was unquestioned. People knew she would tell the truth and not try to hide it.

1:18:38 The community trusted her. Trust is earned, and right now, in our country and our local community, trust is hard to find. Trust in the school board, the teachers, the staff, the students.

1:18:52 Seemingly everyone has taken aside and distrust anyone they deem on the other side. Misses Hahn as acting superintendent was something of a unicorn. But I believe we can follow her example by committing to a robust ethics policy.

1:19:10 I’m somewhat saddened by your decision to adopt option two in the neolith template. While it’s true that the administrative procedure sets forth some ethical principles, by putting them in the administrative procedure, you make them less likely to be read and emphasized. The only way our community can be brought together is if both sides adopt the highest ethical principles.

1:19:36 Saying will be ethical, as the law allows, does not invite trust. The school board and the superintendent need to hold themselves to a higher standard. They can’t just not violate the law.

1:19:50 They have to avoid the appearance of impropriety. To put it bluntly, optics matter, and the optics coming out of this school board have been horrible. Misses Mercer has talked about the disparities between Mister Trent and Mister.

1:20:05 Mister Hearn. I hope that there’s some difference between the two other than that Mister Hearn is black. But you really need to be open and transparent.

1:20:16 You need to show that there is no impropriety. It certainly speaks of the appearance of impropriety. And you need to disclose and not hide from records, requests.

1:20:32 And the other thing I want all of you to pay attention to this, please, is why did you take the self reporting requirement out of the ethics policy right now? You took out the part that requires to self report within 48 hours if someone is charged with child abuse or a controlled substance violation. It’s not in the administrative procedures and is stated, taken out of the policy. So I really need you.

1:21:00 I really think you need to address that. Thank you. Paul Raud.

1:21:07 Susan Hodgers. Katie Delaney. So are you guys okay? Because this afternoon, it’s been brought up already a couple times, but if I were going to try and parody some of what’s gone on the last few months, the fiddling while Rome burns sometimes, probably displaying your I love arson mug.

1:21:37 Yeah, let’s monkey with the dress code some more. Let’s ban cat ears. Might definitely be the kind of parody I would come up with.

1:21:46 You know, when we had, you had that superintendent, was it for the superintendent, the parental concerns survey a few months ago, and the number one item on the list of weaknesses or concerns the parents had was discipline. The number two was moms for liberty. Number three, book banning.

1:22:05 If you combine those two into the sort of same thing that they are, they actually outstripped number one. But you could, you know, we could be worrying about discipline. But sure, let’s.

1:22:13 Let’s ban cat ears. Discipline is tough and complicated conformity, that’s easy. That’s simple.

1:22:20 And it only makes the weirdos uncomfortable. So that’s just fine. But why are you guys here? I mean, if the board of education and education leads to expertise, and as we’ve seen to some degree, with the discipline to today, where we’re going to pretend that, again, cat ears are harming someone somehow, or with removal of the experts from the book review committee process, we’re kind of anti expertise as a matter of policy as time goes on, which seems to work.

1:23:02 Educating people, of course, works against that policy. But cat ears, that’s what we’re worried about. Or is this, I’m trying to figure out, does this somehow also fit with parental choice, the version of parental choice which means forbidding things for other people’s kids? Like if a vegan parent said, I want all meat removed from the cafeteria because I don’t want my kid exposed to meat and that meat might jump out and force them to eat it.

1:23:36 Would you take them seriously? Would you call them parental choice heroes? Would you place them on the nutrition committee? Because I’ve raised six kids, therefore I’m a nutritionist. I don’t think so. And yet.

1:23:53 Yeah, that’s exactly how things are going in the world of books. Also not going to jump off a shelf. Also not going to force your kid to read them.

1:24:01 And still waiting to hear how taking books away from someone else’s kid or taking the choice about that book away from other parents is parental choice. Thank you. Thank you, Mister Rao.

1:24:15 Miss Susan Hodgers. Katie Delaney. And then that’s going to be it.

1:24:24 Good evening. I want to thank everybody on the school board for responding to my emails over the past couple months. Every single one of you have responded to me in some way, except for one, and that one is Mister Trent.

1:24:38 So I’m here to address him. Mister Trent, I helped you on your campaign, as did many other party members, and now we find you shedding your skin as each new lie is exposed to the light of day. As we see in the news recently.

1:24:57 Recently such misconduct occurred in Palm Bay. But the mayor did the right thing and city council called to action and the board was queried and the councilman was asked to resign. What you did was unethical and you lied on the application.

1:25:15 Mister chairman. Why hasn’t this board done the right thing and queried board members for his resignation? I have three minutes. You didn’t start the time.

1:25:36 I tried to start it. I would. Audience, please stop.

1:26:50 Thank you. You guys are so petty. This is exactly what Miss Kayzie was saying.

1:28:25 No response. This is. Brevard deserves better.

1:28:32 Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hodges. Miss Katie Delaney, please.

1:28:37 And the last person. What’s that? I know. Well, I hit it and it didn’t go well.

1:28:50 I have a little bit of a different tone to this board. I have been coming to school board meetings for over three years now. And I just want to say how thankful I am for this board because I have had things happen to me by board members.

1:29:10 I’ve had a board member who’s no longer here, who screams across a boardroom where my children go to school. I’ve had lots of things happen and I don’t go on national tv and talk about it. I want to say thank you to this board for bringing up the dress code.

1:29:39 Because like you guys said, there’s lots of things on that dress code. Policy that just don’t make sense for our kids. As far as the furries, I appreciate you guys bringing that up.

1:29:55 Because it’s not just kids wearing cute cat ears on their headbands. It’s a boy, a high school boy, walking a girl on a leash. That happened at our high school.

1:30:20 That’s not okay. That’s not safety. That’s not creating a safe environment for our children.

1:30:28 I wonder if that mom knows that a boy had a collar and a leash around her daughter. Probably not. So I appreciate you guys having these conversations, because all of these things that seem unimportant, they are important.

1:30:46 It goes for the culture of our schools. It speaks to creating a safe learning environment for our kids. And I just want to say I really appreciate you guys.

1:30:55 Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Delaney. That concludes public comments.

1:31:00 We thank you for your willingness to address us in this public manner. Do you guys want to take a break? Are you ready to keep going? No. Good.

1:31:08 Give you an opportunity? We’re good to go. Paul. You need a restroom break? No, I’m good.

1:31:12 No, we’re good. Okay. That concludes the public comments.

1:31:14 We’re now onto the consent agenda. Miss Hand? Yes, sir. There are 26 items under this category.

1:31:21 Misses. I was close to. Which one of these is Miss Jenkins? You have to pull one of them, right.

1:31:29 Is that this one? You already got it? Yeah. It’s separated. It’s at the bottom.

1:31:33 Okay. All right. There are 26 agendas on this candidate.

1:31:38 Thank you, Miss Hand. Does anybody, board member, wish to pull any of these items? No items being pulled. I will entertain a motion to accept the consent items, with the exception of those pulled for discussion, move to approve.

1:31:49 Second. Any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

1:31:55 Any opposed? Nay. All right, we will now hold a public hearings to address. Let me make sure I do this.

1:32:02 To address item G 35, board policy 3210, standards of ethical conduct. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Figure that one out. Figure that one out, Paul.

1:32:21 Is there any discussion? No. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

1:32:28 All opposed? Next up is a public hearing to address item G 36, board policy 5500, student discipline. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Student. It’s written in here differently.

1:32:35 Is there anyone wishes to address this item? Move to approve. Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

1:33:01 All opposed? Passes. 50. Next in the public hearing is to address item G 37, board policy 57, student discipline.

1:33:09 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Move to approve. Second, any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying, aye. Aye.

1:33:23 Any opposed passes. 50. Next is public opinion to address item G 38.

1:33:29 Public policy 5610. Removal out of school suspension. Disciplinary placement and expulsion of students.

1:33:36 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying, aye. Aye.

1:33:50 Aye. Any opposed passes. 50.

1:33:55 Next is a public hearing to address item G 39. Public policy 8420.02.

1:34:00 Federal facial code covering during a pandemic epidemic events. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to first. 2nd.

1:34:13 Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying, aye. Aye. Any opposed passes.

1:34:21 50. Paul. Miss Hand, would you please let us know about the item.

1:34:25 Under the action portion of today’s agenda? Yes, sir. The first item is H 40, superintendent’s employment agreement. Do I hear a motion? Sorry.

1:34:36 Give me a second. My computer’s freaking out right this. Okay.

1:34:41 Second. Is there any discussion? Guys, we talk about it, or. No, no, I’m.

1:34:47 It’s okay. You can roll through it. We good? Mister Paul, you want to talk about some of the highlights that the negotiations had? Yep.

1:34:59 For the most part, it was similar to Doctor Mullins contract. The salary came in at 250. And the board had allocated between 225 and three.

1:35:09 He wanted to allocate the funds for cabinet when he fills cabinet positions. He also is taking the district’s car. Over a dollar 700 monthly stipend for that.

1:35:20 Which would save the board $8,400. Otherwise, it’s the same contract that Doctor Mullins had. And Doctor Mullins did get the car as well.

1:35:29 I will say that we negotiated within 48 hours. We had a deal. And everything that he was saying was to consciously be able to give opportunities to people.

1:35:38 And he was excited to get moving. And if you talk about some of his first moves. Being fiscally responsible and loved it.

1:35:45 So with that, anybody else wants to say anything, but. Well, other than say, I can’t wait. You know, to.

1:35:55 Not that I can’t wait to not have you here. No, she’s just as excited, Jeannie. But we’ve talked about it.

1:36:02 You’re not willing to stick around up here, even with the two of you? No, it’s not. But hopefully it shows a little bit there in the negotiations. How quick what he chose to take, because, you know, he’s a team player.

1:36:18 That’s the first thing he said to me in the one on ones. He expressed that and it made sense and I believe him. And when I wasn’t there negotiating the contract.

1:36:28 Sure. In the back of your mind you’re like, it’s hard to turn that away. And he did.

1:36:32 He said, no, we need as much money as we can have for our. For our cabinet, for our staff, and this is plenty for me. So that’s a man of integrity, and I look forward to working with him.

1:36:44 Yeah. And just so everybody knows, he comes back on the 30th before the official entrance. We’ll have a whole thing then and we can talk more about it.

1:36:52 But this is just to agree to the contract. We had to hurry. We didn’t want him to run away.

1:36:58 Are we all good? Yeah. Anybody pleased? All right. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

1:37:03 Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes 50.

1:37:08 The next item. Yep. Congratulations, Mister Rendell.

1:37:15 Next item is H 41, procurement solicitations. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second.

1:37:22 Is there any discussion? All in favor signifies I just. My computer is literally. Would you like me to give you my.

1:37:33 Look, you can come over to my computer. Hang on a second. No, no, no, she can come over here.

1:37:37 Look, do you want something? Do you want mine? Is that what the problem is? Well, no, that’s just what fixes it. Oh, that one’s like, really happy. No, it’s okay.

1:37:52 I think I. I can still pull it. Hold on. So one of.

1:38:00 One of the items that was on the agenda, I think, Miss Campbell, I had seen that you had asked some questions about it, and I had some questions about it as well, was in regards to that Dre tutoring that is showing up on here and Doctor Sullivan, I don’t know if you can come talk to us about it just for a minute, because I want to just clarify a couple of things that I have questions on, which I think I sent an email and I don’t know if you got it or not from agenda plus, because my agenda plus doesn’t like me. Just so you know, while doctor Sullivan’s coming up, board docs, Tammy’s working on getting us access to all the other school districts policies. So she’s working on that.

1:38:39 Miss Sullivan? Sure. How can I help? Yeah, I just. My question was, I guess in regards to, obviously, the.

1:38:45 This is a significant contract. What happens if they. If we don’t.

1:38:49 35,000 students don’t use this service. What happens? Is it based on, like, per user, then we’re charged this much or how does it work? At this point, the contract is for the accessibility for the 35,000 students. We will be monitoring the usage closely and aligned with our other procurement contracts for software.

1:39:11 We have a standard out for those contracts. So this is the first time we’ve ever contracted with an external source for student access. So yeah, it’s new to us as well.

1:39:25 We went through a very lengthy procurement process and we do have the standard ability to cancel at a certain time and if we cancel, it’s prorated. Is that how that will work? Yes, I anticipate. I don’t want to say 100%.

1:39:38 I don’t have it in front of me. I apologize. Okay.

1:39:40 And do you have any information as far as how many students took advantage of tutoring, even whether it be in person or online for us last school year or just any kind of history for that? Yeah. So our in person tutoring was primarily after school or before school and in some cases zoomed by our teachers. Our schools have exhausted their teachers ability to fill in the gaps for all of the tutoring that’s desired out there and them.

1:40:05 So if I get the numbers correctly, anywhere more than 10,000 students have taken some opportunity of tutoring on site through our Esser dollars. However, many of those dollars are unspent at this point and we’ll be looking at modifications for next year. Our teaching staff is just exhausted.

1:40:26 They’ve been doing a lot of extra duty in the, the summer and in the weekends, and so the schools will still have that funding. We’re not decreasing school funding at all for tutoring, but in the last two years they have not exhausted all those funds. So it is my priority, of course, to give our teachers an opportunity to make extra money.

1:40:45 And while supporting their students through academic achievement, they have not fully taken advantage of all those resources. So this was a unique Esser sub grant and it was kind of hard to explain. Our regular tutoring dollars is in our main Esser grant.

1:41:00 This was a small sub grant that was specifically targeted at. I think I mentioned those three areas, after school programs, summer enrichment and individualized tutoring. And so we had received lots of inquiries from vendors throughout this entire period that are delivering individualized tutoring service.

1:41:23 So we went to RFA and wrote it into the grant. Obviously, if the board chooses otherwise, we can certainly write an amendment into the grant and choose it otherwise. But this was a very specific, targeted grant where that was one of the desired outcomes.

1:41:40 Our elementary friends have done contracted services for tutoring and they have struggled to have the people come on site to do that tutoring. So this is a little different. It would be an opportunity for our students to access help.

1:41:55 Twenty four seven. And that’s not anything we’ve done before. We.

1:41:59 We think it’s a neat opportunity, particularly with grant funds. Certainly would not support that if it wasn’t a specific grant opportunity for our kids. Okay.

1:42:10 When it says on here, I’m reading what you, what you wrote as far as the purpose of the program is to implement summer enrichment camps that target public school students academic and extracurricular needs and school programs and individualized tutoring services. So when it talks about extracurricular needs, I’m just thinking outside of the box here because it’s a lot of money. It is.

1:42:31 And so when you look at it and historically, how many students have taken advantage of tutoring and then how many we have in here? And I just have a concern, is this going to be the best, the highest and best use for this funds? Is there another way that you could spend that money for extracurricular needs or summer enrichment that would possibly provide a service to a student that we couldn’t or we didn’t have otherwise? Probably not to scale? So right now, we are supporting every single request for summer enrichment opportunities, and we’re still coming under budget. We are providing supplies, we’re paying for teachers, we’re paying for assistance, we’re paying for busing, we’re paying for food services, and we’re paying for security. And it is well within our budget.

1:43:16 And in all likelihood, it’s going to come under budget. In terms of our after school programs, we’ve. There’s a sister grant.

1:43:24 So this is an Esser sub grant for these programs. Out of Sr, there’s a sister grant out of CRISA, which is the second federal grant that supported COVID recovery. That Sister Grant is paying for this summer and current after school programs and activities.

1:43:42 This grant is paying for next summer. And so we could certainly revisit it at the board’s discretion. We have no personal feelings.

1:43:52 We are really just trying to maximize direct support to students and families. Our general mindset with Esser resources have been to, obviously, support student recovery, minimize burdens on families, minimize burdens on teachers. Those have really been our three big buckets and, of course, protect the district financial well being.

1:44:17 And so we’re constantly look at how we can alleviate some off a parent’s plate supporting a student and supporting teachers. And right now, teachers cannot fill this need. We had several schools this year subcontract out some tutoring services to assist with things like SAT prep and things like that.

1:44:36 So just constantly looking at how we can meet those buckets with these short one time funds to accelerate outcomes. I don’t know. The stipulation of the grant when it’s talking about extracurricular needs, would that be something that you could use this grant money for, to buy possibly equipment or things that would benefit a school and it would stay there beyond just the one year? Yeah, we’ve done a lot of that.

1:44:59 So in its sister grant already, we have supported ROTC programs. So one of the things that we looked at first was the things that we did not support in ARP, and so we looked at the after school programs that do a lot for kids and was not in our main ARP grant. So in the sister one, the one I just mentioned, we addressed ROTC.

1:45:25 We’ve addressed theater programs, art programs. We put a lot of funds into the elementary afterschool programs from additional resources and things like that. So, yes, we’ve looked at different after school programs that we primarily focused on, the ones that were unfunded in ARP, that we could help those programs.

1:45:48 Okay. And I’m just asking questions about this again, because it is such a significant amount of. For sure.

1:45:53 No, no, I don’t mind at all. Of course. And, I mean, obviously, going to summer schools, I see some major needs that are in different arenas where I’m like, I think this could possibly cross over and it would be beneficial, and it would last beyond just the year.

1:46:06 So this 35,000 students that potentially may not take advantage of the tutoring. I would hate for those funds to be wasted. I feel the pain every single decision that we make.

1:46:17 I know. Yeah. We’ve done a lot of equipment purchases because of that exact mindset.

1:46:23 We try to infuse funds where schools have an opportunity to buy everything from instruments to speed speakers to things for their stages and lighting. We’ve done a lot of that, and there’s absolutely. We can revisit it.

1:46:38 I mean, I speak to some of my schools. I mean, I have. I have schools that have uniforms.

1:46:43 I mean, for sports that are. Can’t buy uniforms. Can’t buy uniforms.

1:46:45 Okay. All right. So what.

1:46:47 That’s where I’m like, what. What exactly could we use this for if it wasn’t used for this? So can I jump in for a second? Just because I hear you about the amount of money, but this is why we are here. Academics is why we’re here.

1:47:01 And COVID, as we’ve talked about the struggles over the last few years, starting with three years ago, with 2020, the academic drop and the challenges we’ve had. That is what, that is our number one priority. It’s what the funds were given to us by the federal government, by the state government.

1:47:18 When they release it, they all along the way have wanted to say, what are you going to do to catch kids up? What are you going to do to catch kids up? And so this amount of money, considering that we have already given to many of the things that you’ve mentioned either in this part of the grant or in other parts of the grant, I would strongly encourage you to go take a look at the website, which is extensive, that tells all that they’ve been spending every single one of those Esser grants on. But this is. This is vital.

1:47:47 And when I go, when I’ve gone into my schools over the last few years that we’ve had this funding and talked to the principals about the tutoring opportunities, I have heard this repeatedly. They can’t get their people to. Even for pay.

1:48:01 We’re paying to stay after school to get the numbers up. The school where my son goes has had. Whenever they’ve had tutoring over the last couple years, they’ll have a whole slew of times you can go in for.

1:48:12 For math tutoring and then one time a week for english language arts tutoring. And so it’s really been a struggle to find them. And I’ll be quite honest with our secondary students, especially when I think about the opportunities for tutoring.

1:48:25 So many of them can’t come in early, they can’t stay late when they’ve got to ride the bus, and they can’t. Don’t, you know, middle schoolers don’t have a way. They’re not driving themselves.

1:48:34 Right. So that. So they’re.

1:48:36 When the only opportunity, and even when the virtual ones, you gotta be home, because the virtual opportunity is 430 to 530. Well, unless they live next door, there’s no way they’re gonna be home in time. So this opportunity to access tutoring, one on one, individualized tutoring, at any time of the day, they can do it before school, they can do it after school.

1:48:57 They can do it in the evenings, late at night. And I, you know, you said 24/7 so they get up at 03:00 in the morning, but they’ve got to have this kind of personal one on one access with a tutor. This.

1:49:07 This could be. This could be. You talk about things that last.

1:49:13 A kid catching up academically, that’s going to last. And to me, it’s absolutely worth it. So what I would say is what it’s going to be incumbent upon us as a district to make sure that we’re communicating this opportunity.

1:49:26 And I know that the schools will be targeting those students who have. Have the most to catch up and say, look, we have this resource, we’re paying for this resource. Get out there and use it and take advantage of this.

1:49:36 But this is priority one for us is academic achievement. And I am so grateful for the money we put into music and to sports and to arts and all of those things. And the many, many opportunities our kids have had over the last two summers.

1:49:48 And, you know, it’s really gonna stink when we some of those end after next year when we don’t have the money to do all these amazing summer programs for enrichment. But this is the most important thing that we do, is get kids across the finish line academically. And we are continuing to see the ripple effects of those three months out of school in 2020 and then all the disruptions of the COVID elearning year.

1:50:12 And we’ve got to get kids caught back up so that we can from all levels. This is super important. And to me, putting this amount of money into our number one priority as a district is this is what we should be doing with it.

1:50:24 So thank you for that. I’m not disagreeing that academics being the top priority. My concern is 35,000 users, and historically, is that what we’re doing? We’re not.

1:50:34 And so I’m like, wait a minute, if there’s 25,000 users that we’re going to pay for, that we’re not going to use, I totally understand, you know, that’s a waste, right? One of the things I can mention is this company came in less than half of most of the other petitioners. I think petitioner is the wrong choice of words, but whatever that choice of words is, and so I do want to mention that leaves a significant chunk that can be amended in the grant. So we, you know, the RFA process is a long one, and so it delayed, obviously, contracting because we.

1:51:15 We wanted to do it really well. We brought in principals, we brought in different staff members, and the procurement team, as you know, does not mess around with the quality process. So we’re starting later than we had hoped, which means we are going to be significantly under budget.

1:51:31 And so if the board wants to ponder that. So we budgeted $1.4 million originally believing we could run the programming for two years.

1:51:41 Instead, we’re looking at a contract, just over half of that. So we’re looking at about 600,000 that is not currently obligated, if you will, in the areas of extra. Well, it’s currently obligated because it’s in this spot.

1:51:58 But we could amend a plan to continue to target the areas of summer enrichment and after school programming. We really don’t need additional funding funds in summer enrichment. This is our second year doing it out.

1:52:12 We’ve got a pretty good pattern of budgeting. And like I said, even if we maintain this level of this year, which was huge and awesome, I might add, next summer can maintain at the same level without additional funds. So it would leave about 600,000 if the board does want to support the contract and then make recommendations on other after school things that we could amend the grant to support pending DoE approval, because they don’t always approve what seems like it fits perfectly.

1:52:50 And so I always want to throw in that asterisk, pending Doe approval. And so there’s room to amend, even with this, the approval of this tutoring. And if the board approves this tonight, what’s the timeline on when you expect that this would be implemented or available to students? Oh, very quickly.

1:53:11 So we anticipate working with the vendor immediately, and I don’t want to over promise timeline, but very quickly, we would hope to get into place for students who would like to access it sooner than later. A lot of our students, as you know, do dual enrollment and other programming in the summer, so we’d work very closely with our vendor. And you are saying we can, and I’m sorry, I’m asking a lot of questions about this because it is a huge contract.

1:53:34 And so that’s why I just feel like I’m asking more questions than anybody else. And I apologize for that. But I’m just thinking, is this the highest and best use for it? And the concern with the fact that are all the students going to actually utilize this, and what does that look like if they don’t? Yeah, I would say no, all the students won’t utilize it.

1:53:47 I would say that it is important, important to budget for all students to be able to utilize it. And that’s the tricky part. As you guys are aware, many, many, many of our contracts are based on per student enrollment.

1:54:03 So whether it is our math textbooks and the online access we’re paying for online student enrollment by student. Right. And that is a pretty standard practice.

1:54:15 Again, we are. We work to fulfill the intent of the grant and the needs that we saw and things that were unfilled and what schools were asking us for. But we certainly understand if the board would like us to go in another direction.

1:54:31 Okay. I think you’ve answered all the questions that I have. Thank you.

1:54:34 Yeah, no worries. Of course. Miss Wright, I just want to say, please don’t ever feel like asking questions.

1:54:41 That is the ultimate duty that we have up here, is to ask those tough questions. And I know, doctor Sullivan, I just had one question for you. No, but I wanted to say, don’t ever feel like you have to say that, because that is ultimately what we do.

1:54:55 And I know that, doctor Sullivan. Appreciate that. Yep.

1:54:57 Let me ask you something, because I might be able to figure this out. Okay. If.

1:55:00 I think we have a 35,000 licenses, but if they don’t start the license, meaning we don’t have somebody engage in it, what is the trigger to start. Start the program? So, meaning this is a. You know what I mean? This is a tutoring program that we have 35,000 of them.

1:55:15 Does it mean that if only 10,000 do, we might be able to wait until they actually engage to be. To start those. Does that make sense? Are you following me? Do they, like, all start now? It does.

1:55:26 Our procurement people are the experts. I would prefer if the board has those questions. I would suggest we look a little more granular on that and bring it to the next agenda.

1:55:36 I don’t. I mean, like I said, this isn’t, you know, this isn’t something that I mind waiting till the next board meeting, because those are really good questions. They’re legitimate questions and very appropriate, and I’d be happy to consult with the procurement team and bring back some more detailed answers.

1:55:54 For me, it’s not about that. It’s just I was hoping that there would be an opportunity for us to minimize. I understand Miss Wright’s concern.

1:56:01 I also understand the concern that if we have a series of schools that we only have x and we’re being able to implement and we don’t have the extra ones that we’re all of a sudden telling those kids. No, I get it. I just wanted to try to ask because that might give us the longer run into next year.

1:56:16 That’s all. Yeah. I really would feel more comfortable in moving this to the next board meeting so we can address all of those details.

1:56:25 Unless you want to get in the kids hands before the end of this school year. Obviously, that would predicate it. And so I’m comfortable with either decision with the board.

1:56:34 I appreciate the questions and details. I don’t have any problem with that at all. So just in terms of the contract development, I would not be the expert on that and would want to consult with the experts before I speak to something and put my foot in my.

1:56:53 Thank you. Okay. All right.

1:56:55 Are there any. Can I have a. Yes, ma’am.

1:56:57 Miss Jenkins. Doctor Sullivan, I respect that and I appreciate that. However, I trust your professionalism and the procurement team to have asked those questions.

1:57:09 It’s okay that you didn’t. You aren’t able to answer them for us, mister. Susan, I love your suggestion to look into, but I agree.

1:57:17 I don’t think that’s a make or break, but I think it’s a great solution to the problem if it’s possible. And quite frankly, if it’s not, then we do what we can to ensure that we have all those licenses going now to our students, which I know we’re going to do. I mean, we’re not going to just throw it out there and just give parents a link and hope it gets used.

1:57:32 So hopefully we’ll be tracking it and robustly recruiting parents and students to use that program. But this is so critical and I think once parents find out about. I don’t think we’re going to have a very difficult time.

1:57:47 I think parents are going to be really excited that their kids are going to be able to access this at home, especially over summertime. It’s really difficult. We have opportunities for our students this summer for free, for enrichment programs, but that’s not always easy for working parents.

1:58:02 So I don’t think we’re going to have difficulty. Thank you. So are there any other discussions on any of the other procurement solicitations? No.

1:58:13 All right, Miss Wright, we’re going to. If you have a. Want to try to pull it, you know what I mean? You have to do that now or we’re just part of discussion on all of them.

1:58:23 But if you wanted to try to make a vote to pull it and all that stuff, you can. Or we can just vote on all of that. I would feel more.

1:58:29 Sorry, my microphones are. I would feel more comfortable, honestly. And after, after Doctor Sullivan saying that she would prefer to pull it to be able to answer the these questions, I just think it’s smart for us to look at all of this because there’s a real good opportunity that we could, maybe we’re going to be missing.

1:58:43 So the yes to this might mean a no to something else that could be extremely beneficial to our students. And so I hear what you’re saying. I hear what everybody’s saying on the board, and I’m not saying I don’t want to provide tutoring or make this an available option, but I’m just saying I want to look at all of it as a whole and find out, hey, if we don’t use all the licenses, what can we do? Or is there something different do that we could possibly do in conjunction with this? Because honestly it I would be more beneficial to pay a higher rate for the students that are actually going to use this tutoring service versus signing up for 35,000 licenses and find out only 10,000 are using it.

1:59:17 I get that we’re getting a price break because of the quantity, I understand that. But the quantity, if the quantity price break is, you get what I’m saying, where it could make more sense to pay the higher rate for the lesser licenses. I wish they would allow us to do it on a per user kind of basis.

1:59:32 It doesn’t sound like this particular vendor will. I would prefer to pull it and look into this a little bit further, Doctor Sullivan, and maybe work with you on this and bring it back. Let me just.

1:59:45 Okay. If you wanted like to say, I was just going to ask the process of that to Paul. I think that how when the next board meeting and all that other stuff was, but Miss Campbell, you had something to say.

1:59:54 I hear you. I hear your concern. What I’m hearing from Doctor Sullivan, I don’t want to put words in her mouth, is if there’s a chance that we’re just going to say no, she’d rather wait and get all the questions answered.

2:00:03 But two things we need to think about is, one, if we’re not going to do this, how are we going to provide that tutoring? Because we are also going to continue to have in person tutoring with our teachers, the ones that we can get, that is already funded, we’re still going to continue to do that, but it’s not filling all the gaps. So if we’re not going to do it this way, how, and we already know they’ve looked at all the online, you know, if you look at all the vendors, 14, they narrowed it down. This, this was the best one, which means, you know, not only services they provide, but the cost, the lowest cost.

2:00:37 So how are we going to provide this specific need of tutoring for our students if we’re not going to do it this way? This is really important. And then the other thing is, is if we do delay, my concern is that then we, you know, students are out of the building. Yeah, we can try to reach out by email, whatever, but we don’t have that.

2:00:56 You know, this is written so that if we approve it, the contract starts tomorrow. It doesn’t mean that all the signups are there and it’ll be on Launchpad, but we can have access really quickly. And if we don’t pass this tonight, then we’re not going to have it in place before the end of the school year.

2:01:09 So we can really get that communication out to our students, into our families of the students who are going to need it. And I really like that they have the opportunity to utilize it over the summer, if they will. You know, the heavy usage will be during the school year.

2:01:22 Right. But we’re going to know those fast scores very shortly. And some schools have already, I was at a school yesterday, and they already had their geometry EOC scores back.

2:01:32 I mean, some of these, you know, families are already going to know really, in the coming days, their student needs this assistance. And so we could go ahead and get families and kids plugged in to get the help that they need to get where they need to be. And that’s my concern with the delay because, you know, obviously, if it’s been through the procurement process, a lot of these questions have been answered for the people who are going to be utilizing it.

2:01:57 Thank you for that, Miss Campbell. Mister Gibbs, when is the next board meeting that this would be available to put on an agenda for action? Would that be the. May 30? Yes.

2:02:06 Okay. And if. And what is the last day of school? I think it’s May 27.

2:02:10 26th for students. 26th. We would miss the opportunity to engage with the students before they left.

2:02:19 Okay. Is there any other questions? Anybody wish to discuss it? Okay, Miss Wright, if you want to try to pull that, you have to try to pull it. I don’t if the board’s will is to move forward with it, that’s okay.

2:02:33 I’m just saying for the sake of really fully investigating this. And then my other concern too is some of the students that are going to need this tutoring, are they going to have the technology that they need to be able to utilize this? Because a lot of our families don’t have laptops or they don’t have tablets. So is this grant, could this grant possibly work in conjunction with that? Could we provide laptops or some kind of technology to these students so that they have access to it? Because I think this is a bigger issue than just to, hey, here’s 35,000 users.

2:03:01 That’s great. But if you don’t have an Internet or you don’t have a laptop. How are you going to use it? So I think maybe we could do both.

2:03:07 And so, for me, that’s the only reason I’m asking to pull it. But if the board doesn’t wish to do so or they want to move forward on it, I understand that as well. Okay.

2:03:16 I think then what you want to try to do is what’s the item number that you needed to pull procurements? It’s H 41. D. H 41.

2:03:25 What was it? D. D. So I would make a motion to make a motion to pull H 41, item number d, until next board meeting.

2:03:35 Is there a second? I’ll second it. All right. Second.

2:03:40 Is there any discussion? All right, all in favor of pulling it, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

2:03:49 All opposed? Aye. All right. Gets pulled, we go back to the original procurement solicitations.

2:03:56 H 41. We have the rest of them. Any other discussion on any of the other items? Nuh uh.

2:04:03 All right, all in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Nay.

2:04:09 All right. H 41. Passes.

2:04:12 H 42. Reappointment nomination of the annual contract teacher for 2023 to 2024 school year. I want to provide Miss Jenkins an opportunity to speak to this item.

2:04:21 Miss Jenkins? Yep. I must abstain from this vote due to a conflict of interest, as my husband, David Jenkins, is being reappointed as a teacher for the 2023 to 2024 school year. Thank you, Miss Jenkins, for having an educator inside your household.

2:04:37 We appreciate that many of us had to make that same call. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second.

2:04:44 Is there any discussion? All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed? All right, it passes. 50.

2:04:53 We will move on to the. I said five. I always.

2:04:57 I always approve them. If I say no, we will move on to the information agenda, which includes items for board review and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting. No action will be taken.

2:05:07 Taken at these items today. There’s three items under this category. Does any member wish to discuss any of these items? Yes.

2:05:14 Okay. Which one do you want to discuss? The school board member, districting residence area. All right, so I have thought a lot about this, and you guys have been able to hear me in the workshops.

2:05:30 This is our first chance for it to be out on our regular board meetings. And, you know, as I’ve been thinking through, you know, I recognize that this is not a decision that is about what’s best for kids. It’s not a kid type decision.

2:05:45 And so I don’t want to spend a whole lot of energy about and continue controversy about this. But I am going to, but I’m going to finish out tonight with my concerns because, you know, how we draw our boundaries that we are elected from doesn’t affect in a direct way at all our student performance. And so then I want to keep our focus on them.

2:06:11 Our main thing, the main thing, which is educating kids. But I will tell you, I have, like many of the decisions that we have made over the last six months, sometimes my bigger issue is with how the decision was made is and not the actual decision. And the truth is there’s no right or wrong way to draw our lines.

2:06:33 But I do have some issues going back to the things that were said. And my biggest concern board is that I feel personally, and when I, you know, I’m one voice of five, when I brought up some concerns that I thought were big concerns, they were kind of made out like they weren’t big concerns. And there were other people who brought up things that they thought were big concerns.

2:06:54 And it turns out that those weren’t concerns. And so without, I know that sounds very vague, but, you know, one of the things that was brought up was about gerrymandering. And, you know, there’s, gerrymandering can mean several things.

2:07:04 You know, specifically, the worst kind of gerrymandering is when you’re drawing lines, and it was mentioned tonight, but I don’t think this is the way ours is right now, that the lines are drawn to exclude certain groups of people from voting based on, you know, race or political parties or whatever. When I look at the way the lines are drawn, it’s particularly up in the one little area in the Rockledge area, you know, having gone back through the minutes of the former redistricting processes in 2011 and 2001, the school board intentionally drew the lines that they did to keep an even number of schools. This board has decided we’re not going to do that.

2:07:38 We’re going to do it a different way. And, you know, that is what it is. We will have our, in order to avoid that kind of gerrymandering concern, we actually are creating kind of a different, and I’m not doing this in the discriminatory gerrymandering, but just in the shape to create districts that actually will be bending and curving more in order to match the county commissioners.

2:07:58 And I will say again, the county commissioner lines are drawn differently for purpose, for a very reasonable purpose. They’ll give every county commission a beach touching the beach and touching the river. You know, we’ve talked about that.

2:08:14 We wanted it to be less confusing for voters. And so if we draw the lines to match the way the board is, you know, the majority of the board is moving to match the county commission lines, then it’ll be less confusing because then everybody will be in the same county commission and the same school board, you know, district, everything will be the same. So if you’re in five or in five, if you’re in three and you’re three, two, institute, etcetera.

2:08:35 But at the same time, we’ve created more confusion, because even if we can do our schools that we represent differently from the areas that we’re elected from, you guys know that when someone has a concern, unless they’re going to email the whole board, they usually, if they’re only going to email one, they’re going to email the board member that is over the school. If they’re problem with the school, they’re going to email the board member that’s over their school. And we’re going to create some confusion out there.

2:09:00 We just are. It’s going to be confusing and maybe people get over it and they’ll, they’ll get past it. But, you know, the other thing that was really bothering me, and I’ve tried not to make it personal, because I don’t, I don’t want it to be about me personally, but about the process.

2:09:14 And I’ve already brought up the fact that we do, you know, we have the 42,000 voters. That has been my biggest concern all along, is the 40,000 voters. And that was addressed, but the way it was addressed, it just didn’t really sit well with me, because whether 42,000 voters actually will vote, or whether it’s only half of them or a third of them, it’s still 9%.

2:09:31 We’re making the change for 9% of the voters who were supposed to vote in 2024, and now they’re being moved to district five or two, which means they’ll have to wait two more years. They’ll have to be six years between elections. And that continues to bother me.

2:09:45 It does still continue to bother me for me to be sitting outside of my district for the majority of my term, even though I will represent whatever I need to do. But the personal side of it for me, it was brought up at the last meeting was that, Mister Susan, you said, you know, but what I think, what I’ve heard you say is that you and Miss Jenkins aren’t going to run again. So that’s a moot point.

2:10:10 I had to go back and listen to the previous workshops to see. Did I actually say that? And I will tell you that I have not actually publicly said that. I may have joked about it, about the stress of the job.

2:10:18 I may have said, I haven’t made that decision yet, because I don’t. I didn’t the last time make it until, like, ten months before. But the truth is, the majority of this board just made that decision for me.

2:10:35 So even with the term limits being put in place, that started in November. So this board, the majority, just determined for me and for Miss Jenkins, whether or not we can run again next time. And, you know, like I said, I tried not to make it personal, but that does bother me now.

2:10:59 The truth is, I know that my fate is not in the hands of three members of the school board. My future is in the hands of my God, and he will direct me in whatever endeavors I face in the future. So I know that if this decision is part of that, I accept that.

2:11:18 But I couldn’t let this decision go forward further without stressing those objections. I also, because I did go back and watch those earlier meetings to see what exactly did I say. I also heard what the rest of us said.

2:11:30 And when we had the opportunity to talk about the consultant coming in, there were board members who said one thing, and then we came the last time, and they said something different. And so that’s why, when we go through these processes, I just urge you, board, to be clear, to be transparent, because I still have not figured out exactly why, why we have to do that, why the driving force, when it gets down to it, we’re saving $52,000. We are saving $52,000, and I know every dollar counts, and I don’t quite question that, but in March, when miss hand presented it, the thing was, we hate to spend the money, but we think we really need to do it to make sure we’re handling this process, because it’s a complicated process.

2:12:20 So when it gets down to it, we’re saving $52,000, and three people want to do it that way, and we can make those votes based on what we want to do. But it continues to bother me. It continues to bother me that we’re making those decisions for such a high percentage of voters when we could have just made a change.

2:12:37 And listen, this is not a three two decision. This is three board members wanted to align with the county commissioners. One wanted to keep it as close as possible to what we have and just make as few changes as possible.

2:12:48 And one, I believe, and I want to speak for you, Miss Jenkins. Wanted us to make significant changes to try to get closer to even. Cause we could get even closer than what the county commissioners did by having, because they’re still sitting at eight point something percent difference.

2:13:02 So when we get here in March 30, you know, I don’t expect the public to rise up. I’ve actually asked my dental hygienist last week, what do you think about it? And she was like, well, I’m just excited. You’re going to get to be my school board member, so, yay.

2:13:17 So I don’t think the public’s necessarily going to rise up, but like I said, I have a problem with the process and I want us to follow a better process and how we make these decisions. Like I said, I’m not going to continue to push anything because like I said, this is a big people decision. It’s not about little people.

2:13:33 And I want to keep the main thing. The main thing. Thank you, Miss Campbell.

2:13:38 Anybody else? Yep. Okay, Miss Jenkins. I actually disagree slightly.

2:13:44 I do think it is a little bit about the little people, because when you talk about the process and the process isn’t necessarily being done with full transparency and integrity, then we are impacting the little people. And like you said, we talked about this in the workshop, but this is the first time to talk about it at a board meeting, so to not talk about it when it comes up again, I’m going to talk about it now, too, since you decided to talk about it right now, just so we can move forward. I think I know the why.

2:14:19 I don’t think anyone’s saying it out loud. I think the why is pretty clear. I think I made that pretty clear in the workshop, that someone was being completely disingenuous, even when they were speaking to the supervisor of elections by saying only one board member would be moved.

2:14:40 It’s strange to me, since I’ve said from the day I was elected that I wouldn’t be running for school board district three for a second term, and I could technically run again because my term lines up with district four. So I hear you, Miss Campbell, but technically, I can run again. But for me, this isn’t a selfish decision because again, I’ve said multiple times, I am not rerunning for school bidding.

2:15:10 School board district three said that from the day I was elected. So the whole point of this is foolish. And the disproportionate representation of schools, again, where are our priorities? We allowed the county commission to draw their map the way they wanted to, and we are relinquishing our own authority to them by just simply accepting their map.

2:15:40 The comments that this is going to be easier for the supervisor of elections was said multiple times, and I’ve refuted it every single time out of the supervisor of elections, Mel said, sure, it might reduce the number of precincts, but I actually can’t even tell you how much it actually would do that. They’re used to this process. They’ve done it from day one.

2:16:09 I’m not comfortable relinquishing our authority to the decision made by a county commission. It doesn’t make any sense. I believe that it should be as reflective as possible to have evenly based schools so that you can have an easier representation, a little bit more of a relationship.

2:16:29 It’s already difficult to have a relationship with our school as is because we have so many schools. The fact that school board district three is going to have 21 schools, with seven of them being secondary is absurd. And then there’s going to be twelve in district three.

2:16:44 It doesn’t make any sense. And the populations and the demographics of each district are no longer going to be representative of one another. You’ll have a district that has a majority of retirees and less students than the other four districts.

2:17:02 So the decisions that you’re making and the representation that you’re doing is going to be very different than the other board members. Again, I think this board has made it very clear where they stand on this. And so I’m taking this opportunity to say it now because, like Miss Campbell, I don’t want to have the conversation again because it goes on the next board meeting.

2:17:25 And just wanted to take the opportunity to put that on record at a board meeting. All right. Thank you, Miss Jenkins.

2:17:30 Anybody else want to speak to it, too? So, Miss Campbell, I appreciate what you’re saying, and I’ve honestly thought about this every which way I have, because I thought, okay, what if this was my district? Because I know, again, we’re saying we’re not. You’re not trying to make it about yourself, but I get that situation in the. And feeling like it, we’re deciding it for you, and that’s not the overall intention.

2:17:51 I want to speak to Bernard for a second, and I. Because he asked this question, he didn’t understand why we were doing it. It’s because we have to. State statute says we have to have a certain percentage.

2:18:00 We can’t be over. I don’t know if you can cite it for him, Paul. Just explain why we are going through this process.

2:18:05 It’s federal. It’s one person, one vote. So we’re districts are supposed to be as evenly, you know, populated as possible so that every voter gets the same weight in their vote as every other voter.

2:18:18 Okay? And so if we’re not in line with that, we expose ourselves to liability. So we have to do it. This is obviously something that nobody on this board has gone through.

2:18:29 I don’t think any. You weren’t sitting here when last redistricting was done, so it is different. But every time I think about this, I go, you know what? Even if it was my seat and I wouldn’t be able to run again, I still would say it makes sense to line them up.

2:18:42 And I would argue, Miss Jenkins, that the fact that we’re having this conversation and making this decision says that we are deciding. It doesn’t. We’re not relinquishing our right to decide.

2:18:51 We’re actually deciding how we’re going to line up. Every person I’ve talked to in the community about this says, well, yeah, that makes the most sense. Why would it be different? I didn’t even know it was different.

2:19:01 Most people don’t even understand that it’s different. So, you know, again, that’s where I just go. It makes the most sense to me.

2:19:07 And I. I understand why it’s controversial. I do for certain people that are on the board. And I’m really, really sorry.

2:19:14 It’s not intentional towards any specific person. It is literally, because every time I look at this and every time I think about this and every time I pray about this, I come back to what makes the most sense, this makes the most sense to me. So that’s where I’m at with it.

2:19:29 All right. Anybody else? When this situation was brought to my attention, I was in the middle of my campaign. And so as far as being transparent, I’ve been saying from the very beginning I didn’t need a consulting group because we were out there knocking doors and talking to residents.

2:19:53 In addition to that, I’ve said from the very beginning that I, if the county commission’s already done this, paid for this, that to me it made sense. And so, I mean, nothing, nothing political here. Savings over $50,000.

2:20:11 It just made sense to go ahead and go with the county commission redistricting. So I haven’t changed my mind. It hasn’t gone really any which way.

2:20:23 How you guys have felt. It isn’t personal. It isn’t about the number of schools that we’re going to have.

2:20:30 We’ll look at that later. Yes, I’ll be the one with 21 schools. It’s only two more than I have now.

2:20:36 I’ve been looking at the population. It does even it out. That’s why the county commission did what they did.

2:20:41 And again, that’s just another. It’s another common sense decision that it isn’t personal in any way. Has nothing to do with that.

2:20:51 Yeah. And this, so that everybody’s transparent. I brought this before the board in 2021, and the reason is, is that we were at a situation where this made sense to join in.

2:21:04 The conversation that was part of the original conversation was that we would join with the county commission to make these decisions together. And we decided to go the other route because the board decided that, because it was too short of a time to actually, even though the county was under the same respectful, you know, timelines and everything else, was able to get it in there. So we decided to move forward.

2:21:27 That was before Miss Campbell ran again, and that was before a lot of this stuff. So there’s no maniacal thing that’s sitting here. The other thing is that if you look at our current districts, the way they are there is definitely significant.

2:21:43 Whether you call it gerrymandering or, you know, district redrawing, it is significantly through Rockledge and through some of the other areas that we have are significant. If you guys look at the way that they draw the league of women voters and many of the other districts are supposed to follow not bizarre lines, and the county commission lines are much better than the ones that we have sitting today. And that’s one of the reasons I also made the decision to make the recommendation in 2021.

2:22:14 As far as schools, we proved last week that there are many schools that have the majority of our students in one of our districts. So, like, I have the majority of a school, I have, like, 80% of the school students in my district currently. But the school address is in another person.

2:22:31 So it’s. So whether the, if you’re looking at where the students are at and how that works, there’s an argument to be made that the majority of students may be in another district, but you’re actually having somebody else serve those people even though they can’t even vote for them. So there’s a variance there.

2:22:46 And then there’s another thing that says in the state statute that we’re supposed to represent all schools together. So the argument that we have some schools, don’t have some other schools is kind of inside of there. And I just think, in general, this is a better format.

2:23:01 It gives us what we wanted as far as transparency. I did talk to the supervisor of election two Sundays ago at a function. And he said, yes, the plan does make my life easier.

2:23:12 I said, like, every which way. Does it? And he said, yep, it does. It reduces those things that Miss Jenkins was saying.

2:23:18 And I just. It’s overall a better plan. So with that, I’d like to call a question for moving on.

2:23:28 I just would like to move on. Is that good? No. I have one more thing I need to say.

2:23:32 Okay. Again, brought this up at the workshop, but having brought it up publicly at a board meeting, so I want it on record again. Mister Gibbs informed us that by moving two board members outside of their district, it can open us up to potential lawsuits that likely won’t win.

2:23:50 But someone could make a motion to challenge two board members living outside of their district, which then could potentially incur a cost to the district as well. So just want to make sure that the public is aware of that. Thank you, Miss Jenkins.

2:24:07 Anybody else? All right, we’re good to move on. Let me see here. We’re now at board member reports.

2:24:17 Does any board member have anything further to report? Discuss hearing? None. Miss Hand, do you have anything further to report? No, sir. All right, this meeting is adjourned.