Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 outro music plays
3:12 Two. Good morning. I know I can’t see you guys beyond the students there, but we are starting the April 23rd, 2024 board meeting. It is now in order. I’d like to welcome my fellow board members and the public. It is so encouraging to see students this morning and families this morning. So we are looking forward to a great board meeting.
3:30 I’ll just remind the public that the opportunity to address the board is during the public comment portion of the meeting. So if you will, please refrain from speaking loud disruptions, distractions, and other forms of communication that will hinder the business of the board. Paul, roll call, please.
3:42 That’s right. Here. Mr. Trent. Here. Ms. Campbell. Here. Ms. Jenkins. Here. Mr. Susan. Here. At this time, we’d like to hold a moment of silence, and I invite the audience to join.
4:18 All right. I believe we have a student. Lee, oh, you are already at the podium. If you will, please rise for the senior pledge, or the Pledge of Allegiance. Sorry, we have a Space Coast senior who will lead us this morning.
4:30 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alright, so as the audience has probably seen by now, we have a performance this morning by the Space Coast Junior Senior High School Chorus.
4:53 You guys are already there, so we will give you the floor. Alright, here we are.
6:03 Uh, uh,
7:04 uh,
11:22 Okay. Okay. Okay. We’ll have the speed, it guides us all, moving through the night. Surrender. Judgement requires. It’s the valley of wonders. It’s the voice of the angels. It’s the light that empowers. It’s the voice to guide. The shepherds step inside the house. The shepherds stand atop the tree. Music and the birds are singing.
12:23 I don’t know if you can see it, but I’m going to play a little bit of music for you.
13:01 Oh
13:35 my goodness, what an amazing job. I think we have a few students that we’re going to take the podium to ask questions. Are you, was that right? All right. So do we have Sienna, Regan, and McKenzie? All right. Awesome. I’ll let my fellow board members start. Miss Jenkins? Yes.
13:54 That was just absolutely stunning. Absolutely stunning. I wish we could be sitting in front of you. I hate that we’re staring at your backs. We can see you a little bit on the screen in front of us, too. If you see us looking down, we’re not ignoring, I promise. Absolutely stunning. I, I wanted to close my eyes during it just because it’s so peaceful.
14:14 Uh, that first song that you sang was kind of, kind of soul cleansing. Um, also, I recognize that this isn’t the most, uh, uh, beneficial acoustic environment with low ceilings and carpeted floors. I couldn’t even imagine what you would sound like in a venue like Carnegie Hall. It probably just reverberate, like reverberated across that.
14:34 I, I can’t even imagine. It was probably goose bumps. Um, so I guess my question for you is, what was that like? You know, I, I had an opportunity to sing in Carnegie Hall as like a 5th grader, but we weren’t very good. We were just singing some Christmas carols with squeaky voices. I can’t imagine what that would feel like for you guys to be up there and do that.
14:51 Tell me, tell me how you felt about that experience. Um, Am I close enough? Oh, sorry. I’m really tall. Um, it was really surreal, and like, something that you’d never imagine you’d be able to do, and especially since we’re in a high school, and we had that opportunity to go to New York and to sing in this really famous place.
15:10 It was really fun, and we had a great time. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Beautiful. Awesome. Ms. Campbell. Yeah, so how many, how many of you are seniors? I’m a senior. Oh, man, next year’s going to be really sad. I’m sure you’ve got some people that you’re recruiting to take your places. So, and I have to just say, for Sopranos, nice job.
15:34 Nice job. Um, I, so my question is, besides how many of you are seniors, is what was your favorite moment in New York, besides performing, or it could include performing, what was your favorite spot that you got to visit? I love it. Um, okay. So, this morning, it was really rough when we went to go see the Statue of Liberty.
15:57 Cause stuff didn’t go as planned, but it was beautiful. And like, it was such a good time for us to just get together and see stuff. And it was so cold, and it’s never cold here. So, it was just, it was wonderful. And, but, I was cold. And that hot chocolate they have there? There you go. There you go. Awesome.
16:16 Awesome. Okay. I just, uh, you guys did a fantastic job. So, so proud of you. I just have to read those lyrics for the audience. Um, of that first song. The first couple of verses. This is an old, old hymn. Just so you’ve got them in your head. Because I will tell you, they, they blessed me this morning. Oh, love that will not let me go.
16:33 I rest my weary soul in thee. I give thee back the life I owe. That in thine ocean depths its flow May rich or fuller be. Sorry, this isn’t about you. But it is. Oh joy, joy is my word for the year. You didn’t even know it. Joy is my word for the year. Oh joy that seekest me through pain. I cannot close my heart to thee.
16:54 I trace the rainbow through the rain. And feel the promise is not pain. That morn shall tearless be. Thank you guys. Thank you Miss Campbell. Alright, Mr. Susan. First, I wanted to say thank you to you for working with these students. You, uh, I was watching him and the intensity that you had inside of there when you were vocalizing to them but not saying it to keep them on rhythm.
17:19 Um, I always do this. I always thank the instructor because you are the reason that all these students are doing so well and there’s a lot of responsibilities that go on you for the field trips and the coordination and giving these kids that opportunity is absolutely phenomenal. So I wanted to say thank you for all your hard work and dedication.
17:37 Um, I was a teacher at, uh, Space Coast for six years. And it was the most incredible school that I ever taught at. And the reason is, is that students just like you Um, you know, not many people understand that Port St. John is the blue collar backbone of the Kennedy Space Center and many of the other jobs inside the community.
17:55 And it has the strongest individuals for sports, for chorus, for acting, for everything. And I just am so proud of your school. When I saw you guys coming in, the logo that you have on the back of your shirts, we developed inside of our football team when I was there. And it’s just some old memories came back.
18:09 So I wanted to say thank you for all of your work. Thank you to your instructor. Um, I, I have a question for you. What can we do better as a school board to assist you to have a better program? Is there anything that, is there anything, but, but here’s, here’s the deal. We always ask this, um, uh, in one way or another, but you guys do so phenomenal.
18:30 I know that this is, I’m entering into a room. I’m usually the guy that promotes the sports and does all the stuff. Um, this is Ms. Campbell has done such an amazing job of promoting. I mean, she knew what your guys lyrics were, which was phenomenal, right? But I wanted to ask you, is there anything that we might be able to do to assist that you saw throughout the year that we could do better?
18:48 Um, even like an opportunity for, like, to perform at, like, the school board meetings. Like, who has a chance to do that? So I mean, when you come to perform, it’s like, we, we have a heart to perform. So when we perform in front of, like, important people like this, it’s like, it shows that there is, like, life in choir.
19:09 And, um, I feel like if we share more music with Steph, like, she, she had an inspiration to the song, and I feel like it has a connection with, like, other people, so I feel like if we can, like, perform in front of, you know, More people. More stuff like this, it would be cool. When I used to go on my planning, I used to sneak out, um, you guys used to be located behind the multi purpose room, um, over there.
19:33 There was a classroom over there, um, and they used to have all the, the risers and stuff like that in there where you stand and do the practices. It was beautiful. I think you’re right. I The way that you touched Ms. Campbell and the way that you touched Ms. Jenkins and I’m sure Mr. Trent and Ms. Wright, it does need to be done more.
19:50 So if there’s an opportunity, um, again, it’s a lot on your teacher, but if there’s an opportunity for us to show you guys off to the world, we’d love to, you know what I mean, if that’s what you’re asking us. So thank you. I appreciate you, Ms. Wright. Thank you. Mr. Trent. Yeah. Uh, just a job well done, guys.
20:05 That’s amazing. Um, yeah, maybe, uh, Mr. Susan in front of, um, or before sporting events, things like that. It’d be great to, or, or Mr. Trent and I could come and sing with you guys. I knew he was going to do that. It’s always, it’s always an option. They’re saying yes. It’s not what you want. Trust me. Um, I’ll be more like the fifth grader that Ms.
20:24 Jenkins was talking about. Um, but you know, the, you know, the, It’s great to have you guys here. It’s wonderful to show the variety of opportunity and talent that we have here in Brevard. I mean, it makes us happy. I’m sure it makes the people at home happy and your parents happy. You had mentioned about performing in front of important people.
20:45 Don’t forget the important people that are really important. Uh, are your administration, your teacher, your instructors, uh, at, at school every day. I mean, it, none of this would happen without, you know, without them, uh, putting forth their effort. Thank you so much for, uh, you know, putting the, at, uh, that, um, You know, that extra into these kids and kids is this is awesome that you’re doing this to seniors.
21:08 Um, you know, it’s a shame that you can’t be seniors plus because you did such a wonderful job. So, um, but I’m sure there’s, there’s the up and coming, um, again, what a cross section of Brevard. It makes us happy. Uh, that you guys, uh, can do stuff like this because, you know, for, for every one of you that have this type of talent and the ability to put in this effort, there’s, there’s people like Mr.
21:30 Susan and I that have no business doing what you’re doing, so, uh, we appreciate it and, and keep up the good work. Thank you, Mr. Trent. I’m glad you did not add me in that business. No business of doing that, which I’m not a good singer either. But, uh, thank you guys so, so much. What a fun fact. I went to Space Coast the very first year Space Coast was opened.
21:49 They weren’t Vipers then. They were Manatees. So this was way back in the day. Uh, and I’ve had two children that have come through. One is currently still in Space Coast. And so one of the advantages that you guys have is Being that 6th through, sorry, 7th through 12th grade model, that junior senior. How many of you have had Mr.
22:05 Avey for 6 years now? Have had him since you got there? Yeah. Yeah. So that is a legacy. Mr. Avey, thank you so, so much. You’ve invested in both of my personal children, and so I cannot thank you enough, but let me ask you this question. How many of you have never traveled outside of the state without a parent before the trip to Carnegie Hall?
22:24 Wow, that’s huge. That’s that’s majority of you guys. So, um, Amazing, amazing job. I hope that you continue to make beautiful music wherever you go. Those of you that are graduating, keep singing Joyful Noise. We need to hear more beautiful music in the world. So we appreciate you. Let’s turn around and thank our parents that are here right now.
22:43 Parents, thank you so, so much.
22:49 And then Mr. Avey, thank you so so much. Mr. Flora, I see you have your fearless leader in the back as well. So, Miss Jackson, thank you guys so much for all you’re doing. We appreciate you tremendously. We’re going to take a small break. If you don’t mind, we would love to take a photo with you guys, uh, if that’s okay.
23:03 So we’ll take a small recess and take a photo and then reconvene. Thank you.
25:33 All right, so we have more wonderful things to celebrate today. So we are truly honored this morning to have a hero in this boardroom. There are many heroes in our school district, but this man can say he truly is a hero. He stepped in to literally save the life of a student. During lunch. At this time, I would like to invite West Shores, Mr.
25:50 Derek Hamilton and our principal of West Shore, Mr. Rick Fleming to the podium to share with us the experience and the way that you change the child’s life. Uh, Madam Chair, members of the board, uh, Derek Hamilton’s difficult to put to words how. impactful he is in our school before this incident. He’s a mentor.
26:11 He’s a coach. He’s a friend. And now I think he’s destined for sainthood. Um, it was three weeks ago tomorrow when, uh, we were on campus at the beginning of our power hour lunch. And we had a student being recognized in our media center, which is the other side of campus. Uh, she was signing a full scholarship for Vanderbilt University to play lacrosse.
26:36 So, I was there along with another administrator and our athletic director who would normally be in the cafeteria. The walkie talkie started going crazy. We just assumed it was something our SRO goes tearing out down the hallway. Uh, come to find out that Derek, who is a very selfless individual, he is, uh, being the coach that he is, he wanted to be part of that presentation and celebration with the student that was signing the scholarship.
27:02 But being the selfless person he is, he said, you know what, my administrators are down there. The athletic director is not, I’m the only one down here in the cafeteria, so I need to kind of stay here. Uh, and it’s that kind of selfless activity, call it fate, call it anything you want. But he was there when the student began choking.
27:19 Uh, performed a very rigorous Heimlich maneuver, EMS got there several minutes later. They said the student definitely, uh, would have choked to death had he not been on the scene. And of course, when you got a cafeteria full of students, oftentimes they may be laughing, giggling at something in different crowds.
27:36 And, uh, students tried to dislodge it first to no avail and Derek took over. And, uh, so at this point I can answer any questions I like, or you can talk to the man. Thank you so much. Board, do you want to share any, any comments or thoughts? I’m sure we all have things to say about this. Yeah, I, um, I got to talk to you really briefly right before this started and I had asked you, you know, often it’s usually a negative thing, like you stub your toe and you tell yourself, I told myself to put my shoe on or whatever, but like, do, have you reflected on that moment of, You know, I really wanted to go do this other thing, but I decided that I probably should stay here.
28:13 I’m better to stay here. And like, it’s just what a split, split decision that could have really changed the complete and utter outlook of that, of that event. And I’m, I’m just, I’m so grateful for you. But how do you feel about that? Like reflecting on that decision? Well, I know the young lady that was signing, she, you know, she’s a great young lady.
28:29 Um, and we talked to her for a year. She’s been there. She just, she’s just an outstanding lacrosse player. So. And uh, you know, it’s been a big time sign like an SCC school like Vanderbilt. I wanted to be there. Um, but I knew my administrators. I said, you know, some people are down here. I can’t, I can’t get wild on a normal day.
28:47 So somebody needs to be and I said, you know what? I’ll see you later. And congratulate. I needed to go there. I needed to be there. So, you know, in hindsight, I’m just, I was blessed to be there and I was supposed to be there. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Absolutely. Um, as a mom, I just have to tell you, thank you again.
29:08 ‘cause reading that story this last week in our newsletter, you know, your heart as a parent goes, what if, what if? So I’m just so thankful for you. I know the family is, and, um, you’re not going anywhere, are ya? Well, that’s the ironic thing. I was supposed to retire last September. No, no. And um, I, you know, I, I coached girls basketball for like 10 years there and I was torn after I retired from that.
29:34 And. I didn’t know if I wanted to stay because that’s kind of what my heart was, but, you know, I want to sit on our bleachers one day. This guy here who’s more than a principal at our school to me, he allows me to be a mentor more than a coach and I said, you know, I got to hang in there with him because he’s just been so great with letting me be more than just a custodian of our school.
29:52 So, I love that. I’d rather just stick it out a little longer. I love that. Well, I absolutely love that and I’m thankful that you at least stuck it out through through April 2024. Mr. Susan? Yeah, I just, we got a little chance to talk before the meeting and stuff like that and I, I just wanted to say thank you.
30:10 Um, a lot of our coaches act quickly in times of crisis and it’s something that you’re just trained with and, and it just happens but then to have all of the sequence of events that occurred that day to save that child, I think there was some help from above. And I think that you, in that lane, were meant to be there.
30:30 And instead of us losing a child, we have a great story to tell. And I’m just so proud of you, um, I’m proud of our, our coaches across the district who many times run into these kind of situations and, and are the front lines of support. Um, and what you had mentioned there with mentorship, um, it goes unnoticed how much the coaches have an impact on our mentors and our children inside of our community.
30:55 And you have, and what I call my island, because I used to be a coach, Island of Misfit Toys, that follow me, that are, I had, I was on the phone with one last night that’s 32 years old. And he was having some, um, issues, and he was just calling me, and I was helping him through it. But I just want to say from the, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to the human that you are for saving our people and saving our child and I hope that you stay somehow because it’s a very strong quality that is slowly diminishing in many of our, our society, that mentorship program, so thank you.
31:26 Mr. Trent. Well, once again, thank you for doing what you’re supposed to do, right? And I’m sure you’re sitting there saying, I just, I reacted and I did what I was going to do. But you were in the exact position that you were meant to be in. And, uh, you know, you said you were blessed. And, you know, this is, uh, it was a God thing.
31:47 You were exactly where you were supposed to be and you did what you would have done at any moment. So, uh, we appreciate you. The family appreciates you. Thank you so much. And, uh, in your future, it’s going to be great. Yeah, it took me a while to process what’s going on because I just went back to normal custodial mode that didn’t happen.
32:04 I cleaned up everything and when they tried to send me home, I got angry. I got four more rooms to do. What do you want? And the adrenaline still had me and kind of, you know, I didn’t want to go home. And I came back the next day and they looked at me like they didn’t expect me to be there the next day.
32:21 But, um, I guess embracing the father kind of started bringing it. When he said, thank you for another day with my son, I think that kind of, yeah, that kind of started hitting me then. And then what means more, I loved all the thanks and recognition I was getting, but we know it’s all about the kids and when the kids would come up and give me a hug and say, coach, thank you for that.
32:46 Yeah. Cause we know it’s all about them. So when they would come up and be thankful, I think that really began to sink in that I did something. You did. What, what an amazing story and a legacy that you have. I, uh, moments matter. And I think, you know, when you think about the idea of. I’m going to a signing, which is such a big deal, right, and that’s so much more fun than doing cafeteria duty and working with those students.
33:10 And I’m sure the human response to that would have been to maybe feel a little frustrated, right? And you’re well within your right to feel, oh, I’ve got to be here, and this is so much more fun going on there, but you were where you were supposed to be. And if you were not there, I hate to think about what that outcome was.
33:25 And so, I hope that this was helpful. This story continues. I’m really glad that you got to, to meet the parents. That was one of the questions I had for you was, did you get the opportunity to, to talk to the parents because you saved their child’s life and that is such a huge, huge, huge gift that you gave them.
33:39 So thank you for being a hero. I’m praying you don’t retire anytime soon. I know that’s like, Mr. Fleming is, so we’re praying that we get to have you for a few more years. But I, I just cannot thank you enough for going above and beyond and doing what you’re supposed to do. And what you’re Maybe some other people might have been fearful to do, but you did, did the hard job and you saved a life, so thank you.
33:58 Thank you. Dr. Rindell, do you want to add anything? I was going to be impressed by the fact that he chose to stay and do lunch duty. I mean, it’s a selfless act right there. And, you know, there’s really nothing more that can be said. He is truly a hero and, um, made a difference in the life of that patient.
34:15 individual student, but also the other students in the cafeteria because they saw what someone can do in an emergency situation and Probably gave them the courage to maybe act that way in the future. So thank you Yes, you’re a hero.
34:50 Alright, at this time I would like to offer my fellow board members and Dr. Rindell an opportunity to recognize students, staff, and members of the community. Ms. Jenkins, would you like to go first? Yeah, thank you because I’m actually going to go get some tech help after I do this. Um, I just wanted to say, uh, a couple things.
35:06 Big shout out to Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School. Um, their theater department just put on The Little Mermaid. And I talked, I took Little Miss Olive to go see that. Um, it was so, it was so adorable and I loved watching all the little kids in the audience just kind of like get enthralled in theater.
35:24 Um, but huge shout out to the star of that show who played Ariel. Um, she was amazing. Absolutely, like tremendous, a tremendous performer, um, and I didn’t get to say congratulations to her afterwards, so I just want to do a big shout out to not only her, but the entire crew, um, and to your entire theater department.
35:42 That was just awesome. So thank you for that. Um, also while we’re on the topic of theater, uh, this week on the 25th, 26th, and 27th, Satellite High School is doing Hello, Dolly! So get some tickets if you want to check that out. Um, and then I just want to say congratulations to some of our schools. Uh, I believe it was put out there yesterday, um, but Westshore and, uh, Edgewood Junior Senior have, once again, nationally ranked themselves in the top 100, which is incredible.
36:08 So thank you for constantly representing Brevard Public Schools on the national stage, um, but as well as Satellite High School joins them in the top 100 for the state of Florida. So congratulations, Team BPS, proud of you, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Campbell. All right. So, I’m going to go backwards on my list.
36:27 Um, on the topic of music and theater, I want to start with just reminding everybody that our Summer Fine Arts Theater Workshop sign up is going on right now. So, if you would like your rising 9th, grader to get involved, to stay out of your house for a month, and stay busy, and get a chance to either perform, or build sets, or run lights, or even play in the pit orchestra, um, um, That information can be found on our website, also all the schools are sending out information.
36:55 So it’s, again, it’s for rising 12th graders. Um, the All County Jazz Band Concert a couple Saturdays ago was amazing. Um, all of those musicians were so excellent. I love the clinicians that, um, that they brought in to work with the students. Super fun. And all of our students who represented from several different high schools, they did an amazing job.
37:18 Also a couple Fridays ago I was able to go to University Park for the ribbon cutting for their brand new Head Start Outdoor Learning Space. The kids hadn’t even gotten to play there yet. We got to play there first. And it was complete with worms, which I stayed as far away from as I possibly could. Um, but they had worms and they had um, uh, Just things you can climb on, sensory things, they had plants where you could see the roots in there, and talking about habitats, and they had binoculars where you could look up in the tree and see things up close.
37:46 And it was a great partnership between the school staff and administrators, even the custodians even jumping in to, to build it, put everything together. The Head Start office, the Brevard Zoo, and also our facilities. team here from ESF, and so thank you to everybody who had a part. It’s going to be a great outdoor learning space.
38:03 And I’ve already seen some, some buzz on Facebook from some other schools saying, Ooh, we want to do one of those too. So, um, we’ll have lots of opportunities hopefully for other Head Start programs to get this amazing outdoor learning space. And it’s just designed for those pre K, um, ages. So they, they really get all that sensory.
38:23 And it’s beautiful with a big old shade tree right in the middle. It’s perfect. A couple weeks ago we had the L3Harris STEM challenge day for middle schoolers, and I know, um, Ms. Wright was able to judge one day too. Super fun. I had the 7th grade day, I think, and we, they were building 3D printed cars, and then when they got here they found out what the challenge was, is to add weight and go down a ramp and see how fast they could, you know, how far and how fast they could go.
38:50 The, the questions, the quality of the programming is so good, that the questions we heard them asking were physics questions. They were, they were really thinking in a STEM minded kind of way, um, really thinking about weight and, uh, balance and different kinds of things. So I love that program. Thank you to L3Harris for not only funding that event, but also for, um, for sending judges to help during that week.
39:17 Thank you to Russell Cheatham and his team of tech integrators and all the people at ESF who keep getting pulled off of their job to be judges and monitors there. I know that’s fun for them, but they still actually then have to go back and do the rest of their jobs. So I’m so thankful for the people in this building who are so flexible when it comes to events like that.
39:37 And then finally, Next Friday is School Lunch Hero Day. You know, we love to celebrate that. So, um, Kevin Thorne from Food and Nutrition Services, their team has given each of us something fun. Alright, there we go.
40:13 So, in here you should find everything that you need to go to one of the schools in your district. And celebrate with our lunch heroes. I’ll be honest, I always feel a little bad wearing it because it always says something about, I’m a school lunch hero. And I’m like, I’m not a school lunch hero. You’re a school lunch hero.
40:28 Uh, but make sure you go and, and get some time to spend with our amazing superheroes. And what it says on the back is, this is what they’ll be wearing next Friday. Lunch Hero, because superhero is not official, is not an official job title. Alright, so they are amazing. They do such a great job feeding our kids breakfast, lunch, and all things in between at all of our schools.
40:51 And so, we’re very proud of our Food Nutrition Services staff and all the work they do from the top all the way down to the bottom. And, uh, I know, I hope that you guys will be out there taking pictures and doing shout outs and all that good stuff next Friday. And if your, um, if your child It tends one of public schools whether they eat lunch or breakfast or not just have them send a little note to give them high fives To do some shout outs because we want to show these really important staff how much we appreciate them.
41:19 Thank you. I’m already signed up for my school miss Campbell Yeah, I wanted to say thank you to Miss Rutledge from our Career and Technical Education group. Uh, she’s the director of it because we went out to one of my former educator friends, um, Emily Torlak. She has a farm in Palm Bay. It’s about 20 acres.
41:37 And what on that farm what she’s getting ready to do is hold What we would call our 4 h and get the kids back engaged into agricultural opportunities um, what we have is is The kempfers and all the other agricultural groups and myself and a couple other representatives from school district have been meeting behind the scenes To bring back agriculture into the schools next year Ms.
41:59 Torlak is going to act as one of those locations that if a school does not have a club You That students can go over there and let me tell you something about this farm. It has a entire aquaculture type situation with the pond where they’re growing three different types of fish. There’s um park benches and animals and engagements and the difference between What we normally see in some of these opportunities and the farm that Miss Torlak is putting together is that she’s a former educator So she knows how to tie what she’s doing into the curriculum So it’s going to be a phenomenal opportunity and I just wanted to say thank you to Miss Rutledge and Miss Torlak for working on Putting this together and I look forward to some of the stuff that’s going to come out of it for next year I also wanted to say thank you to Suntree Elementary for having me I went in there and spoke and Um, listen to their faculty on some of the issues that we have inside of our school district and got to see some of the great things that they do.
42:55 Um, I wanted to say thank you to the, uh, Masonic Lodge and the state, um, director for the Masons for coming in and putting, for the first time in I think it’s like 40 years, a cornerstone into one of our schools. And what we were discussing with, uh, the Masons afterwards was. How we really need to start helping provide leadership and mentorship with our young Individuals, so the masons are putting together a they already do some awards for some of our schools But they’re going to put together a larger um program where they’re not only giving opportunities and scholarships and and revenue to For awards, but they’re also going to be coming in and mentoring some of our students and that’s what’s needed As everybody knows, more than anything, is the mentorships inside of our students.
43:41 I also wanted to say thank you to Rockledge ROTC for having me at their graduation and letting me speak to the group, um, with everything that’s going on inside of our community and inside of our world right now. To have some of those individuals stand up and say that they’re gonna go defend our country is phenomenal.
43:58 And I will tell you that Mr. Celeste, uh, Major Celeste has done a phenomenal job at allowing those kids to become the leaders that they are possibly going to become and lead into the next, um, century. Because all of our ROTC programs are very successful. Um, and I’ve been to most of them, and Mr. Celeste has a great opportunity there, and I just wanted to say thank you for letting me speak, and congratulations to all those graduates who are going into military service.
44:23 I wanted to say thank you to the Bright Action Assembly, um, last, I think it was Monday or Tuesday night, we met at the Century United Methodist, and 11 congregations were there. To focus our school district to help support through reading initiative that is, um, it’s, uh, it’s serve, it’s, it’s set up so that our, uh, the science of reading is a program that they would like to help support in many ways, not just help us initiate it with, um, training with some of our schools, but then also support, um, with many of the volunteers and many of the other programs that they have.
44:55 And I’m, I’m just over the moon excited for that opportunity. I want to say thank you to Dr. Rendell for coming. Uh, Dr. Rendell reaffirmed his support for the program and it’s a beautiful congregation of both schools and individuals from the community, um, working towards, again, mentorships and working inside of our schools to support our children who have the need.
45:16 I also wanted to say thank you to, um, Just in general to a lot of the individuals that are out there that, um, are a part of our veteran based, uh, organization that we have coming forward on May 7th, they’re going to give a presentation over what they’ve been doing, but there’s a group of generals and military servicemen that are currently active duty that have been putting together supports through stem programs and other opportunities for our schools to come in and support also to have, um, mentorships and stuff like that.
45:45 So I just want to say thank you to everybody. And that’s all I got. Alright, thank you Mr. Trent. Alright, so, uh, last Friday I had the pleasure and the opportunity to, uh, judge Edwidge, Edwidge, Edwood, Senior Project Program, uh, along with Ms. Wright. Uh, and what a wonderful day. Um, I’d like to give a shout out to Ms.
46:07 Snyder, the Senior Project Coordinator, and Ms. Jackie Ingrato, the, uh, the principal there. Uh, the, the program they ran was unbelievable, but the star of the show obviously was the students. Um, we are in great hands if those are, um, our problem solvers of America. Uh, it was a, uh, uh, vast array of, of people.
46:30 that they had come up with and the amount of time and effort they put into these projects was, it was just amazing. Um, it, it, and it, it lasted, you know, just hours of, you know, one impressive student after another. Uh, the way they presented, it was professional. Um, I, I’ve been in that field before where, where business people are trying to sell, you know, million dollar contracts, if not more.
46:53 and these high school seniors were far and above. Uh, as a presenter as, as, as they were, as, as everybody’s good. So that was a, a wonderful day. Uh, speaking of Edgewood, yes, top 10 in Florida, actually number six and, uh, number 57 in the United States. So, uh, congratulations to them. Uh, along with the rest of our schools that made that list.
47:16 Uh, it’s looking good all over the place. But a big shout out this time of year to our teachers, uh, and staff and administrators. It’s getting really close. Uh, you know, this is, it’s getting close to test time at the end of the school year. Promise, uh, I’ll promise you that I’m not going to be, you know, You know, setting up tours or visits, you know, during test time.
47:37 So don’t worry about that. You have plenty to do. Uh, this is a time where those classroom teachers, uh, you know, they, they lose sleep at night, uh, losing those, those last few in each class. So they’re sending those extra emails home. I see them, I have them in school. So I appreciate that. Uh, we are looking forward to getting to the end of the year.
47:57 And, you know, we can, we can make all the, the best decisions. The plans up here and have a have a plan for the year, but it’s those ultimately those classroom teachers are the ones that We need them on board to finish this year out strong and I know you will so a shout out to you Uh some some good time off is coming Uh, and we appreciate your work Thank you, Mr.
48:21 Trent. Okay, I’ll try to wrap this up really quickly. Um, I want to give a shout out to Ms. Benjamin and her entire team at the Adult Education Program. They know how to throw a party, so they had a gala for their graduates of Adult Education. And, uh, Ms. Campbell, you were able to join and attend that. And just what a phenomenal event.
48:38 And the amount of community that came out to support was just really, really impressive and honestly inspiring. So it’s never too late to continue your education. We have many programs, uh, if you’re interested in that, check that out on our website. Thank you. Um, also wanted to Say thank you to the gcr team to the transportation team to tiesville pd We had our kindergarten roundup that happened this past saturday In the north end and all the schools that represented there so much fun such a beautiful day on the water We had just the most perfect day scene.
49:06 It’s a little warm, but a nice breeze. So uh, overall I think it was a good event and just getting our kids ready for what to expect when they come into school. Because a lot of times our kiddos don’t know what they’re gonna, what they’re gonna walk into. So thank you to the many, many volunteers that came out for that.
49:20 Um, also wanted to give a shout out too. We have a team. We have a teacher in the North End at Titusville High, Ms. Chavez. She is dancing with the stars, doing the dance, sorry, dancing with the space coast, not the stars. It’s somewhat similar to the Dancing with the Stars model, so, which I did this last year, a lot of fun.
49:35 Uh, but she’s raising funds for Best Buddies, and that’s a program that works alongside any of our children that have developmental disabilities. And just really an amazing, amazing event. Last year, I think we raised close to 400, 000. That was divvied up between three different organizations. So she is dancing this year on behalf of We have a Titusville High Best Buddies program, and then we also have a student at THS who is dancing as well.
49:58 So, um, if you’re looking for a fun event that is the who’s who and everybody’s there, you get to dress up and, and have a really nice fancy dinner and, uh, amazing entertainment with phenomenal dancers, uh, I encourage you to, to look into that. I’ll make sure that we put, hopefully we can put the, the information on our website.
50:13 I’m looking at Russ, but I don’t think he’s looking at me. So hopefully maybe we can share that on our website or our social media if you’re interested in attending that. Um, other than that, I do not have any others. Dr. Rendell, do you have any that you want to acknowledge, or? Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.
50:26 Quickly, um, the U. S. News and World Report high school rankings for the nation are out. As Ms. Jenkins and some other board members mentioned, we have some schools in some very high places earning some top marks, so check that list out. A lot of good stuff going on in our schools. I do want to thank all the schools that I’ve visited so far this year.
50:43 It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of my job is I get to go visit schools and visit students and teachers in classrooms. And, so first of all, thank you. Thank you to the administrators that have hosted me. Thank you to the teachers who let me interrupt their instruction and come in and visit. Um, it’s, it’s extremely enjoyable.
51:01 Um, the visits rejuvenate me. They also remind me of the work that’s being done every day in the classroom. And so, I appreciate the time that I get to spend with those students and those teachers in the classroom. So, I know it’s an interruption when anybody from the district comes, and I say don’t make a big deal out of it, but sometimes they do.
51:20 And I just want to say thank you. It’s been rejuvenating for me, but also revealing and refreshing and also reconnecting for me to make sure that I know what we’re all about. So, thank you to the schools for hosting me. Thank you. That brings us to the adoption of the agenda. Dr. Rendell. Thank you, Madam Chair.
51:38 On this morning’s agenda, we have 31 consent items, three action items, and one information item. Changes made to the agenda since it was released to the public include the following. The addition of B10, recognition of guests, visitors, and staff, revised F13 student expulsions, revised F17 reappointment nominations of continuing professional service, contract teachers 2425 revised job description director of operational support and strategic planning and a revision to h44 procurement solicitations Thank you, do I hear a motion move to approve Miss Jenkins, I miss Campbell.
52:20 I miss right. I mr. Trent. Mr. Susan. All right All right, we have one proclamation on today’s agenda, and that is for the before and after school appreciation week. Is Ms. Jennifer Belotti here? Oh, sorry, I’m like looking, I’m looking over the podium. I apologize. Um, if you will, I believe you’re coming forward to read the proclamation, correct?
52:42 All right. Hello. Um, I’ve never done this before. Um, I am, uh, I’m Jen Belotti. I’m the district coordinator for Bevar before and after school, and I have some Some of my team here. Okay, so after school professional appreciation week April 22nd through the 26th of 2024 whereas Brevard Public Schools Office of Curriculum and Instruction the Brevard before and after school department firmly believe that after school Professionals our school coordinators activity leaders and group leaders have a positive effect on our children Families community and businesses whereas after school professionals are a decisive element In young people’s access to high quality relationships and expanded opportunities beyond what they have access to at school and home Which they need to reach their full potential Whereas after school professionals deserve appreciation and support for all that they do that results in increased social emotional skills Promotes physical and emotional health and provides a safe environment and exposes them to new experiences Whereas Brevard Public Schools Office of Curriculum and Instruction and the Brevard before and after school department are committed to supporting The professionals who provide expanded learning opportunities that will help close the achievement gap and prepare young people to can to be contributing citizens Now, therefore, the Brevard Public Schools do hereby proclaim April 22nd through the 26th of 2024 as Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week in Brevard Public Schools and urge the citizens of Brevard County, Florida, to join us in this special observance with appropriate events and displays of appreciation.
54:21 And then do I read the adopted line? Adopted? Yes. Okay, sorry. Adopted in regular session of the School Board of Brickyard County on this 23rd day of April 2024. You did amazing. Thank you. Yes. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Yeah, I just want to, um, I just want to thank everyone who works for this program and everything that they do for our students.
54:46 Uh, it’s, it’s a job that deserves so much more money, um, for the amount of love and care and attention and mentorship that they give to our kids before and after school. Um, my daughter loves going to aftercare, gets upset when I pick her up early because the way that her teachers treat her when she’s in there.
55:03 She just has such tremendous relationships with them, and actually one of them is, Um, and Olive came home and told me that she was leaving and she was really sad about it, but they’re gonna have a boy working there. So she’s excited about that. Um, but anyway, I just, I didn’t want to go through this without acknowledging it is an incredible job.
55:22 It is so, so important and it ensures that our students are taken care of and loved so they can go to school every single day. So thank you for every single thing that you do. Thank you. I appreciate that. And you guys are always welcome to come out and visit after school. I know you’re always there. The school day come have fun with us.
55:34 It’s playing. Just give us a call, set up an invitation, absolutely. Alright. I mean, I want to say one last thing too, um, I wasn’t aware of this until far too late, but I, and I don’t know if it’s every aftercare program, but ours accepts toy donations for the kids to play with, so if you guys, I know there’s plenty of parents out there who are getting rid of toys and board games and all of that stuff, think of your school first to deliver it and to donate it to.
55:58 Absolutely. I have got a bag full of crayons for you. How about that? guys for everything that you do. I have to, when, back when my kids first started, it was called Educare and my kids were always upset that they didn’t get to go to Educare because we didn’t have that. Do you have it? But they, they always knew that they were missing out on something fun.
56:18 So we’re very much appreciative of all that you do, except for the time that we forgot to pick them up and they got to go. And so we’re glad you were there for that day too. So thank you. Thank you. And I just wanted to say on the heels of what Miss Jenkins was saying. As far as appreciating you and the need for our workers who may not be making the amount of money that they deserve, right?
56:39 Um, one of the things that our school district does is has routinely and we wrestle with this almost every year or two years Try to keep those rates as low as possible so that our families will be able to provide that aftercare because we know how much The need is for it. So not only do I want to say thank you to them To your organization, but I also want to say thank you to this board for suppressing some of those, even though we could competitively raise those significantly, um, I do want to say thank you to that and I wanted to say that I always pop in to the after cares when I’m checking into some of the schools and stuff like that and I always say thank you and it is literally like I have five kids, right?
57:13 So my house is kind of a mini aftercare sometimes because we have them all running around. And what they do on a regular basis, I think the cap is 25 per worker or something like that. To have 25 kids in an aftercare setting is like they, they’ve been released and now they have all this energy and now they’re going to be coming and everything else.
57:31 And they’re like, ah, like, this is amazing that you guys are able to do what you do with those children and mentor them and keep them going. So on the heels of what Ms. Jenkins and Ms. Campbell were saying, I want to say thank you to you for all of your work. I appreciate everything that you guys do. Thank you.
57:44 Thank you. Yeah, just again, thank you so much. And when 25 students feel like 50, I’m sure I’ve been there. I’ve had two of my, my five, I have five kids too. But, uh, they’re not running around the house as often as more as yours. They, they will leave eventually. You can borrow some of them. No, I’m good. Um, but, uh, I have a handful that I could select from.
58:07 But it’s, uh, it’s a great program and we’d love to, uh, to support you. And again, Just keep coming at us with your needs. But again, thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, very, very honored to have this proclamation and honor those workers. It is such a huge need and it is honestly, I think we have the cheapest, right?
58:23 Aftercare program in all of Brevard? I don’t think there’s a We’re still pretty low. Yes. Every time we’ve looked at it, it’s been I was gonna say, we are very, very, very feasible for families, uh, which is good. So we appreciate all the hard work that goes on there. Maybe we should have the challenge as though we do with the, you know, food, you know, And nutrition where we serve in a school that we attend an afterschool program and and kind of help at one of those schools.
58:46 So maybe I would love for you to call me I can set that up. All right. Sounds wonderful. Well, thank you so much. We’re excited. to have this proclamation. So, Paul, roll call, please. Ms. Jenkins. Aye. Ms. Campbell. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. Awesome. Thank you again. I think that’s the most amazing day idea in the world.
59:04 Can you coordinate that with us? Absolutely. I have staff needs every day. So, you guys tell me what area you’re in, I will It is called Organized Chaos in our programs. We know that world very well. I love it. Thank you again so much. Thank you. All right. We are now at the staff, sorry, the administrative staff recommendations.
59:22 Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Paul, roll call please. Ms. Jengen. Aye. Ms. Campbell. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Sousa. Aye. Dr. Rendell. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, as a result of that action, we have some people who’ve been promoted or transferred, so I want to recognize some of those people in the room today.
59:42 So, we’ve talked a little bit about Westshore today, um, the hero at Westshore and some other things, but if you don’t know already, Mr. Fleming, the principal of Westshore, is retiring, so it’s my pleasure to announce his replacement Mr. Bert Clark, current principal of Rockledge High School will now be the principal at Westshore for next year.
1:00:01 So Mr. Clark, do you want to come to the podium?
1:00:09 Thank you, Dr. Rendell. Um, I’d like to talk about this for like an hour, but I’ll keep this super brief. Uh, first and foremost, thank you to the board. Thank you to Dr. Rendell, Mr. Raymer and cabinet for providing me with this opportunity and trusting such a prestigious, amazing school, uh, to, to my leadership.
1:00:25 I throughout this. Undoubtedly difficult transition. So I’m very grateful for that. He has shared tons of words of wisdom and thoughts and and I cannot be more thankful for that. Um, I am humbled, grateful and excited to have this opportunity to be Brevard County product and get to come back and serve at such an amazing school.
1:00:50 I have to thank my family, my wife and kids for allowing me to continue to do this work that frequently takes me away from them. And they’ve been nothing but supportive of that. I want to thank all the mentors and colleagues who have helped mold me, uh, and help me be who I am today. I want to thank the Rockledge faculty, staff, and community for welcoming me with open arms five years ago.
1:01:09 I’m very proud of the work that we’ve been able to accomplish in that time, uh, and believe that that work will continue, uh, in my absence. Uh, they will be missed. Uh, and finally, I want to thank the, the Wildcat family who I’ve been fortunate enough to meet. Uh, I’m so excited to get down there and start, uh, serving and leading in that community, uh, and continue the amazing, amazing legacy that is West Shore Junior Senior High School.
1:01:29 Thank you guys again. Thank you. So
1:01:36 we also want to celebrate the promotion of Lauren Ferrante Williams to principal at Stone Magnet Middle School. Lauren, come on up and congratulations.
1:01:53 First, if you were to tell me at 13 years old, walking around Stone myself, that I would be principal, I would tell you you were lying. So, uh, it’s, uh, It’s definitely been a very unique experience being able to be back in a community that I call home. So I want to thank you, Dr. Rendell, board members, Mr.
1:02:11 Raymer, Dr. Harris, for really being a part of giving me this opportunity. I want to thank Ms. Bowman and the, Faculty and staff and the community and students that have already welcomed me in in the very brief time of being able to be introduced to Miss Stewart and my team and my family that’s at Coco high school that have really just embraced me this year Helped continue to grow and challenge me to the principals and the schools that I’ve worked at previously Rockledge, Bayside, Hoover, Palm Bay, even an internship at West Shore.
1:02:49 I appreciate all the people, all the principals that I’ve had, my colleagues, the staff, my family, and the community that have really brought me in and helped me to grow be the leader that I am today. Lastly, I would like to thank my family. My parents have been great supporters. My sisters have been awesome as well.
1:03:07 And then lastly to my husband, Tracy, Letting me come home and just decompressing for the day whether it’s a good day or bad day and and everything in between You know being by my side and kind of drag him along to all the sporting events and theater and everything So thank you so much for that. But overall, I’m very excited I’m excited to be back into a community that has really shaped and molded me So thank you for giving me that opportunity and I’m excited to get to work
1:03:40 So lastly we’ll celebrate the transfer Of alicia lenderman from the position of assistant principal at endeavor to assistant principal at challenger seven So continuing her work at a new setting alicia, come on up
1:04:02 First of all, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you to everyone here. Thank you to miss murphy to miss nelson the entire endeavor family I want to thank you to Thank you, Ms. Maynor, and to the Challenger 7 family that I’m going to be a part of. I’m here because I’ve known since I was 5 that I wanted to be a teacher, just like my mom, who was a teacher for 42 years.
1:04:23 I’m also here today because my dad, retired Sergeant Major William T. Lenderman, drove the school bus to school when he was, um, 17, in a, and graduated in a class of 17 in Mississippi. And he was only functionally literate. But he still had a leadership quality that when we buried him this year had men from all over the country reaching out to us to talk to me about how meaningful he was.
1:04:50 I’ve always been honoring my mom and I’m excited to continue the opportunity of honoring my father as well. So thank you.
1:05:04 I’m sure we could take a break and do some photos. Yes.
1:09:10 All right, we are now at the public comments portion of the meeting. Mr. Gibbs, how many speakers do we have today? Seven so far. Okay, we have seven speakers, each will be allotted three minutes, and in an effort to remain. Unbiased the speakers at the podium. I’ll be asking the parliamentarian our attorney to announce the speakers and manage the time clock I’d like to take this opportunity to remind the public of the rules written out in board policy 0169.
1:09:32 1 all comments should be directed at the board or individual board members Staff members and other individuals shall not be addressed by name Abusive obscene or irrelevant comments will not be permitted orderly conduct is expected from all public Comment participants and the presiding officer may interrupt warn or terminate the participants We’re going to the first three.
1:09:52 And I do want to note, we have two that are speaking on a student discipline matter. So we have to, I’m moving those to the end. Okay. And then we’ll have to recess here and then convene in the conference room for them to provide theirs because it’s exempt from Sunshine. Okay, perfect. All right. The first three are Bernard Bryan, Kevin Jeffrey, and Matthew Ray. Bernard Bryan —
1:10:18 Good morning, board. First, I’d like to say I am so excited to be here today, and thank you so much, Dr. Rendell, for your open door policies. Uh, thank you, uh, Madam Chairman, and thank you all board members for listening to me for the last two years. Again, my name is Mr. Bryant, and I represent three schools that I’m a SAC member of.
1:10:41 Uh, my wife and I also work with children within the community. to see what we can do to help those children. I just want to give a special shout out to Mrs. Marilyn Chappie and Mrs. Harris. On Sunday, Mrs. Chappie went to Macedonia Baptist Church and gave a presentation on VPK, and her presentation was phenomenal.
1:11:04 We’ve had parents call me asking, asking me, you know, what can we do to help our children to read better? So, special shout out to that team. And, um, I’d also like to thank that staff in terms of what they’re doing in the area of science of reading. But I’d also like to talk about, had an opportunity to review your, your last workshop on, on discipline and had an opportunity to do some analysis.
1:11:33 You guys know I, I love to look at data and I’d like to pass this out. But
1:11:45 Mr. Brian spends a lot of his personal time. Looking at data, what can we do to improve our schools, uh, improve our children’s performance. And one of the things I looked at was the risk ratio. And what I saw was in your last workshop, the risk ratio of African American students was 2. 52. Which we believe is still extremely too high.
1:12:10 When I look across the district, there are 30 schools that have risk ratio of African American students that are 2 and above. So what I did, I used my old, uh, engineering background. I did a fishbone analysis. What a fishbone analysis is, you look at potential causes, but not root causes, those contributing factors.
1:12:33 So in my brain at 5 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, this is what I came up with. So what I’m asking the board to do is to really consider those opportunities. You know, where, what’s causing the risk ratios to be 2. 52 to 2. And what can we do to implement corrective action as a plan to minimize that? So if you will take a look at this, again, this is my own brainstorming session, and I hope that you will do the same.
1:13:00 And lastly, I’m really concerned about, uh, again, we have analyzed your, your, your discipline procedure on race related and hate languages. And we are looking at that behind the scene. And hopefully we can get the root causes behind those as well. So that’s what we do and we love Brevard Public School students and thank you for your support.
1:13:22 Thank you Mr. Bryan. All right, Kevin Jeffrey, Matthew Ray, and Kelly Curvin. Kevin Jeffrey —
1:13:37 Good morning. Congratulations to the school board. I think you guys are doing a great job. You’ve brought sanity to an insane area. And, um, I’m thankful for it. And there’s more people who support you than you know. And so, I just wanted to make a few comments to let you know that we support you. I’m president of the Brevard County Republican Assembly.
1:14:02 And, um, the risk ratio for a lot of the problems that are happening, it seems to me, go back to parenthood. That’s the problem. It’s the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. My father and mother raised 16 kids, 14 boys and two girls. They, uh, we were more concerned about my parents and what happened when we got home than we were with anything that happened at school.
1:14:33 They supported the teachers. They operated with no excuses, zilch, nada. It was our responsibility. To make sure that we didn’t hang out with kids that were acting bad and that we did not get in trouble. There was no excuses. Today Um out of those 16 kids two have doctor’s degrees Nine have graduated from college and none are social deviants When we raised our kids We raised them with that same standard You will not make race an excuse Don’t bring it up.
1:15:16 Don’t even try to operate with that. And they didn’t. And they don’t today. And they don’t teach their kids to operate with it. We’re in a situation today where we just constantly are harping on race. The elephant in the room is parenthood. And nobody has the guts to say it. Today, 72 percent of every black kid born today is born to a single parent mother, and that is unsustainable.
1:15:48 But nobody wants to say that. Nobody wants to say the obvious elephant in the room. You can’t do everything. The parents have to do it. And the disintegration of parenthood in our society is contributing to a lot of problems. Black on black crime. Nobody wants to say that. There is an annihilation of black men going on all across this country.
1:16:19 Nobody wants to say it. They’re scared and don’t have the backbone to say what’s going on. The reality is you need strong families and you can count on us that we’re going to do our job to help intervene in this situation and to help rectify the problems. Thank you, Mr. Jeffries. Matthew Ray, Kelly Kerbin, and Daniel Hicks.
1:16:46 That was phenomenal.
1:16:53 Okay. Matthew Ray —
1:16:57 Back to the beginning here. So my name is Matthew Ray and it’s an honor to be here with you guys and gals. And, uh, so I’m a lifelong, uh, resident of Brevard County, I was born and raised here. Uh, I graduated from West Shore Junior Senior High School in class of, the class of 2004. And, uh, and it was really special to see, you know, the folks from, you know, that heroic, uh, act that, uh, that he, that the gentleman that was recognized, uh, did at my, my alma mater.
1:17:28 So it was a really neat experience. So I’m currently an Eagle, I’m an Eagle Scout. And I currently volunteer with a local BSA troop in PAC that are housed at, uh, Eastminster Presbyterian Church, which is where I serve as an elder currently. So, and I actually, actually, uh, when I heard the choral piece that was done, we actually sang that in our choir.
1:17:50 So I am also openly gay, and have been out since my senior year of high school at 17. So I have watched the actions of this board, you know, with quite a bit of interest over the last few years. I’ve watched as a school system known for inclusion and freedom of thought has become known for not doing what is needed for students with IEPs.
1:18:08 For denying students rights to be known by the names they choose and considering the removal, removal of books at the request of a few loud voices at the expense of students, teachers, and parents who wish that these were still available. And I think, and I would also add that I think we should be known for love.
1:18:29 And the fact that we are all meant to be loved, valued, and included unconditionally. So, I was thinking of, uh, Jennifer’s, uh, uh, reference to the Little Mermaid, and I thought about that. I’m like, what a message there of inclusion. You know, having, you know, people be all they can be. People be, you know, be recognized for who they are.
1:18:47 That’s so important. So I hear a lot about discipline, you know, we’ve heard about, a lot about this in the last few months, and the need for school, but I, but I would like to say that we need more school counselors, more qualified teachers, and supporting who we have, uh, who are doing that. Support for the arts, for the great programs like Space Coast Junior Senior High School did today.
1:19:08 You know, that takes, uh, effort and sustained, and money. So, and support. So one of the, and another thing I’d like to add is, uh, That I think we need to schedule these meetings at a time when, when students have the opportunity to share their voices. And, uh, as much as I’m sure the, the good folks at Space, the students at Space Coast Junior Senior High School would love, you know, love to day off to come to visit, Uh, I think it’s important for all of their peers to, to be available, you know, and people who work during the day and have some evening meetings would be, would be great.
1:19:40 So, uh, until these meetings are scheduled, you’ll see, you’ll see more of me. I’ll be at all these meetings. And I would like to say that, um, you know, a few things that, uh, some, some students and teachers brought to my, and parents brought to my attention to bring to this meeting for on behalf of students who can’t be here.
1:19:58 You know, one of them, uh, shared with me that. Matt. Uh, if you, if you want, you can email the board the, the rest of your speech, okay? Thank you. Kelly Curvin and Daniel Hicks. Kelly Kervin —
1:20:21 When I spoke to this board two weeks ago, I urged you all not to make more insensitive and racist comments during the discipline data presentation. I would say thank you for listening, but it appears my ask should have been broader. This second hand embarrassment I felt for all of you as you tried to desperately change the numbers to fit your own narrative was a lot.
1:20:40 Social media has brought us a lot of humorous trends this year. We’ve had girl math, which turned into dog math, and even book math. Now this board has brought us math’s math. Only instead of it being a funny TikTok video, it’s a washed up middle aged man yelling at adults because he thinks he’s smarter than a calculator.
1:20:58 Matt screamed that he had run the numbers three times and got a different number, while the calculator determined that was yet another lie told by Matt Susan. Speaking of lies, this board can continue to lie to yourselves but the public has stopped listening. The discipline data was not incredible, it’s alarming.
1:21:16 Referrals are up. Suspensions for our black and brown and students living in poverty are up, bullying is up. How is any of that incredible? And just so we’re clear, this issue isn’t new. We have had a community member who entered this arena for our black and brown students 13 years ago, and yet the data continues to stay the same.
1:21:41 Do better for that community member so that when he passes on as he is getting to an older age, he realizes that his work was not in vain. If this board spent even a tenth of the time talking about solutions as you did culture wars, maybe we’d be in a better place. I read a comment from a BPS teacher who said, quote, If they think discipline is getting better in our schools, it shows that they’re not spending time in our schools.
1:22:06 They show up for the fun stuff, but where are they during the day to day things? Other teachers expressed frustrations at the lack of character building lessons saying our classes are dead zones of over testing, iPad use, and dry curriculum that students can’t relate to. Social emotional learning has become a partisan talking point, but all of us benefited from being taught to be good humans while we were in school.
1:22:27 Handcuffing our students with outdated and dry curriculum with little autonomy for individualism in the classroom is actively hurting our kids. Now you may be wondering why I’d be up here quoting our teachers when they are often silent in this conversation. Beyond the daytime meeting time, there is a fear of retaliation.
1:22:43 After looking at the reappointment list, their fears seem well founded. Did y’all think I wouldn’t notice who was missing? Matt, Gene, and Megan, you continue to underestimate how invested our parents and community members are in Brevard Public Schools. If only you were half invested as we are, our school system would be in a better place.
1:23:02 And Gene, I don’t know where he went, but the headphone thing? Interesting new look. Thank you, Miss Kervin. Daniel Hicks. Daniel Hicks. I was right? I’d like to, at the end of Dan Hicks —
1:23:25 My name is Dan Hicks. I represent, uh, space codes, educational advocates. We’re a new, uh, advocacy, uh, group here in Brevard County. Really proud to be serving the community. Look forward to doing that. Um, I think I may have, uh, missed a couple of the earlier presenters. I took a business call. Um, that’s going to be an issue when we have meetings that are scheduled at nine 30 in the morning.
1:23:45 I’m sure you’re aware of that. Um, when I saw that this meeting was scheduled at nine 30 in the morning, um, I realized the The last one was also scheduled in the morning. I did a little research, um, there’s 67 counties in Florida, 36 counties with a population over 100, 000. Of those 36 counties, two of them are holding school board meetings in the AM, Dade County and Brevard Public Schools.
1:24:08 Um, the next part of my little presentation is a, is a challenge to you all. You all have internet access. I’d like for you to go onto Brevard County website if you would and sign onto the school board page if you’re willing to do that right now. I’ll wait for you to do that. But that’s not how public comment works.
1:24:26 So you can, you’re welcome to go ahead and walk us through what you would like us to go over. Okay, well, I’ve done that for the last three, four days, and also this morning. When you go to the school board page, y’all’s lovely faces are all presented there. There’s a link there to the school board meeting times and agenda.
1:24:40 And when you click on it, there’s a 404 error. There is nothing there. The public has not been noticed of this meeting properly And i’d like to know exactly when you all decided that it was going to be held at 9 30 And know exactly when the public was noticed because I will be filing a complaint With ashley moody of the attorney general’s office because I feel like you are in violation of the sunshine law And that is in the works currently So i’m going to request on behalf of the community That you all look as a board at rescheduling these meetings back to the appropriate time where the public can be available to participate You And I think it, I think it just is, even for just optics, it makes sense to do this.
1:25:16 Um, if you were willing to sign on to your, to your computers, I, I don’t know if you’re willing to do that, if anyone’s willing to do that for BPS, there’s BPS employees all throughout the, the, the, the room here. Sign in and go to the page. Go to the school board page and click the link. There’s nothing there.
1:25:32 It’s a 404 error link. There’s no, there is no, there’s no information there regarding this meeting or any upcoming meetings. So, I’ve announced to the community that we’re going to be making this. I’m letting you all know to stay atop of things that, and to be transparent, that we will be filing that complaint today.
1:25:49 Thank you very much. End —
1:25:49 Have a good day. Okay. Alright, and Mr. Gibbs, we have We have two that are on a student discipline matter, so we need to just clarify some Um, go ahead, Mr. Susan. I just wanted to, there were some comments that were made as far as my numbers not being right. They were verified by our staff yesterday, and there was a mis correction that needed to be addressed.
1:26:10 Um, also this school district has reduced the amount of testing. We had a big meeting about it where we reduced the amount of testing by significant numbers. And on the way here today, I checked the agenda and it was working fine. So thank you. Thank you for that. All right, so we’ll recess and go into the superintendent’s meeting room.
1:26:25 Is that correct? Yes. All.
1:42:42 All right. We are now at the, oops, my microphone’s off, sorry. All right. We are now at the consent agenda. Dr. Rendell. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. All right. Hang on a second. Pitch it to you. Madam Chair. There are 31 agenda items under this category. Thank you, Dr. Rundell. Does any board member wish to pull any of the items?
1:43:05 I do. Which item? Uh, I want to pull F24.
1:43:14 Any other board members wish to pull any items? No? All right, I will entertain a motion. Move to approve. All right, with the exception of F24. Um, any discussion? Motion. Nope. Paul, roll call please. Ms. Jenkins. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. All right. Ms. Jenkins, you polled F24. And I will turn the floor over to you for the discussion on this item.
1:43:43 Yeah, that’s okay. Need a motion. Sorry. Move to approve.
1:43:51 We did. I pulled an item. Sorry. I apologize. Sorry. We were back in here. All right. So we have one motion. Correct? Sorry. I’m just. Yeah. We have a motion. We need a second. Yep. Second. All right. Discussion. Yeah. I mean, I’m not going to spend time discussing this. Uh, but I, uh, I have concerns, so I’m not comfortable voting on this with the entire consent agenda.
1:44:17 Um, and that’s the only reason why I wanted it pulled. Sorry, give me one second so I can pull it. My Agenda Plus is not working right at the moment, so give me a minute. Hmm. Anybody else have a technical difficulty? Okay, there we go.
1:44:49 Alright, so,
1:44:55 This is over the Head Start program, correct? Or no? Why does my F24 is not, uh, Oh, did she already
1:45:08 Sorry. Yeah, you’re on top of it. I’m like, whoa. F 24 is looking like it’s not that. Okay. Um, all right. The Odyssey. So now it’s F 23. Is that, that under our agenda? Because I’m like, this is all F 43 now. F 43. Sorry. Okay.
1:45:36 All right. So, Ms. Jenkins has pulled this one, and you’re just not comfortable with it the way that it is. Is that, um, No, I, I have questions about this particular, uh, institution and things that have been going on. Uh, and there’s been inquiries into them, so I’m just going to leave it at that. Um, I didn’t want to vote for it with the entire Consent Agenda and I’m not going to vote down the entire Consent Agenda.
1:45:58 So I pulled it so it could be voted separately. Okay. All right. Any other discussion in regards to this item? Yeah. Um, of course, any. We have the ability to vote however we wish. As far as the charter applications, my understanding is that as long as the charter school is in, um, it’s the agenda item has good standing financially, but also I think when they have, um, Dr.
1:46:24 Meyer, I’m looking at you, if they, as far as their academic records and things like that, if they apply, for example, if they apply for extensions, of their contracts like they want you know if we get to the end and they want to do a 15 year renewal or whatever Those things as long as all their the They’re in good standing academically and financially the board’s Job is hate to say rubber stamp, but just kind of approval.
1:46:50 We we are walking on thin ice with Uh to not approve am I in the right ballpark? You are correct. Yeah, I don’t. Dr. Randall’s okay if dr. Meier comes Yes, you can come to the podium, but you’re correct. Um, basically, we reviewed the application, um, for the amendment, and it meets all the requirements to be approved.
1:47:10 Okay. That’s the most diplomatic way to say it. All right. Ms. Jenkins, is there a reason, something that you, besides this, like, is there something you can alleviate on? Just in case you I’m not going to publicly go into it any further, but I question some of the statements that were just made. I believe that it’s there in front of you, but, uh, I’m not comfortable with it.
1:47:31 Okay. Um, Dr. Meyer, am I, am I hitting the, in the ballpark there? Yes, do you want me to go over a synopsis of what they’re, what they’re asking for? Yeah, that, I would, that would be helpful. Okay, so Can you put the microphone a little closer? Sorry. Yeah, yeah. They currently share a building with Odyssey Charter Junior Senior, so they have two levels, and they’re, they’re building a building so they take their kids to a different location.
1:47:56 So that’s what they’re asking for the amendment for, to, to build a building for their, their school. Okay, so currently that campus is, is, technically it’s K 12, but so, but they, so they’re, when they talk about adding a 7th grade and adding an 8th grade, that campus already has 7th and 8th grade on it, correct?
1:48:14 But Odyssey is K 12, which is in two campus locations. So Odyssey Junior Senior shares it with Odyssey Preparatory. Right. And Odyssey Preparatory, they’re looking to have a new building. That is what the amendment is for. Will it be on the same campus? No, it will not. They have a different location that they’re building.
1:48:31 Okay. And it doesn’t start for students entering next year. It’s the year after. Okay. So then the resulting, uh, the result would be they’d have three campuses, three campuses. So The Odyssey Charter Elementary Campus, the Odyssey Charter Secondary Campus, and then the Odyssey Prep, which will now go up through 8th grade.
1:48:48 Yes. Okay. On, on its own. Yes. Okay. Thank you. So I have, actually, now that you’re saying it like that too, I do have a totally different question. Um, does that then qualify them as their own LEA now? They already are their own LEA. Okay. They have their own student, uh, their own MSID number. Okay. Thank you. All right.
1:49:11 Any other questions? Hearing none, Paul, roll call please. Ms. Jenkins. Nay. Ms. Campbell. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. All right. Dr. Rendell, will you please let us know about the items under the action portion of today’s agenda? Thank you, Madam Chair. The first action item is H44, procurement solicitations.
1:49:34 Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Second. Paul, roll call please. Ms. Jenkins. Aye. Ms. Gamble. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. Thank you Madam Chair. The next action item is H45 gifted add on program. Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? No. Paul, roll call. Ms. Jenkins. Aye.
1:49:59 Ms. Gamble. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. Dr. Rendell. Aye. Thank you, Madam Chair. The last action item is H 46, Student Code of Conduct. Do we have a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? No? Ms. Jenkins? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Sousa? Aye. All right. And Ms.
1:50:22 Dampier goes scurrying off to get the next step rolling. for all of the hard work that your team has done. So, all right. We are now moving on to the information agenda, which includes one item for review today and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting. No action will be taken today on this item.
1:50:40 Does any board member wish to discuss this item? Hearing none. All right. We are now at the board member reports. Does any board member have any further things to report or discuss? Hearing none. Dr. Rendell, do you have anything further to report? Yes, Madam Chair. Just want to make some updates to the calendar.
1:51:00 Next Tuesday, April 30th, we had scheduled a work session. We only had one topic for that work session, so we have moved that topic to the work session in May, so we will not have a meeting next week. Put that out there and we’ll make sure we advertise that we’re not having a meeting. Um, we’ll make sure that everybody knows.
1:51:19 And then we are going to make a change in July. Um, we had a July, uh, business meeting and public hearing for the tentative budget scheduled on July 25th. That’s a Thursday. Um, there’s no requirement to hold that meeting on Thursday. It’s just the public hearing on the budget has to be held in a certain window, a time frame.
1:51:41 So we’re going to move that meeting to Tuesday, July 30th. Again, it’ll be at 5. 30, a business meeting and a public hearing on the tentative budget. So that falls within the time frame that we’re supposed to be meeting for state requirements, and it keeps us on our regular Tuesday pattern. So those will be reflected in the board meeting calendar, which is on the website.
1:52:04 Um, question that I have about that. So there’s There’s a countdown then to final budget approval, which is also on a Thursday. So will that keep us within that time frame as well? Correct. We’ll still be fine. Okay. And is that meeting still going to be in September going to still be on a Thursday? Yes.
1:52:18 Okay. Because I know sometimes we put it as late as possible because we don’t get the money information from the state until right before. So this will actually give the finance staff a little bit longer. Give them five more days to get the tentative budget ready. Yay. And Cindy rejoices. All right. All right.
1:52:35 Wonderful. Well, Hearing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.