Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Thank you.
2:29 I have allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
2:33 and to the republic for
2:35 which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
2:39 and justice for all.
2:42 Thank you.
2:43 All right.
2:43 So we have a relatively short work session today, just two
2:46 topics on the agenda.
2:48 The first topic is the 23-24 Better Without It Drug Diversion
2:52 Program review presentation.
2:54 Mr. Raymer, I’m going to turn the floor over to you.
2:56 Thank you so much.
2:57 We’re excited to have the opportunity to present to the board
3:00 and to our stakeholders information
3:02 on the success and moving forward with the drug diversion
3:06 program as this is our first year
3:08 with the program member of our public schools.
3:10 So with me today, I have the director of our alternative sites,
3:13 Miss Misty Bland.
3:14 I’m going to turn it over to her.
3:15 She’s going to work through the presentation and we’ll answer
3:17 any questions that maybe you
3:18 have throughout the presentation.
3:20 Thank you.
3:21 Good morning.
3:22 So first I would like to start with just a short kind of
3:26 overview of the program.
3:28 So this is offered for students for a first time drug possession
3:32 or use, including vaping
3:34 or alcohol.
3:35 It is a minimum of eight weeks and students are allowed to
3:38 remain at their homeschool during
3:40 this program and it is completed in the after school hours.
3:45 So there’s really five steps.
3:47 And then the first step is students commit an expellable offense.
3:50 They’re suspended five days if it’s drug or alcohol possession
3:55 or use.
3:56 And then at that time the parent will go for a school meeting
3:59 and they will decide if a parent
4:01 wants to participate in this program.
4:04 If the parent decides that, there is a student intake which they
4:08 go meet with a drug diversion
4:09 counselor and they talk about what’s going to happen and set up
4:13 the dates and what it looks
4:15 like.
4:17 The next part is group counseling.
4:19 There is four group counseling sessions.
4:23 And the next is a project and there’s two different projects
4:26 that the students can complete.
4:27 And I’m going to go over that in a second.
4:29 And finally, it’s the family counseling and the final drug test,
4:33 which the students do have
4:34 to pass.
4:37 And so there’s two projects and the first is a visual art
4:40 project and this is a creative
4:42 project and the students select a creative medium and they work
4:47 with a facilitator.
4:48 So the facilitator looks at it, decides that this is, does it
4:52 meet the needs?
4:54 They work with them and at the end they present it to the group.
5:01 So the next one is a level up your skills, which the kids have
5:05 really enjoyed.
5:06 It is a role playing game.
5:08 I’ve learned a lot about that.
5:10 I did not know as much as I know now, but the students assume
5:14 the role of a character
5:15 and they go through a set of skill building activities and
5:18 actually problem solve.
5:20 So this project does actually take a little bit more time, but
5:23 the students really seem
5:24 to like it.
5:25 And so we have weekly milestones and the facilitators work with
5:28 them.
5:29 We also have people from the community that come in that help
5:31 with this as well.
5:32 And their final quest is they do present this to the group.
5:40 So this information is as of May 10th.
5:44 So the numbers are larger than this number right here, but on
5:46 May 10th, the drug diversion
5:48 had 304 enrollments and out of the 304, 222 as of this date has
5:54 completed the program.
5:55 Out of the 222, 184 were successful and unfortunately, 38 were
6:02 unsuccessful.
6:04 Out of the 38 unsuccessful, 19 of the students were because they
6:09 failed their drug test or
6:11 they committed another drug or alcohol infraction at their
6:16 school site.
6:17 The other 19 were for lack of attendance or they did another expellable
6:23 offense, whether
6:24 it be fighting or any other thing besides drugs or alcohol or
6:29 failed their drug test.
6:31 And currently right now we have what’s actually larger, but we
6:34 have 82 students that are currently
6:36 active in that still need to complete this program.
6:39 A total of 23 students chose the ALC in lieu of the drug
6:43 diversion program this year.
6:45 So that number is very small.
6:48 So the success rate, when you look at the bottom, it says
6:51 success rate drug expulsions 91%.
6:53 Because I’m just looking at the students that reoffended with
6:57 drugs or failed their drug test.
6:59 So it is 91%.
7:00 But when you look overall the program, there was 38 students.
7:03 So it is an 83% failure rate.
7:06 No pass rate.
7:07 Success rate.
7:09 Oh, sorry.
7:10 Thank you.
7:11 Success rate not failure rate.
7:12 Yeah.
7:13 Sorry.
7:14 Yes, it is 91% for drugs.
7:16 83.
7:17 Me too.
7:18 I’m excited as well.
7:20 The kids have done a really great job.
7:24 And I would like to add that the principals have been super
7:26 supportive of this as we work
7:28 through the first year.
7:30 So there is a proposed add-on for next year that I’m really
7:34 excited.
7:35 We are currently doing this right now, not at the scope that
7:39 they would like to do it.
7:41 So this add-on is a youth empowerment leadership program.
7:45 We’ve had a multitude, I can’t even tell you how many phone
7:48 calls I’ve received of them wanting
7:50 to do something other than what they’re currently doing.
7:52 So they asked me, what can we do after this?
7:55 This program is, you know, eight to 10 weeks.
7:57 What are we going to do after?
7:59 So they are developing something that is this program.
8:04 It’s going to have workshops and mentorships, apprenticeships,
8:08 and this is not going to be
8:10 a cost to the district.
8:11 They’re doing this through grants or other sources.
8:14 And it obviously is not going to be mandated, but this is
8:17 something we’re looking for.
8:19 And the parents are really wanting this, and we’re hoping that
8:26 it reduces recidivism.
8:29 So the 24-25 drug diversion school-based considerations is
8:33 enforce a restriction on students possessing
8:36 a medical marijuana card.
8:38 A negative drug test is required for the stipulation conduct
8:40 agreement.
8:41 And if they have a medical marijuana card, they can’t be
8:44 successful in the program.
8:46 And permit exclusively the inclusion of THC-containing compounds
8:50 only, alcohol would remain under
8:52 the program.
8:57 So there is an increased budget request.
9:00 Normally the budget is $150,000, the proposed is $175,000.
9:08 There’s two locations right now, and there’s two counselors at
9:11 each location running simultaneously.
9:14 And that is for therapeutic fidelity and Florida State
9:17 guidelines of sizes for counseling sessions
9:21 and group sizes.
9:22 The next slide is going to discuss the breakdown.
9:27 So if you look at the next slide, you’ll see it’s broken down by
9:31 hours, month, rate, and
9:33 then the total.
9:34 So it comes to close to 16,000 per month, and it is for 11
9:39 months, because they are going
9:41 to work through June 28th to try to get kids through.
9:45 And kids have actually asked to stay in this program to continue
9:49 to the end of June.
9:51 So for 11 months, it’s close to 173,000.
9:55 And this year, they’re currently taking about a $23,000 hit,
9:59 which they’ve not asked for
10:01 reimbursement, but that I just wanted the board to realize they
10:04 were taking a hit this year.
10:07 And the new contract is coming up at the end of July, so I will
10:10 be bringing that to the
10:11 board as well.
10:13 - Real quick question.
10:14 - Yes, sir.
10:15 - Is there any way we can cut that cost by $2,453 a month for
10:19 offsite fees to have them
10:22 inside our schools and offer them to our facilities?
10:25 - They were at the schools, they were trying to meet at south
10:29 and they were trying to meet
10:30 at north, but the facilities wasn’t conducive at that time, but
10:35 we can absolutely look into
10:36 that and see if we can figure that out, how to do that.
10:39 Absolutely.
10:40 - It may not, it’s just a savings, right?
10:42 But it may not be appropriate to be at those locations, but
10:45 there may be another location
10:47 that we have both with our, we have so many locations that might
10:50 be able to fit it.
10:51 That’s just a thought.
10:52 - Absolutely.
10:53 I can absolutely look into that.
10:54 - Because that cleaning service plus that, that’s $3,000 a month,
10:57 you know what I mean?
10:58 Starts getting up there, $36,000, reduce a little bit there.
11:01 That’s all.
11:02 Thank you.
11:05 And my favorite part, this is a testimony of just from one
11:09 parent.
11:10 We received a multitude.
11:12 They were truly appreciated that was another option for first
11:16 time drug or alcohol offenders
11:17 instead of the ALC, but this is just one from a high school
11:25 parent.
11:27 So we are currently looking for board direction regarding
11:31 students going back five days a week,
11:33 ‘cause I wanted to give you the numbers of that.
11:35 We had 23 kids that chose the ALC in lieu of the drug diversion
11:41 program.
11:42 And currently, year to date, we have 358 at the North Central
11:46 Learning Center and 265 South
11:50 Area Learning Center.
11:51 That was for the entire year.
11:53 Currently, at North we have 222 and South we have 129.
11:59 And I have it broken down by elementary, middle school, and high
12:03 school, as well as the class sizes.
12:05 So if you look at the class size, you’ll see that at North ALC,
12:10 if they were to go back five days a week,
12:12 the class size in middle and high school would be 34, and in
12:16 South Area Learning Center, it would be 19.
12:20 I think it’s important to note that there’s, you know, just
12:24 remember there’s no longer earned return.
12:25 So kids are staying longer.
12:27 If the kid commits an expellable fence after March 23rd, they do
12:31 not come back until January 6th.
12:33 And so the ALC is starting the year off with more students than
12:39 they ever have in previous years.
12:41 And that concludes my presentation.
12:47 Are there any questions?
12:49 - Thank you, Ms. Bland.
12:50 I’ll turn it over to the board for questions.
12:52 Ms. Jenkins, would you like to go first?
12:54 - Yeah, please.
12:55 - So I just need help understanding one piece here, and I’ve
12:58 asked this in the past, but I’m going to be a little more
13:00 specific.
13:01 So if a student chooses the ALC option instead of the drug
13:05 diversion program, is it part of their stipulation
13:11 in the ALC to be drug tested at some point?
13:14 Ms. Not any longer, because the reason they were drug tested is
13:18 from a long time ago when preventive of ARG,
13:21 and that was a requirement that they were drug tested.
13:23 Now, since they sit there the entire time, there is no
13:27 requirement.
13:28 That was only to get earned return.
13:30 Ms. Okay, so I’m just, I don’t know what the solution is here,
13:33 but I said this in the beginning when we had the drug diversion
13:37 program option.
13:41 Ms. I feel like there’s a higher risk for, and it’s not a huge
13:44 number.
13:45 I mean, you presented the numbers there, but we have a handful
13:47 of students that have failed the drug test with the drug
13:50 diversion program,
13:51 and now they’re expelled.
13:53 Whereas if they had chosen the ALC option, they wouldn’t have
13:58 been expelled, and they wouldn’t have lost their academic
14:01 experience.
14:02 Ms. And I guess, as an educator and an educational institution,
14:09 it concerns me that we’re going to put those kids in that
14:13 situation.
14:13 I get that they’re making their own choices, right?
14:15 But they’re children, they’re in a drug diversion program, even
14:19 adults don’t always get through a drug diversion program
14:22 successfully.
14:23 Ms. I guess, is there no way we can consider some kind of, I
14:27 know that it sounds like they’re getting another chance, but I
14:30 don’t know, it’s just, it’s odd to me that we’re stopping that
14:33 child’s academic experience.
14:35 Whereas if they had gone to a different pathway, they may not
14:38 have ever even experienced that drug diversion program, which
14:41 may still be laying a good foundation for them, and they would
14:45 still remain getting their academic experience.
14:49 Ms. So I don’t know, there’s just a piece there that bothers me,
14:52 and it’s only a handful of students.
14:54 Ms. That would be a board decision, if that’s something you
14:58 would want to do, that would be your decision.
15:00 Ms. And then the only other thing, you were asking for direction
15:04 on the five days a week, I am not for the five days a week.
15:10 I haven’t been, if you talk to the staff in those facilities,
15:13 they are not comfortable with it.
15:15 Those numbers are not manageable, and the thing to remember is,
15:20 the class sizes need to be smaller, right?
15:24 Like, that’s intentional, and they don’t just have one grade
15:27 level inside of those classes, they have multiple grade levels.
15:30 So when you have 34 students inside of a classroom, you could
15:34 very well have four different grade levels with 34 students who
15:38 traditionally are going to have behaviors that are difficult to
15:41 manage, and they’re all going to be at different levels.
15:44 They’re all going to be at different levels too, it’s not even
15:48 just grade levels, it’s, you know, progress within the school
15:51 year.
15:52 We are going to set kids up for failure and to be way, way, way
15:56 behind if we put them in a setting like that, so I’m not for it.
16:00 I understand why people would think every single day is a good
16:03 idea, but when the staff isn’t for it, that also concerns me,
16:07 because we’re going to lose staff then.
16:08 They’re going to no longer have the feeling of success and
16:12 progress with the students that they have currently right now,
16:15 because, man, some of those teachers are really fantastic and
16:18 love what they do, but they’re not going to have that drive and
16:21 that passion anymore if they feel like they’re not making a
16:23 difference anymore.
16:24 So I think we need to be concerned about that and have serious
16:27 conversations with the facilities themselves, the administrators
16:30 inside those buildings and those teachers, and really hear them
16:33 out for their why.
16:34 It’s not because they don’t want more kids five days a week by
16:38 any means when you have conversations with them, it’s really
16:41 specific and direct, so I encourage everyone to do that.
16:45 Thank you, Miss Jenkins, Miss Campbell.
16:49 Thank you so much for presenting this information to us, this is
16:53 what we asked for, or at least I asked for, to give students an
16:57 option so that we’re not continuing to do the same thing the
16:59 same way and getting the same results and even worse results as
17:02 this problem has grown, so I very much appreciate the data.
17:05 Just a question about the data moving forward, we, you know,
17:08 because this is the first year, we didn’t even get a full school
17:12 year, really, right, because we started this in September,
17:16 October, we started this day one, but we were a couple of weeks
17:20 behind, okay, okay, so just getting going with it and the
17:24 knowledge of it, of the options, okay, so moving forward, when,
17:28 and pardon me for asking this question, I think we asked it when
17:31 we got started, but I forgot the answer.
17:34 If a student completes a drug diversion program, they’re good to
17:37 go, they did all the things, and they’re back, and then they
17:40 have another offense, tell me what happens there.
17:43 So if they’re still under their stipulation conduct agreement,
17:47 they would be expelled, if it, like next year, if they were to
17:51 re-offend, they were going, they would, this would not be a
17:55 choice any longer.
17:57 So it’s ALC.
17:57 Drug diversion, it would be the ALC or another choice at the
17:59 parent.
18:00 Okay, okay, thank you for reminding me, that’s what I was
18:02 thinking, but I couldn’t remember exactly.
18:04 Also, when it comes to the add-on program, I’m so excited, and I’m
18:11 so glad to hear that that is student-driven, student-request,
18:15 student-interest-driven, I think that’ll be exciting.
18:17 I did see an event that they did, was it at Coco a few weeks ago,
18:22 for like just campus-wide, I think that’s great for us, for our
18:26 schools to open the doors, and just get, because the message, as
18:28 much as we can get the message out before kids get in trouble,
18:32 that’ll be great.
18:36 As far as the budget increase, I think that’s necessary, you
18:39 know, it’s just a sign that the problem is bigger than we
18:41 realize and appreciate the work they’ve done.
18:44 Regarding Ms. Jenkins’ concern about educational options, when a
18:51 student, I know sometimes like virtual school, there’s some
18:56 restrictions when a student is expelled.
19:00 But when a student misses, when they get expelled because of the,
19:04 you know, they didn’t meet their stipulations of the drug
19:06 diversion program, are they, do they have the option to go to FLVS,
19:11 VVS?
19:11 Yeah, so if a student is, we’ll just say a repeat offender, and
19:16 they got caught a second time, and they face a full expulsion,
19:20 there’s a procedure where I will reach out to Heather Price, who
19:24 is our FLVS liaison.
19:25 Heather Price will work directly with FLVS to see if they
19:27 approve the student being taken into FLVS.
19:30 We’ve gone through this process and have had success with the
19:34 students being admitted into FLVS to be able to continue their
19:39 academic career.
19:41 I don’t want to say that every time it’s a yes, but we do have
19:44 the procedure where Heather Price works directly on our behalf
19:47 with the paperwork, and it gets back to us.
19:48 Last time I did it, it was really like a 24-hour turnaround very
19:51 quickly to let the family know that they can work the process
19:54 with FLVS.
19:55 Good, good, that’s what I was thinking, I just wanted to make
19:57 sure, because it seems like it’s only the super, like the
20:00 extreme discipline cases that FLVS won’t accept in the past,
20:06 historically.
20:07 When it comes, so as far as the Drug Diversion Program, kudos to
20:12 the whole team, I appreciate Better Without It and what they’re
20:17 doing.
20:17 As far as the back to five days a week decision, I haven’t been
20:21 to North L.C. in a while, but I’ve been to South L.C. a couple
20:25 times in last year, and I know that every time I walk in the
20:28 door,
20:28 even when we haven’t had this conversation, every time I walk in
20:30 the door, they’re like, “Oh my gosh, are you guys going to have
20:32 us make us go back to five days a week?”
20:34 Because the teachers are pretty concerned about having everybody
20:39 back at class, you know, the class size, the discipline, not
20:42 being able to really meet the needs of every student as they
20:45 come in.
20:46 They are being successful, especially even to the point of some
20:49 students saying, “Hey, can I stay here?” And of course, the
20:53 answer right now has to be no, because we don’t have enough room,
20:56 you can’t stay here, I’m glad you’re having this awesome
20:58 environment.
20:58 Maybe one day we have an environment where we might have
21:00 students who realize they can really only be successful, or they
21:03 feel like they can only be successful in certain places.
21:05 I mean, the goal is to get them back where they can be
21:08 successful, larger campus, but you know, maybe one day we have a
21:10 special place for students who really can find success there and
21:14 can’t seem to find it other places.
21:15 I don’t know, that’s not today’s conversation, but I don’t feel
21:17 like we need to go back to five days a week until we can do it
21:20 safely.
21:20 And when I say safely, I mean not the legal class size,
21:24 amendment size, because that’s not an ALC number, so until we
21:29 can get a grip on that.
21:32 And we knew, with all the discipline changes that the board made
21:34 over the last year, we were going to see an uptick in just
21:37 generally students who were being sent to the ALC.
21:40 And so until that levels off and comes down, I just don’t think
21:45 that that is wise to stress the environment there with the
21:50 numbers.
21:51 So I think they’re doing a good job, and the students who need
21:53 to be there every day, the elementary school students, the
21:55 students with an IEP, they’re there, they’re getting the
21:57 services that they need.
21:58 But, you know, the goal is, you know, I think I can understand a
22:03 goal to get everybody back on campus, but until we can do it
22:06 safely, I can’t support that.
22:07 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
22:10 Mr. Susan.
22:11 Ms. Wright, can I, can we let everybody go through and then we’ll
22:14 come back around for a second time?
22:15 Thank you.
22:15 So, I was going to ask a real quick question, the program that
22:22 we spoke about where we were going to have for the after drug
22:26 diversion program and everything else.
22:27 Are those going to be our employees or are we paying an outside
22:33 source to have them, are they their employees?
22:37 Are you talking about the add-on programs, which you said?
22:40 Yep, yep, yep.
22:41 It is there, because they’re drug diversion counselors.
22:43 Okay.
22:44 So that’s who’s going to be running it.
22:45 They’ll still actually be drug diversion counselors, meeting
22:49 with the kids weekly, and then have mentors as well, which they’ve
22:52 already obtained, that are doing it for free.
22:55 So we’re just paying them for those individuals.
22:57 They’re going to be part, they’re workers’ comp, everything else
23:00 is through the other agency, correct?
23:02 Yes, sir.
23:02 Okay, that’s it.
23:04 Then, I was, you know, I’ve been a big proponent of having the
23:08 kids five days, right?
23:10 But the issue that we have is under the current infrastructure,
23:13 it’s very difficult.
23:14 There’s no way you can force somebody to have 30-something kids
23:19 that have extreme, you know what I mean, deliverable issues that
23:22 they need to be able to take care of.
23:25 I taught adult ed at the end of the day, and I know exactly what
23:28 Ms. Jenkins was saying with the multiple levels.
23:31 You might not only have different ages, different subjects,
23:33 different everything, and it is darn near impossible to do that,
23:37 even with 15 kids inside the classroom, right?
23:40 Much less 30-something.
23:41 Where I come to is that we know that when the students are in
23:44 the classroom, that there’s a higher achievement rate, right?
23:47 So, I know that Dr. Rendell, you and I had spoke about, I know
23:51 we just redid a lot of the ESE and some of that stuff.
23:56 Maybe this is the next year that we look at the ALCs for a
23:58 different alternative to either expanding the footprint or
24:02 somewhere, because you’re right, we can’t put those teachers in
24:06 danger.
24:06 And what they’re doing is incredible already, but we can’t do
24:10 that by putting the five.
24:12 But it’s on us to provide that five days in an infrastructure
24:16 that we can.
24:17 So, I think that we are inhibited right now on moving to that
24:19 direction, but I think that what we should do is put together a
24:23 program where we actually can provide the services.
24:26 Because what we want to do is be able to provide that mentorship,
24:29 those services, and that education for five days.
24:33 We can’t do it right now under the current circumstances, but I’d
24:36 like us to work towards that in a way that we can do that, if
24:38 that helps you.
24:40 So, I’m in favor of staying in the current system, but we got to
24:43 get to a position where we can provide for those kids five days
24:46 a week.
24:47 Because I feel they’re the ones that we really need to work with.
24:50 And that’s what I’ve got.
24:53 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
24:54 Mr. Trent.
24:55 Those numbers are kind of, they’re high even though that we have
25:00 a drug diversion program.
25:02 Are they not?
25:03 Going back a few years when I worked there, those were numbers
25:06 when we didn’t have a drug diversion program.
25:09 So that was, that was, that was, that was interesting.
25:14 No, we absolutely cannot have that many students back as much as
25:18 I’d love to see students in the classroom five days a week.
25:22 When you said 34 at the high school level, I, I, I, the hairs
25:27 stood up because there were times where I had more students than
25:30 I had computers.
25:31 Had kids trying to just sit on desks at that time.
25:34 And you’re just asking, it’s not a safe environment.
25:37 And, and, and I witnessed that.
25:39 So, so we have to keep it the same way until we come up with
25:42 something different.
25:44 And I hope this year that’s, that’s the time.
25:46 And Dr. Randell and I have talked about options.
25:49 This is the time we have to have options.
25:51 I mean, these are students that have made decisions that in many
25:55 districts and other states, they would be expelled.
25:58 That’s what they say.
25:59 If you commit an expellable offense, well, then you get zero
26:01 days in the classroom because you’re expelled.
26:03 So us doing this for them is, is, is really a great program for,
26:09 for the students.
26:12 So I’m happy to see the numbers for the drug diversion program.
26:17 I think those numbers are good.
26:19 I do have some questions on, on that is I personally would like
26:23 to see a drug test before they go back out of the ALC.
26:26 If this is what they have in a drug diversion program, I think
26:29 they should have the, the same end result.
26:32 Um, to possibly look at something like that.
26:35 Um, uh, I didn’t know that was not there.
26:37 Uh, so that’s something with just to discuss moving forward.
26:42 Okay.
26:44 Uh, how many times can a student attend an ALC in their BPS
26:47 career?
26:48 There is no time limit at this time, sir.
26:50 They can just every year go back to an ALC, but you can do the
26:54 drug diversion program once.
26:56 Yes, sir.
26:57 That’s always a question discussed.
27:01 And it seems like we, we, we mentioned it and then it doesn’t go
27:04 anywhere.
27:05 Um, that there, the students should, should, there should be a
27:09 limit to that.
27:11 I mean, that we’re, we’re, um, that really puts a strain on, on
27:15 the teachers and, and the staff.
27:17 And, you know, um, I’m not quite sure on that one, but I’ll, I
27:21 just didn’t know if that had changed.
27:23 So we’ll look into that there.
27:24 Uh, using our, sorry.
27:25 What we, what we can do though is look and see how many repeat
27:28 enrollees we actually have.
27:30 Yes.
27:31 At first we’re like, that doesn’t make sense.
27:32 You shouldn’t be able to go to the ALC every year, but let’s
27:35 find out if it’s actually happening.
27:37 Right.
27:38 And if it is, then we, maybe we do come up with a cap.
27:40 Yeah.
27:41 I think it’d be something good to look at.
27:43 Yeah.
27:44 And it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a higher number than you, than you
27:45 think.
27:46 Yeah.
27:47 It truly is.
27:48 Okay.
27:49 Um, the FLVS, if you, when, when these students do not
27:53 successfully get through, you know, we’ve
27:57 had, we’ve had situations where, well, you’re just expelled.
27:59 Go.
28:00 If, if we can really have it where there is an alternative, just
28:03 like Ms. Jenkins says,
28:05 we, we don’t want to end their education, um, here in Brevard if
28:08 possible.
28:09 If we can get them in the FLVS.
28:11 If we can even make it an exception with Brevard virtual, I mean,
28:14 uh, at least they’re out of,
28:17 you know, you’re, you’re no longer able to be physically in our
28:20 schools here, but we, we,
28:22 we may have an alternative because sometimes these parents are
28:25 just asking, I just need the,
28:27 the kids, my students, my child, they have some form of
28:30 education.
28:31 And, and, uh, it’s, if it’s not this path, it’s, it’s another
28:33 pass.
28:34 And it, and it is hard for us to be witness to, sorry, just no,
28:38 not here any longer because
28:39 they are, they are kids and they can turn things around.
28:41 But I mean, we control Brevard virtual.
28:43 So I don’t know if we can look into, uh, assuring them at least,
28:48 uh, an online education.
28:50 Uh, that would be something I would look at, um, into, uh, the
28:55 using our facilities.
28:56 I, I think we need to really look at that.
28:59 I mean, we have them all over the place and that would take care
29:02 of, you know,
29:03 possibly the, the, the rent, the house, the cleaning, that may
29:06 be the liability insurance.
29:07 All those were big expenses on there that I would, I would like
29:10 to see us do.
29:11 Um, if, if we move forward on, on that, that program.
29:15 But other than that, I think this is going to be a big year for,
29:18 um, looking at the whole dynamic of the ALC
29:21 and how we even approach it.
29:23 Um, that’s, I, it’s at the top of my list.
29:26 Um, it’s been a couple of years now.
29:28 So, um, but other than that, thank you for what you guys do.
29:32 Thank you.
29:33 Thank you, Mr. Trent.
29:34 All right.
29:35 Well, I, this program is extremely exciting, honestly, because I
29:38 think it is helping tremendously.
29:40 Uh, when I, we started having this conversation, I, I made phone
29:43 calls to different recovery, uh, professionals.
29:46 And what I found was there’s nothing in the world out there when
29:49 it comes to children.
29:51 And I’m like, that’s very alarming because a lot of times these
29:53 children become adults that have an addiction problem.
29:56 So if we can catch them when their child and correct this, we
29:58 can set them up for success.
30:00 So I’m excited that this program is succeeding to some degree.
30:03 I had a question when, when the conversation, we kind of skipped
30:05 over it quickly with the medical marijuana card.
30:08 Um, and I guess I’m just concerned about the legality of that.
30:14 And Paul, I’m hoping maybe you can weigh in on this.
30:16 So if we have a student who was caught in possession of drugs on
30:19 campus, and now we are drug testing,
30:23 but they have a medical marijuana card, is that, how would that
30:27 play into this conversation?
30:29 Are we allowed to say, oh, you’re kicked out of this because of,
30:32 I mean, is, am I understanding that correctly?
30:34 That that’s what we’re doing and, or we could do.
30:37 Well, we haven’t at this time.
30:39 You haven’t had that happen?
30:40 Yes, ma’am.
30:41 We’ve allowed them to attend.
30:42 Okay.
30:43 But the students announced to everybody else that they no longer
30:46 have to pass this required, you know, option,
30:49 that they don’t have to, that they only have to do this piece
30:51 and they don’t have to pass.
30:52 Yeah.
30:53 So they’re not able to fully complete the program.
30:56 Right.
30:57 As they have the drug test component.
30:59 So we were seeking some guidance on if we were to continue with
31:02 our current pathway, which is basically eliminating this from
31:08 their part of their program.
31:09 But the students that don’t have it have to complete the full
31:11 program.
31:12 Right.
31:13 Or is this the appropriate program for the students that have
31:16 this?
31:17 Right.
31:18 So that’s, that’s the conversation that we were, we were looking
31:21 at those students that have a medicinal marijuana card are not
31:26 able to complete the program in its totality as it’s written at
31:29 this time.
31:30 Okay.
31:31 So we were looking at that.
31:32 And Paul, would there, would there be any ramifications from the
31:35 district standpoint as far as if we were to disqualify a student
31:38 from a program based on a medical marijuana card?
31:42 Is there anything that we would be concerned about being liable
31:44 for?
31:45 Because we’re discriminating in essence over a medical, you know,
31:47 a doctor obviously has given this.
31:49 Right now it’s not protected.
31:51 That’s the first and foremost.
31:53 It’s still illegal.
31:54 Okay.
31:55 Countrywide.
31:56 Right.
31:57 The, they are in the process of downgrading marijuana from its
32:00 current classification.
32:02 So once that occurs, then there will be recognized medicinal
32:06 purposes for marijuana and we’re going to be in a different game.
32:11 Okay.
32:12 So we’ll have to revisit that at this time.
32:13 It’s something we’re going to have to look at and watch as it
32:15 goes through the process.
32:17 But right now marijuana in all forms is illegal.
32:20 Okay.
32:21 And people don’t understand that.
32:22 They’re like, my state’s legalized it.
32:23 Like in Colorado.
32:24 I was like, no, it is still federally illegal.
32:27 The DO, the DEA can go into every facility in Colorado, arrest
32:31 everybody involved, seize all assets obtained, all the cash
32:35 money.
32:36 That’s why it’s a cash business.
32:37 Well, and I guess my question is, and you have to forgive my
32:40 ignorance on this because I’m not, this is not the world that I
32:42 operate in.
32:43 But I, when I owned my home health agency, I had clients that
32:46 had seizures that took THC pill forms.
32:49 So they, it wasn’t, it wasn’t marijuana what you’re thinking in
32:51 the traditional form.
32:52 Right.
32:53 But that would make them still fail a drug test.
32:54 Right.
32:55 So unlike this student that potentially.
32:57 And that’s what we warn our employees about is like, hey, there
33:00 are these things available.
33:01 If you take them and you’re fall down the stairs or get in an
33:04 accident at work and you fail a test, you are going to be terminated.
33:08 Okay.
33:09 Because we do not allow any drug under our drug free workplace.
33:13 Okay.
33:14 Policies right now.
33:15 And that’s a requirement to qualify for those benefits.
33:19 So once it changes federally, then all these states laws are
33:24 going to come into play and it’s going to be recognized.
33:27 So we’re going to have to watch how that develops closely.
33:30 Okay.
33:31 All right.
33:32 Thank you.
33:33 All right.
33:34 This is right.
33:35 This will be conversation.
33:36 I just want to clarify that they’re still in the program.
33:37 They still participate in the better without a program.
33:39 Correct.
33:40 At this time.
33:41 Don’t do the drug screen at the end because they would fail if
33:44 they are using medical marijuana.
33:47 So they’re still in the program.
33:49 Correct.
33:50 Right.
33:51 They still participate in the program.
33:52 We’re not denying them participation in the program.
33:55 Well, are we though?
33:57 Because it sounded like we were.
33:58 That was, so right now they are a part of the program and able
34:03 to work through the program without the final completion part
34:08 with regards to the drug test.
34:10 Okay.
34:11 What we discussed, Ms. Bland and myself was, is this appropriate
34:16 for a student that cannot fully complete the program?
34:20 So you have a small amount of students, right?
34:23 We’re not going to say that it’s an abundant amount.
34:25 It’s a small amount of students that are actively in the program
34:29 with student next to them.
34:31 I don’t have to pass the drug test.
34:34 You do kind of mentality.
34:37 So what we were discussing is in 24, 25, do we want to restrict
34:43 students with a medicinal marijuana card from participation in
34:49 the program because they cannot complete it in its totality?
34:52 Or do we want to operate in the same capacity we currently are,
34:56 which is you have to complete 85% of it, but the other 15 we
35:01 void because of this?
35:03 Okay.
35:04 All right.
35:05 And I know I have a couple more things and then we’ll go back
35:06 through because I’m sure this is going to open up a bigger
35:08 conversation.
35:09 So sorry, but I, it needs to be discussed.
35:12 One of the other things I think that would be interesting
35:14 because I am an advocate for five days at the, not with the
35:17 current system and the capacity that we have right now.
35:19 But I think Ms. Campbell, you even said it, there were certain
35:22 kids that said, I want to stay here, which is alarming.
35:24 The ALC should not be where you want to stay.
35:27 You should want to go back to your traditional learning
35:29 environment.
35:30 So I am, I, I would obviously advocate for more teachers in
35:34 there and us to take it to the five days.
35:37 It needs to be truly, they are still learning, but it is a
35:39 punishment and they, they should want to go back to their normal
35:42 traditional school setting.
35:44 The other thing I was thinking, because we have this capacity
35:47 issue and teacher issue.
35:48 What about the idea of night school, so to speak?
35:52 When I was in school in Brevard County, we had night school for
35:54 ALCs.
35:55 That was where, would that be a way to utilize the same building,
35:59 not needing a new facility, maybe cutting down classroom size?
36:03 Is that something that we could possibly take a look at?
36:06 And, and that could get them back into the five day traditional
36:10 going to the ALC.
36:12 And they can work during the day because a lot of these students
36:15 do have, you know, that has been done.
36:17 Yeah, I think any kind of solution is on the table.
36:20 I think what I’m, the direction we’re getting from the board is
36:23 to stick with the current setup because of the numbers.
36:27 When you looked at the numbers for the South ALC, the numbers
36:30 were not as high as the North ALC.
36:32 Right.
36:33 Almost enough to, we could go to five days a week.
36:35 Right.
36:36 So the idea is how do we get the numbers lower in the North or
36:40 do we go back to having three sites?
36:42 Um, you know, we’ve had discussion with board members that, you
36:44 know, we have the same amount of students, if not more, you know,
36:49 70 plus thousand students.
36:50 And 10 years ago, we had three ALCs or 15 years ago, however
36:55 many it was.
36:56 And so if we were to open up a third location, you know, is that
37:00 a solution?
37:01 Cause that would draw down the numbers in the North central, or
37:04 is it maybe, you know, a morning shift and an evening shift?
37:08 Maybe that’s the solution, you know, but the idea would be to
37:10 work towards getting everybody back in school five days a week.
37:14 Right.
37:15 I think that the direction from the board is stick with the
37:17 current plan for now.
37:18 But really this year we need to come up with a plan for 25, 26.
37:22 That is five days a week.
37:23 Okay.
37:24 All right.
37:25 That’s kind of what the direction I’m getting from the board.
37:27 And that’s completely fine.
37:28 I just, again, the five days a week, I think is important
37:30 because three days a week almost seems as though it’s a benefit
37:32 of, oh, I’m going to the ALC.
37:33 I only have to go to school three days a week now.
37:35 And so that part I don’t like, I think it needs to be truly a
37:37 punishment to where they don’t want to go to the ALC.
37:40 They want to be back in a traditional school setting.
37:42 And I think that’s all that I, oh, I, again, I’ll, I’ll follow
37:45 with Mr. Susan.
37:46 I think that’s very wise for us to use the facilities we have
37:48 and eliminate that 30, $35,000 roughly or something.
37:52 I think it comes out to, um, that would be, that would be a good
37:55 idea to do and obviously reduce our costs.
37:58 So Ms. Jenkins, you had more things you wanted to add.
38:00 So go ahead.
38:01 Yeah.
38:02 Um, so I’m going to, I have a couple of random things, so I’m
38:05 just going to try to do this in a common sense order.
38:07 Um, so Ms. Wright, I just kind of want to clarify what I’m, I’m
38:11 pretty sure Ms. Campbell was, was getting at with saying kids
38:14 want to stay.
38:15 So it’s really rare that you’re going to have a student that
38:19 wants to stay cause it’s easier.
38:22 Um, you know, really rare.
38:25 You’re going to find a kid that is proud that they got kicked
38:28 out of school and deep down, not embarrassed that that choice
38:32 was made or their, their family isn’t holding them accountable
38:35 at home.
38:35 Um, traditionally, these students want to stay because they’re
38:39 actually held more accountable because they’re smaller
38:42 environments.
38:43 Um, and child development, most kids actually want to have
38:46 consequences and be held accountable.
38:49 They’re not going to say that to you, but they, they are more
38:51 successful.
38:52 They feel more successful.
38:53 Um, they can ask for help easier when it’s smaller groups.
38:56 So traditionally these students who are struggling academically
38:59 and they’re already behind, they want to stay cause they feel
39:02 like they’re not this little fish in a giant pond.
39:05 Um, they’re able to build these relationships with these staff
39:08 members and these teachers to get to know them deep down what’s
39:11 going on in their lives and their families.
39:12 Um, so they kind of feel like they’re losing that support when
39:15 they’re removed.
39:17 Um, sometimes these students have severe anxiety issues.
39:22 And so when they’re in a smaller environment, they’re able to
39:24 function a little bit easier.
39:26 They feel safer.
39:27 Um, I know that there’s been, uh, a ton of students who have
39:30 said to the staff there that they want to stay because they feel
39:34 less tempted around their peers that traditionally influence
39:37 them back in their homeschool.
39:39 And I’m not saying these are reasons these kids should stay, but
39:41 this is just the feelings of why some of these kids want to stay.
39:44 And also, sadly, our, some of our ASLs are providing food and
39:49 clothing, um, going and doing home visits and, uh, you know,
39:53 dropping off toiletries and things of that nature too.
39:56 So it’s just sometimes these kids are coming from a very
39:59 unstable background or feeling unstable themselves and so they
40:03 want to stay.
40:05 And I, and I’m sorry if I’m not interpreting your words
40:07 correctly, but I, I think that’s where you were going with that.
40:10 Um, the other thing too, if for, for people who are listening
40:12 and for the public to be aware of too, um, that we haven’t
40:14 talked about this time.
40:16 We talked about it last time.
40:17 We were talking about the potential of five days is another big
40:20 reason why the staff is hesitant to move to five days.
40:23 Yes, because of the numbers, but also because when they reduce
40:27 the numbers, their academic success increased significantly for
40:30 their students.
40:31 They had more students that were actually getting back on track
40:33 or getting closer to grade level.
40:35 Um, and the behaviors had reduced significantly as well.
40:38 We had less kids getting expelled from the ALC, um, than they
40:42 were in years previously when it was five days a week.
40:45 So, you know, we have to definitely, definitely pay attention to
40:48 that.
40:49 Do you have a comment, Mr. Trent?
40:51 Okay.
40:52 Um, the other thing too, for us to remember is when the students
40:58 are not in the building,
41:00 they’re still accountable and have to complete work.
41:04 Um, so it’s not like they’re completely off by any means.
41:07 They do have online work that they have to complete and they are
41:09 held accountable for it.
41:11 If they don’t, they have to actually come in.
41:13 Sometimes the administrators will make them come in an
41:15 additional day and get that work done, which is great.
41:18 Um, I do wanna, I do wanna share this story and I don’t know if
41:22 I’m gonna get in trouble for sharing it, but I don’t care.
41:25 Um, the type of environment and relationship that these staff
41:29 members have.
41:30 with those kids is so important.
41:32 And I was there, uh, the day after this had happened.
41:35 There was a student who, I’m not gonna say which one cause I’m
41:37 not getting anyone in trouble.
41:39 Um, but there was a student who showed up on a day they weren’t
41:42 supposed to be there.
41:43 And they had walked like two and a half miles to get to that ALC
41:47 and begged to come inside because they said they didn’t feel
41:50 safe at home.
41:51 And they thought they were gonna make the wrong choices.
41:54 Um, and so just, you know, I think it’s important for the public
41:57 to hear, you know, that, that there are students that really,
42:00 really love to be there for, for good reasons.
42:02 Not because, because it’s easier.
42:03 Um, so I, I also do have, I appreciate Mr. Trent bringing up the
42:07 Brevard virtual school question.
42:09 Um, what would impede us from doing that?
42:12 Also, it would keep the money here in Brevard County.
42:14 So wouldn’t that make more sense for us to benefit from that?
42:17 Um, and then I, I have a question.
42:20 So I’m leaving this for last cause I know that this is gonna be
42:21 a big discussion.
42:22 So the, the medicinal marijuana card, I guess I’m confused.
42:27 So a student who possess, and I know it’s not a lot of them, but
42:32 a student who possesses a medical marijuana card is going into a
42:35 drug diversion program.
42:37 Are they going into the drug diversion program because of
42:40 marijuana?
42:41 Or are they going into the drug diversion program for another
42:44 reason?
42:45 Um, because then I don’t understand that the testing part at the
42:49 end.
42:50 So if it’s alcohol related, um, why is it, why is it a problem
42:55 that they have the medicinal marijuana card?
42:58 I guess I’m just confused why a student who, and I get that it’s
43:02 not federally legal, but if a student has a medical marijuana
43:05 card and they’re using it at home for whatever illness that they
43:07 have, medical purpose that they have.
43:09 Well, of course they’re not going to pass the test, right?
43:11 And of course they’re going to fail it at school, which is why
43:12 they got offered this program in the first place.
43:14 So I’m just, I’m a little confused how, how a student who has a
43:17 medical marijuana card is going into a drug diversion program
43:20 for marijuana in the first place.
43:23 And if, and correct me if that’s not what’s happening.
43:25 I’m just, I don’t understand that.
43:27 Well, the goal I, is just to, for all students to complete the
43:29 program with fidelity.
43:31 So if some students are not able to, um, that just ends up being
43:36 a problem for other people.
43:38 If another kid fails, or there’s another issue.
43:41 It’s just that all students are treated the same when it comes
43:45 to this program.
43:47 Right.
43:48 So I guess my question to you, Ms. Jenkins would be, if a
43:50 student had a medicinal marijuana card and was caught smoking,
43:54 you’re utilizing, I should say, a vape in a restroom.
43:57 Right.
43:59 That we, we can’t excuse that behavior.
44:00 Right.
44:01 So if, if you asking us to just send them straight to the ALC,
44:03 no drug diversion, or are you saying that we should have a
44:06 different outcome?
44:09 So I’m, I mean, I’m always one for every student being treated
44:14 equally, but that just, that just legitimately doesn’t make any
44:17 sense.
44:18 Right.
44:19 Because you’re, you’re putting them in a drug diversion program
44:22 to divert from a drug that they are not going to divert from.
44:25 So what is the point of that program?
44:27 Do you get what I’m saying?
44:30 I, I, I, yeah, it’s just a weird, it’s a weird concept to me.
44:34 Um, so that we’re literally just putting them in a holding place
44:36 and making them do stuff for eight weeks for no reason.
44:39 If the, if the drug they’re being caught with is the one that
44:41 they’re going to be using at home, and we know they’re going to
44:44 be using it.
44:45 And, but the behavior at school is inappropriate, and there
44:47 needs to be a consequence for that behavior at school.
44:49 So I hear what you’re saying.
44:51 It’s confusing to me why that student would be in the diversion
44:54 program if they’re not going to divert from it.
44:57 And that’s the purpose of the program.
44:59 Thank you.
45:00 Sorry.
45:00 I just needed to figure that out.
45:02 All right.
45:03 Ms. Campbell.
45:04 Yeah, just to, on this second round, address a couple of things
45:07 that have come up.
45:08 I, Ms. Jenkins did nail on it.
45:10 When we talk about students who want to stay.
45:12 And if you haven’t met Mr. Segek at the South ALC, and I know
45:14 the South ALC better than I know the North.
45:17 Um, and the SRO there, they are, I mean, they’re tough on the
45:22 students there.
45:24 But they love them and students know that.
45:26 And there’s also, you know, the teachers there who are
45:27 supportive.
45:28 So I think for some of the students, it’s the first place they’ve
45:31 come where they’ve truly felt supported.
45:33 And that’s why.
45:34 And that’s sad.
45:35 That is sad.
45:37 Because unfortunately, we have, and I’ve heard this from
45:38 multiple students.
45:39 We’ve had students who, once they’ve been to ALC, they’ve gone
45:42 back into their home school.
45:44 And felt like they had a label on their back.
45:47 You’re a troublemaker.
45:48 You’re, we’re just sitting around waiting for you to mess up.
45:51 And they, and it could totally be perception.
45:54 But that is their perception of many students once they go back.
45:57 And so, but at the ALC, they don’t, they don’t feel like that.
45:59 Yeah.
46:00 And it’s tough.
46:01 I mean, they got to put those cell phones in those boxes at the
46:02 beginning of the day.
46:03 Because at the beginning of the day, it’s, it’s not, it’s not an
46:05 easy place.
46:06 So that really was the goal.
46:08 So thank you for clarifying that.
46:10 Just, just want to address two other things.
46:14 Using our facilities and then the medical marijuana card.
46:17 I, and I, I know we look at this budget breakdown and it looks
46:21 like, oh, we can save, but it’s not saving us $3,000 a month.
46:27 Um, because our portion of that, the one fourth that’s allocated
46:31 for better without it is more like $700 a month.
46:34 Um, but so my concern would be if they’re showing on this
46:38 breakdown, they’re paying about $2,500 a month for office rental
46:43 and $300 a month for, for the cleaning service.
46:46 And that’s, and then a fourth of that they’re charging to us.
46:49 So a fourth of what they do is doing this program.
46:52 I’m not sure that offering the space, if we can do that, that
46:56 may be great.
46:57 But if the rest of what they do, this other 75% of what they do
47:00 is dealing with maybe adults or people who aren’t our students.
47:03 I’m not sure that we want that coming onto campus.
47:05 That could present a security risk, the rest of what they do.
47:10 I don’t know.
47:11 Am I misunderstanding that?
47:13 They’re not, the adults are not on campus at that time.
47:15 There is, this is just students.
47:17 And these, um, were just for this program.
47:20 Okay.
47:21 But the other, they’re only allocating a fourth.
47:23 Is that is because the rest of it’s getting paid for with a
47:24 grant?
47:25 Or, cause that’s what I was assuming is the rest of this cost is
47:27 what they do outside of our program.
47:30 The other part is being paid for with a grant.
47:33 Okay.
47:35 So that would be, so I’m, if, if there’s a safe way to do it and
47:39 we’re not inviting other people onto campus, I’m, you know, if,
47:44 if we can support them in this way.
47:45 Because then we’re actually, you know, um, not just saving
47:48 ourselves where we would be saving them.
47:51 But I, I, I need to have those questions answered, you know, as
47:54 far as, um, you know, what else, what else are they using the
47:57 space for?
47:58 Because, you know, I don’t want to, you know, and if they may
47:59 say, no, we really don’t want to be on campus because we can’t
48:01 do what we need to do freely.
48:03 Then I want to listen to what they have to say on that too.
48:06 Um, as far as the medical marijuana card, and you actually had
48:10 two things that we needed to think about.
48:12 Um, so let me address the second one first.
48:17 The second one that bullet on slide eight that you had permit
48:19 exclusively inclusion of THC containing compounds, only alcohol
48:23 would also remain into the program.
48:24 I feel like what they’re doing, I haven’t, you know, seen the
48:26 program, but it would apply to any drug use.
48:29 Um, obviously if someone is selling, that’s a whole different,
48:32 and they’re usually not going to, you know, ALC, they’re usually
48:35 going to jail.
48:36 Um, and other, there are other situations where someone could be
48:39 going to jail and not ALC, so we’re not having to deal with that
48:41 side of things.
48:42 But I feel like what the program is would benefit students who
48:47 are for other things.
48:49 I’m not sure.
48:50 Um, you know, THC is obviously our largest percentage of
48:54 students.
48:55 I don’t know that I’m ready to exclude other ones.
48:58 I mean, how often, I mean, you know, I would like to know the
49:00 reasoning behind your recommendation on that particular one.
49:04 So we’ve unfortunately seen some, I’ll just for lack of a better
49:10 term, say stronger.
49:11 Illegal substances in our schools with students that reach what
49:17 I would deem to be a different level than THC.
49:21 Okay.
49:22 And we’ve had some principals reach out and say that they are
49:25 not comfortable offering the drug diversion to the student for
49:30 possessing this illegal substance.
49:33 Gotcha.
49:34 And, you know, I want to support that, but also recognize that
49:39 this program could be all encompassing of those substances.
49:44 But there’s different levels.
49:47 And we’ve seen some substances that I would believe reach a
49:52 level much higher and more dangerous than THC.
49:57 Okay.
49:58 Well, I’ve got, thank you for sharing that.
49:59 I can understand that and I can support that.
50:02 Um, you know, but am I, am I shoot?
50:05 I mean, am I thinking straight though?
50:06 If there, I mean, there are certain drugs.
50:08 If we find them, they’re like, they can be, they’re arrested for
50:10 having them.
50:11 Right.
50:12 Or am I wrong?
50:13 Or is that?
50:14 Could.
50:15 I mean, if you come on campus with fentanyl, we’re not sending
50:19 you to the ALC or the drug diversion program.
50:21 Correct?
50:22 Um, that’s not necessarily true.
50:25 It depends on the level of the kid and how many points they have.
50:28 Um, have they been in trouble previously?
50:31 Um, but the students would go through the same process and then
50:34 have a court date as well.
50:36 Okay.
50:37 And to Mr. Gibbs point right now, they’re all in the same class.
50:40 So, um, yeah.
50:44 Some of those substances are legal.
50:48 All right, and that’s the argument for downgrading it because
50:52 marijuana is at a classification of no recognized medical
50:56 purposes.
50:57 But you have methamphetamines and things that are, you know, the
51:01 illegal forms are worse than THC.
51:04 Right.
51:05 But have a recognized medical purpose.
51:07 So they’re at a lower classification.
51:08 Right.
51:09 So, I mean, they could very well have those things in our
51:11 schools, but it has a legitimate purpose.
51:14 So, under the federal laws, it’s actually at a lower
51:16 classification.
51:18 Yeah.
51:19 But we don’t want kids passing out oxycodone pills.
51:20 That’s where you get caught in the middle.
51:22 No, we do not.
51:23 Yeah.
51:24 So, I, you know, I’m, I’m waffling on that one, but I, I hear, I
51:28 think we need to support administrators
51:31 if that’s, I don’t think it’s probably a huge number like some
51:33 of the other things, but.
51:34 No, it’s, it’s, I’ll just say it’s going to be a one off here
51:36 and there of some of the different.
51:39 95 plus percent is going to be THC, but we do come across.
51:44 Paul had a much better terminology there classification, right?
51:48 And a much different, I use the term level of substances.
51:52 And, you know, I align with the, our school-based staff that at
51:57 some point we have to make a
51:59 decision on what does qualify for this program and not just make
52:03 it all encompassing to any
52:05 type of substance.
52:06 And just to tack on to that is like, from the criminal side, you’re
52:09 going to have, is it
52:11 a felony possession?
52:12 If it’s a felony possession, then you’re also going to have that
52:14 interplay with our felony
52:16 expulsion rules.
52:17 So, if they get charged with the felony, we’re going to expel
52:19 them under the felony expulsion
52:21 rule and proceed that way.
52:23 But then they may cut a deal with the court and go to drug
52:26 diversion in the criminal side.
52:28 So, they’re going to be in drug court doing their criminal
52:30 diversion program over there.
52:32 Are we going to do drug diversion over here?
52:35 So, there’s a lot.
52:36 You’re hurting my brain, Mr. Gapps.
52:37 That you’re going to have to try and play into that a little bit
52:41 with, you know, whose diversion
52:43 is going to prevail.
52:44 Right.
52:45 Well, that’s why we’re glad you’re on our team.
52:48 So as far as a medical marijuana card, my thought is the
52:51 recommendation that you’ve given.
52:54 Because if a student comes in, part of the drug diversion stipulation
52:59 is you will have to pass a drug test at the end.
53:01 And if you have a medical marijuana card and you’re planning to,
53:06 you’re intending to continue to use whatever purpose you got it
53:10 for,
53:11 use it for whatever that purpose is, you know you’re not going
53:13 to be able to pass it.
53:14 So then at that point of decision making, you should choose the
53:18 ALC.
53:19 Because to me, especially if we’re having documented instances
53:23 of students who are coming in and going,
53:26 I don’t have to pass the test, because there’s no way for us to
53:28 know.
53:28 Are you going to fail the test because you’re using your medical
53:31 marijuana card?
53:32 Are you going to fail the test because of, you know, the joint
53:35 you picked up on the corner?
53:36 So there’s no way for us to know.
53:40 So I don’t want to be heartless, but I kind of feel like that
53:42 decision needs to be made at the beginning.
53:44 And it doesn’t, it doesn’t, it wouldn’t automatically exclude a
53:50 student who has a medical marijuana card
53:53 if they said, no, I’m going to, I want to do this and I will
53:56 pass it.
53:57 And I’m going to just go, you know, they can make that choice.
54:00 I mean, I think we might be getting into some legal things here.
54:03 It’s, you know, could someone say we discriminate against them
54:05 because they have a medical marijuana card?
54:07 I thought about that.
54:09 I agree.
54:09 If they’re just, I don’t know how you would catch them for just
54:13 having a marijuana card.
54:15 We aren’t drug testing students randomly.
54:17 So they would never pop.
54:19 They would be doing vaping in the bathroom or something.
54:23 Right.
54:23 Which is a different violation than just drugs.
54:26 So, I mean, that might be their kind of what they’re looking for
54:30 is direction from the board on.
54:31 If they have those cards, all right, they’re using, they may be
54:35 using it appropriately for what they have.
54:37 But are we going to treat it through drug diversion or is it
54:41 just going to be, you’re not allowed to do that at school like
54:43 that.
54:43 Here’s our policy.
54:44 Your parent has come up here, check you out.
54:46 Right.
54:47 You administer it.
54:48 Right.
54:48 Then you go back to class if that’s how you’re going to do it at
54:51 school and we’re just going to remove you to the ALC as a
54:53 disciplinary infraction for vaping.
54:55 Right.
54:56 So are we, that’s what I’m asking, are we, are we on solid legal
54:59 ground if we say to the student at the point they get caught for,
55:03 you know, to say you have to make this choice.
55:05 But you just know you will have to pass medical marijuana card
55:07 or not.
55:08 You will have to pass the drug test at the end regardless.
55:10 I think you’re on.
55:11 So if you can’t, if you know you’re not going to be able to, you
55:13 need to go to the ALC.
55:14 If we’re sending them to diversion, yeah, then they need to, I
55:17 would say, comply with diversion unless you’re creating an
55:20 exception for those students.
55:21 It’s like, it seems like that’s not so much drug discipline as
55:25 far as you’re doing it the wrong way.
55:28 We have a policy that covers, you know, taking this at school.
55:32 Right.
55:32 You’ve got to comply with the policy.
55:34 You’re being disciplined not for the marijuana use.
55:37 Right.
55:37 But for the vaping in the bathroom or whatever else they were
55:40 doing.
55:41 So just in short, I’m not in favor of an exclusion.
55:44 Yeah, I think Mr. Gibbs, you know, said it well there.
55:48 If we, if there’s a student that has a medicinal marijuana card
55:52 and they are caught at school,
55:53 they’re most likely utilizing that in a, in a way in which it’s
55:58 not supposed to be utilized.
56:00 There, yes, there, there are procedures in place for students.
56:06 There are policies in place for students that if they follow and
56:09 do as they’re supposed to,
56:11 like they’ll never come on the radar.
56:13 They’re utilizing it.
56:14 Or they can get in trouble for alcohol, but they just happen to
56:16 have a card.
56:17 I think the same thing.
56:18 I don’t want to have an exclusion that they can, they can make
56:20 that choice at the point of.
56:21 Yes.
56:22 We are, we are speaking more in line with students that feel
56:26 that I have the card.
56:28 I can, I have free reign, right?
56:30 I can do this and that because I have the card.
56:32 Because those are the students that would, we would catch
56:36 somewhere on campus with something on them.
56:38 Not if they’re actually utilizing the card in the appropriate
56:41 manner for which it’s intended.
56:43 we would be coming across students that would be using it for
56:47 non-intended purposes.
56:48 Okay.
56:49 Thank you.
56:51 Mr. Susan, do you have anything?
56:52 Yeah.
56:53 I’ve got a couple of things.
56:54 Um, so have we ever pulled the parents on that five day?
56:59 Um, that’s where, so I apologize.
57:03 Let me get a little bit better.
57:04 Many of the parents, when we were moving through some of this
57:07 last year, reached out to me and
57:10 said, uh, you know, my kid’s alone all day.
57:12 I don’t like them being home, that kind of stuff, right?
57:14 Now that was only five or six out of a representative of many
57:18 more, right?
57:19 That I understand sometimes you have a small vocal minority.
57:22 Have we ever asked them what their opinions are on it?
57:25 Any parent, when they come to the intake meeting and they
57:29 request five days, they automatically
57:32 get five days.
57:33 Oh, okay.
57:34 We have never turned out.
57:35 That’s, we have one time.
57:36 Okay.
57:37 And then I spoke to the administrator again and now it is set
57:39 that anybody that requests
57:41 five days will attend five days.
57:44 And students that don’t choose to and are not doing what they’re
57:46 supposed to, they go five
57:47 days.
57:48 Okay.
57:49 Great.
57:50 That, that is awesome.
57:51 Thank you for clarifying that.
57:52 I wanted to make sure that parents, um, receive what they need.
57:54 And also kids in group homes need to go five days as well.
57:57 So we meet those needs as well.
57:59 Absolutely.
58:00 And then I think for me, in my mind, um, when we were talking
58:06 and Ms. Campbell got it, got
58:08 to a point where she was able to get it defined there.
58:11 When it comes to a student who has a medicinal marijuana pill
58:16 that they take and they get in
58:18 trouble for vaping or caught with it on campus, I’m okay to
58:22 divert them directly to ALC because
58:25 of the situation.
58:26 Like I’m, I’m okay for that.
58:27 I would also just to give you the thing, any of those drugs that
58:31 are outside of alcohol and
58:33 marijuana straight to ALC.
58:35 Like I’m okay with that, um, because that is difficult as a
58:39 teacher and as a principal
58:41 on campus to have somebody who is distributing that or bringing
58:45 that into your campus.
58:46 Those connections to other people are there.
58:49 So like if, so one of the problems you deal with is, is that may
58:51 be one of the mules that
58:53 you have to bring that drug in, but he hangs out with 10 kids
58:56 beforehand who are also possibilities.
58:58 So you have to almost remove that situation from that kid going
59:02 in there to distribute by
59:04 catching it ahead of time.
59:05 Does that make sense to you?
59:06 Did I do a good job?
59:07 You, Ramer, did I do a good job?
59:08 Yeah, it was good.
59:09 You guys are just like, yeah, I don’t want to hear him talking.
59:12 All right.
59:13 And then the other thing is, is that I, I did want to say
59:17 something about Mr. Sejic.
59:20 He is incredible as a principal of the ALC in the south area.
59:23 During the COVID that we had, they were distributing laptops.
59:28 One of the problems we had was a lot of our students were not
59:30 turning on the laptops.
59:32 I did a lot of work with the temple terrorist boys and girls
59:36 club, and he was there literally
59:38 every time I was there with those kids and he was saying, Hey,
59:41 what’s going on?
59:42 I’ve never seen that kind of an outreach out of an individual
59:46 for as far as leadership inside
59:48 of our, like, like that.
59:49 I wanted to take a second to say that.
59:51 Then the reason is, is that’s a segue into my next piece.
59:55 One of the things as a teacher I always had was they always took
59:58 the kids that had discipline
59:59 problems or weren’t whatever, and they put them in my classroom.
1:00:02 And I always, the only reason I was successful was because I
1:00:06 always found them a pathway for
1:00:07 success.
1:00:08 And one of the things that we have is these students, because of
1:00:11 their home life, because
1:00:12 of their culture, whatever it is, their pathways to success are,
1:00:17 are, are limited.
1:00:18 So they find themselves in a, in a, in a box.
1:00:21 And so all I did was find those pathways.
1:00:24 So my question is, is do we work with them on, on the job
1:00:29 trainings or is that out?
1:00:32 We do work with them on getting jobs, buying uniforms for them,
1:00:37 for the jobs, helping them
1:00:39 get transportation to their jobs, helping them with resumes,
1:00:43 getting outside mentors.
1:00:45 Okay.
1:00:46 Um, the staff, Ms. Teji and Ms. Resigic have done an incredible
1:00:51 job with that.
1:00:52 Okay.
1:00:53 Cause one of the things that I did was I worked to get, um, with
1:00:57 some of the staff at the
1:00:58 South area to get that basketball court put in there so that
1:01:01 they can have an outlet.
1:01:03 Because prior to that, they were just sitting on the park benches
1:01:05 and, and stuff like that.
1:01:07 And many of those teachers said that that was a great outlet for
1:01:10 them.
1:01:10 And I, I wonder where that capacity is.
1:01:13 Um, I think that we should bring in more mentors, more supports
1:01:17 and stuff like that.
1:01:19 And I feel that that’s something that I can help out with as
1:01:21 long as those avenues are
1:01:22 open to allow them to do that.
1:01:24 Um, some of the things that some of those kids did, I mean, if
1:01:26 you can bring in pro after
1:01:28 programs and stuff like that to those places, those kids will
1:01:31 get interested in it.
1:01:32 And then it becomes a part of that school that they want to be a
1:01:35 part of.
1:01:35 And I think that’s huge.
1:01:36 So as long as those are open opportunities, I’ll start working
1:01:39 on those.
1:01:39 Um, and I think that’s good for me.
1:01:42 That’s all I had.
1:01:43 Thank you.
1:01:45 Mr. Trent.
1:01:46 Yeah, I’ll wrap it up.
1:01:47 Um, don’t want to keep repeating the same thing.
1:01:50 But one thing I want to say is thank you for listening to the
1:01:54 administration on, uh, you
1:01:55 know, the first year of the program, getting some feedback.
1:01:58 I agree with, uh, anything above the THC’s you guys handle it
1:02:02 the way you were talking about
1:02:04 there.
1:02:05 Um, you know what the, uh, uh, the card, the carded kids, um, it
1:02:09 kind of disqualifies
1:02:10 them from the drug diversion program because it isn’t all about
1:02:13 the drug diversion.
1:02:15 It’s, it’s, it’s a behavioral issue.
1:02:17 It’s a, you know, it’s a discipline issue and the ALC is an
1:02:19 option.
1:02:20 So that’s, I, I, I, I’m happy you, you’re addressing that issue
1:02:24 because that could be an issue.
1:02:27 That’s bringing it down to, Hey, this is what’s happening out
1:02:30 there on a student level.
1:02:31 And you, you don’t want that to be the case.
1:02:33 So thank you for doing that too.
1:02:35 Um, kids, uh, students electing to stay at ALCs.
1:02:39 I don’t want to get into the, the reason why.
1:02:41 Is it easier, is it not easier?
1:02:42 But I will point out one, one thing that’s different that I, I
1:02:47 see in students, uh, I saw in students, um,
1:02:51 was the no phones, some of these, these students, it was the
1:02:56 time where they were at peace.
1:02:58 They didn’t have to look at the phone.
1:03:00 They didn’t have, we, they can’t do it on their own.
1:03:02 It’s almost a, a phone diversion program.
1:03:04 Uh, they enjoyed, you know, it was, that it was, it was forcefully
1:03:09 for those hours that they were in that classroom that they didn’t
1:03:13 have to continually look at the phone.
1:03:14 And even sometimes when they put their head down to rest, it was
1:03:18 because I, I don’t have to look at my phone every two and a half
1:03:21 hours.
1:03:21 Um, which could just be, look what our future could be like in,
1:03:26 in schools if we didn’t have that, but these kids get so
1:03:29 addicted to it, our, us adults and the dead and the moms and
1:03:32 dads, you know, the examples we show, but just having that
1:03:36 little bit of time without that anxiety to look at that phone,
1:03:40 that was the biggest thing.
1:03:41 Uh, but we can, we can get into, is it, is there any rigor at,
1:03:44 at the ALCs?
1:03:45 Is that why some of the kids like it there?
1:03:47 Yeah, I don’t want to even want to get into that, but, um, I did
1:03:49 see that and I can, I can definitely understand.
1:03:51 And then I saw it on the female side versus the guy side, you
1:03:56 know, that, that I had some of that actually said, I’m just
1:04:00 happy that I don’t have to respond to my phone so much during
1:04:02 the day.
1:04:03 So that was like a big deal there, um, reducing some of the
1:04:06 numbers, you know, maybe not all the expellable offenses are
1:04:10 offered the ALC.
1:04:11 Maybe they’re just expelled.
1:04:12 I, maybe we need to look at some of those things.
1:04:14 I mean, that is a, that is a, a, a hard, a hard thing to look at
1:04:17 and then, uh, the multiple, the repeat offenders.
1:04:20 I mean, that could really help out and then possibly the, the
1:04:23 third, the third, uh, location.
1:04:27 Um, but again, this is the year where we’re really going to take
1:04:30 a look at all of this, but thank you for all you guys do.
1:04:33 Thank you, Mr. Trent.
1:04:34 Um, I, I am in favor of needing to complete the program entirely
1:04:37 in order to be in the program as well.
1:04:39 I think it would be smart of us as we talk to our parents about
1:04:43 this that we disclose and maybe have them check off is your
1:04:46 student a recipient of a medical marijuana card because I think
1:04:50 they need to know, hey, they will fail this program.
1:04:52 Uh, so if we disclose it up front, they’re not surprised and go,
1:04:54 wait a minute, the doctor gave them this later and now we’re
1:04:57 shocked and we thought this was okay because the doctor gave it
1:04:59 to them.
1:05:00 Um, so I think it’d be smart of us to disclose that part of it
1:05:03 on some type of paperwork somewhere.
1:05:05 Um, one of the things I just had a quick question on the current
1:05:07 budget breakdown, which I think is on slide number 10.
1:05:09 There is a wide variation of rates there, so I mean to the tune
1:05:13 of a hundred dollars an hour.
1:05:15 So the north location intake specialist is paid almost a hundred
1:05:19 dollars less an hour than the south.
1:05:21 And so, uh, these are questions I would like you to ask or if
1:05:25 you know the answer to.
1:05:26 There is a level of different counselors and how long they’ve
1:05:30 been doing counseling, um, I do know that is a piece of it, but
1:05:35 I will follow up with that.
1:05:36 Ask them that. That’s a huge variation. A hundred dollars an
1:05:39 hour difference seems for the same job title here.
1:05:41 I mean that’s, they’re calling them the same thing, north
1:05:43 location intake specialist, south location intake specialist,
1:05:46 and there’s almost a hundred dollar variation.
1:05:48 And the one she is actually, um, over both programs, she’s
1:05:53 calling parents, she’s setting up intake, so she is doing more
1:05:58 than the other one is doing.
1:05:59 That is part, but I will follow up with that. Follow up on that,
1:06:02 just because I think that’s a little bit alarming.
1:06:04 And then again, you know, want to look at alternative methods,
1:06:07 maybe if we can look at that on a night school option for, for
1:06:10 ALC, I think would be something smart for our board to, to maybe
1:06:13 take that, that dive in that conversation as we move forward to
1:06:15 get our numbers down.
1:06:17 Alright, anybody else have anything else to add? Dr. Rendell, do
1:06:20 you have anything to add?
1:06:20 Yeah, actually I do want to remind the board that this was kind
1:06:24 of a bold step that staff and the board did about a year ago,
1:06:28 nine months ago, 11 months ago, whenever.
1:06:30 And really it was to meet the needs of students. The idea was we
1:06:33 have these students who maybe made a mistake and rather than
1:06:36 remove them from their current educational placement and put
1:06:40 them in an alternative placement where they’re not going to
1:06:42 receive the same educational opportunities, it’s just, it’s not.
1:06:46 And so this was a way to keep kids in their current educational
1:06:51 setting while still giving them some kind of consequence and
1:06:55 requiring some effort on their part to make changes to their
1:06:59 choices and stuff like that.
1:07:00 And the hundreds of kids who have been through this program and
1:07:04 completed it successfully is a testament to the work of the
1:07:08 staff, but also the permission or encouragement or whatever of
1:07:13 the board, the support of the board to try this.
1:07:16 And so what’s interesting is none of the conversation today was
1:07:20 about not continuing the diversion program. It was about fine
1:07:24 tuning, fine tuning parts of it.
1:07:27 And then also we delved into a lot of just ALC operations, you
1:07:30 know, and this was supposed to be just about the drug diversion
1:07:32 program.
1:07:33 So really, you know, kudos to the staff and the board for taking,
1:07:36 you know, this step to put this program in place and hundreds of
1:07:39 kids have definitely benefited from that.
1:07:42 They did not, you know, lose their seven periods of academic,
1:07:47 you know, that they had at their home school, but they had to,
1:07:49 you know, complete a program and hopefully learn from that.
1:07:52 And we’re going to make better choices in the future. So I just
1:07:54 want to thank the staff for their hard work, but give the board
1:07:57 some credit for having, you know, the guts to do this.
1:07:59 Thank you, Dr. Rendell. All right. We are now on to our last and
1:08:05 next topic. I don’t know if we want to give time for them to
1:08:08 clear out and have, I think we have Mr. Robinson and Mr. Ramer,
1:08:12 you’re staying.
1:08:13 So Ms. Bland is moving. That’s going to give us an overview of
1:08:16 the athletic trainers at the BPS high schools, a presentation.
1:08:18 Thank you, Ms. Bland.
1:08:52 You’re good. You have the floor.
1:09:09 - Okay. - Yeah.
1:09:10 - All right. So changing the topic here to a full-time athletic
1:09:13 trainer position proposal that we’d like to discuss with the
1:09:17 board and get direction for the 24-25 school year.
1:09:20 of implementation potentially into our schools.
1:09:24 So we’re excited to have Kevin Robinson with me as our district
1:09:27 director of athletics and activities, who will provide some
1:09:31 information along with me throughout the presentation.
1:09:34 So our current situation right now with athletic trainers is we
1:09:36 have 13 of the 16 high school staff.
1:09:39 And there’s a breakdown right there of the three schools that
1:09:41 are currently without an athletic trainer of Edgewood, Coco
1:09:43 Beach and Rockledge.
1:09:45 We do have two schools have an on-campus athletic trainer who
1:09:48 functions as a full-time teacher.
1:09:50 And then at night as the athletic trainer, a very time consuming
1:09:53 and strenuous job.
1:09:55 That’s at Bayside and Heritage.
1:09:57 We have two schools have off-campus AT that receives a stipend,
1:10:00 which means that they get the same person every day, five days a
1:10:03 week for the most part, unless they’re not able to attend on a
1:10:06 specific day.
1:10:07 So that’s Merritt Island and West shore.
1:10:09 Then we have nine schools where we contract AT services out to
1:10:12 local local agencies.
1:10:14 So right there, we use parish health first 3d sports medicine
1:10:17 and beach side.
1:10:18 And those are the schools that align with those services.
1:10:21 So these would be somebody that works for that entity and they
1:10:24 are taking on the extra responsibility of servicing that school.
1:10:28 It may not be the same person every day.
1:10:30 It may be, you know, different depending on schedules, but they
1:10:33 would also be working full-time within that agency and then
1:10:37 doing this on their off hours in the evening.
1:10:40 Currently, our stipend is $5,500 per semester for our athletic
1:10:45 trainer.
1:10:46 So $11,000 a year, and then $9,650 with millage or roughly $19,300
1:10:52 per year.
1:10:53 So our challenges right now that we’re facing is finding the
1:10:57 consistent qualified athletic trainers to actually cover all of
1:11:01 our practices and events for all schools throughout the county.
1:11:04 And when I speak of all schools, I’m talking about traditional
1:11:06 high schools or combo schools.
1:11:08 So 16 of our schools within the district, we’re seeing a lot of
1:11:12 athletic trainer burnout and potential turnover.
1:11:15 This is at our agencies that we contract with because the people
1:11:18 get burnt out by working all day and then going to the school at
1:11:21 night.
1:11:22 Maybe they don’t even last the full athletic season.
1:11:25 Maybe they last one year and there’s not a lot of continuity.
1:11:28 We also have two, two staff members that like I said, Bayside
1:11:32 and Heritage that have been doing this for years.
1:11:35 And it’s commendable that they’re working their most likely 10,
1:11:38 12, 14, 16 hours a day, probably 160 days a year to serve the
1:11:43 school.
1:11:44 But there’s a lot of burnout and a lot of turnover in regards to
1:11:47 those agencies.
1:11:49 Those two have remained.
1:11:50 But I know just like all of us, there becomes a point where, you
1:11:54 know, it becomes a little, little much.
1:11:56 And then providing competitive compensation packages and working
1:11:59 conditions for athletic trainers.
1:12:01 It’s not really competitive when some of the districts around us
1:12:04 have them within their schools and they are servicing the school
1:12:08 and the school only.
1:12:09 And they have some different types of schedules and we’re asking
1:12:12 somebody to potentially work all day and then do this at night,
1:12:15 whether it’s inside of our school or whether it’s at a local
1:12:17 agency.
1:12:18 So how do we compete with those surrounding counties that have
1:12:21 athletic trainers within their facilities?
1:12:25 So our proposal is that we will provide all 16 high schools with
1:12:28 a full time athletic trainer.
1:12:30 The two who are on campus right now, once again, that’s Heritage
1:12:33 and Bayside.
1:12:34 They would be able to remain in their current position at their
1:12:36 current salary and supplement.
1:12:38 So they would be able to continue the current practice that they
1:12:41 have.
1:12:42 We didn’t want to tell them that they had to make any sort of
1:12:45 change.
1:12:46 So they would stay teaching six periods a day and athletic
1:12:49 training if they chose to do that route.
1:12:51 But we wanted to give them that ability.
1:12:53 We would propose a flexible schedule for athletic trainers that
1:12:57 we’re able to hire into our schools from this point forward to
1:13:01 accommodate event weekend coverage.
1:13:03 So a flexible schedule may be coming in fourth period instead of
1:13:07 at the beginning of the school day and being able to work their
1:13:11 eight hours from the midday to the evening to cover those events
1:13:15 under contractual hours.
1:13:18 We would have the potential to teach a class or two upon
1:13:19 receiving certification.
1:13:21 So once again, they would have to be DOE certified in order to
1:13:24 teach those classes, potentially care and prevention, maybe an
1:13:27 athletic training student internship would be the classes that
1:13:31 they would teach.
1:13:32 We did not want this to be a barrier as we are already in May
1:13:34 trying to hopefully gear up for August.
1:13:37 So we didn’t want to have a barrier of the certification prior
1:13:40 to hiring.
1:13:41 So if we were to hire some athletic trainers that were in need
1:13:43 of the certification, the school and the district would work
1:13:47 with them on being certified during that first year in which
1:13:49 they were within the school.
1:13:50 But we didn’t want to turn serving in this capacity.
1:13:53 It would be a 10 month.
1:13:55 It would be a 10 month position with standard BPS and FRS
1:13:59 benefits.
1:14:00 I have talked with our BFT and they are good with everything
1:14:02 that we’re proposing today in regards to the conversation.
1:14:06 We’ll have deeper conversations with them.
1:14:08 So they would be a 10 month instructional position.
1:14:11 So think math, English, science, history, athletic trainer,
1:14:13 right?
1:14:14 They would be 10 months.
1:14:15 They would work the 196 day calendar.
1:14:18 They would be at school every day.
1:14:20 They would just have the flexible schedule so that they may come
1:14:23 in fourth period instead of first period, like I said, so that
1:14:26 they could cover the evening events under contractual hours.
1:14:29 So they would get starting teacher salary and then we would give
1:14:33 an additional supplement that would be different from what we
1:14:36 currently, our current practice.
1:14:38 And that would be for time outside of the contract.
1:14:41 Maybe one week there’s four events that week and they have to
1:14:45 stay for 10 hours a couple days.
1:14:48 Maybe there’s a Saturday cross country meet.
1:14:50 Maybe there’s a winter break event that they have to cover.
1:14:54 And principals would be in charge of aligning the calendar with
1:14:59 that month or that week with the athletic trainer and the
1:15:03 athletic director to make sure coverage is there.
1:15:05 But we do want to provide a supplement for those extra non-contractual
1:15:10 hours.
1:15:11 Friday night football games potentially where they had a back to
1:15:14 back with volleyball the day before or something like that where
1:15:18 their hours that week would exceed the 40 hours that we ask for.
1:15:23 So some of the benefits that this would bring to the schools is
1:15:26 we’d be able to have more competitive opportunities with our
1:15:30 surrounding counties.
1:15:32 We would hopefully have some more retention with our athletic
1:15:34 trainers, seeing that we would have them year after year, the
1:15:38 same person in the same school, building continuity with the
1:15:40 coaches, with the staff, with the students, student athletes,
1:15:44 also families.
1:15:45 And then reduce liability to BPS as we’d be able to give proper
1:15:48 care to students, not only at the events or at the practices,
1:15:51 but also potentially during the day.
1:15:54 And once again, building those positive relationships and
1:15:57 rapport for those student athletes.
1:16:00 So our surrounding counties, as you see there, Osceola, Orange,
1:16:02 and Seminole have full-time athletic trainers in place at their
1:16:05 schools.
1:16:06 So once again, trying to compete with surrounding counties that
1:16:09 have already had this in place and had this in place for a
1:16:12 period of time now where they’re able to offer the competitive
1:16:16 side of being within the school and servicing the school at
1:16:19 those athletic events and activities.
1:16:25 - So the cost of fund 14 athletic trainers, once again, we have
1:16:28 two that are currently at Bayside and Heritage.
1:16:30 So they would be already in the budget.
1:16:33 So if we were to add 14 athletic trainers, roughly you see the
1:16:37 number there of 999,620.
1:16:41 That’s starting teacher salary and benefits.
1:16:44 We would propose a new supplement in the amount of $5,000 per
1:16:47 year.
1:16:48 Once again, right now it’s $5,500 per semester.
1:16:51 And then with millage it’s $9,350 per semester.
1:16:56 So this is a reduction of that supplement because they would be
1:16:59 a full-time employee getting their salary and benefits.
1:17:02 We would remove the current millage supplement.
1:17:05 That’s the 8,300 that’s currently in millage.
1:17:07 So the new supplement for 14 additional athletic trainers would
1:17:10 be a $70,000 ask.
1:17:12 And the proposed cost of the salary plus the supplement would be
1:17:16 the $1,069,620.
1:17:20 If we would move forward in this direction, we would see the
1:17:24 general fund.
1:17:25 We would be able to remove the $11,000 supplement from those 14.
1:17:29 So $154,000 would be removed out of the general fund or saved.
1:17:33 However, you would like to put that.
1:17:35 And we’d also remove the current millage supplement of $8,300 by
1:17:39 14.
1:17:40 So that’s $116,200 that would go there.
1:17:44 Now once again, we are putting the $5,000 supplement.
1:17:49 And the funding source that we would like to pursue would be
1:17:52 millage recruitment.
1:17:54 So the millage recruitment budget, I have talked with our CFO,
1:17:58 Ms. Lozinski.
1:17:59 And there is budgeted money in millage recruitment that could
1:18:02 cover this potential cost.
1:18:04 So that’s what we would be looking at as a direction potentially
1:18:08 for the funding of the 14 athletic trainers.
1:18:13 So as we move forward to the 24-25 school year, we’re really
1:18:16 seeking guidance on some of the following.
1:18:19 One, the appetite of the board to take on this potential task of
1:18:23 the schools adding athletic trainer and the district adding the
1:18:27 14 athletic trainers to serve all 16 of our BPS high schools and
1:18:32 combo schools.
1:18:32 We are prepared to build and finalize a job description that
1:18:35 would be very similar to the job descriptions of our surrounding
1:18:40 counties, Osceola, Seminole, and Orange.
1:18:44 The funding source, if we would like to continue to pursue the
1:18:47 funding source, which would be millage recruitment.
1:18:51 And then our goal would be to package that all together and
1:18:55 hopefully have board approval to move forward at one of our
1:18:58 summer board meetings so that our schools could start pursuing a
1:19:01 candidate for this position.
1:19:03 - Thank you, Mr. Ramer.
1:19:07 All right, I’ll turn it over to the board now for questions.
1:19:11 Ms. Jenkins.
1:19:12 - Yeah, so forgive me because this is so not my area.
1:19:17 So on slide two, so you identify where they’re coming from.
1:19:26 So I guess I have a, I need some foundational information here,
1:19:30 sorry.
1:19:30 Big holes for me here.
1:19:32 So the athletic training services that are provided through like
1:19:37 Parish and Health First and 3D Sports Med.
1:19:40 What are those people doing in, like what are their roles in
1:19:43 those facilities?
1:19:45 What are their titles in those facilities that they’re working
1:19:48 at?
1:19:49 - Typically they’re working as a trainer, athletic trainer doing
1:19:52 rehab, other items within that facility working on a daily basis.
1:19:57 - Okay.
1:19:58 - And do, they’re doing clinical hours during the morning.
1:20:02 And then there might be a space of time where they report, they’ll
1:20:06 typically report at about three o’clock, right before the kids
1:20:09 get out from school.
1:20:10 So that they’re ready to start the day, as far as the athletics
1:20:14 day, with the practices, with the meets, getting prepared for
1:20:21 the meets and the games and everything that’s going to take
1:20:24 place, you know, for that evening.
1:20:26 So it’s, think about like having two jobs.
1:20:30 - Right.
1:20:31 - Is what it amounts to.
1:20:33 - So I guess, so let me get a little more specific now about my
1:20:36 question then.
1:20:37 So, well, let me ask, you said clinical hours.
1:20:40 Do you mean clinical paid working hours or you mean clinical
1:20:42 because they’re qualifying for something?
1:20:45 - So no.
1:20:46 - Because in my world clinical means like they’re in terms of.
1:20:48 - Hours in the clinic.
1:20:49 - In the clinic.
1:20:50 - Or the hospital at Parish Medical Center or Health First or 3D
1:20:53 Sports Medicine, wherever it is that their home base is.
1:20:56 - Yeah.
1:20:57 - Because we’re contracting them for athletic services.
1:21:00 So in other words, we’re paying them the stipend amount, the $5,500
1:21:05 per semester stipend amount, and then they’re providing us with
1:21:10 one of their people for athletic training.
1:21:12 So we have to contract with every one of these entities also
1:21:16 between our schools.
1:21:18 We have to go through procurement and contract with all those
1:21:20 guys.
1:21:21 - So my question, and I don’t know if you know the answer to
1:21:23 this, but I’m just curious, is like, what kind of salaries are
1:21:27 these people making during the day at those day jobs?
1:21:30 Do we have any idea?
1:21:32 And the reason I’m asking is, you know, if they’re making $60,000
1:21:36 at their day job, are they going to want to leave that day job
1:21:39 to then fulfill these 14 positions?
1:21:41 Because we’re going to need to fill these positions, right?
1:21:44 So I’m just curious, what is that competition for these people?
1:21:47 - So I think the package that we would put together would be
1:21:50 competitive.
1:21:51 We also have to remember that they’re currently working a full
1:21:54 calendar year.
1:21:55 If they were to come on board with BPS, they would be working a
1:21:57 10-month contract.
1:21:58 - Right.
1:21:59 - Which means that over the summer, whatever, maybe they make 60,
1:22:03 and this is a total of 55, they would be able to do clinical
1:22:06 hours, they’d be able to do a private practice, be able to do
1:22:09 some of those things over that summer in order to do that.
1:22:12 They would also potentially be able to flip.
1:22:14 And what I mean by that is they work for BPS and maybe they
1:22:16 contract through parish and do some clinical hours at 8:00 a.m.
1:22:20 to 10:00 a.m. and then come into BPS if they would choose to do
1:22:23 so.
1:22:24 So I do believe with this, we would be extremely competitive
1:22:26 because they would have the flexible hours and they would also
1:22:29 be working a 10-month contract.
1:22:31 We did look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and we would be
1:22:34 very close or right at the median for what an athletic trainer
1:22:37 would make, which is right about that $54,000 to $56,000 range.
1:22:41 Our current base salary is approximately in that 48-49 range
1:22:46 plus the $5,000 salary puts us, we believe, competitive in order
1:22:51 to entice potential people in some of these entities or
1:22:55 graduates that are coming right out of college to not go into a
1:23:00 job.
1:23:00 That’s not in BPS.
1:23:01 We’d be able to attract them straight out of graduating from the
1:23:04 college into the school system.
1:23:07 Yeah.
1:23:08 Thank you.
1:23:09 You answered my next question.
1:23:10 So I just wanted to have a better understanding, you know,
1:23:13 because coming from the world of like therapeutic clinical
1:23:16 setting, I mean, you’re making $75,000 to $100,000 a year.
1:23:19 And so, yes, of course, you’re making a choice.
1:23:21 You know, for me, I made a choice to be in the school because I
1:23:22 wanted to be with kids and have a schedule with my daughter and
1:23:24 all that stuff.
1:23:25 And that’s–
1:23:26 I totally understand that.
1:23:27 But I just wanted to understand like what the drastic difference
1:23:29 might be.
1:23:30 Yeah.
1:23:31 And that’s the case with a lot of people that we have as
1:23:33 athletic trainers as well is they’re really, you know, child and
1:23:37 kid focused and centered around that.
1:23:39 But they also have to balance their own life, you know, their
1:23:43 own personal life if they have kids, if they have, you know,
1:23:47 whatever the case may be.
1:23:49 So in a lot of cases, the money becomes less of an issue than
1:23:53 the time.
1:23:54 And it’s the time that’s the factor and it’s the time that
1:23:56 causes the burnout.
1:23:57 You know, it’s the working all day, you know, six days a week
1:24:02 and that kind of thing that causes them to say, I can’t do this
1:24:06 anymore.
1:24:08 You know, so we have people that are in our schools who are
1:24:11 certified athletic trainers that don’t do athletic training.
1:24:15 And that’s the reason they don’t do athletic training is because
1:24:18 of just the life balance, you know, that maybe they have kids or
1:24:22 whatever the case may be and they need to be able to be there
1:24:24 for their kids, you know.
1:24:25 So creating a balance is what one of the things that we’re
1:24:29 looking to achieve to create that longevity for these athletic
1:24:34 trainers.
1:24:35 The longer you have an athletic trainer in place, just like a
1:24:38 teacher, the more they’re going to build relationships, the more
1:24:42 effective they’re going to be, you know.
1:24:44 So these are the things that we’re kind of looking to create
1:24:47 rather than having this high turnover or, you know, you’re going
1:24:51 to outside entities, which, by the way, I’ve had conversations
1:24:54 with them.
1:24:54 They’re having trouble filling the positions for us.
1:25:00 So attracting qualified and good candidates to be able to take
1:25:04 on this position and fill this position for us from a contractual
1:25:08 side of things, you know.
1:25:11 So that tells you a lot about like how, how attractive, how not
1:25:16 attractive the position currently is and how attractive it needs
1:25:20 to be to be able to create, you know, just like.
1:25:23 Right.
1:25:24 You parallel it with teachers, you know, like it’s the same kind
1:25:26 of thing.
1:25:27 You know, you want teachers to have a good experience and good
1:25:30 balance and everything like that so that they’re there for a
1:25:32 long time so that they can serve the students for a long time.
1:25:36 And the better, the longer you go, you know, in a profession,
1:25:38 the better you get at it.
1:25:40 So.
1:25:41 So just forgive me.
1:25:42 So the reason I’m asking this question is I want to feel
1:25:45 confident that this is making it enticing.
1:25:48 Right.
1:25:49 I wanted to make sure there isn’t some significant gap of, you
1:25:51 know, $40,000, you know.
1:25:53 Right.
1:25:54 Sure, there’s people that might make the choice because of the
1:25:56 time, but sometimes that money does matter.
1:25:58 That is a really big difference.
1:25:59 Sure.
1:26:00 So that’s why I wanted to ask that question.
1:26:01 Yep.
1:26:02 I just have one clarifying question about the two school-based
1:26:06 teachers, on-campus teachers.
1:26:09 So if they choose to continue, basically their choice is they
1:26:12 continue to do what they’re doing now.
1:26:15 So they get the $10,000, I’m rounding, but the $10,000
1:26:18 supplement?
1:26:19 Yeah, so they would continue with their current schedule
1:26:22 teaching the six periods a day or whatever their schedule is on
1:26:24 their campus and get the current BFT negotiated supplement.
1:26:29 Okay.
1:26:30 After that, any of the new athletic trainers that we were to
1:26:33 bring on board would then be the teacher’s salary plus the $5,000
1:26:38 supplement that we’re proposing.
1:26:40 Okay.
1:26:41 We didn’t want to take that away from the two.
1:26:42 They’ve been doing it for quite a while and we wanted to give
1:26:44 them the opportunity.
1:26:46 We are going to most likely ask that in 24, 25, because we’re in
1:26:49 the middle of scheduling, that they would stay with their
1:26:51 current.
1:26:52 And then in 25, 26, they could potentially opt into maybe the
1:26:55 time was more important than the bigger supplement.
1:26:59 I do also want to point out, I know we talked a lot right there
1:27:01 about the services contracted.
1:27:03 We have had and seen quite a few issues with the companies that
1:27:06 we are contracting with, with regards to staffing.
1:27:10 And then we’ve had to have a few where we reach out to the
1:27:13 company and say we that person, you know, no longer is going to
1:27:16 work with our student athletes or with our school for a variety
1:27:20 of reasons.
1:27:21 And so once again, this would become a much more controlled
1:27:25 opportunity for us to serve our schools and our student athletes
1:27:29 in a much better capacity because we are going to ask them to
1:27:32 potentially teach a class or two.
1:27:34 We are going to ask them to potentially help out with
1:27:36 supervision.
1:27:37 We are going to actually ask them to potentially be more of a
1:27:39 mentorship.
1:27:40 So there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for them to make a
1:27:43 bigger impact on the school than contracting out and wondering
1:27:47 who it’s going to be that day or if we’re actually going to get
1:27:50 somebody that day.
1:27:52 - So those teachers though, if they wanted to completely make
1:27:55 the switch, we’re going to give them that choice.
1:27:58 - Yeah, so we, Kevin and I had spoke about asking them.
1:28:01 - Because they already have that relationship.
1:28:02 - Yes, asking them for, for a year to stay in their current role
1:28:07 so that we don’t hinder the school scheduling.
1:28:09 And everything.
1:28:10 And then at the end of the 24, 25 school year, they could say,
1:28:14 you know what, this, this was a great run doing the six of seven
1:28:17 and this athletic training.
1:28:19 But I would really like to go to the new model that is now in BPS.
1:28:23 - I want to, I want to point out though, that those, those two
1:28:26 people that we have, those are extremely special individuals.
1:28:29 Like I, I, I call them unicorns because they just, they just don’t
1:28:33 exist, you know, like anywhere else.
1:28:36 And so what they’re able to do and what they’ve been able to do
1:28:39 for an extended period of time, um, is nothing short of amazing,
1:28:43 you know?
1:28:44 Um, but, and, and while we would like for everyone to be that
1:28:48 amazing, it’s not the reality that we’re faced with, with, with,
1:28:54 um, you know, with the graduates that are coming out of college
1:28:57 and, and just in general, you know?
1:29:00 You know, I mean, those guys, those guys that are doing that are
1:29:03 the, they’re, they’re the top, like, one percenters, you know?
1:29:07 - And, and that’s why I just, I want to make sure we’re, and I
1:29:09 assumed we were, but I just want to make sure we’re totally
1:29:12 respecting these people who have gone above and beyond for our
1:29:14 kids.
1:29:14 - Oh yeah, absolutely.
1:29:15 - And created these relationships that, you know, we’re not
1:29:16 gonna.
1:29:17 - Absolutely.
1:29:18 - Absolutely incredible.
1:29:19 - I think if you could call him a unicorn, that is a great honor.
1:29:21 I know personally and I’m gonna make sure that he knows that
1:29:24 that’s, that was how, that’s the regard that we hold him.
1:29:27 - Yeah.
1:29:28 - I may have to make a mean picture of him.
1:29:30 - Yeah.
1:29:31 - Um, so I, I keep this short.
1:29:33 Uh, you guys did a great job.
1:29:35 Um, the, I think this is a good choice to pull this out of millage,
1:29:41 uh, funding and the recruitment, uh, makes sense too.
1:29:45 Um, it also makes sense that if, you know, we’re, we’re going
1:29:48 from a supplement to a full-time teacher salary,
1:29:51 plus a $5,000, it does make sense because it’s all coming out of
1:29:53 millage, not to give them an additional millage supplement on
1:29:57 top of the millage supplement they’re already getting.
1:29:58 So that makes sense and I, um, have, can support that.
1:30:02 Um, so during the day, until we get to the point where they’re
1:30:05 maybe teaching a class or supervising an intern, um, will they
1:30:09 be a part of, like, I can’t remember what you call them,
1:30:12 but like the physical conditioning classes and supporting there.
1:30:15 So if they come in at noon or they come in at two, weight
1:30:18 training class, that’s the class.
1:30:19 Are they already going to be a part of some of those or are they
1:30:21 just sitting around for a couple hours getting ready for
1:30:23 practice?
1:30:24 So, you know, it depends, but one of the things that we would
1:30:28 ask of them is they could actually be, like you said, an extra
1:30:31 adult in a classroom.
1:30:32 A lot of these individuals are going to have a strong background
1:30:35 or should have a strong background in anatomy and physiology and
1:30:38 biology.
1:30:39 They could potentially be a supporter in those classes for
1:30:42 student achievement, right?
1:30:45 They could be the second adult in those rooms to make sure
1:30:48 students are engaged with the content to help explain to a group
1:30:51 of students.
1:30:52 So there’s a wide variety of ways.
1:30:53 And I think that we’re going to have to understand that in 16
1:30:56 different campuses, this may look a little bit different for
1:30:58 what the needs are of the campus.
1:31:01 We’re going to have some that maybe believe that, you know, I
1:31:04 just want to be the athletic trainer and I’ll help out with
1:31:05 supervision and I’ll go into a classroom or weight training.
1:31:08 I’ll help them understand good form.
1:31:10 And then in a year from now, we’ll be like, man, I love the
1:31:11 school.
1:31:12 I love these kids.
1:31:13 Like I want to teach classes, right?
1:31:14 I want to do athletic care and prevention and create a pipeline
1:31:17 to some of these colleges and universities for, you know,
1:31:22 pursuing this in their post-secondary success, helping them set
1:31:25 up some of those, you know, goals for post-secondary success.
1:31:29 So there’s such a wide range, but if they’re non-certified staff
1:31:33 members and instructional, once again, we’re going to work
1:31:37 towards that if we have to go through CTE or if we have to go
1:31:39 through other alternative means to get them certified, there
1:31:43 will be a place on them to support classrooms, support weight
1:31:46 training, support other parts of the school throughout the day,
1:31:50 which could alleviate some of the, you know, concerns that are
1:31:52 coming a little bit from the classroom or a little bit from the
1:31:55 supervision standpoint.
1:31:56 And maybe cut down on some of the discipline that we just talked
1:31:58 about in the prior presentation, if we have more, another adult
1:32:01 on campus to assist with some of those things.
1:32:03 I appreciate that very much.
1:32:04 And that’s one of the valuable functions that those two athletic
1:32:07 trainers that we have on campus provides is, so they’re not only
1:32:11 providing a service themselves, but they’re also teaching kids.
1:32:15 They’re teaching kids everything about athletic trainers.
1:32:19 They’ve produced athletic trainers in, in the field, you know,
1:32:23 so, so that’s a huge thing that they, that they provide.
1:32:27 So they’re helpers at, you know, at games, they’re, they’re
1:32:30 learning everything by, by observing, by doing, by, you know,
1:32:34 everything that, that happens.
1:32:37 So, so I think that’s another valuable thing that, that having
1:32:41 an on each, each campus having an on staff.
1:32:45 Yeah.
1:32:45 I thought a trainer would provide to the kids also.
1:32:47 And I think it’s what you said about letting every school make
1:32:50 this flexible schedule.
1:32:52 So maybe it’s two to 10, maybe it’s 12 to eight, maybe whatever
1:32:55 it is, or maybe some days, Monday’s this schedule, Tuesday’s
1:32:58 that’s got to be based on the game schedule in the season.
1:33:00 I mean, make, as long as they’re getting their 40 hours in
1:33:02 letting every school set that schedule.
1:33:04 I think that’s, that’s important.
1:33:05 We did have a conference call teams call with our traditional
1:33:08 high school and combo principals last week, and they were all on
1:33:12 board.
1:33:13 They were extremely excited.
1:33:14 I didn’t tell them what direction we were going.
1:33:16 I just wanted to say, if you look at the board agenda and you
1:33:18 see the workshop, you’ll see that we’re going to talk to the
1:33:20 board.
1:33:21 about this on Tuesday, the 21st, just to give them a heads up
1:33:24 that the conversation was happening.
1:33:27 And they were fully supportive of the schools that currently don’t
1:33:30 have one were like, wow, this could be great.
1:33:32 And they loved the opportunity to have the flexibility on their
1:33:35 campus to utilize the person in the best capacity.
1:33:39 And then to have the autonomy on their campus to say, okay,
1:33:42 today you can do the 12 to eight, but we would need you tomorrow,
1:33:46 11 to seven, because we only have practices Friday night.
1:33:48 We might need to flex you a little bit because of the, you know,
1:33:51 it’s an away game or something like that, knowing that the
1:33:53 supplements in place.
1:33:54 So there’s a lot of silent cheers right now with our traditional
1:33:58 high schools and combo principals, because they know that we’re
1:34:02 having this conversation in hopes that maybe this would come to
1:34:05 fruition.
1:34:06 Let it be known on the record that my questions are short, but
1:34:08 their answers are long.
1:34:10 It’s not me.
1:34:11 It’s good.
1:34:12 It’s all good.
1:34:13 So then my last thing was the summertime.
1:34:17 So the supplement is supposed to cover like this weekend, but it
1:34:19 will, because we have like, you know, training camp and things
1:34:22 like that.
1:34:23 And then some of that is not official practice.
1:34:25 So will this, will this summer or this supplement, the $5,000
1:34:29 covers the, any of the summer practices that they’re required to
1:34:32 cover FHSA-wise?
1:34:33 Yeah, that’s the intent.
1:34:34 So just to give you a good idea, we’re, so tonight, Merritt
1:34:40 Island’s playing in the state semifinals for baseball.
1:34:44 So we’re finishing, they’re the last team to finish up state
1:34:47 series.
1:34:48 So they win tonight’s game, they play in the state finals
1:34:50 tomorrow.
1:34:51 So that will conclude the state series for the, for the school
1:34:56 year.
1:34:57 So, so effectively that would conclude the responsibilities for
1:35:01 an athletic trainer in that case too.
1:35:04 So, so this person would be a 10 month employee, so they would
1:35:07 get into the summer.
1:35:09 So when we go into fall schedules, the FHSA start date for fall
1:35:15 season is July 29th.
1:35:18 Okay.
1:35:19 That means that’s before pre-planning and everything.
1:35:22 So all the coaches have to come, have to start then and come
1:35:24 back.
1:35:25 So they’re all getting paid supplements, right?
1:35:27 So the athletic trainer would need to be paid a supplement to
1:35:30 come back early as well.
1:35:32 So that’s kind of, that’s kind of the purpose with that too.
1:35:35 Thank you.
1:35:36 Yeah.
1:35:37 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
1:35:38 Ms. Campbell, I was just going to say yes to keep my answer
1:35:41 short.
1:35:42 Yes.
1:35:43 I, I keep nothing short.
1:35:44 I, I’m guilty as charged.
1:35:46 Yeah.
1:35:47 Mr. Susan.
1:35:48 Yeah.
1:35:49 I, I kind of wanted to reiterate some of these.
1:35:51 Um, when I was a coach at Space Coast High School, I saw this
1:35:55 for six years, the need for it.
1:35:59 Um, there was a doc team doctor named Dr. Alotta, who’s now
1:36:02 still working in there.
1:36:03 He brings, he, he is incredible.
1:36:05 I mean, he’s been doing it for 15 years.
1:36:08 He’s incredible.
1:36:09 Um, but some of the things that people don’t understand and some
1:36:12 of the things that weren’t
1:36:13 said here is that, um, the liability that we have on our hands
1:36:18 currently is extreme.
1:36:20 And it’s in a couple of areas.
1:36:22 It’s one for the student athletes that are not receiving the
1:36:24 care.
1:36:25 But the other one is there’s some decisions that are made on the
1:36:27 field where that athletic
1:36:29 trainer has the, has the right to stop.
1:36:31 I was in a game and I won’t say where, but one of the athletes
1:36:34 split their, they got hit
1:36:35 so hard in football.
1:36:36 They split their lip completely from, from here to here.
1:36:39 Their teeth were showing out the bottom of the, the, uh, thing
1:36:42 and it was bleeding.
1:36:43 And the coach told them to get back in there and play.
1:36:46 And there’s stuff like that that goes on.
1:36:48 If there’s not an athletic trainer there that will inhibit a kid
1:36:50 for the rest of their lives.
1:36:52 And it’s that it’s all these other little injuries.
1:36:54 Oh, come on, Johnny, get back in there.
1:36:55 And those athletic trainers hold that liability.
1:36:58 The other thing is, is that, um, they recover quicker.
1:37:01 So many of our athletes that are given the proper care are good.
1:37:04 They recover quicker, um, and are able to play the sports and
1:37:08 receive scholarships and everything
1:37:10 and contribute to their teams.
1:37:12 The other piece is we talked a little bit about that CTE program.
1:37:15 Um, this is one of the very few CTE programs that you could have,
1:37:20 and I will call it a career
1:37:21 and technical program that you have on the job training while
1:37:23 you’re at school.
1:37:24 It’s, there’s no other program that they’re allowed to have them
1:37:27 come in at the athletes during seventh period and do it.
1:37:30 And it’s incredible.
1:37:32 The other piece is, is that having an athletic trainer on campus,
1:37:35 they’re able to cover more sports.
1:37:37 So a lot of the times when we contract, they’re contracting for
1:37:40 the large sports, the football, the baseball, whatever that is.
1:37:43 And many of our other athletes that are there for the, those not
1:37:46 so well attended sports,
1:37:48 but are still just as important.
1:37:50 Don’t have the athletic trainer there.
1:37:51 Don’t have the athletic trainer to prep them and everything else.
1:37:53 So this gives them that, um, there’s just a host in a wide
1:37:57 variety that this is an amazing job.
1:37:59 And I’m so proud of staff for bringing this forward.
1:38:01 It is one of, I’ve been very passionate about this.
1:38:04 We know through some of the, the, um, good conversations we’ve
1:38:08 had in the past that this is well needed.
1:38:11 And, um, I, I just wanted to kind of make a plug there.
1:38:14 And then the other thing is, is that I reached out to the, uh,
1:38:18 athletic training, you know, funnel out of UCF.
1:38:22 And they said that their athletic trainers that are coming out
1:38:25 of there right now are already being offered jobs across.
1:38:30 So one of the questions I had was I said, Hey, we’ve got some
1:38:33 things that aren’t finalized in Brevard.
1:38:36 When would we be able to kind of let them know, Hey, this is
1:38:39 coming.
1:38:40 Cause I know we have a job description and stuff we have to do.
1:38:42 Are we okay with saying these are the 30,000 foot view formalities
1:38:46 of this?
1:38:47 We’ve got something coming.
1:38:48 We’d love you to be a part of it.
1:38:49 Or do we have to wait until that job description is officially
1:38:53 endorsed to where we don’t start talking about it?
1:38:55 Does that make sense to you?
1:38:56 I just don’t want them to run off and go to a bunch of other
1:38:57 places.
1:38:58 We’re going to need to attract as many as we can.
1:39:00 Well, if you’re willing for us to move forward, then, you know,
1:39:05 the board would be the ones that would approve the job
1:39:07 description and then the opportunity for this to go.
1:39:11 So I think if the consensus is that we would like to move in
1:39:14 this direction, and I don’t want to say that we could go out and
1:39:17 start recruiting.
1:39:18 Cause obviously we need to go through the process, but we would
1:39:21 have the opportunity to, to know that this most likely would be
1:39:25 coming to provide public schools and an opportunity for some of
1:39:30 those graduates or some of these people within these
1:39:32 organizations to start looking at this as a real viable
1:39:37 potential opportunity, as opposed to just a discussion in that.
1:39:40 So basically what I was saying is after this, you should be able
1:39:42 to start advertising to those people to get them in.
1:39:45 You shouldn’t have to wait until you have a job description.
1:39:48 You can let them know.
1:39:49 Does that make sense?
1:39:50 It does.
1:39:51 You know, I think we could start the conversation.
1:39:53 Yep.
1:39:54 We just need to make sure that we go through the process to get
1:39:57 everything approved and vetted at a board meeting in the summer
1:40:00 so that everybody is fully on board.
1:40:03 Once again, maybe our conversations can deepen a little bit
1:40:06 where, you know, it’s not as superficial of we might be doing
1:40:10 this.
1:40:11 Like we are strongly, you know, looking at moving in this
1:40:14 direction.
1:40:15 We’re going to present to the millage oversight committee
1:40:18 tomorrow, just back to back meetings.
1:40:20 So we’ll present to them tomorrow around one o’clock with
1:40:23 regards to this, you know, funding proposal.
1:40:26 And then we’ll continue to work through the process.
1:40:28 Kevin is prepared to have everything ready to go with me over
1:40:31 the summer to get everything on the school board agenda for
1:40:35 approval.
1:40:36 And I will say last, thank you for that.
1:40:38 And the last thing that I wanted to say is, is that many of our
1:40:42 low income students, this is the only care they receive.
1:40:46 And because of parental issues or income issues, they’re not
1:40:50 taken to go get the specialty treatment that’s needed for some
1:40:53 of these injuries.
1:40:54 And this is all they have.
1:40:55 So this is also helping those students be able to bridge that
1:40:58 gap for care.
1:40:59 And this is an amazing thing.
1:41:01 So with that, Mr. Chair, Madam Chair, I’m done.
1:41:03 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
1:41:04 Mr. Trump.
1:41:05 Yeah.
1:41:06 Great program.
1:41:09 Great idea, guys.
1:41:10 I was fortunate at a previous school, as a head coach, we had a
1:41:14 full time athletic trainer, and I saw the benefits of that.
1:41:20 I mean, he was there for years, but the access map hit on that,
1:41:25 the access to all the athletes was huge.
1:41:29 You know, from, you know, we had badminton to, you know, girls
1:41:33 golf to, you know, even students that came in and said, I don’t
1:41:37 play this school sport.
1:41:38 I was playing soccer in my team over there, and it was really
1:41:41 bothering me.
1:41:42 And we would send them to the athletic trainer.
1:41:44 That was huge.
1:41:47 They taught, this gentleman actually taught sports nutrition.
1:41:51 He taught powerlifting.
1:41:52 I mean, the line was crazy if you could get into his powerlifting
1:41:55 class and weightlifting class.
1:41:58 Sports specific they could be.
1:42:01 It was, I mean, the kids in the school, they wouldn’t talk about
1:42:06 anything to take nutrition supplement-wise until they talked it
1:42:11 over with Mr. So-and-so, you know, and his big protein drink was
1:42:15 chocolate milk.
1:42:16 But it was, it becomes a culture, and it is good to have a
1:42:20 specific trainer or two at a school.
1:42:24 You know, they just fall in line like any other coach and
1:42:27 teacher.
1:42:28 They develop a history with the students, which is big.
1:42:34 You know, when you’re diagnosing an issue or a problem, it’s
1:42:39 always better if the doctor knows the patient.
1:42:43 So that’s where you can get some consistency on that.
1:42:46 And then eventually they plugged into the schools, and they were
1:42:49 getting student teachers or interns to come and help out at the
1:42:53 events and at the school.
1:42:55 So that was a, it’s a positive all around.
1:42:59 I mean, the things that are going well here at BPS.
1:43:01 I mean, we’re getting our grasses cut at the school.
1:43:04 So now we’re getting full-time trainers, and things are looking
1:43:07 good.
1:43:08 So we appreciate all your hard work.
1:43:10 Yeah.
1:43:11 Oh, you know what?
1:43:12 I did want to add one more thing.
1:43:13 If we’re going to talk about flexible schedules with athletic
1:43:15 trainers, maybe we can talk about that with our athletic
1:43:19 directors as well.
1:43:21 Because I know some of them may be overworked a little bit from
1:43:24 time to time.
1:43:25 Yeah.
1:43:26 So there you go.
1:43:27 More than a little bit.
1:43:28 Yes.
1:43:29 Yeah.
1:43:30 All right.
1:43:31 Thank you, Mr. Trent.
1:43:32 I am in favor of this.
1:43:33 Obviously, if we can keep things in-house instead of outsourcing
1:43:35 them, I think that’s always a good philosophy.
1:43:36 Treat our people right.
1:43:37 Bring them in-house and make them our employees.
1:43:39 I think it’ll be tremendous for our schools.
1:43:41 So I’m not going to add a bunch more fluff to it that everybody
1:43:43 else has already said.
1:43:45 Everything covered every base, I believe.
1:43:47 So it sounds like you have consensus here from the board on go
1:43:49 forward, do good work.
1:43:51 Hopefully, the millage oversight committee is in favor of this
1:43:54 proposal as well.
1:43:55 But I think it’ll be good for professional planning.
1:43:57 So Dr. Rendell, do you have anything else to add to this?
1:43:59 No, I just want to thank staff for the work they put into this.
1:44:02 It was actually a conversation Mr. Raymer and I had at the
1:44:05 volleyball Final Four way back in, I think, November.
1:44:08 That, you know, we knew as high school principals, the challenge
1:44:11 was to have athletic trainers on campus.
1:44:14 But we knew the benefit if you had a full-time athletic trainer,
1:44:17 the consistency of care for those students.
1:44:19 So we’re like, well, why don’t we just make a job description
1:44:21 and, you know, do all this stuff.
1:44:23 And then we thought we were brilliant.
1:44:24 And then we found out that Orange, Seminole, and Ausville are
1:44:26 already doing it.
1:44:27 But we’ll try to do it better.
1:44:29 All right.
1:44:30 Wonderful.
1:44:31 Well, thank you guys so much.
1:44:32 Looking forward to this.
1:44:33 This will be good things for Brevard County.
1:44:35 Does any other board member have anything further to discuss?
1:44:38 Happy graduation week.
1:44:41 Dr. Rendell, do you have anything that you need to add or
1:44:43 discuss?
1:44:44 No, ma’am.
1:44:45 We’re good.
1:44:46 All right.
1:44:47 As there’s no further business, this meeting is adjourned.
1:45:01 Thank you.