Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Thank you.
5:59 Please hold a moment of silence and we invite the audience to
6:01 join.
6:02 Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
6:32 To the United States of America and to the Republic for which it
6:35 stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and
6:39 justice for all.
6:40 All right, it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had a
6:46 board meeting, but it’s only been two weeks.
6:51 So, all right, at this time, I’d like to offer my fellow board
6:53 members and Dr. Randall an opportunity to recognize students,
6:56 staff, or members in the community.
6:57 And I’d like to say, and I want to say, and I want to say, and I
7:02 want to say, and I want to say, and I want to say, and I want to
7:06 say, and I want to say, and I want to say a special shout out to
7:09 our families who are dropping off pre-k students and
7:11 kindergarten students.
7:12 I want to say, and I want to say, and I want to say, and I want
7:16 to say, and I want to say, and I want to say, and I want to say,
7:21 and I want to say, and I want to say, and I want to say, and I
7:25 want to say, and I want to say a special shout out to our kids.
7:29 Thank you.
7:35 All right.
7:36 Ms. Campbell, you ready?
7:37 Yes.
7:38 From all accounts that I’ve heard, yesterday was a successful
7:42 first day of school.
7:43 It’s always nice to be able to breathe a sigh of relief that we
7:46 didn’t have too many people.
7:48 We didn’t have too many people.
7:57 Breathe a sigh of relief that we didn’t have too many major
7:59 issues going on.
8:00 Actually, I emailed Dr. Miller sometime during the day.
8:02 I said, I know it’s crazy because it’s the first day.
8:04 He said, actually, it hasn’t been too bad.
8:06 So he probably knocked on wood right after that.
8:08 But just thank you to Dr. Miller and transportation, to Sue Han
8:12 and the facilities team for to take,
8:14 you know, taking care of the things that did pop up.
8:17 And it’s for all the teams that helped our schools get ready so
8:20 that we could have a relatively uneventful first day.
8:22 That’s the way we like it.
8:24 So I also wanted to shout out to another staff member.
8:27 And that is Dr. Melinda Mayer, who is over our charter and
8:32 choice area.
8:34 And I sit for the board on the choice appeals committee.
8:39 And I just have gotten to see up close and personal, not just
8:42 her, but her whole staff, their work they do.
8:44 Because we have parents who want their children to have
8:47 different opportunities besides their own school.
8:50 And it’s a very emotionally fraught issue.
8:52 And her team just handles that very well.
8:54 Very personal with each family and with the schools, trying to
8:56 figure out what’s the best for the kid and help them.
9:00 And so just shout out to Dr. Mayer.
9:02 And just thank you for the work that you and your team do in
9:05 making sure that goes smoothly for families.
9:08 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
9:10 All right.
9:11 Mr. Susan.
9:12 I did.
9:13 I was thinking about this and I wanted to make sure that it was
9:15 right.
9:16 But I’m almost positive that we are the first board to have
9:19 every member has a student in the schools.
9:22 So everybody here has a kid in the schools, right?
9:25 Yes, I do.
9:26 Yep, yep.
9:27 So I wanted to just say, you know, a lot of people, we can
9:29 relate to many of the parents on the day before school and
9:32 everything else.
9:33 Like how much it takes out of you, the energy, the excitement,
9:36 and then they come home and then you’re like, how did school go?
9:39 And they just basically fall asleep because they’re so tired
9:41 from the whole day.
9:42 So, but I did want to say that that’s unique.
9:44 There’s not many school boards throughout the state that I know
9:46 that every single board member has a child inside the school.
9:49 So this is a, I’m proud of you guys for having a vested interest
9:52 inside of our schools and what you do.
9:54 But I did want to say my, my day started yesterday at the bus
9:57 drivers.
9:58 And one of the things, because I always like to start there.
10:01 One of the things that many people may not know about the bus
10:03 driver situation is, is that not only are we fully staffed and
10:06 everything else.
10:07 That’s great.
10:08 But we had gotten out so far ahead that the, all of the buses
10:12 were maintained.
10:13 All of the buses were ready.
10:14 Everything was scheduled.
10:15 Correct.
10:16 You know what I mean?
10:17 Legitimately there’s a time period where you have to go through
10:20 transportation has to go through testing and everything of those
10:23 vehicles.
10:23 And sometimes they’re not already on the first day.
10:25 We have a bunch of reserves, but all the reserves are ready.
10:28 They were talking about how everybody’s been trained.
10:30 Everybody’s ready to go.
10:31 That was a phenomenal stat.
10:32 And then I also had the opportunity to go see an individual.
10:36 That’s one of the new STEM positions.
10:38 And there’s been some confusion out there about these aren’t
10:41 real STEM, they are standalone STEM positions.
10:44 And I think that one of the things that was interesting about
10:47 the conversation was, is how he’s taking each one of the school
10:51 classrooms and tying them into the STEM and then identifying
10:56 areas of growth for science and everything else.
10:59 And so we’re looking, this may be a great opportunity for growth
11:01 in our science and everything else, having that STEM coordinator
11:04 inside of every school.
11:05 And then Fiera Middle School with Ms. McNutt, she did amazing.
11:09 I stopped over at some assistant librarians and checking in with
11:11 them.
11:12 They’re excited on the day.
11:13 And then I’ve been dealing with a lot of pre-K parents that are
11:16 still trying to get their kids in because we have so we’re
11:19 advertising a lot.
11:20 So our numbers are going to be really good in those areas.
11:23 And one of the greatest ones that I did was I stopped off and
11:26 thanked some of the crossing guards, because we always forget to
11:29 stop to say thanks to them.
11:30 And they are just as excited to be there, too.
11:32 So all the way around, I’m just proud to be a part of BPS.
11:35 And we have some great staff members out there.
11:37 And here we go.
11:38 Thank you, Mr. Susan.
11:39 Mr. Treck.
11:40 Pretty close to being flawless yesterday.
11:45 That was that was really good.
11:47 I had to make sure the something didn’t happen to my emails
11:51 because I didn’t get any negative emails on, you know, drop off
11:55 lines.
11:56 Not that I didn’t get it in person on that, but it went well.
12:00 Early in the morning, despite the mosquitoes attacking, you know,
12:05 cheering on those those kiddos being dropped off and coming into
12:08 the school for the, you know,
12:09 for the first time of the year, it was it was a great experience.
12:14 Shout out to the staff and the teachers that, you know, had the
12:17 smiling faces on that were greeting those kids at the multiple
12:22 schools I was at.
12:23 It was it was the same across the board.
12:25 So, you know, shout out to all of you.
12:28 And also shout out to our communications and Janet Murnahan and
12:32 her crew on top of things for the beginning of the year.
12:35 Couldn’t be any better.
12:36 Couldn’t be any smoother.
12:37 Appreciate all the efforts and we’re excited.
12:41 It’s going to be a great year.
12:43 Thank you.
12:45 All right.
12:46 So yes, shout out to Janet and your team.
12:48 I have to say honestly, we were all over the place yesterday and
12:51 the community government community relations seem to track us
12:54 all.
12:54 And that was amazing.
12:55 So it was a wonderful first day of school.
12:57 One of the things that really resonated with me walking the
12:59 school and being there before students came in is the feeling of
13:03 a building when it’s empty and there aren’t students in the
13:05 building.
13:05 And then the change that happens when kids come in and they’re
13:08 excited and they have their backpacks and it’s just it’s
13:10 something magical to experience.
13:12 So we are so happy.
13:14 All of our kiddos are back in our classrooms and we’re hoping
13:16 for a wonderful school year and continued improvement for their
13:19 academic success.
13:20 We’ve had a lot of things that have happened.
13:21 And so I’m going to quickly run through them because I don’t
13:23 want to I don’t want to miss any of them.
13:24 But I want to give a thanks to Space Florida.
13:26 Space Florida held a signing an MOU signing for multiple
13:29 districts all over the state that have signed on to become a
13:33 Space Florida.
13:34 Academy.
13:35 And basically what that means is that our district is going to
13:38 dedicate ourselves to certain programs that are going to align
13:41 with the space industry.
13:42 And I believe Dr.
13:43 Wendell’s are over 20 districts.
13:44 I don’t know if you recall how many districts were there at that
13:46 signing.
13:47 I believe it’s 22.
13:48 22 districts that came to Brevard here, obviously, since we have
13:51 the Space Center fun event, really a lot of energy, a lot of
13:54 excitement for what the future looks like and what it holds.
13:56 Several back to school bashes obviously happened.
13:59 So thank you to Space Coast.
14:01 Space Coast gave their building up to have an indoor back to
14:03 school bash, which I will I will say might be the best thing
14:06 that ever happened because there’s air conditioning and it
14:08 happened obviously in the month of August.
14:10 So that’s very warm.
14:11 But then the north end also had a back to school bash, lots of
14:14 backpacks, lots of things that were given out.
14:16 That Sunday I got to participate in the kicks for kids event.
14:20 This is one that I selfishly think is probably the most fun
14:22 event of the year.
14:23 So the north end, they raised $30,000, which is a lot of money
14:27 to be able to afford 600 kids the ability to go into a shoe
14:31 store and pick a pair of shoes off of the shelf as long as they’re
14:35 a tennis shoe.
14:36 And so just being able to stand there with those kids, help the
14:38 parents that come in with like six kids and they’re running all
14:41 over and they don’t know where to go and go help them find shoes
14:44 and just a huge, huge, huge success.
14:46 Edna Wilson is a wonderful individual in the north end of the
14:49 county who helps coordinate this and honestly, it is a labor of
14:52 love and it is just magic that happens in there.
14:54 So thank you.
14:55 Thank you.
14:55 Thank you, Edna, for all the work that you do there to make sure
14:57 our kids show up to school on the first day and have new shoes.
15:00 Dr. Rendell, I’m going to turn it over to you.
15:03 Thank you, Madam Chair.
15:04 The first thing I want to do is thank the negotiating teams on
15:07 both sides, the district negotiating team and the negotiating
15:11 team from BFT.
15:12 And we are opening school with an agreement with our teachers
15:16 union.
15:17 And we don’t know officially because we don’t really keep track
15:20 of those types of things.
15:22 But nobody in the building can remember ever opening school with
15:26 the contract already settled.
15:28 So that’s a huge shout out to the negotiating teams and also the
15:31 board for providing direction and support.
15:34 And thank you to our community for providing the resources to
15:37 make that happen.
15:38 I want to turn back the clock a little bit to earlier this
15:40 summer.
15:41 I’m going to ask Tara Harris to come up.
15:43 She’s our assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum and
15:46 instruction.
15:47 We’ve been having these summer enrichment camps for the last
15:51 couple of years.
15:52 And we don’t always get any feedback on those.
15:58 So we got some feedback recently that we thought we would share.
16:02 So I’ll turn it over to Tara.
16:04 This is pretty special because I’m going to bring it up to the
16:08 diocese in a second.
16:09 But we actually got a thank you card written by three of our
16:11 students.
16:12 So I will share that with you.
16:14 But I want to read what they wrote in this.
16:18 The first student, Dear Brevard Schools.
16:21 I loved going to summer camp this year.
16:24 It was fun to make art projects at Manatee Elementary.
16:27 I really liked working with clay.
16:29 I also went to snack making and block printing camp.
16:33 I love all the camps and stamps I made.
16:36 Thank you for a fun summer.
16:38 And that’s from Owen.
16:40 The next comment in here that I’ll share is thank you for
16:44 providing my family an incredible and free summer camp.
16:47 They have not only given me something to do over the summer, but
16:51 have also allowed me to get a step ahead of my peers in my
16:54 studies.
16:55 I personally took your SAT prep and automotive shop camps both
16:59 at Satellite High.
17:01 I loved both of them and learned critical maintenance on
17:04 vehicles and how to prepare for the SAT.
17:07 Because of my experiences with these summer camps, I plan to
17:11 take more next summer.
17:13 So thank you for these summer camps.
17:16 And that is from Jack.
17:18 The next one is thank you for letting my family do fun summer
17:21 camps.
17:22 I took the Broadway on the beach camp.
17:25 I made tons of new friends and learned stuff at this about the
17:28 stage.
17:29 My school does not teach.
17:31 I also went to the snack making and block printing camp and
17:35 learned something new.
17:36 I can’t wait to do more next year.
17:39 So I’m going to bring this up.
17:40 But I just thought it’s super nice.
17:42 I know that a lot of our teachers go to a lot of effort and give
17:46 up some of their summer to do this.
17:48 So this is a thank you for all of the teachers out there that
17:51 make those possible.
17:52 Thank you for sharing that.
17:55 Thank you, Madam Chair.
18:00 That’s it.
18:01 All right.
18:02 Well, that will bring us to the adoption of the agenda.
18:05 Dr. Rendell.
18:06 Thank you, Madam Chair.
18:08 On this evening’s agenda, we have administrative staff
18:10 recommendations, 19 consent items, two action items, and two
18:15 information items.
18:16 Changes made to the agenda since released to the public include
18:19 the following.
18:22 Revised were A-7 administrative staff recommendations, F-9
18:25 minutes, F-11 instructional staff recommendations, G-29
18:31 department slash school initiated agreements, and H-32, which is
18:35 the 24-25 student progression plan.
18:37 Do I hear a motion?
18:39 Move to approve.
18:40 Second.
18:41 Any discussion?
18:42 No.
18:43 Paul, roll call, please.
18:44 Ms. Jenkins?
18:45 Aye.
18:46 Ms. Campbell?
18:47 Aye.
18:48 Ms. Wright?
18:49 Aye.
18:50 Mr. Trent?
18:51 Aye.
18:52 Mr. Susan?
18:53 Aye.
18:54 All right.
18:55 We are now at the administrative staff recommendations.
18:56 Do I hear a motion?
18:57 Move to approve.
18:58 Second.
18:59 Any discussion?
19:00 No.
19:01 Paul, roll call, please.
19:02 Ms. Jenkins?
19:03 Aye.
19:04 Ms. Campbell?
19:05 Aye.
19:06 Madam Chair, I’d like to take a moment to recognize a couple of
19:08 new administrators.
19:09 So, first, we’d like to congratulate Scott Swinehart on his
19:12 promotion to assistant principal
19:14 at Kennedy Middle School.
19:15 Scott, congratulations.
19:16 Come on up.
19:17 Thank you.
19:20 Board, Dr. Rendell, if I may, I’d like to first start by
19:27 thanking my wonderful wife, Shannon,
19:30 who I have the honor to share this experience with this evening.
19:34 Were it not for her efforts, her continuous encouragement and
19:38 support, I certainly wouldn’t be here.
19:41 So, thank you so much.
19:42 I appreciate it.
19:43 Thank you.
19:44 Next, our wonderful new principal at Kennedy Middle School, Ms.
19:48 Owens.
19:49 She’s only been there a few days, but I can already tell she’s
19:52 going to make a huge difference.
19:53 And I thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve
19:56 as part of your administrative team.
19:58 I really think that we’re going to do some really good things
20:00 and you’re going to be hearing a lot of really good things from
20:03 Kennedy this year.
20:05 Ms. Wybell, I hope you haven’t left.
20:07 There you are.
20:08 Ms. Wybell, Dr. Davis, all the faculty and staff that have
20:13 provided me words of encouragement and have just helped to build
20:17 my confidence in moving to this next step.
20:19 I just wanted to say a huge thank you to them and I really
20:22 appreciate it.
20:23 And finally, to the board, Dr. Rendell, I really appreciate your
20:26 vote of confidence and I look forward to continuing to serve of
20:29 our public schools.
20:30 Thank you again so much.
20:31 I appreciate it.
20:32 Thank you.
20:33 All right.
20:33 Next, we’d like to congratulate Sue Deginger, who’s being
20:36 promoted to the position of assistant principal at Bayside High
20:43 School.
20:43 Sue, congratulations.
20:44 I don’t know if I’m calling it.
20:49 I know.
20:50 I’m like, there’s a button to lower it.
20:51 It’s okay.
20:52 I’m pretty loud.
20:53 Okay.
20:54 No, we’re good.
20:55 I don’t know.
20:56 No, we got it.
20:57 There.
20:58 Now we can see you.
20:59 Okay.
21:00 There we go.
21:01 That’s good.
21:02 Yes.
21:03 I want to start by saying thank you to Dr. Rendell and the board
21:13 and Director Sherry Bowman for giving me this opportunity.
21:19 And my principal, Holly Zander, for choosing me last year for
21:26 her TOA and then allowing me to step forward due to my efforts
21:32 and guiding me.
21:33 She’s really been a servant leader for me to watch and see how
21:39 to interact with our students and faculty at this level.
21:45 I would also like to say thank you to Vicki Medeiros.
21:48 She was my guide in the dean’s office, leading me on helping me
21:52 make the decisions and guiding me through processes.
21:56 My friend, Felicia Whitfield, who really encouraged me to apply
22:01 for the TOA position because I had debated leaving my classroom
22:06 and leaving my students because it was a transition after school
22:09 had started.
22:10 And then my husband, who has supported me 30 plus years and all
22:14 my adventures and things and encouraging me, as well as the Bayside
22:19 family, the school, the staff, from the custodians to everyone
22:26 that comes on the campus encouraged me and just makes me feel
22:31 like I belong there.
22:32 And go Bears. Congratulations.
22:39 All right, we’re going to take a short recess to grab a photo
22:41 real fast, and then we will be back at 5:50.
22:47 We’ll be back at 5:50.
22:48 We’ll be back at 6:50.
24:17 We’ll be back at 7:50.
30:03 We’ll be back at 8:50.
30:20 We’ll be back at 9:50.
32:53 my first job out of college I worked sorry in the deputy sheriff’s
33:00 office can we there we go
33:01 my first job out of college I worked in the deputy sheriff’s
33:04 office in Jefferson County Alabama which
33:07 is Birmingham has a kind of a nasty history of police behavior
33:12 in that area well when I started
33:15 working there in my initial training they emphasized very
33:20 strongly that I was to obey any lawful order
33:24 that I was given and then they circled back and they said the
33:29 key word is a lawful remembering the
33:32 bad history of police dogs fire hoses not responding to calls
33:37 for help ignoring lynchings etc lawful was
33:42 the key word they were changing their practice and the new
33:47 practice was you obey lawful orders but if
33:51 you’re pressured to be a part of something that’s not lawful you
33:55 don’t do it if you stand up to the
33:58 pressure we’ve got your back if you bow to the pressure you’re
34:01 on your own and you don’t want
34:03 to be there now that’s the way that it’s supposed to be
34:07 especially with public employees they should
34:10 feel safe and confident to do their jobs lawfully and be backed
34:17 up by their employers that’s the way it’s
34:19 supposed to be but here we have books being weeded for no
34:27 discernible reason and the reason given is HB 1069 and the only
34:37 reason that I can think of is that they have fear that you’re
34:40 not going to stand up to them when those moms for liberty people
34:45 start shouting we want to have this person arrested because I
34:48 don’t like that book
34:49 now maybe I’m making a big leap but I have been trying since friday
34:58 to figure out any justification for weeding the yearling and
35:04 listing the reason as HB 1069 have you read the yearling
35:08 hopefully you have and if you haven’t you need to go home
35:08 tonight download it on your kindle or your audible and you need
35:08 to not sleep until you finish the yearling
35:08 if there was ever a book that teaches young adults children morphing
35:15 into adulthood about responsibility this is the book if there
35:15 was ever a book that addressed the number one conflict of every
35:15 teenage since the beginning of time we have been
35:15 rebelling against parental authority this is the book that
35:18 teaches parental authority this is the book that teaches
35:22 parental authority this is the book that teaches the child that
35:22 the child that teaches young adults and teaches young adults
35:29 children morphing into adulthood about responsibility this is
35:30 the book if there was ever a book that addressed the number one
35:33 conflict of every teenage since the beginning of time
35:34 which is rebelling against parental authority this is the book
35:41 that teaches the child that mom and dad actually do love you and
35:46 they know what they’re talking about and they actually are
35:49 looking out for you no matter how much you think you know more
35:51 than they do
35:52 there’s no hb 1069 reason for pulling that book they’re afraid
35:59 you won’t stand up to them if monster liberty doesn’t want
36:02 thank you not true nicole van ness kelly kirvan rochelle jolly
36:10 it’s nicole van ness
36:13 my question is directed towards matt susan um our son attends
36:29 the era middle school and our home is right at the two mile mark
36:35 for the bus route um so we know we’re not eligible for a bus
36:41 however the route used to measure the distance includes kids
36:45 like mine um and several others crossing from our neighborhood
36:49 right at the intersection of fiera boulevard and stadium parkway
36:53 um with no crossing guard by the way um so my question is is
37:00 what are we doing uh to make sure that these kids can get to and
37:04 from school safely um it’s a concern from several people in my
37:09 neighborhood
37:10 and others other neighborhoods um past fiera boulevard as well
37:18 do you guys ever answer or are you just here to listen
37:22 we we typically it’s not a back and forth conversation
37:26 i yeah okay this is my first time at one of these so i wasn’t
37:30 sure
37:30 get with you in just a second sure so just hang on until after
37:33 public comment
37:34 i appreciate it thank you guys
37:36 thanks
37:38 all right
37:40 kelly kirvin
37:42 rachelle jolly julie mantillon
37:46 when i come to the podium i am talking to five elected officials
37:52 my comments may include our superintendent if the topic warrants
37:55 it but by far and large
37:56 my comments are about school board members who have engaged in
37:59 unprofessional behavior
38:00 shady low-level corruption bad governance to include poor policy
38:04 writing discriminatory statements
38:06 and ignoring unintended consequences
38:08 disrespecting teachers and their classroom autonomy
38:10 censorship of ideas and information and unsafe practices like
38:14 guns inside our classrooms
38:14 in short the school board is not the district but the school
38:18 board does influence how people feel about the district
38:22 a list of books was released through a public records request bps
38:24 fulfilled
38:26 that list contained over a hundred thousand books that have been
38:28 weeded which also means removed from public libraries around the
38:32 district but that isn’t unusual what was unusual was the over a
38:37 hundred books removed because of hb 1069 otherwise known as the
38:41 book banning bill
38:42 books like 20 000 leagues under the sea anne of green gables heidi
38:45 little women the last of the mohican the yearling and the negro
38:49 baseball leagues tales of umpiring legendary players breaking
38:52 barriers and making american history
38:54 the public outcry was swift and the statement released to the
38:57 public by bps lacked transparency and honesty
38:59 first if you weed a book from a library because of hb 1069 then
39:03 it can never go back in until hb 1069 is repealed
39:06 that isn’t to be confused with the book removed because it’s in
39:08 poor condition because that book can be replaced
39:11 under hb 1069 the book has been banned
39:14 second the school level banning is no different than district-wide
39:17 book banning but unlike district-wide book banning
39:20 school-level book banning isn’t listed on the website unless it’s
39:23 been informally challenged
39:25 parents have the right to know every book that has been banned
39:27 from their child’s school
39:29 third if i am to believe that most of the books on the list were
39:31 banned in elementary schools and then moved to middle schools
39:34 like the statement claims
39:35 i have to ask why are we banning middle school books from middle
39:39 school students did you forget that sixth grade is middle school
39:42 we are one of a few districts in the entire state that still
39:45 houses sixth grade in elementary school but their curriculum is
39:48 not k-5 it’s middle school
39:50 the statement confirms you’re taking age-appropriate books away
39:53 from age-appropriate students or the statement was always a lie
39:56 and when it says discard it means discarded or trashed because
39:59 we all know you didn’t take a court of mist of fury out of
40:02 elementary schools
40:03 and put it in middle schools because it was always a high school
40:06 book that’s been banned in the entire district
40:08 and just so we’re clear i’m not blaming our media specialist
40:11 they’re stuck between bad laws at the state level and bad
40:14 governance from the school board
40:15 all while knowing the school board doesn’t have their backs this
40:18 list that statement was a culmination of nearly two years of bad
40:22 governance shady practices and putting politics over our
40:25 students
40:26 rochelle jolly julie mantillon and karen mcwarder
40:33 the first banned book recorded in the united states was actually
40:42 before there was even a united states
40:47 the puritans that had settled the colonies banned a book and exiled
40:50 its author thomas morton
40:52 he dared to write about the mistreatment of the indigenous
40:55 people who were here when the colonists arrived
40:58 through this was a threat to the puritans in their way of life
41:01 you see he was too friendly with the indigenous people
41:03 he advocated for them and criticized his fellow colonists his
41:07 book was published in 1637
41:10 they tried to exile him banning books is nothing new books are a
41:13 threat to narrow minds they’re dangerous to the status quo
41:17 they threatened authority and dictators
41:20 when frederick douglas’s slave master discovered that his
41:23 mistress was teaching frederick to read
41:25 he said if you let him read he will be restless he won’t be
41:29 satisfied with his condition
41:31 it was against the law for an entire group of people in this
41:34 country to learn to read
41:36 when they were allowed to read what they were allowed to read
41:41 was restricted
41:42 the number one book they were not allowed to read was the bible
41:47 because slave masters did not want the enslaved to learn
41:52 they did not want them to learn about moses and the great exodus
41:55 for it might inspire and cause them to be unsatisfied with their
41:58 enslavement
41:59 it might cause them to understand more fully their possibility
42:03 of freedom
42:04 restricting books and information was a primary and maintaining
42:08 control of them
42:09 during the reign of Hitler there was a great removal of books
42:13 books were removed or banned that were deemed un-german
42:16 un-german books were considered dangerous
42:18 they banned books about Jewish culture, Jewish organizations,
42:21 Jewish history
42:22 Nazis banned books about sexuality and race
42:25 all of this in order to control the masses and achieve a
42:29 cleansing
42:30 a state censorship and control of culture
42:33 to quote Joseph Goebbels
42:35 no to decadence and moral corruption
42:37 yes to decency and morality and family and state
42:40 once these books were banned they were then burned removed
42:44 forever
42:45 as you can see from the very beginning banning books controlling
42:48 information
42:49 and who has access to that information is not about protecting
42:52 people
42:53 it’s about controlling them
42:55 these book banners were not authority on morality and decency
42:59 they were hateful and inhumane
43:01 do you really want to be on the same list as these historians?
43:05 book banners: Puritans, Slave Masters, Hitler, Brevard Public
43:10 Schools, Matt Susan, Gene Trent, Megan Wright, Katie Campbell
43:17 Julie Mantillon, Karen McWhirter, Paul Raub
43:26 sorry, who is this one? Julie Mantillon
43:29 Julie Mantillon, okay
43:31 Julie Mantillon: hi, good evening
43:33 thank you for this opportunity
43:35 and happy new school year
43:37 normally I’m here as a champion strictly of books
43:41 but I was reflecting on current events this summer
43:44 and I realized I want to use my time today to talk about a
43:48 champion of nuance
43:50 and the more education that we have the better we can appreciate
43:57 nuance
43:58 and there were particularly three instances this past summer
44:03 that showed more education will equal greater understanding
44:09 the first was the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics
44:13 where people didn’t have enough nuance to know about
44:17 that the Olympics began in 776 as a religious festival to Zeus
44:24 and include Dionysus
44:25 and therefore they only saw things in one context
44:29 and what a disservice we do to our students when we only provide
44:34 them with one way of looking at the world
44:39 and they lack nuance
44:41 they’re essentially lacking education
44:43 the second instance this summer was the boxer from Algeria
44:49 that has become a huge topic in terms of transgender
44:54 I hear people sneer all the time
44:56 there’s only two sexes
44:57 Democrats can’t even name what a woman is
45:00 well guess what
45:02 it turns out it is more complicated
45:05 it turns out you can be born with female body parts
45:09 and still have male levels of testosterone
45:12 or maybe even two different chromosomes
45:17 is serving every student with excellence not teaching them what
45:23 is appropriate science
45:24 is banning AP psychology because it wants to engage in nuance
45:29 is that appropriate for institutions of education
45:34 and finally we had a presidential candidate who called out his
45:40 opponent for turning black
45:43 that’s not true
45:45 and no that’s the exact quote Mr. Trent
45:48 nice try
45:49 but he
45:50 I couldn’t help but think that one of the reasons that AP
45:55 African American Studies was banned in the state of Florida
45:59 was because it uses the concept of intersectionality
46:03 specifically in regards to James Baldwin that he was both
46:07 and he identified as an African American man as a game and as a
46:11 gay man
46:12 perhaps if we were able to have these concepts in education
46:20 we would better be able to understand nuance and truly
46:25 accomplish our mission
46:27 to serve every students with excellence
46:29 our mission should not be bubble wrap
46:33 thank you
46:35 Karen McWhirter
46:37 Paul Raub
46:38 Karen McWhirter
46:47 much of what I felt needed to be said has already been covered
46:53 by other speakers
46:53 but I would like to just briefly address the issue of literacy
46:59 and removing books from student access
46:59 and removing authority and disrespecting the expertise of
47:12 library media specialists
47:14 I taught English at the high school level for 20 years
47:18 and I gave it up upon moving to Florida because I didn’t feel
47:20 that this was an environment that respected my expertise
47:23 or would afford me the ability to do what I loved
47:26 and I think that there are a great many teachers leaving Florida
47:30 education or refusing to participate for that very reason
47:34 and I think that’s important
47:36 Paul Raub
47:45 Paul Raub: So, it’s, I wish I couldn’t rely so much on the grand
47:56 tradition of not learning from history
48:03 that you guys seem to live by
48:05 or just not learning
48:06 or being against learning
48:08 I mean that is how you get the coveted Moms for Liberty endorsement
48:11 Matt, good job
48:12 because learning means admitting, acknowledging that you were
48:15 wrong about something at one point
48:16 or God forbid that your parents were wrong about something at
48:18 one point or another
48:20 which seems to be the overarching concern of that organization
48:22 but
48:23 you know we like to repeat other people’s mistakes
48:26 maybe even improve on them
48:28 Escambia becomes a laughing stock for mask book removal
48:32 we can do that
48:33 we can
48:34 we can slide it under a few different reasons
48:36 we can call it everything HP 1069
48:38 Indian River County draws little pants on the No David book
48:42 well we’re just going to take it away from the elementary school
48:44 students entirely
48:45 banning by any meaningful definition
48:48 or if it was moved to middle school
48:50 please let me know the middle school readers who are clamoring
48:53 to read kids picture books
48:55 I mean good for them enjoy have fun
48:58 but it applies in other areas too
49:02 Palm Beach County has an accident where someone’s injured during
49:05 their guardian like
49:07 during training for their guardian like program
49:09 the very next morning
49:11 with that little bit of knowledge
49:13 is when you snuck that vote slid that vote under the transom to
49:17 authorize it here
49:19 we’ve seen the video from Broward County
49:24 some schools near where I used to live
49:26 taking what hours two three hours in some cases for kids to get
49:29 in the morning with the new metal detectors
49:31 but we’re going to float the idea of let’s throw those in here
49:33 as well
49:34 even though guns are so safe that we should definitely have more
49:37 of them in the schools
49:38 we should also be looking for them with the metal detectors that
49:41 have not been proven to actually improve things
49:44 but another grand tradition is we don’t like data very much
49:47 so it all checks
49:49 you do know that metal detectors won’t detect books
49:51 the things we’re actually afraid of just so everybody
49:53 understands that
49:54 and I know that you know later on once the public commenters are
50:00 done
50:00 there will be the sort of safe space where you’re going to have
50:02 your comments about misinformation
50:03 and so forth when nobody can respond
50:06 but yeah people may have misinterpreted or certainly differently
50:11 interpreted
50:11 what the word discard meant in a spreadsheet
50:14 because we thought it meant you know discard
50:17 and also history says getting books off the shelves as quick as
50:20 possible
50:21 is referred to as streamlining the process
50:23 but don’t be surprised if people don’t buy your explanation
50:26 we don’t trust you farther than we can throw you
50:29 which is not a threat it’s a figure of speech
50:32 thank you
50:35 all right
50:35 all right guys
50:40 we are is everybody good we’re going to keep on going
50:43 all right awesome that concludes the public comment section of
50:46 the meeting
50:47 so thank you for taking the time to address the board about your
50:49 concerns
50:50 we are now at the consent agenda Dr. Rendell
50:52 thank you madam chair there are 19 agenda items under this
50:55 category
50:56 thank you Dr. Rendell does any board member wish to pull any of
50:58 the items
50:59 none all right I will entertain a motion
51:05 move to approve second
51:08 any discussion
51:11 none
51:12 all right
51:13 all right so roll call please
51:15 Ms. Jenkins
51:16 Aye
51:16 Ms. Campbell
51:17 Aye
51:18 Ms. Wright
51:18 Aye
51:18 Mr. Trent
51:19 Aye
51:20 Mr. Susan
51:20 Aye
51:20 Dr. Rendell will you let us know about the items under the
51:23 action portion of the agenda this evening
51:24 thank you madam chair the first action item is H29 department
51:28 and school initiated agreements
51:30 do I hear a motion
51:31 move to approve
51:32 second
51:33 any discussion
51:34 no
51:35 all roll call please
51:36 Ms. Jenkins
51:36 Aye
51:37 Ms. Campbell
51:37 Aye
51:38 Ms. Wright
51:38 Aye
51:39 Mr. Trent
51:39 Aye
51:40 Mr. Susan
51:40 Aye
51:41 Dr. Rendell
51:42 Thank you madam chair the last action item is H30 procurement
51:46 solicitations
51:47 do I hear a motion
51:48 move to approve
51:49 second
51:50 any discussion
51:51 no
51:52 all roll call please
51:53 Ms. Jenkins
51:54 Aye
51:55 Ms. Campbell
51:56 Aye
51:57 Ms. Wright
51:58 Aye
52:00 all right we will move on to the information agenda which
52:02 includes two items for the board
52:04 to review and may be brought back for action on a subsequent
52:06 meeting no action will be taken
52:08 on these items today does any board member wish to discuss these
52:10 items no all right then we
52:16 are now at the board member reports does any board member have
52:18 anything further to report
52:20 or discuss
52:21 I will share Thursday FSBA hosted a regional meeting over in
52:26 Orlando and one of the guests was
52:29 is Max Schachter and the organization that’s responsible for the
52:33 for the school safety dashboard and
52:36 they’ve released their this year their version 2.0 that records
52:40 not just access or reporting data and
52:42 things like that but bigger pictures demographic data and so he
52:47 encouraged everyone to take a look at
52:48 at that and it is the safe schools for Alex dot org is the
52:56 organization and it’s school safety dashboard dot org and they’re
52:59 actually trying to expand outside of the state too but you can
53:02 actually go to your kid’s school and see the data and I just
53:05 wanted to point out you know he made the point of saying you
53:05 know the goal is not to trash any particular school and say oh
53:05 look at the data he actually pointed out because for those of
53:05 you who aren’t aware Max Schachter is one of the
53:05 parents whose child was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in
53:08 2018 and he made the point of saying when you look at a school
53:12 that has really low assessor data that he’s more concerned about
53:12 that because if you look at the assessor data for Marjory Stoneman
53:12 Douglas for the years prior to that and he made the point of
53:12 saying when you look at a school that has really low assessor
53:12 data that he’s more concerned about that because if you look at
53:12 the assessor data for Marjory Stoneman Douglas for the years
53:12 prior to that and he’s more concerned about that because if you
53:12 look at the assessor data for Marjory Stoneman Douglas for the
53:12 years prior to that
53:12 and he had zero bullying incidents reported zero threats zero
53:15 you know an incident that was reported and he had to say oh look
53:18 at the data he actually pointed out he gets his for those of you
53:21 who aren’t aware Max Schachter is one of the parents whose child
53:24 was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 2018 and he made the
53:27 point of saying when you look at a school that has really low
53:30 assessor data that he’s more concerned about that because if you
53:33 look at the assessor data for Marjory Stoneman Douglas for the
53:36 years prior to 2018 they had zero bullying incidents reported
53:39 zero threats zero you know an incident
53:42 so he said I don’t mind seeing a school that has lots of
53:45 reporting because that shows they’re doing the reporting and
53:48 they’re being transparent so I encourage you guys to take a look
53:52 at that resource they’ve got all kinds of data and it’s coming
53:55 from us it’s our district data that goes up to the state but to
53:57 lots of different organizations and so what they did was they
54:00 took all that information just kind of pulling it together and
54:03 it’s a project from the University of Florida so a tool for
54:06 board members to use for the public to use and so it’s just lots
54:12 of good information
54:12 and I appreciate them coming out and talking to us that I’d
54:14 share that with you that’s all I have thank you thank you any
54:18 other board members have anything to discuss or report
54:21 no no all right um I am going to address this because you guys
54:26 are all sitting here and so when we have public comment you are
54:29 right we cannot speak back to you so it is frustrating right
54:31 because that’s not a conversation it’s a one-way street it’s you
54:35 talking at us or us talking at you
54:37 and what I will say is the misinformation that’s being spread by
54:41 a few is wildly inappropriate it really is so I laugh because
54:45 one of the books that’s on this list that you spread my own
54:47 child came home with the curriculum for eighth grade class and
54:51 is reading one of these books that you claim is being banned and
54:53 removed from schools so I’m just saying this to you to say this
54:56 is not accurate you guys are believing this and it’s not
54:59 completely accurate and the other part that I will say when it
55:02 comes to these books being moved and and put from one place to
55:06 another
55:06 number one the board doesn’t have any say in that we’re not
55:36 directing a media specialist to do such a thing that is not
55:36 coming from us so if a media specialist decides to do that they’re
55:36 doing that on their own so that is not us just so you know the
55:36 board does review the books that have been challenged that is
55:36 true and that’s a process it’s in the sunshine we have the book
55:36 review committee a couple of you or one of you that spoke
55:36 tonight is on that committee so very much that is open out in
55:36 the open everyone gets to see that but what I what is a little
55:36 just disheartening to me
55:36 is that everything on the internet is not fact it’s not I hate
55:40 to say that and so that is when I look at this list I go wow I
55:45 mean my own kids reading it in our eighth grade class for
55:47 curriculum so I’m just saying to you it’s not accurate it isn’t
55:50 so I understand that people this topic is a topic that people
55:56 get very emotional one way about it or another way about it and
55:59 actually quite frankly people get emotional on both sides of the
56:01 aisle about this same topic because I don’t want my kids reading
56:04 things inappropriately but I don’t want to ban books
56:06 either so the two things kind of go side and side or side hand
56:10 in hand excuse me because you think about this too this is this
56:13 made me think about this earlier the when we talked about the FSBA
56:18 advocacy and like things that we want to go back one of the
56:20 things that I have said from the beginning that would help every
56:23 school district because this problem will never go away it’s
56:26 going to be an issue forever is if there were an explicit
56:29 content warning just the same as if my daughter who’s 13 tries
56:31 to buy a CD that has curse words in it she can’t buy it at
56:36 Walmart because it has
56:36 explicit language it requires parental consent it would be great
56:40 if the state would step in and require some type of notification
56:44 like that and then this doesn’t this no longer is us this is
56:47 okay parents are you okay with your children checking out a book
56:49 with explicit content yes or no I mean that that would be a good
56:53 thing to probably advocate for so I’m just putting that out
56:55 there to you Miss Campbell I don’t know I don’t you know that
56:58 would solve this problem tenfold I think honestly
57:00 um so that’s all I’m going to say about the book banning
57:03 rhetoric that’s going on and going all over the internet it’s
57:06 not true it’s inaccurate so um Dr. Rindell do you have anything
57:09 else further to report I have something to say to that because I’m
57:12 so tired I said this last time I’m tired of us
57:15 at the end of board meetings disparaging public comments
57:19 people can come and make a public comment and say the sky is
57:24 green
57:24 the fact that us as leaders in the community feel the need to
57:29 disparage those public comments every single time
57:33 is getting exhausting
57:34 what is being shared on the internet is not false
57:38 it was given to them as a public record you may not agree with
57:44 the interpretation but your role as a leader is then to explain
57:48 what it means correct the record you don’t disparage the public
57:53 for legitimately reading a public record that was disseminated
57:56 by our school district to them with those exact words on it it’s
58:00 ridiculous okay no no ma’am you don’t get to cut me off I’m
58:05 speaking sorry just because you don’t like what I have to say
58:08 Miss Jenkins
58:08 no Miss right I’m speaking point of order thank you point of
58:11 order Miss right I am speaking thank you
58:14 the end of this board meeting isn’t a time for us to disparage
58:21 the public where they can’t say something back if you disagree
58:25 clear the air put out a statement ask your staff members why
58:30 there’s confusion ask GCR to put out a clarification they did
58:38 not put out
58:38 a good clarification it said they were removed from elementary
58:41 school to middle school that is not accurate there are books on
58:44 that list that were banned from high schools it doesn’t make
58:47 sense it is not an accurate clarification so when the public is
58:51 genuinely confused it is our role as leaders to clean it up even
58:57 if they’re wrong if they’re wrong and confused it should
59:00 identify to you that it needs to get cleaned up so stop taking
59:06 it as an offense and just fix it if you
59:08 if you truly believe you’re correct put out a clear and clean
59:11 statement but that statement that was put out is not accurate
59:14 take a look at the list it’s not accurate so clear the air if
59:18 those books weren’t removed say they weren’t removed identify
59:21 which ones were removed but some of those were legitimately
59:23 already banned from our book committee so it’s not an accurate
59:27 statement so stop saying that
59:29 i would like to put out i would like to put out some information
59:32 that i would like to put out some information that i think would
59:32 help clear the air and the people in the public can agree or
59:36 disagree but the fact is that most of the books on that list
59:40 that said labeled HB 1069 they were removed by a media
59:43 specialist at a school not in every school but by that media
59:46 specialist at that school and so they ended up on the list
59:49 but what i would say is people need to read HB 1069 because it
59:55 includes so much more than just sexual content explicit content
59:59 it also has other things that media specialists are charged to
1:00:05 determine if those books are appropriate for the library and
1:00:08 that has to do with age level reading level and so whether you
1:00:13 know you know what and you know what i’m i will not i wouldn’t
1:00:19 want to see the public coming after these
1:00:19 media specialists and in going after media specialists because
1:00:23 they decided you know part of me would say yeah i’d like for you
1:00:26 to be able to ask why they removed this particular book from
1:00:28 this particular library but that was their professional decision
1:00:31 so sometimes we come down and oh we don’t want the professional
1:00:34 we want the professionals to be the professionals in this case
1:00:36 the professionals use their professional judgment and you can
1:00:39 put it on the legislature and say oh well that that law was bad
1:00:42 or that you think that the board is so intimidating that that
1:00:46 media specialist didn’t want went overboard but those books
1:00:49 haven’t
1:00:49 been removed from every school that had those books that’s that’s
1:00:53 not true so i am happy to say that but i do think people need to
1:00:57 go and read 1069 and i thank you miss harris because she
1:01:00 informed the board after this started coming out that in the
1:01:03 future for clarity’s sake there will be more than just HB 1069
1:01:07 it will say it will say specifically what was it was it age
1:01:12 appropriate do and i’m sorry that you guys haven’t heard that
1:01:15 because i thought that went out and it was clarified as well
1:01:18 okay so now thank you
1:01:19 let me clarify that in the future miss harris has told us that
1:01:22 the codes are different there are additional codes so it will
1:01:24 say was it explicit content was it that it wasn’t the right
1:01:28 reading level for that school all of the things that are in HB
1:01:32 1069 those things so it’ll be out there and the media specialist
1:01:36 will have those choices in addition to books that never got
1:01:39 checked out so they weeded them in addition to the book is in
1:01:42 terrible shape and so we threw it away all of those things will
1:01:45 be will be options and so we’ll be clear in the future so this
1:01:49 whole
1:01:49 process it yes it created a lot of drama unnecessarily my
1:01:52 opinion but the good thing out of it is now we will have more
1:01:56 clarity moving forward and so people will know more specifically
1:02:00 what was the reason behind the media specialist removing that
1:02:03 book
1:02:03 and thank you i appreciate that response because that is
1:02:06 legitimately what people are asking for they’re asking for the
1:02:10 transparency you give everyone else an opportunity to speak if
1:02:12 they would like to speak or not so we’ll move down the line um
1:02:15 do you have anything to say about this or add to it i think the
1:02:18 key is is that there’s misinformation
1:02:19 and there was a statement made but at any point at any point
1:02:22 point of order can you can you tell point of order thank you the
1:02:26 issue is is that they continued to spread the misinformation
1:02:30 after they were said and there was a statement out by our bps
1:02:34 and at no time did they say hey let’s meet and talk about this
1:02:37 to get the right information out and they continue to do it and
1:02:40 that’s just disgusting it’s just disgusting because here we are
1:02:43 trying to open the schools trying to do stuff and this this
1:02:49 narrative that’s not true is pushed out there and it’s wrong
1:02:49 it’s completely wrong it’s completely wrong that’s it okay all
1:02:53 right dr wendell do you have sorry jean do you and i didn’t give
1:02:55 you a chance to speak i don’t know if you want to speak okay
1:02:57 well now that i can say my second turn no no no no yes yes yes
1:03:00 do you have anything
1:03:01 no miss wright miss wright just because you don’t agree with my
1:03:04 statement doesn’t mean you can stop me from speaking
1:03:07 mr susan it was not misinformation it is not the public’s job to
1:03:12 meet with you it is your job as the leader of the community to
1:03:15 articulate information to the public
1:03:17 miss wright i don’t care if you disagree with me i have a right
1:03:27 to speak that looks like when you’re in your 30s
1:03:30 okay dr rindell do you have anything else further to report i’ll
1:03:33 make a couple comments um first of all i believe
1:03:35 the uh statement did include information that the uh in the
1:03:41 future there will be more menu options reported
1:03:44 in the in the uh decision making or whatever drop down um the
1:03:49 other thing is i really don’t want to
1:03:51 editorialize but i just find it ironic that
1:03:55 the board was criticized for removing media specialists from the
1:04:02 book review process
1:04:03 they were the trusted professionals we were told they were the
1:04:07 ones that have all the experience and
1:04:10 know what books are appropriate or whatnot this list was
1:04:14 generated this action was done by media specialists
1:04:19 the ones that supposedly have all the experience and knowledge
1:04:25 to make those types of decisions so we were
1:04:28 criticized for not having them in the process of the book review
1:04:31 committee but when they act in their
1:04:34 roles and responsibilities as a media specialist then we’re
1:04:38 criticized for them doing that i just find it
1:04:41 ironic yeah thank you all right no further comment this meeting
1:04:45 is adjourned
1:04:46 Thank you.