Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Thank you so much. I appreciate. You. Want to say something? All right.
0:08 Junior wants to say something. I don’t know how this is going to go, you guys. So go ahead, man.
0:14 You know what you’re supposed to say no. Okay. I don’t know even how.
0:19 I love my dad. I’m happy that you’re after school. I love my dad.
0:28 The way that he. During the campaign, it was really fun when we got on the scooter because when we go to knock doors, he got an electric scooter so that we could ride on it. Just so you guys know, it’s kind of obscene to see a large man and his son with a very spiked helmet riding behind an electric all throughout the area.
0:52 But it was the way that we got there and the way that we voted in America, the way that we have freedom to vote is different than many other countries. One more thing. He has no relation to me at all.
1:15 One time when we were on the scooter, we were going. And. I don’t know where that was gonna go.
1:37 Mom, are you good? Mom? No. If you wanted to. Nothing like being put on the spot.
1:51 I want to say thank you to everyone who’s here and who isn’t here tonight that helped support Matt through these very difficult months. These were some pretty tumultuous times in America. And with that being said, I want to thank the people that are at the precincts that were out there exercising their right as American citizens.
2:10 And specifically to some of the supporters of Matt’s opponent who stood out there and held signs and were examples to my children on how we should all act as American citizens. Because we really are in this for the right reasons, for the same reasons. So.
2:25 All right, I’ll let that be it. Thank you, everybody. Paul, Roll call, please.
2:44 Ms. Wright. Here. Mr. Trent.
2:47 Here. Mr. Thomas. Here.
2:51 Mr. Susan. Here. Ms. Campbell.
2:53 Here. The board will now hold a moment of silent reflection. We invite the audience to join.
3:19 Thank you. Now please rise and join me in the Pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the nation.
3:46 That brings us to the organization of the board. First, we need to elect a chairperson at which time the person is elected. They will assume the responsibility of the chair.
3:56 The board will then elect other officers and appoint individuals to committees where board representation is required or expected in various organizations across the county and the state. Before we begin, Mr. Gibbs, General Counsel will explain the process. Pursuant to Robert’s rules of order for the election of the chairperson of the board, the presiding official will be the Superintendent.
4:19 Who will call for nominations? Any board member who wishes to make a nomination should call out. The first person to call out will be number one. To make a nomination, I will assist the superintendent in determining who is the first nominator.
4:33 The superintendent will then call for the nomination by that person and go down to the second, and then the third. We’ll go back to the first person, the first nomination, and the vote on that nominee. The nominee that gets the majority vote for votes will be the chairperson.
4:47 If that person is the first nominee, that will end the process. If the first nominee does not get three votes, we will go to the second and so forth. The nominations do not need to be seconded under Robert’s rules.
4:59 I would be happy to answer any questions before we get started. Mr. Gibbs will observe. Mr. Gibbs will observe and inform me when the board member makes the first nomination.
5:13 As I may have trouble distinguishing between simultaneous voices, the floor is now open to nomination. Trent for chair. Mr. Susan’s made nomination.
5:27 Anyone else? Are there any other nominations? Do I hear a motion for nominations to be closed? Move to approve. Do I have a second? Second. A motion is made by Mr. Susan and seconded by Mrs. Wright to close the nominations.
5:48 Is there any discussion? Paul? Roll call for the vote, please. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
5:58 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
6:01 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. All members of the board in support of Mr. Trent’s nomination as chairperson of the board, please indicate by saying aye.
6:14 Any opposed? We’re just going with the roll call. Congratulations, Mr. Trent. You are now the chairperson of the school board.
6:31 Mr. Trent will now take over the meeting as the chairperson and will continue with the organizational proceedings for the selection of a vice chair. Before we do that, we will break for a minute to reorganize up here. So we’ll take a short recess.
6:45 Poor Dr. Rendell is going to be musical chairs. 4, 3, 2. Welcome back.
9:24 @ this time, I’ll open the floor for vice chairperson. Nominations. I nominate Katie Campbell.
9:30 I am. I nominate Matt Susan. Mr. Thomas made the first nomination of Katie Campbell.
9:36 Ms. Wright made the second nomination for Mr. Susan. We need a motion for nominations to be closed. So moved.
9:45 Second. Second. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye.
9:57 Okay. All members of the board in support of Ms. Campbell’s nomination as vice chairperson of the board, please indicate by saying aye. Are we gonna.
10:06 Are we gonna discussion or. However you want. Yeah, there should be.
10:11 There’s a discussion. Yeah. It doesn’t say.
10:12 Yeah, Absolutely. Okay. Open for discussion.
10:16 Yeah. I nominated Ms. Campbell because I believe she’s been on the school board for six years. She’s going into her last year, next year, which it’s my understanding, vice mayor, vice chair normally moves into the chair.
10:28 I think she served with distinction through conflict, not always agreeing with everybody or on this board, but she always does gives her level best to do what she thinks is best for the community, and I think she deserves it. I know other school board members have been in the same position where they were not nominated after many years, and I wouldn’t want to see that happen to anybody who’s deserving. Thank you, Mr. Thomas.
10:54 I wholeheartedly agree that Ms. Campbell has served with distinction and is somebody who’s a pleasure to work with. Honestly. You are always above and beyond, and you are at everything, and I appreciate your dedication to your role as a school board member.
11:05 I chose to nominate Mr. Susan. This election cycle, I think, was a rough one, and I know that you had a lot of things that you were trying to steal that you wanted to get done. And so I just feel like having Mr. Trent and Mr. Susan lead out on.
11:19 On the school board would be a good thing for Brevard County. But we’ll go ahead and take it to vote. First we vote for her.
11:27 All right. Paul, are you calling the roll with us? Yeah. Is discussion over? Any more discussion? All right, Mr. All right, the nomination is for Ms. Campbell.
11:36 Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell.
11:39 Aye. Mr. Trent. Nay.
11:43 Ms. Wright. Nay. Mr. Susan.
11:46 Nay. All right, the second nomination was for Mr. Susan as vice chair. Mr. Thomas.
11:53 Aye dot Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mister Trent.
11:58 Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye.
12:00 Mr. Susan. Aye. All right, all members of the board in support of.
12:09 We already did this, didn’t we? Yeah, we did that. We did it. All right, so let’s see.
12:16 We need to. We need to break for that and then come back in one minute. So we’ll go ahead and adjourn the meeting now, and we’ll be back.
12:27 Recess. We’re getting it. All right.
12:30 Just pull out the red folder. The leasing corporation is now called to order. Dr. Rundell.
15:01 Thank you, Mr. Chair. The item for the board to vote on is to elect the following officials to the Brevard county school board. Leasing corporation president would be the chair of the school board.
15:11 Vice president, vice chair of the school board. Secretary would be the superintendent. Treasurer would be the chief financial officer.
15:21 Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second. Any discussion? Paul, Roll call for the votes, please. Mr. Thomas.
15:30 Aye. Ms. Campbell. Aye.
15:32 Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan.
15:34 Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye.
15:36 The leasing corporation. Time. Certain meeting is now adjourned.
15:42 Now, the organization of the board meeting is back in session. All right, Next is to the adopt the dates, times and locations for fiscal year 2025 work sessions and school board meetings. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second, any discussion? Yes, really quickly.
16:08 So, on the calendar board on the 28th found out after our meeting that the Model Student Senate is happening that day and they’re going to need this space during the day, at least up until 3:00 in the afternoon. So I’d ask Dr. Rendell if we can either put the work session in the superintendent’s conference room that day or move the whole meeting to the 21st. And I didn’t know if you had a recommendation, Dr. Rendell, after our conversation.
16:30 Yeah. So the conflict is, as Mrs. Campbell stated, the room has been reserved for the Student Model Senate, and we don’t want to kick them out of the room. They will be done by 5:30.
16:41 So theoretically, we could hold the workshop work session in the conference room or somewhere else and hold a business meeting here. If we wanted to stay on January 28th, we do have the week of January 21st open. And my suggestion would be just to move the entire package, the work session and the business meeting, to the 21st.
17:01 And that way there’s no conflict at all. Because even if we were to stay on the 28th and do the workshop in the conference room, but then the business meeting in here, staff would have to rearrange the room, even for the business meeting. So I’d rather just not do that.
17:14 And we don’t want those kids to be right. Yeah, I’m in favor, I think, in fairness, of staff to move it to the 20. It’s the 21st or 22nd.
17:22 Sorry, the. I’m looking at the calendar that week, the week earlier. One more thing, just to kind of highlight in case the public’s not following and not aware of it.
17:31 The board meetings are all moving back to the 5:30pm time frame, so workshops will be happening beforehand before the board meetings. Just so the public is aware, there will be no more daytime meetings. So everyone is on the same page moving forward with that.
17:42 Except for in the summer. Except for during the summer, that’s right. Yeah.
17:45 So, Mr. Chair, I would make an amendment. Oh, we just lost my tv. A motion that we amend, we adopt the calendar with the exception of moving the January 28th work session and board meetings to January 21st.
18:02 Okay. Did I hear a motion? Second. Yeah, that’s a motion.
18:05 Yeah. Follow roll call, please. Mr. Thomas.
18:10 Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
18:13 Mr. Susan. Aye. Ms. R. All right, that brings us to board authorization, Dr. Rendell.
18:21 Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s a requirement to authorize the superintendent to have signature effect simulated to the calendar itself. You gotta.
18:26 You gotta approve the calendar as amended. Okay. Because she just amended the.
18:30 Oh, that was just a vote on the calendar as amended. Yep. Second.
18:33 All right. Discussion. All right, roll call.
18:36 Paul. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
18:38 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent.
18:40 Aye. Mr. Season. Aye.
18:41 Ms. Wright. Aye. All right.
18:44 Now that brings us to the board authorization, Dr. Mandel. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s a requirement to authorize the superintendent to have signature facsimiles made of the chairperson and superintendent to be used for signing checks and also to improve the continued use of the current signature facsimiles for district checks until new facsimiles are received.
19:04 A motion and vote of the board are required to do this move to approve. Second. Any discussion? All right, Paul, Roll call, please.
19:17 Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell.
19:19 Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye.
19:20 Mr. Susan. Aye. Ms. Wright.
19:22 Aye. All right, next, we need to appoint board representatives and alternatives to various committees for the upcoming year. Do I hear a motion move to approve second discussion? Yeah.
19:37 Yeah, go ahead. Mr. Chair. I’d just like to make the board aware.
19:42 I forgot to mention in our last meeting on November 12, that the Brevard County Continuum of Care would like a representative from the school board to serve. They. And I’m already attending the meeting.
19:55 I’m happy to volunteer unless somebody else wants it. I just want to make you guys aware. Sounds good.
20:00 I’m good with it. Yeah, fine. Yeah.
20:03 Also, I think that it was corrected in the agenda item itself about SIAC, the Insurance Advisory Committee. That it’s Mr. Susan and then Mr. Thomas as a background. The attachment had.
20:13 It just was Mr. Thomas. So we’re voting on it as is written in the agenda item. Okay.
20:19 Which is the correct one? Right. Okay. Paul, roll call, please.
20:25 Someone going to amend to add continuum of care. Yeah. Amend to continuum of care and the.
20:31 That’s it. And Mr. Thomas appointed. Mr. Thomas is representative.
20:34 Need a second. Yeah. And Mr. Thomas is representative for that second.
20:38 Second discussion. Okay. Paul.
20:42 Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell.
20:44 Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye.
20:45 Mr. Susan. Aye. Ms. Wright.
20:47 Aye. Now, as amended. Now we gotta go back and vote on it as amended.
20:52 Move to approve it as amended. Second. Paul.
20:56 Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell.
20:57 Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye.
20:59 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye.
21:03 All right, at this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and Dr. Undell an opportunity to recognize students, staff, or members of the community. And who wants to go first? Go Ahead, John’s on the hot. John, you got it.
21:17 It doesn’t matter to me. I’m like jumping right in. I’d just like to thank or give a shout out to our administrat assistant, Lena Farnham.
21:26 She was awesome and helped me get onboarded. She really went above and beyond. She helped me get organized.
21:32 She got all my equipment scheduled, got all my. A bunch of my meetings with department heads scheduled. It’s just been a great resource and I just very much appreciate everything she did.
21:42 So thank you, Lena. Absolutely. She loves when we focus on her and give her all the attention.
21:51 Lena, we’re over here. I’ll be happy to go next. Thank you.
22:00 So I’ve got. Every time we. It’s been more than two weeks since the meeting we have, our lists are a little bit longer.
22:05 There were just so many great things to celebrate. So I’ll try to move through these quickly as possible. First of all, I would like to share some good news that Mr. Dufresne, our head of HR, shared with me the other day, and that is, as a district, we are 98% hired.
22:20 So great job. And that goes all the way from HR to the schools, the administrators who are filling those jobs. So that is quite a feat for any organization to say that they’re 98% hired.
22:31 I know if you’re one of those people who’s waiting on one of those 2% jobs to get filled, you’re not super excited. But as a board and as an organization, I think we can celebrate. That is.
22:38 That is a lot. That’s huge. So good job, team.
22:46 I visited West Melbourne School for Science last week and was just really excited to hear of a new partnership they have adopted Oak park, who we’re going to recognize. So the assistant principal who used to be at West Melbourne School for Science has moved to Oak Park. We’re finally going to get to recognize tonight.
23:02 You know, hurricanes and things kind of got in the way. But I was super proud of the team at Westmuller School for Science who has adopted Oak Park. A lot of new teachers who don’t have things like classroom libraries and, you know, the PBIS store.
23:16 And so the parents at West Melbourne School for Science are very generously delivering goods to Oak park up in the far north to make sure that that school has the resources that they need. So good job, Westmore School for Science. And I just love to see this partnership as we grow, you know, these relationships across the district.
23:33 Good job. I was at Jupiter elementary last week and I went there, I was invited for the holiday meal. You know, Thanksgiving.
23:42 Christma, you get the turkey and gravy and oh, my goodness, I just love a good cafeteria meal. It’s so awesome. But she wanted me to walk around.
23:51 Ms. Tracy wanted me to walk around and say hi to people. I’m like, no, I came here to work. So I put my hairnet on, and I was in charge of putting the cranberry jelly on the apple crisp and getting it on the line.
24:02 And so I’m just telling you what that team worked so hard. They invited so many parents. There were over 250 parents on top of the 700 some odd kids that they fed every day.
24:13 So, you know, we’re knocking at 1,000 people. Actually, they did over a thousand with the staff and everything. So over 1,000 meals in a day of just.
24:24 The lines were long, but we moved everybody through. Actually got through the whole entire lunchtime with just a little bit of a delay. So great job, team at Jupiter.
24:31 And it was super fun, super fun last Wednesday. And I’m not going to leave leave the big one for you. But last Wednesday, we recognized all of our Employees of the Year for each school and each department.
24:43 And there was one. And I’m sure somebody’s going to share the big announcement of our Employee of the Year. But there was one person who wasn’t there, and he is very special around here.
24:54 He’s special to the board and particularly special to government and community relations. But he wasn’t there. Which is ironic because this person’s word work is highlighted all over that ceremony.
25:05 So every. All of our six finalists for the Employee of the Year, they have the video team that comes in and interviews them. And there is one person who makes those videos and cuts them up.
25:16 They get so nervous. They were so nervous. I was like, no, don’t worry about it, because Mike Francisco will edit it down and he’ll make you look good.
25:24 And he did such a great job. But Mike is the Employee of the Year for Government Community Relations, and he wasn’t there Wednesday night. So I would like Mike to step out of his back closet back there where we keep him hidden so that we can recognize him as the Employee of the Year for Government Community Relations.
25:40 He’s not going to come out. Come on, Mike. We have a key.
25:51 There are so many other deserving people that. I appreciate this, though. I really do.
26:01 But I feel like there’s other deserving people and I enjoy my space back here behind the scenes. And I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you very much.
26:12 You are very welcome. So. And nobody at home is going to see that on the camera because Mike’s in charge of the camera.
26:24 The last thing I wanted to share and sorry for going so long, but this one’s really important, is a sad item and that is that Mr. Bob Barnes, a, I hate to just call him a humanitarian or a philanthropist, but a person who is the heart and soul of this community passed away last week and I just want to recognize him. Mr. Barnes was. I can’t call him Mr. Barnes.
26:47 It’s just Bob was one of the founders of the Children’s Hunger Project. And I was looking through some of the memories that the community shared and they had the picture of the very first delivery of meals, which is like 20 something meal packets to Riviera elementary back in 2011 when Linda Piccolo was the principal. And we’ve grown because it’s been my privilege to serve on the Children’s Hunger Project board for the last four years with Bob.
27:18 We’ve grown from those 27 meals, I think it was at Riviera, at one school, to now we’re serving 4,500 kids a week weekend meal packets in cooperation with the elementary schools, the charter elementaries, and almost every single one of our elementaries and BPs, all the ones who had needs. He had such a great vision and has impacted now, you know, over a decade, 13 years of this particular organization. In addition to that, Bob was the founder of Aspiration Academy, which has just taken off in the last few years.
27:52 He really wanted to see low income kids who had, who were gifted, really have that enrichment that they needed to have people from the community come around them. And so Bob will be greatly missed. And I just wanted to just give honor and respect and just acknowledgement of his great work in this community.
28:14 And it just, we can’t go unnoticed because he’s had a great impact even though he didn’t work for bps, but he absolutely had a great impact on the students of our, of our county. And I will very much miss him and just appreciate all the work that he did in his lifetime. Thank you.
28:31 Thank you. Thanks Ms. Thanks, Ms. Ms. Campbell. Ms. Wright.
28:38 All right. Bob is on here on my list as well. So when you lose someone like that in your community, their legacy lives on through how we honor him and how we serve our community.
28:47 And I have no doubt, I know there’s a couple individuals that are in the audience tonight that will make sure, and we will do our part to make sure that Bob’s legacy lives on and that children are still fed and that his vision for Aspiration Academy carries on. So thank you, Ms. Campbell, for mentioning that. That is a huge loss for our community, and I know there’s a lot of hearts that are hurting right now.
29:06 All right, so I’m going to. I’m going to change gears and go from there, and I’m going to congratulate. We had our Employee of the Year event that took place last week.
29:13 It was so much fun. Such a night under the stars. It was very, very just fun.
29:19 Brevard Schools foundation did an exceptional job there. The Alliance Cyber was the facility we had it at, which was amazing. If you’ve never seen that, that was a really exceptional place.
29:27 But I want to give a shout out to Ms. White from Madison Middle School, who ends up being Brevard County Public School Employee of the Year. There were so many to pick from. I don’t know how anybody picked one, but she is such a deserving, exceptional individual that is loved by everyone in her community and serves her community exceptionally well.
29:43 And so we’re honored to have her here at bps. And congratulations. She is very deserving of that award.
29:49 I also want to give a shout to a couple of our football teams. So the North End. I’m going to say it because I’ve lived up there my entire life, so we haven’t always had the best football programs, Right? And so I can say that because, again, I graduated from the North End and those are my people.
30:01 Those are my. My kids. I love them.
30:02 But we had a couple teams that advanced into district games this week, this weekend. So on Friday night, the Titusville Terriers beat another one of our schools here in Brevard county, and they are advancing on. And so I want to give them a shout out because it’s an amazing feat for them.
30:18 Titusville hasn’t always had the best program for football. I think. Dr. Wendell, you.
30:22 You remember Titusville’s football program. I was a Titusville High alumni myself. So they’re doing good things up there, so kudos to them.
30:28 And then also want to give a shot to Space Coast. So Space coast football team as well, advanced. So lots of really, really exciting things that were happening.
30:35 I do want to clear up a little bit of. I got quite a few phone calls and I reached out to our athletic director in regards to, hey, what’s going on? Why was Astronaut kicked off of the finals or the bracket? And I’m going to do my very best to explain this because again, this is not my arena, but from what I Was told the FHSAA updates their standings, and they usually do that every single week while we had a hurricane. And that obviously displaced some of the games.
31:01 So when that took place, they were given the opportunity to make up some of their games that were missed during that hurricane week. So when the makeup week came, they ended up dumping, like, two weeks worth of data, and that’s how the scores and how they ranked in their brackets shook out. So I know that astronaut was really bummed because they beat a team that they thought should have really put them in the finals.
31:22 But unfortunately, with the makeup games that took place and how it all shook out, that didn’t work out. And so not to discredit what astronauts done up there. So keep on charging on, boys up there.
31:31 You guys are doing an amazing job, and I know that, you know, big things are coming from them. Also want to give a shout out to. We had a wonderful luncheon at Titusville High school, and so Ms. Barbara up there and Chef Noble put on a luncheon to honor our operations personnel for the north end of the county.
31:47 And a lot of times, these are our unsung heroes that come in and fix an emergency, you know, a pipe bus, they’re there to fix it. Lights out, we need something. They come in and they fix it, and they make sure that everything runs all the time, and they get forgot sometimes.
32:00 And so it was a really nice luncheon to honor those individuals and just to say, hey, we see you, we recognize you, we thank you for all that you do. So shout out to them for an exceptional lunch. And I think that is all that I have.
32:12 Mr. Susan, thank you. I would like to take a second and speak about Bob Barnes also. I know that it’s kind of repetitive, but it’s needed.
32:21 Brevard lost one of its most amazing citizens that it’s had in a long time. Bob and I became friends back in 2015, right before I became a member on the school board. And his passion just never stopped.
32:34 He consistently would. I mean, as soon as he had made the decision that he was no longer going to be in charge of the Children’s Hunger Project, and he moved off of that board, he immediately started to work on his next project. And if everybody knew where Bob lived and where he hung out and everything else, he comes from humble beginnings.
32:52 He lived in a humble house, and he consistently looked out for the most needy inside of our county. And there is nobody that’s done more for our kids, because many of you know that if you can’t eat, you can’t do school, you can’t, you know, go to the classroom, you can’t. There’s a lot of things that you can’t do.
33:08 I’m sorry, I’m getting a little choked up here because I really cared about that man and we lost a good human being. So I did want to give a shout out to him and all that he stood for for our community and what he did for our kids. I also wanted to say we had a big deal this weekend.
33:22 This past weekend, elementary school sports kicked off, and we had over 1000 kids at 36 different schools playing against each other in what is now like, it’s caught fire across our camp county in that many of our schools that did not participate because. And I gotta say, this clause, there’s a reason for it, because all the principals were very excited, but because of facilities or staffing or anything, right at the time that school started, they weren’t able to field the soccer. They’re going to be moving towards flag football in the spring.
33:55 And what that was done for, just so everybody knows, is that we have a series of people and families who can’t afford or because their schedule doesn’t permit, allow them to go out and play sports. And we lose a lot of those students to childhood obesity. Video games, cell phones, all of that stuff that stimulates them.
34:16 And so what happens is that we needed to move into something that would go that way. And so bringing in elementary school sports. Dr. Ramer and Dr. Rendell were amazing at putting this thing together with Kevin Robinson, and they pushed it out.
34:28 And there is more. I will tell you that the thing that I heard about that was probably the most near and dear to my heart was that Ms. Hamilton Brown from Suntree elementary, the assistant principal, was at the Gulf View because she attended Gulfview Elementary. She was out there with a cowbell in a soccer game, which, you know, if anybody’s ever been to a cocoa football game, you bring cowbells.
34:50 But Ms. Hamilton Brown brought that cowbell to the soccer game and had everybody riled up. And those kids were all playing each other. And the comments that.
34:57 That even Mr. Ramer and I were talking about today was, can we keep playing? Like, can the season keep going? The kids were so excited that they wanted to keep going. So I wanted to say all the kudos out to Dr. Rendell and Mr. Ramer and Kevin Robinson for putting that together. There is no other.
35:12 And I’ve called all my friends, which is about 40 to 50% of the school districts across the state, just in the last two days to find out. I don’t know of any other school district that has elementary school sports in it, period like that. So we’re groundbreaking in this area.
35:27 And I wanted to say one more thing about this topic. We couldn’t afford to get the soccer balls for the program. And we were sitting there, and we were looking around.
35:37 Like, Kevin calls me, and he says, matt, we don’t have any capital. Like, the soccer balls are expensive. They’re $14 a ball.
35:42 We need, like, 300 of them. We need goals. We need all this stuff.
35:45 So inadvertently, I was sitting there, and I had a former student named Alex Delhagen who manages. Like, I keep saying, I think he manages only about 11 Walmarts, but I’m convinced it’s more like 45. So I called him and I said, hey, can you donate those soccer balls? And he did.
36:02 And Alex is sitting in here tonight because I asked him to come because I was gonna embarrass the heck out of him for it. So, Alex, can you stand up for a second? Thank you, Alex. And that’s what a community is.
36:15 Children attend Brevard Public School. And I’m very honored to have had you as a student and for what you did for us to save that. So thank you, Alex.
36:23 I also did want to do one more thing. Ms. Wright wants to brag about her Northern teams. Okay.
36:29 You know, Titusville and everything else, but one of my teams is playing her team next week, so Titusville is playing Eau Galley. So I didn’t know. Ms. Wright, what we did in the past is whoever lost would wear the T shirt or the shirt of the other team at the next game.
36:49 So my wife graduated from Titusville, so I’m okay with this thing that if it doesn’t go the wrong way, but I didn’t know if you wanted to take that challenge. Oh. Challenge accepted, Mr. Susan.
36:59 All right. All right, Terriers, let’s do it. Make me proud.
37:03 So, o’, Galley, the last time we did this, I lost. Rockledge lost to Coco, and I ended up with a. A mascot cocoa tiger head on for half of the meeting.
37:12 So this is interesting. So thank you so much. Wait, hold on.
37:15 Wait a minute. You said T shirt, so just be. No T shirts.
37:20 I was trying to slide it in there. No, it’ll be T shirt. Just T shirt, T shirt.
37:25 All right, thank you. That’s all I have. All right, we have with lots to get to, so.
37:30 Are we talking too much? Sorry. No, no, that’s fine. I wasn’t saying anything I was.
37:34 Let it go. But if you’ve been to a Coco graduation, you’re familiar with that cowbell as well. Yeah, they love.
37:40 I love it. And unfortunately, I don’t believe I have any district 2 football teams that are still going. So Coco’s going.
37:47 Coco’s going. Oh, absolutely. Oh, let’s put that wager.
37:51 I can’t wait for that one. Yes, there it is. All right, so that brings us to the adoption of the agenda, Dr. Rendell.
37:59 Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this evening’s agenda item, we have administrative staff recommendations, 38 consent items, three action items, and one information item. Changes made to the agenda since it was released to the public include revisions.
38:14 A9, appointment of board representatives, A10, administrative staff recommendations, F16 minutes, F17 expulsions, and G57 procurement solicitations. They hear a motion, move to approve. Second.
38:30 Any discussion? Paul, Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
38:34 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent.
38:36 Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye.
38:38 Ms. Wright. Aye. We’re now at the administrative staff recommendations.
38:42 Do I hear a motion, move to approve? Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Paul.
38:48 Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell.
38:50 Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye.
38:52 Mr. Susan. Aye. Ms. Wright.
38:55 Aye. Mr. Chair, I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize. Like to take this opportunity to recognize the following individuals who are in attendance.
39:03 We need to congratulate some people on some promotions, so first up, Karen Berkowitz. From the position of literacy coach at Enterprise Elementary School to the position of assistant principal at Oak Park Elementary School. Congratulations, Karen, now you have.
39:20 You have to come up to the microphone. A speech. Oh, yeah.
39:25 You’re not getting out of it. Thank you, Dr. Rendell and board members. Hang on.
39:31 We got a lot quick. Yeah, there was a tall guy there before. Thanks.
39:44 Yeah, that was great. All right, thank you, Dr. Rendell and board members. I appreciate this opportunity.
39:51 Assistant Principal. And I appreciate the opportunity to continue our district’s mission to serve every student with excellence as a standard. A sincere and heartfelt thanks to my Enterprise family.
40:05 You have given me great memories and encouragement and have watched me continue to grow through my professional career. A huge thank you to Mrs. Hyam and Mrs. Wood. You both have been instrumental in and my journey.
40:19 Most importantly, a heartfelt thank you to my husband, Jared and my children. You have given me unwavering support and encouragement, and I could not do this without you all. And finally, Mrs. Rouse, thank you for believing in me, giving me an opportunity to work by your side, and I pledge to give my all, and I am looking forward to being, becoming a member of the Oak Park Elementary Family, let’s soar.
40:48 Oak Park Eagles. Karen, well done. Next up, Megan Falcone, who’s moving from the position of teacher on assignment at West Melbourne School for Science to the position of assistant principal at West Melbourne School for Science.
41:06 Congratulations. I want to express my Deepest gratitude to Dr. Rendell, the school board members, Dr. Clark and Mrs. Benson for this incredible opportunity to serve as the new assistant principal at West Melbourne School for Science. I’m truly honored to be entrusted with this role, and I’m excited to work alongside such dedicated educators and staff.
41:36 Thank you for believing in my abilities to learn. Look forward. Thank you for believing in my abilities.
41:41 I look forward to contributing to the continued growth and success of our students. I would also like to take a moment to thank my family for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout this journey. Their belief in me has been a constant source of strength, and I am deeply grateful for their presence in my Life.
41:57 Together with Mrs. Benson, the staff, students and families, I am confident that we can create a positive and enriching environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive and reach for their full potential. Thank you again for this incredible opportunity. I’m excited about this journey ahead of me.
42:13 Thank you. Well done, Megan. Next up, Kathy Garris, who’s moving from the position of assistant principal at Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High to the position of assistant principal at Jefferson Middle School.
42:29 Congratulations, Kathy. Thank you very much. I would like to first thank my husband and my family for their support and for always being there for me.
42:43 To Dr. Rendell for actually hiring me at Cocoa beach and being there to set the stage for me, for everything that I’ve done over the last few years. Mr. Powers, Cole Manis, Mark Zeiler. Like, I couldn’t have done it without you three.
42:55 It’s been amazing working with you. You guys and I will miss you incredibly much, but we’ll get through it. And then to Mrs. Trine for taking the chance with me and giving me this opportunity for all these amazing growth moments we will have together.
43:08 And I’m looking forward to it. So thank you. Great job, Kathy.
43:18 So next, Jacob Schweik, from the position of teacher on assignment at Melbourne High School to the position of assistant principal at Melbourne High School. Jake, congratulations. Good evening.
43:31 I’d like to start by just thanking my family for their support through this journey. I’m truly honored and grateful to be appointed as the new assistant principal at Melbourne High School. I’d like to start by thanking the school board, Dr. Rendell, Dr. Kirk, and the Milhi administration and Staff, for your trust and confidence in me.
43:49 This is an exciting and humbling opportunity, and I’m thrilled to be part of such a dedicated and passionate team. I believe in the power of education to transform lives, and I’m committed to fostering an environment where both students and staff can thrive. Together, we will continue to create a culture of collaboration, inclusion, and excellence.
44:06 And I look forward to working alongside the administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members to support our school’s growth and success. Go, Bulldogs. We have another one that’s not on the agenda tonight.
44:23 Board members. Earlier this year, we promoted Kelly Rouse, position of principal at Oak Park Elementary School, but it was a daytime meeting and we’d rather her be at the building working, so she’s here tonight. So Kelly would like to have you come on up.
44:38 Congratulations, Kelly Rouse, fairly new principal at Oak Park. Thank you so much for squeezing me in. I’ve been at Oak park for over a month, and I appreciate it, Dr. Rendell.
44:53 I’m so thankful for the opportunity. I told him when I got the call that I was so excited to go back to title one, and I just love it. Board, thank you so much.
45:02 I am so excited to continue the work that Ms. McDonough has put in place and continue to grow Oak park and get to that A rating. I’m so excited to be working alongside Mr. Reed as my director and just supporting the great things and. And then taking on Ms. Berkowitz, my new AP, and just all the changes that are happening at Oak Park.
45:19 Thank you again for this opportunity. Mr. Chair, I ask that we take a short recess to take some pictures. All right, we’ll recess the meeting.
47:50 Sa. It’s. The meeting is back in session, Dr. Rendell.
50:04 Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize. We had another administrative appointment that we did not recognize yet, and we want to make sure that person gets their opportunity in the sun.
50:11 So definitely want to congratulate Barbara Kelly for her promotion to position of Assistant Director of Student Services. So, Barbara, congratulations. Coming up to the podium.
50:23 We might have had a. I think we would have been in trouble if we hadn’t got you up here. And then you get your own picture.
50:32 That’s embarrassing. All right. Good evening, Dr. Rendell and members of the school board.
50:37 I want to begin BY Sincerely thanking Mrs. Dampier and Mr. Armstrong for this incredible opportunity. I’m excited to join an exceptional team. As I reflect on my leadership journey, I’m reminded that I’m here today because of the incredible leaders who have mentored and supported me along the way.
50:56 There are so many individuals I could thank, but I’d like to take a moment to recognize a few who have had profound impact on my growth. Mrs. Vega, Mrs. Wybelt, Mrs. Bowman, Mr. Shearer, Mr. Alba, and above all, Mrs. Meerutrain. Their wisdom, encouragement, and guidance have shaped me into the leader I am today, and I will forever be grateful for their support.
51:21 Jefferson Middle School will always hold a special place in my heart. I will deeply miss working alongside such a dedicated and talented team of administrators, teachers, and staff. The students and parents of Merritt island are exceptional, and I’m fortunate to build strong, lasting relationships with this community.
51:41 I’m so grateful that my daughter and friends are here tonight to share in this journey with me. My children and friends have been my cheerleaders along the way through my career in BPs, and their love and support means the world to me. As I embark on this new chapter of my leadership journey, I am both excited and humbled by the opportunity to continue making a positive impact on our schools and supporting our students.
52:05 Thank you again for this incredible opportunity, and I look forward to the work ahead and the chance to contribute to our schools in this new role. Thank you. Congratulations.
52:20 Yes. So if you and your posse could just stick around till the end of the meeting, we’ll get your. We’ll get your picture then.
52:26 No. Do you want to do it now? Yeah. Okay.
52:29 Short break. Come on, let’s. You’re like, we’re gonna flip.
52:38 Sa. It. We’re now at the public comment portion of the meeting.
55:22 We have how many speakers? Three speakers, and each will receive three minutes. In an effort to remain unbiased to the speakers at the podium, I will be asking our parliamentarian, our attorney, Mr. Gibbs, to announce the speakers. I will be managing the clock.
55:37 I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public of the rules written out in Brevard Policy 016. All comments should be directed to the board or individual board members, staff members, or individuals shall not be addressed by name. Abusive, obscene, or irrelevant comments will not be permitted.
55:55 Orderly conduct is expected from all public comment participants. The presiding officers may interrupt, warn, or terminate the participant’s public comment opportunity. Mr. Gibbs, please call the first three speakers.
56:07 Anthony Kaluchi. Bernard Bryan. Beleen.
56:10 Kane. Yeah, we’ll figure it out. My name is Anthony Kluchy.
56:24 I’m the president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers. First of all, congratulations to Mr. Susan on your reelection and Mr. Thomas on your election. Mr. Trent, congratulations on being selected as board.
56:36 Board chair. Also, I want to thank this board for Staying engaged with us, hearing our concerns and acting on them. I look forward to the continued collaboration.
56:45 You might remember several months ago I emailed you and spoke here urging you to be very cautious of the projection that was being shared by your health insurance consultant. Locked in. I was concerned that the forecast did not accurately take into account this year’s board paid premium increases in March.
57:04 The projection we worked with at SIAC and at the bargaining table showed that the plan would be $12 million in the hole by the end of the year. Currently, we have over a two million dollar surplus. In other words, this projection is on course to be $14 million off.
57:23 The district made some serious decisions based on this faulty projection. Two lessons to learn here. Some of you might not like the messenger, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the message.
57:35 Secondly, we must have accountability for such a grave error. Who owns that mistake? The consultant? The benefits director? The superintendent? Unfortunately, the lesson that I’ve learned in this district is that most times accountability is only reserved for our teachers, while this $14 million flub will most likely be ignored. Day in and day out, I see summaries of conferences and letters of reprimand going in teachers files for what I see as a bad day, a one off.
58:03 Conversely, when a principal messes up, there’s a discussion and that’s that. It’s a double standard that I’ve been pointing out for a long time. I pulled the records from last year and not one principal was disciplined.
58:14 To be clear, I’m not suggesting that they be disciplined, but it’s time to treat our teachers with the same respect. Our teachers are doing a very tough job right now and they cannot be expected. Expected to be flawless.
58:26 Another issue I want to bring to your attention is that there are ese teachers being stretched thin and are burning out due to vacancies. Yesterday I counted 50 ESE vacancies and by the way, there’s 132 total vacancies. That’s not a badge of honor for our teachers who are covering these positions.
58:46 To be fair, Ms. Dpierre and her team are doing an incredible job getting the students the services that they need. I know we can’t fill these vacancies quickly, but there is something you can do. You can choose to pay all these ese teachers the vacancy pay and include our SLPs.
59:04 It doesn’t fix the issue, but it makes it bearable for our employees. Because if it becomes unbearable, more quit and the problem worsens. The money is there to do so.
59:15 In fact, nearly $11 million budgeted for salary last year was unspent due to vacancies. Thank you, Bernard Bryan. Valene Kane.
59:34 Thank you, board. Thank you, Dr. Rendell and this wonderful board. My name is Bernard Bryant and I’m representing the southward branch of the NAACP as well as the concerned citizens of South Brevard.
59:49 First, I just want to let this board know that my heart is heavy and I thank you for recognizing the passing of Bob Barnes. I’ve known Bob Barnes for about two years and I’m going to tell you, as you all know, Bob was a wonderful gentleman. He loved children.
1:00:11 He want every child to have food to eat, and he also wanted every children to really learn how to read and basically do math. So that is Bob’s vision. And I can’t tell you how much my family is really going to miss him.
1:00:30 But I just want to share with you. I mentor 16 kids, all boys on the south side, and I always do a survey. I say, tell me, what do you need in order to be successful and always in the top three? Most of those kids say, please teach me how to read.
1:00:50 Please teach me how to do math. So I just want to remind this board that that is our focus. We have analyzed your data.
1:00:59 You know, looking at the last three years, the gap hasn’t changed much at all. If you look at last year from 2022 to 2023, we only saw about a 1% gain. And that gain is not.
1:01:13 It’s not adequate, you know, to be honest with you, because the gap was around 30 to 35%. So I just want to encourage this board to continue to focus on our young people because they will not come out of poverty unless they read and do math. And I also would like to thank Dr. Rendell as well as Dr. Dampier.
1:01:37 We realize that chronic absenteeism is a problem, and I would like to thank Dr. Rendell and Dr. Dampere for educating our community. Because if you have a chronic absenteeism rate in the 32% across the district, if a child is not in school, the child cannot learn. So thank you, Dr. Dampier, and thank you, Dr. Rendell.
1:02:01 And then lastly, we understand, and I want to say I do have hope with this, that if you don’t have a good early learning start VPK and the gap will never go away. So I just want to thank this board. We have hope in that area and we know some things are happening behind the scenes, but I just want to remind you that we have hope there and please continue to support our children in the early learning area.
1:02:33 Thank you so much. Valene King. Valerie.
1:02:39 Valerie. Yeah, Valerie. Not on the form, but.
1:02:46 Good evening school board members and Dr. Rendell. I am a proud BPS teacher. I want to express my sincere gratitude for your dedication and effort in shaping the future of our students, teachers and community.
1:03:01 Your commitment to excellence, your thoughtful decision making and your continuous advocacy for our schools has made a profound impact on the lives of the students at bps. Your willingness to tackle difficult challenges, listen to different perspectives and prioritize the well being of each student and even when you’re going through difficult and overwhelming situations in your own personal life is so appreciated. I hope as a community you will please join me in expressing our heartfelt thank you to our school board members and superintendent for their invaluable service to our staff and students.
1:03:37 Their leadership and contribution is a true asset and invaluable to our district. I am deeply grateful for their solid commitment to our students future. Thank you.
1:03:57 That concludes public comment. We thank you for taking time out of your schedule to address the board with your concerns and suggestions. I would like to remind the public that the board is accessible for further conversations outside of our business meetings.
1:04:09 Through scheduling a meeting that moves us onto our consent agenda. Dr. Rendell, sorry to interrupt before the meeting started. We usually are customary to recognize elected officials that come to the meeting, but this individual just got sworn in across the street and made her way over here to watch our meeting, so I didn’t know.
1:04:28 Absolutely to honor the individuals. All right, so we have newly elected county Commissioner from District 1, Katie Delaney. Please stand.
1:04:40 Congratulations, Your meeting’s over already. All they do is swear in. That’s all they do is swear in.
1:04:50 That’s all they did. Wow. Well, congrats, Katie.
1:04:55 Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right, that moves us to the consent agenda. Dr. Mandel.
1:04:55 Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are 38 agenda items under this category. Thank you.
1:05:03 Dr. Endell, does any board member wish to pull any items? No. I’ll entertain a motion. Accept the any discussion.
1:05:15 Paul, roll call for vote please. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye.
1:05:19 Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye.
1:05:24 All right, Dr. Mandel, will you please let us know about the items under the action portion of today’s agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first item is G55 attendance boundary change proposal for the 2526 school year. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second.
1:05:38 Any discussion ball. Roll call please. Mr. Thomas? Aye.
1:05:42 Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Season.
1:05:45 Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. The next item is G56 department school initiated agreements.
1:05:52 They hear motion move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Paul, roll call, please.
1:05:57 Mr. Thomas? AYE. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
1:06:00 Mister Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. The last item is G57, procurement solicitations here.
1:06:07 A motion move to approve. Second. ANY discussion? Fall roll call, please.
1:06:12 Mr. THomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell, aye. Mr. Trent? AYE.
1:06:15 Mr. SUSAN? Aye. Ms. WRIGHT? Aye. We’ll move on the information agenda, which includes items for board review and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting.
1:06:25 No action will be taken on these items today. There’s one item under this category. Does any member wish to discuss these items? We’re now at the board member reports discussion points.
1:06:39 Does any other board member have any information to report or discuss? Yes. Okay. Ms. Campbell, just a couple of things that I wanted to throw out and feedback if we need to, I sent to.
1:06:55 First of all, made sure that you guys saw the legislative agenda for the Greater Florida Coalition of School Board. Consortium of School Boards. Excuse me.
1:07:03 And I did hear back from Mr. Sarah that it’s okay if we don’t. We don’t have to make that decision tonight because we just got it, you know, it’s been in the last few days. But first of all, I want to say I noticed on the minutes they sent out tonight that we’re not.
1:07:17 We haven’t paid our dues for this year. So if we’re not a paid member, we may not get a voice. So, Dr. Rendell, if you can make sure that gets taken care of, we’ll take care of that.
1:07:25 All right. But then also, if their policy, if you read the letter was if there is a school board who’s a member of the consortium, if we as a board have an item on there that we say, you know what, we can’t get behind that, then they will actually take it off. So if.
1:07:43 Right. So if you guys. There’s no.
1:07:45 They won’t change anything. So it’s either yes or no. So if you guys will.
1:07:48 I think we need to look through that. I don’t think anybody’s. I’m not ready tonight.
1:07:54 I look through it, but I don’t know if we’re ready to have that discussion tonight. But I was with the Sarahs, and I had mentioned that I didn’t think that this would be the appropriate time to do it, too. Yeah, we need a little.
1:08:04 A little more time because I know. John, Mr. Thomas. Excuse me.
1:08:07 Didn’t get to see it until I sent it out. Was it yesterday. So that’ll give people more time.
1:08:11 And actually, I would like Dr. Rendell to kind of throw it by the staff and see what they think about some of those. I had a quick question, and I don’t know if I just missed this or not, but there’s certain items that are underlined and certain items that are not underlined. Is that.
1:08:20 Is there. Is there any. Is that, like, indicative of, hey, this is a new item, we’re bringing it forward.
1:08:24 Or is that. Do you know? I don’t. I just thought it was weird that there was something.
1:08:27 I noticed that, too. I don’t know if it was just for emphasis or if the underlined ones had more support or. Okay.
1:08:31 I just was curious. So, yeah, we will actually be able to talk to Mr. Sarah and the other board members from the other districts at FSBA feds. So we’ll have that answer before December 10th.
1:08:44 Yeah. Okay. Okay, Good.
1:08:46 Good. So that was one thing. And then our.
1:08:53 Our legislative agenda. We need. Now that we have our.
1:08:57 Our new board members in place, we need to figure out what we’re going to do. Even if it’s just. Just for this year, even if we adopt our.
1:09:04 Pick our favorite items from the FSBA agenda and the. The greater. The consortium agenda and let that be.
1:09:09 But I don’t know if we have any appropriations asked that we have from staff coming this year. I haven’t heard of any. But we need to get on, kind of get that rolling pretty quickly because I don’t know when our delegation meeting, but usually when in the odd years, it’s usually in January, mid January.
1:09:28 So, Dr. Rendell, if y’ all are already rolling on that. But that might be something that we bring at the, you know, for one of our December workshops. We need to get on it.
1:09:36 I’d make a recommendation that we bring it to the next workshop. That’s appropriate. Yeah, we may not get to it on the 10th, but the 17th, we have room.
1:09:43 Okay. Sorry. I just had a few things.
1:09:47 The other one was I sent you guys my attempt at trying to even up the schools. I don’t know if you guys looked at it, if we wanted to get consensus, you just leave it the way that it is, and everybody just have the schools that are within the boundaries of their districts. That does leave Mr. Thomas with fewer schools.
1:10:03 But we had talked about, at the very least, and I. I would recommend the very least that we give District 3 Westshore because it, you know, it does pull kids from so many areas. But I don’t know if y’ all had taken a look at that, at that plan, if you had any interest at all. Or if we want to just leave it the way that it is.
1:10:20 I think this is something we can workshop on. Yeah, we can put it on 17th. Yeah.
1:10:27 You know what I mean? Because I think Mr. Thomas is just coming on. He’s trying to. Well, we talked about it last Tuesday after you.
1:10:34 Your call dropped, but we can talk about it later. It’s fine. And then the final thing that I was say this was, this is timely.
1:10:41 Tomorrow is the audit committee meeting. And I know that usually that’s the chair, and the chair’s going to be out of town. Vice chair.
1:10:48 It’s probably just so, you know, the other three of us, you’re the only one left. Did they talk to you about that? No, I can make it. Okay, good.
1:10:55 Because the other three of us have a. Yes, have another meeting tomorrow. So that was.
1:11:00 That was all that I had. Just want to make sure this got taken care of. Sounds like.
1:11:04 Any other board members. Okay, well, I. I want to take a minute. I want to congratulate personally, John Thomas and Matt, Susan, for being elected.
1:11:20 I mean, elections are not easy. And, you know, sitting back watching you guys and actually, you know, being out there in early voting and talking to voters, it’s actually really. It’s much more fun on my end when I’m not running, so to see you guys do that.
1:11:35 But congratulations. Good, hard fight. I’m excited to serve with you on the other side.
1:11:43 Also, I want to talk about the honor to serve on this board. At the beginning of the meeting, when they went through all the recognitions for what they were, giving props to other people in the district, what really told me is how much they put into their position here and how many schools they visit, how many teachers they talk to, how many students they impact and principals that they, you know, give them that shoulder to lean on. It’s an honor to be here.
1:12:10 Okay. We know that we’re privileged. And then when we hear teachers come up with complaints and with praise, that’s part of the job.
1:12:21 And again, it’s an honor and it’s an honor to be in this position. I’ll do everything I can do and then some. We did talk about, or I mentioned it isn’t the only communication coming up and speaking for three minutes.
1:12:33 It’s the most or it’s the least interpersonal that you could possibly get. Please reach out, email, call, we meet, talk, discuss policy, and then we act upon that. So, again, I will do everything in my power to continue the role that the examples that I have seen, both with Matt and.
1:12:55 And Megan, thank you for doing that. And we’re just excited. The future is exciting.
1:13:01 I mean, we’ve talked, they mentioned about voting across the country. We’ve seen the country come alive and it’s been a great couple weeks and I’m excited to be in this position. And thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
1:13:15 Ms. Dr. Rendell, go ahead. Just hate to end on a somber note necessarily, but several of our staff members are not attending the meeting tonight because they’re at a celebration of life for Mitzi Robinson. Mitzi is one of our longtime educators who passed away recently after a long battle with cancer.
1:13:33 She was a teacher and administrator in our district for many years, mostly in the north end of the county. So the north end of the county is mourning her loss, but also celebrating her life tonight. I just wanted to make sure we mentioned that before we close.
1:13:46 Okay. Thank you. Anything else? All right.
1:13:50 There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned. All right. It.