2025-02-11 - School Board Meeting

2:28 Welcome my fellow board members and the public. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public that the appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity as identified on the agenda outside your individual public comment opportunity. Your role in the meeting is as an observer. Paul? Roll call, please.

2:49 Mr. Trent. Here. Mr. Season.

2:51 Here. Ms. Campbell. Here.

2:52 Mr. Thomas. Here. Ms. Wright? Here.

2:55 @ this time, the board would like to hold a moment of silence. I invite the audience to join. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

3:36 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, and of his work with liberty and justice for all. Tonight. Tonight we have Ms. McKnight from Stone Magnet Middle School, who will be doing a reading on black history.

4:09 Hello. My name is Tyler Carpenter and I’m in the seventh grade at Stone Magnet Middle School where Ms. Ferrante Williams serves as principal. The Black History Month program sponsored at our school is by Ms. McKnight.

4:21 She’ll be guiding all participants through the Black History Month program, which will take place on February 28, 2025. Today I’m here with seven of my classmates. There are five seventh graders and two eighth graders.

4:32 We’re in the one and only theater class taught by Ms. Bentley as part of our Black History month program. On February 28th, our class will be performing a wax museum. We’re here to give you a sneak peek of our presentation.

4:45 Ms. Bentley provided a list of African American historical figures and we each selected one to research. After that, we created our own monologues. Today we are performing our monologues and we’ll ask if your participant will ask, who am I? Feel free to shout out answers.

5:00 We’ll perform in this order. Jaleayah Williams, Josephine Pow, Lillian Matthews, Kira Champion, Alexandra Powell, Solomon Mull and Tara Carpenter. I am the fourth of four children.

5:16 I was born March 25, 1942. In 1973, I am the fourth of four children. My parents are Barbara Sigler Franklin.

5:26 Pastor Franklin. My parents separated when I was just six years old. Then my family and I then later moved to Detroit.

5:37 I learned how to play piano by ear. I played my first song in my dad’s church called Today I sing the Blues. Then I later on pursued my dream of singing.

5:54 Then I released my first ever song called Respect Spec. And then I later on song A movie with the blues. B.

6:07 Who am I? Hello. I had two lovely parents named Samuel and Patsy McLeod along with my older siblings. While some some of them were born into slavery.

6:27 I started Working in the fields at the age of five and was the only child in my family who got an education. Years later in California, I got a scholarship and I met my husband Albertus. I moved to Florida and had my own college named Mary Cookman Bethune College and I had my own statue of myself.

6:47 Who Am I? I was born August 16, 1958 in Harlem, New York, but then moved to St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of four years old. My parents separated when I was young, so it was my mother and my younger sister. I started high school at Boca Ciega High School.

7:14 I was a cheerleader on the debate team in student government, in the choir. I then got a scholarship for Yale and while studying I met my future husband, Courtney B. Vance.

7:29 Years later, I became famous for my works in film and television, including multiple Oscars, multiple awards and my nomination in 1993 for portrayal as singer Tina Turner and what Love Got to Do with it and my role of Queen Morda in Black Panther Wakanda Forever. Who Am I? I was born on August 3, 1961, Chicago, Illinois. From an early age I was interested in space exploration and science.

8:06 My parents encouraged me to continue this path and I graduated from Wisconsin Madison in 1987 with a degree in electrical engineering. In 1991 I got accepted by NASA as an electrical engineer. My skills quickly helped me exceed and I continued as astronaut candidate and I later retired in November 2007 to continue in the private sector.

8:39 I got two honorary doctorate degrees and I’m known as the third female black astronaut. Who am I? Nobody knows. I was born March 24, 1912 in Richmond, Virginia.

8:56 When I was five years old, my family and I, my dad James Height, my mom Finny Rose and my two sisters and A Thet and Augusta Height moved to Ranklin, Pennsylvania. When I was younger, I wanted to do something to help others, which I did do at 25 years old. At 25 years old, I started fighting for racial and gender equality.

9:11 I was the president of the National Council of Negro Women and I was the only woman on the podium for the Martin Luther King Ida Dream speech. When I graduated, I got a Bachelor’s in education and master’s in Psychology. Throughout my life.

9:24 I was never married and had no children and I died April 20, 202010 from natural causes. Who am I? Was and still am a massive comedian who got famous for being one of the main hosts of a stand up comedy show, the name Comic View. This massive breakthrough of mine helped me get multiple roles and in multiple comedy specials including Def Comedy and Showtime at the Apollo, I was featured in multiple films including Baggage Claim First, Sunday, and Friday After Next.

10:09 Currently I am in Dallas where I perform a morning talk show where I talk about current events, news, play current hip hop, and do prank calls. Who am I? Ricky Smiley. Smiley.

10:26 I was born in 1966, June 30, and I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and I lived in an apartment building and I had a bunch of pet pigeons. But one day a kid who lived in the building who was a really big bully of mine killed one of those pigeons. And ever since then I took anger management classes because it got me really mad and they pointed me out towards boxing.

10:40 And ever since then, I’ve competed in over 60 boxing matches. I’ve only lost six of them. I’ve won 12 of them in a row by knockout in the first round.

10:54 I was the youngest fighter to ever win the wbc, the WBI, and the IBF title. My biggest win ever was the WWBC title in 1986. And I’m currently still alive and recently had a really big fight with a famous youtuber.

11:09 I’m 58 years old and have 7 kids. Who am I? Right here. On Black History Board.

11:30 Do we have more? Thank you so much for your time. We hope you enjoyed our presentation and that you learned something new about these amazing historic figures. Happy Black History Month.

11:48 Well, guys, now it’s. Now it’s our turn. I think you’ve nominated somebody to take some questions.

11:55 Bored. Would you like to start? Go ahead. Well, thank you guys so much for coming and speaking to us and teaching us all something.

12:05 Now let me ask you, did you get to pick your character that or your individual. Sorry, not character. That you researched or was this person assigned to you? Yeah, kinda.

12:13 She gave us a list of characters and we got to go on the list and choose what we wanted. Okay. Awesome.

12:18 I did not know that Mike Tyson grew up in a apartment with pigeons in it. I. That was news to me. So, yeah, very, very informative.

12:25 Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Susan. No, thank you so much for taking your time tonight, coming up and giving us this presentation.

12:35 We really appreciate it. You did amazing to start it off. It’s one of the hardest things is to start it off, but you got the biggest cheer.

12:40 So I just wanted to let you know. We thank you so much for being here and I’m really glad that you chose Mike Tyson because there’s a lot of people that don’t understand the true story behind some of these individuals and they kind of stereotype people for Certain things. But I’m glad that we had a wide variety, from an astronaut all the way to Mike Tyson to others and everything else.

12:58 So thank you so much for being here tonight. That’s it. Good.

13:04 I just wanted to say how impressed I was that you were able to each memorize his monologues and then to be able to repeat them in front of a room full of people. So kudos to you guys. Great job.

13:15 All right, so what’s the plan? Tyler and Solomon, what’s the plan? So if people would like to come to your event, you said it was on February 28th. Are you guys going to be performing these monologues that day? And will there be more of us? All right, well, that sounds like an awesome invitation. I think you guys did an excellent job.

13:34 Thanks for coming. Yeah. Yes.

13:37 So I’m going to say the same thing. The memorization was amazing. Very good.

13:44 I mean, you should have all your math memorized. Right? Because if you can memorize this, you can memorize all. That’s fine.

13:52 That’s the math teacher in me there. But to you guys here. So you’re able to pick.

13:57 Were you given an entire list or five? What was a close second? She would go through the list and read them out and read what they did and ask us if we wanted that character or who she thought would fit that character the best. Like for. For instance, he’s really funny, so she thought Ricky Smiley would be good for him.

14:18 Perfect. I’m really strong, really good looking. She chose me for Mike Tyson was the other one.

14:26 You were going to choose George Foreman, probably. Right, Right. The pigeon thing was new to me.

14:31 I. I had no. Yeah, I didn’t really know that either. So it was really cool for this character because I got to learn something new about him.

14:37 Absolutely. That happens all the time when you do research on real people. So that’s something to look forward to for all you guys as you do this.

14:44 But you did a wonderful job. Look forward to more of you doing that on the 28th. Is it? Yeah.

14:50 So thank you. Thank you again, and thank you for coming out. Doctor Rendell, did you have anything know if you guys want to get a picture? Yeah, I think it’d be great.

17:38 Tonight we have two proclamations on the agenda. The first proclamation is on Black History Month and will be read by Janet Moynihan. Whereas Black History Month is a time to recognize and honor the significant contributions, achievements, and history of black Americans whose resilience, innovation, and leadership have shaped the nation and enriched our diverse culture.

18:07 And whereas Black History Month provides an opportunity to reflect on the struggles and triumphs of the Black community, celebrate the progress made towards equality, and recognize the ongoing need to foster justice, unity and inclusivity in our schools, community and nation. And whereas. Brevard Public Schools is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment that honors diversity, promotes understanding and encourages respect for all cultures and histories.

18:38 And whereas. Throughout the month of February, Brevard Public Schools will honor the legacy of Black Americans by promoting educational activities, events and discussions that highlight the rich cultural heritage and transformative influence of Black leaders in all fields, including education, science, art and social justice. And whereas.

19:00 It is important for all members of the Brevard Public Schools community, students, staff and families to actively engage in the study and appreciation of Black history, fostering an environment of mutual respect, empathy and understanding. Now, therefore, be it resolved that Brevard Public Schools reflects on the challenges and success of Black Americans as we deepen our commitment to creating a society that celebrates the diversity of all people and works toward the future where equality, opportunity and freedom are accessible to all. Adopted by the members of the Brevard Public School board, Brevard County, Florida at regular board meeting thereof held on the 11th day of February 2025.

19:42 Thank you. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second. Any discussion follow.

19:49 Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell.

19:52 Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye.

19:53 Mr. Susan. Aye. Ms. Wright.

19:55 Aye. The next proclamation is on Heart Health Month and will be read by Janet Moynihan. Whereas February is recognized as National Heart Health Month, a time to raise awareness about the importance of heart health and promote healthy lifestyle choices to prevent heart disease which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

20:20 And whereas the health and well being of students, staff and community is of paramount importance and the district is committed to fostering an environment where physical activity, proper nutrition and heart healthy habits are encouraged and celebrated. And whereas. Brevard Public Schools aims to empower students, families and staff to to prioritize their heart health by engaging in activities, programs and events designed to raise awareness about the importance of cardiovascular health, proper nutrition and regular exercise and whereas.

20:54 During National Heart Health Month, Brevard Public Schools encourages all members of the community to participate in heart healthy activities such as physical exercise, balanced nutrition, stress management and regular health screenings, while also promoting awareness of the importance of heart health in reducing the risk of heart disease. And whereas. Brevard Public Schools and the community stand united in fostering a culture of wellness and will work together to promote heart healthy habits throughout the month of February and beyond.

21:26 Now Therefore, be it resolved, the Brevard Public School board encourages all citizens, educators, health professionals and community leaders to work together to raise awareness, promote heart healthy behaviors and support research for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. Adopted by the members of the Brevard Public School Board, Brevard County, Florida, at the regular board meeting thereof held on the 11th day of February, 2025. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second.

21:55 Is there any discussion? Paul? Roll call. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye.

22:00 Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Hi.

22:04 Thank you. Thank you, miss. Thank you, miss.

22:06 Are we going to let them speak? Yes. All right, so we going to. I think we’re going to be bringing up the who we play for.

22:13 Yes. Okay. We have Jenny Wolverton, Stacy, and James for who we play for.

22:22 Thank you. All right. Hi, I’m Stacy Cartuccini.

22:30 I’m the heart screening director with who we play for and also the mother of a wonderful son who died from sudden cardiac arrest just three years ago at the age of 21. And we’ve got Jenny here from our data team who does all the processing, and James, who’s one of our amazing save stories. Who We Play for exists to eliminate sudden cardiac death in the young.

22:53 And that’s done through these screenings that you guys help us provide to every kid in the district. So right now we’re going through the sixth grade and. And every.

23:03 Every single day in a different school providing this completely painless, non invasive test. So we appreciate everything that’s in the proclamation. But most importantly, from a who we play for perspective, the ECGs that we provide for free, no cost or low cost, are saving lives across the county.

23:24 And we couldn’t do that without the support of all of you. So thank you so much. And I want to just let James say a few words because he’s a perfect example of why we do these screenings.

23:36 Because when he was in eighth grade, he got a screening and. I’ll let you just have a minute. Yeah.

23:41 When I was going into my freshman year of high school, I got the opportunity to do a heart screening with the company who we played for. And it found that I had a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. And through that, I was able to make all my friends and family aware that, hey, if I do pass out or if I do end up something happening to me, it’s not just, hey, man, get up.

24:03 You’re okay. Drink some water. You’ll be good.

24:05 You need to call 911, get the process rolling. Start CPR. And going into My senior year of high school, I was working a job and I went into studying cardiac arrest and I ended up coding for three minutes.

24:20 And because my friends and my co workers knew that I had a heart condition that who we played for found earlier in my life, they were able to get the ball rolling and it ended up causing me to be able to come back and be able to stand here today. So much appreciation for who we play for. Much appreciation for the school board.

24:41 Thank you. I just want to say thank you to the school board, to the Brevard county we reorganized back in 2018. We’ve been going at it for a long time, and we want to appreciate your support getting us in your schools.

24:55 Welcome. Welcoming us into all your schools, especially the sixth graders this year. We’re having so much fun doing that.

25:02 I know Stacy and another screening director is involved in the thick of it today, probably. So we just want to thank you for your support. As usual, continued support.

25:11 And we want to thank the community as well. If you need any information from us, we’re on who we play for dot org. Thank you.

25:18 And one last thing. Just we don’t want any parent to think that this is only for athletes. This is for every kid, every heart.

25:24 It’s a completely painless test. So like Jenny said, please reach out to who we play for, and we will just keep fighting until no kid dies from sudden cardiac arrest. Thanks so much.

25:39 You know, hang on, hang on. In 2018, Sean Seema and Evan Ernst came in here and Sean’s arms were flailing around and he was excited about doing this. And I had just met him and I said, you know what? We gotta do this.

25:55 And it came down to when my wife was giving birth, I had a headset on and we had a 3:2 vote that ended up allowing who we play for to do it. And I’ll never forget that moment because it came from this small group of homegrown individuals who created this off of a student that they went to school with to save so many lives. The last time I checked, I went to one of your screenings the other day.

26:18 They said that we’ve saved 68 kids through our process already and that continues to grow. And that’s a small portion. We’ve played golf together, We’ve done stuff together.

26:26 I’m just so happy that Evan and Sean aren’t here and there’s a new generation of people to pick that up and go. Because in order to grow, that’s what it is. You were going to say something.

26:33 Go ahead. I want to tell you the reason they’re not here, they’re in Tallahassee fighting for this mission. So this is not just it started in Brevard, this is a homegrown mission started with Rafe Macaron dying on the soccer field at Cocoa beach high school in 2007.

26:49 Dr. Rendell knows very well. And it is truly amazing that every single member of this organization, from data to heart screening directors, and of course all of our founders who were friends of rave, so continuing to fight today and we absolutely couldn’t do it without you guys. And I’m going to tell you that as a mother who lost her son, he graduated in 2018 from Edgewood and he was not an athlete and he wasn’t falling under the umbrella of let’s get him a heart screening, right? But he has the same condition as James, could have saved his life.

27:21 And the thing is, as we go forward and we’re screening all of these children, we are going to save lives. Just last Thursday I had a 12 year old boy on my table. Something came up on the ECG machine.

27:34 Cardiologist read it, confirmed potentially deadly heart condition. So again, it’s just, it’s unbelievable to me. And lives are continuing to be saved and we thank you for guys so much.

27:46 What’s amazing, what’s amazing is, is that the whole, the whole family, because usually they’re genetic. So when we’ve had whole families come in and test and find out that the whole family had it too. And that’s, that’s incredible because we, not only are we saving those individuals, but others.

28:00 I know you guys, I know you don’t want to go take your picture. I just wanted to give them the credit. That’s honestly our family.

28:05 So we didn’t get a screening, but we did find out after Alex died that I have the same condition. I live with the defibrillator, but I’m living life. And then one of my two daughters is genetically positive so she’s able to be closely monitored.

28:17 So yeah, this isn’t something you can exercise away. You can’t eat an apple to make this go away. All of those beautiful things in the proclamation are awesome.

28:25 Do all of that. But for this particular thing, electrical abnormalities of the heart, one in 300 children has something like this and it is missed 90% of the time with a stethoscope at a standard childhood checkup. So we just want to continue to fight until, you know, the kids that I’m screening right now, when they are moms and dads, this is going to be part of everyday life.

28:49 They’re not going to have to fight to get their kid a heart screening, because we hope at that point it’ll be part of everyday life and no kid will die from preventable sudden cardiac arrest. We were the first county in the nation to do it. That’s right.

29:04 Brevard county is truly setting the standard, not just for Florida, but for the nation, and it really is spreading. You know, this isn’t something rare. We need to all continue to fight, and it’s just amazing.

29:16 So I hope to see you guys a year from now, and hopefully, who knows what we’ll be doing by then and how many lives have been saved. So thank you. I think you covered it.

29:32 Yeah, I appreciate it. That brings us to the adoption of the agenda, Dr. Rendell. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

31:25 On this evening’s agenda, we have two proclamations, administrative staff recommendations, one presentation, 24 consent items, one public hearing item, two action items, and one information item. Changes made to the agenda since released to the public include the following revised with C9 administrative recommendations and F14 instructional staff recommendations. So I hear a motion move to approve.

31:48 Second. Is there any discussion? Paul, roll call. Mr. Thomas.

31:53 Aye. Ms. Campbell. Aye.

31:54 Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye.

31:56 Ms. Wright. Aye. We’re now at the administrative staff recommendations.

32:03 Do I hear a motion move to approved. Second. Any discussion? Palm roll call, please.

32:08 Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.

32:11 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? I. I hesitantly want to say I. Only because I’m losing one of my very love principals, so. Ms. Loveless, I’m going to miss you.

32:21 So I’m just saying that, but yes. Dr. Andell. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

32:24 At tonight’s action, you guys have promoted somebody to a new leadership position. We want to honor that person and congratulate them. So we want to congratulate Candice Del Rocco for her promotion to the position of assistant principal at Satellite High School.

32:38 Congratulations, Candice. Hi. Thank you.

32:46 Thank you. Thank you for having me members and Dr. Rendell and giving me the opportunity to lead at Satellite. Twenty years ago, I began my journey here with Brevard Public Schools.

33:00 As a young teacher, I never expected that this would have been my path when I first came into teaching. However, I feel like I was placed where I was at the time at Williams elementary with an amazing group of teachers and leaders. I. Sorry.

33:25 Try not to choke up those relationships with those women and those leaders have got me exactly where I am standing right now. I’m still close with all of them. Sorry.

33:44 I really don’t have Any words that expresses the gratitude that I have for those men and women. They are who I grew up with. They are part of exact of who I am.

34:00 I’m thankful for all those administrators that have led me here. Chris Reed, Katherine Murphy, Alicia Lenderman, Melanie Nelson, and recently Javier and Natalia Alfonso. Each one of them, and I might have left somebody off, and I hope I didn’t.

34:19 But each one of them have inspired me to continue to support our staff and our children. I want to thank my family. My family was very hardworking.

34:33 They taught me the power of hard work and perseverance. And importantly, my students for making me a better version of myself for the last 20 years. My children, not easy to be.

34:47 Children of an educator. And my friends that are not in education that have supported me, listened to me, and lived through it all with me. And finally, I want to thank Mrs. Lundy and her team at Satellite for allowing me to join their team and lead with them.

35:07 Thank you. I appreciate it. Take a picture.

35:19 Yeah. Now would be the time. Now.

35:21 Now would be the time. All right. Okay.

35:25 One more. One more picture. I just keep this off, but I’m so cold that I’m like, Is that your mom? Oh, wait, sorry.

37:47 Tonight we will. We would like to welcome Mr. Bill Mahajes, Chair of the ICCMO, who will present the annual report. It looks an awful lot like Cindy.

38:12 Have somebody did it for me. Make sure it pops up on there. Mr. Maharis, while we’re waiting for that, I just.

38:17 I just want to say how it’s been a breath of fresh air, that there’s been an improvement over the chairman of the ICOC since our friend in kind has been that person for a while. So just wanted to say I won’t let you down. Thanks for doing this.

38:30 All right, well, good evening, Chairman Trent, fellow board members, Dr. Rendell, and Mr. Gibbs, on behalf of all the past and current independent citizens Committee for Millage Oversight, proud to be here tonight to give you a quick preview of the 48 page, I think, annual report that is currently in the agenda. So for any members of the audience or any people that are listening, the public, the 48 page 2024 Annual Financial Report is posted. This is just a brief preview.

39:04 If I could go off script real quick. As a past administrator of 11 years at the middle school level, I was very impressed with those young people from Stone Middle School. And I think, first of all, to get in front of an audience at that age and second of all, to memorize it just tells you what our kids are doing in our 80 plus schools.

39:22 So I just wanted to give a shout out to that. Again, I’m not going to read the PowerPoint. I’ve gone to many presentations where somebody says that and guess what? They do.

39:33 So I do have some notes that I’m just going to try to fill in. The public here in Brevard county did pass a resolution in November 2022. The members of the board were selected in September 2023.

39:47 So really 23 to 24 was kind of getting everything in place and we didn’t start meeting, I don’t believe, until the summer or maybe May of 2024. And as you’ll see as we go through these eight slides, we’ve got a lot of exciting stuff coming up that we’re looking forward to present at our next meeting next year. Basically between the board And I believe Dr. Mullins came into this the way it’s broken down.

40:10 80% employee compensation, 16% student program, 4% technology. And again, just to let the public know, two big things that come out of this employee compensation is one, that this does count towards their retirement. So even if at some point in time this millage doesn’t get re approved or goes away, that all those individuals, it will count towards retirement.

40:32 And, and also it’s top heavy towards the individuals that have been with the district for a long time, which I think is a great thing. But it’s not only bringing people to Brevard to teach, but it’s keeping them here. And now they can start to see what lays ahead 4, 5, 10, hopefully 20 years down the road.

40:51 I do want to give hats off to Mr. Shifrin. He was the initial chair. These are the individuals that started off the, the journey back in September of 2023.

41:02 So we certainly want to give hats off to them. One thing I might be wrong on, and if I am, I certainly want Ms. Lusinski or anybody else that’s here to correct me. I believe our next meeting is March 26th.

41:17 I think we changed it so anybody doesn’t have anything to do on March 26th at 1 o’ clock to 4 o’, clock, that is our next meeting. And of course that is open to the public. One thing I will say, and I believe the board does understand this, we are an oversight committee, we’re not an advisory committee.

41:34 So we don’t really have any input. And I think it took a few of us to kind of get used to that because it is a very passionate group that covers all points of what we’re after, whether it’s Music, athletics, arts, cte, et cetera. So it took us a while to put that hat on to know that that was our true role.

41:53 And tonight’s presentation is part of the charter to do that. So I do again want to give kudos to the individuals that started the journey that you see listed there, as well as the ones that are still on it. Yeah, I’m definitely not going to go through all this, but 46 pages are there for your review.

42:13 One thing I do want to comment a couple additional notes. The adopted budget was estimated at 65 and it’s been amended through different things like less commission plus interest, penalties, etc. So that’s why you might see those numbers a little bit different there.

42:28 And again they are broken down into those categories of compensation, student programs and technology. Again, this is just another brief breakdown of the compensation, supplements, incentives, and again, supplements, which is a great thing because as you know, that is part of the bargaining process. It’s not only for coaches, but it’s for activities people that are in charge of band, chorus, etc.

42:52 So it was nice to see that that was part of this process. It is broken down. Percent expense.

42:59 As you can see, some of the actuals are actually over what the amended budget was. Increased compensation for all employees, expanded and increased supplements again for teachers as well as community coaches, which we certainly value them, as well as two new positions in HR to support professional development, HR partner and employee training. Professional development, including conference travel and registration.

43:28 This is category B. And again that was 16% of the total millage as listed above. The one main thing, and again the first year was kind of everybody getting their feet wet.

43:41 And what you see there, the $541,000, $295 was spent on the MCOA, which is the Mid Coast Athletics Association. Brevard is very blessed that we’re probably one of the few counties in the state out of 67 counties where we only have to deal with one officials association. They took on, I believe boys lacrosse a few years ago.

44:01 So they pretty much cover every sport that we have. So now with that portion being paid by the millage to the schools for officials, they can now use 100% of their ticket revenue and fundraising on other things that they need for the programs, going all the way down to tennis and golf. Some of those sports programs that don’t have ticket revenue that sometimes we forget about that we have a lot of students doing that.

44:23 So that’s what that 541, 295 is on B2 488,025 was spent on elementary media assistance. The position allocation at every elementary school, 50% funded by millage, 50% funded by federal grants. But in this coming year will all be funded by the millage.

44:46 We get to a technology again as it’s lifted listed 4% of total millage allocation, 100% spending for classroom of the future upgrades. The Promethean board, smart boards as we call them and for any parents that haven’t seen those, they are a blessing to have in the classrooms. All the things that they do, you all have been in the classrooms and see the amazing stuff that that is available.

45:08 Docu cams, microphones, stand up desk, et cetera. So that was part of that portion under the classrooms of the future. This is the one slide I alluded to earlier.

45:22 These are a lot of the things that are coming up. Again, 2025 is really the big year when this stuff really starts getting rolling. And that was one of the things that the people on the committee looked at is, you know, we’re biting at the bit.

45:33 We want to see more stuff coming in, but we understand it’s a process. I think a meeting or two meetings ago, one of the directors, Ms. Vega, came in with the young lady in charge of music and went over some of the things that you see listed here. I’m just going to go through a few of these.

45:47 Science, technology, 56 positions, 67 positions, IAS and kindergarten, athletic trainers, that’s big. 14 positions for that, behavior, technicians, etc. CTE positions added nurse, aviation technology, design, $1.

46:31 5 million, $500,000 for a three year program in fine arts. And that covers instruments, uniform supplies, summer fine arts program, orchestra, band and Chorus needs currently $400,000 for instruments, almost a half a million for uniforms. Again, we forget about what some of these other programs take as far as for all the students that we have involved in all of these programs, whether again music, athletics, art, et cetera.

46:58 17 media assistants that are split in 2025, an additional 17 were added totaling 34 positions. Again, employee compensation, Mid coast officials that I mentioned earlier, technology and recruitment and retention. So again, as you see on the board there, whether it’s me standing up here next year or somebody else giving this presentation, we’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up as we really get hot and heavy into utilizing those funds.

47:20 And that’s the one thing I think most of the members of the committee want to see is as a retired BPS employee, you don’t have to ask me twice or Tell me that you got money to spend, but we just want to make sure that that continues to be out there, and we continue to see great things here that you see on the screen. That is the shortest presentation I’ve ever given. If there’s any questions.

47:35 I do want to thank Ms. Liszinski and her staff. They’ve been awesome through this whole process, setting all this up again, if you want to look at the annual financial report, which I believe was approved in December, that is online. And we certainly couldn’t do what we do without them.

47:50 Any questions, comments, concerns? Thank you, Mr. Mujeres. Appreciate the presentation and Cindy and your team for the work you’ve done. It’s really exciting to see everything.

48:10 We already had the moas rolling before the voters passed the millage because we wanted people to know what we’re gonna do when it came to compensation. But that 16% in particular of student activities was kind of that unknown. And to see the things that have been put forward by staff, by Dr. Windell, especially over the last year.

48:26 Every time I go into a school, I almost always get invited to go see the STEM room, to see the STEM classroom and see that in action. And it’s having such a positive input. So I appreciate the committee’s oversight over that and your role in volunteering.

48:31 You can’t leave VPs. You’re just gonna stick around until you move out of state. Right.

48:38 You gotta stick around. So thank you so much, and it’s exciting to hear the new updates. Sure.

48:45 I will echo the sentiment that we appreciate. A lot of times we have these committees, and it feels like a thankless job from time to time. It really does.

49:02 But it’s so important that we have independent citizens that sit on those committees and really look and make sure that what we are doing as a district, the decisions that we make are really in the best interest of the community that we serve. So I really appreciate you volunteering your time and giving back to bps and the way that you do and all the work that you guys do there. So thank you.

49:07 Well, and they do bring snacks, so that. That’s for us to get up there. Okay.

49:23 And again, it is a passionate group. And what’s great is everybody has their own feel, so to speak, whether it’s music, athletics, arts, whatever. So to see those extra things come in, like you mentioned, of all the extra things that probably 80% of our students are involved in, is great to see.

49:26 So we appreciate that. Good work. I wanted to.

49:39 Hang on. I wanted to say thank you for all Your service in bps, you, you worked not only as an assistant principal, but the head of athletics and everything else. Now you volunteer your time to run one of the HOA boards and you’re in here doing this, and you’re just an amazing person.

49:50 We really appreciate your expertise in this area because it’s people like you and the other board chair that we don’t talk about. That that is also, you know what I mean, a big part of it. So thank you so much.

49:57 I appreciate it. Well, I appreciate that. My dad’s a retired teacher, retired from Cocoa High School, so I had a pretty, pretty good mentor to follow.

50:01 So it worked out good. Tell Gary I said hi. We’ll see.

50:02 Great job. All right. Thank you very much.

50:11 Appreciate it. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second. Any discussion? Paul, roll call, please.

50:14 Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.

50:19 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. All right.

53:23 It leads us to the public comment portion of the meeting. I’d like to take a short recess, maybe about five minutes so we can get everything into order. Okay.

55:28 Sam, It. As I had stated before the recess, we’re now at the public comment portion of the meeting. Mr. Chair.

55:29 Yes. I have a motion. No.

55:49 Okay. Based on conversation this afternoon, the workshop, I move that we split the public comment time between agenda items and non agenda items, moving the non agenda items to the end. And we will cut off the cameras and we will adjourn after the non agenda item.

55:57 Public comment time is over. Second, any discussion. Okay.

56:05 Don’t ask me to repeat it. Well, we’re gonna open discussion. So here we’re splitting it.

56:13 Cameras. I gotta understand that time. And can I add to my own motion? Can I do it? Friendly amendment to my own motion.

56:23 You can amend your motion. I am in my motion to say. And both times during the regular public comment time and the non agenda public comment time, every people will get three minutes.

56:30 Just noting for everybody, we. We. One of our items is a public hearing and that people will have also have time to speak on the public hearing time.

56:37 So actually there’s three opportunities to speak tonight. Okay. Second, on the amendment.

56:40 I got it. I already did it. Not on the Amendment.

56:44 Oh, amendment. Second. Okay.

56:49 Roll call. Mr. Thomas, I. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.

56:58 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Now we have to go back to the motion, right? That was the motion.

57:02 Oh, I thought that was for the amending. Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, it was for the amendment.

57:05 Okay, I got something. Because she amended herself. Yes.

57:08 All right. For the motion. Mr. Thomas.

57:10 Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.

57:15 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. All right.

57:22 Okay. So now we are at the public comments portion of the meeting. We have how many, Paul? Two agenda commenters.

57:35 So we have two agenda speakers each receive three minutes. Our attorney will call the speakers in order in which they signed up to speak. Mr. Gibbs, please call the speakers first.

57:44 Three, please. Anthony Colucci and Pamela Castellana. Okay.

57:50 You had numbers. Okay. Okay.

58:00 And you don’t. You don’t want to speak right now, or you just want to wait? Yeah, that’d be separate. Yeah.

58:06 Okay. Mr. Kaluchi? My name is Anthony Kaluchi. I’m the president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers.

58:28 I’m going to ask you the same question that I asked a couple meetings ago. Do you believe that employees should be compensated for doing more than one job? I reiterate that BFT believes they should. We believe that if there is a position being advertised, then that means the district has determined that there is enough work to be done to warrant that position.

58:43 In the meantime, the work for that position is being done by current employees. Employees. Unfortunately, because ese teachers and service providers are in short supply, they are having to cover these positions for prolonged periods of time.

58:59 Often that is months, an entire year, or, as in the case of some of the SLP positions, years. They’re doing more than one job for an extended period of time. We believe all members of our bargaining unit who are in that position should earn additional compensation.

59:08 It’s a pretty simple concept. However, there is some confusion going on. We’re not asking for additional money to be found in the budget.

59:25 We’re asking that you use the money that is being set aside for the advertised vacancy rather than letting it fall to the bottom line. Rough math will show that over $300 per vacancy falls to the bottom line each day. That is how we are suggesting this is funded.

59:44 Number two, on Friday, there were 33 ESE teacher or service provider vacancies. Although I’m getting the list right from Beacon, we’re being told that there are very few ESE vacancies. In most cases, those 33 vacancies are being covered by current employees for no compensation.

59:58 Number three, we’re not talking about gen ed vacancies. We fought that fight earlier in the year and pay for them to cover vacancies is in place. Asking now for us to take from that agreement to pay ese is a shell game.

1:00:30 Number four, although caseload limits are not set in stone like class size limits, the idea that no caseload is too large is Disingenuous. At this point, we believe we all share the common belief that retention is even more important than recruiting when it comes to staffing. So if you look at your resignations and retirements, I wonder how many of those are ese teachers who decided not to continue because they were being overworked and not being paid for it.

1:00:57 If you are a teacher doing more than one job for an entire year for no additional compensation, how long would you stay when other opportunities abound? Our ask from the board is simple. Come back to negotiations and let’s do negotiate and not give us another take it or leave it proposal under the false premise that there’s no money for this. Additionally, we think it’d be helpful to have Ms. Dampier’s team there to provide their input and ideas.

1:01:00 Together. We can figure this out. This can be done.

1:01:22 I look forward to communication from HR and coming to resolution for our outstanding ese teachers and service providers and making sure we retain the those folks. Thank you. Yes, it’s later when we get to that.

1:01:25 Just. All right. I think that was it.

1:01:30 Right, Mr. Gibson? All right. That concludes the agenda items only. Public comments.

1:01:44 We thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to address the board with your concerns and suggestions. I would like to remind the public that that the board is accessible for further conversations outside our business meeting. Through scheduling a meeting, we are now at the consent agenda portion of our meeting.

1:01:50 Dr. Rendell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are 24 items on the list under this category.

1:02:02 Thank you. Dr. Rendell. Does any board member wish to pull any items? I will entertain a motion to accept the consent items on tonight’s agenda.

1:02:07 Move to approve. Second, any discussion. Paul, roll call, please.

1:02:09 Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell.

1:02:12 Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan.

1:02:16 Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. All right.

1:02:32 The public hearing is now open to the public. We will, in accordance with Florida law, accept the speakers. The following first item for public hearing is G37 textbook adoption, K12 science and high school personal finance.

1:03:03 Is there any individual that would like to address this item? Good evening. So here I am again, talking about the Constitution. I believe you have friends with Moms for Liberty who would happily get you a copy of Amendment 1 of the U.

1:03:21 S. constitution states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Yet here we are.

1:03:39 You are choosing a religious text for a required class. A text which cites one particular religion, my own, as being correct and necessary. In fact, using this text could cause direct harm when taught to a non Christian who may decide that since they are not a Christian, these Principles don’t apply to them.

1:03:56 Dave Ramsey’s foundations and personal finance include Bible verses from Proverbs, Luke and Matthew. Using them in our publicly funded schools literally establishes one religion. One Review despite its strengths, Ramsey’s curriculum has been criticized for its one size fits all approach.

1:04:13 Not everyone’s financial situation is the same, and a strategy that works for one person may not work for another. The curriculum’s emphasis on debt avoidance, while beneficial in some cases. I didn’t write this can also I didn’t write the review can also be limiting.

1:04:25 It overlooks the potential benefits of strategic borrowing, such as building credit or leveraging debt for investment purposes, for instance. Another criticism is the absence of modern financial tools in the curriculum. In today’s digital age, understanding how to use online banking, digital wallets and investment apps is crucial.

1:04:41 Yet these topics are noticeable absent from the curriculum. Finally, the curriculum has been criticized for its lack of diverse financial perspectives. While Ramsey’s advice is valuable, it’s not the only approach to personal finance.

1:04:58 By presenting only one perspective, the curriculum may limit students understanding of the diverse strategies and philosophies in the world of personal finance. Back to me. One size cannot does not one size approach cannot be used in our public schools something as important as financial education.

1:05:09 I know Florida has approved this text for use, but in a state with further declines than most other states in reading and math scores, perhaps we should be setting a true standard for excellence rather than following one to mediocrity. There are many secular choices. The National Endowment for Financial Education offers a high school financial planning program.

1:05:28 Why open our district up for yet one more first amendment lawsuit and the ensuing drama? Just do your job. Let our teachers do theirs. Focused on providing excellence for all of our students.

1:05:46 Thank you. Is there any individual that would like to address this item? Okay. Do I hear a motion move to approve second? Any discussion? Yes, please.

1:06:18 Okay. All right. We even though we had only one public comment or today board I know you’ve all if you’ve checked your email today you have an inbox full I think thanks to an article that went out that might have the headline of which at least may have been a little misleading.

1:06:47 So I just want to walk the our public through who might be watching as we make this decision tonight. The process we go through for this instructional materials adoption is the same as we’ve gone through for every which is prescribed by law and our policies for any instructional materials adoption which is very open where we allow in fact we invite people from the public to be part of the committee. The Original committee included six people.

1:07:00 We are required to have teachers on it and we had three teachers, but also three people from the community. One who happens to to be one of the leaders of our local Junior Achievement organization who went through all of the materials that were an option, came down to two. In fact, the last time it was on our agenda there were two options because they’re waiting to see where the state came down on them and ended up with this one, with the final vote being between these two.

1:07:28 And this one was selected as the first choice. And so those meetings were held in September and October. There was a night where not only this curriculum but also the science materials were open to the public so they could come and take a look at them.

1:07:52 Have been open and they are still open. If people will go to the agenda item, there is still a link on the agenda for tonight that has the information where the public can go and access the material and see it for themselves. And so it seems like one of our public commenters at least taken a look at is clear to me from the emails I’ve gotten that I’ve read through today that not everybody has.

1:08:11 And so it’s still out there. And just to clarify what this process is, tonight we’re holding a public hearing and the board will be making the vote to approve these instructional materials and to approve the purchase of them. However, what this actually does is it starts a third 30 day public review period because we’ve already been reviewing, but now we’re going to have 30 more days.

1:08:29 And so I’m just going to read this from the agenda item which you can find again on the agenda for tonight. Parents of a public school student or residents of Brevard County. So you have to meet one of those qualifications, at least have the opportunity to contest the approved selections during the 30 day public review period on a form provided by the school board.

1:08:43 The petition form can be found on the BPS website and viewed here and there is a link. Within 30 days after the 30 day period has expired, the school board must, for all petitions timely received conduct at least one open public hearing before an unbiased and qualified hearing officer so it doesn’t come back to us. There is a separate entity.

1:08:55 The hearing officer may not be an employee or agent of the school district. The hearing is not subject to the provisions of chapter 120. However, the hearing must provide sufficient procedural protection protections to allow each petitioner an adequate and fair opportunity to be heard and present evidence to the hearing officer.

1:09:04 The school board’s decision after convening a hearing is final and not subject to further petitioner review. So we have this is opening a 30 day, one more opportunity if people still haven’t got that input. And for this you do have to follow the process.

1:09:26 So an email in our inbox is not going to go that far. So people want to review the materials again. The link is here on the agenda item, then the link to file a petition is there.

1:09:38 Now that I’ve said all that procedurally so everybody understands what exactly we’re doing, I do want to address one thing that was a recurring theme in the emails I’ve read so far and that was that this is Christian curriculum. I happen to know that it was written by someone who is a Christian, but so are a lot of our other materials. And most of the time you would never know.

1:09:50 It just happens that this one is famous. I would say this too this particular in case people have gotten the false assumption. Dave Ramsey’s written a lot of curriculum life.

1:10:23 What’s the financial Peace University, which is done focused written specifically for churches. This curriculum, I’ve heard about it for a long time, has been around for a while. He wrote specifically for use in the public schools.

1:10:44 Saw myself today. Yes, there are some quotes from Proverbs and from Luke, but there’s also quotes from Maya Angelou and Benjamin Franklin and probably various other sundry people who, you know what? We’re never, never and shame on us if we ever do going to get rid of every reference to the Bible. If we were going to follow the logic of some of the people in the emails and what’s been said tonight, we would get rid of at least 50% of our choral music materials.

1:11:11 We would get rid of a good portion of history and language arts. I mean I don’t, I don’t know if they’re still reading Sinners in the Hands of Angry God, but I read that in my public school in Texas as a piece of literature from American history in my 11th grade year. So we’re just not going to get rid of history.

1:11:21 And if there is a quote from the Bible and there’s a quote from Maya Angelou, in my personal life, those don’t carry the same weight. But in a book printed on the side, a piece of wisdom that has to do with the material is not in any logical way in my mind any kind of pushing one religion on the other. So that is my view on this decision board on the comments that I’ve gotten.

1:11:44 And I just really do encourage people to go take a look for themselves and Then follow the process. And then again, it doesn’t come back to the this board who will be voting tonight. It will go to this hearing officer.

1:11:50 And that again, can be found on tonight’s agenda item. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I just say thank you, Ms. Campbell, for outlining the process? I think one of the things that’s extremely frustrating is when you see an email that is copy and pasted and copied and pasted and copied and pasted, and you can absolutely tell with certainty that no one has gone to the link and actually looked at.

1:11:58 At the materials. That part is extremely discouraging because the materials are good. They’re really, really good.

1:12:02 And honestly, I am ecstatic about this coming into our school system. I think it’s great that our children need to learn financial literacy. They don’t know it.

1:12:27 And so this is a good step in the right direction. Ms. Campbell, thank you for outlining the process. I appreciate it.

1:12:43 And I appreciate you making the public aware of what their options are on how to, you know, go ahead and file a complaint or push back if you want to, on the curriculum and go before a hearing officer afterwards. But I would also encourage you, if that is the route you’re going to go, please do go to the link, click on it, go through the materials, and then see if you still feel the same way afterwards. But, yeah, thank you so much.

1:12:59 Ms. Campbell. I want to say you may give some of the most thorough explanations of things, and I do not enjoy being on the other side of them when I’m debating you. But I will say that thank you so much for doing that, because I think this is a.

1:13:03 This is a. This is a topic that I think we all agree with needs to happen, and I’m so happy that our district’s moving forward with this particular person’s curriculum. But I also appreciate you being on the board, and I wanted to throw you a little.

1:13:10 Thank you. That was great. I mean, I was standing here, I was like, yeah, yeah, she covered it.

1:13:16 Check. Covered it. You might want to just record that, then send it out anyway, else this might happen so that they can give a good explanation, too.

1:13:20 So maybe I’ll just send a link to all the people who are in my inbox and tell them, why don’t you go watch the meeting? That’s it. That’s all you got to do. Don’t worry about emailing.

1:13:34 But thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Very good.

1:13:39 Well, I. I had that exact same thing written, so I don’t have to write it. Thank you so Much for saying it so eloquently. The only thing I’d like to add, Mr. Chair, is I can occur with Ms. Campbell.

1:13:42 It’s a proven text. It’s been approved by the Department of Education, and I support it. Okay, great.

1:13:45 Paul, roll call. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell.

1:13:57 Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye.

1:14:01 Ms. Wright? Aye. Awesome. All right, Dr. Andell, will you please, please let us know about the items under the action portion of tonight’s agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

1:14:05 The first action item is H3.38. Department and School initiated agreements.

1:14:08 I have a motion move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Paul? Roll call.

1:14:17 Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.

1:14:25 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Dr. Ndo, will you please let us know about the items under the action portion of tonight’s agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

1:14:37 The last action item is H39 procurement solicitations. I hear a motion move to approve second discussion. Yes.

1:14:59 Just really quickly, just for information. I’m super excited about this, so I emailed Kevin Thornton because I want to get more information. But on tonight’s procurement agenda is a new software for food nutrition services.

1:15:06 And very soon, not like he heard his name, not next week, but very soon, coming to a cafeteria near you, you will have the opportunity to pay with a credit card. Point of sale. Because I can’t tell you how many kids walk up to concession stands and say, do you have Apple Pay? So, you know, now our folks will be able to come in and use credit cards.

1:15:10 We’re stepping into the 21st century. Thank you, Mr. Thornton, for your leadership. I’m super excited.

1:15:16 All right, Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye.

1:15:33 Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye.

1:15:46 We will move to the on to the information agenda, which includes one item for board review and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting. No action will be taken on these items tonight. Does any board member wish to discuss this item? No.

1:15:59 At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and Dr. Mandel an opportunity to recognize students, staff, or members of the community. Mr. Chair. Yep.

1:16:02 Are we on? Did we move past board member reports? That’s it. Okay. I thought you’re doing recognitions right now, so remember, I believe it was you that wanted to lump all this at the end, so.

1:16:34 Mr. Chair. Yes. All right.

1:16:59 I would like to ask the board’s permission to work with the superintendent and his team to take a look at our media policy. We have an outstanding staff, great superintendent, so this is no reflection on them. I just think that the way our existing media policy stands, we can oftentimes create an impression that the district is not being fully transparent when we are just, I think the way, sometimes with the way it’s approached.

1:17:11 And I believe we have an opportunity to improve how we communicate, provide greater access to information, ensure questions are answered promptly and directly. And by doing so, we can build trust and prevent misunderstandings and reinforce our commitment to open and effective communication. So what I’d like to do is just create some ideas, work with the staff or through the superintendent, and bring something back to you guys to see if you.

1:17:17 For your consideration. If I could speak to that. I think all of us at our leisure can bring things up to Dr. Rendell and talk to him about it.

1:17:28 And you don’t need our permission for that. Well, I’d like. That’s fine.

1:17:34 I thought if we were talking about doing something policy wise, that we had to get the blessing of the board first. Well, it would have to go through Dr. Rendell if it was enacting a change of a policy. And then we would go through and then come before the board.

1:17:36 Right. Never mind. I don’t need you guys.

1:17:44 But thanks for giving us the heads up. No, that’s. That’s great.

1:17:46 Yeah, thanks for giving us the heads up of what we need to talk to Dr. Andel about as well. That’s great. Anything else, John? Nope.

1:17:55 I have something. I have a couple things. All right.

1:17:58 I want to give a shout out to the Space Center. So we had the Skilled, Skilled Trades in Space Day that took place last week, and we also have another one that’s happening tomorrow. So board.

1:18:02 Ms. Campbell and I were there last week. If you haven’t got the opportunity, I don’t know if it’s too late. Rachel.

1:18:10 I don’t know if she’s in the room. She might be. Don’t do this.

1:18:20 But okay. It’s an amazing opportunity. So this is a behind the scenes tour, basically, of the careers that are possible at the Space Center.

1:18:26 A lot of them don’t require college degrees. Some of them do. But it really gives our students a look that’s closer to some jobs they could possibly hop right into out of high school.

1:18:30 There was 400 students that were in attendance. They got to hear from an astronaut. It was a very inspiring and creative, encouraging day overall.

1:18:43 So I brought the flyer. I have the flyer here if anybody’s interested in going. I’ll be there tomorrow.

1:19:02 I will pass it down, but I just encourage you guys. I really, really hope you go because it’s so, so so impactful for our students and I don’t want you to miss it. And the only other thing I have is that we, I attended a Second Harvest food bank ribbon cutting.

1:19:18 So Second Harvest provides, currently provides really fresh produce into some of our schools. I know they can provide other types of, of meal supplements as well, but I can speak only to the one that they provide in my school in the North End, which Space coast they provide. Every Thursday a truck comes and provides fresh produce that they’re able to give to the students.

1:19:33 And it’s such an amazing organization overall. I wanted to challenge us as a board and possibly see if I could get Lena to help for the board to go down and serve for a day and help at their distribution center and pack up some meals. Kind of similar to what we have done with, with the Children’s Hunger Project.

1:19:41 But I think it’s something that we really would love to expand into other schools. And they’re doing amazing work here in Brevard County. So board, if you’re okay with it, I’m going to ask Lena to kind of work around our schedules and see if we can get a day and go and serve if that is okay with you guys.

1:19:52 Yeah, we could even, maybe our next off site even, because they’ve got that big warehouse. They do have some office space too in there. Maybe they do.

1:20:05 So if you guys are okay with that, I think that would be fun. And then my last shout out is going to go to Space Coast Middle School Junior senior. Because this week we had the opportunity on Monday after Super bowl.

1:20:14 We didn’t think through the planning exactly, but we had a neighboring county ask us, hey, we want to see your open gate and what’s going on there. Because they had some struggles with how they were getting their students through Open Gate. So they asked if they could come and see what was being done.

1:20:26 So I just want to give a shout out to the, to the staff there at Space Coast. They do a phenomenal job. It is a fine, oiled machine the way that they run everything there.

1:20:30 And it was one of those moments where I could stand back and just say how proud I am to be a part of this organization, how proud I am of the staff there. So Space coast, thank you for keeping all of our kiddos safe and doing all the hard work that sometimes seems like a bit of a hassle. But it is very, very important.

1:20:47 We see you, we appreciate you and love you. So thank you guys. That’s all that I have.

1:20:53 Great for me. Go ahead, John. I just had along those lines, I did fail to mention I wanted to give a shout out to Mr. Wilson because he has done an outstanding job spearheading the whole open gate and obviously, you know, it proved successful already.

1:21:04 So just. I know that he’s worked behind the scenes to make that program a success. So.

1:21:08 All right, anytime it’s been three weeks between meetings, we always have a lot of things going on. So let me do some quick shout outs and then all of them will be relatively quick. We had our ribbon cutting for West Melbourne School for Science.

1:21:33 New additional. It is beautiful. It’s not just beautiful, it’s gorgeous.

1:21:45 And they’re already in there. So exciting to see the students in those beautiful spaces for music, art, science, the STEM lab and built around the garden that was already there that is highly used at West Melbourne School for Science. So thank you to all of the crew, particularly facilities for incorporating, working with, with the construction team, everything.

1:21:59 It was just a gorgeous place. And for one of our oldest school buildings, they really have been doing great with what they have. And now to step it up, it’s really nice and I hope you guys will take the opportunity to go down there.

1:22:12 The Ault county concerts were all amazing, wonderful success. We even had one conductor who got stuck in the snow because that was the snow week and he was supposed to come from Pensacola and they brought somebody at the last minute and you would never know. It was the most wonderful choir concert I think I’ve ever gone to for all county.

1:22:17 So congratulations to all our musicians and teachers for a very well done weekend. Especially to Ms. Minnie Orr who organizes all that so well. All right, you guys know the Space Coast Wellness Challenge is going on so far in the first two weeks.

1:22:29 It’s too late to sign up. No, no, no, no, no. It’s minutes of movement.

1:22:45 But we are competing as an organization, bps against like the city of Cape Canaveral, who is in first place this week. Week. Well, they have to have at least 40 people and I think they’re averaging it.

1:23:02 But we are, we are probably the largest organization in there and I’m going to say Team bps, let’s time to up our game and get those minutes turned in because I want to see us on the leaderboard. He was busy having a baby. All right, so.

1:23:04 But the rest of Team bps, besides the board who did not sign up like I told them to, even though we had a heart proclamation this evening, just lay on a little guilt. The model Student senate, nobody mentioned yet, but the model Student senate was last week. Oh, okay, well, I’ll stop right there.

1:23:07 No, you can go ahead. It was great. The list is long.

1:23:14 I’ll leave it there. I’ll leave it there. Look at all this.

1:23:15 We’re gonna be here a while. And are we gonna be the teacher here? I’m not. I can.

1:23:30 You go ahead. Okay. You do it.

1:23:45 You do it. I. Last Saturday. Yeah, three days ago, an organization called Incubate Debate, which we have a few schools that participated in, I volunteered.

1:24:13 I did not get volunteered, but I volunteered to judge all day Saturday at Stone Middle School. And it was not what I thought. I thought it was going to be a lot of our schools, but no, this was a regional competition with some BPS students and students as far south as far as Fort Pierce and St. Lucie County.

1:24:19 And they all came together and did such a beautiful job with the different topics and really challenging topics all the way from sixth graders up through high school. But I am so proud to announce to you guys that the winner of the whole event, which included homeschool families, charter school families, people from all these counties, was Maggie Chin from West Shore Junior Senior High. Yay for Maggie.

1:24:33 She was a rock star. Just blew us all away. And she had some really tough competitors from around the region.

1:24:51 But congratulations to Maggie Chen. And then I want to thank you board and Dr. Rendell and our cabinet members who came today for showing up today. We had our Children’s Hunger Project fundraiser luncheon, and we were there as a whole.

1:25:01 And I’m very thankful for the support you give to the other organization that I could just sit on as a board member. And we just had great community support, and it was a wonderful event. But when they said all the elected officials, the recognized elected officials were like District one, District two, District three, four, five, we were all there.

1:25:11 And I just. I thank you so much for supporting the organization and for supporting me in that. You guys are great.

1:25:24 Well, so I’ll start off with Model Student Senate. As a former teacher who absolutely loved doing Model Student Senate, used to bring a bunch of students up here. It was exactly the same way as it was when I was there.

1:25:40 These kids are all engaged. Many of you may not know, but we bring students from each one of the schools. They come here and they act through passing a bill through committee, then they bring it to the floor, they debate it, they go back and forth, and then they have awards over who did the best job.

1:25:54 Absolutely incredible. And we actually got one of the actual number one senator decided that he wanted to intern and help Ms. Lena on some of her stuff that goes on and us. So I told him to coordinate with Ms. Lena and he’s in the process of doing that.

1:26:11 So we have recruited our first true intern from the Model Student Senate and so we’re going to be doing there. I also wanted to say thank you to Ann Weier from Women in Agriculture. Many of you may not know, but they had put in 10 aquaponics labs.

1:26:39 One of them is in your, I think it’s West Melbourne for School of Science and a couple other ones all the way across. This is part of a larger effort. Ann called us when we were making noise about all of the agriculture stuff we were doing and she said we normally spread these out throughout the entire state, but we realize what you’re doing, so we’re sending them all to you.

1:26:46 So they put them all in Brevard and now they’re going to do the next round, which is raised beds so that the kids can learn how to grow and everything else. And many of you may not know, but Mr. Thornton has a Cinco de Mayos festival that he does every year that if you’re willing to do it with one of some of your schools, they’ll grow the tomatoes and everything else and then on Cinco de Mayo they make a salsa, they bring in the chips and then they go and have some fun. So that’s kind of where Ms. Ann Wire and many of the other people in Agriculture are doing.

1:27:05 We’ve got a bunch of initiatives through there. But I did want to just say shout out to her and thank you. I wanted to say shout out to the Economic Development Council.

1:27:23 They had their annual meeting the other day. Many of us were in a attendance at that meeting. Mrs. Weatherman had mentioned that Ms. Coyne, who just inadvertently was one of the students that I used to teach, who’s now overseeing what is going to be the largest comprehensive evaluation of our workforce programs here in the county.

1:27:34 That’s going to be at their April meeting and what they’re going to do is kind of lay out the footprint of how is it that we can improve. Most of it’s going to be in the secondary, not in hours, but post secondary, but in the college and stuff like that. Because I think being the number one trades programs in the state of Florida, we’ve got a pretty good edge.

1:27:46 But I think we need that next step into that next certification that needs to happen. So I think that we’re gonna see some of that going on there. I also wanted to say thank you to Yvette Cruz, our communications director.

1:28:01 She put together the best Grandparents Raising Grandchildren meeting that we’ve had in a long time. Thank you, Ms. Cruz. Many of Yvette know that our grandparents that are raising grandchildren at a significant economic and social deficit.

1:28:09 I mean, they’re trying to teach our kids that are. They’re trying to help facilitate. For one reason or another, those children have ended up in their arms and they’re trying to teach these students and mentor them and stuff like that with a 40 year gap in some places.

1:28:29 So the. What Ms. Cruz put together was the most amazing thing where they could get each one of the needs from each one of the districts here in this room. While they came.

1:28:32 The. The lady many of you may not know, Miss Mary, from Grandparents Raising Grandchildren that has been running it for so long, said it is the single best event that she’s ever had and she’s excited to move forward with it so that they can actually have more people come every quarter and learn more and more about how they can help their children. It is a really, really significant need for us in our community.

1:28:58 And I wanted to say thank you to Yvette Cruise. I want to say thank you to Ms. Anna Smith Smith for putting together the parent meeting that I got to go to the other day. That is phenomenal when you have all those parents inside the room that they actually get firsthand knowledge of things that we’re doing in here, but then also get to talk to Dr. Rendell, a school board member, and everything else.

1:29:08 Ms. Anna Smith did such a good job. And Mr. Kevin Thornton got up and gave a speech about our food services. And I wanted to take a second and tell you that Mr. Thornton, I would argue, has the best food services program in the state of Florida.

1:29:23 He is so quiet about it. Everything else but the healthy choices that we provide our students is far, far above what you see in other school districts. And he keeps going.

1:29:27 I remember this is a funny story. So I used to work, I still do, but I was working with these students over at Boys and Girls Club in Temple Terrace. And I asked him, I said, guys, what do you want more than anything? And they said, you know, Mr. Susan, we want real chicken.

1:29:36 We’re tired of this chicken being in here. It’s like warmed. It’s all disgusting.

1:29:43 And then so I literally went to Kevin and I said, listen, man, I got a big ask. Can you do an evaluation of how much real chicken is going to cost? He’s like, matt, we’re actually putting it in next week. And I said, okay.

1:29:52 So the kids went to school the next week, and they had real chicken. And they legitimately thought that they had changed the whole face of Brevard. But.

1:30:07 But anyways, getting back to it, Kevin does such an amazing job on food services. No, we don’t give him enough credit because he flies under the radar and he likes to hide there. But the thing is, is that he does amazing.

1:30:14 And I think we should kind of take a look at that more and more and give him some atta boys as we go through, because he’s been doing some incredible things. Plus, the direction of the nation is now to get Make America Healthy again and everything else. So this is a good opportunity for us to kind of start going in that way.

1:30:19 I wanted to say thank you to the athletic directors today. I met with them in a roundtable. We discussed some of the issues that they have.

1:30:24 Kevin Ferrari Thornton, our director of athletics, is already on top of it. Robinson, Sorry. Is on top of it.

1:30:35 Sorry, sorry, Kevin. Is he in the back there? I apologize. Anyways, Kevin is on top of it.

1:30:43 But one of the great things is, is that we had such a large expansion, and I think it was 100% increase in athletics is what I was hearing. 100% was what kind of you. For elementary school? Yeah.

1:30:54 Well, 200% for elementary, 0% for middle school. So 100% for middle school, 200% for elementary school. It was so big that it overran all of our facilities.

1:31:02 Every one of our facilities was decimated. So now our ads are like, hey, this is great that you created all these programs, but now we need to go ahead and start turfing some fields and doing some stuff. So they were doing that.

1:31:26 So I ran over to Ms. Hand and I said, Ms. Hand? She goes, matt, I’ve already got it. I know what you’re talking about. So she has a plan in place that she’s going to bring forward in about a month.

1:31:43 But I did want to say thank you to everybody for expanding those athletics, because now our students, many people, and it was brought up today, our students actually learn because we have opportunities through athletics for them to feel social, emotionally connected to the schools. There’s endorphins and everything else that are released when kids do have physical activity. And for the discipline that we have, we’re able to hold those kids accountable through a means that they had never been before.

1:31:54 So great opportunity for our elementary school students. I’m trying to talk as fast as I can because I have so much stuff here. I did want to say last thing is that I was speaking to the priest over at St. John’s today, there’s a big thing that I would like to bring forward, and it’s something that I want to do in about two months, three months.

1:32:03 But as our students are getting ready to go away for the summer, I would really like them to do mission work. Whether that’s mission work locally or mission work abroad. I think it builds character for individuals, and I think it’s something that we can do.

1:32:10 So I wanted to bring it back, but I wanted to say thank you to. To St. John’s for hosting us for the Children’s Hunger Project project today. You didn’t say anything about it, so I was gonna.

1:32:18 But then also for the opportunity to move forward with offering our kids submission work. So thank you. That’s it.

1:32:25 I’m done. All right, Gene, you’re up. You want me to keep going? I still have a couple more things on here.

1:32:44 Yeah, I’ll take the Teacher of the Year for just a minute. Yeah. So first of all, a big thank you to the Brevard Schools Foundation.

1:32:55 They sponsor all of our recognition events for our different employee groups. And almost two weeks ago, we celebrated all of our teachers of the years from all of our schools this year, all the Teacher of the year candidates from all of our schools, and 80 plus teachers of the year that we celebrated with a really fancy dinner. We honored them.

1:33:05 We honored the six finalists. And then, of course, we had to select a committee, had to select one teacher of the year for Brevard county, and that’s Laura Nege, who teaches at Sable Elementary. She teaches third grade.

1:33:33 She’s a great story. She is a Brevard Public Schools product. She went to Sable elementary, so she’s back home where she was educated, giving back to her community.

1:33:49 And she is certainly a worthy selection as to represent the county’s teachers as teacher of the Year. We did try to do some things differently this year to show these teachers how much we appreciate them. So one of the things that we did that we think is pretty cool, you may have been made aware of it if you’ve been driving around the county at all in the last week or so, is their image name, Their name, image, and likeness is going to be on a billboard around the county.

1:33:56 So I want to thank Clear Channel Communications for giving us a really, really, really, really almost free rate. And so all of the school Teachers of the year are going to be on a billboard for a week. Their image on one of those digital billboards around the county.

1:34:07 So if you haven’t seen those when you’re driving around, make sure you take. Take some time. Don’t get in an accident, but take some time and look up at these digital billboards.

1:34:24 I think it’s a really, really cool way for us to honor these teachers for all the hard work that they do and give them, you know, it’s not even just a moment in the sun. They’re on a billboard for a whole week. You know, it’s pretty cool.

1:34:32 So I want to thank the Brevard Schools foundation, though, for making all of our recognition programs happen. And it was really special a couple weeks ago with the teachers, so thank them for that. Doctor, was that just the finalists or everyone? No, sir, all.

1:34:39 Every teacher of the year from any school in the county that was in the program. Each of them are on a billboard for a week. It rotates every eight seconds or something.

1:34:47 So that’s what I was gonna. And you gave him a schedule when they’re gonna. Yeah, they know exactly where the billboard is, when they’re gonna be up there and everything.

1:34:53 So hopefully they’re going by and taking a picture on social media. All right, good. I love that.

1:35:07 It’s pretty cool. It was funny how you rolled that out, how you gave them that little one and then you told them they’re gonna be on the big one. That was cool.

1:35:08 Yeah. Well, it’s interesting because when we were talking to Clear Channel communication, I said, they need to know when they’re going to be on and where so they can go stand by it and take a picture. And they said, that’s really hard to do.

1:35:15 Yeah. Why don’t we just give them. We have these mini billboards.

1:35:19 Why don’t we just give them that? So it’s all Clear Channel. I got to give them the credit for that. It was great stuff. That was good. That was really good. All right. Anything else? Okay, this ends our business, gets us to the end of our business meeting. We are going to conclude this part and we’re going to take a short recess and come back for our general public speaking comments. So five minute recess, Sam, It.