Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 [ Pause ]
0:11 » All right.
0:12 Welcome back.
0:12 Dr. Endell, what’s on deck next?
0:15 » Thank you, Mr. Chair.
0:16 Next, we’re going to take a look at the strategic plan.
0:18 We’ve talked several times about the fact
0:21 that we just revised our five-year strategic plan.
0:24 And we want to take some time to go
0:25 through the different segments of the strategic plan
0:27 to make sure that not only the board members are
0:29 aware of it because you’ve all been briefed,
0:31 but we want our public to see the different aspects
0:34 of the strategic plan, especially some of the goals
0:37 that we set before ourselves to make sure we can track
0:39 our progress and meet all these objectives.
0:42 So I’m going to turn it over to Cynthia Rayne.
0:43 She’s going to take us through the two stages
0:46 of the strategic plan, two segments
0:48 of the strategic plan we’re going to talk about today.
0:50 » Thank you, Dr. Endell.
0:51 And thank you, Board Chair and board members.
0:55 Good to be here again.
0:58 You know, like as Dr. Endell said last month, you know,
1:02 we said we’re going to dive deeper into each
1:04 of our four goals and some of these board sessions
1:08 and also at the leadership team meetings.
1:10 And really, this is to give each goal team the opportunity
1:14 to share their strategies, objectives, metrics,
1:18 and for all of us to align on the details
1:22 and remain focused for our long-term vision.
1:24 So just let’s get going.
1:26 Just an update, so remember our new five-year plan centers
1:31 around four key goals, academic excellence,
1:34 exceptional workforce, community connection,
1:37 and operational efficiency.
1:39 Last month, we focused on academic excellence.
1:42 So at today’s session, we’re going to look
1:43 at exceptional workforce and community connection.
1:48 So we’ll get right to it and start with the goal
1:50 of exceptional workforce which is to recruit, cultivate,
1:53 and retain exceptional talent to positively influence students
1:57 and advance academic and organizational excellence.
2:02 The goal of exceptional workforce is supported
2:07 by four key objectives.
2:09 So I’m just going to go ahead and turn it right
2:11 over to Mr. Dufresne.
2:12 He’s going to walk us through each objective
2:13 and give us the how and the why’s.
2:15 » Sure. Good afternoon, board.
2:18 First, I want to give some flowers to Ms. Ray.
2:21 And she’s amazing and keeps us all on track
2:23 and none of this would be possible
2:25 without her dedication and input.
2:27 So thank you, Ms. Ray and I appreciate you.
2:30 So good afternoon.
2:33 Again, we did four objectives in HR under exceptional workforce.
2:38 I always want to recruit a strong pool of candidates.
2:42 The objective number two is going to be one
2:44 of my bigger lifts is
2:45 to implement a comprehensive professional
2:47 development framework.
2:49 I’ll talk about more of that in a second.
2:52 Our third objective is to retain a strong pool of candidates
2:56 for all classifications.
2:57 And the fourth is probably our biggest lift that that’s going
2:59 to implement our new HRS system or ERP system, you know,
3:03 is coming to alleviate a lot of duplicate work
3:09 and manual labor and all the things.
3:11 So next slide.
3:13 Outstanding.
3:14 You beat me to it.
3:15 All right.
3:15 So obviously, we want to keep recruiting the best and brightest
3:19 for our students to serve every student with excellence
3:23 as the standard.
3:23 We– I don’t– I’m not going to go through a bunch
3:27 of the matrix– metrics on how we’re going to measure that.
3:32 We’ve talked about it and the public can see it
3:34 at their leisure.
3:36 We go ahead and go to the next one.
3:42 » OK.
3:43 » Oh, sorry.
3:44 Never mind.
3:46 Our objective number two, like I said,
3:47 probably our biggest lift or one of our biggest lifts is this
3:52 year
3:52 with implemented comprehensive professional development
3:54 framework that offers all district employees targeted
3:57 and continuous training opportunities.
4:00 I wanted to focus on all district employees.
4:03 I believe we do a great job getting our teachers ready
4:05 to serve our students.
4:07 I think we have room for growth with all of our employees,
4:13 helping them become leaders, helping them get a career ladder,
4:17 et cetera, et cetera.
4:18 We’re going to really focus on that for all of our employees.
4:21 Anywhere from our bus drivers to finance to–
4:25 you name the department, I want to be able to provide them
4:28 with leadership opportunities and growth
4:30 and professional learning.
4:32 So we’re going to focus pretty hard on that.
4:34 That being said, a couple of board meetings ago,
4:39 Ms. Campbell and Ms. Wright asked me a question
4:41 about with all the state statutes that are being changed
4:46 and all the CTE pathways and all the leadership
4:49 and certification and all cert, how are we with Manning on that?
4:53 I was like, oh, we got it, no big deal.
4:55 My staff grabbed me by the ear and told me
5:00 that no, we could use a lot of help.
5:02 So I’ll be looking to make some strategic changes in that area
5:06 to get them the help they need because we’ve
5:08 got seven different pathways to be certified
5:11 as a teacher, not including all the different CTE teachers
5:14 that we have and all these programs we have.
5:16 And we’re trying to track.
5:17 And then with state legislatures changing,
5:20 it’s going to be a pretty heavy lift.
5:22 But I believe we can do it.
5:25 So that’s it for the professional development
5:27 portion.
5:28 Like I said, I’m not going to go through the metrics on it.
5:30 But we’ve already talked.
5:33 Objective number three is retain a strong pool of candidates.
5:36 I’ve said that since I joined BPS.
5:38 Once we get them here, we want to treat them amazingly
5:41 and keep them here.
5:42 We’re going to give them the tools
5:43 they need to be successful.
5:45 I think that’s our role here in HR
5:48 is to give our people all the tools
5:50 they need to be successful.
5:51 And I also want them to be able to tie what it is you
5:53 do to help, I mean, ultimately, we’re
5:57 trying to produce a workforce or college ready students.
6:00 And so what does each–
6:01 I want everybody in BPS to understand what their role is
6:05 in achieving that.
6:07 Everybody’s role is important.
6:08 And we couldn’t do it without each and every one of them
6:11 here.
6:12 So that’s it for objective number three.
6:16 And again, our fourth objective is implement a new HRS system
6:22 or ERP.
6:23 If anybody has had the pleasure of trying to go through Beacon,
6:28 it can be a challenge.
6:30 We have a bunch of manual procedures
6:32 here that need to be fixed.
6:34 And this system is going to do that.
6:36 In order to get that system up and running,
6:38 we’re going to need to train all of our 8,000, 9,000 employees
6:41 to actually use it.
6:42 And that’s going to be a pretty heavy lift as well.
6:47 So that’s pretty much it for my objectives.
6:52 Like I said, I didn’t go through the strategies or the metrics.
6:54 We can do that.
6:55 If you have any questions, or if the public has any questions,
6:58 I’d be more happy to address.
6:59 But those are the big lifts for HR and the exceptional workforce.
7:03 Is there any questions?
7:04 I have one, Mr. Chair, if that’s OK.
7:06 What is our average hire time right now?
7:08 Do you know the average amount of time
7:10 it takes to hire on a new employee?
7:12 What is that now?
7:12 You’re trying to get down to 30 days.
7:14 What are we at?
7:15 Oh, we’re under a week on that.
7:17 So then that one’s already been met.
7:19 Shh.
7:21 We’re working on it.
7:22 So here’s an issue.
7:25 We have a new–
7:27 I’m forecasting an issue with that in the future
7:29 with our new fingerprint program.
7:33 It could take up to two weeks for new employees
7:36 to go through the system.
7:37 Now, it’s great if they’re a current employee of the state
7:40 at somewhere, right?
7:41 And that’s just a quick, done, bring them over.
7:44 But if it’s new, because the whole state
7:46 is trying to implement this program, I’m projecting.
7:51 And I’ve heard some projections of up to two weeks delay.
7:55 So we’re trying to forecast that in my plan.
8:00 You’re going to actually love this.
8:01 The health care system did this several years back.
8:03 And it’s become the best thing that ever happened.
8:05 No, once it’s up and running, it’s going to be amazing.
8:07 It’s going to be good.
8:07 And then I’m extremely excited about the new software that’s
8:09 coming.
8:10 So I know Focus, everyone was hesitant about that.
8:13 No one’s going to use Focus.
8:14 And now our parents are all using it.
8:15 I think the same thing’s going to happen here with that.
8:17 It’s something new.
8:17 And that’s fine.
8:19 Change is hard.
8:19 But this is going to be a good change.
8:20 Yeah, that’s a good one.
8:21 So thank you.
8:22 Appreciate you.
8:26 Yes.
8:27 On objective three, the third metric
8:32 talks about reducing turnover by 15%
8:35 and then continuing to track it and reduction.
8:39 Do you know what that number is right now?
8:41 If you don’t, can you send it to us?
8:42 I can get it to you.
8:43 I don’t have it at.
8:43 OK, thank you.
8:45 And then super excited about E4.
8:48 I know just to try things out there,
8:52 I got into Beacon about a month ago and tried to find,
8:56 I just want to be a bus driver.
8:58 I just want to apply to be a bus driver.
9:00 And it’s a lot harder than you would think it would be.
9:02 You’re not wrong.
9:03 Because you can drop down to bus driver under one drop down box.
9:06 But if you don’t put it on the other drop down box,
9:09 it will look like we don’t have any openings in the bus driver
9:11 category, which I know is not the case.
9:14 You’d have to know how to do it.
9:15 And so to be able to have a system where
9:17 people can find the openings that are there
9:20 and it be intuitive so they don’t have to have somebody
9:23 from HR sitting with them showing them how to work again,
9:25 that will be so helpful.
9:27 I can’t tell you.
9:27 If any employee or potential employees come into HR,
9:30 just help me figure out how to apply.
9:33 The system is just, it’s got some challenges.
9:36 That’s all.
9:36 And we’re going to fix it.
9:38 Yeah, very much appreciate that.
9:39 So I can strike that off of my to-do list
9:41 about talking to you about fixing Beacon.
9:43 We have to fix Beacon.
9:44 We can throw in the trash can.
9:45 I’m on it.
9:46 So thank you.
9:48 Of course.
9:48 I’m all good, John.
9:49 Sure.
9:50 Just two quick questions regarding
9:52 objective number one, recruiting a strong pool of candidates.
9:55 Yes.
9:57 Can you kind of explain what we’re
9:59 doing to attract the strong pool of candidates, number one?
10:03 And number two, is there any hurdles or roadblocks
10:06 that we could possibly help remove
10:09 that would help the effort?
10:13 Yeah, so our recruiters are doing a really great job
10:16 of leveraging different aspects.
10:19 We just had an online recruiting trail we went to last week.
10:25 I believe we’re in the University of Florida.
10:27 We’re hitting a lot of HBCUs, because I
10:30 want a diverse workforce.
10:33 It’s nice when students have teachers that look like them.
10:40 So GCR actually just hired someone, Ms. Jackson,
10:47 who is going to help.
10:48 The first day I walked our recruiters over there,
10:50 because she works with all the LinkedIns
10:53 and all the social media sites that really push that.
10:56 We’re doing that currently, but it can improve.
10:59 And just two weeks ago, I was at a conference
11:02 and learned about some new avenues
11:05 that we’re going to pursue.
11:06 I hooked them up with our people.
11:08 So as far as what I need from the board,
11:10 I don’t think anything at the moment.
11:13 I’ve said this.
11:14 I didn’t realize until I started working here
11:15 that Brevard is kind of on an island.
11:17 And I keep saying this.
11:18 And hopefully people will start believing me.
11:20 That’s why my third one is to retain people,
11:23 because once we get them here, we’ve got to keep them here.
11:26 Because it’s kind of an island here.
11:27 Obviously to the east is the ocean.
11:29 To the west is an hour’s worth of swamp.
11:31 North and south, it takes a little bit
11:33 to get to some metropolises.
11:35 So once we get people here and learn how amazing it is here,
11:38 we’re going to treat them right and give them the tools
11:40 to be successful and keep them here.
11:42 Thank you.
11:42 Yeah.
11:44 OK.
11:47 Mr. Thomas, what I’m going to be doing
11:49 is I’m going to go to the schools that
11:52 have the education programs.
11:54 And I’m going to tell them that we protect our teachers
11:56 and we have those great programs and all that other stuff.
11:58 Because one of the things that our other school districts
12:01 don’t do is what we do here.
12:02 And I know that through knowing a lot of the other school
12:04 board members.
12:05 You do an amazing job, Dr. Endell.
12:06 Look at our discipline and everything else.
12:08 So what helps our staff is when we go to those other colleges
12:13 where those educational programs are,
12:15 sometimes a school board member will get more access
12:17 than a recruiter.
12:18 Sure.
12:19 And so I’ve reached out to some of those teachers and stuff
12:21 like that.
12:22 If you’d like to come along, John, we can go together.
12:24 Anybody who wants to go, we just go talk to them.
12:26 So I think letting them know that the leaders
12:28 of the school district are here to come apply I think
12:31 helps out a lot.
12:32 So anyways, the other thing is I do
12:36 notice that a lot of our–
12:38 throughout our history that we want
12:40 to try to hire from within, right?
12:42 Absolutely.
12:42 Because those show the better routines.
12:43 I saw your objective number one, recruit
12:45 a strong pool of candidates.
12:46 I applaud you for that from the classifications
12:49 within the Brevard Public Schools.
12:51 And I know that you’ve been working.
12:53 I want to say thank you for all these metrics-based discussions
12:56 or points, because I know that Dr. Rendell said to me when he
12:59 first took over, he said, there’s
13:01 a lot of these objectives in these strategic plans,
13:03 but they’re not based to metrics.
13:04 Right.
13:05 So I wanted to applaud you for that.
13:06 Yeah, we have to have smart–
13:07 we have to have smart goals otherwise.
13:08 If you can’t measure it, you don’t
13:09 know if you’re meeting it, right?
13:10 Well, there’s another reason for that
13:11 is so that if you don’t meet it, you
13:12 don’t have to be called out for it.
13:13 Fair enough.
13:14 And that’s– when you put the numbers down,
13:15 it’s when you go to it, and I appreciate you.
13:17 That’s all.
13:17 Absolutely.
13:17 That’s all I got, sir.
13:20 I’m all good.
13:21 OK, next.
13:23 I do want to– just some good news.
13:24 I want to share with you guys.
13:26 Every Monday, I get a–
13:27 Dr. Rendell and I, we get a listing of job openings.
13:31 And Monday was our lowest this year.
13:34 I think I was down just to instructional classroom.
13:36 So we still have some other openings.
13:38 But instructional classroom, I think we had 28,
13:41 I think it was, this Monday opening.
13:42 And it was– last year this time, I think it was like 179.
13:47 So we’re making really good strides.
13:48 I’m pretty proud of my team and doing a great job.
13:51 And I got to give them some more support, they’re telling me.
13:53 So I’ll work on it.
13:54 Yeah, we thank you.
13:55 We know our HR is in good hands with you.
13:57 Roger, I appreciate that.
14:00 OK, great.
14:01 We’ll move right on then to community connection.
14:03 And so the goal of community connection
14:06 is supported by four objectives.
14:09 And I’ll go ahead and turn it over to Ms. Maranahan.
14:11 Thank you.
14:12 Good afternoon to the board, Dr. Rendell.
14:15 Thank you so much.
14:16 So we have four objectives for community connection–
14:20 strengthen the public trust in district decisions
14:23 and leadership, increase pride, and provide public schools
14:25 among internal and external stakeholders,
14:28 establish BPS as a top choice for prospective families,
14:31 and increase funding and support directly
14:33 to schools and the district through positive community
14:36 partnership.
14:39 Our first objective, we really looked
14:40 at the volume of positive stories that we’re pushing out
14:45 and really making that a focus of the objective
14:49 and setting real metrics against it.
14:51 It had been in the previous plan sort of there,
14:54 but not with specific dialed in.
14:57 It was more about just increasing.
14:58 And so we got really specific and put some metrics
15:01 down as to how much positive information we put out there.
15:04 So we had the 10 positive media stories each quarter.
15:07 And that’s things like, if you’re on our Facebook,
15:10 the CTE tours, it’s the water safety,
15:13 it’s all of the materials we’re doing with Coffee Bean.
15:16 And pushing those in terms of our social media,
15:18 but also inviting our media partners, really trying
15:20 to engage those audiences.
15:24 Managing the crisis with accuracy and speed.
15:27 So those are really the two things
15:29 that matter the most in crisis, accuracy and speed.
15:32 And one of the challenges I’ve noticed since I got here
15:35 is the speed sometimes is a challenge,
15:37 because you’re dealing with trying to talk to principals
15:40 and trying to talk to the Sheriff’s Office.
15:41 And there’s a lot of stakeholders
15:43 before we send out messaging.
15:44 So initially, really, the goal is
15:46 to sit down and start recording and just having
15:48 that metric of what is the speed.
15:51 Accuracy is already happening.
15:52 But what is the speed in these situations, particularly
15:55 shelter in place, lockdowns, evacuations, things
15:58 that get parents really concerned.
16:01 Parents are my main focus when I’m
16:02 thinking of that in terms of speed
16:04 and getting messaging to families.
16:07 And so really sitting down and recording that and then looking
16:11 at what are our opportunities for increasing the speed
16:13 and getting that information out more quickly.
16:15 How can we work with principals and the Sheriff’s Office
16:19 to get the information faster and to respond to families
16:23 quickly.
16:24 And then gathering feedback from parents and students.
16:28 We have the parent leadership team and the Student Advisory
16:31 Council, which we’ve had before.
16:32 But really, those sources are fantastic for us
16:35 to have that direct feedback.
16:38 One of the things we’re going to try and do next school year
16:41 is really increase membership in both of those groups.
16:46 For our objective to increase pride
16:48 in our public schools among external and internal
16:51 stakeholders, really this surrounds–
16:55 we’re going to track our social media engagements
16:58 through likes, comments, shares.
17:01 And we’re going to track sort of the interaction
17:03 with our newsletters.
17:05 So in the past, we have tracked things like follows.
17:10 And I think it’s really important to track things
17:13 that are closer to engagement.
17:14 So if you think people who are actually not just seeing it
17:17 or they’re not just coming across it on their page,
17:19 but they’re interacting with us.
17:20 They’re liking it.
17:21 They’re commenting it.
17:23 And looking at the trends and really shifting,
17:25 being willing to adjust our sales, particularly
17:27 on social media, and say, hey, this is working
17:29 or this isn’t working.
17:31 And the same thing with the newsletter, sort of taking that
17:35 and saying, how do we get people engaging with it more?
17:38 And creating content that is different for two newsletters.
17:41 So we have the internal and external.
17:43 But right now, the content’s a little too similar
17:45 and sort of taking that content and dividing it
17:47 a little bit more for those two different audiences.
17:50 We’ve engaged with social media and a media monitoring service,
17:54 which we’ve never had before.
17:57 We just really signed the contract
17:59 and started working on it last week.
18:01 So hopefully, we’ll be able to show you all the stories that
18:04 are out there and have a better gauge of what’s out there.
18:08 The other thing it does for us with the social media component
18:10 is it allows us to receive alerts.
18:13 So if, for some reason, BPS is suddenly–
18:16 or one of our schools is suddenly popping off
18:17 on social media, it tells us.
18:20 And I mean, the problem with social media right now
18:22 is just that oftentimes, things are happening
18:25 before I know they’re happening.
18:26 And so that’s a really helpful, useful tool.
18:30 And then you’re just highlighting employees,
18:32 which I think we already do a really good job of,
18:34 but continuing that and making that something that really
18:37 matters and doing that through the school board
18:39 and then taking that and pushing it out on our digital platform
18:42 since it really is the employees and the kids that
18:45 are the heart of the school.
18:46 It’s the heart of our message.
18:47 And it’s where a lot of our energy should be pushed.
18:52 For our third objective, establish
18:54 Brevard Public Schools as a top choice
18:56 for prospective families.
18:58 Yeah, I mean, I think this metric
18:59 could be measured by a lot of different groups.
19:01 But one of the things that when I got here,
19:03 my background has been very corporate communications.
19:06 And you always have a product.
19:07 So you’re measuring how you’re selling your product
19:09 is how well your marketing campaign’s going.
19:12 And really, our product is our schools.
19:13 And so it may be with population changes and whatnot,
19:16 there may be challenges to measuring it.
19:18 But I still think we should measure it
19:20 in terms of seeing if what we’re doing is effective.
19:23 And one of our big pushes is to push the IBs, the Cambridge,
19:28 the CTE, the art, the band, our special programs.
19:30 So also looking at how are we doing
19:33 with enrollment in those programs
19:34 as we sort of push that narrative
19:36 and tell people what’s in our schools.
19:38 I think we have so much, particularly in the CTE area,
19:41 in our schools that really people don’t know about.
19:44 And so I think it’s making sure that message is out there.
19:49 It’s inviting the media out to events
19:51 and creating a lot of these tours
19:54 where some of these tours that we’re creating,
19:57 the CTE tours, they’re not just for the media.
19:59 They’re for our internal marketing efforts,
20:01 and they’re also for other legislators
20:03 and people in the community.
20:04 Business partners, we’re inviting chambers.
20:06 We’re using it as an opportunity
20:07 to get people in our schools.
20:09 You know, the more they’re engaging with us,
20:10 the more we’re gonna be able to work with them.
20:14 All right, I gave myself a bunch of notes on this next page
20:17 just in case you guys have questions.
20:19 All right, so increased funding
20:22 and support directly to schools and the district
20:24 through positive community partnerships.
20:26 So when you think of how GCR is bringing funding
20:29 into the schools, it’s two buckets, right?
20:31 It’s the partners and education bucket,
20:33 and it’s the advertising bucket.
20:35 And so increased district-wide advertising revenue
20:38 by 25% is the goal from what is almost 600,000 right now.
20:44 When you think of advertising,
20:46 we’re talking about sponsorships on buildings.
20:50 We’re talking about banners at schools, parking signs.
20:56 We’re talking about digital advertising on our website,
21:00 the calendars where we’re receiving advertising.
21:02 So that’s advertising, if that sort of spells out
21:04 that bucket for you.
21:05 And then we have this partners and education program
21:07 that runs and does just a fantastic job.
21:11 And our goal is to increase the cash
21:14 coming into that program by 5%,
21:16 as well as donations coming in,
21:19 and to raise volunteer hours by 10%.
21:22 So when you look at these buckets,
21:25 cash really is what it sounds like.
21:26 It’s cash, money coming in through actual cash or gift cards
21:29 through the partners and education program,
21:32 or donations, which is, you know,
21:34 it’s a value of a donated item, right?
21:36 So what we have our partners and education doing
21:39 is quarterly reporting to a vet any donated items
21:42 and putting values on those,
21:43 and that’s how we’re getting that number
21:45 that you’re seeing right there.
21:46 And then you’ll see the raise volunteer hours by 10%.
21:49 I know Student Services is also working on volunteer hours.
21:52 These are volunteer hours very specific to PIE,
21:54 so very specific to business partners
21:57 and community partners who are in our schools.
22:01 But we are gonna work with Student Services
22:03 to try and help all the volunteer hours come up
22:06 and use some of our experience with tracking volunteer hours
22:09 to help them track theirs as well.
22:12 Some of the things you might not be aware of
22:13 is throughout this PIE program is we have newsletters
22:18 that we don’t talk about that much.
22:20 So the PIE coordinators receive a newsletter.
22:23 We have the business partners
22:24 who are in PIE receive a newsletter,
22:26 and we’ve just started a new sales email
22:28 and sales newsletter to try and bring in sales direct.
22:32 So we’re trying to do a lot more direct selling from GCR
22:36 as opposed to using external sources.
22:39 And part of the drive behind that
22:40 is to really start driving money more
22:42 to our Title I schools.
22:43 The more we’re controlling it in-house,
22:45 the more we can go for not just the easy money,
22:48 which is great, but to go to some of these schools
22:50 that maybe aren’t having a lot of push
22:52 to have sales in their school.
22:55 - All right.
22:59 - Questions?
22:59 - Was that helpful?
23:00 - That was, it was very, it was camable.
23:03 - So this is my champion area.
23:05 We each got an area to champion.
23:06 And we had our first meeting.
23:07 I meant to do it two months ago.
23:09 I meant, but we had our first meeting last weekend.
23:10 So I want to first of all, thank you for,
23:12 when we talked about Brevard Public Schools
23:14 being the top choice,
23:15 thank you for incorporating art and music classes.
23:17 You mentioned that because– - I did,
23:18 ‘cause that was her feedback.
23:19 - We talk about CTE all the time,
23:20 but truly in our county, there aren’t other great options
23:24 for people who want a rich music experience.
23:27 We’re one of the best in the state.
23:28 So that certainly makes us the best within our own county.
23:30 And thank you for highlighting that.
23:32 ‘Cause I think the more we can push out that opportunity,
23:34 which everybody loves,
23:35 and I’m sure we’re the best in sports too, Mr. Simpson.
23:38 - No, I don’t think we are.
23:39 - We have something in music tonight.
23:40 - In the county?
23:42 - Oh yeah.
23:43 - In the county, yeah.
23:44 - In the county, I’m talking about in the county.
23:45 - I’m talking national.
23:46 - But we’re trying, we’re not recruiting people
23:48 from outside the state of Florida.
23:51 So I think I very much appreciate that.
23:54 I also, I think this is good work
23:57 to focus on those Title I schools.
23:58 And not just Title I schools,
23:59 but I’ve talked to principals at different times.
24:02 We had this conversation last week
24:04 about one of their Title I schools,
24:06 but also those schools that they’re, where they’re located,
24:09 there aren’t a lot of businesses around them.
24:11 A lot of our elementary schools in particular
24:12 are nestled within a neighborhood.
24:14 And so you don’t have those community businesses
24:16 that are those automatic partners, the low hanging fruit.
24:20 And so they have to work a little harder.
24:21 So if you guys are working on their behalf
24:23 when they’re doing so many things, I think that focus,
24:27 we do that with our facilities.
24:28 We have a, with our matching programs,
24:30 we do it with academics.
24:32 You give those extra support to those Title I schools.
24:35 So I think this is a good effort to try to do that
24:39 for those schools that have limited resources
24:41 and limited partnership opportunities.
24:44 - Great, thanks.
24:44 - Mr. Chair?
24:45 - Yes.
24:47 - So I’d just like to, first of all,
24:49 thank you and Yvette and all your team for all you do,
24:52 ‘cause I know you guys put a lot of time, effort.
24:54 You’re all over the place.
24:55 I can show up anywhere in the county any time.
24:57 And one of you guys is always there, if not both of you.
24:59 So it’s pretty amazing.
25:01 But we talked yesterday and I appreciate your willingness
25:05 to work to try to improve things and build our public trust.
25:10 I think that there’s no more important time,
25:12 probably for your area, from my limited knowledge
25:15 of our public schools than there is right now.
25:18 With two taxes coming up in 2026,
25:21 our public trust has to be at an all-time high, I believe,
25:25 ‘cause it’s gonna be a crowded ballot
25:27 for us to get both those things passed,
25:28 which are both critical.
25:30 So I’m doing a little grandstanding here,
25:32 but that’s, it’s important.
25:34 And I think that, so what you’re doing,
25:36 and to, in all facets, media, social media,
25:41 everything you’re doing to help us grow the public trust
25:43 is huge, because not only for the tax situation,
25:46 but it also helps with recruiting.
25:49 It helps with student retention.
25:50 So our overall, how we’re perceived is huge
25:53 in the community, and you guys are the vehicle
25:56 to help us get there.
25:56 So I just wanted to thank you publicly,
25:59 and I really appreciate Dr. Wendell
26:01 and your self’s openness, and the board is aware.
26:04 I had mentioned to you guys a couple weeks ago,
26:06 or a month ago, that I was gonna work with the staff
26:08 about a media policy, and they’ve been awesome to work with,
26:12 and hopefully we’ll have something back
26:13 for you guys to look at here pretty soon.
26:15 But just really appreciate all you guys have,
26:18 all your efforts, and all your input.
26:22 - Thank you.
26:24 - Thank you for all that you do.
26:25 I love watching the social media pages that are going off,
26:28 and the stories that are being highlighted.
26:29 It’s very positive, and even the interaction
26:31 that’s happening there is positive,
26:32 so it’s good to highlight all those things.
26:34 One of the areas on increasing the enrollment
26:36 that you have the goal of, 1%, just, again,
26:40 marketing plans and coming from the business world,
26:41 those are all things that I’m sure
26:42 you’ve already thought about, but being strategic
26:44 about maybe working alongside our hospitals here
26:48 to tell us, you know, we’ve had new births,
26:50 let’s go alongside those families.
26:51 We were doing that with that Thrive by Five program,
26:54 but I’m hearing some things that maybe that’s not,
26:56 I don’t know, anyways, but we maybe wanna look at that
26:58 as a strategic marketing plan on targeting those families,
27:01 and making them aware of the availability of VPK
27:03 when that year comes, and it’s gonna take some work
27:05 on tracking all that data, but those are our potential
27:08 future students in there, so I’m very excited
27:11 about everything that your department does.
27:12 Absolutely love you guys, thank you so much
27:14 for all that you do, we appreciate you.
27:18 - I appreciate everything you guys are doing.
27:19 That slide where you guys were talking
27:21 and you had all of your notes ready.
27:23 - I did, ‘cause I thought you’d have a lot of questions.
27:25 - I don’t have any questions, I just wanna say thank you
27:27 for the direction, I know that your goal
27:29 with the new advertising is to push more revenue
27:31 into the schools, you’re hyper-focused on where to put it
27:35 and how to put it, and yet the options
27:37 that you guys are putting together is incredible.
27:40 You know, your involvement in the community
27:41 with the grandparents raising grandkids, the ECAC,
27:43 now that they have something I need to meet
27:46 with Dr. Rendell before I make the announcement,
27:47 but it’s something they’re working on that Yvette’s been,
27:50 like they don’t even care to like talk to me,
27:52 they just wanna, what’s Yvette doing, you know what I mean?
27:55 And then I know that that culture that you guys are building
27:58 within our chambers is phenomenal.
28:00 I got a little glimpse of it the last month and a half,
28:03 two months, but it’s phenomenal.
28:05 All the way from Titusville down, we are,
28:08 Yvette is getting ready to literally grab
28:10 all of those chambers and pull ‘em together
28:12 with an educational directive and kind of direction,
28:15 and phenomenal, like things that you don’t even think about.
28:19 Like we’re just, I’m just hoping that like my posts
28:21 eventually will get like five likes on Facebook, right?
28:24 And here you guys are driving an entire machine,
28:26 and I’m just so proud of you guys, so thank you.
28:28 - Oh, well thank you, Yvette is a star, I agree.
28:30 - Yeah.
28:31 - Is that it? - No, that’s you too.
28:32 (laughing)
28:35 - Well, I’ll just continue on the same theme here,
28:38 is it doesn’t take being around you and your team very long
28:43 to realize that you’re fully committed and involved in BPS,
28:47 and we thank you for that.
28:48 So you can have all the slides you want,
28:51 but without having a conversation
28:53 and seeing you and your teamwork,
28:54 if you don’t realize how much your heart’s in the right spot
28:58 and that’s important in a position that you’re in.
29:01 I hope that you were able to disconnect at some point
29:04 and go home to your family, but it really does seem
29:07 like you just live and breathe BPS,
29:12 and those are the people out there
29:13 don’t get the chance to know you.
29:17 But we’re fortunate to have you and your staff.
29:19 You put together a staff that they’re like-minded
29:23 in the sense that the exposure of BPS
29:28 is at the utmost importance to you and your staff,
29:30 and we’re in good hands with you, so keep it up.
29:34 - Thank you so much. - Thank you so much.
29:35 - Thanks.
29:37 - Okay, well, that would be it for today.
29:40 You know, I just wanna say something too.
29:42 These two of our four goals,
29:44 these two goals are probably the hardest to measure,
29:48 and they, behind the scenes,
29:50 they have been working really hard.
29:53 They have a vision, they have the plans.
29:56 Putting it in paper was one thing,
29:57 putting it in the plan was one thing,
29:58 and then we get down to where it’s like,
30:00 I need data on this, and tracking it is just huge for them,
30:04 so they’ve just been doing such hard work,
30:06 so I look forward to when we can see
30:08 some little visual charts and graphs and stuff like that
30:11 and see how we’ll move with the needles.
30:13 - Miss Sylvia, that’s a testimony to you and the hard work,
30:15 ‘cause I have heard numerous times
30:17 about how you are driving this ship
30:18 and you are doing an amazing job,
30:19 so thank you again for all of your hard work
30:21 with the strategic plan.
30:22 - Well, that is hard work. - That’s a, see, look.
30:23 - That is hard, because she’ll come back to me
30:25 and she’ll have all her ideas
30:27 on how to measure my department, and it’s amazing.
30:29 - Yeah, you are. - They’re very kind,
30:30 ‘cause I’m, you know, I go back to things and I say,
30:32 but you say this, how are you measuring it?
30:35 - I love that. - It was four people.
30:36 - It was nice to slave drive her out.
30:38 (all laughing)
30:39 - Anyway, so that ends today,
30:41 so we will be seeing you again in May,
30:43 and we will see our,
30:44 we’ll review our last goal, operationally efficiency.
30:47 - Thank you. - All right,
30:48 thank you so much for all your work.
30:49 - Thank you.
30:52 (laughing)
30:58 - All right, well, is that, are you done introducing,
31:00 or now I go with the– - Yeah, Mr. Chair,
31:02 that’s the last of our topics.
31:04 Now it’s policy, proposed policy revisions,
31:08 so I think Paul probably walked you through that.
31:11 - Yep. - We have it, all right.
31:13 Do we wanna go page by page?
31:15 - I would open it up for the board,
31:17 if, just go down, to point out any of the questions,
31:21 comments that they have on any of the policies.
31:23 That’ll probably be the fastest way
31:25 than going through all of them.
31:26 I believe most of them are all just NOLA revisions,
31:30 for the most part. - Yeah, I’m ready.
31:32 All right, so why don’t we just open it up,
31:34 those of us that have questions, concerns.
31:38 (mumbles)
31:40 - And computers would help, sorry.
31:43 - I just had a couple of things.
31:46 So we have these several policies about meetings
31:50 that we’re rescinding, so that we can just have the one–
31:53 - Right, NOLA condensed them all into one.
31:55 - Into one.
31:56 I did notice in, so we’re keeping 165.
32:00 - 164. - 164, sorry, sorry.
32:04 - Yeah, they consolidated 165. - How do I have five?
32:07 - They put a whole bunch in 165.
32:09 - Okay, I’m talking about 165.
32:10 So 165 we’re keeping, right?
32:12 - We’re keeping it as amended by NOLA.
32:14 - As amended by NOLA.
32:16 I noticed that our 165.3, which we’re looking at rescinding,
32:20 also has things in it about that little,
32:25 second little section, meetings, hearings, and workshops.
32:28 And I, maybe that part’s not necessary,
32:32 but I didn’t see in the new policy anything about workshops.
32:37 It mainly is about our meetings,
32:42 like official, like we’re gonna take a vote meetings.
32:44 So does there need to be any of that?
32:46 The part that particularly sticks out to me without,
32:49 I mean, I didn’t comb through all those
32:51 to try to figure out what do we wanna keep,
32:53 but there’s a part that’s for us
32:56 that has to do with when we get our, the materials.
33:01 I would just hide it, and I scroll down, I lost it.
33:05 Number two, an agenda shall be prepared in time
33:07 to ensure that a copy of the agenda may be received
33:09 at least seven days before the event
33:11 by any person in the state, blah, blah, blah.
33:14 No, hang on, that one’s not for us.
33:16 Anyway, if we just take a look,
33:17 if there’s anything in there that,
33:19 as long as we have something that we don’t,
33:21 as long as we don’t need any of this
33:22 is what I’m trying to get to.
33:23 - I don’t know that it’s critical to have in our policy,
33:26 but if there is something you want in there,
33:28 I believe your, the working guidelines
33:30 say that you guys will get the agenda items 14 days before,
33:34 so it doesn’t really need to be here.
33:35 - Well, if you guys didn’t see any here
33:36 that we need to hold onto in policy, I’m good with that.
33:39 I just noticed that was one of the things
33:41 that was not included in the new one.
33:43 Okay, and then 8500,
33:45 which was the food nutrition services policy
33:48 all the way down at the bottom.
33:51 And it looks like there was lots of redlining and adding
33:53 because we’re just completely adopting the NEOLA
33:57 with the modification, or with the options
34:00 that the staff chose.
34:01 But I did notice, the easiest way to do it
34:03 is on the page number for the attachment.
34:05 On page 94.
34:11 Doesn’t have a number.
34:13 - All right, is on the 8500.
34:14 - Yeah, page 94 of 103.
34:19 Down.
34:21 - Under what option?
34:22 - Yeah, it’s almost, it’s close to the bottom.
34:25 It’s right above the part that says option eight,
34:28 and it begins, the sentence, the paragraph begins,
34:29 “A student who has exceeded
34:31 “the permissible negative balance.”
34:32 That part. - All right.
34:34 - There’s something, when we crossed out lines,
34:38 that it doesn’t make sense, because the first,
34:41 so it reads, “A student who has exceeded
34:43 “the permissible negative balance in their account
34:48 “and does not have cash on hand sufficient
34:50 “to purchase a meal will be treated respectfully
34:53 “and will make efforts to collect the charges
34:55 “incurred by the students.”
34:56 I think somewhere we got a crossing of the wires,
34:59 because I think that part of, after the strikeout,
35:02 has to do with what staff will do or district will do,
35:05 so can we fix that?
35:06 - Yep.
35:07 - Yeah, we’ll take a minute.
35:08 - Okay. - We’ll work with Kevin.
35:09 - Yeah. - Well, and is the intention
35:11 of the district to no longer provide,
35:13 ‘cause it says that the district will provide meals
35:15 to the student with unpaid meal balances
35:19 without stigmatizing them and–
35:21 - Yeah, they went through all that above
35:23 is what we’re gonna do, if they don’t have food,
35:26 they can’t buy from a la carte,
35:28 if they don’t have money in their account,
35:29 where we’re gonna provide the meals for certain,
35:31 they’re all, it is listed out in the paragraphs above that,
35:34 but that particular one, it just–
35:36 - Right, I see. - Doesn’t flow.
35:37 - I see what you’re talking about.
35:38 - Right, it applied, it was like two different things.
35:40 We need to add something in there to fix it.
35:44 That was the only thing that I had
35:49 on this list of policies, thank you.
35:54 - I don’t have anything on these list of policies, so.
35:59 Is there anything there?
35:59 - Yeah, just real quick.
36:02 Under policy, school board meeting’s 165.
36:06 There’s a provision in there.
36:07 We had a situation for emergency meetings, Mr. Gibbs.
36:13 It states that there’s a way to, you notice it,
36:17 and one of them is posting a notice
36:19 on the district-approved social media platforms.
36:22 Would that suffice to make sure that we,
36:24 ‘cause here’s what happened.
36:27 On a, I think it was a Saturday,
36:29 we made a decision to call an emergency meeting.
36:32 The topic was the masks for a Monday, right?
36:35 And we had to put it in the Sunday newspaper,
36:36 whatever that was.
36:38 Does that, does doing it on the social media platforms,
36:42 is that okay?
36:43 - Yeah, for an emergency meeting.
36:45 - Right.
36:46 - Yeah, we try to go full tilt on everything.
36:48 We put it on, we get it up to the news,
36:50 the radio, put it on the website,
36:53 advertise it in every publication we can get it in.
36:56 - Yeah, I see that 48 hours and all that stuff.
36:58 But if we run into a situation
36:59 where we have to call an emergency meeting,
37:00 for whatever reason, God forbid,
37:02 we can post it on the social media,
37:04 but we don’t have to do it on the,
37:06 but if the 48 hours for the radio’s not there,
37:08 or the one day for the print media,
37:11 we can get it on the social media.
37:12 - The 48 hours is for special, not emergency.
37:16 Emergency is you get it out as best you can
37:19 through whatever media platforms you can,
37:21 because it’s health, safety, welfare issues.
37:23 So if it’s a special meeting,
37:25 you gotta give the 48 hours notice, so that’s different.
37:28 But now we’re doing all of our notices for meetings
37:30 on the district’s website pursuant to the new statute.
37:33 So it’s a lot easier to get that communication out.
37:36 People are looking to the website now
37:38 for those legal notices instead of the newspapers.
37:42 So the timing lag has cut down quite a bit.
37:44 But yes, we can push it out through social media.
37:47 We would push it out everything for an emergency meeting.
37:50 - Yeah, it was just, here’s what it reads.
37:52 It says, notice of emergency meeting shall be provided
37:54 in a manner that is fair under the circumstances
37:57 and necessary to protect the public interest.
37:58 The board shall attempt to provide immediate public notice
38:01 of all emergency meetings as follows.
38:04 And it goes one, two, three, four.
38:07 My question is, do all four have to be done
38:11 in order to have an emergency meeting,
38:12 or does just the approval of social media platforms suffice?
38:17 - Yeah, we would attempt to get it out through all of them
38:21 for an emergency meeting.
38:22 The reality is newspapers, if it happens on like a Friday,
38:26 you’re not gonna get it out if you’re gonna call a meeting
38:29 ‘cause they need two day lead,
38:31 and then it’s not gonna run for like two more days.
38:34 So the newspapers are out for the most part.
38:37 So we usually rely on the news, the radio stations,
38:41 and posting on the websites and social media.
38:44 - But if all of those three don’t,
38:45 and the fourth one does, we’re okay, right?
38:47 - Yes. - Okay, that’s it.
38:49 All right, that’s it from me right now.
38:51 - Thank you.
38:53 - Ms. Wright, anything?
38:54 - Mm-mm.
38:54 - No? - No?
38:56 - Any board member have anything further to discuss?
39:00 - Oh, I do.
39:01 We have a birthday that we have to acknowledge
39:02 that’s in the room,
39:03 and so he almost got away without it.
39:05 So Mr. Cheatham, happy birthday to you.
39:08 (all laughing and applauding)
39:12 - All right.
39:13 ‘Cause there’s no further business,
39:14 this meeting is adjourned.
39:16 - You gotta wait a time to ask me.
39:19 - Yeah, you did.
39:19 - I’m sorry, Russell, haven’t.
39:49 (gentle music)
1:25:02 .