2025-04-22 - School Board Meeting

0:00 [00:01:00] [00:02:00] [00:03:00] [00:04:00] [00:05:00] [00:06:00] [00:07:00] [00:08:00] Good evening. The April 22nd, 2025 board meeting is now in order. I would like to welcome my fellow board members, Dr. Ell, and the public. The appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity, as identified on the agenda outside of your individual public comment opportunity. Your role in the meeting is as an observer. The board would like or Paul rule Call please. Here, here, here. Mr. Here. Here. The board would like to hold a moment of silence. I would like to invite the audience to join.[00:09:00] Thank you. I would like to invite Leilani Gonzalez to the podium to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with what? Liberty and justice for. All. All.[00:10:00] Great job. Tonight we have the tropical elementary troublemakers performing for us. Alright. Please come on up. Come on, you got the stage. All right, we’re good.[00:11:00] All right. We are going to perform two songs from our upcoming musical for you. Um, I hope you enjoy the Grammy Awards and called. The, the annual,[00:12:00] the first all, and, ready? Ready? Ready here.[00:13:00] Thing that you should do, take. The walkie 1, 2, 3. When you, your so fancy the walkie talkie, the new walkie talkie. That way do the walkie talkie, the new walkie dinner, your just walk.[00:14:00] Do the walkie talkie, the new walkie in on Norway. Do the walkie talkie, the new walkie talkie in on your deck. Food is down. Just [00:15:00] walk around the town. The same guy you can. Have some fun in the morning, sun to the walkie. Talk to the walk. Talk to the walk. Woo. That was great. Thank you for that wonderful performance. May I ask for Arabella and Gia to go to the podium to take some of our questions? No, they’re great. We need to stay. Yeah, yeah. We’re gonna take a picture and minute. Absolutely. All right. Uh, board. You want me to go first? Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for coming and leading the Pledge of Allegiance. That was a little bit, that was the same person, right? No. Okay. Sorry. Where’s no here.

16:00 Sorry. I’m so sorry You guys look alike because they height. What grade do we have here? ‘cause it seems like there’s quite a variety of grades. So we have sixth through fourth. Okay. All right. Awesome. And how long have you been in chorus for? Uh, two years. Okay. And outta the songs you sang tonight, which one was your favorite? Probably Granny Awards. Granny Awards. That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming and starting off our meeting on the right note. So we love to see you guys perform. You remind us of our why. You guys did an excellent job, so thank you. You’re welcome. Done. Alright, come back, come back. We’re all gonna ask questions. I’m sorry. Alright. Just gamble. Oh, okay. Um, alright. So I see some costume image going on over here. Um, and at first I thought it was Easter Bunny ears, but then I saw a tail and a pig snout. So can you give us a little spoiler what your musical is about? So our spoiler is basically about a bunch of [00:17:00] fairytales being, um. Appreciated and given awards. And a couple of the characters have, um, props that they wear. Okay. And that one especially is for the three little pigs in Red Riding Hood. Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Okay. So which is your favorite fairytale? I’ll limit you to the ones in the musical. Probably Snow. Um, snow White for sure. Snow White. Okay. And what about you? Um, probably the big Bag bowl. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you ladies. You guys sounded amazing. All you guys were awesome. Oh, you guys were incredible. And I’m gonna ask you a little different thing I’d like to know. Uh, Mr. Robinson’s your teacher, correct? Mm-hmm. For the whole year. I know. For how long has he been your teacher? Oh, for me it’s been seven years. Oh my gosh. Seven. Well then you should be really good at answering this next, this question. Then give me a really good, good juicy detail about Mr. [00:18:00] Robinson that nobody knows about. Oh, that’s not okay. Um, let’s see. Maybe, or what’s your favorite thing about Mr. Robinson? One of that’s probably better. He always wears these fun, super cool t-shirts that I love. Yep. Aw, awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you Mr. Robinson for bringing these, these, uh, students here. A lot of credit goes out to you and your work. Um, I caught him before and I was trying to figure out where he got that shirt because I have, uh, three kids in elementary school myself that are really big fans of Bluey. I don’t know if you guys can see it, but, um, I was trying to get some street cred with my kids to find out where you were actually buying that so that I could then go figure it out. So, good job, Mr. Robinson. But I do wanna say thank you. Um, I know how much it is to take it outta your time to come down here to work and all the families that are out there. Thank you so much for being a part of Brevard Public Schools. [00:19:00] Thank you for coming here tonight and blessing us with your children to sing such beautiful songs to us because this is what grounds us and makes us remember why we’re here. Um, and I just wanted to say thank you to all the parents. Thank you to the students that are here. And you guys have a heck of a crowd tonight. You, I mean, you guys probably have gotten the largest cheers that we’ve had since we’ve been in here because of the size of the crowd. So I just wanted to say thank you, thank you to everybody that’s here. And, and that’s all I have. Thank you. You guys have a good day. Well, again, I’ll, uh, I’ll, I’ll repeat some of the same things. You guys were awesome. This is really the highlight of our evening. You know, it, it kind again, it kind of grounds us. I thought I heard that on, on what’s important and why we’re here. But, um, how many out there are going to continue, uh, the singing and, uh, the, the choreography or the, this type of stuff as you go into middle school? Awesome. Outstanding. That’s, that’s great. [00:20:00] Yes. And that’s, that’s a lot to do with Mr. Robinson. Thank you so much for, uh, for doing this with these students and, and parents for allowing them to, uh, you know, find themselves in, in things like this. This is so important. Uh, you guys were awesome. Just keep it up. Keep it up. Uh, how many is it? Uh, uh, out there? Is this their favorite time of the day when they practice this right here? Okay. You must know that I’m a former math teacher, so the rest of you that didn’t raise your hand, that’s math class, right? That’s your favorite. All right. Sorry Mr. Robinson. But, um. Uh, this might be the first group, maybe the second, but maybe the first that Mr. Susan, Susan did not offer to come sing with you. You know, he’s a professional singer. Um, by, by, by night. I’ve, I’ve tried so many times to ask people if I could come down to your school and actually sing, and we’ve never had any takers. So I usually try to group Dr. Rondel in. So what he’s saying is, is that if you guys would have me, I’d come down and sing a set with you guys. Um, [00:21:00] but you guys may not want to like every other elementary school that’s come in here, so, right. He always throws me under the bus like this. And we are running out of time tonight. Otherwise, I would, I’d let him take it. Take, take up the offer, but maybe next time or he will stop in at the school. But parents, thanks again for, uh, a allowing your students to, uh, do these extracurricular activities like this. I think it’s so important, uh, in their future. So, thanks guys. We’re gonna come down and, uh, take, we take, take a picture with It’s okay. Move. Don’t move. We’re coming. Stay there.[00:22:00] [00:23:00] [00:24:00] At this time, I’d like to invite Ms. Minnie or to the podium to recognize the recipients of the 20 24 25 Florida Music Education Association Award. Thank you, Dr. Rendell. Mr. Trent, members of the board, and both our visiting audience and those at home. On behalf of Tara Harris, assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and instruction, and Ms. Molly Vega, director of Secondary Programs, I am pleased to present to you the 2024 and 2025 honorees who represent a history of excellence in Brevard Public Schools. The role that music education plays in the life of children cannot be underestimated. We are fortunate to provide music education for all students wherein students learn to become more musical, show empathy, to appreciate music in all its forms, and to respect the challenging [00:25:00] process of learning an instrument or learning to sing an immeasurable value in and of itself. We are full of gratitude for the board’s continued support of music for all students, and we honor our community for continuing to value this investment. Benjamin Zander, the music director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, summed it up by saying the conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful. And that’s what our music teachers do each and every day empower students and we extend our thanks to them for providing an environment where students feel valued above their musical abilities. So tonight, we recognize schools that continue to offer extraordinary programs that draw in students to participate in the life changing experience of music. The Florida Music Education Association promotes quality comprehensive music education for all Florida students. Accordingly, they annually [00:26:00] recognize schools that serve a significant percentage of students with music. Dr. Rde and Mr. Trent, please come forward to present the awards to our honorees who are with us today. I also want to say that we need to honor our principals as well. For without them, um, giving us favorable scheduling and supporting our music programs, this award would not be possible. So thank you to them as well. Receiving the 2024 FMEA middle school music education enrollment award for having 57% of the school population enrolled in a music class. Southwest Middle School Principal, Jasmine Lauder, band Directors, crystal Golino. Ashley Hart, course director, Ava Braddock, orchestra Director, Dr. Thomas Sillman, string specialist Carter Patrick Woo.[00:27:00] Receiving the 2025 FMEA middle school music education enrollment award for having 51% of their school population enrolled in a music class, Jackson Middle School principal, Jennifer Shockley, band Director Adam Grin, our beloved chorus and orchestra teacher who’s not with us today. Alexandria Res String Specialist Laura Garcia and Marcy Spur, and all our teachers are beloved also receiving the 2025 FMEA middle school music education enrollment award for having 75%. 75% of the school population enrolled in a music class Central Middle School Principal, Heather Smith, band Directors Dan Lee and Natalie Janice, course director Robert Washington, orchestra Director Robin Morris, string [00:28:00] specialist Nancy Jackson Woo, and finally receiving the 2025 FMEA high school music education enrollment award for having 33% of their high school student body enrolled in a music class This year, Titusville High School Principal, Jennifer Gonzalez, band Director Ian Schwittt, chorus Director Brian Rohr, orchestra director Jennifer Za, string specialist, Marcy Spur. Congratulations to all these well-deserving administrations, the schools teachers for receiving this honor. Yeah, thank you.[00:29:00] [00:30:00] That brings us to the adoption of the agenda, Dr. Rendell. Thank you Mr. Chair. On this evening agenda we have administrative staff. Recommendations 26 consent items, 23 public hearing items, three Action items and two information items. Changes made to the agenda since released to the public include the following added was F 17. Job description specialist school safety and security revised C eight. Administrative staff. Recommendations F 12 student expulsions and F 15 reappointment nominations of [00:31:00] continuing professional service contract teachers for 25 26 and removed was F 30 The ICOC member appointments. Do I hear a motion? Motion approve. Second. Is there any discussion? Paul Roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. We’re now at the administrative staff. Recommendations. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul roll call for the vote please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Mr. Chair, I’d like to take a moment to recognize someone who’s in the audience today. We need to celebrate the fact that. Paige Trost is transferring to position at Roosevelt Elementary School as principal. Congratulations, Paige, and come join us at the podium. Thank you. Good evening. [00:32:00] Thank you, Dr. Rundell and board members for giving me this wonderful opportunity. I’m very excited and I appreciate you putting your trust and faith in me to lead Roosevelt. I’d also like to thank, uh, Mr. Raymer and Mrs. Harris for giving me, um, their vote of confidence as well. Promise I won’t let you down. Um, I have had the most amazing director, Dr. Ivory for the last five years, but have known her much longer, and I just appreciate her mentorship and support and encouragement along the way. I have a new director, Dr. Clark, and I am looking forward to working with you and, um, also just learning from you along the way. I appreciate the warm welcome. I have some of my sable team here with me as well tonight. My current school family has been very supportive and they are some of the most dedicated. Instructional leaders within our district as well. And so I just want them to know that I will take with me everything I have learned from them, [00:33:00] um, and carry those memories on with me. I’m super proud to have been with you and onto my next journey. Um, I do have my daughter here with me tonight. Colby is my ninth grader, uh, from high and in true traut fashion, we have had to divide and conquer tonight. My husband Jason, is with my youngest daughter Avery at her softball game. So we’re cheering each other on from afar. Um, and and I’m super excited to lead with my new Roosevelt team. I will have the opportunity to meet them tomorrow and just looking forward to learning what their goals are and working together towards, uh, striving to serve every student with excellence. So thank you very much for the opportunity. Congratulations. Thank on. So do we want to take a quick picture so that they can leave? Why not? Sure, why not? Let’s do it. Do it. Paige, if you wouldn’t mind, like take a picture. [00:34:00] Gotta commemorate it.

35:00 Two. This time I would like to invite Mike Ma, director of Recruitment and retention to the podium for the presentation. Hmm, thank you. We’re gonna work on getting these screens down here really quick. They were down. If they were down, then they come back up and right there they’re, yeah. Thanks. [00:36:00] Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to come here today to highlight some of the recruiting efforts and recognize the recruiting team and the professional learning and development team that helped to make all this possible year to date. We have hired about 500 new to Brevard teachers, and that comes from a variety of different efforts of a variety of different people coming into Brevard. About 55% of those are non-traditional teachers, so we’re bringing in a number of people from the industry, from professional worlds to enrich the learning environment of our students every day. We were tasked with looking at how we can tap the diverse talent pool here in Brevard and develop the next group of teachers, and we’re looking at some of the recruitment efforts from building right here in Brevard County. Two programs that we currently have are our Grow Your Own Teacher and our teacher Apprentice program. These are current BPS employees and we are offering employees from a number of different, uh, sectors in Brevard County to [00:37:00] achieve a teaching certificate and participate Right now in our classrooms, they currently hold AA degrees and they’ve taken the required prerequisite courses and they’re completing their Bachelor’s of Education through Daytona State College in our GYO program. They’re the current teacher of record, and we have about four teachers right now that are the current teacher of record going through that program. And we have five that are serving as paraprofessionals working towards their special education degree. We’re anticipating about 10 more grow your own next year. And another couple tap. We have our district adjunct certification where teachers are given extended opportunity to meet the requirements to be certified teachers. And we have what we’re probably most excited about our legacy educators. We know that we are graduating some of the next best people in the aerospace engineering field, in the medical field, and we want to bring them into the education field as well. So we’re targeting graduating seniors that are interested in going into a college of [00:38:00] education, and we are going to binder them with Brevard. We are going to offer them a job here in Brevard County contingent upon them completing their degree at a state certified, uh, institution and receiving their teaching certificate from Brevard, uh, from, sorry, from. The Florida Department of Education, our hope is with these teachers that we’ll be able to guide them throughout their program. So we’re hopeful to have summer cohort cohorts each of the four years that they’re gonna be working through their program. We’ll bring them back, we’ll train them, we’ll work with them. We’ll then encourage them so that when they graduate from State University of Florida, the greatest university on earth, they’ll come right back here and they will work with our students immediately. We’re also working on our leg legacy educator paraprofessional path. So right now we have programs at Bayside and we have programs at Space Coast, junior Senior, and hopefully at ra where our students are working with students right now and they’re going to, [00:39:00] uh, graduate with their paraprofessional, uh, certification that makes them eligible to come work as an instructional assistant in our schools. If they wanna work in our schools for two years and earn highly effective ratings working within our schools. We want to get them immediately into our TAP program. We want to pay for their continuing education to become certified ESE teachers and certified teachers in our classrooms. So we’ve launched that and right now we have the open enrollment period for our graduating seniors. We hope to recognize them with, uh, paraphernalia for graduation, have red cords read for education, and to encourage them to come back and be the best and brightest. I mean, there’s so many people when we listen to people like Ms. Trost who grew up right here in Brevard. Who went through as Brevard County students just like myself, who come back and give back to this great community. If we can tap them right now, if we can encourage them right now to be the next leaders in Brevard, then we’re really doing something. So we’re excited for the number of different platforms that we have to bring the [00:40:00] best and brightest of Brevard into Brevard Public Schools. Right now, we’re partnering with the Future Educators Alliance. We’re partnering with our guidance counselors, our speech language pathologists. We’re going to extend this to students who seek, um, communication degrees. We know that we need speech language pathologists in our schools. So if we can encourage those students to take those, uh, communication degrees and bring them right into our schools, it’s gonna support our students with some of the most need. Again, we’re partnering with GYO and TAP mentors. Right now, about 55 different teachers have earned their certification as a tapper GYO mentor through, uh, continuing education and through Daytona State, uh, college, and then we’re working with our education academies and our raised tutors mean it’s amazing to think about it. Right now we have high school students that are teaching and tutoring. They’re tutoring our elementary schools in Title One. They’re working with our VP K students. They’re working in our special education classrooms. We truly have a rich pool of talent right here in Brevard, and [00:41:00] we wanna make sure that we are harnessing that to build the generations of teachers that will serve our students for a lifetime. Any questions? All right. Court, anything Dr. Yeah, thank you. I’m very excited about this program. Let me just say I, I’ve seen some of our students that are tutoring in the classroom, uh, in the North End schools and it’s always amazing how well the children respond to those tutors ‘cause it’s just a, a peer like mentality, but somebody who’s a little older that can guide them along. So I’m excited and I actually have a friend of the North End that’s going through and is going to become a teacher this summer. Uh, and she’s got a couple more classes to finish up, so she’s like, I’m gonna wrap it up and I’ll be ready to go. Um, so it’s, it’s working and I appreciate you all the work that you’re doing, so thank you. Thank you. I just wanna recognize the team. They’re the ones with the boots on the ground. They do the work. Our principals in the schools. I think our principals offered about 104 binders to people this year. So it’s incredible. They’re really working to find the best people to be in front of our students. That’s great. That’s exciting. That’s awesome. Jump in there really quick. Yeah, go ahead. [00:42:00] Um, thank you Mr. Mall for your leadership in this area. You are a, a rockstar, awesome, exciting principal and you are just bringing that right up here to ESF and having a, a even broader impact. So I appreciate your leadership and, and your team as well. Um, question. I’m gonna save my one thing that I talked to you about for another day ‘cause it doesn’t fit. Um, but this summer cohort that’s really exciting, um, to have the students come back in the summers. Is there potentially an opportunity? ‘cause we’re now doing these summer programming, everyth even to have a, like a hiring opportunity for them while they’re, while they’re home for the summer. So our hope with this cohort is that they’re actually given pre-employment binders upon graduation and agreement to go to a school. So they’ll already have that. Uh, the goal of the cohort is to make sure they continue on that path, right? It’s one thing to say, Hey, we’re gonna give it to you. And then, I mean, we all know four years of college, I mean, I was going to law school all the way to my senior year. So things happen. But if we can encourage them along the way, if we can give them the skills to be successful along the way, that’s our hope with those cohorts. And it [00:43:00] may be possible because there are about eight different pathways to becoming a teacher in, in Florida, right. That at that time in their senior internships, they can start almost immediately. So that’s exciting. We’ll definitely continue to explore those opportunities for those who are committed to serving Brevard students. Yeah. And I just wanna do a shout out to the Bayside, uh, teaching Academy because I’ve been visiting some of my schools in the Palm Bay area in the last couple weeks and have seen those. Dr. Ronell was with me one time, seen those interns in action, that we’ve got interns from Bayside who are going into the local elementary schools. I know they’re hap it’s happening in the other schools that have the teaching academies. And they’re spending a morning every week getting to know the students. And the students are already falling in love with them, but they’re getting that really hands-on, kind of like a mini student teaching experience. Um, so it’s really exciting to have the opportunity. So I’m, I just wanted to give a shout out to the Bayside Teacher Academy for, for doing that and getting those kids in the classroom, uh, because that is one of the ways that we get ‘em in there and, and pull ‘em into this awesome field. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah. [00:44:00] Just real quickly, uh, your enthusiasm makes me wanna be a teacher. So I think we have the right man for the job. I think we have some binders available. Susan, Mr. Ma. I wanted to say thank you. I was part of the team that started the aeps over at Space Coast and the, and the main thing about it was, is that those students went through all those years of teaching there and it gave them the experience. And now just like Ms. Campbell was saying, when you walk the halls, I see ‘em everywhere and when they, when I walk up to ‘em and I wanted to make sure that everybody understands this, those prep classes make a higher percentage of graduation rates for students going into education. ‘cause it’s not an easy course to go through. So when they take our prep classes in as far as the aeps in, uh, uh, space Coast and Bayside, than they end up going through and graduating at a better rate. So I just wanted to say how proud I am of your department. I know that this is part of a growing over the last couple of years, but when we were, when I was having that conversation with you at Creole Elementary, when you were an assistant principal, I knew your, your energy and I’m just really glad you’re a part of this and, um, just wanna say thank you ‘cause this is gonna be [00:45:00] great. Thank you. Well, I appreciate you all supporting these types of programs. I mean, that’s what, uh, really works our school supporting. Um, I’ve reached out to several of our principals and they’re just so on board with what we’re doing and trying to continue to push that. We all know that we need great teachers in the classroom. So to be able to, uh, you know, achieve that mission and work on that mission daily’s a pleasure. That’s great. So, Mr. Mul, I’d like to, uh, again, without repeating all that you’ve heard so far. It is, it is. It’s good to know that our. Uh, the retention and recruiting is in good hands. I can tell when a coach is talking. And again, Mr. Thomas, it’s very, uh, uh, inviting to wanna follow, uh, follow your leads. So, uh, I get that question often about our teachers. And, um, you know, retention is huge, but the recruiting part is, is just as huge. And, and we saw our numbers last year and how good they were, 97%, something like that, of new teachers wanting to return. Uh, but it’s because of programs like this as well. And, and the amount of teachers that can bring outside world experience into our classrooms Yep. To [00:46:00] our students, absolutely. Is, uh, you know, it’s, it is just next level for these students. So I, I, I applaud this effort along with the other ones we have going. But, uh, again, uh, thank you for all you’re doing here. Dr. Ell. Yeah. Mr. Chair. So, um, Mr. Mall and his team definitely deserve some, uh, congratulations more than a pat on the back. Um, this program, we challenged them to come up with a program to help us grow our own. And as you, as he sped through the PowerPoint, you notice that there are layers to the program. We’re not just trying one way. There are several different avenues for us to recruit future teachers to our district. So, congratulations, you and the team for putting together a comprehensive approach to get it done. Yes. Thank you. Well said. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you guys. Mm-hmm. All right. We are now at our agenda items only public comments portion of the meeting. Uh, Paul, how many numbers do we have? We have seven. Seven, okay. Number of speakers in each [00:47:00] will receive three minutes. Our attorney will call the speakers in the order in which they signed up to speak. Mr. Gibbs, just as a public service announcement, if you are here to speak about a specific teacher that’s not on the agenda tonight, you may be stopped and move to non agenda. So if you signed up for agenda, you have to keep your comments to the agenda items, please. All right. The first three are Christine Stanek, Sharon Shear, Matthew Ray. All right. Good evening board. I stand here tonight as a parent community member and an employee of Brevard County Schools. I’ve been teaching in this county for over 20 years. I’ve sat in multiple professional development meetings where we talked about the importance of honoring students and building student relationships. I’ve studied education in school where they emphasize Maslow’s hierarchy of [00:48:00] needs that need to be met in order for people to attain motivational behavior. What physiological, followed by safety, love and belonging esteem and self-actualization. So what makes a great teacher? Recognition. Recognition of students as a person. Why am I bringing this up? And how is it on the agenda? Today’s agenda, 58 discusses student rights. Mm-hmm. A lot has been discussed in regards to parent rights, and I’m all for them as I’m a parent of three students in this very school system. However, students have rights as well, and according to board policy, they’re listed tonight. So I’m going to reiterate three of them right now. The board recognizes that student possess not only the right to an education, but the rights of citizenship as well. Federal and state law prohibits the board from adopting any policy or rule, or from entering into any agreement that infringes upon or waives the rights of freedom affronted to the students by the United States [00:49:00] Constitution. In providing students the opportunity for an education in which they are entitled, the district shall attempt to offer nurture counsel and custodial care appropriate to their age and maturity. The district shall at any time guarantee that no student is deprived the basic right to equal treatment and equal access to the education program due process, a presumption of innocence, free expression and association, and the privacy of his or her own thoughts. So I guess the reason I’m here tonight is to seek clarification. Are we serving students with excellence or are we removing teachers that follow your policy and recognizing student rights? Does state law supersede district policy? What about state laws that are in violation of constitutional rights? It’s, I wanna remind everyone of a US Supreme Court ruling Tinker versus Des Moines. This [00:50:00] case was a little different, but the ruling is apropos to my comment tonight. First Amendment rights applied in the light of special characteristics of the school environment are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. This has been the unmistakable holding of this court for almost 15 years. Thank you. Sharon Shearer and Matthew Ray, oh, sorry. Sharon Shear. Matthew Ray, Jen Cousins. As most of you already know, my name is Sharon Shearer and I have a few things to say to this board. I would like to start with the hearing that was held at the IMPART by the impartial person regarding the Ramsey curriculum. An impartial person [00:51:00] that was requested and hired, so to speak by the school board’s legal team. If you ask me, that’s a conflict of interest right there. I can also say that the ruling that states Bible quotes in the margin contain basic truths, generally accepted in the culture, is biased to a culture. Not all of us belong to. I can guarantee that if those passages and quotes were from the Talmud or the Koran and or came from any other cultures, uh, religious book on personal finance, debt and thrift, the whole curriculum would’ve been shut down. And yes, I am calling the entire board full of religious exclusivism. I also want to address parental and student rights. I’m calling the board hypocritical on the situation with a beloved teacher who supported a child and gave that student a sense of belonging and safety [00:52:00] by calling that student by a name that the student has been called for four years. A teacher that was fired when a teacher who admittedly at a party with over a hundred students drinking publicly intoxicated and disrespectful to law enforcement is on paid administrative leave Ms. A party where a child was Ms. Shear. I’m still speaking about, and you’re gonna hear, you’re, you’re talking about a specific student or a parent, a medical emergency, and the teacher wasn’t even aware putting many Ms. Shear and was not fired, where were the specific teacher is not on the agenda tonight. If you’re gonna talk, if you’re gonna talk student rights, you have, you have to talk on non agenda. Where are the parents told ma’am incident You. You can say what you wanted the right to know as an adult, especially a teacher or principal deserving their minors alcohol. Ms. Sheer your time to talk on non agenda [00:53:00] item is later in the meeting done. It shows that the student is being heard, validates their student that they, she’s not supposed to be speaking lies. People say a parent has a right to deny the student. Get that child out. That’s, this is not just, we now get ready. What do we do? Gotta like either get somebody up there or never remove every single one of them has assigned to come file. This is gonna go south real quick. Policy. Also shortened versions of the student given name, Nicholas being called Nick William. Bill, man, thank you for your time. Alright, let’s take a recess, man. Let’s take a recess. You know what, we’re gonna take a five minute recess.[00:54:00] [00:55:00] [00:56:00] [00:57:00] [00:58:00] [00:59:00] [01:00:00] [01:01:00] Paul, I believe we’re on the third speaker. Matthew Ray, Jen Cousins Lane. Can you hear me now? Uh, need to [01:02:00] unmute this up. Okay. So I wanna, I’m gonna keep this really brief. Basically, I’m here for the, um, for the agenda item of, uh, number, I think it’s number 15. So, you know, we’re in a, we’re in a time when, when we’re really having trouble getting teachers and getting teachers to stay. So all I really have to say is that if we, if we’re in a situation like that, we really need to be careful with, you know, who we’re, who we’re letting go. Are we letting go of, uh, valuable teachers who are, you know, simply, you know, recognizing their students’ rights to go by the name they choose, or are we, uh, or are we doing something else? So we need, we really need to think that through. So thank you very much. Thank you Al. And Bill Perman. Bill Perman. I don’t think I’ve seen him before. He’s got emails [01:03:00] us all the time. He’s, he’s Paulman. Um, can I give you guys some handouts? There are reports from GLSEN on a state report card for Florida regarding public schools. Hi there. Uh, my name is John Cousins and I’m the chair of Glisten Central Florida. Glisten is a national organization that has worked for over three decades to build safer and more inclusive schools for LGBTQ plus youth. According to our research, Florida has over 114,000 LGBTQ plus youth age 13 to 17, including over 9,000 trans youth. Our state’s, trans and non-binary youth reported significant gender-based discrimination when it came to [01:04:00] using their chosen name. Sadly, satellite high School has a history of anti-trans and anti LGBTQ plus behavior, and this must be remedied. Ms. Cousins, this is not on the agenda tonight. Respect can all speak afterwards. You don’t have to. She doesn’t have to do it. I mean. Turn mic on. Ma’am. You can speak afterwards. It’s not a big deal. You’re not on the right topic. How are you judge with life support for this student? That’s, it is rare in this world. We come across educators, Ms. Cal’s [01:05:00] caliber, and when we do, we must up uplift and celebrate them all. Not remove them from the school that loves them and report them to the same. Just let, ma’am I’m gonna go ahead and stop you for just let me finish and I’ll let you speak, father. Okay? So I’m gonna give you a warning that you’re supposed to speak during your time, okay? So, all right, we have to recess this meeting.[01:06:00] [01:07:00] [01:08:00] [01:09:00] [01:10:00] [01:11:00] [01:12:00] [01:13:00] [01:14:00] Use Instagram or Facebook. If you have a video there. Now, better iap, don’t feel like you have following for that. [01:15:00] Tonight’s meeting, we’ll resume in five four. It’s a warning to those in attendance. If you cause a disruption, you’ll be asked to leave the premise. If you continue to cause a disruption and or fail to leave the premise, you are in violation of Florida State Statute 88 7 7 dash 13 and you’ll be committing trespass and the board will enforce these rules as just a sides. But no, we loved, we welcome the comment, the public comment. But we have Ana, if you sign up for an agenda item, you are, if you sign up for an agenda item, please just speak to that agenda item. Otherwise you can speak. Otherwise you can speak freely at open public comments near the end of the meeting. So from this point forward, if [01:16:00] you’re causing a disturbance, you’ll be warned and asked to leave. Agenda. Item 15 is on anybody speaking to a particular teacher whose contract is not being reappointed is speaking to that. Notice that. Alright, so moving forward, the disruption policy is in order act, the, she’s been warned a specific warning, a specific person. She, yeah, you, he’s Antisemite. He’s an anti lesbian trans.[01:17:00] Yeah, we already, okay. Lane Alvarez, Paul with Lane Alvarez call now. Lane Alvarez, not record. No. All. Who’s after that? Bill Perlman. Bill Perlman. Is that laying ez? No. Okay. I’m laying Alvarez. Okay. I’m here today about reset. Is it on? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I’m here today to speak about student and parent rights. As a parent, I want kids in school to feel comfortable and saved in all ways, and that includes teachers. Having the basic courtesy of respecting students’ names, requiring a highly qualified and beloved teacher to disrespect their own students in order to keep their job is [01:18:00] antithetical to what the teacher student relationship should ideally be. Yes, I’m aware there’s a required permission form to use a different name as I’ve had to sign it for my own children. That form is a ridiculous waste of time, and it’s only purpose. It’s to, to make it harder for the most vulnerable students, this is 15, who may not have support at home to express themself for who they are. Quiet. Let them go. They should be able to find that support at school. In fact, it’s a life-saving measure. In the case of transgender children. Mrs. Calhoun did nothing other than respect her student’s choice. And her empathy should be rewarded, not punished. Please renew her contract. Thank you. Bill Perlman, is that it? Bill Perlman. Here he is. Yeah. Kelly column Birdie is after Bill Perlman. Who’s next? Bill Perlman and then Kelly Collum. Birdie. Well, I was gonna acquiesce and speak at the end, but um, since you just allowed that speaker, I’m gonna go right ahead and I [01:19:00] appreciate the opportunity to be heard tonight. Thank you. And I will be civil and I hope that you will be as well. And before I start, is anyone else feeling the irony of Mr. MA’s presentation about teacher retention? I came tonight to show that I stand with Ms. Calhoun and to ask you to not punish compassion. The harm is clear, and I’m really disappointed that this board has chosen to use the most extreme and disruptive and destructive option of not rehiring a teacher who is by all accounts effective and inspirational, and that is not in dispute. There is no law or policy that requires the board this extreme reaction. You say a law was violated. I argue that the law puts the wishes of a misguided parent [01:20:00] over an emerging and adult, and that is a misguided law in our country and throughout the world. We celebrate those who stand up to bad laws to injustice. Are you familiar with civil disobedience? The nonviolent refusal to accept the dictates of government. It informs that unjust laws will be opposed and that the people will act illegally if pushed to do so. Civil disobedience causes disruption and it focuses attention and it forces debate, and it has the aim of bringing about fundamental and progressive change. You’re familiar with civil, disobedient, civil disobedience, the fight for women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, including people like Rosa Parks who violated Jim Crow laws [01:21:00] by not giving up per seat. The Boston Tea Party. Do not punish this teacher by not rehiring her. Do not place yourselves squarely on the wrong side of history. The decision to not rehire Ms. Calhoun does not reflect the values of the many people that showed up here tonight. Please reverse your decision. Realize your extreme reaction is inappropriate. It’s unfair, and it does not, it does not reflect the values of our community. Kelly Colum Birdie. Howdy there. So, my name’s Kelly [01:22:00] Colum Bertie. Um, I’m very happy to say that I was a student, uh, for K through 12 Brevard public Schools. Uh, when I was reviewing, ma’am, I stopped your time, not because you said anything wrong. Just please address us. Uh, this is the, the comments. Got it. Got it. We wanna hear. We want to hear you. So, uh, when I was reviewing all the teachers who got their contracts renewed, I was delighted and I think it’s important that we keep those high standards. Uh, I went to the, the Mel High sheet, saw my old AP physics teacher, my honors teachers, teachers that I spent more time with doing extracurricular stuff. I became an award-winning student because of these teachers. Now all the time, I think about how much effort and how much of their personal time they put into not just teaching us in AP courses, not just running clubs like, I don’t know, the mock trial club. Uh, you know, not just these things, but treating us as human beings because those human moments in the classroom are worth more than all the [01:23:00] flashcards and all the penciled in bubbles, all the standardized tests, those are the moments that shape us to be citizens that give back to our communities, that make intelligent, informed decisions and make the world a better place to live in. And I sincerely hope that you keep those high standards and retain all the teachers who meet those that you can because they do not grow on trees. They are teachers that need our gratitude and they need to be retained in Brevard County as long as they are willing to accept the ridiculous treatment that we put them through for teach for Treating students with respect and dignity. Is that the last one, Paul? Yep. No, I signed up to speak. I signed up for, I signed, I signed up for, [01:24:00] here we go. This is staged. Then guys are the ones that got recommendation. So it’s up to you guys. But, uh, those are the ones on the agenda list if you want me to go through these. I will. No, we’re we’re done with the agenda items, right? I’m done with the ones Linda gave me on this sheet. Okay. So I think they’re saying that they signed up on their sheets and Linda paired them down? No, they may have, right? I don’t know. Like, you know, Ms. Jenkins signed up for both non-ag agenda and agenda. Okay. So, so you wanna go through one at a time and see if they have, she’s the first one on the agenda that’s signed up for bowl or non agenda. Sorry, if you wanted to call her, that’s fine. Yeah. All right. Ms. Jennifer Jenkins. Yes.[01:25:00] Okay. Mr. Susan, it’s nice of you to join us again. We all heard you call us deplorables, by the way. Good job with the hot mic. I’m here to speak about agenda item G 58, which is your policy 57 80. I’m addressing a misuse of power or perhaps a habit of handing out pocket constitutions without actually reading what’s inside of them. Ms. Wright, I’m referring specifically to a one in your policy. Federal and state law prohibits the board from adopting any policy or rule that waives the rights of freedoms afforded to students by the United States Constitution. And it is not just the Constitution. These rights have been upheld in case law as well accruing, including a ruling that says students did not shed their first amendment rights at the Schoolhouse Gate and the United States Supreme Court found it unconstitutional to discipline a student for pro, for profane language used off campus. Guess who said that? Oh, justice Alito. He said, as nurseries of democracy, public schools must respect the constitutional rights of students, [01:26:00] especially when students are speaking off campus or on the weekend. Does that policy reflect and protect that? See, a student sent a personal email with a curse word in it, not a threat, just speech used on the weekend. And yet Ms. Wright accessed that student’s information and contacted their parent and the principal. That alone is an overstep because we as board members couldn’t and shouldn’t. Access student information without a valid purpose. And that was not a valid purpose. You can keep shaking your head. She wrote, sending emails with curse words and insults won’t get you anywhere but in trouble. That student was then labeled with a level three language offense. But per the student code of conduct, level three only applies when there is a serious disruption to a threat or to safety on campus, on a school bus, a bus stop, or at a school-sponsored event. That email did none of that. And here is the irony. If that student came here and read the exact same email with every single word here at this podium, they can’t be disciplined. This policy also [01:27:00] addresses parental rights. Ms. Wright, you say often you don’t co-parent with the government yet here you are, the government co-parenting you wrote, your child will incur discipline. This student was then suspended for a day. That is not just an overreach, it’s a dangerous precedent. Parents shouldn’t have to take time off of work to fight unconstitutional suspensions in a conference room. Keep smirking girl. Parents shouldn’t have to take time off, but I hope for that conference, I hope that it happens and I hope that it happens with an attorney in a courtroom because that seems to be the only way that you guys seem to listen. I urge this board to not only just approve this policy, to actually read it and to perhaps govern by it, respect our students’ right to free speech, because I can assure you they have not and they will not be silenced. And for the love of God, please stop walking taxpayers into First Amendment lawsuits.[01:28:00] Let Castellana, Pamela Castellana, same one. Hello, Pamela Castellana. And I’m a Vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party. I’m here to talk about that today. We’re actually here to talk about the curriculum that is up for review and reelect Revo today. I highly object to the idea that this curriculum is appropriate. Um, it is basically education. Um, malpractice, uh, we’ve got the wrong notes here. Hang on. Um, we’re teaching students that the only appropriate way to manage their money is to not have a credit score. We live on the Space Coast where you cannot get a job without a security clearance. And most of our employers, you can’t get a security clearance without Oh, shocking. A credit score. And the curriculum that you are voting to approve tonight, and I know you’re gonna approve it again, I don’t oppose it because it’s got scripture references in it. As much as I oppose [01:29:00] it’s educational malpractice, please don’t vote for this curriculum. You have many other options that don’t do our students’ disservice. Thank you. Greg Wiggins. Greg Wiggins. Alright, what another address? Greg. Greg Wiggins. Good evening. I rise to address agenda item 15, the contract of Ms. Melissa Calhoun. My name is Greg Wiggins. All right. I have lived in Indian Harbor Beach since 2011, but before I retire retired, sir, I, I’m gonna stop you a minute. Just a moment. Not that you’re saying anything incorrectly that Ms. Calhoun is not on agenda 15, just so you know that. Okay. And she never, and she, that wasn’t where she would be. That wasn’t it at all. I’ve requested to [01:30:00] Agenda 15, sir. Then you need to be to, to that agenda item that’s in a I’m, she’s not a professional services contract teacher who I am. No, Ms. Calhoun is not a part of. Agenda 15. Item 15, simple. This Agenda 15, if you’d like to describe why it needs that, that requirement? Mm-hmm. The nomination for reappointment of Teachers. I wish to discuss Only professional services. Contract teacher. She’s an annual contract teacher. We’re not voting on those tonight. You can speak at the end. We can have you speak at the end. You can absolutely speak in not agenda item time. That’s all this is. This is not it. There’s just not that time. Alan Nervi is next and I reserve the right to come back later. Absolutely. We’ll put you there, sir. Absolutely. This is elder abuse. Alan Nervi. What is it? Alan Nervi.[01:31:00] Alan Nervi. Just go to the non agenda item. You can speak freely that time. Absolutely. Crystal K. Crystal Casey. Yeah. Crystal. K. Well, good evening everyone. Pleasure. Well, now that everybody’s calmed down, I’d like to speak about First Amendment rights and the violation of those rights over time and years of this school board. You’re all in violation of our constitution, of our country, [01:32:00] and I think it’s never more evident than it is right now. You have a host of the community and they are telling you that you were in violation. Paul, what, uh, agenda item did she sign up to speak on behalf of? It’s called Agenda Item. Oh, we just stop it. Everybody’s gonna get their chance. This case, do you remember what, uh, agenda item, police, misconduct, corruption, and number 15. What? And number 15. So, police misconduct, police corruption, misconduct. And number 15. So it’s, it’s agenda item 15, which is the reappointment of PSE teachers. Okay. It’s the reappointment of [01:33:00] PSA or, uh, PSE teachers. Could you please just keep it to that? You can speak freely on any topic at the end, as long as in, within your three minutes. Okay, so you can have your time. I’ll start it again. As I was, as I was speaking, as I was speaking, my first amendment rights were violated again at the last school boarding meeting I spoke at on 3 25 25, about the rape of kids at Pineapple Cove Classical Academy, Lamar. Okay, this is the second warning. I, I don’t know what, how more to explain to you that agenda item number 15 is nothing to, has nothing to do with your First Amendment rights, right? Just speak on that item and you can speak freely for three minutes. You can come back and speak for another three minutes at the end of the meeting on any topic you want. This is your second warning to stay on. Agenda number 15, if you’ll just let me continue, um, and follow [01:34:00] along, get there, and at the end you’ll understand, but if you keep stopping me, you’re not gonna be able to hear it. Do you understand? Shake your head if you see, I’m asking you if you understand agenda number, item 15. Do you get it? Okay. So, as I was saying, my first Amendment rights were censored at the last school board of meeting I spoke at, and with regards to agenda item 15. With this specific teacher that is being punished for HB 10 69, which I believe is a political stunt for this board for political reasons because of your affiliation with a representative. Paul, I’m gonna go ahead and ask you, does this have anything to do with agenda item 15? Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Talk about Right. And she can’t, she, she has to talk about the item. She can’t just randomly talk. [01:35:00] We can do this all night. We can do remotely close to the agenda item. No, actually I’m gonna give you, this is your last warning to stay on topic or I’m gonna ask you to be removed and you can, you can speak at the end of the meeting. Oh, okay. You have to speak on a agenda item number 15. So don’t wrap it up at the end. Speak on that topic please. So to be clear, to be clear, to be clear, you said sorry to be clear. Hello? To be clear, chair Chairman Trent. To be clear, you said this is my last warning. What was the previous warning when I said warning? When did you say that again? I’m just asking because you said this was my last warning. What was my first warning? Because you didn’t warn me before, and you didn’t warn me at the last meeting when you censored me, your time is gone. I, I do believe that this is a political stunt with HB 10 69 with regard to the political [01:36:00] affiliations that Matt, Susan, and others on this board have with Mr. Randall. Fine. You heard me? That’s what this is. I’ll be back. Mindy McKenzie. Mr. Chair, if I could just Yes, please. Just wanna make sure that the audience members understand that Item 15 is the relo of professional service contract. And continuous contract teachers. The teachers that many of the teacher that many of you are here to support. It does not fall in that category. She would not be on that list. No, she’s not a professional services contract teacher. She would not have been on that list to begin with. So when we ask you to an agenda item, public comment, [01:37:00] you need to keep your comments to the specific agenda items. The teacher that you’re many of you’re here to support would not be covered under that agenda item. Ever to the end. You can speak during the, during the non agenda items. Please let speak at the end of the meeting. Just wanna make sure you guys understand it. ‘cause several of you have come up even after it’s been explained that that agenda item does not pertain to the teacher that many of you are here to support port. Anybody else? All right. Okay. Anybody else? Paul? Yeah. Uh, Mindy McKenzie is the next one. Okay. Uh, Mr. Gibbs next name? Mindy McKenzie. It’s just coming up. Okay, great. Hi. Good evening. I’m sorry. So I’ll do my, just hang on. He’ll turn it on. There you go. There you go. I guess I’ll speak at the end. You can? [01:38:00] Yes ma’am. I don’t want to, anything you want talk about at the end? Yes ma’am. Thank you. Yes ma’am. Thank you. Amy Raub. You guys having fun up there? You glad that, uh, you didn’t let Ava get elected? Okay. So, um. So when you’re hiring and firing teachers, do you care at all about the students and what they need? Because that doesn’t say to serve every parent with excellence as a standard. It’s for the kids. Do you? Did you forget your job? [01:39:00] Every student. Every student. Even if you don’t like them, you are supposed to have teachers for them. I don’t know why you would try to control teachers the way that you do. I can’t imagine doing that. Why are you in education? If you don’t respect the educated, what are you doing? Look at this. Look at this. Is this on the topic? It’s only gonna get worse. She’s closer than the other people. We’re not gonna back down. That’s a very good point, Ms. This is only the beginning. Okay. Stop firing good teachers. Megan, I remember you asking why a while ago why these angered parents just don’t reach out. Like, why don’t they just reach out and sit down and talk to me? Why don’t they just do that? When’s the [01:40:00] last time you sat down? With a transparent or student to try to understand them. So I’ve stopped your time. Um, please refer to the agenda item that you’re speaking of. What, what item did you sign up for? 15. Okay. Please. You know what item fifteen’s about then? So please. It isn’t about what hiring. You’re talking about hiring teachers, not firing nobody. Nobody’s being fired. It isn’t about firing teachers. I’m asking her a question and I stopped her time. Okay, I’ll start it again. Just keep on 15 these teachers, keep it up and get rid. If you didn’t want people to speak, then take away all the, you can speak at the end. They know that the camera’s not gonna be on later. Like everybody’s onto you. We are all onto you. Okay. Not, yeah, it’s not funny. This is bad. You guys are an embarrassment. You’re an embarrassment. Permission.[01:41:00] Try not to be so narrow-minded. Please. Like give it your all. Can you do that? You should not be up there, Mr. Yeah. Okay. You wanna stop it? Yeah. Gregory Ross. Gregory Ross. Where’s your form, man? Yeah. Here comes Greg Ross. Here’s my favorite. I missed him. Good evening board. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh, quick reflection here. I’m just wondering how it feels to be, uh, the subject of the same behavior that you justified to get you elected, right? Yeah. How’s it feel? Yeah. Now you know, we’re number one. Bye. I’m here to speak on speak on item [01:42:00] number 15, reappointments. On that list it says, um, on the agenda item, it says, these reappointments include instructional staff by school and department, and for reappointment for the 20, 25, 26 school year are contingent upon completion of certification requirements and coursework on or before their beginning date. So it sounds like the requirements to get reappointed are pretty easy, right? Just gotta be qualified and submitted by the required date, right? So the teachers, you didn’t reappoint, why not, right? Why is that not public knowledge? Why is that not in a form? Shouldn’t this list contain both who you appointed and who you didn’t reappoint? Right? One, here’s, here’s [01:43:00] two words for you. They have a lot to do with a lot that’s going on due process. That’s what’s lacking here. That’s why all these people are here. Due process, people have a right to know what they’re accused of. They have a right to, um, confront their accusers. They have a right to a hearing to determine guilt, right? Mm-hmm. So do we know if any of that’s been done for those people who have not been reappointed? Or is this just, um, you know, that the, what the state brought in a few years ago. So they could just fire teachers willy-nilly. That’s what this is. We all know it is every teacher in the state is now on an annual contract so that you don’t have to justify firing them. Right. The people on this agenda item, yep. It’s, it is just that much easier. We control the board. Nah. Yes. For you. No, for you. I don’t like the way you look. I don’t like the I way you say somebody’s name. We see you. You didn’t, you didn’t put the reappointment list up until late [01:44:00] this afternoon, right? Why is that? No transparency. No transparency. Thank you. No due process, no transparency. That’s been the motto of this board from day one, been calling you out since day one. That’s been your motto. As somebody said, it’s only gonna get worse. Do better. Do the right thing. Reappoint the people. That should be reappointed. Thank you. Alan Pollock. Alan Pollock. All right, next. Xer Colangelo. Zander. Colangelo. Is that his [01:45:00] name? You’re still doing agenda item, public comments? Yes. Agenda is your name. The end then. Okay. Thank you. Julie Cohen. Julie Cohen. Alright. Next. Hello. Um, it’s Julia. Oh yeah. Hello, I’m Julia. Um, I’m a student and I was just kind of speak on teachers, um, and all the teachers that I’ve had and just kind of wanna say that we know that teachers have a big impact, impact in our life. Thank you Mr. Defra. Um, and really help to shape our future. And so having good teachers is really important and really, you know, shapes what we wanna do and how we can make a change in the world. Um, and I just want to tell you guys how important that is to us and all of the [01:46:00] students and all of my peers. And so having good teachers is really important and really impactful. And not having good teachers also makes a big difference. Um, makes me, if I have a bad math teacher, maybe I don’t like math anymore. Maybe I was gonna be a mathematician. I had one bad math teacher, changed my whole course, tra my whole life trajectory. So teachers really are important and having teachers that inspire makes a difference, um, and they hold a lot of power. Thank you. Thank you. Anya. Denison? I’m on non. Okay. Sebastian Martinez is,[01:47:00] hello board members. Good evening. Um. Have a long meeting ahead of you. Um, my name is Sebastian Martinez. Um, and really quickly, I’ll stay on, I’ll stay on agenda. I’m also gonna speak about teachers, um, really quickly for everyone at home. They’re gonna cut off hundreds of people who are here attending, and you won’t see it on the live stream, but you can find it on social media later. The importance of teachers to, to children is unimaginable, can’t be measured. Your motto is to serve every student with excellence as the standard. [01:48:00] Sometimes this board makes decisions on teachers who don’t necessarily align with the board, and the board makes decisions that they chose to make to not renew those contracts with those teachers, which is Amendment 15. And so, as someone who went through K through 12, every time you go to see if a teacher is going to be renewed for the following year, I think some of the things that you should always consider is what kind of environment they create in the classroom. Is it helping academic success? Um, there’s several instances of multiple teachers, not just one specifically, um, where they create. An environment for students that’s beneficial. When students aren’t stressed in a classroom, they perform better in reading and they perform better in math, um, they perform [01:49:00] better in English, well that falls under reading. Um, and they just perform better overall. And so as a student graduated from K through 12, I just want you to always consider, um, to keep all the good teachers you have, especially when there’s a teacher shortage in this county, all across the state, across the, across the country. It’s not just a Brevard thing. Um, so yeah, that’s it. Keep in mind every aspect about a teacher to ensure that all of your students, every student is served with excellence as a standard. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Richard Weber. Richard Weber coming back up, but who, who was in charge of putting agenda? Not this entire things. Somebody needs to be fired from this whole process. Alright, do I, we at the end? Richard Weber’s the last one? Yeah. Okay. Good. [01:50:00] All done. Go quick. Alright, so that concludes the agenda items only public comments. 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 the board is accessible for further conversations outside. Of our business meeting by scheduling a meeting. Okay, we are now at the consent agenda portion of our meeting, Dr. Rendell. Thank you Mr. Chair. There are 26 items on the list under this category. Thank you Dr. Rendell. Does any board member wish to pull any of the items? I’d entertain a motion to con uh, to accept the consent. Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Season? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Alright. We will now hold a final public hearing for the following policies, policy 1 6 4. Is anyone present that would wish to address the [01:51:00] item? Is there anyone present that would wish to address the item? Do I hear motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Mr. Wright Aye. Policy 1 65? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present that would address, uh, like to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please, Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Mr. Wright Aye. Policy 1 65 0.2 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present that would like to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve? Second discussion. Paul Roll call please, Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 1 65 0.3 Is there anyone present? Who wishes, wishes to address this item? Is anyone present? Who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a [01:52:00] motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 1 66 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? I hear motion Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas. Aye. Mr. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 2120 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Motion Move to approve. Second. Any discussion follow roll call please Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Tran Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Mr. Wright Aye. Policy 2125 Is there anyone present who wishes to, uh, to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear motion? Move? Do proof second. Any discussion follow roll call please Mr. Thomas? Aye, Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Aye, Mr. Season Aye. Mr. Wright Aye. Mr. Policy [01:53:00] 2260 dash one Is there anyone present that wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present that wishes to address this item? Roll Call please or uh, motion move to approve. Second. Any discussion, roll call please. Mr. Thomas Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 2280? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion Paul Roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 24 11 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 24 21 Is there anyone present that wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do we hear a motion Move to approve. Second. Any discussion Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas. Aye. [01:54:00] Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 24 23 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion Move to approve. Second. Any discussion follow roll call please Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 24 55 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion Move to approve. Second. Any discussion Paul Roll call please, Mr. Thomas Aye, Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 24 6 Theory Is there anyone present that wishes to address this item? Yeah. Is there anyone present to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Tranent? Aye. Mr. Season? Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 25 20 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present to that wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to [01:55:00] approve. Second. Any discussion follow roll call please Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 2,800 Is there anyone present that wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present that wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 51 36 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 54 10 dash oh one Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present Who wishes to address this item? Do I hear motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please Mr. Thomas. Aye Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Season Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 54 63 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? [01:56:00] Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul Roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 54 65. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright Aye. Policy 57 80, is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Yes. Okay. Anyone else that would like to speak? Just line up behind the speaker please. Mr. Chair, I need to use the restroom. Do you want, I mean, are we gonna No, just go do a small break or do you want me to just go? Just go. It’s gonna be a while. Good evening board. There are, um, I’m not gonna talk about what you probably think I’m gonna talk about. I’m going to talk about the [01:57:00] portion of the policy, uh, that is Section three C students with deficiency in reading and mathematics. Um, I do appreciate the changes that students, uh, in K three, if they show a deficiency, whether it’s via state testing or teacher seen, that parents are going to be, um, informed because that was certainly something that I came up against. Could you just pause one second please? Sure. You had a question, Reese’s Not on, which policy are you on? She’s on 57 80. All right. Correct. Yes. Yeah. Yes. But it’s student parents rights. It’s under three c. I don’t it. A three maybe. That’s h Ah, there we go. Hold on, I’m scrolling. So, under K, exceptional students, okay, go down to C students with deficiencies of reading and mathematics. Got it. Go ahead. Okay. Um, so I do appreciate that um, parents are going to, uh, be informed if their, their students are showing deficiency in math and reading.[01:58:00] Um, with the exception of potentially Mr. Thomas, everybody up there is well aware of my struggles of having a child with dyslexia in this district. However, I would like to see policies expanded to also form a way for parents to understand how to then get their students help. One of the biggest proponents that I would run into is that when teachers would go into MTSS meetings, their voices didn’t matter. No matter how hard they fought for my children, their voices were silenced under the, under the phrase of we don’t have enough data. There’s not enough data. There’s, you don’t have this many weeks of data, or you filled out the data, but you did it on the wrong form. So I think that this should be expanded so that district staff, or. School staff, then help parents through the IEP and 5 0 4 process and what it looks like to get their children educationally tested to get the proper accommodations. Because as we all know, in, in the studies and science shows, the sooner [01:59:00] children have access to intervention, the faster that those gaps get filled. And you have kids that continue to set in classrooms day in and day out. It’s basically you’re, you’re talking to them in what is basically Latin. And it’s not because they can’t learn, it’s because you’re not teaching them the way that they do learn. Thanks guys. I just wanted to, um, remind you of, under a general, there’s three points that I hope you guys discuss because, um, we seem to be flying through the policy. Um, number one, again, the board recognizing the students possess not only the right to an education, but the rights of citizenship as well. Federal and state law prohibits the board from adopting any policy or rule or entering into any agreement that infringes upon or waives the rights of freedoms affronted to the students by the United States Constitution. So I’m expecting that there would be some discussion on these lying items and what they mean for our students in [02:00:00] schools. Thank you. Howdy. Okay. Kelly Berti again, and I’m, I’m here to advocate for the many students. Who are either not able to be here today, um, oppressed through whatever means. Because here’s the reality. Students these days are going through issues pertaining to digital safety, in-person safety that so many of us cannot acknowledge. And they deserve not only to be listened to, but they deserve to be advocated for. They deserve to be in environments where they can develop not just the practical skills to pass standardized tests, but emotional intelligence, compassion for others, and self-esteem. Those are not secondary. Those are essential to a child’s development. And I’m here to repeat that. The school board manual itself, that the Supreme Court has [02:01:00] mandated that students possess not only the right to an education, but the rights of citizenship as well. Okay? They are for these rights are afforded to students for something as simple as whatever name they choose to be called. That should be the most petty of rights. And instead you’ve blown it up into something that frankly isn’t worth fighting about. All right. The parents’ right rights movement these days, that inhibits the actual parental rights of the majority. In order to placate the small but vocal minority, which you are enslaved to, which wants to raise children as cattle or robots instead of autonomous human beings. And with DeSantis latest push to roll back labor rights for children, I am terribly concerned that instead of preparing the youth to be active participants in our society, we are setting them up to be [02:02:00] exploited labor. And I can’t even get eye contact from half of you right now. Hi, be in a minute. Kit Murphy. Uh, so, uh, while the Calhoun thing may not be within the scope of this, uh, I think it’s important to talk about the rights of the students within the school, uh, to protest against the decision of the board and, uh, the policies more generally of the board. As was said previously, there was a student who emailed, uh, the school board and received in response, uh, a suspension and being told essentially that there, that the email would achieve nothing. The profanity did not cover up the content which was contained within the email, which was a criticism of the board’s handling of the, uh, just in general the board’s operation as well as of the, uh, as well as of the, uh. Calhoun decision, uh, due to the, uh, [02:03:00] belief of the student that, uh, parents do not have a right to control their children. Um, alongside that, students at the school themselves, uh, wanted to walk out. They wanted to do all of these things, but the school threatened them with suspension if they were to do those activities. What will you do to protect the political rights of students? Uh, to resist you, you as a body, because you evidently do not operate in their interests. Hi, I guess, uh, we’re talking on parental rights, and so my name is Erica Orris, and I have a slightly different take. I wanna thank you all for upholding the law and protecting our children. Let’s be clear about what we’re talking about here this evening. What we’re talking about is not a nickname. What we’re talking about is gender affirmation. What we’re talking about is gender dysphoria. Huh? Well, wait a minute. [02:04:00] Hang on. I gave you your time. I haven’t talked yet, but go ahead, Ms. Speaker. Thank you. Go. Just address us. Okay. Back in 2022, how is Bill one? 5, 5 7 was passed. This states under action. Seven. The expectation of all staff to inform parents of students’ gender identity and or sexual orientation. And all their considerations, meaning that allowing a student to gender identify as that of the opposite sex at the school requires parental consent. Our children are our greatest resource, and they need protection. Teachers are looked upon by most students as, as a figure of influence and authority, and they must adhere to a higher standard, which means they must adhere to law teachers. Individual opinions on [02:05:00] the law is absolutely inconsequential, and so is the opinion of everyone in this room tonight because it’s the law. All right, so gender dysphoria in schools is a diagnosable illness in the DSM five. It’s given an ICD. Hey, let I gave you your time. Don’t stop my time. The a PA, the American Psychiatric Associate sadly admits that a lot of times the cure is damaged to the body. I am licensed mental health counselor. Can’t speaker, I stopped you. Alright, so my time just keeps ticking and they’re taking it out. Alright. As a licensed mental health counselor, I see these children when it’s too late. Young girls are the greatest at risk for gender dysphoria. The [02:06:00] national average is 0.0015% for having gender dysphoria. All for, for teenage girls. It’s Zaza for 0.7. Whoa. A notable difference of five to 600 on, hold on, hold on. I’m gonna Erica, miss Ma’am, what’s her name is Orris or Ms. Orris? Ms. Orris, right here. I’ve stopped your time until they calm down. We want to hear you just like we wanna hear everybody else. Okay. But at the same time, the parental rights, you guys open the door? Yep. Works both ways. All right. Just hold on. Agenda. Let her speak. You’re not in charge, she just doesn’t speak for us. Okay? Correct. I don’t speak for you. [02:07:00] I speak for myself. Ms. Orzo. Hold on. Here we go. Thank you guys. Go ahead. Thank you very much. Okay, so young girls are at the greatest risk, and I just said this, they have a, a notable difference of five to 600% higher than the average adult population. We must protect them. Uh, you know, I remember the peer pressure. I remember that, you know, we have gun laws and alcohol laws in, you know, for the parents and for age limits because there is, their frontal lobes aren’t developed until they’re in their mid twenties. I would be remiss to my profession if I did not speak out on this. Teachers while responsible for Thank you, Ms. Sarza, academia. Do not have the profession. Thank you. That was your time. Thank you, Ms. [02:08:00] Za. That was your, that was your time. The professional training that they need. Okay. Time’s up. Thank you. Your, your time is up though. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. Do you have any stop accosting? The other witness? Yeah, like free speech is, are we still on public hearing? This guy already speak on this one. They’re causing disruptions. Didn’t this guy already speak on this one? He was eloquent the last time. No, not on this one. All right, now that’s Sebastian. Oh yeah. Hello. He was nice the last time. At least he wasn’t. So there we go. Also, if I’m not mistaken, I believe. She ran for office and lost, um, Ress. Okay, good evening. Members [02:09:00] of Brevard County School Board, um, fellow community members, again, my name is Sebastian Martinez. Um, and here to talk about policy 57 80 parental rights, students’ rights. Specifically. I know I wanted to echo comments made by another student earlier, um, about a student’s first amendment right to make their voices heard. Whether it’s something that you agree or disagree with, that’s our first amendment, right? That’s something that I was brought up in a conservative household as a value is people’s first amendment right? And I think it’s also very telling and unfortunate that you almost select which people you want to hear from and which people you don’t want to hear from. And I don’t think that’s a productive culture to have as a school board or as school board members, as elected officials. You should be wanting to do back hamstrings, back flips, bend over backwards to listen to your constituents. That’s all your constituents wants. They wanna be heard. [02:10:00] And I believe that’s obviously constituents rights, but on a camera. So people at home can also watch back to students’ rights. Um, actually no, let’s go back to parental rights. Parental rights don’t just apply to certain parents. They apply to every parent. Um. Student rights don’t just apply to some students, they apply to all students. Um, you have a section in Policy 57 80, um, for non-discrimination that specifically outlines can’t discriminate against trans students, which technically what you did to Ms. Calhoun isn’t discriminating against trans students, but it’s retaliating against a teacher who supported a student. And earlier we heard someone provide public comment providing outdated information. Technically, yes, it’s on the DSM. So I forgot how many [02:11:00] years ago. Pretty recently. So was being gay used to be part of DSM. Um, and so I think moving forward as a board, um, especially moving on to 2026, I think it is in the board’s best interests to listen to your community, to listen to them speak, whether you like it or not, and to be public servants and not politicians. Thank you so much for your time. Hello there. I was not planning on speaking. I’m more of a. Watch and cheer type type of gal. Um, I’m also a licensed mental health counselor, so I felt compelled to get up and speak. Um, especially so important. So as to the policy, yes. Just refer to the policy. Thank you. Yes, yes, sir. Here we go. Um, parent parental [02:12:00] rights. Um, I have two wonderful children in our public school system, and I feel that it is my parental right to have my kids be taught by teachers who are passionate, compassionate, dedicated, and committed to their job and not politics. And that is what I feel is important as a parent and as a right that I feel is being violated. Thank you. Hello. Um, my name’s Dun Carter. I attend Melbourne High School, and I would like you to know that I don’t have any personal connection with what is going on at Satellite High School. What I do have a personal connection with gender dysphoria, I would like to make [02:13:00] it abundantly clear that if you wish to treat the students in your schools with respect, the respect that they deserve. That means abiding by gender affirming care. This is the gender research fact. Um, specifically here, I’m citing RESTER 2023, but there are numerous other reports that show that this is what helps people who are transgender, people who suffer depression at a rate six times, uh, the normal population. These people need us to treat them correctly or else they are not going to be able to succeed. And that’s what we want to do here. That’s what we want, what of our students to do. So, yes, they’re still able to, before I, before I get into that, gender affirming care starts with pronouns and a name that while it seems small, is it creates an immeasurable difference in the mental [02:14:00] health of a transgender child. So even if you still allow a name change, covering it in bureaucracy regarding paperwork just makes the entire process worse to you. A one or two day turnaround for a form might seem irrelevant, but to someone who doesn’t feel comfortable in their own skin, that is torture. So, oh, please seriously consider what the research says. Do your own research. This is all publicly available, and make the best judgment for every student in this county. Thank you. Okay. Hi everyone. Thank you for letting me speak. Um, my name is Kaitlyn and I’m on the board of GLSEN Central Florida and the mom of a Brevard public school student. Um, I’m here today to [02:15:00] stand in solidarity with Ms. Calhoun, but this, my entire thing was always about parental rights, so I hope that you all listen to me. Um, I’ve already reached out to the board members and the superintendent, and I want to thank Mr. Thomas and Ms. Campbell for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate that. Um, I think a lot of folks, um, have covered how extreme the response was, uh, to, um, to her support and of the students. So I’d like to touch on parental rights. Ms. Campbell, you mentioned several times, both in an email and to the media that you support this rule because of parental rights. Um, this concept of parental rights is a common catchphrase here in Florida, and you, Ms. Campbell, I, I think very well may truly believe that this is about parental rights. Honesty is something my parents taught me to value and having honest [02:16:00] conversations. So I think it’s vital to understand that the state, the ones who created this rule in the name of parental rights. Side with teachers over parents. If a teacher wants to misgender their trans student because of their deeply held religious beliefs, so let that sink in they side with teachers over parents. If the teacher wants to misgender a student, it’s very clear that this isn’t about parental rights at all. It’s about the state doing everything in their power to try to force trans kids to not be themselves. They side with whoever doesn’t support trans kids every single time. Honestly, as someone who fights for parental rights of kids, it’s insulting to constantly hear that we’re welling and double speed proclaiming parental rights. When supportive parents of trans kids have to constantly battle the state for their kids to have basic human rights and dignity in schools, but have [02:17:00] in every facet of their lives, the only thing that Ms. Calhoun did was be compassionate to a 17-year-old who wanted be to be called by a name that made them feel comfortable and their reaction was to have her contract not renewed and her teacher’s license reviewed for an ethical violation. When we have people actually putting children in danger in our county by facilitating drunken parties for minors, facing much less of a response, where are our priorities? If compassion is a crime greater than actual child endangerment, you have to know that we have somehow lost our way. Please, please do whatever is within your power to advocate for this teacher. Reinstate her for next year and work to create a better way to handle the situation moving forward. Thank you. Pamela Castellana [02:18:00] again, talking about the first amendment that all of our students have a right to. We’re talking about basic student rights and the, some of the students in this room had planned to walk out of their classroom and be, um, tardy to their class that had an unexcused tardiness in support of their teacher. And their te their, their principal threatened them with a 10 day suspension, which of course would’ve gone over prom. And we know that that directive came from the board. That’s their first amendment most basic student, right? How can you best straight face say you’re addressing student rights when you are literally stripping them of their most basic rights on a daily basis? All right. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second discussion. Roll call please, Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Rain policy 84 0 5. Is there anyone present, uh, wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear motion? Move to [02:19:00] approve. Second discussion. Paul. Roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright policy 8,500 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Mr. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Mr. Wright, we are at the end of that. Thank you Dr. Rundell. Will you please let us know about the items under the action portion of tonight’s agenda? Thank you Mr. Chair. The first action item is H 61 Department and school initiated agreements. Do I hear motion Move to approve? Second. Any discussion? All roll call please, Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright, Dr. Ell, will you please let us know, uh, about the items under the action portion of tonight’s agenda? Thank you Mr. Chair. The next action item is H 62. Procurement solicitations Do I hear motion Move to approve. Second. Any discussion Paul Roll Call please, Mr. Thomas. [02:20:00] Aye. Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright, Dr. Ell, you please let us know about the items under the action portion of tonight’s agenda. The next action item is the public hearing officer’s recommendations for financial literacy instructional materials. So hear, motion, move to approve. Second. Any discussion? No. Call please, Mr. Thomas. Aye, Ms. Campbell Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright. All right, we’ll move on to the information agenda, which includes two items for the 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? Alright. At this time, I would like to offer my fellow board members and Dr. Ronell an opportunity to recognize student, staff, or members of the community. Mr. Chair? Yes. Um, I don’t like to, this is not about recognizing a member of the community. This is, uh, an issue I’d like to address though. Um, first of [02:21:00] all, um, I had prepared comments for tonight that I was hoping I might get, uh, be able to get the board to, um, come together to, um, ask the superintendent to, to reconsider Ms. Calhoun’s contract. I, I will share with you before I start, and I would just ask you guys to do me the favor of allowing me to complete my comments. Um, but I will say that personal attacks on the board members being rude, disruptive, does nothing to help Ms. Calhoun’s cause in fact, if it does anything, it hurts it. And it certainly is not an example to our kids, the best speakers, the most polite, the most well well thought speakers we had tonight. Were the youngest people here. So I just ask that moving forward, I hope. That we can come together and work. We may disagree, but work together and do it civilly and debate civilly and whatever [02:22:00] the, whatever ends up being voted on, whatever the issue, I hope we can do it civilly and not have the kind of actions we had tonight. Um, I appreciate you indulge me in being able to say that to you, but, uh, I think that’s critically important. Uh, I would like to begin my comments with deep respect, uh, respect for our superintendent, respect for each of my fellow board members, and above all, respect for our shared mission to serve every student in Brevard County with excellence as the standard, let me first be unequivocal. I fully support the intent behind the Florida Department of Education’s policy and the state law requiring written parental consent. While the process may be imperfect and at times cumbersome, it affirms a fundamental principle that parents have the right to be active participants in their child’s educational journey. That is a value I wholeheartedly uphold. I also recognize that personal deci personnel decisions, including contract renewals, fall squarely within the authority of the superintendent. During my time on this school board, I witnessed firsthand [02:23:00] the superintendent’s commitment to cultivating a culture of excellence, not only for our students, but also for our faculty and staff. I believe his passion for student success is sincere and unwavering, and that is why in this moment I’m suggesting to the board that we consider respectfully extending to the superintendent a unified, a united call to pause and reevaluate his decision not to renew. It’s a contract to Ms. Calhoun. I’m suggesting this because I wanna do what’s best for Ms. Calhoun and for our students, not because of anything that happened tonight. Please let me be clear. This is not about overriding the superintendent. This is not about issuing a directive. This is about engaging in the kind of thoughtful, principled leadership our community expects and our educators deserve. As elected members of this board, we are not passive overseers. We are entrusted with responsibility, ability, the responsibility to evaluate decisions, [02:24:00] to ask difficult questions, and when warranted to offer guidance. At the core of that, duty is a singular mission to ensure the Brevard public schools are the very best they can be. That requires more than compliance. It requires wisdom, fairness, and courage. So tonight, ask my colleagues on the board and our community to consider are our students, our schools, and our district stronger with Ms. Calhoun in the classroom or stronger without her in the classroom, there’s, there is no doubt her judgment failed when she chose to violate the DOE rule. The superintendent did act within his rights at the, at that time, and I believe he did what he believed was best for the district. And yes, there is a risk that if she’s reappointed. That the state could later revoke her contract and it could cause disruption in our classrooms. But none of those realities change this essential truth. Leadership is only defined by what we can do [02:25:00] is not only defined by what we can do, but by what we should do. Leadership requires discernment. It causing us to know when to act and when to pause, when to correct, and when to cancel. So tonight, let us put aside the personal attacks and do what is best for Ms. Calhoun and our students. I urge us to reflect with depth. Let our decisions, especially those that impact lives, careers, and classrooms, be not just lawful but thoughtful, not just justified, but just we are all conservatives on this board. We believe in accountability. We also believe in redemption. We believe in holding the bar high, but also in second chances. We believe in a government that is not guided by emotion, but grounded in order, consistency and common sense. So let’s speak honestly about what this case is and what it is not. This is not a case with a pending criminal charge. This is not a case of moral corruption and no student was harmed, no child was put at risk. This is a case of poor judgment, a [02:26:00] mistake, and like all of us, even good teachers are capable of making them. Okay. By all accounts, Ms. Calhoun is a deeply effective, highly regarded educator. So the question before us is not whether she aired, she’s acknowledged that she did. The question is whether this mistake should effectively in her career in Brevard County and possibly teaching anywhere, because how we respond will not just affect one teacher. It will echo throughout every classroom, every hallway, and every school. What message do we send to the teachers who work long hours, who make personal sacrifices, who remain deeply committed, but who fear that one misstep could end at all? Do we tell them that a single error absent of malice or harm is enough to erase years of service? That is not accountability, that is instability. We can do better and we must. So I ask this board, can Ms. Calhoun be formally retrained? Can she be given a clear opportunity regardless of her personal beliefs, to reaffirm her professional commitment to follow the district policy and state law? [02:27:00] And if she accepts that responsibility, completes that retraining and never repeats the mistake, then we are not merely salvaging a career. We are strengthening it. We are investing in growth and in the success of every student, she will go on to teach. That is what it means to build a culture of excellence, not by canceling good educators over teachable moments, but by guiding them forward with clarity and compassion. This isn’t about turning a blind eye. It’s about aligning the consequences with infraction, because no one deserves a professional death sentence for what amounts to a parking violation. This is not a situation that calls for career execution. It calls for course correction, retraining, and a serious documented commitment never to make the same mistake again. Had this been a case of knowingly endangering a child or failing to act, when a child’s safety was at stake, there would be no debate. There would be no second chances. That kind of conduct has no place in any classroom, especially not in Brevard County. But that is not what this is. This is different, and it requires careful [02:28:00] judgment and not a rush to judgment. For the record, I’ve never met Melissa Calhoun. We may not agree on a single political issue. We may stand on opposite ends of every spectrum imaginable, but I believe we share something far more important and unwavering commitment to helping students succeed. And for me, even if that’s all we have in common, that’s enough. Because if we are serious about making Brevard public schools the very best it can be. If we truly want to build a cohesive united team to take us there, it’s going to take all of us. And that includes teachers like Melissa Calhoun. Yes, we must uphold our rules. And yes, we must follow the law. And yes, we will have disagreements along the way. And that’s not only acceptable, it’s inevitable in any honest pursuit of progress. But at the end of the day, we are united by one purpose to ensure that every student in Brevard County has the tools, the support, and the opportunity to thrive. Almost done. So tonight, I offer what I believe to be a clear common sense path forward. First of all, I’d like to suggest to the, to the superintendent that we formally retrain [02:29:00] Ms. Calhoun. We document that retraining. And then we notify the Department of Education. So her commitment to remediation is formally considered during any, any review of her certification. Fourth, we renew her contract for the 25 20 26 school year. Let this be a defining moment, not where we choose cancellation, but where we choose common sense. This isn’t just sound governance, this is conservative leadership, measured, principled, and forward thinking. And that for more than any single decision tonight is the kind of leadership that will keep Brevard public schools not only strong today, but stronger tomorrow. So, Mr. Chairman, I respectfully move the following that the board formally request the superintendent to reevaluate the case of Ms. Melissa Calhoun and determine whether additional corrective actions including but not limited to formal retraining are warranted. Furthermore, that the superintendent also reconsidered the renewal of Ms. Calhoun’s contract for the 25 20 25, 20 26 school year to ensure the final decision reflects the best interests of our [02:30:00] students, our schools, and the future, Bavar County. Thank you. I made a motion. I need a second. Um, I’ll have a second for discussion. Okay. Discussion. Do you wanna say anything else? Discussion? Uh, I’ll wait to hear what your question is and I’m happy to, to reiterate. Okay. Um, I’m willing to second for discussion. I’m gonna hold on to, uh, what, uh, my vote would be. I, I want, first of all, I wanna say Mr. Thomas, um, that I appreciate, um, your integrity and courage for bringing this forward based on, um, because it took a lot of guts to tick off both sides of the, of the decision because I’m sure there are people in this room who are happy and yet unhappy at the same time. And [02:31:00] for anyone who ever said that you weren’t gonna come on this board and stick with your mind, that you, they hopefully are, are eating those words right now because it’s clear that you are what I’ve always needed to be your own person and your own decision maker. And I appreciate the courage with which you brought that forward. Thank you. Um, um, that being said, I’m not sure I, I, I appreciate the way you made the motion, which was to request the superintendent to reevaluate. Um, it is a superintendent’s call, as you’ve said. Um, I, as I’ve responded to the, the people who’ve reached out, many of whom I’m sure in this room, one of the things that I um, point out was that there, although it would be a delay, and sometimes the state is slow, and I’m not sure, uh, Dr. Reell, if there’s any way to ask them to expedite it, but if the state completes their. Um, process of looking into this, I dunno if it’s called an investigation or reevaluation of, of, [02:32:00] of the certification. There is no reason why, depending on their decision, um, Ms. Calhoun wouldn’t necessarily come back and apply for a job in Brevard and that those doors are open. If the certification, you know, if you want a chance to speak at this part of the meeting, then you can put the hard work in and get elected. It’s my turn. It’s so, it’s Dr. Ronell’s decision and I, I hesitate to, um, I just, I have a hesitation on that. Um, but I do think what you’ve asked I is reasonable. And I, when I had first conversation all transparency with Dr. Ronell, I, I expected there to be a letter of reprimand. There was, um, this is, um, again, we’re not saying that she can’t [02:33:00] ever come back, um, but there’s a pause on that. Mm-hmm. And so, uh, that is the way that it stands right now. So, um, I’m gonna want, I would like for to hear from my. Fellow board members. Um, but I also appreciate the way you started that, which is, um, recognizing our students to have spoken because I I agree. Absolutely. I think the students have been example, and I appreciate all of you and, and in emails too. I, I had very few ugly emails from students. I had respectful ones, and you guys, um, started things a couple weeks ago off in the right way, I believe. And unfortunately, sometimes good intentions of students get derailed by the bad intentions of adults. And I’m sorry for that. Um, so thank you Mr. Chair. Please. Alright. We should probably hear, okay. Hear others this, right? You wanna say, all right, forgive me. I, I had to go to the restroom and I held it as long as I possibly could. So I walked back in and I, I understood. I’m gathering, I understand what your ask was by the, the tail end of the conversation that I heard there. Um, lemme say a couple things ‘cause [02:34:00] I, I too have felt the frustration, I think that everyone on the board has felt, um, with the emails that we’ve received and the phone calls and the just, I mean, honestly inundated with tons of people that are signing petitions and sometimes one of the nature of this job is that you didn’t even make that decision and you’re still being attacked as though you made that decision. Uh, so that is, that’s part of the frustration. But at the end of the day, I have to, I have to side with the parents. I mean, here’s where I come from. I have daughters, and if my daughters were going through a major. Crisis, an identity crisis in who they were. And the person that they’re spending six hours a day with are, are not telling me that they’re seeing something that’s changing significantly in my child. I got a problem. That’s a problem because, you know why? Now I don’t trust where I’m sending my child every single day. And so for me, I, I understand where you’re at. Um, John, I, I hear your heart in this and just saying that you don’t feel as though the, the [02:35:00] punishment fits the crime. But what I will say is that these aren’t our children. These are these parents’ children. At the end of the day, the parents are the ones, like it’s a direct what happens here. And so parental rights exist for a reason. Uh, they exist because of things that have happened around our state, uh, that are horrific and cause major damage in families. Some families I personally know, uh, not in Brevard County, but other counties. So I appreciate where you were leaning with this and trying to see about retraining her. And I do not know Ms. Calhoun. I, I can say that I’m sure that she is extremely, extremely proud of the amount of support that she’s received. ‘cause it sounds as though everyone in the community loves her. And you know, that’s, I appreciate that. But I also go, sometimes mistakes are made and they have consequences and the consequences isn’t fun. Right. That’s not a fun part of this. Um, I don’t think this is gonna define Ms. Calhoun’s career, so to speak. Uh, but I do think it is worth upholding what the recommendation was. I’m speaking. Thank you. I think it’s.[02:36:00] Worth upholding what the recommendation is and seeing what happens when the state looks at all the factors here of what was going on, and they come down and decide what they’re gonna do. Um, that, that would be, I believe, very difficult if we were to go ahead and say yes, go back into the classroom and then the state comes in and says, Hey, we’re gonna take away. And I don’t know that they are, I’m not, they may not, they may not do anything at all. I don’t know, but that could be very difficult. Uh, and then now we’re creating a vacancy in the middle of a school year. So, um, that’s kind of where I lie with it. But I do appreciate where you’re at and I understand, um, you know, your desire there on, on trying to, trying to change the trajectory of what’s happened there. So. Alright, Mr. Susan, Mr. Thomas, thank you for a great speech. Great, um, principles and stuff like that. I will, um, support the superintendent’s recommendation and continue to do so. That’s it. I just have one final comment or unless you had a question. No, go ahead. So just a couple things. One is, is that don’t, uh, just to clarification, I’m fully in support of the parental rights.

2:37:00 Um, my concern is, is that whether it’s this case or anything moving, any other case moving forward, there’s sometimes there needs to be a middle ground and in some cases the superintendent has that flexibility. But in like cases like this, it’s, there was really, there’s not a whole lot in between. Um, so I think that, and, and, and this, and Ms. Calhoun’s not the only teacher that is up for renewal that has to, my understanding that his certification is, could potentially be under review. So. There’s other teachers that are likely being renewed that have their certifications up for, for re review. So in this case, you know, I wanted to, I don’t wanna lose, whether it’s Ms. Calhoun or anybody in the future, I don’t wanna lose a good teacher that made one mistake. Um, and not saying she, she did a willingly no with knowledge, all that good stuff. But it doesn’t mean that, you know, you may not agree with the speed limit on interstate, you know, on the interstate at 55, but we all know that’s the rule, right? So we, you know, we comply. Um, if we make a mistake, you know, [02:38:00] we don’t get the death penalty for it. We get, we get a, you know, we get a correction. And so that’s what I’m, that’s what I’m suggesting here, that we have some flexibility. We don’t wanna lose good teachers. Um, what, you know, the discussion earlier tonight about, you know, uh, how, how it’s hard to find good teachers. That’s, we have a, have an experienced teacher here. And I will pose this question to the board and I will not belabor it, but just think about this. If Ms. Calhoun was able to over be retrained, and the one thing about the retraining is if we send it to DOE, I think that may have an impact on Ms. Calhoun’s situation. It also might have an impact on future teacher situation if they’re getting retrained when the state looks at their certification, it actually gives ‘em a chance to say it gives ‘em a second life where they might not otherwise have that life. So we, this could be saving, helping save a teacher. Um, and so by, by doing that, you know, we keep, we are keeping a teacher, I asked this board to think about this in, in 10 years, if Ms. Calhoun overcame this, this situation. We would have a, basically a 20 plus year teacher, [02:39:00] that would be, I mean, think of how good she would be in in 10 more years. Think about how she could mentor our other teachers. That’s not just Ms. Calhoun. It’s every other teacher that we have that may be in a situation like this. People make bad decisions. We’ve all made bad decisions, but it’s not career-ending for one, one mistake of this nature. And I guess once again, it was not criminal. It didn’t, wasn’t corrupting the public morals. You know, it didn’t hurt any kid. And there was no kid that was put in safe in harm’s way. So I just asked the board’s consideration. I’m not asking for the, the A mandate, I’m asking for the board’s support in asking the superintendent to reevaluate, look at the possibility of that offering retraining, look at the possibility of renewing your contract. And then in future, for future instances, this might set a precedent where he can look at that, you know, in future cases. Um, so I just ask your consideration. It’s not, I don’t, and I respect the superintendent’s decision, as I said at the beginning, which you, I think you may have missed, but you know, I, he’s not wrong. He’s, it was totally within his purview. Uh, just this is, this was something I [02:40:00] don’t think, uh, had been brought up an idea that was kind of a middle ground that we may be able to salvage a teacher’s career. So I ended on that and respect the board’s decision. Okay. You wanna add anything before I do Dr. Mende? Do you wanna add anything before I do? No. Okay. John, I also commend you for speaking. Your hard, you gotta do that. All right. So I also support the superintendent and what’s important about leadership, one of the tough things is doing what’s right even when it’s not popular. Even though across the state, across the country, the numbers would say that is popular for the decision. Okay. So I appreciate that Dr. Andell, some of the things that you came across is, I, I think you alluded to it. I I, I don’t know if, if you wanna pick sides, I don’t know if the other side would be happy the way some of the things that you said, because you, you talked about it was a bad decision. Not quite sure if many in on that in the audience [02:41:00] today would think that that was a bad decision that the teacher was doing. Agree. Yes. My, my intent was not, my intents not to please anybody is to keep missing Ms. Calhoun. So again, thank you. So you’re being presumptive in that, that, you know, I don’t wanna retrain a teacher. She didn’t make a bad, or any teacher made a bad decision. I’m, I’m sure she wholeheartedly believes in, in what she didn’t and, and she deserves the right to, to do that. So I, I take the opposite side of that is, can I clarify one, one point, not re not retrain on the policy, not retrain, not training. Retrain her, yeah. Beliefs. I can’t imagine retraining. So you also said that, you know, you haven’t spoken to the parent. I think that’s a big issue. Ms. Ms. Wright brought that up about being on the, on the parent side of things. Um, because you mentioned it didn’t do any harm to the students. I think I would talk to the parent about that first. Uh, because that’s why that, that. Statutes in place. Um, I think it’s very important. So I, [02:42:00] again, very admiral for it, for you to speak your heart to this matter, but, um, I too am gonna side on the side of, uh, the district and doctrine de on this, so, all right. Call a vote. Yeah, we have to call a vote. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell Nay. Mr. Trent Nay, Mr. Season? Nay. Ms. Wright? Nay. Alright. Where are we at? We’re still at recognition time. Oh yeah, we’re still on recognition time, Ms. Campbell. Okay. Did you have any other recognitions? Nope. Thank you Mr. Chair. We did just fine. I did wanna, you know, back to, uh, why we’re here at this time is to have some recognitions and I definitely want to draw your attention. We already voted. Y’all missed it ‘cause you were talking, but you guys, we did just, it was one to four. It’ll be in the record. It was roll call [02:43:00] at some point. Somebody needs to, it was a roll call vote. The vote failed or the motion failed. One to four. And we voted. All right, so back to recognitions and onto our students board. Um, I was able to attend the L three Harris Tech challenge a couple weeks ago. I want to, uh, recognize the winning middle school team, which was cocoa. Um, they did a, a great job, won multiple events, but I have to particularly highlight their team in the category that I, where I was judging, they had to do a 3D printed bridge, which was suspended over two tables, all, and everybody had the same, had to be a certain way, it was less than a pound. Um, it, then we hung a bucket off of the bridge and added bags half a pound at a time. And then once we got to a certain point, one pound at a time, the winning bridge that never broke was from cocoa, uh, junior, senior high, 82 pounds of a less than one pound, 3D printed bridge. So super excited [02:44:00] for the cocoa team. They just had had a great day and I was super proud of them. Um, I think that was the seventh grade day. Um, so somebody else will have to report how the eighth grade day went. Um, last Saturday was the All County jazz concert. Our students as always, did a, an amazing job, and I was super excited to see the great work that they did both in middle school, jazz band, and the high school jazz band. I wanna thank Mr. Raymer and Ms. Bland for they met with each one of us individually, um, to talk to us about the plan going forward for the diversion program and the online Learn Learning programs that will be replacing the alcs. And I wanna make sure that I state that I was definitely not disappointed in the work that Mr. Raymer and, uh, Ms. Bland, uh, did, they did a great job. And I think, uh, as we move forward, it’s going to be successful. Also, last week, uh, we didn’t get the invitation until late, and I don’t know if you guys got all, but last week at the Kennedy Space Center, um, we held the Mission Moon Award [02:45:00] ceremony and it was very exciting and I had no idea what, who all was gonna be there, but I’m glad they were there because. I was sitting in between the president of Embry Riddle University, aeronautical University, and one of the, uh, executives of the Boeing Corporation who was a sponsor of the event. Oh, cool. And also we had Space Florida representative and behind me were representatives from Senator Moody’s office and Senator Rick Scott’s office. And I was so glad where I was sitting, where I was because as they were showing on the screen the students’ projects for the Mission Moon, and these are fifth and sixth graders, there were oohs and ahs and just, uh, statements of being impressed with our students’ work. And so, um, I think, you know, I wanna especially congratulate, um, all the people from Ms. Harris’s office, particularly Melissa Wood, who kind of led the charge in that and all the, the teachers sponsors from each school. Uh, I did wanna recognize the overall winner, which they didn’t know until that day. They did. The overall winner award was, uh, lock Mar team [02:46:00] won. So congratulations, lock Mar team won. And, uh, but what a great day. And we walked out of that, uh, I believe with increased partnerships from the conversation that I’ve had with Dr. Del since. Definitely. Um, some increased partnerships. So it was, uh, mission accomplished, uh, for Mission Moon. I do wanna share a couple of things that are going on in the coming weeks. Um, the CTE tours, I believe we’re all doing one, but South end, uh, April 30th. If you are a business owner or someone who would like to be a part of that, um, please reach out to me and I’ll make sure you get an invitation for that tour of the, the three of the South area schools that are in District five. Um, you’ll be take, we’ll be taking a tour of some of the CT programs in that area. I wanna wish all of our students the, uh, the very best, uh, coming up on our state testing that we’ll be starting next week. And I know that all that hard work that you’ve put in our teachers have put in, we will be paying off and then remind all of you guys that May 2nd is and the public, the school, uh, May 2nd is school lunch hero day, so make sure next it’s all of [02:47:00] next week, but, or maybe it’s the week after, I think. But next Friday is specifically school lunch hero day. And so we wanna make sure we recognize all our school lunch heroes, um, on May 2nd. If you get a chance to drop by school, pop in the cafeteria, wave, you know, maybe try on a hair net. Yeah, it’ll be great. Serve, uh, right. And to serve, uh, on a personal note, our hearts go out to the families, um, of the people who were injured and also killed at FSU last week. And as a parent of two children who are attending there and one who had a very near miss and came within feet of the shooter, I have to say, great thanks to the people of this district who train our kids and things that we really don’t wanna have to train them on. But that training came in handy for my child and for many who knew what to do in running away [02:48:00] and getting into a building. And barricading themselves in and looking out for one another. And so I wanna thank the principals and district security and all the people who’ve had, um, our, our operations office who have done the hard work over the six and a half years that I’ve been in office to make sure that our students are trained. And it seems like such a pain and it’s a disruption to the school day, to be quite honest. It is disruption to the school day every time we have to do one of these stupid drills. But it’s not a stupid drill when your child knows what to do when the moments count. And so I just wanted to express my gratitude because my child knew what to do. And, um, and again, hearts go out to those who, who were, um, who were injured, and of the families of the two men who passed away. Um, and I know we’ve got lots of people in our community who are connected to the FSU family and I think the people who reached out to me, um, to check on our, our girls. But, [02:49:00] um, you know, we’re doing the right work. Mr. Wilson, major Klein, we’re doing the right work. Thank you. That’s all I have, Ms. Wright. Alright. Um, had a couple exciting weeks. So we’ve, lots of things going on. Wanted to give a shout out and a thank you to Dr. Calm at Sculptor. Had the opportunity to go tour their school and see all the amazing things that were happening in their classrooms. One of the cool things they had, and I’ve been talking about it since I left there, is they have farm animals. So pigs, bunny, rabbit, chickens. Uh, so they’re doing a lot of really good work with this. And what they’re finding is that this has become almost therapeutic to the children that are struggling with behaviors, attendance, things like that. And so it just got my wheels turning on how can we implement this into our younger kiddos classrooms. Um, some of my, my schools in the north end are, they are hatching chicks and they have, you know, an incubator in the classroom and that’s a really cool process for them to get to experience. But, um, it’s something worth looking into and maybe possibly expanding. It was a really cool overall [02:50:00] experience. So, Dr. Rendell, thank you. That was a tour that you lined up. I appreciate that. It was a good visit. Um, also wanna give a shout out to the Children’s Hunger Project. Have the opportunity to go serve there. Uh, packing meals for our students and I board, we probably are due for a day to serve at the Children’s Hunger Project. Uh, so that was a challenge I walked away with going, Hey, our board was really competitive and we packed a heck of a lot of meals. Let’s get back in there. Uh, so maybe one of our board meetings or an offsite workshop, something that we could possibly plan in the future. Uh, that might be a good idea. Uh, we also had the take stock in children graduation and induction ceremony that. I got the opportunity to attend as the board liaison for the school’s foundation. And let me just tell you what an amazing event that is. So I have never been to that since I’ve been on the board. But one of the cool things that happens is that each of the students that are graduating their mentor walks up with them and gives them a medal. And it’s like just such a precious moment of them, you know, walking across that stage, getting to the finish line. Uh, it, it inspired me [02:51:00] so much that I signed up. I said, okay, make me a mentor. I mentor in other capacities, but go ahead and give me my own child that I’m gonna stick with, uh, through the foundation there. And on that note, also want to highlight April 30th, which I know you’re like, oh, that’s your day too. April 30th is the champions and luncheon day for the, um, Brevard Schools Foundation. So I know if you have your CTE tour that day, that may not work. But board, if you’re not busy on April 30th, I would love for you guys to attend that. That’s a great event and just really goes back to the foundation, all the good things that they do. Uh, we also have wanna remind everyone that take your child to Workday is happening this week, April 24th. So if you have children, bring them to work with you. Let them see what you do every single day. If you send in a note, it is an excused absence. I will be taking my child on CTE tours because that’s the day that my, my district is scheduled for CTE tour. So she’s gonna see all the wonderful things happening in the north end. And other than that, that is all that I have, so thank you. Thank you, Ms. Wright. Um, wanted to say thank you [02:52:00] to Ali Johnson. Ali High School, Johnson Middle School in Ocean Breeze. Um, did some touring with, uh, Dr. Ell. And I will say that one of the activities that they had us do was, um, we both had to read books to the class in Ocean Breeze. And when I got in there, so Rendell got to read his, I got to read mine and I’m usually a pretty good, um, instructor, and I think I’m like a really good, I like I can get that class going. I literally lost like 37 to zero when they voted. And like, legitimately Dr. Rondell. That is correct. Like literally, I didn’t even get one. So I just wanted to congratulate Dr. Rondell on doing such a good, um, cameo in, you know what I mean? Appearance and reading and, and getting the kids engaged. I could see where your, uh, your old skills in, in the classroom we’re sitting in there. So thank you so much Dr. Ell for that. Um, and then of course, Ali, one of our biggest trade centers, uh, loved going to that high school in Johnson Middle School. Ms. Middleton [02:53:00] did an amazing job of showing us around and they have some incredible things that they’re working on over there. I also wanted to say thank you to the Fire Rescue Awards. I don’t know if you guys remember, but we went to those. Oh, yes. Yep. Um, just so you guys know, again, another plug out for our career and technical programs. Our first, one of our, the first hire for the fire rescue was filed of, out of our Palm Bay, um, fire Academy was this year. And that was pretty incredible. They, um, they were so excited and then we got to kind of like be there because he was there. Um, but we, um, it was a really incredible night to be a part of. I wanted to thank the, uh, firefighters for having us out there. And, um, it was just a really nice night and a lot of the other people in the community that the firefighters touch, that was incredible too, to find out all the other people that we know that are part of the political process to be there. Um, I did wanna let you guys know that the first ever, um, district Raceway is raced between elementary school, uh, go-karts, will be May 17th at the Cocoa Raceway. Um, just so everybody knows, this is not [02:54:00] a school district, um, fac facilitated race. This is with the Cocoa Raceway, with the kids, you know, honoring their different schools and stuff like that. So if you guys have an opportunity, it starts at 3:00 PM on May 17th to go out there. Uh, right now we got kids from Century Ralph Williams, Vira Elementary, a bunch of middle schools and high schools. And they’re really starting to get excited about that, so that’ll be interesting. I also wanted to thank, um, Kevin Robinson for the presentation that he had on athletics earlier today. We, I think we did the numbers 127% increase in athletic participation in the district. That is because of our elementary schools that all created, um, two programs along with middle school additions and other programs that we added to the process. Um, many of you may not know, but the conversations that I’ve had with many of our principals were related to members like being a part of the process In elementary school, we have a really bad need with students getting into these programs. When we lose ‘em in middle school or elementary school, they don’t start the sports programs until [02:55:00] middle school. We have teachers who, or we have, uh, parents who can’t afford to actually take their kid to any of these new, uh, recreational programs or to, um, you know, the calendar that it takes to take away from the family for three nights a week. So we had these programs that were from two 30 to five 30 every day, and then we had a, or two days a week. Um, and we had a big, uh, event at the end of the year that all the kids competed, and it was amazing. So I just wanted to thank everybody, um, and the programs that they created because of that. And that’s all I got, man. All right. So it’s a time of the year where there’s a few short, um, you know, you get a short amount of time to thank the ones that are out there doing it at the schools. And right now we’re getting in the testing time. So for all the times that, uh, the teachers have prepared our students for our end of the year tests. And, um, uh, especially the testing coordinators, uh, throughout the district, the amount of time that they put in to make sure those state tests, uh, uh, go flawlessly. Uh, hats off to you. I know you’re [02:56:00] probably, uh, maybe wrapping things up tonight to get going again tomorrow. So, uh, we appreciate you and you know, students, I’m sure none of ‘em are watching this ‘cause they’re, they’re studying for all that state testing coming up. Um, so, uh, this last, what, five weeks? Four weeks? Some of the state testing has already started. I have a, I have an eighth grader or seventh grader, and she’s already starting some of her, um, uh, end of the year testing. So, you know, uh, great job, uh, for the preparation. Uh, something I wanna say out there is, um, you know, thank you to, you know, the, the students who spoke tonight was great. Thank you to most of you that sat around you listened to, um, some heated comments and, and we welcome that and you’re gonna hear some more later. And that’s completely, that’s why we’re here to hear you. Um, you know, you cannot call yourself a First Amendment advocate unless you, uh, you know, defend the speech that maybe you disagree with. Um, and you know, here we will hear you. You saw today, at the end of today, you’re [02:57:00] gonna have multiple times to speak. Uh, and, and that’s okay. So I, I wanna thank you for those of you that did come out and, uh, you’re, you’re getting an earful. You’re hearing things and there’s, there’s probably more to come. So, um, this is what these meetings are about. So thank you to those that were civil about it and those others that were not. You, you, maybe you can learn from the ones that were So more to come, um, at this time. Dr. Rundell, do you have anything to add? I do actually. Yeah. So earlier we did have a presentation earlier today in a work session about our athletics programs and one of the things we talked about with state championships Yep. Um, we have, you know, opportunity to win state championships, not just in athletics. So this Thursday and Friday, our all county academic team will be competing in the state championships for academic teams. So I wanna wish the, the all star team from members from different high schools in our, in our district. Good luck on Thursday and Friday. They’re very knowledgeable. Um, I’ve sat in on some of their sessions and I can’t answer a single question [02:58:00] as probably most, most people in this room could not. But, um, as we celebrate usually athletic state championships, we do have an opportunity for an academic state championship, uh, this week. So wishing that team, good luck. Alright. All right. All right. We will now take a, uh, a recess in order to prepare for the non-ag agenda, public comments, portion of the meeting. We’ll be back [02:59:00] shortly.