Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Second. Any discussion? Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
0:03 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye.
0:07 Dr. Rendell.
0:08 Thank you Mr. Chair. So by your action tonight and your action
0:11 two weeks ago we
0:13 have some people to celebrate. So the first one we’re going to
0:15 call up is Dr.
0:17 Jeanette Conner who is now the principal of Space Coast Junior
0:20 Senior High School
0:21 for two weeks now. Congratulations. Come on up.
0:30 Thank you so much. I would like to begin by thanking Dr. Rendell
0:36 and the board
0:36 for the incredible opportunity to lead Space Coast Junior Senior
0:39 High School. I
0:40 would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Ramer,
0:45 Mrs. Harris, Mrs.
0:46 Weibel and Ms. Vega. Your belief and confidence in me means the
0:51 world. Thank
0:52 you to Mr. Pruitt, Director of Leadership Development, Mr.
0:57 Pruitt’s guidance
0:58 throughout the level two preparing new principal program has
1:01 been invaluable.
1:02 Thank you to my mentor principal from West Road Junior Senior
1:05 High, Mr. Burt
1:07 Clark for all of the calls and texts and data driven support
1:10 throughout
1:11 completing my level two program. To my APC friends I would not
1:16 have survived
1:17 the AP curriculum role without your group text. Your support no
1:21 matter the
1:22 time of day throughout the past three years is something that I’ll
1:24 forever be
1:25 thankful for. This evening I am blessed to have some special
1:29 people that are
1:30 here in the crowd and I would like to thank Mr. Solomon, former
1:34 principal of
1:34 O’Gally High School and his family for their unwavering support.
1:38 Mr. Solomon
1:40 provided me with my first BPS position as a community chair
1:44 coach and then
1:46 later hired me as a teacher and eventually a school counselor.
1:49 Mr.
1:50 Solomon encouraged me from a young age to pursue educational
1:53 leadership and his
1:54 belief in me is the reason I’m in this position today. Also
1:58 thank you to Miss
1:59 Price Brevard virtual school principal. It’s hard to believe
2:03 that I was your
2:04 cheerleader and economics and US history student turned
2:08 principal. Your support
2:10 over the years has meant more than you know. Thank you to my
2:14 family for always
2:15 supporting my dreams and aspirations and finally thank you to
2:20 Mrs. Gonzalez
2:21 principal of Titusville High School. I am so proud of the
2:24 milestones that we
2:26 accomplished in my time as your AP of curriculum. Thank you for
2:31 granting me the
2:31 opportunity to lead alongside of you. I’ve loved every minute of
2:35 my time as a
2:36 Terrier and I look forward to seeing all that my Terrier family
2:40 will accomplish
2:40 this year and beyond and to my new Viper family which some of
2:44 them are in the
2:46 crowd somewhere tonight. I cannot think I cannot wait to see
2:50 what we accomplish in
2:51 this next chapter. I could not be prouder to lead Viper nation
2:54 as your new
2:55 principal. Thank you.
3:03 So next I’d like to recognize Danielle Polley for her promotion
3:08 to officially
3:09 principal at Gardendale Separate Day School. Congratulations.
3:17 So I wanted to start by saying thank you to my family who have
3:22 been always giving
3:23 their support dropping everything when I need the kids picked up
3:26 because I’m
3:26 still at school and always being there for me. Thank you to all
3:31 the educators
3:32 I’ve worked with over the years. Teachers, administrators,
3:36 support staff if it
3:38 wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t be where I am now. Thank you to
3:42 the board and Dr.
3:44 Rendell for giving me this opportunity to be at such an amazing
3:48 school and to
3:49 my Gardendale family that I know we are continuing to grow and I
3:53 am so proud of
3:54 where we’ve come in the past three years and looking forward to
3:58 continuing to
3:59 rise with you. Thank you.
4:06 So next I’d like to call up Martha McFarland. She’s being
4:09 promoted from one
4:10 position at Biera High School to another for ten months
4:13 assistant principal to
4:14 twelve months assistant principal. Congratulations. Thank you,
4:19 thank you. Good
4:21 afternoon school board members, Dr. Rendell and distinguished
4:24 guests. I would
4:25 like to start by saying how grateful I am for this opportunity
4:28 and for the
4:29 trust that has been placed in me. This promotion just isn’t
4:32 about my work it’s
4:33 about a reflection of the support, the mentorship and the
4:36 teamwork that I have
4:37 been fortunate to be surrounded with. To my colleagues, my Viera
4:41 colleagues, my
4:42 Hawks and principal at GATE I wanted to say thank you for
4:45 challenging me, thank
4:46 you for inspiring me and making every day a chance to grow. To
4:50 the district
4:50 leadership, thank you for seeing my potential and for giving me
4:54 this
4:54 opportunity to grow at the next level and to my boys and my
4:57 family just thank
4:59 you for everything. Without you guys I wouldn’t be here. So I’m
5:02 excited to take
5:03 on this responsibility and I’m excited to see where we can take
5:06 our school to
5:07 the next level and of course go Hawks.
5:16 So and finally we want to congratulate Christy Shorts on her
5:19 promotion to
5:20 assistant principal at Endeavor Elementary School.
5:23 Congratulations.
5:31 Good evening everyone. I’m truly honored to accept the role of
5:35 assistant principal
5:36 at Endeavor Elementary. I want to begin by expressing my deepest
5:39 gratitude to
5:40 our Superintendent Dr. Rendell, our board, our director Mr. Reed
5:44 and my very proud
5:46 Panther principal Miss Murphy for entrusting me with this
5:51 position. Being
5:54 part of the Endeavor team is a privilege. Our school is filled
5:56 with passionate
5:57 educators and absolutely incredible students. I’m excited to
6:01 continue working
6:02 alongside all of you to support our mission and help every child
6:06 thrive. Thank
6:06 you again for this opportunity. I’m very proud to serve Endeavor
6:09 Elementary.
6:15 Thank you Mr. Chair. If we could now take a break for some
6:18 pictures. Sure let’s break.
6:32 [Silence]
28:32 Good evening, I’m Bill Pearlman.
28:34 Tonight you are approving revisions to policy 5517.01 regarding
28:39 bullying and harassment,
28:41 but the superintendent and this board have shown no commitment
28:46 to a workplace that is safe, secure,
28:49 and free from bullying and harassment.
28:52 Previously, some of you stated the reason you did not renew Ms.
28:55 Calhoun’s contract
28:56 because you were concerned the state might rescind her teaching
28:59 license.
29:00 You looked us in the eye.
29:02 You said you’d reconsider Ms. Calhoun’s reinstatement if the
29:05 state cleared her to teach.
29:07 The state cleared her to teach, and now you’ve broken your word.
29:11 Consider how the community feels about being lied to.
29:16 This is political, it is dishonest, and it’s harassment.
29:21 There are at least four factors that demonstrate you’re in
29:24 violation of your own bullying and harassment policy.
29:28 You’ve inflicted psychological distress on Ms. Calhoun.
29:32 You’ve created an intimidating, hostile, and offensive
29:36 educational environment.
29:38 You’ve caused discomfort and humiliation.
29:41 You have unreasonably interfered with Ms. Calhoun’s ability to
29:45 participate.
29:47 This is not about parental rights, even though you like to
29:50 pretend that it is.
29:52 The parent who complained knew what was happening, presumably
29:55 for years,
29:56 because the student was using their preferred name for years.
30:00 After the school administration spoke with Ms. Calhoun, she had
30:03 a conversation with the student
30:05 and told them that going forward they would be called by their
30:10 legal name.
30:11 It could have ended there. It should have ended there.
30:14 This is ideological extremism and abuse of power.
30:20 In addition to lying to us by refusing to reinstate Ms. Calhoun,
30:25 you’re going against the recommendation of the Education
30:27 Practices Commission and your own HR department.
30:31 Dr. Rendell prefers retaliation over kindness and empathy,
30:35 politics over the interests of students.
30:39 Is that the culture you want for Brevard schools?
30:42 If you let the superintendent stay on this path of retaliation,
30:46 it becomes your path.
30:49 So please, make a motion tonight.
30:53 Instruct the superintendent to allow Melissa Calhoun to continue
30:58 outstanding service to Brevard students
31:00 and help pave the path for kindness, empathy, academic
31:04 excellence, second chances,
31:07 not ideological extremism, retaliation, political theater.
31:13 Brevard deserves better.
31:23 Jennifer Nagy, Samantha Curvin, Kelly Curvin.
31:28 Hi, my name is Jennifer Nagy. I’m an Edgewood mom.
31:32 I’ve met most of you board members at Edgewood events or just
31:37 around the district at other events.
31:40 Mr. Susan is actually my district representative and has worked
31:45 with me over the years on a number of things.
31:48 Back when my boys were little in Boy Scouts, he even met with
31:54 them, it was during COVID.
31:57 You did a Zoom telecom thing with them and the boys were so
32:02 excited because you ended up asking them questions.
32:06 And they, I don’t even remember if it was about water fountains
32:08 or playground recess time or something.
32:11 You asked them something and they got to give you feedback.
32:14 And they were so excited because you were like, I don’t know,
32:16 let’s call, at that time it was Dr. Mullins.
32:18 And let’s call and ask him and you called him up and their eyes
32:21 got the size of half dollars
32:23 because you were calling and actually taking action on something
32:26 they’d said.
32:27 And they felt like they were bigger than life.
32:30 And you and I had talked earlier today about the wireless
32:32 communications devices
32:34 and you said you were going to talk to your fellow board members
32:37 because we had talked about there was what I saw as a potential
32:42 oversight
32:43 that we really need staff members to be able to approve if there
32:49 are educational purposes
32:51 that they would like to be able to use wireless communication
32:54 devices.
32:55 That being outside laptops or cell phones or whatever purposes
33:02 need those devices to be used.
33:05 And that that is currently not in your, I don’t want to call it
33:09 law or whatever policy is going on.
33:13 And I’m hoping that you all had a chance to discuss that before
33:17 tonight’s vote
33:19 and that you do make those policy changes because staff members
33:23 need to have that discretion.
33:27 And one of the things you said to me earlier on the phone,
33:30 and I’m hoping that you can reiterate this from the day as
33:33 tonight,
33:34 is that staff members aren’t going to lose their pensions
33:37 because you and I had had a conversation about that,
33:39 that there were staff members that were truly concerned that
33:42 they were going to lose their pensions
33:44 if a student had to use a cell phone because in AP physics, for
33:48 example,
33:49 you have to film as part of the AP physics curriculum in slow
33:53 motion.
33:54 That’s something you can’t do on a district-provided laptop.
33:58 So yes, a cell phone can actually do that.
34:02 So either the school district can go out and spend additional
34:05 funds to purchase antiquated technology
34:09 or we could simply allow a cell phone to shoot this little video
34:14 to be able to be used for the AP curriculum.
34:17 These are like the little things that I’m hoping teachers can
34:19 use
34:19 because right now the teachers are worried that they’re not
34:23 going to be able to use this
34:24 and they might lose their jobs over it, and I don’t want that to
34:27 happen.
34:28 Thank you.
34:32 Samantha Curvin, Kelly Curvin, and Melissa Calhoun.
34:47 Samantha Curvin, Kelly Curvin, Melissa Calhoun.
34:55 Hello. It has been a while since I’ve seen you guys, but I am
35:00 not happy to be back.
35:02 So this is about G1, the WCD policy.
35:14 I think that you guys should either remove it or revise it
35:20 heavily.
35:22 Better to just remove it for high school.
35:25 We are high schoolers, not middle schoolers.
35:30 We can drive. We can do all of that.
35:33 But we can’t use our cell phones, not even during lunch, to
35:37 communicate with each other or anything of the such.
35:42 Anyways, you are not properly setting up these kids for
35:47 adulthood, which is your job.
35:50 Your job is to make a curriculum that can support and push high
35:56 schoolers to being a fully functional adult,
36:00 and by limiting cell phone uses or any kind of wireless
36:05 communication device is hindering that,
36:10 because regardless of what you think or what you want,
36:13 technology is always going to be a part of life.
36:15 That’s the future. You can’t deny it. You should embrace it.
36:19 Teaching kids how to properly go through the Internet in an
36:23 educational manner is what you should be doing,
36:27 not limiting it and making it to where people can get fired for
36:31 their jobs or prioritizing using a device,
36:35 because they never got to learn how to properly regulate device
36:40 use in a school,
36:44 where school doesn’t have that kind of real world consequences.
36:47 People could lose their livelihood because they do not know how
36:51 to self-regulate phone use
36:54 or social media or any of that, because they didn’t learn that
37:00 in school.
37:01 Phone is always a temptation. That’s the reality.
37:07 But in school, at least you’d be able to learn the consequences
37:12 of prioritizing your phone instead of your school
37:15 by getting a bad grade or failing a class, not losing your
37:20 income, your job, not flunking college.
37:25 College is expensive. People could waste their scholarships
37:29 because now they have freedom,
37:32 and they do not know how to regulate. It is a problem, and it
37:37 will be a problem,
37:38 and even more so if you keep this policy. It should be up to the
37:44 teacher, and the state law states that it’s K through 8,
37:48 not K through 12. Thank you and good night.
38:05 To echo her sentiments, I’d also rather be home.
38:08 Good evening, everyone. I’m here to talk about G1, the wireless
38:11 communication devices.
38:13 First, I understand that the new legislation under DeSantis ties
38:15 the board’s hands in terms of K to 8,
38:18 although that does exclude our junior/senior schools.
38:20 Instead, I’ll be talking about what this policy does in our high
38:23 schools.
38:24 While I agree that cell phones should not be used in classrooms
38:26 without teachers’ permission,
38:27 the policy change does not just affect cell phones.
38:30 Instead, it includes all technology devices, including personal
38:34 computers, iPads, and Kindles.
38:36 First, the purpose of school is to prepare students for the
38:38 future, and this policy does the opposite.
38:41 Whether students head off to college, the military, or the
38:44 workforce, technology will be part of their day-to-day life,
38:47 and teaching them to use it appropriately should be a standard.
38:51 I guess I should be excited to see this district invest money
38:53 into textbooks for every student
38:55 so they can do their homework or study during lunch, but we both
38:58 know you can’t afford to do that.
38:59 And with students being unable to use their devices, they’re
39:02 being denied access to their education.
39:05 Titusville High School, as an example, keeps dual enrollment
39:08 students on campus on days they don’t go to Eastern Florida,
39:11 and they just sit there doing what, exactly?
39:13 They’re not in a classroom with a computer cart, but they also
39:15 can’t use their personal computers to do their college work,
39:18 either.
39:19 It’s like the board forgets that virtually all curriculum is
39:22 digital these days.
39:24 And despite popular belief, you do not issue a laptop for each
39:27 student, and the laptops you do have aren’t powerful enough
39:30 to run all of the software our students use, especially for my
39:34 daughter in digital art.
39:36 Next, this policy unfairly discriminates against our population
39:39 with disabilities.
39:40 And before you say, quote, “Well, we have IEPs and 504
39:43 exceptions,”
39:44 let me give you an example of what that doesn’t cover.
39:46 During lunch, students have the ability to pull out a book and
39:48 read, but Samantha doesn’t have that option.
39:51 For books to be accessible, she needs them to be able to listen
39:54 in audio format, which is now banned,
39:56 or she needs to use an e-reader, where she can manipulate the
39:58 font, size, and brightness, but that is banned, too.
40:02 In a classroom where it is part of the curriculum, she can use
40:04 her IEP,
40:05 but at lunch, when she’s reading for pleasure, that wouldn’t be
40:08 covered under an IEP.
40:10 That is blatant discrimination.
40:12 And this is ignoring the fact that students with IEPs and 504s
40:15 already have to unfairly out themselves as being different,
40:18 which heightens their risk of being bullied and experiencing
40:21 anxiety.
40:22 At West Shore, students hold the majority of their clubs and
40:24 activities during lunch, or what they call Power Hour.
40:27 One of Samantha’s clubs uses an online app that school computers
40:31 can’t even support if they had access to them.
40:34 And unless the school board plans on buying their books and maps,
40:37 which start at about $50 each,
40:39 their club may not even be able to continue, and they’re not
40:42 alone.
40:43 Stop calling this a ban on cell phones, because it’s not. It’s a
40:48 ban on education accessibility,
40:49 and just proves how far removed the majority of you are from the
40:52 realities of what our high schoolers are dealing with.
40:55 Thank you.
40:56 [Applause]
41:25 Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Rendell, and members of
41:36 the community.
41:39 My name is Melissa Calhoun, and I’m here to address item nine,
41:42 instructional staff recommendations.
41:45 I’m here before you tonight as a speech and debate coach, a mock
41:48 trial coach, Beta Club sponsor,
41:51 first priority sponsor, and peer mentor, as well as a BPS parent,
41:55 and yes, a highly effective BPS instructor.
42:00 It’s my hope that tonight I can offer a sound reflection on the
42:03 practice of education to both you and the 73 newly appointed
42:08 teachers.
42:09 Credibility matters.
42:12 According to John Hattie, teacher credibility has an effect size
42:16 of 0.9.
42:17 In other words, it has a significant positive impact on student
42:20 achievement.
42:21 In the book Visible Learning for Literacy, it says the following
42:23 about teacher credibility.
42:25 Teachers can compromise their credibility when they violate
42:27 trust, make a lot of errors, sit in the back of the room, and
42:31 lack a sense of urgency.
42:32 They compromise their credibility, particularly if they are not
42:36 seen to be fair.
42:37 Now, teacher credibility doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
42:40 It flourishes only in systems where leadership values, protects,
42:44 and uplifts the profession.
42:46 If we want these 73 newly appointed educators to become teachers
42:49 of high impact, then they must be treated as professionals.
42:53 That responsibility begins not in the classroom, but here at the
42:56 district level.
42:57 You set the tone. You shape the culture.
43:01 We cannot build high impact classrooms if our teachers fear that
43:05 they, too, can be sacrificed on the altar of political ideology.
43:11 We cannot promote excellence if we silence experience.
43:15 So for these 73 teachers, I ask you to commit to transparency,
43:18 commit to professionalism, and commit to protecting our teachers.
43:22 You can begin this process by hosting a town hall.
43:25 This would allow teachers, students, and parents to come
43:27 together to speak openly and respectfully about the issues that
43:30 plague our current system.
43:32 It’s a small step in repairing the trust with your veteran
43:35 teachers.
43:36 When those teachers feel safe, they are empowered to be marigold
43:40 teachers and mentors to the 73 newly appointed instructors.
43:44 As I was for our emerging teacher of the year.
43:48 Because ultimately, when teachers thrive, students succeed.
43:53 And when leadership leads with integrity, credibility follows.
43:58 Thank you.
44:23 It’s kind of nice following Alyssa. The podium’s at the right
44:28 height. I love public education and I’m particular public
44:29 educators.
44:30 I’m speaking to item nine.
44:32 My grandmother taught public schools in Mississippi until the
44:34 state shut down public schools rather than grant all students an
44:37 equal education by desegregating them.
44:40 She then taught in the only schools available to her private
44:43 schools.
44:44 But she instilled a love of public education that has never left
44:46 me.
44:47 I know your political party creates outrage for theater.
44:51 I promise you, I stand as a member of the Democratic National
44:54 Committee because of my outrage at antics like yours.
44:57 I don’t have to create a thing.
45:00 Mr. Rendell, everyone saw your initial statement echoed by Megan
45:03 Wright that the only reason you are not renewing Melissa Calhoun’s
45:06 contract at the end of the school year was because her
45:09 certificate might be up for review and might be pulled.
45:13 Katie Campbell even gave a saccharine-laden smirk saying she can
45:17 definitely reapply if her certificate is left intact. It was
45:21 reviewed.
45:21 And it was not canceled. And you were big mad.
45:24 So you moved the goalposts, denying our county a highly
45:26 effective teacher because of your politics.
45:29 Your statement was honestly the most ridiculous piece of theater
45:32 ever.
45:33 Your own investigation belies just about every word.
45:36 In your statement, you said that Calhoun knowingly and
45:39 repeatedly participated in gender reaffirmation without the
45:42 parents’ knowledge.
45:44 Yet your own investigation showed that the very moment that it
45:47 was brought to Calhoun’s attention that the name she was
45:50 commonly used for a student was not, in fact, on some ridiculous
45:52 permission form.
45:53 She stopped using it and notified the student she would no
45:56 longer use the preferred non-gendered name.
45:59 Unless you are prepared to fire every coach and teacher who
46:02 actually does repeatedly and intentionally use any name not on
46:06 their student permission slip, you must reinstate Calhoun.
46:10 The rule does not specify gender affirming names. It says any
46:13 name is not on the form.
46:15 Lord, how much of our tax ballers do you insist on spending
46:18 defending lawsuits that you could avoid?
46:21 You brag about standing firmly on the side of parental rights.
46:25 We all know you only stand firmly on the side of parents on the
46:28 right.
46:29 Gene publicly stated that Brevard is a conservative district and
46:32 non-conservative parents should take their students elsewhere.
46:35 Last meeting, he thought it would be cute to wear a cheap knockoff
46:38 of a MAGA slogan on his damn head.
46:40 Just stop politicizing our schools.
46:43 Look at the slogan behind you.
46:45 Your commitment is to serve every student with excellence as the
46:48 standard.
46:49 It doesn’t mention parents.
46:50 I can’t even think of the last time you mentioned what was best
46:54 for students. Instead, you say you prioritize the law.
46:56 You know, anybody here remember 1970? I do.
46:59 It was the law that public schools in Florida remained
47:01 segregated in 1970.
47:03 Brevard didn’t desegregate until August of 1970.
47:06 We have an elementary school, Spencer v. Holland, named after
47:08 one of the staunchest defenders of parental rights in keeping
47:11 schools segregated.
47:13 I’ll just bet that school board was as determined to prioritize
47:16 the law, the trust of their families, and the rights of their
47:19 parents to remain segregated too.
47:22 [applause]
47:31 [inaudible]
47:46 You say it’s about phones, but it does not – it includes other
47:49 devices like Apple Watch-ish, Kindles.
47:51 And these devices are very helpful for students.
47:54 I am someone who is dyslexic, and the Kindle allows me to adjust
47:58 the font so I’m able to read better and understand what I need
48:03 to continue with my classes.
48:06 Then, also, the idea that phones are distracting is true, but
48:11 the problem with banning phones is there will always be games.
48:16 Even if they aren’t playing games on the phones, they will
48:18 always be playing the games on the computers.
48:21 They will still be there.
48:23 Then, cyberbullying is a big problem, but also getting rid of
48:27 the phones does not really solve the problem.
48:31 It just postpones the problem to either happen in person or to
48:36 when they get home.
48:38 Then, my school used to have an early announcement where
48:41 students would film themselves and talk about the announcements.
48:46 They are unable to do that now because they are not able to use
48:50 their phones.
48:52 The phones also allow them to use apps like Focus to get to
48:55 their classes on time,
48:57 know what homework and class periods they need to get to next.
49:05 Thank you.
49:07 [Applause]
49:11 Dr. Jennifer Hopkins, Rachelle Jolly, Susan Pinsky.
49:24 Good evening. My name is Jen. I’m a long-time resident of Brevard
49:27 County and a graduate of Brevard County Schools.
49:30 I’m here to speak to agenda item G, public hearing.
49:33 The purpose of these policies is to ensure transparency,
49:37 accountability for the board, and participation from the
49:39 community.
49:40 The expectation of transparency is that information regarding
49:43 budgets, agendas, and policies is made easily accessible and
49:47 comprehensible to everyone.
49:49 I do not believe that this board has succeeded in meeting this
49:52 expectation.
49:53 For example, you’ve been unwilling to share details regarding
49:55 the budget.
49:56 You have dismissed comments that don’t align with your narrative
49:59 as being uninformed without providing the information.
50:03 Another example of the lack of transparency is the hot firing of
50:07 Melissa Calhoun.
50:08 This board clearly stated more than once that if her license was
50:12 upheld by the state, she would be welcome to reapply, and her
50:15 reinstatement would be considered.
50:19 Based on Dr. Rendell’s statement after her settlement was
50:21 reached, it’s clear that this board never had the intention of
50:25 doing this.
50:26 You were dishonest. You misled Ms. Calhoun and all of the
50:30 students that she should be teaching.
50:32 Her story is national news, so you misled the whole country.
50:36 This board must be willing to accept accountability for the
50:38 decisions that you make.
50:40 You should be learning from your mistakes, welcoming scrutiny,
50:43 and following through on your commitments.
50:46 You have failed to do all of this, and you have broken any trust
50:48 that this community had in you.
50:50 You must understand that the students and the teachers determine
50:52 when you’ve made a mistake.
50:54 It’s not up to you, and honestly, it’s not supposed to be up to
50:57 the parents or the community either.
50:59 We’re here to help hold you accountable to them.
51:07 It is very difficult for the students, teachers, and community
51:09 to participate in the decision-making process.
51:12 The protocol for these meetings has relegated public comment to
51:15 an incredibly narrow focus.
51:17 There’s no actual discussion, no room for questions.
51:20 We don’t want to come in here and just complain in your
51:23 direction while you dismiss us.
51:25 We don’t want an adversarial relationship. We want collaboration,
51:30 and frankly, we want better decision-making.
51:32 We’re making two specific requests this evening.
51:35 First, reinstate Melissa Calhoun immediately.
51:38 Show the teachers and the students that you make decisions with
51:41 integrity.
51:42 Second, host an impartial town hall.
51:44 This board shouldn’t shy away from answering questions from the
51:47 community.
51:48 Fulfilling these requests will begin to rebuild trust. Thank you.
51:58 Rochelle Jolly, Susan Pinsky, Ava Gallo.
52:23 The first table. Somebody over there.
52:37 Good evening. Rochelle Jolly, longtime Brevard resident, mom of
52:42 many, like too many.
52:45 I’m going to speak to the instructional recommendations.
52:49 Instructional recommendations are an important part of your job.
52:53 Choosing teachers who will teach our children to pass the almighty
52:55 FAST test so that our schools can receive funding,
52:58 or passing the AP courses so they can receive college credit are
53:02 supposed signs of a successful teacher.
53:05 Why then are you not recommending a teacher who has done just
53:08 that?
53:09 Dr. Markey is saying it’s because there was a conscious and
53:11 deliberate decision to engage with gender affirmation without
53:15 parental knowledge.
53:16 Meigs, did you know that he said this? Did you know that names
53:22 have gender?
53:23 Jeannie, I’m sure you recognize the flaw in this logic.
53:26 Kat, Johnny, I pose a couple of questions. What do names mean?
53:32 In one way or another, each of you have made it clear that you
53:35 align yourselves with Christianity.
53:37 Here’s another question. Which of the names in the scriptures do
53:41 you like to use when you refer to our Lord and Savior?
53:45 Is it Wonderful, Almighty, Master, Teacher, Shiloh, Everlasting
53:51 Father, Counselor, Advocate, Anointed, Creator, Deliverer, Bread
53:57 of Life, Judge, the Light, the Way, Mediator, Messenger, Messiah,
54:03 Emmanuel, Redeemer, Rock, Son of God, Only Begotten, Comforter,
54:09 Friend, Cornerstone, Alpha and Omega, Holy One of Israel, Comforter.
54:14 King of Kings, King of the Jews, King of Heaven, Son of Man,
54:19 Good Shepherd, Exemplar, Jehovah, Prince of Peace, The Lamb of
54:24 God, The Truth, Savior, Christ, Jesus.
54:30 These are just a few of the names that refer to our Lord and
54:33 Savior found in the scriptures.
54:35 The majority of these names used to describe Jesus are gender
54:39 neutral.
54:40 Names do not have a gender, so your accusation toward Ms. Calhoun
54:44 is false.
54:45 As a Christian myself, none of these names changes who and what
54:49 Jesus is to me.
54:50 So this rule of parental permission for a name is just a weapon
54:53 you have used to punish a teacher and students to push your
54:56 extremist agenda.
54:57 Not to mention that you broke your word and that you would reinstate
55:00 Ms. Calhoun if she kept her teaching license.
55:03 You should review this decision to not have Ms. Calhoun, to have
55:06 Ms. Calhoun on the list of recommended instructors.
55:09 BPS deserves teachers and a proven track record of success.
55:13 [Applause]
55:20 Susan Pinsky, Susan Pinsky, Ava Gallo, Julia Cohen.
55:36 Thank you board, superintendent, board members and members of
55:39 the community for this opportunity to address you tonight.
55:43 I am here to speak about agenda item eight, instructional
55:46 recommendations.
55:48 Today I ask to speak to your heart.
55:52 I’ve tried to speak to your heads and I hear all these
55:56 incredible speeches that are also trying to appeal to your
56:00 intellect and reason.
56:03 But today I stand here as a mom, a proud and passionate mom who
56:08 values my children’s education as the second most important part
56:14 of their lives besides their family.
56:17 School is where the groundwork is laid.
56:20 Their foundation is established and behaviors are printed upon
56:24 them.
56:25 These vital experiences define them and help guide them to
56:29 become hopefully extraordinary contributors to our future.
56:34 Trust me, you will need them as you age.
56:39 We all will.
56:41 I am a doctor by day and care deeply for my patients.
56:45 Whatever side of the political spectrum they live on, however
56:50 they come to me, much like teachers, my job is to provide
56:55 exceptional care always, not negotiable.
57:00 I am here tonight because I cannot stand by quietly as you take
57:04 steps to keep an extraordinary educator from teaching my child
57:09 in addition to disrupting her career.
57:13 She is one of the best, Mrs. Melissa Calhoun.
57:18 I ask as I speak to pause and listen to your heart and internal
57:22 voice for a moment.
57:24 Take a moment and recall your best teacher and some indelible
57:28 mark they left.
57:30 Pause and take a moment as a parent when a teacher touched your
57:34 life or the life of your child in a remarkable way.
57:38 I am in awe in this room because some of those incredible
57:43 teachers are behind me and I have to stand up and speak out.
57:49 Pause and feel the pain of my child whose heart is broken.
57:53 For my child who will not have Mrs. Calhoun in her senior year,
57:57 her extraordinary presence as a teacher and inspiring coach,
58:01 please pause and feel that remarkable loss.
58:06 Now, multiply that loss by hundreds of students.
58:09 You are depriving of this phenomenal educator.
58:12 For what end point?
58:14 One angry parent?
58:16 One rule or law broken without clear parameters?
58:20 Think of the role modeling you are at this point demonstrating.
58:25 Please pause.
58:27 I wear this necklace as I do sometimes.
58:29 These are portraits my kids made in art school from an art
58:31 teacher that changed their lives, who impacts them every day.
58:35 I’m holding this and begging for you to hear my heart.
58:38 Thank you so much for your time.
58:47 Ava Gallo.
58:52 Julia Cohen.
58:53 Gregory Ross.
59:03 Good evening.
59:04 My name is Ava Gallo and I’m speaking on agenda item G1.
59:08 I’m a junior at satellite high school and also a dual enrollment
59:11 student at Eastern Florida State College.
59:14 I’m here tonight to share why I believe it’s important for
59:16 students, especially those in advanced learning programs or with
59:20 learning differences to have access to their own personal
59:23 devices, specifically tablets and computers during the school
59:28 day.
59:29 Why personal devices matter.
59:31 In today’s world, having your own device is not just a luxury,
59:34 it’s essential for academic success and preparation for the
59:37 future.
59:38 Personally, I rely on my iPad with a keyboard and Apple pencil
59:41 to take notes, complete assignments and conduct research.
59:45 I have ADHD and dyslexia, so digital note taking for me is
59:49 critical, both at Eastern and satellite.
59:52 It helps me to organize my thoughts, use accessibility tools and
59:55 keep pace with my coursework in a way that a pen and paper
59:58 simply cannot.
59:59 There are also some scheduling challenges that come along with
1:00:01 banning personal devices.
1:00:03 I travel directly between Eastern Florida State College and
1:00:06 satellite high school Monday through Thursday for me and other
1:00:09 students in similar situations.
1:00:11 It’s impractical and sometimes impossible to drop off devices at
1:00:14 home during the day.
1:00:16 My schedule often requires for me to work on assignments and
1:00:19 research in multiple locations, not just the classroom.
1:00:23 I also want to touch on the importance of personal devices and
1:00:26 science research.
1:00:27 I’m heavily involved in my school science research program,
1:00:30 which means I use my device before school, after school, on
1:00:33 weekends and at home.
1:00:35 My research logbook has to be digital because handwriting is a
1:00:38 challenge for me.
1:00:39 School issue computers cannot be taken home, which makes them
1:00:42 impossible for my research needs.
1:00:44 Next, the compatibility issues.
1:00:47 Many of the tools that help me to be successful considering my
1:00:50 learning struggles are Apple based, but school devices are
1:00:53 Microsoft based.
1:00:55 This creates compatibility problems that slow down my work and
1:00:58 make collaboration harder.
1:01:00 I understand and support the new phone policies about no phones
1:01:03 in class besides no phones at lunch.
1:01:05 I also understand concerns about students using hotspots, but
1:01:09 without phone access during the day, this concern is already
1:01:11 addressed.
1:01:12 For students like me in dual enrollment, science research or
1:01:15 with learning differences, personal devices such as tablets and
1:01:19 computers are not distractions, they’re lifelines to our
1:01:23 education.
1:01:24 I respectfully ask the board to reconsider the restrictions on
1:01:28 personal laptops and computers, I mean, sorry, laptops and
1:01:31 tablets for students in these situations.
1:01:34 I would be happy to discuss more about my experiences and work
1:01:36 together to find solutions that meet both student needs and
1:01:39 school goals.
1:01:40 Thank you for your time and for listening.
1:01:50 Julia Cohen, Gregory Ross, Kelly, Colin Bertie.
1:01:57 Good evening, Superintendent Rendell and members of the board.
1:02:01 I am here today to speak on agenda item G point two, which
1:02:05 addresses how these meetings are meant to function grounded in
1:02:10 transparency and meaningful public participation.
1:02:14 But what does that really mean if those principles are ignored
1:02:17 when they matter most?
1:02:19 This board stood before the public and promised that if they
1:02:22 state if the state cleared Miss Calhoun to teach again, her reinstatement
1:02:27 would be reconsidered.
1:02:29 That has happened. The state cleared her.
1:02:33 She has done everything asked of her. But instead of action,
1:02:38 there has been silence instead of accountability, delay and
1:02:42 instead of transparency, a decision made quietly without
1:02:47 community input or explanation.
1:02:50 We are watching a commitment being broken in plain sight and for
1:02:54 the students, parents and educators who were told that their
1:02:59 voices matter, that breaks more than just trust.
1:03:03 It breaks belief in the process. Some now say she can’t be hired
1:03:08 until her probation is over.
1:03:10 But that’s not how the process works. State probation is served
1:03:15 while teaching.
1:03:16 This delay is not about policy. It’s about politics.
1:03:21 And while adults play politics, students are the ones who lose.
1:03:27 They lose access to a teacher who has proven her excellence in
1:03:30 the classroom time and time again.
1:03:33 And beyond the impact on one teacher, there’s a larger cost when
1:03:38 decisions like this are made behind closed doors.
1:03:42 It sends a chilling message that this space is not one where
1:03:47 people are truly heard, but one where those who speak up risk
1:03:52 being pushed out.
1:03:55 That’s not the environment this board says it stands for.
1:03:59 And it’s certainly not the one our community deserves. This isn’t
1:04:02 just about Miss Calhoun.
1:04:04 It’s about the integrity of this board and whether its words
1:04:08 still carry weight.
1:04:10 So I ask you, as a student and a member of this committee
1:04:14 community, please do the right thing.
1:04:17 Re-instate Miss Calhoun. Thank you.
1:04:31 Gregory Ross, Kelly, Colin, Birdie, Max, metal.
1:04:36 Good evening, board. Thank you for this opportunity to provide
1:04:39 public comment.
1:04:40 I hope you guys are really listening tonight.
1:04:44 I’m going to speak about F9 and maybe touch on G1 as well.
1:04:49 We’ll see.
1:04:54 We’ve heard phrases tonight, phrases that we’ve been hearing for
1:04:57 a long time about this board, right?
1:04:59 Politics over students, extremism, political ideologies, adversarial
1:05:07 relationships.
1:05:09 Right. For three, four years, we’ve been hearing that about this
1:05:16 board.
1:05:17 Brevard deserves better.
1:05:21 To get into it, what I want to go back to is what Pam talked
1:05:27 about a little bit is your exact quote, Dr. Endell, about this
1:05:32 whole thing.
1:05:33 What you told the paper. This is no mistake. This was a
1:05:36 conscious and deliberate decision to engage in gender
1:05:40 affirmation without parental knowledge.
1:05:44 Here’s the thing. There isn’t a BPS policy or a state statute
1:05:49 that says gender affirmation doesn’t even have those words in it.
1:05:55 Can’t be illegal to do gender affirmation using a name because
1:06:00 it’s not.
1:06:01 There is a pronoun law. Sure.
1:06:05 But that’s not what you said, is it? You said she made a
1:06:08 deliberate decision to engage in gender affirmation.
1:06:13 That’s politics over students. You came out and said what this
1:06:16 is really all about.
1:06:17 It’s not about that she may have broken some rule that was
1:06:21 backed by some statute that’s fairly, fairly, fairly written.
1:06:29 That’s the issue. And what that really goes back to, and G1
1:06:33 touches on this as well, and why all these people are up here
1:06:37 talking about G1, is there’s a lack of governance on this board.
1:06:43 I don’t think you guys know what that word means. You make rash
1:06:46 decisions.
1:06:48 It’s not all your fault because the state does it as well.
1:06:50 Sometimes you’re driven by the state. I get that.
1:06:52 The state’s worse at it than you guys are, if you can believe
1:06:56 that.
1:06:57 You guys make rash decisions before you think things through,
1:07:01 gather information, look at data.
1:07:04 Instead it’s, hey, politics, go make this change. Now’s the time.
1:07:10 We’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot, right?
1:07:14 Your wireless cell phone policy is a perfect example of that. I’m
1:07:17 going to talk more about that when the public hearing comes up
1:07:22 on it.
1:07:23 Gene, are you enjoying your phone there? I hope you’re taking
1:07:30 notes.
1:07:32 Kelly Columberty. Max Mattel. Quinn Dyges.
1:07:41 Hello. Hi. So I’m here to speak about G1. You know, when it
1:07:46 comes to the phone policy, I’ll admit, I’m not in a position of
1:07:49 experience to be able to advise on that,
1:07:52 which is a smart thing to do, to defer to people who have
1:07:54 experience. So I have nothing to say about it.
1:07:56 But what I was concerned about were there was some rephrasing,
1:08:00 some removal of details about what constitutes bullying,
1:08:05 particularly where gender-based harassment is concerned. It’s
1:08:09 now totally put off to a different policy, which is dictated by
1:08:12 Title IX.
1:08:13 And if you follow federal government, you should be aware of
1:08:17 what’s happening at a federal level and how protections for, you
1:08:21 know, even cis women are at risk these days.
1:08:25 I find it funny that for as much talking is done about
1:08:28 protecting women and children, they are usually the first ones
1:08:31 to lose out when you go after the trans community.
1:08:35 And where that’s concerned, I’ve already brought up at a
1:08:38 previous meeting that trans kids, trans individuals go through
1:08:41 immense bullying.
1:08:43 It is a mental health issue. It’s something that we lose lives
1:08:46 to. And it’s incredibly serious.
1:08:50 So I actually have a question for you guys. And it’s just yes or
1:08:52 no. And I would like everyone to respond.
1:08:56 Do you think trans kids experience bullying? Mr. Thomas, would
1:08:59 you be able to respond to that right now? Yes or no? Do you
1:09:03 think they experience bullying?
1:09:05 Yes.
1:09:06 Okay. Ms. Campbell, do you think trans kids experience bullying?
1:09:09 The public comment isn’t back and forth. Keep going, please.
1:09:12 It’s not a conversation back and forth. Just talk to us, please.
1:09:14 No back and forth. Okay. Not even a nodding or a shaking of the
1:09:17 head.
1:09:18 I understand why you don’t want to put that on the record
1:09:20 because it seems like you have support from certain groups that
1:09:23 have agendas against the trans community.
1:09:26 And so I’ll go ahead and name names. So we all know, everyone in
1:09:31 this room knows that Moms for Liberty is part and parcel of the
1:09:34 reason why we have to have these ridiculous conversations.
1:09:37 And this time, Jean, I don’t care how many times you roll your
1:09:39 eyes or laugh at me while I’m talking about it.
1:09:41 But if you want to talk about bullying, if you want to talk
1:09:43 about bullying, let’s talk about Moms for Liberty and the fact
1:09:46 that they harass people digitally, in person.
1:09:49 People in this room have been harassed, not only specifically to
1:09:53 harassment, but retaliation is mentioned in the bullying policy.
1:09:58 And I would say that what you’re doing against Ms. Calhoun is
1:10:00 nothing short of retaliating against her for standing up for her
1:10:03 students and being proven that she did the right thing.
1:10:07 Because if the state isn’t willing to punish her for referring
1:10:11 to a student by a certain name, then what leg do you have left
1:10:15 to stand on?
1:10:16 Honestly, I’m glad that you are not allowing yourselves to
1:10:19 respond right now because I know there’s nothing you could
1:10:21 really say to comfort me or anyone in this room that you
1:10:24 actually are looking out for students or looking out for
1:10:26 teachers.
1:10:28 I’m just a member of this community, okay? But I want to make
1:10:31 sure that the kids that are going to the schools that I went to
1:10:34 have at least half a good education or social time as I had.
1:10:38 Because they deserve to feel safe, they deserve to feel
1:10:40 respected, and we’re going to keep coming back until they are!
1:10:44 [Applause]
1:10:54 Max Maddow, Quinn Dykes.
1:10:58 Ryan Matragali.
1:11:02 Good evening board. I cut out a lot of what I was going to say
1:11:05 tonight. A because I spoke
1:11:07 at two meetings ago on this exact very topic which is going to
1:11:11 be g1 on wireless communication
1:11:13 devices and a lot of what I still have to say has already been
1:11:17 said tonight but I want to make sure
1:11:18 it is reiterated because it’s important. When I was in high
1:11:22 school, yes I graduated in 2024 as
1:11:24 all of you know, I had classes with 40 kids in them and one
1:11:29 teacher. If you were a teacher in
1:11:33 that classroom and kids were on their phones you would be going
1:11:37 around that classroom the entire
1:11:40 time trying to get kids off their phones rather than teaching
1:11:42 the curriculum you had planned for
1:11:44 that day. I have seen it happen with your old policy and I am
1:11:48 sure enough that it’s going to
1:11:50 happen with this one. Second, I want to talk about how I used my
1:11:55 own laptop, this exact one,
1:11:58 for education purposes and how the language of this current
1:12:02 policy does not allow for it.
1:12:04 I was a dual enrollment student. My sophomore year of high
1:12:07 school I hopped on a bus midway through
1:12:09 second period and was bussed over to eastern Florida to take my
1:12:13 dual enrollment courses and
1:12:14 bussed back during my lunch period. On Fridays there are no
1:12:18 eastern Florida classes. Where would
1:12:20 they put us? In the cafeteria. Had I not had my laptop I would
1:12:25 be sitting there doing absolutely
1:12:27 nothing for that entire hour and a half during the school day.
1:12:32 So because of these things I urge you
1:12:35 to revise this policy and come back to it when you’ve done so.
1:12:43 Thank you. Quinn, Dykes, Ryan,
1:12:46 Matragali, Sander, Colangelo. Good evening board members,
1:12:53 superintendent, and community members.
1:12:57 My name is Quinn and tonight I wanted to offer the perspective
1:13:00 of a newer Brevard County resident in
1:13:02 reference to item G2, the final public hearing on revisions to
1:13:06 policy 0165 which governs how this
1:13:09 board conducts its meetings. I’ve lived here for about a year
1:13:12 and a half now, the last board
1:13:13 meeting being my first BPS meeting. I chose to do my own due
1:13:17 diligence before speaking at that
1:13:19 meeting which included watching every single board meeting,
1:13:23 board workshop, and any live stream
1:13:26 recording this board has published for the last six months.
1:13:29 Throughout those recordings and last
1:13:31 meeting I have received conflicting information from board
1:13:33 comments, one of which you’ve already
1:13:35 heard from so many community members about your position
1:13:38 surrounding Ms. Calhoun. Policy 0165.
1:13:41 I’m going to stop you for just a brief second. That was pulled
1:13:43 from the agenda.
1:13:47 Okay but the G2, the policy hearing is still the public meeting?
1:13:53 The agenda when it got approved, the motion to approve it was to
1:13:57 approve it without G2,
1:13:59 so it is no longer being considered by the board. Okay well
1:14:02 thank you for censoring me.
1:14:07 Can we try G1? You have your time to speak about anything that’s
1:14:12 on the agenda. Okay so G1.
1:14:18 Okay well I’m going to try this again and we’ll see, well I’ll
1:14:20 get my second warning.
1:14:24 These conflicting comments made from meeting to meeting and lack
1:14:25 of elaboration and transparency
1:14:27 of reasoning in the decision making is something the community
1:14:30 is begging for.
1:14:31 This is not about politics, this is about governing officials
1:14:33 following through on
1:14:34 decisions and comments they make to the public. I challenge you
1:14:37 all to go back and even just watch
1:14:38 the last three months of recordings. Upon reflecting, can you
1:14:42 say these decisions and
1:14:44 comments you made were in good faith? Were they digestible for
1:14:46 your community members to understand
1:14:48 the follow of logic? I urge you all to act on your own
1:14:51 responsibilities from the student code
1:14:53 of conduct which says to promote a positive safe and supportive
1:14:57 school climate and communicate and
1:14:59 respond to parents, guardians in a way that is accessible and
1:15:02 easily understood. Following your
1:15:04 own responsibilities, I urge you to host a moderate neutral town
1:15:08 hall outside of this
1:15:09 chamber into a place where everyone, no matter if they’re a
1:15:12 student, parent, guardian, school staff,
1:15:14 or administrator can have an open conversation without fear or
1:15:18 intimidation. No one is asking
1:15:19 you to step outside your wheelhouse. I understand the relations
1:15:22 that have priored me moving to this
1:15:24 county have transpired but as a new resident I would really
1:15:27 appreciate and love to see
1:15:29 an outside moderated discussion so there can be moderated back
1:15:32 and forth in a neutral way.
1:15:34 Policy, actually I’m not gonna say the policy, to ensure
1:15:37 transparency, accountability, and meaningful
1:15:40 public participation in decision making. This board has the
1:15:43 opportunity to listen to their
1:15:44 community members and pass the actions that the community
1:15:47 members who voted you all in would like
1:15:48 to see. I’m sure you guys have a hard job and we appreciate you
1:15:52 doing this job but I would really
1:15:54 like to see this board really focus on their community members.
1:15:57 Thank you. Ryan Matragali,
1:16:05 Xander Colangelo, Sebastian Martinez.
1:16:16 Good evening members of the board and Dr. Rendell. Thanks for
1:16:18 having me and allowing me
1:16:19 to speak tonight. I’ll be speaking on agenda item G1. To start
1:16:23 off, this new law that has
1:16:24 been passed is only supposed to enforce electronic device bans
1:16:27 on grades K through 8, not 9 through
1:16:28 12. The ruling of this new policy you plan to implement is not
1:16:31 as beneficial as you may believe
1:16:33 it to be. Why make it so students can’t use their phones or
1:16:35 personal devices during lunchtime or
1:16:37 breaks as long as they are paying attention in class? What about
1:16:39 the students who need special
1:16:41 devices to be able to properly learn in a school setting? On to
1:16:44 my next point, many high schools
1:16:46 have a college advisor on campus that you can speak to about
1:16:48 classes or career paths. Wouldn’t
1:16:50 it make sense to use your laptop or tablet to look at said
1:16:52 classes or campuses to ensure that
1:16:54 what you’re talking about is correct? College advisors and
1:16:56 counselors are good but no one is
1:16:58 that good unless they have photographic or perfect auditory
1:17:01 memory. Why make their jobs more
1:17:02 difficult? On another note, Satellite High School spent four
1:17:06 thousand dollars over the budget to
1:17:08 purchase paper for this upcoming school year to make up for the
1:17:11 lack of phones and laptops that
1:17:12 students apply using their own personal devices. On the topic of
1:17:16 making people’s jobs more
1:17:17 difficult, what about teachers? Just as an example, in physics
1:17:20 classes you might use your phone in
1:17:21 place of stopwatches because of their convenience. Perhaps in
1:17:24 research classes or dare I say AP
1:17:26 literature, some sites or books may be blocked or banned because
1:17:29 and can’t be accessed through
1:17:31 school devices or school libraries. This can be a problem as it
1:17:33 may restrict students from finding
1:17:35 the crucial information they may need for their project or study.
1:17:38 On another note that may be off
1:17:39 topic but still on agenda, why are students who follow the rules
1:17:42 while using their personal devices
1:17:44 forced to suffer while students who watch Euphoria and Game of
1:17:46 Thrones on campus just find another
1:17:48 way to sneak their devices during class? On top of that,
1:17:50 applications like College Board, Common App,
1:17:53 and Big Future School require multi-device authentication to
1:17:56 access which affects the
1:17:57 students, seniors, and AP students. Why make your successful
1:18:00 students and hard-working staff suffer
1:18:02 by wasting precious class time by waiting for the next day and
1:18:04 the day after that to get their
1:18:05 school devices set up when it could all be solved with a device
1:18:08 like the one I hold in my hand?
1:18:10 Why make it more difficult for those students who work
1:18:12 tirelessly day after day to keep their
1:18:14 grades up? Why make it more difficult for the students who slave
1:18:17 away on College Board studying
1:18:18 for AP exams in May? Why make it more difficult for the students
1:18:22 like me to prepare ourselves for
1:18:23 college in the upcoming year where those college students have
1:18:26 to use their personal devices?
1:18:27 It just doesn’t make sense. I know that you want what’s best for
1:18:30 your schools in your district,
1:18:32 but why not just follow the state with this one? I think the
1:18:35 policy you’re adding is just making
1:18:36 an unnecessary hurdle for your teachers, students, and even
1:18:39 parents. Personal devices aren’t a weapon
1:18:41 of destruction, but rather a tool for the path of success. Thank
1:18:44 you.
1:18:52 Zander, Colangelo, Sebastian Martinez, Zaire Samdi.
1:19:02 All right. Good evening. I’m going to get straight to the point
1:19:05 with the
1:19:06 anecdote from my class. My school was unable to provide me with
1:19:10 a Spanish class,
1:19:11 and because I wanted to graduate with my bi-literacy seal, I had
1:19:15 to take it online
1:19:16 in a lab period. However, the computer I was given was
1:19:20 inadequate to actually take the class.
1:19:23 About 50% of the time, it would take half the class period to
1:19:26 log on to the computer.
1:19:29 In many cases, I just never even got to my course. Even today, I
1:19:34 measured the amount of time it took
1:19:37 me to log in for my first period to get onto my computer. It
1:19:40 took me 16 minutes out of our
1:19:43 49-minute class period, which is pretty much one-third of my
1:19:48 entire class period, which is
1:19:50 wasted trying to log in. And when I got home today, it took me
1:19:53 16 seconds, not 16 minutes,
1:19:56 to get onto my computer, which that’s a huge change that could
1:20:00 really affect our learning in class.
1:20:08 And also, for science research, in order to complete my project
1:20:13 last year, I had to use
1:20:14 proprietary software that wasn’t available on the school
1:20:18 computers. So science research is a way that
1:20:21 I can actually show my academic strength, and that’s being
1:20:24 limited by not being able to bring
1:20:26 in a personal computer. One final point is that I understand you
1:20:31 don’t want to actually
1:20:33 stop the bullying, the hazing, and the drugs that go on in our
1:20:36 schools, but rather
1:20:38 sweep it under the rug, making sure nobody can actually record
1:20:41 it with their phones.
1:20:42 That way, nobody actually sees what’s actually happening in our
1:20:45 schools.
1:20:47 I see you shaking your head. I think it’s an absurd statement,
1:20:49 but the application that the
1:20:53 state asks every single high school student to download is Fortify
1:20:59 FL, and it requires your phone
1:21:02 to report bullying, hazing, drugs, things to keep the students
1:21:07 and the community safe,
1:21:08 but that’s now not being allowed. So I’d like you guys to
1:21:13 consider principal discretion. Allow the
1:21:17 principal to approve certain times we can actually use these
1:21:21 devices. And actually, one more point
1:21:25 while I still have some time about teachers. I’ve seen from the
1:21:31 start of the school year this year
1:21:34 to the start of school year last year that my teachers are much
1:21:38 more scared and frightened
1:21:41 to make personal connections with their students because they
1:21:45 feel like if they get too personal,
1:21:46 if they actually build a connection with their students, that
1:21:49 they can be fired up and their
1:21:52 contract not renewed. So I think it’s something we should really
1:21:55 consider. Thank you.
1:22:03 Sebastian Martinez, Zaire Somney, Devin Van. Good evening,
1:22:10 ladies and gentlemen of the board.
1:22:13 My name is Sebastian Martinez, and as always, thank you for the
1:22:15 opportunity to address you
1:22:16 today. I’m speaking on agenda item F9, instructional staff
1:22:20 recommendations,
1:22:21 and I’d like to start with asking the board, Ms. Campbell, Mr.
1:22:25 Susan, Mr. Trent, Ms. Wright,
1:22:28 to follow through with your commitments you made to the public
1:22:30 during the April 22 board meeting.
1:22:33 We’re on record, you all, in one way or another, came to the
1:22:36 consensus that if the state votes to
1:22:38 reinstate Ms. Calhoun’s contract, then you would all be
1:22:41 interested in having her back as a teacher
1:22:43 in your district. At past board meetings, I pointed out what
1:22:47 seemed to be you all as community
1:22:49 leaders deflecting blame and refusing to take accountability for
1:22:52 how this district treated
1:22:53 Ms. Calhoun. But even then, I said to myself, maybe there is
1:22:57 just another reason they haven’t
1:23:00 reinstated Ms. Calhoun. Now we’re back at the same crossroad,
1:23:04 and just to refresh, you said
1:23:05 Ms. Calhoun could be reinstated if the state of Florida decided
1:23:09 to reinstate her teaching
1:23:10 certificate. And again, to refresh, they voted unanimously,
1:23:14 meaning without opposition, to not
1:23:17 terminate her teaching contract. This was a true testament to
1:23:20 sticking true to advancing better
1:23:22 education in the state of Florida. But then a couple of days
1:23:24 later, I read an article where
1:23:25 the superintendent essentially rejects the idea of hiring Ms.
1:23:29 Calhoun in a statement full of
1:23:31 political rhetoric. I talked to so many community members about
1:23:34 education and education policy.
1:23:36 The one thing people can agree to, regardless of political
1:23:38 background, is that political agendas
1:23:40 have no place on the school board, period. So as a board, your
1:23:45 main, if not one of the only staff
1:23:47 you oversee, is the superintendent. You should be holding him to
1:23:50 a higher standard if you want
1:23:52 excellence. If you want excellence, you demand excellence of
1:23:55 those in leadership. So now it’s
1:23:57 back to you on whether or not you’re going to stand by your word,
1:24:00 whether or not you’re going
1:24:02 to restore Ms. Calhoun, whether or not you’re going to put the
1:24:05 interest of the school district
1:24:07 before any existing political agenda, or we might score you
1:24:10 extra points in a primary for higher
1:24:12 office, Ms. Campbell. I mean, I know you’ve all seen how many
1:24:16 open teaching positions you have.
1:24:19 Fill the classrooms with teachers, not year-round substitutes or
1:24:22 partial time substitute teachers.
1:24:28 I’m asking that you help take the right steps to restore a
1:24:29 culture of collaboration,
1:24:32 of respect, integrity, leadership, and professionalism. I’m
1:24:36 asking you to put
1:24:37 students before politics and to restore Ms. Calhoun today. Hold
1:24:42 your superintendent accountable.
1:24:43 Thank you so much for your time. (applause) Zaire Samdi, Devin
1:24:51 Van, Sarah Merski.
1:25:00 Good evening board members. I’m Zaire Kekahuna Samdi. I’m here
1:25:03 tonight because trust has been
1:25:05 broken and that matters deeply in the school system. This board
1:25:08 looked the public in the eye
1:25:09 and said that if the state cleared Ms. Calhoun to teach, her
1:25:12 reinstatement would be reconsidered.
1:25:14 The state has cleared her, that condition has been met, and
1:25:18 instead of acting with integrity,
1:25:20 you all are sitting on your hands. That is a broken promise,
1:25:23 plain and simple,
1:25:24 and it’s visible to every student, every parent, and every
1:25:27 educator here in Brevard.
1:25:29 We’ve now heard the excuse that she must complete her probation
1:25:32 first, but that’s not how that
1:25:34 typically works, and it can be served while teaching. That means
1:25:37 that this delay is not
1:25:38 about rules, it’s about politics. Every day she’s kept out of
1:25:41 the classroom is a day students miss
1:25:43 out on access to a high quality experience, teacher, and
1:25:47 learning from someone who has
1:25:49 already proven herself. Worse, this board’s actions are creating
1:25:53 damage. When good educators
1:25:55 are punished instead of supported, and I want to emphasize good
1:25:58 educators, when good educators
1:26:00 are punished instead of supported, when commitments are made and
1:26:03 then ignored, it sends a message
1:26:06 that speaking up or even just doing your job with integrity
1:26:08 could cost you everything.
1:26:10 That fear is spreading and it doesn’t stop at the teacher’s desk.
1:26:13 Students are watching,
1:26:15 families are watching, and the silence, the retaliation, and the
1:26:19 games speaks volumes.
1:26:21 If this board is serious about healing, about transparency,
1:26:24 about representing the people of
1:26:26 Brevard, then stop hiding. So tonight I ask these things of you.
1:26:31 Be honest with Brevard,
1:26:33 bring Ms. Calhoun back, acknowledge that families are concerned
1:26:36 and confused as to why this is
1:26:38 happening, and put students before politics. Also, hearing the
1:26:41 concept of a town hall sounds amazing
1:26:43 and I think I’m going to add that to my list of requests as well.
1:26:54 Devin Van, Sarah Merski, Michelle Berno.
1:27:00 Good evening board members and Superintendent Rendell. My
1:27:03 comment relates to policy 5136,
1:27:05 the wireless communication device policy. My children are in 12th
1:27:08 and 9th grade at satellite
1:27:09 high school. They are taking advanced placement and honors
1:27:12 courses and the policy prohibiting the
1:27:14 use of laptops is hindering their ability to be productive and
1:27:17 prepared in school. Textbooks are
1:27:19 online, sheet music is online, college applications are online,
1:27:24 FAFSA is online. The computers and
1:27:26 laptops available for use through BPS are not sufficient. They
1:27:30 crash often and substitute
1:27:32 teachers are not able to pull them back online. I was actually
1:27:35 hopeful when I initially heard that
1:27:37 this board was going to work toward reducing phone use during
1:27:39 instructional time because I do believe
1:27:41 that cell phones can be harmful and distracting for all of us,
1:27:45 but the policy is not a solution
1:27:46 to cell phone usage. It is a vast overreach and it puts high
1:27:50 school students at a distinct
1:27:52 disadvantage for no good reason. When politics are not well
1:27:57 thought out and are not based in reality,
1:27:59 you end up with situations that invite uneven enforcement and
1:28:03 community confusion. As a parent,
1:28:05 it’s frustrating to watch our schools get jerked around with
1:28:08 these confusing and nonsensical board
1:28:10 decisions. Let high school students take notes on their laptops.
1:28:13 Let highly effective high school
1:28:15 teachers who have the respect of their students and students’
1:28:18 parents teach. Stop making school
1:28:20 more difficult for some of your best students in your hunt for
1:28:23 political relevance. Thank you.
1:28:32 Sarah Merski, Michelle Barineau, Xander Moritz.
1:28:39 Good evening. My name is Sarah Merski. I’m a wife of a husband
1:28:43 who is part owner of an aerospace
1:28:45 company and job creator here in Brevard County. I’m a mom of two
1:28:49 children who attend BPS. I’m a
1:28:51 clinical social worker who has had the honor of serving the most
1:28:55 marginalized of Brevard County.
1:28:56 I’m a taxpayer, stakeholder, and voter. I live in District 2 for
1:29:00 School Board. I have a holistic
1:29:02 interest in assisting this district in serving every student
1:29:06 with excellence as a standard.
1:29:08 Tonight, I will be addressing agenda item G1, the wireless
1:29:11 communication device policy.
1:29:13 In my late 30s and early 40s, I went back to college. My grades
1:29:18 in GPA and undergrad were
1:29:19 high enough that I qualified for the advanced standing program
1:29:22 for grad school, which means
1:29:24 I was able to do my master’s degree in one year instead of the
1:29:28 traditional two years while also
1:29:30 earning a scholarship, running a household, being a wife and a
1:29:34 mother, as well as graduating with
1:29:36 honors. I could not have done any of this without my cell phone
1:29:40 and my laptop. I needed my laptop
1:29:42 and cell phone in class to exchange contact information for
1:29:45 group projects and trips.
1:29:47 I needed my laptop for various reasons during class but mainly
1:29:51 to write papers and attend Zoom
1:29:53 calls. I also needed my laptop for my internship work. How are
1:29:57 we supposed to equip the next
1:29:59 generation of students without working from a laptop in class?
1:30:02 How are they supposed to learn
1:30:04 any computer science skills, learn how to learn CAD, coding,
1:30:09 engineering, architecture programs,
1:30:11 any aerospace technology work, and so on without using a laptop
1:30:15 in the classroom or learning
1:30:17 computer skills imperative to their future? We live on the Space
1:30:21 Coast and we should be
1:30:22 offering a full STEAM education to equip students for college
1:30:26 and job skills for the space industry
1:30:29 and beyond. On a somber subject, on October 4, 2024, Rockledge
1:30:34 High School went on lockdown
1:30:38 due to a student or students bringing a gun or guns to school.
1:30:41 Another student saw the threat
1:30:42 on their Snapchat and they were able to access their Snapchat at
1:30:48 school and notified the front
1:30:50 desk and then school security. I shudder to think what would
1:30:54 have happened if that student didn’t
1:30:56 see the threat on Snapchat and notified the authorities. Would
1:30:59 we have had students coming
1:31:01 out of that situation in body bags instead of handcuffs? Would
1:31:04 my innocent child have been one
1:31:05 of those who would have died that day? My husband and I were
1:31:08 able to provide comfort, calm, and quiet
1:31:10 prayers to our child that day. I don’t know if that would have
1:31:14 been the last time I would have
1:31:15 talked to my child. Please do not take that away from me and
1:31:20 other parents. I would like to make
1:31:22 the suggested changes to the policy that students are allowed to
1:31:28 use WCD as the direction and
1:31:30 discretion of instructional staff for educational purposes only,
1:31:34 and that student is able to use in
1:31:36 an emergency. My hope is that this board accepts this as a
1:31:39 solution and not a criticism. Thank you.
1:31:50 Michelle Barinow, Zander Moritz, Anya Dennison.
1:31:56 Hello, my name is Michelle Barinow. I’m a parent of a student in
1:32:00 10th grade, and I didn’t prepare
1:32:04 remarks before I got in this room, but I felt it was important
1:32:07 since I was able to actually
1:32:08 physically be here that I represent the dozens and dozens and
1:32:12 dozens of people on my Facebook groups
1:32:14 that are expressing incredible frustration over the cell phone
1:32:18 policy. There’s been a pretty
1:32:20 consistent theme here tonight on two issues, and I’m in line
1:32:23 with everyone pretty much on those.
1:32:26 I do want to point out that the state law is clear for under the
1:32:31 undergrades, but for high school,
1:32:33 you have discrepancy here. I read through the policy trying to
1:32:36 understand what it was that you
1:32:38 were trying to do. I’m very fortunate. I consider myself
1:32:41 incredibly fortunate that I attended school
1:32:44 pre-cell phone, and I can’t imagine the grief the teachers have
1:32:49 to deal with because they are
1:32:51 a horrible distraction. They are. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t
1:32:54 think they are a distraction.
1:32:56 However, you’ll notice I’m relying on mine right now. Just about
1:33:00 everybody that came up here was
1:33:02 reading remarks off a cell phone because it is a superior way of
1:33:06 communicating in terms of writing
1:33:08 notes to yourself, taking pictures. My student would always take
1:33:12 pictures of the blackboard
1:33:14 so that she could focus on what the teacher was saying, read the
1:33:16 information when she got home.
1:33:18 She can’t do that anymore. She was kind of having a panic attack
1:33:21 today, worried that she was going
1:33:22 to miss something. They are horrible distractions. They’re the
1:33:26 world we live in today. I notice you
1:33:28 guys all have laptops on your desk. Try and imagine getting
1:33:31 through your work day without
1:33:33 being able to use your laptop. For the high school, at least
1:33:35 where you have discretion,
1:33:37 I urge you to reconsider this policy. Ideally, it would make
1:33:41 sense for the students to be able to
1:33:43 use their cell phones during the breaks. Think about this. They
1:33:47 have five minutes to get to
1:33:48 their class. How do they tell time? How are they going to get to
1:33:52 class on time if they can’t
1:33:53 regulate where they are in terms of the schedule? I mean, this
1:33:57 is everything now. It’s not just a
1:33:59 phone. It’s your external hard drive. It’s your brain. It’s your
1:34:03 schedule. It’s your clock. It’s
1:34:05 everything. It’s your memory. So being told that they can’t use
1:34:09 it is going to be a real hardship
1:34:11 in a lot of areas. I understand that they are a distraction. Punish
1:34:15 the misbehavior. Don’t punish
1:34:17 the entire student body all day long. If you use your cell phone
1:34:21 in class, it gets taken away. You
1:34:23 do it again, you get detention or some other kind of punishment.
1:34:27 We’ve been doing this in the past.
1:34:29 We’ve made it this far without this rule. And the laptop rule is
1:34:34 incredibly frustrating. I spent a
1:34:36 day at my kid’s school registering parents for PTA on student
1:34:41 equipment. It was horrible. When it
1:34:45 wasn’t crashed, it was stalled. Unless you can provide excellent
1:34:50 adequate equipment to substitute
1:34:52 for what people are doing with their laptops, their e-readers
1:34:55 and their cell phones, you should allow
1:34:57 them back in the class. Thank you. [Applause]
1:35:03 Xander Moritz, Anya Dennison. Good evening members of this board,
1:35:09 Superintendent Rendell.
1:35:10 My name is Xander Moritz and I am here tonight to speak to item
1:35:12 eight on instructional staff
1:35:14 recommendations. This is the item that determines who will and
1:35:16 will not be teaching in the Brevard
1:35:17 School District this year. It is exactly where the decision to
1:35:20 rehire Ms. Melissa Calhoun belongs and
1:35:22 it is why I am here tonight. I do not live in Brevard County. I
1:35:26 am here because this decision
1:35:27 and the way that it has been handled has drawn a large deal of
1:35:30 concern that extends far beyond this
1:35:32 boardroom. Across Florida, people are watching because the
1:35:34 precedent you set here will not start
1:35:36 at the Brevard County line. If that were simply a local
1:35:39 personnel matter driven by local education
1:35:42 priorities, this whole situation would not have sparked this
1:35:44 level of attention. But it is clear
1:35:46 to everyone in this room and beyond it that what is happening
1:35:49 here is being shaped not by local
1:35:51 educational priorities but by national political agendas. This
1:35:55 is not in the best interest of
1:35:57 Brevard students. This is also why a refusal to fully engage in
1:36:01 real conversation, it sends its
1:36:04 own message. When a decision is played out as political theater,
1:36:07 that will always draw an
1:36:08 audience and that audience will always take away a message from
1:36:12 your actions whether you intend it
1:36:13 or not. Earlier this year, the board said it would consider her
1:36:16 reinstatement if the state allowed
1:36:18 her to continue teaching under probation. That was the clear
1:36:20 condition that this board set. Now,
1:36:23 the state has done exactly that. They have upheld her license,
1:36:26 placed it under probation and cleared
1:36:27 her to be in the classroom yet she still is not at your explicit
1:36:30 instruction. This should not be
1:36:33 about politics. It needs to be about integrity, fairness and
1:36:36 maintaining our commitments. When
1:36:38 a governing body says one thing, follows due process and then
1:36:41 fails to honor its own word,
1:36:42 it damages trust not only with one person but with every student,
1:36:46 every parent and every educator in
1:36:48 this district who expects you to model the same accountability
1:36:51 we expect of the students in
1:36:52 Brevard. We must hold ourselves to the same standards we expect
1:36:56 from our students. This
1:36:58 decision is also happening amongst the backdrop of deepening
1:37:00 concerns about the relationship
1:37:02 between the board and its community. In recent weeks, residents
1:37:04 have expressed frustration at
1:37:05 the lack of open dialogue on major decisions and I don’t need to
1:37:08 tell you that the boardroom
1:37:09 does not feel like a healthy sustainable culture. There is toxic
1:37:12 relationships developing and we
1:37:13 need to heal them through the creation of an open moderated
1:37:16 sustainable community town hall. That is
1:37:18 why I’m calling for two clear clean actions tonight. The first,
1:37:21 amend the instructional
1:37:22 staff recommendations to include Ms. Melissa Calhoun’s reinstatement.
1:37:25 Second, commit to
1:37:26 holding a moderated neutral community town hall not here in this
1:37:29 chamber and not under the rules
1:37:31 of a board meeting but where board members, parents, students,
1:37:33 teachers, everyone can come
1:37:35 together for an open respectful and resource driven dialogue. Reinstating
1:37:39 Ms. Calhoun would
1:37:40 be a concrete act of fairness and a follow-through on your word.
1:37:43 Hosting a town hall would be a clear
1:37:44 step towards repairing relationships and restoring trust.
1:37:47 Together these actions would demonstrate
1:37:48 that the board is serious about listening to the people of Brevard
1:37:51 and moving forward together.
1:37:52 Thank you for your time, thank you for your consideration and
1:37:55 thank you for your commitment
1:37:56 to your word and to the services of Brevard public schools. Anya
1:38:06 Dennison. Good evening board my name
1:38:10 is Anya and I’m here to speak on the instructional staff
1:38:12 recommendations. I do also want to offer a
1:38:14 quick note on the tech policy before I get into the comment I
1:38:17 prepared. High school classrooms
1:38:19 are integrated with cell phones and tech of all sorts like QR
1:38:22 codes, Kahoot literally works off
1:38:24 phones, capturing notes and so on. If you visited a high school
1:38:27 in like the last five years it’s
1:38:29 standard practice for students to bring laptops to school and
1:38:32 use them because school laptops
1:38:33 are usually slow, new systems that are outdated are not
1:38:36 preferred. Gen Z doesn’t like Microsoft,
1:38:39 it takes time out of a student’s day to switch between platforms
1:38:41 from school and home so just
1:38:43 offering that for consideration. iPads widely used for notes,
1:38:48 super necessary especially going into
1:38:49 college. People bring them from high school to college and it’s
1:38:53 just a thing important to know
1:38:54 especially if you haven’t visited recently. But I’m talking
1:38:57 about instructional staff recommendations
1:38:59 and I specifically want to talk about the fact that Ms. Melissa
1:39:03 Calhoun’s contract isn’t being
1:39:04 renewed despite everything that’s happened at the state level. I
1:39:07 think that it’s really important to
1:39:09 talk about the fact that there’s not a reason that beyond her
1:39:14 not being returned from probation,
1:39:18 you’re not reinstating her. I’m so confused about that. I think
1:39:23 this at its core is about following
1:39:25 through on our word and you set a public condition right and the
1:39:29 condition was set and it was met and
1:39:32 the community expects it to be honored. So when it’s not of
1:39:35 course people are going to be confused
1:39:37 and upset about it and just want clarity right especially when
1:39:41 we’ve seen cases where teachers
1:39:43 on probation have continued teaching and it hasn’t been an issue
1:39:47 and I think that as a solution first
1:39:50 of all I would love to see a town hall be brought forward with a
1:39:54 neutral moderator, open format,
1:39:56 students, educators, board members, everyone in the same room to
1:39:59 be able to ask questions in a
1:40:01 environment that’s comfortable and isn’t just me talking at you
1:40:04 for three minutes and you not being
1:40:05 able to respond right because that’s not actually productive and
1:40:08 sure you receive my information
1:40:10 but I don’t get to receive yours outside of the superintendent’s
1:40:13 statement. So not super
1:40:15 productive and doesn’t build a relationship. I think that reinstating
1:40:18 Ms. Calhoun and bringing
1:40:20 that forward tonight would also be a phenomenal step. If not I
1:40:24 would also love to see dialogue
1:40:26 about why you’re choosing not to and to address it in this
1:40:29 meeting as opposed to just not bring
1:40:30 it forward. Those two steps I think would put us in a better
1:40:34 place. Would love to hear your thoughts
1:40:36 and appreciate the time tonight. All right that concludes our
1:40:49 agenda item only public comments.
1:40:52 Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to address
1:40:54 the board with your concerns and
1:40:55 suggestions. I would like to remind the public that the board is
1:40:58 accessible for further
1:40:59 conversations outside our board meetings through scheduling a
1:41:10 meeting. We’re now at the consent
1:41:12 agenda portion of our meeting. Dr. Rendell. Thank you Mr. Chair.
1:41:16 There are 23 items on the list
1:41:17 under this category. Thank you Dr. Rendell. Does any board
1:41:20 member wish to pull any items?
1:41:25 I’ll entertain a motion to accept the consent items on today’s
1:41:27 agenda.
1:41:28 Any discussion? Call roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms.
1:41:32 Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye. Mr.
1:41:34 Susan. Aye. Ms. Wright. Aye. The public hearing is now open to
1:41:39 public comments. We will in accordance
1:41:41 with the Florida law accept the speakers on G1 policy 2260-02.
1:41:47 Is there anyone present
1:41:49 that wishes to address this item? Good evening again. You’ve
1:42:03 already heard me speak about this
1:42:04 topic mostly from the viewpoint of one of my daughters but now I’m
1:42:07 going to speak generally
1:42:08 from both perspectives. One of my daughters came on from the
1:42:11 first day of school to tell me that
1:42:13 most of her teachers do not support this policy but they are
1:42:17 fearful of being fired. In fact one
1:42:19 teacher today. Mr. Chair can you pause the time? Sorry this this
1:42:23 is the policy the anti-harassment
1:42:25 policy that’s being. Yes.
1:42:31 All right is there anyone else wishes to address this item? Do I
1:42:35 hear a motion? Move to approve.
1:42:38 Second. Any discussion? Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
1:42:43 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent. Aye.
1:42:46 Mr. Susan. Ms. Wright. Aye. Mr. Susan. All right here we go
1:42:54 policy 5136.
1:42:57 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? This is
1:43:00 the wireless communication device
1:43:01 policy. I’m just gonna continue where I was. I’m gonna scroll
1:43:14 back to that. One of my daughters
1:43:18 came home from school the first day to tell me that most of her
1:43:21 teachers don’t support the policy
1:43:23 but they are fearful of being fired. In fact one teacher today
1:43:27 mistook a wallet for a phone and
1:43:29 audibly said please put that away I don’t want to be fired. The
1:43:33 amount of stress felt by both
1:43:35 the professionals and our students is unnecessary. It is now day
1:43:40 two and one of my daughters has
1:43:42 already clocked that the tensions against adults during lunch
1:43:45 are already rising.
1:43:46 Lunch is a time where students can decompress. While socials may
1:43:50 get the most talking time
1:43:52 what is often ignored is the use of music reading and studying.
1:43:57 Without having access to any technology
1:43:59 devices what are bored kids most likely to do? As stated by one
1:44:03 of my daughter’s teachers on the
1:44:05 first day quote bored kids get in trouble they’ll fight just to
1:44:09 fight. I expect fighting to get a
1:44:11 lot worse and I hope you all can avoid that. Unfortunately Brevard
1:44:15 Public Schools has not
1:44:16 fostered a healthy and safe environment for our teachers to
1:44:19 speak out so instead many teachers
1:44:21 instead turn to their students and ask them to come speak out or
1:44:25 email instead. As a BPS
1:44:27 educated student myself whose daughters are now sitting in front
1:44:30 of many of the same teachers I
1:44:32 had my heart breaks for what they’re experiencing. The need that
1:44:36 the idea that they need our students
1:44:38 to speak out instead of feeling safe to do it themselves speaks
1:44:42 volumes. Ms. Campbell I am sure
1:44:44 you can relate to the plight of one of my son’s friends. He’s in
1:44:47 multiple music electives and each
1:44:49 requires a thick binder with sheet music. Those same binders can
1:44:53 be replaced with an iPad for
1:44:55 digital sheet music but now he can’t use that and just a
1:44:58 reminder many of our students don’t
1:45:01 have access to lockers because their buildings don’t have them.
1:45:05 This policy is not well thought
1:45:07 out it’s a knee-jerk reaction with tons of unintended
1:45:11 consequences that work against student
1:45:13 achievement. By lumping our high schools into this policy we are
1:45:17 putting undue stress on our students
1:45:19 and ripping the autonomy from our teachers and administrators. I
1:45:23 think Samantha said it best to
1:45:24 me why are they targeting the smart kids? Can’t they just hold
1:45:28 the troublemakers accountable?
1:45:30 Isn’t that their actual job? Thank you.
1:45:40 I want to reiterate everything Ms. Curvin just said um just off
1:45:44 the top right. I really think
1:45:48 you guys need to rethink this policy. I think you made a couple
1:45:51 of I don’t say mistakes but
1:45:52 you did over summer. A lot of parents didn’t know about the 9th
1:45:58 through 12th ban that goes above
1:46:01 and beyond the state law. I think this policy has been made
1:46:06 without serious consideration of the
1:46:09 impacts across all of Brevard Public Schools. You’ve heard
1:46:15 tonight about IEPs could be impacted.
1:46:19 You could very easily end up in a place where students with an IEP
1:46:24 have access
1:46:27 to technology items in class and the other students don’t. Inequity.
1:46:38 It’s going to impact some students more than others and I stand
1:46:41 up here somebody
1:46:43 as somebody else said I think everybody in this audience agrees
1:46:47 no phones during instructional time without severe exceptions is
1:46:52 a reasonable ask.
1:46:55 But that’s not what this policy is right. That’s not what this
1:46:59 policy is. This policy is as far as
1:47:01 you can get with cell phone bans. I get it. I get why you think
1:47:05 that’s an important thing but it’s
1:47:07 a bad policy. You guys are the board. You can recall this policy.
1:47:11 Go back to the drawing board.
1:47:13 Get more community input. That’s something I talked about
1:47:16 governance and that’s what we don’t
1:47:17 see from this board. We don’t see community input. You guys make
1:47:22 your decisions in a vacuum.
1:47:25 A literal vacuum. You’re getting you’re getting probably good
1:47:29 input from your your staff and your
1:47:31 teachers but there’s no community input. There’s no surveys. You
1:47:38 know you do you guys do your yearly
1:47:40 survey and if you’re making policy decisions off a one-time
1:47:43 snapshot survey where you’re not even
1:47:45 getting 40 to answer you’re making mistakes. Okay you guys need
1:47:51 more data more input and I know it
1:47:54 takes longer. That’s what you got to do to make good decisions.
1:47:58 Please rethink about this policy
1:48:00 before you vote on tonight. Thank you. Hi I hope you all had a
1:48:08 great summer. My name is Ava Newman.
1:48:14 I’m a senior at Satellite High. I wanted to share a bit of my
1:48:18 story as the last few years have been
1:48:20 a little chaotic. I play violin. I am huge into orchestra and
1:48:24 have been since fifth grade. When
1:48:26 I got to high school I’m not going to lie I wasn’t the best
1:48:30 player. With inexperienced players they
1:48:33 tend to not be able to tune or really play in time. I promise I’ll
1:48:36 get to a point. During class
1:48:39 my teacher would allow us individual practice time for solo
1:48:43 ensemble concerts or even like
1:48:45 concerto competitions. I came from a not so very rich family so
1:48:50 the materials that I had were my
1:48:52 phone. Tuning goes on the phone. I have a downloaded I have an
1:48:57 app on my phone that allows me to tune
1:48:59 my instrument since I cannot do it by ear at the time. It also
1:49:04 allows me to have a metronome so I
1:49:06 can stay in time while working on my pieces. Most people use
1:49:09 their phones for situations like these
1:49:11 so that teachers don’t have to spend their own money on tools
1:49:15 like this to just hand out to all
1:49:16 their instruments. I also teach instruments and my first
1:49:19 recommendation to all my students is to
1:49:21 download tuning apps on their phone in case they cannot tune in
1:49:24 their own instrument for them. This
1:49:26 allows them to learn how to tune their instrument as well as
1:49:28 watch and see their how they’re playing
1:49:30 fluctuates. If you can’t see where I’m going this I’ll say it
1:49:33 straight banning phones in high school
1:49:35 levels can be detrimental to a lot of teachers and students when
1:49:37 it comes to the tools needed
1:49:39 for that development. Before you say oh well we survived back in
1:49:42 the day without phones times have
1:49:44 changed in fact the orchestra program at satellite has only
1:49:47 gotten better since then due to our
1:49:49 amazing teacher as well as the support we get from everyone
1:49:52 around us and the tools that are available
1:49:54 to us. But now that fools have basically been banned teachers
1:49:57 now are expended expected to get
1:49:59 the tools that are unnecessary when phones could just be
1:50:01 permitted. You are denying phones to
1:50:03 juniors and seniors who are on their way to adulthood. Actually
1:50:06 most seniors are turning 18
1:50:08 real here uh here real soon. You’re telling me my peers could
1:50:12 get sent to war but not use a cell
1:50:14 phone in class? Instead of taking things away permanently why
1:50:17 not try and teach these students
1:50:19 how to regulate their screen time correctly? Why can’t we pull
1:50:22 out our phones at lunch the hallways
1:50:23 more importantly why enforce these teachers to buy supplies when
1:50:26 it could be easily be done by phones?
1:50:28 Are you going to supply these teachers with the tools that are
1:50:30 being taken away from these phones?
1:50:32 Music teachers have to buy manual metronomes tuners which can
1:50:35 average around fifty dollars if you want
1:50:37 a decent one. Physics teachers are now having to buy stopwatches.
1:50:40 When I was in physics I used my
1:50:42 phone to uh more timely uh like see my projectiles. Um not to
1:50:47 mention with kids not being able to look
1:50:51 at their phones for simple things like google classroom focus
1:50:53 teachers and counselors having
1:50:55 to print more paper and more class times being wasted during
1:50:58 school. Yesterday I had spent 10
1:51:00 minutes figuring out how to use the bathroom passes another five
1:51:03 trying to sign in to the
1:51:06 computers since the internet at our school is so slow and
1:51:09 another five having to put computers away.
1:51:11 Instead of spending 20 minutes on figuring out how uh to work.
1:51:15 Thank you so much for that time.
1:51:25 Hello again so I want you guys to think so the state made the
1:51:30 rule for kindergarten through
1:51:32 eighth grade right? There’s a reason they didn’t make it
1:51:35 kindergarten through 12th grade.
1:51:38 They had a thought process behind that and I want you guys to to
1:51:43 consider yes adapting some sort of
1:51:46 rule that prevents students from being distracted by cell phones.
1:51:48 It’s very important everyone
1:51:50 agrees with that but the way the your new rule is right now it’s
1:51:54 not going to actually solve
1:51:56 the problem. Kids are still going to to to do what they’re not
1:52:01 supposed to do as even as much
1:52:03 discipline as you can give them. So I I want us to think about
1:52:08 who the rule is meant to help
1:52:11 and who it’s hurting. It’s it’s meant to to help the people who
1:52:16 are going to get in trouble no
1:52:17 matter what but it’s hurting the people who are trying to get
1:52:21 ahead. The people who are trying to
1:52:23 use these tools to advance their education the farthest. They’re
1:52:26 the ones working the hardest
1:52:28 and it’s hurting the people who have who are less able and the
1:52:32 people who are already behind it
1:52:34 prevents them from catching back up. You’re just leaving them in
1:52:37 the past without these extra
1:52:38 technologies and that’s my main point. I want to make sure you
1:52:43 guys know that I think a proper
1:52:46 solution would be to rework this rule and also to allow the
1:52:49 principals to have the discretion
1:52:52 to know where it’s appropriate and where it’s not appropriate to
1:52:59 use the devices. Thank you.
1:53:02 Good evening board. Again my name is Chris Higginbotham. I’m a
1:53:05 parent of three and on this
1:53:07 item I just want to say I spoke earlier and my phone was going
1:53:13 off. Multiple teachers, multiple
1:53:16 school board employees are just saying I can’t believe you spoke
1:53:19 about that. That’s so great.
1:53:20 We need this. We love this policy. That might not be exactly the
1:53:24 most popular voice in this room
1:53:27 right now but I’m telling you they teachers want this. Administrators
1:53:32 want it. Parents want it.
1:53:35 Most of the kids some of the kids I talked to wanted. I get not
1:53:40 a lot of kids want it. It is
1:53:42 what is best for these kids. These are I have my kid is now here
1:53:46 with me. He was at wrestling
1:53:49 practice over at Viera. He’s not going to want to lose his cell
1:53:52 phone when he’s in high school.
1:53:54 However my kid won’t be using a cell phone during school because
1:53:59 he’s there to educate.
1:54:02 Dr. Rendell under your leadership you spend a lot of money on
1:54:06 technology. Buying computers,
1:54:08 refurbishing computers, internet, high speed internet. A lot of
1:54:12 money went into technology.
1:54:15 Students will adapt. They’ll overcome. Our student population is
1:54:20 smart and they are well versed in
1:54:23 technology. This is not the only county where this is happening.
1:54:28 I come from Orange County.
1:54:29 I was an administrator over there. Multiple counties in this
1:54:33 state are doing this.
1:54:35 Kids are doing just fine. They still have access to the internet.
1:54:39 Those computers work.
1:54:43 I just want you to understand that I hope we have this policy. I
1:54:48 think as a parent we need it
1:54:51 and I think more than the people in this room have a voice and
1:54:56 they want it to happen and it is what
1:54:58 is best for our students. I thank Dr. Rendell for you spending
1:55:03 the money for that technology.
1:55:06 The kids do not need their cell phones at school. The facility
1:55:10 is ready for this technology.
1:55:13 Ms. Su Han back there, she’s doing great at our facilities. So
1:55:18 much so that we saw her
1:55:19 here this afternoon and that’s about it. I appreciate it. Thank
1:55:23 you guys for your time.
1:55:33 Hello again. I wanted to speak as a student who this policy is
1:55:38 directly affecting and amongst my
1:55:43 classmates that I’ve talked to for the past two days, as today
1:55:46 was the second day of school,
1:55:47 this policy has greatly impacted our learning day to day because
1:55:54 not being able to use our personal
1:55:56 laptops or iPads to take notes in class has affected our ability
1:56:02 to learn content and
1:56:04 preparing us for the future. In college, I have three older
1:56:09 sisters and they are all in college
1:56:11 and in college nobody uses paper and pencil because it is
1:56:16 impractical. People use iPads
1:56:20 because teachers prepare their lectures and put them on slide
1:56:24 shows and they can directly take
1:56:26 notes on their iPad on the lectures that the teacher is talking
1:56:31 about. So if our goal is to
1:56:35 prepare us for college, which is why I’m going to school and
1:56:38 many of my peers are going to school,
1:56:42 we want to go to college. So practicing using an iPad to take
1:56:47 notes will prepare us for college
1:56:50 and forcing us to not use all of the tools that we are so lucky
1:56:58 to have is
1:57:01 negatively affecting our future. I ask you what the point of
1:57:08 this policy is. Students are going
1:57:12 to be distracted, whether it’s by their phone, talking to their
1:57:16 friends during class. Those
1:57:19 students will get in trouble. But the students who are using
1:57:23 these as tools to further their
1:57:25 education are being impacted more than those who would get in
1:57:29 trouble regardless. Thank you.
1:57:40 Hi, it’s me again. Jennifer Nagy, Edgewood. So Edgewood is one
1:57:45 of those schools where we have
1:57:47 kids that are on the super exceeder spectrum. They’re the APs,
1:57:51 the dual enrollments,
1:57:53 the high achievers. The principal just explained to me this week
1:57:58 about the discipline policy
1:58:02 associated with this, where the first time the phone gets taken
1:58:05 away, the second time the parents
1:58:06 have to come up and get the phone, the third time they get a
1:58:09 three-day suspension. And then she
1:58:11 laughed and she said, “Do you know that you only get a one-day
1:58:14 suspension for vaping?” And she goes, “As long
1:58:17 as it doesn’t have THC,” which I was like, “Okay.” And I was
1:58:20 like, that actually made me laugh
1:58:22 out loud because I was like, “You mean that our kids, the ones
1:58:25 who are going to get in trouble are
1:58:27 the kids who are like taking notes and trying to work on stuff
1:58:30 during lunch hour on their computers
1:58:33 are going to get a three-day suspension for using their personal
1:58:38 computers?” And she goes, “I
1:58:41 certainly hope not.” And I certainly hope not, guys. So I’m
1:58:46 hoping that we can have
1:58:50 a little discussion about this before you approve it. Pretty
1:58:52 please. Thank you.
1:59:02 All right. Do you hear a motion? Mr. Chair?
1:59:10 Sorry. We need a second for discussion.
1:59:20 Yeah, I’ll second it. Yeah. Okay. Discussion.
1:59:24 Mr. Chair? When we first started discussing this, I was all for
1:59:30 being zero tolerance.
1:59:33 And the only thing I did not really consider was some of the
1:59:37 points being made about the use of
1:59:38 laptops and iPads. And I’m not saying I wouldn’t be supported as
1:59:43 it is, but I think it would be,
1:59:45 from my perspective, prudent if we were to table this and to
1:59:49 give it a month or
1:59:53 so that we can fully investigate the unintended consequences. I
1:59:58 would hate for us to approve this,
1:59:59 and then we’re dealing with unintended consequences. I know
2:00:02 Orange County does it,
2:00:04 and there’s other counties that do it and have no problem. I
2:00:07 just want to make sure that how
2:00:09 we address it as concerning laptops and iPads is that we have
2:00:13 everything the way it needs to be,
2:00:16 that we’re all comfortable with it. I’m just not so sure that
2:00:18 being a strict ban on iPads
2:00:21 and laptops is definitely the right way to go. Any other
2:00:26 discussion?
2:00:29 Yeah. Yeah. I’ll jump in here on this one big time. All right.
2:00:33 Here, I’m going to go on a
2:00:34 soapbox for a few minutes because some of the things that
2:00:36 changed in this policy, guess what?
2:00:38 They were already there. The whole iPad, the whole laptop, that
2:00:42 conversation,
2:00:43 this is not new to the policy. If you look at the policy change,
2:00:45 it’s what’s in green. It really is
2:00:48 no cell phones. Prior to, we had a rule in place that said with
2:00:52 the principal’s discretion. And
2:00:54 guess what we found? When we walk the classrooms or you’re going
2:00:57 to lunch and you see kids doing
2:00:59 TikTok videos or things like that, I’m going, “What is happening
2:01:02 here? We’re at school. We’re
2:01:03 here to learn today.” So for me, I’m going, “Okay, there’s a lot
2:01:07 of conversation happening that just
2:01:09 doesn’t really make the most sense.” Some of this policy was
2:01:11 already there. It already existed.
2:01:13 The principals already had the discretion to allow the phones to
2:01:17 be used and it still was being
2:01:18 abused. The rhetoric out there that you’re punishing kids, our
2:01:23 intent is not to punish
2:01:24 kids. It’s the exact opposite, 100%. It’s to make the classroom
2:01:28 a productive learning environment
2:01:30 where cell phones aren’t a distraction, where a kid’s not
2:01:33 looking at a cell phone and all of a
2:01:35 sudden a text message pops up or an alert from a Snapchat or
2:01:38 whatever. And now you’re going to tell
2:01:40 me a kid is going to go, “Okay, no. I mean, I have a teenager. I
2:01:43 have a high school student. I know
2:01:44 how this works.” So I’m not that far removed from this situation
2:01:48 to understand truly that
2:01:50 this is a distraction to our children, 100% a distraction to our
2:01:53 children. And I think in order
2:01:54 to have the most productive learning environment, we need to
2:01:58 take this step. I support this and I
2:02:00 told you, John, I jokingly said I’ll probably be the most hated
2:02:02 school board member after this from
2:02:03 students because they’re not going to be in favor of it at first.
2:02:07 But guess what else? I’ll tell you
2:02:08 this. My children get the opportunity. They’ve got the
2:02:10 opportunity to go on vacation every year.
2:02:12 And we go to a place where they don’t get any cell phone service
2:02:14 and it’s one of the most memorable
2:02:16 vacations they have. And one of the things that they tell me
2:02:19 every single time is that they love
2:02:20 the fact that they don’t have their cell phone. And I’m like, “Really?
2:02:24 Wow.” And you don’t even
2:02:25 know that until you get removed from it for a little while to
2:02:28 understand that this maybe isn’t
2:02:30 the best thing for us. I know it’s convenient. I know that it’s
2:02:33 replaced the ability to write
2:02:34 notes. I don’t think that’s a good thing. I personally don’t
2:02:37 think that’s a good thing.
2:02:38 But for me, I support the policy. I know it was going to come
2:02:42 with some criticism. I was fully
2:02:44 prepared for that. I just think that this is what is truly in
2:02:47 the best interest of our students and
2:02:49 will make our classrooms more productive. And that’s all I have
2:02:52 to say. And just to clarify,
2:02:53 I was not suggesting, I’m not for using cell phones during
2:02:56 school. I was just wanting to
2:02:59 make sure that there’s not unintended consequences with regard
2:03:02 to iPads and laptops. Which was
2:03:04 already there. But that was before that was at a principal’s
2:03:09 discretion. Now it would be totally,
2:03:11 that discretion would be removed. Oh, one more quick thing. I
2:03:14 would like to note this too. Sorry,
2:03:15 I chose this before. There’s all this talk about this happening
2:03:19 right now. This policy
2:03:20 hasn’t been approved yet. So it’s not actually in place. So I’m
2:03:23 not really sure. I’m getting emails
2:03:24 from people about this policy and kids coming back into the
2:03:27 school saying, “Oh, no cell phones
2:03:30 are allowed.” Right now, our old policy is what currently is in
2:03:33 existence. And we did that
2:03:35 strategically so that we could do this whenever the school
2:03:37 system was, when we were back in
2:03:39 session. So that we could campaign this and let everyone know
2:03:41 this is what the changes are. Have
2:03:43 a grace period. So it wasn’t like shocker, welcome back to
2:03:46 school. No cell phones. That’s not the way
2:03:48 that it’s being done. We’re doing it the exact opposite. So
2:03:52 thank you. All right. Ms. Campbell.
2:03:54 Yeah. So just give us a minute. We’ve heard you. So just a
2:04:01 couple of items of correction before I
2:04:06 share my thoughts on this. And schools are communicating this
2:04:10 out. And because there is
2:04:13 something we’ve already voted on, we’ve already approved, and
2:04:15 that is the student code of conduct.
2:04:16 All of this language is in the code of conduct. So in schools,
2:04:19 yes, we talked with Ms. Dampier and
2:04:20 we said, “Hey, can we officially, with the consequences of
2:04:23 everything, the September
2:04:24 2nd date is the date.” The schools are already putting it in
2:04:28 place and letting people know.
2:04:31 There’s no point in, and I understand it. Why would they not?
2:04:33 One, it’s in the code of conduct,
2:04:35 but also if you’re going to do this for the first couple of
2:04:37 weeks, and then we’re going to have a
2:04:39 bait and switch and do it later. They’re getting that
2:04:41 communication out there. I don’t think
2:04:43 anybody’s gotten a three-day suspension yet because it’s only
2:04:46 the second day of school.
2:04:48 But just to be clear, the student code of conduct was already
2:04:51 approved by us. It’s already out
2:04:53 there. And the other thing is, yes, in the policy, that part is
2:04:58 not new about laptops and computers,
2:05:01 but we have not said, we have not said, board, that we’re going
2:05:06 to continue to allow principal
2:05:09 discretion for iPads and laptops. We have said, we’re adding, it
2:05:13 specifically says all students
2:05:15 may not use the new part, a wireless communications device,
2:05:19 which is defined in the first paragraph as
2:05:21 all those things during the school day. They all have to be
2:05:25 powered off or all and stored out of
2:05:29 sight during school hours from first bell to last bell. There is
2:05:32 no exception, no exception for
2:05:34 laptops, no exception for iPads. Now, with that being said, and
2:05:40 I appreciate what you say about
2:05:42 taking a media break, absolutely, but school’s not vacation
2:05:45 either. And it is wonderful when we have
2:05:47 time to get away and to decompress, but we’re not trying to be
2:05:51 productive in those times. And when
2:05:53 we’re at school, we’re productive. And I have to tell you, board,
2:05:55 I hope that you have noticed in,
2:05:57 not necessarily tonight, but in the communication we’re getting
2:06:00 via phone calls and emails,
2:06:01 this isn’t really a political issue, a right-left, conservative,
2:06:04 liberal, Republican, Democrat issue,
2:06:06 because the proof of that is that once parents started having
2:06:10 their eyes open and realizing this
2:06:12 is going to happen, I’ll address that in just a second, the very
2:06:15 first email I got was from
2:06:16 someone who I know has been an active part of Moms for Liberty.
2:06:19 And the very next email right
2:06:20 behind it, which just made me laugh, was someone who is, you
2:06:23 know, someone who’s emailed me before
2:06:25 and clearly is more on the left. So this is a bipartisan issue
2:06:29 of people who like it and a
2:06:31 bipartisan issue of people who don’t like it. And I think when
2:06:34 it comes to the students, they’re
2:06:35 pretty most in the “don’t like it” camp, and I realize we don’t
2:06:38 make decisions, we appreciate
2:06:40 student input, but we do what we feel like is best for students.
2:06:43 I continue to share with you guys
2:06:45 what I shared back in May. We first started having these
2:06:48 conversations. There’s too many things that
2:06:52 our students use, and for us to prepare them for the real world.
2:06:58 And we brought some, some people
2:07:00 have mentioned some things tonight that I had honestly forgotten
2:07:03 about, which is music. And I’ve
2:07:05 got, you know, I’ve got musician students who absolutely use
2:07:08 their metronomes, use their tuners,
2:07:10 they do that all the time. I told you about my son who records,
2:07:13 who has had permission to record
2:07:15 his jazz solo, and it would go home and play it over and over
2:07:17 and over again and repeat it,
2:07:18 and then the next day he would go back and record it again to
2:07:20 see if he got better. There are, and
2:07:22 then we’ve got all the science, I don’t have science research
2:07:24 kids, but we’ve got tons of
2:07:25 science research kids that we recognize every year. And I would,
2:07:29 I know Mr. Cheaton would love
2:07:31 to say that we have all the things that they need to help them
2:07:33 be successful, but we know we are
2:07:35 trying to reduce our refreshment rate so we are getting faster,
2:07:40 better technology all the time,
2:07:42 and the ET department is doing their best job they can, but we
2:07:45 don’t, we do not have all the things
2:07:47 that the students need to be successful in all the ways. And,
2:07:50 you know, the dual enrollment thing
2:07:52 came up today. So my stance has not changed on this. I would
2:07:57 urge, at the risk of sending
2:07:59 Ms. Dampier into a frenzy because she didn’t want us going back
2:08:04 and forth, she wanted us to nail it
2:08:06 down so we’re not going back and forth, but at the risk of doing
2:08:09 that, I would urge that if this
2:08:12 passes tonight and we don’t table it, that we go immediately
2:08:16 back into work session so we can fix
2:08:19 the language and try to find some kind of compromise so that
2:08:24 students have access to at
2:08:27 least some devices with approval, with approval, to use them for
2:08:33 academic reasons. And if we want
2:08:36 to put all the parameters on there that we can, we probably won’t
2:08:38 think of all of them, but to have
2:08:39 more flexibility. So I just urge us, if this passes, that we go
2:08:44 into our very next work session
2:08:46 to workshop this and see if we can’t get some better language
2:08:50 around this. That’s, like I said,
2:08:54 if it passes tonight. I’ve been a no from the beginning, haven’t
2:08:56 changed my stance for the
2:08:58 same reasons. And I’ll, to be quite honest, it frustrates, a
2:09:00 couple things frustrate me. One,
2:09:03 it frustrates me that, you know, when we talk about the language
2:09:06 of, well, the other policy wasn’t
2:09:07 good enough because people weren’t enforcing it, then we need to
2:09:11 make sure people are enforcing it.
2:09:14 If the dress code, as it is, and by the way, it’s not being
2:09:17 enforced in every school evenly,
2:09:20 but if the dress code is not being enforced, we don’t then
2:09:22 automatically go, well, the dress code
2:09:24 is not being enforced and now we’re going to make everybody in
2:09:26 the district wear uniforms
2:09:28 or something else, you know, to that extreme. I think we need to,
2:09:32 we need, we had a good thing
2:09:33 in place. It was not being enforced. I hear you. People should
2:09:36 not be recording videos in the
2:09:38 hallways. I get it. Enforce that. Double down on it if we need
2:09:42 to. But when it comes to academic
2:09:46 reasons, and if we want to say no lunches, no passing periods,
2:09:49 but when it comes to academic
2:09:50 reasons, I urge the board to rethink that and let’s put that
2:09:53 back in because that’s really
2:09:55 important to train our students. I think one of the reasons why
2:09:57 we’re getting the pushback,
2:09:59 I actually was surprised by it, to be honest. One of my good
2:10:02 friends is a dean’s clerk,
2:10:04 and when she started pushing me on this about a month ago, and
2:10:08 she is also, you know, a parent,
2:10:11 and, and I thought, well, we’ve been talking about this. Wasn’t
2:10:14 this in the news in May?
2:10:16 But the parents weren’t paying attention. The community wasn’t,
2:10:18 maybe it wasn’t publicized
2:10:19 like I thought it was, and now it is, and so I don’t think it’s,
2:10:23 it’s really hard for us to say
2:10:28 I’ve talked to all these people, and they, I just don’t think we’re
2:10:30 gonna, I’ll be honest, my son
2:10:32 came home yesterday, who I have told if it passes, you will, I
2:10:35 will not back you up. If you get
2:10:36 caught with your cell phone, if you get suspended for three days,
2:10:38 you’re gonna be suspended for
2:10:39 three days. I don’t care if you’re a school board member, son.
2:10:41 You’re gonna follow the rule.
2:10:42 But just so you know, he came home, and his, his impression from
2:10:45 the student, from his teachers,
2:10:47 who I guarantee you not a single one of them stood there and
2:10:49 said I think this is a stupid rule,
2:10:51 but his impression with the teachers was they’re, they’re not
2:10:53 supportive of it.
2:10:55 This was a board initiative. The staff and the discipline
2:10:58 committee that we put in place,
2:10:59 we don’t have to do what they say because we, we are the ones
2:11:01 who set the policy, but that
2:11:02 recommendation was not from them. This is one of the places
2:11:05 where we’ve overridden them,
2:11:06 and we have the, we have the prerogative to do that, but I think
2:11:09 we’re making a mistake.
2:11:12 So I’ll leave it at that. Mr. Chair.
2:11:19 Thank you. So the one thing that I did want to say is I
2:11:22 appreciate everybody coming out. I
2:11:23 appreciate our students coming out and giving that voice. I
2:11:26 truly do. I think it’s good for us,
2:11:28 but I do want to say we all have been in our schools for the
2:11:32 last two days.
2:11:33 I’ve been to every single one of my high schools over the last
2:11:36 two days talking to kids about this
2:11:38 and everything else, so the thought that this board is not
2:11:41 actively engaged with their students
2:11:43 and their parents and the, and the teachers and everything else
2:11:46 is a farce, but I will tell you
2:11:48 this. I have no, absolutely no desire to not remove the cell
2:11:55 phones from the hallways, from the
2:11:58 cafeterias and everything else and none, none at all. In fact, I
2:12:03 got reports back from my
2:12:05 administrations in two of my schools. One said that it was the
2:12:08 loudest that they’ve ever had
2:12:10 a lunch period because the kids were actually talking, and if
2:12:15 that is the, some of the news
2:12:16 that comes back from the engagements that the kids are doing, I,
2:12:20 I just got chills to my bones
2:12:22 because I know what these things are doing. The same
2:12:24 administrator said, I watched last year
2:12:27 while kids were just scrolling while they were inside the
2:12:30 cafeteria, not engaging with their
2:12:32 people. I had another administrator tell me, you know what
2:12:35 happened? The kids sat there and they
2:12:36 said, what are we going to do now? And the, and then she said,
2:12:40 get, go ahead and start communicating
2:12:42 to each other. And they said, well, can we, we love that, but
2:12:45 can we get some board games?
2:12:46 So I allocated some resources to go ahead and get some board
2:12:49 games for them. So the kids are
2:12:51 actively starting to actually already do what we thought they
2:12:54 would do, which is drop the phone,
2:12:57 which has some of the most negative consequences for educational
2:13:00 environments, negative
2:13:02 consequences on social, emotional healing, brains, everything
2:13:05 else, all the way to attributations
2:13:07 towards ADHD and everything else. Like these cell phones are
2:13:11 really, really bad inside of the
2:13:13 educational work and work in space. But at the same time, one of
2:13:18 the things I did was I was at
2:13:20 O’Gally High School and I was speaking to, um, one of the
2:13:23 political science classes. And they
2:13:25 said to me, you know, my laptop from the school’s not working.
2:13:29 And the other issue is, is that I’m
2:13:31 not allowed to use my personal laptop. So how do we do it? And
2:13:35 that’s a problem, right? So I looked
2:13:37 at this tonight and I did call Miss Nagy and talk to her and
2:13:40 stuff like that. And Miss Nagy, you
2:13:42 weren’t the only one, Sherry Lynn and other people are giving me
2:13:44 a call on this, this item. Um, but
2:13:47 the thing is, is that I feel very strongly with exactly what, um,
2:13:51 you just said, Miss Campbell,
2:13:53 is we have to pass this policy now and then go immediately back
2:13:56 in and open it up and have
2:13:58 conversations about how we can allow access to it. We also, part
2:14:01 of the conversation needs to be,
2:14:03 why is it that our cell, that our laptops are not actually fully
2:14:06 functioning for our students where
2:14:07 they are? Is there something that we can do to allocate
2:14:09 resources to get those to the table
2:14:11 faster? Um, but no, I am 100% in favor of passing this policy
2:14:15 tonight and going back to the table
2:14:17 prior to it coming back to give direction to the staff on
2:14:21 utilization of some of those areas that
2:14:22 we heard tonight. That’s it. Mr. Chair. No, go ahead. Um, would
2:14:29 the maker of the motion consider
2:14:30 this? Um, cause I’m all for banning the cell phones. That’s not
2:14:34 even a question. My concern
2:14:35 is about the laptops and the iPads. Would you be, would the
2:14:38 maker of the motion be amenable to
2:14:41 amending the motion to approve it with the caveat that iPads and
2:14:47 laptops are at the discretion,
2:14:49 the use during instructional time or are at the discretion of
2:14:52 the principal? I thought about that.
2:14:54 Okay. If I may just, you can’t change it because it changes the
2:14:58 whole thing. We have to put it off
2:15:00 for, if you make changes tonight, it doesn’t go into effect for
2:15:03 28 days. So that’s the reason
2:15:05 why we would want to pass and then make changes. I hear what you’re
2:15:09 saying. And if that wasn’t
2:15:11 the rule, that’s where I would have gone to try to get
2:15:13 discussion on it. But I think that’s it.
2:15:16 Is there, and my only question is, is there a rush to put past
2:15:19 it tonight and then make the
2:15:21 changes or go ahead and table it and then make the changes and
2:15:24 cause we would have to start,
2:15:25 right? We have to start back over. Under under rulemaking, we
2:15:33 have to do the entire process
2:15:35 within a 90 day window. If you don’t do it, then you are outside
2:15:38 of that and you have to start
2:15:40 over anyways. So to get it in within that 90 day window where we
2:15:44 are, we have to get this passed.
2:15:47 Otherwise you might as well start over and then you’re going to
2:15:49 have a student code of conduct
2:15:51 that is not in line with your policies and you’re going to run
2:15:53 into other issues. Which wouldn’t be
2:15:56 the first time that’s happened. It’s not something you can’t
2:15:59 overcome. It’s just something the board
2:16:01 needs to be aware of in making a decision. So in my view, we
2:16:05 could table it and then in which case
2:16:07 we would stand with the policy as it, you know, as it stood, we
2:16:11 could vote it down.
2:16:13 In which case the old policy would also stand. Or we could, we
2:16:17 could approve it and just say,
2:16:20 I’m an A either way, but if we could approve it and ask the
2:16:25 superintendent to not enforce
2:16:28 the part about other devices, specifically iPads and personal
2:16:33 laptops, that part until we get it
2:16:37 worked out. I mean, I think those are options. It’s not going to
2:16:41 go into effect for 30 days.
2:16:43 We can give that direction to the superintendent during that
2:16:45 time at the next workshop. Right.
2:16:47 Call the question. All right.
2:16:52 You ready for the roll call? All right. Mr. Thomas?
2:16:58 Aye. Ms. Campbell?
2:17:00 Nay. Mr. Trent?
2:17:02 Aye. Mr. Susan?
2:17:03 Aye. Ms. Wright?
2:17:05 Aye.
2:17:07 And if I may, you guys, the policy is not going into effect for
2:17:10 30 days. We have an opportunity
2:17:14 to come back. They expressed issues that they had at the, that
2:17:17 we’re speaking to about the iPads
2:17:19 and stuff. We’re committing ourselves to go ahead and workshop
2:17:22 and talk about it. So it’s not,
2:17:24 there it is. I understand where you’re going to go. We have
2:17:27 enough time. We have enough time.
2:17:29 Give that super intent. Yep. Right. All right. Take the win.
2:17:41 Yeah, I think so. I mean, we heard. That was good. So policy 5517,
2:17:47 is there anyone present
2:17:48 who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who
2:17:52 wants to, wishes to address this item?
2:17:55 Do I hear a motion? Move to approve.
2:17:57 Second. Any discussion? All roll call, please. Mr. Thomas?
2:18:01 Aye. Ms. Campbell?
2:18:03 Aye. Mr. Trent?
2:18:04 Aye. Mr. Susan?
2:18:05 Aye. Ms. Wright?
2:18:06 Aye. Okay. Policy 5517-01. Is there anyone present who wishes to
2:18:12 address that item?
2:18:14 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Do I
2:18:16 hear a motion?
2:18:17 Move to approve. Second.
2:18:19 Any discussion? All roll call, please. Mr. Thomas?
2:18:22 Aye. Ms. Campbell?
2:18:23 Aye. Mr. Trent?
2:18:25 Aye. Mr. Susan?
2:18:26 Aye. Ms. Wright?
2:18:27 Aye.
2:18:31 All right. We’ll move on to the information agenda, which
2:18:34 includes one item for the board
2:18:35 review and may be brought back for addition at a subsequent
2:18:39 meeting. No action will be taking place
2:18:41 on these items today. Does any board member wish to discuss this
2:18:44 item?
2:18:48 Okay. As chair, I recognize the board’s attorney, Paul Gibbs.
2:18:52 All right. Board members, on behalf of attorney Howard Marks, I’m
2:18:55 notifying you that advice is
2:18:56 needed regarding the pending litigation styled Moms for Liberty
2:18:59 et al. versus the school board
2:19:01 of Brevard County, Florida et al. case number 6 colon 21-CV-01849
2:19:07 11th circuit case number 23-10656.
2:19:13 Pursuant to 286.011 Florida statute known as the Government in
2:19:17 the Sunshine Act,
2:19:18 I am requesting an attorney client session with the board for
2:19:21 the purpose of discussing
2:19:22 strategy and settlement regarding the litigation. I will ask the
2:19:25 board’s clerk to cause reasonable
2:19:26 public notice of the time and date of this attorney client
2:19:29 session and the names of the
2:19:31 persons attending to be published. If the board approves, I will
2:19:33 work with the board clerk to
2:19:34 coordinate dates for the attorney client session, working with
2:19:37 our council’s availability and
2:19:39 provide notice of the meeting inclusive of scheduling a court
2:19:42 reporter. As required by
2:19:43 this statute, only the following individuals may be present.
2:19:47 School board members, Katie Campbell,
2:19:49 Matt Susan, John Thomas, Jean Trent, Megan Wright,
2:19:52 Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell, Paul Gibbs,
2:19:56 General Counsel Howard Marks, Burr Foreman, Jennifer Bridges,
2:19:59 Burr Foreman. As required by
2:20:02 the statute, I will ask a court reporter to record this session.
2:20:05 Their notes will be fully
2:20:06 transcribed and filed with the clerk of the school board. Upon
2:20:09 the conclusion of any litigation and/or
2:20:11 settlement of all claims arising out of this case, the
2:20:14 transcript will be made public record.
2:20:17 I recommend the board hold an attorney client session pursuant
2:20:20 to section 286-011 Florida
2:20:22 statutes to discuss strategy of pending litigation. If there are
2:20:27 no objections,
2:20:28 I’ll instruct our attorney to work with the board clerk and
2:20:31 schedule the attorney client session
2:20:33 as requested. Okay. We will take a short recess in order to
2:20:39 prepare for the non-agenda item public
2:20:41 comments portion of the meeting. We’ll be back shortly.
2:21:11 [Music]