Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
12:46 Sam. Democrats. Good afternoon. The September 23, 2025 work session is now in order.
13:24 Paul, Roll call, please. Mr. Trent. Here.
13:27 Mr. Susan. Here. Ms. Campbell.
13:29 Here. Ms. Wright. Here.
13:31 Mr. Thomas. Here. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
13:37 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible through liberty and justice for all. Doctor Undell, can you please speak to the board about the items on the agenda for today? Thank you, Mr. Chair. First on today’s agenda, we have the first public hearing in rule development on some policy revisions we’ve been looking at.
14:04 Then we have a presentation by Ms. Hand on preliminary attendance boundary changes, and then will break from this meeting, take a recess to go do the superintendent’s evaluation. All right, great. First up, board policy review and rule development on the following policies.
14:21 Policy 013101. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present to address this item? Policy 2215. Programs.
14:34 Program of instruction. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 2260. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Here’s your chance, Ray.
14:50 Policy 2280. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 24? Yes. Can I just ask you a quick question on this one? Sorry.
15:03 Clarification purposes. So, because Brevard is unique and we have our elementary school going up until sixth grade, part of this policy limits the physical education to fifth grade. And I just thought, is there anything that prevents us from extending that to sixth grade so it’s uniform with the remainder of the elementary world? I don’t think there’s anything that prevents it other than maybe scheduling issues with their classes.
15:26 That would be the only thing. Okay. Because they’re going to be on an elementary school day, not a middle school school day.
15:32 Right. So can I clarify. Are you talking about that 150 minutes of the.
15:36 It’s a lot of times the schools call them additional PE. That’s. It’s 100 minutes is what it says on here.
15:42 It’s unstructured free play. Recess. So it’s basically granting recess to our sixth grade class.
15:48 What it would do. So that was new. I don’t remember how many years ago.
15:51 So in addition to the PE that they have, like, that’s. We had. We kind of brought back recess because they would get outside.
15:57 Right. So a Lot of times what our sixth graders do and come on down because you’ll probably explain this better than I. They’ve got such a more, more rigor because they are doing that middle school level curriculum. They’ve got more rigor, they’ve got more stuff they’ve got to get done to be ready for to go into middle school.
16:12 So most of the schools, they still get their regular recess, but they don’t get that like second recess. So this is where it becomes tricky. Having the sixth grade in the elementary school is because if you’re thinking around a literacy block that is really a K5, but what the state says is if you have sixth grade in elementary, they must have the 90 minute block.
16:31 When it’s the recess minutes, that 100 minutes. The state says sixth grade doesn’t fall under that. So what schools do is they use their PE minutes, which is that 150 minutes that has to be in 30 minute chunks to look a little bit like recess.
16:48 So it’s recess under state statute is total free play. Right. So what our teachers do is technically they don’t get those recess minutes just under statute that are total free play, but they still have to meet that PE minutes.
17:04 And so some of that looks a little bit like structured free play. Structured free play. So then here’s where it gets a little tricky is so if I go to PE with a PE teacher on Wednesday, say I’m a fourth grader and my PE day is on Wednesdays and I get 40 minutes, then that classroom teacher, the homeroom teacher is making up the rest of that 150 minutes of PE minutes.
17:33 And so that is where it looks like sometimes structured free play. But sometimes it’s, we go out and we actually, you know, have gross motor skill organized activities. And those are PE minutes that have to look a little different than recess minutes.
17:48 Okay. And if we were to extend it to sixth grade, it would become an issue as of part scheduling goes. You think as far as we would struggle, we would struggle.
17:55 And I’ll tell you why. A lot of our sixth grades departmentalize. And so when we’re looking at the rotations, they can’t get the 90 minute reading block in that we have to do because of the elementary.
18:05 So they move, they, they struggle to have the recess minutes and the PE minutes they can’t get the third rotation in. Okay, thank you for the clarification. I just saw it and it made me triggered me to ask.
18:16 Thank you. All right, so policy 2417, is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item onto policy 2431 is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 24:31.01 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 2455 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy5121 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 5136 is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy5330.
20:14 01 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 5410.01 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 5460 is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 5500 is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 5514 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 5780 is there anyone present who wishes to address this item Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy 8452 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Policy8462 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item and policy9800 is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item? Okay. It doesn’t have a policy number.
20:20 We need to call the very first policy. Yeah. The ad valorem millage policy for us is number 0000 TBD.
20:27 So we. We got to call that one at least. We do, don’t we? Where is it at? It’s the top one.
20:28 Oh, right here. First one. Yeah.
20:39 Oh. Policy 0000 Is there anyone here that wishes to address this item Is there anyone here wishes to address that item? And that’s it. Right? All right.
20:53 I would like to invite Suhan assistant just really quickly. Just as a point of clarification, our the agenda I just want to make sure we get this fixed. On the agenda item summary, it says that October 14th is going to be the public hearing too, and the final approval.
21:10 So can we make sure that that date gets changed to October 7th or 28th? Whichever one you guys decided to do it on should be the. Okay, thank you. All right, Suhan, and your presentation on preliminary attendance boundary change proposals, it’s yours.
21:24 Sue, Good afternoon. So this is a really quick check in with the school board on our proposed attendance boundaries for 26, 27. You all have seen the list previously of ones that we’re working through.
21:53 Many of those will extend into future fiscal school years, but these are the ones that are going to be potentially on track for school year 26, 27. So in order to do that, our process really runs through the fall with the final public hearing in January. So start is really today, where I just let you know which ones will be moving forward through a community engagement process and then the actual proposal will come back to the board for your review in November.
22:14 And that proposal may be different than what you see today. Sometimes we do receive comments from the community or from principals or staff that causes to think, gee, this makes better sense to do it this way or that way, or we make some changes or special accommodations regarding things like transportation. So this process really is an evolution, but we have to start with a proposal.
22:41 So these are the proposals that we’ll be putting forward to discuss with the community. So just real quickly, you saw this list previously, and the two that we are going to bring into the community engagement process in October are Central Middle School to Johnson Middle School and and the consolidation of Cape View into Roosevelt Elementary. The other five that are on the list are in various stages of review and analysis.
22:56 As you know, some of our enrollment numbers were a little lower than what we had projected in South Brevard. So we want to take a look at that before we start moving folks around. Similarly, in the Viera area wanted to make sure that we are not doing boundary changes for the sake of boundary changes.
23:15 So in those two high growth areas, we want to kind of take a look at our enrollment trends and track what’s happening before we make any changes. And then a few of the others do require a bit more work and analysis before we move forward. So really, the only two that I wanted to discuss with you today are the two in blue shading.
23:25 So the first one is Central Middle School to Johnson Middle School. And this affects about 54 students generally in the Fountainhead area south of Sarno. Road on either side of Wickham Road.
23:43 And these students are zoned for Roy Allen and Eau Gallie. So our thought is that the families probably would welcome this change so that they can stay with their peers through elementary school and high school. The area here is closer to Johnson, so we think it will be a benefit to families.
24:05 But at this point we have not reached out to families, so we’ll do that and see what comments we get back as we go into the community. So our next steps with this one would be to work with our principals so that we figure out the best way to connect with families. And then you’ll see a formalized proposal in November, depending on what comes out of the community engagement process.
24:32 The other one that we’ve been talking about for a while is the consolidation of Cape View elementary into Roosevelt Elementary. Both of those schools have a capacity of somewhere between 570 and 600 students, and both of them have about 270 students attending. Roosevelt can take the students from the Cape View area and we’ll be able to run that school at about 93 or so percent capacity.
24:56 When we’ve looked at the demographic changes in the Cape Canaveral area over the years, we can see that the school based, school age based population has been declining. And so we expect to see that trend continue. Those neighborhoods are converting to either older owners or Airbnb type uses where we don’t see students from those neighborhoods.
25:21 So this is one that I think is going to take a lot of conversation with the community and principals and to make sure that we get this right. One of our first steps will be some additional collaboration with the city of Cape Canaveral and the city of Cocoa beach and then a similar process where we work with principals on how to best connect with our families. That would be affected both at both schools because we want to make sure that the Roosevelt folks kind of know what’s happening as well.
25:38 One of the concerns we’ve heard just off the top is traffic circulation on Minuteman that we’ll need to address if we’re adding additional students to that complex of schools. So we’ve got some things to work out. Mr. Wilson’s team is taking a look at the transportation implications.
25:57 There will be some additional busing. And so this is again a process, but we wanted to get started in introducing it to the community and talking about it before we move forward. So should we have a valid proposal in November, we’ll bring that back to you for moving forward through the process.
26:06 And then the last slide just Kind of summarizes the process. So we start today with the work session. We have our community engagement through October and early November.
26:12 And this will be on the board information agenda. Whatever proposal. Proposal comes out of those processes.
26:27 November 18th in December, the board will schedule the public hearing for your meeting in January to implement whatever recommendations we may have at that time. And that concludes my presentation, Mr. Chair. Chair.
26:45 So I agree with you as far as the change in demographics in Cocoa beach or Cape Canaveral area. I just thought of this. With the growing space program, we just want to make sure that there’s not going to be a change in that demographic the other way with a swing back, depending on how many companies are projected to come in over the next 20 years.
27:00 I don’t know if the EDC can make those kind of projections accurately, but I know Titusville has limited. You know, they’re very limited in their housing that they’re able to provide. So I just want to make sure that we don’t end up, you know, needing that school eventually.
27:04 I don’t think we will, but just thought would be worth double checking. Okay? Yes, sir. Thank you.
27:23 That’s a really good comment. And, you know, it’s indicative of the demographic shifts that we’ve seen over the years in Brevard County. You know, if you think about where a lot of our older portables are located, you know, those are areas that grew as a result of something in the economy of Brevard, and then the demographics shifted.
27:33 So, you know, that’s an absolutely valid thing that we should look at. And it’s really hard to predict where economic development happens around the county, but we’ll take a look at that. So thank you.
27:46 Thank you. So thank you for looking at the Johnson to Central thing. I know that when I was having conversations with the principals, a lot of that had to do with busing issues.
28:01 Not only will that keep those students with their peers from elementary to middle to high, but also those buses come a long way to get down Central. They come down Wickham and our first, frequently the ones that are the most late. And so I think that will alleviate some of that.
28:21 I welcome the public to share their thoughts with us because we don’t have this opportunity until you make this announcement for us to start going out there and soliciting from the public. But I’m in support of that and in support of making the move this coming year dependent on how the public reacts and how we decide to solve those problems. Kate Butte, Roosevelt.
28:29 I hear what you’re saying. Mr. Thomas, I wonder if we. We could look historically, as things have gone up and down, how much it’s changed.
28:47 Because one of the things I’m seeing is that as people are moving in with the companies that are coming in, they are finding cheaper places to live. And Cape Canaveral, I’m just going to guess, is not one of the cheaper places to live. So I think we kind of need to look at that.
28:57 I mean, a lot of those people who are working at the Cape, they’re living down where I live, which is not a shore drive, but Palm Bay. It’s a lot cheaper to live in Palm Bay than it is in a lot of places in the county. But again, one.
29:02 Unless. Unless some big brick wall rears its head, I would. This is one.
29:30 I think we need to make the move, you know, quickly. And I know that you guys have been so good over the years to slow walk us so that we have the community buy in or whatever, but I think we’re starting early enough now to give people a heads up that we could go ahead and make this move and save funding, but also provide a school experience for kids, that they have the advantages of the numbers, you know, better programming because you have. You can have better staffing.
29:34 So. Thank you. Thank you, Board.
29:41 Any other questions pursue, Dr. Rendell? Nope. All right, we’re good. Thank you.
29:49 Appreciate the time this afternoon. Thanks. All right, next we have the superintendent’s evaluation. At this time, we will recess the meeting to move to the superintendent’s conference room to complete the superintendent’s evaluation. Sam, It.