Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 [00:01:00] [00:02:00] [00:03:00] [00:04:00] [00:05:00] [00:06:00] [00:07:00] [00:08:00] [00:09:00] [00:10:00] [00:11:00] [00:12:00] [00:13:00] [00:14:00] [00:15:00] [00:16:00] [00:17:00] [00:18:00] [00:19:00] [00:20:00] [00:21:00] Good evening. The December [00:22:00] 9th, 2025 board meeting is now in order. I’m happy to welcome my fellow board members in the public. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public. That the appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity. As identified on the agenda outside of your individual public comment opportunity. Your role in the meeting isn’t as an observer. Paul, roll call please. Mr. Susan. Here. Ms. Wright. Here. Mr. Thomas. Here. Ms. Campbell. Here. Mr. Tran here. At this time, I’d like the board to hold a moment of silence and invite the audience to join. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.[00:23:00] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for that brings us to the adoption of the agenda, Dr. Riddell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this evening’s agenda, we have one administrative staff recommendation, 31 consent items, one action item, and we don’t have any information. Items changes made to the agenda since it was released to the public. Include the following. We added F 17 financial partnership to support educational technology as a service. We revised item C one, administrative staff recommendations. D one, the Sales Surtax, independent Citizens Oversight Committee, annual report, and F two expulsions. And we removed F 15. Activate crowdfunding [00:24:00] contract. Do I hear a motion move for approval? Second. Any further discussion? I was, I almost did it again. ‘cause you paused. Go ahead Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. We’re not at the administrative staff. Recommendations. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve. Second. Is there any discussion? Call roll. Call please. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Mr. Tran Aye. Dr. Ell? Thank you Mr. Chair. As a result of your action, we want to congratulate Holly Manga on her promotion to assistant principal at Space Coast Junior Senior High School. Congratulations. Thank you, Dr. Rendell and the school board for this opportunity. I want to thank Mr. Bobby Pruitt for first hiring me at Satellite High School as a school [00:25:00] counselor and making me a scorpion forever. I want to thank Ms. Courtney Lundy for encouraging words through this process and believing that I could handle the next steps in my career. Um, Dr. Connor, thank you for the opportunity to join Viper Nation. I look forward to working with you again in a different capacity and to hit the ground running come this new year. I also want to extend the biggest heartfelt thank you to Ms. Kelly Ba for all the support she has provided over these last few years, the knowledge she has shared, the guidance she has provided, the experiences she has allowed me to shadow her on, but most importantly, the laughter and jokes we have had will forever hold a special place in my heart. Uh, with that, I want to thank my crew and the satellite student services department for the fun times, laughter and comradery, ensuring that we get those students across the stage. I know you’re all going to continue to do great things for those students. Most importantly, I wanna [00:26:00] thank my wife and son and there actually aren’t enough words to describe how thankful for I am for their support. My mom, who is watching online, hello Mom. Um, and my in-laws for all their unwavering support throughout the years, it has meant the world, and I would not be in this position without them all. So again, thank you all and I look forward to this new chapter. Mr. Chair, this is our only photo opportunity of the night. So if we could take a short break and take a photo, come on up. We’re gonna get a picture with you. You can bring a.[00:27:00] Presentation portion of tonight’s meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tonight. Um, Mr. [00:28:00] Hoppen Garten, the ICOC chair, will present the annual report to the board. Thank you, Dr. Rendell. Thank you board and our new chair of the board. Okay. Uh, my name is John Hopping Garden. I’m the chairman of the ICOC. With me tonight, I have two other members of the ICOC. I have Lee Guthrie and Margaret Luck, and of course you all know Sue Han from Facilities. Okay. This is the 11th presentation of the annual report of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, and my fourth is chair of the ICOC. The ICOC has been in existence since February of 2015, shortly after the sales surplus tax. Surtax, not surplus. Excuse me. Program was approved by the voters. Since that time, the Sales Surtax program has invested over $448 [00:29:00] million in facility renewal, educational technology, and security at our schools. The Sales Surtax program continues to be a critical part of the district’s ongoing capital investment strategy and improves the learning environment for students and teachers. Brevard is an A-rated district, and student learning continues to improve through the sales CERTEX programs. Schools have more current technology, safer campuses, improved athletic facilities, and increasingly reliable and functional building systems. The, this annual report document covers the sales surplus surtax, God, I’m doing it programmed through September 30th, 2025. However, the revenues and expenditures I will report to you tonight are updated through November. The written report has much more detail, and the appends include considerable reference [00:30:00] material regarding the sales tax program. I got a thing here. There we go. As you’ve come to expect, the annual report has a lot of really good information that can be a little dry, but I do have some photographs to share with you that shows the progress we are making with the investments. These are the members of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee. The charter requires at least seven and no more than 11 members. The ICOC currently has 11 members. In June of this year, the school board appointed two new members, Timothy Brown and Gregory Velo, Lee Guthrie, who is here tonight, and Steven Sams to two year terms. In 2025, Ms. Deni was elected as secretary and Mr. Fen stock was elected as treasurer. New members and member Reappointments are first [00:31:00] considered by the ICOC and then recommended to the school board for consideration and approval. The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee provides oversight of the District Sales Sirtex program. The ICOC regularly reviews financial data. Project reports, program audits and construction progress. ICOC members visit schools with the project managers to see how surtax dollars are applied to projects. The ICOC provides guidance and oversight relating to changes in the program, investments and allocation of interest earned on sales surtax funds to projects. This process provides regular opportunities to adapt to changing needs and costs. You often see references to our work on your school board agenda in 2025. The ICOC recommended in the school board approved accelerating [00:32:00] CL closeout of the 2 20 14 Surtax program through eligible expenditure transfers from projects in the 2020 surtax program. That process is ongoing and expected to be complete prior to the end of fiscal year 2026. As of November 30th, 2025, the total sales surtax revenue from the 2020 rev, uh, rev was $311.2 million, of which 273 million was allocated to the district. Revenue to the district has remained relatively stable at about $60 million per year since fiscal year 2023. Since the start of the 2020 program, revenue collections exceeded estimates by $93.4 million, of which 81.8 million has been available to the district to add [00:33:00] projects or broaden the scope of projects as needs emerge even with cost escalations. The district’s 14 charter schools have received around 14% of the sales sirtex revenue. Since January, 2024. But the ICOC doesn’t have any oversight over the charter schools, so we don’t really discuss what they do with their money, but part of it is ours and we give it to them. This is my, uh, stand in here. All right, this is my favorite subject. This is interest earned on the 2014 program and 2020 program. It was reported to the IC and allocated to projects. Total interest earned on a, on these investments was $18.4 million. It’s kind of like going to your closet, getting a new pair or an old pair of pants and finding money in the pocket.[00:34:00] Approximately 2.6 million has been allocated to structural cab cabling and other technology projects. 1.9 million has been allocated to intercom and other security projects, and 13.9 million has been allocated to several facility renewal projects, including fire alarm upgrades at Kennedy Middle School and Merritt Island High School, as well as classroom renewal at Autobahn Elementary School. Sales, surtax, encumbrances and expenditures totaled $455.5 million through November. Facility renewal, encumbrances and expenditures represent 78% of the total. Security represents 9% of the total and educational technology represents 13% of the total, which is in accordance with the allocation parameters of both the [00:35:00] 2014 and the 2020 programs. Fiscal year 25 expenditures totaled 54.7 million, so we’ve almost spent all of the money that comes in for per year, which is about 60 million. The financial report covers both the 2014 Sales Certex program and the 2020 sales tax program, and the 2014 program will continue until all the funds are invested and projects completed, which is expected to occur next year. The funds from each program are tracked separately. Expenditures are heavily focused on contracted services for construction managers, contractors, design builders, and owner direct purchases, which allows the district to sales, save sales tax. Rev, uh, expenditures. Owner direct purchases totaled almost $68 million over the co the [00:36:00] term of the program, which translate to a sale tax savings of over $4 million, which is reinvested back into the program. The distribution of expenditures across types, across types have remained relatively consistent throughout the life of the program. This slide shows all the types of projects implemented are underway through the life of the program. And you’ll notice that 50% of the expenditures goes to HVAC, which because it’s Florida and the roofs. And then the balance is for the electrical security classrooms and all the others that are listed there. Investment in air conditioning was a, a significant aspect of the 2014 program and has resulted in a more reliable learning environment and reduced reactive maintenance work orders. [00:37:00] The facility staff is tracking the transition to more preventive MA maintenance work orders as part of the district strategic program. Roof and electrical renewal projects are focal points of the 2020 program, as well as classroom upgrades and athletic facility renewal projects. The classroom upgrades, upgrades are often paired with technology upgrades as well as furniture upgrades to provide a, to provide a more modern learning environment. Educational technology projects remain focused on modernizing classrooms and upgrading technology infrastructure in schools. The ICOC recommended and the school board approved investment in weapons detection systems this year, which have been implemented in all district high schools. CERTEX funded access control and other security projects are ongoing throughout the district.[00:38:00] While the facility, while the facilities team is pretty good at delivering facilities, projects, their photography skills are still under development. The next several slides show some before and after pictures. You have to cut ‘em a little slack on these. They’re not so accurate as they could be next year. We’re hoping to have a, a little better, uh, before and after picture scenario to show. Actually it wasn’t me. I know I’m innocent. It was, it wasn’t me, but thanks Anyway. So here’s a before and after. And you can see on this one, it’s pretty close, but they, they’ve put the fence up. It’s kind of confining, but it’s security. You want me to go through these slowly or you want me to snap through them quickly? [00:39:00] Whatever you prefer. This is Sun Tree Elementary. Uh, this is where we, uh, put the, uh, glass enclosures on the, the entrance there. Didn’t want our staff to be, uh, in danger. Uh, this is, uh. The upgrade to the pro uh, Promethean program. So far they’ve, they’ve installed 2,621 of these across the, uh, district, which is pretty good. And some of that’s capital money and some of its, uh, surtax as a roof. You don’t get, you don’t get to see these when you’re down on the ground. So we, we thought you’d like to see this, but it’s important. Nothing’s worse than having a roof leak painting.
40:00 It’s part of the beautification program. This doesn’t really show you something aesthetic, but at least you know the systems work. So you can see facilities is doing all kinds of stuff to upgrade how the, the buildings operate. Oh, they change this. You can see the new floors looks a lot better than the old ones. They’re gonna get chairs, by the way, these are just,[00:41:00] again, new flooring here, new cabinetry. I dunno if I’m keen on this one so much. I like the older method of these lab tables, but we’ve got these now. We’ll see how that goes. 10 tennis. That looks like fun. This is, uh, a pilot program that they just started using a new surface called Versa Court. It’s kind of like carpet tiles and uh, hopefully it’ll hold up and we won’t have to, uh, if something gets damaged, we can replace it real quickly.[00:42:00] This reminds you of your childhood, Matt, or just what you do with the kids. Right. These are safer playgrounds, by the way. They’ve got that absorption material and, uh, so the kids won’t get injured audits. Okay. The district internal auditor, RSM has performed 18 program audits to access access, access the effectiveness of internal controls over the sales surtax and, and validate the accuracy of the financial reporting from district management to the ICOC, the school board and the general public. The auditors also review procurement for compliance with district policies and may comment on operational practices. The most [00:43:00] recent audit was presented to the ICOC in June of 2025 and covered the period from December 1st, 2023 through November 30th, 2024. The district has moved to an annual audit frequency to allow room in the internal audit budget for other topics. All audits have been positive and are available for to the public for review. The district’s construction auditors, car rigs and Ingram audit each project over a million dollars and small projects on a spot check basis. Their purpose is to ensure compliance with the contract and validate the final pay request. Most sales surtax projects are subject to construction audits ‘cause everything’s costing over a million dollars these days. The ICOC will also be participating in an upcoming performance audit conducted by the State Office of Program Policy Analysis and governmental Accountability. [00:44:00] This audit is required by the Florida statute as part of the sales Surtax renewal process. I’ll be having my interview on Friday, see how that goes. In November, 2026, voters will have an opportunity to continue. The Sales Surtax Program. The authorizing resolution adopted by the School Board continues the work of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee. In preparation for the referendum, the committee is engaged with staff in the development of the 2026 renewal program. Most recently, the ICOC provided some recommended guidance to the board and the staff that has, and the staff has now been incorporating that into their draft program. The ICOC has continued its oversight role, which includes reviewing revenue and expenditures, audits, policies and procedures, and program changes proposed [00:45:00] by district staff. The ICOC members provide a range of perspectives and expertise to help guide the Sales Surtax Investment Program. As Brevard Public Schools continues to achieve academic progress, the Sales Surtax program supports the hard work of the educational team through improving our facilities. Upgrading our technology and securing our schools. That concludes my presentation. Ollie. Happy to take questions if you have any, appreciate all your work on this. Um, probably, you know, I’m new to the board over, this is my second time around to hear this, but, uh, I will tell you there’s no more important time in recent history than right now to show the citizens that we’re spending the, the tax dollars in the, the right way. And your committee providing the independent oversight is huge to give them confidence. So I just appreciate you and all [00:46:00] your, all your committee members for your volunteering, your time to do this. So thank you. Thank you. I just thought my appreciation is I’ll give to specifics, um, to, to the whole team and the, those of you who aren’t here, uh, from your team, but specifically for. The flexibility as we’ve had the extra income and, and working with the district staff and, you know, appropriating that money for the projects that often are costing more than what we originally planned back in 2020 when we, you know, created the plan. So thank you for that. Thank you for, um, taking a look at the interest that was sitting there and making sure that gets put to use. And also helping with the, you know, you know, keeping us focus on closing out that 24 sales Surtax and I, one of the things I appreciate and I have to give, you know, credit to sue the district staff to help prepare the things, documents for you guys is that even though it may seem like it’s maybe a little awkward to kind of keep that 2014 going rather than combining them, just the fact that it’s. Just staying so clearly [00:47:00] delineated. So we make sure that we’re trying, we’re still doing what, we’re not gonna use these 20 $14 in a different way. We’re gonna use them the way the 2014 voters said, and we’re using these 20 $20 the way the 22 voters said. And so, even though it creates double work for you until that gets closed out, um, I appreciate that you guys are, are doing it that way because it, it just keeps everything clear and neat for us. Yeah. It would be a little cumbersome once the referendum goes through and we then we have three year, you know, packages to deal with. Right. So that’s why we’re trying to close it out as soon as we can. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Jean. Huh? John. Great job and team. Great job. Any questions? Gene questions are, uh, you know, I question your questioning the, the photography. ‘cause I thought it was great. So, well, you know, I, I always look at before and afters, you know it from the same perspective. Yeah. So that you can actually see specifically what. What has been changed? These were a little loose, but we’ll [00:48:00] get better, you know? No, I thought it was great. We’ll, we’ll do it. And it, it is wonderful when we’re in the schools and we see those Promethean boards and, and the, and the changes in the classrooms. It, I mean, flooring, it matters. It, it matters, you know, for the flexibility of the instructors. That one with the, the tables had wheels on ‘em. That was a big thing that you can move things around in the other, the other picture that you liked, which I did, it’s very geometric shapes of those, uh, tables. But, you know, they’re, they’re stationary. So, um, just the, the flex, uh, the flexibility that the instructors have, but the, um, uh, just the attitude of the students when they’re in those new classrooms. It’s, it’s, it’s night and day. So it’s, it’s money well spent. And, uh, thank you for all your hard work. Uh, I think we’ll double your pay next year. Thank you. So two x We do. Yes. Love that. We do, we do appreciate all that. Uh, and you know, if, if you get to know John. It, there’s not a penny spent that he doesn’t know exactly where, why, when it was spent, you know, who touched that penny. So we, we appreciate your, uh, [00:49:00] effort and your work on this. Thanks, John. Thank you. Well, I echo the sentiments of my fellow board members, honestly. Uh, the work that you do sometimes I’m sure feels a little bit like a thankless job, but I just have to tell you, it matters so much. It really does. Having another set of eyes and, and multiple sets of eyes that are coming behind and looking to make sure that, that we are actually, um, being good stewards of the finances that have been given to us. And, and again, um, you know, the program has changed because the sharing with the charter portion was a new element, and I think that was a, there was some concern there, but because this program has been so successful, um, it’s helped everyone all the way across the board. So I’m just grateful for you guys checking everything, making sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do. I, I tend to agree I like the pictures, but that’s only because I know what the before is and so have, if when you walk in that classroom and you see the, before you’re. Oh man, this picture, it looks great, but if you actually see it in person, it’s absolutely wonderful. So, um, thank you to your entire team and everyone, and all the work that you guys are doing. We appreciate you tremendously. Yeah, I do it for the results, you know, not, not for the [00:50:00] pay, even though you’re doubling my pay. Yeah. Good. Ms. Wright, uh, Mr. Hopping Garden. I was looking over this and thank you so much for putting all this together. I was looking on page two under Kennedy Middle School. It looks like in, uh, fiscal year 24, there was an expense of $194,995, and then it moved to 1,189 in, in, uh, fiscal year 25. I was wondering if you could explain that difference in depth. Let, let me get that repeat. Oh my, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding, Mr. Hagar. I’m just kidding. Don’t do it. He’s gonna explain now. Alright, so you know, and about that plane ticket that you got. Anyways, I want to thank you also for all the work that you’ve done. Ms. Han also for all the work that you do on this. I know this has been a tireless effort for you, um, and Ms. Eck and other board members here. I appreciate you guys for being here, um, coming out on your busy night to be a part of this. I know that he gets to get up and speak, but I know that you are just equally as important on this board and everything else. So [00:51:00] thank you so much. I appreciate you guys, and that’s all I got. Thank you. Anyone else? I have a request. Okay. Uh, and this is for Sue, not for me so much. Um, Sue needs an estimator or a third party estimation company to look at these bids. To see if they’re legitimate or not because prices are going up. Mm-hmm. Inflation is hurting us. We’re paying 25% more than we really should. And it would be beneficial if we had somebody that would actually know what the cost of these things should be before the bids come in. So if you could move some money around a little bit to get her either a staff person or hire a third party estimation company, it would really be very helpful for her and her staff. And then I wouldn’t have to get into the weeds every meeting and find out why these things are costing so much. [00:52:00] Sounds great. Mr. Hopping Garden. Um, I would also like to add, if we can put the board members to the ICOC on the document too. ‘cause it just has us and I felt like they should be on there just as a Oh no, they’re, they’re listed. They’re, they’re there. One of the pages I think, but it’s, it’s not in the back guys. You want ‘em on the cover? You guys are just as important. So. Oh. Oh us. Oh, okay. Alright. Alright. That’s a great comment. Well, thank you. Thank you everybody. We’re now onto the public comments portion of our meeting. We have a number of speakers and each will receive three minutes. Our attorney will call the speakers in the order, which are there signed up to speak. Mr. Gibbs, can you please call the first three speakers? Did you request this? What is this? Yes, that’s good. We’re good. Go ahead. What business? Yeah, uh, first, uh, there’s a public service announcement. Uh, if you drive a white Chevy Cruze license plate, KF 8 5 4 Q, your door is open in the parking lot. You might want to go. Close that up. First three speakers, Timothy Bass, sole Perato, Eli Teno. [00:53:00] Okay, but don’t start, don’t start. Yeah. Hold on. Yeah, let’s fine. I’m sorry. I mean, I can do it. I’m so sorry. As long as he puts the guy on. What’s the number of speaker? I didn’t get that number. Um, we can do this. Okay. You gotta to set precedent. Hope we all changed. Well that was the first, I’m so sorry. I hope wardrobe change. Huh? I’m so sorry. Yeah. A little bizarre. Pardon? There we go, sir. Still us. Sorry. Am I free to start now? Yes sir. If you could speak to us, um, which the, the agenda. Sure. Perfect. It’s H one. Yes sir. The Cape View and, uh, Roosevelt consolidation. Yes sir. Go ahead. Alright, well thank you Dr. Rendell and the board for having us here. Uh, [00:54:00] really, I’m just here to plead with you to not shut down the only option for school within the city of Cape Canaveral. Uh, I know in your operating protocol that you signed. It all said, remember always my first and greatest concern must be the educational welfare of the students. Cape View is a very important and special place. It truly promotes the idea of one rocket family. It has, it places a tremendous emphasis on traditional family values that you don’t see at many other public schools, and we really appreciate that as community members, uh, it re it’s very responsive to the needs of the student and offers singular opportunities for student growth for students who would otherwise not have opportunities for ‘em, especially if they are not local. Uh, you know, once you start adding 45 minutes or an hour commute time and they’re catching the bus, it, it basically kills the opportunity for growth for ‘em. [00:55:00] Uh, the students are passionate about the school with a spirit that you normally don’t see until junior high. Or high school, they all like to be one rocket family. And that’s very apparent. A group of friends who were students at Cape View decided to all write Mr. Trent some letters about how much they love school and how they wanted to keep it open. They wrote him that in his official capacity, and it was just a group of students who took it upon themselves to let him know how much Cape View meant to ‘em. What’s even more impressive is we’ve, we’ve seen fifth and sixth grade students here come in and speak, and it’s not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of those that come behind them. So, uh, you know, the, the real thing is we just heard no reason offered as to why closing and consolidation is in the best interest of the students. We’re, we’re left in the dark. All we hear about is enrollment numbers. We’ve heard no reason how to, [00:56:00] how closing an A rated school encourages other lower performing schools to do better. Florida. The state of Florida has openly stated that they believe competition and education promotes stronger academic achievement. Closing an A rated school certainly is not following what the state of Florida request. Uh, and you know, Mr. Trent also asked not only for problems, but for potential solutions. So while I don’t wanna disparage any school, there are consistently lower performing schools in our county that have been C rated or below for years. Why wouldn’t you consider those? If any of ‘em have to be on the chopping block, not that any of ‘em should close, why wouldn’t you start with the lower performing ones? And if your answer has to do with enrollment versus capacity, then that might be your problem and why the performance is low. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Hello? Followed by Eli [00:57:00] Teno and Gina Daring. Hi. How you doing? Good. Um, yes. When we here last time, you guys, we took pictures. So you know me, I’m back. I would like to know if you care about the 30% that you said we don’t care about because it’s a lot of people in the area that live there, that walk to school, that need to get to school, need to pick up their kids, take them here and there to doctor’s appointments and stuff during school or after school. And please make sure you don’t forget about us, the 30%. We are actually a lot of people. We volunteer for the school. We are actually there to help the school. We want to keep the school in the area and we want to keep the parents in the area too. And a lot of us who are in the, who live in the area [00:58:00] also don’t have food, can’t pay, you know, EBT don’t have Snap, don’t have that kind of stuff. So we, we can’t really qualify for your food fundings. So please keep that in mind. 30% is very important. Thank you. Thank you ma’am. Eli Teno, followed by Gina Daring and Bernard. Bryan, you got that, Gina? Lower it. Yeah. Perato, can you SLE Perato. Hello, my name’s Eli and I am in third grade at Cape View, and this time I’ve been here I’ve realized how great and how nice the teachers are. I’ve been here for five years and I’ve seen how much better it’s gotten every year. It’s an A rated school and it does not, [00:59:00] and it does not deserve to be shut down. A lot of kids are walkers, so how are they supposed to get to school? Think. I think they would rather walk to school than ride the bus. I have, I have a lot of fun riding my scooters to school. I think the kids feel happy walking to school too. I think my classmates also love the teachers and they don’t want Cape U to be shut down. I would love for my baby brother to go there as well. Also, how would the teachers get jobs if they shut, if it shut down? They won’t have a job anymore. So if you would not shut down Cape U, that would be great. Gina Daring, followed by Bernard. Brian. Thank you Clifford Smith. Uh, thank you board for listening. Um, I have tears in my eyes. [01:00:00] I’m, it’s always a teacher. Um, my name is Gina Daring and I’m a retired teacher from Brevard County. Um, and I’m talking about H one about the boundary lines and specifically about Cape View. I was in tears last time. We had a meeting here when the kids were talking about the impact that this school had and walking to school and just the beautiful imagery of the kids. Happy to go to school. And I can’t keep on thinking about the growth that’s going on at Patrick Air Force Base with 600 more employees being sent there. And I drove around base recently and there is is a huge, um, trailers that are next to the I Dream Ma Genie building. The AFTAC building. Uh, I’ve talked to parents whether or not they’re gonna send their kids to the local school and some parents have said they can’t afford housing here and they would be staying at Bayes [01:01:00] housing. Well, Bayes housing’s gonna be filling up Roosevelt quickly. If you think about driving to Roosevelt, it’s a two lane road. If you’re gonna set that school to 95% capacity, that’s gonna be a very crowded way to get to school and back. And if you live near the base, now we are dealing with. Both Gates being changed and traffic is backed up. Where I live, it’s backed up to Sea Park Elementary School. What I thought about after leaving this, because I’m always thinking about these things, have we thought about turning that school into a STEM academy with the aquarium being built so close by? My daughter attended, uh, Sherwood, and we lived Beachside and I drove her every morning to Sherwood because she went to zoo school for five weeks. They took a bus and they went to Brevard [01:02:00] County schools. How cool was that for a kid? Have we thought about looking for a grant to turn this school into a STEM academy with the aquarium? I contacted, uh, the Cape Canaveral Commissioner and voiced some, some. You know, hey, have we thought about this? And I hope to get a meeting with him and talk to him. I’ve called the zoo as well to find out if there are grants out there. So let’s not be too quick to close the school and look at our options of having the opportunity for an outstanding STEM program with aquarium, military parents talk to each other about good schools. Katie knows this from being in military. We, we find out duty station. How are the schools there? If I heard that, I would definitely wanna come to Patrick Air Force Base. Thank you. Bernard. Bryan, Clifford Smith. Suzanne Slater,[01:03:00] thank you board. Uh, my name is Bernard Bryan and I represent the concerned citizen of South Brevard, as well as the South Brevard branch in naacp. I gotta tell you, I was moved by that young. Uh, baby that was speaking today, um, uh, this what drives me to do what I do. So I want to congratulate the family. You know, one of the things that I had a chance to look at the data, um, what I look for is, is opportunity. Um, you know, looking at, uh, looking at the overall grade level, the attendance in each grade. One of the things I saw was that the, uh, pre-K level was very low at both, uh, KU as well as Roosevelt. So what I’m thinking is, is maybe if we will consider marketing in that area an opportunity for early learning to [01:04:00] be at these schools, I think it would help as well. And I wanna shout out to Dr. Rendell as well as his team. You know, one of the things we see that is happening now. Is the advertising of VPK in the Brevard public school system. So I think this is an opportunity for K few. You know, just looking at the numbers, the numbers are telling me that there are not enough early learning going on at those schools level. And I’m not sure what the reasons are, but I look at that as an opportunity. So if you will consider that, you know, what can we do to increase KFU and in Roosevelt early learning area, the number is extremely low. Only 10, 10 students are enrolled. So we gotta fight, we gotta fight for who is, who’s going after these kids. But I know Bravard public schools can really want over those kids. So that’s kind of where my heart is. And I also wanna talk about the attendance [01:05:00] boundary and you know, I see what you’re doing in reference to, uh, the, the two that is in the agenda, uh, central as well as Johnson. My question is, what is the district approach around attendance boundary across the district? Are you doing one at a time? Are you hitting this? Are you hitting that? I just see a lot of opportunities there to really right size everything. If we do a, a broad approach instead of a little piece of approach here in there, don’t understand your operation procedure in that area. But if you will consider that, maybe that will help the attendance across the district. So again, thank you Dr. Rendell. Pass my appreciation to to that team. Um, we are gonna be advertising for VPK this weekend, going door to door church, some churches to churches, but we wanna fight for community, and I hope you fight with me. So thank you so much. Thank [01:06:00] you, Mr. Brian Clifford Smith. After Clifford, we have Suzanne Slater and Mike Mongo. Good evening board. Uh, can everyone hear me? Alright, cool. Um, so, uh, I do want to first, uh, give you guys some credit. The focus messages have been going out for surveys and things, so that does help. Um, and while there’s gonna be a lot of stories about why the school should stay open and things, you know, I can reiterate that how instrumental it was going from private school to our child with her health issues. You know, the private school couldn’t, couldn’t handle that. And, uh, through no fault of their own, they didn’t have the staff and we left amicably, but the Cape View stepped up and helped her when they couldn’t. Um, you know, everyone said it’s an a-rated school. The community is excellent. All those things are true. And I think now, you know, with some of the, the possible solutions, we’re not really hearing a lot [01:07:00] about ways to keep it open. And I know Dr. Ell did the, the meeting that opened for. Um, I guess like a suggestion could be they do do family breakfast and that is very, very well attended on Thursdays. And just if it’s possible, if, if Mr. Trent or Mr. Ronell could set something up maybe before the Christmas break to attend that and just kinda give some parents some opportunities. Not to scream at you guys, but to instead just maybe post some questions for parents who, who, you know, we’ve mentioned the walking population quite a bit. There are a lot of people can’t attend and maybe just to hear what their opinions are or possible solutions to kinda, not necessarily cater to them, but just get different opinions that maybe you’re not getting now or different inputs. Um, and then just the continued messages through the systems. Um, and, and really I guess the last thing without trying to be too redundant is it, it really is an excellent school. Um, you guys have heard a lot about how well the community works together and as a, [01:08:00] uh, former veteran, um, I am somebody who is a contractor. Uh, it is not an exaggeration to say there is a huge influx coming from Colorado right now. The 600 families is an accurate number. Um, I, and, and that is something that should really be taken into consideration if you’re already hitting 94% pop uh, capacity at Roosevelt. I don’t know how much more that gets stretched. And from my understanding, the base has no plans to create additional childcare. So, um, with all those things considered, you know, we just continue to implore you to keep the school open. And again, if, if, uh, something like that could take place, that’d be, that’d be excellent for, for the other parents to get their inputs heard. So thank you guys. Have a good night. Thank you, sir. Suzanne Slater. Mike Mongo. Quinn Dicus. Good evening. [01:09:00] Um. So I spoke at the last meeting in support of keeping KVO elementary open. Uh, I’m here again to reiterate exactly what a huge disservice this would be to a very, very unique and special community. Uh, the more I learn about how we’ve gotten here financially makes me, uh, extremely upset. So I might sound a little more irritated than last time. Uh, you claim that it’s a matter of budget problems, but I will simply say the only budget problems I see are with the mismanagement of taxpayers money by you as the board and the state who are clearly trying to privatize education. Uh, I mean, yeah, participants, your participants in the systematic dismantling of public education. And the last time I checked, no democracy has survived that. But maybe that’s the point I find it’s disturbing to a degree I really don’t have words for, and I sure wish you, as the board would prove [01:10:00] me wrong by not closing such a critical school like Cape View, because truly its value is immeasurable. And as I stated last time, our children are literally our future and they don’t deserve to suffer the consequences of financial mismanagement and individual political gain. Your mission is on the banner above your heads, and maybe it’s time to reread it in order to remember what you’re supposed to be doing here. There are solutions outside of closing the school, but we cannot fight for any of them unless you do it with us. So thank you for listening to me again. Thank you, ma’am. Mike Mongo. After Mr. Mongo, we have Quinn Dikes and Julia Akerman. Hello. My name is Mike Mongo, uh, astronaut teacher. I live in Cape Canaveral. Moved here to work in the space industry. And, uh, my son, who’s seven, he’s over here, [01:11:00] he wanted me to let you know up front that if you vote to close Cape View Elementary, that Santa is gonna put you all on the naughty list. He, he’s right over there if you wanna check with him. He did. He said that. And I wish I had time to memorize, I had to write it down. My dad did watch this. I’m at the meeting all the way here in Vira as a single dad with two young kids, because in the words of abolitionists, Wendell Phillips, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Power is ever stealing from the many to the few. As uncomfortable and inconvenient as it is for me to do so, it is nonetheless mandatory for me as a citizen of this nation and as a resident of this community to be here. How would I sleep?[01:12:00] Who would I be to these two? We may lose the school, but we will not do so quietly. All the world gets to know how some of us stood up and called forth. Those who while elected to serve us all instead elected to serve a few, a subversion of what many of our ancestors, ancestors, our own close relatives lived and died to defend, preserve, and cherish so that our children and their children and their children’s children may have the same blessings of truth, justice, and the American way. Choosing to do wrong is easy. Simply accepting that you are doing what is convenient for the willing for few to live a life of leisure at a time when all the advantages we have built and fought for. Like the continued success of a public school in one of the most [01:13:00] important and relevant cities in the nation is systematically dismantled as part of an agenda that serves the needs of the few and undermined serving the needs of the many. This is how Nazis won in Germany. It is how the, the MAGA agenda is being served in Brevard County, but it is only for a time. Once it is defeated, we will not remember the names of those who voluntarily chose wrong. We will remember the names of those who chose to speak out and stand for what is right and what is hard won. Most importantly, we have not lost. This is simply our declaration that we will fight and keep fighting until we win or lose, or until you pick a more willing participant for this agenda, [01:14:00] indeed, choose a community that I and my friends and families and our neighbors and our neighbors friends don’t live in. We may lose for a time, but one thing I can say for sure, we will not go down easy. We will not go down quietly and we will fight for our school. Cape View Elementary, Cape View is more than a spreadsheet To us, KU is iconically. Thank you, sir. We appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Quinn Dicuss. After Quinn Dicuss, we have Julia Akerman and Amy Raub. Good evening board members and Dr. Rendell. My name is Quinn. I’ll be speaking on F1 and H one tonight. Preserving KV Elementary is essential to the wellbeing of our community. KU is not merely a school. It is a stabilizing institution where children feel secure, families stay engaged, and a strong sense of community identity has developed [01:15:00] over generations. Closing this campus would introduce unnecessary upheaval for students and di diminish a neighborhood resource that plays an irreplaceable role in the daily lives of the families it serves. I believe we all share the goal of doing what is best for our students, and I know we can pursue solutions that reflect that commitment. I would also like to reaffirm my willingness to collaborate once again on problem solving. The Schools of Hope issue we are facing, that were discussed at the last work session. While working with other districts, we have been able to make meaningful progress that collaborative spirit remains, and I hope we can revisit the conversations needed to develop a responsible student-centered plan, one that strengthens rather than destabilizes our schools. During committee week in Tallahassee, we met with several lawmakers who supported the legislation that brought us to this point. It became evident that some of them did not fully understand what co-location entails or how it affects local school districts like Brevard. In this practice, this gap in understanding, understanding is deeply concerning, not only for Cape View, but in Brevard in general.
1:16:00 This problem was not made by this board. You didn’t pass this bill. I don’t blame you for this piece of legislation, but it is our responsibility locally to find every solution we can to block the effects this bill will that will have on Brevard schools until it’s solved on a larger level. In my opinion, at least this most effective way to do this is to have a task force, which I commend you all for doing, but also have that task force collaborate with the community on solutions. We’ll be returning to Tallahassee to continue these discussions directly with legislatures again. Um, but I would love to be able to add regard to list of districts that participated in open constructive collaboration with the community. As we navigate these challenges, Brevard deserves open communication. I’m sorry, Brevard deserves open community collaboration and look for, and I look forward to seeing how experts in the community can contribute to solving this issue. Thank you. Thank you very much. Julia Ackerman, after Julia, we have Amy Raub and Paul Ra. Hi, my name’s Julia [01:17:00] Ackerman and I’m here to talk about one thing, the future of Cape U Children in our community. We are being presented with a ideas like vouchers and charter schools as solutions. But I’m here to tell you that for families, especially low income families, the real solution is right here. We just keep Cape View open and strong. These proposals don’t create equal choice or any choice really. They create a system of winners and losers. Vouchers, drain essential public funds. Charter schools often opt, operate without the same accountability or standards. Coming from someone who attended a charter school from kindergarten, up until high school is our most vulnerable students who are left behind. Returning to a public school now with even less, this school is not just a building is a lifeline, is a stable walking distance. Heart of the neighborhood. For families who cannot drive across town instead of diverting funds, invest them right here in smaller classes and support staff in our teachers and in the programs that make a well-rounded education. Put the [01:18:00] kids first in Keep Cape View open. Thank you. Thank you. Amy Raub, followed by Paul Raub, the last two. Hi, I’m Amy Raub. So, um, what have you been doing to keep Cape View open? Jean, I’m talking to you too. Um, ‘cause I’ve been taking notes and I’ve seen a lot of, well, Rendell, let’s start with you. I’ve seen a lot of like dumb videos of you dabbing on social media. Why? Who’s your social media person and who is your communication person? Why aren’t they posting about actual information that the public should know? Why aren’t you using your platforms to warn people about the dangers of schools of hope?[01:19:00] Why not use it to improve your student enrollment? Oh my God. Why are you leaving it to us to do that? Oh wait, let me check my notes. Yeah. Uh, it’s ‘cause you hate trans. All right, so this is alright. You done? Good job. Alright, Paul, we’re up next up. Okay. Um, whose glasses are these here? Anyway, thank heavens you cut that off before Mr. Trent had to hear his least favorite word. Um, warning to Ms. Wright, I might say accountability. So it is an unfortunate fact to life. I said before, I would not wanna be in your position often. This is a, it, [01:20:00] it’s difficult. It’s a huge job. Mr. Rob, can you speak to what item you’re speaking to? H one. Okay, thank you. I just didn’t hear any of the conversation about I like most of the people before. I didn’t announce that at the beginning. Sorry. No, it’s just hard to follow. No, no, it’s okay. Yeah, that’s all I set that up for you. You’re welcome. Yep. Um, so H one back to that, um, it is unfortunate that often is not, uh, you know, people come to the school board meetings when they’re mad. When they’re unhappy with what you’re doing. Uh, it’s less likely to come out and find, you know, uh, come here and yell at you to keep doing what you’re doing. But that’s also often people’s first exposure to the board is when there is a crisis, when there is a problem and they get to see how things are handled or not. Mr. Rob, I’m still trying to find the, let the connection to what you’re saying in the, can you get there? I’m getting there. Thank you. Uh, I mean, I. Uh, okay. Cape View Open. Good. Cape View, close, bad, [01:21:00] handled badly by board members. Transparent, attempt to throw me off my game kind of working. Good job. Yay. It’s not a transparent, it’s just trying to, you’re not really supposed to be talking back during this part. Usually that happens down here, depending on the time of day trying to get you back on. Um, the way that the communication around H one still on that one, um, has been handled. The way, you know, there was the town halls or whatever, I, I forget the actual name of the meeting where, you know, Mr. Trent did not show. And the communications folks said, well, that would be a public thing. There’d have to be common, et cetera. It’s a school board activity. Those rules which apply when two or more board members are present discussing something. So that’s either communications folks who don’t know their job or who really know what their actual job is, which is cover. And I’m not saying that Mr. Trent, showing up at that meeting would have improved anything. But that’s what people are learning is that you’re not really here for [01:22:00] them. You’re certainly, you know, they’re seeing that we are acting very reactively to problems that could have been seen years in advance. Uh, people have come up here and talked about, uh, things that are leading to the lower enrollment and leading to these, the kinds of problems, uh, for years in advance. And yeah. Is 47% a great utilization for a school? No. Is 93% with room for, I think 50 more students when we have a very possibly a good large influx of people coming in. Is that a good number? No. And if the shell of Cape U is charter infested before that fails and they move on to building private prisons or whatever, where are those students gonna go then? Do better. Brevard deserves better. Thank you Mr. Raden. Alright, everybody good on the bathroom breaks or anything like that? Alright, that concludes the agenda items for. Public comments. We thank you for taking time outta your schedule to address the board with your concerns and suggestions. I would like to remind the public that the board is accessible for further conversations outside of our business meeting through scheduled [01:23:00] scheduling a meeting or sending an email. We are now at the consent agenda, Dr. Andell. Thank you Mr. Chair. There are 31 items under the agenda in this category. Thank you Dr. Del. Does any board member wish to pull any of these items? I’ll entertain a motion to accept the consent items on today’s agenda. Move to approve. Second. Is there any discussion? Paul Roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Susan Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Mr. Trent Aye. Dr. Rendell, will you please let us know about the items under the action portion of today’s agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first action item is H one Attendance boundary change proposals for 26 27. Do I hear a motion? Move, move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Yes. Really quickly. Yes ma’am. Yeah, I just wanna clarify for those who are here and those who are watching at home, that tonight’s motion is to, uh, approve the advertising of a public hearing, which will happen in January. So I wanna clarify that, but I did, because of the public comment, I did [01:24:00] wanna clarify one thing. I won’t go back and rehash ‘cause we’ve already talked about several things and some of the questions that have come up, um. Well, actually, lemme clarify two things. One, even if we’ve talked about this before, but mainly I think some of these numbers in work sessions rather than board meetings, even if every single student in the boundary zone was, was going to Cape View and not going to charter or it’s, it’s just a population, it is a population situation. We could get every kid back and it would still be a a, an under-enrolled school. I just wanted to clarify that. And then there was someone who said something about serving the few over the many and regardless of what we do, I can’t let that one go. No, because. What we’ve actually been doing over the last many years is serving the few and sometimes to the detriment of the many. And let me clarify, A school that has 200 has varied but gradually fallen from 300 down to 200 over the last several years is costing us more money per [01:25:00] student because just even though they’re smaller and sometimes a third of the size or fourth of the size, it’s elementary schools, they’re still getting a full-time music teacher and a full-time art teacher, full-time PE teacher, full-time STEM teacher now with a millage, a full-time media specialist, full-time, um, principal and assistant principal, and all those things. And those are important. They’re getting. ESE resource teachers and social workers at their percentage. And so we have been pouring resources into this school. They’re a Title one school, so they get those resources too. So whatever we do, I just can’t take that one because what we have been doing over the last many years is serving these few and I think the work that they’ve done, um, has been. Uh, just totally commendable and I appreciate them and the work they’ve done to get back to an a, um, to maintain that a for a couple years. That, that is great work. But I just, I’m not gonna take that, that we we’re gonna serve the few over the many, because what we’ve actually been doing is serving the few, and again, those dollars that it is actually a detriment to the many. Um, when we look at the number of money, the amount of [01:26:00] money, I think I, when Dr. Ell shared with us, it was like we’re spending like one and a half times as much money per student at Cape U than we are at the average school across the county. And that’s the average, which means in other places across the county, we’re spending less than that. So we’re, we’re spending, we could be potentially spending up to twice as much on the Cape U students as we are in other schools. So I, I, I, for whatever your feelings are in the community, I just, that one I’m not gonna let go because that, that’s just absolutely not true. Um, but I, you know, we are still listening to the community and board later on our border porch. Short time, I’ll share with you that I, I did take a visit up there a couple weeks ago and I’ll be happy to share that with you. So thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you Ms. Campbell. Does anybody else wish to? Any comments? Hearing none. Paul roll call please. Mr. Thomas. Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. We are now onto board member recognitions reports, discussion points. Um, if you want me to go to you first, I can Fine. I dislike when we just go to the first [01:27:00] every time. So if you’re ever like, Hey, need a minute, then I’ll shoot over to whoever, just so you know. So this one I’m good because I just have one. Alright. I’d like to recognize, uh, our fellow board member, Ms. Campbell, uh, for being named the, or elected the chair of the Central Florida Public Schools Board Coalition. Um, and she’s done a lot of work on behalf of our, our, uh, district around the state. And you cer certainly deserve to be elected chair. So congratulations. I appreciate that. Congratulations. Feedback too. You’re sweet. Alright, Ms. Cameron. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. Um, so just a couple. I want to, as I was, uh, doing school visits over the last month, um, one of the principals, um, mentioned a name, and so I wanna recognize her tonight that who works at, at ESF, and that’s Ms. Nancy Calderone. And I would just like to, to pass along that shout out and Ms. Damier, if you’ll pass that along. I think she works in your department, um, for the work that she does, helping schools with truancy as we’re trying to get, um, a, this improvement in, um, in attendance. And by the way, Dr. Zel, I love it when you dab on social [01:28:00] media if it means we’re celebrating the work our schools are doing and our kids getting to schools you can dab all day long. I missed it. I was like, DI didn’t know. So those have been some of my favorite videos of the, of, that we’ve ever done is recognizing the schools for their attendance and when the principals are doing their walkout. So, but thank you to Nancy Caldron who are helping, who’s helping our schools. And one of the schools, the school that did the shout out was one of the schools who is, who is winning. In the attendance competition we have going on. So, um, Nancy’s helping them get a hold of that and it’s, and it’s was very helpful. Um, hang on, I don’t wanna steal somebody’s thunderer somebody gonna mention the employee of year winner. Have you got that on your list? Dr. Okay. All right. I’m, since I have the microphone first, I’m doing that. Go. Many, many congratulations. It’s old news now, but it’s the first time you’ve recognized it in a board meeting to our employee of the year, uh, Mr. Chris Hadaway, who is the SRO at Rockledge High School, I know at your school, Rockledge High School. It was so exciting to see him and we just happened. This was totally not planned. We happened to have the Rockledge High School choir there performing that night, and when he was recognized as the overall winner for the district, [01:29:00] it was so awesome to have him. You could tell why he was the employee of the year because they loved him so much. Um, uh, the innovation games I’ll just briefly touched on was such a great job and I love seeing all the ESF staff who, who they, doesn’t matter what role they have up here, they, they. Descend on whatever school is the host school satellite high school usually, and they jump in and it’s all hands on deck. So, great job. Um, I also wanted to recognize the principal of Roy Allen. Uh, Roy Allen Elementary. Ms. Kelly Gruen, who dressed like a Turkey in an inflatable Turkey suit because she loves her students and she wanted to give them a chance. Um, when they did their fundraiser, um, for raising, she did a challenge and if they, uh, if they dress like a challenge or they raised the amount of money they needed, um, for their fundraisers, she would dress like a Turkey and they could threw water balloons at her. So, um, we’re glad risk management wasn’t a part of that. And no turkeys were harmed in the throwing of the water balloons, but all our principals do great things like that. But I just wanted to give that [01:30:00] shout out to Ms. G Grugen. And then finally just report back on, um, my visit to Cape View. I did what I, i, you know, committed to do and had a great, uh, visit there. I did take the time to go super early and from my area of the county it takes. A really long time to get there. Very big. Um, but I went way early because I wanted to see what the drive is. So I actually landed in the neighborhood of Cape View around seven 40. ‘cause I thought, what’s that? The way my family would be like, where you’re walking r out the door at the wrong time. I wanna see what the drive would be to Roosevelt. And it was about 13 minutes. Um, so, but then I went back up to, for my visit, had a great visit with Ms. Long thank you to Ms. Long for walking me around. Um, it’s a beautiful campus. I think it is our closest campus to the beach. You can see the dunes pretty much from the playground. Um, it was great to, to visit and to, you know, to visit classrooms and walk around and, and hear some of the challenges and, and, uh, you know, solutions and all kinds of things. So, um, you know, I, I wanna make sure I, I would love to, before I’m done, my [01:31:00] role, my role on the school board to visit every school in the district that I haven’t hit in the, you know, seven years. I’m not sure if I’m gonna make it, but I was glad to, to get to visit Cape View. So that’s all I have, Mr. Chair. Mr. Trent. Alright. Um, got a few here. So, uh, shout out to the Cocoa Beach Junior, senior High, J-R-O-T-C Girls, uh, Raiders program, uh, that won state, uh, for their, um, um, I guess they would call it their, their games. Yep. It was, uh, Raider competition. The Raiders. Yeah, there you go. The Raiders competition. Number one in state while the boys third in state. Um, all across Brevard. Our, our J-R-O-T-C programs are just wonderful and it’s, and if you haven’t had a chance to go watch one of these, uh, events, they’re, they’re great. Um, it’s amazing that these kids do this. So shout out to you guys also. Uh, Coco High School, the football team, you know, uh, they made it all the way to the semi-finals. Didn’t quite get across to the state championship, but some would [01:32:00] say this was their most successful year. If you don’t remember, or if, if, if you didn’t know, they won back to, back to back. Correct. Three, three in a row. State championships. But those, that, those years they were favored this year, they were not favored. You know, some would say this was their best, um. Job or the, the, the highest accomplishment with the talent that they had, uh, the heart in these kids, uh, to get where they’re at is just amazing. So shout out to the Coco, um, community and that football team and, uh, they’re probably looking forward to, to next year. So, um, you know, tiger Pride as they would, they would say that. So, and, and again, those, um, innovation games were just amazing. I, I know we commented ‘em before, but that is, uh, that’s really seen, uh, that, that competition amongst Brevard. That was good. And we’re talking about expanding that Correct. Around the state coming in. Yeah, I’ll talk a little bit about that, yeah. Okay, great. But, uh, again, just um, uh. The last thing I’m gonna mention on the, uh, I wanna pick up a little bit on the, uh, on the KU, uh, great job [01:33:00] guys coming out and, and, and spilling your hearts. And, uh, we appreciate that. Uh, we appreciate when you, when you, when you come in and you have some, uh, suggestions, I even appreciate the ones that just say, I, I don’t really have anything other than I love my school and you should love your school. And, uh, you know, we love having great schools as well. And we, nobody’s targeting schools because of their letter grade. Uh, and we’re not picking on other schools ‘cause their grades are lower. Uh, it’s just a circumstance. And, you know, one thing we want to, uh, remember is whenever we talk about one community, we have a community just south of there. It’s in the exact same situation. Um, and that’s, and that’s Cocoa Beach. So we have Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach that are both suffering from the same. Uh, low attendance. And that’s, uh, uh, the same ideas. That’s, that’s hitting a lot of communities around the state, uh, of Florida, but also around the country. And that’s what the, uh, you know, the short-term rentals and the long-term rentals that have, uh, the vacation spots that have really damaged our, you know, traditional neighborhoods and solutions [01:34:00] matter. Um, and like Ms. Uh, uh, Campbell had said it, it isn’t so much the need for more programs or more advertising or less dabbing or whatever. Um, we just don’t have the students in either one of those communities. So when you think of solutions in one side, we also have to think of, uh, solutions on the other. So, uh, we’re, that’s why you’re here, and that’s why we’re, you know, we’re, we’re still reaching out to the community and thinking of things that we haven’t thought of. So, uh, again, we appreciate you coming out and, uh, speaking from the heart, uh, despite some of the, um. The crazy allegations. Uh, it just is what it is. And the numbers are the numbers, so we’re looking for solutions, but we thank you for coming out. That’s all I got. That’s right. Alright, thank you. Thank you. Um, wanna give a shout out to our supervisor of elections who has been touring around our county? I think he is. He is off to a good, strong start at this point. Uh, and speaking specifically to our 11th and our 12th grade students and talking to them about the importance of your vote, being your voice, uh, he is also pairing up with a [01:35:00] veteran usually a lot of times that’s our JRTC program on site, but just again, trying to. To have our young adults recognize the importance of voting, that population typically does not vote. And so when he goes in and talks about these things, I laugh when I go next to him. I said the cell phone policy. And they’re all like, ah, you know, they wanna attack you ‘cause they don’t like the cell phone policy. Uh, but it’s just important for them to understand, uh, that they do have a voice that they need to utilize it. So thank you so much to Tim in his office for all the hard work that they’re doing there. And making sure that all of our high schools get that same exact presentation so that every student in Brevard knows that they’re able to register to vote and they should do so. I want to also give a shout out to the Brevard Future Educators of America had the opportunity to attend their event that took place last week. And I just have to tell you, I walked away from there feeling encouraged about the future. Uh, these were our students who have shown an interest into going into, into the career of education. We had our, uh, professional leading, or sorry, learning and development team there. Our peer mentor teachers there, [01:36:00] UCF, Dr. Dan came over. So UCF was there and he was, uh, their team was judging speeches, which I had the honor of sitting in and listening to these students. Speak about why they wanna be a teacher and the most impactful teacher in their life. And I’m telling you, that room, you couldn’t. There were several times where I found myself teared up and just absolutely moved and encouraged for the future. Uh, would love to see every single one of our secondary schools have one of these clubs, these future Educators of America clubs in it. Um, thank you to BFT. Vanessa was there, she was hosting one of the rooms as well. So you guys, I appreciate what you were doing there and investing back into the next generation. And that is all that I currently have. Thank you for Ms. Wright. First off, I wanted to say the, uh, innovation games when, when, you know, we came up with the idea years ago. The idea would be that we would take one year, keep it within the school system, and then eventually challenge all the other school districts throughout the state of Florida. Being that we’re on the Space Coast, we have some unique opportunities because of the launches and stuff like that. So, Dr. Rde [01:37:00] said we can start looking into that. Doesn’t mean that we’re going to, but we’re looking at expanding it to invite a lot of the other school districts across the state to compete in some of our games. Um, it takes a lot of. Undertaking. ‘cause we have to set the, the standards. The kids out there then have to be prepared. So we’re not sure if it’ll be, if we do it, it’ll be in November. Um, but we’re looking to try to do it for next year sometime and invite all the rest. So we will be going on the stage for the state. And then what happened with uh, Northrop Grumman is I had a side conversation with them and they asked if we did something like that. Northrop Grumman has installations all across the United States and they said that they would actually pay to transport their school districts to the competition from across the United States for the competition. So I thought there’s a good win, right? Like we not, may not have all participation in Florida because transportation is an issue, but here’s a company that says if our children are going to school in Virginia, we’ll bring them. Uh, if we’re in Kansas, we’ll bring them. So it was interesting. So that was really good news there. I [01:38:00] wanted to take a second and, um. You know, the Future Educators of America is an amazing program, and thank you so much for going, I, I, I have to give you both credit, um, everybody on the board credit, uh, but Ms. Wright, um, want to say thank you for always attending all the meetings and going to those like that and showing them that we care. And I appreciate you doing that and I appreciate you. People don’t understand for Ms. Ms. Campbell to actually drive from where she lives all the way up there. She probably had to leave when it’s dark, right? I mean, for sure. Right. And drive all the way up there. It’s at least, at least I know, 45 minutes at least. It’s 50, it’s 50 minutes to get there. And the, and the commitment that you have is, is, is very, it’s, it’s outstanding. And I just wanted to take a second and, you know, I know John gave you, I know this is the Kitty Campbell night, um, because John gave you the award earlier. But I did just wanna say thank you for that dedication and I appreciate it. Um, the future educators, now getting back to it, the future educators. I was actually one of the teachers that put together the program at Space Coast to create the academy. [01:39:00] And one of the issues that I got really mad about when I was on the school board when I first started was that we don’t have a true feeder into Eastern Florida. Hence why UCF comes over. They get our kids, they go over there and then they do their last. Internship with UCF in U in Orlando, and then we lose the majority of ‘em. Mm-hmm. So, Dr. Ell, I’m, I’m gonna try to work with Dr. Ell to see if we can’t take another college and give them access to our school district here, and then have them teach the classes here and just get it done if Eastern Florida can’t, you know what I mean? Full disclosure. I was, I was poaching the Orange County teachers that were there though, that were graduates of museum. Yes. Come on over to ard. Yes. And we should do more of that, you know what I mean? Yeah. We should tell ‘em. I don’t know. We should come up with some neat things there, but I appreciate you doing that. I did just wanna say we have some work to do in there and thank you for attending that. Um, and then I wanted to say congratulations to the board and Dr. Ell and staff for today’s offsite. Um, I will tell you that today’s offsite was one of the very first that we had, we had last year was good. Mm-hmm. But this year I truly felt like we [01:40:00] were a mature board who had organization and we went through everything in three hours. And it was, it was pretty interesting. You know what I mean? And I just wanted to say thank you. It was not caustic, there weren’t people attacking. We all agreed, everything that we had, I, I tracked. It was attached to the student, to the, um, strategic plan. We, and we’ll be able to put it together. So I just wanted to say thank you for that collaborative meeting today. I also, I, I might steal your thunder a little bit. Dr. Andela, you wanna talk about the two 50 or No, go ahead. Um, we had a, uh, a flag that we raised. It is our Nation’s 250th anniversary coming up. And we raised the only flag, um, that’s commemorating that above our, our, uh, school board today. And we have handed out the flags to all of our ROTC installations and high schools throughout our district. We are the first school district to raise those flags in the state of Florida and arguably the United States. So I just wanted to say thank you. To Dr. Ell and the staff for putting that together and [01:41:00] working with Don Weaver, uh, captain Don Weaver to accomplish that. So that’s all I’ve gotta say. Dr. Ell, you got anything to say? Just wanna follow up on a couple things. Um, we’ve talked about Innova innovation games a lot. Mm-hmm. And Mr. Seon mentioned Northrop Grumman being a part of that. Northrop North Grumman is a huge part of innovation games. They provide numerous volunteers. These are their staff members that are there running most of the competitions. And so they are the organization most closely tied to innovation games. We have other companies, usually space related companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, that sponsor different events, Boeing with Destination Moon. Um, but innovation games is really Northrop Grumman’s thing, and they’ve been a part of it ever since it started. They were, and they were there in, in force, you know, numerous, tens, twenties, maybe even 30 or 40. Staff members giving up their Friday to work with our kids on these competitions. So, fantastic job. Northrop Grumman, thank you for all your support. [01:42:00] And as we do expand it and invite, um, teams from other schools and other counties and other states, I’m sure they’re gonna be right there alongside with us. Um, the last thing I’m gonna say is that I’m not going to stop celebrating student success. The videos that were mentioned are part of our attendance campaign, which is actually, uh, increasing our daily attendance by a great amount. Um, not because I’m doing videos, but because everybody’s focused on attendance and making sure students get to school. So for me to be a part of that, a small part of it and celebrate it, I’m not gonna apologize for that. You go as you should not. You might wanna apologize for the dance skills, but not doing it. Uh, there’s no dancing. There was no dancing. Alright, principles are anything. Thank you very much. This meeting’s [01:43:00] [01:44:00] adjourned.