Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Thank you.
49:28 thank you.
49:58 Thank you.
55:28 it. I would like to challenge the board to reflect honestly on
55:18 whether you yourself regularly
55:19 watched full work sessions before being elected. I know even for
55:22 me it can be hard to keep up.
55:24 Realistic expectations of community understanding requires
55:27 realistic expectations of people’s time
55:30 and capacity. It is said the sign of a first-rate intelligence
55:33 is being able to hold two truths at
55:35 once and still maintain the ability to function. I think we are
55:39 capable of that. So we can acknowledge
55:41 that Capeview’s enrollment is down and still develop a plan to
55:44 prevent continued decline in low
55:45 enrollment areas. We can acknowledge that this issue has been
55:48 discussed in work sessions and
55:50 acknowledged by the clear community reaction, clearer and more
55:53 accessible access to this information is
55:55 needed moving forward. Closing schools is not a long-term
55:58 solution to low enrollment. The only
56:00 long-term solution is bringing the community in and allowing
56:03 neighbors to step up for neighbors.
56:05 I don’t know about you all but my dad taught me to rub some dirt
56:08 on it and keep fighting with my team.
56:10 We don’t expect our high schoolers to win their football games
56:13 by themselves. So why do we expect
56:14 it of all of us? We are strongest when we come together and I
56:17 think it’s about time. Thank you.
56:19 Thank you very much.
56:20 Maggie Trenina then Jennifer Hopkins.
56:29 Good evening. My name is Magdalena Trenina. I’m a community
56:34 member in Brevard County. I’m speaking on
56:36 item G2. The Capeview Elementary to Roosevelt Elementary
56:40 boundary proposal. I graduated from a BPS high school and I’m a
56:44 Brevard County
56:45 taxpayer. I’d have liked to seen more conversations surrounding
56:49 the enrollment issues at Capeview within the community when we
56:52 first started to see the
56:53 decline rather than what now feels like it to be too late. I
56:55 work at the port which is the most popular port in the world and
56:55 growing. The tourism is here and to mention the huge SpaceX
56:55 complex being built which means
56:55 more jobs more families and more apartments and homes that are
57:01 already being built all around me. The Cape is growing
57:01 exponentially so it’s confusing to hear about a decline. Thank
57:04 you.
57:04 Thank you very much. Jennifer Hopkins.
57:14 I’m going to lower it a little bit so I can see you all. Good
57:29 evening. My name is Jen. I’m a community member and a former
57:29 parent and student of Brevard Public Schools. My comment is
57:29 regarding agenda item G2, attendance boundary change proposal,
57:29 Capeview Elementary School to Roosevelt Elementary.
57:29 The impact this consolidation could have on Cape Canaveral
57:48 community has been the topic of many public comments. Concerns
57:50 about increased class sizes, longer commutes and traffic
57:50 congestion and the disruption of special programs and services
57:50 have all been expressed and neatly put away.
57:50 Now that the day has arrived for this board to decide. I would
58:01 like to again encourage you to table the vote and allow more
58:04 time to gather and examine information. Holding the vote tonight
58:09 brings up questions around long-term plans and fiscal
58:11 responsibility. The consolidation of Capeview into Roosevelt
58:14 would bring enrollment to 90 to 93% capacity. This is the sweet
58:17 spot for elementary schools.
58:17 Full, but not bursting at the seams. What will this look like
58:22 next year or in three or five or seven years as families are
58:26 relocated to the area for jobs at Patrick’s Space Force base, or
58:31 even the many engineering firms located in Brevard County. Where
58:33 will they choose to live? I can bet that it won’t be in a town
58:36 where there are no schools and the closest elementary school is
58:40 almost full. If we’re trying to define Cape Canaveral’s path to
58:44 becoming a transient area for tourists and snowbirds and
58:47 instead of a family-oriented community, this consolidation will
58:50 help seal the deal.
58:52 The question of how much money could be made from the sale of
58:54 the land that Capeview sits on has been asked in many ways by
58:57 many different people.
58:58 I believe this has been a point of discussion amongst the board
59:01 and you already know the answer.
59:03 I’ve heard comments along the lines of the money could go toward
59:06 teacher salaries.
59:07 As we see a looming budget crisis ahead, I’m not convinced that
59:10 using money from the sale of district land to supplement where
59:13 the budget is lacking is the most fiscally responsible plan of
59:16 action.
59:17 In fact, I’m not even sure that there has been any public
59:19 conversation regarding how the money would benefit the district.
59:22 And I know that’s something Brevard County taxpayers, including
59:25 myself, would be interested in learning.
59:27 There have been many passionate pleas made by families and
59:30 community members.
59:31 The Cape Canaveral City Council has implored you to take more
59:33 time to consider alternatives.
59:35 I will ask the same of you this evening.
59:37 Brevard is asking you to do better.
59:39 Brevard deserves better.
59:40 Thank you.
59:42 That concludes the agenda items only for public comments.
59:52 We thank you for taking time out of your schedule to address the
59:54 board with your concerns and suggestions.
59:56 I would like to remind the public that the board is accessible
59:58 for further conversations outside our business meeting through
1:00:00 scheduled meetings.
1:00:01 We are now at the consent agenda.
1:00:03 Dr. Rendell.
1:00:04 Thank you, Mr. Chair.
1:00:06 There are 43 items on the agenda under this category.
1:00:09 Thank you, Dr. Rendell.
1:00:10 Does anybody want to pull any of these items?
1:00:11 All right.
1:00:13 None are going to be pulled.
1:00:15 I’ll entertain a motion to accept the consent items on tonight’s
1:00:18 agenda.
1:00:18 Second.
1:00:20 Any discussion?
1:00:23 Paul, roll call, please.
1:00:25 Mr. Thomas?
1:00:26 Aye.
1:00:27 Ms. Campbell?
1:00:27 Aye.
1:00:28 Mr. Susan?
1:00:29 Aye.
1:00:29 Ms. Wright?
1:00:30 Aye.
1:00:31 Mr. Trent?
1:00:31 Aye.
1:00:32 We’ll now hold a public hearing on the next two items.
1:00:35 Attendance, boundary, change proposal, public hearing, central
1:00:38 to John.
1:00:39 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item?
1:00:44 Hearing none, do I hear a motion?
1:00:47 Move to approve.
1:00:48 Any discussion?
1:00:50 Hearing none, Paul, roll call, please.
1:00:54 Mr. Thomas?
1:00:54 Aye.
1:00:55 Ms. Campbell?
1:00:55 Aye.
1:00:56 Mr. Susan?
1:00:57 Aye.
1:00:57 Ms. Wright?
1:00:58 Aye.
1:00:58 Mr. Trent?
1:00:59 Aye.
1:00:59 Next, we’ll hold a public hearing on the attendance boundary
1:01:02 change proposal for the 2026-2027
1:01:05 public hearing Cape View to Roosevelt.
1:01:08 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item?
1:01:10 Anyone present who wishes to address this item?
1:01:12 Hearing none, do I hear a motion?
1:01:14 Move to approve.
1:01:15 I’ll second.
1:01:19 Is there any discussion?
1:01:20 Yes.
1:01:22 I figure we all go.
1:01:22 Mr. Thomas, do you want to go first?
1:01:28 I’m just going to go left to right.
1:01:31 I made some prepared comments.
1:01:37 If you don’t want to go now, we can.
1:01:38 I’m fine.
1:01:39 This has been one of the most difficult votes I’ve had to face
1:01:43 since being on the school board here.
1:01:44 Not because the facts are unclear, but because the
1:01:46 responsibility is significant and the impact
1:01:49 is long-term.
1:01:50 From the outset, one of my central concerns, especially in light
1:01:53 of the growth of the space industry,
1:01:55 was making sure we did not make a decision today that we would
1:01:58 regret five or ten years from
1:01:59 now by failing to preserve capacity where it would truly be
1:02:02 needed.
1:02:03 The board approached this decision with care, respect for the
1:02:06 community,
1:02:07 and a deep sense of responsibility.
1:02:08 I’ve reviewed the data, studied long-term enrollment trends,
1:02:12 listened to families,
1:02:14 met with school leadership, consulted experts in economic
1:02:17 development and real estate,
1:02:18 relied on the professional judgment of the district staff,
1:02:20 and carefully considered the independent WXY analysis.
1:02:26 No decision of this magnitude comes with absolute certainty,
1:02:29 but responsible governance means acting on facts and evidence,
1:02:33 not on speculation or hope.
1:02:34 We all recognize the sustained low enrollment at Cape View
1:02:38 Elementary,
1:02:38 and it’s important to be honest about why.
1:02:40 Much of the housing of Cape Canaveral was built in the 1960s.
1:02:44 While those homes work well as short-term rentals, young
1:02:47 families often purchase a newer,
1:02:49 larger home outside of Cape Canaveral or Cocoa Beach for the
1:02:52 same price or less.
1:02:53 As a result, families with school-aged children are choosing
1:02:56 other communities.
1:02:57 We also have to be realistic about future growth.
1:03:00 Cape Canaveral has limited infrastructure and available land to
1:03:04 attract large employers
1:03:05 that would bring a significant number of families.
1:03:07 Most projected growth is service-related, supporting Port Canaveral,
1:03:11 which historically does not generate substantial increases in
1:03:14 elementary school enrollment.
1:03:16 when sustained enrollment trends, housing realities, land use
1:03:20 limitations,
1:03:21 and realistic growth projections are considered together,
1:03:23 the evidence does not support the expectation that Cape Canaveral
1:03:26 Elementary
1:03:27 will experience the enrollment growth needed to justify
1:03:30 continued operation
1:03:31 or major capital investment.
1:03:33 That is a difficult conclusion, but it is a practical and
1:03:36 responsible one.
1:03:38 After careful study, expert input, and thoughtful reflection,
1:03:41 I believe consolidation, while difficult, is the most
1:03:44 responsible course of action for our
1:03:46 students and for the taxpayers who trust us to steward their
1:03:49 resources wisely.
1:03:50 Ms. Campbell?
1:03:53 Sure.
1:03:54 Thank you.
1:03:55 And while we have had – this is our third board meeting to have
1:03:59 this on the agenda,
1:04:00 and we’ve had a couple of workshops that didn’t have public
1:04:02 comment time,
1:04:03 I think I don’t want to reiterate everything for the sake of
1:04:07 time, and most of you guys have heard it,
1:04:08 but I did want to bring a couple – just reiterate a couple of
1:04:11 things,
1:04:11 because it keeps coming up in public comment,
1:04:14 and I want to make sure that everybody who’s asked the question
1:04:16 gets the answers.
1:04:17 Just to be clear, this – in some of our areas, in some of our
1:04:23 schools,
1:04:23 scholarships or vouchers, whatever you want to call them,
1:04:27 charter enrollment is having great impact on our public – our
1:04:32 traditional public school enrollment.
1:04:33 In this particular community, that’s not the case.
1:04:36 This particular community didn’t – there’s only one student who’s
1:04:39 zoned for Cape View
1:04:40 who attends a charter school in that whole community.
1:04:43 And as far as vouchers go, when we had the big expansion the
1:04:45 last two years,
1:04:46 we didn’t really see the big dip at Cape View like we did in
1:04:48 other schools.
1:04:49 So in this case, we’re not really talking so much about vouchers
1:04:52 and charter schools.
1:04:56 When we had our last meeting, when we met with the city council,
1:05:01 Dr. Rendell shared the presentation
1:05:04 that he’d sent over to them, that he shared with the public,
1:05:06 that he shared with the parents,
1:05:07 he shared with the teachers about the low enrollment and what it’s
1:05:11 costing us.
1:05:12 And we talked about that two and a half million dollars at each
1:05:17 school that it costs us extra
1:05:19 above the amount that the state gives us because we get our
1:05:22 funding per student.
1:05:25 And I made the comment that I have to think about students and
1:05:28 not buildings and not cities.
1:05:30 And that is still the case.
1:05:31 People have talked about students.
1:05:34 And I want to make sure that you understand that when we – when
1:05:37 I talk about money,
1:05:38 it’s not about the money – I want to just explain what the
1:05:43 money represents to me.
1:05:44 What two and a half million dollars represents to me is funding
1:05:52 that could go towards students across our district.
1:05:56 So, for a million dollars, BPS can hire 12 people.
1:06:02 For two and a half million dollars, we can hire 30 to support
1:06:07 children in many schools.
1:06:13 It has pretty much, since I’ve been on the board, cost us about
1:06:17 four million dollars to give every employee across the district
1:06:20 a 1% raise.
1:06:21 When we give those raises, we’re keeping people here, people
1:06:25 that we need in every school, in every position.
1:06:29 So I’m not – the money represents students, the best interests
1:06:34 of every student.
1:06:35 And I get it.
1:06:36 This decision is going to be painful.
1:06:41 It is painful.
1:06:42 It’s painful for us because I don’t like to have moms standing
1:06:46 at the podium crying.
1:06:47 Right?
1:06:49 Because it’s so hard.
1:06:50 But at the same time, I want to recognize that the difficulties
1:06:53 that the families that you guys are
1:06:55 going to be facing and having a school that’s farther away with
1:06:59 new people and new faces are – the
1:07:02 difficulties that you may experience are difficulties that we’re
1:07:05 used to dealing with.
1:07:06 We are used to, across this district, used to dealing with
1:07:10 transportation issues with families who don’t have cars.
1:07:13 It happens all over the place.
1:07:14 It happens especially down in my area.
1:07:16 We’re used to, what do we do with sick kids when mom can’t get
1:07:20 here?
1:07:20 Our schools are equipped to deal with it.
1:07:22 And they will know how to deal with it when it happens.
1:07:26 We’re used to dealing with involvement, kids being able to stay
1:07:30 after school.
1:07:30 How do we get to – how do we provide tutoring if their family
1:07:34 doesn’t have transportation?
1:07:35 That’s just one mention of things.
1:07:37 But we know how that happens.
1:07:38 Because I’ll give you an example.
1:07:39 If people live in the Barefoot Bay area down where I live, they’re
1:07:45 almost nine miles away from their school.
1:07:47 So we know how to do it.
1:07:48 And we do it well.
1:07:49 Just to clear up something about the sale of the land.
1:07:56 Whatever we do, as people have talked about, we haven’t talked
1:07:58 about that yet.
1:07:59 Because we can’t have that conversation until we have this
1:08:01 conversation.
1:08:03 And just to clarify, any money that would come that’s sale of
1:08:07 land, that goes back into capital.
1:08:09 We’ve got plenty of capital needs.
1:08:11 We’ve got average school age of, you know, over 50 years.
1:08:14 And we definitely will have needs.
1:08:17 But I just wanted to be clear.
1:08:19 That is not the driving force.
1:08:20 The one-time sale of the land is not the driving force behind
1:08:23 this decision.
1:08:24 It is the annual year after year.
1:08:27 We’re saying no to students across the district.
1:08:32 So we can say yes to the students at this very small school.
1:08:36 And Roosevelt also being a very small school.
1:08:38 We have been privileging the students at these two small schools
1:08:42 at the expense of the students across the district.
1:08:46 Let me say it clearer.
1:08:48 We’ve spent twice as much on students at Cape View for years and
1:08:54 years than we have
1:08:56 students at other schools and larger schools across the district.
1:09:02 And I’ve said it a couple weeks ago, that’s really hard for me
1:09:06 to swallow.
1:09:06 Just to be clear about – I talked about it not being charter
1:09:14 schools and vouchers.
1:09:15 So why is the enrollment down?
1:09:17 To be – we’re – to be clear about this.
1:09:21 I mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again because we have
1:09:24 different people in the room.
1:09:25 The population of Cape Canaveral is decreasing.
1:09:28 The student population is increasing even more rapidly because
1:09:33 the community is aging.
1:09:35 And as parents – as families have lived there for years and
1:09:37 years, they don’t have kids in the schools.
1:09:39 That’s one of the reasons.
1:09:40 And then the short-term rentals is the other reason.
1:09:42 That’s why the student population has increased.
1:09:45 So even if the school board – the school district had done
1:09:48 massive
1:09:49 campaigns to try to get more people back, there’s not getting
1:09:52 people back.
1:09:53 There’s just not students in the community.
1:09:56 And that’s happening on most of our beachside schools.
1:10:00 We have taken a look.
1:10:02 I appreciate the people who brought up the Patrick Space Force
1:10:06 Base potential increase.
1:10:08 I asked the superintendent to look into that.
1:10:11 And he reached out to the base.
1:10:12 And they explained to us that most of that force is already here.
1:10:15 Most of them are not people who have children.
1:10:17 And if they are, they’re not living in the Cape Canaveral and
1:10:20 Cocoa Beach area because it is,
1:10:22 as it’s already been mentioned, it’s very expensive.
1:10:24 But I think that regardless of how early we started this
1:10:29 conversation,
1:10:31 which just, you know, again, just trying to bring clarity, this
1:10:34 is the process we have.
1:10:35 We start in the early fall, starting looking at these
1:10:39 conversations, looking at our areas.
1:10:41 Our staff, they keep a regular finger on the pulse of our
1:10:44 community, of what’s changing,
1:10:46 what’s growing, what building we expect.
1:10:49 They do that all year long so they can start the process early
1:10:52 fall with us.
1:10:52 Where does the board want to go?
1:10:54 This is what we think we need to do.
1:10:56 Then we start advertising.
1:10:57 We’ve had meetings with parents.
1:10:58 We’ve had meetings with teachers.
1:11:00 It’s really, at this point, at least a five-month process with
1:11:04 public engagement
1:11:05 because that’s when the window first opened was about five
1:11:09 months ago.
1:11:10 And then, so even if people haven’t been, you know,
1:11:13 I understand your frustration about bringing people in earlier.
1:11:16 That is when we start our boundary changes is, you know, in
1:11:19 about five months before the January meetings.
1:11:22 So that is where we’ve been going.
1:11:26 But it’s not really coming out of the blue because of the WXY
1:11:29 study.
1:11:29 And someone mentioned about the mistakes.
1:11:32 And I think maybe there was a misunderstanding in what you heard
1:11:35 presented about that.
1:11:37 But we, that has been, it was good information for us.
1:11:41 And this is, again, I don’t want to repeat too much more of what
1:11:45 we’ve already said.
1:11:46 But I just, I just want to be clear that this, the money
1:11:50 represents students.
1:11:52 But it represents all 60,000 students in Brevard Public Schools.
1:11:56 And what we can do for them.
1:11:59 And we are going to take care of those 260 students.
1:12:04 If they stay with us, we’re going to take care of them.
1:12:06 We’re going to do a good job.
1:12:07 And we’re not, we’re not dumping those kids into a failing
1:12:11 school.
1:12:12 We’re talking about consolidating into another highly rated
1:12:16 historical A school.
1:12:19 That’s going to have great teachers, many of them likely to come
1:12:23 from Cape View,
1:12:23 who will not be left scrambling for a job.
1:12:26 They will actually get first pick wherever they want to go.
1:12:36 And I’ll stop there.
1:12:38 Thank you, Ms. Campbell.
1:12:40 Mr. Trent.
1:12:41 Well, I would love to.
1:12:48 My microphone will not turn on.
1:12:49 I got you.
1:12:49 Oh, wait, there it goes.
1:12:50 Okay.
1:12:50 All right.
1:12:51 You must have turned it off.
1:12:51 All right.
1:12:52 No, I just turned it on.
1:12:53 Turn it off again.
1:12:53 No, you just turned it off.
1:12:54 You turned it off.
1:12:55 It’s on right now.
1:12:55 Okay.
1:12:58 There we go.
1:12:58 All right.
1:13:01 So let me start off by saying that this decision is not an easy
1:13:04 decision to make, right?
1:13:06 And when we look at this as a whole, we have to look at the
1:13:08 district as a whole.
1:13:10 And when we are looking at spending two times as much on
1:13:14 students in one school than we are in another
1:13:16 school, you have to go, where is that?
1:13:19 That’s not fair.
1:13:19 That’s not fair to the other students that are sitting in other
1:13:21 classrooms.
1:13:22 When we look at the enrollment trends for this specific school,
1:13:25 back to 2015.
1:13:27 So we’re 11 years far before this board ever sat here.
1:13:31 It was highly underutilized at that time as well.
1:13:35 So this trend has continued downward.
1:13:38 And I believe Mr. Morrison that came when he came and he said
1:13:42 that Cape Canaveral and
1:13:43 Cocoa Beach own 80% of all the short-term rentals in all of Brevard
1:13:48 County.
1:13:48 That has a consequence.
1:13:50 And unfortunately, the consequence is that families are not
1:13:53 looking to that community to raise their
1:13:55 children, which then in turn causes the enrollment to decline,
1:14:00 which is what we are now seeing.
1:14:01 Our average elementary school, as we have presented to the
1:14:05 community, is 544 students,
1:14:07 which is about what these two combined schools will be once they
1:14:11 are together.
1:14:12 You know, I look at this and, you know, you want to govern with
1:14:18 your heart because my heart,
1:14:20 my heart hurts when I look at a parent who’s upset, right?
1:14:22 I want to govern and say, I hear you, mom.
1:14:25 I hear how upset you are.
1:14:26 But I also want you to understand that this doesn’t necessarily
1:14:29 mean something bad.
1:14:31 This can be a good thing.
1:14:33 I know that that doesn’t feel that way right now.
1:14:35 You guys are going to have something, and I said this before,
1:14:38 in Brevard County that no other community has.
1:14:41 You’re going to have a kindergarten through 12th grade.
1:14:44 They’re all going to be the same.
1:14:45 And if you talk to anybody who’s gone to school and they’ve been
1:14:48 in school with kids
1:14:48 from kindergarten to 12th grade, they will tell you the benefits
1:14:51 of having that type of community
1:14:53 and that continuum of education.
1:14:55 I look at this and I go, again, everyone wants fiscal
1:14:59 responsibility, right?
1:15:01 Everyone wants that.
1:15:02 I don’t think a single person sitting in this room says that you
1:15:04 want us to be fiscally irresponsible.
1:15:07 Part of being fiscally responsible is being good stewards with
1:15:10 the resources that we have.
1:15:12 And when we look at a school that’s underutilized because the
1:15:15 community is so heavily focused on tourism,
1:15:18 and that’s a huge blessing for our community.
1:15:20 We’re grateful for all the things that happen there and the
1:15:22 benefits that our community receives from tourism.
1:15:25 But we also have to acknowledge at the same time that can be
1:15:28 true.
1:15:28 The other side of this is this part, and this part is the not
1:15:32 fun part.
1:15:33 So when I look at this and I go, okay, if I were governing with
1:15:36 my heart,
1:15:37 I’m going to look at the mom that’s in the room that’s upset and
1:15:39 say,
1:15:39 I hear you and I feel right where you’re at.
1:15:42 But we have to make decisions that are in the overall good for
1:15:45 the organization.
1:15:46 And spending two times as much on some students than we are
1:15:50 others is 100% not equitable and not fair.
1:15:54 And really, I think this goes back to the good old no good D
1:15:57 goes unpunished kind of mentality.
1:15:59 And really what should have happened is when the enrollment
1:16:02 declined,
1:16:02 we should have pulled resources back.
1:16:04 But instead, we tried to keep it as comfortable as possible
1:16:07 because that’s what’s best for students.
1:16:09 We wanted the students to have all the same things.
1:16:11 So we didn’t take away the art teacher or say,
1:16:13 oh, you’re only going to get a half of an art teacher now who’s
1:16:15 only going to be there two days a week.
1:16:17 We left him there or the media specialist or the other supports
1:16:20 that are put into the school.
1:16:22 Well, in turn, what has happened is it’s cost more money.
1:16:25 And if we would have done that, I think at some point,
1:16:28 maybe some parents would have looked at this and gone, this isn’t
1:16:30 the best.
1:16:31 Maybe we want to go to a school with a higher enrollment that
1:16:34 has these types of features that
1:16:35 are in there five days a week.
1:16:37 And that goes back to the whole no good D goes unpunished.
1:16:40 So governing with your head is the best thing to do in this
1:16:44 situation.
1:16:45 With my heart, I feel the parent situation.
1:16:48 But I look at this and I go, this is what makes the most sense.
1:16:51 The community has changed.
1:16:52 The school board didn’t change that community.
1:16:54 We didn’t make the decisions for the short term rentals.
1:16:57 We didn’t approve the hotels to be built there.
1:16:59 We didn’t do any of that.
1:17:00 But we are responsive to what that does to the community.
1:17:03 And we have to make a decision based on that.
1:17:05 So with that, I mean, that is really where I fall with this.
1:17:09 And doing what’s good for the overall organization.
1:17:12 Thank you, Mr. Wright.
1:17:16 All right.
1:17:17 So I’ll try not to repeat every single one here.
1:17:22 But, you know, this is what makes being on a board like this
1:17:27 that much more special.
1:17:28 How we represent areas in the county.
1:17:31 It’s a very large county, 72 miles top to bottom.
1:17:34 And having five different members up here that’s willing to put
1:17:39 in the time to make
1:17:43 the best decisions that they can make.
1:17:44 And, you know, I appreciate that for a second here, before I get
1:17:48 to the public out there,
1:17:49 I appreciate you guys.
1:17:50 John, I appreciate you with the amount of effort that you put
1:17:53 into it.
1:17:54 That’s not something that he just made up this afternoon.
1:17:59 He’s been working as hard as anyone on this board and getting
1:18:02 all the data and the facts.
1:18:04 And that’s not his district.
1:18:06 That’s not his area.
1:18:07 And he’s the newest board member.
1:18:08 So I appreciate that.
1:18:10 Those are very accurate stats.
1:18:14 Me being beachside myself and having to deal with rental
1:18:20 properties and real estate.
1:18:23 That is the sad facts of that.
1:18:25 So I appreciate you for that.
1:18:28 And then, Ms. Campbell, what more can we say?
1:18:33 You are an encyclopedia of just good things for school board
1:18:37 members to say.
1:18:38 And much of that was just because of your experience.
1:18:42 You get the combination of the experience on this board and
1:18:46 heartfelt.
1:18:48 And at the same time, you had data and facts that you have a
1:18:53 district that you represent.
1:18:54 And you mentioned that in our last meeting about the fairness of
1:18:58 overpaying on a student.
1:19:03 That it isn’t about the money.
1:19:04 It isn’t about profit.
1:19:05 We hear a lot of that.
1:19:06 So it has nothing to do with that.
1:19:07 But that money represents services that we could be providing
1:19:10 for students throughout our district.
1:19:13 So I appreciate that.
1:19:15 And then, Megan, same thing.
1:19:18 You know, you look back, this is not a problem that our board,
1:19:24 the City Council of Cape Canaveral,
1:19:26 or the City Council of Cocoa Beach, the board’s make-ups
1:19:30 currently that they created.
1:19:32 Short-term rentals have been, you know, coming on the beach side
1:19:35 for quite some time.
1:19:36 And if you know people in both of those groups of Cape Canaveral
1:19:42 and Cocoa Beach that I do,
1:19:46 I know those people personally.
1:19:47 And it’s been painstakingly difficult to watch those board
1:19:51 meetings and council meetings because
1:19:54 they’re trying to hold on to their communities just like you are
1:19:58 trying to hold on to your neighborhood
1:20:00 school.
1:20:01 And they have not been successful either.
1:20:03 You know, if you live beachside, you notice just in the last
1:20:07 five years, but 10 years,
1:20:09 that I’ve been around beachside, how your neighborhoods have
1:20:13 changed to rental properties
1:20:15 when you thought it was just a subdivision. Probably 60% of my
1:20:18 street is now going to be
1:20:20 rental properties here. And it’s not their fault, but it is not
1:20:24 ours either.
1:20:25 You know, that enrollment’s been going down for quite some time.
1:20:29 And, you know, we can take five months.
1:20:31 I’m glad you point that time frame out, Ms. Campbell.
1:20:34 But we could take the next five years.
1:20:36 We do not have the students available beachside.
1:20:41 We have two schools that are on life support and we’re just
1:20:44 fortunate and we’re lucky that they’re
1:20:48 a few, you know, five, six, seven miles apart that we can, you
1:20:52 know, if this goes through and
1:20:54 they merge and they come together as a family, which many of you,
1:20:56 if you don’t know this,
1:20:57 they already do seven through 12 at Cocoa Beach Junior Senior
1:21:01 High School.
1:21:01 And they get along great. And it’s a wonderful school over there.
1:21:06 So I’ll be able to say that if this happens, we are going to
1:21:10 have a very unique
1:21:12 educational experience on the beachside. And at some point, I
1:21:17 hope, probably won’t be tonight,
1:21:19 tomorrow or the next day, that you’re going to wake up and say,
1:21:22 we’re in a really good situation.
1:21:24 We’re not having to bus kids across causeways and go to a school
1:21:29 in a neighborhood that they’re not familiar with.
1:21:31 I’m not sure of anybody in Cape Canaveral that’s not familiar
1:21:34 with Minuteman and Cocoa Beach Junior
1:21:36 Senior High School or those areas. Many of them have siblings
1:21:39 that go to the other schools.
1:21:40 But we’re going to have a K through 12, possibly a situation
1:21:43 where you’re going to have the same
1:21:44 classmates from kindergarten to 12th grade, many of the same
1:21:48 teachers. You’re going to see them in the,
1:21:49 in the hallways. I’ve been fortunate enough to have two
1:21:54 graduates of BPS actually at Cocoa Beach
1:21:57 Junior Senior High School. And I have one there currently. And
1:21:59 in talking to them and asking them
1:22:02 is, hey, would you like to have had double the amount of kids in
1:22:05 your elementary school for friends?
1:22:06 Absolutely. Every single one of them would do that. And we’re
1:22:10 going to have a very unique situation.
1:22:15 I thank you for clearing up some of that misinformation out
1:22:18 there. Uh, I was answering texts
1:22:20 and voicemails and calls today, uh, talking about the sale of
1:22:24 the property. Um, that, that is just,
1:22:28 you know, you can believe what you want to believe. That’s not
1:22:30 what would make this board move of a,
1:22:32 of a singular sell sale of a, of a, of a property, uh, to close
1:22:36 schools and merge them and displace
1:22:38 children. And that’s, that’s the, that’s the last thing, uh,
1:22:42 this board would, uh, consider doing.
1:22:44 You know, we have a $1.7 billion budget. So five, 10, $15
1:22:48 million. It’s not going to solve our
1:22:50 problems and concerns, uh, longterm. So that’s not why this
1:22:53 board would do this. This is a very,
1:22:55 very difficult situation. Um, and now I’d like to turn it over,
1:23:01 talk to you guys about, you know,
1:23:02 during this process, uh, we’ve appreciated you guys coming out.
1:23:06 Um, and I know it was nice and nice,
1:23:09 and now it gets a little angry and now you just, you know, the fangs
1:23:11 come out and I understand that.
1:23:13 This is for some of you think this is the last time I’m going to
1:23:16 be able to do, you know, and say this
1:23:17 about this school. And I absolutely appreciate that. Um, you’ve
1:23:21 got to do what you think you’ve
1:23:23 got to do. Um, and you know, we do, we do too. And because we
1:23:27 disagree on, uh, how we handle shortfalls
1:23:30 in a school doesn’t mean we just disagree on many, many other
1:23:33 things. We want the best for your students,
1:23:36 just like I want the best for my students. And, uh, so we do
1:23:38 appreciate you guys coming out for
1:23:40 your Cape view people. Um, we extremely are thankful that you’re
1:23:46 here, but some of you, you know,
1:23:48 you can see some of the people that come here that really are
1:23:50 hijacking your, your, your, your pain.
1:23:53 And I apologize, uh, for that, you know, come here in another
1:23:56 month or so and you’ll see some of those
1:23:58 same people coming here and saying, we need change. Um, and, and
1:24:01 you guys are going to be moving on with
1:24:03 your lives. So, but we, we appreciate that. Um, we’re going to
1:24:07 not stop tonight that the process and
1:24:09 what we’re talking about, uh, tonight, uh, many things will just
1:24:13 start. Uh, and we want you to be
1:24:14 a pro, uh, a part of this as a community beachside. That’s where
1:24:18 I’m at. That’s where these two schools
1:24:20 are at. Um, we’re going to open our arms to, to you if this
1:24:25 happens in, in Cocoa Beach and all of
1:24:27 beachside to make sure that we have a, uh, again, we’re going to
1:24:30 have the biggest, um, impact in these
1:24:32 kids lives because of the, the way that’s set up K through 12. I’m
1:24:35 excited about it. You, you mentioned
1:24:38 about the gymnasium and I’m still excited about that. Okay. Um,
1:24:42 that’s a big deal and we’re going
1:24:45 to, we’re going to, we’re going to do the best things we can
1:24:47 with what we have. And, uh, you know,
1:24:50 and hopefully, uh, I, you know, if this happens, I see you there
1:24:52 and I say it is pretty cool, isn’t it?
1:24:54 Um, I’m going to do whatever we can do to make it feel like the
1:24:59 new home for the KPU students. So thank you.
1:25:06 Sorry, it took so long. Um, no, I just want to say thank you. Um,
1:25:12 I want to tell you,
1:25:13 I appreciate every one of you who came out tonight. Um, this has
1:25:17 been, I’ve been a part of the board now
1:25:20 through COVID through a lot of decisions that have been made
1:25:23 here. This will be the hardest.
1:25:25 And one of the reasons for me is, is that I was part of the
1:25:29 teams that supported and defended,
1:25:31 um, Cape view and other schools in 2012. And some of the other
1:25:35 times that they came forward,
1:25:37 I was part of the teams that raised money and came here at the
1:25:39 school board and spoke and everything
1:25:40 else I did. And the issue is, is that, um, this is a very tough
1:25:45 decision for anybody to look at this
1:25:47 board or look at this district or look at anybody part of this
1:25:50 process and say that this is not heavy
1:25:52 on us. I will tell you they are wrong. Um, from a perspective of
1:25:56 as the chair that has been close
1:25:58 with our district staff through this, nobody wants to close a
1:26:02 school ever, ever. And I will tell you
1:26:05 that each one of my board members has been working diligently,
1:26:09 just like, um, Mr. Thomas mentioned
1:26:11 about you going to do all him, going to the EDC and moving
1:26:14 through the groups and talking to those
1:26:16 others. I know that miss miss Campbell has been working tirelessly
1:26:20 to work on all of the different
1:26:21 components to the ins and outs. She even drove from Roosevelt to
1:26:24 Cape view to make sure that the time
1:26:26 in between was not, um, uh, too much. And I know that Jean’s
1:26:30 been answering phones and emails and everything
1:26:33 else throughout this entire process, as he just stated and
1:26:35 others. I mean, this process has been weighed
1:26:38 heavily on this board and the decision that comes tonight is not
1:26:41 taken lightly. I want to say thank
1:26:44 you to Wes Morrison for his involvement. He advocated very, uh,
1:26:47 diligently for you along with your city
1:26:49 council. Um, them requesting a meeting on January 6th was the
1:26:54 first time that we’ve had one of those
1:26:56 meetings, which I think we should do more of in general, just
1:26:58 with those different cities. But I want
1:27:00 to give the city council members and Wes Morrison and others the,
1:27:04 um, opportunity to say thank you for
1:27:06 such high engagement with respect. That was definitely there. I
1:27:10 also want to say thank you to the parents.
1:27:11 Um, and just like, uh, Mr. Trent was saying, we understand that
1:27:15 sometimes we pop off and we get
1:27:16 a little angry. I get it. It’s not that we, we have our, our
1:27:20 usual suspects that do that, but you guys
1:27:22 have been dude here. You have been respectful to the point where
1:27:26 every group that has ever come through
1:27:27 here before with a similar situation has not done as well as you
1:27:30 have. I will give you an, I give an A to that A school
1:27:33 district. I give an A to that performance. I am so proud of your
1:27:36 organization and who you are. And I’m
1:27:38 very proud, um, to be here in this decision tonight for you. Um,
1:27:43 I did want to talk about a couple of
1:27:45 little things. Um, just like Mr. Thomas and just like the others
1:27:49 spent a lot of time talking to people
1:27:51 inside of the community, talking to industry about where they’re
1:27:54 moving, doing the same things that we
1:27:55 all did. We all have to work independently because unless we get
1:27:58 to these meetings, we don’t know where
1:28:00 anybody’s at or understand. So we’re actually some of the people
1:28:03 that I called were some of the same
1:28:04 people that had talked to John. So they said, I just talked to
1:28:06 John. Let me give you what’s going on.
1:28:08 So I did want to tell you that our, our group did the due
1:28:10 diligence and just like Mr. Trent said,
1:28:12 and I think all of us would agree, none of us in any discussion
1:28:16 or any emails or anything have
1:28:17 discussed the sale of the property. We’re trying to find a way
1:28:21 that make this thing work the whole time.
1:28:23 I mean, up until last week or even probably yesterday, I was
1:28:27 still attempting that there
1:28:28 might be something out there that can go. I called the zoo. I
1:28:31 called, um, Keith Winston and said,
1:28:33 Hey, is there something we can do here to create a choice school
1:28:35 and all that stuff? I called
1:28:36 industry to try to create a STEM school. I tried to do anything.
1:28:39 The problem is, is that the opportunity
1:28:41 to bring people to the school to attract them was not there and
1:28:44 industry was not interested in creating
1:28:46 that. One of the reasons is, is that the zoo said that, listen,
1:28:50 anything that BPS wants to try to do,
1:28:52 we would try to, but Matt, um, we have already an existing
1:28:55 program at Cocoa Beach.
1:28:57 Many people don’t know about the aquaponics program that’s at
1:29:00 Cocoa Beach, but it filters down to the
1:29:02 kids. So there’s a huge opportunity at Cocoa Beach for the
1:29:06 programs. And that’s where I fall my decision
1:29:09 on. So a lot of the financial is definitely something to weigh
1:29:13 on with the whole scope of it. But as a
1:29:16 former educator, somebody that’s been inside the classroom walls
1:29:19 that knows exactly what an offering
1:29:21 to a kid does, some of the highest participations inside of our
1:29:25 schools are done when kids feel
1:29:27 like they buy into the community. They do that two ways. They
1:29:30 feel like it’s a community school,
1:29:31 but then they also have opportunities to be a part of that
1:29:34 school. When you have the numbers of kids
1:29:37 in a combined enrollment between Cape view and Roosevelt, it
1:29:40 gives that the opportunity for clubs,
1:29:43 for sports, for everything else. Those opportunities enrich the
1:29:48 student’s overall achievement and
1:29:50 academic performance. That to me is where BPS sits. And that’s
1:29:55 where I, as a former educator,
1:29:57 make my decision on, is that are the kids better off with the
1:30:00 offerings that they have locally,
1:30:02 or are they better off combine the schools and get them together?
1:30:06 The other piece to the offerings and the
1:30:08 combined opportunities for those kids is the fact that if you
1:30:12 look at any educational
1:30:14 surveys and studies and research, when you have a K through 12,
1:30:20 it exponentially grows the achievement
1:30:23 levels and the buy into the schools. When the kids know each
1:30:26 other, when they play each other for so long,
1:30:28 when they go to these competitions together, they work together.
1:30:32 It truly is something that is special
1:30:36 inside of our county, being the fact that the academics at
1:30:38 Roosevelt are where they are. This is a very tough decision.
1:30:44 But at the same time, when I look at the overall situation, I
1:30:49 feel like those students will be very well off where they’re
1:30:52 going.
1:30:53 So thank you very much. Does anybody else have anything else to
1:30:56 say? Nope. Okay. Roll call, please. Paul?
1:30:58 Mr. Thomas?
1:31:00 Aye.
1:31:02 Ms. Campbell?
1:31:03 Aye.
1:31:04 Mr. Susan?
1:31:05 Aye.
1:31:05 Ms. Wright?
1:31:06 Aye.
1:31:07 Mr. Trent?
1:31:08 Aye.
1:31:08 Yeah.
1:31:11 I think, well, we are, but if you guys, would you guys like to
1:31:14 take a recess or are you going to pound away
1:31:16 at the rest of the meeting?
1:31:19 We can keep going.
1:31:20 Are you okay?
1:31:20 We only have a few more things, yeah.
1:31:21 We only have a couple things left.
1:31:23 Yeah, let’s keep going.
1:31:25 Okay. Let me get down to where we’re at on this thing. Okay.
1:31:28 Dr. Rendell, please let us know about the next items under this
1:31:36 portion of today’s agenda.
1:31:37 Thank you, Mr. Chair. The agenda item is H1, the Greater Florida
1:31:42 Consortium of School
1:31:43 Board’s proposed federal legislative program.
1:31:45 Do I hear a motion?
1:31:46 Second.
1:31:48 Is there any discussion?
1:31:50 Paul, roll call, please.
1:31:52 Mr. Thomas?
1:31:53 Aye.
1:31:53 Ms. Campbell?
1:31:54 Aye.
1:31:55 Mr. Susan?
1:31:56 Aye.
1:31:56 Ms. Wright?
1:31:57 Aye.
1:31:57 Mr. Trent?
1:31:58 Aye.
1:31:59 We will move to the information agenda, which includes an item
1:32:02 for board review and may be
1:32:03 brought back for action at subsequent meeting. No action will be
1:32:05 taken at this item today.
1:32:06 There are four items under this category. Does any board member
1:32:09 wish to discuss any of these items?
1:32:11 Hearing none, we are now at the board member recognitions,
1:32:14 reports, and discussion points.
1:32:16 Anybody have anything they want to bring up?
1:32:18 I’ve got a couple things.
1:32:19 All right. Mr. Thomas, you have the floor.
1:32:21 First of all, I’d like to take a moment to recognize the
1:32:23 outstanding work of Columbia
1:32:25 Elementary social worker, Catherine Ruiz, known to many as Ms.
1:32:30 Catherine.
1:32:31 According to Principal Julian, Ms. Catherine is truly the bridge
1:32:35 that connects Columbia Elementary
1:32:37 with the community. She creates a welcoming, safe, and
1:32:40 supportive environment for students,
1:32:41 staff, and families alike. Her impact is felt daily through
1:32:44 safety matters lessons,
1:32:46 student services, SBTMT meetings, individual and small group
1:32:50 counseling, food and housing support,
1:32:53 and countless other mental health and wellness services. She is
1:32:55 a steady presence who consistently
1:32:57 shows up for those in need. Ms. Catherine also leads Columbia’s
1:33:01 kindness club, guiding students and
1:33:02 service learning projects such as thanksgiving food drives to
1:33:06 support Columbia families. She has
1:33:08 partnered with the Palm Bay Police Department for shop with a
1:33:11 cop and worked closely with the
1:33:12 community partners to help ensure students experience a joyful
1:33:16 holiday season.
1:33:17 As a school board member that represents District 3, I want to
1:33:20 sincerely thank Catherine Ruiz for her dedication,
1:33:23 compassion, and service to our students and families. Columbia
1:33:26 Elementary is stronger because of her.
1:33:28 And as I mentioned to you a few meetings ago, I’d like to just
1:33:31 try to highlight somebody in each
1:33:32 one of my schools when we do these shout outs. And she’s a great
1:33:36 one to acknowledge. So thank you, Ms. Ruiz.
1:33:38 And the other thing I wanted to bring to light or make sure
1:33:41 everybody was aware of, I know we approved the
1:33:43 trip tonight to Ohio for the Palm Bay High School Marine Corps
1:33:48 JROTC air rifle team, but they shot the
1:33:52 highest qualifying score in the nation. They are the number one
1:33:55 out of all service teams in the country.
1:33:58 They are the reigning state champions and they placed third in
1:34:01 the nation in 2025. And the team is
1:34:04 made up of all ladies except for one gentleman. So pretty cool.
1:34:08 And so I’d like to wish them luck and
1:34:11 congratulate them on their success and also acknowledge the hard
1:34:15 work of Sergeant Major Roy DeYoung for his leadership.
1:34:18 There was a bunch of ROTC stuff on there. It’s awesome. They’re
1:34:22 knocking it out. Ms. Campbell.
1:34:24 So back, we haven’t had a meeting. Yeah. In a month. So, but I
1:34:29 think it was maybe the day after our last
1:34:31 meeting. Oh, Lockheed Martin came. They were doing CTE tours.
1:34:36 They came down to Bayside and Lockheed Martin is
1:34:39 relatively new in our area compared to our other engineering
1:34:42 firms. And so I just want to thank them
1:34:44 for the potential increased partnership that they’re looking at.
1:34:47 They want to, they are looking for
1:34:49 workforce. And so they looked at the machining program at Bayside
1:34:52 as well as a few other programs. So I just
1:34:54 wanted to thank them for their, for that, the way they’ve
1:34:57 continued to be involved over the last year as
1:35:00 they’re looking into our CTE programs in particular. And I want
1:35:03 to thank Cynthia Rayan from operations for
1:35:05 her leadership. We had our, the strategic plan mid-year review
1:35:10 that the board got to sit in and listen to
1:35:11 as our district leaders across all the departments came together
1:35:16 to give their mid-year updates. And,
1:35:19 but Cynthia is the, she is the, the one who keeps everybody on
1:35:23 target. And she’s like, like the
1:35:25 engineer at the train station, keeping all the trains moving and
1:35:29 whatever, that’s not the engineer,
1:35:31 whatever, whoever does that, that’s what she is. So I appreciate
1:35:34 her and all the district leaders for
1:35:37 their, their work towards our strategic plan, which is all about
1:35:40 helping kids be successful. Absolutely. And,
1:35:42 and so all the efficiency community, community, communication,
1:35:47 connections, the excellent workforce,
1:35:49 it is all about making sure we get those kids across the finish
1:35:51 line in the best way possible. So
1:35:54 thank you to all, to Cynthia and the whole team, Dr. Rendell,
1:35:58 all your team who did all that great work.
1:35:59 That’s all. Mr. Chair. Sure. I’ll make it quick here. I want to
1:36:06 give thanks to the,
1:36:08 really you to Matt, Mr. Susan, to put together the, the mascot
1:36:11 Olympics. I was at the first,
1:36:14 the first annual, you’ll be able to tell a little bit more of
1:36:17 the details there, but
1:36:18 it was a, it was a wonderful night. I just to be able to, to, to
1:36:22 feel that school spirit. If you,
1:36:24 if you’re not familiar with it, it really was just, uh, it was
1:36:27 offered to any of the schools to
1:36:30 basically sign up your mascot and, and they, they, they had
1:36:34 their own Olympics and it was,
1:36:36 they had a good time. It was really good. It ranged from kids to
1:36:39 adults, uh, to, you know,
1:36:41 teachers that put on the, uh, the costume, uh, to, to run
1:36:45 through, uh, obstacles and sprints and
1:36:49 dancing. Uh, it was, uh, it was a lot of fun. So, uh, Matt, good
1:36:53 job on that. Uh, all I’ve heard was
1:36:56 we’re, we’re, we’re going to have it next year. Cause we’re
1:36:57 going to have double the amount of, uh,
1:36:59 mascots. It was really good at, you know, zero to do with
1:37:02 anything other than schools coming together.
1:37:05 Principals came out and, uh, you know, was able to just, you
1:37:09 know, drop whatever they had.
1:37:11 Kids not doing their work and all that stuff throughout the day,
1:37:14 just come and just enjoy
1:37:15 some school spirit. And we had a ton of people in the, uh, in
1:37:18 the, in the stands. So it was,
1:37:20 it was really good. Uh, good idea. The weather was great. And,
1:37:24 um, um, of course, I think it was
1:37:27 Roosevelt had the best, uh, best looking, uh, mascot outfit.
1:37:30 That was great. So a little
1:37:32 represent, uh, is the teddy bear with the, uh, with the surfboard.
1:37:36 I think the surfboard got it,
1:37:37 but you know, they, they took, they took some of those things
1:37:40 pretty serious. Some of the, uh,
1:37:41 the sprinting and the, and the obstacles.
1:37:44 I think the sheriff.
1:37:46 Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I have to do that. The sheriff brought his own,
1:37:50 uh,
1:37:50 mascot there with the, uh,
1:37:52 but I think the sheriff actually took somebody and said,
1:37:54 this is an illegal participant and put him.
1:37:56 Well, cause he was too good. Yeah, that’s what it was. He was
1:37:59 too fast. I think that was the,
1:38:00 uh, Panther from heritage maybe, but it was a great time. So, uh,
1:38:04 thanks, uh,
1:38:05 Mr. Susan and, uh, and the board for participating and, uh, next
1:38:09 year will be better. Thanks.
1:38:10 All right. Well, that was on my list of, of thank yous. Uh, Mr.
1:38:14 Susan, you come up with
1:38:15 some crazy ideas and I, I know, honestly, I really need to,
1:38:18 where’s Yvette back there. I’m like,
1:38:20 she ran around and did a ton of things to make that happen. Uh,
1:38:22 you actually were the one that,
1:38:24 that put that thing on, I think. Uh, but it was a lot of fun. It
1:38:27 was, it was a great family
1:38:28 friendly event that was, uh, it brought out the competition.
1:38:31 Some of the schools,
1:38:32 I think it was manatee, which it’s not one of my schools, but,
1:38:34 uh, had the best crowd participation.
1:38:36 They had all of their kids come out and families come out in manatee
1:38:39 shirts. I was so impressed.
1:38:40 I’m like, wow, they have like a whole cheer group over there. So
1:38:43 it was a good, fun time.
1:38:44 Um, want to also give a shout out and a thank you to Sterling
1:38:47 Automotive and Ford Motor Company.
1:38:49 So this past week, they were very generous in donating a truck
1:38:55 to Titusville High School’s
1:38:56 automotive CTE program. Uh, Sterling Motor, um, up there
1:39:00 automotive. They have hired five of the kids
1:39:03 that have come out of, uh, Mr. McBenton, which he gets, you know,
1:39:06 kudos for all this. He,
1:39:09 five students have come out of his CTE course that are currently
1:39:11 working in their auto body shop.
1:39:13 And so one of the things that we’re faced with is that a lot of
1:39:16 times when the kids are working
1:39:16 on these cars and CTE, they’re older vehicles. So they don’t
1:39:19 have all the computer fun, electronic,
1:39:22 whatever. Uh, and so they have recognized this and they were
1:39:26 generous enough to reach out to Ford
1:39:28 and Ford said, yeah. And they gave him a truck. I don’t know if
1:39:30 it was brand new. It looked brand new,
1:39:31 brand new, brand new truck. Yeah. A brand new truck for them to
1:39:34 work on so that they’re able to,
1:39:36 to learn the computer system and get that experience. But
1:39:39 honestly, Mr. McBenton, I,
1:39:41 I just have to, to give him immense credit because he has been
1:39:45 so successful in training these kids
1:39:47 and actually getting them out there. And they had one of our
1:39:49 former students that was there speaking to,
1:39:51 to the students and he was recruiting and I’m just laughing. I
1:39:53 mean, I can see how this thing happens,
1:39:54 you know, but it’s the generosity of some of the business
1:39:56 partners that we see in our community.
1:39:58 And that I believe we’ll be, uh, leaving a legacy that will make
1:40:01 a difference. So, uh,
1:40:02 I also have a state champ. So I’m going to go again, go ahead
1:40:05 and give a shout out first,
1:40:06 since we’re doing ROTC, uh, Saturday, space coast, they have the
1:40:10 space force,
1:40:10 which is one of only 10 in the entire nation. Uh, their marksmanship
1:40:14 team captured their second
1:40:15 consecutive department of the air force state championship,
1:40:19 dominating the field with first
1:40:21 and second place teams in the final standing. So their next stop
1:40:24 is to head to nationals,
1:40:26 but they ranked number one and number eight. I’m not exactly
1:40:28 sure how that works.
1:40:29 Um, they’re breaking up into teams, but they ranked number one
1:40:32 and number
1:40:32 eight out of 857 schools nationwide. So congratulations to space
1:40:36 coast,
1:40:36 looking forward to seeing what you guys do at the national
1:40:39 conference. And that is it.
1:40:40 Very good.
1:40:41 I remember when they built facility that that ROTC, um, I will
1:40:50 say that our ROTC programs,
1:40:52 if you look at the agenda from going to Paris Island to going to
1:40:57 marksmanship competitions and
1:40:58 everything else, we are leading everywhere. And I, and I just
1:41:01 love that. So thank you guys for
1:41:03 making those shout outs. Um, mine’s not going to be very long. I,
1:41:07 I have a, the strategic plan. I wanted
1:41:09 to give Dr. Rendell a huge thank you for your leadership. And I
1:41:13 know that the first thing he’s
1:41:15 going to say is it’s not me, it’s my staff and everybody else.
1:41:17 And I get that. That is part of it.
1:41:19 I didn’t write it. Yep. That’s it. I know, I know you do that
1:41:22 very, very respectfully,
1:41:24 but I did want to give you and your staff the opportunity to a
1:41:27 metrics based strategic plan
1:41:29 that is showing results with just the things that are coming out.
1:41:32 I mean, you have the, um,
1:41:35 highest graduation rate ever at BPS. We’re seeing the PM2 data
1:41:39 that came out. What’s that?
1:41:41 I know that we need to talk about that. That’s right. I kind of
1:41:45 thought Dr. Rendell was going
1:41:46 to do that one at the end. I was going to give Dr. Rendell the
1:41:48 rest of it. It’s on my list.
1:41:49 But you have the PM2 data. Like I want to just say thank you for
1:41:52 your leadership and thank you to all
1:41:53 the team that you put together for that. That is amazing. Um, I
1:41:56 wanted to let everybody know that
1:41:58 the teacher of the year awards are coming up. And if you guys
1:42:00 are interested in paying attention or would like
1:42:02 to attend, um, there’s a way to do that. Thank you so much. The
1:42:06 teachers are the backbone and the,
1:42:08 and the piece of our education system that is, is very important.
1:42:11 And we get to honor those
1:42:12 individuals who have set forward and done the things that they’re
1:42:15 going about to do. So please attend
1:42:16 or watch on space coast daily, the teacher of the year awards.
1:42:19 And then I did want to get to those
1:42:21 mascot Olympics because, um, it was something that I wanted
1:42:25 everybody to understand the way that it came
1:42:28 about is that Jatana and Ali from the communications department
1:42:32 had were tasked with putting together
1:42:35 this thing in a short amount of time. And what it started out as
1:42:37 is the elementary schools part of
1:42:40 the era, we’re just going to do kind of a real quick thing,
1:42:42 right? Let’s just show what we can do.
1:42:43 And then next year we might do something. But the issue that we
1:42:46 had was, is that they then on Monday
1:42:49 decided that of, of the week that it was going to start that the
1:42:52 rest of the schools should be invited.
1:42:54 And when they invited the rest of the schools, the thing
1:42:56 exploded from like four to 27 schools.
1:42:58 And we actually had two trying to purchase mascot uniforms on
1:43:02 the Saturday of the event, right?
1:43:04 So, um, it exploded. And then I called all you guys like in a frantic,
1:43:09 like, Hey,
1:43:10 if you guys would like to come, cause I thought that it was just
1:43:12 going to be small. Now it’s enormous.
1:43:14 And some of you guys were able to, I know some of you guys,
1:43:16 others were not able to,
1:43:18 and, but I, I just wanted to apologize about the explosion, but
1:43:21 then also tell you, I appreciate you.
1:43:23 Um, but the, but Jatana and Allie. So we had some, some stuff
1:43:28 that was going on.
1:43:30 So not only were they trying to manage how we were going to put
1:43:32 this together,
1:43:33 because I think that by Tuesday we were still trying to decide
1:43:35 what the events were going to be,
1:43:36 but they actually were dealing with all of the, I don’t know if
1:43:40 you saw them,
1:43:40 some of the videos that were being sent out by the mascots and
1:43:43 everything else.
1:43:44 And I will tell you, like, I was thinking, I was like, I want to
1:43:48 get into one of those mascots or
1:43:49 something like that because they are amazing at what they were
1:43:51 doing. And, um, some of those videos
1:43:53 and everything else were incredible. And then for me, what ended
1:43:56 up happening is right up until the
1:43:58 last thing, like Jatana and Allie and Yvette ran that thing. We
1:44:01 just got to come in and speak and do
1:44:03 different stuff. Um, but what was interesting was, is that at
1:44:07 the last minute, the person that was at
1:44:09 Ralph Williams that was supposed to jump into that, um, outfit,
1:44:13 um, didn’t. And my son did. And my wife
1:44:15 and I were like, we don’t want this. We don’t, we don’t want him
1:44:17 to do this and stuff like that.
1:44:19 And my little nine year old son decided to jump into it and, and
1:44:22 cheer it up. And he was up against
1:44:25 high school kids and grown men and women. And somehow he won the
1:44:28 damn thing. And I’m sorry to
1:44:30 swear, but like, it was only judged one event by the people. And
1:44:34 then the rest of the events were all
1:44:36 athletic. And it was just like, and he, and he was so nice. He
1:44:39 was like trying to be nice to everybody
1:44:40 else. I was watching them over there. And it was just one of
1:44:43 those special moments where it was,
1:44:44 it was pretty incredible to watch your child be a part of it. So
1:44:47 I just, from the bottom
1:44:49 of my heart to Jatana, Allie and Yvette, thank you so much. You
1:44:53 guys like, it was huge that you were
1:44:55 able to pull that off and do what you did. Our communications
1:44:57 department now has pulled off two
1:44:59 big ones where they, they pulled off the same type of speed last
1:45:03 year’s enlistment ceremony.
1:45:05 And now they did the mascot games. And so it’s just, there,
1:45:08 there’s some special people in that
1:45:09 department and they deserve all the credit. Cause you’ll be
1:45:11 honest with you. I like showed up with
1:45:12 some workout stuff and was like, Hey, we can use this, but they
1:45:14 were like, we’re going to do this.
1:45:15 We’re going to do that. They got all the coordinated everything,
1:45:18 made sure everybody was
1:45:18 safe and everything else. So they deserve all the credit. So
1:45:21 thank you guys. I really appreciate
1:45:22 everything that you guys did. And that’s all I have. So Dr. Rendell.
1:45:26 Okay. So first of all, um, we usually talk about events we’ve
1:45:33 been to
1:45:33 and how much fun we had and how awesome they were. And I’ve
1:45:37 talked to some people in the community,
1:45:38 like, well, if I’d known about that event, maybe I would have
1:45:40 gone.
1:45:41 So I don’t know how many people are still watching, but if you
1:45:46 are a fan of good music,
1:45:48 Saturday, January 31st. So basically two weeks or so you have
1:45:54 the opportunity to see our
1:45:57 all county performers. So it’s at the King Center and it’s free.
1:46:01 So at 1:30 PM, we have all county
1:46:04 chorus. So this is middle school and high school students that
1:46:06 have auditioned and have made all
1:46:08 county chorus. 1:30 PM, January 31st at the King Center, or at 4:30
1:46:15 PM at the King Center for free,
1:46:18 you can see our all county orchestra. Again, these are middle
1:46:22 school and high school students who
1:46:24 are playing these instruments and have auditioned to be in all
1:46:27 county, made all county. So they’re
1:46:28 performing at 4:30. Orchestra. And then at 8 o’clock at night,
1:46:32 all county band. So if you’re a music
1:46:35 person and you want to hear some really high quality music,
1:46:39 chorus 1:30, orchestra 4:30,
1:46:42 band at 8 PM, January 31st, free at the King Center. Don’t miss
1:46:49 it. Now, as was mentioned earlier,
1:46:52 we did get some exciting news last week. The state released our
1:46:55 official graduation rates for last
1:46:57 school year for the class of 2025 and Brevard County as a
1:47:01 district earned a 92.7 93% graduation rate.
1:47:05 That’s the highest Brevard County has ever achieved. So that’s
1:47:08 really, really good news for our district,
1:47:10 really good news for our schools and for our community. Having a
1:47:14 high quality education system
1:47:16 in your community reflects on the community. It makes it easier
1:47:19 for realtors to sell houses. It makes
1:47:21 it easier for companies to relocate here. So graduation rate is
1:47:24 kind of reflective of that. In fact,
1:47:26 graduation rate is almost always associated with the high
1:47:30 schools. In fact, it’s measured by when a
1:47:34 student enters in ninth grade, do they graduate on time and 12th
1:47:37 grade. It’s called the four-year cohort
1:47:39 graduation rates. That’s the 93%. Almost all of our high schools
1:47:43 are above 90%. Several of them are at 98,
1:47:46 99%. West Shore and Edgewood are at 100%. So we’re doing a
1:47:50 really, really good job.
1:47:51 The credit doesn’t just go to the high school. Again, this
1:47:55 measure is associated with the high school,
1:47:58 but it’s not just a high school measure. If the student doesn’t
1:48:03 have the knowledge and skills to be
1:48:04 successful when they enter ninth grade, the path to graduation
1:48:07 is that much steeper. So we’re doing
1:48:09 a great job from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. 93%
1:48:13 of our students are graduating. It’s
1:48:15 pretty good. We want to be 100%, but 93% is the highest we’ve
1:48:19 ever achieved. It’s a great honor,
1:48:21 a great award, a great accomplishment for our district as a
1:48:24 whole, because it starts when they enter our
1:48:27 doors in kindergarten, first grade, or whenever they enter our
1:48:29 doors and finishes with graduation. So
1:48:32 having that news come out last week was a great celebration for
1:48:35 us. Yeah, we’re an A district, 37A
1:48:38 schools. This is the single best measure of a school district is
1:48:42 your on-time graduation rate.
1:48:44 So for us to be at 93%. The strategic plan goal in five years is
1:48:49 to be at 95. Wow. We’re already ahead
1:48:52 of schedule to get to 95. Wow. So no pressure on our schools,
1:48:55 but it’s a really, really great thing that
1:48:58 we should all celebrate. It’s a reflection of what’s going on in
1:49:02 our schools. That is working. That’s it.
1:49:05 Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Indell. Does anybody, any other
1:49:11 board member have anything further to report?
1:49:13 Nope. Okay. You guys want to take a recess. We got four, four
1:49:17 people to speak and then you guys want to
1:49:19 just try to hammer it down. All right. Well, we’re going to take
1:49:23 a, we’re going to take a pause for a
1:49:24 second. We’re going to let Mike start the thing and everything
1:49:27 else and then we’ll go. All right, Mike, you’re good.
1:49:41 Thank you.