Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL

2026-05-26 - School Board Meeting

0:00 man what a fan club

0:02 miss price i want to say thank you um we worked hard through the

0:13 covet crisis and you were right

0:16 there that was one of the toughest things to say we’re going to

0:19 move everybody over basically to

0:20 you and we appreciate your support hard work we never could have

0:23 got through it without you it

0:25 was seamless and we appreciate it um miss kirk i’ve really loved

0:29 the trash talking on florida

0:31 virtual and i’m not going to lie because i’ve always said that i’ve

0:36 always said that i’ve always

0:38 said we can challenge it you know what i mean and i i look

0:41 forward to you taking over for miss price

0:43 and and continuing her legacy but at the same time turning it

0:46 did you say on turbo is that what you

0:48 said turbocharged that’s what i can’t wait to see that so really

0:52 nice to say the things you said

0:53 tonight so thank you dr rindell so we’ll do some pictures in

0:57 just a few minutes we have a couple

0:58 other recognitions so now we want to congratulate tammy harvey

1:01 on her promotion from assistant

1:03 principal to interim principal at riviera elementary school

1:07 congratulations tammy

1:08 okay that’s going to be a hard speech to follow but i want to

1:17 begin by thanking our school board members

1:20 dr rindell mr ramer for this opportunity and for the confidence

1:24 you placed in me i’m truly honored to

1:26 accept the position of school principal at riviera elementary i

1:29 step into this role following an

1:32 amazing principal beth myers who has been not only a tremendous

1:36 leader for rivera but also a mentor to

1:39 me personally i am deeply deeply grateful for her guidance

1:43 support and example all of which has helped me

1:46 prepare for this opportunity i’d also like to thank my amazing

1:49 family for being supportive and

1:51 understanding of my dedication and long hours devoted to a

1:54 career that i truly love

1:56 i look forward to working alongside our dedicated teachers staff

2:01 students and families continue

2:03 building a safe supportive and inspiring learning environment

2:07 where every child can grow and succeed

2:10 together we will continue building on the strong foundation

2:13 already in place a school culture

2:15 centered on excellence kindness and achievement for all i’m

2:19 excited to begin this journey and grateful

2:21 for the trust and support of this wonderful community thank you

2:24 again thank you miss harvey

2:29 all good very good good picture time yeah i think we should do

2:34 the pictures of both of the new

2:35 principals and then we’ll do some other stuff no that’s oh sorry

2:39 mr tom i was just going to tell

2:41 uh miss harvey that you never want to be there’s an old coaching

2:45 accent you never want to be the guy

2:46 after the guy and you’re after the guy she’s she’s awesome you

2:50 have big shoes to fill but we’re looking forward

2:52 to seeing you get to work all of you to come on yeah come on

3:09 yeah come on yeah everybody

3:22 we’ll get along with her and then we want to see it all

3:50 all right okay well at least they go up okay okay

4:20 all right

5:04 okay

5:18 all right

5:32 i’m gonna stay down here for this one well you gotta call you

5:46 gotta start

5:46 i won’t be more than three minutes

6:14 good yeah you’re supposed to say something i know but are you

6:16 good i’m good okay

6:17 dr undell thank you mr chair we want to take a few minutes to

6:21 recognize one of our superstars

6:23 chris hadaway was actually on the agenda tonight to be

6:26 recognized as a finalist

6:28 a top five finalist for school related employee of the year for

6:31 the entire state of florida

6:32 instead we’re going to take this time to honor him as the winner

6:36 the school related employee of the year winner for all of florida

6:40 so i want chris hadaway to come on up as well as i want andrew papsinski

6:44 to come on up and chief properties welcome on up

6:47 so just a little background for everybody that doesn’t know

6:57 already

6:58 Chris is a school resource officer at Rockledge High School. He’s

7:02 a member of

7:03 Rockledge Police Department and he is living out what we all

7:07 want in a resource

7:08 officer. A school resource officer is not on the campus just for

7:11 safety and

7:11 security. That is a part of it. That’s a big part of it. But the

7:14 school resource

7:15 officer is really on campus to develop relationships with kids,

7:19 with young

7:19 people. So they know that the police officers are there to

7:22 protect and trust

7:23 and and serve them. You know develop a relationship with these

7:26 police officers

7:27 and so that they know that this is a friendly face someone they

7:30 can trust and

7:31 develop that relationship for life. You know that we trust law

7:33 enforcement and

7:34 that we’re going to be you know good members of our community

7:36 and so Chris has

7:38 definitely lived that out. One of the things that really proved

7:42 that to be the

7:43 case was when we went to Rockledge High School to announce that

7:46 he had won for

7:46 the state we announced it in the lunchroom in front of hundreds

7:50 and hundreds of

7:50 kids and we were mobbed by the hundreds and hundreds of kids

7:54 because they love him

7:55 and they they were so congratulatory and so happy for him. So I’m

7:58 going to give him a

7:58 a few minutes to talk but then chief and the principal get a few

8:02 minutes to talk

8:02 as well. So Chris congratulations.

8:06 Mr. Superintendent, school board members thank you so much. It

8:14 is an honor to be recognized on a

8:18 level as the state of Florida but I mean to stand in a room and

8:22 represent educators and

8:24 the the people that work inside and outside of the schools in

8:27 Brevard County. We live in paradise and we have the best

8:30 educators and the people that work inside and outside of the

8:30 schools in Brevard County. We live in paradise and we have the

8:30 best educators in the world.

8:30 And we have the best educators and students I think in the

8:35 United States but also the state of Florida.

8:37 I didn’t prepare a speech but I could honestly say that every

8:43 single day it is my honor to represent Rockledge High School,

8:45 the city of Rockledge, the Rockledge Police Department. I grew

8:45 up in the city of Rockledge and graduated from Rockledge High

8:45 School in the year 2000.

8:45 And I constantly say I don’t feel that I do anything different

8:49 than any of the other law enforcement officers that come to work

8:52 each day. I’m just surrounded by really good people. I have the

8:58 support of the public safety director, Chris Crawford, that

8:58 graduated from Rockledge High School also.

9:00 And principal Andy Papsinski that shows me and mentors me and

9:05 lifts me up every single day when we walk through the gates

9:06 together.

9:06 So it is always my honor to represent my family.

9:21 My wife Crystal, Addison, Meredith and Violet, they’re the

9:27 reason I do it.

9:27 They will all graduate from Rockledge High School.

9:29 My wife graduated from Rockledge High School.

9:31 So again, it’s my honor and I’m so thankful to be here and

9:35 represent Brevard Public Schools

9:35 and also the law enforcement officers that work hard every day.

9:40 Thank you so much.

9:48 Yes. Thank you. Chief Crawford from Rockledge PD. Just want to

9:53 thank the board. Thank Dr. Rendell.

9:56 We appreciate this recognition. Officer Hathaway is one of our,

9:59 if not the best officers we have.

10:01 He does it the right way. Like Dr. Rendell says, it’s, it’s

10:04 relationships and it’s safety.

10:07 We take safety seriously and so does he, and we take

10:09 relationships seriously and so does he.

10:11 So I want to thank him, but I also want to thank his family,

10:13 right?

10:14 It’s tough to be the family of a police officer. So great job.

10:18 Keep it up. It’s a team effort. Thank you.

10:19 Good evening, everyone. So I just want to be real brief about

10:27 Chris.

10:28 We’ve been celebrating him for quite some time when he won the

10:30 school-based employee of the year and

10:32 then went on to win the district-based. I had zero doubts in my

10:35 mind that when he went to the state

10:36 competition, that he would be the guy that they would be calling

10:39 his name. You know, going through

10:42 leadership in my master’s program, we, we learned about the

10:45 concept of a servant leader and Chris is that

10:47 to a tee. He comes on campus. He is a true change agent. He,

10:53 just the morale, the culture,

10:56 even in the hard times when he has to teach students, you know,

10:58 about the lessons that they get on the

11:01 back end of decisions that they make. You know, he does it calm,

11:04 but he reminds them that while we’re

11:06 going to have to go through some corrective actions, it’s going

11:09 to be okay and I’m going to be here for

11:11 you through the whole process. And it’s quite evident that the

11:14 students not only listen to that message,

11:16 but they hear that message because, you know, students come to

11:20 him all the time about all of the things,

11:22 whether they got in trouble last week or not. Like Chris is, he

11:25 is a true factor on campus that

11:28 is improving our culture for the positive and we’re just lucky

11:32 to have him. And again, Chris,

11:33 congratulations for being the state school-related employee of

11:37 the year.

11:41 Yeah, do you want to say something? Do you guys want to say

11:43 something?

11:44 Go ahead. I’m ready for it. I’m armed. I’m joking.

11:50 All right, I’ll start. Chris, this is, uh, you should be getting

11:55 used to this by now. This is great

11:57 and you deserve every minute of it. But we talk a lot about

12:00 partnerships between cities, you know,

12:03 sharing the SROs with us. And this is just a, a perfect example

12:06 of our community partnership that

12:08 we have with the city of Rockledge and Brevard Public Schools.

12:11 Um, you know, you said you do a lot

12:14 like what all the other SROs do and you do. And you know, every

12:17 one of our SROs could be sitting right

12:19 here. They do a wonderful job. Uh, but your name was picked and

12:23 you know what, you’ve done just an

12:25 amazing job here. You’ve had an amazing, what, four or five

12:28 years since I’ve known you. Um, and you’re

12:31 the perfect person in this position. So we’re grateful to have

12:34 you and we look forward to watching

12:36 you shine in this, over this next year. So I thank you for

12:38 everything you do, Chris. Thank you.

12:40 Well, I just have to say that honestly, it’s, it’s so inspiring

12:45 to me when I see our SROs in the

12:46 schools and the relationships that you make, because it really

12:48 is all about the relationship that you

12:50 establish with those children. It changes the culture. It

12:52 changes the atmosphere and, and, uh,

12:54 getting to watch, um, I think it was the employee of the year,

12:57 right? That, that, um,

12:58 banquet and the entire chorus program was there and they were

13:02 just singing and they were happy about

13:03 you. And, uh, it was just fun to watch that and see them really

13:06 celebrate you and honor you. And so

13:07 well-deserved, good job. Thank you for being a shining star. I’m

13:10 hoping that other municipalities

13:11 around the entire state look at this and recognize the value of

13:14 a resource officer in there that’s able

13:16 to help with the students. So you’re making a huge difference

13:18 and we appreciate you. Thank you.

13:22 I’m going to borrow a line from Mr. Trent and say everything

13:24 good has already been said.

13:26 So, yeah, but we’re very proud, uh, and way to represent Rivard.

13:30 We’re so excited for you

13:32 and glad your family could be here. And I, I agree when, when

13:35 the choir that was singing that morning

13:37 breakfast, they had no idea. It was just, we just happened to

13:40 have invited that choir that morning

13:42 to sing. They were so excited for you. That just shows the

13:43 relationships that you have. We appreciate you.

13:45 Thank you. Well, I just want to say that, uh, you know, you can’t

13:49 measure the impact that you’re

13:51 going to have on these kids. You can measure it maybe right now,

13:54 but you can’t, uh, tell what it’s

13:55 going to do for generations from now when they’re out in the

13:58 community and they’re out there running,

14:00 running across police officers when they have their kids of

14:02 their own. So the relationships you’ve

14:04 established and you’re establishing, you know, are just amazing

14:07 and, and we appreciate everything you’re

14:08 doing and to piggyback off of what Mr. Trent said, you know, the

14:13 fact that rock the, the city of Rockledge

14:16 and Rockledge PD understand your value and understand the value

14:20 of the SRO program. It’s more than just

14:22 being a cop in the, in a school and you know, you are a shining

14:25 example. I hope you are, I hope you can

14:27 train all of our SROs and some of your, uh, some of your

14:29 relationship techniques. So, I mean, you’re doing an

14:32 amazing job and congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I wanted to

14:36 say thank you. When we saw you at that award

14:38 ceremony, um, it was one of the very few times that you could

14:40 see the kids not running between

14:42 classrooms like in the school, right? That you could actually

14:44 see them in a way that they could,

14:45 they could see the light. And I, I, um, when I taught, I saw it

14:50 with some of the best educators

14:51 that I taught alongside of when the students had a connection to

14:55 them and those students had that

14:56 connection to you. And I, I know that many years from now, um,

15:00 your service to those community and those

15:02 kids inside those walls of that school don’t stop there because

15:05 you’re a police officer in the area and

15:07 somebody that lives in the area, you continue to mentor them

15:11 years past the school. So I appreciate

15:13 that too. Um, I, I just want to verify. I think you’re the only

15:17 employee of the year to win the

15:19 entire state in Brevard County history. I don’t know if that’s

15:22 true, but I want to say it is

15:24 because I can’t remember and I’ve been here a long time. So, but

15:28 I, I, that’s to say that alone is an honor.

15:31 And your work. I, I do want to also say that many people don’t

15:35 know, but you were talking about

15:37 relationships with cities. The city of Rockledge was the first

15:41 school or city to actually cover

15:43 all of their, um, schools with a SRO before anybody else. Um,

15:47 and then the others came in,

15:49 but they made a commitment first to our school districts and

15:52 that’s huge. Um, and they fully paid

15:55 for it too. Before we came into majority Stoneman and everything

15:57 else, they said, this is a commitment.

16:00 So there’s a big thank you to, um, chief Crawford to all of the

16:04 police officers in your staff and your

16:06 city hall, but also to you, Chris, I mean, you do a phenomenal

16:10 job and you know, anything we can do,

16:11 we really appreciate you, man. So thank you. Appreciate you.

16:14 Thank you. Oh, and one last thing.

16:16 He did say it. Um, John said it. I’d love to have you develop

16:21 with our other SROs and SRO training

16:24 that, um, so maybe some of the unique things that you do to help

16:26 out some of our other SROs. You

16:28 know what I mean? So thank you. Appreciate it. All right, let’s

16:31 get a pick.

16:41 All right, let’s get a pick.

17:53 We’re now on to the public comments portion of the meeting.

18:12 We have, Mr. Gibbs, four number of speakers.

18:16 Each will receive three minutes.

18:17 Our attorney will call the speakers in the order in which they’ve

18:20 signed up to speak.

18:21 Mr. Gibbs, hang on just a second.

18:23 Ms. Campbell, you want to–

18:25 Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.

18:26 I spent some extra time that you gave me at the beginning of the

18:29 last meeting, but I just

18:30 wanted to give everybody a reminder of the board.

18:32 I wanted to reiterate our public comment policy just because we

18:36 have this time that is just

18:37 for things we’re going to vote on tonight, and to clarify,

18:40 according to our policy 169.1,

18:44 things that are just ministerial acts like approving the minutes

18:47 of the previous meeting or proclamations,

18:49 which we don’t have any of those tonight, those are not things

18:52 that are agenda item public

18:53 comment time.

18:54 So if you are speaking on something that’s from a past meeting,

18:58 that’s not something we’re

19:00 voting on tonight.

19:01 So those need to go at the end of the meeting or are not on

19:02 agenda.

19:03 We want to get through our public comments so we can take our

19:05 votes, and we’ll be happy

19:06 to hear everybody at the end for any other items that you might

19:09 have.

19:09 Thank you, Mr. Chair.

19:10 All right.

19:11 Mr. Gibbs, please call the first three speakers.

19:13 Bill Perlman, Shawn Griffiths, Jennifer Nagy.

19:22 Can I recommend that we take F42, item 42 first.

19:31 All these people who are here tonight –

19:33 I can’t because you have to hear public comment before –

19:36 Are you sure?

19:37 I’m pretty sure of the laws, but yeah, go ahead.

19:39 Yes, you know the law.

19:40 Thank you.

19:41 Good evening, Dr. Rendell, school board.

19:45 I’m Bill Perlman.

19:46 Tonight, I’d like to address item F17, renewal of outside legal

19:50 counsel.

19:51 I’d also like to acknowledge – I’m sorry, he left already –

19:54 Officer Haddoway on being

19:55 named Florida Department of Education School Related Employee of

19:59 the Year and being recognized

20:01 for his focus on campus safety, mentorship, and community

20:05 outreach.

20:05 Congratulations to him.

20:07 Item F17, renews the contract with Rumberger, Kirk, and Caldwell,

20:12 which was first initiated in 2023, where you’re paying $250 an

20:17 hour for their attorneys.

20:19 Rumberger, Kirk is not the only outside legal firm you have

20:22 contracts with.

20:23 I actually think you have contracts with as many as five outside

20:28 legal firms,

20:29 in addition to the two full-time attorneys and staff that you

20:33 employ here in the district.

20:35 And in a time of extreme budget cuts, the public has a right to

20:39 question why that’s necessary.

20:41 According to a public records request, in just one 20-month

20:45 period between August 24 –

20:48 August 2024 and March 2026, you paid $163,000 to one outside

20:55 firm.

20:56 It’s an average of $8,000 a month to one firm alone, and it’s an

21:00 ongoing case.

21:02 The total cost is likely to skyrocket if you’re held liable for

21:05 attorney fees for the plaintiff’s side.

21:07 It’s important to note that the average of $8,000 per month

21:11 being spent is being spent

21:13 in the court, and Mr. Susan for his refusal to comply with

21:16 public disclosure laws.

21:17 All right.

21:18 Hang on.

21:20 All right.

21:21 If you’re off topic, the other cases are irrelevant to the

21:25 agenda item.

21:26 If you want to address the contract with Rumberger-Kirk, you can

21:29 address it.

21:30 Are you suggesting that a discussion of legal fees is not

21:33 relevant to an agenda item hiring

21:35 a law firm?

21:37 Mr. Coleman, we do this all the time.

21:38 We do this all the time.

21:39 Can you just stick to the agenda item?

21:41 The agenda item.

21:42 I’m asking a question.

21:43 I’m talking about legal fees being paid out and a contract that’s

21:46 being approved tonight

21:47 for a law firm.

21:48 All right.

21:49 Discussion of Mr. Susan’s case is not.

21:51 There we go.

21:55 You know, by interrupting me, you forced me to defend my

22:02 position.

22:04 It uses my time.

22:05 It prevents me from making my prepared comments.

22:10 I noticed you didn’t interrupt me when I acknowledged Officer Hathaway,

22:13 which according to your interpretation

22:15 of the policy for public comments, it’s not agenda-related.

22:19 And you did not interrupt me.

22:20 Are we going to do this the whole time, or what do you want to

22:24 do?

22:24 Hathaway’s on there, but it’s not an agenda item.

22:27 It’s not an agenda item.

22:28 I’m sorry?

22:29 Just so you know, I stopped your time.

22:30 It’s a second interruption.

22:31 It’s not.

22:32 Mr. Pearlman, we do this all the time with you.

22:34 Here’s the thing.

22:35 You do this all the time.

22:36 Here’s the time.

22:37 Here’s what it is.

22:38 It’s a non-agenda item when we’re doing that, so it’s not

22:40 something to speak to public comment.

22:41 And as you know, we’re here, Mr. Pearlman.

22:44 Mr. Perlman, we are here for the action items on the agenda.

22:49 That’s what it is.

22:50 So if you want to speak to one of those, that’s great.

22:52 If not, we give you three minutes after the camera.

22:55 Yeah, when it’s not part of the public record.

22:56 I understand.

22:57 But it is part of the public record.

22:58 It’s not.

22:59 You don’t record it?

23:00 You don’t record it for public record?

23:01 Mr. Perlman, it is written down that you came to speak over

23:04 there.

23:04 That’s public record.

23:05 Mr. Perlman, Mr. Perlman, we can go back and forth.

23:10 You got a minute and nine seconds if you’ll speak to the agenda

23:14 item.

23:14 Some questions for you.

23:18 Why has the school board only been updated twice since 2023 on

23:23 this ongoing litigation?

23:24 Do each of you know how many outside legal counts?

23:29 This is outside legal counts.

23:30 He’s still on your case.

23:31 I don’t know.

23:32 You’re approving the contract.

23:33 Yeah.

23:34 Mr. Perlman, sit down.

23:35 We’ll take you at the end for another three minutes.

23:37 Mr. Perlman, no, no, no.

23:39 You lost that right when you act this way.

23:41 Mr. Perlman, please sit down.

23:43 You have three minutes at the end that you’ve already signed up

23:46 for another topic to.

23:46 Mr. Perlman, Mr. Perlman, please sit down.

23:48 Mr. Perlman, please sit down.

23:52 You have, you can speak at the end of the meeting.

23:54 Mr. Perlman.

23:55 Please sit down now.

24:00 May I ask the three questions related to the agenda?

24:04 You’re stealing my time.

24:05 That was not what you did.

24:07 Stop playing games.

24:08 When we started this conversation, you were concerned about the

24:12 people in the audience having

24:12 enough time.

24:13 Let’s go.

24:13 Mr. Perlman, can you repeat that?

24:14 Mr. Perlman, please sit down.

24:15 I didn’t hear what you just said.

24:16 Mr. Perlman, please sit down.

34:12 Mrs. Tuttle, who’s here with us tonight, as well as their

34:16 children and some grandchildren.

34:18 And so I know that even though I never got to meet him, my

34:22 husband did, and he is a legend in Brevard,

34:24 especially in the South End, I feel like he was on the

34:26 administrative team of just about every secondary school in the

34:30 South End.

34:30 And if he wasn’t on staff there, he definitely had an impact and

34:34 was a mentor to so many.

34:36 So I am very proud as the school member, you know, in the

34:40 heritage area to vote for this tonight.

34:43 And I just wanted to take the time since we have so many people

34:45 here, so many current and former staff and people who worked

34:47 with him through the years,

34:48 just to recognize the contributions that Mr. Tuttle made to Brevard

34:52 Public Schools that are continuing to reverberate throughout the

34:56 success of the South End.

34:57 So thank you for being here. Thank you, all of you. And again,

35:00 thank you, Mr. Link, for your leadership in this decision.

35:02 All right. Anybody else?

35:05 Dr. Rendell.

35:06 I think Mrs. Wright wrote it.

35:08 Oh, Mrs. Wright.

35:08 Well, I just want to share with the community that’s here and

35:14 watching.

35:15 John was one of the people that I looked up to when I was a

35:18 teacher and coach at Satellite High School

35:20 and beginning to look into going into administration.

35:24 He was on that Mount Rushmore of principals that we had here in

35:28 the district.

35:29 And even John Thomas was one of the guys, even though he’s here

35:33 tonight, but I’m going to say that and make his head up.

35:35 I don’t know if I said any bigger, but there were just a few of

35:39 these individuals that all of us that were younger

35:41 and hoping to maybe become principals one day, those were who we

35:45 wanted to be.

35:46 Those were the people we wanted to emulate and be.

35:50 So John had a big impact on me, and I just really, this is a

35:54 great honor, and I’m glad we could do that.

35:56 Just wanted to share that.

36:03 I think we already voted on it, didn’t we?

36:06 Take a vote.

36:07 Go.

36:08 All right.

36:09 We already made motion and seconded it.

36:11 Mr. Trent.

36:12 Aye.

36:12 Mr. Wright.

36:13 Aye.

36:13 Mr. Susan.

36:14 Aye.

36:14 Ms. Campbell.

36:15 Aye.

36:15 Mr. Thomas.

36:16 Aye.

36:17 Let’s get a picture.

36:20 Thank you.

41:52 Two.

42:09 All right.

42:12 Give me just a second to pull all this together.

42:16 That was pretty cool.

42:17 All right.

42:20 I pulled this contract for a specific reason, so I was

42:26 approached at church actually from somebody

42:44 saying, hey, we’re a local company who does elevators, and we

42:47 would love the opportunity

42:48 to bid for BPS, and so it launched into me looking into, I don’t

42:52 know who our elevator contractor

42:53 is.

42:53 I have no idea.

42:54 So I looked at it, got this contract, and there was something a

42:57 little funky with it.

42:59 I think, Ms. Campbell, you even had responded, because

43:01 originally when they had sent the contract

43:02 to the entire board, there was a short six-month extension that

43:05 happened.

43:06 So it was a little peculiar, and I thought, okay, what’s

43:08 happening here?

43:09 And now we’re going back to this one, and now we’re going back

43:11 to just kind of piggyback off

43:12 of this.

43:12 So, board, what I was asking for, and I guess what I’m looking

43:15 for in this one is a couple

43:18 of things.

43:18 The invitation to bid opportunity for our local vendors.

43:22 So my concern is this, that sometimes different vendors, and I’m

43:25 not alleging it’s this one

43:26 particularly, because I don’t know if it is or not, but I think

43:28 if we don’t offer the invitation

43:30 to bid, we don’t know that we’re getting the best competitive

43:32 pricing.

43:33 And so in this case, because we’ve had this one for so long, and

43:35 it’s piggybacking off

43:36 of other contracts, I’m just wondering, would the board

43:38 entertain, because right now it’s

43:40 a three-year contract proposal that’s on here.

43:42 They’ve already had, we started with this company, and it looks

43:45 like November of 2021 was the contract

43:48 that was sent to us.

43:49 So would the board entertain maybe asking procurement to go back

43:53 and modify it for a one-year contract

43:56 versus a three-year contract, and then doing an invitation to

43:59 bid to allow other vendors

44:00 the opportunity to come in and look and see if there’s other

44:04 options out there.

44:05 Are we too close to the renewal?

44:06 We are very close to the renewal.

44:08 Yes, that is, that is, yes.

44:11 Mr. Chair.

44:12 Yes, sir.

44:13 Speaking with staff, we believe we have time to bring it back to

44:16 the next board meeting with

44:18 an amended one-year contract, so we have time to do that.

44:21 Okay.

44:21 And just really looking for a one-year instead of three years.

44:24 Okay.

44:25 So how do you want to do, what would the, you want us to amend

44:28 the current

44:29 motion to do this?

44:31 What’s the item number?

44:31 It’s F-15.

44:32 Yeah, you, you have options.

44:34 You can just vote it down and then they can bring it back at the

44:37 next meeting.

44:38 That’s, that’s what I would do.

44:39 Vote it down and then bring it back on the next.

44:41 Or vote it down or withdraw our motions.

44:43 Right now the motion is to approve.

44:45 You can do either, yeah, the motion is to approve.

44:46 If it fails, it won’t pass.

44:48 They can bring it back on the next agenda.

44:50 Yeah.

44:50 Okay.

44:51 All right.

44:52 Ms. Campbell, you need some time.

44:53 Okay.

44:53 It starts July 1st.

44:55 Yeah.

44:55 I’m, uh, yeah.

44:56 Okay.

44:57 That’s fine.

44:58 So I withdraw my amendment, my motion.

45:01 And you’re the second.

45:03 You have to withdraw your second.

45:04 Well, no, I thought we were going to vote it down.

45:06 Vote it down.

45:06 Go ahead.

45:07 Vote it down.

45:07 Mr. Chair, before we vote, or before you all vote, to clarify,

45:13 just one of the reasons

45:15 procurement was using the piggyback contract is the last time we

45:18 did put this out for bid,

45:19 we could only get two bids.

45:21 Right.

45:21 And so this was something we didn’t know that there were other

45:25 vendors available because

45:27 our history has been such that we couldn’t find other vendors

45:30 available.

45:30 So, you know, with the opportunity to go search for other

45:33 vendors, we’d love to do that.

45:35 No, and I applaud Ms. Wright for bringing this forward.

45:38 Well, it kind of opens up the conversation of just, I mean, I

45:40 understand why we do piggyback

45:41 contracts, but I also believe in competitive bids getting us the

45:44 best price, right?

45:45 Because there is some accountability that’s held.

45:46 Sometimes people get a hold of a government contract and they’re

45:48 like,

45:49 oh, government contract, got that.

45:50 That’s guaranteed pay and it’s a sweet gig for me kind of deal.

45:53 And so I like competitive bids.

45:55 I don’t like the piggyback and the rolling over of a contract

45:58 because I don’t know,

45:59 just like with your insurance or your cable provider or wherever

46:02 else,

46:02 how do you know you’re getting the best price if you’re not out

46:04 there actually shopping it?

46:05 And so I know this is a bit of a niche one, but I thought, well,

46:08 we probably should be moving towards more competitive bids on

46:11 all fronts instead of that.

46:12 But that’s a different conversation.

46:13 So, all right.

46:14 So I just, by way of comment, so I am agreeable to going with

46:19 the board and throwing this down

46:21 because they have time to bring it back to us.

46:22 But I, you know, at this point, especially since we know we’re

46:25 going to have a vendor for this year,

46:28 but I do want to mention a couple of things.

46:29 One, Mr. Hines gave us some of the history, the time that we did

46:33 go out and got someone else,

46:34 then that we had very, we had poor enough service that we had to

46:37 cancel the contract.

46:38 And there are not a lot of people who do this work.

46:40 And also, we don’t even know if the one that, the new one that

46:43 might be out there is even qualified

46:45 and has all the things because there are certain things if you’re

46:47 going to work with a government entity,

46:48 you have to have, you know, the long list of things that are

46:51 required to work for us

46:53 in a school building and all that with students and all that.

46:56 So I’m willing to go for the year.

47:00 But I just wanted to acknowledge that procurement has done a

47:03 stellar job through this.

47:05 I mean, I, one of the great things about piggybacks, I hear what

47:08 you’re saying,

47:08 but we can get the best deal and not have,

47:11 and our team doesn’t have to go out and go through the whole

47:14 process

47:14 because somebody’s got it, somebody has got a good deal for the

47:17 government entity.

47:18 And so that’s, it’s a benefit to us, definitely.

47:21 But I, again, I’m willing to do it because we can make sure we’ve

47:24 got it covered for a year

47:26 and we have time.

47:27 But I just wanted to bring that up, you know, we might not even

47:30 be going anywhere else.

47:31 We might come back and say, nope, we’re going to keep going with

47:34 you.

47:34 So that’s all.

47:36 Yeah, absolutely.

47:37 Okay.

47:38 All the apologies.

47:40 Mr. Trent.

47:41 Nay.

47:42 Mr. Wright.

47:43 Right, we’re voting this one down right now.

47:45 Yes.

47:46 Mr. Susan.

47:47 Nay.

47:47 I’m like confused.

47:48 Ms. Campbell.

47:48 Nay.

47:49 Mr. Thomas.

47:50 Nay.

47:51 Okay.

47:52 F-15 has failed.

47:55 We’re going to move on to, public hearing is now open to public

47:59 comments.

48:00 We will, in accordance with Florida law, accept speakers.

48:02 Each speaker will have three minutes.

48:04 Textbook adoption, four, the textbook adoption, 7 through 12,

48:07 career and technical education.

48:09 Agenda item.

48:11 Is there anyone present who wishes to address this item?

48:17 Do I hear a motion?

48:21 Gene was second.

48:22 Any discussion?

48:23 Mr. Chair?

48:24 Yes, sir.

48:25 I just have a quick question for the superintendent.

48:27 I apologize.

48:28 I forgot to ask you this earlier today.

48:30 I’m just curious on these adoptions.

48:34 Do we have, get any industry input as far as like from our

48:37 advisory group or as far as,

48:39 are these, are these, are these, yeah, just with, just like all

48:43 of our other instructional materials,

48:45 there’s a committee that’s put together and it’s parents,

48:49 educators, industry experts that review the materials.

48:52 Okay.

48:54 Thank you.

48:54 Yep.

48:54 Paul, roll call, please.

48:58 Mr. Trent.

48:59 Ms. Wright.

49:00 Aye.

49:01 Mr. Susan.

49:01 Aye.

49:02 Ms. Campbell.

49:02 Aye.

49:03 Mr. Thomas.

49:03 Aye.

49:04 We’re now on to the action items portion of the meeting.

49:06 Dr. Rendell.

49:07 Thank you, Mr. Chair.

49:10 There’s one action item on the agenda under this category, H1 ESOL

49:13 add-on endorsement program.

49:16 Move to approve.

49:17 Second.

49:18 Any discussion?

49:19 Paul, roll call, please.

49:21 Mr. Trent.

49:22 Aye.

49:23 Ms. Wright.

49:23 Aye.

49:24 Mr. Susan.

49:25 Aye.

49:25 Ms. Campbell.

49:26 Aye.

49:26 Mr. Thomas.

49:27 Aye.

49:27 We’ll move to the information agenda, which includes one item

49:31 for board review and may be brought back

49:33 to the action as subsequent meeting.

49:35 No action will be taken on this item today.

49:37 There are one item under this category.

49:39 Does any board member wish to discuss this item?

49:41 Hearing none.

49:43 We’re now on board member recognition reports and discussion

49:46 points.

49:47 Who wants to go first?

49:48 Go ahead.

49:50 I’m just going to briefly, I’d just like to recognize, this

49:53 might be a shocker, but I’d like to recognize

49:55 Anthony Colucci.

49:57 Uh-oh.

49:57 Yeah.

49:59 I will tell you that the, we may not always see eye to eye as

50:02 far as a board and the union,

50:04 but I will tell you that Mr. Colucci, I had some discussions

50:07 with him regarding the sales

50:09 surtax and millage, and he’s in it with both hands and feet to

50:13 make sure that we get this

50:15 across the finish line, and I just appreciate your cooperation

50:18 and your willingness to work

50:19 with, uh, with us to make sure that this gets the, the voters

50:23 know how important this is

50:24 to the school district and educating their kids.

50:26 So thank you.

50:27 Anybody else?

50:30 Ms. Campbell.

50:32 So we had graduation week last week, and of course that’s always

50:35 an amazing thing, but

50:36 there also have been some other really great, uh, events in

50:39 district five going on and not

50:41 just in district five.

50:42 I’ve got a couple outside that I wanted to mention.

50:44 Um, so let me go through these really quickly.

50:46 Um, I was able to attend, uh, the glow party at discover

50:50 elementary on the Monday of the last

50:53 week of school, elementary schools, you know, they’re not taking

50:55 final exams.

50:55 So they get to do all these fun celebratory things, but you had

50:58 to get into the glow party.

51:00 They had, you know, the lights out and they had glow necklace

51:02 and everything.

51:03 The students had to have learning gangs, gains in both math and

51:08 ELA.

51:08 And there were tons of kids and I, I don’t want to give away the

51:12 news, but discovery is

51:13 looking really good when it comes to their learning gains.

51:16 They had an amazing success, um, this year and kudos to

51:19 principal, Ms. Rosato and to her

51:22 whole staff.

51:22 Um, but it was an exciting today to be at discovery to kind of a

51:25 little pre celebration of, uh,

51:28 what we’re hopefully we’re going to get to celebrate in a very

51:29 public way this summer.

51:30 On right immediately after that, I went to base at high school

51:35 because remember the students

51:37 who worked with Sue’s team to build the bridge at Jupiter

51:40 elementary.

51:40 Okay.

51:41 So she invited 14 of those students to come to Bayside to see

51:45 the construction.

51:47 They had their construction hats and they got to go onsite and

51:51 look at the, unfortunately

51:53 the walls went up literally like two days later, the walls went

51:55 up, but they got to see the kind

51:58 of other construction progress as it’s going on and they were

52:01 super excited.

52:01 But while they were there, then they walked them over to the CTE

52:04 programs and they went

52:05 into the machining shop, what I call the million dollar

52:07 classroom.

52:08 And they went into the video editing classroom.

52:12 They went into the engineering program, the beta engineering

52:14 program.

52:14 And it was, and they, the students have like projects for them,

52:18 scientific, scientific projects.

52:19 And so it was just wonderful.

52:21 So thank you to the whole crew at Bayside to Sue Han’s team

52:24 again, and for getting the kids,

52:26 you know, that hands on it, just the kids were so excited and I

52:29 wouldn’t be surprised at all

52:30 if every single one of them goes into some kind of STEM career.

52:33 I did, we had the mayor’s breakfast a couple of Fridays ago,

52:37 which is such a crazy event

52:39 and it’s long and it’s fun and it’s wild, but there was

52:43 something we found out that day

52:44 and it was on the agenda for tonight.

52:45 It’s got to be tweaked a little bit, but it’s coming back.

52:48 But I just want to recognize the city of Cocoa for their

52:51 donation of,

52:52 I think it’s going to be like $150,000.

52:55 Thank you, Sue, for confirming that $150,000.

52:58 What a city that cares about their schools.

53:01 And so the city of Cocoa has just invested a lot into Cocoa High

53:05 School through the years,

53:06 as well as their other city, their schools that are within their

53:08 city limits.

53:09 But I just wanted to praise the city of Cocoa for always doing

53:12 such a great job partnering

53:13 and they’re going to be donating towards some track improvements.

53:16 The district is going to be matching that with some funds that

53:18 we have for it.

53:20 But I just wanted to say my thanks to the city council and the

53:23 city government for Cocoa.

53:26 We always love those partnerships and they know how to do it.

53:28 Speaking of cities, Mr. Trent and I were both there at the city

53:33 council meeting for Cape Canaveral last Tuesday.

53:35 I just want to thank very much Mayor Wes Morrison for his

53:38 graciousness.

53:40 We did not do what the city council asked us to do.

53:43 It just wasn’t feasible.

53:44 And we had to do our job and make sure that we’re taking care of

53:46 all the students in our district.

53:48 But Wes Morrison is the mayor for the time, for such a time as

53:53 this.

53:54 And he was very honoring of the school of Principal Long and our

53:59 assistant principal, Ms. Dodd, was there.

54:01 And also they recognized the Cape Canaveral crossing guards who

54:03 now will not have a school to recognize.

54:05 But I think Mr. Trent was trying to get them hooked up with some

54:07 other places they might be able to.

54:09 We always need crossing guards.

54:10 Always need them.

54:10 But I also wanted to say, talking about people who are the right

54:14 people for the moment, Melissa Long is the principal of the

54:18 moment.

54:19 She was the right person to walk her school through this

54:23 challenging process.

54:25 And I have the utmost respect for her.

54:28 I’m so glad she’s coming back to District 5.

54:30 And we’ve already appointed her to be at Turner this coming year.

54:34 Very thankful for Ms. Dodd who will also be sticking around.

54:37 She’s going to be a literacy coach and also thankful for those

54:40 crossing guards.

54:41 But I just have to recognize, I just appreciate the mayor so

54:43 much.

54:43 I appreciate the principal so much.

54:45 The city was honoring of the school and the school was honoring

54:48 of the city.

54:49 And it was a great night.

54:50 Oh, my goodness.

54:52 You’ve been busy.

54:53 I’ve got two.

54:53 I know.

54:54 It’s been crazy.

54:55 And we have graduation week.

54:56 I’ve got two more.

54:57 Two more.

54:57 These are such great things.

54:58 It’s a big list, though.

54:58 We’re not even halfway there.

54:59 No, I’ve got two more.

55:00 I’m done.

55:01 Listen, you keep going.

55:01 Two thirds.

55:02 This is you.

55:02 All right.

55:03 Keep going.

55:03 Star Lab.

55:05 So the STEM teacher at McAuliffe went to, I can’t remember the

55:10 name of the conference,

55:11 but there’s a conference that the science teachers go to in

55:13 January, and put her name.

55:16 You know, there’s always drawings, right, for the vendors.

55:19 And she put her business card in for a drawing, and she won.

55:23 There was one of, I don’t know, there were like half a dozen

55:26 schools across the whole entire

55:27 country that won this opportunity to have the Star Lab, which is

55:31 basically an inflatable

55:33 planetarium that you can purchase, right?

55:37 But they got two days of it on their campus, and she didn’t just

55:40 use it for her students

55:41 who loved it.

55:42 It was amazing.

55:43 But she invited science and STEM teachers from across the

55:46 district to come and participate.

55:48 They had a full house, and, you know, I got to come sit inside,

55:53 and basically you’re inside

55:54 this blow-up planetarium, and we went to the moon and went to

55:57 Saturn’s rings.

55:58 We did all kinds of things.

55:59 They can do underwater things.

56:00 You can do your own GoPro 360, and then shot.

56:03 I mean, it was a really cool thing.

56:04 But I just thank you to Ms. Finstead for inviting these teachers

56:08 across the district,

56:09 and thank you to her STEM teacher for getting that privilege for

56:12 the students to do.

56:14 It was a great activity for them to do on the last few days of

56:16 school as well.

56:17 And then the final thing, this is the coolest thing.

56:19 So you guys know, if you’ve ever been to the Melbourne High

56:23 School campus, or if you haven’t,

56:25 you’ve been seeing it, there’s the Liberty Bell, right?

56:27 You walk through the gates, and it’s front and center.

56:30 Right?

56:31 So it’s America 250 going on.

56:35 But that bell was built by students in 1976 by what we would

56:41 call today, like a CTE,

56:42 you know, a building construction type program, Mr. Padgett.

56:47 And so there was one of the alumni who was on that group of

56:53 students who pulled together this

56:56 whole thing, and they did a 50th anniversary celebration on

57:00 Saturday morning of that Liberty

57:03 Bell, and they had a bunch of those guys come back.

57:06 One of them was that they had the widow of one of them.

57:09 These people flew in from out of state to come back and have

57:12 this reunion,

57:13 and they told about the history of how they built the bell, and

57:16 how, you know,

57:17 it’s like five tons of concrete, and they had cleaned it up all

57:21 night.

57:22 So we had a whole different, a whole ceremony, and the kids sang

57:24 and everything,

57:25 and they had drilled a hole and put some things in there, talked

57:28 about the relocation.

57:30 And so it was just a really neat thing, and they’re called the

57:35 bellboys.

57:35 That was their nickname, the bellboys.

57:37 So they brought the bellboys back, and I think there was a news

57:40 article,

57:40 if anybody in the public would like to see this news article

57:43 that came out,

57:44 and hopefully we’ll get to do our own little write-up about it

57:46 too.

57:46 But it was really exciting to be there with all that Mel High

57:49 history on Saturday morning.

57:52 I know everybody was exhausted because they just had a

57:54 graduation the night before,

57:55 but it was just, you know, I am so thankful for the alumni who

57:59 came back

58:00 and for Principal Kirk who helped to organize it.

58:03 They did such a great job, and it was an awesome time.

58:06 That’s all I have.

58:07 Before you go, I wanted to say, Ms. Campbell, thank you so much.

58:12 You are always involved, you’re always working, you’re diligent

58:15 with your notes.

58:16 I just wanted to give you a compliment, because I felt like when

58:19 I said that,

58:20 I didn’t mean it to be long.

58:21 I did want to say I enjoy listening to you because you are so

58:24 dedicated to your school,

58:26 so thank you.

58:26 Thank you, Mr. Susan.

58:27 Mr. Trent.

58:27 All right.

58:28 Yes, Ms. Campbell, you did take a few of mine off there too, so

58:33 that’s good.

58:33 I won’t repeat, but yes, a shout-out to the City of Cocoa

58:37 for their generous donation or the amount of money that we’re

58:42 going to get.

58:43 We’re going to do something really good with the Cocoa High

58:46 School.

58:46 Ms. Stewart had called me right away when she heard about that,

58:49 and we’re excited.

58:51 So that community always comes to bat for that high school, so

58:56 it’s very good.

58:57 Same thing with the City of Cape Canaveral.

59:01 That was a moving moment there, and Ms. Long is perfect for the

59:06 situation,

59:07 and you’re fortunate to have her down there again, so it was

59:10 wonderful.

59:10 But we are looking forward to the new chapter at Roosevelt.

59:15 That’s going to be a great new beginning for those kids and

59:19 parents,

59:19 so we look forward to that.

59:21 Very busy week with the graduations, and again, we’ve all been

59:24 there.

59:25 We all went through it, maybe not as many as I had, but so I

59:29 have five high schools,

59:32 and we had three on Friday, so I was not able to attend Cocoa

59:35 and Cocoa Beach this year.

59:37 But I’ll go in reverse order.

59:39 Friday I was able to go to Merritt Island.

59:41 No rain, so that was good because we’re outside.

59:44 Even the sun was past us, but they have a wonderful tradition.

59:47 They’re about 360-some graduates, but it backs up to a

59:52 residential area,

59:54 and occasionally, not that it’s sponsored, but there are

59:57 fireworks that goes off when kids come across.

1:00:02 So that was interesting, and I think it was expected, but it

1:00:05 went off great.

1:00:06 And this is really a shout-out to all the principals.

1:00:08 I’m sure they all went off well.

1:00:09 The amount of pressure that is put on the administration and the

1:00:14 staff in the middle of finishing up testing,

1:00:18 getting kids graduated, all the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted,

1:00:24 they pull off a flawless event like graduation.

1:00:28 So just a shout-out to everyone from just getting the chairs all

1:00:33 in order and getting it all set up so perfect.

1:00:37 I don’t think I’ve seen a mistake yet in the three years of

1:00:41 going through the graduation.

1:00:43 So that was great.

1:00:46 And then Thursday was my first night at Rockledge.

1:00:48 That was good, all except for the traffic to get into that

1:00:52 stadium.

1:00:53 That was amazing.

1:00:54 There’s a lot of cars that are going in there.

1:00:57 It was packed, and another 360 students.

1:01:00 And it was just an amazing group.

1:01:04 That one was, you could just feel, it felt like a hometown

1:01:07 barbecue.

1:01:08 I mean, it was really, the families were coming out.

1:01:10 It was an exciting time.

1:01:12 And then Wednesday, we’re inside at the King Center with Edgewood.

1:01:15 And that is awesome.

1:01:17 That’s a little smaller, about 137 graduates.

1:01:20 But what sticks out there, two things.

1:01:24 One is we had a, and I should have got his name, but we had a,

1:01:29 they have performances, you know, inside a little bit.

1:01:32 And this young man got up with three choir members playing

1:01:36 instruments and sung just like Billy Joel.

1:01:39 It was amazing.

1:01:41 I mean, he got, like, a standing ovation.

1:01:42 It took everyone’s breath away.

1:01:44 It was amazing.

1:01:45 But out of 137 graduates, there was just over $13 million in

1:01:51 scholarships.

1:01:52 $13 million.

1:01:54 Ms. Ingrada, principal there, said it was the most they’d ever

1:01:57 had.

1:01:57 I thought it was almost $13.5 million of scholarship, which was

1:02:01 just absolutely amazing.

1:02:03 Of all the scholarships throughout, you know, we’ve had it, some

1:02:06 of the, I just picked out a unique one.

1:02:07 And this was from SpaceX.

1:02:09 SpaceX gave a, and maybe some in your area too, but in my area,

1:02:15 they awarded a $5,000 scholarship.

1:02:19 And in addition to that, the family and friends of these people

1:02:25 got a behind-the-scenes tour of the SpaceX facility.

1:02:29 So the kids were shocked about that.

1:02:31 But we had one from Rockledge, two from Cocoa Beach, and one

1:02:35 from Merritt Island that each received that scholarship.

1:02:38 So that was a big deal.

1:02:40 But it was, it’s just an exhausting week of going to these, but

1:02:45 it’s an exciting week of seeing, you know, the excitement in

1:02:50 these young kids, young adults, and the families, the excitement

1:02:55 there.

1:02:55 So I think I shook a little under 1,000 hands and just said

1:02:59 congratulations to just under 1,000 young men and women that are

1:03:04 moving on to exciting times.

1:03:07 Oh, you did, I know you did, but thank you.

1:03:12 All good here.

1:03:12 All right, all right.

1:03:14 I am going to start with reading an email that I got because I

1:03:17 think a lot of times we get a lot of negative stuff.

1:03:19 And I love when I get a positive and a thank you moment from a

1:03:23 family.

1:03:24 So this is in regards to Oak Park Elementary up in the North End.

1:03:27 So I got an email from a parent that says,

1:03:29 Ms. Rouse, I just want to take a moment to thank you for the

1:03:32 smooth transition to Oak Park.

1:03:33 As you know, leaving Sculptor, which is a charter school in the

1:03:36 North, was a difficult decision, but Declan has enjoyed his

1:03:38 teachers and made improvements academically since moving to Oak

1:03:41 Park.

1:03:42 I would like to give a special thank you to Mr. Price.

1:03:44 This was Declan’s favorite teacher and has helped him

1:03:47 tremendously with improving his math grade.

1:03:49 Declan stayed after school to receive tutoring with Mr. Price,

1:03:52 and he never complained about it because Mr. Price made it

1:03:54 enjoyable and kept him engaged.

1:03:56 Declan is now at grade level, which is a huge achievement after

1:03:59 struggling for years.

1:04:00 This is a direct result of having a teacher who cares and is

1:04:03 willing to put in the time.

1:04:04 I would also like to recognize Ms. Clayton.

1:04:06 She speaks about Declan as if he was part of her family.

1:04:09 She truly loves the kids.

1:04:11 She praises them and makes them feel so special.

1:04:13 One day after school, she came to our car to tell us how good he

1:04:15 was doing, and she started to tear up while saying that she was

1:04:19 just so proud of him, and he was her star student.

1:04:22 You should have seen Declan smile.

1:04:23 As a parent, it warms my heart to know that he’s in good hands

1:04:26 when he’s at school and with people that truly care about him

1:04:28 and his success.

1:04:29 Thank you for your leadership.

1:04:30 Have a great summer.

1:04:31 So I just want to give him a shout out because I feel like that

1:04:34 is a huge testimony to them as teachers and the school

1:04:36 leadership there because, you know, we get a lot of emails, and

1:04:38 they’re not always positive.

1:04:39 So thank you so much for the wonderful work there.

1:04:42 Obviously, we’re coming off of graduation week.

1:04:44 I think that is a fill-your-cup-up moment.

1:04:46 That’s what I say.

1:04:47 I’m like, there’s a lot of things that are frustrating and

1:04:49 aggravating.

1:04:49 A lot of times it’s not kids, it’s adults, quite frankly, that

1:04:52 we work with.

1:04:53 But when you watch, you know, the North End, we had almost 800

1:04:56 kids, and I hug them all as they come across the stage, and the

1:04:59 excitement and the energy and just the, they are so proud.

1:05:02 And the families that are out there were noisemakers, and it

1:05:05 just makes you realize how connected the community really is and

1:05:08 how we all want our children to do the very best that they

1:05:11 possibly can do.

1:05:12 And so to the families that showed up in support and cheer them

1:05:14 on, thank you so much.

1:05:16 Thank you for bringing the noisemakers and making sure you’re

1:05:17 there and showing up for your kids.

1:05:19 We love you.

1:05:20 We are so proud of these kids.

1:05:21 These graduating class, I believe, is going to be the one to

1:05:23 change the world for the better.

1:05:24 And that is all that I have.

1:05:26 Mr. Thomas?

1:05:27 You did?

1:05:28 Yeah, you did.

1:05:28 Oh, sorry.

1:05:29 One more time.

1:05:30 I think some of the people may not understand what Coco did.

1:05:37 I wanted to kind of just give an overview because we were all

1:05:40 talking very highly of it, and people were like, what?

1:05:42 What did they do?

1:05:43 So City of Coco decided that it would be an economic development

1:05:47 if they were able to donate to the school district some funds

1:05:51 for the field that’s there in Coco so that they could upgrade it

1:05:55 to host regional track meets along with have what is a jumbotron

1:05:59 for attracting athletes and everything else.

1:06:01 And some of the people may not understand, but we all do, that

1:06:05 Coco won three straight state titles and were very close to it

1:06:08 last year.

1:06:09 Those are big deals.

1:06:10 And the amount of money that it brings to the economy when you

1:06:13 have a multi-day event at a field would bring more revenue into

1:06:16 the community.

1:06:17 We know from this perspective of having U-Triple-S-A, the

1:06:21 companies, when U-Trip opened for the first time, they couldn’t

1:06:24 even find restaurant supplies on the shelves to try to keep up.

1:06:27 So it’s a good opportunity for Coco.

1:06:29 We appreciate all of those opportunities that they do.

1:06:33 So anyways, with that, I am good.

1:06:36 Dr. Rendell, you got anything?

1:06:37 No, I just wanted to share that we have some pretty good-looking

1:06:41 test results coming in.

1:06:43 The students and teachers worked really, really hard this year.

1:06:46 Got to give them credit.

1:06:48 Like we say all the time, we didn’t teach a single lesson or

1:06:50 take a single test.

1:06:51 They did.

1:06:51 And the results district-wide look very strong.

1:06:54 So in July, we’ll do a State of the Schools presentation that

1:06:58 will have all the different things we can celebrate, not just

1:07:02 test scores, but a lot of other accomplishments that we’ve had

1:07:05 over the last year or two.

1:07:06 And just, but I definitely want to thank everybody for all their

1:07:09 hard work and the work they’ve done in the classrooms.

1:07:12 It’s really showing some big dividends and really grateful for

1:07:16 all that work.

1:07:20 Dr. Rendell, we’re going to take a recess break.

1:07:23 Yeah, we’re going to take a recess break.

1:07:25 Absolutely.

1:07:25 Everybody good?

1:07:26 All right.

1:07:28 We’re going to take a recess break.

1:07:31 All right.

1:07:32 We’re going to take a recess break.