001meeting to order at 6:00 on Tuesday May 11th 2021 uh the pledge of the allegiance this evening will be led by Sebastian River High School's Navy junor Roc under the direction of Lieutenant Commander James Landis US Navy retired and Master Sergeant Michael hussy US Marine Corps retired watch left colors ready ladies and Gentlemen please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I to the of the United States of America to the for it stands na indivisible jce for all ready post salute ready two Mar right [Applause] all right welcome everybody uh this is an exciting night have a lot of young folks to recognize in a few minutes uh before we do that though um the adoption of the order of the day and um I would like to have item 5D pulled from the
002consent order uh this is the minutes from the April 27th meeting uh two Corrections are required presentations dnf were missing these will be brought back at the May 25th business meeting for final approval are there any other items from the consent agenda that would like to be pulled yes uh Dr Jones uh 9A uh delegation to the equity committee the completion of progress towards unitary status any other items uh Mrs RAR 6B um and I'd like to add an item um for for an action um the governor's executive orders Governor desantis's executive orders that were just released all right any other yes I have another I have an item for discussion uh policy 4112 board staff Communications what was the uh what was this policy number all right um may I have a motion to
003approve those changes to the order of the day I'll make a motion um is there a second second second Mrs Rosario Dr Jones um all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z all right at this point in time um we have a short video on District initiatives um I'll turn it over to Dr Moore thank you Mr chair we have a A in the interest of time we have presentations we're going to move right into our academic Signing Day this is a exciting presentation that we are looking forward to bringing this is the opportunity to acknowledge um our academic Allstars as we're calling them this is a day uh Across the Nation where it's academic Signing Day we thought the best way to celebrate academic signing day was to ensure over
004here Reserve just wait one second until we get the room situated members are moving here when we have the student ceremony everybody wants to see our academic All Stars I'm not try to all right so we are M are sitting situated so academic signing day is the opportunity to acknowledge the hard work the commitment of students from our graduating class both Sebastian River Senior High School as well as Storm Grove I'm sorry not Storm Grove Vero Beach Senior High School why not why I do you want anybody that do why these seats are reserved for the board members when we have our ceremony they'll be moving back here they'll be moving back here for a reason don't need other chairs we have we need chairs for people to speak their truth here tonight there's no
005reason for anybody to ask me to leave when I have a chair to S you can have my seat I have a seat thank you ma'am you sit down and speak your truth tonight M you can I don't need my seat exactly she has I'm okay I understand that reason get in my face like I don't mind standing back there we're fine no I did not all we're trying to run a meeting I can sit in a chair we good I know you told him nobody sit in here right [Applause] and no I did not I not with me we didn't say anything I'm going to call the meeting this is the last last uh not doing this s the meeting is in recess thank you Mr Barefoot so we start our meeting tonight by
006celebrating those who matter the most our our students and their contributions to themselves to their communities and the hard work that they have put forth over the last 12 13 years and today is the opportunity to acknowledge them for what is next in their their academic life their professional life um or the career that they have chosen so today we acknowledge seniors as they sign for the next phase in their life so with that I'll turn it over to our public information officer who will call in each student as they come to sign and tell us a little bit about them thank you so much for being here tonight we're very excited to celebrate these students and just to double check Dr McMahon are we ready to go all right thank you very much first
007first we will be honoring our families of the students who will come back and take their places behind the deis please and along with the families we have the teacher that the student chose to recognize so teachers raise your hands who are the teachers up there these are our teachers that the children children that the students chose to recognize now let's get started with our academic All Stars Sebastian over high school we have Symphony Ingram Symphony has worked hard to meet the organizational and time management requirements to be successful in the IB program at Sebastian high school she has already earned college credit through her High School courses and is also completing and certifying in a three-year biotechnology Career Tech program as if that didn't keep her busy enough Symphony has completed 150 hours of
008service oriented volunteering Symphony will be attending Stetson University and has chosen to honor Miss Sandra Baker our next allar is Chad is cannot be here with us tonight is that correct Chad cannot be here with us tonight but we would still like to acknowledge our Allstar Chad has completed the rigorous Automotive program and has been highly successful throughout this experience he's a very conscientious young man demonstrating both a strong technical skill set and professionalism because of these qualities he was given the opportunity to participate in an industry internship for his senior year and has already secured employment at a local Ford dealership Chad is an extremely well-rounded student and Chad would like to honor Mr Garrett Rue next we have Mia Martinelli Mia is committed to the development of all aspects of her life mind
009body and spirit while completing the rigorous IB diploma program she has put into practice excellent leadership skills through the Navy Junior Roc and sports activities Mia has accepted an appointment to the United States Coast Guard Academy where she will major in operational research and computer analysis with plans of being a commissioned helicopter pilot and Mia has chosen to honor Commander Landis from Sebastian River High [Applause] School next we have Gael Philip guel is a well-rounded student having earned passing scores for college credit in both IB math AP Spanish language and SL Dr McMahon math SL I'm sorry I thought it was a program I wasn't aware of she's got so many on here as well as successfully completing the threeyear Sebastian ever high school medical nursing assistant Career Tech program she has also certified in
010Adobe software participated in the yearbook program program volunteered through local agencies and has been involved in school clubs guel will be attending the University of Central Florida and would like to honor Mr Ronald yeri our next Allstar is Andre Ruiz Andre has selled while at Sebastian River High School by completing the IB diploma program and serving as the current operations officer for the Sebastian River High School Naval junor Roc he has been offered and accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy go ahead and clap and Andre has chosen to honor Mrs Lori andanson [Applause] Erica Timmer is our next Allstar Erica has many Pursuits in and out of school having already passed and earned college credit on four AP and IB exams she has been involved in many community based service projects student
011council prom committee weightlifting team lacrosse team captain Sebastian over High School SCH concert and marching band and National Honor Society as well as completing the Career Tech nursing program Erica will be attending the University of South Florida and has chosen to honor Mr Eddie [Applause] Flores next we have Devin White Devin has completed the IB diploma program as well as being a member of the football team basketball team and the sebas over high school teen listening program he strives for excellence with his academics earning a 4.48 GPA while concurrently part that deserves a clap right there while concurrently participating in managing involvement in the Sebastian over High School Career Tech biotechnology program Devon will be attending Southeastern University and has chosen to honor Miss sandre Baker for the second [Applause] time we have Caleb cumins
012he was not able to be with us tonight but we still would like to mention Caleb which I will do in just a a moment he's not on there right okay um Dr Moore turn it over to you all right so when when you look at the stage now it really is reflective of what it takes to ensure uh we have a successful school system it is a a a village up there all standing behind the students and we are all so proud of what you have accomplished while you've been here in the school district of Indian River County and even more excited for the impact that you're going to have as you move on to the next stage of life so I would ask each and every single one of you to pick up
013your pen um and as you sign your you have a pen right there right don't you so we're going to get one we're hold on because you got to sign it right right hold on hold on oh my goodness really pens that helps yeah fancy all right so as you get your pen you you signing an acknowledgement of all of your hard work your your accomplishments and also acknowledging all of those other seniors who couldn't be here tonight so on the count of three I would ask that you sign your letters one two three and a big round of applause thank you so much to our All Stars their families and the teachers that were recognized from Sebastian River High School if you would stand and the certificate that you have is for you the
014second one that you signed will be going to your schools to be displayed um thank you for your time and for being here tonight and everyone can exit out this [Applause] door congratulations go Navy have a great night thank you congratulations Coast Guard okay and thank you again for your patience as we take just a few minutes to prepare for beer Beach High School Allstars and we will have pins out this time that's the thing about signing things you need a pen or a pencil for okay it looks like we are ready to get started Dr McMahon everyone ready first we would like to recognize our families who are here to support our ver Beach High School academic All Stars and along with the families we also have our teachers who are being recognized tonight
015from ver Beach High School thank you [Applause] teachers okay it's good to see a lot of support for these students teachers raise your hand so we can see you thank you okay and now the moment we've all been waiting for the second moment we've all been waiting for the Vero Beach High School academic All Stars we are starting with Ashanti [Applause] Bryant if colleges drafted students based on their character alone Ashanti would be the number one draft pick in the nation as Shanti is involved in student government Keystone Club flag football after school tutoring dance team and has spent time painting houses for Habitat for Humanity she was Youth of the year for the boys and girls club and will be the first person in her family to attend college Ashanti is attending the University
016of North Florida and has chosen to honor Mrs Christy Barnes our next allar cannot be here with us tonight miss jeraline Castro Rios we have Mr Corey Carter Cory is a student athlete who has demonstrated Superior motivation this year often visiting the school counselors asking for additional classes and uity to boost his GPA as it stands he has met all of his requirements for graduation and will attend Auto University in the fall he is nothing but polite and determined a gentle giant big heart kind and definitely worthy of being an academic Allstar and tonight Corey is honoring coach Pete duuk our next allar is Ryan juliia early on Ryan Juliana identified what was important to him and began aligning himself so that the goals that he set as priorities became attainable he recognized that Success
017is Not only characterized by the grades that a person earns but also by the character that one displays during his time at Vero Beach High School Ryan has managed to do just that he's organized both a rowing and football club maintained part-time employment volunteered with multiple conservation organizations all while earning a 4.08 weighted GPA Ryan is attending Florida State University and would like to honor Mr Jeff bush Donovan holiday he is is is not able to be here with us tonight and our next Allstar is Michaela [Music] Matthews Michaela is the salutatorian for ver Beach High School class of 2021 and has been accepted to John Hopkins University but wait there's more she was also accepted to the University of Chicago and Northwestern University she is self-directed persistent and has overcome tremendous obstacles in her
018life Michaela has immersed herself in advanced placement and dual enrollment courses with a 4667 weighted GPA she is President and founder of the viru beach High School Ted Ed Club National Honor Society and Red Cross Club member tutors for Miracle of Youth a member of the varsity cheerleading squad and much more Michaela will be attending Northwestern University and would like to honor Miss car Adams our next Allstar is Matthew McGary Matthew is an amazing young man who has overcome many obstacles during his years at ver Beach High School despite recently losing his mother to co he has maintained Straight A's and honors courses Matthew is a member of the National Honor Society the gaming club and works with Oslo Middle School's tech department servicing computers He Is We can thank Matthew for some of the
019laptop maintenance thank you very much he is currently maintaining a weighted GPA of 399 he is an amazing and wonderful young gentleman and will find success in whatever path he chooses Matthew is attending Indian univers State College and would like to honor Miss Beth chrisa Foy our next Allstar is Brio McMillan real has excelled at academics successfully completing AP courses and dual enrollment courses at Treasure Coast Technical College Brielle is active in the Health occupation students of America program volunteers at the ver Beach High School one blood drive assists elementary students during annual science fairs received her photomy technician certification and was invited into the National Honor Society while she held down part-time employment Briel will be attending Albany State University pursuing a degree in nursing and would like to honor Miss Carrie Adams congratulations
020to all of our all stars from ver Beach High School so we will we will repeat the the process again but what a beautiful picture you have parents teachers standing behind the students uh who you have invested in for such a long time so thank you each and every single one of you for the investments in your loved one your children your students uh and we all get to celebrate the success they will have as they walk across the stage in a couple weeks but also throughout their life so go off do great things and come back here uh to Indian River County so on the count of would each of you sign uh your letters of intent ready one with the pen that you have in your hand one two three congratulations thank you
021so much for being here with us tonight all stars the certificate in the blue folder is yours to keep the other one will be displayed at your school thank you families thank you teachers uh you can exit the Tec right through these doors carefully down the stairs please thanks [Applause] again congratulations very proud congratulations congratulations congratulations have a great night congratulations congratulations coach congratulations thank you for being here congratulations congratulations thanks going thank you for being here congratulations thank you for being here congratulations Matthew way to go Matthew congratulations congratulations thank you for being here congratulations okay board members at this time if you'd like to return to your seats ch Mr chair next presentation I am entirely A Brief Review of identified policies and and look at certain policies I I asked staff to
022go back and research and review existing Schoolboard policies um really looking at the issues in which we're currently facing and ensuring that the board is protected and we have the policies in place which govern uh how the school district operates um initial review was to look at and say do we have the policies in place in order to ensure that we are not discriminating we are not putting One race over another race but ultimately we are designed in a way that protects us as a system uh ensures that we uphold the mission statement that stands behind each and every single one of you on a daily basis so just quickly want to review a few policies uh speak a little bit about equity and diversity and then I'm going to ask Mr Meyer uh to
023go through an item that is on action uh prior to our our public hearing so when you look at non-discrimination and access to equal education opportunities policy 2260 uh curriculum content what I've done is pulled uh very specific areas of the of the policy uh and I want to highlight two areas here curriculum content review current and proposed courses of study and textbooks to detect any bias based upon protected classes ascertaining whether or not supplemental materials sing singular or taken as a whole fairly depict the contribution of both genders various races ethnic groups Etc towards the development of human society staff training staff training is implementation it is the responsibility of this District to provide professional development to ensur things are being implemented as designed by policy as prescribed by policy staff training develop an
024ongoing program for inservice training for school Personnel designed to identify and solve problems of bias-based upon the protected classes and all aspects of the program then we review policy 2520 selection and Adoption of instructional materials and I won't go through the whole policy but instructional materials must be evaluated for bias-free Content there are a number of areas which biased evidence for instruction materials must be provided we need to ensure it's free of inaccurate or stereotypes or visual images uh language bias uh historical distortions and emissions uh stereotyping and characterizations so in the selection of materials and programs once again ensuring that we as the system are protected uh from any Theory or action that would hurt children then in our third anti-harassment uh anti-harassment uh the board will vigorously enforce its prohibition against discriminat harassment
025of the bias of race um and it goes on and includes includes um color national origin sex uh transgender uh disability ensuring that we are not discriminating against any one individual we as a system want to empower all students to be successful we as a system want to protect and have a deep understanding as to what it means to live here in Indian River County and how do we take these policies to create a school system system that pulls a community together to be in the best service of its children not pulled apart by political divide but bold and courageous enough to engage in the conversation and dialogue to be the one community that gets it right the one Community that's not that is willing to engage in the conversations to create a school system
026a worldclass school system that acts in the best interest of children critical race theory is is not something that this board endorses we are critical on who we are as individuals we are the teachers in this system we are members of this community we are here to ensure that our children are provided a quality education we've heard a lot about diversity and equity and various definitions that have been placed on diverse and equity and a lot of conversation around the position of a diversity and Equity officer that I brought to the board and when I brought that position to the board the the push back uh was quite shocking to me because I understand the definition of diversity in equity and I understand the intent of the position but as a true reflective practitioner I
027listen I come to a deeper understanding and what the understanding that I have come up come to is I I don't need one position to look at diversity of equity but I need to repurpose and restructure current positions in order to ensure our students have access to whatever it is they need so every single senior has the opportunity to come to that Podium or that stage in sign wherever it is that they want to go whether it be a career whether it be Technical College that we provide access to the human capital we provide access to the resources the additional systems of support to ensure each child identifies their potential and we as a school system we as a community support them with what they need in order to be successful you're right I don't
028need one position but I need to structure and organize the district uh in a way that ensures that this work is being done across the entire organization that access to the appropriate resources is the driving force connecting children to the systems to the people to the programs whatever it is that they need to be successful that's the shift that's the enhancement comes out a cost saving of a district uh reorganizing our district not one position but recreating the district in a way to ensure that we have the volume of support and the level of intention needed to ensure all of our students have access to absolutely everything that I need and I look forward to considering uh what that redesign looks like and bringing that information to this board so we can engage in the
029work we can work shoulder-to-shoulder we need to enhance the systems of support that we're providing as it relates to parental involvement we need to drastically enhance what we're doing for wraparound service wraparound Services before school after school school summer School Services we need to do a better job of putting our shoulder to that particular work we need to ensure access is being provided access to Advanced programming a access to Athletics access to activities access to AP courses access to dual enrollment courses we are not where we want to be as a system but this kind of dialogue that we're engaged in right now hurts children it hurts children it pulls us apart as a community and quite honestly we should be willing to say although we may think differently man let's work together to benefit
030and expand those opportunities that those children just provided to us that's not easy work that's not hard work but this staff will continue to open the doors in order to ensure uh that we're providing those opportunities we will lead in bold and Crees way bold and cous ways in order to ensure that's the school system that we are creating that's the school system we're creating for now I turn it over to Mr Meer I ask Mr Meyer to review an item at the will of the the chair it is an item that's for action but I think it's valuable to go over now because there have been modifications made to that item through the chair thank you Dr Moore um and I won't overstate what I stated last time we met two weeks ago um
031but there like Dr Moore said there were some changes in uh I tried to speak with as many people in the the lobby as possible um about these changes um and so we'll continue to do that here before people speak and of course now that it's been pulled we happy to speak to it in depth later on the Action meeting and I'll continue to speak whenever anyone wants to talk about curriculum um so on March 9th we gave a presentation to the board uh you know of course we've gone through the the board policy of adoption of instructional materials that began last October um at that point in time we did not know which materials would be selected by the state to be on the adop list but gave the presentation to the board in
032March uh in anticipation of a a notice public hearing uh to be conducted on April 13th on March 30th the list came out um and our primary choice in elementary school was not on the list so we reconvened the uh Elementary committee and selected an alternative Choice um at that April 13th meeting I notified the board that although we would have the public uh comment on all of the the primary products that most likely we would not be able to select the Amplified K5 product because it wasn't on the list and we needed to of course move forward selecting an alternative product and so on uh April the 27th we did our public hearing on hmh as that uh Elementary product that is on the list last week we were given some information um from
033amplify that they anticipate uh that K5 product the the appeals process is moving along faster than expected uh and so there is an opportunity uh the it item that we amended tonight uh to have the board move forward uh with the step that we need to take tonight which we'll address later uh that would keep amplify sort of in the hunt if you will or keep the door open to allow um the 30-day uh contest window right in in the board policy and in Florida statute it allows uh curriculum that are adopted by the board to have that open window for for anyone um residents or parents to contest them and uh we would vote on the 22nd to actually procure just one of the products but it would leave that door open for amplify
034which was the committee's primary Choice uh to be selected should it make it through its appeals process um at the doe uh but of course you know any public comment that we or contest on either would be considered by an openly noticed public hearing um to to hear any uh explicit um complaints about either product uh and the way in which they're selected so um that is uh a little bit of an update before you know anyone want wants to speak to those items like I said try to get that information out to as many people as possible uh very grateful that many of the people I see uh have reached out to me we were able to have a great session uh the day after that uh April the 27th meeting have been able
035to speak with community members at last week's Town Hall at an event last night um and just continue to welcome the community to reach out to me and my staff and and we have an open door we love to to share everything we're completely transparent about where we are um but to be honest I have not received you know any really direct complaints about at dhmh um but we'll wait to see what happens moving forward so that's a little bit of an update of where we are um and I think that's it for me Dr Moore thank you so and in short that that allows us the opportunity to go with our first choice we are anticipating it being backed on the the list um if that so happens as Mr Myers said keeps that
036door open that is the presentation Mrs visario thank you is this on um Mr Meyer at our last meeting I um I asked a question about contacting the doe I shared my concerns about hmh um my disappointment with understanding how I don't want to use the word critical race Theory because critical race Theory is not used within the textbooks but it appears in hints throughout what is called culturally responsive teaching and that uh historically or through research is what I found out I shared that at our last meeting one of the things that I asked at our last meeting was why not why don't we call the district uh the doe and ask them about ask them why amplify wasn't put on the elementary list as it was put on the uh secondary list on
037the Middle School list um ask them would they consider um a a a notice or a letter from this District asking them to make adjustments uh so that we can use amplify instead of hmh um and my the response that I received was you're free to write a letter if you want to uh how did you find out about this change now since our last meeting that amplify might now be back on the elementary list uh we received notification from the publisher as we know the 6 through eight is our primary choice for amplify so we are working with that vendor uh and they knew that K5 was our primary choice and so they notified of that I did call uh the Department of Education and they weren't able to you know because of the
038process they were not as uh what would be the right word um open or promising they were saying we are working through the process with them and we can't guarantee that that is going to occur of a given timeline but yes we they would confirm that they are still working with Amplified to make that a reality so we're still not sure correct which is why the item I don't which is why the item still uh says hmh I mean I guess or it doesn't say or it's we will we will only select one of the two to procure because it's a large procurement so I had more to um add and and some suggestions which is why I pulled it um from so I don't believe that this is the the right opportunity to continue
039that discussion um but I I'm I'm very interested to continue that discussion at that time within the agenda but I would like to talk about the policies um that Dr Moore brought up and about critical race Theory specifically what's interesting is and and I suppose now it's it's there there there are no secrets um You and I I have had these conversations behind uh in our private uh meetings um uh at length for months and months and months um and and I appreciate that there was uh something that was put forward in the in the name of courageous conversation um that was created as a professional development for the district and when I brought to you some items that were seriously concerning um and very very divisive very very very um on the cusp of
040um really pitting One race against another which would be the very definition of critical race Theory um after very careful consideration you pull that item and I appreciate that I really do I appreciate that and I need to give you the accolades as the leader because you are not a dictator by hand uh you are a you practice what you preach when you say that you will take a look at it and listen to all sides you did um and uh and and and I thank you for that um but now we're in a place where it is showing up in in curriculum that um is that we do not write I shared this at our last meeting and for those who don't know we don't write the curriculum we do not create create the
041content that is uh taught in the in the classrooms the content is created by the Publishers the Publishers bid through the doe the doe vets all of the Publishers that uh received the bids it's the doe who actually takes a look at all of the content within the curriculum and then the doe says okay these are which is exactly what happened these are the four that we selected as our top four choices for school districts in Elementary I'm just speaking of Elementary because Elementary is on the on the agenda um and then the school districts receive the list of the four and it's up to the school districts to select the list of one of the four so essentially it's kind of down to well which one do you choose if they all have some
042element of what appears to be critical race Theory or this culturally responsive teaching um and if you want to know more about culturally responsive teaching I shared at our last meeting um the research that I found on it um so I uh won't waste any time right now on that um social and emotional learning is not critical race Theory social and emotional learning in curriculum really um looks at the whole child but it is not it is now being used in the public um as a part of critical race Theory and I'd like to debunk that because that is not accurate um other aspects are other aspects that um really talk about the social construct of race or institutionalizing racism or speaking on racial cast systems or using identity politics in classrooms or in lessons
043um there are so many different ways of looking at it the recognition that race is not biologically real but is socially constructed and socially significant uh the acknowledgement that racism is a normal feature of society and is embedded within systems and institutions um and that the idea that racist incidents are um within are intrinsically different because of your race um essentially uh makes people who are white white supremists um I'm I'm really generalizing at this point um there is a a good article that was written by Christopher rufo uh who is an investigative journalist um and founder of direct and director of Battlefront um and he writes what critical race theory is and he says critical race theory is an academic discipline uh that was formulated in the 1990s built on the intellectual framework of
044identity-based Marxism he continues and says that there are a series of euphemisms deployed by its supporters to describe critical race Theory and this is in part where we're getting the community's Uproar about this those uh euphemisms include Equity social justice diversity and inclusion and culturally responsive teaching which is showing up in our textbooks critical race theorists masters of uh language construction realize um that neomarxism would be a hard cell so they lean on the words of equity or equality and some of these other euphemisms how it works in society um and in our our situation we're talking about schools um and and you'll hear these phrases uh so I'm not going to read every single thing here but I'll just tell you that um you might hear uh phrases such as virtually all white people
045contribute to racism um everyone in the federal government uh needs to um convert to the I ideology of anti-racism uh White supremacists um that some people have to renounce their white male privilege and write letters of apology to uh fictitious women and people of color um and this goes on um to really show some ways that we can um fight against critical race Theory um my point in mentioning all of this is that this District does not have we don't have anything this is all fairly new right this whole discussion to us about critical race Theory and it being in or embedded within our curriculum um and I might note that the board does not we don't vote on uh curriculum it was it it's there's a process that happens but there is no yes
046or no to voting on a particular curriculum um so I just wanted to to share that so there's no voting tonight um but we do have an opportunity to share our thoughts on different curriculum that get put before us and then and and we move forward from there what we need Dr Moore because these policies that you shared with us are great but what we need in my opinion is another opportunity for us to get together and revise these to include language that is very specific to some of the language used uh against critical race Theory and against uh the use of some of these ways it could show up in a classroom and I'm almost done uh Mr chairman um some states are already moving in this direction of establishing bills that are Banning
047critical race theory in their schools Oklahoma Arkansas and Idaho are three there are several others that are in their process or have just recently been signed into law many of them have the same language and these are some of the things that I'd like us to discuss on how we can take a look at them and Implement them into our um policies that are current updated or create a new policy and of course the board will discuss that um and these would include very similar language in all of them that any sex race ethnicity religion color or national origin is inherently Superior or inferior in or inferior should not be allowed in any schools or in our district I think to some extent we have some of this language already but I'd like for us
048to update the language so that we are clear that individuals by virtue of sex race ethnicity religion color or national origin are inherently responsible for the actions committed in the past by other members of the same sex race ethnicity religion color or national origin that there would be no distinction or classification of students um based on race or color that no course or institution or unit of study directing or otherwise compelling students to personally affirm adopt or adhere to any of the tenants identified in critical race Theory um be introduced in our uh schools and of course nothing in this section should be uh construed to prohibit um um some other uh um extracurricular um items to supplement the curriculum but to some extent I'd like for us to move forward in that so I
049thank you for bringing forth these uh Poli policies but I'm not quite sure that they address the issues that we're facing specifically right now Dr Jones you had a comment we do have an action item tonight that states we going to adopt either the hmh or the amplify correct that's not the way it's worded correct okay just for my knowledge because um going through this before the state district and school level why was amplify the number one choice uh through the chair amplif we go through a committee um and so the materials are sent out to all the schools uh there's anyone can be a part of the official districtwide committee but we want there to be at least one representative at each School uh they they convene with the teachers we of course want
050all the teachers to do this but we don't obligate them to if they feel they you know they have too much time but many do gratefully because we get a lot of great input from the teachers um and then once all of those results are compiled the committee meets and we we have a discussion in this room um with where everyone shared the the pros and cons and the different um ratings and then ultimately that committee makes a vote on the materials you know I learned a little bit personally from this next time we'll vote to do 1 2 3 four five and I can bring that ranking to the board um whereas this time I only brought the the first primary Choice um you know we might have been able to expedite things had
051we you known better um but that that's the process that we go through and I go back um sorry Dr moris said the very beginning about making sure that every single student regardless of race religion culture um is successful in this district and just a general question any standards K through 12 does it say teach critical race Theory not in those words now thank you say one thing I don't want to get into a long discussion because I do want to talk about this when you bring up the action item for sure but I'd like to hear from input first first and um I agree with you I think we do need to update some policies concerning this because it does concern me that things are going to sneak in and and us as board
052members can't see everything there is to see so I think that we do need to have those policies in place for things that are coming up that haven't been up in the ever before okay um we will address this formally uh as an action item Dr Moore do you still have a few more no uh for the sake of time we we've pulled those other presentations so okay um so the next is citizen input um and I'll read the normal long rules of the road if you will the public may offer public comments by by appearing in person such persons will be placed in the meeting room subject to space availability additional attendees will be placed in areas outside the meeting room and invited into the meeting room at the appropriate time alternately the public
053may offer public comments by emailing comments to the following email citizens input May 11th at Indian Rivers schools.org all public comment emails must include a completed speakers form available uh Below in fillable and PDF formats all emails must have the completed speakers form attached or the public comment submission will not be considered all me emails containing public comment with a completed and attached speakers form received by 12 noon um will be uh provided to all members of the school board prior to the meeting and will be appended to the meeting minutes the public is advised this email address will be used solely for obtaining public comments for the board meeting and should not be used for other purposes or questions persons may only speak once about any given item consistent with school board policy 01691
054uh there there a couple of more guidelines each statement made by a member of the public shall be limited to three minutes duration persons will be recognized in the order in which the requests were received persons may speak for up to 3 minutes at the beginning of business meeting during citizen input as indicated in the the order of business and for and for up to three minutes to each action item during the action agenda and each board member discussion item as indicated on the order of business persons may only speak once about any given item the time period may be extended by the presiding officer only the individual only the individual submitting a speaker's form is allowed to address the board time may not be yielded to other speakers and I would also point out
055that at any point in time the public can email board members or the superintendent so as I call your name please come to the podium to speak you have three minutes also I ask the audience to refrain from comments gestures or outbursts of any kind clapping or booing included if you're unable to comply um then um I will warn you and hopefully uh we won't have to address that going forward uh we want to be fair to everyone that's here to speak and there are quite a few people here to speak so the first person that I would like to call up is Mr Joseph par Joseph bar Joseph Joseph par p a r r great good evening board members a lot of the criticism of critical race theory that you'll be hearing tonight are
056going to be recycled talking points from various political pundits who have who have obviously never read the material you're going to hear things like critical race theory is Marxism critical race Theory holds that the most important thing about you is your race critical race Theory teaches children to hate America all all of these are completely false talking points that are designed to undermine any type of discussion on racism in our country so let's go over what critical race Theory actually is even though it's been already emphasized that it's not even an issue here um critical race Theory it's a framework developed by renowned legal Scholars such as Derek Bell Richard Delgado and Kimberly khaw that identifies race and how it factors towards privilege social factors and social inequalities within Society now according to the American
057Bar Association critical race theory has four main points one that race is not biologically real but is socially constructed and socially significant two racism is a normal feature of society and is embedded within systems and institutions like the legal system that replicate racial inequality three because it is present in all of our structures and systems racism becomes the norm not the incept not the exception and four it recognizes the relevance of people's everyday's lives to scholarship this includes embracing lived experiences of people of color so in a nutshell critical race Theory it's a framework that calls for Americans to examine How Deeply white supremacy is embedded into our nation so why is there so much opposition to this framework let's take a look at the deeper political context of the attacks critical race Theory directly
058threatens white supremacy because it exposes the various ways racism exists in law and policy and examines ways of how the law can be used to dismantle racism this runs counter to the false belief that the that systemic racism ended after the Civil Rights Movement and that the only racism that exists in is on an individual basis now the truth is and has always been that we are a country with a history of existing laws and policies that actively harm people of color and people in marginalized communities in general teaching about this history is not indoctrination as was well by my friend M green if it happened it should be taught you don't get to rewrite history that won't work anymore we all know the truth the attacks that you will hear today are just a
059sideshow meant to distract the board from achieving full unitary status with a desegregation order we should have fulfilled decades ago pay no attention to these deceitful and false attacks say the course and work to make our school district more Equitable for our students thank you thank you Mr par next speaker Amy fog school students SCH student College Gru graduated from here hello my name is Amy fog I've never done anything like this before I have fours daughters I was raised in an extremely racist home by my father and uh I was uh even beat because of a like when I was 10 years old I I was in the nursery and uh I was soothing a little black boy that had um teething issues and I was beat afterwards and and told um I was
060banned from uh assisting in the in the nursery um I have eliminated racism in my descendants this is not the critical race theory is not the way to do it the way to do it is through love the way to do it is through forgiveness the way to do it is to put a stand against um isolating someone because of the color of their skin or because of unforgiveness or because of um things of that nature uh I would also like to say that I I am a true patriot I really love my country and um it pains me to see the way that uh young people are being told how to do this and how to do that and such rather than told that there is a way that in School you'd learn how
061to research you learn you should be learning how to speak eloquently you should be learning how to be in in in fellowship with your fellow human beings um and and not and not oh you know this was bad this was bad this was bad the the way to overcome is to to uplift the good and like George Washington Carver and and and to show people wonderful people uh idealistic and and creative and and such and yes there is the hardship there are people like my father out there that will um combat in in in every way shape or form but if you keep putting a a lid on people's freedom and creativity and being able to fail um it will it will continue and um the the the other issue was I have 10 more
062seconds was the masks and I was able to put myself through school and um I know for a fact if you look up the science it's uh useless thank you [Applause] next speaker Mrs Elward a tinely person good evening everybody Mr M Dr Moore I want to thank you for your the way you began I believe you I just want you to know I believe everything you're saying I I know your job is very hard um I haven't been any of these meetings I've been able to watch all of them I've watched people go back and forth and fighting and we and hash up all of the things that have happened over the school year I can tell you that my daughter was subjected to a covid test early in the year got my covid
063test done submitted all the paperwork um ended up at school on Monday all of the teachers asked her what is she doing in the classroom she had to tell them that she submitted her paperwork from the health department to the front desk the quarantines oh my God I had this whole speech plan but she was always worried about quarantines um watch the kids go back and forth we watch things happen in a classroom that should not have happened this year uh we watch parents go at each other watch the Schoolboard members can't seem I don't know what what's going on I don't know if there's a power struggle between our school board and our superintendent but there is clearly something going on here we need to figure it out I'm here to tell you right
064now none of your names are on my child's birth certificate I will be making the parental decisions for her and as of several weeks ago we have stopped wearing masks in school she has had no problems except from one teacher who has threatened disciplinary action on her three times I've still yet to receive a phone call yesterday the teacher blocked her from entering her classroom without her mask on her face blocked her let every other child into the room she stood there she was very respectful she put the mask on her face once sat down took the mask off I believe in Choice listen there are common colds out there I have not worn a mask from day one my husband is a first responder everyone should have the choice to do what's best for
065them what is best for my family is that we do not mask if I had my way I would say no masks at all because back in the day if you walked in with two-thirds of your face covered on a school campus you'd be faced down on the ground with your hands behind your back and that's a problem I don't want to worry about my 15 16 year old daughter walking on canvas and us not being able to identify when something bad happens so we can either compromise or we can not but I'm telling you now I'm not asking my child will not wear a mask so do what you got to do I'll spell my name for you you can have this safety officer follow me around school all day that's good too I'm
066fine with all that but we have to figure this out and we're asking you guys to finally come down and go this is enough we had the opportunity to take what could have been a really bad school year and make it really good for these kids you have failed to do that okay we started in October we went through uh what do we have Christmas break came back from Christmas break we're still at the plan to make a plan Dr Moore you've said it several times and listen I'm not I'm not trying to be difficult but you said we have to let the parents know what we're going to do guess what they've had over a year okay they can figure it out now thank you um next speaker Nicole Campanelli good evening um I
067just want to thank you all for waking the sleeping giant look at the show up of parents we are no longer asleep and we will be watching all of your moves on all your decisions and votes on items you want to pass because we used to trust you before with our children du the the right things but you have shown us that you are absolutely not to be trusted with what you are trying to implement lately um so I don't know why Governor Dan Sanz refuses to create a separate executive order and protect the children from this blatant child abuse that's been going on for an entire school year but he won't uh last Tuesday I showed up at a press conference he was at in Vero and after taking a photo with him I
068asked why are the children still in masks in school he stuttered but with the Department of Education they put out saying Mass don't work we put that out there following day a reporter asked him the same question he stated in terms of what we're doing next year people have asked the Department of Education has put out very clear data and guidance the school year should look normal the next day in West Palm he was asked we've never required them to be masked he stated that is not our policy Florida has never had a mass mandate for the public for the school children we've never done that we don't support it so he can State his opinion all he wants saying he personally believes children in schools shouldn't be masked um but actions speak louder from
069words and we can all pretend that Florida is free but we are far from it children had never been the ones overcrowding hospitals nor dying out of the 302 deaths in this County 124 of them were at long-term care facilities nothing to do with children so why are they suffering all day it is day 421 of 15 days to flatten the curb children still mass is infuriating and we will not trading the mass for vaccines with our children back at the April 13th meeting I stated any staff who wants their vaccine had the opportunity to do so and then I believe Mr Rosario later stated our decisions aren't based on vaccinations um and if you want to State well what about the immune compromised people in the schools my son is immune compromised his immune
070system is literally attacking his pancreas causing his beta cells to no longer secrete insulin yet I am here the mother of child with an autoimmune disease not wanting the kids wearing masks and the fact that my straight A student who is thriving everywhere else in second grade is worrying about being kicked out of school because he gets in trouble for the mass slipping under his nose when he's in the hallway is ridiculous even though he shouldn't be in one period cuz he is exempt and it messes with his sugars and his diabetes but since this has clearly never been about health you should all be ashamed that your absurd Mass mandate is clearly causing children to be anxious nervous and worried you should be discussed it but what are we doing to the mental health
071of children or does that not matter unmask our children already next speaker Chris [Music] Allen um hi my name is Chris Allen um as you know Governor Dan Santi signed two executive orders recently that invalid invalidated emergency covid-19 orders in Florida and almost immediately the Department of Education said that it doesn't apply to the schools so um I think almost that same week my friend Nicole went up and asked Governor DeSantis about it he said that the doe put out a letter um the next day that he basically wants it to be a normal school year and I think she mentioned a few other quotes and today um he said these kids do not need to be wearing any these masks okay I'm sorry they don't so um these statements reaffirm that it's up to
072these school boards and always has been I saw that Dr Moore announcement on May 7th again he stresses that you plan to have mass optional by the beginning of the school year and if not at the beginning at some point but for some reason you're um about to consult a task force about it first I did not elect or choose a task force to make decisions for my child when it comes to medical decisions you're literally fighting a losing battle Florida will get back to normal and you are the only ones fighting against it I urge you to stand up and make a motion to make Mass optional now and I'm going to read a few excerpts from the um the memo that was sent out upon reviewing the policies of these districts with mandatory
073face coverings reviewing all district relevant Health Data and factoring in such data points as the percentage of students learning in person and the relative population of the county the data shows us that District space covering policies do not impact the spread of the virus um just to repeat that it says they do not impact the spread of the virus um face coverings are a personal decision and certainly families with individuals should maintain their ability to make the decision that is unique to their circumstances BR broad sweeping mandatory face coverings serve no remaining good at this point in our schools um and that's when he mentioned he asked that the um school districts Revis our policy to make the um masks voluntary and I got a letter from the chancellor of public schools today kind of
074going into where that decision comes from and he said or sorry she um from the beginning of the pandemic the number one mitigation strategy the department advised was to keep people sick people at home so if you wanted something from them that's what they said the number one mitigation is to keep sick people at home um they go on to mention how many counties I think 27 had masking optional so for the ones that were afraid to have masking optional there's 27 others that did it um the review of the data showed no link between face mask policies and couny positivity rates um the data also supports the cdc's findings that incidents at school reflect so we want mask optional the next speaker Rick Allen hi I'm Rick Allen I've been here before hello everyone
075please do the right thing you know what you need to do you need to make masks optional right away not waiting not waiting till next year at this point we're wondering you know is it the doe clearly not them they they issued a letter we have it in writing where they said masks are in their mind not required and should always be optional so is it the uh Department of Health here in Florida no because they they referred Miss barenborg she she pointed out to us a couple meetings ago that they referred her to uh the Department of Education so who is it that's controlling you guys is it the school Union the the teachers union is that it are you guys afraid to do it because of the Union you need to take a
076stand get a backbone take a stand against the mandatory masking thank you that's all next Speaker John having a heart uh Kopi I'm sorry if I mispronounced it John karppi you sir my name is John karppi I am a 35e resident of Indian River County my son goes to school here um the last time I was here at a meeting two meetings ago Dr Mark McCain spoke about how many kids he has treated for depression anxiety social isolation and attempted suicides more than anybody he's ever treated in his entire career as as as a doctor in this town the man grew up in this town he came here and spoke to you guys about it he was supposed to speak about masks he went into the whole other scenario he is not treating kids for
077covid he's treating kids for for mental disorders and it's going to get worse and worse if you keep this up with these masks it's going to keep going and keep going until these kids are treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and it has to stop now this charade that you're doing this political charade has got to stop tonight you take these desks you take them you take you donate them to the Salvation Army because they're garbage desks you go back to your podiums where you were where you were uh elected to do go back up there and do your job and unmask these kids for the rest of this year they deserve that my son went to that school he he decided and chose to go to school to wear a mask because he wanted to
078be with his kids and not sit home and have to go see Dr Mark and get prescribed medication it's got to stop the charade is a political charade and you guys are going to keep carrying it on and carrying it on and carrying it on until it never ends now get rid of these desks make this room go back to normal let these people come in this room and be able to speak their truth without being told they can't come in here like I was told earlier today why was I told I can't sit in here when you got people standing out there they all have muzzles on they all they're sitting there with their sitting down on chairs they people are standing up nobody's allowed to stand in here but these two guys and
079they want to escort me out of here so I can sh speak my truth it stops tonight get back on your podiums do your job and finish this thing and let these kids end the school without wearing a muzzle the rest of the year and then decide what you're going to do next year and make it optional this has to stop enough is enough enough and you guys got to stand up we we voted for people to stand up for our children and you're not none of you are somebody's got to step up look at me take a look don't look down look at me when I'm speaking you were you were elected to do this job don't not look at me and look at your phone and play with your hair do it do
080it do it and listen this is what we're here for to speak our truth and you nobody wants to take that into consideration don't want to take Dr Mark consideration that he's pay he's giving kids medication because they can't handle it they can't stay home and be isolated does nobody even see that there something wrong with that there's nothing wrong with that because to me it seems like there's something wrong with it and it needs to stop tonight and you guys need to let it stop you have the power you do it all starts today everything starts today the past is the past the future is unknown it starts tonight end it now next speaker Roseanne Brittain all right well if she's there if anybody knows her I'll she can come back rep name Rose
081and Britain b r i t t a i n no okay um Lynn Parker just go next noin Parker uh next speaker Jamie Mariano good evening I'm here to talk about the masks this is just blatantly ridiculous that we're still having this go on and on I'm not sure when the plan to make the plan is happening we still haven't heard when that was going on um UCF came out today they're no longer doing maass a huge college if they can do it why why can our students not do it my my daughter's in high school every day she comes home she's not feeling good she's sleeping all night I can barely get her up the massive exhausted her my youngest is going into kindergarten we don't wear masks when we go out to the
082store I've prepared her just in case and she's horribly afraid of wearing masks in kindergarten it it's just a sad thing that this is what we're doing to our students the governor said no mask Department of Education says no mask we know who has the power here to take the masks off and I'm hoping that you guys are listening to us as parents not wanting them thank you uh the next speaker D lavendera hey guys all right um there are a number of us who feel the direction of the school district on the equity issue issue is counterproductive we are being told that the initiatives are not critical race Theory as you will be hearing our concerns are not unfounded attempting to marginalize those with legitimate questions and concerns is not helpful we are not
083merely troublemakers as suggested we truly want our public schools to provide the children of Indian River County a solid education in Reading Writing mathematics Science World and US history with a positive emphasis on the Declaration of Independence in the US Constitution and I would add personal finance we mutual respect for individuals especially parents is encouraged and modeled by faculty and staff critical race theory asserts that systemic racism is part of American society according to Professor krenshaw a longtime proponent of critical race Theory it is an approach to Grapple with a history of white supremacy critical race Theory wants wants to continue to look backward in order to exacerbate divisions by race it uses terms such as whiteness white privilege to evoke feelings of guilt shame and condemnation these are not constructive emotions they do not
084create feelings of mutual reconciliation and restoration critical race theory is a divisive and destructive approach it paints with a broad brush condemning the innocent and speaks a spirit of discouragement to those not experiencing whiteness issues regarding race relations within our school district are truly a community issue the answer is through Community engagement it is counterproductive to characterize a large segment of our community as racist while asking them to be more engaged in racial concerns excuse me to be more engaged in a process of racial reconciliation while we welcome good faith efforts in seeking to address racial concerns we believe the focus should be on strategies that will actually bring about meaningful Improvement to academic performance as well as the recruiting and retention of qualified faculty suggesting all white people are racist because they have a
085white skin tone shows a lack of understanding both of the uniqueness of every human being and every human experience in general I also want to say finally please don't say that c critical race theory is new in Indian River County I want to refer you to the July 2020 all day Equity Summit it won't be discussed now it is too deep we're not here to talk about it tonight thank you next speaker is Kim wcot good evening I'm here tonight to address the curriculum I've taught in the classroom I've tutored I've homeschooled I've worked on curriculum selection at school level as well as personally the material I was going to use with my own children I have had uh children in private school and public school um in addition to homeschooling I'm not an expert
086but I am very familiar I attended the town hall the other night at ver Beach High School and heard from Dr Moore a lot of planning and work in regard to the facilities the faculty and making sure students felt safe and Welcome All Good Things however at the end another lady in attendance asked why academics were not addressed that evening and Dr Moore responded by saying they are embedded in everything we do that response stood out to me as I would have expected him to say they were the focal point of everything we do while hoping he had just misspoken I got online to look at what had been posted and I was sorely disappointed to see that he had not misspoken the academics are embedded and they're embedded so deeply as to be almost
087hidden beyond having a very lackluster academically uh academic they are clear the curriculum they are clearly developmentally inappropriate there was a Thanksgiving story about an older couple who ended up eating Thanksgiving dinner with a family of new immigrants this is a lovely story for Story Hour at the library but the closest this story got to teaching anything about Thanksgiving was the off-handed mention of the pilgrim and an Indian on the table with a dancing man there was nothing in the module to talk about the celebration the pilgrims had with the Indians the Gratitude the pilgrims had for the help the Indians had been to them there was nothing about Lincoln's Proclamation about Thanksgiving Day the main or big idea as this curriculum terms it was that the Immigrant family saved the day for an older
088couple again Sweet on its face but nothing academic about it and taking the place of many excellent stories that could teach something about Thanksgiving for fifth grade there was a poem book about a young man who had come to the United States from El Salvador by fifth grade you could be using poetry of a much richer nature than what was the than what this language art selection was but even the follow-up questions were about the feelings certain Works elicited not even a look at the vocabulary that might be used to bring about a certain Feeling Again nothing academic another opportunity lost to to bring enriching poetry that would teach the students how to express their feelings through word art the kindergarten curriculum chosen you chose to post was simply developmentally off and may result in
089many children feeling frustrated and learning that school is not the place I will succeed I know there's a system and I know the doe approves certain curriculum and you lose money if you use something outside that framework I also know you can get another I'll be done just a second I also know you can get curriculum approved by Doe and appreciate that you are working on that um it doesn't take that much to educate our kids well we've got to have the right curriculum you've got to do a cost benefit analysis and get the right thing done you have a huge responsibility to the Future wrap and those social emotional based curriculums will not prepare the children of this County to succeed in the world ahead of them thank [Applause] you next speaker Asus lavendera
090I have a question for the uh Mr yepy Stetson college student that was here made the first talk and it's actually a question I have for all of you I wonder if he knows who one of the most famous founders of the Texas Republican party was back in 1869 do any of you know that the most famous founder of the Texas Republican party does anyone here raise your hand if you happen to know who that is I'll give you a hint it's a black American nobody nobody knows it was Frederick Douglas the greatest abolition in All American history did you also know that 90% of the makeup of the Texas Republican party was from black freed black slaves wonder why did you also know that uh Thomas Soul the greatest philosopher and thinker of the
09120th century a black man was a republican not a Democrat why would that be did you also know that Dr Thomas uh Dr uh sorry uh Dr King the uh Dr King was a republican Martin Luther King was not a Democrat why is that let me guess let me try a little guess here did you know that when the Republican party was formed it was formed for one reason to stop the advancement of slavery into Nebraska and Kansas very shortly after that it was expanded that they would completely abolish slavery altogether meanwhile the the Democrat Party fought tooth and nail to stop them from doing that the the Democrat Party created segreg uh well they created the Klux Clan the the Democrat Party created the Klux Clan the Democrat Party voted 100% against the 13th
09214th and 15 amendments to the Constitution voted completely against um the mation proclamation they they created the uh all the uh segregation laws throughout all municipalities so what about today has things changed today well you have the putative head of the Democrat party today basement Joe two years ago in 2019 Was Heard very clearly on public television praising two former deceased Democrat Senator segregationists segregationist racist so if you praise them what does that make you and going back even further the Democrats at a guy a senator named Robert bird who was not only a segregationist he was an actual cleal a me a high level member of the Klux Clan so the if you want to get rid of an institution if you want to get rid of institutional racism you have just one thing
093you got to do completely get rid of the Democrat Party and anyone who votes for any Democrat in any office anywhere in this country by your own definition not mine by your own definition is a racist and a segregationist so what I heard from Mr Stetson was more like um a walking Shadow a poor player that struts and Frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more telling a tale told by an idiot full of Sound and Fury signifying nothing I wonder if he knows where that's from thank you uh next speaker Susan heel uh all right the next speaker Melissa berck thank you um this evening's been interesting and it's always interesting following um Jesus which in White in whiteness I could say he's following Jesus um but that would be
094really difficult so um anyway our order was all messed up and I just I guess my first thing I want to do is apologize to Dr Moore because I've said some harsh things to you uh well actually wait I I refrain I take that back I will apologize to you and I will ask for your forgiveness once I feel you have earned it um I still believe in meritocracy even though um critical race Theory and the most common uh curriculum right now is not teaching meritocracy it's teaching what your color is what your position is so I'm going to be a little all over the place because I truly want to believe what you're doing here and people have actually told me that you are the man to do the job again I'm refrain that's
095not the official apology um but I don't know that that's true because we're getting mixed messages um first we're insulted that we don't know what critical race theory is and we do and the thing is in truth be told in popular culture they are obfuscating it they are changing it so that we cannot have that honest conversation about what it is and what the end goal is um so so I'm just going to backtrack and I know I'm probably going to run out time just to just to show you the mixed messaging we're getting from the Indian River school department when you tell us we don't know what we're talking about and when you tell us there's no critical race Theory I'm referencing the teacher training manual for professional development now this has been um
096this what this has been used it was on your Spring Showcase and the actual uh page that I'm R going to read from is raise my life which we were told it was a reference used as a refence reference um but I will ask you that the the author who wrote it Glenn Singleton he he is an advocate of critical race theory he has been working in this area since the 1980s so I throw it to the board and I don't know if we can do a Q&A here but when I read this I would like you to let me know if you believe what I'm saying to you because this is what you're training our teachers with who will therefore they may have the most nominal curriculum it could be fantastic it could be
097from Hillsdale College which would make me so proud but I doubt that but if you're teaching your teachers to see our children as only color and specifically wiping away their whiteness then we got a problem so that's where the disconnect is and again I would like eyes on me not looking down at your phones um so Glenn Singleton's specific one that just really you know Dr Moore you said you don't want to hurt children right and I'm thinking of all those students who were here also earlier today and I thought well you know wow should we just let them know that as I'm quoting oh what no okay I I'm not three minutes am I dang okay so I guess my 100% of my time was racist because that's what this says and I do
098apologize I didn't follow but it also says this is to say the impact of race disappears only when you no longer have your skin so where do we go from here thank you thank you you see where I dropped it sorry uh the next speaker is Rosemary Wilson good evening I would hope that maybe with the next crowd that we have for a meeting like this you might be able to accommodate more people after all I think the scare is pretty much gone and citizens should be taken care of and I just want to mention that you board members May accept or reject any curriculum that comes before you or you can reject all C curriculum the two issues that have created controversy recently are first first the hiring of an equity diversity consultant and
099the second issue is the purchase of new curriculum for millions of dollars which is objectionable due to its content of indoctrination you failed to act on on either issue on both issues I have four questions for you and I would hope that you would respond at some point do you support Public Schools separate separating first graders into groups of oppressors or oppressed do you support mandatory curriculum teaching that all white people play a part in systemic racism do you support Public Schools instructing white parents to become white traitors and educate for white abolition do you want those who work in government to be required to undergo this kind of re-education how about our military how about managers and workers in Corporate America how about any one of us I expect all of you to respond
100to these questions we have an election coming up next year and it would be good to know how you feel thank you the next speaker Paul [Music] Wescott good evening I appreciate your patience and and and I truly appreciate the interest that our district has had on the topic of race relations and and improving the performance of of of uh on academics of our students together with uh the recruit I think those are the two elements that remain in the uh desegregation order and should be the focus of our attention I appreciate hearing that we're not embracing critical race Theory however the book that was uh up here earlier courageous conversations as I understand is a resource thank you is a resource that is being used and it has some really rough stuff in it
101if you all haven't read it you need to BEC I've highlighted it you're welcome to my copy okay um but it is not constructive conversation and what this tells me is that while yes we do have a policy stuff is falling through the cracks so we need a better policy a better policy and to that extent um I didn't have time to do it um M Rosario took some of my thunder I made copies of the statutes that have been adopted by other states dealing with critical race Theory when I first heard that it couldn't that it was had been done I wondering I'm a lawyer how did they do it how could they do it I read it and actually they did it pretty well so I'm going to leave these here for you
102all because I think this is a good starting place for a policy um I know there have been issues with the school district and spending money on lawyers I'm happy to help you draft a policy pro bono okay had I had the time before today I would have delivered it okay I just didn't have the time I apologize but I would have loved to have done that because I think it would help deescalate the conversation okay I want to focus on community engagement I think that's where our answer is I think you all owe it to the community Dr Moore has spoken for you but I think each and every one of the board members need to tell us where do you stand on critical race Theory are you going to help M help us
103make sure that we don't have to deal with divisive issues in our classrooms or in our faculty rooms okay so help us know that by clearly telling is where you stand uh give uh Dr Long the resources in terms of funding Staffing to do her job I would ask that you look into getting a an Advisory Board behind her to help her reach into the community there are a lot of people that really are interested in helping but when we hear whiteness white privilege all of that stuff it doesn't give us warm and fuzzy feelings quite frankly I don't want to show up and have a reason to feel guilty my family comes from Kansas and Illinois I haven't done detailed research I'm pretty sure none of them open owned any slaves I shouldn't feel
104guilty and I shouldn't have to t t tiptoe around those issues showing up to help neither should anybody else in our community okay so let's focus on on getting rid of this stuff developing a clear policy so we don't have to play wack-a-mole looking for where this stuff pops up and make it clear so we know where we stand thank you um next speaker Don Wilkerson and M Miss Wilkerson while you're walking up there not I'd love to know where where your email address came from I won't I won't read it for privacy but it's very interesting oh okay you can tell me sometime okay I will um okay hi my name is Don Wilkerson um as mentioned last time I was here in March Studies have revealed that children are 10 times more likely
105to die from suicide than from the Corona virus they're meant to be protected from I personally know three teenagers who have considered suicide in 2020 this is alarming and heartbreaking there's an overwhelming amount of research showing why our children should not be masked Governor desantis's executive order ended covid mandates across Florida on May 3rd some schools have gone to optional masking Florida education commissioner Richard Cochran issued a memo recently telling school districts to amend their mask policies to make masks optional the Department of Education reviewed data from across the state and did not find any correlation between sweeping mask mandates and the presence of covid-19 in schools the data shows us that districts fa face covering policies do not impact the spread of the virus families should have the option of determining whether their child
106wears a face covering he adds that students with disabilities and those learning English are particularly impeded by the one-size fits-all mask policiy why are we continuing with masks social distancing and quarantining our healthy kids you have had the ability to make masks optional why haven't you you are choosing to not let our children breathe fresh air why unmask our kids now tonight have the boldness to stand up and say enough is enough we're done with this you can do it the Santa Rosa County School Board in Florida voted on Monday May 3rd to remove the district's mask mandate immediately face coverings are optional there we will remember your choice of an action parents grandparents concerned citizens here in Viro beach in Indian River County there are three Schoolboard seats up for vote in August 2022
107those seats are currently held by Schiff Rosario and Borg for districts 1 2 and four if you are not happy with decisions they have made I encourage you to do something about it on another note I would like to voice my concern against this critical race Theory or I've heard it termed cultural responsive teaching being implemented in our schools most parents may not know that you are getting ready to adopt some new curriculum I appreciate what I heard from Dr Moore tonight um I just want to say that it's separating our kids based on the color of their skin so rather than healing and uniting us it's dividing us and it's poisoning to Liberty humanity and true Community this is not who we are as Americans parents I urge you to bombard these board members
108regarding this phone call make emails um get involved CRT I'm almost finished um I urge you to consider removing your kids from public school if CRT is implemented in our school system I'd be happy to help you with that look me up find me um I would like a response to you on these issues um when you don't answer concerned parents and taxpayers your silence speaks volumes to us next speaker is Pedro Roi if I mispronounce it I apologize okay I I did not came with prare some of the other parents uh I just have something that I was given to which is great uh my name is Pedro uh I am a Mexican immigrant I came and I was raised here in Indian River School District I have experienced uh racism and prejudism by
109School staff and other members of the community however I do not uh agree with critical race Theory and I am very glad to hear by the board that we're moving in the right direction and uh really uh going forward with some of those things today uh I I was a high school dropout twice due to certain things that happen in my life uh today I hold uh a couple degrees uh in graduate school and I have uh employed up to close to 40 people in N River County so I do not consider myself a victim uh of the system however I do believe that this is something uh that we have to talk about and we have to continue moving forward with some of these race topics uh I believe like I said and thank
110you guys uh for um uh having a pece and and ease some of my concerns uh but I I do not think the critical R theory is a uh a point where we have to move to thank you next speaker Michael Marsh good evening as easy as to talk about mask and race and everything I want to do something a little different I want to start off positive I'm going to end positive because that's the only way we move forward Dr Moore you should be a saint sir I don't know how you have the patience and tolerance for some of the stuff last night I sat through and it and it's fine to have different opinions but when you have the superintendent Schoolboard members most of this staff come to an outside meeting that's held
111it's the shame as zor's not here and I wish she was however she's probably on tour by the way but when board members are told to be quiet as soon as they walk in and then they get singled out that's a problem that's not how we work together at all Dr Moore stood the entire time I did too because I it was quite interesting and no matter how you feel about race there's definitely a problem obviously Brown versus the Board of Education was just in 1956 I am the proud father as Miss Justice reminded me last night of two children two beautiful interracial Queens okay so I do have invested interests but I want to be a solution waiting to happen when we talk about race you know what organization I think of first and
112foremost the NAACP when it comes to blacks if we don't want white folks talking about black history we should bring the NAACP where were they where's Tony Brown is he busy tonight darn we have a a superintendent and school board and great job to the chair and the rest of the board we put all these things in place an equity committee a paid position what more do we want work together if we really wanted to work together we wouldn't still be here having these conversations and my question is when we're done with the mask because obviously we'll be done with the mask it'll be done and this race curriculum are you guys still coming are we still coming do we solve everything because I work day and day in the trenches do we bridge the
113gap between law enforcement and Community because that's what we do in our organization what other discussions are we going to have so as easy is to say that the race Theory it stinks oh no it's great you know what we get off the track is the final solution the final of what's next we can't even come to grips with each other and say you know what I see your point I see your point how do we have that common area why don't we have that common area because it has to be just like in politics it's my team versus your team what if I think both teams stink whether it's Republican or Democrat doesn't matter isn't this nonpartisan when all you ran it was nonpartisan right so why do I have to hear about being
114woke and the Liber crap and this they both failed us Once Upon a Time whether it was them or republican let's remove this partisan crap in the school district I don't need politics in my healthare let's come together and actually solve the problem I may not like all these individuals that have similar uh views as me but at the end end of the day we can't hear one another because we don't talk to one another and I'll end with uh Mr seamour is doing a great job by the way and if you do guys want to donate Salvation Army is a great charity and so is team success have a great [Laughter] night a little levity thank thank you Mr Mr Marsh uh next speaker Christy moletto good evening um I'm a local and I'm
115a native and I recognize some of the faces on the board today and I will humbly say you've touched my life and uh I will'll remember you always you one of the good ones um my credentials here I was in the United States St Army I was a corrections officer I was a juvenile corrections officer I was a case manager in Indian River County and I'm currently a state social worker Equity is not about race Equity is not about racism it is about fair and just treatment for all it goes beyond race it ensures that all kids are provided the resources they need to be successful ese kids will benefit the most from this position along with the National Merit Scholars because the person in this position will realize that there is not enough resources
116being allocated to the posi to position those students to compete at a national level I don't want to put out there one in five children are abandoned neglected or abused in our community it happens here I work in it I see it I live it 40 hours a week those kids are our responsibility and we need to wrap our arms around them regardless of our differences and give them the resources they need to be successful you want to talk about PTSD from a mask see a PTSD from a child being ripped from their parents they need help in the schools they need support and they need to know that each and every single person in this room loves them because they don't have anybody else I live it our saying in my office is one
117every child is one caring adult Away From Success one just one person to not quit on a kid that's got it rougher I didn't have it great growing up nobody knows that I hid it well but it was some of the teachers that pushed me Dr Jones that believed in me these kids need their community and put an equity resource officer is not about race let's not make it that way talk about covid I'm over covid I don't want to talk about race I love everybody but I want to talk about the kids that need each and every adult in this room about the kid that can't get braces but he gets beat up every day at the group home do we want to talk about him can we put a resource in place for
118him it saddens me the division that came up to this Podium tonight this is where I grew up people do better by our kids they need us I promise you and it's happening here in Vero Beach in Sebastian I hope you guys have a great night next speaker is mink Tiner hello so good evening I do want to uh Begin by saying I recognize the immense responsibility and pressure that the positions that you all feel must you know present to you and I can only imagine the challenges this past year must have presented trying to best to use the information at hand to navigate everything thrown at us and our community um I want to take a chance to roll that word over my tongue again it's it's community and this is our community and
119it is Rich with cultural economical and societal diversity it's beautiful and there is much to be learned from every single part of it every single one of us in any way um the world is at a Tipping Point right now we're all aware that fires are Feud on all sides of the argument um from race and religion to politics and private parts and we're all caught in the middle doing the best that we can to uh make of it all and live harmoniously now um most importantly and um I'm pretty sure every single parent in this room regardless of our affiliations or our beliefs can uh agree upon is that we do owe it to our children to make the most sense of it so that they can grow up in a world better than
120what we were handed that's literally my mission in life is to make sure my kids have it better than I did okay um so now this doesn't come overnight it doesn't come easy it doesn't come free it takes hard work on all of our behalfs it takes sacrifice and some discomfort some times to create a world better suited for their futures for all children okay um I'm going to touch on a few subjects tonight and hopefully shed some light and alleviate some concerns possibly find some common ground and perhaps some common sense among the indoctrinated Minds now I have a very diverse belief system that has allowed me to maintain Insight on a number of subjects from various demographics and I'm involved in a number of groups that see much so much hatred disguises virtue
121signaling now believe it or not I'm in a number of conservative groups hi guys you know you've probably seen me in them before and um you know and one most recently I did want to actually give a special thanks to and I wanted to say hi uh moms for Liberty you know and I know you guys are in here hello ladies now a very unfortunate side effect of being who I am is that I often get invited to these groups because they liken to my beliefs and my energy and fighting for them and then I get to sit and watch the anti-lgbtq rhetoric often shared on these Pages now the thing is I grew up being an outcast Black Sheep discriminated so I know it when I see it what's funny is I grew up
122in an old school traditional house household raised by my grandparents um grandpa well-known respected business owner World War II um earned his purple hired owned a gun shop here in IND County for uh you know over 40 years and my grandma was a stay-at-home mom cleaned houses helped out with the business during the day took care of the kids um so I did grow up in a heterosexual household with a strong woman and a strong masculine role model and absolutely no influence from any gay agenda which I'm sure you guys have been getting some uh notifications about lately regarding the current curriculums that's being implemented or spoken about now here I am a lifetime of being told I'm wrong or bad for something that comes naturally to me and which surely doesn't concern anyone else
123a lifetime of being put down ridiculed and threat treated differently from my personal life that absolutely should be no one's business um a lifetime of sexual harassment and societal pressure to be normal these days my favorite are the big tough guys that post on Facebook they want to break my jaw for using a women's restroom like I just did three times in there but won't take the invite to follow through on their threats when they see me so that much hatred and and insecurity has got to be exhausting now here here we are the mask issue groups like that you know they have my full support I'm not going to give that to you guys tonight you've heard enough of it um but a lot of We're the issues we're moving on to that are
124pretty harmful and divisive to our children and all of them so I want to take this time to say you don't get to pick and choose when Science Matters or when religious bias rules don't worry ladies and gents lgbtq friendly curriculum being taught with the already existing hetero friendly curriculum isn't going to make your kids gay but it does create a more friendly and understanding climate for all children nonetheless you know the rhetoric Mr Tiner you're going to have to wrap it up please I'm a miss thank you um now I've always been I'll tell you what let's just ask yourselves why do you spend so much time worrying about what's in other people's pants why do you spend so much time worrying about who someone else sleeping with why are you guys worried about
125depriving children like myself that this curriculum would have helped immensely to make us feel like more welcome with the other children that were receiving the attention that we did not okay thank you Mr M thank you so ah I'll be back guys shuna Carpenter next speaker please I try to write down something but uh even I write I don't read anyway so my second time come back last time is my first time and uh nice to meet you everybody again thank you Dr Mo and thank you um Mr Mayor and we have a couple conversations during these two meetings thanks and first of all um I um how to say I against way hire the position for equality Department that we uh over $100,000 that's position and uh um that's I Against I don't think
126um in this on time is necessary spending this money and creating that position second is about CRT um CRT is all over the country right now whole country they training teachers is coming like huge storm and uh we are in this room try to protect our little C's children here and thank you for Dr Moore he said he doesn't want to hurt our children I believe it and uh what CRT about I heard people saying this that that we all have a different opinion but more percentage is people from California I heard from my Chinese side I heard from they are it's there is worse than our state right now and how far from here to California little by little the steps and if we only say in our books these books only has a
127lat then how much is later we lose our freedom um I brought out my Dess my Chinese Dess and uh I want to tell you my mom doesn't have wait in until he she 40 maybe until I'm 20 maybe because that is communist and we have um we have to everybody same last time I told you we have one book all over the country now I tell you we don't have have right color colorful um flower clothes when I grow up that is I I think that's normal and I don't like somebody suddenly bring out one red shirt I don't have when I grow up I you know so it's a freedom I lost I come to American for freedom and now my mom is here and she's in her 70s she knows the difference
128between communist country and the difficult we all been brain brainwashed before so please um I wish you guys not get brainwashed by the government or you know so sorry thank you next speaker Jennifer Pippen Mr Barefoot good evening my name is Jennifer Pippen I am the chairman for the moms of Liberty excuse me for Liberty Indian River County and an administrator for we the people of Indian River County amongst many other groups and organizations here locally I never thought before March of 20120 I would ever come to a Schoolboard meeting not because I didn't care but because I thought that every single person sitting up there had children in their best interest and I was too busy working 40 50 hours a week and raising my two children that grew up in this school district
129their ages 15 and 12 in March 2020 I got called many names under the sun I'm sure you've seen in many news outlets and in social media as an anti-masker anti- this anti- that well let me tell you I'm Pro Freedom I'm Pro parental choice and this board again I'm going to say it over and over and over again the plan to make a plan is absolutely unacceptable I spoke to Dr Moore before school started and he said we're going to move towards optional masking we're going to look at this we're going to look at that we are into the last month of school and not one thing has changed with quarantining our students contact tracing and masking since school started not one thing has changed and you all are to blame for that if
130you say you want optional masking then vote for it if you're that strong stand up and vote for it House Bill 241 is on Governor desantis's desk to be signed for boards just like this to put parental rights first to put children first everything else is secondary the politics the teachers union we love teachers it's not the teachers it's the Union who's speaking up for the children it's the people that show up time and again call email come to these school board meetings the plan to make a plan has to stop as far as the curriculum in your forier there um just so you know um I did some research as did many people um Mara shift excuse me shiff equity and Action Moving to Envision 2025 conference here at the school district July 24th
1312020 when covid was going on and we were worried about our children coming back to school it slipped underneath us equity and action Summit July 24th 2020 conference here School District black lives matter equity and Action Moving to Envision 2025 conference July 24th 2020 again in the midst of the worst part of the pandemic Jim Crow and agregation equity and action Summit it's all there it's public records it's this has been a problem for a long time coming and it's wrong stop playing politics with our children children come first and if that is not important to one of you or all of you on that dis we're coming for your seats at this point in time we're going to take a 5 minute minute recess there are about nine or 10 more public comments all
132right everybody feel refreshed got your batteries charged we ready to go all right uh so AET Smith is the next speaker do like a cookie right now there might be maybe AET Smith's not here all right well we'll save it how about Elias Smith I hope the bathroom break didn't scare them off how about Aron Smith are there any Smiths would anybody like to speak for the Smiths no no no no no no no no that's all right that's all right yeah okay it's okay she said he said I only want to say one little Point here because I don't have an idea you you've already only one one one time okay uh Karen uh Karen rutage there you go hi y'all I'm back um just wanted to touch um bases just real quick um
133I know everybody knows what this is and some of y'all had this exact Style on and I just want to let you know something about this mask right here is a picture let me step to the microphone right here is a picture of a sticker that was placed on the outside of our Central Line dressing kits that we use to uh to change IV sites um on Central Line IV sites um of our patients and I don't know if y'all can see it but it says the mask within this kit this is exactly what it looks like the only difference between this one and the one in the kit is it's folded in half and it's sterilized but it says the mask within this kit is not a medical mask and is not intended for
134occupational use so if this mask is not intended for occupational use by a critical care register nurse doing a sterile procedure why are we putting them on children why are any of y'all wearing this mask cloth is worse valve is worse and just telling you the only Mass that's actually beneficial is an n95 and the general public doesn't need it because you're not within 2 feet of a patient like I am so that's number one number two the positivity rate on the Florida Department of Health yesterday it always lags 24 hours behind was 3.52% our goal has always been less than 10% since March of uh March um 28th of 2021 we've been less than 6.21% spring break surge didn't happen you can just look at the numbers that are on there UCF today yay
135I got a future night she is not going to be required to wear a mask at UCF the poster out in your lobby that has all those little pictures on it not a mask on that on that poster there just letting you guys know that and so I am begging cuz Dr Moore knows my wishes and that is to the gift of the senior classes of Indian River county is to have an optional mask for graduation so that's my one thing with regards to mask number to and I've shared with um U miss barenborg that if you're ever interested in knowing how many cases are in each Hospital in each County you can go on to AA which is the agency um uh I can't remember it off top but it's AA you can go
136on there and the last thing I want to say is with regards to quarantine I had a parent bring this to me and I'm just wondering where he even came from CU it doesn't make any sense to me was that her daughter was asked to quarantine because she was in contact with someone who met close contact criteria but she was only required I think to to quarantine three or 4 days that is ridiculous I mean like that's ridiculous somebody needs to be held accountable for that so I vote for optional masks for graduation let's start it there I I beg of you of that um it's outside if a 100 yard football field Outdoors isn't enough room I don't know what is thank you the last speaker is one of our illustrious alumni Tiffany Justice
137good evening my name is Tiffany Justice I am a mother of four children in the public schools here in Indian River County I was a former School Board member and served on this board from 2016 to 2020 I am also the co-founder of moms for Liberty a national nonprofit that is focused on helping parents to reclaim and defend their their parental rights in America's Public School classrooms I have been watching your meetings and I've heard parents coming to you with various concerns concerns about mask mandates concern concerns about critical theory entering classrooms and they come to you because they're worried that these things might harm their children I speak tonight from experience and knowledge when we know better we must do better it is critical information for you to consider that there are zero efficacy
138standards for childs siiz masks none zero you are requiring untested unregulated apparatuses which restrict breathing cause increased carbon dioxide inhalation and our Petri dishes of secondary pathogens directly in front of oral and nasal mucosa we regulate everything in this school district we regulate the pl paint we use on the walls the pencils we use in classrooms how many calories kids can't even have water we only have milk we regulate everything there's a reason for everything we do in this school dist district and yet masks Dr Moore when parents come and they speak sir and they tell you that they believe that they've that they've heard you're the right person for the job they may have heard that from me I continue to believe that when you were hired you made a promise to me to
139be best by kids I ask you do you believe that masks are effective as a mitigation strategy for covid and if the answer is no why haven't you done anything your responsibility is to bring recommendations to this school board to do right by our children those recommendations might not always pass unanimously and yes sir there may be consequences for putting your board members in an uncomfortable position because they don't want to act on something and hold their Authority but that does not change your job I ask you to bring a recommendation to make masks optional tonight in this school district of Indian River County I ask you to update your safer schools plan so that we can allow parents to enter into the Schoolboard meeting and have their voices heard rather than be threatened by
140police officers and have board members put their hands in my face school board members you have made a plan to make a plan to make a plan you are ignoring parents and your cous disregard for them has not gone unnoticed I ask you tonight to bring an action item please bring an action item to make masks optional in our schools your parents have made their wishes heard and we beg you to let our children breathe freely that is the last uh inperson public comment I understand there are four email public comments uh and Miss Maddox you can begin but I would point out that we receive many more but they did not follow uh having a form attached to it and the uh guidelines are very clear on the website so however we've all received
141copies of those emails and uh we will read them if we haven't already but the the ones that do qualify go ahead Miss manx thank you this email is from Cindy Maldonado it is time to end the mask requirement in our schools I'm especially concerned for the children a covering over one's mouth symbolizes the silencing of the individual it is in essence a muzzle our children's mental health is being sacrificed for as Dr broa writes in her June 2020 article in infection control today magical thinking when referring to cloth masks children need to see the facial expressions of one another during social interactions so I attempted to find sound scientific evidence for the wearing of masks to prevent the spread of co9 but most references are speculation at best and we are not talking a
142specific type mask with a specific fit no apparently what is required is any old mask nylon cotton paper or rayon or any type of Fit air can blow from the top or out of the sides of the Mask you can touch it with your dirty fingers all day to rescure it over your nose it can lay around your car or at the lunch table but is it still beneficial the truth is children are not covid-19 spreaders the spread of covid-19 from asymptomatic people has not been proven healthy children are rarely affected by covid-19 I spent literally hours trying to find good solid scientifically reproducible evidence that masking children has benefit that would clearly weigh the frequently documented risks I could not so please I ask you why are we masking our children the next email
143is from Jamie Bishop I'm writing this letter as a concerned parent to advocate for all children in IRC as parents and citizens of IRC we elect our Schoolboard members and expect the same to Advocate and always have the best interest of our children in mind when I I send my child to school to learn I expect first and foremost he or she is learning academics this past year has not been the case many teachers are more concerned with being masked police than making sure our children are learning teachers are not medical professionals and should not be more concerned with masks than they are about making sure our children are learning to further add to this bringing in new curriculum regarding race inequality is unacceptable I expect my child to learn academics in a school setting
144anything to do with racial racial Injustice Etc children should learn outside of a school setting many kids are struggling in academics and this will be detrimental to those that are already struggling on Monday May 10th my child was given a used mask that was provided to him by the school to wear as they didn't deem the one I provided acceptable this is unacceptable under no circumstances should a child be given a used mask nor is my child to wear a disposable mask made in China this is a perfect example of our teachers not looking out for the best interest in our children I send my child to school to get an education you are not healthc care providers and have no business conducting yourself as such my child's education is being disrupted not only by
145his health headaches claustrophobia also by the constant bullying and dictatorship he endur daily from adults that are there to teach him academics yesterday he was handed a no by his teacher stating this was his Fifth and final warning he replied to the note I can't breathe when he went back to his desk after lunch the note was gone this constitutes bullying and when there is a class discussion about leadership and a child raises their hand and gives their answer about who they believe shows leadership a teacher should never tell that child he or she is wrong because not everyone would agree with his or her answer this happened in our school system and is unacceptable our teachers are not here to push their way of thinking on our children we expect our teachers to allow
146our children to be free thinkers and have their own opinion on something not the opinion of that teacher or others this is just the start of the indoctrination and Corruption that has infiltrated the education system if you bring in the equality and race studies how are you to prevent further biased education that's right you can't we as tax payers have a right to send our child to school to be educated in Reading Writing arithmetic with no biased agenda we all need to stand up and do better for our children and our future Leaders of Tomorrow the next email is from Lamar no not too thank you okay critical race theory is destructive to race relations contrary to their claims that it will bring Unity the following comments regarding critical race Theory are from Dr Carol
147M Swain is a former tenured Prof professor at Vanderbilt and Princeton her be the people news blog and podcast Empower individuals to think independently understand their responsibilities and make a difference in the world although Dr Martin Luther King said men should be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin I will note that Carol Swain is a black woman critical race Theory re Classical liberalism and the idea of a colorblind Society or a neutrality in law it argues that white people pass civil rights laws to benefit themselves and that any change is supposedly to benefit minorities only happens if there is an interest interest convergence that benefits whites the tactics of critical race theorists include shaming destruction of property violence and denial of Science and facts in favor
148of emotional outbreaks and Chaos today we see this played out most prominently in the actions of groups such as black lives matter and antifa which are filled with Ruth ruthless social justice Warriors critical race Theory once confined mostly to University campuses has departed from the campuses and been embedded into corporations governmental agencies at the state local and federal levels churches and other institutions it's a sociological pandemic aimed at disrupting America this is not good for our society it is a departure from principled constitutional statutory protections that have long been a part of America's system of justice attacking whites because of their skin color as a violation of the equal protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the language and non-discrimination intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 destruction of public property and the harassment
149and shaming of white people because their skin color should be offensive to all Americans if americ America is to be America we must return to our national motto e pluris Unum out of many one we should not allow failed Marxist communist theories that have resulted in the deaths of millions of people world worldwide to destroy America even if it is disguised as a noble pursuit of social justice what we need is Justice for All and a return to our nation's judeo Christian Roots the final email is from Brenda Barbour I'm writing this letter today to provide my request as a parent of children in Indian River County I oppose masking they immediately need to be abolished teachers are more concerned about masking than they are about education and this is not what my tax dollars
150pay for nothing to do with critical race Theory race equality should be in our children's curriculum these things should be left to the parents and teachers need to stick to Reading Writing and arym Matic these things only bring more segregation and race baiting into our schools to our country and to our to our County into our country and that's all Mr all right uh the next item on the agenda is to approve Mr chair uh yes just two just uh some quick responses uh to public hearing I if I if I may um so maybe today has the potential to be a great day maybe for the first time in a very very very long time we take the blinders off and we look at the reality of where we are when it comes to
151race in the school district of Indian River County maybe we Forge relationships and commit to having the conversations to bring us together as a community to change and improve on that reality a comment was made where is the NAACP there are Partners in this work and I think they've been wanting to engage in this dialogue for a very very very long time and I have said it publicly and will continue to say it publicly the district has done some great things in that particular area but has been afraid to talk about it has chosen to look the other way we talk about being the world class educational institution we want to be the C literacy capital of America tonight could be the beginning of the relationship uh and commitment to have the conversation to make
152that statement true to make that to be the truth and it's not easy there is an equity committee yes created as a federal court case to look at a number of sections one of Seven Counties of the 67 still under a desegregation order there is work to do we can choose to put the blinders on and choose to say everything's fine or we can say you know what let's engage in the dialogue and the conversation to ensure each and every single student has what they need in order to be successful let's create a system that makes that a reality so that's why I say I'm encouraged when I when I hear uh some of the comments the conversation around creating a policy if that be the will of the board let's make it happen let's
153engage in in that conversation uh equity and action we've had a number of equity and action um conferences over the course of the last year why because we want to to be completely transparent and those were outward conversations with the community around where we currently are the crucial conversations yeah we did that too using resources to have prepare cabinet and Senior staff in principles to have very very complex conversations to engage in the understanding of how to prepare ourselves not word for word not taking it for every word in the book but using it as a a resource to prepare our faculty and staff nothing more and then that's the resource Mr Rara you were talking about in a deep look at it okay let's fine-tune that let's take it off and let's prepare ourselves
154so it's not bringing a sense of dividing the community but pulling the community together pulling the community together that's why we did the equity in action we have another one coming up um in July by the way the position as I said um I'm going to reallocate responsibilities within senior staff and cabinet to ensure we do a much better job around access and I'll say it again we need to do better in providing the resources to those who don't have the resources to be successful we need to do significantly a better job in advanced academics in pushing all students where we sit in terms of overall proficiency uh should not be anything that any of us are okay with we shouldn't be so as uncomfortable as some of the conversations uh or feedback that we
155hear I feel encouraged that we finally get to take the next step I feel there's a sense or a willingness to say you know what let's create a better Community it is a great community to I've lived somewhere else I've seen how harsh and hard it can be when we engage and we connect to one another we're willing to have those dialogues we in fact can create a community that everywhere else in the world they will be envious about what is here and present in this particular Community as it relates thank you thank you at not done not done yet um as it relates to mask this is the hardest thing that I never knew I was going to have to deal with the hardest thing I never knew I was going to have to
156deal with we brought an item we did the research the plan to make a plan I think that was Miss Pippen who who coined that phrase um and she coined it based on the plan that we've made to do the research to identify when we could take off masks and I just want to be clear the first time that we said that I couldn't get a medical professional to agree when or what criteria would be established that was way back in October when we came back here truth be told when Dr McCain was here he did come and speak but he said he wouldn't recommend taking off masks doesn't like quarantines guess what we don't like quarantines either but this is the this is the board that said let's take on the health department and
157see what we can possibly do and we did we did update the um safe for rip School plan and we adhere to the three-foot margin doesn't make the health department happy we're stepping out Beyond a level of comfort from the health department that's just the truth I've been the only surrounding District to say our goal is to be mased on optional when school starts given the fact that will be safe what is that criteria that needs to be available so we can make that a reality I do want it to be a reality there's no there's no two ways about it there's no two ways about it but we represent the largest employer in this County a $300 million budget there's 14 days of school left is I'm I'm I I am not laughing at
158that we are in a place where we have to look out for absolutely everybody in the organization this is a very large ship this is a very large system and we have to follow the process we have to follow the research we have to make a decision that isn't the best interest of all children so yes Tiffany I believe I'm acting in the best interest of all children thank you Mr chair Mr Barefoot anyone else care to comment uh VV public input yes Mrs Barbor yes Miss R you mentioned 3.52% positivity rate is that locally I didn't check it today will okay so we have always talked about once it's under 5% right I know that there's only 13 days of school left correct yep okay um what would that do to make masks optional
159as far as assessments going on I have that coming up as my my action okay I'm just asking him a question if I can do that Mrs Rosario please yeah I know I get a chance to speak thank you so what would that do um tomorrow if we um did optional masks what would that do as far as assessment happening things like that there would be students who wouldn't come to school parents who wouldn't feel safe there would be teachers who said you made a commitment to do a b c and d and then I woke up next morning and something changed without being notify or or told um you there there's a process to inform in terms of making such a big decision that represents such a large organization okay I just I want
160that said while people are still in the room um because this is a lot to take in and um optional graduation I believe we already talked about that last meeting we already said that's going to happen correct so we are very comfortable principles are still meeting with their students that a a graduation will be all but completely optional sitting in your seat you will be optional walking across the stage you'll have that particular option uh we're only at 3 feet you're right we're completely outside so we're very comfortable um that students will not feel the burden of a mass during graduation thank [Applause] you any other comments no all right back to the agenda um the next item is to approve the consent agenda as amended and the the amendments were we pulled item 5D
161which uh relates to uh correcting the minutes from April 27th we pulled item uh 9A at the request of Dr Jones um item 6B was also pulled and uh Mrs barenborg you wanted a discussion I don't know that it was on the consent agenda but you wanted as a discussion item policy 4112 correct correct all right so can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended make second um all in favor I thank you all right now let's um let's now discuss there's no reason no no need to discuss 5D that's just been pulled and it will be resubmitted uh so Dr Jones I item 9A is yours thank you Mr Barefoot um Dr Mor you just took a little bit of the Thunder but I just wanted to to make sure
162that um when we talk about what it says the delegation to the equity committee the completion of progress towards unitary status and how important that is um I've been attending these meetings for about a year and a half now and what I saw at the last Equity meeting I thought was great discussion and accolades to this board because in October of 2019 uh when Dr Moxley was here I believe 50 some recommendations came to the board but we had an action item with um five Z approval at our last meeting so I was very very thrilled with that because I want everyone to know regarding this Equity committee that what the work is being done is so very very important I want to thank Mr Brownie Miss Patterson Dr Bristol Miss Walker and Dr Pender
163for their very good discussion and dialogue and I think it's very very important um whether you can be here or not or be on teams to listen because this is a huge part of what we've got to do in the district to move it forward and I know that we've had requests for material and I understand that but I want to make sure that we never have any kind of barriers when we're giving that material and I see that go back email and there's a lot of information and I appreciate that one of the things that um was brought up tonight by a young lady and I think we've said this many times is that Equity is more than race Equity Equity is about mered Scholars students with disabilities students with e saw uh Title
1649 title six and many many other things and we want all students on every campus to have the same shot of whatever they want to do um one thing that was very important to me in the background information was what we are doing with the ace with Mr Brown and I know you've met with him and what we're trying to do there because there were concerns on um people being placed there the African-American race more than others and I just think these are the kind of things we have to discuss when we have these Equity committee meetings you know a little bit of what we did tonight it's just so very very important that in order for this District to move forward this has to happen um the biggest concern is the achievement Gap I
165know we work on that on a daily basis and I want to thank the staff District staff teachers uh support staff for making this a priority but I just think tomorrow when we look at the or Thursday night when the um Equity committee meets I think it's very important that we understand what they're asking what they need I think Mr Brownie has pointed out several times about um the number of African-American teachers we have in our district we've gone up a little bit but we've got to do a better job uh when the uh deseg order in 6465 was put out there at one time they said you would um have to hire 20% of African-American teachers to get it up to the 177% we've got to continue to look at that I believe that
166and I saw it as a high school principal um when you have uh people on campus that are there for our students and model what they want to do where they can look up to our African-American students it's very very important and very proactive in dealing with discipline so I just want everyone to know and every board member possible be there Thursday night or be on teams because it shows that we are completely invested in what we want to do this steg order I've lived it for 41 years um not 53 but it's very very important um that we show our our community that we are all in on this and that we're there for support that's all thank you sir thank you um point of order uh do we vote on item 9A now
167and then item 6B would Mrs visara or do we wait okay all right can I have a motion to approve item 9A can can second all in favor I I okay thank you all right Mrs Rosario item 6B um thank you um I pulled uh the approval of purchase for the elementary Ela instructional materials um let me pull that up now because I am in five different places one of the um I pulled that item for uh a little bit of further discussion into this um we've already talked about the timeline thank you Mr Meyer for all of that um it it it is no um it's no secret that that I um am not in favor of hmh um amplify also has some of these uh uh culturally responsive teaching and some of these
168um embedded nuances of what may appear to be critical race Theory and so on and so forth um so I'm not in favor of them however um well there's no however um the what I pulled for this item is to ask superintendent to put a hold on any further decisions with regard to the curriculum at least for the next couple of weeks until we figure out what is going on with the do doe there are way too many moving Parts it's way too fluid um I know that Dr Moore you are a man of order and and planning and you love planning ahead of time um we have items to discuss sometimes a month or two in advance and I know that the desire of the district is to prepare for professional development and teacher
169training and all that other kind of stuff but within the next two weeks if we uh if another curriculum other than amplify is actually uh becomes available for school districts to take a look at um then I would rather not tie our hands too soon um and in in essence for the next couple of weeks there's not much you can do anyway if you know that another curriculum is coming uh down the pipe so I would just prefer to be safe than sorry at this point rather than um um ju just move ahead everybody could take a breather it's one of those things that I I hoped would happen um and and indeed it it it certainly seems to be moving in that direction I received Reed something today that uh might also add to
170what I'm asking of of the board um and of Dr Moore um it's from the Florida Citizens Alliance it the subject reads critical race Theory open letter to Governor DeSantis and the commissioner of Education uh Karan Karan and this might actually help uh to shed a little light on why putting a hold on it might might seem uh a bit smart to do at this at this time um it reads thank you Governor DeSantis and commissioner cor Kuran for your bold and courageous leadership your determination to protect Florida's children from harmful ideologies uh it is commendable and inspiring Governor we all breathed a sigh of relief when you announced that the children of critical that the teaching of critical race theory in Florida and similar theor theories are Wacko and unacceptable in Florida you have
171been very clear that embracing a traditional American uh education focused on Reading Writing math and Civics is the only acceptable Way Forward what a seemingly wonderful thing that Florida students would once again be getting a great education however with Florida doe approved materials now being adopted and purchased in addition to the US doe order to provide critical race Theory grants directly to Florida school districts how wrong we were uh we all must remember that Communists never stop Governor Dan santis on behalf of over 110,000 active Florida Citizen Alliance supporters and many of our over 100 partner groups we are urging you to issue a joint executive order immediately that number one stops the adoption of ela textbooks until the the fldoe can be 100% confident that all textbooks and teacher editions are completely free of
172critical race Theory and its many tentacles and number two that uh strictly prohibits any school districts in Florida from accepting uh a direct Federal grant related to critical race Theory or its many tentacles your use of executive power as Florida governor and the 10th Amendment to just set use yours uh executive power as Florida governor and the 10th Amendment to just say no uh and of course it goes into what critical race theory is um and so on and so forth um lastly it reads an honest academic traditional American education is the most important gift we can give our children a moratorium must be immediately declared to stop all 67 counties from purchasing materials that Embrace critical race Theory 1619 project and be LM Marxist materials we should be embracing original sources and truly classical
173content and so on and so forth there is a link here examples that says Circ attachment to F found in Indian River County from materials being adopted but every time I click on that link I nothing opens so I'm not even so sure what that is I don't know uh Mr Meer if you were able to click on that link um and by the way there is another District called Indian River so every time I Googled when I was running Indian River School District another District came up so we are school district of Indian River that's how it shows up on Google but initially I thought it was a different district and yet um um I'm tending to believe more and more that they're referring to us so I don't know what documents they are
174attached here um so rather than then push forward move forward in this let's take a breather um I'm asking for a a I will use the same word moratorium for a couple of weeks until we get further information from the doe um and at that point we can move forward so Dr Moore you respond oh sorry I was going to make a motion oh no so my my recommendation stands as as presented to the board obviously the item now belongs to the board I I think we did go through the process of making a a modification to the item to put the First Choice as Mr Meyer explained which is amplify knowledge-based curriculum you're right Miss Rosario the same tentacles of critical race Theory will be present in um amplify as it is in hmh
175and the definition of what critical race theory is is where we need to have that conversation to clearly Define what critical race theory is is where we have not normed culturally responsive teaching is embedded into both curriculums but taking the time to fully understand the content within each particular courses we have a 30-day window that we would be entering now that 30-day window affords the opportunity for anyone to make an appeal where they would State uh their concern concs that they have in front of a uh hearing officer which was approved by the board tonight um and then we do that the B my biggest concern is there is no additional curriculum that's going to be presented it will be the only other one that's out there is amplify uh so there is no additional
176curriculum that will present itself we have to by Statute wait that 30-day window if we wait another two weeks or three or four weeks we will not be prepared for the opening of schools we will not have the time to prepare the ne necessary professional development to ensure uh our teachers are ready uh to teach this content effectively to our students Mr Meyer can you can you add to what I may have left off to the chair absolutely I think you hit it and the way we did separate the item uh also for the board um adoption is different than procurement so we wouldn't be buying this we not spending any money on this that that would be done at the June 22nd so there's still time to as Miss Rosario said make sure that
177we don't go too far down a path that we can't retract from uh there will be no purchasing of this material entering into the contract until at the earliest June 22nd waiting for uh the period the other thing that I would call to the attention um section 106 35 Florida Statutes is the accuracy of instruction materials which gives the commissioner the authority to mandate to to the um Publishers to make any changes to their materials should he find that they have inaccuracies and if they refuse to do that then they get taken off the list and I I think we all understand that the Publishers will they want the money and if they're told to make changes within the curriculum they're going to make the changes directed by the commissioner to stay on the list
178um it's similar to what amplifies going through right now to get onto the list um not because of culturally responsive teaching but because of a different item um and so they're going to make any necessary changes dictated by the department to get on the list and um as many people are you know lobbying the department to take action and to more deeply review these materials um I'm sure that they will be amended to meet any needs I would trust that commissioner corkran and Governor D santis will take a hard look at the materials and make sure that they don't have that so I I stand with Dr Moore and recommending that we continue down the the timeline as proposed knowing that the board still you know is not going to purchase this until at least
179June 22nd any further uh comments on this to Mrs bar por yeah um I'm very concerned about some of the stuff I read in there as I went through with you and I did sit with you and go through the specs and things like that and I appreciate that time um I know you've offer that to the community to anybody that wanted to do that to come and sit with you they can still do that right until June second especially since there's an appeals process so um anybody that wants to that has you know strong opinion about that would be able to sit with you find the problem be able to bring that up for appeal and there are two people on that appeal um group uh Barry seagull and Jeffrey Batista um both attorneys
180right local attorneys that will be part of that appeal process correct um I have a couple couple of concerns on this one my major concern was a point that was made tonight was the the PD part of it and I did read that part and that does concern me because we know I know from being a teacher that um teachers that don't have a material in front of them will supplement with other things and they'll bring in things that may not have been approved by the by the school board my concern is right now we're using textbooks that use common core correct correct so if we don't approve something then down the line we're going to continue with common core and we're going to continue with teachers bringing in supplemental materials that are out of
181our control and will be of concern I think to more and more parents that's my concern is if we don't choose something we're going to be in that boat so working on and I do have some concerns of what I've read in here you know that about critical race Theory content all children should feel feel safe in their skin all children not some children and um I want all children to feel that way so I think that when I looked specifically at that professional development piece that concern me so I'm going to request that any professional development that's done for our teachers that school board um members have the invitation to attend of course that's easy of course okay um that that is a a major part I think that school board members should be
182allowed to go to that the other thing is um in order to get something in the hands of our kids next year I'm willing to go with this up until the opportunity for people to give input to go through this process of the hearings we don't have to purchase until January 20 or June 22nd um by then maybe um the other materials will come up my concern though is Mrs Rosario said maybe there'll be another book um the the process through that the state does the books have already been vetted for a year they've gone through this process for a year and my concern is that there's not going to be another one unless it didn't make the final and they do the appeal and win the appeal is there another one that didn't win
183the appeal through the chair there were at least two in elementary that did there were on the bid list that did not make the final list um the other product was not well received by our committee uh I and I'm unaware of whether or not they are appealing to try to get on the list or not but I don't know that that one would be considered by our teachers to be a product of high quality but again I would go back to they're all meant to be designed the same way and would have the same components within them so I'm not certain you know and I know you showed it me because when I saw the buzzword that I was concerned about and you showed me in the specs hey this is what you know
184the doe is saying that we have to do and the publisher is being told you have to do that so I get it's kind of a quandry it's like well why is our doe and our governor saying that's okay to do and then people are concerned about these budge words but the buzzwords are being told to the Publishers they have to put those in there so you know it's kind of a quandry to me it's right through the chair I mean I don't know it's I think there is definitely a difference between Multicultural advocacy and culturally responsive teaching and critical race Theory so I think that is definitely looking at closely defining each of those and I don't know that I can do that off the top of my head now I think that different
185people have different opinions and different definitions for each of those uh but I think that uh many people in the educational Community would Define them differently um maybe not all people but most people in the educational Community would Define them differently so I think that's where the the rub there is between um certain things that are coming to light so is amplify then the book that will get us to be the literacy Capital that we want to be I I I think that the committee did a great body of work from October until March when we made that recommendation um and that's why you know we went with that one as a primary source um and I would feel very confident in and having the opportunity to select that material I mean obviously pending a
186Pendle by the Department of Education that would mean that it meets all their criteria well so you'd have that confidence as well I wouldn't feel comfortable without their um agreement in that and I think the challenge has been no one has been really told why it did or didn't make the list um and I think that's important to know if it does make the list uh but we've I think the committee has done the right thing uh by presenting an alternative option that is on the list and with like I just said from the statute um anyone of course can bring those uh concerns to the commissioner and to the governor and they they can obligate those changes to be made and we would be in a position to have material I mean you know
187is it in one place is in two places um I don't really agree that it's embedded throughout um I think that it's one or two places that people are finding these instances to disagree with and that would be simple for the Publishers to fix and I know they'd be willing to do so if told so um the other the other comment you made that I wrote down was you said you had received no direct complaints concerning hmh can you explain what that means uh we haven't I mean the people could you know send us a page number or a story or anything of that nature um you know we there was the the pictures and things that were going around but no one since since those three images surfaced right before the last board meeting
188there's been no additional um direct you know this page this chapter this grade level um is quote unquote critical race Theory so our years have been open but we I mean like I said we be willing to meet and go through um any and all the material with folks to to see if there's objectionable content or you know not not maybe objectional but but things that rise to the level in the statute and in the policy that are egregious that would cause it to not be approved and and that's what I think would be the the challenge that we would go before the hearing officer that someone would say you know this this Rises to the level of of that and we would present an alternative to that and I've had not seen anything that
189I don't think that I could present to the hearing officer that it would be approved so someone could though um do the same to um commissioner corran's office and say you know this is the reason why we feel this book needs to be adjusted of course and it to my knowledge there are complaints to his office correct I well obviously the one Mr raria read so yes obviously people are saying that but I'm not certain that um it was going to rise the level of taking things off the list I think it's more a simple Amendment to the material to make it meet the criteria Amendment to the amendment to the the the I mean I think that Miss rosari I mean you have it I don't have it in front of me but there's
190I mean essentially one sentence or two on three different pages that people keep pointing back to and that's the only things that I've seen and um so I'll just leave it that okay so there is an appeals process that people can bring those exact statements that they have that those concerns about correct the buzzwords I talked to you about they can bring that to through the appeals process absolutely okay absolutely and then once it goes through the appeals process what happens then uh then that's when the the hearing officer would report to the board at that June 22nd meeting the findings and would say you know I listen to the complaint I listen to proba me uh the District of why it's not why it does meet the criteria um and they would give give
191their um statement is that correct recommendation apologize uh recommendation to the board and then you know I mean the board can take it or leave it you can say I mean you can say I agree with the district or I agree with the the complainant uh but there still ultimately The Authority lies with the board to um vote to adopt or not and so we make that decision on June 22nd absolutely okay with all the information being presented to the board okay um can I ask one question let's assume we're going to end up with one or the other and let's hope that there's edits that we edit out the things how long is this commitment for uh five years okay Dr Jones so when we chose the a lot of times when you make
192a decision you you don't know if the book is state adopted at that time which is hard to do um and we had four that we could select from correct in this area correct there were like I said there were initially there were I think six Elementary different elementary middle and high and then they they W it down to four that are approved on the list right now and I'm I'm thinking of of the teachers now and getting ready for the school year like Terry said what we have now is not something we want to use so um I think that obviously the curriculum as far as the language arts you know we've got to get rolling with that and the areas of concern we can talk to our teachers about or have a PD
193or whatever we do but when we do we have to have a diverse group here you know it's got to be from all angles that we can listen to everyone from all of our populations because again if we're going to do this as a community we do this as a community so uh I'm worried about the timeline for teachers and like Dr Moore said earlier youve got to have that 30 days and the appeals and appeals happen we know that I did science and yeah you'll get that that's why I did not volunteer when they asked me for the this one but it's a lot of hard work from the committee and it's a lot of hard work to start a new program as a teacher a lot of hard work so the the area
194of concern that we have let's talk about that when we need to talk about it but let's move forward with the adoption all right any further comments so um I'd like to make a motion can I make a motion right now during the action or does it stay this way m m motion now right yes this is an action item okay um sometimes uh you have to stand for what you believe in to be the right thing um and at this point I I'm going to stick to my guns um on this one and my opposition and my concern rather um has nothing to do with Dr Moore or or or Mr Meyer I just want to make that publicly clear it has nothing to do with leadership staff or you know or the work
195that we are doing moving forward it really is a message that will probably never enter the ears of the Publishers or even the Department of Education but we really have to be diligent um and and get the message to them that what they are putting in these textbooks and then ultimately bringing down to us as choices um it really ought to be ex ex explained so uh with such detail that there is no question what is going to be taught and how it's going to be taught in the classrooms and for many of these subjects that are have been raised over the last few weeks um the way that it is um introduced in the textbooks and even on their website really leaves a lot of questions open in the air which then therefore leaves
196a lot of question questions uh for me as a board member what is that going to look like how is that going to turn up in our training I don't want another courageous conversation kind of uh uh training that we don't need that we don't need to go there um so I'm going to stick to my guns here board members um and I hope that you all um would do the same so I'm going to make a motion um that the superintendent um put on hold um um any decision with the ELA curriculum for the next couple of weeks um until we hear from the um the doe and or um Governor desantis's office can can I ask a quick question about that if that's okay if we do a hold what will that do
197to the timeline in other words will teachers be able to get books in time at whatever book we decide on will they be able to get it in time for school to start and we start with the best best standards for kids I I don't think we can make that commitment if we we go beyond but you're not purchasing anything now anyway well we're waiting 30 days and 30 days can start until we have a a curriculum that's been adopted so there's a 30-day window after so you have to add two weeks to the next meeting so the next meeting we would have then 30 days and then to deliver organize train um that would not be an ideal situation and is the 30 days to allow for um citizens to be able to appeal
198yes ma'am all right we have a motion on the floor to put on hold as there second to the motion all right there's no second motion does not carry can can I have a motion to approve as presented 6B which would which would and would you mind just repeating exactly what we're voting on so that we're clear uh through the chair yes the the item uh adopts uh the two curriculums pending one pending approval by the uh Florida Department of Education which Begins the 30-day um contest window uh for which then we would wait and then hold a noticed public hearing on any received complaints on it um product and then bring those recommendations uh from the uh hearing officer to the board on June the 22nd for a final vote of approval and procurement
199for only one of the two I have a motion to approve so move is there a second second pardon me second um any further discussion yes I get the window um but I'm going to just publicly say that if there's um if the hearing officers come up with a with some sort of issue that they agree with and at that point that commissioner corkran has not um you know made any changes to ask for changes for the book then it's going to be hard for me to vote for it if that's the case I'm just letting you know um the other thing is I am going to call his office tomorrow and ask about whether or not um the items of concerns to people have been addressed at the state level and has he asked
200for that sort of editing to happen so I'm putting out there that that's going to happen all right call call the question all in favor I I no so we have four Y and one nay correct good all right um the next agenda item is a report from the superintendent no I do think we have I added an item as did M barenborg there's two items Mrs barenborg had discussion item that's oh I'm sorry I'm sorry but that's after the supered an item to action all right regarding the executive order did you is now the time sure okay um since our last meeting since the meeting uh uh or the the the putting together of the school district um safe at school summer program plan the um Governor let me get my other my other
201notes Here the governor P um uh signed two executive orders uh number 21101 and then number 21102 um essentially eliminating all um uh emergency orders in effect due to covid-19 um then sometime I don't know a couple days later we received an email from the Chancellor's office stating that uh essentially schools are exempt from these executive orders um what concerns me is well first I have a question have we received any other emails or any other direction on why that decision was made on the school board attorney respond um and Mr Barefoot if I may Mrs Rosario the the language of the executive orders is directed specifically at counties and municipalities it does not address School boards it does not address any other politic iCal subdivision that the definitions that are referred to in these
202executive orders are for counties and municipalities not school boards what what is what is the definition of political uh you use the word the language get there did you say political subdivisions yes ma'am so what is the definition of political subdivision um in exec I order 21-12 which was the executive order that was effective upon its signing uh that particular executive order speaks directly to um emergency orders issued by county or municipalities so that order defines who it's referring to so that's just the plain language in the in the executive order the other executive order which is 2110 one which is the uh executive order that is not effective until July the 1st that particular executive order actually refers us to a Senate bill Senate bill 20006 and we are to look to the definitions
203in that particular Senate bill and when you look to that Senate bill you look to it's essentially revising chapter 252 that floor to statute defines political subdivisions as counties and cities so when you read through the the the document refers you to other documents you got to love lawyers so you have to read several different places but ultimately the definition of a political subd for this particular executive order is a city or a county so at what point can we uh where do we stand in this I mean at what point do we say we are going to be the deciding factors we are the ones who make the decision for us locally um and and and not I don't know not listen not obbey not follow the instruction of the chancellor I mean it's
204just so contradictory to have an executive order that states quote all local covid-19 restrictions and mandates on individuals and businesses are hereby suspended this order eliminates and supersedes any existing emergency order or ordinance issued by a county or municipality that imposes restrictions or mandates upon businesses or individuals due to covid-19 for the remaining duration of the state of emergency initiated by executive order 20552 no County or municipality May renew or enact an emergency order or ordinance using a local state of emergency or using using emergency enactment procedures under chapters 125 252 or 166 or impose any restrictions thereupon I just don't know what could be done what would happen if we say we're not listening to this we are going to move forward because how could the whole world or the whole state of Florida
205not be under an executive order for for you know for for regarding covid-19 except schools something is wrong something doesn't make any sense here I'm and and someone mentioned at the podium that there's something wrong between us and the superintendent with regard to covid and the masking situations it's not that there's anything wrong we all respectfully disagree we all have different opinions on it so some of us agree and some of us don't but that doesn't mean that that we're fighting with each other or that we've got to get it together what what has essentially happened thus far uh and and those who are board member who were board members you understand that things happen by consensus and often times it really doesn't matter how you feel if you are essentially outvoted you're outvoted but
206but where are we now what do we do now so I ask Mrs Diaga what are the consequences to moving forward with a policy or a new procedure that would essentially um not violate the executive order but go against an email that we received the EMA we received an email from the chancellor we received an email from the Chancellor's office saying that the executive order does not refer to schools correct but it's always been our our decision and we get input from the health department from the CDC wherever it comes from we we could have waved the Mas mandate before the executive order was lifted because other districts have we basically it's our decision where we were not affected by that emergency order so when it was listed it it applied to city county and
207towns school district is separate so up to this point based on all the information that we've been given and and prior to Dr Jones and I um has been based on Health Department guidelines and anybody else that's a it's an expert or so-called expert and up to this point we've had the mask mandate and the only adjustment to it as I understand is we've now gone to three feet from six feet which is the major shift in what we've done and it is more drastic than um surrounding counties have taken since that order was released when you look at the the recommendations the health department or the the CDC makes two different they they establish two different criteria the one we're familiar with is the under 5% uh for the last seven days so they're
208looking at the percent of cases the total number of cases positive over the last seven days that number is under the 5% which is in the category of low the other criteria is the ca the total number of cases per per 100,000 um using that same criteria just done a different way the number of cases per uh 100,000 that area is currently in what is it then substantial so they ask you to before you make modifications or changes to look at those particular two areas and you want them both to be in low right now we're in substantial which is not the highest category but the second highest category so in terms of criteria and what the guidance that is being provided by the CDC that is the guidance and when they're in low they
209provide very specific measures in which you should be taking so the conversation that was held at discussion uh board workshop two weeks ago was the review of that particular criteria uh the advancements that we have made as it relates to uh the 6 to3 which is huge huge for summer school uh and the ongoing commitment um from me to to everyone that we will be aggressive and figuring out a way to get there where we are legally sound uh we have appropriately notifi the entire Community regarding any decision that we made so they have the opportunity to figure out what they will do with their children if they choose uh that being an option that they're not comfortable with so that is what we have communicated uh for the summer we begin um the task
210force uh is the exact same task for made up of community members made up of teachers uh made up of of of individuals that we've worked with since March to say hey let's just not bring Dr Moore's recommendation um but let's really engage in the conversation and the dialogue and look at the criteria get feedback to determine what is the most appropriate way so miss barenborg brought an item that says give us that information us being the community um advise the board as to what we will look like for in I think it was June 22nd right June 22nd lot happened on June 22nd we have dinner in the back um but that that that's when we're going to do it and I'm G tell you right now just in speaking to other superintendents we'll
211be the first to have that we'll be the first which may not be the best but we'll be the the first so we are committed to looking at the the problem and and I'll be honest you know the things I'm being called and way I personally believe I know I'm making the right decision may not be the decision that David Moore and his family would make but I know I'm making the right decision decision and hard and as complex as it is we need to move forward uh understanding that we represent the entire school system all parents and we have would be Reckless to take a vote when children were dismissed from school teachers were dismissed from school not knowing that when they woke up in the morning the game was changed on them that's
212just not fair it's just not fair I Mr Dr Jones yes and I always think of as a parent and a teacher and educator again we get information from everyone and emails from everyone and you have a large population here that did come to school because of our safety precautions and doing that at the end of the year with exams coming up and so forth and I'm so happy about graduation I know how much that means to the students and what we're trying to do for summer school and uh as we move into the fall but again we're we're dealing with 177,000 students 2,000 staff members and this kind of change now um I think we'd have a reaction from uh teachers maybe not wanting to come to work or staff members or parents not
213feeling safe for their students so that's my thought on that one I do have another question Dr Moore can you give us the date of the last um testing again Mr Meyer correct me if I'm wrong but the I don't believe it's this week I think it goes into next goes into the through next week AP exams still take exams uh to the chair the the FL doe window is extended to go all the way through May each of our schools depending on their individual needs Miss D you may need to help me out has a unique calendar um I know there's definitely students taking the test next week I think that they wanted to wrap all the first tests up next week and do makeups possibly that last week of school if necessary so
214all the the first round of testing is concluded next week and then we go into semester exams really quickly there's no semester so we did the chair we remove semester exams year so there may be there some testing at the end of year could be yes of course they're teaching all the way to the last day of school yes absolutely so we're doing assessments all the way to the last day no not Statewide assessments no but I mean other the the end of year assessments that sort of thing I mean each teacher has control over their classroom and the teaching up the last day so I I couldn't speak to what assignments and what quizzes or tests they're doing but there's no District mandated final exams those last four days of school Miss Stamper did
215you want to say something well I think Mr Myers answered the question but testing will be done we Tred not to have testing the last week of school to make sure that you know some of those are early dismissal dayses but um they really wanted to make sure that we had as much time instructional time but um we should be done by next week as of next Friday well I wouldn't um I certainly wouldn't recommend tomorrow everybody wake up and then you know we do not have masks tomorrow so uh the word reckless was used and I certainly would not recommend that um but I do see a need I do see a need for us to move to optional asks I I I see it I hear it we have to respond we can't
216keep waiting part of our job is to respond to things like critical race Theory even though we may not we may believe it is not within our classrooms we still have to respond when there are issues that come to us we have to respond we have an obligation and to respond and to to it's not pandering um it is actually again doing the right thing though we do the right thing by children every day in the decisions that we make in the classrooms um there has to be a point where um we continue to do the right thing in other areas as well one of the things that I'd like us to do and consider and I'm going to make a motion for it is to remove the wording on our business meetings that uh
217reflect as a result of the public health emergency that exists in the State of Florida uh arising out of the Corona virus and in light of the guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and the local State Department of Health for the protection of all members of the community in order to continue to perform essential functions in a manner consistent with law and Schoolboard policy all persons are invited to participate in the following meetings by watching the meetings live streamed and there's the the website for those without internet access you may come to the meeting location to attend the meeting in person the meeting room will be set up in in compliance with the CDC recommendations that space will be provided uh based upon social distancing additional areas outside of the meeting room will
218be available to watch the meeting on video screens all individuals attending the meetings in person are encouraged to wear face coverings we need to eliminate that we are no longer in a state of emergency we are no longer in a Florida state of emergency so I'm going to ask that we remove that that board members return back to the dis and that we um turn this room back into um a real boardroom that we um allow citizens to come in person for citizen comment and um and I'm going to ask to make masks optional after the last day of testing per school so is that two separate motions would you no that's one motion for all of them would you prefer two separate I don't mind I I don't I don't know what the other
219board members vote on or not vote on that's why I'm asking okay I'll make two separate motions this way it is clear um I'm going to make a motion um that we remove this excert for the Emergency uh the state of emergency that exists in the State of Florida as it pertains to the running of our board meetings within that return our board meetings back to normal return us to the dis and uh set up the room as uh a normal board meeting would normally so that's your motion starting starting on what date the the next meting as soon as our next meeting is okay sorry as starting as soon as our next meeting all right is there a second to that motion I'll second it all right further discussion questions I miss a comment
220not a question it would seem to me that it's easy enough to change the wording if in fact we're not have REM not change it remove it well my recommendation would be that you allow staff to review any modifications just simply reading something is not a good practice or way of of of doing work I'm not even sure we have a vote on the floor though we have to vote on that we have a motion disc this is part of discussion yes I I I would not be suggesting you you recommend or approve an item that hasn't been fully vetted for legal sufficiency uh and fully protects the board and maybe there's a modification to the wording maybe there's an update to the wording but just to blanketly remove something without allowing staff the opportunity
221to review as well as legal counsel to review may not be a practice that should be endorsed can can I make a um uh Amendment amendment to her motion then um can we amended to say well she has to withdraw a motion and you make an amended motion well I want to hear her first yeah that I'll say the amendment and then she can either withdraw or not um I'll amend that uh given the opportunity for staff to review I guess AKA attorney to review whether or not what Mrs Rosario is asking for is um allowable under what we've been asked to do as far as the um mandate from the governor's office I believe that uh the emergency order was until J July 1st but again given whether or not we're under that yeah
222that's a question yeah so I guess what I'm asking is I'm going to amend this to say that if though if we are allowed to make that decision oursel to do that immediately on the 25th with you being able to look at this wording that um I it's hard to amend a motion clearly what I want to say is I don't want to wait until the 25th for you to come back to us with this information I want this information to be vetted with the attorney and say say we're good to go and we vote on that whether or not we're good to go so in other words amend it that if if we are good to go on the 25th with the understanding that our attorney reviews it then I will vote for that
223can you repeat the motion yeah yeah let me ask Mrs deger a question Mrs dearer would we you've got a you've got an amendment on the floor is there second Mr chair there's an amendment to the amendment so we have an amended can I I make a suggestion why don't we withdraw all the motions and start over I'm gonna call that a a second wait we have she's she was in the middle of saying something I mean for our minutes I'm going to say you didn't get a second to that right Amendment and so now the main motion is back up Mr chair may I make a comment um with regard to Mrs Rosario's motion yes um Mrs rosar you you made this statement that we are no longer under a state of emergency correct
224um Governor DeSantis signed an executive order 2194 that extended the Statewide state of emergency for 60 days that does not expire until June 26 six so I so if you're asking if we're if you were asking me to confirm or deny that we were under a Statewide state of emergency I'm going to say if that's the premise for your motion um we are still operating under a Statewide state of emergency signed by govern Governor DeSantis um we are also still operating under a declaration of a public health emergency by the state Surgeon General he's included in his his executive order that those are essentially null and void no ma'am he listed specifically um the the state Surgeon General listed specifically those items that he was resending and it did not include his Declaration of a
225public health emergency whereas on April 29th 2021 Surgeon General Dr Scott rivy issued a public Public Health advisory not an emergency an advisory stating that continuing covid-19 restrictions on individuals including long-term use of face coverings and withdrawal from social and recreational Gatherings pose a risk of adverse and unintended consequences further expanding vaccine eligibility and Advising government offices to resume iners operations and services and it continues with the whereas whereas whereas therefore I Governor DeSantis uh by the virtue of the authority vested in me in article 9 Section 1 a blah blah blah in order to mitigate um the adverse and unintended consequences of covid-19 emergency and to accelerate the state's recovery all co9 restrictions and mandates on individuals and businesses are hereby suspended I I I don't don't understand what am I missing with regard
226to those enacted by counties and municipalities okay so then I go back to my original question then the governor did not resend state agencies and their work with regard to covid-19 so I go back to my original question which was do we have the authority the local authority to continue forward with a vote and change these policies yes you've always you've always had that Authority then my motion remains we we just we may I just we just need to be clear um that there there was a bill passed this last legislative session that actually provided some protections for all local governments with regard to lawsuits that are starting to come out with regard to covid-19 as long as as as you understand that by wiping away any types of policies you have in place it
227may I don't know that it will it may open us up to that liability we won't be able to access that protection because we are not following the guidance from um experts if whoever they are with regard to what we're supp okay um I'm going to withdraw my original motion and I'm going to clarify my original motion uh I'm going to clarify the motion so I withdraw my original motion um I make a motion um that this board uh with regard to our meetings return to normal plain and simple that we return to the dis and that we return to normal operating procedures within um this room period And I would add if anybody wants to wear a mask Let It Be optional we we have a motion that was my motion okay are we
228in second or discussion uh's is there a second to that motion I'll second it for discussion okay discussion may I um that's three feet apart correct through the chair what we've done is we we've ordered the the the petitions they're they're yet to arrive it would not be three petitions well a little a little glass thing oh did not know that um and the chairs right now well they're all over the place but when they were first put out they look like six feet apart correct and so we could double the amount of chairs in here if we put them 3 ft apart correct in theory yeah in theory you wouldn't be able to half of six is three correct all of the space of the chair so yeah all right so um then we
229could at least do what we're asking our schools to do but as I understand it Mrs Rosario was asking that in going back to quote unquote normal we return to the Das we have no masks and there's no room there's no capacity on the room I didn't say no masks well you said normal and I pre-co and I said anyone who wants to wear a mask it would be optional for them to wear a mask but we could under that have 100 people in the room because not unless not unless 3 feet you're asking you're saying prior to any gubinatorial or Surgeon General guidance so that's no 3T that's no 6 feet that's wear a mask if you feel like it that's what you're asking for yes I am so then I'll amend it to
230um say that let's go back to semi normal let's go back to what we're asking the schools to do which is which is 3 feet that's 3 feet to me and three feet for the chairs fine schools are wearing masks optional schools are wearing masks yeah but we're not by the time we come back there won't be any schools in session but the same policies that Mrs DEA was referencing still apply are you aren't you referring to the May 25th meeting who me yeah that's why I said let me check that's the next meeting our next meeting is the 2 well we're still in school yeah yeah yeah that's why I said let me check I'm fine with that Terry you want to amend it to that I'm fine yes you're going to withdraw no
231it it can it can stand okay that's right they can they can vote on my Amendment repeat it the amendment is to um move back to the dis and have uh the chairs three feet apart instead of six with with optional masking in the room yes in other words when they're seated and they're ft apart they can have their mask off if they want I mean they're adults in this room they come in without their masks anyway so is there a second to the amended motion and Mrs Rosario second yes any further discussion all in favor I I I passes post no no all right it carries 32 right so we have the main motion as amended you seconded the main motion correct correct any further discussion on the main motion which I can't remember
232what it is is it the the amended it's it's amended as main motion so now we're now we voted to make it amended now we're voting whether or not we agree on the amended motion all right all in favor I I opposed no all right the votes three to two in favor of the amended amended amended motion Dr Jones you and I for the first time be able to sit up on the yeah the day it'll be nice i' I've only sat there four times myself so now you had another motion I did I had another motion uh to make masks optional after the last test is over in every school is there a second to that motion I'll second it any further discussion on that motion all in favor I I opposed no no
233no all right that motion is voted down 3-2 all right are we finished no action items yes yes all right in the sequence of events there's a report from the superintendent no report tonight discussion items this is fa important yes thank you this shouldn't take long I hope Lord knows um in the last meeting there was a um teacher who came and had his parent as students speak and um the teacher made a comment that he had been told in the past that he couldn't speak to the superintendent and that that is why he was coming to board meetings because he felt like he couldn't speak to the superintendent I said no you can speak to us I mean I get calls all the time from staff members from you know community members everything but
234um I was made aware right after the meeting from a former employee that um there is a this policy that you all have now in front of you 4112 board staff Communications in place I did discuss it with uh Dr Moore and he agreed that it probably needs a little bit of an adjustment or amendment in the sake of transparency because in this um communication policy you will see that it says all Communications need to go through the superintendent to the board members in other words staff members should not be contacting us directly and it happens time and again I'm going to tell you and so therefore they're violating this policy and uh he and I talked about that is that friendly to do it and I'm not saying that we want people to circumvent
235them because the first thing I say to somebody when they have a complaint is did you talk to the teacher did you talk to the principal did you go up the chain of command because it's only fair that they have the opportunity to deal with the problem before it comes to the board and um a lot of times I can work it out and and I'm sure you do two one-on-one with a parent and get the problem solved like that and it's much easier for the parent too that or the staff member to have that problem solved I talked to a staff member yesterday that came to us with email an email an email and they said you know that was being addressed um Mr Bass thank you for talking to to the staff member
236so I will say that um sometimes staff members don't know all these policies right and um my bad I probably read it when I first came on the board because I read all the policies but I don't have them all memorized I got to admit I have to go to the policy um thank God for board docs now but I go there and look it up quickly and say oh yep that's here and that's our job to look at these and say is this what we still want so I'm asking you board members to look at this policy and um I'm not saying we have to Hash it out tonight but I think have your individual discussions with Dr Moore about how you feel about this policy and what tweaks can be made to it
237because I think it does it is important that um staff do have the opportunity to talk to board members but I also because they are taxpayers but I also think that it's important that they go through the chain of command too and if they get frustrated with that I get it I was a frustrated staff member when I worked in this County before I will tell you that and it was frustrating because if you're if your immediate person that you go to you have tried and tried and tried to do something and it doesn't work what are you going to do about it because you're worried for your job plain and simple I just like to add I I have talked to Dr Mor a little bit about that um I think it's important that
238we always try to solve the problem root cause you know if a teacher has a concern you go through the hierarchy you're supervisor you know and so forth and always as a principal I I didn't want people go in the district office if they hadn't talked to me I want to be able to handle the situation may not always agree with me but um I always wanted to have that opportunity to do so but one thing I have always been good at is making sure that before this position I responded so I talked to Dr Mo I said so when this goes up to you or Mr Bass or so forth I really appreciate it when you let me know you've talked to them because I think it's very important that we respond to the
239situation and that was the key for me you know I always used to respond as a principal and the communication goes through you so when it goes up to you or whoever you assign it to I just like that you let me know that youve responded so I appreciate that good point Miss be board yeah so what I'm asking for is for board members to discuss this with superintendent y um I'm going to give him my feelings of of how I think it should be tweaked and and you can as well and then um I would like this to be on our next agenda item uh for the for the next meeting as an agenda item to um vote on some sort of change or whether or not we want to adopt a difference in
240this policy well we going to because I'm going to tell you it's being violated left and right so to me if a policy is not working we need to look at it but before we vote on it we have to know what we're it's not a vote it's just discuss no we're not voting I mean she said the next meeting so before we vote on the next meeting we need to know what people think about the changes so well that's what I'm asking for for us to bring it up to the next meeting to discuss think we've followed this policy in the last 15 months that I've been here I I have no interest in following it like it the way that it is I think you know having access to staff is something that
241should be non-negotiable um and quite honestly the recommendations that I make to board whether it be for a program a resource or continued employment uh isn't going to change it's going to be in the best interest of children every day the week and twice on Sunday so having the opportunity uh for you to engage with staff completes that you know that cycle of of communication and that level of accountability um so I don't see any problem making those recommendations because that's just the way it should be Mrs rerio um one of the things that I remember from my first fsba uh work uh training conference was that board members are not police officers we're traffic cops and so once we get a concern or something comes in um we're not responsible for fixing it we're
242responsible for directing them who to go to and who to speak to with a particular um uh issue if they have it um but you can't help but feel connected to people who come to you because they have a a um you know it might be egregious or or not whatever it is you can't help but feel compelled to want to do whatever you can um or to respond as as um Dr Jones just mentioned um but Dr Moore has been uh pretty good in terms of allowing as he mentioned uh board members to to talk with staff and and and and I'm pretty much talking about um District leadership um you know your cabinet and some others um there has never really and I think everyone is always on the same page that it's
243almost like once you speak with one person once I come back to Dr Moore Dr Moore already knows or if I go to Dr Moore and he says go ahead and talk to Mrs dampierre they they've already dis it's almost instant I don't know how that communication happens so quickly but it it it's it's that quick um so I that I appreciate with regard to board members speaking with with staff um I mean or but nine times out of 10 I'm directing them to Dr Moore um which is really the way that it should be and I'll I might copy somebody on an email or I might you know say privately you know follow up with me let me know how that went um but my what I wanted to also ask Terry um if
244if you would consider it when we do the policy when we look at the policies with regard to critical race Theory maybe we can have that same session look at this policy at the same time that's fine I just want to start the discussion on this because this is a small short policy but again it's it's not being followed very well so if it's not being followed not that you have to throw out a policy because people aren't following it because there are people that do follow it I have people that um I had one the other day came up to me in the gym and said I know I'm not supposed to talk to you yeah and I was like whoa wait a minute you can talk to me well yeah but it's a
245concern I have at school okay did you go to this person did you go to this I I went through the same thing that I always go through and found out no I was able to just suggest who she talked to and that took care of the problem but again um it is something that we probably need to go through the process of changing this policy I don't you know when it happens I don't care but it probably needs to happen before next school year we probably have to have it in place just y all right couple okay oh nothing are we on board member Sher I was going to go to board member matters Dr Jones few things I'd like to share um several board members were at the ese inclusion show at Sebastian
246River High School we had a blast again thank you to miss Taylor and uh Mr Cummings for a wonderful program both Vero Beach and sebas River High School baseball won districts and they lost in their first Regional game but they had a wonderful season I've thoroughly enjoyed scholarship nights at Seb and Vero looking forward to Elementary Middle High School graduation one thing I really wanted to share I'm on The Bold idea for McAn for uh support with our after school programs and we had a meeting with Miss Emerson and it was absolutely wonderful they love the fact Dr Moore that you're breaking the silos and we're trying to do our best to bring it all together and see what our concerns are and data and Greg McDonald's been wonderful on that too had a great
247meeting um our first meeting with the good cause dealing with athletic transfers which is now in the district and Mr Seymour and the ads and I were on a zoom call and it went very well and a a big thank you to all our staff and students and administrators teachers this year because it's been a tough year it's been a really tough here and I appreciate you and uh going to work each and every day and just um a little bit on a sad note um our boy from crossover who passed he was a student at VIR Beach High School for his um sorry two years and I I volunteer at crossover he's not one of my um mentees but I knew him and uh we had a gathering with crossover students and and family
248about a week ago but um it's just something that we experience too often we had that with a Vero Beach High School student last year um who was at the beach and um just to let the family know we're thinking of them and are here for them thank you any other member matters I just have one um I know we all attended uh well a lot of us attended scholarship night at ver Beach High School just to mention that most people don't know or may not know that over a million dollars was um given away that night so it's pretty impressive and um you know uh Dr Moore thank you for holding Town Hall meetings they're they're meant to inform but also gather information and I know that wasn't the first of that information because
249this is a huge undertaking looking at our facilities and what we can creatively do instead of always having k5s three you know middle school and high school being creative with that being creative with start times being created with you know K to8 uh Boutique High School there's all kinds of options we can look at and when you're looking at forecasting down the road you know and looking at at your populations this is the time that we can really have some interesting school choice and so um I look forward to more conversations about that hopefully the conversation will go towards what you meant it to go towards which was exactly of what are we going to do for our students and our facilities moving forward and so I appreciate those also lacrosse I believe went all
250the way to State didn't they was it state that they lost uh the girls are still I think yeah in the finals right yeah so yes I'm sorry so cudas to Lacrosse too any other uh Mrs Rosario yes um I attended McAn I know Dr Jones you attended McAn as well um Dr Packard presented on um social emotional learning and she did a wonderful job it was wonderful um I actually think that it would be a good opportunity Unity for her to present to the board publicly so that everybody rightly understands what that means what that is and how that's implemented um the I attended of course the executive Round Table the scholarship nights I did not have an opportunity to go to the town halls I had tennis matches with my son so sorry
251I had to uh cheer him on um but I did hear some good things um I would like for future Town Halls to on the flyer we've talked about this to actually say what is going to be discussed because some people contacted me and said what is this going to be about and I think more people might show if they know what it is that you're going to present on so that I think is something that we could um improve upon with regards to the communication which is something that I know that um is important to you um otherwise I don't believe that I have anything else on my schedule Dr Schiff anything nothing to add that hasn't been said all right the only thing I would add is that um I haven't been to
252that many events but that um ESC program at Sebastian I think somebody used the word uplifting uh to see the 40 or 50 kids up there and having as much fun as they had and some were quite athletic that young man that was walking across on his hands and doing the alligator whatever it was I thought he was going to throw his back out um but uh that was fun and obviously it's always fun to give away somebody else's money as we did at scholarship night so so that was great and the only other thing that I feel badly about is once again Mr Fagan has not had an opportunity to speak so uh Dr Moore can you make sure that he gets on the agenda the next time so he doesn't feel left out
253we're getting ready to do budget and Mr Fagan has has proven to be thorough and and consistent when we do the budget so get ready for the Ron well he done such a good job that when some of his items they end up on the consent agenda nobody even questions them ex I don't think yall GNA do that with the budget but all right uh anything further um no Dr Moore no I'm satisfied thank you sir all right um meeting adjourned at 10:19 have a good evening everybody and I guess we'll see you all at graduation if not before two graduations