School Board Business Meeting 6_00 p.m. 7-22-24

001e you to our school SCH board business meeting and the Joe and idet junor Tec today is Monday July 22nd 2024 and I'd like to call this meeting to order the time is 6: p.m. I ask that out of respect to everyone please silence all electronic devices at this time also if you have any material you wish to share with any board member please give that to our executive assistant Mrs Mor is over here especially if you're speaking as citizen input it's better to give it to our now okay thank you all right please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to flag flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I miss the r kids

002we're almost back kids are almost I know I know all right at this time we are to the adoption of the orders of the day there is one item on the consent agenda that had some typos so we had to amend that um we don't need to pull it and bring those to everybody's attention right they're just typos okay all right so um are there any other items board members wish to move from consent to action or add to discussion Dr Jones yes just on action agenda 11a I would like to bifurcate the policies so that we have an individual vote on each of those policies okay can I get a second no you don't you don't need a second oh we don't need a second to bifurcate no when you get there okay okay

003I have to call for a second at this time time for um the motion okay thank you second all right any discussion on that before we move to anything else all right anybody else all right so um with just that item I'd like to call for a motion to accept the adoption of the orders of the day as amended so move okay Mr McDonald and Dr Jones Dr Jones is second all those in favor say I I I anyone opposed I passes 5 okay at this time I'd like to turn it over to Dr Moore who has a presentation for our new assistant principles thank you madam chair as part of the consent agenda that was just approved one of those items is personnel and we have the honor this evening of introducing three new

004assistant principles um and we are very very excited to have them to our homegrown or semi homegrown and then one is joining us from Oola County I'll start first uh at gford middle school and I see the exiting faculty here as well as the incoming faculty uh Alyssa Hartman will be the new assistant principal at gford Middle School coming from albaso staying home which is very very hard to do so I was a counselor at one school then promoted as an assistant principal hardest thing to do because everyone's going to look at you like you're still the assist or they still the math coach but you're the a you're their boss now so it's going to be hard um so family lean on him let lean on your family for support uh but Dustin Keaton

005uh I'm sorry Paul Dunn is going to be the assistant principal at Vero Beach Elementary School and then we were able to attract at Sebastian River Middle School a current uh AP in Oola School District at Harmony High School where where you at right high school or middle school high school high school well he's going to go to a middle school which is going to be maybe one of our highest achieving middle schools so no pressure on you uh Dustin Keaton congratulations can we have all y'all come up and we could take a p oh look I'm from Vero Beach I said all y'all come on welcome congratulations [Applause] it is a getting into that assistant principal position is a long hard arduous process and it's something you look forward to um as you're a

006teacher as you're an instructional coach um so I remember getting my assistant principal position and then gaining 20 pounds so great time you're in great places you have great leaders uh and we're so thankful for the work that we know you're going to do thank you and congratulations and now your families can take you out to [Applause] eat or hang out with us watch our show EXA all right our third item is the superintendent's report oh they should have saay for the report um I know they're leaving I'm about to brag on all of the schools um so if we could pull up the presentation this is a very similar presentation that I gave this morning so this morning we had um um an absolutely outstanding very long but outstanding um board Workshop we were

007able to present a number of items to our school board we began that meeting with this presentation and this is some of the academic outcomes that the state has released so I'm going to go over that information with you uh these are the components that make up the school and District grade so when you look at this score here and just to acclimate you to the screen we're looking at the last four years of data and we're looking at the school the districts that make up the Treasure Coast so on that first SC uh uh line you see Indian River County was 55% of students scoring at um three or above in 1819 uh in 2324 they were at 57 but if you were to look back to 2223 we improved six percentage points uh

008in ela that is significant this is grades 3 through 10 and then when you look at surrounding counties which is very similar to the rest of the state you see very little movement marginal growth but not significant growth and you're going to see that consistent uh in pretty much every slide that I share with the exception of one so this is significant progress from last year uh two years ago to last year as well as from 1819 when you look at math grades 3 through 8 once again significant progress a 5 percentage Point improvement from 22 to 23 moving to 60 once again in terms of overall % outpacing every single District uh and then 5 percentage points only St Lucy match that level of growth so once again uh absolutely outstanding Science fifth grade

00953 in 1819 to 23 2465 with a 6 percentage uh Point Improvement uh once again on top by a lot in on the Treasure Coast as well as across the state and we'll talk about how well we look in fifth grade across the state state in a minute then you look at eighth grade science a lot of attention went into our Middle School and High School's performance this year and it paid off in a huge way uh moving from 50 to 53 in e8th grade science once again outpacing the state and outpacing surrounding counties in a significant way this is civics this is the opportunity for improvement you can see across the board from 1819 to 2324 we have have remained basically the same this is the one area across all assessed areas where we

010have um sustained no major improvements uh so I committed to the board this morning you're going to see us making significant movement there 67 still you know overall in terms of the state comparison good but not good enough in terms of the other areas in terms of O overall growth when you look at us history going from 64 in 1819 last year was 65 to 72% of our students scoring three or above uh once again significantly outpacing the state and other surrounding counties now this is a different we're looking at the data in a different way we were comparing in the previous slides our growth from last year to the end of last year to the well two years ago to end of last school year this looks at the overall growth uh within the

011school year so if you look at that first slide you see uh when school started across the state 33% of the students uh were at three or above when school started but only 32% in Indian River County at the end of the year we surpassed the state moving to 5 57 and there are only to 53 so we grew 25 percentage points the state only grew 20 uh and the numbers just continue to grow when you look uh at the other grade band so when you're looking at Ela for third grade you see uh the state started at 24 we started at 20 yet we were able to grow to 63 where the state only grew to 55 uh significantly outpacing them by 12 percentage points and then math 3 through eight State started the

012year at 14% was able to get to 56 we started at 11 3% below uh but actually ended up 5 percentage points above um moving um the state from 42 we outpaced them by 8 percentage point so significant growth within the school year as well so when you look at the growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year as well as the growth in student scoring three or above you see significant significant Improvement um just to kind of highlight that Improvement as we are looking at our own particular growth uh every single county in the state of Florida is takes the same exact assessment and one of the things you're going to realize when you look at these results across the State of Florida the rate of change is not

013significant for other districts it's maybe too up or two down there are some small schools are small districts that have as much kids in their entire District as we have in one middle school and you see four or five or six percentage points up or down but when you look at each of these assessed areas you're seeing us go from 31 to 21 to 20 to 14 that is significant grades 3 through 8 36 all the way up to 12 uh when you're looking at grade five science that is number five in the State of Florida we started at 35 and 1819 that is absolutely significant um when you're looking at grade 8 uh We've leveled off at 16 but we will continue to grow but when you look at that starting point it was

01438 and then when you look at um some of our achievements so this is new board so I know you're like oh I've already saw this but we added this just B B on some conversation this is looking at our subgroups and we spoke a little bit this morning about uh reducing the Gap uh and the Gap is the variance between white performance and black performance so if you look at the first slide it says black white that's the variance between the percent of students who are three above white uh compared to the perent of students are three above that are black 1819 it was 29 uh this year last year was or 22 23 was 27 and now 25 what you're seeing is a positive close of the Gap meaning that our white students

015are growing they're around 68 69 um they're growing well at the same time black students are growing at a faster Pace to close that Gap um you hit Hispanic leveled off at 19 uh students with disabilities um The Gap is 35 that's a decrease of the gap and then are economically disadvantaged once again you're seeing a decrease in the Gap so that is Ela and then looking at math once again gaps gaps beginning to reduce um while both subgroups are continuing to improve uh the Gap black white 28 to 25 uh white hispanic 17 to 14 students with disability uh remaining at 31 and then economically disadvantaged moving from 16 to 15 so we are regardless of how you're looking at the the growth you're seeing significant growth um when you're looking at the upcoming

016school grades everything we have to this point is just basically student outcomes the state on Wednesday will approve a new grading scale so right now the district uh has a a rating and we're waiting to see what our district grading would be of the data that I presented here it doesn't include learning gains it just uh looks at students who scored three or above so there's a significant amount of data that's yet to be received um but you look at from 2122 when the entire scale was being used by the state you see that they're moving in elementary school there's no changes the cut scores for an A B C D and F remain the same but you realize in Middle School uh you have to improve 62 to 64 uh to receive an a

017a b goes from 54 to 57 A C goes from 41 to 44 a d from 32 to 34 so what you see is the state raising the bar an outcome of 62 two years ago would have made a middle school an a an outcome of 62% points this year would make them a b uh same thing holds true uh if you were a 54 two years ago you would have been a b now you'd be a c so this State rightfully so is increasing uh the expectation around cut scores so we have to perform uh at a higher level across the board to maintain an a grading for the district and same thing holds true for our middle schools and high schools now when you look at the um it says combination and District

018school grade we don't have any Comin combination schools yet um but you'll see uh two years ago an a was 62 percentage of the points now it's going to be 64 so if we're going to maintain our a uh we have to improve by a minimum by two percentage points and we have assessments that are ultimately have higher cut scores as well so the assessments themselves are more complex the grading scale that's being used uh the bar has been raised so the state is setting the bar higher with a more complex assessment and moving the uh cut scores up so later this week we anticipate getting um our grades we anticipate just based on the data that we have uh significant improvements from where we were last year and even more significant improvements from where

019we were in 1819 going back prior to the pandemic I said it today but this is a little bit more public meeting um when we greet our principes back in their leadership teams Wednesday morning we will set the expectation that every single School in this District well at the end of next year b& that is the goal we didn't come in and saying that we were going to be an a district that was a given we've accomplished that and we expect to continue uh to have an a rating but this community deserves nothing but a schools and that's a huge statement and you need to be laser focused uh you need a board who's going to stand behind the work um get things out of the way support the work you need a staff who's

020going to be unwavering uh in its belief in children uh and willing to do whatever needs to be done to be in service of each and every single child so as we move forward uh we will celebrate later in the week with the outcome of the district grade as well as the school grades even though we're not 100% sure what they were going to be based on the growth we know we're going to celebrate we're claiming it um and then we're going to have even even a bigger celebration next year uh when we prove to everyone across the state that every single School in a district can and should be an A so that is the presentation board members thank you sir great presentation all right so at this time I'm going to read guidelines

021for citizen input we have 17 speakers all right so each statement made by a member of the public shall be limited to three minutes duration I will be recognizing in the order in which the requests were received the time shall start when the speaker is at the podium and the public information officer will be the official timekeeper the one moving the podium right now as you see the time clock it will be visible right there on your on your left of the dis you will hear beep at the end of the three minutes each person may speak for up to three minutes at the beginning of the business meeting during citizen input as indicated on the order of the business and for up to three minutes to each action agenda item during the action agenda

022when we vote before we vote sorry as indicated on the order of business if a consent item is moved to an action item then when you come to the Podium you may speak at that time or you may defer to speak during the presentation of the action item people may only speak once about any given item the time period may be extended by the presiding officer only the individual submitting to speaker's form is allowed to address the board time may not be yielded to other speakers during the meeting please refrain from clapping or outbursts of any sort so that we may proceed with dignity and with decorum by not infringing on any individual's First Amendment rights I need to remind everyone to direct all comments to the chair not to individual board members or to

023the superintendent please board members may or may not address any citizen input statements at the end of all citizen input comments as board members listen to citizens without interruption citizens are asked to give board members the same respect as per Florida statute 1000 1372 subsection 3 the presiding officer of any District School Board May order the removal from a public meeting held by The District School Board of any person interfering with the expeditious or orderly process of such meeting providing such officer has first issued a warning that continued interference with the orderly processes of the meeting will result in removal the first warning is to everyone at this time no personal tax please no inciting and no disrespect I will be calling you up two at a time the first person will be called to

024the podium to speak the second will be on deck and in line to speak behind speakers shall not engage in personal attacks or Abus of language the chair has the right to terminate any speaker's privilege to address the board if this rule is violated if you have anything to give to board members or to the superintendent please do that through our executive assistant Mrs Mor seated right here it is clear that the board has taken action to comply with the law regarding instructional materials including library books if you are here to express your opinion regarding HB 1069 on materials in school libraries we would ask that you V visit staff in the lobby to initiate the challenge process finally the school district supports First Amendment rights of speakers and rights outlined in HB 1069 regarding

025Library materials as such some individuals may choose to exercise these rights which may include reading material with language or content that is not appropriate for all audiences knowing this please make a viewing decision appropriate for you and your family all right with that I am going to recognize our first speaker and the person on Deck our first Speaker sent theirs by email that's Derek weinrub I hope I said that right and on Deck is uh Dr Margie Flanigan good evening Madam chair my name is Derek wiin I am the chairman for the Indian River County tobacco free partnership I'm I'm here tonight to ask the Indian River County School Board to finalize adoption of the niola tobacco-free educational component which entails a student receiving tobacco prevention education after being caught vaping at school currently Indian

026River County has adopted 14 of the 15 Neola use of tobacco on school premises policies Indian River County school board has already implemented the tobacco free educational component through safer Coalition the the only remaining piece left is the official written adoption of this component in the school board's policy the Florida Department of Education and Bureau of tobacc free Florida highly encourages each Florida county to adopt all of the Neola policy components and the use of tobacco on school premises again Indian River has already implemented this remaining component we are simply asking for this to be adopted officially in writing as the final missing p of the Neola policy we have brought this to the attention of the Indian River County different leaders at the school board and everyone seems to be in favor of this

027policy but nothing is actually put into place to put it in writing so that is what we are asking for at this time thank you for your time and we greatly appreciate your service thank you Dr Margie Flanigan on Deck is Heather Askin good evening I'm Dr Margie Flanigan chair of Education champions advocates for public education since the May meeting where three school board members rejected the recommendation of our district objection committee and voted to remove Alan grass's ban the book from school shelves our board has received National and international attention sadly none in a positive light CNN The Washington Post USA Today the independent MSN kirkus Review Tallahassee Democrat and our Treasure Coast TC editorial board and more have all criticized the three board members for their misguided decision the removal caught media attention

028because of the irony of banning a book called ban this book it makes great headlines when moms for Liberty challenged the book and the three moms backed board members overrode the committee recommendation and banned the book access was denied to the children and parents in IRC Public Schools who don't agree with such views to the chair Dr pca's liberal Marxist propaganda comments and Mr McDonald's condemning a book because a nine-year-old challenged school board authority underscores the political cultural War issues that detract from encouraging student literacy and critical thinking we should encourage reading and focus on increasing not limiting diverse materials historically book bands have been the tool of tyrants and history has not been kind to those employed in the tactic and while we acknowledge that certain literary works are not suited for all age

029groups the district already has mechanisms in place for parents to restrict their children's access to materials they deem unsuitable or contrary to their values we also have expert media professionals who screen for inappropriate content after the May 2024 board meeting we received letters from authors including Alan grants grats author of ban this book regarding book removals tonight education Champion members will use their a lot of time to read into the record the author's own words what better way to articulate the importance and joy of reading to quote journalist Al Ali veli book Banning is a powerful weapon in the Arsenal to degrade democracy and whether you use the phrase book ban challenge removal or restricting the outcome is the same access is denied or limited we urge you to support the Bedrock American principle of

030freedom of expression and thought thank you thank you heather Askin is next Margaret Murray is on Deck good evening I'm Heather Askin I'm a education champion and an advocate for public schools tonight you'll hear letters addressed to our school board written by by authors please note that these are the author's unedited and unfiltered words first you'll hear from Alan Gratz an award-winning author of 20 young adult novels six produced plays and other acclaimed writings his 2017 novel Refugee spent more than five years on the New York Times bestseller list and in the and is the winner of 14 State Awards he received the Sydney Taylor book award the National Jewish book award the ipal middle grade fiction award a Charlotte Huck award honor and a Mala pen award for human rights Refugee was also a

031global read alloud book for 2018 the National Coalition against censorship's letter to the board will also be read Cynthia ekran is an author of a histo historical fiction novel the class of perfection Miss ekan calls Vero Beach home she currently is traveling while conducting research for her second novel Linda Henry is a children's author and journalist who writes for a host of Publications her book The Cookie Garden is described in her letter Amanda Jones is a school librarian and author she has earned numerous honors and awards including being named librarian of the Year by the school library Journal of 2021 American Association of school librarians intellectual fre Freedom award and the Paul Howard award for courage and more Laura gr is a three-time national book award finalist and the New York Times best-selling author for

032five novels two celebrated short story collections she has won the story prize the ABA Indies Choice Award Francis Grand PRI deoen and Joyce Carol oats prize and has been a finalist for the national book critics Circle award her work regularly appears in the New Yorker the Atlantic and elsewhere and has been translated into 36 languages she lives in Gainesville Florida jod pult is a number one New York Times best-selling author of 30 novels translated into 34 languages some made into movies multi-talented Miss pult has written and produce musicals including Off Broadway and international Productions Princeton University ranked her as one of their top 10 most influential living alumni Miss pult was the keynote speaker two weeks ago at the pan America's unified voices Summit protecting educational freedom in Florida due to the length of her

033letter it will be read in parts thank you and next you'll hear from Alan Gratz thank you Margaret Murray is next Cindy Gibbs is on Deck [Music] I'm Margaret Murray Vice chair of the education committee dear members of the Indian River County School Board I'm very disappointed to hear that you voted to remove my novel ban this book from your school libraries despite the recommendation of your own District boo book review committee made up of local parents and school officials to keep it the decision indicates that the removal was motiv ated by politics and not what is best for the students and families of Indian River County the removal of ban this book is a small part of a much larger epidemic of book Banning across the United States this backlash is a direct result

034of the incredibly modest yet hard one gains we as a publishing Community have begun to make in the diversification of children's books by or about traditionally unrep represented members of our communities including people of color and people who are LBGTQ plus when books with these themes are removed or flagged as inappropriate it sends the message that the people in them are somewhat inappropriate to remove these books is bad enough to remove my book because it dared to mention books you have already banned is eraser of the highest order every reader deserves to see themselves and their families represented positively in the books in their libraries studies show that diverse books builds empathy and reduces Prejudice creates a more just more compassionate and a more peaceful world for all of us the trouble in band this

035book begins when the local school board ignores the recommendation of its own book review committee and unilaterally bans books to satisfy a very vocal majority a very vocal majority in this community I hope you will reconsider the recommendations of your review board and put ban this book back on the shelves of your District Library if not I implore you to at least read the book yourself you will learn as Amy an and her friends do that once you ban one book you can ban them all and then none of us will see ourselves in books because there will be no more books on our library shelves sincerely Allan grants thank you uh Cindy Gibbs is next Linda topper is on Deck good evening I'm Cindy Gibbs my kids go to school in Indian River County

036I'll be reading a letter from the National Coalition against censorship kids write to read dear members the National Coalition against censorship is an alliance of national nonprofit groups dedicated to protecting freedom of expression including the rights of K through 12 students teachers and staff we are writing in regard to the school board's decision to remove Alan gr's ban this book despite the district book review committee's recommendation to retain the book in school libraries we are deeply concerned that the board may have acted improperly in Banning ban this book it is our understanding that the challenge to ban this book was initially referred to a district Review Committee the committee in this case reviewed the book and voted 6 to2 that it should remain in the school library on May 20th ignoring the committee's decision the

037school board voted 3 to2 to permanently remove this book from school libraries the board should only in the rarest cases overrule the recommendations of a Review Committee recognizing that book challenges are often highly contentious and emotional the district's regulation require a formal review to ensure that all parties feel they've been heard and respected review committees play an important role in adjudicating book challenges because they represent all stakeholders they ensure that every party feels their views have been considered and that decisions about educational materials are made in an objective non-political manner that benefits the school Community as a whole overturning the review committee's recommendation also opens the board to claims that the books were removed based on viewpoints they express in violation of the First Amendment therefore school boards should give serious consideration to their recommendations

038and only overturn them in very unusual cases while not every book is right for every reader the role of school libraries is to allow students and their parents to make choices according to their own interests experiences and family values no parent student or Community member should be permitted to impose their views values and interests on others by restricting an entire community's access to particular books hold that thought okay Linda toer is next Debbie Martins is on Deck hello I am Linda topper and I am reading the rest of that letter however during this board's discussion of the book challenge board members advocated for removing the book because it contained ideas of about dissent that do not give students the right kind of information we understand that the book rejected the recommendation of the Review Committee

039and the motion below which is I move that we direct the superintendent to not purchase this book and remove it from the shelves as it is not appropriate for elementary schools and that it promotes books which are deemed to be inappropriate for this age and age group and that it teaches rebellion of Schoolboard Authority by a 9-year-old and by the librarian and it is offensive to a large segment of our parents as you know the Supreme Court has warned that school boards may not remove books from library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books Board of Education versus Pico in 2021 the court reaffirmed the principle underlying Pico stating that public schools have a responsibility to protect unpopular ideas thus the removal of books from public school libraries to suppress ideas

040is a violation of the First Amendment the minutes of the meeting explicitly reference members of the public who find the content of ban this book offensive as a justification for its removal therefore we are concerned that the board might have removed this book due to disagreement with the views expressed within it in direct contravention of Pico we urge you to return ban this book to the shelves of your school libraries thank you for your attention and consideration to this matter sincerely Christine emeran youth free expression program director National Coalition against censorship co-signed by American book sellers for free expression the author Guild children's and Young Adult Book committee pen America and National Council of teachers of English society of children's book writers and illustrators thank you thank you Caroline Rosenfeld is next um Joanna Dunlap

041is on Deck hi I'm Debbie Martins this is the author that I'll be reading for dear Indian River School board I am writing to urge you to reconsider Banning books in our schools because of my own experiences as a child of divorced parents as a lifelong student and as a writer my life would look vastly different if I had not had access to an array of books to turn to for information inspiration and understanding my parents divorced when I was in grade school in the 70s in the midwest this was still taboo and rare So I lived with a lot of Shame and confusion what helped me feel less alone were stories of girls from divorced families like mine and Judy Bloom books that I got from the school librarian authors like Judy Bloom unlike

042the adults in my life were not afraid to address difficult subjects that I related to which made me feel less alone my early connection with books led me to become a lifelong student of History history political philosophy and literature as a mother it is important for my children to feel that there was nothing off limits for them to read but they knew there were some books we would absolutely need to discuss my kids are now grown one is in publishing and the other in film last year after years of writing researching and editing I published a historical novel set in the Years leading up to the Russian Revolution since grade school when we had time each week to choose our own books from the library I've been drawn to history in the third grade Mrs

043Christensen liked the story I'd written and told me I was a writer stories and teachers are powerful for me they were the seeds that grew into a book of my own what seeds will never be planted because of the books that you have removed from the schools I encourage each of you on the board to reflect about the books you had access to as young children what shaped your life offered Comfort a sense of belonging and a better understanding of people whose lives were different from your own My Hope Is that in this reflection you will re refuse to ban another book from our school libraries respectfully Cynthia ekran the world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to go sharper WB yeets thank you thank you Caroline Rosenfeld is next Joanna

044Dunlop is on Deck I'm Caroline Rosenfeld and Ed education Champion I'm going to read a letter from author Linda Henry who wrote The Cookie Garden to the Indian River School Board as some someone whose love of reading was fostered by access to library books starting in grade school and as the author of a children's book called The Cookie Garden I urge you to reconsider Banning books in school I was fortunate to grow up in a place where the school library was open one day a week in the summer this was a special day for the kids in the neighborhood the County Libraries bookmobile even came to our street at regular intervals being able to check out books with an array of selections made me more Curious and connected to my neighbors community and the world

045I understand the world is different now children have access to the internet and are on their screens more hours and is probably healthy for them them books offer an escape from the onslaught of social media and its dangers more than that they offer a window into possibility and hope a way to see things from other perspectives something we sorely need books nurture empathy and compassion my goal in writing the cookie Garden was to cultivate imagination in children parents and grandparents but what if a parent objects to the idea of promoting cookies to children because too much sugar is bad for them or objects to the notion that growing a cookie Garden might be possible or is offended by the notion that a parent might create a bit of magic for a child should that parent

046be able to block all parents and all children from reading the book I believe the answer is no please don't ban books respectfully Linda Henry thank you uh Joanna Dunlap is next Arlene jamson is on Deck I'm Joanna Dunlap I'm reading a letter from Amanda Jones to the IND indan River School Board dear esteemed board members my name is Amanda Jones and I am a school librarian and author in 2021 I was named the school librarian of the Year by school library journal and I'm the author of that librarian the fight against book Banning in America in July 2022 I spoke about censorship and book Banning as a resident at my community's public library what ensued has been a well documented attempt to harass and defame Me by pro- censorship extremes including the national moms

047for Liberty Twitter page in which they retweeted an article about my harassment and stated that I was a groomer who should cry more when confronted about that tweet on 60 Minutes they had nothing of value to say imagine my surprise that a dedicated 23-year educator such as myself whose sole crime was to speak against censorship in my own Community would be attacked I am also a mother and believe in parental rights fast forward two years and I am no longer surprised by anything this group says or does there is a well-funded misinformation campaign against public schools libraries and books happening not only in in Florida but across the United States it must stop libraries are for everyone and books have the ability to save lives it is a fact that the majority of book bands

048and censorship efforts disproportionately Target the L lgbtqia A Plus community Florida is home to over 72% of the nation's challenged book titles as reported by Penn America America and seems to be Ground Zero for this hate hate is exactly what it is yet hate should have no place in our schools the displays of Hate by self-proclaimed joyful Warriors sets an awful example for our children and make no mistake the children are watching the human rights Coalition published a report in 2023 that stated 90% of queer students ostracized at school can find solace in school libraries it is my hope that you take that number to heart when making decisions remember that queer students are a part of your school too and deserve to see themselves represented in the books on the shelves in their school

049libraries we must all work together to make a better world making the school system a better place starts with you thank you thank you Arlene Jameson is next and Mary Le is um on Deck good evening I'm Arlene Jameson I'm a member of Education Champions and I'd like to read a letter by the author Lauren gr excuse my throat uh who was the bestselling author of six books that were all on the New York Times bestseller list dear Indian River County School Board my name is Lauren gr as a writer I am a three-time national book award finalist as a book seller my store in Gainesville Florida the lynx celebrates the over 5,000 books that have been challenged or banned in the State of Florida I stand firmly against the recent attempts to challenge or

050ban books in public libraries and schools I am also a mother and I allow my my sons to read anything they want because I understand that reading books that challenge my boy's ideas of the world is a terrific opportunity to engage in difficult conversations with my children they are as a result happy smart subtle thinkers and will make excellent citizens while it is perfectly acceptable for a parent to want to guide their own children's reading it is Prof profoundly unacceptable for the same person to prevent the children of strangers from accessing the books they want to read we do not get to force our biases on other people's children which is what book Banners are attempting to do in the United States of America we stand for the freedom of expression which includes the freedom

051to read Sincerely Lauren gr thank you thank you Mary Le is next and Angela Boling is on Deck good evening jod pult bestselling author to the Indian River School Corporation School Board my name is jod pult I am the bestselling author of 30 novels several of which have been banned by the Indian River School District it is not the first time my books have been challenged nor will it be the last the books being banned at school districts in this country tend to fall into three categories those with sexual content those written by black indigenous or other people of color authors those written by lgbtq authors in most cases school districts where my book has been challenged those doing the challenging have not even read my books they've been provided with a list of titles

052from moms for Liberty members and other communities who Express quote unquote concern for what children are being exposed to make no mistake what children are being exposed to are ideas and lives different from their own which creates compassion and empathy or in some cases children are being exposed to ideas and lives exactly like their own which provides representation and validity and a sense of belonging the books on these lists are not salacious or revolutionary they are just the kind of books that help kids learn to think for themselves which is the point of an educational system and which is also terrifying to a certain small subset of Americans right now although it is legitimate for a parent to decide what is appropriate for his or her child they have no right to make that decision

053for another parent's child or to remove access to a book that another child might need this is not the first time historically that we have seen banss and challenges to literature because of this we can say historical accuracy that is the first page of a fascist Playbook if you want to control the thoughts of a Nation you start controlling what they read for those in the audience rolling your eyes consider some of the books most commonly challenged right now were written to Chronicle and explore moments in history where being different LED to systemic discrimination the thinking of those who promote book book bands and challenges is that by removing these books we get to rewrite and sanitize history it doesn't work that way instead we Cate categorically is that a kids who feel marginalized and

054read books with characters that are like themselves wind up feeling less marginalized kids who have never encountered someone different from them get to do so in the safe space of a book and it leads to understanding books Bridge divides between people books that are banned Bridge divides between people book banss create them thank you Angela bowling is next and Marilyn Leia is on Deck continuing I'm Angela Bing continuing jod pult in the event that You' have not read my novels I'd like to tell you about just one of multiple books I've written that the county has removed from shelves 19 minutes is about a school shooting and the effects of bullying yet the reason it is banned is usually because of a single page that depicts a date rape and uses anatomically correct words for

055the human body it is not a gratuitous scene and it is not salacious yet it has been challenged as porn the definition of porn includes a piece having no literary or artistic Merit 19 minutes has won multiple State book awards including those in Texas Illinois Iowa and New Hampshire as well as an award from the Ala I have spoken out at countless schools across this country and have received thousands of letters and emails and there have been hundreds hundreds of kids who said that 19 minutes was the reason they didn't bring a gun to school and start shooting instead the novel made them realize that they weren't the only ones who felt so isolated the book did not harm them it gave them tools to deal with an increasingly divided difficult world that is what

056books do they help kids see themselves in a different way they help kids see the world in a different way removing books from a library or labeling them as problematic is the first step on a very slippery slope we've already seen school districts starting to cancel School drama Productions they deem problematic we've had challenges to Curriculum by people who do don't have don't have degrees in education public library book challenges have increased 92% in a single year I know as do many of my writer friends who wind up on these lists that it is the work of a select few individuals who are championing book challenges what we hear most often is oh that's just going to drive up sales trust me none of us want that what we want is for kids to be

057able to read what they want to read instead of being told what they should read we want the great majority of folks in communities who support the freedom to read to be just as loud as those select few who are making so much noise against it we want you to stand in solidarity with us the writers who create Windows through which kids can escape and mirrors in which they can find themselves because we've seen what the next chapter looks like historically when we don't speak out against book challenges and it's not pretty best jod pult number one New York Times bestselling author and just a reminder to everybody to please look into the gford local history so that we can get that into our schools thank you thank you Marilyn lecki is next Dana King

058is on Deck good evening my name is Marilyn Leia and I'm a founding member of Education Champions tonight we read letters from authors expressing their strong commitment to the freedom to read and to represent all voices not those with just whom we agree it is essential to remember that our country was founded on the First Amendment right to free speech something well articulated by these authors as board members you have a responsibility to develop policies and procedures to ensure a quality education for all of our children not just to select few or even the majority for all children in respon to book challenges the district developed procedures in the form of a dist District objection committee to re review and vote on whether a book or material is appropriate you task the committee which includes

059members appointed by you our board members and then on your very first review of Alan Gratz has ban this book to the chair M Rosario Mr McDonald and Dr PCA rejected their decision to Echo Alan Grant his words quote this is a raer of the highest order unquote significant negative publicity has resulted from the actions of these three board members and subsequently diverted attention and resources away from the important matters facing our district as well as our achievements this negative publicity expanded far beyond our County indeed it has been shared throughout our country and even internationally by journalists commentators podcasters authors and outraged citizens I personally don't believe this is who we want to be perceived to be a thriving Public School System benefits everyone students families businesses and the community it instills pride attracts

060future taxpayers and ensures a strong vibrant future we teach our children to admit when they make a mistake to hopefully correct it and we remind them not to repeat the same mistake m in fact my father always told me that it's okay to make a mistake just don't make the same mistake twice we ask you to lead by example our children and the nation are watching and will judge us by your actions please do the right thing and place ban this book back on our school shelves we want Indian River County to be a model for learning non at epicenter of book challenges and band supported by the current three- member majority on this board thank you thank you Dana King is next Suzanne Jones Is On Deck good evening thank you uh I applaud

061you all for bringing the authors please speak to me ma'am not to the audience sorry okay sorry I also applaud the academic growth of students in the district and the success is expensive the deseg order and back and forth wastes money and time that could be used for instruction teacher pay school safety instructional tools any manner of use instead of trying to retread an old Tire I realize some of you on this board have worked earnestly to amend the 59-year-old federal order on behalf of the generations of children who have been born since 1967 children who have not benefited from their rightful access to an education but it's clear as day that there are others on this board who do not desire this District to be integrated and quite honestly what is the point anymore

062the fear instilled in this community by the thought of integration has resulted in families being awarded by the state with money to opt out of the public educational system and so far this district has lost more than a thousand students if the news reporting is correct this white flight will continue resulting in an unacceptable construct which is de facto integration now you want to spend money to try to lure back families with ideas such as the classical educational curriculum exclusively elevating the Western academic Cannon I'm not dismissing it out of hand but it woefully ignores a more expansive worldview that helps all students see themselves and their histories to help them feel welcome and to take their rightful place in this world let's just stop this charade trying to com come into compliance with the

06367 deseg order after 59 years it is a waste of time and money it's not hard to allow children to sit in classrooms with others who don't look like them it's not hard to hire administrators teachers and staff that look like the students that they are hired to educate do better thank you Suzanne Jones is next Jif for Pippen is on deck and last last speaker hello my name is Suzanne Jones and I'm a resident of Indian River County verl Beach I'm originally from Michigan and earned my bachelor of uh bachelor's degree in English literature and language education and a master's degree from the University of Michigan became a social worker in interpersonal practice and professionally retired as a psychotherapist and both mental health and addiction medicine within the last couple of years I've become

064become interested in the current education models I hear about in the State of Florida and more specifically Indian River County the term classical education to follow up on what she was saying at first seemed like a good thing to me I thought what's wrong with the classical education until I learned what it actually means classical education is a model that narrowly focuses on Western Christian culture and is seen as a a a solution to so-called Progressive education but it's actually regressive in nature and promotes the explicit aim of increasing Christian influence over local government here in Florida this model has primarily been used in charter schools and private Christian Schools I support parental choice of educational influence and relig and religious education I was raised as a Christian but as we all know uh including

065this this in our P publicly funded education is unconstitutional separation of church and state however this model has been instituted as part of Governor DeSantis dismantling of our Dei which means diversity equity and inclusion in K through 12 higher education and state government teaching diversity of people in their cultures providing equal access to education employment and Financial well-being and inclusion in all opportunities of our educational and broader social system should be our goal in a truly free and open Society the classical education model is about narrowing your child's ability to think critically and learn broadly with appreciation and understanding thank you for your time and interest hey Jennifer Pippen our last speaker sure good evening my name is Jennifer Pippen and I'm the proud chairman of moms for Liberty here in Indian River County and

066it is also my honor to let you guys know that moms for Liberty National won their um lawsuit against the Biden Administration for the Title Nine and thanks to many community members that have stepped up um our um all of our schools in Indian River County including the charters and the colleges are covered under this through the Title Nine from from the Biden Administration from moms for Liberty the lawsuit stated that each school had to have a moms for Liberty member in it to have the protection and again I am honored to say that every single School in Indian River County um is going to be protected and thank you to the 41 vote um that had the resolution um to protect you know kids in this District I do app appreciate that I also

067wanted to thank Mrs Rosario for um spearheading the reduction in the after school um care costs um that was something that was brought to light it was on the district website and I just wanted to thank you for getting those costs decreased as families came forward and said that would be um detrimental to their financial um ability and I also want to thank this board again for removing ban this book that directed Children to go read pornographic and sexually explicit content from other books our children ages 4 to 12 that the book was available to in the school district deserve better reading material than that also jod Piccolo was mentioned and I just wanted to um let the public in the board know that jod Piccolo writes adult which is 18 and or more romance

068we all know what that means novels and they have no business in Children's Schools whether they're award-winning books or not and some people comparing pornography and sexual explicit content to cookies and guns in this meeting is deeply disturbing this evening and just a reminder as well not one book in this school district has been removed for race or sexual preferences no books have been banned and in fact all of the books that were removed from our schools that were inappropriate for unaccompanied minor children were donated to the public library and currently sit in the adult section any parent can go and check out for their child free of charge at those public libraries another misinformation this evening again everybody talks about classical education it's not always a religious curriculum that has been said time and

069time and time again there's multiple curriculums for classical education the school district has said multiple times it's not going to be religious classical education and I also want to say this is the last meeting before school starts in the primaries everybody vote accordingly do your due diligence because the school and the children deserve it thank you okay thank you all right at this time I'd like to call for a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended like to respond oh I'm sorry yes sorry go ahead Dr P you know I just want to remind people um is this on it is on there we go it's coming I I just want to remind people I know this has been said over and over um that in this District we did not ban any book

070Banning implies you don't have access to it right so the primary rubric that I would look at is can you buy it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon is it available in a public library so we did not ban any single book what we did do is we took a children's library and we curated it um free of pornographic material uh I want to make it very clear there was never a book removed because it had um LGBT or racial stuff in it that is a lie um so we remove books with explicit pornographic material from our library but it's not banned actually you you any family that wants to go find that book and give it to their kid is more than capable of that um but I think it's important distinction and here's

071why because there really are books that have been banned for a number of years and uh that's not something something people want to talk about there's a whole list of books that are either hidden on Amazon or not sold on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble these books are all banned not because of pornographic material but due to their political content that is not liked by the individuals that run these stores these monopolies um these books are really three different topics that are banned across the country from Amazon and Barnes & Noble these are books that discuss aort abortion in a negative light and some of the many things that go on in abortion including um you know the harvesting of s cells which requires a baby to essentially be born and be alive and

072what they do is they start operating on the baby pleas I'll repeat it so essentially in order to harvest the maximum amount of stem cells for instance from a kidney hex cels you want a baby to be close to term and you want the baby to be alive cuz if there's loss of blood flow to the kidney you lose a lot of the yield for stem cells um so what they do is they induce labor and then they start operating on the baby without anesthetics without any pain medication because they do not consider it a living human being they consider it a fetus so they pull the kidneys out while the baby is literally crying and continue to harvest organs until it dies so books that discuss the truth are banned and I can tell

073you guys can't handle the truth because you're running away from it you're running away from the truth that's been banned in these books you you clearly can't handle the fact that there are really books that are ban and they discuss things you don't like so that's one of the topics in the band books another topic um in band books are vaccine related uh literature there's a number of books that have been published um regarding studies that showed potential risks or concerns with vaccines in the last 20 or 30 years all these books are extremely censored on Amazon and Barnes & Noble um there are also a number of Christian and conservative themed books that are also on this band list so those are actual band books and if you cared about censorship you'd probably be

074up here talking about that instead of a book that doesn't belong in a child's Library that's still free and widely available to anyone who wants to get it um but instead you make political dialogue here um while claiming you know mom's for Liberty is somehow the the group that prevents business from being conducted here um and you know so I think at the end of the day the truth is no book was banned in our libraries there are books that are banned and I recommend everyone go look into that and it's going to tell a very different story than what everyone said here today um you know additionally um to I think Alan Gratz you read a letter from him um describing that these books have a lot of positive representation for people and you

075know a lot of the books that we banned had things like little girls being raped in extremely violent rape scenes that were um really disgusting and oftentimes were put in a positive light that the person being raped enjoyed it um there were many books with men having sex with little kids usually boys um there was beastiality taught in these books so I guess my message to Alan Gratz is if you think this is positive and belong s in a kid's Library you know I probably wouldn't want you around my children um and I I'll just say in closing you know I I I love that you guys started bringing Flags I think it's beautiful and wonderful but I could not help but notice that um at the end of the meeting they're often times shoved

076in a book bag or when you get up to talk they're dropped on the floor where everyone's feet are um the moment that flag is no longer usable as a prop to your um activities it's just cast aside is that's what it looks like to me that's the perception so you know if you care about censorship you care about truth and you care about the flag I don't think I'd seen the behavior that I saw here today any other board members yeah uh Dr Jones just to followup Dr Moore I know this has been mentioned a couple times on the G local history and looking at our standards um were we looking at that in any Middle School level or what what were we thinking I'm sorry I don't remember through the chair yes we're

077we're looking at it in terms of exposure we do have the um the museum or or the artifacts that's actually at the the Middle School itself um and we're looking to provide additional opportunities for our students to get additional exposure in terms of learning their their local history I've been to the culture center at gford several times and obviously Gord middle will come and do field trips there too which I think are great but um when you look at the African-American studies and what we are to teach middle school and high school I just think this would be really really great as far as the history for our students who live in this County Mr Rosario um so uh I think I'll start with tobacco I'm not quite sure exactly what that's about but Dr

078Mo of course I'm going to charge i' I'd ask for you to look into that um I pulled up our policy which is 7434 I'm not sure if that's the policy that you were referring to um I it might be a different policy I don't know if there is anything I mean what what I heard was that we are not doing something that's in our policy something's missing no so I'd like for you to look into that sir and if not a night Neola policy which as we spoke about today sorry a what Neola policy right um that we have not adopted but we're currently whatever that policy is implementing that specific practice um so we will find the policy I think Michelle's already kind of tapped on his shoulder and we'll see what the

079actual policy is and um we'll bring it to the board to just if that's something you want to do so what I'm hearing is there's a different policy from niola that we have not yet adopted I I is that dude shut up and and spoke I got to do the research and figure out what what it is so so Dr Moore will look into whatever that was and let us know okay I appreciate that um I really think first of all the vote for this board um when the the board took the vote um against ban this book um that was quite a while ago and the fact that it keeps coming up over and over and over again isn't because it's a board issue it seems that it is a community issue and I

080hear the concerns for the community it does have a ring that you're Banning a ban this book book um but it that's not actually the case so I'm going to come back to the same questions that I pretty much ask Dr Moore every time something like this comes up so Dr Moore do do we as a district ban books maybe we just play back the I know we should but please and get and and no you you you don't ban books you remove books from from the it's it's inventory okay so we curate books according to what law tells us um I'd really like it for someone to actually uh one of the statements and it might have been somebody who left I'm not sure but one of the statements that was mentioned was um

081that we made a vote that this board voted to ban ban this book based on politics um I'd really like someone to prove that that decision was made based on politics that's what I would like cuz I hear it a lot the accusation where is the politic where was the politics in that decision it it wasn't there was it wasn't there the decision that this board made and we can like Dr Moore said we can replay the video the decision that was made that day for this particular book had nothing to do with politics it had everything to do with what was appropriate and here's here's somebody again keeps saying you have no right you have no right and a lot of these authors are writing books to this board saying you have no right

082to here's our right our right is found in Florida statute 1000 6.28 it is titled in part duties of the district school board and part and in part duties of the district school board include School library media Services it includes the establishment and the maintenance of the school library media services and it says establish and maintain a program of school library media services for all public schools in the district including School library media centers or School library media centers um that have traveling or circulating libraries it goes on to there's a lot in here you're more than welcome to to to pull it up says beginning January 1st 2023 school librarians Media Center Specialists and other Personnel involved in the selection of the School District Library uh materials must complete a training program and in

083summary that training program actually describes what is appropriate for the shelves and what isn't appropriate for the shelves in terms of um stocking those shelves this is way too much I'm not going to read the whole statute but it does continue to say that each School District District board or each district school board shall adopt procedures for developing library media center Collections and post those procedures on the website for each School within the district the procedure must a require the book selection meet another criteria which is found in 106.4 two require consultation of reputable professional recognized uh review periodicals and School uh Community stakeholders three provide for library media center collections including classroom libraries based on reader interest support of State academic standards and aligned curriculum you did each district school board and this is

084where it gets where it's important because I hear it you don't have the we do do have the right we have the legal right each district school board is responsible for the content of all not sum all instructional materials and any other material used in a classroom made available in a school or in a classroom library or included on a reading list whether it is adopted or it's p purchased in any other way adopted and purchased through the um District instructional materials program or purchased in any other way or made available in any other way each district school board must adopt a policy regarding an objection by a parent which we have done and we have a very good objection committee program and an objection policy which is really lengthy and I would even tout

085that we are have the best policy in all of the State of Florida and then then for I would just say any material used in a classroom any material used in a classroom made available in a school or a classroom library or included on a reading list that contains content that is one pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 or depicts or describe sexual conduct as defined in 847 .1 unless such material is for the course of um one of the courses which is listed there such as sex education or some other health education sorry not sex education health education is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material or is inappropriate for the grade level an age group and so we have done all of those things but at the

086end of the today it is the board's responsibility that if any of these items are included if they're prohibited content that is contained in curriculum or classroom libraries or School libraries or any such thing it is up to this board to take final action and vote and we did and whether there was a committee or not I would like to put it again on on Dr Moore Dr Moore I heard something about the committee some somebody said something about we shouldn't overturn the book committee I didn't know that the book committee had legal authority to make final decision is that their role what is the role of the book committee after they meet through the chair the book committee um very similar to all the other committees makes a recommendation to the school board um

087but the board ultimately has the weighs that recommendation but the board makes its own decision thank you sir um I would like to now that we're on that topic actually I think it's probably about time that we start discussing or maybe uh it should be a discussion between Mr McDonald and and and you at some point with the board um to replace Mr barefoot's um person on that book committee objection committee Mr barefoot's representation representative that's something that needs to be as Mr Barefoot selected someone but now we have um Mr McDonald on the case um uh somebody mentioned the Pico case um uh the Pico case really in in incredible summary um was the board in the Pico case which said that they did not want particular books because they were quote anti-American anti-christian

088anti-semitic or simply because they just didn't agree with what was inside of the book that's not what this board that's not the decision based on what this board made this board made a decision on that book and other books because the content violated the law the content was prohibited based on the laws that I just mentioned before and based on the Department of Education Rule and based on our policies which say the same thing as the law and the rule um so we do have the right we and people may not like that but we do I'm going to switch topics a little bit and go on to the desegregation Dr Moore we heard tonight that we are not integrating our schools um and that we are allowing our schools essentially to be segregated did

089you hear that as well through the you the only remarks that I can make in response to that that's what you when you're seeking unitary status it is to prove that you are a integrated school system I've said it before I'll say it again in my opinion this is a fully integrated school system um that is entitled to unitary status yeah and so I keep I hear also often Dr Moore um that we are still under the original desegregation order and I think maybe it might be a a good thing for us to start communicating that we are not on the original desegregation order we are not still under that desegregation order we are now under the 2018 joint plan which is partial unitary status am I correct prior to the issuing of that 2018

090joint plan the the two parties did agree I think one or two two or three areas for unitary status in those specific areas I think there's six remaining categories um in 2018 we came to an agreement which is that that specific plan that you're referring to okay um okay um I do appreciate that um um I think I'll leave my comments there thank you Mr McDonald okay uh I wanted to bring up couple things um Neil policy for tobacco free Florida thank you for being here um I'm a huge advocate and um trying to stop The Vaping that's going on in our schools so I appreciate being here um if you could get a copy of the policy you're saying that we don't have I think that would be helpful for us to have you

091did give it okay thank you I appreciate that um the other thing I wanted to say two other things is um the comment was made about uh one board member spearheading the after school program fee change actually um just because a board member speaks first or speaks the longest doesn't mean they spearhead anything it means that um all the board members actually brought that to Dr Moore's attention every one of us was concerned about the fees so that wasn't a spearhead by one board member is a spearhead by all board members and the last thing I want to say is the word curate does not mean to remove it means to organize and present it does not mean to remove a book from a shelf so that word curate um continues to be used by

092a board member it does not mean that um we are removing books we are not Banning the book the book is available in the public library that's where the books are going so anybody that's worried that the books are being removed from our schools you can find it in our Public Library um but we are not curating them that way we are removing them from our shelves so I just wanted to make that stipulation clear all right with that we are going to move yes just a quickly uh I agree with your point to the extent that that was the case the last book uh was being presented for purchase no it was not sir it was on our shelves you removed it from the shelves yeah there were three copies on the shelves but

093it was prepared then it was on our shelves it was not being proposed for purchase okay my understanding was being was proposed for wider purchase throughout the store and that's what you voted on that was my understanding that our action was but the the motion both was to not purchase them and remove the remaining three books so the motion covered both but I my understanding was that that was going to be purchased on a wider basis no sir it was on our shelves okay thank you all right we did not have any items that were pulled from consent to action so we are to our action agenda item 11a we do have a speaker I don't think you approve you approved the orders of the but not the consent agenda okay so items pulled from

094consent to action and then we didn't have any so approve the consent no i' like to call a motion to approve the consent agenda that's right I went to go do that and I was asked to please speak to that thank you um I would like to call for a motion to approve the consent agenda item as amended um can I get a motion so move second Jones PCA all those anybody I wanted to discuss that all those in favor say I I anyone opposed 5 it carries thank you now moving to action 11a we do have a speaker the speaker is Dana King hello again um I'd like to talk about the 1953 Supreme Court decision West Virginia versus Barnett that determined that students cannot be compelled to participate in political rituals okay ma'am

095which policy are you're referring to8 800 okay 8800 Z yes 8,800 thank you got it thank you okay so uh so the 53 Supreme Court decision determined that students cannot be compelled to participate in political rituals these rituals include the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the national anthem a song with words set to a British beer drinking song by Francis Scott Key a man who used his power and his access to power to further enslave African descendants a ma a a people that he publicly declared were intellectually inferior and were the scourge of society a St a song that states in its third stanza that slaves should be sent to their graves for fighting for their freedom I realize Florida has a workaround to the 1953 Supreme Court decision that agrees that students

096can't be compelled to participate in political rituals as long as a School receives a letter from a parent or a guardian stating that this child can stay seated should a parent provide that information to the school it's no one's business but theirs and the child's teacher and the administrators for a school board member to publicly align students for something they know nothing about and should know nothing about is a direct attempt to intimidate students abusing the authority of their position as what happened with regard to the graduation of Sebastian High School it is a parents job to raise their children to find their way to sound moral reasoning it is not a parents job to do the moral reasoning for their children or to get them to the point of perfect soundness today tomorrow or

097by adulthood it is not the school board's job to raise children to find a way to sound moral reasoning our beliefs always evolve and they deepen with time think about algebra does everybody get it in the fifth grade seventh grade 8ighth grade no we get there when we get there and it's the same with our moral growth we get there at our own Pace using or discarding new information and others input as we see fit the Pledge of Allegiance is a unifying statement but there are people who have fought for our right to not State the pledge of allegience and we need to honor that it's been decided by a court much higher than this board ofation all right this item is a public hearing for the adoption of the revisions to Schoolboard policies 8800

09801651 and 91502 on May 20th 2024 the school board voted to hold a public hearing to adopt revised District School Board policies 8800 8810 and 01516 5.1 on June 10th 2024 the school board voted to hold a public hearing to adopt revise District School Board policy 91 .02 this item deals with the adoption of revisions to the following School Board policies one religious patriotic ceremonies and observances two the American flag and official motto of the State of Florida three agendas four political activities Dr Moore have have you documented that this public hearing was properly advised in accordance with State statutes yes we are now in recess this meeting is to conduct the public hearing as advertised the public hearing is now in session Dr Moore are there any written responses to the advertised public hearing

099to be read at this time not at this time the public is now invited to address this issue at this time anyone like to speak okay is there an individual representing some sort of of group or organization that would like to speak the announced public hearing on the adoption of revisions to the religious patriotic ceremonies and observances the American flag and official motto of the State of Florida agendas and political activities Schoolboard policies has been conducted pursuant to notice and ample opportunity to address this issue has been provided for all I have not seen any speakers the board meeting is reconvened at this time I need a a call for a motion Madam chair chair bate she um oh I'm sorry you asked for it to be V bifurcated okay so I need to call

100for a motion on let me get them in the right order yeah it's hard 8800 I make a motion second 8800 okay first was Rosario second was Jones okay all those in favor say I I I anyone opposed that passes 5 okay the second one 8810 may I get a motion make a motion second okay Rosario and Dr PCA all those in favor say I I I anyone opposed passes 0165 so moved okay Dr PCA second discussion okay there is a discussion on this one yes okay Dr Jones go ahead thank you to the board for bifurcating um I believe that all policies are important and we should vote for them individually 165.1 deals with board member matters at the end of the meeting now it states that board member matters report on Community School

101events committees to me it's the best part of the agenda The Proposal is that we report on this or other items I just have a concern we have one meeting a month all parts of the agenda we do our best to keep on our student achievement listen to our citizens see what we can do better for Teacher support uh support our superintendent so we can move this District forward I would just like to consider uh I know it's a vote keeping it the same so that we are focused on what our job is to do for our constituents parents students and everyone thank you anyone else like to discuss that item I hear you Dr Jones um I do believe in free speech and board members um have the right to speak to any item

102um they want at that time so I will um totally support free speech on that all right those I'm asking for the vote those of you that vote in favor of this item say I I I anyone opposed I it passes 4 One and 9510 9110 9150 sorry on here it's types 9510 that's a typo I it's typ must be on the actual policy it says 9 9150 okay yeah okay on board attachments you have 9510 that needs to be adjusted please it's 9550 it's 9150 that oh so it just got reversed right I think the script is wrong though what you're voting on is correct y 91502 y okay 9150 02 0.02 yes all right may I get a motion make a motion second okay Rosario first PCA second any discussion all those in

103favor say I I anyone opposed it passes 5 Z okay uh action agenda 11b State Legislative priorities Madam chair this item was discussed today uh we had a very fruitful conversation I will have Dr shafty present the board's uh recommended changes to what was previously posted prior of voting through through the chair based on this afternoon's discussions we updated the document to reflect the two recommendations that were placed by individual board members and agreed upon by the board at large the most recent copy has been updated as part of the backup documentation and you also have a paper copy in front of you okay word members worked hard on these yeah any um any well let's call for a motion I make a motion okay Mr Rosario second Dr Jones any discussion all those in

104favor say I I I I vot all right no items for discussion so we are to school board member matters um Dr P I'm sorry start the end um Mr Rosario um I don't we we haven't been here this is our first meeting um I have not uh been a part of any meetings um summer is to me feels like it's already almost over it's just it's just almost gone um and so I know the district is working really hard um to to get ready for the open opening of schools this is typically their their busiest time of year um and so I appreciate that immensely um I do um look forward to what is ahead and look forward to opening of schools um I know that teachers are probably counting down when they come

105back so I did see something um on uh on the internet I guess this would actually fall into the other matters that we just approved um it was a question actually from a teacher um in a one of those you know community group sites on Facebook and it was Anonymous but she just said I am a teacher I'm returning to school on August 6th I need a babysitter from 7 to 3:45 or whatever her time was and I was like oh my gosh so you know it it I think it just adds to the comment the the conversation that we had about parents you know and and and before care and after school care and having that availability for teachers as well I think there's there's this other part of you know having teachers come

106in early or you know we we have to be sensitive to their needs as well because a lot of camps are no longer in session during that time period um and so you might have a lot of and it I I don't know if it's ever really dawned on me it might not be something for us to address at this time I just wanted to to raise it because I want to acknowledge um the working parents that are out there and um and the sacrifice um that they give for their families um to serve our community so um in that sense I I do hope all goes well um and moving forward who knows maybe we can have care for our our our teachers Mr McDonald Mr McDonald thank you you do a long time

107ago oh we yeah sorry McDonald a few things to report um the Indian Shores IND River Shores zoning committee which I now pointed to has had no meetings since that time they've both been cancelled there have been no zoning issues for them to address um also the Metropolitan planning organization on which I now sit we had a meeting on uh June 12th they went through a number of different projects uh a couple of notable ones were the uh uh replacement of the bridge in Sebastian River Inlet as well as resurfacing on Highway A1A from that bridge South and um they talked about both of those projects which I think are going to affect a lot of people here and that's and I'm I'm sharing with you um some uh a copy of the documents that

108we had I thought you'd be interested in I raised while we were there um the school's concern and interest regarding U uh walkways and sidewalks particularly around the areas of schools that that was important for us we had a very tragic accident not too many months ago and uh I related to them the importance of um the walkways around schools and safety for children and I brought with uh with me tonight samples of the uh what the walkway paths and plans are around the whole District so you have that available and you can see um what is not only available but some of the things that are planned going forward and the last item regarding the metr planning organization the uh Federal Department of Transportation had a public meeting the other night on the 17th

109um to discuss the resurfacing project for anyone who had has seen that we I think we got a emails on that but um they did uh get out and tell the public a little bit about what's what's happening with that development and my last item was I had the Good Fortune of uh uh going to the Dodger Town back to school bash which was really me really nice and really exciting to to see the school as it's coming around U they gave away backpacks and the uh some of the a lot of different tents with different uh people rep represented United American uh United against poverty caiga services in the River Health Start Coalition moonot bus was there uh they even had mosquito control with some sample larae you I've always wondered what what a

110larae looked like there you go I got a little thing out in front of my house and I can never tell a library from a tadpole and he showed me what that was um so it was really interesting and I got the the great opportunity of seeing Steam Park and really is something different really exciting and I can see how how children will not only find it exciting but what will learn and it will draw them into uh various particularly technical uh parts of their education so I think it'll be exciting next month when that schools School opens and I hope it will help Drive our our test score results Dr John uh Dr Moore I'm not sure who did the one stop back to school on the web page but it's excellent it's the

111first time I've seen that we you know you go here here here thank you Kristen no you know a lot of times we have to go here here and here but all the frequently called numbers all the Departments it's absolutely wonderful Kristen thank you um I agree with Mr McDonald I've been to the Dodger Town back to school bash a couple times uh great Community Support uh Treasure Coast Community Health am very very excited I visited Dodgertown about a month ago and then I visited it Saturday with the IT team there Dr Mo it was fantastic can't wait to see that in action so uh the career job job fair at United against poverty last week was great it's it was bigger than last year and of course that's where people are looking for part-time

112and full-time help saw some of our parents saw some of our students and they really bring the group together and I mean they are applying for jobs right there so thank you I know it seems like a long time ago but the veterans Council open house their new place on 14th Avenue they did a great job with that bringing people in I think we had a 100y Old World War II veteran there who is honored was wonderful uh juneth celebration at gford cultural center and then gford Park was great um that Cultural Center up there by gford middle school if you have not visited it has great local history so make sure you get in there um I did walk around with um Mrs flood our prek principal with Early Learning summer programs from step

113and de Kay bpk just the summer program and camps that were going on these schools Dr Moore they do not shut down so I mean activities all over so um our parents were very appreciative um I'm a member of Bob to beind and we had a great send off to Rabbi bernholz about three weeks ago that was very very sad he was so instrumental with us in our community and I really just got to know him the last year but um what he would convey to people how he worked with us and uh the be kind group it's just it's been wonderful another great program was Connie Peters since conversation with the graduates this is a template that we need to get on it was held at one of the Gord churches she brought back

114four young men who just graduated from college and all the kids were in there getting ready to go to college and they answered questions 10 times better than any of us could have done what are really the issues what's going on what do you have to be aware of but it was wonderful and it was pretty well attended too couple more things I went to let's talk Vero I haven't been there in a while but um that's really good information as a school board member and a Community member they talked about the riding candidates they talked about the building downtown three corners and of course um everything that's going on with verl city council but it's just a learning thing for me I mean I can learn from it think about how it's affecting our

115parents and community and um I know we start this week with Thrive with our administrators I'm going to try and get into a little bit of that but what what's your um what's your saying this year what what's our thing you know you always have something really cool that is going to be released next Wednesday can I say he's not supposed to tell it till the principal but don't but don't you meet with the administrators this week yes that's Wednesday okay this Wednesday is when you're going to release okay Thrive okay thank you thank you P nothing maybe that's it maybe it's Thrive no oh you already done that then they're done that um I attended the veterans Council opening too and that night was pouring down rain it was very muddy so I didn't

116want to go through it so I went back and went through it and they had a brand new employee there that didn't know about the wonderful website page that we have about all the different programs in town that the homeless can access and people um of poverty can access and so I sat with a girl and tried to show her the page and I thought you know what I'm going to connect her with somebody in the district and so um now there's a great partnership going on there with the veterans Council in our district um zoning planning meeting we did I brought up sidewalk as well um there was uh recently a school that um private school that was being developed and and I explained to that group they're the first stop before it goes

117to the County Commission and a lot of times they County Commissioners aren't thinking about sidewalks but that group should be and they kind of opened their eyes up and said we didn't realize it was that big a concern and so I think the more we can be shouting that from the rooftops about sidewalks and importance of them for kids I think is important and then I did attend the annual barbecue meeting in okobe for the Treasure Coast council local governments that is a wonderful meeting because they usually get either a cowboy poet or this time it was a Rancher and he had been a fifth generation rancher in the State of Florida owns one of the biggest ranches in the State of Florida so he was quite entertaining but the best part is the prime

118rib that you get afterwards so anyway um Dr Moore do you have anything for superintendent's closing um yes a few things we we are in the final push as we get ready to prepare for the opening of schools as mentioned we will have each of the 22 schools leadership teams available for a three-day conference for a lack of better way of saying it um we will be speaking about outperforming all their school systems outpacing all their school systems while at the same time preserving the greatness of of what is Indian River County those are that's just a little but don't what it's called um well those are the three areas in which we will be addressing um we have exactly 14 openings instructional openings which is absolutely outstanding in comparison of previous years that's just

119at 1% of of um openings so we will have a plan in place if we're not able to get those positions filled uh bus drivers were fully set we're ready to go we will put buses back on the road August 12th um there is a significant amount of work to be done leading into the opening of schools there is no projects that's going to impede the opening of schools meaning uh our maintenance work this month or over the summer was mostly cleaning um air conditioners all which would be done other Roofing projects all finishing on time um so that stress is is not on not in the way we are finalizing Master schedules there's a a couple more reviews that need to take place in the coming weeks making sure every single child uh is

120provided um the right courses at the right time um and we ins instruction to begin on day one um that is the expectation um looking forward to an absolutely outstanding opening of schools okay thank you sir um I'd like to thank everyone for viewing and for coming out this evening and uh for speaking those of you that are brave enough to speak at this time I'd like to journ the meeting the time is 7:48