001special meeting held in the Joe and idle at Junior teacher education center today is Wednesday May 24th and I'd like to call this meeting to order the time is 8 A.M uh Madam chair may have the floor yes thank you Mr Barefoot um did you recall from the discussion back on April 24th we had lengthy discussions about the two items that are on the agenda today one being the repeal of the existing racial Equity policy and also a discussion around what's being proposed and toward the end of that discussion and I wish I had done it earlier in the discussion I suggested rather than wait until June 12th for our next scheduled meeting that we hold a special meeting there were a number of people in the public that said why are we waiting for
002another whatever length of time that would be three four weeks and so the next day or the day after I requested this special meeting and obviously what's required to have a special meeting is one there has to be a majority of the school board physically present members who cannot be present have the opportunity to participate virtually via teams and so at this point in time and that's why we're here because we have three of us I don't know whether Dr posca and Mrs Rosario are going to participate via teams or not but I'd like to ask Miss Shattuck if if she would review the process for calling a special meeting and confirm that in fact we complied properly and then we can proceed accordingly michig please uh yes thank you through the chair so the
003process for calling a special meeting can be found in your board policy zero one six five on meetings and it's also in Florida statute 1000.372 and it can be called if a majority of the board members request a special meeting and that has occurred and also then for the purpose of this meeting we are having public hearings on the adoption of a policy and the repeal of a policy so you also have a policy zero one three one zero one three one on legislative policy making and that has your requirements for setting your public hearings which require a 28-day notice and that has also been done and then also you know you have your policies on setting your notice and agenda for your special meeting so all of that has already been done one thing
004I would note is that you know on your meeting agenda in April um you did when you approved setting the public hearing for the adoption of this new policy safe respectful and inclusive education and also the repeal of policy 2260.02 you approved advertising the public hearing you did approve it for the June 12th meeting and so I would say that it would be proper just to make a motion to amend what was previously adopted so that you have have adopted setting the public hearing but that you're just switching the date from June to May till today and just noting that all of the requirements for setting it have been met all right uh thank you machiatic well with that recommendation I would uh make a motion to amend the setting of the date from June
00512th uh to today May 24th uh 2023. okay I'll second it okay any discussion yeah I have a one question and it's okay to do that today to switch the date um thank you um through the chair so yes that is okay given that you have complied with all of those other requirements that I just went over for calling the special meeting and also for holding a public hearing okay and we're all board members provided with a zoom link yes okay any discussion then okay all in favor say aye aye aye okay three zero okay would you please stand for the pledge join me in the pledge congratulations foreign good morning again I'm asking everyone to please silence all of your electronic devices and as Mr Barefoot said earlier in the event of special meetings
006call the agenda for such a meeting includes a statement of who called the meeting and the meeting was called by Mr Brian barefoot all right we're going into the public hearing and Adoption of Neola policy update to repeal policy 2260.02 on April 24th School Board moved approval to set a public hearing date to repeal a district school board policy the purpose of the revision is to be consistent with present practices and legislation the policy change process was filed in accordance with Florida Statutes under Florida administrative procedures act chapter 120. this item deals with the adoption of Neola policy update to the repeal the policy Dr Moore have you documented this public hearing was properly advertised in accordance with State statutes just discussed by attorney yes Madam chair we now recess the meeting to conduct the
007public hearing as advertised the public hearing is now in session Dr Moore are there any written responses to the advertised public hearing to be read at this time there are no written responses thank you the public is going to be invited to speak and at first I will read the citizen input guidelines each statement made by a member of the public shall be limited to three minutes people will be recognized by the chair and will be asked to come to the podium the time will start when the speaker is at the podium and the school board attorney will be the official timekeeper as you will see the time clock is visible to your left on the day as you will hear a beep at the end of your three minutes persons may speak up to
008three minutes during the public hearing people may speak only once about any given item and just a reminder everything has to be related to either the repeal of the policy or the replacement during the meeting please refrain from clapping or outbursts of any sort so that we can 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 the superintendent as board members listen to citizens without interruption citizens are asked to give board members the same respect as per Florida statute 1001 372 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
009process of such meeting provided each officer has first been issued a warning that continued interference with the orderly process of the meeting will result in removal if you have anything to give board members please do so through Miss poisel all right I'll be calling you up but into time and letting you know who's right afterward all right on the first hearing I have Bonnie McDougall my name is Bonnie McDougall and I am an independent who believes the extremes of both parties have grown too far and are harmful I am a patriot who knows that this country was built from reason to compromised I love this country I am against repealing the racial Equity policy because what I want in my country is fairness and what Equity means is essentially fairness it means creating a Level
010Playing Field for all students on Sunday the NAACP issued a travel advisory for all African Americans to avoid traveling to Florida based on recent controversial policies including a law Banning colleges from spending public funds on diversity equity and inclusion efforts during the signing of these bans the governor said quote Dei is better viewed as standing for discrimination exclusion and indoctrination quote the governor's statement equates Equity with exclusion the question is exactly who is excluded from what if you look at the AP History offerings at Vero Beach High School you will find these AP History offerings AP World History AP United States history AP European History you will not find AP African-American history why an AP course in African-American studies developed by the college board has been blocked by the governor who thinks as he puts
011it black history is already taught in American history as he said quote all the important things that's part of our Core Curriculum quote how is it that a politician is qualified to determine what all the important things are in a history that is not his how is it that his judgment trumps that of for example Henry Lewis Gates Jr the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African-American research at Harvard University who was one of the major developed developers of this African-American studies AP course I suggest that descendants of Africans brought to this land as slaves have a history that is different from that of migrating Europeans and that they know that history better than descendants of Europeans do and that it is African Americans who determine what all the important things in that
012history are some of that is not pleasant or tolerable but it never works to hide the truth and if Ruby Bridges a six-year-old young girl who had had to be escorted by Federal Marshals into an all-white School in 1960 while crowds around her were screaming if that child could endure that experience then our all of our children can surely bear to read about it it is history thank you thank you Miss McDougall next is Jennifer Pippen good morning my name is Jennifer Pippen and I'm the chairman for moms for Liberty here in Indian River County I wanted to talk about the repeal policy and there's been a lot of misinformation I know a lot of it was discussed at the meeting on Monday but for the people who didn't watch that meeting didn't attend that
013meeting you know this policy was approved in 2020 during covid with the previous board one of the board members here today approved it and then a new law House Bill 7 individual Freedom law was signed into law on 310 of 22. that sparked the doe to send the letter to the school district on November 18th of 22. the school district did not put this on the agenda for the December meeting they did not put this on the agenda for the January meeting it went on the agenda at the February meeting during Black History Month I don't know if that was done on Port on purpose or on accident one of the school board members said that the Optics was bad but every school board member and superintendent cabinet could have put it on when it
014needed to be addressed because the doe flagged it so um fast forward to the May meeting now because that was put off for another two months so I personally sent a letter to the Department of Education with the original letter that was sent to the school district with the timeline and the meeting and the time stamps of what was said at that meeting and that it was pushed off two months none of that was illegal none of that was unethical it was all again time stamps and the timeline because the Department of Education doesn't remember every single notice that they sent out in the timeline to 67 districts so then you get put in the newspaper and everything that was in this newspaper and other newspapers and news across the county was wrong and again
015that was debunked in the Monday meeting that this racial Equity policy up for repeal is not tied to the desegregation order never part of the 2018 joint plan because this policy was implemented in it is not tied to any laws or statutes if it was their laws and statutes would be on the bottom of the policy like all other policies and board Docs and there um it is not tied to any court orders so again not the desegregation order not any federal orders this was done in addition to having other policies that the school district implements so I just wanted to bring that to light that this policy should have been updated March of last year when House Bill 7 was enacted it was flagged by the Department of Education here we are almost a
016year later discussing the repeal of this policy thank you thank you Miss Pippin Tammy Bogard and then we'll have Thomas Kenny after Miss Bogart um I wanted to tell you I'm in favor of repealing this policy that is not to say that racial Equity is an important but it needs to be done in order to bring us into compliance with State statutes in doing so we need to tread lightly one because we don't want to open up the school district to litigation and two we don't need to receive another letter from the doe or any other type of reprimand fine or else wise um I also want to touch on the meeting date being changed I I understand what you're saying and why the meeting was changed but the Optics are not good and it
017gives the appearance that there were two board members who were excluded that it was rescheduled so that they would be excluded not saying that's what happened but that's definitely the Optics I thank you for addressing this because it needs to be done and granted it may have been wise to handle this at an earlier date but I appreciate the fact that you're addressing it now thank you thank you Miss Bogart Mr Kenny and then we have Chris kebbel I want to speak to this policy in in view of the desegregation order because oftentimes [Music] particularly from the three of you who are here today these policies racial Equity inclusion the achievement Gap policy which was also passed in a packet and not debated on its Passage are done this way the desegregation order we have
018to do this because of the desegregation Warner or desegregation order you're not under a desegregation order you are negotiating before a judge you are writing the joint policy uh the 2018 action plan between the NAACP and this school district before a judge and the judge says to you in the management of those plans whether it was 94 2018 he's the judge says if you have a disagreement work it out don't bring it into my courtroom and then if you don't work it out I'll assign you a mediator go to mediation and work it out but don't bring it into my courtroom if you change because you're allowed to change those joint action plans and the superintendent admitted on Monday night that they have done modifications all you have to do is bring it to the
019courtroom the court and the judge will say judge Sullivan will say to you do you agree yes we both agree because it's a joint motion action plan you both filed it before the judge missed how it works and now out of these quote we're under a deseg order actually you're under a dispute between two parties is who would if they honestly looked at the school system would realize it's desegregated it's one of the most integrated school systems here in this in this state like every other one is this would be taken care of everyone goes oh 59 years we haven't been desegregated it's not because the judge would think so it's because you guys can't come to an agreement of what desegregation looks like last year in 32963 it said that we're a minority majority
020school system and then the same writer is saying that we're under a deseg order and we're and there's discrimination everywhere once again this policy says in it not to superintendent should look at uh the school system through a system-wide racial Equity lens it's time to look at the school system like Martin Luther Kingwood through a system-wide character lens and look at individuals repeal this policy and there's no really reason to replace it with anything else and we'll get to that later thank you thank you Mr Kenny Chris kebbel hello good morning good morning good morning is strange isn't it um I was a teacher here for 33 years so I'm kind of giving it a little history from what I've seen happen in the past 56 years whatever and the title of my piece is
021a soft bigotry of low expectations in November 2022 the State of Florida mandated our school system to stop our racial discrimination policy due to the lack of racism it's been 56 years 60 years ago many families had two parents who were married were stable and our schools taught and students learned respect was prevalent then in order to Garner votes the federal government mandated free food medicine housing and other benefits as long as the family had no live-in father by now many racial groups have chosen to dissolve their healthy family unit for major freebies there are multi-generational non-working so-called families producing young men with no father figure this garnered low expectations of behaviors including schoolwork dumbing down courses and giving grades giving was never the answer we have pushed hundreds of thousands of students through school
022to graduation who cannot read write do math or think logically all from the softer bigotry of certain political parties giving away free things doesn't look like bigotry but like tolerance learning has taken a nosedive and now we are using the discipline card administrators and Law Officers are treating discipline problems as a result of racism again the racism dilemma result chaos in many schools where students and teachers fear to attend we have become an incredibly expensive day care system half of our County taxes goes to the school system any other business like this would be bankrupt and closed down finally these years of lowering expectations academically and behaviorally has made the term public education an absolute oxymoron look it up thank you thank you very much Mr Marsh Michael Marsh good morning Mike we'll see Marsh
023back in Topeka Kansas in 1956 the Brown versus Board of Education once said you could be separate but equal that wasn't many years ago and if you think that sounds ridiculous so does in 2023 to repeal the equity policy remember board superintendent not every child comes to these schools here in the school district of Indian River County with the same abilities we must provide the resources they need to achieve now what is equal or fit you repeal this policy you also repeal economic equity cultural Equity remember how can you have 50 percent of students of color when there is almost over 80 percent teachers that are white does that make sense what also doesn't make sense that the two board members that spoke we need this out no more racial Equity policy they couldn't even
024come today to explain about being inherently racist this board member said we are saying that we're inherently racist systematic racism that doesn't exist we live in Indian River County not one person under the sound of my voice can tell me five African-American constitutional officers in the history of Indian River County so we're not singling out the school district this is a problem across the board everywhere from law enforcement from your tax collector your property appraiser this is what happens when you talk about repealing equity my youngest daughter could not even participate in a black history celebration at Oswald Middle School why because a few have allowed us to define equity Equity from my child they don't speak for my child three schools in your school district had black history celebrations that's disgusting one high school
025two other schools why because God forbid we end up in a lawsuit we chose to err on the side of caution we have great legal counsel let them do what they need to do every little lawsuit the French group lost when this begun a local hero news journalist said if there was an educational Mount Rushmore you know who would be on the Forefront of that my chair our chair Doc Jones I stand to keep this racial Equity policy a couple years ago it was a good word Equity everyone needs Equity those were good words now equality inclusion SEL the CRT monster that we still haven't found yet all bad words we do not need another policy we need to keep our racial and Equity policy until things change here in Indian River County and our
026school district of Indian River County so those two beautiful interracial Queens next Black History get to have a celebration more than three schools thank you thank you Mr Marsh that is all I had for the repeal of the policy and the rest were on the adoption of the new policy so I want to make sure I had everyone okay um Dr Jones can I speak yes I'm going to address a couple things that were said the original policy wasn't just voted on by me it was voted on by Tiffany Justice Laura Zork Jackie Rosario Mara Schiff and that's back when we established this policy wasn't just myself those same individuals called numerous meetings during the day because they were stay-at-home moms when Dr Rendell was having all the issues those meetings were called numerous times
027I was the working person I had to take several personal days in order to be here for specially called meetings and there were several go back and look I had an oath of office if I can't be here I'm going to be on the zoom link if I can or call in that's totally up to the board member to attend or not attend but all board members have been notified all board members that care to be here are here Mr Barefoot nothing back to Moore the chair concludes that the announced public hearing on adoption of Neola policy update to repeal policy 22602 has been conducted pursuant to notice and that ample opportunity to address this issue has been provided to all the board meeting is reconvened at this time I call for a motion I
028move I'll second oh sorry I move that the discuss policy be repealed okay moved by Mr Barefoot Miss barenborg second any discussion okay all in favor of repealing racial Equity policy 22602 signify by saying aye aye aye anyone opposed hey the vote carries 3-0 [Music] our next item is a public hearing and Adoption of new policy safe respectful and inclusive education the April 24th meeting School Board moved approval to set a public hearing date to adopt a new policy purpose of the new policy is to be consistent with present practice and legislation policy change process was filed in accordance with Florida Statutes under Florida administrative procedure act chapter 120. this item deals with the adoption of Neola policy safe respectful and inclusive Dr Moore have you documented that the public hearing was properly advertised in
029accordance with State statutes as discussed by our chair I'm sorry our board attorney beginning yes ma'am recessed meeting to conduct a public hearing as advertised the public hearing is now in session Dr Moore are there any written responses to the advertised public hearing to be read at this time there are not okay the public is invited to address this issue at this time I won't repeat citizen input guidelines I believe everyone was in here but again reminder on this policy you could just talk about the replacement so we'll go to Citizen input Robert Conley thank you Boris good to be back I was not watching the clock as you remember a Monday night and I think it's really important I came today because I I really believe that our discussion here should be not political
030not partisan based on the values and principles of natural law and God's law we're missing we're missing something in this discussions not only uh not on the agendas of what I call Marxist agendas I mean it's all about I gotta put my glasses on looking at the ideologies that are evident you know those what we're doing now is to what purpose to what purpose are we implementing some of these uh discussions they should it's really good versus evil is what it's about and uh last month's couple board meetings I had the pleasure of seeing how much good that's being done and you you guys are great what's going on in school you see the kids come up and read from moonshot and all that and and I see the awards and I see the beautiful
031campus and everything is so good let's not let any of this bed come in you know when I come into the room every the last three meetings I feel the tension I feel the tension today you know let let's let's get rid of that band let's keep the good you know we don't let the tension feel the air sides form arguments into no part of this serves any purpose if this is for the kids this has to change good must not be tarnished by the bed drama played out into newspapers the faming each other parents rights leaders I mean it's dysfunctional in my mind as dividing it's divisional and guess what that leads to some smaller decadence because this decade is going all around the country not only in this area we're not even touched
032by it if you go around the national look at all the school boards and all the uprising there's violence and it's it's too it's it's decadent and we cannot this country was not formed on that basis this country is formed a good judeo-christian values were all there's no segregation there's no anything we're all all God's people you know so it disturbs me to listen to some of these discussions so I don't know if I'm for or against I haven't even read the other uh whatever's coming up next as far as legislation but there's a national problem of good versus I mean good versus evil so think about it think about the the what we're doing here and think about what can we do not to have these dysfunctional divisional type of things going on I
033pray and hope that you eat some of what I'm saying because it's really a personal personal thing and I think we're all personally involved in these kids I'm a grandfather as you know and I gave you some of my background but more importantly let's do it for the kids not for these uh divisional type of discussions you know let's look in deep inside ourselves and say really look at all the good we did don't let it be dragged down even a little bit we're not nearly as bad as the rest of the nation we're not bad we're good thank you thank you Mr Conley Anthony Brown and then Edward Spencer good Morning Anthony Brown first and foremost I'd like to say I've listened to all the misinformation disinformation trickery and straight out lies and foolishness
034over the last few months but I want to go somewhere and give you some history in 1909 February 12th uh 70 people married in the basement of a Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia 60 of them were white 10 were black led by Mary Overton and W.E DuBois who stood on faith that what was right they would stand for now moving forward here we are the NAACP was born and raised and now we are advocates for the rights of all people ladies and gentlemen of this board you're in that moment in history where you will be somehow afforded down the road if you look back to all of the people that came before you who stood on faith who stood on time we could go on and on uh Martin Luther King that some people like to
035quote all of a sudden he was not allowed to do anything he was a villain he was all it is prior to him becoming acceptable you had all of these people who stood as you were standing now I'll leave you with something that says steadfast and immovable a binding in good works that is where you are today I don't agree with the change getting rid of the equity plan uh racial Equity but it is what it is I hate to see Dr Moore and Pinstripes you know I don't think they'll fit him too good because we're being criminalized weaponized and attacked for doing what is right for all children and you stand in the garden and Dr uh Madam chair it is an honor and a privilege that you did what you did what you
036did but you didn't have to do it and you led the force to do what is right as Dr Moore eloquently says everywhere for all children and if that's the premise we're going to work in we got to be doing it for all reasons I applaud you I know it's wrong but my fight as the president of the NAACP and third vice president of the Florida State Conference is to fight this on another battlefield but not delay the education of our children I'll leave you with a Negro spiritual because somebody used that word negro in 2023 the other night is uh let the work I do speak for me ladies and gentlemen let the work you the good work you do speak for you thank you thank you Mr Brown Edward Spencer and then Bonnie
037McDougall oh I just want to say a couple things it seemed to be for our kids it's like going into a fight but one fighter has all his amenities in the other fight and the other fighter don't have no arms but we expect the fighter that has no arms to be equal to the father that have all his amenities it doesn't work that way I remember when I was in school and I was forced to stand up to that flag every morning it was persistent and saved the pledges of Allegiance I was forced to learn about pilgrims and Indians forced to no matter what I thought about it I was forced to do that now we're here to it seems like you still forcing me to learn your history but yet you failed for your
038kids to learn my history it seemed like you don't want them when I say you I'm not talking about you the system it seemed like you don't want your kids to hear my history because you don't want them to feel guilty of what your fathers did but my kids have to hear your history and we've been guilty and angry all our lives are what happened to our forefathers so I'm asking you to think about it it's not fair black history is American history because it happened on what American soil so how can you elude the weapons Dimensions the hangings because you don't want your kids to feel a certain way about what your forefathers did thank you thank you Mr Spencer Bonnie McDougall followed by Jennifer Pippen I support the new policy safe respectful and
039inclusive education the proposed new policy states that under teaching and learning under the teaching and learning section that the school board pledges to quote give all students equal opportunity to succeed while building intentional supports to build student engagement understanding and achievement especially for our most academically vulnerable students end quote this pledge is given against the backdrop of indisputable facts that have put African-American students at a historic disadvantage three facts make these disadvantages clear number one our Public School curricular are based on European models of schools largely anchored by European history two in Florida's history before the Civil War in 1832 and 1832 law prohibited educating black people slave or free number three after the Civil War Florida adopted its Constitution mandating quote a uniform system of Public Instruction quote yet these schools were segregated by
040race African-American students know that Florida Public Schools do not have a history of welcoming them it is time for Florida to take actions that create a Level Playing Field for students identifying as African-American it is time to find out from the African-American families and communities what they think will create a Level Playing Field for their young students this new policy pledges to quote invite and include people from all diverse backgrounds to examine issues and find adaptive Solutions quote and to ensure family and Community engagement practices to encourage and enhance participation in schools and Community forums quote with the desired end of providing what African-American students families and communities determine will give African-American students a Level Playing Field thank you thank you Miss McDougall Miss Pippin followed by Bonnie Swanson morning again I just wanted um
041to highlight a couple of exciting things that have gone on the past two years so in 2022 the Sebastian River High School Valedictorian and that was last year was African-American the Vero Beach High School top five Scholars of 20 to 22 one was African-American fast forward to 2023 the Sebastian River High School homecoming queen was African-American and she was voted on by her peers the Vero Beach High School prom queen this year was African-American voted on by her peers Sebastian River High School six out of 10 minorities including two African Americans and four Hispanics academically this year I want you to take a step back from this policy and look at the cafeterias in our schools and see that all children sit together regardless of race look at the graduations Sports in our schools all
042Races and the two genders sit together look at the yearbooks and the staff represented it in this room and in those yearbooks all genders and all Races sitting together we don't have a social issue a cultural issue or an educational level of racism by just those stats I gave you alone and I didn't even go into Athletics where again the two races compete together against other schools and within this school district the problem with this is we already have multiple policies that this policy has integrated into it it's not tied to statute it's not tied to the desegregation order it's not tied to anything that we have to do this is completely an optional policy and with all of the other policies we have I want you to ask before you vote on this why
043do we have to add another policy if all of this is already implemented in other policies all those stats that I just gave you why why do we have to implement the policy when you see that children of both races are achieving academically they're achieving by being voted on by their peers to be the prom queens the prom Kings that's voted on by their by their by their other kids in their classes or maybe not even other kids in their classes maybe somebody they just met at a sports event at the movies we don't have a racist student problem in this District we have an adult racist liberal assumption problem we have an adult media blogging liberal assumption problem and this is the minority in this County and I'm not talking minority by race I'm
044talking minority by numbers so before you approve this policy or when you think about this policy think about those stats the facts and the truth before you vote on it thank you thank you Ms Pippin Bonnie Swanson followed by Thomas Kenny good morning good morning I need more than three minutes but I'll only give you a few I first of all as being with the school district for 40 years I applaud you for the work that we have done for our children and so I just want to say I applaud the school board for continuing to strive in developing an educational environment that surrounds all children with hope for a bright future I want to thank you for your efforts to give the professional staff those who serve excuse me those who serve the children
045all the tools necessary to meet their extraordinary needs and with that that takes not being 48th in per pupil funding it requires us to meet the demands financially that we can provide for all that we need to do in the school district we all need to support all of you and I thank you for your all of your support to our community thank you thank you Miss Swanson Thomas Kenny and then May ascencio I'm I'm a little miffed that I'm here at eight o'clock in the morning at a special meeting it's been said you only need a quorum you have the Quorum here obviously with the intent to pass this uh one board member is a doctor apparently some have said in this board already that this work is more important than him saving lives
046okay whatever but I want to speak to this policy because on the it talks about um hiring practices that should be you know non-discriminatory District policies 11 22 31 22 and 41 22 concerning equal employment opportunity already in place the uh superintendent was questioned last night or Monday night regarding any extra policies uh concerning racial equity and things like that there's no federal mandate for this there's no State mandate for this there's no desegregation order mandate for this and there isn't any um policy that hasn't already answered the questions in here there's a lot of ambiguous language here there's a thing about Essa but that's already answered too because that's state required for you to report numbers Miss Pippen made a reference seven out of ten top 10 academic Achievers at Sebastian River High School
047minorities two out of top five African-American there's great and then there's not great across the whole Spectrum for all kids it's their individual agency that determines that how do I know Jayden Hughes last year valedictorian Sebastian River High School he was on TV everywhere West Palm WPTV go watch the interview it's very interesting because they asked him about this they said you realize that you're one of you're the first African-American valedictorian it's great honor awesome they said no I didn't know it but when I found out it just motivated me all the more because in actuality the individual Jayden Hughes in his own agency determined that he was going to be a med student at University of Florida and he made that determination so much so his white counselor saw it in him and said
048you can achieve this and pushed him to do it and he did it he did it with great excellence very proud parents his mom and dad instilled in him to do that achieve and so this policy doesn't go into those great stories it's just it's ambiguous and allows for silliness thank you Mr Kenny May ascencio and then Reverend John McCarroll good morning repealing 2260.02 because it is not compliant with hb7 yet duplicating it with this new policy doesn't make any sense it's been established that we have multiple policies already in place that address what this new one does so it's basically unnecessary the safe respectful and inclusive education policy also brings up some questions the section purpose has a section saying that the board is committed to narrowing student discipline disparities for all students so
049I'm wondering what's the discipline disparity now how much narrowing of this disparity is your goal and will you discipline less or more to narrow this discipline disparity and more importantly is this a policy where you have to look at the student's skin before you decide on the discipline the wording of the new policy is vague and nebulous like eliminate practices that result in lower academic achievement are you saying Indian River County has practices currently that result in lower academic achievement will develop and Implement inclusive practices for and with our students their families and other community members well where are these who are you not including now and why and reducing barriers to a safe and rigorous learning environment so what are the barriers that we presently have that need to be reduced you know words
050are being used in this policy such as Implement and develop which indicates that they're not in place now one would think that the board has not been taking care of business from reading this new policy but I know that that's not true because we already have policies in place to address these we do not need this one please do not make decisions solely on emotion feelings or for political reasons think what the purpose of these policies are what are they truly meant to achieve and and do they even have measurable goals or is this just fluff and do we already have policies that fulfill these goals making it redundant and unnecessary policies that are meant to please only a certain demographic or group are in actuality not inclusive at all so ask yourselves why are
051you really adopting this new policy I respectfully request that you not approve the safe respectful and inclusive education policy since we already have adequate policies in place that address these issues thank you thank you Reverend Dr John good morning I'd like to start again with our student prayer almighty God we acknowledge our dependence upon thee and we beg thy blessings upon us our parents our teachers and our country I moved to Indian River County in 1999 a full-time minister or youth pastor as I began not once in these 24 years have I thought that our community was racist I began youth ministry built a responsibility list of teenagers of over 700. began a bus Ministry we picked up kids from Gifford Wabasso and Sebastian we began a meeting first at Dodgertown Elementary and then we
052got into the Gifford at the time Gifford Youth Activity Center now achievement Center I also helped begin the first after school program at the Gifford Youth Activity Center never once in those in those years have we ever ever had an issue with a student thinking black or white that our community was racist the problems I came up with were the adults the other pastors who said you're a white Pastor how can you minister to black children that's appalling to me to think that now I've had over the 24 years we began a private school some of those teens became adults and they had kids now those African-Americans send their kids to our school if I was racist or they thought I was racist why would they do that uh we've had Chinese children we've had
053Palm those from uh Philippines come our community is not racist again as it was already stated we have an adult problem I like to turn your attention to this book called Black I for America how critical race theory is Burning Down The House written by Carol M Swain she's been a 10-year professor at Princeton and Vanderbilt a lifelong educator with the focus on critical race Theory someone wanted to ask about this monster here's a quick definition of it critical race theory is a fundamentally racist worldview predicated on the claim that racism is a DNA of American institutions in society as well as in effect in the DNA of white Americans it sees minorities especially black Americans as victims of systematic racism racism permeating a vast network of impenetrable institutional structures and cultural stereotypes all created
054by whites to give themselves unearned advantages this depressing narrative states that government-sponsored racism did not end in the 60s and when Congress passed three major civil rights bills to address the effects of Jim Crow racism evidently nothing of real consequence took place following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which mandated the advertising of jobs and ban discrimination based on race color sex religion and national origin likewise the the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the opening house Housing Act of 1968 did little to de-institutionalize racial right a race racial discrimination in America law in society can we move forward with some common sense please thank you Reverend Michael Marsh and then my last speaker is David Flint morning again Michael C Marsh proud parent activist and Community healer I stand in support
055of this policy since we can't have Equity we might as well have something that's I guess called something similar to it but why do we even have to do this you know that huge parental outcry because of equity I mean look there's hundreds of parents in here saying Equity was bad right nope not once we did this just to appease a few but let's look at why we even need a policy about safe respective and inclusive education you're still under a deseg order right let's talk about how the local hate group calls your NAACP a black supremacist group with a pick of our Kevin Browning who was part of the work group that's why we need a safe respective and inclusive education so your 70 year old white woman may he deal tells us how
056black should feel she used a different word that's why we have to have a safe respective and inclusive policy in our education a former School Board member once called me and the last race and said Marsh I need you to help me to call me racist how can I be racist if I have a black grandchild thank God she lost chances are when you can count your black friends black family members the number of successful black students in public and private education you may be a bigot Prejudice racist deity but don't worry I'm going to pray for you I'm gonna pray for each one of you all board members have been notified all of them but are they all here they are not here why because maybe for them it's not important to have safety
057respect inclusion within the school district today in history I want you to remember this day remember the yays remember the two Nays it's funny that we quote Martin Luther King Jr because remember most his books are bad right CRT books bad by Martin Luther King Jr he's good for at least today but he once said something and I quote silence is violence right well let me tell you exactly the ultimate tragedy King once said it's not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people he was right if you're a good yet silent maybe you're not really as good as you think and again today what speaks volumes to me is the two that are not here silence is violence I stand in support that we adopt
058this policy on this day for a safe respectful and inclusive education and I don't need anyone telling me how I should parent my interracial children we are about transforming education to inspire Empower all students to maximize their full potential thank you Mr Marsh last speaker is David Flint again David Flint father business owner um long time volunteer with youth organizations former youth pastor uh just member of the community who just cares about our kids madam chairwoman thank you school board thank you for your time thank you for your service thank you for being here this beautiful morning in Indian River County the issue that I chose to speak on is the safe respectful inclusive education policy I believe that this policy speaks to all students in the community to assure them that they will be
059treated safely respectfully inclusively and you've heard many things about this policy you've heard opinions on why it should not be in place reasons to why it is needed I know there are different positions on where this policy stands in regards to the doe and the state statutes and and such like that it's been stated that this is an optional policy and I believe that's a correct statement I don't believe that the doe is forcing this I don't believe that the deseg order is forcing this it's an optional optional policy I believe that makes it that much more powerful the safe respectful inclusive education policies he speaks to every student in Indian River County puts a policy in place to ensure that every student in Indian River county is treated in that manner the word all
060is important because it includes all including people of color for any that would say that this is not a policy that's needed it's not valid or would undermine the work being done here I would simply say that equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you it's not pie and aside from a cute shirt and catchy slogans which I wholeheartedly embrace this is important this is important to my children this is important to the children of Indian River County ensuring that all are treated equally it was important enough for me to take time out of my day to put my morning on pause to tell my kids they get a little less dad time this morning but I'll see you later because I've got to go be a part of something bigger than
061me and I look forward to sharing with them later today what our school board does when they put this policy into place and I look forward to being able to look back at this point in history and know that you stood on the right side of History by siding with respect and inclusion for the students of Indian River County Board chair thank you again thank you that was our last speaker any comments from the superintendent amen or members I have a couple of comments I don't know whether it's appropriate to offer them now or when we go back prior to making a motion to vote do either a couple of things first of all I'd like to defend Dr posca and Mrs Rosario um I've sat with Mrs Rosario for oh I don't necessarily always
062agree with her but I've sat with her for the last number of years and Dr posca just recently as a matter of fact in a workshop I think maybe one of the most outspoken people about addressing School discipline and safety was Dr posca so I just want to be on the record that I would defend both of those individuals even though they're not here whether they should or shouldn't be here based on their desire to see safe respectful and inclusive schools they may disagree whether it's needed or not but you cannot suggest that they're not in favor of of these kinds of practices being in place so the other thing I'd like to address is and I would like to thank all of you for speaking because you certainly have spoken from your heart one
063of the problems with setting policy I know there would you some of you uh lady spoke to she'd like more specificity in the policy how do we narrow the achievement Gap how do you how do you measure that each year and every three to five years the district has goals and objectives they have a strategic plan and in those goals and objectives and strategic plan these kinds of measurement standards are put forth by the superintendent discussed with the school board and ultimately adopted so at the end of that period of time we can actually look and see have we made progress in addressing the very general themes that are in this policy it's not appropriate in my opinion to put that much specificity in a policy but it is appropriate to make sure your goals
064standards and objectives measurement standards and objectives are in place and that we hold all of us teachers principals administrators and School Board accountable for the results if it's important enough to put these broad generalizations in a policy it's important enough to take the time and make the effort to be very specific about what we have what we hope to accomplish in that period of time so I wish this policy in many respects wasn't necessary I think I said back Mrs Pippen will remind me of the length of time it's taken to get here it's unfortunate it's taken so long but here we are I think that um there's so many policies three four five that this is sort of a summary of all the others yes in some respects it's not necessary because everything's already
065there but if I were a parent coming into Indian River County and I listened to some of the dialogue if the at the very least this sort of summarizes what is already in three four whatever the number is policies you don't have to search through a book that's that thick of policies to find one that at least covers the gamut and so if for no other reason I view this as a good summation of the three or four other policies that already are in place so I'm obviously in favor of this I wish it wasn't necessary but I think in the time and place it is necessary and and I intend to support it thank you for your time Miss barenberg yeah thank you for your comments about the other board members appreciate that um
066you know it doesn't hurt to have this policy I believe because it's kind of like the parental rights bill you know that wasn't an original bill that was taking other bills and putting them together in one place so somebody had kind of a one place to know what their rights were as a parent and it was good I think the same thing here you know it's putting things together that we already have and it's putting them all in one spot for people to really appreciate and the last part of this policy says the board directs the superintendent to provide all students with this significant opportunity to receive a fair inclusive high quality education to maximize their full potential it says all students and I wonder how many people actually read the whole policy and not
067just picking apart excerpts because people like to do that they like to read a book and just pull out excerpts to read read the whole thing look at why it's here you're right we do have an adult problem if I was watching this from the outside thinking of moving here I think twice sad our kids are watching they're watching adults and how we behave and how we include some and not all shame on us as adults I'm done okay uh just a few words um obviously I work with Dr shafty on this policy and we went through the board got comments went back to the board then Dr Moore emailed to us and to see if we had any other uh additions or edits and I think about the first policy that we repealed and
068I think about the same to do things right for the first one state statute policy follows that making sure that we are in um agreement with everything on State Statute and we don't put the district at rest so do things right and when I think is safe respectful and inclusive do the right thing comes to me as Miss barenborg said it's for all students as Mr Barefoot said it's for bringing it all together like we did in some other bills but think about that a manager does things right get you get everything right as far as state statute doing the right thing is what this board is looking at for all students so I just just wanted to add that the chair concludes that the announced public hearing on the adoption of Neola a new
069policy on safe respectful and inclusive education has been conducted pursuant to notice and that Apple ample opportunity to address this issue has been provided to all foreign meeting is reconvened at this time the chairman calls for a motion I'll make a motion second okay the motion to favor adoption of new policy safe respectful and inclusive education those agree please signify by saying aye aye no one opposed Kate that carries three to zero four members all had your input so far nothing else okay I'd like to thank everyone for viewing or coming out this morning for our special media this time I'd like to adjourn the meeting the time is 905. thank you