School Board Meeting 2/22/2022

001[Music] Good evening. The February 22nd, 2022 board meeting is now in order. I'm happy to welcome my fellow board members and the public. This is a business meeting of the board held in the public. As such, the board is authorized to adopt rules or policies to maintain orderly conduct and proper decorum in a public meeting. Please note that your presence here is subject to those rules and policies. Pursuant to Florida statute 877.13, it is unlawful and a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for any person knowingly to disrupt or interfere with the lawful administration or functions of any educational institution or schoolboard, or knowingly to advise, counsel, or instruct any school pupil or school employee to disrupt any school or schoolboard function or activity

002on schoolboard property. To facilitate board business, please be aware of the following. If you must leave the building for any reason, you will not be be permitted to re-enter. Your seat will be given to the next person waiting to enter. The appropriate place for public participation in the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity as identified in the agenda. Outside of your individual public comment opportunity, your role in the meeting is as an observer. I will ask persons deemed to be knowingly or intentionally disrupting this meeting of the school board of Bvard County or not complying with policy to stop or leave. If persons receiving the warning choose not to follow my instructions, I will instruct Bvard County Sheriff's deputies to take any law enforcement action they deem appropriate. And you may be escorted,

003detained, or arrested depending on the conduct. Persons who refuse to depart after a warning may also be committing the crime of trespassing in accordance with Florida statute section 810.05. These statutes apply to conduct on all schoolboard property, which includes this boardroom as well as the outside of this building, to the sidewalk. If you continue to cause a disruption, you are advised that you are in violation of Florida State Statute 877.13. Or if you fail to leave the premises after being warned by the sheriff's office, you are committing trespass and the board has authorized the sheriff's office to enforce these rules. In the event multiple individuals fail to adhere to these expectations and board business cannot continue due to disruption, I'll call a recess and request that the law enforcement officers present cleared the boardroom of

004attendees. When the room is cleared, the board will return and resume their meeting with no public presence. Those who are signed up to speak will be seated under the front entry area and called in when it is your time to speak. Call. Roll call, please. Miss Belfford, present. Miss McDougall, present. Miss Campbell, present. Miss Jenkins, present. Mr. Susan, present. The board will now hold hold a moment of silent reflection and invite the audience to join. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. At this time, I'd like to offer my fellow board members and Dr. Mullins, an opportunity to recognize student, staff, or members

005of the community. Who'd like to start us off today? Start. Miss Jenkins. Yeah, I just want to say a congratulations to Satellite High School's basketball team. I hear that they are going to state. Um, and I also want to say a big shout out and thank you to the future future problem solvers competition that was held here uh over the last two weeks. I was able to participate with Bayside High School, Wester Junior Senior, and I was able to come uh check in on the little guys in elementary school who received their awards. Uh pretty incredible kiddos, really imaginative, really, really bright. Um and it was really, really cool to see them solve solve the future problems, which apparently I'm not allowed to talk about what they were solving, but it was really, really unique

006and interesting. So, I'm really proud of them. Thank you, Miss Jenkins. Miss Campbell, you look ready. I am ready. So, At our last board meeting, I made I made a huge mistake. And that mistake was to include um Mr. Gibbs in our 300 mile challenge that I uh put out because he is stomping us um with all of his steps. So, um we wanting our all of our employees were invited to participate in 300 mile challenge. We want to focus really this year on wellness and including just getting out there and exercising. So, um, there are a few board members who need to get on board and get their steps, but, um, Miss McDougall and I are duking it out for second place. So, congratulations. So far, Mr. Gibbs, but we still have a couple

007months to go, so we'll see how it goes. Um, the music performance world is in full swing here in Bvard. Few weeks ago, we had our jazz band uh, MPA, which stands for music performance assessment. This is the Super Bowl of our music programs. Um that same weekend we had a band solo and ensemble competition which is in for individual students or small groups of students. In the coming weeks we'll have um the orchestra music performance assessment which is Friday. We'll have the I think it's Thursday and Friday. We'll have the chorus MPA next week and the band MPA the following week. And this Saturday is our elementary music festival. So all kinds of music things going on. and anybody in the public who would like to those MPAs are open to the public and

008you can um uh ask me later for more information or you might be able to find it on our website. Uh the South Area Science and Engineering Fair uh happened, you know, we're all kind of rotating through at the Melbourne Square Mall. We had our awards uh last Saturday or two Saturdays ago. Um got a chance to talk. It's one thing to stand there and shake hands as the kids go across the stage, but it's another to get to walk through the mall and talk to kids about their projects. And I talked to some middle schoolers, some high schoolers from several different high schools that just wandered through and whatever piqued my interest, I asked them questions. Not that the judges would ask, but um and I'm just always really impressed with the research that

009they do. And even the students who their project failed for, for lack of a better word, you know, they weren't able to, you know, make it through the things that they learned, they still presented it. They still shared this is what went wrong with my project, why it didn't work, and this is how we do it better next time. So just great reflection on the part of our students and thousands and thousands of dollars given away at the awards program from our sponsors. Uh I was able to go to on the Moore Center field trip with Southwest. Uh it's been a long week but it was last week. Um and just had a really great time. All the um the curators there at the Moore Center were fabulous. the students um really learned a lot

010and were exposed to some parts of our civil rights history especially right here in Bvard uh that to be honest kids who live in my end of the county might not have ever been exposed to because it's so far away. So, it was great uh to get up to MIMS and and see that Moore Center uh field trip with them and then I um I know we're all going to be going at different times. Um so, I'm looking forward to another trip with another school in a few months. This morning and I'm don't want to steal all Mr. Susan's thunder. Sorry, it's just been a busy month busy month. That's why I have so many. This morning, we had our CTE tour at uh Mel High. And Mr. Susan, would you stand up and show

011off our I'll get to it. Okay. He's going to show off our unveil during my time. But I just wanted to thank first of all the teachers and students who were there ready today because they were fantastic ambassadors for our CTE programs. They did such a great job presenting the programs and representing their school and their accomplishments. I also really wanted to thank all the businesses that came um to represent our community and we got some business cards exchanged and I'm looking forward to internships maybe that will come out of this and partnerships and mentoring that will come out of it as well. That's it. Thank you Miss Campbell and Mr. Susan. Yeah. So um the future problem solvers that you spoke about when I was a teacher we used to do the community problem

012solvers which was a component of it and it was really an amazing program. So thank you so much for being a part of that and supporting those people. I do know that there is some issues going on with future future problem solvers. So we may need to have us help them uh move forward. All right. Next thing is you got this 300 mile challenge official waiver sign up. Did you guys all sign this thing? Did you actually read this thing? Like I'm I'm almost afraid to do this now. It says like uh you know it says the undersigned participant assumes any risk liability for him or herself his hair is heirs devices personal representative releases discharges. I mean there's some serious stuff here. And then the other thing is is that it says January 29th

013I was supposed to sign it by. So it's an illegal document. I'm going to have to get this over to Paul. Paul's going to have to review it for legality and then he comes back and then I'll take a look at it. So, M Dr. Mullins is in the same boat as me now, right? Because you have to sign the same thing. Um, we we we have to make sure this goes by legal because I don't think being that Sigma is our member, I'm going to have to take a look at it. So, I'm just let giving you an update as to my progress for joining. Come on. What are you talking about? I feel very comfortable with my own personal health. I'll take on the challenge. It says down here, BPS recommends that you

014consult with your physician before beginning any this exercise regime. I haven't seen a doctor in 10 years. So, how am I when I have to go find with them? I have to find this. I'm going to try to get there, but we'll see how it works out. You're not on our health plan, though, are you? I am. You better look out. All right. Next thing is I want to say thank you to uh Manatee Elementary. Uh went by there yesterday and they had a great drop, a great job. Um that school is absolutely one of our best schools, wellrun by Miss Dailyaly. Um you know, that's a there's a lot of really good things with the Vieiera Middle School now starting to get moving. we have all of those students that are going to start

015moving up into um those uh from those programs. So, it's a good exciting time to be a elementary school in the Vieiera Sunry area because they're all going to start funneling into our new middle school that's coming up. It's going to be phenomenal. So, thank you to them and I'm looking forward to Vieira High tomorrow. I'll be working with their f or speaking at their faculty meeting and moving around there. Um I did do the challenge. Uh Vieiraa High School boys. Uh Miss uh Jenkins mentioned the satellite team. So the Vera High School boys for the first time are in the state playoffs in Dand on Monday. So we have another state championship. So we're going to be playing there. Did you have that down on your paper? I didn't. I didn't steal it from

016you. And then um I did want to say the CTE tours has been amazing. So it's out of my district now. So it's the the baton's been passed. I'll find something to hand you guys off. And then what happens is is just so everybody knows that's inside here. A lot of people think that we need needed create trades, but Dr. Mullins will tell you we've had trades. So today we went we've been going through each one of the schools and showing off all of the trades. Well, today we were at Melbourne High School and they got to see the construction program. They got to see the um cyber security program, the nursing program, the there's just a phenomenal amount of programs there. And we had the associated builders and contractors there. We had the home

017builders and contractors there. We had a cyber security company there. We had employee I mean, we had a lot of business partners that are starting to come. So, it's starting to pick up. So, when it gets to y'all's districts, it's going to be really cool. And they just came out with this new shirt, just so you guys know. Um, can you get me here? Can you zoom in on my shirt right here? See if you can do it. No, there it is. All right. So, this was put together by Russell Broom. He was using Russell Cheetum's green from the inside of the room over there. And um this right here is the CTE tour. And then just so in case anybody wants to go to a school, they actually put all the stuff on the

018back. So you got that? Can you can you read that? Can you see that? All right. Good. All right. I just wanted to make sure everybody's got it. This is the new fangled literally off the press today. Really exciting stuff. Showing off our trades inside the school district. What we need more than anything is help getting our kids motivated to get to work. So thank you. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Susan. Uh, Miss McDougall, I'm going to you in just one second. Ma'am, with the sign in the front, we have a sign policy that requires that it be lower than your head so you're not blocking the people in front of you. If you would please lower it for me. Thank you, Miss McDougall. Thank you. Um, two things I want to give a shout

019out to, which Miss Campbell did uh last board meeting to Antonia Cypio. I gave her an impact elevated pin. She has really been a star um in our HR department with benefits, risk management, and all the health health plans that she's been working on and she is behind some of the wonderful things that we're doing to help the health of our employees here at Bvard Public School. So, a big shout out to Antonio Cipio. So, I want to thank her. And today, I was able to go to Cocoa Beach Junior Senior High School and you guys missed it. Book it and bake it. So it was phenomenal. What it is is that um the students read read a particular book and then they made a cake. It wasn't storebought. They made it. And these cakes

020were absolutely phenomenal. We had Romeo and Juliet. We had Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Somebody did a statistics book. Um it was just the creativity of our students. And I was just going to take a look, but I ended up being one of the judges. and it was very hard to make the decision. So, I'm curious to see who won overall. Um, I'm thinking that Dr. Randelle's going to put some pictures on their Facebook page and I don't know if Mr. Brun's going to do any or not, but anyhow, it was really pretty phenomen. Oh, good. So, that's all I have. Thank you, Miss McDougall. Dr. Mullins, thank you, Miss Belelfford. I just want to uh piggyback on the science fair recognition. Our students are absolutely phenomenal. I'm going to but just add to the

021recognition our business partners, our community partners out there, they come alongside our aspiring young scientists and they inspire them to achieve and succeed in their experiments and the the fortitude and the tenacity that they need. Um, our business p business partner sponsors included Collins Aerospace, L3 Harris. They contributed over $12,000 to science research uh this year. The funds were used toward the cost of running the three fairs and towards student monetary awards. And then additional community partners contributed over $12,500 for special monetary awards for students at each of the fairs that included the American Association of University Women, Melbourne Chapter, American Institute of Aeronautics, and Astronautics. Bayside Engineering and Technical Technology Academy, Collins Aerospace, Florida Association of Science Teachers, Harris Interstell Amateur Radio, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, South Bard, Justin Lowour, L3 Harris

022again, Mainstream Engineering, Perseverance Command Success, an individual sponsor, Platinum Coast Amateur Radio Society, Southerntherland Consulting, Women in Defense, uh, Space Coast Chapter, and our very own Florida Tech offered or or provided students almost $2.3 million of scholarships over four years to attend Florida Tech. So 78 projects are moving on to the state level. If our kids perform anything like they have in the past historically, we have less than 3% of the students in Florida, but we historically bring home over 30% of the first place awards at the state science fair. We've got um students going on already qualified for ISF, international science engineer engineering fair. Our science teachers, our science research teachers across our great county just continue to pour into our kids and uh they are led by our science fair directors. Maggim Molo

023from Satellite, Chelsea George from Ogalli, Jeffrey Higin Bothotham from Rocklage, Debbie Austin, Satellite High, Lauren Kingsley, Satellite High, and Ellen Muse from Palm Bay Magnet High School. Just we can't express our appreciation enough to our community who stand in the gap for our kids and our teachers who continually inspire our kids to produce results across the state and the world at International Fair. And last, just an invitation to our community this Saturday. I don't think Miss Campbell mentioned it, but our elementary music. Did you already mention it? Oh, all right. So, our concerts are this Saturday at the King Center. Uh, South and Central concert is at 12:30 and our North Central concert is at 7:00. I I just got to sing the praises of everything we provide for our kids from science research opportunities

024to music festivals at the Kings Center Performing Arts Center. I It's just uh phenomenal what um opportunities our kids have available. You heard about CTE. It's just a great day to be a student in Bvard public schools and we thank our great teachers across our district for helping make that possible and the support we get from our community. So, thanks Miss Balfford. I know that was a lot. Thank you, Dr. Mullins. And I I'm going to be in the same boat as Miss Campbell mentioned. It's been it's been a busy couple of weeks uh with a lot going on. So, um I will go as quickly as I can. Um first want to give a shout out to Danielle McKinnon who is our director of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Uh who was a finalist for

025the four under 40 through Lee Bard. um she did not she was not one of the four that that were the final finalist but she was the in the semi- finalist group and um got to have spend a great evening with her and her family and her her daughter her sister her parents and um it was it was a really nice event. So thank you to Lee Bvard for recognition of Dr. McKinnon. Um also a thank you to Miss Campbell for her service on the children's hunger project. Most of us have the opportunity to attend the uh children's hung hunger project lunchon and uh if you're not aware the children's hunger project does goodness so much for our kids uh in this district providing food for them to take home on the weekend additional uh

026uh food throughout uh whenever we have holidays and and breaks from school and that sort of thing. So thank you Miss Campbell for your continued service on that board uh and all the work you do. Dr. Mullins and I had an awesome opportunity to um join Fierra High School, Rocklage High School, Ogali High School, and Space Coast Junior Senior High School at Space Coast um for their first CTE rally. And I want to give a huge shout out to Junior Achievement for their support of the program. Um but what it was was the kickoff to our entrepreneurial programs at those four schools. And so they brought together teams of students from each of those four schools uh to start to talk about the entrepreneurial process and what they can do. Um and they are all

027very excited to be developing their own businesses at their schools and working through that process. So thanks to Jay for all they do for our students as well. Um also need to give a huge shout out and I apologize Miss Campbell. I think this one's yours, but um Westshore Junior Senior uh we after the Space Force event at Space Coast Junior Senior High School, we were connected with the Space Force representatives um who shared with us that the Westshore Cyber Patriot Team took first in the state um out of 75 schools in the state and it was their first year competing in the Cyber Patriot program. So, congrats to the the Westshore students and an absolute thanks to Mrs. Whitaker who is their sponsor uh at the school and has done much to support them.

028And I promise I'm almost done. The last one I just have to give a huge thank you to the Titusville Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Mullins and I had the opportunity to attend their I always mix it up with our PI program, but it's partners in the business of education lunchon. Um and every year the Titusville Chamber gives our schools an opportunity to recognize three of their business partners. um and they do a nice lunch and they give them uh plaques and um they get to um sit at a table with their principles and usually some staff from the school as well as the the individual business partners to be recognized for all that they do to support our schools throughout the the year. So, um we are absolutely blessed with um I think that was

029right there four organizations that have wrapped their arms around our schools. So, uh we are very thankful for all of that support. And with that, yeah, Miss Jenkins. So, I just want to give one more shout out. I I never do this, so sorry. But, um, I just want to give a shout out as well to Dr. Danielle McKinnon for our historically black college and universities night, but an even bigger shout out to our community because they really came together to to pull that event off with her. And uh we had alumni from all over Bvard representing those colleges that they went to at tables to interact with our students, educate them on uh the courses they're going to need to take in high school, financial aid, um a really cool app for them to

030uh kind of consolidate their costs for application processes. It was amazing. It was a full packed house. And again, a huge shout out to the families for showing up and being here cuz I don't know any other event I've ever been to with BPS where that many families showed up and participated. Um, it was absolutely awesome to be a part of and I was really grateful to be there and just such a huge huge show of the love of our community coming together for one another. So, thank you to everybody. Thank you, Miss Jenkins. I meant to mention that. Um, and Dr. Mullins gave us some perspective initially when Dr. Dr. McKinnon was reaching out to the colleges for that event. Um, just because of a sk scheduling issue, most of them were not going

031to be able to participate. Um, but started reaching out through alumni and my goodness, our our community really showed up and took care of things. So, thank you for not not allowing us to forget that. Are we concerned about our cyber security being so good? Like the other side of it like like are we teaching our students to hack us? Is that what you're worried about? Just a little thought process here. might have to have some sort of disclaimers or NDAs on these kids because we met with ours today over in Melbourne and they were phenomenal too. So yeah, and their their teacher was probably the most well-versed that we've seen transitioning through. I mean he knew every elected official. He knew all of the district staff. He called everybody out by name was pretty

032phenomenal. So uh we got some good people in there. Yeah, we just we just need to hire our students for IT department, Mr. Susan. So that Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's the goal, right? Couple of them. All right, that's going to move us along to the adoption of the agenda. Dr. Mullins, Miss Belelfford, and members of the board. On this evening's agenda, we have administrative staff recommendations, one proclamation, one presentation, 19 consent items, and two action items. Changes made to the agenda since it was released to the public are as follows. Additions included F8, Kindness Day Proclamation, F12, Expulsions, F19, approve the agreement between BVAR public schools and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 1010 for the 202122 school year and F20 one-time premium payment of one-time longevity payment for eligible non-bargaining

033personnel. The presentation on board master program was deleted and a revision was made to item items A7 administrative staff recommendation. Do I hear a motion? Second. Moved by Miss McDougall, seconded by Miss Jenkins. Is there any discussion? Uh I will just quickly share with the board before I call the vote. Um we were supposed to have our presentation of our plaque from masterboard training this evening. Um, but Tina, who was supposed to do the presenting, fell ill and so she'll be rescheduling that just so you guys are aware of what's going on. I don't know if you were copied in, but All right. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion passes. 5-0. Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about the administrative staff recommendations? Yes, madam chair.

034The me and members of the board. There are four items for your consideration. What are the wishes of the board? Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion passes. 5-0. Dr. Mullins, will you please let us know about tonight's proclamation? Yes, I am happy to. The board is certainly no stranger to BVAR public schools adoption of the kindness symbol that was brought to us by our tropical elementary school kindergarten class that has now gone national. Uh but this evening um there is an item for the board to proclaim February 25th, 2022 as Bvard public schools kindness day. Mr. Brun will read the proclamation for Brun. Good evening board. Dr. Mullins for public schools kindness day proclamation. Whereas

035there is a excuse me whereas there's a symbol of peace, love, and happiness. hand. Whereas there is a need in our schools, our communities, our nation, and our world for more kindness. And whereas the transitional kindergarten class referred to as tropical kingdom class from Tropical Elementary, Merit Island, Florida, believed that helping others become aware of kindness will generate more compassion. And whereas the trop tropical kingdom class held a vote to choose a kindness symbol. And whereas people from 25 states as well as England and Ireland voted and chose the kindness all-around symbol as the official symbol of kindness. And whereas at its February 26, 2019 meeting, the school board of BVAR County approved the kindness all-around symbol as the official symbol of kindness for BVAR public schools. Be it resolved that the BAR public school

036board does hereby proclaim February 25th, 2022 as BPS kindness day. Thank you, Mr. Brun. What are the wishes of the board? Move to approve. Moved by Mr. Susan, seconded by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion passes 5. Thanks all. All right. Next on the agenda is the superintendent's report on progress monitoring, scholar designations, and graduation rate update. Dr. Mullen. Thank you, Mrs. Belelfford. to members of the board. As you know, I come before the board in our community just to keep you apprised of some of the the things that are going on across our district and thought it was appropriate uh as we tackled this school year, anticipating uh needing to really focus our time, our energy, and priorities on progress

037monitoring, understanding some of the learning gaps that our our students would start this school year with, but also what are the the tools we're using to overcome those. And I'll remind the board that back in October, we had a workshop where uh our my staff from Leading and Learning presented not only what our plan was moving forward, our school improvement priorities, but also lots of instructional toolkits and processes our school leaders and our teachers were employing and implementing to uh tackle some of the uh learning challenges we had coming through and out of the pandemic. So this evening just wanted to give the board an update on some of the work that they have been doing, some of the results or what the feedback is telling us about our progress monitoring tools. We administered a

038I Ready progress monitoring in the fall. You can see in this slide the breakdown of students where they fell when they kind of walked into our doors early in the school year in terms of ongrade level readiness and those percentage of students who were falling below grade level. And then again in the winter, December, January, we administered kind of a mid-year progress monitoring assessment. And you can see we've made considerable progress in reading in the the um the uh work that our our kids have been engaged in and the great work of our teachers to help our students move along. You know that we disagregate disagregate disagregate our data. We break it down every way possible from this is all aggregated data, but we break it down by grade level and by school and all

039the way down to the teacher and the and the actual student and we know how our students are progressing individually. Our teachers do an amazing job through data chats to then make some adjustments to their instructional practice to meet the specific needs of our kids. Here you can see a district-wide breakdown by grade level from the previous slide over the last three years. And as if as if as if you look over time over the last three years, you can see that we're beginning to uh make the same kind of progress or be in a similar place that we were really pre- pandemic, which is an uh very encouraging. There's obviously still some areas that are of concern particularly uh first grade where we see a significant percentage of our students still uh demonstrating a

040one grade level below. Good news is this is the midyear assessment and our teachers remain so committed and vigilant in working with our kids to help them make the progress they need by the time they finish first in this case first grade or grade level or when they take the Florida standards assessment in this in the late spring. Also fifth grade um um we see some some areas that we are focusing on and really honing in to meet our kids needs. Here you'll see uh aggregated data again by tier. Tier one would be those students who at this assessment are showing to be mid on grade level or above. So uh again good percentage in relation to previous years. Tier 2 are those students who would be early on grade level or potentially one grade

041level below. Again pretty proportional to where we have been in the past. And then also tier three uh those students who are two or three grade levels below. And obviously those are students that we are engaging uh with intense interventions and our teachers are working uh really really diligently with our kids who have some of those significant uh achievement gaps. Here you see our elementary aggregated data in the in the area of math. Uh you can see we've made considerable progress from the beginning of the year to our midyear assessment uh on the mid ongrade level or above moving from 9% to 20%. Um but as you look at the breakdown of by grade level over time, we are you know in some respects not completely surprised by the the progress that or in some

042cases not as much progress as we would have liked to have made in mathematics because the reality is is there are many skill gaps that build upon each other in math that we've got to work toward and that is why our schools are very focused on uh learning acceleration and not just remaining in um on on the deficient skills but moving them along and again uh working toward those different tiered levels of instruction. Um tier tier one pretty comorate with where we have been in the past. Um tier two as well but tier three a little higher than we would want it to be. those students who are demonstrating two or three grade levels below in mathematics. So again, we have our kids in intense uh interventions uh while in a pullout walk to intervention

043model but also staying focused with ongrade level learning in their regular math class. So here we move on to our secondary reading progress monitoring results and uh you can see some some modest improvement in those areas. Of course, you want the green area percentages to be going up and the orange and yellow percentage areas to be going down as we have kids who uh in the first assessment may have demonstrated one or two grade levels below moving up into ongrade level and above grade level kids more of them moving into that above grade level. So, we we've had some we've had some good growth. I will mention that although this is this is 7th through 12th grade aggregate aggregated data but it does disproportionately assess students uh who on their reading assessment through 10th grade.

044So you know we assess through 10th grade but there are some students who remain uh unsuccessful in 10th and we continue to work with them into 11th and 12th. You'll see that here in this next slide that we make um considerable growth in those those early grade levels but 11th and 12th those are our most struggling students in the areas of reading. So um we're working with them diligently but not as much of uh growth in that advanced percentage area um because they're needing those additional uh interventions and we're working with them. Like I said, we disagregate all of our data. And here we have broken it down by ethnicity that shows the same progress from fall to winter. And you can see that we've got uh we we've got work to do with our

045kids across different ethnic groups as we have in the past. And we're continuing to uh focus on the progress we need to provide them in the supports. The the great news is across all of our kids, the ESSER or federal dollars in response to the pandemic and learning loss have been instrumental in providing additional supports, assistance, instructional opportunities, tutoring within and outside of the school day. And uh we are leveraging those dollars uh for the benefit of all of our kids. Here we have our secondary NWEA or math uh progress monitoring. Math 6 plus that's essentially middle school math, math 2 advanced, uh math 2, math 2 advanced, math 3, math 3 advanced, but we also offer algebra 1 and geometry in our middle school. So you you see that there is considerable growth uh

046in our seventh and eighth grade algebra and geometry students. Those are our most math proficient kids and um making great growth there and uh and but ultimately uh considerable growth across all of our grade levels in the areas of math, algebra and geometry. Also here we break it down uh by ethnicity to make sure we know exactly how our kids are doing across all groups and subgroups. uh particularly as we have to report all of these to the state. So we uh break it down and our schools dive into the results. Again, at the secondary level, all of our data is disagregated all the way down to the student level, whether it's by grade uh by uh teacher and then ultimately down to the student. and we work with our kids to identify interventions to

047help them continually be successful uh as they approach the end of course exam or the FSA math exam that they they take towards the end of the year. So in terms of progress monitoring, we've talked a lot about that as a school district ultimately the state has required progress monitoring as part of our instructional continuity plan for the last two years. We've had to submit that to the state. In fact, the state has embraced the progress monitoring model that it is now becoming a tool of consideration for our statewide assessments in the future moving forward. So next year will be a kind of a gap year in terms of a uh assessment year as we move towards assessing all of the new standards and then uh they'll be implementing the new model of progress monitoring

048uh more formally across the state. We still don't have all of the information of what that's going to look like. So we're waiting to see what that what that ends up being but the reality is is we've been doing it for two years. Um and even before that as uh Bvard has been utilizing progress monitoring to help us identify and respond to any learning uh needs our kids may have. So certainly a very familiar and effective model in meeting the needs of students. Now I want to move into our state designated exemplar programs and some pretty amazing accomplishments of our students. uh again in these areas. It's uh little it's just so impressive to see the tenacity, the fortitude of our kids, but also the dedication of our teachers, the hard work of our teachers

049to help our kids remain focused on uh pursuing these opportunities for them. So scholars diploma, it takes the high school diploma to the next level and requires credits earned in certain areas of math and science uh and world language as well andor uh API ACE and so on. We in 2000 school year 2020 we had almost 950 students earn that designation. Last year that increased almost a hundred. Um, but stay tuned. There's a really impressive, even more impressive slide coming in a second. Here we have our merit diplomas. These are students who earn not only their high school diploma, but also any one of 82 industry certifications. We talked a lot about our career and technical education tours and the opportunities available for our students across the district. They sit for industry certifications. You might

050ask, which ones? Well, here's a here's a sample of just some of the 82 industrys that our kids can sit for and earn. In fact, we had a we always brag on there's a Palm Bay High graduate last year who by the time he finished the summer, he had he had earned 19 industry certifications on the day of graduation and got the results of two more after graduation. So, he actually earned 21 industry certifications while in high school. That's pretty awesome. But again, you can see a little bit of a modest decline in the number of students who only earned the merit diploma uh designation. But wait, this is students who earned both the scholar designation and the merit designation. It went up and these are not duplicated students. So you go back to the

051scholar diplomas, those are unique kids to the merit diplomas and now to our scholar and merit credentialed kids who earn both went up in in a year that probably was one of the most difficult academic pursuing years our kids have ever experienced. So again, uh, tremendous amount of work on behalf of our teachers, our guidance counselors, um, our administrators to keep kids focused and pursuing these very, uh, challenging but beneficial designations while they're in high school. Dr. Mullins, could you do me a favor and just go I just want to get those numbers again because I'm gonna have a question for you at the end on those. So there's the scholarship diplomas. Thank you. There's our merit. Okay. And here's the number of students who earned both. Um, and it's well over I mean, what

052was that? It's probably well over 4,000 of our students. And we graduate approximately 5,000 students a year. You read my mind. That was going to be my question. That like can we frame that as to how many of our students are falling into that? That's phenomenal. It is four four fifths of our kids or 80% of our kids leaving high school with a designation. And then we have students who can earn the gold seal of biiteracy. And the biiteracy uh designation is an assetbased model uh as students who are biliterate um are tested and assessed on their listening, speaking and reading skills in two languages. So students can earn this by either earning four world language credits uh with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. They achieve a four or five on a world

053language assessment or our students who may already come to us bilingual um can take assessments that measure their proficiency in listening, speaking and reading. In fact, we had a student come to us last year um who is bilingual in Hungarian and we found the assessment to give him uh the the test and he earned the gold seal of biiteracy as a Englishspeaking Hungarian speaking student. Um so we we certainly elevate our kids and their biiteracy skills and want them to earn that designation. And then of course we have our Cambridge programs. Uh we saw a little bit of a a modest decline in the number of students who earned the CA the actual Cambridge diploma. Keep in mind that does not reflect the numbers of courses that students completed and even earned credit for in

054the Cambridge program. These are actually diploma earners. these students uh when they receive their Cambridge diploma become uh 100% qualifiers of bright future scholarship uh moving forward. The same thing for our international balora diplomas. Little bit of a decline there in the number of students who earn the diploma again they earn 100% bright futures uh uh scholarship uh upon graduation and then we have our AP capstone diploma program. So, schools that don't have ACE or IB have the AP diploma program. Very rigorous. Students have to complete certain AP courses. They have to earn uh a a score of three or higher in uh four additional AP courses in addition to AP seminar and AP research. Um the interesting thing is again a increasingly rigorous diploma designation but our state does not recognize AP capstone diplomas

055as 100% bright futures scholarship qualifying yet. We're working on it. We're working on it. We're talking to our GE delegates. It was it was up for discussion last session. It got some attention and movement, but um uh it didn't make it to the finish line, but we are continuing to pursue that for our kids because we believe that uh our AP capstone diploma recipients should earn that designation as well. This is a very exciting slide as well. When you look at the number the the bar at the top represents all only our students who earned an AA degree at Eastern Florida State College at graduation. We we continue to graduate more than 400 of our seniors with an AA degree, but look at how many students we have participating in a dual enrollment course throughout

056their their high the high school year. Over 5,000 students participate in dual enrollment. We know by research that when students have pre I should say during high school experience, exposure and success in a college environment course that their trajectory for college completion is in increased greatly. So, we love that our Eastern Florida State College partners want and welcome us to have our students have that experience and that opportunity, and it certainly is a tremendous benefit uh and asset for our students. And then finally, our graduation rate. We did see just a little bit of a increase again in our gradu graduation rate districtwide uh from 2020 to 2021. Very proud of that. I believe we are on our fifth consecutive year of increased graduation rate. And as always, we break it down by our different

057subgroups. And we are continuing to see some some modest increases in in many subgroups, some slight declines in others, but you can see that we we we break our data down to the to to the finite level and uh work to evaluate how we're serving our students, how we can serve them better, and then help them continually succeed and uh achieve their dreams. So, I think that is it. The board has any questions, happy to entertain them or yield back the board. Any board members have any questions or comments for Dr. Mullins? Miss Campbell would just say, you know, that we're obviously we're not going to sit back and relax because there's no sit back sitting back and relax and we know our students have lost so much over the last few years, but um

058recognizing that even in the declines, we had a we had a a smaller enrollment last year for our secondary programs. And so u and then considering all the disruptions of this year when I look at the progress monitoring from the fall to the winter considering how many days many students miss because of the massive quarantines that we had in the first part of the year. I think um it's it definitely shows great work by our students and by our teachers and all the coaches that come around them and leadership for continuing to support. Um, it's, you know, I hate that we're going to have in the future always these years was the asterk next to them, but everybody else in the country is dealing with the same thing and I think BP BPS is doing

059a great job dealing with it. Thank you, Miss Campbell. Couldn't agree with you more. Anybody else? Uh, I will just echo the sentiments of Miss Campbell. I know um you know when we looked at this data earlier um we I think all of us had a little bit of heaviness in in seeing where our kids were starting off this school year. Um and to see the progress that has been made this year is absolutely phenomenal. Um and it is it is absolutely because of the effort of every single one of our team members from you Dr. Mullins and your leadership to our our folks on cabinet and the way that we have focused on um you know across the board on our priority schools and really getting the effort in there and working from every

060department focusing on priority schools um and leadership in each one of our departments emphasizing that and really making sure that the entire teams are focused on it. Um, and then absolutely down to all of the folks at the school level who are I mean I know that we have folks that are digging in and helping these students that are not necessarily classroom teachers. Um, and in a year when we have had so many challenges with having classrooms covered. Um, when our, you know, we're combining classrooms, we have teachers covering other classes, we have instructional assistants helping with classes. Um and it is it is incredibly clear from this data that they are everyone is pitching in and making a difference in the lives of our kids. So thank you um and to our entire team.

061This is great news. Okay. Anyone else? All right. Then we are going to be coming to our public comment portion of the meeting on our agenda items. Um, just as a reminder, we now differentiate those speaking to an agenda item and those speaking to a non-aggenda item. So, we have four speakers speaking to our agenda items this evening. Um, we will hear them. We'll finish the board um business and then we will come back to the remainder of the speakers at the end. So, everyone will have an opportunity to speak. Um, since we only have four each me each speaker on our agenda items will receive three minutes. Please note that the time is per speaker, not per agenda item. Topics not specific to agenda items, as said, will be moved to the end. Um,

062we do have a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your time. When your time is over, you'll be asked to stop and allow the next speaker his or her turn. Um, always keep in mind that reasonable decor is expected, and your statement should be directed to the board chair. The chair may interrupt, warn, or terminate a participant's statement when time is up. It's personally directed, abusive, obscene, or irrelevant. Should an individual not observe proper etiquette, the chair may request the individual to leave the meeting. I will call I'm just going to go ahead and call our four speakers up if you guys don't mind getting on deck. And for those of you that don't join us regularly, please keep in mind we're going to ask that you hold your applause

063or response to the speaker speakers. Um they have their three minutes to speak. The rest of us are just observers in the process. Okay. I don't know. A good question, Miss Campbell. Let me check. Dolores, are you speaking tonight? Where did I see Dolores? Are you speaking tonight? Did you sign up on the Okay. So, are we give me just one second to see if we are scheduled to take the count on the It's on consent. Okay. So, Dolores, I'll call you up right after our four public comment speakers. Okay. So, we can get that done. All right. Uh, our speaking order is Sarah Murky, Katie Delaney, Anthony Kawuchcci, Mark Rainey, and then Dolores Vney. Sarah. Just making sure I can see the clock. Okay. Good evening, Madam Chair and board. I am Sarah Murski,

064wife, mother, taxpayer, stakeholder, and I'm in district 2 for school board. Tonight, I'll be speaking on agenda items F14 and F17. Um just want to make a note. It's uh not fair that those of us who came to speak on agenda items um that there are last minute changes to the agenda. Um because we really come prepared specifically for agenda items and then when they get changed around um then it's we're out of our three minutes for that. So F14 is your financial report from the asset management company for self insurance health insurance for your employees. There are reports from various prestig prestigious financial companies such as Goldman Sachs, JB and JP Morgan to name a few. They reported on economic indicators and hyperinflation. Uh I have spoken to this board on hyperinflation in the

065past. The reason why families are um str some families are struggling with prices of the gas with gas at the gas pump and grocery stores is the significant amount of SR funding our school district has received. I'm asking for more transparency with the expenditure of our tax money. The taxpayers of Brevard deserve more transparency from the school board and stakeholders as well as a whole as each board member is a fiduciary um F17. Um with being fiduciaries, I hope the board allocated our tax money uh to our bus drivers effectively. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Delaney. Good evening. Um, I'm here to speak on uh D19 about the um graduation rates. Um, so we've talked about the achievement gap quite a bit. Um and it came to my attention recently that um and this is

066coming straight from a teacher um that children are being passed through math classes and which Dr. Mullen's um slideshow just showed us there's major issues with what's going on in the subject of math in Bvard County, which is sort of ironic because we have rockets being built down the street and um you know it's really unfortunate. I'm also being told that uh math classes are being removed from the high school, the lower level math classes. How my question is how are students supposed to go through algebra 1, algebra 2, geometry, calculus? Um if they can't add fractions, if they don't know their multiplication tables, um and this translates right to our graduation rates. Are our children being passed through so that our graduation rates look better than what they should be? Um, how is this

067serving our children with excellence? How is this preparing them for their future? How is this preparing them for college? How is this preparing them for their vocational schools and building these rockets that are being built right down the street? Um, we really need to do better on this and I am here to help in any capacity with that. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Delaney. If you would please provide to me the specific students and the specific courses that you are referencing, if you can just send them to me via email so we can follow up. Okay. Thanks. Anthony Cluchi. My name is Anthony Cluchi. the president of the Bvard Federation of Teachers. As we consider appointments and resignations, I want to note that this week is public schools week. Let's take a moment

068to celebrate the promise and purpose of public schools in America. Let's celebrate the students who learn in them, the people who work in them, and the entire education community that supports preparing our next generation for college, career, civic participation, and most importantly, their lives. As this board considers the eb and flow of hiring teachers and teachers resigning, I want to reiterate that BPS needs to focus on both recruitment and retention of teachers. In order to attract and retain employees, the board really needs to consider reshaping the district's culture. A big component of the district culture that needs to change centers on trust. The district must trust that teachers are professionals and will do their jobs and do them well. If that belief permeated the district, I'm sure there would be fewer teachers leaving for other

069professions. A perfect example of the district's lack of trust can be seen in the disagreement we just had over using comp time yesterday. Fortunately, we we were able to come to an agreement. However, if BPS started from the point that teachers know whether or not they needed professional development to improve their practice, needed the inservice credit to renew their certificates, or simply needed a mental health day, it wouldn't have been an issue. If BPS is going to be a competitive workforce, it's past time for a change. There's no reason why our teachers are being required to stay on campus after students leave. You must trust that our teachers will have their work done regardless of where and when they do it. Other employees already operate under that belief. The upcoming March 11th day is a

070plan at school day. Why, other than a lack of trust, must they plan at school? And look, you don't have to personally agree with these things. Whereas I still wear a tie every day to work, I understand that many younger than me think that's a ridiculous action. At some point, you too must realize that regardless of your personal views, the rigidity of the factory system is no longer what the modern workforce wants and is choosing. Lastly, I want to be clear that my goal by the end of the school year will be to have the 22 23 contract ratified. Having a contract ratified with significant raises to start in August will be a great tool for recruitment and retention next year. My request of the board is to work with the superintendent to ensure that

071goal is achieved. I request that you actively engage in the process prior to staff taking control over it. Thank you. And as always, feel free to reach out to me. Thanks, Mr. Kluchi. Mr. Rainey, my name is Mark Rainey. I've come before you uh last three or four times. I represent the bus drivers that are not in the union. That's 260 bus drivers, twothirds of them are not in the union. Today, you have a chance to look at the 10-10 contract and although the bus drivers voted no on the a large portion of the bus drivers voted no on that contract, they do respect their colleagues and the union and will ask that you um support the uh 1010 contract. With that being said, the contract fails in its resolve of solving the root cause

072problem of why we can't get drivers in this county. It does not address reoccurring starting wages of drivers. You're fixing to have a fair on March the 9th and you're not going to get anybody because your your rates are too low. And that's a reflection of your leadership. You have a chance to make a difference. You can help. you can do whatever mechanism it is. We would ask that you pass this contract and then solve the root cause problem which is add $2 to the to the hiring wage of the drivers. Go after those drivers. Let us help you recruit those drivers. We know what questions they're going to ask, but we can't solve that $146 driving starting wage of the drivers. Now, we do appreciate what you've given in this contract and we thank

073you for it and we thank the union for doing their job, okay? But we are small. We're 260 out of 2,700 potential people, right, that that vote in this thing. You have a leadership responsibility and that leadership responsibility needs to be lead to lead, not follow. Every county in this state is having a problem with this issue. You're you're one of the largest counties in um providing these kinds of services. Step forward and lead. Take a chance. Give a recurring rate to solve this problem. And you don't even have to do it this year. the drivers will understand if you want to push it off to 2023 like you did the food services people in this contract which is a recurring rate increase um do so I mean we we are greatly appreciative of the

074food service people and we encourage that you give and pass that contract for them but take a chance and get ahead of this game before it gets too late concern is you mentioned the MPA we don't have enough drivers to do the events. We got supervisors driving the buses today. So many It's not a requirement. We don't have to take them. It's on our time. It's in our split shift. We just ask that you meet us. Take leadership and meet us. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rainey Dolores. Can you hear me? I can. Usually you cannot. Uh, good evening, Miss Belelfford and board members. My name is Dolores Vney and I am the business representative for Bvard Public School support staff local 1010 union. Uh, as you know, we just had our uh, contract voted

075on and uh, the count was 88 yes, 225 no, and four voids. We had a total of 1,037 employees that voted this year. Uh for years, it's only been like 15% of employees even got out and voted. Uh and this year we had around 37%. We are so happy with the improvement in uh the uh employee turnout. And if I could say a thank you to them. Am I allowed to do that since I really wasn't signed up for comments? Uh we would like to take a minute to thank every employee who came out and voted this year. By coming out to vote, no matter if your vote was yes or no, you took the time to uh to voice and speak to what matters to you. And uh also we would like to tell

076the support staff that there was a lot of attention on the contract this year. Excuse me. um our processes and how we uh get to the tenative agreement. So we encourage and welcome those who are really interested to get involved in your local 1010 union be active and uh learn the process. And this is something that came to us and was conveyed and communicated to us a lot during this is that the employees want the district to prioritize annual reoccurring raises at the first budget line item for all employees. and uh you know they need to keep you guys need to keep this up. They said uh um the momentum to make sure that this is prioritized and it's a priority that's set that every year that it's the first line item. You look at

077the you know taking care of your folks and uh by accepting this language this year we are not sending a message that we just want bonuses because we are as Mr. Rainey said we also established a raise for the food service staff for the the following year. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Dolores. And as your I may not be appropriate, Paul, wave at me if I'm saying something I shouldn't, but I just wanted to share with you, Dolores, when we were out at schools last week, one of the things that came up, and I don't know how we can address it, was um that perhaps we would have a higher percentage of participation if we if people didn't have to travel to like an an individual location. and if there was some way

078that we could work it in so that our schoolbased folks could actually vote at school. Um, so just throwing that out you I you know I think the the more participation we get the better it's more representative. So just just sharing the recommendation. Yeah. So if you would give me a call we can talk about that more. Okay. Thanks, Dolores. Um, so that concludes our agenda based speakers. Dr. Mullins, I believe you wanted to address something. Yeah, I I just wanted to respond or assure the board that our graduation rate is not only state moderated, but it is federally moderated. It's the federal grad rate. It it has specific graduation requirements that have to be met, and we are held accountable to the state on that. That is the the the requirements are set by

079the state. We have to be account we are accountable to the state. So to suggest we have flexibility and who is or is not meeting the graduation rate isn't accurate that that is reported just like any other district reports their graduation rate and then that goes it is built into the formula of school accountability across the district and across all districts in the state of Florida Florida as well. So just wanted to provide the board and and the viewing public the those here this evening just the assurance that we meet the standards for graduation requirement. That's why we work so hard literally at the individual student level to address any deficiencies a student may have to help them. And you'll notice that our graduation isn't 100%. And but I'll say yet because we hold on

080to the the goal and the ambition to um work with our kids to help everyone meet graduation. So thank you for that clarification, Dr. Mullen. All right, that is going to move us into our consent agenda. Dr. Mullins, there are 19 agenda items under the consent agenda. Thank you. Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent agenda? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Moved by Miss Campbell, seconded by Miss McDougall. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Same signs. Motion passes 5. Dr. Mullins, please let us know about the items under the action portion of tonight's agenda. The first item is to approve the procurement solicitations. Do I have a motion? Moved by Miss McGoo. Seconded

081by Miss Campbell. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Same sign. Motion passes 5-0. Dr. Mullins. The next item is to approve department school initiated agreements. I have a motion. Moved by Miss Benin, seconded by Miss McDougall. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion passes. 5-0. We're now at board member reports and discussion points. Do we have any uh anything that needs to be addressed? Uh Mr. So last week we um microphone last time we were in here we had I put an agenda item onto the uh you know and I put it up for board discussion and what ended up happening is we had individuals that came in to speak to that that agenda item

082and they were told that they had to speak at one minute. Right? So instead of, you know, making an argument about it and doing everything else, I said I would just come back to it and I said it at the board meeting that I'd come back today. Um, so I did some research. Um, I I truly believed at that night that individuals who came to speak to the agenda item that I had put on there that they would be able to speak for their three minutes. So, but I didn't want to argue it while we were here because I thought it was disrespectful because I had not looked that up. So the basically the definition of agenda items according to Robert's rules of orders both consider board reports under reports and new business. The definition

083of um board of an agenda meeting um is an agenda is an a chronological list of meeting activities beginning with the call of order and ending with the joint. So, every single Robert's rules of orders, every agenda definition that I looked at considered anything that was inside of the agenda item to be able to be discussed as part of the agenda. Now, our policy speaks directly to anything that's on the agenda would give the three minutes. Anything off the agenda would give one minute. Um, one other note to make is that Dr. Dr. Mullins at the last meeting prior to it said there were two last minute additions to the agenda and then we voted to accept those to the agenda according to what he said. So what I would like is Gibbs to give

084some more definition to it. Maybe now is not the appropriate time. The policy actually does state that uh a proposition does not include items wherever found on the agenda upon which the board votes in its quasi judicial capacity or under board discussion and information. The only exception being policy changes. So the the policy is pretty explicit that board discussion items are not considered propositions for the before the board for public comment. Read that again, Mr. Gibbs. A proposition does not include items wherever found on the agenda upon which the board votes in its quasi judicial capacity or under board discussion and information. Policy changes appearing under information may be commented on as an agenda item. Okay. So for so under the same definition it says for purposes of this policy a proposition is an item

085before the board for a vote and includes is not necessarily limited to all items on the agenda noted as unfinished business consent and non-consent. So what I would argue is is this is that if there's something that comes up that we believe needs to have public comment and have some we put it up for discussion we discuss it and if any of the public comes up now let's layer it into what ended up happening. There's individuals from our bus drivers that came up here that came to speak and they were limited to one minute, right? They were trying to come to give us their plea towards what was about to happen in a vote. Tonight, we have to vote on something that we didn't have their all of their public comment that night. My argument

086which I would like to bring to the next board is that if we put something on the agenda for discussion for board topics that if somebody wants to come in that can give that expert opinion they would be able to do it. That's all. So we don't I would like to talk that and put that as a discussion item but if you guys don't want to do that then we don't have to. What I'm trying to say is if I can get two other board members to say that that's part of discussion and we can move towards it and then possibly amend it to allow that that's what I would like to do. So literally if you put a board member says we want to put it on for discussion that people can come and

087give us their testimony on that. Anyone wants to comment? Um took what I was going to say. I just add to that that this policy is based even though we can have some flexibility on it. The polic policy is based in statute which says members of the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on a proposition before a board or commission. And I don't think we're just making up our own definition. The proposition is something that we're going to be voting on. And I understand yes, we vote on the contract tonight. Um, but we we rustled through this policy actually multiple times this fall and came down to I'm the one who who asked for us to add that part about policy changes on the information agenda because we are going to

088be voting on them in in future weeks. So I just, you know, the problem that I have with that is, you know, we can add up to the day of up to the meeting of discussion items and, you know, I want to talk about this. Well, then where do we where do we put those people? um you know is it agenda or is it not agenda because I came up tonight and decided I want to talk about this and so I I think we need we've set a standard which is a pretty pretty reasonable standard it's in line with statute um and I think we just need to leave it um the way we the way we did and I would just reiterate what we said last fall when we passed this policy which is

089coming and speaking at the board meetings is not the only opportunity people have to get a hold of us and it's probably not the most effective either um we have email we have phone calls we have other ways that people can meet with us personally if they'd like to and I know that you you did that as well. Um I just I think we need to we need to hold to the standard that we've created which actually is um you know we've actually opened up to be more specific as to what a proposition is and I I would prefer to leave it as it is. Miss Campbell, if I can respond. We have bus drivers that don't use their email so much. They don't have our phone numbers. They know that this is the place

090that they can come make that argument. And I would argue that if anybody, even Miss Jenkins, Miss Belelfford, Miss McDougall, says that there's something they feel confident enough to bring forward to the board that that discussion should have public comment, should not be limited down to a minute. And you know, I I truly believe in the process that if that's what it is, we had a group of people that showed up that tried to give their testimony that thought they were going to get three minutes. And quite frankly, I didn't even think of it. Like I didn't I would have brought it up to you, Miss Belfford. I would have said something ahead of time. I didn't know that that would be something that would happen, but it did. And then we went and we

091voted on we're voting tonight on a contract when we had people that were going against it that wanted to speak to it and they didn't have any opportunity to do that except for the one minute and they don't know that. So the thing is is that I truly believe that if I put something on the agenda for discussion with you and there's public testimony that somebody can come and give that is three minutes, I think that that needs to be added. And when you said that anybody can add it at the last minute, well then at the last minute people if they want to come they can come. But we're not talking about a massive amount of agenda items and three minutes is an opportunity for them to speak to. It's hard to speak to

092three minutes or to one minute. It really is. So Mr. Susan, I would um I understand where you're coming from and the the thing that I would say is remember that. So like tonight this was not listed as as a discussion item on the agenda, right? So it's something I know. I know. um but it wasn't listed so the public had no clue that there was going to be discussion on that and that happens from time to time right do that if we don't want the public discussion or and and sometimes it's something that we come up with like something happens during the meeting and so we decide we need to have discussion at the end right um I would say the thing about the discussion items is we can't take any action on those

093discussion items and so um all of the the people who came last week or two weeks ago I guess and spoke um could have spoken for three minutes tonight on the agenda item. Not that I'm saying they should have come back again. I think there was confusion and please don't take this the wrong way, but I think they probably understood from you that they were going to have three minutes because you didn't under you you were confused about that portion of the policy. I never told them to come and get their three minutes. They just came and so to get the three minutes was there. I I understand. I just there was another piece the um the opportunity inside the same uh policy right under what Paul mentioned the opportunity to be heard need not

094occur at the same meeting at which the board takes the official action says it right there on the proposition if the opportunity occurs at a meeting that is during the decision-making process and this is when with reasonable proximity in time before the meeting at which the board takes the official action. When I read that, that spoke to exactly the situation that we're doing tonight. It says that we knew we were going to take action, which we knew. We knew the vote was going to come. We put it and I think that in cases of that and board discussion, I think we had something there. Um, I truly believe uh as I did when we were passing the the um when we passed it that I believe in having more of the public speaking, more of

095the people that come up and I feel like if you put that on the agenda that that gives the opportunity, but if I don't have board support to move forward, then that's what it is. But I truly believe that individuals should be able to come speak if a me board member puts it on the agenda. That's all. If you guys don't, then we move on. But that was my spin. Anyone else wish to anyone want to to support the proposition from Mr. Susan? Okay. I'm not hearing support Mr. Susan. So, doesn't mean we can't discuss it again in the future, but um you know, as we go along, if we need to massage, we we certainly can look at that. Yeah. And there's other avenues. There's other avenues to get the voice of them out,

096right? So, we'll just use those avenues. That's the policy does allow for a board member to move that evening. So if you wished for the public to have that opportunity, there is the flexibility built into the policy where you can make a movement like you could have moved to have the board allow three minutes at that meeting. There's going to be situations you guys when we come across this and we're going to wish that we didn't do what we're doing. So that's it. All right. Anything else as far as board discussion then? Dr. Mullins, do you have anything else to add? No, ma'am. Thank you. All right. That is then going to move us into our remaining speakers who signed up to comment on non-aggenda items. Each speaker is limited to one minute. We have

097a clock in front of me to help you keep track of your time. When your time is over, you'll be asked to stop and allow the next speaker his or her turn. We'll hear from the speakers in the order in which they signed up, including those who may be waiting outside, although I think everyone has gotten moved in at this point. Um, as stated earlier, reasonable decorum is expected at all times, and your statement should be directed to the board chair. Should audience participation interfere with speakers being heard or hearing me, I will be forced to clear the room, um, keep in mind of the the role of observer. When I call your name, please line up up along the east wall of the boardroom to facilitate the smooth transition of speakers. Our first three

098speakers will be Sarah Murky, Katie Delaney, and Michael Bloom. has 36 seconds. Does it? I have one minute on my end. Does it say one now? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm Sarah. I wanted to address school board member behavior on and off the dis. Madame chair, as you and your fellow board members are elected officials, I expect everyone to conduct themselves with dignity in and integrity on and off the dis including attending other government meetings. I expect my school board members to lead by example. That is serving every student with this with excellence as the standard by leading by example. I also wanted to share that um you know it has been said that I signal in some way, shape or form that it's okay to discriminate against anybody and I that could

099not be um a more gross misrepresentation of my character. Thank you. Thanks, Sarah. Katie, hi. Um, so I wanted to speak on that as well, what Sarah was talking about. Um, we're expected to hold a certain level of decorum in this room. Um yet board members are not being held to that same level of decorum. Um I was recently at another government meeting where a board member acted completely inappropriately in a room full of people. Um I would like to further go off of what Mr. Susan was talking about. Um, I would request that we reopen the public comment uh policy. What is happening to these school bus drivers? Um, it's not okay. Thank you. Thanks, Katie. As Michael's approaching, the next three speakers will be Shelley Roden, Bill McKay, and Simone Hector. Michael, when

100you're ready. Good evening. I'm Michael Bloom. I'm a retired first responder. I've lived in Bvard County for over 15 years. I've advocated for at risk youth for over 30 years. Abused youth, unhoused youth, LGBTQ youth. I'm fortunate that many of them have kept in touch with me. You know what they remember from their childhood? They remember the words and actions of those charged with protecting them. They remember those who spoke up for them, those who spoke against them, and those who didn't speak for them at all. Our students are listening to the members of this board. They're listening to what you say with your words, your actions, and your votes. Most importantly, they're listening to the leadership this board's providing the individual school administrators. 30 years from now, what will our students remember about the

101things you've said during your time on this board? Thank you. Thanks, Michael Shelley. Good evening, Dr. Mullins, members of the board. My name is Shelley Roden. I use she her pronouns. I'm here tonight um to speak about harassment and hate in Bvard schools, specifically Melbourne High School. Many students here tonight that'll tell you um how appalling things are. Two weeks ago at this very school board meeting, two of the members sitting on the dis tonight voted against a non-discrimination policy that includes protections for Bvard's LGBTQ students. This policy has been in place since July of 2016 and the two members that voted against it despite knowing what happened at Mel High. This is appalling and the message that this sends our LGBTQ students is that you do not matter. These brave students that are here

102tonight want what every student in Bvard and their families want. They want a safe, affirming school where they can go and learn and thrive in a safe environment. People will hear them. Thank you, Shel. We appreciate you joining us this evening. Bill McKay. Hi, good evening. My name is Bill McKay. I'm here representing the Space Coast Equality Coalition, Space Coast LGBTA Caucus, and the Space Coast Pride. I'm here in support of our students. I'm also here to keep it simple. This is about hate and discrimination. I take this seriously and personally. My community is under siege for many avenues. It didn't go unnoticed that at our last meeting here, non-discrimination policies that have been in place since 2016 were not unanimously voted in. Thank you to the board members who voted them in. Let's be

103clear, these actions to not support are wink and nod to those that would do us harm. The incident at Melbourne High is where hate and discrimination begins. What the sport says and does has repercussions. What the sport says and does trickles down positively and negatively. We can do better. We must do better. Acceptance, inclusion, and love are always the answer. the LGBTQ rights are human rights. Thank you, Bill. We appreciate you joining us this evening. Um, if I could just remind our our speakers to please keep your comments focused at me or the board as a whole and not not single out board members. That would be much appreciated. Um, sorry Simone, I didn't mean to stop you from you can go ahead and move forward as I finish talking. Um, our next three speakers

104will be Sebastian Cook, Michelle Beavers, and then Beverly Marker. Simone, good evening board members. My name is Simone Hector and I am the vice president of Melbourne High School's Gay Straight Alliance. In my time as a member of this club, I have witnessed repetitive harassment towards my peers for the sole reason that they are queer. Our club poster, which advocated a safe space for LGBTQ youth, was destroyed and replaced with crude homophobic vandalism. The GSA's president posted about this incident and was met with hundreds of hateful comments, not only towards our club, but the LGBTQ Q community as a whole. The administration at Melbourne High School has told us that the hate speech we have received is our fault and that we should get used to this sort of harassment because we have chose this

105lifestyle. LGBTQ students at Melbourne High School want the same as any other student, a place where we can exist without fear. Why is it that it is us who have to hide who we are? And why should our safety be compromised? Thank you. Thanks, Simone. Sebastian, good evening. My name is Sebastian Cook and I am the president of the Melbourne High School Gay Straight Alliance. As you may have heard, a bulletin board from our GSA spreading acceptance and love was maliciously destroyed and vandalized at Melbourne High School on February 8th, 2022 after being up for not even 24 hours. A cutout of the Florida in the rainbow flag colors was ripped down and the affirmation LGBTQ youth belong was reduced to youth belong. Gays are going to hell was written on the wall across from

106this. The next day, I posted about this hate crime on my Instagram highlighting why we should be pushing for safer school environments. and I was met with over 600 comments, many of which are vile and cruel. I've been DM'd slurs, sent threats, and I no longer feel safe on campus because of the students behind these comments. I've been told by administration that this harassment is my fault because I chose this lifestyle, which is untrue. Please condemn this act of hatred, promise punishment to the greatest extent reasonable, for the perpetrators, stop telling your LGBTQ students that it's their thought fault that they are being harassed, and hold Melbourne High School accountable. I matter, and I deserve to be seen and exist safely in school. Thank you. Thank you, Sebastian. Hold your applause for me, please. Audience,

107audience, hold your applause, please. I have some letters from other GSA board members that they wanted me to give to you guys. Would you mind if I Yeah, if you want to just leave them on the table there, we'll we'll make sure that we get them. Thank you so much, Michelle Beavers. Um, excuse me. I'm Michelle Beavers. I was here a couple of months ago and I read an excerpt from a book and I was silenced because that book was inappropriate. Um, it was inappropriate material. Um, I was not talking about a few curse words in a book. We're talking about material that reaches adult only level. Um, I'd hope we'd all agree that kids reading detailed scenes about sex, rape, oral sex, sodomy, beastiality, and other subjects are inappropriate for any of our kids

108in our schools. The media specialist that I talked to for Bvard schools told me that I would need to go to every single school and talk to every principal for any book that I want to have removed or at least looked at to be removed because of the of what it contained. That doesn't seem like it's a very um very good way for me to try to go about trying to help get books that shouldn't be in schools out of kids' hands. I think maybe we should look at a different way to do that. Um, I was told because each school has their own culture that some books might be appropriate for some high schools and not appropriate for others in elementaryaries and junior highs. Thank you, Michelle. If you would please re please reach

109out to me so we can get some details on that. Okay. Um, as Beverly is approaching, the next three speakers will be Matthew Woodside, Nikki Reed, and Chelsea Harbayan. Sorry, I feel like I messed that up frequently. Uh, Beverly, my name is Beverly Marker. I'm a recently retired attorney. Equal rights and equality are important to me. I've got a great granddaughter in the Bvard schools who's trans. Her safety is important to me because of things that are happening not just in Bard County, but in the state. when you're banning books, when you're passing laws and policies where there's subjects that can't be brought up, and when you're telling teachers they're going to have to turn in someone that they suspect of being LGBTQ to their to their parents. All you're doing is creating a climate

110of discrimination, hate, and violence. Everyone needs to be treated equally and their health and safety has to be considered. Policies like this are not considering their safety. Thank you, Beverly. Matthew, hold your applause, please. Matthew, good evening. My name is Matthew Woodside and I've been a teacher in BVAR public schools for the last 15 years because I love these kids and I care about their safety and well-being and I care about truth. And so I'm here to shed light on an issue because parents, you deserve to know the truth. At my school, boys identifying as girls are using the girls restrooms daily. Meaning it happened today. Girls identifying as boys have used the boys' restrooms this year uh both while the opposite sex is present with them in the restroom. And I've heard reports from

111other teachers across the district that this is happening at their schools as well. Furthermore, students are told they can choose which locker room they prefer to change clothes in. And parents, you have no idea when this happens. No emails, no emails are sent, no phone calls made. And that's BPS policy. And when teachers like myself refuse to follow this unsafe and unethical directive, we're given official notices on BPS letterhead like this one that states, "If I prevent students from using restrooms or locker rooms of the opposite biological sex, I can face disciplinary action." So be it. Parents, you deserve to know what's going on in your child's school. And you are the key to the change we need. It's time for you to make your voices heard to your school administrators, to these board members,

112our legislators. Thank you, Matthew. We appreciate you joining us this evening. Thank you, sir. Hold your applause, please. Nikki, no. Nikki. Okay, Chelsea. All right. I just want to say hello. I love all the rainbows. It's God's symbol and I love that he's here in our room in our presence for today. Um I just want to drop some history relevant in the world that went on in 1960s. Uh communist China infiltrated their education systems and it trickled over for 10 years creating an army kind of looks like your uniform now and they would attack just citizens trying to get rid of old culture and you can do your research. which is called the cultural revolutions and it's happening here in Bvard and I just want you to know that salty army sees you info warrior

113see you and we know that George Soros's money is here and we call on Governor DeSantis to pass legislation to be able to recall school board members and I pray that he does so so we can get you know people not following the law out of office or because you guys are public servants so we should be able to recall you pray that happens thanks Kelsey have a great All right, that concludes our audience. If you would please quiet. All right, that concludes our public speaking. The board wishes to thank all of our speakers this evening. There being no further business, this meeting is now adjourned. [Music]