Brevard Public Schools head Rendell kicks off series of town hall meetings in Titusville

Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Mark Rendell kicked off a series of town hall meetings this week, in an effort to foster "two-way communication" with community members at Madison Middle School in Titusville.

With that goal in mind, Rendell heard from parents whose concerns ran the gamut of school-related issues, from the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to creating better community engagement.

"It's very informative for me to hear what you guys are concerned about, what we need to work on," he said.

Tuesday night's gathering offered a glimpse of the topics Rendell — who stepped into the role of superintendent in June — may face in meetings he will host over the course of the fall and spring semesters.

What's Rendell's goal?

Rendell said he wanted to foster communication between himself and community members with the town hall meetings, promising attendees that if he didn't have an answer to their questions, he could get in touch with staff members who would.

Russell Bruhn, chief strategic communications officer, and Hilary Poole, director of student, staff, and community engagement, also attended the meeting and were available to speak with community members.

First town hall meeting

A handful of parents and other community members attended Tuesday's meeting in Madison's cafeteria. Discussion points varied from concerns about the contents of school lunches to mask mandates to navigating dual enrollment and Advanced Placement, Cambridge and International Baccalaureate courses.

A concern shared by many was the struggle to get their students to school on time, with buses still running behind as BPS works to fill bus driver vacancies. One parent said he receives emails every day about his son being late to school because of the bus not arriving on time.

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The issue comes down to bus driver shortages, Rendell said, adding that it's "a situation that all the districts across America are facing."

The district increased bus driver pay by $5 an hour over the summer as a way to combat this, with a starting pay of $20. Those who were already working for BPS also got an increase of $5 an hour.

Though about 100 drivers were hired prior to the start of the year, not all of them made it through the hiring process, Rendell said, and some of them are still being trained.

"We had more applications than we've ever had in the summer, it's just we need more," Rendell said.

Parents also asked how Rendell and others at BPS were handling new guidelines from the Board of Education, such as requirements for permission slips for all out-of-class activities, without sacrificing a quality education.

Rendell said his goal is to support teachers and students, and protect them legally.

"The bottom line is we need to focus on the relationship between the teachers and the students in the classroom, and try to protect that classroom environment," he said. "We need to make sure that the teacher feels supported in the classroom. We need to make sure that those kids have what they need to be successful."

When and where are the meetings?

Rendell, who previously worked as a principal at Titusville High School and Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, chose Madison Middle School as the first place to host a meeting because he said he feels that the northern end of the county is often neglected.

"I remember my time up here and feel like I wanted to make a statement that the north end is just as important as the rest of the county, and sometimes we don't get the publicity up here that some of the other communities do," Rendell said.

Future town halls are set to take place across the Space Coast, with each meeting set to begin at 6 p.m. on their scheduled date.

• Sunrise Elementary School in Palm Bay — Oct. 17

• Kennedy Middle School in Rockledge — Dec. 6

• Palm Bay Elementary School in Palm Bay — Feb. 6

• DeLaura Middle School in Satellite Beach — March 19

• Quest Elementary School near Viera — April 16

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard Schools superintendent kicks off countywide town hall series