Brevard School board meeting: questions raised about Moms for Liberty; students recognized

Updates to established policies, including the board's philosophy, and public comments on recent issues like Moms for Liberty's distribution of pocket Constitutions highlighted a Tuesday Brevard Public Schools board meeting.

Here's what you need to know from the meeting.

Board recognizes students, makes proclamation

Along with recognizing student finalists in a national science contest, the board proclaimed October National Dyslexia Awareness Month.

The decision to recognize the month came after numerous community members raised concerns regarding BPS' resources for students with dyslexia, a learning disorder that impacts a person's ability to read.

"It's an issue that is not well understood often," board member Katye Campbell said. She added that she spoke over the summer with Kimberly Bias, director for program supper in student services, about what the district is doing to help dyslexic students and how they can improve.

The purpose of the proclamation was to "show our support to continue to work to support our students and to help find solutions for them," Campbell said.

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Policies approved

The board approved multiple new policies with almost no discussion, including a drug-free workplace policy, a political activities policy, a candidates for public office policy, a policy addressing the support of political candidates and policies related to the board.

They also rescinded a policy related to direct contact communicable diseases.

They approved a new philosophy of the board, which included a line that some took issue with: "The Board has the dual responsibility for implementing statutory requirements pertaining to public education and for meeting the educational needs and desires of the citizens."

The word "desires" was not in the policy before, though it was in a template provided by NEOLA, formerly known as North East Ohio Learning Associates, an organization that helps schools set directions through policy that follow ever-evolving laws.

"The inclusion of the word 'desires' after the word 'needs' in the statement is, frankly speaking, ridiculous," said community member Gregory Ross, who added that he felt that the board has ignored the educational needs of the community and has focused on the desires of a small minority in the past.

Campbell argued that it was important to include both the words "needs" and "desires" based on the board's previous philosophy and NEOLA's template.

"It can be used, it can be twisted," Campbell said. "But this is part of what we do … it’s just that simple. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just a fact that there are many things we do that it’s up to us to listen to our communities."

Public: questions about district, Moms for Liberty

Public comment addressed multiple topics, from book bans to thanking the board for acknowledging dyslexia. Several people brought up concerns about Moms for Liberty related to the group providing pocket Constitutions to middle schools through the 917 Society in September and Superintendent Mark Rendell speaking to the Brevard chapter on Oct. 3.

Abigail Aguirre disputed board member Megan Wright's comments from a previous meeting, where Wright called Moms for Liberty members "brave moms" when they provided the pocket Constitutions.

"It's not the material I'm upset about," she said. "It's the fact that if any other political organization, like the Brevard Dems or the LGBTA Caucus, for example, wanted to pass out the same exact pocket Constitutions, they would have almost definitely not been allowed to do so."

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Donna Herring said she thought it was wrong for Rendell to speak to Moms for Liberty.

"I think it's inappropriate for our schools to be speaking at groups with ... I'll just say questionable motives," she said.

Julie Bywater, a member of Brevard's Moms for Liberty chapter, thanked Rendell for speaking to the group and invited the board to speak at future chapter meetings.

"He was willing to speak to us on topics that were relevant to the school board and the school year, and we really appreciated him coming in," she said. "We'd be more than happy to have you and listen to you and discuss what's going on."

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

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Here's what you need to know from latest Brevard school board meeting