Superintendent, permission forms and more: 5 big changes at Brevard Schools in 2023

A new superintendent. Forms to be signed before a student can participate in tutoring, field trips or even go by a nickname. Updates to how discipline referrals are handled.

In 2023, Brevard Public Schools saw numerous changes, many driven by state legislation and Florida Board of Education rules.

Here are some of the most impactful changes the district saw this year.

New superintendent

In May, then-principal of Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School Mark Rendell was selected from a pool of 33 candidates as Brevard's superintendent. With previous experience as a teacher and principal at multiple Brevard schools, deputy superintendent in St. Lucie County and superintendnet in Indian River County, Rendell was the only applicant with a history on the Space Coast.

While Rendell served in Indian River County, the district saw gains in enrollment in advanced placement and career and technical courses, a 7 percent point increase in reading scores for third grade students and a 23 percentage point in graduation rates among Black students. At the same time, the district dropped from an A to a B grade; funds were diverted into district accounts without Rendell's knowledge. His biggest supporter on the school board was Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice.

Rendell applied for the position of BPS interim superintendent in December 2022 but was turned down in favor of Robert Schiller.

The process of finding Brevard's new superintendent was a nearly six-month saga, beginning with the ousting of former superintendent Mark Mullins at a November 2022 board meeting. From there, Robert Schiller was hired as interim superintendent, but later put on administrative leave in March after a public falling-out with the school board. Sue Hann, assistant superintendent of facilities, was immediately placed as acting superintendent and retained the role until Rendell assumed the role in June.

The board voted 3 to 2 at a May 3 meeting to select Rendell as the new superintendent, with Jennifer Jenkins and Katye Campbell in opposition, citing concerns that his selection would further divide the community.

Megan Wright said Rendell had clearly taken feedback she had offered after he was turned down for the interim superintendent position.

“I was grateful for him to listen and then take that feedback, and then to humble yourself enough to say, ‘Hey, what is it that I’m doing wrong or that you didn’t like, and what should I do differently?’" she said. "I think that that speaks tremendous amounts of volume to me as a person on somebody who’s willing to take feedback."

Since he assumed the role in June, he's guided the district through navigating vague rules handed down by the Florida Board of Education, often erring on the side of caution to protect students and teachers. When the Board said AP Psychology could be taught with the exclusion of certain material about sexuality and gender, Rendell made the decision to nix the course altogether and instead offer International Baccalaureate and Cambridge courses, saying it would be impossible for teachers to teach the AP course without risking legal repercussions.

Tweaks to employee discipline training

Discipline referrals increased by more than 10,000 at Brevard Public Schools in the first quarter of the 2023-2024 school year compared to the first quarter of the 2022-2023 school year, an occurrence school board member Matt Susin attributed to improved staff training.

He added that if staff had undergone this year's training the year prior, there wouldn't be such a gap in the data.

This year, staff must report discipline referrals within 24 hours of the incident in an effort to cut down on incidents slipping through the cracks; expulsion packets must be submitted within 24 hours; and principals have been trained to help make decisions regarding Title IX cases rather than escalating them to the district level.

While an audit of the district's discipline process completed in March recommended creating a centralized discipline office, which would include a cabinet position, the district has instead opted to divide the responsibilities between Chief of Schools James Rehmer III and student services.

While the overall number of incidents shot up, the largest increase was seen for Black and disabled students. Data compiled by FLORIDA TODAY showed this is not a new pattern and that Black students, especially Black disabled students, have been disproportionately disciplined compared to their white peers for at least a decade.

Permission forms

Under new rules from the Florida Board of Education, Brevard students must get a signed permission form from their parent before receiving tutoring, going on a field trip or even asking that they go by a nickname rather than their legal name.

These rules were created just weeks ahead of the school year at a Board of Education meeting in mid-July, leaving districts to generate parental consent forms for both alternative names and extracurricular activities. Brevard Public Schools created the name form just ahead of the new school year, though the extracurricular activities form came slightly later as kids were already heading back to school.

During an August board meeting, Katye Campbell urged parents to reach out to the Board of Education about the extracurricular rule, saying students were missing out on opportunities because of the form and that it was a "paperwork nightmare."

Both rules were created following the passage of laws impacting LGBTQ students, though no law says that students can't go by a preferred name, must receive permission to go by a preferred name or must receive parental consent to participate in extracurricular activities such as tutoring, student clubs or field trips.

The Board of Education also ruled that students and teachers are also not allowed to go by a preferred pronoun in accordance with House Bill 1069. While a preferred pronoun can be used with parental permission in places like Orange County, Brevard's name form does not have an option for students or parents to include a preferred pronoun.

Restricted supplemental materials

House Bill 1069 also triggered another new rule in Brevard: Teachers cannot use any supplemental material without first getting permission from their principal.

The law, which went into effect in July and lays out guidelines regarding what can and can't be taught in class, also places the responsibility of overseeing instructional materials on principals.

This has restricted teachers' ability to make classes flexible according to individual student needs, with many requests for material approvals either taking weeks to be approved or being turned down altogether.

In emails shared with FLORIDA TODAY, principals denied teachers from using materials such as extra math problems outside their textbooks, an art project on conservation and "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

And not asking permission to use these materials could be risky, with one elementary school principal warning her teachers in an email that if they didn't request approval of the use of supplemental materials, they could face monetary fines, jail time or forfeiture of their teaching certificate and loss of their job.

Book policy revamped twice

Brevard's hotly contested book review policy, which lays out guidelines regarding what can and can't be on BPS library and classroom shelves, was revamped twice in 2023.

The board approved an updated policy in April, which removed the requirement for media specialists to be on the five-member review committee. Under the revised policy, the committee would be made up of board-appointed members, with a non-voting media specialist chairing.

That committee met once in June before being put on pause, with the school board saying the policy needed to be revamped to include language from House Bill 1069, as well as rules to protect committee members from harassment.

The revised policy, which was approved at a November meeting, not only includes language from HB 1069, but also takes the decision-making responsibility away from the committee. While the committee must meet and vote on whether or not to keep a book in school libraries and classrooms — and if any restrictions should be placed on who can and can't check out the book — the school board makes the ultimate decision based on the committee's recommendation.

In December, following the first committee meeting, the board voted 4-1 to keep the novel "Sold" by Patricia McCormick in high schools as the committee had recommended, a decision that will remain in place for five years under the new policy.

Gene Trent, the sole opposition to the recommendation, had proposed the idea of using a list compiled by the state of nearly 300 books banned throughout various districts to quickly remove books from BPS shelves. The board shot down this idea, and Trent vowed to bring it up at future meetings.

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: From new leader to book reviews: Top 5 Brevard Schools changes in 2023