Brevard school board member hosts meeting to discuss discipline solutions

VIERA, Fla. - Brevard County’s Public School District is looking for new ways to address behavioral issues. This comes after the county’s sheriff said the school’s discipline policy had failed. Now, parents, teachers, and administrators are all weighing in on what could change.

Kelly Kervin is one of the parents who spoke up at a Tuesday night listening session to discuss those changes. "I think a lot of the things that would help us – getting parents invested, getting kids invested – costs money that either the district doesn’t have or won’t spend."

Other parents at the meeting agreed, there does need to be a change. "It’s good to see the Brevard School Board looking for parent and input from the community, and that’s what we had here tonight," said Gregory Ross, another parent. "Hopefully the school board can identify those issues, find the causes, and come up with some solutions."

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Teachers who spoke up at the meeting said some students are so disruptive, they take away from other kids’ ability to learn too. "Writing a referral isn’t discipline," one teacher said. "ISS [in‐school suspension] is filled to the brim, and kids don’t care if they’re going there. They like it. Dean’s detention? Don’t care. OSS [school suspension]? That’s a vacation."

Board Member Katye Campbell hosted the listening session. "I don’t think any one person has the magic serum that’s going to make it all better," she said ahead of the meeting.

Brevard County Public Schools has already made some changes in response to behavioral issues.

After winter break, the district gave principals the authority to hand out 5-day suspensions on their own, without getting permission from the district, but they’re still mulling over other changes they could make. 

Campbell does have one idea of her own. "It’s not new, it’s not magical, but I think we need to see more mentors in our schools. That’s something I’ve been calling on our community to do now for a couple of years."
Campbell says she hopes other board members will host similar listening sessions moving forward.