Armed staff, science of reading, elections: What changes will families see in Brevard schools in '24-'25?
The clock's ticking: On Monday morning, kids around Brevard County will load up their backpacks, wave goodbye to their families and head back to class.
"My hope for each student is that they have a wonderful school year," said Brevard Schools Superintendent Mark Rendell. "That they learn a lot, that they’re motivated and they’re excited about coming back to school. I hope they have a wonderful year of learning."
In many ways, it's the same routine as every year as all grades return to class on Aug. 12, with more than 74,300 students coming back to school. But that doesn't mean there won't be changes. Here are some of the biggest differences you can expect to see this year at BPS.
Guardian program
Brevard Public Schools is expanding the district's guardian program, allowing staff members not assigned to classrooms to carry guns after undergoing training.
The idea for the expansion was first brought up in October 2023 by School Board Chair Megan Wright, though a memorandum of understanding with Brevard County Sheriff's Office — which trains volunteer guardians — wasn't approved until June. The public response to the program has consistently been largely negative, with community members bringing up concerns about potential accidents with additional firearms in schools. However, the board approved the MOU 4-5, with only Jennifer Jenkins dissenting.
The guardian program was established by Florida in 2018 in response to the Parkland shooting that same year. Its goal has been to prevent additional school shootings through measures such as allowing certain individuals on school campuses to undergo training to carry guns. Throughout the state, 53 counties — including Brevard — participate in the program, according to the state department of education.
Brevard's guardian program previously only allowed volunteers with a background in security, law enforcement or the military.
The district has not disclosed how many guardians it has, who they are or where they are, citing safety concerns.
Career and technical education program expansion
Starting this year, the district plans to add 17 new career and technical education programs throughout Brevard over the course of five years. These courses will cover topics like agriculture operations, artificial intelligence, firefighting and more.
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A space mechatronics program has been added to Titusville High School for the 2024-2025 school year, with a focus on pneumatics, hydraulics, robotics, machining and manufacturing. Jacksonville Middle School will work to encourage their students to participate in the program once they exit middle school by using the Air Bus One Web's "We Build it Better" curriculum, which will serve as a feeder into Titusville High's program.
Currently, there are 11 CTE programs across 15 of the district's 16 public schools, including Brevard Virtual School.
Mighty Moves reading initiative
The district is working to tackle early literacy with a new initiative, dubbed the "Mighty Moves Initiative," based in the science of reading.
The science of reading (research collected from multiple fields of study through a variety of methods) suggests teaching based on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, according to the National Center on Improving Literacy. All Florida districts are required to use it, according to a law passed in 2023.
It's not new to Brevard, though the new law — House Bill 7039 — "reinforced" what the district has been doing, said Tara Harris, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
With the Mighty Moves Initiative — developed by the district and based on an Orton-Gillingham method, a strategy for teaching struggling readers that uses the connection between letters and sounds — Brevard's teachers will focus on four tenets of reading over the course of the 2024-2025 school year. These tenets are phonemic awareness with intention; phonics explicitly and systematically; decoding strategies without cueing strategies; and improving comprehension by developing vocabulary and background knowledge.
Viera Middle School opens
Viera is getting its own public middle school this year, with doors opening to welcome students for the first time on Aug. 12.
With an estimated cost between $52 million and $55 million to build and a February 2023 groundbreaking, it's taken about a year and a half of construction for Viera Middle School to be ready for kids this school year. The 138,000-square-foot school's features a combination cafeteria and auditorium, interactive whiteboards in every classroom, three music rooms, a robotic and aerospace lab and a lab for exploring technology and tech design.
Community members helped choose the name through a survey, with principal Catherine McNutt and school secretary Patty McCormick taking survey responses and narrowing them down to the final option.
Parents have pushed for a public middle school in Viera since 2007, though the project was postponed because of enrollment capacity at nearby middle schools Kennedy, McNair and DeLaura, according to BPS officials.
Year-round school at Challenger 7
Kids at Challenger 7 Elementary School in Port St. John are having a unique school year already. They headed back to class in July, and while they'll get out of school in the summer at the same time as other students, their break won't be nearly as long. Rather, they'll have breaks spread out throughout the school year. The hope is to prevent kids losing learning gains in the "summer slide" and teacher burnout, according to School Board Chair Megan Wright, who proposed the idea for the program in December of 2023.
Challenger 7 previously had a year-round program, which Wright attended as a child. While it has followed a traditional school year schedule for about a decade, the district opted to switch it back to the year-round schedule after surveying families and staff. And it's not the only school like this in Florida: A handful of other elementary schools were selected to participate in a four-year pilot program after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law in 2023 establishing the program to study the pros and cons of year-round schooling.
While the 50 staff members surveyed were almost completely in favor of the schedule switch, parents and guardians were a little more divided — of the 259 surveyed, 66.8% said they would remain enrolled with the change, according to the district. Those who did not want to remain enrolled could switch to Atlantis Elementary School or Enterprise Elementary School.
School board elections
Two seats on Brevard's five-member school board are up for re-election: District 3 and District 4. Jennifer Jenkins cannot run for re-election in District 3 because of a redistricting measure that was approved in 2023 that pushed her out of her district, but Matt Susin is running for re-election in District 4. He's facing off against three other candidates: Avanese Taylor, mom and member of the Navy; Keith Schachter, dad and former teacher; and Max Madl, a 2024 Viera High School graduate.
More on elections Here's your ultimate voter guide to 2024 elections, candidates, issues in Brevard County
In District 3, two candidates are vying for the seat: mom and realtor Amber Yantz, and John Thomas, former dean of students at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy and CEO of Space Coast Home Builders and Contractors Association.
The District 3 race will be decided during the Aug. 20 primary election. As for the District 4 race, there will be a runoff with the two top vote-getters in November unless one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote.
Newly elected board members will not take office until November.
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at [email protected]. X: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: What changes will families see in Brevard Schools as new year begins?
