God, guns and grades: Brevard school board candidates discuss issues pre-August primary

God, guns and student grades: These were just a few of the topics discussed by the Space Coast's school board candidates from both District 3 and District 4 at a forum Monday evening in Suntree.

John Thomas, with a background in law enforcement and school administration at the K-12 and post-secondary level, and Amber Yantz, a mom and Realtor, are vying for the District 3 seat, currently held by Jennifer Jenkins. In District 4, incumbent Matt Susin is facing off against mom and active-duty Navy member Avanese Taylor; former teacher and business owner Keith Schachter; and recent Viera High graduate Max Madl.

The forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Space Coast at the Suntree/Viera Public Library, drew a crowd of about 50. Candidates were asked 13 questions, submitted by audience members, on a variety of topics.

The District 3 election will be decided during the Aug. 20 primary, and unless a candidate receives 50% or more of the vote, the top two vote-getters in District 4 will face off again in November's general election.

Here's what they had to say about some of the questions they were posed.

What is your opinion of the guardian program?

Brevard Public Schools' expansion of the guardian program this year allows certain staff members outside of classrooms to carry firearms after undergoing training through Brevard County Sheriff's Office.

District 3 candidates Yantz and Thomas were in relative agreement on this topic, with both saying underqualified staff members shouldn't handle guns around students.

Yantz: As a mom, that terrifies me. ... Some people might argue the element of surprise might be something, but if that was the case, then wouldn't our (school resource officers) be dressed in civilian clothes?

Thomas: I know from personal experience being in law enforcement ... under a stressful situation, it's not easy to shoot. And unless you go through regular training, it's very difficult.

District 4 candidates' responses were more varied, with only Taylor against the arming of staff members. Both Susin and Schachter recalled times they experienced active shooting scenarios as teachers, though they had differing opinions about the program. Susin specifically spoke about a scenario that involved students with water balloons.

Madl: I am for it. Brevard County requires over 170 hours of training; the state require 144 hours. So Brevard is taking it actually to the next level.

Taylor: The SROs, they're the trained professionals, and I believe that our students, the security should be left to those professionals.

Susin: The facts are that if you have someone (in a school) that is willing to engage the shooter ... there will be less dead children that are inside of that school. As a person that's gone through these four times and sat with students that are screaming and crying, sat with staff that started screaming as I ran out to try to tackle the kid ... the facts are that this is a serious thing.

Schachter: Everything looks safe from the outside, but when you walk in them doors, we have a shortage of staff, we have a shortage of guidance counselors, we have a shortage of support ... and last I checked, a good percentage of those school shootings come from the actual students themselves. So we need to do a better job of making our schools safe on the inside.

How to reverse achievement gaps

This year, Brevard received an A grade instead of a B as it has for the past several years, and there are no longer any D or F schools. While many schools made gains, that didn't specifically address the achievement gaps some students face.

When asked how they would address these issues, District 3 candidates had two different takes.

Yantz: The best way to make this a better situation is to add additional staffing.

Thomas: Early childhood education is huge. I think if we have a strong early childhood education program, we won't be having the disparity that we have later in years.

District 4 candidates were split on where the focus should lie.

Susin: They key is ... it's not to focus on the high, but it's actually to bring the lower part up. ... You have to focus on those lower children and have them raise up.

Schachter: What we need to do is focus on all of our students. ... We need to diversify our curriculum offerings. We need to find out what students' strengths are, and we need to offer courses and different learning opportunities that fit the need.

Madl: We need to focus on bringing (the marginalized) children up ... but we also do need to keep the children at the higher level up as well. They do often get bored and unenthused.

Taylor: We do need a targeted, evidence-based approach with working with our marginalized students to make sure we're meeting those needs. ... What is the data saying, what are they struggling with, what can we help them with, where are we lacking, and where can we get those additional staff members to help these students?

Opinions on new school chaplain law

House Bill 931, effective July 1, allows schools to bring in volunteer chaplains and assign them specific duties.

District 3 candidates were in complete disagreement about the appropriateness of this new law.

Yantz: There are only three qualifications that you have to have: You have to have your name, your faith and you have to do a background check. ... As a parent, I don't think that this is a good idea.

Thomas: If you ask me what the single biggest thing is hurting our society in our schools right now, it's the lack of God. ... The one thing that we are missing in our schools, and one reason why our society and our schools are unraveling, is because we lost God.

District 4 candidates were also in disagreement, with Taylor and Schachter bringing up concerns about equity and the separation of church and state, while Susin and Madl said it could provide students with growth opportunities.

Taylor: As a woman of faith, I understand the value that a chaplain program could bring, but I don't support the program and that volunteering status ... If you have a chaplain for one religion and not the other, then is that going to be equitable?

Susin: We should allow the pastors to be part of our schools from a mentorship perspective to not only help the students ... but then also for our teachers to understand what's happening back home.

Schachter: I think it would be very challenging to provide chaplains for students of all the different religions. ... It's going to cause more problems than what it's worth.

Madl: If a student is struggling at home or in their academics, they absolutely will get that extra support (through chaplains) if a school psychologist isn't available to help them at that current moment.

Views on book bans

The restriction and removal of books in Brevard Public Schools has been a divisive topic since early 2022, with the district creating and disbanding multiple committees over that period of time. House Bill 1069, signed in 2023, restricted the content of what could and couldn't be in district classrooms and libraries. But after a massive spike in book bans throughout the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1285, which limits how many book objections can be made by a person without a child accessing the material.

District 3 candidates disagreed on the topic, with Yantz questioning why books needed to be banned when parents can fill out forms that restrict their own child's access to specific books and Thomas suggesting that a committee of educators be formed to review the books. The district has already had multiple committees, though they have been made up of parents and other community members. Books are also reviewed for content by district media specialists.

Thomas: I think that the two sides ... will never agree on anything, on any book. ... I would like to explore the idea of starting a committee that is made up of educators, of teachers, that rotate through it that aren't necessarily nobodies picked by the superintendent or was picked by the school board ... they review the books, along with the current setup.

Yantz: Why have we started to ban books? It's very confusing when we already pay media specialists. I don't believe that other people should be making educational decisions for my children.

District 4 candidates had a mixed response, with Schachter suggesting that a process be implemented for parents to restrict their individual child's access to specific material without it being removed from school libraries. That process already exists.

Madl: Is a child, by themselves, allowed to go see a rated-R movie? ... Why would we put that material inside of our schools, (in) our school libraries?

Taylor: We have media specialists that (are) trained to do this job, and I know we have committees and all these things. I'm not really sure ... why we need all these committees when we've got trained professionals.

Susin: Some of the books that have been removed from Brevard Public Schools were disgusting. ... It's state law; we have a guideline that we're supposed to make decisions on, that's what we follow.

Schachter: We do need to give parents the right to have the opportunity to allow their kids to not have access to or to have access to certain books ... but I do not agree with having to have all these committees. I think we've spent a fortune on evaluating books this year.

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at [email protected]. X: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: God, guns, grades: Here's what Brevard's school board candidates say