There were heated moments Thursday Decmber 8, as the school board and community leaders discussed implementing a stricter student discipline policy.

What You Need To Know

  • Brevard County Schools held a meeting to discuss a recent call for increased discipline in schools

  • School administration reports that teachers have been stabbed and bitten by students

  • There is a teacher and bus driver shortage as a result

Much of the public comments centered on the way Sheriff Wayne Ivey announced the disciplinary crackdown. The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of school security.

There’s debate over Ivey’s comments last week in front of the Brevard County Jail, where he said he wants punishments for crimes committed in schools to mirror those outside schools.

Parents and other stakeholders did not receive the announcement well.

Christine Rowe has six children. Two are still in Brevard County schools, along with one grandchild. Rowe, like many, are trying to get more parents involved with their students as attacks on teachers continue.

She, like many parents, came to the board meeting to complain about Sheriff Ivey’s recent video promising more discipline for student offenders.

“In front of cold concrete and barbed wire, our families were left with no answers, no plan,” Rowe told the board and crowd in public comments.

“I said what I meant in that video, and by that, it was simply this,” Ivey told us during a break. “They got to get to these kids before they get to me. I picked that backdrop, because if they don’t get to these kids, that’s where they end up.”

​And during the meeting, there was a heated exchange between the sheriff and South Brevard NAACP president Bennie Jackson.

School staff has reported students have bitten, choked and scratched teachers in the classroom. They say teachers feel like they have little authority to give out the proper consequences for them to control classrooms.

Some in the community stress any new disciplinary policy must be fair to all students.

Leaders also say the board must also address teacher and bus driver retention.

“I’ve seen photographs of bus drivers with bites on the back of their neck. I’ve seen teachers with broken bones, so that stuff needs to be brought to us,” Ivey said during the meeting.

Forty-two teachers and eight bus drivers have quit because of student behavior, according to Brevard School Board Chair Matt Susin.

The board discussed forming a disciplinary committee reporting directly to them. And a zero tolerance policy protecting teachers. The board is meeting with staff this week and expected to have more details at their meeting on December 13.