VIERA, Fla. – The issue of discipline in schools has been discussed for months at several school board meetings for Brevard Public Schools. As part of their method of addressing this, the district is creating multiple venues for the community to lend their voices in finding a positive outcome.

One of those outlets is the discipline steering committee, which is led by BPS Interim Superintendent Dr. Robert Schiller. The group met for a second time on Thursday morning to discuss multiple topics, including student discipline and the cell phone policy and procedures.

The committee consists of teachers, administrators and representatives of the Brevard Federation of Teachers (BFT), the Brevard Association of School Administrators (BASA) and Local 1010 of the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades.

Schiller reiterated on Thursday that the point of the committee was to find the best ways of working within the current policy and to make recommendations to the school board that could inform future actions.

“Until such time that the board puts out formal rule making, this policy we have remains in place,” Schiller told the committee.

He noted that changing policy requires that the board advertise the dates before which proposed discussions would take place. There are two public hearings that are required: one at a work session and one at a board meeting. There is also a workshop meeting prior to the first work session public meeting.

Leading into Thursday’s committee conversation, Board Chair Matt Susin told the committee that they intend to have that first workshop on Feb. 21.

“Just so you guys know, I put it as an agenda item to discuss transportation on the 21^st to discuss all of your issues,” Susin explained. “I also put it on there as a discussion item for discipline in general to make sure that we all hear and keep the same direction.”

“I also, as an individual board member will tell you, as a teacher for nine years with this district that I cared about and was involved, I will tell you that what our teachers are doing and we need is the essence of this committee, to help them inside the classroom and also, to help our staff. It’s needed,” Susin added. “So, thank you for all of your hard work.”

The committee’s objective was to review the following policies to see how best they can work within them:

• 5136 – Wireless Communication Devices

• 5500 – Student Conduct

• 5600 – Student Discipline

• 5610 – Removal, Out-of-School Suspension, Disciplinary Placement, and Expulsion of Students

• 5511 – Dress and Grooming

Most of Thursday’s meeting was spent discussing aspects of Policy 5136. The consensus coming from the group was that policy needs to be uniform across a school and not vary from classroom to classroom.

The BFT and the BASA both submitted ideas for the policies, like allowing a school principal to move up a discipline level, within levels one through three out of four, when there are repeated offenses. The committee agreed to that for both elementary and secondary schools.

Some items, like those concerning physical aggression that were suggested by BFT were tabled to be discussed during their next meeting.

School board member Gene Trent, who represents District 2, said he was pleased with the discussions so far.

“I’m pleasantly surprised and I’m pleased as a board member that we have these stakeholders talking about things. It’s very important,” Trent said.

More and wider-spanning community conversations around discipline are in the early planning stages, but formal dates haven’t been announced. More information about cohesive and consistent enforcement of the current policies will be sent out to parents and students in the coming weeks.