Brevard school board approves removing last two post‑Memorial Day student days; non‑student day agreements with unions pass

The Brevard County School Board voted on April 14 to remove the final two student attendance days after Memorial Day from the district calendar and approved corresponding non‑student day agreements with two bargaining units, Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell told the board.

Dr. Rendell said the district still meets state instructional‑minute requirements even after the change, noting, “There is no state requirement for the number of days. It's all about the number of instructional minutes you provide.” He told members the district had no hurricane cancellations this year, so the two post‑Memorial Day days had proved low‑quality and poorly attended in the prior year.

The superintendent described logistics the district will use if the change is implemented: select elementary schools will remain open for full‑day before‑ and after‑care during those two days so families who rely on school supervision can get coverage; summer camps and local daycare providers have been alerted; and employees such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers will remain paid and be assigned training or other activities so they are not shorted pay. “This was not necessarily a cost‑saving decision,” Rendell said; he added the district expects some savings from not running buses those two days but said savings were not the overriding reason.

Board members praised staff coordination and bargaining‑unit cooperation. Board member Megan Wright thanked staff and bargaining partners for working through child‑care and employee concerns and said plans are in place to minimize disruptions for families and district employees. Katie Campbell invited community members to review CTE budgets and said staff would provide additional budget breakdowns on request.

Both action items related to the calendar were approved by roll call during the meeting. The consent agenda (which included the calendar modification) was approved with the clerk's roll call recording: Ms. Campbell — Aye; Mr. Susan — Aye; Ms. Wright — Aye; Mr. Trent — Aye. The board then approved H1, the non‑student day memorandum of understanding with the Brevard Federation of Teachers (BFT), and H2, the agreement with the 1010 union, each by the same roll call result.

The superintendent and multiple board members emphasized that staff had negotiated terms with bargaining units before the vote and that employee pay would be preserved for assigned work or training on the non‑student days. Dr. Rendell said the district would make detailed funding information available to any board member or community member who requested it.

The board did not specify an implementation date in the meeting discussion; the calendar change was part of the consent package passed during the April 14 meeting.

The board moved on to an information item and several recognitions following the votes; an attorney‑client session request on pending litigation was announced later in the meeting.