Page 9 - BPS News Nov 2017

Get caught up with this week’s
episode
sponsored by
Dinah Kramer, Human Resources
Senior Human Resources partner Dinah Kramer has worked for the district for 29 years and in human resources for 15 years. She manages instruc onal cer ca on to ensure employees are highly quali ed for teaching posi ons and monitors
state teacher requirements and laws. She also advises school administrators on personnel ma ers and recrui ng e orts.
Laura Richardson, West Shore Jr./Sr. High
Laura Richardson has been an
e-learning assistant at West Shore
Jr./Sr. High in Melbourne for nearly
three years and a district employee
for 13 years. She helps students
navigate the lab which o en
provides an introduc on to online
learning, a route to gradua on or
opportuni es unavailable in the tradi onal classroom. She also is responsible for monitoring student progress in the lab, serving as a liaison between students and virtual instructors and maintaining computers.
BPS drops changes to high school, elementary boundaries
VIERA, Florida – Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Desmond Blackburn said he will not recommend changing a endance boundaries to shi students from crowded Melbourne High to other high schools.
He and BPS facili es sta also will recommend deferring boundary changes for elementary schools in Viera and using portable classrooms to relieve campuses including Quest and Manatee that are at 96 percent capacity.
The school board will o cially consider those and other boundary recommenda ons Nov. 21.
The proposal to rezone students from Melbourne High to Palm Bay, Bayside, Heritage and Eau Gallie high schools drew nega ve feedback from residents online and at a series of public workshops. Residents in West Melbourne, in par cular, said they were happy with their neighborhoods being zoned for Melbourne High and are commi ed to keeping their children there.
Steady popula on growth in West Melbourne has contributed to Melbourne High hi ng 99 percent of its capacity and becoming Brevard County’s largest high school with 2,217 students, BPS data show.
“If we’re going to have a problem, this is the problem to have – more and more families moving to Brevard with children,” Blackburn told the Brevard County School Board at a workshop Tuesday Nov. 14. But he added: “We’re taking Melbourne High o the table for boundary changes this year.”
Blackburn recommended that BPS focus instead on developing Palm Bay High into a stronger magnet school for science, technology, engineering and math. That should persuade more families in South Brevard to choose Palm Bay for strong academics, relieving pressure at Melbourne.
Just three miles south of Melbourne High on Babcock Street, Palm Bay High is at 63 percent capacity with 1,637 students.
The withdrawn high school boundary changes were one of series of proposals for school rezoning in south and central Brevard based on ve- and 10-year popula on projec ons. The proposals also re ect direc on from the school board to make the most of exis ng classroom space while not increasing debt or proposing new taxes. BPS has shared those proposals and gathered public comment at public workshops and online throughout the fall.
In Viera, BPS may add portable classrooms to relieve crowding at elementary schools. Manatee and Quest elementary schools are at 96 percent capacity now.
“I agree with taking a pause on that decision,” said School Board Member Andy Ziegler of West Melbourne, whose District 5 includes Melbourne, Heritage and Bayside High Schools.
The school board might s ll consider rezoning undeveloped areas west of Interstate 95 from Melbourne High to Heritage High, in western Palm Bay. Heritage is at 80 percent capacity with 1,855 students.
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