At tonight’s Brevard Public Schools (BPS) meeting, a large crowd gathered to deliver impassioned speeches in support of former Satellite High AP English teacher Melissa Calhoun. BPS made national headlines earlier this year after deciding not to renew Calhoun’s contract, following her admission that she had used the “preferred name” of a student—a name the student had gone by for years. Despite more than a decade of “highly effective” performance evaluations, the district referred Calhoun’s teaching certificate to the Florida Board of Education to determine whether she could continue teaching in the state.
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The state unanimously voted to allow Calhoun to retain her teaching certificate, preserving her eligibility to work in Florida’s public schools. The decision came with conditions: a one-year probation, a fine, and completion of a college-level ethics course. Throughout the process, Brevard School Board members repeatedly stated that if the state allowed her to keep her certificate, she could be rehired by BPS. However, after the ruling—and after Calhoun eagerly reapplied for her position—Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell issued a public statement saying her application would not be considered this school year, which began yesterday. Instead, he said the district will review her application only after her probation ends. Notably, probation does not prevent teachers from working, and BPS currently employs several probationary teachers in the classroom.
Some speakers also noted that her probation period allegedly cannot begin until she is actively teaching, though we have not independently verified that claim.
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During tonight’s meeting, School Board Chair Gene Trent unexpectedly changed the order of the agenda. Normally, public comments for agenda items are broadcast, while public comments for non-agenda items occur at the end of the meeting and are not televised. However, after a contentious vote on the new cell phone policy, Trent recessed the meeting and skipped over the Board Reports and Recognitions, moving directly into the non-broadcasted portion.
This change, noticed and questioned by members of the public, prompted Trent to announce that Board Reports would follow the non-broadcasted comments—meaning they would not be televised. This was significant because School Board Member John Thomas has twice used his board report to advocate for reconsidering the district’s position on Calhoun. Whether Trent’s move was intended to avoid airing a possible motion from Thomas is unclear, but this marks the first time in board history that Board Reports were not broadcast. It is also unclear whether Trent initially intended to skip the segment entirely, as he made no announcement from the dais explaining the change.
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After public comments, Board Member Kayte Campbell requested that the cameras be turned back on so the remainder of the meeting could be broadcast. Board Member Matt Susin responded that he “just wanted to go home” and skip the rest of the meeting. According to the IT department, restoring the broadcast would take about five minutes.
When Board Reports resumed, Campbell addressed the Calhoun matter, stating that she understood her role and emphasizing that hiring and firing decisions for teachers fall under the superintendent’s authority. She said she was not willing to make a motion to reconsider Calhoun’s status given Rendell’s prior statements on the issue.
“I think we’ve taken a very simple issue and made it complicated,” Thomas said when it was his turn to speak. He disagreed with Campbell’s position, saying he believes it is the board’s responsibility to weigh in on such matters. He noted that the district had stated in writing it would reconsider Calhoun’s employment once her state issues were resolved and argued that the district had failed to honor that commitment. He pointed out that Calhoun remained dedicated to her profession despite the financial, personal, professional, emotional, and social toll the ordeal had taken on her and her family.
Thomas further stated that the claim Calhoun “pushed gender affirmation” is objectively false. He described Rendell’s actions as “triple jeopardy,” punishing her for the same incident a third time. He made a motion for Rendell to re-evaluate and reconsider her teaching application, but the motion failed for lack of a second.
You can watch his comments in their entirety below:
