August 2024 BRIGHT Update
We have exciting news to share about the results of our big win for education at this year’s Action Assembly! You’ll also want to hear about how we’re building heat around the lack of affordable housing at our Community Problems Assembly on October 24th.
Education Update
At the Action Assembly in April, Superintendent Rendell committed to train all 1200 K-3rd grade teachers in instruction methods backed by the Science of Reading by the 2026-2027 school year. This summer, the curriculum and instruction team launched a comprehensive plan to achieve this goal by the end of this school year! At the June 4th school board work session, which can be viewed online, Brevard Public Schools rolled out this new Early Literacy plan and credited BRIGHT with challenging them to work on this needed area. The literacy coach at each school will head up the training of all K-3rd grade teachers in their school, and they will also offer in depth one on one training to at least 3 teachers per quarter.
Each quarter will focus on one of the seven “Mighty Moves” recommended by the science of reading, with both teacher training and in classroom activities to practice these new skills with students.
Quarter one is Teaching Phonemic Awareness With Intention. Quarter Two is Teaching Phonics Explicitly and Systematically. Quarter Three is Teaching Decoding Strategies, Not Cueing Strategies. Quarter Four is Improving Comprehension by Developing Vocabulary and Background Knowledge.
We look forward to scheduling a follow up meeting with Tara Harris, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and her team after the first quarter to see how the program is working. We could not have achieved this significant policy change without each of you coming to the Action Assembly and bringing people with you!
Affordable Housing
More than 20 BRIGHT members attended the Brevard County Commission meeting on Tuesday, July 9th to urge them to meet with us and work toward creating a dedicated revenue stream for our county’s housing trust fund. While we built important relationships with other groups in the community, none of the county commissioners have accepted our request for a meeting.
Candidates Delaney and Taranto at the 2024 Nehemiah Action Assembly
To build tension around this issue, we will be hosting a candidate forum at this year’s Community Problems Assembly. We are inviting all those who are running for Commissioner in District 1, 3, and 5 as well as District 2 Commissioner Tom Goodson and District 4 Commissioner Rob Feltner who will remain in office. We will ask them about their position on funding the housing trust fund, and give them open time to address our members about the topic of their choice. It should be very educational and a great opportunity to learn more about the candidates before the election. We are excited to announce that candidates Bryan Bobbitt (District 1), Katie Delaney (District 1), Nathan Slusher (District 1), and Vinnie Taranto (District 5), have already committed to attend.
Be sure to start inviting your friends and neighbors to the Community Problems Assembly on Thursday, October 24th at 7pm at Grace United Methodist Church in Merritt Island. The Community Problems Assembly is co-sponsored this year by the South Brevard NAACP!
Click image to RSVP on Facebook!