Brevard school board selects interim superintendent.
A unanimous vote named Tara Harris as Brevard Public Schools’ interim superintendent. WFIT’s Terri Wright tells us more.
Brevard Public Schools has selected Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Tara Harris to serve as interim superintendent following Mark Rendell's departure on Friday, November 13th.
Harris has worked for the district since 1997 and will serve through the end of the school year, when she plans to retire and will not seek the permanent position. The school board will begin its search for a new superintendent the week of November 16th.
Harris’ unanimous appointment followed a 3-to-1 board vote Tuesday approving Rendell's separation agreement. John Thomas voted no; Matt Susin, Katye Campbell, and Megan Wright voted yes.
The agreement provides him with approximately $167,000 for accrued sick and vacation time, drawing criticism from residents who attended Tuesday's meeting.
Outro: Newly-elected Brevard school board member Michelle McCormack asked the board to postpone the vote until the new board was sworn in. McCormack said "Every dollar spent on an unnecessary executive payout is a dollar unavailable for the classrooms.”
Brevard elects first Democratic state lawmaker in 30 years.
Brevard Democrats are celebrating a blue wavelet. Democrat Dan McDow won the Florida House of Representatives District 33 race after a machine recount. McDow defeated Republican incumbent Monique Miller by 286 votes, a margin of less than half a percent. He is the first Democrat elected to represent Brevard County in the state legislature in over 30 years. McDow will now represent Palm Bay and West Melbourne in Tallahassee.
US Fish and Wildlife are slow-walking manatee protections.
Data is delaying protection for Florida’s manatees. That’s according to a notice from three conservation groups gearing up to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The groups contend the federal agency is now more than a year late on finalizing its proposal to more than double the critical habitat designated for manatees in Florida. The proposal itself was more than 15 years in the making.
“We've learned so much about manatees in the last 50 years, and …. A critical first, foundational step is making sure that critical habitat designations are not based on information that was current in 1976.”
That’s Elizabeth Neville with Save the Manatee Club, one of the conservation groups intending to sue the FWS, if it doesn’t finalize the proposal soon.
Plaintiffs against lifting child vaccines grows.
The number of plaintiffs in a vaccine rule challenge has grown by two. They are the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians Services. They joined the fight against the DeSantis administration’s bid to lift vaccine mandates for schoolchildren. A four-day hearing has been scheduled in Tallahassee starting Dec. 14. If the administrative judge rules in favor of the Dept of Health, the rule could go into effect before Gov. Ron DeSantis leaves office in January.
Super Speeders nabbed on I-95.
We have two more members of the over-100-mile-per-hour club. Brevard Sheriff Deputies spotted Maurice Williams traveling 110 mph on I-95. And William Torres reached 122 mph before being stopped. They are both subject to Florida’s Super Speeder Law which classifies dangerous excessive speeding as a criminal offense rather than a standard traffic ticket.
