- June 16, 2025
Citing efficiency and time management, Volusia County School Board attorney Gilbert Evans has recommended changes to the structure of board meetings, including limiting board member comments to five minutes during discussions.
During closing comments at the School Board meeting on Tuesday, June 3, Evans suggested continuing to hold two meetings a month, but that the second be composed solely of consent agenda items and the required public comment period. The School Board would still hold a monthly workshop, followed by the regular board meeting. Additionally, Evans recommended eliminating the board's opening comments at every meeting, but keeping a closing comment period.
"These things can be done to help benefit staff who spend numerous hours on preparing for board meetings and also these changes perhaps will benefit our parents and attendees so they can stay for the entire board meeting," Evans said.
Earlier this year in February, School Board member Donna Brosemer proposed the board discuss holding one monthly meeting instead of two. Currently, the board meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 4:30 p.m., with workshops at 12:30 p.m. on certain meeting dates.
Brosemer said she was in favor of Evans' recommendations and expressed surprise.
"I'm actually kind of amazed — when I first said, 'Maybe we should have one meeting a month,' I thought everybody was going to run me out of town on a rail for suggesting it," Brosemer said. "So I'm delighted with a lot of this."
Her only question to Evans was a clarification on discussion items, which, if the board proceeds with Evans' suggestions, will be scheduled for the first meeting of the month.
School Board member Krista Goodrich asked if the board could extend the five minutes per member for important discussions, if needed, and Evans replied this was possible as the board chair can grant permission for extensions.
With that mechanism in place, Goodrich was OK with moving forward.
"I think this will give our staff so much more time to do what they need to do," she said.
Board member Jessie Thompson also agreed, saying her previous concern for holding one meeting, as suggested by Brosemer in February, had been delaying time-sensitive consent agenda items.
Board Chair Jamie Haynes and Board member Ruben Colon, however, expressed hesitation. Colon said he had a lot of questions regarding any new authorities they would need to extend to staff and whether workshops would need to start at 9 a.m. if only one of the board meetings includes discussion items.
Evans said the start time of the workshops would remain the same.
Haynes said the recommendations need further discussions.
"There are more than just consent items that, at times, come up with timelines," she said. "Some items cannot legally go under consent because it says they have to be voted on as a board action item, and a lot of those are federal items that can't go under consent."
Brosemer was initially in favor of discussing the recommendations, saying she thought it would be an issue to include in a future workshop, but later changed her mind after Goodrich said that placing the topic on a future workshop agenda would delay changes by six months, based on the current workshop schedule.
"We just need to have a discussion about it, decide if it's something we want to do or not," Goodrich said. "It can actually be done ... There are districts all over the state doing this."
Haynes said she would look at the agenda for the next board meeting — to take place Tuesday, June 24 — and see if a discussion item can be included.
