Latest news with #EasternFloridaStateCollege
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Confetti and caps fly as Class of 2025 soars into future
You can practically hear "Pomp and Circumstance" and feel the confetti raining down on the crowd as you flip the tassel on a decorated mortarboard. This joyful Photo of the Week by FLORIDA TODAY's TIm Shortt, of Titusville Terriers celebrating the "big walk," seems to express the overall spirit shared throughout Brevard County as more than 5,000 students graduated from more than two dozen high schools in May. FLORIDA TODAY was there for many of those celebrations, and also captured the action as diplomas were conferred at Eastern Florida State College and Florida Tech. Between veteran photographer Craig Bailey and Shortt, and with an assist from reporters Tyler Vazquez, J.D. Gallop, Finch Walker and Amber Oleson, a treasure trove of memorable moments was captured. "Anyone who has attended as many gradations as I have through the decades knows how many extraordinary young people we have here in Brevard," said Shortt. "We too often hear about the bad apples, but I can attest that the vast majority are bright, determined and are going to do just fine." This year, Shortt shot graduations at at least nine schools, including Eastern Florida State College, where he majored in photography back when it was Brevard Community College. This image was his overall favorite — and as a bonus, his niece, Maddie Jones, was among the grads there. "I graduated Astronaut in '78, and while a proud War Eagle from across town, I gotta give credit to our rivals over the years for a fantastic ceremony," he said. "On this night, I was full-on Go Terriers!' For more photos from graduations around the Space Coast, click here. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Confetti, caps, Class of 2025: Oh, what a night! | Photo of the Week
New York Post
13-05-2025
- New York Post
College football star allegedly shot dead by former student athlete while visiting home for Mother's Day weekend
A star college football player was allegedly shot and killed by a former college basketball player while visiting his hometown in Florida on Mother's Day weekend. Nathaniel Bernard Jennings, 19, was gunned down in Downtown Melbourne after police said he got into an argument with suspect Stephan Dieujuste, 24, near Neon Rodeo bar on Saturday at around 1:50 a.m., Florida Today reported. Melbourne Police and Fire Rescue quickly responded to the scene, where they found Jennings — a freshman defensive lineman for the University of Northwestern, St. Paul — unresponsive. 4 College football star Nathaniel Bernard Jennings, 19, was shot dead while visiting his hometown in Florida. University of Northwestern He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was declared dead. Dieujuste, a former Eastern Florida State College point guard, was questioned by police at the scene and claimed the shooting was in self-defense. The former college basketball player was later arrested and charged with manslaughter. He is currently being held at the Brevard County Jail Complex. The shooting was captured on newly installed downtown surveillance cameras, city officials confirmed to Florida Today. Police are still investigating what sparked the argument between the two men. 4 Stephan Dieujuste, a former Eastern Florida State College point guard, was questioned by police at the scene and claimed the shooting was in self-defense. Melbourne Police Department It's also unclear if Jennings, a graduate of Heritage High School, and Dieujuste, a graduate of Bayside High School, knew each other. 'It is an active investigation,' a spokesperson for the Melbourne Police Department, Lt. Bradley Blount, told Florida Today. After news broke of the star defense lineman's death, the head football coach at the University of Northwestern, Matt Moore, released a statement praising Jenning's character on and off the gridiron. 4 Jennings is pictured with his mother, Autumn. Facebook 'Nate was a treasured member of our football team, being honored with all-conference accolades following his first year of collegiate competition,' Moore said, according to WESH 2. 'For as talented as Nate was on the football field, he was an even better person off of it. His contagious energy and positivity will be missed. We are praying for Nate's mother, Autumn, brother Isaiah, and other members of his extended family during this difficult time.' The rising college football star finished his freshman season at Northwestern with 55 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and one fumble recovery. 4 After news broke of the star defense lineman's death, the head football coach at the University of Northwestern, Matt Moore, released a statement praising Jenning's character on and off the gridiron. Facebook Jennings' death is the first reported homicide in Melbourne this year, according to city crime statistics. It is also only the second homicide to happen in the downtown area in the last two years. Randy Bennett — a bar owner who's worked downtown for nearly a decade — said the shooting happened in front of the business next to his, and his staff was working when the 'whole thing went down.' 'Downtown is beautiful, it's safe, people aren't getting their stuff stolen,' Bennett told WESH 2. 'This was an isolated incident by a couple people who decided to take it into their own hands instead of buying each other a beer.' 'Very upsetting because this is a nice place to come,' local resident Linda Bouley told the outlet. 'I'm glad they found the [suspect]. It doesn't really give me relief because it's like why did this happen? Why is a 19-year-old getting shot? Why does somebody have a gun out here where this is supposed to be an area that you just come to enjoy yourself.' Dieujuste made his initial court appearance on Monday and was ordered held without bond, court records show. His next court appearance has been set for June 5.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
High school teacher lost her job for using student's chosen name. Brevard rallied around her
Brevard has seen a flurry of protests since the start of April, with community members rallying outside Satellite High, packing a school board meeting and amassing nearly 55,000 signatures on a petition — all in an effort to reinstate a high school teacher whose contract wasn't renewed after she called a 17-year-old student by their chosen name without parental consent. That teacher, Melissa Calhoun — the first known Florida teacher to suffer job loss due to a 2023 Florida parental rights law — has stayed quiet. But her cause has been adopted by parents, students and others in the community, who find themselves at odds with the school board and school district officials who say they need to put parent rights first — and note that Calhoun violated the law. "At the end of the day, parents are the ones that get to direct what happens," school board member Megan Wright said during the April 22 school board meeting. "Parental rights exist for a reason. They exist because of things that have happened around our state that are horrific and have caused major damage to families." This particular case involved a senior who is also dual-enrolled at Eastern Florida State College and is set to graduate in May. The student was using a name that aligns with their gender identity, classmates said. It's not a name that their parent gave permission for the school to use. Students gathered after school at Satellite High Thursday to protest that teacher Melissa Calhoun's contract was not renewed. The parent reported the use of the student's chosen name to the district, according to Brevard Public Schools Spokesperson Janet Murnaghan. The parent has stayed silent. So has Calhoun. Calhoun remains in her Satellite High classroom, finishing out this school year and preparing her students for AP Literature exams. Last year, her grade 12 AP Literature class had a pass rate of 83.1%, more than 10 percentage points above the district average for the same class and nearly eight points above the state average, according to data compiled by Tara Harris, BPS' assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. Over the years, she's taught an estimated 3,000 students. Many of them and their parents have come to her defense. "She really makes connections with her students, and she just really teaches life lessons," said Audrey Ciccone, a senior at Satellite High who's been in two of Calhoun's classes. "I think we're just running out of people that truly care about their students." While many applauded Calhoun for focusing on the student, Brevard's Superintendent Mark Rendell disagreed. "We contact parents when students misbehave or don't turn in assignments," he said in a statement sent to FLORIDA TODAY. "This student was questioning their identity, and we didn't contact the parents. In fact, we excluded the parents. That is unacceptable." This case has drawn enormous attention in Brevard, and it's also received international attention, garnering coverage by publications including The Washington Post, People, The Independent, The Times of India and more. Alan Nervig, the father of a teacher in Baltimore, said he always hoped his daughter would move back to live near him. When he brought up the idea to her, she laughed, he said. "I always dreamed she'd come back here, but she never will," said Nervig, who attended the April 22 school board meeting. "You guys are now infamous nationally for this. And for this applicant pool that you have to get teachers from, you've just X'ed out at least two thirds of it, and you're going to have to pick from what's left over." Law requires parental permission, doesn't address punishment Calhoun's punishment comes three years after Florida began passing a slew of bills that conservatives lauded as pro-parental rights, with Democrats raising concerns that they targeted LGBTQ people and content in school classrooms. It started in 2022 with House Bill 1557, also known as the "Parental Rights in Education" bill or to critics as the "Don't Say Gay" law. This law required school districts to create procedures for notifying parents of changes related to the student's wellbeing and banned classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity through grade three. The following year, the law was expanded to ban these discussions for all grade levels, with Florida's legislature also targeting the use of chosen names and pronouns. In 2023, House Bill 1069 said no one at a public K-12 school could be required to refer to anyone by a preferred personal title or pronoun if "such a personal title or pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex." It also required that schools acknowledge sex as an "immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe" a pronoun that "does not correspond to such person's sex." After the law was signed in May of that year, it was up to the Florida Board of Education to adopt rules to administer the guidelines laid out within it. And they did: In the summer of 2023, they created rules that blocked classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation and gender except in select cases; required transgender students and staff to use the bathrooms and changing facilities that aligned with their sex assigned at birth in accordance with House Bill 1521, which segregates facilities based on sex at birth; and created a form for parents to sign if their child wished to go by any alternative to their legal name. While this applied to any deviation from a student's legal name, including nicknames, this was an effort, critics said, to remove the autonomy from trans students to go by a chosen name at school if they were closeted at home or had unsupportive parents. And while the rule, titled the "Parental Authorization for Deviation from Student's Legal Name Form," doesn't lay out a punishment for an educator who defies the mandate, Rendell, with support from the school board, opted to not renew Calhoun's contract. The district noted that her teaching credentials would be under review with the state Department of Education due to the infraction. The parent of the Satellite High student in question did not fill out such a form, according to Murnaghan, and Calhoun 'knowingly did not comply with state statute.' "BPS supports parents' rights to be the primary decision-makers in their children's lives, and Florida law affirms their right to be informed," Murnaghan said. Audrey Ciccone spoke about Satellite High School AP English teacher Melissa Calhoun's impact on her at a rally outside the Brevard school board meeting on April 22 in Viera. Calhoun's contact was not renewed for the 2025-26 school year. It was a point board member John Thomas agreed with. But he also said he worried the district was acting too harshly, and during last week's school board meeting, he made a motion to retrain Calhoun and consider renewing her contract. "This is not a case with a pending criminal charge," he said. "This is not a case of moral corruption. And no student was harmed, no child was put at risk. This is the case of poor judgment, a mistake, and like all of us, even good teachers are capable of making them." Other members on the all-Republican board disagreed, emphasizing parental rights and the possibility that Calhoun's teaching credentials could be revoked by the state. "I think it's worth upholding what the recommendation is and seeing what happens when the state looks at all the factors here of what was going on, and they come down and decide what they're going to do," Wright said. School board member Katye Campbell had a similar viewpoint, adding that Calhoun could always come back to teach in Brevard if her credentials were upheld. "It's Dr. Rendell's decision, and I just — I have a hesitation on that," she said, referring to Thomas' proposal. "We're not saying that she can't ever come back, but there's a pause on that. That is the way that it stands right now." In an email Campbell has been sending to constituents who reached out to her about this issue, she also noted that this "was not a simple case of someone named Madison wanting to go by Maddie, for example, or a Nicholas wanting to go by Nic." School Board Vice Chair Matt Susin offered next to no comment, simply saying, "I will support the superintendent and continue to do so." While Thomas said no child had been harmed by Calhoun's actions, Board Chair Gene Trent challenged him on the assertion. "You mentioned it didn't do any harm to the student," Trent said. "I think I would talk to the parent about that first." The rest of the board killed the motion, with only Thomas voting in its favor. Following the meeting, Rendell held firm on his position in a statement to FLORIDA TODAY. "This is not a case of simply retraining a teacher," he said. "How do you retrain someone who knowingly and admittedly violated state law? She fully understood the law and made a conscious choice to violate it repeatedly. The teacher put her beliefs above the parents in this case." 'You are piercing a hole in our hearts' Most issues at Brevard's school board meetings are split by political party. Republicans argue for more restrictions on books, while Democrats decry the banning of texts. Liberals bring up worries about having guns in schools through the guardian program, which allows district employees to be armed, while conservatives say firearms on the premise are the only way to stop a shooting. But at the April 22 school board meeting, the diverse crowd of speakers was united. After two weeks of protesting and gathering signatures on a petition, more than 75 students, parents and community members rallied ahead of the meeting, with additional people congregating to pack the board room. The meeting stretched over five hours and had to be halted multiple times, with the board exiting the room as community members shouted that they weren't being heard and that their First Amendment rights were being violated. All speakers but one, who commended the board for not renewing Calhoun's contract, either spoke in favor of keeping Calhoun on at Satellite High or addressed other issues. Beau Culpepper, a veteran, former high school teacher and self-described Republican, compared Calhoun's actions to those of Jesus and called on educators to treat transgender students with love. "If anything, I think we should be training teachers and teaching them more about trans kids and what their needs are and how to help them," he said, adding to the board that in "a hundred years from now, history will not be kind to you." Bill Pearlman said the district's handling of the situation was "extreme." "You say a law was violated," he said. "I argue that the law puts the wishes of a misguided parent over an emerging adult, and that is a misguided law." Julia, a Satellite High student who spoke at a previous meeting about Calhoun, told the board that she and other students were hurt by their decision. As a current student in the district, she asked that FLORIDA TODAY only use her first name. "You are piercing a hole in our hearts, in every student at Satellite High School," she said. "I was going to have her as a teacher next year." And Tyler Weber, a 2022 graduate from BPS, worried about the hole Calhoun would leave behind for the students who felt safe with her. "When I heard about what's been going on with Ms. Calhoun, my heart broke," Weber said. "I had teachers like her at (my school) who were a safe person to go to, who called me by my preferred name. ... It honestly sucks to see such great teachers like that leave." Former school board member Jennifer Jenkins, the lone Democrat on Brevard's school board before the 2024 election, spoke ahead of the meeting at the rally and offered supportive words to Calhoun's student who went by a chosen name. "To the student involved in all of this, you are respected, this is not your fault, you were not wrong for being affirmed, it was not a bad decision and nobody needs to be retrained," Jenkins said. What happens next It's not clear what will come next for Calhoun, her student and the community. Her teaching credentials are under review with the state, and depending on what determination they make, she may or may not be allowed to teach in Florida schools this upcoming school year. The next school board meeting is scheduled for May 6. "It is my hope that it will be recognized that I have presented a way that we can comply with the DOE, protect parental rights, while saving the career of a valued teacher," Thomas told FLORIDA TODAY via email when asked whether or not he had plans to raise the issue of reinstating Calhoun at future meetings. "I believe this has turned into an ideological battle with an unsuspecting teacher caught in the middle. We should be keeping our focus on what is best for the students, the parents, and Brevard Public Schools." Thomas didn't say for sure whether or not he plans to bring the topic up at future meetings. With the motion failing to pass, he's worried about how other teachers may be punished in the future. "While I was disappointed that the motion did not pass, my concern remains with the broader implications as we strive to protect parental rights," he said. "I am saddened for Ms. Calhoun, and I believe the decision not to renew her contract sets a concerning precedent for how similar situations may be handled in the future, one that may discourage fair, corrective approaches rooted in accountability and growth." Anthony Colucci, president of Brevard Federation of Teachers, called Calhoun an "active member of her community" and praised her for continuing to "dedicate herself to her students." "Brevard Public Schools issued a Letter of Reprimand to Ms. Calhoun for an alleged violation that was brought to her attention by her administration," Colucci said in an emailed statement to FLORIDA TODAY. "When they decided to also non-renew this highly effective rated teacher's contract, they issued a punishment that in our opinion doesn't fit the alleged violation. Ms. Calhoun is currently preparing her senior students to pass their college-level exams, and no students have been removed from her class. Our students are collateral damage if our community loses the phenomenal educator that Ms. Calhoun is." Andrew Spar, president of Florida Education Association — the state's largest association of professional employees — said teachers must be allowed to connect with their students in order to teach effectively. "When you have a teacher who is clearly as impactful as Melissa has been, it's because she connects to her students, and she is a genuine person, a caring person, and no teacher should get in trouble for doing their job at the high level that she's doing her job," Spar said. But Gov. Ron DeSantis, who championed the law under which Calhoun is being reprimanded, said he supported the district's decision in an April 23 interview with Orlando's WKMG Channel 6 News. "Here's the thing: Our schools should be about education, not indoctrination. Some of these woke items don't have a place in education," he told the news station. "Most parents do not want to send their kid to elementary school and have them be taught things like 'transgender' and 'gender fluidity.' It's just not appropriate. So I think Florida's really stood on the side of parents." Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at fwalker@ X: @_finchwalker. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Teacher used a student's chosen name and lost her job. Brevard fought back
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Question of the Week: Are colleges going too far in removing DEI terms from web pages?
Colleges and universities scrambled this week to remove any trace of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) language from their web sites and curriculum to fall in line with an executive order from President Donald Trump for fear of losing federal funding. Two web pages addressing diversity, equity and inclusion run by Florida Tech were temporarily taken down this week as the university reviewed the executive orders. Some schools are taking it a step further. In Tallahassee, Florida State University started scrubbing its websites of a long list of keywords including "advocacy," "woman," "segregation" and "ethnicity." Here in Brevard County, Eastern Florida State College officials said they completed a "careful review" to ensure they were following state and federal guidelines but didn't take any drastic measures. You can read more about the issue here: This week's Question of the Week is: You can simply cast your vote on the ballot above. You can scan the QR code that is hopefully on the print edition page. Please leave a comment telling us why you voted the way you did. In order for your comment or email to be published on our website and in next week's print edition, you must include your first and last name. You can also shoot me an email with "DEI" in the subject line. I look forward to reading your responses. Last Sunday I asked you whether you would be willing to pay more taxes in order to help fund Brevard County firefighters, who are seeking more pay. Your response was overwhelming and I tried to include as many of your comments as possible. Are you willing to pay higher taxes to fund raises for Brevard County firefighters? Yes: 79.1 percent No: 20.9 percent Thank you for your article on our Brevard Firefighters! Having had first-hand interaction and help from them more than once, I'd be in favor of higher taxes to bring their wages up to a more sustainable and appropriate level. They've rescued my husband from several falls at our home, with the last one being severe when he fell into a stonework fireplace and severely tore his leg and arm, and even saved our American Flag from the rooftop after some incredible winds ripped it out of it's holder. They are heroes on so many levels, and we have the BEST here in Brevard! Now let's let them know how much they're needed and firefighters have always been well funded by taxpayers, but has devolved into bloated, inefficient government agency ― like most current American municipal fire departments. A third of Brevard's fire personnel & fire stations could easily be eliminated with no loss of actual fire protection to citizens. Structure fires are dramatically less common than 50 years ago, due to modern construction methods & codes. A typical Brevard 'Firefighter' spends well less than 10% of overall duty time fighting real fires, directly or indirectly ― thus the primary mission workload is relatively light. All Brevard government agencies need a strong dose of "DOGE"-type do need to give firefighters a raise. They provide essential services not available in the private sector. But we don't need to raise taxes to give them a raise. We have a bloated budget of $2.3 billion for this fiscal year. First of all, stop all grants to nonprofits. Second, get rid of at least half of the 300+ county vehicles and only provide them to people that really need them. Third, get rid of the county vehicle maintenance department and contract the services out to private shops and dealerships on a competitive basis. Fourth, get rid of at least 50 percent of the supervisory staff in each department. Keep the worker bees that actually do the work, but cut out the bloated middle management and have each supervisor support more is ludicrous that people who have such a crucial, important job helping the people of Brevard and, in many cases saving lives, are so underpaid and underappreciated. My family has been helped by them a number of times. With the increasing population, it is vital that we provide the services I would gladly pay higher taxes for firefighter pay. A necessary service of very brave and highly trained people. What would happen if they didn't show up when someone called? A BIG fuss by the public. We must pay people what they are worth, and they are pricelessto me and my past time for Brevard County to bring the department up to 21st century standards for wages and benefits. These people lay it on the line 24/7 to protect taxpayers lives. 'Thank you for your service' without showing them is a disgrace. If it weren't for all the retired snowbirds living off the residents and (complaining) about taxes, we would have a very advanced county instead of the inept county that exists. We used to have the top rated public schools in the state. But the snowbirds keep voting everything down and then leave for the summer. There should be a law that if you don't live here year round you don't vote for the rest of us that do!Firefighters put out fires that can destroy a lot of property and kill people and animals. They are our heros, yet their starting inhire wage is $15.00 an hour. This is the same amount that fast food employees get for flipping burgers. Why can't we raise taxes and start firefighters at $20.00 an hour for a 90 day probationary period and if they meet required standards raise salary to $25.00 an hour. Give them an incentive to perform this work and provide our My reasoning is not because they don't need more pay, I believe the budget should just handle this increase easily because if you look at all the new construction in our county, each new home pays property taxes and that increases the budget exponentially. Where does all that new money go? Use some of it to take care of all our country workers including add me to the people who say the firefighters and EMT,s are drastically underpaid and I approve property taxes being increased so their pay will be in line with the services they provide for everyone. I was shocked when I read their starting pay is $15 an hour. Don't people realize we are putting our life's on the line every time we call 911, or like myself, push the Mobile Help button. When the EMT's arrive, my life is in their hands and I feel very safe as soon as I see them. They know what to do, when to do it and when it means take me to the hospital. So please, property owners, let everyone know we support our firefighters and EMT's and it is only fair their pay represents the services they provide to all of numbers can be Presented many different ways. So are you telling me that starting firefighters make $31,000 a year? Or do they have many other incentive pays at add onto that much like the military has. I fully support trying to pay first responders adequate pay for their job but as an outsider looking in you always have to wonder what aren't they telling me. If we look at their IRS tax returns at the end of the year, no I'm not asking for them. Are they really gonna show 40, 50 or $60,000 Due to other hidden incentives and they're just playing a game by saying $15 an hour. Contact Torres at jtorres@ You can follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at This article originally appeared on Florida Today: DEI on college campuses is the focus of this week's question
