Teachers, parents and students urge Brevard board to rehire Melissa Calhoun as English vacancies persist

Community members, teachers and students urged the Brevard County School Board on Sept. 23 to rehire Melissa Calhoun and warned that keeping her out of the classroom worsens staffing shortages.

At the meeting, Anthony Colucci, identified himself as “president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers,” and addressed the board during public comment on agenda item F3: “State statute specifically says the job of a school board is to provide for the appointment of personnel with 6 vacant secondary English positions. I’m urging this board to do its duty and appoint Melissa Calhoun to 1 of those positions.”

Speakers including Vanessa Skipper, vice president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers, and several teachers said six open English positions mean roughly 900 secondary students are without a qualified English teacher or are in overcrowded classrooms. Skipper said the teacher in question had an 89 percent AP literature pass rate and that the parent who raised a concern did not remove the student from the teacher’s class.

Bill Pearlman, a retired Brevard teacher, told the board the online agenda lists more than 350 teachers teaching out of field and “over 100 instructional vacancies” in recent job postings. He and others argued the district should use available qualified staff rather than leave classrooms short-staffed.

Several speakers framed the issue as political. Colucci said a single, addressed infraction was being turned into “a political spectacle.” Jennifer Hopkins, a parent and teacher who spoke later, said the state had cleared the educator, that she “paid the fines” and reapplied, and asked why the district had not rehired her after the state’s decision.

Not all commenters took the same view. Christopher Higginbotham, who said he is employed by Brevard Public Schools, said he supported superintendent authority to make hiring decisions, telling the board, “I do support, doctor Rendell’s decision, strictly because I think doctor Rendell should have the authority to make those kind of decisions unilaterally.”

Board members did not take formal action on the rehiring request during the meeting. Board discussion earlier in the evening included a comment by a board member that “the superintendent 100% has the right” to set punishment when an employee admits a law was broken; that remark was offered as explanation of the district’s authority to act on personnel matters.

Speakers pressed the board to consider the trade-offs between board posture and classroom staffing. Public commenters repeatedly asked the board to prioritize filling vacancies and to allow the teacher in question to volunteer while the personnel matter remains unresolved. The board did not vote on any personnel rehiring or reversal at the Sept. 23 meeting.

Why it matters: Commenters framed the issue as both an immediate staffing concern and a longer-term recruitment and retention problem. Multiple speakers tied the decision to district priorities, arguing that the district’s stated desire to “protect an effective workforce” in the FY26 budget should include rehiring decisions.

Context and next steps: The matter was raised repeatedly during the public comment period; no formal board motion to rehire or to require the superintendent to re-evaluate the case appeared on the Sept. 23 agenda. Speakers said the state had cleared the teacher and that district-level clearance remains the principal barrier to rehiring.