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** NEW DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER CAPS are now available!

Get yours at Democratic Club meetings and events or email Caryl at [email protected]
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CALENDAR

Tuesday, May 2

9:00 a.m. – Vero Beach City Council, Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero Beach 32960 : For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed] You can watch here: [link removed]

[link removed]

For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed]


6:00 p.m. - Sebastian Natural Resources Board,
[link removed] ([link removed])

Thursday, May 4


www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil

Monday, May 8

12-4p.m. - SDIRC Superintendents Workshop,
J.A.Thompson Administrative Center, 6500 57th St., Vero Beach 32967

Wednesday, May 10

[link removed] ([link removed])

Tuesday, May 16

9:00 a.m. – Vero Beach City Council, Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero Beach 32960 : For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed] You can watch here: [link removed]


[link removed]

Thursday, May 18


www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil

Monday, May 22

6:00 p.m. -
SDIRC School Board Meeting.
J.A.Thompson Administrative Center, 6500 57th St., Vero Beach 32967

Wednesday, May 24

9:00 a.m. - Indian River Shores City Council, 6001
For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed]

Thursday, May 25

9:00 a.m. - Indian River Shores City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed]

Democrats of Indian River

Friday, April 28, 2023

2:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Democratic Women's Club Book Group will meet at the Brackett Library on the IRSC Mueller campus and discuss “THE ROSE CODE” by Kate Quinn. Any questions about the Book Group should be sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
Saturday and Sunday, May 6 & 7, 2023
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Annual Treasure Coast Seafood Festival, Indian River Fairgrounds. Volunteers needed to help provide voter information and sell Democrats of Indian River Merchandise. To sign up for either day or both days, morning or afternoon or both, please contact Caryl at [email protected]

Saturday May 13, 2023

11:30 a.m. - Democratic Women's Club luncheon,
Bent Pine Clubhouse,
6001 Clubhouse Dr., Vero Beach 32967, features Samantha McGuire, Marine Biologist at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute,
on Marine Mammals & their Dolphin Spotter Program at Harbor Branch
Entrée Choices:
Oven Roasted Turkey Cobb Salad; Mixed Greens, Olives, Blue Cheese Crumbles, Red Onion, Bacon, Egg, Tomatoes, Balsamic Dressing
Pan Seared Shrimp Cake with
Broccolini, Creamy Polenta, Roasted Corn Chutney
Vegetarian option - chef’s creation
Please RSVP by noon on Thursday May 11 to demlunch@ aol.com ([link removed]) or Julie Barone
(718) 916-0682.

SAVE THE DATE

FREEDOM DAY FESTIVAL
CELEBRATING EMANICAPATION IN FLORIDA on MAY 20th, 10am-2pm at the GIFFORD HISTORICAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER at 2880 45th Street, Gifford
Volunteers needed to help provide voter registration and vote-by-mail information and sell Democrats of Indian River Merchandise. To sign up, please contact Caryl at [email protected]


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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


DeSantis, minions actually make Florida far less 'free'

Gov. Ron DeSantis has this sound bite he uses all the time: the “Free State of Florida.”


I cannot buy into that. His administration is certainly the most authoritarian in the country.

Centralize health decisions and take them away from the people. Governments closest to their communities know what is best for their populations. So what do you get? Thousands of excess deaths.

Limit the free press. Like them or not, having multiple press agencies is a good thing. Shutting out all but those that will parrot what you want, such as talking only to Fox, does not sound very American; it sounds a bit like TASS.

Limit what people learn. This is a classic propaganda management system. Let’s burn books we don’t like (even people who have never even read the material can block them). Yeah, Rosa Parks didn’t exist because someone might get upset if they learned of her plight.

As a good Republican friend of business, let’s pick a fight and punish the state’s largest employer because it has an opinion that doesn’t match the governor's. And what is his visceral fear of gays, lesbians, transsexuals? None of those choices are for me, but I have friends and relations that have family members in all those categories.

None of those children were taught or, as the governor says, “groomed.” Until they dealt with their identities, everyone suffered from mental strains and anguish. The governor implying that these orientations are lifestyle choices is foolish, insulting and 40 years out of date.

I don’t understand his fear of sexual orientation differences at all. To paraphrase Lady MacBeth: Me thinks thou doth protest too much.

Florida is not free. It is a centralized government run by one man and his carefully selected yes men and women.

David Hunter, Vero Beach

Why aren't sugar culprits named when discussion pollution?

The multimillion-dollar East Fork Creek Storm Water Treatment Area project ** you reported on April 12 ([link removed])
is tokenism of the highest order. Who knows, maybe it was lobbied for by U.S. Sugar.

The real problem — the elephant in the room, as they say — are the thousands of tons of phosphate and nitrate fertilizers applied to a half million acres of sugar cane produced by U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals that continuously backwash into and seriously pollute Lake Okeechobee after thousands of cubic feet of lake water are applied to the fields to “wash in” the fertilizer.

The cane field ash falling into the lake following huge cane field burns is another gigantic "elephant in the room” pollution problem that goes unaddressed by politicians in Florida."The county found there were problems with nitrogen and phosphorus in particular coming through East Fork Creek (which flows into Manatee Pocket),” said Mike Yustin, senior project manager for the county Ecosystem Division, in your story.

Nice, huh?

Paul Vallier, Stuart



To submit your letters to the Editor, go to:

** [link removed] ([link removed])


FLORIDA NEWS

Florida lawmakers consider ‘classical and Christian’ exam alternative to SAT, part of a 110-page grab bag of education legislation.


When Gov. Ron DeSantis went after the College Board’s ** new Advanced Placement course ([link removed])
on African American studies, he hinted that Florida might do without the organization’s courses and tests. Republican state lawmakers are preparing to head in that direction. Using their budget proposal and a bill (** HB 1537 ([link removed])
) that’s viewed as the Florida Department of Education’s legislation, the House is looking to pivot from the College Board’s Advanced Placement courses and SAT exam to other alternatives.
As an alternative to the SAT, the state is considering a ** “classical and Christian” exam alternative ([link removed])
called Classic Learning Test. It would be used as an optional graduation test requirement and to determine Bright Futures scholarship eligibility, as well as a college entrance exam at Florida’s public colleges and universities. Schools would have the option to administer the SAT, ACT or Classic Learning Test starting next school year.
For AP, the House wants to spend millions creating Florida-based alternative courses and tests, asking state universities and colleges to help establish the materials. A third-party organization would help create the exams, though it is unclear how quickly the changes would be in effect.
House Education Committee Chairperson Ralph Massullo, a Lecanto Republican, said the initiatives would fit into the Legislature’s larger effort to provide students with more school choices while also improving the education environment. He pointed to other bills that aim to focus reading instruction on phonics and remove social media distractions from classrooms as examples.
“We’re doing things at the front end as well as at the back end,” Massullo said, predicting ultimate success for the concept, if not in HB 1537 then attached to some other legislation. “It’s the Department of Education package. I think you’re going to see it.”

Politically, it would serve DeSantis, who earlier this year feuded with the College Board over content objections to an Advanced Placement African American Studies pilot program. DeSantis said Florida would not allow the course to be offered in its high schools because it was not “historically accurate.”
The College Board was later accused of omitting key concepts from its course and caving to the governor’s political pressure. On Monday night, the organization announced it would ** revise its course again ([link removed])
.
DeSantis, expected to announce a run for president after the legislative session ends, targeted the College Board as part of his aggressive push to reshape Florida’s education system. The governor has focused on eradicating what he calls a “woke ideology” and “indoctrination” in K-12 schools and higher education institutions.
The players involved in promoting the Classic Learning Test have advocated for similar ideas.
Jeremy Tate, the founder of the company, has said the test is meant to be an alternative to the SAT, which he says has become “increasingly ideological” in part because it has “censored the entire Christian-Catholic intellectual tradition” and other “thinkers in the history of Western thought.”
In March, the Classic Learning Test hosted the Florida Classical Education Summit at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach.
Representatives from Hillsdale College, a politically influential private Christian college in southern Michigan; Ave Maria University, a Catholic university in Florida; and Erika Donalds, an avid school choice proponent and founder of Optima Foundation, a network of classical charter schools in Florida, among others, spoke about the growth of classical education, the reasons parents opt for such curriculum and the potential future of it.
During a panel discussion called “K-12 to Higher Education: Taking the Classical Road to Success,” Adam Kinnick, associate vice president of enrollment at Ave Maria University, hinted at the possibility of the Bright Futures scholarship expanding to include the Classic Learning Test when asked how universities like his speak to parents about the value of AP classes and subsequent college credits.
“I don’t want to encourage students to test out of an experience at our school. I’m not terribly interested in [students] getting a 5 on the standardized assessment from AP.” Still, he couldn’t “in good conscience” tell Floridians to take the Classic Learning Test instead of the SAT or the ACT. If they did, he said, they could be “potentially leaving money on the table.”
“That’s about to change,” he said. “That’s about to change as well.”

Top deputies at the state Department of Education, which is part of the DeSantis administration, have also backed the testing alternative.
Senior Chancellor Henry Mack, who is ** being considered for president ([link removed])
of Florida Gulf Coast University, has said people seeking a testing option focused on the “great classical and Christian tradition” should go with the Classic Learning Test option. Some classical charter schools already offer the Classic Learning Test to high school students, and 11 private universities in the state accept the test for admissions. Most of the private universities are Christian.
Tate, the head of the testing company, in February met with Ray Rodrigues, the state university system’s chancellor, and legislators to see if the state can more broadly offer the Classic Learning Test to college-bound Florida high school students.
The proposed alternatives are part of a 110-page grab bag of legislation that includes a variety of proposals aimed at garnering support from across the broad political spectrum. Among the other provisions within the bill are a year-round education pilot program, requirements to teach Asian American history and extending temporary teacher certification to five years.
If the bill is approved, the House has included nearly $4 million in its budget request to make it all happen.
Lawmakers are setting aside $2.5 million to have the state develop advanced-level courses for high school students, and $1 million to develop the alternative assessment.
The House policy proposal would make the Classic Learning Test an option to qualify for the taxpayer-funded Bright Futures Scholarship program, which rewards Florida high school students based on academic achievement. School districts would be able to make the Classic Learning Test available for free to 11th graders once a year, along with the SAT and ACT.
“We want to have multiple options for students,” House Speaker Paul Renner said about the proposal.
HB 1537 is scheduled to be considered on the House floor as early as Thursday. The House and Senate budget differences continue to be hashed out with two weeks left in the 2023 legislative session.


Ana Ceballos Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald, Tallahassee Bureau
Jeffrey S. Solochek,Tampa Bay Times
Sommer Brugal Miami Herald





VIDEO of the WEEK

Jordan Klepper at America's biggest gun show.

** [link removed] ([link removed])



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10am to 3pm

2345 14^th Ave. Suite 7
Vero Beach 32960

(772) 226-5267

[email protected]


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