RPOF CHAIRMAN JOE GRUTERS' MESSAGE
Common Core Remnants End, Progress Monitoring Begins
Governor DeSantis announced Tuesday that progress monitoring will replace the last remnants of Common Core. The outdated, end-of-the-year, high-stakes Florida Statewide Assessment will be replaced by the new Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) plan to monitor student progress in real time and foster individual growth.
By creating the FAST Plan, Florida will become the first state in the nation to fully implement progress monitoring instead of end-of-year standardized testing, and fully eliminate Common Core.
The new model will minimize stress from tests and inform students, teachers and parents about individual growth throughout the year, as opposed to once at the end of the year when little can be done to change the outcome.
“Florida’s education focus should be students’ growth and how we restore the conversation between parents and teachers in support of students’ growth,” Governor DeSantis said. “In this final step to eradicate Common Core from our assessments, our administration is implementing the lessons learned from progress monitoring both during the state’s recovery and from our districts and schools that were already showing how we can better support students reaching their own unique growth goals.”
Governor DeSantis made the announcement with Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and several teachers and students from High Point Elementary School in Clearwater who have already benefited from utilizing the progress monitoring approach. The school, where the students qualify as economically disadvantaged, used progress monitoring tools throughout the last school year to make adjustments and immediately saw the overall school grade improve as students improved.
Florida
Governor DeSantis made it clear this week that the state will stand with Floridians in their fight against any unlawful vaccine mandates.
In May, Governor DeSantis signed SB 2006, which bans governments in Florida from requiring proof of vaccination or post infection recovery to get access to their operations. Additionally, the law imposes a $5,000 fine per violation for any entity, including government entities, that asks to see proof of vaccination in Florida.
“What we are seeing out of Washington D.C. and local governments like the City of Gainesville and Orange County should alarm Floridians, and raises important questions – if you can have people like firefighters who put lives on the line every day forced to either lose their jobs or get the vaccine regardless of immunity, how does that protect our community or keep us safer? It doesn’t,” Governor DeSantis said. “This is political, it’s about using government power to control. We’re going to protect these jobs, we’re going to protect livelihoods and we’re going to protect families.”
“These big government mandates strip away people’s rights to make the best decision for themselves, but we are going to protect Floridians from federal and local government overreach,” he said.
Governor DeSantis was joined at his announcement by Attorney General Ashley Moody, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, U.S. Congresswoman Kat Cammack, members of the Florida Legislature and employees of local governments who have enacted illegal vaccine mandates.
“Seeking a vaccine is a decision based on personal medical history and individual circumstances,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody. “It’s a decision I made earlier this year after consulting with my family and medical professionals. I want more eligible Floridians to seek out information about the vaccine and make a deliberate, informed decision about their health. However, the government forcing compliance by our first responders is wrong.”
Governor DeSantis announced three Tampa Bay transportation projects that will create more efficient, safe and reliable travel for residents and visitors in the Tampa Bay area.
These projects are part of a $2 billion investment in the 2021-2022 budget to make key transportation improvements in Florida highways and seaports. The three projects Governor DeSantis announced are enhancements to the Howard Frankland Bridge, the advancement of the Westshore Interchange, and the advancement of the I-275, I-4 Interchange.
“The Tampa region is growing exponentially, and it’s important that we support that growth with strong infrastructure,” Governor DeSantis said.
He was joined by Senate President Wilton Simpson, House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault.
Washington, D.C.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is calling for the immediate firing of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. Rubio, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to remove Milley immediately.
“I write with grave concern regarding recent reporting that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party in advance of a potential armed conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” Rubio wrote. “These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately.”
“General Milley has attempted to rationalize his reckless behavior by arguing that what he perceived as the military’s judgement as more stable than its civilian commander,” Rubio continued. “It is a dangerous precedent that could be asserted at any point in the future by General Milley or others. It threatens to tear apart our nation’s longstanding principle of civilian control of the military.”
“You must immediately dismiss General Milley. America’s national security and ability to lead in the world are at stake,” Rubio concluded.
Rep. Val Demings campaigned over the weekend with a unhinged progressive activist who has repeatedly compared the Republican Party to the Taliban.
Author Amy Siskind hosted Demings for a campaign event at her home in Mamaroneck, New York, on Sunday. Siskind also hosted a virtual discussion about domestic terrorism with Demings in March.
How unhinged is this Demings funder? On Sept. 1, two days after the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan following Biden’s disastrous surrender to the Taliban, Siskind tweeted: “LIBERTY! (except for women controlling their own bodies). GOP, America's Taliban. #YallQaeda”
This continues Siskind’s loopy equating of Republicans with the Taliban. She repeatedly made the comparison against former President Trump and the GOP on issues ranging from abortion rights to gun control. “Oh look: the Taliban has arrived in America,” she tweeted in January 2017 with a photo of Trump and his cabinet in the Oval Office.
Yet Demings is obviously comfortable accepting this absurd radical’s support.
Unity- Please Remember
As we approach the 2022 mid-term elections and the 2024 presidential election, and in light of the abject failure of the Biden administration, we know that the very survival of our republic depends on the outcome of those elections. Therefore, we must stay unified. Never lose sight of who our political opponents are… the progressive left Democrats who are taking our country off a cliff with the active help of Big Tech and the old-line national news media. Our fellow Republicans are not the enemy!
SCHOOL DISTRICT OF INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
After hours of input from the community the Indian River County School Board approved a tiered approach strategy for mask requirements recommended by Superintendent David Moore that will begin today for all students and staff. The new approach will be based on the percentage of students and staff testing positive for COVID-19 and goes into effect for elementary schools today, and middle schools on the 29th.
If cases go beyond 5 percent, face coverings would be required unless a family provides a medical opt-out.
If cases are 3-4 percent, face masks would be required, but with a parent opt-out option.
If cases are 1-2 percent, face masks would be highly recommended indoors.
If cases are less than 1 percent, face coverings would be optional for students.
Schools can move to a lower tier if their average COVID-19 case percentage drops for ten consecutive days.
Movement can occur only one tier at a time, but if the COVID-19 case average increases for just two days a school will be moved to a higher tier strategy.
