Martin County School Board

SCHOOL BOARD APRIL 16, 2024

Public comment was where the action took place. The three main subject areas were the pool, pay, and books.

The district has already said it would keep the pool open through the 2025 year. Most people would be satisfied with that answer but not everyone. It may not be the answer some are looking to accept. I guess the right one would be spending whatever is necessary to leave it open in perpetuity.

One speaker felt there was the need for more pools in Martin County, not fewer. I agree with him. There should be a public pool in every regional county park. If the Martin County schools closes its pool, then the county will have one municipal pool, and it costs $179 for an annual membership for the lap pool at Sailfish.

The school district was given an estimate of $1.2 million for the repairs needed at the MCHS pool. That doesn’t count what it costs for ongoing maintenance. When the district is struggling to pay teachers, is that a good use of funds? There are no easy answers.

No one likes to pay taxes. Floridians like it less than most Americans. Martin County homeowners like paying them even less than most other Floridians. Even if we liked paying more, there is the added problem of the limitations that Tallahassee imposed on the district to even raise taxes.

We have often heard that “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society” which is from an opinion written in 1929 by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Of course, the amount that individuals want to pay differs from person to person. At some point, we must pay more in taxes so that teachers are paid more, parks are maintained, and the government goes on.

Friends & Neighbors try to provide contract information for teachers. Understanding it is complicated because there are so many variables. It seems that teacher pay is determined by their level of education, where they work in the district, length of their tenure, whether they are involved in various after school activities, and probably one or two additional factors.

The district voted that the AFSCME members will receive a $790 bonus for this year. As soon as the MCEA members agree, they too will receive that amount. I can see why teachers, while happy to receive the money, gripe because the bonus is not part of their pay for pension calculations nor part of the base that is subject to cost-of-living increases.

Superintendent Maine stated that Martin County pays $21 per hour for bus drivers which is more than most of the other counties in the state.

Books and bans on them were also a topic of a few public speakers. There was nothing new here. It is such a fundamental issue, but it has no solution. Some, and I am one of them, believe everything should be available. However, nothing should be checked out of a library without a parent’s permission.

There are age-appropriate materials, and third graders should not be subjected to something that is in the curriculum of a high school sophomore. For years, we were able to agree with most standards. We need to do so again.

Perhaps district-wide education no longer works because we cannot agree. We have already embraced open schools to all in Martin County. The individual school curriculum should also be diverse in the choices offered and the method of teaching. In other words, every school is a charter school under the rubric of public education.