Letters to the editor for Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Letters to the editor should be 250 words or less. Include your name and city or community of residence. Guest opinions should be 600 words or less and include a brief summary of the author’s credentials relevant to the topic. Guest opinions may include a head shot of the author. For the Fort Myers News-Press, email submissions to mailbag@news-press.com and for the Naples Daily News to letters@naplesnews.com

Reject this school proposal

I disagree strongly with the basic premises that board member Rutherford uses to tether his call for a new Collier County school board policy that would protect our students from the seven harmful effects on his identified list.

Do we not want our students to use their knowledge to be critical thinkers? Haven’t we continuously heard that critical race theory is not even in our curriculum? Should we be chasing windmills?

Do we not want our students to learn and experience both social and emotional challenges in a supportive environment? This type of learning is embedded into every lesson learned just based on the fact that the students are learning together and not in isolation from others.

Do we not want our students to understand and appreciate each others' differences? To feel comfortable in who they are and how to be kind to each other?

Do we not want our students to value other lives as their own? Isn’t that the most basic rule of all?

Do we not want our students to learn about and cherish this country’s democratic, non-authoritarian traditions? How does that ever happen if we create enemies to bolster ourselves by disseminating false fears and lies?

Do we not want our students to be able to ask the safe adults in their life, including teachers, a question and expect a true, reasonable answer. Any well-trained teacher at any grade knows when a question needs to be answered by the parent.

Do we not want our teachers to be able to respond to their students without the burden of implied censure or termination?

Do we not want a public school system that prepares all of our children for their role in the history, politics, and general welfare of all of its citizens?

Whether this is a matter of conscience, of policy, or of control, I strongly discourage even the consideration of board member Rutherford’s latest policy proposal.

Rochelle Lieb, retired Collier County educator, Naples

Attend Jaycee Park meeting

Cape Coral City Council proposed completely changing Jaycee Park from a Neighborhood Park to a Commercial Park before asking its residents what they could tolerate for change. Now they have had a forum and find that there is opposition, 5,000 have signed a petition against the changes, 50 phone calls have been fielded in three weeks, 70 signs and 150 wristbands distributed all asking the city to back down. And now we find out the city does not have the money for these changes. It will borrow $12 million dollars at 4.5% interest to be paid by the very people who do not want these changes. We ask that the city slow down its decisions about the park and meet with its residents to see if we can find common ground to improve Jaycee Park. The park was a gift to the county from a resident over 40 years ago; it is to be used for recreation, not for businesses that will make money for the city. These changes should be in large Community Parks as recommended by the 2022 consultants who also wanted more Neighborhood Parks like Jaycee Park throughout the city as it grows. Council meets Sept. 13, 9:00 a.m. Attend!

Sally Flash, Cape Coral

School closing decisions

The correct decision was made by Collier County Public Schools with regard to the decision not to close the schools on Tuesday. The hurricane was not anticipated to hit in this area. One tornado in Marco Island caused the district to hold the release of students for a short time until the warning had passed, which was the right thing to do. However, the decision to close on Wednesday to please the social media mob was the incorrect decision. I think most people saw the beautiful weather that day and scratched their heads as to why that was done, especially working parents. Possibly those working parents don’t have time to read all the comments on Facebook.

The most entertaining part of the whole situation was watching the left leaning people try to bend themselves into pretzels and claim that it wasn’t the superintendent (whom they love) that made the decision to close or not to close but the right leaning board members as if they went over Dr. Ricciardelli’s head and held a vote and Jerry, Tim and Kelly voted to keep them open.

Allison Spataro, Naples

Relevant studies, not ideology

Mr. Rutherford identifies "diversity" as an ideology. Diversity is quite simply a demographic fact based on changes in the U.S. population. I believe that one of the Collier County high school course offerings, Human Geography, would help Mr. Rutherford reinterpret not only what is implied by the word, but how distant his interpretation is from that reality.Also noted as an ideology is "inclusion." In CCPS schools, inclusion is a part of every teacher and administrator's job description. What this word requires of teachers is that they differentiate a learner's instructional needs, address cultural and behavioral differences and repeatedly check on grade level progress for each child. These elements of teaching are precisely what makes the profession so demanding. But, it certainly is not an ideology."Wokeism" is a challenge to understand as an ideology since "ism" suggests that what Mr. Rutherford calls an ideology is actually a body of knowledge. I'm not aware of any such area of study. Of course, I may have missed this during my own education."Critical Race Theory," an actual area of study, is not taught in CCPS courses, including, but not limited to, AP African American History. As there are in all areas of study in high school, there are "dig deeper" elements of this AP course which are left to instructor discretion to include with course instruction. However, CRT was summarily excised from AP African American History due to objections from the Florida Department of Education.CCPS faces many important issues today. Curriculum is impacted by new AI developments through Bard, ChatGPT and other autonomous forms thinking and writing. Teachers need training in these areas in order to stay ahead of these developments. And, they need guidance -- we all do -- in what impact these developments will have in our lives. I note with alarm the recent news that my voice can easily be cloned without my knowledge to be used by some unscrupulous individual to contact my bank!However, the most compelling issue is the growth of the population in Collier County. We had a new high school open this year because of that growth. But, reports on county development conclude that the population center of the county will be in the Founder's Square area by 2025. This is hardly a long way into the future.Let's help the board to target big, relevant and critical issues, not made-up ideologies.

Joseph Curran, Naples

Address insurance crisis

Property insurance changes in Florida are not sustainable to the economy. I have owned a large and valuable mixed-use commercial property in Fort Myers for the past 10 plus years. My annual premium for hazard, including wind, hurricane and sinkholes has gradually risen over these 10 years from $7,500 to $14,000 last year.

This policy expired on Sept. 1. About 30 days ago, my carrier sent me a one-sentence notice that they would not be renewing my policy even though there is an open claim from Hurricane Ian. It is my understanding that this is illegal. When confronted, they offered me a new policy which excluded wind, hurricane, and sinkhole for $2,500 more than last year's policy which included wind, hurricane, and sinkholes. After receiving the notice of non-renewal, I asked two insurance agents to find me a replacement policy which includes wind and hurricane. After trying for three weeks and contacting possibly all remaining carriers in Florida, only one company offered me a new wind and hurricane policy. The carrier quoted the premium at $175,000 annually. This policy, unlike all previous policies I have had, had a cap on the payout of $1,000,000. My other policies were all based on replacement value of the property. This property insurance situation is not sustainable to the economy. Our elected leaders from the governor on down need to address with urgency this unfolding crisis.

Roger Hutchison, Fort Myers

Fix our insurance crisis

Governor Ron DeSantis should stay in Florida to fix our insurance crisis rather than seek a presidential bid.I live in the Belle Meade section of Golden Gate Estates. When I purchased my home 23 years ago Belle Meade wasn't zoned wetlands, some 15 years ago that changed, in came FEMA. Having never made a claim on these policies why should I be penalized for those who have? The same goes for my auto insurance premiums. Why are they based on your ZIP code rather than your driving record?The state Senate should pass legislation that only those insurance companies that sell homeowners policies in Florida be allowed to sell auto insurance.The governor needs to make this his number one goal before campaigning nationally.

Frank Setera, Naples

Excessive gubernatorial power

I love these scorched earth letters where I’m told how great someone is without one FACT. Florida is now the least liked state for teachers, look it up, it’s a FACT! “Woke ideology” means to be awake to the needs of others, informed, thoughtful, and aware of social injustice. DeSantis is opposed to “woke” sentiments. He has been untruthful about its meaning so repeatedly as to make the word meaningless. His own lawyers, however, had to define the term in court while defending DeSantis’s firing over a “woke” official, and said, “It would be the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”Republican policies regarding the needs of Americans have been purely undemocratic. 117 House Republicans voted to cut Social Security, an old age security plan that we have paid into our entire lives. DeSantis drew his own redistricting line to weaken votes considered unfavorable to him (gerrymandering). His minions in the Florida Legislature have given in to his demands for excessive gubernatorial power, even to the degree that DeSantis created his own private military, accountable only to him. His “stop woke act” has stopped or restricted the discussion of race equality, and has negatively impacted African American studies in college. Blatant distortion of the truth includes omitting Rosa Parks was black, and teaching that slavery taught slaves trades that could be beneficial to them, when the truth is that slaves were only taught skills beneficial to their white masters. But this isn’t just about racism. He has made it easier to ban books in a move called “parental rights” which is nothing more than allowing one set of parents to force their belief system on the rest. You may vote for him because you agree with his positions but he’s coming for all of us with more taxes, lower pay, higher prices, higher inflation than the rest of the country, fewer rights, lower quality of life, and more lies! You best realize Republicans are not for lower taxes for most Americans anymore, in fact they gave our tax dollars away to hugely profitable corporate America, and added more to the deficit than Democrats have ever done!Denise Healey, Bokeelia

Thin-skinned narcissist

What I don't understand is why Governor DeSantis isn't with President Biden? Did he put his failing presidential bid over a common courtesy? I'm thinking yes; yes he did. Yet, DeSantis gladly embraces (or did) former President ( twice impeached, four indictments, on 91 charges) Trump? Now don't get me wrong here; that seems a petty, childlike move. Is DeSantis still thinking about the vice president position? Being a veteran, I have friends from all over the country that I stay in touch with. We always teased each other about things, and still do. Many have asked: what is up with your governor? What can I possibly say? He's a thin-skinned narcissist wannabe leader that fails to recognize his poll numbers are crashing? Well, frankly; that's exactly what I say. One of my former first sergeants retired in Texas. He said he's glad there is a DeSantis. Otherwise, Texans wouldn't have anybody to make fun of. Now, I hope DeSantis just fades into obscurity before he can damage our state's hospitality industry any further. Already, several large corporate meetings have been canceled. Not due to weather; due to his policies. Speaking of policies; how's that taking control of the insurance industry going?

Robert Jenkins, Naples

Chiquita lock not needed

The Chiquita lock doors have been open since before the Sept. 28, 2022 storm due to lock doors falling apart. The lock doors continue to be open. So how does the lock serve any purpose? The State of Florida land lying westerly from the SW Spreader had a berm made out of sand in the 1960’s. Go to the beach and make a water control pile out of sand and see how long it lasts. This land has NEVER been maintained by the DEP in Tallahassee. There is still some expert genius from Tally that thinks his berm serves some purpose. This land was submerged under the same 8 foot (or more) deep sewage water storm surge that we all had. Does ANYONE have current data that proves our spreader water is any different than found outside the lock?

Everyone shares the same water quality because we all had 8 feet or more of the same polluted water.The storm surge water contained every sort of pollution including oil from shrimp boats and sewage from Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Matlacha. The oil makes the sewage water hard to remove and hard to sanitize away.

Hey SCCF, did you know that Cape Coral has an awesome sanitary sewer system? How is yours doing? How about Matlacha?

Hooray for Cape Coral sanitary sewer system! Water did not back up in our drains and toilets. Storm water was up to the mailboxes in our street. As soon as water level dropped, we confidently used our toilets and they worked fine. Can you imagine, a population of over 200,000 people without a toilet? The Cape sanitary system is one of many reasons the Chiquita lock is no longer needed. Now let’s think about sanitary sewers on Sanibel and Matlacha. Another big hooray for Cape Coral sanitary sewer system. It’s more important than drinking water. You can always get bottled water.

Steve Crane, Cape Coral

Prayer at board meetings

James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, stated that “religion must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man . . . “

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, in his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, stated: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God. . . “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”

That’s how I see it! I am not opposed to religion. In fact, I financially support two religious institutions and probably talk to God as much or more than anyone. But it is me and God! God and me! I have my personal religious beliefs. And In my times of personal crisis, I have prayed and prayed hard. But nowhere do I have the right to impose my personal religious beliefs on any other individual or group. My freedom ends where their nose begins. And to me, that’s what those clauses in the First Amendment mean. To me, that’s what Madison and Jefferson meant. There were those in colonial Virginia who fought against the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. Patrick Henry actually preferred an established church because it gave a common sense of right and wrong. But on January 16, 1786, Jefferson’s Bill for Religious Freedom was passed. To Jefferson and the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians of Virginia, religious freedom meant a separation of church and state. In the second paragraph, Jefferson’s bill stated: ”no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry. . .”The moment of silence at the start of school board meetings gives each of us the opportunity to communicate with our God in our own way or not at all. And that’s just perfect!

Bill Korson, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, September 6, 2023