Letters: Local school helps those who learn differently ‘grasp’ success

October is National Dyslexia Month and GRASP Academy is a Duval County school that is specifically designed to enable smart children in our community who learn differently to succeed.

According to The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, dyslexia affects 20 percent of the population. Twenty-five thousand Duval County Public School students could be faced with difficulty in reading and the ability to speak, read, spell and often learn a second language. Dyslexia can cause learning difficulties with reading, writing, spelling and math.

Students with dyslexia are too often classified below their academic capabilities and struggle in school. With early screening, early diagnosis, early evidence-based reading intervention and appropriate accommodations, dyslexic individuals can perform to their full potential in school and become highly successful students and adults.

GRASP Academy was created in 2012 by then-Superintendent Nicolai Vitti, who himself is dyslexic, to serve Duval County Public School students who exhibit learning difficulties associated with dyslexia. GRASP Academy leadership and teachers are specially trained and caring professionals who guide dyslexic students to success. GRASP Academy incorporates project-based learning and enrichment with prescriptive structured language instruction and interventions. The classroom academics are hands-on and multi-sensory in order to best reach dyslexic students.

In order to be found eligible to attend GRASP Academy students must meet criteria that demonstrate a student has unmet potential and signs of dyslexia. GRASP Academy school is a public choice school offered by Duval County Public Schools. GRASP Academy serves a diverse student body including gifted students, students with IEPs, students with 504 plans and general education students.

Every community in the country should have a school dedicated to boosting the skills of its dyslexic children. Fortunately, Duval County has GRASP Academy.

Steve St. Amand, Jacksonville

Another Monroe hit piece

I read with amusement Nate Monroe’s Oct. 7 column concerning the selection of Sen. Ben Sasse as the next president of the University of Florida. Compared to the balanced article by John Kennedy on Oct. 8, this was just another Monroe attack on someone with an (R) behind the name.

He infers that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a law that permits secrecy until the finalists are announced equates to “plundering” of the university, though the UF search committee is quoted as stating that the search was "exhaustive.” Monroe also takes issue with the fact that the selection committee “did not explain in any detail how such a process could have landed on Sasse, who possesses limited experience in higher education and accumulated a divisive, hard-right voting record in the U.S. Senate.”

In reality, Sen. Sasse was a university leader for five years before being elected to the Senate. He has a Ph.D. from Yale University and a bachelor of arts from Harvard. He ran two successful campaigns for the Senate and has a record of standing up to Donald Trump’s radical agenda.

I would say the selection committee picked an honorable man who will be a valuable asset in a position where knowledge of the political world is sorely needed.

Over the years Monroe has demonstrated his hatred of many Republicans while showing no interest in applying the same journalistic pursuit of Democrats. His recent behavior towards Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis, Mike Williams and John Rutherford are just a few examples of Monroe’s apparent “politics before truth” agenda. The readers of the Florida Times-Union and all of the USA Today Network deserve better.

Eddie Brown, Jacksonville

Spot-on fitness article

The Oct. 11 article on resistance training by Bryant Stamford was right on target. I would like to add a few comments that readers might find helpful.

I am neither a doctor nor a physical trainer, but have been exercising regularly since I was a kid. I am now almost 94 years old and continue to exercise every day at home using free weights, leg weights, exercise bands and — of course — my body itself. I’ve been actively engaged in sports since my teens; mainly racquet sports, since I was small in stature (now just over 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds).

I came to Florida about 60 years ago and my job had me driving more than 60,000 miles a year, so I spent a lot of nights in motels. How to exercise? I found the Royal Canadian Exercise Program. Compulsory for all their members, male and female, it consisted of six or seven exercises to be done in about 10 minutes.

There were a number of progressively difficult tables, the last of which could probably only be handled by Olympic athletes, but you started out simply on the first and gradually increased reps week by week. No equipment involved, just a comfortable pad underfoot.

If you have a full-time job, it can be pretty difficult to get to a gym every day; but almost anyone can find 10 minutes at home to work out.

Loren K. Seeley, Jacksonville

More pain at the pump

Well, OPEC is at it again. OPEC+, as it is currently known and which includes Russia, is planning to reduce oil production output. We all know what’s ahead. Gas prices increase for us, profits increase for them. Nations in OPEC+ own 90% of the world's oil reserves and have held the planet hostage in the past. Enough.

Perhaps it’s long overdue that we stop blaming our own government while we go on as usual in our out-of-control consumption and instead, buckle down in protest. The less fuel used usually drops the price or stagnates it at least. Once the prices rise (and they will), let’s emulate the Greatest Generation. Let’s pull up the bootstraps and do what’s best for the country and share the burden versus passing the blame and the buck.

Make one less trip by ride sharing or taking public transportation. Tune up those vehicles. Any small thing to save gas. Many might think this won’t work; it’s just one trip, etc. But multiply that by millions of users and it’s huge. We did it during COVID, albeit not by choice. It can be done and needs to happen again. And, yes — in the meantime, the government can work harder on our oil independence.

Do we really need another 9/11 to come together? Let’s start with something simple that benefits all (with a just little sacrifice).

Gary Schuran, Middleburg

Scott stumps in Georgia

Rick Scott apparently has the strength of his convictions and puts his very soul on the line to back them up. How? By going to Georgia on behalf of Herschel Walker. Another reason, Scott said, is to “protect the values of Georgia.” I wonder if Georgians really do share the same values that Sen. Scott and Mr. Walker believe them to have?

When I ask myself why Sen. Scott would risk doing this, I can only imagine that he knows — with certainty — that his party has all the answers and solutions for America’s problems that the other party simply is not aware of, nor cares enough about, to try and solve. He knows that he, his party and Georgians, will do all they possibly can to protect and promote the values of Mr. Walker.

It seems that by going to Georgia, Sen. Scott’s vision of the future borders on justifying almost any means to get there. I am old school. To me, the means need to be aware of the ends and vice versa. Both should be as virtuous as possible. Otherwise, I question the real value of the end result.

Granted, this sounds ideal. However, which method will allow you to win in the long run and still sleep well at night?

Rev. Dr. James Black, Jacksonville 

Continuity needs vision, accountability

Nate Monroe's Oct. 6 column identified areas where neglect of public infrastructure has routinely and negatively impacted residents for years. He points out that priorities regularly change from one mayoral administration to the next, with little continuity for unfinished projects and loss of uniform functions in some segments of the city.

In 1967 a transition was underway to form a consolidated government and rid the area of cronyism, waste, and ineptitude. Now it's time to step up our game to ensure uniform accountability for government services.

The city council should study the performance of bureaucratic leaders and develop best practices for routine functions, as well as future projects management. Follow-up annual audits with mechanisms for correction and enforcement of standards by the mayor will be with advice and consent of the council.

The council will have the power of the purse, ability to adjudicate, and hold accountable those in leadership roles, up to and including recommendation to the mayor for their dismissal.

Codified accountability will ensure that each new administration will inherit what has come before it through an identified process, and continue to manage it in good faith, or make a compelling argument to usher in either long or short-term change.

Rob Richardson, Jacksonville Beach

Riverfront tower a 'game changer'

The City of Jacksonville is on the verge of hitting a home run with the new proposed 44-story tower at Riverfront Plaza. We cannot let this development opportunity slip through our hands, as this magnificent project will be a game changer for downtown.

The design is iconic and architecturally beautiful. It will bring people and energy to the Riverfront Plaza. The Four Seasons hotel on the river near the stadium will also frame the riverfront well and spur infill developments.  

The main risk to this development going forward, as with many real estate developments, is timing. Cities (including Jacksonville) sometimes lose decades by lacking the sense of urgency to approve viable projects. Market conditions can change and funding can dry up. More financial incentives may be needed if delayed or projects can be put on hold or scrapped altogether.

Quality projects like this help the community attract residents, businesses and jobs. It will start enabling our downtown to reach its potential.    

Our downtown future depends on quick and decisive action. The city should promptly move through the approval process before inflation, interest rates and a looming recession take hold.  

Bill Spinner, Jacksonville

Senior vote must not matter

Marco Rubio was one of the sponsors of the “Protecting Drug Innovation Act,” introduced on Oct. 7.

As introduced by Rubio and other Senate Republicans, this bill would roll back the drug pricing reforms included in the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August. That includes the measures allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices (for the first time in the program’s history) and cap annual drug expenses for many seniors. If Republicans control the Senate, they will seek to repeal what was just passed benefiting seniors.

The Inflation Reduction Act was passed with no Republicans voting for it. In addition to price negotiation, it also placed a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on annual drug costs for seniors on Medicare, as well as a $35 monthly cap for insulin.  

There are millions of seniors who need these reforms. As someone on Social Security and Medicare now, this is why I won’t vote Republican anymore.

Doug Diamond, Jacksonville

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Letters: Local school helps dyslexic students ‘grasp’ success