Vero Lake Estates Property Owners

The following was received from concerned parents in VLE.  You may have seen the article in Tuesday morning's paper about rezoning for some IRC schools that will have an impact on VLE families. 

If this issue is of concern to you, I urge you to attend the meeting.  Elected officials respond to their constituents (voters).  There are only four precincts larger than ours in IRC.  Out of 54 precincts, only one had a worse turn out than ours in the last election.  Of 3,178 registered voters, only 481 bothered to vote.  As long as we have turn outs like this, we will never be taken seriously.

The county’s red headed step child is being negatively impacted again

The IR County School Board is planning to divide Vero Lake Estates in half. The proposed plan will have our children re-zoned so that half will go to Storm Grove and the other half to Sebastian River Middle School. There will be ONE local parents meeting at Treasure Coast Elementary this Thursday, February 3rd at 6pm in the cafeteria. This will be our opportunity to speak as a community and express our feelings. The school board’s intent for this meeting is to help soften the blow by trying to justify their decision to us.

The line they have picked is 85^th street. But only west to I 95. Fellsmere is not affected by this change. All children living south of 85^th street that will be attending Junior High will be re-zoned to Storm Grove.

It would seem as though they didn’t look at the geographic layout of VLE when this line was drawn. We are our own entity, and do not physically connect directly with any other community. Those living south of this line must cross it just to get out of VLE. The distance to Storm Grove is much greater than Sebastian River Middle; therefore, it may create a hardship for some, as well as costing the county more for bus transportation. Segregation laws of 1968, and student numbers for both schools were key factor in their decision making.

There are many more arguments that can be made for leaving our children alone than there are to move them out. But, without your voice, they are more freely allowed to do what they want. Remember that a show of numbers is a show of strength, and that this is OUR community!

Whether or not you are directly affected by this proposed change, we need to let the political powers know we have a voice, and that we stand strong together. Please join your neighbors defend their right to let their children attend our local school. Treasure Coast Elementary, this Thursday, February 3rd at 6pm in the cafeteria