Letters and feedback: April 18, 2019

BPS stance 'dismissive' toward teachers

At the April 9 Brevard County school board meeting, board member Ms. Belford spoke in public comment regarding a recent podcast she heard regarding polarization of groups due to contempt. Specifically how contempt stops progress, and that when people fail to separate ideas from people, contempt is the result. The entire comment can be found online.

I would like to point out that the Brevard Federation of Teachers, BFT, and teachers have been attempting to communicate with the board for at least 10 years and have been politely ignored. School board meetings appear more contentious of late, but the problem is not the inability of the board to reach solutions with BFT because of "showboating." The inability of the board to reach solutions is because they are choosing not to.

Inadequate pay, bad discipline policy, and lack of safety are just a few reasons teachers are leaving, called the "silent strike." At a previous board meeting, several teachers and I addressed a concern we saw in our district safety plan. Only one board member, Matt Susin, contacted us and was interested in talking about problems we saw and how they could be addressed. The district spokesman's response was to call us "scared teachers" on the news. Is that focusing on ideas separate from people?

While I believe that every member of BPS wants to do what is best for our students, our board and district took an antagonistic, dismissive stance toward BPS teachers long before the latest school board meetings.

Marcy Cipolletti, Titusville

Cheaper ways to help the lagoon

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is really one very big shallow pond — that is, it contains relatively stagnant water. The problem with ponds is: they are prone to suffer from a smothering growth of algae.

As we know, the IRL has been experiencing excessive algae blooms that are unsightly to say the least and have resulted in massive fish kills. On the other hand, a certain level of algae keeps a pond healthy. Multifaceted approaches to dealing with this problem are underway with costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yet, there is a simple and cheap solution that has been used to control pond algae for probably a hundred years: the addition of 1 part per million of copper ions. I suggest that an airplane could spray copper sulfate over the IRL for less than $1 million to control the algae and make the water safe for fish and humans, too. In addition to this method being cheaper, we would see results in weeks instead of decades.

Russell Reinhard, Melbourne

Alzheimer's disease a crisis for all

There are more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and 16 million unpaid Alzheimer’s caregivers. Among them are the 560,000 living in Florida and their 1.1 million caregivers. As an Alzheimer’s Association advocate, it is my honor to represent them.

I recently attended the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement Advocacy Forum in Washington, D.C., where I met with Rep. Bill Posey to explain why Congress must continue to prioritize legislative action against Alzheimer’s.

I urged Rep. Posey to support funding for increased Alzheimer’s disease research and to cosponsor the Improving HOPE for Alzheimer's Act (HR 1873). This bipartisan piece of legislation will educate clinicians on care planning services available under Medicare and on the care planning billing code (99483) that was originally established in the 114th under the original HOPE for Alzheimer's Act.

It’s only through adequately funding research and policies like the Improving HOPE for Alzheimer's Act that we can meet the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease — to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s by 2025.

If you don’t think Alzheimer’s affects you, think again. Alzheimer’s costs taxpayers more than $22 million dollars every hour. Please join me in thanking Rep. Posey for signing on to champion Alzheimer’s legislation by investing in policies that address Alzheimer’s as the public health crisis that it is.   

John Cotugno, Vero Beach

'Hypocrites' and sanctuary cities

I would like to know how many Americans are tired of the constant bickering and lack of respect for each other in our government. If the Democrats do not believe that the overwhelming number of immigrants should not be sent to their illegal "sanctuary cities," they should be coming up with an immigration policy acceptable to their Republican counterparts.

I can not see how those same members of Congress can howl so loudly about other individuals breaking laws (Trump) when they (as members of the federal government), are breaking federal law by encouraging these sanctuary cities. What hypocrites.

Garey Hartman, Melbourne

Good idea gone bad?

The phrase "It seemed to be a good idea at the time," a rueful quote by the late, great Steve McQueen in "The Magnificent Seven," eloquently demonstrates that dire consequences can arise out of the best motives.

A case in point is the Electoral College. To be fair, it helps somewhat to realize that the same people who framed it also felt that burning witches and slavery were good ideas at the time.

In today's world the notion of a few selected know-it-alls declaring the loser of an election to have won is hard to understand. The worth of any formula must be judged by the results it produces; each time in recent years the Electoral College has been invoked against the voters — in 2000, 2004 and 2016 — a disaster ensued. The only thing impeding conversion to a more rational method is the backbone, or lack thereof, of the legislature. If the status quo remains, why are all of us asked to vote if our decision is to be simply reversed by the few?

David Platt, Palm Bay