The Ponte Vedra Beaches Coalition hosted two speakers on Monday, Oct. 28 at the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library. Both guests spoke about two very different but central topics to the region — education and sea level rise.
The meeting first welcomed Kelly Barrera, the St. Johns County School District Board Chair representing district 4. Barrera discussed the long history of excellence in education for the area and what she’d like to see improved going forward.
“One of the things that I’d like to impress is that we've been doing education for 150 years,” Barrera said. “There's not only a lot of history in Saint Augustine, there's a lot of history in our school district. So, we've made a 150 years’ worth of mistakes, a 150 years’ worth of strides, and a 150 years’ worth of learning.”
While the district has been A-rated for 14 years, Barrera said she is concerned for trends aimed at disenfranchising teachers. Recently, she said, teachers are faced with catering to every student’s learning needs while meeting state standards and adhering to an increasing demand for school safety and health care needs.
“Teachers today have to make sure each child is successful in every area,” Barrera said. “Being a teacher is the hardest thing ever right now. Not only are our teachers being expected to do those different learning paths and bring it every day in the best and most positive way, but they're also expected to make sure no one's mistreating you at home.”
Barrera is concerned about a lack of incentive for graduates to become teachers or stay in teaching positions. According to the U.S Census Bureau, college students are 32% less likely to major in education since 1975.
Additionally, Barrera stated that many schools across the state are dealing with overcrowding, particularly St. Johns County. Some districts are even going so far as to give up on complying to the class size amendment.
“Palm Valley Academy is a brand new school and they've already gotten 18 portables.” Barrera said.
In an effort to keep up with the growing school population, Barrera said the school board has taken a “bridge loan” to help expedite the building of two new schools.
“There's a lot of growth in our area,” Barrera said. “The great thing about our schools is that everybody wants to come. The difficult thing about our schools is that everybody wants to come, and so our job in education is to provide a seat for every child.”
While the area is doing well at securing its children’s future, it may not working as hard at securing the future for itself.
Thomas Ruppert is a Coastal Planning Specialist with the Florida Sea Grant College Program in Miami. His work focuses on understanding the legal, financial, political and social contexts involved in planning around coastal hazards. These hazards include storm surges, storm flooding, tidal flooding and erosion, as impacted by increasing sea levels.
Ruppert said there are three ways of addressing sea level rise. One is coastal management, which includes beach renourishment programs and protection. Another, he calls “accommodating,” which, although costly, includes implementing drainage fixtures and city sewage system management.
“The last approach is kind of the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about, which is, we move,” Ruppert said. “This is going to happen in large scales, eventually. If we don't talk about it, it’s going to be really ugly.”
Particularly, Ruppert pointed out that it isn’t feasible to hold the local government accountable for accommodating private properties circumscribed by coastal erosion damages. Cases where roads leading to oceanfront houses have eroded away show how little money and liability county governments have when funding improvement projects.
“Part of it is a misperception by many people,” Ruppert said. “Many (people) claim, ‘Well, I have a property right.’ Well, sure, you have property rights. It's in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution where it says, 'Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.' The Fifth Amendment private property rights in the Constitution protect you from the government, however. They don't protect you from the Atlantic Ocean.”
While Ruppert said property values have yet to be affected, sea level rise happening.
“Even if you don’t agree with them, we need to start talking about things,” Ruppert said. “There are no easy answers. Please help our politicians because if we don’t demand it, they will not.”
For more information on the Ponte Vedra Beaches Coalition or view the agenda for the next meeting, visit pvbcoalition.org.
