🌅 School Merger & What’s Next

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☀️ Day: High of 76°F | Sunny to partly cloudy. Winds NNE at 5-10 mph.
🌙 Night: Low of 56°F | Generally clear. Winds light and variable. 6% chance of rain.
🌅 Sunrise: 7:02 AM | 🌇 Sunset: 5:28 PM
🌙 Moonrise: 12:34 AM | 🌚 Moonset: 12:51 PM
🎶 Sounds like: "Lovely Day" — Bill Withers

Quick reminder: Earlier this year, Sunland News broke the story that three Fort Pierce schools (Dan McCarty Middle, Lawnwood Elementary, and St. Lucie Elementary) might merge into one new K-8 campus. Thursday night, there was a follow-up town hall meeting.

What we learned: The superintendent laid out more details on the proposal. The plan is to consolidate all three schools into one new K-8 campus built on district-owned land next to Dan McCarty (where the track currently is). The $65 million project would be funded by selling off the Lawnwood Elementary property (to Lawnwood Hospital, which has been trying to buy it "forever"), St. Lucie Elementary, and Dale Cassens. The county has already agreed to purchase those properties and convert them to parks and green space. The new school would be identical to the Tradition Lakes K-8 opening in August 2026.

What happens to the current Dan McCarty building: It would become an alternative education campus. Dale Cassens alternative school students and Pride Academy elementary students (currently at the old Garden City location) would move there. The building was completely renovated in 2001 and has good bones, plus access to a gym, athletic fields, and career and technical education programs that alternative ed students currently lack. Eventually, once that transition is complete, the county would purchase the Dan McCarty property too.

Timeline if approved:

The bigger picture: St. Lucie County is growing fast, but not in Fort Pierce. Birth rates in Fort Pierce are declining per the superintendent. Only 3 of Florida's 67 school districts had enrollment growth last year. $5 billion was diverted from public schools to private, charter, and homeschool last year. The district is building Legacy High School (opened August 2025) and a new K-8 near it (opens August 2026). With limited land and funding, they're looking at consolidation as a way to expand and modernize aging schools.

Jobs: The superintendent says nobody will lose their job. The district has 8-10% annual attrition through retirement and people leaving. There's already a teacher shortage and bus driver shortage district-wide. The new Tradition Lakes K-8 opening in August 2026 needs staff.

What's next: The superintendent will present updated options to the school board in the coming months. No vote yet. We'll keep covering it.

Catch up:

It happens every year. People wait until the last day, rush through the options, and end up with insurance that either costs too much or doesn't actually cover what they need.

Then they're stuck with it for 12 months.

Daisy Alexander is a local insurance agent with S.E. Benchmark Insurance Agency here in St. Lucie County. She helps people figure out what plan actually makes sense for them - not just what sounds cheapest on paper.

JetBlue became the second commercial airline serving Vero Beach Regional Airport with daily flights to New York's JFK and Boston's Logan airports, both running about 75% full on their inaugural day Thursday. The airline offered a promotion of $69 tickets for two days following the launch, and American Eagle will become the third carrier serving Vero Beach when it begins twice-weekly Charlotte flights in February.

👉 Read more (Vero News)

Ground broke on the Treasure Coast School for Autism in Port St. Lucie, with the campus set to open in August 2026 serving preschool through second grade before adding a grade each year. The school will eventually accommodate 200 students through fifth grade with small class sizes of 10 students maximum and a 3-to-1 student-to-adult ratio, with future phases planned for middle and high school students plus an 18-to-22-year-old job training program.

👉 Read more (WQCS)

Martin County commissioners approved a 10-year lease for the Martin County Fair Association to relocate from Stuart to about 31 acres near Indiantown High School, with the new fairgrounds expected to open in February 2028. The move, funded partly by $1.7 million in state grants, will include space for rides, livestock, parking for 1,500 vehicles, and a building with offices, bathrooms, and exhibition space, though commissioners Sarah Heard and Eileen Vargas voted against the lease citing ambiguities in the agreement.

👉 Read more (TCPalm, TCPalm subscription may be required)

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See you Monday!
With Love, Ja’Min

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