🌅 🎓 School Board Shakeup & 💡 New Bookstore in Stuart

It’s Friday! We made it! Let’s jump right in! Alright…

⚽ Event I missed: Free girls soccer event (ages 9-19) at McChesney Park, 2-5pm on Saturday, November 22nd. Guest speakers include Olympic Gold Medalist Staci Wilson and former England International Julie Hemsley. Register here.

👁️ Caught my eye: The Eustace Mansion Christmas lights on Hutchinson Island won't be happening this year. The family's husband passed away earlier this year and it was always his idea to light up their home for the community. What a gift it was for many years.

🎽 Sunland Brand: If you haven't already, join the waiting list!

Alright, let's jump right in!

☀️ Day: High of 81°F | Drizzle early. Afternoon mix of sun and cloud. 30% chance of rain
🌙 Night: Low of 60°F | A few clouds. Winds light and variable. 17% chance of rain.
🌅 Sunrise: 6:47 AM | 🌇 Sunset: 5:27 PM
🌙 Moonrise: 8:06 AM | 🌚 Moonset: 6:19 PM
🎶 Sounds like: "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" — Erykah Badu featuring Common

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Every November, Florida school boards reorganize by electing leadership for the coming year. Monday night's vote in St. Lucie County revealed tensions about fairness and representation.

How it works: State law requires school boards to elect a chair each November. The vice chair is optional. These roles are largely procedural—running meetings, signing documents, serving as spokesperson. All five board members have equal voting power, but the positions carry symbolic weight.

What happened: Troy Ingresol was unanimously re-elected chair. Jennifer Richardson lost the vice chair vote 3-2. Debbie Holly won.

Dr. Donna Mills, who nominated Richardson, called it "unfair, dishonest, biased, and disrespectful" to pass over Richardson after six years while other long-serving members have all had turns. Mills connected it to her own experience as the first Black woman on the board, noting the rotation "stopped" when she joined.

Teresa Aronson said leadership should be "earned" based on collaborative ability, not tenure. Troy Ingresol cited concerns about Richardson's relationship with the superintendent.

Richardson pushed back, pointing to Ingresol and Holly's public comments during her re-election campaign: "You were out there campaigning against a sitting board member." To Aronson: "I am an elected official. I'm not elected to be friends with anybody."

Watch Richardson's full response here.

Also passed: A new Name, Image, and Likeness policy allowing student athletes to profit from their NIL, and naming the new Western Grove K-8 school "Tradition Lakes K-8."

St. Lucie County will update its nepotism policy to match state law after commissioners James Clasby and Erin Lowry appointed each other's relatives to citizen boards. County Administrator George Landry says the policy will clarify that relatives can serve on boards, but commissioners can't appoint their own family members, which means Clasby and Lowry didn't violate state law.

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

LA Fitness plans to close its Stuart location at 1901 NW U.S. 1 on Dec. 17, leaving Port St. Lucie as the only remaining Treasure Coast location. The gym was popular with seniors using Medicare's SilverSneakers program because of its pool, and the closure comes two years after LA Fitness shut down another Port St. Lucie location in Tradition.

👉 Read more (TCPalm)

Goodwill of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast opened its first bookstore on the east coast of Florida at 2038 South Federal Highway in Stuart. The 8,170-square-foot store offers thousands of gently used books at low prices across every genre and is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

👉 Read more (WPTV)

If you have an event, send it to me here

Super happy and proud to launch this week for Sunland Brand. Can't thank y'all enough. I appreciate anyone who has told a friend, registered on the waitlist, or just supported from afar. Thank you!

P.S. Quick programming note: Next week, I will be writing the newsletter for both Monday and Tuesday. However, I will be taking off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday next week. So, just FYI

See you Monday!
With Love, Ja’Min

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