A primary goal of SDIRC at-home learning is to support continued schooling during school closures, while also ensuring students have access to the types of instruction that best meet the needs of each student and their family.

As we approach the end of our spring break week, I’m reaching out to update you on the work that is being done within our District, and what you can expect in the coming weeks as we implement our Instructional Provision Plan on March 31st, and your child utilizes the plan at home.

Watch Dr. Moore's press conference where he shared coronavirus updates and the Instructional Provision Plan.

Are you curious about how many people in your community are responding to the 2020 Census? This spring, you'll be able stay up to date with a map of self-response rates from across the United States.

To keep our students engaged in learning, and provide them with reading materials while schools are closed, all School media centers will be open for an optional book checkout on Friday, March 20th from 10:00 a.m.- 2 p.m. Students must check out books from the media center located in the school they are currently attending. Please enter the school through the main office.

As of 5:10 p.m., the State Board of Education announced new directives for schools to remain closed through April 15th. Following spring break, we will be activating our Instructional Provision Plan.

In preparation for activation of our Instructional Provision Plan, which will allow students to access assignments and resources while our campuses are closed, we will be checking out laptops at six different school locations to students WHO DO NOT HAVE A DEVICE IN THEIR HOME.

There are many options for connecting to the Internet during this time. We have provided three options with directions for each assist you in getting connected..

We are now expanding our meal options to include a snack and evening meal option. You can pick up your snack and evening meal from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. at the school locations, below.

As of 4 p.m. today, the State Board of Education ordered the closure of all schools next week Monday 3/16-3/20, and the following week, 3/23-3/27, which is our scheduled spring break. Starting Monday 3/16, and extending throughout the 2 week school closure, all school-related activities, including athletics, are canceled. If school closures should extend beyond the 2 week period, at that time, we will activate our instructional provision plan and provide more information regarding access to devices. Food buses will be at summer stop locations starting Monday 3/16, to provide lunch to children 18 and younger. Starting Wednesday, breakfast will be added to our food bus options. Schedules and stop locations will be provided on our website and social media platforms. All 12 month employees are required to report to work next week. This is is a step that is being ordered across the state in order to ensure the health and safety of our community. Additional updates will be forthcoming.

As the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak rapidly evolves and expands, the School District of Indian River County is continuing to follow the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health on the most effective prevention measures.

Following the recommendations of the CDC, Health Department, and Florida Department of Education our School Choice Expo on 3/14 has been CANCELED

SDIRC has been in the media sharing its strategies and proactive measures in place to address the Coronavirus.

Frederick Douglass was born into Maryland slavery in 1817 to a slave mother and a slave master father. Young Douglass toiled on a rural plantation and later in Baltimore’s shipyards as a caulker. Douglass, however, learned to read and soon sought out abolitionist literature that alleviated what he termed the graveyard of his mind.

Robert F. Smith is best known as the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a multi-billion-dollar private equity and wealth management company that employs over thirty thousand people around the world and focuses on the growth of firms that develop enterprise software. Forbes ranked him as the 268th richest person in the United States in 2015 and the second richest black person behind Oprah Winfrey. Smith was born in Denver, Colorado, on December 1, 1962, to educators Dr. William Robert Smith and Dr. Sylvia Myrna Smith. When Smith was a toddler, his mother took him to the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Smith attended Carson Elementary School and Gove Jr. High School in Denver before graduating from Denver’s East High School. In high school, he applied for a summer internship at Bell Labs but was told the position was for college students. After much persistence, however, he got the position and that summer he developed a reliability test for semiconductors. Smith earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University in New York. Afterward, he worked as an engineer for Air Products and Chemicals, The Goodyear Tire, and Kraft General Foods. Smith holds two patents in the United States: one for a coffee brewer filtration device and coffee brewing element in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Smith enrolled in the Columbia University School of Business and earned an M.B.A in 1994 with concentrations in finance and marketing. Smith joined Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions in New York City in 1994 and then moved to the San Francisco/ Silicon Valley area of California in 1997 to start Goldman Sachs’s mergers and acquisitions office there. As co-head of enterprise systems and storage with Goldman Sachs, he executed or advised on over $50 billion in M&A activity with companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, eBay, and Yahoo. Smith left Goldman Sachs in 2000 to found his own company, Vista Equity Partners. The company has had over one hundred and forty completed transactions since its founding. Vista Equity Partners have managed funds for hundreds of limited partners, some of which include prominent public, private, and corporate pension plans, endowments, family offices, and people with high net worth. Buyout Magazine in 2012 awarded the company the Gold Medal as the top performing Vintage Buyout Fund in the United States. Smith is also a philanthropist. He founded Project Realize which is a national effort to help inner-city companies implement specific operational improvements. He is a member of the Leadership Circle for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.; an active supporter of, COMP (Children’s Opportunities for Music Participation) in Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas; and a trustee of the Boys and Girls Clubs in San Francisco, California.

Former Congresswoman Carrie Meek was born on April 29, 1926, in Tallahassee, Florida. The granddaughter of a slave and the daughter of former sharecroppers, she spent her childhood in segregated Tallahassee. Meek graduated from Florida A&M University in 1946.

Many questions about the Census have to do with concerns are about privacy and security. The information on this page comes from 2020Census.gov and gives important information about the laws in place to keep your information confidential and safe.

SDIRC Families, With Coronavirus spreading to more countries, we want to be proactive in planning for the possibility of a pandemic in our county. Rest assured, our District has a plan in place to assure the health safety of our students and staff. We are working in partnership with our local Health Department to stay informed with accurate and up to date information regarding the virus. Our regular daily cleaning schedules will continue in all of our schools and buildings, using hospital grade disinfectants and our state of the art cleaning technology. Our schools are armed with information regarding the Coronavirus, and all staff members are well informed. Please have a conversation with your student at home, and review some of the information regarding preventive measures that can be taken to protect their health. The safety of our students and staff members is our number one priority, and we are prepared to manage this pandemic should one occur in our county.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was the first black writer in America to earn his living from writing. Born in Joplin, Missouri, he had a migratory childhood following his parents' separation, spending time in the American Mid-West and Mexico.

In an era when NASA is led by an African American man (Administrator Charles Bolden) and a woman (Deputy Administrator Dava Newman), and when recent NASA Center Directors come from a variety of backgrounds, it's easy to overlook the people who paved the way for the agency's current robust and diverse workforce and leadership. Those who speak of NASA's pioneers rarely mention the name Dorothy Vaughan, but as the head of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) segregated West Area Computing Unit from 1949 until 1958, Vaughan was both a respected mathematician and NASA's first African-American manager.

Boxer Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1878. In 1908 he became the first African American to win the world heavyweight crown when he knocked out the reigning champ, Tommy Burns. The fast-living Johnson held on to the title until 1915 and continued to box until he was 50. He died in an automobile accident in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1946.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, better known as the NAACP, was established in February 1909 in response to a violent race riot in Illinois the year prior. Today, the civil rights organization boasts a membership of more than 300,000 continuing its quest to speak for the disenfranchised.

Maj. Gen. Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., (USMC-Ret.) was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 12th Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He began his duties as head of the agency on July 17, 2009. As Administrator, Bolden leads a nationwide NASA team to advance the missions and goals of the U.S. space program.

Being handpicked to be one of three black students to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools is something that many people would consider one of their life’s most notable moments, but it’s just one of several breakthroughs that have marked Katherine Johnson’s long and remarkable life.

Sidney Poitier broke racial barriers and stereotyping in the film industry to become the leading African American male actor of the 20th Century.  In a career that spanned 57 years, Poitier was a featured performer or starred in 48 films and directed six.

GPS or the Global Positioning System is something that we use every day. From finding your local supermarket, checking your directions if you get lost or mapping out your daily commute to avoid traffic, GPS is with us everywhere we go. It has literally changed the way we work, play and live.

Alonzo S. Gaither, who built a powerful athletic machine at Florida A&M University, the state’s only public historically black university, is known as the winningest coach of his era. His pioneering coaching tactics propelled FAMU’s athletic program beyond the parameters of the HBCU universe into the broader American culture, with the team’s stellar performance being covered on sports pages of daily mainstream and black niche newspapers across the country. Coach Gaither is historically regarded as a great motivator who used the football field as his “laboratory” to develop players’ character and refine their talents in order to help them reach their fullest life potential.

On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to that office. He was subsequently elected to a second term over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Joseph W. Hatchett, an award-winning Florida attorney, made history as the state’s first Black Supreme Court justice. Hatchett was also the first Black justice appointed to the federal court of appeals in the south as well. To this day, Hatchett still works to promote diversity in the legal profession.

The first swim team included (standing, L-R) Roy Beard, Eddie Graham, Edward Holifield, Bishop Holifield, Charles Rambo, Manuel Rivas, Ulysees Pittman; and James Barnes. Kneeling are Ricky Eubanks, Eugene Cromer, Ellis Carr, Hansel Tookes, M. Raines, and Raymond Williams. Robinson Trueblood Swimming Pool on Dade Street was built by the city in response to wade-ins by blacks at all white pools. It was the only pool where blacks could swim and train as lifeguards.

Critically acclaimed actor Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem New York City, New York on December 19, 1933. She is the daughter of William and Theodosia Tyson. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a domestic. Her parents were immigrants from Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies.

Prior to the Tallahassee student sit-ins of 1960, the Tallahassee Bus Boycott took place in 1956, patterned after the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started with the refusal of Rosa Parks to surrender her bus seat to a white person. Tallahassee was sometimes called the “little Mississippi” where segregation was prominent.

The results of the 2020 Census will help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade. That funding shapes many different aspects of every community, no matter the size, no matter the location.

On Jan. 23, 1963, Patricia Stephens Due was arrested in the segregated lobby of the Florida Theater in Tallahassee for entering the whites-only section. Although the city dropped the case, Stephens Due filed a suit against the city for their support of racial apartheid.

Virgil Darnell Hawkins graduated from Edward Waters College in Jacksonville in 1930. He served as a teacher and principal in Lake County before eventually becoming the public relations director for Bethune-Cookman College

John Milledge was one of the first black officers to serve in Dade County. Hired in 1944 by the City of Miami to patrol the “ Central Negro District,” he later became the first black officer in the history of Dade County to be killed in the line of duty.

Zora Neale Hurston, novelist and folklorist, is born in Notasulga, Alabama. Although at the time of her death in 1960, Hurston had published more books than any other black woman in America, she was unable to capture a mainstream audience in her lifetime, and she died poor and alone in a welfare hotel.

The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Infantry was a volunteer Union regiment organized in the American Civil War. Its members became known for their bravery and fierce fighting against Confederate forces. It was the second all-black Union regiment to fight in the war, after the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

We are excited to announce that we are partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to support the 2020 Census. As a partner, we will be working to make sure our community is accurately represented in the upcoming decennial count. This page contains some FAQ and general information about the Census.

Eartha M. M. White was a humanitarian, businesswoman and philanthropist from Jacksonville. She created educational opportunities and provided relief to African-Americans in northeastern Florida. White helped found several organizations and institutions, including the Clara White Mission, Mercy Hospital and the Boy's Improvement Club. She was designated as a Great Floridian by the Florida Department of State in the year 2000.

Professional basketball superstar Kobe Bryant played for the Los Angeles (California) Lakers since 1996 when he came to the team as an eighteen-year-old, the youngest player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history, until his retirement in 2016. Bryant was a long-time philanthropist, using his well-known name to raise funds for a number of causes.

Mr. Walter MacNeal Jackson was a dedicated, compassionate and generous man who was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a successful citrus grove owner, entrepreneur, and served Indian River County and his community in various capacities.

Lift Every Voice and Sing – often called “The Black National Anthem” – was written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and then set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) in 1899. It was first performed in public in the Johnsons’ hometown of Jacksonville, Florida as part of a celebration of Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12, 1900 by a choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal.

Maya Angelou was a poet, writer, performer, and teacher. In 2000, Angelou was honored with the Presidential Medal of the Arts; she received the Ford’s Theatre Lincoln Medal in 2008. Click to read more about this extraordinary woman and her many contributions to our nation.

Born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, Carter G. Woodson was the second African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard, after W.E.B. Du Bois. Known as the "Father of Black History," Woodson dedicated his career to the field of African-American history and lobbied extensively to establish Black History Month as a nationwide institution.

Last year, the Vero Beach Elks Lodge and the Sebastian Elks Lodge donated 32 "Stop the Bleed" kits to the Indian River County School District. Stop the Bleed Kits are specifically designed to treat traumatic injuries, and we are thankful to have the ability to be prepared to treat an injury of this nature. Last year's donation placed 2 kits in each high school and 1 kit in each elementary and middle school. This year, the Elks were able to purchase 29 additional kits to provide to our district. Thank you, to the Elks, for your invaluable partnership!

The School District of Indian River County invites stakeholders to join the Positive Climate and Discipline Advisory Team (PCDAT). The purpose of the PCDAT members will be to review and provide input for the revision of the Positive Climate and Discipline Code of Student Conduct for the 2020-2021 school year.

Piper Aircraft will be hosting an informational session for prospective apprentices (parents / guardians and significant others welcome) on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. at the Piper Aircraft factory in Vero Beach. The session will include a brief presentation, the opportunity to meet with current apprentices as well as program coordinators. Additionally, guidance will be provided on the application process and timing. Please e-mail: apprentice@piper.com to reserve a spot for the information session or call: 772-299-2859.

The Indian River Regional Science Fair is looking for judges! The Regional Science Fair date is January 25th at Gifford Middle School.

Congratulations to Rodney McGriff, November's Veteran of the Month. Rodney joined the Navy in 1986. Rodney states that the Navy gave him the opportunity to learn valuable skills and various trades. During his time in the Navy, he had the chance to sail around the world 3 times- with over 1 year and 6 months of sea time.

Congratulations to our Veteran of the Month for October Dillion Roberts. Dillon is a longtime resident of Vero Beach, and comes from a long-line of service members in his family. He and his wife, Sara Beth, have two sons, and their passion is being outdoors and fishing. Dillon enlisted in the Army following 9/11, and went to basic training at Fort Benning, GA after finishing his MBA.

Congratulations to our 2019-2020 High Impact Grant Winners! We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the projects and ideas that the High Impact Grants are enabling! Thank you to the Education Foundation of Indian River County for your continued support of our school district!

Out of the three days that were missed due to Hurricane Dorian, the Governor waived one day, and, as pre-determined "emergency days" on our SDIRC instructional calendar, the Board voted to use November 25th and November 26th as Hurricane Dorian make-up days.

The State Student Ridership survey takes place next week Monday-Friday, Oct 7-11th. If you are registered to ride our District’s buses, please be sure to ride the school bus a minimum of one day next week in either the morning or afternoon. The ridership survey is a mandatory requirement to be eligible for state funding, and we want to be sure that all of our students registered for transportation services are accounted for!

Join us as we set a meeting timeline and assemble the 2020-2021 Instructional Calendar Committee. Your input is important!

Robert was born in Vero Beach in 1984, and graduated from Vero Beach High School in 2002. He joined the United States Army, serving 3 combat tours in Iraq. Robert was awarded the Iraqi Campaign Medal with 5-Stars, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Presidential Unit Citation Award, Expert Rifle Badge, and Combat Action Badge.

We've gathered some links to local, state & national resources to help you as we all prepare for Hurrican Dorian.

Mr. Ben Humphries, is our Veteran of the Month for the month of August. Ben served in the US Army as a Staff Sgt. from 1967-1971, and the U.S. Army Reserve from 1973-1975.

We are proud to announce our Veteran of the Month for July, Jim Burk! Jim is a 30-year resident of Florida and a veteran of the U. S. Coast Guard. Through his 20-year association with the American Legion and American Legion Riders, holding the offices of Post Commander, District Vice Commander, Eastern Area Commander and Department (State of Florida) Riders Director, Jim has been instrumental in encouraging the local Legion Posts to engage in feeding and clothing homeless Veterans with much needed help from the community.

Tuttle Law recognized at the Commissioner’s Business Recognition Awards. Mr. Tuttle is a local attorney in Vero Beach, Florida. In the early 90’s, Mr. Tuttle worked in a law firm in Brevard county, and heard of the need for programs and contests specifically for students with disabilities. After running the holiday card contest for 6 years in Brevard county, he moved to Indian River County in 2002, opened his own firm, and carried on the contest, officially naming it the “Tuttle Holiday Card Contest.” For the past 17 years, during the holiday season, hundreds of students have submitted their drawings to the “Tuttle Holiday Card Contest.” Read more on our website's Current News. www.indianriverschools.org

Nicole Haagenson is an Air Force and Florida Air National Guard Veteran who served from 2001 to 2009. She is currently the Director of IT Enterprise Project Managment for Orchid Insurance, a small business headquartered in Vero Beach. Nicole has lived in Vero Beach since 2009 with her fiance Cari Haagenson, an Indian River County Firefighter, and their 5 children.

For the fifth year in a row, the School District of Indian River County (SDIRC) Mobile Cafés will be on the road serving children 18 years and younger with nutritionally balanced lunches at no charge. Visit our website for the schedule. www.indianriverschools.org

The Society for Science & the Public, in partnership with the Intel Foundation, announced Grand Awards of the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair 2019 held during the week of May 12, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. Student winners are ninth through twelfth graders who earned the right to compete at the Intel ISEF 2019 by winning a top prize at a local, regional, state or national science fair.

Families, staff, and community are invited to review the proposed changes for the 2019-2020 Code of Student Conduct. The public hearing will be held during the District School Board business meeting on Tuesday, May 14, 2019, at 6 p.m. at the J.A. Thompson Administrative Center, 6500 57th St., Vero Beach, Florida, in the Joe N. Idlette, Jr. Teacher Education Center. The last date for filing a written objection is April 30, 2019. A copy of the proposed changes is available for review in the office of the School Board Members, and on the website https://www.indianriverschools.org/news/what_s_new/2019-2020_code_of_student_conduct_draft

Congratulations to our April "Veteran of the Month," Bruce Cady, former Director of Operations for the Veterans Council of Indian River County, and founding member of the Next Generation Veterans organization. Bruce served in the USMC from 1992-2001. Thank you for your service, Mr. Cady!

Learn about the summer school programs in the District for students from Pre-K to 12th Grades.

Do not forget, THIS weekend, Saturday, April 6th, is the Moonshot Sports 6th Annual - Read Across the Field - to celebrate the Moonshot Moment! Line up on the SRHS field at 8 a.m. to participate in the aerial photo. The Bill Wilson Indian River County Elementary Track meet will take place at 9 a.m. All athletes in attendance are encouraged to wear their team uniform! Please consider bringing a gently used book to donate!

We want to hear from our parents! Each year the School District surveys our parents and uses the data to make improvements in our schools. The Parent Survey for this year opened on March 25th. Please visit us online to take the survey.

We are excited to announce the launch of our official mobile app designed to enable parents, staff, students, and the community to stay informed and up-to-date on important issues, information, and activities that are underway within our school district.

The Indian River County Tax Collector’s Inaugural Kids Tag Art Program provided our 5th grade students with an opportunity to create their own specialty license plates.

Reverend McIntosh is wonderful member of our veterans community and is a leader throughout the state of Florida. Rev. McIntosh is a member of American Legion Post 181 in Gifford, and was appointed by the City of Vero Beach City Council to serve on the Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary Committee.

The Elks "Americanism" Essay Contest Winners were recognized in a ceremony last night at the Vero Beach Elks Lodge #1774. Congratulations to these students, and good luck to those who moved on to the state competition!Thank you to the Elks Lodge #1774 for your support of our students in Indian River County!

We are pleased to announce that the FortifyFL app is LIVE. Now, any student, educator, parent, or member of the public can report school safety concerns directly to law enforcement and school administrators anonymously and easily through the FortifyFL app or www.getfortifyfl.com.

Our February Veteran of the Month is Jason M Patzer, who served 4.5 years active duty with USMC as an E-4 Non-Commissioned Officer and was honorably discharged. He is one of the founding members of the Next Generation Veterans, Inc. Jason is the Wolf Den leader for the Cub Scout pack 530, organizer of a youth to veteran pen-pal program, and a member and volunteer of the Vero Beach Veterans Social Club. Jason is currently the owner of a multi-inspection home company, “First and Goal Home Inspections,” that has been proudly serving IRC for over 5 years. Jason is married to Marcie Patzer, and has 2 sons, Nathan, who graduated from VBHS and is a Marine Corps “Poolie,” and Hunter, who attends Citrus Elementary, and is a student in the Autism Spectrum Program.

The School District of Indian River County invites stakeholders to join the Positive Climate and Discipline Advisory Team (PCDAT). The purpose of the PCDAT members will be to review, and provide input for the revision of the Positive Climate and Discipline Code of Student Conduct for the 2019-2020 school year.

The School District of Indian River County is excited to announce the launch of our new website. The new site has a clean modern design, improved functionality, and enhanced content focused on providing visitors quick and easy access to the information they need.

Congratulations to our new SDIRC Teacher of the Year, Dr. Nikki Mosblech and SDIRC Employee of the Year, Daisy Rios.

The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) released student graduation rates for the 2017-18 school year. Indian River County improved its graduation rate by almost 5 points; increasing from 87.1% in 2016-2017 to 92% in 2017-2018. This exceeds the State of Florida’s graduation rate by almost 6 percentage points.

Thanks to our partnership with US Fish and Wildlife, and S.E.A a Difference Environmental Services, our elementary, middle, and high school students experienced "Lagoon Days" in different locations on the Indian River Lagoon.

Mr. Douglas Tuttle, from Tuttle Law in Vero Beach, along with Mary-Therese VanHollenbeck, coordinator for Arts 4 All, presented Ms. Colleen Mulchay-Ladyzhinsky, ESE Pre-K teacher at Vero Beach Elementary, with an award for her class who won the Tuttle Holiday Card contest. Mr. Tuttle’s law firm has hosted this contest for several years, providing our students an exciting opportunity to design holiday cards for Tuttle Law. This was the first year an entire class was awarded for their collaborative effort in designing a card. Mr. Tuttle provided gift cards to the Book Center for each student in Ms. Colleen’s class.