I wasn’t planning to write about Vero Beach High School football coach Lenny Jankowski’s controversial play calling near the end of the Fighting Indians’ devastating, last-second loss in the state football championship game earlier this month.
But as I prepared to begin my holiday-season wish list for New Year 2026, I couldn’t ignore the swarm of vicious and depraved verbal attacks targeting Jankowski on Facebook in the aftermath of his team’s gut-wrenching defeat.
Many of the posters demanded Jankowski be fired. Some questioned his football IQ. Others were less polite.
He deserved no such hostility.
You want to blame him for the loss? Fine, that comes with the job.
You want to question his end-game strategy, not trusting the players he had trusted all season, and all game, to get one last first down to clinch the title? That’s fair, too.
You want to criticize his decision in the final seconds to intentionally take a safety that handed a fiercely competitive Lake Mary team its only chance to win the game in regulation time? You’re not alone.
But the venomous tone of the response was way over the top – and it was well beneath the dignity and decorum of a community many of us still believe is special, dragging the team’s Rockwellian playoff run into the social-media sewer.
We’re supposed to be better than that, despite a decade-long deterioration of our national discourse and the damage done by internet platforms that encourage conflict.
Truth is, Jankowski has been a successful coach in the 15 years since his arrival Vero, where he has compiled a 143-26 record. He cares deeply about his players, and they want to play for him – something we can’t take too lightly in an era of school choice.
And, as it turned out, he was 72 seconds and one freakish Hail Mary pass from completing the best football season in school history.
It’s understandable that fans would be disappointed, especially with Vero entering the game undefeated, coming off a rousing overtime triumph at home in the semifinals, and coming so close to its first state championship in 44 years.
But, people, we’re talking about high school football. Life goes on. There will be another season next year.
So, No. 1 on my wish list for 2026?
Let’s try to be a little kinder in the way we speak to each other – a little more understanding and compassionate – and not succumb to the bad examples being set by too many politicians and the temptations of social media.
- While we’re on the topic of more civil discourse, let’s hope Sheriff Eric Flowers presents a more reasonable proposal and embraces a more cooperative tone when he comes before County Commission to discuss his 2026-27 fiscal year budget. That wasn’t the case this year.
The way Flowers’ arrogance filled the chamber as he demanded a massive budget increase, you’d have thought he was a wildly popular second-term sheriff – not a politically damaged incumbent who survived the Republican primary only because the opposition vote was divided between two challengers.
He also benefitted from a deeply flawed Florida election law that allowed a no-chance write-in candidate to close the primary, thus preventing half of the county’s voters from choosing their sheriff.
You’d think Flowers would have been humbled by such a tainted victory.
He wasn’t. - Staying with the Sheriff’s Office, we need the State Attorney’s Office to do more than merely investigate every detail of what happened during the tragic Bermuda Club shooting in November, when Deputy Terri Sweeting-Mashkow and local locksmith David Long were fatally wounded by a shooter while carrying out a court-ordered eviction.
We need investigators to conduct a thorough examination of the agency’s policies and, if necessary, provide recommendations to reduce the chances of similar outcomes in the future.
We need to know if this incident was preventable. - This might be wishing for too much, given what we’ve seen from Tallahassee in recent years, but we should at least hope state lawmakers are smart enough to realize the damage that would be done by eliminating or significantly reducing property taxes for owner-occupied homes.
Surely, they realize that counties, cities and school districts depend on those revenues to fund their budgets.
Opponents cite the consequences of eliminating or sharply reducing property taxes, saying county and municipal services would be impacted, as would fiscal stability.
Locally, both the Vero Beach and county governments operate under budgets with little fat and rely heavily on property taxes to cover operational costs. Thus, any such reform could require local governments to reduce services that could drastically impact our quality of life.
Cuts in law enforcement, fire-rescue, public works and recreation are all possible, depending on what legislators approve during their 2026 session.
Whatever is approved, if anything, the proposals would be placed on a statewide referendum on the November general election ballot, where they would need the support of 60 percent of voters to pass. - We cannot take David Moore for granted. He’s the best school superintendent in Florida. He might be the best in America.
Not only has he transformed our once-underachieving school district into one of the state’s best – the Florida Department of Education has awarded it an “A” rating for three consecutive years – but what he has done in recent weeks is sure to draw attention.
Confronting a declining enrollment, the School Board earlier this month unanimously approved Moore’s plan to rezone and restructure schools to better utilize the district’s facilities.
The plan involves changes at 11 district schools, including Vero Beach High School, the Freshman Learning Center and Indian River Prep Academy.
“It’s time for us to embrace innovation,” Moore said.
Innovation has been at the core of Moore’s wildly successful mission here – and it’s only a matter of time before some big-city district, in Florida or across America, makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
Let’s hope he and his wife enjoy living here as much as they say they do. - The first session between Vero Beach’s negotiating team and the city’s chosen developer for the Three Corners project is expected to take place in January – and, at this point, there’s every reason to be optimistic.
City officials have been pushing for this development for more than six years. The now-merged partnerships headed by Clearpath Services and Madison Marquette were among the initial groups that submitted proposals.
Both sides have overcome obstacles. Both sides seem to want to do this.
Will there be hiccups?
Probably, but the city couldn’t be in a better position entering the negotiations, knowing the combined financial, construction and operational capabilities of the developer.
Let’s hope somebody doesn’t screw it up. - Something I’d like to see happen in the new year? County leaders get serious about confronting the affordable housing crisis in our community.
That’s probably not going to happen – because it’s a difficult problem to solve and nobody seems to want to make any meaningful commitment – but it would be nice if all the talk amongst members of all the committees actually led to action.
And, yes, any genuine effort must come from the county, which has the land, if not the funding.
The city’s best chance to address the matter was rejected by Vero Beach voters 13 months ago, when 65 percent of them opposed a referendum to more than double the residential density in the downtown core.
Still, new apartment complexes are popping up all over our community. The rents, however, are unaffordable for too many workers here. - Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, at some point during the coming year, we could see a plan to rebuild the Humiston Beach Boardwalk finalized and fully funded?
Even with contributions from the city, county, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and local donors – including a donation of $450,000 worth of construction materials from Clayton Sembler’s CDS Manufacturing company – the city is nearly $2 million short of covering the project’s $4 million-plus price tag.
But there’s still time to make up the difference.
Donations can be made through the Indian River Community Foundation. - Finally, I’d like to wish all of us a happy and healthy 2026.
