Less than three months into her tenure as a Flagler County School Board member, Sally Hunt was courting Dusty Sims, the former Flagler Palm Coast High School principal, as a replacement for Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt, according to Hunt herself.
The meetings were conducted neither with the board’s approval nor its knowledge. The meetings were taking place even as Hunt portrayed herself as neutral on Mittelstadt’s future. The superintendent’s contract expires at the end of June. The board is awaiting Mittelstadt’s self-evaluation and will conduct its own evaluations, all due this month, plus one-on-one meetings between the board members and Mittelstadt, before deciding whether to extend or not renew the contract.
Hunt has been discussing her plans with Paul Peacock, the Wadsworth Elementary school principal with whom she’s been meeting regularly–and more often than with the superintendent–even though Peacock has a bitter grievance soon to go before the school board, and even though Peacock is threatening litigation stemming from that grievance. Hunt says she is seeking Peacock’s advice on Sims. The three of them were together at least on one occasion, on Feb. 8, at Peacock’s school.
Hunt’s maneuvering contradicts pretenses of neutrality and transparency at school board meetings.
Hunt’s moves are not a surprise. Hunt’s statements during workshops about Mittelstadt’s future were nowhere near supportive, triggering speculations that, as the board’s potential swing voter, she could join Board members Will Furry and Christy Chong to doom the renewal of Mittelstadt’s contract.
Furry and Chong have not said openly that they want to get rid of the superintendent. But they were elected on a platform that overtly attacked the majority that supported Mittelstadt, leaving little room for mystery. Nevertheless, they have been more respectful of the process, seeking to let it play out as outlined. Their vote, as board members, is getting more seasoned by the week and could still be in play: compared to Hunt’s at times bizarre behavior, Furry has emerged as more thoughtful in comparison.
Hunt’s approach has been categorical. By the end of February, rumors about Hunt’s contacts were rampant, but could not be confirmed. Public record requests, including but not limited to those filed by FlaglerLive, sought to trace Hunt’s contact through documents. Hunt has so far refused to turn over her phone to the district’s IT department for downloads of school-business related texts. She has refused numerous requests for comment or interviews, by text, email and phone. The school board attorney said today Hunt has agreed to produce the texts herself, but had not done so.
Documents obtained in the last two weeks fill in blanks. They show when Hunt has checked into Wadsworth Elementary, tracing her frequent meetings with Peacock and others there–at least eight such meetings recorded by the security check-in system, though there may have been more: board members don’t always check in and may be waved in. The same system showed that she checked in nearly at the same time as Sims on February 8, a meeting she described as a “meet and greet,” and according to her, again met him elsewhere on Feb. 16, then met Peacock the next day to discuss Sims.
Rather than release all communication records as requested, Hunt on Monday–four days after she claimed in her own words she had resigned, then un-resigned–issued an email to local media: “Because of recent news/blog articles and inquiries, I’ve done my best to provide context to my SchoolPass logins at Wadsworth, including a couple additional SME (subject matter expert) meetings with other district staff.”
The email included a grid outlining all her Wadsworth visits, with Hunt’s explanation for each. Several involve inquiries into a potential program to arm school staffers. Hunt’s explanation for the Feb. 17 meeting was this: “Requested meeting with Paul Peacock for questions regarding Dusty Sims (from my 2/16 meeting with Dusty to discuss his possible interest in the Flagler Schools superintendent role should the board or Superintendent Mittelstadt not renew the contract).” The parentheses are in Hunt’s original rendition.
Sims, who works with the state Department of Education, has not returned a phone call or a text seeking comment about his meetings. Nor has Hunt. Sims abruptly left the principal’s job a day before the beginning of the 2018-19 school year to take a job at the education department, leaving the district reeling for a replacement and the school in a leadership turmoil for over a year. (“Quite frankly,” School Board member Colleen Conklin said, “I don’t know why we would consider an administrator of our largest high school, who left us the day before school started, to be a superintendent.)
It isn’t clear why Hunt would want to, or need to, discuss Sim’s “possible interest in the Flagler Schools superintendent role” with Peacock. That is only one of the many perceived improprieties of Hunt’s maneuvers disturbing fellow-school board members. In the context of Peacock’s and the district’s currently antagonistic stance regarding his grievance and other issues, Hunt’s close contacts with Peacock complicate the matter further and raise questions about Hunt’s judgment.
Each school board member is assigned a pair of schools to be their board “liaison.” Hunt is assigned Wadsworth and Rymfire Elementary. She has been to Wadsworth at least eight times, in one case for five hours, since January. She has been to Rymfire once.
In the one interview she gave a few weeks ago she said she had difficulties establishing a rapport with the superintendent–not a surprise to most: Mittelstadt is not the back-slapping sort, projecting an austere professionalism that doesn’t brook flummery, though she is approachable and generous with her time. In the span of time she’s met with Peacock eight times, Hunt has met with the superintendent four times outside of scheduled board meetings, according to the superintendent’s calendar. She cancelled at least two meetings since Feb. 9, when the contacts with Sims began and questions about Mittelstadt’s future emerged. Just two days earlier, the board had held a retreat to develop a better rapport.
“I believe that it is extremely not normal for a school board member to be having those kinds of conversations with any staff at any schools at any time, unless it was on the dais and in the sunshine,” School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro said. “To me, it’s it’s very–how can I say this–troubling that a school board member is taking on those responsibilities, beyond their job description pretty much. That concerns me. It’s troubling. I don’t know how to react to that, at that point. Our job as school board members is to deal with policy and oversee daily operations, not to be involved in daily operations. That’s the superintendents job.”
Massaro said Hunt is “putting the horse behind the cart” by seeking her own candidate for a position that, if it comes to that, would likely be open for a national search with its own elaborate process. “I’ve never heard in all my 40-plus years, of this kind of maneuvering for a position that does not yet exist,” Massaro said. (Perhaps not at the school board, but one member of the Flagler Beach City Commission only last month was maneuvering in exactly the same way to replace the city manager there. The maneuver derailed, once it was reported.)
“If you remember when we actually hired Ms. Mittelstadt, how long it took to get to that point, and the people that came from all over the nation who applied and every one of them had been a past superintendent,” Massarto said. “I think that’s certainly the route that would be taken again, and you need community input. Then you come out with individual interviews it’s a laborious process. It’s not just–okay, you’re in.”
Hunt, like any elected official, is free to speak with whoever she pleases, and say whatever she pleases on any platform, including open, public discussions of upcoming matters that may be voted on. But lines can be crossed, or “lanes,” the term currently favored at the district, transgressed.
Notifying an individual of an existing opening in the district is one thing. Soliciting a person is something else: “Now they’re going to be beholden to you,” School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin said. Soliciting or engaging an individual in discussions for the superintendent seat may not be “in the best interest per se” of the district, “because then it becomes a question of whether or not you need to recuse yourself.”
Within that context, “a board member can act in what they believe is in the best interests of their constituents because they are an elected official, but they would not be able to make a representation,” Gavin said. “For example, if she were to request a meeting with Mr. Sims and say, I’m here on behalf of the board, we’d like to know–you see where I’m going? She doesn’t have that purview, to make that kind of a statement. She could have any meeting she wants as a board member, expressing her interest, and possibly that is her purview, because maybe that’s what her constituents are wanting. I don’t know. But if she were to request the meeting on the basis that she is representing the board and the board gave her authority, we would have had to have that out in the sunshine. Or there are other board members meeting out of sunshine to give her that authority, and I don’t think either of those two things happened.”
Chong declined to comment. Furry did not respond to. Conklin, who has been on the school board since 2000, serving with seven superintendents, looking for a superintendent “is typically a board decision that is made through a very outlined process. And if you were to remove a superintendent you would have a process of doing that with interim superintendent, which typically would come from within.” She said she’d reserve further comments until she hears from Hunt. But she said consistency in the superintendent’s office was “critical for student success. It takes three to five years to build any sort of culture or create any sort of systematic change. Three to five years, and in three to five years, we’ve had how many superintendents?”
Jacob Oliva left the district in January 2017 after serving as superintendent since 2013. Jim Tager served from June 2017 to June 2020, when Mittelstadt began.
Mittelstadt’s appointment may have been a surprise to many in the district, who had assumed that Vern Orndorff, a former assistant superintendent, had the inside track. Orndorff, district officials recalled, had lined up his top staff: Peacock and Sims. Peacock had been Orndorff’s assistant principal when Orndorff was principal at Indian Trails Middle School (Marcus San Filippo, now the principal at Bunnell Elementary, was the other assistant principal at ITMS), and Sims was at FPC. Curiously, the only other school Hunt has visited is Bunnell Elementary–twice, at the end of January, and at the end of February, according to records.
Hunt herself remains mum, not only with reporters: she is a rare sight at the school administration, though she has not gone as far as her predecessor and compared people in the building to Satan. She has directed inquiries to her email account.
When queried through her email account, the following message immediately bounces back: “Hello! Thank you for your email. Your message has been received and reviewed. To ensure district staff have full visibility to questions, comments, and concerns; please submit feedback and/or request information via https://www.flaglerschools.
She has not.
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!
Cares about Flagler says
These are bad signs for someone elected to represent the public’s interest in our school system. The article paints her as aloof and secretive. Someone who maneuvers rather than governs. I hope she learns from this and performs at a higher quality, rather than making our community look like we elect or tolerate hacks or hicks.
Unfortunately, we are as a community experiencing a decline in the overall quality of people seeking office at a time when we really need public servant superstars.
Edith Campins says
She still hasn’t stated what her specific issues are with the Ms. Mittelstadt’s performance. This isn’t kindergarten. Hunt’s behavior has been unprofessional to say the least. I am sorry I wasted my vote on her. She is not acting in the best interest of the schools.
Deborah Coffey says
Ditto.
Crooks All Around says
Surprise, surprise…a crooked school board member. How shocking. 🙄
James says
So what? All elected officials are talking to a wide variety of people everyday. Get over it. Mittelstadt hasn’t delivered and has only divided.
This is just the beginning of the mud slinging attacks against Hunt, which is typical and sad. The real focus should be on the students and the performance of the education system.
To your credit, you have written on it, but not as many times as the perceived drama being dredged from the dirt pile, as written here. What’s this, the 5th Hunt article this month?
Go dig up the other 80% of the school board activities, meetings and texts, you’ll see…
Then Kristy Gavin, her boss is the Superintendent yall. What’s she supposed to say other than anything that benefits her boss?
Both the Superintendent and the Attorney need to go.
The real question is why can only 58% of 3rd graders read at grade level?
The dude says
“The real question is why can only 58% of 3rd graders read at grade level?”
I’d look to the parents of those third graders first before I’d start blaming folks all the way up the ladder.
Aren’t the parents the ones ultimately responsible for their children? The love of learning and knowledge starts at home.
James says
That’s one way to look at it dude…another is that we spend hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes funding a school system that we the parents are increasingly losing faith in because the results are speaking for themselves. If the district isn’t being effective with the resources provided, that’s not my fault, as a parent. Or any other parent’s fault. It’s the mediocre attitude from the top that is the problem.
James says
Can you cite a local private school that IS effective in your opinion? That is, one that has consistently outperformed the “metrics” that you are so inclined to always mention.
Probably not.
Just my guess.
James says
Imagine performs better than than most of its counterparts.
James says
Finally an answer one can work with.
If they do indeed consistently outperform all others, then perhaps it’s time to look closely at their syllabus and teaching methods. Some of their approaches to the problem might be applicable to the public school system.
But what are those metrics by which they (private schools) judge each other? Are they the same as those by which the public school system judges themselves? Are they truly transparent and open with their data? There is much to consider here indeed.
Just an opinion.
Someone says
I’m not sure if you understand how school data is translated. This percentage is above the state average. Remember this is a public school district that serve every population of student, including those student’s with certain disabilities that could perhaps impact their reading scores. Private entities more than likely hand select their students and they are not held to the same standards as public schools.
James says
And this is the problem. Our percentage is “above state average.” Celebrating mediocrity at its finest. Meanwhile, one county North, the BEST school system in the state exists. We should take a long look at what they’re doing.
The fact that more than 40% of 3rd graders can’t read at grade level, and we want to applaud that as being better than average is sick. We can achieve excellence when we demand it and work together for it.
The dude says
Looking like this Sally Hunt gal was a true Trojan horse candidate.
She seemed somewhat normal during the race, but she’s just like the rest of them.
James says
Great! Run her off like you are doing, she’ll resign, the Gov will appoint a hardcore conservative, and then you’ll be really happy.
Dennis C Rathsam says
The Palm Coast school board is a institution of confusion! Its time to fire everyone of these fools. Parents, open your eyes, these people are not your friends, they dont look after our inocent children. Theres to much ME and not enough WE. How do you expect our kids to learn with this toxic invirement. These folks have failed misreably. Its time to start over, remember 1 bad apple spoils the bunch. Too bad this so called school board is rotten to the core! God bless our children.
James Mejuto says
To Rathsam: You could start learning how to write. Your language and punctuation are pathetic and indicates a lower education!
Let’s hope your children are better at writing.
Babs says
That was a terrible thing to say! What if her children reads this article. How do you that would make feel. You should be an adult and apologize
Dennis C Rathsam says
Sorry pal, I went to work to help support my family, glad you know how to spell…., Personally I dont give a rats ass!
Pogo says
@And a one, two, three
Leila says
Maybe someone could tell me what is unprofessional about any of this? How about we try letting them do their jobs and see what happens? Otherwise, get your applications in to the elections office and run next time.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
“Conklin, who has been on the school board since 2000, serving with seven superintendents, …”
Seven Superintendents since 2000? Flagler County has a huge problem, if potential candidates see seven superintendents since 2000 how many of them don’t apply? If the Superintendent position is just a revolving door you’ll get lesser candidates and it will show. Now is the time for Sally Hunt to step forward and tell her “plans” or remove herself from the Board.
Jim says
It’s one thing to believe the superintendent is not the right person for the job. It’s another thing entirely to “act” as though you are neutral while all the time secretly recruiting an alternate candidate. That labels a person as someone you better not believe about anything. After all, when do you know this time, they are telling the truth?
Another false flag candidate has been elected to the school board. And for the next few years, Flagler County can look forward to a series of lies, false statements to mislead with the only certainty that we just can’t believe what these elected officials say. Will Furry put out a false narrative about his opponent in the last election and acted as though he had nothing to do with it and didn’t know about it. And went to far as to propose a prayer to start the new groups first meeting. So at least Sally Hunt has at least one companion to conspire with….
We’re going to lose our current superintendent and we probably will never know why or if she ever did anything to deserve this. And I’m sure the potential replacements will be top of the profession people because I know Flagler County’s reputation at this point is just top notch in the education field. Come here for a short time!!!
I guess they’ll include some requirements for the new candidate – is your name Dusty Sims? No others need apply. We already made our decision outside of the board meetings….
I feel for all the parents who have kids in this school system. On top of worrying if your kid is doing homework and making friends and all the other concerns parents have, they can also worry about whether their kid is actually getting an education that will help them succeed in life.
Thank you school board. Show us all the way forward….
Feed Up says
The bias reporting is exhausting and misleading. Of course they are looking for other candidates AS THEY SHOULD and no reason a member can’t do independent research.
To much cover up and little to no accountability of the Superintendent. To many negative national news cycles under her “leadership”, a lot of turn over and discontent with staff who can not speak out.
State audit reports not favorable, test scores not good, the Superintendent does not take responsibility for ANY issues and will not publicly addresses concerns, she hides unless there to smile for a photo. It is always someone else’s fault, never her lack of leadership.
The board members who support her are the same who have covered up and repeatedly make excuses for her short comings.
James says
EXACTLY. But keep up the attack on Sally Hunt, because she’s the real problem here!
Not Conklin, who has been on the School Board for nearly 2 decades, through 7 superintendents! Where are her text messages? I still hear there are some juicy ones from her out there in town?
Like Chris Rock said, SELECTIVE OUTRAGE!
RCH says
This is one weird town.
FlaglerLive says
To clarify, the superintendents since 2000 have been:
Robert Williams (1998-2001)
Robert Corley (2001-2005)
Bill Delbrugge (2005-2010)
Janet Valentine (2010-2014)
Jacob Oliva (2014-2017)
Jim Tager (2017-2020)
Cathy Mittelstadt (2020-)
Susan says
Ah, Tager. The golden years.
Pinelake79 says
Flagler schools will never be an ‘A’ District with such a revolving door at the top!!
Michael Cocchiola says
We do need to cut Sally some slack. What she did was wrong. But it’s a rookie mistake. She is an idealist who asks a lot of questions, but not necessarily the right ones. When in doubt, ask your legal counsel or a veteran member of the board before you act.
Kendall says
I understand there are learning curves, but demonstrating condescension toward constituents and threatening to quit when called out for it is unacceptable regardless of tenure.
There is much more I could say but I’m holding my tongue for now.
James says
Now you want to cut her slack, Mike? Word on the street is you were the one threatening Hunt if she didn’t fall in line with the Dem party line playbook.
And did you really just recommend that people ask Kristy Gavin a question? Have you ever tried to do that? Gavin AND Mittelstadt need to go. Shockingly, the attorney is worse than the Superintendent.
Sally wasn’t elected by you or the Dem party. She won across party lines. She saw your true colors right off the bat, and that makes me happy. Whether she stays or goes, you made your bed with either her or a DeSantis appointee, so you get to lay in it. The reality is neither you or the political parties care about the actual results of the education system. If you did, you wouldn’t be on the Mittelstadt defense tour. You’re probably a senior citizen with no kids in the school system.
Barbara Revels says
I and many others supported Sally with funds and votes. I am very disappointed to say the least in her activities and lack of response to her voters. Many of us have reached out not just by email but snail mail as well. We can’t let our schools be a revolving door on leadership most particularly in the Superintendent Role. we have a strong leader now and should continue her contract as we enter a more normal phase of our lives after Covid and virtual schooling. Mrs Hunt is choosing the wrong messenger with Mr. Peacock. Surely her corporate training gave her the tools to weed out cry babies with unjustified injuries.
James says
She responded to me…maybe it’s just you and the others who have a whole attack plan ready to launch that she’s not calling back?
blerbfamilyfive says
No matter how much a teacher tries, some children do not want to do what is expected of them in school which could account for the low grades. And whose fault is that? My daughter-in-law taught in Volusia County and was constantly told “no I do not want to do my work and you can’t make me”. There are no consequences for acting out this way and many parents do not care. No wonder there is a teacher shortage. Remember in the good old days, if you were disrespectful to your teacher, you got a paddling from the principal and then got it again when you got home. Too much TV, video games, and cell phone activity.
James says
Looks like I’m going to start regretting I voted for her.
Trojan horse candidate? Yup, and a good one at that.
Just my opinion.
James says
Trojan horse candidate! Watch out! It was all planned from the start! Bust out the Reynolds wrap, we have some foil hats to make!
I guess she’s not smart enough to think for herself? The new woman school Board member has to be a pawn in the game, right?
Just for laughs, James…what is the big plan!?!? What’s the twist at the end?
So, she’s a R in Dem clothing, gets Mittelstadt out, then they….what…hire a friend to pad that person’s pockets? Or is there some more school Board laws to pass that do…what exactly? What’s the big conspiracy going on?
I posit she found out what everybody else who’s really plugged in already knows about the top of the District org chart…and it’s disturbed her to her core.
James says
“… Just for laughs, James…what is the big plan!?!? What’s the twist at the end? …”
The local “powers that be” get to hand pick Hunt’s replacement… and they get rid of Mittelstadt as well.