Flagler School Board Tensions Flare Again as Members Reject Lauren Ramirez’s Call For Procedural Retreat

Flagler County School Board members on Tuesday rebuffed fellow member Lauren Ramirez’s request for an April “board retreat” to discuss procedures, among them how workshops, board discussions and communications with the public are handled. Ramirez has been frustrated by the at-times undisciplined manner of board discussions, which she thinks tighter parliamentary rules could address. 

The rebuff and the tone of the 20-minute discussion that framed it again underscored the strains and antipathy between board members three weeks after another clash, though they were not entirely to blame for this disagreement: their fifth chair has been gaping empty since September and may remain that way until next November, due exclusively to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Either from indifference–he has been notoriously slow to make appointments, and has faced one or two lawsuits over it–or by intention, the governor has left the seat empty. 

New boards typically have “retreats”–basically, workshops in less formal settings–where they can discuss their methods and where board members can get to know each other outside the rigors of a strict work agenda. The Palm Coast City Council scheduled one with its new manager on May 4 at the Southern Recreation Center. 

This board hasn’t had one because the fifth seat has been unsettled for a year. The board has been waiting for the seat to fill to hold a retreat. Now that it appears that DeSantis will not fill it, Ramirez thought a retreat was necessary. 

The fifth seat had been filled by Derek Barrs, himself an appointee. Trump nominated Barrs to an administration post a year ago. The governor has known since then that an appointment to the School Board would be necessary. Nothing happened after Barrs was nominated, though an appointment could have been in the wings. Barrs resigned in early September, again giving the governor an opportunity to appoint. Nothing happened. 

Because of the empty, tie-breaking seat, the board devolved into a degrading spectacle of sexism and condescension in November as Will Furry and Christy Chong for nine hours blocked Ramirez from being named vice chair, while the board deadlocked through 102 tie votes until Furry got his way, grabbing the vice chairmanship for himself. The governor must not have been paying attention. 

“So we have probably about eight more months if we do not receive an appointment. So I would like to request that we consider setting up a board retreat,” Ramirez said. “I foresee this maybe being like a two, maybe three-hour meeting, focusing on the structure of our workshops, and the structure of liaison updates specifically.” At the beginning of each workshop, board members report on the various committees and schools to which they’re assigned. 

Board member Janie Ruddy thought it might be more beneficial to wait for the fifth seat to be filled–or for Ramirez to provide a specific concern that could be addressed without a retreat. But it was not clear what, precisely, Ramirez wanted to fix about those liaison updates beyond making them more “consistent.” 

“If we’re going to take all of our time to meet on this, I don’t want to meet just to meet,” Furry said. “Unless there’s something new you want to add, or there’s something you want to change, I don’t see the reason to use the board’s time unless we have a mission, something to accomplish.”

Ramirez reminded her colleagues that the idea of a retreat has been brought up several times since her election and always pushed back to when the fifth seat would be filled. Furry thought a retreat could wait until after the August primary when the election might result in new board members, who could then be invited to the session even though they won’t be seated until November. “Unless there’s an issue I don’t see the point of meeting,” he said. 

The very tenor of the discussion, and Furry’s repeated pushback, underscored for Ramirez the need for a retreat. “Can I finish?” she told Furry, who tends to talk over others. “I said, for an example, liaison, and then the flow of our meetings. And then you said, Well, no, it needs to be the whole manual. And then now you want another example. So I’ll just rephrase.” She again asked for a retreat to discuss the issues she’d mentioned and “the flow of the meetings and make sure everything’s flowing. I feel like it hasn’t been as smooth, and I would like to sit down with you folks. We’re a team, we’re a board, and–” 

Furry interrupted. 

“What are your grievances? Why don’t we–what has not gone smooth?” he asked, unaware of the irony. 

“I would like to request a board retreat and we can talk about it then,” Ramirez said, clearly frustrated. 

“Stop going back and forth,” Chong ordered. Always Furry’s wingman, she continued: “We do have a retreat, something that I would, if I’m hearing you correctly, go over how our meetings are ran. But I don’t want it to be an opportunity to micromanage each other, either.”

“Exactly,” Furry said, “because we’re all duly elected, like when you bring up things like liaison assignments, ‘we want them to be consistent.’ I don’t even understand where you come from with that.” He did not want a workshop on the board’s manual with a four-member board, knowing that contentious issues would deadlock.  “That is, that is a disadvantage we have right now. It’s unfortunate. It’s a real thing,” he said. “If it’s not specific, I don’t want to invest the time.”

Ruddy, understanding Ramirez’s request, noted that the School Board inconsistently applies its parliamentary rules even as it manages to get a lot of conversations done. That’s a legacy from former Board member Trevor Tucker’s handling of the board, when he favored a more collegial than policing approach to discussions, though he had the benefit of a full board. Then again, even full boards can have embarrassing retreats. 

“Is there a need to bring back some of those Robert’s Rules of Order? I totally agree and understand that position,” Ruddy said. “At the same token, I do feel that it would, if we don’t wait for the additional person, then we run the risk of having to repeat it, which can become very disruptive. Because we all have to adapt to how it’s run. So I do understand the spirit and the intent, and I do support the need for the retreat. I was disappointed that we didn’t have one as was outlined to us when we first started. But I would err on the side of waiting until that election occurs so that we can hit the ground running without having to redo it.” 

It was a less confrontational and understanding way to say what Furry had been incapable of saying without the sort of abrasiveness that compelled Ramirez to call for a retreat in the first place. Ruddy also invited her colleague to bring up specific issues that could be addressed before the retreat. 

After noting twice that he is no longer the chair, Furry said the board could adopt strict Robert’s Rules now and “make sure that every single time you talk, you get the permission of the chair, we can agree to that right now we don’t have to go to a retreat.”

There will not be a retreat for now.