For the second time in two years, three of the five Flagler County School Board seats turned over to new members as Janie Ruddy, Lauren Ramirez and Derek Barrs were sworn-in Tuesday evening. Will Furry was named chair again, and Christy Chong named vice chair for the second year.
Flagler School Board
Richardson, Carney and Pennington Make History on County Commission, and Dance Is Acclaimed Chair Again
There was history this evening at the Flagler County Commission: Sworn-in on the silver spine of a Hebrew Bible, Kim Carney and Pam Richardson joined Leann Pennington, who was elected two years ago, to form the first majority-woman commission in the county’s 107-year history. There was also acclamation as Andy Dance was re-elected chair.
Gov. DeSantis Appoints Derek Barrs, Who Lost to Janie Ruddy by 291 Votes, to School Board Seat Hunt Resigned
Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday appointed Derek Barrs, the former Florida Highway Patrol troop commander and chief who lost to Janie Ruddy by 290 votes in a School Board race in August, to the board seat Sally Hunt resigned a month after the primary.
For Colleen Conklin, a Preview of Farewells and Flowers After 24 Years as She Logs Penultimate School Board Meeting
Flagler County School Board members Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro, each in her own way, spoke their farewells at their last voting School Board meeting, though both will serve through another workshop in November, where a celebration of their tenures is planned. Conklin has been on the board since 2000, Massaro since 2020.
DeSantis Blames Trump and Others for His School Board Endorsements’ Failures
Gov. Ron DeSantis was too busy to help conservative School Board candidates this year, and the man who beat him in this year’s presidential race may be partially to blame. That’s one takeaway from comments he made in Titusville, when he said assisting Donald Trump was one reason he couldn’t help his endorsements get over the finish line.
17 of Ron DeSantis’s 23 School Board Picks Either Lost or Must Face Runoff
Only six School Board candidates backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated victories in Tuesday’s Primary. Out of DeSantis’ 23 endorsed candidates, voters rejected 11 outright. Six others failed to get majority support, meaning they must face a General Election runoff. Those rejected included Derek Barrs in Flagler County, who lost to Janie Ruddy, a Democratic-backed candidate.
Ballot Review Doesn’t Change Outcome: Richardson Beats Danko, Stevens Holds 2-Vote Lead
With afternoon recounts still pending, this morning’s review of 46 provisional ballots and questionable mail-in ballots did not change the outcome of Tuesday’s election in the closest contests. Pam Richardson’s victory over Ed Danko for County Commission held. Ray Stevens’s two-vote lead held over Dana Stancel in a Palm Coast City Council race to determine who moves onto the runoff against Andrew Werner.
Dance Wins Re-Election, Richardson and Carney Win Commission, Ramirez and Ruddy Win School Board, Norris and Manfre in Runoff
Andy Dance won his second term on the Flagler County Commission, trouncing Fernando Melendez in the only clear runaway victory of the evening as the Supervisor of Elections announced early results of the primary. Lauren Ramirez and Janie Ruddy won school board seats, Pam Richardson beat Ed Danko for County Commission, while Mike Norris and Cornelia Manfre looked headed for a runoff, leaving David Alfin behind.
Flagler’s Election Turnout Tracks Down from 2020 But Elections Supervisor Lenhart Applauds Candidates’ Civility
Flagler County’s election turnout is tracking lower than in the 2020 primary as a variety of factors, including new laws restricting voter freedoms, have taken full effect. As of today turnout is less than 16 percent in the primary election in Flagler, with two days of early voting plus election day left. But Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart said she was proud of local candidates, who have maintained a level of civility unseen in years.
Latest Flagler School Board Follies: Hunt Celebrates Mediocrity, Furry Abuses His Seat to Push ‘Endorsements’
“Board member comments” at the Flagler school board have devolved almost always into a disaster, an embarrassment, a circus of ignorance, hypocrisy, stupidity or bigotry, compliments of the board’s trilobites: Sally Hunt, Will Furry and Christy Chong. No wonder they prefer illegal secret meetings. No wonder Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro can’t wait to escape the asylum. The sane ones weren’t there Tuesday to witness the latest drivel from Furry and Hunt, the first illegal, the second just creepy.
Tiger Bay Straw Poll: Richardson Trounces Danko; Derek Barrs and Lauren Ramirez Take Schools, Alfin Hangs On
Thursday’s Flagler Tiger Bay Meet and Greet at the Palm Coast Community Center drew some 300 people and almost every local election candidate on the Aug. 20 primary ballot. A straw poll consisting of some 225 votes yielded a few arresting results, such as County Commission candidate Pam Richardson’s trouncing of an absent Ed Danko, and a not-too surprising tight race for mayor in Palm Coast.
Flagler Tiger Bay Prepares for Largest Candidate Meet-and-Greet of Primary, Waving Off Fret Over Straw Poll
As of Monday some 40 local and state candidates had confirmed attendance at Thursday’s Tiger Bay Meet and Greet, what is expected to be the largest election gathering of the sort for Flagler County and Palm Coast politics ahead of the Aug. 20 primary. The three-hour free event starting at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Palm Coast Community Center will include a voter-registration drive organized by the Supervisor of Elections’ office, and a straw poll, which one candidate is criticizing as a “sham.” He appears isolated.
Historic Sweep: Flagler’s 5 Constitutionals Elected Without Opposition as Shelly Edmonson Wins Tax Collector’s Seat
Clerk of Court Tom Bexley, Tax Collector-Elect Edmonson, Property Appraiser Jay Gardner, Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart and Sheriff Rick Staly were elected without opposition today, the first time an entire slate of constitutionals managed the feat in memory. Edmonson will take over for Suzanne Johnston, who decided to retire after 20 years as the tax collector.
Sally Hunt Confirms She’ll Resign, But Late Enough To Ensure DeSantis, Not Voters, Will Choose Replacement
Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt today confirmed that she will resign her seat before November. She did not say when precisely between now and then. She appears to be purposefully doing so late enough to have prevented an election to fill the remaining two years of her terms. Gov. Ron DeSantis would fill the seat with his own appointment, which could take months after the seat becomes vacant.
St. Augustine/St. Johns County Win Nod for Museum of Black History; Getting It Built Is Next Challenge
A state task force assessing possible sites for a proposed Florida Museum of Black History voted 5-4 Tuesday in favor of St. Johns County, where Martin Luther King once rallied protests against segregation in the city of St. Augustine but where the site would require extensive development, including roadbuilding. The close vote followed intense lobbying by St. Augustine/St. Johns, which branched out to support from surrounding counties, including Flagler County, where Palm Coast and the School Board lent support.
Cheryl Massaro Opts Out of School Board Race, Leaving District 5 Field to Vincent Sullivan and Lauren Ramirez
Flagler County School Board member Cheryl Massaro decided today not to continue what had been a halfhearted campaign for re-election to a second term and opted out of the race, leaving the District 5 field to Palm Coast attorney Vincent Sullivan and long-time Belle Terre Elementary PTO President Lauren Ramirez. At least so far.
Sally Hunt Is Again a No Show, Raising Questions Among Her School Board Colleagues and Her Seat
School Board member Sally Hunt’s “chronic” absences drew criticism from fellow-Board member Cheryl Massaro at today’s meeting, concerns about the functioning of a board that, without a majority, could see many of its actions fail (a 2-2 vote is equivalent to the death of a motion) and questions about Hunt’s seat when she resign, as she said she will.
School Board’s Cheryl Massaro Will Run Again, Saying Reign of Rookies Scares Her
When Cheryl Massaro was elected to the Flagler County School Board a little over three years ago, she intended to serve one term. The past year’s aberrations on the board by its three rookies and constituents’ pressures on her not to retire in the face of those aberrations changed her mind. Massaro is running again.
ER Physician Paul Mucciolo Files for Conklin’s School Board Seat, Citing Need for ‘Healthy Dose of Professionalism’
Dr. Paul Mucciolo, an emergency-medicine physician at AdventHealth Palm Coast, declared his candidacy for the District 3 seat on the Flagler County School Board to bring back “a healthy dose of professionalism” to the board, he said, and to return the school district to an A-rated organization. Mucciolo is running for the seat Colleen Conklin has held since 2000. Conklin has elected not to run again in 2024, as has Cheryl Massaro, though Massaro may not have entirely closed the door on another run.
Future Ballot Measure May Ask Voters Whether School Board Races Should Be Partisan
Some Florida GOP lawmakers want to see if voters think local school boards should be partisan — meaning school board members could be Democrats, Republicans, or another signifier of political alignments.
DeSantis Wants Partisan School Board Races and 8-Year Term Limits, Not 12
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed to further politicize local school board elections — a way to get more conservatives on those boards that oversee Florida’s massive public education system.
Flagler School Board’s Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro Will Not Run for Re-Election in 2024
Colleen Conklin’s and Cheryl Massaro’s decision will have far-reaching consequences, ensuring that the new board in 2024 will have the shortest combined experience on the board in at least two decades and a half and giving the culture-war hard-right another opening to win a majority.
3-2 Splits Resume as New School Board Members Are Seated and Massaro Is Elected Chair
The school board’s swearing in and reorganization meeting began on a note of unity but quickly turned to muted contention in a pair of telling 3-2 votes that renew the same split the board has contended with for the past several years.
Flagler County Democrats’ Only Way Forward: Become Republican
Contrary to media interpretations, Democrats underperformed woefully nationally, and in Flagler County they were again all but wiped out. To survive locally they have two choices: either run their candidates as Republicans (and support other moderate Republicans), or keep dying at the polls.
Leann Pennington, Theresa Pontieri, Will Furry and Cathy Heighter Win, Half-Cent Tax Passes, Amendments Fail
For Flagler County and Palm Coast, it is an election of new faces: four races, four newcomers to elected office: Leann Pennington won a seat on the County Commission, Theresa Pontieri and Cathy Heighter won seats to the Palm Coast City Council, and Will Furry won a Flagler County School Board seat.
Churches Are Breaking the Law by Endorsing in Elections, Experts Say. The IRS Looks the Other Way.
For nearly 70 years, federal law has barred churches from directly involving themselves in political campaigns, but the IRS has largely abdicated its enforcement responsibilities as churches have become more brazen about publicly backing candidates.
Will Furry Chooses Sleaze. Again.
Will Furry, the candidate for Flagler County School Board in the race he’s contesting against Courtney VandeBunte, is running a sleazy campaign funded by deceptive PACs and rich in lies and fabrications. Yet he calls it his “journey of faith.”
Tiger Bay Election Forum, Live Now from the Palm Coast Community Center
FlaglerLive is live-streaming this evening’s Flagler Tiger Bay candidate forum from the Palm Coast Community Center, starting at 6 p.m.
Flagler Voters’ Message to Poison Peddlers
Flagler voters made damn sure that white nationalists, bigots and liars like Joe Mullins, Jill Woolbright and Janet McDonald had a short and embarrassing shelf life. If Flagler is solidly conservative, it remains sanely, moderately so for now, even for a one-party county with just three Democrats among 33 elected officials on six government boards.
Mullins Doesn’t ‘Run the County’ Anymore as Pennington Crushes Him; Hunt Beats Woolbright, Chong Beats Tucker, Hansen Wins, VandeBunte and Furry in Runoff
It was not a good night for Flagler County’s radical, white nationalist Republicans: Joe Mullins, Jill Woolbright and Janet McDonald will no longer be elected officials in the county come November as each was beaten in his her her election bid tonight. But long-time school board member Trevor Tucker also lost to newcomer Christy Chong.
Flagler County’s Sordid Primary Ends Today With Last Day of In-Person Voting
Today is Election Day, or the final day of voting in what, thanks to a handful of candidates, has been one of the more sordid primaries in Flagler County history. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Unlike during early voting, you are required to vote at your assigned precinct.
The Passion of The Woolbright
Enraptured in the language of white Christian nationalists, Jill Woolbright, the Flagler County School Board member, has turned her campaign for re-election into a crusade against her own, to eradicate “evil spirits” and clean house at the district of people who don’t look or pray like her, or share her pathological sexual obsessions. Academics can wait.
School Board’s Massaro and Conklin Denounce Woolbright ‘s ‘Disgusting and Despicable’ Zealotry
At the end of Tuesday’s Flagler County School Board meeting, Cheryl Massaro and Colleen Conklin, without naming her, sharply denounced fellow-Board member Jill Woolbright characterizing them and district staffers as “evil” in one of three campaign speeches she delivered at churches last weekend.
School Board’s Jill Woolbright Says She’s in ‘Satanic Warfare’ Against ‘Evil Spirits’ at School District
Flagler County School Board incumbent Jill Woolbright, who is in a non-partisan race against Sally Hunt to be decided in the Aug. 23 election, says God placed her on the school board, that she is involved in “satanic warfare,” and that, in a reference to others on the school board and at the district office, she has “felt the evil spirits around me.”
An Open Letter to Flagler County Voters Against Extremism, Buffoonery and Their Disturbing Candidates
The abuse of position and process (particularly by school board members) is egregious. The wasted hours in all three elected boards’ meetings (school board, county commission, Palm Coast council) on ridiculous, petty–or worse: imagined–problems has been sickening to endure, Jake Scully argues in a plea for well-researched votes in the coming elections.
DeSantis Calls on ‘Moms for Liberty’ at National Summit to Fight ‘Leftist’ Agenda
Claiming that Florida schools are undergoing “leftist indoctrination,” a “leftist agenda,” and “sexualization of children,” Gov. Ron DeSantis called on hundreds of members of “Moms For Liberty,” gathered in Tampa Friday, to fight.
Voters Approved Nonpartisan School Boards 23 Years Ago. GOP Lawmakers Want That to Change.
Florida’s local school boards, which oversee public school districts in 67 counties, are currently nonpartisan. That goes back more than 20 years, following a ballot initiative in November 1998. At that time, voters approved allowing school board members to be nonpartisan. GOP lawmakers are pushing to overhaul those boards by requiring elections to be partisan.
The County Commission’s Choice Tonight: Filth or Statesmanship
The Flagler County Commission this evening is set to elect a new chairman, with Joe Mullins in line for the job, unless fellow-commissioners think better than to choose a bigot to represent them and the county. The School Board elects a chair Tuesday evening, with its own dilemmas.
Calmer Swearings-In at County and School Board; Mullins Will Not Be Commission Chairman This Year
The Flagler County School Board and the Flagler County Commission held swearing-in ceremonies for a combined six new and re-elected members. Donald O’Brien was named chairman of the commission, Trevor Tucker chairman of the school board.
Holland and Klufas Hold On, Staly Wins Re-Election, Don O’Brien and Andy Dance Win County Commission, Ed Danko, Victor Barbosa Win Council Seats
With all early voting results counted, Sheriff Rick Staly had an insurmountable lead to win re-election to his second term, as did County Commissioner Donald O’Brien. Andy Dance, the school board member, also had an insurmountable lead to win the County Commission seat Charlie Ericksen opted not to contest.
Conklin, Massaro and Woolbright Win School Board, Sullivan Survives, and Finally, It’ll Be Judge Alicia Washington To You
Jill Woolbright and Cheryl Massaro won seats on the Flagler County School Board, and Colleen Conklin, at 20 years the longest serving elected official in the county, won her sixth term. Dave Sullivan won reelection to the County Commission. But the Palm Coast City Council is still very much in flux.
Last Day to Vote in Primary Began With 21,000 Ballots Already In and Historic Mail-In Count
Though powered by the largest vote-by-mail volume in the county’s history, Flagler County’s 2020 primary election turnout would need a relatively strong in-person voting tally today to exceed 2018’s turnout of 30 percent. The 2016 primary turnout of 27 percent is a closer target.
Bexley, Johnston, Gardner and Lenhart Re-Elected Without Opposition in Near-Sweep for Flagler Constitutionals
Three dozen candidates will contest local Flagler County and Palm Coast elections, while Clerk of Court Tom Bexley, Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston, Property Appraiser Jay Gardner, and Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart were re-elected without opposition.
Andy Dance Will Resign School Board Seat He’s Held Since 2008 and Run for County Commission
School Board member Andy Dance announce he’ll resign his seat in 2020 in a run for Flagler County Commission Charlie Ericksen’s seat, which Ericksen will not contest.
Hansen, Mullins Win County Commission, Howell and Branquinho Win Palm Coast, McDonald Re-Elected to School Board
The races for Flagler County Commission and Palm Coast council were not close in a mid-term election that saw turnout rise to an astounding 64 percent.
Greg Hansen, Trevor Tucker, Joe Mullins Win, Janet McDonald , Fischer, Tipton and Branquinho in Runoffs
County Commissioner Greg Hansen and School Board member Trevor Tucker are headed to comfortable victories, and newcomer Joe Mullins is well ahead of Commissioner Nate McLaughlin.
Where School Board Candidates Stand on Exceptional Student Education (ESE)
Complete video interviews of Flagler County School Board board candidates by the Flagler Exceptional Student Education Support Group.
In Straw Poll at Chamber’s Candidate Hobnob, a Mix of Incumbent and Insurgent Successes
Incumbents have clear leads in County Commission races, newcomers John Tipton and Jack Howell posted strong showings in Palm Coast races, and school board races have mixed messages.
Andy Dance Re-Elected To Flagler School Board Without Opposition; Others Must Slog It Out
Andy Dance was re-elected to a fourth term. A school board and a Palm Coast council race will be decided in August, others won’t be decided until November.
In 1st Forum of Season, School Board Candidates Discourse Rather Than Debate
Four of the five candidates running for Flagler County School Board have served 24 years between them and want to serve more. The fifth has never been in office.
