It is now so routine to reduce individual students to cogs among subgroups enslaved to the expectations of standardized testing that our educators have lost sight of their purpose. The state’s transformation of education into a dehumanizing machinery is to blame. So is the Flagler County School Board’s emphasis on running the district as a business, and now branding its superintendent a “CEO.” The individuality and dignity of students is lost to a damaging bottom-line mentality.
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
Deep Disagreements Remain Between School District and Cities and Builders Over Enrollment and Impact Fee Dues
Are Flagler County’s public schools adding students? Will the district need to build new schools? Should it be drawing money from developers today even though it has no certain plans to build schools yet? Those questions were asked and answered with varying degrees of certainty and a lot more disagreements on Thursday in the latest meeting of a joint committee of local government representatives in charge of reviewing how much money developers are required to pay to defray the cost of new school construction.
Man Arrested at Flagler Beach’s Boardwalk for Swinging Bat, Threatening Adults and a Child and Calling Himself God
Stephen Douglass Torma, 43, swung a bat as he threatened passers by on Flagler Beach’s boardwalk, damaged the boardwalk with the bat then threatened a Flagler Beach police officer and his family with harm. Torma’s spiral has been traced in his court file over the last four years.
Flagler School Board Members Meet Behind Closed Doors to ‘Debrief’ Until Attorney Breaks Them Up
All five Flagler County School Board members met behind a closed door after a press conference this morning, until the school board attorney, who had been unaware of the meeting, broke them up. One of the board member insists no business before the board was discussed, and that the meeting was intended only to tell the superintendent she had done a good job at the press conference.
School Officials Forcefully Denounce ‘Segregation’ Assembly But Steps Ahead Are Vague Beyond ‘Conversations’
The denunciations were forceful and Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s air of command over the most serious crisis of her tenure as interim was evident at a press conference this morning. But the steps ahead, beyond community meetings, more encounters with parents and students, and talk of “professional learning” with school employees, are far less clear even as the district positions itself against potential litigation.
Bunnell Principal Donelle Evensen on Administrative Leave as District Faces Fallout of Segregated Assembly
Donelle Evensen, the principal at Bunnell Elementary School for mere weeks, was placed on paid administrative leave today, and Superintendent LaShakia Moore asked that a three-hour board workshop scheduled for today, where she was to be interviewed for the permanent job, be postponed.
Superintendent Lashakia Moore Issues Stronger Apology Over Bunnell Elementary’s Segregationist Assembly
Contrary to her written statement on Tuesday, today’s video statement by LaShakia Moore on the segregating of Black students in an assembly at Bunnell Elementary last week was more forceful, more clearly recognizing the breadth of the problem–as her statement on Tuesday had not–and twice included an explicit apology.
Bomb Squad Disarms Report of Grenades After Swarming Around House of Murder Suspect in Woodlands
The house at 20 Blare Drive, the scene of a murder by gunshot last week, drew authorities again today, including a bomb squad, after a resident reported finding a crate of grenades inside. But the crate ended up containing only ammunition.
School Board Will Hold 3-Hour Interview of LaShakia Moore for Superintendent, But Hopes You Won’t Attend
The Flagler County School Board is holding one of its most important public meetings of the year Thursday, between 9 a.m. and noon. Misleadingly referring to it as a “retreat,” the board will hold an extended interview with Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore to determine whether it should end its search for a permanent superintendent and appoint Moore in September. Some members of the School Board would rather you did not know about the meeting, and did not attend.
Lyonel Jeune, 65, Arrested on 1st Degree Felony Charge in Hit-and-Run Death of William Rembert, 56
Lyonel Jeune, a 65-year-old resident of Beacon Mill Lane in Palm Coast, was arrested over the weekend and charged with a first-degree felony in the hit-and-run death of William Joseph Rembert, 56, on Dec. 1, 2021, at Palm Coast Parkway and Leanni Way, near Belle Terre Parkway. The charge carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison on conviction.