The Flagler school district’s negotiations with Board Attorney Kristy Gavin have soured following the district’s condition that Gavin should give up the right to sue in exchange for her keeping her job. School Board member Cheryl Massaro says Gavin, who is not likely to accept such terms, is likely to be fired by year’s end, and to sue the district on numerous grounds including breach of contract, wrongful discharge, hostile work environment, age and sex discrimination and defamation.
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
Jury Finds 47-Year-Old Palm Coast Man Guilty of Cyber-Stalking and Soliciting Girl, 14, for 18 Months
A jury found 47-year-old Jerome Byron Malerba guilty of cyber-stalking, soliciting a child for sex, and using a cell phone to criminal ends. He had been involved in what he termed a “mentoring friendship” with a girl when she was 14 and 15. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and will be designated a sex offender when he is sentenced early next year.
Proposal to Rollback Florida’s Child Labor Laws, Masked as Opportunities for Teens, Clears Its 1st Hurdle
A proposal that would eliminate restrictions on the number of hours that 16- and 17-year-olds could work received its first hearing in the Florida Legislature on Wednesday, where it passed on a party-line vote in the GOP-controlled committee. The measure limits restrictions that now prohibit 16- and 17-year-olds from working more than six consecutive days in any one week or working 4 hours continuously without a break.
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.
City Attorney Warns Palm Coast Away from Directly, Financially Aiding Flooded Property Owners
Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko wants the city to more directly aid property owners whose yards have been flooded from adjacent, new construction, but the city attorney says funds may not be spent to benefit any single private property owners. The city administration will look at alternatives.
All Those Yards Flooding from New Construction? Blame ITT, Nature or Changing Codes, Not Builders, City Finds
More than 80 property owners have filed complaints about yards flooding as new construction has gone up in Palm Coast recently. Palm Coast officials say there are all sorts of reasons but builders and new construction are not among them. The city is working with property owners to analyze the issues and provide direction. It is also rewriting is technical building rules. But it’s stopping short of providing direct aid.
Facing Lawsuit from Ormond Beach, Flagler Defends Acquiring ‘Easement of Necessity’ That Crosses Volusia Border
Flagler County Attorney Al Hadeed explained why in his view Ormond Beach’s lawsuit against the county over an easement through conservation land in Hunter’s Ridge is off-base: Ormond Beach could itself settle the matter by acquiring conservation land on its side of the border, by setting aside unreasonable fears that Flagler will build a highway–and by upgrading Durrance Lane, the road that runs across the Hunter’s Ridge development.
Flagler Schools Again a ‘B’ District, With Only 2 Schools Notching A’s and FPC Improving to B
Twenty-nine Florida school districts–or 43 percent of districts in the state–scored an A this year. The Flagler County school district is not among them. The district notched another B, its ninth in the last 10 years that the state Department of Education has awarded school grades.. When a plurality of districts across the state score an A and Flagler does not, it makes it harder for the district to claim, as its motto likes to claim, that it is a “premier learning organization,” or that it promotes a “culture of excellence.”
First a Machete Swing Then a Shotgun and a Pulled Trigger During a Domestic Dispute Lead to Jail for Palm Coast Man
Randall Martin, a 79-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s B-Section, is accused of striking his wife with a machete, pulling a shotgun trigger as he pointed it at her during a domestic dispute, then violating the terms of his pre-trial release by ignoring a no-contact order hours after he was released from jail.
The Wheels Are Falling Off the Ronbo Bus
Ron DeSantis has decided to show how tough he is, going on the offensive not against Moscow but against a peaceable nation of pink buildings, blue seas, and Black people, wooing voters in Iowa and New Hampshire by hollering, “Like, if the Bahamas were firing rockets into Fort Lauderdale, like, we would not accept that for, like, one minute. I mean, we would just level it.”