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Bunnell Elementary

‘Impeccable’ 7th Grader Teddy Totten of Christ the King is Flagler County Spelling Bee Champion

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A runner-up in the countywide competition two years ago, 13-year-old Teddy Totten, the son of Kyle and Andrea Totten (the Flagler County judge), won the annual Flagler County Spelling Bee after 12 rounds, conquering words like spritzed, gargoyles, respiratory, impeccable, sorbet and appraisal. Victoria Rivera of Bunnell Elementary is the first runner-up.

Flagler School District Yet Again Stuck at a B for 3rd Straight Year, But All Schools are at A or B

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A third of Florida’s school districts scored an A in the 2023-24 school year. The Flagler County school district was not among them. For the third year in a row, and for the 10th of the last 11th grading years, the district remains stuck at a B, one of 26 districts in that pack. Seventeen districts scored a C. None scored lower. Two districts were not graded. The Florida Department of Education released the grades today.

Janie Ruddy, Flagler County School Board Candidate District 3: The Live Interview Template

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Janie Ruddy is one of four candidates in two races for Flagler County School Board in the Aug. 20 primary, facing Derek Barrs in District 3. The District 3 and District 5 seats are both open as incumbents Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro have opted not to run again. School board elections are non-partisan races: all registered voters in Flagler County are eligible to cast a ballot in the two races–whether registered Democratic, Republican, Independent or from a minor party.

Vincent Sullivan, Flagler County School Board Candidate District 5: The Live Interview Template

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Vincent Sullivan is one of four candidates in two races for Flagler County School Board in the Aug. 20 primary, facing Lauren Ramirez  in District 5. School board elections are non-partisan races: all registered voters in Flagler County are eligible to cast a ballot in the two races–whether registered Democratic, Republican, Independent or from a minor party.

Not All Tornado Warnings Are Treated Equal, But Parents and Faculty at Indian Trails Middle Weren’t Told

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A tornado warning localized to a particular area of Flagler County on Thursday but broadcast countywide on cell phones left faculty members and volunteers at Indian Trails Middle School anxious and in the dark about the school’s lack of response as the storm raged outside, or any effort to voice explanations or reassurances over the PA system: what parents and other did learn from the district was not issued until two hours after the fact.

40 Flagler Schools Students Advance to International Problem Solvers Competition After Wins in Orlando

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A total of 178 students from five schools (Flagler Palm Coast High School, Matanzas High School, Buddy Taylor Middle School, Indian Trails Middle School, and Rymfire Elementary School) took part in the competition, which drew 511 students from across the state. Of the Flagler Schools contingent, 40 have been invited to vie at the international competition, which will take place June 5-9 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

Indian Trails Middle’s Giles Platt Is Flagler’s Spelling Bee Champ After Conquering ‘Apparatus,’ ‘Vicarious,’ and of Course ‘Acclaim’

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It took Indian Trails Middle School eighth grader Giles Platt eight rounds, but he hoisted the 2023-24 Flagler County Spelling Bee Champion’s trophy Thursday evening after spelling apparatus and vicarious correctly. He knew he had it right even before the judges confirmed it, beaming a grin as he repeated the word, then jumping with joy as the audience applauded. Joyce Holmes, an eighth grader at Imagine School at Town Center, is the runner-up.

Moore Overruled Panel to Name Cari McGee, Outspoken Diversity Expert and Advocate, Bunnell Elementary Principal

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Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s choice of Cari McGee as Bunnell Elementary’s next principal says as much about Moore’s willingness to buck recommendations and trust her own instinct as it does about McGee, a committed and–like Moore, opinionated and socially conscious–leader who a few years ago signed her name to an open letter condemning “inaction in the face of oppression” and lambasting Nancy Pelosi for using the language of white supremacy.

Flagler Playhouse Season Will Continue at Matanzas’s Pirates Theater as ‘ReBuild’ Kicks Off at Woody’s

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The Flagler Playhouse’s shows will go on: the venerable company’s 150-foot theater in downtown Bunnell was demolished two weeks ago, but in a Phoenix-like turn-around, its next three shows will be staged at Matanzas High School’s Pirates Theater, essentially more than salvaging the bulk of the season. The playhouse is launching its “Let’s Kick Off the ReBuild” campaign at Woody’s BBQ Tuesday evening.

At Post-Segregated Assemblies Town Hall, Superintendent Bridges Conversation Beyond Walls and Outrage

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Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore hosted a town hall at the Carver Center in predominantly Black South Bunnell Wednesday evening in the wake of the segregated assemblies at Bunnell Elementary School. The audience of some 110 and the superintendent engaged in an open conversation about education and community involvement, with only two moments when the assemblies and their aftermath were discussed.

Fractured Leadership: Few Questions Asked, Fewer Concerns Raised Ahead of Segregated Assemblies, Investigation Reveals

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Bunnell Elementary school’s leadership environment that enabled a trio of teachers to hold assemblies targeting only Black students last month was disjointed, incurious, careless and oblivious to the optics of segregating Black students in the name of improving test scores, regardless of their academic standing, a  pair surprisingly limited and identical internal investigations reveal.

Bunnell Elementary Principal Evensen Resigns, Saying She ‘Certainly’ Does Not Deserve What’s Happening to Her

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Donelle Evensen this morning announced her resignation as Bunnell Elementary principal five weeks after being named to the position, and not quite three weeks after being placed on leave following her approval of an assembly where faculty segregated Black students. At no point in either letters does Evensen take responsibility or offer any regret for the tenor of the assembly or the misjudgments that led to it.

Flagler Schools Have a ‘Subgroup’ Problem. It’s Not Blacks. It’s Not Even Students.

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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.

Black Students at Bunnell Elementary Are Told Of ‘Early Grave’ If They ‘Clown’ Around and Don’t Perform

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Bunnell Elementary’s Black 4th and 5th graders on Friday were singled out in two assembles, told that if they didn’t bring up their test scores, they could end up in jail, shot or dead, they were paired off to compete academically against each other, and the winners would get McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. Their parents were never told. Parents are outraged. The superintendent acknowledges that while raising test scores is essential, the situation was mishandled.

A School Supply Drive for Bunnell Elementary

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In support of Bunnell Elementary School, the Bunnell Police Department is hosting a School Supply Drive now through August 10. Donations can be dropped off at the police station, 1769 E. Moody Blvd, Building 14, behind the Flagler Government Services building.

Flagler 3rd Graders’ Reading Scores Fall Again, to Lowest Level in 7 Years, Yet Rank 12th in State

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The percentage of Flagler County 3rd graders achieving a reading level of 3 (out of 5) or above–that is, reading at a satisfactory level–fell to 58 percent, the lowest level in at least seven years of comparable testing results, and down from last year’s 59 percent. Scores had peaked at 69 percent in 2017 and 68 percent in 2019, the year before the pandemic.