• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Flagler County School Board

After 2,234 Students’ Quarantines, Flagler Medical Director Urges Masking in Schools. Board Still Refuses.

September 7, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 31 Comments

Sr. Stephen Bickel

Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler Health Department, discussed stronger covid-safety measures with the Flagler County School Board today, but in the end a majority of the board, citing the governor’s executive banning mask mandates, showed no inclination to adopt such measures as mandatory masking.

Half of Flagler’s Covid Case Load Driven by School Infections as Physicians Urge More Focus on Science and Safety

September 3, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Covid-positive cases declined for the first time in four weeks, but vaccinations have declined for the fourth consecutive week. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County’s weekly case load fell from a pandemic high of 936 last week to 789 this week, as of today, still the second-highest total of the 20-month crisis. Nearly half the total number of infections is among students and employees of Flagler County schools.

Flagler Schools Have 3rd Highest Covid Infection Rate Among 38 Florida Districts Reporting Figures; Masked Districts Fare Better

September 1, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 21 Comments

The Flagler County School Board when it last considered a mask mandate, on Aug. 17, after the chamber was cleared when members of the public were deemed to have broken the board's decorum rules. No decision meeting is scheduled until the third week of September unless the board holds an emergency meeting (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County school district has the third-highest rate of Covid infections among students and staff out of 38 Florida school districts that are reporting their Covid numbers since the resumption of the school year less than four weeks ago, a FlaglerLive analysis finds. There is still no “appetite” for changing course and adopting a mask mandate, according to the school board member who tried enacting one two weeks ago, though data points to a direct correlation between masks and lower infection rates in Florida districts.

UNF Launches 2021 MedNexus Innovation Challenge for Palm Coast Area High School Students

August 28, 2021 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

It's almost like last year's hackathon, but this time high school students alone are the competitors. (© FlaglerLive)

The Mednexus Innovation Challenge is a competition that encourages high school students to participate in designing ideas for the future of healthcare through purpose-driven education and to apply innovation, science and technology to solve real state/local healthcare challenges.

Judge Rules DeSantis Had No Authority to Ban School Mask Mandates or Punish School Boards That Adopt Masking

August 27, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 36 Comments

The judge issued his ruling in a zoom hearing today. (© FlaglerLive via Florida Channel)

Judge John Cooper of the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court of Florida ruled today that Gov. Ron DeSantis had no legal authority under the recently-enacted Parental Bill of Rights to prohibit local school boards from adopting mask mandates that did not include opt-out provisions. The judge found DeSantis’s order “capricious” and not based in evidence, but rather based on an incomplete reading of the Bill of Rights.

In Maskless Flagler, We’re All Covid’s Sitting Ducks

August 26, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 64 Comments

The prevailing mood at last week's Flagler County School Board meeting. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County is in the worst public health crisis it has known in its history, with at least 10 covid deaths a week as many school infections in 3 weeks as all of last year combined, yet the debate remains immobilized by a war on masks that defies science and daily grim realities.

Florida House Rep. Sabatini Threatens Flagler School Board of Legal Action in Letter Laced in Fabrications Over Covid Rules

August 25, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 25 Comments

His colleagues know to be masked. (Florida House)

Florida House Rep. Anthony Sabatini wrote a letter to Flagler Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and the school board today falsely claiming Indian Trails Middle School students are “being deprived of their right to a public school education,” and building on fabrications about the illegal quarantining of a child at Indian Trails Middle School that began pinballing around local social media pages last week.

An FPC Student’s Perspective: Time to Rethink Inequitable and Irrational Dress Code in Flagler Schools

August 23, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 39 Comments

Clashing consistency: Students in Flagler schools are urging the school board to revise the district's dress code. (© FlaglerLive)

The district’s dress code is irrational, outdated, unfair and sexist. It limits individual expression, and it’s an utter waste of time, argues Jack Petocz, a junior at Flagler Palm Coast High School who calls on the school board to listen to students’ concerns and revise the code.

School Board Members Term Janet McDonald on ‘Witch Hunt’ and ‘Dangerous’ as She Guns for Board Attorney in Wake of Tuesday Tumult

August 20, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 32 Comments

Flagler County School Board member Janet McDonald had been sharpening knives before, during and especially after Tuesday's tumultuous meeting of the school board. (© FlaglerLive)

School Board member Janet McDonald called for what would have been an unlawful, closed-door meeting to review the school board attorney’s contract, then called for any special meeting to review last Tuesday’s meeting, when the chamber had to be cleared because of the crowd’s rule-breaking. Two board members–Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro–responded with withering criticism of their colleague.

In ‘Huge Deal,’ Flagler School Board Votes to Double Impact Fees on New Construction, 1st Increase in 16 Years

August 18, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

A few of those new homes will actually house students. (© FlaglerLive)

The school board in a series of unanimous votes Tuesday approved a doubling in school impact fees, the one-time levy imposed on new construction and designed to defray the cost of new schools required by a growing population. The “huge deal,” in the words of Board Attorney Kristy Gavin, will increase the single-family home impact fee from $3,600 to $7,175.

No, Indian Trails Middle Isn’t Requiring Vaccines, Detaining or Banning Students, But Falsehoods Go Viral Anyway

August 17, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

indian trails middle school itms

The case of a parent’s reaction to her son at Indian Trails Middle School being required to quarantine for at least four days illustrates how easily inaccurate information is misused to politically tendentious ends–it’s led to a call for a showdown before the school board this evening–or inflated into non-existent problems or false claims. 

Fact-Check: DeSantis’s Executive Order Claim that Masking in Schools Lacks Scientific Support Is False

August 15, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

The governor is wrong on masks. (© FlaglerLive and PolitiFacts)

DeSantis’ July 30 executive order falsely claimed that “forcing students to wear masks lacks a well-grounded scientific justification” and cherry-picked a study that offers little basis for his position and includes a variety of elements that are not accurate.

DeSantis Pursues Mask Crackdown in Schools as Covid Surge Continues and Counties Defy Orders

August 13, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. (© FlaglerLive)

The State Board of Education has scheduled an emergency meeting Tuesday “to consider the compliance of school districts, including Broward and Alachua” with the rule and a new state law. Broward and Alachua have imposed mask requirements in schools.

DeSantis Administration Threatens to Dock School Officials’ Pay Over Masks. White House Says It May Cover Paychecks.

August 10, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 25 Comments

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran at a Board of Education meeting July 14, 2021. (Danielle Brown, Florida Phoenix)

Most districts have reluctantly acceded to the rules, requiring kids to wear masks but offering opt-outs at the request of parents or guardians. Broward County school officials voted Tuesday to mandate masks and if necessary challenge DeSantis in court. The Flagler school district is not going so far as to mandate, even with an opt-out. Reports from schools today indicate that only a minority of students masked up, while top school officials visiting the schools did so unmasked.

Rule Clarified: In Flagler Schools, the Vaccinated Exposed to Covid Don’t Have to Quarantine; Others Must at Least 4 Days

August 9, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Health Department staff will be conducting drive-by testing for covid at 301 Dr. Carter Boulevard, the department's headquarters, every day between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. (© FlaglerLive)

Unvaccinated students and teachers who have been exposed to Covid must quarantine at least four days before they are eligible for rapid-testing and, if asymptomatic, a return to the classroom. But the vaccinated, and those who have been Covid positive in the previous 90 days, and show no symptoms, can stay in school even after exposure, according to a new state rule.

St. Johns School District Again Fighting Ruling Allowing Transgender Students to Use Bathroom of Their Choice

August 9, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

The St. Johns County school district reads the 14th Amendment in a peculiarly institutional way. (© FlaglerLive)

The St. Johns County School Board is asking a federal appeals court to again consider a years-long battle about whether a transgender male student should have been allowed to use boys’ bathrooms.

Contradictory State Rule Upends Flagler Schools’ Plans for Rapid Testing of Teachers and Students

August 6, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

A rapid home test for covid: the two lines show it's positive for covid. (© FlaglerLive)

Plans by Flagler schools and the Health Department to minimize quarantines through rapid testing were upended by an emergency rule issued by the state on Friday. The rule appears to pre-empt the right of local authorities to use rapid testing for at least four days, and up to seven days, during which individuals must quarantine regardless.

To the Dismay of Some, and Against Public Health Guidance, It’ll Be School as Usual in Flagler Come Tuesday

August 6, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 27 Comments

Like old times: the Back to School Jam at Flagler Palm Coast High School returns on Saturday. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler School Board will not buck the governor’s order against masking requirements, while schools will resume Tuesday under almost entirely normal conditions. But local physicians and the health department chief are concerned that the ongoing covid surge across the county will replicate in the schools.

‘Absolutely’: Health Chief Calls for Masks in Flagler Schools as AdventHealth Goes to Unprecedented ‘Black Status’

July 30, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 55 Comments

Flagler County Health Department Administrator Bob Snyder on Thursday said that whether vaccinated or not, students indoors should be wearing masks. Snyder’s unequivocal declaration stresses similar recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and physicians at AdventHealth.

In Shift, Flagler Schools Embrace Rapid Covid Tests for Students and Staff as Back-to-School Protocols Are Released

July 27, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

The Health Department revealed the free, off-campus rapid-testing option for students and staff today as the district itself published its new, 2021-22 school covid protocols, a four-page guide updating last year’s safety procedures. In contrast with conditions in the community, the protocols reflect a pronounced push for normalcy, as if Covid were no longer a serious problem.

DeSantis Holds Roundtable on Masks in Schools. Traditional Public School Teachers and Educators Aren’t Invited.

July 27, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 15 Comments

Gov. Ron DeSantis in a July 13 roundtable on Cuba, in a still from the video posted to his Rumble account. The roundtable on masks was posted Monday. It was not visible today. (© FlaglerLive via Rumble)

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday afternoon held a roundtable discussion about masks at schools with representatives of charter and private schools, but not traditional public education. Media, the teachers’ union and even the Department of Education were not made aware.

No Plans for Mandatory Masks in Flagler Schools as DeSantis Fights Possible Federal Mandate

July 26, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Masks were required in Flagler schools last year. Not so when school resumes on Aug. 10. (Flagler Schools)

Children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, making them more vulnerable for infection–and transmission to adults, but DeSantis is fighting any mask mandate in schools and Flagler schools are not changing course from a mask-optional approach when school resumes on Aug. 10.

AdventHealth Signs Exclusive Marketing Deal in Flagler Schools in Exchange for Athletic, Flagship and Mental Health Services

July 21, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

AdventHealth Central Region CEO David Ottati, a former CEO of the local hospital, addressing the school board Tuesday evening, with, from left, AdventHealth's Lauren Dye, Flagler Education Foundation Executive Director Joe Rizzo, AdventHealth Palm COast COO Wally de Aquino, and Sp[orts Marketing and Strategic Partnerships Director Anna Donaldson. (Flagler Schools)

The unprecedented marketing agreement gives AdventHealth broad visibility on all school campuses in exchange for underwriting athletic trainer services, physicals, some meantal health services and the district’s health-related flagship programs.

FPC’s Shauntiana Stafford, 17, Killed Herself in 2019. Her Mother is Suing Flagler Schools, Charging Wrongful Death

July 15, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Shauntiana Autrice Stafford was a student at Flagler Palm Coast High School. She was 17. (Facebook)

Seemingly the first such lawsuit in recent decades in Flagler, the case opens a rare window into bullying issues behind normally restrictive student privacy laws, potentially revealing in detail the psychological and mental context of a student in the weeks and months leading up to her death, her relationship with school staffers, and the district’s responses in all its intricacies.

Flagler Schools Refuse Free Rapid Covid Tests That Could Minimize Quarantines Even as 9 Private Schools Sign Up

July 6, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

flagler schools rapid test

Flagler County schools have declined an offer from the Flagler County Health Department to place free rapid-covid-test kits at the district’s nine school campuses. The rapid tests, part of a federal grant, could have been used to drastically minimize the need for students to be quarantined at home for 10 days at a time when merely suspected of having been exposed to the virus.

Travis Lee, Who Sued the District Last Year, Takes Helm at Rymfire; Ryan Andrews Is New Indian Trails Principal

June 30, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Ryan Andrews, left, and Travis Lee, the new principals at Indian Trails Middle School and Rymfire Elementary. (Flagler Schools)

The three new principals’ appointments dovetail two other, less visible but influential postings at the district office and reflect the superintendent’s pronounced nod to diversity, a year after Lee sued the district, charging discrimination.

Flagler 3rd Graders’ Reading Scores Fall 9 Points Amid Pandemic Disruptions, But Remote Students Held Their Own

June 23, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

It wasn't as complete a year. (© FlaglerLive)

Just 59 percent of third graders in Flagler County scored a satisfactory level 3 or better on the Florida Standards Assessment in reading last schoolyear, a nine-point drop from the last time the tests were administered, but statewide students learning remote did slightly better than those learning at school.

Sale and Lease Are Out, Belle Terre Swim Club Down to 2 Options: Keep As Is, Or Convert to K-12 Facility

June 15, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

A pretty setting, but the tennis courts at the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club are not likely to survive whatever makeover the club will experience in the coming year. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler school board today talked today as if it had two options for the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, but the math makes one of those two options almost impossible, leaving the board with turning the facility into primarily a K-12 campus where existing programs at various schools could be consolidated into their own at the club.

As Reorganization Takes Shape, Indian Trails’ Peacock and Rymfire’s Moore Shift to School District Office

June 8, 2021 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Paul Peacock and LaShakia Moore. (Flagler Schools)

Rymfire’s LaShakia Moore and Indian Trails’ Paul Peacock are taking executive roles at the district office. Their replacements have not been named. That search has just begun and will include input from teachers, staff, and parents.

School Board Wades Into Selling Belle Terre Swim Club, Or Closing It to All But District Students

May 19, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club is a luxurious facility, but with not enough takers. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County School Board is considering selling the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club it’s owned since 1997, or closing its membership-driven club functions and restricting its use to students, whose high school teams depend on its 25-yard pool.

In Josh Crews’ Memory, a Student Anthology of Writings That Keep Adding to Education Foundation’s Storied Legacy

May 17, 2021 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Blurry but timeless: a young Josh Crews doing what he liked best.

The Josh Crews Writing Project, now in its 10th year, this week holds the annual launch of the anthology of stories and poems that bears the late bartender and writer’s name. The anthology of writings by students from every Flagler public school is a production of the Flagler County Education Foundation.

John Fischer, Ex-School Board Member and Omnipresent Booster of All Things Flagler, Dies at 76

May 15, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

John Fischer. (© FlaglerLive)

John Fischer, who served on the Flagler County School Board from 2011 to 2014 and was a ubiquitous presence throughout the community for years, died in the aftermath of complications from an infection and surgery on Friday.

Flagler Schools Will Keep Mask Rules In Effect, Making them Voluntary in Summer

May 5, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Students in Flagler County schools will be required to continue with masking, as a safety precaution, until the end of the school year. Once summer programs start, masks will be optional. (Flagler Schools)

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order overriding local county and city masking regulations doesn’t apply to school districts. The Flagler district announced making rules will stay in effect for the next four weeks, becoming voluntary with summer session and the next school year.

Sharp Acceleration of Shifting Tax Dollars to Private Schools Clears Senate and Heads for DeSantis Signature

April 27, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

A postcard of one of the oldest schoolhouses in the country, in St. Augustine, pre-vouchers. (Boston Public Library)

The proposal also would increase the maximum income eligibility to receive vouchers to 375 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning a family of four making nearly $100,000 a year would qualify.

A Surfer, a Fashionista Hunter, a Smiling Earth: Flagler County High School Students’ Best Art Exults in Annual Show

April 23, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

“Beach Breeze,” a photograph by Flagler Palm Coast High School student Briana Aguiar, 16, won Best of Show in the 2021 High School Student Show presented by the Flagler County Art League.

Here are the winners of the annual student photography show at the Flagler County Art League, including Best of Show Briana Aguiar. Like everything else in the past year, the show at the Flagler County Art League was in part restricted by the pandemic, though it’s online and the top three works will be on display at Galleria d’Arte in Palm Coast.

Prospects Dim, Higher Fees Loom for Belle Terre Swim Club as Long-Shot Investor’s Demand May Be a Road Too Far

April 21, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

It's not looking hopeful for the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club. (© FlaglerLive)

An investor is interested in taking over the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club but only if he can cut a new road through the P-Section, a very unlikely possibility, leaving the club facing mounting deficits and no interests from other governments to help.

School Board’s Latest Fray Over LGBTQ ‘Hysteria’ Is Tense But Civil as Law Has the Last Word, Not Parents

April 20, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Teacher Abbey Cook walking past one of the many people who registered to speak at this afternoon's Flagler County School Board workshop, where the most contentious segments focused on the district's policies and procedures regarding LGBTQ students. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler school district officials explained that a student’s privacy–and sexual identity–may override a parent’s right to know about it as transgender matters again divided an audience of 70 and the school board in impassioned but mostly courteous debates at a meeting Tuesday afternoon.

There Are No Transgender “Issues” in Flagler Schools. A Small, Noisy Group Is Fabricating an Issue Anyway.

April 19, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Some 14 months ago LGBTQ debates drew heated reactions from the likes of Charlene Cothran and her followers. A workshop Tuesday afternoon may revive the theater. (© FlaglerLive)

There are no transgender bathroom issues in Flagler schools, no issues with transgender athletes, no issues with a student of one birth sex supposedly using their transgender status to leer at students of the other. But to hear it from some, it’s a crisis warranting a reversal of policies and procedures. The School Board hears a presentation on the current state of the law and procedures Tuesday. A crowd is expected.

School Districts and Families Are Divided: Should Masks Still Be in Place in the Upcoming Academic Year?

April 17, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

masks and schools

With an uncertain outlook of COVID-19 and political connotations surrounding masks, classrooms could become a checkerboard, with some students wearing masks but others showing their faces.

Flagler Schools’ Food Service Director to Gov. DeSantis: Why a $1,000 Bonus to Faculty But Not Service Workers?

April 9, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

Angela Bush is Flagler County's nutritions services director. She's known as an outspoken innovator and advocate for children and staff. (© FlaglerLive)

Angela Bush, Flagler County schools’ Food and Nutrition Services Director is asking Gov. Ron DeSantis in a video letter why once again service employees like bus drivers, custodians, maintenance staff, kitchen and other support staff are excluded from a proposed $1,000 bonus to teachers and principals who “answered the call” through the covid pandemic.

Calling Mullins ‘Pied Piper of Hate, Deception and Fraud,’ School Board’s Conklin Rips His Latest Attack on LGBTQ and GOP

March 29, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 47 Comments

Joe Mullins speaking to a group he calls the 'adorable deplorables,' in a still from the video he'd posted, then taken down, at his Facebook page.

Joe Mullins combined attacks on transgender people and local Republicans in an extended screed filled with falsehoods and mischaracterizations as he spoke to a local far-right Republican group, prompting the School Board’s Colleen Conklin to issue a severe condemnation and called him a “narcissistic beast.”

Joe Mullins Falsehoods, Mischaracterizations, Misleading and Baseless Statements: A Fact-Check

March 29, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 27 Comments

Joe Mullins.(© FlaglerLive)

Joe Mullins’s problem with facts is not new, pre-dating his election. We fact-checked his latest statements from that March 25 appearance point by point as he discussed Flagler schools’ transgender students, local Republicans allegiances, the massage parlor murders, immigration, why people move to Flagler, guns and other matters.

Anti-Maskers Subject Flagler School Board to Drizzle of Disinformation in Latest Attempt to Lift Mask Rules

March 24, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

A sign at a Palm Coast clinic that anti-maskers may have trouble reading. (© FlaglerLive)

The emergence of those anti-masking voices, while restricted to a very small but shrill handful, points to the sort of ideological talking points the board may have to contend with over the next weeks or months, which would be a distraction from the more pragmatic and busy agenda set out by Mittelstadt and the board. 

Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club Will ‘Look Different,’ Superintendent Cautions, Its Funding Model in Question

March 23, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

The window to find a way forward for the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, at least in its present form and with its current funding model, appears to be closing. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler School Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt today prepared the school board for difficult decisions about the district-owned and district-run Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, where deficits are making the funding model unsustainable, and changes likely scaling back the operation–or bringing in different partners–may be ahead.

The Fabricated Fear of Transgender Athletes in High School Sports

March 18, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 27 Comments

Randall Bertrand, the author, at a demonstration for transgender rights before a school board meeting last year. (© FlaglerLive)

Randall Bertrand, who led last year’s campaign to add “gender identity” to the Flagler school board’s protections against discrimination, lays out a case against the Legislature’s baseless fear-mongering over transgender participation in high school sports.

Flagler District Enables Parents to Track Children’s School Bus in Real Time Through App

March 18, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

What your smart phone's "Here Comes th Bus" map may look like, based on a still from a company video.

The app is designed to improve safety and peace of mind for students and parents, reducing unnecessary wait times at bus stops, which have been and continue to be the site of accidents involving children and vehicles across the country.

Should School Board Members Be Paid $35,000 a Year? Voters May Decide in 2022.

March 14, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 24 Comments

The Flagler County School Board. Members are currently paid $34,594 a year, a salary set by the state. (© FlaglerLive)

After debating whether county school board members should be paid, and if ending salaries would threaten diversity on the boards, a House panel took a first step toward letting voters decide the issue in 2022.

Sharply Rebuking More McDonald Falsehoods, School Board Says No Mask-Rule Changes This Year

March 3, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

The picture tells the story: Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt, who visited every school today, led a welcome-back line at Buddy Taylor Middle School, where every facultuy member and employee and School Board member Maria Barbosa wore a mask, as per school district regulation--with the exception of School Board Chairman Janet McDonald, who has frequently denied the severity of covid-19 and is not a big mask wearer. (© FlaglerLive)

School Board member Janet McDonald was again the outlier on Tuesday as she pressed for a relaxation of mask rules while repeating falsehoods about masks and vaccines. Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt took her strongest stand yet, saying the district would not alter its current covid-safety protocols. A majority of the school board agreed.

School Board Will Not Sell the County 20 Acres of Pristine Hammock Land It’s Owned Since 1984

February 25, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

The school board's land extends in the shape of a trapezoid from Pamela Parkway--the dirt road to the right--south to Yacht Harbor. (Google)

Flagler County government’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands program began showing interest in the district’s 20 acres on the Intracoastal around the same time that a flood-control issue had arisen at nearby Pamela Parkway, involving residents there.

Janet McDonald Again Hawks False and ‘Dangerous’ Claims About Masks and Vaccines at School Board Meeting

February 24, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 46 Comments

School Board member Janet McDonald has repeatedly used her seat on the board to disseminate false, unsupported or misleading information. She did so again Tuesday, regarding the pandemic. (© FlaglerLive)

Calling for rejecting “outside” guidelines on the pandemic, Janet McDonald said communities with mask-wearing have more virus transmission than those without and claimed the covid-19 vaccine “is not a vaccine.” She spoke at a school board workshop, and offered no evidence.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • Page 10
  • Page 11
  • Page 12
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 26
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents
Flagler County Sheriff's Expo 2025

Recent Comments

  • FlaglerLive on Zakrzewski Killed for Murdering His Family, and DeSantis Sets Modern-Day Record for Executions in a Year
  • DaleL on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Dan on U.S. Job Creation Stalls to Lowest 3-Month Total Since Covid, Bankruptcies Spike 27% in Florida’s Middle District
  • Juan on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Ugly ending on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Fact check everything on U.S. Job Creation Stalls to Lowest 3-Month Total Since Covid, Bankruptcies Spike 27% in Florida’s Middle District
  • Marek on ‘Yes, We Signed the Damn Thing Because We Really Had To,’ Orlando Mayor Says of Forced Transports for ICE
  • Marek on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Whathehck? on Vance 46 Points Ahead of DeSantis in Early 2026 Presidential Poll
  • Bill on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Laurel on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 1, 2025
  • Pogo on Vance 46 Points Ahead of DeSantis in Early 2026 Presidential Poll
  • Cathy M Poturny on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Laurel on Keep Your ICE Raids Out of Our Schools
  • Laurel on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 3, 2025
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 3, 2025

Log in