After yet another round of hardened, inconclusive debate over the fate of the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club during the school board’s workshop on Tuesday, the board agreed to vote on the matter one way or the other at its May 16 meeting. But this time a new element is in play, with the very strong possibility of a YMCA coming to town in a few years.
Flagler County School Board
‘Don’t Say Gay’ Extended to 12th Grade in New Board of Education Rule, With Vague Exceptions
Teachers shall not “intentionally provide” instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in fourth through 12th grades. Teachers could face suspension or revocation of their educator certificates for violations of the rule.
Furry and Chong, Who’d Slandered Opponents During Campaign, Seek to ‘Censure’ School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro. They Fail.
An attempt by School Board members Will Furry and Christy Chong to censure Cheryl Massaro failed, 3-2, Tuesday evening. The motion and the discussion surrounding it had elements of the surreal, as most school board meetings now do. Massaro’s comments were cutting, but nowhere near the slanders and lies Chong and Furry had peddled about board members and candidates during their campaign a few months ago.
Crank, Novel of Addiction, Survives Ban at FPC and Matanzas for Now in Unanimous Vote
Two committees meeting jointly to review a challenge to Ellen Hopkins’s “Crank,” a novel tracing the spiral of a 17-year-old high school girl into drug addiction, voted unanimously Monday afternoon to keep the book on high school library shelves. But the superintendent’s recent decision to ban a book despite three unanimous votes to keep it left a chill in the committees’ decisions on Monday.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Ellen Hopkins’s Crank, a Review and a Recommendation
Crank is the first book by Ellen Hopkins, a very popular young adult novelist, and the first in an autobiographical trilogy centered on her daughter’s crystal meth addiction. It is among the 22 books a trio of Flagler County residents want banned. A joint committee of Matanzas and FPC faculty take on the challenge this afternoon.
Marketing Lab Opens at Matanzas High School, Giving Classroom a Real-World Vibe of Office Energy
Matanzas High School’s Marketing Lab is the newest addition to its marketing and finance program, a hands-on immersive experience for students to get the full workplace experience from conceiving products to pitching their marketability to developing advertising campaigns to selling. Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and Matanzas Principal Kristin Bozeman inaugurated the lab today.
Behind Mittelstadt’s Firing: ‘An Out of the Closet Lesbian’ Who Refuses to Kiss Chamber’s Ring
The bigoted, vengeful firing of Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt will deeply stain Flagler County’s reputation for business or great schools: Neither the three school board members nor the chamber of commerce who orchestrated the ouster could find a single reason to fire her, fabrications aside. Malevolence was enough.
First Book Bans. Now School Libraries: Sally Hunt Thinks Media Centers Could Be Shrunk.
Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt thinks some school libraries may be too large and under-used. She wants to rethink library spaces and media specialists’ roles, and thinks the public library could be the repository of books unwanted on school campuses.
Palm Coast Chamber’s Disinformation on Student Performance and Superintendent Draws Sharp Rebukes
Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and School Board Vice Chair Colleen Conklin both issued sharply worded rebukes to rankly misinforming statements by the Flagler Palm Coast Chamber of Commerce regarding Mittelstadt’s performance in the last three years. A 3-2 majority of the school board fired Mittelstadt Tuesday, as of June 30.
Chong, Furry and Hunt in 3-2 Majority Not to Renew Superintendent Mittelstadt’s Contract
Rebuffing an outpouring of public support for Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt at this evening’s special meeting, the Flagler County School Board voted 3-2 not to renew her contract when it expires in June.