Belle Terre Elementary School President Jennifer Paterno discusses her role in bringing to light issues that led to an internal school district and criminal investigation of alleged financial improprieties in the organization previously.
Schools
FPC Student Faces Felony Charge After NFL Argument Escalates to Death Threat and Insults About Appearance
Two Flagler Palm Coast High School students arguing over the NFL had an altercation that led to one boy making written death threats against the other boy and his parents, on Instagram.
Belle Terre Elementary Principal Culver Under Criminal Investigation By FDLE as District Announces Interim
Belle Terre Elementary Principal Terence Culver is under criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Jessica DeFord was appointed interim principal at the school.
Flagler Students’ and Faculty’s ‘Football Sunday’ at Palm Coast Church Termed ‘Serious Constitutional Violation’
“Football Sunday” at Palm Coast’s United Methodist Church has annually invited students, coaches and faculty from FPC and Matanzas, among others, in religious services, drawing a rebuke from the Freedom from Religion Foundation on constitutional grounds.
Why I Filed the Complaint Against Belle Terre Principal Terence Culver
Stephen Furnari, author of the complaint against Belle Terre Principal Terence Culver, cites misappropriation of funds, sexual harassment and hostile workplace, discrimination and nepotism and retaliatory practices, among other issues.
Belle Terre Elementary Principal Culver ‘Retires’ As District Investigates Allegations of Hostile Work Environment
Belle Terre Elementary Principal Terence Culver was under internal investigation over a hostile work environment when he announced his “retirement,” following other investigations that looked at unaccounted funds in the PTO account and issues with disciplining of a special education student.
Fast-Track Enrollment Saturday at Daytona State College, Dec. 7
DSC offers an easy-access, no-cost session – Enrollment Day – on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at DSC’s Daytona Beach Campus, Wetherell Center, located at 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd.
Search Fatigue or Satisfaction Limit Turnout at Public Forum on Choosing Next School Superintendent
Just eight people participated in a public forum designed to hear ideas about what sort of school superintendent should be hired next, what challenges lay ahead and what works in the district today.
Dave Sullivan Is New County Commission Chairman, McDonald Retains School Board Chair
The titles don’t necessarily mean as much as they imply. No chairman or vice-chairman has more power than he or she would have had without the title, though some try to use more heft than they have.
DeSantis Wants $1 Billion Injection into Public Education, Mostly For Teacher Pay
After dubbing next year the “Year of the Teacher,” DeSantis has made two major teacher-compensation packages the centerpiece of his education spending plan for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
UNF’s MedNex Plan With Palm Coast as Hub Creating “A Lot of Buzz” as Committee Deliberates
University of North Florida President David Szymanski this morning briefed a committee of the university system’s Board of Governors on UNF’s plans for an innovative “medical nexus” that would include Palm Coast and AdventHealth as key partners.
DeSantis Proposes $91.4 Billion Budget, With Focus on Teachers and Environment
Lawmakers will decide whether to move forward with DeSantis’ priorities, such as his plan to set minimum teacher salaries at $47,500 — an idea that would cost $603 million next year.
Visiting Flagler, State Board of Education Singles Out Wadsworth’s Anna Crawford, a Finalist for State Award
Wadsworth Elementary Principal Anna Crawford is one of three finalists for the 2019-2020 Innovative Principal Award, and was recognized, along with one of her sixth grade students, during a state Board of Education meeting in Bunnell.
Daytona State College Announces New Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting
Daytona State College’s Bachelor of Science in Accounting brings the total number of bachelor’s degrees offered by DSC to seven. The new program is scheduled to begin fall 2020.
Flagler Professor Discovers Unknown Spanish-Timucua Book While on Sabbatical
Timothy J. Johnson, Craig and Audrey Thorn Distinguished Professor of Religion at Flagler College, recently discovered a Spanish-Timucua book by the Franciscan Friar Francisco Pareja. The book, previously unknown to scholars, was published in Mexico in 1628.
DeSantis Pitches Bonuses for Teachers and Principals Based on School Grades
Bonuses would be up to $7,500 for teachers and up to $10,000 for principals, drawing immediate criticism from the teachers union, which has long pushed for salary increases rather than bonuses.
Parent Who Allegedly Threatened to Burn Down Bunnell Elementary Over Racism Faces Felony Charge–and Potential Hate Crime
A 23-year-old parent of two children at Bunnell Elementary accused school staff of being racist and was heard allegedly threatening to burn down the school. The sheriff’s office forwarded a felony charge to the State Attorney’s Office and recommended a more serious charge under the state’s hate-crime law.
Daytona State College Announces New Specialization Courses for Risk Management and Insurance
Daytona State College has added a new component to its Associate of Science degree in Business Administration with the addition of specialized courses in Risk Management and Insurance (RMI). These courses are designed to prepare students for entry-level jobs in the insurance industry. “Recent trends in the insurance industry, regionally and locally, prompted us to offer the specialization,” […]
Next Year’s School Calendar Builds In 2 Days Off for Elections and Hurricane Make-Up Days, Leaving Thanksgiving Week Off Intact
Next year’s Flagler schools calendar will keep students off campus on election days and provide four built-in hurricane make-up days before Thanksgiving Week is affected.
School Board Calls for Investigation of FPC’s Discipline Procedures in Unusual Settlement With Ex-Teacher’s Whistleblower Complaint
Vanishing disciplinary paperwork and lax follow-ups in bullying and harassment complaints were of special concern to the school board as it settled a whistleblower case with ex-FPC’s i3 teacher Robert Sprouse Tuesday, agreeing to pay him up to $30,000.
Palm Coast Lines Up Support from County and Cities for UNF’s MedNex Initiative in Town Center
Flagler County commissioners today unanimously endorsed a proposed UNF partnership with Palm Coast to create a medical hub in Town Center as the county’s top legislative priority for 2020.
From High School to $37,000-a-Year Firefighters: Flagler Hires 1st Three Recruits Out of FPC’s Fire Academy
Noah Dunaway, Dylan Cronk and Beau Kruithoff, all 18, are the very first Flagler County Fire Rescue recruits to be hired directly out of FPC’s fire academy. They were introduced to the Flagler County Commission this morning. They’ll be making $37,000 a year within weeks.
Rymfire’s LaShakia Moore and iFlagler’s Erin Quinn Are Flagler District’s Top Administrators of the Year
LaShakia Moore, principal at Rymfire Elementary School was tapped as the top school administrator while iFlagler’s Erin Quinn was selected as Assistant Principal of the year.
Superintendents Don’t Want Big Pay Increase To Go Directly To Teachers, But to a Pot They Would Control
Four superintendents advising lawmakers say Gov. DeSantis’s proposed $603 million teacher-compensation plan should go into the “base student allocation” — a pot of money districts can use with more flexibility.
In Public Survey, Flagler Schools, Teachers and Safety Get High Marks, the Board a Bit Lower Ones
A community survey by the Flagler County school district finds strong support for its teachers and programs and a strong sense of safety, though the survey drew around 400 responses and the questions were limited and leading.
Stetson University’s Monumental Man John B. Stetson Honored with Campus Sculpture
Installed in Palm Court in August, the larger-than-life statue and bench weighs approximately 1,600 pounds and features a relaxed Stetson sitting on the bench while tipping one of his famous hats and beckoning folks to grab a seat or strike a selfie pose.
Tobacco Use by Flagler and Florida Youth at All-Time Low, But Vaping Spikes to All-Time High
In Flagler, 15.1 percent of students in middle and high school reported using a vaping product in the past 30 days, up from 13.8 percent in 2016 and 7.8 percent in 2014.
3 Incidents Involving Students from 2 Schools in 5 Hours Result in 2 Arrests and an Injury
School resource deputies were kept unusually busy by a spate of incidents at Flagler Palm Coast High School and Old Kings Elementary Tuesday over the course of five hours.
Case of Student Arrested and Released After Allegedly Planning School Shooting Worries Safety Commission
In early September, law enforcement officers arrested a 15-year-old student who they say scribbled in a notebook six pages of specific and well-researched strategies to carry out a mass shooting at Baker County High School.
Flagler School Board Adopts Process Broadly Inclusive of Community in Choosing Next Superintendent
The Flagler school board will involve an internal, staff focus group, a community advisory committee, a community survey and a community forum as it decides what sort of superintendent to hire by next March.
What Life On the Margin Feels Like
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, is in an uproar over a video to promote the school’s homecoming that features no students of color. Here’s how young people of color feel at being treated like “others.”
Daytona State College Awarded $2.1 million Title III Grant to Help Retention and Graduation
The grant will support a new project called “Learner Engagement, Navigation, and Support (LENS),” and will enable the College to increase retention and graduation rates of first-time-in-college (FTIC) students in associate degree programs.
A “Highly Effective” Teacher Loses His Job at FPC. He Says It Was Retaliation for Whistle-Blowing. District Disagrees.
Robert Sprouse is claiming in a whistleblower action that his contract was not renewed because of the way he reported on a male senior’s repeatedly inappropriate and harassing behavior toward several girls–to school officials, the sheriff’s office and the Department of Children and Families.
DeSantis Seeks to Raise Minimum Salary for Florida Teachers to $47,500, or $7,000 Higher Than in Flagler
The Florida Education Association statewide teachers union issued a news release saying it was “encouraged to hear Gov. Ron DeSantis make clear that teacher pay matters to his administration.” But it also raised questions about how the plan would be funded and what it would do to help retain longstanding teachers.
Daytona State College Awarded Scholarship Grant for Military Veterans
Daytona State College has received a grant from the Margaret McCartney & R. Parks Williams Foundation to benefit military veterans and their families.
Rabbi Shapiro Makes Legal Case Against Flagler School Board Reviving Invocations at Meetings
Palm Coast’s Merrill Shapiro, a member of the national board of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, presented legal arguments at a talk Thursday against the Flagler County School Board’s potential return to starting meetings with invocations.
Zero Tolerance For Threatening Students? Not Exactly: Flagler District Enacts More Reasoned Approach
Even though one law calls for zero tolerance regarding threats on campus, another requires local districts to use a “threat assessment tool” that opposes zero tolerance and applies more careful, less drastic responses to students or anyone making threats.
Flagler School Board Attempts Weird Science of Conjuring Its Perfect Next Superintendent
The Flagler County School Board moved up the date of its nomination of the next superintendent to March 10, and drew up a blueprint for the sort of leader it seeks to replace the retiring Jim Tager.
Matanzas High School Student, 15, Arrested For Making Threats With Prop Gun in SnapChat Video
The 15-year-old Matanzas High School student made threats and send the video to several students he said he’d fight after school, after they came close to jumping him while he was in a school bathroom Monday, though no fight broke out.
Pair of Flagler Palm Coast High School Students Semifinalists for National Merit Scholarships
Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Elizabeth Wolcott and Liying Wu now compete for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring.
Daytona State College Ranked Number One in the Nation for Most Affordable Online Engineering Degrees
For the second time in as many weeks, Daytona State College has earned a No. 1 ranking for affordability in online education. This time that honor goes to the college’s online Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology program.
Stetson University Launches Branch of AAUW
he American Association of University Women (AAUW) opens doors for women and girls, influences public debate on critical social issues, sponsors community programs, publishes groundbreaking research on women and girls, and is one of the world’s largest sources of funding exclusively for graduate women.
Stetson University’s Centurion Sales Program Receives $2.5 Million Endowment
Stetson University’s School of Business Administration has announced a $2.5 million gift from donor Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals to fully endow the Centurion Sales Program. The endowment supports the Centurion Sales Program and ensures its place as a signature program in the School of Business Administration. The sales program was made possible two years ago by […]
Disagreements Persist About Flagler School Board’s Religious Invocations Past and Future
A divided Flagler County School Board has yet to decide whether and how to conduct invocations at the start of its meetings following Chairman Janet McDonald’s out-of-order introduction of a pastor and her invocation at the August meeting.
UNF Pitches Medical Hub in Palm Coast’s Town Center in Major Partnership With City, Schools and AdventHealth
The University of North Florida is submitting a $23 million request to the State Board of Governors that includes Palm Coast’s Town Center as a hub of an innovative concept of medical higher education that ties directly to medical-sector jobs in Northeast Florida, a concept UNF calls MedNex.
11 Florida School Districts Back Arming Teachers, But Education Department Remains Secretive
Senators asked, but a Florida Department of Education official did not provide information about the exact number of teachers who have chosen to be trained and armed in schools.
A 14-Year-Old Girl at Buddy Taylor Middle Is Hospitalized After an Apparent Overdose
A 14-year-old student at Buddy Taylor Middle School was hospitalized Friday morning after showing signs of a drug overdose and claiming she’d ingested 10 pills.
Flagler Schools Require Only One Hurricane Make-Up Day, Leaving Thanksgiving Week Off Intact
The Flagler School district’s extension of the school day by a few minutes a few years ago builds up enough time in the schedule to create a surplus from which the district can then account for hurricane days. A third day will convert a teacher work day into a hurricane make up day.
In Wake of Measles Outbreak, A State Ends Religious Exemption for Vaccinations
New York has eliminated religious exemptions by law. Florida is a religious-exemption state, as well as a medical-exemption state. and Flagler County in 2017 had the second-highest proportion of kindergarten students in the state with an exemption, most of them for religious reasons.
Hurricane Dorian in Pictures and Video, Flagler Edition
Hurricane Dorian has monopolized lives in Palm Coast and Flagler County. Here’s a rough visual draft of the emergency as it has unfolded over the past few days in various parts of Flagler.