The state has rejected Flagler County government’s plan to move the Whispering Meadows Ranch–the equine therapy non-profit–to the county fairgrounds, saying it would privatize public land. The rejection is the latest setback in the ranch’s two-year effort to leave its John Anderson Highway property, where it has operated for 16 years, until neighbors started objecting to its presence.
Schools
In Florida, We Are All Child Abusers Now
The Florida Legislature is legalizing a Jim Crow-like system of punishing, demonizing and denying the existence of LGBTQ children. Few sessions of the Florida Legislature provided the legal framework for as much state-sponsored and citizen-empowered terrorism against children as this one.
Vote to End Diversity Programs in Florida Colleges and Universities Set Before Senate
A measure that seeks to prevent colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is ready to go before the full Senate amid strong objections from Democrats, with one Black senator calling the proposal “racist at its core.”
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel, a Review and a Recommendation
Elana K. Arnold’s “Damsel” is among the 22 books that a trio of individuals have sought to ban from high school library shelves in Flagler County. Here’s an unexpected recommendation by FlaglerLive’s reviewers to ban the book.
Coming YMCA Could Give Belle Terre Club a Few Years’ Reprieve. 2 School Board Members Won’t Hear of It.
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.
‘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.
Wadsworth Elementary’s Karter Consolazio’s Alertness Earns Him a Sheriff’s Scholarship
Sheriff Staly and Deputy Erlandson presented Karter Consolazio with a certificate for a scholarship to attend the FCSO Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Academy this summer.
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.