For Colleen Conklin, a Preview of Farewells and Flowers After 24 Years as She Logs Penultimate School Board Meeting

It wasn’t what Colleen Conklin had expected for her last evening meeting after 24 straight years on the Flagler County School Board. At the last minute the meeting was moved from the first-floor chambers to the more prosaic third-floor room where the board holds its workshops. The Bunnell City Commission was meeting in the chambers an hour later, and it had dibs.

But it was just as well. A vase of sunny flowers sat on the table in front of Conklin’s seat, “On behalf of 240,000 kids.” The flowers were from Heather Bevan and her family, “an absolute rock for me over the last three years,” Conklin said of her friend and former colleague from years ago.




It wasn’t actually her last meeting. That’ll be the workshop in mid-November. And it wasn’t just Conklin who was ending a board tenure. Cheryl Massaro sat next to her, though she’s been on the board only since 2020.

But it was as if to remind people that Massaro had to note that it was her last voting meeting, too, as she spoke of the “mixed bag” of her retirement. “There are things I’m definitely going to miss, people I’m definitely going to miss, and then there’s others I’m not. And I think you’ll understand that,” Massaro said, a barely veiled reference to two people remaining on the current board in particular and a third who recently resigned. “Dr Conklin, I feel like I’m invading in her retirement of 24 years. Dr Conklin hired me. How does that make you feel?”

It wasn’t actually Conklin who’d hired her–that would have been a violation of a school board’s authority–but Bill Delbrugge, the superintendent at the time, who hired Massaro to run the Youth Center on the campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School. She’d never imagined she’d end up serving on the board and have “the thrill to work with some of the best, if not the best, school board member ever,” Massaro said. “There’s some good ones, but she’s probably the best,” she said of Conklin. “And I’ve also had the opportunity to work with some of the worst school board members ever. And I’m not going to name names, but I think people know what I’m talking about.” (She was referring to Jill Woolbright, Janet McDonald and the recently departed Sally Hunt.)




Massaro said she won’t be far in retirement, and she will feel more free to speak her mind–not that that was ever an issue during her tenure: she had been elected because of that will to speak her mind, a quality that had also distinguished Conklin over the years, with increasing moderation and tact.

Conklin struggled to make it through her statement, even though she’d written it down. Characteristically, students were foremost in her memories. “This community is truly something special, and I am forever thankful for the opportunity that I’ve had to be a part of it, to watch the students, both past and present,” she said, “you’ve always been at the heart of my work, watching you grow and succeed and overcome challenges, and hearing about some of the stories that our students live with every single day. Overcoming those challenges and watching them succeed has probably been the most rewarding part of this journey, and it is the best part of being a school board member. You are the reason that we come together. Your future is what drives every one of us sitting up here. Never forget how important you are, or how much potential you really hold and how many people are rooting for your success.”

Conklin also thanked district staff, leadership and LaShakia Moore, the superintendent before noting the “community effort” required to keep public education going.




“We will officially celebrate them as members of this board, and just say thank you for taking a chance on me as a newbie coming in,” Superintendent LaShakia Moore said of the 3 p.m. celebration on Nov. 12. “And afterwards, we’re going to have a celebration. I love a good party.”

The meeting itself was not eventful but for the pre-party farewells, started halfway through the hour-long meeting, appropriately, by Andy Dance. He’d spent 12 years on the School board with Conklin before he was elected to the County Commission four years ago, reflected on the “camaraderie” on the board over those years. He was not exaggerating. For most of that time, and in contrast with the years since about 2019, the School Board was the least controversial of the local government boards.

Its members had differences, sharp differences at times, but the board’s tempers rarely flared, and the issues it dealt with had none of the bitter, ideologically serrated edge that many issues have since–Covid, masks, vaccines, gender, book bans. Dance named some of his past colleagues and Conklin’s: Sue Dickinson–who was elected with Conklin in 2000, and served until 2016, Evie Schellenberger, the late John Fischer, the late Peter Palmer, Trevor Tucker. He could have also mentioned Jim Guines, who could be as much a mentor as a tormentor to Conklin, but only politically: the two had a close and mutually admiring relationship before Guines resigned after his own long tenure in 2007, and his memory started betraying him.

“We accomplished a lot,” Dance said in the public comment segment. “We had our agreements and disagreements, but we always left with respect for one one another, and could laugh about it in the end,” Dance said. “I think the work that you’ve done for 24 years, the community respects that, and it’s shown, I think, in the people that are here today and the comments that I read online. So we appreciate you and the time you’ve put into improving Flagler schools and looking out for the children and staff. So thank you.”




It’s the memory of the more recent years that made another segment in Conklin’s statement necessary, as it would not have been had she left the board, say, in 2016: “As I step away from this role, I offer a few words of advice to the new new board members,” she said. “Remember that this role is not about personal agendas or politics. It’s about the students and the future that we’re building for them. Listen to each other. I haven’t always been great at that. It’s been a work in progress for me. Listen to each other even when you disagree. Andy, I appreciate you pointing out the differences, because we still laugh and have a good time.”

There’s been a lot less of that laughter and, the errant communal meal at conferences aside, none of the good times with the current board’s makeup, though Conklin’s relationship with Chong or Furry was not as difficult as it was for Massaro, and it had improved markedly in recent months. (“I hope you’ll call me a friend,” Chong told her, while Furry put it this way, after remarking on the differences: “I know that I have grown as a board member because of those engagements.”)

Still, Conklin had been eager to make her exit, if with a heavy heart for what she sees happening to the system she loves: “Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. It is the bedrock upon which we build our future,” she said. In private conversations, she’s at times despaired at the fraying of that bedrock. “It ensures that every child, regardless of their background circumstances, has a chance to learn and grow and succeed. The work we do in this room, the decisions we make and the policies we set shape the trajectory of countless lives. Protecting and advocating for public education is not just our duty as School Board members. It’s a moral responsibility that we owe the next generation.”




Carmen Stanford, publisher of the widely read and followed Flagler Parent page, had earlier thanked Conklin “on behalf of all the parents for what you’ve done for all our students, even through disagreements. I just wanted you to know we will love you, and we always knew that your heart was always in the right place.” She was not alone with this sentiment: “I’m going to miss you, for sure.”

“I have been here since day one of her 24 years of leadership and dedication, and I cannot say what a phenomenal job you’ve done,” Rachel Rogers, who grew up with Conklin since they were 12, told her. “I can tell you, from the bottom of my heart that this county will miss you fighting for them, your passion, your tenacity and your integrity, and don’t ever lose that.”