Brendan Depa is the former Matanzas High School student with disabilities who in February 2023 was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery of a school employee. He pleaded to the charge, and is scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday.
By Daniel Engert
After reading recent articles published on FlaglerLive titled, “The Dis-Education of Brendan Depa” and other articles, I felt compelled to highlight the collaboration and teamwork that has taken place to provide continued educational opportunities for Mr. Depa during his stay at our facility.
As Chief of the Court and Detention Services Division for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, I oversee the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. Over the past year, on average there were almost 300 inmates in custody each day in our facility. Brendan Depa has been included in this count since August 22, 2023 when he turned 18 and was transferred to our facility from a Jacksonville juvenile detention center.
Mr. Depa’s case was a national story and remains very polarizing within Flagler County. Getting some form of education was vital for him but was also not the statutory responsibility of the Sheriff’s Office. Even before his arrival, I had been involved in discussions with his mother about his housing, his access to reading materials and visitation. Last fall, a retired special education educator, Eugene Lopes, contacted me and expressed an interest and desire to tutor Brendan.
Over many years, Flagler Technical College (FTC) and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office have enjoyed a very positive relationship to provide adult education programs to inmates including GED classes and testing. I immediately reached out to FTC and discussed the possibility of partnering to provide Brendan with an opportunity to continue his education with the goal of him taking the GED examination. All parties worked collaboratively with detention staff to accommodate a schedule that would work best for our volunteer instructor. Mr. Depa and Mr. Lopes spent three-quarters of the lessons in December preparing him to take the Reasoning Through Language Arts section of the GED. The other quarter of his time was spent on either math, science or social studies. The educational plan we created was for him to take these sections after language arts.
By mid-January, he completed all sections of the reading prep. Mr. Depa was now ready to take the Language Arts section of the GED, except one roadblock was identified. Brendan did not have a Florida ID Card since he was incarcerated when he turned 18. He needed this in order to be enrolled for the exam. Our team contacted the Flagler County Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston’s Office and another partner emerged! Shelly Edmondson and David Herne provided access and enrollment instructions and we transported Brendan to the Tax Collector’s Office one morning before the office opened, provided the documents required and he obtained his Florida ID Card.
Now it was up to Brendan as all educational roadblocks had been removed. We are proud to say he passed the Language Arts section of the GED! He has now completed all sections of the social studies and science lessons of the GED prep, and we are in the process of arranging computer access so he can take the social studies and science sections of the GED and to complete the required math lessons. Math has always been a struggle for Brendan but he is making significant progress through the lessons, according to Mr. Lopes.
By providing long blocks of time with Brendan, our team and partners were able to dramatically increase his academic stamina. Mr. Lopes doesn’t think Brandon would have been able to sit and focus for a two-hour test prior to their work together. While in-custody in our detention facility, Brendan has worked on his coping mechanisms for dealing with frustration and developed time management and pacing skills.
FTC’s GED facilitator, Paul Delisle was the glue that made this arrangement work. Most importantly, he also developed a strong relationship with Brendan, making him feel important and smart every time he was in the classroom and sometimes taking on instructional duties when Mr. Lopes was not available. Our detention staff made sure that Brendan was always ready and on time for his classes and gracefully providing encouragement when he was struggling to adapt to incarceration and living in a jail environment.
While we do not know how his education was previously handled, we can assure the community that since he has been in our custody, our dedicated detention team, with the partnership of FTC, the Tax Collector’s Office and our amazing volunteers and through the vision of Sheriff Staly, we have been able to provide him his education, the cornerstone of success in society, in a difficult situation.
Daniel Engert has been Chief of the Court and Detention Services Division at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office since January 2020.
Lynne says
As the grandmother of a special needs child and aunt of two, I can vouch for the special attention needed by and provided for these children. My grandson and one nephew are now functioning as responsible individuals – the nephew works as a postal carrier. The other nephew, who also has anger management issues which may or may not be part of the special needs, would not participate in the programs provided and is, once again, homeless and/or on welfare.
These efforts DO WORK!!! And we owe it to our children, all our children, to provide them with whatever it takes for them to realize their potential.
Peaches McGee says
Thank-you to all involved.
I’m glad the proverbial key wasn’t thrown away.
Jim says
This may be a case of good management vs. not so good…
I am very impressed that the jail staff took the time and effort to develop a plan for Brendan and the determination and willingness to see it through.
I wonder if Brendan would be in jail now and that teacher’s aide severely injured if the school system had adopted a similar strategy when it mattered?
More to the point I hope the school system handles kids like him better now. I sure hope so.
Ray W. says
Thank you, Chief Engert! I am glad to read of the variety of resources across the educational community that are available to successfully improve Mr. Depa’s educational capacity and to expand his intellectual horizons.
As I have commented on this site before, in my over 30 years of practice, I have visited clients in corrections facilities all over the state. I have interacted on numerous occasions with all types of corrections personnel. The Flagler County facility employs many professional and helpful officers and officials. I may have forgotten some instances, but I cannot remember a time when a Flagler County client was less than professionally treated in my presence, even Joseph Bova. Over the last nine years of my practice, I mainly worked out of the Flagler County office as an assistant public defender, but my client base was spread over the northern three counties of the 7th Circuit, so much of my work was in Flagler County. When assigned to the Flagler office, every fifth weekend morning was spent physically in the jail attending first appearances. I just want all of your corrections staff to know that I appreciate their efforts. Not all jails are created equal. I am not saying other corrections facilities are bad. I am saying yours is good.
William Stonehocker says
Rock on to Gene Lopes for using his 30 year career of being a special ed teacher to help Brendan.
Travis Thomas says
I am thrilled to see the work Flagler Technical College’s AGE program is doing to help change the lives and trajectories of so many people, and this is another great example of how localized partnerships can be powerful catalysts in achieving that goal.
Kudos to Paul and Eugene, and the entire AGE Department at FTC, that works tirelessly to help those in our community that need academic skills building and English language development services.
I’m proud to see us working together for the benefit of all concerned, and hope that trend will continue to develop and flourish with many more success stories to come.
Doug L says
I’m retired from Law Enforcement after 31 years, and I’ve read about and personally seen the successes of once-incarcerated individuals. I also certainly don’t condone what Brendan has done either, but what the FCSO Detention staff did to accommodate Brendan’s needs was amazing. I hope this case comes to an agreement that works for all affected.