Stepping back from a brink that had School Board member Sally Hunt ready to make a motion to fire attorney Kristy Gavin this evening, the board and Gavin agreed at a workshop today to what amounts to a pair of mediation sessions, one behind closed doors and one in a public meeting, to explore a severance on mutually agreed terms. The terms are not known, nor is Gavin’s willingness to agree to them.
“I am willing to consider mutual agreement of how we can resolve this matter,” Gavin told the board after being summoned to their table, after spending the previous 75 minutes watching from her corner desk a board debate her fate and repeatedly teeter on the verge of acrimony but for the calming interventions of Colleen Conklin, who has been on the board the entirety of Gavin’s 17 years’ service.
Gavin will first meet with School Board member Will Furry out of the public eye, with Furry today fielding questions his colleagues want him to ask her. The board will then meet in a special, open session at 7 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Government Services Building to take action.
The board members had in their hands the memo they’d paid $5,000 for from the Schutts and Bowen law firm when the three board members interested in firing Gavin–Hunt, Christy Chong and Will Furry–wanted independent legal guidance on how to fire Gavin without risking a lawsuit.
The memo did not tell the board anything it didn’t already know, Board Chair Cheryl Massaro said. “Quite frankly, I thought we threw $5,000 away,” Massaro said. “Anybody with any common sense, you don’t need to be a litigation expert, can read the contract and know what it says because they just regurgitated everything that was there. In my mind. There was nothing special and they didn’t answer the questions that were provided.”
The memo told them what the contract stated: that the board must have “just cause” to fire Gavin. But “as long as she has been satisfying the basic duties of her position, it will be difficult to challenge the methods by which she accomplished the designated goals,” the six-page memo by Daniel Nordby and Paul Scheck states. (The memo had not been made available to the public or uploaded to the district’s website, where all documents backing up meeting discussion items are supposed to be uploaded, before the meeting, even though it was addressed to the full board and was four days old.)
The memo provided examples of misconduct, none of which objectively apply to Gavin, explained Gavin’s right to challenge a firing and outlined, with some qualifications (such as using the word “seems” to explain a clause in the contract) and some lack of clarity in what the board’s “summary of options” would be. If the board wants to fire Gavin with just cause, it must state the reasons on the record. It can also reach a separation by mutual agreement–the option the memo’s authors consider most favorable, least embarrassing and least expensive to the board.
The memo leaves silent the consequences of Gavin’s dismissal less than two years from the end of her contract and the time when she could retire with full state benefits. It also leaves unclear the board’s exposure if Gavin challenges her dismissal in court.
The possibility of Gavin becoming a staff attorney who answers to the superintendent rather than to the board was again discussed. That would save her job. But while Furry favors exactly that sort of structure, with a staff attorney and a board attorney, he appeared to dismiss that possibility as far as Gavin is concerned because ” it involves moving into a position that doesn’t exist at the moment,” he said. The board would not hire the staffa attorney. It would be part of the superintendent’s budget, and the superintendent’s call.
Hunt was ready to make the motion this evening to fire her until Conklin explained, with a calm and deliberateness that repeatedly escaped Hunt, why the board might want to give that a lot of thought before risking litigation that could cost a lot more than 12 weeks’ severance pay, as the best-case scenario would have it.
When Hunt said she had just cause, the first thing she mentioned was her displeasure that when Gavin released her texts to comply with public record requests–back when Hunt and then-Wadsworth Principal Paul Peacock were orchestrating the firing of then-Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt–one of the texts, to Hunt’s chagrin, was her asking Peacock if he had just “butt-dialed” her.
“I then have someone yelling at me that I am having extramarital affairs with Paul Peacock because it has been suggested that I am overly friendly,” Hunt complained, claiming Gavin should not have released that text. But Hunt, who has shown a continuing contempt, disregard and misunderstanding of the public record law, was incorrect, as Conklin pointed out, since the law had to be interpreted liberally, not narrowly: the frequency of calls between officials or employees, precisely because they are not personal, as Hunt claimed, is part of the record that establishes when, and to what extent, the officials or employees had been in contact, and on what terms: all questions that had surrounded Hunt’s and Peacock’s machinations about Mittelstadt. Hunt herself would have risked liability for suppressing the text, as would Gavin had she aided her in the suppression.
Hunt also claimed that she had “just cause” to fire Gavin for the way Gavin–or so Hunt claimed–had said by way of legal guidance “that we really shouldn’t want older teachers because they’re out of touch with technology.” But of Hunt’s own admission, the alleged statement–itself out of character for Gavin–dates back to “within a few months” of her election. It appears neither to have been documented nor mentioned before, and Massaro and Conklin were quick to say that it did not amount to just cause.
Chong, for her part, was upset that a continuing rumor about Hunt looking to sell her home had been reported here. “I work for a large company, a healthcare system that is nationwide,” Chong said. “And you are told you are not to be speaking to the media. And everybody in Flagler schools who works for our schools should know that you should not be making comments to the media. I just feel like that’s a given.” (At the same meeting, Chong sought to cut down the amount of time afforded the public during public comment periods at board meetings.)
Chong appears not to see the difference between a private company and public schools accountable to taxpayers–nor to understand the public relevance of Hunt considering to sell and move out. That would trigger a series of consequences, not least of them the opening of a seat midstream and the reduction of a board to a 2-2 split until an eventual appointment by the governor to fill the seat, based on a scramble of applicants. (Hunt has already resigned once before un-resigning.)
“Nobody has said anything about just cause. Everything you just described does not quantify as just cause,” Conklin said.
But there’s no question that three board members don’t trust Gavin and want her gone–a majority and a reason Massaro and Conklin cannot overcome. The majority may even be willing to risk a lawsuit. “People can sue for any reason, right?” Furry said. “It doesn’t matter what the contract says, you can still file a lawsuit, right? And so that’s always a possibility. Right? I would I would prefer that we come to mutual terms here. So that’s why I’m putting this out there to say hey, let’s try and work something out so that everybody can be happy here in the end, or as happy as we can be with it.”
The item on tonight’s agenda was tabled to the Oct. 26 meeting.
The dude says
Facepalm…
concerned citizen says
Chong furry and hunt NEED TO GO. Disgrace to our school board not knowing their butts from a hole in the ground to put it nicely. They are a disgrace to our school board but obviously elected officials in palm coast are all becoming scandalous and no one seems to care
Tired of it says
Can we just fire Hunt?
Joey G says
(Hunt has already resigned once before un-resigning.) Well this woman needs to do it again. She has to be one of the worst board members in 20 years. I will take Tucker over her in a heartbeat. All she does is start trouble and has no idea how things work. Watch a meeting all she does is ramble on and on making no sense to all. This woman was voted in ? Oh my say it Ain’t so. Kristy had no problem for 17 years and all of a sudden she it the worst lawyer that 3 members want to fire her. No mention about TAX PAYERS DOLLARS going to be wasted cause hunt and the others don’t like her. That’s all is personal just personal. They don’t care just waste our money like everyone else. You should have no right to do such a thing. How about hunt leaves and we replace her. Just keep Kristy there till her term is done. She had do to something right in 17 years and 10 or 15 different board members later.
Concerned Citizen says
What is actually being done to better our children and prepare them for the world? What examples are the board setting with this witch hunt?
So much valuable time is being wasted by these 3 board members. And nothing is being done besides venting on Flagler Live. I have sent emails and made phone calls. And even tried to get a petition of recall going.
Why are you all so afraid to take action? It’s in the best interest of our students to get this dysfunctional malicious board out of here. Yet all you do is cry on Flagler Live. And then re-elect the same trash expecting different.
I feel for Mrs. Gavin. I have worked in a toxic work environment. She can claim hostile work environment all to the bank. And I hope she does. Hunt, Fury and Chong are useless and hateful.
Sparks says
All these years Gavin has been the attorney. Two years until retirement with state benefits. Does anyone think this has something to do with it?
RobdaSlob says
The board is asking the outside counsel the wrong questions. It shouldn’t be how do we fire and not get sued. Outside counsel can’t answer that question. So the 5k to get a regurgitation of the contract is on the board. As a taxpayer I think I want my share of that back – election time I will remember that squandering of dollar.
They should be asking here is why we want to fire this individual – what are the consequences, the exposure to the taxpayers of firing for these reasons. What is the probability of win, what is potential cost exposure, etc. Then they can decide to ride out 2 years or pay the tab.
And the board needs to remember we taxpayers are watching and we vote.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
“Gavin will first meet with School Board member Will Furry out of the public eye, with Furry today fielding questions his colleagues want him to ask her.”
Hopefully there will be an impartial person in that meeting taking notes so that we know ALL questions by his colleagues have been asked by them and not some outside group.
James says
I don’t know about any “impartial person” being in the room taking notes. But perhaps Gavin’s attorney should be there.
Just an opinion.
Republican insider says
Regarding someone’s comment about a hostile workplace or hostile work environment, there is recourse for that, and that would be filing an EEOC lawsuit.
Been there myself . . . in a dreadful hostile workplace.
EEOC filing is a possibility for Kristy Gavin, and that would teach Furry, Chong and Hunt to tread carefully in the future.
Carol says
The most important line of the article, “Conklin explained, with a calm and deliberateness that repeatedly escaped Hunt, why the board might want to give that a lot of thought before risking litigation that could cost a lot more than 12 weeks’ severance pay,”.
Is it possible to just be calm and deliberate? Thankful that we have at least Conklin and Massaro on the board. Hunt should resign again, for the third time, and the board should accept her resignation, no tag-backs, and she should move like she’s threatening to. Then we can elect a board member that cares about bettering our children and preparing them for the world.
James says
Let’s see now… firing one attorney without justifiable cause, two years shy of her eligible retirement age (with benefits).
Humm… yeah… I don’t know what that might really add up to in a court settlement, but it’s not going to be under $2,000,000.
Just an opinion.
The Doorknob says
Bye Gavin. Sorry. Not sorry. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Good ol Karma.
James says
Ya know Doorknob, these three really must be “dumb as doorknobs.”
All I’ll say is if there is a puppet master pulling the strings, he (or she) is a genius. These three will have successfully removed both Gavin and Mittelstadt for their master AND in my opinion, they will eventually be “taking the fall” for him/her as well.
What do I mean by this?
Well, I don’t know… it might be unprecedented in Florida legal history… but considering how litigious the situation might become, and how costly to the county… the county might turn around and sue the three doorknobs for malfeasance of due diligence to recoup some of the settlement to Gavin (that is, if it should all end in a court settlement of significance).
So think about it. The puppet master gets the desired outcome, and without any personal loss… except perhaps the three stooges/doorknobs which are bankrupt. But then they were always expendable to the master anyway.
Genius.
Perhaps the “duh” in Florida is unwarranted… some folks know exactly what they’re doing.
Just an observation.
Concerned Citizen says
If I don’t beg you all to do anything else.
Light those phones and emails up showing support for Gavin. Public outcry often has a way of changing things around
Jack Howell says
Mrs. Kristy Gavin has served the School Board without incident for 17 Years. Now, all of a sudden, there is an issue. The Three Stooges ( Chong, Furry, & Hunt) of the School Board are searching for a way(s) to terminate Gavin’s contract. However, their lack of public leadership experience and knowledge is going to set the School Board up for a big lawsuit because of their combined ignorance. The way I see it is that Mrs. Gavin is in the “catbird seat.” The Three Stooges are overlooking one keyword in Mrs. Gavins’s contract. That word is “Just Cause”. Mrs. Gavin has been, for 17 years, an exemplary employee of the Flagler County School Board. Stooges, get over yourselves, put your big boy pants on, and let Mrs. Gavin complete her two years remaining on her contract. You don’t have the “Just Cause,” and if you continue to screw around with the course you’re taking, a large lawsuit will come your way.
By the way, stooges, I am a Senior Executive Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. I think I know what I’m talking about. Maybe you stooges should do some research on case law so you can see the folly of your actions.
The dude says
The Flagler county three stooges don’t care how much their little personal vendetta costs the taxpayers or the kids they are supposed to be looking out for.
They all have their wary eye on the bigger prize that’s clearly been promised them by the MAGA behind the curtain. Is it Peacock again? Chiamento? Who pray tell is pulling on those MAGA strings and making their little MAGA marionettes dance?
Aside from Gavin complying with the law and releasing whatever for a FIO request, what “cause” exists? Other than complying with the law and exposing Hunt’s backroom dealing, what has she done to warrant this soon to be expensive divorce? (this coming on the heels of an expensive search for a new Superintendent) Lawfully exposing Hunt’s malfeasance harms the kids how?
Laurel says
Dude: Yeah, the MAGA people want to shake things up. Well, they are doing just that. They are so busy shaking things up that no real work is being done, just drama, drama, drama. Same as in the House right now. All drama, no action for the people of this country. These three Bozos have no real experience, they are our local Green, Boebert and Goetz. All vape and crouch grabbing, and forgetting the kids and the schools.
Sorry, but the MAGA people have got to be the dumbest of our citizens.
James says
I have a feeling they should heed your warning.
Just an opinion.