Cops like to say that nothing good happens after 11 p.m., at least when children are involved. On the aberration known as the Flagler County School Board, nothing good happens once the superintendent is done with her agenda and school board members start ad libbing.
“Board member comments” are now almost always a disaster, an embarrassment, a circus of ignorance, hypocrisy, stupidity or bigotry, compliments of the board’s trilobites: Sally Hunt, Will Furry and Christy Chong. No wonder they prefer illegal secret meetings. No wonder Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro can’t wait to escape the asylum.
The sane ones weren’t there Tuesday to witness the latest drivel from Furry and Hunt, the first illegal, the second just creepy.
Furry–like Chong, like Ed Danko in Palm Coast, like Joe Mullins during the County Commission’s dark age–thinks it’s perfectly fine to use his seat to politic and campaign. Chong has on a couple of occasions made clear to Massaro that she couldn’t wait until she was off the board, and she couldn’t believe that Paul Mucciolo (not her kind of Christian-nationalist Republican) was on the ballot.
By June Mucciolo was out and Derek Barrs, who has Parkview Church pastor’s $500 Seal of Approval, was in. Barrs, an ex-cop with a central casting resume made for politics, would have been an excellent choice for County Commission or City Council, but School Board? Go figure. No doubt he’s trying to figure it out himself, though unlike God, Parkview works in unmysterious ways.
That wasn’t enough for Furry. Barrs, who is Chong’s kind of Republican, faces Janie Ruddy, a Democrat with an education resume about twice as substantial as all the current school board members combined, including that of Barrs and Conklin but for Conklin’s 24 years on the board. Ruddy (I’d mistakenly referred to her as an independent in an earlier version) is making Furry nervous, as strong women usually do. So he took time at the end of Tuesday’s meeting to subtly campaign for Barrs.
“All the candidates of the school board that are running to my knowledge have been endorsed by sitting board members in some way shape or form, so you might want to look at those endorsements,” he said. You don’t need a degree in dog whistling to hear his endorsements and his use of his seat–as chair no less–to campaign. That he mentioned no names is irrelevant. It’s not his place to use a school board meeting to talk politics and elections. He was campaigning, cynically and underhandedly.
He might have taken note of the case against St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph, who some months ago did the same thing–no names, just urging people to vote but making it just as clear where she stood. A federal judge correctly prevented criminal proceedings, but it was still a violation of the board’s rules.
Then there was Hunt’s Comical Ali routine on the district’s latest mediocrities. School grades were issued in late July. Flagler scored a B for the third straight year and for 10 of the last 11 years, even though a third of Florida’s districts scored an A, including a few Panhandle backwaters, and the state lowered its standards yet again to make it easier to get there. The district’s schools managed to avoid any C’s and D’s, so district PR focused on that. It wasn’t its finest hour.
Hunt, phoning it in as usual (she checked out months ago), asked LaShakia Moore, the superintendent, if she’d “shared” with the community the “really great stuff” and “breaking, you know, a multi year, you know, record, you know, moving from C to B.” (There was no such record, you know. District schools managed that twice before in that 11-year span.) Moore explained that she issued a handout to media and would be doing a spotlight at a board meeting later this month, the sort of spotlight that gets on Hunt’s nerves.
Hunt was disappointed that the handout as written didn’t see light of day in all local media. The News-Journal and the Observer ran the district’s handout pretty much verbatim, but either Hunt was unaware, up at her new place in Georgia, or she’s not understanding why FlaglerLive and AskFlagler took it on themselves to do their own reporting, all but ignoring the district’s handout and putting the mediocrity in its enduring context. She considers school board propaganda sacred, and any attempt at more critical reporting a lie. Then again, last year she wanted to censure Massaro because Massaro spoke off-script–to denounce segregation!
It’s difficult to judge what’s more concerning about this board anymore–its celebration of mediocrity, its contempt for law, its sheer ignorance of governance in the public eye or the fact that by November, when Conklin and Massaro are gone and Hunt hopefully makes good on her compulsive promises to resign, we’ll end up for seniority with two board members who have a combined four years of cluelessness between them.
There’s a silver lining: It’ll give Moore more room to maneuver. She may be the superintendent. But in effect, she’s the only school board member worth the title anymore. Let’s hope the board doesn’t break her.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive.
Tired of it says
What a clown show! Those three need to go.
Laurel says
Flagler County is a very depressing county. Friends are telling us they have heard folks say they have had enough, and want out. Being born and raised in Florida, I can’t tell you how upsetting this place is.
Florida is the guinea pig state for Project 2025. The Project wanted to start at ground level, which is the school boards. DeSantis stated he wanted to make America Florida. The rest of the U.S. didn’t want it.
Well, at least you can see where they take us.
ray k. says
my sister left town for Maine=she too had it here.
The dude says
We had to go.
My 13yo was not thriving in Flagler Schools and there are no real private options in the area.
Since the move she’s been straight honor role in all advanced classes, plays club volleyball, and was in two school plays last year.
She started 8th grade this year in all AP classes, is playing on the high school’s training team and looks forward to going to school every day.
Down there she had none of the same opportunities, and felt like she had to keep her head down lest she be jumped in the halls and end up on tik tok.
HUGE DIFFERENCE.
Jim says
It’s pretty bad when the Board is satisfied with “B” grade. We’re in the bottom 2/3 of Florida AFTER they lowered the bar! That tells me all I need to know about where the priorities are right now.
And, sadly, it has become “normal” for the right wing to basically ignore all rules, laws and regulations that they find inconvenient – that is unless the “liberals” want to contest something… Then they are all about the law (or maybe I should say their version of it..).
Hunt will be no loss regardless of what replaces her. She’s less than a zero. (From the article, sounds like she’s already moved to Georgia).
I’ll definitely vote for Janie Ruddy since Furry is against her. That’s all the endorsement I need.
And maybe ol’ Furry will get a call from the law like St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph. Poetic justice if he does. Again no loss to our community….
I guess we all better enjoy the “B” while we can. When the next election is over, we’ll likely have the most incompetent and vengeful school board seen for quite a while. I guess we’re going to see how low we can go!!!!
Raise my child up! says
Argh!!! I have a kid in these schools & this is sooo disconcerting! Why is it ok to hurt our children’s education & futures. I guess it doesn’t matter as long as they stay here. Shame on you school board!!!!
Joe D says
The School Board “Circus” continues. Two of the most qualified members, (we should call them the experienced RINGMASTERS), are leaving the board in the hands of the NATIONALLY embarrassing CLOWNS, who have almost no qualifying experience, limited to no knowledge of what the “Sunshine Laws” dictate, and are closely skirting the law, where School Board members are not allowed to CAMPAIGN during official proceedings ( having paid no attention to what is happening in a neighboring jurisdiction where an elected official has been INDICTED for doing the same thing in a public meeting).
Is this group the BEST that Flagler County can produce? Or do Flagler County voters simply not CARE?!?
Thank God for the PROFESSIONALISM of Ms Moore! I hope she survives this Circus’ LIONS CAGE (or SNAKE PIT), whichever you prefer.
Deborah Coffey says
A perfect assessment, Pierre. It is so discouraging. But, we do live in a county that thinks Donald Trump is God.
Dennis C Rathsam says
You folks are all fools!!! TRUMP has NOTHING to do with your poor choices of candidates! Get a life! Next thing I,LL read from jerks is the sky is falling, & TRUMPS to blame! YADA YADA YADA!
The dude says
So goes the Captain… so goes the ship…
MAGA morons racing to the bottom in service to their orange messiah and his ideals, whatever they may be on any given day.
Robjr says
Nope.
Wrong.
Blame those Jewish space lasers.
Marlon says
Indictments might be a great way to rid ourselves of this embarrassment. But someone will have to initiate it. The new candidates certainly look to be more promising than what we are stuck with now.
The next time you are at a board meeting and Furry attempts a clearly illegal act, stand up and tell him to knock it off. And make sure that you record it.
Enrollment here is dropping and Furry is one reason why. You may thank Renner for getting Furry elected.
Pierre Tristam says
There’s no criminality here, that would be a serious overreach: elected officials don’t lose their rights to speak their mind wherever they are, including their seats. Speech codes of any kind are wrong on their face. This is a question of propriety and ethical judgment, neither of which Furry is conversant with.
The dude says
I realized this when Furry tried to hand me a campaign flyer as I stood in line at my daughter’s elementary school graduation at Old King’s.
It’s only gone downhill since.
Flagler’s brand of tribal politics is especially repugnant. That people like these are considered “leaders” and elevated as such…
Jack Howell says
You got that right, Pierre!
Stephen says
Why are school board members happy with a B? Why do they not want Flagler to be an A district.
sorry azz excuse for a BOE member says
If a canidate had a degree in Dog Whistling, it would be more of an education than Fury has. The idiot has had no formal education past high school, yet somehow he is on the school board making decisions which directly affects our childrens education and shapes their future
Cc says
Are there any qualifications to be a school board member…..other than just running for a position on the board? Board members are making decisions for our children.
How much are school board members paid. If they are, and Hunt has decided not to show up for board meetings…….is she still being paid……and if so, perhaps board members pay should require a board member actually show up for meetings.
Dee says
Can we get rid of these three idiots can we throw them off the board impreach how do you go about it I was going to the meetings and will furry seats there with his arrogant face like you are a bother please get rid of all three