The Flagler County School Board, operating almost entirely out of the public eye, settled disputes and lawsuits with former Board Attorney Kristy Gavin last July for $160,000, with former principal Paul Peacock in October for $100,000, and with former Exceptional Student Education director Martha von Mering in October for $19,500.
Von Mering had filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in federal district court. Peacock did so in Circuit Court in Flagler County. Gavin had not filed suit in court. The district petitioned the state Division of Administrative Hearings in Feb. 2024, with Gavin as the respondent. That case closed with the settlement.
The School Board at no point openly discussed any of the three cases. At a workshop in mid-January, Board Member Lauren Ramirez obliquely referred to “three payouts regarding cases” and, looking at a document, referred to “Gavin, Peacock, Martha,” and asked Patti Wormeck, who heads the district’s finances, “how many more will be showing up.”
“I don’t have that information,” Wormeck said. “I’m sure that there are. There’s always ongoing legal stuff. I don’t know, that’s probably a part of an executive session I do believe.”
It may be, up to a point, but only if legal cases are ongoing. When settlements are reached and involve payouts, the board must approve them in open session. There never was a court case involving Gavin. So no board discussion involving her would have been eligible for a closed-door session. If the board discussed a settlement behind closed doors, that would have been a violation of law.
The payouts to Peacock and von Mering were listed in fine print among thousands of payments in a 37-page vendor-payment document Ramirez was looking at. It listed the $100,000 payment to Peacock, $10,000 to von Mering, and $9,500 to Morgan and Morgan, the firm that represented von Mering. It did not list Gavin or a payout to her, nor did other documents publicly available and posted under that workshop’s date or since last July. The payout may have appeared under a different type of document. If so, the dissimulation is more pronounced than that of the payouts to Peacock and von Mering.
To the extent that the board publicly approved the settlements, it did so by approving vendor payments on its consent agenda, the portion of the agenda that masses numerous, routine items and all get voted on wholesale. On less scrupulous boards, the consent agenda is at times used to approve items the board would prefer not to get public attention. On more scrupulous boards, elected officials routinely pull items off the consent agenda to give them a more public airing, especially if the items have drawn public attention previously or are a matter of public concern. The County Commission and the Flagler Beach City Commission routinely pull items off consent for that purpose, as does, to some extent, the Palm Coast City Council. It’s a rarity on the School Board.
“These settlements were items walkthrough with the former board,” Superintendent LaShakia Moore said in an email. “The former board was made aware of each of these cases and provided recommended courses of action to address each. In collaboration with NEFEC these cases were handled through Risk Management and were assigned outside attorneys to litigate.” (NEFEC is the Northeast Florida Education Consortium, an agency that, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, provides member districts with a variety of services, training and legal assistance.) “Each member of this current board was individually informed of the direction of the former board and these 3 cases were brought before this board for review and approval.”
Moore did not answer questions about when and in what open or closed forum–on what dates–the present or former boards were made aware of the cases. In November, Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro stepped down from the School Board, having declined to run again. They were replaced by Ramirez and Janie Ruddy. Sally Hunt also stepped down that month, halfway through her term. The governor appointed Derek Barrs to that seat. The two members who have straddled both periods are Will Furry and Christy Chong.
FlaglerLive requested the settlement documents following the mid-January meeting. The three settlement documents were not produced until the night of Feb. 19.
The Gavin and Peacock cases had drawn significant public attention. Von Maring’s had not. Gavin had been the board attorney for almost two decades when Hunt, subsequently joined by Furry and Chong, declared they had lost trust in her and, with little evidence, moved to fire her in a protracted and public wrangle that stretched for months until her actual firing in January 2024. Gavin had hinted at, and Massaro had spoken explicitly of, the risk the board was taking over what Massaro called a wrongful termination. A lawsuit was never filed (though a whistleblower complaint was, in December 2023). The $160,000 payment closes out that controversy.
The Gavin settlement, like the other two, entail no admission of wrongdoing by the district.
Peacock, who’d had a 20-year career with the district (much of it leading the constantly A-rated Indian Trails Middle), sued on claims of age discrimination, retaliation and breach of contract. The dispute arose when he was relieved of his duty as the district’s lead negotiator in collective bargaining sessions with the teachers union, and was subsequently demoted from a high district office position to principal at Wadsworth Elementary.
He was ordered on leave in May 2023 and fired in June, after he’d been the subject of an internal investigation over complaints by faculty at Wadsworth. “Peacock was forced into retirement with just two years remaining in the Deferred Retirement Option Program,” his lawsuit stated. “Peacock has also found alternative employment to be difficult as his certificate has been flagged. Such is highly unusual given the substantial shortage of education professionals. After applying for six opportunities, Peacock could not even receive an interview.”
Von Mering’s case drew no public attention, originating in December 2021 when she requested an absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act so she could donate her liver to her brother in law the following spring. When she met with Bobby Bossardet (who was her supervisor at the district office at the time) to discuss her leave, he wanted to discuss her “exit plan,” according to her lawsuit, as he had “decided to go in a different direction with her employment.” Her position was posted in early May, 2022, when she was on medical leave. She filed suit alleging violations of FMLA.
Case closed says
I guess in the case of Gavin, settling was the “reasonable” thing to do from her perspective, despite what was done to her appearing quite “unreasonable” to many outsiders here… including myself.
So if she’s satisfied with the settlement, that’s the end of it.
As for this fellow Peacock… I wouldn’t have given him one thin dime.
Now we can all move from Palm Coast/Flagler with one more “what ever happened to…” mystery put to rest.
Thanks for the update FL.
JimboXYZ says
“Peacock, who’d had a 20-year career with the district (much of it leading the constantly A-rated Indian Trails Middle), sued on claims of age discrimination, retaliation and breach of contract…”
“As for this fellow Peacock… I wouldn’t have given him one thin dime.”
Why is an age discrimination less real than discrimination based upon race or anything else. This happens to a lot of longer term employees. 50 is that age when the one’s at the top look to see what they can do to cycle & replace. Watch sports teams look to use & abuse players as they age. A lot of it has to do with budget. Flagler County is no different than any employer, their budget is their salary cap. And anyone that is able to make 20-30 year runs for a career with the same employer, once they get close to that pension/retirement age, they can expect to be on the chopping block. We’re watching quite a few Federal employees getting paid out to leave their jobs to retire. That news has been hitting the interwebs daily. Judges get involved with what is legal or not. age discrimination is very real aspect of anyone’s career.
Purveyor of Truth says
That’s a bargain compared to the $750,000 handed over to fraudsters by the school district a couple years ago. I don’t recall taxpayers getting the full story on that either.
Nancy N. says
I sincerely hope the person who fired someone for donating an organ to save someone else’s life is not still in an employment position where they should be serving as a role model for young people.
Jp says
So my taxes will be going up!!!! Thanks Flagler schools.
You were already scammed out money.
Still Spiteful says
I agree with Case Closed’s sentiment of that Peacock fellow; I’m 27 years old and I’ve not been a fan of Paul for quite some time because of one interaction at Indian Trails Middle School ~2010, where I was a 7th grade student.
We students were quickly made to understand that the new Vice Principal–Peacock–was the no-nonsense judge, jury, and executioner when it came to implementing the school rules. An imposing figure for most people, let alone children, he knew how to use his physical stature to intimidate. I don’t think it was coincidence that the times we saw him around campus showcased his ability to get fired up and dress students down much like a bully would.
I recall one day in the cafeteria, where lunch had just begun and the few hundred of us kids were milling about finding our seats. Teachers and staff had asked us to seat ourselves before queuing in the lunch line to grab our food. Minutes of silence passed, and I gestured the “hurry up” motion with my hands as I giggled to my friends. Like a hawk, Mr. Peacock scoped in on me from the stage and said gruffly into the microphone, “Young man, is there something wrong?”.
“We’re hungry!”, I quipped.
Boy, if that didn’t seem to set off a whirlwind of emotion in that man. He composed himself, went on whatever spiel he originally intended to give, then came and found me at my lunch table. “You! Come with me right now!”, he snarled. Man, he his face was bright red and his mouth was twitching like a Flagler Estates tweaker. He led me to a room adjacent to the stage and said to me with a glare of disbelief and entitlement, “You really put me on the spot right there! Do you think that’s funny?”. The fat index finger he was using to point at me almost jabbed one of my eyes out. His behavior was akin to someone with high blood pressure have a conniption fit. I told him I didn’t find it funny, but that I was still hungry.
He escorted me through the lunch line and made me sit in the In School Suspension room for the remainder of lunch, plus another hour. During that time, I wasn’t allowed to read, scribble, write, sleep, speak, or make eye contact with anyone else. Pretty crappy way to spend some time, especially when you know you’re missing class. On the plus side, when I enlisted in the Army, I wasn’t new to being told to shut up and stare at the wall.