Chamber Never Consulted Superintendent Before Snatching ‘State of Flagler Schools’ For Its Own, and Charging Money

The local chamber of commerce is hosting a $30-a-plate lunch on April 30 featuring School Superintendent LaShakia Moore and billed as “The State of Flagler Schools,” the title of an address the superintendent has traditionally delivered publicly, for free, once a year.

Moore said she had no idea that’s what the event would be titled. Nor was the district involved in any way in setting it up, beyond her own appearance there. The chamber never bothered to consult her about it or, as a courtesy, ask if it could appropriate the public event’s name—let alone for a pay-to-attend event.




The Flagler Education Foundation is ostensibly co-sponsoring the event. Education Foundation Executive Director Theresa Rizzo said she had no knowledge as to why the event is named as it is, but she did say that “the education foundation is not receiving any proceeds from the event.” The foundation is the non-profit support arm of the school district. Rizzo serves on the chamber’s board. Greg Blose, who runs the chamber, did not respond to questions about the event.

“I did not know what the title of it was,” Moore said. “When I’m invited to come in and and provide an update on our schools and answer questions for individuals about how our schools are doing, I go.” She had recently met with a group of Realtors, for example. “I am not aware of any of those logistics. I was asked to come and speak and I said okay, what date? That’s really how I respond to anyone that’s asked me to come and sit and answer [questions]. So I couldn’t tell you the logistics. I couldn’t tell you even how much it costs. I’m hearing that there’s a cost.”

The State of the Schools Address had its heyday about a decade ago when Jacob Oliva, currently the secretary of education in Arkansas, was superintendent, and Andy Dance (now a county commissioner) chaired the school board. The address became an event at his instigation. “The intent was not to be flashy, just a look back at how the district performed, strengths and weaknesses, and putting forth our improvement plan to address deficiencies,” Dance said. “It was to be interactive as well with Q&A.”

Oliva thought it could be a big event at the Flagler Auditorium. It wasn’t. It drew little attendance. The addresses continued, but were folded into presentations at the Government Services Building, sometimes before the monthly evening meeting, sometimes during it, depending on the superintendent. (Janet Valentine, who had preceded Oliva, and who was not for flashy productions, delivered it from the dais, as have some of her successors.)




The event became more of a sidebar during the tenure of Cathy Mittelstadt, before Moore, as Mittelstadt thought the address’ highlights should not be celebrated just once a year, but routinely. And in fact Mittlestadt incorporated a monthly “strategic plan spotlight” into each meeting. The board fired Mittelstadt last year with the backing of the chamber, which had done its share to smear the superintendent’s record until then.

To Moore, spreading the message of Flagler schools is almost second nature. “I have been meeting with lots of different groups and organizations as well as our our school district, around our schools and how we’re performing, answering questions,” she said. “So this is another event that I will be attending. It’s not an event that we’re hosting. We will continue to host our State of the Schools typically in May.”

Rather than just a presentation in the staid setting of a board meeting, Moore is thinking of presenting the official State of Flagler Schools event–the public version–in a more interactive way, in the community. It sounds a bit like what Oliva had attempted to do in his day.

“We have earmarked a community event in April and we haven’t released the information,” she said, “to really go out into the community and allow parents specifically to come in, hear me provide an update on some of the things that we’re working on, some things that we see us working on in the future as well as answer questions. Because that’s the thing: I can provide you whatever information I want to provide you. But when it comes to our parents, I want to be able to answer their questions and provide clarity to to questions that they have or misconceptions that they even have.”




There might even be two dates–one for the south end of town, one for the north. There would not be a cover charge.

Moore said she intends to present an update on district schools similar to the update she provides in all her speaking engagements (which also don’t usually charge $30 or $35 for the privilege). “I’ll speak to anybody really who wants to know more about our schools and how we’re performing,” Moore said. She acknowledged that there’d been questions raised about the chamber’s title of the events, causing some confusion. She stressed: “It’s not our event. It’s their event.”

Moore added: “I will say that if that has caused especially our parents to feel like another group is taking priority over them, that is definitely not the case and definitely not our intention. But we are trying to be very intentional about being out in the community and we’re really talking a lot about what we’re doing in within Flagler schools in order to get the community’s perspective get our family’s perspective. And I do apologize, and I’m sorry if that’s the way people have taken it, because that that’s not it.”

Moore, of course, is not at fault.