FPC and Matanzas had the numbers for an A, but were docked a letter grade because they graduated fewer at-risk students than the state requires.
Flagler Palm Coast High School
Matanzas Graduation Rate at 90%, FPC at 83% As Charter School Drags Flagler’s Down
When the numbers from heritage Academy, a charter school, are excluded, the Flagler school district’s graduation rate improves to 84.4 percent. The district’s single-year drop-out rate was 1.7 percent.
FPC’s Frankie Garcia Picked to Join U.S. Army’s All-American Marching Band
Frankie Garcia’s honor is reserved for just 125 high school senior band musicians once a year, chosen from 1,234 nominations across the nation. He’ll perform at the the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl’s half-time show before a national television audience.
Jets Cut Mardy Gilyard Five Days After Picking Him Up, Leaving His Future Uncertain
The St. Louis Rams cut Mardy Gilyard on Sept. 3, the New York Jets picked him up on the 4th, then cut him five days later. The former Flagler Palm Coast High School and University of Cincinnati star has had a checkered few years.
IB Extended Essay Guide for Students
IB Extended Essay Guide: how to write the International Baccalaureate extended essay. A complete student guide with subject-specific examples.
Jack Hardin, Only Basketball Coach to Take Bulldogs to Final Four (Twice), Dies
Jack Hardin, who taught social science at Bunnell and FPC from the 1960s to the 1980s, had also been a Bunnell city commissioner and ran for school board against Herschel King in 1982.
Pride of a Principal, Pride of a Thousand Parents As FPC Class of 2011 Graduates
Flagler Palm Coast High School Class of 2011’s 509 graduates will, in their principal’s words, be “competing for jobs that haven’t been invented yet.” But not yet: Monday evening was for jubilation at the Ocean Center.
Wicked Transition to Stage Magic as FPC Goes Emerald With “Wizard of Oz” This Weekend
“The Wizard of Oz” at the Flagler Auditorium is the biggest FPC stage production to date, with a live orchestra and a cast and crew of 75. The production gelled in a mere six weeks under a new director, after the previous one quit.
Florida’s FHSAA Slaps $2,500 Fine on FPC Lacrosse Team; Questions Arise About Payment
The $2,500 fine was the result of the lacrosse coach mingling school athletic funds with funds for a separate lacrosse club team not officially associated with FPC. The case led to a district-wide policy revamp on teams and fund-raising.
Prom Night Recklessness: FPC Rattles Students With Tombstones and Scary Statistics
Carrying pickets and tombstones to symbolize the dangers of recklessness on prom night, students and FPC Activities Director Cheryl Perry sent a cautionary message to fellow students who’ll be partying on prom night Friday.
School Buses Blowing Through a Stop Sign at FPC: Scrutiny Follows Parent’s Alert
An 11th grader on a motorcycle had a close encounter with a bus that pulled out of an FPC driveway where, a video shows, buses frequently don’t respect a stop sign. The transportation department is responding with monitoring and warnings drivers.
Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Formality Singers Soar
Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Formality Singers, led by Amy Fulmer, received Straight Superiors ratings in state assessments this week. Watch the videos.
FPC Posts Video of Teacher’s Public Apology Over Gay Student Bullying
Shop teacher Floyd Binkley’s apology for telling an offensive gay joke appears in the last fifth of the nearly six-minute video as part of a public service announcement about bullying and harassment. The video skirts the details of the matter.
Palm Coast’s Shaklyia Chess, 16-Year-Old FPC Student, Killed in Wreck South of Bunnell
Shaklyia Chess was a 16-year-old junior at Flagler Palm Coast High School. She was driving south late Saturday night on US1 when she lost control of her car.
Bullying of Gay Student at FPC Leads to Teacher’s Public Apology and Policy Change
FPC shop teacher Floyd Binkley made gay jokes in front of his students. A gay 9th grader in his class, who’d been repeatedly bullied by others outside of class, took the jokes as an offense directed at him.
FPC’s Mockingbird Director Quits Abruptly, Walking Out on 6 Classes and 2 More Shows
Ed Koczergo, a drama teacher at FPC for the past three years, said he wasn’t going to let the administration “suck a couple more months out of me and then not hire me back.” He leaves 150 students in six classes and two scheduled plays in a lurch.
My Journey Out Of Egypt: An FPC Graduate and Cairo Transplant Describes Her Exit
Catherine M., who asked that her last name not be used for security reasons, is the daughter of two prominent Flagler residents–a former sheriff and a commercial real estate broker. She wrote from Dubai.
From Biggest Flirt (E. Bartley) to Most Likely to Succeed (Kaci Ellis): FPC’s Oscar Night
FCAT results and teacher of the year awards give way to the real student Oscars at FPC: a complete list of the winners and nominees, and an image gallery of the show.
FPC Briefly Locked Down After Feared Robbery in Target Shopping Center Lot
Flagler Palm Coast High School was locked down for a few minutes in early afternoon today following false reports of a robbery in the Target shopping center nearby.
Darise Anne Pagello, 2011 Employee of the Year: Flagler Palm Coast High School
Darise Anne Pagello, 2011 Employee of the Year: Flagler Palm Coast High School
James Pignatiello (That Is, Mr. Pig), 2011 Teacher of the Year: Flagler Palm Coast High School
James Pignatiello (That Is, Mr. Pig), 2011 Teacher of the Year: Flagler Palm Coast High School
Teacher of the Year Video Preview:
FPC’s Jim Pignatiello Explains Pigdom
A terror, an inspiration, a beloved teacher: Jim Pignatiello teaches science at Flagler Palm Coast High School and is a candidate for Flagler County Teacher of the Year.
FPC Graduate Kristen Hadeed’s Student Maid Co. Tapped for ABC TV’s “Extreme Makeover”
Kristen Hadeed, a 2006 FPC graduate, built Student Maid, a Gainesville-based cleaning service, from scratch in the last two years. A crew of 30 will donate its time to ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” shoot in Clay County later this month.
Ready for Prime Time: Back Home at FPC, IB Conquerors Claim Their Diplomas
A majority of Flagler Palm Coast High School’s IB class of 2010–32 students, all of them now in college–returned on Monday afternoon for their diploma ceremony, an occasion small in numbers but oversize in achievements.
FPC Improves from D to B, Matanzas High School Maintains a B, Heritage is an F
The Flagler County school district as a whole was tentatively awarded an A last year, pending today’s results. Heritage’s F is not expected top affect that overall grade.
It’s On: FPC Will Stage To Kill a Mockingbird At the Flagler Auditorium Feb. 24-26
FPC Principal Jacob Oliva and Drama Director Ed Koczergo finalized plans for staging Mockingbird over four performances as part of Black History Month, with many innovative stage elements to be incorporated into the production.
Music, Dance, Art: Auditorium’s 5-Day Holiday Extravaganza Will Boost Art in Education
With arts funding in free fall in Florida, the Flagler Auditorium’s series of concerts, performances, art showings and auctions Dec. 8-12, half of them free, will raise money to help art programs in Flagler schools.
Graduation Rates: FPC Falls to 83.5%, Matanzas Soars to 90.4%, Both Beat State’s 79%
It’s Matanzas High School’s best graduation rate to date, helping the district increase its overall graduation rate by either state or federal standards.
As Superintendent and School Board Now Urge Play’s Revival, Focus Shifts to Drama Teacher
Scripts of the Mockingbird controversy are being furiously re-written as the school district shifts to backing the play, but vague accusations and ugly slanders are now being directed at the Ed Koczergo, the drama teacher.
In Her Own Words, Please: A Friend of
Harper Lee’s Pleads the Case Against Censors
Jack Cowardin, the St. Augustine novelist, has been corresponding with Harper Lee for years. His take on the controversy over the staging of the play by FPC’s Drama Club: Let it go on unmolested by political correctness.
Starry Saturday: Theater, Art, Grit and Glitz from Bunnell to Palm Coast
Staring with FPC’s courageous thespians, the visual and performing arts had a fabulous Saturday in Flagler, with two gallery openings and two local theater productions. That’s what the county’s unbound cultural scene should be about.
The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Letter to Janet Valentine
“We urge you to encourage student creativity and civic engagement, and to teach students the skills to discuss opposing views respectfully,” the NCAC writes. “We urge you to allow the students to perform the play.”
National Coalition Against Censorship Urges Valentine To Reverse Mockingbird Decision
The strongly-worded letter from a coalition representing 50 organizations of actors, writers, educators and clerics calls on Superintendent Valentine to enrich the conversation on race and culture, not restrict it.
Shapiro: In the End, It’s the Profanity of Censorship Against the Sacredness of Learning
In a column on the Mockingbird controversy at FPC, Rabbi Merill Shapiro argues that whatever the merits of administrative issues, “the profanity of censorship,” in the end, “has no place in our community.”
Conklin Triggers Mockingbird Appeals Committee, Likely Enabling Play’s Revival
Unearthing a district policy on “the appropriateness of books or materials,” School Board member Colleen Conklin appealed the decision to cancel the play. A committee will be appointed to handle the appeal.
Before School Censors: When Mockingbird‘s Harper Lee Spoke Proudly of Flagler County
In 2002, Harper Lee addressed Flagler County proudly when her book was the centerpiece of county-wide events. The school district’s censoring of the play this month contrasts sharply with that progressive history.
Citing Vague Fears, School District Suppresses Stage Production of To Kill a Mockingbird
Students and faculty had no issues with the production’s use of the word “nigger,” as in the book and the movie. A Palm Coast city councilman and other unnamed “community members” did, leading FPC Principal and Superintendent Janet Valentine to censor the play.
FPC’s Top Student Makes the Case
For the .25-Mill School Tax Referendum
Kyle Russell, the top-ranked senior at Flagler Palm Coast High School, argues that students need every competitive advantage they can get if they’re to have a chance against others in the state and the nation.
FPC’s Boys Raced, Pink-Socked, in Breast Cancer Solidarity at Manhattan Invitational
Inspired by their coach, an idea started by Brad Walbert, to honor his grandfather, developed into team-wide solidarity for breast cancer victims–with unexpected and moving results as the boys raced in in New York City.
New York Bound: FPC’s Cross-Country Best Running in Manhattan Invitational Saturday
The storied Manhattan Invitational, actually held in The Bronx, is the largest high school cross-country meet in the nation, with some 10,000 competitors from 14 states.
Vote Early, Vote Often: Make Your Voice Heard for Art Programs and FPC’s Junia Louis-Pierre
Junia Louis-Pierre’s graffiti drawing of foreclosure and eviction is in the running for a $5,000 award for FPC’s art department and a $1,000 scholarship for Junia. But you must vote.
Scoring 7, FPC’s Rowan Littlefield Didn’t Just Conquer the World. He Conquered Pigdom.
Littlefield’s perfect 7 in his IB biology exam, scored on a global standard, marks the first 7 for any Flagler County student in any of the IB’s science disciplines.
FPC Football Coach Steve Allen Resigns Weeks Before First Scrimmage
Allen had a fractious history with the athletic director and the administration, but that was nothing new.
Taylor’s Journal: Day Three
The Envelope, Please
In her final post from the international competition in Wisconsin, Taylor Tofal recounts an awards ceremony featuring many wins for FPC and Matanzas.
FPC & Matanzas Students Collect the Most Awards in World Competition’s 36 Years
The school’s Future Problem Solvers brought home three top awards, plus second, third and fourth place trophies.
Taylor’s Journal, Day Two:
Skits, Robots and Heels
A day’s frenetic wall-to-wall activity, and one team learns that it didn’t make it to the final round. Taylor Tofal is almost live in Lacrosse, Wis.
Taylor’s Journal:
FPC’s Problem Solvers in Their Own
World Cup in Wisconsin
FPC’s history-making Community Problem Solvers teams are in their own world finals competition in Wisconsin, June 9-13. Taylor Tofal’s journal gives us an inside look.
FPC Does ESPN: Sports’ Video Year in Review
Three FPC students distilled a year’s worth of 19 school sports into a 30-minute highlight video. Here it is.
Graduations from God to America
Graduation speeches are part of the American habit of reinvention. They should be provocative and revealing, even if we don’t all agree with the message.
FPC Commencement Stirs Tassels and Circumstance at Daytona’s Ocean Center
Anthony DeAugustino, Taylor Tofal and Brandon Dean headline Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Class of 2010’s commencement.