You could see Will Furry’s eyes beading up when the school district’s finance chiefs told him this afternoon that the Flagler Youth Orchestra had paid advertising money to FlaglerLive. This was his holy grail, what Furry and his whisperer Jill Woolbright have been after all this time: FYO has been bankrolling that pinko liberal queer-loving blogger’s website all this time.
Except that it wasn’t. District staff had erred. Staff had it in reverse, and corrected itself but not soon enough, not clearly enough. It’s FlaglerLive that’s been paying for advertising in FYO concert programs ($975 just since 2018), FlaglerLive that’s been giving complimentary advertising to FYO, I’d estimate the equivalent of a couple of thousand dollars in value over the years.
Furry, the school board member elected last November on a raft of deceptions, is the type to rootle in conspiracies and fabrications. He’s been working on this one for a while. It has nothing to do with the Flagler Youth Orchestra. He doesn’t know what the FYO is. I don’t think he cares. He’s never inquired about it, never seen a performance, never shown curiosity about its rehearsals, its teachers, its 375 students (this year; it’s had upwards of 3,000 over the years).
He has, however, obsessed about my wife, and more particularly about her name, being mine. He doesn’t like FlaglerLive. We get that. I can’t blame him. If I was a sleaze who deceived voters, who libeled my opponents and trashed my superintendent on bogus evidence, I wouldn’t like the character who’d report it either. But Furry has not been able to wrap his mind around the fact that a Tristam is running a star district show, a fabulous program everybody keeps talking about, that she’s been doing it for 18 years no less, without a hint of impropriety or anything amiss all those years, and that she’s married to the editor of FlaglerLive.
That’s what this is about. As Colleen Conklin, the school board member who’s been on the board since the program’s inception in 2005 put it at the end of today’s workshop, “this is more about Pierre Tristam than about Cheryl.” And Furry–who, in fairness, has never been accused of being the board’s most analytical or discerning seat–is willing to let burn a district program unlike any in Florida, because he can’t see past his obsession. It is the bane of small minds. But the FYO shouldn’t be paying the price.
All conspiracy theories need a sliver of truth to seize on and grow from. In this case, there’s no question that Bill Delbrugge, the superintendent in 2005 whose vision gave birth to the program, saw further than his books, as he often did in all things. He wasn’t interested in details. That’s what it takes sometimes to run a more interesting district. It’s also why his tenure resulted in an A-rated district four years in a row, a feat never since repeated (the district has had an A rating just once since.)
I remember when Bill established the parameters of the program at a round table in his office with Cheryl, the late Jonathan May, the program’s first and (at the time) only music director, and me: a free after-school program for anyone who wanted to play a string instrument. We thought it would attract a couple of dozen, maybe three dozen students. Jonathan would teach, Cheryl would organize, I’d be their gofer. (At the time I had a 40-hour job at the News-Journal, so I had all the time in the world.) Both Cheryl and I were volunteers. Delbrugge put both our names on the FYO account, I have no idea why. Maybe he calculated (correctly) that I could get Tippen Davidson, then the publisher of the News-Journal and a champion of the arts, to be a sponsor. He briefly was. I didn’t intend to sign a thing and never did.
The program in its first year drew 150 students. Cheryl scrambled to find a couple of additional teachers, which the district funded, and it grew from there, with my involvement rapidly diminishing and long ended when FlaglerLive launched in 2010. Cheryl had just as rapidly built a corps of volunteers and had the program well in hand.
The district’s bookkeepers did not. As superintendents came and went (five, counting Delbrugge), the books weren’t audited. At some point the district gave out the wrong information: that FYO really was an independent account (it isn’t). That started the conspiracy theories snowballing from the district’s benign negligence. Furry’s questions may have gotten the district to follow the procedures it should’ve been following all along, but they came wrapped in malice and malevolence, looking to fabricate a crime rather than to fix a minor and unforced error.
An ongoing audit may find methodological differences–a signature may have been missing here and there, or this accounting procedure should’ve been used instead of that one–but nothing else. In other words, this whole thing could have been flagged and fixed at a few dozen points over the last few years, as even Cheryl flagged it several times, and could’ve been flagged even now (as other innumerable fixes are after auditors’ letters) without theatrics, certainly without ulterior motives.
But Furry can’t help himself. Just as it never was about FYO, it only was about ulterior motives. He saw an opportunity for his vindictiveness. He pounced, to the cheers of his gang. I’m thinking not only of Woolbright, who’s still on the hunt for her little satans (she tried this last year with Janet McDonald, and McDonald tried it the year before), but of the Alan Lowes and the Joe Mullinses still hosting socials around all this in Flagler’s scummier gutters, and who knows what remaining Euryales on the school board.
So there are only two possible outcomes. The district renews the FYO program that swelled and broke our hearts for 18 years. Or it doesn’t. Either way, the damage is done, because of Furry’s colossal miscalculation. FlaglerLive isn’t going away. By some miracle, the FYO may not even go away, at least on paper.
But I can’t say the same about the other Tristam, because my message to her is very simple: Your years with FYO have been wonderful, inspiring, and astounding, even at near-exploitative wages. Your student-musicians, your grateful families and your crack teaching staff have deserved every bit of you. But these goons on the board don’t. And so, enough. There’s no sense wasting wonders on small minds atrophying by the day. It’s time to move on.
Just as Cheryl as a rule doesn’t have a say in what I write, I don’t usually have a say in what she decides. I hope this is an exception.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor.
Moms Demand Action says
Wondering What Jesus Would Do…Shame on You, Will Furry!
This is a great program that serves so many students at a minimal cost.
Remember we have 95k registered voters and only 30k voted for you…hoping an overwhelming number come out to defeat you in the next election. Do us a favor and don’t run again!
AJ says
I had a fourth grader who played in that orchestra. His eyes lit up when I’d ask him about it. I wish I had the time to make it to their performances. Will Furry needs to be voted out if he’s this clueless about the impact the arts have on children.
Who’s in it for the children? says
I’m a staunch Republican, but it’s clear these people are not. They are hypocrites. Violating Sunshine law through intermediaries for vendettas sake. Never putting the children first. I’m embarrassed for our party. They make DeSantis’s choices look like bad ones. Perhaps if he picks again for Flagler, Flagler will turn against his choices. Not a good look for him.
Laurel says
Who’s in it: Republicans have always played an important role in our country, it’s just that the current takeover of the party is in the process of a current takeover of our state, with the goal of a takeover of our country. They are not conservatives. Stick to your guns and take back your party!
David Charles Sullivan says
I do not know all the details on this issue. I do know that the FYO has provided a wonderful educational and social support
organization for our student aged children. It would be a shame to see it either hurt or go away.
David Sullivan
Roy Longo says
Unconscionable! Headline grabbing. That’s all this is. Furry is a crack in the door to blow it wide open and all his gutter rats are salivating. Having witnessed the auditorium packed with families and the stage filled the music of FYO, I know the impact Cheryl has on these kids. The flagship firefighter program at FPC will never come through with the numbers of students the FYO has. This is nothing but dirty politics. Shame on you Furry.
Weldon B. Ryan says
It’s about destruction of anything good in this place! My children benefitted from the Flagler Youth Orchestra from it’s very inception. I’ve seen countless success stories from families with children that has achieved a career from this stellar program. Participation from everyone in this community was at a high level. Securing instruments and providing substance to the existence of music in every Childs life took precedence. Cheryl has put her heart and soul in making YSO an example of what a youth program should be! Now in this political climate of hate is this the end?
Skibum says
Wow, who in their right mind could be so rabidly focused on the destruction of our school district’s youth orchestra! Such evil deserves no place on the school board. Such pettiness in his blatant personal agenda only hurts the students who are involved with something so wonderful in their lives. If there are any adults left in that room who are capable of encouraging this little child of a man to get over himself and start acting in the interests of the students and schools that he is supposed to be prioritizing, I hope they do so before he causes more chaos and dysfunction than the school board already has had to deal with in the recent past.
James says
You mess with the bull, sometimes you get the horns. You already know there are some issues, as mentioned. Regardless, after years of treating people terribly, you expect…what exactly? Innocent until proven guilty, so we’ll see what the audit says. The kids will be ok, if the org folds. A variety of resources will step forward if needed.
Edith Campins says
So this IS about revenge on Flaglerlive. If the kids get hurt, Flurry doesn’t care. No a variety of resources won’t step forward because they will see what happens when someone does. This is the fight that Woolbright started, then when she got the pushback from outraged parents and citizens, she dropped it. Flurry doesn’t even understand how the orcestra program works but then he doesn’t understand what the school board does either. Shameful. Let’s remember that when you vote for an incompetent liar just because he is a Republican.
Deborah Coffey says
Republicans have to justify their votes. It makes them feel better.
Tired of it says
Please explain how the FYO “mess with the bull”? Can you cite any specifics where and when the FYO has treated people terribly? Or do you mean that this is a vendetta against Mr. Tritam for having the gall to disagree with the far right Republicans? We see through this and so will people during the next election. Flurry doesn’t seem to realize that he is simply a place holder for Woolbright and she will toss him aside like the piece of trash he is, when she runs again.
Barry McDonald says
Hey, Will Furry why don’t you become concerned about school’s use of internal funds instead. If Paul Peacock spent $40k + on his own little kitchen with internal funds, instead of spending it on students then that’s where you should be looking at. People should be outraged that school fund raiser money and school rental money was wasted on this. Ya know you have to sell a lot of cookie dough to get that sort of money. Money that parents blindly give, because no one knows what the money is for. Furry that’s where you should be looking.
Instead he wants to feign betrayal to get back at the Tristams . So frustrating that that this wasted seat on the school board gets any attention at all for his utterances. The Tristams have been in this community a long time and are respected for their work they do for our children. Will Furry how long have you been here? You have no respect from me and I see you as a stain on our school district.
Barry McDonald
Retired Rymfire Elementary School
Wolf bait says
…and a stain in Miami Dade County as well.
He ran away for political gain. It’s a steady paycheck for a lazy realtor.
The dude says
This school district and its constituents don’t deserve Cheryl and this program.
The kids do though.
Not only do they deserve it, they need it.
The simple fact that learning music builds and enhances a child’s mind might also be a motivating factor for our MAGA morons on the board. Intelligent kids capable of analysis and independent thought probably keeps the Furry’s and Chong’s of this county up at night.
John Stove says
Hey Will “you sad little pathetic man…..”
Will Furry is a tool, just like the rest of his Republitards…..there is absolutely nothing they do to enhance the lives of those they supposedly serve. Kids are going to miss out on a great activity and possibly a lifelong skill that many of us wish we had been given when we were young.
Robin says
Please stay Ms. Tristram. I usher at Flagler Auditorium and the FYO is sublime.
But your friend does it says
When are they going to investigate their pastor friend for taking the booster money from Matanzas Lacrosse?
RitaMae says
But your friend does it says…Can you explain this? Not sure I heard about this situation. Was this recent?
Rob Frederick says
It would be hard to put in words what Cheryl and the FYO have contributed to this county over the years. As a former music teacher in this county, I know of their immense value. My son was a part of FYO during his high school years and was even picked by May to go to New York and perform at Carnegie Hall! What a memorable experience! While other counties charge their students to be in the orchestra, Delbrugge stipulated that it would be free to any student who was interested whether homeschooled, private or public. It has served our county well and has provided students a proven enrichment to their education thru music. It has been well documented how children who study music excel in all other areas of life. Please do not let this beautiful program slip away. It affects so many lives and would be a detriment to our county.
Robert Joseph Fortier says
It is so sad that political party trumps logic and common sense. I am a devout Republican and have been my entire adult life. I am also an individual, I can think for myself and have never been a follower, especially of morons like this fool.
But I can’t blame the fool, for it is because of the actions (or inactions) of the voters who think political control is for the benefit of some people, yet not others. Most of us are pretty much alike…most of us become members of the party of our parents, NOT because we understand what the party stands for.
What should trump “party” and “politics” is love of our county, love of our families, and love for our fellow man (and woman).
Please start studying the motives of those who run for office. Vote because you are concerned that the proper people are in charge of running our county, our state, our nation. Voting party line all the time is proof that you do not research before you choose who controls our future.
Laurel says
Robert F.: Well said! The Furrys, the McDonalds, the Moms for Liberty (supported by DeSantis) and the like are NOT conservatives. They are a grassroots White, Christian Nationalists cult who are attempting a hostile takeover of democracy. This takeover is planned to start with school boards, and work their way up through the system. They truly believe Americans are dumb enough to go for it, and if not, get rid of school classes, especially public, and the arts. It’s a dumbing down of Americans, and I’m sorry to say it’s working.
Take your party back! We need the balance of left and right. Please tell your friends to get off these far right (or far left) TV channels, and social media, and get back to what you knew was right before all this mess started.
No name please says
Your comment is spot on! I applaud your political position and how you go about voting for the best person for the job. I, too, research each candidate and vote for the one I think is best for the position. I never vote strictly party line.
Ben Hogarth says
I can’t think of anything more cowardly in politics than going after another man’s wife, children, or putting a youth program at risk because of a personal vendetta.
Pierre, Cheryl, and the kids who benefit from the programming – I can only say that most good and decent people are behind you and will send Furry packing in due course.
To Will Furry I’ll speak plainly: You have no business in public office or service. It’s easy to hide behind the veil of public trust, while using a little power to serve your own self-interests. It’s not the mark of a strong man, but a weak one. The sun is only just rising on great programs like the Flagler Youth Orchestra – as its setting on your time in public office. Tick. Tock.
I Just Love Flagler Beach says
Will Furry and your minions, you are utterly disgusting.
Small minds says it all.
Pogo says
@will furry
https://www.google.com/search?q=grotesque
Another example of something smaller even than it appears.
And so it goes.
JimBob says
It is a well known fact that symphony music is a tool of Satan and communism.
Chris Conklin says
If you’re going to get rid of the orchestra you ought to get rid of football basketball track softball and baseball whoever voted against this is a complete piece of s*** it was very important you should be ashamed of yourself and quit the board you’re useless and you should probably move out of the county and go live under a rock.
Jane says
This is utterly dispicable!
Zuffalina says
I speak from the perspective of having been involved for many years with an organization that has awarded several hundred thousand dollars in scholarships to seniors graduating from the high schools in Flagler County. When the applications are reviewed yearly almost every applicant has participated in FYO since its inception and benefitted not only from the specific music training but also from the myriad skills enhancement such training brings to accomplishments in reading, mathematics, the development of self confidence and a host of other benefits. This priceless community resource is available to all Flagler students. Many attend traditional schools, many are home schooled. Over the years I have met and spoken to many FYO members and their parents. All are unanimous in their support for FYO. The small-minded, fearful, vindictive Mr. Furry and his cohorts should be ashamed…however they won’t be…so they must be stopped from pursuing their agenda.
Nancy N. says
Furry is just another in a long line recently of self-serving, vindictive, power-hungry elected officials in this town. All I can say is, this town’s voters have gotten the “leadership” they deserve, because too many of them keep voting for these wanna be despots. When will they wake up and stop cutting off their nose to spite their face?
Deborah Coffey says
This is just so awful. Is there no one these Republicans won’t try to punish for upsetting their bitter, pathetic lives? I hope every person that voted for Mr. Furry recognizes and atones for the damage they’ve caused. He’s a really sick man.
Sick of the BS says
It is NOT about the kids, the students, or the families!
Many a program has been closed “sunsetted” for financial reasons or political ones. If a program doesn’t bring in money regardless of who it may be benefiting they will get rid of it. Political moves trying to gain attention have no business on a school board nor does revenge. Are student programs meant for students or are they just there to make the district look like they are after all an education organization? Flagler County HAD a wonderful and successful LITERACY program, focused on at-risk families. That program was recognized many times for the success it showed with the families graduating from GED and moving onto college, vocational programs and employment and getting off of food stamps, etc.! It won many awards and it’s Program Manager recognized countless times for the dedication and her above and beyond mindset. She searched, applied for and managed many grants to keep the program running. CLOSED (“Sunsetted”) it, didn’t bring in enough MONEY, it was never designed to. The program was designed to assist students with a focus on the at-risk families and for them to gain the education they needed to be successful and for their children to be successful and to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Might I remind you schools are a NON Profit organization and should be designed to assist students, NOT profit on the programs they offer, serve as a political platform, or as a place to use power for revenge!
Concerned Community Member says
I’m a senior citizen of this county. I have heard and seen so much dismay in this county for years and years. GROW UP people and stop acting like a child. Even children forget and make amends after a few minutes. As adults have we FORGOTTEN that we are here for the children and NOT politics! When will the real reasons come about. FYO and the people that organized it did it for the KIDS. I watch the school board workshops and meetings faithfully and it makes me sick to see three out of the five school board members in place for their own agenda. I thought you all were elected to serve our schools and children? What has happened will all this politics being involved in the education of the children. If Mr Furry wants a full investigation on the FYO then why isn’t he focusing on the booster clubs and PTOs that also raise funds that supposedly to support the students. To my understanding ALL clubs and PTOs must follow the Florida Red Book and District policies that are in place. Is this happening in our district. If you are doing an audit on the FYO then audits should be done on these clubs and PTOs. I’m not going to say if I’m a Republican or Democrat, it’s not important. But I will say I’m here to support the students if Flagler County and I always will!
Shameful says
This is pathetic.
I was in a youth orchestra. I played xylophone, flute, tuba, percussion, piano, French horn, & standing bells. It taught me discipline and punctuality and I built a base of friends that lasts to this day.
It confirmed my love of music wasn’t just a passing thing but that other people loved music as much as I did. The goosebumps that form across your skin when certain notes play. The colors that appear when pieces of music swell or fade. It’s not just auditory, for some of us, it’s a full body experience.
Even now, my love of music continues growing, and the vast amounts and genres I listen to, encompasses so many. I play audibly (in addition to sheet music), but I can listen to a song once or twice & play along with it on the piano. Music is in my blood. I’ve played since my mom sat me down at our piano when I was four and she started teaching me how to play. I know if you’re sharp or flat in one second. I know what note you’re hitting and what one you’re not.
This is shameful, denying our youth this experience of loving music, expressing music, and living in the world of music where others show their appreciation.
The arts are so important. Stop removing them from the lives of kids and adults.
Aves says
When you mention skin goosebumps and colors appearing, I gather you’re also a synaesthete!
Bill C says
Courtney VandeBunte ran against this buffoon Furry who has absolutely no education experience and it shows. Courtney’s experience: Middle School Content Developer for Harvard University’s LabXChange Platform. This is the kind of garbage you get voting MAGA.
Shelley Kleinfelder says
How do you ‘recall’ school board members?
Celia Pugliese says
Shelley you just beat me at the question…lets start a recall and seat Van der Butten with a real love and compassion for kids. Please Cheryl weather this short storm and stick up for the kids. As for Pierre I admire his courage uncovering for us the dirty laundry goin on…in spite the big risks. Unfortunately I read that Florida is one of the states that does not allow for recalls of school board members! Just lest make sure next time their names come up on the ballot we ignore them and vote for the contender, Furry’s good way to harm our students education.
Mary Fusco says
What a disgrace this place is. I am so very thankful I have no children in school. Between the mickey mouse politicians running in circles and chasing their tails and school board members only working on their own agendas, the children of this county have no hope of a decent education. The blind are leading the blind. To rob children of a program such as this for a personal vendetta is sick at the very least.
Laurel says
Pierre and Cheryl: Your contributions to the community are impressive, and we are grateful for it. Hang in there! You are needed. The petty people will soon just fade away.
Willy James says
Furry is totally out of mind to attack Cheryl and Pierre. It is blantly obvious that Fairy is on the a revenge to hurt Flaglerlive. I don’t see this happening as there are too many of us that support the FYO in word and deed. Get over yourself Fairy. You are small minded and have no business in the education of our children. The bottom line in you are nothing but a carbuncle on the ass of society. Just remember Karma…It got Halfbright and you and Chong are next!
Just Saying says
I will be the first to admit, I’m not entirely familiar with Pierre and Will’s pissing match, but it doesn’t seems like good journalism when you use your own platform to bash somebody based on personal issues.
I’m in favor of most youth programs, and there’s probably a lot of good associated with this one as well. However, like any other youth program, self-serving adults can sometimes be the issue.
If the youth orchestra receives county funding, then it seems appropriate for an audit request. If it hows no misconduct, then the orchestra continues to go about its business and Mr. fury looks like fool.
I would donate my money to the youth orchestra for a seat at a local celebrity boxing match between Will and Pierre.
We’d all be entertained, and the money would go to a good cause.
Just saying.
Pierre Tristam says
It’s not a matter of “personal issues” when a school board members uses his public position to make slanderous and fabricated accusations against a business which just happens to have reported on the alleged school board member’s mendacity in the past, and will report on it again, because he can’t help himself (as in the present case). Your making light of the fact suggests you are missing the point.
Edith Campins says
Flaglerlive has never attacked him or his family personally. It has pointed out his shortcomings, his lack of qualifications, the lies he told during the campaign, as the Observer. Watch for it, when the audt comes back and there are no issues, he will come up with something else. He is doing what his handler, Woolbright statred. Everyone remembers Woolbright and McDonald trying to shut down the FYO only to back down when faced by a room filled with outraged citizens? Remember them pretending it was all a misunderstanding?
Michael Cocchiola says
Let’s cut the bullshit! Furry doesn’t care about insults. He only cares about getting rid of the liberal Tristams and FlaglerLive. He doesn’t care about the kids or their FYO. He doesn’t care about public schools, the teachers or administrators. He cares only about undermining all of that to get at Cheryl, Pierre and all liberals.
So, what are we going to do about it? Anybody want to get together to plot Furry’s comeuppance and save the FYO?
Dennis C Rathsam says
What moron would wear a shirt, like the one in the photo? Obviously, he needs to get a life. What fool needs to let the town know who you are, & what you do. One term Furry
Tired says
I’ve raised two children thru the Flagler County School System and although neither of them stuck with a musical instrument, having the opportunity to is vital to raising well rounded children. The disgusting politics in Flagler have ruined what was once a great community. The School Board, the cities and the county all need to clean house on their boards and administration.
blerbfamilyfive says
Furry has shit for brains. But here is another concept, I blame this also on the Finance Department of the School Board. How come they were not aware of this account, isn’t that a part of their job responsibility. If they were on top of this it could have been under control. But congrats and support to Pierre and Cheryl for really caring about the children in this program.
The dude says
“But congrats and support to Pierre and Cheryl for really caring about the children in this program.”
Somebody has to. Flagler County, Palm Coast, and Mom’s for Lunacy (or rather Klanned Karenhood) sure don’t.
jake says
Pierre, thank your wife for all she’s done. Hopefully the adults in the room will solve the problem and the FYO can continue.
Whathehck? says
Please Mrs. Tristam do not quit because of a dunce. The children need you as well as the whole organization of FYO.
You are tough, don’t get discouraged by any of the 3 ignorant impostors on the school board.
You rule girl!
Bottom Feeders says
Tristian, I may not always agree with your opinion, and that’s fine. I do not know your wife. Both of my sons graduated from FPC and we have been to many shows over the years. The FYO puts on an amazing show. I don’t know who is behind the amazing effort of many people who spent hours putting, and practicing for each event. I have usually voted republican in the past, but it’s evident either party can be arrogant assholes. Furry Sally, and Chong, see ya at the next election
Celia Pugliese says
Lets do not forget that the Furry guy is the same that also wants to end the community use of the Belle Terre Swim and Racket Club pool! Now the FYO that is a very rewarding program to promote the best on our kids that is art and music!
Laurel says
Celia: Our communities are being dismantled from the current, local and state government.
Chessicka says
I am not a fan of flagler live or Pierre. But I do adore Cheryl and the FYO program, the benefits of it are undeniable.
If it is not allowed to continue, this district shows they truly don’t care about the kids at all.