- April 24, 2024
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The Palm Coast R-Section would be moved into the Indian Trails Middle School zone in the latest proposal.
The Palm Coast R-Section would be moved into the Matanzas High School zone in the latest proposal.
After getting feedback from parents and school board members, the Flagler Schools’ rezoning committee has ditched its initial rezoning proposal for elementary schools and recommended a phased-in approach which would delay changing elementary school zones for one year.
The committee also tweaked its proposed zones for secondary schools, moving the Palm Coast R-Section from Buddy Taylor Middle School and Flagler Palm Coast High School to Indian Trails and Matanzas.
At a School Board workshop Sept. 21, the committee proposed pushing back elementary school rezoning to the 2023-24 school year. With sixth graders moving from elementary schools to middle schools next school year, the elementary schools will be able to tolerate growth until then, Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt said.
Buddy Taylor and FPC, however, are already over capacity in the K-5 model, and secondary-school rezoning should continue as scheduled, the committee proposed.
The School Board agreed to phased-in approach and asked the committee to schedule two more public listening sessions to hear parents' feedback.
The School Board will discuss secondary school rezoning at two more workshops on Oct. 19 and Nov. 16. A final plan is scheduled to be submitted to the board for adoption on Dec. 21 with new secondary school boundaries going into effect in August, 2022.
At the workshop, several parents, some with children attending Old Kings Elementary School who would have been sent to different schools under the initial proposal, spoke against that plan. Members of Flagler Citizens Committee objected to one of the committee’s guiding principles in formulating new school zones: “Prioritizing equitable access to safe, quality educational environments for students.”
“Equity, a Marxist principle, is being used to reorganize Flagler Schools on the basis of race and class.” Steve Furnari said.
After the committee report Furnari praised the school district for pulling back the elementary school proposal but questioned why the new proposal to delay and revisit was not listed on the school district’s website in advance of the meeting.
“That could have saved us time and aggravation,” he said.
