- February 24, 2025
Ormond Beach residents have said they will run in 2016 election.
Wayne Grant
News Editor
A couple of familiar faces will be on the ballot for the Volusia County School Board next year: current Chairman Linda Costello and former school principal Carl Persis.
The race will be for District 4, which includes portions of Ormond Beach.
Costello, elected to the board in 2012, announced at a recent meeting that she plans to seek another four-year term in 2016.
Costello aims for “A” rating
In a telephone interview, Costello said the most important mission for the School Board is have an “A” rated district, and must raise the academic achievement of those in the lower performing schools. She has said that the state primarily looks at progress, achievement and learning gains when rating schools.
“My goal is to be number one in the state,” she said.
She said she considers the controversy about her speech at the Seabreeze High School commencement to be over. She said she has apologized and now she’s moving on.
“I’ve got important work to do,” she said. “I can’t be distracted.
In the speech, in which she used the word, “underperformed,” she said she meant to encourage people to fulfill their potential.
“I’m an underperformer almost every day,” she said. “Every day, I get up and try to do better.”
Costello graduated from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in social work and from Florida State University with a master’s degree in social work. She previously worked as a mental health therapist at Humana Hospital followed by opening her own private practice and subsequently working for Our Children First. She is a past recipient of the Child Advocate of the Year award given by the Volusia-Flagler Committee for Positive Parenting.
Persis was longtime principal
Persis was Ormond Beach mayor from 1999 until 2002 and worked as a principal in Volusia County Schools for 28 years until 2011, including 13 years at Tomoka Elementary School and seven years at Ormond Beach Middle School.
He served as a Volusia County Councilman from 2005 until 2012. Most recently, he was principal at Esformes Hebrew Academy at Chabad Lubavitch until retiring in June, 2014.
Persis said he has thought of running for the School Board for many years. He recalled that years ago, there was a School Board member named Earl McCrary who was a retired principal. Persis watched him use his experience to be an effective administrator.
“I saw the perspectives he brought to the board and how he connected to the students,” Persis said. “I thought, ‘That’s something I could do one day.”
He and his wife, Susan, thought it would be best to wait until she retired as school principal, and she is retiring this year from Pine Trail Elementary.
In addition to his experience as principal, Persis points to his background as a public official.
“I would be a unique blend,” he said.
