- December 23, 2024
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Aerial view of the architect's design of a new building, center, to be constructed at Matanzas High School. Courtesy photo Flagler Schools
View of the backside of the new building to be built at Matanzas which will house a new media center and construction lab. Courtesy photo Flagler Schools
A new middle school has been moved off the Flagler County School District’s five-year capital plan, but a third high school remains in the plan with major construction scheduled for 2026-27.
The capital plan will be on the School Board’s agenda at its Dec. 20 business meeting. Kory Bush, the district’s director of plant services, told the board at its Dec. 6 agenda workshop that based on current student projections, a new middle school has been moved back into the long-range plan for 2026 to 2032.
A new high school with 2,375 student stations remains on the same schedule as the previous year’s capital plan. Spending for the new high school first appears in the five-year plan in 2024-25 with major construction scheduled for 2026-27. The school’s projected construction cost for that year alone is $68,206,276.
“The data is showing us pushing from a middle school, so a high school becomes the main priority. Very comprehensive studies need to happen.”
— CATHY MITTELSTADT, Flagler Schools Superintendent
“The data is showing us pushing from a middle school, so a high school becomes the main priority,” Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt said. “Very comprehensive studies need to happen.”
A location would have to be chosen, she said.
While the five-year plan is flexible, planning has already begun for the Matanzas High School expansion project, with construction bids due in April. The $18 million expansion which will add 366 additional student stations, a new building with a media center and construction lab, additional cafeteria space and a new multipurpose PE building. The Matanzas project is expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2025.
The October K-12 enrollment count in the district was 12,246. Dave Freeman, the district’s chief of operations, said student growth was considerably lower than expected, but there has been growth in the district as well as in the county’s charter school, home schooling and private schools. Most of the private schools are K-8, he said, so many of those students return to the district for high school, which is why more growth has been seen in the district’s high schools compared to the elementary and middle schools.
Part of the plan is to add portables before the district builds the new high school, Freeman said. When a high school reaches 25% over capacity, or a middle school reaches 33% over capacity, portables are needed, he said. The varying percentages are based on the number of grade levels in middle schools (three) and high schools (four).
Freeman said the work plan will be presented to the ILA working group at its Dec. 15 meeting. The working group includes representatives from the school district as well as the county and municipalities.
School Board member Colleen Conklin said she would like to see future work plans include improvements to the schools’ athletic facilities. She said the athletic facilities are noticeably behind other school districts.
“There’s always a ton of HVAC (improvements on the work plan), but community members and parents don’t see that. With athletic facilities you get immediate feedback,” Conklin said.
MAKE-UP DAY SCHEDULED
The district’s plan to make up the school day lost to Hurricane Nicole is to make March 17 a student instructional day, Louise Bossardet, a department of teaching and learning staffer, told the board. The day had been scheduled to be a teacher work day. It will now be the last day before spring break for students.
Conklin questioned taking a work day from teachers, but Bossardet and Assistant Superintendent LaShakia Moore said the move was preferred over other alternatives.
NEW JOB DESCRIPTIONS
Flagler Auditorium Director Amelia Fulmer would like to see her title change to incorporate the instructional part of her position.
“Sixty percent of what we do is instructional,” she told the board.
Her new title would be instructional facilitator & operational leader for Flagler Auditorium, and her responsibilities would include teaching theater classes and the technical aspects of theater equipment and auditorium management.
The position now known as the auditorium community relations and marketing coordinator would take on more operational duties with the title changed to fine arts marketing and organizational coordinator.
“We want to make sure the instructional lane is captured,” in Fulmer’s position, Chief Human Resources Officer Robert Ouellette said.
But Conklin questioned whether Fulmer’s title would not be recognizable as the auditorium’s director when she attends conferences.
