by: Flagler Schools
Flagler Schools and Flagler Auditorium announced their upcoming Flagler Schools Teacher and Employee of the Year Gala, honoring this year’s teachers and employees of the year, as well as their Principal and Assistant Principal of the Year.
The updated date of the Gala is Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Flagler Auditorium. While this year’s event is not open to the public, they will be offering a livestream of the gala, which will be available to view on the Flagler Schools website. The presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m.
During the event, the District’s Teacher and Employee of the Year will be named. They will then go on to represent Flagler Schools in the statewide program.
Who deserves a Standing O this year? What are the criteria?
A few years ago we decided to let those answers rest entirely in the hands of last year’s winners. It has become a December tradition to contact the current Standing O’s and ask them to select someone they feel deserves recognition, for any variety of reasons. It’s a gesture of goodwill, lending the spotlight to someone else in the community.
But I have to admit, I tried to talk one person out of her choice. Lynette Shott was a Standing O in 2019. She was on the executive team for Flagler Schools at the time and has since retired and moved out of state, but I reached her by phone to ask for her choice for 2020. She chose Joe Rizzo, the executive director of the Flagler County Education Foundation.
Danielle Anderson, Correspondent
Third time’s the charm for Flagler Palm Coast High School junior Mervyn Gong, who received an early Christmas present with the news he’d scored a perfect 800 on his math SATs recently.
As a student in the Peter and Sue Freytag Take Stock in Children program, Gong recalled receiving a mailer for the scholarship program and signing up for it three years ago, where he was paired up with his mentor, Jason Wheeler.
“As I’ve grown to know him over the years, he’s a really great man and I’m glad to know him,” said Gong, a future chemistry major whose sights are set on the University of Florida. “Mr. Wheeler has really helped me stay focused.”
3 months ago Share The Fire Leadership Academy, begun in 2017, has already produced 23 graduates, four of which have been hired locally. by: Julie Murphy Flagler County Public Information Officer
Flagler County Fire Leadership Academy was recognized on Dec. 4 for receiving the Institute for County Government Best Practices Award for 2020 at the Florida Association of Counties’ Legislative Conference in Jacksonville. The award was presented Dec. 14 at the Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Library Director and Legislative Liaison Holly Albanese nominated the program for the award.
“The Fire Leadership Academy immediately came to mind when I read the criteria,” Albanese said. “It saves Flagler County much of the expense of training a new firefighter, it provides a pool of candidates when Fire Rescue needs to hire, and it prepares high school students to enter the workplace upon graduation.”