- May 5, 2024
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The end is pretty clear. Flagler County School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin won’t be finishing out her contract, which expires in June 2025. The means is still in question.
School Board members Sally Hunt, Christy Chong and Will Furry want to relieve her of her duties. All three have cited trust issues.
The board paid $5,000 to an outside law firm to provide advice on terminating her contract. The firm Shutts & Bowen concluded that a mutually agreed separation, including a general release of claims, “would appear to be the best option” to resolve the matter and limit the district’s financial liability, according to the firm’s summary of options, which Hunt shared in a screenshot during the Oct. 17 School Board workshop.
After an hour-plus debate during the workshop, Board Chair Cheryl Massaro brought Gavin to the table. Gavin had been sitting at her raised desk behind the table remaining silent throughout the discussion.
Massaro asked Gavin if she would be willing to negotiate a mutual separation agreement.
I’m going to consider a mutual agreement and how we can resolve this matter.”
—KRISTY GAVIN, Flagler School Board attorney
“I’m going to consider a mutual agreement and how we can resolve this matter,” Gavin answered.
The board asked Furry to discuss a possible agreement with Gavin and scheduled a special board meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 to discuss and vote on a proposed agreement.
A vote on the contract that was scheduled for the Oct. 17 business meeting was tabled.
Hunt was in favor of terminating the contract for just cause. Gavin’s contract defined just cause as dereliction of duty, failure to report to work, misconduct in office and violation of criminal law.
Hunt said Gavin, acting on public records requests for Hunt’s texts with former Wadsworth Elementary School Principal Paul Peacock, asked for her two personal cell phones.
“What was shared was literally everything,” Hunt said, including a text to Peacock asking if he had butt-dialed her.
Hunt said the board attorney should be looking out for the interests of the board.
“As I sit here today as one of five board members, just as I did with (former) Superintendent Mittelstadt, I am taking from multiple observations and conversations. It is not just a public records request. It is not just about disclosing information from a privileged conversation. It is not just about inappropriate guidance. It is (an) all around a situation …” she said.
Chong objected to Gavin’s interviews with news site FlaglerLive.
“(Gavin) should not be making comments to the media,” Chong said.
Furry said that according to the Shutts & Bowen attorneys, if Gavin were to seek a Division of Administrative Hearing, objecting to a just cause termination, the most she would be due is 12 weeks of base salary without benefits plus accrued sick and annual leave.
But board member Colleen Conklin said that doesn’t take into account the possibility of Gavin filing a civil suit against the School Board.
Massaro said she thought the board “threw away $5,000,” in its agreement with the law firm, except for the one-on-one conferences, totaling three hours, with the board members. She said she wrote questions that did not get answered.
“You better have solid-rock proof that you have just cause,” Massaro said. “Because with a wrongful discharge, we will be in breach of contract.”
Furry, Massaro and Conklin are in favor a new model in which the board hires a firm to handle its legal matters, with the superintendent hiring a separate attorney to represent the district.
Conklin said Gavin is eligible to retire at the end of her contract, and she could take on the role of the district’s attorney for the next year and a half, using her 17 years of experience with the district to help the new attorneys through a transition period. That includes filling them in on current litigation filed against the district.
