- September 16, 2026
The Flagler County School Board approved a School Health Services Plan for the next two years as required by Florida statutes.
The board approved the plan as part of its consent agenda at its Aug. 25 business meeting. Each county health department is required to develop the biennial plan with the school district and its school health advisory committee.
At the board’s workshop earlier in the day, board members were presented with details of the plan and updates on student health services.
School Health Advisory Committee Chair John Fanelli, District School Health Coordinator Michelle Postel and Flagler County Health Department School Health Coordinator Stephanie Ear discussed the plan and the district's student health services.
Last year, on any given day, 995 Flagler Schools students were provided medications or prescribed procedures, Postel said.
The 2026-28 plan will include a required Plan for Urgent Life-Saving Emergencies (PULSE) including cardiac emergencies.
Current programs that will continue include distribution of Department of Health material on Type 1 diabetes early detection. With parental consent, students are able to self-carry and administer headache medication. Through an organization partnering with Project Good for Girls, the district has 2,500 cosmetic bags filled with feminine hygiene products to be handed out.
There has been staff health training for opioid overdose protocol. All schools have received cabinets stocked with NARCAN.
In answering a question from board member Janie Ruddy about monitoring students with food allergies during lunch, Fanelli said the district has been reviewing the procedures, making sure there are multiple checkpoints. Student ID badges are scanned at the register in the food lines making sure the students’ food selections align with any allergies they have.
The teachers are part of the process as well, Superintendent LaShakia Moore said. The district does not allow students to share food, she said. And peanuts have been eliminated from the food lines.
“We are a peanut-free school district,” Fanelli said, “because that is one of the most common food allergies regarding anaphylaxis.”
Board member Lauren Ramirez said in the future she would like to see the district have access to epinephrine nasal spray for students who have unknown allergies.
The board also approved a stop-loss insurance contract with Ryan Specialty for the current year, beginning in September. Stop-loss insurance provides financial protection against unusually large individual claims above the district’s $250,000 specified threshold.
The district had five individual health-care claims in the last school year that were over $250,000.
Brown and Brown Insurance Services Vice President Danielle Boyle told the board at the workshop that because increases in high-cost claims have been rising faster than overall market trends, 11 carriers declined to provide the district with a quote.
“They’re cherry picking right now,” she said.
The increase in stop-loss premiums for the $250,000 deductible will be 24.35% or about $128,000.
Ruddy suggested that the district monitor The Florida Educator Health Trust (FLEHT) for progress on its collective stop-loss insurance. The board perviously voted not to join FLEHT, because of its inexperience with self-insured districts, but the trust has since added seven districts that are self-insured.
The board also approved broker services with Brown and Brown for an initial term of three years with two optional one-year renewals.
