Flagler School Board candidates Cathy Moon, Jill Woolbright, Will Furry, Rob Wood, Christy Chong, Ron Long and Trevor Tucker at the Hammock Community Association forum. Photo by Brent Woronoff
School Board District 1 candidates Cathy Moon and Jill Woolbright. Photo by Brent Woronoff
School board District 2 candidate Robert Wood. Photo by Brent Woronoff
School Board District 2 candidate Will Furry. Photo by Brent Woronoff
School Board District 4 candidate Ron Long. Photo by Brent Woronoff
School Board District 4 candidate Christy Chong. Photo by Brent Woronoff
District 1 candidate Jill Woolbright. Photo by Brent Woronoff
School Board District 1 candidate Cathy Moon. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Ron Long and Trevor Tucker listen as another candidate speaks at the Hammock Community Association School Board forum. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler County School Board candidates answered questions about arts education, literary censorship and parental rights at the Hammock Community Association forum on June 2 at the Hammock Community Center.
The candidates opened by discussing their credentials and positions during a three-minute time limit. Forum organizers Karen Leader and Donna Contrado were impressed by how cordial the candidates were.
The School Board’s five members have to work together as a team, Leader said, so seeing the seven candidates who are vying for the three open seats being courteous was a good sign.
“They were very respectful of each other, cordially greeting each other,” Contrado said.
The candidates included Cathy Moon and Jill Woolbright in District 1, Will Furry and Rob Wood in District 2 and Christy Chong, Ron Long and Trevor Tucker in District 4. Chong, the board chair, and Furry are incumbents.
They were all in favor of preserving arts curriculum. Wood, Woolbright and Moon all said they were members of their school bands.
"I will fight forever to keep arts in schools," Woolbright said.
Long said his youngest daughter disliked high school, but the arts program at Flagler Palm Coast was what made her want to get up and go to school each day.
Tucker, who had been a School Board member for 12 years until losing reelection to Chong in 2022, said during a budget crunch in 2012, the board discussed the possibility of cutting arts in elementary schools, but he argued against it.
“Arts are integral to education,” he said.
On the question regarding censorship, a resident used the example of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” being challenged in some states. Some of the candidates were surprised to hear that that book had been challenged or banned.
Woolbright said sometimes the pendulum swings too far one way or the other, but she said there had been books in the district’s libraries that were not appropriate for students.
“Some of those books were triple-x rated,” she said. In 2021, when Woolbright was on the School Board, she filed a criminal complaint against the district over the book, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” being in some school libraries. The district had been reviewing the book in accordance with its policies at the time. The book was eventually removed from Flagler Schools’ shelves.
Tucker, who was also on the board at the time, answered the resident’s question by saying, “I want every child to read age appropriate material. Most high schoolers are old enough to decide whether a book is good or bad. If you push only one thing on them, how can there be freedom?” But as a board member, he has to uphold the law, he added.
Long said controversial books that tax payers are paying for shouldn’t be available in schools because the books are readily available elsewhere. Moon said if a parent doesn’t want their child reading a book, they can opt out, “but not opt the whole school out.” Chong and Furry said students shouldn’t be exposed to books that have sexual content.
When the candidates were asked what parental rights mean to them, Wood said, “We fall into a trap believing education is the same for every student. Parents should be making academic decisions that make the most sense for thier children.”
The voucher program, giving parents another option, solves the problem, Furry said.
“People get angry about parents pulling their kids out of school,” Woolbright said. “But that’s their choice if they don’t want their child exposed to certain things.” She added that “we want Flagler County Schools to be the best choice.”
Long, who was critical about many of the district's spending decisions, said parents are choosing to homeschool “because of bullies and safety. Parents are scared to send their kids to schools these days,” he said.
Leader said the Hammock Community Association does not meet in July or August, so it had to schedule the forum in June to be ahead of the August primaries, because the board races with two candidates will be decided at that time, and District 4 could also be decided if one candidate receives over 50% of the vote.
Another Flagler County School Board forum is scheduled on Tuesday, June 9, at 5:30-7 p.m. in the “Vault Room” at the Historic Flagler County Courthouse, 200 E. Moody Blvd. in Bunnell.
That forum will be hosted by the American Association of University Women, Flagler County Branch, with assistance from the League of Women Voters of Jacksonville/First Coast. Space is limited, so registration is encouraged. Email [email protected] to confirm your attendance.
