- March 11, 2026
With Flagler Schools’ current strategic plan expiring in June, district staff presented the School Board with an outline for a new plan.
“This is going to steer the work we do over the next three years,” Superintendent LaShakia Moore told board members at their Tuesday, March 10, workshop.
A development task force led by senior district staff with input from internal stakeholders developed an outline with five goal areas: academics; safety and resiliency; talent; organizational efficiency and fiscal responsibility; and communication and engagement. The board was presented with suggested priorities for each goal area.
The outline, with added targets suggested by board members, is scheduled to be released to the public with the ThoughtExchange engagement platform at the end of the month. Moore will lead a community input session tentatively scheduled for April. A board workshop dedicated to strategic planning will follow in late April. And additional drafts will be brought to the board from May to July with final board approval planned for August or September.
Kindergarten readiness, a topic at a recent board meeting, would become Early Learning/Early Literacy through the VPK accountability system under the academics goal.
Board member Janie Ruddy suggested adding executive function readiness for students in higher elementary school grades. She said some students when they hear the word “no” will rip the room apart.
“We need school readiness [strategies] for students who have not been in an organized setting prior to joining us here,” Ruddy said. “Some things that will help them make that transition to a classroom.”
Assistant Superintendent Angela O’Brien, who presented the plan’s outline with assessment coordinator Scott Reynolds, suggested that priority be added to the safety and resiliency goal.
Other suggested priority targets for academics are core academic achievement, graduation rate, college and career acceleration rate, focus on components of the federal index for students with disabilities and diploma designations and seals.
One of the targets under safety and resiliency is chronic absenteeism, which under the current plan is defined as 21 or more days but under the new plan will use the state definition of 15 unexcused days, Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the district has an attendance dashboard so schools can more easily track students. Moore said the district has also hired staff members to locate students and get them back to school.
As we move into this process we’ll identify what are the specific strategies we want to use to move forward.
— LASHAKIA MOORE, Flagler Schools superintendent
“As we move into this process we’ll identify what are the specific strategies we want to use to move forward,” Moore said.
Ruddy suggested adding combating tobacco use and vaping and adding mental health programs. Will Furry suggested adding substance abuse and possession.
Moore suggest moving improved efficiency and utilization of bus rider ID scans from organizational efficiency to safety and resiliency. Board Chair Christy Chong suggested adding improved communication with parents on bus route changes.
Target areas under talent include the vacancy rate and retention for paraprofessionals, bus drivers and aides and high demand teacher areas; and quality professional learning.
Timely communication on crises is among the communication and engagement targets. Ruddy suggested adding K-5 parent-teacher conferences and tracking percentage of parent attendance at their student’s IEP meetings and the number of guidance counselor sessions with students to plan their college and career preparations.
Another communication and engagement target is increasing positive responses regarding “trust” and transparency” on annual stakeholder perception surveys.
Furry suggested adding maintaining the general fund balance under organizational efficiency and fiscal responsibility. That goal has been in the current plan but since it has been met consistently it was not added to the new priority list, Reynolds said.
“I think it’s important that we need to keep the fund balance within the board policy limits,” Furry said.
