Last Updated: 7:10 p.m.
Flagler County School Board member Cheryl Massaro decided today not to continue what had been a halfhearted campaign for re-election to a second term and opted out of the race, leaving the District 5 field to Palm Coast attorney Vincent Sullivan and long-time Belle Terre Elementary PTO President Lauren Ramirez. At least so far.
Massaro, 70, had run more than four years ago for what she said would be one term. She was still of that mindset until late last year when she said the direction of the board with three rookies was scaring her and she was getting a lot of pressure to run. She declared in December. She changed her mind when she found a candidate she could support, allowing her to withdraw.
She’d met with Ramirez, who owns a medical training company, in September, when Ramirez was interested in a run. “I told her there is a right way and a wrong way to become a school board member,” Massaro said in answer to questions by email this afternoon. “The right way takes time, commitment and effort, the wrong way is to never be prepared and show up to board responsibilities occasionally.”
Ramirez in September was uncertain about managing board responsibilities and her other commitments, according to Massaro. “Yesterday,” Massaro said, “she changed her mind and decided to run, and notified me immediately after she submitted her paperwork. I let her know I was happy she was running and would do what I can to support her campaign. I also told her that I would withdraw my bid for the seat today, to eliminate a three way race that would probably go to November, with no one getting 51% of the vote in August.”
Fellow School Board member Colleen Conklin, who made clear early in this, her sixth erm that it would be her last, said today that Massaro’s decision to withdraw was “deeply concerning given the tremendous amount of experience and knowledge she has” in the district. With Massaro’s and Conklin’s departure, the next school board will have a combined six years’ board experience between its five members, with Sullivan or Ramirez arguably having more on-the-ground experience of the district than the board members.
Ramirez has four children in district elementary and middle school. She and her husband have lived in Palm Coast since 2017 after she grew up in Central Florida. he has a master’s in public health, which drives her interest in two of her priorities: “Mental, physical, emotional safety,” she said, and “making sure our students are in a safe learning environment.” A second objective is what she terms “clarity and vision and alignment of educational objectives,” which she specifies as “making sure our parents, teachers and administrator have the resources and tools and access to those resources and tools to help them move through their educational journey.”
In sum, she’d bring the perspective of “a wife, a mother, business owner and active community member” to the board.
Sullivan, an attorney at Chiumento Law, the Palm Coast firm, was not aware of Massaro’s withdrawal when contacted today, but know of Ramirez’s candidacy. “As for Ms. Massaro’s tenure on the Board,” Sullivan said, “I must start by saying thank you to her. I can imagine it is not easy being in a position that everyone is going to critique your every decision. I thank her for her service to the students of the County and her many years of teaching. I am hopeful that with a new perspective coming to the Board, whether Ms. Ramirez or myself, that the Board will be able to increase its effectiveness at communicating clearly.”
Sullivan, a 2008 graduate of Matanzas High School and a member of the board of the Education Foundation, the district’s non-profit arm, declared his candidacy in February, two days after getting a 36 Under 36 award by The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division.
Sullivan, 29, and Ramirez, 40, both B-Section residents in Palm Coast, were both registered Republicans last year, as is Massaro, in a reddening county where it has become very difficult to get elected as a Democrat. School board elections are ostensibly non-partisan, but party affiliations have mattered disproportionately in every election.
Massaro cites Ramirez’s years at the Belle Terre Elementary PTO and her educational background as reasons for her support. She doesn’t know Sullivan, but she’s uncomfortable with what she sees as potential conflicts, with Sullivan serving on the board and his firm having legal actions against the board “with other attorneys of record, and there’s no telling who is working the cases behind the scene,” she said. “Plus, everyone knows Chimento’s law firm association with the Home Builders Association and interest in school impact fees, necessary to build new schools for our ever growing County.”
Michael Chiumento was among those leading the charge against higher school impact fees two years ago, when that issue turned into a protracted wrangle between the School Board, the County Commission and the home builders, resulting in a significantly lower impact fee increase than the one the School Board had originally voted for. The wrangle frayed relations between the builders’ community and the school administration and contributed to the departure of School Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and the firing of Board Attorney Kristy Gavin.
The existing board with its block-voting majority of Hunt, Christy Chong and Will Furry, who is the current chairman, is of graver concern to Massaro.
“In my opinion the current school board is shaky at best, and is taking the district backwards,” Massaro said. “Just recently they want to discuss rezoning, which is a heavy lift for any school district, which was accomplished two years ago, to accommodate our growing population. It is hard to move Flagler Forward when the board keeps backpedaling.” She questions what she sees as lapses in Furry’s parliamentary handling of the board–one of the issues she says she intends to correct in the future: Massaro says she will stay involved after her term ends, but more as an activist than a board member.
“As for where I see this Board going,” Massaro said, “its direction concerns me, for members are allowing politics, religion and personal agendas to infiltrate public education. A very dangerous practice that could prove detrimental to all Flagler students, their families and staff. I sincerely hope this next election helps slow down that process, and allow the Flagler School Board to get back to business of improving grades and employment opportunities for all students and supporting staff and administrative initiatives while avoiding all social issues traps.”
