Hi, kids!
It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the news and newsmakers of the day who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life or detracted from it in some significant way:
Volusia County Schools: Rewarding Incompetence to Perpetuate the Lie
“This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality: you’re on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable…Go as far as you like on this road. Its limits are only those of the mind itself.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re entering the wondrous dimension of imagination.
Next stop…The Twilight Zone.”
a/k/a The Volusia County School Board…
It has been said there is nothing kind about a lie that feels like encouragement.
Unfortunately, it seems the majority of our elected representatives on the Volusia County School Board have been diluting the meaning of academic and administrative excellence for so long they have come to believe their own prevarications.
That’s a dangerous indulgence in a public school district with a budget north of $1 Billion…
In my view, it represents organizational pseudologia fantastica – pathological lying – a pattern of compulsive and elaborate false narratives where the upper echelon of the Ivory Tower of Power eventually becomes convinced of thier own fabrications.
That irrational self-deception is facilitated by an environment where stakeholders naturally believe an “A” grade represents superior achievement. Until we learn the fictitious grade is based on Florida’s skewed system where districts that obtain just 65% or higher over twelve categories are considered top-rated by the Florida Department of Education.
Volusia County Schools squeaked by with a mediocre 66%…
As a result, standards and traditional metrics have become meaningless, the process a means of organizational reassurance, rather than an objective measurement of performance.
Now, the district’s malignancy of lies continues, and that same perversion of academic achievement is being applied to Superintendent Carmen Balgobin’s annual performance evaluation.
According to a disturbing article by reporter Mark Harper writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week:
“The board evaluated Balgobin ahead of the Sept. 8 meeting. The job performance assessment was raised as an agenda item, but no one discussed it in detail, nor were board members’ marks included in the public agenda. The News-Journal requested the five board members’ evaluations as public records and received them it on Sept. 21.”
“The evaluation tool covered seven goals, with 26 specific indicators within those goals. The superintendent received either a mark of proficient, reasonable progress toward expectation, and needs improvement on each of the 26.”
In a move that sent a chill down my spine, our recently reelected board chair Ruben Colón gave Superintendent Balgobin a perfect score…
Using the “back-to-back “A” grades” shim-sham to maximum effect, Chairman Colón swallowed what must be the tattered remnants of his dignity when he wrote, “The superintendent shows proactive leadership across instruction, staffing, safety, operations, technology, communications, and community engagement, he said, adding Balgobin “consistently communicated the district mission, vision and strategic priorities.”
Clearly, Mr. Colón forgot to go outside the silo of Balgobin’s executive suite and speak to those who suffer the district’s recurrent dysfunction, expensive systemic failures, payroll/tax/benefits maladministration, systems, and policies that continue to fail students, teachers, staff, and parents who approach the podium each meeting trying desperately to sound the alarm.
He has also forgotten the sound advice of Sen. Rosalind Osgood (D-Tamarac) who commented on the dysfunction of senior administrators in Volusia County Schools during a February hearing on Florida’s School Board Member Bill of Rights in Tallahassee.
Sen. Osgood asked whether Balgobin was elected or appointed?
When it was explained that the Superintendent was appointed, Osgood remarked, “Y’all should fire ’em…”
Remember? I do.
It is now clear that Chairman Colón – a malleable finger-puppet who parrots the district’s line and callously ignores the systemic failures and dysfunction that continue to plague Volusia County Schools – has become so blinded by the system that he has become a useless appendage on a board whose statutory raison d’être is independent oversight.
For her part, the administration’s attack/lap dog Krista Goodrich gave Balgobin 25 “proficient” marks and one “reasonable progress toward expectation” in the “communication and community engagement” category.
In addition, Goodrich gave Superintendent Balgobin a glowing endorsement, calling the district’s non-existent accomplishments “remarkable,” cementing her place as an obedient foot soldier of influential special interests who use those “A” grades as a cheap marketing tool…
As board member Jamie Haynes battles for her political life against newcomer Brenda Beery, she saw fit to mark all but two of Balgobin’s grades as “proficient;” while the no-longer-relevant Jessie “Whackadoodle” Thompson – an admitted liar and demonstrable looney-tune who was defeated in the August primary – made a mockery of the process by gifting the Superintendent 25 “proficient” grades.
Only in the Twilight Zone…
According to the News-Journal’s report, the one consistent servant-leader on the board – District 4 member Donna Brosemer – courageously “…rated Balgobin just 12% proficient, giving her 18 “needs improvement” marks out of 26 grades. Brosemer did not follow the instrument’s directions by giving comments on each specific needs-improvement grade, but offered a harsh overview, calling the district “the most toxic environment I have encountered in my 35 years in public policy.”
For her consistent defense of our children’s education and development, Ms. Brosmer has been marked as a troublemaker – publicly marginalized, accused, and maligned by the district’s cliquish “insiders” and those external influencers who run interference – for having the personal and political courage to speak the truth to power.
Now, it appears Ms. Brosemer is the target of an open-ended “investigation” – commissioned by the school board and paid for by taxpayers – as a means of punishing her for posting a meme on social media criticizing the Balgobin administration’s infringement on our first amendment rights by blocking citizen comments on official communications.
Read that again…
In a March 2026 essay discussing the hidden costs of lowering the educational bar, educator and writer Kate Martin said, “A society that can’t honestly assess competence is going to struggle to govern itself well. When grades stop meaning anything, trust erodes — not just in schools, but in credentials, in institutions, and eventually in the professions that depend on them.”
In my view, that thought is equally appliable to the evaluation of a public education executive commanding some $300,000 annually in salary and benefits…
As Ms. Martin explained, “Accountability requires differentiation. You can’t improve what you’re not allowed to honestly measure.”
Vote like your children’s education, academic integrity, and our tax dollars matter.
City of Bunnell: A Change of Leadership Restores Trust
Last week, the tenure of Bunnell’s embattle City Manager Alvin “Secret Squirrell” Jackson ended as enigmatically as one of his behind-closed-doors negotiations with a commercial developer when he (sort of) announced that he was resigning his role effective immediately.
Apparently, Jackson’s resignation came one step ahead of a move by City Commissioner John Rogers to fire him…
Last Friday, when FlaglerLive.com announced Jackson’s departure, it was the first many residents (and some city officials) had heard of it:
“Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson has resigned, ending an eight-year tenure that in the past several months unraveled as he was criticized by commissioners and members of the public for a lack of transparency, of machinating secret deals, and of improper, possibly illegal conduct, such as when he maneuvered secretly for a 610-acre garbage dump, negotiated with a fuel-dump company and contacted the employer of a resident who’d filed a public record request.”
According to the report, Mr. Jackson had originally planned to retire in February 2028, then recently expedited things to June 2027, amid mounting community outrage surrounding the mysterious “Project Butterfly” – which turned out to be a commercial landfill…
In an odd twist, rather than say goodbye and calm mounting rumors among city employees, the report claims Jackson called an all-hands/closed-door meeting on Thursday afternoon and spoke to staff as though he were still at the helm, even though he had already submitted his resignation (?).
According to FlaglerLive.com, rather than announce his departure to confused employees, Jackson “…celebrated himself, describing “the progress that we’re making” as “just astounding and magnificent,” and Bunnell as “truly becoming a very great city–a city that industry wants to come to, a city that residentials want to come to, a city that commercial development is happening.”
Most shocking, it was revealed that there may be state and federal audits forthcoming due, in part, to a four-day workweek Jackson implemented for city employees that may have run afoul of wage and hour laws. The FlaglerLive.com report stated that during the staff meeting an employee explained “…we have got departments who have consistently ignored that, which means that we could potentially be audited either by the feds or the state, where somebody can make their complaint, and we could end up in court for millions. We can’t do that. That’s a huge risk.”
Wow.
In my experience, that’s the problem with secrecy in government – bad news never ages well…
On Monday, the Bunnel City Commission voted unanimously to accept Jackson’s resignation (he left City Hall on Friday), then voted 4-1 to deny Jackson a “pre-submitted” severance package. Mayor Catherine Robinson cast the lone vote in support of paying Mr. Jackson a severance, calling his departure a “forced resignation.”
According to reports, “…Jackson was asking for 12 weeks’ severance, to which he is not entitled, as well as health and other benefits, to which he is not entitled, and a payout for 13 holidays, to which he is also not entitled.”
In turn, the commission unanimously approved the appointment of the city’s competent Police Chief David Brannon as interim city manager, who stepped down from his law enforcement role to accept the temporary assignment.
Here’s hoping Chief Brannon can use his considerable talents to help restore the public trust – and mend difficult divisions on the Bunnell City Commission – as the city sets about the important task of recruiting, vetting, and hiring the transparent leadership residents deserve.
Quote of the Week
“The First Step Shelter has agreed to pay two former employees a total of $440,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit, according to a statement provided to The News-Journal.
Patrick Smith, the former director of philanthropy, will receive $300,000 in the settlement, according to his attorney, Kelly Chanfrau. Pamela Alexander, the former housing director, settled the case a couple of weeks earlier and received $140,000, said Chanfrau, who represented Alexander as well.
Smith and Alexander filed the lawsuit against First Step Shelter in December 2024, alleging they were fired in retaliation for their complaints against the shelter and had been publicly defamed by both the shelter and the city of Daytona Beach, according to a previous News-Journal story.
The city of Daytona Beach was subsequently dismissed from the lawsuit early in the case.
The lawsuit was amended to add Victoria Fahlberg as a defendant on April 1, 2025. At the time, Fahlberg was the executive director of the First Step Shelter, a post she had held since it opened. Fahlberg resigned in April 2026.”
–Reporter Frank Fernandez, writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “First Step Shelter to pay whistleblowers $440K to settle lawsuit,” Friday, September 2, 2026
With the controversial reign of Victoria Fahlberg now a bad memory, a new executive director at the helm, and this ugly chapter in the shelter’s history now settled, perhaps it is time for the Daytona Beach City Commission to complete the transition to new leadership by replacing the First Step Board of Directors?
In my view, the boards ham-handed (if not cruel) mismanagement of this situation was a textbook example of what not to do when faced with whistleblower allegations.
For instance, by allowing board members to openly malign the character and reputation of whistleblowers in meetings and on social media – belittling their willingness to come forward and labeling concerns as “appalling and ridiculous,” a “scam,” and a “charade” – effectively ensuring that no other First Step employee would ever dare come forward again.
According to the News-Journal’s report, “The city of Daytona Beach was named in the lawsuit because it owns the shelter building west of Interstate 95, has oversight powers of the shelter board and has contributed $400,000 per year since the shelter opened five years ago, according to a story published in 2024.”
Unfortunately, the article also states that a representative for Daytona Beach City Manager Deric Feacher directed all media inquiries to the city’s mouthpiece…
Given the turmoil that continues to shake the very foundation of the municipal government, in my view, this was another missed opportunity to demonstrate transparency and communicate a plan for inspiring positive change at First Step.
(This week I learned that the City of Daytona Beach has now taken to charging exorbitant fees to citizens seeking information through lawful public records requests – which begs the question – “What are they trying to hide?”)
I’ve said this before, but now is the time to mitigate further damage (and future liability) by purging the First Step Board of Directors. In my view, the shelter’s new Executive Director Susan Clark – and the citizens of Daytona Beach – deserve new blood, innovative perspectives, and a fresh set of eyes to assist with the arduous process of rebuilding the organizations image and stewarding the First Step Shelter in a fresh new direction.
And Another Thing!
“In regard to voting on ECHO funding for The Brown, County Council Chair Brower asked the county attorney if three council members needed to recuse themselves, as each had received political campaign donations from Cici and Hyatt Brown — major donors, and the namesakes, to the museum’s renovation.
The three council members were Johansson, Danny Robins and David Santiago. Johansson is running for Florida Senate; Robins and Santiago are running for reelection on the council.
County Attorney Mike Dyer confirmed they did not need to recuse themselves, as campaign contributions do not create a conflict of interest for voting purposes, per the Florida Commission on Ethics.
County Councilman Troy Kent, who is not up for reelection, said Brower’s statements “crossed a line.”
“I feel like you’re putting not only the individuals that are running currently, but also Mr. Brown’s integrity, into question,” he said. “I think it’s wildly inappropriate. I don’t think it’s called for. I feel like the political season is ugly enough, and I just feel like as a body, we are better than that.”
Brower responded that the public needs to hear the clarification from the county attorney to clear up any concerns.
“I think it looks ugly to the public who depends on us to handle their money properly,” Brower said. “It makes them wonder.”
–Reporter Jarleene Almenas, writing in the Ormond Beach Observer, “Volusia County Council approves $13M in ECHO projects,” Tuesday, September 6, 2026
It appears Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower said the quiet part out loud.
Rather than stir a thoughtful discussion of the public’s perception of money and influence in local government – it went over like the proverbial fart in church…
During Tuesday mornings discussion of $13 million in ECHO projects, to include $2.5 million for a redesign of “The Brown/Museum of Arts and Sciences” in Daytona Beach – which is the philanthropic namesake of billionaire insurance magnate and political bankroller J. Hyatt Brown and his wife.
It is no secret that Mr. Brown, both personally and through various corporate entities, has donated handsomely to hand-select candidates for local public office for years, making Brown one of the heaviest hitters in Volusia County politics.
To his credit, Chairman Brower – who has historically been shunned by Mr. Brown and Volusia’s uber-wealthy kingmakers – took a clear swipe at his always adversarial “colleagues” by asking County Attorney Mike Dyer if Jake Johansson, Danny “Gaslight” Robins and David “No Show” Santiago, as recipients of Brown’s largesse, should recuse themselves from the vote?
I got a kick out of that…
In stirring the political pot, Chairman Brower rhetorically questioned if the acceptance of Mr. Brown’s campaign contributions created a potential conflict of interest for those sitting council members/candidates who would vote on “The Brown” funding request.
For good or ill, in Florida, the mere receipt of campaign contributions does not represent an ethical conflict of interest. However, there are strict campaign finance disclosure requirements that identify donors by name/entity/amount, allowing voters to make up their own mind about a candidate’s loyalties and independence.
I think Mr. Brower knew that all along…
Per usual, Councilman Santiago – that pint-sized martinet who is running for his political life in the district 5 race – climbed up on his sanctimonious soapbox and labeled Brower’s question “political theater” (that’s rich, considering the source…)
According to the Observer’s report, “He (Brower) had the answers to that legal question already, because legal already looked at it days ago and told him and told us,” Santiago said. “This is the mockery that he makes of this council since he’s been here seven — excuse me, six years.”
In my view, Councilman “No Show” Santiago is a techy perennial politician with little visible means of support outside government/politics/influence. I have been on the receiving end of his meanspirited attacks, lies, and distortions – and have watched as he viciously bullied civically engaged residents and advisory board volunteers from the dais.
That’s why his response demeaning Chairman Brower’s service isn’t surprising.
Since he took office, Chairman Brower has been the whipping boy of Volusia’s stagnant “Old Guard,” stodgy insiders who benefit from the status quo and to whom Robins and Santiago owe their political souls.
Despite Councilman Kent’s attempt to make nice-nice for Mr. Brown, the fact remains – the Volusia County Council is forever plagued by a corrosive cynicism and complete lack of public confidence known as the “trust issue.”
It’s a whole different game when the piñata hits back, and I find it refreshing to see Chairman Brower finally standing up to those compromised shills who have blocked, marginalized, and maligned every civic and environmental initiative he has brought forward over the last six-years.
Vote like your quality of life depends upon it.
That’s all for me. Have a great weekend, y’all!
Note:
Please help the City of Holly Hill celebrate its 125th Birthday on Saturday!
The community will host a “Block Party” on Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 4:00pm to 8:30pm at Sunrise Park (1135 Riverside Drive). The hometown celebration will feature a performance by The Fabulous B Naturals, food trucks, family activities, and a drone show on the banks of the beautiful Halifax River!
