District will replace Wadsworth Elementary Principal Paul Peacock

“I want to thank Paul Peacock for his service to Flagler Schools, and specifically Wadsworth Elementary School, over the past year.”

Brent Woronoff Associate Editor

Wadsworth Elementary School Principal Paul Peacock, who had been on administrative leave for the past month pending an investigation by an outside law firm, was informed on June 8 that his contract will not be renewed for next year.

Florida Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt wrote an email to Wadsworth’s teachers and staff on June 8 informing them of the decision.

“I want to thank Paul Peacock for his service to Flagler Schools, and specifically Wadsworth Elementary School, over the past year. At this time, we are moving for-

Paul Peacock

ward in a different direction for leadership at WES,” she wrote.

Mittelstadt, whose contract expires on June 30, went on to say that Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore will lead the search for Wadsworth’s next principal.

Peacock had been with the school district for 18 years, including eight years as the principal at Indian Trails Middle School.

He filed a grievance with the district in December based on pay he thought he was owed as a district negotiator. He had been removed as a negotiator and from his position as the district’s chief of operations and reassigned to Wadsworth a year ago.

Crime Report

Man stabbed over bathroom argument

A Palm Coast man was arrested June 6 after allegedly stabbing his roommate with scissors over an argument about their shared bathroom.

The victim had three nonlife-threatening puncture wounds on his right arm, thigh and ankle.

The suspect, 67-year-old Wilbert Vreen, has been charged with aggravated as- sault with a deadly weapon, according to his arrest report.

Vreen and the victim are roommates at a group home in the first block of Rolling Sands Drive in Palm Coast.

The victim told Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies that he and Vreen had been arguing over their bathroom, the report said.

When the victim returned to their bedroom to lay down on his bed, Vreen got up from his and began stabbing the victim with a pair of scissors,

CATHY MITTELSTADT

Peacock said the investigation was based on six complaints from teachers and staff that were all made before the start of this past school year. David Delaney, a Gainesville attorney of education law, performed the investigation because Peacock had lodged a complaint against the district’s internal investigator. Peacock said he received a letter of reprimand based on his complaint.

School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin said the complaints against Peacock will not become public record until June 19, 10 days after the investigation was closed.

the report said.

The victim said he used his walker to shield himself until a staff member pulled him from the room.

He told deputies he delayed telling staff what happened because he was afraid of being kicked out of the home, the report said.

The staff member later told deputies that she had been outside the room and heard Vreen say, “I am going to kill you” before she entered the room.

Vreen is being held at the county jail on $25,000 bond.