- April 28, 2024
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Long after Winnie Oden retired as an administrator with Flagler Schools, right up until her death, she served as an advocate for student safety.
Oden was employed by the school district for more than 25 years, serving in several different roles. She died on Dec. 15 at age 75.
She was a principal at Buddy Taylor Middle School and Pathways alternative school and a district administrator. She was also appointed to the School Board by Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1995 to finish out a board member's term.
“She served as an administrator, as a director for transportation as well as a safety coordinator for our schools before it wasn't even a requirement that we have one,” Superintendent LaShakia Moore said. “She did all of the training for this entire district. She was an advocate for students, but really, an advocate for safety.”
After her retirement in 2015, she assisted the county's charter school, Imagine School at Town Center, as a safety consultant. But she was much more than that, Principal Rachel Spires and Imagine Schools Regional Director Lisa O’Grady said.
“She had become my mentor, because I was a first-year principal,” Spires said. “She was a wealth of knowledge.”
O’Grady, the school’s former principal, said Oden, “was a fantastic lady, who was an advocate and an asset to our school in so many ways.”
Oden was recently helping the school solve its traffic congestion problem. Two days after she died, Spires met with Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin, presenting some of Oden’s ideas.
“She also helped us to enforce some of the different ideas she came up with the Sheriff’s Office to help with our traffic flow,” Spires said.
Oden's death was sudden. Spires said she met with her the day before she died. Oden was helping Spires with a new safety feature at the school, Spires said.
“Lisa called me (the next day) to tell me she had passed away,” Spires said. “I said, ‘No, she was here yesterday. She was happy. She hugged me.’
Winnie made safety a priority and she wanted to ensure every child on this campus and in Flagler County was going to school safely. She was a huge loss to our campus and our community.”
— RACHEL SPIRES, Imagine School at Town Center principal
“Winnie made safety a priority and she wanted to ensure every child on this campus and in Flagler County was going to school safely,” Spires said. “She was a huge loss to our campus and our community.”
Flagler County Commission Chair Andy Dance worked closely with Oden when he was a School Board member and she was the district’s director of transportation.
“I did those walking audits around the schools. We reviewed all the walking paths for safety, and she brought me into the community traffic safety team, which is a FDOT committee that focuses on road and pedestrian safety,” Dance said. “I chair the committee now, mainly due to Winnie's pushing me and urging me to take that leadership spot when it became vacant."
Dance said he visited Oden less than a month before she died, and they discussed Imagine School’s traffic issues.
“The school lost a very kind and helpful person to move them along and try to solve those issues,” he said.
Oden was always thinking about safety, said Moore, who has been a teacher and administrator with Flagler Schools since 2008.
“She could walk into a room and she would ask you different questions,” Moore said. “I think about her saying to us, it doesn't matter what is available to you (during an active assailant situation). If it's a can, if it's a stick, whatever it is, use whatever it takes in order to keep you safe, and to keep our students safe. So, she definitely will be missed. She's was an asset to this community and an asset to Flagler Schools as well as Imagine Town Center.”
