Collier School Board disagrees on superintendent contract length, salary
Disagreements over the length of the Lesile Ricciardelli's superintendent contract became the focus of the discussion during the Collier School Board meeting Tuesday evening.
During the meeting, board members shared their thoughts on certain aspects of the impending contract with their chosen superintendent. While all board members were in agreement the district should not pay for an excessive amount of memberships and travel, they were not in agreement on the length of the contract.
Last week, the school board voted, 3-2, in favor of Ricciardelli, choosing her over finalist Charles Van Zant Jr. Board chair Kelly Litcher along with board members Stephanie Lucarelli and Erick Carter voted for Ricciardelli. Tim Moshier and Jerry Rutherford were opposed.
The decision came after less than an hour of deliberation and roughly 106 public comments that took nearly five hours. Ultimately, the school board decided to appoint Ricciardelli as their 20th superintendent.
Moshier and Rutherford want to put Ricciardelli on a one-year contract for her to "prove herself" but Carter and Lucarelli argued that would create an unstable regime.
"I wouldn't have voted for Ricciardelli if I didn't think she was the best candidate," Litcher said. "She has proven herself these last six months. She has taken the board's direction. But I do think we have to be mindful of the contract time."
More: Q&A with Leslie Ricciardelli, interim superintendent of Collier County Schools
Ricciardelli took over as interim superintendent in December after former superintendent Kamela Patton, who was set to retire at the end of the 2022-23 school year, signed a mutual transition agreement with the school board.
The current board members approached the discussion with trepidation over repeating old patterns like long contract extensions, double dipping for mileage and use of the district car among other things under Patton's reign.
Salary discussions were brief. Currently, Ricciardelli makes $1,000 a day, according to the interim agreement. As of 2021, former superintendent Kamela Patton was making $308,154 a year.
Lucarelli said they should be looking to pay Ricciardelli more than their base salary of $285,000. Moshier said they should look at paying her the base salary with performance bonuses. Carter said he wanted to find out the average salary of superintendents across the state before throwing out a number.
"Patton made a nice salary," Rutherford said. "I don't know if we should reach that plateau until she's proven herself."
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Disagreement over Collier Schools superintendent contract
