AT THE END OF THE BELL, THIS IS (GIVE OR TAKE A FEW DOLLARS) WHAT THE SCHOOL BOARD AND DR. CARTWRIGHT AGREED TO:
*19 Weeks of Severance including benefits and 1 week of pay to be allowed to settle the miscellaneous Legal claims as well as a mutually agreed Non Disparagement Clause dded to the documents.
Total amount $195,114.39 (+/-)
* Unused Vacation and Sick days Total amount $ 57,292,90
*60 Days as a Consultant for the new Superintendent (job to be done "remotely" )
with benefits and taxable as wages Total amount $ 98,239.03
*Dr. Cartwright's Attorney Fees? up to. Total amount $ 15,000.00
THE BUTCHER'S BILL TOTAL AMOUNT $365,646.32 (+/-)
For the following narrative, SUPER will denote Dr. Cartwright's legal team and SCHOOL will denote Broward County Schools attorney. Also not, that this may not include exact wordings due to sound quality and speed of reporter. It should, however, be accurate on $$$$$ amounts.
SUPER's people opened the negotiation with the following:
Referring to the severance document,
SUPER wants
(Par. 5) 20 weeks of pay. Amount not yet mentioned
(Par. 4) accumulated Sick and Vaction pay. That is $24,000 (+/-) and $40,900. (+/-) respective.
(Par. 6) Give up pursuing legal claims against Schools for a $ consideration*1
(Par. 11) General Release. Will be given for $ consideration*2
(Par. ? inaudible) Unilateral Non Disparagement (?) Agreement (SUPER will not make negative statements against the Board, Schools, employees, etc.)
SUPER rejects that
Attorney Fees capped at $25,000.(3)
(Notes.
(1) SUPERs attorney states that she has been to Broward Prosecutor's office and made claims as whistleblower as well as as victim of Race and Sex discrimination.
(2) Cites cash consideration per Superintendent Runcie's Severance Package
(3) Cites Runcie's Severance Package
Also, SUPERs attorney says that they polled Collier, Brevard and Orange Counties and this lawyer fee reimbursement is common there!)
SCHOOLS counters with:
10 weeks severance
10 weeks waive legal claims (1)
Vacation and Sick (same amounts)
Mutual Non Disparage
(Notes: it started to become clear that they were breaking up the severance weeks to make for a better tax situation for Dr. Cartwright)
There followed an exchange as the SUPER team pressed the idea that she was entitled to the whole 20 weeks as she had been fired "without cause" Neither team wanted to bring up the fact that Gov. DeSantis had to come in and remove a number of the Board members for "negative" activities and that the second vote to remove Dr. Cartwright should have gone back to the "with or without" clause.
Probably just an accidental oversight?
SUPER (since no compensation not to talk had been offered) wanted to keep open the line about a lawsuit for "emotional Distress" as well as the fact that they felt SCHOOL was not acting in good faith (referencing a query for clarification to the Attorney General. A clarification that would take up to a few months to receive) this was in regards to the fact that SCHOOLS said it could not go over the 20 week period for compensation.
SUPER countered with their interpretation of Statute 215.425 (see below from Online Sunshine)
215.425 Extra compensation claims prohibited; bonuses; severance pay.—
(1) No extra compensation shall be made to any officer, agent, employee, or contractor after the service has been rendered or the contract made; nor shall any money be appropriated or paid on any claim the subject matter of which has not been provided for by preexisting laws, unless such compensation or claim is allowed by a law enacted by two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the Legislature. However, when adopting salary schedules for a fiscal year, a district school board or community college district board of trustees may apply the schedule for payment of all services rendered subsequent to July 1 of that fiscal year.
(2) This section does not apply to:(a) A bonus or severance pay that is paid wholly from nontax revenues and nonstate-appropriated funds, the payment and receipt of which does not otherwise violate part III of chapter 112, and which is paid to an officer, agent, employee, or contractor of a public hospital that is operated by a county or a special district; or (b) A clothing and maintenance allowance given to plainclothes deputies pursuant to s. 30.49.
(3) Any policy, ordinance, rule, or resolution designed to implement a bonus scheme must:(a) Base the award of a bonus on work performance; (b) Describe the performance standards and evaluation process by which a bonus will be awarded; (c) Notify all employees of the policy, ordinance, rule, or resolution before the beginning of the evaluation period on which a bonus will be based; and (d) Consider all employees for the bonus.
(4)(a) On or after July 1, 2011, a unit of government that enters into a contract or employment agreement, or renewal or renegotiation of an existing contract or employment agreement, that contains a provision for severance pay with an officer, agent, employee, or contractor must include the following provisions in the contract:1. A requirement that severance pay provided may not exceed an amount greater than 20 weeks of compensation. 2. A prohibition of provision of severance pay when the officer, agent, employee, or contractor has been fired for misconduct, as defined in s. 443.036(29), by the unit of government. (b) On or after July 1, 2011, an officer, agent, employee, or contractor may receive severance pay that is not provided for in a contract or employment agreement if the severance pay represents the settlement of an employment dispute. Such severance pay may not exceed an amount greater than 6 weeks of compensation. The settlement may not include provisions that limit the ability of any party to the settlement to discuss the dispute or settlement. (c) This subsection does not create an entitlement to severance pay in the absence of its authorization. (d) As used in this subsection, the term “severance pay” means the actual or constructive compensation, including salary, benefits, or perquisites, for employment services yet to be rendered which is provided to an employee who has recently been or is about to be terminated. The term does not include compensation for:1. Earned and accrued annual, sick, compensatory, or administrative leave; 2. Early retirement under provisions established in an actuarially funded pension plan subject to part VII of chapter 112; or 3. Any subsidy for the cost of a group insurance plan available to an employee upon normal or disability retirement that is by policy available to all employees of the unit of government pursuant to the unit’s health insurance plan. This subparagraph may not be construed to limit the ability of a unit of government to reduce or eliminate such subsidies.
(5) Any agreement or contract, executed on or after July 1, 2011, which involves extra compensation between a unit of government and an officer, agent, employee, or contractor may not include provisions that limit the ability of any party to the agreement or contract to discuss the agreement or contract.
History.—Formerly s. 11, Art. XVI of the Constitution of 1885, as amended; converted to statutory law by s. 10, Art. XII of the Constitution as revised in 1968; s. 27, ch. 79-190; s. 1, ch. 80-114; s. 35, ch. 84-336; s. 3, ch. 92-90; s. 83, ch. 92-279; s. 55, ch. 92-326; s. 2, ch. 95-169; s. 5, ch. 98-320; s. 8, ch. 99-259; s. 1, ch. 2011-143; s. 24, ch. 2012-5; s. 44, ch. 2014-218.
All this may have been window-dressing as the main theme that both parties kept coming around to was the Non Disparage document. (Conjecture. Specifically since Cartwright is supposed to have named names to the County Prosecutor!) SUPER was still looking at a wish of $500,000 to throw in the Legal Considerations and Non Disparagement.
(this based on Runcie's contract, but as noted by SCHOOLS, Runcie had been in office 10 years and was under a different benefits package. Cartwright was scaling her 1 and a half years as equal to over 50% of Runcie?!?!)
She must have had some damning stuff to pull out of her Trapper Keeper!
Which she must have as you saw at the top of the column, close on $400,000!
The other most terrible thought during this charade was watching the two sides collude as to make the best tax situation for Cartwright as she was leaving "in disgrace" for among other things the mismanagement of this child molester:
But, there have been other innuendos out there as to Cartwright having a cheerleader on the opposition, but that would require more work to uncover.
Tune in for more.
