JWERMERS@NEWS-PRESS.COM
Oct. 13, 2005. The
Cape Coral charter school system's superintendent will bring home a noticeably bigger paycheck when the second year of his contract begins later this year. The city's Charter School Governing Board voted 6-1 Wednesday to give Patrick Mark a 5 percent raise, increasing his salary to $94,500. Two percent of the raise is based on merit. "The evaluation went very well," Mark said after the meeting. "The board's comments were very generous." The lone dissenter on the 5 percent raise was former City Councilman Paul Asfour. He had called for Mark to receive the contractual minimum, a 3 percent raise. "He's been the only administrator there," Asfour said. "Based on the same performance next year with other administrators present, my rating would be lower." Board Chairwoman Mary Margaret Embroli lobbied for a $10,000 "outstanding service award" on top of the raise, but that failed by a 4-3 vote. City Manager Terry Stewart, also a charter board member, said that while he supported the merit raise, the bonus would "subject ourselves, perhaps, to public criticism." Mark serves both as superintendent of the city's Charter School Authority and principal of its only operating school, Oasis Charter Elementary School. He soon will have administrative help. The authority is accepting applications for three principals. The first one hired, which Mark said should happen by December, will run Oasis Charter Elementary. The other two will run a second elementary school and a middle school, both of which are scheduled to open in August 2006.* Board Chairwoman Mary Margaret Embroli lobbied for a $10,000 "outstanding service award" on top of the raise *
Note: City Manager Terry Stewart and former Council member Paul Asfour are members of the board. Asfour, during his report, became unnecessarly agressive, loud and disrespectful toward Stewart on an issue of who controls information aired on Cape TV. Some people never change!
6 Comments:
Everyone's pay seems to be going up EXCEPT for the real working person in the U.S.A., we are getting hit like NEVER before!
:(
If Charter School board member Paul Asfour really wants an answer to the question of who is in charge of the school board, maybe he needs to stop and think about who appoints school board members. You exisit on the school board at the pleasure of council, no different than any other city board.
Has Paul forgotten what he said when he was on city couuncil? Rule #1, Council makes all the rules and Rule #2 refer to rule #1.
Paul’s contempt for with authority, unless it’s his, continues. We get the feeling Paul maybe on the loosing end of this battle over authority on which governing board has control over what goes on Cape TV!
Former official stays on board Cape council deadlocks 4-4 on hearing to remove Asfour By Don Ruane druane@news-press.com news-press.com November 01, 2005
A former Cape Coral official will remain on the city's charter school board after council members deadlocked in a vote to remove him Monday.
Former Councilman Paul Asfour's behavior during the Oct. 12 charter school board was unprofessional and showed a lack of respect and tact, Mayor Eric Feichthaler said.
That behavior prompted Feichthaler to make a motion during the council's regular meeting to hold a hearing in two weeks on whether Asfour should be removed. It failed 4-4.
Feichthaler, Dolores Bertolini, Alex LePera and Richard Stevens voted for the hearing. Council members A.J. Boyd, Tim Day, Jim Jeffers and Mickey Rosado voted against the motion.
Three attempts to reach Asfour for comment were unsuccessful.
Asfour was appointed to the school board last March to serve as the "education/community" member after his council term expired in April, according to the March meeting's minutes. Before that, he was the council's representative on the board. Asfour's qualifications to serve as a representative from the field of education also were challenged Monday, but most of the criticism focused on his behavior.
The mayor said Asfour doesn't conduct himself in a professional way that would set an example of good character for the children of the school. He shows a habitual disrespect for people who don't agree with him, the mayor said.
"We can't do it if we don't do it ourselves," Feichthaler said.
During the Oct. 12 school board meeting Asfour questioned the city council's authority to control Cape TV programs about the charter school system.
He also objected when City Manager Terry Stewart, who also sits on the board, interrupted to apologize for a misunderstanding.
When Stewart later asked Asfour not to raise his voice, Asfour shot back, telling Stewart not to tell him such a thing.
Day defended Asfour as a "passionate" supporter of the school and instrumental in its development.
"He didn't drive the train. He pushed it up the hill," Day said.
Day also took a swipe at the mayor. He said Asfour has never been found in violation of a state ethics law.
Feichthaler admitted to an ethics violation involving his campaign financial disclosure form. He amended the form before the April 5 election and later paid a $1,000 fine.
"I settled, but frankly I don't think I should have settled it, but I wanted to get it behind me and get on with the business of the city," Feichthaler said.
Day said it was wrong to try to remove Asfour.
"It's just wrong. We reach down to the lowest level when we try remove the person who's done the most," Day said.
LePera was the first to question Asfour's behavior. It did not promote confidence in the charter school system, LePera said. Asfour has a history of not recognizing and dealing with authority, LePera said. She recalled him saying, while he was on council, that Rule One is council makes the rules and Rule Two is if you don't like that, see Rule One. Now he's on another board and the council doesn't have any authority, LePera said.
Day continued to defend Asfour. He was criticized in spite of his hard work and the critics included LePera's husband, Ralph LePera, president of the Cape Coral Civic Association, Day said.
Jeffers is the council's representative on the school board. Asfour was looking for information and no one on the board objected to his behavior at the meeting, Jeffers said.
Mayor and Council:
At issue was the City Charter School Board Authority meeting of Oct. 12. Three significant events occurred during that meeting; a) the report of a sunshine violation, b) the abrupt treatment toward a parent who spoke to the board, c) the totally unprofessional and disrespectful behavior of board member Paul Asfour. The issues were brought before city council on Oct. 31.
At the Oct. 31 city council meeting, the public saw another example of some council members refusing to address the merit of the issue, but rather having the issue being turned into another political circus by Council member Tim Day. Unfortunately city council is plagued with political cronies being lead by this circus ring master.
Council only focused on the issue of Mr. Asfour. Instead of addressing the issues Council member Day responded with his typical unrelated and personal attacks against those citing Asfour’s continued behavioral problems and his questionable qualifications as the educational school board member. Day even managed to get in his customary attack against the Civic Association which had absolutely nothing to do with the issue. Obviously since Mr. Day is ill equipped to deal with issues on an intellectual level, he has to resort to his irrational behavior of attacking others. The motion to find a resolve to the Asfour issue failed on a 4-4 vote.
Civic thanks and commends Mayor Feichthaler and Council members Bertolini, LePera and Stevens for the courage in trying to do the right thing on behalf of Cape's citizens and for the parents whose children are enrolled in the city municipal charter school. To Council members, Day, Boyd, Jeffers and Rosado, your preference for cronyism over good public policy has not gone unnoticed by Civic or the public.
Ralph LePera, President
CCCA
Council works to mend dispute By Don Ruane Nov. 02, 2005
Some Cape Coral City Council members expressed regret and disappointment Tuesday with the council's behavior during a discussion the day before about a charter school board member.
The debate over school board member and former Councilman Paul Asfour's behavior during a recent school board meeting made it one of the most contentious city council sessions since former Mayor Arnold Kempe held office. Shouting matches and gavel-banging sometimes erupted when Kempe presided.
"For some reason I got attacked. I was shocked," said Mayor Eric Feichthaler, who became the mayor in April. "Our rules prohibit personal attacks."
Councilman Tim Day, who pointed out several times that Feichthaler settled a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics, said the impact of the meeting might make it difficult for the city council to get things done.
"This has a way of being extremely divisive," Day said.
But Feichthaler was more optimistic.
"I hope we can get it behind us and we can all work together," Feichthaler said.
Councilwoman Dolores Bertolini described the council's behavior as a "collapse." The collapse was ironic since it happened during a discussion of Asfour's professionalism during the Oct. 12 school board meeting.
"Things do happen. It happens to us, too," she said. "I'm hoping we can mend fences and stick to issues instead of personalities. These kind of things tend to set us back."
Asfour questioned the city council's authority to control the content of charter school programming on Cape TV Channel 14, the Time Warner cable channel devoted to city programs. He also was criticized for his behavior toward City Manager Terry Stewart during the school board meeting.
Asfour has not responded to five requests for comment since the council meeting.
Feichthaler made a motion to hold a hearing in two weeks on whether Asfour should be removed from his appointed seat on the school board. The motion failed on a 4-4 vote. It won't come up again unless someone asks to have it reconsidered, Feichthaler said.
A warning that the council was not pleased with his behavior should suffice, Bertolini said.
Asfour deserved the courtesy of a visit with the mayor or Councilwoman Alex LePera, said Councilman Mickey Rosado. LePera was the first to criticize Asfour's behavior Monday night.
Asfour is a former council member and he worked hard to establish the school system, Rosado said. "Give the man respect. He deserves the benefit of the doubt," Rosado said.
"Courtesy brings respect. That's the key to our council's success," Rosado said. "I don't want to talk about Paul Asfour. I want to talk about the future of Cape Coral."
That future depends on council members having a vision of the future and working hard to make it happen, he said. But some members are more traditional and aren't working as hard as they could, he said.
LePera said she's not sure how the council will work together in the future, but it depends on how well members are guided by the issues rather than personalities and friends.
The mayor also has to make sure no one becomes a bully on the council, said LePera, who was critical of Day's behavior. "He has a manner of not dealing with the issues, of attacking other council members as he attacked the mayor," LePera said.
His attack on the mayor and naming her husband Ralph LePera as an Asfour critic were irrelevant, LePera said. Ralph LePera is president of the Cape Coral Civic Association. Ralph LePera responded Tuesday with an e-mail to the city council and others. "Instead of addressing the issues Council member Day responded with his typical unrelated and personal attacks against those citing Asfour's continued behavioral and his questionable qualifications as the educational school board member. Day even managed to get in his customary attack against the Civic Association which had absolutely nothing to do with the issue," Ralph LePera wrote.
But Day said he only wanted to remind the mayor and council to be careful about criticizing others when they have their own flaws. Day was a staunch defender of Asfour on Monday and held onto that stance Tuesday. "I think it's only politics. They're convinced he's Paco. He had some nasty things to say. It's all about humiliating Asfour," Day said. Paco is the pen name of an Internet blog about Cape Coral politics. Paco relies on sarcasm and satire to lampoon public officials and residents who involve themselves individually or as representatives of a group in city business.
Alex LePera said she went into Asfour's history only to show he has a record of poor behavior and could act that way again. Feichthaler said his concern about Asfour stemmed from the school board meeting. "It's nothing personal. It's about doing what's best for our kids," Feichthaler said. Council members A.J. Boyd and Richard Stevens could not be reached for comment.
e-mail sent 11/10 to Terry Stewart
Dear Terry,
Yesterday, during the discussion of the proposed additional 2% salary increase for Dr. Mark (delayed until the Dec. meeting per your suggestion) Mr. Lee made a statement that I don't believe is accurate.
Mr. Lee, in indicating his support for the additional salary increase (over the 5% increase that was provided to Dr. Mark in Oct. bringing his salary to $94,500. per year) said in effect; that Dr. Mark is a Department Head like other city department heads who are all making in excess of $100,000. per year.
Terry, I don't believe that Mr. Lee has any idea of what the salaries are for our city department heads. You as city manager and as a member of the school board governing authority are in a unique position to make that information available to the school board members in order to bring a proper perspective on the issue of salaries.
As an example, and please correct me if I am wrong, I don't believe that either our police chief or fire chief have yet to eclipse the $100,000. salary figure. If they have, it has only been recently and both have been here for a number of years. I believe Dr. Mark was hired Nov. 29, 2004. Further, how does the police department and fire department number of employees per department and budget compare with the CC Municipal Charter School System at this point in time?
Also, for there to be any sort of a comparison made between Dr. Browder's salary and Dr. Mark's salary is skewed since Browder's scope in number of employees and budget over one billion dollars per year far exceeds that of Dr. Mark. On this point please provides us with the total FY 2005-2006 budget for the CC Municipal Charter Schools and the total number of employees currently under Dr. Mark's supervision.
Sincerely,
Ralph LePera, President CCCA
Response: Ralph,
I do appreciate your concern about misinformation being presented at a public hearing, and no doubt Mr. Lee was not correct in his statement. In an effort to not appear to be overly critical of my peers I do not necessarily publicly challenge every error they make. I certainly don't with the city council and try to give my peers on the governing board the same consideration. Mr. Lee does not have a clear understanding of city operations, nor of compensations our personnel receive. There was no need for him to do any such comparison, and more importantly, it was totally irrelevant to the issue.
Dr. Browder makes significantly more than Dr. Mark, therefore any salary comparisons are, once again, irrelevant. As a board member, I for one will not even consider such comparisons as a guide in deciding about compensation for that position. It is regrettable that the matter was raised and really prefer not to get caught up in the distraction it will bring and would hope that you do not as well. Nonetheless, I will forward y our request for information to Mark Mason and ask that he provide the most up to date information on budget and number of employees.
Regards,
Terry
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