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Mediation leads to no settlement between Baker, School Board
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A day of mediation has lead to no settlement in the lawsuit between former Superintendent Ray Baker and the Collier County School Board.
A mediation hearing was held Wednesday at Jeffrey Fridkin’s office in North Naples. Fridkin is representing Baker.
Representatives from his office said Wednesday that mediation is ongoing.
The Collier County School District and Baker were ordered by a court to go to mediation before Baker’s lawsuit against the district is allowed to move to trial.
Baker’s lawsuit contends School Board Chairwoman Linda Abbott and School Board members Steve Donovan and Richard Calabrese conspired against him by communicating in secret and with each other, in violation of the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law, to declare his contract void before the board voted 3-2 to fire him at a July 31, 2007, meeting.
Baker has requested a judge rule that he enjoy all rights and benefits under his contract, including the right to serve as superintendent, until any lawful termination or expiration of his term. Baker had indicated he intended to retire when his contract expired June 30, 2009.
The mediation is confidential. If Baker and the district cannot come to an agreement, the case will move forward to trial.
The Naples Daily News asked readers to help us build an interactive map of Mother's Day greetings from around Southwest Florida and you responded! The majority of our responses were from Collier County, but we received Mother's Day messages from all over the United States, including Louisiana, Arizona, Tennessee, Ohio, New Jersey, Georgia and Missouri, as well as locations on Florida's East Coast. 
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go Ray, ride 'em hard and leave 'em wet.
you should not have been replaced by the Rock Star thomson and his groupie chicks, at more than double your salary. decades of service with the district should bring repect, not disgrace.
#1 Posted by mimibuck on April 3, 2008 at 5:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Is there really anyone out there who thinks Baker (or his hired mouthpiece) will agree to anything that the mediator will come up with as long as they still see $$$$$ in a potential jury award?
#2 Posted by GatorHater07 on April 3, 2008 at 6:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It would serve the school board right if he gets everything he asks for. Maybe it will put them on notice that they need to follow procedure when they make decisions! Their own lawyer advised them to wait the necessary two weeks to let Mr. Baker go for cause. That would have been the legitimate way to do things. Following that, the least they could have done is have Dr. Williams serve as acting super for a couple of months while they at least advertised the position! This way they could have avoided all of the angst, and the immediate negative reaction to Mr. Thompson.
#3 Posted by terri10 on April 3, 2008 at 11:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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