Source: Orange County Register
CONTRACT CONTROVERSY: Capistrano Unified Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter is seeking $487,000 in pay and benefits from Capistrano Unified.
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - The fired superintendent of the Capistrano Unified district is seeking $487,000 in pay and benefits - money he says is due him under the terms of a contract first signed in February 2008.
Trustees fired A. Woodrow Carter on March 9, saying he had materially breached his contract, which ran through June 2011.
He filed his claim on March 13, arguing that the contract entitles him to receive his monthly salary for the number of months left on the contract or 18 months, whichever is less. He also seeks interest at a rate of 10 percent annually on the amount owed, plus compensation for attorney fees and lost retirement benefits.
Carter earned $273,000 annually, meaning he would receive $409,500 over 18 months. The $487,000 he seeks includes benefits.
Trustee Jack Brick said Carter's claim was unanimously rejected by the board of trustees in closed session.
"I just think that the preponderance of material didn't indicate that he should be retained," Brick said.
Attorneys for Carter and the district were not immediately available for comment.
Carter's contract itself was surrounded by controversy. First, the initial contract was modified without the Board of Trustees' knowledge - with the following sentence added: "If the Trustees fire the Superintendent, he is entitled to 18 months compensation pay."
Trustees also adopted the contract in a Feb. 25 closed session and failed to report their action properly - actions the District Attorney's Office later said violated the state's open meeting law.
Trustees corrected both issues in June, rescinding the first contract and adopting a new one with nearly identical language and terms. The new one omitted the questionable sentence, but left in the state law language indicating the superintendent would be eligible to receive up to 18 months' compensation if his contract was terminated before its end date.
Attorney for the district, Cathie Fields, said the state law was intended to set a maximum benefit, not create an entitlement.
“The government code doesn't say you must pay this much (18 months' pay). It says the most you can pay is this much,” Fields said.
Carter’s attorney, Bill Shaeffer, said the former superintendent plans to pursue legal action once he receives legal notice that the claim has been rejected.
“We will file a complaint for breach of contract in Orange County Superior Court,” said Shaeffer.
Fields said that Carter's claim is not provided for in his employment contract.
“We do not believe that the claim has merit,” she said.
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