The Collier County School Board voted unanimously Wednesday, Feb. 4, to reject a proposed settlement with the Florida Citizens Alliance, choosing a court fight over an agreement that would have released thousands of parent email addresses to the group.
The decision sends the long-running public records dispute to a circuit court trial and scraps a deal that would have cost the district $30,000 in legal fees but avoided further litigation. Board members said the price of settling wasn’t financial. It was about trust.
By the time the vote came up, every public speaker had urged the board to walk away from the agreement. Board members who had previously leaned toward settling reversed course.
Why did board members abandon the settlement?
Board Chair Stephanie Lucarelli said she couldn’t get comfortable with an agreement that required the district to hand over parent contact information to an organization she doesn’t trust…