The Washoe School Superintendent has a lot to think about. Tuesday night the School Board that fired him in a closed door meeting; the one that he has sued for breaking the open meeting laws and for a breach of his contract; the same one that refuses to apologize to him, has offered him cash to settle the matter and put it behind him.
This afternoon they offered him $25,000 to drop the whole thing. Their outside counsel says the money is more than enough to cover legal costs.
"We think that $25,000 is actually twice as much as legal services for filing a complaint of breaking the open meeting law and for filing the suit against you has cost. But it is in good faith to offer more than we think it has cost him to induce a settlement and put this all behind us," said Kent Robison.
The board voted unanimously to approve the offer which also includes an offer to go to court mediation to reach a settlement.
But Pedro Martinez is standing his ground.
"It's not about the money," Martinez said. "It's never been about money. It's about the principle and what I'm asking for is not money but a public apology. If going to mediation will get them there to make a public apology we will oblige. But if this were about money I would never have come back to work. It's about apologizing and moving forward."
When asked whether an apology could be made the School Board President, Barbara Clark, looked dumbfounded.Â
"I'm not sure what they mean by an apology maybe that can be addressed in mediation." Then she added, "I really have no idea what we would be apologizing for."
The offer of $25,000 and mediation has to be accepted or rejected in the next ten days. While mediation couldn't even be scheduled til September 22nd.
