A hearing on a request for an amended temporary injunction in a case involving the Collier County school board and it's newly selected superintendent has been rescheduled for June 8.
The original hearing date was June 7.
Conservative political influencer and businessman Francis "Alfie" Oaks filed an amended restraining order Tuesday, which seeks to prevent the Collier County School Board from entering into a contract with newly selected superintendent Dr. Leslie C. Ricciardelli.
The amended order for the injunction was filed shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday with the Collier County Clerk of Courts.
The 90-minute hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Joseph G. Foster and will be remote via Zoom.
The amended motion contains an additional 13 pages of information that the motion says was "obtained from the School Board on May 26, 2023, in response to a Chapter 119 Public Records Request."
Oakes, represented by Attorney Steven J. Bracci of Naples, could not be reached for comment.
Collier County Board of Education chair Kelly Lichter said she was advised by counsel not to discuss pending litigation.
"However, saying this lawsuit is disappointing would be an understatement," she said.
A district official previous said there would be no comment on pending litigation. The district is represented by attorneys Samuel I. Zeskind and Blaine J. Yudis of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, a south Florida-based legal firm specializing in business and government.
The Collier County School Board appointed Ricciardelli as superintendent the night of May 3 after a multiple-month search.
In the amended order, Oakes made numerous allegations against the board and the selection process including claims of Sunshine Law violations which the restraining order says "caused irreparable injury to the public at large, including the plaintiff (Oakes)."
Additionally, Oakes's action claims the school board wrongly delegated authority to a separate group, education consulting firm Hazard Young Attea & Associates of Schaumberg, Ill., (HYA) preventing the public from seeing the selection process in detail.
In the amended complaint Oakes said that HYA acted as the board's "alter ego" and instructed board members to conceal information from the public.
Oakes's 73-page injunction order also lists actions by Ricciardelli it claims are against the "desired characteristics" sought in a candidate for superintendent by the board including financial acumen. Among those listed actions were a residential foreclosure and a violation of the Collier County Land Development Code.
The order seeks to have any agreement on a contract with Ricciardelli prevented as well as voiding her selection altogether.
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