Sarasota County School Board votes to give superintendent a raise

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - During the Sarasota County School Board meeting Tuesday evening, the board voted to raise the superintendent’s salary. There was a caveat, however, that will not provide protection if the board chooses to fire him.

The board took up the contract as the first item of the meeting agenda. Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brennen Asplen was given a 3% raise on his $227,000 a year salary. Members stated they didn’t want to set a precedence of an automatic percentage number for a superintendent pay raise but mentioned a cap of percentage.

The median school superintendent salary, according to the AASA, is between $140,172 to $180,500 nationwide. Comparative Manatee County’s Superintendent Cynthia Saunders receives $196,000 a year.

The board declined to add extra protections to the existing termination clause.

The contract had been drafted by the board and handed over to Asplen’s attorney who made stipulations for revisions. The board voted against the extra layer of protection, refusing to adopt the need of a super majority of board members to vote. As such, if a cause of termination leads to action, Dr. Asplen may be removed with only three votes.

The final ratification of the finalized contract will be up for a vote at the next meeting on June 21.

You can read the contract below. The red additions were added by Asplen’s attorney for consideration.

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