School approved despite suit threat

School Board member Cathi Martin abstains from a charter school approval vote because of differences with one of the school's organizers.

By KENT FISCHER

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 17, 2000

LAND O'LAKES -- A proposal for a back-to-basics charter school won School Board members' support Tuesday night, with one large exception.

Cathi Martin, a Democrat representing District 3, abstained from voting on the charter school proposal put forth by the Second Amendment Republican Club of Pasco County. Martin said Wednesday that she and her husband, Ken, are contemplating a libel lawsuit against Bill Bunting, one of the school's organizers.

In a letter to the editor published in the Pasco Times on Feb. 6, Bunting says Ken Martin, a forensic dentist, gave false testimony that led to Dale Morris Jr. being charged with the murder of 9-year-old Sharra Ferger.

She disappeared from her Blanton home the night of Oct. 2, 1997, and her partly clothed body was found the next day in a nearby field. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed more than 30 times and bitten on the back of her left hand, her left shoulder and her back during the attack.

Martin was hired by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office to examine the bite marks on Ferger's body. Martin concluded that the marks matched Morris' teeth. Detectives arrested Morris largely on that opinion.

In his letter, Bunting also said the county should sue Martin if Morris wins a false-arrest lawsuit he has filed against the Sheriff's Office.

"The letter Mr. Bunting wrote was insulting to my husband, and I felt it best to abstain from the vote," Cathi Martin said Wednesday. "I don't think Mr. Bunting has all the facts."

Bunting said Ken Martin has told him he plans to sue, but so far the dispute has gone no further.

"It was a letter to the editor expressing my opinion," Bunting said.

Cathi Martin's decision to abstain didn't affect the approval of the Second Amendment Republican Club's charter school. The board approved the proposal 4-0.

The School Board on Tuesday also selected new principals for Seven Springs and Calusa elementary schools.

Christopher Dunning, an assistant principal at Cotee River, is the new principal at Calusa Elementary. A graduate of the University of South Florida, Dunning started his career in 1994 teaching at Seven Springs Elementary. He has been at Cotee River since 1997. Dunning, 27, becomes the youngest principal in the district.

Dunning replaces Deborah Minshew, who recently was named principal of Sunray Elementary School, which is set to open in Holiday this August.

John Abernathy, 31, is the new principal at Seven Springs. Abernathy, also a USF grad, began teaching at Pasco Elementary in 1992. He has also worked as an assistant principal at Woodland Elementary and Lake Myrtle Elementary School.

Abernathy replaces John Mann, who recently was named principal of a new middle school being built on Ridge Road.

Also Tuesday, the School Board named two of the four new schools currently under construction. Sunray Elementary is on Sunray Drive in Holiday. A new middle school being built between Dade City and Zephyrhills was named Centennial Middle. The school sits next to Centennial Elementary.

The board did not name two schools being built on Ridge Road. The board is likely to name those schools at its March meeting.

-- Times staff writer Kent Fischer covers education in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6241. His e-mail address is kfischer@sptimes.com.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.