Lee County School Board meeting to discuss Alfie Oakes’ $50M lawsuit

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Alfie Oakes (Credit: WINK News)

The Lee County School Board is meeting with their attorneys Tuesday morning to discuss a $50 million lawsuit filed by Alfie Oakes, the Collier County business owner who is suing the district for severing its contract over the summer.

The school district cut ties with Oakes and Oakes Farms as a food supplier after Oakes made a controversial Facebook post, calling the coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter movement hoaxes. After the post began making the rounds in Southwest Florida, a petition went up calling for the Lee and Collier school districts to stop working with Oakes. It took only a few days for Lee to announce it would work with other suppliers. The Collier school district said working with Oakes was a “stop-gap” measure in the absence of other suppliers for the summer months but that it would begin using others.

Oakes filed a $50 million lawsuit in July, saying he never received an explanation from Lee County as to why their contract was severed. The business owner said his post was never meant to offend.

Tuesday’s closed school board attorney/client session is set to take place at 11 a.m. The session will begin and conclude with a meeting in the board room.

Trust WINK News for updates.

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