One of these three could become the next superintendent of Broward Schools

The Broward School Board picked three male, external candidates as finalists for the superintendent position on Tuesday — leaving out the most popular and only internal applicant, Valerie Wanza.

Out of the pool of seven semifinalists, the board advanced Peter Licata, a regional superintendent at Palm Beach County Schools; Sito Narcisse, the superintendent of East Baton Rouge School District in Louisiana; and Luis Solano, a deputy superintendent for the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Most notably, the board didn’t back up Wanza, a longtime Broward Schools administrator despite hearing from the public, school principals and Black community members who spoke in favor of her for more than an hour before the vote. Four employee groups and Interim Superintendent Earlean Smiley had sent letters praising

Wanza to board members.

Lisa Maxwell, the president of the Broward Principals and Assistants Association, vouched for Wanza.

“She’s committed her entire life to this district and to the children of this district,” she said. “I don’t care how hard you search. You can search the four corners of this world and you will not find an individual with that kind of devotion.”

Wanza — who is the acting chief of staff at Broward County Public Schools, has been with the district since 1992 and served as superintendent for a few days this year after Vickie Cartwright left — didn’t immediately respond to a request for comments.

“Dr. Wanza has a tremendous amount of support . ... She’s an amazing person, but unfortunately she didn’t get enough votes to move on to the finalists round,” Lori Alhadeff, the board’s chair, said after the special