Pressure rises for Runcie ouster
Schools chief faces Parkland parents’ anger and a new School Board
The Parkland tragedy has left a grieving community demanding answers and action — two things some say the Broward schools superintendent has been slow to provide.
Robert Runcie, 57, is the public face of the country’s sixth largest school district, which he has led for seven years.
He has enjoyed support from the Broward Teachers Union, key business leaders and other community groups, but now he’s facing a growing number of calls that he resign or be fired. One of the most vocal groups criticizing him and the school board are the families of victims of the Parkland school massacre.
The criticism comes at a pivotal time. The new school year starts Wednesday, and an election this month may alter who’s on the school board, which has the power to hire or fire a superintendent. Five school board seats are up for grabs Aug. 28, and several campaigns have turned into a referendum on whether Runcie should stay or go.
School board member Rosalind Osgood, one of Runcie’s biggest supporters, said she believes Runcie has done as well as anyone could under the circumstances. But she knows there are forces who want him gone, leaving her unsure how long he’ll stay at the helm.
“Mr. Runcie may decide to quit and
go away,” she said. “There are so many demands from different groups that he’s tried to juggle.”
Runcie declined an interview request from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, instead issuing a brief statement.
“At this time our community needs stability and support, and that’s what I and our entire district are focused on,” he said.
The anger of the families who lost their children and spouses at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High on Feb. 14 has swelled in recent weeks. They say Runcie and the district have backtracked on important decisions and provided few major safety upgrades.
In recent days, the Parkland families and residents have complained about Runcie hiring a consultant to conduct an investigation of school staff, only to change course and suspend that review a week later. The district also promised all summer to install metal detectors at Stoneman Douglas by the first day of school, but announced 12 days before school started they were a no-go.
“We’re in an environment where anyone who was around before Feb. 14 is in a really tough place. Everyone is desperate to blame someone,” said Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter, Jaime, 14, in the Parkland shooting. “Sometimes the environment gets in the way of what you’re trying to do. In his case, he has to fix that or just say, ‘maybe I can’t.’”
“Change is needed,” Max Sch ac ht er, whose 14-year-old son, Alex, was killed, posted on Facebook. “Who agrees with me?”
The public face
In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting, Runcie was praised as he often appeared on national media offering comforting words and promises to take steps to prevent another tragedy. And it almost always has been Runcie addressing the public — not the district’s spokespeople, school board members or the Stoneman Douglas principal.
Though school board members have attended news conferences, it’s Runcie who speaks.
Osgood, the school board member, said of the Parkland parents, that if she “could do anything in my power to bring back their kids and undo their grief, I would.”
She said she “would really like to have some conversations with those parents, but I’m afraid,” Osgood said. “I don’t want to be accused of doing this or doing that. I’m just trying to understand how to possibly help those parents within the constraints and confinements we have as a district.”
She said it’s easy “to blame Mr. Runcie, to blame the board, to blame somebody. None of us had control over what happened. We hurt and grieve.”
If Runcie were to leave the district, “we would be in the middle of a crisis without consistent leadership,” she said.
At a school board meeting Tuesday, Osgood considered it good leadership by Runcie to temporarily halt the metal detector plans to ensure it’s done right and “you’re doing what’s best for kids.”
But school board member Robin Bartleman considered it an embarrassment for the district.
“We have no credibility as a board because you keep reversing decisions,” she said.
At a news conference Thursday, the Stoneman Douglas parents demanded a change in leadership. They urged voters to cast ballots this month.
“After this tragedy, members from our group and the entire [Stoneman Douglas] community have attempted to work with the Broward County School Board and the superintendent to make things better,” said Tony Montalto, the father of Gina Montalto, a 14-year-old student killed in the shooting. “We have focused on issues but the school board has not provided answers.”
Montalto said the public should know “the current school board has failed to properly prepare” schools districtwide for the upcoming school year. “The constant reversals of policy positions continue to leave our county’s students and teachers at risk and shows there is no unified plan to keep them safe,” he said.
In recent weeks, Runcie has held news conferences to promote the changes made. On the first day of school next week, there will be only one way to get in during the school day at 135 of Broward’s 234 schools, the district has said. Although many doors will be open for arrival and dismissal, signs and fences will steer visitors during the day toward a “welcome center,” where they will have to show their IDs to enter the school. Badges will be worn by just about everyone. There also will be new fences, double-doors, cameras and security staff.
Runcie started with the district seven years ago. He came at a time when the district was awash in turmoil, shortly after a grand jury had found widespread corruption and waste in Broward schools. Runcie was effective at fixing that, said Kathy Koch, a member of the Broward Workshop, a group of prominent business leaders.
“There’s been a lot of positive change due to his leadership,” said Koch, president of Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.
Six of the nine current school board members regularly support Runcie. Board members gave him a $28,000 raise last year, upping his salary to $335,000. They also approved a contract extending Runcie’s employment through 2023.
School board member Laurie Rich Levinson said she’s seen the district improve under Runcie and thinks he should continue to lead.
“Student achievement has never been greater since Superintendent Runcie became the leader of Broward County Public Schools,” Levinson said. “There has been continuous improvement in the operational areas such as health care, workers compensation, transportation, purchasing, etc., and these savings have been reinvested into teacher raises and classroom resources.”
The push for change
Some see the upcoming election as a chance to inject new leadership. The reasoning goes: If new people are on the school board, it’s likely there’ll be enough support to fire Runcie.
Andrew Pollack, whose daughter, Meadow, was killed, is aggressively campaigning for Richard Mendelson, a former Stoneman Douglas teacher, in hopes of unseating Levinson. “The first thing on the agenda is going to be Robert Runcie’s contract,” Pollack told a crowd at a fundraiser this week for Mendelson.
Two of the school board candidates, Lori Alhadeff and Ryan Petty, are parents whose children died.
Abby Freedman, one of Runcie’s supporters on the school board, is stepping down from her seat. Levinson and two others, Donna Korn and Ann Murray, are up for re-election and face opponents who are highly critical of Runcie.
To what degree concerns about Runcie’s leadership extend beyond the Parkland community is less clear.
Anna Fusco, president of the teachers union, said she hasn’t heard of any widespread anger from teachers about Runcie. She said he’s been unfairly maligned at meetings and public events.
“Having people scream in your face every day, ‘It’s your fault my child was killed,’ I don’t know how anyone can withstand it,” she said. “Sitting in a row for four hours watching people berate and demoralize Mr. Runcie, my heart broke for him.
“I would like to see where there’s a playbook for how this is supposed to be handled.”
Koch, with the Broward Workshop, agreed.
“He continues to stay because he wants to complete the work he’s started here,” Koch said. “We are really hoping to keep him.”
The Broward Workshop, concerned over what it saw as overly critical coverage in the Sun Sentinel, took out a full-page ad in the newspaper a few weeks ago. It touted the district’s achievements under Runcie, crediting him for increased student achievement, investments in technology and the arts and efficiencies in operations.
“Thank you Superintendent Runcie,” the ad states. “You have made Broward County Public Schools and our students better.”
Under the microscope
The Stoneman Douglas shooting has put the district under greater scrutiny, and those concerns coincide with others.
Parents have raised concerns about the slow progress of an $800 million bond, passed by voters in 2014, to fix aging schools. The district has been slow to spend more than $100 million allocated for safety and security upgrades. Many renovation projects have been over-budget and years behind schedule.
“The bond is huge,” Bartleman said. “People want to know what’s going on. It’s been four years.”
After the shooting, Runcie soon became the target of conservatives due to his advocating for stricter gun laws and his staunch defense of the PROMISE program, which allows students to avoid jail time for minor crimes. Critics alleged the program encouraged schools to ignore problems, and some blamed the program for the actions of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz.
For three months, Runcie insisted Cruz had no connection to the program and wasn’t even eligible for it. But in early May, he acknowledged that wasn’t true. Cruz was referred to the program but didn’t complete it for reasons district officials could never explain.
The head of the state commission investigating the Parkland school shooting concluded in July that the PROMISE program was flawed but likely had nothing to do with the Parkland school shooting.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the state commission’s chairman, said no evidence had turned up that the program played a role in what happened, saying the gunman’s easy access to school grounds appeared far more relevant.
Michael Udine, a county commissioner and Parkland’s former mayor, said the district-related developments in recent weeks have sparked an outcry.
“There’s a heightened sense of urgency,” he said. “And the flip-flopping on different issues has been something that’s causing people to lose confidence.”