Broward School Board approves superintendent national search

After firing Broward Superintendent Vickie Cartwright abruptly Monday night, the Broward School Board unanimously voted Tuesday to launch two searches — one for a new permanent superintendent and another one for an interim superintendent.

Although they approved both searches, the processes likely won’t start until

Dec. 6, during their next workshop, when they plan to discuss the timeline for each search, the candidate profiles and the salaries, as well as other details.

Board members said Tuesday they envisioned hiring an outside firm for a national search to produce candidates for the permanent post while relying on the school district’s humanresources department for the interim search.

Cartwright’s contract mandates that she receive a 60-day notice of termination, meaning she will stay on for at least two more months despite getting fired Monday night by the School Board in a 5-4 vote.

When she does leave, she’s entitled to severance pay totaling 20 weeks of her $350,000 salary plus any unused sick and vacation days, per her contract.

“I will continue to act with integrity and with a students-first mindset,” said Cartwright during a press conference Tuesday amid a special board meeting to discuss the firing. “I act with integrity and respect, and I will continue to do the same.”

School Board Chair Torey Alston initially motioned Tuesday morning to name Earlean Smiley, a former principal at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach and former deputy superintendent for Broward Public Schools, as interim superintendent for up to 12 months.

Smiley swore Alston in on Aug. 30 when he officially joined the board after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to replace Vice Chair Patricia Good.

Good was one of four board members whom DeSantis suspended in August, citing a grand-jury report that pointed to the district’s ballooning $800 million school bond construction program. The other three were Board Chair Laurie Rich Levinson and longtime board members Donna Korn and Ann Murray.

The governor replaced the four with Alston, Ryan Reiter, Kevin Tynan and Manuel “Nandy” Serrano. In April, DeSantis had also appointed Daniel Foganholi to replace Rosalind Osgood, who successfully ran for state Senate.

The five DeSantis appointees abruptly fired Cartwright in a 5-4 vote late Monday night.

The four who supported Cartwright were the elected board members, not the political appointees: Vice Chair Lori Alhadeff, Debra Hixon, Sarah Leonardi and Nora Rupert.

Alston will be the only one of the five appointees who will remain on the board after Tuesday as his seat does not come up for election until 2024. The other four seats came up this year, but the DeSantis appointees were not on the ballot.