Five things to know ahead of Broward School Board possibly firing superintendent again
The Broward County public schools community has been riding a roller coaster for the past two months. The Broward School Board fired the superintendent Vickie Cartwright in November, then a new board rehired her in December — and now she could be fired again.
The nine current members of the School Board, Cartwright’s bosses, will determine her fate during a board meeting Tuesday.
Will they keep the first woman to hold the top job of the sixth-largest school district in the country?
Here are five things to know ahead of their discussion:
1. WHAT’S THE MOTION ON THE TABLE?
School board member Allen Zeman, who in December motioned to rescind Cartwright’s termination by the previous board, proposed to fire her Tuesday, despite admitting last week that he wasn’t sure how he’d vote. Zeman was elected on Nov. 8 to the countywide District 8 at-large seat, defeating longtime incumbent Donna Korn.
He added an item last week to the board’s agenda that reads: “Terminate the Broward County Public Schools Superintendent without cause with a termination date of July 1, 2023 (158 days.)“
Even if the board votes to dismiss Cartwright, it could move that final date to an earlier or later one.
2. HOW WE GOT HERE
Cartwright became the district interim superintendent in August 2021 and the permanent superintendent in February 2022. She replaced Robert Runcie, who stepped down after he was indicted and charged with lying to a statewide grand jury investigating the Broward district. (Runcie has pleaded not guilty.)
Trouble for Cartwright started last August when Gov. Ron DeSantis removed four sitting board members and appointed four new members to the School Board. His moves followed the release of a damning grand jury report, which detailed what the grand jury called gross mismanagement of a nearly $1 billion bond program to fix aging Broward public schools and shore up school safety.
Those four appointees joined a fifth board member, Daniel Foganholi, whom DeSantis had appointed last April to replace a board member
who had resigned to run for the state Senate. Together, the five appointees gained control of the ninemember body.
On Oct. 26, after some board members called for Cartwright’s dismissal, the board unanimously placed her on a 90-day probation period and told her to report back in 90 days.
About three weeks later, on Nov. 14, the five DeSantis appointees fired Cartwright in an abrupt 5-4 vote late into the evening.
They fired her after the board heard two audit reports revealing the district allowed two longtime
vendors — one of which distributed caps and gowns, the other offering education management and training services — to overcharge the district and parents at least $1.4 million.
3. HOW THE BOARD HAS CHANGED
All but one of the Desantis appointees, Torey Alston, left the board in November as they did not qualify to get on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election.
After the November elections, three new members joined the Broward School Board — Zeman, Jeff Holness and Brenda
Fam.
A fourth, Rodney “Rod” Velez, was elected, but could not be sworn in as he had a former criminal conviction and did not obtain clemency, a necessary step in holding public office. In December, DeSantis appointed Foganholi, who had left the board in November, to Velez’s seat.
Board Chair Lori Alhadeff, along with Alston and Fam, voted in December not to rescind Cartwright’s November firing. Now that Foganholi has returned, he will likely side with them, as he led the effort to fire Cartwright in that late-night November vote.
Board members Debra Hixon, Sarah Leonardi, Nora Rupert and Holness supported Cartwright a month ago. If those votes stick, Zeman’s vote would break the tie.
4. CARTWRIGHT’S STANCE
After her November firing, Cartwright said in a press conference: “I was shocked and surprised by the conversation last night, especially when we had already previously had that conversation in October, and I knew what the expectations were.”
In December, when the new board rescinded the termination, she said, “I’m very grateful to the board for the decision that they made today. I look forward to continue working with every board member as we move forward.”
Asked last week for comment on the possibility of Cartwright being fired again at the Tuesday meeting, Keyla Concepción, a school district spokesperson, said, “Superintendent Cartwright is looking forward to presenting her 90-day followup to the Broward County School Board next week.”
5. WHAT COULD HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE
If the School Board votes to retain Cartwright, she’ll face an uphill battle to regain the trust of some of the School Board members, parents, staffers and students.
If the board cuts ties with her, the school district will need to quickly get the search moving for a new superintendent, a process that usually takes four to six months. The board members would first need to decide whether to hire a search firm, or allow several to advance candidates and award the commission to whichever headhunter finds the right one.
During that process, the board could ask Cartwright to stay longer or name an interim replacement.