10,000 court appearances

One surprising finding in the state grand jury report is that former Superintendent Robert Runcie “proudly included in one of his annual self-evaluations that he had made 10,135 court appearances on behalf of students.”

The letter from Hay asks why most of those were never reported to law enforcement.

The Sun Sentinel reviewed Runcie’s self-evaluations from 2013 to 2020 but was unable to confirm where that claim was made. The grand jury said it was a lie anyway.

“Under no circumstances could this number be accurate; there simply are not enough court days in the year,” the grand jury report said, adding that Runcie “speaks with a forked tongue.”

Hixon said she’d be surprised if the 10,000 figure “was even close to being accurate. How would he even fit that in his schedule? He’d be sitting in court forever.”

Runcie could not be reached for comment.