Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

School Board fires teacher

- — Wesley Wright

The Broward School Board on Tuesday fired a former first-grade teacher at Margate Elementary, voting to end her contract.

Elaine Curran, 56, had her teaching license suspended in January 2015, stemming from an incident in 2012 in which she arrived to work late and under the influence of alcohol, according to a district report.

Curran, who had been at the Margate school since 2007, violated the Broward County School Board’s drug-free workplace pol- icy, the district said.

Curran had been on personal leave since early 2014.

Margate Principal Thomas J. Schroeder described Curran during the incident as “erratic, uncontroll­ably crying, disoriente­d, and emitting an odor of alcohol,” according to a district report.

Curran couldn’t reached for comment spite phone calls.

She did not request a hearing to challenge the charges, records show, so the board’s decision is final.

in be de- panded services reer center.

Miami Dade College and Palm Beach State College both say they expect flat enrollment. They’ve taken belt-tightening steps in past years but aren’t expecting any cuts to staff positions this year. Unlike Broward College, they’re also keeping tuition flat.

Broward avoided tuition increases for three years in a row but couldn’t do that again this year, Oliff said.

“The Board of Trustees is also conscious of trying to keep the educationa­l product as affordable as possible, but we’d gotten to the point where as an institutio­n, a tuition increase was necessary to maintain the quality of the educationa­l product,” he said.

He said students had been asking for technology and facility improvemen­ts, which the increases will help fund.

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stravis@sunsentine­l.com or 561-243-6637

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