FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The search is on in Broward County to fill the spot of School Superintendent.
Broward County School Board members will meet Tuesday to review a list of candidates vying for the superintendent role.
Of the 39 candidates, eight have made it to the final list.
Among the eight candidates is Dr. Vickie Cartwright, who is currently serving as interim superintendent.
She has been serving since August, after Robert Runcie stepped down, and has applied for the job.
Cartwright was an associate superintendent in Orange County in Orlando and served as superintendent in Wisconsin.
“Dr. Vickie Cartwright has been in this position a few months now, and she’s only done a job that has been moving forward, and I believe that if she had a permanent position so much more can be done,” said the President of the Broward Teachers Union, Ana Fusco.
Two other candidates are also from South Florida, just a little north, from Palm Beach County.
Peter Licota who grew up in Pompano Beach is currently the Regional Superintendent for that county.
Keith Oswald is the Chief of Equity and Wellness Administrator, also in Palm Beach County.
The search comes at a peculiar time for South Florida’s education system, as the superintendent seat in Miami-Dade County is also vacant.
Longtime Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho left to take a job in the nation’s second largest public school district in Los Angeles, California.
Two of the eight Broward County candidates are also candidates in Miami-Dade.
They include Michael Cohen, a superintendent with the York Regional District School Board in Canada.
Dr. Rafaela Espinal, who works for the New York School District, is also a candidate for the role. She was one of the three candidates up for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent role.
“We know that other people have put their hats in the race,” said Fusco. “We know that some of the candidates are also candidates over at Dade, and we got to see them yesterday, and I would hope that she would no where near consider.”
The other three candidates are James Good, an associate superintendent in Central Ohio, Micheal Gal, a former Deputy Chancellor of Washington D.C. Public Schools, and Quintin Sheppard, who is the superintendent for the Victoria and Independent School District in Texas.
“We need somebody who is really, wanna be invested in taking Broward to the next level, compassionate, professional in doing the job,” said Fusco.
The district said a new superintendent will be hired in February to replace Runcie, who stepped down in August after being indicted on perjury charges.
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