FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Broward County School Board held a marathon meeting to decide the future of Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright, and ultimately, after 12 hours, they chose to give her 90 days with a plan to reevaluate her performance.
The board will give her a list of things to work on, and after the 90 days, she will be reevaluated considering her results.
Cartwright has been on the job for less than a year as the leader of the BCPS district, and all that is needed to remove her from her position is a simple majority to vote her out. Five members on the board were not elected to their positions, and they hold the majority.
On Tuesday, the Broward County School Board listened to members of the community as they considered the future of Cartwright.
“It is my understanding that the appointed members are considering removal of the superintendent,” said a speaker. “This is not the will of the people.”
“It has become personal,” said a speaker. “It has become personal because you have decided to pit our communities against each other.”
“These conversations are tough, so I apologize to those in the public and members on this board,” said Torey Alston, Chair of Broward County School Board.
Alston made his intentions clear on terminating Cartwright during the later part of the afternoon. He listed for the board 15 different reasons why she is not fit for the position.
“The pandemic hurt our kids and hurt our schools, but we cannot use that as an excuse,” said Alston.
The superintendent defended herself, going through a long list of improvements in the wake of a scathing grand jury report. Much of the criticisms in the report happened before she was hired.
“I remain committed to being the superintendent for all in Broward County Public Schools,” said Cartwright.
Before Cartwright’s future became open for discussion she addressed the board.
“I do need you to know, again, I have not treated you any different than I have any other board member,” said Cartwright to Alston.
Five of the nine school board members were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after a grand jury he impaneled found four longterm school board members had mismanaged funds.
Four women were removed and replaced by four men chosen by DeSantis.
A fifth appointee replaced a board member who is now a state senator.
The men who were appointed by DeSantis have been called the “Reform Board,” a nickname Alston embraced, Tuesday.
“In this case, I’m going to own it,” he said. “Everyone has caught on to it, a reform board, because the reform board, we do want change.”
But Broward County School Board member Debbi Hixon, whose husband was killed in the Parkland Massacre, said that tragedy led to deep divisions.
“Unfair that you use our tragedy to throw things back into our face. You don’t think it hurts enough?” said Hixon. “The superintendent has done what she can in the short time she has been here to make amends.”
All but one of those appointed will soon be replaced by voters after November’s election.
“We are here to do a job. All the people that wanted the elected people to do the work, this is why we’re here because they messed it up in the first place. The people you voted in messed up. So we’re here and you have to deal with it now,” said Daniel P. Foganholi, Broward County School Board member.
“Superintendent for me is the right person, right time,” said Nora Rupert, Broward County School Board member.
“We are not perfect. The system is not perfect, and let me tell you we are all doing the best we can,” said Hixon.
“This district is rotten,” said Ryan Reiter, Broward County School Board member.
“The fact of the matter is, five un-elected political appointees should not be determining the direction of the school district, especially when elections are less than a month away when the voters get to decide who is actually running the school board,” said a speaker.
After deciding to give Cartwright 90 days to show improvement, she spoke to 7News.
“I am grateful for the very candid conversation that our school board engaged in this evening. It was very fruitful dialogue. We are a learning organization, my attitude to all is that we must keep a growth mindset,” said Cartwright.
Within the next several days, the school board will create the list of goals for her to prepare for the 90-day update.
If the school board decides to terminate Cartwright, they must give her a notice of 90 days and will owe her 20% of her $350,000 salary.
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