FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Broward County School Board members will soon determine whether or not Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie will be terminated.
School Board member Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa Alhadeff was killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, requested the vote to be on the next meeting’s agenda, Tuesday.
“I don’t think that he has handled it with the greatest sense of urgency. There needs to be more accountability,” Alhadeff said during an interview before the shooting’s anniversary, “and I don’t think that Superintendent Runcie is the right person to be leading Broward County Public Schools.”
The request followed a heated BCPS town hall meeting in Coral Springs where parents and community members voiced their concerns about school safety, Monday.
“I can’t help but blame you. My daughter is dead, and this community is coming apart,” said Fred Guttenberg at the meeting.
“And I know that no matter what we keep doing, I’ll keep hearing, ‘It’s not enough,'” Runcie said in response, “and I know why I hear that because I can’t bring your daughter back.”
Several Parkland parents and members of the community have consistently called for Runcie’s resignation since the massacre.
“Why should you stay in your job?” said Guttenberg at the meeting.
On Tuesday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission, presented the panel’s findings to the school board, emphasizing that districts need to make changes immediately.
“It’s not a question of whether this is going to happen again. It’s going to happen again,” said Gualtieri.
The chairman was later asked how the district cooperated with the investigation.
“I can’t say anything but other than extremely positive things about the superintendent and his staff and the level of cooperation we’ve received, even in tough times,” he said.
There are a total of nine school board members. If at least five of the members vote to terminate Runcie, then he will be fired.
“Mr. Runcie has demonstrated a history of poor leadership. As board members, we need to be accountable to the public,” said Alhadeff. “I am bringing it forward regardless if I have five votes or not.”
The superintendent said he wants to see the vote through.
“Just as strongly as you feel about getting rid of Bob Runcie, we feel just as strong that it ain’t going to happen,” said one of his supporters during the town hall meeting.
The next meeting will take place on March 5.
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