Speaking out for the first time since her stunning dismissal, Broward County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright was obviously disappointed and said she was shocked by the school board’s 5-4 termination vote Monday night.
The vote came late at night after an all-day special meeting. There was no agenda item which even hinted that firing the superintendent was a possibility. The five bard members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis voted to oust her, while the four elected board members opposed the termination.
“This is not right, we did not do the right thing by our district,” said board member Debbi Hixon during Monday night’s meeting.
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The decision to fire Cartwright came seemingly out of the blue, three weeks after the board gave her 90 days to formulate an action plan.
“Thirty, 60, 90 days? I don’t know what happened to that promise,” said board member Nora Rupert during Monday night's meeting.
“I was shocked and surprised by the conversation last night especially when we had already previously had that conversation in October, and I knew what the expectations were,” Cartwright said Tuesday. “Under my leadership we have taken swift action.”
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Cartwright said she has not had enough time to implement her vision for the district, and her supporters on the board agreed.
“I think a lot of the problems that she inherited were very big problems and those problems aren’t undone and resolved in just a year,” said board member Sarah Leonardi.
The motion to fire Cartwright came from board member Dan Fogenholi, who says despite appearances, her dismissal was not political. The DeSantis appointee says two highly critical audit reports were the last straws for him.
“A lot of people use the example, you give a child 90 days to improve and you find out they’re cheating on a test, I’m not good with that and we’re not gonna give you 90 days to continue to do things wrong so for me it was part of the toxic culture that I wanted to address," he said.
“I’m even asking for audits,” Cartwright said, “and I’m uncovering things and trying to put in corrective actions to address those things yet it’s being held against me.”
So on Tuesday, Cartwright was in the awkward position of being on the job, sitting on the dais, listening to board chair Torey Alston talk about finding a better superintendent.
“So colleagues, as I mentioned before, we need immediate continuity of leadership with this district and the ability to move forward with clear direction of the board and a leader who will be decisive, spend the appropriate time needed to truly reform this district,” Alston said.
The board voted to launch a national search for Cartwright’s successor. Board member Debbi Hixon proposed rescinding the vote to dismiss Cartwright and rescheduling it with seven days notice to make sure they didn’t violate Florida’s Sunshine Law, but that motion failed.
Cartwright remains an employee for at least 60 days. It is also possible that the newly elected board members will decide to rehire her if she reapplies for the job.
