Dr. Vickie Cartwright’s tenure as the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools is officially over, as the school board accepted her resignation and appointed Dr. Valerie Wanza as acting superintendent and Dr. Earline Smiley as interim superintendent.
Last week, Cartwright negotiated a separation agreement with school board chair Lori Alhadeff. The total value of the package was about $366,000. Tuesday, the full school board had to approve that agreement and it did not go smoothly. Most of the board agreed that it was too generous, and some bristled at Cartwright’s threats to sue the district.
“I am at this point really appalled, I’ll tell you, Broward County is being strong-armed, I feel like money is being given away as hush money,” said board member Brenda Fam.
“That was an interesting tactic, sometimes people do that,” said board member Dr. Allen Zeman, referring to Cartwright’s lawsuit gambit. “But we’ve ended up in a good place for Broward County, we did not overspend taxpayer dollars, we paid kind of a standard separation agreement for her, and today we can say we’re gonna have a new interim superintendent to lead this county.”
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
Past Coverage
Acting on Zeman’s motion, the board voted to strip out the 60-day consulting gig from Cartwright’s agreement, saving $98,000. Cartwright accepted the change to the separation agreement and then resigned, saying, “I am confident that the district will continue to thrive under new leadership and I do wish the district continued success in the future, thank you for your support and your understanding.”
Then the board task-assigned Wanza, who is a long-time administrator with the district, as acting superintendent.
“And she knows what this district needs in this interim time period, it’s not gonna be a significant amount of time before we pivot to having Dr. Earline Smiley as the superintendent,” Alhadeff said.
“I am looking forward to working with Mrs. Alhadeff and her other eight colleagues on the board to insure that we have a pathway that healing, restoration, and forward progress begins today,” Wanza said.
Smiley is a former principal of Blanche Ely High School and also was superintendent of a small district in South Carolina before retiring.
“She’s done everything we need and that’s what we’re looking for right now so I believe instead of someone that’s just gonna hold us steady, I want someone who’s gonna lead us in the right direction,” board member Daniel Foganholi said about Smiley.
Also Tuesday, the school board unanimously approved a new contract with the Broward Teachers Union. It sets starting salaries at just under $49,000. Teachers are getting up to a 5% raise and a $1,000 bonus.
“This includes one of the largest salary increases our teachers have received in a decade,” Cartwright said at the news conference.
It was one of her last official duties as superintendent.
The district said Broward County Public Schools now pays teachers more than any school district in South Florida.
The school board and Cartwright agreed to a mutual separation at a special meeting January 24. Cartwright had presented a report outlining some of her accomplishments during her tenure as superintendent, which included securing teacher raises and improved graduation rates.
"One thing I can say for certain is that I've been here for about a year and five months, so not even a year and a half, yet I have the data that demonstrates that through my leadership we are able to move mountains in this district in a very short amount of time," Cartwright said.
But the board was apparently unswayed, and both sides were set to agree to the separation once the terms are settled.
Board member Torey Alston gave Cartwright F after F on his report card for her performance.
"I desire a superintendent who will clean up issue after issue quickly," Alston said last month. "Playing politics with the board, and sharing false information about your bosses on this dais, F."
Cartwright had been fired with a 5-4 vote in November after a surprise motion by Daniel Foganholi, one of several school board members who were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis following a grand jury report into the Parkland school shooting. Four other DeSantis appointees joined him.
But a month later, a newly-constituted, post-election school board rescinded that termination.
Cartwright was given a 90-day probationary period to prove she’s up to the task, but the 90 days ended last month.
"I want to thank our superintendent, I don’t think anybody could’ve tried as hard, who really wanted to be here," board member Nora Rupert said at last month's meeting.
