After an hours-long special meeting Tuesday debating the Broward County Public Schools Superintendent's future with the district, the board decided to give Dr. Vickie Cartwright 90 days to address the concerns raised against her.
The board has been considering whether Cartwright should stay in her position after only eight official months on the job as superintendent. All that is needed is a simple majority to remove her.
"The board tonight has demonstrated that they have continued faith and confidence in my leadership and I'm very grateful to the board for that," Cartwright said.
"The board is exercising its accountability in oversight function, and the superintendent has committed to coming back to the board within 90 days providing adequate updates on all the concerns and issues that were raised by individual board members," board chair Torey Alston said.
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Last week, Alston tore into Cartwright's job performance as a part of a meeting at which the board was supposed to either accept or reject the superintendent's job performance evaluation.
“A lack of vision for me in critical areas, questionable judgment, and what I would call a failure of leadership,” Alston said of Cartwright's job performance at the time.
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But six of the nine board members, including two appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, rated Cartwright effective or highly effective. Alston, Kevin Tynan, and Manuel Serrano did not participate in the evaluation.
A member of the public at Tuesday's meeting pushed back at the criticism of the superintendent, saying that five unelected political appointees should not be determining the direction of the school district.
"These conversations are tough, so I apologize to those in the public and members of this board, but you must have the tough conversations," Alston said. "What are the new innovative programs that will attract those parents and children back to Broward County Public Schools? What will we offer that private and charter schools do not?"
Cartwright defended herself and her team about the analysis that has gone into fighting the "COVID slide" and all of the work that's been done to accelerate learning for students in the district.
"The amount of work that we have been able to do thus far is typically something that you see takes at least a year to two years to accomplish. And we have accomplished this in three months," she said.
Several members of the African American community in Pompano Beach were at Tuesday's meeting in support of Cartwright's removal, alleging that she's been neglectful of the schools in the area.
"It is our belief that the current superintendent has not prudently served the interests of the entire district and its stakeholders, and we sincerely ask that you all make the decisions to right these wrongs," a member of the public said.
Four of the five board members by DeSantis will be replaced by the winners of the upcoming election.
