His first first-day-of-school as the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools went smoothly from start to finish, said a jubilant Dr. Peter Licata at a late Monday afternoon news conference.
“For the most part, I can’t tell you that there was one hiccup about process and procedure, today it was phenomenal,” Licata said. “It was amazing to see the kids, the smiles, the teachers, the smiles, it was what we do this job for.”
Joined by several school board members, Licata started his day at the school bus terminal in Pompano Beach before sunrise.
“As you see the bus pass by, without them doing that, our children don’t get to school, so it’s more than just the classroom teacher or principal, it’s our bus drivers, some of the first people they see on campus are food service workers, we want to make sure that’s staffed and ready, too,” Licata said.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
Back to school
The superintendent, along with board members Lori Alhadeff and Debbi Hixon, rode one of the new electric buses to Monarch High School before touring several other schools around the county.
The principal at Monarch, James Cecil, said there’s no denying the electricity on the first day back at school.
“The anticipation, you know you work all summer, you get your teachers back, and they’re excited, and the students, believe it or not, they’re actually awake and excited this morning, too,” Cecil said.
Now the work begins to get students to physically show up every day.
“There’s a few challenges but we’ve noticed attendance is still something we need to work on, it’s not just a Monarch thing but a nationwide thing, gotta get our students back and back in on time,” Cecil said, explaining that the absentee problem has been especially prevalent in advanced and AP courses.
Licata described what it’s like to be in charge of a school district for the first time on opening day.
“So there’s always that feeling of making sure that everything’s running well, wanna enjoy every bit of it, you wanna make sure you’re capturing it mentally because it is my first day as a superintendent for the first day but you’re also, in the back of your mind, you’re looking at your phone and making sure that buses are on time, no accidents, schools are ready to open,” he said.
At Broadview Elementary School, students and teachers were treated to a visit by Billy the Marlin.
“First day of school is very, very exciting, I’ve been a principal for 20 tears, and every opening of schools, it is as exciting as the last one, even more,” said Broadview’s principal, Josh Kisten.
He said getting the kids back up to speed after the summer is always the first order of business.
“The summer slide is always an issue, so one of the things we usually do is spend the first three or four weeks making sure that kids are back on track,” Kisten said.
Licata said the district currently has 145 teacher vacancies, which is 1% of the total number of teachers in the system. Enrollment is down by 2,500 students compared to last year, but the district expects more students to enroll after Labor Day. The superintendent said he’s more concerned about the bus driver shortage, as the district is looking to hire 80 more drivers as soon as possible.
