Now it’s the superintendent who is in the crosshairs of the state.
The chair of the Florida Board of Education, Tom Grady, said last week that he is not satisfied with Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright’s response to the recent grand jury report.
Grady also brought back the mask mandate issue as a reason to urge the Broward School Board, which now has a majority of five members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, to fire Cartwright.
In July of 2021, as the pandemic raged, the school board voted 8-1 for a mandatory mask mandate, with board member Lori Alhadeff the only dissenting vote.
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Cartwright upheld the board’s wish, and Grady says Cartwright’s decision then is now grounds for dismissal.
“That’s why I was a little bit surprised, that’s been settled for quite some time, and so I’m not sure why he’s bringing it up now,” said school board member Sarah Leonardi.
“We hire and fire the superintendent,” not the state, Alhadeff said.
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NBC 6 asked Alhadeff today if she saw any reason to remove Cartwright.
“At this point in time, absolutely not. Dr. Cartwright is doing a good job," Alhadeff said. "She has inherited so many problems from the previous superintendent and she’s fixing them."
Alhadeff supported the governor’s dismissal of four of her former colleagues, and their replacement by four men. But says she doesn’t understand why anyone at the state level wouldn’t target Cartwright. She called it a distraction from the job of educating students.
“Absolutely, it is such a distraction, and honestly it is taking away from the positive things we are trying to do for student outcomes,” Alhadeff said.
Leonardi agrees.
“This state has a habit of interfering with local matters which is really counterintuitive to the constitution of our state and the idea of local control and local governance and I’d really like to see it stop soon,” she said.
Of the board members appointed by the governor, only one, the new school board chair, Torey Alston, responded to my inquiries for comment today. Alston sent us a statement which reads in part, “Student achievement remains our number one priority. I have been very consistent and clear that we have a governance and fiduciary responsibility to the children and families of Broward County Schools. We must hold the superintendent, general counsel and chief auditor accountable as they manage the day to day affairs of the district.”
You’ll notice Alston’s statement doesn’t take a stand either way, to support or not to support Cartwright.
The school district issued a statement saying Cartwright and the school board followed the law back in 2021, and said Cartwright has taken swift action to comply with the grand jury’s recommendations. She was not part of the school district when the allegations in that report allegedly occurred.
