NBC6’s Ari Odzer reports live from Fort Lauderdale, where a new superintendent has won a vote of 7-2.
It came down to three, and then just one.
By a 7-2 vote, the Broward County School Board chose Dr. Peter Licata as the next superintendent of the nation’s sixth largest school district. Board members Torey Alston and Brenda Fam voted for Dr. Sito Narcisse. Luis Solana did not receive votes.
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“This is a dream job, I’m coming home, we get one shot at this, and I’m not spending it on the sideline,” Licata said in a news conference after the vote.
Licata grew up in Broward County. He’s leaving his regional superintendent job in Palm Beach County Public Schools, and board chair Lori Alhadeff, impressed by his presentation, said Licata’s the transformational leader they’ve been searching for.
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“Do you want transformational change, do you want to be an A, do you want a culture, want a place where teachers want to come, where students feel safe regardless of who they are or what they look like, regardless of their district and where they are, making sure they’re safe as possible, then I don’t think there’s even a contest here,” Licata said in his closing statement to the board members today.
“He already analyzed our data, he knows what we need to do to move forward to be that A, and that’s what really stood out, it wasn’t just philosophy and words, it was actions to be able to bring this school district forward to become an A school district,” Alhadeff said.
Moving from a “B” rating to an “A” is the priority one goal.
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“Academics, it’s always academics, academics, if we improve our academics the other stuff falls into place,” Licata said.
I asked him about solving the teacher shortage.
“There’s not a teacher shortage,” Licata replied. “There’s a lot of teachers out there, they’re just not in the teaching profession anymore, because it’s become so hard, so that’s one of the things we do, there are a lot of teachers out there in other industries now because teaching has become so hard, and I said it a few times today, stop putting things on their plates, let’s take some things off and put them on the plate of what we have to do and let’s make teaching more attractive.”
Making teaching more attractive includes raising salaries, Licata said. Before he can take the helm, Licata has to agree on a contract with the school board. That’s the next step in this process.
