What was supposed to be a fairly routine agenda item turned into a bash-the-superintendent Broward County School Board meeting Tuesday.
“A lack of vision for me in critical areas, questionable judgement, and what I would call a failure of leadership,” said board chair Torey Alston, describing Dr. Vickie Cartwright’s job performance.
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Alston spent about 10 minutes ripping the superintendent’s job performance. It was part of a meeting at which the board was supposed to either accept or reject Cartwright’s job performance evaluation. 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.
About a dozen public speakers called for Cartwright to be removed from office, even though the board could not take that step at this meeting.
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“My being here is not personal against Dr. Vickie Cartwright,” said Bobby Henry, publisher of the Westside Gazette newspaper, before he launched into a vociferous attack. “Superintendent Cartwright is fruit from a poisonous tree, I urge you to act with integrity, honor and accountability, the way you get rid of a cancerous tree is to remove the roots, the trunk, the branches and the limbs.”
A group of citizens from Pompano Beach complained about Cartwright allegedly ignoring schools in their community.
“Markham Elementary is a cesspool, you all are slumlords,” said Ron Thurston to the board. “We put a bandaid on things when it comes to the black and brown community, fix the issues and until you fix the issues, everybody gets an F.”
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At least five board members defended Cartwright, saying the district is on the right track under her leadership, pointing to better school security and a keen focus on correcting academic learning losses. For example, board member Sarah Leonardi used a sports analogy, saying when you hire a new coach, you have to give them time to improve the team before you judge their performance.
“We are now changing the narrative, no longer is the school serving the district, the district is now serving the school, and this is critically important, and we’re not there yet, this is a journey,” Cartwright said in her own defense. “There are a lot of wonderful things happening in the district, we’re heading in the right direction.”
