Dr. Vickie Cartwright is once again on her way out as superintendent of Broward County Public Schools.
The Broward County School Board and Cartwright agreed to a mutual separation at a special meeting Tuesday. The details of the separation agreement still have to be ironed out.
Cartwright had presented a report outlining some of her accomplishments during her tenure as superintendent, which included securing teacher raises and improved graduation rates.
"One thing I can say for certain is that I've been here for about a year and five months, so not even a year and a half, yet I have the data that demonstrates that through my leadership we are able to move mountains in this district in a very short amount of time," Cartwright said.
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But the board was apparently unswayed, and both sides were set to agree to the separation once the terms are settled.
Board member Torey Alston gave Cartwright F after F on his report card for her performance.
"I desire a superintendent who will clean up issue after issue quickly," Alston said. "Playing politics with the board, and sharing false information about your bosses on this dais, F."
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But Cartwright denied Alston's accusations.
"You say a lot of grandstanding words without substance," she said. "Stating that I’m sharing false information about board members, that has not occurred, period."
Cartwright had been fired with a 5-4 vote in November after a surprise motion by Daniel Foganholi, one of several school board members who were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis following a grand jury report into the Parkland school shooting. Four other DeSantis appointees joined him.
But a month later, a newly-constituted, post-election school board rescinded that termination.
Cartwright was given a 90 probationary period to prove she’s up to the task, but the 90 days ended Tuesday.
"I want to thank our superintendent, I don’t think anybody could’ve tried as hard, who really wanted to be here," board member Nora Rupert said.
Some board members said they lost confidence in Cartwright.
"And while she did a lot of very positive things in terms of being caring and compassionate and very committed to what she was doing, she didn't execute in a way that kind of gave the board the confidence that she'd really be our long-term leader, so I think that this is a courageous decision today," board member Dr. Allen Zeman said.
Others said politics played a part in her ouster.
"I think politics has something to do with it, I think there's a lot of different factors going on but I think that for sure politics was a part of it," board member Sarah Leonardi said.
Cartwright was hired as interim superintendent in July 2021 and was named permanent superintendent in February. Cartwright replaced Robert Runcie, who resigned after perjury charges were brought against him.
The district is the nation’s sixth-largest, with more than 270,000 students at 333 campuses and an annual budget of $4 billion.
