No-shows delay contract approval for new Broward Schools superintendent

On a day when the Broward County School Board was supposed to approve the contract of the incoming superintendent, the board could not proceed with the meeting because it failed to secure a quorum.

It was a shocking development, and the interim superintendent, Dr. Earlean Smiley, appeared taken by surprise Thursday when Dr. Peter Licata's contract could not be approved.

"I am very disappointed, and your question was why am I disappointed? Because we had a planned, structured process that went awry," Smiley said at a news conference. “The five members that we needed physically in the room, we had confirmed that they were going to be here, they were not."

The rules state that five board members must be physically present for a meeting to proceed. Sarah Leonardi, Dr. Allen Zeman, and Jeff Holness were there.

Smiley knew that Lori Alhadeff, Debra Hixon, and Nora Rupert were out of town and would be calling in to participate, and she said board member Torey Alston told her two days ago that he would not be at the meeting.

However, Smiley said she still thought there would be a quorum until board member Daniel Foganholi’s secretary sent an email Thursday morning saying he was out of town and would not be attending.

"I can’t speculate what the intentions of my colleagues were, I just know that Dr. Licata is going to rise above the circus that happened today and get our district back on track,” Leonardi said.

Licata said he’s not overly concerned by what happened Thursday, and when asked if it felt like this was a baptism by fire, he shrugged off any suggestion that he might be dissuaded from taking the job.

“People who love to ride roller coasters are happy to get on them, and people who are scared of 'em, don’t want to get on 'em, I run to fire, this is a great district,” Licata said.

Licata and Smiley would not speculate whether the missing board members were involved in a political stunt, but Broward Teachers Union president Anna Fusco said she thinks politics were absolutely involved.

“We all know what happened here, they knew this meeting was planned,” Fusco said. "My fellow union colleagues in Chicago, in Washington, in California, go, 'what the hell’s going on in Broward?'"

Smiley said while she’s upset, she can’t judge anyone right now.

“But to point the fingers about who did what and who knew what is not productive at all,” Smiley said.

In a text message, Alston said the board knew he wasn’t going to make it to the meeting, and said he looks “forward to the rescheduled meeting where the entire board will be in person, which should be the case on a big item as approving the superintendent’s contract."

Absent board member Brenda Fam said in a text message there was "no political motive whatsoever” and that the board knew she was recuperating at home from a surgical procedure, but if they had been one member short of a quorum, “my husband was on standby to drive me to make a quorum."

Foganholi did not reply to a text message asking him why he missed the meeting.

Smiley said she is working now to reschedule a board meeting as soon as possible.

Licata was supposed to start working as the Broward County Public Schools superintendent on Monday. Obviously, his start date has been delayed indefinitely.