Broward School Board votes to rehire, retain Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright
FORT LAUDERDALE - The Broward School Board on Tuesday voted to rehire Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright who was unceremoniously dumped last month with little public warning.
The 5-2 vote was the latest twist in the saga over whether the superintendent would be allowed to stay in her job.
The board also voted to start searching for a new superintendent if Cartwright is unable to come up with a satisfactory plan to address ongoing issues they have identified in the district.
School board members are expected on Jan. 24 to decide whether to keep Cartwright or not.
CBS 4 asked her after Tuesday's vote what she thought about performing the job while the board considers others candidates for her job.
"The board is committed to me, saying that they will have an open mind when they come back and take a look on the update that will be provided," she said. "And I have full confidence and belief on what they said."
In October, the previous school board questioned her leadership and judgment before agreeing to give her 90 days to come up with a plan to address their concerns.
A few weeks later, the same board abruptly voted to fire her.
The vote to terminate Cartwright came after members discussed audits that were critical of two district vendors. It was then that School Board member Daniel Foganholi made the surprise motion to bring the vote.
When Foganholi, a DeSantis appointee, was asked about his motion to remove Dr. Cartwright despite the 90-day grace period, he said, "A lot of people use the example: You give a child 90 days to improve and you find out he cheated again. This is part of the toxic culture I wanted to address."
The vote was split between the five members appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis; Foganholi, Ryan Reiter, Kevin Tynan, Manuel "Nandy" Serrano, and Torey Alston, and the four elected members; Lori Alhadeff, Debbi Hixon, Sarah Leonardi and Nora Rupert who voted against it.
Four of the five DeSantis appointees have been replaced by members elected in November. The only DeSantis appointee on the School Board is Torey Alston.
