Superintendent Robert Runcie would be fired “for willful neglect of duty” and would receive no severance pay if the Broward County School Board approves a request Tuesday from its newest member.
The crucial vote, initiated by School Board member Lori Alhadeff, is scheduled to be discussed at 11:15 a.m. and should attract a packed crowd of supporters and opponents. Some business leaders and members of the black community are lining up in favor of the embattled superintendent. An association representing district administrators reports that some principals are being encouraged by their bosses to support Runcie.
Many in the Parkland community and their allies want Runcie fired.
Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the massacre Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, has been vocal in her criticism of Runcie’s leadership since she took office in November.
Alhadeff would need support from four other board members, which appears unlikely unless one of Runcie’s five most vocal supporters — Patti Good, Donna Korn, Laurie Rich Levinson, Ann Murray or Rosalind Osgood — became a surprise vote.
It’s also unclear whether even Runcie’s other critics on the board — Nora Rupert, Robin Bartleman and Heather Brinkworth — would be willing to fire him “for cause” as Alhadeff has proposed, which would force him to end his tenure immediately and not receive any severance pay.
Gov. Ron DeSantis just received approval last week to impanel a grand jury that plans to review possible wrongdoing in Broward schools. But it could be a year before its findings are released. Some board members may want to wait for the results of that.
The School Board met on security matters Monday, but most members avoided reporters or declined to comment when approached.
Runcie’s contract, first approved when he was hired in 2011, has guidelines on when he can be fired for cause. Among those: immorality, misconduct in office, incompetency, gross insubordination, willful neglect of duty or being convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
Alhadeff is citing willful neglect of duty. She cites the following reasons:
— Runcie asked the School Board in 2013 not to support a proposed taxing district that would have provided $55 million in security dollars, saying the district had a plan to make schools safe. But many of the claims he made — such as providing extra training for security staff and putting police in every school — didn’t happen.
— Runcie and his staff bungled the $800 million bond, passed by voters in 2014 to renovate decaying schools and address crowding in some western schools. More than four years later, work is complete at only one out of 232 schools, Manatee Bay Elementary in Weston.
— The district failed to adequately implement recommendations from a consultant that reviewed the district’s education for students with special needs, Alhadeff said. Some of the same recommendations were repeated in a review last year of the education services offered to the Stoneman Douglas killer, she said.