Robert Runcie, the embattled superintendent who’s faced increasing criticism since the Parkland shooting, could be fired today if at least five of his nine School Board bosses give the word.
Both supporters and foes packed the meeting at district headquarters in downtown Fort Lauderdale, with TV news crews and photographers lined up along the back wall. Outside, dozens of Runcie allies filled the hallway.
“I don’t think he should be fired,” said Norman Freeman, pastor of the Greater Antioch Missionary Baptist church in Pompano Beach. “I don’t see where there is any grievous negligence on his part.”
Before the discussion started, the noise in the hallway was deafening. As the debate was announced a hush came over the crowd in the hall filled with mostly black supporters.
Brenda Snipes, former supervisor of elections, stood in the hallway with hundreds of other Runcie supporters listening to the debate. She said she came because she worked for the school system for 39 years and lived in the county since 1964. She said she’s known many superintendents and thinks Runcie has done a good job.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes,” she said. Everybody deserves equal consideration, she said, based on issues and not ‘personalities.’”
Runcie has been running the nation’s sixth-largest school district since 2011.
The vote to terminate Runcie came at the request of Lori Alhadeff, the newest board member. She ran for the seat after her daughter Alyssa was killed in last year’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. The Valentine’s Day shooting killed 17 students and staff and injured another 17.
It also put Runcie under a microscope, with critics blasting him for mishandling the tragedy.
Snipes said Runcie handled the horror of Parkland as well as anyone could have. “The parents, I don’t know how they get up to move every day,” she said.
Dozens of people were expected to speak on Tuesday, including leaders from the black community such as Lauderdale Lakes Mayor Hazelle Rogers and West Park Vice Mayor Brian Johnson.
The first speaker, a black woman and former school board employee, called Runcie a great man.
“He cannot be at every school and every place at all times,” she said. “I understand the shooting happened. But let me tell you, there’s a lot of things that happen at different schools. The people he put in charge should be held responsible. This man should keep his job.”
Max Schachter, a Parkland parent whose son Alex was killed in the shooting, urged the board to fire Runcie and stop making excuses for his failures.
“We need new leadership in this district,” he said. “Our kids are not secure, and they’re not learning.”
When Alhadeff spoke of terminating Runcie last week, she pointed to his “many failures of leadership,” including the glacial pace on an $800 million bond approved by voters in 2014.
Board member Nora Rupert has made it clear she would fire Runcie, but is so far the only board member in Alhadeff’s corner.
Five board members — Ann Murray, Laurie Rich Levinson, Patti Good, Rosalind Osgood and Donna Korn — have expressed support for Runcie in recent weeks.
And two, Chairwoman Heather Brinkworth and Robin Bartleman, have declined to take a public stance on Runcie’s future.
Many expected Runcie to hold onto his job.
Parkland parents have been vocal in criticizing district leaders for failing to hold people accountable for the shooting at Stoneman Douglas.
They fault Runcie for a lack of urgency in fixing security flaws and repeated efforts to hide information from the public about the confessed gunman and the mistakes made before, during and after the shooting.
Debbi Hixon, widow of Chris Hixon, said she wants to see a change in leadership. “I don’t think he’s been a good leader in the aftermath,” she said.