Inappropriate-touching allegation against School Board member clouds superintendent’s departure

An allegation that a Broward School Board member inappropriately touched a district staff member led to a strained job separation for Superintendent Vickie Cartwright.

Cartwright’s last meeting was Tuesday. She was waiting to see if the School Board approved a $366,000 settlement she had negotiated last week with Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff.

But board members and some speakers at Tuesday’s meeting accused Cartwright of trying to use an allegation involving new Board member Allen Zeman to obtain more money from the district.

“Broward County is being strong-armed,” Board member Brenda Fam said during the meeting. “I feel like monies are given away as hush money. If there is, in fact, inappropriate touching going on, which is one of the things that was alleged, that should be investigated. … If this woman is saying, ‘You pay me and I’ll protect your secrets,’ I say that’s a no-go.”

School district officials didn’t say Tuesday whether there would be an investigation into the allegations against Zeman.

The issue started at a Dec. 13 board meeting, when Zeman persuaded the School Board to rehire Cartwright, who had been fired the previous month by a group of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees. At Zeman’s request, the School Board returned Cartwright to probation and agreed to make a final decision on her job on Jan. 24.

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During a break during that December meeting, as a staff member was talking to a School Board member on the dais, Zeman “hit me in an area that can be perceived as my buttocks area. I didn’t have an issue with it,” the employee said. “However, I know some others saw it, and I completely respect where some others would take issue with it.”

The employee, who the South Florida Sun Sentinel is not naming due to the nature of the accusation, said he alerted Cartwright about Zeman’s action the day after the meeting.

“I told her to make her aware of the situation, and I did inform her I didn’t wish to file a complaint and wasn’t asking her to file a complaint,” he said.

The issue resurfaced after Zeman filed a motion in mid-January to fire Cartwright at the Jan. 24 meeting, several School Board members said.

Zeman said that’s the first he heard that Cartwright had a concern about the accusation. He called it “a nothing burger.”

“If you actually cared about that, wouldn’t you have done something that day?” Zeman told the Sun Sentinel.

He said he and the employee are friends.

“I have no regrets for my behavior,” he said. “I’ve never touched anybody in a way that would ever be considered inappropriate and neither was this. Anybody with sense would suspect that the timing was fortuitous.”

Zeman said he remembers hugging the employee but not touching his buttocks. “I don’t actually remember slapping his butt, so I couldn’t tell you if I did or didn’t,” Zeman said. “But we’re also athletes and guys do that to athletes. He had no issue with it.”

Zeman said he would have no problem with someone reviewing the matter if the person was offended.

“Had it been, for example, a woman and somebody had done that, there might be different rules. Maybe some men and women have those rules and that’s OK, but it’s really up to them. Right away it was brought up and both of us said, ‘Damn, that was nothing. We don’t care and so why would anybody else?”

Cartwright couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday and hasn’t spoken about the issue publicly. During exit negotiations Thursday, her lawyer alluded to unethical behavior by some board members but didn’t provide specifics.

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“She has already alerted the county she has claims under the public whistleblower law for certain activities involving certain board members,” her lawyer Roderick Hannah said at the time. “They know who they are. We provided the names.”

Hannah later acknowledged the names and the complaints were provided to General Counsel Marylin Batista verbally, not in writing. Batista said she found the allegations to be without merit.

Although a $366,000 settlement originally was considered, the School Board decided on a different amount of money.

The School Board initially planned to fire her without cause, giving her about $351,000 in severance pay, unused sick and vacation pay and 60 days’ notice, where she would advise her successor.

Her lawyers asked for a package of about $700,000, citing whistleblower and racial and gender discrimination complaints. They later agreed to a $366,000 package at the end of Thursday’s negotiations.

The School Board voted Thursday to end her tenure immediately. Her total package was valued at $267,000, which she accepted.