Broward School Board members try to save Cartwright from firing; questions over Sunshine law
Despite throwing a Hail Mary pass, the four Broward School Board members who voted against firing Superintendent Vickie Cartwright couldn’t rescind her termination in a special board meeting Tuesday after the five members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis fired her late Monday night.
Board members Lori Alhadeff, Debra Hixon, Nora Rupert and Sarah Leonardi, who all voted against terminating Cartwright on Monday evening, raised concerns Tuesday that the board could have violated Florida’s Sunshine law, which requires governmental bodies to post items on a public agenda to give people the right to comment on governmental proceedings.
Hixon motioned to rescind the 5-4 vote to dismiss Cartwright and take up the issue again in seven days, because that process requires a seven-day notice on a publicly posted agenda. Rupert seconded her motion, but it failed 5-4, with all DeSantis appointees shutting it down.
Asked Tuesday if she felt the Monday vote violated the state’s Sunshine law, Cartwright told the press: “I know there was concern related to violating Sunshine law. I guess my only answer to that is: Where were y’all last night?”
South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter Scott Travis was the only journalist present in the room Monday as district officials had blocked media from attending the public meeting Monday night. A Miami Herald reporter watched the meeting live online.
On the vote, she said: “I was shocked and surprised by the conversation last night, especially when we had already previously had that conversation in October, and I knew what the expectations were.”
On Oct. 26, the board had considered firing her in another late-night meeting, but gave her 90 days to improve and report back on the changes she had made.
Board Members Torey Alston, Daniel Foganholi, Ryan Reiter, Kevin Tynan and Manuel “Nandy” Serrano voted “yes” to fire Cartwright on Monday and “no” to rescind that vote Tuesday. Except for Alston, whose term expires in 2024, Foganholi, Reiter, Tynan and Serrano will be off the board soon, as they were appointed by Gov. DeSantis and not on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Tuesday is Foganholi’s last day on the board. Serrano, Reiter and Tynan will remain in their seats until midnight on Nov. 21.
Four new board members will be sworn in on Tuesday: Allen Zeman, Rodney “Rod” Velez, Jeff Holness and Brenda Fam.
Watch video of the Broward School Board’s decision on Superintendent Cartwright
Florida Sunshine law questions come up
The four women board members noted on Tuesday how the district staff left some journalists out of the meeting room on Monday, although they could have watched the live stream online, and that the board hadn’t advertised the motion to fire her correctly to the public. The board noted the audit on its published agenda, but not an item about whether to fire the superintendent.
Alhadeff first questioned a potential Sunshine law violation Monday, but the board’s interim general counsel, Marylin Batista, shrugged it off saying that the vote was connected to the school district’s audit, which had received proper notice on the agenda.
Hixon asked Batista again Tuesday, and Batista’s resolve on the issue faltered. She said that she researched further overnight and that it could go both ways. Batista explained that previous courts had ruled that boards cannot “through devious methods deprive the public of the right to be present” during governmental deliberations.
“The law is gray; it’s not black and white,” said Batista, adding that she could argue that the Monday motion was related to the audit agenda item, but she could also argue the opposite.
Barbara Peterson, director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability and an expert on Florida’s Sunshine law, said in email to the Herald Tuesday that the board may have violated the law.
“The sunshine law requires the school board to provide public notice of all items it intends to discuss and the board is not prohibited from taking action on an item that was not included on the agenda. But if any of the five school board members who voted to fire the superintendent intended to make the motion, that would be a violation of law.
“... In this case, it’s hard to believe, given that the audit was on the agenda, that there wasn’t some sort of foreknowledge or agreement among at least some of the five that one of them would be making the motion to terminate. ... This is too odd, particularly given that the superintendent had been given time to respond to the audit. And the fact that four of the five will roll off the board next week raises even more red flags.
“... Had I been the board’s attorney, I would have recommended that the board not take the action until proper public notice had been provided.”
Batista said that “in the abundance of caution” the board should hold a “cure meeting,” where the board takes up the item of Cartwright’s firing again and posts it on the board’s published agenda. This way, she argued, the new meeting would cure any possible violation of the state’s Sunshine law.
Foganholi called what he perceived as Batista’s flip flop “dirty.” Alston condemned her actions as well.
“Its shameful when you do something over here and you do something else over here,” Alston said. “Be consistent. That’s all I ask.”
Board member Serrano questioned the merits of the Sunshine law, which prevents governments from acting secretively.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” he said. “I think we’d be a lot better state without the Sunshine law.”
