DeSantis appointee, superintendent foe, sworn into Broward School Board ahead of key vote
A fierce critic of Broward Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright rejoined the Broward County School Board on Wednesday, roughly a week before the board is set to decide whether to keep Cartwright or fire her as the first woman superintendent to lead the nation’s sixth-largest school district.
During the 15-minute swearing-in ceremony, Daniel Foganholi, 36, thanked God and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who put him on the board for the second time.
On Dec. 22, DeSantis declared the board’s District 1 seat vacant because Rodney “Rod” Velez, whom voters had elected in the Nov. 8 election, was not sworn into office because he had a former criminal conviction and did not obtain clemency, needed to seek public office. On the same day, DeSantis appointed Foganholi to replace Velez.
READ MORE: Five things to know about the man DeSantis appointed twice to the Broward School Board
On Jan. 9, Velez, 52, sued DeSantis and Foganholi in an attempt to regain the seat.
“I give glory to God and thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ for this opportunity. It’s the same God that tells me not to be ashamed to say that I’m a man of faith. It’s the same God that tells me all things are possible through faith in him. It’s the same God that tells me no weapon against me shall prosper — that’s including mean tweets, mean emails and petty lawsuits too,” said Foganholi, flanked by his wife, two children and other family members.
Foganholi’s previous move to fire Cartwright
Foganholi first sat on the School Board from April to November, after DeSantis tapped him to fill the District 5 seat, vacated by Board Member Rosalind Osgood in March. She stepped down to successfully run for the Florida Senate.
In an unexpected move on Nov. 14, a day before he stepped down from the board, Foganholi led the effort to dismiss Cartwright, who had been under fire since August, when DeSantis removed four sitting board members after a controversial grand jury report and appointed four political allies.
Foganholi and the four other DeSantis appointees voted 5-4 to terminate Cartwright in that late-night meeting. The four elected incumbents voted against the measure, noting the board may have violated the state’s Sunshine State Law for not posting an item on the agenda about Cartwright’s contract.
On Dec. 13, the newly elected board rescinded Cartwright’s termination and agreed to revisit Cartwright’s performance come Jan. 24.
This week, Board Member Allen Zeman, who was elected to the board in the Nov. 8 election, submitted a proposal to fire Cartwright. He suggested she stay on until July 1.
Levi G. Williams, a Jamaican immigrant and a civil attorney in Fort Lauderdale, administered the oath to Foganholi, a Brazilian immigrant, on Wednesday.
When Foganholi began his first tenure on the board in early May, Torey Alston, then a Broward County commissioner and now a School Board member, swore him in.
Alston was one of the four members whom DeSantis appointed in August to replace the four sitting board members. Alston, the District 2 representative, is the only remaining appointee from that group, as he replaced a board member whose term is not up until 2024. The other three could not seek election as they were appointed after the deadline to get on the ballot.
READ MORE: DeSantis suspends four Broward County School Board members, appoints replacements
Cartwright, state board have tense exchange
Cartwright missed Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony and board meeting in Fort Lauderdale because she attended a state Board of Education meeting in Tallahassee, along with about nine other superintendents summoned to explain why they hadn’t allocated state funds yet for teacher salary increases.
The Broward school district tentatively closed the contract with the Broward Teachers Union Tuesday night. Cartwright will report on that, said her chief of staff, Ernie Lozano, during the School Board meeting.
At the state Board of Education meeting in Tallahassee, board members peppered Cartwright with questions about the district’s status on teacher salary negotiations.
In a short, but tense exchange, Chair Tom Grady appeared frustrated that the district’s negotiations with the Broward Teachers Union have delayed pay increases to educators.
In particular, he wanted to ensure that negotiations are not disrupting DeSantis’ initiative to bring the minimum base salary for teachers to $47,500 — a top priority for the governor since he took office.
“It’s the negotiation process of going back and forth and trying to make sure that we are making a good-faith effort in those conversations,” Cartwright said.
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Teacher salary negotiations have been the main topic of discussion between the district and union, Cartwright said. But included in those discussions are other areas related to compensation, such as health insurance.
Grady told Cartwright the board wants to see the communications the union has sent to educators about the progress being made on salary negotiations.
“So that we as a board and a department may better help districts in the future to get money into the teachers’ pockets before Christmas of this year,” Grady said.
