Three senior Broward County school board employees leave after four school board members were previously suspended

Broward County, Florida – The damning report from the grand jury that resulted in the suspension of four members of the Broward County school board has now now resulted in the decisions to resign or retire on the part of three senior employees.

During the regularly planned meeting of the school board that took place on Tuesday, the newly elected Chairman, Torey Alston, discussed the many different kinds of changes that are taking place throughout the district, both within the individual schools and within the administration.

He stated that the order in which these items were included on the agenda was illogical. “So therefore, we are going to go through this today because that is what we talked to staff about; nevertheless, there will be modifications for the board meeting in October.”

Superintendent Vickie Cartwright, who took over for Robert Runcie the previous summer, delivered a report that was 28 pages long and detailed the various accomplishments that have occurred under her watch.

Every school in the system now has a single point of entry, along with a video intercom that can be used to speak with individuals who are outside the building.

To prevent firearms and other types of weapons from being brought onto school grounds, automatic doorknob locks are being installed on each and every classroom door, and kids are being selected at random for screening with hand-held metal detectors.

Cartwright shared the sentiment, saying, “We have a couple targets that are still out there, and we are continually working on that.”

After Runcie’s resignation in the wake of his indictment for allegedly lying to the grand jury, Cartwright was appointed to the position of superintendent.

Following the findings of the inquiry by the grand jury, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida removed four members of the Democratic Party from the school board and replaced them with members of his Republican Party, including Alston.

Some others referred to that as simple politics.

As a follow-up, the State Board of Education sent a letter to Cartwright in which it urged her to take disciplinary action against the three employees who were listed in the grand jury report. The senior members of the staff were accused of influencing judgments that were unsuccessful for school safety.

They are an assistant chief building official named Ron Morgan, a Director of Diversity and School Climate named David Watkins, and the Chief of Staff for the district, Jeff Moquin.

Cartwright stated on Tuesday that those workers have already resigned or will soon be departing from their positions.

The chairman of the board stated that politics had nothing to do with the decision that was made.

Alston remarked that partisanship should be left at the door. “Therefore, regardless of whether the governor is a man or a woman, obviously, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, some action would have been taken if there had been a grand jury report.”