Broward School Board To Vote On Superintendent Position

Broward School Board To Vote On Superintendent Position


FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – After conducting their final interviews and listening to public comment, the Broward School Board is set to vote on who will be the next superintendent.

The candidates for the job are interim Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright and Michael Gaal.

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Cartwright, a lifelong educator, has been leading the district since former Superintendent Robert Runcie left after he was charged with perjury related to a criminal corruption case against a former employee.

Gaal is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. While he has never taught K through 12, Gaal says he was a pilot instructor in the Air Force and he has held top school administrator positions in Washington, D.C., and Oakland, California.

It’s going to be a close vote because there’s a lot of support for both of the candidates.

Wednesday morning, each candidate laid out their core message on how they will operate as superintendent for the 200,000 plus students, 28,000 staff members and 230 schools, and nine school board members.

“Because the role of a superintendent is one where you want to know that you have somebody who will be successful in that role. You also want to know that you have someone that’s in that role that will lead the district in a positive direction and a unifying direction and always keep students as their primary focus,” said Cartwright.

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“The will of the board is the will of the board and it is then the job of the superintendent to find his second team or her second team, which is then the staff and the cabinet. How does the superintendent develop adults within the staff to deliver on the expectations of the board? It’s very clear to me that there, as a learning institution, we should have learned opportunities for all adults in the system as well,” said Gaal.

On Tuesday night, Cartwright and Gaal answered questions at a public forum, expressing why they thought they were the right person for the job.

“I was very impressed with both of them,” said Tracey Morganelli.

“I understand that throughout our district there have been issues, but we need to get together to get forward-thinking so that all students are included,” said Vaughn Howard.

Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said the forum was simply to appease certain people and to her, it was pretty clear who should be leading the district.

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“Everybody knows I wrote a letter of support for Vickie Cartwright and we have spoken very clearly that we want a candidate that has walked in our shoes for many decades and understands public education,” she said.



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