Staff writer
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — “If the environment is not as such that I can do my very best, I’m willing to discuss a path to a mutual agreement of separation,” Runcie told the school board during a meeting Tuesday.
That shocking statement came a few hours after a prepared video released by the school district where Superintendent Runcie stated released he believed he would be “vindicated.”
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie has offered to resign after his arrest last week on an alleged perjury charge.
Speaking directly to school board member Lori Alhadeff, as he addressed some of the Parkland parents of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“I know you’ve been in enormous amounts of pain that none of us can ever imagine, and I guess I’m probably part of the source of that in some way,” Runcie stating looking directly at Alhadeff “And so if it’s going to give you peace and it’s going to give you and those other parents who remain angry — because I don’t see how there’s anything else I can do — if it’s going to give you that, I will step aside so you can have the peace that you are looking for.”
Runcie and Broward County School Board general counsel Barbara Myrick were arrested Wednesday as part of a statewide grand jury investigation related to alleged fraud for school safety creativities and if they failed to follow the directives of school-related safety laws put into force and execute after the shooting.
After turning himself in, Runcie, was booked into the main Broward County jail on April 21, 2021.
Runcie’s Attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charge, accusing the indictment of lacking “specificity.” However, a prosecutor for Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution announced in a court filing that Runcie made contact with witnesses in the case of former district employee Tony Hunter, who was indicted earlier this year, to prepare for his own testimony.
Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Richard Mantei wrote that, when Runcie was asked if he spoke with anybody “who would have information about the Hunter situation,” Runcie answered, “No, not that — not that I’m aware of.”
“It’s unfortunate that a few people have the ability to throw enough stuff on a person’s work that can cause years’ worth of good work to be halted and the people who are in need continue to suffer,” stated Bobby R. Henry, Sr., publisher of the Westside Gazette. “Mr. Runcie will more than lightly beat the rap however, the ride can damage him in the long run.”
Dr. Rosalind Osgood School Board Chair, along with a still-pending appointed attorney, will negotiate a separation agreement with Runcie and Myrick, which could be voted on during the School Board’s meeting Thursday.
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