Trails in the Sand by Peter Traceit, the Street Detective
It appears New Pete(Superintendent Licata) and his Executive Board have been busy interviewing and hiring. So far, Superintendent Licata has hired a Deputy Superintendent of Academics from out of Palm Beach county. Ol Pete was able to observe Dr. Howard Hepburn at the NAACP Education Round Table on Thursday at First Baptist Pine Grove. The Detective was impressed. He is young, handsome and sharp as a tack.
They say first impressions are lasting and if it holds true, he is the right pick to deliver Broward back to an A district and ensure Licata gets the first of two 10,000 bonuses.
Speaking of bonuses, Licata hired a Chief of Facilities officer. Interim Superintendent Earlean Smiley appointed many executive level positions but left this “hard to place” position for Licata. The recommended Chief of Facilities is a local who hails from Broward College. Debbie Czubkowski currently serves as the Assistant Vice President of Design and Construction at the community college.
Ol Pete reviewed the list of three candidates who qualified and interviewed for the job. The pickings were slim. Not a single applicant had the breadth of experience that one would want for a school district of this size. With the constant turmoil around this position, The Detective doubts running the ad for longer would have made much difference. The Broward school district hasn’t had a Chief Facilities Officer in more than two years and the ones they had, had all sorts of problems. Ol Pete recalls Leo Bobadillo and Derrick Messier. What a mess!!!
Czubkowski is getting an almost $70,000 raise over her current salary at Broward College. Hopefully her $70,000 will equate to a $10,000 bonus for Licata. Licata’s contract allows for him to earn an additional $10,000 for cleaning up construction.
They tell Ol Traceit, if you want to mess with people, mess with their pockets. It appears that this is exactly what Governor Ron DeSantis did when he signed into law language that prohibits unions from collecting dues via direct deposit, and if membership falls below 60 percent for a given reporting period, the organization can be decertified. The Detective is told that the Broward Teachers Union numbers are hurting bad, and the union is desperately working the trails to increase membership. The Street Detective is hearing teachers are being harassed by their own union representatives in an attempt to get them to join and pay dues. They tell Ol Pete that despite the unorthodox efforts, the numbers remain below acceptable percentages.
School has been in session for just one week, but Anna Fusco is back at it. She seems to have disappeared and cowered at the mere sight and sound of Earlean Smiley. Super Smiley’s unbossed, unbothered, un-bullied, no nonsense, straight talk, straight understanding demeanor kept Fusco at bay. Now, however, what’s up- she doesn’t have the same discipline now that Smiley has left the building. Ol Pete is told she is barking and hounding up a fuss and Black female principals appear to be her flavor of the day.
Ol Pete thinks New Pete ought to take a page out of Smiley’s play book before Fusco is claiming to co-lead the district like she professed to be doing during Super Runcie’s tenure or claiming she “owns him” like she did with Super Cartwright.
Peter Traceit is thinking that just as it was time for new leadership with Broward schools, the time may be right for new leadership at the BTU. Ol Pete is told that the bylaws for the union have been cemented in such a way that it would take an act of Congress to remove the current president (DeSantis’ Act of Florida might suffice.) Some seem to think that Anna Fusco would continue her shenanigans from retirement and if possible, the far beyond.
The Detective is on the case and won’t stop treading the sands until every sand in the soil is turned.
