Message From A Publisher
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
With much anticipation, today’s School Board meeting in Broward county is expected to be like a precursor to the Fourth of July show. With a boldness like none seen before, Dr. Earlean Smiley has put together an organization chart and placed people in positions to “ready the district” for the change needed to move forward towards excellence. Whether you have agreed or disagreed with her, there is no doubting that Smiley is a strategic leader who has demonstrated a great deal of vision, competence and confidence not seen in Broward in a long time. She was described by her former student, Board member, Torey Alston as “unbossed” and “unbothered”, and that she has been.
Dr. Smiley is unbossed and unbothered as she puts forward what she describes as a winning team to continue the work in the quest to return to an A district.
There has been much opposition to her naming Dr. Valerie Wanza as Chief of Staff and paying her $220,000. But why wouldn’t Wanza make this amount of money? The Chief of Staff is the number two and in the absence of the Superintendent, the Chief of Staff stands in as the Superintendent. Why would the Chief of Staff make less money than the two Deputy Superintendents? Furthermore, lest we forget when former Superintendent Vickie Cartwright put forth massive changes to the organizational chart and paid staff money that was unheard of; not one said a word of challenge. Cartwright simply stated that when doing salary comparisons of other large school districts, these salaries were competitive to ensure we get the most competent people. Competent, they were not.
The then Board chair, Laurie Rich Levinson, silenced the protests from the community who showed up in unprecedented numbers to challenge some of the changes that negatively impacted Black people. Though Board members voiced a weak dissent, they voted unanimously to pass the travesty of an organization chart which demoted competent, hardworking employees with highly effective evaluations and doctorate degrees and allowed incompetent replacements to be hired in their positions.
Wanza deserves every cent she is going to make and probably more. She deserves to be the Superintendent, but I won’t go down that road again. Every single Board member who sits on that dais cannot deny that they could do their job effectively without calling on Wanza. I venture to say that she is called on more than any executive level leader. I am further confident that not a week goes by that her knowledge and expertise are sought out by not just every Board Member but also other executive level leaders. The truth of the matter is that they cannot do it without her. She is, now, indispensable. No matter how the vote for Superintendent comes out on Thursday, she is and will be the very humble de facto superintendent and she deserves to be paid like one.
I have said this before and will reiterate it here again. Black people, especially Black women, must be doubly competent and extremely docile in order to be accepted by mainstream White people in leadership roles. The Smiley’s and Wanza’s of this world are too scary to them. In response to their bold, competent, and confident leadership, they are often characterized as “angry Black women”. These Board members would rather select a mediocre, less talented, and often incompetent White woman or man over a talented, competent, bold, forward-thinking Black person. Could this be the real reason they didn’t run with Smiley for a full year before selecting a superintendent and went to great lengths to avoid selecting Wanza? I watched the Board meeting when dozens of people showed up to support Wanza. I watched intently as Board member Zeman and others strategically selected their final candidates to ensure Wanza didn’t get enough votes.
Board member Brenda Fam spoke about subpoenas from the dais and the internal candidate being under investigation, all which are not true. Wanza was never served with a subpoena, and she is not under investigation. It would be appropriate for Fam to correct that untruth from the same space she told it, the dais. Was the fabrication intentionally designed to knock Wanza out of the selection, yet she is still willing to serve the district she loves as Chief of Staff? They don’t love you Dr. Wanza, but we love you.
I was following a tweet where someone suggested that Wanza performs the job of Chief of Staff and continue to be paid the salary she is currently getting. Only Black people are asked to do more and forgo the appropriate compensation. They figure we should just be grateful for the opportunity and to be in the room.
If you recall, the Broward Board paid Runcie less than what he was worth in 2011 for his initial contract. They bantered back and forth on his salary and for whatever reasons , he agreed to be paid less. He cheapened himself in that moment and set the tone for being taken for granted for almost a decade. They continued to “nickel and dime” him on his contract renewals during every negotiation and re-negotiation after. Even as he negotiated his final exit, some Board members wanted to see him walk out of the KC Wright Building naked.
I contend that Wanza and the work she does are worth every single red cent. The additional compensation she is getting is less than that of Alan Strauss who will become Interim Deputy Superintendent, yet there isn’t the same chatter about his additional pay. Note that Strauss is a White male.
Some Board members argue that Smiley should not make these appointments. She should allow the new superintendent who will be selected on Tuesday make them. The time it would take for two of these gentlemen who have never been a superintendent of a school District to get up to snuff with all the Board’s drama and shenanigans, learn new people, go through interview process etc., would take a lot more time. There is however one that possibly could, again with the help of Dr. Wanza make things right. That choice could keep the momentum that Dr. Smiley has created to continue.
The superintendent will be an outsider and will need insiders to help steer the ship and keep it on course.
The question, however, is will there be a new superintendent selected on Thursday? Knowing this Board as we have grown to know them, it seems highly unlikely.
There are three candidates under consideration and one of them must gain the majority five votes. As I rethink this and try to understand the mediocrity of this board I don’t see it happening. If there were two, the likelihood that a Superintendent would be selected would be pretty darn good, except for someone being absent and there is a tie or someone abstaining. However, with three candidates and all Board members casting a vote, the tallies could easily be 3-3-3 or 4-2-3 or 1-4-4. In each of these scenarios, no candidates get the needed five votes. I say again, with this Board, the odds of this happening is very likely. They cannot help themselves. Repeat after me, “They can’t seem to get out of their own way.”
If they poke the bear with Smiley with this organization chart and proposed raises, she may take her toys and go home, leaving them with the superintendent choice they should have made in the first place: Dr. Valerie Wanza.
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