A Message From The Publisher
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
At this critical moment, I am one thought away from recommending that the State comes in and does a total overhaul of Broward County Public Schools. The corruption runs so deep that former Board members are serving as de facto members and continuing to push their agendas with the newly elected Board.
It is laughable that new Board members occasionally talk junk about old board members, when they are performing in the exact same corrupt way. Recently carted out Board members that took office in 2010 after Beverly Gallagher and Stephanie Kraft were charged, arrested, and convicted of crimes, they wagged their fingers of judgment. Now, a decade later they find themselves swimming in the same cesspool of corruption that runs deep and has been prevalent for decades.
The old board under Superintendent Robert Runcie understood for well over a year that issues with Runcie had created a stain on the district, and as long as he remained in the position, there would be constant inquiries, articles, investigations and unrest. That didn’t stop them, they stayed the rocky course which eventually led to the demise of all of them.
What temperament would strategically select superintendents who have the characteristics to allow corruption to reign
The controversy of Runcie’s existence was parallel to the movie Groundhog Day. No matter the good that character, Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) did to get past the Murray) did to get past the revolving madness of that day, he could not move forward. He kept waking up to the same mess.
No matter the good Broward did daily in the district and in its schools, it could not move past the loop created by the pain of February 14, 2018. Something dramatic had to change to get Phil Connors from February 2 to February 3, and until he realized it, he remained in the perpetual loop of frustration in waking up to Groundhog Day. Runcie kept Broward waking up after February 14, 2018, in that perpetual loop of frustration until the Grand Jury investigation and report jolted us forward. Cartwright has now taken the baton and is doing the same.
Even the slightest consideration of keeping Cartwright by just one Board member indicates that the sickness of this Board runs so deep that the entire structure needs to be torn down layer by layer and brick by brick.
Superintendent Cartwright has been on a steady mission to regain her job, after being fired two times in two days. The Reform Board accused her of politicking with the Board and trying to get to November, and while she denied it, the accusation was just as true as the hump on a camel’s back. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t make it to November before being terminated. But this woman has no shame. Only desperation or insanity can explain why someone who has been fired twice in two days from the sixth largest school district in the nation would risk being fired a third time in three weeks, unless the payoff is damn well worth it.
It is rumored that a revisit of her firing was scheduled for the regular School Board meeting on Tuesday, November 6. Cartwright, however, strategically canceled the November 6
regular School Board meeting because Debra Hixon, one of her expected supporters, would not be in attendance. If this isn’t political, then a bear does not defecate in the woods. She postponed district business of other agenda items to take care of her personal need to have Hixon at the meeting where her termination would be reconsidered.
It you recall the day that the Board voted to allow Cartwright to apply to become the permanent superintendent, former Board member Laurie Rich Levinson expressed frustration that Ray and Associates, the firm that would conduct the search had not been contacted yet. Cartwright was the reason the firm had not been contacted. As interim superintendent, she was responsible for getting the superintendent selection process underway. Why would she do that when she had not successfully gotten the Board to allow her to apply. Once she was cleared to apply, she then contacted Ray and Associates. Cartwright circumvented at every stage of the process to orchestrate getting the superintendency. This reign of terror was bad from the start.
With the help of clandestine opportunist, she is now pulling out every stop to regain a job that she has been fired from twice. She showed up to Apostle John Mohorn Jr’s church trying to make good with the Black community, something she should have been keen enough to do upon her arrival. This past weekend, she played another Black card, and it wasn’t American Express either. Cartwright used School Board funds to secure the signature sponsor spot of the Broward County Council of the National Panhellenic Inc. Founders Day Luncheon and Celebration. As signature sponsor, a member of the organization was able to address the group for three minutes and Cartwright was all too happy to take the microphone.
Allowing her to address the members of the Broward Divine 9 was probably the most politically ill-astute thing that the president of the organization could have done, and it didn’t help Cartwright either. Her presence was distasteful on several fronts. It was politically driven because she has failed to engage with the Divine 9 since arriving to Broward. She could have had 20 minutes upon her arrival without paying a dime to sincerely engage the audience. Instead, those who are directing her, have again made a big ol booboo.
Two of the Blacks she demoted, Dr. David Hall and Dr. Eric Miller, are members of local chapters of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.. Dr. Dorsey Miller, the father of Dr. Eric Miller, served as Grand Basilus (President) of the organization and remains a strong influence on Omega Psi Phi, Inc., the Broward Divine 9 and he also served as Executive Director of Diversity for Broward Schools until his retirement in the late 1990s. But Cartwright wouldn’t know that because she is listening to people who are self-serving and haven’t been a member in the Divine 9 for hardly a decade.
Cartwright also demoted Dr. Carletha Shaw-Rolle and Dr. Valerie Wanza, who are also local chapter members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. They have not only served their chapters well but have served the district well collectively for over 50 years. The local Broward Panhellenic allowed Cartwright to use one of our most sacred organizations as a political platform to pretend she is embracing our community. Well, it fell on deaf ears. I cannot tell you the angry text messages and phone calls I received leading up to the event and even while the event was happening. To demonstrate just how politically motivated Cartwright’s intentions were, she used a picture of herself and her name to project on the screen as the signature sponsor. The sponsorship was paid for by Broward County Public Schools and thus the district’s logo and name should have been center on the screen. She misused public dollars to fund her political agenda in the same way she stood in front of principals and district staff prior to her first firing to solicit their support. Her poor judgment with principals at this meeting has led to a formal ethics complaint with the State Inspector General’s Office. Our Black organization leaders must understand that all money ain’t ‘good’ money. Some of it is “suck up” money and we must know when to turn it down. The Broward County of NABSE made this same error at the beginning of Cartwright’s tenure, putting on a glamor and glitz affair at Dillard High School where Cartwright took center stage. Cartwright used the organization for political expediency, but she has done nothing since to support the mission and work of the organization like prior superintendents: Dr. Frank Till, Jim Notter and Robert Runcie.
It has now been confirmed that the Board item to reconsider Cartwright’s firing has been filed by newly elected District 5 Board member, Jeff Holness, for the December 13th meeting. From my and other concerned community members’ perspective, here is just how insane this whole spectacle will play out. During the December 6 Board workshop, the eight Board members discussed the process to hire a new superintendent and possible interim. A week later, on December 13th, it is rumored that Holness will bring three B agenda items forward. The first is to reconsider the termination of Cartwright. The second is to rescind the superintendent search discussed the week prior. The third is to restart the clock for Cartwright’s 90-day grace period. I just have one question: Did Cartwright give the Black people she demoted one day of grace, or did she just run them down with a Caterpillar D7 bulldozer used in heavy reconstruction?
Holness is a new Board member who admitted on the campaign trail that he doesn’t watch Board meetings, and he has never held political office. He had to have help in understanding how to craft these three items with such a short time being on the Board. There is no evidence he has consulted with his District 5 constituents regarding their will to bring this item forward. The only thing that makes sense is a de facto Board member who Cartwright left on district letterhead for months after officially leaving is ordering Holness’ steps. This de facto Board member seems to have a selfish interest in keeping Cartwright in the job. Some say, “Follow the money of consultant agreements.”
I misspoke. I have a second question. Will Board member Holness survive his decision to allow a de facto member to use him to do her bidding? When it goes awry, and I guarantee you that it will, Holness will be left standing alone to defend his actions with not as much as a 50/50, lifeline or offer to call a former Board member friend.
I am convinced that the Broward County School Board is intent on being the laughingstock of educational governing boards. It is painful when heads of educational institutions present as simple-minded and unable to make the most elementary connections that require only common sense.
If a single Board member votes to retain Cartwright as Superintendent, I recommend that the State comes in and uproot the entire structure and regrow the tree. The current tree is poisonous and the soil, roots, trunk, branches, limbs, and every leaf need thorough evaluation. To leave (pun intended) any portion of a poisonous tree risks the continual emission of toxic oxygen into the air which enters the nostrils of employees at every level. This is how pervasive dysfunction survives for decades throughout an entire organization. It is time to stop the revolving door of dysfunction.
Brown vs Board Topeka, Kansas when the term, “with all deliberate speed” was recorded into law has been a hindrance to the progress of equal education and now corrupt School Boards are about to be written down in history just the same as well.
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