Superintendent Cartwright under fire

During the School Board Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 25 , Superintendent Vickie Cartwright was nearly fired. She  was given a 90-action plan where she must address and take care of the issues brought to light by the School Board. Some of these issues include the lack of leadership for underperforming students in the pandemic, lack of clear vision and plan to address enrollment declaration, poor board communication, awful business climate and poor expenditures with local businesses, etc. 

Since DeSantis removed four members of the School Board in August, there has been unrest in the district upon the release of the grandy jury.  Cartwright still faces criticisms from the new Board members. She has faced criticism for being hired as interim, only retaining her role because the Board changed her contract to let her apply for a permanent job. 

Cartwright had included a video where she commends security changes from Chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission. 

During the rest of the meeting the board spent three hours listening to a variety of comments aloud, with the divided members of the meeting. As Cartwright’s citizens continued, Cartwright was judged for the mishandling of personal issues regarding Black employees and job candidates as well as supporting policies that were liberal or unaccountable. 

Despite all the critics, Cartwright was not fired, as it was deemed unfair as the initiative was being led by unelected board members and occurred two weeks before the election of four new School Board members.