Broward Schools Chief Robert Runcie and district’s top lawyer will resign

Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie and the district’s top lawyer Barbara Myrick said Tuesday night they would resign following their respective statewide grand jury indictments earlier this month.

Runcie, 59, said, however, that it was not specifically the felony perjury count in which he’s been charged that led him to resign, but rather the continued blame he’s received for the events leading up to the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which left 17 students and faculty dead and another 17 injured.

“I will step aside so you can have the peace you are looking for,” Runcie told School Board Member Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the shootings when she was only 14.

Broward School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood, along with a yet-to-be-appointed attorney, will negotiate a separation agreement with Runcie and Myrick, which could be voted on during the School Board’s meeting Thursday.

The School Board held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the situation of Runcie and Myrick, 72, who were both arrested last Wednesday related to a statewide grand jury investigation. Runcie was charged with a perjury count stemming from his testimony to the grand jury on March 31 and April 1, and Myrick with sharing information about the grand jury proceedings.

The grand jury, authorized by Gov. Ron Desantis shortly after he was sworn into office in January 2019, was investigating whether school districts were complying with state school safety laws. The Legislature passed the laws after the shootings at Stoneman Douglas.

State prosecutor RIchard Mantei, who works for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, said in a court filing Monday that Runcie contacted at least one witness in another case the grand jury was investigating and lied to the grand jury about that contact. Runcie’s attorneys have contended the charge is politically motivated.

That case, which is pending, resulted in the indictment of Tony Hunter, the district’s former technology chief, in January on charges he steered lucrative contracts to a friend’s business without seeking other bids.

Mantei said Myrick also contacted at least one person on the Hunter case’s witness list, and he said she discussed it with another person. Grand jury proceedings are led by a prosecutor and conducted in secret. Records are sealed.

After Runcie said he’d step down, Myrick told the board she would as well.

“I, too, cannot continue under the scrutiny of every time we have a board meeting each of you send me an email telling me of every mistake I made,” Myrick said.

During the meeting Tuesday, most of the nine board members discussed finding a way for Runcie to step down or have him suspended with pay while his legal case played out.

Michael Burke, a labor attorney hired by the board, however, said he could not find any clause for suspension in Runcie’s contract.

Rather, the three ways he could leave the district’s employ are termination without cause, termination with cause and a through a mutual agreement with the School Board, Burke said.

Terminating him without cause would require the district to pay Runcie 20 weeks of his $356,000 annual salary as severance, plus compensate him for any unused sick or vacation time. Myrick makes $220,000 a year.

Board Member Debra Hixon — whose husband Chris, Stoneman Douglas’ athletic director, was killed in the shootings — said she at least wanted Runcie and Myrick to temporarily step down while they concentrated on their legal defenses.

She said their jobs were too busy to do with such a distraction hanging over them. Following Runcie’s announcement, however, Hixon told Runcie she did not blame him for Parkland, and she said others shouldn’t either.

“Because, we as a district have to move forward,” Hixon said, beginning to cry. “We can’t keep going back to that day, it’s so hard.”

Alhadeff declined to say any more after Runcie agreed to resign. Before, however, she said the indictment was enough for her to recommend his termination.

“I cannot and will not sit idly by as the superintendent and the general counsel contact witnesses in a criminal case and lie about it, according to the criminal prosecutor,” Alhadeff said.

Board Member Ann Murray stood by Runcie and Myrick, agreeing with those saying he’s being targeted for political reasons.

“One way or the other, when powers that be go after you, eventually you’ll fall,” Murray said. “That’s not just here in Broward County, but in all of the state of Florida.”

Alhadeff and several other Parkland parents have blamed Runcie for creating the conditions that led up to former Stoneman Douglas student Nikolas Cruz opening fire at the school.

Earlier Tuesday, Runcie released a video statement saying he would be vindicated following his April 15 grand jury indictment on the perjury charge.

“I am confident that I will be vindicated, and I intend to continue to carry out my responsibilities as superintendent with the highest degree of integrity and moral standards as I have done for nearly 10 years,” said Runcie on the video.

Runcie also repeated what his attorneys have been saying, that the grand jury indictment was politically motivated.

“It’s a sad day in Broward County and across Florida when politics becomes more important than the interests of our students,” Runcie said in the video.

Runcie’s supporters have contended that DeSantis, who authorized the grand jury in February 2019, a month after he was sworn into office, wanted Runcie removed as a result of the Parkland shootings. Shortly after becoming governor in January 2019, DeSantis said the law prohibited him from removing Runcie since he was hired by the Broward School Board and was not an elected official.

About 20 people signed up to speak at Tuesday’s School Board meeting, almost all in favor of Runcie keeping his job.

Runcie’s supporters criticized the board for discussing Runcie’s employment based solely on the indictment. The group included a wide swath of interests, from clergy, local government and business groups. They praised Runcie’s leadership and the improvements made under his guidance.

On Friday, political, business and religious leaders held a press conference in Fort Lauderdale, supporting Runcie.

Bob Swindell, chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, an economic development organization that, among other things, works to train students for the working world, said Runcie has been more active with the group than any of his predecessors.

“We need Superintendent Runcie to remain at the helm of our schools on behalf of our children,” Swindell said.

Likewise, Dan Lindblade, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, urged the board not to take any action against Runcie this early in the legal process.

“Let this play out in the court of law,” Lindblade said.

Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness said there has been an effort to get rid of Runcie, a Harvard graduate, since he was hired in 2011. The School Board extended his contract in 2017 to 2023, his second contract extension by the board.

“This wasn’t just about Parkland,” Holness said.

Holness noted that the grand jury wasn’t impaneled until after DeSantis publicly said in the month he became governor that he could not by law remove Runcie because he was a School Board-appointed official, not elected.

“Do you wonder why the public thinks there’s something sinister in the charge?” Holness said.