Broward School Board to consider $202,000 superintendent exit package

Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis | May 20, 2024

Peter Licata may officially lose his title as Broward schools superintendent Tuesday and could become an adviser and then a consultant under a proposed $202,000 separation agreement the School Board plans to discuss.

A proposal negotiated between Licata and Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff seeks to bring clarity about the role, duties and costs of Licata, whose last day working as superintendent was five weeks ago. Since then, Licata and the district have been in prolonged separation negotiations, with several delays as well as disagreements over such issues as whether Licata is voluntarily leaving or being forced out.

Some School Board members have already voiced concern the proposed separation package is too generous, and that he’s taking too long to leave. Licata only served as superintendent for a little more than nine months. During the past five weeks, it’s been unclear what his exact job duties have been and who he reports to.

“JOB SEEKERS: Only @browardschools welcomes you then allows you to ‘immediately retire’ with 150k, Bamboozle a few board members (not me) and report to no one for weeks!” Board member Torey Alston posted on the social media site X on Saturday.

Under the proposed separation, Licata and the School Board would agree that Licata quit being superintendent April 16. Licata’s job title from April 16 to July 1 would be “special advisor” to new Superintendent Howard Hepburn, with the same $350,000 annual salary and benefits as he received as superintendent.

Licata’s duties through July 1 would be determined by Hepburn, the proposal states. This portion of the separation would cost the district $141,843, which includes salary, benefits, $25,478 worth of unused sick and vacation time and $3,000 in legal expenses.

After July 1, Licata would work nine weeks as a consultant for the district’s $800 million bond construction program at the same salary ($6,730 per week), but without any benefits. This separate agreement would cost the district $60,577, bringing his total exit package to $202,420.

According to the proposed contract, his duties as a consultant would include monitoring performance of the bond program and using “summer work schedule documents to provide weekly reporting to the superintendent to monitor progress of construction programs.”

Whether the School Board is interested in paying a superintendent’s salary for those services remains to be seen.

“I think we need to think hard about whether to support paying a consultant a rate of $350,000 a year. I don’t think the public would go for that,” Board member Allen Zeman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Neither Licata nor his lawyer, Glen Torcivia, could be reached Monday.

If the School Board decides to change the tentative agreement, Licata would have the option to accept or reject it. If he rejects it, the board would likely have to keep negotiating or decide to terminate Licata’s contract with or without cause, board members say.

If terminated without cause, Licata would be entitled to 60 days’ notice, 20 weeks’ severance and unused sick and vacation days. That package would be more costly than what’s now being proposed because it includes 60 additional days of pay ($57,534) and possibly more in benefit costs, although the district wouldn’t have to pay legal fees.

If Licata is terminated with cause, he’d be gone immediately and would only receive earned, accrued, and unused vacation days. Licata would be entitled to due process through a state judge if the board were to fire him for cause.

Licata told the School Board April 16 he planned to retire Dec. 31, 2024, due to health reasons.

Instead of allowing him to work through that period, the School Board voted to immediately replace him with Hepburn and negotiate Licata’s separation later, a decision that has proven to be messy. Licata’s lawyer argued during negotiations the School Board was forcing Licata out early.

Licata hasn’t publicly discussed the health condition. He said he told the School Board about it confidentially in December 2023.

The night before Licata made his announcement, he asked Alhadeff to keep it quiet until the meeting, according to a text exchange obtained by the Sun Sentinel through a public records request.

“Can you please keep that confidential til I announce so we can be on same page and can’t have holes poked into it,” he asked at 6:17 p.m. on April 15.

“Yes,” Alhadeff responded.

Licata told the Sun Sentinel on April 22, “I did not want incorrect information or speculation about my health or why I was retiring out there. I wanted it to be announced by me with my clearly defined announcement done on Tuesday to the Board, staff, and community.”

The transition was voted on without any advance notice to the public. Alhadeff defended the move by saying the meeting where it was discussed had been properly noticed. But some School Board members have complained that the entire transition seemed secretive and orchestrated.

“I have multiple people in the district and in our community reaching out because they felt they just watched a show that was extremely staged, but not everybody had the script,” Board member Daniel Foganholi told the Sun Sentinel on April 18.

Foganholi was the only one of the nine board members to vote no on the transition.

However, since April 16, other board members became concerned about the transition, including the slow pace of negotiations. An initial session was canceled due to a conflict involving Licata’s lawyer. The proposal agreed to during a May 7 session was supposed to come to the board at a May 14 special meeting, but the meeting was canceled.

“Both lawyers working on some minor details. Marylin indicated it can go on the 21st,” Licata told the Sun Sentinel on May 10, referring to General Counsel Marylin Batista.

Some board members also have questioned Licata’s duties since the transition and who he reports to. He’s been showing up to the district’s administration office daily and working from an office on the first floor, according to multiple school district sources.

“Dr. Licata is helping with the transition as established by the School Board during the April 16th board meeting,” district spokesman John Sullivan said. That includes the district’s “redefining BCPS initiative” to close or repurpose schools, he said.

However, Licata said in a May 14 text to a district advisory chairwoman he hasn’t been involved in that effort recently. He made the comment to Narnike Pierre-Grant, chairwoman of the district’s Diversity Committee, after she criticized the plan publicly and told Hepburn she felt it was Licata’s plan.

“Mine was vastly different but I forgive you for your assumption and public conviction of me,” Licata texted to Pierre-Grant on May 14, which she shared with the Sun Sentinel. “I have not been involved much in the planning for a month but I appreciate you supporting Dr. Hepburn.”

As for what Licata has been doing, he told Pierre-Grant he’d been dealing with a facility issue that day at Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach.

“There is still much work to be done for All our students to be equitably supported. (Hence my day today at Blanche Ely and following up on facility edicts I imposed three months ago),” he texted Pierre-Grant on May 14.

Board member Torey Alston questioned last week whether Licata’s undefined role in the district has been appropriate.

“I do know there are different series of meetings that are occurring, and this board did not put in safeguards about what this transition looks like,” he said May 14.

After discussing Licata’s exit, the School Board plans to vote on a proposed three-year contract for Hepburn. One major difference in Hepburn’s contract is he would get no severance if his tenure lasted less than six months and wouldn’t qualify for 20 weeks’ severance unless he was here at least a year.