Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has removed four Broward County School Board members from their positions for engaging in what the governor called “incompetence, neglect of duty, and misuse of authority.”
The Miami Herald reports that the governor's action was in response to findings of a statewide grand jury that investigated the Broward School Board’s response to the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting that left 17 students and staff dead and 17 injured.
The grand jury accused the board members of "incompetence and neglect of duty" and recommended that they be removed from office.
DeSantis removed Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray and Laurie Rich Levinson from office — and appointed Torey Alston, Manuel “Nandy” A. Serrano, Ryan Reiter and Kevin Tynan to replace them. The suspended board members are all women. The appointees are all men.
Korn, a former English teacher who was the Broward School Board chair in 2014 and 2020 issued a statement: “I am very disappointed in the Governor’s decision to once again put politics above education in Broward County. I am confident that our community will see past the headlines and sound bites and focus on my record which stands on its own merits. I am undoubtedly the most qualified candidate to continue serving Broward County.”
Lori Alhadeff, a school board member elected a few months after her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting praised the governor's action.
“Thank you to Governor DeSantis for your swift action that holds school board members accountable based on the findings of the Grand Jury Report,” said Alhadeff, a former teacher. “Many thanks for your continued commitment to school safety and high quality education for all of our students and staff."
