Broward School Board reluctant to pay outgoing superintendent full severance

Departing Superintendent Peter Licata could leave the Broward school district with some severance pay, but it should not be the full 20 weeks that’s possible under his contract, School Board members said Tuesday.

The board member discussion also suggested that the exit negotiations, which start Friday between Licata and Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff, could be contentious. Board member Daniel Foganholi warned the initial agreement may be “ripped to shreds.”

The discussion came after the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Monday that Licata could leave the district with more than $190,000 in severance and other pay, even though he’s voluntarily retiring due to health reasons and has only been in the district for nine months.

That’s because the School Board voted April 16 to immediately terminate its contract with Licata and replace him with Deputy Superintendent Howard Hepburn, even though Licata announced he wasn’t retiring until Dec. 31. The quick transition has raised questions about how much Licata, whose annual salary is $350,000, is entitled to be paid for the rest of the year.

Under a provision in his contract called “termination without cause,” Licata would be given 60 days’ notice ($57,534) and 20 weeks’ severance pay ($134,615). A lower amount can be negotiated but it must be agreed to by Licata.

Asked Friday whether he’d seek the full severance package, Licata told the Sun Sentinel, “That is for my legal team to discuss at the negotiations.”

Alhadeff asked the board if they would support a proposal to increase his 60 days’ notice to 90 days ($86,301) and offer no severance. She also asked if board members would be willing to pay severance, and if so, how much.

Board members were not all in agreement

• Debbi Hixon said she would support 90 days’ notice but not 20 weeks of severance. Any severance “should be more in line with how long he was here.”
• Allen Zeman and Brenda Fam said they’d like Licata to stay until Dec. 31 as an adviser to the school district.
• Sarah Leonardi said she doesn’t support 20 weeks’ severance but would support a severance package of about seven weeks or Licata staying as long as Dec. 31.
• Nora Rupert said she’d support giving him 90 days’ notice or seven weeks of severance.
• Jeff Holness said he could support 90 days’ notice or “at least 10 weeks” of severance.

Alhadeff didn’t discuss what she would prefer. Torey Alston and Foganholi said they didn’t think it was a good idea to discuss potential offers ahead of time.

Alston asked General Counsel Marylin Batista, “Is that your legal advice that we should openly talk strategy today because you and the chair will lose some of that strategy on Friday?”

Batista said state law doesn’t allow the board to discuss negotiation strategy behind closed doors for the superintendent.

Hixon said she felt the guidance was needed. She negotiated Licata’s employment contract last year and many provisions were changed by the board after negotiations.

“When I negotiated what I thought was a good contract, it was ripped apart in public and it made the superintendent look bad, it made us look bad and it put us in a weird spot,” she said. “I think it makes more sense to give some direction to our chair.”

During the July vote on Licata’s three-year contract, the board lowered Licata’s pay by $10,000 over what Hixon negotiated and took out a provision that said a supermajority of six votes was needed to fire him. The board also added a requirement that he must move from Palm Beach to Broward County.

The board rejected an amendment by Alston to pay no severance to Licata if he lasted less than a year.

Foganholi, the lone no vote to immediately replace Licata with Hepburn, voiced concerns about the April 16 transition, which he said looked staged and was designed to hire a superintendent without a public process. While the April 16 meeting was publicly noticed, there was no mention that the board may sever ties with one superintendent and appoint another.

“I’m not a fan of the process, not a fan of how this is happening,” he said. “I was the lone vote. Due to the comments and where this is going, I feel like it’s a hell no. This whole process is wrong to me.”

He said Alhadeff can do her best to negotiate a separation agreement but “it’s going to be ripped to shreds regardless.”

He also criticized the board choosing Hepburn so quickly.

Foganholi, who wanted the board to hire longtime administrator Valerie Wanza as superintendent last year, said Licata was selected in an open process that involved the public, but that didn’t happen this time.

With Hepburn, “it’s going to be a person that was given the job and didn’t earn it.”

Rupert fired back, saying superintendents can be appointed in different ways and some counties elect them. She also noted that two members on the board, including Foganholi, were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis while others were elected.

“I’m of the mind of respecting the person in the [superintendent] seat just as I am with colleagues appointed to their seat. There is no difference in my mind,” Rupert said. “It doesn’t make them other. It makes them my colleague and they represent that district, even though the public didn’t vote for them.”