Peter Licata plans to start negotiating his exit as Broward schools superintendent Friday and could leave with a payout of about $192,000.
He could also leave with a smaller amount or stay on as an employee until the end of the year, depending on what he and the School Board agree to.
Licata, who has only worked for the district for nine months, announced at an April 16 meeting he planned to retire Dec. 31 due to a health issue, which he declined to discuss publicly. The board agreed at the same meeting to replace Licata, 59, with Howard Hepburn, 45, who has been deputy superintendent for the district for the past eight months.
The School Board’s vote was taken at a meeting that, while publicly noticed, didn’t have anything on the agenda about a superintendent change. The board’s action has drawn criticism from some legal and open meetings experts as well as School Board member Daniel Foganholi, who voted against the proposal.
“Tuesday didn’t sit well with me and still hasn’t sat well with me,” Foganholi told the Sun Sentinel. “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.”