The department, long known as the Special Investigative Unit, is also changing its name to the Broward County Schools Police to reflect a new mission that’s more about protecting schools than investigating employees.

“That really sends a message to the public and to our schools that we do have a police department that supplements and supports our schools,” Superintendent Howard Hepburn told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The police department, which is probably best known for investigating employee misconduct cases, is handing over that function to the district’s human resources department.

The six detectives who now do investigations, as well as a sergeant who supervises them, will remain with the district, but they’ll now report to a new professional standards and labor relations division overseen by longtime administrator Ernie Lozano. The department also has three civilian employees who will be involved in investigations, Lozano said.

Eventually, the professional standards department may replace some police positions with civilian positions, if the district determines most investigations aren’t criminal in nature, Lozano said.

The police department, which will now have 24 employees instead of 31, will focus on overseeing armed guardians who protect schools, providing school resource officers to a few schools, coordinating security for school and district events, responding to threats reported to schools and assisting with behavioral threat assessments for students who may be at risk of harming themselves or others, said Jaime Alberti, chief of safety and security for the district.

“There’s a misconception that SIU is strictly an investigative arm, that it does nothing but investigations, and that’s not accurate,” Alberti said.

The new smaller police department is a stark contrast to a proposal in January that would have increased the size of the department tenfold, to 377 members, with a chief, 362 officers, six captains and eight civilian positions.

That proposal, which the School Board unanimously rejected, would have created a police department similar to those in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade School districts, which use their own personnel for school resource officers. In Broward, the Sheriff’s Office and city police departments supply school resource officers for most schools. The school district’s guardian program also provides armed protection for schools without a police officer or for those who need additional armed security.

Although the full-scale police force idea was scrapped, district officials decided the current department needed to undergo changes, including the way employee investigations are handled.

Employee discipline in the past has been inconsistent, officials said. In some cases, a principal or their supervisor would investigate an employee, with the assistance of the district’s human resources department. When the investigation had the potential to be criminal, the matter was usually turned over to the Special Investigative Unit.

But the lines became blurred, with SIU frequently investigating matters that weren’t criminal, such as whether an administrator made racist and inflammatory remarks and whether a former chief communications officer organized a rally for an embattled superintendent during work time.

And with multiple departments investigating different employees and determining whether there was just cause, the discipline was often inconsistent.

During a recent School Board meeting, the majority of board members decided not to fire an employee accused of violating a state law banning transgender girls from playing girls’ sports, in part because the district had been more lenient with employees accused of more serious offenses.

For example, a guidance counselor accused of fraud got a three-day suspension, a teacher assistant accused of child abuse got a one-day suspension and a safety specialist got 10 days over accusations of indecent conduct with staff. The School Board voted 5-4 to give the employee in the transgender athlete case a 10-day suspension.

Hepburn told the Sun Sentinel the new professional standards department should enable less subjectivity and more consistency in discipline.

“I didn’t want principals having to make these tough objective decisions when they have to worry about running the school, engaging with the teachers, and engaging with their communities, engaging with their students and their parents,” he said. “So we want to create a separate department who can do that work, concentrate on it and come up with objective measures and objective criteria that can lead to objective decisions.”

The district’s police department also faced major criticism in October, when a detective arrested a longtime volunteer during a heated board member for what he said was battery on a law enforcement officer. A district-hired consultant determined the arrest wasn’t warranted, and the State Attorney’s Office declined to file charges.

Hepburn told School Board members in a recent memo that the district has taken steps to improve since that incident, including de-escalation training for all sworn officers and implementing new procedures in the board room.

“I believe the actions taken have addressed the concerns raised, and the necessary procedural enhancements have been put in place to prevent future occurrences,” Hepburn said in the memo.

The City Commission unanimously agreed Monday night to accept the district’s offer to reimburse the city $113,560 for each police officer for the coming year, with an increase to $119,240 the next year. The School Board is expected to approve the contract Aug. 21.

“We appreciate the City of Pembroke Pines for its ongoing partnership and financial commitment to securing our schools,” School District spokesman John Sullivan said Tuesday.

City leaders disliked the district’s offer, saying the reimbursement rate only covered part of the city’s costs of $165,251, which includes salary, benefits and equipment costs.

The school district argued its price is standard for all cities that provide school resource officers and was negotiated by the Broward League of Cities and the Broward County Chiefs of Police Association. The city said those negotiations were without its participation. After the city balked at the offer, the district said it would provide non-sworn security known as armed guardians in city schools.

Initially, Mayor Angelo Castillo and city staff agreed to that. But the City Commission faced major pushback from local parents and residents.

The district already provides guardians for a number of elementary schools in the county, but Pembroke Pines would have been the only city to not supply law enforcement officers for middle or high schools.

Another proposal would have kept Pembroke Pines in two district-run high schools, Charles Flanagan and West Broward, but not in middle or elementary schools.

But parents attended meetings last week and Monday to say they love Pembroke Pines police officers and want them in all elementary, middle and high schools.

“The SRO’s are no guarantee something bad will never happen,” Ilenia Sanchez-Bryson told the City Commission on Monday night. “But it does ensure that the most skilled and trained individual is there if ever there’s a need for swift action in a dire situation, so that if the worst thing imaginable were to happen, we would not be left wondering why we didn’t do everything we could to protect our most vulnerable citizens.”

Vice Mayor Thomas Good told the audience attending Monday’s meeting that the commission took their concerns seriously.

“You spoke. We heard, and we are delivering to you exactly what you have been anticipating and expecting all along,” he said.

Castillo agreed to the contract but still voiced concern that the city was subsidizing school police services, which he sees as a responsibility of the school district.

“It’s unfortunate we’re not going to get the complete cost,” he said Monday night. “We understand we have to put the safety of the children first. That’s something we’ve always done, but the dynamic of this contract arrangement is reeking in bad public policy.”

Lines were still long at many high schools but they moved quickly, according to parents and school officials, the result of more metal detector stations, revamped procedures and adjusted settings.

On Monday, the first day of school, students faced enormous, slow-moving lines. Many missed their first-period classes because of delays getting through the metal detectors, which were beeping constantly. The devices had been piloted at two schools over the summer, but Monday was the first large-scale rollout.

“What a difference a day makes,” Superintendent Howard Hepburn told reporters Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, Hepburn visited Cypress Bay High in Weston, which at 4,700 students is the largest high school in the state. A photo shared Monday showed a gigantic crowd of students waiting to get into the school, resembling a packed outdoor stadium venue.

The district shared a photo from nearly the same vantage point Tuesday morning, revealing a near empty area outside of campus at 7:30 a.m., 10 minutes before school started.

“I witnessed students coming in, definitely more efficient based on some adjustments we made as staff, based on some communication we sent out to our students to better prepare before they actually get to the system, and that paid dividends,” Hepburn said. “At Cypress Bay, all of their students got into the school prior to the bell ringing.”

It was the same at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High In Parkland, where Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff visited.

“Today was a much smoother day than the first day of school, and that is largely due to the improvements we made to our metal detector program,” she said.  “The enhancements we have implemented are already making a noticeable difference in the efficiency and safety of our school entry process.”

Students were reminded to keep their backpacks in front of them for easy access to items that need to come out, such as laptops, tablets and large three-ring binders.

Improvements at the schools included extra metal detectors, security staff stationed outside to keep the lines moving and recalibrated settings to avoid small innocuous items, such as an eyelash curler, setting off the devices, officials said.

“It still goes off with what we are trying to check for weapons, knives and firearms,” Hepburn said. “Some students did have to go to a secondary checkpoint to get searched, but we did not find any weapons. We did not find any knives or firearms. So it was a safe day for our students.”

A check of other schools by South Florida Sun Sentinel staff found no major issues. Lines were long but moving at Northeast High in Oakland Park and Fort Lauderdale High, while not noticeable at Deerfield Beach High from off campus.

Some parents voiced relief on social media Tuesday.

“Cooper City High was so much better today. My daughter left the house 10 minutes earlier, but said she got right through today with minimal wait,” parent Christy Boyce posted on the “Concerned Citizens of Broward County” Facebook group.

At Coral Glades High in Coral Springs, “my daughter said they didn’t open the student car lot gate until 7:04 but the metal detector lines were organized this time and moved faster. She was through by 7:20,” Ilene Frankel Littman wrote on the Facebook group.

Numerous students set off the detectors with their tablets, water bottles and even eyelash curlers. School was supposed to start at 7:40 a.m. Monday at most high schools, but about 8:30 a.m., with many students still waiting outside, Superintendent Howard Hepburn authorized schools to suspend metal detector use and allow students to enter just by showing their IDs.

Hepburn issued a public apology on Facebook on Monday.

“We apologize to Broward County Public Schools’ high school students and families for the long lines and wait times at the metal detectors this morning,” he wrote. “We sincerely thank our students for their patience.

“Please remember to avoid bringing metal items or remove them from your bag as you approach the detectors to speed up the process,” Hepburn wrote. “We are committed to improving this experience and will be making necessary adjustments. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue communicating with our families and students.”

Hepburn told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday afternoon that despite the aborted rollout earlier in the day, the district will be using the metal detectors again on Tuesday. He said the district is adding an extra metal detection station at large schools that experienced the longest lines as well as making other changes.

The devices are supposed to be calibrated so that large metal items such as guns and knives set them off, but keys and cellphones do not. Students are asked to hand larger devices, such as laptops and three-ring binders, to a security official before walking through a metal detector.

Hepburn said some schools had security staff reminding students what items to take out, but others did not.

“Those are some of the protocols we’re going to be implementing to make sure there’s more communications to kids and we’ll add communications to kids on the bus before they get to school,” Hepburn said. “A continuous reminder. This is a total routine shift for our kids.”

Board member Allen Zeman told the Sun Sentinel “one of the kinks” was the sensitivity setting recommended by the vendor this weekend had not been used before and was more sensitive than ones used by other districts.

District spokesman John Sullivan declined to comment on Zeman’s assertion.

“I would say the sensitivity of the machines will go into our security operations, so we will not be answering questions in that regard,” he said.

Many students and parents posted pictures Monday of schools with lines, with hundreds or thousands of students waiting to get in.

“EPIC FAIL!! Why have ‘free breakfast’ when 90% of the students were lucky if they made it inside the building before first period ended! God help them when it rains,” Andrea Soto posted in response to Hepburn’s apology.

“This was not thought out at all,” Jamekia Ricks, whose son attends Northeast High in Oakland Park, wrote on the district’s Facebook account. “Put the metal detectors at every entrance. This may help with line control. Because the BS that is going on this morning is crazy.”

Western High in Davie opened gates at 7 a.m., with hopes of getting students in by 7:40 a.m. It didn’t work.

“Here’s a math problem for your class. 3,700 students must pass through 2 entry points within 40 minutes. How many students will be late for class?” Western parent Keith Walsh wrote in a family group text message, shared with the Sun Sentinel. “Unless they can process each student in 1.3 seconds, students will be late. Some A-rated district. They apparently can’t do math.”

Walsh later wrote, “Tell the students to send pictures to the media to show how school is going. Oh wait, they can’t use cell phones.”

Monday also was the first day for a new policy that bans the use of cellphones from morning bell to dismissal bell. It’s not clear whether the rule applies to students waiting in line long after the morning bell rings.

Not all Western students had long waits. Landyn Spelberg, a Western junior who is the student adviser to the School Board, said he had “a very smooth process this morning. I knew exactly what to take out, walked right into the metal detector and was in in 10 minutes.”

School district staff originally suggested implementing metal detectors through a phased-in approach over two years. But some School Board members said they’d prefer them all be implemented this school year.

“I did say at the beginning I did not think we should do it all at one time,” said Board member Debbi Hixon, who lost her husband Chris in the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland. “We had some board members who said we had to do it all at one time.”

One of those was Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa also was killed at Stoneman Douglas.

“I don’t really want to wait. I want to do all of our high schools now, and I think that it’s so abundantly important that we add this proactive layer of safety protection to keep the weapons and guns out of our schools,” Alhadeff said in May. “And to just pick and choose this school or that school is not acceptable.”

Asked Monday if the district’s approach was a mistake, Alhadeff said she expects the process will get smoother each day, and she’s still glad the metal detectors are in place.

“If let’s say, God forbid, something happened and a weapon got into one of our schools, and that was one of the schools we didn’t put the metal detector on, that would be very difficult for me to deal with,” Alhadeff said. “So I know it was a challenge, but we got through it and we’re just going to improve from this day forward.”

Monday also was the first day of school in Palm Beach County schools. That district started piloting metal detectors last year and fewer issues were reported.

The city’s elementary and middle schools run by the Broward School District will still have armed security for the 2024-25 school year, with district police officers serving in middle schools and armed guardians, which are non-sworn officers, protecting elementary schools.

The proposal came after Superintendent Howard Hepburn and School Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff met with Pembroke Pines leaders recently. The Pembroke Pines Commission is expected to vote on the matter Wednesday.

Many Pembroke Pines parents have voiced concern since the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported last month that a contract dispute between the city and school district could mean school resource officers in many Pembroke Pines schools would be replaced by lower paid armed guardians. Whether they will be satisfied with the hybrid approach is unclear.

“Our priority remains to provide quality police services, and we believe this approach will allow us to maintain a safe and secure environment for everyone in our schools,” Kevin Nosowicz, Broward schools interim police chief, wrote in a recent email to a parent concerned about the changes.

“Our police department has a great working relationship with the Pembroke Pines police department and will continue to partner with each other to provide exceptional services to not only the City of Pembroke Pines schools but also the surrounding communities,” Nosowicz wrote.

School police officers are found in every middle and high school in the district, while guardians are in many elementary schools, including ones in Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors and Deerfield Beach.

Mayor Angelo Castillo told the Sun Sentinel that Pembroke Pines wanted to continue providing police officers in all city schools, but the school district refuses to pay the full costs. The school district has argued that it negotiated a standard price for all city police departments and the Broward Sheriff’s Office through the Broward County League of Cities and the Chiefs of Police Association.

The district has agreed to pay the city $113,560 per officer for four officers in two city high schools, West Broward and Charles Flanagan. Castillo said that’s about 30% below the city’s actual costs.

“They said the amount they are willing to pay is a standard amount which applies to every police department they do business with, and it’s not subject to negotiation,” Castillo said. “Understanding we have this concern, they decided they would change the security arrangement to what we have before us.

“We were willing and able and eager to provide an SRO in each of the public schools,” Castillo said. “We remain eager and willing to provide it, but they have to pay their bills.”

School Board member Torey Alston, whose district includes Pembroke Pines, voiced support for the efforts to resolve the issue.

“I support safer school measures, I support our school police and I stand by the City of Pembroke Pines,” he said. “There is a role for the district and we should ensure parents have SROs at each school.”

But Mike Hernandez, a parent and city commissioner, is not satisfied.

“Under a new superintendent, the Broward County Public Schools continues its outdated policy of providing security on the cheap,” he said. “That shouldn’t be the district’s policy in the same community that lived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas tragedy. As the father of two BCPS students, I’m extremely disappointed in our district leadership.”

Hepburn, who took over as superintendent in April, spoke of new security enhancements such as metal detectors and drones during an appearance Wednesday before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. He also said the district secured a $3 million state grant for safety training.

“Today we’re smarter and more efficient and work closer with law enforcement. We remain deeply committed to creating a safer and more secure learning environment,” Hepburn told the commission. “We embody the core belief that everyone plays a role in keeping schools safe.”

He said he is now confident that Broward “is one of the safest school districts in the nation, if not the safest.”

The state Legislature created the safety commission shortly after the Feb. 14, 2018, tragedy at Stoneman Douglas, which left 17 people dead, including family members of the commission and the Broward School Board. Hepburn’s appearance came on the second day of a two-day meeting at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

A few years ago, the commission provided harsh criticism of the school district’s safety efforts, frequently telling former Superintendent Robert Runcie that the district showed no sense of urgency. But members praised Hepburn’s early efforts.

“What I see is a culture shift in Broward schools, and that’s welcome news,” said Ryan Petty, a commissioner whose daughter Alaina was killed at Stoneman Douglas.

Hepburn addressed a number of topics during his 15-minute presentation.

Behavioral threat assessments

The commission has criticized the district in the past for poor training and implementation of behavioral threat assessments, which are designed to assist students who may be a danger to themselves or others. Even after the district made changes to software in 2021, an audit found the district was still doing a poor job.

But the district has now built a “powerful behavioral threat assessment department” that works with district-run and charter schools “to train administrators and staff in school safety and supports behavioral assessments that help identify issues and concerns related to student actions.”

“We go far beyond minimal safety training and require all school administrators, school resource officers, school social workers and psychologists to complete extensive training on safety and security best practices,” Hepburn said.

He said nearly 4,000 threat assessments were completed last year for at-risk students.

Alyssa’s Law

The district is taking steps to improve its implementation of Alyssa’s Law, which requires districts to have mobile panic buttons.

The law is named after Broward School Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff’s daughter, Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed in the tragedy. The district uses an app from SaferWatch, a local company, which has been installed on all district-issued cellphones. The app uses GPS technology to identify the precise location of an emergency and allows users to type in more details.

The district has struggled to get teachers and other school staff to install it on their personal phones, due to fears that the device may be tracking their whereabouts. The district has now installed the software on all district-issued devices besides cellphones, including laptop and desktop computers, Hepburn said. He said the district is also in discussions with SaferWatch about piloting a device that school staff can wear around their necks and press in an emergency in lieu of a cellphone or computer.

Metal detectors

The district has expanded a random metal detection program to more classrooms and schools every day of the week. The program started in 2022. Law enforcement enter classrooms without notice to screen students’ bags for weapons.

“The program is helping to curtail the number of weapons brought to school,” Hepburn said. “Although we screened 11% more students in the 23-24 school year, the number of weapons discovered during these random screenings declined nearly 21% over the previous period.”

These will remain as the district installs new walk-through metal detectors in all high schools during the new school year, he said. The new metal detector initiative was piloted at two schools this summer.

Hepburn said entrances to high schools have been consolidated “to ensure students are carefully screened for weapons. School staff will work with the district’s security to make this a seamless and efficient process.”

Fencing

The district has been replacing and adding more fencing around its campuses and now includes all visitor parking areas, Hepburn said.

“This helps to ensure safety, and security staff engage with visitors before they actually arrive at a single point of entry at the school,” Hepburn said. “It’s an additional layer of security that did not previously exist.”

He said last year 28 fence projects totaling $1.9 million were completed.

Intercoms

The district has assessed intercom equipment at its 220 schools and identified 87 priority sites for upgrades, Hepburn said.

The district plans to select vendors for upgrades to help the district provide “stronger, more responsive procedures to help school staff act more quickly and efficiently.”

A recent audit found the district had botched the rollout of an intercom system in 2019, with 60% of schools not having the emergency features that were expected.

The district says all schools have functioning intercom systems. But an expected upgrade where the intercoms could override fire alarms didn’t happen, the audit found. Lives were lost at Stoneman Douglas after the residue from the gun triggered the fire alarm, causing students to evacuate.

“There were some issues that happened in the past where the intercom process wasn’t totally followed,” Hepburn told reporters after his comments. “Our team has gone through all of that, and we have a good plan to move forward to ensure that all of our intercom systems are upgraded appropriately.”

Promise Program

The commission recommended in 2019 that the district scrap its Promise program, an alternative-to-arrest program for students who have committed certain misdemeanor offenses. Commission members argued it allowed students to commit crimes without being tracked by other law enforcement agencies.

That finally happened last fall.

“I’m pleased to inform the commission that the district’s Promise program is no longer in existence,” Hepburn said during his comments.

He said crimes are referred to law enforcement but the district “works on the back end to support unmet social and emotional needs.”

Drone program

The district has established a new drone program with the Federal Aviation Administration for campus surveillance. The drones will monitor large-scale events on campus, such as sporting events and evacuations.

“It provides a quick and clear visual recap of situations unfolding on the ground,” he said.

Jessica Norton, 50, an information management specialist and coach at the Coconut Creek school, was one of at least eight district employees investigated, but the only one to face discipline. An investigation concluded that her child, now 16, played volleyball for two years at Monarch, as well as soccer and volleyball at nearby Lyons Creek Middle.

A committee of district administrators recommended a 10-day suspension, but Hepburn decided to ask the School Board to fire her instead, saying she knowingly violated a 2021 law known as the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which bans anyone born male from competing in girls sports.

“Obviously I don’t want to get fired from my job. I love my job,” Norton told reporters afterward. “But I don’t think that the decision for any suspension was correct,” arguing she did nothing wrong.

What Norton’s job will look like when she returns is unclear. As part of the 10-day suspension, the majority of board members agreed to allow her to work a lateral job as a clerk but without access to any student records.

Four board members — Lori Alhadeff, Torey Alston, Brenda Fam and Daniel Foganholi — appeared ready to fire her, rejecting requests from the board’s most liberal board members — Sarah Leonardi, Jeff Holness, Allen Zeman and Nora Rupert — for more lenient discipline.

The swing vote was Debbi Hixon, who agreed with some of her more conservative colleagues that Norton needed strict consequences, saying she broke the law and her actions had an adverse impact on her school, which got fined $16,500 and placed on probation. But Hixon also agreed with her more liberal colleagues that termination was too harsh for an employee’s first offense.

“This is really about not following the law,” Hixon said. “It is about knowing there was a transgender student playing girls students while you were a coach and employee at the school.”

The final vote was 5-4, with Alhadeff, Alston, Foganholi and Fam dissenting.

“It is extremely important when an employee breaks the law, that there’s consequences to those actions, and our superintendent brought forward to us this termination as a consequence,” Alhadeff said. “If we do not terminate, then others would be led to believe that they too can break the law, and I have a problem with that.”

But some board members argued the district’s investigation was flawed and that the district has given lesser punishments for worse offenses. The vote was postponed a week after Alston asked Hepburn to bring back a list of discipline for other employee cases.

Zeman read from the list, which included a guidance counselor accused of fraud getting a three-day suspension, a teacher assistant accused of child abuse getting a one-day suspension and a safety specialist getting 10 days over accusations of indecent conduct with staff.

“It’s important for us to come up with a solution to this that is consistent with the others,” Zeman said. “When people who are accused of or found guilty of indecent conduct with minors get letters of reprimand, we have to be very, very careful about where we’re going.”

But Alston said those past actions don’t justify lenient discipline of Norton.

“I actually believe most of those disciplines that are read are atrocious,” he said.

Fam, an outspoken social conservative on the board, used the harshest words during the discussion to describe Norton and her daughter, who she referred to as her son.

“I think what happened is criminal in my opinion,” she said, despite state law defining violations to the law as a civil matter.

Norton walked out of the auditorium at Plantation High, where the meeting was held, in the middle of Fam’s comments.

“She deliberately did it I felt to get a reaction out of me. It worked,” Norton said after the meeting. “I don’t think that a school board member should be misgendering children at all.”

Jason Starr, a lawyer representing Norton, blasted the decision, saying it holds her responsible for actions she took as a parent, not an employee. Hepburn confirmed to the board that there was no evidence that Norton used her job to falsify any student records.

“There is no question that throughout the course of this investigation, the Broward County School District has not only abdicated its responsibility to the safety and well-being of Mrs. Norton’s daughter, but has retaliated against an employee simply for advocating for their child,” Starr said.

He also noted that a few years ago, the district had policies that were supportive of transgender students. Many of those policies were dropped due to new state laws that have passed since 2021.

“The LGBTQ+ inclusive policies that had become a foundational part of the culture of Broward County Schools have been completely abandoned — LGBTQ+ students and families are not safe in this school district and their treatment of the Norton’s have made that clear,” Starr said.

The state had consistently ranked Broward a B-rated district based on student performance, while counties to the north and south usually got A’s. But on Wednesday, the district learned it got its first A since 2011.

And unlike two decades ago when the A grade came despite pockets of failing schools, this year, the district had no district-run D or F schools.

The top school grade should help the embattled district win back families and public trust after years of turmoil and enrollment declines, Hepburn said during an interview Thursday with the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“We’re hoping that it’s going to spark more interest from parents to really check out the schools that are in their community,” he said. “If they’re not already taking advantage of us as an option, then they can learn about the great things that are going on in their schools.”

It also could reduce the need to close a lot of schools in the coming years, he said.

One factor the district has considered when deciding whether to close a school is academic performance. Oakridge Elementary in Hollywood, which was on a possible school closure list earlier this year, soared from a D to a B. Another perennially struggling school, Broward Estates Elementary in Lauderhill, climbed from a D to a C.

“Abolishing the D and F status in Broward County Public Schools is a huge deal,” Hepburn said. “It means that we’re providing the best learning opportunities possible to our students no matter their circumstances, no matter their social economic status no matter their community.”

Although Hepburn wasn’t superintendent for most of the last school year, he did have a major role in the district’s academic direction this past year, serving as deputy superintendent for teaching and learning under former Superintendent Peter Licata.

When Licata announced April 16 he was stepping down due to health issues, the School Board appointed Hepburn that same day.

With Thursday being the 100-day mark, Hepburn sat down with the Sun Sentinel to discuss the major issues he’s faced as superintendent.

Redefining schools

One of Hepburn’s first duties, getting public input on the district’s “Redefining Our Schools” effort to close and overhaul schools, didn’t go well.

Hepburn hosted a series of seven town halls where the redefining proposal was met with fierce resistance by parents, teachers and elected officials. Some School Board members and community members complained the plan only disrupted areas in the Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood areas, despite the district having underenrolled schools in nearly every city except Parkland, Davie, Weston and Cooper City.

The School Board rejected the initial plan and decided to start over. Hepburn said the new plan will be more countywide. He expects final recommendations in November.

“Our (past) redefining process for me was about listening and learning from the community and really trying to understand their needs, albeit in an environment where they really didn’t agree with a lot of things that we presented at the time,” he said.

Community members also complained they were allowed to speak for only a minute or two at public meetings and were asked to choose between bad options on a survey. Hepburn said the new effort will involve more meaningful interaction with the public.

“Our community felt like they’re not really engaged in this process and that they were not really understanding the challenges, and so we have an opportunity to regroup and restart this process,” he said. “It’s going to be a fruitful opportunity for us to engage in the community in a different way.”

Leadership turnover

The district has seen a lot of turnover among high-ranking officials this year. Some were here less than a year, including Licata, Chief Facilities Officer Deborah Czubkowski and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Zoie Saunders.

Other recent departures were longer-term employees, including Deputy Superintendent Judith Marte, Chief Information Officer Joe Phillips and Chief Financial Officer Erum Motiwala.

Hepburn said some of those administrators left for opportunities they may have considered for a long time. But he acknowledged the transition at the top may have expedited some people’s departures.

“I can’t speak for the people that have left, but in any organization when there’s new leadership that comes in, there’s some level of uncertainty that may cause people to make different decisions and take advantage of different opportunities,” he said.

He said the district has lost leaders who “contributed greatly” to the district, but “it’s also an opportunity to bring in better talent, a different type of talent, that’s going to align with our mission and vision of reaching 100% proficiency” for students.

Charter school payout

Hepburn inherited a major expense on his first day on the job, as the School Board agreed April 16 to a three-year settlement with charter schools that will exceed $100 million.

Several dozen charter schools sued the district in October, complaining the district failed to adequately share revenues from a 2018 voter-approved referendum for teacher pay, school safety and mental health. The state Board of Education ordered the district to resolve the matter or the state may withhold funds.

Hepburn’s predecessor, Licata, had said in April the money would likely come from a referendum passed in 2022, which could reduce the available supplements for teachers.

But Hepburn said he doesn’t expect that to happen and is looking for other ways to cut costs.

“We will have to rightsize as a district. We have to be more fiscally responsible,” he said. “We have to look at what we’re spending money on. We have to look at personnel so we’re not spending money on personnel that’s not needed. We have to become more efficient in this whole process regardless of the charter school payout.”

The district isn’t planning on laying off teachers to save money, Hepburn said. He said the district has about 230 teacher vacancies, and a job fair to hire more educators was scheduled Saturday at Western High in Davie.

Safety and security

With one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history happening at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Broward’s school safety initiatives are closely watched throughout the country.

Hepburn is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. Wednesday at a meeting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission, which was created after the 2018 tragedy to study ways to improve school safety.

“We’ll be highlighting the many security enhancements that have been implemented this past school year as well as ones that will be implemented this upcoming school year,” Hepburn said.

These include a new metal detection system in high schools, upgrades in school police radios and a new drone program to provide surveillance to large-scale activities such as evacuations at schools or sporting events, he said.

Transgender athlete

Another issue that has made headlines during Hepburn’s tenure is an investigation into a transgender girl’s participation on a girls volleyball team at Monarch High in Coconut Creek. A 2021 state law bans anyone born male from playing on girls’ sports teams.

At least eight employees at two schools have been investigated, but the only one facing discipline is Jessica Norton, a $35,000-a-year data information specialist who is also the mother of the transgender athlete.

The case has been slow to resolve.

Hepburn first made a recommendation to fire Norton at a June meeting before withdrawing it and placing it on the July 23 agenda.

But after a 90-minute discussion, board members postponed the matter until this Tuesday, saying they wanted see data to show whether the termination is consistent with how the district has treated other employees accused of breaking a state law.

Some board members and allies of Norton have questioned whether the discipline was political, as a way to appease Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made his opposition to transgender girls playing girls sports a major issue both as governor and during his failed campaign for president.

Hepburn said he’s sticking with his recommendation to fire Norton and denied politics or pressure from the state played any role.

“I’m a very objective person,” he said. “I looked at the totality of the case and I made a recommendation to the board. It’s up to them to make a decision after that if they’re going to follow up with my recommendation or if they’re going to change it and do as they fit for this employee.”

Inspector general

As Broward voters go to the polls in November, they’ll be asked to consider whether to place the school district under the eyes of the county’s ethics czar.

Broward’s Office of Inspector General investigates waste and fraud in the county and local municipalities, but the school district for years resisted being included. That will change if voters say yes in November.

On past ballot initiatives requested by the district, including tax increases to pay for teacher raises and school construction, the district launched an aggressive public awareness campaign that included social media blasts, media interviews and town halls. But that’s not happening on the inspector general question, Hepburn said.

“It’s not our ballot initiative. It’s the county’s,” Hepburn said.

While that’s true, it was the school district that asked the County Commission to place it on the ballot.

Asked whether the district expected the county to conduct an education campaign, Chief Communications Officer John Sullivan responded, “We don’t have any awareness campaigns plan for that ballot measure at the moment.”

The School Board agreed Tuesday to pass a near-ban on cellphone use from the morning bell until dismissal. Students can still bring their phones to school but they must put them away out of sight during the school day. They can stay powered on, but must remain in airplane mode, which officials say will allow them to quickly access them in case of an emergency.

They can also be used for student instruction at the discretion of a teacher.

The new rule takes effect on the first day of school, Aug. 12. Previously, cellphones had been prohibited during class time but could be used during class changes and lunch.

But School Board members decided that doesn’t go far enough, citing a need for students to be less distracted and to spend more time socializing with their classmates. A growing number of school districts around the country have implemented similar bans, including Los Angeles and Orange County in Florida.

“There’s significant evidence that the use of cellphones, particularly the addictive nature of social media, is causing our children serious mental health concerns,” Broward School Board member Allen Zeman said. “This is a bold move that will make our school district better.”

The decision comes despite concerns from parents and students. Some said the district should have gotten more feedback before enacting this rule, including discussing the matter with district committees. The change was passed near the end of an 11-hour School Board meeting Tuesday.

“This is going to cause community freakout. This item is tucked at the back of a meeting, so you’d have to be here eight hours to speak about it,” Jacqui Luscombe, a parent who chairs the district’s ESE Advisory Council, told the School Board. “It’s going to be met with some dismay and outcry and pushback for folks who this is going to be a shock for.”

Some other parents say cellphone access is needed for students with certain disabilities or health needs, such as those who use the phones to monitor diabetes. Superintendent Howard Hepburn told the Sun Sentinel the district would accommodate students with these types of needs.

A proposed cellphone ban was panned by students who responded to a recent survey conducted by student government leaders. Out of 147 students who responded, only two supported it, the survey shows.

“Cellphones allow students to take a break from the amount of stressful work that is given during the school day,” a student at Coconut Creek High wrote. “Cellphones include fun apps that calm the brain. Additionally, cellphones allow students to communicate with family members if they’re in need of something important.”

A Hollywood Hills High student wrote, “Cellphones are important because we can use it to call anybody in case of emergencies, taking pictures of assignments for ourselves or friends that are absent … and getting quicker access to a bunch of resources we use in school.”

School Board members weren’t swayed.

“I didn’t expect students to jump up and down and say this is a great thing,” Zeman said, adding that he’s gotten good feedback from parents and employees.

Nora Rupert, who called in to the meeting from Canada where she spends much of the summer, said she has curtailed her own use of cellphones and electronic devices and has found it freeing.

“Don’t we want our students now to go through the kind of childhood that we went through, which was blissfully naive and we weren’t attached to our cellphones,” she said.

The state Department of Education released school grades Wednesday after its governing board approved a new grading scale for schools and districts, and Broward had improved from last year’s B grade.

The results showed good news throughout South Florida, with all three South Florida school districts getting A grades. Palm Beach County had been A-rated in recent years but had slipped to a B last year. Miami-Dade has been A-rated every year grades have been issued since 2018.

But for Broward, it’s been a long-fought struggle. The school district used to be A-rated consistently during the first decade of the 2000s but slipped to a B in 2012 and stayed that way through last year, with the exception of 2013, when it got a C.

In 2021, the state didn’t issue grades due to the pandemic, but Broward showed some of the steepest learning declines in the state. Superintendent Howard Hepburn said the district is reviewing the data to see if students have fully recovered from pandemic losses.

“We are incredibly proud to have earned an ‘A’ grade from the state — a goal we have been working hard to achieve,” Hepburn said. “This accomplishment highlights the outstanding progress we have made and assures parents that we are providing a high-quality education for their children.”

The results were impressive for individual schools as well, with no schools getting a D or F except for Championship Academy of Distinction at Hollywood, a charter school that struggled in recent years with student performance and management challenges. Including charter schools, the district got 124 A’s, 78 B’s and 88 C’s.

Since 2022, the School Board has identified becoming an A-rated district as a priority, adding it to the district’s mission statement and promising a $10,000 bonus to the superintendent if it happens.

Hepburn, who was the deputy superintendent for teaching and learning during most of the last school year, will qualify for the bonus under his contract. He said he plans to donate it to the Broward Education Foundation for student scholarships.

Broward School Board member Torey Alston, a Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee who is running to be elected, told supporters at an online campaign event Tuesday night he expected the school grade to improve.

“I told the School Board when I started two years ago we can be an A school district,” Alston told supporters. “That was a culture shock for a few of my colleagues and the superintendent serving at the time (Vickie Cartwright) who told us it would take seven years to be an A. It’s been two years.”

Cartwright actually told the School Board during a meeting on Aug. 31, 2022, that she expected Broward to become an A district by the 2026-27 school year.

Palm Beach County, which has traditionally been one of the state’s best performing large districts, fell from being a perennial A to a B last year.

Superintendent Mike Burke said the district is thrilled to regain its A status.

“Today’s announcement underscores the dedication of Palm Beach County’s families, teachers, administrators, support staff, and community members to educating, affirming and inspiring our students,” Burke said. “I’m especially proud of our students who put in the hard work to achieve this coveted ‘A’ rating.”

Jose Dotres, Miami-Dade County’s superintendent, boasted that Miami-Dade ranked as one of the top performing districts in the state, large or small. Twenty-two districts got A grades, but the state also publishes a numerical score. Miami-Dade ranked eighth, Palm Beach 16th and Broward 18th. The top performing district was Lafayette in the Panhandle.

“Five consecutive years as an A rated school District,” Dotres posted on the social media site X. “Congratulations to our dedicated teachers, school leaders, district leaders, support staff, community partners and families.”

A release from the Department of Education says that 1,300 schools statewide earned an A grade this year, up 6 percentage points from last year. The number of schools receiving D’s or F’s declined, with 81 fewer schools earning a D and 17 fewer schools earning an F.

“This year’s school grades reflect Florida’s steadfast commitment to excellence in education,” said Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr. “Under Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership, we have continued to raise the bar for providing students with a quality education that suits their individual needs, and these school grades are proof positive that our approach is working.”