Incompetence, Neglect of Duty, and Misuse of Authority: Gov. Ron DeSantis Suspends Four Broward County School Board Members

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday suspended via executive order four Broward County School Board members “due to their incompetence, neglect of duty, and misuse of authority.”

Board members Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray and Laurie Rich Levinson were suspended effective immediately.

They were suspended after April 2021 recommendations proposed by the Twentieth Statewide Grand Jury weren’t implemented. The grand jury was impaneled by the Florida Supreme Court after the February 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in which a lone gunman shot 34 people, killing 17.

The grand jury’s final report found that a safety-related alarm could have possibly saved lives at the school but “was and is such a low priority that it remains uninstalled at multiple schools.” It also found that “students continue to be educated in unsafe, aging, decrepit, moldy buildings that were supposed to have been renovated years ago.”

The school board’s failure to address safety issues four years after the shooting, DeSantis said, is “inexcusable.” The school board members “have shown a pattern of emboldening unacceptable behavior, including fraud and mismanagement, across the district,” he said.

“It is my duty to suspend people from office when there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect of duty, misfeasance or malfeasance,” DeSantis said in a statement. “The findings of the Statewide Grand Jury affirm the work of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Commission. We are grateful to the members of the jury who have dedicated countless hours to this mission and we hope this suspension brings the Parkland community another step towards justice. This action is in the best interest of the residents and students of Broward County and all citizens of Florida.”… (Excerpt from The Florida Capital Star)