Category: Education

A week after a chaotic rollout of metal detectors, Broward Schools are still working out the kinks. Although most students can quickly walk through the metal detectors without them going off, the devices still require a lot of security staff, preventing them from manning other parts of campus, school district officials said during Wednesday’s School Board meeting. They also said they are still working out plans of what to do when thunderstorms or other inclement weather make it impractical for students to wait outside in line. And one School Board member said she’s hearing concerns from...

Jaime Alberti resigned Friday as chief of safety and security for Broward schools, four days after a troubled rollout of high school metal detectors created chaos on the first day of school. Alberti, 53, wrote in a letter of resignation to Superintendent Howard Hepburn that his last day will be Nov. 4, although he will use accrued leave time until then, district spokesman John Sullivan told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Thank you for the support and opportunities provided to me at Broward County Public Schools and I wish everyone continued success,” Alberti wrote. Hepburn said in a...

A Monarch High employee accused of allowing her transgender daughter to play girls sports in violation of state law will be suspended for 10 days and moved to a different job, a divided Broward School Board decided Tuesday. 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...

A committee found reason to discipline a Monarch High employee who is also the mom of a transgender athlete but didn’t want her to be fired, newly released district documents show. The district’s Professional Standards Committee, made of principals and administrators, voted March 20 to recommend a 10-day suspension for Jessica Norton, an information specialist and a junior varsity volleyball coach at the Coconut Creek school. But that recommendation was overruled — at least temporarily. Then-Superintendent Peter Licata and Human Resources Chief David Azzarito decided March 26 to recommend...