Two administrators who played key roles in the Broward County (Fla.) district's troubled $800 million bond program plan to step down.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Leo Bobadilla, chief facilities officer, and Tony Hunter, chief information officer, have submitted their resignations, effective Jan. 11.
Until recently, Bobadilla had been overseeing bond-funded projects to renovate old schools. Hunter oversaw the $80 million in technology that schools received as part of the bond.
A district spokeswoman says she does not know whether Superintendent Robert Runcie asked them to resign.
Bobadilla led a construction program that was plagued with extensive delays and massive cost overruns; projects regularly were coming in two or three times their projected price. After numerous complaints from school board members, Runcie removed Bobadilla from bond work in September.
Frank Girardi was appointed in September as executive director of the bond program. He will remain in that job, while Mary Ann May, the district’s chief fire official, will take over as facilities chief.
Runcie hired Bobadilla, who previously served as chief operating officer for the Houston Independent School System, in 2015 to run the facilities department. His hiring generated controversy because an auditor found him partly responsible for a $211 million budget shortfall in Houston’s $1.9 billion program.
Hunter has drawn less public scrutiny, despite some complaints about the quality of computers bought for schools with bond money.
Matthew Bradford, director of computer operations, will take over as chief information officer.
