The Broward County (Fla.) School Board has rejected an effort to fire Superintendent Robert Runcie.
After a daylong meeting with hours of comments from community members, board members voted 6 to 3 Tuesday to defeat a motion to terminate's Runcie's contract.
The effort to remove Runcie from his job has been led by board member Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was one of the 17 people killed in the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Runcie and district administrators have been criticized by many community members in the year since the shooting attack. Critics have faulted Runcie for the failures involving school security, camera surveillance and discipline procedures related to the Parkland shooting.
The majority of the board spoke in support of Runcie.
"Mr. Runcie believes in our students, and I believe in him," said board member Patricia Good.
Board member Laurie Rich Levinson said, "It is just wrong to make Superintendent Runcie the scapegoat."
After the vote, Runcie said that he hoped that the turmoil the district has endured since the Parkland shooting would be used as an opportunity to united the community.
"Now is the time for our entire community to come together," Runcie said.
He added that along with focusing on safety and security, he wanted the school system to focus on "making sure we're delivering a great education to all of our kids in Broward County."
The Broward County district is the sixth-largest school system in the United States. with more than 270,000 students. Runcie has been superintendent since 2011. He came to Broward from Chicago, where he had been a district administrator for several years.
