By Florida Daily Investments
Broward County Public Schools is facing more than a budget deficit and a series of embarrassing headlines, it is facing a complete breakdown in leadership. At the heart of the district’s dysfunction is a top executive structure that fails to deliver on all three at a critical time: transparency, accountability, and competency.
What makes the current crisis particularly troubling is that Broward’s failures are not limited to a single department or a single bad decision. These span academics, operations, finance, procurement, communications, student services, technology, and strategy. This is a clear sign that the problem is cultural and structural, and rooted in the district’s senior leadership team.
10th floor problem
Broward County Schools’ executive leadership (often referred to internally as the “10th Floor”) includes:
Dr. Fabian Kohn, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Angela Fulton, Deputy Superintendent Ronnell Johnson, Chief Financial Officer Trey Davis III, Chief Information Officer Dr. Emile Lozano, Chief Human Resources Officer Seymone Ruiz, Chief Student Services Officer Wanda Paul, Chief Operations Officer (now retired) Dr. Valerie Wanza, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer John Sullivan, Chief of Staff and Communications
These roles are also important for individuals. Overall, their performance has created a drift in the district, with plenty of titles but poor results.
John Sullivan: The Gatekeeper of Failure
Although each executive has responsibilities within their own lane, John Sullivan’s role is unique and uniquely damaging.
As Chief of Staff and Director of Communications, Mr. Sullivan is more than just a department head. He is the gatekeeper of information, the chief advisor to the superintendent, and the person responsible for ensuring that what reaches the school board is accurate, complete, and candid.
Instead, Sullivan became a major factor in the dysfunction.
He has repeatedly intervened in board discussions to answer questions that the superintendent should address, often without providing clarity or confidence. He has overseen communications efforts that respond to scandals rather than prevent them. He has presided over messaging that minimizes, deflects, and reframes failures rather than owning them.
Even if a board member publicly stated that they were “uncomfortable” with the process, answers, or clarifications, those clarifications were coming from the chief of staff, and that is not a failure of communication. That is a failure of governance.
Operational and financial breakdown
The district’s operational turmoil did not emerge overnight.
As Chief Operating Officer, Wanda Paul oversaw facilities, procurement, and capital planning during a period marked by the Handy Building debacle, RFQ procurement breakdowns, and a lack of basic internal controls. Her resignation did not solve the underlying problem. This is because there was no meaningful system in place. As chief financial officer, Ronnell Johnson is currently presiding over a projected $100 million deficit and potential layoffs affecting up to 1,000 employees. However, boards continue to receive financial projections that inspire little confidence. This is primarily because previous warranties have proven unreliable. The lack of a consistent capital plan, staffing model, and procurement framework reflects that the leadership team has been managing the crisis rather than proactively governing.
Impact on academics, students, and people
While executives debate processes and messages, human costs increase.
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Fabian Cohn has offered little reassurance to the public that academic priorities are separate from financial and operational instability. Chief Student Services Officer Saemone Lewis works in a school district where student support has become increasingly strained due to budget uncertainty and administrative turmoil. Chief Human Resources Officer Dr. Emile Lozano faces the grim prospect of mass layoffs, but there is no clarity on how morale, retention and organizational knowledge will be maintained.
These are not abstract management issues. They impact classrooms, campuses, families, and communities every day.
Technology and Strategy – No Direction
Leadership appears to be passive, even in areas where stability and foresight are essential.
Chief Information Officer Trey Davis III operates at a time of growing concerns about data integrity, system reliability, and transparency, all of which depend on the trust of leaders. Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Dr. Valerie Wanza, who heads up “innovation” for a district that cannot reliably perform basic governance functions, speaks volumes about that disconnect.
leadership team without accountability
What unites these failures is not malice, but a profound lack of responsibility.
Mistakes are blamed on “miscommunication.”
Failures in the process are viewed as “learning moments.”
And the individuals responsible for advising, explaining, and guiding decisions remain in place.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the continued presence of John Sullivan. His office is at the crossroads of all sorts of major failures, but has faced no tangible consequences.
Steps required: Specific personnel action
Process reforms and workshops alone are not enough at this point. The evidence shows a continued failure of senior advisor leadership, and the Broward School Board has both the authority and obligation to act.
To restore credibility and re-establish functional governance, boards should immediately take the following actions:
1. Fire John Sullivan as Chief of Staff and Director of Communications
Sullivan must step down and the board must formally request, or if contractually permitted, direct John Sullivan to be removed or reassigned from his role as chief of staff and communications director, according to people familiar with the Florida Daily investigation.
This recommendation is not punitive. It’s a correction.
Sullivan’s position places him at the center of:
Information flow to the board Strategic advice to the superintendent Public relations messages during a crisis
But throughout his tenure, the board has repeatedly received incomplete or unreliable information, public communications have intensified controversy, and visibly undermined trust in leadership’s explanations. A chief of staff who has lost the trust of the board cannot effectively serve both the superintendent and the public.
At a minimum, Mr. Sullivan should be immediately removed from all board briefing and decision support roles, pending an independent review.
2. Commission an independent review of the Superintendent’s advisory structure.
Boards should hire an independent outside firm to consider:
How information is developed, vetted, and presented to the board; The role senior advisors play in forming recommendations; and whether discrepancies, omissions, or inaccuracies are preventable.
This review must include the Office of the Chief of Staff and Communications Secretary as a focus.
3. Reassignment or termination of senior staff responsible for procurement and capital oversight failures
Failures over facilities, procurement, and capital planning did not end with a single resignation. Boards should require the superintendent to identify specific employees responsible for misleading statements or broken processes and to correct personnel actions as appropriate.
If there are consequences such as lease termination, audit findings, emergency contracts, etc., the conclusion that “no one remained” is unacceptable.
4. Conditions for continued employment of senior staff on the Board Confidence
The board should adopt a formal policy that senior leaders perform their duties in the trust of the board, rather than simply subject to the discretion of the superintendent. When trust is lost, reassignment or separation becomes necessary.
This is standard governance practice and not political intervention.
Leadership change is about governance, not drama.
Taking decisive personnel measures will not lead to instability. What is destabilizing is that the same individuals can manage failure repeatedly while expecting different outcomes.
Public education depends on trust. Trust depends on truth. And truth requires leaders willing and able to deliver it.
In Broward County, the crisis of trust will not end until the board faces the uncomfortable reality that the issue is not just what decisions were made, but who advised them and why they remain in place.
Replacement of leadership is not a last resort.
At the moment, that’s the only person responsible.
In some cases, leadership changes may not begin with the superintendent, but with those who manage the flow of information and advice.
In Broward County, overwhelming evidence has emerged that the current leadership system is failing. And unless we honestly face that reality, the crisis of trust will only deepen.
