The embattled Broward County Public Schools superintendent and a top district lawyer who were both indicted on felony charges last week have agreed to step down and the board plans to vote on their replacements as early as Thursday.
Superintendent Robert Runcie was accused of lying under oath, and Barbara Myrick, the district’s general counsel, has been charged with unlawfully disclosing secret grand jury proceedings. Both charges are third-degree felonies.
“Both Ms. Myrick and Mr. Runcie have agreed to do a mutual termination agreement,” said Debbi Hixon, a Broward County School Board member. “We will vote on this Thursday so that the Chair and the Attorneys can work on the agreement.”
Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie was accused of lying under oath. (Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The district includes Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and while Runcie’s indictment was not directly related to his handling of the shooting, it stemmed out of a statewide grand jury investigating possible violations of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, possible misuse of state safety funds and fraud.
FLORIDA SUPERINTENDENT’S PARKLAND SHOOTING TESTIMONY LEADS TO PERJURY CHARGE ARREST
The act was passed as a response to the deadly Parkland school shooting that killed 17 and injured 17 more on Valentine’s Day 2018. Then-Gov. Rick Scott signed the new measures into law in March 2018.
“The actions that Bob Runcie took today are a direct result of his recent indictment on perjury charges by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,” said Max Schachter, whose son Alex was killed in the massacre. “Those charges had nothing to do with the Parkland School Shooting. They resulted from mistruths he told the grand jury under oath investigating a $17 million bid rigging scheme in Broward County Public Schools.”
Schachter said he looked forward to reading the unsealed indictment in the future.
“I think the recent charges are just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
In a statement, an attorney for Andrew Pollack, another Parkland parent whose daughter Meadow was killed, said “good riddance” and blasted both Runcie as a “failed leader” and Myrick as his “enabler.”
“An attorney who breaks the law by revealing secret grand jury testimony is a disgrace to the legal profession,” said attorney David W. Brill.
School Board member Lori Alhadeff, who also lost her daughter Alyssa in the shooting, took issue during a meeting Tuesday about the district having to cover Runcie’s legal fees in connection with the perjury charge, according to Miami-based WPLG.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Runcie, who was part of the meeting, revealed after she spoke that he would agree to his exit from the district.
Fox News’ Kathleen Reuschle contributed to this report.