By Florida Daily Investigations
Broward County Public Schools is confronting more than a budget deficit or a series of embarrassing headlines — it is facing a full-scale leadership credibility collapse. At the center of the district’s dysfunction is a top-heavy executive structure that has failed to deliver transparency, accountability, or competence at a moment when all three are essential.
What makes the current crisis especially troubling is that Broward’s failures are not confined to a single department or a single bad decision. They span academics, operations, finance, procurement, communications, student services, technology, and strategy — a clear sign that the problem is cultural and structural, rooted in the district’s senior leadership team.
The 10th Floor Problem
Broward County Schools’ executive leadership — often referred to internally as the “10th floor” — includes:
- Dr. Fabian Cone, Chief Academic Officer
- Dr. Angela Fulton, Deputy Superintendent
- Romanel Johnson, Chief Financial Officer
- Trey Davis III, Chief Information Officer
- Dr. Emile Lozano, Chief Human Resources Officer
- Saemone Luis, Chief Student Services Officer
- Wanda Paul, Chief Operations Officer (now resigned)
- Dr. Valerie Wanza, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer
- John Sullivan, Chief of Staff & Communications
Individually, these roles are critical. Collectively, their performance has produced a district adrift — rich in titles, poor in results.
John Sullivan: The Gatekeeper of Failure
While each executive bears responsibility within their lane, John Sullivan’s role is unique — and uniquely damaging.
As Chief of Staff and Communications, Sullivan is not merely another department head. He is the gatekeeper of information, the superintendent’s chief advisor, and the person responsible for ensuring that what reaches the School Board is accurate, complete, and candid.
Instead, Sullivan has become the primary enabler of dysfunction.
- He has repeatedly inserted himself into Board discussions to answer questions that should have been addressed by the superintendent — often without providing clarity or confidence.
- He has overseen a communications operation that reacts to scandals rather than preventing them.
- He has presided over messaging that minimizes, deflects, or reframes failures instead of owning them.
When Board members openly state they are “not comfortable” with processes, answers, or explanations — and those explanations are coming from the Chief of Staff — that is not a communications failure. It is a governance failure.
Operational and Financial Breakdown
The district’s operational chaos did not emerge overnight.
- Wanda Paul, as Chief Operations Officer, oversaw facilities, procurement, and capital planning during a period marked by the Handy Building fiasco, the RFQ procurement breakdown, and a lack of basic internal controls. Her resignation did not fix the underlying problems — because no meaningful systems were ever put in place.
- Romanel Johnson, as Chief Financial Officer, now presides over a projected $100 million deficit and potential layoffs affecting up to 1,000 employees. Yet the Board continues to receive financial projections that inspire little confidence — largely because prior assurances proved unreliable.
- The absence of a coherent capital plan, staffing model, or procurement framework reflects a leadership team that has managed crises instead of governing proactively.
Academic, Student, and Human Impact
While executive leadership debates process and messaging, the human cost grows:
- Dr. Fabian Cone, Chief Academic Officer, has offered little public reassurance that academic priorities are insulated from financial and operational instability.
- Saemone Luis, Chief Student Services Officer, operates in a district where student supports are increasingly strained by budget uncertainty and administrative churn.
- Dr. Emile Lozano, Chief Human Resources Officer, faces the grim prospect of mass layoffs — yet there has been no clear articulation of how morale, retention, or institutional knowledge will be preserved.
These are not abstract management issues. They affect classrooms, campuses, families, and communities every day.
Technology and Strategy — Without Direction
Even in areas where stability and foresight are essential, leadership appears reactive:
- Trey Davis III, Chief Information Officer, operates amid growing concerns about data integrity, system reliability, and transparency — all of which depend on leadership trust.
- Dr. Valerie Wanza, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, presides over “innovation” in a district that cannot reliably execute basic governance functions — a disconnect that speaks volumes.
A Leadership Team Without Accountability
What unites these failures is not malice, but a profound absence of accountability.
Mistakes are blamed on “miscommunication.”
Process failures are framed as “learning moments.”
And the individuals responsible for advising, briefing, and guiding decisions remain untouched.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the continued presence of John Sullivan, whose office sits at the crossroads of every major failure — yet has faced no visible consequence.
A Necessary Step: Specific Personnel Action
At this point, process reforms and workshops are insufficient. The evidence shows a persistent failure of senior advisory leadership, and the Broward School Board has both the authority and the obligation to act.
To restore credibility and reestablish functional governance, the Board should take the following actions immediately:
1. Remove John Sullivan as Chief of Staff & Communications
Sources familiar with Florida Daily’s investigation say Sullivan needs to go and the Board should formally request — or direct, if contractually permitted — the removal or reassignment of John Sullivan from his role as Chief of Staff & Communications.
This recommendation is not punitive; it is corrective.
Sullivan’s position places him at the center of:
- Information flow to the Board
- Strategic advice to the superintendent
- Public messaging during crises
Yet under his tenure, the Board has repeatedly received incomplete or unreliable information, public communications have exacerbated controversy, and confidence in leadership explanations has visibly eroded. A Chief of Staff who has lost the confidence of the Board cannot effectively serve either the superintendent or the public.
At minimum, Sullivan should be immediately removed from any role involving Board briefings or decision support pending independent review.
2. Commission an Independent Review of the Superintendent’s Advisory Structure
The Board should retain an independent external firm to review:
- How information is developed, vetted, and presented to the Board
- The role senior advisors play in shaping recommendations
- Whether conflicts, omissions, or inaccuracies were preventable
This review must include the Office of the Chief of Staff and Communications as a focal point.
3. Reassign or Release Senior Staff Responsible for Procurement and Capital Oversight Failures
The failures surrounding facilities, procurement, and capital planning did not end with one resignation. The Board should require the superintendent to identify specific staff responsible for misleading briefings and process breakdowns, and take corrective personnel action where warranted.
“No one left” is not an acceptable conclusion when the consequences include terminated leases, audit findings, and emergency contracts.
4. Condition Continued Employment of Senior Staff on Board Confidence
The Board should adopt a formal policy stating that senior executives serve at the confidence of the Board, not merely at the discretion of the superintendent. Where confidence is lost, reassignment or separation must follow.
This is standard governance practice — not political interference.
Leadership Change Is Governance, Not Drama
Taking decisive personnel action is not destabilizing. What is destabilizing is allowing the same individuals to preside over repeated failures while expecting different results.
Public education depends on trust. Trust depends on truth. And truth requires leaders who are willing — and able — to provide it.
In Broward County, the crisis of confidence will not end until the Board confronts the uncomfortable reality that the problem is not just what decisions were made, but who advised them — and why those advisors remain in place.
Leadership change is not the last resort.
At this moment, it is the only responsible one.
Sometimes leadership change begins not with the superintendent, but with those who control the flow of information and advice.
In Broward County, the evidence is overwhelming: the current leadership structure has failed — and until that reality is confronted honestly, the crisis of confidence will only deepen.
