FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The new big boss of Broward County Public Schools joined This Week in South Florida for an exclusive conversation on Sunday.
“First and foremost, our conversations have to surround children first,” said Dr. Peter Licata.
In his first sit down interview since being selected as the head of sixth largest school district in the nation, Licata told Local 10 News what is at the top of his priority list.
“We have to really look at what we’re doing that’s causing us to be a ‘B’ (school district),” he said. “We need to be an ‘A’ district. We’re sandwiched by two A’s and we really want to be an ‘A’ district and there’s no reason why we can’t.”
The Broward County native beat out two other out of state finalists to become the superintendent of Broward Schools.
He had been the regional superintendent for the Palm Beach County School District, a position that carried a wealth of knowledge about navigating political waters and controversial laws in Florida surrounding classroom instruction, like the Parental Rights in Education law.
“We’re protecting our children first, and we’re protecting our teachers, but we also want to give them the opportunity to understand that there are certain things that shouldn’t be exposed to children at a certain age,” he said. “We know that, but let’s make sure we’re within those guidelines and make sure that we don’t reduce the availability of great educational materials.”
The interview on This Week In South Florida offers us a glimpse of what to expect from the new incoming permanent superintendent after a rocky and often controversial road of unstable leadership over the past few years.
Licata said he’s focused on the future while correcting those issues.
“We need to step past that now internally,” he said. “We need to know that everyone is accountable to our kids, they’re accountable to the public and they’re accountable to me, and I’m accountable to those folks as well.”