Broward County School Board

Scores of students were kept waiting in lines outside long after the first bell rang. Adding the security checkpoints to all the high schools in the district was meant to help improve school security.

Licata said he would step down for health reasons. The news came at the start of a school district meeting with an agenda packed with some of the topics that have made this period one of the most challenging the district has faced in recent years.

The 21-day infectious period at Manatee Bay Elementary in Weston ended last week. The district says the health department provided guidance during that period.

In the wake of six measles cases at a Broward school, Florida's surgeon general writes that the Department of Health “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance” without urging the need for MMR vaccinations.

So far, it’s not known whether the students who acquired the highly contagious virus at Manatee Bay Elementary were immunized with the two-dose MMR vaccine.

The health department is looking into five cases of the highly contagious disease at Manatee Bay Elementary in Weston and hoping to identify contacts at risk of transmission.

The family of a transgender volleyball player has added a South Florida school district as a defendant in a federal lawsuit that challenges a 2021 state law banning transgender girls from playing on female sports teams.

A teacher. A mentor. A politician. That's how some have described Broward County's new schools superintendent, Dr. Peter Licata.

In his first week on the job as Broward schools' new superintendent, Dr. Peter Licata told WLRN he'll lead with integrity, be a "visible" presence in the district and the community, and will put students first. He also said he's committed to bringing comprehensive sex ed back to the district.

The Broward County School Board has signed off on a three-year contract with Dr. Peter Licata, two weeks later than expected. The agreement will give him a slightly lower salary and less job security than he had hoped for. Still, Licata has called it a "dream job."

The Broward County School Board was poised to vote on the contract of incoming superintendent Peter Licata on Thursday, beginning a new era of leadership for the district. But not enough board members showed up to take a vote, meaning his planned start on Monday will be delayed by days, if not weeks.

Broward's new top leader has spent nearly three decades in neighboring Palm Beach County public schools, most recently as a regional superintendent.