The 18-month tenure of Broward College President Torey Alston could end Tuesday with the college’s Board of Trustees possibly firing him or approving a mutually agreed-upon separation.
Lawyers for the trustees and Alston have been negotiating a possible separation for more than a week, but the two sides may not be close to an agreement, according to emails the South Florida Sun Sentinel obtained through a public records request.
A lawyer for Alston first asked for a $1.5 million payout before lowering it to $1.28 million on Aug. 15, which is the most recent written offer the college has received, Ben Rosenberg, general counsel for the college, told the Sun Sentinel on Friday. The college has offered a separation package of about $65,000, plus payment for unused leave, emails show.
College Trustee Michael Caschette had placed a motion to terminate Alston without cause on the agenda for a special meeting that had been scheduled for Aug. 19. But the night before, Alston won an injunction in circuit court to enforce a provision of the contract that requires mediation if requested by one of the parties to help resolve differences before final decisions are made.
A mediation session is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday. The trustees are scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday, when they plan to consider a motion to terminate Alston without cause or “to ratify” a settlement agreement, if one is worked out.
Alexis Yarbrough, chair of the Board of Trustees, said it’s also possible that no settlement is reached, but the board still votes down the motion to terminate, which means Alston would remain with the college.
“There could be a variety of things. I can’t forecast that,” Yarbrough told the Sun Sentinel. “I’m not going to weigh in on a pending motion.”
Trustees have voiced concerns about Alston in recent months related to such issues as communication, low nursing license exam scores and computer errors that delayed students’ ability to enroll.
Alston has argued that he’s being retaliated against after raising concerns about governance issues, declining to certify college documents that he said were inaccurate and cooperating with the state Department of Education inspector general investigation related to an anonymous complaint about Yarbrough. The state closed the Yarbrough investigation in May with no findings of wrongdoing.
Alston also alleged the trustees micromanaged the hiring of key leaders.
“During my tenure, I have not hired one member of my senior leadership team without the Board Chair demanding to interview the applicant and providing her approval,” Alston told the Sun Sentinel. “There have also been senior leadership candidates I believed were qualified and wanted to advance who did not move forward because the Chair did not support their selection.”
Yarbrough denied the allegations, but noted the trustees had voiced frustrations about prolonged vacancies during a workshop held in December 2025.
Alston told the Sun Sentinel that in recent weeks, among other concerns, “my evaluation was delayed and changed; my performance was scrutinized in ways I had not previously experienced; operational interactions changed; my direct reports were increasingly brought into communications involving presidential matters.”
Yarbrough declined to comment on those allegations.
Alston’s allegations echo concerns he raised in a formal complaint he filed with the district’s human resources department on Aug. 12, hours after learning of a motion to fire him. Yarbrough told the Sun Sentinel she has directed the college’s human resources and legal departments to seek an outside investigation.
Broward College President Torey Alston told the South Florida Sun Sentinel the college has been successful under his tenure, saying it received $12 million in state funding for a new state-of-the-art facility for health sciences, technology and engineering. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Alston told the Sun Sentinel on Thursday he would like to stay on as president.
“I was selected by the board 5-0, and we can work together 5-0 to address these matters,” he said. “I am President of Broward College and doing the work every day … while not letting this distract from the mission of academic excellence.”
He told the Sun Sentinel the college has been successful under his tenure, saying it received $12 million in state funding for a new state-of-the-art facility for health sciences, technology and engineering. The college has also had 100% exam passage rates in programs such as dental hygiene, respiratory therapy, vision care and law enforcement.
Enrollment is up 4.84% over last year and retention and completion are both up 3%, he said.
The three-year contract for Alston, approved in February 2025, pays Alston $329,000 a year.
Under the contract, the Board of Trustees can fire him without cause with 30 days’ notice and doesn’t specify any severance pay. Many leaders of Florida colleges and public agencies have contracts requiring they be paid the statutory maximum of 20 weeks of severance if they are fired for convenience.
“Coming in, the Chair was very strong on a base package for what she described as prior issues. She also assured me my compensation and other benefits would be enhanced by February 2026, aligning with other similarly sized institutions,” Alston told the Sun Sentinel.
Yarbrough told the Sun Sentinel that the board did have concern about past policies that required 120 days’ notice to terminate employees. She denies giving Alston any assurance his compensation would increase, other than a provision for merit pay if he qualified.
“He has a three-year contract. If there was a raise, that would have been built into the contract,” she said.
Alston has been seeking an exit package: An Aug. 14 “global settlement demand” letter, written by Alston’s lawyer, Brian Williams, sought $1.5 million.
That includes $523,554 in salary for the remaining 18 months of his contract, $140,000 in merit compensation that he could be eligible for, $160,000 in long-term incentive compensation, $75,000 to cover lost employer-provided retirement and insurance benefits, $250,000 in “retaliation/whistleblower claims,” $300,000 for “reputational & consequential economic harm” and $81,500 for legal and other fees.
The letter said the offer would be valid until Aug. 17, unless extended in writing. That’s the same day Alston filed a motion in court to stop the board from voting whether to fire him Aug. 19. Holly Goodman, an outside lawyer representing Broward College, discussed the demand with Williams at 8 p.m. Aug. 14, according to an email exchange.
At 8:51 p.m. Aug. 14, Williams emailed Goodman to say Alston was lowering the demand to $1.28 million.
“Unfortunately, it seems that our clients continue to view this matter, and what constitutes a reasonable resolution, very differently,” Goodman wrote to Williams on Aug. 15. “Mr. Alston’s demand for $1,280,054 is rejected.”
Alston was a staunch opponent of large executive payouts when he served as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointee on the Broward School Board from 2022 to 2024. He led successful efforts to slash the exit packages for former Superintendent Vickie Cartwright by $98,000 in 2023 and former Superintendent Peter Licata by more than $65,000.
“Chaos is having a superintendent leave in less than a year but wanting a balloon payment from our taxpayers,” Alston said in May 2024 when the School Board debated a separation package for Licata.
Alston also opposed non-disparagement language as a School Board member, something he is now seeking as a Broward College president.
“Mr. Alston will agree not to make knowingly false or malicious statements concerning Broward College or individual trustees. The Board will agree that trustees and senior College officials will not make knowingly false or malicious statements concerning Mr. Alston,” Alston’s proposal states. “The provision will not restrict legally protected disclosures, testimony, governmental cooperation, public-record obligations, or statements required by law.”
When the non-disparagement clause was proposed during Licata’s contract in May 2024, Alston said on the dais, “Clearly, I think all of us have our own freedom of speech.”
He said the prior superintendent’s agreement and non-disparagement clause “that was included was not the most prudent for the district. I don’t believe this one will be prudent as well.”
Alston wouldn’t answer a question from the Sun Sentinel on Friday, the first day of the fall semester for Broward College, about why he is now seeking a large exit package and non-disparagement agreement, when he opposed them as a Broward School Board member. “This is a major distraction on the first day of classes on campus,” he said Friday.
Of his ongoing efforts, he said, “It’s about standing up for what’s right.”
In an email Saturday, Alston said there’s a difference between a severance and a settlement, and he said he previously advocated against severance. “There is a reason an employer negotiates a settlement where this is risk on the employer’s side,” Alston said. He also said there’s a difference between the past Broward school district cases, and his case at Broward College, in which he has a formal complaint “of retaliation, whistleblower and sunshine law violations, among other concerns.”
The administrative turmoil has been difficult for faculty, according to a statement from the college’s faculty union. The statement from the Broward College chapter of United Faculty of Florida voices concerns: “Faculty morale is extremely low, and confidence in the College’s leadership has significantly eroded,” the union wrote. “For far too long, faculty have raised concerns about inadequate compensation, the loss of experienced faculty, difficult working conditions, and the lack of meaningful progress toward a reasonable compromise at the bargaining table.”
The statement said these administrative issues are happening at the same time the college is facing other significant challenges, including the difficulty of students to register for the courses they need and issues surrounding the college’s nursing program, which is on probation after only 68% of graduates passed a nursing license exam last year.
“As the Board considers the future leadership of Broward College, we believe this is an important opportunity to rebuild trust, restore a strong commitment to shared governance, strengthen collaboration, and ensure that faculty have a meaningful voice in the direction of the institution,” the statement said.
In an email Saturday, Alston said he has the “support from 3000k employees who have all received 3% raises the last two years and a time stipend,” and from student leaders who “have also voiced support for me as well.”