ElectRoberto2026.com<\/a><\/p>\nDate and place of birth: March 12, 1980, Miami Beach<\/p>\n
On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 the highest), rate the job performance of Superintendent Howard Hepburn, emphasizing his strengths and weaknesses.
An effective School Board must offer transparent, rigorous oversight of its executive leadership. While Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn inherited a system plagued by historical inefficiencies, his tenure must be evaluated based on execution, systemic consistency, and operational accountability. On a scale of 1 to 5, I rate his overall performance a 2.5.<\/p>\n
Dr. Hepburn\u2019s primary strength is his unwavering focus on student achievement, which successfully maintained the district\u2019s consecutive \u201cA\u201d academic rating during a time of immense transition. However, his primary weakness lies in operational execution and systemic oversight, where the administration has too often defaulted to managing by crisis rather than implementing uniform, district-wide standards.<\/p>\n
Below is my data-driven evaluation across the core facets of his administration:<\/p>\n
Strategic Leadership & ESE Services: 3 out of 5<\/p>\n
Dr. Hepburn deserves credit for maintaining a strategic focus on core student achievement, which successfully safeguarded the district\u2019s consecutive \u201cA\u201d academic rating during a period of massive transition.<\/p>\n
Physical security measures across our campuses remain an inconsistent game of geographical roulette. While some schools strictly enforce metal detectors and bag searches, structural oversight gaps mean these critical protocols are bypassed at others. This is not a new fight for me; I sounded the alarm on these exact systemic gaps years ago, urging the district to fundamentally overhaul its approach to campus safety. Yet, under this current administration, we are still managing by crisis rather than uniform execution. The district must design and implement a mandatory, standardized security Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that is executed flawlessly across every single campus, regardless of zip code. (Source: \u201cTake a hard look at security in Broward schools,\u201d South Florida Sun Sentinel, Feb. 20, 2018).<\/p>\n
Exceptional Student Education (ESE) services remain frustratingly fractured across the district. To deliver equitable, high-quality resources to our most vulnerable students, the Superintendent must finally implement the structural recommendations of the 2014 Evergreen Report with absolute fidelity.<\/p>\n
Facilities Management: 1 out of 5<\/p>\n
District 6 suffers from some of the most severely backlogged facilities maintenance work orders in Broward County. A glaring example of this systemic neglect is Nova High School, where students are still forced to utilize \u201ctemporary\u201d portables that have sat on the campus for nearly 20 years. During South Florida rainstorms, our community regularly watches social media footage of students wading through deep puddles just to get to their classes. School facilities must be equitable; a school\u2019s zip code should never determine the level of investment it receives from the district. Allowing local infrastructure to decay to this point is completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n
Mental Health Services for Students: 3 out of 5<\/p>\n
While the district has successfully deployed a suite of modern mental health applications, technology cannot replace human connection. Our youth are experiencing a profound mental health crisis; they crave the actual teaching of stress management skills and the physical presence of support personnel. When navigating a crisis, such as the death of a parent or severe instability at home, students need counselors who can physically advise, guide, and support them. Utilizing highly trained guidance counselors primarily as test administrators is a profound waste of valuable personnel. Similarly, stretching social workers across numerous schools is a disservice to our students, leaving staff overextended and unable to provide the consistent, targeted support vulnerable children require. One of Broward\u2019s primary district guardrails is ensuring that every child has at least one adult in their school building they can confide in. The fact that many students still spend their school days feeling fundamentally isolated proves that we have not yet made this guardrail a reality.<\/p>\n
Fiscal Responsibility: 1 out of 5<\/p>\n
The district continues to fail its local business partners by routinely missing timely vendor payment windows. Furthermore, the budget office suffers from an acute lack of clear, standardized operating procedures governing consultant agreements and vendor contracts. This systemic ambiguity leaves lower-level district staff navigating complex procurement processes without an established framework, creating unnecessary financial vulnerabilities. Critically, these delays directly harm our schools. As the district gains a reputation for unreliable payment cycles, high-quality local vendors will simply refuse to do business with us. This chokes out competition, drastically reduces the number of bids we receive for vital school maintenance and district projects, and ultimately forces taxpayers to pay premium prices for substandard services.<\/p>\n
Employee Management: 2 out of 5<\/p>\n
From the classrooms to our operational support hubs, our workforce is exhausted. Teachers, specialized instructional professionals, and school site administrators are operating under unsustainable pressure. This acute burnout extends heavily to our essential support staff, including bus drivers, custodians, security staff, and cafeteria workers, who keep our schools running daily despite feeling undervalued and under-resourced. To address this, we must build a better system of communication between district departments and school-site staff. Teachers and school employees should not feel a sense of dread or anxiety when district staff visit their campuses. Instead, those visits must be restructured so that school-level personnel view district leadership as partners who are physically on-site to assist, listen, and provide direct help, rather than merely audit or evaluate.<\/p>\n
A Note on Board Accountability<\/p>\n
An evaluation is only as strong as the board members conducting it. On July 10, 2026, following a Sun Sentinel article reporting on a state audit that found an $878,000 attendance tracking error, my opponent, a gubernatorial appointee, asserted on social media: \u201cBroward families deserve leadership that demands answers, enforces accountability, and protects the integrity of our school system\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yet, when given the explicit duty to enforce that very accountability during the Superintendent\u2019s annual review for the 2025 evaluation cycle, that same board member chose to opt out of the evaluation entirely, claiming he hadn\u2019t been around for most of the review period. As a veteran educator, I know that our school-site administrators are expected to begin rigorously evaluating classroom teachers after working with them for just three months. An appointed school board member, tasked with the ultimate fiscal and operational oversight of a multibillion-dollar system, should be held to that exact same standard of work ethic. True accountability means showing up to do the hard work of evaluation, rather than opting out when the community demands leadership. (Source: \u201cBroward schools superintendent aces first yearly evaluation,\u201d South Florida Sun Sentinel, Nov. 7, 2025).<\/p>\n
The Broward school district received an \u201cA\u201d grade for the third straight year for student academic performance. Who deserves the most credit for this?
The overwhelming credit for this achievement belongs to our frontline educators, education professionals, school-based support staff, and our dedicated students and their families. An \u201cA\u201d grade is not manufactured in a district administrative building or by a school board vote; it is earned every single day through the hard work, resilience, and passion taking place directly inside Broward County classrooms.<\/p>\n
Our teachers and support staff have maintained this high standard of academic excellence despite facing historic inflation, an ongoing local affordability crisis, and the structural stress of underenrolled facilities. Alongside them are our families, the dedicated volunteers who serve on our district advisory boards and committees, and the passionate members of the public who consistently show up at school board meetings to hold leadership accountable. This third consecutive \u201cA\u201d grade is a testament to the collective, unwavering professionalism of our staff and the relentless dedication of an entire community partnering together to ensure our children succeed.<\/p>\n
Voters will decide whether to extend a school property tax increase. If it passes, the School Board will allocate 90 percent of the money for raises for teachers and school-based staff. Do you agree or disagree with this decision and why?
I strongly agree with this decision. As a 21-year veteran educator in Broward County, I know far too many teachers, education professionals, and support staff who are forced to work additional jobs after school, online, or during the summer just to make ends meet. This isn\u2019t a hypothetical crisis; it is our reality. A former colleague of mine teaches full-time five days a week, and then works at a hospital from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM three nights a week. This grueling schedule is the only way she can survive living in Broward County as a single parent with children in college. Lately, while out canvassing and knocking on doors across our communities, I have met countless other Broward teachers who have shared similar struggles of working multiple jobs just to stay afloat.<\/p>\n
When school staff are forced to divide their energy simply to survive, our entire system suffers. We must keep our salaries and benefits competitive to aggressively recruit and retain top-tier educators and staff. The formula here is simple: competitive compensation attracts higher-quality, more competent candidates, which directly impacts student achievement. If we fail to offer a competitive living wage, we will continue losing our best talent to neighboring districts and the private sector, leaving our classrooms vulnerable.<\/p>\n
My long-term goal is to move this district into a fiscal position where we can grant our educators a $6,000 recurring raise, which is approximately a 10% increase, relying solely on our operating budget, while continually working toward higher compensation. However, the immediate structural reality is clear: without this referendum, we are nowhere near able to provide our staff with a living wage that matches the high cost of living in South Florida. We truly need the partnership of our community to pass this referendum in November. I wholeheartedly support dedicating 90% of these dollars directly to the pockets of our teachers, education professionals, and education support professionals who keep our schools running every day.<\/p>\n
Will you vote for or against the tax extension and why?\u00a0
I will absolutely vote for the tax extension.<\/p>\n
Our teachers, education professionals, and support staff need immediate relief to survive the historic cost of living in South Florida, and they simply cannot afford to wait for long-term budget fixes. We are facing a severe affordability crisis in Broward County, where skyrocketing housing costs and rents have made it nearly impossible to survive on a standard base salary. I am deeply concerned that if our community does not pass this initiative in November, the local economic pressure will trigger an unprecedented loss of high-quality educators and essential staff to neighboring counties and other industries. It is my sincerest hope that our community will vote to support our school-based staff and protect the frontline professionals who dedicate their lives to our children every day.<\/p>\n
A series of fiscal missteps in the past year has placed the school board and the administration on the defensive. How well has the district responded to these controversies?
Ultimately, the buck stops with the superintendent, and it is the school board\u2019s fundamental responsibility to hold that leadership accountable. Unfortunately, the response to recent fiscal controversies has highlighted a deeply entrenched, systemic issue within our district\u2019s operational culture: an insular, protective approach to information that defaults to defending the administration rather than proactively serving the school board and the public. When critical data is compartmentalized or managed defensively, it creates an adversarial environment that leaves the board reacting to financial crises after the fact, rather than preventing them through proper oversight.<\/p>\n
To truly move past these missteps, we cannot simply play defense or allow structural inefficiencies to be swept under the rug. We must fundamentally shift our institutional culture away from protecting the bureaucracy and toward building a transparent, collaborative system. The school board can only govern effectively and safeguard taxpayer dollars when it is equipped with the best, most timely, and most accurate information available. By breaking down communication silos and establishing rigid protocols for administrative transparency, we can restore public trust and ensure our district\u2019s resources are directed precisely where they belong: directly helping our students succeed and fully supporting our teachers, school administrators, and support staff.<\/p>\n
One such controversy involved using past referendum money to pay large bonuses to highly-paid administrators. Should those who received bonuses have been required to refund the money? Why or why not?
As an educator, a taxpayer, and a voter who supported the referendum in good faith, I completely understand and share our community\u2019s outrage over this issue. When our community votes to tax themselves, the clear expectation is that those funds will go directly to our classroom teachers, education professionals, and frontline, school-based staff who work with our students every single day. For the record, school board members have never received referendum bonuses. In fact, Florida law is explicit on this point: under state statute, school board member salaries are strictly capped so they cannot exceed the starting salary of a beginning teacher. The public\u2019s trust must be treated as sacred.<\/p>\n
However, from a practical and legal standpoint, requiring the individual administrators to refund those dollars would likely create more costly legal entanglements for the district than it would solve. Many of these senior administrators were recruited to our district and accepted these positions with these bonuses explicitly written into their employment contracts as good-faith components of their compensation. The fault does not lie with an employee accepting an agreed-upon contract; the fault lies entirely with the institutional loophole that allowed it to happen in the first place.<\/p>\n
Our school board auditor is currently investigating the mechanics of how this occurred, and I look forward to reviewing that final report. Moving forward, the individual or individuals found responsible for creating or allowing this administrative loophole must be held fully accountable, up to and including termination. We must close these policy gaps permanently to ensure that future referendum dollars are legally restricted to the frontlines of our schools, exactly as the voters intended.<\/p>\n
To reduce a financial deficit, the board approved a reorganization plan that critics say is unfair because it eliminates front-line positions while leaving bureaucratic jobs largely untouched.\u00a0 Do you agree or disagree with this criticism and why?\u00a0
I agree with this criticism. Our absolute priority must always be to fiercely protect the student-facing front lines of our school system. However, the stark fiscal reality of right-sizing our district to match declining enrollment is one of the most complex, painful governance challenges our school board will face over the next four years. To do this equitably, we must move past emotional rhetoric and look at structural facts. For example, we should constructively analyze the operational value of reestablishing regional offices against the historical cost-savings achieved when they were previously centralized to eliminate expensive rental facilities. While we must ruthlessly eliminate true departmental redundancies, we must also respect that many district-level staff work incredibly hard behind the scenes to provide the essential logistics, technology, and operations that directly support student learning and classroom success.<\/p>\n
The core flaw in how the district handles these massive reorganizations is fundamentally a data visibility problem. Currently, when the administration presents an organizational chart to the board, it only spotlights the top tiers of senior leadership. This completely obscures the wider reality of our overall staffing footprint, hiding the fact that the vast majority of our positions exist at the operational base of the pyramid. You cannot make equitable, informed workforce decisions when you are only looking at a partial picture. To truly right-size Broward County Public Schools without destroying our front lines, the board must demand total structural visibility: a comprehensive, holistic review that charts every single position from the superintendent\u2019s cabinet down to our custodians, cafeteria workers, and bus drivers. Only when the board is armed with complete, transparent data can we intelligently trim actual administrative overhead while protecting the essential workers who keep our schools running.<\/p>\n
The school board has voted to close six underenrolled schools to save money. Do you think the district should close more schools or not, and why?\u00a0
Yes, I support the current push and the recent board decision to close and consolidate these initial campuses. As a 21-year veteran educator in this district, I believe we must confront the uncomfortable mathematical reality facing our school system. Over the past decade, Broward County Public Schools has lost nearly 38,000 students, leaving more than 50,000 empty seats across our county. For too long, previous leadership kicked the can down the road on this issue. It is time that we finally pick that can up and recycle it by turning structural deficits into educational opportunities. We simply cannot afford to spend tens of millions of dollars maintaining half-empty facilities when those vital operating funds should be directed into our classrooms.<\/p>\n
This issue is not just professional for me; it is deeply personal. As a Broward parent whose children attend Bair Middle School and Plantation High School, I am experiencing this first round of the redefining process right alongside our local families. Because of where our home resides on the map, our neighborhood is directly zoned for these specific District 5 schools, despite our home being located in District 6. As an involved dad, I have been actively fighting to protect and expand high-quality, continuous programming for our kids, from ensuring the Python coding track stays strong at Bair Middle, to preserving elite career pathways and advanced academic options like the International Baccalaureate and Cambridge programs at Plantation High. I am thoroughly invested in the outcome of this movement because my own family will be living with the results.<\/p>\n
We should not pause this process out of fear. Instead, we must leverage these closures and consolidations to actively build better, stronger schools that are fully equipped with the programs our families actually need and want. When we combine resources from underenrolled facilities, we create the fiscal capacity to offer a robust variety of specials at our remaining campuses. Our students deserve routine exposure to art, music, physical education, media center resources, and foreign languages, which are often the first things cut when a school is underfunded and underenrolled.<\/p>\n
Moving forward, our strategy must focus on regional excellence rather than just managing decline. I support this consolidation effort because it stops a severe budget drain, but the real victory will be using these savings to ensure that every single remaining school in Broward County is a world class, fully resourced institution that wins our families back.<\/p>\n
List in reverse chronological order each college or university attended, with years of attendance.
2020: Broward College \u2013 Associate of Science (A.S.) in Environmental Science Technology<\/p>\n
2011: Florida International University \u2013 Master of Arts (M.A.) in African and African Diaspora Studies (Specialization in Pedagogy of the African Diaspora)<\/p>\n
Master\u2019s Thesis: \u201cSelf-Determination Theory and Student Motivation in Social Studies in an Urban Broward County Public High School.\u201d<\/p>\n
2005: Florida International University \u2013 Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Sociology and Anthropology<\/p>\n
2003: Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (Monterey, CA) \u2013 Diploma in French<\/p>\n
List in reverse chronological order your work history for the past 15 years.
March 2022 \u2013 Present: Broward County Public Schools, Department of School Culture and Student Support<\/p>\n
2020 \u2013 Present: Adjunct Lecturer, Florida International University, Department of History<\/p>\n
January 2026 \u2013 June 2026: Social Studies Teacher (Task Assigned), Monarch High School<\/p>\n
Note: Individually task-assigned from my district department to Monarch High School to fill a critical classroom vacancy during the district\u2019s hiring freeze.<\/p>\n
July 2015 \u2013 March 2022: Social Studies Teacher, Plantation High School<\/p>\n
2014 \u2013 2018: Adjunct Instructor, George Washington University, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership<\/p>\n
July 2005 \u2013 June 2015: Social Studies Teacher and Head Swim Coach, Boyd H. Anderson High School<\/p>\n
Prior Military Service:<\/p>\n
August 2000 \u2013 October 2008: Civil Affairs Specialist, United States Army Reserve<\/p>\n
Why should voters elect you instead of your opponent(s)?
What Broward County needs on the School Board is a leader who understands our schools from the inside out, not a politician self-funding a campaign with personal wealth. My 21-year career as a Broward County public school educator and district instructional facilitator gives me an unvarnished, dual-level perspective that my opponents simply do not have. I know exactly how board-level policies and budget choices affect daily operations because I have lived those decisions on the frontline\u2014most recently stepping back into the classroom at Monarch High School to fill a critical teacher vacancy during the district\u2019s hiring freeze.<\/p>\n
My operational experience within the Department of School Culture and Student Support includes direct oversight and management of a $100,000 district budget. This hands-on experience, combined with my past military leadership managing complex operational resources during overseas deployments, means I already know how to oversee public budgets responsibly, identify administrative bloat, and navigate the district\u2019s bureaucracy. Furthermore, as an Army Reserve veteran, I bring a disciplined, structured approach to school safety, advocating for unyielding, district-wide Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) so that student security never depends on geographical roulette.<\/p>\n
Voters have a clear choice. I believe that District 6 deserves a representative who is genuinely rooted in this community, someone who lives here, has children currently attending our schools, and has spent an entire career serving our families, teachers, and students. This is a level of personal investment and frontline perspective that none of my opponents can offer. The contrast in this race is stark: a candidate using deep personal pockets to fuel their campaign, or a public servant with a grassroots, people-powered mandate. I am fully accountable to the teachers, families, and community members of District 6, and I am ready to bring collaborative, proactive leadership back to the school board.<\/p>\n
What in your life experience best qualifies you to serve as a school board member?
Voters should elect me because I am the only candidate in this race who brings a 21-year proven track record of serving Broward County as an award winning educator, a dedicated local civic leader, and a military veteran. My campaign is built on three distinct pillars that set me apart:<\/p>\n
I have spent over two decades on the front lines of Broward County Public Schools as a teacher, Social Studies Department Chair, and instructional facilitator. My expertise extends directly to state-level curriculum governance, including my appointment to the state\u2019s African American standards work group. I have proven that my loyalty belongs to our classrooms and communities, not political optics. When state leadership implemented flawed benchmark clarifications, I exercised my professional independence by challenging the curriculum directly in the local press. publishing my complete, unvarnished critique in The Westside Gazette alongside a concurrent public call for improvement in the Sun Sentinel to ensure our standards remain rigorous, precise, and instructionally sound (Sources: \u201cAn Open Letter to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr.,\u201d The Westside Gazette, 2023; \u201cSocial studies standards must improve,\u201d South Florida Sun Sentinel, Aug. 14, 2023).<\/p>\n
My commitment to our community is deeply personal. I am a Broward County public school parent with two children currently attending our district schools, and an active PTA\/PTSA member. My classrooms have always been a bridge to the community, leading student initiatives ranging from historical preservation at local Black cemeteries to vital public safety awareness. My local civic leadership also includes serving on the Broward County and City of Sunrise Historical Commissions, the Broward County Urban Wilderness Advisory Board, and the City of Sunrise Economic Development Advisory Board. I understand how local government, community heritage, and family needs intersect (Sources: \u201cStudents Reflect on Shared Black and Jewish Civil Rights History,\u201d Tamarac Talk, 2024; \u201cPlantation High School\u2019s Woodlawn Cemetery Clean-Up Project,\u201d The Westside Gazette, 2016; \u201cStudents Dig Up Broward\u2019s History at Local Cemetery,\u201d South Florida Sun Sentinel, 2013).<\/p>\n
At a time when school safety and district accountability are paramount, I bring structured, disciplined leadership. I served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Civil Affairs Specialist for eight years, executing two deployments to East Africa focused on nation-building and humanitarian assistance. Locally, I protect our families as a member of the Sunrise Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and work daily within the district\u2019s Department of School Culture and Student Support (Sources: \u201cThe Quiet War in the Horn of Africa,\u201d The Virginian-Pilot, 2007; \u201cStudents Get Crash Course in Distracted Driving,\u201d South Florida Sun Sentinel, 2013).<\/p>\n
I do not need a learning curve to understand the Broward County school system or our local communities. I have spent my entire adult life serving them, protecting them, and educating our children.<\/p>\n
Have you ever been a party to a lawsuit, including bankruptcy or foreclosure? If so, provide details of the case and disposition.
No.<\/p>\n
Have you ever been charged or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, including an adjudication of guilt withheld? If so, provide charges, dates and terms of sentence.
No.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Roberto Fernandez III Campaign website: ElectRoberto2026.com Date and place of birth: March 12, 1980, Miami Beach On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[483,249,251,250,482],"class_list":["post-346735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-commentary","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}