{"id":381135,"date":"2026-08-25T23:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381135\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T23:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:44:16","slug":"broward-college-president-cut-ties-after-reaching-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381135\/","title":{"rendered":"Broward College, president cut ties after reaching settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without a word of public discussion or debate, the board of Broward College dismissed its president Tuesday after negotiating a settlement agreement a day earlier.<\/p>\n

Former college President Torey Alston accepted the settlement just 15 minutes before the board\u2019s Tuesday meeting, ending his 18-month tenure at the helm of the college.<\/p>\n

The majority of the discussion took place behind closed doors and by court order. The board had scheduled a vote on Alston\u2019s fate last week, but a judge intervened, agreeing that Alston was legally entitled to mediation. The negotiations were exempt from Florida\u2019s open meetings law, but the outcome was not.<\/p>\n

Alston will receive a $430,000 payout, and after the meeting he was tight-lipped about the board\u2019s actions, the end of his tenure and his next steps.<\/p>\n

Allies packed the board\u2019s meeting room at the school\u2019s downtown Fort Lauderdale campus, with many settling for seating in an overflow room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a good public servant,\u201d said Miami-Dade County Commissioner and congressional candidate Oliver Gilbert. \u201cUsually when you have complaints about someone\u2019s job performance, you give them the opportunity to actually fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ToreyTorey Alston is embraced by a supporter after leaving a Broward College District Board of Trustees meeting at the College\u2019s Fort Lauderdale campus on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Trustees had voiced concerns<\/a> about Alston in recent months related to such issues as communication, low nursing license exam scores and computer errors that delayed students\u2019 ability to enroll.<\/p>\n

Alston\u2019s payout includes six weeks of severance at $57,403.85, accrued sick leave and vacation worth $53,827.54, and $268,768.61 to resolve legal complaints he had against the board. The payment is explicitly not an admission of wrongdoing by the board.<\/p>\n

The board appointed Broward College Chief Operating Officer Rabia Azhar as acting president while the search for a permanent replacement for Alston gets underway.<\/p>\n

Greeting supporters in an overflow room outside from where the board was meeting, Alston said he was proud of his record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited about the last 18 months at Broward College,\u201d he said. \u201cMy record is strong and clear. We\u2019ve had 4.84% increase in enrollment. We\u2019ve had 3% increase of completion credentials and retention rates. We\u2019ve had 100% passage rates in many of our top programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com<\/a> or 954-356-4457.<\/p>\n

\"ToreyTorey Alston, right, reaches out to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert during a Broward College District Board of Trustees meeting at the College\u2019s Fort Lauderdale campus on Tuesday. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Without a word of public discussion or debate, the board of Broward College dismissed its president Tuesday after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[113,249,251,250,114,115,109],"class_list":["post-381135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-education","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381135","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=381135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}