Jennifer Andreu
Introduction
Jennifer Andreu, a Broward County Public Schools administrator who oversaw the district’s operations during its troubled laptop-procurement effort, was fired by a 6-3 vote of the Broward County School Board on October 13, 2026, after the county inspector general found she and other employees mismanaged the laptop purchasing process and misled the School Board in the course of it. Andreu, who served as the district’s executive director of operations from 2023 to early 2026, denies wrongdoing and told the South Florida Sun Sentinel she did nothing to warrant termination. The firing came despite pleas for leniency from supporters who addressed the board on her behalf.
Background Information
Andreu was the school district’s executive director of operations from 2023 to early 2026 — the period when Broward’s Office of Inspector General scrutinized three separate efforts by the district to select vendors for laptop purchases and deployment. She was later moved to a position overseeing economic development and compliance earlier in 2026. The inspector general’s investigation, released on September 30, 2026, concluded that while Andreu and some other employees “did not engage in misconduct or gross mismanagement, they mismanaged the procurement process and, in the course of doing so, misled the School Board,” the Sun Sentinel reported. The report also alleged Andreu misled the board when she asked it in July 2024 to reject all bids in a second attempt to secure laptops.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Fired following an inspector-general report; denies wrongdoing. The board’s termination vote is final district employment action; no criminal charge has been reported.
The Broward Office of Inspector General’s September 30 report examined the district’s three failed or troubled vendor-selection efforts for laptop purchases and deployment, and concluded that Andreu and other employees mismanaged the procurement process and, while doing so, misled the School Board. The report found the employees had not engaged in misconduct or gross mismanagement — a nuance both sides in the termination fight would cite — but its findings were enough for Superintendent Howard Hepburn to move toward termination. The report also alleged Andreu misled the board when she asked it in July 2024 to reject all bids in a second attempt to secure laptops, according to the Sun Sentinel.
At the board’s October 13 meeting, Superintendent Hepburn told members during his superintendent’s report that the inspector general had identified major problems that needed addressing. “The concerns identified in this report are unacceptable, and we are taking action. Public trust is earned through our actions, not simply our words,” Hepburn said. “Any employee found to have knowingly misled the School Board, violated district policies, or broken the law will face swift and appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination.” The board then voted 6-3 to fire Andreu, with members Adam Cervera, Jeff Holness, and Nora Rupert dissenting, the Sun Sentinel and Caribbean National Weekly reported.
The district also disclosed it was reviewing the role of another employee named negatively in the report — Matthew Bradford, executive director of technology operations — though General Counsel Kathy Dupuy-Bruno told the board Hepburn had not yet made a recommendation on him; Bradford likewise denies wrongdoing. All other employees criticized in the investigation, including one accused of trying to steer business to a vendor, no longer work for the district, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The boardroom split over Andreu was public and emotional. Supporters addressed the board to argue she had done nothing to warrant firing, and Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco challenged the process itself, telling the board, “This due process was not done accurately, it was not done right,” according to Caribbean National Weekly’s account. Andreu spoke after the vote: “I’m deeply disappointed by the board’s decision. I did nothing to warrant termination and stand by my nearly 30 years of public service and integrity,” she told the Sun Sentinel, adding that she was considering her options to challenge the termination.
Caribbean National Weekly, which covers South Florida’s Caribbean-American community, framed the firing as the fall of a prominent Jamaican American school administrator, noting the 6-3 vote and the leniency pleas. The superintendent’s “public trust” statement became the administration’s public defense of the termination. No criminal referral or charge arising from the inspector general’s findings was reported in the available coverage.
Current Status
Andreu was terminated by the board’s 6-3 vote on October 13, 2026, ending her run as a Broward schools administrator and leaving her compliance-and-economic-development position vacant. She has said publicly she is considering an appeal or challenge to the termination; no appeal had been formally announced in the coverage available. The inspector general’s findings against the district’s procurement process remain public, and the review of Matthew Bradford’s role — the other current employee named negatively in the report — continues. No criminal case against anyone in the affair has been reported.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A termination after nearly 30 years in public service — and a board vote against her 6-3 — removes Andreu from the district payroll and puts an inspector-general finding that she “misled the School Board” on the public record attached to her name, a citation that will follow any future public-sector job application in Florida education. Her denial, the union’s due-process objection, and the three dissenting board votes give her account a visible place in the record too. The laptop procurement affair, of which her firing is the centerpiece personnel action, has already cost the district its operations chief and may yet cost it Bradford; the report’s own distinction — mismanagement and misleading, but no misconduct or gross mismanagement — is the line the dispute will be argued on.