Miami-Dade School Board members on Monday chose longtime administrator José Dotres to be the new superintendent after the abrupt departure of Alberto Carvalho to the Los Angeles, California, school district.
Can you imagine 30 people in a room today without masks? The governor can. If those people are children.
Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández may be on the verge of another backroom deal — unless the Miami-Dade School Board stops him.
Last year, Hernández sent a letter to School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho with an idea: Let’s rezone the vacant 12 acres of land adjacent to Hialeah Middle School — a vacant field that was used for football and soccer programs for decades — so it can be redeveloped into more absentee voting centers, er, we mean public housing.
But neighbors are opposed, collecting at least 600 signatures so far against any rezoning.
“I’ve lived across the street from that field my whole life,” said Michael Horgan, 47. “That field was always a football and soccer field for groups and for all of us to use.”
Then, suddenly, about three years ago, a chain link fence and no trespassing signs appeared from one day to the next. Now we know why. Ladra bets it took that long for Hernández and his hoodlum pals to get all their ducks in a row and figure out who gets what. Even if it goes out to bid, like he said on Channel 23, the eventual winning bid will have “custom made” qualifications and other advantages that come with palanca.
Las malas lenguas say its gonna go to the people who are building his new house in Coral Gables (yes, I am looking into that, too). But Ladra’s money is on former Mayor Julio Robaina, Hernández’s hero, and his real estate partners.
Hernández — an admitted loanshark suspected of insider deals with the reverse osmosis water plant and the privatization of solid waste collection –is a longtime friend and protege of Robaina’s. He wants this soooo bad, he said the city will waive $12,800 in application fees — how nice of him — to process the land use and zoning changes. It will still cost the school board (read: taxpayers) about $30,000 for assessments and what not. This is all spelled out in the unsolicited letter Hernández sent to Superintendent Carvalho sometime last year.
“I am reaching out to you to bring to your consideration an innovative approach to one of MDCPS sites within the city of Hiaeah,” Hernandez starts out. “I envision a residential development on the twelve acres owned by MDCPS on the northern portion of the site of the Hialeah Middle Community School, which will benefit the community, parents and students.”
He goes on to say new housing would attract young families and keep the schools filled with students.
“My vision at this site that is currently underutilized is a residential development with diverse unit types ranging from low to high density, designed to be compatible with the existing low density residential neighborhood to the west and scaling up as it extends east on Le Jeune Road,” and one can’t help but think that those are someone else’s words.
“To market the land at its highest and best use, the land would have to be re-platted, the land use changed to the maximum allowed density and rezoned consistently. The city of Hialeah is willing to take by initiating the land use changes and rezoning and facilitating the re-platting process,” the mayor wrote. “I look forward to working proactively together and in directing my staff to work with MDCPS staff, to ensure the successful implementation of this idea and make it a reality in the very near future.”
This letter was part of the October school board agenda at which the board recommended Carvalho “further explore a possible collaboration between the Board and the City of Hialeah, collectively the Parties, through which a Board-owned asset could be moneytized for the Parties’ mutual benefit and bring back an item to the Board at the appropriate time.”
How about never?
Board Member Lubby Navarro told Ladra she voted in favor because the property is not utilized and selling it would provide a source of revenue. But the secretive way this was started has tainted the process and the school board should put on the brakes, at least for now until a full study can be done on multiple options and best use of that land.
When Horgan learned what was going on, he and a group of neighbors went to the city council meeting Feb. 13 to ask questions and make their opposition to the housing development known. “Right before we spoke, the mayor left the chambers,” he said. “When I spoke not a single council member had a clue about what I was speaking about. They all wanted to see the mayor’s letter.”
Hmmm. Could it be the mayor was acting alone, without the authorization or even knowledge of the city council?
Interestingly, the undated letter is not on city letterhead — repeat, it is not on city letterhead — but rather letterhead that looks like it came directly from Carlos Hernández’s deep state office, his shadow office at City Hall. Instead of the city seal, it has a wheel with the mayor’s name on it and the words mayor and alcalde, which is mayor in Spanish.
Further proof that Hernández is doing this on his own behalf, as a businessman not as a city ambassador. Or, even less, as a public servant.
Miami-Dade Public Schools’ wildly popular Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on Thursday, in a very dramatic fashion, that he turned down a job leading New York City’s public school system to stay with the district where he began his career as a physics teacher at Jackson High.
Wide speculation Wednesday that Carvalho was taking the School Chancellor position offered by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio prompted a special emergency meeting Thursday of the School Board to discuss “the stability of the executive management leadership.” After pleas from board members, students, teachers, parents and people from the community, Carvalho took a short break, purportedly, to think about it.
When he came back, he announced that “the decision that I have made about that position is, however, a decision I can no longer sustain.” Yeah, that’s how he talks.
“I am breaking an agreement between adults to honor an agreement and a pact I have with the children of Miami. I just don’t know how to break a promise to a child, how to break a promise to a community,” Carvalho said, adding that the decision weighed heavily on him “over the last 24 hours like nothing has weighed on me before.”
Related: Alberto Carvalho to leave Miami-Dade Schools for NYC — at the worst time
Um, 24 hours? He’s purportedly known about this for days, weeks even. He was gonna break the “promise” yesterday. The announcement had been reportedly delayed because of the Parkland shooting and the resulting political fallout. So he decided right there? On the spot? Were the hugs that convincing?
Here’s another scenario:
Carvalho — who is known for his fiery speeches, staunch defense of immigrants and public dollars for public schools and opposition to guns in the classroom — has been under fire in recent months, mostly for the management of the $1.2 billion general obligation bond that voters passed to modernize schools and bring in new technology. He’s got Board Member Steve Gallon beating him up on the regular and enlisting cohorts, principally Maria Teresa Rojas, to question and dog him. The board recently asked for an outside audit of GOB monies spent so far and Gallon — who notably skipped the emergency love fest meeting — has questioned whether the bond program has included a sufficient representation of minority contractors.
So, Carvalho pretends to take the New York job offer more seriously. He never really wanted it. Think about it. Even though the New York Times reported that de Blasio promised to match his $352,874-a-year salary (the current chancellor makes $234,569) the job was still a bear. New York City has a $30 billion budget and 1.1 million students, compared to Miami-Dade’s $4.3 billion budget and 365,000 students. It’s daunting, even for a superstar like Carvalho. Which, by the way, he wouldn’t be in NYC. The 2014 national Superintendent of the Year is a big fish in a small pond here but there? He’d be, like, a guppy. Fishbait. De Blasio would not let him just have press conferences on his own agenda whenever he wanted.
Frankly, he’d be de Blasio’s bitch. And Ladra doesn’t think Carvalho relished that thought.
He also wouldn’t have an entire squad of media professionals dedicated entirely to positioning him and creating that darling image of the man so many love. He wouldn’t have his dream team of administrators who actually do all the work — he is a man of vision — behind him. As chancellor, Carvalho would be executing someone else’s vision, with people he doesn’t know or trust. And he would not be able to just flash that smile and talk his way out of anything in New York. Fuggedaboudit.
In this scenario, Carvalho turned the job down almost instantly — only he didn’t tell anyone. He let everybody believe that he had one foot out the door. He went to New York City to meet with de Blasio twice. He met with other city leaders. You know, just to make it stick. Plus Manhattan is an awesome place to spend a few days. Which means he also fooled de Blasio. And that’s the gist you get from the NYC mayor’s press conference Thursday afternoon, where he said he was “very surprised” by the news.
Related: Alberto Carvalho drops mayoral hopes for UM dreams
De Blasio told reporters that Carvalho had taken the job and then “changed his mind,” quoted the Village Voice. We know that he spoke to the Sup during that half hour or so break because the visibly pissed off de Blasio said Carvalho called him with “second thoughts.” But, again, Carvalho is someone who likes theatrics. To pull it off, he would have had to fool de Blasio and his people, too. He may have planned it like this all along. And just look at the number of impressions he’s gotten: It’s been in all the major networks. Not just Channel 7 locally, but CNN and Fox News and every single media outlet in New York has been on it all day (not favorably).
Even his Wikipedia page was already edited to include today’s news. Like his team was ready to do it.
In this scenario, dangling this job before the community and the School Board was a trick, a ruse to get his nine bosses to (1) change the narrative and bring back the love fest (2) offer him a 3-5 year extension on his contract, which expires in 2020.
Ladra doesn’t think they’ll offer him a raise. Carvalho already makes more than any Superintendent in the world. And it won’t be “politically correct” while teacher pay is still an issue. But look for an item at the next school board meeting or two where he gets an extension on his contract and maybe something else. Like more staff to make him look good.
Or was it all a ruse to raise his profile another notch for a mayoral run in 2020 or a bid for Congress, after all?
One thing is for sure: He’s not gonna tell us right away.
Say it ain’t so, Alberto!
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the charismatic populist leader of the 4th largest school district in the U.S., has been tapped to lead the largest school district in New York City, several news sources reported Wednesday afternoon.
Perhaps New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, who was expected to make the official announcement Thursday — it had been postponed because of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas — isn’t used to las malas lenguas in Miami taking the wind out of his sails. Because it seems de Blasio had to make a hasty reveal Wednesday afternoon after word got out.
“Alberto Carvalho is a world-class educator with an unmatched track record of success,” de Blasio said in a statement published on Chalkbeat. “I am very confident that our extensive, national search has found New York City the best person to lead the nation’s largest school system into the future.”
Extensive? Extensive?
Carvalho had been floated as a name for the post since December, immediately after Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced she would be stepping down. He’s just the flashy type that de Blasio and NYC love: a longtime educator from a scrappy, immigrant background who rose through the ranks to become a leading voice on education at the national level. Plus he’s boss on twitter. If Ladra were a betting dog, and she is, she would wager that de Blasio wanted Carvalho all along.
Related: Alberto Carvalho drops mayoral hopes for UM dream
But weeks ago, the Sup told reporters he was committed to Miami-Dade, where he championed a $1.2 billion referendum for modernization and technology upgrades that are just getting started, which is likely one of the reasons de Blasio wants him.
“My commitment to Miami is so strong and I have demonstrated it in the face of political opportunities,” Carvalho told Chalkbeat back then, referring to encouragement he has gotten to run for posts from Miami-Dade mayor to Congress to University of Miami president. “It’s really hard for me to imagine a set of circumstances that would lead to a different decision on my part,” he added.
Oh what a difference a month or two makes? Or was it an offer he couldn’t refuse? The New York Times reported that Carvalho — who makes $352,874 a year in Miami-Dade — could take a sizable pay cut because Fariña’s salary is $234,569.
But this is Carvalho we’re talking about. The king of gab. He can convince anybody of practically anything. He convinced property owners in Miami to tax themselves additionally to soup up public schools, didn’t he?
But this is New York City we’re talking about. Is Carvalho, who rose early through the government affairs branch of administration, a parrot or an empty suit propped up by boatloads of charisma and well-crafted tweets? Or does he have the substance to make it in The Big Apple, which arguably has better public schools than we do? This could be a make or break moment. Some folks think that he has that twinkle in his eye that the city needs and that his initiatives can turn the private school drain around. Others think Carvalho’s gonna get eaten alive in New York City, where charisma only gets you so far and you can’t just tell the same story 25 times.
He certainly is going to have to lower his profile a little. De Blasio runs the show over there. He won’t be able to usurp his boss like he does here with the board. There will be fewer press conferences.
Related: Lawmakers vote to leave assault rifles on the street and arm teachers instead
And while Ladra is not the hugest fan — he is an egomaniac with a history of, er, potentially compromising extracurricular activities — Carvalho has good instincts, thinks out of the box, knows a bad idea when he sees one and is truly committed to public dollars for public schools. Many teachers love him because he is accessible and responsive and he has defended them, blasting the latest evaluation process, for example, as inadequate.
“Miami Dade County Public Schools has been fortunate to have the leadership of Superintendent Carvalho for the past decade. His dedication and passion for education, coupled with our phenomenal workforce, has made MDCPS a leader in public education nationwide,” said United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez Mats in a statement late Wednesday.
“As a colleague, he has always been responsive and respectful, even when we disagreed or I thought his actions weren’t in the best interest of our bargaining unit,” the union leader said. “I believe the Superintendent could have been even more effective for MDCPS if the Florida State Legislature was more focused on supporting our children, its education workforce, and schools, rather than its maniacal obsession with defunding our school system and decertifying the unions. Now more than ever, it is important to have a strong and vibrant voice in Miami Dade County to deflect the destructive education proposals that are being considered in Tallahassee. New York City should be pleased to have Sup. Carvalho lead their public schools and we wish him well in this new chapter of his career.”
School Board members might not be as sad to see him go. There have been some tensions for about a year. Carvalho doesn’t have the same love fest as before. There’s been confrontation, antagonism. One of the board members preempted one of his initiatives at a recent meeting. And they are calling for an audit of the expenditures made so far with the $1.2 billion in bond monies. Could Carvalho be making the move now to avoid any questions about that spending later?
Most recently, Carvalho’s strong stance against arming teachers in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting was a downright relief because it was taken seriously by both sides of the aisle.
What are we going to do now? This community is still reeling from the Valentine’s Day massacre of 14 students and three educators at the Broward high school. Parents and teachers and students are in Tallahassee as you read this, trying to sway legislators to amend the current school safety bills by taking out the marshal program that would arm teachers and putting in a ban on some assault rifles. Will we be vulnerable to a Republican majority School Board and a new Sup that could come specifically to advance an NRA and/or (more likely) a charter school agenda? Will there be a national search? Or does the board already have someone in mind from inside? Ladra would imagine that there are already at least 100 resumes submitted. It’s scary.
The Miami-Dade School Board has called an emergency meeting for Thursday to discuss “the stability of the executive management leadership.”
This appointment is one of the most important in our community, and it is made by a majority of the nine-member School Board. So, basically, five people could choose the next person to hold our children’s future educational experience in his or her hands.
Let’s pay close attention.
There may be an upset in the race for Miami-Dade School Board District 1, which
encompasses Miami Gardens, Carol City and North Miami.
The race for District 7 is pretty much sewn up. Unfortunately, Aster Bato Mohammed is no match for Lubby Navarro, the school board lobbyist appointed by Gov. Rick Scott two years ago to fill the position vacated by Carlos Curbelo‘s run for Congress.
But incumbent Miami-Dade School Board Member Wilbert “Tee” Holloway is facing a real, live challenge, not from former State Rep. James Bush III — who has barely campaigned — but from Steve Gallon III, a former principal at Northwestern Senior High with considerable community support and a thicker campaign wallet, despite some controversy.
Gallon has raised more than Holloway, with almost $93,000 reported as of Aug. 25. He has spent all but about $10K of that with more than $81,000 in expenditures. That’s more than the total of what Holloway has reported raising ($76,000) in the 
same time period. But the incumbent has spent about $55,000, so he has twice as much left as Gallon.
Many think Holloway, who recently retired from his job at AT&T, should retire from the school board also. Not because he is 68, but because he has been there for nearly a decade. Like Navarro, he was appointed by then Gov. Charlie Crist when he was termed out of the Florida House in 2007 to fill the seat of Robert Ingram, who had died. Holloway easily beat a half-hearted challenge in 2008 and was re-elected unopposed in 2012.
Gallon, 47, was a teacher and then became principal at Holmes Elementary, taking that school off the critical list before he became principal at Northwestern Senior High. He served there for seven years — the longest tenure of any principal at that high school — and was promoted in 2005 to the district level department director for school operations and alternative education. In 2008, Gallon was picked to become superintendent of Plainfield Public Schools in central New Jersey. But that ended in controversy two years later after he was arrested for allegedly using a false address to enroll his godsons in school. The charges were dismissed — but only after Gallon agreed to never seek work in New Jersey schools again.
He came back to Miami-Dade to start an education consulting company and his work with some local charter schools with financial troubles became part of a state ethics investigation. But, in the end, Gallon was not found to have violated any rules.
He says controversies have been overblown and that they overshadow his accomplishments, such as the creation of new high schools and improving school safety. “My life and my career and my legacy is far more than a snippet of a few years — not actually a few years, a moment of time — in Plainsfield, New Jersey,” he told the Miami Herald.
And while Holloway has the endorsement of the teachers’ union (most likely because he’s the incumbent and they got a raise this year), Gallon has the support of AFSCME and some of the district’s most notable community leaders — Betty Ferguson and T. Willard Fair — who black voters actually listen to.
Maybe that’s because he has five or six school with consistent Fs in his district year after year. He’s had time to fix it and hasn’t been able to move the needle forward. But he points to improved graduation rates in the district, the opening of new schools, more contracts with minority-owned vendors and the reform the student suspension policy as achievements.
This race took a nasty turn earlier this month when Holloway — who was chairman of the James E. Scott Community Association (JESCA) when it filed for bankruptcy in 2009 — threw his vice chairman, Larry Handfield, under the bus came under the microscope. The nonprofit was one of the largest social service agencies in the U.S., providing educational and support services for children, at-risk youth and elderly residents in some of the 305’s poorest neighborhoods. Holloway said he was only at JESCA “in name only” and didn’t handle finances.
Records and history show that it was Handfield who alerted the county about JESCA’s spending of federal and county funds — funds earmarked for programming and services — on administrative salaries and operational costs (read: executive perks). This mess is arguably what cost former Miami-Dade Commissioner Dorrin Rolle, who was a $200,000-a-year president at JESCA, his elected office in 2010.
It’s possible that it just took a little longer to claim Holloway.
