Here are the key steps in the search for a new Miami-Dade superintendent
On a Thursday afternoon in December, Alberto Carvalho stood behind a podium at the Miami-Dade School Board headquarters, cameras trained on him, and announced that after 31 years — his career starting as a 25-year-old physics teacher at Miami Jackson High — he was leaving to become the new head of Los Angeles public schools.
For 14 years, Carvalho, 57, with his Italian-cut suits and styled hair, was the face of Miami-Dade Public Schools, the man behind the microphone explaining some issue, whether it was defying Gov. Ron DeSantis over masks or dealing with how a 16-year-old student hacked the school system, shutting down classes during the first week of school in 2020, a critical time when students were learning remotely and needed the district’s computers to work.
With Carvalho’s last day set for Feb. 3, the School Board has been scrambling to hire his replacement as superintendent of MiamiDade Public Schools, an entity that has a $7 billion budget, nearly 400 schools, 17,000 teachers and 335,000 students between traditional and charter schools.
To some, the hiring process has been too short, too insider and too narrow, failing to cast a wide net to find the most innovative leader who can move the district forward as it contends with serious issues. Those range from learning losses and student mental health issues spawned by the pandemic to a glaring achievement gap that has students in the district’s poorest neighborhoods failing English and math standardized tests at much higher rates than students in wealthier neighborhoods.
Even one of the School Board members, Christi Fraga, expressed concern about how quickly the board was moving.
“We need to take our time,” she said at a Jan. 5 board meeting convened to talk about hiring a new superintendent. “I don’t think it needs to be an extremely rushed process where someone needs to be named before the superintendent exits.”
The board has said it wants a superintendent in place around the time Carvalho leaves.
Here, then, are key dates in the search process, including information on how the public can submit questions before Monday’s School Board meeting to interview the three finalists:
Dec. 9: Carvalho announces he is leaving as superintendent of the nation’s fourth-largest school district to become superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s secondlargest school district.
Dec. 15:
The School Board authorizes its chairwoman, Perla Tabares Hantman, to negotiate the terms of Carvalho’s departure based on his contract. Carvalho’s annual salary is around $350,000. Hantman calls for a special board meeting in January to discuss the “parameters and critical elements that will govern the identification of qualified candidates for the position of superintendent of schools.”
Jan. 5: The board announces there will be a seven-day application window for candidates to apply for the superintendent’s job. The board sets the qualifications for the next superintendent — experience as a classroom teacher, a principal and district administrator, a master’s degree or higher and an understanding of the Miami-Dade community.
Jan 6: Seven-day application window begins for people to apply for the superintendent’s position.
Jan 12: Candidates have until 5 p.m. to submit their applications. Sixteen people apply by that deadline; two subsequently drop out.
Jan. 18: The School Board, after a tense five-hour meeting, narrows the finalists to three: Jose Dotres, Rafaela Espinal and Jacob Oliva. The board agrees to interview the candidates publicly and people can submit questions to be asked of the finalists; the questions will be vetted by the board.
Monday: The board will meet at 2 p.m. to interview the three finalists and “select and appoint a candidate for the position of Superintendent of Schools, subject to compliance with employment hiring standards and fingerprinting in accordance with Board policy,” according to the board’s published agenda. The board will meet at the School Board Administration Building, 1450 NE Second Ave.
The meeting is open to the public and can be viewed at www3. dadeschools.net /SchoolBoard/ information People can submit questions at mdcpssuper intendent application 2022.dade schools.net/. The deadline to submit your questions is Friday, Jan. 21. Questions will be sent to School Board members, who will decide whether they will be asked during the candidate interviews.
Miami Herald research director Monika Leal contributed to this report.