Even though he was always kind of one foot in, one foot out, Miami-Dade Schools 
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is giving up on his idea of running for Miami-Dade mayor in 2016 or 2020. Or turning in another direction, that is.
That’s because he now wants to be named president of the University of Miami. Donna Shalala, who has held the position for 17 years, announced her retirement last month, and it didn’t take long for Carvalho to confide in some of his friends that this was his true dream. Well, that is, if the Democrats don’t win the White House two years from now and name him Education Secretary (he turned down the No. 2 job already). He’s hoping for Hillary.
Still, the UM post is not a bad runner up dream: A $1.2 million salary at Suntan U on an Eden-like campus in Paradise, Fla., and all the coeds you can shake a stick at.
News of Carvalho’s new ambition came to Ladra from two separate and independent sources this week and confirmed on Friday by someone close to him.
And it’s a better fit, doncha think? Sure, Ladra would have loved to see someone as popular as the studly Sup run against Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez in 2016 — don’t worry, we have other options (more on that later) — but deep down inside, I feared for the poor portugés.
Carvalho, 49, has never run for an elected office in his life. He has been a lucky man, pretty much insulated from real politics in his appointed position as the head of the fourth largest school district in the country. He does not like controversy. He does not like confrontation. Can you imagine him in front of the commission?
He would have been eaten alive. Or maybe started twitching in another girl fight between Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa and Commissioner Barbara Jordan (more on that later), though lots of people did.
Yeah, Carvalho’s multiple accolades and the profile he has raised for himself — being named 2014 National Superintendent of the Year doesn’t hurt — could more easily lead to a university title.
His one liability is he’s got nothing more than a bachelor’s degree (okay, I’ve been told he has a Master’s from Nova; hope it’s not one of those honorary ones). It’s not an issue anywhere else except the top position at an institution that pushes and promotes higher education. But maybe he can turn that academic liability into an asset. By going back to school, he can experience what millions of Americans are experiencing with their second chance attempts at graduate degrees in later life.
This is a definite national trend. Carvalho can become the poster boy for second degree seekers and people going for their PhDs in their 50s.
And then there’s his fundraising ability. Carvalho was pivotal in raising the funds needed for a $2 million campaign to pass the $1.2 billion better schools bond that passed in 2012. And then there’s the people making the decision by sometime next spring or summer: The UM Board of Trustees, which include people like Leonard Abess and Adrienne Arsht, who have rubbed elbows and probably clinked glasses with The Sup.
I’m certain there has to be a national search and that lotsa other educators apply for this bacon.
But Ladra likes the local boy for this.
Alberto Carvalho drops mayoral hopes for UM dream added by Ladra on
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No chance whatsoever.
The Board of Trustees at the University of Miami (UM) must do a better job for the university in the selection process of a new president. There must be a national search, of real, qualified, vetted and ethical candidates, rather than to just become attached to this grandstanding schmuck [Carvalho] and his immoral ways.
He is a special case and there is no line that he will not cross to promote himself and his agenda. His appetite for attention is sickening and his constant self-promoting is likened to a dog barking idiotically and endlessly through the night.
Look at some of his promotions at the Miami school system. Look at he stories behind them. They will have some interest and eyebrow raising to the UM Board of Trustees and the Hilary Clinton campaign, at some point.
His behavior, from the reported adulterous affairs to the immature and sophomoric like stories he has run on himself in the media to his “selfie” attitude, fall well beneath the the expectations and standards of a major university like UM.
He has mainlined a steady laxative of lies and distractions to the community, using children as pawns, because they are as American as Apple Pie and Chevrolet. He is a superintendent by accident be it by the coup d’état of Dr. Rudolph Crew and the circus selection process orchestrated by the Miami school system Chair, Ms. Perla Tabares-Hantman, whom Carvalho kisses the hand and ass.
UM can do better-much better and the university needs better leadership than what Carvalho and his heap of trash will bring.
The University of Miami (UM) Board of Trustees need to go elsewhere to pick the next president of the school, rather than to have this little schmuck and his pompom wearing supporters and liars make claim the he is qualified to lead the university.
This is and should be a prestigious post and a national search of real, qualified and ethical candidates, preferably those with experience in higher education, must be conducted.
Carvalho has no loyalty but to himself and has a long list of people he has double-crossed, Dr. Rudy Crew, Ralph Arza, Freddie Woodson and several others. Look at some of his promotions and there are some interesting stories behind them; stories that will be of interest to the UM Board and the Clinton campaign, of course, when the time is right.
Carvalho kissed the ass and hand of the previous School Board Chair, Dr. Solomon Stinson and now does the same with current Chair Perla Tabares Hantman, who was responsible for his slapdash appointment and the circus that it was.
UM can do better than the heap of trash Carvalho brings.
Agree
Carvalho is the same public official that was snagged in an adulterous relationship with a news reporter covering the school system. His reputation as a womanizer is well known at the school district and will certainly be made known to those at the University of Miami, as well as Hillary, considering she may have a personal perspective on men that cheat on their spouses. Timing is everything.
He works full time at promoting himself and his own agenda and has a platoon of minions, some of them a bit too close, that do nothing but write press releases, nominate him for awards and march to the beat of the drum of, “Protect the Superintendent.”
He speaks endless, until there is no more oxygen in the room, about himself and ethics, morality and other issues, yet he is not the saint he portrays or claims to be, and nor is the school system the cathedral he would like us to believe it is.
Much of his empty-headed chatter is nothing more than camouflage to hide his dirty little ways, and the children he uses as pawns for his political game.
I am sure there are a handful of mid-level of administrators that he has promoted that are already willing to write papers and help his coursework if he chooses to seek some bull crap PhD.
This little man is an ego-maniac and must always have the biggest chair in the room.
No Ph.D/JD/MD, no Presidency. Period. Name me one President of a top 100 non-sectarian University in the USA without one.
Carvalho works full time at promoting himself. When he isn’t at the gym he has paid staffers write press releases. Ick. U of M can do better, much better.