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.
Yeah, it was quick. Carvalho announced in December that he was leaving, for real this time after he changed his mind when New York City called in 2018. His exit Feb. 3 forced the school board to hurry things up and name a successor.
It was also expected. It was no secret Dotres was the favorite. Even though he left last year to become superintendent in Collier County, he spent 30 years in operations, including human resources, leadership building, academics. He built relationships with everyone, including School Board Chair Perla Tabares-Hantman, who has been there for 25 years. The teachers union supported him because of his roots as a classroom teacher.
So everybody likes him. And they also like that he knows the district and can hit the ground running.
“There’s no learning curve in the middle of a pandemic,” said Rick Rodriguez-Piña, a school board lobbyist and insider who knows just about everything going on there. “He has the respect of the rank and file. You can’t find anyone who says something bad about José Dotres. He’s the nicest guy.”
Read related: Alberto Carvalho to leave Miami-Dade Schools for NYC — at the worst time
Nobody really felt the need for a national search. Just look at Broward County’s school board. They just went through a national search and what?
But it was not unanimous. The 6-3 vote reflects the fight three very Republican members — Lubby Navarro, Cristi Fraga and Marta Perez — waged for Jacob Oliva, senior chancellor in the Florida Department of Education, who actually had a Spanish-language TV commercial on AmericaTeve like a candidate for office. It was narrated by Marcell Felipe, the owner of the TV station, which has gotten involved in supporting GOP candidates and issues. He is also founder of the Inspire America Foundation, which he says supports promoting democracy in Cuba and the Americas.
“The Inspire America Foundation is asking for your support in the important vote to elect the next superintendent of Miami-Dade County,” Felipe says in the video, where he utters both the words communism and Marxist and brings up Critical Race Theory, which is not an issue here.
“Only one candidate is on the path to approve and promote the law of Governor Ron DeSantis, which incorporates in the curriculum a class about the dangers of communism and opposes the indoctrination of our kids, like the Marxist government, like Critical Race Theory. His name is Jacob Oliva,” Felipe says.
“The vote is Monday, and we will let you know who on the board voted for and against.”
Wow. This is the guy who wants to promote democracy in Cuba?
But Navarro said political party affiliation and GOP pressure had nothing to do with her choosing Oliva.
The biggest issue she has with Dotres is that he said he would not be moving to Miami-Dade if he got the position and he is retiring in less than three years. Dotres is in the Deferred Retirement Option Program, which means he has to retire in about 800 days whether he wants to or not.
“I’ve known Mr. Dotres for 18 years. He’s a friend,” Navarro told Ladra on the phone as she microwaved her chicken fricasé dinner at home after the all-day meeting. “The success of the superintendent is because he was part of the community and he was there for 13 years,” she said of Carvalho.
The school board will have to do this all over again in 2024, when they’ll be facing shortfalls after the end of federal COVID relief dollars. Maybe they’ll look at Oliva again then. He also lives outside Miami-Dade, but he said he’d move here.
Read related: School Board’s Lubby Navarro gets spanked on Twitter for anti-mask post
“I’m asking people in a referendum to increase their taxes and the person who is in charge is not part of that community? No, that isn’t right,” Navarro said.
Marta Perez told Univision 23 that she liked all three candidates, but that the process was not as transparent as she would have liked.
Vice Chair Steve Gallon wanted Dotres from the get go. He did not want to go through the public interview process they had Monday for the three finalists, which also included Rafaela Espinal, a longtime educator in New York City, the largest school district in the country. She was not nominated.
Gallon told TV reporters outside the school board building that he thought there was political pressure coming from outside sources.
“I don’t anticipate being swayed by someone who interviews well,” Gallon said. “And I am unbothered by the recent political machinations that have sadly attempted to creep into this process.
“My support remains with a person who has a proven body of work and track record,” Gallon said.
He also had concerns with Oliva’s ties to attempts to privatize the Jefferson County School District and lack of experience with minority children as superintendent of Flagler County School District.
Ladra would also be concerned that the Flagler County District in Bunnell has 13,000 students. That’s, like, three high schools here.
What is known for a fact is that this is the end of the Carvalho era. Dotres is a much less public guy. He likes to work quietly. He gives others the credit. He won’t be crowing about his successes on TV every day, like Carvalho, who has a natural charisma, did.
And that means there’s an opportunity for someone from the school board to take his place in the public eye. Who will it be? That’s the next fight.
Miami-Dade School Board brings back Jose Dotres as new superintendent added by Ladra on
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