Jose Dotres will make almost twice as much as he did in Collier County
The new Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent starts his $370,000-a-year job Monday leading the sixth largest school district in the country.
He’ll be commuting.
Jose Dotres, who was chosen Jan. 25 by the school board over two other finalists to replace Alberto Carvalho — who is off to the Los Angeles school district — lives in Broward. He has no plans to move to Miami-Dade.
Maybe that’s why he needs a $900 monthly expense supplement — for gas.
This became an issue during the selection process. Or, maybe, a pretend issue for those who wanted someone else. But there are some who say the superintendent should live in the community where his policies and operations have an impact.
Read related: Miami-Dade School Board brings back Jose Dotres as new superintendent
That includes Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia, who wrote an editorial in the Miami Herald last week urging the board to require county residency as part of the contract negotiations.
“As the appointed educational leader for our county’s 345,000 students, parents, and employees, it is critical that the superintendent be authentically invested in and integrated into the community,” Garcia wrote. “While residency is not a statutory requirement, it should be understood as an ethical obligation for the leader of a community’s schools.
“Living as a member of the community ensures access and visibility to parents, business leaders and important stakeholder groups,” he wrote.
Why is Garcia wasting any of his political capital on a decision that’s already been made by another government body? Stay in your lane, bro.
Some might think he was nudged by his chief of staff, Iraida Mendez-Cartaya, the former chief of the school district’s intergovernmental affairs office (read: lobbyist) and a Carvalho loyalist. Others think that, as the chair of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, Garcia is just backing the GOP women — School Board members Marta Perez, Christi Fraga and Lubby Navarro — who voted for the Ron DeSantis candidate, Jacob Oliva, senior chancellor in the Florida Department of Education.
Notice who isn’t in the photo from the Jan. 25 meeting when Dotres was selected.
Garcia told Ladra Sunday — as he rooted for the Rams — that he just wants someone who was committed to the county the same way Carvalho was.
“I’ve known Jose for a while. He’s a good guy. It’s not about his abilities,” Garcia said. “It’s just the right thing to do.”
Read related: Alberto Carvalho ‘decides’ to stick around — or was it all a sneaky ruse?
But Carvalho wasn’t that committed, was he? Yes, he was here for 14 years. He moved to Miami-Dade. But he also became a media hog, teased New York City to get a better contract for himself here and then left us a few years later — posting pictures of when he wheeled his chair in and when he wheeled it out — for a four-year contract worth $440,000 a year.
Dotres, 59, only got a two-year contract — as first reported by the Miami Herald last week — because he is in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan that forces him to retire in 2024. But he says he will waste no time on a learning curve because, before Collier County, he worked here for 30 years in operations, including human resources, leadership building and academics.
“I’ve been working for the last 30 years in Miami-Dade,” Dotres told Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg on Local 10’s This Week in South Florida Sunday. “I’ve been working from my place of residence for the last 19 years and I don’t think I missed a beat.
“I feel that I am part of South Florida. We have a lot of teachers, a lot of employees that are part of this tri-county area,” Dotres said, and Ladra has been told that more than 30% of Miami-Dade’s teachers live in Broward.
“And so I believe that will not interfere with, number 1, my commitment and, number 2, my unending support for anything that is needed in the school district.”
The $370K salary is $5,000 less than Carvalho was paid here. But it’s more almost twice the $192,000 Dotres was making at his last job, as assistant sup in Collier County.
That means he can pay to rent a room at the JW Marriott downtown if he has to stay in Miami-Dade for an emergency or something.
Or he can crash at his mom’s house in Little Havana for free.
New Miami-Dade Schools boss starts job Monday, coming from Broward added by Ladra on
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