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.
Alberto Carvalho ‘decides’ to stick around — or was it all a sneaky ruse? added by Ladra on
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In 2008, he agreed to an offer with Pinellas County, but then he dramatically broke his promise to come to Miami. Then there was the Los Angeles ploy which afterwards he ended up with a raise in salary despite his constant wish to be the “most underpaid public servant”.
His “success” is more to do with the recovery of Miami’s economy than any brilliant policies or strategies pushed forward by him. He gets to be the poster child to capitalize off of the work from others. He certainly cannot claim responsibility for the increase in property values that strengthened the tax rolls. Especially since his own taxable property values have decreased when everyone else has seen increases values and paid more into the very taxes that fund our schools.
In 2015, he said that he would definitely finish out his contract to 2020. Shouldn’t we feel betrayed that he would even court Blasio? Why are we thanking him when we should be questioning his philanderer ways.
He would be going into a suicide mission for his career. In today’s polarized political world, AC is a unicorn who can carry support from both Dems and Republicans. Elected officials and political/campaign consultants fear he is a dangerous Messiah who will part the seas and lead voters to a land of a new level of consciousness.
He is more than just a pretty face. He is can outsmart the best of them too. His plan to donate his salary for the last year of his contact, is so he can cash in his chips without breaking campaign laws and conflicts of interest policies. Nothing is ever free, and when a politician says he/she is selflessly taking a free salary, you know there is corruption. That BS should be illegal.
Too bad Ileana didn’t keep her promise she made to all the Dems (shocker). He was supposed to campaign his last year of his contact and take her seat in the 2020 election. Everyone knows, if he jumps into the race at any point, the smart “cats” would step aside and let him take the throne.
Miami has a few political machines which keep us entertained. They can’t function anywhere outside of Miami because their tactics embrace the art of deceit instead of science and service for the people. It’s in their bear interest that AC stays in Miami and serves their interests.
Now, NYC actually is still ran by big political bosses. They pick who will be elected and who will work and who will retire from public service. Keith Wright & Bill de Blasio make sure to hire those who think the same to their administration. Blasio has a very narrow and focused idea of progressive leadership. They would rather go without someone than hire someone who could be a moderate. Each person hired is to fit into a very specific political strategy. Liberal policy makers who have met with him privately have come away saying he refuses to have discussions outside of his already decided platforms.
Fariña’s came out of retirement in 2013 to serve a purpose. She retired under Republican/Independent Bloomberg who favored charter schools. Blasio liked Fariña’s disdain for charter schools, and he failed to successfully recruit some of his first choices.
Fariña is very good at pointing out problems with the system, including pointing out bad teachers and bad principals, but she isn’t so good at identifying solutions.
She and Blasio do not believe in “grading” schools because it encourages teachers to “teach to the test”. They have spent large sums of tax payer money to try to turn around and revitalize schools lacking resources in poor communities. They also have expanded a preschool program with an ideal of universal preschool for every kid in the city.
In the state legislature, pro-charter money has already won. There is no denying the power of Eva Moskowitz. NYC has a racially segregated public education system. Charter schools have been quick to fill gaps where public officials continue with a whole lot of inaction. In 2017, the state legislature approved NYC schools to remain under the mayor’s purview in an extension of 2 years. Should the authority be revoked, a school board would be established, and Mr. AC could lose his public platform and job.
The Carvalho Show would be foolish to relocate to NYC. Cuomo is expected to challenge POTUS in 2020. Working for Blasio would likely put AC at odds with a potential front runner for the DNC which could mean potential sponsors would pull their funding from The Carvalho Show. Perhaps, he already had the pleasure of making an acquaintance with Ms. Moskowitz. Blasio’s ideologies are not favorable for anyone under him to use this position as a stepping stone into some great political stardom.
I heard he went to a private school down here as a kid. His whole story is a facade. Next article should be all the woman this person has slept with the school system. Shame!
This is your best piece yet. You hit this one out of the ballpark, because you are on point every step of the way. He is running for Miami-Dade County Mayor.
Carvalho is Miami’s Kim Kardasian. Except Carvalho is all flash and no net worth.
Dear Ms. DeValle:
Thank you for your always extraordinary inside looks at what may really be going on.
I only met Superintendent Carvalho one time, but that was a TOTALLY favorable impression.
Our incredibly great Board Member Regalado was mildly disparaging statewide testing, which I believe is needed to insure a high school degree actually means something, more than a detrimental “social promotion” that carries no skill sets. Mr. Carvalho Respectfully set the record straight.
AND he posed for a picture with me to share with my daughter Angie, whom Ms. (Saint!) Regalado has helped more than anyone in the School system except her teachers and principal.
Doubtless you are right, but I still think WE ARE TOTALLY LUCKY TO HAVE ALBERTO CARVALHO HERE IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FIGHTING FOR IMMIGRANTS, FIGHTING FOR OUR CHILDREN.
Sincerely,
Jackson Rip Holmes
Typical Carvalho. Everything revolves around him. All flash. No substance. Now let us see if the attacks on his lax leadership stick. People want to know what happened to all the bond money.
Hahahahaha. Carvalho is worried about Steve Gallon and Maria Tere Rojas asking tough questions? Every single appointed superintendent, manager, etc., in the U-S-A would pray to almighty God that Gallon and Rojas are the loyal opposition asking the tough questions. The truth is there’s not a single School Board member in the last 10 years who can seriously challenge Carvalho. He owns this School Board, and every School Board before it. We all bow to Alberto.