Semifinalists to lead Miami-Dade County Public Schools revealed
Miami-Dade County’s school board now has six semifinalists in the running to replace Superintendent Jose Dotres.
Down from a pool of 21 applicants, the list includes any applicant who was selected by at least one member of the school board to be advanced in the process. Members were able to select up to three candidates.
The list of six semifinalists, provided by district staff to the Miami Herald, includes familiar names in South Florida as well as some candidates from out of state.
The list includes:
- Jose Bueno, Dotres’ Chief of Staff.
- Ernie Lozano, Broward County Public Schools chief human resources officer.
- Sylvia Mitchell, a former Miami charter school principal and charter school network executive in Texas.
- Carlos Perez, a charter school principal in West Palm Beach and the former executive director of the Education Reform Project, a nonprofit organization based in Miami Beach.
- Christopher Ruszkowski, a former secretary of education for New Mexico who is now overseeing the state of Texas’ takeovers of a large school district and charter school network.
- Rafael Villalobos, MDCPS’ south region superintendent.
District staff did not provide records showing which school board members selected which semifinalists as of Tuesday evening.
Dotres was hired to lead the district Jan. 2022, replacing Alberto Carvalho. Dotres’ contract is scheduled to end Feb. 14, 2027.
The Herald previously published the full application materials for all 21 applicants for the role.
Some high-profile applicants did not make the list of semifinalists. Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero, did not appear to meet the board’s requirement of “public school classroom teaching experience or equivalent instructional experience.” Chief Schools Officer for Chicago Public Schools Jeffrey Mosley was also not picked as a semifinalist.
Five of the six semifinalists were found to have initially met all the board’s minimum requirements, based on a district analysis. Ruszkowski was deemed to not have met the board’s requirement of “experience as a school principal.”
Discussion at the board’s last special meeting, held in late June for the sole purpose of discussing the superintendent search, centered around whether the board might seriously consider someone who was short a requirement or two.
Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas said at the meeting she felt “very strongly against” offering leeway on the minimum qualifications. Other members, like District 4’s Roberto Alonso, said they wouldn’t be opposed to considering someone in “bucket two,” the group of 10 candidates who were initially found to lack a requirement or two.
A member of Rojas’ staff did not immediately respond to a question Tuesday on whether the board would consider hiring someone who was not one of the six semifinalists.
According to a plan finalized at last month’s meeting, background checks on the remaining candidates will be completed by July 17 and finalists will be selected by end of special board meeting held July 21.
Members did not address at that meeting the exact date they plan to name the new superintendent, but a presentation from the search firm assisting the board listed Aug. 13 as the date by which they would be named.