Schools chief Carvalho is leaving Miami-Dade a smarter, more accomplished community | Editorial

The nation’s high-value public-schools Miami-Dade Schools superintendent is going Hollywood.

Alberto Carvalho is leaving the district to become the head of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Is it a shock? No. Caravlho has always been an asset attractive to other school districts. But is a surprise? Yes — and he’ll be hard to replace.

“He informed me this morning that he would be leaving,” School Board Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman told the Editorial Board, who added she herself was “surprised,” even though Carvalho had mentioned two weeks ago he had received job offers.

“As the person who brought forth the item to appoint Alberto Carvalho to the superintendency of Miami-Dade, I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I have made in my professional life,” Tabares Hantman said later in a prepared statement. “Over the last 14 years, he, together with his team, and under the policy direction of the School Board, has transformed our school district into one of the best anywhere.”

No doubt Carvalho’s departure is lousy news for Miami-Dade schools and a headache for the district, which now must first find an interim, then launch a national search for Carvalho’s replacement. And that will be a true challenge.

Carvalho, who has headed the district since 2008, is one of the few rock-star superintendents in the country. His departure no doubt spells upheaval for the district. Carvalho is a taskmaster who cares about educating and protecting our children, as he has done during the COVID crisis and his battles with the powers-that-be in Tallahassee.

It’s no surprise that L.A., the second-largest district, would come knocking. Carvalho has elevated our district’s academic achievement and national stature — as well as his own. And rightly so. Carvalho is so invested in this district’s success that he could do every job within it. Not bad for a former science teacher.

“I can truly say that the children of L.A., their School Board, the employees and the community will be getting a dedicated and innovative educator of the highest caliber,” Tabares Hantman said.

But, lately, Carvalho’s’ influence with Miami-Dade’s School Board, as new members were elected, a state government that blatantly makes public education a political tool and parents upset over early failings in COVID-related online teaching had changed the dynamics at the district headquarters.

It’s unclear whether Carvalho’s contract would have been renewed next year, and California is much more education friendly and with less intrusive partisan politics. Never mind that school boards are the new battleground for this country’s divisive politics.

Now, the task of finding an interim and launching the search falls largely on Tabares Hantman and the board. “I’ve have been in this position before and hope to lead the Board again through these hard times.”

It’s not the first time Carvalho has tried to leave. Three years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio offered him New York City. Carvalho decided to stay put that time.

But that’s not the case this time around.

As he departs, Carvalho should be praised for his heroic stance to guarantee the health and safety — indeed, the very lives — of students, faculty, administrators, and staff members as they returned to in-person learning in the face of Gov.Ron DeSantis’ threat to defund the nation’s fourth-largest district if it violated his ban on mask mandates.

Like we said — high value. Our students — and our entire community — are better off for his years of committed service to the district.

This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 12:19 PM.