Latin Builders hopes new Miami-Dade schools chief can be a partner | Opinion
Alberto Carvalho’s departure as superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools will leave a considerable leadership void in our community. The members of the School Board will select his replacement.
For the better part of the past 15 years, students, teachers and parents have enjoyed a steady hand at the helm of our public schools. During his tenure, Carvalho elevated student achievement, created one of the best school-choice programs in the country and transformed MDCPS into a model for other school districts to emulate.
He also worked hard to improve the facilities where children learn and teachers teach, building new schools and renovating older ones. He did so with a commitment to use local design professionals and contractors, a commitment that the Latin Builders Association — home to many of these companies — has always recognized and appreciated. The members of the LBA thank the superintendent for his service to our children and our community.
The transition to new leadership brings with it an opportunity to find a leader who will continue to elevate our public-school system. It also creates some concerns, including what criteria will be used to choose the new superintendent. It is our hope and our recommendation that the next superintendent should be someone who understands our community — its culture, its diversity and its politics — and who is committed to providing a world-class education for our children, regardless of their socio-economic status. The new superintendent should also want to develop close relationships with the business community and the local construction industry, viewing those relationships as valuable partnerships, as Carvalho did.
The next superintendent will likely have some difficult days. It will not be easy to walk Carvalho’s shadow and deal with the myriad of issues and uncertainties that the COVID pandemic likely will bring.
The new superintendent will also be faced with the concerns many in the construction industry have as to how difficult and cumbersome it has become to work for MDCPS. The LBA is home to design professionals and contractors who do business with the school system. But it is also home to a number who have chosen not to do so anymore. In their assessment, the difficulties of working for the school district outweigh the potential opportunities, because the bureaucracy involved with doing so makes it cost prohibitive.
To his credit, Carvalho worked hard to address these issues and was always receptive to the feedback he received. Still, this is a reality that the next superintendent will need to address comprehensively and with safeguards in place for those companies and individuals who voice their concerns.
The Latin Builders Association stands ready to offer its guidance and recommendations to School Board leaders tasked with deciding who the next superintendent will be.
As a proud product of our public school system, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Superintendent Carvalho for his tireless efforts on behalf of public education in our community.
Gus Cabrera is president of the Latin Builders Association, one of the largest Hispanic building trade associations in the United States.
