Was Carvalho Ready To Take NYC Schools Job? 'Of Course'

NEW YORK, NY — Alberto Carvalho was ready for a trip to New York City from Miami for his coronation as the next schools chancellor the evening before he dramatically pulled out of the job, text messages released by City Hall show.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Feb. 28 that he had chosen Carvalho, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent, to replace Carmen Fariña as the next head of the nation's largest school system.

Carvalho complained in a text that day, a Wednesday, to First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan that news reporters in New York were contacting his local school board members before he could talk with them. "Stalked by media," he wrote that evening.

But Carvalho didn't hesitate when Fuleihan said he was needed in New York for a press conference that Friday.

"Of course," he wrote back.

The next day, Carvalho backed out of the chancellor's post on live television at what was supposed to be his farewell school board meeting in Miami. Students, families and board members pleaded him to stay in the South Florida city where he's worked since the start of his career.

While the texts reveal Carvalho's questions about his hefty compensation package and about the vagaries of the city's education system, they give no indication he was wavering in the days leading up to the drama.

Carvalho asked Fuleihan on Feb. 28 about the "possible implications" of the scheduled expiration of mayoral control over city schools. The state Legislature approved a two-year extension of mayoral control in 2017, meaning the issue will likely come up for debate again next year.

Fuleihan assured Carvalho that while city officials have to prove their success in Albany, "effectively no one wants to go back to the earlier system" under various school boards.

Carvalho also wanted to resolve lingering questions about his compensation. The city agreed to match his Miami salary of about $353,000, but Carvalho also wanted the city to contribute to his tax-deferred annuity retirement plan, which Fuleihan said was not possible.

"This one has caught (me) totally off guard," Carvalho texted on Feb. 27.

Carvalho also asked whether he could accept honorarium payments for speaking engagements, a question that didn't get a final answer in the text messages.

The money issues apparently didn't play much of a role in Carvalho's decision to renege. In a statement to Chalkbeat New York, Miami schools spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego said talks about compensation "were limited to minutes at most, never a priority, and readily settled."

But Carvalho has publicly indicated he was worried about not being able to pick his own chief of staff or human resources director, the Miami Herald reported in March.

His last-minute change of heart resulted from "the School Board and community’s overwhelming support and insistence that he remain Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools," Gonzalez-Diego told Chalkbeat. "Additionally, there were perceived limitations associated with the position in New York."

(Lead image: Alberto Carvalho appears at the Miami-Dade school board meeting on March 1 where he backed out of the New York City schools chancellor's job. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)