Less than a day after accepting the job to lead the nation’s largest school district, Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County, Fla., district, last week backed out of an agreement to go to New York City.
Carvalho held the public in suspense during a special three-hour, 40-minute school board meeting as he publicly weighed his future, and the future of the district he has led for a decade.
He addressed the assembled crowd three times. And what some assumed would be his swan song became a call to action. Carvalho railed against calls to arm teachers in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting, slammed President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, and tugged at the heartstrings of dozens of parents and employees. His announcement that he would stay drew a standing ovation.
The decision now leaves New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio searching for a new leader as the current chancellor, Carmen Fariña, plans to retire soon.
