The Miami-Dade County, Fla. school board has delayed a vote to approve the contract of its newly chosen superintendent, as questions swirled about the process used to select him and about the nature of his relationship with a reporter who covered the schools.
The board was scheduled to vote on Alberto Carvalho’s contract at its Sept. 17 meeting. But an hour before the meeting, the item was removed from the agenda. A school board spokeswoman said there could be no vote because the contract had not been finalized, so board members would not have had enough time to review it before voting. The vote has not yet been rescheduled.
The board voted Sept. 10 to buy out the rest of Superintendent Rudolph F. Crew’s contract, and voted at the same meeting to name Mr. Carvalho, a longtime district administrator, as his replacement. (“Miami Board Buys Out Leader’s Contract,” Sept. 17, 2008.)
Earlier in the week, as Mr. Carvalho’s name surfaced as a top candidate for the job, e-mails began circulating that suggested he had had a romantic relationship with Miami Herald reporter Tania deLuzuriaga, who now works at The Boston Globe. He denied such a relationship and claimed the e-mails were doctored; she has not publicly commented.
In an editorial Sept. 16, the Herald said he was beginning his superintendency “seriously compromised by concerns about his judgment and truthfulness” and called for a delay in approving his contract.
Some members of the board and community have criticized the replacement choice as too hasty, coming as it did without a national search or extended questioning of candidates.
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