Everyone thought it was a done deal, but it wasn’t.
Alberto Carvalho, Miami Superintendent, changed his mind and rejected Bill deBlasio’s offer to become chancellor of the New York City public schools, the biggest school system in the U.S., with 1.1 million students.
We will learn more later about why he changed his mind. Or we may never know. The search continues.
It would be good if the process were open and transparent, with parents and educators involved.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You dodged a bullet be thankful. This guy is a first class POS.
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He probably didn’t want to be in the same city with Eva Moskowitz and have to tangle with her as she poached students, schools and money from the NY City public school district.
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Wrong! Mr. Armani is an avid lover of Charter schools. He has supported a referendum to make the entire Dade County School District a Charter District. This guy is a snake just ask any teacher that works for Dade County Public Schools what a weasel this guy is.
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I think you proved my point. He’s the king of charter schools in Dade County but in New York, the queen is Eva Moskowitz and he’d have to share the charter school spotlight with her. He wants the spotlight on him. He doesn’t want to share it with someone else in another city or public school district.
In addition, Florida is Jeb Bush country, a much safer charter school market than New York that could flip in 2018 if Andrew Cuomo doesn’t get reelected.
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Lloyd, I sincerely hope that Cuomo does NOT get re-elected.
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Tragically, I just checked his approval rating and it’s higher than it has ever been.
About seven months to go.
Will his approval rating tank during that time? We can only hope.
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And DeBlasio is a FRAUD for the most part.
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Norwegian Filmmaker,
It’s so tiresome to hear you bash American politicians with ridiculously sweeping attacks. “de Blasio is a fraud…” No more so than Erna Solberg. Is SHE a “fraud”? How truly awful is she? After all, shouldn’t you be bashing Erna Solberg for being a lying fraud with the morals of Donald Trump?
I have noticed that although you always give Solberg a big pass, you are quick to bash as “frauds” Democratic politicians who – while flawed – have actually accomplished some good things. Sometimes you sound like one of the Russian trolls but maybe you are just someone who believes everything the trolls post.
Is Solberg a corrupt fraud, too? Or do you reserve those attacks only for the politician who ended stop and frisk in NYC despite his critics standing by ready to attack even the slightest rise in crime as the result of this “left wing” Mayor? I guess when it comes to being a fraud, doing something that doesn’t help white folks should be dismissed as worthless.
Just stop with your “fraud” attacks. If you want to criticize a specific action, do it. I sometimes criticize a specific action or position that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren take. But I don’t call them “frauds” because they aren’t, except in some weird world you live in where you are able to decide what policies politicians are allowed to compromise on and what they aren’t allowed to compromise on to get the “seal of approval” so that aren’t called frauds. If anything, you are the fraud. Your attacks are no different than the right wing attacks on any Democratic politician who looks like he might be getting a little dangerous to the right wing agenda. These are exactly the kind of things the Russian bots posted all during 2016. You should want to do better.
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^^Not to mention, I find it revealing that after a bunch of comments critical of Governor Cuomo, who is far more complicit with the right wing on education issues, you didn’t post “and Cuomo is a fraud”.
People are critical of Gov. Cuomo, and your response is to say that de Blasio is the fraud? Interesting how you reserve your strongest attacks on the more progressive of those two politicians.
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It recently appeared in NY Times that Cuomo has accepted about $900,000 from people whom he placed on state boards and commissions. It is probably illegal but certainly unethical. Cuomo’s defense (today) is that they weren’t paying jobs.
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She recommended him. Doesn’t sound like they disagree on much.
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He’d have to share the spotlight with her.
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According to the article, after an emotional appeal from the Miami community, he reconsidered his decision on early termination of his Miami contract, which expires in 2020. While he shouldn’t have accepted the NY offer in the first place, I have a question the wisdom of NYC in asking someone to break a contract with someone else in order to enter into a contract with them, unless it’s been made clear that the person is unhappy with the current position & has cause to terminate the contract due to factors related to that position. If someone demonstrates they will break a contract just because they have an attractive offer, how do you know they won’t do it to you too?
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Antwan Wilson broke his contract in Oakland to take DC and now he is unemployed. Maybe Eli Broad will get another slot for him at one of the districts he owns.
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I was willing to give this guy a chance but this makes me like him less. Turn down the job if you don’t want it, but waiting until after you have been built up and praised as the new leader is just poor form.
Honestly, the first thing I thought of is Bill Belichick, who did this with the NY football team (I’m too lazy to look up which team it was). I liked Belichick and he is obviously very very good at coaching, but I thought it said something about him to act in a way that seemed rather unnecessarily attention-getting and selfish.
And you know what? Despite his many Super Bowl rings, Belichick has a reputation of going a little out of bounds in his pursuit of winning. Taping other teams signals to steal them, deflated footballs, the problems of some players in an organization that seemed to put winning above everything else and your value was based on how far you were willing to go to help win. I have a great distrust for people who obviously don’t have faith in their own claims of excellence when they too often are caught stepping over the line to win. I used to ask myself “why Bill, you seem so smart and a good coach, why do you have to cheat?” But there are people for whom anything less than winning and what is normal moral and ethical behavior they see as a sign of weakness.
That’s how I view Eva Moskowitz as well. So if Alberto Carvalho is more in line with the Bill Belichick/Eva Moskowitz definition of “excellence”, then I’m glad he didn’t end up in NYC. Even if it means our schools don’t “win”. But no doubt there are NY football fans who would gladly take a coach like Belichick with his questionable tactics to win because winning is everything. I disagree and I’d rather have someone who is secure enough to understand that “winning” as the only pursuit is not good for most students.
Hopefully we’ll get a new chancellor who is more like Steve Kerr than Bill Belichick. Or Greg Popovich. Those are the kinds of leaders I prefer.
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“. . . is just poor form. . . ”
You mean like this:
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“Belichick has a reputation of going a little out of bounds.”
A little out of bounds? Try a lot out of bounds.
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ok, I agree, Belichick goes a lot out of bounds. And he “wins” although the fact that no matter how many super bowl rings he has he STILL can’t help going out of bounds yet again to gain an unfair advantage perfectly describes everything that is wrong with his personal moral and ethical compass. The ONLY thing that matters to him is winning, period. In that way Belichick reminds me of Eva Moskowitz and perhaps Carvalho’s moral compass was similar. Perhaps that’s why Moskowitz thought he was a good choice.
I don’t think it is surprising that Belichick works happily for Robert Kraft – a huge Trump supporter. Just like Eva Moskowitz worked happily for Betsy DeVos – a huge Trump supporter. When all that matters is “winning” and you have lost any sense of ethical behavior, Trump is a good role model.
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Flake.
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Good comparison, between Belichick and Moskowitz.
It seems as though some people are willing to do almost anything, including unethical things, in order to be seen as “Number 1.”
Yes, it does, indeed, sound like Donald Trump, too, doesn’t it?
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OY! I heard this on the radio. The people in Dade wanted to keep him!
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That’s their story and they’re sticking to it anyway.
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That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.
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No only the knuckleheads in Dade wanted to keep him. Anyone with more than a couple of functioning neurons wanted no part of that lying snake. With Mr. Armani you have to pay very close attention to what he does rather than what he says. He is a chameleon.
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Carvahlo is grandstanding here.
Reneging so dramatically.
Methinks he’s got plans for himself in politics.
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What about Mike Hynes from Medford-Patchogue? He would be a geat candidate.
DeBlasio is a phony progressive. Jamaal Bowman is not. He would also be a great candidate.
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I think he read the comments on yesterday’s post by Diane and decided he might not get the love in NYC he was receiving in Miami…
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NYC is a tough town. As the song says, “If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere.”
The chancellor’s job may be the definition of impossible.
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Nothing is impossible. When there’s a will, there’s a way.
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Nothing is impossible … how about a weekend trip to the moon or even Mars this year and you stay for two weeks to have time to take in the sights?
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I am so happy this guy turned down the job here in NYC. After listening to this guy and his immigrant slang I thought to myself oh my God will I have to listen to this bozo every day. Lets get a true American born and breed as chancellor and stop bringing in this people from other countries because this is what you get. The big Guy up stairs is looking out for us.
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Wait: what?
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Mark, I guess the racist slime crawled out from under his/her rock.
That was pretty bad.
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Exactly, and thanks Zorba. I read that and my jaw dropped.
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Come on now. Let’s NOT give rocks a bad name by linking them to racists.
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Why was he offered over $100,000 more in salary than Farina? There are plenty of qualified people who would take the job for Carmen’s salary. Why can’t the job go to a veteran teacher of many years? Why does the post have to always be handed to an administrator with dubious commitments to public education?
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There seems to be something of an arms race with superintendent salaries lately, presumably on the dubious theory that you can’t attract top “talent” without the big bucks.
This job is managerial in nature and has little if any relation to teaching, so it makes sense to me why the job goes to administrators and not teachers. We’re talking about a school system with over a million students in it. Not ideal for a first foray into administration. And De Blasio, like all big city mayors, is risk averse.
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I for one am not sad. Diane- Yesterday I had very mixed feelings regarding your high level endorsement of one of Eva’s compatriots. Still thinking there is an educator from within NYC, unattached to the Bloomberg school of pedagogy, who could fill this position. NYC has some great educators!
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Claudia,
I neither endorsed nor critized Carvalho. I announced that he was chosen. I usually like to watch and wait before reaching a judgment. Maybe Eva put him on her list to knock him out. I don’t know.
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Well, I have faith restored! You are one of my idols.
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Arthur Goldstein, this is your moment!
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