No Hint in Texts That Miami-Dade Schools Chief Would Back Out of New York Job

NEW YORK — There were concerns about money, questions about control and a nod to an unfortunate 1980s haircut immortalized on a driver’s license. These conversations, hashed out in familiar white and blue text bubbles, were the prelude to a heartbreak — or at least to some serious public embarrassment.

These were text conversations between Alberto M. Carvalho, the superintendent of Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was in the market for a schools chancellor for New York City earlier this year. In March, the day after the de Blasio administration announced Carvalho was going to lead the city’s schools, Carvalho went on television and said, in essence: nevermind.

“I am breaking an agreement,” Carvalho said at the end of a 3 1/2 hour school board meeting in Miami where a parade of supporters had begged him to stay. “I shall remain in Miami-Dade as your superintendent.”

A series of emails and text conversations between City Hall and Carvalho were released Friday as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request, and in those exchanges, Carvalho gave no hint of what was to come. They discussed the vetting process and the mechanics of the public school system. He said he was working on a “separation agreement” with Miami, and that he would hand over pictures of himself as a young teacher that the city could use for a promotional video when the announcement was made.

What the two men discussed in some detail was compensation. Just days before the announcement, Carvalho said he was “caught totally off guard” that a retirement contribution he received in Miami would not be replicated in New York. (He also said that he received a $12,000 annual expense account in Miami, but he did not appear to put up a fight when told he had to leave that behind.)

Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade schools, said that Carvalho’s decision to stay in Miami, “after tentatively accepting the mayor’s offer,” to become New York City’s chancellor, “came as a result of the school board and community’s overwhelming support and insistence that he remain superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Additionally, there were perceived limitations associated with the position in New York. Discussions regarding compensation were limited to minutes at most, never a priority, and readily settled.”

In his exchanges with New York City officials, Carvalho also asked about what might be one of de Blasio’s least favorite topics in education: mayoral control of the city’s schools. The mayor has run New York City public schools since 2002, in place of the Board of Education. But in recent years, that power, which requires approval from the state Legislature in Albany, has become a favorite and frequent point of leverage for Senate Republicans, much to de Blasio’s recurring displeasure. Despite that, Fuleihan’s explanation, that “effectively no one wants to go back to the earlier system,” is widely considered to be correct.

The week the announcement was set to be made, the city’s Education Department sent Carvalho a memo outlining the basics of New York’s system. The document, which was posted on the education website Chalkbeat, appears to contain a curious contradiction.

In a section on specialized high schools, it describes them as “3 famous screened schools that use a test as the only admissions criterion — per state law; 6 other schools also use the test.” (In fact, there are five other schools that use such a test. An additional specialized school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, has an arts focus and requires a portfolio and audition.)

De Blasio began a push in June to get admissions criteria changed at those schools — 67 percent of New York City public school students are black or Hispanic, but the specialized schools admit very few of those students. But de Blasio has insisted that admissions changes must come from Albany because it is not clear whether the state law that mandates a test covers the three schools that existed when the law was written in 1971, or all schools. Critics, and even allies of the mayor, have publicly questioned this position, saying the city has the power to change admissions at the other five schools without Albany, and the transition memo appears to agree.

Carvalho’s talking point, however, which was listed just below, said, “Currently, state law requires these high schools have a single exam for admission.”

Eric Phillips, a spokesman for the mayor said, “the memo could have been worded more clearly.” He said the administration’s position on the law has not changed, and he declined to comment further.