Miami-Dade School Board to interview 3 superintendent finalists. Watch here.

Sommer Brugal
·2 min read

The Miami-Dade School Board on Monday is expected to determine who will be the district’s next superintendent.

The nine-member board will interview the three finalists — Jose Dotres, Rafaela Espinal and Jacob Oliva — during a special meeting set for 2 p.m. at the school district offices at 1450 NE Second Ave. The meeting is open to the public.

Each School Board member will be allowed to ask each candidate three questions. The board can appoint Carvalho’s successor with a majority vote, which they are expected to take on Monday after the interview process.

The Miami Herald will be livestreaming the board meeting on this page starting at 2 p.m. Please refresh the page after that time to watch live.

Monday’s meeting comes about six weeks after Superintendent Alberto Cavalho announced Dec. 9 he was leaving Miami to head the Los Angeles Unified School District and less than three weeks after the board set out to find his successor. The board on Jan. 5 agreed it would forgo naming an interim superintendent and instead appoint the next superintendent before Carvalho’s last day on Feb. 3. Carvalho has been Miami’s superintendent since 2008.

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The board accepted applications for just seven days (Jan. 5-12) and one week later, on Jan. 18, the board agreed it would hold public interviews for the top three candidates. Sixteen candidates applied for the position.

Dotres, the deputy superintendent of Collier County Public Schools, which includes Naples, was a longtime employee of Miami-Dade Schools, including being a teacher, principal, Carvalho’s chief of staff and the district’s HR chief.

Espinal is a nearly 30-year education veteran in the New York City Department of Education, and has served as one of its regional superintendents in the Bronx.

Oliva is senior chancellor for the Florida Department of Education and had been superintendent of Flagler County Schools in northeast Florida. He was born and raised in Miami-Dade and attended Miami-Dade Public Schools.

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The process from the start has received swift and constant pushback from the community, claiming the process has been rushed. Some have said the process lacks transparency, though board members have denounced those claims.

Miami-Dade Public School Board member Christi Fraga speaks during a special meeting held at the board’s headquarters in downtown Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. The meeting, which was held to decide Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s replacement, concluded with the board narrowing the field to three finalists.
Miami-Dade Public School Board member Christi Fraga speaks during a special meeting held at the board’s headquarters in downtown Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. The meeting, which was held to decide Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s replacement, concluded with the board narrowing the field to three finalists.

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