Sep 18, 2008 10:45 pm US/Eastern
DeFede Exclusive: The Carvalho Contract
-
-
Alberto Carvalho, newly named Miami-Dade School Superintendent
CBS
CBS4 News has obtained a copy of the proposed contract being offered to Alberto Carvalho to run the nation's fourth largest school district.
The details: The contract is for three years, with a one-year option. The starting salary is $275,000, with annual cost of living increases in years two and three. The contract also comes with all of the standard benefits, including an expense account and car allowance.
Carvalho, 43, was offered the job last week, just two hours after the school board voted to buy then-superintendent Rudy Crew out of his contract. Crew had what amounted to a six-year deal worth approximately $350,000 a year.
Carvalho could not be reached for comment. In an earlier interview, Carvalho had said matching Crew's salary was not a priority.
"I recognize the situation the school district is in, so trying to match Rudy's salary was not as important to me as making sure I had enough time to overcome the challenges this district is facing," he said.
One major change in the contract is that it contains provisions, which will make it easier for the board to fire Carvalho in the event they are dissatisfied with his work. Board members discovered in recent months that the contract they had with Crew made it virtually impossible to fire the outspoken superintendent without incurring a stiff financial penalty.
The Carvalho contract still needs to be approved by the school board, and some members have vowed to try to either kill the contract or at least delay it for several weeks while there is an investigation into a series of alleged emails between Carvalho and a former Herald reporter. The emails suggest an inappropriate intimate relationship between Carvalho and the reporter.
No date has been set for when the board will vote on the contract.
School board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, a vocal critic of the deal, said the selection process should begin anew and give others a chance to apply for the job. "It was a tainted process," he said referring to the decision to hire Carvalho without conducting an actual search. "It was a shotgun approach."
He said his biggest concern is that "the public is losing faith" in the school board.
Presidential Inauguration 2009
Click to enlarge
I-Team: Tracking The Florida Stimulus Money Trail 
Stumble It!
