MIAMI (WSVN) - The Miami-Dade School Board has voted 6-3 to select Dr. Jose Dotres as Miami-Dade County’s next school superintendent.
Monday night’s decision came after a special meeting, held at the School Board Administration Building in Miami, which began at 2 p.m.
It took the school board nearly nine hours for members to go through the public comments and interview each of the three candidates before they voted.
Dotres replaces outgoing Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
He will leave behind his current position as Deputy Superintendent of Collier County Public Schools. He also used to be an assistant superintendent in Miami-Dade County.
According to a press release from M-DCPS, “Dr. Dotres is a committed educator with more than 30 years of extensive experience in multiple leadership roles encompassing the school site, region and district office levels at M-DCPS.”
Speaking to School Board members, he said the post holds a special significance to him.
“The primary ‘why’ behind my decision is to continue serving the community that welcomed me when I was 5 years old, helped me to grow into being a successful student and taught me English as a second language,” he said.
Some school board members grilled Dotres about possibly choosing to live in Broward County instead of Miami-Dade.
Dr. Rafaela Espinal, an assistant superintendent in New York City, and Jacob Oliva, the Florida Department of Education’s Senior Chancellor, were also vying for the position.
During the course of the day, school board members appeared to narrow the race down between Dotres and Oliva, but ultimately, the majority opted for Dotres.
“It truly is an honor to be nominated and selected as superintendent of this wonderful school district,” he said moments after learning he had been chosen. “I value tremendously the students and the employees that really compose this wonderful school district.”
During the public comments section of the meeting, some of the speakers said the process was taking place too quickly. Some said they would have preferred to have an interim superintendent selected so that a national search could be conducted.
Late Monday night, Dotres spoke with 7News about his next steps.
“The first thing I want to do, really, is meet with my cabinet members and probably have a good meeting with school principals,” he said, “because I have to really evaluate where they are, what the needs are of the schools, and probably have a principal meeting. I think it’s really important to start with school leaders first.”
Carvalho has accepted the position of superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
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