
Alberto Carvalho
Define Reality (Even When It’s Ugly)
One of your most important jobs as a leader is to define reality. You have to figure out what is really happening in your organization if you want to make it better.
And today’s guest is Alberto Carvalho, the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and someone who knows exactly how to define reality.
He leads the fourth largest school district in the nation, and it’s quite the success story today.
But it sure wasn’t when Alberto took charge. Schools were failing. The finances were an absolute mess. And there was a real lack of conviction in leadership positions.
Alberto had to define a tough reality at Miami-Dade. But once he understood what wasn’t working, he used it as the foundation for their turnaround – and you’ll hear exactly how he’s done it.
This conversation is going to give you the inspiration and courage you need to tackle whatever tough reality you may be facing right now.
You’ll also learn:
- One breakthrough idea to help you build unity in your top leadership team
- What to do when a major disruption hits your space (instead of panicking or giving up)
- Practical ways to bust through bureaucracy and eliminate roadblocks
- Why it’s so crucial for kids to learn about leadership while they’re young
Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources:
The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go
Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day
Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.
More from Alberto Carvalho
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Clips
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Never let a crisis go to wasteAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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When you’re facing a tsunami of challenges, surf itAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Your senior leaders need the right mindset and “willset”Alberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Don’t give into the gravitational pull of the status quoAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Take time to evaluate the efficiency of your effortsAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Have the courage to address underperformersAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Work with unions, not against themAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Not all things are equally valuableAlberto CarvalhoLos Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent
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Transcript
David Novak 0:04
Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. You know, I always say one of the most important jobs as a leader is to define reality. You have to figure out what is really happening in your organization and in your business, if you want to make it better. And today's guest is a leader who can show you how to do just that. The superintendent of the Miami Dade County Public Schools, Alberto Carvalho, he leads the fourth largest school district in the nation. And believe me, it is one success story. But it sure wasn't. When Alberto took charge, schools were failing, the finances were an absolute mess. And there was a real lack of conviction in leadership positions. Alberto defined a tough reality at Miami Dade. But once he understood what wasn't working, he used it as the foundation for their turnaround. And you'll hear exactly how he's done it. I just know that this conversation is going to give you the inspiration and courage you need to tackle whatever tough reality you may be facing right now. So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Alberto Carvalho.
Oh, Alberto, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to have this conversation. Thanks, David. Really appreciate the opportunity. Let's get started. Okay, well, you have huge challenge in Miami Dade. I mean, it's it's a very unique school district. Give us a snapshot on what makes it so unique. Well, number one, let's start with the fact that we are the fourth soon to be third largest school system in America with over 350,000 students coming from over 160 nations speaking in excess of 70 languages and dialects. Wow. Yeah, 74% of them are poor. Sick 60,000 of them are English language learners, as recent immigrants or they grew up in with families that did not speak English at proficiency level 11% of them with one or more disabilities. So you put all that together. And most would say there's no way that this system could punch above its weight, there's no way that this system could exceed expectations. And the data at all levels, academic performance data, graduation data, post secondary success data show otherwise. So it is possible, even when you're in the face of impossible circumstances. And I think the key ingredient there is leadership and and great teams that are actually are composed of leaders themselves. No question. And speaking of that, the rest of the country, you know, many people think that public education is one of the biggest, if not the biggest problem in in our country. And, you know, what's your perspective on that? I don't think so. You know, David actually feel that public education is the basic foundation of enabling Democracy in America. 90% of kids in America today, are educated in public schools. 90% of kids 100 years ago in America were educated in public schools. And then people see that demise. They don't they don't believe that. They see things going the other way. Right? Right. You are not no. And there's good reason for that. I mean, they look at America standing in terms of reading proficiency, math proficiency, science proficiency see internationally, they see the stagnation of the nape performance, which is the gold standard of American assessment, I happen to be a sitting board member of nape. And you see that for the better part of 30 years, America as a whole has not moved. But that same data shows that actually, the poorest districts, most urban districts in the country, have actually moved towards suburban America faster than suburban America has moved towards alignment with their international counterparts. So is there a need for reform? Absolutely. And for that to happen? I'll tell you one thing, it's not just a matter of trimming around the edges, we really need to look at the insanity of funding education on the basis of mandated seat time, we need to look at education beyond schools, we need to look at empowering tools that expand learning opportunity utilizing best in class technology, connectivity, digital content, we need to emphasize more parental choice and student choice as a means of adding relevance rigor and relationship. We need to emphasize the soft skills that today's economy requires Do we need to emphasize the need for bilingualism as a means of better training our kids, but to the extent that all we talk about is school governance and funding, we'll never get there. And that's the problem with American public education today. A lot of conversation about policy, a lot of conversation about governor's charter versus traditional, a lot of conversation about funding, but very little conversation about the elements that are direct inputs to children's academic outcomes. Well, Alberta, you really fired me up there. And, you know, usually I saved my lightning round q&a for the end. But I'm going to shift things up a little bit here because I want to get have people get to know you on a personal level. So let's let's get ready for a lightning round of q&a. You said, What three words best describe you? Tough, compassionate, smart. If you could be one person for a day beside yourself, who would it be and why? Wow. That's a tough one. You know, for one day, I'd love to be a Virtuoso Musician. President, you know, I'd love to play an instrument at a high level of proficiency because that's something I don't do. I don't know how to do and in those people amaze me. So a great musician for one day, you know, let me let me be Drake for one day. Let me be Beethoven for one day that that would suit me just fine. Your biggest pet peeve. My biggest pet peeve is stupidity is is associated with people knowing better and more than what they do with their words or their actions is also reflective of lack of courage, apathetic demeanor, to life, how many languages are you fluent in? I'm fluent in five languages. I'm trying really hard to learn the sixth one. And that's Latin. Because I really do want to learn to read some of the classics in the native language, but five languages tell us something about you that few people would know. I'm a very good paddleboarders so I take to the waves in the water on a on a surfboard with paddle or no paddle. And I'll give you another one. I was once homeless blocks away from the office where today I sit a superintendent Phil awesome. Do you have any hidden talents? Aside from playing doorbells in the radio very well? Yeah, you know, I I'm, I think I'm a good poet. I'm not a good musician. But I have my own hidden poetry that I read, that I write, and I've been writing for many years. And I think I'm a pretty good athlete. You know, I was a wrestler and a star in my home country. And but today, more water sports than anything else. What's your most prized recognition you've received? You know, I was gonna say, national and urban Superintendent of the Year back to back up, but the most prized recognition, I think, was being knighted by my home country of Portugal. Yeah, that to me was was very meaningful, particularly considering my early existence in that country as a poor kid never saw an opportunity and to, to be knighted. Was was very special. Very, very special. Do your students have a nickname for? Yes, yeah, I'm the weatherman. Really, the little kids when I go into schools, because they see me on TV quite often, they think I'm the weatherman, because I dress like the weatherman. Evans, fantastic. I want to now get into how you really turn this system around, because you've certainly done that you took over as superintendent in 2008. And, and you made the decision that you were going to reinvent the school system. What did reinvention mean to you? Well, when I became superintendent, we were facing three levels of bankruptcy. Number one, a financial bankruptcy made worse by the Great Recession of 2008 910. Florida was the last state in and the last state out of that recession. And lacking a stable industry other than hospitality and farming, we were really hit hard. So our system, or shortly after I became so concerned, about $2 billion of revenue. That To make matters worse, as a result of some technical management deficiencies. That's a very polite way of saying people really screwed up. There was an overestimation of revenues and an under recognition of liabilities, particularly around the health care program, which was overspending by as much as $73 million. And that just added more to the finance She'll bankruptcy level that we were facing. Secondly, we were facing an academic bankruptcy defined by a graduation rate that was as low as 53%. But some high schools with a graduation rate as low as 36%.
nine schools under a threat of shutdown by the state of Florida, the performance for proficiency reading levels in mathematics were a 10 or less a percent, and dozens of F rated schools and D rated schools. The third level of bankruptcy is what I call moral and ethical management, bankruptcy, which is when your core function is compromised side by side with the finances that fuel your core function, then the leadership is bankrupt and the governance system is bankrupt. And, for me, incredible challenge, but quite frankly, was a diamond have an opportunity because things were so bad, anything we would do, we could blame it on the economy economy, we could blame it on circumstances around us outside of our control. So never allow a crisis to go to waste. Look for the opportunities that actually leverages. And we certainly took advantage of that. And we decided to ride this tsunami of economic conditions as an opportunity to number one slay the sacred cows to to divest ourselves of poor performers, as far as the workforce is concerned, renegotiate contracts, emphasizing on productivity, on results on outcomes, not just inputs driven by time spent at work, and reinvent the school system on the basis of choice parental choice. So we went from a school system that basically offer a one size fits all to one that prizes, one size fits none with 1000 parental choices. So it's some in the country. We were complaining about charter schools and vouchers, we said that tsunami of choice is upon us, you cannot out swim it out runny cannot dive under it. The only way to the only way to deal with it is by writing the top surfeit. And that we did. And and today, David, look, graduation rates are at 93.1%. We have over 1000 choice programs, three years in a row, that we are an A rated school zero F rated schools, zero d rated schools, a best system in the country in advanced placement, College Board coursework, best system in the country, as far as choice through Magnet Schools of America, and award after award for financial management and to referendum the past right here in Miami bringing in excess of $2 billion for teacher salaries, construction and technology because of the results that we were able to amass, we turn them into political, political opportunities with voters in our community. That is absolutely fantastic. And in such good news for America, I would expect with those kinds of results and that kind of turnaround, you'd have a lot of other superintendents coming and visiting you and figuring out what's going on. Is that the case? That is the case, and not just superintendents, school board members, ministers and secretaries of education from from other nations, as well as commissioners of education from different states. You know, everybody wants to know what the secret sauce is? Yeah. Where do you where do you go yourself? Now as you think about taking your district to the next level? Where is your source of inspiration and learning? It's a it's it's a very good and difficult question to answer. Because some of the best practices now that we look at are actually at the international level. So and we've become very good at actually looking at our challenges still where the gaps continue to exist and persist. And we become very surgical in our identification of possible solutions. So we're very intrigued, for example, with the the German, you know, career and technical programming, we're very intrigued. We're very intrigued. Now, we know the why and the how, how Finland has remarkable student achievement results in an environment that is 100% 100% unionized, and a very liberal approach to education. We're interested in Singapore's math results. Were interested in Shanghai's nap results. Were very interested in Portugal's and Portugal, graduation improvements over time. So we look certainly a best in class performers in this country that are defining expectations. And Chicago has taught us some things. There are some best practices emanating out of Boston, we're also looking at the international landscape for very specific solutions to enduring challenges in mind. You know, Alberta, that's, that's fantastic. And you know, all leaders need to really be looking at specifically where you can go find the best practices on specific things, not just general. And, you know, I want to get back to one of the things you mentioned earlier, you know, when you were turning around the system, you had to make some tough calls, as I understand that you took out nine principles from underperforming schools. You know, that's kind of seems like most people think that can't happen in education. And it's you just got to put up with the status quo. How did you go about doing that? And how do you hold people accountable today? Well, so we needed to be bold in what we would do to quite frankly, obtain results that were truly extraordinary, very early on, when the window of opportunity was wide open. And, and that window of opportunity speaks to how recent I recently I had been appointed the superintendent, but also the economic conditions around us, which gave us you know, powerful opportunities. And you know, leadership matters. Leadership matters. They're only about five things that really are important in education. And you know, whether little Tyrone Maria Richards are able to read and compute is no longer a skill set deficiency, we know exactly what it takes. It's a will set conundrum. Do people have the political courage, the professional courage to do that? Which is right, for the skills? Or are you just going to go with the flow with the current because you do not want the blowback? So early on, we recognize that principals are the captains of our industry. And they hire teachers, they set the tone, they implement curriculum, they are the negotiators with the community and the business community surrounding their schools. And look, I remember having meetings with the nine principles of the nine schools that for decades and never been anything more than F four D graduation rates were low. And in conversations with these individuals, they did not inspire in Maine, nor did they have a repertoire of data that would support them remaining in their position. So I fired nine principals within two weeks of being a superintendent. And my God, you know, I remember the board chair threatening to fire me because in 90 years, they had not fired nine principles. So it was tough. I went through fire survive came out of the other end a little singed, but you know, those those experiences toughen you up. And I kept going, and in the next few years, we replaced for promotions, demotions, terminations over 80% of Miami Dade leadership. Wow. Yeah. And we hired data driven strategic, smart individuals who are courageous in embracing a tough agenda are great executors great implementers. But they're also very honest in terms of their own results, allowing for this continuous improvement approach to the work that forces a recalibration based on performance. You know, you've you've said, and I quote, ability is evenly distributed, however, access and opportunities aren't, you know, how has this mindset affected you and the actions you've taken as a leader?
Yeah. So David, I want to explain why that's so fundamentally important to me. And by the way, I'm not the, the original author of that pronounce from there are many different variations of that. But look, we're all genetically and our children are genetically similar, identical, same number of chromosomes, which means that the ability Yeah, it is evenly imbalanced in a balanced format, distributed across all human beings. But you're early access to opportunities, high quality educational opportunities, a great teacher, a great principals support networks, literacy at home, literacy at school, access to the arts and music that is not guaranteed for every kid at the same level. And this is where the issue of equity comes in. If you want equal results, you need disproportionate inputs that recognize the conditions that different kids face. Now, where does my strong belief in this premise come from? My own growing up? I'm one of six kids who grew up in poverty. Mom and Dad have no more than six years of formal education meaning neither one of them got past third grade. That was a a custodian mom was a seamstress. And my five siblings did not graduate high school. I was the first and only one to graduate high school until years later, much younger brother who's much like a son to me, was able to do so. And today because he had the opportunity, he had the access enabled for him. He's a medical doctor. So, you know, what was different between me and my siblings certainly was not intelligence was not height, they're taller than I am. It was one of access was one of someone being my intellectual chaperone, my mentor, that allowed me to see a horizon that would stretch beyond my immediate circumstances and condition. So that is exactly what we do in Miami Dade for every kid is the power of recognizing the potential beyond your current circumstance must be taught must be demonstrated. And that influences so much of everything we do in Miami. That's, that's great. You know, Alberta, so much has changed the past couple of years. And what did you learn about your your own personal leadership as you manage through COVID and continue to do so. So you know, I have a facilitative leadership sort of approach with my team, I believe immensely in in Abe Lincoln's Team of Rivals approach. Surround yourself, whether they were foe or friend with the most remarkable minds who are the best at what they do, and have them embrace a vision and subscribe to it, they don't have to subscribe to a kink. But subscribe to a vision that is powerful. And that's what we've done over the past 14 years. COVID did change things. Because the protocols the reality, the systems that we had in place, were not adaptable to the conditions that we were facing. So all of a sudden time and space became irrelevant, right? So space schools, we could not go into them. Time, all of a sudden, if kids are not in school, in a physical space that's driven by transportation systems, the need to get them to school at a certain time. They're not driven by the factory model of education, whistle to whistle right, interrupted by annoying as hell bells every hour. If you take those pressures away, then time becomes much more flexible, particularly as you're relying on digital content, and people doing work from sites independently of schools. And that became a stress point at the beginning. As we all pivoted to distance learning and virtual learning, forced us to embrace new approaches to food distribution, considering the reliance of kids on the food at school forced us to be much more nimble in terms of providing connectivity, and device empowerment so that kids could connect with our teachers made us much more nimble in terms of developing systems of engaging parents, and in the process, helping parents navigate their own children's education. But I'll tell you one thing, within months, a few months, Teachers became students all over again to learn that new modalities and the new approach to work. Three months after that, they are experts today. And if we had simply provided professional development incentives and conference attending, it would have taken years to get them to the skill set that they are at today. So sometimes, as I said, a massive chaotic Tectonic Disruption, forces people if they are led by science, by fact, by determined leadership that is, at the same time compassionate forces people to gravitate to a better state of mind. And I think we saw that in Miami Dade, certainly, and other districts. So yeah, it COVID-19 really challenged our leadership, our systems, and I think we're better for it. Now where you're better for it now. But it was rough going for sure. And you know, a lot of people, particularly in schools, districts that aren't like yours, think this has been a lot a last year of education. What do you think? So there are two sides of that coin. On one hand, we have to recognize the powerful, debilitating, unfinished learning the academic regression that preceded last summer, but then with a summer where we always had As parents, we always experience some degree of academic regression that turning to a compound effect, where particularly fragile communities, disproportionately were more impact. So poor kids, students with disabilities, English language learners, we have seen across the country and in Miami Dade, a tremendous academic loss. But I am very confident. So in as much as we saw that academic loss, we saw an increase of skill set, accumulation, particularly around the management of technology, virtual tools, remote work, utilization of the technology to accelerate and simultaneously to remediate a student learning. It is now empowered with those those new skill sets that I believe the incline of acceleration of each student towards their full potential we'll be seeing, I guarantee you, most of the country will experience either a you or a K, post COVID academic recovery, K, meaning everybody fell hard during the the, the COVID pandemic, kids who are empowered will move up very quickly. And kids who are not empowered will continue to fall. Okay. You it was a progressive, slow descent. But now there will be a progressive incline of performance. We're going to be a Wii, that district, you know, we fell hard. But we have the potential the tools that know how to recover very, very fast. And, and I think that, yes, we need to recognize the academic regression that we've seen. But we also need to recognize that the recovery should not be predicted as being slow that recovery can be in fact fast. After all, David, my leadership style was one that we is actually based on the Toyota way, you plan meticulously, for as long as you need, you develop an implementation schedule, but then you swiftly declare the rationale, and swiftly deploy resources and conquer the territory. You know, I've never gotten on an airplane where the pilot says, folks, we're going to try something new today, we're going to take off slowly. Now, you know, you have good engineering, you have good training, have a good pilot, you take to the runway, take off fast, last few be impacted by the gravitational pull of the status quo. And that's something that cannot happen here. You are an absolute bureaucracy Buster, it sounds like, how do you make that happen? And how do you cascade that in your organization where people are on the lookout for waste and, you know, inactivity,
you know, every year we go through a process where we analyze the outcomes of everything we do. And that means self driven initiatives, but as well as private sector partnerships and contracts, we actually develop coefficients of efficiency. So what's the efficacy of the implementation of any one program, any one system or input, and one thing that I think we're courageous about is actually allowing this percolation downward flow of the methodology that we expect will be followed by managers or supervisors in the workforce at all levels, which is to recognize that look, regardless of the best of intention behind an investment, if the outcome is not there, two things will happen. Either you cease that investment, or you modify the implementation. And I think that we've spent quite a bit of time training, middle level management and high level management on that practice. And then it's a matter of, you know, training the teacher training the workforce on how to implement that philosophy and that leadership approach. Secondly, is I think it's reserved at my level, to really slay the high level opposition to good management, good leadership. And I tried to do that for for my team. Third, is create conditions that in a very honest way, reward those who embrace this, this vision driven, results driven approach, while simultaneously in a compassionate but determined way, identify those who don't, and put them on a track that leads to two different destinations. One is professional development to remediate the lack or termination or progressive discipline. And it really boggles the mind why, in my opinion, there are more people who do that, you know, I've surveyed speaking about leadership, you know how many principals lose their jobs across the country any given year? And it seems like everybody is excellent. And we know not everybody is excellent. So we ought to be respectful of a professionals humanity, but not at the expense of the children they serve. And that, to me is the main leading factor that orients quite frankly, the courage we need to have to leave.
In addition to being tough minded, you're a true innovator. And I understand you've brought the idea of franchise schools to Miami Dade. Now being a former restaurant executive where we had all kinds of franchisees and franchisors I'd love to know how you've done that in the school business. For many decades, we have some degree of choice in Miami Dade. So we had right now we have a number of schools on US News and World Report the best schools in America. But we always had a couple. The problem was that there were only a couple of schools in some of the most inaccessible areas in Miami Dade. So the issue of access equitable access was made very difficult. Just on the basis of distance. You know, our county, our district is 70 miles long, north south, 35 miles wide, east west. So unless you want to put kids on buses to go to some of these premier schools for two hours a day, they're never gonna go. So I'll give you one example we have this Maritime Academy of Science and Technology master academy, on Key Biscayne, probably the best view any school has of America. It has Biscayne Bay on one side, and the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side, you see the beach palm trees make terrific school, great curriculum and Choice Program, high quality, nearly 100% graduation year after year. The question is shouldn't every kid have the opportunity to go to a school like that the problem is access to the school. So that was the very first school we franchised. So we took over a hospital that had been abandoned, acquire that at a very good price, acquired a building that used to be an office building. And we went through an extreme makeover partnered with a local public university. For them to loan a space utilized a school that had lost membership as a result of performance. And we created five different replicas of mast with dedicated principals who shadowed the principal at mast understood the program. And overnight, we created five masts throughout the community, with the same brand recognition with the same promise of performance with the same philosophy with slight differences in terms of the curricular choice. Some specialize in engineering, robotics, hardcore math, physics, science, astronomy, and a maritime or health sciences. And I'll tell you just within a couple of years, these schools actually began to outperform the original mast, and a competition between the mast franchises that began to take place. And I have to tell you that this past year, master academy at Hialeah, which is a very social economically depressed area, with a high percentage of English language learners was the highest performing masks in the history of masks. So yes, franchising great concepts, great products, great approaches, has worked in a private sector for long time. I never seen any reason why it couldn't work in the public sector. We have proof and evidence of that. That sounds dated I love it. You know, I understand that in addition to being a superintendent year also the principle of what is called I Prep Academy. Can you tell us a little bit about the academy and what makes it special and, and what made you create this school? So I Prep Academy number one, I feel that you want to lead from the front, I don't lead from the rear. There's no bunker mentality where the generals sits and looks at maps all day. I'd like to empowered with today's tools lead from the front. To the extent possible, I like to demonstrate that what I'm asking people to do I myself am willing to do alongside them. So I still teach physics. And I am the principal and and founder of I Prep Academy, which was designed on the basis of an iPhone. So my daughter when I first got an iPhone years ago, she was mesmerized by it. And she said that I just love how I can walk, literally figuratively the iPhone through all of my needs. So simply by, you know, clicking on applications. And this is the coolest thing in the world inspired by my daughter. We did not like bells. We did not like traditional government style school furniture or the food that we served, did not like to ask permission to go to the restroom, and certainly did not like to ask permission to eat something or drink something. That's how I prep was envisioned a school that action would be focused on the student, the students needs, how they live, learn, entertain themselves, also empowering teachers take him from the front of the classroom, to the middle of the environment. And rather than rote learning, allow them to be knowledge facilitators, and enablers, and then create all this in the loud, colorful, student designed environment where the technology is so so important, but it does not seem that it is indispensable even though it is. So every student gets a device. There are powerful algorithms behind the curtain that we see, but the student doesn't see. And the process is one that meets children, students where they are, and takes them to where they need to be in a very individualized, personalized way. It's a school with no bells, where students can sit on a beanbag if they want, they can run a mile on a treadmill or on a stationary bike, as they have their devices plugged in. And they're doing simultaneously algebra or reading Shakespeare, where IKEA, comfortable furniture has replaced much more expensive, uncomfortable industrial furniture. So that exchange of student responsibility for increased autonomy, while empowering teachers to do what they do best, has really revolutionized the school. And why not throw in some sushi and vegan meals for the kids who need it, you know, it doesn't cost any more. So that's my prep. I love it. And that's a great example of choice you just given as to, you know, your franchise model and this and, you know, would you mind telling our listeners exactly what a charter school is and, and what the role of charter schools plays in your district, because a lot a lot of districts it's sort of an either or there isn't the magic of the end? Well, we've created innovation, and there are two. So charter schools are basically schools that are publicly funded, but they are privately managed by entities that may be for profit or not for profit as management companies. So they receive state funds, they have usually a lottery process by which they take hands to the membership. And they relegate the management, rather than the elected school boards to a management entity that may be for profits. We're not in a state of Florida that the students follow the same standards, the same curriculum at teachers still need to be certified. Aside from that, the management is very, very different. And charter schools, the vast majority of teachers are not unionized, as opposed to about 40 to 50% of teachers in the public school systems, not only in Miami Dade, but across the state being unionized. That basically, is the difference. Academic Performance wise, there isn't in Miami Dade a great deal of difference between charters and non charters. And that's a testament to the competitive nature that the charter movement has inspired and instilled in our school system. As I said, we did not be mown we did not go into the corner and just cry over the fact that charter schools were coming because we knew they would come. What we did do is that we put choice on steroids. And if you said if choice is what parents want, we're going to reinvent ourselves into the best providers of choice period with a greater repertoire of choice with better quality and better results. But David, we also did the unthinkable that put the national teachers union and the charter moving folks against me simultaneously, which was if everybody's opening charter schools, guess what? We're going to open district managed charter schools as a hybrid model of education that has a foothold on both sides. And everybody, you know, typically teachers unions do not agree with charter management entities on this one, these high Really polarized, you know, different ends of the spectrum. We're in agreement, which told me that I was doing absolutely the right thing. So, so charters have provided competition, they have dramatically expanded choice. And I have not seen Miami Dade suffer in performance as a result of that. With that said, we do fight for equal accountability requirements, which sometimes is an equal, but I'm not going to allow that to dominate the conversation as it has dominated the conversation in other parts of the country.
You know, you have a great relationship, as I understand it with the teachers union and Miami Dade. You know, what makes that relationship work? What advice do you give to people in terms of working with unions? So obviously, number one, we do not just with the teachers union, but with the seven unions that represent the workforce. And right now, we are probably the only system in the country that will begin the school year with every employee under contract yet again. And that's a function of two things. Number one, respectful reasonable interactions, no surprises ever, intense, ongoing conversations, of fully embracing of strategic goals, a vision, a mission, and specific metrics that must be owned by our workforce alongside us. And because it is owned by the workforce, it must be owned also by the leadership of the workforce. But equally important, is the fact that we value certain elements for our workforce, including healthcare. So we have the vested ourselves of for profit, in interference with the health care needs of our employees. We are our own insurance company, we manage a self insured platform, that the claims are administered by private sector entity, which means we know the health of our employees, we manage the claims, that puts us in a position of controlling costs while still offering a health care, a free health care program for our employees. In addition to that, as I said earlier, the fact that we have had best in class results have allowed us to go back to our community and ask for additional support, whether it's for technology, for safety and security, for teacher salaries for school construction, the teacher salary issue has gone a long way. I mean, we passed the billion dollar referendum that allowed us to reinvent the contract with the teachers and really put compensation models in place the value of productivity results, but also acknowledge the commitment. And that put us in a position with a unionized labor that is very unlike anything else that I've seen in the country. So I don't surprise the presidents of the unions, they don't surprise me, we engage in thoughtful conversations that always begin and end with student achievement. And if you do that it is easy to rally support around those imperatives, and having the community support it as well, you know, is not a bad thing. We're in a different place than most districts in the country. No question. You know, I love to get into how people make decisions, how leaders like yourself, think things through. And I've seen you on television a lot, though, Alberto lately. You know, and, and I know, given the Delta variant, you know, wearing masks has been an especially hot issue in the United States in terms of wearing masks in schools, and in particular, in Florida. Where did you end up and why? Well, on the issue of masks, in schools, obviously, and I think again, it's a it's a strong facet, the leadership be data informed at use your analytical power that is fueled by strong data inputs that originate from really real experts in field. So we created about a year ago a taskforce of public health and medical experts, inclusive of not only immunologist, epidemiologists, but also pediatricians and the former under President Obama and current US Surgeon General, the United States of America, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who is a graduate of our public school system. And we posted them all of the situations, conditions, protocols, hypothetical scenarios that we could face. And what we accumulated in in response to our questions was, quite frankly, a host of responses to possible scenarios, most of which we have seen unfold before us. So on the issue of masks, it is no One saw that this issue has been so politicized, so radicalized and so weaponized for nothing more than political personal gain, we have remained steady under the advice of our experts. And for me, it was an easy decision to make, despite the incredible political pressure and threat of consequence, our decision is, anyone in our school system that goes into an indoor environment has to wear a mask with appropriate accommodations based on medical endorsement. And certainly inclusive of the challenges that students with disabilities, students who have an individual educational plan or an ADA accommodation, as well as adults, there have to be accommodations made for those. And, you know, I took this issue to my board got a seven, one nod to move forward. And we feel very comfortable. But look, I did not venture into this alone. I had experts, I have data behind me, I had a community that had been sensitized to rational pronouncements that became a cause of support for what I believe was an inevitable conclusion and protocols moving forward. Well, that certainly makes sense to me. And it's proof positive that leaders have to have the courage to make tough decisions. You know, Alberto, I want to thank you for your support of our lead for Change Leadership Program and middle schools and high schools in your district. We're teaching people taking people with new skills, and community service. What's your perspective on specifically teaching leadership in schools today, you know, if we don't teach them while they're young, quite frankly, the opportunity to really inculcate upon them leadership skills, really teaching them how to recognize the opportunities that are sometimes hidden within the challenges before us. Recognizing strategy, you know, refining execution skills, and really having the honesty to recalibrate based on results. If you do not teach that from the time kids are in school, quite frankly, later in life, it will be much more difficult. And I think we've seen a couple of generations where that has happened, where yeah, they're good workers, but they're not necessarily demonstrating or exemplifying great leadership skills. So this is about expanding the ceiling of opportunity by teaching, the recognition of opportunities for the full manifestation of strong leadership. And I think that starts early on in a kid's school career. Well, Alberto, what you say is so so true. And I know you're really busy. So we need to wrap this up. And I can keep going on because I've got so many more questions I'd like to ask you, but we do have to bring this to an end. And I'd like to ask you, what three bits of advice would you give aspiring leaders know who you are, know what excites you find the place in an organization in the field where you can marry who you are your skill set, and the excitement about it. I've never met anyone who was terrifically successful at something they did not excel at, and that they did not love. That's why you are successful. And that's why you're successful. David, you're an expert at what you do, but you have passion for it. And expertise and passion are unbeatable. You know, you have a 24/7 job. Any advice on how to balance competing priorities? Yes, look, there's always enough money and time to do that, which is important to the extent you prioritize it to the extent you assign value to it, right? And not all things are equally valuable. So professionally speaking, I know exactly what the priorities are, they all begin with students and end with students. And everything needs to conform to that. At a personal level, you know what, getting good sleep, good rest, having good supportive friends and family, making time for them exercising, eating well cannot be abandoned, for the sake of your professional life. And, and I think having that balance is important, critically important. I have to ask you, when did the light bulb go off? For you that you said I'm going to be an educator? When was there a magic time when that just happened? And it just hit you straight? You said I gotta do this. Yeah. So you know, I'm not in that a train educated by you know, through my college years. I have a degree in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. I was going to be a medical doctor may be a PhD, MD. But gross anatomy was more gross than anything else. So until I decided what I would do, I said, you know, I'm going to teach, so I started teaching, college physics, chemistry, calculus, statistics, and I started with this maybe for a year or two. And I got hooked. I got hooked to two levels I love to kids. And I was absolutely disturbed by some of the conditions and, and flexibility associated with systems. And within my first second year of teaching, I said, I'm going to be superintendent, because I know how to change my classroom environment. And that has inspired me to change everyone's classroom environment for the benefit of kids.
You know, and Alberto, I understand that, you know, you're obviously highly recruited, the New York school district came after you. And you turned it down, and you've decided to stay at Miami Dade. Why is that? You know, I announced not that long ago that I've been superintendent Miami Dade for 14 years. And this is the one and only superintendency that I will have? Yes, I accept that for a brief period of time at the Chancellor's position in New York City. Until this community really taught me a lesson. This community that's something I didn't expect they revolted against my acceptance of the Chancellor's position New York, I've never felt anything like that. The community saying please don't leave us we want you here. We need you here. You are breaking your promise to us. And that weighed heavily on me. And I'm glad I stayed. Because my god, I would not have seen this districts district eliminating all F schools, I would not have seen this district being rated A for multiple years in a row. I would not have seen us pass a second referendum to honor teachers through adequate compensation. I would not have seen myself as National Urban Superintendent of the Year. So at all levels was the right decision. But I have to tell you, it was a very emotional tug on the basis of a community saying you're divorcing us and what do we do with the kids? You know, Albert, I, I was looking forward to doing this podcast and having this conversation with you. And I just can't wait for people to hear this. Because I think you you give us all hope of what's possible in our country and what we can do with public education. And I'm sure Miami Dade is very happy you stayed. And I just wish we could bottle you up and put you in every every city in our country because we'd end up with something better. And I do hope you run for political office someday when you do. Let me know I want to be your campaign manager. Thank you, Dave. It's always a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you for the for the vision and leadership empowerment that you bring to all of us.
Wow, that was such an inspiring conversation. Alberto is proof positive that you can't fix what you don't understand. That's where you have to start. You have to understand what's really going on. And in Alberto's case, the picture was definitely not pretty. But he needed that clear picture of reality. It was the foundation for all the data and processes and tough decisions he's implemented that ultimately led their school districts incredible turnaround. This week as part of your weekly personal development plan. I want you to look around your world as a leader and ask yourself, what is the reality in my business? What problems do you need to understand more fully? What area of your business? Do you need to measure differently? What specific insights do you need from your customers? Well, it all sounds simple enough. But defining reality takes time, energy and courage to face the real facts. You have to be willing to look at your organization warts and all, because that's the only way true transformation can happen. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is the great leaders define reality. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be