MIAMI – Miami-Dade school board members discussed two hot topics at the board’s meeting Wednesday.
The first concerned the recent controversial issue of moving books around — and one school board member wants a better process. Then there’s the future of the current superintendent, Jose Dotres.
Dotres’ contract was supposed to end next year after serving two years as superintendent. Dotres could stay longer, as he is in the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Program which limits his time of service. But in the latest legislative session, lawmakers changed the rules, allowing public employees like Dotres to stay longer.
Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas proposed keeping Dotres two more years after his contract expires, which means he will end his tenure as superintendent in February of 2027.
“He knows the community and he can certainly, in my opinion, continue to bring stability to our school district,” Rojas said.
Contract extension resolution:
Two weeks prior, Dotres said, regarding his future, “I don’t decide that. The school board does.”
When pressed further, asked if he wants to stay, this is what he told Local 10 News: “I love this community. The results are there. There is a lot of work to be done.”
Board members unanimously voted to extend his contract. He currently earns $370,000 per year.
Dotres’ contract:
Also on the agenda was the process when it comes to removing books from schools.
This follows last month’s incident, which one school board member called an “embarrassment,” when one parent objected to several books, including the book form of the presidential inauguration poem by Amanda Gorman.
“The submission was woefully deficient,” board member Steve Gallon said.
Gallon said the process was flawed and the parent’s submission didn’t comply with policy and the law.
“It has to be pornographic. Those materials were not,” he said. “It has to be profane. Those materials were not.”
The board unanimously voted in favor of changing the process.