New LAUSD Superintendent Visits GALA

New Superintendent, Alberto Carvalho visited GALA on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. He visited not only the AP Seminar class but the Aerospace and Robotics electives as well.

Personal Life
Carvalho has been in the school system for over 12 years. He is an immigrant from Portugal and came to the US when he was 17. Carvalho was born to hard-working parents, his dad being a custodian and his mom being a seamstress. He had quite a large family. He was the only one out of six children to finish high school, which was a big deal for him and his family. He grew up in “quite dramatic poverty,” living in a “one-room flat with no running water and no power.” However, in the early 1980s, he moved to the United States after graduating from high school. He was homeless for a while as an undocumented immigrant who worked mainly in construction and restaurants. However, all of his hard work paid off, and he became one of the first people in his family to go to college. He attended Broward College, and in 1990, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Barry University. Once out of college, Carvalho began his career in education, physics, chemistry, and became a calculus teacher at Miami Jackson Senior High.

Life After College
Later becoming the vice president of the school, he also worked as a principal, chief communications officer, a school district lobbyist, and assistant superintendent before being named superintendent to lead the Miami-Dade County Public School district in 2008. This district was home to over 346,000 students and 52,000 employees. Carvalho has made many accomplishments in his career, such as being recognized in the Top 10 Tech-Savvy Superintendents by eSchool News and the Miami-Dade County Public School’s winner of the Broad Prize for Urban Education in 2012. Carvalho will be officially appointed on March 1, 2021 and is currently touring schools in his new county.

Thank you for your visit, Superintendent Carvalho!