Today the Miami Herald broke the news that Alberto Carvalho, the 44-year-old married man who's been selected to helm Miami-Dade County Public Schools, may have had an improper romantic relationship with former education reporter Tania deLuzuriaga. The 27-year-old journalist, now with the Boston Globe, covered the nation’s fourth largest school district during her tenure at the Herald from October 2006 to September 2007. Carvalho -- who has also been offered the superintendent job in Pinellas County -- denied the salacious allegations to the Herald, while deLuzuriaga declined comment.
The article is based on about two dozen e-mails delivered to the Herald other media outlets including New Times. They were allegedly exchanged between deLuzuriaga and Carvalho between July and September 2007. If they're authentic, the emails document discussions the pair had about her coverage of Miami-Dade Public Schools, as well as some sexually explicit banter. So what was in the e-mails? You wouldn’t know from reading the Herald article which refrained from directly quoting the salacious and highly embarrassing exchanges between the reporter covering the school beat and one of her subjects. You can read the e-mails here.
The first string of e-mails began on July 19, 2007 whilst deLuzuriaga was on a 40-mile bike ride. Subject line: “Fuzzy.” She wrote: “It occurred to me while I was riding that I seem to have forgotten to bathe the past two days. I also haven’t shaven since I left Miami. Thought you might like that image. If you say you’d still go down on me I’ll call you a liar. Hope your day is wonderful. I love you.” His reply: “Don’t shave.”
On August 3, 2007, deLuzuriaga forwarded Carvalho the messages between her and colleague Matthew Pinzur discussing this reporter's Rudy Crew story. Subject line: “seen this in today’s new times?” Pinzur wrote: “Frank is a decent guy, but it was also his “article” (really just a raw dump of public records) about Art Teele that was dressed up with Grand Theft Auto graphics the day Teele killed himself.” She replied: “It’s killing me too, especially after the stories I wrote Wednesday about budget and bonus…did you see the comments?”
Four days later, deLuzriaga allegedly wrote Carvalho an email with the subject line: “Leaping?” She wrote: “Will you be completely offended if I leap into your arms the next time I see you (place permitting)? Like in the movies, with arms and legs wrapped around. Like what I wanted to do Thursday and didn’t and when I said I wanted to you asked why I didn’t…love, love, love you xoxoxo.”
