Miami official abruptly backs out of NYC schools job

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - The person tapped to lead New York City's public schools has backed out of the job. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho of Miami-Dade County, Florida, told an emergency school board meeting Thursday that he had a change of heart so he can honor "an agreement and a pact I have with the children of Miami."

"I underestimated the emotional tug, the level of commitment, the power that crying members of the community have had on me," Carvalho said a day after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the former would become the New York schools chancellor.

It is an embarrassment for the de Blasio administration. Eric Phillips, the mayor's spokesman, blasted Carvalho. "Who would ever hire this guy again? Who would ever vote for him?" Phillips tweeted.

"You can imagine how surprised I was to get a phone call from him a few hours ago," de Blasio said at a news conference. The mayor said he will continue a nationwide search for a new chancellor to replace Carmen Farina, who is retiring.