Three Schools Chief Finalists Named

The short list to become the next superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District includes the top educator for the world’s richest philanthropy, a former Occidental College president and the onetime superintendent of Las Vegas’ schools, said sources close to the selection process. The names of two other finalists could not be confirmed.

Known to be finalists are Tom Vander Ark, executive director for education initiatives at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; former Occidental President Ted Mitchell, who now heads a nonprofit firm that funds charter schools; and Carlos A. Garcia, the former head of the Clark County, Nev., school district. The names, confirmed by members of a search committee, were among five presented by the committee to the Board of Education in a private meeting Tuesday.

The board also reportedly is considering state Secretary of Education Alan Bersin. He was not among the finalists, but a search committee member said some board members had indicated interest in him. Some search committee members declined to speak at all about the finalists.

Bersin was in Los Angeles on Tuesday, but an aide declined to comment on whether he had an interview with the board.

Although Mitchell, who led Occidental for six years before taking over at the NewSchools Venture Fund, said he had withdrawn from consideration about 10 days ago, he remains a finalist.

“I am really enjoying what I am doing. My job is fulfilling and engaging,” he said. “I look forward to helping the next superintendent in Los Angeles. There is no more important job in education today.”

Vander Ark would not comment on whether he was a candidate, saying only that “it is flattering to be considered.” Two members of the selection committee said he is “a very unconventional choice.”

Garcia could not be reached for comment.

After meeting with members of the selection committee Tuesday, the seven-member school board moved to an undisclosed location to begin deliberations on who will replace outgoing Supt. Roy Romer as head of the nation’s second-largest school district. The board interviewed one candidate Tuesday and planned to continue interviews this week, according to board staff members.

The board is expected to make its decision in the coming weeks, but complicating matters is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s departure this week on a 16-day trade mission to Asia.

Villaraigosa last month told the board president that he expected to be involved in the selection process and would want to conduct his own interviews. The school board refused, saying that would compromise the confidential selection process. Board President Marlene Canter has said the mayor should have a role at some point, but the board has yet to specify what it will be.

Villaraigosa won a power struggle with the school board last month, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation granting the mayor of Los Angeles considerable authority over the district, including the right to ratify the hiring of superintendents through a council of mayors that he would dominate. But the law doesn’t take effect until Jan.1, and the board has vowed to challenge it in court.

“Mayor Villaraigosa has repeatedly called for partnership in choosing the next superintendent, but the Board of Education continues to shut out the broad coalition of parents, teachers, business and community leaders with their closed-door process and backroom meetings,” said Janelle Erickson, Villaraigosa’s spokeswoman. “Again, it’s time for the board to stop obstructing reform, put politics aside and start putting our children first,” she said.

School board members either would not talk about finalists or could not be reached.

Committee members also confirmed some high-profile people who had taken themselves out of contention, including Philadelphia schools Supt. Paul Vallas and Villaraigosa’s top education advisor, Ramon C. Cortines.

The three finalists identified Tuesday have long track records in education.

Mitchell, 50, was once recruited by Los Angeles philanthropist and power broker Eli Broad and former Mayor Richard Riordan to run against board member David Tokofsky. Mitchell ultimately declined to challenge Tokofsky.

Before taking the top job at Occidental, Mitchell was dean of the graduate school of education at UCLA and a vice president at the J. Paul Getty Trust.

In his post at the Gates Foundation, Vander Ark, 47, has emerged as an influential figure in education reform. The foundation has given more than $1 billion to school districts to help overhaul high schools into smaller campuses. Critics have said some of the money was spent without sufficient planning.

“He obviously has done incredible analysis of school systems on a national basis,” a committee member said.

Vander Ark has previous experience as a schools superintendent in a much smaller venue. From 1994 to 1999, before he joined the Gates Foundation, Vander Ark headed Federal Way Public Schools, a district in the Seattle area with 37 schools and about 22,400 students. L.A. Unified has more than 720,000 students at hundreds of campuses.

Garcia, 54, before becoming a vice president with McGraw-Hill’s education division last year, served five years as superintendent for the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, one of the nation’s largest. He is widely regarded for deftly leading the district through a tumultuous period of rapid growth.

In 2000, Garcia stirred controversy when he used a racial epithet in a taped radio interview conducted by black teenagers. He defined the slur as “someone who doesn’t respect themselves or others.”

Garcia offered an emotional apology; he said he used the slur to demonstrate his opposition to racism.

The controversy drew the attention of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke about the incident with Garcia and described it as a “mistake.”

Before taking the helm with the Clark County system, Garcia, who went to school in Los Angeles, worked for a variety of California school districts as a teacher, principal and superintendent, heading the Fresno Unified and Sanger Unified school districts.

Bersin, 59, the governor’s appointed education secretary and a Democrat, is best known for seven polarizing years as superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District. The business community backed Bersin, a former U.S. attorney without experience in school administration. One year, he replaced 15 principals and vice principals, sparking a lawsuit. He also dismissed the district’s instructional aides, saying they were ineffective.

The teachers union consistently opposed Bersin. Ultimately, a new board majority, elected with union support, voted to buy out his contract. During his tenure, he campaigned successfully for a school bond; test scores rose in elementary schools but showed less progress at the secondary level.

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joel.rubin@latimes.com

howard.blume@latimes.com

Times staff writer Stuart Silverstein contributed to this report.