L.A. charter school chief accepts mayoral job

A leader of a fast-growing chain of local charter schools has accepted a top position with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s education team, immediately becoming a key player in the administration’s school reform efforts.

Marshall Tuck, 33, president and chief operating officer of Green Dot Public Schools, is expected to work under Deputy Mayor Ramon C. Cortines when legislation takes effect Jan. 1 that will give the mayor substantial authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The mayor’s office declined to comment. Tuck confirmed the move but also said he wanted to talk with Green Dot staff before commenting further.

Green Dot founder and chief executive Steve Barr was effusive about the appointment.

“We’re pretty fired up,” Barr said Friday. “We love Marshall and it’s a good validation of our hard work.”

The hire raised concerns late Friday afternoon at the headquarters of United Teachers Los Angeles that Tuck would head schools under Villaraigosa’s direct control. Union leaders have generally opposed the rapid spread of charter schools in the district.

Another concern was that hiring the top administrator without teacher input probably would offend union leaders.

But a call between the mayor’s office and a top union official apparently allayed any uneasiness. Union leaders said they understood that Tuck was not being hired to run the schools and that any such decision would be made later.

A union official said he would reserve judgment on Tuck, saying he was not familiar with how teachers are treated at Green Dot. “If he can help make these non-charter schools successful, we would welcome that,” said Joel Jordan, UTLA’s director of special projects.

The new law giving Villaraigosa a role in schools still faces a court date next week over a constitutional challenge that could nullify it.

Tuck joined the charter school company in July 2002 as chief operating officer and became president in fall 2004. He’d previously worked as marketing manager and lead salesperson for a software company. He has also been an investment banker in New York and a volunteer teacher in Zimbabwe.

L.A.-based Green Dot operates 10 small high schools, five of which opened this year near Jefferson High. Tuck, who has worked mostly in the background, represents the less controversial side of Green Dot.

The other side is represented by Barr, whose brash personality and politicking have raised hackles about Green Dot that will inevitably color views of Tuck. Barr clashed openly with recently retired Supt. Roy Romer, and in the last race for mayor spearheaded a coalition that pressured both challenger Villaraigosa and incumbent James K. Hahn to seek authority over the schools.

And in this week’s LA Weekly, Barr took a shot at new Supt. David L. Brewer by criticizing the Navy’s education programs. Brewer, a retired admiral, used to help run them. Barr also offered an obscenity-laced response to purported anti-Green Dot comments from teachers union President A.J. Duffy.

Duffy said Friday that he had intended to criticize charters in general, not Green Dot in particular, but added: “Charters do not educate any better.”

howard.blume@latimes.com