Search for Schools Chief Faces Challenges

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s drive to take over the Los Angeles public schools may complicate the search for a new superintendent just months before the job becomes vacant.

With control over the school district in question, some members of a still-forming candidate search committee say it could be difficult to attract top-tier contenders to an unforgiving job that may offer little in the way of security.

Leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District have launched a nationwide search for nominees to succeed Supt. Roy Romer, who plans to retire in September after more than six years at the helm of the 727,000-student system.

As that search proceeds, Villaraigosa is seeking state legislation that would allow him and the mayors of 27 other cities served by the district to hire and fire the superintendent and oversee L.A. Unified’s multibillion-dollar budget.

School board members and some of those involved in the search say the politically divisive takeover campaign -- which faces uncertain prospects in Sacramento -- could cast a pall over the recruiting effort.

The hiring of a new superintendent in the fall probably would occur before any takeover, potentially putting the new schools chief in a precarious position with Villaraigosa.

“I think a lot of people are going to shy away from this job,” said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn. and a member of the search committee. “It could be a career breaker. However, we’ll do our best to convince the best candidates in the country that this will be difficult for the mayor to do, and they should not base their decision alone on his takeover.”

Villaraigosa argued Friday that his proposed governance plan should be a selling point for prospective superintendents, because it would bolster the position with authority that under the current system is in the hands of the board.

“There will be more candidates,” Villaraigosa predicted.

“Right now the superintendent doesn’t have any power. Under my proposal, the superintendent will have much more responsibility over instruction and the development of the overall budget,” he said. “That will attract a higher quality of candidate to the superintendent’s job.”

Like his predecessors, Romer operates as a high-level administrator overseeing policy and budgetary decisions. He answers to a seven-member elected school board, which has the final say on district business.

The district’s power structure has been a frequent source of tension between the school board and the hard-driving Romer, a former three-term governor from Colorado accustomed to giving orders rather than receiving them.

Although Romer’s contract runs through next June, he told board members in February that he wanted to leave his post by the fall.

The announcement has forced the school board to jump-start the search for his successor -- a process that district leaders now want to conclude by late September or early October. Romer has said he will remain at the district until a replacement is found.

District leaders are casting a wide net in their search. The board recently sent 6,000 letters to educators, business leaders, high-ranking military figures and elected officials, asking them to apply or nominate others for the job, said Ed Hamilton, whose firm, Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler, has been hired to conduct the search. Ads seeking applicants will be placed in major newspapers.

Hamilton has also interviewed numerous civic, education and political leaders inquiring about the qualities they would like in a superintendent; a Villaraigosa aide said the mayor expects to meet with Hamilton in the coming weeks.

Hamilton said his staff would recommend a first cut of superintendent candidates to the district’s search committee in July. Then, after conducting its own interviews, the committee would winnow the candidates to a group of finalists, probably three to five people. The school board will make the final selection.

But first, the board and Hamilton’s firm must finish selecting members of the search committee.

Invitations have been extended to numerous educators, politicians and business leaders. The district has kept the list of possible committee members under wraps, fearful that publicizing the names could scare off some who are wary of the highly charged political atmosphere surrounding the mayor’s proposed takeover.

The information has been held so closely that one committee member was turned down this week after asking for the names of others who have agreed to join.

The list of leaders who have been contacted includes state Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) and Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles).

Escutia, who like Plotkin has been critical of mayoral control, said she agreed to join the search committee when Hamilton approached her last month. But she added that board members have not contacted her since then.

“We may have a problem attracting good-quality candidates,” she said. “Perhaps this will give them pause to think.”

But Ridley-Thomas, who agreed Friday to join the committee, said the controversy engulfing Villaraigosa’s takeover effort would have little effect on the superintendent search.

Potential candidates willing to run the nation’s second-largest school system -- with roughly 40,000 teachers and a $6.8-billion operating budget -- probably would possess a high level of sophistication and leadership suited to the rough-and-tumble job of Los Angeles schools superintendent, he said.

“I do not believe any proposals or the public discussion about reform and greater accountability will diminish the prospects for quality candidates,” Ridley-Thomas said.

“Frankly, those who are averse to controversy, those who can’t stomach the public debate, those who shun accountability, those who really don’t want to lead need not apply,” he added.

Board President Marlene Canter echoed Ridley-Thomas, saying she did not expect Villaraigosa’s campaign to muddy the search.

“Anyone who is looking to be superintendent of a big-city district like Los Angeles knows they are always going to be caught up in some amount of politics,” she said. “This happens to be the politics right now, but quality people are anxious to jump on board.”

Canter and Hamilton declined to confirm the names of others reportedly asked to join the committee, which probably will have seven to nine members. The board plans to announce the search committee members next week.