$66,000-a-Year Contract OKd for New Lynwood Schools Chief

The Lynwood Unified School District Board of Education has approved a three-year contract at $66,000 a year for Supt. LaVoneia C. Steele, 49, who was appointed Oct. 1 as chief administrator of the 12,000-student district.

The contract is the same as that of Steele’s predecessor, Charlie Mae Knight, with “one exception. It is for three years instead of four,” said Helen Andersen, board president.

Change in Policy

Andersen said the three-year contract reflects a change in policy for the board, which in the past has approved four-year contracts for its top administrators but recently decided to reduce their length.

“I’m satisfied with it,” said Steele, who had been acting superintendent since the board suspended Knight on June 4. She resigned July 31.

The vote accepting the contract was 4 to 1, with board member Joe Battle dissenting. Battle said he believed the board should have asked the Los Angeles County Counsel’s office to review the contract before board approval.

“There was no need to do that. We had our own attorney. Should we have one attorney checking on another one?” Andersen asked.

Battle also had voted against naming Steele superintendent, saying that he preferred that the board conduct a nationwide search for a superintendent.

In another action, the board agreed to hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 on an environmental impact report for a proposed $34-million high school. More than a year ago, the state approved the money for construction but there has been disagreement on where to put the school. The district says it needs the school because its only high school is overcrowded.

Information Sought

Some citizens have complained to the board that the public had not been fully informed on the proposed plan. The public hearing will be in the auditorium of Lynwood High School.

Andersen said that the environmental impact report prepared for the school district in September will be made available at the county library at 11320 Bullis Road.

The environmental report was done on two possible sites for the proposed high school. One would use a portion of Ham Park, which city officials do not want used for a school. The other site, off Imperial Highway, includes the Zody’s department store, Super Food Warehouse grocery store and property owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.