Coalition Wants Latino to Replace Handler

The Los Angeles school board’s search for a successor to retiring Supt. Harry Handler has begun in earnest, but the process has drawn the ire of a coalition of Latino organizations that favors the appointment of a Latino to the post.

Handler, 58, announced last June that he would retire as chief of the nation’s second-largest school district in June, 1988. But he now plans to vacate the $122,000-a-year job this June, a district spokesman said. Handler has been superintendent for five years.

A national executive search firm, Korn-Ferry International, was hired last fall to coordinate the search and provide a list of possible candidates. The board began interviewing candidates last Friday but has kept the names of persons being considered confidential.

Gina Alonso of Latinos for Excellence in Education, a coalition of 20 Latino groups formed to campaign for the appointment of a Latino superintendent, said at a press conference Thursday that the coalition fears that the board may overlook several high-ranking Latino educators, including three who are top administrators in the district, who are qualified to serve as superintendent.

The district’s Latino enrollment is 56% and growing, according to district figures. Alonso said that, based on the current rate of growth, the district could be 70% Latino by 1995. Based on those figures, Alonso said, the district would be best served by a superintendent who is Latino and bilingual.

Board President Rita Walters said the board is moving as quickly as possible to find a replacement for Handler, but she would not say when the search will be completed or whether any Latino candidates are being considered.

Board member Larry Gonzalez said he believes that the Latino coalition’s call for a Latino superintendent was “justified,” but he noted that the board is “nowhere near” drawing up a list of finalists.