Payzant Takes Name Off List for L.A. Job, Will Keep S.D. Post

Thomas Payzant, San Diego Unified School District superintendent, announced Monday that he has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Los Angeles public schools superintendency.

Payzant, 46, was among four finalists for the $122,000-a-year job, which will become vacant in June when Supt. Harry Handler, 58, retires. Selection is expected to be made by the Los Angeles city school board next month. Payzant earns $99,600 a year as the top San Diego schools administrator, a salary that will increase by $5,000 this summer.

The San Diego superintendent, who last year quickly turned down an offer from the Houston school district, agreed last month to be a candidate for the Los Angeles post.

However, in a statement released Monday, Payzant said he had “decided for both personal and professional reasons not to pursue the position further.”

“My family and I have come to love San Diego,” Payzant said. “We have made many close friends here and have been made to feel part of the community.”

Payzant replaced the controversial Tom Goodman in 1982 and has weathered several volatile issues, such as the requirement of a scholastic grade average of “C” for participation in school sports, the use of police undercover agents to make drug busts on school campuses and the issue of dispensing contraceptives in school clinics.

He called the San Diego district “one of the best large urban school districts in the country” with a “potential to be a great one,” but admitted that “many problems lie ahead.3

“I feel challenged by these problems, and I believe I can make positive contributions to their solutions,” Payzant said in announcing his withdrawal from consideration for the Los Angeles post.

Among the near-term problems the San Diego district faces is its plan to improve district finances by selling off surplus school sites to developers. The plan is opposed by neighbors of the schools, who are faced with losing school playgrounds and open space and gaining high-density apartment and condominium complexes.

Sheriff’s Capt. James Roache, a school board member, said that Payzant had called him at home Sunday night to inform him of his decision to stay in San Diego.

“I’m pleased with his decision,” Roache said. “In light of the problems facing us, it will be considerably easier to handle with the stability in our superintendent’s position.”

Roache singled out the need to finance and build a large number of schools in the near future as one of the major hurdles the San Diego district faces.

The Los Angeles district faces even tougher issues, including a fast-growing student population that is outpacing the district’s ability to build new schools and is forcing implementation of year-round school sessions in many areas.