Black, Latino, Florida ‘Outsider’ in Running for L.A. Schools Chief

After months of an exhaustive search, the Los Angeles school board is nearing a decision on who will succeed Supt. Harry Handler as head of the nation’s second-largest school district.

The search led by Korn-Ferry International, a national executive search firm, has narrowed to three candidates: Leonard Britton, superintendent of Dade County Public Schools in Florida, and two Los Angeles school district deputy superintendents--Sidney Thompson and William Anton, who are, respectively, the district’s top-ranking black and Latino administrators.

Three board members were in Miami on Friday to interview Dade County school officials to learn more about Britton, whom the board initially interviewed in February.

Los Angeles school board member Alan Gershman said Friday that board members probably will interview each of the three candidates one more time before making a final decision, which is expected within two to three weeks.

Handler, 58, who has served as superintendent for six years, announced last summer that he intended to step down as superintendent this June and would stay on for an additional year in the capacity of chief administrative officer. During that time, he planned to gradually relinquish his duties to a superintendent-designate who would assume the post permanently upon Handler’s retirement in 1988.

Handler recently decided, however, to advance his departure to June 30 of this year. Beginning July 1, he will become an adjunct professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education, where he plans to teach and conduct research on educational issues.

Pressure for Minority Appointment

The board has chosen to say little publicly about the search despite intense pressure from outside groups to appoint a black or Latino superintendent. They will say, however, that choosing the next person to lead the district is a crucial decision, as the 590,000-student district--with a 56% and growing Latino majority--struggles for solutions to such chronic problems as poor achievement and shortages of classroom space and bilingual teachers.

Board members say they have not welcomed the task of finding a replacement for Handler. Handler, whose career in the district spans 33 years, is uniformly praised by the seven-member board as a sound administrator with a deep knowledge of the instructional needs of the district’s diverse enrollment. They say he also has demonstrated unusual savvy in terms of understanding the varied viewpoints of board members.

“I’m perfectly happy with the current superintendent,” said board member Jackie Goldberg. “(Choosing a replacement) is a decision that will have an enormous impact on so many things. So it’s an agonizing decision, one I wish I didn’t have to make.”

The three remaining candidates, chosen from about 10 semifinalists, offer the board distinct choices. For the first time in 40 years, the district may be headed by an outsider, Britton, whom several board members speak highly of. With Thompson and Anton, both of whom have at least 30 years of experience in the system, the board has the opportunity to appoint the first minority superintendent in the district’s history. Board members say all three candidates are highly qualified.

“There is no front-runner. That makes it a much harder decision,” said board member Roberta Weintraub.

Leaders of black and Latino civil rights organizations say the time is right for a minority appointment. Anglo pupils account for just 18% of the district enrollment, and projections point to a decline to about 12% over the next decade. The proportion of Latino students will climb from the present 56% to 64%. Black enrollment, now at 18%, is expected to drop to 15% over the same period.

“It is time in 1987 to have a minority in the top leadership position,” said Melanie Lomax, a civil rights attorney who heads Progressive Alliance, a group that has been lobbying for the appointment of a black to the superintendency. “There is no excuse not to do it now.”

Gina Alonso, who represents a coalition of 40 Latino organizations that mounted an intensive letter-writing campaign on behalf of Anton, said the district needs a superintendent who speaks Spanish and understands Latino cultures. “We’re asking the board, why not a Latino? Especially when the No. 2 person in the district is Latino. We’re not saying that Mr. Thompson or someone from the outside would not be a good superintendent. We’re saying the best person is someone who is bilingual and bicultural.”

Background in Administration

Board members say that while the ability to speak Spanish would be valuable in a district such as Los Angeles, it is not a primary consideration. In general, they say they are seeking a person with a solid background in administration, curriculum and instruction who has strong communications skills and is sensitive to the diverse needs of the children who attend district schools--whether middle-class or poor, gifted or handicapped, black, Asian, Latino or Anglo.

One of the advantages Britton, the Dade County superintendent, holds over the other two candidates, board members say, is that he has seven years of experience leading a school district--and one that bears many similarities to Los Angeles.

Dade County is the nation’s fourth-largest district, with 245,000 students. It is ethnically mixed, with an enrollment that is 25% white, 33% black and 41% Latino. The majority of the district’s Latino students are Cuban and Nicaraguan refugees who speak little or no English. The district is grappling with school overcrowding and a need to build schools, although board members who have visited the area say Dade County’s problems are not as severe as those of Los Angeles. Like Los Angeles, Dade County officials are constantly addressing issues relating to bilingual education and the needs of a large and growing immigrant population.

Britton, 56, has served in a variety of posts within the Dade County school system, including associate superintendent in charge of instruction and deputy superintendent. Earlier, he taught science in public schools in Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry, a master’s in secondary education, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Business Partnership Program

According to Dade County schools spokesman Alfonza Mozell, Britton was responsible for creating a successful business partnership program and a unique dropout-prevention project in which local companies paid stipends to selected students if they stayed in school. He became superintendent during the 1980 Mariel boat lifts that gave the district a sudden influx of 15,000 Cuban students within a few months.

Anton, 62, has extensive experience in a wide variety of district posts. He began his career in the Los Angeles school district in 1952 as a teacher at Rowan Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles. He gradually rose through the ranks, becoming the district’s first coordinator of federal and state programs aimed at improving educational opportunities for low-income students and later serving as an area superintendent in the district’s Southeast and East regions.

Appointed deputy superintendent in 1982, he is the second-highest-ranking administrator, with direct responsibility for personnel, integration, staff development and matters relating to school crowding.

Thompson, 55, is a deputy superintendent with specific responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the district. All instructional departments report to him, as well as school police, student health services and dropout-prevention units. Noted as an expert in youth gangs, Thompson joined the district in 1954 as a teacher at Pacoima Junior High School. He was principal of Crenshaw High School during the 1970s, a difficult period marked by student unrest. He served as an area superintendent in the Southeast region and as an associate superintendent before assuming his current job.