Educators Say Former Boss’s Election Would Be ‘Disaster’

A group of teachers and administrators who worked under Los Angeles school board candidate Jerry Horowitz during his 10-year tenure as principal of Frost Junior High School said Sunday that his election would be “a disaster of gigantic proportions.”

The educators characterized Horowitz as a vindictive administrator who used his authority to harass and intimidate those who questioned his policies and administrative style.

About 20 educators, who kept silent when parents of Frost students complained about Horowitz’s transfer to Byrd Junior High last year, said they do not necessarily support incumbent Julie Korenstein. But, they said, they organized Sunday’s impromptu press conference because they fear for the future of education in Los Angeles if Horowitz is elected to represent the West San Fernando Valley in Tuesday’s runoff.

“I’m not doing this because I want to see Korenstein elected. I am doing this because Horowitz is so unfit for public office,” said Paul Sickler, who taught English at Frost from its 1969 opening until 1980. He was English Department chairman for two years. “He is divisive, scheming and unproductive. His election would be a disaster of gigantic proportions.”

Blames Korenstein

Horowitz said that the accusations are groundless and that he believes Korenstein engineered the gathering in an effort to sully his reputation and keep her on the school board.

“This is desperation politics--a continuation of a mudslinging campaign,” he said. “It’s obvious that her failing campaign needed a shot in the arm to help her sink to this level.”

Irena Szewiola, who was assistant principal under Horowitz, said Horowitz’s “technique for someone who doesn’t fall in line was getting revenge.”

The teachers claimed that Horowitz frequently berated faculty members in front of students and other teachers, and that he used teacher evaluations as weapons in personal vendettas against teachers he did not like.

Carol Trout, who was a counselor at Frost, and Szewiola said counselors and administrators often arrived at work to discover that Horowitz had removed their nameplates from their office doors. Faculty members who crossed Horowitz were sometimes ordered to change offices overnight.

“That was the sign that you had done something wrong,” Trout said. “And our powers kept changing on a monthly basis. He always wanted to keep you off guard.”

Strong-Arm Tactics

Horowitz denied using strong-arm tactics to intimidate staff members he disliked. He added that he is dedicated to “getting rid of incompetent teachers.” He said he has received high evaluations from many of his teachers.

Peggy Porter, the financial manager at Frost until November, 1987, said Horowitz refused to allow a late afternoon bus so that minority students from the inner city could participate in extracurricular activities after school. The only buses, she said, left immediately after school.

“That’s why there were no black cheerleaders,” she said. “They couldn’t stay.”

But Horowitz said that there generally were late afternoon buses two days a week and that school officials tried to coordinate extracurricular activities with the afternoon buses. When the buses didn’t run, he said, other transportation, such as private cars, was available to students.

Porter charged that Horowitz used $1,800 in student body funds to buy a high-technology typewriter for his executive secretary. Student body funds are reserved for student services, Porter said.

Horowitz said the typewriter was purchased to print documents for students at their request. He said his secretary also used it.

Horowitz said Porter is disgruntled that she no longer is at the school.