Anton, a Tough Insider, Is Lauded for His Leadership

A tough but gregarious insider who grew up on the city’s Eastside, new Los Angeles schools chief William R. Anton was widely described Tuesday as a man who may be short of innovative ideas but is long on the kind of optimism and leadership needed to rescue the troubled district.

Anton was selected Monday after a grueling, all-day closed meeting among school board members. They decided to buy out the nearly one year remaining on the contract of Leonard Britton, who had announced last week that he intended to leave when his contract was up next June.

In picking Anton, who has spent his career climbing the Los Angeles Unified School District ladder, the board could not have found anyone more different from Britton, who was hired from Miami in 1987 after a nationwide search.

Britton, a mild-mannered Anglo unfamiliar with the district’s complex political turf, came with a solid reputation for innovative ideas but found himself increasingly frustrated with district’s tough problems, combative teachers union and fragmented board. Anton, an outgoing man who is the first member of a minority to lead the district, is known as a man who can get things done.

Although board members briefly considered other candidates, several of them said Tuesday that Anton was the only person interviewed. His choice, said board member Roberta Weintraub, was a “foregone conclusion.”

A majority of the board members came into the meeting willing to buy out Britton’s contract and wanting to install Anton in his place, according to board President Jackie Goldberg, one of two board members who voted against the buyout.

To defuse controversy over the financially strapped district’s buying out Britton’s contract, board members directed Anton to suggest cuts in the executive office that could make up most of the estimated $200,000 to $225,000, Weintraub said.

Anton, who has spent 38 years as a teacher and administrator in the district, was passed over for the top job twice before, including 1987. His selection gives the district a tested insider with ties to the staff and community.

“He is an LAUSD man through and through,” said Goldberg.

Anton was rejected three years ago not because Britton was necessarily better, Goldberg said, but because the board wanted a fresh perspective and experience with the kind of school restructuring Los Angeles was heading for.

But Britton’s low-key style, scholarly approach and lack of familiarity with the district’s personnel and problems made it difficult for him to inspire support.

Rita Walters, one of the few current members on the board in 1987, said the decision to hire Britton was made “within the context of the environment of three years ago. Things have changed.”

Now, board members say, the district needs a proven leader, someone who understands its problems and has the confidence to solve them.

Anton “truly believes he can move us out of the quagmire we are in today,” said Leticia Quezada, one of Anton’s strongest backers on the board. “It’s like we tell our kids, if you believe in yourself, you can do anything.”

Anton, who takes office Friday, agrees that optimism is a hallmark of his leadership. “I want to get a kind of upbeat feeling for all of us,” he said Tuesday, after a hectic day of public appearances and interviews.

“Bill is the consummate insider,” noted board member Warren Furutani. “He’s a tough leader, but he also commands the respect of the staff.”

Britton was known as a scholar and innovator, but “he was so indecisive . . . you never knew who was in charge,” said Helen Bernstein, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles.

By contrast, Anton has a reputation as a man who is not afraid to make a tough decision and bear the consequences.

“It’s not an idea man we need; the ideas are here,” said Furutani, reflecting sentiments expressed by everyone from business leaders to PTA officials. “We don’t need to go out looking for another Messiah or do another study.

“We need someone who believes in getting back to the basics: hard work, accountability, set your goals to reach them and analyze whether you’ve met them and move on,” he said. “Without a doubt, he’s the best man for the job.”

During eight years as a district second in command, Anton was charged with carrying out many unpopular decisions, including keeping schools open during the bitter teachers’ strike last year--and he did that without regard for whose toes he stepped on, observers said.

He became known in some circles, as a kind of “hatchet man,” a label he acknowledges but hopes to dispel.

Anton has already begun making overtures to the teachers union. His first official call after getting the job was to Bernstein, and he plans to meet weekly with union officials.

Bernstein and other teachers say Anton’s kind of toughness may be just what is needed to succeed in a district struggling to overcome poor student achievement and worsening financial problems, while coping with a rapidly growing and changing student population.

“Bill has a lot of personal strength,” said Mike Dreebin, a teachers union board member who has known Anton for several years. “He’s the kind of guy, if you do something well, he’ll give you a public, strong pat on the back. But if you do something wrong, he’ll chop your head off.”

Anton, who will be 66 on Sunday, was born in El Paso, Tex., and moved to East Los Angeles with his family as a young child. He attended public schools on the city’s East Side, graduating from Garfield High School, and studied engineering at Los Angeles City College. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and administration from Cal State Los Angeles, and served for three years as an Army paratrooper.

He began teaching at Rowan Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles and started the long, steady climb through the ranks: vice principal to principal to director of a district teacher project with UCLA, to assistant superintendent, then area superintendent and finally to one of two deputy superintendent positions.

Along the way he got to know someone in “every nook and cranny of the district,” and met hundreds of parents, teachers and community leaders, who came to view him as the man to call when they needed something done, several officials said.

John Greenwood, who was a school board member when Britton was hired, said: “He has a friend or a protege in every area. . . . And he knows where all the bodies are buried.”

“If somebody calls Bill and says, ‘Hey the school is looking kind of dirty these days, it’s not getting swept enough,’ all he has do is pick up the phone and call the custodian’s union.”

That kind of responsiveness and accessibility has earned high marks for Anton, who said one of his priorities is “to be highly visible.”

Anton “comes to our luncheons, he speaks to our parents . . . he shows that we mean something to the school district, said Barbara Topkis, president of the 10th District PTA, which represents the southern end of Los Angeles County. “He’s the kind of man you can talk to and he listens and he understands. And he’s got the best interests of the kids at heart.”

Last November, Anton announced that he would retire at the end of the current school year, but less than a month later, after two board members, Britton, PTA representatives and others urged him to stay on, he changed his mind.

That fueled speculation he expected to be named to the top job soon, something that Anton has consistently denied. “There was no connection between the events of last year and tonight,” he reiterated Monday.

The first Latino to lead the 85% minority distict--which includes 62% Latinos--Anton will “quickly open doors that otherwise would take much longer to open,” said Quezada, the board’s only Latina.

“Bill Anton was chosen because he is the best one for the job,” Quezada added, “but you cannot underestimate the significance of having a Latino there. People can say, ‘He’s one of us; he understands.’ ”

Larry Gonzales, who preceded Quezada on the board and who helped pick Britton, said the climate for having a minority superintendent has improved since then.

But, Gonzales added: “I hope the Latino community doesn’t place overly ambitious expectations on Bill Anton. There’s always a feeling that because there’s a minority at the top that things are going to change overnight. That’s not realistic.”

Timnes staff writer Lydia Ramos contributed to this story.