SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Superintendent-to-Be Wants Parents’ Ideas

The Miami educator chosen to be the next superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District is an advocate of parent-teacher participation in school management and said he may bring such an approach to Orange County in his new job.

In a recent interview, James Fleming, who will replace retiring Capistrano Supt. Jerome R. Thornsley on July 1, said he believes that his largest contribution as associate superintendent for district management and community relations in Dade County, Fla., was improving community and parental involvement in their local schools.

Fleming said he led the establishment of a school-based management program in Dade County, where each school has an advisory board composed of parents and other local residents. He wrote his doctoral dissertation about his efforts.

“The final decision was left in the hands of the principals, but this was a way to assure that the parents’ input was being heard in areas of budget priorities, curriculum” and other areas, he said.

He said that he may try to organize a similar program in Capistrano but that it is too early to make such commitments.

“I’m not going to come in with guns blazing and try to change things overnight,” Fleming said. “I have some ideas, and I look forward to being able to present them to the board and the staff.”

But he said parents must be encouraged to participate in their children’s education.

“Schools have children six hours a day, the parents the rest of the time,” Fleming said. “The two institutions in a child’s life must work together.”

Capistrano Board of Trustees President Paul B. Haseman said that Fleming’s hiring does not mean that Capistrano will adopt such a program but that the board will consider it if Fleming suggests it. Hiring Fleming does not mean that “we have bought into all of his programs,” he said.

As superintendent, Fleming, 48, will become the chief executive of the 26,709-student district, which has a $160-million annual budget and includes San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point and part of Mission Viejo. A district source said Fleming’s annual salary will be $117,000.

A 27-year-employee of Dade County schools, Fleming worked his way up from a social studies teacher to his present position in charge of a variety of district programs, including curriculum development, public relations, parental involvement, security, student activities and athletics.

Fleming said he sought out the Capistrano job after he learned of the opening in an education magazine. Early this year, he set a goal of becoming a superintendent by July 1, and Capistrano became his first choice after he paid his own way to visit the district in late January, he said.

Posing as a parent, he said he visited four schools and talked to teachers and students about the district. He said he also approached people in restaurants and asked their opinion about local schools.

“I wanted to see how comfortable I would be out there,” Fleming said. “I wanted to make sure I would, if hired, be able to provide the educational leadership necessary. I also wanted to be aware of the problems and the challenges that face the district so that I would be able to intelligently discuss them in an interview.”

The district is facing several problems, mostly financial. It will have to slash $4 million from its 1991-92 budget because of state revenue cuts, which has caused sometimes acrimonious contract negotiations with its teachers union.