Doctor Gets a Day of Special Education : Schools: Health care executive Henry W. Lubow acts as principal for a day at William Anderson School in Lawndale. His day is spent at a series of programs for handicapped students.

As an emergency room doctor and health care executive, Henry W. Lubow typically divides his day between taking care of patients and administering his health care corporation and its five subsidiaries.

But earlier this week, the Van Nuys-based businessman found himself at William Anderson School in Lawndale, fielding questions from a class of deaf students between the ages of 8 and 12.

The questions, which were asked in sign language and interpreted by their teacher, started tentatively: “Is it hard to be a doctor?” Allison, 11, asked. “Do you help children?” Arsheen, 8, wanted to know.

But after Lubow described the kind of situations that bring people to the emergency room--car accidents, drownings and fires--the questions flowed freely and quickly.

“What does it feel like to cut into somebody?” Allison asked. “If a person dies, do you do anything with him--or do you just forget him?” Jared, 11, said.

For Lubow, who is president of Ambulatory Medical Management and its best-known subsidiary, Advantage Care, which has nine health care clinics in Southern California, the time he spent with the deaf students on Monday was the highlight of his experience as Principal for a Day.

The program, which allowed Lubow and about 170 other prominent business executives to see firsthand what it is like to run a school, is organized by the Los Angeles Educational Partnership, a nonprofit organization targeting school reform. Its purpose is to teach business leaders about the challenges facing local schools and to encourage them to find ways to help.

What made Lubow’s experience unusual is that his day was spent at a series of special education programs administered by the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Anderson Principal Administrative Unit, which runs classes for 350 deaf, blind and otherwise handicapped students on 10 South Bay campuses.

Besides speaking to the deaf children, Lubow observed a shopping lesson at a Ralph’s Giant in Torrance for students afflicted with Down’s syndrome, saw blind students at North High in Torrance type notes into a personal computer and ate a dessert of strawberry pie that was prepared by a group of physically handicapped teen-agers, many in wheelchairs.

Unlike some of his colleagues who acted as principals, Lubow brought to the job a medical background that in many ways was already attuned to the needs of handicapped children. But at the same time, he also faced a particularly daunting task dealing with the needs of special education--which requires expensive equipment, highly trained teachers and, in some cases, a different set of educational goals.

Although Lubow was educated in public schools, he said he was so disillusioned by the large class sizes and short school days offered by his local school district that he decided to send his children, an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, to private school.

Yet, when he was asked to donate his time and talents to the program, the 43-year-old Ventura County resident jumped at the opportunity, eager to help combat what he regards as a dangerous drop in standards in public education.

“Somewhere between being a young, enthusiastic child who has zillions of questions and being a graduate from high school, something bad happens to an awful lot of children,” Lubow said. “It’s my personal fear that there is a loss of relevancy. . . . If we (business executives) can help demonstrate to kids the relevance of the educational process, then perhaps we can help bolster its priority.”

Lubow’s day began in the office of Roberta A. Savage, the real principal of the Anderson Principal Administrative Unit, who showed him how to pick up messages from the computer and bulletin board. One message addressed to Lubow came from Savage’s supervisor, asking him to begin preparing this year’s inventory list of special equipment used by handicapped students. Savage said he promised he would get to that one--tomorrow.

Lubow also helped deliver mail--a task he was appalled to discover often fell on the principal--and was told that both a teacher and her aide were out sick for the day and that they would need to find a substitute.

As he listened to Savage spend several minutes on the phone looking for a substitute to fill the slot, Lubow noted that she could save herself a lot of time if the information she needed were programmed into the school’s computer.

“When you’ve got limited resources, you want to maximize whatever resources you’ve got,” he told Savage, who cheerfully admitted that her job would be easier if the computer listed the days and times her substitutes are available, as well as their preferences and areas of specialization.

Other problems, however, were not so easily resolved. Like what to do about the fact that public schools pay too little to attract enough special education teachers to meet their needs. Or how schools can best use their limited resources to produce well-educated graduates.

Although he was reluctant to make any suggestions on the broader issues, Lubow did tell Savage that he believes education ought to be run more like a business, so that administrators have a clear sense of “how much money it takes to get the results they want to get.” He also advised her to try to delegate more of her responsibilities.

Savage agreed she and other school administrators could learn some streamlining techniques from the business community, but she said: “There are many human issues that distinguish (education) from business, and that make it harder for us to draw hard and fast lines.”

As the day came to a close, Lubow said he left the program with a deeper appreciation for what it takes to administer programs for handicapped children.

“My hat’s off to Roberta Savage,” Lubow said. “I don’t know quite how they manage. They’ve got to be excellent at resource functions, they have to be childhood counselors, they have to develop and manage budgets and do everything from delivering their own mail to learning how to deal with new technology. . . . They wear far more hats than any manager I’m familiar with.”

He also expressed admiration for the students he met throughout the day and said he hoped employers would no longer overlook the unique abilities and drive of handicapped students.

“When I see these kids and how badly they want to fit in,” Lubow said, “it becomes clear that we have a tremendous pool of loyal, hard-working, ethical, moral workers. . . . (But) business really loses out because we don’t realize how motivated these kids are.”