Anton Quits, Says Board Interfered : Education: L.A. superintendent blames teachers union and four members of school panel for making it impossible to continue his job.

Bill Anton, superintendent of the sprawling and money-strapped Los Angeles Unified School District for the last 26 months, announced his resignation Tuesday, contending that opposition from the teachers union and “micro-management” by the school board made it impossible to continue.

The Los Angeles Board of Education met in closed session for nearly seven hours Tuesday, seeking to appoint an interim leader for the nation’s second-largest school district after Anton departs Sept. 30. Unable to reach a consensus, they promised to reach a decision by week’s end and possibly launch a nationwide search for a permanent successor.

In both choices, particular attention is sure to be paid to ethnic sensibilities because Anton was the first Latino to head the Los Angeles system, in which more than 60% of the 640,000 students are Latino. Candidates for the interim appointment reportedly include two deputy superintendents--Ruben Zacarias, a Latino, and Sid Thompson, an African-American--and district lobbyist Ron Prescott, who is also black.

At a crowded news conference at the Board of Education’s headquarters, Anton sharply criticized four of the seven school board members for being overly influenced by the teachers union and interfering with his job. “It seems, from my experience, and it seems even more apparent daily, that at least four members of the board feel that micro-managing is their prime responsibility, rather than policy.”

Anton, 68, added: “I feel very strongly that should I not have the authority to say no, then I have no authority at all. I don’t think this district is well served by a yes man.”

The superintendent did not mention them by name, but according to sources close to the district the four board members he criticized are Julie Korenstein, Warren Furutani, Mark Slavkin and Jeff Horton, all elected with the help of the teachers union. Those board members and teachers union officials denied Anton’s allegations.

The resignation comes just as the district is about to complete a grueling budget-cutting process for the current school year. In seeking to bridge a $400-million gap in its $3.9-billion budget, the board is caught between conflicting demands of teachers seeking to avoid proposed double-digit pay cuts and other employees who fear massive layoffs. The district has 58,000 full-time employees, of whom about 30,000 are teachers.

Reaction to Anton’s move raised questions about whether the Los Angeles district, with its gigantic size and numerous problems, is governable. Anton, who began his career as a teacher at Rowan Avenue Elementary School 40 years ago, will be the second consecutive superintendent whose tenure was cut short after disputes with the teachers union. His predecessor, Leonard Britton, the former head of Miami schools, left after three years in the job, wounded by a bitter 1989 teachers strike.

Many officials said Anton’s departure was not a total surprise, given his age and recent squabbling over the budget. Anton reportedly had hinted about quitting if administrators are forced to bear what he thinks will be unreasonably large pay cuts. Some sources suggest that Anton wanted to see new school leadership at a time of other executive changes in Los Angeles, as in the Police Department and the presumed decision of Mayor Tom Bradley not to seek reelection.

At his news conference, Anton at first cited personal reasons for his resignation, including the deaths of his wife’s parents and his older brother in the last year and a desire to see more of his family. But he linked those concerns to his feud with the president of United Teachers-Los Angeles (UTLA), Helen Bernstein, who has called for Anton’s removal. His family, Anton said, is worried about “the impact of the stress of my job may have on my health. Unwarranted personal attacks really do get old.”

In addition, he said he was troubled by what he described as “the lack of support for public education in general and specifically the lack of public support for public education in urban areas.” Yet on a softer note, he referred to upcoming changes spurred by his ideas for decentralizing some district functions and by the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN), a community and business coalition which is working to overhaul the district and improve student achievement.

“This is a fine school district but it is in transition and requires a superintendent who will be around to complete the transition which has been launched under my leadership. In my opinion, that has to be a minimum of three to four years and I am not ready to make that kind of time commitment,” said Anton, whose annual pay is $159,168 after recent cuts and whose contract would have been up for renewal June 30. In 1989, when he was a deputy superintendent, Anton said he would retire soon but plans changed when he was appointed superintendent, a job he had sought and lost twice before.

Board member Barbara Boudreaux, who represents South Los Angeles, supported Anton’s charges about the teachers union and said she, along with board members Roberta Weintraub and Leticia Quezada, wanted him to stay.

“I know UTLA had been calling for his ouster and I felt he had caved in to that. He just could not function as a superintendent with four board members who are controlled by UTLA calling the shots,” said Boudreaux, who alleged that the teachers used “blackmailing techniques and scapegoating techniques” against Anton.

But Slavkin denied those charges, saying that Anton’s comments about union influence and board micro-management were “unfortunate and I don’t believe they are true.”

“In some respects, he has been a man of courage. And now it doesn’t seem courageous to make unsubstantiated allegations as you are walking out the door,” said Slavkin, the Westside representative. As for disagreements with Anton about the possibility of making deeper cuts in executive ranks to ease teacher pay cuts, Slavkin said: “I’m guilty as charged. A number of us have championed cuts away from the classroom, away from the basic instructional program.”

Similarly, teachers union chief Bernstein said her union should not be held responsible for the resignation. “The average life span of a big-city superintendent is short,” she said. “We can’t be blamed for this. . . . If we were that powerful, we wouldn’t be facing the largest pay cut in the nation. I think what we are is a top-notch organization that asks the right questions, forces people to look at the real issues.”

Bernstein contended that Anton’s greatest asset was his long experience in and knowledge of the district. But that also was a liability, she said, stating, “He had a lot of alliances he found difficult to break.” Bernstein charged that Anton was inaccessible and unenthusiastic about the reforms that gave teachers more say on school governance, a concession won during the 1989 strike.

“He never seemed able to focus on anything that showed real meaningful change. We’re in a position where we need leadership that’s able to take real risks, to move us beyond the status quo. . . .” Bernstein said.

Board President Leticia Quezada, in praising Anton, said he “has dedicated his life to this school district and his professional career has been distinguished by remarkable service to the students and employees of the LAUSD.”

Anton said he was proud of a plan he announced in May, 1991, to decentralize the district. But he also faced criticism, as in recent revelations that the district spent $250,000 on an opinion poll and image consultants who wrote some of his speeches.

Officials of non-teaching unions in the district lamented Anton’s resignation. Eli Brent, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles and a leader in a labor alliance challenging UTLA’s power, said: “”Bill’s choice was to act as a puppet of UTLA or to resign. A man of integrity sees no choice there.”

As an example of what he called interference by the teachers union, Anton cited the formation of the special commission chaired by former state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp to assess the district’s financial situation. “When UTLA felt we needed a third party, so did the board members,” Anton said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

A coalition of Latino parents and activists asked the board Tuesday to reject Anton’s resignation and, if that does not happen, to appoint another Latino to take his place. “We are opposed to the appointment of a non-Latino to an interim position since such an appointment will make for an unequal playing field for Latinos as has historically been the case,” said Gina Alonso of Latinos for Excellence in Education.

Like administrators in many other urban districts, Anton faced pressure to improve student achievement while grappling with funding shortages and a growing population of poor students who need help with language, family or health problems. Anton often voiced his belief that white, middle-class taxpayers are turning their backs on the district because nearly one in four students live below the federally defined poverty line, and more than 86% are minorities.

Michael Casserly, acting director of the Council of Great City Schools, a national organization of 45 large urban districts, said he was stunned and saddened to hear of Anton’s departure. “I have enormous amount of admiration and respect for him. . . . There are few human beings in this country that have come under more countervailing pressures than Bill Anton and he has weathered those pressures better than any human being should be expected to,” Casserly said.

“His departure is likely to send shivers up the spines of newer superintendents who looked to him for guidance,” said Casserly, adding that 36 of the organization’s 45 member school districts have had turnover at the top since 1990.

Mike Roos, director of LEARN, said he wished that Anton had stayed a while longer to help get the reform program off the ground. “On the other hand, I’ve got to think that this community has begun to draw a comprehensive road map for what it wants for its schools. . . . That will be a job description for someone who can take us there,” said Roos, a former state assemblyman.

Board members learned of Anton’s resignation in a letter he distributed Monday night after a meeting. In an interview, Anton said that after mulling over the move during the weekend, “I came in Monday, reviewed the situation and wrote the letter.”

Times staff writers Charisse Jones and Sandy Banks contributed to this story.

SCHOOL SEARCH: Finding Anton’s successor may prove difficult. B1