Acting Schools Chief Greeted With High Hopes : Education: Harold L. Cebrun will head Compton schools until a full-time superintendent is selected.

Harold L. Cebrun, the just-named acting superintendent of Compton schools, will bring to the job a no-nonsense, low-profile style and a reputation for frankness and behind-the-scenes problem-solving.

Before him lies the task of restoring district morale and starting to reform and revive a school district that has suffered from costly inefficiency and low student achievement.

As interim superintendent, Cebrun will be paid an annual salary of $90,000. The choice of permanent superintendent is months away, but Cebrun has the inside track, particularly if he gets off to a good start, officials said.

He succeeds J. L. Handy, who was ousted Tuesday when the school board voted 4 to 3 to buy out his contract. The action came less than two months after the board placed Handy on probation for alleged mismanagement and dereliction of duty.

Cebrun had been working for 18 months as an area superintendent, supervising Dominguez High and the elementary and middle schools that feed into it.

The 47-year-old administrator said his first job will be to meet with staff, parents, students and other community members. He hopes to unify a divided staff and community by refocusing attention on education.

“We’re stressing focus and bringing ourselves to the point: the education of students,” Cebrun said. “We want to show the importance of every employee and how they contribute to youngsters’ education. At the same time, we must reach out to parents and have them involved in all phases of school programs.”

Cebrun conferred with all his principals and top administrators Wednesday, his first day in office. He then met with area ministers--the first of many hoped-for meetings designed to involve community leaders in education. He also attended the first gathering of a district committee assembled to improve student achievement. Student test scores in the district have typically ranked at or near the bottom in the state.

“We’re examining not who’s at fault, but what our faults are,” he said. “I do not want to dwell on any negatives. We don’t have time for that.”

If Cebrun can unite district employees he will prevail where his predecessors could not. Compton Unified is hampered by deep philosophical divisions and turf struggles both on the school board and among the staff.

Overcoming these obstacles has assumed greater urgency because of the low test scores, a high dropout rate and the looming threat of a state takeover if district performance does not improve.

The acting superintendent brings to the job experience as both an insider and outsider. Cebrun has worked as a teacher, counselor, principal or administrator in five school districts. He taught in Compton from 1970 through 1973 and returned last year as an administrator.

So far, he has also managed to avoid making visible enemies in Compton.

“He has worked with teachers in a positive way,” said Joyce Brooks, executive director of the teachers union. “He’s inclusive of all groups. He’s been genuine in dealing with us.”

Cebrun said that the district has made some recent progress, improving parent involvement and staff communication. Recent and proposed changes in business operations will reduce waste, he said.

But he added that the district must show a greater commitment to the community before expecting the community to return the favor. Employees are absent and late to work too often, and administrative costs are probably too high for a district of 28,000 students, he said.

The district also needs to hire more Latinos, he said.

Compton Unified serves a student population that is about half black and half Latino. Most of the employees are African-American.

Cebrun’s background includes a bachelor’s degree in physical education with a minor in sociology and psychology from the University of Nebraska in 1966. The Texas native earned a master’s degree in sociology from Azusa Pacific University in 1973 and a doctorate in educational administration from USC in 1982.

His preparation also has included a stint as a systems analyst for a steel factory. “Private industry is products- and results-oriented,” Cebrun said. Businesses “have products to produce and shipments to make, and they have to get them out.”

Similar principles must be applied to schools, he said.

“We must turn our attention to education as a business and we must treat this business with all the energy we have,” Cebrun said.

“Too often, education has focused on programs. The focus should be on people: how we treat parents when they come to school, how we treat a student who may not be doing what we want him to do.”

The way a district treats people builds a foundation on which to add programs, he said.

“Without foundations, structures don’t stand too tall and they don’t stand too long.”

Some parents and community members have accused the district of spurning communication and ignoring requests for basic information. Cebrun said he learned the value of openness from former ABC Unified Supt. Eugene Tucker, whom Cebrun regards as a mentor.

“If I had a concern or I wanted to share my thoughts, he was always accessible,” Cebrun said of Tucker. “That was a great feeling. He always had time to talk to the people in that community.”

Community members generally like what they’ve seen and heard of Cebrun, but noted that expectations were at least as high when Handy arrived in August, 1990.

At first Handy seemed able to bring opposing factions together. The majority of the school board was so pleased that just a year ago they extended his contract through June, 1994.

But Handy’s support and effectiveness rapidly unraveled.

Supporters said Handy was a hard-working, capable educator who fell victim to forces beyond his control: a bickering school board; a poorly trained, inherited staff and students whose dismal test scores are largely a product of poverty and other social ills. One top administrator said becoming Compton superintendent is career suicide.

But critics said Handy authored his own demise, in part by playing into staff divisiveness and becoming remote, inaccessible. They said that when Handy doubted the loyalty of staff members he would openly berate them, or exclude them from important decisions.

“Dr. Cebrun is straightforward,” said board member John Steward, who was Handy’s most persistent critic. “He stands behind what he says. He doesn’t tell you he’s going to do something and then not do it.”

Cebrun said he was grateful to Handy for bringing him to Compton Unified. He noted that Handy had called to congratulate him and assist in the transition.

A board majority agreed to dismiss Handy in closed session. By the time they reconvened in public, Handy had left the building. The school board named Cebrun acting superintendent and asked him to conduct the remainder of the meeting.

Cebrun walked gingerly up the stairs onto the auditorium stage where the school board convenes. He soberly guided trustees through the paces under the hot glare of the floodlights.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Cebrun greeted well-wishers with a handshake and a common message: “I’m going to need you.”