Oak Park Schools Chief Brings Unusual Perspective to Her Job

When Marilyn Lippiatt applied to be superintendent of the fast-growing Oak Park Unified School District, her biggest obstacle was her record. She didn’t have all of the qualifications that the school board deemed necessary for the $79,000 position.

Lippiatt, a former teacher and school principal, has a master’s degree but not a doctorate. She had never been a superintendent or assistant superintendent. She had never put together a district budget or negotiated a labor contract.

What she had was a long track record as director of the Central Coast School Leadership Center in Santa Barbara, where she trained administrators and teachers in innovative approaches to education.

And she had the support of the Oak Park district’s five principals, all of whom had trained with Lippiatt at the center. The principals urged board members to interview Lippiatt.

Finally, after a lengthy and frustrating search process--during which two other candidates rejected the position--Lippiatt became Oak Park’s newest superintendent.

Since taking office April 1, Lippiatt has already weathered one financial storm. Initial budget estimates for the 1993-94 school year projected a shortfall that would have required sharp cuts in non-essential programs.

But revised projections, which will be presented at tonight’s board meeting, anticipate a balanced budget without cuts.

Meanwhile, Lippiatt is not planning to unveil any major initiatives of her own. That’s partly because her well-regarded predecessor, Susan Hearn, had put in motion several other programs before Lippiatt arrived.

“There are so many things in place that need to be supported,” said Lippiatt, who still refers to the district as “they “ instead of “we.”

“What they’re doing is on the leading edge of what any school district in California is doing.”

A 25-year resident of neighboring Agoura Hills, Lippiatt was familiar with Oak Park because of her work at the leadership center. The Oak Park position was the only job she had applied for in six years, she said, and she did it only because she knew the district.

“One of the reasons I selected this district is because they were focusing on the right issues,” she said. “They were looking at themselves in a very analytical manner, to say, ‘What can we do better for our students?’ ”

As director of the Central Coast School Leadership Center, Lippiatt had trained all of Oak Park’s principals and many of its teachers, as well as Hearn. She had also been a teacher and principal in Thousand Oaks and a teacher in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles and Cupertino.

“I’ve been involved with the school district for four years. I knew all of the schools and all of the administrators and many of the teacher leaders from the schools,” Lippiatt said.

Oak Hills Elementary School Principal Anthony Knight said that familiarity paid off.

“All of the principals in Oak Park viewed her as a mentor,” Knight said. “She had helped us with grants. She was someone you could bounce something off of and get sound and good advice back.”

School board President Wayne Blasman said the principals’ support encouraged the board to take a closer look at Lippiatt than they would have based on her record.

“Sue Hearn had taken our district to a certain point,” Blasman said. “We knew this was the person who could move Oak Park to the next step.”

Hearn, who retired April 1 after 4 1/2 years as superintendent, had been seen as a stabilizing influence for the affluent school district, Ventura County’s fastest growing.

Enrollment is swelling at double-digit rates each year. For many newcomers, the school district is the primary reason they move to Oak Park.

Under Hearn, Oak Park became one of the county’s fastest-changing districts as well, embracing technology and classroom innovation at a pace that a few find discomfiting.

Hearn acknowledged as much with a brief speech at her final school board meeting as superintendent.

“To the parents, I ask that you let go of the past,” she said. “I know that you don’t want your children to be part of an experiment, but anything new has to be tested. . . . My plea to this community is that you give up the past and embrace the future.”

Lippiatt’s immediate future includes ensuring that Oak Park’s third elementary school opens on time this fall. Red Oak Elementary will relieve the enrollment pressures on Oak Park’s other two schools.

Enrollment in the district is expected to reach 2,350 next year, an increase of nearly 11% from the current year.

And negotiations are about to begin with the Oak Park Classified Assn. on a new collective bargaining agreement for the district’s non-teaching employees. The current contract expires June 30. The union has leveled the sharpest criticism of Lippiatt thus far because she authorized a floor-to-ceiling renovation of her office.

Among the improvements were a new set of furniture, including oak desks, bookshelves and a conference table, and her new chair.

More than half of the $4,500 cost was paid for by a corporate donation, district officials said.

Lippiatt approved the renovation when the district’s financial situation still looked bleak for the coming year.

“What we can’t understand is why, in light of (budget problems), she would go ahead and renovate her office,” association President Jim Long said. “We’re asking for responsibility. I don’t think that’s responsible.”

Long said the price of the renovation is understated because it does not include labor costs for the renovation work. Assistant Supt. Stan Mantooth said a worker spent three days on the renovation.

But Lippiatt and Mantooth said the union’s criticisms were unjustified.

They cited the private donation from Theta Digital Corp. of Agoura Hills of $2,500. The remaining $2,000 was paid for out of the building fund and not from the general fund, Mantooth said. The building fund cannot be used for instructional materials and programs.

“There has not been an inquiry from the classified employees as to what the facts are,” Mantooth said. “They are working on misinformation, or no information.”

Lippiatt said some renovations were overdue and done for safety reasons.

“If I had not done them, Sue (Hearn) would have,” she said.

Despite his criticisms over the renovation, Long said his union has no quarrel with Lippiatt.

“We’ve had nothing but glowing reports” from other union members who have worked with her, Long said. “They’ve said she’s very easy to work with. We have absolutely no reason to doubt that.”

Some say that easygoing attitude is needed in Oak Park, which clings to a small-town atmosphere. School board meetings often resemble kaffeeklatsches, where board members and visitors, most of whom know one another, engage in freewheeling discussions.

“I have found her to be an excellent listener and a quiet leader,” said Meredith Evans, who is organizing a community education forum for the fall. “I think we really couldn’t have done better, at least so far.

“This is an upper-middle-class community. We’ve got more chiefs than we’ve got Indians. Everyone with an Oak Park mailing address thinks he ought to be the boss. I think Marilyn will be wonderful at harnessing that energy and making it work for the district.”