COMPTON : Shots Apparently Fired at School Administrator

Security officers hustled away the state-appointed administrator of the Compton school district after an assailant apparently fired shots at him just before Tuesday’s school board meeting.

State Administrator Stanley G. Oswalt was about to preside over a meeting at which he was expected to approve more than 100 layoffs in the financially strapped school system. The district came under state control July 1 as a condition of an emergency state loan.

Shots were fired about 6:15 p.m. as Oswalt was walking from his office to the school board’s meeting hall. Oswalt was not harmed, but left out of concern for his safety, officials said. Five bullet casings were found across the parking lot from Oswalt’s office, said Michael Nunez, Compton school police chief.

Oswalt, who had been walking next to school board member Michael Hopwood, has been criticized by employees and local residents for approving a series of budget cuts to offset an anticipated multimillion-dollar deficit in the district’s $91.8-million budget.