L.A. Schools Chief Gets a New Pact

In a strong vote of confidence for Los Angeles schools Supt. Sid Thompson, the Board of Education announced Monday that he will remain chief of the giant system until 1997, tying his contract to ambitious goals that include raising student achievement, making schools safer and strengthening bilingual education.

At a time when accountability has become a catchword in public education reform, Thompson’s contract--hammered out during a month of intense, closed-door sessions--is an unprecedented document for the Los Angeles Unified School District, spelling out for the first time specific tasks that the superintendent will carry out.

The goals will form the basis of the board’s evaluation of Thompson next year. He can be fired at any time by a majority vote of the board, but they would have to buy out his $141,000-a-year contract.

“I’m sending a message to the system,” Thompson said of the contract, unanimously approved by the seven-member school board. “I’m saying these are the benchmarks, these are the things we are going to do over the next year or two. This is not just a matter of we hope to do better. We are setting goals for ourselves and we will try to do better.”

School Board President Mark Slavkin praised Thompson for “steady and unflappable leadership” and said the board views the contract as a first step in a tougher approach to contracts for top administrators, whose employment will be tied to achieving specific goals. It comes at a time when Thompson and the board are attempting to erase the district’s battered image as an unresponsive bureaucracy.

“We need to set the example at the very top in our relationship with the superintendent,” Slavkin said. “Every employee in this district must understand that their position in this district is related to their performance and what they do to support the goals of the district, most importantly as they benefit children.”

By signing on the dotted line, Thompson has agreed to a carry out the “Superintendent’s Performance Standards.” Highlights include:

* Each of the district’s 645 schools must devise its own specific goals for raising student achievement by June. Schools will figure out student attendance rates, enrollment in algebra, Advanced Placement and college prep courses, and set goals to increase participation in every area. Schools must also set goals to increase the number of students whose English skills are good enough that they no longer need bilingual education.

Thompson especially wants to increase the math skills of middle school students. “Algebra should be part of their vocabulary,” he said.

* Thompson will institute a three-year timetable to ensure that every school will become a part of the LEARN reform plan that gives decision-making power to principals and the school community.

Slavkin said such a goal ensures “there will be no doubt about the future commitment of this district to LEARN.”

* Schools will gain control of more than 60% of their budgets by June. Now, the vast majority of schools only have power to decide how to spend about 10% of their funds. Thompson has been behind schedule in his pledge to create a new system for allocating money to schools. He has now promised to present a plan to the school board by December.

* The school crime rate, including incidents of guns on campus, must be reduced 5%. The district will begin keeping track of the number of racially motivated and hate crimes on campus, and schools will implement programs to reduce racial tensions.

Nearly three years ago the board approved an exhaustive report called “Educating for Diversity,” which presented a districtwide multicultural education plan. Thompson agreed to take the plan off the shelf and more aggressively pursue its recommendations.

* A parent support unit to serve as a bridge between district officials and parents will be launched and required to work closely with school communities.

* Senior managers--including those in charge of instruction, finance and reform plans--will be evaluated in June to determine whether their contracts will be extended.

If Thompson, who has served nearly two years, completes his term, he will be the longest serving big-city superintendent in recent memory, said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, whose members include the nation’s 50 largest urban districts. Typically, superintendents last about 2 1/2 years on the job, he said.

“It’s a job where you are typically buffeted to rather extreme degrees by very fractured communities,” he said, explaining the short tenures. “And all of it gets fought out in an arena in which people feel the most passion: the arena of children.”

The components of Thompson’s contract are in keeping with national trends, said Casserly, noting that school chiefs’ “performance contracts” are looking a lot like the documents signed by the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

Thompson’s success will not result in a raise but he will receive an extra $3,000 in supplemental life insurance.

A top leader of the teachers union said that although the contract sets a positive course for the district, leaders must cut through bureaucracy to free principals and teachers to take charge of their schools.

“What I liked was the fact that (the goals) were specific. . . . But if it’s all wind-up and no delivery,” the contract will fuel skepticism in the district, said United Teachers-Los Angeles Vice President Day Higuchi. “But never in the past have I seen it wind up in this way. If he really means what he says, it will be a refreshing improvement.”