Castruita ‘Roast’ Turns Out to Be a Well-Done Tribute

As roasts go, it wasn’t hilariously funny. Some of the speakers, in fact, didn’t even try to uphold the sacred tradition of skewering the guest of honor. One or two of them even had trouble maintaining composure.

They came not to bury Rudy, but to praise him.

Rudy Castruita already has left Santa Ana for his new job as superintendent of the San Diego Department of Education, so his “roasting” Monday night in front of about 300 people had an even more nostalgic tinge than normal for such things. Far from being roasted, he was, if anything, lightly buttered.

Yes, there was a fair share of laughs, but you got the feeling that pointed humor wasn’t the dominant mood only because lots of people in the audience wished Castruita weren’t leaving. Maybe they were afraid they’d laugh till they cried.

It was a touching testimonial, because in many places superintendents come and go. The Orange Unified School District churns them out faster than Volkswagens in Stuttgart.

Castruita, however, is no ordinary superintendent, because Santa Ana Unified is no ordinary school district. Superintendents in Newport-Mesa or Capistrano Unified don’t have to sell their student body on the importance of staying in school. They don’t have the pressure of being role models to elementary school students.

Santa Ana, with its 95% minority enrollment and with 72% of its students having limited English proficiency, provides a unique challenge.

It’s a challenge Castruita, now 50, has embraced since he became superintendent 6 1/2 years ago. He’s done so at the expense of time with his family, a point taken by more than one speaker. It led one to joke that Castruita’s wife, Jean, considered taking up jogging but because of her husband’s absences, became a marathoner (which is true).

Along the way, a Castruita bandwagon formed. He was portrayed as the kid from the barrio who made good, even after his father abandoned the family and Castruita was raised by his grandparents. He’s received national acclaim, and at one point Gov. Pete Wilson wanted him to consider the vacant state superintendent’s post, but Castruita wasn’t interested.

Basking with 5-0 support from his Santa Ana Board of Education during much of his tenure, Castruita has recently been confronted with two dissidents. His 3-2 majority ensured he could still carry his agenda, but some have speculated the narrowing support led to his decision to take the San Diego job.

Castruita was most often lauded Monday night for his educational vision, energy, commitment and charisma. The Rev. John McReynolds of Santa Ana’s Second Baptist Church said, “I know him as a preacher,” and jokingly said he had to summon all his talents from seminary just to convince audiences that heard the two speak jointly “that I was the reverend present.”

Not all speakers let Castruita off the hook. Mike Metzler of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce chided Castruita for his lack of business acumen: “This is a man who thinks an enterprise zone is where Captain Kirk and his crew land.”

Board member Audrey Yamagata-Noji drew laughs by telling people that despite his reputation for “vision,” Castruita can’t see. That became obvious every time he went to a restaurant, she said. Needing glasses to read a menu but too vain to wear them, he always ordered a Cobb salad, she said, because he knew every restaurant served one.

Even if some of the jokes fell flat, the tributes did not.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young said he admires Castruita as much as anyone he’s met in public life. “We got a whole bunch of time with you at a time when we really needed you,” he said.

Castruita had been superintendent for three years when I interviewed him in his office in June of 1991. At the time, he was taking heat for what some critics considered his expansion of school instruction into social services.

“Let’s talk about basic needs,” he said then. “How about breakfast? Food? Hey, we can’t keep our heads buried in the sand. We have to address the needs of kids. If kids are coming to school hungry, then we are going to provide a breakfast program. If our kids are coming to school unhealthy, then I’m going to do everything in my power to help them. Kids can’t learn if they’re hungry. They can’t learn if they’re not well. It’s all part of the total product that we produce in education.”

To the end, he was true to those sentiments. In his brief remarks Monday under the night sky, Castruita referred to the “many, many kids out there” who live in impoverished families. “Don’t ever lose sight of the belief that we must educate our youth,” he said. “They want to be somebody in life, and they need people like you to help them fulfill that dream.”

Friday: Filling Castruita’s shoes.