Background Should Serve Mijares Well : Santa Ana Schools Chief Has Right Skills for Tough Job

A reading of the resume of the new superintendent of the Santa Ana school system, Alfred Mijares, shows that he has a master’s degree and doctorate not in education, but in social welfare and social work. That background could serve him well in his new job.

All school districts confront the problem of teaching the children within their classrooms. But the Santa Ana Unified School District, more than most, faces difficulties in getting students into the classroom to begin with, and in keeping them there. Mijares’ predecessor, Rudy Castruita, had much of the social worker in his makeup, and it was one reason he did so well.

Castruita once noted that if children were coming to school hungry, the school needed a breakfast program. If they were coming without inoculations, or with diseases, then the school needed a health program. Castruita played social worker as much as educator in cajoling parents to keep their children in school and support their studies.

Castruita left for San Diego last summer, and Mijares is due around Jan. 1 to assume the job of superintendent. His credentials are impressive, his recommendations good, his talents apparent.

In a district where 87% of the students are Latino, many of them immigrants or children of immigrants from Mexico, it is fitting that the superintendent should share that ethnic background. He can talk to students in Spanish as well as English, and nearly 75% of all the students have a native language other than English. Mijares said the demographics of the district will enable him “to lead and take risks.” That is a good attitude.

We hope that he is in Santa Ana for the long haul, for his tendency to leave school districts quickly is one troublesome note in his work history. He was superintendent in Coachella Valley Unified, near Indio, for only three years. He will have been the Bakersfield superintendent only two years. Castruita was in Santa Ana over six years, and it would be good if Mijares can stay even longer.

Support from the Santa Ana school board could help achieve that goal. The unanimous vote of the five board members to hire Mijares was impressive, and surprising. The board too often has seemed permanently split along 3-2 lines; although Castruita said the split was not a factor in his departure, several of his friends said divisions on the board wore him down.

One of Castruita’s achievements was leading the school system in reducing the dropout rate dramatically, from more than 40% in 1986, not long before his arrival, to 16.2% several years later. Mijares will need to keep the dropout rate low and take the next step, improving students’ test scores and education.

He also will have to cope with the aftermath of Proposition 187, which would deny education to children who are in the country illegally, by assuring parents that their children are safe at school while the issue is in the courts.

Trustees wisely said they do not expect Mijares to be a clone of Castruita. He will need time to learn the district and to bring his own style of administration. But he also must be ready for a daunting task: Santa Ana has more than 48,000 students, nearly twice as many as in Bakersfield. If he can get the support and praise in Santa Ana that he won in Bakersfield, the district can continue to improve.