Anaheim Schools Chief Meliton Lopez to Retire

Meliton (Mel) Lopez, who overcame extreme childhood poverty to build a 35-year career in education, has decided to retire as superintendent of the Anaheim City School District.

Taking over the post effective July 1 will be Jack Sarnicky, assistant superintendent of business administration for the district.

School board President Christopher B. Whorton described Lopez as “an extremely caring person” who has “always been concerned with meeting the needs of all of our kids. He makes sure that is our focus.”

Lopez, 61, has led a rapidly growing district in which 49 cultures are represented, aging classrooms are filled to capacity and many of the students face severe financial hardships--as Lopez did.

Lopez grew up in northern Mexico in a shack made of sticks and mud. His mother bore 12 children, only half of whom survived infancy.

His parents sold a farm animal to buy books for Lopez so he could attend school, briefly, as it turned out, at the age of 7.

“But I lost my books and there was no way to replace them,” said Lopez, who dropped out of school and worked as a goatherd to help feed his family.

When the Mexican economy grew even worse, Lopez and his family crossed the border into Texas to harvest cotton. His father was able to stay on as a day laborer, and Lopez--who didn’t speak English--was finally able to begin his education in earnest at age 14.

A quick learner, Lopez earned a high school diploma by age 21 and later attended the University of Texas, where he applied for U.S. citizenship. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in political science and English, Lopez was drafted into the Army in 1958, served for two years, then began his education career as a teacher in Hemet.

He earned a master’s degree in school administration and counseling in 1968 from Cal State Fullerton, and eventually received a $10,000 fellowship to pursue a doctorate in educational administration at Wayne State University in Michigan.

Lopez worked for UC Santa Cruz and the University of the Pacific in Stockton “before getting back to the real world of public schooling” by becoming an elementary school principal in Michigan.

He also served as an assistant superintendent in Chula Vista and a district superintendent in Pacifica near San Francisco before coming to Anaheim in 1986.

“It was a well-organized district when I came,” Lopez recalled. “The main thing was to deal with the problems that came along.”

One of the prime challenges, he said, has been managing a rapidly growing district with limited financial resources. The predominantly Latino district has 18,000 students, with another 800 expected this summer. This rate of growth is expected to continue through 2010.

“In the last 11 years, we’ve grown the equivalent of 10 schools,” Lopez said. Although a new facility is scheduled to open next summer, the district has coped with its burgeoning enrollment mainly by bringing in portable classrooms, busing children to less crowded sites and putting 15 of the 21 schools on a year-round schedule.

Anaheim was hurt less than some school districts, Lopez pointed out, but the loss of nearly $1 million has been painful nonetheless. The district has an annual budget of $75 million.

“In the overall scheme of things, we’re going to be OK,” he said, and the ratio of one teacher for every 28 students will be maintained.

He said he will miss his students and co-workers, but not the long hours and high-stress working conditions.

“I’ve been in this business 35 years, and it’s time to redirect my life,” the Anaheim resident said. “I would love to get my hands dirty and get back to teaching at the college level, if the opportunity presents itself.

“And to not jump out of bed at 5 a.m., that will be wonderful.”