With LAUSD Promotions, It’s the Principal of the Thing : Norm Isaacs deserves to run Millikan Middle School, but time after time he has been passed over for bureaucratic reasons. Is this in the best interests of the students?

Pete Ferrie, our principal at Millikan Middle School in Sherman Oaks, had been physically ill since his arrival last year. So, it wasn’t a big surprise when we learned that he wouldn’t return in September.

“Maybe they [the Los Angeles Unified School District] will appoint [longtime assistant principal] Norm Isaacs,” I said to my fund-raising committee cohorts, Nancy Edwards and Carol Marks.

“That would be too good to be true, wouldn’t it?” Nancy said.

“I wonder what excuse they’ll give this time?” Carol said.

“This time?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, Norm has been on the principals list for ages, but LAUSD keeps bringing a new one in. We’ve had four in six years. It’s no wonder we have such a difficult time getting anything done at this school,” Carol responded.

“Dr. Isaacs has certainly paid his dues. What’s their problem?” Nancy chimed in.

“Good question,” I said.

A few days later, there we were at Fortress LAUSD headquarters, ready to do battle over the need to appoint our Dr. Isaacs. Our meeting was with their Mr. Isaacs, as in Dan, associate superintendent.

“First, let me welcome you, and let me state that I am no relation to your Dr. Isaacs,” he said as we seated ourselves at the oblong table.

Too bad, I thought to myself--so much for nepotism helping out in a pinch.

I really wanted to like the guy. He seemed affable enough. It was just that when he stated several times that he was “not our adversary” and that he wanted “to be perfectly candid and sincere,” I decided I didn’t trust him at all. I mean if you’re not an adversary, why mention it? And if you are candid and sincere, why do you have to tell people you are? I also did not like being told that “things might be too difficult for us to perceive.” Did he really think we were morons?

We went around the room, introducing ourselves and sharing anecdotal tales of our Dr. Isaacs’ good deeds, how much the kids needed him, etc. How could they turn us down, I wondered. Then came what I call the “LAUSD speak,” uttered by a variety of officials.

LAUSD speak: “If you were a LEARN [Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now] school or SBM [school-based management], you wouldn’t be in this position.”

Rose Marie Fox, PTSA president: “If you had made Norm Isaacs our principal, we wouldn’t have had four principals in six years and we’d be a LEARN or SBM school.”

“Catch-22,” I mused under my breath.

LAUSD speak: “It is not an issue that Dr. Isaacs is qualified for the job as principal, because he is. His skills, abilities and character are not in question.”

Parents: “So why not give him the job?”

LAUSD speak: “Because there are contractual agreements, first rights to people who are principals elsewhere wishing transfer, etc.”

Parents: “What about the interests of our children?”

LAUSD speak: “It’s just not possible. Of course there’s the budget issue as well.”

Parents: “The what?”

LAUSD speak: “Oh yes, we’ll have to keep paying these principals even if they’re not (currently running) a school.”

Parents: “Hasn’t Dr. Isaacs been on the ‘unranked list’ for years and hasn’t he applied for the position at Millikan? Why has he been overlooked repeatedly?”

(The list consists of 100-plus candidates who have passed the principal’s exam. It turns out that from this list, not one white male has been given a principal’s position except at a LEARN school in the last four or five years.)

LAUSD Speak: “Dr. Isaacs may eventually be given a turn as principal, but probably not at Millikan.”

*

Although LEARN schools can promote from within, LAUSD rarely does that. It’s no wonder LAUSD is falling apart at the seams. Bureaucrats speak out of both sides of their mouths, assuring parents they are heard and at the same time saying that the needs of the children’s school don’t count. It’s buck-passing from school board member to district to “cluster leaders” to committee.

And this thing about contracts: My calls to friends who have taken the infamous administrator exams told me that no one who is an administrator is guaranteed a job from year to year. They are not elected officials with four-year terms of office. So this contractual rigamarole seems to be just another way to keep the Dr. Norm Isaacses of the school district out of the jobs they so richly deserve.

We’re not giving up. We’re awaiting an appointment with Supt. Thompson, and we’re having a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. I just wonder how Sens. Boland and Hayden are doing up there in Sacramento. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about the breakup of the LAUSD before this issue of Dr. Isaacs being our principal. But now I am pretty clear about it.

After all, it’s the principal of the thing.