‘Breakup Czar’ Is Picked for District : Schools: Official will coordinate data and provide information to all sides in debate over groups’ efforts to secede L.A. Unified.

Acting on his pledge to cooperate with those who want to break up the nation’s second-largest school district, Supt. Sid Thompson on Monday named a “breakup czar” to provide information to all sides in the coming political campaign.

Assistant Supt. Gordon Wohlers, who oversees the Los Angeles Unified School District’s reform programs, will handle all requests for information, pulling together data from various divisions in the massive system, Thompson said.

Wohlers was on vacation Monday and could not be reached for comment. But Bill Rivera, spokesman for the district, said the superintendent wants to assign a top official to coordinate information and make it easier for outside groups seeking data from the district.

“It’s Sid’s effort to make sure people get the same information, and it won’t have to come from a dozen different offices,” Rivera said. “It’s an effort to channel things so there’s a systematic response. . . . We usually assign someone to coordinate any kind of effort on a specific topic.”

Thompson announced an abrupt shift in school district policy last week, saying the system would not fight breakup efforts but rather provide assistance to any groups seeking to secede from the system. Thompson said the pro-breakup groups--which are gathering strength in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles and several South Bay cities--need accurate data from the system.

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The ground for the breakup campaign was prepared when legislation making the task easier was signed into state law over the last two weeks. One law dramatically reduces the number of petition signatures required before a breakup plan can be placed on the ballot and also eliminates the Board of Education’s veto power over such a plan. Another law, approved by Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday, requires that racial and funding policies be maintained in any new districts.

While supporters of the breakup effort initially expressed skepticism about Thompson’s offer to help, they said Monday they welcome the open invitation to share the district’s data.

But even district officials admitted that they hope the information campaign would lead breakup supporters to scale back their plans and conclude that the present system is the best way to educate 640,000 students.

Nonetheless, Rivera said Wohlers’ new assignment will be to simply provide information. He said Wohlers will not write alternative school district plans or assist groups in other ways.