School Loan : Administrator on Temporary Assignment Leads Campus Transformation

Caught in a battle among parents, teachers and the school district, students at Sun Valley Middle School have found themselves a guardian angel.

Classrooms are being painted, custom-built lunch tables have been installed, graffiti has been covered and a new $23,000 fence has been added to the east San Fernando Valley campus.

Parents and teachers credit this almost miraculous transformation to John Liechty, a top school district administrator who surrendered his cushy Downtown post to serve as Sun Valley’s temporary principal. Liechty has accomplished in a matter of weeks what others at the school have been trying--unsuccessfully--for years.

But Liechty says the most remarkable change has been his outlook.

Since starting work at the school in September, Liechty said he has rediscovered why he sought a career in education 28 years ago as he mingles each day with the school’s 2,200 boys and girls.

When a permanent administrator is found for Sun Valley, Liechty said he is planning to become a school principal again.

“For me it’s been a much more rewarding, enlightening experience than anything I’ve brought to the school,” he said one recent morning.

His work so far has reminded him that turning a campus around often takes more than lofty ideas. On his second day, he recalled having to roll up his sleeves and reach into a clogged toilet in the boys’ bathroom. “This is a taste of reality,” he said.

Liechty returned to the educational trenches in September, following the transfer of Sun Valley’s principal last spring.

Parents and teachers have been battling Los Angeles Unified School District officials over selection of the school’s top administrator. Supt. Sid Thompson had refused to approve the popular candidate, Assistant Principal Manny Rangel, because he has not passed a district administrative exam.

Liechty was assigned to keep peace at the Sun Valley school until a final decision is made.

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In the meantime, Liechty--who until recently oversaw 80 middle schools--said he has rediscovered his love of education.

“I need to feel a sense of worth--that I’m really contributing to something,” he said while supervising students during a mid-morning break and compulsively picking up trash every few feet.

When he arrived at the school, Liechty said he was struck by poor conditions at the campus.

Candy wrappers, juice cartons and leftover food littered the grounds, largely because students were allowed to eat anywhere on campus--a privilege since revoked. Classrooms had peeling paint and dirty walls. Two vandalized classrooms remained in disrepair after two months and the school lacked proper outside lunch tables for students.

Toilets were clogged, graffiti covered bathroom walls and doors and the maintenance crew--while trying desperately--could not keep up. Parents were demanding better security and teachers wanted the parking lot fenced off.

Liechty said he realized fast that he needed to do more than just conflict resolution.

Using his knowledge and influence in the nation’s second-largest district, Liechty quickly got to work. He called Supt. Thompson for money to build a fence and his boss obliged.

“Many of the things I’m focusing on here are not new and innovative things,” Liechty said. “They’re just part of building a climate and culture on campus. It doesn’t make better readers or better writers but it sets the tone.

“If you walk into a garbage pit, sooner or later you’ll get garbage behavior,” he said. “Besides, there isn’t an adult here or anyone Downtown who would take their lunch tray and sit on a dirty bench--if they could even get a seat.”

For safety--and sanitation--reasons, Liechty restricted where students could eat. He also reinstituted random weapon searches--a district policy that had been ignored.

So far, morale has improved, even among those skeptical about Liechty’s assignment, teachers and parents say.

“Had it been anyone else but John, it would have been World War III,” said Sherry Noland, the teachers’ union representative at the school. “I call him our guardian angel. All those bureaucrats Downtown should be in schools--if they’re as good as he is.”

Walking down a hallway, Liechty was stopped by Steve Indjeyan, the school’s physical education department chairman. “How long are you going to be here?” he asked. “Can’t you stay a little while longer?”

Indjeyan said the former Downtown administrator has also helped the school in subtle ways. Liechty, for instance, praised the physical education department in writing--a compliment that means a lot to Indjeyan.

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During the school day, Liechty’s pace is exhausting. He talks and walks fast, crisscrossing the 26-acre campus several times a day.

He looks a bit out of place at the school, in contrast with the casual attire of most teachers. On this day he is dressed in a navy blue pin-stripe suit, silk tie, leather loafers and deep tan.

But he said he doesn’t feel out of place.

“My biggest fear was that they’d say, ‘Here comes this fat cat and he hasn’t been a principal for 10 years, what does he know?’ ” Liechty said. “But that has not been my experience.”

Tony Alcala, a community activist who has been working closely with Sun Valley parents, praised Liechty for calmly working to improve the campus while parents and teachers engaged in a heated battle over selection of the school’s permanent principal.

Alcala said most at the school are delighted with Liechty.

Liechty has had to make some adjustments to his own management style. Schools have changed since he was principal at Berendo Middle School a decade ago, he said.

Liechty said principals now rely more than ever on consensus decisions--work performed by committees of parents, teachers and other staff members.

“The number of meetings has just exploded beyond belief,” he said. “You might have five or six people out a day--sometimes you could have the whole math department out.”

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Liechty realizes his work at Sun Valley will end soon.

The Board of Education is expected to decide Nov. 6 whether to give LEARN schools the authority to select their own administrators.

And soon after that, Liechty will be replaced at Sun Valley.

“I’ve really enjoyed it here,” he said.

Just then, the lights flickered and went out, the air conditioning stopped. Liechty asked the school custodian to check with the Department of Water and Power as he continued to talk in the dark of his office.

“This school’s going to be fine--unless of course we don’t have electricity for the next several months,” he joked.

Minutes later, the lights came back on and Liechty continued: “The potential here is outstanding. I’ve had a unique opportunity that most administrators would never have the chance to experience. I’m a principal. I’m back.”