A ‘Lame Duck’ Can Make Big Waves : Education: Supt. Thompson could accomplish a lot for school-based management and teacher development.

When Los Angeles schools Supt. Sid Thompson announced in April that he would end his long, illustrious career next year, some people quickly labeled him a lame duck. With this announcement, however, Thompson has placed himself in a unique position to step out of the harried, short-term, firefighting mode that urban superintendents everywhere seem trapped in and thereby use the next year to focus more keenly on critical long-range issues and opportunities for our children.

One major issue concerns the implementation of the Rodriguez Consent Decree, which settled a lawsuit brought by minority parents concerned that the district was spending more per pupil on its suburban schools and that their children’s schools had been shortchanged. The decree requires the district to meet a 1997 deadline for equalizing per-pupil spending at all its schools. Besides this stated purpose, though, Rodriguez also lays groundwork for a school-based management system in which the principal, teachers, parents and students decide how best to meet the educational needs of students. This development will thus support the implementation of both LEARN, the reform and decentralization program now in 300 of the district’s nearly 900 schools and centers, and the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project, a grant that could bring $21 million to the school district over the next five years.

Another long-term issue worth the superintendent’s attention over the next year is teacher development. He could set up a better partnership with the California State University system, which trains 70% of our teachers, to improve how the district nurtures new teachers.

Once teachers begin their careers with the district, there is a strong incentive for them to continue their professional development. They can take college-equivalent courses in a variety of areas and earn salary increases that can count for up to 28% of their pay. More than 12,000 LAUSD teachers have taken advantage of this; the district spends about $300 million per year on these salary incentives, including benefits. During the next year, the superintendent can examine policy to ensure that the courses teachers are taking will help schools best meet the needs of children and thus use district resources most effectively.

Because these issues are long-term, they tend to get overshadowed by the plethora of day-to-day problems and concerns. But if the Los Angeles Unified School District is to succeed, the school board and the district leadership must ensure that long-term goals are met. In this way, Thompson the “lame duck” could sing a grand swan song for the children of Los Angeles.