Committee Urges National Search for Schools Chief

At a sometimes rancorous public meeting Monday night, the citizens committee formed to guide the selection of a new Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent recommended that the school board launch a national search for candidates.

But the decision came only after a failed attempt by some committee members to recommend that Deputy Supt. Ruben Zacarias be appointed to the job thrown open in April when Supt. Sid Thompson announced he would resign in June 1997.

The 7-5 vote against the motion by Montebello attorney Armando Duron reflected similar divisions on the school board that appointed the citizens committee, in part in an attempt to diffuse political wrangling over the position.

Duron argued that appointing Zacarias, a 30-year Los Angeles school district veteran, was a common theme during the 14 public hearings held by the committee during the past two months. Not expressing that sentiment to the school board would be an injustice, he said.

“I don’t think we can in good conscience ignore it,” said Duron, appointed by Zacarias’ strongest supporter on the school board, Victoria Castro. “Not after we encourage them to give their opinions . . . encourage them to believe that we would take their opinions into consideration.”

As a compromise, the committee unanimously supported emphasizing the strong community support for Zacarias in the report that will be presented to the school board Aug. 5.

“I think it’s important for this committee to relay that there is tremendous community support for Ruben Zacarias,” said Reseda High School teacher Edward Caz. “But I don’t want to recommend any one person for the job. I just don’t think that’s the purpose of our committee.”

Ethnic politics have long been an issue in Los Angeles Unified, where almost 70% of the 650,000 students are Latino. However, Zacarias’ supporters have said they are less concerned about his Latino heritage than about his legitimate claim to the seat, since the current superintendent, Thompson, was promoted from the chief deputy’s slot in 1993.

When the board failed to heed demands by Latino activists in April, the activists threatened to take drastic action, including the possible recall of one board member, David Tokofsky, because he represents a predominantly Latino district and was among those unwilling to immediately appoint Zacarias. They backed down only after the board announced it would appoint the citizens committee.

“Once again I tried to believe in this district,” said Eduardo Recinos, a parent and representative of a district bilingual committee. “I can now see that in the month of August, the Board of Education is going to perform another magic trick, pulling a name out of its hat that has not even been discussed here.”

School board President Jeff Horton said he was not surprised that the citizens committee shares the ambivalence of the board, where only two members were prepared to join Castro in an April vote for Zacarias. He said he did not know what steps the board would take next.

“The board has had a little break from this, with what the committee has done, but soon it will be right back with us,” Horton said.

The committee’s nonbinding recommendations call for a broad search starting with advertisements in national publications and the hiring of a search firm or consultant.

Those steps would be followed by interviews to determine which candidates best meet a list of 25 criteria honed by the committee after public hearings and the receipt of 200 mail-in questionnaire responses.

The list of criteria is generally vague, saying the applicants should have “a vision for public education that includes high standards for academic performance” and demonstrate “a hands-on management style.”

It skirts the controversial ethnicity and linguistic issues, saying that he or she should have experience working with parents from many cultural, ethnic and language backgrounds and that the “ability to speak more than one language is desirable.”