Next L.A. Schools Chief: Let the Search Begin in Earnest

The next superintendent of the Los Angeles public schools needs vision, strong leadership skills, crisis-tested administrative abilities, political savvy and the will to restructure a system that has failed many students in many ways. To find an educator and administrator of this quality demands, as a citizens committee has now recommended, a national search.

The committee, appointed by the Board of Education, listened to hours of public comment, including a wave of community support for Deputy Supt. Ruben Zacarias for the job. The majority of the panel recommended against any rush to judgment, however. It prescribed a broad search, well beyond district headquarters.

The school board should accept the committee’s nonbinding recommendation. This process will help in finding the best available person to replace Supt. Sid Thompson, who will retire next June after four years at the helm of the nation’s second-largest school district.

Zacarias, a top contender, stands to benefit from the process. If he is selected as the next superintendent, the veteran educator will have been chosen on his merits and not on the basis of politics or because some activists insist it is his turn. A nationwide competition will give whoever comes out on top greater credibility and will help boost public confidence in the beleaguered school system.

As the board contemplates its important decision, members would do well to study an example offered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. That board faced a similarly tough responsibility last year in seeking a new top executive for the public health system. Critics predicted that few would want the formidable job, but the challenge intrigued Mark Finucane.

He arrived with a wealth of relevant experience. When he led the Contra Costa County health department, he restructured that system to bring low-cost medical care to the poor, homeless and elderly. He also grappled with stubborn budget problems. Well-connected from Sacramento to Washington, he was considered politically astute. He was certainly savvy enough to get the L.A. County supervisors to give him the authority to assemble his own management team.

The next superintendent of schools also will need broad powers to assemble a first-rate management team to take the district in a new direction. Improving the public schools will require solid support from the board, cooperation from the unions and a continued commitment to educational reform. A national search is the appropriate path to decision.