New Administrator Named for 26 LEARN Schools in Valley

The principal of a Pico-Union elementary school has been promoted to oversee 26 city schools in the San Fernando Valley.

District officials named Richard Alonzo, 49, the cluster administrator for schools in neighborhoods stretching from Studio City to Sun Valley.

Alonzo has worked 14 years for the Los Angeles Unified School District, beginning as an elementary school teacher downtown. He later worked as bilingual coordinator before being promoted to assistant principal.

Alonzo begins his new job Monday, leaving Leo Politi Elementary School, where he has been principal since 1991.

“The very first thing I want to do is to visit the schools and get to know the stakeholders there as soon as possible,” said Alonzo, a San Fernando High School graduate who was born and reared in Mission Hills.

To prepare for his new job, Alonzo has been meeting with parents and teachers at each of the schools, all of which are part of the district’s educational reform program known as LEARN. Today he meets with principals from each of the schools.

As part of the LEARN program, a committee of principals, teachers and parents reviewed applications and submitted a list of five final candidates to city schools Supt. Sid Thompson, who selected Alonzo.

Alonzo’s appointment comes at a time when Thompson is proposing to add 32 assistant cluster leaders to the district. Thompson has said that additional level of administrators would help ease the burden on the district’s 26 cluster leaders.