Another Bolts From LAUSD

Hugh Jones lasted only two months as business czar of the L.A. public school system. His resignation, announced Monday, raises many questions, including: Why does L.A. Unified drive away talented outsiders?

Jones, the only high-level outsider in a district ruled by insiders, cited “personal reasons” for his abrupt departure. He has not explained further, leaving observers within and without the district’s downtown headquarters to speculate as to what really happened.

In any case, this important job is empty and needs to be refilled quickly with another independent outsider who can bring corporate-sector sophistication and discipline to the highest financial levels of the school district.

The business czar, a position promised by Supt. Ruben Zacarias when he sought his current job, was expected to provide greater oversight of the complicated and costly business dealings of the nation’s second-largest district. Zacarias sought someone with private-sector experience to also function as a trouble-shooter and problem solver. Jones, a former Kaiser Foundation Health Plan vice president, seemed to fit the bill. He stumbled a bit on his first big money dealings in the district, but still his presence freed Zacarias to concentrate on improving student achievement. What went wrong? And what does it say about the management acumen of Zacarias and school board members who said they had no inkling, no clue, that Jones was going to quit?

Authorized to sign off on all high-level business matters, Jones had greater authority than the only previous person to hold a similar job in the Los Angeles Unified School District, William Magee. This former executive had neither hiring nor firing authority and quit in frustration after four months in 1994. Jones had greater autonomy, yet still bailed out in a hurry. One observer said Jones had compared the LAUSD bureaucracy to a multi-headed monster.

Regardless of why Jones quit, the district still needs a business czar, a strong and independent outsider who can stand the heat from a probing school board and a noisy public. When the Los Angeles school board meets Thursday with Zacarias, they need to map out a plan to replace Jones. Giving up on the business czar is not an option.