Trustees Pick Interim Chief for Schools in Simi Valley

School trustees on Tuesday unanimously selected an award-winning veteran educator to serve as interim schools chief for the next six months while they search for a permanent superintendent.

Kenneth L. Moffett, who is in his early 60s, is a Distinguished Educator in Residence at Pepperdine University. He retired from the Lennox Elementary School District in June 1996.

Moffett, who was superintendent of the small Los Angeles County district for two decades, began his career about 40 years ago as a fifth-grade teacher in Inglewood.

The Manhattan Beach resident is credited with initiating a bilingual education program that pushed the district’s heavily Latino student population to read and write both English and Spanish by the eighth grade. Moffett also is known for establishing a nationally recognized disciplinary program in which students faced real consequences when they broke school rules.

Moffett won the 1994 National Superintendent of the Year Award given by the American Assn. of School Administrators.

Although he was unanimously selected for the Simi Valley interim post Tuesday night, Moffett had not officially accepted the contract.

Ginny Jannotto, president of the teachers union, was part of a panel of school officials and community leaders who interviewed Moffett before the school board’s closed session.

“He seemed to have a good grip on what his role would be as an interim,” Jannotto said. “His vision was to keep the group together when times are tough.”

The board also decided Tuesday to hire the California School Board Assn. to search for a permanent schools chief. The association has promised trustees it will serve as a mentor to whoever is selected to run the 19,500-student district, which has had a steady turnover of superintendents in recent years.

Moffett would temporarily replace former Supt. Dan Flynn, who was released from his contract in early February after less than four months on the job.

Though no official reason was disclosed for accepting his resignation, the majority of trustees said Flynn lacked experience, had not learned the intricacies of the district’s $150-million budget and was planning to reorganize administrative responsibilities--such as hiring a new director of curriculum--without the full board’s consent.

Last week, trustees met with two other candidates for the position of interim superintendent.

They interviewed Stanley Corey, 72, who retired from the superintendent’s post at the Irvine Unified School District in 1987, and Ronald G. Bennett, 55, who was superintendent of the 14,000-student Huntington Beach Union High School District.

Bennett was released from his contract in Huntington Beach the same night he interviewed in Simi Valley. Trustees of the Orange County district said it was because of a difference in management philosophies, but declined to elaborate.