Duarte Picked as Oxnard’s Schools Chief

After listening to more than two dozen parents and teachers praise the 26-year district veteran, trustees selected Richard Duarte as superintendent of the Oxnard Elementary School District.

In picking the district’s first Latino superintendent, trustees said it was a choice that affirms support for an experienced local educator who can turn around the fast-growing district, which is plagued with tension and troubles.

Duarte, acting superintendent for seven months, has worked as a teacher, principal and administrator in Oxnard. He is expected to assume his new post next week, contingent on the successful negotiation of a contract and a majority vote by the trustees at their April 7 meeting. His salary will be about $115,000 annually.

More than 100 parents and teachers--several holding pro-Duarte placards or petitions--filled the room and overflowed into the lobby Wednesday night, voicing their support for Duarte and criticizing the board for considering candidates outside Oxnard.

After a nearly four-hour closed session, board President Francisco Dominguez said the board had agreed 3-2 to enter into contract negotiations with Duarte. Trustees Dominguez and Susan Alvarez dissented in the informal vote.

Duarte, 54, was chosen over finalists Florentino Noriega, associate superintendent of a Fresno school district, and Maurice Flores, superintendent for the Clark County district in Nevada.

Though board members had favored Noriega Wednesday afternoon, they changed their minds hours later after an outcry of public support for Duarte.

Jane Tolmach, a district parent and former Oxnard mayor, said the city’s schools need somebody with experience in the district and familiarity with the community.

“You are risking the school district’s progress by bringing in a stranger when you have the most qualified candidate here and ready to serve,” Tolmach told the trustees. “We need peace in this district, not controversy.”

Duarte has led the 15,000-student district since September, when Bernie Korenstein resigned as superintendent and took a lower-paying position directing Ventura County’s special education program.

Now Duarte said he plans to focus on building consensus and mobilizing the community throughout the 17-school district.

“It seems like everything is politically charged--from acquiring school sites to teaching in the classroom,” Duarte said Thursday. “We need for our primary focus to be on student learning and achievement.”

Tony Zubia, principal of Norman R. Brekke School, said it’s a plus that Duarte is Latino, as nearly 80% of the district’s students are Latino. In addition, four of the five school board members are Latino.

“Latino representation is always an issue, at least in this district,” Zubia said. Electing a Latino superintendent is “an example of how the community has been changing.”

Ann McCarthy, president of the Oxnard Educators Assn., said the district should never have searched outside the district for a leader.

“The change of scenery is exciting and new and somehow the problems you left behind seem to fade in this new environment,” McCarthy said. “However, when you return home, you find the problems still need attention.”

Those problems--racial and political tensions that have divided the board and the community--culminated in a grand jury investigation in 1997 and the subsequent conviction of veteran school administrator Pedro Placencia.

In 1997, board members clashed with the community about their decision to name the city’s newest campus after a former superintendent whom Latinos remembered as a foe of integration.

Later that year, Placencia was on trial for illegally tape recording the phone calls of former trustee Jim Suter. Most of the conversations centered on a review of Korenstein’s performance and on the controversy surrounding the new campus’ name.

Placencia, former director of the district’s migrant education program, was found guilty in January 1998. He was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to perform community service.

The Oxnard district, with a $98-million annual operating budget, is undergoing a growth spurt that will probably result in its building four new schools. And because of limited available space in Oxnard, a few of those schools may be built on agricultural land.

Because of its heavily minority enrollment, Oxnard continues to face challenges in implementing Proposition 227 and restructuring its bilingual programs.

Educators and community members said Duarte was the candidate most likely to change the district’s image and get the city’s schools back on the right track.

“He walks in knowing the community and knowing how the district is run,” trustee Dorothie Sterling said. “I think he has what it takes to do the job.”

Dominguez said that although he supports Duarte, he was interested in hiring somebody from outside the district.

“I think it would have been better to have some fresh new voice from the outside and get the clean new break we were looking for,” Dominguez said.

Duarte grew up in East Los Angeles and has degrees from Cal State Northridge, USC and UC Santa Barbara--including a master’s in administration and supervisor and A master’s in science in education. He started his teaching career in Oxnard in 1973 at Bernice Curren School, and served as principal of Fremont Intermediate School, Marina West School and Elm Street School before becoming an administrator in the district. From 1994 until being namedinterim superintendent, Duarte made $92,000 a year working as assistant superintendent of educational services.

He has helped improve technology in district schools, and developed two Healthy Start Centers, which are free social, medical and dental clinics at the school sites. He also implemented new literacy programs throughout the district.

Duarte said he plans to focus on raising the bar on student achievement and on expanding facilities to meet the growing population.

“We desperately need classrooms,” Duarte said. “And there aren’t a lot of places we can build schools, so there are some tough decisions that still need to be made.”

The search for a permanent superintendent began last fall, when the district hired a consultant to recruit candidates. Ads on the position were posted in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and part of Texas. Trustees selected eight finalists from among 19 contenders, and conducted interviews with the three leading candidates last week.

Negotiations with Duarte began Thursday. When completed, Duarte would be offered a three-year contract, which would raise his salary 4.5% from his current $110,000.