Fight Shapes Up as Zacarias Vows to Keep Job

Ratcheting up the potential for a confrontation with city and schools officials, Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ruben Zacarias on Monday said he may seek to stay in the post five more years instead of the maximum two allowed under his current contract.

He also did not rule out the possibility of negotiating with the Los Angeles Board of Education to have his next job evaluation conducted in public.

“If my evaluation shows that I’ve been continuing the progress we’ve shown over the past two years, why not stay on another five years? Ronald Reagan was president until he was 78.”

Zacarias’ hardened resolve to keep the job he has held 26 months followed disclosures that Mayor Richard Riordan has begun hosting City Hall discussions with business leaders and educators from outside the district about what qualities to look for in a new superintendent.

And some school board members privately have been vowing to remove Zacarias, perhaps by way of a highly critical evaluation.

The mayor and board members have publicly denied any attempt to oust the superintendent, but Zacarias’ comments Monday set the stage for a possible showdown. They also could widen the rift between his supporters and school reformers who contend that he has lost control of the district and senior management.

Although few people have publicly criticized the superintendent, under his tenure the district has been faulted for a lack of accountability and follow-through on various reform measures.

Zacarias’ supporters credit him with launching programs to end social promotion and improve student achievement.

“I don’t think either side of this issue would say this is about rich white guys versus the Latino community, but it is a component that must be dealt with,” said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

“After all, this is a symbolic political issue for Latinos, who can point to another Latino who worked hard and became head of the school district.”

Sigifredo Lopez, a member of the district’s bilingual-bicultural committee, said, “Ruben is highly qualified to lead our schools--he’s been good for our kids--and if the community gets angry enough they will not be able to run him off the job.

“A group of organizations will be meeting this week to develop a plan for a public response in support of Ruben,” he said. “We are doing this not because he is Latino, but because he is qualified to run the district. We are not going to let them attack Ruben for political reasons. We will not permit it.”

But a high-ranking city official involved in school reform who asked that her name not be used said: “At a time when Zacarias should be focused on student achievement and performance, he’s focused on clinging to his job. If he was doing the former, he would not have to worry about the latter.”

Harold M. Williams, chairman emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Trust and head of the Committee on Effective School Governance, was dismayed by the potential standoff.

“I’m concerned an ugly confrontation may be developing around the superintendent’s future, and it needs to be stopped,” Williams said.

“Merit, fairness and due process, not politics or external pressures, should drive the ultimate decision,” he said. “It would be irresponsible if the school board and the superintendent allowed themselves to be diverted from concentrating their attention on the education of our children and on the superintendent’s accountability for improving student achievement.”

Virgil Roberts, an attorney who chairs one of several school reform organizations in the city, said: “This is not about Ruben and the board. It’s about kids and whether or not education is taking place. That gets lost in all the noise when it becomes a fight among adults over power and position.”

Zacarias, who is paid $188,000 a year, is due for an evaluation within six months.

Board President Genethia Hayes was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment. But in a recent interview she said the board would hold Zacarias accountable for the education of the district’s 700,000 students and the efficient spending of taxpayers’ dollars.

Zacarias warned that any evaluation of his performance must be fair and formal.

“If the predisposed plan is to give me some kind of evaluation to force me out, any reasonable person can see it won’t work,” Zacarias said in an interview Friday. “I’m not going to stand for some bogus evaluation process.

“I went through the most rigorous selection process in history with tremendous support across the entire district,” he said. “Since then, we’ve improved student achievement for two years running, and test scores have gone up. . . . I’m one year ahead of the state in ending social promotion. And we just completed three weeks of summer school for 110,000 students identified as behind in reading.

“Still, when all is said and done, a majority of four board members will decide my future. If they say the superintendent must go, I can’t stop them,” he said. “Let them take their best shot.”