Cortines Sets to Work on Plans for District

Ramon C. Cortines, a career educator who will soon become interim superintendent of the ailing Los Angeles Unified School District, said Friday he is drafting a blueprint to patch a system “hurting and hampering the children we are employed to help.”

The blueprint will be about “involving parents, supporting teachers and encouraging administrators to provide leadership,” said Cortines, renowned for turning around ailing urban school districts.

Appearing with Supt. Ruben Zacarias and Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller, Cortines said: “I’m suggesting that even on my watch as interim superintendent, there is no instant Cream of Wheat. . . . But we can begin to lay a framework.”

The first order of business, he said, will “focus on two things: books and bathrooms.”

“By June 30, every student and teacher with need of a clean bathroom will have one,” he said. “By about the same time, the right books will be in every student’s hands.”

Cortines, a trim, bespectacled and articulate man with a confident manner, was flanked by Miller and by Zacarias, who will be stepping down Jan. 15 after 2 1/2 years in the post.

The three men emerged Friday as a three-way executive panel that will run the nation’s second-largest school district until Zacarias leaves. On Jan. 16, Cortines, a former superintendent in New York, Pasadena and San Francisco, will take over until a permanent replacement is found.

“As of Jan. 16, I will be in charge, period,” Cortines said. “But it will be in collaboration with Mr. Miller.”

“I will send the board a memo shortly,” Cortines added, “to move expeditiously to do the proper screening and look at the best people in America for this job.”

“They’re going to cringe when I say this--it should happen sometime between the end of June and the end of August,” he said. “I hope to have a permanent superintendent in place in time for the opening of the new school year.”

Until Zacarias departs, he will have authority over all departments and divisions, Cortines will be his top advisor and Miller will focus on facilities and business. Their aims include creating an efficient management structure and writing a strategic budget.

It was an auspicious first appearance for Cortines, selected a day earlier by the Los Angeles Board of Education after a deal to bring him on board nearly fell through.

His challenges include a deeply fractured board, botched construction projects, financial fiascoes, poorly performing schools, a growing list of environmental crises and renewed cries for salary hikes for teachers.

In his news conference at district headquarters, Cortines cautioned that “the minimum time for noticeable improvement of academic achievement, with a critical mass of children, is from five to eight years.”

“Will everything be perfect? The answer is no,” he said. “But we have to start.

“And I promise you, when I screw up and make a mistake,” he added, “I will not sweep it under the rug, and you will know about it.”

Cortines said he, Zacarias and Miller intend to work toward their goals under a “five-point plan” forged late Thursday night, when board members voted unanimously to buy out Zacarias’ contract for $750,000.

Under the plan:

* Zacarias will remain superintendent until Jan. 15;

* Zacarias will have the right to carry on business with any employee in the district;

* Cortines will serve as his advisor until Zacarias retires;

* Cortines and Miller will keep the superintendent fully apprised on all district activities;

* Cortines and Miller will report to Zacarias until Jan. 15.

Standing nearby, the members of the Board of Education beamed with approval.

Until Thursday evening, the board had split 4 to 3 on virtually every major issue since Oct. 12, when Miller was installed to head the district’s operations.

A majority of board members had reportedly been frustrated with the pace of reform and had brought in Miller to reorganize the district. Zacarias had balked at giving up authority, and was backed by elected Latino officials and civil rights leaders angered by the attempt to oust him.

A stalemate between Zacarias and the board ensued, culminating in a decision to buy out the remainder of his contract.

“I’m delighted. I’m elated. I’m euphoric,” board President Genethia Hayes said of the agreement.

“Mr. Cortines is exactly what this district needs right now,” she said. “I think this goes a long way toward making sure this board heals. We are, in fact, a board that will get on with reform.

“This is the beginning of the rest of our lives,” she said.

Other board members, however, seemed only cautiously optimistic.

“I think we sprayed foam on the reactor and hopefully, the meltdown is contained,” said board member David Tokofsky. “Yes, we have an important consensus--but it’s tender.”

Interviews with administrators, teachers and students across the district on Friday revealed an almost palpable sense of relief that the three-week crisis in leadership had finally been resolved--at least for now.

At Christopher Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park, Principal Jack Moscowitz said, “I’m sorry that we’ve gotten to the point where adults are having these conflicts where they cause us to lose sight of what we are about: the education of children.

“The sooner we put this behind us, the sooner we will be able to exert all of our energies in our primary mission: instruction,” he said.

At Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, English teacher Ron Kendrick said, “Things have been very tense for quite a while.”

“Now, we’re waiting to see where students and teachers stand in this morass,” he said. “After all, we have our own local concerns. What does the change of leadership mean down here in the trenches? What will it mean in terms of student achievement and better working conditions and contracts for teachers?

“Most of us just don’t know Cortines well enough to answer those questions,” he added. “It’s a waiting game now.”

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), a Zacarias supporter and a vocal critic of the school board, was not appeased by the agreement.

He criticized the board’s methods, including the haste with which Cortines was selected, and urged that communities served by the district consider breaking away.

“It is my hope that this chaos will come to an end,” he said, “and that Los Angeles’ diverse communities can come together to support the creation of new, smaller, more manageable school districts.”

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Times staff writers Karima A. Haynes and Karen Robinson-Jacobs contributed to this story.

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* TAINTED L.A. SCHOOLS

Asbestos contamination has been found in about 5% of the schools examined so far. A18