Montebello School Case Mirrors L.A. Controversy

In a little-noticed mirror image of the controversy in the Los Angeles school district, a Mexican American school board majority in Montebello forced a popular Jewish superintendent from his position as head of a predominantly Latino district.

The political fallout from the ouster of Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ruben Zacarias remains unclear. But voters in Montebello reacted decisively to their hometown controversy during last week’s school board election.

Two-term incumbent Frank M. Serrano, a member of the board majority who ousted Montebello Supt. Norman Kirschenbaum, lost his bid for reelection. Opponents campaigned on charges that Kirschenbaum, who had hoped to retire next summer, was unfairly dumped, in a decision made behind closed doors, to make way for the Latina who now heads the district.

Like the controversy in Los Angeles--where a popular Latino superintendent lost his battle with a non-Latino board majority to keep his job--the election in Montebello illustrates the growing complexity of ethnic politics.

Voters elected two new board members--Edwin Chau and Marcella Calderon, the wife of Assemblyman Tom Calderon (D-Montebello)--and reelected Richard Adams, who supported the former superintendent. Marcella Calderon, who is Mexican American, campaigned vigorously on the Kirschenbaum dismissal.

Chau and Calderon are expected to shift control of the 35,000-student district from Serrano’s board allies, Hector Chacon and Frank Gomez.

Kirschenbaum, 59, was replaced by Supt. Maggie Mejia in February, when the board majority decided in closed session to demote him to district consultant.

Mejia, a former Anaheim high school principal, was hired as a deputy superintendent with the understanding that she would eventually head the district.

But Kirschenbaum, who believes he was treated unfairly, said: “I’m still baffled by their sense of urgency” in their move to replace him 18 months before his contract expired.

The board majority last winter “was under considerable pressure from their supporters to come up with a Latino superintendent,” said former board member Darrell H. Heacock. Kirschenbaum’s predecessor was Latino.

But in demoting Kirschenbaum without an evaluation, the school board majority “changed the rules,” the same charge being made against the Los Angeles district board, said Dorothy Chu, president of the local teachers union.

Board member Gomez said he supported replacing Kirschenbaum because he was impressed by Mejia’s abilities, and not her ethnicity.

“It just so happened that one of our own was a lot better than the one who was there,” he said.

Serrano, 71, said the allegation that he and fellow board members replaced Kirschenbaum because he is white is “a bunch of bull.” The board promoted Mejia in an effort to improve education and the operation of Montebello schools, Serrano said.

Kirschenbaum, a 36-year veteran of the Montebello Unified School District, has since taken over as superintendent of the Hacienda La Puente School District. He is still negotiating with Montebello on a contract buyout.

Kirschenbaum’s supporters were outraged by the ouster, saying that he rescued Montebello Unified from financial disaster in the mid-1990s.

The district was on the verge of bankruptcy and was threatened with a teacher strike, said board member Adams. Kirschenbaum negotiated new contracts with district employees, he said, and put into place significant money-saving policies.

Many in the community felt there were political and racial motives behind his demotion.

One of them was Assemblyman Calderon, a former school board member himself. In addition to his wife, he backed Chau and Adams. He was not the only Latino lawmaker to take an interest in the Montebello school board election.

State Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Marco A. Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles) backed two losing candidates, including Serrano.

Firebaugh and Tom Calderon are expected to compete for the seat of state Sen. Martha Escutia, (D-Whittier). She is rumored to be considering either a run for a higher office or a state-appointed judgeship, which her aides deny.

Such political jockeying has become ever more important in the era of term limits.

And local political watchers say that Montebello school board elections could help determine the outcome of a future race between Calderon and Firebaugh for Escutia’s seat, which overlaps with the district.

Though Polanco and Firebaugh were among those expressing outrage over the Los Angeles board’s closed-door decision to replace Zacarias, neither has said a word about how Kirschenbaum was similarly treated, critics said.

Acknowledging interest in Escutia’s seat, Calderon said the endorsement of his wife and his strong interest in the board race were not politically motivated. Firebaugh’s interest was, he said.

“He’s been lining himself up for the Senate seat ever since he was elected to the Assembly,” Caldron said.

Firebaugh, who backed Serrano and former Bell Gardens city employee Rosie Vasquez, scoffed at the accusation. He denied any political motives, saying that he supported candidates for the good of the children in the district, some of whom he represents.

Bill Mabie, Polanco’s chief aide, said his boss did not even know about the Kirschenbaum controversy.

Voters, however, obviously did.

The turnout was only 11% among the mostly Latino electorate. Calderon received roughly one-third of the vote and Adams 26% for the race’s two four-year seats. Serrano took 22%. Chau received 46% of the vote to win a two-year seat.

“The manner and arrogance in which this was all handled basically backfired,” Kirschenbaum said of the election results.

As with Zacarias, “what happened to me took on a degree of symbolism with people in the community,” he said.