Zacarias Refuses to Cede Reins; Confusion Rules

The big question at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters on Wednesday was: “Who’s in charge of this place?”

Supt. Ruben Zacarias steadfastly refused to give up direct authority over the city public school system’s chain of command, although a day earlier the Los Angeles Board of Education had appointed former board member Howard Miller as chief executive.

The board’s order was precise: “All other departments, divisions and units of every kind of the LAUSD will report to Mr. Miller as CEO and to no one else, and will be under his complete authority.”

But in an interview, Zacarias said, “The notion that [top district managers] no longer have direct access to me is unacceptable.”

“As I told Miller in a meeting today, you can’t separate the district departments from the superintendent any more than you can separate the cabinet from the president of the United States,” Zacarias said. “I really regret this was not handled in a more thoughtful manner. Howard Miller and I have agreed to work out the details.”

Nonetheless, Miller has said he wouldn’t have accepted the nine-month job without being promised total control over district operations.

Miller, who has been charged with restructuring the district’s entire operation, said he plans to retain outside consulting firms.

He will also evaluate the status of the nine senior and mid-level staff members faulted in the district auditor’s report on the environmentally plagued Belmont Learning Complex.

His salary will not be established until he presents a budget to the board Oct. 22.

Board member Caprice Young said she believes “the board’s direction is clear” and that Zacarias will relent. She would not speculate how the board would react if he does not.

“It’s very distressing,” said United Teachers-Los Angeles Vice President Becki Robinson. “We seem to have a train speeding down the track without a conductor on board--or two conductors wanting to go in different directions.”

As confusion reigned within the bureaucracy over who was in charge of the 700,000-student district, lawmakers and members of the community also seemed unsure what to make of the developments.

Latino grass-roots activists and elected leaders expressed their own concerns about what they perceive to be a continuing effort by city officials and the board’s new majority to oust the 70-year-old district veteran.

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who has threatened to help spur street demonstrations on Zacarias’ behalf, said the board’s action violated a previous agreement with the State Allocation Board.

On Sept. 21, he said, President Genethia Hayes and other board members told the allocation board they had hired Miller to take over the district’s troubled facilities division. The same day, the board approved $278 million in state funds to build 49 elementary schools and primary centers.

“By expanding his authority, they have violated the goodwill and trust we placed on these individuals,” Polanco said. “It’s a clear-cut attempted coup by a shadowy corporate elite entity, and we won’t stand for it. The appropriate authorities will clarify that to these board members.”

State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), another steadfast Zacarias backer, said, “Like it or not, the superintendent of schools is in my mind the chief executive officer, and the board has to contend with that reality.

“I remain hopeful that the new school board members are able to cause real change, but this is not a good indication. The board could do a little better.”

Sigifredo Lopez, a member of the district’s bilingual-bicultural committee, said he is helping to organize a rally in support of Zacarias to be held at district headquarters Oct. 22.

“We’ll have 500 people out that day in support of Ruben Zacarias,” he said. “This is an attack on the whole Latino community and and a blatant political power grab.”

The restructuring plan grew out of conversations between Miller and district environmental safety team attorney Barry Groveman over the past few weeks, Miller said. They presented the plan to the board in closed session Tuesday.

The board voted 4-2, with an abstention by Julie Korenstein, to appoint Miller as CEO. New members Hayes, Mike Lansing and Caprice Young, as well as Valerie Fields, voted for the plan. Victoria Castro and David Tokofsky voted against it.

The speed with which the matter was handled outraged Castro, and her response added to the upheaval in the district.

On Wednesday, Castro demanded that Hayes step down as board president on grounds “she violated fundamentals of the Brown Act” by not providing clear advance notification of the plan to appoint Miller as CEO that popped up in closed session.

“Genethia Hayes is a new board president and may not be as versed as she should be on these matters,” Castro said. “If she doesn’t know what she’s doing, she ought to step down.

“She should step down and be replaced by someone with experience--that could be someone like board members Julie Korenstein, David Tokofsky or myself,” she added.

In a prepared statement, Castro questioned the legality of Miller’s appointment.

“The decision to appoint Howard Miller to the position of CEO of the school district was inappropriate in the fact that it lacked public input and participation,” she said. “Dr. Zacarias was selected by a public process that allowed for input and participation from the public. Any revision of the scope of his duties should be done through the same process.”

Hayes dismissed Castro’s comments, saying, “I have no intention of stepping down. My colleagues believe I’m doing a good job and, frankly, so do I.”

As for the tug-of-war for control of the district between Zacarias and Miller, she said, “Everything in this district has to do with the fact that test scores are low and we are not doing a good job with children of all colors. We have now an extraordinary appointment that puts two people together to come up with solutions.”

But a high-ranking district official who asked that her name not be used said the public should demand to know who’s in charge.

“If the board wants Ruben out, they should just tell him so and buy out his contract,” she said. “But they don’t have the guts.”