Zacarias Fights Legality of Naming Miller CEO

As the Los Angeles school board prepared a proposal to buy out his contract, Supt. Ruben Zacarias on Thursday demanded that the board withdraw its order that he give up direct authority over the district’s chain of command.

In a letter from his attorney, Zacarias questioned the legality of the board’s appointment of former board member Howard Miller to the position of chief executive overseeing all district departments and divisions. He also challenged Miller’s credentials.

Zacarias indicated that he would “welcome” Miller’s assistance in “an advisory capacity” on such pressing matters as the troubled Belmont Learning Complex and South Gate elementary and high school construction sites.

It was problems with district management of those projects that precipitated a board decision Tuesday to put Miller in charge of all L.A. Unified operations. Miller, who is to report to Zacarias, is also charged with restructuring the district’s management.

Miller said in an interview that a compromise with Zacarias is out of the question given that the board’s order requires that all divisions report to him “and no one else.”

“I’m saddened that Dr. Zacarias has chosen to make a legal issue out of this,” Miller said. “These are issues being raised in the classic bureaucratic obstructionist way and illustrate precisely why the district has never changed and why it continues to be in difficulty.”

Board members, meanwhile, were said to be putting the finishing touches on a buyout package that sources said could be presented to Zacarias next week. The board will reportedly offer the 70-year-old veteran $277,000 to buy out the remaining 18 months of his contract. Zacarias could not be reached for comment.

“I’m not part of those discussions,” Miller said.

It remained unclear whether board President Genethia Hayes, who masterminded Miller’s appointment, can count on the four votes needed to force the superintendent to accept the offer.

“Ruben Zacarias has no interest in a buyout,” said Brad Sales, the superintendent’s spokesman. “But if there are four votes in favor of one, there’s nothing he can do about it.”

Board member Julie Korenstein was adamantly opposed to a buyout because of the additional turmoil it might create for the beleaguered district.

“I know we have to take drastic steps in this district, and I’m willing to take them,” she said. “But if you drop a nuclear bomb to reform it, what’s left to reform?”

Board member Victoria Castro, a staunch supporter of Zacarias, said: “It’s always been about forcing a buyout, and resorting to illegal means to do it. I’m appalled.”

She has complained about the speed with which the restructuring occurred in closed session, saying that open meeting laws were violated.

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) also expressed concerns about the way Miller’s appointment was made. He scheduled a news conference at district headquarters today to criticize the changes.

Meanwhile, for the second day in a row, district officials had no idea who was in charge of school affairs.

Compounding the confusion, the district’s chief of personnel said there is no CEO position available for Miller to fill. Nor is there a budget mechanism with which to pay him.

“As of right now, Miller does not technically have a job within the district, we don’t have a job to put him into, and we don’t know what his salary is,” said John Campbell, personnel director. “There’s no mechanism in place to even pay him the $25,000 the board promised him for his first month on the job developing a plan to build 100 new schools.

“This situation can be resolved by the board,” he added. “They’re going to have to budget the position--and a clear job description would be helpful.”

In his letter to the board, Zacarias’ attorney, Joseph F. Coyne Jr., also raised questions about whether Miller can lawfully occupy the CEO position.

According to Coyne, in order to supervise certified educators in the district, a person must be a certified educator.

Miller, an attorney who was charged a month ago with overseeing the facilities division and the construction of new schools, was a board member in the 1970s. Since then, he has been largely out of the public spotlight.

“I’m not a certificated educator,” Miller said. “But Dr. Zacarias had no doubts that I was an employee of the district up until two days ago. Until this letter was written, despite the fact that I have worked with him daily, he’s not expressed any concern except whether his senior deputies would report to him instead of me.

“I am acting on a daily basis based on the adopted resolution of the board,” Miller said, meaning the senior deputies should report to him.

Miller, forging ahead in his new position, took strong exception to a suggestion in Zacarias’ letter that “the district is not in crisis.”

“It is exactly the refusal to recognize the crisis that has contributed so strongly to it,” Miller said. “It’s time to recognize that LAUSD as an institution is not only in crisis but that that crisis is severely damaging the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.”

Many Latino community leaders acknowledged a crisis, but said Zacarias is attempting to improve the district and expressed outrage at the apparent attempt to curtail Zacarias’ authority.

“Anger may not be the word to use for the reaction,” said Rick Loya, a councilman in Huntington Park. “The reaction is stronger than that.”

Zacarias is revered by many Latino parents because of his Eastside Los Angeles roots and his long history in the district. Loya compared an attack on him to “an attack on Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

“The guy is like a saint to some people,” he said.

Zacarias, who has spent his career in the district, began as an elementary schoolteacher and became superintendent two years ago. As such, he has faced the tremendous challenge of turning around the district’s poor performance. He also has faced increasing criticism that he has failed to produce results. But this is the first time he has been fighting for his very job.

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Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this story.