Selection of L.A. School Chief May Be Delayed

Frustrated by the small pool of serious candidates, the Los Angeles Board of Education may extend its Monday deadline for selecting a new superintendent, district officials said Wednesday.

The board still hopes to name a new schools chief by Monday so that he could help interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines appoint leaders to run 11 mini-districts being created under a reorganization to take effect July 1.

But several factors have conspired to make the final stages of the search especially difficult.

Some potential candidates recently accepted jobs elsewhere. At least two withdrew their names after learning that state lawmakers are considering appointing a monitor to oversee the district. The board’s favorite candidate, Henry Cisneros, former mayor of San Antonio who is now head of the Los Angeles-based Univision television network, turned down the job for personal reasons.

Perhaps most significantly, the board is determined to select a superintendent who has the support of all seven members.

Board President Genethia Hayes conceded that final selection could be delayed “in the interests of reaching a consensus, which is critical.”

“We are trying awfully hard to make the deadline,” she said. “But we can’t have even two people on the board complaining that a person should not have been selected. That would be a death knell.”

Board member David Tokofsky agreed.

“I’m in favor of cooling our heels a bit to make sure we do it maybe not perfectly, but thoughtfully,” he said. “There’s no difference between June 5 and July 5, if we can make it clear that we’ve selected the very best candidate.”

The board was scheduled to interview at least one new candidate today. That person was expected to be Rudy Crew, former schools chancellor for New York City schools. Crew, who now leads the University of Washington’s partnership with K-12 schools, has expressed an interest in the position, which pays about $250,000 a year.

Hayes said the board also wanted to conduct additional interviews with the three candidates who remain on the short list: George Munoz, a former president of the Chicago Board of Education who now heads a federal agency that promotes international trade; former Colorado governor Roy Romer, a longtime school reformer who now heads the Democratic National Committee, and John Murphy, the former superintendent of Charlotte, N.C., schools.

Board members said they had generally favorable impressions of each man. But they were also eager to consider additional candidates.

“We must select an excellent person for L.A. Unified, but it will be difficult to fill Ray Cortines’ big shoes,” said board member Julie Korenstein. “We’re looking for a messiah.”

The new superintendent will face a gargantuan task. The new leader will be taking over a $7.5-billion organization that suffers from severe overcrowding and poor student test scores and is undergoing a massive reorganization.

“I don’t want to be in a position of selecting one person out of a pool of one or two,” said board member Valerie Fields.

“And I don’t want to select anyone by default--this district needs someone we all think is up to this job,” she said. “This is an awesome decision. It’s scary.”