Compton Mayor Seeks Job as Chief of Schools

Even as he battles for reelection, Compton Mayor Omar Bradley is campaigning for another job: superintendent of the Compton Unified School District.

If he wins the April 17 election and also secures the superintendent’s appointment, Bradley could legally hold both positions at once. Mayor is a part-time position in Compton, but the superintendency, when it is filled, is scheduled to be a full-time job paying $155,000 a year.

The two posts would give him control over City Hall’s $138 million in revenue and the school district’s $180-million annual budget.

Although the mayor is considered a favorite for reelection, his chances of convincing the seven-member school board to appoint him superintendent are slighter. Nevertheless, Bradley, a longtime educator who has recently served as assistant superintendent in Lynwood, has aggressively advertised his interest in the job.

He has promised $500,000 worth of books for the Compton schools, sponsored a ballot question on whether the city government should take control of its schools, and publicly complained about aspects of the superintendent search that might hurt his chances. In an interview last week, he talked up his plans to rehabilitate campuses and to encourage Compton schoolchildren to read two hours a day.

“I would bring a number of things to the table,” said the mayor, who has an application for the superintendent’s job but has not submitted it. He has until May 2 to do so.

“My specialty is cleaning it up, fixing it up and making it presentable,” the mayor said. “In the schools, I believe there are many ways to get that done.”

The prospect of Bradley as superintendent is considered a potential nightmare by state officials, who have warred with him since 1993. In that year, Bradley was first elected mayor, and the state Department of Education launched a takeover of the financially and academically failing Compton school district.

In the eight years since, Compton Unified has had state-appointed administrators instead of a superintendent. And the mayor has quarreled with each, comparing the state takeover to slavery and frequently demanding the immediate return of local control.

In recent months, the state, citing modest improvements in the district, began the process of returning local control. In January, the locally elected school board received some of its legal authority back. The search for a superintendent, expected to be in place by July, is the first major responsibility of the board.

Given that two board members are running against Bradley for mayor, his appointment would seem impossible. But nothing in Compton is so simple. In fact, one of the challengers in the mayor’s race, Saul Lankster, has nominated Bradley for the superintendent’s post.

“I submitted his name because I heard he’s interested,” said Lankster, a longtime critic of the state takeover who delights in tweaking California education officials.

“It would be literally impossible for a person to be effective as the mayor of the city and the superintendent of the same city,” Lankster said. “But the mayor won’t have that problem, because I will be replacing him as mayor.”

On the board, Bradley has a natural ally: his sister, Carol Bradley Jordan. The siblings have recently echoed criticisms of the search process, which in the early stages has included discussions with dozens of community leaders. Among those leaders are several critics of the mayor. Jordan also has criticized the selection of the California School Boards Assn. as search consultant; she argued that the association is too close to the same state education officials who have so often clashed with the mayor.

“I do think he would be a good candidate, and I know he has a lot of ideas that would help our school district,” said Jordan of her brother. “But it would be hard for me to vote on that objectively.”

Noting Jordan’s role on the board, critics--including current district officials and two city council members--have expressed concern that Bradley could win the job and thereby increase his already considerable political machine in the Compton area. Bradley allies already run the Compton Community College, and Bradley’s close friend Paul Richards, a lawyer and housing developer in Compton, is mayor of Lynwood, the town bordering Compton to the north.

What is clear is that by November, Bradley will need a new full-time job to go with his part-time mayoral duties. His $95,000-a-year contract as the Lynwood school district’s assistant superintendent for evening programs expires before Christmas, and he has already been told the deal will not be renewed.

The mayor said he had not decided for certain that he will apply for the Compton superintendency. But in recent conversations, he has seemed more interested in the school district than in City Hall, where a variety of controversies--often self-created--have produced constant headaches. He said that if he wins reelection to a third term, it would be his last.

“There are other challenges out there for me,” Bradley said. “I’m not as excited as I once was about being mayor.”