Search for County Schools Superintendent Narrowed to 5 Finalists

The state overseer of the Compton school district, the Salt Lake City schools chief and the top deputy to Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Roy Romer are among the leading candidates to become the next superintendent of the county Office of Education, according to people familiar with the search.

The names of five finalists have been forwarded to the county Board of Supervisors, which is expected to conduct interviews in the next several weeks. The board chooses the superintendent even though the county has its own Board of Education, also appointed by the supervisors.

The superintendent oversees a little-known but powerful education bureaucracy. With a budget of $700 million, the Office of Education offers support programs for school districts, and provides classroom instruction for 8,000 special education students and an estimated 30,000 juvenile offenders.

After seven years on the job, the previous superintendent, Donald Ingwerson, resigned and went to work at a Boston-based nonprofit that provides technical assistance to school districts.

The acting superintendent, Marilyn Gogolin, is one of the finalists. She has received support from members of the education board.

“Our board is with her,” said member Angie Papadakis. “It would take a year for someone to walk in from the outside and try to figure out what’s going on.”

If the supervisors prefer an outsider, they can choose from among Randolph E. Ward, the Compton state trustee; Salt Lake City schools Supt. Darline Robles, a former superintendent in Montebello; Los Angeles Unified Deputy Supt. Maria Ott, a former superintendent in a Santa Fe Springs district; and Las Virgenes Unified Supt. John Fitzpatrick.