L.A. Schools Shuffle Staff Around Subdistricts

Los Angeles Unified School District’s game of musical chairs began Friday as Supt. Roy Romer announced which of the current 11 subdistrict chiefs would remain as their numbers shrink.

Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles school board voted to reduce the number of administrative subdistricts from 11 to eight as a cost-saving measure. The new configuration was suggested by Romer as a compromise with the teachers union, which originally sought to abolish the subdistrict system altogether. The latest map was drawn with an eye toward maintaining community identity and distributing as evenly as possible the district’s low-performing schools, officials said.

Romer said he was heartened that the school board had given him latitude in carrying out details of the reorganization.

“That’s the way they should treat a superintendent, and I will deliver a product that will be fully as efficient as the 11 we had -- and, I hope, even better,” he said.

In the new eight-district structure, seven of the current subdistrict superintendents will remain and get extra territory: Robert Collins (District 1, west San Fernando Valley); Sue Shannon (District 2, east San Fernando Valley); Richard Alonzo (District 4, central and northeast Los Angeles); Rowena Lagrosa (District 5, East Los Angeles); Dale Vigil (District 6, southeast cities); Sylvia Rousseau (District 7, South Los Angeles); and Myrna Rivera (District 8, Harbor area).

Sharon Curry is being promoted from director of elementary school services for a subdistrict to become head of District 3 in west and central Los Angeles. Ronni Ephraim, who had been the local superintendent in the former District D, in West Los Angeles, will become the district’s chief instructional officer, in part to replace Merle Price, the current deputy superintendent of instructional services, who is about to retire.

Deborah L. Leidner, who had been local superintendent of District A, in the northwest San Fernando Valley, and Sharon V. Robinson, local superintendent of District G, in South Los Angeles, will be reassigned. Edgar Seal, who had come out of retirement to run District E, in the Hollywood area, will not stay on past the transition.

A lot more shifting is ahead. Over the next few weeks, before the new fiscal year begins July 1, district administrators must decide which three offices will be closed and who will staff the remaining ones.

They have said that 165 positions will be eliminated and that, with bumping rights, some administrators may return to the classroom as teachers.

“We said we were going to do this quick, and we are going to do this quick,” said Glenn Gritzner, special assistant to Romer. “The superintendent is working feverishly with local superintendents to decide on the next round of staffing.”