Has Supt. Mijares Worn Out His Welcome in Santa Ana?

When Al Mijares was hired as superintendent of Orange County’s largest and most troubled school district, trustees were aware he was an educational leader in demand.

The board of the Santa Ana Unified School District knew Mijares had left previous jobs after a few years and before his contracts ran out. But board members hoped he would stay long enough to gain ground against the tough challenges facing the district.

That was 10 years and three contracts ago. Today, some people question whether Mijares, 51, has stayed too long.

The superintendent’s fate is likely to be decided Tuesday, when trustees are scheduled to vote on whether to renew Mijares’ three-year contract, which expires at the end of June.

Critics and supporters alike expect that a majority of the five-member school board will ask Mijares to remain. Such predictions, however, have done little to quiet the debate over Mijares.

His boosters say Mijares, with a stable and experienced hand, has delivered the district from years of financial and political turmoil.

But critics -- most notably the officials of the 3,000-strong teachers union in Santa Ana Unified -- say that Mijares is an ineffective leader who has mismanaged district finances and fueled poor morale and that the time has come for new leadership.

The schools chief has declined to comment on whether he will accept a new contract, saying only that he often assesses his tenure at the district.

“When I came here, I felt that an important part of my leadership would be longevity and staying the course, regardless of the issues and their complexities,” said Mijares, who earns $200,000 annually. “That is still my frame of reference, but I am always looking at what I am doing to help the district move forward. That is an inventory that I make constantly.”

Standing out among his accomplishments was overhauling district curriculum to align with state standards and to focus on basic skills and for holding principals accountable for their schools’ performance. In 2003, Santa Ana showed the greatest percentage growth in state test scores among some of California’s largest school districts.

But in a district that serves more than 60,000 students -- most of them poor, Latino immigrants struggling with English -- major academic challenges remain. Thirty-one of the district’s 48 schools are failing to meet federal accountability standards and, despite the gains, test scores remain below state and county averages. Several of the county’s lowest-performing schools are in Santa Ana.

Mijares wants to implement a two-year kindergarten program at each of the low-performing elementary schools beginning next autumn. The extra year is crucial to giving Spanish-speaking children a solid foundation in English that will keep them from falling behind in later grades, he said.

He tried to promote the same program in 2001, but district and state education officials and civil rights groups objected, accusing Mijares of discriminating against Latino children by delaying their education.

Despite the rebuke, Mijares implores principals from his low-performing elementary schools to do what they believe is best for students, even if it stirs opposition.

“We just have to go out and not be afraid of what people will say about us,” he told them at a recent meeting in his simple, spacious office. “At some point we have seen that all students are not all at the same point. We need to intervene upfront, not when students are in high school with a sixth-grade reading level.”

Mijares told the principals that he also wanted to extend the school year from 180 to 200 days and to educate parents, whom the district has struggled to engage, on how to become more involved in their children’s schooling. For their part, parents have remained mostly uninvolved in the debate over whether Mijares should remain.

Mijares’ goals have brought praise from Freda Odum and other principals whose schools are on the federal watch list. “He’s listening to us,” Odum said, “and trying to provide the support we need.”

Critics, however, see a personable man who has faltered in navigating the state’s fifth-largest district and its $500-million annual budget through difficult years.

“I think he has struggled to run such a large organization and to delegate power,” said Margie Brown, who resigned in October after a year as an assistant superintendent in charge of school facilities. “Al cares about the students and their achievement, but after 10 years, I think it is time for a change at Santa Ana.”

Tom Harrison, president of the Santa Ana Educators Assn., which represents nearly 3,000 Santa Ana teachers, broke publicly with Mijares this month. He said union leadership had passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in the superintendent. A teacher survey returned by about 750 members, he added, had indicated dissatisfaction with Mijares.

It is not an opinion held by all teachers. As Mijares left a recent high school assembly, a teacher jumped out of her car to give him a hug. “Just want to let you know I’m a fan,” she said.

Nonetheless, Harrison holds Mijares’ administration responsible for mismanaging and overspending on several projects. Most notably, he faults the district for miscalculating student enrollment projections over the last three years. The mistakes, which resulted in less state funding and an excess of teachers, contributed to a $29-million budget shortfall.

Along with extensive staff reductions and program cuts, teachers and administrators agreed in March to a temporary 4% pay cut to help balance the district budget.

One trustee is expected to oppose Mijares’ contract extension: John Palacio, who has criticized the administration for years. With the district struggling financially and academically, “why would you even consider approving an extension” of the superintendent’s contract, he said.

Mijares supporters dismiss the claim that he alone is responsible for the district’s recent financial woes. Bill Habermehl, Orange County superintendent of education, praised Mijares for working closely and openly with the county, which oversees district finances, to stabilize the budget.

“When Al saw that there was trouble, he quickly adjusted,” Habermehl said. “There are other districts in similar situations up and down the state, and so many superintendents try to cover problems up with smoke and mirrors. Al didn’t.”

Although they declined to comment on how they would vote Tuesday, trustees Audrey Yamagata-Noji and Rob Richardson have consistently defended Mijares. The superintendent is repairing lines of authority that were crippled by the previous board majority, they have said.

In 2003, voters recalled trustee Nativo V. Lopez after a bitterly fought campaign. Yamagata-Noji and Richardson, who joined the board after the recall, and many administrators had criticized the Lopez-led board for micromanaging district staff and undermining Mijares’ control of the district.

In what was viewed as a shrewd political maneuver, Mijares publicly accused Lopez and Palacio of “horrific ethical violations” two days before the recall.

Mijares says he does not regret the move. A deeply religious man, he looks back on the last decade, and his future, through the lens that “nothing happens to me by chance -- that everything is sovereignly guided for me,” he said. On the bookshelf in Mijares’ office, the Bible sits among dozens of texts on educational and leadership philosophy.

“His is a thankless job,” Richardson said. “He’s never going to please everybody.”