Here are some things incoming LAUSD Supt. Michelle King can do for parents
Lourdes Vazquez discusses what a new LAUSD superintendent should focus on.
As students went back to school last year, we began asking them and their parents what they wanted from the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
At the time, all we knew was that rehired Supt. Ramon Cortines would be stepping down in December. What followed was a series of nearly empty parent meetings, a national search for his replacement and the discussion of several possibilities from around the country.
On Monday, we learned that the nation’s second-largest school district was hiring Michelle King, a career insider, to take its helm. As our reporter Howard Blume wrote:
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“King became a secondary school life sciences teacher in 1985 at Porter Junior High School. She also taught at the Porter magnet school for gifted students and at Wright Middle School before becoming an assistant principal at Hamilton High in 1997.
Esperanza Mejia discusses what a new LAUSD superintendent should focus on.
When she became that school’s principal, she won praise from teachers for bringing stability and evenhanded leadership to the campus after the departure of a controversial predecessor.
A succession of district roles and rapid promotions followed: assistant superintendent in health and human services, chief instructional officer for high schools, senior regional administrator, chief of staff to the superintendent, head of operations and, finally, chief deputy superintendent — the district’s No. 2 administrator, under the last two superintendents, John Deasy and Cortines.
Now that L.A. Unified has picked a leader, what can she do for parents?
Watch the videos above and below to see what parents told us they wanted from their district’s superintendent back in August, just as the search was launching.
It’s a reminder of just how much is at stake.
What can newly appointed L.A. Unified Supt. Michelle King do for your school? Join the conversation on Twitter @LATEducation.
You can reach Joy Resmovits on Twitter @Joy_Resmovits and by email at Joy.Resmovits@LATimes.com.
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