Mike Stryer: L.A. Unified District 4 candidate

District 4 of the Los Angeles Unified School District stretches across most of the Westside as well as the southwest San Fernando Valley and much of Hollywood. The candidates to replace retiring incumbent Marlene Canter are Mike Stryer and Steve Zimmer, both of them teachers.

Mike Stryer

Age: 47

Personal: Pacific Palisades resident born in Boston. Lived in Southern California since 1993. Two children, ages 11 and 14, currently in private school, formerly in local public school. Wife is a child psychiatrist.

Bio details: A Stanford grad with master’s degrees from Yale in international relations and from Pepperdine in education. A varied business career included developing international sales and marketing strategies as a senior executive at Applause (which made toys under license with Disney) and Variflex (which makes inline skates and other recreational products). Taught social studies-related courses for six years at Fairfax High. Enrolled his children in Marquez Elementary, an L.A. Unified school, until 4th grade, when class sizes increased, then moved them to private school. Wants to enroll his oldest in Palisades Charter High School.

L.A. Times: Why did you switch from a business career to teaching?

Mike Stryer: The main motivation was that I had always wanted to teach high school. The company I was working for wanted me to stay. But even in business, I liked most the mentoring, teaching and training aspect of my career.

What needs to be changed in how the school district handles charter schools?

1) The district needs to adopt a much more consistent criteria for charter-school applications and for the renewals of charter school. Today the process is too arbitrary and politicized.

2) The district needs to provide charter schools more financial autonomy. The district should give them money they’re entitled to.

3) There needs to be much stronger operational support. I’ve seen cases where the district has dragged its feet on numerous projects. At Palisades High, it’s taken a long time to get elevators repaired.

The school district should bring charters into the fold and not see them as competitors or worse. Charters have developed so rapidly in Los Angeles and elsewhere because of three elements: financial autonomy, the ability to hire and fire administrators, and instructional autonomy.

And yet you were opposed to the district’s offer of classroom space for a charter at your school.

The issue at Fairfax was not that we were opposed to charter schools. The issue was we did not have the physical space. The district did a poor job in assessing the space.

But with declining enrollment in L.A. Unified, there is a surplus of space and LAUSD needs to provide perhaps some of the new facilities to charter schools [in part] to minimize disruption to existing schools.

Most charter schools are nonunion. How much of an issue is this?

Collective bargaining is important. There should not be one boilerplate agreement.

Should collective bargaining be a condition of approving or renewing a charter school?

It needs to be looked at case by case.

Regarding ineffective teachers, the union notes that the school district has trouble following due process and in helping teachers master their craft. The district notes that it can take years to remove an unsuccessful teacher. If the district got its act together and managed teachers properly, how long should it take before an ineffective teacher who fails to improve significantly can be removed?

Six months, where the teacher is given an opportunity to address shortcomings and issues and given proper support.

I don’t think there are many issues more important to people than the relatively small number of ineffective teachers, like the one who shows “Little Mermaid” to teach marine biology. I think there needs to be much more attention paid by administrators to these kind of teachers. Right now it’s extremely difficult to move out teachers who have permanent status unless there is some egregious offense. We need to simplify while retaining due process.

There should be a requirement that administrators are qualified in terms of classroom visits and the like. Oftentimes there is a very loose evaluation during a teacher’s probationary period. I had the assistant principal at the time come into my classroom and observe my students taking a test. And that was the whole evaluation given to me for the first two years. Unfortunately, that is not an isolated instance. We need to make sure there is a systemic and ongoing effort to make sure we have teachers who are going to succeed in the profession.

There’s been controversy recently over periodic assessments, standardized tests that are given several times a year to assess student progress. The teachers union has asked its members to boycott these tests. Do you have an opinion on this issue?

The issue has become incredibly politicized. If we were to end periodic assessments, this would result in $4 million to $6 million savings, period. Larger numbers have been thrown around without a good understanding of them. The assessments provide some type of acid test to make sure teachers are covering the material put forth in the state standards and not simply being agenda-driven teachers focusing on their particular area of interests.

They don’t take much time and they allow teachers to take a look at areas they didn’t cover as well as other areas.

The assessments do need to be implemented more consistently, with more involvement of teachers in their development. The grading needs to be done promptly, but I think in theory they’re a positive force.

What’s happening with the assessment boycott at Fairfax, where you serve as union chapter chair?

Some of the teachers were very concerned about [United Teachers Los Angeles’] calls for a boycott, particularly in the English department, where they’ve played a positive role in general. Those not concerned were agenda-driven teachers who tend to focus on one or two areas at the expense of covering the broad curriculum.

Some teachers are giving the assessments but not turning them in. My instructions are: This is what UTLA is recommending and they need to do what is right professionally and according to their conscience.

At what point would the union be overstepping its proper role?

The issue I have with UTLA is they haven’t dealt with the small but significant number of teachers who are not appropriate for the classroom. The union seems to bring a combative approach to negotiations with the district. And UTLA often takes on issues that are tangential to our purpose -- to provide the best educational background we should.

But UTLA can be a valuable partner with the district on a lot of key issues. The union could play a role in professional development, [ongoing teacher training managed by the school district]. Right now it’s very fragmented.

We should be focused on two key areas, meeting needs of second-language learners and on the needs of special education students. UTLA could play a role in creating a systemic professional development program. Right now the district mandates whatever new strategy appears to be favorable this day.

What sets you apart from your opponent, Steve Zimmer, who also is a well-regarded teacher?

The major distinction is my focus on financial reform. Because of my background in business, I bring a comfort level with numbers when we have a $670-million budget shortfall. I think I bring a lot more experience in developing budgets. I’ve done multimillion budgets in the companies I worked with. We need to focus on the financial reform of the district. I bring a real interest in seeing things done in a more professional way financially and in seeing those efforts translate to real improvements at the school.