Principal will watch 10

Corona del Mar High School Principal Fal Asrani, who resigned Friday, is making a big leap in more ways than one as she takes a new position as the assistant superintendent of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

First, she will be charged with running 10 schools instead of just one. And the 10 schools were chosen specifically because they have been deemed failing schools in rough neighborhoods, as opposed to her current school, which is one of the most affluent in the country and one of the highest-performing public schools in the area.

Asrani, 45, announced her plans to join the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools after a year in which she became a lightning rod for gay rights activism and the subject of an ongoing ACLU lawsuit claiming she fostered a homophobic and intolerant atmosphere when she allegedly canceled the musical “Rent” because of its risque content and depictions of homosexuality. Asrani denies these charges.

But before that controversy, she had established a reputation as a tough disciplinarian determined to raise the school’s academic performance, test scores and prestige.

Shortly after arriving on the scene in 2005, Asrani implemented a stricter dress code at the school and made a push to get more students to take standardized tests seriously. As a consequence, Asrani said, more students have been enrolling in four-year colleges directly after high school, and the school was named a California Distinguished School in 2006.

“My job is to go [to Los Angeles] and do that again,” Asrani said.

Bob Gratzinger, whose son graduated in 2006, was happy to see the changes.

“As an administrator, she said, ‘I’ll go for the academics and not the fashion show,’” Gratzinger said. “I was extremely happy with her. I felt that CDM was a much-improved academic environment.”

Asrani might have to take some of that strictness with her. The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools was formed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who said he was fed up with failing schools and took control of 10 of them with a combined 18,000 students from the Los Angeles Unified School District temporarily to see if he could get better results.

Because it is an experiment of such an unprecedented nature, the position Asrani will inherit is perhaps even more high-profile than her present one, despite all of the headlines she has generated lately.

Administrators, politicians and media observers have been watching the Los Angeles schools like hawks since the initiative began to see if they thrive.

“She’s jumping from the frying pan into the fire,” said Newport-Mesa Unified School District Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard.

Citing the lawsuit against her, Asrani has been tight-lipped about the controversy surrounding “Rent.”

She has been criticized heavily by some students and faculty members for being intolerant and failing to openly get behind the production, but others say the criticism is unfair.

Denise Weiland coordinates community service and human relations programs on campus, which often deal with subjects like tolerance.

“I was really surprised when the whole ‘Rent’ controversy came up, because our school is known for being very inclusive and accepting and welcoming to all students, and Fal was very supportive of all of the programs that we put on,” Weiland said. “She encouraged us.”

Corona del Mar has had five different principals in the past 10 years, and the incoming one will make six. The district released a statement Monday saying it would start looking for a replacement immediately and hopes to find a permanent one by the beginning of the school year.

“I am at that point in my life when this kind of a challenge is too much to pass up. This position will allow me to work with principals and teacher leaders in addressing the achievement gap and, most importantly, to implement programs and strategies for students who have very few incentives to succeed,” Asrani said in a letter to parents and students.