Eleven Superintendents Selected to Head Local School Districts Within Newly Reorganized Los Angeles Unified

Eleven individuals were named this week as superintendents of the local districts that are fundamental to the reorganized Los Angeles Unified School District.

The district's new general superintendent, former Colorado Governor Roy Romer, participated in the evaluation of the finalists who had been interviewed by Interim Supt. of Schools Ray Cortines. Romer met informally with the group of 11 just before the names were announced. Cortines notified the appointees early this morning.

Romer, selected as general superintendent by the City Board of Education on June 6, said, "The 11 people we've named will become the very backbone of this district. They will be on the front line, leading and guiding those who are directly responsible for teaching the children of Los Angeles. In addition to being educational leaders, they will be expected to build strong community alliances and strengthen our partnerships with parents. We will need the talents and participation of everyone if we're going to be successful in our responsibility to students and to the cities we serve."

The local districts, ranging in size from approximately 52,000 to 77,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students, will be semi-autonomous organizational structures whose superintendents will guide the instructional priorities and direct the educational programs for the schools and young people in each district. With a primary goal of improving academic achievement, the superintendents will have budgetary authority and as much autonomy as possible in developing plans for instructional progress to meet accountability standards at the school level.

"These are 11 outstanding individuals," Cortines said. "I truly believe that our selection process has produced some of the finest educators I have encountered, and I'm particularly pleased that so many came from this district."

Of the new superintendents, nine are current LAUSD administrators, one worked previously in LAUSD as a school administrator and is currently deputy superintendent in Compton, and the other is superintendent of schools in Santa Rosa, California.

The selection of local superintendents followed a national search process in which the district accepted applications from inside and beyond the district's ranks. More than 300 applications were received, including multiple applications for more than one local district. Two hundred twenty candidates were from outside the LAUSD, with 25 states represented in the initial applicant pool.

After a screening of the applications, the 10 most highly qualified and experienced candidates for each of the 11 districts were interviewed in late May by local district committees made up of administrators, teachers, parents, community representatives and high school students. Each district panel followed the same procedures. The top three or four candidates in each district, as recommended by the local interview committees, were then interviewed by Cortines.

The new local district superintendents are listed below. (Note: Those shown as Cluster Administrators are responsible for all K-12 grade schools and centers within their clusters, which take their name from the high schools in the cluster.)

District A - Deborah L. Leidner . . . currently Cluster Administrator of the Birmingham/Cleveland/Reseda Cluster. Employed in LAUSD since 1971 as school and district level adminis-trator, director, advisor and teacher.

District B - Judy I. Burton . . . currently Assistant Superintendent and Director, Office of School Reform. Employed in LAUSD since 1971 as school and district level administrator, advisor, coordinator and teacher.

District C - Robert J. Collins . . . currently Assistant Superintendent, Staff Relations. Employed in LAUSD since 1968 as school and district level administrator, director, coordinator and teacher.

District D - Merle E. Price . . . currently Cluster Administrator of the Hamilton/Palisades/University Cluster. Employed in LAUSD since 1969 as school and cluster level administrator, coordinator and teacher.

District E - Liliam Castillo . . . currently Deputy Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction. Employed in LAUSD since 1975 as school and district level administrator, advisor, coordinator and teacher.

District F - Richard A. Alonzo . . . currently Cluster Administrator of the Francis Polytechnic/North Hollywood Cluster. Employed in LAUSD since 1979 as a school and district level admin-istrator, coordinator and teacher.

District G - Renée E. Jackson . . . currently Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, West/South clusters. Employed in LAUSD since 1971 as school and district level administrator, advisor, coordi-nator and teacher.

District H - Bonnie S. Rubio . . . currently Cluster Administrator of the Jefferson Cluster. Employed in LAUSD since 1965 as school and district level administrator, director, coordinator, advisor and teacher.

District I - George J. McKenna III . . . currently Deputy Superintendent, Compton Unified School District since 1994; formerly Superintendent of Schools, Inglewood Unified School District (1988-1994); previously employed in LAUSD from 1962-1988 as school level administrator, coordinator and teacher.

District J - Dale W. Vigil . . . currently Superintendent of Schools, Santa Rosa City Schools (Calif.) since 1998. Formerly employed as school and district level administrator, director, coordinator and teacher in San Diego City Schools, Denver Public Schools and other districts in Utah, Colorado and Nebraska.

District K - Richard A. Vladovic . . . currently Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, East/Central/Southeast Clusters. Employed in LAUSD since 1969 as school and district level administrator, coordinator, advisor and teacher.

	This article was originally published by the Los Angeles Times on June 9, 2000 © 2000 Los Angeles Times Related Links New L.A. schools chief Roy Romer likes revamp plan, but is still . . .; Taking Stock of a Big Job Roy Romer's 12-Step Program to True Reform Top of the Class: The Inside Story of How Roy Romer Got the Job (L.A. Weekly)

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