The new superintendent says his focus is on instruction, but some question the salaries of the administrators and the district's use of financial gifts from philanthropists.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/f8X0up
Supt. John Deasy said that "we're pretty dead serious about parent and community engagement." (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
April 27, 2011 - New Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy has assembled an executive team that he says will assert a laserlike focus on instruction, but some have assailed the cost as well as ties to outside groups and philanthropies expected to pay for many of these positions.
The superintendent's picks for top staff shed light on his priorities for the nation's second-largest school system. Three top administrators will play key roles in revamping the training and evaluation of teachers and in helping students who are learning English. The makeup of his new team also suggests increased attention will go to using data and to supporting charter schools, which are operated independent of direct district control.
"This is a system that is going to lead with instruction," Deasy said. "The biggest moves are on developing teachers and leaders and focusing on accountability. And obviously we're pretty dead serious about parent and community engagement."
The Board of Education approved five of Deasy's appointments in a closed-door meeting Tuesday.
In assembling his own team, installing outsiders in key posts, Deasy is acting on assertions by critics that L.A. Unified needs overhauling at the top. He is replacing, for example, the head of instruction and a senior aide relied on by two predecessors.
And he'll do without a fulltime chief of staff to save money that will help pay for new positions, with the assistance of philanthropic donations.
About 20 senior jobs — so far — will be paid for by philanthropists and others. Eli Broad and Casey Wasserman, both charter school backers, had funded some positions for previous Supt. Ramon Cortines, who retired in mid-April. They will continue to assist Deasy.
"The agenda we've laid out is our agenda, and we invite people to join us," said Deasy, who is courting additional foundation support for his team. "We don't accommodate a funder."
The outside funding strategy worries Judy Perez, head of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents principals and midlevel administrators.
"My concern always is where do the loyalties lie?" Perez said. "Broad basically has said a number of times publicly that he wants to dismantle Los Angeles Unified."
A Broad Foundation official, Gregory McGinity, said the outside funding would "ensure that as many public dollars as possible go to the classroom."
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also expressed his backing for Deasy's moves.
"We cannot leave the work of transforming our schools to government alone," said Villaraigosa. "In the new economy, it will take a commitment from public, private and nonprofit sectors.... John has earned my confidence and my full support."
Broad initially paid for one of Cortines' top aides. Under Deasy, that aide, Matt Hill, will move to the district payroll — with a raise from $175,000 to $196,000 — as "chief strategy officer."
Broad also recently paid $250,000 for McKinsey & Co. consultants to assist with Deasy's transition.
A Gates Foundation-funded grant from Harvard will pay for a data specialist. Deasy is a former top official at Gates.
One new team member is widely regarded as a mayoral ally who shares his interest in charter schools. Maria Casillas, a retired senior L.A. Unified administrator who runs the nonprofit Families in Schools, will be Deasy's top parent and community liaison in a new position that pays $170,000 a year.
Under Cortines, instruction was overseen by chief academic officer Judy Elliott, regarded as a rising star when she was hired at $200,000 a year. Elliott recently oversaw the selection of a new districtwide reading program. She will now report to newcomer Jaime Aquino, who will earn $250,000 annually.
Aquino, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a former bilingual classroom teacher. As chief academic officer for the Denver public schools, he was credited with improving programs for students learning English. A third of L.A. Unified students are classified as English learners.
Another newly hired outsider added to the instruction team is Donna Muncey, with whom Deasy worked during previous stints as a superintendent in Santa Monica-Malibu and Prince George's County in Maryland. Her areas of expertise include teacher evaluation and she will be paid $171,000. In L.A., she'll take over some of the special projects handled by Sharon Robinson, an aide for both Cortines and, before that, Supt. Roy Romer.
Robinson elected to retire shortly after Deasy's April ascendance, and Muncey's arrival could be two months away, leaving Deasy scrambling to reassign key initiatives. They include the experimental division of low-performing Jordan High in Watts among three groups, including one team headed by the mayor's nonprofit.
The fifth person hired Tuesday was Thomas Waldman, who will succeed Robert Alaniz as director of communications and will be paid $139,000.
"I was quite frankly astounded" by some of the salaries, said Connie Moreno, a representative for the California School Employees Assn., whose members, like other school employees, have experienced paycuts and layoffs during the ongoing budget crisis. "Where's the philanthropic funding to assist the struggling schools?"
Another recent hire, as deputy chief of staff, is Tommy Chang, a former charter school administrator, who adds to a growing list of managers with charter school backgrounds. These public schools have clashed with the district over facilities, funding and other issues. Los Angeles has more charter campuses than any other school system in the nation.
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