Thanks, But No Thanks; School Board Rebuffs Mayor's Help
Editorial
LA Daily News
THE Los Angeles school board is glad Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to help choose the next schools superintendent -- really, it is! -- it's just not going to let him be part of the decision.
That's the bottom line of board President Marlene Canter's tactful but unhelpful letter to Villaraigosa, re-jecting his request for information about the candidates vying to succeed Roy Romer.
Thanks, but no thanks.
The board, which has fought Villaraigosa's school-reform effort all along, shows no real signs of wanting to cooperate with him before the law takes effect in January. It continues with its unilateral effort to choose the next superintendent, even though the new law will give Villaraigosa and other local mayors that power.
The board's refusal to cooperate is a big mistake.
If Villaraigosa, who is now charged with turning the district around, doesn't approve of the board's choice, he'll have every reason to fire the new superintendent -- and the public would have to pay out his or her con-tract. Better to avoid that costly possibility by letting the mayor in on the decision-making process now.
But the board doesn't want that kind of intrusion. It's set up a secret search committee that will select fi-nalists for the position. Until then, everyone else -- board members, the mayor and the public alike -- is in the dark. And that's the way it's going to be, no matter what Villaraigosa says or the people want.
"I understand and know (Villaraigosa) wants to be involved. But now the main job of the board is to pro-tect the process," says Canter.
That's funny. We thought the main job of the board was to protect the Los Angeles Unified School Dis-trict's students, not the board's beloved procedures.
Given this odd set of priorities, it's no wonder that Villaraigosa has fought to strip the board of much of its authority -- or that the Legislature, the governor and the public have all backed him.
LA Daily News
THE Los Angeles school board is glad Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to help choose the next schools superintendent -- really, it is! -- it's just not going to let him be part of the decision.
That's the bottom line of board President Marlene Canter's tactful but unhelpful letter to Villaraigosa, re-jecting his request for information about the candidates vying to succeed Roy Romer.
Thanks, but no thanks.
The board, which has fought Villaraigosa's school-reform effort all along, shows no real signs of wanting to cooperate with him before the law takes effect in January. It continues with its unilateral effort to choose the next superintendent, even though the new law will give Villaraigosa and other local mayors that power.
The board's refusal to cooperate is a big mistake.
If Villaraigosa, who is now charged with turning the district around, doesn't approve of the board's choice, he'll have every reason to fire the new superintendent -- and the public would have to pay out his or her con-tract. Better to avoid that costly possibility by letting the mayor in on the decision-making process now.
But the board doesn't want that kind of intrusion. It's set up a secret search committee that will select fi-nalists for the position. Until then, everyone else -- board members, the mayor and the public alike -- is in the dark. And that's the way it's going to be, no matter what Villaraigosa says or the people want.
"I understand and know (Villaraigosa) wants to be involved. But now the main job of the board is to pro-tect the process," says Canter.
That's funny. We thought the main job of the board was to protect the Los Angeles Unified School Dis-trict's students, not the board's beloved procedures.
Given this odd set of priorities, it's no wonder that Villaraigosa has fought to strip the board of much of its authority -- or that the Legislature, the governor and the public have all backed him.
