Career Changes.

If L.A. Unified School District Superintendent Roy Romer has his way, corporate executives and mid-level managers could soon find themselves working for the LAUSD.

Last month, Romer met up with Pacific Bell's Los Angeles region president Lora Watts at a Partners in Education conference. She happened to mention that several Pac Bell managers were being offered early-retirement packages as part of a corporate move to slim down management ranks and beef up customer service personnel.

Romer mentioned that he was looking for highly qualified employees, both as teachers and administrators.

"We need to attract the best available talent out there to help us with our No. 1 priority, educating students and preparing them to enter the workplace," Romer said.

So, earlier this month, Romer, through Watts at Pacific Bell, sent an e-mail to all Pac Bell managers in the Los Angeles region, many of whom are eligible for the early-retirement package. In the e-mail, Romer said there are openings at the district for talented and dedicated individuals.

According to Romer's office, this is the first time any such pitch has been made to employees of a corporation. And, initially at least, it generated quite a bit of interest.

"In the first 48 hours, we had 33 employees call wanting to find out more about this opportunity," Watts said.