EDITORIAL : MAN OF THE HOUR ZACARIAS' CROWNING MOMENT CAME WHEN HE WAS PICKED LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT. CAN HE HANDLE THE JOB?

RUBEN Zacarias reached the pinnacle of a 31-year career in education Friday when he was picked to lead the nation's second-largest school district.

Too bad this gentleman of honor and compassion has precious little time to savor the moment.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is in crisis and Zacarias knows it. Our students rank near the bottom on national tests. Thousands of students who can't read graduate. Thousands more never graduate at all.

Zacarias' challenge is to improve the district quickly, effectively and profoundly by regaining public confidence and raising student test scores.

At 68 and as a proud product himself of the LAUSD, he knows how far the district has fallen. He knows better than anyone that if he fails, he could be the last superintendent to preside over the unwieldy, unaccountable and perhaps unworkable school district. The forces for breakup will prevail if the effort at reform is thwarted any longer.

In a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board last week, Zacarias said he was up to the task.

As an inspiring teacher, outstanding principal and successful regional superintendent, Zacarias has a proven record of service. Still, nothing during his career has fully prepared him for the challenges he faces as superintendent.

We cried out to the school board to give us hope in choosing a new superintendent who can actually restore credibility to our school system and deliver quality education to our children.

What we got instead through the school board's failed processes is a test of our faith.

Zacarias promises sweeping changes that will raise student achievement to state and national averages within five years.

He promises to train teachers to do the job and boot out administrators and principals who fail to meet the grade, to streamline management and create a system of accountability.

But the specifics are lacking and we are left to trust a system we don't believe in, a school board that has betrayed our confidence once too often. No corporation would name a new CEO to oversee a $5 billion budget, more than 50,000 employees and 600 schools without getting down to specifics. No CEO would take the deal without negotiating a contract in fine detail. But that is exactly what we have before us.

For the sake of the children - and that is all that matters - we still must make that leap of faith and support Ruben Zacarias as he tries to fulfill his promises.

But our efforts to ensure a quality education for the children must not stop there. Even as we come together to turn the LAUSD around, we must pursue all other options.

The city is rife with movements to break up the district, and former Assemblywoman Paula Boland is leading FREE, or Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, a movement pressing ahead to break the San Fernando Valley off from the LAUSD and create separate north and south Valley districts. This movement needs support from parents, teachers and all citizens concerned about education.

In addition, the LEARN school reform movement led by Mike Roos has liberated about half the schools in the system from the strangling control of downtown.

Zacarias and the school board should show their commitment to reform by allowing the most evolved LEARN school clusters to form their own charter districts - just as the schools in Pacific Palisades have done.

By supporting Ruben Zacarias as superintendent and by supporting the alternatives to the LAUSD as well, we give ourselves hope. And hope is the first step.