EX-BANKER BIDS FOR LAUSD JOB : MANAGEMENT SKILLS LISTED AS ASSET.Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer Wrapping up his second day of invitational meetings, William Siart, veteran bank executive and a finalist for the job of Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. superintendent, said what he lacks in hands-on educational experience he would make up in leadership and management skills. ``The job of a CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of any organization, whether it's private or public, is using whatever expertise they have, finding what expertise they don't have and getting the proper people to work for you,'' Siart, former chairman of First Interstate Bancorp First Interstate Bancorp was a bank based in the United States that was taken over in 1996 by Wells Fargo. It was headquartered in Los Angeles. The name has continued to be used in the banking world by used after the merger by First Interstate Bank who had been using the , told reporters Thursday. If selected to lead the district don't expect him to do it alone, he said. ``Some people think the superintendent can improve results,'' Siart said. ``The superintendent creates the environment to improve results.'' Siart is the second of three superintendent finalists to meet this week with selected members of the community, school teachers and administrators and elected officials for two days of closed-door questioning. LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) Deputy Superintendent Deputy Superintendent, or Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), was a rank used by police forces of the British Empire. In some territories it was called Deputy District Superintendent of Police (DDSP). Ruben Zacarias completed his sessions Wednesday and Daniel Domenech, a school executive from Long Island, N.Y., began his sessions Thursday. All three candidates will appear at three open public forums over the weekend, including one Saturday at Birmingham High School Birmingham High School is a public coeducational high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of District One of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). in Van Nuys. Siart, 50, who grew up in Pacoima and attended public and private schools, helped decentralize de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. First Interstate and boost customer service. In his bid for the superintendent's job, he said he spent time talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to parents and students, then six weeks catching up on articles about the district and analyzing last school year's standardized test A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] scores. He said his plan as superintendent would be focusing on identifying schools with low scores, setting goals and holding educators accountable for failure to improve student achievement. He would also emphasize that all students finish the third grade at the proper reading level, repairing and renovating schools and ensuring campus security. At least one community leader questioned Siart's ability to head the nation's second-largest district, and win confidence of its largely minority parents and students, 68 percent of which are Latino. ``He is a white male business executive, and the reality is there are awesome built-in suspicions,'' said John Mack, executive director of the Los Angeles Urban League. Siart was questioned closely about his sensitivity to minorities who asked about the endorsement by the California division of First Interstate for Proposition 187 adopted by voters in 1994. The measure sought to deny health and educational benefits to undocumented residents. Siart, clearly struggling to answer the questions, finally said that ``the tone and thrust'' of the proposition were ``inappropriate,'' so he did not vote for it. However, he acknowledged that as the bank's chairman he knew of and personally approved the endorsement decision of the head of the bank's California division. ``The CEO made the decision, and I supported it because I support the CEO,'' Siart said. Latino activists complained that Siart does not fit the school board's criteria for selection, which emphasizes education leadership, particularly working with students with limited English language skills. ``He did not even have a remote clue about bilingual-lingual education or have a master plan on it,'' said Hector Brolo, national president of the Mexican-American Political Association. Mike Roos, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Education Alliance for Restructuring Now, the district's reform group, said Siart's assets would be in parlaying his management skills into change for the district. ``He conducted himself like an executive and I felt confident he has a clear plan,'' Roos said. ``There's no question he has his way of turning around a large complex organization.'' Siart may have started the day, but the man that had many talking Thursday as well as turning heads was the dapper Dapper lawyer’s clerk; swindled into believing himself perfect gambler. [Br. Lit.: The Alchemist] See : Dupery and direct educational leader from New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Daniel Domenech. ``He's very forthright,'' said Day Higuchi, president of the district's teachers union, United Teachers-Los Angeles. ``He said he was willing to be fair with collective bargaining collective bargaining, in labor relations, procedure whereby an employer or employers agree to discuss the conditions of work by bargaining with representatives of the employees, usually a labor union. units, but that his primary goal is to work on what's good for students. He's not a fellow who says what he thinks people want to hear.'' As a county superintendent of a school system in Long Island, N.Y., the 51-year-old Domenech oversees 19 individual school districts and about 100,000 students - which is about one-seventh the size of the LAUSD. Though attendance at the meetings improved slightly since the sessions began with Zacarias on Tuesday, it was still low, with somewhere near 34 percent of those invited turning out. HOW TO GET INVOLVED There will be three public forums where you can meet and question the three finalists for the superintendent's job. All three meetings, sponsored by the district, will have limited seating in the school auditoriums. Here are the dates, times and locations of the forums: Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Birmingham High School, 17000 Haynes St., Van Nuys. Saturday, 3 to 5 p.m., Dorsey High School, 3537 Farmdale Ave., Los Angeles. Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m., Roosevelt High School Roosevelt High School is the name of various public and independent secondary schools:
CAPTION(S): box, photo BOX: HOW TO GET INVOLVED (see text) Photo: William Siart, former chariman of First Interstate Bancorp, speaks at a superintendent interview Thursday. |
|
||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion