MAYOR STARTS SEARCH FOR LAUSD TEAM `GREAT PEOPLE' SOUGHT IN EFFORT TO REFORM DISTRICT.

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer

Offering a ``once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a big difference,'' Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is recruiting applicants for a ``reform team'' to help implement the LAUSD takeover bill recently signed into law.

The job posting has been sent to local community colleges, as well as top-notch universities like UCLA and Stanford, seeking ``great people'' to work under Deputy Mayor Ramon Cortines, a former Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent.

``The education, youth and families team, under the direction of Ray Cortines, have begun to focus with laser attention on the opportunities and challenges here,'' said Robin Kramer, Villaraigosa's chief of staff.

According to the posting, the job responsibilities include creating a ``district within a district,'' comprising three clusters of low-performing schools the mayor will directly oversee.

The mayor is also looking to hire employees to help implement governance changes, including the hiring of the next superintendent, and coordinate city and community services to support schools.

Kramer said the Mayor's Office began recruiting team members in late August, when the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1381.

The law shifts significant power from the elected school board to the superintendent and also grants authority to Villaraigosa and a Council of Mayors from surrounding cities to hire and fire the district superintendent.

The job search is the latest in an aggressive push by Villaraigosa to begin preparing for a larger role in governing the district.

Hours after the bill was signed, Villaraigosa sent a letter to school board President Marlene Canter seeking ``modified mayoral participation'' until the law takes effect on Jan. 1.

The mayor is particularly interested in hiring a successor to retiring Superintendent Roy Romer and asked Canter for information on all the applicants.

He also asked the school board to consider his feedback on the candidates before selecting finalists; and to allow a designee of the Council of Mayors -- which hasn't even been formed -- to sit in when the board interviews finalists.

School board member David Tokofsky said LAUSD officials are willing to cooperate, but there are limits to what they are prepared to do.

``From the beginning the board has sought to be very inclusive of Mayor Villaraigosa and his passion for change,'' Tokofsky said. ``But the idea of giving him and the Council of Mayors confidential documents and think that the search will remain confidential is absurd. The unintended consequence of losing this process is that you may end up with the known suspects.

``But, there is a process, and might doesn't make right.''

Jeff Prang, who sits on the West Hollywood City Council, which will have a seat on the Council of Mayors, said Villaraigosa's attempts to play an immediate role in district operations are understandable.

``Mayor Villaraigosa has made this bill one of his top priorities and he's already thinking of how he can put his thumbprint on the district and build a coalition of people he can work with,'' Prang said. ``That's how politics work. You start maneuvering and posturing to get things done right away.''

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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