ROMER TAKES OVER; EX-COLORADO GOVERNOR TO LEAD LAUSD.

Byline: David R. Baker Staff Writer

Warning that a turnaround ``is not going to happen overnight,'' former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer won the Los Angeles Unified School District board's unanimous approval Tuesday to lead the nation's second-largest district.

In a hastily arranged press conference outside the district's headquarters, Romer, 71, said he took the spot because he likes challenges.

``This job is the toughest a guy could find, and could have the greatest rewards,'' he said.

Romer immediately won praise from the teachers union and Mayor Richard Riordan, who has championed school reform. Romer will oversee a district facing a broad array of challenges, from the San Fernando Valley breakup movement to Latino political leaders who still are simmering over the ouster of former Superintendent Ruben Zacarias.

``The LAUSD school board has made an outstanding choice in selecting Roy Romer as superintendent,'' Riordan said. ``The district faces many formidable challenges. But there is only one priority - giving our children an outstanding education.''

United Teachers Los Angeles President Day Higuchi lauded Romer, claiming the Democrat is ``exactly the kind of person we need to tackle the biggest problem facing the district, and that is space.''

After more than a week of closed-door interviews and debate, the board voted to begin contract negotiations with Romer to replace interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who will leave office June 30. Romer has asked Cortines to stay to help oversee a massive reorganization of the district.

Romer also said he will resign from his current post as chairman of the Democratic National Convention once contract talks conclude.

During the press conference, Romer told the crowd of reporters and district brass that the future of Los Angeles hinges on saving its school district, which has been plagued by low test scores, overcrowded campuses and efforts to break it apart.

``Only one caveat: This is not going to happen overnight,'' Romer warned. ``You've got to know that when you have the embedded delay of even providing space or training teachers, you're not going to see this happen overnight.

``We need to be patient, but we need to keep that vision out front. In summary, this can be the very best educational setting in the United States, and the destiny of this community deserves it, and we need to organize everybody to say that's our first priority.''

He said there is one thing that could stand in the way.

``If you do not make this school system work, you're never going to get there. So educating these 712,000 youngsters and others in this area is the most important business of everybody that lives in this area.

``And I say that on my first day . . . because this job cannot be done by the schools alone. It's going to take a very strong commitment by parents, by the business community, by all the ethnic relationships and organizations. We need a total, communitywide commitment to make this happen.''

Romer called for creating a new system for tracking the academic progress of each child every three months to catch struggling students before they fall hopelessly behind. And he promised to carry out Cortines' plan to split the district into 11 semi-independent parts.

Although his political career makes him an unusual choice for superintendent, board members cited Romer's long record of pushing for education reform as a key reason he got the job. Romer has chaired or participated in a host of education-oriented panels and commissions, including the National Education Goals Panel and the Education Commission of the States. As governor, he helped pass legislation creating charter schools in Colorado and established a preschool program for at-risk children.

``Governor Romer is someone who for the last 16 years has been at the forefront of education reform,'' board member David Tokofsky said. ``He knows the players in public education and school reform. And he knows the failures of school reform.''

Romer's selection, and the process by which he was picked, did not please everyone. After Zacarias' messy ouster last fall, many Latino organizations and activists had hoped for another Latino superintendent.

While several said Tuesday that they were eager to meet Romer and did not want to criticize him in advance, they were still upset that the board made its decision behind closed doors, without taking public input on the finalists.

``The school board's relationship with the Latino community has been extraordinarily strained, and he's going to have to deal with that,'' said Antonia Hernandez, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Indeed, although Romer was the board's unanimous choice in the end, he was not at first.

Board member Victoria Castro favored one of the other three finalists, former Chicago school board President George Munoz. Other members, she said, preferred the third candidate, a veteran school administrator whose name the board never disclosed.

Romer has already told her that building a relationship with the Latino community is among his highest priorities, Castro said. ``He has to do it,'' she said. ``If not, he'll go down as the last superintendent of Los Angeles Unified.''

That could yet happen, even if Romer builds the alliances he needs. Efforts to break up the district into smaller parts are pushing forward in the San Fernando Valley and Sacramento. A Los Angeles County panel today will discuss and perhaps vote on plans to create two new districts in the Valley, although that plan would need the approval of the state's Board of Education and local voters before it could become a reality.

In a brief interview between meetings Tuesday afternoon, Romer declined comment on that specific proposal, but said parents should give Cortines' decentralization plan a chance.

``This decentralization is a smart move,'' he said. ``People ought to say, 'Let's see how it works.' ''

Although negotiations over the details of his contract, including salary, are still ongoing, Romer said Tuesday that his transition into the job would start immediately.

At times, he seemed on a mission to meet everyone whose path he crossed. Running into Higuchi outside an elevator, he dove into a discussion peppered with the names of union officials with whom he had worked in Colorado.

Said Higuchi: ``We could do something really radical here.''

Romer brushed aside notions that at 71, he might be too old for the hard job ahead. And he said he understood that elevating the district would not be easy.

``You're not going to get there without a lot of knocks on the head,'' he said.

PUBLIC LIFE

Roy Romer

Age: 71

Marital Status: married to Bea Romer

Offspring: seven grown children and 18 grandchildren 

HIGHLIGHTS:

--1986: Roy Romer elected to first of three terms as governor of Colorado.

--1988: Claims victory after voters approve land deal for Denver International Airport; to drum up support, Romer ate countless oatmeal breakfasts in diners. Calls special legislative session on prison overcrowding. More prisons are built during his tenure than all other previous governors' tenures combined.

--1989: Colorado Preschool Program established for at-risk 4-year-olds.

--1990: Elected to second term in office

--1991: Second only to Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton as nation's ``most effective governor'' in a vote by fellow governors. Family Development Centers created to support parents in low-income neighborhoods.

--1992: Decides to stay in Colorado to fight school funding cuts rather than run for the U.S. Senate. Voters reject a sales tax for schools he championed.

--1993: Calls a special legislative session to fight gangs and youth crime. Law creating charter schools enacted.

--1994: Elected to third term.

--1995: Helps establish Bright Beginnings, a private program aimed at sending child-rearing volunteers into the homes of every baby born in the state each year. Critics argue program violates family privacy; program ultimately falls short of its goals.

--1997: Becomes general chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

--1998: Admits 16-year relationship with an aide after photos are published showing Romer kissing her in a car in Washington, D.C.

--1999: Selected chairman of this year's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

- Daily News research

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Los Angeles school board President Genethia Hayes welcomes former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer as the district's newly appointed superintendent.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Roy Romer

Box: PUBLIC LIFE (see text)