TEENS WRITE JOB SPECS FOR LAUSD CHIEF YOUNG SCHOLARS SURVEYED ON QUALITIES THEY EXPECT.

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer

The new superintendent should be able to manage money, work with unions and be a strong leader.

Those are North Hollywood High junior Daniel Konialian's top three criteria for the Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent who will succeed Roy Romer later this year.

In an effort to promote the public survey that will help determine the skills and qualities desired in the new superintendent, the president of the district board, Marlene Canter, asked about 25 students in an Advanced Placement history class at the high school to take part in an interactive survey.

``I'm always going around saying it's not about politics, it's about kids, and I wanted to make sure we heard through the students' voices,'' Canter said. ``We only got to one leadership class, but this is a sampling of looking through students' eyes, and I also wanted to get them engaged in the process.''

Students saw their opinions tabulated in real time, leading to a few collective gasps when some results were displayed on the board.

When asked whether the next superintendent should be able to state clearly how improvements will be made in effectively involving parents and community leaders, 32 percent of the students gave that the lowest value of importance: a 1.

An overwhelming 83 percent said the superintendent should be familiar with the crucial issues facing a large urban school district -- giving that a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5.

Students expressed concerns about the nutritious content of foods offered on campus, as well as school safety and cleanliness.

Teacher Thomas Dunn said the students made well-informed decisions because they had discussed the questions last week.

``These are the leaders of tomorrow, and they take a great deal of pride in being asked to take a part in this survey,'' Dunn said. ``They care, because ... they look at everything with a serious eye, and this is important.''

More than 17,000 survey forms have been mailed out to community leaders, LAUSD parents and staff members. The search firm Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler will tally the results and use them to help the school board craft a job description for the next superintendent.

Romer has indicated he would like to leave in the fall, months before his contract expires.

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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