May 21, 2004 Page: A1
DAILY BREEZE
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Some credit Julian Lopez with bringing fiscal stability to the Centinela Valley Union High School District. Others insist his budget priorities were skewed.
Supporters point out that student test scores jumped with Lopez at the helm. The teachers union says staff morale plummeted under his leadership.
Love him or hate him, his reign as superintendent in Centinela Valley has rarely been dull. But the Julian Lopez era is nearing an end.
At a recent meeting, school board President Maria Calix announced that the controversial administrator has decided to take advantage of a district retirement incentive and will step down on June 30, ending a six-year tenure. Also retiring this year are assistant superintendents Jack Goad, who heads business services, and Sonja Davis of the district's human resources division, she said.
While a replacement for Lopez has not been officially named, it's widely believed that Cheryl White, assistant superintendent of educational services, will be promoted to the top spot.
Neither Lopez nor White could be reached for comment Thursday, and Calix declined to identify a potential successor, saying "some legal matters need to be ironed out first." But the school board president praised Lopez for his accomplishments, noting that the district's finances were in a shambles before he arrived in 1998.
"That has been turned around with the expertise of Mr. Goad and the drive that Dr. Lopez has made toward ensuring that we get out of the negative to the positive," she said.
Russ Thompson, principal of Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, described Lopez as having a "no-nonsense, get-the-job-done style of leadership" that got results.
"He held us accountable for getting things done at our schools," Thompson said. "If he had to make a tough decision to support kids, then he would do it."
But not all are lamenting Lopez's decision to retire.
After having more than his share of acrimonious battles with the superintendent, Scott McVarish, executive director of a coalition of unions called South Bay United Teachers, said "there was a significant amount of celebration" among teachers following the announcement.
The local union, McVarish said, "has been trying to get a change of leadership in the district for the past two years. To be able to change out three of the top four people is a major plus."
"The teachers are really looking forward to working with Cheryl (White)," he added.
John Rindone was appointed acting chief in 1996 and later given a permanent contract by the board, a move that reportedly angered then-President Mario Chiappe. With the installation of two new trustees, Chiappe and his colleagues eventually dumped Rindone and put two principals on notice that they might be let go while suggesting a need to hire more Latinos.
Lopez, who started his career about 30 years earlier as a teacher in Calexico, was serving as superintendent of the San Ysidro school district at the time. At Centinela Valley, he inherited lousy test scores, aging campuses, poor bookkeeping and political squabbles.
Over time, however, expenditures were brought in line with revenue; a $59 million construction bond measure was passed in 2000 to overhaul facilities; and test scores, which languished for years, shot up in 2003 as all three comprehensive campuses in Lawndale and Hawthorne shattered their state-mandated improvement targets.
Political squabbles, however, remained a staple in Centinela Valley, especially between those loyal to the superintendent and supporters of the teachers union, which has derided officials for spending money on a new headquarters and a massive cafeteria at Hawthorne High while portable classrooms are still in use.
Tensions have only escalated since last fall. During that span:
* A pair of union-backed candidates -- Jorge Arroyo and Rafael Ramirez -- soundly captured two seats on the school board in November. But days before both were to be sworn in, Lopez lobbied the board to extend his contract two years through 2007. Facing a hostile audience, board members declined.
* Three weeks after Arroyo was voted president of the board on Dec. 9, he was stripped of that title by a three-member majority over claims he made derogatory remarks at a function in San Diego. Arroyo denied making offensive comments and said he was being punished for failing to go along with a proposed $270,000 buyout of the superintendent's contract.
* In January, Shane Ellis, the outspoken president of the Centinela Valley Secondary Teachers Association, was fired from the district for allegedly allowing his provisional teaching credential to lapse. That dispute has yet to be settled in court.
* And a local community group is currently attempting to recall Angelina Moller, a trustee since 1997 who has been supportive of Lopez.
Board President Calix said Lopez already has filed paperwork with the county Office of Education to take advantage of a state retirement incentive that will pay him as if he were two years older with two extra years of experience, though she wasn't sure exactly how much he would earn.
As for whether a new superintendent might bring harmony to a fractured district, Calix was noncommittal.
"That's one of the challenges for anyone coming in," she said, "is to ensure that there's collaboration throughout the district, both horizontally and vertically."
Author: Ian Hanigan
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Tags: lopez, centinela valley, scott mcvarish
Article source: Free K-12 Education Articles.
