By Teresa Rochester

Oct. 31 -- Former mayor Judy Abdo, one of Santa Monica's most identifiable political and civic leaders, is expected to be named as head of Child Development Services for the school district Thursday night, The Lookout has learned.

Supt. John Deasy is expected to recommend Abdo, a former schoolteacher, at the School Board meeting. If hired, Abdo will head a beleaguered department, which has been operating in the red and without a teachers contract.

A two term City Council member who served three years as mayor, Abdo applied for the position after leaving her job as assistant director of the Norton Family Office in September.

"I saw the job was open," said Abdo, who served on the City Council from 1988 until 1996. "It seemed like one of those wonderful, serendipitous openings."

Abdo earned her degree in early child development and after college worked as a schoolteacher for 13 years. She also briefly took graduate classes in administration at Pacific Oak College before taking a year off to work in the community.

The former mayor was a key activist in the fight to save Ocean Park from large-scale redevelopment and served as executive director of the Ocean Park Community Organization (OPCO) for five years in the early 1980s. The group had close ties to Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR), and several of OPCO's leaders would go on to serve on the council and as mayors.

Perhaps one of the most visible and influential leaders of SMRR -- the powerful tenants group that has controlled Santa Monica politics for much of the last two decades -- Abdo said her political background had nothing to do with her decision to apply for the position.

Abdo said that during her years as an activist, she continued to advocate for early childhood education.

If her hiring is approved by the school board, Abdo will take the reins of a department that has existed in a precarious state for several years.

Salary negotiations for 70 teachers at the district's six preschools and childcare facilities, which began in January, have not yet been concluded, and Child Development Services has operated in the red for the last five years.

In January, then CDS head Nancy Cohen, who retired in June, told the board that the school district spends $38.14 a day per CDS child and the state reimburses the district $27.32 a day, which comes to a $352,570 annual shortfall.

In April, the teachers union was joined by district classified employees at a spirited rally outside district headquarters calling for officials to drop a suggestion to privatize childcare services.

Many districts throughout the state have subcontracted out or privatized their child development programs to cut down increasing costs.

Abdo said she will be going into her new position without a definite plan.

"I'm walking into the department without a clear plan because I have to do a lot of work with the community," she said, "not only the Santa Monica and Malibu community but also the early childhood community."

Abdo has already begun the outreach effort through a series of emails with Gleam Davis, who heads the Child Care District Advisory Committee.

"I'm committed to working with whoever it is," said Davis, who made an unsuccessful bid for the school board last year after failing to win SMRR's endorsement. "Judy is someone who in the past has supported early childhood education. "