School
Board Could Consider Jalili for Interim Superintendent |
By Jorge Casuso
June 5 -- Former City Manger John Jalili -- who is widely
credited with helping transform Santa Monica into a booming tourist
and entertainment Mecca -- could be a candidate to temporarily head
the beleaguered School District, The Lookout has learned.
John Jalili |
A group of Santa Monica education and community
leaders is quietly lobbying the School Board to hire the former
City manager as interim superintendent to steer the District
through what many consider a crisis of confidence.
The loosely knit effort comes as the School Board met in
closed session Wednesday to hire a national search firm to
find a temporary replacement for outgoing Superintendent Dianne
Talarico, who submitted her resignation Friday effective July
1. |
“I think we have all received several emails and phone calls
suggesting we consider this,” said School Board member Ralph
Mechur, adding that the calls have come from “people who have
been part of the ongoing discussion about the School District.”
Mechur said the board planned to move ahead with its search. “We
don’t want to close the door on considering a whole array
of potential candidates,” he said.
School Board President Oscar de la Torre said Tuesday night that
he had left a message on Jalili’s answering machine.
“His name was thrown out as someone who has a deep knowledge
of the city and its workings and is a good manager,” de la
Torre said. “I’d like to see if he’s interested.
I’m interested. I’m open.”
Like Mechur, de la Torre said the board is keeping its options
open.
“We are considering all options,” de la Torre said.
“We want to get a wide pool of qualified candidates.”
By deadline Wednesday, Jalili had not returned The Lookout’s
calls for comment.
Community leaders and education activists believe Jalili, who served
as city manager from 1984 to 1999, has the leadership abilities
needed to restore a sense of confidence and direction to the district.
“He brings leadership, that indefinable something which makes
for effective organizations,” said former Mayor Dennis Zane,
who was on the council during half of Jalili’s tenure as city
manager. “Jalili would give a lot of confidence community
wide.
“John’s regarded as somebody everybody can work well
with,” Zane said. “He’s trusted, he’s smart
and shrewd, and he builds trust and confidence, and trust and confidence
is exactly what the district needs.
“He would have a settling effect immediately,” Zane
said.
The new interim superintendent would assume the District’s
top post amidst concerns that a lack of transparency and questionable
fiscal management practices are jeopardizing the District’s
credibility.
On Tuesday, leading education activists announced they had formed
a grassroots group called LEAD (Leadership Effectiveness Accountability
Direction) to help usher in a “new era of leadership”
in the District.
Talarico’s announcement that she would be leaving to head
a school system in Northern California, as well as the resignation
a month earlier of Deputy Superintendent Tim Walker, came after
District officials had spent more than a year embroiled in a firestorm
over special education settlement agreements that called into question
“the transparency” of the district’s dealings.
As city manager, Jalili was widely credited with helping transform
Santa Monica from what was once jokingly referred to as "Oshkosh
by the sea" -- a city for the "newly wed and nearly dead"
-- into a bustling world class tourist and entertainment center.
When he retired in November 1999 after 25 years helping steer Santa
Monica’s government, Jalili left behind a city that was one
of only four in the nation with a triple A bond rating and a booming
economy he helped shape.
|
