Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent David Brewer III visited the offices of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association Nov. 14 as part of the group’s Newsmaker Connection series. Brewer discussed whether LAUSD needs to be downsized, his areas of focus, how his first year has gone and the major challenges the district faces. With numerous industries that require trade skills facing shortages as Baby Boomers age out ,be it automotive, cosmetics, aviation and so forth,Brewer said that “career tech [education] is hot on my list.” LAUSD now has an agreement with L.A. Trade Tech, the goal of which is to facilitate putting district students on a career track early on. Brewer also cited the development of small learning communities at certain schools, such as Monroe High School in Van Nuys, as a way in which students can embark on a career path while still learning. At Monroe, students are grouped into academies that focus on engineering and design; arts, media and entertainment; hospitality, tourism and recreation; education; and public service. In addition, Brewer said that he is investigating forming alliances between the city’s community colleges and all of the district’s high schools. A question that persisted throughout Brewer’s appearance at VICA is whether the sprawling LAUSD should be broken into smaller districts. The superintendent acknowledged that the district is “clearly too fat.” He added that his office has responded to the issue by cutting 500 positions and reducing the budget by $95 million. But Brewer said that new small districts would be at a disadvantage economically, as the amount of resources available to them would be dramatically reduced. Moreover, he added, “You will have created redundancy in all of those districts. You will have duplicated [policies] X-number of times.” Ross Hopkins, a DeVry professor and entrepreneur who attended the meeting said of Brewer, “I really like him, and I think he has a lot of the right ideas.” That being said, Hopkins said he believes the superintendent could be more effective if LAUSD were downsized. A study that Hopkins worked on in the early 1980s with Pomona and Occidental colleges found that the ideal school district should be composed of no more than 50,000 students. It’s a finding with which Brewer disagreed. “Some of the best school districts in the country are more than 50,000,” he said, citing one Virginia school district that has 80,000 students. In comparison, the LAUSD has 750,000 students and covers more than 700 square miles. Brewer also took issue with an L.A. Times editorial that suggested he had failed to deliver on promises, allowed himself to be bullied by the teachers’ union and was focused on too many issues. “My focus is curriculum and instruction,” he stressed. As to the myriad of challenges the district faces,bureaucracy, low test scores, high dropout and transient rates, etc.,Brewer said, “No urban district in the country has solved this problem. I have a holistic and systemic approach.” He said this is a must when dealing with children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or children who know only television and popular culture and have never left their neighborhoods. Brewer added, however, that if LAUSD “gets it right,” the drop-out rate will decline. “We have to meet children where they are,” Brewer said. In that vein, LAUSD has hired an actual former dropout to head its anti-dropout program. “We’ve got some of the best students in the country here,” Brewer said. “All they need is a chance.” While he took issue with the L.A. Times editorial, Brewer admitted that he alone will likely not solve all of the district’s problems. “I’ve got mud on my face, but I’m still fighting,” he said. “I don’t give a damn about my success,36 years in the military,that’s documented.” Brewer also said that the performance of teachers was an issue larger than he. “You have to get teachers to hold themselves accountable, so a part of that process goes beyond me.” He said that teachers must be given opportunities to correct their behavior, which differs from the manner in which the private sector manages employees. “In the public sector, you just can’t fire teachers like you can in the private sector,” he said. VICA head Brendan Huffman had no critique to offer of Brewer. “I think this was a unique opportunity,” Huffman said. “How many times has a superintendent come to the Valley for a small meeting where there weren’t a lot of softballs? I’m glad he’s come to the Valley to learn some of the needs of Valley parents and entrepreneurs.”
