Cortines takes top schools job

A periodic contender for superintendent here, Cortines said in a 2006 interview -- when the job was open -- that he would accept the position if it was offered. But he was unwilling to take part in the lengthy process set up to replace the retiring Roy Romer. And board members would not let him bypass it. They also harbored qualms because by then, Cortines was working as Villaraigosa's senior education advisor -- and the mayor was trying to take over L.A. Unified.

Over the ensuing months, however, Cortines opened communications between the district and mayor's office, winning the regard of L.A. Unified officials. Villaraigosa meanwhile counted on Cortines to guide the mayor's nascent Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which has taken on improvement efforts at 10 low-achieving schools.

As superintendent, Cortines follows an African American administrator whose departure disturbed some black civic leaders. But Cortines' deep roots in Los Angeles and in education have earned the unqualified support of some black leaders, including former school board member Genethia Hayes and civil rights attorney Connie Rice. And he's worked amicably with African American board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte.

Cortines' previous stint in L.A. came about after the forced buyout of then-superintendent Ruben Zacarias, whose exit had angered some Latino leaders. The school board ultimately urged him to remain. He refused, because he had said he'd stay only six months. He wanted to avoid any impression that he'd been angling for the job.

"I should have at least stayed a couple of years to implement what everybody said they wanted," Cortines said this week.

During that period, Cortines brought forward a plan, never fully put in place, to trim central staff and reorganize operations while also fighting off a district breakup attempt.

"The baggage he brings from his prior stint could prevent him from being all that effective," said one veteran staffer who requested anonymity because he didn't want to publicly criticize his incoming boss. "Folks still see him as a hatchet man, someone who comes in to cut and leaves. There's not a lot of trust in him."

Another insider described him as "revered and feared."

Cortines will describe conditions at a dirty campus or ineffective classroom with brutal and public candor; he'll also marvel at successful programs and charter schools that he intends to replicate.