Associated Administrators Of Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing 2,200 administrators have reached a tentative contract settlement providing pay and benefits increases totaling about 14%. If approved, the three-year contract would cost the district $18 million. The funds have already been allocated in the budget and would require no cuts in instructional programs, Supt. Roy Romer said. The administrators' raise is about 1% less than the raise the district has agreed to pay its teachers.

Candidates seeking election to the Los Angeles school board in the April 11 election accused incumbents Roberta Weintraub and Julie Korenstein on Wednesday of failing to properly represent their San Fernando Valley constituents. "I'm one of those parents who has lost faith in the system," challenger Michael Kaliczak said at a candidate forum. "We need more normal people like me to run this district."

Administrators have overwhelmingly approved a deal that would shorten the school year this year and next, officials announced Tuesday. The pact will reduce the number of employee layoffs in the Los Angeles Unified School District and, with other measures, forestall some class-size increases. Administrators will forego two days of pay next year when students are not in school. The agreement will shorten the school year from 180 to 175 days. Negotiations with L.A. Unified also resulted in the preservation of eight small elementary schools that would have been closed, said Judith Perez, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles In addition, the district backed down from mandating part-time principals at 34 elementary schools with fewer than 300 students, she said.

Los Angeles school employees stepped up their demands for a raise Tuesday, producing a budget analysis that identifies money to increase salaries while still leaving enough to pay for new services such as libraries and tutoring. Facing some criticism of their request for a 4% increase on top of the 2% that they have received this year, the seven unions that represent the district's 75,000 employees took a united stand to press their case.

The Times did a great disservice to all Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) non-administrative employees in the article "Pay Cuts Urged for All School Workers" (Oct. 25). The news item was supposed to be about a fact-finding report addressing the administrators' union, Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), bargaining with the district. Yet it appeared that the panel recommendations for a pay cut applies to all LAUSD employees. Even if the report said that, this particular fact-finding panel applies to AALA alone and does not speak for any other union negotiations.

Bert Vance, a retired elementary school principal who was active in a variety of San Fernando Valley causes, has died at his San Fernando home. He was 73. Vance died Feb. 9 of cancer, said his wife, Nina Vance. Born in New Bedford, Mass., Vance came to California as an infant and graduated from Manual Arts High School. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in education from USC.

Re "Eli, My Friend, for $5 Million I Am All Yours," by Steve Lopez, Nov. 2: Financier Eli Broad and, before him, former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan are in the business of buying trustees and influence on school boards. Riordan got three in Los Angeles, and now Broad is after Los Angeles Unified School District Board member David Tokofsky. Lopez's column would be hysterical if it weren't so on the button. Tokofsky is not for sale; that is why Broad had to look elsewhere. Tokofsky is an educator who is a voice of integrity and intelligence on the board.

Given a second round of balloting, teachers at the Santee Education Complex voted Tuesday to join the school reform effort of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, although questions persist about the election process. On the first try, a substantial majority of teachers voted yes, but the Dec. 11 tally still fell short of the required majority of all 181 eligible voters at the high school south of downtown.

For the first time, Los Angeles public school principals will be evaluated under a new system that includes student achievement as one measure of administrators' effectiveness. Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy announced the one-year agreement with the administrators' union Tuesday, calling it a "remarkable breakthrough. " The pact, which covers Los Angeles Unified's 1,500 principals and assistant principals, is aimed at meeting a Dec. 4 court-ordered deadline to begin using student achievement data to assess administrators and teachers.