Principals

Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy presented a grand, difficult bargain Wednesday in his first formal address to administrators of the nation's second-largest school system. While the delivery was cajoling, Deasy made it plain he would push principals and other managers out of comfort zones, demanding that they take responsibility as never before for hiring teachers and evaluating their performances. He will also direct principals to take greater responsibility for whether individual students are on track for graduation and college.

It's not quite a check in the mail, but certain distressed mortgage borrowers at Bank of America Corp. will be happy they opened the letter anyhow. The Charlotte, N.C., lender said Tuesday it has begun contacting about 200,000 customers who have fallen behind on home loans and owe more than their current home values. It is notifying them that they may qualify to have their loan balances reduced as much as $100,000 as part of a $25-billion, 49-state settlement over foreclosure abuses.

Your story on ex-principal John Roseman's legal action against the Fullerton School District (April 3) brought forth an enlightening comment from district Trustee Robert C. Fisler. I refer to the following excerpt, which I hope is not representative of the opinion of the board as a whole: "We can't have irresponsible principals. We can get away irresponsible teachers, but not principals, so we had to demote him." As one who is parent of three grown children educated in the schools of one of Orance County's largest districts and who served in the district 7 years as an elementary school secretary and twice that long in the office of the assistant superintendent, personnel, I am tempted to paraphrase: We can get away with irresponsible school board trustees but not teachers or principals.

As California pushes to get more homeowners into a $2-billion foreclosure prevention program, some Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers may see their mortgages shrunk through principal reduction. State officials are making a significant change to the Keep Your Home California program. They are dropping a requirement that banks match taxpayers funds when homeowners receive mortgage reductions through the program. The initiative, which uses federal funds from the 2008 Wall Street bailout to help borrowers at risk of foreclosure, has faced lackluster participation and lender resistance since it was rolled out last year.

Looking at the latest league restructuring, it amazes me what our Orange County principals are thinking. Supposedly, the basic intent of realignment was to create leagues where schools of similar size and athletic strength could compete, without creating hardships due to travel on the schools. Two proposals passed earlier this year were later rejected during the appeal process when a handful of schools changing leagues complained that the above criteria were not being met. Well, now it appears that the principals would accept just about anything to get his process complete.

Re "Financial Empowerment a Mixed Bag for Principals," Feb. 9: Education Secretary Richard Riordan's proposal to expand the role of the principal sounds brilliant -- on its surface. On closer examination, however, any realistic person would agree that expecting a principal to be an instructional leader, certified accountant, father/mother confessor, accountability/standards and testing expert, human resources operative, committee coordinator/leader/juggler and conciliator, public relations spinmeister, PTA and union collaborator, teacher evaluator and disciplinarian, latrine and grounds supervisor, state and federal legislative expert, school board and superintendent kowtower, fundraiser and school/student/teacher cheerleader, motivational speaker and community listener -- among other assigned and expected duties and responsibilities from local, state and federal bureaucracies and bureaucrats -- would come to the conclusion that Riordan is far too simplistic and unrealistic in his proposals and expectations.

It is most unfortunate when one of the finest principals in the system is suddenly branded a "bad administrator" and is removed from a school by officials who seem to have bowed to the desires of the United Teachers of Los Angeles. It seems odd in an era when parents and others are demanding higher standards of behavior, homework and academics that school officials would remove principals who are strong in those areas. In particular I am familiar and concerned with the situation regarding Barbara Roe, the former principal of Riverside Elementary.

Parents, angered at the South Pasadena Unified School District's decision not keep two veteran elementary school principals in their positions next fall, are organizing a petition drive to persuade district officials to change their minds. Last month, under pressure from Supt. Warren Newman, Betty Cowan of Arroyo Vista asked for reassignment to a teaching position next fall and James L. Greulich of Monterey Hills elementary schools resigned.

Re "L.A. Unified OKs 14% Pay Hike for Administrators," April 18: Three school board members opposed the pay raise for teachers because they did not see a connection between professional pay and teacher retention. These same board members approved a huge pay raise for administrators because they are concerned about retaining enough principals to fill the schools. What must these board members' school experiences have been for them to revile teachers so? CAROL MAY Los Angeles

On the same day that a Times editorial properly raises concern about the antics of a Palmdale principal who suspended two students for criticizing him in an underground newspaper (June 22), The Times also has an article about a Garden Grove teacher who will no longer be allowed to be the journalism teacher because the principal objects to the editorial views expressed by students in the school newspaper. Apparently there are at least two high school principals who slept through civics class and who fail to have an even rudimentary understanding of the 1st Amendment.

WASHINGTON - Pressure is mounting on a key federal regulator to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce loan principal amounts for struggling homeowners, after disclosures that a plan to do that was scuttled even though it was aimed at saving taxpayer money and helping to heal the housing market. Fannie Mae officials in 2009 supported principal reductions in some cases and crafted a pilot program that would have cost only $1.7 million to implement but could have provided more than $410 million worth of benefits to homeowners, according to internal company documents cited by two House Democrats.

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could save $1.7 billion by reducing the amount that some underwater homeowners owe on their mortgages, according to a preliminary analysis by the regulator for the seized housing finance giants. But a principal reduction program by the government-owned companies, which many economists, lawmakers and state officials have called for, would not solve the housing market's problems, the head of the regulating agency said Tuesday. In addition, it could encourage homeowners who are making their monthly payments to fall behind in order to reduce the principal on their loans, adding to the $188 billion in taxpayer money already pumped into the companies to keep them afloat, said Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could save $1.7 billion by reducing the amount that some underwater homeowners owe on their mortgages, according to a preliminary analysis by the regulator for the seized housing finance giants. But a principal reduction program by the government-owned companies, which many economists, lawmakers and state officials have called for, would not solve the housing market's problems, the head of the regulating agency said Tuesday. In addition, it could encourage homeowners who are making their monthly payments to fall behind in order to reduce the principal on their loans, adding to the $188 billion in taxpayer money already pumped into the companies to keep them afloat, said Edward DeMarco , acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

WASHINGTON - A little-known career bureaucrat temporarily filling a key government job has emerged as the person with the most impact on the nation's battered housing market - and is rapidly making enemies. As the regulator over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or back 60% of the nation's mortgages, Edward J. DeMarco is considered by a growing number of people to be the single biggest obstacle to the housing market recovery for opposing the use of a major foreclosure prevention measure.

Bank of America has agreed to reduce the loan balances of underwater homeowners more aggressively than other banks, saying that by next month it will start contacting 200,000 borrowers who may qualify. The pledge is part of a side deal that BofA signed when it and other large providers of mortgage customer service reached a recent $25-billion foreclosure-abuse settlement with state and federal government agencies. Writing down the balance of home loans for underwater borrowers — people who owe more than their homes are worth — is a controversial practice.

Bank of America said Friday it would reduce by about $100,000 the amount owed by as many as 200,000 underwater homeowners as part of the recently announced government foreclosure settlement with top mortgage servicers. BofA made the commitment as part of a $1-billion side deal to the $25-billion foreclosure settlement, said bank spokesman Richard Simon. The principal reductions could eliminate the entire underwater portion of some mortgages that the bank services, with the average reduction expected to be more than $100,000, he said.

The new principal of West Granada High School in Granada Hills intends to work to change the perceptions of his continuation school students by the public and the students themselves. Phil Romans said that during his 25 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District, he found that the public often has false and "very destructive" ideas about who these students are. "My focus is to get them into the community and get the community to see what my students are capable of," he said.

The era of the hard-nosed, gruff-spoken school principal may be coming to an end in Los Angeles. Three city school principals, all of whom had repeated troubles with their teachers, recently have been removed from their jobs in what top school officials say is a plan to emphasize "collegial" rather than confrontational relationships between principals and their staffs. Los Angeles Unified School District Supt.

When Kim Rollins' son asked for a pair of scissors to take to school a few weeks ago, she was heartened that the fourth-grader, diagnosed with an autism-related disorder, was excited by a class project. No, Sage Rollins explained, he didn't need the scissors for a project. He wanted them so he could cut a window in the cardboard box his teacher sent him to sit in. Sage, 10, told her that his teacher at Ronald Reagan Elementary School, in the southwest Riverside County community of Wildomar, sent him into the box when she became upset with him. Before that, she forced him to sit in a darkened supply closet, according to Rollins.

Lorin Levee, 61, principal clarinetist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1981, died Wednesday in Los Angeles, a Philharmonic spokeswoman said. He had a blood disorder. Levee's last concert was Jan. 8 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, a program of Dvorak, Liszt and Saint-Saens that was led by guest conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Levee did not join the L.A. Philharmonic on its recent trip to Venezuela. Born July 8, 1950, in Chicago, Levee had played with the L.A. orchestra since 1976, first as a bass clarinetist before becoming principal clarinetist at the start of the 1981-82 season.