Hamilton High provides clues on how LAUSD's new superintendent will lead
When the Los Angeles Unified board named longtime employee Michelle King the district’s newest superintendent Monday, board members cited her three decades of service to the school system -- years in which she worked mostly out of the spotlight, but built strong ties through her personal touch.
"She has an ability to build tremendous good will with the people she works with," said teacher Robert Coad, who worked with King at Hamilton High School on the Westside. She held leadership positions there for eight years.
On Tuesday, the day after King's appointment as new superintendent, Hamilton High staff was elated.
"Everybody has this sense that she cares about them," said Fran Rose, Hamilton's humanities magnet coordinator. He said King connected not just with teachers and other staff, but with parents and other stakeholders.
It's no small feat for a former principal to be so fondly remembered.
"It was always like no problem was too small," explained Marlene Zuccaro, director of Hamilton's academy of music and performing arts.
Librarian Rosemarie Bernier remembers like it was yesterday the day in 1997 she got her national board certification. King was her supervisor.
"I went in to tell her and show her my certificate," Bernier said, tearing up at the memory. "You know what she did? She grabbed my hands and we jumped up and down together because she was thrilled for me and she was thrilled for the kids."
During her acceptance speech Monday, King gave little policy detail, speaking mainly in generalities.
She said her goals are to increase parent engagement, improve access and equity for all students to a quality education, and better prepare students for college. She also pledged fiscal restraint, saying she will devise a budget strategy to support her aims.
She did make it clear that she intends to retain her personal touch as she takes on the district's top job.
"It is only by working as a team and a family that we can help our students achieve and thrive," King said.
LAUSD board president Steve Zimmer said in her interviews, King demonstrated a level of connection with the school district's work that went above and beyond what she was normally able to show in her job as an administrator.
Speaking on KPCC's Take Two on Tuesday morning, Zimmer said she had a passion for two major initiatives that the district has already begun to put in place: a major push to better prepare students for college and career and a slate of reforms to make Hamilton High provides clues on how LAUSD's new superintendent will lead | 89.3 KPCC:
