CALABASAS : Las Virgenes Schools Name Superintendent

John Fitzpatrick, chief of Lake Arrowhead’s school system, has been named superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

He succeeds Albert (Bud) Marley, who retired.

Las Virgenes Board of Education members said Fitzpatrick, while superintendent of Rim of the World Unified School District, developed a reputation as a hands-on leader with a strong background in curriculum and finances who puts students first.

“We’re confident that he is going to do a great job,” board member Charlotte Meyer said.

Rim of the World district officials credit Fitzpatrick with helping improve test scores over the past four years and helping restore fiscal stability to the district. His other accomplishments, Las Virgenes officials said, include helping win passage of a $60-million bond measure and helping implement a high-technology program.

Fitzpatrick was chosen from a field of three finalists, board members said and, contrary to published reports, there were no in-house candidates.

The 51-year-old administrator comes to the Calabasas-based district as it battles an anticipated $400,000 budget deficit next year and looks for ways to boost lagging achievement scores in the upper grades.

At the same time, Las Virgenes, which has a reputation for excellence, is struggling to update its high-technology programs and limit class sizes.

Fitzpatrick, who will be paid $115,000 a year, said that he has dealt with many of the problems that Las Virgenes faces, and he views his new job as an opportunity.

The district “has great potential,” he said. “It has great students to work with, and it appears that the parents are very involved.”

He said he cut $3 million from Rim of the World’s budget over three years, in part, by eliminating administrative positions through attrition. He said he also found new sources of revenue, such as implementing a busing fee.

His goals in his new job include helping the district achieve “more of a focus in terms of matching its curriculum with its testing program.” That, he said, would allow teachers throughout the district to “collaborate more on what they are teaching.”

He said he also believes that it’s “important that the principals really become instructional leaders in terms of being in the classroom all the time,” to monitor what goes on. Administrators, he said, need to be in touch with teachers and students.

“I go into classrooms a lot,” he said. “I even substitute for teachers on occasion, just to keep involved in what’s happening in the classroom.”

Fitzpatrick received a bachelor’s degree in history and physical education from Cal State Long Beach. He earned a master’s in curriculum instruction from USC, where he also received a doctorate in educational administration and instruction.

He became superintendent of the 6,000-student Rim of the World district in 1991, after serving as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction since 1989. He came there from Apple Valley Unified School District, where he had been director of secondary schools since 1987.

Before that, he worked at Royal High School in Simi Valley, where he was hired as principal in 1983. He also served as assistant principal at Mayfair High School in Bellflower, where he began his career as a social science teacher and coach in 1970.

Fitzpatrick and his wife, Carolyn, have two children, Megan, 10, and Molly, 7, who will be students in Las Virgenes schools. They also have a son, who is married.