Business Czar for Schools Quits Post

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s business czar abruptly resigned Monday, just two months after becoming the only member of Supt. Ruben Zacarias’ new administration hired from outside the district.

In a statement, Hugh Jones, a former Kaiser Foundation Health Plan vice president, cited personal reasons, saying that he had “grown to admire the work of the superintendent and his staff and their commitment to improving student achievement.” Jones could not be reached for further comment.

But several district employees and observers said privately that Jones had quickly become disillusioned with working in the limelight and, moreover, with a scattershot hierarchy ruled less by the superintendent than by a school board and internal staff allegiances.

One said Jones had compared most bureaucracies to “triangles” and the L.A. school district to a multi-headed monster.

“Another victim of bureaucracy,” said Mayor Richard Riordan, who had previously applauded Zacarias’ decision to delegate nitty-gritty business functions ranging from computers to construction to an administrator from the private sector.

Riordan said it would take someone with “a saintly purpose” to fill the job now.

“I did not want to start the new year this way,” said school board President Julie Korenstein. “It seems like it’s so hard to just keep moving ahead. We take five steps forward, four backward, six forward, eight backward.”

The timing could scarcely be worse for Zacarias, who seemed poised to delve into a variety of new initiatives after having spent a good chunk of his first six months on the job interviewing principals of 100 low-performing schools. Instead, Zacarias must turn his attention to deciding whether to start a search process anew to fill the vacant position while overseeing the responsibilities Jones had been hired to handle.

Zacarias said he was “totally surprised” by Jones’ decision, but did not try to dissuade him because his mind was clearly made up.

“While he was here, I felt he made some excellent contributions, his advice was very good,” Zacarias said. “But we’ll go on.”

Although overall Jones was praised for his initial attempts to test the choppy district waters, several observers said he was too worried about being kind.

“He didn’t have what it took,” said one, who requested anonymity. “He was spending too much time with the bureaucracy, trying to make too many of them happy.”

It was the second time in recent district history that a business czar position was created--and quickly vacated. In 1994, William Magee held the job for just four months, leaving in a huff after then-Supt. Sid Thompson refused to give him hiring and firing autonomy.

“I’m saddened that they’ve struck out again,” Magee said Monday from Florida. “You’ve got a job that’s been needed for 20 years that is still going unfilled.”

Within days of filling the newly created position, Jones watched as the school board clumsily responded to public outcry over their back-room agreement to give four deputies raises that would bring each of them to the $146,052 annual salary paid Jones.

Then, Jones’ first major decision blew up in his face.

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At the superintendent’s behest, he took on the responsibility of reviewing a controversial decision on who should receive a lucrative contract to air-condition 300 schools. Instead of backing the district staff recommendation to use firms already repairing and upgrading campuses as part of the Proposition BB bond, Jones chose an Orange County joint venture.

The following day, the firm abruptly backed out, accusing the district of misrepresenting its proposal and singling out a negative evaluation of the firm that Jones had showed to the school board.

Visibly shaken at a meeting with the BB Oversight Committee, Jones said he had included the report in the interest of full disclosure.