LOS ANGELES (KNX) — If all goes to plan, the Los Angeles Unified School district will have a new superintendent by the end of the year.
The search to replace Austin Beutner, who stepped down June 30, is coming to an end, according to the Los Angeles Times. Currently, Megan Reilly is serving as the district's interim superintendent after Beutner's contract expired. She is considered one of the candidates to take the job on a permanent basis if the school board hires from within.
But the Times reports that the district may look outside the school system, as it did when Beutner was hired in 2018.
In an April letter, Beutner asked the board to allow his contract to expire "as planned," saying that a "new superintendent should have the privilege of welcoming students back to school in the fall.”
He also suggested that the board consider looking from within the district to find his replacement.
“I believe the next superintendent of Los Angeles Unified can be found amongst the current team and she or he will be well placed to continue the progress at this critical time,” Beutner wrote.
“The leadership ranks of Los Angeles Unified have never been stronger and I know you share my gratitude for the commitment of the women and men who answer the call to serve in public education.”
The district’s next superintendent will take on a mountain of work following nearly two years of pandemic-related stress and struggles. “The district also is beset with declining enrollment and a long-term structural budget deficit,” according to the Times.
“The last 21 months have been devastating for so many of the families we serve in L.A. Unified,” School Board President Kelly Gonez told the Times.
“The pandemic has delivered an unequal burden of illness, death, job loss and trauma that has disproportionately fallen on communities of color. Our superintendent will need to reckon with the profound impacts of the pandemic, the uprisings for racial justice, and the urgent needs of our students and families.”
So far district officials have not shared who has applied for the role, but the Times reports that Interim Supt. Megan Reilly and Chief Academic Officer Alison Yoshimot-Towery are among the applicants being considered.
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