LAUSD’s new leader was touring a small South L.A. school — and its principal wasn’t going to waste an opportunity. He asked: 'could LAUSD afford to send a few extra teachers to his school?'
That shakeup was aimed at de-centralizing LAUSD’s bureaucracy, pushing middle-management staff out of the district’s six regional offices and into 44 neighborhood-based “communities of schools.” The goal was to put more help within an arms’ reach of principals at the district’s 900-plus schools.
“The direct connection of accountability,” Carvalho explained, “directly to me and to my entire cabinet is a significant shift from any practice that I have observed at LAUSD.” Principals who are doing well on their own would be left alone to continue tending their schools, Carvalho said. Schools that need various levels of assistance would receive more help from the district’s regional and central offices.