An End to the Talent War?

The second largest school district in the country, and therefore one of the pacesetters, is the Los Angeles Unified School District. This is the nest from which our future workforce emerges. It is on its underpinnings that we rely on getting the best of the best. But LAUSD has long suffered from the black eye of not producing sufficiently trained and educated people from whom recruiters and employers may select their skilled talent.

However this past Friday, in a controversial move, the LAUSD announced its selection for the person to succeed retiring Superintendent Roy Romer. Retired Navy Admiral David Brewer. Brewer, in his acceptance speech, spoke of transforming the school district and the education one can expect from it into a world-class district where the fruits of its effort will be able to think and compete on a global basis.

The LAUSD has in recent years begun to pull itself out of nearly last position as far as academic performance testing, quite the opposite of its position in the late 1950s and 1960s of one of the top-scoring districts in the country.

There are many issues that confront the school district and its administrators in delivering quality education that produces the types of workers and leaders businesses need and demand in today’s and tomorrow’s business environment. With Brewer’s acceptance remarks, it appears he plans to take on these issues and bring his constituency (which he sees as not just the students but the businesses and people within the school district) to winning the war for skilled talent.