In the midst a dreary summer controversy that looked and smelled like a series of all-day funerals, the School Board may have accidentally hired a cure-all superintendent who is quickly converting Culver Park High School frowns into enduring, authentic smiles.
Dave LaRose arrived in mid-mourning on Aug. 1.
Stash the black crepe, he promptly said.
Push the ambulances over the nearest cliff.
A new day has begun, he deigned, and then actually made the do-over happen.
With three days of what had threatened to be a horrid new term tucked away, the reversed outlook for the continuation school students feels as warm and genuine as the typical noonday sun that hangs over Culver City.
At least temporarily, Culver Park is the special needs child in the School District requiring tender, caring attention.
Mr. LaRose stood ready to minister.
Not really.
He didn’t stand.
He dashed out of his office and jaunted a few blocks west to the Culver Park campus at the rear of a spruced up parking lot behind Farragut Elementary that is in the process of undergoing House Beautiful magazine treatment.
Au natural.
A clutch of outdoor tables, on the order of those you would find at Downtown restaurants that offer al fresco dining, was scheduled to arrive this afternoon.
The promised companion umbrellas for each setting are due later.
Wandering among the Culver Park students who were attending their first classes in a large portable-but-permanent building that had been treated like Osama Ben Bungalow, Mr. LaRose asked students what pleased them about their relocated school.
He said this afternoon he found one boy who recited an unusually long list of Likes about the new Culver Park.
Not one was related to the school’s new location. They were about his classes, his teachers and his pals.
That demonstrated to Mr. LaRose that in less than 72 hours, Culver Park has cruised successfully over its first speed bump.
