One of a series
When Supt. Dave LaRose arrived four years ago this summer from his latest posting in Washington, it took give minutes for him to establish a singular identity.
Now that he has entered his final month as the tall, lanky, officially middle-aged chief of a thriving School District, recall familiar, Dave-only LaRose-isms.
He bred a rare Culver City scene, camaraderie. He preached success for one student, one group of students at a time, convincing an ever widening number of students, educators and parents that his formula worked – if the competing parts cooperated.
Largely, they did.
Togetherness, roughly unified thinking were foreign visitors to Culver City in recent years, veteran and younger educators agreed.
Youthful and charismatic, Mr. LaRose created unity and loyalty where before disparate parts had laid about.
He spoke of the unique-in-Culver City concept of the “whole child.” Shoulders rose and eyes rolled in the beginning when Mr. LaRose repeated the phrase in every other sentence.
Mr. LaRose may be the leading secondary schools educator in North America who both believes and practices the art of rhetorical repetition.
He is known for scorning the use of three words when six are handy and can be reeled off just as swiftly.
Don’t frown. It has effectively worked in convincing skeptics that his methods of lifting up all students, instead of the elite few, work.
He grew into a kind of Pied Piper.
After driving down the coast with his father-in-law, even before he had unpacked his second piece of luggage, the easygoing Mr. LaRose nailed his No. 1 mantra to the School District’s most visible wall.
His telephone message can be repeated by all 6,000 Culver City students:
“Welcome to the Culver City Unified School District where Success for All Takes Us All.”
Mr. LaRose may not be a stranger to clichés but when the clichés grow muscles, they merit repetition.
(To be continued)
