Welcome to what, in the past week, has become The Other Education Story in town.
Approaching her 8-month anniversary as the Interim Superintendent of the Culver City Unified School District, Patti Jaffe said this afternoon that about a month after she was selected, she wanted a chance at the fulltime position.
“I just realized I really enjoyed going to all of the schools, going out on the playgrounds in the morning, especially at the elementary schools,” she told the newspaper.
“I did that when I was (Asst. Supt., Human Resources), too. I was always at the schools.”
Effervescent as she has been throughout her 40-year education career in the community, Ms. Jaffe, possibly, is only 8 days from her goal. Her fate — and that of two other finalists — is expected to be determined at the next School Board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 o’clock, perhaps at a larger site than the Board Room on Irving Place.
As she probed more deeply into her heart and soul, the widely admired Ms. Jaffe said she realized there were unique advantages — beyond the education sphere — associated with being in the catbird seat, in charge of the District.
Broader Duties and Perks
“I really enjoyed starting to meet more with people in the city,” she said, “meeting with the Chief of Police, meeting with the Fire Dept., meeting with the City Manager, going to the Chamber of Commerce. I just like people. So, for me, I thought I would like the job. I really was enjoying what I was doing.”
The next step for Ms. Jaffe was to candidly draw back the curtain from her desires in informal discussions, off-stage, with a member or two of the School Board.
“I told them I really liked the job. I said, ‘If you don’t find anyone, let me know.’
“Pretty much that casually,” Ms. Jaffe said. “I said ‘I enjoy the job. I really like it. I know what the contract says. But if you don’t find someone after the search, let me know.’”
Hired in a hurry for the temporary role last June on the brink of her own intended retirement when Dr. Myrna Rivera Coté suddenly departed, Ms. Jaffe alluded to a phrase that has both excited and roiled the schools community.
A now well-known clause in her agreement maintained that by dint of accepting the interim appointment, she was disqualified from pursuing the fulltime job. Interestingly, though, there was an escape route written into the deal.
And that is how Ms. Jaffe, trailed by more vociferous supporters than any popular figure in a long while in this town, has come to perch, anxiously, on the doorstep of her career dream.
