After years of laid-back leadership in the superintendent’s office, the atomic energy and congenitally enlarged personality of David LaRose formed the exact tonic the hungry School District needed in 2012.
The most intriguing person I have met in the last 15 years in Culver City, he quickly established himself as the total package:
Not only was he one of the most accommodating interviewees in the history of journalism, he knew his subject matter as well as he knew his family.
And he liked his job almost – but not quite – as much as he loved his wife and two daughters.
Somewhere there was a flaw in the LaRose armor, wasn’t there? Nobody is that perfect. Oh, yeah?
He was the big brother you never had.
Mr. LaRose was built for the job, too. His tall, spare athletic frame, his casual dress and his open-faced personality connoted a brimming package that made Culver City’s School District one of the most fortunate, competitive in the country.
He was the exactly right blend of personal and professional for the superintendent’s desk from the moment he arrived.
Since the turn of the century, no one remotely resembling Mr. Rose had scooted behind that desk.
Stability, maturity, insightfulness and authentic leadership always are on your list when you go superintendent shopping.
Mr. LaRose’s qualifications were garbed in a suit of dynamism – a wow quality that was absent in his predecessors. Dynamism permanently elevated him above all of them.
Even though Mr. LaRose was barely 50ish, he conveyed the wisdom, the self-assuredness of one a generation older.
Throughout his precisely measured (and not accidental) four-year term, we had conversations I only enjoyed with one other person.
If we had not spoken for awhile, he would send a message that we soon should sit down face-to-face. Not for a flabby schmooze session but for a newsworthy interview.
Once when I made an embarrassing disclosure, Mr. LaRose did not hesitate to (properly) scold me for what I had done.
Personal but not too personal, never intrusive.
Two more ineffable landmarks in the life and career of David LaRose:
- His resume did not appear to be remarkable or eye-catching. So kudos to the School Board for identifying what a gem he is and (boldly) acting upon its discovery.
- As with others, there was an uncrossable line that Mr. LaRose drew, again properly. You came to know him – to a degree.
And so his reason for leaving after four immensely productive, memorable must wait for a later date.
