First of two parts
[img]1551|right|Mr. LaRose||no_popup[/img]When Dave LaRose drove into Culver City 11 months ago from his last posting in Washington state, the first gift onlookers noted, was his unquenchable optimism, built on a foundation of a sly, wry – never overt – sense of humor.
Never mind momentary darkness may strike. The new Superintendent of the School District lives his public life sunny side up.
Today, his modesty can be acknowledged, too.
And so it is this morning that, days after Monday night’s startling School Board decision to blot out an anticipated bond measure election in November, Mr. LaRose’s demeanor was undisturbed, setback notwithstanding.
His choice of threads running through his responses to the keen disappointment was to emphasize lessons that he learned from what had to be an unpleasant experience, though he never would say so.
“Every day is a new day,” he says, another favorite mantra. “I believe that every experience can be, should we choose, positive, productive, an opportunity to learn and grow.
“Certainly that will be our lens. Our lens is, to come back to the point I attempted to make Monday night, that what we did is, we took some positive, productive steps at quantifying our capital and facility needs.
“This was something our organization needed. Then, recognizing there was a short timeline, we made an investment to explore and learn about ways in which we could address facility needs. Our bond election consultant came in to educate us and to gauge the community, albeit fairly accelerated.
“It was intended to really gauge our collective readiness.
“What I learned,” said Mr. LaRose, “is that, based on the amount of time we had and the information we have been able to share, and how we have shared it, has not answered enough of the questions for people to speak with conviction around their readiness.”
(To be continued)
