Second in a series
Re “Her First Day as the Real Super”
When Patti Jaffe describes her fairytale climb from Interim Superintendent to the Real Super, it becomes evident — sitting in her office, hearing her almost prosaic explanation — why the School Board chose her last week over a fleet of outsiders.
If you only listened to the tone and the words, without knowing the context, you would have thought she was talking about walking to the market for a box of cereal.
She saw her sprint from ineligible insider to overwhelming favorite in mundane terms.
Ms. Jaffe said that she filled out her retirement papers Jan. 24, two weeks before the Board voted her into the race, because:
“I just thought the search process was going through, and the Board was doing interviews. They had their finalists. I thought to myself, ‘Okay, this is fine. I will be prepared and send in my retirement papers.’”
What happened next?
“Everything changed at the Feb. 8 Board meeting when they voted to consider me. I remember thinking, ‘Oooh, this might be a possibility.’” Ms. Jaffe’s face broke into a smile like so many sparkling diamonds.
“But up until (last Wednesday) when the vote was finally taken, I learned, especially having been in Human Resources, that until the papers are signed and it’s a done deal, you don’t know.”
Now that you are a permanent hire, psychologically will you approach your job differently?
“What I want to do is talk to the Board about direction. What do they see? What do they want me to do? Don’t forget: I am their only employee.
“Then I will go to all 9 sites — which I already do anyway.
“I am going to sit down with Ali (Delawalla, Asst. Supt., Finance) because we want to invite people to come to our budget workshops. The budget is a moving target. As Ali says, ‘It’s always in flux,’ and that is an important reason to participate and understand the budget clearly so we can answer questions.
“I also want to go to every site and sit down the employees, classified and certificated. I want to find out from them, ‘What do you want in your superintendent?’ so I have a clear understanding also of what they see in a superintendent.
“I want to keep the education for the students the best anywhere,” and she bit down hard on the last word.
“We have phenomenal teachers, fabulous staff. Everyone needs to work together. If we do not work together as a team, you’re not going to go anywhere.
“My main focus is the students of Culver City. I know how interested the parents are and the community is in making sure that our schools are great.
“That is what I want to continue to do.”
(To be continued)
