If your car is skidding down an icy mountain road, you should want Dave LaRose, first-year Superintendent of the School District, to be gripping the wheel with his firm, steady hands.
Just as he was the calming voice of influence and maturity last summer when he quietly, professionally, quickly and stunningly resolved the ugly, burgeoning crisis that was threatening to sink Culver Park High School, Mr. LaRose is assuming the identical position this month in the ugly, burgeoning, emotional national fallout about school safety and gun control.
In a series that begins tomorrow, for the second time in his six months on the job, Culver City parents will see how he has evolved, from his first hour on Irving Place, into the strongest, confidence-inducing force, the most finely reasoned person to hold the Super’s chair.
We spent a half-hour yesterday reviewing the safety measures that have been expanded, introduced or upgraded since Newtown.
Mr. LaRose, a portrait of imperturbable composure, looks a visitor squarely in the eye. His gaze never wavers to a wall or the ceiling or a window.
He is at his most effective in crises, when those around him have, jiterally, placed one hand on each ear and quickly removed their heads to justify running around the room in full panic mode.
If every parent in the District could have been in the Super’s office yesterday when he was being interviewed, not one mom or dad in Culver City would entertain the smallest thought of worry about his or her child’s safety.
Talk About Thoroughness
For a moment, ponder Mr. LaRose’s unhesitating response to my first question:
Locked doors or unlocked doors on campuses – is there a clear answer as to which is preferable?
“Anything around safety is contextual. It would depend on the facility, the time of day. Obviously, there are some requirements about fire safety that calls for understandings about doors being unlocked from the inside.
“Are there interior hallways or exterior hallways? It is not just a matter of locked or unlocked, but how quickly can you lock it?
“Part of our efforts at this point are above and beyond what we do all the time. We want to be intentional and thoughtful, almost like doing a facility safety audit.
“Doing walk-throughs with security and myself, with facilities, the Business Services Assistant Superintendent, and the principals – this is what we have set up, to walk the sites, to look at everything from fencing to access points, to doors and locking, to windows, to make sure we are pro-active and are making investments that enhance safety.
