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Los Angeles, California

The new superintendent of the country鈥檚 second-largest school district offered fresh proof that he intends to break away from district tradition in his back-to-school address.

Gone was the big screen with the elaborate PowerPoint presentation or video showing the district鈥檚 accomplishments and data. There were no department head speeches, no announcements of a strategic plan or particular campaign or goals. Five of the six Los Angeles Unified school board members were in attendance, but this time they were seated with the rest of the audience and not onstage.

There was just Austin Beutner, former investment banker鈥搕urned鈥搒chools chief, onstage in advance of L.A.鈥檚 schools reopening for the 2018-19 school year, committing to reducing bureaucracy and to letting school leaders lead their classrooms without having to 鈥渁sk for permission.鈥�

鈥淎ll great schools start with a good leader, and I鈥檝e never met a leader who asked for permission to lead,鈥� he said. The administrators and principals seemed unsure whether to break into applause, and some laughed nervously trying to understand what they were hearing, as most of them are used to the centralized district鈥檚 culture where decisions are made at the top 鈥� at 鈥淏eaudry,鈥� where district headquarters is located.

鈥淭he answers are in your classroom, in your schools. We at Beaudry don鈥檛 have all the answers. Do what works for your schools,鈥� Beutner said. 鈥淭his chapter will be built on simplicity and focus, not on quick fixes and new programs. We need to build on the things that are working and change the things that are not.鈥�

Beutner offered a long list of reasons change was needed in the 600,000-student district. Among them:

鈼徛�Of every 100 students who enter L.A. Unified high schools, 12 will drop out.

鈼徛�Of every 100 students, 77 will graduate from high school.

鈼徛�Of every 100 high school graduates, only 12 will graduate from college.

鈼徛�Less than 60 percent of L.A. Unified鈥檚 graduates are eligible for a public four-year college.

鈼徛�Not all students have access to great schools and so are not on a path to college or a 21st century career.

鈼徛�If nothing changes, about $450 million of the district鈥檚 $700 million reserves will be spent to cover the deficit by the 2019-20 school year.

鈼徛�Only half of L.A. Unified鈥檚 high schools offer both high-level calculus and physics.

鈼徛�Only 1 in 10 students take high-level, AP STEM courses, and of those students, only 1 in 4 females will achieve a college-going score.

鈼徛�Of the nearly 63,000 students in gifted programs, only 3,300 鈥� or about 5 percent 鈥� are African-American.

鈼徛�L.A. Unified has almost 70,000 students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP); about 7,000 students are severely disabled. The rest 鈥� 63,000 students 鈥� can learn on grade level, yet nearly 50 percent are segregated from their peers for much, if not most, of the day.

鈼徛�Less than 2 percent of students with an IEP who are in segregated settings are proficient in reading or math.

Beutner also offered some specific ways he intends to alter L.A. Unified鈥檚 culture, starting with the 300 or so emails totaling thousands of pages that the average principal receives each month from the central office.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to cut that in half by simplifying communications and communicating only what matters,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tarting Monday, school leaders will receive a comprehensive, biweekly email from their director.鈥�

Also starting this week, parents will be getting recorded messages by phone from sports celebrities from L.A. teams, such as the Lakers and Clippers, encouraging them and their students to be in school every day.

In addition to cutting back on the amount of time school leaders spend on managing bureaucracy and compliance, Beutner wants to increase community and family engagement, he said, from students, parents, teachers, and school leaders; civic and grassroots organizations; the business, labor, and philanthropic sectors; faith-based groups; and city, county, and state elected leaders.

鈥淧ublic education is the common ground on which we all stand,鈥� he said.

Beutner also announced in a that the district will develop a plan to provide more resources to schools and improve student learning by moving decision-making from the central bureaucracy directly to schools.

L.A. Unified will hire two firms to help in the initiative: the consulting group Ernst & Young and Kitamba, an education organization that designs strategies to produce learning improvements for students.

Several board of education members in the audience expressed support for Beutner鈥檚 philosophy.

鈥淲e can do better, and I agree with everything he [Beutner] said,鈥� board member Richard Vladovic said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to move forward, and I don鈥檛 want any more going back. I believe the kids can do it if we expect them to. I鈥檓 excited!鈥�

For the first time in at least two decades, the pre-back-to-school event also featured a celebrity guest speaker. L.A. Clippers head coach Doc Rivers delivered a short motivational speech especially for the school principals Beutner is trying to empower.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e trying to inspire a group of kids to dream and believe, but there鈥檚 no guarantees for them, and you still have to inspire them every day. I鈥檓 trying to inspire guys that make millions of dollars,鈥� Rivers said. 鈥淵ou can win every day by inspiring someone to be successful. That鈥檚 the world championship for you.鈥�

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