LAUSD's John Deasy: Two Months On The Job

Los Angeles - It's been two months since Dr. John Deasy took over as superintendent of LA Unified, the second largest school district in the country... with more than 800,000 students and 69,000 employees... all of them looking to him for leadership in these tough times.

FOX 11's Gigi Graciette gets Dr. Deasy's take on how it's going in this video report.

Story Script:

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"It's a huge honor and responsibility. It's an unbelievable workload and it's very daunting in terms of your obligations to employees, students, parents and to the community."

Deasy says he he gets up at 2:45 in the morning and keeps going until after 10pm.

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"Are 19 hours enough? No."

Neither are the 6-and-a-half days he works every week since moving into the big office at LAUSD two months ago.

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"Learning like that can only be described as drinking from a fire hose. You can't possibly consume as much information as I need to as quickly as possible to do the right thing. So, there is so much that comes at you and, in order to do this the right way, you have to be able to consume that very quickly."

Sixty days into the job, it's clear his promotion came at one of the worst times ever at LAUSD, as the state and school district face an unprecendented budget crisis.

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"you're solely dependent on what they will give you... and what they give you is garbage. It's pathetically low."

That's how most of his 19-hour days are spent... dealing with cuts to programs and people... cuts that weigh heavily on him.

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"I pray for every single employee every time i go to church. I work really hard to have this team support them. It's very painful to have to do this day in and day out."

Then there is reform. Deasy's ambitious agenda of shaking up the status quo.

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"How we support teachers. How we promote teachers. How we evaluate teachers. How we compensate teachers and administrators. In a way, the nation looks and says, 'I'd be proud to work there.' I'm not scared we won't accomplish it. I worry that we will let our employees down by not accomplishing it."

Deasy's to-do list is long. He's a realist but optimistic that change will come... not fast enough for him, but he's working on it.

His eyes are on the prize: Higher graduation rates, and a system that works better for everyone.

Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superindendent:
"Never forget who you work for. You work for kids and parents and then go visit them, so keep yourself very grounded in the work. I made a promise to these youth, all 800,000 of them, and we're going to be darned if we don't live up to that."