Five Minutes: Interim Superintendent Patti Jaffe

With big budget cuts for the Culver City Unified School District 2010-2011 year and more on the way in the future, Interim Superintendent Patti Jaffe will be taking a tough—albeit temporary—mantle.  Just confirmed on June 24, Jaffe is looking to educate the public on budgetary matters as one of her many goals while she serves as the interim superintendent for the CCUSD. 

Patch sat down with her to discuss her plans for the future. 

Patch: Tell us about your transition from the assistant superintendent of human resources to being the interim super.

Patti Jaffe: I think in any district office position, a person is always working with the public and working with employees. So in that aspect, it is not such a difficult leap for me because fortunately, I know so many members of the community, as well as all of the employees because I work with them. Being that I am a people person, the transition for me will be somewhat different because I will be meeting people that I might not know. For example, I don't know the new fire chief. I don't know the interim city manager. I don't really know the police chief very well. So those are some things that I would be doing that would be different. 

Patch: What made you decide not to retire and to take this challenge on?

Jaffe: I was going to retire effective July 1, but I put my retirement off until at least November 1 and, depending on what happens with the search for a superintendent, until January 1. I'll be waiting for the board to let me know.

Having been a part of this community for so long, I think it was important to have continuity for the employees and for the families—the parents and the kids. For me, it was 'what can I do to continue to help this community and to help these students?' That is my focus.

Patch: What is your plan to help students, teachers and parents cope with the budget cuts?

Jaffe: I work very closely with the other departments, especially with business. Mr. Delawalla and I have already talked about starting early with having budget workshops and having forums toward the middle of September. I want to make sure that all of the employees—classified, certificated, confidential, administration, and the board of course—understand the budget and what the challenges are and what needs to be done, so that thoughtful decisions can be made regarding what needs to be cut and what we're going to do to weather this storm.

Mr. Delawalla and I are working together to put something on the website that will say, 'this is our budget,' so that the community can go on and know what's happening.  We're also waiting to see what happens with the state budget, because until that happens we really don't have anything definite.

Patch: What do you love about Culver City? 

Jaffe: The community. The parents who are so supportive, and the kids are No. 1. The kids and the teachers are fantastic.

There is not an employee who isn't important to this district. When you go from school to school, you really see it. From the pre-school to the adult school, the people who live and work here really want the schools to be excellent. And that's what they are.

Patch: What do you consider will be the biggest challenge with your new job?

Jaffe: It will be the budget. For any superintendent anywhere, it will be the budget, and making sure people understand the budget and what needs to be done in order to keep the programs and the fine teachers that we have.

Patch: What would you like to say to parents who are feeling apprehensive about their kids' educational future at CCUSD?

Jaffe: I think they need to have faith that we are going to do the best job that we can for all of the students, and that we are going to keep as many programs as we can. The PTA and the Booster Clubs are unbelievable with helping us sustain a lot of the programs. That's just fantastic. For any of our schools, I believe that the teachers are outstanding and that they will continue to do a good job.

I believe if we work together, we can do it. 

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