LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines says resolving MiSiS will take time, money

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday unanimously approved a contract with Ramon C. Cortines to serve as superintendent in place of John Deasy.

Cortines' third stint leading the LAUSD began Monday with hearing complaints. The superintendent faces a series of tough issues from a teacher contract to technical glitches that have students and teachers upset.

"Right now, my daughter is in a limbo stage with an English class that she's already passed," Khalid Al-Alim said. His daughter, a Crenshaw senior, still can't get the biology class that is crucial for her college entrance.

Technology glitches in the student database MiSiS are to blame. The $20-million program rollout was full of blunders, including missing or inaccurate rosters and class schedules. Resolving the issues is a top priority for the board and now for Cortines.

"It is clear that we're gonna need to invest more resources in development, training and support," Cortines said.

Cortines says he takes ownership of how the so-called MiSiS meltdown started. He says the system was activated too quickly.

"We thought some of the issues might go away and we didn't listen to the input even before school started from teachers and principals and district officers that said, 'we aren't ready yet,'" Cortines said.

MiSiS holds the records for each of 650,000 students, from attendance to health and discipline to grades. Part of the trouble is older computers used at many schools did not have access to the program. The district has purchased thousands of new computers but that is just one of many pricey fixes forecast.

Cortines says the budget will have to be modified to find sufficient funds.

"It's going to cost," he said.

Another money issue is the teachers' contract. Cortines met with Alex Caputo-Pearl, the head of United Teachers Los Angeles, within hours of taking the superintendent post Monday. Among the unions' bargaining points are higher pay, more librarians, counselors, nurses and lower class size.

"He definitely signaled some agreement that there are important issues that we're tackling and that he would like to be a part of tackling those with us," Caputo-Pearl said.

Cortines declined the $350,000 salary that Deasy was getting, accepting $300,000 instead. His term runs through June 30, 2015, but it can be extended or terminated at any time.