Election 07:
His way

It's been a tumultuous time for Pasadena Board of Education member Bill Bibbiani.

A top administrator with the school district for nearly 35 years, the now 66 and retired Bibbiani has spent the past four years as an elected member of the board, which over that time has been faced with ongoing student declines and enormous budget shortfalls that ultimately led to the closure of schools for the first time in recent memory.

But along with that, Bibbiani and the other board members presided over schools alongside an administration that could never quite make it “to the mountaintop,” as it pledged to do under Percy Clark, who was more of a cheerleader than an actual superintendent in the five years prior to finally being shown the door in November.

Yes, it's been a tough time, with Clark during much of that time enjoying majority support of the board which often did not include Bibbiani.

But now is his time, or so he believes, with the results of a long-awaited management audit that he called for finally out to the public and a new superintendent in the form of newly hired Edwin Diaz.

Now that everyone has had their way, Bibbiani, who is known best to most people simply as “Bib,” said it's time for him to start shaping the agenda for Pasadena's schools of the future.

“I'm not proposing some laissez-faire district where everybody does their own thing,” said Bibbiani, whose two children graduated Muir High School, of his idea for decentralizing district authority over school sites and making each school more autonomous in both its administration and instruction techniques.

But it's been frustrating, Bibbiani said, primarily because he doesn't see himself as the bureaucrat that he's being depicted as in his opponent's campaign.

“No one who knows me believes that,” Bibbiani said.

Contrary to critics, including Bob Harrison, his opponent in the race for the board's Seat 4, “I do have a vision,” Bibbiani said. “It's a different way of how schools operate.”

Bibbiani stopped by the Weekly offices on Good Friday to share his vision for the future of education.

Pasadena Weekly: What's the No. 1 issue facing the district?

Bill Bibbiani: Everybody thinks its declining enrollment. Declining enrollment is a fact facing about half the districts in the state. What declining enrollment has revealed is the issue. It's revealed the ineffectiveness of a top-down bureaucratic system that hasn't worked for years. … It is the inadequacy of the system to respond to [declining enrollments] that is the issue and the problem. As I have said repeatedly for years before I was on the board and since I have been on the board, I believe, and the management audit in effect proved this, we have a system that doesn't work. … The purpose of our system ought to be to have effective schools, not a superficially effective bureaucracy.

What would you do differently than what Bob Harrison has proposed to do?

Interestingly, the other night Bob agreed with my contention that, yes, we need a better balance and no, I don't favor top-down administration. We need to define a role for the education that essentially involves three areas: budget, finance and planning is one area, personnel and [information technology systems]. We have 28 schools right now. Some of them are doing wonderfully, and those that are I don't see them getting any real advice from the Ed Center. They're doing well because of the leadership of particular principals, the skills of particular staff members — the dynamic they have established at the school level. That dynamic is not going to be replicated unless we empower people to realize they have a responsibility at the school level to recognize the skills of their staff and the different needs of their kids.

What is your impression of Edwin Diaz?

I believe Edwin Diaz will be the administrator Percy never was. One of the questions I asked him during the interview was: What kind of a role do you see with a respect to better balance between decision-making at the Ed Center and decision-making at the schools? I thought he handled it very credibly with respect to those schools which have the leadership in place and those schools which have developed their own internal drive. … The man strikes me as a down to earth, let's get things done administrator who's actually interested in administration.

How will you reach out to Altadena if you are re-elected?

Board members need to realize they represent the community, not the administration, and they need to reach out. … One of the things I think has been lacking is when we meet with the Pasadena City Council, and Altadena is right about this, occasionally the Altadena Town Council is they are often simply subjected to cheerleading sessions. There needs to be real discussions throughout the year before they become a crisis.

What do you think about the secession effort in Altadena?

They are justifiably upset, particularly in respect to the school closures process, which I thought was a dishonest process, and I objected to it at the time. I said I wouldn't attend those meetings because the board had an obligation to go to the community with their plans, which at that point involved closing four schools. They went to the public and said: What do you want? The public hardly said anything except for some plants in the audience, quote facilitators and shills. … We listened to [Board member Ed] Honowitz tell us for a year school closure is an 18-month process. Hell, we did it in 18 days. Probably the most efficient thing we ever did, but we were wrong. I think it ought to be a last resort and not a first resort. … Let the process unfold, but I would hope that after 100 years together we can work out a way to stay together.

What would you do to increase financial accountability in the district?

The most chronic weakness of the district over the past 15 or 20 years has been its ability to keep its business officers. The board has to be more effective in an effective oversight role. People don't realize unless you make the critical decisions before March 15, you're pretty much locked in until next year. … We need to bump up the planning process and the budget process.

Have you been arrested or filed for bankruptcy?
No.
Do you have any criticism of your opponent?

I have no criticism of Bob as a person. I have criticisms of his campaign. He began in December by saying that he couldn't find fault with any of the positions I had taken, but he implied he could get along better with the other board members. Well, the question is: get along with whom to do what? His supporters on the board have been the leadership on the board for the past five or six years. They are the ones that have stymied the kinds of changes which I am calling for.