Former Los Angeles Unified school board member Caprice Young speaks Tuesday in support of district Superintendent John Deasy. Credit: Charles Taylor Kerchner, Special to EdSource Today

Former Los Angeles Unified school board member Caprice Young speaks Tuesday in support of district Superintendent John Deasy. Credit: Charles Taylor Kerchner, Special to EdSource Today

After days of speculation that John Deasy’s tenure as head of the Los Angeles school district was short-lived, Deasy received a “satisfactory” performance evaluation and had his contract extended for another year, the district reported late Tuesday.

The agreement extends Deasy’s $330,000 a year contract at the state’s largest school district through June 30, 2016.

Questions about Deasy’s tenure had been swirling since last week, when the Los Angeles Times reported that the 52-year-old had told some board members he intended to resign in coming weeks. The rumors coincided with Deasy’s planned performance evaluation on Tuesday, and came amidst a series of public clashes with board President Richard Vladovic.

The Times also reported Tuesday that Deasy had presented a settlement offer to Vladovic last week. The offer said Deasy would resign effective Feb. 1 and remain on as a district consultant until June 30, 2015. It was unclear Tuesday if that settlement offer had been discussed in Deasy’s closed session evaluation, which lasted nearly five hours.

Before the board retired to closed session, it heard a highly unusual outpouring of parent and community organization support for Deasy, who joined the district in 2011 and has implemented a number of controversial policies, including using student scores on standardized tests to evaluate teachers.

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy

John Deasy

At a street rally in front of district headquarters, former board members Yolie Flores Aguilar and Caprice Young urged on a supportive crowd, many of whom wore “daisies” for Deasy, and carried signs urging the superintendent to stay the course. “Don’t Resign on Change,” said one. Young urged the superintendent to stay for the sake of her on children, and the crowd joined a refrain of “Don’t be crazy. Keep John Deasy.”

Inside, the board took public comment, most of it from supportive parents and community organizations.

At the outset, both Deasy and Vladovic urged civility and said that they welcomed the evaluation. Vladovic said that he had had 10 phone conversations with Deasy over the last four days, and that, “We’ve been trying to work together.”

The most pronounced negative voice, came from United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher who reminded the public of a teacher no-confidence vote in Deasy’s leadership taken last spring.

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