By Count Friedrich von Olsen
It is my sorry duty to report that the Rialto Unified school board has allowed opportunity to pass it by once more, to the detriment of those its members are elected to serve, namely the students of the Rialto Unified School District…
As of midweek, the district has offered the position of superintendent to Los Angeles County Office of Education Assistant Superintendent Cuauhtémoc Avila. As I am writing this, on Wednesday morning, Dr. Avila has yet to accept the offer, though he applied for the job and his acceptance now would seem to be only a formality. My criticism is not of Dr. Avila, whose current position as the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s overseer of educational programs has prepared him, I am sure, for leading the Rialto district. Nor do I have any quibble with the other elements of his resumé, which include having served as a principal and director of educational services in the Glendale Unified School District and his impeccable personal educational background, which includes a doctorate in educational leadership from USC, a master’s degree in educational administration from Cal State Dominguez Hills and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA. The Rialto School District paid the La Quinta-based firm Leadership Associates $26,500 to carry out a search and recruitment to replace former superintendent Harold Cebrun, who left under a cloud last year. I have said before and will state again that I believe the search did not need to be conducted as the district already had in place an excellent replacement for Dr. Cebrun, the fellow who had filled in for him on an interim basis, Mohammad Islam…
Mr. Islam, the district’s associate superintendent of business services, was appointed to take over for Harold Cebrun, when he was placed on administrative leave as a consequence of the scandal involving Judith Oakes, the district’s accounting official who embezzled $3.2 million in proceeds from the district’s school lunch program over the twelve year period between 2001 and 2013. Miss Oakes might still be pilfering money from the district if it had not been for Mr. Islam paying attention to detail and following up on what he observed and reacting appropriately and forthrightly. Though there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Cebrun was involved with Miss Oakes in her depredations, there is evidence to suggest that the two were an item. Within a year of his having been hired as associate superintendent of business services in the Rialto district, Mr. Islam took notice of the numbers running through the accounts for the district’s nutrition program. Looking at the numbers of students, the numbers of meals, the cost of preparing those meals, the income and the outgo, Mr. Islam saw that the numbers did not scan, and he sensed that something was not quite right. He acted sensibly and bravely. He did not inform Mr. Cebrun of his suspicions. Rather, he risked his own personal position by arranging to have a long dormant video recording system in the district’s money counting room reactivated…
The result of that action is now well known. Moving images of Miss Oakes stuffing money into her bodice were captured on that video recorder. She was arrested and prosecuted and has pleaded guilty to embezzlement and has been sentenced to five years in state prison. Last year, after six months on paid leave, Mr. Cebrun retired…
How someone reacts to an exacting challenge demonstrates the quality of that person’s character. Mr. Islam has already amply displayed his competence. In the relatively short period of time that he was with the district as associate superintendent of business services, he recognized a problem that previous superintendents, assistant superintendents, finance managers, accountants and accounting firms had consistently missed for over a decade. He did not shrink from what he saw. He risked his career on behalf of the students of the district. Had he reported to Mr. Cebrun his observations, what guarantee was there that Mr. Cebrun would not have informed Miss Oakes? Mr. Islam might have been fired. Wisely, he took a more considered and effective course. But in this there too was risk. What would have happened to Mr. Islam if Mr. Cebrun had learned he had gone behind his back to reinitiate the video recording and was in touch with authorities outside the district?
For my money, Mr. Islam demonstrated a degree of situational awareness, skill, determination, intelligence, courage, principle and dedication that is precisely what is so sadly lacking in much of our political and institutional leadership. Taking nothing away from Dr. Avila, the Rialto Unified School District has failed its students once again by neglecting this opportunity to reward true vision and leadership…