'He was unflappable.' Sidney A. Thompson, first Black LAUSD superintendent, dies at 92
Sidney A. Thompson grappled with crisis after crisis as Los Angeles Unified schools chief: racial tensions, labor strife, the Northridge earthquake, financial shortfalls that brought the district to the brink of insolvency.
The first Black superintendent of the nation's second-largest school system also oversaw the district's most aggressive academic reform attempt — which ultimately failed, but not because of him. Along the way he maintained the respect of allies and adversaries alike.
"He was unflappable. And I can't tell you how valuable that is," said former school board member Mark Slavkin. "It was never about Sid. It was about what needed to happen."
The veteran school district leader died Dec. 2 at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena of congestive heart failure, his daughter Theresa Carter said. He was 92.
When Thompson became the leader of
