Richard Riordan says he'll accept job with LA School District

LOS ANGELES - Mayor Richard Riordan has announced he will go to work for the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District when his second term ends next summer.

The mayor, prevented by term limits from running for re-election, said Friday he has been in discussions with Superintendent Roy Romer and has agreed to accept an executive position running the district's classroom computer program.

''I think this is something I'm good at. I know the experts in the field,'' Riordan said. The multimillionaire businessman is known for his interest in education, and has donated thousands of computers to schools in different parts of the country.

As mayor, Riordan helped elect four of the seven members of the school board that oversees the nation's second-largest district. Now he will take a still more direct role in working with the 711,000-student district, which faces daunting problems including lagging academic performance, chronic overcrowding and a lack of qualified teachers.

Riordan's post-mayoral plans had been the object of speculation for months. Though the well-liked mayor will be over 70 when he leaves office, the idea of a quiet retirement seems to hold little appeal for him.

Asked how long he intended to take off between finishing his work as mayor and starting his new job, Riordan responded: ''three or four hours.''

Riordan revealed his plans in response to a question Friday after his final annual address on the state of the San Fernando Valley, one of three segments of Los Angeles that want to secede. The others are the Harbor Area and Hollywood.

''I love the Valley,'' Riordan said in the speech. ''I feel that you're part of the family, and I don't want you to desert the family. The rest of the city needs you. You can't abandon the poor. It just isn't right. Secession is a lousy idea.''

In a mayoral debate following Riordan's speech, the six candidates to succeed him avoided the potentially explosive issue of secession, focusing instead on other matters, including the city's signing of a consent decree with the federal government on police reform.

Riordan has endorsed businessman Steve Soboroff in the nonpartisan April election. Also running are U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, Democratic state Controller Kathleen Connell, City Attorney James Hahn, Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles and City Councilman Joel Wachs.

Hahn, who helped negotiate the consent decree, praised it. Villaraigosa described himself as elated by news of the deal. Becerra, Connell and Wachs also applauded the agreement, though in less glowing terms. Soboroff was the only candidate to oppose it.