Ramón Curtis Cortines (born 1932) is an American educator who has served as the chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, and the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, California. Cortines returned as Los Angeles superintendent in October 2014, and his contract was extended in June 2015 for another year, through June 2016.
Early life and career
Cortines was born in San Antonio, Texas. He briefly served as superintendent of schools in LA in 2000 and has headed a total of five school districts nationally. Cortines had also served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955.
During the early 1960s Cortines served as Activity Director for Northview High School (in Covina) and later with South Hills (in West Covina) High School and soon moved up as the former superintendent of schools in the California cities of Pasadena, San Francisco, San Jose, along with being a former New York City Schools Chancellor. He was appointed to lead the New York City Schools in September 1993 by the former New York City Board of Education, serving during the last months of the administration of Mayor David Dinkins and during the first years of the administration of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Cortines and Giuliani feuded for much of their shared tenure, with Giuliani being critical of Cortines' running of the schools. Cortines stepped down from the chancellorship in October 1995, going into the private sector.
Following his tenure in New York, Cortines served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education during the tenure of former education secretary Richard Riley. Before accepting the chancellorship, Cortines had been nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of Education for Intergovernmental Affairs by President Bill Clinton, but he withdrew his nomination before his was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Cortines served as LA's interim superintendent for several months in 2000, before former Colorado governor Roy Romer assumed the position.
Los Angeles Deputy Mayor
From 2006 to 2008, Cortines served as LA's Deputy Mayor for Education, Youth and Families in the Cabinet of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. As deputy mayor, Cortines oversaw education policy for the mayor, was his liaison to the school district, along with overseeing various agencies and policies impact children and families, including parks and recreation. Cortines left this position to become Senior Deputy Superintendent of Schools.
In 2012, a year after Cortines retired, the district announced a $200,000 settlement with a mid-level administrator, Scot Graham, who accused Cortines of sexual harassment. The deal later unraveled and Graham sued Cortines and the district. One suit was dismissed on technical grounds, and a second suit was withdrawn, according to L.A. Unified. After Cortines returned as superintendent in 2014, Scot Graham filed a new lawsuit with claims of sexual harassment against Cortines in February 2015.
Los Angeles Unified
During one of his stints at LAUSD, Superintendent Cortines had dual jobs as a board member from the Scholastic board, and as Superintendent of LAUSD. The Los Angeles Times reported that he was paid $150,000 while serving at the Scholastic board, in addition to $250,000 as Superintendent of LAUSD. Cortines defended his tenure at Scholastic, and claimed he avoided any issue which involved the educational publishing company. Cortines resigned from the Scholastic board on February 18, 2010.