2 New Superintendents Ready to Tackle Tough Problems. : Simi Valley: Robert W. Purvis, who takes over the county’s largest district, faces repercussions stemming from last year’s budget deficit.

Robert W. Purvis, the new superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District, likes to meet over coffee with small groups of parents, teachers and community leaders to talk about education.

“I like to sit down and talk,” Purvis said in an interview Friday. “My plan is to have a coffee in each of the 26 elementary attendance areas for parents, business people, people in the community.”

Often, in kaffeeklatsches in houses with groups of 12 to 16 parents, the real problems and issues facing neighborhood schools emerge, Purvis said.

On Dec. 1, Purvis will take over the county’s largest district which, with about 18,000 students, is still grappling with budget problems stemming from an estimated $8-million deficit last year.

To offset the deficit, officials laid off 32 temporary teachers, four librarians and four nurses, and reassigned dozens of administrators to lower-level positions.

The repercussions left many of the district’s 800 teachers laying the blame for the financial crunch on poor planning by administrators and created rancorous relations between teachers and the district office. The teachers’ union filed 15 grievances after the cuts were made.

Purvis, 57, has been lauded by former colleagues for developing smooth relationships among teachers, other district employees and the administration. He has 30 years of experience as a teacher, principal and superintendent in school districts in Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and Butte counties.

“I felt he did a wonderful job working with all the people in the district, but especially with teachers,” said Beth Swift, president of the Buena Park Elementary School Board, which Purvis headed for five years.

Shortly after arriving in Buena Park, Purvis met with teachers and, in response to complaints about lack of lunch time, moved to hire teachers’ aides to relieve teachers of noontime supervisory duties, Swift said.

Buena Park Supt. Jack Townsend, who worked as an assistant superintendent for Purvis, said one of the biggest controversies Purvis faced in that district was a job-classification study that redefined some positions among secretaries, bus drivers and other classified employees.

Although the reclassifications upset some employees, the situation was defused when most employees were allowed to remain at their same salary levels, Townsend said.

“He was highly respected,” Townsend said.

Teachers and board members from the Chico Unified School District also praised Purvis for easing tensions after tough contract negotiations.

Purvis acknowledged that the two toughest problems he faces in Simi Valley are relations with teachers and other employees and the budget.

“There are some challenges here in Simi Valley, but there are in all school districts,” Purvis said. “I think we’re talking about building trust and improving employer-employee relations.”

Purvis said he hopes to meet regularly with teachers and other district employees, including sitting in on meetings of union leaders. Regular meetings will likely start after he starts full time in December, he said.

But Purvis is off to an early start. He had lunch Friday with English teachers from Simi Valley High School to discuss issues, including the new smaller class sizes of about 20 students. He also attended a football game at Royal High School Friday night.

Purvis and his wife, Judy, a special education teacher in Durham, Calif., are looking for a house in the Simi Valley area. Judy Purvis plans to look for a similar job in the area.

Purvis said he hoped to make full use of a honeymoon period to get his administration off on the right foot.

“I think they’re willing to give the new boy on the block a chance,” Purvis said.