CALABASAS : Schools Chief Plans Early Retirement

Albert (Bud) Marley, superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District since 1984, has announced that he will retire this summer, two years before his contract expires.

Marley, 63, a popular administrator whose career as an educator has spanned five decades, fought back tears Tuesday as he read a prepared statement to the Board of Education.

“As the Book of Ecclesiastes states, ‘Everything has its time or its season,’ ” Marley said. “It is now time for my wife, Jacque, and me to enter another season called the rest of our lives.

“During the past 11 years, I have enjoyed being a part of this community, living here, working here,” he said. “I have high regard for the 12 board members with whom I have worked.”

Board members, who have not officially accepted Marley’s resignation, said they knew Marley was planning to retire early, and that they had discussed the matter with him in closed session at a previous meeting. He has asked the board to release him from the final two years of his contract, which expires in June, 1997.

Marley, who is paid $97,710 a year, will receive about $58,000 a year in retirement benefits, district officials said. He also has about 325 days of unused sick leave coming to him, which will be figured into his retirement.

Board members praised Marley, who they said was hired to help settle a labor dispute between the district’s teachers union and school officials. When he was hired, the atmosphere was still tense because of a previous teachers’ strike.

“When I came on the board, we were fairly close to a strike,” said Barbara Bowman-Fagelson, school board president. “We hired Bud because we needed somebody who could come in and create an atmosphere where people could get along together and trust each other.”

She said Marley helped soothe hard feelings between the two sides, and that he eventually implemented three-year contracts for the teachers union, which up until then had negotiated only one-year contracts.

She said Marley accomplished much during his tenure, including spearheading construction of three schools and a district office.

Marley also sparked some controversy, such as in 1992 when he remarked that too many men seeking jobs as elementary teachers are “effeminate.” That offended homosexuals and male teachers, and Marley scrambled to clarify his remarks. What he had really meant to say, he said, was that there was a need for more male teachers in elementary education.

That followed a remark two years before in which he had to apologize after using a racial stereotype when referring to people of Asian descent.

Another board member, Charlotte Meyer, said that despite Marley’s shortcomings, he “brought a great deal of balance and stability to the school district. In looking at his total record of service to the community, he brought great wisdom, common sense and experience.”

Bowman-Fagelson said the district will immediately begin seeking a replacement for Marley, who will officially retire July 1.