Q&A: L.A. Principal Describes Unusual Participatory Hiring Process

As part of a move toward site-based management, some schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District have tried to involve parents and teachers in hiring principals and other staff members.

Westside Alternative School in Marina Del Rey lived up to its name by taking the process even further. When the K-12 magnet school, which enrolls about 400 students, recently had to replace its principal, the new administrator was not chosen by the central office from its promotion list. Instead, any parents, teachers, and students who wanted to interview the 14 candidates for the job could participate and then choose the new principal.

The interviewers voted overwhelmingly to hire Darrell Hughes, who was an assistant principal at George Washington Carver Junior High School in Los Angeles. Mr. Hughes, who took over as Westside's principal last month, discussed the unusual interview process with...