Technically, the era of Dave LaRose’s superintendency of the School District recedes into the official background late this evening.

As 7 o’clock strikes, the School Board is scheduled to formally hire Dr. Joshua Arnold, an assistant superintendent in the Los Alamitos Unified School District, as his successor.

Unlike past hirings, the Board quietly and swiftly processed candidates out of public view.

The Board hardly was caught unprepared by the youthful, popular superintendent’s decision.

Mr. LaRose told members last February that at the end of his fourth year, this month, he intended to take his career in a more casual, freelance direction.

Tall and slender, with an accent on athletic as a regular workout-type runner, the never-flappable Mr. LaRose was more smoothly verbal than the last five supers cumulatively.

For example:

So personable is he that when he gives a 50-word response when 10 will suffice, you don’t notice.

He was living on the sun side of 50 when he arrived.

Mr. LaRose’s superb physical condition played out in his job performance, vigorous, tireless and most importantly, productive.

One of his most significant legacies was the creation of labor peace. Haggling over union contracts for teachers and classified employees was embedded, was a Culver City tradition, starting with mid-winter School Board meetings.

In the role of strong, sensitive but non-partisan navigator, Mr. LaRose established comity early between the players and his administration. Clear-eyed firmness and perceived generosity made his presence welcome and early pattern-setting settlement inevitable.

(To be continued)