A New Refrain in Prince George's

"Race is the background music in Prince George's."

-- Former Maryland delegate Timothy F. Maloney in 1990, a time when the county was undergoing rapid demographic change

The music continued last week, but it was not the sound of pride that had accompanied the elevator ride to leadership for blacks in Prince George's County. The majority-black school board on Thursday selected a white superintendent from a tiny district in California to run one of the largest predominantly black school systems in the country.

The arrangement did not make for easy listening.

"Let me tell you, this was an agonizing decision for me," said Howard W. Stone Jr., vice chairman of the school board, who is black. "We've had three black school superintendents who didn't work out, and I sure didn't want to leave black people and especially black students with the impression that a black can't lead.

"Did I want to turn this system over to a white man? Not if I'd had my druthers. But after looking at all of the candidates, this was the best guy to lead the system, raise the test scores and get our kids the best education possible."

Judging from his résumé, John E. Deasy, 45, will have a steep learning curve. He is superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in Southern California, which has only 14,000 students. That's like being superintendent of schools in, say, Suitland. As chief executive of Prince George's public schools, he will be responsible for 133,000 students and a more than billion-dollar budget.

Tougher yet, he is expected to meet with black residents and tell them some unpleasant truths -- about being irresponsible parents with children who denigrate intelligence while celebrating ignorance.

Can a white man really play that tune?