Irvine Unified’s first superintendent, A. Stanley Corey, dies at 89
A. Stanley Corey, the founding superintendent of the Irvine Unified School District and a man considered the most influential figure in district history, died Dec. 30. He was 89.
Corey joined Irvine Unified in 1972 after it broke away from the larger San Joaquin School District. His mandate: create a “superior” school district in two years.
Reflecting on those early days in a 2012 interview, Corey described his first office as a card table and folding chair in a hallway.
“It was a tabula rasa,” he said. “Start with a blank slate and build a district.”
Early on, classes were held in churches and office buildings, a former colleague recalled. Schools emerged as unused ranchlands became available.
“We created a school system in an empty field,” said Paul Reed, who worked with Corey between 1974 and ’87. Reed credited Corey with a lean management style and an emphasis on decentralization that gave schools, not top managers, the power to make decisions.
“He believed the action was in the classroom,” said Reed, now the deputy superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. “He inspired us to do things that created what Irvine Unified is today.”
From day one, the emphasis was on excellence.
“We were committed to being the best,” Corey said in a 2012 video created by the district. “That was not ego. That was in response to the community.”
Corey’s foundational principals, such as “outrageous expectations must be standard,” remain part of the award-winning district to this day.
“Corey had that vision thing and an uncanny ability to let the other guy take the credit for the good works,” said John Rajcic, a former assistant superintendent and the third employee hired by Corey. “The board put their trust in Stan. Stan in turn placed his trust in those that worked closely with him.”
When school funds dwindled after the passage of Proposition 13 — which limited increases in California property taxes, a major source of school funding — Corey kept the district’s focus on school priorities.
“If we were going to be eliminating things, we weren’t eliminating things at the school level,” Reed said. “Stan’s very steady hand was on the tiller to make sure we didn’t deviate.”
Before joining Irvine Unified, Corey had served as superintendent of the Berryessa and Cupertino union school districts in Santa Clara County. Raised in Santa Ana, Corey earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Whittier College in 1948 and a master’s in educational administration from the University of Southern California in 1956.
Corey said in the video that he recognized the challenge inherent in the creation of the new district. In an interview, he said he felt like Robert Redford’s character in the 1972 movie “The Candidate” when the realization sinks in that Redford has won the Senate race.
“Redford is sitting in this room and his aides come in and say, ‘Senator, good morning.’ The blood drains out of his face and he says, ‘What do I do now?’” Corey recalled.
“Well, for a brief time I had that feeling.”
Reed noted, “People might think we were just opening a school. Stan made it very clear we were pushing the needs of democracy.”