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LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines dropped some news on the crowd Tuesday when he announced that Chief of External Affairs Edgar Zazueta is leaving the district.

Zazueta, who was onstage at the time, moderating the district’s “Back to School” forum at the  Edward R. Roybal Learning Center,  is the district’s chief lobbyist in Sacramento and Washington D.C.

“This is the kid I hired nine years ago. He’s going to be leaving us. He has another calling,” Cortines said. “But I wanted to recognize that when I was here before, and during the time I was away, and certainly this time, he has been a wonderful representative of all of the children, of all of the young people, and all of the families in this great community, in Sacramento, here in LA, and in Washington D.C. We wish you well.”

Zazueta is resigning to join the Association of California School Administrators as its new director of policy and government relations.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I made this decision to leave the district,” Zazueta wrote in an email to the school board. “Through all of the challenges we have faced as a community over the last decade, I felt we overcame them together as a family. Part of me feels a sense of guilt and sorrow for leaving the family at this time. With that said, I believe I leave this team in the strongest position it has ever been.  I am very proud of the many victories my small but mighty office has achieved.”

Zazueta will remain in his role through October to help with the transition, according to a district press release. The release also said, “Zazueta was often the face of the District during discussions of the Local Control Funding Formula, which changed how public education is financed. He also worked on a law that expanded transitional kindergarten options for 4-year-olds and to protect Adult Education programs from cuts in state funding.”

No successor for Zazueta has been named.