Career educator hired as chief at Chester Upland.(Chester Upland School District)

Byline: Connie Langland

Jul. 21--"Here's the deal - I will take care of your children," Gloria Grantham told a Chester Upland audience Tuesday evening. "Understand the promise I am making."

She was applauded then and applauded again yesterday when the board of control that runs the Chester Upland School District voted to name her as the new chief executive officer of the floundering system.

Grantham, 62, of Wilmington, is a career educator who most recently has been an assistant superintendent in Washington, overseeing 30 troubled schools.

Grantham will have fewer schools to oversee - five elementaries, two middle schools and one high school - but she is arriving at a district mired in a fiscal and academic crisis. The post will pay an annual salary of $160,000 to $180,000.

Yesterday, the control board also voted to lay off 79 professional staff and nearly 50 support staff - a decision that will cause class sizes in grades 3 to 6 to rise to about 35 students.

Board member Granville Lash abstained from that vote. "Research tells us class size in urban school districts should be about 20," He said. "We're going to 35. We are starting out ready to fail in September. The state is more concerned about the dollar than about the children in this district."