Parents plead to retain principal

Superintendent remains firm on transfer decision

Despite impassioned pleas from some parents to either delay or rescind her decision to shuffle the principals in the Hope School District, Superintendent Gerrie Fausett held firm to her plan to move Hope School principal Patrick Plamondon to Monte Vista School, Monte Vista’s Judy Stettler to Vieja Valley School, and Vieja Valley’s Barbara LaCorte to Hope in the fall.

At a board meeting on June 6, Fausett admitted, “the manner in which this decision has been disseminated to staff and parents was less than artful. It could have been communicated in a much better fashion,” a complaint which was at the heart of the comments from many of the approximately 300 parents and teachers gathered at the meeting.

Fausett outlined the scenario in which she told the principals of her decision, then visited teachers at each site, one by one, and urged them not to speak to each other until she had the chance to visit each school individually.

“Some parents knew about the change before others did. Please know, that was never my intent,” she said.

However, what many speakers took issue with was the fact that parents, teachers and the principals themselves had not been consulted prior to the decision, an area in which Fausett held firm.

“Staffing is one of my unique responsibilities and I have the perspective and the responsibility to make these kinds of decisions. It’s not a responsibility I should or will delegate,” she said. “The legacy of this district is to include parents whenever possible in the decisions affecting schools. Some of those decisions about personnel should not include parents.”

“We believe that you’ve made an honest mistake … I truly believe that it was not the correct process,” said Hope parent Ed Adams, who has been instrumental in organizing a petition “to object to the process by which this involuntary transfer of principals was done.”

Some Monte Vista parents also organized a petition, presented by parent Mary Vance, expressing their support of the principal rotation, thanking Stettler for her service and welcoming Plamondon to the school.

While the 60+ people who spoke at the meeting were about evenly split for and against the decision, the school board members all spoke out in favor of Superintendent Fausett’s judgment, citing her long track record in the local education community (she is a former Monte Vista School parent, as well as the former principal of Santa Barbara Junior High, principal of Washington School and Santa Barbara’s Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education) as rationale for their support.

“She has a lot of experience in education, I don’t,” said board member Joe Liebman.

“There is always a better way,” said board member Elizabeth Owen. “I don’t believe she made a rash decision.”

Concluding the long evening, board president Steven Weintraub said, “I hope we’ll allow an incident like to become a stepping stone and not a stumbling block.”

Fausett hopes to be able to coordinate another meeting with the teachers before the end of the school year, “to try to send them off on a summer vacation with a sense of calm and security.”

LaCorte will get a head start at Hope School by serving onsite as summer school principal for all three schools. Fausett said, “Barbara likes doing it and I think looks at this summer especially as a chance to get to know the campus and some of the folks there, which is, of course, a great idea.”

Fausett said she also hopes to offer several summer opportunities for parents and students to meet their new principals before school begins.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on June 9, 2005.

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