Underwood Elementary School Principal Michael Leach is set to swap jobs with Jenny Keats, principal of Wilson Elementary School and the Tosa School for Health Science and Technology at the beginning of the 2010-11 academic year.
Some parents have started an online petiton to stop it, but school officials say the move is routine.
What do you think of the principals swapping jobs? Do the parents have a valid concern? Let us know what you think in our forum.
(4) Read All ResponsesI also wholeheartedly support the Superintendent and Administration in their efforts. However, because we pay them to accomplish great things with our tax dollars, they can be subject to questioning, and can reserve the right to disagree with their decisions, as any employer would do. They are as human as I am, therefore, not infallible. Support does not have to be blind.
While my kids were at Underwood they had 3 differerent principals and each had their different quirks. The kids were pretty confused by the time they got out of there and were certainly ready to move on. After Mrs. Olsen was sent into early retirement, apparently for being too weak, we had the much stricter men. One loved to send kids "to the wall" for discipline--especially the boys. I remember my son complaining quite a bit about the unfairness of it all. The strangest of the last 2 was the one who didn't allow talking above a whisper (Mr. Leach?) at lunch. I would think lunch would be the one place to blow off the steam and do their talking but I guess I'm not an elementary school principal. I imagine people in the area may be afraid of a repeat of Mrs. Olsen with a woman not being the army sargeant Mr. D. and Mr. Leach seemed to be. Mrs. Olsen was actually my favorite but I was in the minority back then. She was warm and friendly, greeted everyone by name and was very visible. I haven't heard the logic of the switch but if it ain't broke I don't see why they want to "fix it" by switching especially when the parents seem so content which they certainly weren't when my kids were there.
My guess is that for whatever reason the Wilson parents wanted a change. The Wilson parents are the ones who got school board members elected a few years ago to reverse the decision to close Wilson. That school board also hired Dr. Ertl. This is yet another example of Wilson parents having having an unbalanced influence on the school board, on Dr. Ertl, and on what happens in the district. That's politics, and that's life.
I wholeheartedly support the Superintendent and Administration's continuing efforts on positive staff development efforts with the administrators. That is exactly what we pay them them to accomplish.