Fullenwider, a former principal and now school district administrator said in his 23 years with the district he has not seen these issues happen in such numbers at the same time.
“I have talked with the superintendent about my concerns,” he said.
Fullenwider said the union has helped Kara White, the latest principal put on administrative leave without parents, teachers or the public knowing the circumstances.
What he is REALLY concerned about is principals who have screwed up are finally being put under the microscope and scrutinized. Of course with this latest principal we don't know the actual charges that have been leveled against her, whether they come from staff or from a third party. I did note yesterday of a lawsuit that was settled about a year ago which charged her with numerous violations of a teacher's due process rights. The lawsuit was actually an attempt to get the court to issue an injunction against administrative proceedings at WCSD going further rather than the standard civil lawsuit that would result from a termination.
Here is what I said about it following the article:
The reason you haven't seen these "problems" is because in times past the district's superintendents never did ONE thing about these principals when they screwed up. What you would have is the principals would stay in their jobs until the end of the year, like my last one did who was totally negligent, incompetent, lazy, and totally disregarded the negotiated agreement, administrative law, and federal law when she kicked me to the curb to cover her backside and HR's backside nearly five years ago. Administrators would rig the "due process" hearings to the point they were total jokes and a waste of taxpayer money and colluded with WEA to get rid of me and other teachers who did nothing remotely justifying termination. (WEA at the same time would deliberately fail to tell teachers like me about filing claims with EEOC knowing there was a very limited time to file and thus make it almost impossible to find an attorney to file a lawsuit against the distirct.) The principals, meanwhile, would get a slap on the wrist and continue to make their obscene salaries. They would then be moved to other schools to be principals there to screw up or "fail up" into desk jobs in the central office when in fact these principals should be demoted or fired. Virtually all of the good principals, and I did have a few during both of my times at WCSD, retired when the reforms started coming down the pike late in the last decade. What the district and almost all school districts in the country are left with are the dregs who couldn't cut it in the classroom or hated kids or wanted an easier job with more money and failed up. These are people who should NOT be given the responsibility and power over teachers because they do not display the experience and maturity needed to work without supervision. Now people may think I am some bitter person with an agenda, but this is truth, and I know this truth having been on the inside. These principals are protected to the hilt because they are not supervised to begin with and if a principal screws up, it is a bad reflection on the person or people who promoted them to these jobs in the first place. Therefore, the principals are allowed to keep working in the school district. There should be a lot more scrutiny of principals. The education "reforms," however, scapegoat teachers who have little or no power while letting administrators off the hook.
Which of course is the truth.
In the meantime, three new area superintendent jobs have just opened up.
It sounds like maybe one or two of the incumbents have been promoted to the executive cabinet, while a couple of others may have retired or gotten new jobs.
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