‘The sentiment here is that Mary Quirk is getting a raw deal.’ Harvey Plaks, petition drive organizer : Principal’s Fate Splits Moorpark

In a dispute that is pitting small-town loyalty against what officials say is a need for change, the Moorpark Board of Education on Thursday night turned down a petition signed by more than 1,300 residents demanding that school officials retain the principal of the city’s high school.

Residents of the Ventura County city--including students, teachers and parents--presented the petition, then pleaded with school board members to reverse their vote last month demoting Moorpark Memorial High Principal Mary Quirk to a teaching position at the end of the school year.

But the five-member board refused to reconsider.

“We have fully researched this matter, and we would change our opinion if given different information regarding the facts,” board member Linda Kira said as members of the audience at Chaparral Middle School tried to object. “I feel you would reach the same conclusion had you been sitting in our spot.”

Superintendent’s Advice

The dispute began Feb. 21, when the board, acting on the advice of Supt. Michael Slater, voted unanimously to oust Quirk, a former English teacher who has been the high school principal for two years.

Residents, who formed a group called Citizens for Accountability and Responsibility in Education, say that Quirk, 54, is falling victim to the demands of a rookie superintendent who is intent on making changes. Those who signed the petition, which has been circulated throughout the city in the last week, are threatening to recall school board members if they do not reinstate Quirk.

“The sentiment here in Moorpark is that Mary Quirk is getting a raw deal,” said Harvey Plaks, an organizer of the petition drive. “This petition should be a clear mandate that we have the strength to make a good case.”

Supporters of the school board said the dispute is rooted in Moorpark’s unfolding character as a small town whose population has tripled in the past decade to about 15,000.

‘Loyalty and Tradition’

“What you’re seeing here is a town in transition, and a lot of people are resisting change out of loyalty and tradition,” said Ken Loe, who owns Moorpark Pharmacy and has a son in the seventh grade. “The schools have always been a sore subject, and they’re not getting any better. I think what’s being forgotten here is what’s best for the children.”

Citing privacy laws, Slater and board members have refused to discuss the reasons for Quirk’s demotion, other than to say Moorpark High needs “other leadership,” the explanation Slater gave this week in a letter to Quirk.

“No one is more frustrated than I am in not commenting on this, and I’ll stand and take the lumps for that,” said Slater, a former school administrator in Burbank who accepted the superintendent’s post in Moorpark in August. “I simply felt that I had to make some changes.”

Officials at Moorpark High and district headquarters speculated that Quirk was demoted because she does not fit in with Slater’s management philosophy for the 650-student high school.

Older Teachers Pressured

For example, one teacher said, there is growing pressure to force the retirement of some older teachers who may not be performing as well as they should. Quirk resisted the “hard driving” way in which that effort was being carried out, the teacher said.

Although many residents signed the petitions supporting Quirk, others have supported the district.

“Test scores are low and the school generally does not have a good reputation,” said Gerry Spencer, a free-lance journalist and community activist whose 14-year-old son will enter Moorpark High next year. On California Assessment Program tests, Moorpark High students last year had lower average scores than their counterparts in the nearby Las Virgenes Unified School District. But their average scores were higher than those for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“I’ve seen youngsters coming out of middle school who are so enthused and their energy just stops dead at Moorpark. . . . There are teachers there who are just waiting for retirement,” Spencer said.

Christine May, who runs a local printing shop and has a ninth-grade son at Moorpark High, said the school needs “more vocational classes and classes that show a bit of creativeness. . . . I have a lot of respect for Mary Quirk, but the school has problems that are not being addressed.”

Faculty Support

But Tom Humphreys, a mathematics teacher and baseball coach at Moorpark, said more than three-fourths of the school’s faculty signed a letter sent to Slater in support of Quirk, who was an assistant principal within the Oxnard Union School District before going to Moorpark. “She is very highly thought of. I don’t see how her ability can be in question,” Humphreys said.

The Moorpark Educators Assn., the union for teachers, considered entering the dispute but decided against it, an association spokeswoman said.

Teachers and students characterized Quirk as a tough but fair principal who knows most students by name and is not afraid to take disciplinary actions when needed. Last year she refused to allow five members of the varsity football team to be in a playoff game because their grades were too poor. Moorpark lost the game.

What residents object to most are the district’s refusal to discuss Quirk’s demotion and the way the announcement was handled.

‘Rumor and Innuendo’

“It came completely out of the blue,” said spokeswoman Barbara Loczi. “Then the board and Slater completely clammed up. . . . The rumor and innuendo that follows things like this are extremely damaging and can literally ruin a career.”

Moorpark Mayor James D. Weak said that, although he supports Quirk, he believes that the school board should be given free rein in making decisions.

“We’re talking here about a broad section of the community that supports Mary, but their frame of reference is different. They come from a background of the school district in previous years and may not be looking toward the future,” he said.

Quirk, for the most part, has not taken an active role in the community drive to keep her in the $49,000-a-year job and said she has discussed her ouster only briefly with Slater.

“I thought I had a good working relationship with him,” she said.

Quirk said she is not sure if she will return to the classroom. Her tenure as principal will end June 30, Moorpark School Board President Carla Robertson said.