WESTMINSTER : Parents Can’t Stop Change of Principals

About 150 parents crowded into the Westminster School District boardroom Thursday to protest the superintendent’s recommendation to reassign four principals to different schools next fall.

After hearing the parents speak in support of keeping the principals at their respective schools, the board voted 4 to 1 to make the changes recommended by Supt. Keith W. Lawson.

Lawson said the new assignments didn’t reflect criticism on the performance of the principals.

“This district has a philosophy that movement is good,” Lawson said. “When we are considering moving a principal, we determine where our needs are in the district. The improvement and growth that occurs when you make these changes have proven to be very valuable.”

Most of the parents at the meeting were there in support of Eastwood Elementary School Principal Richard Sturges, who has been at the school for nine years. Sturges will be transfered to Meairs Elementary School in the fall and replaced by Alvena Graham, now principal at Franklin Elementary School. Other changes will be Webber Elementary Principal Richard Weaver to Sequoia Elementary School and DeMille Elementary School Principal Harvey Morris to Franklin.

Board member Margie L. Rice received an ovation from the crowd when she voted against the moves.

“I’ve been accused of being political for voting my conscience,” Rice said. “But I answer to the people, and I vote against these recommendations.”

After the board’s vote, several parents shouted, “We’ll remember you at election time!” Four of the five trustees will be up for reelection in November.

“I don’t feel people were represented at all,” said Nancy Ayres, whose two children attend Eastwood. “We made ourselves very clear to the board and they were very insensitive in the way they handled the whole thing.”

Roger Ball, whose son Jason is in kindergarten at Eastwood, was one of several parents who said they were now considering putting their children in private schools next year. With the district’s open-enrollment policy, many of the parents said they chose Eastwood because of its reputation and its principal.

Board President Cindi Arthur said the board’s decision was not easy.

“I’m confident that we made the right decision,” Arthur said. “Still, it was such a difficult thing to do. I think if the people who spoke out against the moves came back here a year from now, they would agree that it was the right decision.”