Principal Resigns; Few Clues Why

Malibu High School Principal Bob Donahue was forced to resign abruptly last week, leaving parents, teachers and students shaken and unsure about the future of the fledgling institution.

Donahue is the second high school principal in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to resign this year at the direction of Supt. Neil Schmidt, himself only on the job a year. Santa Monica High School Principal Bernard (Nardy) Samuels submitted his resignation in February.

The district has begun its search for replacements for the posts, which will be vacated at the end of the school year.

Donahue, 52, announced his resignation to the faculty Tuesday. He will continue in his post until June 30 and pledged to carry through with his duties.

“I’m still principal,” he said. “I’ll work as hard as I can to do the best job I can in the time I have left.”

The big question of “why” went unanswered at a meeting Tuesday between school district staff and parents at the rustic campus above Zuma Beach.

During the 2 1/2-hour meeting, Schmidt offered few clues to Donahue’s resignation.

The school’s outlined mission “is not moving forward in my judgment,” he said. “That’s not happening for some very specific reasons,” which he declined to go into.

He explained that he was bound by state education code laws to keep personnel matters confidential and could not talk about what led to his decision.

But to quell rumors, he emphasized that the parting had nothing to do with Donahue’s character or integrity and that there was no scandal involved.

“I want to make that very clear,” he said.

Donahue, who joined the district two years ago, last year oversaw the transformation of Malibu Park Middle School into Malibu High School, a sixth-through-ninth-grade alternative school that has about 500 students and emphasizes a personal environment and strong community participation. Donahue was formerly assistant principal at Agoura High School in the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

According to school board member Mary Kay Kamath, Donahue’s experience did not equip him to deal with the overwhelming challenges of running the high school.

Some projects that were planned are adding a new grade each year, along with a new curriculum, until a sixth-to-12th-grade range is reached; beginning a multimillion-dollar renovation project, and garnering community resources to complement the curriculum for the small student body.

Kamath said Donahue’s forced resignation does not signal a lack of support for the high school.

“It’s exactly the opposite,” she said. “Our commitment is so strong that we’re going to make this school succeed, and we’re going to do everything that we can to see that it does. Unfortunately, that means bringing in an administrator with greater experience.”

Although district staff had pointed out areas for his improvement, Donahue said, Schmidt’s sudden request for his resignation came as a surprise.

“I was shocked,” he said.

The unexpected resignation sparked panic among parents.

Madelyn Glickfeld, who has a daughter in the seventh grade, said she is upset that parents who worked hard to make the school successful had no clue something was amiss.

“We’re mad about how this happened and we’re very uncomfortable about whether or not it is a decision that’s going to benefit the school,” she said.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Glickfeld said she still did not know what went wrong.

Parents voiced support for Donahue, crediting him with raising test scores and providing a motivating atmosphere for students. They asked for his reinstatement and asked to be informed of major decisions before they happen.

Schmidt reassured parents that late spring and early summer are the best time to recruit candidates and said that the transition to a new principal has been planned in writing and that the school will receive extra staff support.

Donahue will continue to work on developing curriculum for a new 10th grade, hiring six teachers and orchestrating a $4-million renovation slated for the summer.

Schmidt welcomed community participation in guiding the school and selecting a new principal but said that’s as far as the involvement goes.

“When it comes to employee dismissal and discipline, we are not allowed to do it in public.”

Most parents went home disappointed, saying they were “stonewalled.”

“I still have the same concerns I had before,” parent Jeff Jennings said.

Jennings, who worked closely with Donahue as a member of the site council and renovation program oversight committee, said he was happy with him.

“He was really remarkable to the extent to which he cared about the school,” he said. “He was not a 9-to-5 guy.”

The problems at the school were due to a lack of manpower, Jennings said. Problems arose at the beginning of the year when more students than expected enrolled. Donahue was in charge of maintaining discipline and other tasks normally handled by an assistant principal, keeping him from other projects such as working with parents and scheduling the renovation project.

When an additional administrator finally came on in February, Donahue’s performance “improved dramatically,” he said.

Parent Shelly Sherwin presented a petition signed by 115 ninth-grade students supporting their principal. It read in part: “We love our principal Dr. Donahue. He supports us in our ideas. He comes to all or our school events, and Malibu High School would be nothing without him.”

Sherwin asked Schmidt to speak with students and address their concerns. Schmidt said he plans to visit ninth-grade classes in coming weeks.