GRANADA HILLS : Transfer of Principal Prompts Protest

Andreda Pruitt took on bare midriffs and brawling during her first year as principal of Kennedy High School in Granada Hills. Her reputation as a firm disciplinarian and a dress-code enthusiast didn’t seem likely to endear her to her new school.

But when Los Angeles Unified School officials announced this week that Pruitt would be transferred to Jordan High School in Watts, the reaction was swift and intense.

Kennedy teachers and parents collected about 150 signatures on a petition asking the district to keep Pruitt, 53, at Kennedy, said social studies teacher Richard Sprouse.

Thursday, a group of teachers gathered at the campus for a meeting with district administrators to protest Pruitt’s transfer--only giving up the plan at Pruitt’s request, said Kennedy Impact coordinator Kathie Faught.

Pruitt said Thursday that after initial reluctance, she had decided to accept the new assignment.

“I feel my services are needed equally there,” she said. The protests from staff and parents “made me feel good and made me feel bad. I had no idea people would respond in the manner they have.”

Pruitt had requested to be assigned to a school closer to her Los Angeles home before starting the job at Kennedy, but had expected to remain there once assigned, she said.

Phil Nassief, administrator in the school district’s senior high division, said the reaction from parents and teachers has been unusual, but he said the district remained firm. Nassief said that Pruitt’s request and the fact that Jordan High School needs “a successful and strong principal” prompted the transfer.

In her year at Kennedy, her first as a high school principal, Pruitt instituted a new dress code that banned cropped shirts and team jackets and T-shirts. She also instituted a zero-tolerance policy toward fighting and transferred students to other schools at their first offense.