Assistant to Take Over as Principal of Banning High : Schools: Augustine Herrera is moving to Belmont High after 6 years at the Wilmington campus.

Augustine Herrera, principal of Banning High School since 1987, is leaving the Wilmington campus to take a position as principal of Belmont High, near downtown Los Angeles, it was announced this week.

Obelia Lamothe, an assistant principal at Banning, will take over as principal. Herrera said Lamothe has been recognized as “the best assistant principal in the senior high.”

“She has worked her way up and is ready to do this job,” Herrera said. The changes are expected to take place this week.

Lamothe, a 27-year district veteran, started at Banning as dean of attendance. Previously, she taught at Widney High, a special-education school, Dorsey High and Bret Harte Junior High, all in Los Angeles.

Herrera is going back to the school where he served as an assistant principal from 1977 to 1983. He said he will be earning $10,000 a year more and will have a shorter drive from his home in Montebello.

He replaces Marta Labat Bin, who will become an administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Herrera taught at Hollenbeck Junior High in Los Angeles and Taft High in Woodland Hills.

Banning made news in November, 1991, when the school forfeited a football game to Dorsey High rather than play at Dorsey’s home field for fear of violence. Fights had broken out a year earlier after a football game between the schools.

Many Banning teachers welcomed Lamothe’s appointment.

“Most of the teachers are happy she is going to be principal,” said Barbara Kneafsey, an art teacher and representative of Banning’s United Teachers-Los Angeles.

Kneafsey referred to the school’s “tardy sweep” program in describing Lamothe’s hands-on approach to school administration.

Under the program, she said, teachers regularly check the halls to round up wayward students and send them back to class. Lamothe “spent a lot of her off time working on charts and schedules” to keep the program running, Kneafsey said.

Kneafsey also said that Lamothe is “more sociable and more open in her dealings with teachers” than Herrera.

“Herrera was a good manager, he delegated a lot, but he was not a people person,” Kneafsey said.

Lamothe said her biggest concern is improving academic performance.

“One of our major objectives is to get more parents involved,” she said.