Principal Quitting After Rejection for Higher Post

The principal of one of Laguna Beach’s two elementary schools abruptly resigned last week after she was not selected to be the new assistant superintendent for instructional services, officials said.

Linda K. Purrington told teachers at El Morro Elementary School on Friday that she would be leaving, probably in November. But she informed Supt. Theresa Daem more than 10 days ago that she might quit. Daem said she urged Purrington to reconsider, but by last Monday, she had decided to resign.

“Linda is a wonderful person and a wonderful principal,’ Daem said, “and I’m very, very sorry that she’s going to leave.”

The resignation is another setback for the 2,400-student district, which has been hobbled by a series of administrative and financial troubles the last two years.

El Morro has had its own share of controversy recently. Enrollment is expected to grow by an estimated 153 students because of development along Newport Coast. Some parents have fought that prospect, arguing that El Morro, built in 1956, is too old and too crowded to fit more children.

Purrington said she had been considering a job change for several months. But when she was turned down for the assistant superintendent position, “that was a little bit of a kick in the pants.”

“I thought maybe now was a good time” to leave, said Purrington, who has been El Morro principal for six years.

She does not have another job lined up, but she has been teaching part-time at Chapman and Pepperdine universities. She said she is also exploring a job opportunity with the Orange County Board of Education.

Daem said she hired Wendy Lopour-Doty, director of curriculum for Downey public schools, as assistant superintendent because of her considerable experience in school district administration.

“She has already done what we need to have done,” Daem said. “There is no learning curve.”

Stymied by budget shortfalls and administrative turnover since 1996, Laguna Beach school officials have been unable to focus on curriculum, board members said. That will be Lopour-Doty’s first priority, including reviews of textbook selection and state standards, as well as ensuring that the curriculum is aligned with the material tested on the statewide Stanford 9 exam.

Lopour-Doty, who will earn $90,000 annually, begins Oct. 5. Her appointment was ratified by the school board Tuesday.

Parents who praised Purrington’s work at El Morro were shocked to hear of her departure.

“We’re losing a great asset to the community,” said Laguna Beach Mayor Steve Dicterow, whose daughter is a fourth-grader at El Morro. “I was just such a big, big fan of Linda’s.”

Ron Harris, a candidate for the school board and the father of an El Morro second-grader, said, “She’s the best principal you could ask for: skilled, caring . . . every superlative you can think of. I can’t believe they’re ever going to find someone who could do the job in such an outstanding way.”

Eileen Walsh, a school trustee, said it hasn’t been determined whether the board will hire an acting principal soon or conduct a search for a permanent principal.

Daem is expected to heal the ailing district, which underwent a financial crisis in 1996 so severe that the county threatened a takeover.

The district also is embroiled in a legal mess with Daem’s predecessor, Reed Montgomery, who was fired after seven months on the job. His lawsuit against the district charges wrongful termination; school officials recently filed a countersuit.

The district’s other elementary school, Top of the World, also has a new principal this year. Nancy Blade, the former principal of Santiago Elementary School in Lake Forest, replaced Sharon Maloney, who returned to the classroom to teach third grade.