Oxnard Board Assailed Over Principal’s Transfer

Upset parents, students and teachers jammed a school board meeting Wednesday night to criticize Oxnard Union High School trustees for their decision to transfer Oxnard High Principal Daisy Tatum to another school.

Nearly 100 people attended the meeting, and some students held placards calling on the board to keep Tatum at the high school. One parent brought a petition with 1,236 signatures demanding the school board reverse its decision to shift Tatum to a community day school the district plans to open in July.

Tatum said her preference would be to remain at Oxnard High, rather than working at a day school, where most of the students would conduct independent study. The school would operate from several sites and most of its troubled students would be temporary, with the goal of eventually returning them to mainstream programs.

“I just love the interaction and watching kids grow,” she said. “At three sites, how effective can you be?”

Tatum, Oxnard High’s principal the past five years, will be replaced by Jim Nielson, principal of Channel Islands High School. She is expected to assume her new position July 1.

“This is an injustice to staff and students,” said Edith Merricks, mother of an Oxnard High freshman. “She knows most of the students by name. The students take pride in the school and a lot of that has to do with her.”

Tatum was informed of the transfer April 7, hours before an announcement of the change was made at that night’s board meeting.

Parents were angry that they had no say in the transfer decision.

“This was done like a covert operation,” said Sherith Perez, who had two children go through Oxnard High. “No one was aware that this was going on.”

Wayne Edmonds, director of personnel for the district, said Tatum was appointed to the new school because of her experience at Frontier Continuation School, where she worked for a year before becoming principal at Oxnard High.

“Daisy’s a valued employee,” Edmonds said. “And we need her to work with the kids who need more emotional support. She can personalize learning and help turn those kids around.”

School board President Nancy Koch said she also has received phone calls from six parents who do not want Tatum to be transferred.

“Whenever you make a decision, one person is happy and another’s not,” Koch said.

Times staff writer Anna Gorman contributed to this story.