What Took So Long?

She led 11 parents into a classroom and berated a teacher in front of them. She restrained a special education student by putting her foot on the child’s head. She slammed into seven cars, killing a man, then drove away. She was convicted of misdemeanor manslaughter. Still, she kept her job as a principal with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

After nearly 70 teachers and staff fled the school, and after the untold damage that must have been done to the unlucky students of Arlington Heights Elementary School, Sallye Gauthier was finally forced to resign. Last week, interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines struck a symbolic blow against a numbing, protectionist LAUSD culture that has tolerated nearly anything.

Cortines ordered Gauthier to quit voluntarily or be forced to resign from the elementary school after learning that a committee of the state teacher standards board had recommended revoking her credentials. His urgent response was a welcome departure from the usual “punishment” of a transfer to another unsuspecting school or a cushy job at the downtown headquarters.

Removing a principal has taken years in the past because of meddling from former school board members, protection from immediate supervisors, union rights and due process, and a culture that discouraged firing anyone. Cortines has now sent a message that the district does at least have a limit to its patience for the outrageously unfit and incompetent.

The complaints about Gauthier go back at least five years at Arlington Heights in Mid-City. What took so long? This principal had rights, but what about the rights of the students, faculty and staff at the school?

A former office manager testified before a committee of the state Commission of Teacher Credentialing that Gauthier managed by fear and intimidation. Last summer, teachers complained about her to the same commission. A committee recommended that her credentials be suspended for 30 days. However, that recommendation has not yet been acted on by the full credentialing commission. Why the delay?

As recently as April 18, in a letter to the superintendent, seven teachers accused the principal of “waging a war” against the faculty. She also failed to provide supplies and textbooks despite high-profile pledges from the school board, the current and former schools chief and an infusion of local and state funds to ensure that all students have books.

Leading a school is one of the most important and toughest jobs in the L.A. school district. Succeeding obviously requires competence, hard work and strong interpersonal skills. Gauthier could be an LAUSD poster model for what happens when job protections go too far.

It shouldn’t be news that a principal who so abused her power was fired. It speaks volumes about the Los Angeles Unified School District that it is.