Glenoaks Elementary students, parents rally to keep principal

Parents and students attending Glenoaks Elementary marched in front of the school Monday afternoon to rally against the school’s principal, Kristine Siegal, taking an assignment to oversee Mark Keppel Visual & Performing Arts Magnet for the next school year.

Parents of the school where Siegal has served as principal since 2010 said they learned on June 16, a couple of weeks after school ended, that Siegal would become principal at Mark Keppel, not giving parents or students time to host a goodbye party or gain any closure regarding the change.

PHOTOS: Glenoaks Elementary students, parents decry transfer of principal

Many parents have since emailed district administrators and board members in an effort to keep Siegal at Glenoaks, which has nearly 600 students.

Of the many handmade signs they carried during the rally, one read, “Let it be, GUSD,” as parents and children marched in a line, chanting, “Siegal needs to stay.”

“She is really loved by the teachers. The students adore her. She knows every single one of them by name, and knows their story, and knows their strengths and their weaknesses,” said parent Maria Whitford. “We have basically been told the decision has been made. We don’t know if we’ll be able to sway anyone, but at least we can show that we care.”

Siegal will replace Mark Keppel Principal Lise Søndergaard, who will become assistant principal at Roosevelt Middle School in Glendale.

“Sure, we could get someone good and it could be OK, but when everything is working, you don’t mess with the successful school,” said Glenoaks parent Marguerita Drew, who is also a high school teacher in San Gabriel.

“She understands everything that’s going on,” Drew added. “She makes herself available. Not all principals do that because they get bogged down with the day to day … It’s up to us. We have to fight it. I’ve heard from several people, ‘Oh there’s nothing you can do’ — people who have been in this district much longer than me. But we’re going to hope there’s something we can do.”

Aurora Reedy-Solano, a 10-year-old who will begin the fifth grade in August, said Siegal often spoke with students during lunch or recess, and if they were physically hurt, as Aurora was once, Siegal would ask them about their well-being.

“I think that we’re like a big family at Glenoaks, and Ms. Siegal’s like our guardian,” she said.

Following the rally, about 50 parents and children attended a meeting moderated by Maria Gandera, Glendale Unified’s assistant superintendent of human resources, who was booed after she asked parents about the qualities they wanted in their next principal, who school officials are expected to hire in the coming weeks.

Gandera took the parents’ overwhelming dissatisfaction in their booing as a compliment for Siegal.

“That is the highest compliment you could give an administrator,” she said.

For her part, Siegal, who has spent the last 25 years working in Glendale schools, said in an email after the rally that each role she’s taken in Glendale has been unique and fulfilling.

“I always encourage professional growth in other people and have also taken advantage of opportunities that have been offered,” she wrote. “The timing of this particular change is difficult as it came about quickly and was unexpected.”

She said taking the reins at Mark Keppel will give her experience at running a larger school with more than 800 students. The school is a visual and performing arts magnet, and offers a dual-language immersion program, where some students spend half the day speaking and learning in Korean.

Mark Keppel is also a Title 1 school and receives federal funds to serve a large student population who come from low-income households.

“It is tremendously hard for me to leave Glenoaks,” Siegal added. “The students, staff and parents have been my family for the past five years and I couldn’t have been happier working there. Their strength of school and community will help them as they move forward with their new principal, with whom I will work closely to ensure a smooth transition. I will make sure they are well taken care of.”