June 15, 1999BOARD REASSIGNS 13 PRINCIPALS, 2 VICE PRINCIPALS TO CLASSROOM POSITIONS The Board of Education today voted to approve recommendations by Superintendent of Public Education Alan Bersin to reassign 13 principals and 2 vice principals to classroom assignments, effective immediately.
The reassignments mark the first time in more than 20 years the Board has taken such action, which is in keeping with a similar action the Board took March 9 to reassign 12 central office certificated administrators to classroom teaching positions.
"The reassignments are part of the ongoing changes we must make if we are to enhance our capacity, school by school, to improve student achievement," Bersin told the Board. "These are extraordinarily difficult decisions to make because of the professional and personal consequences they visit on colleagues who have long served the San Diego City Schools." The requirements of school site leadership established in the district include instructional leadership, operational leadership and the administrator’s ability for working with and organizing parents and the community. The district’s vision for leadership states: "School leaders promote the success of all students by focusing schools on the centrality of student learning and instruction; promoting the collaborative nature of school leadership within the school community (parents, staff, students); and ensuring the effective management of the school as an organization for learning."
The recommendations for reassignment were made to the Board by Bersin, Chancellor of Instruction Anthony Alvarado and the seven instructional leaders who supervise district principals and vice principals.
A process for selecting new principals and vice principals to fill the vacancies also was announced by Bersin and follows a new procedure (attached) approved by the Board June 8. School staffs and parent leaders will be notified of the reassignment and meetings will be held at each of the 13 schools with reassigned principals to determine the criteria that will be used to select the new administrator. Parent representatives, teachers and other site staff members will participate in screening and interviewing applications.
Bersin expects to recommend new administrators to fill the positions July 27.
Reassigned administrators will be offered vacant teaching positions for which they are qualified. All of the reassigned administrators were notified in person earlier today.
Several of the principals are assigned to year-round schools that are in session until July 21. Retired or current administrators have been appointed to fill the vacancy until permanent principals and vice principals are named. Reassigned administrators who were scheduled to work summer school, which began June 14, will be replaced tomorrow by current or retired administrators, Bersin said.
