Crazy in Suburbia: Bancroft Elementary Principal To Stay Where She Is...

UPDATE: Mount Diablo Unified Superintendant Steven Lawrence said Tuesday evening that Bancroft Elementary's principal, Linda Schuler, will stay where she is.

"The planned transfer of Bancroft Elementary School's principal to another Walnut Creek campus was rescinded Tuesday evening."

So says the Contra Costa Times.

OK, I will say:

DUH

In saying this, I may come across as mean, or not understanding all the complexities of the issues, but, to me, this idea was a no-brainer... 

THE ORIGINAL POST: 

Maybe some of you are asking this question--What is the MDUSD thiking?--about any of the things on the Mount Diablo Unified School District's agenda tonight. 

On this is one, the Bancroft principal issue, I'm scratching my head--not because it's any more important than anything else,  but it's one I became acquainted with in a a particular way, as I describe below.

First off, Claycord.com is reporting that as part of a major principal shakeup in the district, Bancroft Elementary School Principal Linda Schuler will be transfered to fill a vacant principal's position at Valle Verde Elementary.

Parents of the school's Parent Faculty Club are planning a rally at the special 4 p.m. meeting the club has organized with Superintendent Steve Lawrence.

Here is an excerpt of the e-mail sent out by parents club President Gina Hayes that appeared on Claycord:

"We are writing to you with important and upsetting news. The PFC learned ... the last day of school, that our beloved principal Mrs. Schuler is being transferred to the vacant principal position at Valle Verde Elementary. The PFC strongly objects to this transfer and has arranged for an emergency meeting with District Superintendent Steven Lawrence for today at 4:00pm at Bancroft in advance of the District Board Meeting. ...

You may ask yourself…why is it important to fight to keep Mrs. Schuler at Bancroft? 

In these challenging times for public education, it is important that Bancroft have a leader who will fight tooth and nail for the Bancroft community. Nobody understands that sense of community better than Linda Schuler. Mrs. Schuler is a superb leader, with excellent management skills and a compassionate demeanor. Mrs. Schuler makes the extra effort to know each and every student and cares about their wellbeing. She pushes each of Bancroft's teachers to be the best in order to provide a positive school experience for our children.

A new principal will not have an emotional investment in the success of our school and will not have the credibility with the district to put Bancroft first.

As some of you know, my family and I don't live in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. My son did not and will not attend any of its schools, so we're not personally affected, as many of you are, by Measure C, the Northgate stadium lights proposal, or other MDUSD-related issues. However, I have friends whose kids go to schools in the district. We've met lots of families over the years, through my son's soccer and basketball teams, who live in the district.

I also hope readers will let me know if there are MDUSD-related concerns that need to be covered, and the impact those issues have on your kids and you.

I have some professional knowledge about how much Linda Schuler means to Bancroft Elementary. The words of Gina Hayes confims what I learned earlier this year. In my former associate editor's position at Diablo magazine, I spent time at Bancroft in January, touring the school with Schuler for a March story that Diablo was preparing about how schools in the East Bay are coping with raising class sizes in these tough budget times.

Bancroft Elementary represented an interesting case study in how a school has had to cope with raising, say, a first grade class from 20 students to 30. 

Schuler was generous with her time. She impressed me as the best kind of education professional.  She ran that school like a military operation. She had to in order to keep so many people and personalities and programs under control. But she also struck me as being compassionate with her staff and being a nurturing presence to the K-5 students in her school.

Most of all, I got the sense that Schuler very much identified with Bancroft Elementary and that the school wouldn't be what it is without her leadership.

And, yes, while visiting, I experienced some school envy.  I wished she had been my principal.  I wouldn't have minded if my son had attended Bancroft, and she had been his principal.

So, I hope the parents get their message across to Lawrence today. 

In these tough times, when there are so many changes, this is the last thing that a school community needs, to lose the principal it has come to know in such a wonderful way.