UPDATE: Will there be controversy in proposed principal reassignments in the WCSD?

Concerned parents of Parkmead Elementary may not get their wish despite going public with their concerns. They will be losing their kids' principal, Kathleen Scott, in a proposed shakeup of elementary school principal assignments in the Walnut Creek School District brought on by principal vacancies at two schools.

In an email sent Tuesday to the district community, Superintendent Patricia Wool announced the proposed reassignments. Scott would go to Walnut Heights Elementary and a new principal would be hired for Parkmead. Walnut Heights principal Susan Drews would go to Indian Valley, whose current principal Nancy Weatherford is retiring at the end of the year. The district would also hire a new principal to replace Buena Vista principal Heather Duncan, who announced that she was leaving at the end of this school year to take a new job as principal of Springhill Elementary in Lafayette.

(Due to a writing error, I incorrectly reported that Scott would be going to Murwood Elementary in an earlier version of this story when she would be going to Walnut Heights--under the proposed changes. I regret the error and any confusion this caused.)

The board will hold a special meeting 6:30 p.m. Thursday when these proposed changes will be reviewed. There will be opportunity for public comment, and then the board will recess to closed session and likely make a final decision. 

The issue of principal assignments has become a sensitive topic for some in the district. A group, calling itself a Group of Concerned Parkmead Parents, objected after hearing rumors of  Scott's transfer to a new school. They also raised objections to the district's handling of these job placements. As Walnut Creek Patch previously reported, and , the Parkmead parents said they were "dismayed that decisions are being made in closed-session meetings without parent input."

Walnut Creek Patch that the district's governing board met in closed session Friday to decide who will be principal at each of its five elementary schools.

While some parents complained that they were not properly notified of the meeting, the district said it met the legal requirement for open meeting laws by posting a notice of the special closed-door meeting the previous Tuesday at its school campuses and by contacting parents through a district e-mail list. School board members and Superintendent Patty Wool said they could not comment on what if any transfers were discussed in closed session because they pertain to personnel matters, which cannot be disclosed until a final decision is made. And, no decision was made Friday.

In announcing the proposal for new assignments, Wool said Tuesday: "Although it may have seemed that we were circumventing public involvement, we were simply following law as it pertains to reassignment."

In her Tuesday email, Wool said that the two principal openings left the governing board believing "it was their responsibility to carefully review the strengths of the remaining principals to decide if reassignments would benefit all of our students."

Wool explained there are different processes involved for reassigning principals already working in the district--and for hiring someone new to the position.

"When transfers are considered, strengths of our present principals are carefully examined," she said. She added that state law requires that "evaluative discussion concerning current employees must be confidential, meaning that it may occur only in closed session."

With regard to hiring a new principal, the superintendent will meet with staff and parents at the school site to determine what qualities everyone is seeking in the new principal. Following a "paper screening," an interview team meets with candidates. This team is made up of staff, parents, and management, and the team chooses finalists. The superintendent reviews the finalists' qualifications and recommends one candidate for the board to consider and vote on.

Wool said the governing board has met five times to discuss the possible assignment of current principals. "The lens of our discussion has been what is best for the entire district and all district students over the next five years," she said.

While she said the board realizes that parents and students at campuses would like principals they like to stay, the board also has a "role and responsibility ... to constantly consider what is in the best interest of all schools and students."

Wool contended that the district has received a great deal of input from the community, in the form of emails and telephone calls. She also said that parents have spoken at public meetings before the board goes into closed session.

The Concerned Parents of Parkmead say that despite Wool's contention that the district gave adequate notice of these changes they only learned of them in the past week. "We are all busy and stressed parents, trying to get through each hectic day," members of the group wrote in an email to Patch.

The parents say that the way these changes and this news has been delivered "causes us to think that perhaps our public education system is more broken than we thought." They also wonder if they can "trust that the WCSD board and superintendent will always do what’s best for our children."

"We have yet to hear the rationale behind this preliminary decision," the group said in its email. "It seems only logical that the two principal vacancies at Indian Valley and Buena Vista Elementary could be filled by a qualified candidate. The process of screening and interviewing candidates, then presenting the candidates to the parents and teachers of each school seems cumbersome, but necessary. So why include a third school (Parkmead Elementary) in this “shuffle”? We are most happy with our beloved principal Dr. Kathleen Scott.  It seems mostly polically motivated in our eyes."

The group says they would be willing to accept the change if it truly benefits the school community.

Again, the proposal for principal reassignment is as follows:

Buena Vista School

New Principal to be hired

Indian Valley School

Principal Susan Drews

Murwood School

Principal Lisa Cheney

Parkmead School

New Principal to be hired

Walnut Heights

Principal Kathleen Scott