What kind of new principal should Newport Elementary have? Parents offer district their ideas

Amid a slew of administrative reassignments in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, former Newport Elementary School principal Rich Rodriguez’s transfer to College Park Elementary for the coming school year led Newport Elementary parents to a discussion Thursday night where they talked with district staff about the qualities they expect in their school’s next leader.

During the forum at the Newport Beach campus attended by more than 20 parents, speakers said they’d favor an administrator who supports school staff, self-evaluates, infuses arts in classrooms, engages with parents and students and values transparency.

Parents said they were notified of Rodriguez’s request for transfer before the last day of school last month.

“Like all employees, he has the opportunity to make a change, but we personally thought he did a great job here,” parent Jason Price said. “We want to know that the program Rich put in place survives.”

Parent Darcy Gassel said she is excited for the opportunity to get a new leader who could help the school grow further.

“Hopefully this will bring us together to find the right principal,” Gassel said. “The principal sets the tone for the school, and Newport El is unique in that it’s small and has tremendous parent support.”

Newport Elementary and the district made an online survey available for comments from parents who could not attend the meeting Thursday.

District spokeswoman Annette Franco said input from the forum will be considered during the interview process for a new principal.

“Regardless of whether it is an internal candidate or someone from outside, the important thing to note is that the district works very closely with parents and staff to meet the needs for the school, which is why we’ll go above and beyond to make the forum,” Franco said.

Interviews for the principal position will be conducted next week by panels of Newport-Mesa staff members, teachers and parents. The top candidates will move on to interviews with Supt. Fred Navarro and his leadership team, who will make the final recommendation for board approval.

Rodriguez’s reassignment to be principal at College Park in Costa Mesa is part of a series of principal transfers for the coming school year, which starts in September. He will replace College Park’s former principal Julie McCormick, who relocated to Newport Coast Elementary to replace former principal Duane Cox, who moved to Rea Elementary in Costa Mesa.

Cox is replacing Rea’s interim principal, Alex Morales, who replaced Kalim Rayburn after Rayburn left the district.

Several College Park teachers and parents were upset by the transfer of McCormick, a speaker of multiple languages who had been at the school for eight years and helped spearhead its Mandarin language immersion program in 2015. The district announced her reassignment in May.

Newport-Mesa board President Karen Yelsey said at the time that the board understands the transfer is difficult for the community but that “such changes are well-thought-out at the district level.”

“For the community, it can be difficult when someone they respect and like is someone they lose,” Franco said this week. “However, we have to do what’s best for the schools, and if the district sees an internal principal that they feel is strong for one school, we’ll make that placement.”

The district faced a similar administrative shuffle last summer after Laura Canzone — then known as Laura Sacks — requested reassignment from her post as principal of Mariners Elementary School in Newport Beach amid complaints from teachers and parents about her leadership and the accuracy of a school award application she filed during the 2015-16 school year.

Canzone was transferred to Costa Mesa Middle School, where she served as a principal on special assignment during the 2016-17 school year before she resigned from the district this spring.

Her replacement at Mariners, Matt Broesamle, previously was principal of California Elementary School in Costa Mesa. The announcement of his transfer in June 2016 drew a crowd of California Elementary parents to a board meeting where they expressed a desire to keep Broesamle at the school while also stating the qualities they wanted in a new principal.

Broesamle was replaced at California Elementary the following August by Jacob Topete, who previously was an assistant principal for Newport Heights and Whittier elementary schools.

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