California Elementary School gets new leader as part of series of principal reassignments

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District announced this week that Jacob Topete has been appointed principal of California Elementary School in Costa Mesa as part of a shuffling of principals that began with a controversy over an award application at Mariners Elementary.

California Elementary’s former principal of five years, Matt Broesamle, moved to Mariners in Newport Beach after that school’s principal, Laura Sacks, requested reassignment amid complaints from teachers and parents about her leadership and an application she filed on behalf of the school for a state Gold Ribbon Award.

Sacks, who served as Mariners’ principal for one school year, will be on special assignment for Costa Mesa middle and high schools.

Topete most recently was an assistant principal for Newport Heights and Whittier elementary schools simultaneously.

He once taught kindergarten and first grade at California Elementary.

“Jacob has demonstrated instructional leadership as an administrator and teacher leader combined with an incredible work ethic and a focus on students,” Russell Lee-Sung, Newport-Mesa associate superintendent of education, said in a statement.

As an assistant principal, Topete has led staff through technology and software training, collaborated with the PTA on fundraising strategies and worked to improve playground safety, according to a district news release.

“This year will be all about getting to know the community and staff,” Topete said in an interview Thursday. “I know they have great programs in visual and performing arts and technology in the classrooms. I’m excited and honored to be there and look forward to building those relationships.”

Broesamle goes to Mariners Elementary with 13 years’ experience in the Newport-Mesa district, first as a teacher at Adams Elementary School, then as principal of California Elementary.

Before Sacks’ departure from Mariners in June, the district hired Dana Point-based Nicole Miller & Associates to investigate teachers’ allegations of mischaracterizations and inaccuracies in the application Sacks submitted last fall for a Gold Ribbon Award, which the school received in April.

The district and the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers did not immediately respond to a request for information about the status of the investigation.