Editorial

Ya got trouble, folks. Right here in Newport-Mesa. With a capital T

and that rhymes with P and that stands for “principool.”

Ah, actually it’s principal. But we do know there’s trouble.

With less than a month to go before school starts, five principal

vacancies remain unfilled. That just can’t be good for the students or

staff of the schools -- Costa Mesa and Newport Harbor high schools and

Ensign Intermediate and Mariners Elementary schools -- to head into the

school year with no top leadership.

Supt. Robert Barbot said the district has been intentionally

deliberate in picking the principals, wanting to make sure each school

gets the best possible candidate.

Problem is, this is all-too-familiar territory for many parents and

teachers, who have to again anxiously wait for a new principal to be

hired. There’s deliberate and then there’s too slow.

Seven principals have left the school district since classes ended in

June. Trustee Martha Fluor said about five or six principals have

resigned each year since she’s been on the board, a span of nearly a

decade. Longevity -- something to value in a principal -- is becoming

extinct in Newport-Mesa.

The superintendent and trustees need to find out what the trouble is.

Is pay an issue? Then find a way to pay them more. The district’s

teachers were woefully underpaid for many years, and the trustees found a

way to take care of them.

But there’s a difference between teachers and principals. The

teachers, though underpaid, stayed in place for the most part.

The principals haven’t.

We suspect there’s something more going that’s driving nearly a

quarter of the district’s principals away each year.

Their job is tough: balancing the desires of their district bosses,

teachers, parents and students. Drive by any school in the early morning

or late in the evening, and there’s a good chance you’ll see the

principal’s car in the parking lot.

Principals, like any of us, want to be appreciated. They want to be

supported. They want the freedom to achieve.

The district needs to figure out what it hasn’t been delivering.

There’s enough trouble to deal with in Education City without having the

sheriffs walking out of town with each sunset.