Outcry over McDowell Elementary School principal decision

Teachers and parents of students at McDowell Elementary School last week protested a decision not to hire the school’s well-liked intern principal as the permanent leader for the upcoming school year, saying the move is out of touch with the school’s needs.

A crowd turned up at the Petaluma City Schools District board meeting May 10, armed with letters, fiery words and signs of support for intern principal Dan Noble after a district decision to end the intern program and hire Lauri Anderson, a founding member and associate principal of Epiphany Prep Charter School in San Diego, for the full-time post at McDowell.

Superintendent Gary Callahan said the move was made “in the best interest of the schools and kids.” Acting principal Matthew Harris, who has been supervising the two intern principals at McDowell and McKinley elementary schools for the past year, will be returning to his role as a full-time leader at McKinley as the campuses revert to being independent schools.

“We felt really strongly that each school deserves a principal, not an intern,” Callahan said. “They needed someone who was stable so we could commit to the long-term growth of the school.”

Concerned staff members, including third grade teacher Eugenia Praetzel-Davis, said Noble has been a valuable asset and he’s done “amazing things” at McDowell, working to improve the school’s physical appearance through various projects while building relationships with parents and students.

“Dan listens and sees what needs to be done,” she said. “He’s a gifted leader, and until you see it and experience it, you don’t understand it. The people who have been there, parents or teachers or community members … are devastated at the thought of losing it.”

Karla Lounibos, McDowell’s bilingual family mentor, said Noble, who has worked as a teacher in Marin and Sonoma County schools since 2003, provided stability on campus, and put “100 percent into working with the families and the schools.”

Parents and teachers say they plan to continue to raise awareness around the issue. Nancy Arango, the school’s PTA president for the upcoming year, said she’s considering pulling her two kids out of the school and resigning from her post.

“We’re not saying that the other principal is going to be bad, it’s just that we really like this one … and we want to keep him,” Arango said.

Callahan declined to discuss if disciplinary action had been taken against Noble, or if any complaints or other issues had arisen, but said that letters of recommendation from parents and teachers were taken into account during the multi-level interview process that included more than 20 candidates.

He said Anderson, who holds a master’s degree in elementary education from Standard University and served as intervention specialist and teacher in the San Mateo Foster City School District among other posts, will be an asset to the school.

“We were excited with her depth of understanding of the challenges we have with students and English language learning and her understanding on instructional methodology,” Callahan said, adding that her leadership skills and bilingual abilities were also a plus for the school, where 215 of the 249 students enrolled in the 2014-15 school year were Hispanic or Latino, according to the state Department of Education.

Callahan said he was unable to comment on the outcry from parents and teachers, but said the campus will work for a smooth transition with Anderson, who will come on board July 1 and help usher in programs such as a transitional kindergarten. Board of Education President Michael Baddeley said the hire was made based on finding the best candidate for the role, adding that initial protests were “short sighted.”

“You always want to give a teacher or an administrator a fair chance to see what they can do,” he said. “I like to think teachers are highly qualified professionals who accept decisions, even though they might not like it at the moment, with a high degree of professionalism.”

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.)