Skyline stumbles without a principal

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 11, 2006 | by Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- For the last six weeks, Skyline High School staff members have done their best to forge a normal fall semester from abnormal circumstances.

The 2,000-student school in the Oakland hills opened this fall without a principal after the eleventh-hour resignation of Amy Hansen.

Further eroding any sense of stability, two of the school's three assistant principals and two guidance counselors didn't return this year.

"It's like nobody knows anything, basically," said Caroline Ha, a 16-year-old Skyline student.

Citing a shallow pool of candidates available for the job in late August, Oakland school district officials decided not to install an interim leader, as is commonly done when a principal leaves mid- year or on short notice. They say recruitment and selection of a replacement is underway, and a number of students, parents and faculty will have the chance to interview would-be principals.

But the school might go months longer without anyone at the helm. In the meantime, the faculty and a team of assistant principals are "muddling through," as teacher Tim Jollymore put it.

For the most part, Skyline hasn't experienced the widespread confusion or unrest that some feared would result from the leadership void. "It could have been an opportunity for anarchy, but nobody went in that direction," said Brian McKibben, a former high school principal and an administrator on special assignment who stepped in on a part-time basis for the first few weeks of school.

Still, the absence of a point-person can complicate all kinds of day-to-day operations, from copy machine repairs to the distribution of funding to various academic departments. Some students said they had a hard time registering for classes. Others said they are still in the dark about SAT test dates and other important college preparation information, which, they believe, would certainly be shared if a principal were in place.

Chris Kelly, the new head of the school's Social Science Department, said last week he hadn't been able to access the funds for teacher training or advanced placement courses that had been allocated to his department. He said he's confident the funding will come through, eventually, just not as quickly as he'd like.

Some are feeling the void on another level too. After the recent school shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Kelly said, no announcement went out over the public address system to address the tragedy, as Hansen might have done.

"She was a chief executive. She led. She was unifying," Kelly said.

For many students, the principal is a peripheral character -- at most -- in the drama of their high school experience. Still, some of the teenagers interviewed said it felt strange to be without one.

"It doesn't seem different, but it's like we're abandoned," said student Rachelle Ruiz.

Alex Katz, a district spokesman, said the school would soon have a "senior assistant principal" to fill some of the gaps. He said Heidi Green, one of the school's former assistant principals, will return to the school in that capacity.

Katz said it's too soon to say when a new principal would be hired. While the faculty council has cautioned against hiring a permanent replacement before the spring -- arguing that the candidate pool would be stronger at that time -- Katz said the district's priority is to fill the position as soon as a strong candidate is found.

"It might be easier to find somebody in the spring, but we're going to start the search now," Katz said. "The timing of it is what it is."

Under a new, district-wide policy, Katz said, candidates will face a series of interview panels made up of parents, teachers, staff and administrators. Each panel will have a different focus and will decide, by consensus, who advances to the next phase.

From the finalists, high school network officer Wendy Gudalewicz will make a recommendation to State Administrator Kimberly Statham, who names the new principal.

"That sounds democratic," said Jollymore, chairman of the 12- member Skyline Faculty Council, which had pushed for the selection to be open and inclusive.

But English teacher Michael Barglow said he isn't fully satisfied with the policy. "On the surface it appears democratic, but in reality, it basically puts the decision in the hands of the state administrator and the executive officers who work directly with her," he said.