Mesa Unified School District will need to hire another high school principal after first-year principal Tim Richard announced he will leave Westwood High School at the end of the school year.
Richard gave his notice last week, Mesa Superintendent Mike Cowan said. Richard will return to Florence Unified School District as principal of Poston Butte High School. Prior to his arrival at Westwood High in August, Richard was an assistant principal in Florence.
“Tim has done some creative things to really help that school,” Cowan said of Richard’s time at Westwood. “While we’ll certainly miss him and I’m sure he’ll miss the students, we’re excited for him to be able to go work with his mentor.”
Richard previously worked with Chris Knutsen, who is leaving the principal position at Florence High to be the Florence district’s assistant superintendent.
“Dr. Richard was mentored by Mr. Knutsen some years ago, and they have remained friends. Dr. Richard connects well with students and values teachers and faculty while keeping high expectations. He’s positive, a problem solver, not afraid to try new things, and is loyal to the cause (our kids),” the Florence district stated in its announcement of principal changes.
A new principal for Mesa’s Mountain View High School could be voted on Tuesday. Longtime Mountain View High principal Craig Luketich announced in the fall that he will retire in June.
“Craig is an extraordinary school leader and much of the accomplishments at Mountain View can be attributed to his guidance. We’re not looking for another Craig Luketich. We’re looking for another person who can continue his legacy forward,” Cowan said.
Each spring, the district makes a call for principal applicants because it can’t always anticipate when a new school leader will be needed, Cowan said. Because of that, there are already a few people interested in working in Mesa as a principal. The district will interview candidates for the Westwood position on April 22, Cowan said.
Westwood High assistant principal Thad Gates has also accepted a position in the Florence Unified School District. He will become leader of Florence High School.
Richard’s first year at Westwood has been praised by some and criticized by others. Two students who were caught fighting last fall were given the option of suspension or an hour of holding hands. The students chose to hold hands, with a photo of them going viral online.
At the time, a district spokeswoman said Richard’s discipline of the two students, “was outside our guidelines.”
Other students worried that Richard would be punished for his actions and decided to hold hands around the school to show their support. Their rally was covered by the local media, including this newspaper.
Contact writer: (480) 898-6549 or mreese@evtrib.com
mesateacher posted at 9:03 pm on Wed, Mar 20, 2013.
There are more high schools in Mesa than these two that need, really, really need new principals...if you know what I mean.[wink]
Irons1 posted at 7:00 am on Thu, Mar 21, 2013.
As long as the Mesa Public Schools continue to hire people as administrators who have not taught very long, the same problems will remain. How do people who have only taught 2-3 years lead schools? Yes, they have the piece of paper, but they don't really know how to teach, because they, themselves haven't really done it for very long. It takes a little longer than that to be an effective teacher. How does that make an effective evaluator of teachers and teacher effectiveness? Plain and simple, it doesn't. You have people who have never really done the job, evaluating the job and it doesn't work very well.
henry98 posted at 4:10 pm on Fri, Mar 22, 2013.
@Irons1: Study after study invalidates your claim that years of teaching experience have anything to do with effective school leadership. Here is just one of many examples: http://www.darden.virginia.edu/web/uploadedFiles/Darden/Darden_Curry_PLE/UVA_School_Turnaround/Importing_Leaders_for_School_Turnarounds.PDF
And I am sure you can find more. The Mtn View Principal was a very experienced educator and he is retiring after many years, it has nothing to do with his years of experience. The Westwood Principal is a reformer (think Michelle Rhee) who delivered actual tangible academic and school culture results in a very short time. I understand he is leaving because of frustration and lack of support from the top heavy and out of touch district office. I agree with you that experience is important and it can make a difference. As a few examples, the district has a few Assistant Superintendents and a Superintendent who have ZERO experience working at high schools. If they are insecure and unwilling to listen to their people who ARE working in the high schools as to best practices, then there will be problems. Similarly, if you havea principal with, as you say, "only 2-3 years teaching experience" trying to micro-manage what a teacher is doing in the classroom, that too is a problem. However, this is not the case at Westwood or Mtn View. It is about a retirement and about an innovator who was not welcome amongst the dinosaurs who supervised him.
Irons1 posted at 10:07 am on Sat, Mar 23, 2013.
Henry, hate to break it to you, but you are wrong. I am in the front lines and I know. Dr. Richard was a reformer and not necessarily wrong. It's many others in the district that have not taught very long and yet try to tell others how to do a job that they, themselves don't know how to do very well. It's like someone trying to tell another how to drive an 18 wheeler truck that has never driven a truck how to do the job. It is about micromanagement and that is exactly what is happening. You don't get the knowledge about how to teach out of a book. You have to have done it to appreciate how to do it. If you haven't done it, or haven't done it very long, you just don't get it.
henry98 posted at 3:47 pm on Sat, Mar 23, 2013.
@ Irons....It sounds like you and I agree, and, from what I have heard, the micro-management, from those who don't get it is why Richard is leaving.
mesateacher posted at 8:39 am on Mon, Mar 25, 2013.
Too bad this thread has generated so little interest. You want to know what's gone wrong in Mesa, check out Project Pathways being forced down teachers' throats at two high schools. It's destroying high school math and making some ASU professor rich. Teachers, parents, kids hate it. It is not preparing students for rigorous college math. Still, the higher ups with no experience are mandating it.