Editorials

Time is right for a new administrative position

There's no question that the recent furor over the possible re-assignment of Los Gatos High School assistant principal Craig Heimbichner was a difficult time for our community.

Students staged a demonstration; some parents picketed in front of the school; teachers held special meetings; the school board opened its regular session to public comments--and the room was packed; there were newspaper articles; and the student newspaper, El Gato, put out an eight-page special edition.

And that's not all.

There were also ugly threats to recall the school board, anonymous phone calls and unsigned letters filled with veiled threats and sly innuendoes. This was the dark underbelly of a controversy that otherwise enjoyed a healthy community airing.

The problem with any controversy that grows out of a personnel issue is that there's no way the whole story can be told.

Whatever the whole story is, however, three assumptions can be made with a fair degree of certainty:

* The new administration could have done a much better job of communicating with students, staff and community;

* Craig Heimbichner's strongest skills lie in the area of discipline and working with troubled students;

* Principal Trudy McCulloch's assessment of Heimbichner was that he did not carry out some of his assistant principal duties as well as he did those related to his working directly with student discipline.

We believe the school board did the right thing in giving Superintendent Cynthia Ranii a vote of confidence to make administrative assignments.

Ranii's decision to create a district-wide position for school safety, student discipline and alternative options was a wise one. Giving Heimbichner a lateral move to head up the program makes sense.

Littleton, Colo., has changed forever the landscape of suburban schools. The incident has raised the country's consciousness not only about young people and violence, but about the pain and anger students feel when they're considered outsiders.

Last week, we reported that an incident had come to light in which a student at LGHS had brought a gun to school; last week, some 25 percent of the students at Redwood Middle School in Saratoga stayed away from the campus the day after administrators sent home a letter telling of rumors that a student had threatened to bring a gun to school.

A new day has dawned for suburban schools.

Clearly, the time is right for an assistant principal to focus on school safety, student discipline and alternative options for students on a district-wide level. Heimbichner's skills seem a good match for the job.

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