Portland Public Schools heralded Jeff Wilebski’s appointment as Buckman Elementary’s new principal in August. But less than a month after school started, he announced his resignation, fueling parent’s frustration and dismay over high principal turnover, a problem that has long created headaches throughout the district.
In a brief email to the Buckman community, Wilebski said he was departing from the role he held for less than a month, citing personal matters. He wrote he had decided to leave public schools altogether.
“Although I am passionate about education and have dedicated my life to working with students, it is time for me to move away from public education. I am not sure what the future will hold for me in education moving forward,” Wilebski said in an email.
The district introduced Wilebski to the Buckman community after district leaders transferred Buckman’s former principal Teresa Seidel after two years at the southeast Portland school to become principal at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in North Portland.
For Jeff Burns, a Buckman parent and PTA executive board member, the announcement came as a total blow.
“It’s really disheartening,” Burns said. “I mean it was definitely a punch in the stomach to have principal Seidel leave, because we all really liked her and the direction the school was going, and then to have a principal (Wilebski) leave suddenly, that really hurt.”
Burns said it’s like “drawing straws” to figure out the next step as the district searches for a replacement.
“My feeling is that they really need to turn around and focus on training the people they already have. Because if you’re stealing principals from another state or another school, you’re just creating another hole somewhere else,” Burns said.
Elizabeth Basaca, who has a second- and fifth-grader at Buckman, said after Seidel left it felt like they had “lost someone who could vocalize” for them. Wilebski seemed capable of attending to community concerns efficiently, she said.
“He seemed like a strong candidate but it just sounds like there’s just not a lot of district support for principals,” Basaca said.
Buckman joins other schools in the district struggling to keep principals onboard. Since the return of students to the classroom, four principals, including Wilebski, have either left abruptly or made lateral moves within the district.
During the first week of school, Laurelhurst PTA President Emily Henkle was surprised to learn that Laurelhurst School’s principal of two years, Olgamar Amor, was being transferred to serve as the new principal at Bridger Elementary. Amor replaced Melissa Schachner, who moved to a position at the central district office after four years as Bridger’s principal.
While pleased with the promotion of Alyson Brant from Laurelhurst’s vice principal to its interim principal, Henkle believes the constant transfer and changes of principals within the district makes it harder to build trust between administrators and school communities.
“I think that the parent community at our school and I would hope at all schools really wants to see a bigger commitment, maybe upfront, from the district and from principals that they’re going to stay and be invested in this school in the community and be supported,” Henkle said.
A critical audit released by the Oregon Secretary of State in 2019 found that the district systematically undermined educational quality for its Black, Latino and Indigenous students. It cited the lack of sensible steps to attract and more importantly retain excellent principals in schools serving such students as a primary driver of racial achievement disparities.
The most recent school to experience a shift in leadership this fall is Rose City Park Elementary. Portland district officials announced Michael Bacon as Rose City Park’s interim principal on Sept. 17, the end of the third week of the school year, after Jeremy Cohen suddenly departed after more than three years as principal.
The current “principal’s message” on the Rose City Park school website, dated Sept. 10, 2020, is signed by Cohen. The district’s announcement that Bacon, who has overseen dual language immersion programs at the district’s central office for nearly a decade, was becoming the school’s interim leader for this year said only that Cohen “is taking a position outside the district.”
Madison Temmel; Mtemmel@oregonian.com; @MadisonTemmel
Buckman Elementary principal quits early in school year, latest instance of high leadership turnover in Portl - OregonLive
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