UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The principal of the Texas school where the nation’s deadliest classroom shooting in a decade happened was reinstated Thursday, three days after she was suspended with pay in the wake of security criticisms leveled by a legislative committee.
Mandy Gutierrez, who Uvalde school district officials suspended with pay Monday as Robb Elementary School principal, was reinstated Thursday in a brief letter from Superintendent Hal Harrell.
The reinstatement came after Gutierrez, in a letter to the committee members, disputed the key findings that a “culture of complacency” had developed at the school that allowed a gunman to enter the school and kill 19 children and two teachers. She also said the lock on the door to the fourth-grade classroom where the May 24 shooting happened worked when a custodian checked it the night before.
Harrell suspended Gutierrez with pay on Monday pending a performance review pertaining to school security. However, in his Thursday letter, Harrell said she would be allowed to return to work immediately “and will continue to serve the district in an administrative capacity.”
The legislative report placed the most fault with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, which took more than an hour to enter the classroom where the shooter was and kill him as parents outside the school begged officers to do something and dispatchers took 911 calls from inside the school. Surveillance footage of police officers in body armor milling in the hallway while the gunman carried out the massacre led to rage from families of victims, who have demanded accountability.
Lakehead University’s Orillia campus has a new interim principal, but she is not a newcomer to the campus as long-time employee Dr. Linda Rodenburg has taken the reins.
For Rodenburg, becoming interim principal has brought her career full circle. She started as a concurrent education program student at Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus in 1995. After finishing her PhD in New Zealand, she joined Lakehead’s Orillia campus faculty as an English teacher in 2006.
“I’ve been really committed to the community ever since,” she said. “This role is really an opportunity to bring that passion for education and community engagement into a leadership position on campus.”
Rodenburg, 46, grew up on a farm in Woodstock. She was one of the first people in her family to go on to post-secondary education and the first one to have a PhD.
“I think that is one of the reasons I’m so comfortable in Orillia,” she said. “I feel like, for many families in Orillia, their students are pursuing post-secondary education for the first time.”
While serving as interim principal, Rodenburg will continue to provide oversight to faculty working in the community engagement office as she did in her previous role as director of community engagement.
She says her passion for the university comes from the campus being a place for lifelong learning for everyone in Simcoe County.
“I feel like Lakehead is an accessible place to experience educational opportunities,” she said. “I really feel like anyone can feel at home here.”
Lakehead is at a pivotal moment in its history, Rodenburg says, making her new job even more important.
“We are emerging from a pandemic,” she said. “I feel like Lakehead is uniquely situated for us to participate in real conversations about how we can move forward as a community.”
Rodenburg’s says her goal is to cultivate relationships that will allow for important conversations to happen.
“Relationships between faculty, teachers and researchers, community partners, and high school students — all of them need to feel welcomed on campus and a part of the conversation going forward about how we do things differently after this pandemic,” she said.
Bridging relationships between the university and the community is a job Rodenburg feels confident about. She will be given a year or two in the interim role before having to apply to become the permanent principal.
“There will definitely be a search at the national level for a role of this nature,” she said. “If I’m excited to continue on, I’ll be excited to compete.”
For now, she is focused on the present and getting down to business.
“I think the county is growing, Orillia is thriving, and I’m committed to ensuring that Lakehead is a part of those conversations going forward,” she said. “I think it’s such an important moment for us as a community to think through how our university functions at the heart of Orillia.”
Dean Jobin-Bevans will remain a member of Lakehead’s faculty. However, Rodenburg did not speak about why he is no longer principal.
“I’m not sure that it’s appropriate for me to really talk about that,” she said.
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The principal of Robb Elementary School, who was placed on administrative leave more than two months after a mass shooting there, has pushed back on some of a Texas House committee’s conclusions about campus security.
In a letter to the House committee investigating the May 24 shooting, Mandy Gutierrez argued that the door to the classroom the gunman is believed to have entered had a functioning lock, that she was trained not to use the school’s public address system during shooting situations and that there was not a culture of complacency about security at Robb Elementary.
“It is unfair and inaccurate to conclude that I ever [became] complacent on any security issue of Robb Elementary,” Gutierrez said.
The House committee report pointed to several failures in law enforcement’s response to the shooting and issues at Robb Elementary that allowed the shooter to enter the school unobstructed before killing 19 children and two teachers.
Gutierrez’s letter responds to parts of the House committee report in which she was mentioned. The report concluded that while Robb Elementary’s active-shooter policy called for classroom doors to be locked, multiple witnesses said employees often left interior and exterior doors unlocked or propped open. Additionally, the report stated that the door to Room 111 — which investigators believe the shooter entered — was known to be faulty, though no one made a substantive effort to repair it.
Gutierrez outlined several points that she said proves the door to Room 111 had a functioning lock, including daily checks by custodial staff. She added that in “an aged building” like Robb Elementary, some doors needed to be forcibly shut to engage the locking mechanism.
“Teachers know this and work around it,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez did not dispute the report’s assertion that some staff didn’t follow safety policies requiring doors be kept locked.
The report also said school staff didn’t reliably receive notices from the Uvalde schools alert system, and some personnel didn’t always respond with urgency. The committee said that Uvalde’s prevalence of “bailout” alerts — instances when human traffickers trying to escape the police crash a vehicle and cause the passengers to flee in many directions — “dampened everyone’s readiness to act.”
Gutierrez rebuffed the notion that “bailouts” created a culture of complacency.
“We were trained to treat every alert from any law enforcement agency as a situation with the high potential to escalate into a dangerous episode for students, teachers, and administrators,” she said.
Pointing to her performance review, Gutierrez noted that she was given an “accomplished” rating for creating a safe school environment.
The report also noted that the school had unreliable Wi-Fi service, hampering a mobile app alert system used by school staff. Gutierrez said more evidence would be needed to confirm why some teachers and employees may have not received the alert. She said well-known Wi-Fi issues slowed her ability to send a message about an active shooter, but that when she called Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo, he indicated he was aware of the alert.
The report stated that no one used the school intercom system to communicate the lockdown, which Gutierrez said was a result of her training.
“Our training emphasized that using the Public Address System could compound the problem in creating a panic situation with students and an alert to one or more gunman that was present to do maximum harm,” Gutierrez said.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s spokesperson, Anne Marie Espinoza, did not respond to a request for comment for this story on Wednesday.
In a text message to the The Texas Tribune, the committee’s chair, state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said, “I have not received the letter Ms. Gutierrez claims to have sent. The committee relied upon the testimony of interviews of multiple employees of the Uvalde CISD (including staff and administration) and the Uvalde CISD Police Department in coming to its conclusions related to the practices that took place at Robb Elementary School.”
Gutierrez is the third local official and the first school administrator to be suspended since the shooting. Uvalde police Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the city’s acting police chief the day of the massacre, was placed on leave the day of the report’s release by the city manager.
Arredondo, the chief of the school district’s police department who has borne much of the blame for the delay in confronting the shooter, is on unpaid leave; a scheduled school board meeting to decide whether to fire him was postponed last week.
Uriel J. García contributed to this story.
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An elementary school principal from Nova Scotia has been charged in relation to an alleged sexual assault that took place 20 years ago involving a 14-year-old child.
Police believe there may be more victims.
RCMP say they received a report of a sexual assault, that took place between the fall of 2001 and the summer of 2002, on June 20 of this year.
Jared Purdy, the regional executive director for TCRCE, told Global News Thornton is a “long-standing employee” and was employed by them back in 2001. However, he said Thornton was not the principal of Plymouth School at the time, but declined to give further information.
“We take this situation very seriously,” said Purdy.
“We are fully co-operating with the RCMP investigation but are unable to comment further on matters before the court. Our priority continues to be the safety and well being of our students.”
Through their investigation, RCMP believe there may be more victims and are asking them to come forward.
“We believe there may be more victims because the accused would have had access to potential other victims,” said RCMP Cpl. Chris Marshall.
Due to the time range, RCMP know that potential victims may no longer be living in the Yarmouth area.
Marshall said anyone who feels they may be a victim “anytime over the past 20 years at the very least” should contact their local RCMP or police department.
A familiar face is returning to Strathmore High School (SHS); after spending time as the principal at Wheatland Crossing School, former SHS Associate Principal Doug Raycroft will now be the principal!
Raycroft was with SHS from 2009-2017 before he went to Wheatland Crossing. Now, he's making a return to fill the position previously held by Kyle Larson. Raycroft says he's excited to make his return.
"I'm excited to go back and work with Strathmore High School. It's a lot bigger school than where I was, I'm looking forward to it. The athletics and our academic focus... there's a lot of things at Strathmore High School that are awesome."
While going to SHS will be great, Raycroft added that he likes Wheatland Crossing as well, and will miss working there.
"It's a little bit bitter sweet, I did like the school I was at, it's a great school. But an opportunity came open to go to Strathmore High School and it's a bigger school, closer to home for me, so I'm excited."
SHS isn't a new environment for Raycroft, which he thinks will help with the transition. While it will still take time to build relationships with the community, parent council and staff, Raycroft says he already knows most of the staff.
"I have relationships with a lot of the staff already, good working relationships. That always helps to speed up the process a little bit when you already have some trust built."
Raycroft added that community is a big focus for him. He says he learned about the importance of community from his time at Wheatland Crossing.
"I have a new focus on how important community is. Of course, Strathmore is a lot bigger, but that's one of the things I want to really focus on is trying to get that big community a little bit closer to the school."
With any school, the focus is always on the students themselves. Raycroft hopes to build a supportive environment for students to thrive.
"We want to make sure that all students have adults they can lean on and trust, so when times are tough there's always somewhere to go. I know that the supports for families and students at Strathmore High School are awesome and they have a lot of support with Golden Hills School Division as well. We just want to make sure that we are supporting our students and pushing them to be the best people they can be, the best citizens and the best students."
Wheatland Crossing School's new principal will be Michelle Hilton.
Principal turnover rates have been rising, with some surveys suggesting that as many as 4 in 10 principals expect to leave their profession in the next three years. But positive psychology techniques can help reduce principal burnout and potentially bring down turnover rates in the long run.
That’s according to Eleanor Su-Keene, a doctoral candidate in educational leadership at Florida Atlantic University, and David DeMatthews, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Historically, psychology has been focused around the ailments and the problematic issues with human mental health,” Su-Keene said. “But positive psychology is kind of refocusing on some of the elements of being human that are really powerful, [by] enhancing well-being and positivity.”
Through their research, Su-Keene and DeMatthews wanted to not just study burnout in school principals, but also provide evidence-based practices that could improve school leaders’ mental well-being.
“So [we’re] not just looking at how difficult and stressful the job could be, but what can we actually do to help principals,” said DeMatthews.
Their research provides individual and district-level recommendations to show how proven positive psychology strategies can be used to reduce job stress in school principals. Here are seven lessons drawn from their research article, which was published The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues, and Ideas:
1) ‘Savoring the moment’
Su-Keene and DeMatthews define savoring as “the psychological process of noticing and deepening the experience of positive emotions.”
Principals should recognize positive experiences like watching a school play set up by students or having a former student speak about the school’s positive impact, and try to be mindful of the positive feelings they experience during these moments.
By doing so, they can “deepen the experience by focusing and sharpening the physical sensations around that positive feeling,” such as smiling or laughing, according to the study.
2) Memory-building promotes positive feelings
When going through positive experiences, principals should slow the moment down in their mind and try to build a mental picture, the research suggests.
This way, they can savor the memory, both during the moment and over the long-term.
3) Savor moments in retrospect
One way principals can hold onto and enjoy memories in the long term is by journaling positive workplace experiences and reflecting on them.
DeMatthew’s prior research found that while principals do experience large amounts of stress at their job, they also experience moments of pride and joy in their work.
“We know in our work and in our research that principals are enjoying things about leadership on a daily basis,” Su-Keene said. “There are things happening inside classrooms, inside schools, with conversations with other teachers and students that are really meaningful.”
The research found that by recalling these memories, principals can further boost positive feelings they experience from their work.
4) “Cultivating sacred moments” can help
According to the article, “principals often find strength by turning inward toward their ‘why’ or purpose.”
By identifying certain moments in the school setting as sacred, in that they stand out as special and timeless, principals can find a sense of purpose in the work they do.
These moments can be incorporated as part of a routine (for example, focusing on the moment of welcoming students into school every morning), or symbolized with a sentimental keepsake like a gift or a drawing received from a student.
5) Districts can provide cognitive behavioral coaching
Cognitive behavioral coaches work with principals confidentially in a safe space and help them set small goals in working toward a healthy and positive sense of self.
“We encourage districts to have ... systems and people in place that can support principals on a coaching level,” Su-Keene said.
By providing this solutions-focused coaching, principals can “address stressors and feel confident in their strengths and efforts as they work towards their goals,” the research says.
6) Principal supervisors can be trained in positive psychology interventions
DeMatthews and Su-Keene’s research suggests that in districts that provide mental health resources to school staff, principal supervisors should be trained in positive psychology interventions or PPIs.
“We encourage the supervisors to be cognizant of the ailments and the problems and all of the really negative stuff that’s occurring for educators and principals right now,” Su-Keene said, so that they can provide school staff with much-needed mental health support.
These PPIs could include providing principals with training sessions on self care and managing job-related stress, as well as creating a broader mental health support network.
7) Provide spaces for principals to complain
Principals need to kvetch, too. One unusual suggestion the research puts forth is to create effective safe spaces for principals to voice their complaints.
“In the literature, complaining gets a really bad rep,” Su-Keene said. “But it has been shown to be an effective way of releasing some of that stress; being able to talk about complaints but not just in feeling negativity, but actually effectively addressing the base of those complaints.”
By hearing complaints, she said, districts can learn more about the problems principals face and figure out ways to address these issues.
SAO PAULO, July 25 (Reuters) - Investment management company Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG.O) announced on Monday it has tapped Robert van Dijk as its chief executive officer in Brazil as it looks to strengthen its footprint in Latin America's largest economy.
U.S.-based Principal has operated since 1999 in Brazil, where it owns asset manager Claritas Investimentos and a stake in pension plan provider Brasilprev, a joint venture with state-run lender Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.SA).
Earlier this year, it hired former Brasilprev executive Nelson Katz as its chief operating officer in the country.
Principal's chief executive, Dan Houston, said in a statement that the newly created Brazil CEO role would help the company meet rising client demand for global investment products while accelerating its plans to become a leader in asset management in Brazil.
"Van Dijk will be fundamental in the development and execution of a long-term growth strategy in the country," said the company, which also has operations in Mexico and Chile.
Van Dijk, who will report to Latin America head Roberto Walker and Principal Global Investors CEO Pat Halter, previously worked at private lenders Banco Bradesco SA (BBDC4.SA) and Banco Votorantim, and had been working at wealth management firm Hieron Family Office, where he was a founding partner.
Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Leslie Adler
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Investment management company Principal Financial Group Inc announced on Monday it has tapped Robert van Dijk as its chief executive officer in Brazil as it looks to strengthen its footprint in Latin America's largest economy.
U.S.-based Principal has operated since 1999 in Brazil, where it owns asset manager Claritas Investimentos and a stake in pension plan provider Brasilprev, a joint venture with state-run lender Banco do Brasil SA.
Earlier this year, it hired former Brasilprev executive Nelson Katz as its chief operating officer in the country.
Principal's chief executive, Dan Houston, said in a statement that the newly created Brazil CEO role would help the company meet rising client demand for global investment products while accelerating its plans to become a leader in asset management in Brazil.
"Van Dijk will be fundamental in the development and execution of a long-term growth strategy in the country," said the company, which also has operations in Mexico and Chile.
Van Dijk, who will report to Latin America head Roberto Walker and Principal Global Investors CEO Pat Halter, previously worked at private lenders Banco Bradesco SA and Banco Votorantim, and had been working at wealth management firm Hieron Family Office, where he was a founding partner.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Leslie Adler)
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The principal of the Texas elementary school where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers says the principal was placed on administrative leave Monday, her attorney said.
Robb Elementary School Principal Mandy Gutierrez was placed on paid administrative leave by Uvalde school Superintendent Hal Harrell, said attorney Ricardo Cedillo of San Antonio in a terse statement to The Associated Press.
Cedillo did not provide any further information on the reason for the move or any other comment. A message to a spokeswoman for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District was not immediately returned.
Also Monday, the district school board approved a three-week postponement of the start of the district school year until Sept. 6 so district officials can replace Robb Elementary’s classrooms and other educational resources.
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Some Alabama school principals are no longer the highest-paid person in their buildings.
With big pay increases for experienced Alabama’s K-12 teachers – as high as $88,000 for a teacher with 35 years of experience – some principals believe their salaries are falling short, state Superintendent Eric Mackey told officials recently.
The Alabama Education Lab took a look at principal salaries statewide for the 2021-22 school year using data provided by the Alabama Department of Education.
Scroll down to see your district’s average pay and the top 30 highest-paid principals in Alabama.
Alabama’s average principal salaries by school district varied widely, from a low of $74,300 in Wilcox County schools to $124,000 in Saraland City schools.
At the school level, the salary of a full-time principal ranged from $61,153 in Hale County to $158,300 in Hoover City Schools.
The average public school principal salary statewide was $97,635 for the 2021-22 school year. That includes county, city and charter schools at all grade levels.
That’s an increase of 11% from five years ago when the average Alabama principal’s salary was $88,200.
By comparison, the average Alabama teacher’s salary was up 6%, from $49,835 to $53,903, during the same time period.
However, that average can vary widely by district, subject and experience. Some districts are paying $95,000 for highly experienced and educated teachers.
The Southern Regional Education Board tracks compensation for educators. President Stephen Pruitt said teacher compensation has gotten better, but there’s still work to be done. Given the challenges educators have endured the last two and a half years, schools should look at ways to better support teachers as professionals, he said.
“The responsibilities of both principals and teachers have only expanded during the pandemic,” Pruitt said. “Students and educators alike have faced trauma in the past two years from isolation, family illness or economic stress–or all of those.”
The role of a principal has changed through the years, and principals do a lot more than manage operations in a school building.
“Principals do have an awesome level of responsibility,” Pruitt said. “Keeping students safe, managing teachers and staff, ensuring students are succeeding, and working with families.”
Across the country, according to 2021 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, principals earned an average of $102,760. That data includes all principals at the elementary, middle and high school level in both public and private schools.
The median pay, BLS reports, was $98,870 in May 2021, for local schools and $79,780 for private schools. Other management occupations earn a similar annual salary, according to BLS.
Among the professions earning around the same median wage were speech-language pathologists, some public relations specialists, some accountants and auditors and some mechanical engineers.
The data provided by the state department is a snapshot of the annual salary of the principal who was employed as principal in October 2021. An unknown number of principals may have retired during the school year, while principal contracts are typically renewed in June or July for the coming school year.
This chart shows the average principal salary for each of Alabama’s school districts and charter schools.
Pay typically differs among schools based on grade level.
High school principals have the highest average salary at $104,206. Middle school principals have the next highest at $99,127. Elementary principals on average make $94,522.
*The state’s data did not list a principal for Vestavia Hills High School but listed two principals for Liberty Park Middle School. The public information officer for the district said the Liberty Park Middle School principal’s salary was $117,300.00. The ALSDE confirmed the high school principal’s salary was $149,725
CHICOPEE – One of Ann Marie Liswell favorite parts of being an educator was seeing children learning to read and enjoying reading.
It is fitting that the library at Fairview Veterans Elementary School will now be named in her memory.
Liswell, 58, was the vice principal of the about 400-student school when she died in March following a two-year battle with cancer. She had served in the position for about 13 years and prior to that she was a teacher at Patrick E. Bowe School, said Irene Lemieux, who recently retired as principal of Fairview.
“She had such love for children, nurturing them, teaching them and the library was her favorite place,” Lemieux said.
Liswell was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She continued to work remotely for as long as she could and kept in touch with faculty and children while undergoing treatments, Lemieux said.
She was always so positive and that attitude spread throughout the school from the day she started working there, Lemieux said.
“I swear the kids would sometimes get in trouble just so they could go to the office and sit and talk with her,” Lemieux said.
Lemieux said she remembers first meeting Liswell when the School Committee had approved funding for a vice principal for her school. The two clicked immediately and became a great professional team as well close friends.
In fact the two became best friends and it was Lemieux who pushed to have the library named in Liswell’s honor, said Robert Liswell, Ann Marie’s husband.
“This is a nice recognition of her,” Liswell said, adding he and his son Colby, a 2022 Chicopee High graduate, want to thank Lemieux, interim Superintendent Alvin Morton and the School Committee for the honor.
The school was very important to her. Liswell said his wife would always go above and beyond bringing in coats and gloves to kids who needed them and enlisting friends to come into the school to read to the students.
Liswell said his wife will also be remembered at the Ken O’Neill Dusk to Dawn golf tournament, scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Aug. 8, at the Boathouse in South Hadley. This year Mike O’Neill, director of golf at Chicopee Country Club, will be playing 108 holes in honor of Liswell and Andy Yee, a well known restaurateur and businessman, who died in 2021 at the age of 59.
The Liswells have been long supporters of the event, which raises money for the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ken-oneil-dusk-to-dawn-golf-marathon-2022-tickets. More information is also available on the event’s Facebook page.
Robert Liswell, who created the Chicopee Fest Of All Committee, has volunteered countless hours to help the city of Chicopee and he said his wife was always there with him. The couple met when Liswell was working at the golf course as a summer job and they got involved with the tournament.
Scott Chapdelaine, director of school facilities, also spoke in favor of the proposal to name the school.
Under the School Committee policy, the proposal was first sent to the Fairview School Council where it was endorsed unanimously and then submitted to the facilities subcommittee, which also approved it unanimously, said Donald Lamothe, a School Committee member.
The full School Committee voted 8-0 on July 20 to name the library after Liswell. Their vote was followed by applause from staff who attended the meeting.
School staff plans to put up a plaque in the fall officially naming the library in her honor, Lemieux said.
Celine Wicks in 2019 when she was hired as the principal of Strawberry Park Elementary School. The Steamboat Springs Board of Education named her Superintendent of the district last week. Courtesy Photo
Celine Wicks, the current principal at Strawberry Park Elementary School, has been picked to become the next superintendent of the Steamboat Springs School District.
The board of education had chosen to bring in four candidates to interview with the board and three stakeholder groups in person on Thursday, July 21. After this, the board met Friday morning, July 22, where the board unanimously decided to offer Wicks the position.
“We were fortunate to have four very strong candidates willing to serve as our permanent superintendent,” Board President Katy Lee said in a statement. “The board unanimously agreed that Dr. Wicks is the right fit to lead us both through the short term and aligns perfectly with out vision for the long term.”
The board has designated Lee and Board Vice President Chresta Brinkman to negotiate a contract with Wicks over the next week. On Friday, July 29, the board has scheduled a special meeting where it will officially approve a deal for Wicks to become the next superintendent.
Before the board knew Wicks had applied for the superintendent role, Lee said her name surfaced to head the district on an interim basis when then Superintendent Brad Meeks retired on June 30. The board then appointed her to that role on June 27.
“Wicks brings extensive experience in monitoring student learning progress, supporting teachers, differentiating instruction to meet the individual needs of students and effectively integrating technology into the classroom,” according to a Friday news release from the school board.
Those were the same words the district used when Wicks was hired at principal of Strawberry Park Elementary in 2019. At the time, Wicks said a big part of her focus was ensuring that teachers are getting support and professional development opportunities.
“As long as teachers are growing, we know students are growing as well,” Wicks told Steamboat Pilot & Today in 2019.
Originally from Boston, Wicks spent nine years in the Douglas County School District south of Denver. Prior to coming to Steamboat, Wicks was principal of Rocky Heights Middle School in Highlands Ranch.
Wicks taught second, fourth, sixth and seventh grades before becoming an administrator. She has also spent part of her career in training and development of adult learning and is an adjunct professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department at the University of Northern Colorado.
At the end of May, the board hired the consulting firm McPherson and Jacobson to lead the search and set an aggressive timeline to find a new superintendent that hoped to have someone in place by Aug 1.
The board set a pay range from $190,000 to $230,000 a year for the job. Meeks made about $214,000 in his final year at the helm of the district. Norm Ridder of McPherson and Jacobson said it is common for an incoming leader to make more than the outgoing one.
The board’s special meeting to approve Wicks as superintendent is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, July 29.
POWNAL — Pownal Elementary School has a new principal -- and she’s ready to carry the torch of Pownal pride.
Bethany Lorge from North Adams, Mass., started her new job on July 1 after coming back to the area from San Antonio, Texas. There, she got her masters degree in teaching. She went on to teach middle school social studies and reading and coach for a total of eight years.
She soon decided to get a second masters in educational leadership. That allowed her to be an assistant principal for two years before getting promoted to the principal position, where she stayed for four years.
While she was in Texas, Lorge realized how important sports were to the culture in the south. She said her middle school students were pushed to decide what sport they wanted to dedicate their life to.
In contrast, she spoke about how she still keeps in touch with her basketball coach and her band director.
“They were instrumental in my education, and they were on completely opposite ends, but united,” she said.
That’s the type of education she wants her students in Pownal to experience.
“I want to be someone who can promote a well rounded student,” she said. “That's a priority to me, that the relationship and the wholeness of a student comes before anything else.”
While evaluations and testing are part of the educational system and a tool in understanding how children are progressing, Lorge said testing "is not the end-all be-all of education.” She continuously emphasized the importance of community and relationships in Pownal.
In her larger school in Texas, she said she was more removed from the day-to-day tasks; she took on a more supervisory role. In Pownal, at a smaller school, she sees that the role is more community based.
“There's a lot of history. Getting to know that has been part of my job and what I'm working on, but there's a lot of pride,” she said.
With the gang presence growing in Bennington County, children can be a vulnerable population. Lorge has experience with this issue from when she worked in the inner city of San Antonio.
“The reality of gangs were literally at our doorstep,” she said.
She can’t solve every problem, but she believes “that education is what starts to transition and change and give hope, and really at the end of the day, a child's best bet to create their own life is through their education.” A strong educational foundation can support them when they are faced with tough decisions.
Lorge understands that “if you lose [kids] in elementary, it's really hard to gain them back in middle, and we saw that when students came to us in middle school.” It’s more difficult to help a child catch up than it is to keep them at pace with their classmates.
“When they see that they feel safe here, that … they can be successful when they're challenged, that sets them on the path for, as they move to their next level, that they have hope,” she said. “They know what success feels like.”
She’s aware of the fierce pride Pownal has for its community, and that a lot of that pride comes from the school.
Currently an assistant principal at Wilson & Young Medal of Honor Middle School, he has been with Ector County ISD for 10 years. Previously, he served in the U.S. Army for 20 years, leaving as a sergeant first class.
Originally from Atlanta, Ga., Iker moved around the country and world — Germany, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, Korea, Hawaii, Washington State and California.
He and his wife, Raquel, have five children.
His wife was previously a special education teacher for eight years and now works for American Momentum Bank.
Iker earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia College while he was in the Army and his master’s degree in educational leadership from University of Texas Permian Basin.
Columbia College is in Columbia, Mo. The military partners with local colleges, so he was able to take classes at Fort Leonard Wood.
“It’s one of those unique situations that the military provides for the service members,” Iker said.
He started off as a teacher/coach at Ector Middle School before it became an in-district charter.
Within the first year or two of his military career, Iker said he was steering toward education.
“… From that point on, I tried to drive my career towards instruction and being a military instructor and having those opportunities,” he said.
His father was in the military and his wife was, as well. They got married in Hawaii.
Iker said his military background helps in education.
“It gives me a good foundation. It also gives me the ability to deal with people, build those quality relationships quickly because the rotations in the military come so quick. That building relationships is fundamental in the military, so it made for an easier transition when I moved into education. I just found it easier to build those quality relationships with adults and students,” Iker said.
Having spent his career at middle schools, Iker said he’s looking forward to becoming an elementary principal.
“… It’s a change. It’s an opportunity to grow. I’ve been in the middle school my whole career, so there are those challenges of just learning what goes on in the elementary school so I’m just super-excited to expand my horizons and my professional career,” Iker said.
His goals at Jordan will be to grow teachers so they can grow students and close gaps and bring parents back into the school to help with their children’s education.
Jordan has about 800 students in grades kindergarten through fifth.
“Right now, I think they’re a C-rated campus. Our goal is to be an A-rated campus. … It should take three to four years to do that with incremental growth. We’re not rushing anything, like overnight success. …,” Iker said.
He added that he is looking forward to starting the year and working with the teachers at Jordan.
“… I’ve heard nothing but great things about Barbara Jordan and the staff over there and the family they have over there. I’m just eager to be part of that and get in there and see where we can grow; see how I can help them grow. We can reach those goals of becoming an A campus,” Iker said.
He added that he has learned a lot from being at Wilson & Young and enjoyed working with the administrative team because they are so cohesive. The campus has about 1,250 students in grades six through eight.
“… It gives you an opportunity to focus on the things you want to grow on. And so just having that great admin team and then just a school full of professional teachers is just amazing …,” Iker said.
He added that it’s tough to find schools where the administrative team and teaching staff are so closely aligned and focused on what they’re trying to accomplish.
Chief of Schools Keeley Simpson said Iker is committed to the Jordan school community.
“As a member of the community himself, he is passionate about expanding opportunities for parent engagement and ensuring that students have an exceptional school experience,” Simpson said.
“He is a systems thinker and is highly involved with all aspects of teaching and learning,” she added. “… He’s great at designing and implementing systems based on needs.”
Wolf Creek Public Schools (WCPS) has announced the appointment of Ms. Kendall Johnson as assistant principal of Alix-MAC School.
“Kendall is an exemplary classroom practitioner, teacher mentor, and teacher leader,” said Alda Lovell, WCPS, director of people services. “She will be a tremendous asset to the admin team at Alix-MAC School.”
Johnson began her teaching career in Delia teaching Grade 6 before moving to Eckville Elementary School, where she taught K-2 and Grade 6. Johnson has worked at the Iron Ridge Elementary Campus for the past several years teaching grades two and three. Additionally, she has worked as a WCPS Learning Coach providing direct literacy and technology support to teachers.
“I am so thrilled and honoured to join the outstanding staff at Alix-MAC. Partnering with this talented team that is dedicated to creating excellent learning environments for students is very exciting, and I am so looking forward to building relationships and collaborating with my new colleagues within the school as well as the Alix community.”
Johnson has a Master of Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia. She is well known for seeking out and trying innovative and visionary practices such as project-based learning, design thinking, and STEAM projects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) that support active engagement and connections to learning with her students.
Vanessa Lebrasseur had previously been appointed to the position as assistant principal at Alix-MAC School for the coming school year, but with the recent changes to administration at École Lacombe Upper Elementary School accepted the appointment to that school.
Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG – Get Rating) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.
Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PFG. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Clarius Group LLC raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 4,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank acquired a new stake in Principal Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $639,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 5,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Principal Financial Group by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 116,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,516,000 after acquiring an additional 13,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.69% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Principal Financial Group in a report on Monday, May 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $63.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday, July 11th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $78.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $72.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $79.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.40.
Insider Activity at Principal Financial Group
In other Principal Financial Group news, EVP Wee Yee Cheong sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $710,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,633,603. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Principal Financial Group Stock Performance
NASDAQ:PFG opened at $64.67 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.72. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.61 and a 1-year high of $80.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $16.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.43.
Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.12. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 6.11 EPS for the current year.
Principal Financial Group Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 2nd were given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 1st. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.91%.
Principal Financial Group, Inc provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Global Investors, Principal International, and U.S. Insurance Solutions segments.
See Also
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Wolf Creek Public Schools (WCPS) has announced the appointment of Craig Fullarton as the new principal of École Lacombe Upper Elementary School (ÉLUES).
“Craig has proven himself as a school leader who has dedicated himself to building credibility and trust with his staff, students, and community,” said Alda Lovell, WCPS director of people services.
Fullarton began his teaching career in Lloydminster at Barr Colony Elementary School teaching Grade 6 before moving to James S. McCormick School where he taught Grade 2 for four years. Most recently, he has been the assistant principal at James S. McCormick School.
“It is a great privilege to be given the opportunity to become principal of ÉLUES,” said Fullarton. “ÉLUES is a school known for its wonderful culture and traditions and I look forward to building on all of the incredible aspects of the school that are already in place. The thought of working together with students, staff, families, and the greater community to create an amazing learning experience fills me with excitement and I can’t wait to begin.”
Fullarton holds a Bachelor of Education in the Middle Years Program from the University of Alberta Collaborative Program as well as a Masters in Educational Studies from the University of Alberta.
Outgoing Milpitas High School principal Francis A. Rojas is moving to Dublin, where he has been appointed as the founding principal of Emerald High School.
Emerald High, which is currently under construction, will be the second comprehensive public high school in the Dublin Unified School District and the first new comprehensive high school built in Alameda County in over 50 years.
"To find the right leader, we worked closely with our community to make sure their voices were heard and looked at many compelling candidates. I firmly believe that Francis brings the leadership qualities, diversity of experience, and motivation needed to open our second comprehensive high school and to create a culture of success that is embraced by our students, staff, and community," DUSD Superintendent Chris Funk said after the Board of Trustees appointed Rojas on July 12.
Rojas assumed the role of principal this past Tuesday.
He has served as the principal of Milpitas High for over five years, where he managed a $1.4 million site budget and oversaw 3,300 students and 250 staff members. From 2002 to 2017, he worked at James Logan High School in Union City as the vice principal, house principal, ninth-grade family coach, science teacher and student activities director.
He is currently pursuing his doctorate in the Leaders for Equity and Democracy Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and received a Master of Arts in educational leadership from the Principal Leadership Institute.
According to Rojas, launching a new high school requires a special skill set, with the presiding principal responsible for its creation, culture, staff and direction.
"My entire career has worked toward an opportunity of this nature and it's one I am eager to embrace, but also one I do not take lightly," Rojas said. "I'm excited to work with the community of Dublin to add to its great history of learning and to create a unique, diverse, challenging, and welcoming environment that will enable students to thrive throughout their lives."
Construction of Emerald High officially began on Sept. 30, 2020. Phase I of the construction is expected to be completed by Dec. 30, 2023 and will accommodate approximately 1,350 students. Phase II is scheduled to be completed by July 2025 and expand school capacity to 2,443 students.
After Phase I, the new campus will include academic buildings, a gymnasium, visual and performing arts classrooms, football field, track, tennis courts and administrative and counseling space. An additional academic tower, theater and stadium bleachers are planned for Phase II.
For up-to-date information on the Emerald High construction plans, visit the district website.
BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - A Biloxi principal was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with three felony fraud charges.
Melissa Nance is currently the principal at Nichols Elementary School, but the alleged crimes aren’t related to the Biloxi Public School District.
The charges come from the State Auditor’s Office and include conspiracy, intent to defraud, and making fraudulent statements/representations.
Nance is currently being held at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center for authorities in Yalobusha County. She’s been placed on administrative leave from her job with the Biloxi School District.
Biloxi School District Spokeswoman Jennifer Pyron said, “Mrs. Nance is a long-time employee and principal with an excellent record of success in the Biloxi Public School District. As we await the outcome of these allegations, we will continue to cooperate fully with the State Auditor’s Office.”
London principal Sue Bruyns was photographed on Wednesday July 20, 2022. Mike Hensen/The London Free Press
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As London-area schools slogged through the pandemic with online and hybrid learning, it was a different story in the Dominican Republic, says a city principal just back from mentoring teachers in the Caribbean nation.
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“We were so fortunate here at Thames Valley (District school board) for the most part to have things like internet and Google Classroom, and to have professional learning for education,” said Sue Bruyns, principal at northwest London’s Sir Arthur Currie elementary school.
Bruyns’ trip to the Dominican was her latest with Teacher Mentors Abroad, a charity set up in 2005 that focuses on “building capacity and strengthening the skills” of mentored teachers, she said.
In the Dominican, where about 40 per cent of the population lives in poverty and another 10 per cent in extreme poverty, teachers have to pay for their own internet in some cases and often used WhatsApp to connect with students amid shutdowns, she said.
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The Dominican education ministry “did put together some work booklets and some little TV shows similar to TVO that some kids could access, but access to education was much more compromised . . . than here,” Bruyns said.
Many schoolkids in the country became “disengaged from education,” she said.
“Or, they had so much screen time, they’re struggling with regulation or being back-in-person or lost (some of) those socialization skills while . . . at home,” she said. “It shone a greater light on the importance of getting kids in school and getting them to socialize and connect with teachers.”
Dominican classrooms are often “very meagre” and teaching methods can be rigid and traditional, with the teacher standing at the front of the class and pupils copying what they write on the blackboard.
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Teachers there often face opposition from administration over using more innovative teaching methods, Bruyns added. “We get a lot of courageous participants. We are pushing the envelope.”
Mentors teach Dominican educators how to include group work, community circles and “energizers” to keep kids physically active in their teaching, she said. “That’s the fun part, watching their trajectory while they build their skill set.”
Mentored teachers appreciate the help, Bruyns said.
“There is a greater appreciation for the work . . . because they don’t have same access to professional learning,” she said. “People are interested and want to learn.”
While in the Dominican, Bruyns said her group stayed at the home of a local organizer, and at a retreat with nuns observing a week-long vow of silence.
“It’s not resort living by any stretch of the imagination. There could be 12 of us in a room with one bathroom,” she said. “(But) they embrace us as part of their community.”
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Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Principal Financial Group, Inc. (
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