SYVUHS annoints new principal

 

Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District School Board officially appointed Suzanne Nicastro as the new principal for the 2008-09 school-year at its April 15 board meeting.

However, the way in which the school board discussed and announced Nicastro’s appointment is being questioned by some community members.

The school board made the announcement after returning from a one-and-a-half hour closed session in which it discussed certified negotiations, inter-district transfers and the appointment of Nicastro.

 

When the school board adjourned to closed session, all five of the board members, Joe Dugan, Jeffery Little, Holly Lindberg, Sharron Steele and Jack Mochnick, and Superintendent Fred Van Leuven were present. But when the doors opened to the public from closed session, Van Leuven was absent and Nicastro and incoming Superintendent Paul Turnbull were present. Neither Turnbull nor Nicastro had attended the open session. The board did not announce that either would be attending the closed session. The board announced that it was adjourning to close session to discuss the appointment of the Nicastro, among other separate closed session agenda items.

 

Nonetheless Turnbull and Nicastro were present for part of the closed session dealing with Nicastro’s appointment.

“I was there to answer any questions that may have been asked,” Paul Turnbull said.

Turnbull said he did not make any formal recommendations or decisions during closed session. He added that he did not attend the open session because there was no reason for him to.

Nicastro also confirmed she was present during closed session, but said that she had not been informed that she and Turnbull would be attending a closed session meeting.

“I came over and Paul met me and we waited over in the administration offices,” Nicastro said. “[We] waited until the board was finished with open and closed session business. Then we came over; we had a conversation with the board and then the board reconvened in open session and that’s when it was announced that the board had appointed me as principal.”

 

“I was asked to speak to the board about my possibility to be a candidate,” she said.

Despite the Switcheroo that occurred at the meeting, Nicastro said she is enthusiastic about coming back to the high school.

“I’m thrilled and honored to be the new principal and excited about returning to Santa Ynez Valley Union High School,” she said.

Nicastro begins her tenure on July 1. She is the principal of Vandenberg Middle School in the Lompoc Unified School District. She also served as a vice principal under Norm Clevenger in 2005-06 at SYVUHS. Nicastro will be earning $126,757 annually, and her contract will run through June 2010.

Unlike previous school board meetings that drew a crowd of more than 100 people, only 13 people were present at the April 15 meeting, most of whom were members of RoSY and school staff and faculty.

Clevenger, SYVUHS’ axed principal, who was put on administrative leave by Van Leuven on Feb. 14, was present at the meeting, along with members of the reformation of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School and other members of the public. 

In a final attempt to clear his name and be reinstated as the high school principal, Clevenger asked the board to keep the public and faculty “fully informed.” He said that there were no letters of reprimand in his file and called his treatment by the board “grossly unjust.”

 

Coleen Hefley, a RoSY representative, asked the board to allow Clevenger to return for graduation to send seniors away.

“This is not something you have to consult a lawyer about,” she said. “You need to look within your hearts and see what you want to do.”

Bruce Porter, also a RoSY representative, called Clevenger’s dismissal a “ham-fisted sack,” and accused administrators of illegally intimidating staff and faculty at the school.

He called for the board to apologize to Clevenger and said the board had the power to stop their recall.

“The ball’s in your court,” he said to the board.

Not all of the public speakers were RoSY supporters. Cindy Belanger openly supported the board’s decision and said Porter’s accusations were “just not true.”

Belanger said that the notion that all of the staff and faculty supported Clevenger’s return and the recall of all five board members was misleading.

She said that people from RoSY did not give enough credit to the board for making SYVUHS a beautiful and efficient campus.

 

Why on Earth would they want to recall, if they acknowledged all of the wonderful things that have happened on this campus?, she said.

In reaction to the board’s decision on March 11 to not reinstate Clevenger as principal, community members served board members with recall notices on that date.

Though Clevenger is still demanding that the board clear his reputation and reinstate him, he said he fully supports Nicastro’s appointment.

“If I can’t be here, she would be the next best choice,” he said. “She’s good for the school and the students.”

Though the board has finalized the selection of Nicastro, RoSY continues to push forward with its recall.

Hefley said that RoSY has already sent out 30 petition packets, which include 25 petitions for each board member, instructions and informational packets.

Porter also said that at least six people have discussed being board members in the event the entire board is recalled. RoSY must collect more than 2,400 signatures from the 12,026 registered voters in the district by the end of July.