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Teachers and parents urge board to restore full-time assistant principal at Johnson Park Elementary
Summary
Teachers, staff and parents told the Marysville Joint Unified board that reducing and splitting the Johnson Park assistant/vice-principal role between schools will stretch staff, reduce safety and consistency for students, and could prompt turnover; the board was asked to reconsider the decision.
Multiple Johnson Park staff and parents told the Marysville Joint Unified School District board they oppose a recent decision to reduce the school's assistant/vice-principal position and split duties between Johnson Park and Edgewater.
"A full-time assistant principal at each elementary school is not a privilege. It's the foundation for lasting success," Angela Stagel, president of the Marysville Unified Teachers Association, said in public comment, urging the board to weigh student safety and staffing impact alongside budgetary figures.
Emily McKinnon, a 10th-year educator at Johnson Park Elementary, said the night before school was not the time to finalise a staffing change that would have one administrator covering two campuses. "Asking one person to meet the needs of two schools will stretch that support impossibly thin," she said, citing growing enrollment and daily responsibilities such as discipline, family engagement and instructional leadership.
Jesus Rivas, a 23-year district teacher, said the vice-principal role had been reduced to "two days per week and every other Wednesday," which he said shifts urgent responsibilities onto teachers and could allow problems to escalate. "When a vice principal is present only part-time, these responsibilities inevitably shift onto teachers and staff, diluting our focus on instruction," Rivas said.
Parents echoed those concerns. "When you take a great man like your vice principal at our school and you split him, he's going to become frustrated and irritated. And the man may quit," David Higgins said, warning that splitting valued leadership risks turnover.
Trustees did not take an immediate staff-directed action during the meeting. Superintendent Reeves acknowledged the comments and reiterated district wishes for a successful opening day; no vote on reversing the staffing decision was recorded during the session.
Speakers asked the board to prioritize student safety and consistent on-site leadership when finalizing staffing assignments and to communicate any further changes with affected families and staff.
