Source: Carmel Valley News
By Marsha Sutton
The announcement that Del Mar Hills Elementary School principal Laurie Francis will replace Michael Grove as the new principal at Carmel Valley Middle School is a blow to those teachers and parents at the Hills who have looked to Francis for the past six years as their protector of programs, positions and promises.
Francis, who replaced long-time Hills principal Gary Wilson in April 2002, has wrestled with the usual host of educational issues across the spectrum, but none more sinister than the persistent rumors that the school itself is destined to close due to low enrollment.
The survival of “The Little School That Could” was of such paramount importance that one of Francis’s last acts as principal was to prevent the closure of the Hills at all costs, even if it meant the unintended consequence of the demise of foreign language instruction at nearby Del Mar Heights School.
Embroiled in controversy, the Spanish language pilot program, slated to start this fall at the Heights before being killed by the school board in June, was eyed with suspicion by many Hills parents and teachers. By attracting kindergarten and first-grade students to the Heights, and unintentionally away from the Hills, the Spanish program was perceived by Hills supporters as a threat to their school’s very existence and was never fully embraced as a way to introduce foreign language into the Del Mar Union School District.
Worries over threats made in years past to close the Hills if enrollment dropped percolated once again to the surface, as fearful parents and teachers turned to Francis to present their case.
And present it she did. Keeping the Hills open was the overriding issue, and Francis championed the cause valiantly. She voiced her concerns on behalf of staff and parents, and worked feverishly to develop options that might boost Hills enrollment without delaying the Heights’ Spanish program.
The anxiety in her school’s community was palpable as Francis tried to quiet the unrest. Although killing the Spanish program was her last choice, and she publicly opposed any efforts to do so, it was inevitable, given the fervor of opponents and the current, politically unstable climate in the district.
As Francis now moves on to the San Dieguito Union High School District and takes charge of Carmel Valley Middle School, it must be an enormous relief for her not to have to worry continually about attracting more students, as she did at the Hills.
In fact, at CVMS, she will, ironically, have the opposite problem and will be juggling the excessive demands of an over-subscribed school of 1,300 students in grades 7 and 8. She will be working closely with the district and Earl Warren Middle School principal Anna Pedroza to discuss options for attracting students to EWMS and away from CVMS. This will be a challenge of quite a different sort.
The fact that a Del Mar Union School District principal will be transitioning fairly seamlessly to a San Dieguito middle school in Carmel Valley – to serve students from both Del Mar and Solana Beach School District elementary schools – illustrates just how much these two communities belong together. Whether that means a united Del Mar/Solana Beach school district, a unified San Dieguito district serving students in grades K-12, or some other innovative combination of grade configurations, the point is that a merger of some sort makes obvious sense.
These are all the same kids; we are all one community. Is it really proper any longer, if it ever was, to continue to separate neighborhoods and create unnatural boundaries, using freeways and roads to sort kids on one side of the street from kids on the other?
Besides rejuvenating the campaign for a merger, the departure of Francis from Del Mar Hills is a rare opportunity for the Del Mar Union School District to consider restructuring the district in fundamentally different ways.
If leadership can view her loss as a catalyst to spark invigorating conversations about repairing the damage the language conflict has caused, they might discover innovative ways to bring the Heights and Hills communities back together and serve the educational needs of Del Mar’s children more effectively.
Francis herself suggested that her resignation may be what’s needed to prompt long overdue discussions of this sort.
In an interview, she said that a new principal who is less familiar with the staff and the program at the Hills may “possibly see things in a way that I’m not because they’re not as attached to the people.”
“If I was staying next year, which I intended to do, I wasn’t looking to make anything radical happen,” she said. “But we’re at a crossroads with the Hills/Heights issue. … And if in fact there are going to be conversations about restructuring the Hills and Heights, I think it would behoove the school [to have someone new].”
Francis said a leader uninvolved with the district’s history would be able to view the situation “from a myriad of perspectives” and have a more objective appraisal of the possibilities.
In a “goodbye” email to her staff, Francis wrote, “Although it is very difficult to let go, I am excited for a fresh set of eyes and a new dynamic leader coming into our school and seeing a new ‘next level’ that maybe I wouldn't have seen, as I am so invested in our program.”
This discussion is sorely needed.
The festering conflict between the Hills and Heights stems from the open boundary policy endorsed by former superintendent Tom Bishop, which allows students living west of Interstate 5 to choose which school to attend.
Recognizing that projected enrollment west of I-5 is insufficient to sustain both schools at cost-effective numbers, Bishop often threatened closure if enrollment dipped too low. He encouraged the Hills and Heights principals to “market” their schools aggressively and seek out students from east of the freeway.
The resulting competition for students reached a fevered pitch when the Heights proposed its Spanish language program this year. And the divisiveness has not gone unnoticed by neighboring districts.
Even Ken Noah, San Dieguito Union High School District’s new superintendent whose first day on the job was July 1, said he was aware of the Hills/Heights discord and the competition between the schools when he hired Francis, although the topic was not discussed in his interviews with her.
These issues have been with us a very long time and, sadly, have become part of each school’s culture.
I recently came across some notes from the 2001-2002 school year, when I served on the DMUSD’s informal Gifted and Talented Education committee. These are some of the issues, few of which have changed over the years, that came out of the group’s many brainstorming sessions:
- Hills and Heights should not compete with one another – should work symbiotically as sister schools, each with self-sustaining programs.
- Need to solve the problem of over-enrollment in Carmel Valley.
- Need to solve the problem of under-enrollment at Hills and Heights.
- Identify problems that exist that are unique to the two schools west of I-5, and pose possible solutions, no matter how radical.
- Can’t offer something at Hills and Heights, and then offer it at neighborhood schools in Carmel Valley too. Must let go of equity district-wide. Hills and Heights need unique, individual programs all their own.
- Could make Hills a school of art/music/drama focus and Heights a school of science/geography/language focus.
- To attract Carmel Valley students, explore making one school a GATE school with GATE-certified teachers at all levels, fulfilling a demand district-wide for advanced curriculum.
- Provide busing to schools west of I-5.
- Guarantee enrollment at Hills and Heights through sixth grade.
- Offer low class sizes in grades 4-6.
- Provide foreign language instruction, specifically Spanish.
One idea presented repeatedly over the years has been to reconfigure the grade levels at both schools, and have one school serving students in kindergarten through third grade and the other offering fourth through sixth grades. This appeals to Francis as well as others who are searching for options to bring the communities back together.
“That actually would have been something that would have made me want to stay,” Francis said. “I think those possibilities are really exciting.”
There are other possibilities being mentioned too. One school might serve students in grades 3-6, while the other becomes a K-2 school and houses the district’s childcare and preschool. Or one school enrolls all the district’s special education students. Perhaps both schools should be combined under one principal and divided to serve students in some innovative way that both unites the two schools’ communities and benefits the kids.
Appointing retired Cardiff superintendent Vince Jewell to be acting principal at the Hills on a temporary basis is a stroke of genius that allows Del Mar to wait until a new superintendent is on board before making any rash decisions that would lock out creative alternatives to the status quo. This relieves pressure and gives the district time to take a fresh look at the situation.
Hiring a permanent replacement for Francis before a new superintendent is selected would have meant the loss of a golden opportunity to take a step back and examine the possibilities more objectively.
Although she was a good leader who served her students, parents, teachers and community well, Francis admits there are inherent problems between the Hills and the Heights, not of her making, that present nearly insurmountable problems. She is right to observe that resolution may only be possible with an outside leader who has little or no history in the district.
Francis’s departure can be viewed as a gift in many ways, because it gives the district a chance to do something unique with the two schools.
Despite moving on, Francis clearly still cares. She wants the dissension, and the unnecessary and unhealthy competition between her former school and Del Mar Heights School, to end.
She struck a positive note when she told me, “I do think the school board is supportive of both of these schools. I believe what they’ve said publicly many times, that they’re there to ensure the viability of the programs and want to do what’s right.”
Let’s hope district leaders take this moment and use it wisely.
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