Blog note: this article references a grand jury report.
LAKEPORT — At a Thursday Nov. 8 meeting, the Lakeport Unified School District board reported after closed session that a new principal had been chosen to fill the position left vacant after former principal Rachel Paarsch was demoted for undisclosed personnel reasons.
The district is hiring Scott Johnson, who until June 2018 was principal of Lawrence E. Jones Middle School in Rohnert Park. According to his resume, Johnson taught the 7th and 8th grades in Somerset from 2001 to 2011, at which point he moved into administration at Rohnert Park as an assistant principal. Johnson received his bachelor’s and teaching credentials at CSU Stanislaus, and later obtained a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at CSU Sacramento.
According to Johnson’s resume, his work as a principal has been focused, at least in part, on improving attendance. During Johnson’s three years as principal at Lawrence E. Jones, his resume states that he “led the school’s reduction of truancy by 72 percent and chronic absenteeism by 84 percent.”
As described in the Lake County 2018 Grand Jury Report, chronic absenteeism and truancy figure as a major financial blow to school districts around Lake County—having potentially cost public schools $5.4 million in the 2016-2017 school year alone. According to the Grand Jury Report, the Lake County Office of Education has ‘indicated they had an ongoing concern for this issue” of absenteeism.
Public comment at the meeting Thursday urged the board not to make what was seen by some in the audience as a hasty hiring decision, but to wait to make the call until the new board—which will include three new members—has assembled at its December meeting.
Thursday’s meeting marked the stepping-down of former board president Dennis Darling and former board members Tom Powers and Lynn Andre following the election of Dan Buffalo, Carly Alvord and Jen Hanson to the board.
In another item Thursday, the LUSD board approved an action to post signs in seven parking lots on LUSD property that will notify drivers of the possibility of having their cars searched by school officials. The approved signs will read, pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 21113(a), that “by entering this area the person driving any vehicle is deemed to consent to a complete search of the vehicle, all its compartments, and contents, by school officials for any reason and at any time.”
Casting the only negative vote, board clerk Phil Kirby likened the signs to “big brother.” and added that he found the action “too over encompassing.” The signs will be posted in parking lots at the District Office, the Transportation Department, Clear Lake High School, Terrace Middle School, Lakeport Elementary School, the Lakeport Alternative Education Center/Student Services, and the Instructional Support Office.
November 13, 2018
Lake County Record-Bee
By Aidan Freeman
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