Two principals will stay put in Disctrict 116
Cheers erupted from about 60 parents and teachers after Round Lake Unit District 116 board members Thursday night declined to approve a proposed swap of two building principals.
Under the plan, Round Lake Beach Elementary School Principal Keele Vetere would have moved to Indian Hill Elementary School in Round Lake Heights starting in the 2009-10 academic year. It would have been the third Indian Hill principal in as many years.
Indian Hill Principal Ken Rose would have moved to take Vetere's place at Beach Elementary.
But supporters of Vetere and Rose spoke passionately Thursday night and at another meeting last month on why moving the principals would harm the schools. In the end, the District 116 board declined to go along with an administration recommendation to switch Rose and Vetere.
"We did it!" said parent Claudia Raygoza, a Rose supporter, as she exited the packed meeting.
Vetere's supporters listed a number of her assets and said she has a tremendous enthusiasm for her job, which is why they wanted her to stay at Beach Elementary. The backers said Vetere has improved Beach's bilingual classrooms and that she's made beneficial connections with many local government leaders.
G.A. Ellsworth, who has triplets at Beach Elementary, said he didn't know of anyone at Beach or Indian Hill who wanted to trade principals.
As for Rose, some parents said they provided input at the request of District 116 and backed his selection as Indian Hill's principal before the 2008-09 academic year, but they weren't consulted about moving him elsewhere. Concerns also were raised about Indian Hill's revolving principal door.
Raygoza presented a petition with roughly 200 signatures asking that Rose remain as principal. She asked the school board to reconsider and "make the right decision" by keeping Rose at Indian Hill.
District 116 board President W. Guy Finley said officials couldn't go into detail publicly about the principal shuffle because of privacy concerns related to personnel issues.