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Special meeting set on Theret, Brunner
Harvey Oaxaca, McKinney North High School’s new interim principal, sits in the galley of the MISD regular board of trustees meeting Monday. This photo and more are available through MyCapture at www.scntx.com. Photo: Danny Gallagher/McKinney Courier-Gazette
BY DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
The McKinney Independent School District Board of Trustees will discuss the fates of former McKinney North High School Principal Linda Theret and Assistant Principal Richard Brunner later this week, a fate that could include a settlement.
The special meeting will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday at the MISD Administration Office. The board will deliberate matters related to Theret and Brunner's dismissal and consider and/or take any possible actions against them including “a proposed settlement offer [for Theret and Brunner] to bring closure to the current dispute,” according to a notice posted at the MISD administration office after the board of trustees' regular meeting Monday.
Theret and Brunner were placed on paid administrative leave and removed from their positions at the high school earlier this month after investigator Harry Jones presented a report to the board that “revealed procedural and administrative concerns that required immediate intervention,” Superintendent Tom Crowe said at a special press conference held Dec. 4.
Speaking out
Three MNHS mothers came to Theret and Brunner's side during the open forum session at MISD's regular meeting Monday. Barb Dietz, the mother of a MNHS sophomore and senior, said she feels Crowe overreacted when he removed Theret and Brunner from their positions at the high school after reading Jones' report.
“I don't see how this report can justify moving administrators from North,” she said. “These administrators have taken the school from days of food fights, fires, physical fights to recognized status in Texas. I think it will impact and harm more of the community, students, staff and the district by removing them. I also believe if decisions are made, changed and overruled at a certain level at the central office [and] at the local, the sponsor or the teacher level that you cannot call inconsistencies on an administrator's part if they are not the only one making decisions on discipline.”
Tisha Billelo, the mother of a former MNHS graduate, said she feels the level of blame should have gone higher than just MNHS's administrative level.
“Some of the offenses that have occurred in this district have occurred at a level that is much higher than anyone who was employed at MNHS,” Billelo said.
Dietz also said she feels that Theret's decision not to appeal a punishment imposed on her daughter shows she did not try to undermine administrator's decisions.
“I think that goes to show she was willing to accept the punishment that was going to come down,” Dietz said. “I don't see there being favoritism on her part.”
Dietz said the district should have enacted changes that encompassed the entire district, not just Theret and Brunner. “I think the district should focus on where the issues are, identify how to improve them, how to handle them at all levels from students to parents to staff to local administration and to the central administrative office,” Dietz said. “I think the district should face the fact that one or two individuals are not necessarily to blame here.”
Cheryl True, the mother of a MNHS junior, also said the district's investigation is still causing problems for the school.
“Seniors at McKinney North have had to delay college applications because they are waiting on letters of recommendation from administrators who weren't available,” True said. “Students at North have been made to feel embarrassed and ashamed in college interviews for something they had nothing to do with and that you have complete control over. Students, staff and parents have to continue to deal with gossip and ridicule.”
True blamed the district for not providing enough information to the public on the MNHS situation and not sharing more of the blame.
“To say you're focusing your attention of educating students is an insult,” True said. “You've been focusing your attention on protecting yourselves. That's not the kind of leadership we need in McKinney.”
MNHS's New Principal
The district also filled Theret's chair with a new interim principal, who will serve in the position for the remainder of the school year.
MISD spokesman Cody Cunningham said the district reassigned Harvey Oaxaca, MISD's director of administrative services, to the high school's principal seat on Monday, and left Bruce Wilson in the high school's lead assistant principal chair. Cunningham said the district will start searching for a permanent replacement at the beginning of the next semester.
Cunningham said the district chose Oaxaca, a former principal of Faubion Middle School, for his experience with, knowledge of and reputation in the McKinney school district. “He has a lot of respect and will certainly serve as a qualified and strong principal for the remainder of the year,” Cunningham said.
Oaxaca said after Monday's night board meeting that the district's decision to appoint him was a “little surprising,” but the reaction the school's administration and students have shown to the controversy wasn't. “Obviously, we can't control what's happened and the situation that got me there, but I went over there (to MNHS) today and the staff, and especially the students - it was like nothing had gone on,” Oaxaca said. “Everybody's ready to move forward.”
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
WAKE UP!!!! wrote on Dec 19, 2006 10:22 AM:
" Though I think the administration should take some responsibility for this fisaco, I also think some of these mothers who spoke against them should accept responsibility for not controlling their daughters and hold their daughters accountable for their actions instead of trying to blame someone else. None of this would have ever gotten this far if they had just performed their parental duties in the first place. Wake up!!! "
Blame should go higher and lower. wrote on Dec 19, 2006 10:38 AM:
" One mother stated the level of blame should have gone higher, but in fact if she had done her job and took the blame lower, like towards her own child, then justice would be served. You can blame the administration for unfair practices and ambiguous rules, but bottom line if you have children who are uncontrollable and the parents spends their time and money on lawyers to fighting the discipline that they so deserve, then it's obvious that the real issue is, and probably never will be addressed. "
To those mother's who support Theret.... wrote on Dec 19, 2006 10:41 AM:
" Your daughters messed up! Everyone else knows it. Open your eyes and accept it already! "
Letter of recommendation? wrote on Dec 19, 2006 11:22 AM:
" My child wouldn't think twice about using a letter of recommendation from a teacher at North. But if your're waiting on a letter from Theret or Brunner, who could trust their opinion? Even before this chaos happened, my child would never have even thought about asking one of them for a letter of recommendation.
My child is a proud student of North and is confident that the actions of the few will not affect college endeavors. Anyone with any kind of intelligence knows who the culprits are and whos to blame, and universities will know as well. "
WOW! wrote on Dec 19, 2006 12:36 PM:
" I'm utterly amazed at the blindness of the parents still supporting Theret. True, Crowe probably is just as guilty as she is, but these parents still refuse to accept the fact that their daughters made extremely poor decisions, over and over again, and they as parents supported their children by not handling the discipline themselves. "
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