Unrest at Lupine Hills: Teachers, Parents Push to Remove Principal, Some Push Back

Emotions bubbled at Wednesday's school district board meeting as two groups clashed over the practices of Lupine Hills Elementary School’s new principal.

Lupine teachers asked the West Contra Costa Unified School District board to remove their school’s principal, .

The teachers claimed that Taylor has created a hostile and uncommunicative workplace, United Teachers of Richmond executive board President Diane Brown said.

“The environment there negatively impacts the nature of education and student learning,” Brown said. 

Lupine teachers voted through their union last week on whether to ask the school district to replace Taylor. Out of 22 teachers at the school, 17 voted, with 15 of the teachers who participated voting “no confidence” in Taylor’s leadership, Brown said.

They have complained about being excluded from “decision-making and (their) suggestions are treated as challenging the principal instead of being helpful,” Brown said.

Taylor, who has held her principal title since June, was involved in separate in January, when she suspended a first-grader after murky reports of an inappropriate touch on the playground.

“Our vote has everything to do with lack of leadership, lack of respect and (wanting) an environment that is free of retaliation and fear,” said Lupine teacher Debbie Antonio. Antonio said more teachers and parents have complaints about Taylor, but they won’t speak up. Fearing that if they do, the principal will act out against them.

Patch received phone calls Wednesday from two people who identified themselves as Lupine parents. They would not give their names. Both callers said they wanted Taylor to be replaced for the same reasons as the teachers union.

“It seems like she is trying to divide and conquer,” Antonio said.

Some of the teachers and parents showed up at Wednesday’s board meeting carrying cardboard signs with slogans about unseating Taylor.

Also at the meeting were supporters of Taylor, who said the principal was a strong leader with a clear vision, willing to shake things up at the school for the greater good.

“I am very against removing Ms. Taylor for a bunch of gripes, is what I’ve been hearing around the school. I haven’t heard any real grievances, just gripes,” said one Lupine school father.

Other supporters of Taylor said those who opposed the principal are mostly reacting to the discomforts of change.

“When change occurs, first there’s going to be storming, then forming and then norming,” said Chester Stevens, former Hercules Education Foundation president and father of a Lupine Hills student. Stevens supports Taylor.

“I know that lady is hard working and she has a vision for that school, and I’m willing to let that be,” Stevens said.

Ultimately, Stevens said he hopes the upheaval over Taylor will calm soon. “I don’t want to see this grow into an overripe fruit (that eventually) turns rancid,” he said.

Lupine Hills parent Miya Anderson agreed — on the topic of resolving the commotion over Principal Taylor, at least.

 “What we really want is harmony with this,” said Anderson, whose three children attend Lupine.

Anderson recently circulated a petition to parents, asking that Taylor be replaced. She said that among other reasons, Taylor is “hostile and unfriendly” and “impossible to get in contact with.” Taylor was not present at Wednesday’s meeting. “We, as a whole, would all like to hear how she feels about (these) issues,” she said.

What Anderson said what she doesn’t want is for the principal resignation issue to turn into a “race issue.”

Stevens said that the issue is about race — to some extent.

Taylor is black. So were the attendees who spoke on her behalf. 

Stevens said there is value in having a black woman leading a school that has a population mostly of students of color. According to Ed-Data, 80 percent of Lupine Hills’ students were non-whites in the 2010-11 school year. “Our kids need good role models,” Stevens said. Many African-American students go though school without ever having a teacher of color, he said.

Antonio said that if Taylor stays, many of the school's teachers will likely leave.

Parents are planning a private meeting with the board as a next move in the effort to remove Taylor from Lupine, Anderson said.

Stevens said Taylor supporters will continue to back the principal for as long as they need to. 

*Correction: When first published said Stevens was Hercules Education Foundation president. He no longer holds that position. It also said Stevens' had a third-grade student at Lupine, he is a fourth-grader.