Vancouver loses another principal to 'No Child Left Behind'

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The news that the principal at Jason Lee Middle School in Vancouver won't return next year just reached Jewel Black, a parent of a sixth-grade student.

"I'm not very well pleased,” Black said. “I know her and she's very good and I don't know why a principal should be subdued from a situation when it's an overall thing."

At Jason Lee, outgoing principal Susan Cone is dealing with a student population where more than half qualify for free and reduced lunch -- an indicator of poverty.

The same is true of Discovery Middle School, which will also have a new principal next year to replace Christine Olsen. Both schools have a high number of kids learning to speak English.

To get their test scores up to meet the No Child Left Behind Act, it takes money. And the federal government has rules about how school districts can get that money – one of those rules is instituting new principals. That means that no matter how highly-qualified or touted a principal, school districts not in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act can’t get access to the much-needed money if principals aren’t shuffled in and out of schools.

School district officials said the principals were not forced out and they could have decided to stay to fight to raise student test scores. If they failed, however, the law would have required the district to force them out anyway, next year.

Christine Burgess, an associate superintendent with the school district, said she hopes parents of the students at the new schools these principals go to don’t think they are inferior educators.

“These are outstanding educators,” Burgess said. “They've been in the field for a very long time. They're well thought of."

If the district gets the grants, incentive pay may lure teachers to transfer to Jason Lee and Discovery to help students improve their grades, though a longer school day, extra tutoring and under new principal leadership.