The Lake Tahoe Unified School District's principal swap was a success.
Four of the five elementary school principals in the district just completed their first year at a new school site. The move was part of a district plan designed to allow principals who worked at the same school for five or more years to experience a different setting.
After 14 years as principal at Meyers Elementary, Karen Tinlin moved to Al Tahoe Elementary.
"I had been at Al Tahoe the three years before I was at Meyers," Tinlin said. "I was the acting principal at Al Tahoe in April of 1982, then principal from August 1982 to 1985."
Tinlin said returning to Al Tahoe was challenging but rewarding.
"I truly enjoyed this year," said Tinlin, who has been with the district since 1975. "Sometimes you need a change and you don't know it. It's challenging in a different way. It was a good change. I learned a lot about bilingual education. For me, that was my challenge. I still have a lot more to learn, but I feel I learned a whole lot."
Tinlin replaced Jim Watson, who spent eight years as principal at Al Tahoe before taking over at Bijou Community School last year.
Watson said the decision to relocate principals within the district caused a lot of concern throughout the community.
"The thing is, there hadn't been any kind of administrative shifts in this district for a long time. There had never been a time when all of the principals were stirred in the pot, if you will," Watson said. "So when it actually came to pass, it was a little bit of a shock for a lot of folks. Larger districts rotate their principals fairly routinely."
Rotating to other schools provided a new perspective of the district, according to Watson.
"We really do have five distinctly different schools in our small district that service different types of people," Watson said. "So the idea behind the shift was that all of the administrators get a better idea what the district is about. Part of the idea behind what (former Superintendent) Rich Alexander orchestrated was the ability for people to change sites and walk in someone else's shoes."
Watson said he had a great year a Bijou and looks forward to returning to the next school year.
"I had a terrific year. It's been an interesting year, because it was complicated with the focus we had on negotiations," said Watson, a member of the district's contract negotiating team. "It's difficult to build positive relations when you're going through that, but the staff at Bijou was terrific and the kids are just sweethearts."
Watson replaced 16-year Bijou veteran Virginia Matus-Glenn, who went to Sierra House Elementary.
"I know that the kids wonder when Virginia is going to come back and visit," said Watson, who worked under Matus-Glenn, as a teacher at Bijou, in 1984. "They miss her a lot. She just put such a special touch into her work here."
Matus-Glenn said it was difficult leaving Bijou after such a long career there, but she left the school in good hands.
"I think the transition was relatively easy on the Bijou side because Jim understands that community," Matus-Glenn said. "He's very connected to it. He understands the minority community and in many ways, and I'm still very connected to that community, as well."
The year was a successful for Matus-Glenn, who said the staff at Sierra House made her move an easy one.
"The year actually went very, very well," she said. "It got me thinking in other directions, different populations, different staffs, different needs. It was a real challenge, but I really enjoyed it. In many ways, it was a very easy year for me because the staff here is so strong."
Doug Forte, who has worked nearly 29 years in the district, moved from Sierra House to Meyers.
"We had a rough year with the child abduction, but the year has been overall positive," Forte said. "Getting to know these kids, the staff, the parents, it took some time, and I'm still learning. But I found out the parental support out here is similar to Sierra House's. There is a lot of parental involvement."
Forte said the community appears to have accepted the changes in administration at the schools.
"It's been a good, positive change," he said. "It was good for me professionally to do this. Sometimes it's tough to makes changes, but I think it was in the best interest of the district."
Tinlin, Watson, Matus-Glenn and Forte will be embarking on their second year at their new school sites in the fall.
Jackie Nelson, of Tahoe Valley Elementary, was the only principal who did not change schools last year because she has not yet spent five years at Tahoe Valley.
