By Parnia Mazhar
Executive Opinion Editor
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees approved changes to the locations of four principals within the district, effective at the beginning of the school year.
The principals who moved schools include Nancy Doyle, the new principal of Grand View Elementary School; Rhonda Steinberg, the new principal of Pacific Elementary School; Kim Linz, the new principal of Manhattan Beach Middle School and John Jackson, the new principal of Robinson Elementary School.
“I think it was good for the district to make changes,” Jackson said. “Each principal brings their own set of strengths to the job, and it is nice to see each of us use these strengths at our new sites.”
The main purpose of this new transition is to promote change and to help employees integrate new ideas throughout the district, District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. He stated that he believes that all employees will benefit from the new leadership perspectives, and the community as a whole will benefit from the new wide range of experience in its schools as well.
“I believe that all of these moves will be really beneficial for students, employees and the principals themselves,” Matthews said. “In the first few weeks of school, I believe every principal has excelled.”
Matthews first notified the principals about the switches at the end of the 2015-16 school year. Although the principals began their transitions immediately after Matthews notified them, they did not make the official change until after the July 13 school board meeting, where the board of trustees approved the switches.
“I really enjoyed working at Pacific, but I have always loved middle school as well, so when I found out about Matthews’ decision, I knew middle school was really where I wanted to go,” Linz said.
There are no future plans to further change the principals of any of the district’s schools, Matthews said. According to Matthews, he believes in order for this change to be fully effective, the new principals should remain in their positions for several years.
“I want the principals to stay at their new positions for a long time,” Matthews said. “I would hope that they would stay there for at least five years because I think you need that much time to make an impact as a principal.”
Matthews is not planning on switching Mira Costa’s principal because that transition requires a different, more extensive process than the other schools in the district, he said.
“The difference with Costa is that a high school principal is a very unique position,” Matthews said. “Unlike the five elementary schools, which have very similar job descriptions, a high school principal has a specific job description that requires certain skills and a different process.”
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