AMARILLO. TEXAS -- The River Road School Board is bringing in a new high school principal for the 2011-2012 school year, and many are upset with the change.
A board meeting was held Monday morning during which the announcement was made that the new replacement will be coming from Canyon ISD. Former principal Sarah Lawson has been moved to Rolling Hills Elementary as assistant principal.
Teachers, students and parents attended the meeting in hopes of expressing their opinions on the matter. The public meeting became private after only four minutes of introductions and attendance. About 90 minutes later, the board returned for two minutes of public meeting and retired again for over an hour of more private meeting time. As soon as they returned the second time, the meeting was adjourned.
Many were angry that the floor was never opened for public discussion.
John Adams' children attend River Road ISD schools, and he said he wasn't surprised the board gave no one the chance to speak.
"You know, I looked at their agenda and there was no way they were going to let us speak," he said. "I've been calling my school board, you know. Most of them don't like me now, but that's alright. That's their opinion. I figure that's what I can do to help Sarah. You know, anything I can possibly do to help her- that's what I'm going to do because I think we lost a real asset in our school."
Students throughout the school share the same opinion. Some attended the meeting and have also created the Facebook page Wildcat Rally for Sarah Lawson.
"I'm going to continue to fight for her," said River Road sophomore Birgen Adams. "She was helping us, and if they're going to get rid of everybody that helps us we're not going to have a very good school."
River Road senior Kaci Lysford said Lawson was more than willing to help students and that she would drop what she was doing if a student needed her help in any way.
"I've been here for 12 years," she said. "Ms. Lawson is by far my favorite and I think she's the best principal we've had."
Despite the objections, Superintendent Randy Owen said he feels this is a decision that will benefit the children at Rolling Hills and that people will appreciate it down the road.
"We tried it without an assistant principal over at Rolling Hills," he said. "But we found with 660 to 670 kids, all four years old and up that, in order to be efficient and meet the needs of all those students, Doug really needed some help over there."
Sarah Lawson filed a formal complaint with the River Road ISD Board of Trustees and was unable to comment on the specific details of the complaint.
She did, however, send a statement to Pronews 7 saying, "I want the very best for the students and staff at River Road High School and sincerely hope the momentum toward educational excellence that was gained over the last two years continues."
