PaliHi Principal Gloria Martinez Resigns

Principal Gloria Martinez informed teachers and staff last Friday that she would not return to Palisades Charter High School, where she has headed the school’s academic instruction since fall 2004. Surprised school leaders met this week in an emergency session to plan to fill the vacancy. ‘Palisades Charter High School is a phenomenal place,’ wrote Martinez in a letter to school employees, noting that she will remain principal until school ends in June. ‘We have so much to be proud of, such as the wonderful programs we have established and other successes’ I feel it is time in my career to move on to new educational challenges and opportunities that have been afforded me.’ Martinez, who has a doctorate in education, has been hired as an education consultant at Loyola Marymount University, PaliHi officials said. School board members and administrators were startled and saddened by the news. ‘I am really shocked,’ said Board President Bud Kling, the school’s veteran tennis coach. ‘We made a recommendation to renew her contract after a review. I don’t know what transpired since then.’ ‘It’s a loss for the school, especially for the instructional program at the school,’ Executive Director Amy Held said. ‘Dr. Martinez is extremely talented. And she did a lot for this school.’ Teachers and board members credit Martinez with raising the 2,700-student school’s academic profile. During her tenure, it became a California Distinguished School and it received a full six-year accreditation. They also say that she brought a needed focus to the school’s lowest-performing students. She brought or expanded programs like Academic Watch, AVID, the Literacy Program, Dolphin Days and the Pyramid of Interventions’all of which aimed to identify underachieving students and raise their proficiency. Those efforts earned the respect of many faculty members like longtime Spanish teacher Ruth Mills. ‘It’s clear that she cares most about students,’ said Mills. ‘Our [API] scores kept going up. Our achievement gap narrowed bit by bit every year. And our retention of ninth-graders went up substantially.’ It is not known what prompted Martinez to decide to leave her position. She did not respond to interview requests from the Palisadian-Post. Many teachers consider the quiet administrator a ‘weak leader.’ They criticize her for pushing through a school calendar change despite student, parent and teacher opposition. And some parents blame her for the administration’s ‘mismanagement’ of a new enrollment policy. The school’s board has recently discussed ways of restructuring the administration that could ‘dramatically’ alter the role of principal, according to one board member. Currently, the executive director and the principal divide administrative functions. Three assistant principals–who manage areas including athletics, attendance, discipline, enrollment and scheduling–report to Martinez, whose primary duty is to oversee academic instruction. One possible new arrangement might have assistant principals report to the executive director or the board, leaving the next principal exclusively focused on academics. Whatever board members decide, the next director of the school’s academic program will inherit a high-performing school with multiple challenges’among them, overcrowding, a large achievement gap and weak math and science scores. More than 40 percent of the school’s students come from low-performing, overcrowded middle schools (not including Paul Revere, a high-performing school). And despite progress, there still exists a large gap in performance. State education data show that socio-economically disadvantaged and African American students at PaliHi score significantly below the school’s average. The school’s rank recently dropped statewide owing to relatively weaker science scores. Although the school excels in history and English, students score below average on state math and science tests. After earning her doctorate in education from UCLA, Martinez taught Spanish at St. Bernard High School in Playa Del Rey and Malibu High School, where she eventually served as an assistant principal before coming to PaliHi. Board members expect a challenge to replace Martinez by the beginning of next school year. ‘It’s not easy to find good administrators,’ said Board member and Pali parent Eileen Savage. ‘But with every loss comes opportunity. We will look for someone with strong leadership skills with a focus on raising achievement among underperforming students.’ Some at the school believe that a slow search might be worth the wait. When former Executive Director Jack Sutton left, the school opted out of its initial candidates and waited a full academic year before hiring Amy Held last summer. ‘We have to look really hard to find a replacement,’ said Ruth Mills, who will miss the departing principal. ‘And we need to take the same care with choosing a replacement as we did with Amy Held.’ ———– To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.