By Kristine Thomas
At the time, Silver Falls School District Superintendent Andy Bellando believed transferring three principals to new schools was in the best interest of the district’s students.
Looking back, he said he realizes he misjudged the transfers.
After careful consideration and input, Bellando said reconsidering where three principals should be placed “was the right thing to do.”
In late April, Bellando announced Linda Myers would become vice principal at Silverton High School and Catherine Brosnan-Trepus would be principal at Victor Point Elementary School.
He has revised assignments with Myers remaining at Victor Point and Brosnan-Trepus working at the district level with responsibilities including ESL/Migrant administration.
Jennifer Hannan, who is currently principal at Evergreen Elementary School, will become principal at Eugene Field Elementary.
Dale Koger will return to Evergreen Elementary as principal.
The assistant principal’s position at Silverton High School, which became open when Dandy Parsons was chosen as principal at Mark Twain Middle School, is being advertised with a goal to hire by mid-May.
Bellando said when a vacancy occurs – such as the vice principal position at the high school, it is common for administrators to look at all options for filling those positions by using building, district and personnel information to make decisions.
“In this case, I misjudged the decision to fill the high school position with Linda (Myers) and to adjust others based upon the information I had,” Bellando said. “A couple of days following the decision and after further conversation with Linda and the board and some community input, I chose to leave Linda at Victor Point.”
Bellando added it made more sense for the district to continue with Myers as the curriculum director and Victor Point principal “at this time than transferring her to Silverton High School.”
“The benefits of keeping (Myers) in her current position outweighed those of moving her,” Bellando said.
Emphasizing the reconsiderations were the right thing to do, Bellando added he believes they will be effective placements.
