SASI parents protest executive director hire

Posted by Cindy Yurth | May 12, 2016 | Education |

SHIPROCK

The governing board of Shiprock Associated Schools Inc. on Monday hired its elementary and high school principal as executive director of the school district, over the protest of the district’s parent advisory committee.

Twelve parents and grandparents showed up at the school board meeting Monday morning with a resolution in hand expressing a vote of “no confidence” in Julia Donald, who is acting executive director as well as filling the role of principal at both Atsá Biyáázh Community School and Shiprock Northwest High School.

The schools are BIE grant schools.

The April 18 PAC resolution, which passed the committee by a vote of 51-1-4, accused Donald of not communicating with parents, rarely being in her office and blaming staff members for her mistakes, among other things.

Although it wasn’t included in the resolution, Melvin Willie, a grandparent of a student who graduated last year, charged her with drinking with the students on the class of 2015’s senior trip to Ireland.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Donald denied all the allegations and said she had not seen the resolution.

The board met in executive session for about an hour to discuss the resolution, after which School Board President Anthony Leonard told the group the board would discuss the allegations with Donald and consider them when deciding whether to hire her as executive director for the 2015-16 school year. After another executive session to discuss personnel issues, they voted to hire her.