Lawrence Public School Supt. Rick Doll informed Wakarusa Valley staff and parents Tuesday night that Broken Arrow Principal Brian McCaffrey will lead both schools starting in the fall.
"It's not our preference. We believe every school should have a principal," Doll said. "But we've had budget constraints, and the board directed us to cut two elementary principals. So that's what we've done."
McCaffrey will split his time between the two schools. Because Broken Arrow is connected to South Junior High, South administrators will take on supervisory roles when he is at Wakarusa Valley. At Wakarusa Valley, the district will designate a lead educator who will be in charge when McCaffrey is not there.
Doll said district administrators and McCaffrey also informed Broken Arrow staff members Tuesday of the change for next year. The district planned to notify parents Wednesday.
Broken Arrow has about 270 students, and Wakarusa Valley serves about 212 students. The schools are about seven miles apart.
Comments
youngjayhawk 4 years ago
I believe you are absolutely correct, kravast1. The powers-that-be will close Wakarusa Valley next year and those students will be sent to Broken Arrow = it's all part of a master plan. Sadly, Lawrence is losing an excellent principal, Elias Espinoza, in the process. Lawrence residents should have heeded the warnings from Dr. Doll's previous district. The worst is yet to come.
kravist1 4 years ago
How convenient. The school board and Doll are showing their hand little by little. They plan to shut down wakarusa next year if they can, and the principal of the school they will force the kids to relocate to just happens to be their part time principal! How is it better for an outlying elementary school to be the one stuck with a half time principal, while several in town attached to Jr. highs have 1 FT principal and another 1 FT within walking distance? I guess Wakarusa better make sure they only have "part time" issues for Mr. McAffrey to deal with.
gr3sam 4 years ago
Bender: There is neither rhyme nor reason to what Dr. Dolt is doing here. UNIKU and misplacedcheesehead: You are both correct. But, see above.
By now we must all accept that Dr. Dolt will sacrifice our kids' educations to save his admin. team. Cutting the admin. team and reassigning tasks among the "elite 26" would save all the principals and have no impact on any kids. It was the obvious choice to any informed mind that gave two cents for the kids our district serves.
lily 4 years ago
St. John's and CC is a private school situation and they were considered "one school, two campuses" Yeah, right. I think one was favored over the other but yes, it was a mess all the way around and not just because of the principal thing. I think Brian can do a good job and be fair and equal. Far from ideal but I guess it could be worsel. This is not a pretty picture.
Monica Miller 4 years ago
Spell check is a wonderful thing. . . Especially when the error is in the headline!
Christine Pennewell Davis 4 years ago
And still no news on the boundry change for the Kennedy and New York parents.
Christine Anderson 4 years ago
This is wacked!
UNIKU 4 years ago
BAD IDEA!! St Johns and Corpus Christi did this a decade ago and it was a DISASTER. I sure hope the first thing back after the budgets loosen up a bit is a new principal at Wakarusa Valley!
bender 4 years ago
Why not Wakarusa and Sunflower? They're closer to each other and Sunflower is right next to a Junior High same as Broken Arrow.
nascar 4 years ago
Will the "lead educator" at Waky be given a stipend for taking on extra work?
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