Target of Protests by Parents : Controversial School Principal Is Transferred

Marie Thornton, the embattled principal of Serra Junior-Senior High School, will be transferred to Gompers Secondary School in September, Supt. Thomas Payzant said Wednesday.

Thornton’s switch from principal at Serra to principal at Gompers was part of a year-end shuffle of 18 school administrators prompted largely by retirements, Payzant said. Two other principal positions are still open.

But the transfer also solved a dilemma for Payzant and the board that was created this school year, when a group of parents and teachers at the 2,500-student school openly called for Thornton’s ouster, denouncing her as autocratic and accusing her of destroying morale at the school.

As Thornton’s critics and supporters skirmished, the conflict escalated to include charges of racial bias from both sides. Thornton, a black woman with 25 years’ experience as a teacher and administrator, headed the school in the largely white community of Tierrasanta.

Parents brought the rift to Board of Education meetings on several occasions, and the situation ultimately became so heated that Payzant in March called for a cooling-off period and asked school staff members not to discuss it.

Thornton will be replaced by Lincoln High School Principal Laserik Saunders, who is being replaced as part of the move to turn the school into Lincoln Preparatory High School for Humanities, Language and the Health Professions, a magnet program.

Payzant said that the new assignments do not reflect dissatisfaction with the performance of any of the people involved. Thornton’s transfer, however, will be best for the school and community, he said.

“The net result of all that (controversy) would make it difficult for a number of key players to work that all through . . . so that energy could really be focused on improving the overall program for the students at that school,” Payzant said.

“I have great confidence in Marie Thornton, and I think she did an incredible job at Serra this year, given the pressure and the personal attack she was under much of the year,” he said.

Stephen Haiman, a Serra teacher and one of Thornton’s most outspoken critics, said that “this is like a big cloud that has been lifted over the campus and the community. . . . We’ve heard some good things about (Saunders), and we welcome him with open arms.”

Saunders said he is “excited” about shifting to Serra. There’s an “obvious need to pull the student body, the staff and the community together,” he said. “I enjoy doing things like that.”

Thornton could not be reached for comment. But Faith Whitehurst-Miller, a teacher who has supported her during the controversy, said she viewed the transfer simply as part of the overall shuffle of administrators.

“I think she could have done some more good if she had been given the time to do so,” Whitehurst-Miller said. “With the new principal coming, we’ll just have to see how it works out.”