Samo selects new House Principals

Camille De BeusStaff WriterTwo Samo “veterans” and two newcomers will join H-House Principal Leslie Wells in house leadership positions during the 2013-14 school year.On May 16, Sandra Lyon announced in an email to Samo staff that Kelly Tabis, currently assistant principal at Beverly Hills High School and former Samo special education teacher, Blaine Watson, current Animo Locke Tech Charter High School, Elias Miles, current Westchester Enriched Science Magnets Assistant Principal and current JAMS assistant principal Florence Culpepper will fill the roles of house principals.According to Santa-Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Superintendent of Human Resources Debra Moore Washington, the principal candidates were selected from the applicant pool after a screening process. These candidates underwent a round of formal interviews before a panel of interviewers from each stakeholder group. The top candidates from  these first round interviews moved forward to a more informal second round. The top candidates from round moved on to the Superintendent’s panel.The stakeholders group on the formal interview panel included Samo classified staff, parents, principals and district staff. One of these stakeholders was math teacher Marae Cruce.“For formal interviews we were given a list of questions and we could only ask those questions,” Cruce said. “It was basically all scripted. Informal interviews [were] where we got to ask more of our own questions.”Carruth Cull (’15), a member of Site Governance, also sat on the formal interview panel.“I ranked each candidate and gave a score on performance in individual categories, comparing my scores to the rest of the panel’s,” Cull said.Tabis, who previously served as a special education teacher, said she is excited to be returning to Samo.“I absolutely loved my time teaching in Santa Monica and I am eager to engage with teachers, students and the entire community to help shape the future of our school,” Tabis said.Wells said he remembers working alongside Tabis when she was a special education teacher at Samo.“I thought highly of her then and I anticipate that she’ll be a welcome addition to the faculty,” Wells said.With the new house principals, students and staff will mostly need to adjust to working with the new administration.“Except for the current students in my house, all other students will be working with new principals,” H-House Principal Leslie Wells said. “I anticipate that the ‘culture’ of some of the houses may change.”According to Lyon’s email to Samo staff, Watson wants to bring an unwavering belief in all students’ potential to succeed and the priority to put students first to Samo. Lyon said that Miles also wants student voices to be heard.“[Miles] brings key professionals goals to Samo: impassioned listening, deliberate self-reflection and a drive to align the school’s mission to the goals of the greater community.”Meanwhile, SMMUSD steady Culpepper hopes to continue to encourage students to regard their futures with high aspirations.“I have high expectations for students and a strong belief that all students are capable of achieving any short or long-term goals they set for themselves,” Culpepper said.Cull has a positive outlook about the decision process and thinks that the principals chosen will do a great job next year.“I am very happy with the choices made by the district as [the selected candidates] were among my highest ranked,” Cull said. “I think the school will be pleased with our upcoming principals [and] great improvements will be made to our school under the new leadership.”cdebeus@thesamohi.com