SAN MARCOS, Calif. (KGTV) - Frustrated parents again packed a San Marcos Unified School District board meeting Tuesday night to voice their concerns over “leadership and culture changes” at schools.
Much like the full meeting on Nov. 20, Tuesday’s meeting featured hundreds of parents expressing their disapproval of the changes implemented by recently hired administrators. Many of the frustrated comments were directed at district Superintendent Carmen Garcia, who made the hires.
Some parents at the meeting expressed support for the changes, but a vast majority were against it.
The rift between parents and Garcia seemed to start with the hiring of the principal at San Elijo Elementary School, according to several parents. Many thought the assistant principal should have gotten the position, and they say Garcia hired someone else and forced the assistant principal out. From there, complaints from parents around the district snowballed.
Last month, parents demanded the school board launch a third-party investigation into Garcia’s hiring practices. On Tuesday, the hiring process was explained by saying the candidates had to go through several interview panels involving management employees as well as parents.
There were some questions about how parents were selected to be part of those interview panels, and how much weight they should give community input.
The board president said they would look to see if they could improve in the process of selecting parents for the interview panel.
"I would really like to talk to my parent advisory council during my next meeting and ask them what we can do to enhance the selection for the parent selection for the panelists," Garcia said during the meeting.
