SAMOHI — While Ilene Straus will be stepping down at the end of the school year as lead principal and chief educational officer here, she may not travel far from the school district she’s served for more than 25 years.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Straus said she is seriously considering accepting a position with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District that would put her in charge of implementing curriculum and ensuring compliance at all of the district’s middle and high schools.
The position — senior director of secondary education — is not guaranteed,as the school board has not yet approved its creation. District staff is currently working on drafting a job description for the board to consider, complete with duties and responsibilities. The salary has not been set.
The board is expected to discuss the administrative position at its June 15 board meeting, Interim STRAUS, from page 1 “I think she has been a really positive force for education in our community. She has made important contributions to the redesign,” Escarce said “I think she has been through two things — Samohi redesign is at a point where she’s accomplished a lot and can walk away with a sense of satisfaction. She’s also been through a difficult year.”
Straus said she is also getting married in the fall, which provides her a chance to reconsider her priorities.
“I think it’s just the right time to think about the next phase of my career and my life,” Straus said.
FRIENDS AND FOES News of her departure was met with mixed emotions, with critics of Straus celebrating the announcement, while supporters expressed sadness, saying Straus’ efforts in the redesign have helped raise student achievement and built stronger ties between teachers and students, as well as faculty and administrators.
“Teachers are more able to know students as individuals, which has had a tremendous effect on student achievement, and for parents, who before may have felt like they couldn’t find someone to talk to because the school was so huge,” said Maria Rodriguez, PTA president at Samohi. “From my perspective — and I had several meetings with Dr. Straus — she was always responsive.”
Criticism has been levied by both teachers and parents. Teachers have complained that Straus’ management style is abrasive and retaliatory, and that the position of CEO does not provide her with the ability to foster better relationships with faculty. This had led to low morale on campus.
“Teachers have indicated for some time that the house system has created very good relationships with their house principals, but that they do not have that same relationship with the CEO, Dr. Straus,” said Harry Keiley, president of the Santa Monica- Malibu Classroom Teachers Association. “When teachers were asked if they felt valued and supported and whether or not their input was sought, they felt they didn’t receive that from the CEO.”
A group of parents has sought to have Straus removed, for they believe she is not qualified to handle a campus Straus, who served as the principal at the award-winning Lincoln Middle School for 16 years before moving to Samohi, said she understands her critics’ frustrations and has listened to their complaints, however, she has not let them affect her work and the efforts of her staff to redesign the school.
“Improving schools is hard work and it takes time,” she said. “… I really believe our leadership team and my work have been focused on doing what is best for the kids … “I’ve been to meetings where I’ve heard from those who are not happy about the way things are being done, but I want to be fair and say that a large group of (parents and students) are satisfied with improvements made and want to continue to get better … I think we are better than we were, but we still have lots of work left to do.”
WHAT’S IN A CEO TITLE?
Much has been said about Straus’ title, Chief Educational Officer, or lead principal. Critics have questioned the use of CEO when it comes to education, preferring to stick with the traditional principal label. The teacher’s union has questioned whether or not the position is even necessary, given that each house has its own principal.
With Straus’ departure, Keiley said he hopes serious discussion will take place to either identify more clearly the duties and characteristics of the CEO, or to determine if the position should be eliminated in favor of a different organizational structure.
“It is an important conversation that we need to have now, sooner than later,” Keiley said.“I think Dr. Straus’ decision to move on is a natural progression of the house structure, creating greater autonomy for house principals and teachers within the house.”
Keiley said Straus should not be the scapegoat for problems resulting from the redesign of the high school, which is in its fourth year of implementation. By splitting up a campus of more than 3,500 students, Keiley said there are going to be problems that must be addressed over time.
“Being principal is a tough job,” Keiley said. “I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to be a high school teacher at a large, multi-cultural school. It’s very challenging and difficult.”
For Straus, the title of CEO never appealed to her, she said. In e-mails, Straus has always added “principal” to her title, pre-ferring to refer to herself as the principal of Samohi rather than the CEO.
“I just know from years of working in this field that there is a cycle to things,”Straus said. “At times, everything seems to be going great, and then comes the struggle. But those are important to the process. I think from the struggle comes growth,comes improvement.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 1, 2006. Read the original PDF.