Parents press Coupeville schools over leadership turnover after principal resigns

Parents and school employees pressed Coupeville school leaders at the June 25 school board meeting after Coupeville Elementary Principal Erica McColl resigned for a job with the Mount Vernon School District. McColl had received the strongest marks of any Coupeville School District administrator in a recent staff survey, a detail that made her departure land as more than a routine personnel change for families and staff in Coupeville.

Three people used public comment to raise concerns about employee turnover, district leadership and the future of Coupeville Elementary School. Shelly LaRue, president of the Coupeville Educational Support Association, said the district had lost key employees in double digits over the last two years and argued that the pattern pointed to something deeper than one resignation. She urged district leaders to use confidential third-party exit interviews so employees could speak honestly about why they are leaving instead of relying on secondhand accounts.

McColl’s exit comes after a spring marked by repeated signs of strain inside the district. A union-backed staff survey released in April described widespread dissatisfaction with the superintendent and school board, fear of retaliation and a troubled working environment at Coupeville High School. The same survey also singled out Coupeville Elementary as a bright spot and said McColl drew overwhelming praise, making her resignation feel to some staff members like a loss of one of the district’s most visible and well-regarded leaders.

The district’s leadership problems have not been limited to the elementary school. On March 16, Superintendent Shannon Leatherwood placed high school principal Dan Berard on paid leave pending an investigation, about a year after another Coupeville High School principal had also been placed on leave pending an investigation. The back-to-back shakeups have fed concern that administrative turnover is becoming a recurring feature of district life rather than an isolated disruption.

McColl had remained publicly active in the elementary school community this winter, including at the Feb. 18 opening of a new sensory room at Coupeville Elementary. She said the room was meant to help students with sensory and emotional needs so they could return to class ready to learn. Now, as the district heads toward a new school year after approving $1.1 million in budget cuts in early May, the board faces mounting pressure to show how it will steady staffing, protect classroom continuity and rebuild confidence among employees and families.