CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County school board named a Kentucky administrator as the new principal of Capital High School on Monday night, a decision contested by some residents.
The board unanimously approved Larry Bailey of JB McNabb Middle School in Montgomery County, Ky., but residents packed the meeting in support of local candidate Jon Anderson, the principal of Charleston’s Horace Mann Middle School.
After public speeches from citizens, Bailey was approved and the crowd’s tone turned ugly. One attendee who spoke was asked to leave. Board member Pete Thaw felt the display was unnecessary, and said the BOE was better qualified to pick a candidate than an angry mob.
“We pay (superintendent) Dr. (Ron) Duerring a large amount of money to advise us as to the hiring of professional people,” Thaw said. “I’d much rather take his learned and studied reaction and advice, than I would this yelling and screaming that went on here tonight.”
Bailey graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in Kanawha County and is also a graduate of West Virginia State University.
School board president Robin Rector told the irritated crowd they showed “a fear of the unknown” by insisting on a West Virginia native. Duerring agreed with this assessment.
“They really don’t know his leadership style or what he’ll be like,” said Duerring. “I think that brings fear. He’s certainly qualified; he certainly understands children, academics, and what it is to run a school.”
Resident Andre Nazario, who spoke passionately to the point of being asked to leave after a decision was made, said hiring a local candidate was important. Nazario promised to “make sure no one on the board was ever elected again,” while defending his support of Anderson.
“He loves our kids, he appreciates our kids. He will discipline our kids, but he will be fair to our kids,” Nazario said. “And he is a West Virginian at heart; he didn’t have to go anywhere else to find himself. Jon Anderson should be our principal.”
Tony Paranzino, who coached softball at Capital in the past, said familiarity would have made an Anderson the better hire.
“Jon Anderson is the best man for the job,” he said. “Jon has educated several of my children at Horace Mann. My kids go to Capital, and he knows the children, knows the system, and knows the environments they are in.”
Several of the protestors who spoke suggested Bailey has a questionable background, which several board members insisted wasn’t true.
“This man has no criminal record,” Thaw said. “He’s a fine teacher. We’re trying to turn that school around and help the people of Capital High.”
The majority of the board preferred an outsider with no connections to the area, in order to start fresh, Thaw said.
Bailey’s starting date was not announced.
Capital has been in search of a principal since February, when Clinton Giles resigned in the wake of a misdemeanor failure to report a sexual assault. The charge was later dropped.