New principals fill district vacancies

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- Almost as fast as the principals fled Newport-Mesa,

new administrators are pouring in.

Two new principals, who assumed the top posts at Adams and Wilson

elementary schools, were introduced to the community at Tuesday night’s

school board meeting.

“There’s definitely a sense of relief and I think everyone is looking

to move forward now,” said Jennifer Knapp, a parent at Adams.

Candy Cloud officially took the helm four days ago on Adams’

back-to-school night. She comes to the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District from the Cypress School District, where she taught for 30 years.

In addition to her experience as a classroom teacher, Cloud also served

as a mentor for new teachers; a promotion and retention specialist; and

was a teacher negotiations representative for 15 years.

Cloud devotes her spare time to Kevin, her husband of 28 years, her

two sons, and their boating and traveling interests.

She’s was as thrilled to be at Adams, and in Costa Mesa, as parents

are to have her.

“I think that I’ve been very blessed with a lovely school and

outstanding educators,” she said. “And it’s almost like you’ve died and

gone to heaven because they are so helpful.”

Across town, there’s another new principal on the block. Candy

Sperling on Monday will begin her tenure as the principal of Wilson

Elementary School in Costa Mesa.

Coming to Newport-Mesa after a two-year stint as assistant principal

at Kings Elementary School in Santa Ana, Sperling is just the sort of

principal Wilson parents were looking for -- bilingual.

“She is very good,” said Fabiola Delgato, PTA president at Wilson. “It

is better because she speaks Spanish. You can talk to her -- you can

communicate.”

Sperling grew up in Los Angeles -- her mother was a principal there --

and began her career teaching English as a second language in the Los

Angeles Unified School District, where she spent 14 years.

She moved to Santa Ana, where she taught for 10 years before following

her mother’s footsteps as an administrator.

“When you step out of the classroom, you can see the effect of things

on a school level,” she said. “It gets really exciting to see program

adjustments add up and have an impact.”

Also added to the Newport-Mesa roster of administrators this week was

Evelyn Karrigg, who was named assistant principal at Ensign Intermediate

School in Newport Beach.

Karrigg spent the last several months as a consultant to the Fairfax

County Department of Education, where she broke down test scores and

applied the data to student achievement.

That experience could be very helpful here in Newport-Mesa, said Susan

Despenas, assistant superintendent of elementary and special education.

Karrigg was also a middle school teacher in Santa Ana for nine years.

With longtime teacher Mike McQuire sitting as interim principal at

Ensign for the year, the district has filled many administrative

vacancies less than a month into the school year.