Newport-Mesa names new principal

Danette Goulet

CORONA DEL MAR -- A yearlong search for a new principal at Corona del

Mar High School ended in the district’s own backyard Thursday.

Sharon Fry, principal of TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa, has

accepted the position for a one-year trial period.

Fry, who has been the principal at TeWinkle for three years, will move

over to Corona del Mar on Wednesday and will act as interim principal for

the new school year, said Jaime Castellanos, assistant superintendent of

secondary education for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

“She’ll be there for the entire year and, in the spring, we’ll make it

permanent or open it up,” Castellanos said. “The only reason is we want

to make sure that Sharon is going to be OK or [could] go back to TeWinkle

if, for some reason, that happened not to be what Sharon liked or a good

fit.”

Jeff Gall, the assistant principal at TeWinkle, will step into the

lead role for the same one-year period.

Fry and Gall could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In June, district officials announced that the front-runner for the

principal position at Corona del Mar had suddenly backed out.

It was then that they decided to find an interim principal instead of

going with the second choice at the time.

The Sea Kings have been without a permanent principal since January,

when, after seven years at Corona del Mar High, Don Martin took a trial

job at the district office.

Not more than two months later, Martin left the district and took a

position as the director of curriculum and instruction with the St.

Helena Unified School District in Northern California.

Martin was the last in a run of 10 principals who left or retired from

their jobs during the past couple of years.

Since his departure from Corona del Mar High, retired Principal Gary

Norton has led the school. Students have grumbled that Norton was strict

and gruff, but parents lauded the interim principal’s administrative

style as no-nonsense.

District officials hope Fry will bring with her a successful program

she launched at TeWinkle called the Village Program.

“What I like about her appointment is she has done this village

concept of team-teaching,” Castellanos said. “We’re hoping to duplicate

it” at Corona del Mar.

Her successful leadership at TeWinkle is only marred by a complaint

filed with the state by a parent who alleged that schools in the

district, TeWinkle specifically, are sabotaging Latino students’

educations.

Mirna Burciaga of Costa Mesa filed a document with the California

Department of Education last year, and the charge resulted in a school

site visit.

Before taking the position at TeWinkle, Fry was an assistant principal

at Costa Mesa High School for one year and before that served as an

assistant principal in Santa Ana, Castellanos said.

It was this and her previous teaching experience that inspired the

district to approach her, he added.