New faces for a new year

Young Chang

NEWPORT-MESA -- Lee Gaeta left a phone message this week and said,

“Hi, this is Lee Gaeta at Newport Har . . .” but then corrected himself.

This has been the trickiest part in moving to Corona del Mar High

School as an assistant principal this fall.

After 10 years at Newport Harbor High School in the same position,

Gaeta needed some extra thought to get the message-leaving right. But

with nearly 10 principals and assistant principals shifting positions in

the district this year, he isn’t the only one trying to break the habit.

“Most of our changes have occurred at the secondary level,” said Jaime

Castellanos, assistant superintendent of secondary education for

Newport-Mesa Unified School District. “It’s probably a little bit out of

the ordinary, the number of new positions we’re filling, but it’s not

atypical of districts.”

Sharon Fry, formerly the principal at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa

Mesa, is now the principal of Corona del Mar High, where she will be for

a year on an interim basis.

Jeff Gall, who was TeWinkle’s assistant principal, is now the

principal there.

Karen Chamberlain, formerly a counselor at TeWinkle, will fill Gall’s

old spot of assistant principal.

At Ensign Intermediate School, Tom Shiskovsky, a band teacher there,

will take on the position of assistant principal. He had been filling in

as assistant principal since the spring, when Evelyn Carrigg left.

Two new faces will fill the assistant principal positions at Corona

del Mar High -- Jack Cusick, from the Hebrew Academy in Westminster, and

Gaeta.

“For me, it was difficult leaving Harbor because I’ve grown close to

the kids and the families there,” Gaeta said. “It was a difficult leap

because it was like leaving family, but now I’m in a situation where I

feel I can have a different family.”

Leaving Corona del Mar High’s ranks is former Assistant Principal

Robert Cunard, who will be the assistant principal at Estancia High

School.

At Newport Harbor High, district newcomer David Peterson joins the

faculty as an assistant principal.

He comes from the Compton School District.

John Albert, a social studies teacher from Estancia High School, will

also be an assistant principal at Newport Harbor High.

Despite the moves and new atmosphere, Cusick sums it up best by saying

it’s all still familiar territory.

“Everybody has been very friendly and encouraging,” he said of his new

district. “It’s so much like a family-type atmosphere that it doesn’t

seem like work.”