Ponderosa Principal Is Reassigned

An 18-year principal in the Central Valley School District has been reassigned to a teaching position for the 1995-96 school year.

Tom Eastman, principal of Ponderosa Elementary, said the decision between him and district administrators was mutual. Eastman is, however, looking for a job as a principal in another school district.

“I have mixed feelings,” he said about leaving the position. “I’ve been a principal a long time.”

Eastman has been at Ponderosa for two years. Prior to that, he was principal at Horizon Junior High for six years and principal at Bowdish Junior High for 10.

Eastman’s contract ends June 30. If Eastman stays with Central Valley, he will probably teach social studies at Evergreen Junior High, said CV personnel director Wally Stanley.

Eastman’s reassignment was announced this week along with five others:

Roger Fox, presently assistant principal at Horizon, will take over as principal on an interim basis. The selection process for a new principal at Horizon will begin in the early spring, and Fox has been invited to apply, Stanley said.

“If he’s doing well, he’ll probably have kind of an inside track,” Stanley said of Fox.

Horizon’s principal, Glenna Smith, will take over at Bowdish Junior High, replacing Margaret Patterson, who is headed to Broadway Elementary.

Broadway’s principal, Karen Toreson, will fill Eastman’s vacated job at Ponderosa.

Rick Sicilia, assistant principal at Central Valley High School, will become the new assistant principal at Horizon Junior High.

Earlier in May, University High School principal Dennis Hill was reassigned to be assistant principal at Central Valley High.

Erik Ohlund, assistant principal at North Central High School in Spokane School District 81, will take over as principal of U-Hi in August.

, DataTimes