CUSD Update

Dr. Scott Wilbur resigned as principal of Carl Hankey K-8 School in Mission Viejo. The Jan. 18 OC Register reported Wilbur’s unexplained departure, http://www.ocregister.com/news/wilbur-284583-school-hankey.html#article-comments . The mid-year resignation caused parents and other community members to ask why he left.

Comments about Wilbur’s tenure at Hankey include his leadership in starting the school’s International Baccalaureate program. If Hankey receives IB certification, it would be Orange County’s first K-8 school with an IB program.

Some parents are praising Wilbur’s vision and saying he pressed for higher standards of achievement. News of Wilbur’s departure was also announced on the Capistrano Dispatch, http://capistranoinsider.typepad.com/beyond_the_blackboard/2011/01/wilbur-quits-at-hankey.html . Despite a few remarks about Wilbur pushing teachers too hard, most reviews have been positive.

CUSD officials say they aren’t permitted to talk about Wilbur because it’s a “personnel issue.” Parents who want an explanation offered speculation. Their guesses ranged from saying he had other job offers to innuendo he was pressured to leave.

Principals who take on education’s toughest customers – junior high kids – are not easily intimidated, and visionary leaders don’t put personal popularity at the top of their list. When a principal is frequently blamed for anything that goes wrong, in this case even Wilbur’s detractors say Hankey is a fine school.