Capital High principal selected amid residents’ protests

CHARLESTON, W.Va.–The Kanawha County BOE named a new principal of Charleston’s Capital High School at its meeting Monday evening, but the decision was hotly contested by residents.

The board unanimously approved Larry Bailey of JB McNabb Middle School in Montgomery County, Ky. as the principal, but residents packed the meeting in support of local candidate Jon Anderson, the principal of Charleston’s Horace Mann Middle School. Public speeches were allowed for citizens to make their feelings known, but once Bailey was approved, the crowd turned ugly, and one person who spoke had to be asked to leave. Board member Pete Thaw felt the display was unnecessary, and that the board was better qualified to pick a candidate than an angry mob.

“We pay (superintendent) Dr. (Ron) Duerring a large amount of money to advise us as to the hiring of professional people,” Thaw said. “I’d much rather take his learned and studied reaction and advice, than I would this yelling and screaming that went on here tonight.”

Board President Robin Rector told the irritated crowd during the meeting that they had “a fear of the unknown” in insisting on a West Virginia native. Duerring tended to agree with this assessment.

“I think the fear really is the unknown. They really don’t know his leadership style or what he’ll be like,” explained Duerring. “I think that brings fear. He’s certainly qualified; he certainly understands children, academics, and what it is to run a school.”

Resident Andre Nazario, who spoke passionately at the meeting, to the point of being asked to leave after a decision was made, felt having a local candidate was important. Nazario promised to “make sure no one on the board was ever elected again”, but he defended his position in supporting Anderson.

“He loves our kids, he appreciates our kids. He will discipline our kids, but he will be fair to our kids. And he is a West Virginian at heart; he didn’t have to go anywhere else to find himself. Jon Anderson should be our principal,” Nazario insisted.

Tony Paranzino, who coached softball at Capital in the past, agreed that familiarity would have made an Anderson the better hire.

“Jon Anderson is the best man for the job,” he said. “Jon has educated several of my children at Horace Mann. My kids go to Capital, and he knows the children, knows the system, and knows the environments they are in.”

Several of the protestors that spoke suggested that Bailey has a questionable background; something that several board members insisted wasn’t true.

“This man has no criminal record,” Thaw said. “He’s a fine teacher. We’re trying to turn that school around and help the people of Capital High.”

Thaw said the majority of the board wanted an outsider with no connections to the area, in order to start fresh. An exact date as to when Bailey would begin his tenure as principal was not given.

Capital has been in search of a principal since February, when Clinton Giles decided to resign in the wake of a misdemeanor failure to report a sexual assault. The charges later were dropped.