Pierce County school district leaders address conflict over staff changes
At a school board meeting on May 6, Peninsula School District leaders stood by their decision to switch up the principals across nearly half of the district’s schools come July, while acknowledging staff and families’ concerns and sharing more context behind the decision.
“The uncertainty around staffing, school leadership assignments, and potential program changes has understandably caused concern among our families and staff,” School Board President Natalie Wimberley said in a statement near the beginning of the meeting. “We’ve heard from many of you — through emails, phone calls, meetings, and even petitions—and we want you to know that your voices matter to us.”
The district’s Chief Financial Officer Ashley Murphy delivered a monthly budget presentation that included a detailed explanation of current fiscal pressures on school funding, which she said affects staffing assignments each year and adjustments to program offerings based on projected enrollment. Superintendent Krestin Bahr also delivered a statement reiterating her commitment to all 17 of the district’s schools and adding context for the principal changes, federal funding allocations for Title I schools, changes to STEM and Highly Capable offerings and the district’s staff expression policy.
The statements directly responded to concerns raised in recent weeks by staff and families about the district’s plan for a slew of changes to school leadership teams to take effect this summer. The News Tribune reported based on the district’s press release April 10 that several high schools, middle schools and elementary schools will swap principals for next school year. For example, assistant principals at Peninsula High School and Gig Harbor High School will switch places, as will those at Purdy Elementary School and Pioneer Elementary School.
The announcement upset some families, particularly parents of students at Minter Creek Elementary, who questioned the district’s rationale for the switch and expressed concern about the disruption to school communities from the shake-up. Students and staff planned to wear black on May 8 to protest staffing transfers, according to a letter shared with The News Tribune by Minter Creek Parent-Teacher Association President Jessica Gamble.
The district posted a list of FAQs, the written statements from the school board president and superintendent and a copy of the Chief Financial Officer’s presentation on its website and on social media.
Principal reassignments driven by staff skillsets and school needs
The district chose to swap principals across several schools through a strategic plan, involving an evaluation of current school needs and staff career advancement opportunities, according to Bahr’s statement.
“School leaders provided input into the process that considered their current assignment, the length of time in that assignment, individuals’ career goals and aspirations, and staff and students’ instructional needs,” her statement said.
Such transfers happen regularly, but spokesperson Jake Voss said in a phone call on May 7 that there are more of them this year, and the district put out the news release April 10 because officials felt that it would have a bigger impact than in previous years. According to Murphy’s presentation, there were three principals moved via an “involuntary transfer” in 2023-2024, and seven in 2024-2025. There will be nine for 2025-2026.
Voss reiterated that the district cares about students, staff and families and sought to move principals to respond to specific school needs. For example, if a principal has shown the ability to help raise a school’s staff and overall academic achievement, another school may benefit from that principal’s strengths and skill set, he said.
Staff transfers driven by fiscal constraints
Teachers, as well as principals, will also be shifted around next year, according to Murphy, who delivered a detailed presentation on May 6 covering the broader fiscal pressures on the district from projected declines in enrollment, state-level budget reductions and the sunsetting of federal COVID-19 relief programs for schools.
The Peninsula School District is not currently at risk of becoming insolvent, Murphy said in her presentation. But these fiscal constraints mean that the district has to plan for less revenue in future years and be mindful of how much it’s spending and saving, and one way to save costs is by limiting new hires, she said.
Based on enrollment projections, the district will likely have more high school teachers than necessary to serve the incoming high school classes in 2025-2026, according to Murphy. At the same time, the district expects that most of the retirements or resignations next school year will happen at the elementary level. By tapping other teachers to fill these vacancies, the district can save what would have gone toward paying new hires — about $3.4 million in 2025-2026 — by switching 24 teachers to other positions, Murphy said.
Similar considerations of projected enrollment and available funding guide the district to make changes to the number of specialists employed across elementary schools, a move that some Minter Creek PTA members criticized for reducing STEM specialist offerings at elementary schools like Minter Creek and Vaughn in a letter addressed to district leaders that they also posted on Facebook May 1.
Nationwide, school enrollment rates are declining because of lower birth rates, Murphy said. The Peninsula School District has 514 less students than it did in 2020, or a 3% decrease, and the trend downward is expected to continue through 2030.
Voss emphasized the district’s commitment to fiscal responsibility by making the staff adjustments, while other school districts are running into issues because of their failure to proactively account for losses of federal or state funding.
He said that’s an important factor in keeping the community’s trust, especially when it comes time to ask voters to approve school funding.
“We need their trust that we’re spending that money in the right ways when they’re supporting what we’re doing in the district,” he said.
Students and staff protest involuntary staff rearrangements
Students and staff across the Peninsula School District planned to wear black on May 8 in what they called a “Day of Action” to express solidarity with staff members affected by the school transfers. Gamble shared a letter with The News Tribune on May 7 that outlined the protest plan and encouraged the community to participate in the demonstration.
The letter said the demonstration was planned out of teachers’ concern for their schools’ well-being following recent district decisions, and to stand with “colleagues facing involuntary transfers.” The letter said reasons for the protest included: “staffing cuts that hurt students,” a “loss of trusted school community members,” “lack of transparency and collaboration,” and the “chilling of educator voices,” referencing PSD Board Policy 5254, a staff expression policy that some community members have said limits staff’s freedom to comment on school board decisions.
“We are not protesting out of anger — we are advocating out of love for our students and our schools,” the letter said. “These decisions don’t just affect staff; they affect every child’s classroom experience and every family’s connection to their school community.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 10:20 AM.
