'WUSD: Principal & number-two administrator take other jobs'

Copyright News-Ledger, July 26, 2006

By Steve Marschke

News-Ledger Editor

   Two Washington Unified School District managers stuck together in a controversy for the past year have just found positions in other California districts. High school principal Mort Geivett will take over at a high school campus in Willows, while Associate Superintendent Sherianne Cotterell has received the Superintendent’s job at the Rio School District.

  A large number of parents objected last summer when Geivett was moved from River City High School to the district’s alternative school, amid a discipline effort spearheaded by Cotterell. Their differences are now the subject of an arbitration hearing.

  Cotterrell was asked for parting comments as she heads to the Oxnard area next month to take her first job as a school district superintendent:

  “I’m really looking forward to it,” she told the News-Ledger. “It’s going to be a positive change for me. I wish Washington Unified all the best. It’s been a great opportunity to work with all the people and students.”

  Cotterell will be heading for a district in some distress. According to the Ventura Star newspaper, the 4,500-student Rio School District is paying a $1.4 million settlement after firing its last superintendent, and incurred about $355,000 of its own legal costs in that dispute. Rio’s school board on Thursday hired Cotterell on a 3-2 vote, with two board members reluctant to approve the new contract under such tough financial circumstances.

  Meanwhile, Geivett will be back at the helm of a “comprehensive” high school next year, with his new post to the north at Willows. He was transferred against his will from the 1,600-student River City High School to the much smaller Yolo High (an alternative school) last year, and will soon be working at the 525-student Willows High School.

  “I really enjoyed working with Yolo High staff and students, and I think I learned and grew a lot,” said Geivett. “But my interest is more in the ‘comprehensive’ end, not the 'alternative' end. I think, personally and professionally for me, the move is going to be a good one. I really enjoyed working with almost everybody in Washington Unified.”

 Geivett’s wife, Pam, is the secretary for the superintendent at Washington Unified. Geivett said he plans to live in both West Sacramento and Willows for a while so Pam Geivett can keep her job, and perhaps settle at a new home somewhere in between.