Congratulations to Steve! He'll be great in this role, the kids know and respect him, and he has a good rapport with the teachers and students. Everyone I've spoken to at Graham is very happy to have Steve as the new Assistant Principal.

I wen to graham and had Mr . Chesley as my PE teacher, and yes he is definitely qualified for this job. He is a motivator and has a never quit until the job is done type of attitude.

2002: Graham is a proper noun.

A PE teacher becomes an administrator? By the lame duck Ghysels? No wonder we have musical chairs for leadership at Mountain View Schools. I would have preferred to see a math or science or language arts teacher promoted.

Oh puhlease...could they not find a preferred math, or science teacher with half a brain? no wonder or schools are failing. And our students are halfway down the charts in the nation.

Anyone chosen by Ghysels should immediately be suspect.

Please should also note the musical chairs among all the district's principals over the last few years. What is that now, 10-12 in a district of nine schools over the last two years? [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment.]

Some of these comments are absurd. The comment about finding a teacher "with half a brain" is particularly offensive, and stereotypes Steve as a "dumb jock" because he's a PE teacher. As far as I know, principals are not chosen according to their major in college or the subject area they teach. By the logic of some of these posters, you could never have a Social Studies or Language Arts or Spanish teacher move up to principal, since they couldn't help with the math or science scores. Huh? Steve has served on the School Site Council, which has been focusing on improving achievement and making the gains in test scores required to meet NCLB targets. He knows what's required to do this, he doesn't have to teach the subjects himself. Plus, he has completed his administrative credentials, he has gone through the district's Leadership training. He is completely qualified for this job. Besides, as assistant principal he will probably be mostly focused on individual student issues (discipline, scheduling, etc.). Which is not to say that he would not be qualified for a principal position after gaining some experience through this position; just that in the assistant position I don't think his primary responsibility is going to be on the academic end right now. That's how the jobs have been split in the past, so I assume that will be the case now.

As for "chosen by Ghysels..." junk. Just let it go, for God's sake. I'm pretty sure that this is the process in every district, for the superintendent to make the recommendation to the board as to who should be principal. Get off that soap box.

As for rotating principals -- yes, this has been frustrating. That's why I think that having Kim Thompson as principal and Steve as assistant may help bring more stability. They both are personally invested in the district (Kim as a long-time Bubb teacher, and parent whose kids went all the way through Bubb, Graham, Mountain View High; and Steve, who has been employed in the district for quite a few years, as has his wife) and know the history, the problems, the parents, the issues.

Agreed on a few of your points, but a principal not firmly grounded in math, science, or language arts with lots of experience with student learning in these subjects would be a better mentor to both students and less experienced teachers in a school with a record of poor academic performance.

This is very much Ghysels machinations.

Graham school needs more Hispanic role model principals fluent in Spanish and not just claiming to speak it, and then butchering the language like Mizell.

As for the district's Leadership course, let's not forget that this was one of Ghysels inventions and we all know what kind of leader he turned out to be!

Finally the district is doing something right!

Appointing highly respected and competent teachers who have completed all the training for administrative positions is the best choice.

Principals Cathy Baur at Monta Loma, Sharon Burns at Huff, Kim Thompson and Steve Chesley at Graham....all are recent classroom or mentor teachers who are adored by their students, liked by parents, respected by their teacher peers, are very skilled....and best of all, have already been with the district for a dozen years and have a commitment to Mountain View kids and the district.

Superintendents come and go. Dedicated teachers spend 10, 20, 30 years giving their best to their district. Steve Chesley is an outstanding choice for Graham VP.

We do not need any more [Portion removed, disrespectful comment]
jocks in a position of power. Nor do we need any more "parents" with disrespecting other's opinions! If you don't like it, go read something else like your myspace page.

Any parent looking to enroll in MVWSD should think twice. These schools are all full of nothing but drama.

I went to MVWSD schools (Castro, then Graham) and I actually work for the MVWSD. I also live in Mountain View.

My son doesn't attend MVWSD. He goes to private school.

I think that says it all.

BTW, Kim Thompson is a very nice person. But as nice as she is, she is also as incompetent. There is a reason why she was on 'special assignment' and rotating through so many positions in the district office. It wasn't because she was SO good at so many different things. It was because she is a poor teacher and just as poor an administrator but no one wanted to let her go. Why? Because the people who would have to let her go don't ever want THAT happening to them, either.

When you see someone being rotated through as a dist administrator then a school principal than back again, stop and ask yourself why and what is more likely. That that person is SO talented or because they are incompetent and are just doing the dance of the lemons.

Parent Three: "We do not need any more dumb jocks in a position of power. Nor do we need any more "parents" with disrespecting other's opinions! If you don't like it, go read something else like your myspace page."

For the record, Steve has been working toward getting an administrative position since before Maurice Ghysels came on board, I believe, so I think Kate's comment that this is a "Ghysels machination" is inaccurate. I'm sorry, was that disrespectful?

Post removed due to disrespectful comment.