New Cunningham Elementary Principal Al Silveira will be coming to from Medeiros Elementary and will be replacing Tim Norton who will be taking the place of retiring Turlock Junior High Assistant Principal Cameron Deen.
The teachers being replaced at Cunningham will be moved within the district, there will be no terminations associated with the changes. New Cunnigham Principal Al Silveira has been interviewing teachers in an effort to decide who will stay at the school or be moved to another.
Cunningham Elementary is one of the lowest-achieving schools in the district, along with Osborn and Wakefield Elementary Schools.
Osborn Elementary will become a two-way immersion school this year and Wakefield Elementary will be lowering class sizes with a federal grant, Quality Education Investment Act.
Currently, Cunningham Elementary is on the Tier III list of lowest-achieving schools but if low scores continue the school may put on the State’s Tier I or Tier II list which could trigger State mandated changes of replacing the principal and only being able to rehire 50 percent of the staff.
The changes taking place at Cunningham are voluntarily being done as a proactive move and modeled after the State’s turn-around model. By not being State mandated, TUSD is able to move the teachers within the district rather than not rehiring them.
These decisions were not an act of the TUSD Board of Trustees and didn’t happen over night.
There have been meetings between the TUSD administration, principals, and staff.
