WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Pulaski Elementary parents fight to keep principal
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By Brooke Kelley - bio | email
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Joe Thomas has been the principal at Pulaski Elementary school for 17 years but that's about to end. The Savannah-Chatham School District recently reassigned him to Georgetown Elementary School.
Many parents are upset with the school board's decision to take their principal (see Parents upset over Pulaski Elementary principal reassignment). Wednesday, they were out protesting in front of the district office on Bull Street.
With signs in hands, several Pulaski Elementary School parents spent their morning picketing in front of the district office.
Lynnell Herring and Tyheshia Melendez were among the group of parents.
"We want to keep Mr. Thomas at our school," said Herring.
"We think he's a great principal and he takes a lot of time with the children and is very involved we would like to keep him around," said Melendez.
Many of Pulaski's students are military children and over the last 17 years, Thomas has developed a great working relationship with Hunter Army Airfield.
"Again, there's another deployment coming up and you know it's going to be hard for the mothers. But they have the support of school and Hunter Army Airfield and he is just going to be missed. I just wish they would give us a chance to fight for him," said Melendez.
Superintendent Dr. Thomas Lockamy made the recommendation to the board to move Thomas to Georgetown Elementary School.
The recommendation was made because of Thomas' strong skills and expertise with military families. Georgetown Elementary also has a large number of military students.
We did speak with the district's chief academic officer Jacqueline Chavis who says she understands the parents' concerns but these are not decisions that are made overnight.
"We know they are worried about the children, change is not easy, even for the principal that is being moved. But we will continue to work closely with our parents and we appreciate their feedback in anything we do in the district. We will continue to trust that they will be fine," said Chavis.
But for these parents, that's just not good enough and they plan to keep fighting to keep their principal at Pulaski.
Pulaski's assistant principal Kamal Piankhi will be the interim principal for the next school year.
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