San Francisco's prestigious Lowell High School is losing its principal after less than a year in the position, according to reporting by the San Francisco Standard.
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Principal Joe Ryan Dominguez took on the role last year, according to a Lowell High School Alumni Facebook announcement in June.
He announced his resignation on Wednesday in a letter to parents of the community, calling out the district as a contributing factor to his decision.
"The decision to leave SFUSD is solely based on my desire to apply my passion for education in a district that values its students and staff through well organized systems, fiscal responsibility and sound instructional practices as the path towards equity," he said in the letter, as posted to Twitter by journalist Liz Weil. "Change is difficult and our campus has seen more than its fair share of it in the last several years."
Prior to Lowell, Dominguez served as assistant principal at a high school in Arizona.
He will finish out the rest of the year and then leave.
"We know this is a difficult time for everyone in education and that Lowell in particular has seen a number of unique challenges in recent years," said SFUSD spokesperson Laura Dudnick in an emailed statement to KCBS Radio.
"Over the coming weeks, the district will engage with school and parent leaders to select a new principal by determining a process for input from various stakeholder groups, a timeline for the selection process, and committee members for the selection process," she said.
This move comes as the district has faced constant controversy in the last year, with a recall vote removing three members of the school board from their positions just a couple of months ago.
The district was heavily criticized by parents, teachers, and community members for not prioritizing students' well-being during the height of the pandemic. For instance, instead of focusing on distance learning strategies, the board took time to consider renaming several schools within the district, as previously reported by KCBS Radio.
Mayor London Breed appointed three new members to fill the roles last month. The new members, Ann Hsu, Lainie Motamedi and Lisa Weissman-Ward, are all diverse members of the community with children attending school in the district.
Lowell itself has been mired in issues, especially with the board's decision to do away with the school's previous admissions standard of using testing and grades to admit students, and enacting a lottery-based system instead.
Dominguez did not respond to KCBS Radio's request for comment at the time of publication.
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