By Susan Fong

Galileo Scholastic Academy, at 820 S. Carpenter St., began looking for a new principal in January to replace longtime principal Alfonso Valtierra, who had died.

Via a Jan. 15 letter from Melissa Megliola-Zaikos, representative from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Autonomous School Office, the CPS appointed Vice Principal Blanca Miarka interim principal.

The letter further commended Miarka as an “excellent” choice to provide continuity during the principal search process. According to Galileo Local School Council (LSC) member and parent Kali Plomin, when asked, Miarka had expressed a desire to be considered as a candidate for the contract (permanent) principal position.

“The majority of parents and teachers had hoped to retain Vice Principal Blanca Miarka as the interim principal and as future contract principal,” said Plomin. This is unlikely to happen because Miarka has been eliminated from the selection process, allegedly having passed only two of the three parts of the testing process administered by CPS’s central office.

From what Arthur Wright, Galileo LSC vice chairman and a parent, understood of the exam, Miarka had failed a video scenario in which she was asked to deal with a fictitious school, fictitious budget, and requisite strategies for them.

Many parents feel the section of the test Miarka “failed” is open to wide interpretation.

“There is something subjective about this last portion,” said LSC member and parent Jim Spina. “It seems suspect and extremely subjective.”

Wright noted that “Mrs. Miarka’s name had not appeared on any of the lists [of candidates for principal] sent to the LSC as of April 29, when the posting for applying for principal closed.” The announcement of Miarka’s elimination as a candidate came during an open Town Hall meeting held May 27.

Because many wanted Miarka as contract principal and because she was not on the list of candidates, the LSC delayed choosing a contract principal. In a June 14 meeting, Megliola-Zaikos requested LSC members select a new interim principal if it could not decide on a contract principal from the CPS pool by June 30. Spina said the June 14 meeting gave the message “that the selection would be made [by CPS] with or without LSC participation.” He added that it would be difficult to carry out one of the CPS’s suggestions, that of examining candidates in their respective current schools, as school already is out.

Although not in attendance of the June 14 meeting, Wright asked how CPS could override the LSC’s decision on Miarka as interim principal, as the decision for interim principal belongs in part to the Galileo LSC. He added that, when Valtierra first became ill nearly four years ago, the CPS central office had provided a candidate list for principal, but that none of the eligible candidates on the present list were on the first list.

“Has the rubric changed so much that the Board of Education would scrap its previous list and begin anew?” Wright asked.

All LSC members interviewed for this story agreed there are candidates who probably could serve the school well but concurred that none has Miarka’s experience.

Spina said that, since Valtierra’s death, tension within the school has been “palpable.”

Plomin, Wright, and Spina agree a decision that would stabilize an unstable situation is in the best interest of all. They wonder, however, why they should bring in another interim principal who is unfamiliar with the school to address difficult issues such as completing budget cuts requested by CPS last spring. They also feel they have not gotten a satisfactory explanation of what made Miarka ineligible for becoming contract principal.

Responding to Miarka’s elimination, parent Hilda Omano along with other disappointed parents drafted a letter for a petition to demonstrate support for Miarka. As of June 17, the petition had nearly 400 signatures; campaign organizers presented the petition at the Board of Education’s monthly meeting on June 23.

Longtime LSC Community Member Elizabeth Mayoski, in a letter to the community, asked for support and assistance in seeing that CPS reverses its decision about Miarka.

Miarka not only served as acting principal during Valtierra’s long illness but has helped build Galileo to its present magnet school status, Mayoski noted. The school has more than 600 students today. Valtierra himself recruited Miarka for the school in 1991, when he was selected as principal. A Galileo principal candidate forum was held on June 21, moderated by Reggie Bright from the CPS office of Autonomous Management and Performance Schools. Between 75 and 100 students, teachers, parents, and community members attended.

At the forum, two candidates for interim principal were presented, both of whom, according to one LSC member, were under age 30, with far fewer years of experience than Miarka.

Attendees were informed by the CPS at the meeting that if the Galileo LSC did not set a meeting date to begin the process of hiring a contract principal, then the CPS Board of Education would make the decision on the interim principal itself. If the LSC moves to the CPS’s satisfaction, however, Miarka would be retained as interim principal though July.

The LSC was endeavoring to set a meeting date, according to Mayoski.

The CPS wants the contract principal chosen by Aug. 1. When asked about the CPS selection process, CPS press officer Franklin Shuftan said the website www.oppdcps.com/Pool.html gives more details.

Shuftan added three CPS representatives have been working “for months” with the LSC on the principal selection process.

Miarka declined to comment on the situation.