Anderson-Livsey Elementary to Lose Three Current Administrators

(Editor's Note: This articles was originally published May 17, 2011.)

District officials confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that three administrators will be leaving Anderson-Livsey Elementary after just one school year.

Principal Lawanna Lawanna Owens-Twaites has resigned, and two other administrators, Tarsha Foye and Derrielle Morris are being moved, according to Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for Gwinnett County Public Schools. Mikka Solomon, the fourth administrator, will stay on.

Community members had wondered whether a specific assistant principal, Foye, was terminated. Roach indicated that she, nor the other school leaders had been fired.

"It is my understanding they all are still GCPS employees," Roach said in an email. Only Ms. Solomon will remain as an assistant principal at the school next year; the other two are moving to teaching positions within the district."

Roach said that one of the administrators asked for the change to a teaching position for "personal reasons." "The other was reassigned to a teaching position by human resources," she said. 

Officials did not identify which administrator was being reassigned by the school district, or the reasons why. Roach did say that "both of these individuals will be working at different schools within the district next year."

The changes follow dissatisfaction that has been brewing within the school for sometime. Parents have indicated that they were unhappy with the general job of Anderson-Livsey Elementary's top leaders.

"The parents felt it wasn't a warm environment," said Candace McCray, vice president of the Parent-Teacher Association. "The communication wasn't there, nor the leadership. It escalated over the past couple of months. Complaints were going through consistently." 

Roach added that there was no internal investigation into the administration prior to these personnel changes, and that no civil or criminal issues were of concern. In addition, no school faculty or staff are on paid or unpaid leave as a result of the brewing contention.

Each of the three school leaders who are departing will finish out the school year, Roach said.