Petaluma High Gets Two New Principals

When students return to August 17, they will be greeted by two new principals on campus, one a longtime Petaluma City Schools administrator and the other a former PHS principal who returns to the district after more than a decade of working at other schools.

Together, they replace Brian Howard, the former principal of PHS who left this June to become principal at Willowside Middle School in Santa Rosa school after four years at Petaluma High.

Both educators have decades of experience, including at the high school level.

Marilyn Stratford joined the Petaluma District in 1970, teaching English at and then at . She was later the principal of Casa Grande and then a Director of Student Services before retiring in 2008.

In 2010, Stratford came out of retirement to serve as an interim principal at Kenilworth Junior High from August through October.  

Frank Lynch, the second interim principal, was principal at Petaluma High School for nine years, before leaving in 1995 to become Superintendent of King City Joint Union High School District in Monterey County. 

He later worked as Superintendent of West Sonoma County Union High School District for two years, the Interim Principal at Berkeley High School, the District and County Superintendent of Del Norte County for four years, before retiring as the Superintendent of Lompoc Unified School District after serving for four years.  

Both Stratford and Lynch will work part-time and have initially signed on for the first semester. The district hopes they will stay throughout the year, giving administrators time to find a permanent replacement.

"It's difficult to find someone," said Ron Everett, director of Human Resources at Petaluma City Schools. "There isn't exactly a lot of people screaming to do that work," adding that the hours are long, the work often stressful and there are many events to attend, from football games to school dances.

The district will conduct the search in the spring, advertising the position on various job boards. They will also form a hiring committee made up of three teachers, several parents, students and classified employees. The committee with then recommend three candidates to a superintendents' cabinet who will make the final decision, Everett said. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story gave an incorrect length of tenure for outgoing Principal Brian Howard. Mr. Howard had been at PHS for 4 years. Patch regrets the error.