Julia Roeder| Special to the Free Press
A new leadership team will welcome Grosse Pointe North High School students on the first day of the new school year Tuesday.
Sara Delgado, who has more than 17 years of experience at the elementary and middle school levels, is the high school's new pricipal.
Her appointment, as well as the hiring of two assistant principals and an athletic director, came after four top adminstrators at the school unexpectedly resigned in the spring, to the chagrin of many students, parents and other community members.
This is Delgado's first administrative role in a high school. Delgado, 44, is a former principal of Parcells Middle School and has taught online classes to high school students. Grosse Pointe Public School Superintendent Andrea Tuttle asked Delgado to take the position.
“When the administration left Grosse Pointe North, there were no remaining administrators that had familiarity with the district,” Delgado said in July. “The superintendent asked if I would be willing to make that move. I am happy to serve the district in any way, my main goal is to let the Grosse Pointe North community know that there will be stability and a sense of peace.”
Kevin Shubnell and Meloney Cargill were named assistant principals at Grosse Pointe North. James Ellis is the school's new athletic director. Shubnell previously served as dean of culture and community at Grosse Pointe North. He has worked for Grosse Pointe Public Schools since 2019, according to an email from Delgado to students and parents. Cargill was an administrator and a teacher in the Clintondale School District over 29 years before going to Grosse Pointe North. Ellis previously was assistant principal and athletic director at St. Clair High School.
Kiley Hastings, 16, incoming junior at Grosse Pointe North, said she is hopeful and acknowledged the leadership transition for the administration and broader school community.
“I am hoping that it will all be fine because I have heard good things about Dr. Delgado and all of the administrators that have been announced,” Hastings said. “They all have experience, and I am hoping that they will all be good for the North.”
Former Grosse Pointe North Principal Kate Murray, assistant principals Geoffrey Young and Catherine Vernier, and assistant principal and athletic director Michelle Davis submitted their resignations between May and early June. Vernier went on to become an elementary school principal within the district. Davis retired.
The resignations reportedly came after an investigation into claims that the district's former school board president wanted to push out Murray and Davis. The investigation was conducted by the law firm Miller Johnson in January. The complete findings of the investigation have not been shared with the public but an executive summary that did not identify who filed complaints said that the board president indicated there was a plan to push out the complainants and that he engaged in retaliatory behavor toward the complainants in response to the termination of another district employee.
“I think that they were working in a hostile environment and that they needed to do what was best for themselves,” said Mike Feltman, 57, dad to an incoming senior at Grosse Pointe North. “Given the attachment that I know they had to the school system, I'm sure it was a painful decision for them.”
Feltman and other Grosse Pointe North parents were upset with the resignations.
“Our daughter will be a senior, we really thought about pulling her for this upcoming year before Dr. Delgado was named,” said Feltman, who noted that Delgado was his daughter's principal in middle school. “Transferring for your last year of high school would be an extremely difficult thing for a kid to go through. But we stopped considering it after we listened to our daughter and how excited she was about Dr. Delgado being named.”
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School board members, as well as building and district administrators, were included on the interview panel to choose a new administration for Grosse Pointe North.
“When Michelle Davis informed her staff in early May that she was resigning, followed in late May by the departures of North's principal and assistant principals, our hiring team moved quickly to identify and hire an outstanding new leadership team,” Grosse Pointe School Board President, Sean Cotton, 47, said in a July email to the Detroit Free Press. “It is a perfect blend of veteran and new faces that hit all the marks of what the GPPSS community was seeking.”
The first day of school at Grosse Pointe North High School is Tuesday.
“I am very excited to collaborate with the teachers at North on their instruction,” Dr. Delgado said. “I know there are some very, very dedicated teachers up to date and best instructional practices at North, two of my three children go to North. I have been nothing but impressed with every experience they've had in the classroom at North and so I'm very excited to collaborate with the top-notch educators that North has.”
Julia Roeder, a Free Press apprentice, is a rising senior at Grosse Pointe South High School.
