SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR TO LEAVE POSITION

Middle School Vice Principal Decides to Resign Despite Being Cleared
of Charges

Despite an investigation clearing charges that a Willard Middle
School vice principal misused authority, the vice principal has
decided to leave her position at the end of the year.

Margaret Lowry resigned last week after being investigated for
misconduct. The school board accepted her resignation at its meeting
last night.

Although district officials would not comment on the details of the
investigation because it involves personnel issues that are
confidential, School Board President John Selawsky said last week the
allegations are the same as those appearing in a Feb. 19 article for
the Berkeley Daily Planet.

The Planet's report said Lowry allegedly gave a student money to buy
marijuana as part of a sting operation.

District officials said Lowry decided it would be best to resign
despite being cleared of the allegations.

"She decided the best thing for her to get a fresh start would be to
resign," district spokesperson Mark Coplan said. "The ultimate
finding was that she was not guilty of wrongdoing.

Human resources investigated the allegation, but when they conducted
interviews with all the parties involved the allegations did not hold
true."

The district opened the investigation into Lowry's behavior after
hearing reports of the incident last month.

"The principal heard reports about an incident that may have taken
place and based his investigation on that," Coplan said.

The investigation centered around a single incident, Coplan said.
Only students and teachers who were "directly involved" were
questioned, he said.

During the investigation, Lowry was placed on administrative leave.
After the investigation concluded, Lowry was placed on special
assignment, where she will remain until her resignation takes effect
on June 30.

Lowry's job at the middle school has been filled temporarily by Tom
Orput, vice principal of the Berkeley Adult School. Orput held
Lowry's position before taking the adult school vice principal position.

School board member Karen Hemphill said the matter as a whole is
evidence that the district needs to increase employee training in
areas of proper procedure and sensitivity.

"I do believe that everything that has been raised by the community
certainly pointed to the need for the district (employees) to be more
aware of protocol and cultural sensitivity," she said.