When Celeste Squires arrived at her daughter’s Woodland Hills elementary school one morning last September, she was surprised to be stopped at the front gate. The reason, she was told, was a new school rule: one that forbids parents from entering the campus after 7:55 a.m.

The mother of two said she was denied entry even after explaining to the principal, Jacqueline Kampschroer-Shehab, that her younger child, a third grader at Woodlake Elementary Community Charter, was nervous about walking in alone. Squires said other parents—who’d arrived earlier that morning—were escorted out not by school staff, but by Los Angeles police officers.

“The parents were mad and the children were scared,” she recalled. “They didn’t understand why there were police at school.”

Squires’ experience is one example of the strict policies the principal has introduced in her almost two-year tenure—restrictions that have compelled one group of parents to protest, though others say the rules are intended to address campus safety issues.

Roughly 20 Woodlake parents convened in front of the school Wednesday to voice their concerns about Kampschroer-Shehab, whom they said has made the campus an unwelcome place for families. The protesters did not chant or hold signs. Instead they congregated peacefully, airing their grievances to media outlets and intermingling with other parents who support the school’s administration.

“This is the time to be involved, before our kids grow up and don’t want us there anymore,” said Jennifer Tseselsky, a stay-at-home mom of three who helped organize the protest. “[Principal Kampschroer-Shehab] has made it almost impossible to enter campus, to volunteer for teachers, even when they ask for help.”

Kampschroer-Shehab, who attended an off-campus administrative meeting all day Wednesday, was unavailable for comment. A statement released by LAUSD said only that “responding to parent concerns” was “one of [its] top priorities.”

According to multiple parents at the protest, adults are permitted on campus during school hours only if they obtain a pass through a teacher, a request that must be approved in advance by administrators. But more than the restrictions on parental access and involvement in school activities, Tseselsky and others are frustrated by their principal’s apparent unwillingness to consider parent and teacher opinions in her policymaking.

Instead, they say, she either ignores or “shuts down” dissenters with “rude comments,” and has been observed slamming doors and exchanging heated words with both parents and teachers alike. One of the protest’s organizers, Joy Ferrante, pulled her children out of Woodlake after repeated conflict with Kampschroer-Shehab. Tseselsky estimates at least 40 families have left since the principal’s arrival, transferring their kids to other schools in the area.

Hired in July 2012, Kampschroer-Shehab—a former teacher and longtime instructional coach for Los Angeles Unified School District—is the first principal to oversee Woodlake’s more than 500 students since the district approved its petition for affiliated charter status. According to LAUSD’s website, affiliated charter schools are accountable to the district, but have greater autonomy than non-charter schools. The idea is that with fewer regulations, charter school staff can create tailored learning environments that better meet the needs of their individual pupils.

According to Christine Anderson, whose son is in the school’s special education program, Kampschroer-Shehab seems to be doing the opposite.

“It’s like one incident is enough to make a rule,” she said, offering these controversial policies as example: one prohibits students from playing with kids outside their grade level during recess, and another forbids “imaginative play.” Sweeping bans like these, Anderson said, were introduced after an instance of playground bullying.

Not every parent at Wednesday’s gathering, however, was wholly critical of Kampschroer-Shehab.

Steve Thoma, a father of two who’s been active with the school for a decade, said that while he has his complaints about the new principal, not all the blame lies with her.

“Yeah, she came in and started ruling the campus like a dictator,” he said, “but there’s been some unjust animosity toward her.” Thoma, a former Woodlake Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) president who is not affiliated with Wednesday’s group of protesters, pointed out that some unpopular decisions—like having an LAPD presence on campus—are rooted in policies handed down from the district.

Woodlake’s current PTSA president Carol Khoury agreed.

“The school was out of compliance with a lot of district rules before she came,” Khoury said. “Some of what people are complaining about are district policies, or part of [the national education standard] Common Core.”

Khoury, who was the PTSA’s vice president last year, also noted Kampschroer-Shehab’s presence at every school meeting, fundraiser and athletic event. “[The principal] may not have the best people skills,” she conceded, “but she cares about the kids.”

Tseselsky, however, says she won’t back down until Kampschroer-Shehab and the district acknowledge Woodlake’s current issues.

“I can’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening to our school,” she said. “The community should be involved.”

 

Reach Associate Editor Chrystal Li here.