Glover Principal Replacing Lake At Troubled Chase Alison Olzendam Tells Staff ‘Give It To Me So You Can Let It Go’

Alison Olzendam, principal at Glover Middle School since 1991, will accept the hot seat at Chase Middle School, replacing current Principal Rodger Lake.

Lake will become principal at Browne Elementary in northwest Spokane next school year, taking a pay cut.

Elementary and secondary principals are on different pay schedules.

Olzendam’s assignment, announced Friday by Spokane School District 81, caps a rocky first year for Chase Middle School, a year marred by alleged racial problems and a bitter faculty dispute.

Olzendam, 44, bubbled with enthusiasm Friday as she met the Chase staff. She invited them to call her at home and to talk honestly Monday when she’ll return to meet them one on one.

“Give it to me so you can let it go,” she said. She then wished staff members a relaxing summer.

Last fall, parents charged racism when school administrators searched four black students’ lockers after a teacher reported a missing wallet.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights recently closed an investigation into the incident finding no discrimination.

Black students were not treated differently from white students during the locker search, investigators found. One white student’s locker was searched.

The school violated district policy by searching lockers when the students were not present. But since that had been a practice of Chase administrators, it did not indicate discrimination.

Two other federal investigations, one involving treatment of a black student and the other treatment of a black employee, are still open.

Olzendam’s reputation for treating staff and students fairly made her a logical choice, said Superintendent Gary Livingston.

“I think (her appointment) will turn that school around,” Livingston said. “I think in five or six months we’ll see that being a great school.”

Contrary to rumors, no faculty members have requested transfers from Chase, Livingston said.

The faculty dispute involved a group of staff members who accused Chase counselor Lionel Harding-Thomas of harassment. The AfricanAmerican counselor claimed the charge was retribution because he stood up for minority students.

The dispute had little effect on most students, Livingston said.

Lake and Chase Assistant Principal Dianne Fields last month requested transfers, citing the emotional toll of this year’s problems.

Fields is among five applicants for a principal’s position at Lincoln Heights Elementary, where Gloria Morris is retiring.

Lake will replace Browne Principal Jerry Senn, who wants to return to teaching.

Lake’s salary this year is $65,415.

Next year, he will make $62,006 under the current salary schedule, which the district and the principals union are negotiating.

Olzendam, with fewer years’ experience, makes $62,393 this year and will make $63,904 next year if the current salary schedule holds.

Olzendam will help select an assistant principal for Chase. She will look for someone who can “build trust with the community, the parents, the teachers the students,” she said.

“My sense is a lot (of the problem at Chase) is perceptions,” she said. “Reality can be very different from that. I’m open to inviting people into the building, having people come into the school and walk the halls and talk to folks.”

Olzendam is no stranger to problems. Glover had a rough year in 1993-94 because of remodeling, weapons incidents and a jump in enrollment, she said.

“Every school at some point is going to have a bad year,” she said. But a school can turn around quickly and Glover had a great year this year, she said.

“You look at where you are, brainstorm how you’re going to fix it, get the staff on board and you do it,” she said. “The district has made a commitment to give me whatever it takes to put this thing (at Chase) on the right track.”

Donna McKereghan, chairman of the school’s newly formed parents advisory committee, praised Lake, but said a new principal will help.

Some people feel disgruntled by Lake’s leaving, but she doesn’t.

“I think this is a good change for all of us,” McKereghan said.

“We’ll all learn from this,” said area director Larry Parsons, who will be Olzendam’s immediate supervisor. “There are places I wish all of us would have done a better job, all of us. That includes me, the public and the (Chase) staff. We did the best we could under the circumstances.”

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