Over the past three years, there have been a total of eight assistant principals (APs) at Tam, all of whom left to take positions at other schools, according to principal J.C. Farr.  

Tam’s current APs are Kaki McLachlan, Karin Hatton, and Connor Snow, who all have been employed for less than a year. McLachlan and Snow arrived at the beginning of this school year, while Hatton was hired in the spring of the last school year. 

Students and parents have expressed concern regarding the turnover rate in the administrative office, especially ongoing issues related to scheduling in recent years. “I think that more experienced people would definitely make students’ lives easier because they have to go out of the way just to be put in the right classes,” senior Jacob Le said.

The high turnover rate can be attributed to APs receiving new opportunities and promotions that pushed them to work elsewhere, according to Farr. 

“When you have talented people, when you have strong administrators, then they’re going to be coveted by other school districts … the desire is for other schools to have great people working there, ” Farr said. 

Among the APs who have had recent departures, three of them left for promoted positions. David Rice and Angela Gramlick both became principals in the Ross Valley School District and Tenisha Tate became principal at Miller Creek Middle School this year. APs Wendy Stratton and Leah Herrera moved out of the county. 

Farr stressed that the districtwide budget cuts passed last year were not a factor in the departures.

Neither of the two new APs have worked with high schoolers in recent years. Snow previously worked at Montera Middle School in Oakland, and McLachlan was a teacher before being promoted to an AP at White Hill Middle School in Fairfax. 

McLachlan said she was excited to work in a high school setting, but is aware that it is considered a larger responsibility. 

“You’re preparing kids to go off to college or find a career. That’s a pretty important and real thing,” McLachlan said.