High school principal is leaving SLO County for new job in Idaho
In a late-season move, the principal at Coast Union and Leffingwell high schools in Cambria resigned to take a new job in Idaho, according to the Coast Unified School District superintendent.
Scott Ferguson held the principal positions at the two North Coast schools since 2016, when he replaced Jonathan Sison.
On Aug. 5, Ferguson will leave the coastal mountains in Cambria for the Rocky Mountains in Bonners Ferry, a small city in northeastern Idaho near the U.S.-Canada border. There, he will be the principal at Boundary County Middle School.
He came to Cambria from the San Joaquin Valley, where he had been the vice principal of Madera South High School for three years.
“It has been an honor and a privilege serving the students and parents of Coast Union High School over the past five years. I am grateful for the support so many of you have shown my family and I during our time here,” Ferguson wrote in a statement sent to community members. “This will be a new adventure for my wife and I as our kids have all graduated and are starting new chapters as well.
“It will be another new challenge that I am taking on, but I am also excited for it. I can’t say enough about the community here in Cambria and Cayucos and how wonderful you and your students are. You will truly be missed.”
Coast Unified School District Superintendent Scott Smith said during a special school board meeting on July 28 that Ferguson’s kids are attending college in the area to which the principal is moving, so that was a primary driver for his relocation.
“That’s part of what made him a great principal is he’s a family man, he cares about family and cares about kids,” Smith said of Ferguson. “I’m sad to see him go but I know that he’ll be successful.”
Ferguson did not respond to multiple requests from The Tribune for comment.
Cambria school district looks to hire interim principal
During the July 28 board meeting, Smith said the district is now looking to hire an interim principal for Coast Union and Leffingwell high schools. He noted that it is very late in the hiring season for administrative school staff since school starts in just a few weeks.
The board members agreed.
“What we’ve got going there at our high school is an incredible machine. And at this late stage, I am in full agreement with Scott (Smith) that this is not the time to hire a permanent principal,” trustee Jack Mettier said. “I’ve seen that happen too many times where at the late stage you get this person who, for whatever reason, didn’t get hired at a lot of other places. So I fully support the plan of getting an interim person.”
Smith expressed that it’s important that the schools have a long-term principal who will hold the position for more than just a few years — an issue the district had faced in the past.
“Part of what was making that school struggle was a lack of consistency,” Smith said during the board meeting.
Smith said he had reached out to the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education for support in finding an interim principal.
Smith expressed his confidence the schools can wait “until hiring starts again in February” to find a permanent principal, adding that the district will engage “all of our stakeholders and take our time” before hiring someone.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 8:43 AM.
