Re “Reggie Brunson’s Ouster at El Rincon” and “Brunson Ignites an Oratorical Fire at El Rincon”
Nancy Goldberg is among a sizable body of leaders in the School District saddened by the removal of Reggie Brunson, the popular, and achieving, principal of El Rincon Elementary for the past four years.
“A lot of us feel that, whatever the reasons, we have lost something,” said the president of the School Board. “All you can do is hope that whatever happens next (with successor Dr. Shannon Hampton Garcia of Vista, San Diego County) is equal to or perhaps surpasses what Reggie accomplished.”
A month ago at a social event, the mother of a former El Rincon student approached Mr. Brunson and told him, “I am sorry you are leaving. I appreciate all of the work that you did there.”
When the uncoupling of Mr. Brunson became public yesterday, this same mother told the newspaper: “Reggie did a great job of taking a downtrodden school and making it vibrant.
“From my standpoint as a parent,” she said, “we had a school that had no or little identity, had gone through five principals in four years.
“El Rincon had good teachers. Good campus. Good students. Wasn’t getting the credit it deserved, and people were walking away from it.
“Maybe the best gift of many that Reggie brought to our school was charisma. He was able to get down in the trenches and fix what was not working. He was working with the parents, working with the students, working with the teachers.
“By doing all of that, and by being as focused as he was, Reggie attended every – and I mean every – event there was, from the Ed Foundation to his own school stuff.
“He held the first down markers at the high school football games.
“He was all over the city, doing everything he could, to promote his school.
“Reggie did not miss anything.
“But I sure am going to miss him.”
