The longtime principal at Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria won’t get her job back and will be reassigned to a new position while a second and newer administrator at the campus has been axed.

Shanda Herrera, who has been on paid leave since September, learned her fate Tuesday night after the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Education met in closed session.

Board president Feliciano Aguilar announced that the five members had voted unanimously to approve a resolution authorizing Superintendent Antonio Garcia to notify “a certificated principal of their release from their current position and reassignment for the 2025-2026 school year.”

The board also announced a separate action to authorize the release and non-rehiring of a certificated administrative employee.

That’s believed to be Jacqueline “Jackie” Loew, who was named dean of students at Pioneer Valley High School last summer, but was removed from her job in the fall.

However, it’s Herrera who has been at the center of emotional pleas to keep her at the community’s newest comprehensive high school, where she worked as assistant principal before assuming the role of principal. 

“Shame on all of you. Shame on you. And wait until you go to the ballot next time,” Lisa Walters, PVHS activities director, said. 

Board member Alma Hernandez read a prepared statement defending their decision regarding Herrera, recognizing she made an impact on many.

“The board found itself in a very difficult position in this matter, but engaged in a comprehensive and unbiased investigation utilizing an outside investigator. Throughout this process, every effort was made to ensure fairness, thoroughness and integrity,” Hernandez said. 

The investigation involved interviewing more than 30 witnesses and reviewing documents.

Adding that the board members do not take personnel decisions lightly and must maintain confidentiality, the statement said they recognize the impact of the decisions and that the focus must remain on students.

“Moving forward, we will continue to create technical support for principals, teachers and staff, especially those working directly with students requiring specialized services. We as a board urge our community to come together in the spirit of collaboration centered on the shared mission of ensuring that every student receives education and the support that they deserve,” according to the statement.

Officials did not spell Herrera’s status for the remainder of the current school year or what position she will be offered.

Emails Prompt Action Against Herrera

Since June, multiple meetings have seen a stream of speakers supporting Herrera, with one colleague Tuesday calling her “a leader, mentor and champion for our children.” Another urged the board to “bring her back.”

District administrators took action against Herrera after she sent an email that she did not want any fifth-year special-education students, much like her policy for English-learner students.

Some viewed her statement as protecting an overcrowded and impacted campus. Others contended that she sought to protect graduation rates instead of providing an equal education to all students.

The school, built for 1,500 students, houses more than 3,200, and typically has the largest graduating class each June. 

“It is unsettling that a long-standing, well-respected and high-performing employee’s job is being threatened because of a message that was sent to trusted colleagues expressing frustration with a system she was given to work in that created impossible contradictory decisions to be made,” said Melissa Diaz, who has worked with Herrera for 30 years.

“It is very important to note that Principal Herrera has never refused a student who has opted for a fifth year.”

Herrera, only the second principal at PVHS since it opened in August 2004, was given a 45-day termination warning last June, prompting the campus community to rally in support. 

She was the first English Department chair at the school and later an assistant principal. 

A few weeks later, district leaders sent her a written warning that requires the credentialed employee to improve their conduct or face serious consequences, and denied plans to terminate her or change principal assignments for the 2024-25 school year.

The reasons for that action remained secret initially, but the reprimand and some of her emails were eventually released after she and her attorney fought in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria to keep them private.

She was placed on leave two weeks after she presided over the high school’s 20th annual celebration shortly after the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Several speakers have blamed the district’s handling of Herrera’s fate as the reason why a school bond measure failed to gain voters’ support in November.

Second PVHS Administrator Released

At lease one speaker before Tuesday’s closed session mentioned Loew and her help with situations involving student behavior.

Later, her husband, Michael Loew, said she was involuntarily transferred to a district program last fall, violating her contract to serve as dean of students.

“This happened after she repeatedly reported discrimination and harassment of students and herself, and you want us to believe it wasn’t retaliation,” he said.

Jackie Loew said the findings letter did not mention her complaints against the superintendent’s leadership, testimony from her 6-hour interview, or allegations of board policy violations.

“The findings letter does not address the fact that I was removed from my job and forced to sit in a portable at the Lincoln Center without anything to do. I have learned that if you speak up in this community for the community, the district will destroy you and the board will endorse their behavior,” Jackie Loew said.

Before Pioneer Valley, she worked for the Atascadero Unified School District and the Saydel Community School District in Iowa.

After filing a federal lawsuit alleging sex and gender discrimination, Loew and the Saydel district reached an $85,000 settlement, according to the Des Moines Register.

In that case, the principal allegedly ordered her to hold extra study sessions without additional pay, although she learned male colleagues did get paid for providing the extra duty.