A longtime local educator announced Tuesday that she will be retiring at the end of this month.
Harbor View Elementary School principal Charlene Metoyer sent an email to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Harbor View community detailing her plans to retire, effective Aug. 31.
“It is with a heavy heart that I send this email to our entire Harbor View family,” she wrote.
Metoyer wrote that she decided to retire and focus on caring for her father full-time after an anxious summer with him. She has been “sharing the focus,” she wrote, between her personal life and her work at the school for the past year, due to her father’s declining health.
“I always balanced professional and personal goals, and Harbor View has been a great support for me during this time. It is now time for that balance to move from more professional to more personal,” she added.
Metoyer thanked all the parents she has worked with for their support.
“Without your kindness and dedication, a principal cannot lead the best professional team to the excellence you have come to expect,” she wrote.
Metoyer has served as an educator and administrator for 28 years, 24 with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.
“I know you will support your new ‘Captain of the Crew’ and Harbor View will continue to lead the rest!” Metoyer wrote as she ended the letter. “I will miss you more than you know. Please continue to ‘Learn a lot and ask really good questions.’”
Temporarily stepping into the Harbor View principal position will be Mary Manos, former principal at Andersen Elementary School, to “help ensure a seamless start of the new school year,” NMUSD spokeswoman Laura Boss wrote in a district statement.
The district is seeking input from the community about the qualities and attributes it would like to see in the next Harbor View principal. A community forum will be held in the Harbor View multi-purpose room on Aug. 21 at 6:30 p.m. An online survey is also available at harborview.nmusd.us.
For information about the principal search process or to provide additional comments, please email Susan Astarita, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education at sastarita@nmusd.us or call 714-424-8959.
