Shakeup At Sonora High

Sonora, CA — Sonora High School will have an interim Principal, as Todd Dearden has accepted a new position in the District.

At last night’s Board of Trustees meeting, Associate Principal Patrick Chabot was named Interim Principal, effective January 31. Superintendent Dr. Mike McCoy says that Dearden has agreed to take the position of Director of Special Projects and Programs through the end of the school year.

“Most districts, when they do a lot of bond work, have a special director come in to connect the dots between classrooms, teachers, coaches, contractors and architects,” says Dr. McCoy. “We really felt strongly that we needed someone to fill that position, and luckily for us Todd Deardon had a strong background of experience in Monterey County doing bond projects, including a football stadium. That’s why we are making this change, just to provide extra administrative support and oversight to our bond projects.”

Dr. McCoy notes that Dearden’s new post remains a full time position and his salary will not change.

How the District will move forward long-term, regarding the Principal and Director of Special Projects positions, remains uncertain. “We’re going to work through this spring, and get through the initial phases of construction, and in April or May we’ll do an assessment and make a determination about what we want to do long-term,” says Dr. McCoy. “Right now we are gearing up for construction, so we’re just making these changes on an interim basis.”

Dearden has served as Principal at Sonora High School for the past seven years. McCoy says Deardon and Chabot will remain in their new positions through at least the end of June.