Rosemont High Principal and APs Could Lose Their Jobs

's three top administrators could be out of work next fall, and Principal Leise Martinez said it's not because of budget cuts.

Martinez and Assistant Principals Peter Callas and Nathan McGill received pink slips from the school district earlier this month, Martinez said.

"I think Superintendent (Jonathan) Raymond wants things to move faster at Rosemont," Martinez said by phone Monday. She said she and the superintendent talked about , and she said he wants to see more progress at the Kiefer Boulevard campus.

Sacramento City Unified School District spokesman Gabe Ross declined to comment for this story.

Enrollment at Rosemont has decreased every year since 2007-08, according to state statistics.

"I would say we're in year three of probably a five-year transformation period," Martinez said.

She said Rosemont can compete with other, older high schools in the area and see its enrollment increase by "several hundred" students, but not in the blink of an eye.

"School reform is really hard work," she said. "No one is going to tell you that it's going to happen instantly."

Martinez said she and other administrators have been hard at work, building the school's academies and programs. She argued that bringing in a new principal would only set the school back.

"I don't know how that would get buy-in from the staff," she said. "I think it could very much set things backward."

Rosemont's administrators have seen recent setbacks; last year .

Martinez looking ahead

Rosemont's principal doesn't consider her pink slip to be set in stone. Martinez said it doesn't have to be finalized until June, and she said the superintendent was "receptive" to her arguments for keeping Rosemont's administrators.

"He said he would deliberate on the decision," Martinez said. "I did not get the sense that it was a completely shut door."

In the meantime, while Martinez said it was "extraordinarily painful to be in this position," she'll continue trying to improve the school.

"It's really important to us that we really build this school so no matter who runs this school, there are parents, teachers (and staff) committed to this school being a strong institution."

Note: This story will be updated as more information becomes available.