Administrative Changes Made After Novi Principal's Arrest

An interim principal has been named at Novi Meadows Elementary School as its sixth-grade principal was moved to Deerfield Elementary in the wake of Deerfield Principal Kim Warren's arrest.

Warren was taken into custody Monday after police found her in her car on school grounds and suspected her of being intoxicated. Warren was put on administrative leave, and Novi Meadows sixth grade Principal Lisa Finchel was moved to Deerfield to serve in the interim.

"An unintended consequence of that has been that I needed to move a strong, capable, steady administrator to Deerfield to provide leadership. I chose to assign Lisa Fenchel there temporarily as Interim Principal because of her skill and talent," said Superintendent Dr. Steve Matthews in a listserv email to Meadows parents.

Deerfield is one of Novi's five elementary schools that house students in kindergarten through fourth grade, while Meadows houses all fifth- and sixth-grade students in the district.

Since Novi Meadows usually operates with two principals—one for the fifth grade and one for the sixth grade—a Meadows teacher has been named a second principal in the interim.

According to the email from Matthews, teacher Matt Burry will be stepping in and will handle all principal responsibilities except for teacher evaluations. He will be working alongside Meadows fifth-grade principal John Brickey.

"Together Mr. Brickey and Mr. Burry will work to ensure that the rest of this school year goes well," Matthews said in the email.

Matthews said Burry was chosen in part because there has been a student teacher working with him all year, so there will be minimal disruption to his class.

"I am confident that even though there are significant changes in personnel at Deerfield and at Meadows our school year will proceed with minimal disruption and that we will have a great ending to our school year," Matthews said.