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A technology services coordinator at the Pleasanton Unified School District has temporarily taken over as acting principal of Amador Valley High School in the wake of Jonathan Fey’s unexplained leave of absence.
Seewing Yee Jr — who prefers to go by Jr Yee — started serving as acting principal on Oct. 1, with the Board of Trustees ratifying the temporary administrative appointment during this Thursday’s board meeting. Yee worked as a teacher and vice principal at Amador earlier in his career.
“Mr. Yee will provide stability in leadership for Amador Valley as he returns to where he started his career in this temporary role,” PUSD director of communications Patrick Gannon told the Weekly.
The need for the temporary leadership move came from Fey’s sudden and indefinite leave of absence announced on Aug. 14. Gannon said he didn’t have any new information on why Fey left in the first place, adding that it is a privacy matter that is kept confidential “out of respect for the individual”.
“It is what it is,” Gannon said. “Jon is on leave. We don’t have a return date.”
Several current and former district officials provided administrative support to Amador in the early part of the school year. Now, the district wanted to do its best to provide consistent leadership in Fey’s absence, which is why Yee was chosen, according to Gannon.
He said Yee started off his career at Amador where he spent three years as a social science teacher before becoming a vice principal in 2019. After a year of serving as vice principal at Amador, where he oversaw things like virtual graduation, Yee moved to the district offices in 2020 where he spent the last four years serving as the coordinator of innovation and technology.
“Mr. Yee has been instrumental in managing district-wide educational technology initiatives as well as developing various professional development opportunities,” Gannon said. “Mr. Yee also spearheaded the district’s Ethnic Studies Committee, leading the development of an innovative and culturally responsive curriculum that is now part of our 9th-grade program.”
Before Yee took over at the beginning of this month, former administrators like Pleasanton Middle School principal John Whitney, who retired in 2013, and former Amador principal Joshua Butterfield, who left in 2022 to assume his current position as director of secondary education, had been offering their support at substitute administrators.
Gannon said even former Amador football coach Rick Sira, who stepped down in 2016 after 30 years of coaching, jumped in to help.
But while he thanked them all for their help and their helpful knowledge, Gannon said Whitney wasn’t able to be there full-time and that it was difficult not having a single person heading the school, which is why Yee was appointed.
Gannon said Yee’s temporary assignment is open-ended right now because the district’s main priority at the moment was providing stability for the school site and they felt Yee was the best person to do so.
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