Concerns Arise About Vice Principal's Background

Kim George, a vice principal at who was hired over the summer, was charged with a felony count of domestic violence last year, the Daily Journal reported today.

George, who at the time used her married name, Lemos, eventually pleaded to a misdeanor charge of disturbing the peace in January, the Daily Journal reported. But when she was arrested in August 2010, her husband claimed Lemos had hit him. He later backed away from that statement and refused to testify against her, according to Santa Clara Deputy District Attorney Stephen Lowney, the Daily Journal said.

At the time, Lemos worked for the Morgan Hill Unified School District, according to the Daily Journal.

Her husband also had a cut on his chest and there was a knife in the house, but police couldn't determine how he got the cut, the Daily Journal reported.

The school board only learned of the felony domestic violence charge on Thursday, Trustee Philip Weise told Patch.

"It would have been nice to know, yes," Weise said.

Weise said that the standard background check the district runs on job candidates would have revealed her conviction for disturbing the peace, but it wouldn't have revealed the original felony charges against her. Morgan Hill Unified School District didn't share that information with SSFUSD.

"We were in a place where we had a huge amount of turnover, vacancies and personnel and that sort of thing," Weise said of the

George's job responsibilities include overseeing counseling and special education. El Camino Principal Greg Thompson said he couldn't comment on personnel matters and wouldn't say whether he was involved in interviewing George. However, he was complimentary of her job performance.

"She has done and is doing a wonderful job," Thompson said.