Shoreline Unified School District’s board of trustees last week voted to hold off on searching for a full-time principal for Tomales Elementary until a new superintendent is hired later this year, a decision that troubled many parents—particularly Latinos—who have advocated strongly in recent months for the district to find a new principal as quickly as possible. At Thursday’s board meeting, trustees considered two plans: one to hire a principal for the start of the 2016-17 school year, and another to start the following year. After discussion, the board approved the latter plan. Avito Miranda, the board’s sole Latino representative, called the decision a step in the right direction. “It is hard to get a principal when there’s no superintendent,” he said. “It takes much to find a superintendent, too.” Nancy Neu, the district’s interim superintendent, said that until a superintendent is hired later this spring she and the elementary school’s part-time principal, Jim Patterson, will begin strategizing how to provide his administration with additional support—a condition Mr. Patterson requested in order for him to stay on for a third year in the part-time role. “Either by the April or May board meeting, I will come back with a plan for what that will look like,” Ms. Neu said. Still, many parents felt that their voices have not been entirely heard by the board. “It does seem to many of the parents that this decision had already been made,” said María Niggle, the chair of the West Marin Collaborative who has worked closely with Latino parents in recent months to address the principal situation. “It didn’t feel like it was as open a discussion as would have been liked.” Parents have said the leadership gap has contributed to strained relations between parents, teachers and staff, as well as inconsistent disciplinary practices. Undeterred bullying has been another topic of concern, with several Latino parents expressing a belief that their children have received unfair treatment compared to their non-Latino peers. But Ms. Niggle added that any action taken on the principal position marks a step in the right direction. Since February’s contentious meeting, parents have met more regularly with teachers and Mr. Patterson at the school’s Monday morning cafecito meetings, which have helped to start fostering a better sense of community understanding, Ms. Niggle said. “There’s disappointment,” she said. “But like anything, we’ve talked together about baby steps and how things have moved forward since then.”