‘It isn’t fair that 10 principals who didn’t pass the test are being retained and Mrs. Lau isn’t.’ : Dora Pohl, Sylmar teacher’s aide : School Fights for Principal

It took less than a year for the innovations of Jean Lau to win the hearts of parents and teachers of Sylmar Elementary School. So it came as a shock when Los Angeles Unified School District administrators decided to transfer the novice principal because she failed an elementary administrator’s exam.

Angered by the district’s decision to move the principal they believe brought new vigor to the school, groups of parents and teachers are working to keep Lau at Sylmar.

Lau became principal of Sylmar Elementary last fall, and arrived with ambitious plans to improve the curriculum, bring in new programs and revive parent involvement in school activities. According to parents and teachers, Lau’s programs worked.

She Would Be Demoted

However, the day after school closed for summer vacation, the district notified Lau that she had not passed the principal’s exam. Therefore, school officials said, she would be demoted to assistant vice principal and transferred to another school, even though some others who failed were not being demoted.

“Last September, Mrs. Lau came to a school that was isolated from the community,” said Renee Wells, a teacher at Sylmar Elementary and one of the leaders in the movement to block Lau’s transfer.

“In just two months, she started several new programs. In two months she revived the PTA. In two months she had changed the entire atmosphere of the school,” continued Wells, whose group has persuaded district officials to reconsider the transfer. “What she didn’t have time to do in those two months was study for the principal’s test.”

Mandatory Test

All those promoted to principal posts must take a test within 13 months of their assignment, according to Sidney A. Thompson, deputy superintendent. The elementary principal’s examination, he said, takes two to three days to complete. It is divided into three parts--an evaluation of the candidate’s background and experience, objective questions that can be answered with short, written answers, and a hypothetical problem that must be answered during an oral presentation.

A candidate can retake the test as often as need be to pass, but, because it is only given at certain times of the year, Lau cannot take it again before the start of school in September, Thompson said.

There were 74 candidates who took the test with Lau in November. Results, announced in June, showed 45, or 62%, passed. Lau was one of 29 who did not. Fifteen of those who failed were, like Lau, recently appointed principals; 10 of these new principals will continue in their posts. Five others, including Lau, were told that they would be transferred.,

“It isn’t fair that 10 principals who didn’t pass the test are being retained and Mrs. Lau isn’t,” said Dora Pohl, a parent who works as a teacher’s aide at Sylmar.

Thompson confirmed that some of those who did not pass the test are being retained. He said the decision to keep the acting principals in their positions was based “on the scores they achieved on the test.”

Lau, according to a spokesman for the district, received high marks on the background evaluation and the written part of the test. She did not receive satisfactory grades on the oral examination, the spokesman added.

Lau, out of state on vacation, could not be reached for comment.

A prominent minority educator said cases such as Lau’s are not surprising.

‘Historical Problems’

“Minorities and women have had historical problems passing the test, but I don’t think the problem is with the candidates or the exam,” said George McKenna, principal of Washington Prep in South-Central Los Angeles and president of the Council of Black Administrators, the largest minority professional organization in the district.

“The problem is the types of experiences minorities have been allowed to have are not the types that will help them pass the test. Traditionally, minority administrators have been assigned to handle discipline problems or athletics. They have not been assigned to personnel evaluation, budget preparation or instruction development--experiences which will help them pass the test,” he said.

Lau was an assistant vice principal at Sharp Elementary School in Pacoima and at an elementary school in the Central City area before taking the Sylmar Elementary post. She is of Chinese heritage and was born and raised in Panama. She is fluent in three languages--Chinese, Spanish and English.

Programs Initiated

Being trilingual, Sylmar parents said, has helped Lau put non-English-speaking Latino and Asian parents at ease, and has increased their involvement in PTA and School Advisory Council activities. About 56% of Sylmar’s 759 students are Latino, 30% are white, 11% are black and 3% are Asian.

In nine months, Lau initiated the school’s first instrumental music and chorus program. The first spelling bee for sixth-graders was started. A program to identify gifted students was established, and Lau made plans to inaugurate a sophisticated computer-training program at the school.

The new principal established the school’s first student council; she invited members of the Los Angeles Raiders football team to the school as part of a new dropout prevention program, helped form a drill team and spearheaded a school spirit program that involved T-shirts emblazoned with the school name.

‘She Really Made a Difference’

“I was about to take my children out of the school until Mrs. Lau arrived,” said Camille Aslam, who has two children there. “She really made a difference. She’s good academically, and she’s a good communicator. We really need her in this community.”

Added another Sylmar parent, Mitchel Katz: “The teachers said they felt uplifted because of all of the things going on at the school. The district should keep her at Sylmar for the sake of the children and because of what she has done and what she means to the school.”

Deputy Supt. Thompson said his office is reconsidering the transfer, and expects to make a final decision today.

“The faculty is sorry that she didn’t pass the test. The community is sorry she didn’t pass the test, and Mrs. Lau is sorry that she didn’t pass the test. But being a good principal is not based on a test,” Sylmar teacher Wells said.

“If the district transfers Mrs. Lau, we will get another acting principal,” Wells said. “That means the school will have had three principals in three years. We want continuity at our school. We want a principal who has proven effective in the community.”