Decision on Sylmar Principal

As a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District I may not always agree with the practices and policies of those in charge, but in the case of the Sylmar principal whose faculty and community wished her to remain despite her failure to pass the administrators’ exam, I find the decision to remove her fair and just.

District exams are not infallible or absolute and are by no means a perfect solution to a difficult situation. They are, however, given to help weed out incompetence and filter out those who may need more time and experience to aid them in becoming quality administrators.

Speaking as a member of the faculty at Sylmar Elementary, Mrs. Lau was appointed as an “acting” principal contingent upon passing the administrators’ exam. While 10 others who failed the exam remained at their schools, the five lowest scores were demoted and relocated to new schools. To have relented to “back door” pressures from some members of the faculty and community would have made it unfair to both, the others who were removed and to those qualified others who were not and have not been placed due to their ethnicity. It would have set a precedent for those who are inferior, incompetent or undertrained to remain in positions for which they are unqualified. We are speaking ultimately of our children’s education in a large school system that is currently fighting declining achievement scores, and we should never lose sight of that fact.

Contrary to the articles appearing in The Times, in which one teacher was quoted, Mrs. Lau did not step into a school overrun with chaos whose faculty and community were so demoralized that the “atmosphere needed uplifting.”

The school was highly organized, efficiently run, supported by the community and provided for enrichment activities such as the student council and district mandates of identifying gifted children. To say that everyone was happy with this prior administration is unrealistic, just as it is unrealistic to say the same about Mrs. Lau’s past year.

Mrs. Lau did, however, institute some new and difficult activities during her administration which did encourage much faculty and community support and the school will miss her.

Sometimes, although we may not like the policies and procedures established by the district, it is necessary to abide by those decisions for reasons we are not always able to evaluate properly.

Rather than judge her sight unseen, I am in favor of giving the new “acting” principal a chance to prove herself.

SHARON KRELL

Canoga Park

Krell is a teacher at Sylmar Elementary School.