Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Legal Action Likely in Dispute Over CLAS Test : Schools: Education Department attorney says warnings to Antelope Valley are not ‘empty threats.’

The state Department of Education will likely seek a court order next week mandating that the Antelope Valley Union High School District give the controversial CLAS test in the wake of the district’s continuing refusal to administer the exam.

It would be the first time for the department to take a school district to court over CLAS. Allan Keown, a Department of Education attorney, said a decision on whether to go to court will be made in the coming days. “These have not been empty threats we’re making,” he said, referring to a letter the department sent the district last month promising legal action if the California Learning Assessment Test is not administered.

Billy Pricer, president of the Antelope Valley district board, said Friday he was hopeful the Education Department would decide against legal action.

“I was hoping that they wouldn’t, that they would allow the four districts (who have decided not to give the test) to go this way,” he said. “There’s so much controversy with the test now.”

Despite being praised by its supporters as a revolutionary method of testing students, the test is facing increasing opposition. Critics contend, among other things, that the literature portions of CLAS ask personal questions that violate the privacy of students and their parents.

Because there has been so much controversy over the test, Pricer said, the court may be sympathetic. But he said he would not defy any court order requiring the 1994 CLAS test to be administered.

The conservative majority of the Antelope Valley board voted April 20 not to give the CLAS test. In response, the Department of Education ordered the district to administer it, gave the board until May 6 to notify the department of its intent and threatened legal action if necessary.

After meeting in a closed session Thursday night for more than two hours, the conservative board majority again prevailed.

“I’m not going to purposefully give a flawed test to any students, and CLAS is obviously flawed,” Pricer said.

Board members Wilda Andrejcik and Bill Olenick, who both voted with the minority, said they believe parents should be able to decide whether their children should take the exam.

Andrejcik and Olenick also expressed concern with the financial implications of the board’s defiance. The Antelope Valley district is recovering from a $14-million deficit that forced layoffs and program reductions.

Keown, the Department of Education attorney, said the education code mandates that every school district in the state give CLAS to students in the fourth, fifth, eighth and 10th grades. CLAS opponents, however, argue that while a statewide assessment test must be given, they do not believe that test must be CLAS.

“There are other tests that we can give,” Pricer said. “Parents want a test that will test the academics of their children and give an accurate result.”

In addition to the Antelope Valley district, three other school districts, including the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District, have decided against administering the 1994 CLAS test. Monterey Peninsula Unified and Slournoy Union Elementary School District, both in Northern California, are the other districts not giving the test.

The Department of Education has not yet responded to the three other districts, but both department and district officials expect a response similar to that given to Antelope Valley.

More news of the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys appears on B20.