2 Principals Disciplined in Testing Irregularities

Two high school principals in Simi Valley were disciplined in connection with a standardized testing mishap last spring, but will retain their jobs for the 2001-02 school year.

Simi Valley Unified School District officials said an internal investigation concluded that both Royal High School Principal Robert LaBelle and Simi Valley High School Principal Janet Britz acted inappropriately in overseeing preparation for the Stanford 9 test.

Details of the disciplinary action were not revealed. The district said it would reevaluate the principals’ contracts in June.

Both administrators allowed teachers to use questions from previous Stanford 9 exams to drill students, which is not permitted under the state’s testing guidelines. The annual exam is used to rank schools’ academic performance statewide, and results can result in sizable monetary rewards.

Because of the irregularity, both schools will be ineligible for the awards based on this year’s scores. In addition, Royal officials--who said they had used the improper testing method for the past two years--had to return $331,226 received, based on the school’s 2000 scores.