Alecia Foster
NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Glendale school district officials will ask the
state Board of Education to waive a penalty levied against Lincoln
Elementary, where a teacher was accused of helping students cheat on a
standardized test.
The Glendale school board unanimously approved the waiver request that
will be sent to the California Board of Education for consideration.
"We have good reason to believe the state board will look favorably on
this," said Glendale Unified Supt. Jim Brown.
While the school will be barred this year from receiving state
monetary awards for improvement on its Academic Performance Index scores,
officials will request the school be eligible for the second year of a
two-year ban.
District officials have been watching and waiting for the outcome of
similar requests by other California school districts, including San
Bernardino City Unified.
A portion of that district's penalties were waived, but conditions
were placed on San Bernardino's Lytel Creek Elementary: it had to double
its targeted Academic Performance Index growth rate.
Don Empey, deputy superintendent of educational services for the
Crescenta Valley High School cluster, was optimistic Lincoln could double
its growth rate if such a condition were placed on it.
"That should not be a problem," Empey said.
School and district officials have stood by their belief that Lincoln
still would have done well on the test and received state monetary awards
for improvement even if the scores for the one class were thrown out.
State testing officials are still investigating accusations that
third-grade teacher Michael Iwankiw at the school helped his class on the
Stanford 9 exam. Principal Barbara Mikolasko said she was "shocked" by
the accusations.
"We kept asking ourselves, 'How did this happen?" and 'Why did this
happen?' " she said, adding the school has dealt head-on with the issue.
School and district representatives have met with state officials to
discuss what were believed to be testing irregularities.
Iwankiw, who has taught for about 30 years, has remained on paid
administrative leave pending the investigation. District officials had no
estimate as to how long he would remain on paid leave.
And although the teacher is of retirement age, there has been no
indication that he plans to retire any time soon, Mikolasko said.
