TRUSTEE HIRE SET IN AUGUST.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- The trustee who will oversee Antelope Valley High School under state sanctions imposed because of the school's lagging test scores probably won't be hired until mid-August, when school is scheduled to begin, officials said.

The sanctions came down in March, but a memorandum of understanding first had to be worked out among the state, county education officials and the Antelope Valley Union High School District that spells out the responsibilities of the three parties and the trustee.

``We all had hoped to have had a trustee on board by now. I do want to get it right, though. I want to make sure everything is done properly and with no mistakes,'' board President Donita Winn said. ``The fact that it's taking a long time is something that we've had to deal with. We have the trustee for two years. Education takes awhile to move.''

Antelope Valley High was among the first six California schools to face more serious sanctions because its standardized test scores failed to improve consistently under the state's Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program.

Antelope Valley High and two other schools were assigned trustees, who will have authority to overrule administrators' decisions.

Wilsona Elementary School in Lake Los Angeles also was among the six. Wilsona and the other two remaining schools will work with a second team of outside educators to focus on areas of weakness.

The state required the district to hire a trustee through the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

LACOE officials said the search has been narrowed down to one person, whom they would not identify, and that he or she should be hired by mid-August. Classes begin Aug. 14.

The candidate will need the approval of state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell, LACOE officials said.

One concern for the district was whether it will have to pay for the trustee's salary and living expenses, which officials would not disclose.

``The cost to the district is one of our biggest concerns. It looks like it's going to be us. The county issues the check, and we'll have to reimburse the county,'' Winn said.

Information about the trustee's salary and living expenses and who will pay for them is in a draft agreement that has to go before the district board, LACOE spokeswoman Margo Minecki said.

``Until it's approved, there's nothing that can be released,'' Minecki said.

The state began monitoring Antelope Valley High and Wilsona not because their test scores were especially low, but because they dropped or stayed the same for two consecutive years.

After the schools were singled out in 2003 for failing to improve test scores, their instructional programs were audited by outside educators. The auditors, called School Assistance and Intervention Teams, recommended steps to improve students' academic performance.

With the improvement plans, the schools were required to improve Academic Performance Index scores for two years in a row between 2003 and 2005, but did not do so. That made them subject to the next level of sanctions.

Antelope Valley High School's API score for 2005 was 582, down 19 points in a year and the third-lowest score in the Antelope Valley for a conventional public school, state test records show.

The high school failed to make API improvement targets in four of the past five years, the one exception in 2004, when the school posted a 50-point gain.

As part of the latest measures, state officials also ordered Antelope Valley High to ensure that 100 percent of its teachers possess the proper teaching credentials and that tutoring and other services are accessible to all students who need them.

When the sanctions were announced, about 85 percent of the high school's teachers were considered highly qualified.

Antelope Valley High and Wilsona were among the first to volunteer for II/USP program, which offered struggling schools additional funding and assistance, but has penalties for schools that did not improve student achievement for at least two years in a row.

Three groups of 430 schools each have been funded since 1999. To date, 990 schools have successfully met the accountability requirements and exited the II/USP program, 78 schools remain under watch and 222 schools have been state-monitored. Of these state-monitored schools, 42 have made consistent academic growth and are no longer being monitored.