Principal Is Target of Probe Over Funds : Schools: She was temporarily relieved of duties at the Brentwood Science Magnet after being unable to account for $30,000.

The Brentwood Science Magnet’s longtime principal, Beverly Tietjen, is under investigation for possible fiscal improprieties involving school funds and has been temporarily relieved of her duties at the Westside school, The Times has learned.

Tietjen, who has been embroiled for months in a power struggle with some parent members of the school’s leadership council, has been unable to account for $30,000, Eugene McAdoo, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s elementary district 2, confirmed last week.

About $200,000 a year is controlled locally by the school, records show.

According to sources close to the case, Tietjen made out numerous checks to herself. The checks, which required two signatures, were co-signed by Brentwood’s office manager, Candace Ito. Neither Tietjen nor Ito, who remains at Brentwood, returned calls from The Times.

(Two other staff members are also authorized to co-sign checks from the account; it could not be determined Thursday whether they or Ito are also being investigated.)

McAdoo said it remains unclear whether the missing money reflects “poor bookkeeping” or outright embezzlement.

But he said that the embattled principal, in informal conferences with district officials, has “indicated she spent the money on materials and supplies” for the school, “but is having trouble finding the invoices.”

Under district policy, she has 20 working days to account for the expenditures, McAdoo said. He said the principal has “reams of material to go through.”

“Once she has done that, it’s entirely possible that she will be able to show receipts and be cleared,” he said.

McAdoo, who will decide on any discipline for Tietjen, said the investigation could result in anything from a mere conference about her bookkeeping practices to dismissal and criminal prosecution. If cleared of wrongdoing, she could be reinstated as principal at Brentwood or some other school, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, Tietjen is being “housed” at the district’s adult division Third Street Annex downtown, doing “research.” She was transferred Aug. 15, the day before teachers returned to Brentwood to prepare for the start of school last week. Brentwood’s new principal is Kay Jeffries.

“I’m hoping this matter will be cleared up very soon,” the obviously distraught McAdoo told The Times. “She has been an outstanding principal who brought Brentwood from a traditional school to the largest (elementary) magnet in the school district.” It now draws nearly 1,500 students a year.

Tietjen has headed Brentwood for 14 years, and was assistant principal before that.

She was a moving force in the success of the specialty school, which was established 13 years ago in the first wave of magnet schools and continues to draw students from across the district. It remains one of only two elementary science magnet schools in the district--although several other schools contain small science magnet centers--and has a long waiting list.

This is not the first time that Tietjen’s bookkeeping has come under scrutiny. In June, four parent representatives of Brentwood’s local school leadership council complained to McAdoo in a letter accompanied by a thick binder of supporting documents that Tietjen and her staff had impeded increased parent involvement in school decisions.

Among other things, according to the document obtained by The Times, they said she withheld or gave vague or misleading information about Brentwood’s finances and kept school financial records at her home in Ladera Heights.

They also questioned her decision, unauthorized by the council, to pay a total of $7,200 in moving expenses to nine Brentwood teachers who are teaching sixth-graders on the nearby campus of the Paul Revere Middle School this year.

But McAdoo said the investigation of Tietjen was triggered neither by parent criticism nor by an anonymous letter that sources contend tipped off district officials to irregularities in Brentwood’s student body fund.

Rather, McAdoo said, questions were raised by a routine two-year audit conducted during the summer.

Sid Thompson, deputy superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said he has concerns about how fiscal matters were handled at the Brentwood Magnet. “We’re not sure yet of the scope or who did what to whom,” he said. “We’re trying to pin down how the accounts were handled and what happened to funds.”

Lynnette Goldner, a second-grade teacher and teachers union representative at Brentwood, said she was unaware of the investigation but issued a terse statement from the faculty which said only: “The Brentwood teachers stand united in their support of Beverly Tietjen.” Los Angeles Board of Education member Mark Slavkin, whose district covers Brentwood, said he is aware of the investigation but wants to reserve comment on the “sensitive matter” and its implications for local control of school finances.

“We need to wait until all the facts are out, and then assess what it means,” he said.

McAdoo said there is no strict timetable for completion of the investigation beyond the five weeks Tietjen has to document how the money was spent.