ORONO, Maine — The principal of Orono Middle School inappropriately told staff members to allow some students to alter their answers on a 2011 test used to measure school progress under federal law, according to a Maine Department of Education investigation conducted last year.
The principal, Robert Lucy, is now assistant superintendent of the Bangor school system.
In a November 2011 report, which referred to Lucy only as “the principal,” the Department of Education stated that there was “incontrovertible evidence that some students revisited the [New England Common Assessment Program] test after the time permitted” and that those actions violated “clearly stated” testing rules and guidelines.
The department investigated the tests of six students, five of whom had disabilities.
Repeated messages left at Lucy’s office at the Bangor School Department were not returned and calls to his home phone were not answered Tuesday afternoon or evening.
According to the report, Lucy approached the middle school’s test coordinator on Oct. 24, 2011, and asked her to come into his office. The test coordinator, identified only as a female in the report, said she saw “tests spread out on a conference table.”
During the weekend of Oct. 22-23, Lucy reviewed test booklets, some of which had been packed into boxes at the conclusion of test sessions, and marked questions students had missed or answered too briefly, according to the report.
Lucy called in the test coordinator and two special education teachers and told them to readminister certain sections of the students’ tests, according to the report.
Students with disabilities may be granted several accommodations for timing, setting and response methods on NECAP tests, “but none of them allows for testing beyond the testing period,” said the Department of Education report.
Lucy told the test coordinator to bring in students who skipped questions to have them fill in answers or add to their written responses, according to the report. The coordinator said she couldn’t and wouldn’t, and emailed Susan Smith, the state’s NECAP coordinator, asking for clarification. The coordinator then forwarded the clarification to Lucy.
Smith, who since has retired, clarified that rules allow for makeup testing, but only if the student misses a session — not for individual unanswered questions or incomplete answers. Students also can finish tests if they have to leave during the test session with an illness.
The coordinator said the principal told her to administer makeup tests, which are not allowed unless the students were absent, tardy or excused. The principal continued to urge her to call in students, she reported.
The test coordinator said “time was of the essence” because tests had to be repacked and mailed on Oct. 26 and that the events of the day “happened very fast under intense pressure and high emotions,” according to the Department of Education report.
The coordinator reported to the department that she was concerned about affected students officially listed as present when the principal claimed they were absent during testing, according to the report.
“The office sheets did not show these students absent,” she said in the report. “I then approached my principal again to inquire why their names were missing on the attendance reports. That is when he told me that the secretary ‘doesn’t always get it right’ because there is a lot of ‘coming and going’ and he assured me they were absent.”
The test coordinator and two special education teachers administered the second round of tests in the days leading up to the Oct. 26 mailing deadline, according to the report.
The Department of Education said none of the documents it reviewed during its investigation indicated that any of the students left sick, and Smith said if that had happened, she likely would have received a call from the school asking for guidance.
RSU 26 Superintendent Douglas Smith sent a fax to Susan Smith on Nov. 3 summarizing what happened and continued to send additional information about testing procedures and students and staff involved, according to the report.
He and school administrators provided the Department of Education with information throughout November while the department conducted its investigation.
“[Lucy] believed that his actions fell within the scope of his role as co-test coordinator and building principal,” Douglas Smith said in the fax.
Smith said Tuesday that the RSU 26 board was made aware of the test situation around the time of the Department of Education investigation. He declined to comment further.
The Principal and Test Coordinator Manual for NECAP states: “Under no circumstances are students to be prompted to revise, edit or complete any test questions during or after testing. Once a student has completed a session and has handed in his or her student answer booklet, test administrators may not look through the booklets to view student responses.”
That message is repeated in a “reminder” printed on multiple pages throughout the manual.
After its investigation, the Department of Education, which called the violations “testing irregularities,” ordered staff and administrators at Orono Middle School to receive training and invalidated the students’ scores for some test questions.
“It would be best to recommend no further investigation by way of interviews with school personnel of these per se violations,” the Department of Education wrote in its report, “as it would be time-consuming for both school personnel and Department personnel, for no useful purpose.”
The NECAP testing manual states that failure to administer security requirements and comply with procedures could result in the delay of reporting results, invalidation of results or investigation by the Department of Education for possible certification or licensure action.
The department forwarded information from the investigation to its Office of Certification for review, according to the report.
Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Tuesday he couldn’t comment on findings of the Office of Certification unless the office had decided to take some action. He said Tuesday that he wasn’t permitted to say whether the investigation was continuing or if it even happened.
Connerty-Marin said the department gets “a handful of these cases,” usually just one or two per school year.
“They’re usually minor, but we take them seriously,” Connerty-Marin said, adding that the majority of testing complaints involve actions taken by teachers, not principals.
The NECAP is a standardized assessment used by Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont to measure progress of students in grades 3-8 and 11 toward standards laid out in the federal No Child Left Behind law. The NECAP first was administered in Maine in October 2009.
Lucy spent 28 years working in Orono schools and the last 12 as principal of Orono Middle School.
He accepted the job as Bangor’s assistant superintendent in May, less than two months after his former school board voted to eliminate the Orono Middle School principal position and later decided to reinstate it. The RSU 26 board had planned on eliminating the Orono Middle School and Asa Adams School principals and replacing them with one administrator as part of an effort to close a budget gap. The board later changed its mind, but Lucy had applied for the Bangor position and later accepted the job.
Bangor Superintendent Betsy Webb said Tuesday evening that she was not aware of the Department of Education report about the testing irregularities. She declined to comment because the investigation “doesn’t have anything to do with the Bangor School Department.”
Jeff Paul, former Glenburn assistant principal, now is at the helm of Orono Middle School.
Two months before the 2011 testing, Orono Middle School was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School. That award recognizes high academic performance and closing achievement gaps.
The award takes into consideration the successes and improvements among disadvantaged and special education students.
Connerty-Marin said he didn’t know whether the Department of Education investigated testing practices at Orono Middle School before 2011 that led up to the Blue Ribbon achievement. Superintendent Smith also said he wasn’t aware of any such review.
Oops
This is how our liberal teaching “professionals” achieve their successes;
Keep testing until the child gets it right.
Liberal or conservative has nothing at all to do with it. There are dishonest people in all walks of life. “Keep testing until the child gets it right.” would be the right thing to do if in everyday teaching what was missed was retaught. In a formal testing situation, however, it is unethical to so do.
You are wrong. The definition of modern liberalism is “anything goes”.
So you are wrong.
You mean your definition of modern liberalism. My definition of modern conservatism contends a conservative will say any silly thing with a staight face.
Ever hear of Webster’s Dictionary? I hear it’s even online. Imagine that! When I went to school they taught us to look up definitions in the dictionary. We didn’t just make them out of opinion.
I agree with you. I was responding to illegalsout when he defined modern liberalism with his simplistic comment. Why didn’t you post your response to him instead of to me?
Neither one of you used a dictionary definition
Actually the true definition of modern liberalism is “Live it up! We’re not the ones paying for it!”
Ridiculous, unfounded, and entirely unconstructive drivel.
Typical libspeak.
Using 5 words to say “BS”.
You stay classy there Yowsa.
Unfortunately, because of the punitive measures attached to NCLB, administrators have to sometimes resort to illegal measures to protect their funding.
And therein lies the problem Gary. You nailed it. It’s almost impossible to live up to NCLB.
Bangor Superintendent Betsy Webb said Tuesday evening that she was not
aware of the Department of Education report about the testing
irregularities. She declined to comment because the investigation
“doesn’t have anything to do with the Bangor School Department.”
That’s an interesting quote. I would argue that the Maine Department of Education – which conducted the investigation and issued the report – has quite a lot to do with the Bangor School Department. I hope Webb reconsiders her position on this. The Department of Education’s conclusions are quite serious – a student would be suspended, perhaps even expelled, for lying about attendance or changing test answers after an exam has been administered. If Lucey is treated differently what message does it send to students about honesty, integrity and ethics?
I don’t know Mr. Lucy but you might keep in mind that CNN commentator and program host and Time magazine writer (formerly at Newsweek) Fareed Zakaria was given back both of these important, prestigious, and no doubt well paying positions barely a week after he was temporarily suspended for plagiarizing a New Yorker article. Try that at high school or college and see how ordinary folks would fare. At least he resigned from the Yale Corp. but said it was solely because he was too busy to attend meetings at his alma mater. A double standard perhaps indeed.
If you are Paul LePage the college you apply to will make a special dumbed down test just for you when you fail the one every other student must pass to be accepted.
Maybe Webb already knew and thats why she hired him.. Bangor school department lives in a world seperate from everyone else.
It has never been my experience that the Bangor School Dept cares at all about how their hiring practices are perceived.
That was never more obvious than this summer when they created an unnecessary math teaching position for their new basketball coach. Apparently ethics and rules don’t apply to them.
Can you give more details? I would love to know how you know this math position was created for the new coach…
I apologize. It is not an absolute fact that it
was created for him. It is my semi-informed opinion that it is the case. I will
admit that the evidence is circumstantial, but it doesn’t pass the smell test
for me. On 8/10 the job was posted on servingschools. On 8/15 there was a
“special” school board meeting where Dr. Webb said to the board that
their Algebra and Pre-Algebra classes were much larger than expected. The
position was approved that day. On 8/22 there was an article in the BDN that
Kohtala was the new coach and he would be teaching mathematics. It was known by
myself and many others in the community that Kohtala was the new coach at
least 2 to 3 weeks before the 15th. It may not have been created for him but
the deck was certainly stacked in his favor. Here’s why I think it stinks. He
has not taught public school for 17 years. He was certified at one point, but I
don’t know the staus of his teaching certificate now. In Maine public schools
it is much easier to bring someone in to teach math. Because there is a
shortage of qualified math and science teachers you can bring them in on a
targeted need or conditional certificate as long as they have a bachelors
degree. That buys you 2 to 4 years for them to complete the courses required for full math
certification. A teacher friend of mine with a full professional math
certificate applied and found out there were no interviews conducted. He was
told by a teacher in the BHS math dept that this was the case. The other part
that doesn’t work for me is the fact that they didn’t know until 8/15 that
their Algebra and Pre-Algebra classes were going to be so big. Did enrollment
spike? I don’t think so. I teach in a different district and we know within a few students how big course sections will be in June. That shows a horrible lack of planning on the administrations part or something else was going on. From a PR standpoint it would look better to say we didn’t know we would have this many kids versus we needed to find a place for our new coach. If I am wrong I would be the first to apologize, but something stinks.
Nor how they treat those that work for them, not how they respect students. And then they name schools after themselves and cover up criminal activities.
And those “criminal activities” would be… ?
Does it really matter to you ryan? Talk to former employees or maybe some current employees if you know they’ll be honest. The facts never makes it to the papers or to the courts. Not worth even going over the issues while things remain like that.
As a Bangor resident, it certainly does “matter” to me.
Funny how people hiding behind screen names like to make outlandish accusations, but quickly try to change the subject or blow smoke when asked to support what they claim…
This City has done a good job of covering up corruption until recently. How long have you lived here? If you want the truth, you need to go yourself and observe or ask questions yourself, not wait for someone to inform you. As you just said, you don’t know me so don’t take my word for it.
My kids will be sitting the NECAP’s out this year and I would encourage all parents to do the same. I’d rather have schools actually teaching my children something than spending lots of time having them do standardized tests.
NECAPS have their place. Standardized testing has its place as well. I deal with parents all the time who insist their child “just does not test well.”
The world will be very hard on those people. There are many professions with high stakes testing, and kids need to get used to them. How many doctors would you want operating on you who “did not test well?” Yeah, who needs to know anatomy, they let me do a poster board instead….that would be great.
From your keyboard to the Department of Education’s ears.
If you do that you will be hurting your kids and the BAngor Schools. Your kids need real life experiences such as test taking – it will never go away. Your sc hool system will be docked for every kids who misses the tests. An automatic zero reflects poorly on the school and the system.
Betsy is unaware of the fact that her assistant is being charged by the Department of Education for intentionally inflating student test scores to make his school look better on paper and she says this investigation has nothing to do with the Bangor School Department even though Mr. Lucy is as close to the top of her department as he can get without replacing her. Makes one wonder if Betsy is aware of “anything” going on around her.
KUDOS. My thoughts exactly. Sounds like she gave a flip cop out response and hoped to be done with it. I guess she’s got hot crossed buns in the hot seat.
Bangor’s position now, next week, or next year will not be Betsy Webb’s. Bangor’s attorney’s will be handling this one all the way. Whatever she says will come from their legal team.
Department of Education ought to investigate Orono’s high school principal as well. These issues permeate within a district. Maybe the Superintendent as well, he may be the guiding force in doctoring scores. After all, he was forced out of his Superintendent job years ago and went to other jobs. He only returned a few years ago. The Orono school board may want to investigate themselves. Good ol’ boys supporting good ol’ boys.
You seem to have a big ax to grind Mr. Civility. What makes you such an
expert on what every administrator and office should do? Who are you to
be the judge, jury and executioner when you don’t even have all the
facts? Maybe someone should investigate you…
Honesty is the best measure. Adults who work with children cheat, they send a message to children it is alright to cheat. Is that what you want your children to learn at school?
No child left behind is and will be a total disaster till its scrapped
NCLB was the best of legislation to come out of the G Buch administration. It concentrated on the 1/3 of kids who had been left behind.
Teddy K had a big part in writing it. Need anymore be be explained
We don’t need no stinkin’ rules.
I’m shocked…….shocked I tell you!
The whole Atlanta school system did this, and more.
Makes one wonder why there was such a shake-up of the special ed departments in the Bangor public schools this spring, doesn’t it? Betsy Webb moved a lot of fine special ed people around and laid some great special ed teachers off, what, to make room for this liar and cheat???
Money is sometimes the reason for unexplained change in a system.
Your comment is very interesting. How about some more details?
Sure. George Bissette is now at Doughty School after serving close to 20 years at the high school running the special ed department there. If that isn’t a demotion, I don’t know what is. Meanwhile, Webb surrounds herself with yes-men, like Patti Rapaport. And Joe Capehart, a great teacher, gets let go?? And then, shortly after all this, Webb hires a man who manipulated test results for a school by funking around with special ed students??
Special Ed kids sould be allowed to finish a test no matter how long it takes. Congratulations to these kids for finishing it and not getting discouraged. These kids are labeled ” Special Ed” for a reason.
As I understand it, the students are allowed an accommodation for more time ON TEST DAY. They are not, however, allowed a “redo” at a later date because they chose not to answer particular questions or did not give sufficient answers. Nor is a principal allowed to even see students’ answers and cherry pick which students should “try again.”
I have worked with special ed students in the florida school system. I have seen their faces when they accomplish a task.. you telling them they are done.. they can’t finish, again is negitivity. These students need positive reinforcement.
They are labeled largely because of behavioral problems that are held in check with medication. I feel that retesting won’t yield better scores unless they were ‘shown’ the answers in advance, but they might need more medication.
Nonsense! Special educational students has nothing to do with behavior. work with these kids sometimes. you will see for yourself.
I would have to see the test before I criticize the guy. Maybe it will turn out that those questions get changed or eliminated in the next revision. The story says five of those six students had disabilities. From what I read here, I’m not sure NECAP rules allowed for a better resolution of the problem. Tossing out the first set of results and retesting those students might make sense.
This standardized-test-as-a-way-to-measure-schools fad will pass, as it should. Parental education levels, support and expectations play the largest roles in how well students do. Student self-motivation is next. Teachers may be — may be — third. The sad thing is, if this article is true, this principal took test scores way too seriously.
My daughters go to a high-achieving public school in Maine recently knocked because its test scores (13th highest in the state, on average) weren’t advancing as quickly as the cellar dwellers. Of course, that’s because it’s hard to move up rapidly when you’re already doing well. The idea that a stanardized test can measure a school or a teacher is a silly concept that will flame out in our lifetime.
Strangely we place what you state is the third most important factor in education at the center of the focus of our education priorities in Maine. Here’s a good discussion of school priorities in one Maine town.
http://othersideofbrunswick.blogspot.com/2012/05/answer-youve-been-waiting-for-right.html
The children never enter the discussion. I bet your school follows the same model.
I agree with you. NECAP and “no child left behind” has been a problem since it started. Just maybe this principal knew what he was doing. Hmmmm
The NECAP test is the New England Common Assessment Program and is a test that shows the extent that standardized testing is working in New England in response to the No Child Left Behind Act. For the past few decades education in the United States has relied heavily on behaviorist theories that focus on the idea that children learn through Operant Conditioning which was pushed heavily by B.F. Skinner. Operant Conditioning is a method of training which is similar to how Pavlov trained dogs in the old Soviet Union, by a system of stimulus and response and by rewarding the correct response in order to reinforce the desired behavior. The acronym NECAP when said aloud coincidentally sounds like the word “kneecap,” which brings to mind the patellar reflex that most are familiar with as the knee-jerk reaction your leg makes as the result of being hit with a tendon hammer. When children are taught in such a manner using Operant Conditioning their cognitive abilities are stunted through their conditioned indoctrination at school and thereby has turned the act of “thinking” into a reflex.
“Just another brick in the wall”
Great, now that song is playing in my head!
Whine all you want about hurt feelings but accountability is NOT going away nor should it. See what the Chicago teachers had to accept – accountability. I doubt there is a politician in the country who would introduce non-accountable school legislation.
I’m sure it’s a blue ribbon school of excellent if the principal is cheating….duhhhhhhhh. DOE
Well, that’s a bad example for the kids….He should have stood up and said,”We all know that these tests are a waste of time and a waste of money and are basically the droppings of bovine creatures; they serve NO purpose but to give McGraw Hill $500,000,000 a year; we will NOT subject our students to these unreliable and invalid tests. We are here to teach school, not to pander to someone fools with a political agenda.”
Or, he could have imitated the Paul LePage approach and just make up dumbed down tests for the students.
Okay,this guy is a liar and a cheat. He saw an investigation was coming and he knew he did wrong. There are very defined directions to these tests. So, he wanted to pad the score for his school. Oops. He sees this investigation coming. Okay I will apply for Assistant Superintendent in Bangor. Bangor hires him, unbeknownst to Bangor he is a liar and a cheat. Hmmmm…….now Bangor has a credibility problem with this guy. What will Bangor Superintendent Webb do now? Webb, how can you trust him?
Maybe you could do a better job?
I certainly could do a much more honest job.
Oh, so you do know all the facts. Wow! Inside information? You agree with “no child left behind?” I feel sorry for you.
Are you really a Reverend? Why are you skirting the question? I never said I supported “no child left behind”. Did you pull that out of your hat with the rabbit?
Maybe the principle knows all about “no child left behind.” His actions show that he does. Maybe you should get a clue. Yeah, I can legally use Reverend but it sounds to me like you don’t know what it actually means. It’s no different than Mr or Mrs and does not mean that one practices any type of religion. So what was the question?
So, you think it is okay to be a liar and cheater when do not like a federal regulation?
BTW it’s “principal”.
I don’t consider him a liar or a cheater since I do not have all the facts. I do know that the testing is a flawed and sometimes detrimental system. (yeah excuse my spelling, spell checker doesn’t seem to work on similar English words. lol) (and I was #1 spelling bee in school…I’m getting old :(
I believe you could and would, just by virtue of you saying so.
I have been a school administrator for multiple years. One thing I never did was compromise my integrity by lying and cheating. No place for unethical behavior in public education. Although I have seen similar unethical behavior from Superintendents. That is why I chose to leave. I want no part of it and students deserve better. Are you really a Reverend?
You probably got out of the education system because you did something far worse. If you want to throw out all these conspiracy theories and make accusations on people then you shouldn’t have a problem with people doing the same to you.
Ha! No, I did nothing far worse or lying and cheating. I believe when working with children we need to be totally honest and ethical.
So you do agree with “no child left behind?” Most of us know it doesn’t work and only hurts the children’s education. And if your so educated than you should know that Reverend is a title no different than Mr or Mrs. Anyone can legally use Reverend if registered with a church. Doesn’t mean they practice any type of religion what so ever. Maybe your a little behind? This is 2012 buddy.
This guy needs to lose his certification from the Department of Education if this is true.
You
seem to have a big ax to grind Mr. Civility. What makes you such an
expert on what every administrator and office should do? Who are you to
be the judge, jury and executioner when you don’t even have all the
facts?
I say find another job not in the school system.
i bet he could easily find one in the financial sector.
or maybe he could even become a legislator, he’d fit right in!
… or governor.
Thankfully, NECAP is going away in the next few years, I hear the DOE wants an online sort of testing system that will be more relevant to today’s world and, I’d imagine, more accurate and more difficult to toy with.
Hopefully, it will be more in line with what the rest of the world is using.
Good idea, but most k-5 schools do not have the computers to execute the venture. You could do it at most middle schools and some high schools.
Congrats Civil, you made a comment without speculation and attacking someone. And I learned something from your post. I just “liked” it. More of these please.
And I think he was making over 80K last year way to do the job you are paid for. Awesome.
Cheat cheat never beat
Is this the same person who does U Maine football radio broadcasts?
Mr Lucy name was in the paper on May 11 th. , when he lost his job at Orono Middle school. He fought back ,At that April 11 meeting, John Lucy, a lawyer and Robert Lucy’s brother, said he believed eliminating the two Orono administrators would have resulted in a breach of contract and possibly litigation if the board didn’t restore the position.
Betting he didn’t do anything wrong . Politics is involved
And that would be John Lucy, who is now a judge??
Maybe that explains why Webb, whose son is facing a lawsuit, would hire a man who was under a cloud of suspicion…
I dind’t know that…and the plot thickens! Seems we all have skeletons in our closets, but those at the top act as if they’re ‘untouchable’ and practice being sanctimonious and pious, when in fact…they are just like other human beings.
Well, they probably took the action to eliminate the principal’s positions to get rid of him since the Department of Education had been advised and an investigation was started in the November before. By eliminating the position rather than fire Lucy avoided an opportunity for Lucy to sue the district (looks like he would’ve never won). Orono may have not had the Department of Education’s report when they proposed to eliminate the positions. Because they wanted to get rid of Lucy, they pulled in eliminating the Asa Adams principal to be eliminated so it did not look like he was being pinpointed alone. It is politics and how lawyers advise school administrators. I have seen it time and time again. Sad part is they lost a hard working principal at Asa Adams. A real go getter who worked hard to do well and would not change test results.
They probably did this… they may not have had that… they pulled in eliminating that to be eliminating this but might not have had the other…
So you know the former principal at Asa and you liked them better and know what they would and wouldn’t do?
I figure you had some ax to grind… You just know everything about what everyone should and would do don’t you?
Wow, why don’t you just run for president and figure everything out for all of us???
I have no ax to grind in this situation.
Bottum line; the principal clearly cheated. His defense of believing his actions fell within the scope of his “co-coordinator” roll is ridiculous. He got caught, plain and simple. Shame on him!
Great, another Hall of Shamer…first Dana Wilson, now this guy!!!
The pressures exerted by building principals upon faculty to enhance student performances on standardized tests, but more commonly to ensure passing grades for course work not completed in a satisfactory manner is a far more common practice than reality allows.
Why not follow up with a more in depth article about this man’s tenure at Orono? A good start would be to ask questions about the numerous health hazards in the building that were covered up for years–asbestos, furnace exhaust, poor air quality, unusual health concerns in students, and staff, etc. He has lied on too numerous occasions to count, and this situation very likely is not the first time he controlled/altered the results of his school’s achievement. Mr. Lucy, you had TOTAL CONTROL for years. I can only imagine the relief your former staff felt when, finally, you were pushed out the door.
Isn’t is just wonderful how the people in the education system are willing to bend the rules when it appears to aid their personal agenda. Not that all administrators are that way but it seems strange that the one town in Maine with the reputation of being the center of learning in the state is at the center of another scandal. One bad apple…. No wonder they don’t want anyone looking over their shoulders.
When I was in high school I was asked by my principal to do an additional test for a student who played on the football team. The woman principal told me this would be my contribution to “the team” since I did not play sports.
I always wondered how the other student made out.
he’s working the fri-o-lator somewhere.
How ironic…..Mr. Lucy’s father, William Lucy, was Dean of Student Affairs (to include LEGAL Affairs) at the University of Maine. Wonder how the elder Dr. Lucy would have treated this case had it been a student at the U accused of cheating on tests???
I remember Bill Lucy and he was a fair man.
Liberal mind set. We need to get rid of them they will hurt our schools.
Buh-bye Mr. Lucy.
You cheated.
My children had Lucy as a principle and I never found him to be an effective principal. Every time I met him he came across as a “my way or the highway” kind of person. I think Orono is better without him.
The Office of Certification ought to pull his certification. Everyone who administers the test knows his actions are not allowed. He knew it was wrong and did it anyway. This is the kind of bull going on in our schools. Such as a principal trying to push a special education teacher to serve kids that do not qualify for special education which is a clear violation of a regular education student’s rights. All the while saying their are no special education police. Unethical behavior has no place when working with our children.
I feel that when a ‘BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL’ is involved in re-testing irregularities it could be the tip of an iceberg of similar efforts to boost scores by hard pressed administrators.
Half the work that is done in the world is to make things appear what they are not. Robert Lucy crossed over the line the very minute he thought of doing what he did. Shame on you Mr. Lucy, is this how you teach your kids, deception is ok in any form as long as it boost your test grades. I believe Bangor school system should be looking in to an early retirement for you.
Uh. He just got hired. He needs to be fired.
Yessa, call it what you wish. Fired, early retirement, doesn’t matter he will collect a pension and go on with his life, leaving a tarnished mark where he has been.
And put the notice on the front page of Bangor School’s Communist PR publication–Pravda, sorry I meant Communique’
He needs to be honored in the “Hall of Shame” rather than his recent honor. He has humiliated himself, family and friends. He has to live with this the rest of his life.
Good one Mr. Civility – you rhymed words! He hasn’t humiliated anyone, but you have effectively humiliated yourself. You obviously have some personal vendetta…
No vendetta here, just think people working in schools ought to be honest. Is that so difficult for you to understand?
Let’s put all of our eggs in the standardized testing basket and then we’ll hold all schools accountable for tests scores. We should flip out and blame unions, teachers, students, and throw in the Pope for good measure.
Next, we should tie in funding with these test scores (relying pretty much on statistical data (AKA “Lies, damn lies, and statistics”).
Why is this a surprise? I mean really. We have politicians, business people, millionaires and misinformed parents demanding top performance for schools by throwing in the dangling carrot of “If you don’t perform, you can forget funding, but don’t think for a minute we’re going to stop mandating ridiculous junk programs.” Then we have unions, teachers, and every other person yelling about who’s to blame for the problem.
If it is found to be conclusive that this man cheated the system, then he should be tossed out on his ear. Period. End of story.
Meanwhile, the Dumbing Down of America marches on. All I can say is “Thank God for the homeschoolers.”
Fire him.
Fire Webb, too. Refusal to take responsibility for honest examining is a low form of treason, for it produces mediocre educational standards, and consequently students are inadequately prepared to compete with their peers from honest school systems.
It’s amazing how many administrators and bureaucrats don’t know the answers to the simplest of questions here:
[Betsy] Webb (superintendent in Bangor] says “she was not aware of the Department of Education report about the testing irregularities [under her now Assistant Superintendent].”
[David] Connerty-Marin [of the DoE] said “he didn’t know whether the Department of Education investigated testing practices at Orono Middle School before 2011 that led up to the Blue Ribbon achievement.”
And Superintendent [Douglas] Smith (former superintendent for Orono, I think] said “he wasn’t aware of any such review”.
If a teacher were to say such things, any of these people would put that person under scrutiny in the blink of an eye. But an administrator is apparently allowed a great deal of leeway. Mr. Lucy should be relieved of his duties in Bangor until a through investigation can be conducted.
Perhaps they don’t know because it’s not a big deal that a handful of special need students got some extra time to complete their tests?
Maybe they have much bigger issues at hand than figuring out what miniscule overall result could have possibly been achieved by this?
It was not giving the students extra time, they had the students “redo” the test after the testing time frame was over. Special ed. students can have all the time they need during the testing frame.
It is hard to teach children concepts like honesty and integrity when the adults who should be examples do things like this.
The Federal Department of education needs to be shut down. Nowhere in the constitution does it say that States shall have to put up with threats of funding… Just another Federal power grab over the States.
Must be a slow news day around Bangor… Sounds to me like an administrator was trying to get all the questions answered on standardized tests for special education students. Sounds like he was informed that he wasn’t allowed to do what was done and it was taken care of by the testing board.
Now it’s some sort of conspiracy? And the Bangor administrator is at fault for hiring this administrator? It’s no wonder that hardly anyone wants to go into public education… students don’t care, parents are ridiculous and the media + public are salivating for any mistake than they can write and complain about… Do unto others people.
Oh, you mean like “equal treatment under the law”?
What law? No laws have been broken here… we’re not talking about a naked DUI or tax evasion… he’s not looking at 5-10 in the county jail… why all the hostility and calling for firing people?
Special accommodations are made for the special needs students. It seems open to interpretation what those accommodations are and clearly there was some question as to whether their tests were administered correctly if there were a bunch of unanswered questions… It isn’t black + white and it will be dealt with by the people in charge.
Telling special ed students that 2+2 is close to 5 doesn’t help them.. They need to learn just like everyone else.
Actually I was referring to the very last comment you made: do unto others people.
Wait Webb answers it doesn’t have anything to do with bangor???!!! Huh isn’t Lucy her asst superintendent?? He is caught cheating right?? So you know you have a cheater in your administration so I think it would have EVERYTHING to do with bangor. Man ya can’t make this stuff up.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500164_162-591676.html
I have no idea of what happened in Bangor.
But everyone in the country knows what happened in Texas when teachers and administrators were rewarded or punished on the basis of GWB’s standardized test scores and “no child left behind.”
If you’ve forgotten the “Texas Miracle” it wouldn’t hurt you to read what CBS news had to say about teaching for the test and what happened to a whistle blower who saw through the scam.
What a sad state of affairs we have in America today when the education of our children has been abandoned and replaced with a finger-pointing craze for accountability.
The humble Farmer
In my profession an allegation and opening of an investigation for malfeasance involving data falsification would have resulted in suspension of my license to practice until the investigation completed and punishment, if guilty, meted out. Interesting how the State has different procedures for different groups of people- can’t help but think the controlling force is politics. If a suspension of license was in place pending the outcome, Bangor would never have been able to hire him.
Puts a whole new slant on Special Ed. Special test results in Special Ed section.
Special education students. They all have unique learning needs based on their disabilities such as specially designed
instruction, adapted materials, speech-language therapy, or adaptive physical
education. , have congitive impairments, such as mental retardation, Some have physical disabilities requires the use of a wheelchair, or other assistive devices, and some have emotional devices. As you can see this has nothing to do with behavior.
Now——The greatest challenge that many children with disabilities face are the myths
that they cannot succeed in school. When students with disabilities – even those
with severe disabilities – receive appropriate instruction, they grow
academically and socially.
Stop putting these kids down.. they finished a test! thats the most important.
lets not keep score OK….. feeling are so much more important then being honest
Bob Lucy was a football coach. Win at all costs. Looks like the next “Focus building session” he has, he gets to be the focus.
I’m guessing Webb ordered the BDN to remove the comment about sexual assults in the Bangor school system that they sweep under the table